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Xcellent product. After having gone back and forth with buying a wheel for my favorite racing games. I finally bought one used locally. Now i'm an older gamer, and an avid racing game fan so the thought of adding more realism to my games seemed like a no brainer. I got the wheel hooked it up in a matter of a few minutes, and had it fired up ready to go. By now everyone should know that the wheel is not truly wireless, and needs an external power source for the force feedback aspect of the wheel. it also needs either a rechargeable plug and play unit or 2 double A batteries. Hit connect on the console, and on the wheel, and BAM you're ready to go. I tried the enclosed Forza 2 demo but if you don't already own the full game shame on you. Wheel does take some getting used to and like a few reviews have said the pedals and my table of choice tend to slide, but i hear a yoga mat works wonders and have to get one of those before Forza 3 streets.
I like the feel of the wheel and the positive and negative feedback that it provides me over the rumble strips, gravel traps, and the occasional grassy stretch as i go shooting off the course at speed. For me it really does add a new level of realism to the game, and i really enjoy it. I am still in the learning stages so i have yet to break old lap times, but wanted to share my feelings. I love the wheel and it feels very responsive during the races (even if this one was used) I noticed moving through the turns, and uneven straights the wheel will fight you a bit. The pedals seem very sturdy under usage and appear to give me finer control over acceleration. The paddles feel like the real thing to me but i have little experience with any real world car equipped with them, but like I said. They feel good to me! I do wish that it had a little more rotation but i don't think that it is really necessary more like a personal choice than anything else.
For fine tuning things like paint, vinyls and so on in games like need for speed, or Forza i would strongly suggest going back to the standard control pad for that finer control rather then using the wheel, D-pad, and paddle shifters to move around with.
Overall I am VERY happy with my purchase, and hope that this helps others who are stuck on the fence like i was. This is the table i used for the stand, and it works really well provided you add a little book or something to really clamp it down tight.
http://www.amazon.com/Table-Mate-Table-Mate-II/dp/B0007YDUXI/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1255374461&sr=8-6 | video-games_xbox |
Doesn't work in my setup. Disclaimer: I am giving this a 3 because I am sure this device works in certain setups and when I did get it to work, it was great, but ultimately for me it was too finnicky and has flaws even if it does work for you. I didn't actually order this on Amazon but wanted to give my review here and suggest picking this up at a store, because I think it's a "try before you (really) buy" so I suggest buying it at a store so if it doesn't work you can quickly return it and get refunded without having to deal with shipping it back and such. That being said, heres my review.
I recently moved my Xbox into a setup where I don't have much space compared to my old setup. I'd say I have about 5 feet from my TV to my couch, so playing my kinect requires me to angle it funny and tilt the TV. I bought zoom hoping I could use kinect like I used to, straight on, but was disapointed to find I simply couldn't get it to work.
First thing I noticed when I fired up my kinect with zoom on is it looks freaking cool, it makes the kinect look like some super robot or something which I think is neat. Nyko really nailed the aesthetic of this thing, it looks natural on the kinect and they used the same plasic and everything which is cool. But once I turned on my xbox I was disapointed to notice the little screen that shows sort of an infared outline of what kinect is seeing looked a little warped, it saw my whole body from a few feet away but was also detecting a bunch of other things and not really noticing when I was waving my hand. I figured calibration would fix it, so I went there in attempt to solve my problem to no results.
The first thing I noticed was the actual video quality with zoom is awful. Kinect is pretty low res to begin with, but the zoom made everything look significantly more distorted and pixelated. I doubt this is a problem for dance central or really most kinect games, but as they potentially more intricate it could become a huge problem. I got it calibrated to my room and everything seemed alright, but then I went to calibrate it to me and I noticed something, it wasn't really detecting me hardly at all. I figured I'd open up fruit ninja and see what happened, so I did.
Getting into fruit ninja my cursor kept jittering the entire time and the kinect would constantly try to make my leg the navigation. It seems as though the lack of fidelty makes it harder for kinect to detect what is what, which is disapointing to say the least. I went back to calibration and eventually got it to detect me after changing the angle a few times and replacing a lightbulb, I thought maybe I was good to go. Sadly this was not the case, I loaded fruit ninja back up and encountered the same problem I was having before I got it to detect me. I got into a game and it seemed to work alright, but every now and then it'd make a random slash near the top of my leg, a rather large problem.
The problem got worse when I put people in a couch behind me and tried playing kinect, the lost of fidelty seems to make it harder for kinect to detect who is who so it sort of makes everyone able to do anything. Without zoom, kinect is usually pretty good and choosing who is who and tracking only the actions of you and not people behind, but with this on it seems to really confuse it and it constantly switches. This makes the product unusable, so I decided it was a lost cause and to stick with angling the kinect and my TV oddly. I went to remove it and notice you really had to pry thing thing off, and when I got it off I noticed some scuffs around my lenses. They were all cosmetic and you have to really look up close to see them, but it's still frustrating and makes me wonder how nyko, a company who releases things generally of higher quality(I've used their Wii sensor bars and guns for years, which are decidedly more simple devices but both work better than the first party solutions), to release such a finnicky product that damages your expensive add-ons. I noticed amazon is no longer shipping these which makes me hope nyko recalled them and is going to maybe go for round 2 and fix it, although based on the way it works I'm not sure they can get away from the loss of fidelity.
Overall, I give Zoom a 3 because while it doesn't work at all for me, someone who uses kinect more when I have a few people over, I can see it working well for people who want kinect solely for single person use. I didn't try much more with it because I figured it was worthless but I imagine with some proper lighting and the ideal setup Zoom would work great. Still I need to discount it because it advertises as working with all setup and scratching my Kinect, which even if solely cosmetic is a major annoyance. So buyer beware...but maybe if you can get it to work it will be good for you. | video-games_xbox |
TRON: Evolution (XBOX 360) Single Player Review. I was born six years after the first TRON movie hit theatres, so I wasn't able to enjoy the fantastic digital world presented in that Disney flick when it was initially released; I did, however, get to view it when it aired on the Disney Channel sometime around the 20th anniversary. I think I was 13 at that time and I had seen better movies with far better visual effects, art direction, and writing--but there was something oddly alluring about the dated picture that pulled me in and kept me fascinated with the world of the programs and their struggle for liberation from the MCP (Master Control Program) and their belief in the Users. It was a movie that didn't attempt profound storytelling, favoring flair and fun over meaningful messages (although one could argue that the flick had dealt with corporate corruption or the dangers of technological advancement, just as one could argue that it had strong religious meanings with the programs looking to Kevin Flynn, the User, for salvation--it, like any piece of fiction, is really up to the viewer to determine the meaning and, for me, it was just a fun movie).
TRON is a franchise heavily rooted in videogame references and has a history of successful videogames (fun fact: the original TRON arcade cabinet was a bigger success than the film upon which it was based (you can get the original arcade game on XBLA, but I wouldn't recommend it because it is pretty wonky with a standard controller)). Following the 20th anniversary of the film, Disney had Monolith develop TRON 2.0 in an attempt to get the franchise some more footing to see if a film sequel would be a wise decision at that point and, while TRON 2.0 was a critical success (it's an awesome game, btw, so if you haven't played it, check it out--even if it's no longer considered canon), it was a financial disappointment and the franchise faded back into its cult status and obscurity. It wasn't until 2008 that the franchise would get back into the spotlight with a dazzling Comic-Con teaser that was met with thunderous applause and rabid fanboyish excitement (I wasn't there to experience it, but I had a pretty hardcore nerd-spasm when I heard about it and watched the crappy shaky-cam footage on youtube). The positive reception of the teaser led to the green-lighting of the film and two years later we got the absolutely awesome TRON: Legacy (I loved Legacy and think it's a marvel to watch with a fantastic soundtrack--critics be damned!).
With TRON: Legacy released and Disney hoping to reestablish the franchise as a moneymaking behemoth, there is, of course, a game tie-in, TRON: Evolution. I was a bit wary when it was announced because it has the stigma of being a movie-game with the development cycle tied to being completed by the time the film comes out--I knew I was going to play it because I'm a major TRON geek, but I braced myself to be disappointed with ugly visuals, broken gameplay, and a substandard story. Disney's own Propaganda Games taking the helm of this game and that was the another warning sign for me since they're a studio with only one game under their belt (the lackluster Turok reboot). However, while I will make no claims that this is a great game or a game of the year contender, it is by no stretch of the imagination a "bad" game.
TRON: Evolution does away with the first-person gameplay of Monolith's 2.0 and favors, instead, a Prince of Persia-esqe platforming system. It doesn't really have the brain-teasing puzzles that are present in a PoP game, but there's an abundance of wall running and death-defying jumps. Level exploration is linear with a defined "point A to point B" structure of progression, but the environments are vast and there's plenty of combat to keep you occupied on your journey. The platforming works fine and I honestly found it to be more enjoyable and fluid that the most recent installment in the PoP series (The Forgotten Sands).
Adding variety to the game's progression are the light cycle and light tank scenarios--while it would be easy to complain about how heavily scripted these scenes are or how disappointing it is that it's basically a race to get to the next area with no frills, I found both of them to be enjoyable and a much needed distraction from the platforming (as I said, the platforming works fine, but there's no real puzzles to speak of, so the variety added here is essential). The light cycle sequences aren't really anything to write home about and consist of you driving forward on a predetermined path while avoiding explosions, derezzing environments, and other programs on light cycles--it's heavily scripted and not innovative in any way, but I found it to be fun with some heart pounding intensity as I raced toward my destination desperately dodging foes determined to derez me. It's the kind of videogame sequence that's fun for the first time, but more predictable with each subsequent playthrough. The light tank sequences are similarly structured on a predetermined path with scripted enemies and such, but they evoke nostalgia as they are obviously heavily inspired by Space Paranoids (an arcade game created by Kevin Flynn and seen in action in the first movie, for those of you who don't know). A good comparison would be the Metropolis level in HALO 2 where you have to get across the bridge in the Scorpion as Banshees and Ghosts try to take you out--the light tank sequences in Evolution have you blasting through Recognizers and the armies of CLU to reach the end of the scenario. Again, it's nothing spectacular or original, but the variety is a benefit, it works well, and I found it to be enjoyable as both a gameplay element and a nod to the original fiction.
Combat in the game has you using your Identity Disc to dispatch foes through a blend of melee and ranged attacks. As your character upgrades to higher versions (ie. levels up), more combos and disc upgrades become available to assist you in derezzing enemies. Combat works well if you're not a rabid button masher, there's a needed finesse to pulling off a proper combo and constantly just tapping buttons in hopes to progress beyond the combat scenario is going to end in tragedy for you, program. The array of attacks that you can unlock become more flashy and (T-rated appropriate) brutal--the game is, however, lacking a finishing move (unless I was just doing something wrong) with downed enemies. I think it'd be neat if you kneel over your downed enemies and land a derez-dealing blow with your Identity Disc, but that seems to be nonexistent.
Graphically, I found Evolution to be hypnotically beautiful. It uses the same visual style as the new film (which some might find odd considering it takes place during the time of Flynn's disappearance, but you have to remember that this is a new system created after the MCP and the same system Sam is pulled into--so, really, it makes sense), so the environments have a futuristic black and blue sheen that some may find bland and barren, but I love the look of the movie and, therefore, the game. So, the armour and environments all look great; some of the faces, however, could have used a little more loving attention as they come off creepy and robotic. Character animations are fluid and refined, however some combat and platforming strings have an unwanted jerkiness to them--it doesn't break the game but it could/should have been ironed out. Regardless of those complaints, Evolution looks like a highly polished game with high production values and a beautiful visual style.
TRON: Evolution's story takes place in between the two films and chronicles the disappearance of Flynn and TRON as well as CLU's uprising. I won't delve into details in case you haven't seen Legacy, but Flynn's been gone since '89, CLU (which is really CLU 2.0 since the original was derezzed by the MCP in the first movie) betrayed his maker, and TRON stayed to fight CLU and his minions so that Flynn could escape--he hasn't been seen since and is presumed dead. The story isn't a Shakespearian masterpiece, nor does it try to be, it's more of the "here to be fun" kind of storytelling that is common to the franchise, but it does well to expand the universe and gives fans like myself something to talk about and geek over. I don't need my TRON story to be filled with allegories and meanings, I need it to be fun and expand the fiction that I know and love, and Evolution succeeds in that task.
Evolution's soundtrack is strong with a cast of talented actors bringing the story to life and a booming score that does a fantastic job of accenting the action--the score can easily stand on its own as a great addition to the TRON music-verse but it's made even more memorable by the two Daft Punk tracks that are included. The cast of actors carry their roles well with Bruce Boxleitner and Olivia Wilde reprising their big-screen roles of TRON and Quorra respectively; Jensen Ackles of Supernatural fame lends his voice to Gibson; Fred Tatasciore takes over the roles of Kevin Flynn and CLU and does a fine job sounding like the Oscar winning actor who made those characters who they are; and, of course, Nolan North plays a voice role. It's not going to win any awards, but the cast all do a fine job bringing their characters to life and making the world presented more believable.
With all that said, you must be wondering how long Evolution can keep you engaged, right? Well, Evolution employs RPG elements to improve your character and your version continues to grow in both the single-player campaign as well as the online modes. There are a total of 50 versions (character levels) at the point of this writing and the game features downloadable content to expand the experience (which will likely be restricted to online maps). There's also an unlockable difficulty beyond the three you can choose to play when you first pop the game in. Evolution's campaign consists of seven chapters that can take you anywhere between 6-15 hours to play (it all really depends on what difficulty you play on--if you play on easy, you can zip right through (provided you actually know how to play games), if you play on hard or insane, it's going to take you a bit more time to get through the game's challenges). If you're a fan of the TRON universe, you'll likely be more inclined to replay the campaign multiple times; for the rest of you, it's likely to be a "one and done" sort of deal and you'll be better off sticking with a rental instead of purchasing the game. There are also collectibles scattered throughout the environments that completionists and fans will spend extra time seeking out to gain the achievements or more insight to the world of TRON and the game's story.
There's probably going to be a lot of guff about this review since I actually liked the game and so many people are predisposed to hate it since it's a movie licensed title or the "real" critics gave it abysmal to mediocre reviews, but I stand by my beliefs. TRON: Evolution may not be truly innovative in any sense, but it provides plenty of content that I found to be a joy to play, an excellent soundtrack, beautiful visuals, and enough TRON fiction to keep the fans happy for the time it takes for the next film or game installment to be released. Evolution is by no means a great game, and I won't declare that it is, but it is a good game--the mechanics work the way they should with fast-paced, fluid gameplay in beautiful environments with a strong cast and awesome musical score.
I really would like to see them continue the game series independent of the inevitable film sequels to allow the developers more time to add more features and functionality to the games. I would love to see some free-roaming exploration added to the game on top of the action/platforming already in there as well as a BioWare-esque conversation system--just imagine how awesome it would be to truly explore the world of TRON and be able to interact with other programs and fight for the Users or become a rogue program that is a hazard to the system. That kind of freedom would be an awesome addition to the franchise. TRON 2.0 failed to get the sales it needed because it was a game based on an IP that had done nothing new for 20 years--not enough people knew what it was! With TRON: Legacy out and the brand reestablished, people know what TRON is now and the games should be able to stand on their own and it's likely that they would be more successful than Evolution is going to be if they're not carrying the baggage of being written off as a movie-game. | video-games_xbox |
Good Quality but a problem with standard Xbox One Controllers. I installed this product on a Xbox One Standard controller. The installation was very easy. the sticks are of excellent quality. The problem I ran into is that immediately after installing and reassembling the controller, I went to play a first person shooter and immediately noticed that the left trigger is activated at all times. Oddly enough, if I remove the tip from the thumbstick, the left trigger immediately deactivates and the controller works properly. However as soon as I put the tip back on it immediately goes back into zooming because the ledt trigger is activated. The magnet for some reason is interfering with the left trigger. The right stick is far enough away from the right trigger that it does not affect it. I have a Xbox One Elite Controller and the tips are identical so something must me different inside it to where it doesnt effect its trigger. Unless there is some fix or a way around this problem, I cannot give it 5 stars. The quality of the tips is superb, but if you are using this for a regular Xbox One controller, you will sadly disappointed as you can only actually change the right thumbstick. the Dpad works flawlessly. I have asked a question for this fix or a way around it on Amazon. I have no clue how to contact the company, but if someone tells me how to get around this I will update the review and give it 5 stars easily.
UPDATE: I have figured out a workaround to this problem. The only way to fix this is to take the thumbstick and actually flip the magnet. The only way to do this is to first remove the washer, exposing the magnet. You then have to use a heatgun or hairdryer to soften the glue holding the magnet in place. Once you have softened the glue, pry out the magnet. Then flip the magnet and glue it back in. You should mark a side of the magnet to make sure you aren't putting back in the same way. After the magnet is glued, put the washer back on and install the thumbstick. The magnet will no longer affect the left trigger. A sidenote tho, the power of the magnet on left thumbstick is not quite as strong as it was, but it will still securely hold the thumbstick tips. I still have to keep the review 3 stars, because this is way too much effort for a person to do to get a 5 stars review. | video-games_xbox |
Too little, too late. You'd think with a player like Daniel Negreanu and the hype behind this title for more than a year, Stacked should deliver a full house of features, but the game arrived after countless development delays and there isn't much to get excited about.
GRAPHICS & AUDIO
To begin, the audio is uneven (loud in the menus and very soft in the game) and the graphics are just ho-hum. Granted, this isn't a next-gen title and we're only talking about poker here, which is not supposed to have spellbinding audio or be a graphics-intensive genre anyways. But a simple example is that the player's hole cards are always shown askew, which makes them inherently jaggy (Note to the programmers: The point of poker is to look at your cards!!! The least you could do is make them easy on our eyes!). Going beyond that, the player customization is horrific. And by that, I mean you won't be able to make an avatar that looks like you, but instead you'll have to choose from one of 18 characters (6 are women) and change the few features they offer in an attempt to make a horrifically scary version of yourself. To put it kindly, if you even get close, it will look like you were cloned... But at Wal-mart.
GENERAL GAME DYNAMICS
Once you make your character and get into the game, the frustration begins. The AI on this game is ridiculous. Whereas other poker titles tend to overplay bad hands, almost all of the Stacked players will slow play everything, giving you absolutely no idea what the players may have. They'll smooth call your bets without coming over the top on you and turn over the nuts more often than you can believe. And, what's worse, they'll call all-in bets with ridiculous hands and suck-out more times than an 18 year old on PartyPoker.
When you get right down to it, the basic premise of the game is what makes this so boring. Stacked is designed with a very specific "path to success." You must place (often top 10% or a win) in specific tournaments to unlock subsequent levels and challenges. Although I think this is an interesting premise when applied to a few games (like satellites that let you win your way into a bigger tournament) the game should have relied on amassing cash to pay for tournament entries. That way, a player can pick the tables they want to play at and earn enough to go after the championships as they choose, rather than being forced to play limit games and be at the mercy of the inevitable suck out.
LEVEL DESIGN & CHARACTERS
What's more, all this work is for mediocre gains. There are only 7 professionals (Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, David Williams, Josh Arieh, and Juan Carlos Mortensen) to unlock and only 3 locales (and that's only three if you count the Stratosphere Casino and the Stratosphere Tower as two separate locations, which Stacked does). Seriously, if the pinnacle of my poker career is playing at the Stratosphere, kill me now.
UNIQUE GAME CHARACTERISTICS
Although Daniel Negreanu might be considered the unique benefit in the game, his presence isn't that pivotal. As you play, you can ask for his opinion on each hand. Most of the time, his suggestions are as bland as "I'd check," or "Call it, dude!" but beginning players (who would most often use this feature) won't understand why he's instructing you to make these moves, or what could happen on the flop to improve the hand he's asking you to play. Some exceptions are when he tells you to steal the blinds with a hand like KJ off suit, or when he says to re-raise with a pretty good hand if you don't think the limpers before you are holding the nuts. But the advice that he gives should have been integrated with the 15 chapters of videos he provides in the "Stacked Poker School." After all, if when playing poker against bots, you should be able to take a moment and brush-up on the tactics you should be using, in order to properly employ them.
POSITIVE ASPECTS
For everything that it lacks, there are some redeeming and unique features in Stacked that could warrant a sequel. The game graphically represents your chips as a stack in on the left side of the screen. When you call or raise, you can see exactly how much of your stack you're committing to the pot. In single-player games you can display your hole cards at all times but, when you play online, you have to "look" at your cards, an action which all the other players can see.
When you call a bet or raise, the game shows you the portion of your total chip stack you are committing to the pot.
SUMMARY
Pros:
- Worthy attempts to be innovative with the poker interface
Cons:
- Lackluster casino locales
- Dreadful character customization
- Terrible AI
- Audio problems and mediocre graphics
When you get right down to it, Stacked is nothing more than a slight diversion for the few months you'll have to wait until the next-gen poker titles arrive. Once the poker titles for the latest consoles arrive, this title won't be able to "Stack up" against them. | video-games_xbox |
One of world's biggest but world's best. On one hand, it's quite easy to criticize a series like "Halo". It's a simple first-person shooter, control vehicles, grenades and big set-pieces are pretty standard in a lot of FPS' lately and it doesn't really do anything revolutionary to make it the "shooter to end all shooters". However, the mythos, characters and the sheer fun of the series as a whole is quite enticing and out of the shooter franchises involving aliens which include "Resistance" and "Gears of War", Halo probably has my favorite mythology tied to it. When the second game ended, it came with a slightly confusing storyline and a cliffhanger that didn't feel finished, like watching a tv show when the power goes out. Bungie took many of the criticisms found with both games and addressed them for this installment. Does it make it a better game?
Story: When Halo 2 ended, Cortana had been captured by the Gravemind, the Prophet of Truth was heading to Earth to activate the Ark which would fire all Halo installations in the galaxy, effecting wiping every living being off the face of the universe. So in comes Master Chief and with the help of the Arbiter and the marines, the whole future of the galaxy rests on everyone's favorite Spartan.
Graphics: Barring the repetitive level design from the first game, it was still a great looking game for its time, same with 2. The third game while given a major upgrade, might not have the flashy effects that are found in games like Gears, Bioshock or Call of Duty IV. However, the detailing, environments and the big battles are still here in all their chaoticness and seeing a Scarab destroyed a mere 40 feet from you is really awesome. Character animations are slightly iffy and because you can't install directly to the hard drive, you'll occasionally see some stutters and pauses though they're forgivable.
Sound/Music: With that main theme, how can you not get pumped? Sweeping and very theatrical, the score is easily a highlight of the game and when the music kicks before a big battle, it's easy to get that sense of excitement and be jazzed up for the fight. Voice acting as always is excellent and despite the fact your teammates are inconsistent in their help, their lines are quite funny at times. Only thing I wish would've been addressed is the option to change the sound volume. I play with headphones (the earphone doesn't work) and when you're on co-op or multiplayer, would've been nice to turn the game sound low so you can hear Live chatter.
Gameplay: Nothing much that's been changed from the 2nd game. Dual-wielding, vehicle boarding and the like is still the same though with it comes new additions. Added is the Mongoose, a sort of ATV with optional gunner in the back, and the favorite Chopper which is slightly harder to drive than a Ghost or Warthog for me but with spinning blades in front and cannons, it's easy to mow down enemies. Air units in the campaign are really only relagated to one part though there's a couple of parts where you can ride a Scorpion but Banshees on the ground are strangely absent unless you shoot one from the sky.
One thing that I love the addition of is co-op for the campaign since as most can tell you, Legendary achievement can be a ***** and having up to 3 additional friends to help you out not only cancels out the weak friendly AI but speeds up the process since it isn't as wall-making every 10 minutes. Also you can find skulls within the game which will add special effects to the game. Some are just goofy like headshots on grunts will cause confetti to be thrown into the air complete with a "hurray!" soundbit while others will give enemies more grenade tossing capabilities or even have weapons have less ammo when picked up with the benefit being they add multipliers for a level score. Getting the achievements will require you to add more than one and it adds a nice arcade-y feel.
What's made Halo 3 so popular since it came out is its multiplier and got to give it to Bungie for their commitment to the thing. 3 map packs plus a free redesigned one, title updates and countless players online, it makes for a bit of an addictive play. My only gripe is that like most MP games, you have to vote on a map and should the majority wins you get another map/game type automatically. However it's not like say Call of Duty IV where you're specifically in Capture the Flag or King of the Hill and the changes are the maps, you can be in one gametype, map gets vetoed and thrown into an entirely different map and game type. Plus let's face it: you've never seen as much snotty brats, arrogant punks and racist slurs as you can with the community in Halo 3. In fact, I think I heard the racist slur ***got near 20+ times in one match so be prepared to mute.
With a near endless supply of players, looooong list of achievements and a fun campaign, Halo 3 has enough value for 60 bucks. Just depends on whether or not you can see past the hype and all that other stuff. | video-games_xbox |
The Worst Madden in Years. I grew up with Madden. I had it on the Sega Genesis, on the Playstation, the Playstation 2, and now on the XBox 360. This series is close to my heart. So that's why i'm so disapointed in this years version.
This is the first real Madden game on a next gen counsel. 2006 was on the 360, but that doesn't count. So instead of having all the cool stuff that I loved on the PS2 versions like, oh I don't know, fantasy draft, the ability to team up with a buddy on two player mode, easy access to menu's, an AI that was smarter than a amoeba, they took all that out and we get this watered down and incredibly easy version of Madden with little to no features.
No fantasy draft was the first thing that I noticed. I'm a football nerd. I love making my own team, creatings it's own identity, and giving it a personality. But I can't do this. I guess more memory and a superior processor means that they couldn't fit this in.
The next thing I noticed was how incredibly easy this was. I would routinely run up 80 points on good teams. I had 2500 yards and 30 touchdowns with Willie Parker. I love Willie Parker, but stats like that are ridiculous.
The game also has a tendency to freeze. I have had problems with several other 360 games, so maybe it's the system itself. I'm not sure, but it sure is irritating.
When you play against a friend, skills and ability just go out the window. You can pass all day on someone if you have a semi-mobile quarterback, and if you are playing with Mike Vick, you can torch people through the air. All you have to do is run around until the defensive backs get lazy and quit cover the recievers.
The AI is about as dumb as i've seen in a sports game. They can never, I mean never pass effectively on you no matter how poor you defense is.
They also made running easier with the truck stick. Running was way to easy to begin with, and now it's just super easy. (See Willie Parker, 2500 yards and 30 TDs).
So this game is weak all around, but it's the only game on the market. I'm very disapointed in EA for getting exlusive rights and then putting out a overall horrible game. Fans keep on buying this though, because of brand loyalty and this is all there is. So if you can resist it (I couldn't), don't but this game. Vote with your wallet and make EA put out a decent football title. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle's head in the sand. UPDATE 2: So one of my original problems is still present in the new headset. Previously I had a problem where the sound from the left would come out on the right and vice versa. That problem only happened on the PS4 previously because I didn't play XB1 often. I was just playing XB1 and it happened, restarting the headset worked, I didn't have to restart the console. Now I know this isn't a console issue because it happened on 2 consoles. Another problem I noticed, (I mute everyone on XB1 because I can't speak thru the headset yet because this isn't compatible with XB1 til March or so) is when you don't have the wire plugged into the controller, whether on XB1 or PS4, the chat volume is extremely louder than the game, with no option to alter it (there should be an option to alter it on the consoles, but of course there's not, unless you're on the PS4 with the wire plugged in, but I'm talking about when you don't have it plugged in.) There should be a wire with a volume control for chat on it like in previous turtle beaches, but alas it does not. Is it me or is technology continuously going backwards? The PS4 is slower than a PS1, many options have been taken away from XB1, I'm not even going to continue this rant because it's irrelevant to my review, but c'mon! Life is always about moving forward and progressing! Get wit it, you greedy cheap companies. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, it randomly stops working on my phone and computer (Mac.) Sometimes restarting it works, sometimes I have to unsync then resync just to get it to work again. If you get what you pay for, then give me a discount. ;)
UPDATE: Ok, so my initial review was written about my first Phantom headset which I found out was faulty. I've been using my replacement headset for 10 days now. The only problem that I initially wrote about that is still present, is that, when somebody calls me while I'm already using the headset while I play a game, sometimes they hear me low until I reset the settings, or if they hear me fine, and I hang up, the people playing hear me very low until I reset the settings. Then when I reset the settings back to PS4 mode, it doesn't go back to the preset I was on, it always goes to preset #6, I use #7, so I only have to click it once, but still, it should go back to what I had it on. Other than that, there isn't any other problems that I've witnessed yet. The headset could be a little louder tho. They do have a preset which is super loud! But I use the preset that focuses on footsteps, and even when I plug it into my computer, and edit the preset with the program to make it the loudest it can be, it's still not "loud enough" to my liking.
