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Fallout fans, Oblivion fans, all RPG fans, don't believe the hate. This is the first review I've ever written on Amazon.com. I felt the need to add my voice to the tumult because I think that the haters are so off-base here that it's shameful, and demands all true appreciators of Bethesda's wonderful achievment to come forward and speak the truth.
I'm one of the biggest Fallout fans I know, and like all of us, I have been waiting with great anticipation for this game for about 10 years.
I'm also a big Elder Scrolls fan, although I believe Morrowind to be the superior game. That's because, although I really liked Oblivion, and played it to full completion, I'm well aware of it's many flaws, which don't need to be detailed here.
Having said that, it should be clear that I had the same fears that many of us did: the whole "Will it be 'Oblivion with Guns'" thing.
I was at my local GameStop for the midnight release. I went to bed at around 4:00 AM that night. Went to work the next day, took my XBOX and the game to a friend's house that evening, he played 'till about 11:00 PM, I came home, and was up 'till 6 AM this morning. I'm writing this at work (albeit on my lunch-break). There's a reason for this.
The game is totally fantastic. It's absolutely Fallout.
Does it have flaws? Yes. Do they matter? Not a bit. My one disappointment is that Bethesda still can't do 3rd person correctly, which is a shame, because it's nice to see your character with the different armors and weapons attached.
As to it being Fallout without question: everything is here. The humor, the darkness, the blood, the brain-hurting and heart-wrenching moral quandaries, and the re-playability. I say the re-playability because I watched my friend play it, and just within the first 3 or 4 hours, and even though he created a character that was quite similar to mine, his choices and actions caused him to experience a quite different game from mine, even in the introduction. I've been side-tracked by many interesting side-quests, and have barely worked on the main plot at all, and I can't get enough.
There's only one other complaint I have, and I guess it's kind of a big one, especially for old-school Fallout fans: you can't kill children. I guess Bethesda got too much flak, because I know they had planned for you to be able to. It's the only thing that makes it feel slightly broken. But there's so much more here to grab your attention and make you jump headfirst into Fallout yet again.
I promise; if you have an open mind and are willing to accept and appreciate this huge, awe-inspiring effort, you will have fun, and believe, as I do, that the wait was worth it. | video-games_xbox |
Good And Bad. It seems the more you read people talking about this game they either love it or hate it. I fall in the middle. I am just a casual gamer I play every now and then at night or on weekends, but I don't spend every waking moment with a controller in my hands. So take that into consideration as I make this review.
Overall I think this a fun game. I have been playing Mortal Kombat games for a long time now and I find this one just as enjoyable. I think the mix of character is nice with some of your most popular MK characters with some of the most recognizable DC comics heroes and villains.
The gameplay has been tweaked a bit since the previous MK game, but it is nothing that you can't adjust to, and overall I think it offers more character control. The special moves or super moves as called in the game are a fun mix too with most of your favorite moves form you MK characters kept in with a mix of a few new ones to keep things interesting.
We do have a return of the preprogrammed fatalities, but they have been toned down. No more dismemberment, decapitation, or removal of vital organs. This may be a big deal for you, but I don't require a high level of gore to enjoy a video game.
As far as I can tell there are no hidden characters in the game, other then the unlockable boss characters. So don't expect to find Reptile or the Martian Manhunter. But like most Xbox 360 games the game will support downloadable content in the future. But when new fighters show up is up to the video game publisher.
If you are trying to chose between the kollectors edition and the basica game save your money. The comic book that comes with the game is a quite small and almost just like a pamphlet and does not really add anything to the story. There is a small poster and a making of dvd. but you will probably be able to see all those videos on youtube before too long.
So a hardcore mortal kombat fan or gamer may not enjoy this game too much as it comes up short on gore and hidden characters. But the game still presents and interesting storyline and a chance to play as some of your favorite DC comics characters. I have it I enjoy playing it and hope to have fun with friends playing as superheros and undead ninjas. | video-games_xbox |
Amazingly Fun after All These Years. Did you used to play with your Atari set for hours and hours? How about the classic arcade games like Battlezone and Crystal Castles? They're all in this collection!
This is just an AMAZING deal - you get over 80 complete, original games in the pack. I am in my 30s and haven't played many of these games since I was a teenager. Yet when I jumped into the Adventure game, I immediately knew all the maps, where to find the keys, were the dragons would be lurking. Playing Yar's Revenge, I became hooked for quite a while, remembering all the techniques to win the game. Somehow my brain has been hard wired to remember these things, and it's really cool to go back to a game now and say "Wow, I had TONS of fun with that!"
There are even full scans of the manuals, so you can read each manual from cover to cover if you wish.
In addition to all the Atari console games, you also get the original arcade games like Battlezone. I was a HUGE battlezone fan, driving my tank around and seeking out the enemy. It is so much fun to be able to play it at home!
It is just astounding that they fit all these games onto one CD. I used to scrimp and save for weeks to get just one cartridge! I would have thought it was a miracle back then to be handed 80 of them in a box and told "here, have fun". I would have played for years on end.
Sure, the graphics are old-style. You get blocks of color without much detail. Even on a big screen TV, it's sometimes hard to figure out what the maps are telling you. But that is part of the charm, of course. Lunar Lander is just as much fun now as it was then. Hangman doesn't need good graphics, nor does chess. Those mind games are a challenge no matter what they look like.
I really don't see a downside here. You pay one price for that CD and you literally could play for years. Each game is complete. There are games for every age group, for every gamer type. It really does prove that in the end, a great game isn't about sound or graphics. It's all about the design.
A must buy! | video-games_xbox |
Ok sequel, but has some flaws. I really want to love this game - especially after the hit Deus Ex: Human Revolution became, I was super excited for this sequel. And while parts of it were everything I hoped for, a number of things, especially the ending mission, just underwhelmed me.
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to love about this game. Between the new experimental augs that expand the number of ways to accomplish objectives, the superb soundtrack, the never-ending conspiracies and numerous plot points, and eventually the choices/sacrifices you have to make -- I was genuinely impressed.
But at the same time, once I finished the game, there were definitely some gripes. For instance, although the game gives you a choice of how you wish to play (lethal vs non-lethal), again, just as in the first one, non-lethal is clearly the better way. Can you play lethally? Sure - but you end up having a harder time with various major characters/plot points, and it can be difficult to get some side missions since some characters won't trust you. I also didn't like that the game is basically confined to one city, Prague. I didn't mind being based out of Prague, I just minded the fact that you never get to delve into the life of any other city. Without giving too much away, you do visit other cities on various missions, but you're basically confined to a building/small area. You never really get to explore -- something that I loved about Human Revolution.
And the ending -- just disappointed me. For those of you who played Human Revolution, the ending brought a hard choice: should you tell the truth? Spin the truth to promote a certain idea? Or do nothing, and let society find their own truth? It was a brilliant way to end a game where the question "Do the ends justify the means?" was asked over and over again, and where our need to improve ourselves and expand the human condition railed against resistance to change and fear of the unknown. In Mankind: Divided, I was expecting something similar to this. Something profound, as the game deals with some eerily very real life issues - what is the value of a human being? Is that value less when you're part mechanical? How do you integrate the needs of the augmented human with the needs of the natural human? Is it even possible? Yet, the ending we get is attempting to stop a leader who believes blowing up some buildings is the answer. Wait - what? Where's my difficult choice? Where's the consequences that force me to stop, to think, to ponder, to contemplate how future generations will see this situation? Nope - nothing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it almost feels like the game is incomplete -- like somehow this entire game is just Act 1.
The game does mean well -- and there are times when I did feel like the game tries to transcend its 3 star rating to something better, but the lack of ability to explore, coupled with an ending that leaves me shaking my head, just puts it squarely with 3 stars. I'd recommend waiting for a sale before picking this one up. | video-games_xbox |
I have the Black A40's. Astro A40 (Black)
Pros:
-Excellent sound balance between Base and Treble
-Replaceable parts on almost everything accept the speakers, you can also send them a custom logo and they will put it on the headset speaker plates.
-Excellent 7.1 Surround, you can hear everything from fire fights in the back ground to troops in CoH whispering things like, "Stay in formation", "Watch your flanks" Yes they whisper stuff while walking into enemy territory. I also hear all the crazy side conversation in CoH, every single one. I can even hear the equipment clinging together when they march or move where you want them. Artillery goes off and it sounds like it's all around your house or office. As for BF3 I can hear footsteps with clarity and I can tell where they come from and I can also hear enemy's speaking when people are trying to sneak around on metro. I can hear bullets hit everywhere and rounds/tracers wiz past my head. Anything moves I hear it is my point. ;) Also you can tell the distinct sounds of each weapon being fired they sound totally different then on PC speakers they sound more genuine and real on this headset, grenades and rockets also sound slightly different but better in all.
-Music is excellent as well, you can pick up on mistakes within a track or if someone is slightly out of sync, my favorite is hearing people talking in the background slightly on some older albums.
-Movies are theater quality sound, I watched 21 Jump Street and rather enjoyed wearing the headset and hearing the 7.1 work, really felt as if I was in the theater, and the sound is really amazing.
-Packaging was excellent and pretty awesome looking; I'm keeping the box because it's just that cool. If they can take time to make a box look epic then they have got to have one awesome product in that box.
-The Mic is very bendable and interchangeable to which ever ear is most comfortable to have it protruding from. You can control game and voice options VIA the MixAmp. It also has a quick disconnect so if you catch it on something you don't rip the wire out or pull stuff off the desk.
Works with PC, PS3 and Xbox360
Has a port on the MixAmp for an IPod and Controller sound (Xbox).
Cons:
-Lots of wires
-Big MixAmp can be cumbersome if you have little room
-Should come with a 6' Optical cable instead of 3'
-Should come with the rechargeable battery pack (have to buy it separate)
-Caring Case should also be included
-Mic can be too sensitive; I have it either above my eyebrow or way below my Jaw so I don't blast people in TS. Also it still picks up background sounds; Astro claims it cancels it out so the crowd doesn't interfere with voice comms, that's not entirely true.
-Voice and Game Sound is a bit of a fight while in TS, some folks I can hear fine while gaming and others are very quiet and I need to turn down game sound and turn up voice sound to hear some folks or while in the vehicles for BF3.
Summary:
Overall it's a good headset, I have tried many from the cheapies to the Expensive and I have got to say these ones are right where I like my sound to be. I tried turtle beach A6Z and too off in some sound aspects, also they easily break and you can't replace just that part. The run off for the Turtle beach headset was breaking in 6 months down the road. If I have to replace the whole headset 6 months down the road then no thanks. I could adjust the sound to my liking sure, but I'm lazy. ;) I have also tried Plantronics, they were ok but it seemed not to have true surround or good equality with sound balance. I have also tried a corsair brand HS1 or something and no bass at all, very dissatisfied with the sound of those for being 120 bucks. Also the HS1 mic was very odd and to short in my opinion.
If you're looking to get them, do, well worth the money and get the package deal it's cheaper than buying separate of everything. It lives up to what it's made for, I'm extremely happy with them, these are my first ones and I rather enjoy them. I also want to note that you can wear them for long periods and they are still comfy on your head. | video-games_xbox |
An Entire Game Series Ruined by the Ending. This is the same review as the one I posted for the standard edition of the game. I will however add that with the Collector's Edition, one of the biggest benefits you receive is the new Prothean character that is really awesome, and it would cost 10 dollars to buy the DLC without buying the CE. Other extras in this edition include essentially useless in-game weapons and a robo-dog that just walks around in the Cargo Bay. You do however get a cool little art book, a mini comic book, an N7 patch, a post card, and a cool steel case with the special edition. I figure this is worth much more than the extra 20 dollar price increase from the standard edition. Now onto the review of the game:
For those that haven't finished Mass Effect 3, the first part of my review will be spoiler free, but the second part must be rife with spoilers because the story and ending is the biggest problem of the game. I'll also preface this review by saying that the ME series had been probably my favorite gaming series of all times, and I beat the campaign of ME1 three times while I finished the campaign of ME2 four times. I had been incredibly excited about the game, and had been able to avoid practically every spoiler except for two smaller ones about EDI and the Prothean character. Even though the game is flawed, I loved pretty much 99% of the game, but the ending was so bad that it has ruined my entire Mass Effect experience. I was going to play the game again with my female character as I loved the voice over work of Jennifer Hale, but now I don't really want to. I was even going to start a new character in ME1 and play all three games in succession, but now it just isn't worth it.
So, let's start with the gameplay, which in the Mass Effect series is split between the RPG aspects, and the third person cover shooting battle system. ME3 definitely has the best action gameplay of the entire series, and while it can still be clunky there are constantly amazing moments with dozens of different but equally awesome strategies you could employ. I just wish there were almost more buttons on the controller for this game. It's one of the most effective uses of a controller in any shooter, where you really have so many different attacks you could use at every moment. Most of the clunkiness once again resolves around the action button being the same as the sprint and cover button. I'm not sure if it would work, but it could be interesting if the action button was instead mapped to the select button, the only one that isn't used in the game.
Now on to the RPG systems of the game, which is much improved from basic systems in ME2, for Mass Effect 3 they basically took most of what was in ME1 and stripped out the hassle of the massive inventory screen and the repetitive/annoying/time-consuming aspect of destroying/selling the multitude of useless items you received. This interesting new inventory management system works by all of the weapons having a weight, and if you go over a certain weight limit (which is dependent on your character class and certain upgrades you can choose) you can face severe power regeneration penalties. I love this idea, but it can become annoying when all of the good weapons have really high weight. It also ends up limiting the weapons you can bring along, even though I was a Vanguard that selected the increase weight capacity upgrade. There's a possible related result, where you can no longer carry any heavy weapons like in previous games, something that I always loved. Instead there are only four heavy weapons found at few certain points lying on the ground (flamethrower, rocket launcher, some Geth laser gun, and the mini-nuke) with very limited ammo. Back to the main weapons that are in this game, I loved that Bioware brought back the Role Playing elements present in ME1 guns, almost keeping the same names and level presentation. The concept is really smart, where you can purchase an upgrade up to level 5 for each weapon and each weapon add-on (that you can have two equipped on each gun). The only problems here is that I had enough money so that each time I got a new gun I promptly maxed out the upgrades, so the system wasn't as rewarding as it could have been. Also, with the level of each add-on upgrading when you find or buy a new one, while I love this, it was a little uneven where multiple times I upgraded ones I didn't use while I couldn't find the upgrades for the ones I did regularly use. This whole system could be improved with a few adjustments, which is possibly a higher level cut-off limit like in Multiplayer (could make it so that weapons that you like don't become useless because of their stats later in the game) and something that I liked in the first game but disappeared in the sequels. That is a weapon efficiency upgrade system where you could get experience points for every enemy you kill with each weapon type, I think this could really increase the RPG feel while keeping all of the action. One more thing with the weapons, there's an interesting section of the Spectre offices where you have a fire range to test your weapon load-out. I love this idea, especially with all of the different weapons, but it makes no sense to have it on the Citadel, instead it should be in the Normandy Cargo Bay. Too many times I would upgrade a new weapon only to find I didn't like the way it fired. Then there are weapons that I never tried out as their weight was really high and the stats weren't the best. So while I may have possibly liked the way they fired, now I'll never know as I didn't have an opportunity to test them out.
I was pretty disappointed that no real changes (non-cosmetic) were made to the armor system. It's much too basic, almost exactly the same as ME2, and I wish there were more options to alter and upgrade your armor. I really kept the same armor for most of the game, even later I just made a few adjustments and all I cared about was getting the bonus percentages I wanted. The armor also looked all pretty similar, except for the helmets, which were mostly pretty goofy looking. Finally, for the different character classes, in this iteration they seem about the same, but some new abilities have been added. One of them that I really loved was the new Nova attack which was really useful when combined with the Biotic Charge, also I like that it's not perfect as it uses up your shields, creating an interesting cost versus benefit play choice.
The next aspect of the game is one that has really defined to series up to this point, and that is the conversation system of ME3. I was very disappointed that the conversation options were much more limited in this iteration, where you basically only had the paragon or renegade choice. There was never a paragade response or something else like the sarcastic comments I loved making in Dragon Age 2, at this point in the series it felt like a step back. There was also an annoying amount of conversations that resembled your talks with the DLC characters Massani and Goto. I didn't mind this too much, but it was frustrating when multiple times I would accidently hit the A button one too many times and I would skip the conversation. I also had a few graphics glitches during the normal conversations with choices, where the character's framework was broken or glitched, and they'd be looking all over the place or the eyes would be tracking wrong, it was just really weird. Even stranger, this tended to happen earlier in the game (they either occurred with Liara or Ravik), I didn't really experience it too much later, I'm not sure why. Possibly relating to this, I didn't have any problems importing my character's face as some have, but I think that's because I played around with it in ME2 because I didn't love my Shepard's face.
There were multiple times in conversations where there were great little inside joke comments that were only for my Shepard, but I was a little disappointed that there weren't more new in depth conversations with your crew. Even with the new character Vega, while I love the sparring match/conversation you had with him (One of my favorite crew member interactions in the whole series) you don't get to know him as much as you did the previous game's characters. I understand that with the possibility of almost every old character not being present in ME3, the developer didn't want to spend too much time and money on them, but conversely they didn't add many new characters. In total, not counting the DLC character, there are only four new crew members on the Normandy (all of whom are humans): the new playable jock character, a gay male pilot, a gay female communications officer, and a female reporter. I liked all of these new characters (though the reporter is a little generic and annoying) but consider something for a minute. If Garrus and Tali had died in your playthrough of ME2, for most of the game you would only have two playable characters, Vega and Liara. Later of course, you get Kaidan/Ashley and EDI, but it's amazing they didn't add new characters or make more of the characters from ME2 crew members. Even with all of the crew members possible, you don't get a representative from the Krogans and the Salarians, or any of the other non-council races. I expected to see all of the different species send someone onto the Normandy, but for some reason no one did. All we got was a Krogan leader (Wrex!), a Turian leader, and a Quarian leader in the War Room for a few missions. You'd think that if Bioware didn't want to waste time and money on possibly unpopular characters, they would have created more characters that every player would get to know. The only possible explanation for why they didn't do this is that they didn't think they had the time to establish multiple new interesting characters.
Another annoying change to something I loved before, was how when you're in the hub-world listening to people's interesting conversations you have to leave the area and come back to hear the next part of the story. In ME2, you could just keep hitting the A button to listen to the rest of the conversation, which to me worked really well. This time, even though the stories are cool, I would lose interest in them as so much time could pass between each part of the telling, also at one point they glitched out and all of the conversations reset. I also had a problem that I figure has to be a glitch where at the last conversation with the Illusive Man, the Paragon and Renegade options were greyed out. With this Shepard I have always selected the blue conversation options in each Mass Effect game every time they appeared, and I also always explore every possible conversation option. I had off the charts amounts of Reputation and Paragon points and still I had a conversation option blocked, the first time this has ever happened to me (in the Mass Effect series and every other video game with a similar conversation system). I felt extremely confused and annoyed that somehow the best possible resolution to the Illusive Man conflict wasn't available to me for no apparent reason.
Onto the locations and exploration of the different worlds, something that was one of my favorite parts of the previous games, but is almost non-existent in ME3. Here is where ME3 strikingly reminds me of the failure of Dragon Age 2. Similarly to Kirkwall, the Citadel acts as the only hub-world in the entire Mass Effect 3 game, while in ME2 there were four completely different hub-worlds. This would be okay, as most worlds are under attack from the Reapers, except for the fact that this version of the Citadel is the smallest and most basic of the entire Mass Effect trilogy. Then the Citadel only goes through a very minor cosmetic change halfway through the game, and they expect us, a society full of ADHD people, not to grow bored of the surroundings. We get to go to worlds we've always wanted to explore, like the Turian, Salarian, Quarian, Asari and Human home-worlds, but all of them are filled with waist high walls and they're all being blown up by Reapers and/or attacked by Cerberus. The missions are also relatively short, and we fail to really see anything unique about the planets. Further, ME3 has essentially eliminated the mini missions on random worlds, and the probe mechanic found in ME2. Instead, now you have to fly around each system evading the Reapers while you randomly scan for 2 or 3 of the interesting things, which are either small amounts of fuel or some random unexplained war asset on a planet. Then you get to play a few basic solo N7 missions on the limited number of Multiplayer maps. I understand that exploring Alien worlds isn't a priority in the middle of a war with a group of ancient synthetic/organic hybrid monster spaceships, but I missed this aspect that was hugely present in the previous games.
Related to the locations and explorations, I'm going to talk a little bit about the further development of the alien species you encounter. Sadly, we see very little new aspects of the previously introduced alien species, and no new aliens. One thing we do see is our first Krogan female, who is a very cool character, though the time spent with her is short. Also, you don't see too much of the Krogan woman, but this kind of makes sense when you consider the Krogan society. Once again, every other species' females are non-existent, I guess Bioware believes the Asari provide enough females for everyone. Also, I can explain away why we don't see many of the other races' females (though we probably should see them as refugees or scientists), but I find it weird that we don't see any Turian females. From Garrus' previous stories, it has been established that females can serve in their military and can compete with the best of the males (also they're apparently very flexible but don't have much reach). The one new design that Bioware were extremely successful in creating was that of the Prothean. They succeeded in looking like the Collectors and were just extremely cool. I loved even more the reality of what their culture was in comparison to what everyone had believed. The only problem is that for some reason Bioware decided to make this important and awesome character first-day DLC. Finally, the worst aspects of the new alien design in ME3 are the Quarians.
I either wanted Bioware to keep the Quarians faces secret, or I wanted a beautiful scene to show off Tali's true face, they even had the perfect situation when they are on her home planet of Rannoch. Instead Bioware was lazy, and they just had Tali give a picture to Shepard that he could keep in his cabin. This picture showed a poorly photo-shopped stock photo of a cute human woman that probably took an hour or two to make. Every single piece of Tali fan art I've seen is a hundred times better than what Bioware chose. Since Turians and Quarians are so closely related (same amino acid structure) then they would probably look more similar to each other instead of being human (except for some tattoos and different hands). Of course, they would be also be different in many ways (the Turian world experienced a lot of radiation which caused them to develop the armor plates) and there was something about the Quarians where they have a symbiosis with the plant life on their world, and because of this their immune systems weren't fully developed (this was then made worse by years and years spent on sterile space ships). Even if Bioware wanted a mostly human design to appease Tali fans (which there is some precedent for as the eyes and nose appear human behind the mask) I've seen much better humanoid designs for Tali. I mean it's a little strange where fans are more talented and spend more time creating images of a very important design than the official developer.
Here's where I'm going to stick a bunch of the random features in the game. I was a bit surprised by the complete elimination of mini-games in ME3, while they were all a little annoying before, instead of fixing them now they just removed them, and the doors/safes take a little longer to open, implying that you're automatically performing some type of hack or bypass. The reputation system is a much appreciated addition/adaptation, where you get standard reputation points for performing moral neutral actions, and every Paragon or Renegade point adds to your total. Because of this, players are no longer punished from not being an absolute character, and no matter you preference if you have enough reputation points both of the Paragon and Renegade conversation choices are unlocked. However, it is pretty goofy how the bar is filled up very early into the game, I was still getting lots of points, but there was no visual interpretation of the increase. I almost wish there was a bigger bar, or even a numerical presentation of all of your reputation points. Another new addition to this game is the War Assets and Effective Military Strength (EMS). I really liked this feature, as everything you've done in the Mass Effect series is represented here. However, once again the bar fills up incredibly early in the game. There's also some really disturbing about the EMS, and that's the aspect of Galactic Readiness, which can only be increased by playing multiplayer. So if you hate Co-op Multiplayer, or if you don't have enough money or the ability to have an Xbox Live Gold Membership, your Galactic Readiness is locked at 50%. This means that all of your War Assets will be halved for the EMF. So let's look at my level, I had 7245 points with a Galactic Readiness hovering around 100%. If I wouldn't have played Multiplayer, then I would have only had 3622 EMF points, which is enough to get the endings but is not enough to get the "best" ending. To put this in perspective, I played every mission available except for a few that glitched out on me. The only things that might have lowered my war assets, were that in ME1 I saved the Council, in ME2 I destroyed the Collector Base (even though for the story Cerberus still found most of it intact), and in ME3 I cured the Krogan Genophage which annoyed the Salarians. One other random thing, in ME3 you don't have someone like Kelly that will take care of your fish. The only option is to buy a crazy expensive Aquarium VI, and if you don't your fish will die, even if you feed them every chance you get. You'd think EDI would be able to monitor your fish tank for free, but I guess it'd be a little degrading considering her new role as a crew member on herself.
Now onto the last aspect of the game that isn't the story, and that is the newly added Co-op Multiplayer. I was initially concerned about this aspect of the game, but I've had a lot of fun playing with it. I did have a lot of problems with the EA servers the first couple of days though, and this was exasperated by the fact that you only get experience and credits by either successfully completing the mission, or by dying. I wish that the game would save your experience after each wave, especially when any expendable items you use before you disconnect are lost forever. After this I also glitched out a couple times, once I got stuck in a wall, but I was actually still able to kill a bunch of the enemies while some of them were unable to get me. Another time I glitched out during multiplayer, it was much worse and much weirder, where the whole stage was shaking like I was in the middle of an earthquake. Then while I was running, I ended up floating in the air for a few feet before falling through the floor (I actually have a video of it but it's kind of crappy since I couldn't find my camera and used my iPod). Sadly or thankfully, my team members were a capable bunch (even though it was a silver Reaper mission) and were able to beat the 10 waves, though it took like 20 minutes where I just had to float there in nothingness and wait. The even weirder thing was that I could damage some of the enemies with biotic powers, and the enemies were able to kill me. However, once I died I would immediately come back to life. Looking past the glitches, I love leveling up the different characters, and with a group of capable players the missions can be very fun. However, after a while I grew a little bored playing the missions, they're all just too similar. Then I worked really hard on maxing out the Vanguard branch, but when I hit level 20, to get the achievement I promoted the soldiers. This is a cool idea, but I wish there was more of a reward for this, or possibly the ability to still use the high level characters when attempting a Gold level mission, or at the very least a new character plus where they get an extra bonus so you're not starting from the very beginning of the character. The biggest problem I have with the multiplayer though is that EA decided to for the first time in a AAA console game to include a freemium pricing structure for the locked characters, weapons and items. I actually find this kind of offensive, as I could play the multiplayer for hours and get a random pack someone else could get immediately by shilling out two dollars. I especially have a problem with this pricing as you could spend two dollars on a pack, and get nothing you could use. If you're going to charge for items others could get by just playing the game, I think you should be able to pick items, although of course it would make it even more unfair for people that don't want to be tricked into paying for items that are already in the game. I think that the Multiplayer could be saved with a patch, and possibly more game modes than the 10 waves that always feature the play modes capture the flag, secure the base, head-hunt certain enemies, and kill everything moving. As it currently stands, I can't see this multiplayer establishing a consistent faithful base for anything nearing long term.
Now, I can finally get to the aspect of the game that had me the most upset/frustrated, and that is the story. From here on in, warning, there be major spoilers ahead. Right from the start of the game the story is goofy. A minute after our first look at the ME universe's Earth, the Reapers attack, not giving the player any time to acclimate to the game. Then a little later (after a goofy child's death that will haunt Shepard for the rest of the game) you are introduced to the game's one and only plot device, blueprints for an all-powerful weapon designed but not completed by the Protheans, called the Crucible. This is just so generic and out of the blue, it doesn't make any sense, but I was ok with playing along. You then have a mission involving each of the previous ME game's characters, some small and some large. The developers then proceed to kill off two of my favorite characters in these missions, Mordin and Thane. However, I can accept their deaths, especially since it was established previously that both of them were near death (old age and lung disease respectively) and both of them were done very well, they had good deaths. I admit that I felt serious emotion with both of them, and I may or may not have cried through the whole hospital scene.
I have a lot of problems with the development of Cerberus as the main antagonist in a game about the Reapers. I understand that Bioware wanted to provide different enemies to face, and I admit that their AI and designs are excellent. However, I don't understand how Cerberus became so powerful. Every time you see them they're a step ahead of you, even when you kill hundreds or thousands of their heavily armed and trained troops. Later they kind of explain this by establishing that they created a refugee Sanctuary that was actually a Human harvesting and indoctrination factory, but it still doesn't quite add up. I didn't love Cerberus in ME2, and things they've done had always been on the border of indecency and terrorism, but it usually seemed to be in Humanity's best interest. However, in ME3 they're all crazy and doing absolutely horrible incomprehensible things, Bioware tries to say it's all because TIM has been slowly indoctrinated and he's now under control of the Reapers, but I never really thought they successfully established this. Probably the goofiest Cerberus plot line is the coup of the Citadel, which made absolutely zero sense. They somehow gained control of Udina (who while being a douche bag didn't have any connections to Cerberus and had no reason to betray the rest of the Council) and managed to infiltrate the Citadel which is supposed to be the safest and most guarded place in the Galaxy (they even again said they upgraded the security). Then they for some reason wanted to assassinate the entire council, for reasons that are never explained.
Up until around halfway through the game, I didn't love the story, but I was in love with the game and having a lot of fun playing it. I mean the actual story for ME2 was pretty basic and goofy, but I still absolutely loved the game. Then, after the previously mentioned Cerberus coup of the Citadel, I received the first realization that Bioware might not care about their fans, or that they might possibly even hate us. Previously in the Citadel, you met up and talked to Kelly Chambers in the refugee camp. There was a great little scene where after asking if she wants to rejoin the Normandy, she describes the horror she experienced on the Collector ship, and that she can't be on the Normandy as it reminds her of what she faced. Instead, she's helping the refugees coming into the Citadel. I loved this little interaction, and I thought it was great fan service for people that liked Kelly. Then after the coup, when walking around the refugee camp you hear two people talking and they basically say "Have you seen that red headed woman who was helping out so much?" "You didn't hear? A Cerberus soldier came up asking if she was Kelly Chambers, and after she said yes he just shot her in the head." "Huh, I guess if Cerberus asks you if you're someone, you should just say no." "Hah hah hah." This was a character I spent the whole of ME2 talking to and growing to care about, and Bioware decided to kill her off so disrespectfully and unnecessarily, I was just absolutely horrified. I wished I could have never heard that conversation, but no, it will now always be in my brain.
After this point, everything was ok, not perfect but I pretty much enjoyed all of the events and there were some truly awesome kickass scenes (I loved the fight where you called on the mother of all Thresher Maws and the brokering of peace between the Quarians and Geth), until the final battle to retake Earth. The whole strategy for retaking Earth was a little goofy, but I didn't mind it too much. There was also a great area where before the final battle you walk around the camp and talk to all of your party members, and you can even call and talk to the previous game's characters that aren't playable in ME3. The conversations are a little short, but I enjoyed all of them. Then after fighting for a while, you get to the beam to take you to the Citadel (Which was overtaken by the Reapers without any explanation of how & you can assume billions of people were killed) and everything breaks apart in a million pieces. You know the developer did something wrong when fan created explanations/interpretations make more sense than what we were actually given (The most logical being that the whole Citadel sequence was an indoctrinated dream). Other people have more succinctly examined and explained all of the different problems and plot holes, so I won't go too in depth here. Nevertheless, you are apparently hit by the Reaper's laser beam that destroys everything it touches, but here you only get some melted armor and a beat up face. You also receive a very powerful heavy pistol with unlimited ammo that you use to kill the Reaper creations between you and the teleportation beam. When you get to the beam and are transported to the Citadel, somehow both the Illusive Man and Anderson beat you to the main room. There's this whole thing where somehow TIM is able to control your body and make you shoot Anderson, but you are able to break control and kill TIM.
After ascending the elevator to the merged Crucible and Citadel console, a God-like AI in the form of the dead child from Earth appears. Here, Bioware for some reason decides to give you more questions instead of providing the player with any answers. The God-child says that the Reapers are his answer to the problem that Synthetic life (pure order) will eventually completely wipe out all Organic life (pure chaos). Basically, the Reapers were created to save Organic life from Synthetics by murdering and harvesting every developed race each 50,000 years (A synthetic being created hybrids to kill organics to save them from being killed by synthetics). Through this whole interaction, Shepard acts completely subjugated and accepts everything the child says as absolute truth. You are finally given three options, you can control the Reapers (presented as the blue or Paragon choice even though it was represented by TIM, who was at least a Renegade character), you could destroy the Reapers along with all synthetic life (presented as the red or Renegade choice even though it was represented by Anderson, who was absolutely a Paragon character), or you could take the third option which would merge all organic and synthetic life (presented by no one, but this is obviously the choice that the God-child AI wants). Then, no matter what choice you make, as long as your war assets are beyond a very small level, Shepard dies, the Reapers leave Earth or are destroyed, every Mass Relay is destroyed (hopefully in a way different than what was seen in the Arrival DLC or entire systems might have been wiped out of existence), and the Normandy (After Joker apparently flees the battle on Earth) just barely escapes the blast and crash lands on an Eden-like planet, with characters that were just with you rushing the beam somehow being magically transported to the Normandy.
Then that's it, the game is over except for a ridiculous conversation featuring a star-child and an old man taking place in a forest that resembles the one in Shepard's dream (and a flash of Shepard taking a breath if you had enough EMS and chose to destroy the Reapers). Oh, also there's an insulting message telling you to buy the future DLC Bioware releases, and you're set up back on the Normandy before the raid on the Cerberus base. I literally walked all around the Normandy trying to talk to everyone, and it felt like I was in a different dimension, it was just so weird and awkward. The only real difference between the three endings is the color of the beam the Crucible emits and the explosion that follows. When faced with the choice, I watched each ending on Youtube, and decided on the Green/Synthesis ending. Partly because it was the weirdest, but mostly because Edi and Joker embrace in that end, and if I had to die & the universe had to be irreversibly changed (most likely leading to many of the stranded races on Earth dying of starvation and never seeing their homes or loved ones) at least someone could find some happiness in this ending.
So why am I and almost every Mass Effect fan outraged at the ending"s" Bioware gave us? (In one poll found on the official Mass Effect forums 91% of around 60,000 fans hated the ending and wants Bioware to change it completely, and 6% still wanted the ending slightly adjusted). First and foremost, the ending is so bleak and depressing, that there is no opportunity for happiness or even a sense of accomplishment that should come with beating a video game. I've never before played a game that punished me for beating it. Then there are so many plot holes with weird and abrupt revelations that make no sense. However, the biggest problem with the ending is that no choice that you made in all three games has any bearing on the outcome. As long as your Shepard didn't die in ME2 and you have the minimum amount of war assets or EMS in ME3 you get the same ending as someone that worked hard in each Mass Effect game and created their perfect Shepard story, maxing out all of the meters, doing all of the missions. I wouldn't have liked any ending where Shepard dies, but I could have accepted it if it was well done and provided closure, instead of just appearing to be the crumpled pieces of paper that a writer with any talent would have thrown into the trash.
The prevailing sense of hopelessness despair and depression was never before found in the Mass Effect games. Even though you faced suicide missions, if you did everything right only one of your | video-games_xbox |
Yo, dawg, Slim is a little pitchy for me. First of all, as an owner of all the big 3 gaming systems this generation and last, the Xbox and Xbox 360 get my vote for "Best Video Game Consoles of the Last Decade" in terms of the over-the-top FUN, game-playing ease (on & offline), killer-graphics & sound, and the highest quality and variety of exclusive games.
If you've never owned an Xbox, now is the time to jump in! For around $300, you get practically everything you need for two players to have infinite fun! In addition, Amazon.com has great deals on Xbox 360 games from $10 to $20 on factory-sealed games that are only a year or two old.
Pros of the Xbox 360 Slim:
* It really is whisper quiet.
* Better heat ventillation system. Safeguard mechanism to shut down before overheating.
* Semi-Internal 250 GB Hard Drive (different from the past 360 models)
* Built-in Wireless Modem
* Built-in Kinect Port for controller-less gaming coming this Nov. 2010
* Sleek, sexy, glossy-black finish on console that is smaller than its predicessors.
Cons of 360 Slim:
* Although it has the brand new Valhalla chip, the proven Jasper chip in the Elite bundles runs cooler (such as in the Limited Modern Warefare 2, Resident Evil 5, Splinter Cell:Conviction, and the Final Fantasy XIII Bundles). All have gigantic 250 GB hard drives with seemingly endless memory for storing games, videos, and music.
