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A promising title which just falls short. For a brief, to the point review, I provide this short anecdote:
I purchased Homefront last friday, beat the single player that night and played around a bit with the multiplayer. The next day, I went to work, came home, said to myself "What can I do tonight?" and immediately set to work on the dishes.
I would rather do the dishes than play Homefront again.
To begin, the singleplayer campaign is very generic. The story, which was supposed to be emotionally involving, just felt contrived at every level and benefited not at all from how overwhelming you as a character are. For being a member of a rag-tag resistance cell, you certainly have no problem absolutely slaughtering dozens of Korean troops, which leads me to wonder how on earth an invasion was successful in the first place. The level design was just boring, and considering the number of invisible walls I encountered, it was lazy as well. It's one thing to create a corridor of downed houses and broken down cars which clearly create my path... but when you decide "To hell with it!" and just toss in an invisible wall to keep me on track... that's just poor design. The product placement lends nothing to the game. Being reminded that White Castle "Serves Breakfast from 6-11" did me little good while running towards my next objective, and when my AI companion actually shouted "Over there! In the Hooters!" I could only shake my head. The ending comes abruptly and is very unsatisfying. I actually got up to get a drink thinking I was just in a level break, listening to the game ramble on, only to find credits when I came back.
The multiplayer was similarly lackluster, which is unfortunate because great multiplayer was exactly what I was looking for in this product. Homefront plays like Battlefield, and while the Battlepoints system is interesting, I find it actually hampers gameplay considerably. In point-capture gameplay, players tend to horde their points until the final round, which then turns in to an unbelievable mess of vehicles, airstrikes, etc. Rather than strategically using points throughout a match, it seems the only useful purpose for them is to be spammed all at once in the end in an effort to overpower the enemy. I have to assume this is not what was planned by the developers, and if it was... good lord, why?
All in all, this game suffers from tragically flawed execution. I would not recommend this purchase to even the biggest fan of FPS games. A rental would probably suffice; you can beat the campaign in under 5 hours and multiplayer without the code is restricted to a level 5 cap, but you won't need to play much beyond level 5 to know you've seen enough. | video-games_xbox |
Good but EA doesn't update/fix issues. I've played FIFA games several times throughout the years but never owned one. After playing the Demo of this, I was hooked. I ordered it the same night. There are however, a few issues with the game that are irritating. Here's what i've found in the first 4 days since owning
The following is based on my play in Career Mode (In no particular order):
1. Levels of Difficulty seem to change drastically.
Going from Amateur (which is one step up from Beginner/easiest level) to Semi-Pro is a HUGE difference. In Amateur Career Mode, my player has 43 goals in just 25 games and each games ends in a blowout, shutout. The team scores between 4-7 goal per game. It's absurd. The opposing team never even gets a shot off the entire game, as my team intercepts just about every pass on their way down field. Trying to avoid such ease, I switched to Semi-Pro. Unfortunately for me, I was getting destroyed and beyond frustrated with how much harder it was. I believe there are only 2 more difficulty levels, Pro and Legendary. I can't even imagine playing those. In Semi-Pro, the opposing players will NOT let you down the field. I've been tackled and passes are constantly intercepted. I barely even got a shot on goal. And the goalie turns into a god somehow. So basically, i went from obliterating teams, to losing every one of them. Sure, in the game settings there are Sliders to let you tweak player operated teams and CPU players. Even then it takes forever to find balance, plus, should i even have to be doing that? EA got this all messed up.
2. Demoted somehow??
I chose Manchester United as my team. I started with them thinking i would be a sub/bench player with my player rating being so low (as a Striker), plus Zlatan is the lone Striker for ManU. Somehow, the coach had me start the first game of the season. I scored a goal and an assist but got injured in the same game (Injuries will be #3 for issues. Stay tuned). The injury was severe enough for me to miss 8 weeks of the season. Directly after this, the manager is emailing me that i've been injured and sit tight. Suddenly i'm put on loan to an EFL 2 club without reason. This makes zero sense. My player was impressive in the first match he played yet there's no option to sit it out and Simulate the games that i've missed. It was really strange the way it happened. There was no choice but to accept the loan, without knowledge of a call back from the club. If this is the case, why not just start you in an EFL 2 club?
3. Injuries.
I had heard that the FIFA franchise has recently had issues with easy injuries, and serious ones at that. I found that out from experience by somehow getting injured in just my first game. You can turn both injury Sliders down in the game settings but again, why didn't EA just do this themselves or at least tell you first?
4. Rules and Bullcrap
Seems like every play no matter what, is Offsides. This game freakin loves this. It gets old FAST. Another thing is Tackling. You rack up the Yellow Cards and Red Cards if you're not careful. Your team warns you in emails that they have no tolerance for those, but at the same time, you find out you're suspended for a game. So, the warning isn't really a warning at all. It started off with getting 2 Red Cards in 4 games. Now all i have to do is get one Yellow and i'm suspended. It's dumb.
5. Training
The Training happens in between matches. You choose up to 5 things to work on that allows your player the opportunity to enhance his abilities in Defense, Shooting, Passing, Penalty Kicks, etc. These are the best way to get your Player's overall rating up, and make him better. This is a good thing and i like it. The issues I have with it are that you have this option too many times. Yes, you're given the option to simulate the training, but it always turns out much worse than if you took the 5-10 minutes to do it yourself. I mean, you just want to play matches, right? They should have an algorithm set up in order to match how you usually do in each chosen training session and just match it, not make it worse.
6. Don't quote me on this, but i'm yet to find Franchise mode/Career Season.
I really wanted to just play out seasons as ManU but when i got to the main menu for the first time, there was nothing but The Journey, Career, Games, and FUT available. Without looking too far into it, i'm guessing that you're forced to play Online if you want to do a career with one team. I don't like that. Plus, why is The Journey and Career not the same thing??
Overall, i'm having a good time with the game. I can play any sports games for hours. I can sort of feel myself getting bored with this because of how repetitive it can be. It kind of sucks that i'm stuck playing Career Mode because I can only control the one player. It's always pass it up field and get a Through Pass for a goal. Dribbling and protecting the ball aren't hard, but the dribbling moves are. I mess that up all the time and it's more frustrating to lose the ball than it is fun. In playing through a season of being in a crappy EFL 2 league, I can only hope that getting called up to the Premier League makes the game more interesting. | video-games_xbox |
Do yourself a favor, don't waste your time on it. Quite frankly, the game has no future. Gameplay is very repetitive. The story is pretty short and quickly blown through. Dark Zone is so broken and riddled with hackers that it is already making the rounds in media outlets. Glitches are everywhere. You can increase your stats, the game resets it even lower. Certain collectibles either can't be collected or glitch to permanently show on the map. Enemy avatars teleport around. Bullets recognition can be hit or miss, even on clear line of sight.
Each update to the game breaks something else. The next update planned as of this writing will further UNBALANCE the game. They so "graciously" lowered the costs to buy high end blueprints, but at same time doubled the required material to make upgraded material (the type used for high end). At the same time, all item breakdowns will only give ONE material of same level. Currently, It can give 2 or more depending if it has mods on. So item got cheaper, material cost doubled, and material drop was decreased. I should mention that most material drops in game are lower level that require being upgraded.
Dark Zone is for hackers only. There is no way to advance when it pits you against people that don't show up. If they do, they are already easily 20+ levels higher than you with equivalent level gear. How can a level 22 in the dark zone with basic over world level 30 gear compete against dark zone 40+ players with level 40+ dark zone weaponry. Did I mention that Dark Zone penalizes you when you die? It takes away experience, money, items, and keys to loot chests.
Overall, buy used if you must. Rent more appropriate. This game is already dying with lack of content and continual dumb moves by the developer and their "updates." Just as Defiance and Destiny before it, this "MMO" has a short shelf life before falling to repetition, boredom, and poor coding. | video-games_xbox |
stay away. Microsoft won't help you. Xbox live rewards are a joke and a scheme. I was promised id receive my points and ive yet to receive one. I called Microsoft support and they claim they cannot help at all because this program is run by a different committee. Microsoft support is atrocious and won't help with a single issue i have, instead they just divert responsibility. i was a loyal Microsoft customer with a pc a windows phone, a surface and an Xbox one and this is how the company treats me. I've done nothing but be loyal to this company ad they show no appreciation. as of right now Im ready to abandon the company and give Microsoft a horrible rating on the better business bureau. I don't care if Microsoft runs the program, they approved to have it run and they are working with the committee that failed to implement it. Not only have that but the Xbox one is plagued with Xbox lived issues every day. Sometimes its content usage and other times its buying games or playing multiplayer. i thought the master chief collection would be a fun game to change my mind about the console but that was a flop. The master chief collection is a joke with a broken multiplayer. Microsoft and 343 participated in selling me an unfinished game at full price and they refuse to refund me. For this I am opening a twitter page so that the Xbox community can help one another without Microsoft help. The page will bring light to all of the unfair practices of Microsoft to their customers and it will provide a place for the word to spread. i will not give up until i am contacted by a Microsoft employee that resolves all of my issues. As of right now i suggest staying away from the Xbox one and the master chief collection. If you have yet to choose which console I suggest the Play station 4. I'm tired of being ignored along with the rest of the Xbox community and I will continue to make posts like this all over until they fix all the problems and make up for what they've done. | video-games_xbox |
Hardly "Elite. I'm not simply giving the Elite console a low rating because of the fact that most of them include the Falcon chipset, but rather since it is overpriced for what you are getting. Considering that the Premium comes with a hefty 60GB hard drive and is $100 cheaper, a 120GB hard drive is really unnecessary. I'm sure some people may disagree and claim that their demos, music, videos, pictures, etc. consume up to one-hundred gigabytes of space, but the large hard drive is the only reason this package is overpriced. Once you purchase this, you must then purchase a $100 wireless network adapter, which most would agree is a necessity. Also, why did they not include a Play & Charge Kit? In addition, a black wireless headset is much more of a Live companion than the included wired one. Finally, although the black finish is nice, it absolutely does not match with any of the accessories, such as the Quick Charge Kit, the Media Remote, the Wireless Headset, Xbox Live Vision (not necessary), and the HD DVD drive (if you own it).
Here's what a true bundle worthy of the title "Elite" would include in addition: wireless headset, Play & Charge Kit, and Media Remote (all matching). This would indeed be worth the $400 retail price. Instead, save one-hundred dollars, go for the Premium bundle, and purchase a wireless headset, rechargeable battery, and media remote (with enough money left for a full-priced game).
Worthy of note is that I actually did spot an Elite that included the Jasper chipset, if one were to follow the hint that all those manufactured after August 2008 are Jaspers. I spotted one that was manufactured in late October.
Also, if you decide to go for the plunge and purchase this, be aware that the game is packaged in the bottom of the box, meaning that everything else is putting pressure on it. The Premium bundle that I purchased had a severely crushed game case. Just look out for that. | video-games_xbox |
You'll want to pull your hair out. I've been a Sega Rally fan since the original came out on Sega Saturn in 1995. I wanted to like this game, a lot. It has incredible graphics, a lot of cars, and similar gameplay as the original. Unfortunately, this last feature is one of the many problems this game has.
I haven't been this frustrated with a racing game in a long, long time. I've been playing Revo for about 3 weeks now, and I still get destroyed in the very early races of the game. The AI is ruthless, driving on invisible tracks and invulnerable to the wonky physics that dictate my driving. The steering is so loose that it feels like the car is riding on melted butter. It takes a lot of effort and concentration to keep your ride from slamming into every wall along the track (the key is to focus way down the track to keep your car steering in the right direction- you have to stay ahead of it, like its a ship or an airline- not a race car). Even when you figure out how to drive, it buys you a race or two at most. Then the AI kicks in to super-steroid mode and you have no chance of winning. You will end up battling (and I mean battling) just to not end up dead last. I seriously had to restrain myself from slamming my $60.00 controller on the floor. I've already cracked the game's case. I consider myself a mild-tempered person. You have to really irk me off to get me to loose control. This game pulls it off very well. Again. I haven't been this frustrated with a game in a long, long time.
The design flaw that ruins this game is the setup. You are only allowed to race in 3 race segments. You will struggle with one race, and then finally, finally finish first. Now you have to win two more races in order to earn all points and win the championship. There is no way to restart on race two or three. If you finish second (a feat in itself) on race two, it's over. Try again. The lack of a race restart feature (for the current race) totally sucks the enjoyment out of it. It makes this game like one of those NES games way back in the day that was impossible and based all it's replay on being insanely difficult (and thus, somehow worth it). This philosiphy died years ago, and this game should die too. I haven't hated a game I wanted to like so much in a long time. Thanks a lot, Sega.
I've played through both Dirt and Motorstorm. Both are challenging, enjoyable games. If you have to play this game, wait two months and it will be in the bargain bins. I promise. | video-games_xbox |
If you give it a chance, it's awesome. The last time I bought a Tiger Woods game was 2006 and it was for the PS2. Since then I have played each edition and didn't feel that any of them were an improvement to the point where I wanted a newer version. This game is more difficult simply because there are more adjustments to make. In the past getting a birdie or eagle on every hole wasn't even much of an accomplishment and 20+ under par was the norm. This game isn't easy but it can be figured out and the learning curve isn't as steep as it first seems, especially with the short game mechanics. To put it in perspective, my 5 year old son could pitch,chip, and putt in this game with startling success after playing for about half an hour. Each shot makes you think about what you need to adjust for. Spending time at the practice tee and figuring out what the game's mechanics are all about was a huge help. I can't speak to the Kinect aspect of the game because I like the old school remote option. I love this game because it is harder and at the same time realistic. In real golf, shots off imperfect lies produce imperfect results at times. You can't realistically hole out from everywhere anymore. You can't cheat the controls and produce perfect shots effortlessly. I think calling it "golf simulation" as compared to "arcade golf" would be a fair comparison. Furthermore, I like the way the game has handled course availability but I like unlocking game features to begin with. This edition has 35+ courses. They can be accessed by completing the mastery challenges of the courses that are available at the start. Like most games, most of that can be bypassed by paying for them which for some can be expensive and a deal breaker. My expectations for this game were amazing graphics, great courses, great game play, lots of features, and a genuine challenge so, in my opinion, the game really delivered. | video-games_xbox |
To My Shock, Not Horrible. You know, Pure is precisely the sort of game that you wouldn't think I should be allowed to review on any forum. For one thing, I'm not really a racing game guy - the older I've gotten, the less tolerance I seem to have for the endless repetition and millisecond-shaving that seems endemic to the genre. Second, I'm not an ATV guy by any stretch of the imagination. I hate the outside, I dislike mud, and the closest I've been to one of these beasts is sincerely wanting to dismantle the ones that my neighbors up the street gave their idiot children to ride pretty much incessantly nine months out of the year. Third, I'm not really a freestyle, trick gaming guy - I've never played an SSX or Tony Hawk game, and I can honestly say that I've never felt the urge to do so. Imagine my shock, then, to have to admit now that Pure in no way sucks. I wouldn't call the game a standout, and it suffers from a few annoying quirks, but on the whole, the game remains a solid, competent, enjoyable entry to the ATV/freestyle/racing genre, if such a thing exists.
There's really not much to describe about the basic format of the game. You take one of any number of utterly interchangeable characters, dress them up in some kind of futuristic space suit hermetically sealed against intrusion from mud, dirt, and apparently the harsh sting of a two hundred foot fall, and drive in circles. There are three basic game formats you can play through: Sprint - a basic short course race with minimal air and little opportunity for the game's trademark trick-making; Freestyle - a run around a long course with quite a lot of air where you attempt to accumulate the high score by performing strings of tricks; and Race - a combination of the two. The Sprint and Freestyle modes both work well, allowing you to explore both of the major gameplay themes in the title. The Race mode, however, is not such a rousing success. The secret to winning races in Pure (and in most racing games these days) is a keen knowledge of the track and judicious use of boost, which in this game can only be accumulated by performing tricks. The catch here is that performing tricks is a high-risk proposition, with failure usually resulting in your avatar's ragdall getting flung into the mud with his ATV on top of him and a loss of several positions in the race. That's fine for Freestyle mode, where your position is largely irrelevant to your performance, but in Race mode, where you're still expected to come in first, in order to earn the boost that you need to win the race you must engage in activities contrary to that goal, which generally leads to long, boring runs around the track where you perform the same tricks repeatedly for a rapidly diminishing boost reward and try as hard as possible not to screw up. That might be par for the course in the genre (as I said, I'm not a big racing game guy), but when you compare that to an alternative like the boost system in Burnout, where you are rewarded for performing risky actions that contribute to your winning the race, the Pure system ultimately drags on the action and makes Race format events feel conflicted and confusing.
Outside of races, Pure presents a lot of customizability to the user - too much for me. Before you can race at all you have to assemble an ATV. You might think that an easy task if you don't know anything about the devices (like me), but roughly halfway into the over twenty individual choices you're forced to make to build your ride, you'll be disabused of that notion. To put it in perspective, you have to select at one point what appears to me to be a single gear that has play ramifications. I'm sure that this is an important gear to the machine, and I'm sure that if I cared even a tiny bit about how these things work that I would be very impressed with the fact that I could control such minutia, but as a practical matter, all that the level of detail led me to do was hold down the "auto-build" buttons that the game makes available to you and hope for the best. That seems to be a valid strategy to me (I haven't had the time to get to 100% game completion), but the decisions that the computer makes when going through this automated process seem to be disturbingly inconsistent from execution to execution. More than anything, I found myself wishing while I was configuring and reconfiguring my rides (and you will do that a LOT, as you are rewarded for your progress through the single-player campaign with parts that you pretty much have to integrate into your machine to win subsequent races) for some simple pre-configured designs that I could pick apart to see how they worked. For what it's worth, though, all of the changes that you can make seem to have impact on your race performance, as I found even a minor tweak of a couple of points in handling and speed stats greatly affected my vehicle's performance on the track.
I don't really do multiplayer, particularly on Live, so I don't feel very qualified to comment on that aspect of the game, save to say that the races feel like they would work reasonably well for the sixteen people the game supports.
Taken on the whole - and believe me when I tell you I'm shocked to say this - Pure doesn't suck. It didn't change my perception of ATVs or the world in general, but it has given me fifteen hours of enjoyable gameplay so far and promises to offer up more in the future if I want it. It also game me some ugly blisters on my left thumb (I recommend finding a traction pad - you trick and steer on the same stick, and as a result you end up jerking it around a lot, which is what I suspect led to my condition), but I suppose that can be forgiven. I can't say that I'd pay sixty dollars American for this, but as a discount purchase in the thirty to forty dollar range, I'd certainly give it a try. | video-games_xbox |
Gorgeous but annoying. I love Far Cry 3. It is artistically the best-looking game ever produced for the X-Box 360. The single player play-through is very addictive, and I always come back to this game periodically to sneak through the undergrowth to ambush enemy outposts with well placed C4 demo charges, land mines, and silenced sniper rifles (or various heavy automatic weapons). This is where the game excels.
Unfortunately, the avatar you are forced to inhabit is a 20 year-old American pansy who has a significant testosterone deficiency. This is, at times, maddening. Why Ubisoft decided to make such a completely unlikeable character is beyond me, given the production values of the game. I mean, it's always easy for a 12 year old to get into a game wherein the said 12 year old can inhabit the avatar of John Rambo. However, if you are older than 12 years of age, it is overwhelmingly lame to have to inhabit the avatar of a 12 year old boy whose voice has yet to change. Unforgivable, Ubisoft, don't you ever force me to castrate myself in order to enjoy playing a first person shooter!
The multiplayer, while competent, is nowhere near the fun-factor of Battlefield 3 (not much is, but still). If I were Ubisoft, I would not bother to even have a multiplayer in Far Cry 4 unless it could stack up favorably to BF4 or at least the latest CoD.
One more gripe: once you play all the way through the game and unlock all the goodies, the map feels pretty dead and there isn't much to do. It is exceedingly easy to completely eliminate 90% of all the bad guys from the game environment, at which point you might as well just go back and start a new game, as the bad guys never seem to be able to get it together and mount any coordinated offensive action to retake turf. Ubisoft, are you listening??
On a higher note, Ubisoft did a great job with vehicles in this game (anyone who played Far Cry 2 probably remembers riding around in a 4x4 vehicle in that game which drove like a cardboard box on a conveyor belt in a USPS mail sorting facility). The wingsuit you get toward the end of the game is just awesome, and it's absolutely exhilarating to jump off a high cliff and dive halfway across an island, especially while escaping a small army of guys shooting at you.
Despite the above gripes, this game is a must-play for the FPS genre. The visuals alone make the game worthwhile, and the AI is good enough to keep you coming back for more ninja-style bushwhacking action. | video-games_xbox |
Inconsistent. Turok: Evolution has a terrible multiple personality disorder: sometimes it's this great action packed shooter with awesome lighting effects and high-res textures, and sometimes it's this really ugly-looking, tedious-playing, evil twin.
Turok: Evolution follows the story of the original Dinosaur Hunter: Tel Set. You learn how he was originally transported to the Lost Lands to become a Turok.(well sort of anyway...The story-line's kind of muddled.) Most of the game is just your standard FPS fare: you move through completely linear levels wreaking havoc and shooting everything that moves. It starts off really slow though, with lots of tedious sniping and ugly graphics, but things start to pick up around the fifth chapter or so. You then start doing more indoor levels, which show off the cool lighting and reflection effects, and allow you to engage in more close range combat. Also your weapons arsenal starts to get a lot more interesting.
I think the weapons are probably the coolest aspect of Turok. Most weapons have two modes of fire and some of them transform into completely different weapons (such as the Flechette gun, which can be transformed into a Mini gun). The graphic effects of some of these weapons are truly stunning: the heat-waves on the rocket launcher and flame-thrower are most impressive. In fact, I think the rocket launcher in Turok is probably the coolest rocket launcher I've ever seen in a FPS. There are some really interesting weapons here: for instance, there's the gravity disrupter, which when you press the trigger quickly, will knock enemies backwards, or you can hold the trigger in and it will charge up for a shock-wave attack. You can also switch to the alternate mode and use the gun to pick up enemies and hurl them off cliffs, or bash them against walls and other foes.
The controls are nearly identical to those found in Halo, only the aiming isn't nearly as precise, and your turning speed is far to slow...and then far to fast. You see, Turok has the same problem with aiming that MOH: Frontline suffered from: first the controls move far to slow, and then as you slowly press the thumb-stick further, they suddenly reach a point where they jump to high-speed, and move far to fast, causing you to overshoot what you were aiming for. Fortunately though, with the auto-aim feature enabled, this problem is far more manageable.
There are a few levels where you hop on the back of a pterasaur and fly through canyons in a rail-shooter mode. While the concept of a pterasaur shooter, (complete with lock-on missiles and radio chatter) is super cheezy, and the graphics are quite ugly, I still found it to be kind of thrilling soaring through canyons, narrowly avoiding obstacles, and pulling out of steep dives just in the nick of time. It's nothing terribly great, but it's not as bad as it sounds.
The graphics are just so incredibly inconsistent. Some levels look nearly as good as Halo: with nice lighting effects and reflections. However, some of the levels look like something from an average PS2 game. Even the textures within the levels can be inconsistent. Sometimes you'll notice some really nice looking high-res textures and then a few feet later there'll be an ugly blurry mess. Some of the effects (such as the rippling heat-waves from the rocket launcher) are quite impressive, but some effects are sorely lacking (like water for instance, which is just a flat bluish texture). The frame-rate is alright on the indoor levels, but it does drop a bit when you're outside.
One of my biggest gripes with Turok is the lack of save-points. You can only save after completing a level; this was acceptable on the N64, due to hardware limitations, but the Xbox has an 8 gigabyte hard drive and there's no excuse for using such an archaic save system. I get the feeling they used this system because they knew the inconsistent enemy AI just wouldn't have made the game challenging enough otherwise.
You see the AI enemies in Turok are just really unpredictable (in a bad way). For instance, sometimes you can attempt to snipe an enemy and he'll alert all his buddies to your location, and they'll all instantly know where you are and will immediately proceed to attack you. However, sometimes you can shoot an enemy and he'll just stand there and take it-as if he can't even feel the bullets ripping through his flesh. Again the problem here is consistency.
The multi-player modes are pretty much the usual: capture the flag, death-match, ect.. The frame-rate is fine when you play two players but it really takes a hit when you play with 3 or 4. Unfortunately, Turok does not support the System Link feature-which seems kind of stupid to me. I mean how much time does it take to add in System Link support?!
With 14 chapters, each consisting of several levels, Turok is quite a large FPS. I think maybe, it would have been better if they made the game smaller and then spent the extra time polishing things up. It seems they just spread themselves to thin and weren't able keep the level of quality consistent. At times Turok really shows some glimpses of brilliance. Perhaps, with another six months development time, Turok could have been a good solid FPS, but as it stands now, it's really not worth playing. There's just too many other FPS's of higher quality coming out this fall and Turok: Evolution just doesn't have anything original to make up for it's technical shortcomings.
Sound: 7/10 The sound is pretty solid, with some nice back-round music and cool sounding weapons.
Graphics: 5/10 A real mixed bag: sometimes they're really good, other times they're terrible.
Controls: 7/10 Would be terrible, but fortunately there's an auto-aim option.
Game-play: 6/10 Your typical FPS: Shoot everything that moves. The reliance on the limited save-points to make the game challenging is really annoying.
Originality: 1/10 Nothing new here.
Value: 8/10 With 14 chapters, and each chapter consisting of several levels there's a good 30-40 hours of
single player, plus there is a multi-player mode. No real replay value for the single-player though.
Difficulty:7/10 Hard due to lack of save-points.
Final Score: 6/10 If it could have been more consistent, it could have been a good solid shooter. | video-games_xbox |
My review of NBA Live 16 on XBox One. EA SPORTS returns to the hardwood with NBA LIVE 16. Longtime fans of the series will be happy to know that the game has improved over last year's game and leaps and bounds better than 14. It offers users new, exciting ways to play in some areas while not making much progress in others.
One of the modes in NBA LIVE 16 where I think you will have a lot of fun is Live Pro-Am. You can create your own virtual self using the GameFace HD. The great thing about this new feature is you don't have to have Kinect for Xbox One users or a PlayStation 4 Camera for PS4 gamers.
You just download the NBA Live companion app to your smartphone or tablet. The app is free of charge. Once you create your character, you can then dress him in the many types of shoes and other accessories the game has to offer. The more you play, the more reward points you can earn to unlock even more stuff to add to your collection. You can also add tattoos to your created player. There are many types of tattoos to chose from so there's something for everyone. They have been created by Randy Harris, who has done art work on actual NBA players over the years.
Likes:
Gameplay is improving with each release of the game which is a good sign for the overall series. It's the best it has been since the relaunch of the series.
Online Team Play Mode: You can team up with your friends and play on many types of courts to chose from.
Graphics: Like gameplay, the graphics seem to be improving on a yearly basis. Still not perfect, but player models look good.
Dislikes:
No historical teams: I always have enjoyed playing real life teams from yesteryear. Sadly, this isn't an option in NBA Live 16. It does have the ever popular Ultimate Team Mode that lets you collect players from different eras of the NBA, but no way of unlocking teams from the past.
Dynasty and Rising Star Modes are pretty much the same as last year's game. In order to keep pace with other sports games like NBA 2K, FIFA, Madden, etc, EA is going to have to work more in creating new content for these modes.
Giving players basically the same thing as last year's game is going to leave a sour taste in gamer's mouths.
Overall, you can tell the game is not just a roster update of NBA Live 15. The franchise needs to continue to grow by updating existing modes while still trying new things to try and stay on the cutting edge of video basketball games. | video-games_xbox |
It's an OK game, but definitely unpolished, lots of bugs. I was a big fan of the first Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic game. This 2nd edition leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion. Yeah, it's a fun game, and if you are into the Star Wars games (as I am), sure, you'll probably buy it regardless of what I write. And, don't get me wrong, I do indeed enjoy playing the game, to some extent. It's better than a lot of games. But, I need to warn you, save your game often, and save it in various slots so you can go back. This is more true in the 2nd edition than the first. Why? Well, they've made the game more complicated. I'll give you an overview, and outline what I mean as I go. (And, the worst of all, this game is riddled with bugs!! I'll go into more detail about the bugs at the bottom of this review.)
The format of the 2nd edition game is just like 1st edition game. It's a first person storyline game. You wander around and explore various planets, picking up friends and enemies along the way. There's a lot of fighting, but you don't actually control the fight moves. You just tell your player to fight, and instruct your player on what moves to make, and the computer does the fighting for you a la "Dungeons and Dragons" style (the more powerful your player, the more likely you are to kill the opponent, and vise versa). If you're looking for a game of coordination and button-pressing skills, this game is not for you (nor was the 1st edition of this game). It's definitely a storyline and choice-making game. In this game, you are a former Jedi Knight, exiled, and disconnected from the force. You must try to reconnect with the force, and regain your Jedi status (or Sith status if you want to go down the dark path).
But, they've made the game much more complicated, and in my opinion, it's not for the better. The choices you make affect your influence on your friends. Your friends are infighting all the time, and if you choose the side of one friend, you alienate the other. This is more "realistic" I suppose. But, it just doesn't make the game fun to me. And, you have to set up your player for how aggressive you want him/her to be, and what fighting style to use, etc. It's a nice concept for some people, I guess. But, for me, I just don't want to deal with all of that junk. I just want to play the game and enjoy it, and not worry about fine-tuning my fighting style, and worry about alienating my own friends. I don't want to need to become friends with my own droid before it will allow me give it a tune-up. It's just a lot of clutter that takes up too much time.
And, unless you have cheat codes or something, there's no way on earth that you'll be able to enjoy all of the powers and attributes they've programmed into the game. Just like the first edition, with experience points, you can choose which skills and powers you want. And, that's cool with me. But, what I don't like is that you'll NEVER become the ultimate, with all skills and powers. At best, you might be able to get about 1/4 or 1/3 of the powers. It looks like there are some fun powers to play with in the game, but if you want to enjoy them all, you have to play the game about 5 times and select different powers each time. Very frustrating!! I guess some people will say that this style is more "realistic", and yeah, I guess they're right. But, I don't want realistic, I just want to have FUN with the game. And, hey, lightsabers and Jedi Knights aren't exactly realistic in the first place, so, any argument to make the game more realistic is a little strange, if you ask me.
Furthermore, they've complicated the pazzak game, by adding more crazy cards, and tougher opponents that can hit 20 almost every time (because they have a deck of very flexible cards). That's fine and all. But, for me, it just detracts from the main game. I don't want to have to spend 1/2 of my day trying to get lucky enough to beat a tough opponent, or spend most of my cash buying cards to compete with them on an equal level.
And, the swoop races are back. But, now you can jump your swoop, there are mine fields, etc. Why didn't they just make the swoop tracks more FUN, and not just make them a repeat of the last boring swoop games with mines and obsticals to jump. And, believe me, it's tougher to get the top time in the 2nd edition game than it was in the 1st edition (which already wasn't easy). And, I don't want to spend my day trying to master a boring swoop game. If they want to make you play that stupid thing over and over, at least they should make it more fun, rather than making it a boring straight line. Frankly, the swoop races go exactly AGAINST what the rest of this game is supposed to represent. The whole idea behind a storyline game is to get away from the jumping skills and hand-eye coordination, and repeatedly trying the same thing over and over and over and over before finally memorizing the course and being able to hit every boost exactly right, and avoid every obstical exactly right. Uuugh. I'm pretty good at that kind of thing, but this is ridiculous. The appeal of Knights of the Old Republic in the first place is that you do NOT have to go through that kind of garbage. But, then they throw this swoop race game in there which goes against the whole concept. You need to race this thing 30 times before you can master it. And, hey, I guess that would be fine with me if it was even remotely FUN to race the thing. But, no, it's not fun, it's boring. You just go in a straight line, avoiding mines and walls, etc. Uuugh.
Which brings me to my next complaint.... Why in the world, with today's technology at our disposal, do we have to wait 30-45 seconds every time we go into a new room or start a new swoop race. And, when the swoop race is done, we have to wait 30-45 seconds to go back to the cantina. Then, you have another 30-45 seconds of dialog and garbage. And, the race costs money, so, if you don't want to blow all of your cash, you need to reload your game every time you race (add another 30-45 seconds). Basically, you need to wait about 2-3 minutes every time you want to try the race again. This becomes VERY frustrating when the swoop game is one of those try-again-again-again-again hand-eye-memorization games. Where's the "start over" button? So, to be honest with you, I gave up on the swoop racing altogether. I just simply refuse to play it.
And, with today's technology, why can't they just make the game "read ahead"? There's a ton of memory and horsepower in the XBOX. The programmers should have made this game do like some of the other games do... when near a new part of the world, start loading that disc data ahead of time, just in case the player chooses to go through that door, or whatever!! When near the swoop race track, start loading it in case the player decides to race!! When near a new room, start loading that room ahead of time in case the player decides to go through the door!!! Uuugh. But, no, they didn't program it that way. Instead, if you go through a door, wait 30 seconds, and hope you didn't do it by mistake, otherwise it's another boring 30 seconds to leave that room and go back into the hallway. Uuugh.
Now, all of that being said, yeah, it's still a fun game overall. I mean, I wouldn't have played it if I didn't enjoy it on some level. So, please don't assume this review is just a rant-fest about a bad game. I don't mean it that way. It's not a BAD game. It's OK. But, you've already got a hundred reviewers out there talking about good stuff, I figured I could illustrate some of the bad....