So I used to own the Earforce Deltas (MW3 ones) which were great except for occasional static/cutting in and out. The Phantoms have better sound quality (I tried the Earforce Deltas on COD Ghosts as well before purchasing these) but have way more problems. I believe I have a faulty set, I'm receiving a refund and am going to order another pair to make sure, if my original headset was faulty, I will update. As of now tho, where do I begin with the problems? First off they say it works great with PS4, but fail to mention, in order to properly communicate with other players via PS4, you need to have a Windows PC (not Mac, unless you have Bootcamp on Mac with Windows, which luckily I do have) to download a program which can download an update for the firmware, because you have to use the "mobile cable" to communicate with people since PS4 doesn't support bluetooth headsets (yet, I believe they're going to update it, they should, since PS3 could easily use bluetooth headsets, things are supposed to progress no?) You can also edit the presets yourself with this program which is great. On to some more problems. We buy surround sound headsets to be able to hear who is around us, from what direction, but, sometimes the volume from the left comes out from the right, and the volume from the right comes out from the left. How do you have to fix this? Restarting the headset rarely works, you have to restart the whole console. I've only experienced this problem on PS4, I rarely have used these on Xbox One, since this headset isn't compatible with it until about March. Another problem, this headset is supposed to be compatible with smart phones as well, I have it connected to my iPhone while I play so I can answer calls while I play. When I talk to someone on the phone, the people in the game can hear me and I can hear the people playing, which is awful since the people playing are usually louder than the person calling, on the Earforce Deltas I had, there was a switch on the chat cable to mute my chat (although with those you didn't need them because when you received a call, the people playing couldn't hear you nor could you hear them anyway until you hung up.) Not only that, but if I'm in a game, and somebody calls me, sometimes when I answer, they can't hear me, until I either switch the settings on the headset, or restart the headset. Or if I am playing, and someone calls me, and they can hear me, sometimes when I hang up, now the people playing can't hear me! Sometimes randomly for no reason people can't hear me until I change the settings or restart. I was on the phone earlier today (using this headset but not playing any games) I spoke to 2 people just fine, a 3rd person called me, and they couldn't hear me. I didn't alter anything or touch anything, it just happened after 2 phone calls for no reason. The game volume gets really low randomly for no reason, which defeats the purpose of being able to hear people around you, especially for me because they have presets already made, and I use the one which focuses on footsteps. I even went into the program where you could alter the presets, and raised the volume all the way up, still have the same problem. I can't lower the chat volume in games (you can for phone calls and anything bluetooth related) from the headset, I have to go, in mid game mind you, to the options in the PS4, just to lower the volume. If you play COD, which you probably do, you know time is very crucial, and just a split second could mess up the flow of the game. Sometimes the incoming chat volume gets low as well for no reason. I feel like I'm forgetting something, so if I am I will edit this. This isn't a quick analyzation, I've been using these since about November 21st or so, and I've used them several times a week for at least an hour or more at a time, so I've had plenty of time to analyze this headset to write a proper and descriptive review. Again, if this one headset was faulty, I will update this review after I test out the other headset for at least a week.
Question:
Is it the game or the headset? I can hardly hear people climbing ladders anymore, even tho I mostly use the amplify perk. When I played MW3 I could hear everyone climbing a ladder even if I wasn't close. But now I could be right above the ladder and barely hear them. Would appreciate some feedback on that. | video-games_xbox |
Looking for A Good Basketball Game. Then LOOK FURTHER. I bought NBA Live 15 on the Xbox Store on sale. I'm thinking for basically $10 bucks, I can't beat it and looks like it would be fun. I wanted a basketball game anyways and I figured that this would do fine, especially while waiting for NBA 2k15 to drop in price. SO, I bought the game, waited for it to finish downloading, and started up, thinking I would have some fun with it. WRONG. This is the worst basketball game that I have played in a long time.
The graphics are good and the ESPN aspect of it is nice as well. I like how you can pass by holding down the RB button and moving the right analog stick towards the direction the player who you would like to pass to. This helps reduce the mistakes you would make if you wanted to pass to player X but you accidentally hit the B button. You still have the ability to pass the ball that way as well. Another pro about this game is that it does not require a constant internet connection in order for you to play certain modes so all modes are available offline.
Thats pretty much the good part about it. Gameplay wise, it sucks and its frustrating. The computer can make it rain all day long while I cant even buy a shot. They miss the easiest ones as well. I expect for some shots to be missed. However, I find it ridiculous that I can almost never hit from 3ft away when I am guarded, and that includes having a player thats pretty much towering the opponent. But if its the AI, its going in. It doesnt matter if they are standing 3ft from the rim or 15ft out. The AI can make contested and guarded shots all day long. Me? I cant. I almost rarely make the shot. Majority of the time after I shoot, the game shows that the shot was contested or blocked. How can I be contested or blocked when the opponent is 20ft away? Even with great release, I still miss the shot.
The controls are not really fluid, for some aspects of the game anyways. For example, sometimes after I do a spin and try to shoot, it's like the game delays the action to shoot for a second instead of going right into it smoothly. You spin, wait around a second, and then you start to shoot. This can mess you up with your shot. Sometimes, it can be unresponsive. By the time you do finally start to shoot, the computer is down your players throat. And the commentary is somewhat boring in my opinion. It reminds me of overcooked chicken. Dry.
I never really tried playing online so I cannot speak on that aspect of the game. Everything else was so crappy, I didn't want to even bother trying to play online. If my experience playing offline is bad, I can only imagine how it is online. The "Rising Star" mode isn't bad but I find it ridiculous when you get penalized for every single shot that you miss. You're going to eventually miss them sometimes. The AI isn't the best either. I sometimes feel that I might as well be on a team by myself. And is it even possible to intercept a pass? I've tried plenty of times and it seems as if the game won't let me do it.
I do not own NBA LIVE 14 so I cannot honestly say how much 15 has improved and/or changed. However, I do own NBA 2k15. NO. I am not a fanboy or anything like that. Its just a better basketball game. If you are looking for a good one, get 2k15. If you still want to try this one out, rent it. Dont want to rent it? Then pay no more than $10-$20 for it, and any price over 10 is pushing it.
I rate this game 2/5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
and the game strikes a nice balance between urgency to move forward with the freedom . Tomb Raider is indeed back for round 2 of the same adventure from the previous XBOX360/PS3 release. For those who have yet to play it, playing the game on XBOX One or PS4 is the way to go.
Tomb Raider is a modern day adventure game, with the easiest comparison being the Playstation's "Uncharted" series. However, whereas Drake's adventures are more direct, Lara has some time to explore her surroundings, which helps enrich the gameplay experience as gamers get to spend time exploring the mysterious world Lara inhabits. Collect-a-thons exist in plenty within each section of the map, and the game strikes a nice balance between urgency to move forward with the freedom to wait. In addition, Lara seems to have taken a few pages from Drake's own treasure map - over the top action sequences with exploding buildings, platforming over impossible obstacles with ease and finesse, sliding down random hills in moments of flurry and escape, all wrapped up in bar setting graphics.
Where Lara outpaces Drake is in the combat - which surprised nearly everyone who has ever played a Tomb Raider game. Weapons are simple, yet can be outfitted for colorful depth - my favorite typically being the bow and arrow for precision sniping and stealth. Lara sneaks, stabs, shoots, and fights with the best of them. However, be warned - This game is violent, often excessively so. This is particularly seen in the amount of abuse Lara takes throughout the game. Being impaled by tree branches, weapons, or rammed through the throat by natures finest obstacles, getting sucked underwater by violent currents while we watch, or ending a baddies life with a well placed axe to the skull - these moments are almost pornographically violent as evidenced by non flinching animations that are frequently disturbing. These animations seem to exist to see how far the creators can go in killing the queen of adventure games. Be warned - this is not a kids game.
Where Tomb Raider falters is a slightly underwhelming story. For being such a brilliant explorer, she seems to arrive at her conclusions well after any logical thinking gamer will, letting some wind out of the sails of the final act. The overall narrative sadly disappoints, though is engaging enough to carry the game - even if by a limp. Think more along the lines of "Temple of Doom" and less "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Also, the oft mentioned transition from trembling/fearful heroine to bloodthirsty brawler is indeed a transition that wasn't handled with much care from a narrative standpoint. Voice acting however is phenomenal across the board, with very little cringe worthy dialogue, and convincing performances. Kudos.
I am excited to see the next step in Lara's adventures on XBOX One, and would advise that the creators focus on a tighter narrative while building on the already excellent open world gameplay that this game has given us. I prefer Tomb Raider (this version anyways) over the Uncharted series in terms of gameplay, but Drake weaves the better yarn. I would still caution anyone regarding the excessive and unnecessary violence, especially of there are younger ones in the home. | video-games_xbox |
Great Game Aside From Some Glitches And Other Issues. I love pretty much everything about this game. The characters and storylines are compelling and at certain times and in certain ways the game world kind of draws you into it and makes you feel as though youve gone back in time-entered the world of the game. There are a few glaring issues.
1. The game tends to freeze up a lot once you begin playing as Jack Marston. I cant say with certainty that it doesnt happen when playing as John, but I noticed it a lot more when playing as Jack. Its almost as though Jack simply wasn't designed to perform certain motions in certain location and by performing these motions in these locations it causes the game to freeze or glitch.
2. Horse doesnt arrive quickly enough, at all or it gets in your way. There have been numerous times when I called my horse to either catch someone who was fleeing on horseback or make an escape myself, only to have the horse either arrive too late or not at all. Im not sure this is a glitch or if your horse is just plain unreliable. There have been other times when I lost honor because my horse decided to take a bullet for someone I was engaged in a shoot out with.
3. Human and animal bodies move or disappear. There have been times where I had someone hogtied on the back of my horse, got off of it
for a second to open a chest or loot a body and the person on the back of the horse completely disappeared. Them untying themselves and escaping was completely impossible, they were just gone in a second. In other cases, a person or animal body was killed in one spot and ended up either vanishing or in a completely different place.
4. There seems to be a bizarre overlap glitch between killing townspeople in cold blood and killing people in self defense. There have been times where I killed someone in self defense and lost honor-gained a wanted level. People have walked up to me and just started shooting me for no apparent reason, and likewise, Id lose honor for killing gang members of bounty targets.
5. No one could have seen anything, but law enforcement was notified and ascended on me immediately. If you kill someone in the middle of nowhere like at the absolute ends of the earth and there happens to be someone slightly in the area that person will not only see what you did, but will also immediately notify law enforcement in a far off town who will immediately track you down no matter where you are and will come to kill you, even if as stated above the killing was in self defense. There are also times on the opposite extreme where you can kill someone in a town or around other people and no one will see/react to it. So the whole witness thing is unreliable or at least somewhat inconsistent.
6. Certain animals and law enforcement are both overly aggressive. Not sure if this is really a glitch, but it seems like any predatory animal will attack you viciously even when they are coming into your habitat. Even as you shoot at or even shoot certain animals, they still keep coming at you instead of retreating for self-preservation. As for law enforcement, lets just say that if you accidentally break a window and owe a one dollar fine prepare to die, as they are coming to kill you even if you are prepared to surrender or pay the fine. | video-games_xbox |
A diamond that shines despite some grit on its' surface. Ah, Gretchen and Heinrich! You two certainly set me upon quite the quest. We had good times and we had bad times but overall completing your epic errand gave me quite the sense of accomplishment!
The above two sentences some up Knights Contract as a whole! While this is not a perfect game or one that had a triple A budget to back it up, Knight's Contract has become one of my precious "sleeper gems" of the year.
First I must warn you the last two bosses are very difficult. Unless you are extremely lucky you'll see the game over screen quite often. Having stated that, the game is by no means broken. I was able to finish Knights Contract and I must say that beating it actually made me feel proud as opposed to the "meh" sensation I get when games are dumbed down for mass appeal and mass consumption.
Still with me? Good! I'll get more logs for the hearth! Now that you're comfortable we'll begin with the story. In Knights Contract innocent witches who helped mankind were blamed for the black plague. A charismatic charlatan by the name of Faust convinces the self righteous mob to execute magical practitioners wherever they maybe found. Dealing out the death blows is the earnest executioner Heinrich. He doesn't enjoy his job but alas, he has to do it lest the townsfolk turn on him as well. The last witch Heinrich kills curses him with immortality. Later on Gretchen meets Heinrich again, reincarnated into a new body that was made especially for her by a kindly alchemist. Heinrich is informed that the other witches have been brought back by Faust and they now seek revenge upon humanity. Faust controls them by having their magical shards and apparently he needs Gretchen's shard as well to complete his heinous apocalyptic ritual. Put simply, the story is actually rather good. As you slay each witch you simultaneously feel sorry for them and the relationship that develops between Gretchen and Heinrich is believable.
The main gimmick of Knights contract is you control two characters at once. Heinrich is the bulky warrior with a scythe hammer that dispenses cold hard justice whereas Gretchen learns a plethora of spells that can entrap her foes or juggle them multiple times into the air. As you upgrade Gretchen's incantations they dish out more damage, become more accurate, and cover a larger radius. Though Heinrich is immortal and can escape death's grasp via the tapping the "a" button quickly to pull his body parts back together, Gretchen is fragile and mortal. Once Gretchen's health reaches empty you'll be treated to a heaping helping of fail! Luckily, Gretchen's depleting health can be restored when Heinrich gallantly lifts her up into his strong arms and even while doing so he can do a "quick dash" to avoid incoming attacks.
Due to all the whining and ranting about "one long escort mention" I thought Knights Contract would prove to be nay impossible to chug through and yet I managed to do so with very few actual problems. While Gretchen's ai is not the best it certainly is not the worst. Beyond that, she's actually "helpful" and her spells can balance out the battlefield even when the newest batch of baddies prove to be extra tough! In general keeping Gretchen alive is "common sense". Aka, don't let her lag too far behind and tend to her wounds when necessary. It's not rocket science. The worst case scenario happens when Heinrich is incapacitated and Gretchen is being choked or crushed by a monster. However, there are hidden charms that hasten Heinrich's resurrection speed and add more overall health to Gretchen's life bar. Knight's Contract is never "unfair" unless the person playing it is hell-bent on being a selfish narcissist!
In general KC does a good job with environments. One of my favorite areas included tracking down giant serpents within an icy forest and a series of caves. The artic snakes would leave behind their shed skins that crumbled at my touch. Later on you go through a castle keep that is tangled in Repunzel's hair. It's as if the people who created KC put more imagination into everything because they were trying to make up for the smaller budget allotted to them. Needless to say, this totally works in KC's favor!
Yet not everything is rose petals, sadly there are some thorns. Toward the end of the game there's a large portion taking place within a pocket dimension in which previous areas are somewhat "re-skinned" but are still otherwise mostly the same. Aka, the dreadful "recycling curse"! Additionally , there are some texturing errors causing the feet of the main protagonists' to sink somewhat into the ground when this is not supposed to happen. Fortunately, this graphical glitch is not game breaking. I never encountered an instance where I fell completely through the world. (I'm looking at you, Fable II!)
Bosses are a mixed bag. In some instances they can "ring you out" by knocking you off ledges and most of them require quick time events to slay properly. If you fail a QTE the boss regains a couple of health bars so you have to whittle them down to that point again. For most of the game the "cheap factor" is kept to a bare minimum but as I said before, the last two fights will test your patience and your sanity!
The voice acting and music throughout the game are surprisingly fantastic. Seriously, the audio kept me invested in the characters and story my entire time playing. I felt as if I was reading one of those nostalgic "dark fantasy" books I used to revere as a angst ridden moody teenager! Laura Bailey and the other voice actors who filled in for Heinrich, the seven other witches, Faust, and the bumbling yet lovable alchemist Minikelsus did their respective roles perfectly.
Overall if you're a gamer who is having longing pangs for a modern action/exploration game that is reminiscent of Ico, Onimusha, Genji, Ghouls & Ghosts, as well as the anime Berserk you should totally pick it up!
Pros
+ Good story line
+The "escort dynamic" doesn't suck as bad as professional reviewers made it out to be.
+Imaginative environments for the majority of the game.
+Challenging and awe inspiring boss fights.
+Decent monster variety.
+Thought and care went into the audio side of things.
+ Being able to use the potion tossing alchemist Minikelsus when Gretchen is absent.
+Hidden gallery pages and beneficial items can be found everywhere!
+Gretchen's spells can be "leveled up" to increase their effectiveness.
+"Finishers" are gory and satisfying!
Cons
-Last two boss fights are a matter of luck, happenstance, and dealing with mounting frustration.
- Quick time events. The gaming community in general could probably do without them!
- There are certain moments in which Gretchen and Heinrich are separated and have to fight alone. This is when the overall challenge spikes considerably.
-Minor graphical errors.
-Giant gold knight golems are jerks!
-There's a portion of the game that recycles pieces of familiar locales you've already traversed.
-Game visuals are not nearly as polished as the in game cgi sequences
-Map is rather useless. You'll have better luck navigating on your gut feelings & instincts!
-Camera is occasionally jerky.
Final Grade
Overall: 4
Funfactor: 4
A "4" is a good game with a few noticeable flaws that are still easy enough to ignore. While this game may not be a "media darling" the slander against it seems hyper exaggerated, dubious, and more than a little unfair. If you're a gamer who is tired of fpses, loves European mythology, enjoys action adventure games, doesn't mind a challenge, or if you're into modern Wicca, Knights Contract is a steal for the present asking price! Though KC is not as refined as God Of War, Dante's Inferno, Dark-Siders, or Lords of Shadow, those who liked those games will easily be able to warm up to this one as well!
Completed on: Page difficulty (I read rumors that knight difficulty is literally a "knightmare"!) | video-games_xbox |
Unfinished. With a little more development this game could have been so much better. The planes are nicely detailed and when your bullets hit an enemy pieces fall off the plane and the plane may explode with very realistic flames, or a wing may be shot off. A pilot may escape and float to earth on his parachute. But otherwise the graphics are less than spectacular with low resolution clouds and fairly poor water effects. When there is a lot going on the frame rate suffers badly. There is a cockpit view but the guages are fixed and inoperable. The most annoying thing is the lack of damage to your aircraft. At the end of a mission other games you see gaping holes in your wings with exposed framework, in this game damage is represented by black smudges. Instead of looking damaged your plane just looks dirty. These graphics would have been ok years ago, but not today.
The game has a few glitches, on one level it can be impossible to destroy some targets. You have to restart and try again. Sometimes you unlock an airplane but it does not appear on your selection screen, other times you unlock an airplane you already have. The game will lock up requiring a restart occasionally.
As an older pilot who lacks the reflexes of most game players I appreciated the reflex mode, which slows down time and makes it easier to hit your targets. However, the game is actually too easy. There is almost no difference between the skill levels and even on Ace skill it is impossible to stall or spin your plane, and it is almost impossible to get shot down. Those looking for realism need to look elsewhere!
The online play isn't any better, even though the graphics are stripped down the frame rate is horrible when looking at the ground. Typically there are only a couple online players.
If they had spent more time on the graphics, cleared out the bugs and built some realism into the higher skill modes this would have been a great game. As it is, I do enjoy playing it as I am just looking for something to relax with after a hard days work. But I think most hard core gamers or pilots looking for a flight simulator will be dissapointed. | video-games_xbox |
Not worth the money. (...)
This game is a real-time space fighter/mission oriented game. The back of the box bills it as more of a Capitol Ship combat game, so lets get that first part straight. There are Trekkers out there who will hate the game because of some inconsitancies in the univers, but that is besides the point.
As other reviewrs have said there isn't any way to save the game mid-mission, so if you screw up or just plain die, you have to start over at the beginning of the mission. This feature [gets really bad] when you get deep into some of the more involved levels.
The individual missions are set not to be challenging, but straight up WAY too hard. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have replayed several of the missions almost a dozen times and I was playing on the "easy" setting.
The environment graphics are quite good, spectacular even. The animations of people however leave quite a bit to be desired.
The controls are quite intuitive and easy to grasp. Not a lot of excess controls that you don't need or never use.
There is a lack of helpful targeting controls (i.e. nearest enemy). Your only options are "Nearest Capitol", "Next Target", "Previous Target" or "Next Fighter".
The cut-scenes are good, but in the middle of game-play (when a ship blows up) is not good, especially when you return from it you aren't in the same place you were. Kind of like the game continued for a couple of seconds after the scene started. This may not sound like much, but when you have an enemy locked on, a cut scene starts, and when you come back you have to track them all over again it really [is not good]!
Also, when new messages come in, parts of your on screen display/HUD (which isn't always easy to translate), is covered obscuring necessary information for several seconds (such as distance to target).
There also seems to be a lack of reference to effective ranges of weapons or minimum distances to avoid being blown-up when a starship goes. These you apparently have to find out by trial and error.
And just incase someone from Jack Of All Games reads this, next time leave the fighters out except as maybe an accessory to the ship (not player controlled other than "attack this", "defend that"). Include a save feature in the pause menu. Make the game about starship vs. starship. Fix the above listed problems of controls and game play. And finally, make it playable head to head either on the same console or also on XBox Live. Maybe turn based real-time combat would be a good idea.(...) | video-games_xbox |
Shinji Mikami's newest hit! Great gameplay hampered by odd visual design. I finally gave in and picked up TEW digitally the other day when it was on sale for $30 (the physical copy is much cheaper too). Its a pretty intense game, has some good combat mechanics, kinda creepy and keeps you on edge - try playing at night with all the lights off and the sound up! :) Basically this plays out like a greatest hits kinda game for Shinji Mikami (the guy behind Resident Evil), and by that I mean he uses all his great tropes and character ideas to make a chilling and bizarre game that you will enjoy and keeps you tense. Expect grotesque horrors, chainsaw wielding madmen, and zombish fiends from all angles not to mention a few puzzles and traps!
The core game-play is very similar to previous Resident Evil games, its a third person over-the-shoulder shooter and will have you sneaking about, searching for supplies, and taking on frightening monsters. Theres a good use of a simple stealth mechanic that will allow you to take-down some of the regular enemies which is helpful as ammo is scarce. You also collect a green gel commodity to upgrade your character and weapons throughout the game, its a great feature as youll get more gel pending you're willing to explore and take risks, it can also be hidden in boxes and drops from random enemies. There are also a number of big weird bosses to deal with and youll need to save resources for those fights. Environments are fairly well done and can suddenly change or be altered in a way that keeps you second guessing whats coming. All in all a good buy for $30 (or less or more really) and I recommend it now that its been patched up a bit and running quite nice.
My only complaints are the use of 2 horizontal black bars on screen to give the game a more cinematic experience (via widescreen); while it won't bother most people I felt it was odd having 2 small portions of my screen blacked out. The black bars cannot be changed or altered and seem to me unnecessary, I am however able to play just fine. Another default screen setting in the options makes the game render a grain-filter overlay which makes things at a distance look poor and lose color; I highly recommend turning this feature off as it adds almost nothing to the experience. | video-games_xbox |
Utter garbage. Superman Returns is based off the movie of the same name, with a little bit of added goodies. The story is basically Superman must take down Lex Luger while fighting off other villians of the Superman universe... interesting right.
Anyway, you control Superman (obviously). You can jump high into the sky and fly as high and fast as you like, but you can not just do a normal jump (lame). Moving on you can use heat vision, super breath, and freeze breath. You can throw enemies, fly, beat up more enemies, throw cars, fly..... yeah. Thats the whole premise for the game. There are these mini games with that. Mr. Xplyztk or whatever his name is... basically all it is is racing around metropolis, collecting 100 kittens (uh huh..), and playing as Bizaro for a limited amount of time to destroy Metropolis... it makes no sense, nor is it really fun.
While your fighting enemies, the city of Metropolis can take damage and lose health.. yeah, the city you are in can actually be destroyed and guess what? Once it loses all its health, your game is over and you have to start over. Thats real fun when a tree catches fire, cars are being blown up, citizens are being hurt and need to be brought to a nearby ambulance, and you have to fight about 500 enemies who seem to all have kryptonite all at once. In otherwords this games difficulty is ridiculously hard.
As you progress through S.R., you can gain experience which lets you gain levels. When you go up a level you get stronger heat vision and all that stuff.. Also you unlock different outfits which are all lackluster anyway and you probably could care less for them.
And the enemies you fight.. oh boy. First your fighting robots, then robots and dragons, then robots & dragons & some monsters. What the f.... whatever. It makes no sense... I mean, DRAGONS!? Come on.
The graphics are blarf besides the Superman character model & the city of Metropolis. Besides those two, everything else is just bad, blurry, and smudgey. Terrible for a 360 release.
Music.. is terrible and so is the voice acting. The only cool thing is when you're flying for a bit and you break the sound barrier... thats it. Otherwise, once again, terrible for a 360 release.. even a game.
To be honest, I had higher hopes for this game but sadly it fell flat on it's face. How can EA make such a smash hit like The Godfather, then make & release this vomit? Not even worth a rental. | video-games_xbox |
It is worth every penny and more. PS2 was a certified winner when it was released some time ago. It had the style, it had the games to match its impressive technology, and it had the market base of loyal fans all round the world who swear by it. But it had limited processing power and the use of memory sticks to store save games would always become redundant. Yet PS2 was the console to beat. Beat?...are you joking? Which one?.Arrive...the XBOX!.
With a beautiful yet sturdy exterior design, not to mention the 733Mhz processor with an insane 233Mhz GPU, the XBOX has a built in HDD and Ethernet Port for XBOX Live. Add to that, the console supports 5.1 Dolby Digital and hosts 4 ports for its superbly ergonomic controllers. And this is just the icing. The XBOX can run movies with a DVD kit that can sum up to being a theatre on its own if you have the right TV and Surround sound system. The effect is extremely rich and immersive.
The XBOX is seriously ahead of other console in terms of power. It cranks out so many frames, you'd wonder if a maxed-up high end computer can stand up to it. You'd wonder if any PC, let alone another console, can render Ninja Gaiden like the XBOX. I haven't seen it so far. So rich and seamless. One other great aspect of the console is that its driver (OS) is nothing but a striped down version of the Windows 2000 kernel. It seems to add tremendous flexibility is game design, earning it accolades. The results are there to see. Games like Ninja Gaiden and Halo, that can make a PS2 cry in agonizing pain to render, is a breeze for the XBOX. And every game on PS2, GBA, if ported to the XBOX, would look so much better. But even I will agree with you, what use is a good looking game without good gameplay?. Good question. But only one answer is " That is the job of the developer...not the console......"
And herein, the XBOX scores again.......
Adding to its superior technology, the console has some fantastic titles to showcase its graphical prowess. From Halo, Rallisport Challenge 2 to Burnout 3, Splinter Cell etc, the list is pure quality and not just quantity.
Agreed, the console market has got hot and other console manufacturers won't take on the XBOX lying down. Already rumours are spreading that PS3 is launching with some impressive technical and commercial values. But as of now, if you are in the 20-30 age group or higher who likes to play mature games, then XBOX is the one, for you won't find a more complete machine around to run them at photo-realistic levels. Not only that, but you will be treated with the release of pure quality games like Halo 2, Otogi 2 , Call of Duty :Finest Hour etc, this holiday season. Enough reason to buy one right?
Believe me, you will be proud to own one.
Happy hunting........ | video-games_xbox |
Its now dropped price. FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup is not a yearly FIFA title, but rather a game based on the World Cup qualifying process. It's a pretty safe assumption that the main reason this direction was chosen by EA Canada is because of limited time available to make the 360's launch. The end result is a game that loses many potential features in the online space, as well as some basic modes like Season/Franchise (only international teams). However, if you just want to play the sport in question, FIFA 06: RTFWC can provide a decent experience.
In the game, you pick an international team - there are 72 total - and go about the qualifying tournament that leads to the FIFA World Cup. A standard Tournament mode that takes place in non-World Cup style is also available, but the most interesting (and the only "meat" of the game) is the World Cup qualifying. Other than the tournament modes, the only other game types available are a Friendly Match and a Practice Session - both of which are pretty self-explanatory. One little cool addition to FIFA on the Xbox 360 is the loading screen at the start of the game. As you're waiting for a game to load (or just thinking about what you want to play), you can play around in a futuristic stadium with your preferred team. It's honestly kind of a throwaway feature, but it's still cool to mess around while you wait, nonetheless.
Overall, the game plays better than previous versions, and it provides a fairly enjoyable match of soccer. The EA Canada team was able to get the game running at 60fps, which not only looks great, but also allows for a whole new level of animation for the players. This pace translates to every aspect of a game, whether it's a frantic situation in front of the net or a dramatic corner kick.
You'll have access to the usual assortment of FIFA moves, including through passes, headers, lobs, chip shots, crosses, and volleys. On defense, you can execute slide tackles or conservative tackles, and this year there is a "mark" feature that lets you hold down the B button and pursue your defender quite vigorously; this is quite useful for not letting someone breakaway towards the net. Of course, it might be a bit cheap to have one of your players pulled back by a charging defender who tugs on your shirt and hauls you down after using this move. Either way, the move is a different addition to the series and helps change the dynamic of defense a bit.
FIFA 06: RTFWC still features the advanced moves from previous years, and as before they are performed with the right thumbstick (plus the left and right bumpers). The moves can't be exploited too heavily this year, and you will likely only be able to shake off one or two players before someone checks you. The AI on the default and higher settings is challenging and doesn't allow you to walk over them. The goalie AI has also improved, and it'll be harder to score against the computer.
Some of the previous FIFA issues unfortunately do show up in this version. It is annoying to not be able to cancel a move after it's been initiated. The passing still feels like somewhat of a crapshoot, and you'll be unsure as to why a pass only went three feet when the A button was held down for a good few seconds. None of this ruins the gameplay by any means, but it is bothersome seeing as the rest of the gameplay is strong.
The new in-game action menu lets you change options on the fly. By pressing the d-pad after play stoppages, you can execute quick substitutions, alter game strategies, and rearrange your player formations. This feature benefits online matches a great deal, seeing as there is no need to pause the game anymore.
Speaking of said online play, it is once again enabled over Xbox Live. Unfortunately, EA has opted to go for the same "server" mode from previous years, which makes for a redundant sign-in process and dramatically elongates the time necessary to join an online match (as you get thrown back to the starting logos of the game). The same "lobby" system is available to cruise for a game, but you'll also be able to set up quick matches or private matches to get directly into the action. No tournaments are supported for the game, which is a shame, and the absence of any multiplayer support (say, four players?) hurts. FIFA 06: RTFWC plays well online, and I experienced very little lag while playing with various opponents across North America.
Visually, the game looks quite strong on the Xbox 360, but not completely next-gen yet. There are all sorts of new animations, and the player models themselves are quite good, albeit a tad on the shiny side. Stadiums are somewhat of a mixed bag; on the one hand, the scope, lighting and grass look amazing, yet the crowd does not look very good.
Sound is such a key in soccer games, and this FIFA installment understands that principle well. There is the standard array of ball thump and player slide sound effects on the pitch, as well as a great deal of player and coach chatter being yelled out at any given time. The crowds get involved - as is the norm in FIFA games - and isn't afraid to yell out a chant or a song to motivate its home nation. Sky Sports stalwarts Andy Gray and Martin Tyler provide commentary, and each of them add a decent amount of material to the matches. For the most part, they keep up with the play and only repeat themselves every once in a while. The duo may sound familiar to some novice players as well, seeing as they are the usual pair doing official World Cup commentary.