Here's my take, the latest Jasper-chipped 360 Elites were finally perfected, ran very cool & quiet, had the lowest incidents of Red Ring of Death from overheating, and an awesome 3-year warranty. The new Slims have taken one step backwards in that the game discs get much hotter. So, if you are looking for an Xbox 360 Elite for a your first Xbox 360 or just as a backup, I would highly recommend getting The Final Fantasy XIII Bundle with the free $50 FFXII facelate (my personal recommendation at $299) while you can because they have discontinued production of everything, but the Xbox 360 Slims.
My bottom line suggestion is to get the proven Jasper Elite while you still can, but you certainly won't be disappointed by the Xbox Slim. I just wish Xbox would have given us the choice of the new Slim design or the slightly larger Jasper Elites. Whatever you decide, HAPPY GAMING, you won't regreat buying an Xbox 360 as your primary gaming system! Nintendo Wii and PS3 aren't bad machines, just less fun than the Xbox 360 in my opinion from a veteran gamer who remembers when pinball machines and pong games ruled the arcades. | video-games_xbox |
Quantum of Solace is to Casino Royale as RE5 is to RE4. With the exception of the mini-game called Mercenaries and the hand-to-hand finishing moves, Resident Evil 5 is a downgrade of the series in almost everyway. While Resident Evil 4 may not have been a straight up horror game, it did have a lot of elements that spooked the heebie-jeebies out of people (my sister stopped playing the game when she saw a women's head pitchforked upon a wall of a shack -- I rest my case). But Resident Evil 5 took out all the dwindling horror that Resident Evil was losing and made it a straight-up shooter, a bad one at that. Resident Evil 4 wasn't a great shooter, but the elements of horror, scenery and sense of dread - along with a pretty compelling story - made up for a little things such as: you can't move and fire (and come on, nobody complained), and . . . well, there aren't many other criticisms about Resident Evil 4 because it was a satisfying game and story; it was a movie that you could play. Now, the ugly younger brother, Resident Evil 5, came along. A different creative director - the dude who did Lost Planet one and two (makes sense, right? noooot). I have written lists among lists of a-z of just creative gameplay elements that totally ruined the game - things that I, as a fan were given control over, wouldn't have done if I had the power (if you're wondering what those things are, just ask and I will show you the light); and then the story, a total bore, a total letdown. We're talking Matrix to Matrix Revelations here people. Bad, bad, bad.
I am not a hater of Resident Evil 4. I'm not one of those early fanboys who just can't wrap their brains around ganados. I think that ganados were refreshing when I played RE4. So, when I give this game a 2/5, it's not because I'm afraid to like new things; nor am I going to blindly like this game because it's a Resident Evil game. This game is flawed and it's not imaginative. If CAPCOM took the top 10 Resident Evil fans of good taste and ask them 10 things they want to see in a sequel and what they don't want - they wouldn't be able to make a bad game. But the problem is that the creative director and the producers of this game just shut their minds and ignored the fans. And I'm not talking story so much as I am gameplay (although the story is worst of all).
What made ganados so memorable is the fact that they actually did things before attacking you; they worked in fields, they pretended to be human. In Resident Evil 5, the Majini were just on you like bees to honey. There was no interaction (barely) with non-infected. There was no John Carpenter's The Thing-esque paranoia of who's infected and who's not - something fan's like me have been hoping for for years! There's just nothing at stake in the story to care about (until they screwed up the franchise then we care too much in a negative way!)
I already stated the pros, now here are the cons:
1) Wesker's spunky personality and supernatural abilities beyond realism.
2) The straightforwardness of the campaign - no RPG elements, no point in exploring.
3) No typewriters (that's an important element to the series regardless of how silly it is!)
4) The weapon inventory!
5) The stage select screen (Resident Evil should be a story from beginning to end, this new feature allows players to overplay some levels more than others - and quite frankly, I see why - because some levels just aren't fun!)
6) No merchant.
7) Bad AI.
8) Co-op makes the game far too simple; Resident Evil should have the option to be single player (without AI partner).
9) There's no weight of decisions you make (at least Resident Evil 4 made you think you made differences by freeing that wolf and so forth).
10) *spoiler* Ricardo Irving's mutation alone was almost enough for me to stop playing the game. Matter must come from something other than thin air. Jack Krauser's mutation made sense because he was muscular and it was understandable that he was hiding something inside him; Ricardo Irving just turns into a huge sea creature in a matter of seconds (and how did the plagas know he was on a boat?)
11) The unsatisfied death of Spencer.
12) *spoiler* the unsatisfied death of Wesker.
13) The conclusion and the plot holes that explain Wesker's existence and strength.
14) There's no survival horror.
15) The only time a vehicle is used the game was On-Rails.
16) It was almost as if Paul W.S. Anderson was the creative director . . . that pretty much sums everything else.
The cons just go on forever and ever I'm sorry to say.
Resident Evil is the scariest game of all time; Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest games of all time; and this . . . this was a mistake and CAPCOM are falling on their sword because they won't own up to their mistake and change the course of the franchise.
I recommend this game to a non-Resident Evil fan who likes Gears of War. It's kind of like the Quantum of Solance; it would be a good action movie if it wasn't the follow up to Casino Royale. Sometimes sequels need to live up to their predeccesors, or they shouldn't be made at all. | video-games_xbox |
A Straightforward Zombie-Killing Game. This was one of the launch titles to welcome the next generation of gaming to the world. Depending on what your expectations were, this game was a win or a fail. In my opinion, it was win. Let me share why.
First, I am a zombie fan and like anything to do with zombies, though I certainly am not so wrapped up that I think anything that is produced with zombies is good. I played Dead Rising 1 and 2 casually and was often frustrated with the ticking clock moving what I thought was too quickly to allow me to digest the scenery. That issue has been resolved with this iteration.
There is a ticking clock, but it ticks much more generously. The developers clearly wanted the player to have an opportunity to explore and see the updated graphics in full display. You can't do that if you're killing yourself trying to make mission progress. I truly explored every crevice that I could find in here: different stores, the underground, buildings, and bridges. Win.
Second, the sandbox has been increased substantially. While the previous iterations had a more than respectable amount of room for the character to move and explore, this installment places the protagonist in a full-on city, one that he can explore different neighborhoods or boroughs. Each part of the city is distinct, with winding roads, back alleys, and different buildings. I can see why the timer was slowed. The gamer would have issues trying to meet the deadline for completion when he/she had to travel all over the city to complete quests. Win.
Third, the graphics are definitely better than previous installments. Are the graphics substantially better? That's moot. For me, I definitely noticed improvements in body details, scars, and blood splatters. I will acknowledge, however, that the graphics aren't so improved that someone would walk away in awe. This is a launch title and, frankly, doesn't fully understand how to draw on the Xbox One's raw power. This has always been the case at the outset of a system's lifecycle. Games will graphically improve as time progresses. (Compare Dead Rising 1 to 2.)
What makes the graphics shine is the number of independent zombies that the developers fit on the screen at any given time. I cannot underscore that there are a lot of them. While driving down the street, if you look ahead, you will see a street full of them, moving independently and in different states of awareness about where you are. Sometimes you have to drive through them, at which point you can really feel the number of them. Your car will slow down dramatically as it runs over more and more of them, and it will eventually explode from too much damage running over such a high number of zombies.
And the zombies aren't just on the streets. They're in buildings, on roofs, sometimes inside cars, coming out of the sewers--just everywhere. This is where the game shines; it pulls from the some of the power of the Xbox One to populate that many zombies at once. It really is a sight to behold. Win.
Third, the number of weapons that you can use or craft to create combinations or even super combinations is truly impressive. At my count, there were more than 100 variations. You can practically kill zombies with anything in this game. What I found interesting was the types of weapons you end up with when you create combos. More than being effective, a lot of them are downright hilarious to use. Spoiler: There's a combo weapon that allows you to shoot sex toys at zombies--and kill them with it. Win.
Some less-than-stellar aspects of the game are the tendency for gameplay to be repetitive. Yes, there are literally thousands of zombies running amok, and yes, you have more than 100 weapon options to kill and maim your zombie enemies, but it gets old after about an hour of playing. I suppose that is to be expected. If you have 400 zombies coming at you (a real possibility in this game), you can only kill so many of them uniquely. Still, this was a detractor for me.
Another issue that I didn't like was the fact that, for a next-generation system, there were still instances in which you randomly fall through a floor or building. Sometimes, objects go right through you or non-playable characters. A lot of the non-playable characters' movements were not realistic, such as when they're getting into a vehicle with you. Sometimes they'll be far from the vehicle and magically just appear in it. When you spend $500 on a system and another $60 on a game, you really don't expect or are happy seeing this. Detractor.
In summary, this was a pretty good, but not perfect, game. I didn't walk into it with expectations of visual or gameplay perfection. I got just what I was looking for: a fun game that is representative of the power and possibilities of the Xbox One. | video-games_xbox |
Worst Connectivity Issues, Bad design and User Interface - Don't Purchase. This headset was given to me for my birthday from my wife. I do 3-4 hours of FPS gaming every night so I do use it a lot. After using this headset for a year now, I have to say I will probably never buy another Turtle Beach product again. This has been hands down one of THE most unreliable headsets that I have ever owned. I've owned a Triton and an Xbox wireless headset before and NONE have been this frustrating. I'm a 46 year old professional that has had some time working in consumer product marketing and worked on usability software and hardware testing in my past life so I know a little about usability. This is a horribly designed product!
The hardware itself is well built and the materials like the ear cups have held up well over time with minimal wear and breakage but I do take very good care of this headset. The sound buttons on the outside are not raised or marked in anyway so if you want to change the tone, sound field or chat volume you have to take the headset off. Kind of a pain if you're in the middle of a heated multiplayer match!
What has been a true nightmare is the intermittent connectivity issues. I will go weeks where I have to unplug the xbox chat dongle on the handset controller every time I start up the Xbox. I can hear others speaking but then cannot speak myself. The only way to remedy this is to unplug the dongle and plug it back in and push the button. Other issues are bluetooth connectivity issues where I have to reconnect the headset to the bluetooth box, the wireless xbox chat dongle turning itself off in the middle of the game. This will persist for weeks then all of a sudden "fix" itself only to manifest again a few hours, days, weeks, months later. And THE MOST aggravating part of the headset is when the battery starts to run down this incessant beeping starts and the frequency between the beeps gets shorter and shorter. There is no way to override this beeping on the headset that I am aware of. So if you're in the middle of the game you have to plug it in or you'll completely go crazy listening to this very loud "BEEP! BEEP!" that won't stop.
For what my wife paid for this headset, there should have been better technology and user friendliness baked into the product. The hardware user interface is poor and the connectivity issues should have been resolved during prototype testing. This is a terrible product; Stay away from it! Next time I'm going back to Triton or finding something else. | video-games_xbox |
F***ing Amazing. I had the x41's prior to these. I didn't really see the point of upgrading unless I had extra money to burn. Instead of burning it, I went ahead and bought these, I always wanted to just hear the foot steps of my opponents. I wanted to get more bass without pushing back treble. I thought the sound quality will be a slight step up. Oh man was i wrong. It is a night and day difference. My 41's did not do games justice at all. Before I got the headset i was thinking about sending them back if it didn't have that much better sound quality. The only thing i regret is not getting these sooner. I made my own bass boost since the presets are better than the old ones but not what i wanted. I can tell you....it is amazing. if you keep having a problem where voices are not heard well then just turn up the mid 1-2-3 areas.
As for the build quality.....bested yet again. The headset is nice and firm. It hugs your head so when you look down at the floor it can't fall off. The pads are amazingly soft and breath really well. My 41's would make me sweat (very little), but these i have never had a problem wearing them for hours. The stand does a way better job of using a frequency that doesn't imediately act with a wireless router. My stand sits about 3-4 feet from my router and i don't get a single pop. I haven't heard one since i owned the set. Which is better than my 41's (popping once an hour or so). If you are an adult then the headset should fit really nice on your head. These are adult headphones, not for kids so don't expect it to fit on your kids head that is under the age of 13.
I'm couldn't be happier with the head set. I'm a big audiophile and it is going to take me forever to get everything dialed into the last perfect setting, but it has been amazing so far. Also the mic is pretty stiff. you put it in the area you want and it doesn't move. It stays right where you want it to be. the 41's kind of did that but it moves a half inch or so back the direction it was pushed. Not so for these. once it is moved it stays until you move it to another spot.
Pros: build,sound,comfortable,programmable,dual bluetooth pairing,7.1,battery life,stiff mic,more i'm forgetting
con:???....um....footstep mastery preset doesn't really bring out the sound of footsteps???...seriously I have nothing to hate. | video-games_xbox |
Fine, as long as you color within the lines. Assassin's Creed III is the single worst AAA game I've ever purchased. The graphics are phenomenal aside from some minor shadow and texture quirks. The controls are good and generally responsive; occasionally Connor/Desmond will try to do something unintended due to the parkour trigger handling obstacles automatically. The story is flat out boring inside the Animus and only slightly more interesting outside of it. Luckily story and graphics are two of the least important parts of a fun game. Unfortunately, fun is something ACIII lacks.
What really killed the game for me was the absolute piss-poor game design choices made by the development team. Missions are pass or fail based on very black and white rules. A good example would be an early mission where you have to sneak into a stronghold and spy without being caught. If you are caught, the mission restarts at the beginning ignoring any progress you have made. Once you understand how the developers meant for you to complete the mission, it becomes very easy. A better and more logical approach would be to either loosen the rules on the mission and let users complete it in their own way or add some freaking checkpoints.
Another problem with the game is the sheer stupidity of being a one man murder machine. Last I checked, assassins were ninja-like killers who only fought face to face when they absolutely had to. When I completed my play-through I had nearly 800 kills, most obtained from fights. I don't think anyone could finish this game with less than 100 kills even if they wanted to; if they could, it would probably be a very frustrating play-through. This leads to the real problem with a game that has the word "assassin" in the title.
Ubisoft seems to have given up on stealth completely, replacing it with a mediocre "you attack, then I attack" combat focus. Enemies still attack one at a time with a random 2 man scripted attack thrown in to make you feel cool. Combat retains the same tried and true counter system as other games, though I think it requires less buttons (been a while since I played ACII). In some areas enemies re-spawn infinitely. so you can easily go on for an hour fighting, if you so desire.
Another problem with the minimal stealth system that is present is that once you get your wanted level up to 3, it's damn near impossible to go anywhere without the entire city being alerted. You can't talk to the town criers until the alarm goes away; if you are just hiding in a hay bale the second you step out, the morons are on you again. Sure, you can run around pulling down wanted posters, but those seem to be few and far between; either that or they are not marked well.
The one true redeeming quality as far as the ACIII gameplay is concerned are the awesome naval battles. Ubisoft could make an entire game based on the naval battles. Nothing is more satisfying than making ships explode with a well placed volley of cannon-ball fire. I have never seen naval warfare executed this well and I hope Ubisoft takes this ball and runs with it.
Overall, fans of the series will cream themselves playing this game. I really wanted to like ACIII because the time period is freaking awesome, but the design problems kept my frustration high. I give this game a ** instead of * for the awesome naval moments. Everything else is mostly forgettable. Anyone that thought the other games were just OK (like me) should avoid this poorly designed, pretty, mess of a game and check out Dishonored instead. | video-games_xbox |
Brunswick Pro Bowling for the Kinect. I waited several months in anticipation for this games release. I had the Wii version which was really bad, but Crave promised this one would be better. Let me say it is NOT. If anything, it is worse than the Wii version. Let me explain why.
1. The Kinect controls are absolutely terrible. It is not the Kinect sensor at fault here. It is the code written to use the Kinect sensor that is bad. The controls are truly unstable. It is very difficult to lock the cursor on any control. The cursor moves away from the target without any hand movement at all.
2. There are very few options. You have to tell the game which hand the bowler will use, every time you start up a new game. If you check the bowler profile, it knows which hand the bowler uses, but still Crave makes you select which hand the bowler will use.
There should be an option to skip the NPC player / players. The way it is now, you have to select each and every time the NPC bowls whether to skip his play display. I should be able to tell the game up front which NPCs I don't want to watch bowl.
There should be a saved setup that determines which bowlers are NPC bowlers. The way it is now you have to set that at the beginning of each new play session.
3. The Wii version told you each time your bowler increased his stats. The Kinect version does not tell you anything. Each time I check the bowlers stats they are unchanged, so it appears they do not even change, which means you are doomed to bowl the same lousy way every time you bowl.
3. The targeting is just terrible. It does not seem to matter where you aim, the ball is going to roll where it will. It often will go to one side or the other, sometimes directly at the 4 pin or the 6 pin.
4. Lastly, this game is not fun. You would think the Crave devs would understand, if a game is not fun, people will not buy it.
The xbox 360 provides a method for publishers to patch their code. I certainly hope Crave reads these reviews and will attempt to fix their game. Until that happens I would recommend not buying this game. I think you will be disappointed as was I.
I will wait and see if they do patch the game to make it better. If that happens I will change this review. | video-games_xbox |
The best Xbox 360 game I've played. This game is outstanding. It is beyond polished and you can tell the developers took their time to create a wonderful gaming experience.
Singleplayer:
The single player is well done. It's not extremely long but if you play at a reasonable difficulty matching your skills it will be fulfilling. In length it's no worse than most other first-person shooter games on the market. The visuals are terrific and the frame rate stays locked at 60 frames per second no matter what is going on. The levels are diverse and exciting to play through. Most levels allow a bit of flexibility in your style of play and the routes you take. If you find a particular course of action too difficult you can always try a different approach. The enemy AI is quite good with enemies taking cover and using their various tools in their attempt to take you down. Your team mates are equally intelligent taking cover in a similar way and manage to avoid feeling like nothing more than fodder. The campaign is good enough that a few play-throughs are worth your time with lots of hidden enemy intel items to collect as well as a timed score mode.
Multiplayer:
This is the most fun I've had in a multiplayer game since Battlefield 1942. The amount of unlockable items is immense. Upping your rank won't take an inordinate amount of time as it does in other games. A decent player will rank up every hour or so of gameplay. The weapons are very balanced and there are none which seem "cheap". You can be as successful with a starting weapon as you can be with a weapon you unlock down the road. It is a game of skill rather than simply an exercise in seeing who has the highest total time investment. Weapon perks are unlocked based on your usage of that weapon. If you favor a particular firearm you will get the goodies associated with that weapon. This helps avoid the feeling that you're accomplishing nothing when using your favorite weapon type. There are a cavalcade of game modes to keep you busy and their are broken down in an meaningful way. There's no need to fret over any of the game modes which can be selected in your desired play list since they are specific enough in their criteria to keep you interested. Rooms are persistent so there's no need to constantly search for a game over and over again. The maps are excellent and well laid out for fun play. No map seems overly biased for either team. There aren't any "filler" maps which make you groan when they pop up in the rotation. The ability to shoot through various objects such as certain walls or crates adds a bit of flair to the excitement. The graphics are just as strong in the multiplayer as it is in the campaign.
The bottom line:
Buy this game. This is jammed packed with loads of content which will keep you coming back for more. It's a nearly flawless execution of a modern game. Don't avoid this game just because it seems like "more of the same". It adds plenty of twists and turns make it a fresh experience; unlike any other you've experienced before. I'm rather critical of games so my endorsement is not something I give out easily. This game more than exceeds the hype. Missing out on Call of Duty 4 would be a huge mistake. Buy it! | video-games_xbox |
Portable Profile or Live Problems. So I just got UFC Trainer and did my first workout. I am actually still supposed to be working out now, but my XBox froze at the end of my workout so I am currently waiting as I try my luck installing it directly to the hard drive and starting over. Seems like it may not like my profile being on a memory stick because I noticed when the game hesitates for about 10 seconds (at least once during every exercise) the Sandisk xbox360 USB flash drive flashes. I would imagine if you are not using a flash drive you will probably be fine and to be fair, I have not seen enough of the game yet to know if it is any good. I do know that the repetitive comments during the warm up were getting really annoying quickly. I found myself trying to guess which of the three comments he would say next instead of focusing on the exercise at hand. Game install completed... Giving it another go. Wish me luck.
Update... I have been working out with UFC Trainer every day now since I got it (working on the 30 day program) And it has not frozen up since I installed it to the hard drive (I Hope it stays that way). Main complaint so far is the repetitive scripted dialogue and the short workouts that force you to do the same stretching routine over and over again when you do multiple workouts. If you had the ability to skip stretching it would be better. You can create your own custom workout if you like, but that also has forced stretching. I understand stretching is important, but not every 20 minutes, same stretches, same annoying dialogue. It does not even track movement during warm up or cool down, but you do have to at least be standing there or the game will pause. Also, if you step out of frame for 2 seconds, like to grab a dumbbell, or glance out the window, it stops the game instantly so you have to get recognized all over again unlike "YourShape Fitness" which gives you a few seconds to grab stuff. The game allows you to enter the weight of your dumbbells (if you choose to use them), but it goes from 0-50 in a slow to fast scroll, making it hard to stop on the correct weight. A voice option for weight choice would have been smarter. For multiple sets It does remember the weight you use for each exercise after the initial input, but only until you finish THAT workout because you have to do again for the first set of your next workout. All in all, the game is a pretty good workout, but it is also annoying as hell and seems unfinished. Raising from two stars to three since I have not had any freezing since day 2.
My favorite is when it has you do the very first stretch... Arm circles, and it follows with the trainer saying: "Your heart should really be pumping now!" Really?
Update 2... OK, I discovered if you want to string together say three workouts (because they are individually so short) and you are sick of doing the mandatory stretching before EVERY workout you can hang a towel in front of the kinect it will think you are standing there (since it does not care to track movement during warm up and cool down) and you can go shave, check your Email, and maybe eat a Snickers bar while the game goes through the same 5 or so stretches with your towel. Then just pick up when the actual workout begins. Hardly inconvenient :) And game did completely freeze on me again so back to 2 stars since I have to hang a towel all over again. | video-games_xbox |
Time to dance. After having played the 2 previous Just Dance games (a lot!), I was extremely excited to find out that Just Dance 3 was coming to the Kinect as well. Here is a quick summary of my feelings about the game: I don't consider myself the best dancer, but it's hard to not have a great time on this game! It's very easy to hop in, and Just Dance 3 is great for any age. You can't help but smile when you play! :D
Favorite Parts:
"Just Create" Mode: The first time I saw this was at San Diego Comic Con, and they were demoing it on a stage. After I saw this, I knew I had to get this game. The "Freestyle" part is so fun, and it makes getting it on the Kinect completely worth it. Basically, someone gets to "record" a dance, and then you can challenge your friends to try and dance to it. It's really easy to use this part of the game, and adds a completely different and exciting dynamic to the Just Dance series.
Song Selection: I've always been a fan of the song choices on the other Just Dance games, but I especially enjoy the ones on Just Dance 3. I've probably played "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO and "Pump It" from The Black Eyed Peas a million times. There is songs for everyone!
Multiplayer: I love the fact that I can play this game with multiple people, and the Kinect picks up everyone's moves really well. It's a great party game, and I think this is one of the best parts of Just Dance 3. They also have "Duet" songs so that there are multiple moves going for each player. They seem a bit more challenging, but are really exciting.
"Just Sweat" Mode: This game actually makes working out fun, and was one of the main reasons I picked up this game! There is something about having a good time, and knowing that you're toning up at the same time. Since you're also doing this in your own home, you don't have to worry about getting embarrassed if you get into the game a little too much! Instead of having to pay for a gym membership that I barely use, I just put in Just Dance 3. Also, if you have kids - I can see this being a great way to tire them out! You don't have to use the Just Sweat mode for them, but it's a good way to get them moving.
There is a lot more awesome aspects to the game, but I don't want to ruin the surprises for you! I definitely suggest picking this game up, and giving it a try. It's easily my favorite Kinect game, and it totally made the Kinect purchase worth it. I've tried other dance games on the Kinect, but Just Dance 3 is easily my favorite. | video-games_xbox |
Awesome game that stays intresting through out the game. Bash the zombies or avoid them your choice. I thought that this game was fantastic. I was a little on the fence as to weather to give this a 4 or a 5 but, since there isn't a 4.5 option I went with a 5. So for all intents consider this review a 4.5. Early on in the game there is a steep learning curve for the parkour but, once you learn the system and put some skill points into the agility tree it becomes second nature. There even is a skill for using a zombie as a jumping platform. So cool. Also early in the game the melee combat (power tree) is a bit cumbersome. Again though once you bash enough zombie skulls and level up your power and survival skills you will become a zombie bashing machine. At higher levels the weapons become so much better. The weapon system lets you repair them just a few times early on with low level weapons. Later on at higher levels you can repair them more times and can also craft upgrades to them for further zombie bashing efficiency. The game uses the now seemingly standard color system for identifying weapon strength. You are rewarded for exploration and collecting stuff for crafting. The containers are mostly random with what they contain for the most part. And you can expect better leveled items the harder the lock is. Lock picking is pretty much borrowed from the fallout series. The loot system also uses the color system identifying the better crafting materials. As the games name suggests the stakes are much higher as night falls upon you. Points are doubled for power and agility. And the zombies are much more aggressive. Also a new much tougher and faster zombie is introduced known as Volatiles. These bad guys are vulnerable to UV light but not much else and are better avoided, as you can get quickly overwhelmed even at higher levels. Surviving the night awards players with a lot of survival points so it's definitely worth the risk. Dying in this game really sucks taking away many of your hard earned survival points. The storyline is engaging and never gets boring. There are plenty of side quests to complete and random survivors to help out along with plenty of the main antagonists minions to be dealt with. All these provide the player with survival points. All in all this is a quality game that won't get boring and is well worth the price tag what ever it may be. Even new. | video-games_xbox |
Absolutely Don't Die. Magna Carta 2 starts out with a man named Juto suddenly washing up on Highwind island shore one day. Juto has lost his memory and has no idea who he is, the villagers of Highwind island take him in as one of their own and a lady named Melissa takes Juto in as family and trains him how to fight to defend the island, although for some reason holding a real sword scares the daylights out of him. Life on the island is very peaceful until something is uncovered on the island that is of great importance towards the two armies involved in a civil war, from here on out Juto's life changes drastically due to the tides of war.
That is the basic premise of Magna Carta 2, it should be noted that Magna Carta 2 has absolutely nothing to do with Magna Carta: Tears of Blood, the only thing shared here is the name. Magna Carta 2 does borrow heavily from other RPG's of the past (Last Remnant, FF7, FF8, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery to name a few) but what is does borrow from other RPG's is the good stuff and it melds them together nicely in Magna Carta 2, the story told here is fairly good and it kept me interested all the way through. Magna Carta 2 is a fairly long game, taking me about 38 hours to complete the main story itself, if I would have done side quests (I'm not one for side quests) it probably would have tacked on an additional 5 or so hours. The one thing that kind of ticked me off was that items in Magna Carta 2 are expensive, 1 healing item in the last parts of the game is going to run you $3000! Selling old equipment is almost a waste of time as you get next to nothing for them in return, this lead me to fight monster after monster to get enough healing items to go further in the story, and trust me, your going to want extra healing items, especially early on in the game as you will go through them fast when your doing plot progressing battles, and you usually only get one chance on the field to buy healing items (usually at the start of the map, when you should be getting a chance at the middle or end of it) Overall I probably was probably grinding for money at least 6 hours total, no biggie, but healing items should not be so expensive. One thing Magna Carta 2 does well is it gives you plenty of save points and is generally fairly forgiving if you don't have enough items (it will let you run back to the end of the map to buy some more items, the enemies respawn after a certain amount time though, so you have to run back to your last save point while taking hit.
Graphics in Magna Carta 2 are for the most part, great, there are some rather murky textures on some of the NPC's and later on in the game you will get a little bit of that Last Remnant style texture loading (although not to the same extent, you will only get it on the ground textures) Gameplay is Magna Carta 2 is very fun, its done in an action style and is fast paced, you have a stamina meter and if you let it fill up all the way you will go into overdrive, here your attack power is doubled, once you fill up your overdrive gauge you will over heat, once this happens you can chain your attack with another character and do the same thing, if you can overheat your other character with a special attack before the other character recovers from overheat than both stamina gauges will be fully recharged, this is called a chain break, this adds some strategy to the game, if you fail to chain break correctly you will have 2 characters unable to act- this can prove very fatal in a boss battle. The characters in Magna Carta 2 were (to me anyway) Like able, there are no little kids in this game and the characters designs are amazing. The voice actors tend to do a good job and Juto is voiced by my favorite voice actor, Johnny Young Bosch, he generally does very convincing acting in the games he voices. You would actually be surprised to learn that, Magna Carta 2 is not a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) but is a KRPG (Korean Role Playing Game) You can see that the characters are designed a wee bit different than the Japanese folks would normally do them, but I think I like the Korean art work a little better. If I did have one complaint about Magna Carta 2, it would be the ending. While it isn't bad per se it leaves too much open, the ending is not fully explained to begin with and I'm pretty sure it almost completely defies the laws of life in that games particular world. One plot point that is introduced 15 minutes (that's right 15 minutes) before the end of the game is left completely unanswered, I mean why even open up the plot like that only to not close it up at the end? To me, if they would have left that certain plot point out (it certainly did not need it) and they would have made the ending more clear, this would have been the perfect action RPG for me, on the Xbox 360.
As some final closing comments I'd like to say that a lot of people say that if you liked Infinite Undisovery than you will like Magna Carta 2. Well let me tell you, I hated, really hated Infinite Undiscovery, I didn't like the main character (sure they start out whiny and then they grow on you, but this just didn't happen in Infinite Undiscovery), and there was way to many characters (12 or so) introduced in a game not near long enough to give everyone a sufficient story, just to name a few of my complaints. But I absolutely loved Magna Carta 2, there was not a truck load of characters, and while Juto starts out whiny, he slowly started maturing, and by the end of the game, you can see what a long way he has come from the whiny little ***** he was on Highwind Island. The final thing I'd like to address is some people say you need to buy the DLC to beat the game, this is NOT true, if you are the correct level, and go in to the final boss battles prepared, the game can be beaten with out the need for the DLC (the DLC includes 2 super weapons witch pretty much brings the game down to its knees in terms of challenge) and in all truth Magna Carta 2 is not all that hard to begin with.
Overall this is one of the better RPG's on the 360 and I would definitely recommend it if you are a fan of action RPG's and some of the games I mentioned above as Magna Carta 2 does borrow story elements from them. | video-games_xbox |
Gun Calibration Fail. I realize this is a harsh rating but I want people to take notice. I purchased this game to play on my new xbox with Kinect. For those that do not know, Kinect requires a bit of space to function properly. So, we rearranged the living room to accommodate. Being that Kinect worked fine, I was sure that the gun in this game would have no problems. However, I was quite wrong. I am playing on a 46" LCD and apparently I need to be over 15' from the TV as stated in another review. I wouldn't know as the maximum distance I can get is 11-12'. Sadly, my aiming is always off and I basically have to use the on-screen cursor as my sights. Basically this renders the gun useless.
The worst part is that I never saw anything about minimum distance requirements while researching, purchasing, or even setting up the game. It does not state anything on the packaging that I can find. Only through reviews and the Activision support site have I found that Activision recommends 9-11'. So, please take note anyone interested in buying this bundle and play on a larger TV, you need space!
To be fair, the game itself is decent. As others have stated the story portion of the game drags and is almost cheesy. Basically a bunch of narrated drama broken up occasionally by attacking martians, er animals. The gallery games are fun and I could see that being more fun with a second gun playing head to head.
Aside from the gun issue, I do have to say that I am disappointed in the way you really do not have to be accurate with your shots and the cursor lags behind your movements. I guess I was hoping for something more like the Big Buck Hunter games you see at Cabela's, arcades, and bars. Those games are all about speed and accuracy. Dangerous Hunts on the other hand is more like one of those big arcade games where you move a gun around but you don't really aim with it. You just use the gun to direct a cursor on the screen. I should mention again that this is for the xbox. I do not know how this gun or game perform on other consoles.
One final thing. I have a support thread into Activision's support site to see if there is anything they can do. Should they find a way to resolve this issue I will change my ratings here accordingly. Sadly I fear this will not be the case and I will have to return the game and gun. | video-games_xbox |
Am I geting older or is this getting less fun. Let start with what you wanted, anyway: a bulleted list.
Pros:
- Gorgeous game. Especially in the boss fights, I'm loving what I'm seeing.
- Fixed the atrocious gameplay slowdown that occurred whenever you cast a high-level spell in XII. Animations are buttery smooth this time around now.
- As the final credits rolled and I watched the flashback montage, I certainly felt like I'd embarked on a memorable journey. It was like the warm satisfaction of finishing a book you love and leafing back through the pages.
Cons:
- Horrible, contrived characters and motives. I felt like I was in some dreadful parallel reality where nobody matured beyond preadolescence. There are two types of characters in your party: brooding, vengeance-driven introverts who learn to accept the past and forgive; and bubbly, carefree extroverts who we find out (secretly) harbor inner demons. Collectively, your party is trying to throw off the yoke of the gods/destiny and make their own choices - certainly a popular moral in video games these days...
- The stagger system works great in boss fights, but less well in random encounters. It's frustrating being forced to make 30 attacks that don't count so you can get to the 20 that do, especially when you know you're going to win the fight anyway.
- The plot is better explained in the summaries given in your datalog and loading screens than through the actual dialogue. Yikes. Perhaps the writers could have spent fewer words on the characters' emotional turmoil and more words on the nature of the world and the central conflict. I'm a bit dense, I admit, but I was still in the dark most of the way.
- Critics loved the "focus on high-level strategy" but I disagree. I'm sure we all used the same few parties: maximum damage, maximum healing, status buffs/ailments, and damage sponge. Yes there are minor tweaks, but I felt like I was rotating between through the same four choices all game. Spending 35 hours using the same four moves is not a recipe for fun.
- That friggin' mechanical owl/gunship - so sweet. But what the heck was it? Will we ever know? A subpoint of my third critique, I admit, but I really wanted to know! A metaphor for my disappointment.
As you can see, this wasn't my favorite Final Fantasy - but I can't tell whose fault that is, exactly. I grew up with the original, II, and III (IV and VI). I loved them. And to top them all, the climax for me was FF VII. My absolute favorite in terms of gameplay, characters and story.
Looking back, however, I now recognize that I first played VII when I, myself, was a moody adolescent and the enormous breasts of female characters didn't bother me so much. After that point I (slowly) began to grow up. VIII and IX were disappointments, although X was a nice revival. I tried to like XII - spending upwards of 100 hours with it - but the love was never there. Now, with XIII, I wonder if the feeling is gone forever.
In place of the love, I'm left with questions. Were the characters less silly back when my affection was strongest, or was I just more silly? Were the random encounters quicker and more enjoyable, or was I more accepting of repetition? And have the setting, conflict, and ideas that drive the narrative truly devolved, or was I too naive to know the difference? I've replayed the old games many time, but it's hard to perceive honest answers when nostalgia clouds my vision.
Certainly I'm getting older - that's not debatable. But are the games themselves getting less enjoyable? I can't say for sure, but I do know that I'm having less fun. | video-games_xbox |
The best baseball game there is. This game is miles ahead of MLB 2k5, and now that they are both $20 dollars this is clearly the best choice. The graphics, fielding, batting, and pitching are all better than 2k5's. The game is filled with little things that you'll keep working at, like unlocking tons of classic stadiums, players and jerseys (although the left out some pretty famous 'classic' players like Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Yasterzemski and Ted Williams while including Phil Rizzuto, but that's really nothing). And when you do a dynasty or owner mode you'll have goals you try to complete (in franchise mode they have to do with player performance and in owner money. Like lead the league in SO, and then make a certain profit). The game is also filled with tons of options to make the game harder or easier. Once you play for a little youll slowly move up (Rookie, Pro, All-Star, and then MVP). Once you have 'mastered' the game you should move up to MVP, the game can be pretty hard and you'll stop putting up incredible numbers (like a sub 1 ERA). And even if MVP is easy you can change the options to make it harder! (You can make hitting, pitching, running, and fielding and tons of other things easier, or harder for you.) It's one of those easy to learn difficult to master kinds of games. But lets go over each indivdual aspect of the game.
Batting: The game's batting system is incredibly realistic. You just try to hit the ball where you see it. There are hot and cold zones which you see (when batting AND pitching) the tell you where you are best, and worst at hitting the ball. And they actually effect how well you hit the ball. You swing with the A button and chose where you want to try to hit it with the analog stick. If you press down on the analog stick it is a power swing but you sacrifice contact when you do that.