Which brings me to my final BAD comment about the game, and definitely the very MOST frustrating.... This game is FULL OF BUGS (or untested unpolished programming). This drives me nuts. Sometimes you tell your player to fight, but your player stands there and does nothing, and the opponent kicks your behind. You try and try to make your player fight, but it just says "combat mode already engaged", and still your player just stands there. Uuugh. OK, back off, break off the combat, run around somewhere else for a few seconds, and then go back and start combat again, and OK, your player will fight. And, hey, it's not like I stumbled across something that almost never happens, and the developers just didn't know about it. It happens pretty often, and it's clear that the game wasn't tested well enough. Also, sometimes you tell your player to open a container, but your player doesn't get close enough to open it, and the simple container doesn't open unless you find the perfect angle. Sometimes, even during the cut away scenes, the game locks up. I don't want to stand there and watch while I can't hit start, I can't break out of the mode, and be frustrated while I've played the game for 15 minutes without saving, only to find out I have to go back and play that last 15 minutes over again because the stupid game locked up. Uuugh. They obviously were rushed to get this game on the market, and didn't spend nearly enough time polishing this game, fixing all of the bugs, etc. In my opinion, they should have spent MORE time fixing bugs, and LESS time adding a bunch of crazy complicated functions that do nothing but make the game less fun to play. I'm sure that the developers thought it would be cool to take Knights of the Old Republic to the "next level" by adding a whole bunch of new crazy game features. But, I think they missed the mark, and would have been better off spending that development time fixing the game's problems. | video-games_xbox |
Xbox gets some Metal Gear Solidy goodness. Having never played a Metal Gear game before (except for a bit of MGS1), I wasn't sure where to put my expectations. It's hard to imagine how any Xbox owner (or PS2, for that matter) could not at least be a little bit interested in this. From graphics to cinematics to gameplay, Metal Gear Solid 2 sets the standards for games.
Gameplay-
Do yourself a favor: ignore the ritalin-dependent guys who gave this game one star because there are some long cutscenes. Honestly, how impatient can you get? The cinematic quality of the game, simply put, is second to none. The only downside of the plot is that I felt like the bad guy after you defeat Solidus. I can't say why without spoiling the plot, but when you get there you'll know. Other than that, the cinematic presentation, like I said, is incredible. It's dramatic when it needs to be, sad when it needs to be, and heart pounding when it needs to be.
As for actual gameplay, it is just as impressive. The number of choices and things you can do are suprising. Hide under a table? Sure. Shoot out a guard's radio so he can't call for help? Why not? In fact, there are so many techniques that you probably won't get the change to do them all in the story mode. Perhaps my most memorable moment was sticking a guard up, but I accidently let my guard down, and he kicked me and radioed for help. When the death squad with their riot shields and shotguns come after me, I take a human shield and make my way to an empty room with lockers. I hide in the locker, the terrorists throw a flashbang in the room, but they don't see me because I'm in the locker. Cool? Very.
My only complaint in the gameplay department worth mentioning is how the sniping works. When you switch to the sniper rifle, it automatically changes the camera to the scope. There is no way you can snipe without having pentazemins that wear away in a stupidly short time. Worst of all, the aim of the sniper rifle is so jerky that you'll be struggling to get a sight on a stationary target. A relatively small complaint, though. Doesn't really hamper the experience, but it obviously doesn't help.
Graphics
What was groundbreaking on the PS2 a year ago is still impressive today. I was suprised at the level of detail in certain spots, like breaking a bottle, staring at the meticulous detail of a Harrier jet, or just looking at how geniune the seagulls look. The graphics also shine during the cutscenes. It's hard to imagine they weren't pre rendered. Again, the only complaint here is minor, which if you didn't guess, is the occasional slowdown. Fortunetely, it doesn't get choppy, so you can pretend the game is going into bullet time.
Sound
If you have surround sound, you'll be in heaven. If you don't (like me), you'll still be in heaven. The soundtrack is extremely well done, and the voice acting is almost as impressive. Once again, however, another game with Russian bad guys who don't speak Russian. What is this? While most of the terrorists have geniune Russian accents, one of them seems to talk like a cowboy. Scary stuff.
Replay value
Sons Of Liberty alone has a great replay value. The VR missions and alternative missions obviously recieved the same care as the original game. I'll seem like an ingrate for complaining about extras that weren't even neccessary, but I'll do it. There's no skateboarding! No! None! Nein! Zip! Gone! Where did it go? It's in the PS2 version, as far as I've heard. Maybe it's because the skateboarding segments used "Evolution Skateboarding"'s engine, which was a PS2 exclusive... wait a sec, I should be talking about replay value here. Yep, it's extremely high. Even without the skateboarding.
Pros
+The cinematic presentation simply has no equal
+It's impossible to get bored, there's just so much to do
+Open ended gameplay
Cons
-Sniping can be a pain
-WHERE IS THE SKATEBOARDING?!?!
-Uh, Sons Of Liberty had much better cover art. It's a stretch.
Bottom Line: If you always wanted to sneak past Russian terrorists or fight gigantic nuclear robots but never got the chance, then you need a nice big glass of Metal Gear Solid 2. | video-games_xbox |
Don't Waste Your Money. This game is a joke. I have spent countless hours of my life behind an actual sniper rifle and as far as this game goes, I haven't been able to find the realism that it's bragging about. Yes you do have to hold for elevation and windage but not to the degree that the game makes it seem like. It wants you to hold 6 and 7 mil's high for a 400m shot and then hold 3 or 4 mil's east to west for a 5knot wind. On a .50 caliber rifle, your going to be zeroed for greater than these ranges and wouldn't have to hold high at all. They messed most of the guns up ballistic wise, no experienced operator would ever choose a Mk. 23 for a sidearm, you would always have a spotter, and throwing knives are for at home ninjas only.
My realism rant aside, the graphics are OK, I mean come on its a 40dollar game. The AI sucks. Thats really the only way you can put it. If your using a suppressed 7.62 at 600m, I don't care if you miss the guy or not, if you only fire one round, they shouldn't be able to find you, especially in good cover, but in this game they do, and then lay a kill shot on you with an AK47 facing backwards at 600m. That just can't happen. Come on its an AK.
Good snipers fire one shot, then relocate unless your in a defensive situation. I've tried on this game and they will find you. If you make one sloppy shot, they will find you and more than likely kill you. I don't care what kind of cover your behind, how concealed you may think you are by your Gilly suit, their going to find you and your Mk. 23 just won't cut it. (probably because its a 14pound handgun)
If you want a game that challenges your patience, then this is the game for you. If not, definitely rent before you buy. Sniping is my life and I feel like I threw 40dollars down the toilet on this game. Campaign is a joke, multi player is OK, but it's like what bush do I want to shoot at and hope somebody dies. | video-games_xbox |
Live your own epic battles. I can see how some people would write this game off as a button mash fest, if they've only played it one day at a friend's house. However, I've played this for most of today, have gotten pretty deep into it and I must say, the previous reviewer is way off base.
First, yes it's true, you only start off with 2 combos and 2 orb attacks at the start of the game, but as you progress thru the game, you unlock new abilities, powers, moves and combos to unleash upon your foes giving you many attack options during gameplay - not just mindless button mashing. In addition, as you progress in the story you unlock other characters that you can play as who have their own unique abilities, powers and attacks that will provide tons of replay value. Also, objectives are constantly being added during the heat of battle to keep you on your toes, it never gets dull. And the Orb attacks and Max Orb attacks are visually stunning to witness. It's really cool to pull off a Max Orb attack and wipe out an entire battalion in one spectacular move! And don't mistake this for an easy game either. As you become more powerful, the objectives and battles become more demanding and you need to plan out not only what attacks work best against certain enemies, but you must also learn to assemble and command the battalion's that join you in the fights. This is the best attempt at merging the worlds of battle strategy and all out action/fighting gameplay and if you go in gung-ho, you won't last long as the battles become more intense.
The cut scenes are gorgeous, and are right up there with Team Ninja's work on games like "Dead Or Alive 4" and "Ninja Gaiden". The graphics are stellar and I personally have encountered NO slow down even in heavy combat.
If you were disappointed with "Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II" on the Xbox 360, like I was, then you've gotta try this game! It easily soars past it in quality, graphics and overall entertainment value. Plus, at under $50, it's the best priced new 360 game out now. My only complaint, and this is small, is that the original Japanese audio has been replaced with English. Just like in DOA 4, I prefer the original voice actors, I don't mind subtitles. | video-games_xbox |
improvement from 2016 Just Dance - still tries to push the $29 subscription plan. My 9yr old daughter loves the Just Dance series....starting with 2014 we've had every release (including the Disney one). Part of what I like about the game is that she feels comfortable enough to operate it with the Kinect sensor so it's not a game where the parent has to get everything setup and then give the controller to the child.
In 2016 I knocked the game a little bit for its poor implementation of the controller dance method. I found it to have accuracy problems and the girls preferred the Kinect over having to hold a controller.
In 2017, Just Dance returns with an updated playlist of 44 new songs including ones that my daughter loves (specifically Cheap Thrills and the Whip!) However, just like in 2016, the girls still prefer the Kinect controller over trying to connect a smartphone (or their iPod) and using that as a controller. It still seems "awkward" to them to hold something while they dance. I recognize that this is a way for the Just Dance series to take advantage of EVERY console out there, not just the ones that have a Kinect, but the design simply isn't resonating with the kids.
I mentioned the 2 songs earlier that they dance to...yes there are 44 songs on there, but the girls aren't quite familiar with the other ones. Just Dance continues to push their "Just Dance Unlimited" package for $29 a year as an add-on which will give you access to the entire database of songs. Unfortunately having a $30 subscription on top of buying the game isn't in the cards for me. Good news for parents....buying the game includes a 3 month subscription to JDU (which is an improvement over 2016).
I break this years game down like this:
PROS:
-My daughter and her friends can play this game for hours and that itself is worth it's weight in gold for me.
-I'd rather my kids be dancing around burning calories than sitting on the couch shooting aliens.
- The 3 month free membership to JDU includes hundreds of songs and that's a big improvement over the free month that they gave you in 2016.
CONS:
- The phone controller implementation is still spotty at best. The accuracy just isn't there over using the Kinect.
- The girls get tired of the included songs pretty quick and want to download new songs from JDU. This is fine for 90 days, but after that I'm going to be pushing hard not to buy the $29 unlimited package.
As I said, my daughter has "dance parties" in the playroom with her friends for hours so that itself makes this game worth it. If you have a Kinect it's a no brainer. If you don't, you're going to have to be comfortable letting your kids dance around with your phone as they use them for controllers. | video-games_xbox |
A reliable and multifunctional controller from Microsoft. We're a very avid gaming household who tend to buy and cycle through a lot of different game controllers, so we're always on the lookout to try out new models. We own an XBox One as well as multiple gaming computers. My current daily controller is the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Air-Flo-Controller-for-Xbox-360-Wired/dp/B005761E70/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Air Flo Controller for Xbox 360 - Wired</a> which I've been using for many years. Everything on the Air Flo controller still works perfectly, however I love testing out newer models of Microsoft's controllers. So I decided to try out the Microsoft Xbox One Controller + Wireless Adapter for Windows 10. Here are my thoughts;
Pros
+ Wireless adapter allows use with PCs, laptops, and tablets.
+ Easy to install and set up. Essentially plug and play.
+ Controls are exceptionally responsive.
+ Fits comfortably in your hand.
Cons
- Hands will still cramp up after extended use as with any controller.
- No hand cooling fans, something I've grown quite accustomed to.
- A bit on the spendy side.
I've been very satisfied with the overall performance of Microsoft's controllers and the Microsoft Xbox One Controller + Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 is no exception. Its design is simple and functional. The device is basically plug and play, which is perfect. It's extremely responsive and usable across multiple platforms which to me is one of the best things about it. The price of this controller however is a tad high and some may issues justifying the asking price. There are other controllers on the market that possess similar features for less but generally don't match Microsoft's build quality. The Microsoft Xbox One Controller + Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 is a worthy investment if you play games across several systems like I do. | video-games_xbox |
A very promising start. UFC Undisputed 2009 is a very promising start to what will hopefully be a long-running franchise. THQ has managed to successfully translate the chaos of a UFC fight into something clear and logical. No small feat.
The heart of UFC Undisputed is its career mode. In it, the player creates their own custom fighter to battle existing UFC fighters in the hopes of being the most dominant force in their selected weight division. The player's character will train their skills, develop their fighting techniques, and fight opponents on a regular basis in order to climb the ranks and win the title.
The fighting engine in the game is surprisingly deep. Given THQ's other, similar games - most notably their WWE titles - it would be natural for someone to think that this was nothing more than a button mash fest, but that is not the case at all. Fighting is broken down into two large categories - standing, and being on the ground. Standing can be broken down even further into strikes, clinches, and takedowns. Similarly, the ground game is divided up into various positions, and the player's ability to transition into an advantageous position in order to deal damage (ground-and-pound), or attempt a submission.
The amazing thing about this is that it all looks and feels natural. The fights tend to have their own individual flavor. It's not uncommon to have one bout that's all stand-up striking followed by another that is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu clinic. Fights can also be ended in an instant as there is no health meter. In fact, there's an achievement for knocking out an opponent within the first 20 seconds of a match. That constant threat of a sudden KO keeps fights tense and interesting.
UFC Undisputed does well in other areas, as well. The audio is solid. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan provide decent commentary. Like any sports game, they repeat their lines occasionally, but what is there is good. Dana White - president of the UFC - makes a couple of speeches as well. The three referees have a few muted, generic lines, but that's about it.
Strike impacts sound pretty impressive as well. There's a distinct difference in sound when a character hits another fully opposed to a glancing blow. Leg kicks, in particular, have a distinct snap to them when they hit properly.
So, with all that's right with the game, why did I not give it five stars?
Well, the biggest flaw would have to be the create-a-character (CAC) system. Every character is right handed. Some of the sliders don't seem to do much in terms of tweaking a new fighter's features. Each character has to choose from a set of three striking styles - boxing, kickboxing, and muay thai - and three ground styles - wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Judo, which seems a bit limited. As a character progresses through their career, they never age, nor do they suffer any sort of atrophy to their stats or skills. Yet, they're still forced into retirement for being too old to continue.
Next, submissions are incredibly difficult to pull off. Unlike knockouts, which can literally happen at any time, submissions tend to occur only after careful planning and a lot of time spent wearing down the opponent. There's no way to capitalize on an opponent accidentally leaving their neck vulnerable for a choke attempt, or putting their arm in an exploitable position. Even more glaring is that submission attempts are the only portion of the game that rely on button mashing or fast right stick spinning. Given how well the rest of the ground game was implemented, the submission system sticks out like a sore thumb.
Finally, the menu system is atrocious. Everything seems to be buried several layers deep, and for no good reason. Attempting to change a CAC's look is not a task for the feint-hearted.
Despite these flaws - some, admittedly, glaring - UFC Undisputed 2009 is a game that's more than the sum of its parts. The fighting shines through, and is an impressive system for the franchise to build on. There's nothing quite as satisfying as knocking out BJ Penn in 16 seconds, or slamming Brock Lesnar down on the mat to dish out some retribution. | video-games_xbox |
Not bad, but not great either. As a fan of the Legacy of Kain series since the very first Blood Omen, released on the PSX in 1996, I was dying to get my hands on this game. Finally being in control of Kain again after all this time was quite a pleasure, but unfortunately, the game is not all its cracked up to be...
First off, the gameplay is strictly mediocre. Soul Reaver veterans will recognize the mechanics right away. Unfortunately, it seems the problems of the Soul Reaver games have come over as well. This game focuses more on combat than anything else, and is designed as such. However, given that the game is loosely a Soul Reaver clone, you'll find yourself wanting to avoid combat more than actually throwing yourself into it. Unfortunately, the game's central focus is combat, and successful progression in the game is based on your ability to fight. A pity, because the problems begin there.
Enemies, just like in Soul Reaver 2, are always better fighters, with many more attacks than Kain, and a plethora of unblockable moves. You may find yourself outnumbered, and while you can easily handle your enemies if you're good, Kain will probably just end up on the ground, and you'll be shaking your head in frustration. And once again, the ATROCIOUS auto-targeting system of Soul Reaver 2 has returned. When you auto-fix on an enemy, all it takes is a sidestep, and you'll have Kain hacking away in the opposite direction while the enemy charges up his unblockable attack or unleashes his own combo on you.
'Stealth Kills', like in such games as Tenchu, are probably one of the better parts of combat, but serve little purpose. The only time a 'stealth kill' can be performed is if there is mist on the ground. Even if you sneak up on an enemy without mist on the ground, you cannot perform a 'stealth kill', which makes stealth kills utterly useless and just forces more of the mediocre combat on you.
Collision detection is pretty awful. In fact, it seems to be 2-d, shown in the simple fact that you cannot seem to jump over enemies. If you are standing in front of an enemy, although you clearly jump higher than his head level, you cannot jump OVER him, thus making you an easy aerial target. Also, your weapon seems to pass through enemies more than it hits them, leaving you as an open target yet again.
Sound is strange...often times, ambient sound that is completely inappropriate for the moment(such as the blood guzzling sound) begins to play out of nowhere during cutscenes. The sound is so loud that it drowns out the voice-overs, effectively ruining whatever story element there is(and there isn't much). There are also many other glitches in the game that are just too glaring to be overlooked.
Story.....all the games in the past had a great, involving story. This game lacks the gripping story element of the previous games, which is why even die-hard LoK fans may overlook this game. What little story there is gets expressed through small cutscenes, which could basically be considered 'Mission Briefings' as opposed to story progression. Sometimes there are cut-scenes during the mission which convey the story rather well, but overall, the strongest element of the previous games is very weak in this game.
The bottom line: Only Die-Hard LoK fans will enjoy this game, and even as such may find the game to be bland, devoid of story and interesting gameplay. By today's standards, this game is mediocre in every sense of the word. Gamers who are not knowledgeable about the LoK series will definitely want to avoid this game all together, and LoK/SR fans also may want to avoid this game due to lack of story and good gameplay. Being a diehard LoK fan, I found the game remotely enjoyable, but the game simply gets too repetitive as it goes on. Very disappointing, but good entertainment for a little while. | video-games_xbox |
Is it a worthy remake. Fable was, and to this day, was an amazing game to play. It wasn't that the graphics were the greatest, or the story, or even the gameplay; rather, the combination of all of that which tied it all together, making it a fantastic game. Within the last few years I would pop open the Fable: TLC case for the Xbox, pop it into my Xbox 360 and give it another play through. And further installations were no match for the original Fable's story, because they began drifting from what made Fable a great game.
But then the news came: Fable Anniversary was coming for the 360, and it would be a remake faithful to the original version! I was ecstatic, but I digress. You aren't here to read my feelings towards the game, are you?
=Story
The story is a rather generic story, with no definite elements to set it apart. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it plays like a good book. And even though the game is somewhat bland in areas, it still tends to stick out with the characters and their voice actors. The antagonist in the game serves their purpose well, and in turn helps make the story stick out.
-Score: 7.5/10
=Graphics
The original looked pretty good for its time, and the remake does nothing but improve upon the original. The only complaint I have is that the game seems to chug sometimes, especially towards the beginning, and the game is not on par with other high-end games. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful game and a welcome addition to the 360 collection.
-Score: 8.5/10
=Gameplay
Depending upon your choice of control style, it plays like one of the previous Fables. However, choosing Fable 2/3 won't allow you to sheathe your weapons, so I stuck with the Fable layout. The games controls are pretty fine, and they don't feel overly dated.
The combat was rather easy, especially with a bit of practice, and the few puzzles in the game were easy as well. The game does reward you a bit with treasure chests and digging off the beaten path, but the chests tend to stick out, and the digging spots tend to be hard to find. Nevertheless, the game played well and did what it had to for an adventure game.
-Score: 8/10
=Overall
Fable was and is a great game, and if you liked the original then I'd say you should pick this version up as well.
-Score: 8/10 | video-games_xbox |
For mystery lovers who may not necessarily like reading books. If you are looking for a very short review, just read this: If a game <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/L-A-Noire-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0HBZW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">L.A. Noire - Xbox 360</a> and a movie <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Ghost/dp/B00AEFY4CG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Ghost</a> had a love child, it would be Murdered: Soul Suspect. The premise has also been compared to the 2010 adventure game Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, but the producer claims he had no knowledge of such a game before making this one.
For a slightly longer review, read on...
If you're into mystery novels and like to play the role of the protagonist, this game is certainly worth the look. You play a ghost of a former detective in Salem, Massachusetts, who not only is trying to figure out who killed him and why, but trying to help other ghosts as well and solve a much bigger picture of the evens that surround his murder.
This is not a first-person shooter, so leave your weapons at the door. Instead, you must look for clues around several sites. If you get stuck, refer to your digital map(included with game) to help you find them.
Along the way, you will stumble upon side quests, like helping other ghosts who cannot rest in peace until they know how and why they got killed. Uncovering new abilities as you travel is a treat: Who knew that possessing and playing as a parkour cat can be this fun?
Even though you are a ghost, you can still "die" if you are absorbed by a demon. Encountering a demon can actually be frightening, especially if you do not scan ahead. If a demon spots you, you must jump from one body to another before a demon gives up and it is safe to go out again.
So why the 4-stars, you ask? For once, this game is very easy. There is just one difficulty level and picking the wrong clues does not penalize you much(unless you are perfectionist and must have every achievement in the game.) it is also very short and should not take you more than 10 hours to complete and there is very little replay value, if any. The game also gets a little choppy if you discover a new environment, despite me installing the game on my 360. While trying to outsmart demons is intense, should you get absorbed and die, you simply restart from the moment where you are about to encounter a demon and since you have no inventory to lose, sometimes you can save time by simply dying and quickly starting over rather than trying to escape, while spending a couple of minutes on a sequence.
Nevertheless, for somebody like myself who enjoys a good mystery, but does not read books much, Murdered: Soul Suspect is a thrilling ride for those of us who like to play detective without the risk of actually getting shot. While not a perfect game, anyone who enjoys this genre should be pleased. | video-games_xbox |
Supreme Waste of Money. After playing Supreme Commander 2 all I can say is "Wow". I don't want to repeat what all the other negative reviewers said, but they are all correct. Apparently, what Gas Powered Games was going for on this one was the nostalgic feel of games from 20 years ago. This game takes you back to those happy memories of playing on your Atari or your 286 computer. I didn't believe the other negative reviews that mentioned this, I couldn't believe that my high expectations could be wrong. Seriously, save yourself $39 and just go down the basement and find that old gaming console to get your fix.
I'm getting a kick out of the reviewers who are saying you shouldn't compare this with Supreme Commander and Forged Alliance. Apparently, when you bought "Supreme Commander 2" you should have expected PacMan to load. I know when I bought it I was like "Man, I sure don't expect the prior excellence I've come to expect from this company..." However, had I thought that I wouldn't be so unbelievably disappointed. Yes, it's true, the only way to make this game look good is to not compare it to anything modern that is actually enjoyable to play. Next to World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, and all the other current top games, the only conclusion I can come up with is that their target audience is someone around the age of 5. Otherwise this will totally insult your intelligence.
I could write a book on why you shouldn't buy this game but hey, don't take my word for it, look at all those 1 star votes from once loyal fans of this company.
Oh, and the reviewer that said "Hey, 1 star would be non playable". Lets see... the CD you bought from Amazon isn't playable. You can't play it after you get it for days... You know, I just can't think of another game that you can't play even when you own the CD.
I'm loving the glowing 5 star reviews on release day when NO ONE could get into the game. Yeah, THOSE are legit. | video-games_xbox |
A quality value. Definitely the way to go if you're complementing your Xbox 360 with Dolby Digital or surround sound on a budget. There are some deficiencies with this system, but if time, space and money are issues for you, this is a 'no brainer'. This is a great looking system for your Xbox 360, with digital inputs to meet requirements for a small 'theater' environment. I recommend no larger than a 32" HDTV in a room about bedroom size. Cable TV can be routed through the subwoofer/receiver with seamless and satisfactory results. Your remote is somewhat balky, due to some set up and other functions located in the hidden lower section of the remote under a slider-like cover. I would recommend purchasing the Xbox 360 Logitech Harmony remote to take over total control of your new system, however. Harmonic distortion at the high end of the audible spectrum can be a probem if this unit is pushed to extremes, so beware of the 'cosmetic' rating of 600 watts on the advertisements. Your THD is a very ugly 10% at the higher volume settings. To achieve the normal 1% THD ratings, you must realize that to stay in this range requires a deft touch with your volume control. The speaker position of the subwoofer is interesting, in that it is totally exposed on the back end of the unit. If you have pets that like to scratch furniture, you may have the surround material, if not the speaker cone, shredded within a month or so if you do not take care with the positioning of this subwoofer/receiver unit. This unit allows for 'virtual' placement of the surround speakers, a definite plus if you hate running wires across doorways or up and down walls. Color-coded wires make connection easy, with a 30' length of distance from the subwoofer/receiver unit possible for the surround speakers positioning. To sum up, if you can purchase this unit in the $120 - $150 range, buy this system and have fun with Halo 3, Bioshock or any of your high-end games. It also does a decent job with TV and DVD's. | video-games_xbox |
Very fun Fantasy RPG. My girlfriend absolutely insisted that I play this game since she loved it and I'm also a huge fan of RPG's as well. It got to the point where she just flat out bought it for me on Xbox so I would play it. I clearly had to put this in line as my next game to play. So after I finished with Doom 3 I started working on this daunting project. Don't get me wrong, daunting is a good thing in an RPG format, it just means it's quite long, negative connotations aside; I just have a lot of games in my que is all.
The initial obvious observations are based on the character. Basically the game provides you with the character; you don't create it like you would find in more diverse Role Playing Games. Considering the fact I enjoyed Planescape: Torment to a high degree, this isn't a huge thing for me as long as the story line is pretty good. The second thing is that you don't have a major overhead world view; rather you have the third person camera similar to what you find with Tomb Raider. Thankfully the camera can be controlled and twirled around so you can see from many different angles. You can also zoom in and out to get a better look at your character, but it's always centered on your character so if you want to zoom in on the person your character is talking to, you can't do that. Frankly I found the zoom control sort of annoying in the long run because I sometimes would accidentally hit the button to zoom, I'm sure someone is now saying it's user error. Either way, it was just very easy to zoom, but it wasn't a major issue and didn't happen constantly. The world your thrust into is actually pretty huge, which is a wonderful aspect of this game, this means it's not a game that takes four hours to beat, you seriously get your moneys worth out of this! Anyway in certain areas they've put transportation locations called "Cullis Gates" that can transport you to another gate instantly. I thought this was an excellent thing because when you leave a territory and return all the enemies will reappear then you have to re-fight your way through if there's no gate nearby. This is also great if you want to build experience pretty quickly, but also annoying if you want to start moving things along once you have a lot of experience already.
The game starts off when you're a little boy living in a town called Oakvale with your father. As in most story lines tragedy strikes and you end up being taken care of by the Hero's Guild and then the story transports you into the future and the main story picks up from there. I have to admit the main story is pretty well done. There's a lot of character intrigue and mystery, and of course lots of things to hack and slash! Yes this is one of those hack and slash RPG's in vein of games like Diablo, only there's a little more to the purpose in some cases for our character in Fable. I tend to prefer this format over the turn based concept that Final Fantasy uses and from what I gather non-turn base is typically the preferred.
The in-game play options are really awesome though and there's a lot you can do with your character when it comes to interacting with the world around them. You sort of build your character towards an alignment, but that alignment doesn't really affect the pre-determined story line. Honestly the game is sort of lacking in that regard. So as you play you grow to either be an evil character, good character, or a neutral character as you get experience points. However, whichever alignment you lean towards does affect the way people in the towns react to you (i.e. being afraid of you or cheering for you). The one bad point when interacting with the other communities is that the script is usually pre-defined as well, so you can't choose what your character says. However, the other things you can do in terms of interaction more than makes up this limitation. For example there's this whole category of items you can get called gifts and you can give them to people. This townspeople interaction opens up a whole new world of options.
Honestly, on some levels I was wondering if this game was targeted toward a junior high demographic, but in retrospect after having played through the game I think it's actually geared towards adults. For example you can do really horrible things to people and do really nice things, the game is very diverse. There are also these things called "Demon Doors" and they open only when you meet certain requirements, like one requires you to be married. Some require you to do a great act of evil and one even requires your character to get fat! Amidst the character interaction you can actually sleep with other characters. You have to get them to like you of course, which you can do by using the "flirt" function. When you go into your character profile and look at the statistics it has a line for orientation. So that leads me to believe that your character can be more than just hetero! A shame that your character is predefined as a male now that I think about it... I assume a lot of people would enjoy that added feature to choose a female. Anyway, there's a demon door that also requires you to sleep around, how convenient that it's also near a bordello... which caters too all spectrums, from tantalizing to...well... disturbing. On top of all this your character can buy houses and even get married. This of course entails wooing the people and giving them gifts most of the time, but you can buy wedding rings from traders to seal the deal. You can go to the level where you have a house in multiple areas and have a spouse in all areas, so multiple wives if you're into that kind of thing.
The way your character gains experience is kind of interesting in my opinion and it's definitely pretty inventive. You can get experience the normal ways: by killing enemies or completing quests. Completing quests, as usual, gives you the most and you get it all at once. But for killing enemies, when you destroy one, these little green globes fall on the ground and then it's up to you to collect them all in order to get all the experience they drop. This adds a little more challenge in the game, because you can't just run off. I think there's a bit of a time limit to collect all the globes as well, but you can also hold down the right trigger and it attracts them to you. However, they are material items so they can get stuck behind other enemies in the way or rocks or whatever is in the way of the terrain. Some you have to go track down if they get stuck! The only problem with this is that you have to return to the guild in order to spend the experience points for leveling up the character. It's not like other Role Playing games where you just go into the character profile and you can spend the points right away. This is kind of annoying on some levels, like if you're nowhere near a Cullis Gate or in a new area where you're just lost and exploring.
Okay, on to the parts that I actually hated about this game. I have to preface this by saying I love taking my character on quests in any Role Playing game, it's a serious part of the genre and without quests it just wouldn't be as fun! Now in any game of this nature there are main quests, quests that are necessary for your character to complete, and side quests, quests given to you at random by townspeople. Now you get your main quests from the Guild Hall and you can choose which ones to accept. This is all well and good and that design didn't bother me at all. What was bothersome is that when you enter the area where you're about to embark on a main quest you cannot leave it! You cannot save your game mid-quest. You are seriously stuck doing it until you finish. There were a couple nights where I got stuck staying up way too late because I didn't want to repeat a two hour quest when I restarted the game. Yes, I had fun playing it, but being locked into a sequence was bothersome to me. With a game that had so many functional options, I was surprised at this limitation. Yes, it's more challenging, but there are some serious misgivings, especially when a single quest takes quite a long time.
Personally I wasn't big on the menu options. I love the fact that you had a ton of options. You can wear tons of different clothes, you can get all kinds of fun and crazy items, and you can make your character do all kinds of silly things like flirt or fart with people. The menus to scroll through these took so much time to go through that sometimes the people would walk away while I was choosing then I'd have to go find them again. I love the options, but I think this was a case of there being just way too many. I'm seriously torn though, because I do want to do even more! I just wasn't big on the menu controls and I think other games have done it better, like the Baldur's Gates games, for example.
With the "Lost Chapters" installment the game doesn't end after you beat the final boss are through most of the game. No you get to keep going and enjoy more fun quests! Honestly, the game is actually long enough without the extra aspect, but hey I'm certainly not going to complain about having more great game play to occupy my time. Honestly, I can see why this game is quite popular and gaining serious notoriety. The fun aspect of this game more than makes up for the failings. The game certainly has a degree of silliness and absurdity in it, but that's what makes it playful and fun. It's more of a light hearted Role Playing game when you think about it and kind of a nice break from all the extremely serious games that are currently in the market. I quite enjoy the serious RPG, but it was just nice to play something with a generally different approach, not to mention quite creative. I would seriously recommend this game to anyone who enjoys those kinds of games or similar Fantasy genre based games. | video-games_xbox |
Missing Jordan as usual, but you can't deny this game rocks. After 2 years since Volume 2, E.A. releases a very worthy successor, NBA Street Vol 3 is definitely worth your hard earned money.
Overall, Vol 3 is a must have for hoops fans, both casual and hardcore. It has enough new additions to warrant a buy even if you have volume 2.
The first thing I noticed is the upheavel in graphics. This game, putting it mildly, makes Vol 2 look like old school. The courts, the new dunk animations, the new motion captured moves, the teriffic new courts, and the best lookin' b'ball game I've ever layed my eyes on. Vol 3's grittier, darker look may be a downer to some, but one could never knock the time spent on it's graphical prowess. But the game's visual is not without faults however... For still some strange reason, Vol 3 does NOT support HD Tv's, widescreen is implimented thankfully, but HD support should be standard for every XBOX game, E.A. seems to be waiting for XBOX 2? Hmm, maybe next year. But even without HD, it still looks great, and most people with regular TV's will also be right at home.
The gameplay is a bit similar as last year, with the exception of a few minor differences. The big addition for XBOX is the addition of online play with XBOX Live. Collectively, you can play up to 5 other players online or 3 if you have 2 buddies to play at home with. 3 on 3 with each person controlling every player is quite a feat. Although it's early on, and I expect things to get busy online at first, I didn't notice extreme lag, but I did not play it at a peak hour so no final word how this game will really play online. NBA Live 2005 seems to continue to have issues online, so I was surprised how this game played a bit better with no lag.
Don't have XBOX Live? No problem. You can play up to 4 players with 4 xbox controllers. How cool is that? Multiplayer is where it's at and this game has it all for everyone. And don't think the game won't keep you busy, the street challenge mode will keep you busy for months.
Gone away is the "freestyle" stick, but don't let the game fool you, it's still there, they just changed the name to "trick stick". However, the trick stick allows you to do certain moves not while just dribbling, but also on defense, while shooting and dunking, passing, and even blocking shots. The more you use the "trick" stick the more points you score. Some killer moves like throwing the b'ball at opponents head, off of backboards, between their legs and even off spectators in the crowd. And never threat, the infamous "GameBreakers" are all back only this time you can change a dunk on the fly while the gamebreaker is interacting with the trick stick. With all new dunks and player celebrations, you're going to fall in love with this game from start to finish!