If you're just looking for a fair game of soccer without the trimmings, FIFA 06: RTFWC may fit the bill. For those wanting a fully featured franchise experience (with club teams) and a better set of online options, waiting for FIFA 2007 might be the way to go. | video-games_xbox |
I loved Tomb Raider. Bought this for $190 during black Friday 2013 for my 10 year old son so he could play Minecraft. Played both Tomb Raider and Halo all the way through. I loved Tomb Raider. It takes the graphical capabilities of this console to it's maximum potential. I was amazed, and loved every minute of it. Halo was kinda boring. I'm not so sure what the hype is about this game. The console still works almost a year and a half later. We own at least 30 game discs, most of them I picked up at used game stores or here for less than $10 each. It gets heavy use, about 3-4 hours a day. It also works well as a media center. We used to use it to watch Netflix and Amazon Primes network of shows. I've recently switched to using XBMC though as that is far superior to anything a paid service can even offer. The harddrive is large. I have about 30 games downloaded onto it. You can pick up a subcription to XBOX Live which lets you play with other people online, and also gives you access to daily/weekly/monthly deals on games. Just about every game I've picked up off there has been less than $10. I've bought a game for less than $4. Many great deals.
The only gripe I have about this console is that there aren't very many good RPGs for this console. If you like RPG games there are plenty to choose from, but most of them are more like American based, action role playing games, most of them are PC ports over to console. There aren't many JRPG games. There are 10-15 total. I enjoyed Final Fantasy 13, and 13-2, Lost Oddesey, Tales of Vesperia, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, but the list stops there unless you want to pay a ton of money for one of the other 5 that I've missed. Had I known that PS3 was going to be releasing Minecraft for the PS3 a few months after Christmas that year, I would have gone with that console for that very reason. Microsoft really needs to stop dropping the ball on RPG games! If you like shooters? OMG there is an overabundance of shooter games for this system. It's crazy. I'm not a big fan of shooter, but I enjoyed playing Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Farcry 3, Farcry: Blood Dragon, and Borderlands. | video-games_xbox |
COD2 is packed with awesome WW2 action. Call of Duty 2 puts you in the role of three different people - Vasili, John Davis, and Bill Taylor - during three highly intense but different WW2 campaigns.
You see the war through each of these soldiers eyes, so in otherwords, its a first person shooter. Anyway, you get a lot of authentic WW2 weapons which include Panzershreks, MP40s, M1 Garands, Thompsons, etc and you get to shoot and blow up things like Halftracks and Tiger Tanks. Ontop of that, you get smoke & frag grenades to toss around at will. There is a multiplayer which is pretty fun - you pick a team (ie: British, Nazis, Americans..you get it) and go toe to toe with a friend or friends in random places that has WW2 history.
The objectives in each level sually require you to either clear out houses room by room, snipe out mortar teams, fend off a massive German counterattack, or place a bomb on something. Its pretty fun and intense because you'll be fighting off wave after wave of Nazis and artillery while trying to achieve your goal, but it becomes sorta repetitive during the later levels..
I want to stress the word "intense" on this game. You will always be on your toes, always firing at hordes of enemies. This game isn't easy, even on the easy difficulty, and is ridiculously hard on the Veteran difficulty. The hardest in my opinion is the American campaign during the battle of Point Du Heuc... if you think Medal of Honor: Frontline's Arnhem Knights level is difficult, wait till you see this. Also, this game is pretty long so don't try rushing it hah.
Moving on, you'll be fighting in very detailed and wartorn areas such as Egypt, France, Russia, and even Germany. I was impressed with the beautiful looking enviroments when up close, and the character models look amazing. However, the levels feel kind of linear. You are pretty limited as to where you can go, but I guess we can look past that.
The sound effects were great - I really loved the explosions. The voice acting was great, and actually helpful because your allies would be like "Kraut on the 2nd floor, black building" and basically point out enemies to you.
What lowered this game from being a 9? Well for starters its in a genre that has been basically played to death. Ontop of that the guns weren't very accurate nor did some of them seem very powerful. I felt ripped off when I shot a guy with the BAR and he just sort of kelled over, got up and shot me again. Meh. Also, like I mentioned, the objectives started to get repetitive.
The ending was kind of a rip off at first - a simple news reel explaining how the Allies won - but once the credits roll, the real ending begins. It shows a bunch of troops battling it out in some destroyed city againt tanks, nazis, and airplanes. It was like watching a movie.
To sum it all up, if you got an X-Box 360 then you need to play this game. It isn't the best in my opinion, but it sure is a lot of fun. Go buy it. | video-games_xbox |
Not True 7.1. I foolishly purchased this head set sold on the title 7.1 Surround Sound thinking that like the similarly priced AX pro's, that they included multiple speakers in each can, which they do not.. This is a simulated 7.1 from 2 speakers, thats right all those drivers playing through 2 speakers. And it does not simulate Surround Sound very well. My tests came from playing Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox 360, and Uncharted 3 on Playstation. I also watched a blu ray of Saving Private Ryan, which i have previously experienced in 7.1 on a fairly expensive home theater system. These do not even come close ( not that i was really expecting them to rival it)
So ; Modern Warfare 3 : They actually are decent in compairison to my old TB x31s. A couple times i heard people behind me and was able to turn and get the drop on them. However allot of times i didn't hear people coming at me in different directions because the bass from my own footsteps drowning out most other sounds. And when you get shot and your screen goes bloody and you have the whole bleeding out sound, you don't hear anything but bass rattling in your ear. There is NO WAY TO ADJUST this at all! In fact there is no real sound adjustments that can be made other than volume. The audio FX button on the mixer just changes the audio to sound echo'y or flat stereo.
Uncharted 3 : More of the same, in the scene with the burning mansion allot of the dialogue was drown out from bass, but allot of the other game play sounded decent.
Saving Private Ryan : Watching this movie was the final nail in the coffin for this headset. Not once did i hear bullets that sounded like they were whizzing past my head... it just sounded like gun shots played over all center channel speakers. I went back through my playstation settings and made sure it was outputting 5.1, and that the headset was in cinema mode, and tried in game mode to, and also made sure the blu-ray audio track was set to 5.1... and nothing changed.
So I'm not to happy with them. They are also a bit tight on my head, (just so you have a reference; in fitted baseball hats i'm a size 7 1/2). They never became too uncomfortable that i wanted to take them off.. its just they were snugg. Also The Volume doesn't go as loud as i had hoped. Previously I have owned a pair of Turtle Beach x31's and they were great for comfort, and the volume could be adjusted from adjusting the output settings on my TV, and volume (these Trittons couldn't). In comparison the sound on these Trittons are superior... just not $100 more superior.
Thankfully Amazon is fantastic as always, and they are processing my return, so I can turn around and buy the Tritton AX Pro's with true 5.1 surround, and do allow for adjustments in low, mid, and highs, and hopefully they will give a better MW3, and movie watching surround sound experience. | video-games_xbox |
True Crime Streets of Hong Kong Lives. You can't look at Sleeping Dogs as a stand alone title
It's the 3rd chapter in the True Crime: series after things went south between the developers and Activision
The third chapter in the True Crime series was doa
Luckily for the gaming community Square Enix bought the license and the original True Crime team also joined Square Enix
And we got True Crime III now re-branded as Sleeping Dogs
In terms of how far True Crime evolved between the Original True Crime: Streets of L.A. up to Sleeping Dogs
it's awe inspiring I think this game does GTA better then the last two GTA did
I bought the last gen version of Sleeping Dogs for the XBox360 the week it came out
i only bought the Definitive Edition mostly cause i got a great deal on it
Is it a amazing Remastering or a cheap money grab ???
It's in the middle
Graphics: Is a mixed bag
at times the game looks flat out stunning (the rain effects are flawless)
other times the game has/had bugs and glitches (by now i'd hope there's been a patch or two?) other times the game looks like the 360 version
Keep in mind last time i played it was March 2015
Audio is awesome DTS 5.1 (i wish they added new licensed music to the radio stations)
as far as open world games this is really bad in terms of music it only works if you live in Asia
They should've jazzed up the soundtrack for more regions imo
The Story is really solid! It's written like a Hollywood big budget film (It's one of the best story driven open-world titles ever!)
The Controls: are a B-
The third person hand to hand combat and gun play is strong
But, the driving seems off to me (some of the races i beat on the 360 are stacked and unbalanced on this version
The Controls are Not balanced if you compare them to the previous version
Lots of bang for your buck!
The one major saving grace for this version you get all the DLC on the disc (plus lots of extras clothes some very cool looking)
the first story driven dlc Nightmare in North Point is still a fun little added chapter
the second major story driven dlc
Zodiac Tournament is a massive broken mess (keep in mind i played this chapter March 2015) during the half way point the game either froze up on me or crashed my console........... i tired to get info regarding this massive bug but, contacting United Front Games was a pain in the neck so i put the game down and tapped-out I'd thinking by now approaching Thanksgiving '15 there has been a few patches for this problem?!?!
Overall is it worth a double dip? that all depends if you miss the previous Gen version my answer to you would be Yes without a doubt
It's a average so-called remastering with all the dlc at most you should pay around $15.00
I love this game but, this version is far from perfect and released way to soon 9/10
here's my xbox gamer tag Duckman 1979 | video-games_xbox |
I wanted to love this game so much. I wanted to love this game so much. I didn't expect it to be amazing but it far exceeded my expectations. The world is open and there are always new things to explore, but with no sprint button, it feels very empty when you have to repeatedly press B to use the equivalent of a combat roll to get anywhere in under an hour. And don't think about using quick travel, because the loading screens take upwards of five minutes.
Written by the Halo trilogy's Joe Staten, the story is relatively enjoyable... until the end. I'm not one to call a game bad just because of the ending, but it does so little to wrap up any of the threads and concludes about two minutes after the boss fight, and given the game's reception (that it rightfully earned) and Metroid Prime 4 being in production, a sequel is highly unlikely. The protagonist Joule Adams is very likeable, but lacks depth (like just about any video game protagonist, to be fair) but seems very optimistic and cheery despite how dire her situation is and being surrounded by killer robots, booby traps, quicksand, the impending doom of the human race, and other hazards.
On top of that, collectibles are needed to progress through the final dungeon. Collectibles that the antagonist wants, but ordered his minions to build dungeons around, which is one of the many flaws the story has. The final level(s) is also plagued by a near-impossible platforming section that comes completely out of left field, and again, makes no narrative sense that the antagonist controlling the platforms would even set them up for someone he's trying to stop. Until this point, all the platforming sections were optional, but suddenly you're thrown into an hours-long dungeon of rage-inducing jumps with a margin for error near nonexistant.
All in all, it's an okay game that sometimes feels empty and as if game design legend Keiji Inafune didn't have his heart in it. If you can get it for under $20, I'd recommend it. I don't regret spending money on it, but I would've if I had to pay the retail price of $40. | video-games_xbox |
Shoot, Tequila, Shoot. You can see Stranglehold from two different perspectives. You can see it as a repetitive shooter that pits you against waves after waves of (cheap) enemies that suddenly appear from nowhere. Or, you can see it as a great homage to one of the great action movies of all-time, Hard Boiled. I choose the latter, and it was no wonder I had so much fun with it.
The story isn't important, since intense action featuring Chow Yun-Fat as Inspector Tequila is the order here. But if you must know, it involves some dead cop and the kidnapping of Tequila's ex-girlfriend and daughter. Reason enough for a massive surge of killing? You bet.
Playing through seven levels, you get to control Tequila and his array of skills (most have to be unlocked). Apart from the usual third-person shooting, you'll get abilities like the precision aim, which allows a first-person view, zoomed in, for a free-aim at whichever part of an enemy's body you see fit. Shooting at balls is highly recommended if you're sadistic. Like me.
Other skills like the barrage allows a moment of mad, unstoppable shooting and invulnerability. But the most dramatic skills of them is, you guess, the spin attack. Much like the 1,001 movies that Chow has made, this attack involves the guy turning 360 degrees while shooting two guns at various enemies surrounding him. Doves are complimentary. I guess the doves must be there to moan the death of all those goons that dare stay within your vicinity when you does this thing.
Using these skills are not free though. You need to earn the juice (ok, "tequila bombs") to use them, and using them reduces the juice. You earn it by performing stylish kills, helped by the fully destructible environments in the game. See a signboard above an enemy, shoot it, and it falls straight down to send the idiot to his maker. See a roll cart? Jump on top of it and start shooting people while moving around. See a gas tank near an enemy? Shoot it and enjoy the explosion takes care of matters. You can also combine these actions to score combos for more juices, so that you can use the above-mentioned skills more liberally.
There's also the matter of "tequila time", which basically happens when you perform kills while interacting with the environment (like, when rolling on a roll cart or sliding up and down on a banister). What happens is that time slows when tequila time is on, giving more time to shun bullets as well as kill morons. You can also activate this by simply diving around and pressing one of the shoulder buttons. It looks great, and it works well. In fact, it's probably a life-saver for most players trying to beat the more challenging levels.
On challenging levels, the game features four different difficulties. But even on casual, it becomes extremely painful to play through towards the end of the campaign. The enemy's AI is ridiculously aggressive, and you don't get to hide behind a wall like Gears of War for health recovery. Expect to die (many times) as you search for the best way to neutralize the threat. Things can tougher on the hard-boiled challenge (the most difficult mode) - a hit on you takes out 3/4 of your life! That's how it goes, and it isn't apologetic at all about it.
It should be apologetic, however, about the last-gen graphics though. It wasn't so glaring on my old SDTV when I first played the game. But recently, I bought a HDTV, and the flaws are pretty obvious. I mean, when an environment looks dull even on HD, you know it's bad. The character models also look dated, even though they manage to capture the movement of the models quite smoothly. Audios wise, it's just a bunch of explosions and some action music. Nothing of major note here, but it does what it was required.
All in all, Stranglehold is a fun shooter that recycles some old gameplay ideas (from Max Payne, I believe) rather successfully. The various attacking methods are fun to use, but the insane difficulty may scare some shooter noobs away. Engage with caution. | video-games_xbox |
An amazing Call of Duty game. I really did enjoy this game. I know that a lot of people like to call this one of the worst Call of Duty games, but in my opinion this game was quite good. The campaign was very fun, and the story was very well made, too. The Exo Survival is basically a remake of the Sepcial Ops from Modern Warfare 3, but with some new and definitely interesting features. I found it to be pretty fun. Since this is the Gold Edition it comes with the Havoc DLC pack, and you get some bones stuff. One of these bonuses is the Exo Zombies game mode. It's an interesting and futuristic take on the classic Zombies game mode, and it comes with some new challenges and features. I had a lot of fun with this, even though I'm really not a very good zombies player. The multiplayer was also very fun. The Exo movements might not be as advanced as they were in Black Ops 3, but I still thought they were very good. The weapons were good and I really did enjoy the maps. The Havoc DLC pack that the Gold Edition comes with also gives you the addition of the new weapon the Widowmaker, which is a really good gun in my opinion. It also gives you four very cool bonus maps. There is one thing I didn't really like about this game, and it's really not the game's fault. There is almost no one online playing this game. I can't ever find any matches other than Team Death Match. I have found people online in Exo Survival and Exo Zombies, but when it comes to multiplayer it's very hard to find a match. I can't find people on Free for All, Capture the Flag, Demolition or Gun Game, only on Team Death Match. So, if you're the kind of player who cares mostly about multiplayer, I don't really recommend this game, instead, I think you should get the Xbox One version of this game, where there are probably more people online. I saw the gold edition at Target for the Xbox One for 30 U.S. dollars. If you don't really mind only playing Team Death Match, and are more interested in Campaign and Zombies, than I think you will enjoy this. Keep in mind, this game does have supply drops, but I really don't think it's that big of a deal. You can get them for free by playing the game or you can pay for them. I just get them while I play the game, and sometimes the contents of the supply drops are pretty cool. There's also a really cool feature where you can edit and change your operator, which is basically just the character you play as in mutiplayer matches, and I found that to be very cool. In the end, I feel like this was a great game that's worth my money. If you're someone who doesn't like Exo movements or the futuristic Call of Duty games, than this game is not for you. But, if you're like me and you enjoy the futuristic setting, or you just don't mind it, than I think you really will enjoy this game. | video-games_xbox |
YES. I never played the first Lost Planet, so I based all judgement in deciding whether to get Lost Planet 2 or not on the epic trailers I'd seen over the Internet. Boy, am I glad I did! First off, there are many design flaws that plague the game, most notably the save point issue - but, let's be honest, people playing this kind of game aren't going to be casual gamers; they're going to spend a few hours on it every night, so the fact that its save points are after 30-60 minutes of straight gameplay should not be any surprise or bother for most. In my experience, that was the main issue, frustrating, of course, but after I found out how my Xbox 360 had been saving my progress I blew through this game in about a week (I'd estimate the game plays through in about 14 hours on single player mode, which I did). Speaking of single player mode, reviews claimed it was nearly impossible, but I don't really understand where they're coming from. Yes, your AI in single player mode are largely idiots and only sometimes helpful, depending on the time and place in the game, and follow you around so much you do most of the killing in boss battles (the gigantic Akrid), but I found playing it along challenging and rewarding. The voice acting is topnotch and the orchestral music is amazing. As you probably know, you're no longer on only ice fields, which is a big plus for me as I hate the snow; I love the variety, especially being able to fight underwater and in space. The graphics are off the charts amazing - brilliant and beautiful, not as polished as, say, God of War 3's, but still very, very good with a unique quality to the MT Framework 2 engine that created them. This game also packs one of the most epic cutscenes ever, which happens right at the conclusion to Episode 5 where a train is heading with a gigantic gun to blast through a seeming impossible layer around the Over G Akrid you kill in the end - it is truly awesome and awe-inspiring. Being able to play many characters is also good, and basically you play numerous factions that all come together in the last episode and unite against NEVEC. In the end, Lost Planet 2 is a game you should experience for yourself, not based judgements on by others; who knows, you may love it as much as I do (in my opinion it's the second best game of the year). | video-games_xbox |
Who Knew Tennis Could Be This Fun. Let me start out by saying that I am not a tennis fan. I don't watch it on TV because I think that it is boring and is too long. I bought this game because I wanted to get familiar with the sport and also to try something new. I had my doubts about his game....for one the Williams sister aren't on the game and I was hoping to play with one of them. Also I just thought that I would get bored easily doing the same thing over and over again. Boy was I ever wrong.
Story/Season Mode(9/10):The season is really fun and competitive. Your player can travel to different countries around the world and compete with some of the top ranked players in the world. Your player also has the opportunity to train and go out for sponserships such as Prince, Reebok, Adaidas and more (except there is no sign of NIKE). The goal is to become the #1 tennis player in the world. There are also differnt ranking such as minor, pro, major pro and grandslams!!!
Graphics(10/10):I think that the graphics are top notch for the Xbox. The lighting is off the hook on this game. You can see the sun rays and also the players shadows on the court. In some countries such as Africa the courts are made of sand, so when the player slides you can here the noise it makes and also see the slide marks. To put make it simple...THE GRAPHICS ARE GREAT!!!
Controls(8.5/10) Well the only problem that I really have with the controls is the fact that there are not different buttons for different strokes. Forehand and backhand are the same buttons it depends on your positioning that determines which stoke is going to be used. The only stroke that has its own button is the lob. I do like the fact that you can control your players action by using the black and white buttons. Your player will end up pumping his fists, throwing their racket or shaking their head.
Bottom line is that if you a hard core tennis fan you should pick this game up. Even if you aren't that familiar with tennis you should still give it a try because there is so much to do in the game(changing clothes, sponsers and even changing your players apperance). Also don't forget that you can take your player online(XBOX LIVE) and top their charts as the best tennis player in the world. | video-games_xbox |
Great Potential... Poor Execution out of the gates. I am a huge fan of the 360 and before it I had a PS2 - so I wouldn't call myself a purist for either of the two companies. I liked what the Xbox One had to offer with everything being in one spot. I'd have TV, gaming and movies all in one easy to use spot and on top of that it was voice activated! Amazing!
I got one the day they came out. Since then I've been working on tweaking everything I can to make it easier to use... I wanted this to be the ultimate machine in my home theater but so far... not so much. Here is an honest opinion from someone who is pretty tech savvy.
The voice commands are good but not great and since my center channel speaker sits on top of an AV cabinet under my TV I don't really have a place to put the Kinect where it won't get sound interference from the speaker. So what, I have to buy one of those mounts for the top of my television? It's not so much a knock on the Kinect itself as it is the idea of how this would work...
The interface is okay but I notice that my TV picture doesn't look as nice. Now before you blast me I have set everything up on 1080P and the One's version of Assassins Creed looks incredible. But my TV picture on HD channels is not as crisp and clear with a little bit of color issue as well. Not all the time but it is noticeable. Changing the channels is not as easy... I find myself just using my old remote instead to access the guide and whatnot.
The sound is just a killer. I have a 6 month old $1000 Yamaha receiver and the sound through the XBO is not good. I have already set the beta surround sound and that made it better but what about the games and bluray? It's noticeably worse. My Yamaha tells me when it's getting HD sound and I can't get it to send out HD sound on any bluray I own so far. I am a sound guy with a nice 7.2 surround sound setup tweaked and tuned to perfection (in my own mind). Not having amazing sound from a next gen $500 system is killing me.
I also just got a beautiful 50 inch LED 3D smart TV and it looks nice... through my home theater PC. Through the XBO it looks nice most of the time but not always. Also - NO 3D support!!! I know I know, it'll be there sometime down the road - maybe - but I have the TV so why do I need to also keep my 3D bluray player around now that I have the ONE - the ONE thing I need in my home theater. That is what it was billed to be right? Well it's not. I still need my 360. I still need my bluray player. I still need my remote and my Comcast Cable box.
On top of that to access any worthwhile content I needed to buy an xbox live gold account. Those are always on sale and they work with both the 360 and the ONE so not a huge deal but annoying. Out of the box it sits on a green Xbox screen for what seems like eternity. Then it says it needs a 500MB update. After that is done - and it will take a while - you'll need to set up your apps. Even the TV app and the Bluray player app need to be downloaded and installed.
I'm not typically an early adopter because of all the issues but I was really excited about all this had going for it. There is something cool about walking into my home theater and saying "Xbox On!" and having it turn on. Unfortunately nothing else turns on with it. One of the neat things this is supposed to do is turn all of your stuff on - TV, Receiver, Cable Box. It recognized everything from the model numbers I input and it saved that info - but it never turns anything on despite me setting it up to do just that. Really, right now, it's just an expensive game system that turns on in a cool way. That's about it.
My advice - wait. It has some awesome potential to be sure but right now there are so many problems it is NOT WORTH IT. Really, it wasn't ready to be launched when it launched. I'm going to sell mine and wait another 6 months to a year and see if they've figured things out. Right now the sound, picture, cable interface and other things just aren't ready to be the "center of my living room".
Hope that helps. | video-games_xbox |
The Waste of All NFS Games Combined. I've had this game for a several days now and I can tell you--from the moment I put the game into my Xbox 360 I was unimpressed. I even got this game used for [...] bucks and I can't WAIT to pawn it off on the next sucker who falls for NFS's marketing ploy of this "hot new game".
The Cons:
-The game physics - GARBAGE. Several points in the map have you 'catching air'. About 1/3 of the time will undoubtedly send you careening out of control, flipped upside down, or pinned against a wall. Should you scrape up against a computer player or rub a wall, other racers will SCREAM past you--as if you've stopped--yet you've only lost perhaps 10mph of speed. AND YET...the AI is seemingly unaffected by their mistakes. Pit maneuvers don't work on AI, yet should an AI even bump you from directly behind you'll spin in a 180 with certain cars ultimately putting an end to that race if you're further in the game and the AI is faster.
-The AI is insanely easy at first. You can pretty much win any race half way into the game by racing off the line 10 minutes after the race has started. HOWEVER: half way into the game, the AI gets some sort of 'catch up' advantage and can blast by you! You're either ahead by a split time of 15 seconds (meaning if you parked your car during the race, it would take 15 seconds for the person behind you to catch and pass you), or you're struggling to keep them on your GPS map, let alone in plain view. Currently the game has my $20,000 dollar car pitted against 200,000 dollar cars--cars that are not even in the same galaxy in terms of class. There's absolutely no chance for me to win should I make even the slightest error (running over a cone, or braking around a hairpin turn). Kind of frustrating when this entire time you've been bored by winning races without any effort.
-The TRACKS! In another GIANT F-U to consumers, they've designed 'street racing' tracks that are closed circuit--YET have casual traffic on them. The tracks lack ANY feeling of street racing what so ever other than the simple fact that what you're racing on is a street/dirt road/highway. There is absolutely no doubt you're on a race track instead of a street. Yellow and black barricades block every corner. Imagine your surprise when you're rocketing down a formula 1 track and see a Buick Lesabre in your way. Again, half way through the game, should you hit just 1 of these cars, the race is over. Don't even bother to finish it, just restart or do as I do, and tomahawk your F***ing controller into the floor.
-Free roam is completely pointless. There's nothing to do and no purpose to it really since they've made the player lazy by simply pushing down on the D-pad you're cast off into the next 5minute loading screen. Now, there would be a GREAT purpose to the free roam feature if while you were driving around the game would be loading up the next race, but of course, this is not the case.
-Loading screens - hope you're old enough to drink or are in need of constantly checking the mail. For the hour or two that you might waste your time with this game, at least 15 solid minutes of your time is spent WAITING.
-The Story line is pathetic. It's full of holes, half the time you don't really know what is going on, and the tasks you have to do just go on and on and become monotonous and played out. It's the same thing over and over. "Go take out 5 cop cars by ramming into them and then we'll put you further into the underground world of 'street' racing." It's a load of garbage.
After playing this game and seeing other horrible NFS releases, I'm officially refusing to buy anything else those jerks put out. I'm a true car enthusiast and have played several games that were far superior to this--SEVERAL YEARS AGO! Do you remember Tokyo Extreme Racer for Dreamcast? That game was far superior to this in terms of customization, function, and fun. Even computer games that were made by budget companies like Valuesoft: Redline Racing...way better than Need for Speed: Undercover.
What next? Need for Speed: FU-Give us your money?
The only use this game serves is for selling it back to someone else. PERIOD. | video-games_xbox |
Great Gameplay, Horrible Graphics. New Legends is the type of game that could have been awesome for the Xbox, but ends up lacking in several key areas. The game has an interesting story and a very neat combat system, but the graphics are terrible.
The storyline keeps you interested, as you try and regain your kingdom in China. At first, things are a little confusing because of the way you view things. This can hurt some because you basically are thrust right into the game without a tutorial. But after awhile, things get easier and you start to progress with ease.
The game is your basic hack and slash third person game with the goal to kill your enemies and get to the end of the level. Occasionally, you have to complete tasks, like planting bombs or opening gates, but these are straightforward and usually easy to do. The game does get tougher later and figuring out how to complete certain levels can take a long time.
You can use up to two weapons at once, either one of two kinds of two of the same, and they can do some interesting combos. There is a lot to choose from, as well, from swords to bows to guns to other special weapons you get from beating regular enemies and bosses. The variation allows you to pick and choose what weapon is right for you, which is a plus.
What makes this game fun is working your way through some pretty huge levels. Each level looks different and has different characteristics, which is fun. Also, you have help from allies in most of the levels, although they tend to go off on their own, leaving you to dispatch the bad guys, which isn't hard.
That leads me to my next point. While I like facing easy enemies, the lack of variety can make fighting almost seem like a chore. There are only basically a few types of enemies and, while they vary what weapon they have, each is roughly the same. It gets to the point where you wonder if the developers developed the enemies last, although the bosses are very cool and present their own unique challenges.
The main problem with this game comes from the graphics. It looks like a Playstation game. That's the original Playstation, not the Playstation 2. Characters, for the most part, are blocky, as are the foregrounds. The motions are also very choppy and not at all smooth. There is also framerate slowdown like you wouldn't believe in certain parts of the game.
Another problem is that there are times when the gameplay stops momentarily to restart the music, which isn't worth restarting for the most part. Also, in order to check your goals when they change, you have to pause the game, which can get annoying. Finally, the camera angles swing around enough to make you seasick. It also can make fighting extremely difficult.
Overall, this is one of those "rent before you buy" games. Some people can look past the surface and see the great gameplay elements at the heart of New Legends. Others won't be able to look past the poor graphics. | video-games_xbox |
More zombies to kill than ever, and in more ways than ever. (Scroll to the bottom if you want the short version) If you're familiar with the Dead Rising series, you have an idea what to expect, but this latest entry in the series is different from its predecessors in that the scope is WAY bigger. You now have a whole city to play around in. It's basically "Grand Theft Auto" with zombies...and it's awesome. The highlight of this game is of course the combo weapons and vehicles. They're a lot of fun to play around with, and of course, what's not to love about killing zombies with a weapon made from a giant teddy bear and an LMG? The difference with this "Apocalypse Edition" is that you get all four extra storyline DLC's, in which you can play as different characters and get extra items.
PROS:
-Plenty of zombies to kill. They're basically everywhere.
-Combo vehicles and weapons are a blast.
-A bigger city to play around in
-There's plenty to do, even aside from the main storyline (there are lots of side missions, mini-games, collectibles, etc).
-You get all the DLC with the apocalypse edition, and these are fun to play as well.
-Decent storyline
CONS:
-Sometimes, there's TOO many zombies. I know that may seem like a bogus complaint, but you have literally almost no room to breathe in this game. I know the whole point is to kill zombies, but sometimes I'd like to be able to create a combo weapon, pick up an item, or even just run somewhere without being surrounded by a sea of mouths.
-Item pickup can be frustrating. Example: if a bunch of items are close to each other, you may go crazy trying to pick up the right one.
-Vehicles are very "swervy". If you play it, you'll know what I mean. The car controls could have been better.
-Some blueprints are a pain in the ass to obtain.
-Overly political/insane storyline. Yes, that bugs me. While I said the story was decent, as someone who has family in the military, I'm not a fan of the way the writers demonize basically everyone in a uniform. Also, there are certain moments where the storyline goes TOO far in its attempt to be intense. Without spoiling anything, there's a particularly ridiculous boss fight in a museum that left me shaking my head and wondering if the writers had taken crack before writing that part.