Pitching: The pitching in this game is great. You see the batters stike zone and their hot and cold zones and try to get it in their cold zones (or where ever you want to throw it). You press the A, B, X, Y, or black button to chose your pitch (depending on how many pitchs your pitcher has it may be less) and hold down un tell it gets as close to the end of the meter as you can get it. Then you press that button again to try and line it up with the second end of the meter. A perfect pitch goes right where you want it to, a mistake dosen't. In the easier modes a mistake won't cost you but in MVP it can easily result in a HR or some base hits. The pitches break just like they would in real life and almost every single pitcher has the pitchs they throw in real life. The movements of the pitcher on the mound look almost perfect as well.
Fielding: The fielding in this game is wonderful. Diving in the infield and outfield is perfect and fielding movements are wonderful and don't feel strange and unnatural like 2k5. When you throw the ball you have a meter and you chose how hard you throw it, BUT there is a red part of the meter and when you make it there, while it is the hardest you can throw the ball, it increases your chances of making a throwing error (with bad third baseman it's almost every time). And each fielder has three icons by them, a glove, ball, and shoe. The glove means they are a great fielder, a ball means they have a great arm, and the shoe means they have great range.
Baserunning: There is really nothing to special about baserunning but is well implemented. You select the baserunner with the B, Y, X button and then press the button for the base they want to steal. Some runners are good baserunners and can get longer leads and take off quicker while others the opposite. How fast the runner is very important. The computer makes many of the small decisions so it's not very confusing as what to push all the time (it'll make all runners advance with a full count and 2 outs, when a fly ball is hit deep and a mans on third and will advance all runners when someone got a base hit.)
Presentation: While certainly not bad it is no where near as good as 2k5. The annoucers sound un authentic and get annoying after a while. And certain in-game things aren't as interesting and the fans look like cardboard. But every thing else is wonderful from the graphics and sound to the in game things (like replaying a great catch or a good SO.) It's great presentation just not as good as 2k5.
All in all you should buy this game over 2k5 in a heart beat. It's gameplay that makes a baseball game not presentation. This game has a ton of stats for every player great little features and oh yeah the live portion of the game is great (if not a little laggy at times). Now that it's $20 you have no reason not to buy this game! | video-games_xbox |
Worst Game I have ever played. I'm an open-ended critic; I've played the gauntlet of Nintendo games since my childhood, smashed through the GTA era with (somewhat) flying colors, and have embraced the considerable disappointment of Madden games year after year. Despite this, I have never played a poorly produced, written, scripted, acted, designed, etc. game than this one.
The gameplay is poor and redundant. The first Assassin's Creed, the shining totem pole of redundancy, was surprisingly fresh and fun to play after playing this game. I did not beat Revelations after playing it for about thirty hours because I felt Ezio's old self made me feel old and rickety playing the game...but at least Ezio didn't get stuck in trees. Or stuck in walls. Or get stuck in the air he breathes after jumping off a horse. Even if you take away the countless of glitches from the game...it still itself is a giant glitch in a once-gleaming franchise.
Connor is possibly the worst character design I've ever encountered. His lines are written for a English dubbed Japanese anime speaker who is receiving translations from a high school level Japanese class. Each time I fell off a glitched tree, or somehow finally was killed fighting 30 or so redcoats in the middle of the city and heard his "uhh" of death...it was almost like my insides cheered that perhaps, and just perhaps, Ubisoft took a page from platform games and enacted a life-system in which I would just give up playing as if this was Bowser's Castle all over again. But it didn't, and the monotony began once more.
I'm comfortable saying this is the last Assassin's Creed game I will be buying, as long as Connor is the main character anyway. And the sad thing is, you will go to major sites like IGN, Game Informer, etc. and this game is getting high praise. Don't trust them, as they are well compensated for their time reviewing a game with a positive review via a check in their pockets. However you, the average gamer, will see nothing but your time wasted and a $40 bill out of your pocket with nothing to show for it but disappointment. | video-games_xbox |
More NCAA Football, for better or worse. Look, by now you either know what NCAA Football and Madden are or you're probably not interested. They're football video games. This is more of that. If I hadn't lost last year's version in a move, I would have regretted this purchase.
In this version, EA crammed in four new features that I can think of, though I'm sure EA marketing can think of more:
1) Trading Cards
The trading cards are a dumb gimmick, but if you've ever wanted to collect electronic trading cards featuring former college athletes, well, I guess you might like them. It's part of a new mode featuring online and single-player games that let you build a custom team. If you say 'well isn't that kind of what Dynasty mode was already?' you'd be right.
2) RPG-Style Coach Skill Trees
This is my favorite new part of the series, but mostly because I think an RPG-Sports genre bender sounds amazing. You level up your coach and can follow a skill tree, choosing to be better at different aspects of your game. Not that deep, but at least novel.
3) New physics engine
For all the hype, their new physics engine is horrible. They tout 'bone-crunching tackles' and et cetera, but in reality what has changed is that you will regularly see players falling all over each other after a play is over and achieve never-before-experience levels of frustration as your dumb AI lineman trips up your HB more effectively than ever before.
4) A tutorial (finally)
Another definite positive. These games have long been inaccessible unless you already know everything about football, and their clear disregard for people who just want to learn the game was always baffling. Finally they've added a tutorial, though from the blatant ad placement it seems that Nike actually led the effort. It'll teach you when to do what and why and then let you practice, and it's great. If, though, you already know the stuff, don't expect 20 reps of an option play to be too fun.
--
Another new feature for this year: Now includes a bug that causes Kirk Herbstreit to continually mock you (in the same voice clips from last year) for going for it on fourth down, regardless of whether you do so.
Look, the rules of football haven't changed much since last year. If you want a new version of the same tired football game that asks for $60 and then spams you with pleas for microtransactions and in-game advertisements, this is for you. If you already have last year's version, don't get it. EA needs to stop this annualized garbage until they decide to actually innovate. | video-games_xbox |
Original...No, Just Derivative. While it can be asserted that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, when it comes to huge marketing arcs backing an incredibly over-hyped game....yeah, it's just rampant commercialism reeking of desperation bred by a straining economic market.
Dante's Inferno does a number of things adequately; the frame rate is smooth enough (and given the overall amount of on-screen activity, this is tougher to pull off than it sounds), the combat mechanics are fairly intuitive, and the graphical presentation isn't half bad. The major problem is that this has all been done before, in the *exact* fashion in which it's found in this title. While another recent game, that being Darksiders, chose to emulate a number of classic gaming franchises while giving them the respect they deserved, it by no means engaged in the blatant cut-and-paste mentality that hits you throughout every minute of this 'experience'. Over the top kills, massive amounts of gore, repetitive and completely unnecessary nudity (a tired mechanic wherever it's found, in my opinion; the Skinimax crowd should not be pandered to), creative/larger-than-life bosses, a pseudo-dark setting... Even the storyline, shallow and ripped off though it may be; every piece of this title has been done someplace else and executed much better, sans the boobies, IMO.
As if the insultingly unoriginal presentation wasn't enough, its manufacturer has subjected the gaming community to a completely ridiculous amount of desperation-hype advertising, literally slamming this drivel down our collective throats; an insane Superbowl placed ad was just icing on the collective 'How badly do you need us to buy this game?' cake. The crowning bottom-out achievement of this title though? Selling various amounts of souls, the cliche currency used to upgrade your character as you progress through this mess, on X-Box Live Marketplace. This would seem to give you a method to 'get a leg up' on the game itself, although I would tend to feel that it would more so lead one to question why they were playing this thing in the first place. Personally, I feel no further discussion is required for a move so thoroughly lame.
So for the DRM-loving moguls known as EA shoving a barely mediocre title through our collective eye sockets, a one star rating is basically standard in my opinion. The quick-flash blood, guts, and boobs crowd (this title's apparent target demographic) will undoubtedly find much to love here, but if you're an individual who demands much more than repetitive dross for their money, there are a plethora of quality titles to invest in far removed from this unfortunate footnote in gaming history.
As always, just my opinion though. | video-games_xbox |
Worth the wait. I'm not a hard core gamer. I had an original Xbox shortly after they first came out and ran it ragged for many years and I own a wii. Never had a problem with either. However with the introduction of the first 360s, the RROD problems and the fanboy hysteria that followed, I've had to settle for loving the 360 from afar. Every time I'd ever thought about getting one, I'd read one more of those "don't waste your money, RROD, get a PS3" reviews and change my mind. With the new slim, I just assumed (and hoped blindly) that MS would never risk re-launching the console without all the well-known issues being sorted out once and for all. The "right time" to get a 360 was finally here. So despite all the fanboy rhetoric and Red Dot of Death (RDOD) which continue even now about it, I went ahead and got the 250 GB slim.
I've had my new 360 for almost two months now, and I couldn't be more pleased. As another reviewer wrote "this is the system they should've released a long time ago". I really wanted to write a review to add to the discussion, so here goes.
* It really is whisper quiet. The difference is night and day between the new slim and older models.
* The touch sensitive buttons for power and eject are very cool. For the volume of the noises that both buttons make when "pressed", I do wish there was an option to turn it down or off (a minor annoyance at best).
* I was immediately taken by how small the console is. Ventilation is greatly improved, and the big fan does its job to move hot air up and out of the console very efficiently. I agree with other reviewers that it is probably best to use the console in the horizontal position to help make the cooling process more efficient. The "standing" position is probably best for photo shoots only. When you feel the heat that the fan sends out, it seems only logical that the horizontal placement is better.
* The built in wireless was very easy to setup and I was able to connect with my wireless G router in minutes - literally. Was a load off my mind to know I wouldn't have to go out and buy a wireless adapter as with the older consoles.
* It comes with a controller with batteries and an Xbox live headset. Plus you get a trial Xbox live membership for a month I think.
* As a mac user, I don't have much use for the media options which allow you to connect with PCs and stream music, videos etc.
* It is Kinect ready. I'm not yet a fan of Kinect or the available titles, so as a feature this was neither here or there to me.
* I almost got the 4 GB version but ultimately decided to go with the 250 GB. I subsequently learned that USB storage with the 4 GB version would've worked just as well for my purposes, but that said the 250 GB storage is great and more convenient than USB drives sticking out of the console (even though that works just as well to load games and store game data).
* I don't have an issue with the glossy finish as many other people seem to have. If you are someone who is constantly relocating the console or don't dust regularly, then maybe fingerprints and dust might be an issue for you. The matte finish of the 4GB version would've been a nice option, but I understand the need to visually differentiate the two consoles and the finish is logical choice.
* The best part of this is that I was able to pick up a bunch of very low-cost, popular used games on amazon which were in "like-new" condition. This is a great way to build your library. So all told the cost of the console plus the games was close to what I had planned on spending on one of the elite bundles from a while back (except I got to choose only good games).
So, if like me you've been thinking about getting a 360 for a while and have been putting it off, now is a good time to get one.
---------------
* Update: Almost a year later, the console is still working perfectly. | video-games_xbox |
The best ever. If you can believe it, I own all these versions of Skyrim: Skyrim SE on XB1 and PC, Skyrim Legendary on PS3, Xbox 360, Skyrim vanilla on Xbox 360 and PC and in total, I have over 2,000 hours on the various versions. I think I'll take a different angle at this review since the SE does bring a new feature to the XB1.
This version does come with all DLC, it's worth mentioning here that you cannot remove any of the DLC like you could on the Legendary edition, which simply means, the Vampire random attack parties start showing up at level 8. On Legendary, you could choose not to install Dawnguard until you wanted to deal with the vampires being a threat to your favorite merchants and other NPCs.
It also comes with fully "new" achievements, meaning if you have all achievements on Skyrim Legendary or vanilla, you can get them all again. Using mods does disable achievements but Bethesda does have the Creation Club which offers paid mods that do not disable achievements. Some believe it's a controversial move but I haven't had any crash problems with the Creation Club mods but have with regular free mods.
The modding is the big, new feature and this is what I do since I want the achievements. I played my non-modded character for roughly 100 hours, up to level 55 with some power-leveling in there. I started getting bored and decided to try the modded character out. I did not start over. Instead, I loaded up 8-9 mods and continued from my last game.
This, to me, is very important. You can do what I did and what it does is start a new set of saves. Meaning, at any time, I can switch back to playing my unmodded level 55 character and still get achievements or can load my modded level 55 character and just have some silly fun. A few things worth mentioning, there are still bugs in the non-modded game, the quest, "Blood on the ice" in Windhelm wouldn't start for me but if I mod it and put the Unofficial patch in my mods, it lets me play that quest fully, which is relatively important since you'll need it to buy the Windhelm house Hjerim. There's no achievement tied to this quest so you get to play that quest, have access to one of the best houses on the game and lose nothing for doing it modded.
My goal is rather simple, complete all achievements, then switch to my modded character. The modded character allows much more immersion. In Skyrim you're limited to marrying from a set group of characters, you can only adopt 2 kids and you have very little control over your followers. With the mods, you can marry just about anyone in the game, adopt up to 6 kids and have full control of up to 32 followers. There are mods that to me ruin the game like a ring that lets you carry 10,000 pounds of equipment and weapons that do thousands of points of damage. I'm using the mods to add replayability. You can skip over roughly 50% of the quests in this game and still get all the achievements so you can then finish those other 50% quests with a modded character with all the added things you believed should have been in the game. The unofficial patch has fixed two quests that were bugged. I also like the mod that changes how the females look since most are very rough looking, you can pretty things up. The follower mod is good for many laughs. I had two followers with me while fighting a dragon and commanded both to dance in place. So, while I'm pounding away on the dragon, in the background, are my two followers dancing around like nobody is watching. I also use the immersive dialogue mod to make everyone more interesting and maybe more importantly, so everyone doesn't repeat the same line every time you see them. It knows your relationship to the other character and responds accordingly. No more running into your home and hearing your housecarl say, "Hello, friend, I hope you're not here to cause trouble." You'll now hear various sayings from, "I've missed you!" to "How was the hunting?" There are a few other mods that I like a lot like the one that adds more weapon types, those include composite axes (axe with a spear/sword), scoped bows, a knuckle-type dagger, the missing longswords, it's stuff like this that I love seeing in mods. My favorite mods are the ones that add extremely difficult "boss" type characters with unique armor and weapons. Most of these have their own locations and they don't really alter the game very much. You just fast travel to their keep or whatever location they're at and fight them. These are so much harder than anything in the Skyrim game. I fought one named Gotha who had great armor and mask with massive horns coming out. I used 16 health potions and probably 15 minutes, running around, jumping, dodging, timing my every attack just to kill this one character. It adds a bit of a Dark Souls feel with these bosses and I think that's one of the real weaknesses of Skyrim. Once you have the Dragon weapons, have them improved/tempered, you become nearly invincible but these Boss character mods add a whole new dimension. I do use the improved blood and extra execution moves mod as well. It adds a lot of realism to those snowy fights where you hit someone 20 times with a sword only to see a little blood. With the mod, there is blood everywhere on the snow. Last, I do use a few of the home mods like Waterview and Windyridge. These add homes in areas where there are no other options and Waterview has many areas to plant your alchemy ingredients plus custom stands to put your different weapons and masks on. It's located on the other side of the mountain beside of Whiterun and Riverwood. Windyridge is up in Winterhold.
The Elder Scrolls, specifically Skyrim, will most likely be my all-time favorite game. Another series has every chance to pass it and that's Fallout but so far I still prefer Skyrim to Bethesda's other masterpiece. This Special Edition, if paced and used with mods that add difficulty, is the best version. I do play it some on the PC but prefer the XB1 version just because it feels like my favorite console game was majorly improved. | video-games_xbox |
And here we go....... We start all over again. This is a new UFC game (I want to compare this to the last game, but I can't, EA started from scratch). It looks like EA focused a lot on the fight engine and the whole entire look of the game. It looks great. It plays pretty good. I've had some amazing fights that were so close to the real thing, but here are my list of pros and cons.
Pros:
- New submission system. This system makes sense. You need to work for that submission and it's pretty fun.
- Graphics. This looks great. Most of the punches and kicks look like it connects.
- Small details. Most of the fighters have some really nice details like they would rub their nose between punches... Nate Diaz would leave his arms down stance.
Cons:
- New submission system. It's really tough to put on a submission... for Rhonda Rousey, I took down the opponent at the 5th round, stamina all the way up, and I still needed to do a 5 step submission game process... couldn't finish the match with a submission.
- Small details. They spent a lot of time on the details, but they missed a bunch... like entrance wear for Rousey and Jon Jones to name a few. They could have faked a t-shirt or two. Rousey also doesn't do her stomp in the ring either. The blood also disappears from the mat after a few seconds. Pretty much everyone has the same moves... from Flying knees to the Same take downs. I don't think I've ever seen Jon Jones do a 'show time' off the fence kick.
- From the above let me mention Suplexes... this pretty much will happen once or a few times during a match. It's not pro-wrestling. Also doing a back suplex in theory should just knock out a guy too.
- Finishing the fight. The knock outs in the game seem weak... also in the UFC they fighters never hold back their punches unless the ref stops them. They should at least get a couple of more punches. It's not satisfying.
There are more pros and cons, but these are some of the things I want to put out there. I still bought the game because I'm not going to wait a couple of years until another UFC game. Hopefully EA will address and fix some things that could be easily fixed... especially since it's going to be a couple of years to the next game (unless this game doesn't sell well - then maybe they'll just abandon everything).
Edit 1: Also forgot to mention that I'm surprised you can do 3 to 5 rounders fairly easily. It's actually makes the game feel like a real event... the only issue is body damage. You can work on the legs throughout the entire match, but it doesn't seem like it effects the outcome after each round. Let's say the entire match you work on the guys leg, he will slow down for that round and then the next round, you have to start all over again. Same with cuts. I know you can't finish a fight by complete body damage, but these should come into play, like slower movements, difficult ground game, more chances of missing a shot (due to blood in the eyes).
Edit 2: After playing this a couple of more days and discovered some new things to the game, the main thing that's lacking with the game is satisfaction. The matches could be pretty amazing (except everyone has a suplex takedown). I've had plenty of 5 rounders... but what's not satisfying is the knock outs. I haven't seen a knock out where I was like "Oh my god!"... most knock outs feel like the opponent was just overwhelmed and fell asleep. It takes away a lot from the game and the entire match.
Edit 3: After playing and finishing the career mode, here are some more things to discuss. The career mode is awful. There's nothing but match after match... there is a part where you can have a game plan, but there's no ANALYSIS on your opponent (except for the fighter type). This would work better if we knew if the fighter is a knock out fighter, ground and pound, submissions expert, etc... You can really set up a game plan at that point.
Lack of variation in moves. Every fighter has almost the same moves, takedowns and punches (I guess the variation is the speed and strength), but the game gets boring fast when everyone will just use Jon Jones or Petis since all fighters are practically identical.
Edit 4: It's been about a month with the game. I've progressed and become better at the game. The learning curve is steep. The ground game is a bit broken. It's so easy for a fighter to get up / out - even in full mount. Also, not having an analysis of your opponent is another drawback (ex: I want to know if this guy wins by submissions, KO's, etc...). There's another issue too, you can 'spam' your moves and have 0 stamina and still win / dominate. An example would be Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Anthony Pettis - you can keep doing side kicks (I guess by pressing B like crazy) and win. For your average player, you will probably lose easily, but the only way to win, will to try to take these guys to the ground. This is a pretty big flaw to the game. Also, most people use the guys mentioned constantly, so you're already at a disadvantage - there should be a limit to how many times you can use Jon Jones etc...
Edit 5: FREE DLC UPDATE
They not only added 3 new fighters, but added a few enhancements - glove touches, finishing the fight, sprawl, also removing power takedowns for people who don't do it. Great first step to the right direction. | video-games_xbox |
Cult classic. I knew this game would get bashed. It got bashed by all the reviews of so-called critics and others. However, I had to put my 2 cents in.
First, I have at least 10+ people on my friend's list who LOVE this game. Not one has said they did not.
Second, IMO, this is a classic. And I also feel it is for the 'older' crowd who can appreciate the very cool humor this game has. If your over 40 you will love this thing. (Play on easy - trust me)
This is more of a cult game, and, as with most cult movies, they bomb when they come out. They are panned by critics and then, slowly, & with a bit of time, they become classics. This is definately one of those titles.
Playability is smooth no matter what people say. The 'cover' system reminds me a lot of Quantum of Solace (another great game) and the voice overs are very cool. As the number 1 player in the world (XBox 360) said on his blog recently, it's very "refreshing" & "funny" and a nice change of pace.
I feel that the programmers deserve major brownie points for this title. It is so clever and filled with nostalgia that only a gamer from the 'actual' 80s would appreciate this. Truly, because of the new generation of kids, the humor, hidden jokes & level graphics are beyond them (with all due respect).
So, if you are a gamer who was raised with some of the first videogames that *ever* came out (Handheld Computer Football or Pong anyone?) then this title is for you.
It also would, IMO, make a great gift for an Over-40 couple who want a fun drinking game for a Friday night (on easy mode remember!).
One last thought. I've read numerous reviews on many sites as well as this one. After finishing this game to full completion (1000 gamerscore) I've realized that the developers did most of what people are complaining about ON PURPOSE. Namely, the silly 'Melee' attacks, the feminine running style of the character, the absolutely hysterical AI, and most notably, the graphics.
Again, if you're at least 40 or more, you'll appreciate this absolutely wonderful change-of-pace compared to what's come out the last few years. It's the perfect mockery to everything videogames were back in the 80s, 90s and yes, even up to today.
Kudos goes out to the whole team (who I know are reading this) for making something that is truly so refreshing and unique that I say, FORGET the bad rap. In 10 years, people will still be talking about this title for the plain and simple fact that more and more older people are getting into videogames everyday. And that is who this game is truly for. | video-games_xbox |
Think Outside the Box. This is without a doubt, one of the most unique games I have ever played. Previous Banjo-Kazooie games stuck with the old Super Mario 64 play style. But here, with Nuts & Bolts, Rare has take that style of game and added a twist. That twist is vehicle creation.
The vehicle creator tools are quite intuitive. And after a little while, you'll find it's not hard to create a car, plane, helicopter or boat. A lot of it comes down to common sense. For instance, if you want a vehicle to fly, it's going to need wings or propellers, and they need to be balanced on the vehicle.
What's the point of vehicle creation? To complete tasks that are given you to earn music notes, jiggies and T.T. trophies. There are a good variety of challenges. And while some may say they get repetitive, I do not mind this because they may be similar to other challenges, but then they put some variation into them. To complete challenges with good scores, this game really encourages outside of the box thinking. It's not always the most obvious vehicle type that will yield the best results.
The graphics in this game are top notch. Rare never ceases to throw imaginitive artistic values into their games. They are the Pixar of the video game world. Through all the levels, you'll find huge areas to explore with wonderfully detailed design. I just can't say enough about what they have done visually with the game.
The sound in the game is great too. The sound effects are very cartoonish, and add to the feel of the game. The music really shines through giving the feeling of fun to be had by the player.
Overall this is a great game for kids and adults. While it has vehicle creation, younger ones may have a tough time with that. As a result, the ability to buy vehicle blueprints is in the game. I know this has been very helpful for my 5 year old son, since understanding the basics of making a vehicle isn't easy for him. But over time, I have also noticed him trying to build things as he gets an understanding of the physics and what is needed to make a vehicle do a specific task.
I highly recommend this game to anyone who wants a good time with a game that allows you to shape what you get out of it. It encourages creativity and rewards you in spades for doing so. And at the cheap price it is selling for on Amazon, I would think this is a no brainer. | video-games_xbox |
Not a TD, but Madden 06 360 still scores. With this year's additions to the gameplay, EA Sports had a solid football game in Madden NFL 06. The QB Vision, Truck Stick, Precision Passing, and other systems worked out very well and made an offensively and defensively exciting matchup. They tried very hard to bring this success to the Xbox 360 version, and for the most part, they've done a great job on the gameplay. It's just too bad that there isn't as much to do on this version of the game.
While the QB Vision and other features have made it around again, a lot of the other features were hit in the backfield. Say goodbye to Mini Camp and Superstar mode, and say hello once again to the generic Franchise mode, circa 1999. Despite the disappointing lack of modes, playing the game is an entirely different experience. The playcalling menu has been completely changed and now you're given more options and more assistance for a good play. Pre-snap, everything is different. The audibles are still set to the X button, but Hot Routes require the player to manually switch to a reciever or running back, hit the hot route button (Y), and then the button for the route that should be run. After a bit of practice, this system is easy, but it's not as deceptive, unpredictable, or quick as in other Madden games. After the snap, the ballcarrier controls are also a little different--but again, after a game or two, you should be Truck Sticking and calling Hot Routes without a problem.
Some on-field factors nagged me to death. First of all, it seems like the passing game is the only way to go. Despite having the helpful Truck Stick, I really only ran the ball on short-yardage situations or if I was tired of throwing the ball. Throwing is almost too easy, as recievers catch almost everything that comes their way and they'll even catch hail mary lobs in triple or quadruple coverage situations. Sure, it's kinda fun to watch your yardage rack up, but it's not fun to steamroll the competition. Even on the harder difficulty settings, I didn't feel much of a challenge.
What can't be denied is the visuals. Madden 06 for the Xbox 360 is one attractive football game. The new camera angle, despite causing a few visibility problems, really shows off the beautiful graphics. The player models are a little chunky, but things like jersey detail, sweat, grass and mud stains, and facial expressions compensate for it. The different football fields all look extremely realistic, right down to the jumping and screaming fans, colorful Jumbotrons, and various scoreboards scattered around. Sometimes the animations chug when frames drop, but for the most part, there aren't any graphical qualities to complain about. As a last note about the visuals, I really like the new main menu and how it works. It's all done on one screen, with no page loading at all. Instead of hitting the B button to cancel or go back, you can simply hit the direction of the other menu you'd like to view and go from there. It's delightfully simple.
As far as the sound goes, John Madden has finally gotten the tape over the mouth, and I'm happy about it. The new radio-style announcer is much more exciting. I think it was very wise to go with this new guy and not Madden. One small touch I loved was that each quarterback's "Hike!" has been brought to the Xbox 360, so you'll instantly recognize Tom Brady's frantic, high-pitched "HIKE!" and Peyton Manning's southern pitch. Overall, the graphics and sound couldn't be much better on Madden 06.
I must say that I'm impressed but slightly disappointed with this Xbox 360 version of Madden 06. After some time, I really like the new playcalling, the on-field controls, and especially the beautiful graphics. However, I'm let down by the lack of gameplay modes. There could have been so much more to do with this game. Hopefully next season EA Sports can throw in some of the gameplay modes that made Madden so different while improving on a few of the annoyances.
(NOTE: I also have this review posted on [...], where I write reviews on a regular basis.) | video-games_xbox |
Who Mashes the Button Mashers. Historically, and to a lesser extent traditionally, most movie-to-video-game tie ins do not bode very well with fans and the general gamer audience alike. Come to think of it, I believe I can only think of two (Top Gun and Golden Eye). Watchmen: The End is Nigh ("End if Nigh") is not much of an exception is any at all.
I had some big reservations about a Watchmen video game when my friend called me up and asked if I wanted to try it out the night of its release. I had never even heard of it despite the fact that I was gearing up to pick up the Watchmen DVD at midnight (12:01am release), there was virtually no hype. My friend, my little brother and I took the game home and immediately set out to play it... and were pleasantly surprised by the results.
The End is Nigh is, above all else, a gratuitous button masher where you hit buttons fast and repeatedly to achieve certain moves to kick the living crap out of your opponents. Playing as Watchmen protagonists Night Owl and Rorschach, you set out to solve a mystery behind a large prison break of an "Underboss" at Sing Sing. Along the way you beat up just about everybody and, after taking the extreme long way around of getting everywhere you go, you then discover you have to go another scenic route around necessitating you thrash and otherwise incapacitate more bad guys. You also gain your abilities and button combos over the course of the game via collectable tokens (collect them all for a gamer score!).
This is the general flow of the game, spanned over the course of about 4-6 hours. Why they split the game into two separate games on the same disc is beyond me, but they do count as two different games as far as the Xbox360 achievements section is concerned and the achievements are not that hard to get. Come to think of it, the game poses little challenge at all for anyone who has played Smash Bros., Golden Axe, King of Fighters, or any other sort of button masher. If you find yourself surrounded, either grab and throw someone or have your right index finger glued to the right bumper ready to initiate a counter since enemies cannot attack you during special moves.
As for the moves themselves I can sum them up in one word, "ouch." This was probably the best part of the game: when the character is doing their special move the camera focuses on the person and a small cinematic plays of the actual move giving the player a chance to sit back (briefly) and go "Ooooohhhh, AHHHHH!" when they see just how painful the beating the bad guys are receiving. From curb-stomping to face clawing, the special moves both Night Owl and Rorschach exhibit are nothing short of bone-crunching painful, which makes them ever-so enjoyable to watch.
What really makes The End is Night worthwhile is that it contains a split-screen co-op mode. Granted the split-screen goes vertical and not horizontal, which makes viewing angles a little narrow, but it was fun for my brother and I to collectively dish out vast amounts of physical punishment on the cookie-cutter villains that all sound like they were all voiced by John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama).
However, for all the good features the makers put into The End is Nigh, there was a good amount of flaws.
First is the highly repetitive nature of the game. Between the villains saying the same things every time (with multiple references to female body parts) and the same upbeat fighting music playing in every fight scene, it got REALLY old after an hour. Not to mention the camera angles in co-op were really narrow amplified by the highly linear and dark atmospheres that made finding your way a severe pain. I understand that the film was excessively dark (with extra noir) but a player has to be able to see where he's going. I had to turn the brightness on the game settings all the way up just to see in certain levels and then turn it back down during others.
All in all, The End is Nigh is a worthy rental. No real replay value beyond "Hey, after our eleventh beer let's go beat up some bad guys on the 260," and I think Halo has the slot for best drunk game. | video-games_xbox |
Teens love it, Adults can still enjoy it too. So, my husband and I have owned just about every guitar hero game from the original series of games, and we would obsessively play them for hours on end. We LOVE that series.
This new Guitar Hero Live can be fun, but there are a few dislikes about the game.
1. The track list is aimed at teenagers and young adults. It's understandable that this target market is worth going after, but the franchise seems to have forgotten all about its veteran players. There should be a wider array of songs available to play. Mix it up, will ya!
2. The TV option gives you the ability to compete against other players, not in real time, but still a fun aspect that brings out my competitive side. The only problem is...how in the world does a player who only gets 86% of the notes right beat me, when I have gotten 97% of the notes right? Say wha....
3. Tutorial. Takes. For. Everrrr. When you hit the right note 50 times, I think you understand the concept. Or maybe it's just me.
Now, I did give this game 3 stars, we'll Amazon is oblivious to the fact that there are such things as half stars, this gets a 3 and 1/2 stars from me.
The plus side!
1. The new guitar style makes easy a lot easier. It makes normal harder. One day I will forget that playing easy is just darn fun and adventure over to the harder levels, but it's great when you want to play casually or when you want to feel hardcore.
2. It occupies your teenagers! Rather than bugging you for rides to friend's houses or to the mall, they will opt for staying in! They have songs by bands like Pierce the Veil, Panic at the Disco, and even Of Mice and Men. I won't pretend to know what they sing, but I know that I should be able to sing them word for word by now, but then I am still stuck in the 70s and 80s and have my own play list playing in my head 24/7.
3. It's fun to see the music videos as you are playing on TV mode. Yes, you should focus on the notes, but when you are watching other people play you are entertained by more than just a cartoons audience booing them.
4. There are some song choices for the grown ups. System of a Down, Disturbed, Ratt, Queen are all there. Could make more songs that are adult oriented though.
Overall, I have to say that the joy the teenagers get from this game, and the joy I get from hitting near perfect on easy mode made this worth the purchase. | video-games_xbox |
At most decent, but it could have been a lot better. This review is particularly long so I apologize for its incredible length. In the gist of it, you should get this game if you're a casual Beatles fan or hardly even heard of them. If you're a diehard Beatleshead, go ahead and get it anyway, but prepare to be a bit disappointed. The game is just like Rock Band, but with just Beatles music exclusively (meaning you can't export it to other Rock Bands and there's only Beatles music on the game).
I had a particular vision of this game when I first heard about it on the E3 of 2009. After getting the game a couple of years ago and playing through the whole thing, I can't help but feel quite let down. I may not be a first generation Beatles fan, but I know their music well enough to appreciate all their greatness and creativity. To a casual Beatles fan or anyone who barely knew about them, this game is quite adequate to introduce them to the world of The Beatles. However, being a Beatles fanatic, I felt that the game could have loads and loads more better content to really present The Beatles. They are arguably the best musical act in history. Why not showcase as much of their musical prowess in all their glory?
The game originally contains 45 great songs and there are a lot of DLC songs that come from the Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, and Sergeant Pepper album. However, The Beatles have written at least 160 songs in their lifespan. Is there a reason why only 45 are put into the game (excluding DLC)? Consider that the majority of the songs are less than 3 minutes. In the end, you're not really getting that much quantity of music overall. You can say that it is because other songs don't qualify for people to play on Rock Band due to limited instrumental playing or such, but I can find possibly at least 40 more songs that can be played on The Beatles Rock Band with only positive results. I complain that there aren't enough songs because the original songs don't show all of the skills of the great instrumentalists each member of the band were. I know Ringo Starr was definitely a very talented drummer, but the songs in the game don't really show that. Songs like She Said She Said and I Want To Tell You (from the Revolver album) are really representative of the great Ringo-ist drumming that could have been included in the game with no problems. Other songs I would have simply loved to have in the game include I Don't Want to Spoil the Party, What You're Doing, Please Please Me, and so much more! With the addition of harmonies into the gameplay, it would have been perfect to include the keyboard instrument and even the pro guitar. I know Rock Band 3 came out a year later, but I would have been happy to wait another year if it meant these elements were going to be added. The pro guitar and keyboard would add another incredible element to the Beatles experience. There would nothing more satisfying than rocking out the piano solo in the songs In My Life. I would have also loved for the producers to split each guitar part in every song into either "Rhythm Guitar" or "Lead Guitar" where the players can choose to play certain parts.
There are four venues shown in the game that The Beatles have performed in real life, which include the Cavern Club, the Ed Sullivan Show, the Budokan stage, and the rooftop of Apples Studio. These stages are adequate, but there have been a lot more significant Beatles performances that should have included in the game. They have played at the Royal Variety Show in England and the Candlestick Park, and I thought those would have been perfect additions to the list of venues in the game. Because half of the songs were recorded in the Abbey Road studios, the producers of the game created "Dreamscapes" for a lot of the songs where the Beatles would enter another world of their own while playing the song. I personally thought this was a very excellent idea. In fact, the dreamscapes for the songs "Here Comes the Sun" and "I Am the Walrus" were simply magnificent. I thought the producers could have been more creative with the performance backgrounds overall. It seemed like they recycled a lot of backdrops for songs and they used a lot of the same models for the Beatles. I was definitely disappointed to not see Billy Preston (a keyboardist for the Beatles) or even Yoko Ono (who appeared in the Beatles studio during recording for some songs) in the game. They after all (especially the latter) did impact the Beatles' career. Considering that the Beatles did reunite temporarily (minus John Lennon) in the mid-1990's, it would have been splendid to see Real Love and Free as a Bird be included in the game as a sort of hidden content that had to be unlocked by playing through the entire career mode. I criticize all this because I didn't get the full sense of the progression of the Beatles over their illustrious career.
The DLC was okay, but a lot of those songs should have been included in the game from the start. I did not particularly like how they basically recycled all the backdrops and dreamscapes for all the DLC songs (with the exception of the song Michelle, which I found surprisingly good).
I may sound very demanding and overly critical of this game, but considering the history and work of the Beatles and my own love and appreciation for them, I feel like the producers could have put a lot more work into it. I would have been glad to have waited a few more years for the release of this game if it meant that I would be given the full immersive Beatles experience. | video-games_xbox |
The Name's Bond/Bourne/Bauer... James/Jason/Jack Bond/Bourne/Bauer. When I first heard that Obsidian (Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords) was teaming up with Sega to create the first-ever espionage, I was genuinely excited about the prospect. Two years of waiting later, and over a day and a half of playing, I am reasonably satisfied with Alpha Protocol albeit with some moderate concerns.
Story:
The story is definitely on par with anything Robert Ludlum ever wrote. You are Edward Thornton, a recently recruited spy to stop terrorists from blowing stuff up. Along the way you encounter beautiful dames, evil bad guys, double agents, friends turned bad, deception, drama, blah, blah, blah. Very contemporary and fairly compelling as one would expect from a spy game. Wanna know more? Play the game!