The game also seems to have a "home field advantage factor." The game requires you to create your "home court" in the street challenge mode. I noticed my players seemed to be more "in the zone" when I was playing on my home court I created compared to playing on other playa's turf. Speaking of courts, vol 3 offers 12 realistic courts (indoor and outdoor) from actual locations throughout Europe and the U.S each with their own unique feel. Each can be modified with countless changes like court time, location, colors, spectators, lights, etc, all can be completely customize to your liking. Even better, all courts can be played at different parts of the day including night and eve.
If the game disappoints, it's the absence of Jordan and Barkley. This is a big knock for some, not as much for others, but the fact is, the greatest player that ever played the game is not in the game and it truly is a disappointment. I'm sure you'll come across others that you were hoping to see along with Jordan, but there are certainly some other big names missing too. I understand it has to do with licensing issues but weirdly enough, Jordan was in NBA Street Vol 2, very weird. But although missing the greatest player in NBA history is a big strike, the lineup is still amazing as a whole. Spud Webb, Walt Frazier, Kareem, Magic, Bird, just to name a few.
To earn the dozens of old school ballers, you have to take your created baller and your amateur teammates (that you chose at the beginning of the game) through a virtual season in street challenge mode. Take your baller all the way to earn your rights to play the best players today in the NBA and the old school guys too. You earn the rights to earn new players and of course earn your shoes. The game still lets you customize your player (boy or girl) to-boot, jeans, baggy shorts, nba sweats, sweatpants, jean shorts, tank tops, NBA jerseys, shoes, socks, loaded with tons of customization. Change your hairstyle, change your eyebrows, nose length and width, ear size, chin, etc...
Word of warning, this game requires some serious playing time to get the items and attributes you want. It seems to take an eternity to earn skills and points to improve your player and get new ones. It took me a few games just to buy a new pair of shorts and shoes! As you keep playing, you can give more power and ratings to your created player too as the competion gets more fierce and eventually you'll run into NBA Players which really heats up the challenge.
New to the game, is the "morale" factor of your teammates. Do they get along, are they battling it out after hours? The morale factor keeps you updated between games on how your players are getting along. If you mix Rasheed Wallace and Reggie Miller on the same team, you might be more at risk for troubles. When the morale factor is low, players don't play as a team and it might be time to get a new roster to keep the fire low.
There is so much good about this game, I really can't say anything bad about it. I really think the two years off since Vol 2 is for the better as I consider this one of the best multiplayer games I've ever played. Definitely pick up some friends or go at it online, because this is the best street ball ever and I can only see the series getting better as time goes on. It's definitely worth your money. | video-games_xbox |
A great, fun game overall. We really like this game, it's a lot of fun. During the holidays we've had quite a few friends and relatives over and have had a blast watching one another play and dancing together.
BEP Experience versus Dance Central 2
We recently purchased the kinect and have both Dance Central 2 and The BEP Experience. After playing both extensively I wouldn't say that my wife and I like one more than the other. Whichever game is in our system tends to stay there.
I would say that the BEP experience is more of a party atmosphere, it's more up tempo and there's a cheering crowd and dance club scenery, plus some enthusiastic coaching by the Black Eyed Peas during the game. Overall I'd say the BEP experience is a bit more fun, more energetic, a great workout.
Dance Party and Deluxe Experience
There are two modes to the game, the dance party and deluxe experience. The dance party enables you to dance the routine utilizing all of the moves for that specific song right away. The deluxe mode, in contrast, eases you into the songs providing two or three routines (depending on the song) each focusing on three or four moves. After passing each of these focused routines with a "C" or better grade you can try the same routine available in the Dance Party mode. The Deluxe Experience keeps track of your progress.
I'm not sure if you two people can dance together in the deluxe mode. In the Dance Party mode if somebody would like to join in they can just step in front of the kinect in the middle of the song or start from the beginning.
Coaching
In the deluxe experience players could receive coaching on a specific move by raising their hand in the middle of the routine. Specifically, the players raises their arm and refrains from moving the rest of their body. Sometimes you have to have your arm up for a good 10 to 15 seconds. I think the game errors on making sure that you want the coach and avoiding interrupting your dance performance if this wasn't your intention.
The coaching is done by Dave Scott, I believe from So You Think You Can Dance. His coaching is very helpful and provides a different perspective, many different perspectives on each move. I find the coach to be really, really helpful. Also, the dance itself slows down in coaching mode, again very helpful.
DLC
As of the time of this writing there are three DLC songs available from xbox live, two songs from the Black Eyed Peas, Bebot, Where is the Love and Party Rock from LMFAO. All three are worth getting.
Scoring and Tracking
There are three levels of scoring in the game, "Human", "Machine" and "Alien". The "Human" mode is more lenient in scoring, then "Machine" and "Alien" is the most stringent of the three. I believe this only comes into play in the Deluxe Mode, after you get around 3600 followers, you can optionally switch over to "Machine". Switching over to Machine gives you more points for each performance enabling you to upgrade your venues and acquire additional accoutrements for your character faster.
Each performance is graded. So far we've seen a "D" (My friends, 3 year old son), "C's", "B's" "A's" and "S's), in ascending order.
Swear Words?
A previous reviewer noted that there were swear words in the game. I'm sure there are, however after 20 hours or so playing I haven't noticed them. They're not conspicuous. However I'm sure that if you were looking for them, you would find them. | video-games_xbox |
Solid Game Even Despite Some Flaws. A few notes to put this review into context:
I am a slightly above 'casual' gamer. I don't live and breathe video games but I'm usually playing through at least one at any given time. I only play Campaign Modes...I'm not into online gaming. I am not a 100% completionist. I play through the story-mode and often will play a good bit of side-missions but I'm not worried about every achievement. My favorite games tend to be open-world (FarCry/Assassin's Creed/GTA series'),stealth-oriented (Splinter Cell/Sniper-based games), some FPS, and some Survival Horror.
All that said...I really enjoyed Watch_Dogs overall. Like most games, it isn't 'perfect'...but hopefully that will leave room for improvement with subsequent follow-ups.
Aiden Pearce is a hacker who gets his niece killed due to pissing off the wrong people. Aiden, along with a few hacker-pals takes it upon himself to avenge his niece's death using his skills...and brute-force.
Pros:
The concept is pretty 'fresh' and relevant in today's hyper-connected society. Along with blazing your way through enemies with an array of weaponry...you also have your fancy cell-phone that can hack NPCs for money, or hack computers for intel, or hack street cameras for better vantage points. The hacking is typically pretty fluid and is more than just a gimmick...there are many times...actually more often than not...where you can only accomplish your goal by being sneaky. Run-and-gun....although possible in many situations...is simply not possible all the time. This is not a bad thing by any means. Although armed combat is smooth and satisfying...Watch_Dogs really shines when you try to play it stealthy whenever possible. Hacking a nearby explosive to blow up an enemy, or hacking a street obstacle to neutralize and enemy, or hacking cameras to find the best vantage-point starts to come naturally and doesn't feel like an 'aside'. It's really blended into the game seamlessly.
Some complain about the vehicle controls in the game...I didn't find them to be very cumbersome. At least not moreso than most games that aren't dedicated driving-games. A hint though...I found motorcycles to be the easiest to control when simply moving from point A to B. Not great for vehicular-combat but perfect for scooting around.
The missions felt relatively varied. A good mix of combat and stealth. And I didn't often feel terribly penalized for starting a mission stealthily but then reverting to violence if I made a misstep. But again...I always felt more accomplished when I achieved my objective through stealthier means.
A LOT OF CONTENT! Side-missions galore. And most are actually pretty fun as opposed to feeling thrown in as filler. The Gang Hideouts are a great place to test your stealth or combat skills, and the Privacy Invasion side-missions range from funny, to creepy, to down-right sad. There's not much to those missions...but I found them curiously captivating and unlike anything I've seen in a game before. Some of the Digital Trip mini-games felt like they could have been complete games of their own. And those few examples are just a few of the MANY side-missions that could keep you busy for literally hundreds of hours, not including the main campaign.
The storyline...although I do have some minor gripes with it (see below), was overall easy to follow...and I actually cared more about what was going on than I typically do in most games.
Cons:
There is a pretty steep learning-curve in this game to figure out the 'flow' of it. But being that the game plays differently than most open-world types, I can't really recommend how to correct that. Also...since there isn't a lot of back-story on your character...I found it kind of hard to determine how to 'play' him. When initially forced into armed combat...I actually felt kind of 'guilty' killing a rack of people...including cops and civilians. If this guy is just a hacker...why is he so good at blasting the hell out of anyone in his way? It felt 'off' at first but I eventually caved and went along with it.
One of my absolute biggest gripes...which seems minor when described in print, but pissed me off numerous times...enough to write about it here: when moving Aiden on-foot...when I stopped moving the left stick...he would continue to move forward more often than not. This put me in A LOT of situations where when trying to maneuver to a specific area (a ledge, or 'hiding spot' for example), I would be out in the open, or fall off of a ledge, or some other unintended situation. With everything this game does right...this was damn-near unforgivable to me. A stupid oversight or a bad design decision...take your pick.
The game is pretty glitchy as well. There were several times where the game locked up on me. Sometimes just after a major battle which would cause me to have to repeat said battle again...which can be very frustrating.
One of the most promising sets of side-missions has to do with a serial killer that you can hunt down. This could have been a REALLY cool aspect of the game...but the resolution is so quick and easy that it felt rushed and incomplete. I was extremely disappointed with how it turned out for something that could have been a home-run.
As much as the hacking and all that is 'cool'...there could have been a lot more to it and the overall 'digital' aspects of the game. But being that this is the first of what I hope to be a strong franchise...I'm going to give this first installment the benefit of the doubt and hope that the developers keep all the strong parts of the game, and work on the (relatively few) weak points in future installments.
A lot of people have written off Watch_Dogs as an inferior GTA rip-off. I guess that's fair to some degree...but I feel like that's not giving the game enough credit. There are some truly innovative things on display...even with the negative issues. I personally feel that it's a really strong franchise debut...and only hope that UbiSoft will really blow us away with a new installment. This game is a solid deal at $20-$30...but had I bought it for $60 when new I would not have been disappointed with the amount of content packed into it. A sold 8.5 or 9 out of 10 for me...really hoping for a new game on one of the new systems that will really show what this title can do. | video-games_xbox |
Don't be fooled by it's 'cute' look. Conker first appeared in Diddy Kong Racing for the N64. He was a weird looking squirrel with a funky voice and a speedy vehicle. As another character from that cart racer, Banjo, Conker got his own game, but not as much of a E rated game as its cousin.
Conker's Bad Fur Day, a really bad game in terms of violence, drugs & alcohol, language, and themes. It took the humor of Naked Gun and other spoofs and added the platforming action of many of Rare's games. The story was simple, you are trying to raise money to buy a round of beers for your friends. You get lost due to your drunkiness and wake up with hangover. This is the beginning to one of your worst days ever (hence the name Bad Fur Day). I really liked its humor towards other movies and the way Conker talks about the developers and stuff. The bosses are hillarious especially the Great Mighty Poo, a large singing piece of poo.
First and Foremost, Parents DO NOT buy this game for your children until you know what you're getting into. This game is NOT made for children, there are many controversal things here worse than Vice City and San Andreas combined. Strangely enough, this game hasn't got as much of attention as those two, but who cares. Anyway, for those parents who want to know the bad things on this game here's a list for you:
-Sexual humor
-Bad language (so much that some of it is censored)
-Blood and guts
-Alcohal and drug use
So if you do not like to see these things than I wouldn't recommend it.
Live & Reloaded is essentially two games in one. It's a remake of Conker's Bad Fur Day for N64 with some touches (very little in story) especially with graphics. It still features the Panther King trying to fix his table for his milk. The other game is the Live & Reloaded mode which is the multiplayer part. This is where you can go onto Xbox Live or simply play a mission. Basically it takes place during and after the Bad Fur Day game in a war against the squirrels and Tediz. You can play as either with different classes and weapons. It is truly a fun experience, multiplayer or by yourself. It doesn't have all the multiplayer modes as the original, but it still is fun to play. You should pick this game up if you liked BFD or if you want to play the multiplayer mode, but remember, this game is not for everyone.
Pros
- Very Humorous gameplay
- Funny boss battles
- Both games are fun to play
- The multiplayer is a great experience
- Many funny characters to meet
- Voice acting has been redone and it was already good
- Fun Platforming action
Cons
- Includes stuff that is not appropriate for everyone
- People have mistakingly picked this game up thinking it will be exactly like Banjo Kazooie | video-games_xbox |
Beautiful. The Mass Effect series has an outstanding story, fueled by one helluva writer: Drew Karpyshyn. If you're new to the Mass Effect universe, I must strongly recommend that you go and buy Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect: Revelation, and Mass Effect: Ascension. Once you've got them all in your possession, play through Mass Effect. It's not mandatory that you do many of the side quests, if at all, ANY of them, since the vast majority of them have no real bearing on the story in Mass Effect 2 (that I've noticed). Once you've finished Mass Effect, read the books; Revelation first, then Ascension. Then, and only then, can you go on and play Mass Effect 2, milking it of the full experience.
That being said, Mass Effect 2 isn't gonna interest you at all if you're buying it for the combat system. It just isn't. I've heard so many people complaining about the various things that've gimped Mass Effect 2 over the original, and to them, they're valid complaints. To me, however, removing some of the more in-depth features like weapon and armor upgrades just made it that much easier to focus on the story at hand. And in the end, that's what Mass Effect is.
A beautiful, well-told story that evolves and changes depending on choices--even the "small ones"--that you make throughout your playthrough.
Before going on to anything else, I want to make it perfectly clear that those decisions you made earlier on in Mass Effect (small or otherwise) do show up to great you in one form or another here in the second episode. What's more, even though it'd been a year or so since I last actually picked up Mass Effect, I remembered these characters and situations. For example...
* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *
* Depending on whether or not you kill Fist in the first game, he'll show up to berate you in the Bar on Omega. My first playthrough (and consequently, my first playthrough in Mass Effect 2), I let him live. He didn't see it as such a kind gesture, and I immediately started wondering why I actually let him go. Prolly due to the fact that the only reason he was killed in my second playthrough was due to having Wrex in my group.
* On Virmire, once you've handled Benezia, you can kill or set free the Rachni Queen. In all my playthroughs of Mass Effect, I could never bring myself to kill her. She didn't seem like the threat that Wrex made her out to be, and... 's just not in me. So I set her free, and ever since then, I'd been looking forward to seeing how they fit into Mass Effect 2. Sadly, the only time the Rachni even surface in Mass Effect 2 is on Ilium, in the form of a memory embedded in a random Asari. You were told that when your encounter with the Collectors came to a close, the Rachni's song would be... I dunno, something or other. Needless to say, I didn't see any evidence of further Rachni interaction through the rest of the game. Left me feeling a bit... empty.
* By default (for me at least), a new character made from scratch with no imported save (which I was forced to do, as I had no saves compatible for import) will have the following choices applied: you focused your attacks on Sovereign at the cost of the Council being eliminated, you sacrificed Kaidan Alenko to save Ashley Williams, and Udina was chosen to be the human representative to the Citadel. Interestingly enough, these were the exact OPPOSITES of what I'd chosen on every playthrough I ever made. I was always pro-alien, anti-Ashley, and anti-Udina. So to have the game go and make the exact opposite choices was... amusing, at best.
* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *
There are various other changes that BioWare's made to the game, for better or for worse. They've removed random planet scouting with the Mako (and OH MY GOD I'M GLAD THEY DITCHED THE MAKO), replacing that with a mini-game of sorts, in the way of planet-scanning for minerals. Scanning for these minerals is the sole way to upgrade your ship, as well as personnel upgrades, so it's necessary (later becoming a necessary EVIL, once it's lost its novelty).
The introduction of Renegade/Paragon maneuvers during certain cutscenes have introduced yet another level of dynamic storytelling into the mix. Though you're usually given a good few seconds to intervene, if you're not quick enough, you could end up having to live with some painful consequences.
Interestingly enough, a coworker made a remark to me that actually makes a lot of sense: "Mass Effect 2 teaches me more about ethics than [this book] ever will."
And that's true.
Whereas the original Mass Effect was peppered with various decisions that you had to make, difficult or otherwise, Mass Effect 2 is designed in such a way that those decisions are significantly more difficult to make. In general, I had made my selection on the dialog wheel well before the subtitles appeared on screen, making for a more fluid dialog exchange. By the end of ME2, I was taking longer and longer to make the decisions that affected my team, because they were becoming... well, IMPORTANT to me. Familial, perhaps.
That being said, the superficial stuff also matches the story.
Graphics are 5/5. Texture popping isn't nearly as prevalent (if at all visible) as it was in the first.
Audio is 5/5. Love the score for this game as much as I did for the original. Gonna buy the soundtrack eventually; only been putting it off because I was convincing myself that they were gonna release an actual hard copy on disc eventually.
Gameplay is 5/5. There was one instance where I managed to get myself stuck in the ceiling on the Citadel somehow, but I was unable to recreate it, so that's not really an issue. As has been said, the long elevator rides have been replaced with loading screens. In a humorous nod to that, very early on in the story, you're specifically told to, and I quote, "Take an elevator down one level." And sure enough, the one-level trip takes the time you'd think it would. Armor types have been eliminated: any class can wear all armor. Specific slotted upgrades have been eliminated. Traditional health readouts have been eliminated. Again: MAKO HAS BEEN ELIMINATED (huzzah!). I'm sure there are other changes that've been made that I'm forgetting, but... these are the major ones, I think. | video-games_xbox |
I Seriously recommend this now. This game is amazing, let me tell you that.
First, when i had heard of assasins creed, i had not known anything about it. I watched a friend play the first game, and it seemed dumb in my own opinion. I also had a mobile version of AC on my old phone. Thats it.
A few months later, i researched Assasins Creed 2, and i bought it at a cheap price, thinking i wouldnt want to play it that much,oh boy- was i wrong..
Not knowing anything about AC or ubisoft, in fact, i came into the game clueless. Lets just say that the story hooked me almost immediatley.
(quick storyline: you are desmond miles- who uses the "animus" to go back in time to experience what happened to different assasin ancestors, in this game- Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. The story of ezio explodes within the first hour of the game, where he soon learns everything will change from his normal life)
Anyway- i was engrossed into the story and fasnciated by the way you can climb buildings. Additionally, the combat was satisfying, and there are a variety of weapons to choose from. This game has really proven me wrong and has gotten me hooked into the AC series(as i am currently playing AC Brotherhood). I should have bought this game a long time ago as almost everything is amazing about this game.
For the few things that annoy me:
-As fun as the Freerunning is, the game as serious clipping issues, where you can accidently jump off a building to your doom by pressing a button.
-the game has some diffiiculty spikes, as ive gone into rage before, but its possible to beat the game.
-when you dyschronize(fail a mission/kill innocents/leave area,ect), you are put into a trippy loading screen where it can give you a headache over time.
Thats my only compaints, but the pros conpletley outweigh the cons of this game, and has a brilliant story to be told. It is cheap enough to get for anyone, however i would wait for the AC ezio trilogy, so you can have the full AC (ezio story) experience.
I cannot wait until i play AC3.
Get it now- totally worth it. | video-games_xbox |
Game got dragged down into the floor by the studio. To be honest here, Need for Speed (2015) was a let down. I thought based on the trailer that it would redefine the Need for Speed series and bring that OG Need for Speed Underground gameplay style back, but with modern graphics. But as always, EA pretty much disappoints us.
The gameplay aesthetic is just horrible. Any car you drive, the car just drifts. Why? I just want to race! Literally, every turn you make the car just slides. Any car you drive also mostly feels like you are driving a cement truck, its that horrible and slow (kinda like in Watch Dogs 1). Whoever in the studio designed the AI in this game was retarded. If you are driving in the fastest Lamborghini in the game, then you race the AI in a 240sx, that car you are racing should NOT be able to catch up with you. Who designed the AI? Back to gameplay aesthetic, if you trying to customize your car, some cars are not granted that ability to customize. You just have to leave them bare-bone stock. Why didn't the designer of aspect put more time into this? When it comes to gameplay, yet again, there is another flaw. You cant play Offline, the only thing to do it free drive where 7+ other players in a lobby take part in the session and races (if you invite them to the single player missions). Last but not least, the movie like cutscenes with the cliche voice acting. This was pretty horrible as well, the main character you play as doesn't even talk so these other actors in these cutscenes. They literally are just talking to themselves, fist bumping and shaking hands with some invisible actor.
The map overall is decently throughout, detailed and the graphics are on par with other popular racing titles. But why is it, when you play Need for Speed (2015) its always dark out? The only time it is light out is when a sunset is happening. Why? Who the hell in the studio came up with this bright idea? Could the game not handle the sun?
Cons:
- Cars drift every turn
- Cars feel heavy and slow
- AI is almost unbeatable
- Not a lot of customization
- No Offline mode
- Horrible actors/cast
- Its always dark out, no sunlight.
This is just a bare minimum of some of the problems in this actual game after me playing the game for some amount of hours. The game does get some points where how detailed everything is and the social aspect of the game. But overall, it could have been a great game, but someone in the studio dragged this game into the ground. | video-games_xbox |
An innovative and addictive (but very buggy) strategy/action game. Endwar is a game that could have been great, but was released in an unpolished state to meet holiday marketing deadlines. It's a shame, because this title had the opportunity to revamp the entire RTS genre, but fell short of the mark. That isn't to say it isn't a great game, but it *does* have major flaws.
The Good Stuff:
- This is NOT a first-person shooter. You issue orders to your units, and let them do the work! The only major exception to this is using secondary abilities such as laying mines or firing flamethrowers, but the principle holds.
- The voice command system works great most of the time. Just use a loud drill-sergeant voice to ensure good voice recognition.
- Resource gathering (the bane of most RTS games) is limited to capturing uplinks and managing your "command points" (accrued through time on the field and capturing uplinks) wisely.
- Much of the time, you can give your units basic commands and let them figure out the rest, although they occasionally need help with pathfinding or optimal target selection in a firefight.
- A relatively simple combat chain with very little luck involved. For example, a hardened gunship will always beat a hardened tank--provided it isn't being simultaneously attacked by a couple of other units at the time. :)
- The ability to buy upgrades and earn promotions for your units, which gives them additional abilities.
The Bad Stuff:
- Not a game you can play when people are trying to sleep. They'll think the house is being invaded by a platoon of drill sergeants bellowing at the TV.
- Some commands can only be given using voice, and some only via the controller.
- The single-player game is a little thin on story, and acts mostly as a trainer for the online multiplayer mode.
- The online multiplayer mode is HUGELY glitchy and unpolished.
- Game mechanics are largely undocumented. The combat chain is explained in the manual, but bonuses, upgrades, and a whole host of battlefield mechanics are completely undocumented by the game maker, and only anecdotally understood by the community. In other words, if you have an engineer unit that gets a +10% damage bonus, ten percent more of what? No one knows.
Online Multiplayer Bugs:
- The lobby system is terrible. People can often wait upwards of 30 minutes to find a match. You can't see who is waiting on what maps, how many people are playing, or what teams need a few more people.
- The "primary frontline" rule is complex, poorly implemented, and even more poorly understood by most players. This means that you can't simply win or lose territories; there's some alchemy involved that means that you can lose territories you won the day before, and can't attack critical territories that are right next to you on the map unless the stars are in alignment or some such nonsense.
- The "Deep Strike bug" can sometimes leave rifleman dangling from a gunship until they die, unable to move, offload, or evacuate.
- "Unit killing" is a feature of the game that allows you to finish off enemy (or even friendly) units after they've been defeated, effectively replacing the killed units with recruits. This has the effect of removing special abilities from that unit in future battles. This is important to prevent super-soldiers on the battlefield, but it's terribly unbalanced in that it can take days or weeks of game play to rank up a unit, but only seconds to kill it off. Unit killing is entirely too easy in Endwar, and a frequent topic of complaints by starting or mid-level players who haven't learned to compensate.
- Unbalanced maps that favor one faction over another, and can lead to excessive unit killing by the side with the upper hand. This increases the amount of time people spend waiting in the lobby to play "fair" maps, or to teams camping out out on maps that favor them hoping to abuse players who wander in without knowing any better.
- Servers that lag out frequently, leaving teams with AI commanders that eat up limited unit reserves, do amazingly stupid things on the battlefield, and (due to another set of bugs) ensure that players who play with or against AI commanders often get units perma-killed without also earning promotions or credits for the match.
- Random unit losses. Occasionally, you will enter the barracks to find that your elite infantry (or other valuable units) have died and been replaced by raw recruits, even though they haven't been in any battles recently.
- Poor matchmaking. Matches don't take player abilities or battalion ranks into account, often throwing new commanders up against Rank 12 uber-commanders with all the upgrades. This can be very disheartening to casual players.
- The ease of unit killing and unbalanced nature of airstrikes and map topography make ranking up your battalion a very slow grind, which can be very off-putting for new players.
- Unit killing in the game is the biggest source of overall poor sportsmanship, trash talking, and revenge play in the Theater of War. Some players focus on unit killing instead of winning battles, reducing the fun for many.
- Finger-pointing from technical support. Ubisoft will tell you that they aren't responsible for the multiplayer problems, and that the problems need to be reported to Xbox Live support because Microsoft manages the servers. Microsoft will then tell you that there is no problem because the servers are up, and that you need to call Ubisoft because they made the game. It's maddening.
Despite all its problems, this is still one of the most addictive games I've played in the past few years. I've honestly dedicated weeks to the game, and find the combination of RISK-like strategy and small-unit tactics incredibly addictive. There is a real thrill in overwhelming the enemy on the battlefield, and in watching close combat through the eyes of your various units. And, on the rare occasions where one is actually able to rank up a unit, there's a genuine pleasure in watching the unit power through the opposition until it's invariably destroyed by a vengeful opponent.
I would NOT recommend this game to casual players, even though that was the target audience. However, war gamers, strategy gamers, and RTS gamers should all find something to like about it. | video-games_xbox |
A Beautiful and Ambitious Work of Art. When reviewing games of this sort, I often make reference to the legendary Deus Ex, which I have held up as the applicable gold standard. I was understandably excited, then, to play Bioshock, because it is more-or-less a decendant of that game, or perhaps the closely-related System Shock. Indeed, you can see in Bioshock MANY similarities in game design to these earlier iconic efforts.
First of all, Bioshock scores 100% in terms of artistic vision, atmosphere, and visual execution. The extent to which the game designers went to immerse the gamer in its world is nothing less than awesome. The sheer ambition of the creative concept alone is amazing. Bioshock puts the player in an Art-Deco Objectivist Underwater Utopia Gone Horribly Wrong. If this strikes you as not-the-usual FPS setting, you are very correct. In short, there has never been anything like the world Bioshock presents, nor, dare I say, the level of immersion. This includes everything, including art direction, architecture, voice acting, music, etc. The attention to detail is astounding, and it is clear that much effort was put into making everything a believable part of this bizarre environment.
Why then only 4 stars? Well, I can tell you I hated not giving it 5, just because of what a work of art it is. It is true, however, that Bioshock DOES, to some degree, suffer in comparison to its legendary ancestors, specifically in the area of game play.
You see, all the elements are there to recapture the kind of perfection you got with Deus Ex, but they didn't QUITE get the balance right. For example, the fascinating device of plasmids, which is central to the game, provides the vehicle through which character specialization occurs. Except you never quite get the feeling that there are a number of compelling alternate specialization paths you would like to take. Many of the choices seem irrelevant or redundant. While you're playing the game, you are not already thinking of how you will play it differently next time.
The game also presents a number of other avenues you can spend time on, such as Invention and Research. In the end, though, one feels that these maybe aren't as important as the game designers intended them to be. In fact, invention seemed to be almost completely spurious. Hacking is another example; once you get some basic hacking ability, there doesn't seem much point in investing a lot of extra resources in it.
There are some other odd quirks. For instance, the game REALLY wants you to kill all the Big Daddys and harvest all the Little Sisters, presumably because you need all that Adam. At the end, it didn't seem like I really did. Another thing is the wrench--the game designers, for some reason, REALLY want you to use that wrench.
I don't want to give the wrong impression with all this analysis. You SHOULD play Bioshock, and you WILL enjoy the experience. It's just that a game of this pedegree has high expectations.
So, definitely immerse yourself if this beautiful and strange world. The plot has many satisfying twists and turns that you will appreciate, and there are many wonderful things to see and kill! | video-games_xbox |
Don't use TV speakers for Xbox, use these. Compared to other headsets...absolutley no idea.
Compared to using sound coming from the TV at night when kids are sleeping. EPIC!!!
I bought these for my brother for his birthday. He played the Battlefield 3 beta using TV sound. Then he got these the day we got BF3 on xbox and he was completely and utterly captivated by the sound.
My point is, these are a sickly fantastic option compared to hearing through crummy TV speakers.
I compared this set (SX) to my set (SR) and the SX didn't have the USB hiss or the voice chat problem that my SR model does.
The Sharkoon headset models SX, SP, and SR are all the same, with different colors. The component features connected to the headset are what make them different.
THE CRAZIEST thing to me is people either confused by or upset with the number of cables. UH?? Have you seen how many cables are in your car or computer? It's because every part has to be connected with a WIRE. How else is it all supposed to work?
Cables are stable, moveable, hot-swappable, resistant to interference, and replaceable. I'm actually all for cables, the idea of a $240 wireless set is just goofball.
Notes:
-USB powered sometimes creates white noise/hiss, but the SX doens't have that problem. If yours does, then something is wrong.
-I'm not sure all the cables are white, but the headset it and it looks cool, especially next to the white Xbox 360.
-mic volume / voice chat is good to great. I say this with first-hand experience because my brother uses this set and I listen to him. He is clear as day, maybe a bit fuzzy, but he is talking quietly at night with the mic close to his mouth so as not to wake kids. The mic DOES NOT have a wind foam on it so that is probably why it is breathe sensitive.
-no sound insulation in the headphones section, in other words, these are not sound isolating headphones; too much noise outside will compete.
-headphones tend to break. These don't seem cheap, but they aren't metal either. So maybe get a square trade warranty?
LISTEN, if you have any questions, just ask. And please click "yes" if this was helpful. | video-games_xbox |
Great Job Ubisoft. Truly Amazing Experience! to play this video game. Before I get into the game, when I was little, I said to myself that somebody will create a swat content video game and Ubisoft made that happen. Of course, my wishes came true many years later but they made it happen. Gameplay is all about fast and slow pace. This game is about teamwork and communication. If you or your team don't have that, then you guys will not complete the objective the right way. I know forsure that many people don't use their mics that often ever since Xbox One came out. Xbox 360 was a different story in COD series lol Anyways, there are so many ways to get into the buildings or to a specific room to complete the objective like holding down the area (Biohazard Bomb) or defusing the bombs which one of your players will have it (Just like Search and Destroy). They also have other modes like Situation and Terrorist Hunt. I kind of have some doubts on the game that it does have enough content or should not be worth 60 dollars, maybe 40 dollars. Honestly, the game is great but somebody will put on a review saying it is too much repetitive gameplay or something like that. I just hope I don't bored to quickly, I mean I played so much on the beta even though, there were only few maps and three modes. Full version has more maps but same modes obviously, but added with Situation mode. Really hope that the season pass is something special for the players.
There will be different kind of operators in the game for defense and offense (attack team). Only 8 players in each lobby which is fine for me because any more players added will be crazy lol. In real life situations, it should be small size maps with few players. I think Ubisoft made it right with this game. Each operator provides their own type of weapons. Some of them will have a shotgun for a option but most of them will have machine guns. Some I can recognize but others, nope. Also, each operator has their own special gadgets like Laser Trip Mine (Entry Denial Device) or Thermal Breach. It is pretty awesome to play each operator with different style of gameplay. Furthermore, the new maps I just played in the Situation mode were even better than the Beta. Forsure, it will be in Online Mode. Some of them are pretty huge and I bet nobody would not find the bombs until you search the whole building.
For me, I had to put the sensitivity down a little so I am able to shoot at the opponent with better accuracy. If you are a COD player, you will know that you have to adjust your gameplay with Rainbow Six Siege including no more rushing or one man army (unless you are by yourself), This is a different ball game when you play Siege. Honestly, this is my first time playing a Rainbow Six video game. I bet that these buttons were the same as the previous versions had. It is a thrilling experience to play this. I felt like I was actually in a live action situation. The gunfire or exploding windows or doorways smashing, it feels realistic to play this game. Put on your headset and you will feel the adrenaline. No lie, this is why I play the Alpha and the Beta so much!
The Alpha and the Closed Beta was wonderful and I love every second of it and I know I will do the same for the full version. Of course, there will be bugs here and there but we should know that the game cannot be perfect. I think Ubisoft did a great job with this. Gave this game a FAT 5! Graphics are amazing, Thrilling gameplay, and Fantastic content! :D
Also, they have to kick players who are team killing. Honestly every time I spawn, there will be a jerk who will kill everybody just for fun. -____-
GOOD LUCK :) | video-games_xbox |
Like the best cupcake ever, except for the huge worm in it. While this game is insanely fun, and combines the satisfiing disfunction of road rage with mad speeding, Burnout Revenge sadly remains a flawed experience. What I simply cant understand is why the developers, who have hands down made the most entertaining race and crash experience for any video game system, included a complex (for video games anyway) rating and advancement scheme.
Imagine this, your racing along, your laughing, your madly smashing cars into Matrix like pileups, your driving like an idiot through crowded city streets (populated by ghosts it seems), you complete the level and are now looking forward to the next race, the new city scape etc, and the next thing you know your being tested on your ability to crash your car into parking lots for "points " to the sound of canned applause. Odd to say the least.
I never experienced such gaming greatness combined with such gaming idiocy. Someone on the EA design payroll is a clearly a schizophrenic. And if crashing into parked cars isin't bad enough, you have to also learn a relatively unintuitive set of commands to maximize your damage. And nope, you cant advance to the next juicy city street racing smash em up UNTIL you beat these levels of game design ineptitude. I think Napoleon Dynamite said it best: "IDIOTS!"
Phew.
Having said that, the driving agro sections of the game are so fun, so well rendered and so pleasingly violent that one forgets that around the corner another altogether different game is awaiting you.