EDIT: A couple things I forgot that are worth mentioning: the Kinect and "Smartglass" features. Sadly, you will not get the complete game experience if you do not have these. This game came out when the Kinect was mandatory with every console, so naturally it has features that require it. (I got my console almost a year after it was released and never bought a kinect with it). This includes the ability to taunt bosses, lure zombies, and instruct followers to "follow". This doesn't hamper the game much, but it sucks to know that I can't do "everything" without it. Secondly is the Smartglass app: the (free) Xbox One app that lets you control your console with a smartphone. You can get extra missions and content if you use this app while you play. While the idea is nifty and the experience is kind of cool, it can be a pain at times. It would be nice to not have to look at my phone to be getting all the extra mission updates and unlock all areas. I still believe it's worth it to get the app, but I would prefer being able to do everything from within the game itself. I feel like the idea itself is cool, but not very practical.
*Whew* So in summary, the combo weapons and vehicles make zombie killing even more fun than before. The storyline, while a tad political, is enough to keep you hooked. Vehicle controls can be irritating, but don't detract too much from the game, and this "Apocalypse Edition" gives you all the bonus DLC. However, you still need a Kinect and Smartglass app to get the COMPLETE experience, so keep this mind when purchasing. Despite that, I would definitely recommend this if you're a fan of the previous two, or if you're looking for a great zombie-killing experience. Happy slaying. | video-games_xbox |
Wireless" Headset for PS3/360/PC with "3D surround" sound and sound "boost. Bought these at a brick-and-mortar store at a "discount" because I was looking for a good way to listen to audio from my PS3 without disturbing others late at night. These will get the job done, but I'm glad I didn't buy them for full price because they are not worth the initial price.
First off, they aren't truly wireless. The headphones plug into a wireless dongle which gets the signal from another dongle plugged into the device you want sound from. I would have rather seen the dongle built into the headset, even if it made the set a bit bulkier. Next, the only line in options are either red/white from an A/V cable or from a 3.5 audio jack. Neither of which would provide a true surround sound signal, so I don't know where the "3D sound" in the name is coming from. The microphone boom is detachable, which is nice if you're planning to use them as only headphones but also means it's another component that can get lost among the mess of electronics I have at home.
Overall, the sound quality is alright. The "boost" mode seems to just change the levels to add a bit to the bass. Unfortunately, there is a strange buzzing sound that I get the majority of the time I use them. I found that I can reduce it if I move the wireless receiver around, but I can never get it to go away completely. Also, I think the unit doesn't receive a signal if the sound is below a certain threshold (probably to conserve battery), but this meant that during quiet scenes in a movie the ambient audio will cut in and out. I mostly noticed this in a scene where there was rain the background and when no one was talking, the rain sound was cutting out intermittently. A bit annoying, but at least it wasn't messing with dialogue.
In the end, these fit for what I wanted. I can listen to my PS3 at night without bothering people. It doesn't do it particularly well though and I would advise not spending the full $80 (or whatever MSRP is for these) on them. They're worth $20-$30 tops. | video-games_xbox |
Very let down. First off I want to say that I am a big fan of the Battlefield series. I would play any of them before a cod game any day of the week. In fact BF3 is my favorite game. So I was really looking forward to this game, I pre-ordered it and everything. It was a huge let down.
Campaign: When I get a new game I always play the campaign and beat it before doing else. I wasn't expecting too much from it because I figured it would be like BF3. Not bad, not great just kinda eh. After playing this I have to say it was one of the worst I've ever played. There was nothing too it! I couldn't believe when I saw the credits rolling, I didn't even know I was near the end of the game. It being short wouldn't have been so bad if I had known what the story was actually about! I still don't know what was going on. They don't explain who the guy you're trying to protect is and how he's important, and if they did I missed it. The story doesn't build up or anything. You just do missions that are more or less the same until you see the credits rolling. The very first mission is seriously the best one. I'm going to have to go on Wikipedia just to understand what I just played for four hours. Oh yeah, the voice acting is terrible too. Just god awful.
Graphics: I'm not the type of person who focuses too much on graphics. I want them to be nice of course but I'm more concerned with the actual game and how well it plays than the graphics. That being said I was disappointed with them in this game. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting PC or Xbox one level graphics but I was expecting something better than BF3. Medal of Honor Warfighter has better graphics and its powered by Frostbite 2. And it has a better story behind it.
Online: I haven't really played this much yet. From what it looks like it should be pretty good to play. There are some server problems though. Its slow too load and it made my Xbox freeze up.
Bottom Line: I would not by this game. Maybe on sale for like 30 bucks but not full price. Its a huge let down. I'm seriously thinking of selling it and getting Call of duty ghost. The campaign will be great and the multiplayer will be decent enough. If you do want to try out BF4 rent it first, that way you're not out 60 bucks like me. | video-games_xbox |
Long-time EA Sports NHL fan happy with this game. I've been playing the EA Sports NHL series since 2000. With both user and critic reviews for NHL 2k3 and now NHL 2k4 (a.k.a. ESPN NHL Hockey) outpacing EA Sports, this was the year I made the switch. I am very happy.
I can sum up the difference between the two games with one sentence: the more you enjoy playing video game hockey true to the actual game of hockey, the more you will enjoy ESPN NHL hockey. Let me illustrate with a few examples. Passes will bounce of defender's skate and do so quite often if you don't learn to create passing lanes. You won't reverse skating directions instantaneously, so don't miss that body check on the guy with the puck or you won't catch back up to him. You won't be able to score on a spinning slap shot from the point with two defenders on you, so dump the puck instead. If it doesn't happen in real hockey, it won't happen in ESPN NHL hockey. And this is one of the greatest things about this game.
I can't really compare to NHL 2004 because I haven't played the game, but here are some things that I love about ESPN NHL hockey over NHL 2003:
1. Compete with others and download updates to roster information via Xbox live.
2. Pin a guy against the boards. This is essential to the game of hockey.
3. Puck and players can hit and interfere with refs. Very cool.
4. Penalties seem more accurate and justified. The game correctly identifies when I've personally charged a guy into the boards.
5. In general, gameplay just feels better. I can try to take a slapshot without really having the puck on my stick. You can't shoot a backhander nearly as hard as a shot from the forehand. Each time I ram into the boards, they give and there is a loud bang. Again, more realistic to the actual game of hockey.
6. Gameplay sliders allow you to adjust the game as necessary. Increase or decrease puck friction, pass completion, game speed, etc. I always love video games where the game developers realize that sliders/options give gamers customizable freedom.
Here are the two disadvantages I have found:
1. Rookie and Beginner are incredibly easy. I started winning 7-0, 8-0, 6-1, doing tons of scoring with my third and fourth lines. Then I upped the level to Pro. I'm losing 3-1, 4-0, 3-0. So there is a very big difference between these two settings. Hopefully as I become more skilled I can compete on the Pro level. But I'm still waiting for my first tie or "breakout" game on Pro.
2. The commentators are okay, comments do get repetitive and I'm not exactly sold on Gary Thorne. Sometimes he sounds like a drone. The comments beat EA Sports attempt at color commentary but I liked the announcers of EA Sports better. Sounded more natural.
Compared to EA Sports NHL 2003 offering, I'm very, VERY happy that I made the switch. | video-games_xbox |
Welcome to Buffy's slayground. For me, the game is thorroughly entertaining and follows many of the characters to a "T", including Angel and Cordelia as the were in Season Three of Buffy, with Angel being Buffy's lover, and Cordelia contstantly trying to underplay Buffy's heroics. The characters even look like the actual characters as played by SMG, Allison Hannigan and the others, in almost an earily realistic way. The characters lines are smooth and very realistic, making the characters the most realistic looking characters in video games to date.
What's the game about? Well, in assuning that you're somewhat vaguely familiar with Buffy, (and shame if you're not) two old enemies of Buffy's return; Spike (before he and Dru broke up, and before the leash was put on Spike) and the Master(who was killed in the season 1 finale). It seems as though the Master is using Spike to help him pick up right where the Master left off...on trying to bring Hell to Earth, and Buffy must go on a quest to stop the Master, and eventually saved the Earth from Hell...again.
Of course, all of the witty banter and insults that were popular in the series are in the game, and there are tons of weapons that Buffy can use, including a water gun that squirts both Holy Water and Hellfire, a razor-sharp blade that can be either a hand-held weapon or a boomerang, but nothing beats a good old stake through the heart. Of course you can just use the very elements around you to kill the demons, my favorite is kicking a vampire against an overturned table, or a oil drum that automatically explodes when broken.
Of course, Spike and the Master aren't the only vampires who are in the game. There is an endless army of vampires and demons, demon dogs, flesh eating spiders and other things that make Buffy say "gross".
I'm hoping that they put out a sequel to the game in time for next fall, maybe next time using characters from the later seasons, as I sadly missed Dawn and Anya in the game. | video-games_xbox |
Typical 360 Experience - Including Failure. My console and game collection was stolen in a home invasion, so I had to look at the current XBox 360 offering so I could replace my 360 Elite.
I was very disappointed with the offerings. It's an XBOX 360 and therefore it lets you play your games, but this far into the product cycle, I'd expect so much more. However, if you want a large drive and HDMI it's the only choice you really have.
Here are a list of the problems I encountered, most due to the product itself:
[--] It is advertised as "the newest" version of the product, yet it is using the older chipset that is prone to E74 errors.
[--] The HDMI cable that comes with it is garbage. I plugged the 360 into my Denon 3806 receiver using the HDMI cable and there was no signal. I then plugged the 360 directly into my 60" Sony SXRD via HDMI and there was no signal. I plugged my Digital Cable box directly into the TV using it and the picture was faded, blurry, snowy, fuzzy, dark, purple, unwatchable. I used another off-the-shelf HDMI cable and everything worked perfectly.
My PS3 didn't come with an HDMI cable at all, but what's the point of providing a component that doesn't even work?
[--] The two games come in a single combined case. My case was smashed and green plastic chunks were all over the place inside the product packaging.
[--] The headset that comes with the 360 continues to be disposable garbage.
[--] At the current price of this product, Microsoft should be providing a rechargeable controller battery by default rather than a pack of AAs.
[--] The XBOX 360 Elite packaging itself (the box Microsoft ships it in) had clearly been opened before I got it. The circular adhesive tape that closes one end of the product had been cut open and then a second piece of tape had been placed back over it. To Amazon's credit, when I asked them to confirm if I had a used 360 or a new one, they didn't even bother answering and just told me they had already shipped out a replacement that would arrive in 24 hours (and it did). | video-games_xbox |
Underwhelming. I was not expecting much when I picked this up. I'd read the reviews on this, and other sites, and knew not to expect anything earth shaking. All I was looking for was a fun, gun fueled romp. Unfortunately, Bodycount couldn't even deliver that.
I am of the mind that a games graphics don't need to be phenomenal for it to be great, but they do need to be more than functional. The world of Bodycount is one of muddy graphics, cookie cutter characters, and bland, boring level design. In a time when the market is flooded with quality first person shooters, this just isn't acceptable. The controls are servicable, but nothing special. Most disappointingly however, is the lackluster gameplay.
I bought this with the hope that it would be a me vs. the world kind of game. One where I use all manner of fun, imaginative weapons to destroy everything in my path. I was immediately disappointed by the basic, and very boring, weapons offered to you in the game. Pistols, machine guns, shotguns, and not much else. There are one or two enjoyable weapons thrown in here, but they come late in the game, and don't do enough to change the overall experience. Worse yet, the boiler plate weapons aren't even fun to use. The enemy AI is caveman stupid, and never presents a real challenge, besides numbers. You can chain kills together for more points, but killing someone with a body shot, the easiest and most efficent method, stops your chain. Only exotic kills like head shots, multi kills, final bullet, ect, racks up points but the controls aren't tight enough to make these efficient options.
The biggest problem with Bodycount is that it lacks what so many other, far superior games have. Rage, the Fear series, the Bioshock series, the Call of Duty series, Borderlands 1 and 2, Far Cry 3, the battlefield series, the Crysis series, the Halo series, and many more are just plain better than Bodycount in gameplay, graphics, story, weapon creativity, and control. Many of these superior games can be purchased, on amazon, for as much, if not less, than Bodycount, so there is no reason to buy this. I paid $14 and STILL feel I paid too much for what I got. All in all, Bodycount just isn't worth a purchase over all the other, better games out there. Definitely not a buy. | video-games_xbox |
Ride the Lightning. Guilty Gear X2 isn't like you're typical 2D fighter (if you wanted to call it that). The characters here aren't simply fighters aiming to be the strongest in the world,take vengence(ok one or two are), or merely test there skills. These fighters although weird have a background which suit them beyond compare and are characters with actual emotion. If you were to view the relationship between Sol and Ky as compared too Ken and Ryu you'd probably go like, "but Ken and Ryu are like best friends and share an awesome bond," yet though Sol and Ky try to kill one another every chance they get they still share quite a tight knit bond between one another which is more dynamic then the average buddy buddy or trained since youth scenario. Of course the whole, "were enemies, but we can still work together," concept has been done but rarely used. The most memorable case of this idea is DBZ's Goku and Vegeta, for anime fans to say the least. It's obvious that it's hard to comeup with some new ways of portraying characters in fighters and the reason why they fight; but here though it's done masterfully. All the characters of this game are so easy to relate to and love for their individuality and eccentricities that seem just so human in nature. To say the least each one presents their own attitude, which for all carry a cocky under tone to it. Such as Sol's classic bad ass attitude, Baiken's cold stare, and Slayer's nonchalance.
Obviously though you all want to hear about the gameplay. It's simple, it's awesome. To start just know that the animation here is the best you'll see for the XBOX without a doubt. Also this game, as I'm sure you've heard, has some of the most unique fighting techniques to ever grace the 2D Brawling World. There's Axel with his chained sickles, the juggernaut Potemkin, the amorphous Zato 1 (Eddie), the fan wielding Anji Mito, the powerful May, the dexterious Faust,and the lovely Milla Rage for starters. If this isn't a fantastic line up then I don'tknow what is. I mean you have a little girl that uses a freakin' anchor, a chick that has killer hair, and a deranged doctor with a whacked out love for poking you "where the sun don't shine." You'll just have fun learning all of their special abilities and enjoy seeing who well crafted they were. I must admit I've never loved getting beat by the same move 100 times in a row and say, "that move is too sweet," every time until this game.
One of the most intriguing qualities of this game that, which I believe sets it apart form all other fighter in general, is the Instant Kill. That is what it is and there's no need for me to explain it. For those who are a little curious let me put it this way; if your about to get you're butt beat and you have like no life while the other is at full health a well placed IK doesn't simply turn the tide, it obliterates it.
Also another great point about this game is the various game modes. There's MOM ( Master of Millionares ), the classic survival and story mode ( which both are quite nice ),and mission mode( probably the most challenging part of the game and at the same time the most fun. That is if you have the courage to lose a lot of hours of your life). Ok so it's like only four, but they're all really good modes and reflect the time and effort put into the production of this game and it's assured A ranking quality. In the old days survival was a great way to showoff how awesome you were, but after losing the 20th round again and again to the same [...], it gets kind of boring and sets the bar for you not to bother trying anymore, unless you're just that good (DOA 2 Ultimate online scores especially). Though with this game you simply want to come back to it again and again. The reason is because after defeating the boss that shows up every 10 matches you unlock a new version of the characters such as EX, Black, and even Gold versions. I'll admit I was only able to unlock the EX versions for most characters,but it leaves you too wonder. Even more so the moves for the alternates are different as compared to the originals which can play a big part in your strategy that will either make or break you. Along with this is the great story mode set up which provides you with alternate endings which proved to be funny and emotional all at the same time. It's a little tricky at sometimes though for you have to play through the story with a character once or twice before you can unlock another route to an ending for a different person. To sum this part up the unlockables from these modes are purely awesome, with the extra characters, alternate fighting versions,and a really cool art gallery which comes to being as good as Dark Stalkers 3 ( for those who've played the game should know what I mean ).
I'm sure you're tired of reading this by now if not simply quit and gave it a bad rating,or just didn't bother with it at all. So I'll just some it up; this game is "Spellbinding" and a must have for any person who loves fighters.
Hope this review was helpful. | video-games_xbox |
This is a "Slayer" headset! (Slyr, get it? Put the a and e in. I've had this headset since about a month before Christmas and I must say that the sound from it is *above* what I'd normally expect from Skullcandy and I usually prefer the Skullcandy Ink'q headphones, which are usually pretty good sounding cheap ones. These however make them look like tin cans tied together on string! The bass is where I like it, the sound is so crisp and clear that when I played Mass Effect 3 with them on for the first time. I was noticing sounds that I had *never* noticed before. With even the TV at a loud setting, I don't recall hearing footsteps from whenever I walked but with the headset, I was doing much more than hearing them, I was *feeling* them with the bass! I played other games and could hear the bullets as they whizzed by my head (saved my life a few times too!) Oh, one thing to note about the sound. The headset can start out *loud* but the in-line controls can easily turn it down to a comfortable setting. Be sure to turn the tv to mute(won't affect the headset unless you use the TV headphones port) or you won't hear anything and the headset can adjust the sound for either voice or game sound. Oh, and the leather ear coverings can muffle sound quite a bit, combined with the high volume it can start out with, you might miss your boss calling you on your phone to tell you that you're late again. Lol!
I did test hearings of Turtlebeach X-12's, Astro's from Best Buy and the Slyr had the best sound, best mic (never did like having to move it in front of my mouth) and plus the Slyr mic could be put away making it look like a normal pair of over-the-ear headphones. The others that I tried were good sounding, tho the x-12's oddly sounded better than their higher number versions. The Astro's had good sound and comfort. The Slyr had great sound and was the most comfortable to me out of all the ones I tried. Like any over-the-hear deals, they could get a little warm when wearing them for prolonged periods but that may not be a bad thing when you're outside during cold weather. lol! :)
One thing I liked about the Slyr is that the default cord that goes from the in-line usb one to the headset is just the right size for going from the headset to my pocket, where the others where so long that I was left wondering what to do with all the extra cord. Another selling point for me was that the Slyr was Xbox,PS3, and of course PC/phone/mp3 player compatible. :)
I found you could plug them into a phone (if it took normal headphone jack) and use it for listening to music or use the mic and have a conversation with people. People would tell me that they couldn't tell that I was using the headset versus the normal phone mic. Although for me, it saved me from having a hot phone pressed against my cheek and freed my hands to do chores that required both hands.
The headset was also more easier to adjust upon my head than some others. Some headsets were the "one-sizes-fits-all" and thus required "stretching" to get comfortable in, if at all. The Slyr were comfortable and adjustable from the get-go since it had fabric padding on both the headband and ears. Both the headband slides up and down as well as the ear padding was big enough for someone like me with big ears to fit within them and even people with in-ear hearing aids can wear them without them squealing due to over-closeness. Even when wearing glasses, you can wear them comfortably as they don't press too tightly like some others do to leave them hurting you.
If the in-line boosting and volume controls are not important to you, you can use the headphone cable to connect to your tv's headphone port and still use the usb part of it to connect with the xbox to your xbox controller. It'll look weird but still work. So truthfully there are lots of ways of using a headset like this.
So whether you are using it for talking on a console, your phone, or just listening to your mp3 player blast music at you. You can't go wrong. This is just a plain awesome headset.
If anyone has used them for the PS3, I'd be happy to hear their experiences.
PS> Like any headset that costs more than $12, you should treat them with care. Don't grab them by the earpads. Grab them *gently* by the headband. These aren't your $12 headset that comes with the xbox, they are a sound investment in your hearing pleasure. So if you do grab it by the earmuffs, don't twist as you pull them off. That's the easiest way to break *any* headset. I've seen too many youtube reviews and friends where they break even $300 headsets by rough twisting or improper handling and in some cases just bad placing where they can get stepped on by a friend or family when one's not around or chewed on by the family pet. Remember: all things these days are made with a limited lifespan (on purpose) to get them to break and you buy them again. If you take gentle care of them, then they will last far longer than the manufacturer wants them to last. :) | video-games_xbox |
For the Die Hard Fan Only. When it comes to the television show Family Guy, some of the best episodes out there are the ones in which Brian and Stewie travel together and actually don't feature the rest of the cast. One of the better episodes was an episode in which Brian and Stewie traveled through the Multiverse. Apparently the creators know how popular the episode is because they made a video game that was a sequel to it. Back to Multiverse can be considered fan service in just about every respect. If you really love the show and its humor you'll really love this game to a certain extent. And while it's packed full of references it's hard to say this is a game worth forking over sixty dollars for. If anything it would've easily sufficed as a downloadable game on PSN or XBOX Live Arcade. There isn't really enough content to justify the price tag (though it's sure to go down eventually).
Back to the Multiverse begins in typical Family Guy fashion. It's as though you're playing through an actual episode of the show. It plays the opening of the show--credits and all--as though this really is going to be a typical episode. It then shows Brian and Stewie. Their banter is quickly interrupted when Bertrum shows up from a different universe. He wants revenge on Stewie and is about the travel the multiverse to amass an army. It's up to Stewie and Brian to stop him by following him through the multiverse. As far as Family Guy goes, the actual synopsis for this episode is definitely pretty cool. And it's got some great humor in many respects. The cutscenes themselves are full of some nice witty banter between Brian and Stewie but once you get into the actual game only your fan devotion is likely to hold you. And you'll need to be a die hard fan of the show for it more so than just someone who watches it every now and then.
There are ten levels in Back to the Multiverse. Each complete with objectives. You'll never get lost as there is a marker that will always show you where to go and where you should be. Each level seems to have its own theme. There's one level where it's all filled with Amish. Another where everyone is crippled and you must battle through their fortress and a few more surprises I won't spoil. Although there isn't much to spoil. Any die-hard fan of the show will have seen this all before. You don't get the sense there was much created from scratch for the game.
You'll play as Brian and Stewie and be able to switch between them on the fly. Each of them have their own set of weapons at their disposal. Stewie has his trademark ray guns and inventions while Brian has the standard stuff like pistols, shotguns and rifles. Characters also have secondary weapons and items they can use. You can throw diaper bombs with Stewie or molotov cocktails with Brian. It seems like there is a lot of variety but Back to Multiverse puts an emphasis on shooting your way through. And hordes of enemies will come at you from everywhere. The difficulty spikes seem a little unbalanced. One minute everything seems manageable, the next you're overrun and barely able to survive. It's okay though, because a lot of health packs and ammo are plentiful throughout each level. There isn't really too much variety in the objectives, though. Many times it's usually finding something to open passage so you can move forward, or it's something along the lines of killing a certain enemy to move on.
As you kill enemies you'll also collect cash. You'll be able to use this to buy more weapons and costumes, as well as increase your health or the amount of ammo you can carry.
Every level is filled with references to the show. But this is actually part of the problem. You'll find characters in levels and hear your enemies and people close by spouting off their lines. The thing is... you've heard nearly all of it before. Many of the lines are lifted directly from the show. Every now and then there is something original but for the most part, if you're that familiar with the show you've heard all these lines before. This brings about another small issue with the game in and of itself... you will hear them constantly. These lines pop up again and again. In the very first level you'll constantly hear a frat boy saying, "I'm angry, but not because I'm gay." It gets old really fast. Whenever Stewie picks up ammo he'll say the "This is my rifle/this is my gun..." line from the episode where he and Brian went into the army. It's constant, though and after a while it's just annoying. At first you'll probably enjoy this. Then again, with so many lines throughout the entire history of the show you're apt to wonder why they didn't lift a bigger variety of them.
The biggest drawback is that the game is relatively short with little replay value. The game can easily be completed in 3 to 5 hours. It's brief, just like an episode of the show. And while some of it is funny and witty, it's really only the cutscenes that are really that fun or engaging to watch.
At the very least fans of the show will be happy to know that the writers and voice actors did step up to the plate to help out with the story and characters. The cast is here to deliver their lines and it's done rather well. The graphical presentation is a little jarring at first. It's cartoon like, which is a good thing. On the other hand, some animations seem a little stilted. Mostly the cutscenes and the lip movements from time to time. Likewise, the game being in 3D makes certain aspects look just a tad... strange. Such as looking at Stewie's hair or Brian up close. Nevertheless those are small nitpicks. There are also moments in which you might feel the game could use a couple more details. A lot of environments strangely feel scarce or empty. I like that it looks like the cartoon, but you sometimes get the sense that they could've done a little more.
Back to the Multiverse isn't a bad game at all. It is a little steep to pay the full sixty dollar price tag for a game that's this short and doesn't offer nearly as much replay value. There are a few extra things to do outside of the main story, but it's really nothing special. It's a great amount of fan service at least and if you're a die hard fan you may like it. Otherwise you may want to wait for just a little bit. | video-games_xbox |
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary review. A classic is reborn. Halo: Combat Evolved is quite possibly the most influential game of all time so 343 had to be extremely careful and meticulous when remaking this flagship game. The layout of the menus is different from the original, but that is necessary with additions such as skulls and online play. It's still the same story that fans of the series know and love. The graphics, being a main point of the remake, look very good. It doesn't look as good as Bioshock, but it still is a huge jump from 10 years ago. The ability to switch from old school graphics and updated graphics is fantastic. People just playing halo for the first time will probably not care much about this, but if you played the original then you will really enjoy this feature. The actual graphics switch is seamless using an approx. 5 second fade out/fade in method. The soundtrack has been re-recorded and is slightly different than the original, but it still fits with the game. The Music and Sound effects change depending on which graphics mode you're playing in; you get the classic music and sound when in old school and the updated music and sound when in the new graphics. Gameplay is the classic Halo from 10 years ago. Aside from a different control scheme it feels the same, which is good. 343 even left in classic glitches from the original like the warthog jumping. My absolute biggest complaint is the online co-op play. This game has serious lag issues. I have a fast internet connection and don't have any lag on any other game I play online, but this always has anywhere from minimal to unplayable lag. It may not be this way for everyone, but based on my experience it's just a word of caution. The multiplayer on this is the same as the Halo Reach multiplayer except with only the new anniversary maps. The game comes with a code to download the maps into Reach so you can play them from there. If you own Halo Reach then there is not much else to do with Anniversary other than the campaign. The campaign is fun to play through a few times, but it won't ever change so after a while it's no longer exciting. Despite the online flaws and relatively low replay value I recommend this game. For those new to the franchise, this is where it all started; for those veterans, this is an awesome throwback and you can appreciate how far it has come.
> Presentation: 8.5 - Same great story with an updated look and sound. Feels like the Halo of old and Looks like the Halo of new.
> Graphics: 8.5 - They are definitely HD, not at the level some new games are, and the on-the-fly graphics switching is perfect.
> Sound: 8.5 - The soundtrack, voice overs and game sounds have all been re-done for this and they all work very well.
> Gameplay: 7 - The game plays just like the original. Skulls and terminals are a welcome addition and provide some unique elements to play with. The major issue I have is with the online co-op play. For some reason, even on an excellent connection, it lags.
> Lasting Appeal: 5 -If you own Halo Reach there is very little replay value in this as the maps are available via download from Reach. Even if this is your first Halo game, after you complete the campaign a few times it grows tiresome and the multiplayer only has a small handful of maps to play on.
Overall: 7.5 (out of 10) | video-games_xbox |
Great. When I first got it started I was angry because it had problems tuning. I thought "if this can't tune well then how will it ever keep up with which note I'm hitting." Fortunately, after that it worked great (even the tuning is easier now.) I have been playing guitar for several years now and I decided to buy this both to help my own skill which I believe is substandard compared to how long I have been playing and to help teach others guitar. The mini games on this game are wonderful teaching tools and great practice for experienced players. The song selection is just about perfect (I would personally like to see more classic rock.) It has really surprised me with a few of the songs that I wouldn't imagine being on this game (e.g. Satch Boogie, Cemetary Gates, etc.) Following it's suggestions is great for a beginner and has turned out to be the best way to progress through the game to reach your playing level whatever it may be. If you don't learn the same way it wants you to, it can be kind of a hassle. It could be improved by giving you a choice of what difficulty to start out at on each song the first time. I find that using the "riff repeater" on a song beforehand can give you a customized song before you start. I just increased the difficulty to 30%-50% on each part and it adjusted accordingly after I started the full song. At the price I bought it for this was an amazing deal and I have used the cable to record to my computer and I think it is worth $20-$30 alone. I'm thinking about buying this for some other people I know because it is that great. Note: as many other reviews say, this is not a "game" so much in that it is more of a tool. Even the mini games are very practical. If you have expectations of playing "through the fire and flames" in real life in 60 days then you need to examine the difference in a 6 button controller and 22-fret by 6 string guitar neck ;) | video-games_xbox |
Frustrating. I finally decided to give this game a chance despite the fact that many people criticize the Silent Hill games that weren't done by the original Team Silent crew. Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that those who criticized this game were spot on.
The game mechanics suck and it's also glitchy. When I get into an intense battles and try to go to the inventory menus to choose a better weapon or drink a health drink the menus don't pop up fast enough even though I'm squeezing the heck out of the button. One time I tried to switch from my knife to my gun in a battle and when I got to the menu THE GUN MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED FROM MY INVENTORY!!!, so I was stuck using my knife against two nurses, which caused me to take a lot of damage, and die. I had to start all over recollecting puzzle items again from a starting point, and when I tried to use my axe to fight the nurses again, the character would glitch out and not swing even though I was totally pressing the right buttons. Also, fighting two enemies in tight spaces is freaking impossible because there is no room to dodge or run away. You basically get stuck in a corner while the enemies hack you to death! It was so freaking frustrating that I haven't even finished the game, and frankly I have no interest in doing so either. I love the Silent Hill games and I'm very saddened that this one was so poorly executed. The story seemed interesting, but it was not enough to compel me to soldier through the frustrating game-play in order to see how the story pans out.
It was also hard to identify with the characters because their stone-faced facial expressions didn't match the emotions of the voice actors. It was odd.
The only positive thing I can say about the game is the music and sound effects set the right tone for the atmosphere.
I usually don't listen to the critics when I choose a game. I loved Silent Hill 4 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, which both received mixed reviews from critics and fans. This is the one time I wish I had listened to them. I learned my lesson with this game and I will not be buying Silent Hill Downpour or the Silent Hill HD Collection because I've heard that those were poorly done also, and I believe it. | video-games_xbox |
Forza 5, a great introduction to next-gen sim racing. A lot of what people are saying about the horrible micro transactions and not being able to buy any car you want with the 1250 free tokens with the LCE edition WERE true, the Turn 10 forums were blowing up about and it rightly so, Turn 10 has listened and is updating the way payout is done and increasing Forza rewards, I was just gifted 4 million in game currency and for all LCE owners the most expensive car in the game will be gifted to your garage because of the feedback given.