Game Play:
When I researched and read about Alpha Protocol, two games struck me as strikingly similar in nature and would be the basis for comparison: Splinter Cell and Mass Effect. One for it's stealthy nature and the other for it's strikingly similar game play respectively. While playing through Alpha Protocol with a neutral observer (a poor soul unfortunate enough to venture to my place for a free beer and ended up having to watch me play for a few hours) we found ourselves consistently comparing Alpha Protocol to the two games mentioned.
The game centers around three basic mindsets of spy game play; professional, suave, and aggressive or Jason Bourne, James Bond, and Jack Bauer respectively (my apologies if you get none of the spy pop culture references). You can go guns-a-blazing in a situation, sneak around, or, in less instances than you'd think, you use tech and sabotage to make your way around. However, more often than not, you're either gonna sneak around and ninja vanish kill everyone or just charge in like Gears of War... although the latter doesn't work as well.
So, you're probably gonna have to sneak around. Fortunately, the AI has a very linear though process and will follow their assigned paths perfectly making observation and killing very easy. The trick is to try and make your path of killing not coincide with the vantage point of another bad guy. Again, fortunately, the designers of the maps made flanking very easy with alternate paths to follow.
Combat is where it gets interesting... in a "you got to be kidding me" sort of way. Close-quarter martial arts consists of rapidly hitting the red "A" button when you get too close to utilize your firearm. Problem with this is that the "A" button also corresponds with your "takedown" command so while tailing bad guys I would get close, the bad guy would move a little and my "takedown" command would disappear but, too late! I already hit the melee button and thus my cover is blown. This happened A LOT when I was playing and it got annoying.
As for shooting your firearm, the accuracy of said firearms revolves a lot around the same physics as Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords as in you have a certain chance of missing even with the enemy in your crosshairs... this means you will miss a lot early on in the game until you hone your skills even if the bad guys is ten feet in front of you. Needless to say, the combat really needs an update patch.
Next are the gadget mini games. The lock pick and bypass games are interesting enough and very similar to Mass Effect 2. The only one that REALLY sucks is hacking, where you take a line of code and try to find it in an ever-changing grid of characters. Unless you have a big screen and a fair amount of depth perception, this mini-game will crush your soul. It took me five times to get it right the first time because my darned A.D.D. wouldn't let me focus right. :P Needless to say, take your ritalin (use as directed) before attempting this mini-game.
Between missions you can customize your character at safe houses and change your most basic of appearances. After being able to create anyone I want in Mass Effect 1 and 2, Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, and Oblivion, I found myself seriously restricted in customizing Thornton beyond hair, hat, and maybe putting some kewl accessories on the pistol.
Lastly is the dialog system. Love the idea of very basic word choices, derived from the three spy "JBs" mentioned earlier, changing an entire outcome in the game whether big or small. It can spell the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. It is highly entertaining to try out the dialog choices but my beefs with it are two fold.
1: You only experience dialog at key points and during mission briefs/debriefs. In Mass Effect and similar games such dialog systems where omnipresent if not a substantial part of the game.
2: Some of the differences between the three spy mannerisms were way too subtle and lack any real excitement. I was hoping for an over-the-top James Bond style dialog every time I chose "suave." It just doesn't seem as genuine as originally hyped.
One more beef... no sniper rifles? Not kewl man, not kewl.
Graphics:
Good sometimes, bad at others. Am I the only one who had trouble aiming down the sights due to the graphics not being able to catch up or the calibration was off? Facial graphics are standard, nothing amazing. The environments are authentic, but hardly breathtaking.
Sounds and music:
Mostly rehashed stuff from other films. Again, nothing special although the dialog is wonderfully recorded and seamlessly applied. Kudos there.
Replay Value:
Moderate. I felt more motivated to get a few achievements by skimming the origin stories in Dragon Age: Origins more than playing through Alpha Protocol.
All in all Alpha Protocol could have been simply amazing but decided not too. Obsidian and Sega have many glitches to fix and need to make the game a LOT less linear.
85% overall. Solid B. | video-games_xbox |
Problematic System that Should Be and Could Be Outstanding. So I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself an Xbox One in the form of this bundle. Quantum Break tipped the scalesit filled my need for enough Xbone exclusives to justify my purchase, plus I love Remedys games. I really dig the white color, as opposed to stodgy old black. I was also keenly interested in the upcoming OTA TV DVR capabilities announced for a future system update. This system joins the Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, and Wii U already in our gaming room.
As I waited for the bundle to arrive, the other exclusives I purchased were Sunset Overdrive from Insomniac, the Gears of War collection (played already on the 360, but I love me some Gears and I couldn't wait to experience the remaster), and the Halo Master Chief collection. Gears and Sunset were the on-disc versions.
Setup was straightforward. Anticipating a system update and knowing that Quantum Break was a very large digital download, I hooked the system up to a wired internet connection. The system update downloaded and completed quickly, my existing account was recognized, backwards-compatible 360 games appeared in my digital library, and the store accepted the Quantum Break game code. I took a break to let QB download and went off to the evening news and dinner.
I returned an hour later to find that Quantum Break had downloaded to 93% or so of its 40 GB-plus size, which was impressive. Then I inserted the Sunset Overdrive disc in the drive. As expected, and as with the PS4, the game began to install itself on the internal drive and to download the game updates it identified. Great, I thought, and the Xbone informed me after five minutes or so that the game was Ready to Start. I started the game with anticipation only to be stopped at the splash screen with the message Installing flashing in the upper-left corner. Apparently Not Ready to Start would have been a better message on the Xbone Home screen. Curious, I looked at the overall installation progress for the game and it was proceeding at a snails crawl to the tune of a couple percentage points every five minutes. How could this be?, I thought to myself, and proceeded to do some Googling.
Turns out that the Xbone, unlike the PS4 or even the Xbox 360, merges the from-disc install process with the update download process WHILE INSTALLING THE GAME TO DISC. This results in a simply unfathomable time penalty. On Xbox forums users were reporting install times of over 24 hours and more. The workaround? Disconnect your Xbone from the network before inserting a new disc in the drive, making sure you delete any partial install data first. Then, and only then, will the game install from disc only and provide a glimmer of hope to those who wish to actually play a new disc-based game within an hour or less. Once the game has fully installed, you can play the game, minus any patches or online capabilities, to your hearts content. The second you reconnect to the network, the game will begin installing patches that MUST COMPLETE before you can play the game again. In short, this is half-assed and utterly unacceptable. This is a giant leap backwards for console gaming in general and the consumer experience in particular.
Even with the network turned off, the disc-based install is unreasonably long. Subjectively, Id say 3 times longer than a PS4 disc install. This is baffling considering how well the 360 performed install and update tasks. The 360 amazed me with its superiority over the PS3 when it came to speed and ease-of-use when it came to these tasks. What was Microsoft thinking with dropping the ball on this critical function on the Xbone?
Beyond the disc installation epic fail, which is pretty much responsible for my three-star rating, there are a couple other nitpicks in that the controller time-out cannot be specified and there is no software-based disc eject functionality. Both these functions were available on the Xbox 360 and well as competing Playstation consoles. Finally, its baffling to me how Sony can create the compact PS4 with a built-in power supply while Microsoft produces a next-gen system thats roughly 150% larger and still requires an external power brick.
What does the Xbone do well to merit even three stars? I have to return somewhat to my original reasons for purchase, and add a few observations of what impressed me as I gained more hands-on experience.
1. Exclusive games from great studios. (I didn't even mention Microsofts exclusive window on the excellent Rise Of the Tomb Raider, which we purchased and played earlier on the 360.)
2. Existing OTA TV capability and upcoming OTA TV DVR capability.
3. The white color scheme on the console and the controller is gorgeous.
4. The controller feels great in the hand; the weight is just right and the controls feel natural and responsive.
5. Quantum Break and Sunset Overdrive both appear to be excellent based on the short time Ive spent with them.
6. Backwards compatibility for some 360 games, with a list that continues to grow.
7. Expandable storage via external USB drives.
8. Completely silent except when installing games from disc and even then not bad.
9. Great price; found it for less than three Benjamins, no tax and free shipping.
I look forward to revisiting this review as the OTA DVR capability is released and and Microsoft improves existing features and adds new ones. Microsoft needs to address the disc installation issue. The workaround required is unacceptable and purchasers should not have to do Internet research to learn of it. The Xbone is not a consumer-ready or gamer-friendly device due to this issue. I was disappointed to find that the hubris that accompanied Microsofts Xbone announcement and launch, although mitigated somewhat when they removed the always-on requirement, game resale and trade blocking, and mandatory Kinect, is still evident 2 years later in the form of at least one fundamental flaw in the system. | video-games_xbox |
Learn, work up your callouses, and have some fun. I am not a complete beginner, but I am just getting back into guitar with having taken a decade or two off. LOL. I play acoustic guitar, and at first the game had a hard time hearing it. I think the game works a lot better for electric guitar, but it did work with my acoustic which is pretty impressive. On to the pros...
1. Really great for learning how to hold and pick a guitar for the easy lessons.
2. Really great for creating the callouses needed for nice metal strings. Plastic do NOT hurt as much. Buy plastic, if you don't like pain. You will still grow callouses, but it will take longer and be less painful. For me I just can't stand the sound of plastics.
3. There is a lot of fret work, which is great. I have never done a lot of fret sliding or moving around, so this opened up a whole new aspect to playing.
4. It allows you to play and practice until you are satisfied with how well you did on a song. And you can even go and practice them again after you have moved past them.
5. There are a lot of songs from a lot of different genres. Something for everyone.
6. It is encouraging to play something that sounds like a song the very first song.
7. If you don't like the game option, you can just practice songs in different ways in the song section. The combos (of single chord and chords is great, if you suck at switching from picking to strumming like I do.)
8. Teaches a variety of techniques and structure which is great.
9. I actually like that there is almost no game play involved. It is fun and encouraging, but I would NOT call this a game.
10. I think this is great for beginners and even intermediates or getting reaquainted with the guitar.
Now the cons:
1. I have yet to experience the lags that some are talking about, but I think it gets worse as the songs progress.
2. They do not teach chords at all. I know them pretty well, so this is less of an issue to me, but for beginners learning the chords is VITAL!
3. They could at least throw some tabs in there. That would increase people's knowledge and at least open up tabs to players.
4. In the early songs I wish they would have you switch up the fingers you were using to hold the strings with, so you would get finger work lessons, and for metal string players like myself, you could play for longer than an hour at a time.
5. They also don't penalize for not placing your finger close to the fret. You can play horrible notes and still get credit for them. I know this is picky, but I think finger work should be meticulous. Perhaps as the 'game' progresses there will a higher standard, but I doubt it.
6. They are pretty lenient with timing, as long as you pick or strum ahead, and it is still reverberating.
7. Part of me wishes they wouldn't allow you to move onto the next song until you reach a certain percentage. I am pretty meticulous, but it would let me move on when I was at 54% which is ridiculous in my opinion.
8. I wish they wouldn't make me re-tune for each song.
9. A game improvement would be to make someone at first tune to a tone and not just to a gauge. You wouldn't be able to move on until you were in tune.
10. Another game feature would be to allow you to slow down the song for the first and second run through, so you would get to know the notes and changes ahead of time. Some of the shifts happen pretty fast for the first time through and since they change it up from time to time it would be nice to know ahead of time.
Overall i would say this is fantastic and encouraging, but as everyone else has said guitar lessons are a must and this is not a game so much as a learning tool. | video-games_xbox |
Hours and Hours and Days and Weeks and Months and Years of gameplay. Alright, after a few years of playing this game and it is still fun. No, it's not everything I wanted. The zombies are lack-luster, the special infected are unbalanced, the difficulty curve is everywhere, and the characters are fairly bland. BUT this is fun for a party game. Two player offline and four/eight player online makes this a must have.
It is never the same game, well... sort of. THe enemies spawn in diffrent places every time... and sometimes pop in on top of you... or some stupid stuff like that. But the enemies are diverse and the combat is intense.
The weapons are... Well there are more than the first. The melee needs work, alot of work... like a complete make-over. The Meelee barely works and the weapons are completely interchangable, one being just as bland as the other. But at least they have it.
The guns are plenty, and the lazer sight helps... when you can find it. The game is randomly placing weapons everywhere, some places make since, others do not.
The AI is still as dense as ever. Any unoccupied character stupidly runs behind you, or in the way of your gun, or into some trap... or into a tank... Gosh... the AI is dense for the survivors. You feel like a genious when you play it... Ug....
The enviroments are not as good as the first game. They do not have the same since of balance or delicate design. SUre, it is detailed, but it feels more thrown together.
There is no interchange with the old game. I expected to be able to play the old maps since I had the old game. I assumed that this would work like an Expansion pack, sort of how Mass Effect 2 continues off of Mass Effect 1, but it doesn't. Sure, you can download a map for money and play as the old characters on one map, but that's not nearly what I expected.
As of this review (December 4th 2011) the COld Stream DLC that was announced in 2010 has yet to come out, and there is no sign that it will. It promised the original maps and one new campaign. Well... I'm not waiting anymore. If I want the old maps then I will put in the old game.
The old game is worth more to me, honestly. IT is more balanced, better planned, and completely fun. THis one is unbalanced, feels antiquated, and looks ugly. It's still fun, but only in a "Well, that's neat" Sort of fun.
I'm playing Dead Island right now for my Zombie Kicks, and it's worth more to me because the zombies themselves are more substancial. I can't just swish through the waves of zombies on Dead Island, I have to use strategy. Left 4 Dead 2 has strategy, but not a good pace.
Worth getting at a budget price. | video-games_xbox |
From A Gamecube Owner. This past year I bought a Xbox for a amazing game called Halo. I loved it and overall it ended up being the most amazing well balanced shooter I have ever played. Of course I was excited about Halo 2 which is now here for everyone to own.
Halo 2
I bought Halo 2 on Friday at 9:00 in the morning and played till 4:00 which is when I had to work. I would have played longer if I could but works work. First off Halo 2 has everything you would expect in a sequal and more. Halo 2 out does the first Halo by lightyears and i'll tell you why. Guns always a major factor in a first person shooter are loaded in Halo 2 you can now hold two weapons at a time you can have several new weapons and every one of them have been tweaked compared to the first. The rocket launcher can now lock onto targets and directly kill them but takes a little longer to load. The sniper rifle is improved and has a better kill ratio. You can now melee attack vehicles like the ghost to either kick the enemy out or punch them and on bigger enemy vehicles you can jump on the back and smash the control panels till you can chuck a grenade into the cockpit to disable the vehicle. The vehicle controls are the same but have been tweaked to respond a little better. The AI is like the first amazing and overall much more improved. The length of the game in my opinion doubles that of the first which took me about 10 hours but the second took around 15 hours which I was on Normal to. The level design is fantastic and everything has a nice touch to it with great detail. charecter models are so realistic looking and have a very serious look to them. You always feel in control with Halo 2 and rarely will you ever be lost but sometime the plot will throw you of course which is a gripe about this game it's just much more confusing then the first. The ending everyone says is boring but actually I liked it I mean there's better endings but what it does is lead right into a Halo 3. The sound effects are a little bit more quiter in this years Halo for some reason. When I first turned Halo 2 on thats the first thing I realized is that they were a little to soft but overall there perfect from the sound of the guns to background music, just soft hurts it a little. The cutscenes are very graphics but the charecter models look like crap during cut scenes and sometimes you will see things all the sudden appear which bugged me and light effects would flicker which looked terrible. Slow downs during single player never happened like the first there much better even in multiplayer there improved but cutscenes you notice quick slow downs often which really tick you off. So Halo 2 definetly didn't win any awards for cutscenes but overall graphics in game are perfect.
Pros
beautiful in game graphics
charecter models during gameplay are fantastic
ai is absolutely amazing
sound is near perfect
loads upon loads of new guns and ways to beat a level
Cons
Weak sound effects
lots of little slow downs during cut scenes
shadow effects during cutscenes flicker alot
during cutscenes objects will all the sudden appear
confusing plot
So overall Halo 2 is the biggest shooter of the year and easily out does the first. It has very little gripes and probaly is the new best shooter ever. Well i've gone in said it I know Nintendo fans im still with you but I have to admit Halo 2 is sure one hell of a damn good game. This is the reason to own a Xbox. Have fun and hope you found this review helpful. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent, but with a few reservations. DOAXBV is a great game and worth purchasing at full price. I won't even get into how hot these virtual babes are since that's pretty obvious from the commercials, screen shots, and box art. But believe me, there's more to this game than eye candy.
The volleyball system has been touted as "simple to learn, hard to master": I couldn't agree more. I was able to pick up the essentials of the volleyball game and play a decent match in less than two minutes. Two buttons are used to play (default) along with the left thumbstick and while that may sound too easy, take note that these buttons respond to pressure (how hard you press, not how much you cajole) and changes the strategy you and your vball partner take on the court. Eventually as the game progresses the matches become more difficult with both sides hitting blinding spikes left and right. It's then that winning matches becomes a real challenge when a pair of girls beats the crud out of you in multiple games.
The shopping system is mostly superficial in that you can put your favorite DOA girl in nothing more than dental floss and buy them submachine guns, but it does contribute to building character relationships and effective partners on the court. An unhappy partner is a lazy player and will not pursue spikes and dinks as aggressively as she normally would, which places the burden of winning the game entirely in your hands. A partner that grows to despise your stinking vball skills will perform horribly, complain on the court, and eventually leave you for deeper valleys (pun intended).
One of the most fun things to watch out for is the hopping game, where you literally hop on these floating pads across a pool to gain extra cash and to calibrate your buttons for vball. It's a cute diversion and provides variety to the gameplay.
The weakest part of the game is the Casino. The slot machines are completely bogus and seem to follow a pattern after a couple dozen pulls. Also, there are some machines that will deduct money from your account in the (tens of) thousands. Not cool at all. Blackjack and Poker appear to be legitimate games, and the odds seem fair most of the time. Roulette is just plain confusing, but then again I've never played Roulette myself (other than watching people in Vegas play). Still, Roulette minimum bets are huge and newbies do stand to lose a lot over an experiment. Try it once, then move on. The odds are just too great.
What could have been great is a time/game independent section where you were allowed to dress up your character in your newly-acquired swimsuit and, er, check out the goods. In the game you're required to give up some in-game time to look at the suits outside of the vball game, which is titillating for about 15 seconds, and then you're made to move on, now with less time for other important events, like buying that green g-string bikini to go along with your camo sneakers.
Bottom line is, this game really was intended to draw more people to its Vixens than its Volleyball, but they've added just enough substance to make sure that your continually involving viewing pleasure remains exactly that. | video-games_xbox |
It's like a dancing Rock Band. I've recently tried to embrace the coolness of my Kinect and I saw that this game went on sale. The reviews were good and I was beginning to get the hang of dancing games on the Kinect so I thought I'd check it out. Now, my only comparison for dancing games is the Zumba fitness game so after trying this out for the first time, my perspective may be slightly skewed.
Initial thoughts:
- The menus are done relatively well. If there's a lot of options where you have to scroll though, that's when it got frustrating and I just grabbed the controller. Unlike Zumba Fitness though, this actually works seamlessly between hand controls and the controller.
- I might be stating the obvious but this seems more geared toward "fun" rather than "fitness." No doubt you can get moving with it and there is a feature that allows you to keep it in "Fitness" mode where it times how long you've been playing and the calories burned (which I don't see how that is accurate at all- 60 calories after 30+ minutes of fast booty shaking? I don't think so). I started on the easy mode because I wasn't sure what to expect and wanted to be able to follow the moves. Easy is way too easy. 20 minutes and I wasn't even sweating. In comparison, 20-25 minutes of Zumba on easy and I'm sweating...There just didn't seem to be a lot of diversity of movement.
- However, rather than trying a whole new set of songs in the sweating mode or whatever it's called, I created a playlist of high energy songs with moderate to high difficulty on the moves and then set the level to medium (instead of easy) and that did the trick. It was much better from a workout standpoint when I customized it myself.
- This requires a lot less room than Zumba to do. The Kinect needs a lot of room to begin with but Zumba has you almost always going out of the camera angle because of the way the steps are done. This seems to keep you neatly in a circular area much better. The flashcards they have showing you upcoming moves are sometimes helpful but I haven't gotten used to using them yet since I'm used to focusing on the instructor instead.
- Although I like the music in Zumba, I prefer being slightly familiar with the songs (like in DC2) because it helps me get my rhythm better. The selection of songs is really fun and most of the moves are fitting. Rather than being technical "salsa" steps or whatever, most of the steps seem like traditional hip hop, pop, or something you'd see in a music video. Lady Gaga's Bad Romance was definitely fun and so was Baby Got Back. lol
- One thing I absolutely HATE is in the middle of songs they do this "break out" or "freestyle" section where it morphs into a weird graphic of you and takes photos of you looking like a total ass. I appreciate that Zumba doesn't do this but DC2 does it for every single song and I find it more disruptive than anything. If there is a way to turn this off I haven't found it and I also can't find a way to delete the images off my Xbox. I might just be a weirdo but randomly taking pictures introduces an element of creepy to the Kinect that I don't appreciate.
Overall, I do like this game and it was definitely worth $25. I don't think I'd be caught dead doing it with other people but it's fun for shaking your booty for a bit and a fun alternative to Zumba to mix things up. Recommended. | video-games_xbox |
Quality for the Price. Hello Amazon,
I received the headphones about a week ago so I could share with everyone how they perform and how I enjoy them as a part of my 360 gaming experience.
Turtlebeach headphones have been a large name for the gaming community for as long as I could remember. However, because Microsoft's "Xbox 360" is being replaced by the "Next-Gen" consoles such as the "PS4" and the "Xbox One", gaming equipment for the 360 has luckily gone down in price. That is why you are seeing these go for such a small chunk of change.
Upon delivery, these headphones came from the seller in the box brand new. Along with miscellaneous booklets and papers about the company, the package came with the headphones itself, two batteries to power them, the wireless receiver, and the chords needed for the headphones to be compatible with the console. Now its time to setup.
The setup is the hardest part with these headphones. You really have to follow the direction packet closely and keep the chords organized or you will have trouble preparing them for gaming use. After that however, the rest is a breeze. Simply connect the headphones to the receiver and you are good to go and ready to play.
The performance of the headphones is wonderful. Compared to $100-$300 dollar gaming headphones, the sound quality coming in and going out to other players is a close match. The sound of the game is very clear and it will indefinitely give you an advantage over other players in online game play. The only thing that I really didn't like about the headphones was the battery life.
The headphones are powered by two double A batteries that go into the left ear muff under a plastic cover. They are very easy to replace and its certainly faster than charging them every time you run out of juice. The issue with this however, is that the batteries don't last long at all. After a couple hours of chatting and playing, the headphones will give you a loud, obnoxious "BEEP". This is how you know you need new batteries. A major flaw in the design of the headphones.
All in all, don't let the price fool you. These headphones are very good for the casual gamer and will provide a cheaper option than other gaming quality headphones on the market place. Yes, their are some minor flaws, but the good will outweigh the bad.
You can purchase these from the seller with confidence that you are purchasing a quality pair of gaming heaphones.
- Beck | video-games_xbox |
Madden 13 For lone wolves only. After reading multiple reviews about how much this game sucked needless to say I seriously considered cancelling my order for it. All I can say is I'm glad that I ignored most of the reviews on here and gave this game an honest chance. Now I've logged in about 9 hrs into the game so far and I personally find that this Madden is a huge breath of fresh air.
***Do not buy this game if you are butt hurt because you can't sell tacos for $14 dollars or some other rubbish. I myself never cared much for some of the franchise mode features nor did I ever use the fantasy draft mode***
Here is the short and skinny of what I enjoy and dislike about the game to date.
PROS
+The new game engine is incredible. It definitely adds more realism to the game then perhaps ever before. For example if you are a running back no longer can you blindly run for huge gains relying squarely on juking/spin moves/turbo etc. Now you will need to focus on hitting the right holes at the right place and times. On passing plays you will need to give your WR's/TE's time to run the correct routes and to let the plays develop.
+The AI is very much improved, you'll find that relying on money plays against the cpu is not even close as being effective as it used to be in times past
+The engine overhaul has drastically reduced the number of "vacuum" plays.
+The overall game interface is an improvement and all around less cumbersome. I was able to easily navigate through the menus.
+Madden '13 seems to have a more serious overtone to it. Remember the days of firing up the Maddens of the past and thinking to yourself how god awful the music in the menus was?? Does anyone remember that song "Its me snitches?" Well thankfully this annoying crap was taken out of the game and mercifully enough there is a generic NFL Films-esque music score.
+Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth are not providing commentary in this game....Addition by subtraction.
+Love the fictitious Twitter feeds from the ESPN talking heads in CCM.
+Accumulating XP from practices and actual game play performance gives you the ability to improve your players stats giving the CCM a slight RPGish feel to it.
CONS
-The commentary from Jim Nance and Phil Sims is an improvement, but is highly repetitive to flat out wrong. Every time I take the field with the Chargers at the start of the game, I get to here every SINGLE time how Philip Rivers is from Alabama and went to school in North Carolina....If on 2 and 10 I throw a seven yard completion Phil Sims almost on cue begins to bust my balls about how I was short of the 1st down. Other times I can throw a completion to TE2 and on cue Sims and Nance start talking about how great Antonio Gates is.....WTF????
-The on field graphics is an improvement but lets face it I have had bowel movements that look better in comparison to fans in the stands or players on the sidelines. I find it humorous that every shot of the sideline there is my dim-witted coach surrounded by 8 guys all wearing #99. The fans also look extremely pixalated and are an eyesore.
-While some of the players look incredibly life like others look nothing even remotely close to their actual appearance, in fact I'm pretty sure my 5 year old daughter could color Ryan Matthews better than how he is portrayed in the game.
-Can we get a playbook update sometime in the next millennium?
-No editing players?
-Various glitches with the clock, i.e. run out of bounds only to have the clock keep going? This is a very basic oversight and I can't believe EA didn't catch this.
-What is up with the Bears orange pants???
In summary I recommend this game to lone wolf players who prefer a true football simulation experience. Again if you are planning to purchase this game predominately for multi-player you may be disappointed. | video-games_xbox |
Overrated, Weak Entry in GTA Formula. It seems like every time a new iteration of the GTA formula is cranked out, it gets an automatic 10/10 review from everyone. Nobody seems to want to acknowledge that the series peaked with Vice City and has, at best, treaded water since then. But RDR definitely shows that the formula is aged and tired.
It's the weakest possible scenario. What was really great about GTA? The freedom, the ability to zip a car around and do awesome stunts or shoot things up and run from the cops. Alas, this has been sacrificed for the RDR setting and on the altar of 'realism'. You can't take a horse off sweet jumps, unfortunately. And you can't have manic episodes because it affects your 'honor' rating. So you're stuck riding a slow horse around a gigantic map. The side missions boil down to killing animals or stumbling across crimes, all of which require the same resolution over and over and over.
And the story itself is incredibly trite and tiresome. Apparently your family has been kidnapped and you have to hunt down some former buddy criminals. Ridiculously, to pad out the story, your character is fine with being duped time and time again with false leads. You do unrelated mission after unrelated mission, using lock-on and killing moronic enemies who pop out from chest-high walls, patiently waiting for the lead to get you to the next story-driving plot element.
And it's all padded with the most childish story and writing I've ever seen. Everyone praised the story of this game, but it's just ridiculous. You have a cowboy who supposedly has zero education veering wildly from cowboy poetry to ignorant statements. You have tired, 'sarcastic' interpretations of the Wild West like the Yale-educated guy who does ... not .. understand ... that ... the ... natives ... speak ... English (what relation this has to the plot? No idea). There are bizarre semi-connected side-missions with 'strangers' that are just irritating and pointless.
The game is poorly structured - you're constantly going from one side of the map to the other. Most missions require you to ride along ("ride shotgun for X" is generally your course of action) and listen to inane chatter. Of course you have the option of skipping this stuff using skip and fast travel, but at that point you have to wonder why everyone thought this game was so deep and well-written. It's just blather.
Your interaction with the story is completely linear and forced. You can't decide if you want to work for the rebels or the government. You have to work for both. When you show up for a mission you just take it - before it's explained to you - and once you know what the mission is, you can't refuse. So there's no principle involved. It's just "do the next thing on my checklist to advance the linear plot". For large parts of the game you have one option. One!
The gameplay mechanics are shopworn. You can't swim, so we're back to GTA3 when it comes to water. The targeting is all lock-on, and to make up for the broken gameplay you now have the standard time-slows-down mechanic which is just irritating.
And there are minigames, but they're horrible. All the gambling is poorly implemented. But worst is the 'duel' mode. You get extra 'fame' if you shoot to disarm your opponent, but in numerous duels you lose the ability to disarm your opponent ... and there's nothing to tell you this! You HAVE to kill them, and if you try to disarm them you just die because you have to fire all six shots before the timer expires.
It's just a very broken, very boring, very pointless implementation of the same tired formula we've been seeing for almost ten years now. Overrated, pointless. | video-games_xbox |
From the OXM demo. I've always liked Indiana Jones. Last Crusade was my favorite movie of the trilogy. As such, I have a fairly high bar for any game that is a spin off of such a fine story.
So far, I like what i'm seeing.
The actual game centers around the same theme of the Indy movies; find something before the bad guys do. Of course, Indy has his beautiful local love interest, evil nazis, and supernatual traps and beings to overcome. This game takes place in and around China, circa 1930's.
The demo starts with Indy exploring some ancient ruin. (Does it really matter what/where it is? Not so long as it's packed with death traps!) As demo's go, this is a very good one. It doesn't plop u down on level 2 of the game (I hope) and tell u to have at it. It's a step by step instructional demo walking you through the basic controlls and fell of the game.
Graphically, this game's very good looking. At one point, there are some birds just hanging out until u come along a scare them off. I mention this because it gives hope that the programmers have taken their time and added detail such as this to make the game just that much deeper.
Sound wise, i was very pleased. the bad guys interact with each other, u have the standard "jungle noises" in the backround, Indy sounds gruff but lovable.
The biggest drawbacks are what worry me. Namely, the camera. This is a 3rd person view game, meaning you only see about 170 degrees of what's happening. this would be fine, except the camera is not fond of being behind the charactor. Which goes hand-in-hand with my next problem. Combat, being a very normal occurance, is difficult. The low camera makes it difficult to judge distances, and since you are almost always swinging the angle around anyways, your right thumb is not on any action buttons. U can't see what you're fighting over half the time. One quick side note about what I love in this game is that Indy's hat can get knocked off in combat. It's surprisingly cinematic to take a pounding from a shotgun-weilding ivory hunter, then walk back a pick up your hat after dealing with him.
The last issue I have is the lack of any puzzles. Indy isn't all about fistcuffs, but the demo didn't go there. It was fairly linear, very little thinking except how to get from Point A to Point B, which was actually kinda fun. The demo did a pretty good job designing a ruined city. Nothing really felt like it didn't belong once hundreds of years ago.
Overall, this game has great potential. A solid 3 stars if they fix the camera, not that that means much. A 4 if they get some good puzzles. (Where's the people who made Myst when u need them?)
However, I'm going to have to say that this games is shaping up to be better on a PC then a console, just because the developers want to cram so much into so few buttons. Indy fans will probably be pleased, the rest of u might want to rent it first. | video-games_xbox |
The controls make the game. Simply put, this game is phenomenal.
I have been a fan of Forza since just before the 360 came out with Forza 2, when a friend, who was a Gran Turismo 3 enthusiast, showed me the original Forza on the Xbox. I'm not a racing game fan; I don't buy Need for Speed or have countless dozens of hours clocked in on the old, classic Gran Turismos for PS2. But I consistently buy each new Forza when it comes out.
Although Turn 10 has been pumping out a new iteration every couple of years, I have been stunned by the results each time. 3 was a leap ahead of 2 in terms of appearance, handling, and performance. As amazing as 3 was, I was genuinely impressed at the improvement of 4. Yes, the lighting was much better in 4 and the cars seemed larger than life. But the greatest achievement was the gameplay upgrade. In Forza 4, I could "feel", through my hands, the weight of each car. With each new installment, there is simply no going back.
So I eagerly plugged in the XOne and unwrapped Forza 5 with much anticipation. I was expecting it to be good; I knew it would be. I had no idea.
Having had a fair amount of experience with the franchise, I'm not on top of the world by any means, but I'm fairly decent at handling a car. I always play with all assists off, except the braking line only, and enjoy the manual w/ clutch in order to get the addictive feel of the physics at work. The game began with a taste of the driving experience as did 4, requiring you to put in one race with preset parameters. After that, the career was launched, I chose my first car, and established all my preferred settings.
I was floored.
Typically, I have not had issues handling cars in the lower classes. It's usually not until I hit the A and S classes that I struggle with handling for some of the power-heavy cars without assists.
I couldn't control the car.
This first car; I couldn't control it. I could feel when and how much each tire started to slip through the triggers. The analog stick was hyper-sensitive to every nuanced motion. I marvelled at the controls. I swear the XOne controller was designed for this game. It simply did not handle the way I have grown accustomed to with this franchise. I instantly fell in love. As I played more, and I started to adapt to the Incredibly sensitive and unforgiving physics, my attachment to the game intensified. The game does not play or drive like previous Forzas. It is gloriously rebuilt, adding, somehow, some new dimension of car control I had previously not considered nor been aware of.
My friend, the one who had first introduced me to Forza, who is a racing freak, who had established many times in the top ten for Forza 4, came over and tried it out with my first car. He wrecked within three seconds. It does not handle like previous games. He fell in love with the game, stating "I'm sold. I must have this."
A feature I love in the gameplay and feel of this racer, is the instability you get when you push a car to its limits. Avid racers inevitably end up driving their favorite super cars, achieving speeds of 200+ mph. But never before did you lose control in a class D car, maxed at 150. I was driving this RX8, going 140 mph, and the car was nearly out of control. Grip and traction became wishful thinking. The car vibrated savagely. Any turn at that point was a sheer gamble. We were thrilled and eager to take up this new challenge of physics mastery.
The drivatars? This is the greatest achievement and solution in console racing history. No more AI. My friend kept singing his praises about this game as we played. "I was never challenged before with AI. I was lapping the drivers on the hardest settings." The game lets you choose the difficulty of Drivatar opponents. The default setting is "Average" with up to two categories easier. But then it goes more than several difficulty categories up to Pro and then "Unbeatable". The racing guru friend of mind was savoring the challenge at the top two settings. I was enjoying my easy route and my winnings on "Above Average".
This game is not an evolution of Forza 4. It is completely rebuilt; it must be. The experience is absolute quality. The gameplay is incredibly satisfying. I look forward to the many hours of gaming to come, and any new releases in the future. | video-games_xbox |
Same old song and dance... with more problems. This game still has a major contributing factor to why we went years without a true new musical instrument game: horrible hardware. After 30 songs my guitar began to "double strum" down causing unplayability. I did everything on my end to rectify the situation, Googled it and found a disturbing number of complaints about the guitar (my issue, buttons sticking or requiring excessive pressing, whammy bar breaking).
And, the "new experience" just isn't that fun. It was enjoyable moving around the fret to hit notes and this just doesn't have that. Sure, there is actually a a wider variety of combinations and it requires masters of the old game to relearn and get challenged anew, but locking one of the best features, playing along with real music videos, behind a "pay to play" format (unless you're willing to play the same song over and over to grind out enough points for ONE play) was the final straw for me. On top of every other issue the song list is (arguably) one of the worst in years. In case you were wondering, the "coolness" of playing a real venue (with pre-recorded live action video) wears off pretty quickly, especially since each video is tied to a specific song: so, if you play the same song you have to wait through the same dumb thumbs up or "go get em" or "good job" (not skippable that I could find) just to get to the song. Some of those segments can be a good 20+ seconds before you actually start playing. The scenes also transition badly from playing well and doing poorly. One second the audience could be giving you the cold shoulder and with a cheesy sunburst style fade, the crowd could be jumping up and down and thoroughly loving you. I'm not going to say you should go with the competition (although Rocksmith blows the others out of the water), but you'll take a risk on this product. I returned mine the next day, one of the fastest returns I've ever made. | video-games_xbox |
A game that finally gets it right. Before you read this, ask yourself do you remember the last South Park game? The one with you running around shooting turkeys? Also, can you remember the last time Obsidian released a game that was as good as Fallout?
Ok now those questions are out of the way, lets talk about South Park: The Stick of Truth. To get straight to the point, after so many delays, this game truly delivers in ways that most games licensed on TV shows or movies usually dont. Quite frankly, if you have never followed South Park in the 17 years that its been on the air, this isn't for you and its rare to find a gamer or a follower of geek culture who hasn't followed it at some point.