And what corporate record company got their hooks into the marketing department at EA? The insipid " Mall Punk" music is so transparently manicured by corporate hipsters one can almost hear the money changing hands . Just thank the Gods that EA provided a soundtrack volume control.
So yeah, buy it. Burnout Revenge's sweet spots are sweet enough to mask the bitter, boring filler, but it does make one wonder what the powers that be at EA are smoking these days and why they ruined what could be a classic. | video-games_xbox |
Great game, a few flaws. I bought this game a little while ago, after playing the demo. Overall, I liked it.
GOOD:
I liked the new control scheme, i.e. one button maneuvers. I really enjoyed the freedom it gave you to chose your path, even though the destination was the same. The varied ways to kill were exciting. The gameplay was very smooth, and the graphics were wonderful. It was also exciting to go through a venue and kill 10-20 people without any sort of backup. They did a good job letting you decide whether to take it as a "run and gun" sort of game, or stealth. The constant sight warnings were helpful, and added to the tension.
The Deniable Ops part of the game was pretty cool as well. I liked the option to play the multiplayer missions alone, and not have enemy reinforcements show up because your partner got sighted.
The weaponry was very modern, but there was no real motivation to use anything other than the first pistol you started with, as there were no flaws.
Multiplayer was fun, but repetitive. The Hunter mode was alright, but really was just the Co-op missions without the cutscenes. Not very exciting there, but not bad either. The versus mode was cool.
BAD:
The plot was not very thought out. Naturally, Sam was angry about his daughter dying. So, of course the entire game is based on him getting revenge. Basically, run, kill all guards, interrogate, kill main man, repeat. But you didn't have much time to contemplate that during gameplay, because of the action in between.
While there was a wide variety of modern weaponry, there really was no motivation to use any of it, as the given pistol worked perfectly fine as it was. Also, all pistols have unlimited ammo. This type of thing reminds me of arcade games, and is not what I wanted to experience in a Splinter Cell game. I was disappointed. However, I got over it very quickly.
While multiplayer was invigorating at first, the lack of many, varied venues became repetitive and boring. Also the fact that only two can play at one time, even online, was disappointing. The only problem I had with the Versus mode was that the players spend most of the time killing guards and finding each other; there was no real action going on between the players. Also, each death took away a kill, and each death caused by the other player took away 5. So a player could have killed 10 guards, and gotten killed twice by the other player, and lose. I did NOT like that. But again, not really a deciding factor for me.
Lastly, and really the main problem about this game for me, was the willingness of the NPCs to vocalize their thoughts (i.e.-they talk WAY too much). Personally, if I knew Sam Fisher was pissed at my boss and had to come through me to get to him, and not only that, but was in the building I was guarding, and no longer using Government-approved interrogation methods, I would NOT be yelling taunts about his dead daughter almost non-stop the entire time. The enemies were constantly abusing poor Sam, so that the player only had to stop and listen for a few seconds before they knew exactly where all the enemies were hiding.
Lastly, the amount of swearing was outrageous. A few curse words here and there, okay, that's fine, but almost every other word was a curse, and believe me these guys talked a lot. Instead of improving the realism as perhaps the creators had hoped it would, it actually brought it down and reminded the player it was a game, because no real person would be that vocal, especially when they knew it involved Sam Fisher.
But again, it was overall a good game.
If I had the option to go back and buy this game again, I would. It is by far my favorite game as of now.
And of course, if I would, being me, that means all of you suddenly have the urge to go out and buy it this instant. I mean if I bought it and liked it, it must be fit for mankind.
You're welcome.
Insincerely,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Virocman. | video-games_xbox |
Sticky. Think about that word for a moment. Think about what you envision as you apply that exact word to this game. Sticky as honey and about as thick.
But there are other words I can label this game with. Generic, short, and largely boring played out scenarios/realms.
Still, I couldn't rank this game as low as two or even the dreaded one star for two very good reasons. One being that the game is actually fun at times and two because I only payed a five for it. Seriously, for under ten, I wholeheartedly recommend the game. Aren't convinced? Then follow me and we'll break it down.
Presentation:
Graphics... are... hmmm; well they aren't terrible and at times show some legs but the truth is the game world is so unconvincingly small you must expect far greater results here. Otherwise everything here is pretty mediocre to average. Characters (yours and the thousand no named clones of enemies) are detailed and animated well enough. The backdrops (IE environments) are so so designed and even absorb occasional environmental damage. The major stickler is however for the loading breaks and short paragraph like playable sections you almost have to wince at the thought that much larger sandbox style games look twice as good as what we have here.
One other thing worth mentioning are the cut scenes. For some reason these look atrocious whether it be the resolution or some other technological feat they somehow managed to make the game's decent engine look far worse then you'd think possible. Seriously I'm not lying.
I always hate analyzing sound solely because either a game sounds good (or accurate) or it doesn't. For the most part this game falls in that first spot. Crackling guns spout the correct noises and even the voice acting by the notables from the movie do a pretty good job here.
Summary:
Graphics are like plunging both index fingers into your ears and very loudly humming the theme song to yourself as you attempt to compare what's on display here next to the bigger dogs. Granted nothing is terrible it's just the circumstances that make it look horrendous.
Narrative:
I honestly wanted to skip this part only because I'm not exactly certain where and how these things fit into the universe. I'll also be honest that I've yet to read the graphic novel/comic books and can only assume things based upon the movie/game. Nevertheless I'll leave this mostly alone.
From what I do understand though is that the main star (Wesly gibson) here sets out after the events that took place during the movie by investigating his lost heritage. This leads him past three guardians from the fraternity to ultimately seeking the answers (I assume) that range from who killed his mother to what it actually takes to kill the fanatical assassin known as the Immortal.
Summary: /Shrug
Gameplay:
Remember that word I mentioned? That exemplifies my initial reactions to this game. It truly feels like you'll press the A button and essentially be stuck to a wall for good. It's not all that hard to become detached from your impenetrable fortresses but with no real sprint button or even a means to dodge any sort of gunfire you'll almost be stuck to a wall for 90% of the game. Things aren't all bad however as clearly the folks at the now departed company Grin really really enjoyed Gears of war cover system and injected a.... wait for it... they adjusted it with a diagonal projection that allows the player to *gasp* jump through the game on a slant!
Sarcasm aside the cover system isn't as smooth nor as refined as say Gears but certainly makes up for it with two specific abilities. One allows your to flank your enemies after suppressing the enemy with blind fire and circle (from cover) behind him. The other feature is the slow mo cover to cover ability which uses adrenaline. Basically it's Wesly's version of the (max payne) slow mo dive.
And of course the game features the coveted bullet curving that has been featured so much. Is it a unique ability? Yes. Does it work well? Kinda. Whats wrong with it? Lots.
For starters this four times out of five equals out to a instant kill button. Remember the uproar for the splinter cell conviction ability? Well this works mostly as good. My other major gripe is it somewhat reminds me of the boomerang from dark sector.
But I digress, the bullet curving does what it sets out do and does an OK job at it. It comes in two varieties to kill with. The regular (normal guns IE 9mm pistols) and explosive rounds (the sub machine gun) that kills everything with one shot and has a possible splash damage at the cost of two doses of adrenaline.
The biggest flaws in this area are it's run time (3-5 hour) and it's simple minded room clearing loading screen every 5 minute game design.
Summary:
Wanted: Weapons of fate is a pretty standard third person shooter in this day and age. It has cover. It has gimmicks (curve/time slow). And like most action games these days it clocks in on the short side at around 20-30 minutes per act with about 9 acts you're looking at a 3 to 5 hour game tops. Is it fun while it lasts? Yes. Is that good enough for you to spend less then ten on it? I'd believe so.
Overall:
What this boils down to is a fun little weekend romp. A short fleeting experience that is not pivotal to anyone existence. It's fun at times. It's weak at times. There's some mild variety in the execution (mounted gun/sniper segments and a rather enjoyable on rails SUPER slow mo sections) but ultimately begs the question. Is a three plus hour fairly generic action game worth your time? Is it?
My grade: 65/100 | video-games_xbox |
Probably One of The Best Zombie Games in Years. I am surprised at how polished and fun this game is. Surprised because some of the same people have developed games such as Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide. They're a pretty good developer from Poland. While those games were fun with zombies and gore, they were very buggy and had a lot if gameplay imbalances. This game is not a sequel but more like a better younger brother of Deae Island games. The game is excellent not only because of better graphics but because of the very fun and bug free gameplay. I almost haven't seen a single glitch or a bug from 30 or so hours of playing.
Killing zombies is very fun and satisfying. There are various ways to kill them creatively that helps the player level up more rapidly or gives some other minor rewards. The acrobatics and parkour aspect , while kind of unbelievable, is very fun. It feels better than Mirror's Edge because it is easier to do various tricks. There are still challenges like enemies in the way it falling when you jump without paying attention.
The developers managed to create a very deceptively challenging combat too. The zombies seem slow and harmless individually but when you get surrounded by them everything changes into a hectic survival combat based on quick responses and resource management. Your weapon can suddenly break, you may run out of medkits, and you might suddenly face runner zombies that occasionally appear.
Finally, you can craft a variety of very fun weapons. It is fun not only because of the weapon use on its own but also because there is an incentive to loot all sorts of boxes, containers, pick locks, and search the dead bodies. That and you will want to find nicer base weapons as well.
The only imperfection in this game is very cheesy and often dumb dialogue when you speak to NPCs or hear your protagonist speak. It's all very cartoony as far as voice acting. It can be irritating. | video-games_xbox |
Initial Review. I've only played this game for a few hours, so please excuse the lack of in-depth knowledge that I will ascertain from playing furthermore. I am just writing an initial review for the game based on what I have played so far.
So far I like what I see. I honestly didn't expect too much more then MW2 because common, how advanced can the graphics get and how "futuristic" can you get with a game thats entitled MODERN WARFARE. If you get any more into it you might as well be going sci-fi because the weapons of today haven't changed much since the last game.
The graphics are good, and maybe a tad bit better then MW2, but honestly how much further can we go without a brand new gaming platform? I don't think there's any more "HD" you can go without playing this on a PS3, and thats even pushing it. If you want something that is going to blow you completely away in regards to graphics then wait for the next "gaming consol of tomorrow" because honestly we are at the platforms graphic capacity (NOT the WiiU because that won't be graphic intensive).
The campaign is a continuation of the first two games, so if you haven't played them then you probably should. I got lucky and jumped into the 2nd modern warfare without playing the 1st, but was still a tad lost; but they really don't try to brief you on anything that happened before hand in this game. Its either you know or you don't. So far playing on regular it isn't that difficult, but I'm only doing it on regular so I can probably bet that when I up the difficulty, it will most certainly become harder. I do enjoy how your team mates kill the enemies and really do try to push the objective instead of "blindly firing" (and by this i mean attempting to fire at the enemy but always missing) as they have in past games.
The guns are pretty much the same with a few new guns and additions. There's a lot of complaints about this but honestly what do you expect? It's like I said before, if they tried to make up a gun it would cross the line of being a modern game about modern warfare into sci-fi and then you would blast it even further so I like where it's at now. The guns are more customizible and now you can even level up your weapons so it encourages you to favor one weapon over others. This can be good or bad but I prefer it because I like to master one gun and then move to the next.
Multiplayer always has its quirks, but thats common over almost every game out there (Halo, MW, MW1 etc). Right now people that have no life are the highest levels, but for the common joe like me with a job and a life only play when we want, and seemed to get paird up with equals, and even if you are jesus of the video game world, you'll start off as the lowest level until you rank up so just wait a week or so and people will be probably about at their rankings as they were in MW2. That Jesus of the video game who owned you last week will be a completely different level by then and you'll probably never face him again, its all part of playing a brand new game right at launch.
It's fairly easy to level up but i did find it a little difficult with the three profiles you are given at the start because they are so limited. It's really not a big deal though and you'll quickly be able to customize your own profile once you level up which they have made pretty easy.
For those that complain that there are little children playing cussing, singing and playing loud music...you'll never get away from it. There will always be an annoying little brat that thinks he's better then you, calling you a fa* and probably touching themselves. Its the nature of the game and really any game and shouldn't be factored into a review of the game itself. If you don't want to be bothered by that sort of thing then don't play multiplayer and just play with your friends on split screen.
I will update this as I find out and play more of the game, cause honestly there's not much I can put having only played about 4-5 hours worth after work. Depending what I find out I will certainly keep the score or downgrade, so keep a look out this is only a preliminary review.
*EDIT*
So I've played quite a bit of this game now and I do not wish to change any of my previous statements. This game is fun, the graphics are of good quality and basically everything else I mentioned. Have fun! | video-games_xbox |
All its predecessor was and more. Dirt 1, Colin Mcrae's first showing on the next gen consoles was a godsend for racers, it had great graphics, entertaining gameplay that was initially easy to pick up, and simultaneously difficult enough that refining slides in the game took a long time to get just right. But Dirt 2 has come to prove that codemasters' series isn't going to go away simply because Colin McRae is gone. In fact Dirt 2, intends to tribute the rallier with the best off road experience ever in a racing game. Lets see if the tribute is a good one.
Graphics
Wow is all i can say, the presentation and attention to detail that codemasters put into every aspect of this game with almost no framerate drops is literally insane. Cars look wonderful, and even the menu which is a 3d RV world is all animated crisply and beautiful. There are so many little things in your RV too, the rally on the tv, the magazines strewn all over tha place Dirt 1's menu on the laptop... it really is immersive and it stays that way with little load times between menus and races. In short, Dirt 2 is the most beautiful racer released to date, period.
Gameplay
This is a long session, gameplay is broken down into several modes for racing types,
New Modes:
Trailblazer:
Trailblazer is a rally, without a co driver and with out fear, these are incredibly fast events, similar to the hillclimb type in dirt 1, except there is not hill and its just average point to point. But trailblazer has its own flavor, its fast and very fun, i look forward to these events everytime i play.
Dominator:
The racetrack is split into 4 sections and whoever has the fastest time in a section "dominates" that section, at the end whoever has the most dominated sections combined with the highest position in non dominated sections wins the race. Its decently fast paced but can get repetitive.
Last Man Standing
The race continues until all racers save one have been eliminated, the time between eliminations is 20 seconds, and the last place driver is eliminated each 20 seconds.
Landrush
race on a track with buggies and trophy trucks, but its not P2P like Raid is.
Old stuff, everything but the hillclimbs are back, so the rallys, rallycross, Raid, etc. are all back with a vengeance.
- Handling- Dirt 2's cars all handle differently, some are really touchy and the e-brake will make them turn around like no-one's business, and others will take a lot of coaxing to get them sideways. But Most cars are balanced in the class they are in so picking your favorites and using them is possible. Dirt 2 has some quirky handling as its an odd balance between realism and arcade, but it makes the balance work, giving a rewarding feel to beginners, and the more advanced players some options to fine tune their driving to shave those seconds off. In sort Dirt2 is easy to pick up, but very difficult to master. Usually a driver with little experience won't beat one with a lot of it.
- Career - Career has 100 events with a bonus at the end, and are separated by rookie, pro, and all star. Each mode requires a pack for cars in that class which requires you to buy a package specific to that level of play, in addition packs cost money to cross - discipline cars, (Ex. if you buy a solstice, you need a rallycross pack to race in that discipline, and need a pro pack to upgrade the car for pro class races.)
Career mode has you racing in events in different countries. But to unlock these other events and countries you must level your driver up. Simply racing in events will earn you experience which pools to level you up, as you level, you unlock special toys, horns, events, liveries and other items to customize your car and advance in the game firther. There are also 3 X-Games events which come up for drivers of certain levels and the world events that show up at all star level to challenge you further. Career mode is robust, it is quite challenging and it will teach you how to play the game.
Sound- The soundtrack is mostly driven by rock and gives a higher paced feel, not only that i liked most of the music on the game, but if you don't like it you can turn it off. The cars sound great and all sound completely different. The sound helps the immersion feel.
Online- Online is mostly the same as dirt 1 and grid, which i can't complain about, but it does feel a bit lax. Lag isn't a prominent problem and it does a good job.
Overall - Dirt2 is just awesome, its better than its predecessor in just about every way, its faster, its graphics are better and its feel is more i think what dirt one wanted to achieve with the racing.
Dirt 2 is worth at the very least a rent, you probably won't beat it in the time you rent it, but its worth at least that much. But Dirt 2 is definitely worth adding to your library, as its longevity is extended by its online play, which can keep you hooked for a long time.
5 stars, by far the best offroader out there. | video-games_xbox |
The best of the best (UPDATED REVIEW AS OF 12/01/2015. For the past few weeks I've been trying so many different headsets from Amazon. Just buying them and if I didn't like them I would return them. I even wrote some reviews. I tried the Turtle Beach PX24's, Stealth 400's, Skull Candy Slyr's, Polk Audio Striker Pro's and the HyperX Cloud's. I almost stayed with the Polk Audio's but the sound would cut out on the PS4. I was looking for something to use on both PS4 and Xbox One. All these headsets are great and each one has something better than the other for comfort and sound but I felt they were all missing something. SPACIOUS IMMERSIVE SOUND. I've owned Astro A50's before but I sold them to a friend because at the time I needed the cash and I got tired of switching them from my PS4 and Xbox One with all the cables. To be honest I've missed the sound and comfort the Astro A50's provide so when I noticed they where on sale due to Black Friday I decided to buy them again and I'm glad I did. I've read some of the negative reviews regarding the mic, sound etc. but I've never experienced any problems. These headphones are hands down the best yes they are expensive but not only do you feel the quality you also hear it. I feel these are made for everyone and not just hardcore gamers. They are simple to setup, easy to use and wireless except for the chat cable for Xbox One. I was going to try the Astro's A40 TR's but I couldn't believe the mixamp was not cross functional for both consoles. They made separate versions for Xbox One and PS4. You can use the mixamp on both but you will not have the chat function depending on which version of the A40's you buy. Terrible design choice. Anyways give these headphones a chance you won't regret it.
UPDATED REVIEW: Just after a few days of use I started to hear that buzzing sound I've read about. I couldn't believe it. I even updated to latest firmware and I almost contacted Astro but considering what I've read about their customer service I decided to return these. This hasn't happened to the previous ones I owned so I'm wondering if this is a hardware defect from their latest manufactured models and not the ones that have been sitting on the shelf waiting to be sold since they've been released. The buzzing sound is faint but its there and annoying so if Astro learns about this a new firmware update will be released. Until then I'm going to hold off on buying Astro headsets again. I actually went back to Turtle Beach and purchased the PX24's mainly because of their versatility and the little amp box it comes with. That being said I have to bring this review down to 4 stars. | video-games_xbox |
Let Me Change My Review. At first I couldn't get into this game. The storyline was weak (to me). I didn't understand the main character's motivation for suddenly getting involved in a rebellion. I also forgot that this was an RPG, so I was dying often because I wasn't leveled up enough. Added to that, there is a very steep learning curve in the game, and it all felt overwhelming at first.
After a while, I learned to use more stealth, and to use the various tools of the game and it did become more enjoyable. Still, I almost gave up on it, but I'm glad I stuck with it.
One initial problem I had was with the first sniper rifle, I figured that it would be a good weapon to kill from a distance, but it suffered from many flaws. The cross-hairs are black, and if there was any kind of pattern in the background (which is about 95% of the time) then I could not see where I was aiming. It is also very weak in the beginning of the game, and almost useless as a ranged weapon since people with arrows can hit you more accurately than you can with a scope. The beginning of the game can be extremely frustrating in this way.
You would think more options are better in a game, but this game has so many things: throwing knives, meat attacks, rpgs, sneaking under water, ledge take-downs, etc. it seems like too many choices, especially at the beginning of the game where they hit you up with a quick tutorial on every feature all at once.
Speaking of that, there is a type of attack where you throw a piece of meat at an enemy and a bear comes out of the woods and immediately attacks the person. It almost seems silly at first...but it is an effective tool when attacking a compound. Also, I never knew there were so many honey badger attacks in the world. Who knew?
I don't really like the RPG element where you have to collect skins and make potions and search endless bodies for who knows what, but I've learned to accept this in games. I really would rather do so many things than open 1000 treasure chests and loot a million bodies, but I guess that's part of the game, and in comparison to other very heavy RPG menu involvement games (like Skyrim) this isn't too bad.
I also felt a little aimless at the beginning of the game. I know it is open world, but there was very little guidance at the beginning.
Still, like I said, I stuck with it, and eventually leveled up and learned enough to begin enjoying the game. The setting is unique, there is a lot to do, and I do like the stealth part of the game (it just takes a while to learn). There are a lot of nice touches which are fun. I like the helicopter, the glider, the wingsuit, and once leveled up, the weapons are pretty good. Even finding the masks, and climbing the towers are challenging puzzles.
Overall, the game was well worth the 25 bux I paid for on Gold. I have gotten several hours of enjoyment out of it, but it took sticking with it in order to get to that point. I guess if I had some suggestions, I would say that since it is a rebellion, there should be a more strategic element about winning territory (where the more you gain, the stronger you are) and this could be an incentive in the game, especially for defending the outposts. All the little discoveries, like the caves and shrines are cool to discover, but, for me, seem a little bit of a letdown since all you do is go in there and maybe find a letter or a chest. I think I would have preferred less locations and maybe more of a dungeon crawl aspect for a big reward treasure chest. Still, not bad, and I can see why so many people liked this game. If you like games like GTA, you should like this game. | video-games_xbox |
A Pirate's Life for Me. Here's what you need to know: there are two games contained on this disc.
Assassin's Creed IV: A continuation of the popular AC franchise.
Black Flag: A great pirate simulator.
The fact that these two games share the same setting, characters, and plot is mostly incidental. They contrast each other sharply.
The Assassin's Creed portion of the game is not exactly bad. It's more entertaining than ACIII's American Revolution setting and the plot is moderately interesting. But it's still a stunningly mediocre entry into the franchise. It's yet another game about a handsome, brash young man who finds himself caught between ancient rivals and who must grow up, take responsibility, and become a hero. The same story we've already played several times over.
The positive side here is the player character, Edward Kenway. He's an extremely likable character and a lot of fun to play. He spends the majority of the game as an amoral poser, willing to go along with the assassins as long as it pays off for him down the line. His stupidity and greed have real consequences, so at least his growth as a character feels organic. The cast of supporting characters are also great and I liked pretty much all of them.
But dear god, the Assassin's Creed game mechanics have become so stale it's ridiculous. Yes, it's still fun to parkour around, especially in the colorful cities like Havana. Yes, it's still a hoot to cause mayhem on the rooftops. Wielding pirate pistols and double swords in a black Jolly Roger cloak makes you feel like an angel of death in the Caribbean. But the assassin missions seem to focus almost exclusively on tailing and eavesdropping, boxing you into narrow constraints with almost no room to improvise. They become increasingly frustrating as the game goes on. ACIV adds nothing significant to the already muddled Assassin's Creed mythology, leaving me underwhelmed all around.
By contrast, the Black Flag portion of the game is some of the most fun I've had with a video game...ever. As a lover of all things pirate, this is probably the best pirate simulator on the market. When you're not on Assassin missions, you are free to roam the Caribbean in your ship the Jackdaw. And the Caribbean is packed full of things to do:
Explore smuggler's caves
Defeat and take over naval forts
Explore uncharted islands
Hunt exotic creatures
Hunt dangerous sea creatures such as Great White Sharks
Accept naval missions as a privateer
Use treasure maps to find valuable collectibles
Challenge legendary vessels
And, of course, become a terror on the high seas by boarding enemy ships and taking their booty, from little boats to massive Men-O-War
The AC mechanics are implemented beautifully in the pirate parts of the game. Swinging between ships, running along the rigging, and battling furiously on the deck with your crew is all wild, frenetic fun. Hazards such as brutal storms add an element of excitement to chases, and the tropical ocean environment is beautifully rendered. It's a joy to play. I dreaded being forced ashore for assassin missions because I was having so much fun as a pirate, but it's unavoidable. You must complete the storyline in chunks to earn upgrades to your ship and take full advantage of the pirate elements.
Despite this being one of my favorite 360 games of all time, I'm forced to knock a star off because the Assassin's Creed elements are just so boring. I understand needing to slap a blockbuster label on this game to increase sales, but it really does feel tacked on. Had this been a straight pirate game, it would have been amazing.
If you are a fan of the AC franchise or you love pirates, this game is absolutely worth it. | video-games_xbox |
Works extremely well with the PS4. There seems to be a crossing of reviews; this review is for the wireless version (HW-399M).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Introduction
The HW-399M is a mid-range wireless headset that's compatible on a variety of platforms such as the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, PC, Mac & TV).
It boasts a wireless connectivity up to 10m range, 40mm speaker drivers and an impressive 15 hours battery life.
Box Contents
Box Contents: HW-399M Wireless Headset | Detachable Microphone | Transmitter | 3.5mm - 2.5mm AUX Cable | Optical Cable* | 2x Micro USB** | Instruction Manual.
* Out of the box this cable was faulty (I may have just been unlucky), nevertheless it just wouldn't click into any optical ports; luckily I had an <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/AmazonBasics-Digital-Optical-Audio-Toslink-Cable/dp/B001TH7GSW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">AmazonBasics Digital Optical Audio Toslink Cable</a> which had no issues at all slotting into the transmitter and PS4. I've notified the manufacturer about this issue, they said they'll look into the issue so it won't happen again and will send out another optical cable. I will comment on the new cable when I get it.
** One USB cable is to connect the transmitter to the PS4; the other is to charge the headset via a powered USB port (such as through the PS4 when powered on, or during it's standby mode).
Set-Up
- PS4 Set-Up:
I would recommend giving the headset a full charge before use (5 hours charging time).
Although the set-up process involves several cables, it doesn't actually take long to get everything up and running:
1) Plug a USB cable into the PS4 and micro end into the transmitter.
2) Link the PS4 and transmitter together using the included optical cable (though would HIGHLY recommend a better quality one).
3) Turn on the PS4. This will power up the transmitter.
4) Turn on the headset. The headset and transmitter should pair automatically.
5) Go to "Settings" - "Sound and Screen" - "Audio Output Settings" - "Primary Output Port": Deselect "Dolby Digital 5.1ch" & "DTS 5.1ch".*
6) Within "Audio Output Settings", select "Output to Headphones" and select "Chat Audio".
7) Within "Audio Output Settings", select "Audio Format (Priority)" and select "Linear PCM".
- PC Set-Up:
1) Link the PC and transmitter together using the included USB Cable.
2) Turn on the headset. The headset and transmitter should pair automatically.
- Headset Functions:
Everything is located on the right ear cup: Power button, pairing/mute button and two volume sliders; one for chat and the other for game audio.
Comfort & Quality
The headbands and earmuffs are well padded. The material used for padding definitely doesn't feel of premium quality, but is certainly soft enough for hours worth of gaming and not having your ears ache.
I'm actually pretty impressed by the sound quality. Though not quite comparable with Sony's own wireless headsets, it's still clear, well balanced and can deliver a reasonable amount of bass.
When using this headset on the PS4 I've had no issues having conversations with friends online; I've asked them for some feedback as they're on the receiving end of the microphone quality, to which they stated it seems very clear and can understand me perfectly.
Though I do have one problem with the microphone itself... Whilst it's flexible, it isn't very adjustable, this is because it slowly moves back into its original location after being adjusted.
As for the wireless connectivity between the headset an the transmitter, within my entire use to date, I've had constant audio connection and no drop-outs at all. The battery life is also very impressive.
Final Thoughts
Obviously due to its price it won't be the best wireless headset on the market, but if you don't want to splash out a load of cash but still want decent quality, then this is definitely one to consider.
Pros:
Very reasonable price for a wireless headset.
Comfortable to wear.
Decent sound quality.
Doesn't cut off TV sound like the official Sony wireless ones do.
Very long battery life.
Cons:
Microphone adjustability could be better.
Came with faulty optical cable.
Note: I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review. | video-games_xbox |
If Your Child Loves Barbie, Puppies and Games ... This Game is For You. We own both the XBox 360 version and PC version of this game. For both versions, my five year old daughter uses a XBox controller. The controls (character movement) are a bit hard to get used to, with the XBox version being a little better. Basically, the character either wants to run into a wall or walk very slowly, but the player can adapt to it. The frame rate and graphics are better on the PC, but my daughter could not care less about that distinction. The XBox 360 version of the game runs fine and is good for any child. The game is a bit repetitive (which is good for children with developing skills), but fun and charming. My daughter loves it and will happily play it on a regular basis. It does help to have an adult around to help with some of the more difficult missions, until your child "gets it." It is very difficult to find games for the XBox that will hold a young child's attention, I think mainly because developers have so much information that must be communicated to the player, but with children they have a limited vocabulary and reading skills to deal with. I have noticed over time that my five (5) year old daughter can now read most of the prompts in the game. I did find it helpful that if the player "loses" their bicycle, it is easy to just get another one. This is helpful because sometimes the bicycle is a real hassle to control when trying to find a puppy, and its no fun to go back and get if you ditch it. In conclusion, if your daughter enjoys games and Barbie, she will likely enjoy this game too. I think many young boys might enjoy the game also, but get bored with it much quicker than my daughter. I really think Mattel should take this franchise more seriously, as this is the 2nd Barbie game (on PC) my daughter has loved, and she keeps asking me if there is a new one coming out. Also, while I know if might not be a priority, at the time of this review this game is not XBox One compatible, but I think it is a good candidate for a kids game on the XBox One. | video-games_xbox |
Good headset EXCEPT. I bought this for my husband for Christmas. He really likes it, but one thing that is bad on this is the foam piece that helps filter background noise that fits on the microphone, well that piece does not fit properly or secure. It slides right off, and FREQUENTLY. The drawback of this is that on a scale of (Good)1-10(bad) on annoying it is a 5 - However on a SAFETY scale it is a 10!! A baby or small child can EASILY get their hands on it. It fell off while my husband was playing a game and before he could grab it our puppy got ahold of it and started choking on it!!
Needless to say, it now just stays OFF!! Another drawback is that it takes regular batteries, not a battery pack that you can recharge.
UPDATE:
Since original purchase another important thing has come to light. The voice puck. If you want to talk while you are playing online you have a wired puck plugged into your controller. That puck is HORRIBLE - we've replaced SEVERAL of them since purchasing this headset. The dang thing shorts out every few months and you have to replace the puck. Please keep in mind that we live in a child free home so kids are not pulling or playing with the wires. At the time Turtle Beach only allowed you to purchase 2 pucks at a time & didn't offer reduced shipping unless you purchase over something like $60.00 or more ( I can't remember the exact amount) so the shipping is pretty much the same as the pucks, which gets expensive. Now they've upped the replacement to 3 pucks - but again no free or discounted shipping on small orders. I've spoken to Turtle Beach about this issue (because another puck just went bad and I'm sick of it) and they claim to be unaware of that issue. However I have talked to many xbox live players with the TB headsets (which they all LOVE the headsets - but have the same problem with the pucks). Anyone that has had this issue should contact TB directly so they are aware that it really is an issue.
These headsets are now discontinued, so supply of replacement pucks is going to get real limited as a new type of 'puck' or line is being used now. Hopefully the new ones won't have the same issues. Otherwise the TB headsets are still really good, but if it has puck issues, expensive to maintain, which is bad for a headset that is already very expensive to begin with. | video-games_xbox |
An amazing adventure in a huge fantasy world. I won't say I'm a long time fan of the Elder Scrolls series; in fact, I grimaced the first time I tried playing Morrowind on PC. It looked fun but was just cumbersome and the learning curve was awkward. Thankfully, eventually I decided to try Oblivion on Xbox 360 some years ago, and was instantly impressed. While Bethesda is infamous for unattractive character models, their knack for architecture and environment and overall quantity of content makes up for it. Oblivion doesn't do anything too revolutionary for the RPG or Fantasy genres, certainly nothing that hasn't already been done, but it does everything with a sort of clumsy effectiveness.
If you want to pick up a sword and hack (first person OR third person) though hordes of trolls, imps, demons, bandits and any number of other adversaries, all the while flinging spells hither and thither and picking every darn lock you come by, you won't be let down. There's a handy (pun-intended) pick-pocket feature, and you can steal anything you see lying around, but be ready to be labelled "criminal scum". You can infuse items with magical effects, enchant staves with spells, plunder dungeons for rare lost treasures, and slay all manner of hideous, forgotten creatures. However if you're looking for an immersive, rich story with deep characters, etc. then look elsewhere -- I recommend Bioware's Dragon Age (or for a sci-fi stint, the Mass Effect series). Where Oblivion excels in variety and flexibility, it lacks in polish and depth. Sure there may be 100-something caves and ruins to explore, but they're all very similar. The overworld is mostly steep cliffs, rocks, and forest, and while somewhat realistic in that you can walk in a straight line for an hour without ever finding anything interesting, well, this is a video game and you should really be finding a little bit more unique places. In all honestly, the game does feel a bit like an MMORPG scaled to fit a single player, including a persistent world and scaled difficulty. You never have to grind, and if you grind you only end up fighting harder monsters -- they scale up in power as you do, too (a double edged sword found in all of Bethesda's recent RPG releases).
One of the coolest features in the game is the class system. In essence, there IS no class system. You are forced to pick a class, or make a custom class, during the beginning portion of each character you make. However, any character can use any weapon, any spell, any armor, and learn any ability, so long as sufficient practice or training are endured. There is nothing stopping you from making a swordsman proficient in healing magic, and later on you decide you like using bows and fire spells more. Further yet, abilities are strengthened through direct use, ie. casting fire spells strengthens your Destruction Magic, landing arrow shots strengthens your Marksman skill, and so on. There is no experience system to speak of, and your character level is merely a summation of your "primary" skills. You level up by leveling up your "primary" skills, then going to sleep. You are allowed a number of attribute points to distribute, as well as the automatic attribute increase each level. All in all, your class and starting skills have almost no effect after about 5 hours into the game. The only class-related obstacles encountered are strict limits on spells; you simply cannot attempt to use a spell (or enchant with a type of spell) if you do not have high enough skill in the respective school of magic, although all characters have at least enough skill to learn the most basic spells of each type and practice them.