As far as the game itself. its AMAZING, I have played every single Forza iteration since Forza 1 on XBOX and including Forza Horizon, this is hands down the best version to date, the graphics are jaw dropping, the new controller features (rumble motors in triggers) have been used to perfection, in fact when my controller batteries were dying and the rumble feature was turned off I noticed immediatly and it was actually harder to play without that extra feedback I had been use to. Cars and tracks are slimmed down from previous version, however once you see the amount of detail put into each car and track you will quickly understand why, everyone that has come over and seen this game in person has thought it was video (pre rendered) but I was indeed in game racing. The videos don't do it justice even in 1080p, in person realtime this game is just beautiful. Sound is also top notch as it has been the last few titles as well.
All in all its a great game, as far as LCE I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are diehard Forza fan. I think the last really GREAT LCE edition was Forza 3 as it came with other things to make some of the extra money seem worth it ( Forza branded Key Chain and USB thumb drive)
The single player racing experience is much as it was in Forza 3, which is fine but I liked the way Forza 4 campaign just made all the decisions for you and guided you along, like Forza 3 you can pick many different types of circuits based on cars and or car rating or RWD, FWD, Naturally Aspirated etc. With Drivatar this experience is much different than ever before as you are always racing against other players data, so the AI is overall more challenging than ever before and that is a welcome change.
If you have money invested in a Fanatec wheel setup (as I do) you will be disappointed to know it won't work on X1, however Fanatec has said they would make every effort to create a wheel compatible with X1 and work with all previous accessories. If this happens I will be very happy as spending around $250 again vs $600 is much easier to stomach, they also spoke about a very good exchange program they may offer, so time will tell.
With around 200 cars out of the box and plenty more to come its a great start for the next gen Forza games and Forza 6 will at least be doubled in size with half already making it into this real ease. Its a great game and I highly recommend it to any race sim fan. | video-games_xbox |
Unapologetic classic arcade fighter. Let's be brief. Street Fighter IV is essentially a remake of Street Fighter II, the classic 2D brawler that started it all. If you remember how that game felt and controlled, this one is a wonderfully refined version of that. Add a few new characters, mix in a few favorites from the rest of the series, simmer, serve. It unapologetically sticks to the classic formula: Ryu, Ken, and a bunch of other fighters meet up to randomly slug it out one at a time, eventually leading up to a cheap boss character. Done. There is almost no story here, and little or no single player gameplay of which to speak.
So why the 5 star score? The multiplayer is almost perfect. The balance between characters is brilliant, the changes to gameplay (while subtle) add a lot for advanced players to chew on. Button mashing is less of an effective strategy now. And, most importantly, even new players getting trounced have a chance at victory. While online matchmaking has some issues that Capcom claims they're working on (as of Mar 2009), the actual online gameplay is far more dynamic and effective than any other I've played.
One thing, though: plan on purchasing a Street-Fighter specific pad with this game. The 360's default D-Pad is too buggy for this game, and the button layout doesn't match the game's expected layout. This can add 40 - 150 dollars to the cost of the game, depending on whether you choose the FightPad or one of the Tournament Joysticks, but it is completely necessary for 360 owners.
If you like fighting games, and either have friends or an online connection, this game is for you. It revives the Street Fighter franchise in stunning glory, and is a pinnacle of competitive gaming. If you don't already like fighting games, this one will probably not change your opinion. It is amazingly good pure fighting play, distilled down into digestible 2-person competitive chunks. Highly recommended. | video-games_xbox |
Call of Duty still rules the WWII roost. Whew....I played the first 2 levels of MoH: Airborne and I must say, those were the 2 longest hr's of my life. So, EA is stepping into the shoes where Call of Duty has gone so far and so well on the 360 and I must say that my impressions are mixed.
i will keep this brief because most reviews have touched on a lot of key points of the game
1. Graphics - I don't think they are as good as CoD but still as with any other WWII game you know you are in a fight. But it's at the point now after seeing games like Gears of War and Stranglehold one has to wonder when will there be more destructable environments? I mean come on...we are 2 years into the next gen and there should not be so many static objects!!
2. As good as any WWII shooter can be...on a decent set up it sounds like there is complete chaos going on around you. Still tho with large explosions, my subwoofer could use a lil more of a workout.
3. Controls - handles pretty well altho I wonder why there is no prone feature.
4. Game design is very innovative. Having the freedom to drop into a zone as opposed to making a linear run from point A to point B increases the amount of thought you have to put into finishing an objective. Pay attention to your briefings because they are no joke. Think you are going to land near your objactive and finish it right away? WRONG. I tried that twice and had my butt handed to me as soon as I landed and I do mean getting beaten and shot at before I could raise my weapons. This idea is a refreshing way to play because you won't complete any one level the same way...also it gives you ways to startegically plan an attack? Having a hard time mounting a frontal assault? Try looking for the back door or try taking the roof...there are more ways than one to take out the enemy. The AI is pretty sharp and they will find ways to take you out and sometimes it seems cheap too but again you won't Rambo thru this game.
My only minuses so far are these:
There are times when you seem to feel like you are completely on your own, this could be a good thing or a bad thing depending...and sometimes when you are fighting with others some of those jokers will step right in front of your aim.
When shooting an enemy, sometimes it seems like you have to empty 1/2 a clip just to kill one soldier...again...this is next gen guys, if I shoot a guy in the arm he should be hurt...leg make him limp..head...he should not get up ever again...but on this game they do...
Just when you think you are done, there is more....this could be a plus or a minus depending on who you are talking to...but as soon as you are done one laundry list of objectives, a new list may pop up tacking on another 1/2 an hr of the level....this could work as this game is rumored to be rather brief.
All in all this game so far is cool, Call of Duty definently has the crown in WWII shooters and it's almost sad that this year's iteration won't be from that era but that may be a good thing, but if you like WII shooters and need somethig a lot less linear, MoH is worth a look. | video-games_xbox |
Some value here, at the right price. People kill Madden and EA in these reviews every single year. It's been a long time since they've put out a version I couldn't put down to be sure, but this is the best iteration in at least the last 6 years.
I play Madden for franchise mode. Specifically owner mode in franchise. I'm glad they brought back owner mode, it is however lacking in a handful of ways when it comes to actually being an owner. You can only hire a head coach, trainer, and scout. Unlike ancestors to this game where you could actually hire coordinators, such is not the case with this game sadly. You can make upgrades and renovations to your stadium, they are however very generic, not creative, and deteriorate quickly even in the newer stadiums. Gone are the days of adding a new diamond vision, putting in custom irriagation or adding restaurants, internet access, or other fan comforts. There is an option on the dashboard for making comments to the media, but there is no way to actually do so. I think it's probably for another mode. The scouting is somewhat improved, though I miss the days of being able to put prospective recruits through drills at a combine. Also, it would be cool if I could create a player that could be added to franchise owner mode.
Gameplay itself feels better than Madden 13. The running mechanics are a HUGE upgrade, it's actually fun to call running plays. I find myself feeding the running back nearly 20 carries a game which makes the passing numbers more realistic. I struggle with motion calls on offense, it seems you are only allowed 1 desigated player that is eligible for motion. That kind of stinks as I have in the past used motion to get a read on defenses. Graphically the game is stunning between the lines, the sideline shots are still a freaking joke though. There has been no effort to make the sidelines look right in any version of Madden ever though. The commentary is dull, repetitive, and not at all reflective of what is actually happening on the field. Phil Simms like to point out how I "overthrew a receiver" for instance when in reality it was underthrown and broken up by a defender. This is just one example of how the play by play call is very lame, hasn't been decent since it was Madden himself.
I am being a bit generous with 4 stars, it's really more of a 3.5. | video-games_xbox |
meh.. idk. *** This is a game review - not a purchase review -- and I'm only writing this because I wish someone had done it for me***
(Note: this is an Xbox 360 review)
As far as same screen coop goes, game is zoomed in waaayyy too far to make it enjoyable -- character is 'auto-teleported' to the other person playing if he/she wanders too far off screen which gets a little annoying; this is with one other other person even, cant imagine what it would be like 4-person coop.
The find match, matchmaking, looking for group, etc. option in this game works really well, there's always another player online you can form a party with if you're not a big fan of playing solo. But...
The WORST part of this game, hands down, is the player gear/gem modifications. 95% of the people (no joke) playing this game are clearing content with hacked or modded gear. Using hex editing computer programs a person can change their game save loadouts, items, etc. and make your character's skills so advanced that you can run through and one-shot everything in the game. There is no player filter to avoid these people and even though this is an incredibly well-known problem to the Diablo community, there doesn't seem to be anything going on to fix it. Also, gear duplicating, Google it.
The obvious counterpoint to this is to play solo or in a private match. You will notice that's why I still gave the review 3/5 stars because when I bought it the first day of release and nobody had started developing this modded gear, it was really fun. It takes ~4 hours MAX to complete the story mode, and then it just turns into a monotenous grind of replaying the same content.
There is no guarantee that the Reaper of Souls expansion/patch is going to be released for console as well, something I'm sure a number of buyers will take into consideration. The game's built-in autosave feature causes console crashes quite often; happens 2-3 times an hour for me (another known and unfixed in-game bug that thousands of people deal with). | video-games_xbox |
Huge scale, small scope. Some will love it, others (like me) will fall asleep at the wheel. Burnout Paradise is a beautiful looking and sounding game, with an expansive city throughout which a wide variety of events beckon. It is a competent and worthwhile racer, with the added pleasures of stunt driving, and worthwhile online play.
I believe that all to be true, even as I'll say that I found the game rather dull, and very repetitive. With each aspect of the game that impressed me, I found related issues that were equally annoying. The draw distance for the roads and city/scene-scape for example is extraordinary -- not so for traffic which may and does at times appear almost immediately in front of you. Online play was fun while it worked, and my connection was solid, but that didn't seem to be the case for many others as people kept dropping and having to rejoin as we tried to play.
I am a huge fan of free/open driving type games, but this one feels more like the longest and most complex closed track in the world, rather than like a living city. The traffic is sparse and mindless, there's no real evidence of life in the city itself, no police-related consequences for racing through a busy intersection at 100mph and smashing into another car. My suggestion is not that these things would have been important to the core purpose of the city, which is really just a backdrop to a series of racing and stunt events on a closed network or roads, but it would have been nice if everything had felt a little more alive and vibrant between races.
I felt little drive to move from event to event. Like every other 360 title, there were achievements to obtain, better licenses to earn, more cars to drive, but I just felt that the game lacked a quality that made me really want to progress though. Instead, it was more of a hodgepodge of unrelated individual events that required a rather drab commute.
I'm going to stop well short of calling this a bad game. It's absolutely not, and I believe that a lot of people do and will enjoy it. For me, it's more rental than purchase quality, but that's a pretty subjective measure.
Here's the bottom line. If all you're looking for is a good racer; good audio, visuals, physics, online accessibility, and free roaming, then this is an entirely worthwhile choice. If you prefer some depth to your driving games; whether that come in the form of increasingly hostile authorities as is the case in <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Need-for-Speed-Most-Wanted/dp/B0009350C6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Need for Speed Most Wanted</a>, the hyper-realism (to cross platforms for the sake of example) <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Gran-Turismo-5-Prologue/dp/B000FPOJOS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Gran Turismo: 5 Prologue</a>, the pure stunt/story play of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Stuntman-Ignition/dp/B000OCXK5Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Stuntman: Ignition</a>, or the "living world" quality of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/dp/B000FRU1UM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Grand Theft Auto IV</a> -- then this probably isn't what you're looking for.
If you don't desire that extra depth (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a specialized/focused game), then do check this one out, because I think you'll have a blast even if I didn't. I know, a mixed message review, "it wasn't for me, but it may well be for you," but that's the trick with these things, isn't it? Particularly when it's a solid, high-quality, well-developed product such as this, but one that may be a little too niche or otherwise narrow in scope to please those who want a more immersive experience. Ask yourself what you want out of a racing game, that's the trick to deciding whether this is a purchase, a rental, or a pass. | video-games_xbox |
Proof that videogames can tell a compelling story. *UPDATE* - My review is based on a XBox Live download of this game. While the disc content is the same, news of issues with disc based version have hit the internet. While the company prepares to patch this users without internet connections will be unable to download the fix. I recommend users without the internet to AVOID buying this product at this time. Users with the internet may want to look in A)Downloading this title off XBox Live or B) Make sure a patch has been released fixing this issue. The below review based on game content only:
Be forewarned that despite being a game set in a zombie apocalypse that it is not really an action game. This is actually a good thing. The game is a point and click adventure game with action moments mixed in to create a fun zombie slaying experience. The action sections aren't why this game succeed's, it is amazing due to the characters and dilemmas you are face with.
This game is presented in an episodic format. The narrative is split into five different episodes. Each episode takes between 2-5 hours to complete. This will be some of the most engrossing time you will ever spend with videogame.
I came into the Walking Dead with high hopes and middling expectations and was blown away. Telltale Games (the developers) have made a Walking Dead product that presents a better story than the television show and is more comparable to the books in terms of quality presentation of a great story.
This game has won a few early Game Of The Year awards and will receive more as we get into January. This is based solely on the fact of just how good and engaging the story is. The gameplay is merely a tool to present it, so while it is fun to kill zombies here, it won't be the reason you keep playing.
If you like the Walking Dead show or books even the slightest bit, then you owe it to yourself to play this game.
WARNING = MSRP is 29.99. Many of the resellers are listing it at a higher price point. Make sure you pay no more than $30 for this product. | video-games_xbox |
Waste of money. I bought Battlefield 3 hoping it would be fun. It was not fun at all. I played and tried to give it a chance. It is a game pretending to have some realistic elements when in fact nothing about the game is realistic. I was foolish enough to waste 15 dollars on Battlefield 4 thinking it would have corrected some of the issues of BF3. If anything the issues are worse. Rampant cheating. Horrible servers full of people who kick you for actually playing the game using parts of it they do not like. The weapons are horrible. The ballistics are a joke. The game simply panders to the juvenile gamers who think a sniper rifle is the best weapon on earth. You shot that target 100 times with a .50 cal mounted in a turret? Too bad that helicopter is made of bulletproof adamantium. You shot an enemy 30 times with a 7.62 machine gun? Too bad he has a mouse his mommy bought that lets him shoot you once with a pistol from 1000 meters away for the kill WHILE you are hitting him with that silly automatic weapon 30 times. Oh you shot the same guy with an HE round from a tank? His buddy has a mouse too and kills you with the old RPG from 1000 meters away. Do not bother spending money on what is basically the troll of the video game world. Dice will take that money and require you to be cannon fodder for those willing to pay extra to unlock the actual game. That's right. Buying the game does not actually buy the game. You will spend countless hours being sniped from across the map while running around pointlessly trying to unlock the actual weapons needed to play with any kind of effectiveness. And then you are still not playing the full game. You will play the same couple of maps with a few of the weapons and will have to pay 50 dollars or more to unlock what is called DLC but is actually the rest of that game you thought you would be able to play when you bought it. Dice has no interest in stopping cheaters. No interest in realism at all. Not even slightly. There is nothing fun about playing with people when it is basically a contest to see who has a better mouse, more free time to waste, doesn't mind cheating, and dozens of "friends" who feel the same way. Do not bother to spend money on anything made by the people who make the Battlefield series if you want to have actual fun the way games were intended. I for one will not be spending a penny on Battlefield anything again. | video-games_xbox |
Multiplayer was great (when HP was just released. Nothing like listening to your favorite music while playing on-line in a 4 on 4 match racing/take down match. This game rocks! When I first played the single player match, it reminded me distinctly of Burnout:Paradise City. From taking your picture with the console camera, to the little side destroyable roadblocks. This is Paradise City without getting lost from Point A to Point B.
NFSHP's multiplayer is exciting! You are either the cop or the racer. As the racer, you place down jammers, spike strips, or and an experimental weapon named the EMP, and escape or takedown the police. As the cop, you put down roadblocks, spike strips, EMP's and can call in a helicopter and take-down racers. This added element, along with the nitrous is exciting!
The single player consists primarily of earning bounty, by beating times, duels, and takedowns in order to get a bronze, silver, or gold medal. When you earn bounty, you have the option to buy a nicer car. You can also take a free drive on the course you choose if you'd like. NFS gives you bounty on every race for something you accomplished during the race. There are many variations on the single player types of races.
This game also reminds me of Need For Speed Shift, but the biggest complaint I had with Need for Speed Shift was although I loved the physics of the game, the environments were all similar and boring (except London and the DLC). With this game, the environments are all beautiful and breathtaking. You can race along the coast, desert, forest, canyon etc. Times of day (from dusk till dawn) and night are also varied, along with different weather conditions. The graphics as well as the sound are top-notch. This has some of the most stunning visuals I have seen from any racing game. Also, if you buy the game, buy it new because when you buy the new version, you'll receive the online pass, and unlike the boring Need for Speed online, the multiplayer for NFSHP is exciting. I actually like this multiplayer more than Blur, which in my opinion, USED to be the best multiplayer racing game.
Finally, don't hate because the trial was taken down. You got a taste of the good life, and now it's time to pay to play. I think you'll be thoroughly impressed with the full version of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. It's worth your hard earned cash IMO (wait for Black Friday).
edit: 2/8/11 traded this game in because the multiplayer mode died and the single player became repetitive. the multiplayer mode of this game was a lot of fun when it first came out, but unless you have friends to play with the game may suffer from non-existent or hard to find people to play with online. | video-games_xbox |
Fun, but still missing something. I've seen the Armored Core series before and heard bad things about <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Armored-Core-4/dp/B000JIPGSY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Armored Core 4</a>, but I wanted to give Armored Core 4A a try anyway since it sounded like they made your mechs more configurable and the gameplay more fun. I can't compare to the previous ones since I haven't seen them, but my hunch is they succeeded.
The game is fun and supports a variety of play styles (missiles or guns? Heavy or light?) with a wide variety of parts. There are even quite a bit of blades for melee combat and some ECM and counter-ECM gear. Configuration is fun and a huge part of the game.
The game features many large enemies such as naval vessels and quite a few huge arms forts. These forts are gargantuan in size and really fun to fight since they give you something to unleash loads of ordinance on that doesn't dodge out of the way rapidly and can blow you away with its immense firepower.
Although this is apparently a staple of the series, I didn't like the fact that I was limited to firing only three weapons at a time (left, right, and shoulder mounted weapons). You can swap between your arm weapons and back mounted weapons, but you can't fire your arm and back weapons simultaneously. This made me feel that perhaps the people who designed these awesome robots never thought of the idea that someone might want to actually fire everything.
I guess my last mech game was MechWarrior so I'm spoiled that way. Another staple of the MechWarrior series missing in Armored Core is the first person cockpit view. It seems like it'd be very easy to add (just move the camera forward a bit and hide your mech. Maybe add a crosshair), but you're limited to a third person view.
The parts have reams and reams of statistics associated with them, so designing a mech is not exactly simple, but this added to the richness of the game for me. I would have liked to have more money to spend early on so I'd have a little more variety in the parts I could stick on my mech when going up against a tricky mission.
Bottom line: Good game, lets you blow stuff up, supports a variety of styles of play, and seems to be an improvement from what I've seen of the series. I recommend this if you're into mechs or things that go boom. | video-games_xbox |
Decent enough. I got this used for pretty cheap. I like the action-RPG type of games best and based on what I read here for reviews, I thought this game would be a good fit.
It's OK. You play as a girl who is thrown into the whole action-hero thing somewhat against her will. The graphics are, OK. I have a hard time picking out things that I can interact with (plants to pick up, vases to smash, coins to pick up). They sort of blend into everything else. It's a colorful world, but the jerky-fast movements of the camera along with how fast this girl runs, makes it very hard to take in everything around you and will cause you to miss all kinds of stuff.
The action is OK. You can lock in on the person you're fighting, but many times I'll just start swinging in some other direction completely opposite of the direction I was heading. It's not very tight, the fighting. I just sort of swing and maybe roll out of the way until I beat the enemy(s). Even going through your inventory or buying/selling isn't all that smooth.
It's not all that fun to play, because even though you think you can't "die" in the game, you can. Many times I've died and the screen just says "You have died". Thanks. Didn't see that coming. Would have saved before had I known that was coming. A lot of enemies early on are just too difficult to fight, and I'm not talking creatures in an area that you're not supposed to be in, yet. I'm talking like these crab things early on which take FOREVER to kill. Annoying.
Camera angle - a few times during playing in certain areas the camera goes BEZERK! Like it flies around at the merest touch of the left analog stick! I have NO idea what's up with that - it's only happened a few times but it's so annoying it makes me want to never play again.
But, for what I spent on it, I'm enjoying it so far. The graphics are good enough and it's fairly entertaining. A very average action RPG from what I can see. | video-games_xbox |
Cool looking gun, but trigger demands muscle. OVERALL
The Innovation Technologies XBox Light Gun is a great purchase. It fulfills all the requirements of a gun accessory and looks great. Compact and full xbox controller functionality, this is a hard product not to consider for your shooting games. It's got the style and the handling down nicely. You won't regret buying this light gun over the Mad Catz.
PRESENTATION
The sleek black design with stylishly placed green buttons make the Xbox Light Gun from Innovation Technologies an attractive purchase. The layout is as cleverly sorted as a gamer could wish for. The joypad is very easy to work with -- it's situated right behind the hammer. It's actually better than the poorly constructed joypad on the Pelican Silent Scope Rifle. The other buttons are a little soft when pressed, it may feel a bit sticky at times -- but you (probably) won't be pressing those buttons at all other than the trigger and directional pad. Also, most (or two) of the shooting games out now use the B button to cycle backwards in menu screens. So to be more precise, the main buttons you'll be using are B, Trigger (which is the A button), and the Start button. They're all situated on the left side of the barrel which the is the most convenient place. Note that there's an EXTRA B button below the handle which is what is mainly advertised about the gun. The right side of the light gun has the X and Y buttons, which you'll never use.
HANDLING
It's not as romantic or glorious as one may think to constantly slam the B button below the handle. In fact, it get's very awkward and tiresome the xth time you do it. Realistically, anyone shooting/reloading piles of 9mm clips (at a rate of 1 clip per 3 seconds) would be fatigued, but shouldn't this be minimized with a light gun?
Well, it has... If you're willing. The B button on the left side of the barrel is extra wide to hold your left thumb (assuming you are holding the gun with your right hand and using your left hand to support the barrel - your thumb comfortably rests upon the B button). This way of firing and reloading shows less bravado, but it's the quickest and most painless way to operate the light gun. Don't be fooled, it sounds great to reload like you've just released an empty clip and about to slam a fresh one in... But it gets old real fast. You'll have to hold the gun with one hand and keep your left hand under the handle (where the B button is) the whole time you play. Which is how a real pistol would be held, but if you don't frequently use a firearm like this (i.e. actual training and experience) then well... You'll eventually opt for the less flashy way of handling the thing -- and it really is more efficient in terms of speed and stamina on your arm. But rest assured! Regardless of whichever way you operate the gun, once you grow comfortable with your style of handling -- it'll be second nature.
Overall, the gun is extremely light and seems hollow even. I wouldn't be putting it at the bottom of your games and other accessories as it might break. I recommend wrapping the cord up as you play, because you don't want excess wire getting in your way as it is quite long. Also, the trigger (for new light guns, not used) is a bit stiff and requires some "breaking in". When I first got it, the trigger demanded more pressing force from my index finger than most other light guns. After the first few levels, my hand and arm were tired. Thankfully, using the light gun constantly loosens the trigger. It's now at a perfect firmness without being too rigid to induce fatigue in your fingers. Also, if you're not used to firing light guns for a good fifteen minutes or so, you'll get used to it.
UPDATE: March 15, 2009
Alas, my light gun has finally broken from disuse. Yes, that's right. I have not played with this gun for years since the Xbox 360 has come out, and I discovered that when I tried to play an old House of the Dead game for the Xbox... It simply wouldn't work. I have not misused or abused the gun either, so it just leads me to believe that this product suffers from a limited lifespan even when kept in good condition. But really, it's been years and this peripheral will be missed a little at best, though we definitely had some good times. | video-games_xbox |
Great system with room to grow. If you are single, or are the only person who will be using a system, and are a hard core gamer...then I would still likely tell you to get a PS4, as it is cheaper and the graphics and games (outside of not having Titanfall) still hold a slight edge over the XBox One. However, that gap appears to be closing as developers learn the ins and outs of the system.
If you intend on having any family members play more than just a few times, then I believe that, without any doubt, the XBox One is the system for you.
Most games are going to be cross platform, and for those, it really doesn't matter which system you decide upon. Those games are developed for both, and the differences in version will be minor at best. Apps and exclusives are where a console lives and dies, and for the XBox One, I believe use by a family is what is going to ultimately be its bread and butter.
For those that have any interest in using it, the Kinect is actually a fantastic piece of hardware that really adds to your entertainment experience. While gesturing and voice commands take some getting used to, and still need some work from Microsoft's end, it is nice to be able to operate things without having to find your controller. After a few hiccups during the first few months, my system has no issues at all turning on and off every piece of hardware (TV, satellite box, audio receiver, and console) with voice command. Commands DO have to be given as a command, so as a caveat, small children will likely not be very successful using voice commands, and will have to use the physical buttons of the console and controller (which still turn on and off everything). On the television side of things, it still doesn't quite pick up certain channels correctly, which can be annoying, but not to the extent that I don't use it...I just learned to either use the regular remote or work around it.
Having Skype available in the living room is also a huge plus, and the facial tracking system works well, although I do wish that you could manually override it and zoom in more than currently seems to be available.
What has me excited for the rest of my family are the Kinect games...which obviously aren't going to be for everyone. Games like Just Dance 2014 and Kinect Sports provide a great experience with the family, and Kinect Fitness (a free "game") provides a lot of great workouts that will actually monitor your performance and give feedback.
While there were a lot of glitches with the system software at first, the latest update seems to have cleaned these up. That being said, there still aren't a lot of games out yet, and very few truly "great" games...and none that are truly exclusives, since Titanfall is also found on the Xbox 360...although I'm not sure how good that version is. This is likely not the best option for everyone, but it should be for many. My personal recommendation is to wait until this summer, when more games are coming out, figure out what kind of gamer you are, who will be using your console. If you have kids, or a casual gamer wife, the XBox One is a great choice, and you'll have a fantastic time with it. | video-games_xbox |
Very fun! But not for $60. So before I list the negatives about this game, I would like to first give it credit where it is due. The online multiplayer (when it works), is an absolute blast. The amount of environment manipulation available ensures that no two rounds will ever go down the exact same way. Furthermore, the looks of the game are decent, as well as the controls and overall atmosphere.
That being said, there are enough negatives to bring this game down to 2 stars, at least for me. First and foremost, a common issue that many people have been complaining about is the status of the Rainbow Six servers. Even writing this review, at least a month after release, the servers have presented a massive gameplay issue; in the course of an hour of playing, you will loose connection to the server at least once, and in between these losses, the quality of gameplay ranges substantially (some games are super smooth, others are incredibly glitchy). While this is obviously not a negative about the game itself, it is a substantial detriment to the overall playability, especially considering that there is not much of a single player campaign, which leads perfectly to the next issue.
If you wish to play a single player campaign, similar to the ones in Rainbow six Vegas, or even campaigns in earlier games, you will be heavily disappointed. Instead of an actual campaign, Rainbox Six Siege is instead composed of 10 different 'situations,' increasing in difficulty as you progress, but leaving the player with an absolute lack of a premise or story (especially in contrast to earlier Rainbow Six games). Honestly, playing through them almost seemed pointless, like I was playing more of a tutorial than an actual campaign; better get used to it though considering how often the servers have gone down post-release.
Content is also a little bit of an issue in this game, at least for me. In the multiplayer version of the game, there are 20 different operators (10 for attacking; 10 for defending), that you may choose from, all with their own special ability. I absolutely love the some of the special abilities, and the big learning curve that comes with understanding how to use them most effectively. That being said, the amount of actual content beyond the operators is lacking. For starters, in each operator class, you may only choose one of 2 firearms (many are repeats among different classes). Once you choose the firearms, customization typically starts and ends with the gun sight (there are a few) and the camo pattern on the firearm. Beyond that, unlike previous rainbow six games where you could truly make the operator unique to you, you are unable to customize the look of your operator at all.
This game is another in a long line of games that expects the buyer to not only buy into part of a game, but also spend another $30 bucks on a season pass in order to more 'complete' the game. That being said, after you spend your money, you will still be left void of a campaign/story, operator customization, and adequate servers to actually play the game on.
My recommendation, wait for the price of this game to drop! Do not buy it until it is on sale. Hopefully, between now and then, the issues with the servers will be worked out; but truthfully, as fun as this game is (in its heavily limited state), it is not enough fun to warrant that $60 price tag, with a $30 season pass to add what should already be in the game. | video-games_xbox |
Addresses some annoying Rockstar design tropes, offers surprisingly moving adventure. After four modern-era GTA games, Rockstar has apparently, albeit grudgingly, acknowledged that some of its favorite design tropes are simply flawed; RDR addresses many gripes, such as putting in checkpoints for long missions, instead of having to start them from the beginning if you fail or, even worse, getting dropped at a nearby safehouse and having to trudge over to the quest-giver before you can even make another attempt. Horses ride much more sensibly than Rockstar's cars have ever driven.
You no longer even have to trudge to a safe house to save your game. You can simply plop down a campfire (as long as you're outside of town and away from a road). You can also use the campfire to quick-travel to any waypoint you've created on the map. Safe houses even include a trunk that periodically generates a small amount of ammunition.
Speaking of ammunition, the combat model is not realistic, but it is contextually appropriate for our spaghetti western hero; "Dead Eye" slows the action down to a crawl, allowing you to aim precisely; it has a meter that drains while in this mode and can be re-filled by performing a headshot or via a few consumable items. RDR will also auto-target when you raise and point your weapon in the vicinity of an enemy.
With Dead Eye and auto-targeting, you'll rank right up there with Clint Eastwood or Billy the Kid -- killing four or five guys in a matter of seconds, or shooting them in the leg to make them fall down, or even shooting their gun out of their hand. The game compensates for your prowess by throwing a large number of quick-on-the-draw enemies at you, but sometimes their sheer numbers feel more ridiculous than exciting.