As many of you already know, you play as the new kid in your quest to defeat the drow elves who have stolen the titular object from Cartman, the Grand Wizard of the Kingdom of Kupa Keep, also known as the KKK. Yes, you read that correctly. So your quest is to go out and recover the stick with help from the South Park gang.
The game feels like a long version of a South Park episode which surprisingly, never gets old. My biggest fear was 3 hrs in you would start to hear some of the same tired jokes but if anything, you are still discovering new locations and characters as well as learning new mechanics. I really loved the fact that no matter where you go in the game, you can find something that has been a part of the South Park lore even from its inception whether it be an item you can sell or something you can use such as chin-balls, the Okama Gamesphere and even cheesy poofs. Its really one of those times where you can say if its in the show, its in the game.
As far as the gameplay is concerned, South Park plays out similar to a JRPG just more coherent. You have a central hub (Cartmans yard) and the town that you throughout while questing as well as many sub-quests that come along. As you wander, you will have random battles occasionally with enemies in a similar combat style to JRPGs, just more fun. Looking at how this game is set up, its a really good thing that Obsidian had a hand in it and even with the delays, you can tell it was worth the wait. Most of the menus are easy to navigate and once you know where everything is on the menus its easy to find. South Park also shamelessly borrows from a few other games and as you play its really transparent but it wouldnt be South Park if it didnt. For instance, at one point you learn the Dragonshout and it is HILARIOUS! Trust me when I say its nowhere near the same as Skyrim but its deadly when used.
As far as issues, there are very few. On occasion, the game can glitch when you go into an area and the music cuts out and while its not game breaking it can jarring to go into silence and back again to music. Also from time to time when it comes to using the left stick to navigate the radial menus occasionally it gets hard to do because its not as precise to do as in say Diablo. Sometimes I want to choose one action and I get bogged down trying to get out of the wrong one and choose the correct one. Also while the fast travel option is a plus, occasionally finding where you need to go for your main quest may keep you on the map a little longer because even if you zoom out completely you may not always see the point you need to go in. Lastly, combat can be a bit clunky. Also, while it may take a bit of timing to press the buttons just right occasionally the AI can be too aggressive and unforgiving in making mistakes. Poor Butters has been the subject of much abuse due to my slow reactions, but hey, its South Park. And lastly, which also may be debated, some may not like the fact that your characters can heal up after battles which may make the game too easy. With the way this game plays in a JRPG fashion you would almost expect that after each battle you would have to use potions to heal up but nope. You fight and when you win, you heal and you move on. Think about it though, this is a meta LARPing game that you are playing with the neighborhood kids.
All in all, South Park succeeds here where it has failed in previous games as well as where many licensed TV games have failed. Every but of the show can be found here be it audio cues from Terrence and Phillip on television, to objects found in Mrs. Cartmans room or even if you take a visit to the City Wok. Sometimes just standing idly by can produce hilarious results. It doesnt get old and stale and it crashed through boundaries just as much as the show has done for years. This game is the South Park game that fans have waited for and to be honest, it throws down the gauntlet for other long time animated adult franchises such as The Simpsons and Family Guy to up their game. Both have also had games with The Simpsons probably the better of the 2 but South Park is outshining them all. Even though its early, its quite possible that this game may be an unsung game of the year so lets remember it come fall as newer shinier games comes along. You don't get too many games that does justice like this does. | video-games_xbox |
Huge disappointment as a sequel. The original Project Gotham had so many things that worked beautifully it was a complete surprise. The kudos system was a fun new tweak to an old genre, the controls were fantastic, and the ability to play your own music was great. Unfortunately, PGR2 has killed a great deal of what made the orignal fun.
First of all, the controls are entirely different, and not for the better. Veterans of PGR1 who had mastered the F50 will be surprised and annoyed at how ridiculously awkward it is to even get the Z28 moving well. PGR1'a cars could be quite difficult to control, but gave you the feel of actually driving a car, rather than the feel of manipulating an object on a screen. It's difficult to explain, bu the "zip" in the driving that put PGR1 over other racers is lost. PGR1 driving physics were simply better, especially concerning high speed turns. You could get more out of the cars with the proper practice.
Secondly and most egregiously, the kudos system has been castrated. The large, bright corner numbers happily ticking away have been replaced by tiny white numbers that do not move. They quietly register in one total and then add to your score. Not only is this a fun-killer, it's an unpleasant pain in the neck-- in order to know what your kudos score is, you have to turn your attention completely away from the road because the numbers aren't as visible.
Furthermore, there are no kudos in multiplayer! This was simply ridiculous and really hurts the game's replay value. Sooner or later, you figure out the ins and outs of the computer and the real fun comes in playing other human beings. PGR1 became legendary for me after the computer had been mastered and it became heated competition between my friends and I. The kudos were an important part of that and there is no good reason why they should not be there. Yes, yes, they are there if you play on X-Box live, but those of us who are not hooked up to X-Box live are paying the price here. I think that is a pretty crass commerical move-- rolling back fun to get more X-Box live players.
The graphics are the only real improvement-- the game looks great. But that's not enough to excuse annoying flaws like those mentioned already and in other reviews. (The time differentials in races show up right in your field of vision, preventing you from correctly judging upcoming turns-- come on, guys, that's just lazy!) Technically it's a 2 star game, but you can still import your own soundtrack, which makes it more fun. | video-games_xbox |
Greatest Game Ever Made RDR. I am reviewing this game type because I am using XBOX ONE. However, the Read Dead Redemption is also available for use on XBOX ONE. Both games are the same, however, this game offers more in one disc. I bought four games in an attempt to find the story prequel. I never found it. Why? Because, the prequel or beginning of the story is not a Read Dead Redemption game......it is.....a Red Dead Revolver game. Red Dead Revolver can only be played on older XBOX systems. I would like to get it any way and play it because I feel like I am missing something____the prequel. With that in mind, let me continue.
Red Dead Redemption begins with John Marston (Main Character = YOU) being released from three marshals to be a marshal himself before he can return to his previous life with his wife and son. Which, I am not sure why, is not in the picture until you go to Undead Nightmare which is about Zombies.....still a western with a walking dead piece. Venturing into that realm will give you a chance to see Marston's family.....up to that point.....he goes around saying that he is married but there is nothing learned about that in Read Dead Redemption.
Once you begin playing the single player you may want to see what multiplayer is all about. Well, most people do so you are not alone. You will find yourself paying a fee to XBOX to play that game if you want to play against real people dressed up as many characters. You start off as a sheriff on a donkey and end up being whomever you want on a raging bull. You can switch out, however. Riding a bull may not be your speed if you will......how about riding a Zebra.....yes, it is available. I switch back and forth from the single player mode to the multiplayer. The single player game is by far the best game ever created. Why, you are in a world that everything you do matters. Each turn, each bounty hunt, and the people around you know you. You can be a bad-guy or a good-guy. If you do anything wrong, the law will bring you down quickly, however. You can play poker, or be a marshal......your choice. However, in the multiplayer, you can play poker against real people.....that is.....if any one wants to play. Never any real money exchanged but a good sport at best. In single-player you will play against computer generated people who say the same thing over and over again.....but, it is still worth it. In the multiplayer, it is hard to find people to play poker when there are so many other things to do.
Let me review a few things - multiplayer is a hard game to get right.....not because of you...but, because of the game itself.....Make sure your NAT is open (you can research this on articles or watch videos to learn) so you can play with as many other players as possible. Also, contact your network...for me....comcast....and make sure all your ports are open....XBOX support is helpful in this area in letting you know what to have the tech at comcast to open. At its best, multiplayer is great if you can dodge the other players that just want to fight. People playing sometimes come after you but you can switch out and perhaps join a better group. Some people want to be your friend and join your posse. There are many other things that you can play such games and cooperative missions on multiplayer. At the games-multiplayer worst is just trying to get the game to play right with all the problems that come with a system that includes many players. Do not despair, reboot your Xbox, leave for a while and come back later. The sun will always shine on this game........You may see a trailer of Red Dead Redemption 2 on the super bowl commercial.
Finally, I ended up buying an online copy from XBOX so I can get all the games that come free and buy a few more if necessary....such as....Undead Nightmare....which I feel may help me play multiplayer better.....however, I have not confirmed this but it is a newer game and may give access to more maps or better platforms and maps. Consider this - get all the free stuff, make sure you have all the software and play this game on your leisure in between going out there and working hard and having fun.......this game is just another form of gamer entertainment but should not be your entire life.
Oh, one more thing. This is an adult game so play it wisely. Not for kids...... | video-games_xbox |
Not a perfect game, not by a long-shot. I was excited to play this game. I was excited about the huge, expansive, open world. I was excited about the character customization. And I was excited about the fact that you could play the game however you want, without linear plotlines hemming you in. So I bought the game, popped it in and after a quick and easy download on my Xbox 360, this original Xbox game was compatible.
The first things you notice are the music and the graphics. The music is fantastic, evoking wonder and amazement and excitement, reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. I believe the soundtrack won several awards for video game music and is available for purchase here on Amazon. Then, the graphics. Im writing this review in February 2014, roughly 12 years after this game was originally released, so obviously, the graphics have aged. BUT, they're really not that bad. They're three-dimensional and pretty clear. They're not fuzzy like old N64 games were, they're crisper than that. You cant see as far in to the distance as you can in the sequels to this game (Oblivion and Skyrim), but that isn't a huge problem as you have an in-game map that helps you navigate. The tones and the colors are pretty stark. Dark and muddy Morrowind is. But its cool, it adds to the eeriness of the game.
When you start a new game, you go through the character creation process. This was fun. You name your character, and his/her class. You pick a race, birthsign, and then the stats, which are very complex. If you don't know what your doing when it comes to picking stats, there are pre-set skill sets you can choose from, but id reccomend you just spend five minutes online googling a little bit about how stats and levelling up in Morrowind works and that should help you here. Why? Because Morrowind is meant to be a personalized game. You want your experience to be your own and knowing a little bit about what skills do what and what skills I want to focus on helped me design a character that I could enjoy playing as.
Then you're sent out into the world. Basically, the story is that you are released from prison on order from the Emperor himself for some mysterious reason, your told to pick up a dagger off a table and told to speak to a man in a town up the road. From this point on, you can do literally, whatever you want. You can go talk to the man in the town up the road or you can go exploring and find other quests in the HUGE in-game world. The creator of this and the other games in the Elder Scrolls series said something to the effect of "Be who you want and do what you want."
This is a good game. But it is not perfect. Navigating the menus that pop up when your talking to people can be bewildering. The world is so big, its easy to feel overwhelmed. The difficulty is very high. And worst of all, it crashes a lot. And restarting from your last save takes a long time to load (about one minute).
Morrowind is an experience to behold. It is memorable, it is fun, and it is flawed. All at the same time. I recommend this game to fans of RPGs and hardcore gamers (although they would probably already know about it). If you like fast-paced action in your video games, this is probably not for you. You will spend most of your time walking around or in one of the many in-game menus. | video-games_xbox |
too short but oh so sweet. i knew right from the beginning that playing MOH: European Assault wasn't going to be any groundbreaking experience. Even hardcore fans of the series have to admit that Medal of Honor has been on a downward slope. Frontline in 2002 was a awesome game but 2003's Rising Sun was less than adequete. European Assault rests happily between the two titles....it is a good game. I give it 5 stars because it's clearly taking the series in a positive direction. The gameplay feels far more intense than any game in the MOH series. I feel the game takes a cue from Call of Duty in that respect. Graphically, this game is very decent. The framerate is very nice as well as consistent. Textures are muddy and blurry but overall in the visual department, this game is solid, just nothing we haven't seen before. The sound is excellent, certainly deserving of praise. The THX surround support pulls gamers into the heat of combat. And for the first time since Frontline, the series has a wonderful score, all composed by Christopher Lennertz. The music and sound effects are great. The weapons used in this first person shooter are average fare. Although a few new weapons such as the T-18 are present. Overall the weapons handel very accurately and feel incredibly powerful. There are no real problems in the gameplay, only that its quite a brief experience. It only took me about 6 hours. Luckily the multiplayer is fun. Like the singleplayer game it isn't anything new, just the basic modes like deathmathch and such, but there is an intense element that makes the multiplayer enjoyable. The overall presentation of the game is very nice, the menus are simple to navigate and the in-game cinematics are quite impressive, if only the actual game looked as good, (sighs). Thats not to say this game looks bad, just saying the opening cinematic gets you prepared for so much more. The first four missions in the game take place in 1942 France with the Brit's raid on St. Nazaire. These levels are very intense and the third even shows off some cool lighting effects as you fight thru a lightning storm. The following levels in Africa and Russia are enjoyable but each of these campaigns is very short, two missions each. I liked seeing the Russian PPSH in a Medal of Honor game too. The final three levels in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 are possibly the best in the whole game. If things continue at this rate, Medal of Honor Airborne, lauching on the PlayStation 3 next spring, should certainly be a winner! thanks for reading. | video-games_xbox |
Serious Fun. I have been a fan of the Tony Hawk series for years and while I've always enjoyed those games, at the same time I always felt like the series was not taking itself seriously. I hated the contrived challenges where I had to use skateboarding skills to solve or cause problems for other people. I had been playing American Wasteland for the past few weeks and I almost passed on skate because I thought I had my fill of skateboarding and Halo 3 is just around the corner. But I read a review that mentioned the game's near realistics physics and that piqued my interest so I broke down and picked it up. I'm glad I did. Comparing skate to Tony Hawk is like comparing Project Gotham Racing to Mario Kart. I enjoy Mario Kart but PGR is a more rewarding experience on so many levels.
I've already spent many hours trying to perfect my flatland tricks. Doing a manual is almost as difficult to do in the game as it is to do in real life, but once you get the hang of it you get a real sense of accomplishment. The game is not about learning a sequence of button presses, it is about developing actual skill.
The game has a career mode that includes goals related to skateboarding, such as photo ops, video shoots and various competitions. To be honest, I don't really care about the career mode. I will eventually finish the career but only to unlock areas and goodies, but the real fun is just skating around the city and finding my own challenges.
I've been playing the game for a few days now and as far as I know there are no stat points to earn. You know the drill in Tony Hawk. If you can't make a gap, maybe if you get another air stat point you could clear it. In skate its all about skill. If you can't do a trick then you just need to keep practicing until you can. It's all you.
Too be honest the game can be frustrating at times. Some of the moves are really hard to pull off consistently. The payoff is that when you do it feels like a real accomplishment.
I hope the game stays true and does not include cheat codes or other easter eggs.
If you take your gaming seriously and even if you don't you should give skate a try. | video-games_xbox |
Razer Chimeara = TRASH. To whom it may concern:
I bought the Razer Chimaera 5.1 headphones. I received them 4 days ago and set them up. I am completely unhappy with the product and requested a full refund. I have read many reviews that state that these headphones are the best thing since sliced bread but I have found out that I would be better off using sliced bread as a head set rather then these headphones.
I have a pair of turtle beach headphones and they are 10 times the product that the Razer Chimaera's are. I continuously have an issue with connectivity. In the middle of a game they have lost connection on 5 different occasions in the last 4 days.
The audio is mediocre at best. The razor chimaera headphones produce that same quality of sound, as I would expect out of a $10 set of headphones. During gameplay the audio is "ok" but when I play online with a friend I actually have to go in through the game audio settings and turn down the master volume to be able to hear my friends. I also have an issue with the fact that I hear my voice echo back at me. It is distracting and is an issue with a number of different headsets and not only the Razer Chimeara's.
As for the design, they look amazing. And the idea of having a wireless headset and charging dock is incredibly genius but they are uncomfortable to wear on your head for two to three hours at a time. I think that its because I cant actually adjust them to fit my head. They do adjust LARGER but I have a small head and they are already on the smallest setting. The weight is great but it pushes the ear cups down on top of my ears and its like my ears are what is holding the head set on my head instead of the head band on top.
I don't want this email to be a negative email. I want this to be constructive criticism. I personally love the idea and design of the headphones but overall they are trash. I have a pair of Dr. Dre's Beat headphones. THEY are the best things since sliced bread. I cant find a better sound quality anywhere and I was really hoping that these headphones would come close. I also recommend addressing the connectivity issue. Maybe think about using Bluetooth or some other forum of stronger wireless capability. | video-games_xbox |
Multiplaye Gold Standard. The single player campaign really isn't worth the cost of admission: about 10 hours to complete on the harder difficulties. Personally I found it hard to care during this single player, or the one for MW2. I would've probably been much more interested if they wrote a new story from scratch dealing with current (dare i say Modern) events, much like the first seemed very much like it could be something existing behind the scenes in our modern world.
But let's be honest, that's not really what your buying this for anyway is it? I ended up getting this just because I knew as soon as it came out no one would be online anywhere else. The multi-player experience continues to be "evolutionary" in each release of this series. Infinity Ward is clearly a shop that is looking at their previous releases and looking at ways of improving the experience. Is this a re-invention of everything online play can be? No. Is it a satisfying and enhanced experience? Weapon effects feel crisp. The graphics look great: and the game ships with only one disc! the killstreak rewards are the biggest change to the game, with the option to look for support streaks or strike streaks. These are defensive or offensive types of killstreaks. People new to Call of Duty can feel outgunned very quickly with the number of highly skilled players out there. Support streaks give the newbies a way to earn killstreaks out of the gate as they are more "killtotals" than streaks. The fact that objectives in objective based game types also count toward killstreaks also helps the more strategic-minded played get in on the action as well.
The final game type in MW3 is more of a bonus: Covert Ops. Those coming from MW2 will recognize the first mission type where you and a friend can get together and complete missions based on objectives from our inspired from the single play plot for Stars. The second type, Survivor, will be familiar to those of you who play Treyarch's Call of Duty games as a re-incarnation of zombies, or similar to Bungie's Survivor game type for the Halo franchise. In this incarnation you and your buds fight of wave after wave of different baddies on the multi-player maps. The waves feature shotgun baddies, SMG baddies, Russian Spets soldies, Demo specialits, Dogs, Helicopters, etc. Like always: I find the survivor game type to be very interesting at first and one of the better play experiences in the game: however it will unlikely to have staying power once you've gotten to a certain proficiency a couple times the drive to keep playing dies quickly.
In summary: nothing mind blowing here. The graphics and game play are a little fresher and a little crisper. The multi-player experience is improved, but not revolutionized. If you're looking for the shooter that everyone will be playing online for the next year, this is the right place.
I have just bought Battlefield 3 but haven't un-boxed it yet so I reserve the right to change my mind about any and everything written here. | video-games_xbox |
Great Game. This game is a LOT of fun. If you like stealth oriented games then this is definitely a must buy. The single player mode is very similar to the previous splinter cell. It has the same great graphics and story line of the previous title. The lighting effects are just as amazing if not better. But the real draw for this title is the multiplayer. When you first start playing it gets really frustrating. The maps are huge and because they are so big it takes a while to learn them. I'm sure you already know how multiplayer works so I'll just give you a real quick summary. There are two teams. One is the spies and the other the mercs. Spies operate very similar to sam fisher in the single player game. Mercs play very similar to rainbow six 3. Spies have a third person view. Mercs have a first person view. The goal of the spies is always to steal something and the mercs always want to kill the spies. I've played quite a few rounds on xbox live and I have yet to play a round where the spies won. I'm sure this will change soon but the game is hard. Like I said before every level is huge and there are cameras, motion sensors, and trip lasers scattered throughout each level. If you're a first time spy and try to steal a canister then you'll probably die quite a few times. As soon as you trip an alarm the mercs are notified and the location of the alarm shows up on their radar. This means that most likely you have two heavily armed guards coming to your location in seconds. Also in some cases if the alarm is triggered some of the doors close around you and your means of escape are limited. This results in death after death. Like I said before if you've never played a level then how can you know where every single alarm is or which doors are going to close if you set it off. Its much simpler for the mercs. You just run around and look for spies and because you know where the three or four locations of canisters are located you know exactly where the spies will be heading. I have a feeling that the game will change quite a bit after some of the players get more experienced in this game because once you know where all the alarms are then you can sneak in and grab the canister without the guards ever getting wise. This will change the game and make it great because at that point the only changes made to the levels will be by the mercs(mercs have mines they can place throughout the level). So even if a spy has memorized every alarm they'll still have to be on their toes because a guard could place a mine or sensor anywhere. Also it becomes difficult to get past alarms that you know are there if you have a random visit by a merc that is searching for you. Overall this game is great and although it can be frustrating being a spy I'm sure that after you learn the level you'll have a great time sneaking around and playing against mercs that are real human players. It just makes the experience so much better. | video-games_xbox |
Eyecandy can only take you so far. I picked up Forza 5 after reading reviews on several gaming sites that seemed to agree that Forza is the game to get for true next-generation graphics. And to that end, Forza does not disappoint. The car models are accurately detailed. Not only do you see reflections on the surface of cars, you can see it on the gloss as well. And I can attest that as an owner of a Mazda3 in real life, seeing the interior of the Mazdaspeed3 rendered faithfully in game is a real treat. In addition, some of the tracks are so beautifully rendered that it's hard to keep your eyes on the next turn ahead. It's truly stunning.
But as a game, there are some serious drawbacks. For starters, there's very little sense of challenge. Unlike the Gran Turismo series which has you compete for licenses and cash which allow you to unlock new courses, cars, and upgrades, virtually all of the races are unlocked from the beginning, and earning credits to buy new cars is simply too easy. By default, the assist settings include a drive line overlay which shows you were to position your car, when to accelerate, and when to brake. It also has an auto-brake assist on by default, which makes it easy for anyone with no driving experience at all to pick up the controller and have a go. There's also a rewind feature that can bring you back several seconds before a head-on collision. While this can help Forza appeal to a wider audience, using these assists don't have any penalty and don't encourage more skilled driving.
On the other hand, you can turn off every assist, including simulated damage, traction control, and even use a manual setup that includes working a clutch, but this makes the game impossibly hard for relatively little gain. Turn everything off, and you'll end up spinning doughnuts until you exit the course and restart your settings.
Another gameplay issue is how difficult it is to see on a track where the corners are coming. While there is a default mini-map on the lower left hand side, some of the corners are so intricate that it's hard to see where the entry and exit paths are on screen. For example, on the Top Gear test track, there is one turn that requires you to weave through a set of barricades before making a hairpin turn, but the textures on the barricades is so similar that it's hard to see where your car is supposed to enter. In addition, there are partial turn offs marked by pylons that don't give you a clear indication where and in what direction you have to turn, which inevitably leads you into a head-on collision. Having to guess where you have to go and using the rewind feature completely takes you out of the experience. More visual cues would make for a much better gaming experience.
On the positive side, the Forza Drivatar feature is a welcome feature. It records the driving habits of real-world players to create a more realistic driver AI. Instead of having cars that all follow the same, perfect path going at different speeds relative to yours, you instead see cars bump and nudge each other, and spin out while underestimating a turn. This makes each race a little unpredictable, you don't know if the lead car is going to race perfectly or blow a lead, which makes close races a little more fun.
In short, Forza is a beautiful game that really showcases the raw horsepower of the XBOX One, but default assists, access to all tracks, and a lack of tutorials or challenges that help you learn how to drive better rob the game of it's replay value. Forza 5 would make for an exceptional product demo, but isn't tuned to keeping your attention past a few races. | video-games_xbox |
This game is underrated. Words cannot adequately describe the sublime blend of exhilaration and delight one feels at playing this game. That is... if one really enjoys destroying things. And I do.
The six playable characters in this game can destroy anything and everything in the environments. Outside of Katamari Damacy, I haven't found a game in which the surrounding environments are involved so much in the gameplay. Trees, rocks, buildings, statues -- nothing is spared. But you don't just destroy them; you destroy them in style. The visuals are gorgeous. All the characters can fly to some extent, making one feel completely free to move about anywhere in the environments. To this add the sheer power of blasting apart everything in sight, and you'll see where much of the appeal of this game lies. These characters feel invincible; what player wouldn't want to be in their shoes?
Some people, however, might be turned off by the strong cultural influences of Japan in this game. It doesn't exactly require familiarity with Japanese history; but that certainly helps. For those gamers who have an interest in japanese mythology, the story will be engrossing and fun, and seeing enemies like the impressive Nine-Tailed Fox is just cool. For those who are totally unfamiliar with japanese culture, the setting might feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I'd suggest giving it a chance, because the game is just beautiful, and I haven't played a hack n'slash title that I've enjoyed more (and that includes the Dynasty Warriors series).
Players will doubtless have different favorites among the six characters, but all of them are worth trying out. They include:
Raikoh - the main character, who manages not to say an entire word throughout the game. He's the most balanced, and with his final weapon arguably the most powerful.
Tsuna - a wolf man with an attitude. He is excellent in combat against multiple enemies, has strong attacks and good range.
Suetake - One of the most interesting characters, he's essentially a floating tree trunk. Very slow, but his range is unmatched, and his ability to jump infinitely is fun.
Sadamitsu - The fastest character in the game, she's a bit low on health, but there are a few levels in which her speed is essential.
Kintoki - The heavyweight of the game, he can throw enemies (fun!). His inability to double jump is a bit of a drag, but his power makes up for it.
Seimei - The sorceress. Her magic is unstoppable, and since she can replenish her mp by stealing it from demons she can cast powerful spells constantly. After the other hand-to-hand combat characters, she takes some getting used to, but her high-level spells crush enemies so fast it's almost laughable.
The combination of excellent graphics, beautiful music, and an interesting story make this game one of my top favorites. It also has epic boss battles, and the cutscenes are beautiful. If you're skeptical, rent it and try it out. | video-games_xbox |
This is What an RPG is All about. The best I've played in nearly a decade. I am an avid gamer of the 360 and I have beaten most of the new, critically acclaimed titles on the market. Mass Effect, Dead Space, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, Bioshock, Tales of Vesperia, The Lost Odyessy, Oblivion, FFX13.... and so on. I have no idea how this game has failed to get so little hype. I honestly wasn't expecting that much because I haven't heard anything about it other than reading Amazon reviews. I am only about halfway through the game, but this is by far the most engrossing game I have played since FFX. This world is designed so beautifully and the gameplay mechanics are absolutely perfect. The RPG elements are done perfectly. I have never been so lost in a video game world in all my life, and I'm a lot older now and am not the kid I was when I first picked up the playstation. Other than the perfect gameplay mechanics and rpg elements, this is one of the best soundtracks I have had the pleasure to hear. FFX was so engrossing to me because of its soundtrack and game play, same with this title. I'm going to wait until I finish both discs and see how the story and development play out, but I am actually already considering this to be the best game I have ever played... seriously. This is a classic rpg which perfectly implements newer additions we've seen to the the genre. Also, the voice-acting is Superb throughout the game which really helps the experience.
The graphics aren't mind-blowing, but they're very, very good... better than oblivion and on par with fallout. I can't say enough about how pleased I am. I recently just played Fallout: New Vegas, and was so disappointed as a gamer, but this is so exciting. It has elements of every rpg I've played blended carefully into an awesome adventure. This is what oblivion should have been. The quests aren't fetch like. The action is hard and great. The customization is awesome. I'll add more after I beat it, but I just had to post this review now because I feel like gamers should know about this title. | video-games_xbox |
So beautifully crafted, you will not want to use it as your regular controller. Thank God, I am one of the fortunate persons that have this amazing controller. I am going to tell you my opinion of the different parts of this excellent item.
Package: The package is superbly made, very professional. It is rigid, with a magnetic clip and so small that you won't believe it contains a wired controller, with a good length USB cord, with several Tron-related images and decals and a label that introduces the controller to the customer.
Controller: I dare to say it is much better than the original Microsoft full licensed controller. The Tron controller is so good that I will suggest to MS ask to PDP for the construction of all the controllers. It is slightly bigger, not a big problem since the gamers with meaty paws (as me), it is a welcome feature and the persons with regular contact with the original controllers won't feel the difference in the size, since they are well comfortable. The big difference is the amazing grip, given by the rugged soft silicon coat (I believe) that covers the exact points of contact with the gamer's hands. It feels great and solid, and much more secure for slippage (you don't want to ruin a limited edition, collector's piece because of a fall).The response is very good, as expected for a wired controller, but I think only if you are an alien or have an outstanding motion sense, can feel the difference in comparison with a wireless controller. One of the things I've liked the most is the feeling of the buttons and they do less clicking noise than the original MS controller. On the other hand, the design is very good. Beautifully crafted and blue-lighted, a wireless form would be a battery devourer. In the aesthetic and Tron fan approach, this controller is so Tron-ish that seems like it's going to be flinging Battle Identity Disks at you. The only thing that I can say, as other reviewers is that the greenish xbox logo feels out of place. It should be substituted for a Tron-styled "X" or a Tron-related logo with blue lighting as the Wii and PS3 versions, that would be great. The controller comes with a small plate in the back, with the authentification code, as well as the corresponding number from the 20,000 controllers of this edition. As a plus, this controller comes with a promo code for a PDP Afterglow, limited edition t-shirt, free of charge, you only pay for the delivery (from 4 to 6 weeks) to your home or office.
When you connect the controller to a PC (as I did), it is rapidly recognized and three drivers are loaded, and it is not recognized as the original XBOX controller, but the Disney Tron Controller. I've use this controller for a small GTR 2 race and felt very good in response and precision.
In a nutshell: It is a beautiful controller, very responsive and precise, very comfortable and silent, and a good addition to a true Tron fan or collector. | video-games_xbox |
great racing game. Best racing sim I have ever played on a console. It's even decently controllable without a wheel, but now that I own this game I will be getting one as soon as I can.
Telemetry during replay has some really nice information including accelerometer, suspension travel, tire pressure and temperature, friction circle and contact patch size for each tire. If you take the time to really pay attention to these during a replay, you can learn a few things to improve your car setup as well as driving technique for problem turns.
Unlike other racing games I've played, your competitors don't play demolition derby and do have some self preservation instinct. They won't ram you or steal your line, and will actually leave you racing room (even better behaved than Spec Miata drivers :). You really can go door to door with them in the middle of the pack without being run over.
Some people don't like the lack of an in-car view. I actually never use it in other games because you don't have peripheral vision if you drive this way. Since a computer screen can only look one direction and provide a sort of tunnel view, just behind the car is the next best thing.
The scenery on the tracks is not quite detailed enough to pick up reference points, but the school cones are left on the tracks which helps compensate this shortcoming. There are two driving aids I leave turned on: ABS and "ideal line". Not necessarily because I need help with the line but because it changes color according to how fast I am going so I get an idea of how close to adhesion I am at. Since your butt is probably the most important sensory input while racing, this helps out a lot. ABS too because of the lack of a butt as well as no pedal feel. But turn off the stability and traction controls, learn something and have fun. Just like in any other half decent simulation, the manual transmission will give you much better control through the turns. It acts like a no-lift sequential shift which makes things easier with no clutch control.
Despite claims of being ultra-realistic, it isn't. It is close and for a video game it's a lot of fun. While you can throttle steer and go through a turn with opposite lock, it's way too difficult to actually spin the car. If you drop a wheel off track, you can yank the car right back on without dire consequences and I think it is impossible to actually roll.
Even if you actually do racing, buy this game and play it in the off season. While no video game is nothing like the thrill of driving a race car, this is great fun. | video-games_xbox |
The best tropical vacation you'll ever have. Remember the classic Schwarzenegger flick "Total Recall"?
Arnie goes to a memory implant outfit selling "the perfect vacation", including an alter ego trip that (debatably) gives him the memory of a Mars vacation as a secret agent. The travel agent tells Arnie "Besides, real vacations are a drag. You've got lost luggage, crooked taxi drivers...."
He's right. Far Cry Instincts takes you to a stunning island paradise - armed to the teeth with guns and, er, other weapons - without you ever having to leaving your couch. Sounds good, doesn't it? No passport problems, no long boring flight, no airline food. Just you, the refreshing island air, and a submachine gun in each fist.
If you ever wanted to visit a gorgeous tropical paradise unlike any other....that is, one filled with beautiful waterfalls, gun-toting mercenaries all out to kill you, thick green forests, mutant-populated caves, clear waters and deep blue skies, and exploding vehicles, this is the place.
You are Jack Carver, a gun-runner who took the wrong job. You're hired by the beautiful Val Cortez to take her by some island. Next thing you know, your boat's blown to bits, Val has vanished, and you're running for your life through the jungle pursued an army of heavily armed mercs bent on taking you out.
What's going on here? Outnumbered and outgunned, use your wits to discover answers. You're not going down without a fight, right? Low on ammo? Rig traps to lure unsuspecting mercs to their demise. Roadblock in your way? Sneak through the grass, between the trees, stab a guy in the back and take out the rest with their own machinegun turret. Odds against you, or you want to get somewhere quickly? Use a hummer. Or a jetski. Or a hovercraft. Or how about a hang glider? Use those warm tropical drafts to your advantage and rain death from above - nothing quite like it. Hey, you can even swim your way to safety if it comes down to it. The choice is yours.
Not to spoil anything, but check this out. You'll get captured. Oh, don't worry, it's temporary...and in fact, necessary. Once you escape, you'll notice things are different. The sun sets over the island, night arrives, and you notice you're changing. You can now see in the dark. Trail your enemies by scent. You can leap huge distances and run at superhuman speed. You can break through barriers with your bare hands, not to mention the damage you can now do unarmed. What's happening? It feels good...great, in fact...but who did this to you, and why? Somewhere on the island, the answers are hidden.
When small German developer Crytek released Far Cry on the PC last year, it was instantly hailed for its gorgeous graphics and freedom of gameplay. Ubi Soft has tweaked the game for the Xbox, removing some of the freedom but adding the incredibly cool feral powers. It also included a robust multiplayer map editor, which is arguably the best of its kind on console. The result is an experience that's different from the PC version, but arguably better.
The short version: if you have an Xbox and have even a remote interest in first-person shooters, you must try Far Cry: Instincts. It's that simple. The single-player game is a combination of Splinter Cell, Mercenaries, and Halo. Multiplayer is among the best available, thanks to imaginative modes and the remarkable map editor.
As the Xbox itself starts to fade into the sunset, it's clear to see that it's still more than capable of providing highly intense, technically brilliant, hugely fun gaming experiences. Don't let the lack of licensing stop you from giving this a shot.
Oh yeah - enjoy your vacation! | video-games_xbox |
Come for the campaign, stay for the multiplayer. The Good: Many old features make a fun comeback, multiplayer is great, Horde 3.0 is fantastic, new weapons are fun, larger enemies make for a greater challenge
The Bad: Campaign lacks epic set pieces of previous games, has more old tricks than new, graphics are a letdown, story doesnt advance the series much, boring level design
First off I have to say Gears of War is one of my favorite game series of all time. It was the first game to really show me true next-generation fidelity when I got my Xbox 360 on Christmas of 2006. The art style, the characters, the lore, the story, and the atmosphere all drew me in with fantastic revolutionary gameplay and amazing online multiplayer. It was one of the most cloned games since Resident Evil 4 (which I know Gears took much inspiration from). Here we are 10 years and 5 games later. I honestly didn't go into Gears 4 expecting much after Gears 3 was so satisfying and I accepted that it was the end. When Judgement was released I lost hope in the series and the Gears 4 gameplay trailer didn't have me impressed.
I expected a huge reboot with all new characters and settings, but Im kind of half glad they didn't do that. Yes, Marcus and Co. are back to take shotgun on this ride, but theres still something missing after playing through this huge beast of a game that didn't quite click with me. You play as Marcus son J.D. who is on a mission to try and stop the COG army from killing him and his friends who deserted from New Sera. On their way to steal supplies they run into a new breed of Locust and another war ensues. Without giving too much away the story feels more complicated than it can handle as the linear one mission goal from the last games worked perfectly for the series.
The game is instantly familiar once you get control of J.D. The Roadie Run, snapping into cover, blind fire, active reloading its all there. Its a little too familiar and this feeling sinks in more and more as the game goes on. It almost feels like The Coalition were too afraid to venture off and try new things which are a repeated pattern with smaller companies getting huge IPs. As I battled through the entire campaign I felt like it just wasn't as original or memorable as previous games. For one, the level design is sub-par. Yes, the post-apocalyptic scenes are here, but they fail to be memorable or mean anything. I remember Marcus mansion from the first game, the Locust stronghold and the driller scene with hundreds of Locusts from the second game, and Jacintos remnant of the third game. Nothing here feels unique or sticks out. Its the same lame corridors or repeated buildings over and over again and it becomes a blur.