The Game of the Year edition specifically includes the "Knights of the Nine" and "Shivering Isles" content packs, which include a lengthy quest and an entire new region complete with quests and unique loot respectively. Both are top-notch content and add an estimated 5+ total hours of gameplay per character/playthrough. Unfortunately, this version does not include any of the smaller DLC packs such as the spell book loot add-on, or any of the housing add-ons (Frost-Crag Spire being my personal recommendation).
Overall, I would say this is a Love It or Hate It game. You'll likely either be bored to death before even finishing the mandatory introductory tutorial (which doubles as the character creation), or you'll find yourself 2 weeks later having spent every waking minute delving through moist dungeons and dragging hauls of loot back to market. So get out there and hack up some Daedra, hero! | video-games_xbox |
Monumental Achievement for Video Games. Often I am not so enthused about a video game sequel given that I find there is a lot of repetition and frankly a lot of corporate interests to cash in on an award winning franchise. But once in a blue moon, you often find a game that not only meets expectations - but exceeds them with flying colors.
Mass Effect 2 is such a game.
For those of you not familiar with Bioware, they are responsible for some of the best story driven action RPGs of the recent video game era. They are the minds behind Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and more recently, Dragon Age. Their games are defined by excellent storytelling, dramatic flair, and choices that ultimately determine the outcome of the epic story that you are thrust into.
Mass Effect 2 continues the great storyline from ME1, which featured our hero Shepard - who was charged with the monumental task of fighting off a massive invasion of machines that threated the very existence of all living beings in the universe. In an effort to avoid spoilers, I will only note that the storyline in ME2 does not disappoint fans of the first game and provides a ton of new twists right off the bat.
But one great aspect of ME2 is that you really don't have to play the first game in order to get sucked into the amazing storyline. You won't feel lost at all, though I will say that if you played ME1 and made substantial progress in that game, you will be glad to know that there are definitely some nice advantages of exporting your character from that game. Having that sense of continuity (and stat bonuses) of seeing your created character from the first game is definitely very satisfying. You really get the sense that something you created is part of a long chain of events, and that is something seriously lacking in a lot of video games these days. It just makes your attachment to your avatar even more interesting (especially considering Mass Effect 2 is the second installment of a planned trilogy - which gives you incentive to really build your character now as well).
In terms of gameplay - it is extremely intuitive and easy to pick up on. Bioware really listened to what players wanted and addressed some of the shortcomings of the first game. First up, inventory control is pretty simple and not as intense or complicated in the first game. Given how important combat is in ME2, it is good to know that weapons and biotic power management is easy and will not turn off casual gamers. Mass Effect 2 puts a strong emphasis on storyline, and I am glad to see that gamers are not encumbered by dealing with sorting out their inventory or powers in a complicated manner. I also like how they cleaned up little details in the game, such as making load screens not as
Combat is like ME1 in that you fight real time battles. But this time, they've really cleaned up the animations. The previous game was sometimes choppy, and often you get lag when the battles get too heated or intense. Here there is minimal lag and Bioware also added a wonderful cover system that really adds a new dimension to the game. Now rather than just running around like a headless chicken and just standing behind a box, you can actually take cover and put your head down and and take well aimed shots at your enemies. Given that the AI has improved, it does come in handy that you can duck and cover and not get your head taken off by some huge monster or mech due to the poor animations.
But the biggest part of this game has to be the excellent storyline. The voice acting, like in ME1, is absolutely phenomenal. The plot twists, excellent dialogue, and realistic graphics definitely makes this aspect alone worth the price of admission. Last but not least, your actions will determine how your game ends. As with most Bioware games, you are given plenty of dialogue choices and in-game actions that will play a major role in deciding the outcome of your adventure. You can choose to be a heroic Paragon, or an evil Renegade. The choice is yours and that provides another wonderful element of replay value that is often lacking in other games.
Last but not least the game simply feels BIGGER and more EPIC than the previous game (which at the time, was already a big production as is). In one point of the game you return to a location in ME1 and everything about it seems improved. The visuals, the interaction with NPCs, everything you can pretty much imagine is just better. I am trying very hard not to provide spoilers, but I can say with confidence that within minutes of firing up the game, you will be totally immersed in the story, atmosphere, gameplay and most importantly - the general fun factor of the game.
For fans of ME1, seeing old characters return really adds to the sense of continuity and epic scope of the game and the current storyline. For those who like great stories, ME2 provides a plot that rivals most big budget Hollywood productions. There will be more than one occasion where you will feel very tortured about the decisions you make in the game. Over time, players will quickly bond (or detest) certain squad members and that in of itself is an accomplishment.
In short - get Mass Effect 2 you'll be happy you did. | video-games_xbox |
I really wanted to like this game. Seeing as how so many people all over the internet have said what is bad about this game, and why it has failed, I will review it from a different perspective, from that of my own eyes as a gamer and a consumer.
I love the Aliens franchise, love the movies, love the games, love the AvP spinoffs, love it all, so I end up giving these games a little bit of leeway even when they tend to gravitate towards the sucky side (looking at you AvP 2010), so, I of course bought this game, (at launch, unfortunately), and thought it was weird there was a review embargo, but didn't think much of it. So me and my friend get this game, and we start playing it, the MP isn't half bad when you first play it, however, it is unbalanced, feels unfinished, the progression system is very short, I mean, after you hit level 60, have everything unlocked, completed your challenges (which are stupid and useless anyways), then what is there to do? I heard GB spent a lot of their time on the multi player, and they might have, but they didn't think at all towards the future, I mean, the new DLC for ACM is supposed to be out sometime soon (if it isn't already), but, the majority of the player base is gone, or soon to be, because there is nothing keeping them playing this game, I played the heck out of the MP, to get my money worth out of it, and after I hit level 45 or so, I just got bored, stopped playing it, it's just sad because even the MP could have been great, if they had a properly fleshed out progression system, and shipped with more maps, it would have been a fun way to waste some time.
And don't get me started on the single player campaign, so let me keep it short: Horrible narrative story, it does not make sense, it feels like some crappy B-movie script, the graphics are horrible, the engine is a piece of crap with horrible AI, the clipping annoys me to no end, there is no dynamic lighting, pretty sure the engine is running on DX9 still, and, it just reminds me of Duke Nukem Forever, and just leaves a horrible taste in my mouth.
If someone gave you this game, along with 10 dollars, you still paid too much, this game deserves to be buried next to the Atari E.T. games. | video-games_xbox |
Breasts, babies and bloody beast butchery. Dante's Inferno was an overall enjoyable experience ... if not a relatively short one. As many others have said it's very God of War-ish, but as they have also said, that's not really a bad thing. If God of War is an egg sunny side up then Dante's inferno is an egg scrambled with human eyeballs and frog toes thrown in for flavor. The game in general is plain GRUESOME. But nowadays this is parallel with good entertainment.
--PROS--
-Voice Acting: this is usually one of my biggest pet peevs about a game, but Dante's inferno does it quite well ... the voices are believable if not slightly exaggerated. But let's face it ... Dante shouting full force at a judge of the dead because he wants to know where Beatrice his wife is when he already delved into hell to find her in the first place is actually pretty accurate in terms of tone and intensity. I liked a lot of the voices (Lust, Greed [Dante's father], even Lucifer), but Dante was still my favorite.
-Cinematics/Cutscenes: Fantastic ... not sure what else to say about them ... yeah they are raw and uncensored, but aside from the sex appeal they just look amazing. The cinematics are simply beautiful and made me feel like i was actually seeing what hell looked like (not that hell is beautiful or anything ...), and the animated cutscenes were dramatic and strongly supported the narrative while adding underlying meaning in almost every second with picture distortion and alteration. And bonus points for being able to watch any of these vids after you've seen them once in the Extras section!
-Soundtrack: Epicly appropriate.
-Controls/Combat: You have a very basic arsenal at the start of the game. And while it DOES expand, it doesn't get to the point of being unmanageable. Even with a maxed out holy and unholy tree you can still easily access any combination or attack you want with relative ease. I'm not saying it's gets boring; however, i did find myself at one point just trying to decide which combination of moves i should put together to make the kill look even cooler lol. Also liked the simple finishers ... hit X or B to punish or absolve (respectively) a foe and then watch a cool finisher. The quicktime events were few and far between (this is a PRO by the way lol), albeit they DID sometimes show up at inopportune times when i wasn't ready for them and that meant i had to try again >_<. All in all the combat is smooth and streamlined and you can flow from scythe attacks to cross moves and back again with relative ease.
--CONS--
-Controls/Environment: Mostly minor issues. Anywhere from moving easily on the rapelling ropes to climbing the "walls of the damned". Also for every 1 death i had at the hands of an enemy monster i would have 20 to the environment ... not saying i did, this is just what i feel is an accurate ratio. Anywhere from touchy jump controls from moving platform to moving platform, to the fact that any environmental hazard that DIDN'T kill you instantly would rip off half of your life bar and spit it back in your face like it just laughed at you and made you wish the dang fire had just killed you off completely because if you go into the next big fight with the health it left you with you're going to die anyway >_<. Overall the issues as i said are minor and easily ignored in the larger scale of the game's awesomeness.
-Morale/leveling system: Not enough of it. Would have really loved if it was more than 7 levels of both holy and unholy skills and abilities. Granted it still takes 2 playthroughs just to max out both, but more would be better lol.
--Closing comment--
Loved the game. Played it through 2 and 1/2 times. It's a solid 5-7 hours of gameplay depending on the difficulty. If you don't like going "WTF?!?" every few minutes on your first playthrough then this game is not for you lol. ......... just watch out for the uncircumsized babies ..... they're gonna geeeeet you! lol | video-games_xbox |
Buy it for the combat and superb online. My brother and I have spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours each on this series since Soul Calibur on Dreamcast. Probably only about 100 of those hours went into single player.
I'll agree with all the other reviewers that the single player experience in this game is lacking. Story mode is 2 hours of play. After that you have Quick Battle to earn 240 titles and Legendary Souls. The A ranked AI in those modes will eat your lunch if you are uninitiated. I consider it tough but very doable. It was somewhat easier than SC4's Tower of Souls. I'll remove one star for the single player. It just doesn't matter to me that much.
The meat of this game is in the fantastic online. The netcode is among the best in fighters. 4 or 5 bar connection is very close to playing on the same console. It is possible to block low attacks and punish on reaction.
THE ONLINE MODES:
RANKED: You play for online world rankings. By default the search for an opponent is set to 4 bars or better. You get 10 seconds to confirm the fight. AFK searchers become a non-issue.
PLAYER MATCHES: Player created rooms. Up to six people can join a lobby. Cool thing about this mode is that spectating is done in a window. The spectators can use the chat window to communicate while the battle rages on. Nice addition. Again, 10 seconds to confirm the fight when it's your turn or you get bumped to the end of the line.
GLOBAL COLESSEO: Huge region based rooms where you can challenge other players specifically, join a pool of random matches, take part in tournaments, or just chat.
REPLAY: I love this feature. Anytime you play online your battle is stored temporarily. You can save and upload these replays to cherish your most awesome moments forever or study what went wrong. I've spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing myself and watching my rival's matches on replay.
The only glaring omission I've noticed is no TEAM BATTLE. I was hoping for Project Soul to bring this back.
I'm pretty close to calling this game my favorite of the series due to the combat. It's feels faster even though the frame data says that it's comparable to past entries to the series. Maybe they just beefed up the 8-way run. You can see the heavy influence of the Street Fighter series at work here, especially Third Strike. A meter has been added that builds on attacks and taking damage. The meter can be spent to change the properties of normal attacks (Brave Edge) or on cinematic Critical Edge attacks. Guard Impact has been moved from an anytime active defense to one that requires meter. To compensate it now affects lows, mids, and high attacks without having to select. It still does not work on throws.
There has been a de-emphasis on the low-mid mix-ups of the past. Many lows are now punishable even when they hit. The end of many low strings are still blockable even if you got hit with the first attack in the string. The combat is closer to the rock/paper/scissors of horizontal/vertical/step premise that the series first introduced. And I'm much happier for it. Don't get me wrong - the low-mid mix-ups on wake-up are still there. They just don't seem as effective as in the past. Chances are that if you got knocked down with a low you either got caught in a counter hit or it was slow enough to reasonably react to.
I haven't run into any glaring balance issues, yet. There are a few characters that have a leg up on me since they are rarely played and I have no experience versus them.
GRAPHICS: The prettiest fighter around. The character models are slightly improved over SC4, but it seems that the stages and lighting where taken up another notch. They are lush and gorgeous, bathed in light and shadow.
CHARACTER CREATION: I don't think there's a fighter that does this better. There are many pieces from SC4 that make a comeback here and many new pieces. In addition you can add stickers, modified special effects, and custom geometry to your character. You can texture your parts with a large selection of patterns that you can resize and rotate. This allows for some very disturbing and annoying creations online, but also very cool creations.
BOTTOM LINE: If you play fighting games for combat against other players or just showing off your creations then this is a must-buy. Otherwise, don't even bother with a rental. There's really nothing to see here if you want single player content. | video-games_xbox |
Oh, Lord, the Rust. When I was in my twenties, I only had one problem: Which guitar to use that night. I have two SGs, a Howard Roberts, a double-neck and my Washburn.
Those were the days.
As I grew older, the guitars were put away and I went on to other things. I stopped even so much as fiddling with them, because I had lost so much over time it was repulsive to me.
I saw Rocksmith and thought, well, it's good for a brush-up, so I bought it.
I was blown away by it!
As someone who had to carry a guitar on two busses to go take lessons, I could not BELIEVE what was in this thing! It isn't Rock Band, but it's along the same lines, but it's actually TEACHING you. I knew most of it, but speed and accuracy had become an issue, but this thing was great to just play with.
It covers guitar from the basic levels on up to solos, and if you're truly interested in playing, and it is great to know. Once you learn, your guitar will become your best friend. Mine carried me through some very tough times. Get this. It makes it fun, unlike when I started and the repetitions got tedious, and it's intuitive, so the better you get, the more it will push you. And if you're not getting it, it will slow down for you until you DO get it.
If you want to play, or have a child who does, as an old guitar player, I suggest this:
Buy this, then go to a music store and buy a Fender or Ibanez Starter pack, which is a guitar, strap, picks, sometimes a small amp, and they only cost about 100 dollars, or a little bit more and you're set.
And if that sounds like a lot of money, it's nowhere near what you'd be paying for enough lessons to get you to where Rocksmith can take you.
I would also suggest you get the one "WITH CORD" because it takes a special guitar cord with a normal male jack for your guitar and a USB end for your XBOX.
And everything I said it does for you with a guitar, it also does for you with a bass!
Good luck, future shredders!
NOW GRAB THAT AXE!!!!!! | video-games_xbox |
Dinos and LEGOs. Yes please. Dinosaurs. LEGOs. Those two things alone should spark the imagination of almost any kid - I certainly recall them coming together frequently in my childhood, and they seem like a perfect pairing for a video game as well. That the recent Jurassic World movie was such a huge success should only reinforce the likelihood that the game is well-received. The good news is, the video game holds up quite well as a creative, kid-friendly take on the movie.
If there was a complaint from critics about the Jurassic World movie, it was some nitpicking over some of the finer points in the storyline. This did not seem to bother audience goers much as they flocked to see it in theaters and seemed to enjoy it. LEGO Jurassic World should appeal on a similar front. You do not get lost in any sort of story minutia here, but you do get to relive many of the bigger scenes from the movie, all against a background of bricks and amusing characters.
Like the LEGO Hobbit game, this one actually pulls from story lines found in Jurassic Park, The Lost World and Park III as well as Jurassic World. This gives gamers a plethora of content to work through, with lots of brick-based environments to sort through, plenty of characters to play and of course, lots of adorably cute dinosaurs that make up the high points in the game.
One of the best design choices in this game is the ability to let players take control of the dinosaurs and wreck havoc with them. The dinosaurs plod about in somewhat difficult-to-control fashion at times, but they are still a great deal of fun. This was a great decision because the human characters really lack for variation. This is not like a Hobbit game where you might have dwarves, archers and magic users that have different skills, or the Marvel game where the superheroes have lots of unique abilities. Certainly some humans in this can do specific things better than others, but it was a smart design choice to allow for non-human characters to control.
As always, there is a sort of LEGO brand of humor at play here that works so well with the bricks and the story content. I remember being impressed years ago when I first played the Star Wars titles in LEGO form - I came away thoroughly impressed with how expressive the silent characters could be, and how funny the end results were. Fast forward to where the LEGO games are at now, and the characters are far more expressive than ever and this allows that trademark humor to really shine.
Of course there are a ton of unlockables as you play, which gives the game a good deal of replay value. This is not the longest of games - each of the four chapters takes a little less than two hours to complete, so you are only spending about seven or eight hours on the entirety of the campaign. The unclockable content gives you a great excuse to go back and try some of your favorite levels again. The desire to do so is helped by great level design, charming visuals and a sound track that really soars when it needs to. To me LEGO has always been synonymous with imagination, and this is a game where it is easy for the imagination to get swept away in the fun.
There are a few bugs here and there, and I do wish the dinosaurs controlled a bit better at times, but all in all LEGO Jurassic World is arguably the best installment in the LEGO series in the last couple of years. It will appeal to a large audience, it gives you a lot to do and... oh yeah, there are dinosaurs. My inner child absolutely approves of that. | video-games_xbox |
Ghost Recon meets Dirt. This game is terrible. It is literally Ghost Recon. I mean the first Ghost Recon...from years and years ago. Add the menu style of the racer Dirt, and you've got Operation Flashpoint. I'm not joking - since Codemasters made this and Dirt, the menus are very similar. they'll flash on screen with your stats (kills instead or racing stats)...
Pros:
- the game works. it spins in the tray.
- it's not rogue warrior
Neutral:
- the game is trying to go for a military sim, not a military arcade shooter (i guess). i suppose it gets this right (1 shot can equal instant death), but this isn't any fun.
Cons:
- very short
- generic story
- textures are mediocre
- color is washed out
- you will be walking and walking and walking forever. this is utterly boring. did you get killed? since the game's checkpoints are barely existing, you be walking and walking all over again.
- the gameplay is literally Ghost Recon 1. Utterly generic. follow your instructions to the next objective, kill those guys, go to objective 2, blow that thing up, go to extraction point. repeat for 10 chapters. We did this 10 years ago in Ghost Recon 1, which at the time was a great game...
- checkpoints are HORRENDOUS, barely existing. in fact the checkpoint system borders on glitched. if you complete an objective, you should (and sometimes do) get a checkpoint, many or most times you don't.
- healing system is almost useless, practically broken. this game uses health packs. the problem is that 1 shot (even on the lowest difficulty setting) can equal instant death. if you are lucky, you can try to heal yourself, at which time you may be shot and killed. or, you can try to have someone else heal you - the majority of the time, the guy trying heal me would get shot and killed himself just trying to reach me. realistic? i guess. fun? nope.
- hit detection, hit boxes seem broken with some weapons. i can look through a scope and hit enemies dead-to-rights through the crosshairs, unload entire clips and they simply don't hit the enemy. am i too far away? dunno.
Right now I'm on level 4 and will have to restart the entire mission due to a glitched checkpoint. the game barely has checkpoints to begin with, yet this one has saved right before an automatic mission failure...
No reason to continue to bash this game any more...Just go play the original Ghost Recon, a far superior game...you can probably pick it up for a couple of bucks...or Dirt...Dirt was also a good game. These guys should stick to racers, they're not any good at shooters... | video-games_xbox |
Fantastic wrestling experience. I have fond memories when I was a litle bit younger of being introduced to one wrestling game in particular that would ruin all other wrestling games: "No Mercy." I had more fun with that game than any wrestling game before or since. Having dabbled with a few wrestling games that have since came out I have not found a game that provided the fun I had with No Mercy. I grew up a wrestling fan, but really started to pay attention during the Attitude Era. When I saw from a trailer that the main story of WWE '13 was pertaining to the Attitude Era I knew that I had to have this game.
First of all let me say that this game controls great. I usually had no problems getting my character to do exactly what I wanted him to do. The camera is very good for the most part. The replays can get in the way sometimes but you can turn this off. I had some issues where a character was running down the ramp to interfere in my match and the camera cut away but the action did not stop. I missed a couple of reversal opportunities due to this, but this is few and far between and not a big deal. AI opponents are very good. Teammates and managers are a little bit of a different story. I have had several issues with teammates where they would keep interrupting me when I would be attacking an opponent. I am all for team grapples and things of that nature, but when I am grappling and my partner comes up and hits the opponent I'm grappling, it tends to get frustrating after it happens a few times. Managers have this habit of continuously stepping up on the ring apron. Which gets annoying. I think that there is a way you can "consult" with them and receive some sort of boost, but they do this to me even when I am killing my opponent. More of a nag and not really that big of a deal.
**Attitude Era Mode--This mode is amazing. It has most of the main storylines and matches from the Attitude Era. The movies that are shown throughout the mode really bring back a lot of great memories. From Austin and the beer truck, there is a cutscene every few matches or so. This mode is great and I was really sad to finish it.
**WWE Universe--This mode is fun. You have free customization of everything involving WWE shows. You can create new shows, edit matchups, interfere in matches, form alliances. It really does offer endless customization. There is even an option to create a new storyline although I haven't done much with it yet.
**Create a ____ Mode--All of the create modes are very detailed. I spent several hours on my first custom superstar and although he was complete I felt like there was a lot more that I could have done. This is the mode that will really let you keep putting in the hours in this game. If you don't feel like making your own you can go on Xbox live and download other users creations. This may be only for those who have purchased the fan axxess dlc, but I am not sure.
**Xbox live--I have played a few matches and have had only minimal trouble connecting to the service. I have had a few times where the service was unavailable and a few times that there were not many people waiting in lobbies that I could not find the specific match I wanted. Overall, it is good.
I will update this review later if I have forgotton anything. This game is amazing. I know I sprinkled a few negatives throughout the review, but they do not in any way change my opinion of this game. This is a must own for wrestling fans and especially for the fan who is looking for a walk down memory lane with the Attitude era. | video-games_xbox |
Probably useful for "bass heavy" headsets. OK, so I will start off by saying I bought this adapter for the sole reason of my need for mic monitoring capabilities. I originally bought the Microsoft stereo headset not really knowing how important mic monitoring is when wearing over the ear headphones. I decided I wanted to buy a headset that had this feature but found out its really tough to find one with this capability under $200. After searching for a while I decided I would buy the Sennheiser GSP 300's (really good headset BTW for $99). However, this headset does not have mic monitoring either so I found this adapter to buy with it. On a side note, the mic monitoring feature does work on my Sennheiser headset so those who are wondering, it's not just for Turtle Beach headsets. So after using this adapter for about a week, here is my impression of the product. First off, the mic monitoring is a little lower than I would like. The adapter has three settings: off, low and high. Even on the highest volume I still feel I can't hear myself very well especially when I'm playing a game like Battlefield 1 where there is a lot of gun shots and explosions. However, when I turn the mic monitoring off I can definitely tell a difference in being able to hear my voice so I guess it's better than nothing. The other features of this adapter are the super human hearing, game preset and mic preset. Basically the SHH and the GP are supposed to enhance the sound of your headset. I could probably see this being very useful for bass heavy headsets but found it to not really help at all with my Sennheiser's as this headset already has superb high's, mids and lows. The mic preset has three settings: quiet room, normal room and loud room. I have this setting on "normal room" as I usually play at night when everyone is in bed. I haven't really noticed if this feature does anything with my mic as far as picking up any background noise. A few other things to mention, I actually received this adapter before I found out that I could just plug my new headset into the new xbox one controller and get mic monitoring that way. The down side to this is I have to control the volume, mic monitoring and game/chat volume through the xbox onscreen menu. I also noticed that when I had the mic monitoring on its highest setting when plugged into the controller I could hear a faint hissing sound through my headset. I found this to be very annoying. I did not get this sound when plugged into the adapter so I'm sure it's not my headset. The other thing I noticed when plugged into the adapter is that if I bumped my headset cord near the adapter with my hand, I could hear a "static" sound. I'm not sure if this is the adapter or the headset cord but it doesn't do it all the time. So all in all even with the ability to have mic monitoring straight from my controller I still use this adapter because I don't get the hissing sound and I have the ability to adjust the volume, mic monitoring and game/chat volume right at my finger tips. If you have a headset that may be heavier on the bass and tends to drown out the mids and highs you may find the other features of this adapter very useful. | video-games_xbox |
Halo Meets Battlefield/Call of Duty. After spending several hours this morning playing the game, I'm slightly mixed with how I feel. Note: My first comments below about Call of Duty is based on Black Ops, the only Call of Duty game I own. So references I make are from my experience with that game, and may not work with the Modern Warfare Series as I have no experience there. And as someone pointed in the comments, Battlefield is also in the mix as they did some of these things before Call of Duty. So, while I have play a good assortment of games, my wallet doesn't allow for all games haha.
CAMPAIGN
This is what I played a lot to begin with. The campaign adds something the game has been missing for awhile and that's a new breed of enemies. The past few releases had good storylines, but it was the same enemies. The covenant is still in this game, but the new breed emerges early and adds for a nice change of pace for the series. Thus far, 343 Industries has done a great job with making the campaign look nice while keeping the gameplay smooth. Also, there are new weapons. Some are good, some are not that great. But it's something different and that is what has been missing from the recent releases. The campaign has intrigued me and I'm interested to see where it goes from here.
MULTIPLAYER (You'll need to install the 2nd disc before you can play)
This is where the game becomes very similar to Battlefield/COD. Some people will probably think it is a knock off with Halo characters. The game adopted their loadout system that allows you to change between a set of primary weapons, secondary weapons, armor bonuses, and other items. These can be set in your start menu and can be swapped around in between respawns. During the game it has that feel of Battlefield/COD. It begins with the start of the match with a similar announcer and visual graphics when the match is over. You also now have the ability to drop ordinances when awarded. Similar to care package drops. This includes grenades, weapons, power boosts (increased damage and speed) and other items. Also like those games, you gain credits to buy weapons you can add to your loadouts. Purchasing armor is about the same as Halo Reach, so nothing really new there. Aside from the feel of Battlefield/COD, the multiplayer still plays very smooth and the new maps are always refreshing. It's still your well put together Halo game that the true fans like myself enjoy.
These were the two things I focused on my first go around. When I turned it off, I was semi-happy with my purchase. While the new feel to multiplayer is nice, it far too resembles those games but with Halo players. It seems obvious that 343 Industries was wanting to pull from the popular franchises. It may be to try and gain some of their faithfuls, but it's hard to tell if it is going to drive away some true Halo fans like myself. Time will tell. It may have been a bit too much. In the end, you'll be able to make your own call on whether it was similar to those games. Even the group we play with, who are big Halo fans, felt the same way. One made the comment, "This makes me feel like I should have just waited for Black Ops 2 to come out." Probably not what 343 Industries was going for. | video-games_xbox |
A good all-in-one solution for gaming. Firstly, I wanted to spend some time with this product because this is my first Astro product of any kind. I picked this up on a black Friday sale from Amazon because I really wanted the mixamp TR, but the price was very good for the A40 headset. Before I go over my pros and cons, I wanted to give a quick background of headsets I have and how the A40 compares to those headsets. For comparison purposes I mostly used wired headsets through the Mixamp TR with the exception of using a Sony Gold wireless headset to compare just the A40 without the mixamp. The headsets I used with the mixamp are the Kingston Hyper X Cloud II's, Audio Technica M50x's, Sony Gold's, and the Turtle Beach 420x. In my subjective versus mode, I found that the A40 with the mixamp (after a few custom eqs) was slightly better than the Sony Golds and much better than the TB 420x. With regards to the Cloud II's, the mixamp really has more room to push the 53mm drivers of the Cloud II's and the M50x's simply have a more defined soundstage than the A40's. To be fair, the A40's do not claim to be a hifi audiophile headset and in turn, these game just fine with comfort, quality, and durability. Out of the box I did have to totally redo my eq settings, otherwise I would have gotten immediate buyers remorse. Here are my pros and cons in my experience with the A40 and Mixamp TR.
PROs:
*The Astro A40 TR has fantastic build quality and is much like the older A40's. The headset is modular and comes stock as an open back set of cans. Comfort is top notch as I have large ears that require over ear headsets and pads.
*The mixamp TR is the real bread-winner of this set. It can make pretty much anything sound good. If you spend some time with the Astro command center and the equalizer it can drive even hifi audiophile headsets.
*Having the option of usb chat and not tethering to the controller is an excellent feature.
*Despite the Astro marketing, the xbox one version of the Mixamp TR can be used just fine with the PS4 (sound only) using a matrix pass-through that will make the mixamp work with old consoles as well. I have it passed-through to my xb 360, ps3, ps4, and xb1.
*The A40 headset has very good stereo positional audio stock w/o the amp. With the amp and the right setup, its a real treat for your ears.
*The cloth earpads on the A40 are very comfortable and this headset is good for someone with larger ears, like myself.
*Simulated surround sound is hollowed at first, but once tuned with the eq is much much better.
*Durability of both the amp and headset seems good so far. I have put many hours into the mixamp for music and gaming with zero problems.
*The usb chat seemed to work well for me, everyone in my parties say that I sound fine.
*Outperforms any of the marketed gaming headsets out there, especially anything Turtle Beach offers, even the elite 800x (very uncomfortable).
CONs:
*The price for both items together can go from 200 to 300 dollars, which is not really a great bargain.
*Astro Command center software is finicky right now. It requires me several restarts to get to work correctly.
*The A40 headset itself does not perform up to the high pricetag at retail. I only paid 59 bucks for the headset and 130 for the mixamp. The amp is worth the asking price, but both the Cloud II's and the M50x have a much better soundstage through the mixamp no matter what preset or custom eq setting I used. I understand that people love Astro and I am enjoying this headset and amp combo, but If I had to pay the full retail, I would pass on the A40 headset and just buy the mixamp. The A40's does not match the frequency response of neither the Cloud II nor the M50x.
*Future buyers may want to invest in the mixamp without the A40 headset and use a entry level hifi headset. The pricetag would be the same if not cheaper going that route.
*The modkits to make these cans closed back with more noise isolation are very expensive at this time and Astro should give gamers the option of purchasing a closed back model at retail.
My review is based solely on my experience with many gaming headsets and I am a entry level audiophile who is learning about hifi sound. I did not detract a star for my cons because this is not something that detracts from what this combo does. If you are the type of person with the funds to spend and wants an all in one solution, then this is a very top-end, heavily marketed headset. Just be aware that the A40 headset is simply not as good as a entry level hifi headset like the Cloud I or II and certainly not the M50's. Again though, the mixamp is wonderful and drives my M50x's and Cloud II's to another level, its simply that good. I will commend that the A40 has terrific positional sound on its own and should give fps and shooter fans plenty of thrills, just be aware that the A40 headset has some limitations.
I was not given anything for free to write this review, I paid for this combo out of my own pocket to give an unbiased review of this product. If my review has been helpful to you, be sure to give me a thumbs up. | video-games_xbox |
Don't buy the game... . So I bought this game for my little brother, it was a birthday present! He was so excited after unwrapping it. He couldn't wait to play... That's when the disappointment hit. First I should say I have gotten into the game for maybe tops is 5mins. The graphics are pretty neat and I was in love with the trailers, but unfortunately the game keeps kicking us out since day one! It's already been about three weeks since we bought the game. I've played blizzard games before and they've been petty damn good. (was a WOW gamer until blizzard ruined it, I also play Diablo.) This game is just horrible! I can't even play a full on game never have.. I see a lot of positive reviews about how people spend hrs. on end.. and then there are the few who have my same problem yet blizzard doesn't fix it! I first thought it was my internet connection had to call them and see what was going on. After talking to them and thinking the problem was fix I decided to give it a go again boom I was in. I couldn't believe it! As I was finally getting ready to try it out, I get discounted yet again... Really!? Like Really?! I'm to damn pissed about this game and my little brothers don't even want the game anymore which cost me 60 dollars! (btw bought the game at GAME STOP) It's a massive disappointment! I wouldn't waste your money on this game. When you look more into it like I did. I found out a couple of things, like the game hasn't been finished and it use to have multiplayer and on top of that I hear Overwatch has a new update where if you keep disconnecting you'll get a penalty! Seriously even though it's BLIZZARDS damn fault I still have to deal with this crap! I try to connect into the game every damn day and still nothing. I've written on Blizzards webpage too about the issue, and you're going to love this part! Instead of them trying to resolve it, they delete your post so people don't know about the issue! That's why I'm writing on Amazon! WORD OF ADVICE PEOPLE DON'T BUY THE GAME! You might be one of the lucky ones like me and have wasted 60 dollars for nothing!!! | video-games_xbox |
A more realistic "Modern Warfare" but no where fun as that sounds. If I had to guess the pitch Medal of Honor (MoH) development team gave to EA bigwigs, I would imagine it's something along the line of "a fast paced action first person shooter like Modern Warfare(MW) but based on real events set in real places" (namely Operation Anaconda in Shahi-kot Valley, Afghanistan, 01-02). And the concept must have been an easy sale; riding on the success of MW2 and recent surge of consumer interest in military shooters, but at the same time setting itself apart with recreating recent battles in a still-ongoing conflict. It's unfortunate that developers made too many compromises in the wrong areas to try fit the game into its initial concept of a "realistic MW" in their execution. The resulting end product appeals to neither the MW fans nor those interested in a realistic military shooter and is just generally not all that fun to play through.
In a lot of ways, restricting the game to a single real world operation really goes against what fast action-oriented FPS like MW is about. For starters, developers had to limit all levels with in the area of operation (AO) as oppose to the globe-trotting affair of MW games. The characters and enemies also aren't going to vary a lot and the plot is pretty straight forward rather than the twists and turns flexibility a completely fictional tale. Not saying a "realistic MW" would never work, but the scale has to increase and some historic accuracy needs to be sacrificed. For example, in MW's grandiose fashion, the game could easily been about the entire "Global War on Terrorism" (GWoT) told from perspective ranging from the fighter pilots that scrambled over the capital on 9/11 to coalition forces supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Instead, MoH is limited to focusing on a single operation and from viewpoints of US forces which contributed to extremely short length (4-5 hours) and the monotonous nature of the game. MW fans will be confused by the military acronyms and will find little of interests to hold their attention in MoH; they are better off playing MW2 in wait of Black Ops.