I found the story compelling, and most of the characters memorable and nuanced. Some of them are silly, but keep in mind that this game is basically an homage to classic westerns, not a historical simulation. However, I was never quite convinced as to why only John Marston (the player character) could do the government's dirty work, when they obviously had the resources to simply do it themselves. But it sure made for a good excuse to adventure across an extinct Southwest, fighting bad guys, rescuing people, and sometimes just wandering the desert and seeing what comes up across the next hill. The climax to John's quest was also surprisingly moving, although his ultimate fate may strike you as forced drama, rather than appropriate closure.
Still, while other games offer plenty of adventure, laughs and action, few also bring pathos and humanity like RDR, and in the midst of inhumanity and strife. | video-games_xbox |
If you're a die hard fan expecting Gears of War 1, be wary. I wanted to like this game. I really did. I've played the game for a little over a month now, even into its second update. A little background, I've played every Gears title to date, yes even judgement. And I've been a huge fan since 2006. Naturally when I heard that the original was getting a remaster I was pretty excited. I signed up for the beta and had an absolute blast and my expectations, and hopes, went through the roof. But that is where the fun ended.
The game is sold to the customers as if it is a straight remake of the original 2006 Gears of War. While this may be true for the single player aspect of the game, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the game's multiplayer. The game is deceivingly fun at first. But the more you play, the worse the experience gets. I can't help but play this game and feel like something is missing. Everything that was great about the beta is no where to be found here. One of the biggest letdowns is the change of guns firing from the center of the screen rather than the traditional barrel fire. The balancing of the weapons and teams, the ever present sponge, and horrible community kill any love that I could have for this game.
In regards to the balancing; many of the guns need serious work, a few examples being the Gnasher shotgun, Lancer assault rifle, and boomshot grenade launcher. The Gnasher feels nothing like the original does, and it is scary to be in a battle with someone for fear that your shots won't even register as hitting them while theirs have no issue. And vice versa. The Lancer is far more powerful in this game than its predecessor. The Boomshot feels like a lottery as to whether or not your opponent will even be hurt, much less killed. As for the teams, there is not a consistent skill tracker that places you will players similar to your skill. I have been on both ends of this. One match will be with players that are no where near my skill level, while others will be far beyond my own abilities. This leads to a match that is frustrating for one team and ultimately fun for neither when the other team is fed up with it and decides to leave the match. On top of all that, the game is riddled with unsportsmanlike conduct and players who live to make others mad.
Like I said, I wanted to like this game. I waited years for Gears of War 1 to be remastered. But I can say that I wish that I would have never have bought this game. It is a sad successor to introduce a new generation of gamers to one of the great video games of all time. | video-games_xbox |
The Game Mechanics Improved but the entertainment factors has not. Fight Night Round 4
What can I say? It's another rendition of one of the best boxing games hands down. If you played the previous incarnation that came out 4 years ago, it's relatively easy to pick this up and jump right in.
So, why did I give this game 2 stars? Because I know a lot of you are going to think I have lost my mind when you see this but when you think about how much time EA has had to improve this title over the last one and when you really see the failed opportunities that EA had to improve this over UFC OUTSIDE of the ring mechanics you will really understand my low score.
I would dare say if you have forgotten, grab part 3 and play it again.
Now, while I think EA took a step in the right direction with some of the fight mechanics (glancing blows count stamina meter counts for more). I think in a lot of the technical aspects the game has languished or took a step back.
EA has the licence to ESPN and really has yet to take advantage of it (and just in boxing but in most of their sports games... They still haevnt learn the lessons from NFL2K5 of how to immerse people into a sports game!!). Please turn off the rerun of the 2 minutes of ESPN Sports Radio!! If I want to know what's going on, I can stream it from my PC! I really would like to see an in game pre fight show or something to hype the bout you are about to fight.
Another thing I really would love to have seen added would be some kind of rivalry or rematch mode during the Legacy Mode where you and another boxer have a series of matches to prove the best boxer like how mny times did Frazier and Ali fight or classic matches like Sugar ray and Roberto Duran? I mean yes, other fighters will challenege you from time to time but without the added hype behind it, it doesn't feel like much. You do get extra gear from the wins you rack up during the game but it really doesn't feel like you are doing much in Legacy mode except fighting to unlock stuff. Again, there feels like so much more could have been done for legacy mode but it falls short.
Also another gripe I have is that the create a boxer mode is not(and has never really been) as robust as most fighting games (UFC and WWE anyone?). I could get more into it if I could create a fighter that I like as opposed to feeling limited to the templates given.
Even still if you feel a bit lazy, you can check out EAs online gallery and download a few or even try uploading a pic of yourself and try out creating a pugilist using your mug.
Now in the ring, again, if you have played the last fight night, you can jump right into it and punch away. This time around glancing blows count and thankfully EA didn't go out of thier way to make them apparent but you can tell even better the nuances of when you hit somebody full on vs a punch that lacks power. You can also still swtich your stance, throw haymakers and so forth as long as you remember how to control your character. This is probably the only part of the game that has improved.
The announcing team is pretty good altho after 5 or 6 fights some of the comments get repetitive.
Last gripe is not really a big one considering real life considerations but the roster seems more to be inclusive of real life current boxers and not a lot past greats unless you have the time to create them with the blase palate. And even some of the ones included don't translate very well considering how hard the hardware pushes this game to look as graphically superb as the last one. Even so...some of the boxers lack personality...it's almost as if you feel like they just stuck a bag with human skin in front of you to beat around a bit.
To a point I can almost understand why some people who have been behind boxing for years are gravitating to UFC...gaming and in real life.
Outside of all of this, if you have enjoyed the Fight Night series, this is a no brainer to pick up but with the 4 years that it had to really take a huge leap...it only took a hop.
It's not the in ring issues that is the problem with this series, it's the out of the ring stuff (and EA not fully using the ESPN licence) that is lacking that keeps this title back. | video-games_xbox |
Looks great; questionable quality. I was more looking for replacements to worn out thumb sticks than I was to trick out my controller when I found this product. From that POV, I was more interested in function than looks. On the looks basis, it's great. For function, it isn't so great.
The inclusion of a magnetic T8H driver is wonderful and makes disassembling your control to install the replacement parts easy.
The thumb sticks rub on the housing when installed due to a flash line on the spherical bottom shield portion of the sticks. It's minimal interference and not a big deal though; very small amount of drag as you move the sticks that will likely wear away over time. Not a big deal, barely noticeable, but there.
More noticeable, the trim on the back of the controller shell when installed rides low, top to bottom, and makes for a sharpish ledge on the bottom seam. Similarly, the "wings" of the trim also don't line up flush, producing ledges/gaps on either side of the controller. I ended up shimming the part on the holes that it attached to the controller shell to correct the vertical misalignment, but don't see a good fix for the gaps on the "wings". This is all caused by shrinkage in the plastic after it's been shot and ejected from the mold in the manufacturing process. MS likely uses better quality materials that don't deform as much out of the mold, has better process control, etc. This is a cheaper knock-off, so the part isn't as dimensionally tight as the original.
I also had issues with the bumper piece. When I originally assembled it, the left bumper would not function. I realized the post that actuates the switch on the controller board was too long and/or had flash on its tip that was constantly depressing the switch. I filed the post down a bit, and after two or three attempts at trial and error, I got it to a point where it was the correct size and would reliably work. This was rather annoying. The issue with the trim also took more work than it should have to make it right, but that was mainly just for feel and esthetics, this issue with the bumper actually impacts the functionality of the controller (as in it wouldn't work without being modified).
Overall, the replacement parts look great. However, they are clearly of inferior quality to the original parts, and more importantly, they actually require you to modify the parts (I ended up shimming one part and filing down another) in the controller assembly to get them to function properly. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have just replaced my worn out thumb sticks and stayed away from the other parts, because they just plain didn't work out of the box. | video-games_xbox |
Rockband meets guitar lessons. A quick disclosure: I've been playing guitar for over a decade and would describe myself as a mediocre player. With that in mind, this review is for the novice looking to break into playing guitar.
I wanted to love this game. I really did. I loved Rockband and Guitar Hero; so I was thrilled to see a real, honest game that uses an actual guitar. To that end, it works surprisingly well. The cable translates any guitar's analog signal and converts it to a usb digital out and it is surprisingly accurate. Somehow it seems to even "know" the difference between the same note played on different strings - which impresses me.
The problem I have is that the game starts playing notes. For example, one of the first songs is Queens of the Stoneage Go With the Flow; and perhaps only one of five notes is played. While I can understand this technique to break people into guitar, the downside is there's no pay off. In other words, you can't play the notes you've learned without a track and immediately recognize the song being played. It makes more sense to me (and a lot of other people who have learned guitar) to learn some chords (like Tom Petty says) and go from there into playing scales and lead solos.
Chords ARE in the game, they're just buried later into the game. The biggest problem I've seen with new guitar players is they get frustrated when they don't feel like they're playing the actual songs they're trying to play.
The mini games are odd. For example, there's a baseball minigame that "teaches" bending strings. The actual minigame doesn't seem to really help teach much of anything; and it seems more video-gamey than anything.
If you think this type of program would help you play guitar, then go for it. Different people will learn guitar different ways, and it is such a rewarding hobby that I'd encourage people to get into it whichever way they can. Just keep in mind there are a LOT of good websites and youtube videos that can also help you learn to play guitar.
This game comes with stickers to put on your frets to indicate fret numbers. Don't use them. Nearly every guitar already has dots to indicate fret numbers, and you don't want to mar a good guitar with stickers (unless that's your thing).
This game will work on electric and acoustic-electric guitars. But it works best with electric. Playing an acoustic electric while hearing your notes on the game is a little distorting.
Finally, it so happens a friend of mine picked up a new guitar and will be learning from scratch. I will update my review to let you know if this game helps him. | video-games_xbox |
Looks AWESOME.... But. <div id="video-block-RRWH2QFI4PTHH" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1FPszeGhnS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81cnB0VWa2S.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> I purchased this over other products similar to it as a beginner to customizing my 360 controllers. It looks super awesome but the only issue I had, which is kind of a major issue, was that once I got it set up and powering on and all that, it cannot hold any power if you press the center, menu button. Which means if you're using this ( The way it is functioning for me) you will not be able to turn your controller on or off, without a charging cable, won't be able to return to the dashboard in order to exit gameplay,message any of your friends or start Xbox Live Parties etc.
I was using the motherboard that comes with the original Phat Xbox 360 which I purchased a long time ago in 2008. This motherboard did not seem to fit, and was sort of an obstacle for putting together the replacement parts. I am unsure whether or not it would work differently on the newer 360 controllers you'd receive with a Slim or E Xbox 360. I tried switching back to the original parts and when I put the controller together as it originally was it worked fine. Confirming the issue had something to do with this product and not any of the parts I had with the initial controller I started out with. The button to connect wirelessly to the console also gets jammed constantly.
Pros:
- Looks Awesome
- MUCH better thumbsticks
- The D-Pad, Start, Back, XYAB buttons all look cool and work
- The screwdrivers are awesome and have magnetic tips, so you don't have to dump your screws out.
Cons:
- Not compatible with the older 360 controllers.
- Shuts off when the menu button is pressed.
- Cannot turn on or off without a Play And Charge Kit
- Unable to connect to the console without a Play And Charge Kit
- Difficult to assemble
The packaging did not impress me, but was not terrible. No cool box, not super heavily padded, but nothing seemed to be damaged due to shipping.
Hopefully my review helped to educate you on your decision about purchasing this item. I don't look to persuade nor dissuade you from buying it, but in my personal experience I wish I'd have just gotten me a refund. | video-games_xbox |
What an amazing work of art. I'm 26. I've found that as I've grown older, I've developed a greater appreciation for video games, especially since I was around from the first nintendo onward. My favorite games are the final fantasy games, mega man games, and a couple obscure ones (anyone remember "Flashback" for the SNES?). Anyway, this is where I'm coming from.
Fallout 3 is fantastic. I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer and I don't generally go into games with expectations. With this in mind I began playing Fallout 3 and was/am simply blown away. I have only completed maybe a fifth of the main story, but have logged like 30-some hours. I really don't understand why some people write that it is too short and boring and whatnot. Say what you will about the games cap and ammo economy, but this is endlessly fascinating. I just spent about 3 hours just bumming around the Museum of Natural History for the GNR quest just checking out plaques, exploring, killing dudes, reading computer entries, etc. I can't believe the attention to detail that went into this game! Sure, the trash cans all look the same, and of course there are gonna be generic items and fixtures, but it's still exciting to explore and find ammo in that 'little room off to the left' or whatever.
Like all things in life, you get out of it what you put in. If you wish to race through this game in an attempt to consume one more title and say you've beaten one more game, go for it- but you will be missing the point of a Bethesda release. But, if you're like me, and don't really give a crap about beating the game (though I certainly plan to eventually), but just enjoy the action, suspense, adventure, graphics, story, depth, attention to detail, exploration, variety, etc, you will enjoy this title immensely.
By the way, I give it a 4 in fun because though this game is "fun," that word is a gross oversimplification of how I enjoy this game. If the question was "How much do you enjoy this game?" then I would have given it a 5. Fun just doesn't do justice to the suspense you feel in the dark tunnels, the boredom of crossing large expanses of territory, the satisfaction of a good headshot, or the sense of wonder at the shear scope of the game.
I hope this review encouraged someone to get this game. But, uh, do go out and get some exercise every now and again, huh? I'm a nurse and I've heard something about exercise being good for you or something :)
Jason (xbox live ID: Lefeverbeaver hit me up if you see me!) | video-games_xbox |
Most fun I've had on Xbox One to date. I've played all the previous DA full games and all the DLC - loved Origins and was disappointed in 2 - and replayed both games just prior to this one coming out to be sure all the key story points from those were fresh in my mind before delving into Inquisition. Also, it was a great way for me to remember exactly what I loved and hated about the prior games.
My view (because no game is perfect for everyone) is that Inquisition has rescued the DA franchise from imminent doom. It does a great job of bringing the game back to all the things I loved about Origins (depth of story, engaging characters, great voice talent - you'll recognize a few ME voices in here) while still keeping the few things I liked about 2 intact (more dynamic combat, Varric).
It's true that the graphics aren't quite Destiny and there are a few bugs, but it doesn't look any worse than Skyrim and keeps with the DA style (I wasn't expecting the level of Destiny, and all games have a few bugs on release - your expectations are really skewed if you think a game will play perfectly until the first patch is released. [I can't speak for the 360 - there may well be issues there, but for the One it's been smooth sailing with only one freeze in the 60+ hours I've played so far.]
I've had no issue with the gameplay mechanics - once you get used to the differences from the prior games it becomes second nature. Just give yourself a practice period to get used to them. You'll also want to use that practice period to get your character looking just right - I think anyone who's played so far knows that what looks okay on the creation screen can look ghastly in-game. Make sure you build something that isn't going to annoy you to look at for the 100+ hours you'll likely be putting into this.
I'd also strongly suggest visiting the DA Keep to set up your world tapestry if you've played the prior games. It only takes a few minutes to lock in the key choices/outcomes from your old games and they're easily imported into the game. I've tested it out and it makes a difference in your character interactions from the early hours of the game. It's also a nice bonus to run the video of Varric telling your particular story before jumping onto the console to play.
Another real bonus is that this game has the highest level of replay value I've seen on One to date. You could nerd out with this game for the next 12 months and still not have experienced all the different nuances of the story that come with the different race/gander/class combinations. Heaven help us all when DLC starts coming out!
All in all, I'd say if you're a fan of RPGs (and especially a fan of the DA universe), this is definitely a worthwhile purchase that will keep you engaged for months to come. | video-games_xbox |
Video game football revolution!...with a few shortcomings. First of all, if you play this game expecting to have a "god camera" like EA's Madden you're going to get yourself frustrated.
Pros:
+ Euphoria for football is incredible. I LOVE the non scripted randomness, non canned animations.
+ First football game I have played were I feel truly in control of my player on defense
+ Running and running controls are responsive, fun, great!
+ Right analog stick used for control is done excellent (except for passing)
+ Team customization is bar-none the best ever created (yes if you are willing to devote a lot of time you can recreate pretty much any NFL, college, HS, whatever team)
+ Just awesome Euphoria engine for football (ya...I'm repeating it, because it is that good)
+ Best kicking control and meter in a football video game. Kicking field goals is a fair and challenging.
Cons:
- The passing controls are good, but switching your targeted WR with right analog is too cumbersome
- You get sacked too quickly...in combo with in the inability to switch WR's quickly, this can cause some frustrating moments
- Lot's of interceptions. If you make a bad decision, you WILL pay for it with an interception. Which is fair, but unforgiving at times.
- No injuries, no fatigue (i.e. bench players are meaningless)
- AI can be too easy to beat
- Wind affects punting far too much. I've seen AI get like 10 yard punts into a 20 mph wind and AI is not smart enough to kick a line drive down the sideline.
- Bare bones presentation (no refs, no players on sidelines, no announcers (except the stadium intercom), limited replay camera angles)
Suggestions:
* They do provide alternate controls for passing, which do work better, but it changes the controls for other parts of the game which I like. Allow me to use buttons for passing and keep the rest of controls the same
* Add league depth. I know there is no NFL license, but need something to make the league come alive and players to have meaning.
Let's hope this isn't a ONE and DONE game...its a great foundation to build from and even with its flaws it is a very playable and fun experience as it is. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle Beach Made a Good Audio Adapter, but I'm not Sure it's Better Than the Original. If you're looking for an Xbox One audio adapter for the controller (v1), there are a couple of options. I have both versions of the Turtle Beach adapters: Original and Plus. I'll be comparing the two below.
UNBOXING: The Ear Force Plus comes in a small 4 x 3 x 1" box. It has a plastic insert that holds both a very short (~9") micro-usb cord, the adapter, and some Turtle Beach instructions. The adapter is 3 x 1 x .75". Overall the boxing is secure and minimal. However, it's substantially larger than the original's box (3.5 x 2 x 1"). The original only came with the adapter and the instructions.
REVIEW: Sound quality in the Pro vs the Original is indistinguishable for me. The Pro claims it has the Superhuman Hearing Mode (you can toggle it from the upper middle button, and it lights up when in use), which when activated makes everything louder, but no more clear than the original. Turning up the volume on the Original version seemed to make the same changes in audio as the Pro. The form factor on the Pro is almost exactly the same as the original, but appears to be more rounded and "fat" due to the lines compared to the Original. I like the Pro having a rubberized touch to the buttons, compared to the plastic ones in the Original. The Pro also has two extra buttons on the bottom, the mic preset and game preset. These are nice if you are that picky about what game has which presets. However, I didn't hear much of a difference when using the presets than not, and people at the other end of the game didn't say a thing about audio quality as I switched between them. One nice quality of the Pro is that the mute button doubles as a mic monitor (from low to high reception). That is not in the original.
OVERALL: If you don't have an audio adapter, this is a good one to have. The extra buttons and capabilities may actually be distinguishable to you to make you pay the extra $15 investment for it. However, I found that I really didn't go for the Pro when the Original was already in the controller. Usually, I only noticed when I had to switch the adapters out after recharging the controller. | video-games_xbox |
Highly recommend. Truly a great game so far. I didn't think I would like the new crafting system - I feared that it would make the game too grindy. It's been fine though as resources seem to be somewhat plentiful. Well as plentiful as they were in the previous tomb raider. There's just more things to be on the lookout for.
The game play send story is great. The graphics are awesome especially given that I'm playing on a 360 elite. It looks even better on the XBone and ps4.
Motions are fluid and controls are flawless. I haven't had a single problem so far.
I love the new stealth mechanics. In the previous one I feel like enemies spotted you much too easily, for example when approaching a c9rner it seemed that once you passed a trigger point, even hidden around the corner or a ledge, a lot of times it would trigger a response from enemies. I feel like they've done a great job adding cover to this version and rewarding hiding behind ledges and trees by not being seen. I'm glad they added that.
I also really like the skill selection in this one. The last one was cool but it lacked customization. You could pick when you wanted a certain skill but couldn't really hone a specialty anywhere. This one grants you that ability.
One thing I wish they'd figure out is a good multi-player experience. Maybe like a hunter vs hunted multi-player similar to how splinter cell Pandora tomorrow or blacklist did. - 1 star for no multi-player.
The expeditions seem neat but I haven't played them at all, I've been too engrossed in the story mode!!
Overall, highly recommend for anyone that likes action adventure or puzzle games (the puzzles are plentiful and are quite good) . It's not quite open world but the levels are a very good size and it's easy to feel like an open world style game since there are so many things you can do if you want to (extras to explore around for, hidden areas, etc.) | video-games_xbox |
I thought the fanboys were being hyperbolic, but...it really is disappointing. Man, what a disappointment this is. The campaign is alright so far (I'm an hour into it), but who buys these games for the campaigns in 2016? They're almost a sidenote. And even if that's the sole reason you're buying this game, so far there's nothing in the campaign that isn't derivative of previous titles, except for a brief mission piloting a space jet. (Admittedly fun, but not really anything groundbreaking.)
I actually loved the Black Ops III multiplayer (I was a total nerd and even Master Prestiged in it, I sunk way too many hours into that game), but the multiplayer here is just so poorly orchestrated. I'm not sure exactly what it is, something I can't quite put my finger on, but it's just off. I think Activision has always made the more "realistic" COD games and Treyarch did the futuristic cartoonish sci-fi angle quite well, but now it's like Activision is trying to keep up with Black Ops, so they carried over all the stuff from BO3 (rocket packs, wall runs, etc.) without any of the grace or fluidity. It just isn't a smooth experience.
It's highly frustrating because it's near-impossible to get any solid scorestreaks, the game constantly spawns enemies right behind you so that you're immediately flanked no matter what you do. I used to routinely go 30+ in BO3 with only a handful of deaths, and I struggle to even go positive at all with Infinite Warfare. The maps are muted, ugly, industrial, totally lacking in vibrancy or colors -- or fun, frankly. BO3 might have been too unrealistic and futuristic for some longtime COD fans but at least it was fun and colorful and imaginative. This game is dreary, muted, depressing.
I dunno, I'm really disappointed so far and I might not really bother continuing to give the multiplayer a chance. I've sunk 2 - 3 hours into it and I find no reason to continue. | video-games_xbox |
A sloppy, emotionless title with few redeeming factors. As the opening cutscene introduces you to Blinx the cat, the supporting cast and the particulars of his upcoming adventures, I found myself trying to wrap my brain around the basic premise of the story. The idea is that a secret, off-world clan of humanoid cat creatures, armed with souped up vacuum cleaners, are responsible for the development and dispersal of time itself to every known plane of existence on the map. It seems that time, when compressed tightly enough to be transported by said cats, takes the form of one of five different brightly-colored shapes. If these crystals are left out on the open for too long without being properly introduced to the flow of things, they turn into monsters. I could go on, because the game certainly doesn't stop there, but I think you get the point.
I like to think that there's a fairly thick line drawn between cartoony fantasy and super-detailed realism. Generally, a lot of the physics and environmental details are taken for granted in a realistic game, because they're almost exclusively set in a photorealistic, lifelike location. Cartoons, on the other hand, generally don't worry themselves with the particulars and are primarily concerned with delivering a good time. How much fun would the Wile E. Coyote cartoons be if every time the lead character suffered a grisly fate, it strictly obeyed the laws of gravity and aerodynamics? Blinx tries to straddle that thick line by delivering a story that's overly detail-centric in an environment that's right out of a kid's show. The result is a tale that comes off as way, WAY out of left field and almost completely abstract. It focuses on things that would be better left to the viewer's imagination and ignores the importance of a good underlying story along the way.
Beneath the needless discussions of why there are monsters in the world, how time compression works and how cats are actually responsible for all that we hold dear, the actual plot is almost laughably straightforward and generic. There's a princess, evil pigs have kidnapped her, and it's up to you and you only to rescue her and save her world. That's it, no side-stories, no reasoning, no subplots - just a straightforward rush from Point A to Point B. And here I thought the phrase "save the princess" was universally recognized as an ages-old cliche.
Now, I don't want it to sound like I'm railing on this game just because it's got a few more nitpicky details than its peers and it reuses an old phrase from way back in the platformer handbook as its sole driving factor. It's also completely lacking in character development, general storytelling and ongoing inspiration. None of the characters in Blinx really establish themselves as individuals, including the lead character himself. You don't hate the pig on the spaceship because he's trying to destroy the world, you hate him because every time he shows up he tries to steal your money. I honestly forgot there was a princess at the end of the game after level three, because she's never mentioned between the game's start and its finish. I mean, the very first Super Mario Brothers at least reminded you that the princess was in another castle at the end of every boss fight.
I don't honestly think the game was really designed to be enjoyable so much as it was geared to be overly challenging. The first level and a half are set up in the standard "get to know you" format, with the simplest of enemies, the most routine of stage layouts and plenty of opportunities to mess around with your tools. Shortly thereafter, you're thrown to the wolves. For the most part, the level designs are very short, with more of an emphasis on cheap hits than on complexity and true challenge. I noticed a lot of overlap in the stage layouts, whether it's retracing your steps time and time again or walking along a catwalk (har har) above the beginning of the stage and invariably plummeting back to the start point. You'll almost always know what needs to be done, but actually accomplishing that act is the real trick. I just can't overemphasize how unbearably cheap most of this game really is. If there's a bottomless pit nearby, (and chances are very good that there is) Blinx will find a way to force himself into it, regardless of what you're hitting on the control pad. If there's an enemy two feet in front of you and you hit the attack button, he'll aim at a random switch on the other side of the room, rather than the imminent threat.
That's not to say that the entirety of The Time Sweeper is totally without merit, because it does bring a few fresh ideas to the table, but for the most part those insights are hampered by their surroundings. The ability to control time, for instance, was at the time a really fresh, interesting new play mechanic and still stands out today, despite the limited field of imitators that have since emerged. You can rewind a few seconds to catch an enemy unaware or rebuild a crumbling bridge, pause the action and take advantage of the frozen time, knock the level into slow motion, etc. All the while, Blinx is moving around in real time. It's a great idea, but the implementation is painfully short and underutilized. Why can't I use two controls at the same time? Why don't more aspects of the stage encourage the player to experiment with and solve problems with these powers? Why doesn't the ridiculous ten minute stage time limit pause, speed up or rewind when I use my time powers? Why is their duration so brief, and why can't I hold more than a dozen uses at a time? I mean, this could've really been a fantastic experience if the time control aspect had been beefed up a little further and treated as more than just an auxiliary function of an otherwise run-of-the-mill platformer.
The controls, too, are an undeveloped, undertested nightmare. Blinx himself is often sluggish to respond, especially when implementing his time controls. He has difficulty making a precise turn, whether on midair or on solid ground. He stops to briefly celebrate when gaining an item, which leaves him open to constant enemy attacks. He routinely moves in the direction of certain death, as though pulled by a magnetic field, whether you've instructed him to do so or not. He'll occasionally refuse to perform a double jump, particularly when attempting a difficult, precise leap across a gaping chasm.
I think it's these controls that most make Blinx so mind-squashingly aggravating. At a glance, you'd imagine they'd be fairly difficult to screw up. You've got a jump button, a suction / fire button, a time control button and an analog stick to control movement. Plus, there had already been a long, established line of three-dimensional platformers on the market in the years before the title's release, paving the way to an ideal control experience. Super Mario 64 had its issues, sure, but nothing like this, and it was the trailblazer for the entire genre's jump to the world of 3D. It's like they had a map leading them right to the treasure and decided to forge their own path anyway.
I can't even say I'm impressed by the graphics showcased throughout The Time Sweeper, either. With the exception of the lead character himsef, these are some incredibly cheesy, preschoolish character designs - they feel unfinished and hurried, less purposeful than you'd imagine (especially in contrast with Blinx himself). Particularly insulting is the large population of simple blobs that roam around the levels, trying in vain to bump into you and cause a fatal injury. Here's a finely detailed main character, with such close attention paid to his wardrobe that even the gloss of his shoes was obviously debated time and time again, and he's pitted against a set of monsters that could've sprung to life directly out of the pages of a four-year-old's sketchbook.
Despite featuring a spoken dialog track, there's no English voice acting. I couldn't pinpoint the language, but my wife seems to think it's either French or some close variation of it. It certainly didn't sound Japanese. While this does add a touch of personality to the title, and it's not every day that you get a chance to hear a cat shouting something in the language of love, it all seemed really odd and out of place coming out of my television. Everyone's vocal personalities are so black-and-white, too, that I feel like a great chance to establish some much-needed individuality amongst the cast was lost once again here. The bad guys all have the same deep, gravelly, transparently evil tone, while the good guys are all bright, cheery, squeaky and high-pitched like the monkeys in Super Monkey Ball. It's like a parody of the games that had come before, but I won't give the developers enough credit to assume that they were doing it on purpose.
Overall, Blinx is really just a few promising concepts thrown together in one package, strapped to the shell of a far-below-average third person platformer and unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. At the time of its release, it was still in need of a lot of polishing, some serious scrutiny behind closed doors and a re-evaluation of just how far some of these concepts and half-hearted character designs could be conceivably stretched without losing any quality. On top of that, I really don't know which audience they were targeting with it. The game is ridiculously difficult, which betrays the childlike demeanor that surrounds it and leads me to believe it was meant for the serious gamers out there, but so bright, kid-friendly and annoyingly cutesy that I can't imagine anyone in that demographic rushing out to the stores on release day. The number of spontaneous controller hurls shot through the roof during my time with Blinx, reaching near-Marvel vs. Capcom 2 levels with its unashamed, excruciatingly cheap hits, especially in later levels. I have no idea how I acquired the willpower to finish level eight.
The game is adequately lengthy, and offers some replay value, with hidden cat medals in each stage eventually unlocking production sketches, promotional materials and the like. Once you start hunting for floating cat heads in those super-tough later levels, though, you'll remember why you were so happy to be finished with them in the first place. Unless you feel like pulling your hair out in clumps (I shaved my head after the experience as a part of the cleansing process) and enjoy self-mutilation, I'd recommend you stay far away. | video-games_xbox |
Great controller, a few problems. Edit: Skip this one.