Outside of that the same Locust are back that were familiar with such as Grenadiers, Soldiers, Grunts, Scions, and so forth, but I miss the other miscellaneous Locusts like the Tickers. Instead, we get larger meaner Locust as they are mutating and can actually grow stronger in battle. Once the first two acts were over the smile left my face as each familiar thing came into play. I realized by the third act that the game didn't have many new things to throw at me besides a few new enemies and a couple of weapons. The campaign lacks epic set pieces that we were familiar with through the original trilogy. The ending has you riding some sort of giant robots and thats about the extent of it.
Weapons in Gears 4 feels very familiar with the original game, and not much has changed. All your favorite weapons are here like the Lancer, Snub, Boltok Pistol, Gnasher, Mulcher, Boomshot, Hammerburst and various other favorites. Some new weapons like the Dropshot are strange. It launches an underground missile that blows up underneath you. The Buzzkill is interesting as it shoots sawblades that bounce around. I love the new weapons that the new COG army robots use such as the Embar which uses hypersonic rounds that pierce through anything. The Enforcer is a fun new sub-machine gun and my favorite addition is the Overkill. Its a short range hypersonic shotgun that devastates more than the Gnasher. Honestly, outside of this, there isn't much thats new. Theres no new vehicles or old ones for that matter, and the game is full of objectives that have you running around turning on power, flipping switches, and opening doors. Its still an entertaining campaign, but I cant see a reason to play through a second time like previous games.
The multiplayer is the reason why you're going to come back and its the first Gears multiplayer I actually enjoyed. Many old modes are back such as Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Dodgeball, and various others. The biggest addition is Horde 3.0 which perfects the mode. A brand new element to Gears is the Fabricator. Its a box that allows you to build defense items and even weapons. Its a take on tower defense as you kill enemies, gather loot, and bring them back to the Fabricator to acquire new items. I had so much fun in Horde as each match felt different and fun. When a teammate dies you can get their Cog Tags and bring them back to the fabricator to revive them. The tactics and scenarios change so much with each wave that every minute is a surprise.
Lastly, lets talk about the visuals in Gears. Gears of War was a pinnacle of high definition gaming and had been up until the third game. Gears of War 4 looks good, but it doesnt look next-generation and definitely doesnt look amazing on PC. It feels like it was being developed on Xbox 360 hardware and was ported over to Xbox One. The textures are muddy and grainy, the models are not up to snuff, and the aliasing is awful. Even though this game uses Unreal Engine 4 it uses it poorly. Especially since Gears of War was the proving grounds of that engine.
Overall, Gears of War 4 will put a smile on fans faces for a short while and not really impress newcomers. The story is interesting but doesnt do the lore and or backstory justice, there isn't much new that we haven't already seen, the level design is boring, and the only thing that will keep you playing is multiplayer. | video-games_xbox |
UPDATE! --Shoddy quality and reduced confidence in Turtle Beach. ***UPDATE*** 5/21/2016
After looking around and considering many headsets, I decided on the HyperX Cloud II. For console gaming the HyperX Cloud would probably be fine also. The Cloud II product comes with Virtual 7.1 Surround currently only usable for PC Gaming, though that may change with the announcement of the HyperX Cloud II for Xbox One this week. I picked mine up on Amazon for $85.00 CHEAPER than the crummy Turtle Beach Ear Force XO's, which are still in the $90 range. The build quality is FAR SUPERIOR than the plastic that Turtle Beach uses, Hyper X II uses Billet Aluminum for the main structure of the headset and ear cups. There are plenty of in depth reviews on the HyperX Cloud II out there. So this concludes my epic rant against Turtle Beach and their insufferable quality and product support. <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/HyperX-Cloud-II-Gaming-Headset-for-PC-PS4-Red-KHX-HSCP-RD/dp/B00SAYCXWG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset for PC & PS4 - Red (KHX-HSCP-RD)</a>
***UPDATE***
After gluing the Headstrap together with glue, they worked for another few weeks, however now the audio has completely gone out, except for chat, no game volume, just chat. Since Turtle Beach neglected my pleas for help, I will be buying a competing brand. Turtle Beach, the end is near, if you don't listen to your customers, eventually you won't hear anyone complaining.
I bought these Headphones in 2014. They Broke in 2015. The headphones have plastic connectors to the earcups, the headphones cracked on the left side (where the Boom Mic is) about July 2015. I contacted Turtle Beach about getting them fixed, but I was passed my warranty period, the piece looked like it was able to be removed with a small phillips screwdriver and replaceable but they didn't have anything to help me with on that front. I was resigned to gluing the piece together with Gorilla glue (Like I did with an older pair for my Xbox360, they broke also). This worked until recently, the headphones started cracking on the shaft that retracts into the top of the headset, the adjustable parts, both sides cracked simultaneously in the same place! The quality of the headset is terrible, after spending $160 for them I thought they would last at least 2 years! Also unless you have one of the 2nd Gen Xbox Controllers you won't be able to hear yourself speak (active mic). Overall I feel cheated, so buyer beware, also with the 2nd Generation Xbox One controllers you can plug ANY headset into the 3.5mm Jack and have a better experience than this product. | video-games_xbox |
Fantastic translation. I've had Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds since it came out and I really enjoy it, because it takes a lot of the strategy from the card game and puts it into a fast paced game that you can pick up and play for 10 minutes, or hours, with as little or as much setup as you want to put into it.
If you have any love for the collectible card game, Magic the Gathering, then you will most likely love Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds, which is available for PC and XBOX. It has been changed to be more accessible to videogamers but this does not mean it has been dumbed down.
A couple of the biggest changes are that this everything is done in realtime, and instead of playing lands you have to run around to grab mana crystals, which add to the total possible mana you can have in your mana bar. Each crystal you grab is like playing a land, but because the game is in real time, it isn't reset at the beginning of any phase, instead your mana bar will slowly refills after you've cast a spell. These mana crystals appear one at a time, and you have to grab the existing crystal before the next one will appear (which happens after a certain amount of time has passed since your last pick up).
There are only about 70 spells total in the game. While this is a tiny amount when compared to the massive amount of cards out there, each color is well represented. Here are some examples of the type of creatures and spells available. Green has beefy creatures some with regeneration or trample and, it can gain a "mana" advantage. White has creatures with first strike, flying, and has gain life spells. Red has creatures with haste, spells that let you add to their offense, and burn spells. Black has creatures that are, balanced but will hurt you when they re-spawn, become stronger when they re-spawn, gain control over creatures that they destroy, destroy creature spells, and drain life spells. Blue has small and big creatures with flying, the defensive horned turtle, and bounce/counter/steal spells.
There are a few different modes of play available. You have Quest which has I believe up to 70 different single player challenges for you. You will have to play through this to unlock spells. VS mode where you can play against someone offline or online. Arcade mode lets you setup a duelist, and choose your creatures/spells/enchantments, and then duel against 5 opponents before fighting a level boss. Arcade mode has four levels of difficulty. In Practice mode you pick a duelist and an opponent to duel.
After going through the Quest mode you will have unlocked all of the available spells, and with these spells you can create custom spell-books. In these custom spell-books you can use up two colors.
Cons: The graphics are alright though most of the environments are boring. The music is ok, but it would have been nice if they added custom soundtrack support. The number of spells is lower that I would like but they get the job done and more spells will be available through XBOX LIVE and the Official XBOX magazine.
Overall this game is well balanced, fast paced, requires skill, and should be a lot of fun for Magic fans. The single player is good at training you but the multiplayer is where is at. It might be hard to get someone to play with because it can look intimidating. But even if you can't get anyone to play with you, you will be able to find someone on XBOX LIVE. If you have never heard of Magic and you would like something a little different this strategic/fighter might be for you. I really love this one. | video-games_xbox |
Simply incredible. Mind-blowing. Incredible. Simply astounding. A game that is that in name only--it really does become a virtual reality the consumes you. I'm a busy person who works two jobs and I played this 105 hours in one month. It gets into your head and you simply can't put it down.
It's non-linear, it's frustrating, it's confounding. Many times I had to jump on the internet to figure out what the heck I was supposed to do. You "finish" it and you sit there and think about everything that you could have / should have done. In other words, it's exactly like life.
Oddly enough, once I finished it I never went back to it. I even bought the game of the year edition with expansion packs and I bought new vegas and I have never opened either. Honestly, I know how addictive it is and how it sucks you in and I just don't have another month to pour into this game.
If you're a MW3 or Gears of War fiend you need to understand that this is a VERY different game. Yes, there is a lot of shooting and violence in Fallout 3, but there's also a great deal of talking and negotiating and walking around. There's a good bit of math involved and you have to carefully ration your supplies and ammo. I played as a very good person, and I've been told that the game is much more interesting when you do. More people will talk to you, you gain more information, etc. It is fun in that as you build your skills and armor and weapons what is out in the wastelands doesn't also progressively get tougher (well, sort of, but not really). At first simply staying alive is very difficult, and then you sort of get the hang of things, and by the end of the game there is no place in the map that I was afraid to go. I had to be a bit careful, but it sure was fun to take on and wipe out people who had harrassed and hurt me back when I was new to things and weak.
Just writing this I'm getting the itch again. And the game is so incredibly beautiful. Who would think that a nuclear wasteland is beautiful, but it truly is. I would often just stop and look around. I found this game to be one of the most moving and involving and affecting experiences I've had with a piece of art. Really, it's that good. | video-games_xbox |
Great game with a few minor flaws. Alright, so many people take a biased approach when writing a game review. Many people say that the game was terrible because they don't like one little thing about it yet they still played it and while doing so, they liked it at some point. This game in particular is extremely fun and an excellent edition to any system. I'm not going to get into a review of the game as to the story but I will say the positives and negatives to the game.
Positives:
- Excellent story line which has flashbacks to older stories. Very easy to follow and extremely good graphics.
- The weapons are varied greatly and the upgrading of weapons makes it fun and is an excellent edition as the game progresses. Reminds me of the upgrading feature in 'Army of Two'.
- Gameplay is very cool. The graphics are amazing, especially in HD. The partner mode is very fun and gives the game an edge versus the older single player versions of 'Resident Evil'.
- Story mode takes quite a bit of time to get through depending on difficulty, which is exactly what a game should be like. I played co-op with a friend and it took us almost 8 hours on normal. We were exploring everything in the game since there are different weapons and jewels and things to find. Also the levels are expansive and very detailed. I remember looking at a blood donor bag in this one level and it actually said "O pos". You really can't get more detailed than that.
- When you replay the game you keep your old weapons from your first play. Very cool idea, and doesn't make the play easier at all since the bullets are so limited in the beginning of the game.
- The enemies are extremely varied and very different from other games. This game does a good job creating new enemies.
- It is a completely different break from the old ones. It's not going to make you jump in your seat, but there are some intense spots. If your partner is dying, it could get intense for you to save him/her.
Negatives:
- The walking is a little choppy. If you are looking to the sides while walking you are walking sideways. This is a feature that has plagued all the 'Resident Evil' games.
- Some of the bosses require tedious shooting and play. Some bosses require the same movements numerous times and that just gets annoying especially if you die. Yet the bosses are varied greatly and that doesn't necessarily mean that all are tedious.
- Some of the achievements seem almost impossible to get ever. One such thing is shooting one enemy in the head while he is jumping. The only problem is that you never know when they are jumping or sometimes you just don't have time to aim for the head.
- The aiming in the game is pretty good with the laser pointer, however, the distances make it fade out alot. If you are a stat freak and worried about how well you shoot accuracy wise, this could cause a few problems.
- The ammo for some guns like the magnum are too far and few between findings. Also the rocket launcher, as in most games only holds one RPG, which if fired leaves the gun to just sit in your inventory or be sold.
- The inventory capacity is very limited. You can only hold 9 items at once which doesn't leave much room for the vast different things you can hold.
- Some of the moves are the same throughout. If a zombie grabs you, it always appears to be the same looking scene.
So there are some of my opinions about the game. Note, like I said, this is a great game to get. I would imagine this game having great replay value - I just started my second story mode yesterday and there are so many things that I missed the first time around. Also, the game graphics are so nice to see and refreshing each level. There doesn't seems to be many copied areas of the game that looks like the previous level. For the price, I would say that this game is worth it since sometimes you get a game and then realize it was a complete mistake and isn't how you thought it would be. This game is better than my expectations and the demo helped me test before buying. I hope this helped someone. Good luck. | video-games_xbox |
Finally an traditional RPG with a strong and emotional story. With the creator of the "Final Fantasy" series breaking away from Square-Enix to start his own company and to work for Microsoft as Mistwalker to continue to make traditional RPG's who would of thought that after the semi-good success with, "Blue dragon" that the company would make a game that not only is for adults, but has the story that feels like its filled with all the drama, political intrigue, and complications that makes up a good RPG well guess what you will find all of that in this game called, "Lost Odyssey" only for the X-box 360.
Lost Odyssey, is about a man by the name of Kaim Argonar. A 1,000 year old hero and protagonist of the game who due to some strange reason can't remember a chunk of his thousand years on his world but all he knows that he has some purpose even though he doesn't know what it is, so he continues to walk the world fighting wars after wars until he gets swept up into a chain of events that not only helps him get some of his memories back but also changes him on a path of redemption and solace.
But he's not alone in this adventure and he's not the only immortal in the whole world...soon you will meet up with the ever adventurous Seth (who is a woman by the way) and the very sarcastic Jensen who's a mage by profession but a bit of a womanizing jackass by nature. From the beginning they are your best friends and good allies in a complicated and very bittersweet storyline which is NOT a bad thing...for some reason they stepped back from the "pretty boy/girl" confused about saving the world" nature and put a somewhat cold hearted individual that only lives to fight then realizes his nature and goals thru certain dreams which i will get to that later.
But as the game progress the level of detail to the games design is pretty damn good being that the game runs on a Unreal graphical engine (which has its good and bad points). Good being that it looks REALLY great, the magic and other aspects to the game is done with such a crass to detail that it makes the game a worth while to watch but its bad point is that sometimes it does lag a bit from time to time but you really wouldn't notice it though and that's pretty much it. The fighting is pretty much your standard traditional RPG style but with an added twist called the, "Ring system" which at first its a bit complicated to do but with the tutorial it comes easy and its pretty fun as well as it helps you Plan on what ring you need to attach to your weapon in order to defeat an enemy and/or boss of the game which is a smart move on Sakaguchi's part but I'm sure the drawback is that everyone wanted or expected the battle system to be real time and this isn't but it advances the nostalgic feel for the game and its a bit more better than what "Blue dragon" produced (and readable too...blue dragon you had to wear special glasses to figure out what they were writing for the words were small..*laughing*).
The game is 4-discs which for some is long...but consider the source, you have a very abundant storyline; very well drawn out characters who's personality aren't the same and they compliment each other very well, a very well done complicated adult story line with adult humor at times. And let's get to the main part of the game...the story! Like I mention the story is complicated at most for its political intrigue, and immortal background but if the story doesn't get you hooked its the dreams that will. it seems Sakaguchi used the talents of a famous Japanese author to keep the player interest in its deep and engaging with stories that make even the biggest person become emotionally grasp by the extra sentimental backdrop to Kaim's past.
Even though it starts a bit slow after the first disc the action picks up a lot more and you are soon wrap into its world. A person who plays this game can beat it within a couple of weeks if not a month (if you have a lot of time in your hands of course). On a system that is gaining a lot of RPG games now this is one of those games that you must pick up in your collection..don't pass this one up. | video-games_xbox |
If you're looking for a controller that is cheaper than the official, and don't need use a headset, this is a great alternative. As stated in the title, this controller DOES NOT have an input for use with headsets. I see a lot of people upset about this because they bought it first, but a simple google search will show you all you need to know about the product. Regardless of that fact, I think the controller is still very decent.
You can compare it to the official Xbox One controller, however, please understand that this is not intended to be a premium product. It's not marketed that way; it's mostly for pure aesthetic, and better value. The Xbox One controller undoubtedly feels more premium, so if you are a person that really values how things feel, you may want to pass on this.
First, this does work on PC, (which is the primary reason I bought it) just plug it in, and the drivers should start installing. It's important to keep in mind that controller is a wired one, meaning that even though the USB is removable, it will not function unless plugged in. The wire that connects is very lengthy, so if you are using it on your Xbox One, it gives you a great amount of slack.
I'll discuss the body next. The overall build of the controller is plastic, and had next to no grip. This doesn't mean it slides out of your hands, but it is noticeably different than the official controller. Speaking of different, the sticks are made of a hard plastic that is slightly indented in the middle. I was worried about how it might feel, but after hours of continuous gaming, but felt fine, and really wasn't an issue. I've seen reviews that complain about "sweaty hands" and I am usually one of those people that will sweat while gaming. I was say the effect was minimal after about 4 hours straight- bottom line, there is worse out there. The buttons feel similar to the official controller other than the Xbox button with is clearly a type of resin. I feel like it's somehow easier to hit the bumpers, and the triggers have less resistance, which will be a good or bad thing for each person.
Aesthetically, the controller looks great. (to me) I'm a 90's child so see-through devices are always nostalgic and usually attract me. Coupled with the fact that he red/white color scheme is my favorite, I'm very pleased with how this looks.
Truth be told, I was worried about purchasing this. I just wanted a dedicated controller to use when I play PC games, and not completely wear down the official controller which are used frequently enough in my household. I know this product is manufactured by PDP, and honestly, they have not always made quality products. At the moment, I really have no complaints about the controller and have been pleased with the performance. I do understand why some buyers would be upset about the lack of a 3.5 mm jack, however, I think the product as a whole is intended to be an add-on to the amount of controllers you have, not your main controller. | video-games_xbox |
Bioshock Infinite Review. It seems like this game was in development forever. When I first heard about it a few years ago, I was really excited. Back when it was just called Project Icarus, I saw the first trailer for it on Xbox Live, when they revealed the true title. I was completely blown away. I couldn't wait to see more. Over the years I read articles on it in Game Informer, wondering when it was going to come out. The release date got pushed back so much that I wondered if it would ever come out at all. However, in March, it did come out and I got it a week or so after release from eBay after watching ProJareds review of the game.
Now that Ive played through the story twice, I can say that its very well lived up to the hype. Its not quite the game I expected from reading articles from early on in the games development, but its still fantastic and you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Story
Bioshock Infinite is a very story-heavy game. You play as Nathan Drake- I mean Booker DeWitt, who is tasked to bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt. To do this, he must visit the floating city of Columbia. Now, Booker is basically just a grittier, early 1900s version of Nathan Drake. Not only do they have the same voice actor, but they look very visually similar.
Ok, so Bookers your basic gritty white guy with a short haircut. He did some time for the military and regrets a lot of the things they had him do.
When Booker arrives in Columbia, he finds out that its led by the prophet Zachary Hale Comstock, who leads a weird Christian cult that worships the founding fathers. Im not kidding. As soon as you get into the city, you see some acolytes praying before statues of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.
Pretty soon, youll be fighting your way through Comstocks forces to get to a giant tower where a girl named Elizabeth is held. Once you rescue her, you're trying to escape the city. Through the game, you battle Comstocks forces, as well as a violent revolution movement called the Vox Populi.
I could argue that Elizabeth is actually the main character of this game. She does most of the talking, at least. Shes such an amazing character, though, and most of the game is spent developing her character. She seems very real, and I often thought of her more as a friend playing the game with me than a character of the game itself.
The game is full of great characters other than just Booker and Elizabeth. Two of my favorites are the Lutece twins, physicists who created the technology to allow Columbia to float. They show up every now and then to help Booker in a cryptic way. Theyre always a bit sarcastic and seeing them is always a fun experience. Theres also Daisy Fitzroy, the leader of the Vox Populi. I wasn't terribly fond of her. I found that her eyes looked like unnaturally large pools of particularly watery jelly.
In typical Bioshock fashion, there are recording devices scattered across the game (called Voxophones) that you can collect and hear bits of character monologue, which provide a lot of subtle backstory for many characters. I highly recommend grabbing as many as you can, as it really helps make sense of a lot of the story.
As I said before, this is a very story-heavy game. Most of the time youll be playing though story segments, and thats not a bad thing. Almost all of it is playable, meaning you never get stuck watching cutscenes. And the story segments are really interesting as well, so youll always enjoy them. Seriously, the story is one of the best things about this game, and if youve heard anything about the ending, youll know its mind-blowing.
Gameplay
Where would a great story be without great gameplay? Bioshock Infinite has some great gameplay, and its probably one of the only aspects of the game that youll recognize from the original Bioshock. Youve got your guns (which can seem a bit anachronistic, but you sort of learn not to question it) in one hand and Vigors in the other. Instead of carrying every single gun in the game around with you like in the original, you can only carry two guns at a time. Because of this, I often found myself carrying the same two guns (hand cannon (a revolver) and shotgun) throughout most of the game. And theres nothing wrong with that. Once you find a weapon combo that suits you, stick with it. Most enemies will drop enough ammo for the guns you have to keep you going, although you may need to switch out for certain weapons to get past certain parts of the game. Most guns have a Founder version and a Vox version that you can use. With the exception of the Repeater, most of the Vox guns suck, so don't bother with them. You can buy upgrades for the guns, so it usually pays to upgrade the guns you use the most.
The Vigors are the other half of combat. Vigors are essentially the Plasmids of this game. If youve played a Bioshock game before, youll already be very familiar with some of these. One thing thats pretty cool is that all but one of the 8 vigors can be set as a trap, so you can come up with all sorts of strategies. You can also combine vigors by casting one after another for bonus effects. For instance, you can use the Bucking Bronco vigor to launch enemies up into the air, then hit them with a Devils Kiss fireball and a bunch of fireballs will launch out of them, burning other enemies. For the most part, though, I didn't really use vigor traps, as careful gunwork takes care of most of the enemies. You can also buy powerful, yet expensive, upgrades for vigors to give them an even more devastating effect.
An interesting new feature is the Gear system. As you progress through the game you can pick up pieces of gear, which are essentially clothing that give you passive bonuses. You can equip up to four, one in each category: hat, shirt, pants, and boots. Pieces of gear are found at fixed locations, however the specific gear you find are completely random, so if you play through one time, you may find a certain gear at the beginning, and if you play through again, you may not find it until near the end. There are loads of different gear pieces to collect, and you can mix and match them at any time, so if you need to change up your gear during a fight, you can do so at the drop of a hat (pun intended).
The health is much different from the original Bioshock. Instead of carrying around a bunch of health potions and eve injections, you now have to scavenge for those yourself. However, pretty early in the game you're given a shield system, which works a lot like the shield from Borderlands. It recharges all by itself, and you won't take health damage until your shield is depleted. You can find plenty of food items in the environment to heal yourself with, although it usually takes a staggering amount of food to recover a significant amount of health. Salts, which are this games equivalent of Eve, power your vigors, and when you run low on salts, you can usually find plenty of salt phials laying around. Death in this game bears a slightly bigger consequence than in the original Bioshock, but its still not much. Generally, you only lose about $50 and the enemies you were fighting are healed.
During the first fight in the game, Booker comes into possession of a skyhook, which is a sort of gauntlet that he wears that serves as the games melee weapon, but also allows you to grab onto freight hooks, or more importantly, to ride along skylines, which are essentially rail tracks that snake around the city that you can ride along. This feature is really exhilarating, although later in the game the skylines are mainly used to circle around large areas during fights.
One of the biggest gameplay elements is Elizabeth. When I first heard about her accompanying you through the game I thought Oh great, so the entire games one big protect mission and it absolutely is not. In fact, it could almost be seen as Elizabeth trying to protect you. The game tells you straightaway that you don't have to worry about her. And its right. She doesnt have a health bar or anything. What she does is when you enter a fight, she hides behind cover and starts looking for supplies, which she then will toss to you when you need them. For instance, say you're starting to run low on ammo for the gun you're using. All of a sudden you hear Catch, Booker! and a button prompt comes up on screen. A quick press of the button and Elizabeth tosses you ammo for your gun and bam, you're right back to the action. The game has a knack of letting Elizabeth toss you supplies right when you need them the most. And its not limited to just ammo, either. She can also give you health, salts, as well as money when you're around vending machines. You cant depend solely on her, though, as most of the time she won't find anything, but when she does you feel like youve been given a second chance, especially during harder fights. One nit-picky thing I noticed is she only seems to give you money after you exit a vending machine interface. So often I would spend my money on upgrades, exit the vending machine, and then Elizabeth would give me money. It wouldve been more helpful beforehand, but whatever.
Elizabeth can also open what are called tears, which are sort of windows to an alternate universe, through which she can pull various things, such as friendly turrets, weapon barrels, freight hooks, cover, and more. You can only have one tear open at a time, but using these tears effectively can turn the tide of battle.
Presentation
As good as the gameplay and story are, the presentation really makes the game for me. The city of Columbia is really beautiful, and many times I found myself stopping just to admire it. Oh, did I mention Columbia floats up in the sky? Because it does. Basically everything about the presentation is different from the original Bioshock. While in the original, you were in a dark, gloomy seafloor city, in Infinite, you're in a bright, vibrant sky city. Sure, there are plenty of gritty moments, lots of blood, etc., but most of the time I barely even felt like I was playing a Bioshock game. The first half of the game takes place in a somewhat-tranquil Columbia, and many times you find yourself in a public area surrounded by NPCs going about their daily lives. If you stop and pay attention you can listen in on their conversations and learn a lot about the city and the people that inhabit it. Of course, my favorite part is just looking at all the buildings. If you pay attention, you can see buildings gently floating past or just hovering there, gently bobbing up and down. The game also has a bunch of binoculars littered around through which you can see some of the impressive setpieces. And I really do mean impressive. It really pays to look around you sometimes. If you just run through the levels with tunnel vision, youll miss some of the great things about this game. This game is a visual masterpiece, and it really shows.
There are plenty of secret rooms to find, usually hidden behind locks that Elizabeth can pick, if you have enough lockpicks. Youll be spending most of your time scouring the environment, so you're likely to come across most of these. However if you're playing for 100% completion, I recommend having a guide while you play, at least on your second playthrough. There are some great voxophones that are easy to miss which explain some important details of the story.
The music in the game is pretty interesting as well. For the most part, there isn't much music other than general ambience. It gets a bit more intense when you get into a battle, though, and dramatic string hits accompany each headshot. Occasionally, youll hear environmental music, such as music played over gramophones or radios.
Qualms
This is where I get a bit nit-picky. Keep in mind that while there are some things I find fault with, it really doesnt stop this game from being fantastic.
One of the things that kind of bothered me was that enemy AI wasn't really all that great. Mostly, enemies would either stand in one place and shoot you or just run straight towards you. Enemies never try to use cover to their advantage, and will only rarely try to avoid incoming fire. This made them very predictable and an overall underwhelming threat.
Also, most of the NPCs were kind of uninteresting. Sure, you often got to hear some good dialogue, but the NPCs barely react to your presence, unless you use a combat move, such as firing your gun, using a vigor or jumping to a skyline. Then all they do is cower in fear. I guess thats pretty standard, but since the game feels so alive, I just wish that the NPCs were more interactive.
The games difficulty is rather uneven as well. Most of the infantry are extremely easy if you use the right gun (the hand cannon. Use it), and even the heavy hitters, such as firemen and crows aren't too bad if you know how to fight them. However, there are the occasional fights that seem impossible. For instance, the toughest enemies in the game are called Handymen, and are sort of giant cyborgs. Not only are they extremely well-armored, but they leap across the map and will chase you down, nearly killing you with a single slap of their hands. I died about 3 times every time a handyman showed up, and was only able to kill them by abusing glitches and overpowered vigor enhancements. The game has 4 difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and 1999 Mode. The latter can only be unlocked by beating the game or entering the Konami code at the start menu. 1999 Mode is a bit harder than Hard mode, it removes your navigation arrow (similar to the navigation beam in Dead Space), provides fewer respawn points, and the cost of death is $100 instead of $50. Also, if you cant afford the respawn cost, it sends you to the main menu, where you have to load a checkpoint in order to continue. This really isn't a big deal, though, and other than a few battles, I was able to complete 1999 mode without much difficulty. My issue is that for a secret unlockable super-hard difficulty, its really not that hard. The final battle, which some consider to be nigh impossible in 1999 mode, I finished on my 2nd try. I guess I wish that 1999 mode was as hard as they made it out to be.
TL;DR
Bioshock Infinite is a visually stunning game that completely redefines the benchmark for video game allies. It provides a gripping story, and plenty of subtlety to explore, with great action sequences to boot. If you liked the original Bioshock, or even if you never played it, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Youll regret it if you dont.
Pros:
- Great story
- Stunning visuals
- Lots of subtlety
Cons:
- Often too easy for more hardcore players
- Dull enemy and NPC AI
Final score: 9.5/10 | video-games_xbox |
So close, but build quality destroys all of the positives. I hate that I have to give this product such a poor rating. I wanted to love it and when it works, it is a great gaming headset. The issue is that the QA and build quality is so unbelievably poor and customer support even worse. I bought this a week ago and got about 5 hours of gaming in. When working, the headset is really an exceptional accessory for the Xbox One. It is truly wireless which is a huge improvement over the standard Xbox One headset that suffers from issues when plugged into the shoddily made Xbox One controller. Because of this set up, you are limited to the same distance bugs that the controller has. The dongle is also the source of my current problem with the device. After about 5 days, the headset just stopped connecting to the USB dongle. I tried resetting, re-pairing, and pretty much everything under the sun to get this back to working condition. Nothing works. The dongle seems to be toast and the worst part is there is no one at customer service who has responded to any requests to trouble shoot or address the issue. They send you a form letter response and actually ask that you email them AFTER you try checking online. It is 2015, most people would likely have tried the website before contacting them. So to have you go through an additional step which incidentally adds another 1-2 days lag in getting a response is just shameful. If you are considering the headset, I would say it is worth it if it lasts. Mine has not and for that reason I have to rate this device poorly. For $130-$180, you would expect a device that can last a few years. This does not seem to meet that requirement. It will be my last Turtle Beach device ever. A shame really.
Update 10/6:
A quick update. I did not think it possible, but the customer service gets worse. So, after my review, I was contacted by customer service apologizing for the inconvenience and offering to replace the headset. First, I must send them the old unit. I shipped it back to Turtle Beach in mid-September. It is 3.5 weeks later and there have been no responses, no confirmation of receipt and worst of all no notice of when I am to receive the replacement. So not only am I out $130, but now I don't even have the original pair to return or replace. This is absolutely the WORST company to work with. The good news is that in this day and age, where companies are being forced to be customer first, organizations like Turtle Beach are a dying breed. I will continue to update on this soap opera, but it reinforces the need to AVOID THEIR PRODUCTS. Do not make the same mistake that I made. | video-games_xbox |
Sheer Fun & Addictive. Hey
I bought this game after a friend who I play with on co-op games swore that this was the most fun filled game he has ever played. We're talking about one who plays more games in 6 months than mos do in 6 years. The game wasn't evn on my radar but after checking the reviews (Teamxbox gave it a 9.0!)I said what the heck. Since I first popped it inthe 360 I haven't ooked back or even played another game. It's like if you took "Red Faction", threw in some "Bioshock", added visuals out of the movie "Heavy Metal" you come close.
The cartoonish gel cell look it took a bit to get use to after playing games like GOW2, COD and Halo but grew on me quit fast. While not detailed like he tradional FPS game like GOW2 the look has an unusal blend of detail yet gel animated. While buildings and characters have the gell cell look, the ground and water is almost realistic. The character, which you have four to choose from, look more out of some Saturday cartoon yet fi nicely in.
Two things that set this game apart are the weapons/skills and the open world. If you played and like the ability to roam and choose in Red Faction then you'll love this. Based on a similar concept you are given area (towns) to roam and choose your missions in a not to restrain odrer; open sandbox play. The locations are various from inside to outside, caves, buildings, open landscape, etc.... with each having it's own special challenges and foes.
Which leads me to the sheer insane choices of what seems to be unlimited weapons and skill combinations. No two people will ever play the same. This is where Bioshock comes to mind. As with Bioshock as you progress more weapons become available. And like Bioshock you can get them off the ground, in containers or buy them. The same with amo. And as you progress the enemies get harder and the weapons get better. As in Bioshock you obtain "points" to upgrade the special ability of your character. But you have several choices to apply those points. How you balance them is crucial.
All in all a solid fun game that keeps you coming back wanting to try a new character, a new mission, new weapons, new anything. I know some who have completed the game and are now going back with a new character or just try other stuff they didn't do the first time around. That's the compelling part, never the same thing second time around. If this had the same Havoc destructive engine in Red Faction then this would be a "10". Probably sleeper of the year in my book. | video-games_xbox |
Another Great Lego Game. Great game, hours and hours of fun!
Update 7-20-2014
Must get kids games:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Cloudy-with-a-Chance-of-Meatballs-Xbox-360/dp/B00242KDA4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Xbox 360</a> (3-6 year old, 2 player, easy and fun)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Toy-Story-3-The-Video-Game-Playstation-3/dp/B0038MUCPK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Toy Story 3 The Video Game - Playstation 3</a> (3-9 year old+, 2 player, FPS for kids)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rio-Xbox-360/dp/B004NB1C54/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rio - Xbox 360</a> (3-9 year old+, 4 player, 30+ Party games for kids)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Lego-Batman/dp/B000ZKBJY6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Lego Batman</a> (3-7 year old+, 2 player, puzzler, 3rd person shooter)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Disney-Universe-Xbox-360/dp/B0051875OU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Disney Universe - Xbox 360</a> (4-10 year olds, 4 player, fast action w/mini games, pure arcade play)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rayman-Origins-Xbox-360/dp/B0050SYAQ2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rayman Origins - Xbox 360</a> (4-9 year old, 4 player, arcade side scroll er)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/LEGO-Batman-2-DC-Super-Heroes-Xbox-360/dp/B006ZPAYGE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes - Xbox 360</a> (4-9 year old+, 2 player, huge world, action-adventure, younger kids need older player)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/LEGO-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Xbox-360/dp/B003O6E7O2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean - Xbox 360</a> (4-12 year olds, 2 player, nice variety of puzzle-gameplay, younger kids need older player)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/LEGO-Star-Wars-III-The-Clone-Wars-Xbox-360/dp/B0037UCTCW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">LEGO Star Wars III The Clone Wars - Xbox 360</a> (5-9 year old+, 2 player, RTS game for kids)
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Lego-Marvel-Super-Heroes/dp/B00B98HF1O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Lego: Marvel Super Heroes</a> (5-14 year olds, 2 player, younger players need to play with older player to navigate world, gameplay fan-tastic, low puzzles)
LEGO Lord of the Rings - Xbox 360 (6-14 year olds, 2 player, my son at 5 struggles but can play with heavy guidance from me, fun game, dad approved, low puzzles)
Minecraft - Xbox 360 (6-17 year olds, 2 player (can be large multiplayer) creative gameplay)
Rest of Lego games are all worth playing, if it wasn't for lego games XBOX would be a vast wasteland for kids under age 8. :) | video-games_xbox |
not too impressed with this game. Visually Mortal Kombat: DA is one of the best looking fighting games I have seen on any console, only falling in a close second behind Dead of Alive 3 on the XBOX. The only thing I did not like about the graphics are some of the characters. They are WAY WAY out of proportion and look very unrealistic, This is very noticable in the women characters.
One good thing is this game is that the menus in the game are spectacular; the game starts in a hallway and depending on what game mode you choose the screen pans as you are walking down the hall into different rooms.
The sound in the game is pretty good but nothing spectacular. Here is where the game starts to go downhill.
First of all Midway has changed the fighting system which is a good idea, but it needs alot more work. Each character has 3 different fighting styles you can choose from during the match. Each fighting style has different moves and different button combinations. The first two fighting styles are basically two forms of martial art and the last fighting style is your character with a weapon. While this is a good idea it makes the game very cumbersome, I am sure it would take some getting used to, so this may not bother you. However one thing I really did not like is the actual game play and feel of the game. To me the characters seem slow to respond to your commands and in the meantime get pummeled by his/her opponent. Even after you perform the correct button combinations for a special move, your character seems to wait a split second to actually do the move, which can get very frustrating; especially against an opponent who only does the same "cheese" move for the entire match.
The same holds true for the "monster"(ie, GORO, MOTARO) opponent near the end of the game. He has this move in which he sucks you towards his mouth and hits you while you're in the air. This brings me to another point, MK:DA seems to have move cheap moves resulting in cheesy wins; especially with the weapon. I never did enjoy the weapons aspect even when it was in MK4, and I feel that they need to be removed.