While developers choose to depart from some aspects of MW games, they stick to other elements rather uncompromisingly. MW games play out like a giant shooting gallery, sure they've some variations in gameplay, backdrops and targets, but overall they are straight forward linear shooters. Unfortunately MoH choose to follow that formula to the letter and doesn't deviate outside of it much if at all. I think the game could have benefited from a looser interpretation of MW's extremely linear gameplay. Developers could have thrown some tactical (environmental interactions, more approaches, dynamic AI etc) and strategic (unscripted fire support, dynamic objectives, long term effect to mission performance etc) elements into the mix; any options real operators have at their disposal can be and should be considered incorporated into the game. MoH, as it is now, will be dismissed by those who prefer more realistic military shooters as arcade shooter.
However MoH isn't without its redeeming factors, especially for individuals who belong to neither of the two fore-mentioned groups of gamers. The levels, albeit linear and constricted, faithfully simulate the jagged terrains of Afghan mountains. Combined with some amazing sound effects, there are some instances where I forget I was playing a game. The background story, while disjointed and filled with military jargons, is fairly true to the chronology of the real operation (though the game deliberately avoids direct references to real life people and organizations).
P.S. Couple of interesting things I observed while playing this:
- the game is called Medal of Honor, but no one received a Medal of Honor during Operation Anaconda, which the game was based on
- the Rangers were shown wearing ACU patterned fatigues and gears in game, when in fact ACU equipments did not see wide spread usage until much later
- in game, neither the AFO nor AFO CC wanted Ranger deployment in theater but argued for AMF to make up the main body of the offensive in the upcoming battle, but one of the lesson learned by Delta during Tora Bora was ineffectiveness of AMF without overwhelming coalition support and backing | video-games_xbox |
Bad review for the Bravo's. I have had a set of Turtle Beaches for the last five years, starting with the x3's. Then moved to the x41's. Which sounded good except for the hiss and pop that comes with the 2.4 gig transmitter. Most routers and baby monitors are also 2.4 gig so the interference is bad. Why would your create something when most gamer's are at least going to have a wireless router? Don't get me wrong I still love TB's but come on. They need to come out with a headset that runs on 5.8 gig transmitter, like the the Astro's already do along with the "coming soon" Tritton Warheads. Now to the Bravo's I read most reviews and should have took there advise. The sound quality is good but the in game chat is horrible couldn't hardly understand any of my gaming buddies. The active mic (lets you hear yourself) did not work TB's website said it was a problem with pairing the transmitter with the headset. Well after paired still didn't work. The presets suck. I was really looking forward to the the sonic lens preset which lets you hear foot steps better.....don't think so. Finally the constructions of is less than great. I like the fact they moved the control buttons off the wired cord (xBox 360) but was not executed great. The buttons were loose and rattled when when gaming. Which sounded like a blown speaker, really bad and nerve racking. I returned mine after a couple of days, and to Amazon for their customer service, awesome!!!!
Bottom line:
Tritton's cheaply made and bad customer service. Okay product works good while working. Have the Warheads coming out which are 5.8 gig wireless. Made my Mad Cat.
Astro's 5.8 gig wireless. Great customer service. Great sound. Pricey.
Turtle Beaches Okay construction. So so customer service. No 5.8 gig wireless. Wide selection of the same thing just with different paint. Single speaker which doesn't work well for directional finding.
I will probably get a cheap set of TB's till TB comes out with something 5.8 gig wireless plus multi speaker? Maybe the Astro's still on the fence. | video-games_xbox |
Crappy Singleplayer, Amazing Multiplayer. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (RE:ORC) has been getting a lot of hate from critics, and yet I'm giving it 5 stars. If you are wondering how I could possibly give this game a 5, read on:
First of all, I'm going to get all of the bad out of the way. If you are looking for a breath-taking, single player experience, look elsewhere. This game is barely a rental for single player only. The AI team mates die frequently even on normal, they get in your way, rarely heal you, are incapable of reviving you even though you can revive them when they go down, etc. Also, the story is only interesting to die hard RE fans who want to take a trip back to Raccoon City. The plot doesn't seem terribly interesting, the voice acting varies from ok, to downright laughable.
Whew, now that that's out of the way, let's get to the good.
Overall: The game has 5 or 6 classes. Each class has a couple of passive abilities, like reload faster, take less damage, herbs heal more, etc. and a few active abilities to choose from (you can only have one active selected when you go into the battle). There can only be one of each class on each team, and their abilities complement each other and the team well. Team work is highly important for succeeding. There is also a wide variety of guns. ARs, sub machine guns, LMGs, snipers, shotguns, and pistols. The selection is large and any class can pick any weapon (you are allowed to select one primary weapon (anything but a pistol) and a secondary pistol for back up, all you have to do is unlock the weapon using XP. XP powers everything in the game. You buy weapons and upgrade the abilities on your class to make the stronger. XP carries across all game modes, meaning if you play campaign and unlock a cool shotgun, you will be able to use the same gun in multiplayer and visa versa. Both singleplayer and multiplayer dish out experience.
Co-op: The game supports 4 player, online co-op throughout the entire campaign, with matchmaking to boot. I'd recommend playing though the entire campaign with friends or others online, as this is the way the game was meant to be played. The game still isn't spectacular with co-op, but it's definitely decent. There is a nice variety of enemies, from regular zombies, to soldiers, to B.O.W.s (lickers, tyrants, hunters, etc), and there are even some encounters with familiar faces (Leon, Claire, etc.)
Now, to the best part of the game, and the real reason I gave this game a 5/5, the versus.
Versus: All modes are online, 4 vs 4 team-based, class-based, gameplay. There are 4 modes (plus one extra mode if you want to purchase it for DLC). Survivors, which has you killing others until the helicopter arrives. The twist is, when the helicopter gets there, the heli only has 4 spots, so you have to try and get there first. Each time you die, it takes longer to respawn. Team Attack is pretty standard team deathmatch, except killing zombies gives you some points, BOWs give you a decent amount of points, and other humans give you the most points. Biohazard is pretty standard capture the neutral flag, but instead of a flag, it is a canister with the G-Virus in it. And last of all, is Heroes. Heroes allows each person to play someone iconic from the RE series.
Overall, if you want a game with solid, third-person shooting mechanics and amazing multiplayer, buy this game. If you are looking for a great singleplayer or a classic RE experience, wait for something else or rent this game. | video-games_xbox |
Halo 4: GamesScanner.com Review. (Disclaimer: Halo 4 was reviewed on Heroic difficulty, 4-Player co-op)
343 Industries has taken the reigns on Microsoft`s signature series. In the 4th installment of the Halo series, is Cortana the only one nearing the end of her life? That very well may be the case.
In Halo 4, Master Chief and Cortana awake from their slumber when the ship alerts them to the presence of what they assume to be Covenant salvagers. What evolves from here is a cat and mouse chase following a freshly awoken Forerunner. While you pursue this new threat to mankind, pretty much the only person who's backed you up or got to know you on a level higher than the few orders John gives, Cortana is slowly losing her artificial mind.
The first thing that is blatantly obvious, 343 pulled out all the stops graphically, this game looks gorgeous. The character models have been meticulously crafted. Particle effects, gun models, the environment, all have gotten an obvious HD treatment. The gameplay for the most part is similar to the series' shoot from the hip shield blasting. Halo 4 sees a few new weapons, mostly guns straight from the Forerunner's arsenal. The word new is used very loosely as most of the guns feel like reskinned versions of older models such as the SMG or the Spiker.
The game also feels how it looks, like a 2012 remake of 2007s Halo 3. The gameplay, level designs, overall flow of the campaign is almost identical to Halo 3. Clear a path, press a button. Go underground, clear some hallways, press a button. Climb a tower, press a button. Most of the gameplay, especially co-op gameplay needs work. The checkpoint system is far from consistent. Sometime teleporting players into death, or refusing to teleport players at all.
The multiplayer has been completely retooled despite the campaign feeling dated. The new take on infection mode with the use of Flood skins is refreshing. On the other hand the unlock system for weapons, emblem customization, and armor could have been a little more forgiving to the casual Halo player. Again, nothing ground-breaking, or especially noteworthy.
343 has some serious issues to work out, at the end of the campaign there is a note from the staff that implies that there are more games to come, hopefully they can learn to own the series.
Graphics - 10/10
The graphics in this game define the time in which they were made. Honestly it was hard to tell if the characters in the opening sequence were real or CG. The in-game graphics were no exception.
Soundtrack - 7/10
The sound effects, guns, and ambiance in this game are phenomenal. Classic Halo score.
Gameplay - 6/10
The gameplay itself hasn't changed since Halo 2. Yeah, you can run now but honestly that's a far cry from being cutting edge in this console generation.
Controls - 7/10
While they weren't inherently awful, they also left almost nothing to customization besides the same schemes in the series. At this point a solid FPS control layout has been created, even some near mappings are still better than the Halo defaults.
Replayability - 5/10
The game offers nothing in regards to replayability minus it's multiplayer component. We'll elaborate more in our wrap-up.
Total= 35 X 2 Final Score: 70 - C-
For a game being 5 years in the making, this game has almost nothing new to bring to the table, a shallow story, reheated multiplayer, all iced with a console generation old gameplay style. Halo 4 is the result of a new developer tackling a cherished IP so cautiously that they come off as an imitation. At this point, Halo could follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty and become the Madden and 2K franchises of the FPS genre. Halo 4 has no relevance in it's campaign. With it's numerous, gigantic plot-holes it felt like an after-thought to the multiplayer.
For those who are saddened by this news, know you are not alone... | video-games_xbox |
Incredible Game, highly addictive, wonderful port. I was blown away that Counter-Strike for the Xbox is just as fun and playable as it's PC cousin. There are some cons that will keep PC snobs away, but there are some serious benefits, lots of them. Newcomers should definitely check this game out, CS is the most popular online action game for 3 years straight because it is superbly balanced and highly addictive fun, faster than Rainbow Six but not out-of-control like Unreal Championship, CS actually rewards teamwork in lots of subtle ways. However, I will warn you - don't expect to see the magic until you've been playing on Live for a day or two. You NEED Live to get anything out of this game.
The most important thing- Microsoft nailed the controls exactly right. It feels totally natural and fits perfectly with the needs of this game. I never once felt frustrated with the controls or felt like I was "losing" something from the console port, if you know what I mean. Sometimes the control limitations of console ports total change the way you play the game, but not in this case. Bravo. Other "cons" of not playing on a PC actually serve to equal the playing field for everyone. The low resolution might give many PC players a headache, but it gives scopes an actual purpose now. On the PC I had my resolution cranked so high I never used a scope. The controls mean that no one can whip 180 degrees and get a head shot on you in 1/10th of a second, something I've seen many many times before. Protecting your flanks is more important. The only thing I really miss is being able to play any map I want, especially some of the older favorites like Assault. The game does comes with 20 maps, though, 2 unlockable with Live, including the awesome "Office".
Second, the bots are amazing, probably the best bots I've ever seen in any game. Most of the time I can't even tell it's not a human being playing. They work as a team, use effective strategy for each map, and react realistically to the changes that swing thru each round. They really capture all the strange quirks you see human players do (you spend a lot of time watching other ppl play CS, but don't worry, it's fun) They are awesome for practice, but not much else. They are still bots, they tend to be very single-minded. You aren't going to formulate some crazy strategy with them or laugh about a wild kill.
Single player options are so sparse the developers seem kinda lazy. They made incredible bots but no kind of story or even a ladder to motivate new players, just endless practice matches. These are fun but rather limiting. Customization is lacking too- you can't do simple things like change bot names or have teams with different numbers of bots, like 4 against 6. Big letdown here. System Link forces you to have a separate disk/Xbox/TV per player. There is no spilt-screen of any kind, another huge disappointment. This game is beginning for Halo-like multiplay, but Live is the only practical option. Live rocks though. You won't find the rampant cheating that you see in the PC community, and almost everyone has headsets, very helpful in a game that requires so much teamwork. The community is still pretty big and seems very dedicated. I don't think it will drop off anytime soon. So in the end, CS is a very focused game that does a few things very well, and I recommend hardcore gamers give it a go. | video-games_xbox |
The Most Productive Fun Game EVER. Before getting into my review, here is an important tip:
AUDIO LAG!!! If you are experiencing audio lag, the problem is the HDMI cable. You need to run the audio from the RCA (red and white) cables through the tv, headphones, or an external stereo/surround sound system. Doing so will fix the annoying audio lag problem I'm sure most people will experience. So if you buy the game, don't forget about this tip!
Here is a little background about myself to support my experience playing the game:
I am a musician and I've played guitar for a number of years. However, I've always played basic rhythm guitar. I never got around to learning scales, solos, power chords, ect... only regular chords for rhythm.
Now for the game. I have only played it for about 2 hours so far, and I am really enjoying the experience. I'm a pretty busy person, and I often feel guilty when playing video games because even though I do enjoy playing, I feel like it eats up time I could use for more productive activities. Finally, I have a game that I don't have to feel bad about playing for hours on end! I am a worship leader at a church, so guitar is part of my job. Not only is this game fun to play, but I can see how it is going to help my abilities on guitar grow tremendously! The interface is similar to Rockband or Guitar Hero, but the developers did a superb job at modifying the familier interface to work well with a real guitar. It may feel awkward at first, but stick with it, and you will get it. After a few songs, I felt like I was playing Guitar Hero, and it was mind boggling to think I was playing a real guitar. Considering I already have experience playing, the game felt oversimplified starting out, but it was still worth playing to get a feel for the interface. It didn't take long for the game to start getting a little challenging. The game adjusts on the fly to how well you are playing, so don't worry what level player you are. If you have never played guitar before, it will keep things simple for you. If you are an expert on guitar, it may take a little longer, but it will adjust to your skill level. There is so much to say about the game, but I'm limited on time. I just wanted to get a quick review out for anyone considering the game so that you can know this is a game worth buying. If you have any desire to learn or improve on guitar, BUY THIS GAME!! If you have a hard time getting motivated to practice your guitar, BUY THIS GAME!!! If you loved the Rockband and Guitar Hero games, then BUY THIS GAME and quit waisting your time on a plastic toy!!! | video-games_xbox |
Real Review. Going to start by saying that I played Dark Souls for several years, running around on multiple characters, and I played Dark Souls 2 since it's release and am only just posting a review (giving myself time to experience the whole game before posting).
Don't let the three star rating fool you, I loved almost every aspect of this game. The scenery, the fights, the storyline; there were very few things I didn't absolutely love about this game. There is one major flaw in the game however which cost it two stars in my eyes and in truth, eventually caused me to stop playing altogether, but I'll mention that flaw in the cons.
Pros:
1) Attention to detail in this game is overall amazing. The graphics are seemingly identical to the graphics of Dark Souls, but the lack if enhanced graphics is mitigated by the scenery and attention to detail in regards to the environments. It's obvious that the developers spent countless hours designing and building each map. Where a lot of games these days have areas that are obviously just thrown together quickly for the sake of having "more areas to explore", you won't find any areas in Dark Souls 2 that are not well designed and serve no real purpose.
2) Character customization is a big thing in Dark Souls 2. While you're encouraged to use specific armor sets because of stat bonuses, a lot of players prefer to play "Fashion Souls". You have hundreds of combinations to choose from in regards to armor and weapons, and the game is designed so that most armor and weapons can be used efficiently in pve and pvp. You can be one of those guys who runs around in full Havel's all the time, or you can dress as you want as long as you're willing to experiment and pay attention to the requirements for the gear you want to wear.
3) Combat in Dark Souls 2 is fluid and entertaining. If you're a button masher, you'll probably hate the combat system in this game, but for those who take the time to learn the combinations and find their combat style, you can take on pretty much anything. I have a soul level 1 character who's beaten the first playthrough and has killed his fair share of dragon covenant players who are level 150. Elemental weapons are not as over powered as they were in Dark Souls, which means low level players will only do so much damage, while higher level players will do a lot more damage. It takes my lvl 1 character about a dozen hits to kill players who can usually 1hko me.
4) Storyline is more graspable and not quite as open to imagination as it was in Dark Souls. While still well played out and even open to interpretation in areas, the lore in Dark Souls 2 is not as vague as it was in Dark Souls so those that love the lore will actually be able to understand it without having to fill in the gaps themselves.
5) Coop is exciting and actually beneficial. A lot of games these days are straying from coop campaign, but Dark Souls 2 delivers with an almost entirely coop campaign where up to three players can play with each other.
Cons: Time to find out why this game only got 3/5 stars from a veteran who clearly loves the game.
1) Soul memory is the sum of all the souls you've collected throughout your character's life. It's money, plain and simple, used to buy weapons, armor, items, and level ups. Soul memory is the main reason this game only gets a 3/5 in my eyes, and it's the same reason I've actually told my friends not to buy the game. Soul memory dictates which players can play with each other, allowing players with similar levels of soul memory to play with each other while preventing them from playing with people who are too low or too high in comparison to them. This means if you buy the game and play it, then your friend buys it a couple days later, you can't play with your friend unless you stop playing and wait for him to farm his way up to your soul memory. It also means that players who are literally hundreds of levels higher than you can invade you. The more you play, the less likely you are to be invaded or summoned until eventually multiplayer is all but impossible (I know, I have four characters).Soul memory also counts the souls you've lost from dying, which means everytime you die you are periminately handicapped in multiplayer because you've spent less souls on gear and levelling than the guy who's probably invading you wearing full havel and 50+ levels higher than you.
2) From talks about how they want to prevent trolling, and yet they literally make it mandatory to troll. Titanite chunks are a rare item to farm, you will (guaranteed) run out of monsters to kill before you're finished upgrading your gear. The only way to get them after this is to use an ascetic to respawn the monsters (which bumps that area up to the next playthrough difficulty) or join the Belfry covenant. The Belfry covenant is a covenant with two map zones where exploring players will be invaded by members of the covenant literally every few seconds. You will get invaded, and you will get invaded by another phantom while dealing with the one who's already invaded you, and there is no level restriction on invaders. My level 1 character gets invaded by level 100s while my level 150 can invade levels much lower than me (lowest confirmed was level 30). Every time an invader kills his target he gets a titanite chunk, and this is by far the most efficient way to farm chunks, but it means that when the time comes that you want to clear those two maps, you're liable to be invaded by up to two invaders who will most likely be much, much higher level than you, and that's assuming you don't get invaded by a red phantom while fighting the two grey phantoms who've invaded you as I've had happen before. Yes, for those who've read this far, that means you can be invaded by up to three players, two of whom have no restrictions on who they can invade. From basically states "we want to prevent trolling" and yet they made it manditory (and I've only listed one of the two covenants designated for trolling) | video-games_xbox |
This is Why I Prefer My Xbox Over my Playstation. I have purchased every major console ever released in the US, with the one exception being the Wii U and I will probably buy that one as well somewhere down the line. When it comes to the companies themselves, I have no preferences. I understand that competition in the marketplace actually benefits gamers substantially as it keeps prices down and it spurs innovation. I have no favorites, I simply want access to the best games of each generation, regardless of what platform they are on. That being said, I definitely prefer gaming on my Xbox over my Playstation and it has absolutely nothing to do with liking one company more than the other and everything to do with the controller. I have never been a big fan of Sony's dual shock controller. While it works ok, I am just not a fan of the ergonomic aspect of the controller, at all! I start getting cramps in as little as 2-3 hours of gaming. Maybe its just me, but it just doesnt fit my hands well at all.
Enter the Xbox 360, which had the single best controller I have ever used before. Ergomically, it was nothing short of brilliant. It just fit perfectly, like the controller was an extension of your hand. I can game for 8+ hours straight on my 360 and I never have problems with hand cramps or fatigue. In over 30+ years of gaming, its without question the single best controller I had ever used. Its pretty amazing considering the controller the original Xbox had. MS just did an outstanding job designing the XBox 360 controller and its for this reason that I always purchased multiplatform games for my 360.
I will openly admit, I was really nervous when I heard that MS was making some changes to the Xbox 360 controller for the Xbox One. Except for the D Pad, which obviously needed improving, the controller was already perfect for me. When I heard that over 40 changes had been made, I really started to panic. How do you make 40 legimate improvments to a controller that was already near perfect? I thought for sure they were going to screw it up. Well, thankfully I am here to tell you that they definitely didn't screw it up. In fact, once again they have managed to make the most impressive controller I have ever seen. Basically, MS took a near perfect controller and....well, made it perfect.
First and foremost, I am thankful to say that the D Pad issues are now a thing of the past. The D Pad on the XBox One controller is top notch, exactly what the D Pad should have been on the 360 controller. It is highly responsive and is just a VAST improvment over the 360 D Pad. Ergonomically, the controller is better than ever and this was the one aspect of the new controller I was really nervous about. I though the overall shape of the 360 controller was absolutely perfect. I honestly didn't think it was possible to improve upon it, but I was definitely wrong. They took the 360 controller, made some small refinements to the overall size and shape and the end result, while small, is still an overall improvement. It feels better than ever in your hands. One of the best aspects of this redesign is definitely the batteries. The batteries no longer stick out at the bottom of the controller, they completely disappear inside the controller. This makes the underside of the controller far more comfortable. In all honesty, the batteries never really bothered me with the 360, but this is definitely a big improvment on this front. Putting the batteries on the inside, as opposed to attaching them to the underside by a small pack, just makes the controller that much more ergonomic and ultimately that much more comfortable to use.
Another big improvment is the addition of the new vibrating impulse triggers. Motors in each trigger provide precise gaming feedback. It may not sound like a big deal, but it really is a significant improvment over the 360 triggers. These motors can be used to give feedback in a variety of different gaming situations and are really a step forward in regards to the tactile aspects of handheld controllers. The thumbsticks now have a soft rubbery textured feel to them, which makes your fingers stick to the thumbesticks. While small, this is actually one of my favorite aspects to the new controller. The thumbsticks are just really comfortable on your finger tips.
The bottom line - MS has taken what was arguably the best controller ever made and made it even better. All in all, there are over 40 improvements in total, which is pretty incredible considering just how good the 360 controller really was. I didn't think it was even possible to improve upon it, yet MS has found over 40 ways to do just that and in the end, they make the Xbox One controller a legitmate improvement over the Xbox 360 controller. If your a fan of the XBox 360 controller, odds are you will absolutely love the XBox One Controller. In my opinion, its the single best controller ever designed. MS may have made some mistakes out of the gate with the XBox One, but the redesign of the Xbox 360 controller was absolutely not one of them. All in all, this is just an absolutely brilliant gaming controller.
5 Stars and then some!! | video-games_xbox |
Best as a Party Game. I would have to say that this game isn't very fun as a 1 player game unless you're in preschool. My 2 kids, ages 3 and 5, laugh their butts off when they smack and kick the rabbid around our living room. It's one of their favorite games. I do have an issue with the fact that occasionally the rabbid runs off screen and makes a bunch of weird noises for what seems to be an exorbitantly long time. It is probably a glitch. You can either wait for the rabbid to come back or you can restart the game. We usually just wait.
There are some 2 player games as well. I haven't had a chance to try them all out yet. There is something to point out about the ones that I have tried. The directions that the game gives are not really that great. I am usually confused about what to do at first. Some of the games took me a couple of tries to figure out what I was supposed to do. Some of the games were fun, some weren't. It's just a matter of preference on my part though.
I didn't buy this game to play at home though. I bought it to play as a party game. Some of my other friends and family have an Xbox360 with Kinect as well, so I take the game over to their house to play at gatherings. I really like that you can have 3-16 players. It's perfect for some of our family gatherings. There are different things that the game has each player do and they are pretty random. This includes anything from answering a visual question to moving your butt back and forth to erase the squiggly line. You may have to move your face back and forth to slurp up a spaghetti noodle, or move your head up and down to lick a chocolate cake off a rabbid's face. Watching people preform the tasks are hysterical. What could be better than watching your mother-in-law try to erase a line with her butt or watching a nephew or niece try to bounce up and down to squeeze all of the air out of an inflatable bouncing pony on a treadmill? And of course the pictures the game takes are funny too. Some of the pictures might be blackmail worthy.
There is another party game that is for 3-16 players as well, but I haven't had a chance to play it yet. I believe that the second party game is a little more competitive and there are opportunities to go head-to-head with other players. Some, if not most, of the head to head games are the same as the 2 player games.
So, to wrap things up, the 3-16 player games are great for parties or family gatherings. Not so great for 1 player unless you like to smack invisible rabbits around your living room. The two player games are a toss-up as to if you will like them or not. I do take issue with the fact that there is something to be desired as far directions for game play go, but you can figure them out. It's just annoying to not have clear directions. Or you could look on the bright side. In a large multiplayer game, it might be advantageous to be the only one who really knows what to do. | video-games_xbox |
3.5 stars for now. I just received my ModSticks Pro's and Fusion grips.
#1. My first impression was disappointing. First, the packaging is nothing like what you see on the website. These are just in heat sealed bags and not the cutout foam you see on the website. That diminished the first impression...ultimately not a huge deal since it would all end up in the trash anyway.
#2 - I ordered the green but these are nowhere near the green you see on the web. They are considerable less vivid a green than I expected. I wrestled back and forth between green and blue and now regret not getting blue because this green is pretty dull.
#2.1 - The green on the "Fusion grips" are a different green from the whole kit. They are actually closer perhaps to the green I was expecting. Perhaps as I have seen mentioned in another review "the fusion grips" should be the standard ones, not sure yet...gotta get some game time on them and I will update this opinion after some use...
#2.2 - The spacers are NOT GREEN. They are silver, blue and black. Fail. They should match. No reason not to for a product at this price point.
#2.3 - Given the apparent inconsistency in their anodizing process you might just order black or silver.
#3 - Everyone that has said so far to watch the video are for the most part right on. The included "directions" if you can call them that, are just an exploded view of the controller. I follow these kinds of instructions pretty well but in this case I had already watched the video while waiting on them to arrive so that influenced may have my opinion of the included literature.
#3.1 - They included several optional length set screws, three of each. It seems like that's not necessary. Perhaps it was to give you height options on the D-pad joystick but I don't know why you would need/want that since the concept as a whole is brand new to us all. The fault in the design here is that the threading goes all the way through the D-pad and if any part of the set screw goes thru then you cannot screw the D-pad down properly. Later, the only thing stopping the screw will be the plastic piece of the original D-pad that you keep with the ModSticks...could be a problem later if that screw digs into the plastic below. If you bottom the medium length set screw into the joystick is protrudes through the D-pad. The shortest set is the only one that does not protrude but it also does not bottom in the joystick. Minor fail on the design here.
#3.2 - The directions do not say, well, anything but the video said to thread the set screws into the parts that are internal to the controller shell first. I suggest it might be better to bottom them into to the grip instead. I think that you might tighten them in the grip tighter with the wrench to have the connection to the controller be the finger tight part to avoid getting the wrong end stuck in the future. It would also I think be better for the set screws to have the hex on both ends in the event that later when/if changing the grips the set screw stays un-hexed side out making it difficult to extract. Perhaps have the threaded hole go all the way through the grips...that may be the easiest thing to fix and prevent stuck set screws...could make the set screws actual torx screws instead. In fact replace the Philips screws on the D-pad with torx as well and you are down to a one tool install rather than the three we have now. That will make the spiffy tool included seem more useful since you pay for it, need it or not.
#3.3 - That tool. Nice and all but some of us have one already. Even if we don't, if we are doing more than one controller we don't need but one tool yet we have to buy it for each set...presumably an additional $9.99 (what it sells for alone) per extra set that we don't need. Don't include it and knock down the cost of these by that amount. Winning idea there if I do say so myself...and I did!
#4 - I must say that even though the color is terrible the look pretty sharp. They feel smooth and fit is good. The D-pad has a tiny amount of wiggle that I didn't feel on the plastic one but that could be skewed by the joystick and also is probably not an issue anyway. I think the included grips feel pretty nice...need to get them warmed up with an hour or two of thumb sweat to see if they get slick but I suspect they will be better than stock in any event. We will see.
#5 - I will report back with playability impressions after I put a few hours on them...for now I have to give them 3.5 stars based on what I have listed so far... | video-games_xbox |
Great addictive gameplay. This game has great, absolutely addictive and fun gameplay. With the destruction engine, you never ever have to worry about finding a door or stairs to reach your target. The assault pattern can vary on any way you want and especially with a jetpack, there is just a lot of different ways to approach a mission. The enemy AI isn't dumb and they come from all over the place. Mars is beautiful with imaginative vehicles and landscape. However, the main setback is the large amount of driving and running that is required to get from mission to mission. The other major thing is that it's very undercooked in the story section.
First of all, the destruction engine is really good. The destruction is limited to buildings, walls and pipings and such. The vehicle destruction is the same as other games - it explodes after a certain amount of damage. The landscape cannot be destroyed - so no tunneling through the mountains and such. However, the building destruction is really great - it also has the strategic advantage that in a firefight, one can make a hole in the hall and run out of the building. The main advantage of the destruction model is that it radically changes combat. Instead of running around buildings, just make a hole in the building and hide in one of the rooms for a while or just keep blasting. The main character doesn't have a stamina meter for running or sledgehammering so the sledgehammer is going to be your favorite weapon as it doesn't run out of ammo. This is clearly the strongest aspect of the game. The approach to missions aren't limited to a frontal assault through front door. You don't have to memorize the building structure or pathways since chances are with different approaches the building structure will be affected differently.
The bad part of the game is the repetitive amount of running and driving that is required - to get to missions and as part of missions. In Fallout 3 and other such games, once you've been somewhere you can quickly go there. It's only possible to do that with safe houses and sometimes the mission objectives are really far away from the safe houses. This involves driving over and over again which can get really annoying and repetitive.
I love how the landscape is mountainous and approaches to a target can be from different angles and elevations, however some mountains have invisible walls and have places where there seems to be a bump to stand on but it's not really there. The mountains really increase the driving time since there is a lot of driving around the mountain but it's not always clear when you can scale up the mountain and when there's an invisible wall. But, it's not a big problem.
Finally, the other shortcoming of the game is that it has very little story and character development. It's so hard to care about anything since most of the missions are one man missions. Fallout 3 managed to infuse a large amount of humanity to the game but RFG eschews all of that. People die, people say momentous things but you can't really get yourself to care about it besides the next mission parameters. During the whole process of liberation of Mars, there is only 3-4 people that you even know the names of. The rest are just interchangeable people.
I really wish the game had was some aerial attacks. There are planes in the game but only enemy planes.
Overall, I think this is a great game. It lacks a bit on the story and character development but it does have great gameplay and an imaginative and beautiful Mars. I would recommend this game. | video-games_xbox |
It's just more of the same, only it's gotten worse. Ill skip over a lot of what's been said and try to keep this short and concise.
I truly felt this game was an utterly pointless sequel to a franchise that has been going steadily downhill for years now. It adds nothing new, nothing interesting or fresh to the series at all. It is basically just resident evil 5 all over again, only it somehow feels more stale, less interesting and less like resident evil. Its action based over scare based. They removed over the years any sense of terror or suspense instead going with the modern day version of horror being loud noises and stuff jumping out like it's a carnival spook house.
The game literally feels like a 3rd person version of house of the dead where you basically move from linear corridor to linear corridor where monsters popup and you shoot them, that's it. A lot of times you'll stand there and there is obviously nothing at all in front of you, then lighting flashes and suddenly there is a zombie there. You're walking along and they slide out of dir ducts, popup out of the ground or a body just laying there leaps out at you when you get close. And the worst part about that is its all so predictable, you can see everything long before it happens.
The story (I won't go into details and spoil anything) is horribly bad and needless. It feels so forced that it's just plain awful. It's an obvious poorly conceived notion put in place just to make another sequel and nothing else. It has no originality, nothing that actually adds to the resident evil mythos, nothing is explained that needs to be explained. And the characters are either ones from previous games used purely because they are recognizable or new ones added that haven't the slightest shred of originality to them or intrigue and are basically just cookie cutter characters that are very two dimensional. Everything also happens so fast and with no logical or even reasonable reason I can't get into it. "Oh no I'm trapped, wait this stranger says a bus is coming to save us, and look here it is, now were driving down the road and crash". That's essentially how the entire game goes along. It's like each section and each scene in the game are broken up with no fluidity between them. If you ever heard an 11 year old kid try to tell you about something that happened to him when he is all excited that's what resident evil 6's story is like. Or "Hey look a woman in a white cocktail dress is laying in this bottomless cavern that has been sealed for decades we had to open ourselves with no one or nothing else around. Oh its my sister, quick we have to help her".
The quick time events are back and worse than ever. You are constantly waggling a stick, button mashing, pushing button combos or whatever for no reason at all. Even something as stupid as during a cut scene you're getting away in a car and during the scene you have to push a button to make the car move. You don't steer, you don't drive, you don't do anything because you're not controlling anything but it still makes you push a button, just one button just so the cut scene will continue.
The combat is awful. It's basically just like gears of war, only with less polish and it's harder to use because it's so clunky. You're body takes up too much of the screen, especially when backed against a wall. The shooting feels stiff. Trying to hit something that is close but not directly in front of you is a pain. Just all in all the combat is horrible and I don't know how many times I died simply because moving around and shooting were so sluggish and poorly designed. And the cover system is awful since it will switch your perspectives, stick you to walls you don't want to be on, move the camera to a position you cant see anything, if an enemy gets in too close it is hard to get off the wall to fight them and so on.