Out of the box, this controller feels really smooth. It's not hard and textured like the actual 360 controllers.
It's a really smoothed out controller. It's shape is different from the original 360 controllers because it seems to be less bent in. Which kinda makes it more ideal for big hands.
The buttons, bumpers, and triggers all work well, just as well as the 360 controllers. Though the buttons will sometimes seem really loud, especially when I'm sitting here just pressing them for fun. During a game, it will be less noticeable.
One good thing about this is the D-Pad is much better! They feel like a Microsoft controller but more defined and pushable, you can press the diagonal buttons, and will be my main controller for when playing Street Fighter IV.
The coolest feature of all that everyone is amazed by is literally the cyborg module which allows the user to flip between the xbox layout or the playstation layout of the left hand. I found FPS games should use the original xbox controller. But when playing games such as Geometry Wars or Bomberman Arcade, flipping is better.
The controller is technically an Xbox 360 controller, which happens to come with drivers to make it and only it run on Windows. This means that Playstation 3 will not be able to use this controller as a generic controller. Neither can a Mac unless you edit the tattiebogle drivers.
Here are my downsides to it:
The analog sticks are not the best. They do fine when they're just being used to maneuver. The issue comes when using them as buttons. One of the first difficulties is that you cannot simply push down on the button while pointing in a direction. This was problematic when first playing CoD4 and not being able to run. However, I figured out that the key to using this was to push it down perpendicular to the position of the thumb. This means if you're pointing the stick up and you need to run, you'll need to push it down at an angle towards the down direction. This is because if you hold down on the joystick button and then push it to the maximums of the stick, the button will become "unpressed". So when you are running in CoD4 and need to push down the button, you'll have to pull it back a little bit. It takes a while to get used to.
One minor problem is that the cyborg module could sometimes not be pushed it all the way. Which causes the buttons to become unresponsive. Saitek did add two LED lights to indicate if you're securely in or not, which will let you know if you initially pushed it in far enoguh. Otherwise, the remedy is to just push the module in more and it should work fine. An annoying part of the module sometimes is the ability to rapidly change in game without any issue. However, when the module is removed, it will treat the analog stick as going towards the bottom left. This may bug some people, even though it usually only lasts a second for you to reverse the module and stick it back in tightly.
So overall, it's a great controller if you can handle the oddity of the analog sticks. The feel, the size, and the cyborg module is great enough that it makes the gamepad worth it. The cable is also really long and should not be a problem unless you have an issue with cables.
--EDIT--
After using the software, I've concluded that it is really indeed difficult to use and completely a turn-off. I suggest using software such as XPadder or Pinnacle Game Profiler if you plan on mapping any buttons.
The analog sticks are also grooved in a style similar to the original xbox. With the right analog stick having a smaller groove than the left one, this is of course subjective as some people may like it. It bugged me when playing Geometry Wars as the two analog sticks felt different. So if I could edit the rating, I may put it down to a 4. | video-games_xbox |
Boring and offensive. As far as console-based racing games go, the Forza line has been the best around. The series has not been perfect -- poor online gameplay for some entries in the series, limited selection of cars, and unrealistic AI car behavior -- but they have been semi-realistic and, most importantly, fun. Unfortunately, with Forza Horizon (FH), Turn 10 (it is Microsoft after all, so what do I expect, I guess) has tried to break into the arcade-based market that has been dominated by the Need For Speed and Midnight Club entries. Such games can be fun if you're not interested in anything approximating reality in terms of driving experience because you get to do things with cars that you would never be able to do in real life. However, FH does not fall into this category and is just plain dull.
The virtual world -- Colorado -- in which the game is set is beautifully rendered, and for about 45 minutes it is interesting to simply drive around. But the fun is short-lived. The "races" are either boring beyond compare, or are set up simply to frustrate the user by purposely putting civilian cars in the way at the most inopportune times or by having AI competitors get in front of you and purposely slow you down (this last aspect has always been a frustrating feature of the Forza line). (Note: I do not play online as there are waaaaaay too many kiddies who are simply interested in ruining online play.) It's always amazed me that Forza AI cars can be so easily passed, but once they have been, they seem to then be running NOS as they easily catch, pass, and then block you. FH is no different in this regard.
This "racing" game also pretty much plays on every possible cultural stereotype: all the women are nearly naked bimbos on display, all the young white males are gangsta' wannabes, and every African American talks like he's a gang member from Law and Order. You expect this in something as lowly as Grand Theft Auto, but in a racing game it's nothing but offensive (yeah OK, it's offensive in GTA too). I would not want a child to play this game for this reason.
Bottom line: this game may be worth a short-term rental, but don't buy it. | video-games_xbox |
Nice Graphics - a Few Flaws. Battlefield 2 - Modern Combat is a great arcade-style fast paced action game. Just be prepared for some odd graphic issues while you play.
The gameplay involves a squad of soldiers moving through a well laid out cityscape. You can see the dirt on the window panes, the signs along the road, the icicles on the rooflines. You play in various weather conditions and deal with fire, smoke, and other environmental distractions.
It's amazing that we have gotten so "spoiled" that we take all of that for granted, and can complain about small anomalies. For example, we found it greatly amusing that when you shoot a jeep, it blows into a million tiny shards and vanishes completely. We also laughed when you shot an enemy soldier and apparently your bullets are "bone-dissolving" because they collapse like a jello-creature.
Still, that hardly takes away from the real gameplay. Your squad each has different weapons and capabilities, and in an ability I found REALLY cool, you can instant-teleport from one to the other as long as you can establish a sight-line. It was like having cosmic vampiric abilities. Also, to add to replayability, there are a ton of special medals and bonus points you can get, for things like achieving the longest hot-swap, doing long jeep jumps, and destroying all of the road signs.
There is some strategy involved here. You can't just run down the road blasting and expect to survive. You have to take cover, move along carefully and take your shot when it's clear. That being said, you don't have the squad level of command that some other games feature. You can't get an overhead view and set your guys up in formation, planning things out at a "manager" level. Your guys have reasonably good AI and act as best they can. If you want one of them to do something in particular, you have to "take them over".
The soundtrack is reasonably good - it gives a underlying 'movie feel' to the game without really intruding on gameplay. The soldier chatter that goes on is on one hand done reasonably well, but on the other hand it gets tiresome after a while. I'd almost like the ability to toggle between 'chatty' comrades at the beginning of the game down to 'pensive and quiet' ones near the end of the game.
This game of course has an online component to it. It's funny how some people feel online is the "only way" to play a game - while thousands of other people don't have online connections and honestly don't want them. I've played a ton of online XBox games, but also love playing solo. In any case, if you WANT to play online, you have to make sure your net connection as tuned as possible. The game supports 24 simultaneous players so as you can imagine the potential for lag is incredible. Find players that have top notch connections and make sure yours is as high speed as possible as well.
Well recommended! | video-games_xbox |
Disappointing sequel. I'm glad I didn't buy this game the day it came out. I would've wasted $60. When I saw a used copy available through Amazon for only $13 + free shipping, I figured I might as well give it a try.
The campaign is unmemorable. This is the only installment in the franchise that I have yet to revisit the single player upon completing it on Legendary. I do so with the previous Halo games made by Bungie and still replay them to this day. I find the level-design in Halo 4 to be quite poor. There are only two missions in particular that I enjoy. The rest follow the same linear format of, "run here, press this button. Run over there, press another button."
I, unlike the majority of the fans on here, find the relationship between the Chief and Cortana rather stale. It's another cliche rendition of a machine falling in love with a human. I understand that it was necessary for 343i to detail her rampancy for the sake of the plot, but I wish they had done so differently. There are times when she's sad, irritable, and stressed, and there are other occasions when when she's happy and humorous; she's a lot like a woman who's experiencing premenstrual syndrome. Some of the dialogues between Cortana and John were quite sappy and cheesy. Examples:
Cortana: *goes AI crazy* THEY REPLACED YOU! Sorry!
Chief: It's okay.
Cortana: How? How is that okay? How is me putting you at risk because I can't keep it together okay?
At the end of the game:
Cortana: *touches Chief on the chest* sigh..I've been waiting so long to do that...
The multiplayer is fun, but it doesn't feel like Halo; it's the bastard child of Call of Duty and Halo. I also dislike the game's ranking system (SR1-130 in contrast to Halo: Reach's military-like ranks). But most of all, I hate the new armor permutation. 90% of the helmets are grotesque. The Spartan-IV's look like cheap action figures. I prefer the gritty look of the Spartan-III in Halo: Reach. | video-games_xbox |
Multiplayer spoiled by severe (intentional?) lag. Compared to the earlier MWs, which were great games, the COD series has become bogged down by more and more gimmicky bells and whistles in an attempt to generate continued sales. Whereas the previous MWs played somewhat like real war sims, AW multiplayer plays more like a sci-fi arcade game, with combat that's totally unrealistic. The maps have far too many pathways and the enclosed spaces too many entries/exits, which when combined with the exo suit "verticality", makes getting shot in the back by newbies every few seconds completely unavoidable, even for skilled players. Skill is now less of a factor, and random luck plays more into one's results. At first, I hated multiplayer, but once I figured out that for this game, the only weapons that make sense are AR's and SMG's, I did much better. Forget about LMG's, snipers, shotguns or pistols if you want to have a decent KD ratio. It's also a good idea to spend some time in the practice area practicing your exo moves before going into live MP. While the old MWs were fun to play for hours on end, IMO this game is too frustrating to play for long sessions.
The biggest problem, however, is the crappy lag compensation system, which seems to unfairly penalize or favor players (see demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reNPK8XD-k4) randomly and possibly by Activision's failure to use dedicated servers, as they said they would. While prior versions might have had a little lag, it's much worse in AW. It can be mitigated to a degree by the using the quick draw grip on weapons that already have good handling ratings and by using upgraded weapons with increased damage, after leveling up. Activision might have had this lag programmed into the game deliberately for business/financial reasons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7CTGY16m3I). In any case, they've announced an upcoming patch, but I'd hold off on buying this game until this issue is confirmed to have been fixed.
Update 10/14/14: The lag seems to be a little better after installing the patch that just came out. I'd say it's now about the same as BOII...still noticeable, but probably as good as it's going to get with the P2P server setup they use. | video-games_xbox |
Dragon Age Returns. I know that a lot of people were disapointed with Dragon Age II when it came out. Many said that the fighting style was terrible, everything was incredibly easy, and that there weren't very many areas. Being a fan of Dragon Age Origins, I decided to buy DA II anyways.
I'm only halfway through act II of the game, and overall, it rocks. While the fighting style is very different, I definetly don't think that it's for the worse. Two great pluses are that the miss factor is gone, (for both you and your enemies) and friendly fire is no longer possible; meaning that now you can use spells like blizzard and inferno without killing your party. The character appearance editor is also awesome, and the only complaint that I have there is that I wish that they could have had a few more hairstyles.
The storyline is also amazing. It's captivating, exciting, and full of energy. The narration by Varric is a really nice touch, and no worries; your party members talking to each other is still in there, and I have to say that some of the conversations are pretty hilarious. Speaking of the party, another fighting plus that I forgot to mention above is that you don't have to pause as much. Back in Dragon Age Origins, in almost every battle, you had to pause every few seconds to make sure that everyone stayed alive and got healed and targeted the right healer. In DA II, they fixed this. You character and all of your friends are much more heroic that the ones in Dragon Age Origins, being able to fight a great many more foes than even your whole party could take in Dragon Age Origins. You can literally take on a hundred darkspawn and come out of it unscathed on normal, so long as you have a healer and/or some potions. But, if you prefer a harder challenge with lots of pauses, just turn the difficulty up.
So, overall, great game, only one or two small complaints, and I recommed this for anyone who is looking for an epic RPG. | video-games_xbox |
Superman The Man Of Steel. I have this game on xbox. It's ok but it could have been better. In this game Superman must save buildings,put out fires,destroy robots etc. There are a couple of the supervillians in this game but they are almost impossible to destroy. This game should be rented first. Here is some pros and cons of this game.
Pros
1)Once you finish the game you get different costumes for Superman. My favorite is the black costume without the cape.
2)Since this is on xbox it allows you to use your own music if you want to. You just burn the music you want to play to your xbox harddrive and then choose from the games music or yours. I chose the Superman Theme done by Mantovani. The game of course has it's own music but the Superman Theme is more fitting.
3)Free Flight once the game is finished you can fly around any of the levels in the game you choose without enemies even is space.
4)All Levels Open once the game is completed.
5)Great graphics. Metropilios is a beautiful city in this game.
Cons
1)No free roam of course this game was made before free roam was available.
2)Super Villins are very hard to fight.
3)Some missions are timed and difficult to complete.
4)No missions were Supes get to fight just plain thugs and rescue damsils in distress.
Here is a list of weapons and gadgets Supes has at his disposil.
1)Ice Breath
2)Heat Vision Laser
3)A device to see thru buildings and detect bombs.
This Superman game is not the greatest but it is ok. Currently EA is working on a Superman Returns game that will be out in the Summer of 2006 when the movie comes out. I've read it will be free roam and destructible meaning Supes can destroy anything in the game like the upcoming Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Hopefully they will also have Supes battling super villins and also normal thugs. I would also like to see all of Supes other costumes once the story mode is completed and a bonus mission were Supes fights other superheros like Hulk,Batman,Spiderman,etc and also allows you to play as the other heros if you want and battle Supes like Revenge of the Sith does with the jedis. Superman Returns is looking to be a great Superman Game. | video-games_xbox |
Authentic golf isn't doesnt equal a fun video game. I bought this game about 2 months ago since I have not owned a Tiger Woods game since 2007 and I wanted a more realistic golf game to go along with Hot Shots Golf. After owning it for this long I wish I would've used my $60 on some other games.
PROS:
- Course graphics are improved
- New added power system allows you to ask for more power instead of tapping a button to power up
- Offline Multiplayer is still fun
- Large number of courses
- Enjoy playing from late 1800s to present day
- Updated gear
- Has decent number of legends
CONS:
- No enthusiasm from commentator
- Commentator is silent for long periods of time
- Crowd reaction lacks major diversity and involves 2 reactions
--- 1) No reaction due to bad shot
--- 2) Light clapping and cheering when you have a ball land in the fairway (It is never different)
- Menu is somewhat difficult to navigate when first starting out
- Swing customization only involves hitting high or low and playing a draw or fade....
--- Why cant I choose a crazy swing?
--- Why cant I customize it like Tiger 07 where you can change hand position and much more?
- Players all have the same animation after shots from what I've seen
- Crappy job with character realism (Tiger Woods is much too skinny and looks like he is 50 years old!)
- Turn down your volume if you want to view a replay because they try to blow your speakers out
--- Example: When playing back around 1900 EA gives you this cool old school projection screen, but since your volume is turned up due to the game being so quiet there is an extremely loud bing sound that will wake everyone in your home up
- In game music sucks and you cannot use your own
- Why does this game not have great modern golfers? Phil Mickelson? Jim Furyk? Jason Dufner? Vijay Singh? Come On EA!!!
- Follow up to the last point there are only TWO new PGA golfers...TWO!!!?!!?!
- New putting meter is fairly tough to use, but you get used to it (Just aim normally, if its uphill just put it nearly full, if you're going downhill put it up to where it meets the red)
In my opinion just buy an older version of this game, especially if you're like me and don't play online. The older ones were more cartoonish, but they were upbeat and entertaining, and you might be able to buy another game with the money saved.
If you don't want a Tiger Woods game seriously consider Hot Shots Golf since you can get most versions for under $20 new nowadays. | video-games_xbox |
Great game, but a little disappointed at the same time. Fallout 4 is one of my favorite games of 2015, however, I felt like it was over hyped, the product I got did not really impress me. If you are wondering, I have spent 2 days and 15+ hours, so I say I hav seen what there is to see.
Pros:
-great RPG, gameplay flows nicely
-good story. Better than skyrim's in my opinion.
-excellent character design.
-great amount of quests
-settlements. Really fun way to pass time.
-companions are improved, and feel like they are an actual person, not just a person that hauls your loot around.
-locations. I won't spoil anything, but there are definitely some fun places to explore.
-choice. When it comes to story, choice is everything. From how you choose to play to how you act towards other characters, it can influence the outcome. (Not going to spoil anything)
-skill tree feels more improved, and you can choose whatever you please, unlike skyrim's system.
Cons:
-feels same old same old. Doesn't have the exciting atmosphere like Skyrim's did.
-building in settlements can be frustrating, especially when something decides it can't be placed where you wanted to place it.
-Preston Garvey (jk)
-enemy's are bland. Not many so far, mostly synths and ghouls and mutants.
-Many glitches. Still needs some touch up work done.
-after you hit the level 20 mark, you start to question what to do. Quests seem to be harder to find (besides Preston's).
- grinding to get materials, this could be a pro for some, but in my book, gets very repetitive.
So should you still get the game? Absolutely. Bethesda makes great games, and this is no exception. If Bethesda holds their promise about bringing mods to consoles, a lot of these cons could be fixed, an could add a lot more to the game. As far as the season pass goes, play the game first before you make a decision.
Fallout 4 definitely has the potential to get better with the modding community, and with official patches. I recommend you watch a couple of videos on YouTube to determine if it is for you or not. 7.5/10 from me personally. | video-games_xbox |
Must Own Launch Title. If you haven't picked up Kameo yet but you enjoy games that are a complete blast to play, you are sorely missing out. The game isn't marketed very well; it looks kiddish and cute. And, to an extent, it is "cute." But if you can shrug off the fact that you are playing a female fairy, you will find this game to be an utter blast for the whole family.
Kameo is a graphical powerhouse for Xbox 360. It looks stunning. There are times when I started playing and would just stare at the environment in wonder. The opening level is absolutely stunning. Hundreds of red dragons arc through the sky, trolls are climbing up huge castle parapets, fire explodes everywhere, and here you are climbing up a frozen ledge. This level teaches you the basics of changing into your forms. And this is what the game is all about. There are 10 elemental warriors you can morph into. In fact, you will hardly ever play as "Kameo" but you spend most of your time as the other huge creatures you can transform into with the push of a button.
This transforming takes up the majority of the gameplay. There are puzzles and enemies that will require one or more of your warriors to solve/beat. As an example, in the first level you have access to an armadillo-type creature that can roll and a yeti-type creature that can climb surfaces. One puzzle involved turning into the armadillo, speeding up off a ramp, transforming to the yeti in mid-air and then climbing up a wall with him. That is a rather simple puzzle but is a good example of the type of gameplay found within.
Enemies will sometimes require a specific character(s) to beat as well. An early instance of this are trolls who have shield in front of them. You can use Rubble's lob ability to toss a rock behind the enemy and as the rock rolls back to you, it will hit the enemy from behind and allow you to pummel him.
I've already touched on the graphics, but I want to again reiterate that they are terrific. They easily show what the 360 can do, sometimes with 100s of trolls, elves, dragons and "tanks" on the screen at one time, real time, with Kameo charging through the midst on horseback. Stunning. And not even a hint of lag.
The sound is well done, as well. The voices are decent, the sound effects are great and the music in the background is stunningly beautiful.
Kameo is about a 10 or so hour game, give or take. But it is incredibly fun and can be enjoyed by almost any gamer, regardless of age. I would definitely recommend picking this one up. | video-games_xbox |
Fun for fans and non-fans of the show alike. It should be noted that Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the game based on the wildly successful TV series of the same name, is definitely not a hack-and-slash. Simply mashing buttons won't get you very far in the game, and you won't want to be mashing buttons.
The wonderful thing about Buffy is that there are so many ways to kill your enemies. From pointy sticks sticking out from the wall or exploding barrels, the game succeeds in not becoming too repetitive, as in kick kick, punch punch, stake in the heart. Once you discover the many ways of slaying the vampires, you'll want to pause and look around for the different hazards you can throw your unfortunate enemies into.
The controls are very easy to learn, with a minor gripe being that the control to open doors or to pick up and activate objects is the same button used to drive whatever weapon in your hand through the vampire.
It should also be noted that you won't just be toting a stake. At different points in the game, you'll find spears, shovels, brooms and other assorted goodies that add variety, a common theme in the game.
The graphics are standard fare, there's nothing that special to speak of in the game, except for the character models, which look quite good. It looks as good as any other platform action game would, and it's hard to complain about it. The environments are somewhat interactive, but can get bland after awhile.
The voice acting might be a big draw here for some people. Sarah Michelle Gellar is the only main character who didn't lend their voice to the game, as the voices of Xander, Angel, Spike, Giles, Cordelia and Willow are all here. The actress replacing Buffy's voice is a very close match to the real thing. Unfortunately, during the game you will tire of her repetitive sayings, such as "Oh, go kiss daylight." Also, the vampires themselves will get very repetitive with their words, though they begin to vary as you advance further in the game.
The camera is a little spotty in some parts, such as enclosed rooms at the end of a hallway. However, the camera tries its best to give you the entire view.
All in all, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is definitely worth a rental, and is good for some wholesome single-player fun. Certainly not a classic for years to come, but definitely a worthy game for the TV series. | video-games_xbox |
Good Value Bundle. XBOX 360 E 250GB HDD capacity holiday value bundle reviewed here is excellent value rather than buying XBOX 360 alone because this bundle features two best-selling and critically acclaimed games <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-4-Xbox-360/dp/B0050SYX8W/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo 4 - Xbox 360</a> which comes in disc format; and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tomb-Raider-Xbox-360-GAME/dp/B00BP5EJFQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tomb Raider Xbox 360 GAME</a>, which comes in the form of a download code and instructions to redeem using Xbox Live account all in all totaling about $50 dollar value give or take.
Apart from the games, Two basic needed accessories are included in the bundle which are a <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-360-Wireless-Controller/dp/B003ZSP0WW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox 360 Wireless Controller</a> and a <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-360-Headset/dp/B003OAE79S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox 360 Headset</a> which is very cheaply made. The bundle also includes all required cables to get the unit working right out of the box - this includes a power brick (Literally) AC power cord and composite A/V cables. Unfortunately, a <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/High-Speed-HDMI-Cable/dp/B003L1ZYYM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">High-Speed HDMI Cable</a> is *NOT* included and you will have to purchase that separately. HDMI cables are must if you want to play games in high definition connected to your big screen TV.
This XBOX 360 E model is the quietest XBOX I have come across and works very well. Setting up this XBOX 360 was very easy. XBOX 360 has wired as well as Wi-Fi interfaces, I could setup a Wi-Fi network in no time and signed into my Microsoft account and up and playing games in under 10 mins. XBOX 360 will download and update patches once you connect to network. In this bundle you do get one month free of Xbox Live Gold membership. The Gold membership allows you to do online multiplayer and connect with your friends and access to online streaming media services. I do not wish to use this gaming console for streaming media services so I never found the XBOX Live Gold membership useful. Having said, You can get most of the online playable demos via regular Microsoft live account and if you do like a demo game you can get it directly from Microsoft marketplace store.
XBOX does have a CD/DVD drive and games can be played directly off the DVD drive. But I prefer buying games online and saving it to the 250GB HDD rather than having a physical DVD which is not only slow but noisy & can easily get scratched. Buying a game online gives you instant access to various games on demand and never have to move from your couch to switch game discs.
Overall a good value bundle for what's worth. I am rating this with 4 stars! | video-games_xbox |
CAUTION** only for gamers who own HDTVs. this game could have been so much more than it is. It's really a shame that some simple issues that should've been addressed in testing, managed to ruin this game.
I just want to make it clear to people who own standard definition tvs (which is most of us), you've been alientaed by capcom and they have no interest in meeting your standards. The text is so small and blurry that its impossible to read on a sdtv. the game is optimised for hdtv, and capcom has no plans on releaseing a patch to address the issue. the text is a big part of the game. the text tells you where to go, what to do, what to expect and just gives you usefull information. if you have a sdtv, you will not be able to read the text and will just wander around aimlessly with no idea where to go or what to do. I beat the game, but i missed out on a lot of extras simply because i cant read the text. everytime someone talks to you, you're gonna have no idea whats being said.
its also impossible to unlock certain achievements, such as saving all survivors. since you cant read the text, you don't know what survivors to go for and which to ignore cause youve already saved them.
i just want buyers to know that theres a good chance you're gonna miss out on a lot of the story and extras, and its gonna cause you a great deal of stress and many headaches cause you cant fully enjoy the game because of the text.
the text is my main complaint, but the game is also filled with tons of load screens, literally load screens every 2 minutes. terrible ai. the survivors will constantly walk into crowds of zombies after youve just cleared a path. the game also lacks in game modes, its missing what everyone really wants, which is a free play mode. i just wanna run around and kill zombies and explore, theres a ton to explore but the game always pressures you with a constricting time limit.
Rent it, borrow it but i highly suggest that you don't pay full price for this game, especially if you have a sdtv cause for those of us who have sdtv, its an unfinished game. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME AT FULL PRICE!!! youve been warned. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle Beach Ear Force Elite 800X - Solid. I bought this headset a couple of weeks ago. I have owned many TB headsets and had been using the 500x stealth headset prior to getting the 800x's. I will say that TB hypes this as the 'first' completely wireless headset for the Xbox one and that is only partially true. The 500x stealth's are 'wireless' and no adapter is needed. You do have to plug/wire them in to charge them. The 800x do not require you to plug/wire them to the headset and uses the very cool cradle magnetic charging station. This feature alone was a selling point for me as I hate having to remember to plug that tiny plug in to the headset. It is SO convenient and easy now to just set the headset on the cradle and it charges (quickly too and have not had it run out of juice while gaming as of yet).
For the active voice to work - you 'MUST' turn 'OFF' the noise cancellation. I have had no complaints from anyone about my voice in chat. I regularly chat with buddies on Xbox live and no complaints. (the noise cancellation off makes sense as if you were really wanting to take advantage of noise cancellation you would likely 'not' be trying to talk to someone lol).
I also take calls via Bluetooth with this headset and it works great. I will say however that I would like them to boost the active voice so I can hear more of myself when chatting.
As far as audio quality this headset is fantastic. Great pre-sets and the ability to change them with the TB software. I mostly play Battlefield 4 and Battlefield Hardline at the moment. If you update your pre-sets there is a pre-set for Hardline. I also play COD and there is a pre-set for Advanced Warfare as well. I previously owned a set of TB Deltas (loved this headset) the software previously allowed users to create their own pre-sets - that does not seem to be the case anymore unless I am missing something. The other feature that I loved on my Deltas was the voice morphing feature this feature also appears to be eliminated from the next gen console headsets from TB. The voice morph isn't a huge deal, I just had a great time messing with people with it lol. Though I must also point out that while my Deltas could do Bluetooth via an adapter that plugged to the Xbox controller the 800x's do not use an adapter as the Bluetooth is built in (much better).
The headset is super easy to get set up and very easy to update - but remember you have to plug in the base AND the headset to update/use the TB software - that's why there are 2 micro usb cables included.
I love that I don't have to plug these in and can just set them in the cradle to charge. I find this headset to be very comfortable. It took a couple days to get used to no mic boom but love that I don't have that thing in my face all the time now.
Someone else had complained that the buttons are too sensitive on the side plates. I have not personally had any problems with the buttons being too sensitive.
This headset is expensive but you get a lot for the investment. Included with this headset is a free t-shirt/or sweatshirt and 2 sets of replacement custom side-plates which you are prompted to select when you register the headset at the TB website. I am interested to see how long it will take for my shipment to arrive. I ordered the sweatshirt option. Oh and there was 'no charge' for this - delivery FREE. These are simply extras which I estimate to be at least $60 in value ($40 sweatshirt 10 a piece for the plates/covers). You also get 2 years of warranty coverage (rather than one).
Geesh TB should be giving me a kickback for this review. :) I want to be sure to say I am in no way sponsored or affiliated with TB (at the moment anyway lol - Call me TB!!!!).
Overall this is a solid headset! If you have the cash.. Go for it! | video-games_xbox |
More Halo. Halo Reach is lauded as the best Halo of the series by critics and fans alike. I'd have to disagree with that statement, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is still an excellent title and a must have for any Halo fan. I won't go into extreme detail but instead assume that people are familiar with this title to a degree.
The single player campaign isn't really anything new. While you do get to mess around with some fun new powers that change the dynamic slightly, it's really a lot more of the same. The finale is also a bit anticlimactic and not as inspired as you would hope the crown jewel of the Halo series to be. That being said having Co-Op mode scale in difficulty as you add players is an excellent feature, and can lead to some very challenging gameplay.
The multiplayer is the reason most people shell out 60 bucks to grab the title, and while it delivers a similar caliber of action and replayability as the previous titles, it comes out a little shorter than you would hope. One big beef I have is the amount of maps that come with the game. Not including playlist specific maps (such as firefight) there are only 7 maps for regular team slayer and rumble pit game types. It seems like Bungie could have given us a bit more to work with for 60 bucks, and they are releasing a map pack soon with 3 new maps, but you'll have to pay 10 dollars for it. Another aspect lacking in the multiplayer is the game types presented in basic slayer playlists. All too often will you end up playing Zombies, SWAT, or Elite Slayer when you're in Team Slayer or Rumble Pit. This might not be a bother to some but for those who enjoy the default game type more than the silly variants it can be very frustrating, seeing as how it would be easy for them to introduce a playlist for these variants rather than pollute the primary ones. This caveat is slightly offset by the fact that you can now vote for 3 different Game and map variants at the matchmaking screen once all player slots are filled (and vote for a second round of voting too if none are acceptable). However Bungie doesn't take full advantage of this fact and the voting is plagued with the variants mentioned earlier, often with no regular Slayer type to choose from among them. Some players will argue that the forge makes up for the lack of maps but any content you design is strictly for custom games and there is no playlist to support user driven content at all.
Overall the game is more worth your money than ODST was (which was fun but lacked depth of content), but not as great a game overall as Halo 3. It has a lot of potential to grow however if they address the playlist issues and provide more maps (for free). | video-games_xbox |
Must-have for Dragon Age fans. Still fell short of Origins. Disclosure: I preordered and received the game on launch day. I don't use the included codes for Flames of Inquisition OP weapons. I play the game as it is intended and I explore every map to find everything, complete every mission, hunt every animal, and gather every resource I see. I've already gave away my code so don't ask.