Another disappointing thing is that each character now only has one fatality, which gets old pretty fast. You would think on a powerful system like the XBOX, Midway would have been able to get in at least 3 fatalities per character, but instead they settled with one.
Finally, one thing I did not enjoy about the game is having to unlock most of the characters. You start of with 12 some totally new and some old ones that we know. But you can get the others by gaining various coins and going down to the crypt to "buy" them. Basically for every computer player you beat during story mode you get X amount of coins. Those coins add up and you can then go into the games "crypt" and open one of the 676 various coffins for a various amount of money. The catch is you have no idea what is in the coffin until you actually open it. Most of the coffins contain artwork, other coins, and some are even empty. There are about 20 or so coffins that contain new boards and characters but they are very expensive. For example to get Raiden, you need 3300 gold coins! Let me put this in perspective; if you beat the game with a character you may only get at most 150 gold coins. Most coins you get are ruby and graphite coins, which are not that valuable. Needless to say you will be playing for a long time just to get one new character. This is not necessarily a bad thing, if you don't mind playing the game over and over again but for me, I would rather have all characters available or at least not so expensive to get.
Aside from the character situation I found this game to be quite boring. To me it seemed rushed in my opinion, it has so many aspects to be the best fighting game on XBOX, but it has fallen short. I was expecting at least 3 fatalities per character, but there is only one. Also the fact that you have to "buy" new characters is kind of disappointing. Even if there were a code to get the characters I probably still would not buy the game because it gets boring so fast.
This game is not for everyone and my suggestion is the rent this game before you buy it. Which is what I did. | video-games_xbox |
What i have been waiting for. Finaly a ac i can constantly come back for. I love the serious and been playing it since AC silent line which in my opinion is the best armored core(next to this one)
The reason is because while making your armored core and fighting it is fun for me i would stop playing the other armored core games because i S'd all the missions(and the online community wasn't real big so i didn't ever get a chance to play online much on AC 4 or ACFA) and theres nothing more to do but this one...
Its amazing i keep coming back for more because of the online I am in a team with 11 members and we control 3 territories and this is what dramaticaly changes all of AC people can attack your territories and you can help defend them alongside your turrets and team members or you can attack someone elses territories and try to take over.
Its basicaly an infinite amount of fun and replayability. There is so much to do on there for example:(not including all the customization and things from the older AC) you can trade parts with your team, have skirmishes with your team, fight other players, team battles, attack territories as a mercenary with other random players(men of honor) or your team,and the big one, conquest.
Some people complain that they changed this game to much and blah blah blah.. but they made it more intresting and fun in ACFA the mechs would go at Mach 5 speeds and thats all it was but this one the mechs are not as fast but still very manuverable if you want same old mach 5 speeds and people circling around you 20 times a second go back and play ACFA but if you want some real fun and entertainment then play this they tweaked it perfectly for everyone to be able to enjoy.
For veteran players if they have an open mind they will enjoy this game a lot, for people barley getting into the series it will be overwhelming with all the stuff you can do, just take it slow and listen to other peoples tips its a great great game. I Recommend to anyone that has played Armored Core before or anyone that like Giant robots destroying each other. | video-games_xbox |
Simulator? Please. I want my money back. This game is by no means a simulator, at all. The realism is marginal, if that; The commanders talk over the radio as if they were at a social gathering, and they talk to their subordinates like a father disciplining a child. It's even worse for the pilots, who contact eachother using such terms as "Bomber boys" and "fighters" while reprimanding eachother for missing the intended/bonus target. REALLY? did they do ANY research in how the military interacts?
When it's not the radio, its the controls; there's no brains involved whatsoever when it comes to shooting other surface ships. Instead of forcing the user to compensate for speed and range, the game automatically does it for you. This is great if you're a toddler or extremely new to the Xbox, but is extremely boring if you're neither. the only ship class that requires forethought is the Submarine, however even that is botched up because of the new, superfast torpedoes. There are instances where the torpedoes even beat you're shells to the target, which is really stupid.
Normally, if the developer fail's at one or two concepts, they've somewhat compensated for it in a third. Unfortunately, that's not the case for Eidos; the flight simulator is almost as bad as an arcade game. The controls are so simple to the point that there's no point in playing as a pilot. Now, I wasn't expecting Flight Simulator X for xbox, but there has to be more to flying that pointing your plane in the right direction and pulling the trigger.
The game had potential as a strategy game, however the only missions that really let you take over without being micro-managed were the Okinawa mission in the US campaign and the Japanese sub missions. In fact, the only real place for strategy would be in the "Skirmishes" section, and frankly, "Skirmishes" aren't worth $40 in my opinion.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DONT BUY THIS GAME IF YOU APPRECIATE STRATEGY AND/OR A CHALLENGE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | video-games_xbox |
Sacred 2 is PERFECT... for me. This game may or may not be right for you but it's PERFECT for me, and here's why: Local Co-op. I'm fortunate to have a wife who loves gaming almost as much as me. This means that a game without local co-op only gets played when my wife is napping. Sacred 2 doesn't have intense non-stop in your face action, which is perfect for me. I like a slower paced game that allows me to relax while playing. The ambient sound is very relaxing too. The sound of waterfalls, waves on the beach, wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping has lulled our baby to sleep on numerous occasions. (Ok twice, the game's only been out 2 days ;)
In all of the Lego games we enjoyed smashing stuff and collecting coins. In Resident Evil 5 we really enjoyed looting crates and upgrading our weapons. Sacred 2 is all about killing, looting and upgrading. A perfect combination that we can't get enough of!
While Sacred 2 may be perfect for me, it's not a perfect game. I had to knock off 1 star for all of the minor "nitpicky" flaws. I was unpleasantly surprised when I first popped the game in, that it was a top down third person perspective. I was put off by this at first but I've grown used to it and being surrounded by enemies it's best to be zoomed out so you can see everything. There are minor frame rate drops and occasional pop-in and screen tearing, but for me it's not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the game. There are other glitches where an enemy will be stuck in the ground, or won't take any damage. Reloading the area (by entering and exiting a cave) always solves this problem. Plus with a game this time consuming it's much more likely to come across glitches here and there.
My only other complaint with this game is that you cannot pause the action. I can understand this when you're playing online co-op, but when playing offline, there should be a pause feature. The only thing you can do when you need to pause is save and hope you don't die, or run to the nearest town (where you're usually safe) and set the controller down. (side note: if anyone has found a way to pause this game please post in the comments section)
If you read any of the scathing professional reviews it's important to understand the terminology:
1) Breaking the fourth wall: This is when a character acknowledges the audience. It comes from theater where a set on the stage will have 3 walls and there's an invisible 4th wall between the cast and the audience. One memorable quote from Sacred 2 is when a bad guy dies and says, "I knew I was just an extra."
2) Loot Grind: This is a descriptor for this type of game. You basically hunt down loot from bad guys and dungeons, while you grind through leveling up.
3) Diablo Clone: Apparently Diablo was the first to perfect the "loot grind" (never played it myself) and many games including Sacred 2 have tried to mimic this formula.
Another thing to note when reading professional reviews is that the PC released several months before the console versions, and was quite buggy. The Xbox 360 version has fixed all of these bugs (as far as I know) and yet still gets worse reviews than the PC.
So if you know nothing else about the game, you start off with a choice of 6 character classes. You then have a choice of light or dark campaign and a choice of which god to worship (this essentially gives you a really powerful "divine gift" or magic spell). You have character specific missions, main quest missions and side quests.
On your face buttons you can equip magic and weapons, and can bring up a second and third set by pulling the left and right triggers. Your divine gift is permanently assigned to up on the d-pad and you can assign potions to the other 3 directions on your d-pad.
In combat it seems you hold down the button to repeat the same move on an enemy. You can switch enemies with the left analog stick. You can assign your combat arts (magic) to combos so you can use 2 spells at once.
In local and online co-op you can bring YOUR character with all of YOUR armor, weapons and skills to a friend's game. (Unlike Fable 2 where you were just a henchman) When you join someone else's game you take all of your experience and loot back to your personal game, but the completed quests do not carry over.
Bottom line: if you're able to get past this game's quirks it's a very enjoyable co-op, action, adventure, rpg, Diablo clone, loot grind that breaks the fourth wall. | video-games_xbox |
Do you like dying in in a video game. Aaargh! Well. If you like dying in a video game, let's just make that point clear right now, get this game for that reason. Truth be told, i"m new to the series and I understand that the difficulty level is part of the attraction of this series . IF you have patience as a gamer, then never fear, you probably should get this game. Some are boasting this is probably the best RPG game of this generation. As a fan of skyrim, I'm not sure yet being so early on bit I do see the dark scary attraction. About 6 hours in. If you are a gamer that wants to explore and figure things out by yourself you will love it, if you aren't and want a nice tutorial and for it to direct you to go places and really hold your hand? Then I would suggest not buying this game.
First of all, no doubt at all. This game is pretty and I've seen it on both XBOX one and PS4, I own the PS4 version but I can say that the XBOX one version looks just as good. Tremendous draw distance, nice frame rate and smooth overall. There's still some sporadic framerate drops that appear when you're exploring. But no screen tearing and everything, overall smooth. At first when I started playing, I breezed through an enemy and then I got demolished over and over from another enemy I ran into. It just seems unbalanced for me at times. Save often when you can, because leveling up is key. The world design is second to none and vast and huge, the visuals are gorgeous,
This game is all about do it yourself and look for yourself. Again, the worlds are huge, open world, not linear and you're rewarded for checking everywhere. Every dark corner, go there and you'll find something new. I don't know about 1 and 2, but I"m loving the weapons, spells, armors, items and secrets. Again, this game is all about the discovery. Weapon arts also make shields more fun to use by giving them more variety. Some shields lack the parry ability and had a tough time getting this control scheme down ,but it did become second nature. Again, I wish a tutorial was around so I can practice the fighting, that's where i need the most help. But as with any video game, practice makes perfect. After beating enemies, you can acquire the loot from them including their weapons! Anyone play Diablo? Taht's the major attraction! You can also attain new armor from the enemies you take down. Again, this is the most addictive asset of this game IMO.
Now, with all I love so far, I'm really dying, a lot. The difficulty level is quite extreme for this game and I died probably 100+ times already and the penalty of death is even severe than its predecessor from what others have said. As with most games of this type, you'll feel the rewards of winning the big battle. aside from dying over and over, I really enjoyed the combat. It is smooth and fun. I can't compare it to the first 2 because I have not played those. But as a stand alone game, I can tell you right now, the enemies are scary and intimidating and they are relentless. The worlds are open and fun and there's lots to discover.
I can't give this game a 5 star only because I'm probably the wrong person to be reviewing this game. My frustration is in death. I want to love the game more and see it's more offerings, but I'm worried it's going to get a point where I don't want to continue due to the constant deaths. People with low patience, buy at your own risk and you will rage quit. Got patience and love challenge? Then get it.
A part of me wishes it had the option to go to an easy mode so I can enjoy the game and beat it and enjoy the story too. I like having that option. I am disappointed you can't make it easier. | video-games_xbox |
Not So Bionic Commando. I remember playing the original Bionic Commando for the NES back in the day. What a great game it was for its time. I was pretty excited when I heard that a new version of the game was being developed. Well, I finally picked up and well, I'm a little disappointed. The game has so much potential to be good, but it has certain qualities that make it more annoying than fun.
First, the game does look pretty good. The atmosphere - particularly the destroyed cityscape - looks great. Beyond the nice graphics, the game starts to fall in quality. Right away I noticed that the game doesn't allow for you to crouch or "sneak". That's really not that big of deal as the game progresses, but at the beginning when I was running around with one arm and a pistol I thought a stealthy approach would've been nice. I quickly found that it wasn't necessary, however, as the enemy AI are idiots and couldn't spot me unless I was right in front of them. Then came the bionic arm - the best part of Bionic Commando! Well, it SHOULD have been the best part. The arm has some decent functionality in terms of combat, throwing items, etc. But the whole swing dynamic is annoying. If you don't time your swings just right, you'll find yourself tumbling to the ground. And the timing can be unforgiving. Once you get into the city, there are scattered areas that are radiated and are almost instand death traps if you get near them. Miss a certain swing and you may just land on one - dead. Now, I will say that once I got used to the timing, swinging wasn't as annoying. However, it could've been designed a lot better. Another thing that is annoying is the fragility of the "bionic commando". The idea behind a bionic commando is supposed to be that he's a physical badass. However, one or two hits from an enemy and bye bye, you're dead. And when you die, there could be significant portions of the game that you have to replay, depending on where your last checkpoint was.
There are some pretty cool boss battles that are fun to play, but they are few and far between. And I feel like I died more times just from fighting foot soldiers, falling in holes in the ground or landing in radiated areas than I did when facing bosses.
Overall, the game is just ok. It's not terrible - there is some fun to be had playing this game. Unfortunately, you'll surely experience almost as much frustration as you will entertainment. For as cheap as I picked this game up for (around $5), it was definitely worth it. It's an average game with some highs and lows. If you go into it without any type of high expectations, and you are a patient type of gamer, you may have some fun.
PROS
- Pretty nice graphics
- The bionic arm can be fun
- Cool boss battles
- Failry lengthy game
CONS
- Swing mechanic is clunky and frustrating and takes some getting used to
- Cheap deaths are a-plenty
- The main character is sort of a tool
- Storyline is a bit convoluted
Overall: 3/5
I wouldn't recommend paying over $10 or so for this game. | video-games_xbox |
Not a balanced game. I too had been waiting for a good NFS game since Hot Pursuit 2 back on my PS2. NFS Underground was the last title I bought and was only mildly amused with it. The new Hot Pursuit on the other hand, is more disappointing than fun.
I first played all the way through the Pursuit mode, and I really enjoyed it. There is a good mix of game play styles to keep you interested and increase the replay value. Some of the Pursuit missions can be frustrating due to the requirements, and others can seem silly because of how quickly I completed them. Several times it was more luck than skill to complete the mission. As mentioned by another review is the ability of the suspect to make it through a roadblock by plowing into it but still go on at full speed while throwing cars into your path was a little annoying. I'd rate Pursuit mode 4/5. And that is where the game development should have stopped.
The racer side of the game is absolutely horrible. The racer mode features the same mission types as the pursuit mode, and should have been as enjoyable. A.I. brings this side of the game way down. The A.I. is worse here than in any other game in the franchise. I get it, the computer is supposed to have a slight advantage otherwise it wouldn't be fun. But all the cars are SUPPOSED to be reasonably matched. It won't let you take a Pagani up against a Mustang. At the green light you're still trying to get traction while the pack has taken off and already has a 10 second lead. When you do catch up to the back of the pack it is as if you're playing Death Race with everyone else there to take you out. There is no way to get a good line when you're up against other racers because you're constantly on defense. I've been slammed into more times than I can count. Being bumped into the wall in turns or into oncoming traffic and a crash makes you want to burn the game. If I wanted to race NASCAR, I'd buy a NASCAR game. Not to mention the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment when you have a 6 second lead with a mile left, burning your nitrous to put you over your top speed, only to be passed by the same type of car you're driving (without nitrous) to finish second. I didn't advance past level 4 in racer mode and sold the game. This part of the game I'd rate 1/5.
Car physics was another item of annoyance at times. The cars are the same in both play modes, but they perform differently in each as is mentioned in the game. The cop cars are tuned to be better, or so they say. There are several instances of you driving the same car as the subject only to watch them hold a perfect line in a turn while maintaining a higher speed as you drift the back end and watch your speed drop. That is mostly due to the A.I. aspect of the game, but I wasn't as pissed off at the game at that point to make it that big of an issue. In racer mode the difference is totally obvious with the way you get hunted down and destroyed before getting half way through the race. If you tap another car or object at top speed you will lose more than 20 MPH per hit. Then there are times when your car goes from under steer in a turn to complete over steer and sends you into the wall as if all your tires got 150% grip at the same time. Once you get used to how your car performs vs how it should perform it becomes manageable. Physics gets a 3/5.
Overall the graphics are great with no glitching and smooth scrolling. The audio is good with a good mix of music tracks to choose from before they get repetitive. The menus look good and are easy to navigate, and load times are relatively quick.
This game could have been much more if there wasn't so much wrong with the game. I rated it a 3/5 stars because no matter how much I enjoyed the Pursuit mode, the Racer mode and A.I. robbed all the enjoyment out of the game.
wingnut | video-games_xbox |
Just like what the name says it is an all in one console. I bought my xbox one on launch day about a week ago. To me the next gen isn't all about better graphics. Sure the graphics are better but being able to do two things at once is great. I recommend at least a 55 inch tv to make that worth while. Pretty fun to watch football while playing football. I also enjoy the fact I can play xbox music while gaming and easily switch between the two by double tapping the xbox button in the middle. Even if you don't have cable/dish you can still watch netflix while gaming. Face detection works really well. It says hi to everyone in the family when they walk in the room and they all get gold accounts on the console with this release. Graphics are smooth and clear. Forza 5 is my pick for favorite graphics. It's hard to tell if it is a game or not. Skype is another favorite the video is so clear. Will use that a lot when travelling and want to talk to family. To me the next generation isn't all about games but the integration of all the services that it includes. It does take a little of learning curve to truly get the most out of the system although the kids had no problems at all with it. I really like the fact save games no longer need to specify where you like to save it to the cloud or locally etc. I had the xbox 360 and ps3 which I played the 360 most of the time. I never seen xbox live down for too long compared to the ps3 being down for over a month because of a vulnerability that allowed hackers to get your personal information. So right now inclined to not get a ps4. The ps3 selling point for me was to get Blu-ray that the xbox one has built-in as well. The cloud gaming looks to have a lot of promise. I race against my friends even when they aren't online in forza. I know in a single player race which of my friends are doing well and those who are not. I give them a hard time when their profile tries to take me out even if it's not them. I love the fact I can turn on my tv / av receiver with the command xbox on. It does make my Logitech remote used a lot less often. Smartglass is great too. I can change the volume of my xbox from every portable device I own. Dead rising has the best integration. It shows the map and shows me moving around. My phone started ringing and I had a phone call thru it from the game which was really cool to see. I see a lot of potential for game makers to do so much with this console. | video-games_xbox |
Still More Than Meets The Eye. 1.) If you played War for Cybertron's single player campaign and loved it enough to buy a worthy sequel - then good news for you.
2.) If you are fan of the original Transformers storyline and somehow missed War for Cybertron - go play that, then buy this.
3.) If you're not super into Transformers but are looking to play a really solid 3rd person shooter then this will do the trick, but I would venture to say that having some love for the original Transformers is almost a prerequisite for buying this game.
So if you liked War for Cybertron - why should you by this? Well truth is it's pretty much the same thing, but you get to play as Grimlock :)
The only real negative difference between this here sequel and it's predecessor is the very real lack of multiplayer. Now I am not a huge multiplayer kind of guy, but they added in lots of new weapons, characters and the like, so I can see where from a value standpoint Fall of Cybertron doesn't compare. If you feel like online multiplayer is a deal-breaker, then consider the deal "broke."
Now I am not usually one to nit-pick if the gameplay is solid and the game is as good as Fall of Cybertron is, but there are a lot of little things that I just couldn't help but notice that didn't make a lot of sense to me... especially for a quality title like this.
For instance once you start a campaign and pick the game back up from the main menu...shouldn't the cursor default to "Continue" instead of "Start a New Campaign?" I feel like that was a weird choice. Also the checkpoints at the game are often placed right before some small cinematic action or the like so you will see the same bomb get placed or fall through the same part of floor or listen to some speech more than you need to. If I die in the middle of a section of the game...why don't I start back where the action is?
If you think that sounds like uber-critisim...I hear you. But play the game you will see what I mean.
Otherwise if combining the Destructacons into Bruticus, or running amok as Grimlok sounds like a good time - then get yourself some of this. | video-games_xbox |
Need for speed: Hot Mess. I always liked racing games, I played them all from an arcade racer like NFS to sims like Forza, to even Live for Speed that is on the PC for anyone that hasn't heard of it. I always loved the whole "cops and robbers" type games so naturally I liked NFS titles with police chases the most, my favorite title had to be Need for Speed: High Stakes.
This game has beautiful graphics, environment, even a nice leveling system for Cop and a separate one for Speeders which you can progress both in your same career btw if you don't feel like picking a side...but that's about all that is good with it.
First thing I notice when playing is the handling, it is atrocious, and I mean for an arcade style racer, it seems it is easier to play a sim with all assists off then play this game. It felt as though my controller's calibration was off because it felt like I wasn't allowed to turn quickly enough. Out of all the NFS games I played since NFS SE, they just took a turn for the worst in this one, it feels like the steering rack on the vehicles in this game aren't attached to their sub-frames...or anything for that matter, it feels like the steering column and tie rods are made out of twizzlers. I've driven a 99 Ford Expedition, in a blizzard, and had a firmer steering feel than in NFS HP. Forget about weaving through traffic, either you avoid it all together before you get near the cars, or get ready to restart because your car will be finished. Plus the only way to actually make it trough a turn is to drift or slow down till you are practically doing the speed limit. Feels like i'm in a 2F2F Tokyo Drift movie. I own a 2002 Subaru WRX that I take to the track occasionally so I have an idea of how a car would behave when pushed hard, but it seems like my Suby handles better then the Pagani Zonda in this game.
AI also seems to have an awesome handicap because when you pass using nitrous they still seem to catch up as if you let off the throttle for a moment, even if you take shortcuts they catch up, even if you have a faster car. It takes more luck than skill to win a race in this game.
All in all the game seems to bring more aggravation then fun. It is of course my opinion and opinions vary, so, I suggest renting or borrowing the game from a friend before you make a decision in purchasing it. | video-games_xbox |
Gorgeous Graphics, great gameplay and design. Though it isn't perfect, Dying light adds several different elements that create a wonderful gaming experience. You really feel immersed in a tense situation as you begin the game, your character is slow, and weak in terms of combat and parkour abilities, and the zombies are too much to deal with in groups of two or more. Using a flimsy chair leg or gas pipe to bludgeon the zombies to death at the beginning is a challenge, and often times you will have to retreat after a couple of swings with your not so trusty pipe.
Combat, agility, and crafting vastly improve as you complete tasks and fight enemies. You will soon gain access to new weapons and abilities, both through crafting and scavenging the city for useful components. Survival sense allows you to find tons of useful parts as well as track objectives.
After playing for over twenty hours, I am only 15% done with the main storyline. I enjoy completing many of the side-quests as well as exploring the gorgeous city.
Guns are incredibly scarce, I have only found two so far, and ammo is also very rare. Guns are best used on human foes only as zombies can be damage sponges.
As you play, you will level your skill trees to fit your play style. You can become a bloodthirsty berserker, killing everything in your path, or a very nimble fighter that utilizes knives and superior agility moves.
There are tons of weapons to find and craft that fit many different play styles. Night time is completely different and is very tense. While you feel fine during the day, the night makes you feel vulnerable and weak. The rewards for surviving the night and completing tasks at night are great and might be worth the risk once you get some better equipment.
Multiplayer co-op and be the zombie are both very fun and give the game a ton of replay value. Overall, Dying light is a great game so far and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great new game to play. The graphics are absolutely stunning. | video-games_xbox |
1950's SciFi Japanese B Monster FUN! Tons of Game Play Hours. Enjoy. OK guys, if your not familiar with EDF series it's Japanese and kind of funky good fun. Think of 1950's Scfi B movies and Starship Troopers goofiness and the dialogue and singing of soldiers and silly comments can be quite humorous also. You'll learn to use or not use them strategically and they survive much better than EDF 2017. Were it not for Low Armor ratio stinginess I'd have awarded Five Star Fun.
if you want vast game play that will fill a very long time you cannot beat EDF with 85 Missions and five degree's of difficulty plus there are three DLC's to expand it further. Experienced gamer's may find Easy/Normal too easy but use those stages to learn the mapping and accumulate ARMOR since your going to need it with "Hardest/Inferno" difficulties especially Solo.
What was cool was starting out as Ranger grinding to10K+ armor and couldn't survive SOLO any further and started over with Wing Diver and it made the game feel brand new since she can battle from the air and from skyscrapers and the game suddenly goes vertical with her and having learned the missions mapping via Ranger helped tremendously. Keep in mind though that a giant ant can walk as fast as she can fly though. Spiders are the most dangerous yet the easiest to kill and they're a little slower but webs as usual can even drain you post kill so be careful.
New enemies include Hornets that fire razors out, Fire Breathing Dragons I hate fighting since they swarm and will hold you in their mouths until you can shoot them but make sure your not carrying two explosive weapons since you'll kill yourself to get released from them and now ants will charge and hold you in their jaws biting until you score a kill shot. he new Giant Retarius Spiders are a pain as they can seem to toss their web about a mile and get caught there's no release as it drags you to it's web until you can kill it and when their webs are attached to bldg's those buildings cannot be destroyed by rocket s. So there are plenty of new characters that you may enjoy or enjoy hating.
I hate the fact that armor is such a grind w/2025 as it's no longer a one armor crate to one armor point - with Ranger it's two to one and with Wing Diver it's 4 crates to get ONE ARMOR point and she is easily the most vulnerable.
Some Play TIPS:
MIssion Eleven - The AI Troops are the best in the game turn 180 and retreat behind the Com Tower and just sit there about 3 minutes and wait for "The Enemy" shout-out and when the final wave of drones falls below radar circle return to the fight to farm weapons and most of the time you don't even have to fire a shot the great news this strategy works even at Hardest/Inferno early in the game as long as you can avoid fire and keep an eye on health crates. The only mission where the AI Troops are undefeatable.
MVP Weapons for Wing Diver for tunnels surprisingly = Thunder Snipers. Mission 31 and Mission 70/71 are all excellent advanced weapon farming areas as long as you don't kill yourself with the lightning bolts blowback. Special Weapons rarely =special at all. Avoid use of 90+%.
Ranger MVP's are Shotguns, AF Assault Rifles, MF Launcher a few snipers and only a few Homing are worthwhile - most seem to be broken or take way to long to home to survive..
Fencer is so slooooow that I could not stand playing it Solo and Wing Diver is tons of fun but your always having to monitor your energy gauge with her so that add's an audio/visual element one must attend to constantly during battle otherwise your dead if you max it out while surrounded.
Look, I love the game as I did with 2017 and it's the opposite of Insect Arm that was shockingly brief game play in comparison. There are times when the game will have you cussing when you get to late Inferno Missions that seem impossible.
Haven't had so much fun for so little money since Serious Sam series, and Borderland 1/2 but I just wish they'd made the armor farming at a 1-1 ratio as that facet has become to much of a grind after a few months and then you start a new one at 150 - 200 (ouch). Sometimes it feels like 5 star but other times you'll get ticked why they made it so hard to earn armor, especially the Wing Diver at 4 to equal 1.
Enjoy your game play or if unsure rent it. | video-games_xbox |
Not as good as expected. I grew up with the anime of hokuto no ken in Italy (1989 to 94). Coming back from school to watch a new episode on tv made my day. I loved it and I'm still a fan.
This review is based on the ps3 versions. This game is good but it's predecessor game was more fun despite its flaws and despite not being so strict in following the manga story so closely.
The predecessor game was slower but 1) it was much more challenging and also frustrating ( comparing both versions played at hard level). Timing was more important, learning counter moves was more important and controls was not perfect making it more challenging and frustrating. The predecessor game had also a very challenging finale where in order to beat the boss you need to correctly press a given sequence of buttons. This sequel version has a similar feature but it has been extremely simplified to the point that it seems absolutely pointless. 2) the predecessor had English language voice dub. This version is only in Japanese voice. I would love it if they would sell an add-on to install other languages. 3) the predecessor had better songs. Most importantly the song Ai wo Torimodose. I wish they would also add more songs from the original anime like tough boy and Asunaki tabi. 4) the predecessor had bigger areas to explore but more importantly the scenery in my option was more faithful to the original anime. For example it had things like foes jumping down from buildings with the post- apocalyptic sun behind them etc. this version felt less desolated , less post apocalypse.
This game is still very good and indeed they have improved on many things. The game is much more smooth now and it is great that it includes all characters of the manga (not all of those in the anime). The movies sequences are great and fun but are however to long and there is no pre option to deselect them.
Much more could be said and is indeed mentioned in other reviews here. | video-games_xbox |
Knights of the Old Republic. There have been various reports on this title ranging from...excellent to a possible Game of the Year. The latter is my choice, so far...let's see what Final Fantasy X-2, XI deliver in terms of gameplay.
I bought this game after following its production for about a year and still had been suspicious of exactly how Bioware and Lucasarts would pull off an RPG of this proportion on a video game console. Simply, they did and in an astonishing way with a universe we love, know, and now find out...didn't know in a lot of respects.
Star Wars has been a franchise that like, Star Trek, couldn't produce real good games aside from Jedi Knight series, X-Wing series, and ... for just futuristic racing ala F-Zero "Podracer" and X-Wing clone "Starfighter."
With all that aside, let me jump into KOTOR. Up front I will tell you that there is a slight problem with framerate which you will see on just about any review you'll look at. It's not a total detractor from the game and happens rarely, but it was to be expected with a game this immense and detailed. Other reviews nitpick the fact that some of the graphics are not up to Halo's standards and that we get to see familiar characters (civilians and other people you'll meet or whatnot) repeated. Well, I guess that shoots a hole in the barrel doesn't it? Not exactly.
To understand the graphics and repeat "lookalike" characters, you'll have to understand something, this game is huge and very long and deep. Of course there are going to be the glitches (it froze once on me and my XBOX is 4 weeks old, so I know it wasn't the hardware *note: Freezing games has been an annoyance since the old NES) when you have so much inside a story. Most of the graphics can hold well with Halo, especially the back drops and certainly the cutscenes which make your journey worthwhile. Repeating characters, well...this isn't Everquest or a short game where everyone could be drawn from scratch. There's plenty of characters and over 50 voice talents lending 14,000+ spoken dialogue. Also, these worlds are huge and complex, the exploration and interaction alone will give you hours of fun. When you look up, you'll notice you have a long way to go and are probably on the same planet.
KOTOR uses everything it can from the XBOX's impressive hardware to bring this story and all the world's to life. There's side-quest's galore and a galaxy including many planets and races. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm not giving away spoilers. Fact is, there's a lot to do depending on what you do. You can balance your light/dark side or follow the extreme on either side of the Force. I don't want to spoil the game because once you start to play it, you'll be in it and also, I hate being told the whole gist of a movie/game/whatever before I get my hands on it or see it.
Graphics: 9.8 - Well designed world's, backdrops, character models and feel.
Gameplay: 9.8 - It'll take you a bit to get used to the RPG feel (if you are new to it) and there is a learning curve on the real time-turn based fighting system (of all the things, and that's not a typo by the way, it is a well done and satisfying mix between action-adventure and RPG style). The cameras, except for a few occasions, are spot on and the overall feel of the game is impressive. Moving and exploring, meeting people and choosing what you do (as this is not a linear game, although it has a plot) make for a great game.
Sound: 10 - New and original music, authentic sounds and the spoken dialogue keep the atmosphere real. My suggestion is that you hook the XBOX to your 5.1 surround stereo or listen with a good set of digital headphones.
Overall: I'm leaning towards the "Game of the Year" for this and certainly, this is the finest Star Wars title to grace a console system...possible, ever. If you're a deep Warsian fan or an RPG addict, this is one you will play and replay to experience all 3+ ways of playing it (light, dark side, mix). Remember, what you do determines your destiny.
"May the Force be with you...always." | video-games_xbox |
NO ... MORE ... TALKING . I pre-ordered this game, and was hoping to love it and spend free hours absorbed in its extensive world throughout the Christmas break (a la my first Xbox game, 'Oblivion' ... misty-eyed sigh ...). But I'm about five days into playing it, and when it comes time to game, I find myself wanting to do almost ANYTHING else!
THE ENDLESS DIALOGUE IS KILLING ME! Oh my GOD would you SHUT UP already! And when there's not talking, there's utterly derivative storytelling! Helm's Deep, anyone? And rats as your first battle? Any emotional connection to the game fell flat after I created this badass, muscle-bound, handlebar-mustached 30-year-old barbarian, whose little accountant-lookin' dad immediately calls him "boy" and tells him he's not ready for battle yet! If you want to do father-son family elements, at least have me start the game looking like a kid, or I WON'T BELIEVE THE FICTION.
Oh, and the characters all look like Rescue Heroes, with giant heads/hands/feet/accessories (the sword hilts are the size of telephone poles -- I don't know why this bothers me, but it does).
I suppose I did myself a disservice by picking up this game immediately after the unforgettable 'Demon's Souls' which, soup-to-nuts -- story, music, combat, strategy, enemies, worlds, visuals, and the unforgettable challenge -- outclassed this game by a mile. It'd be like picking up 'Fable' (urp) after 'Shadow of the Colossus'.
Oh, and the legendary 'gore' of they pushed so hard in marketing this game is realized by a silly blood-splatter layer (which looks like the clothes of a kid who's been stomping in red mud) they drape over the endlessly-talking characters after combat. This lost its lustre after the first battle -- after killing a half-dozen foot-long rats, your dog has this ridiculous spray of blood all over, including his back. REALLY? He killed dem rats so hard he got blood all over his BACK? The 'gore' is truly a joke, and I let my 9-year-old play this game with no worries whatsoever.
The one cool part of the game is that you can strip your girl characters down to their skivvies, at which point they become alarmingly anatomically correct, right down to their moose-knuckles/ninja-toes. So, my lady-helpers of course run around mostly skyclad all the time. (On second thought, maybe I should think twice about letting my 9-y-o play this one ...) | video-games_xbox |
Arixio Sunset. When it comes to sheer fun you can't do any better than "Crimson Skies" for the first X Box. It's silly, it's fun, the controls are tight, the graphics are great, the story is all right and most importantly the score is amazing.
"Crimson Skies" begins with a well-done cut scene that sets up the world that our characters exist in. It's a world much similar to the underrated world for "Sky Captain" in which the lines are corny, the jokes are silly, and our heroes are constantly battling larger than life bosses. This game is a blast
The game came out years ago but even when played today the graphics hold up very well. Everything from the way the water hits the camera when you glide over water, or the way the sun flares at you when you're too high in the sky. Even the damage that your plane takes and the subtle little animations that make the plane come to life. This is a gorgeous looking game. The characters themselves look a little stiff in the cut scenes, but the actually game play has much better graphics than the cut scenes themselves.
The developers tried their best to offer variety in this game and they succeeded for the large part. Flying planes no matter how much fun can be boring, and the developers took this into account and gave us little moments of breaks from all the flying. Albeit they usually consist of manning an AA gun, or several AA guns for some later missions, but the break they give us is a welcome one and helps the game not feel stale or boring.
The bosses in the game are fun and very challenging. My personal favorite has to be the giant mechanical snake that was a beast to take down. Died about 4 times before finally beating it. Later bosses like the giant mechanical spider and final boss battle are also great challenges, and depending on the level of difficulty one is playing the game at will result in a lot of frustration. But the bosses despite having the same theme are all unique in their own twisted way
One thing about the game I'm not so crazy about would have to be those blasted escort missions. I HATE escort missions. I'm already being shot at but on top of that I have to protect someone else too? But luckily the escort missions aren't too distracting, although it does still prevent me from rating the game as perfect.
Without a doubt the single greatest thing to come out of this game was the fantastic and rich score by the great Stan LePard. LePard channels his inner Korngold and Williams for this Golden Age of film music style of score. The brass is strong and defiant, the winds add color and flavor to the music, the strings weave in and out with grace, and the percussion whiles light makes a lasting impression.
Whiles his bombastic cues feature some intense action that is amazingly well orchestrated, it's the softer moment that LePard shines. There's this amazing level in the game which I think is the 2nd level you play, in which you're searching for Big John. The music is peaceful and so tranquil that I play that level over and over again just hear that lovely oboe led melody. LePard's music sounds like it was recorded with a 80 piece orchestra but according to what I've read, the man only had like 40 bodies to work with and yet knocked it out of the park. This is by far the best game music I've ever heard, and hopefully LePard graduates to scoring movies.
The game is fun, it's funny, it has great action, a decent story, and some really fantastic music. This is by far one of the best games of the 21st century and a must own if you owe an Xbox or the 360
Highest of recommendations. | video-games_xbox |
Counter-Strike is a Must Have. Any first person shooter gamer will tell you that Counter Strike (Or CS more commonly known) is one of if not the BEST first person shooter games of its time before Battlefield 1942 or the new Medal of Honor games came to be. Now days people claim the game is old due to lack of graphics and eye candy. Or people are hacking in the game. Well ladies and gentlemen start your engines because thanks to Xbox Live, Valve, Ritual Studios and Turtle Rock Studios Counterstrike is BACK and better than ever.