I can't recommend this game at more than 10 dollars and even then I'd just say "if you played resident evil 4 and 5 then you played this already". I paid 20 and I feel like I wasted my time and money on it. | video-games_xbox |
This may be the best current-gen game I've yet played. I've been idly wondering if this is the best current-gen game I've played. It has incredibly awesome depth to the gameplay, but the place where it has a leg up on the Bioshocks and Devil May Cry's is in its story and characters. The only other game I've played in the past year and a half which has hooked me to its story and characters so much is Phoenix Wright 3. Everything else, with the possible exception of the Orange Box, has been simply "fun to play", but nothing that has me laughing one moment and sad the next, nothing that has me looking forward to the next cutscene just so I can see where the plot will go next, what the characters will do. I found out a few days ago that Lost Odyssey was written by a famous author, so....that explains it.
***EDIT****
The above paragraph is what happens when you excitedly write a review for a game when you've only played 2 discs out of 4. I had the gameplay down, so that part of the review is fine. But the story, which was so involving in the first two discs (as apparent from my frothing love for it) completely, utterly failed to live up its early promises. From the first two discs, you think you're in for a tale full of truly adult themes (like the death of your mother or child), which is why it is so horrendous that it completely devolves into "The Bad Guy went South! We must Stop Him!" and (paraphrasing): "Sarah, the path ahead is blocked with ice. Will you be our fire rod?" in the last two discs. Unfortunately I can't change the star rating for my review, but rest assured it would have went down at least one star. It's still fun to play, but in an RPG, you get your fill of the gameplay after 40-50 hours...and when the plot is this bad, there's not much incentive to go ahead and even finish the game.
Gameplaywise, it's a traditional turn-based RPG, with incredible depth. It has a fun timing-based attack system, but only if you equp a Ring to your character. Of course, you can assemble Rings on your own, determining what kind of effects it'll have on your character's attack. You can switch Rings around mid-battle, so you can change your sword from a water-based attack (complete with droplets gushing out of the sword), to a fiery blade, depending on what kind of enemy you're going to attack next.
The same goes for skills and spells. You can equip Accessories (which show up on your character in cutscenes and such) that teach your character skills. Immortals can learn these skills permanently, but anyone who has the Accessory equipped can use the skill it provides. This lends the system a kind of Final Fantasy X-2 feel, with everyone capable of obtaining access to high-level magic spells...so long as you're willing to give up whatever previous Accessory you had equipped on them.
To prevent the Immortals from becoming godly beings (at least early in the game), each Immortal has "skill slots", which you can equip a skill in. You can find things called Skill Seeds throughout the game, which creates a new skill slot for the Immortal you gave it to.
The incredibly fun strategic gameplay, along with the awe-inspiring music (Nobou Uematsu can do no wrong), means that if you're even slightly interested in traditional turn-based RPGs, if you have any fond memories of any of the Final Fantasy games, or Chrono Trigger, or Suikoden....you owe it to yourself to try this one out. Just go in there knowing the plot falls flat on its face about halfway through the game. | video-games_xbox |
One Of The Best Shooters EVER. This was the first game I ever got for my xbox and it was the main reason for me buying an xbox in the first place. I had heard so much about this game from friends and at school that I was amazed at how a game could be as good as they said it was. Amazingly, it was better. Not just better, but miles better than any other game I had ever played in my life. As soon as I started the first level I was addicted and blown away at the same time at how fun this game actually was. The fantastic choice of weapons ( my favorite being the psitol), The stunning graphics, the outstanding AI (mainly the marines but also the enemy's on hard or legendary), the great vehicles, including the warthog and the banshee, and the massive ineractive levels made this game stand out from the rest and added to the superbly fun gameplay. I mean, you could play this game for hours and not get bored of it, it is that fun. To top it all off, Halo has probably got the best soundtrack of any game ever, including chilling music when you first encounter the flood, and fast paced lively music when you are just killing the heck out of the covenant. I especially like killing the grunts. Another thing I love about this game are the various comments (some hilarious) made by both marines and enemy's depending on their situation. My favorite being when I shot a marine and he said "Hey, do I owe you money?." The enemy's also say things like. "they're everywhere", and "we're all gonna die." The storyline is another excellent feature: it is interesting and has many twists that keep you invovled in the game.
Now, I think the multiplayer mode in this game is the main reason for its outstanding replay value and it differs from most other games. The multiplayer on Halo is just the most amazingly fun part of the game and with the hundreds of different things you can do, it never gets boring. I mean, you can have catre the flag, deathmatch, slayer, king of the hill, oddball, and many more options in which you can customise the weapons, the vehicles, the frags etc. PLaying split screen against 3 other friends is something ehich you can literrally do for days and still not get bored.
Another great feature of this game is the Cooperative play which lets you and a friend play the actual campaign mode together both as the master chief. This is great for hours of endless fun and is you are finding one level particularly hard, you can just get a friend and play it together.
Anyone who says this game is boring don't know what they are talking about. I have had this game for about 2 years now and I still cant get enough of it. I play at least a few hours everyday when I can, and if I with my friends this is the only thing we play. The only thing I don't like about Halo is the level "The Library" which I have played once ( as opposed to Assualt on the Control Room which I have played at least 50 times) and was so glad to get rid of the same endless hallway one after another that I never played it again. Apart from that it is definitly the best game out for xbox and it is a must for anyone with an xbox. The violence and blood is nowhere near as much as gta or other "M" rated games so i would recommend it for anyone over 13. If you are thinking of halo 2, get this one first ( i am one of the few who think that Halo is better than Halo 2) and enjoy the hours of endless fun. | video-games_xbox |
So Close to 5 Stars. The quality of this bag bypasses any traveler I've had for a console or laptop. In fact, although it is certainly bulkier than a laptop bad I'm tempted to replace my current one with one of these. I did in fact already order the PS4 version to replace the frighteningly terrible version I currently have.
For the most part I am exceptionally pleased with this one as the construction is very sturdy. The padding is ample enough that mild bumps here and there will never concern me. There is also plenty of space for most of your items. It's the "most" part that costs this pouch the fifth star for me.
For most buyers this tote is going to be a 5 Star bag. That is because most users will not be toting with more than one controller, and are even less likely to have their Kinect tag along (because they likely do not own one). For those of us that are looking to bring along more than one controller, the Kinect, and maybe even an external drive: we are going to find things get pretty cramped in the satchel.
Since I was taking advantage of the included pouch for the Kinect the first thing I noticed I lacked space for was the power brick. In hindsight I have now noticed that the power brick never made it into any of their example images. If you were to take out the Kinect pouch or just simply use it to carry the power supply it would be problem solved. However, if you do want to bring it along the only remaining option ends up being the external pouch. Using that stretches that location to its limits, and makes it difficult to close the clasp. That is never a good thing as over-cramped bags get worn out much faster as zippers, clasps, and seams have too much pressure on them.
Personally, I think a side pouch on the console side the bag would have done the trick to house the power brick, and that would have landed this bag a 5 Star rating from a power user's standpoint. Again, I think it is fair to say that my space needs are greater than a vast majority of purchasers, and for most of you I feel this will be the perfect carrying case for your Xbox One. | video-games_xbox |
Nothing 'Broken' about it. Before I get into my review I'd like to preface with some quick side notes that don't affect my rating:
1. The Amazon product images as of this writing are unrelated to this item (other than the same publisher: Kalypso). I was nervous about ordering this item because of this, but I did receive the actual DarkStar One game.
2. I've been a serious gamer for over 20 years.
3. I have never played the original PC version (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/DarkStar-One-DVD-Rom/dp/B000H3HK3U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">DarkStar One (DVD-Rom)</a>) of this game.
DarkStar One (DSO from here on) is a surprisingly fun space shooter that manages to defy traditional game classification. Is it action? Is it an rpg? Is it an adventure? Is it a space shooter? All of these descriptions fit in some way, and all are used to describe the game in its own marketing, but DSO doesn't seem to favor any one of them. This makes for an interesting and unique gaming experience that doesn't come along very often. The game seems to subtly adjust around around your playing style based on the missions you decide to take on.
If you want some action then get out there and hunt down some space pirates. It seems like the more you hunt down pirates, the more the game throws them at you.
If you want some "rpg" then scour the 300+ solar systems for artifacts to "level" your ship up. The rpg elements in DSO are geared specifically towards upgrading your ship as opposed to your character in traditional rpg style.
If you want some adventure then follow the main/side story lines to solve a mystery surrounding your father's death.
There are even elements of economic management as you can buy/sell trade goods from "Trade Stations" located in every solar system.
Above all, however, DSO's greatest achievement is its potential to function as a great casual game or a game to dive into head first and get lost in for hours. Whether you want to kill a little time with some mindless action or bunk off from school/work to spend the day with DSO...either way, it can deliver. This is fairly rare in video games, IMHO.
But all is not perfect in the world of DSO. Despite the marketing boasts of 1080P for the xbox 360 version, the cut scenes seem like they didn't get a makeover for this port. Personally this doesn't really bother me, and I didn't rate accordingly. Just fair warning that the cut scenes are a bit dated. Other than that the graphics are great with excellent frame rates. Also, space battles can be a bit repetitious but they're still tons of fun. Finally, my number one complaint, and the reason I couldn't give DSO 5 stars: the controls.
Slightly unintuitive but relatively easy to master. The controls are good enough but leave room for improvement. You set your "Basic Propulsion" (your cruising speed, essentially) by holding the left trigger and moving the right stick up (100%) or down (0%). But you can temporarily adjust your speed on-the-fly by moving the right stick up or down *without* holding the left trigger. It sounds strange in print, and it took some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it things start to make sense. But the control scheme fails with its minimalist approach to customization. You can adjust stick sensitivity and invert Y-axis, but that's about it. I would have given this game 5 stars with much more in-depth control customization.
Great game at bargain bin pricing. | video-games_xbox |
For any Simpsons Lover. Period. I do so love this game! Ironically, I hate Grand Theft Auto with all my guts, so to love a rip-off of it...
But never mind that. I have gotta say, playing this game is just like watching the episodes. All these jokes, the locations, characters, and obscure refrences like the Book Burning Van are here, and if you take time to drive around in between missions, you'll find plenty of hillarious stuff. One of my favorites is a Krusty Burger sign that says "Try our new popcorn shrimpy things". The cast are all voiced by the real cast from the show, which really adds to the game. Especially when Homer hits enough objects and starts singing "I am evil Ho-MER! I am evil Ho-MER!". I swear I never get tired of that.
And the enviroments are HUGE. It must have taken months, perhaps years, to get the game this highly detailed. It all looks like the show, except 3-D. The first level, I probably would have gotten lost if there hadn't been the convinent arrows pointing you to the next mission. Later on, I realized it's basicaly a big loop, but it's long enough that it takes on the appearance of a real city. One small gripe is that you start playing the same levels at Level 4, but if they made custom enviroments for those levels, it would have probably take another two years to make the game. So I'm content.
The story is pretty zany and great, and I'm only at Level 5 of 7(I've had it for a week). It just gets better and better as you play. Now, you could just zip through the missions and be done, but I like to procede at a more exploring pace, so I'm still working my way through the game. Mysterious happenings are occuring all over Springfield, and the Simpsons get wrapped up in them when Homer investigates and Bart is abducted. Even though you're running around, doing all these pointless missions, the story connects them together well. There's some variety to the missions, but basically, you'll start doing the same things over again.
Overall, if you're at all a fan of The Simpsons, I highly recommend. It's so true to the show, you'll swear you're watching another episode of it. | video-games_xbox |
Perfect, Very Stable, Cannot Imagine Anything Better. <div id="video-block-R2K99EKBOHB1C6" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/E1ltkfZ2eiS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61fFM3hBJcS.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> This really is perfect for LCD and other thin TVs. I cannot even imagine it working any better than this. It is stable as can be, more stable than my TV itself. It is adjustable but holds firm to adjustments. It uses no adhesives and will not mark up your TV with tape or residue. It makes a very stable platform and the Kinect sensor very easily locks on firmly on and removes easily by holding two buttons. I have used it on both my LG 52" LCD TV and my Vizio 47" LCD TV. It is quite easy to move it and re-adjust it too.
It can expand the main assembly by double its default width by holding the back 2 buttons and it slides out further. The whole back arm rotates down, but ratchets loudly and securely so that it will not release on its own. The back arm has a wide rubber contact to add some grip. The front is just a plastic edge with no adhesive or rubber so it only intends to hold onto the front but not mark up or leave residue on your TV frame. The sensor easily fits and locks firmly by holding the two front buttons and slipping it on, or slipping it off and then releasing.
Before this, there was only that other TV mount with terrible reviews that had arms to reach down the back of your TV and reach mount points which fit few TV sets well if at all. Or you needed a wall mount and anchors and wasn't suited for corner TVs. Or you needed to stand the Kinect below or in front which limits your play space more. Or what lots of people did was buy the Playstation Eye Camera TV clip, and use Velcro and adhesives to attach the Kinect sensor to it. This is exactly what was missing for mounting your Kinect easily and securely. | video-games_xbox |
Gears of War 2. Overall, Gears of War 2 is a great buy for both hardcore gamers/fans of the series and newcomers alike. If you never played the first Gears of War you'll still be able to pick this one up and quickly take part in the action. For new players, the beginning missions do offer a sort of tutorial in which you train the new rookie as a means to learn the basics for when the real fun begins. As far as the plot goes the story-line this time around is immense, filling the player in on more of what's happening between the Locust Horde and the humans. Without ruining anything there are many parts of the story that are going to really draw you into other characters' emotion. There are also other parts that are going to leave you scratching your head, not saying they're bad just more of a "Really?" kind of situation.
As for the Limited Edition I'm a sucker for all the neat little things they offer in special editions and limited editions so I tend to grab those first. This limited edition includes an art book with bits and pieces of history that includes the picture you see Dom holding in the commercials of him and his girl (a nice little edition that kind of makes you go "Oh cool! That's pretty awesome.") Another thing it includes is a Golden Lancer for multiplayer and Horde modes. The gun itself isn't anymore powerful or anything, but does kind of set you aside in multiplayer. Not wise to be carrying around a gleaming gold gun in some of the darker maps but it's fun non the less to use. All that and a neat metal case for the game itself I think was well worth the extra $10.
Gears of War 2 multiplayer is as fun as ever. Amazon here was so gracious enough to get me my game a couple days before it was slated to release (thanks Amazon =D) yet I was still able to get on multiplayer and try it out. Included in every game (doesn't have to be Limited Edition) is a code to download a few maps from the first Gears of War that look better then they did in the first one and are as fun to play as they were in the first one. While joining either the COG's or Locust Horde in regular multiplayer match ups are fun as ever, I had a blast with the Horde mode. Horde mode is a new mode in which you fight wave after wave of Locust Horde to test your mettle in the heat of battle. The farthest I got was wave 25 with my cousin, but we feel we'll need a few more people if we ever plan on getting to 50.
When you beat the game on any difficulty you unlock the Insane mode. A true test to the hardest of core fans of Gears of War. I remember the Insane mode was a bit easier the first time around, but I much enjoy the challenge. Word to the wise, though, you will need outside help with Insane mode. Grab another friend and see how far you can get, but this is definitely not a solo experience.
Now the faults of this game, even though there are very few. First, I've noticed a few times my character getting stuck in certain spots when trying to take cover. Namely the Locust "fish" encounter (that boat thing is buggy as hell). Not to turn this into a walkthrough (even though I've been ranting as much no?) but if and when you get up to that part watch where you take cover although you'll most likely devise the same strategy as I did (I don't want to give anything away =X). I also got stuck a few times playing a certain map in Horde (Gridlock I believe it's called or something...one of the old maps). It's a bit frustrating when it happens but you'll quickly figure out how to "un-bug" yourself. The second thing I have a problem with are some of the achievements. I'd like to think Achievements as both hardcore gamer and casual gamer friendly when trying to get them in any game. Some are just ridiculous for the amount of time needed to spend getting them and the score you get for them. For instance there's one for killing 100,000 Horde that nets you 50 gamerscore. I played the game for about a week to two weeks between the campaign and Horde and managed to only off about 9,000 Horde. So you can only imagine how long it would take to kill 100,000 of these suckers only to get 50 gamerscore.
Well that's about it. I'm sorry it was rather long. I tried to give as much info as possible without ruining anything. If you have any other questions or comments please feel free to e-mail me. Or if you picked it up and need a partner for Insane mode please e-mail me and i'll happily give you my gamertag and we can take care of that Locust Horde =]
By the way, Coal Train is as bada** as ever! | video-games_xbox |
Viva Pinata Party Animals - Not quite as good as Mario Party. I originally purchased this game because my fiancee loves Mario Party for the N64, and I wanted to get a game for our 360 that she would enjoy as much. After searching around for a little while, I found Viva Pinata Party Animals. I read several reviews of people comparing it to Mario Party, so I purchased it from Amazon.
After playing, I can say that the game is a nice attempt to recreate a Mario Party-like game, and while fun, it ultimately isn't as good.
For starters, the way the entire game is set up is that you do a race followed by 1-3 mini-game challenges. 3 is the highest number of mini-games you can do per race, so if you want to have a lengthy game, you're going to be doing 5-7 races just to get enough mini-games to be fun. I would have preferred the ability to play more games per race, or possibly even just make the races a mini-game themselves.
Which brings me to the races: they're fun, but pretty much pointless and easy for one player to dominate. It seems that no matter who I'm playing with, I win every single race. And yes, perhaps I'm better at it than everyone else because I'm a fairly seasoned gamer, but I think a game like this should be about equal for everyone, regardless of gaming experience. That's what makes party games fun - no one wins all the time.
One thing that I like about Mario Party that's missing from Party Animals is the game board itself. The way Party Animals is played is that you do a race followed by 1-3 mini-games, and the characters get different amounts of candy for getting 1st-4th place, and the person at the end of the game that has the most candy wins, etc. You miss the nice luck/random chance element that comes with rolling the dice and being subject to wherever you land. In that sense, Party Animals plays less like a board game with some mini-games thrown in and more like a bunch of mini-games back to back.
For example, in Mario Party, you can land on Bowser and he might either take away a star or all your coins, which can move you from first to last place. In Party Animals, once you have your candy, it can't be taken away. Once someone pulls ahead of the pack, it's pretty hard to catch them.
Speaking of the mini-games, let's talk about those now. There is a nice variety, although several of them are very similar. You have some shooting games, where you have a reticule and you aim to shoot moving targets, some games where you have to press buttons in rapid succession to match a pattern you just watched, some games that involve hitting pinata stars with bats to burst them open, games that are simply about reflexes, counting games, games where you have to fight everyone else off to collect the most candy, and several other types. Each type of game has 2-4 varieties, not all of which are very different.
Overall, I'd say that Viva Pinata Party Animals is a great start for party games on the 360, but we need to refine this formula and produce more games that are a little bit closer to the Mario Party style. Not that I simply want a Mario Party for 360 - I want something new and different. However, I think Mario Party has set a good bar for game makers to reach for when making party games.
Don't let my negative statements about this game make you think that it's not fun to play, as it still is. Notice that I did still give it 4 stars. If you enjoy party games, this is definitely worth checking out. | video-games_xbox |
Borderlands With Zombies," this is not. I bought this off several positive reviews and recommendations from my friends, and honestly I don't see what the appeal of the game is. The game just doesn't work. Period. It's buggy, froze my system countless times.
I'm not a huge fan of games that incorporate realistic camera movement when your character walks (aka, the camera bobs up and down with every step), so right away I was put off by the games controls. Add on top of that an extremely sluggish turning mechanic, and I'm really not interested. The way the camera moves when you pan the control stick almost feels like it's been rubber-banded. The pan starts out slow, and then if you have it held in one direction for X amount of seconds, it snaps into full speed. This makes the game both hard to control, but also incredibly disorienting. I've been playing games for over 20 years now, and this game literally made me have to stop and walk away. I just couldn't fine tune the controls in any way that made me feel comfortable.
On top of that, the graphics are pretty bad - and that's really a shame. Poor texture quality, and incredibly long texture loading times make this game look uglier than it actually is. Sometimes, when the planets align and things are working smoothly, you will encounter a truly stunning section of the island and think, "Man, this looks really good..." But then the framerate will dip under 15 FPS, and you remember just exactly how hard this game is to like.
From an actual gameplay side, things get better. The objectives are pretty clearly laid out, and I like the Condemned-style use of any objects as weapons. The menu is patently horrible, though, requiring way too much time navigating through the menus just to accomplish basic functions.
I was never able to play this game online Coop, because the servers were always encountering issues that prevented me from doing so.
Overall, I think this game shows lots of potential, but ultimately falls short in almost every category. Hopefully the planned sequel will address many of these complaints. | video-games_xbox |
2 OF MINE BROKE WITHIN 2 MONTHS. Bought one of these controllers BRAND NEW from gamestop. within a week the twisting DPAD fell apart in my hands as i was playing mortal kombat. unfortunately because this was a new product i could only exchange it for an exact item. so after i picked up a SECOND silver controller, I cautiously played with it for about a solid month till the DPAD fell off again. After searching online for a grand total of about 5 seconds, i had already come across MULTIPLE forums talking about how the dpad is just falling right off these controllers during even light gameplay. As easy as it is for you to say to yourself "well this guys obviously doing something wrong and thats why it broke.", what in the world could i have possibly done wrong? i had never dropped the controller in all my days of owning it. took very good care of both, just as i do all my electronics. Even if hypothetically speaking the controller got thrown around a few times, WHAT KIND OF CONTROLLER BREAKS THIS EASILY? You should NEVER think to buy an item if its this easy to break.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU BUY THIS CONTROLLER.
Aside from the fact that it has actual Breakable issues, the dpad itself is a horrible desgign regardless. its tough to explain, but if you really think about it...this controllers dpad has exactly the same thing going on UNDER IT no matter how much it spins around. nothing about the dpads INSIDES have changed...they just reshaped the dpad itself. technically speaking...tomorrow they could release a transforming dpad that turns into a star or a smiley face. it wouldnt control any differently because no matter what you CARVE the dpad into, what makes it move the way it does is still exactly the same. again, i know that might be a bit of a confusing explanation, but its actually pretty simple logic if you take the time to think the product through.
believe me, no one is looking for a great dpad for xbox 360 as badly as i am, but this thing isn't it.
the one thing i did like about this controller though is the thumbsticks. they're almost completely smoothed down, unlike the regular controllers' thumbsticks which have the littlebumps on them. Speaking of the thumbsticks, you should also be aware that the indentations in the middle of them is much steeper.
again, all in all, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT. Absolute Garbage, IMO. | video-games_xbox |
A FLAWED DIAMOND. It's nice to be back in the world of Fallout!
For those not in the know, the original Fallout came out in 1997, followed by a sequel in 1998.
What a difference 10+ years make!
Having played the original two games I really feel that the developers of Fallout 3 really captured the heart and soul of the first two games.
SOME THINGS STAYED THE SAME . . .
The dialogue trees are very funny and usually offer good, neutral and evil responses.
The world of Fallout is very bleak and rusty, but still mysterious and at times, beautiful.
There is still an option for turned-based combat (even the sound effects of it activating like it did on the original).
The Monopoly-esque pictures add a nice sense of humor.
The voice acting is superb (especially your Father and Moriarty).
The leveling-up and perks are all very familiar and allow you to choose between brain, brawn or something more in the middle.
. . . SOME THINGS CHANGED . . .
For the first time, we get to experience the world of Fallout in the 3rd or even 1st person view. While a refreshing change from the top-down views of old, these new views and ways of playing Fallout have their fair share of problems.
For example, the third person view has some of the goofiest animations I've seen in a while and is useless for combat reasons. It looks like your character is skating over the ground or hovering over it instead of running or walking on it.
The first-person view was great for general wandering around and bashing the heads of Mutants with the Sledgehammer, but I found that trying to fire guns in this view was clunky and often not as effective as VATS.
Thankfully they included VATS, as it lets you target specific areas and conserve your ammo somewhat.
. . . BUT WAR. WAR NEVER CHANGES.
Overall, I found Fallout 3 to be far more enjoyable than Oblivion and more appealing than the original Fallout 1 and 2. I did have the game crash a few times, but anyone who has played video games should know enough to keep a few manual saves on hand, just in case. The main quest was pretty short, which I found actually refreshing, although I found the ending a bit of a letdown (spoiled by Final Fantasy 6's 30 minute ending).
There is so much variety in this game I can easily see myself playing it far longer than Oblivion.
Enjoy! | video-games_xbox |
The Sleek look and the Updated D-Pad makes this the gaming standard. Its hard to perfect a controller that became a gaming standard for the Xbox 360. It was light and perfect to hold, buttons and triggers worked perfect and the analog sticks were both as loose as it was firm. The only problem many users including myself was he d-pad. Though many games barely utilized it, other main hardcore games made use of the d-pad so well we had to use it. Unfortunately it was hard to perfect and even after years of use I still made errors using it.
Thus came the Xbox one, with new console features, games, accessories, and more importantly a new controller. The controller looks like the 360 version from afar , but the closer you get you see new buttons and slightly different layouts, a sleeker looking body, turn it around and you see that there isn't a big bat blob where the battery used to be, and holding it feels so right.
First thing you notice (Besides color and the white Xbox button) are the two little buttons that work as the start and select button respectively. Then as you hold the controller you feel the rigid round analog sticks, the same but firm buttons, and the still great trigger buttons. The best thing about the controller( Besides the integrated battery holder) is the D-pad. Its a simple change, but its way more efficient that the older controller. Its sinks into the surface of the controller and pops up perfect for you to distinguish the direction of it without even looking at it. Its responsive and it just feels god to press. Before i was scared to even touch the D-pad of the 360 because it felt plastic and i felt like i was pressing the wrong direction. But this firm and responsive updated version, I click its brains out. Yes it still needs battery and yes you have to spend extra cash on the play and charge but i was already used to that so it doesn't bother me.
Microsoft has done an amazing job with this controller inside and out making small refinements and making it look as sleek as ever. It looks cool to even look at and better to hold into your hand. This is the new standard for gaming and not the PS4 and especially the Wii U controller is up to Par with the look and feel about this controller. | video-games_xbox |
Finally, a good racer for the whole family. Kart racing is a niche that's been woefully void on the Xbox 360, so I'm thrilled this game (whose name is way to long to repeat here) has arrived and does nearly everything right. I've been looking for a fun racer for my kids (3 and 4 years old) for several months, and this is the only one I've found that fits the bill. It's a blatant knockoff of Mario Kart, but that's exactly what we've needed for the 360. It's easy enough that my kids can play without my help, and fun enough that my wife and I want to play it with them (and then for a few hours after they've gone to bed)!
Pros (especially for kids):
* The tracks are fun and varied.
* 4 player split screen is fun for the whole family.
* The menus are very visual and easy to navigate for kids who can't read.
* The controls are easy to use.
* If a racer gets stuck, they're reset to middle of the track already moving. This is so nice for my 3-year-old!
* After any player crosses the finish line, the race ends in 30 seconds. Brilliant because my older son doesn't end up waiting for 25 minutes for the younger one to finish the race like on other games we've tried.
Cons:
* This game freezes up pretty frequently, requiring a restart of the Xbox. Totally unacceptable, and the reason I'm docking a star. I use the Xbox a lot, and I never see other games crash like this.
* The framerate is a little low on some tracks. It's a small complaint, and certainly still playable, but it's annoying nonetheless.
* You have to pay $5 through XBox live to unlock all the tracks in multiplayer (if you don't have the patience to go through the whole single player campaign). I would prefer them all be unlocked in multiplayer by default, or let you choose to unlock them like in Rock Band.
Overall, with the exception of crashing and freezing up, this game has far exceeded my hopes for a family racing game on the 360. If you have kids, you won't regret this one. | video-games_xbox |
A good sequel, but nothing revoultionary. BioShock 1 was revoluntionary. It still is one of my favorite games of all time. The world of Rapture was a great place to discover and in the first game I was intrigued at every audio diary I found. The story was superb, and the twists kept me guessing all the way to the end. Now that you've unravelled the mystery of Rapture this sequel comes along and though there's nothing technically wrong with the game itself the guessing game is gone. You already know about all the splicers, you know all about what happened to Rapture, so the intrigue is gone.
It's an all new story taking place 10 years after the first game ends. This time around you play as a "Delta" Big Daddy so you now have control over the drill, rivet gun, and other Big Daddy weapons not available in the first game. I was a bit disappointed with the strength of the Big Daddy. It's all too easy to die in the game, which is nowhere near indicative of the last game where it took every bit of your smarts to kill one. If you're unprepared a few splicers can take you out pretty easily - something that would never happen in BioShock 1.
The new game does bring some new stuff to the table. As I said you play as a Big Daddy and the drill is pretty cool especially when you dash across the room killing most splicers with one shot. Several new weapons including a "sniper" style weapon is pretty neat. Also you can control both your plasmid hand and your weapon hand at the same time so the action is much more fast paced. No more shocking your enemy, then switching to your gun to finish him off. Also there's a few new splicers this time around including a Brute Splicer which is about 4x the size of a normal splicer and is very strong. And let's not forget the main enemy - the Big Sister. Just before she arrives the music is eerily scary. It makes your hairs stand on end and you have no idea which direction she's coming. She is the toughest character in the game to defeat. She's as strong as Big Daddy, but as agile as a Houdini Splicer. You've got your work cut out to keep up with her and finish her off at the same time.
A few tweaks are present as well that make for a more enjoyable experience. The pipe hacking mini-game is gone; now it's a timed mini-game that takes place during the action. This means if you try to hack a turret it'll shoot you while you're hacking it. Also the research camera is updated so that it now records video instead of snapping pictures. In the first game you could take a lot of damage to pull off a good shot, but this time all you need to do is start the video recording and then defeat the splicer. Depending on how you finish them off (use as many different ways as possible) you'll get a higher score.
Overall, this is a good game, and a good place to pick up from the first game. If you loved the first game, then there's no doubt you'll love this too, but that said this game is not a GOTY style quality game because it doesn't bring that much new to the table. The addition of multiplayer is nice, but I haven't found much of a need to play it but a few times so I can't comment completely on that at this time.
I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10 overall. | video-games_xbox |
Stoked - More then just the title. 5/5 - Ive never played a Perfect Snowboarding game... But this definitely is the best one I've played in this Genre. Pushing the boundaries of realism and maintaining great playability, has earned this title a 5/5 in my book.
THE CONTROLS work great. They can be adjusted based on if you like nice tight carving or slow steady shreading. Some people have had problems, but don't notice that how it handles is dependent on the setup of your snowboard and the angles you can adjust on the bindings. This gives your character a different stance and weight distribution and effects overall handling
THE GRAPHICS are top notch, watching the sunrise from a shrine on top of Mt. Fuji is quite spectacular.
THE WEATHER SYSTEM adds a whole new level of depth to the Genre. You check the new snowfall on the mountains and see if it's still snowing or if it's gonna be a nice sun shining day on the mountain. Having the snow level rise and fall based on this make the runs somewhat unexpected each day... That rock you plastered yourself on a week back... might be under 2 feet of snow now and you will be zipping right over it wondering where the heck it was!
THE CHALLENGES can get a bit repetitive, but it also isn't exactly the same each time, there are 3 different types of challenges in the game. Bust out certain named tricks off of a specific mountain Feature, Do certain type of tricks (ie: grab, spin, flip) of a specific feature, Land a chain of tricks off specific mountain features; but each one is a new run and style for the most part.
Photoshoots, sponsor challenges, and Pro rides, are definately something that breaks that repetition though.
Overall this is a Stellar Snowboarding title worthy of much more praise then it has been given.
If you enjoy a nice realistic snowboard title, do yourself a favor and pick this one up... and being launched at $29.99... you can't go wrong! | video-games_xbox |
My first Gaming Headset. Well I have a friend who has a turtle beach and always talks about how great it is and everything. I have used nothing more than simple tv stereos when I play games and have been since I was 5. Now, 15 years later, I decided to go ahead and get a gaming headset as my xbox 360 mic had just died on me and they were having a sale on the sharkoon headset for $35 so I said, why not? After using this headset for 2 months now, I feel I can give an accurate and fair review.
The Good:
-This headset seems to be well made(I am no stickler for quality as long as it works, not like I am throwing it against walls or anything).
-The ear pieces are soft enough that I can play for extended periods of time with no discomfort, which is great because I am the kind of person who, when I can, will sit down and play 8+ hours straight.
-It can be used on a PC as well, which is good for me because I also play games on my computer from time to time.
-It has not crapped out on me yet which is great haha.
The Bad:
-The cables are really in the way for me. I am assuming they were designing this for someone who sits on their couch a good 7+ feet away from their xbox, but as for me, I use a computer monitor for my xbox so I sit about 3-4 feet away so there is a lot of extra cord just dangling around. Which would be fine except sometimes my dogs get tangled up in the them or even me.
Those are the Pros/Cons of the headsets design, now here is about the sound.
Sound:
The sound quality seems to be mixed. When I am just listening to music or playing say a racing game, the sound quality is excellent. But then when I play a game involving guns and explosions it varies. Take when the Gears 3 beta was still going on(which is actually when I got these) I noticed a severe difference in sound quality compared to my regular speakers. The explosions did not sound right at all and the gun fire sounded weak and almost like it was coming from farther away than it actually was. But when I play Saints Row 2 or Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, it sounds perfectly fine. If anything it sounds better than my regular speakers.
Now comes the microphone part of it.
Mic:
The mic works fine for the most part. There is a small problem with the cable set-up in that about halfway down the cable that plugs into your xbox, there is a volume control thing that you plug ANOTHER cable into that plugs into your xbox controller's mic plug. So you end up being covered in cables. On the volume control there is actually two controls, one controls the game volume, the other controls other player's voice volume. This is nice because sometimes there is an unusually loud scene in a game and my friend is trying to tell me something so I can just turn the game down without having it affect how loud he is. On a side note, I have had a few complaints from my friends about being able to hear my game when I am in a party chat with them. It is usually when I am not in the same game with them and I am shooting a really loud gun. It never seems to bother them much, more like they are curious what it is that I am doing haha. Always kind of funny to hear them try to describe the sounds they hear.