Here is how I rate Counter-Strike for Xbox
Graphics - 9 out of 10
Using the brand new Half-life 2 Engine the Graphics remain true to the original but a lot more smooth and more this generation not to mention if you play it on a HDTV you will get 480p Mode which is super awesome. There is a few texturing glitches I found but you really have to look hard to notice.
Controls - 9.0 out of 10
Using a Controller over a Mouse and keyboard is a hard transition for PC Gamers who have never used a controller like the Xbox will be a challenge but with a little practice you will get used to it. The Controls all in all are very tight just like on the PC nothing has changed. The buying of weapons system is really a lot easier to navigate that's an added bonus.
Levels and Online play 9.0 out of 10
All of the Classic Levels you've come to know and love on the PC Are still here! You name it Dust, Dust 2, Italy and more!
Online play is seamless NO LAG and NO HACKING and that equals one heck of a game online using Xbox live you'll be making and joining clans and groups in no time. Using the 2 Tutorials will help you get in the game faster if you are new to the game.
The only drawback is that it is for people who have Broadband connections only (DSL Cable) and you will need to subscribe to Xbox Live. (The service charges range from $5.95 monthly to $50 yearly)
But it's well worth the price because this game also supports content download with new levels skins settings and more the best service to date by any company. And it's by Microsoft so you know you can expect the best.
The game is a lot more fast paced than rainbow six 3 and is also little more arcadeish than Rainbow Six 3 though it uses a lot of tactics it comes no where near as close as Rainbow Six 3's game play style which can be a good thing to a lot of players.
Overall this is currently #1 on a lot of gamer's lists to buy or get for Christmas and this game does not disappoint.
A Great port to a Great system using the best online service out there
Overall I give this Game a 9.0 out of 10 | video-games_xbox |
Why are you buying this headset? I hope it's not because you want 5.1. Unfortunately, you will NOT get the same experience as you would with a well designed 5.1 system in your living room. I will back this up with fact- When you read the product manual it very clearly shows you diagrams for the options to position the virtual speakers in a 4 speaker system. When you use the headphones, you will notice that there is no sound directly behind or (more importantly) directly in front of you. In other words, there is no center channel. This headset is NOT 5.1 surround sound. It is a 4 way- surround sound. The 4 virtual speakers can be positioned in various patterns, but you are missing that VITAL center channel.
That being said, it's not all bad...
Build quality- these headphones are plastic and do not give a reassuring feeling in terms of build quality. I have been using them for a few weeks now and they are holding up very well. Don't let the "flimsy" build fool you, because they are lightweight on the head and seem to hold up well.
Fit- Fit my biggish head well. If you have a small head you will be swimming in these. Before purchasing these I had the Tritton Primer and they were too tight, I could not wear them for extended sessions. The DXL1 is VERY comfortable for extended sessions. Some people have stated that the ear cup fabric is rough but I do not notice this.
Sound- The DXL1 has great audio characteristics. Plenty of available bass, nice high end response and they produce volume when you want it. I have very sensitive hearing and keep the volume very low for extended gaming sessions so to not damage my hearing. Even at low volumes is and very impressed with the frequency response. They are also well balanced. Many games have the base levels set for the sound effects much too high, the sound effects over power the dialogue, music, and other content. These headphones seem to help smooth out the highs and lows of the sound effects. That being said, I still need to balance the game audio by turning down the sound effects and music in the game settings to let the dialogue shine through.
A couple of other nice features: the mute switch is on the volume control module, not on the headphone itself. I like this because you can see if you are muted or not without removing the headphones (unlike the Tritton). The chat works well, I don't find the chat cable to be obtrusive. Setup is very easy with the slim xbox. The chat mic is really well built, it stays in any position you put it in and has a good range of motion.
As you can see, I like these headphones, but I am not able to ignore the issue with the surround sound. I would also recommend going wireless because the cord gets annoying. If I could do it over again, I'd get a wireless 7.1 system, but for now these will work. Three stars because when you weigh the good and bad, the DXL1 is just okay... | video-games_xbox |
Great Console with a lot of fun features. I have been a big Xbox guy from day one and have had every console of theirs since they started making them. I will admit though that when both the Xbox One and PS4 were announced I was really really disappointed in what Microsoft was doing with their direction of the console (which they later back tracked on). So since I had both the 360 and a PS3 I decided that I would make the full reluctant switch to PS4 and forget Xbox all together, and went and reserved my PS4. I had my PS4 for about a week when I started to miss the feel of the Xbox Controller and I am a big FPS guy and loved the Dead Rising series and felt left out. Luckily Amazon released some more One's for pre order and I jumped at the chance to get one. So luckily I landed a limited preorder and sold my PS4 off. Very happy with my decision.
Pro's
Kinect - Way better than the previous version.
UI - Takes a little to get use to.. I don't like Windows 8 at all for a desktop at ALL! But for an entertainment hub its not bad.
HDMI In - Putting in the Pro section even though its not 100% yet. I do like it and honestly once you play around with it, its pretty neat. Again gimmicky, but you can say "Xbox watch ESPN" and it will change the channel to ESPN. The snap feature is nice as well if you want to check a score of a game but still try and kill 10,000 zombies for a Reindeer Mask in DR3.
Exclusives - DR3 in of itself is enough to justify the purchase. I also like the Achievement system they have in place. They run "Challenges" every so often on all their exclusives to earn either in game add ons or Concept art. Pretty neat IMO.
Xbox Live - Still the best online service as far as gaming. PSN is catching up but still doesn't come close to what Microsoft has mastered.
Cons
Price - The cost is a tough pill to swallow compared to the PS4. But this is mainly because they require you to purchase the Kinect (though it does NOT need to be installed).
Voice Control - This one was tough to put here because I actually enjoy it and use it to turn on and off my Xbox all the time. BUT it is clunky at times and I know it will get better with updates. It has a TON of potential but just like anything Software related it will only get better with time.
Game Install - Both the PS4 and One require you to install EVERY game you buy and want to play. I know this is the way of the future and PC has been doing it since the dawn of time but still a PITA since you can't just start playing the new game you just purchased.
"Required Apps" - Very Very small gripe as its easily fixed.. But making me download and install an app so my console can play Blu-Ray?? Really???
All and all this is a great system and very happy I made the Switch Back! If you are on the fence on what to buy don't hesitate to grab it. Last word of caution however, if you are looking to buy it in first quarter of 2014 just check the game list. Sadly ATM (writing this DEC 2013) there isn't a TON of games yet, so if you aren't happy with any of the titles just give it time. | video-games_xbox |
False Advertising or Bait and Switch. FRAUD
FALSE ADVERTISEMENT
BAIT AND SWITCH
GRAND THEFT ALIENS
EPIC FAIL
WTF?
BROKEN PROMISES, BROKEN GAME, BROKEN HEART
All of the above possible review titles express my utter disappointment with ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES. ACM is to modern video games what E.T. the extra-terrestrial was to the Atari 2600 in 1982. It's almost that bad and maybe just slightly more exciting than playing PONG. This game is literally DOOM with ALIENS. Hell = LV-426 and Demons = ALIENS. The game play is nearly identical in every way. While DOOM was ground breaking in game play back in the day, it's not now and nor is this mess. If this game was going to copy another game, they should have done so to DEAD SPACE.
I am probably one of the few people who actually enjoyed 2010's ALIENS vs. PREDATOR game from Sega and Rebellion. While it was far from perfect, it is a masterpiece compared to the train wreck that is ACM. I've spent more time reading up on this mess then I have actually playing it.
ACM had the potential to be an awesome game and thus a rarity in the licensed game genre. The advance buzz in the video game press and online was all positive and the fans were led to believe by Randy Pitchford and his marketing machine that it was going to be nothing short of an ALIENS fan's wet dream and it would be all that we had ever hoped and dreamed of in an ALIENS game. Boy were we fooled! I am so angry that I feel Randy and everyone else at SEGA that pushed this turd out should be FIRED and suckers like me should be offered a refund. I'm predicting now that all of the bad press for this game is going to lead to poor sales and thus lay offs which would be a shame for those employees who might've actually tried hard to put out a decent product under less then perfect circumstances.
Now that I have it in my sweaty hands and have played thru the entire game, I can say without a doubt that us fans and the video game journalist have been victims of the oldest scam out there: the ole "Bait and Switch" . There is simply NO WAY this is the same game that has been shown to the press or fans at events like SDCC over the past 2 years. If the Press had viewed this game or played it, they would've tore it apart worse than Star Wars fan boys tore up George Lucas for Jar Jar Binks!
This game is mediocre at best and is so dated with it's graphics and game play that it reeks of an old PS2 title. The unpolished graphics remind me of the PS1 title ALIEN TRIOLGY which was way more fun, scary and exciting than this title!
What happened to the promise of the first true HD game with 1080p graphics?! What happened to the promise of dynamic lighting thus stunning and creepy environments? What happened to the promise of a great story and a true sequel to ALIENS that ALIEN3 wasn't?! What happened to amazing AI controlled ALIENS? What happened to the promise of bringing back Syd Mead to flesh out his designs for areas that went unseen in ALIENS or ALIEN 3? If they did use him, they ruined his work with crappy level design and last generation graphics. Obviously this was all lip service to appease the fans and sucker us into to pre-ordering the title or snatching it up on the day of release.
It's as if the game sat on the shelf since 2008 and was released unchanged in 2013. If that is true, what has Gearbox and Sega been doing with their time and money? My guess is they spent it all on fake footage and images that they've fed to the fans and the press. NOTHING I've seen in the game so far resembles online images or footage I've looked at. The two images on the back of the game case aren't even in the game! How is this allowable or legal? What happened to protecting the consumer from false advertisement or FRAUD!?
The game is playable which is a good thing, but there is very little else to recommend about this game outside of the movie accurate environments, sound effects and easter eggs for the fans.
The game is so bad on so many levels that I'll just run by some of them here. Game play consists of getting from Point A to Point B while shooting brain dead aliens or humans with NO Puzzle solving of any kind to break up the monotony. Flicking a switch and opening/closing doors does not a great game make. Graphics are SO BAD it's laughable and inexcusable. The worst being explosions and fire effects. Barrels and drums explode into pixalated blocks! The horror!
The amount of bugs (and I don't mean ALIENS) the game had in it on day of release was appalling and thus needed a patch to fix them. The Xbox360 version is still glitchy as hell. During level 9 while defending the vehicle bay portion, my screen went blank twice and I thought the game was going to crash. I also witnessed a marine floating in air as if standing on an invisible crate, marines warping into a room from outside on two different occasions and late in the game you have to rescue a marine. When he is found, he is on his knees with his hands bound behind his back yet there are NO restraints present!
The weapons upgrades are boring and seem to make no difference. For all of your armor and weapons, cheap deaths lurk around every corner. I would've liked an upgrade system of some kind for your Armor at the very least. The weapon select menu is primitive and awkward as hell! A simple "pick and choose" option before each mission using the D pad would've been easier and more realistic method then your marine carrying ALL of the weapons found thru the course of the game. Trying to activate a switch or picking up an item requires more precision then aiming! You literally have to be staring right at it to get the barely readable on screen prompt to appear. This game is so dated in design, there isn't even a "cover system" outside of ducking down. No straffing, no leaning out from behind an object and no taking cover outside a door!
The character models look like plastic Barbie and Ken dolls with just as much expression and emotion. The game has some of the worst AI I've ever seen. I've seen aliens standing in front of my gun waiting to be shot and I've seen a marines staring into empty space and another at a wall and your game AI partner O'Neil blindly firing at a wall with his smart gun! There is no suspense, no excitement, no terror all of which should be hallmarks of an ALIENS game.
The "Challenge" system is very difficult to achieve anything on since only 3 challenges are active at any one time and if you can't complete any of those challenges (due to poor hit detection or not wanting to play online), they will just sit there unfinished and you can't level up quicker or move onto the next challenge. The motion tracker is only useful for trying to find your way out of an area and on to the next objective should you get lost among all of the endless corridors and rooms that are empty or lead to no where.
The single player mode might be a short campaign (some say 5 hours) but it feelt more like 10. The first 3 levels on the Sulaco were tedious, long and a grind to get thru. Once down on LV-426, it turned into a more enjoyable romp but still far from perfect. The brief levels inside the "Space Jockey/Derelict Ship" being my favorite in the entire game. I'm finding a second play through more fun since you do get to keep your leveled up weapons and progress for what it's worth.
Overall I'd give the game a 4 out of 10. This game is for ALIENS fans only and even then buyer beware! This game is so bad, it wouldn't be worth it even at a $20.00 price point. SEGA, please do all of us consumers a favor and offer us a refund, all of the DLC content for FREE or at the very least sue Randy Pitchford and Gearbox for loss of revenue due to a bad game that didn't sell.
On Earth, you can hear an ALIENS fan scream. | video-games_xbox |
For Me, It's an Online Game Only, And That Might Change, Too. Let's start this review with this tip: If you ignore me and buy the game anyway, IMMEDIATELY turn off the in-game music. Thank me later.
Now, if you do have it and your game hasn't frozen by now - just give it some time - you've very likely noticed that some of the problems of NHL 09 still reside in NHL 10, and this iteration created a few of its own.
Offline Gameplay:
Essentially every game I play is like this: I drive the wing hard, look for someone to pass to heading to the net, don't find anyone, have to curl and pass it to the point. At the point, usually the other forwards are hanging out at the side of the net, on a smoke break and of no help when I blast a shot low for rebounds. Playing that way for a few games is as dull as reading this paragraph again. Go ahead, try it.
There's a double standard to this game. The defense AI (on superstar, anyway) is always covering my guys and it's not simple to get a pass through, whereas my defensive AI leaves people alone in front of the net. My offensive AI is rarely near the net, there AI is ALWAYS near the net (regardless of settings--the best I've found is to choose collapse).
The best setting I can come up with is crash the net and full attack, and even with this they are not as aggressive as the opponents AI.
Be A Pro Mode:
Be a Pro mode suffers from the same problem, although my impression is that your teammates were far more useful in that mode this year. In NHL 09, you had to dictate every pass and shot, otherwise you'd never get anything done in Be a Pro. However, based on more games played in this mode, it's darn near unplayable, except for as a goalie.
Let's Pause for A Second:
To reply to the user about create a play: I know all about it. And unfortunately it's a must. You have to go to these pre-assigned circles in order to get your team to do what they should do when you tell them to "crash the net." It's a problem to me when the opponent's AI does it automatically, and I have to sit around making plays and it's of little use on the rush, as your teammates are always 3-5 strides behind.
Further Gameplay Discussion:
Sometimes, for added frustration in the game, before even getting the zone, when I lead my passes as I'm heading to the blueline, my teammate AI just stops. They are letting me know they've got better things to do. Or they are afraid of the blue line?
Moving on to other problems, we have a faulty neutral zone AI. The computer will pass the puck for sometimes 10- 15 seconds back and forth through the neutral zone looking for a hole to open up. When they finally cross the blue line, they are apt to pass the puck indefinitely - wing to D, D to wing, wing back to D, D back to wing, wing back to D - unless you get out of position to attack. Once you do that, since your defense AI is lacking and likes to guard spaces instead of players, you'll get scored on with a wide open one-timer, because their forwards are always around the net. Must be nice.
Other problems, so far, include pucks sliding through my body and stick when I dive, nearly every poke check is a tripping penalty for me (solution to this is holding down the left trigger - forces your player to face opposition better), and near perfect stick-lift abilities from the AI (Superstar-Normal mode).
What's "new?":
Talking about the new features: On the plus side, the board play adds a little to this game. Instead of either checking someone along the boards or sliding off, now you can pin someone for a few moments either in a fight for the puck or to keep them out of the play (don't hold on too long, or you'll get called for interference). There is a problem with this feature though, because even if you are past someone, they can still pin you to the boards. Most refer to that as a "magnet" effect, and it needs fixing (a perfect excuse for NHL 11!).
Also, on the good side, it's more enjoyable to play as a goalie, as you can now make a "spread eagle" move and a "windmill move" (stacked pads on one side, then you throw your legs in the air and stack pads on the other). Also, you don't automatically hug the posts anymore when you are pressed to either side, which was a nuisance to me last year.
So, What Should You Do?
For me, this is an online game only, as a forward, just as NHL 09 was. The EASHL (EA Sports Hockey League) is where you get to play with a character you create, along with up to 11 other people (each playing a position). So, all of the problems with the AI (not going to the net, passing in the neutral zone forever) are gone. Only to be replaced by people who really don't know where they are suppose to be if you don't join a good team -- so join a good team!
My hope is that this update of NHL 09 has removed most of the cheats that were around in 09's online play (curve shot, wrap around, so on) without adding new ones of its own. Time will tell on that and I have my doubts, but what I can say immediately about online play is EA's desire to take every dollar you have will very soon turn me off as a customer. I paid for the game. Give me the whole game.
This season, EA has introduced special equipment "booster packs" you can buy for your Be a Pro player. These "booster packs" make your player better than the other people on line, by increasing your speed or other attributes. In other words, you are getting better not because you are improving (when you did well in NHL 09, you would get player cards that would let you increase your skills - this is still in NHL 10) but because you paid to be better.
If You Only Have Time, Read This!:
For now, NHL 10 is fun for me only as an online game. But, as I fight against more people with these artificially better players, if this is the path EA wants to tread, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be playing.
So, should you buy NHL 10? If you are going to play this in a season mode on your own, offline, I'd say no. If you are going to play online, I say rent it, see how much fun you have, and go from there. If you don't get around to buying it, it's not as though there won't be an NHL 11 or an NHL 110 down the road. And since it looks like the NHL2K series is done for now (rumored to be no NHL2K11), it's either this or bust. | video-games_xbox |
Single Player is a good Step, Multiplayer went Backwards. I feel like now that I've completed the single player in its entirety (and achieved all achievements), I can speak fairly on this game in all aspects. Overall, its an okay game. It's not as great as the press makes it out to be, and its not as great as a lot of the people are making it out to be, but that's because its got a really flashy new cover but not the depth I was hoping for.
Campaign:
Probably the best part of this game is the single player. While I found the first mission to be the most tedious and the least interesting of the batch, the later episodes are actually quite enjoyable. I thought their ability to keep mixing it up, level and after, made the single player overall more fun than other games I've played. Additionally, the story was unique and managed to hold my grasp long enough to get the general idea of what was going on in the plot (though they do spoon feed a lot of it to you, which is obnoxious). I loved how levels seemed vastly different from one another, which made for replaying to get the helmets more fun when exploring. Lastly, with the exclusion of Viper (Who I found not only physically impossible, but also annoying), the "boss battles" were interesting, but I wish Respawn would have spent some time here making them less about 'shoot the enemy, there you go, gold stars for everyone' and more about thinking how to defeat them. That was probably the biggest let-down of the single player campaign.
Multiplayer:
If you've played Titanfall 1, then you know what to expect here. It's more of the same, but with less of the charm (in my opinion). Let's talk about the titans first. Instead of making titans you can customize, you now pick from a very dull set of 6 that are all unique, but nothing that makes you think "this is my titan". What I found strange was that they also had additional guns in the single player, but apparently those guns didn't have a place in multiplayer because of the lack of customization Respawn allowed on the titans. I think this is the biggest let-down in the game. It's called Titanfall yet the Titans were the least customizable or interesting piece. The pilot on the other hand received a handful of upgrades. While I still think Cloak is the most useful tactical, it was nice of them to try new ones. Additionally, the newer, more "futuristic" weapons are nice to see and pretty fun. And I like the new attachments you can get on them.
I'm not a fan of the new level-up system. It favors killing pilots over having a good time in almost every aspect. I've seen kids play game modes with objects and only focus on pilot kills because they know they can get points to level up both their weapons and their characters faster by doing that. Seems like a shameful unfocused decision on Respawn's part and did the exact opposite of what they had hoped. I think they need to go back to the drawing board on that one and come up with a more conventional option. Additionally, it frustrates me when I do exceedingly well in a game only to get 3 points towards leveling up, as if to slap the "try-hards" in the face. Again, I think this was a poor decision on Respawn's part that derails the gameplay.
Maps lacked the charm of the first one, by which I mean there's less interactivity on a variety of fronts. Less well-placed wall-runs, less places to zip-line, and no turrets to hack for the fun of it. Some do better than others, of course, but overall they all feel sort of flat compared to the variety and well tuned ones from the original game. It also doesn't help that when you call your titan in, there is a chance it will just go to the other side of the map, forcing you to run past enemies you shouldn't have to when it should have come in closer. And some maps are just too congested on all fronts. I feel like if its congested for titans, it should be more open for pilots, or vise versa.
Additionally, while I welcomed the new Bounty Hunt mode (after I understood how it worked), the older modes actually felt stripped backwards and cut down. Attrition feels like a very slow build to the end, with the harder AI coming out near the finale. Additionally, the newest AI I find to be obnoxious more than anything. The new addition to domination, amped hardpoint, is an interesting idea, but without AI it feels like playing on empty large fields. It doesn't help that additionally they sometimes through the hard points in spots where they feel... abandoned. However, with a recent update it looks like they moved them when fans complained that there are maps where you could play outside your titan the whole time without reason to getting in one. Last, there was too much focus on making the game more Call of Duty, IE strip away AI, strip away titans, and make it run and gun. I felt that was the biggest shame of all. | video-games_xbox |
Bigger, badder and better. As the Xbox 360 was released I was always on the fence of either buying that or the PS3. There was one game that shifted favor towards the Xbox 360 and that was Dead Rising. With a game set in a giant mall, hordes of zombies and some of the freakiest boss characters it was a great experience. The sequel not just gave us the same experience but it broke the mold as it gave us new options and even a crafting system. Capcom has now come out with the latest in the series named Dead Rising 3. But is this a zombie game you will want to play or should you revisit some of the classics?
The game takes place ten years after Dead Rising 2 and takes place in the fictional city of Los Perdidos California. You are in control of a young mechanic named Nick Ramos as you are stranded in this city. Nick learns that in three days the military is going to level the city in a massive airstrike. Everything that is contained within the city will be destroyed and that includes any survivors. You have to figure out a way out of this city or otherwise die in a firestorm with thousands of zombies.
There are differences between this game and its previous installment for example the map is gigantic. Both the maps from two previous incarnations can fit in this map with room to spare. The graphics are taking advantage of the Xbox Ones capabilities as the zombies look more menacing and instead of having hundreds there are thousands of zombies everywhere. You will have the ability to grab various items to use as weapons and combine them in weapon combos. In addition to combos there are also super combo weapons including a massive bomb. This bomb acts as a mini nuke and will obliterate any zombie in the nearby vicinity (along with the players clothes).
My only problem with this game is that it is going to be an Xbox One exclusive. I can understand that this game will not be available on the Xbox 360 due to processing requirements but really? Not even a PC version? So the only way to play the latest installment of this game is to shell out $450 for a new console. But from what I have seen of the gameplay videos it is money well spent. So if you are getting an Xbox One this is a no brainer make sure you get Dead Rising 3! | video-games_xbox |
Great Game but . Gameplay: 4/5
The fighting mechanics in this game is solid. Each character is unique while at the same time keeping the basics of the game. That means that picking up a new character is a breeze. I only have two complaints about this game. The first is that the inputs are VERY strict for players (like me) who use the analog sticks. 1 out of 3 times, I won't be able to dash forward or backwards (depending on which side I'm at) because the game requires you to accurately input these actions. The other complaint is that as a KOF player, I've been spoiled when it comes to combos. This is not a combo-open game and you are limited to the combos that exist. However, the game is plenty fun, even for newbies like me. Thanks to the BURST application in this game, you can break someone's combo when you are being torn to pieces.
Graphics: 5/5
The game looks amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I love these hand drawn characters. It is bright and colorful. However, the stages can be distracting if you're new to this game but after a while, you get used to it. I haven't seen any bugs in the animation so this section gets a perfect score from me.
Story: 5/5
This game is a continuation from Persona 4. That being said, a lot of PS3 owners bought this to see where the story is headed. Let me tell you, the story isn't a halfassed mode like some other fighting games. You will spend HOURS with each personalized story with the characters taking their own journeys to solve the mystery in this game. I also love that even though it is a sequel to P4, the story is free of spoilers if you haven't played P4 or watched the anime.
Content: 4/5
Besides Story Mode and Network Mode (online mode), there isn't much to this game. Challenge Mode (combo challenge) consists of 30 challenges for each character. The hassle comes from the first 10 which just require you to press 2 buttons at the same time. It is completely insignificant. Also, each of the characters (and their Personas) only get 8 alternative color schemes. No alternate costumes and no color personalization. If you want more color (or even the glasses), you'l have to buy them for about $6 as DLC.
Community: 2/5
This is not technically part of the game, but you're obviously going to play online as there is not much fun playing in arcade mode by yourself, so I will includes this here. I bough this game around early February 2013. By this time, Ranked Match fighting is pretty much dead. Player Match is still very alive and well. However, if you have the misfortune of owning a crummy white 360, you might freeze during some of your matches. This occurred to me in ranked matches and now my name is in RED. I was fine with that because it took too long to find a match on Ranked Match, so I went to Player Match where I though stats didn't matter. Boy was I wrong. There are plenty of open rooms for you to join but if the room host sees your name in red, he'll kick you. They also keep their rooms open while at the same time reserving them for friends. They also love to bash on other players. I had a "pro" bash on me because I only know how to work with the auto combo and after I beat him, he told me I was a scrub and that I should learn a new combo. Every single day, I will be kicked from a room just because of a misunderstanding. If you don't have a mic, they'll kick you. If you don't have a lv. 3 connection, they'll kick you. If your name is on red, they'll kick you. If you win more than 4 times in a row, they'll kick you. If you completely suck, they'll kick you.
20/25 = 80% = 4 Stars | video-games_xbox |
You Need To Try This. I had heard a few things about this game and thought I would give it a try. I wasn't really expecting much but was definitely surprised. This game is really fun and highly addictive. The title tells you who you control, mini ninjas. Don't get me wrong though, the characters are still really cool. But they can also be rather cute at times. Thats what really helped me fall in love with this game. The art style, colors used, and the whole concept of character design gives you a game that is very refreshing. What I mean is that so many games these days are dark and gritty with copius amounts of blood and gore, where as this game is usually bright and vibrant and has cut out blood and gore. Even the levels that are supposed to be darker tend to be beautifal in there own way. When you beat enemies in this game theres no blood, theres this poof of smoke and the enemy is transformed back into what they once were, cute little animals. All enemies except bosses were once cute little animals that have been transformed into bad guys. But it gets better, your main character has the ability to take control of these animals which is fun but also important if you want to get all the items in every level. The items are highly visible to animals and can be really hard to find for the ninjas. All items you collect are either used to make items or are consumed to restore health or energy or some other stat. Experience is gained from defeating enemies and freeing captured animals. Meaning that if you want you don't have to fight. You can try to sneak through the levels and free the critters to get your XP. Each ninja is unique in the way they look, act, move, and fight so getting a new character can change the way you play. So if you want to use the character with the big hammer go ahead, or maybe the one with the flute is more your style, but the best part is that they all use the same controls so there is no confusion when you switch between characters. There are quite a few different levels with different features so it doesn't get old. But that probably won't be a problem because the game is rather short. The gameplay is really fun but there is only a very basic plot that tells you why your fighting. I prefer games with a story and character interaction and there is none of that in this game. Overall the game is a fun family friendly game that can be enjoyed by just about any one. | video-games_xbox |
Not your father's transformer (or even the last game for that matter. So I've been looking forward to this game for a long time and I did a first run beat of the game in just a few hours.
-CHARACTERS, THEIR LEVELS, AND THE THINGS THAT CONTROL THEM
First thing I noticed is how each level is character specific. I can't give the developers too much guff since the levels were designed for these specific characters in mind, however, it does bug me a little bit since you are stuck using the same TF for the same level time after time after time. I would have liked it more personally if you were able to choose from a pool characters to play each level. And much like the last game, this game is very linear especially in the respect that a lot of the levels are a one way only path. The control style for the game hasn't changed so I didn't find it necessary to fiddle with the control style at all.
-GRAPHICS AND DESIGNS
The graphics have definitely been updated. There is a lot more detail from the weapons to the destructible environment. Even the enemies and characters that are purely fodder don't look as generic as they did in WFC. And even the ones that you'll eventually think of as generic looking are designed in a much more humanoid looking way as opposed to the brown or purple toasters from the last game. Unfortunately with the new attention to detail, it makes it kind of difficult to differentiate from your target and the background at times. My other grievance is that Optimus Prime has gone from the War Within design to more of a Transformers Animated design. But that's me just being picky and voicing my preference.
-WEAPONS (WINDOWS ME)
The new weapon layout is a step back and a step forward but not yet certain if they've gained or lost ground. I say this because I am not a fan of the one primary weapon, one heavy weapon setup they made. I preferred carrying around two of the basic weapons in WFC because I did treat one as a primary and another as a side arm. Being forced to find or buy one of the heavies in order to have two weapons is just an annoyance and a step back in my mind. They do off set this by having the primary weapon ammo littering the streets of the game but still you lose the versatility and having those great weapon combos. Another thing that I miss are the grenades in this game. The game does make it interesting by giving you the option of buying defensive and offensive consumable tech, but if it is your first run through the game, you'll want to save your credits for the permanent upgrades.
-WEAPONS (WINDOWS XP)
The step forward for the weapons comes with the fact that you can upgrade the weapons. The upgrades are preset and one time upgrade types that are more like faster reload time, bigger clips, or recoil elimination with the 4th upgrade being a major but condition dependent perk. The heavy weapons can be upgraded as well but with only two upgrades and no major function altering perk as with the primary weapons.
-PLAY IT AGAIN, SPIKE.
For the campaign, unless you're really good or just cheating the first time around, you'll have to play it a time or two if you're a completionist like myself. Unlike the first game, the little hidden bits actually lead up to altered game play from being able to upgrade or purchase certain weapons to listening to audio tidbits that give you some insight to the characters and plot of the game itself. Like I mentioned before, this might get a little annoying at times since you'll have to play the same level with the same character each time, but hopefully the new abilities you gain will make it interesting for you the second or third or eighth time around.
-PLAYING WELL WITH OTHERS
Having just finished this game off, I haven't completely explored the multiplayer mode yet, but so far escalation is fun. It has been altered in that you do gain credit for assisted kills and the team itself is given 3 chances to beat it. Yes, Escalation has a wave limit to it now. Kind of a bummer to me. Another frustration is that when I did get in a round or two of Escalation, there were only 4 characters I could choose from. Hopefully I just missed something but if I have to rely purely on DLC for different mutliplayer characters, then I will be a little miffed.
So I'll just end this hopefully informative (as well as lengthy) and hopefully not too spoiler filled review with my final impression of playing this game so far with what I consider the bad and the good.
-ONE SHALL FALL
I will admit that I am slightly disappointed in this game. The graphics are nice but too busy at times, the lack of character variety in the campaign mode is frustrating, and the new weapons layout is a step back. There are also a few things they delivered that wasn't as innovative as they were first advertised such as some of the weapons upgrades and the triple changer level.
-ONE SHALL STAND
Some of the characters that you have to use in the larger than life levels is just freakin awesome period. The use of upgrade store is pretty nice despite its nature and the hidden bits and pieces that alter game play make the game worth playing again. I am looking forward to the DLC that will be coming out soon so hopefully that will alter a few of the issues I have with the game but I won't hold my breath. So overall I have to give this game an 8 (maybe a 7.5) since chances are I will be going back to WFC for my Escalation fix. | video-games_xbox |
Great fun for a weekend. In this first person shooter, you are a futuristic bio-enhanced soldier who works with fellow soldiers to take out the bad guys.
You're 2nd Lieutenant Nathan Frost - and you start the game as a 'normal soldier'. But things go badly and suddenly you find yourself in the hospital lab, fully souped up. You have the traditional cool radar screen, the selection reticules and so on. It's like a less science-fiction version of Halo.
Your beefed up abilities include better vision, better reflexes, a stealth mode, a lightning strike and a shield. On the downside, your abilities are electrically based. If an an EMP occurs, your vision shuts down into a fuzzy blur - you become snowblind.
The graphics are reasonably good, with detailed faces, realistic looking combat outfits and a variety of textures on the various objects you interact with. The radar systems and on screen indicators are easy to use without being overly intrusive. On the other hand, the subtitles are often completely lost in the background. It doesn't matter of course unless you are trying to use the subtitles to follow the story.
The voices are reasonably good, although at times they get REALLY annoying. At one point you are supposed to be using a turret to shoot an enemy robot. While you are sitting there shooting at the robot, your 'helper' continually whines at you to hack into the security camera. Well yes, we did that already! I also miss the random 'talking' that made Halo 2 so great. It made you feel like you were in a vibrant, active world. The background sounds are nice - the special effects, piped-in music, voices, combat sounds, all feel realistic.
On the down side, when your health begins to drop, you get that Legend of Zelda-like BING! BING! BING! that drives you completely insane :)
I personally love the reflex bio-mod, it appears to slow down people around you to mimic the effects of your super-fast reflexes. The other bio-mods have their own uses in different situations.
The game is a little on the easy side, and unfortunately it doesn't have different difficulty settings. It would be really great if you could replay the game multiple times, upping the difficulty level each time to really give yourself a workout. But as it is, you can finish the game in under 2 days, and then what?
Yes, there's online multiplayer, which is very much like the Halo 2 system. But to be honest, if you are already playing Halo 2 online, you don't need another system. Variety is nice sometimes, of course. But I'm not sure that most people would play Snowblind online more than a few times before going back to Halo 2. A lot of online gameplay fun comes down to which games your friends have, of course. If all of your friends own Snowblind and don't have Halo 2, then certainly getting Snowblind makes a lot of sense. But I doubt very many people are in that situation.
In general, well recommended for a weekend rental. But be sure to give it that multi-day testing first, before you think about paying full retail price to keep it forever. | video-games_xbox |
Most realisitc and best college game so far. [...]I am a college student who closely follows college basketball year in and year out. I feel I have a very good sense of how college basketball is played (much different from the NBA), and I think that this game is easily the best representation of college basketball to date.
People who are looking for a game that is about draining rediculous 3's, bigtime dunks and alley oops, or any other kind of flashy basketball, get March Madness. Given this is fun in a video game, but if you are looking for a real simulation of NCAA basketball, ESPN is the way to go.
In ESPN, you really have to know the team you are playing with. It is very accurate in the type of play each team has. The Big East is all about physical play down low and strong defense, while the ACC is about finesse...just like in real life. I saw a lot of the reivews saying that "teams don't dunk enough" or "alley oops are hard to do." That is real college basketball. College basketball has its share of dunks, and the game has its share of dunks...but most of college basketball is teamwork, and ESPN forces you to do this.
I found that I had to play differently with different teams. For example, I usually play with Boston College, working the ball down low and using the 3-2 zone to shut down my opponents in low scoring games. Then, I decided to play a Duke / UNC game, and the gameplay was very different. With Duke, I found I succeeded more when I worked it low, and kicked it out to Redick behind the arc. Teams are designed to play like they play in real life. Cuse plays a 2-3 zone, Redick is nasty from behind the arc, and Charlie Villanueva is a beast on the boards. Everything is very accurately represented.
One review I saw said that a negative was that they don't have player names. I actually think the game did a better than normal job with names. No college games are allowed to have player names because that would require them to get licensing from players, which is against NCAA rules. However, they make it very easy to enter the names, and the announcers even say all of them...there is a database of names that contains every college player's name I could think of (including obscure ones, such as Nate Doornekamp of BC). It is really easy to rename players, and very cool to name your favorite team and hear the announcers and PA announcer say the names, something most other games don't have.
Sega has finally come up with a free throw system that works. Its a pain in the butt to get used to, but once you get used to it, it's amazing. There is about 4 different free throw animations, and you have to press the shoot button and release it at the top of the shot. It is easy to tell for good players, and difficult to tell for bad players. Makes for very realistic free throw percentages, and doesnt have an annoying meter like other games have.
Little things are annoying about the game. The crowd graphics during cutscenes are awful, but its really not that big of a deal. The mascots are well rendered, but a bunch really don't look like they do in real life (ex. Otto the Orangeman). These are easily overlooked tho, because the gameplay is so good. If you are a die hard college hoops fan and want a game that represents the game closely, ESPN College Hoops 2k5 is the way to go. | video-games_xbox |
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