Finale:
So when I bought this for $40 I was expecting it to break pretty easily. It has not yet and it still working fine. So I think I made a great choice in this headset. For the $35 price tag I got it for, I would give this a 4/5. If it were any more though, I would give it a 3/5. So if you can find it for cheap, it is a good headset for the price. | video-games_xbox |
Now what I wanted. As the title says, this is not AC3 or ACB. I looove those titles and was really hoping this was more of the same. Instead I felt a retread, and it was a big struggle to get through this game.
Right off the top, what's with the hand-holding throughout the first 3-4 hours of the game?! Even a non-seasoned AC gamer can grasp both the storyline and the controls. Streamlined fighting sequences as well as movements in the levels has been improved, but it wasn't much different. Fighting and battles were a struggle, pop in textures, screen tearing, game freezes, running into invisible walls, and slow horse riding are just some of the gripes. I don't understand the sending of letters, or the underground tunnels. They just seemed like really good ideas that weren't finished. Not to mention the numerous times when you'd be in control of Connor for 5-10 seconds and then you're cut to yet another cinematic or a bright white light. Just cut the crap and make the whole thing a cinematic! Do I really need to run over that hill, or around that building, or up those stairs in 10 seconds just to be directed to another cut-scene?! It was a huge endeavor and when the engaged feeling I yearned for did finally kick in (aka the entirety of both AC2 and ACB), I was literally exhausted by the experience and the drawbacks festered in the back of my mind.
I did love the new ways to sneak around under the cover of bushes, cut scenes were voice acted very well, the sea battles were INCREDIBLY COOL, hunting was a neat feature, the storyline (at least initially) kept me engaged, and up close graphics were awesome. The graphics were hit or miss and were really great up close but not so great when it came to vistas. The game is clearly best viewed when examined from up close while the sense of surroundings based on the graphics is best left up to the imagination. It is in stark contrast from a game like Skyrim. Also, free climbing has been improved and doing so amongst the trees was a decent amount of fun too.
Keep in mind, I am a huge AC fan. I love this franchise and these games actually made me fall Europe all over again. Ezio was relatable, and I had a blast playing as him. That being said I was not as engaged in AC3 as I wanted to be and Connor, although awesome, was cold and distant to me as weird as that sounds. Very choppy gameplay and controls of Connor deeply lacerated what I really wanted to be a killer gaming experience. I now head back to the other games and will begin campaigns anew to reignite that spark. This was sold as soon as it was over. If there is an AC4, I have no idea if I'd pick it up. The same cannot be said about former titles. | video-games_xbox |
Good, not great. Sacred 2 is a Diablo 2 clone in the strictest sense. It is not highly innovative, it doesn't do anything incredibly new or innovative. But, those looking for a good, long, dungeon-crawler grind-fest, you don't have many options on next-gen consoles in the first place.
I'm going to be honest, I don't mind a good dungeon-crawler. There's something about leveling up a character, improving armor, weapons, and magic spells that excites me, even when the action itself is pretty repetitive.
Let's talk graphics, many professional reviewers shun the graphics for being poor, I have to disagree on this point. If you zoom the camera in as far as it will go, some of the textures are certainly lower-res than at first glance, but since you'll be playing with the camera zoomed out I think that argument does really work, (even zoomed in it looks good). Character models, weapons and armor sets are all modeled in great detail, and when it comes to character animation it does seem stiff, but works well. The games graphics are impressive enough, and certainly get the job done. I think the overall design of the world of Ancaria is good, if not a little uninspired--you will still feel like you've been here before if you've played any of these games in the past.
On to sound: Voice work is pretty laughable at best most of the time, from the things that your character says to the main plot pieces that are voiced are pretty bad--like almost Dynasty Warriors bad... Sound effects are functional and for the most part work just fine. Music is actually pretty good and serves as a nice backdrop for the world.
Speaking of the world, it's huge! I'm pretty sure there isn't any way I'm going to be seeing it all. There are some drawbacks to this game though, again, it can be repetitive, it has some framerate issues--especially in large cities or when there's a lot of action and characters and magic spells on-screen. And let's not forget the bugs. This game is pretty finicky, that's putting it nicely. Frankly it's not a fantastic game, but I still really enjoy it, and the ability to play with another person on the same console is fantastic. Better yet, you can play with 4 other people online over Xbox Live in any combination of players local and over Live. So you can have two people play on a local Xbox 360 with up to two other players over Xbox Live. This feature alone nearly makes the whole experience worth it. I have yet to take it online so I can't comment on the network code and whether that is laggy or buggy or not.
Overall, if you are looking for a good 3rd-person action RPG for the Xbox 360 or PS3 you won't be disappointed with Sacred 2. In fact, it might surprise you just how fun it really is! | video-games_xbox |
It's decent especially for 30 bucks. It's ok so far. I have to admit it's fun to roam around and take out walkers. I also like having a base and companions and clearing out other areas. All in all it's quite similar to SOD 1 and the price of the game is definitely a plus.
Some flaws keep me from giving it a higher rating:
1. Games can't be manually saved. If anything terrible happens you're stuck with it. I lost my outpost leader and best guy because some random powerful very fast zombies jumped me and took me out. Death is permanent which makes the game very unforgiving.
2. Inventory system sucks. You can carry very little even with a large backpack. Oddly enough a vehicle carries less than a person. Frequent trips back to your base are needed just to try to keep up with resource demands.
3. Companions suck. They constantly moan about resource shortcomings. When you arrive back to base no one helps unload your vehicle and won't even bother to close the gate after you enter the base. If you don't close the gate every single time no one else will either. Zombies frequently swarm in if gate is open. Making it worse is the gate isn't the easiest to close and you must spend too much time getting your character in the perfect position to do so. Even worse after you bust your but getting stuff your numpty companions destroy it. I spent hours gathering up food and within a few minutes after I put into my base some was stolen by one of my buddies and some was destroyed by ants because my buddies left it unsecured. Why can't these people help and contribute to the base instead of just complaining to me about everything?
4. Weapons break far too quickly and guns are very loud and draw attention so aren't much use.
5. It's so dark at night. I would prefer to shelter at the base but the game doesn't allow you to do this. You can't fast forward time and also can't pause the game. Feel like using the bathroom or getting a snack in RL? You can either exit the game completely or try to hide and hope zombies don't kill you.
Don't get me wrong I'm having fun but I wish it was all less tedious and more enjoyable. Also wish the game had difficulty settings.
Update: I bought the game on disk. It requires a 13 GB download before play. The first patch is a whopping 20 GB on top of that. Probably not an issue for most people but keep it in mind.
Update #2. After two games where all my guys died I'm finally having success on game 3. I have a kick ass base and decent guys and are wiping walkers throughout the wasteland. Also the game can be paused in offline mode and inventory can be moved directly from a vehicle into your base making things less tedious than I had originally thought. Equipment still breaks too often and a decent workshop almost seems to be a requirement. Game still has annoying glitches. I've had guys freeze in place randomly while walkers are attacking. I also had the main quest stop progressing for days. Eventually I decided to exile my leader chose a new leader and then the questline returned. It's very important to get guys with the right skills and personalities especially at the beginning. Also several times when I was about to die I saved myself just by running away. This won't always work but often enough you can outrun even a large group of walkers and live to fight another day. Companions still suck. Why does it take them so long to exit a vehicle while I'm fighting alone and even worse why do they CONSTANTLY destroy the supplies and resources I have worked so hard to gather? | video-games_xbox |
It's a decent game... But it's not the "best game ever. I've always been a fan of Microsoft. Let the strong survive... And let the weak work for the strong through a corporate buyout. I have nothing but praise for their foray into the console gaming world, and their eventual conquest of this planet... Oh, you know it'll happen. So don't think this review is a biased against the company itself or the X Box console. I simply just don't see this game as being "Half Life 2" or "The greatest game ever made."
Halo is nice, and maybe revolutionary in some way I don't see, but it's in no way the best FPS ever made. Perhaps the best on a console, but as a normally computer-gamer, I just like having a bit "more" to my games.
The Game -
The game itself plays wonderfully. I don't have any complaints about the gameplay, though the game is short and has a lot less replay value then some would like you to believe. The levels eventually become repetitive, and like most console FPSs, just seem like you're beating one level by killing hoards of enemies, only so you can go to another level and do the same. I kinda got tired of doing that once, and have no real intention of doing it again to "experience the `awesome' AI's tactical variations."
There are some nice features added in for variety, though. The vehicles save this game from becoming boring. Each one is incredibly fun, though all are a bit hard to control at first. Once you get it down, however, you'll love running over, vaporizing, and landing on the endless amount of Covenant and The Flood troops.
In addition, the game designers have a nice sense of humor, and they'll randomly throw in things that will give you a laugh. When you see a Covenant member running down a hill, shooting into the sky shouting "Kill them all," you'll be to busy laughing after your first shot sends them in the other direction pleading for their life to actually chase after them. Also, pay close attention to the names of the various "levels" in each stage. "Cyborgs and AI Constructs First," and "Warning: Hitchhikers May be Escaped Convicts" all have subtle, but hilarious meanings.
Story -
Story has a lot to do with an FPS these days. You can't just send a guy running through Castle Wolfenstein to murder Nazis, just because they're Nazis, anymore. Halo's story was "nice," but wasn't anything I actually got into. If you compare it to something like Deus EX... Well, it can't be compared to Deus EX. The story just isn't as good as some things that have been done.
Multiplayer -
Halo's multiplayer cooperative option is great. Definitely better then playing the game alone. Granted, if you're like my friend and I, you'll probably end up "slipping" with your trigger finger, or "accidentally" not covering your friend as he or she runs into a group of enemies. If I could mention only one good thing about Halo, this would be it.
Regular multiplayer mode isn't that great with just two to four people. They have plenty of options to choose from, but all the maps are designed for massive amounts of people. It takes several minutes to find someone, and about five seconds to take them out, or die an agonizingly well rendered death. If you have sixteen friends in one game it'd be fun, but how many of your average gamers have friends... ... ... Uh, I mean sixteen friends... Honest...
Controls -
For a gaming system, the controls are nice. X Box's controller setup has borrowed from other controllers of the past, which means it has a "tried and true" design. The layout is well done, since they've eliminated the pointless tasks of trying to climb up platforms that so many FPSs have been filled with. The two trigger buttons for shooting and launching `nades, and the two joysticks for moving and sight are all you need 95% of the time.
AI -
The artificial intelligence in Halo may be better then most games, but just because a few Covenant can jump out of the way of a grenade doesn't mean it's impressive. I still found enemies walking around as if nothing happened when I picked off their "comrade" from afar. Plus, their shouts and screams are amusing at first, but really just end up becoming annoying... Though I suppose that increases the desire to take them out.
As for your own men... No complaints here. Nice to have a competent marine backing you up for once... Though they do have about as much health as you have shields, and they aren't nearly as consistent about jumping away from grenades as the enemy is.
Graphics -
Next to Dead or Alive III, Halo has the best graphics on the X Box right now. Everything looks stunning; from the weapons to the enemies. Nice touches, like the assault rifle actually displaying your current ammunition, or the plasma burns on the walls, add to the overall visual masterpiece that is Halo.
Sound -
The sound in Halo is incredible. There's nothing bad anyone can say about it, especially if you have surround sound. From enemy speeches, to explosions, to just the normal rapid firing of your weapon, I can't find anything to complain about.
In the End... -
Pros: Graphics, sound, good controls, cooperative mode, "little things."
Cons: No real replay value, AI isn't that impressive, the story is boring.
If you have an X Box, buy this. It's the best game on the console, and one of the best games on any console. However, don't buy an X Box just to play it. It's definitely not the best game of all time, and obviously not the best FPS of all time. It's good, just not great.
Wow... That was certainly long... | video-games_xbox |
Really GREAT once you get into it. Many reviewers in magazines have been unfair to this title. I think in this case we have evidence of how "professional" gamers sometimes have very different criteria from those of the average console owner.
First off, the graphics are stupendous. Not just technically, but artisticaly. Someone with a great deal of knowledge of landscape painting must have worked very hard to create the worlds within this game. Real life never offers you such perfect vistas at every turn. All the cool flying stuff is also fun. Who cares if the "fantasy" graphics don't match the "simulation" handling? Why should they? Who really wants to drive on flat, boring race tracks like MotoGP? Why must realistic physics be accompanied by boring, mundane scenery?
Much more impressive, visually than Rallysport Challenge. Only Apex comes close to the graphic splendor here.
The cars and races do start off slow, but soon you get better cars, and you are flying, and getting a magnificent adrenaline rush.
Sure the A.I. is tough, but it's fair and smart.
Sure, also, if you drive off the course too much, collision detection becomes weird (you can pass through some objects). Thing is, you can just race the courses normally, on the track, and you will never notice this problem, as most objects near the road are fine. Most races require you to stay on the track anyway, and most racing tiles require the same. "Discovering" the landscape freely is just a funky add-on feature which, personally, I would have omitted. If you use plausible shortcuts (the ones TDK assumed you would use often), you will not notice lacking collision detection.
The reason for object collision problems with remote (far from road) objects is that if every one of the thousands of background objects had collision detection added to it, the Xbox would not be able to handle running the game. Collision detection takes up major processor cycles, and this game already pushes our little black and green friend to its limits with its huge, complex scenery, so the developers had to compromise.
The game also features many (MANY!!! Maybe the most ever in a game), highly varied and well designed tracks, a good, LONG and varied Championship mode (with humorous Missions to break up the racing), and is, after the first ten or so races, very fast and FUN.
Highly recommended for all gamers. Just don't judge it based on the first car you try, which is indeed floaty and slow. Also, if you want, slide the option parameter of simulation/arcade all the way to arcade for tighter control. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent accessory to get the most out of the Xbox One. I bought an Xbox One bundle a few weeks ago, and after a few days with it, I felt that there was just something missing. Scrolling to the one guide or through the settings, there's just so much more your Xbox can do. I have to say, I've always thought the Kinect was a silly novelty accessory, but I found myself wanting my Xbox to control my tv and satellite, and wanting to use voice commands to control my Xbox. Sure, I could've bought the IR cable for $20 for the tv/satellite features, but that wouldn't allow for the voice commands, so I picked up a used Kinect for just $45 more.
After setting it up, I have to say it definitely adds to the experience. Perhaps it's not a vital accessory, but it's a really useful addition. I love that the Xbox can log me or my guests in via facial recognition, tell me what shows are trending, what's on my favorite channels and my apps like Amazon and Netflix, rather than having to scroll through all those channels and apps separately. I can turn the Xbox on and off, change the volume, pause, play, fast forward and rewind, snap apps and switch between different games and tv just by telling it to do so! Maybe the motion tracking camera isn't all that necessary, but it's certainly not a bad thing to have.
Now, the Kinect is only as good as the features & games it enables, so I tried out some demos and found that Disney's Fantasia for the Kinect 2.0 is an absolutely outstanding game. I bought it almost immediately (it's very cheap on Amazon). It's a phenomenal game, fun and accessible to adults and kids alike. I cannot recommend it more emphatically! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that there are many others that really take advantage of (or even support) the Kinect, though Battlefield 4 has some unique features. Dance Central however is rather spotty at best in its tracking ability. The game is actually pretty decent (though the dance moves can be pretty silly), but the menu is terrible to navigate. My used Kinect did not come with Dance Central Spotlight, btw.
In conclusion, as a mandatory $100 accessory, I hated the idea of the Kinect. But as an accessory that can be picked up used for around the cost of a game, I think it's an accessory that most people would benefit from, and I strongly recommend it! | video-games_xbox |
Black screen of death on 3 week old console. Please read. I had a bad experience with the Xbox One and I wanted to share it. Normally I would not take the time or trouble to write a bad review of a company but I'm so frustrated at Microsoft I hope I can convince others before purchasing this system to go with the Play Station 4 instead. It is not my intention to stir up trouble but I wanted to share my experience about this product and Microsoft.
I bought the new Xbox one Fallout bundle at Gamestop, 3 weeks ago, on a black Friday sale. Not from Amazon. All was well until two nights ago, which also happened to be my birthday. I turned it on and got the black screen of death which read "System error contact Xbox customer support" followed by an error code. This pretty much ruined my birthday evening.
Long story short I called customer support, several times and attempting to fix the issue which lead to, clearing a flash drive of mine, reformatting it, then downloading a diagnostic update tool from Microsoft to my laptop, then to the flash drive, and sticking it into the Xbox. Then holding in 2 buttons, then pressing a 3rd and listening for 2 power up noises. This did not work. I tried numerous times following the directions, and repeated with tech support on the phone. Still not working.
I became increasingly frustrated and wondered why I paid just under 400 dollars for a Microsoft product that broke 3 weeks later. Never in my life have I had anything break in 3 weeks. Apparently this problem was caused by a Microsoft update.
I realized I can take the unit back to the store I bought it at and have it replaced because its still under the 1 month return policy, but I kept asking Xbox support "who I could complain to?" and asked for some type of compensation. After all I have been loyal to Xbox/Microsoft since day one on their first console. Don't they give a *** about my continued loyalty, money and time to say they value me as a customer?
Turns out they don't.
I was told by one tech on the phone that apparently me, and a million other people are having this same issue. When I asked for "who to complain to" initially I was given a forum, that after investigating wasn't really structured for complaints, this forum seemed to be the structured for a "feel good-tell us what we could improve" type vibe.
I persevered and at last was put in touch with a manager whose name is Moxie. Moxie said he was sorry for the all troubles, and the fact that it ruined my birthday however when it came to compensating me for my wasted time, energy and loyalty I was told they can't compensate me. I argued saying "don't you care about your customers who have been loyal for long and always bought your product?" and the answer was the same. I asked to speak to someone higher up, repeatedly; I was told he was as high as I could go. I told him I didn't believe it. But none the less, regardless of how long I argued and answer was still the same. "Were very sorry, but "we don't care about you as a customer."
I remember once long ago, when my 360 got the red ring of death and I had to send it in to Microsoft they actually returned it fixed with a free card for Xbox live. But apparently the new regime has taken hold and they no longer care about the product they make and sell.
I am frustrated, saddened and angered. When most of my friends are Playstation people, and I continued to support Microsoft, because I thought it would be the right thing to do. I now wish I had bought the Playstation 4 instead.
I will take my console back to the store and exchange and hopefully never have this problem again, but lesson learned. Next console war, I won't be choosing Microsoft.
I personally feel, that when you buy a product from a company that breaks because of something they (the company) did, and then they tell YOU to fix it. And in turn, you spend hours trying to fix, and then ultimately can't. If that company can't even try to compensate you for your hardship then the company is no longer worth a damn.
By the way, as I said earlier this happened on my birthday. It was my 50th birthday. I had looked forward to a few hours of gaming to end the night, before I went to bed for work the next day. Now when I think back about how I spent my birthday evening I will have this horrible memory. Thanks Xbox and Microsoft for the *** birthday memory.
-Joseph | video-games_xbox |
Overall, this headset is great for the price. EDIT: A week after using the headset, I experienced the dreaded mic issues that many other reviews have commented on. I was able to hear the game sounds and friends chatting just fine. However, the mic no longer worked. I tried a controller update, hard booting the system, even a different controller. Nothing fixed it. Thankfully, I bought my controller around the holidays allowing me to return it with no questions asked. Ended up going with the Afterglow LVL 5+ headset. Sound is great, but people have told me I sound far away when chatting. I'd say spend the extra money and get XO Fours as I've heard those work flawlessly. You get what you pay for, I suppose.
I bought this headset for use with my Xbox One. I've been a fan of Turtle Beach headsets ever since the X12s on Xbox 360. Reading some of the reviews, I was concerned how this headset would work with the newer controllers. I'm happy to report that it works great with them! The headset comes with everything you need: headset itself with 3.5 mm audio cable and adapter for your controller. The adapter plugs into the bottom of your controller and allows you to change volume and bass settings on the fly. It also has built in mic monitoring but I've been told the new console updates make it to where you need to control that through the system itself. Mic monitoring is not a feature I really want, so this doesn't bother me.
The real draw for me is the stereo sound right in my headphones. I was using Z11s before this which are meant for PC. While those worked fine, they were often too low volume wise without any real way of turning them up. The XO Ones have great volume. With the bass boost option, it makes games with nice soundtracks a joy to listen to (I tested this out last night on NBA Live 16 and really liked the added bass to songs playing on the main menu). The bass boost has a low and high setting so you can decide if you want bass all the way or just a little to enhance the music (full settings overpowered the music a bit).
My only complaint with this headset is something that I thought would be my favorite part: the detachable mic. What I've failed to see anyone mention yet is that once you attach the mic to the headset, it's a real pain to disconnect. In a way, that's good. The mic will not move when you play games unless you manually touch it (doing so may cause some feedback in the headset though). But you can remove it if you just want to listen to music or watch a movie. Once it's in though, I found you have to twist the mic portion in order to remove it. Not the hugest deal, but be careful removing it as it is pretty thin and could probably break if too much force is applied. Also, know that the cord itself connecting the headset to your controller is short. If you try and get up too fast or place the controller down without removing the headset first, you won't have much give between you and the controller.
Overall, this headset is great for the price. If you are looking for a step up from the headset that came with your Xbox One without breaking the bank, you could do worse than pick these up. With control right on the controller itself, nice additional features like bass boost, and lightweight design, these are a great choice for people wanting more robust audio options for their Xbox One. | video-games_xbox |
BEST 2D PLATFORMER SINCE DONKEY KONG COUNTRY. I had reservations about buying Rayman Origins initially. It looked like a decent downloadable game, but I was rather put off by the fact that Ubisoft felt it could charge $60 for it just because they put the game on a disc. From an arm's distance, this seemed like a shady way to overcharge for what seemed to be an XBLA title. I was mistaken.
After getting in some game time with Rayman Origins it became very apparent why Ubisoft felt this title warranted a boxed edition and commensurate sixty-dollar price tag: Rayman Origins is nothing short of astounding. Not since (the original) Donkey Kong Country has a 2D platformer been so well put-together. Rayman Origins has intuitive and responsive controls, hilariously charming environments and characters, and audio that is pure candy for the ears.
Maybe $60 was a bit too much, since the price has since dropped to $30 (and even $20), but this game is a steal at that lower price. You are getting way more out of this title than you'd expect.
The art-style is gorgeous. Rayman Origins has the same impact aesthetically that <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Donkey-Kong-Country/dp/B00002SVFZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Donkey Kong Country</a> did when it premiered its stunning 3D-like graphics back in 1994. There are some great looking 2D platformers that released recently (Trine 2 and Outland come to mind), but Rayman Origins sets a new standard for art design in video games--this game looks absolutely beautiful. Complimenting the visuals, the music is often very funny, but always excellent. Some tracks are so good, I found myself putting the controller down just to listen to them for a while.
Not only does the game look and sound great, but it's a blast to play. You can choose from several characters, play co-operatively or solo, and have a bevy of abilities to unlock as you progress through the game. You'll probably die a lot in this game, but unlike a lot of platformers, it's not all that frustrating in Rayman Origins. The game respawns you pretty quickly so you can try again and most of the checkpoints are extremely forgiving. In other words, you won't find yourself having to redo half the level every time you die.
There are a bunch of collectables in the game and a really fun point-system that ups the replay value greatly. The game feels slightly easier than <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/New-Super-Mario-Bros-Wii/dp/B002BRZ9G0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">New Super Mario Bros. Wii</a> or <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Donkey-Kong-Country-Returns/dp/B003ZHMMEM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Donkey Kong Country Returns</a>. This is a huge plus in my opinion. All three of those games are marketed as 2D platformers for the whole family, but in my experience Super Mario and Donkey Kong--while they start off pretty easy--get really hard way too fast. So, members of the family who aren't hardcore video gamers get frustrated and stop playing.
Where Rayman succeeds is in giving the player new powers each time the difficulty is ratcheted up a notch, so the game has a very balanced progression to it. It's always fun and rarely frustrating. It does get significantly more difficult towards the end of the game, but unlike Mario and Donkey Kong where there are maybe 3 or 4 easy levels that everybody can play, Rayman has like 20 or 30 levels that most players should be able to get through before the game gets really challenging.
As I mentioned, I was very skeptical about this game and turned off by the price at launch. I was wrong. Rayman Origins is a classic and a great game for the whole family, hardcore and casual gamers alike. It's got so much personality and heart, that it's hard not to smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside while playing it. It's a beautiful game and well worth the price of admission.
UPDATE (May 23, 2012)
DIFFICULTY : As I mentioned in the original review, Rayman's difficulty level feels very appropriate for its target audience and is more family friendly in that regard than some other games like it. There is a nice progression to the difficulty level. The game starts off pretty easy, and stays reasonably easy for the first world or two. However, I've since entered the end game and for those of you looking for a challenge, Rayman has you covered. The later levels can get very challenging. Some require very skilled maneuvering (though most seem to boil down to simply memorizing the level and knowing exactly when to jump). So, if you are a hardcore gamer who likes the hair-pulling difficulty of some platformers (a la Super Meat Boy), don't discount Rayman--it's got something for you too.
MULTIPLAYER : Now, if you are NOT looking for the kind of aforementioned challenge, and want a less frustrating, more family-friendly experience, you're covered, too. Especially if you have others who will play with you. Rayman features some of the best multiplayer you can find on any 2D platformer. That annoyingly bumbling nature of New Super Mario--where players are constantly bumping into each other and bungling their jumps as a result--is absent entirely. You don't bump into each other in Rayman. Leaving each player to leap about without fear of colliding with another player and accidentally knocking somebody into a death pit. But present is the rescue mechanic where if a player dies, they go into a "bubble-ized" form where any other player can rescue them by popping the bubble. However, unlike Mario which is still (archaically IMHO) tied to lives, players can die repeatedly in Rayman. As long as at least one player is still alive to rescue the others, you can keep going forever. This dramatically changes the game and makes even the most challenging levels much more approachable for those of us who aren't expert gamers. Rayman makes it possible to overcome otherwise impossible levels with teamwork. And you'll have a total blast while you're at it! | video-games_xbox |
Not very much fun. I've only played the multiplayer for a few hours, and I am extremely underwhelmed. Everything about this game, from top to bottom is a irritating nuisance. From the terrible vehicle controls, lackluster menus, confusing customization screens. Not to mention the fact that everything is diluted in darkness, and confusion. It's nearly impossible to spot enemies, the weapon handling is possibly the worst I've experienced. The range on all of the weapons are unbelievably wrong, and to add to that, it takes about 10 bullets too much to put someone down. Some matches can last 10 minutes to an hour. If within that hour, you play terribly, you get barely any XP. So you waste an hour. To sum it up, this game isn't very fun. It's more frustrating than anything else. I've broken more controllers playing other games, but they were fun, so I go back to them. This one just isn't worth my time. I can't think of any positives, aside from the weapons look nice while customizing them.
**Update, annoyances continue as spawning is completely stupid and unexplained. When playing modes like Rush, it seems you can only spawn on one or two other people, even if they are in the process of dying. You'll die just as soon as you spawn. As stated in other reviews, there is no excuse for not being able to customize weapons outside of active games. Sniping is atrocious, you get hit markers on headshots and reloading with bolt action takes way too long, it's impossible to kill an enemy while you have to hit them multiple times, slowly reloading between shots. If you are new to the franchise, be prepared, nothing is explained as to what's what on the spawn screen or how to fly vehicles in game. The knifing situation leaves me dumbfounded, you can be shooting directly at an enemy that's in front of you, suddenly a really slow animation takes place, showing the enemy preparing to stab you, in this process, it forces you to stop shooting to take the knife. On 10/31/13, I attempted numerous times to enter modes like Rush or Domination, only to be placed in Squad Death match REPEATEDLY. Consider this turd of a game S O L D. | video-games_xbox |
Paynekillers. Note: This review concerns only the single player and not the multiplayer portion of the game. I'm not a fan of online multiplayer, so I'm not in a position to provide an in-depth analysis of the mode.
Pros:
1.) Story: Anyone who has played either of the previous Max Payne games is familiar with the basic backstory of the titular character. For those who are late to the party or who need their memory refreshed, Max Payne is a former NYPD detective who had his American dream ripped away from him when junkies murdered his wife Michelle and his baby daughter. Thus began Max Payne's quest for vengeance, which he certainly does achieve with style.
Transition to Max Payne 3. Revenge has not granted Max Payne the peace of mind he needed. Indeed, Max Payne has become a pill-popping alcoholic who spends his waking moments dulling his senses beyond recognition. All this comes to a change when he takes work as private security in Brazil for a wealthy family. However, the change of scenery does not translate to a change of luck, as Max Payne is dragged into another dark conflict that involves corruption, betrayal, and lots of death. Without getting into the particulars of the story for obvious spoiler-related reasons, I can safely say that the plot is intriguing, filled with entertaining twists, excellent voice acting (especially from James McCaffrey aka Max Payne), and an intriguing atmosphere. Perhaps the only complaint I can find is that outside of Max Payne, none of the other characters, especially the villains are particularly noteworthy or memorable. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the story is still enjoyable, but those gamers looking for an intriguing and deep cast of characters will be disappointed in this regard.
2.) Gameplay: First things first, gamers who have a hate of cutscenes will be aggravated by this game, as cutscenes occur frequently. Granted, this is not to Metal Gear Solid levels, but gamers who hate being interrupted are sure to be upset.
The shooting mechanics in Max Payne 3 are top notch. The enemy AI is formidable, without being cheap. Basically, you will die if you just stand out in the open, taking your sweet time trying to shoot. The enemies are incredibly accurate, but not accurate so as you will cry foul. After all, the accuracy of the enemies is offset by the advantage of Bullet time, which will be discussed later. Anyway, you will quickly be killed unless you take advantage of a couple of key features. New to the Max Payne games is the use of a cover mechanic. This is similar to the cover mechanics found in other GTA4 and RDR and works well here. Notable is that enemies will attempt to flank the player, which keeps fights interesting and tense.
The big draw to the shooting for this game is the Bullettime sequences. Enabling slow-motion during combat enables players to take down multiple foes with ease and is a necessary part of survival. Use of this feature is encouraged by the game, as the Bullet time meter refills quickly enabling multiple uses in a given fight. Another notable aspect of Bullet time is how it is implemented in near-death situations. Basically, if you are about to die and have extra painkillers (the equivalent of health kits), Bullet time will be entered, permitting you the chance to kill the enemy that is about to kill you. If you can kill the enemy in this few-second window, you will automatically use a pain killer and avoid death. It's an interesting mechanic that adds a new wrinkle to the game play and works to end the frustration encountered in many shooters where you are killed by an enemy you didn't even see.
One slight flaw is found in the checkpoints used in the game. As said before, the enemies in the game are formidable, but not cheap. That being said, there were a few segments in the game in which I died frequently. Because checkpoints in some areas are spread too far apart, this can lead to replaying some sections more than one would like. It's slightly annoying, but not too much of a problem. Fortunately, the game recognizes if you are having trouble with a particular section, as the game will give you extra painkillers if you keep dying, which will allow you to get past the section eventually.
Graphics/Animation: The high production values are evident throughout. I especially appreciate the numerous animations that Max Payne and his foes have which keep fights fresh. One of the most impressive touches I have seen has to do with Max and his weapon inventory. In most games, characters store weapons in some invisible, bottomless backpack. In Max Payne 3, this does not happen. Max has two holsters for smaller guns and holds one single larger gun. This means that if you are walking around with a pistol, Max will hold a rifle in his other hand, dangling at his side. It's a nice graphical touch that adds to the game.
One of the problems I found with the graphics is with the way the game is presented. Frequently, the game gets intentionally blurry as if to simulate Max's shakiness from the constant drinking/pill abuse. This is an annoying occurrence that happens throughout the game. The more you play, the more you will get used to it, but it is certainly not easy on the eyes. Speaking of the eyes, an early chapter in the game involves going to a night club that has strobe lights join on. Be careful not to have a seizure when playing this section, because it is tough to look at.
Closing thoughts: If you are a fan of the Max Payne series, buy this game. If you are a fan of shooters and games with a strong narrative and main character, buy this game. Hope you found this review helpful. | video-games_xbox |
Revenge - Great for Race and Smash fans. This game is so much fun and hours of fun. I just recently came across this game because of OXM (Official XBOX Magazine). This is a great game that I overlooked in the XBOX days as well as the 360 days. I am not a fan of racing games AT ALL, and this is NOT a racing game in the strictest sense. This game has mass destruction and hours of fun doing it. here are the good and the bad.
PROS:
Variety of Maps - though there are technically only 8 tracks, between having Short and Long versions, plus forward and reverse, you actually get closer to 32 tracks. Though, Eastern Bay does have Upper AND Lower in addition so, that is closer to about 36 Tracks to race on. No boredom here.
Variety of Events - this is their type of race, be it take out the enemy, race, crash for the highest dollar amount, burn through one lap faster than FAST! Plenty to do, and you will find yourself trying again and again to better your own score.
CONS:
The AI cars are NOT on the same plane of gaming as the player. When their vehicle re-spawns, they have boost in situations when they should not and you do not. They all bunch together in a pack, and when you crash in a race, all 5 fly by in a 2 second time frame, even though you were 10 seconds ahead. not very realistic (I know that this is a video game, but SOME grasp on reality please). This "Rubber-band" effect makes it frustrating when you drive 2 perfect laps and lose the race because of one accident.
The Cars have room for growth - I know that the company did not have license, so my issues is not looks but stats overall. Weight, Force, and Speed are all that are listed. How about handling and strength? Some cars are tighter in the turns than others, but you have to try them all to find the good ones. Which is probably what they want, but still a CON to me.
Crash-breakers - What in the frig? If the AI car is NEXT to mine in an accident and I Crash-Break, it should blow up to. Sometimes I get all 5 cars, and other times, and do not get a single one in the same situation. Very unbalanced. Speaking of unbalanced, I have watched time after time the AI cars SLAM into a wall, and do not explode, yet you barely touch a wall with the SIDE of your car and explode. Where is the Balance in this game?
This is a great game and I love it to death, but I see room for improvement, and the answer is NOT Burnout-Paradise. THAT is a waste of time and money, so you might as well just play Revenge for the next 2 years until someone decides to make a suitable follow-up to Burnout-Revenge. | video-games_xbox |
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