Overview
Inquisition brought back some of the elements of Origins, the first Dragon Age. You can choose every race and customize it down to the details. You still have the 4 character teams. You still get the same variety of classes. There is a new race called the giants which give you a physical defense boost. The major difference between this game and Origins is that you start at the same place regardless of what race you choose. Throughout the game, you'll see familiar faces from the previous 2 games. I was surprised to see Morigan back.
The first annoying thing I noticed is a patch was needed. Come on EA?!? I'm quite disappointed that EA knows the game is broken but shipped it anyways. Usually, first day patch means an unpolished game. But to my surprise, the game had crashed only once. I have not noticed any glitches or bugs that would ruin the experience. Overall, it was smooth.
HELPFUL HINTS/INFO:
1. Always have a rogue and a mage in your party. Only rogues can unlock certain doors. Mages can light up certain light fixtures. Mages are also needed in some mission where they had to melt things(trying not to give a spoiler)
2. Use your Inquisition points to research Deft Hands(under Secrets tab) first because you'll need it. This will open a lot of locked places in many maps. This is the only way you can get in. I didn't and now I have to go back to a lot of maps just to see what's inside.
3. If you craft your own armor/weapons, it is usually worthless when you sell it. You'll get like 6 gold even if it's high stats.
4. Make sure you unmodify the armor/weapons before you sell it. You'll get more gold sell it as separate pieces than together. A lot of time, I want to keep some good mod pieces.
5. Read abilities and use them well especially the archers' abilities. Long shot with lance should be used when enemies are aligned and you're at least 15 meters away with height advantage and poison activated. I always try to lure the enemy together towards my tank, then shoot an explosive arrow in there with poison. Explosive arrows gets massive damage bonus the more enemies in its AoE. When fighting large hard hitting enemies, use caltraps and ice magic, then keep backing up in a circular motion and you'll take no damage. Use Full Draw ability of the archer to take out low HP range attackers or put a large target to sleep so you can get a back stab. Give your party the hold position command, then sneak in with your rogue and back stab ranged attackers.
6. Dragons and giants give some very high level and rare items. It's not hard to take them down because they easy to see attack patterns. I always have my tank, Cassandra, do dispel and team buff abilities. She doesn't have much offensive abilities. In her AI for tactics, I have abilities such as war cry, taunt, dispel, etc... as preferred.
7. Disable the super abilities like ,Inquisitor's Rift, so the AI doesn't use it improperly. The AI will use your super abilities on a Halla or some random time in a small fight and you won't have it when you need it most. If you're the type to choreograph every move and freeze frame all the time, then it doesn't matter. I only freeze frame at the start of a big fight to coordinate preemptive strikes on range attackers. AI is pretty dumb when it comes to dodging the Dragons' magic attacks too. In fact, they don't dodge anything.
8. Save Save Save, don't depend on autosave. After you customize, SAVE! The game will throw you a bone with it comes to autosave sometimes. It works great most of the time but I do find myself wishing I saved more often especially after spending an hour customizing abilities, AI, armor/weapons, crafting, etc...
9. You can increase your inventory space by using your Inquisition points. You'll probably want to do sooner rather than later.
10. Don't try to save a few seconds and not pick up resources like elf roots, iron, dawnstones, etc... You'll will be regretting it at the crafting, potions, upgrade, and inquisition supply requisition tables. Even if you don't use it, you can sell it. If you need more Power Points, then fulfill requisition requests. Those are the 2 places to dump excess supplies. But ALWAYS pick up resources if you can see it.
WHAT I LIKE:
1. The story is very detailed and fantastic overall. You can unlock more dialogues in Inquisition Perks if you choose to put your points there. I have the XB1 version and sometimes i wish more characters can talk or there's more side missions. I know there is a massive difference in the amount of dialogues and missions between the PC version and the XB360 version for Origins. So far, I've been able to complete all side missions easily.
2. CRAFTING CRAFTING CRAFTING! Probably the best mechanics in this game is crafting. I kind of ignored hunting and collecting resources at first until I realized how good the crafting system is. Now I spend a lot of time hunting high tier animals, gathering metals and cloths. Add runes to that and it's awesome. My bow for Sera has boosted her dexterity by +25, +9% attack, + 6% critical chance, a chance to drop caltrops, and has an ice rune on it. Basically, the enemy explodes into ice cubes when they're killed. I also have the poison abilities and follow up abilities that made the enemies blow up into a poison cloud as well. So there you go, exploding ice cubes combusting with a donut shaped toxic cloud.
3. The 3rd person individual view is better. It feels more polished. In the previous versions, I feel like the characters just kind of glide around like they weren't part of the map. While the characters doesn't glide as much anymore, the horses and other rides do. It feels like I'm ice skating sometimes.
4. Auto aim/engage works pretty good overall. I play an elf rogue archer so that's important. So far, the system is pretty competent.
5. AI seems to be vastly improved over older version. In the previous Dragon Age, especially Origins, I find my character doing nothing but take hits a lot. That's because the AI had very specific parameters for activation. You have to do a lot of micromanagement. I feel a lot more confident leaving the AI to do its thing in a fight while I just worry about my archer. In previous games, I used to have to time freeze and constantly micromanage. Most of the, I would be in top view. In Inquisition, I find myself in 3rd person view most of the time.
6. You seem to be able to carry more stuff now.
7. Pick up item highlights are make it easy to spot things. Pushing the left stick down sends a wave to detect all objects that you can interact with. That feature is very helpful.
8. You can use your previous Dragon Age's world state to continue your quest in this one.
WHAT I DON'T LIKE:
1. Graphics is massively improved but still average at best compared to other AAA games. I believe they can make it better but they probably spent more time on gameplay, story and voice acting. There are a ton of dialogues and side stories. You can finish this game very quickly but I choose to explore every bit of content that I paid $60 for.
2. EA keeps selling the fact that every single decision you make can/will affect your game. I will tell you right now that most doesn't. They are right it does have some effects. Most of these effects being approvals/disapprovals from other characters. The majority of the time, it does not even affect approval ratings.
3. Choosing different race only changes your character, not where the story begins/ends.
4. If you are the explorer type who will navigate through every inch of the map, jump on every rock and search for every resource/drops/hidden treasures possible, then you may be put off by a lot of bugs. I get stuck a lot but I find it amusing most of the time. Sometimes, I find some really good stuff that are hidden in places most people wouldn't look. The good news is that you have 4 characters in a team. Just switch if you're stuck. Be prepared to see your characters stuck in a wall/rock, standing on air, slipping on an invisible surface, etc...
5. I definitely hate the flames of inquisition arsenal/armor/unicorn/etc...I hate to say this but having all that extra stuff is like pay to win type of games. These armor, weapons and steeds are very powerful and pretty much made it easier to play. I have the bonus stuff but I won't use it until near the end where I will try it out for kicks. This is just my opinion. Crafting in the game makes it very fun so I don't see the point of paying extra for OP weapons.
Conclusion:
If you like the Dragon Age series, this is a must have. Don't get the OP flames of inquisition armor/weapons/etc... Part of the game mechanics is looting for weapons and armor, crafting, runes,etc...
Why only 4 stars? because character choices have little effects on story and choices made during the game have little effects as well. This is as far as I can tell. If things materialize differently later, i will update.
Update 11/20/2014
Starting to see a lot of weird things as I progressed further and get more abilities.
1. Riding a horse is like gliding. If you ride really fast towards a rock, object, or any terrain and get off it, you will sometimes see the horse standing vertical like there's an invisible wall that has its own gravity. It happened a few times especially where you originally pick up the horse at the farm.
2. Horse seems to have titanium legs. I would make suicidal jumps and no damage. It also sometimes ignore some terrain like it wasn't even there. I went through a giant fallen tree on the river without even jumping.
3. The archer's special ability to jump and shoot 12 arrows while in the air is sometimes buggy. If you are near some particular terrain, he will jump backwards at warp speed and send you flying across the map while your team gets slaughtered.
4. It seems like the AI is not smart enough to know when terrain or objects are blocking the projectile of the mage and archer. Those ranged character will keep shooting even though it doesn't hit the enemy.
5. The A button is used for both jump and interact. Sometimes it is frustrating.
6. The button configuration gets me frustrated sometimes. I'm not sure exactly why yet as I found Dragon Age Origins on the XB360 to have the perfect configuration. There's something off about Inquisition but I don't feel like firing up the old 360 to figure it out.
7. Sometimes certain commands does not work. This is not about condition as I've tested in both combat and non-combat scenarios. I noticed once every hour or so, something stopped working. Most of the time it's minor issues but sometimes, it will be the a menu. Like the quick menu for items when you old down the LB shoulder button. The menu appears but you cannot select anything. Couldn't call my horse and it was a bummer to have to go on foot across the map. Then sometimes other weird things happen like you cannot change character by pressing down/up on the D-pad. Needless to say it is easily fixed by quitting and restarting the game. This can be annoying if the function you need suddenly stopped working during a big battle where you can't just save and come back.
Update 11/26/2014
I've sinked in probably 25+ hours or so into this game and I have to say it is very engaging. The story is slow at first but everything gets better after you unlocked everything. In Haven, you're limited to certain things. Once you get Skyhold, you can customize your castle. I don't think it has much impact on the game story wise as it does resource wise. You can customize your gardens to grow herbs, bring in certain merchants, select each banner, etc...
Now that I can craft runes, my weapons are that much better :). Finding schematics can sometimes be a bore. Buying schematics is cheap at first but prices becomes ridiculous once you get to around level 17+.
Update 12/1/2014
The resume feature for the xbox one even if you turned it off. It will resume like you never turned it off. It will work 100% of the time if you are signed in before you resume. I made the mistake of not signing in before I resume and I get thrown back to the main menu. | video-games_xbox |
Only fun if you are PRO. First of all, I'm a pretty good COD player. I prestiged 4 times in the first Black Ops and almost made it a fifth time. I also had a K/D ratio of .90 so I know how to play Black Ops. I was really excited for this game but when I got it, it was immediately way faster paced than Black Ops. If you liked the slower, not so fast pacing of Black Ops, you won't enjoy this game as much. In the first Black Ops, you could actually have a strategy but in BO 2, there is practically no strategy involved, just run and gun. They should have just called it Modern Warfare 4 because it is nothing like the first Black Ops. You die way too easily in this game. I have tried all kinds of different guns but no gun seems to be any better than another. I tried sniping and did okay at that for a first time sniper.
The Campaign is just like any other story, I didn't even know what was going on, just going through missions and shooting people. Zombies is really cool though. That is one part that I really like. I would definitely recommend getting the Nuketown Zombies map because it was well worth the money. There is two new modes besides survival called Transit and Grief. Transit has a bus and a bunch of different locations that it takes you to. It's boring to play single, but is really fun with a bunch of different friends. I haven't tried Grief very much but it is two teams against each other and whichever team survives the longest wins. You can do minor things to mess up the opponents like knifing them which stuns them and butterflies come out of their bodies. I didn't really get into zombies in the first Black Ops but in this one, it is really awesome. I would recommend this game if you really liked MW3 because it is basically an add on to that. If you liked the regular black ops pacing, you may not enjoy this one as much but you can get used to it (I'm still not used to it but maybe that is because I'm a noob). Thanks for reading this if you did read it. Bless you if you sneezed during this review. If you like fast paced warfare and dying right after spawning, then get this game. Peace out, BROS! | video-games_xbox |
great headphones. do buy. totes. I bought this item as a gift for a friend, and he loved it.
he has an Xbox one, and a 360, and had told me on multiple occasions that if he got a headset, it would have to work with both. I am proud to say, this one did.
the headset comes with just a regular 3.5mm headphone plugin on the end, so that it works with the 360. it also includes the xbox one adapter, so you plug the headphones into the adapter and the adapter to the xbox one. the adapter comes with a few controls that are pretty cool. volume up and down, obviously, and another one that allows you to change the ratio between game volume and chat volume. so if you want to hear your friends talk more than you want to hear the game (or the opposite), you can change that. it also comes with a "bass boost" button which has three stages. off, small bass, big bass. it works too.
Yes, you can hear your self in the microphone, so that you aren't yelling at people. and one thing that I thought was interesting, is that even while you have the headset plugged in, and you can hear the game through your headset, your television will continue to play the game at the same volume. I don't know if that is a factor that people care about, but I thought it was interesting. I expected that once you plugged this in and turn it on, it would mute the volume on your tv.
You can also take off the microphone boom. this will allow you to just plug it into you music device, so you don't feel like a dummy listening to music with a microphone boom hanging off your face.
I thought that the sound quality was very high. but then again... what do I know? this is the first one I ever bought, and I only used it for like an hour after I gave it to my friend... I literally had no complaints about it though... it was comfortable, the sound was crisp and clear. I didn't get a headache listening to it... it was really great. | video-games_xbox |
The redesign seals the deal. The older version had plenty of problems; some large, some small. It seems that Tritton has listened to customers and tried to address the things that were wrong with this set. I see a lot of complaints about the weight but I never notice it; they just don't weigh that much where it ever bothers me - even after a couple of hours, but it just seems to bother some people. I don't find them especially tight either; my head is not small; I wear a size large motorcycle helmet (but maybe that makes me used to wearing snug, heavy things on my head). They have made the following changes:
- The mic: five minutes of internet searching will tell you this was always the biggest issue with these. It would cut out and stop working and the mounting groove easily broke. It is now a more rubbery, flexible material and you can position it to your mouth more precisely and it is far less prone to breaking off.
- Material: they also seem to have used this flexible plastic on the headphone set itself because there is no creaking or noise at all when handling these or taking them off/on. This is a minor issue but is one of those things that just makes life with these much nicer.
- Extra disconnect: there is now an additional disconnect closer to the headphones. You now can unplug yourself with about 18" of cord, above the inline control box. This is much more convenient than the previous version that had you draping 3' of cord with the inline control weighing it down.
- Eliminated the need for two power bricks: one brich with a Y adapter solved the problem.
Overall I really like the improvements and time will tell as to the durability of them. These do take a little bit of work to get the sound levels, delay settings ans system settings set up but the reward is worth it IMO. I feel they deliver a much fuller sound with more resonant bass than the Turtle Beach set but not the Astros (but those cost almost $100 more). Of course, if you need wireless than the TB phones give amazing sound for a wireless set. Some advice if you're playing PC games or watching movies with any of these headphones, get a decent sound card for your system, it will make a big difference. Something that decodes DDL/DTS on-board would allow the use of the optical connection with 5.1, otherwise you'll have to use the analogue connections for surround. Even the analogue connection will still sound better with a good card. An additional benefit of the optical connection is it makes it easier to pass the sound through the decoder box to your speaker system if you want to play without headphones for a while. | video-games_xbox |
Phenomenal Headset. I bought this headset from Best Buy when it first came out. My brother has the Turtle Beach X41, and I've gotta say, I love the DX11 so much more! This headset is much better than the X41s because you don't have to worry about charging multiple batteries since they only last a few hours of playing. The DSS Module is also much smaller than the X41's, and there is only one extra cord you have to worry about (connecting the headset itself to the DSS), but it's incredibly long so you don't have to worry about having to sit too close.
The headset itself is very similar to the X41, but it's not the exact same. This one feels a little lighter and actually stays on my head a little nicer than the X41. There are also no controls on the headset itself, as the bass boost and volume are moved to the DSS Module, while the chat and game volume controls are shown in the picture, which is about a foot and a half down wire from the headset. The mic is the standard mic on Turtle Beach headsets, allowing for near unlimited flexibility.
The sound quality is unbelievable. The bass the DSS Processor produces is amazing. In games, you can hear people's footsteps from far far away. I'm a Call of Duty player, and paired with Ninja/Pro, you can be unstoppable because you can figure out where everyone is. The only problem is that it also makes your footsteps quite loud, so Ninja is almost a necessity. I also plug this headset into my PC to listen to music. Listening to the Final Fantasy XIII OST on here conjures quite possibly the most soothing, amazing, awesome, uplifting, inspiring, straight-up emotional feelings you can get from any music period. The headset is worth the money just by its amazing ability to make any music you listen to so much better.
In all, this headset was the best investment I've ever made! Beautiful music/sound quality paired with being incredibly useful in video games make this headset worth well more than $140. I would also say that after shopping around for months trying to find the perfect headset, this could possibly be the one. Great buy, 5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
FINNALY I GET TO WRITE A REVIEW! THIS GAME IS SWEET. FINNALY IM OUTTA SCHOOL AND MY NET IS STILL SCRED UP THOW BUT HERES A GOOD REVEIW! FROM YOUR FAV CHARLIE V1 THOMAS YOU SUCK! OK THIS GAME IS AWESOME PREETY MUCH ONLY MUTIPLAYER THOW WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT FOR PS2 I RENTED IT IT WAS ALRIGHT I GEUSS BUT I WANTED MORE BUT I COULDNT THINK OF IT! SO THEN IT CAME OUT FOR XBOX AFTER I TRADDED IN MY PS2 FOR A XBOX CAUSE PS2 SUC COMPARED TO XBOX. ONLY 20 BUCKS IT WAS AND ITS WORTH IT PREETY GOOD GRAPHICS THE FIRE EFFECTS DONT LOOK TO GOOD ALRIGHT I GEUSS BUT THE REAL THING ABOUT THIS GAME SI THE FUN AND ACTION UP TO 4 PLAYERS DEATH MATCH LAST MAN STANDING AND SOME OTHER MODES. I PLAYED IT WITH MY BRO AND IT WAS A FUN ACTION TIME YOU CAN GET UP TO ABOUT 10 WEAPOND A TAZZER MACHINE GUN ROCKET LAUNCHER BAZOOKA FLAME THROWER A KNIFE AND YOU CAN PICK UP STUFF LIKE TABLLES GARBAGE CANS STUFF LIKE THAT SO FOR MULTIPLAYER GOTTA BIG + IN THIS. NOW NOW NOW FOR 1 PLAYER GOES PREETY MUCH THE SAME OF PS2 YOU PLAY IT A BIT YOUR DONE WITH IT BUT ONE MORE THING WITH THIS XBOX VERSION YOU CAN PLAY YOUR OWN MUSIC ASS WELL WHICH I LOVE ! SO LETS SEE HOW THIS GAME GOES!
GRAPHICS - WELL THEY LOOK SOMETIMES GOOD SOME BAD YA KNOW SO A 7.5 FOR GRAPHICS YOUR HAVING TO MUCH FUN IN THIS YOU WONT REALLLY CARE ABOUT THE GRAPHICS !
SOUND - GREAT SOUND PLAY YOUR OWN XBOX MIX MUSIC AND PEOPLE JUST SCREAMING THERE HEADS OFF GREAT! GETS A 8.75
CONROLS - WELL IT TAKES ABOUT 6 MINUTES TO GET TO IT AND NOT REALLY CONFUSING ABOUT A 8.5 FOR CONTROLS
CONCEPT - YOUR IN MALLS KILLING PEOPLE PLUS A NEW MULTIPLAYER MODE!
REPLAY VALUE OF GAME - MODERATE SOMETIMES YOU WILL FEEL LIKE PLAYIN SOMETIMES YOU WONT STILL THIS GAME ISNT A CEEPER FOREVER SO ITS POSSIBLE IN THE FUTURE IF YOU NEEDED SOME CASH YOU WOULD TRADE IT IN AFTER ALL ITS ONLY 20 BUCKS AND THIS GAME DOESNT KEEP YOU IN FOREVER PLUS THERE SHOULD BE MORE CHARACTERS IN THE GAME!
BASICALY THIS GAME GET A 7.75 ITS GOOD FOR AWHILE BUT NOT FOR A LIFETIME!
WELL THANX REMEMBER THOMAS SUX IM THE SWEET REVEIWER VOTE FOR ME CHARLIE VERSION 1 NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WOR D LIFE PEACE OUT LITA! | video-games_xbox |
Two hogs are better than one. Following on from last years platforming masterclass Sonic colours, Sonic Team returns to celebrate 20 years of the blue blur with Sonic Generations. Here Modern Sonic (the long quilled, homing attacking, boosting trickster from Sonic Adventure onwards) teams up with his former self Classic Sonic (the short, tubby, Spin Attacking, Spin Dashing hog of the 16-Bit era) via a time travelling plot involving an outer space beastie know as the Time Eater. As a 20 year celebration each of SG's nine stages have been selected from nine previous games in the series spanning three eras- Classic, Dreamcast & Modern. All redesigned with entirely new layouts. Acts 1 are played with C Sonic as strictly side scrolling 2D levels (albeit stunningly rendered using the hedgehog engine) and Acts 2 are played with M Sonic were you will mostly be running into the screen at ridiculous speeds. A game for every Sonic fan then, genius. The nine stages are unlocked three at a time once you have cleared all acts of the current era as both Sonics in addition to a few of each stages' own Challenge Acts (more about them later).
Classic Sonic Overview
This is what all the old fans have been waiting for. Ever since the release of last years craptastic Sonic 4 Sega fans worldwide have been clamouring for a return of the original hog from the early 90's. C Sonic can run, jump, roll, Spin Attack, Spin Dash and that's it. In the original games Yuji Naka's expert coding created an unrealistic pinball feel to Sonic's physics were he could build momentum bouncing from one enemy to another. For SG C Sonic uses the Havok engine to create a more realistic feeling of momentum and as such the player can no longer build momentum chaining enemy attacks. Also C Sonic's jump is slightly gimped- he can't quite jump as far as he could in the classics after a small run up. But the main area in which ST have dropped the ball is the rolling. The roll friction is too high when going downhill causing Sonic to slowdown when he should be speeding up. Bizarrely this problem does not occur on flats were he can travel in a ball for some distance. To accommodate this deficiency the Spin Dash has been souped up and levels tend to be platform orientated. One noticeable exception to this is Chemical Plant which like the original is a mass of ramps and loops but to get him rolling at the correct speed he is sent through a series of boosters. Another anomaly are the invisible boosts at the top of most ramps throughout the game which overshoot Sonic into the air by meters. You more than build up enough momentum to clear them all without the unnecessary boosts (especially when using the overpowered Spin Dash) so why they exist is a mystery. Overall this is a valiant attempt at re-creating the Classic Sonic gameplay. The speed is there (the running itself improved over the originals), the physics are correct and veterans will get a big kick out of playing as the short spikey once again. But next to the classics? The gameplay is nowhere near as good.
Modern Sonic Overview
Modern Sonic's gameplay is the best it's ever been in Generations. As fusion of the Unleashed & Colours play styles Sonic primarily sprints into the screen but every so often switches to a 2D perspective to hop platforms. 3D sections revolve around the boost (built up by collecting rings and performing air tricks similar to Colours), the quick step (a lightning fast side step used to avoid obstacles), and of course the homing attack which can be used in either perspective to lock onto and destroy enemies. Due to their incredible speed M Sonic's acts are often more exhilarating than C Sonic, the downside to this being they also feel a lot more on-rails and linear despite the equal amount of branching routes due of the numerous choke points and fixed 3D angle camera making it difficult/impossible to backtrack. If C Sonic's acts are built for exploration M Sonic's are all about speed. The difference being you can also speed run the classic levels but the Modern Acts do not offer the same flexibility if you want to travel in any direction other than forwards. When played as the developer intended the Modern stages are a blast and there is nothing like executing a perfect run through Green Hill Act 2 (probably the greatest Modern Sonic level ever created) chaining boosts/homing attacks/air combos to achieve your best time. Boss/Rival battles of which there are six in the game are mostly handled by M Sonic with only the first two (from the Mega Drive era) played with the little guy. Once you have learnt their patterns Boss/Rivals are quite easy and best played on hard mode. Taking on Sonic Adventure's Perfect Chaos to the tune of 'Open your heart' by Crush 40 being a particular highlight.
Negatives
Aside from C Sonic's roll being broke there aren't too many. On the whole level design is of high quality but both acts of Planet Wisp are a letdown. In Act 1 the player only gets access to the Spikes Wisp, and in Act 2 we only get Rocket. This removes the puzzle element of the original Planet Wisp (Sonic Colours) were the player could use all eight Wisps to find secrets and access faster routes and because the same two Wisps are spammed they're not as fun. Another disappointing aspect is the stage selection. Of the nine stages we get four cities and two 'Hill's and while the cities are all very different a more diverse line up would have been nice. I really could have done without Seaside Hill and Rooftop Run in favour of something more distinct such as Hang Castle & Chun Nan. My final gripe concerns the Challenge Acts. Each stage once complete unlocks a series of challenges that range from races with doppelgangers to treasure hunting. They're a nice extra to help pad out content but being forced to backtrack and complete a few for each stage before the next era unlocks disrupts the flow of the game and feels like a chore.
Conclusion
Negatives aside Sonic Generations is a spectacular anniversary title the likes of which have never been seen. Making both Sonic's playable was a masterstroke and to finally play as Classic Sonic again, now in glorious 2.5D is a joy to behold. Sonic Team have out done themselves with the level design which often surpasses the Mega Drive games. Standout levels include City Escape Act 1 in which the pursuing GUN truck actually alters level geometry depending on how fast you are and the maddening Crisis City Act 1 which requires precision platforming skills but once mastered provides great satisfaction. S Ranks are easier to attain here than in previous outings and rely on memorising routes. The cut scenes also deserve mention as another highlight where C Sonic's distinct personality comes through despite the fact he is mute. There is a wealth of extra music, artwork & character upgrades awaiting those who unlock all achievements, all stages provide huge replay value and there is a great final boss battle which I won't spoil. Do not listen to negative reviews about this game. Framerate issues are barely noticible and do not affect gameplay at all. If you're a Sonic fan of any era, or even just a casual Platformer fan you can't afford to miss this one. Happy 20th Sonic! | video-games_xbox |
Broke twice. Incompetent, time wasting customer service. And buggy, too. Disc drive broke on 2nd day. Repair via mail took 3 weeks. Upon return, Xbox had a new issue where it would power off after a few seconds (very common issue, I've since learned). I contacted customer support. The rep was clearly both poorly trained and high on opiates (I work in addiction treatment and can discern intoxication from stupidity).
After making me repeatedly go through the same fruitless troubleshooting attempts, they finally authorized an exchange (for a $15 fee). I then received the replacement and sent in the broken Xbox via FedEx, as instructed. Instead of returning the Xbox to Microsoft, fedex rede liveried it to me. I took me 42 minutes on the phone with Microsoft to simply get them to send me a new shipping label. During the call the reps computer crashed once and he was unable to log back into the system (oh, the irony). Anyway, I finally got the return label and shipped the Xbox (third time). Twelve days later I noticed that I was charged $431 for failing to return the broken Xbox. It took another 33 minutes with customer support to get this charged reversed.
As for actual user experience, the Xbox is just okay, when it works. The graphics and most gameplay is solid. However, the user interface of the Xbox menu is quite bad. For example, option trees are unnecessarily complicated; why make uses click "settings" then "all settings", rather than just opening "all settings"?
Also, i've experienced problems with the Xbox live account management. I redeemed a 30 day subscription code, which magically disappeared two days later. Yet another frustrating interaction with customer support before they issued me a replacement subscription code.
So, overall, I would give the Xbox experience a D-, with the graphics and gameplay compensating someone for horrid customer support and a disappointing user interface. | video-games_xbox |
Though it's not entirely perfect, I actually enjoy playing this game. I have played every Call of Duty game from World at War until Black Ops 3 (I have also played CoD 2 and CoD 3) and I can personally say I really love this game for many reasons. I am the type of person who likes to have company over for some good old couch gaming with 4 people (Co-op or versus) and that is something that both Ghosts and Advanced Warfare lacked. When I realized that Black Ops 3 was reintroducing the 4 player split-screen feature back into the CoD franchise, I was more than ecstatic! But allow me to continue onto a deeper analysis.
The game comes with a Co-Op campaign (2 on one console, 4 online). This is the first time we are seeing Co-Op campaign return since World at War. I personally haven't had the chance to play the campaign to it's fullest yet, but I can ensure you it was a better change of pace than what I was used to.
The Multiplayer is something that I truly enjoy because it brings back that Black Ops 2 feel to me. Sure, they added those thrust jumps into the mix, but that shouldn't deter anyone from the game. It should also be noted that I have played a fair chunk of the beta and I really enjoyed it along with my friends. I have to admit, this is a big jump from Treyarch's last installment and I just love it.
The Zombies mode has always impressed me and was always fun to play with friends. However, there are a few things you should know about the Zombies mode in Black Ops 3. There is only one map available in the base game (Shadows of Evil) and there is an additional map (The Giant) which can be acquired with the purchase of a season pass. Both maps include the Gobblegum machine, a new feature added in Black Ops 3, adds a new experience to how Zombies is played, and I simply enjoy it.
There are also two additional modes that exist in the game along with Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies. These modes include Free Run and Nightmares. Free Run is a parkour game mode which allows the player to complete a timed course which involves running on walls, thrust jumping, and reacting. Nightmares is a separate campaign mode which is unlocked after completing the original campaign mode. You can also use the code DREAMLAND in the console located in the safehouse of the original campaign to unlock Nightmares straight away.
It should also be noted that PC modding (map/gamemode creation) will be released in 2016! This is a first since World at War!
Now on to what I find displeasing about this game.
1. The game always tries to connect online right as you press the A button (Xbox One) to access the main menu. I have noticed that if you are offline, this process gets quite annoying. Eventually, you'll finally be able to play offline.
2. You cannot use guest accounts with Black Ops 3. It will give you a notification saying "Guest accounts are restricted from this content"
3. There are many glitches that exist in offline local play, which don't make the game completely unplayable, but are more of an inconvenience. You wouldn't want to know how many times I had to restart my game because this glitches would get in the way.
I can honestly say, after Ghosts and Advanced Warfare (I did like both at first, but after the first month I quickly lost my interest), I can officially say I am enjoying a CoD game again. Same can be said with all of my friends.
So my recommendation would be to definitely pick up this game and give it a shot. The game has been getting mixed reviews by many people, but I can definitely say that this game exceeded my expectations to an extent and I am looking forward to playing this game with my friends and enjoying the experience. | video-games_xbox |
Perfect if you're looking for a controller that's worse than the one that came with the system. I have been in a desperate search for a controller with a good d-pad for fighting games for the Xbox One. After receiving this item I am still searching.
The regular Xbox One controller is great, but the d-pad is so-so for fighting games. It works, but I felt like I could take my game to the Sonicfox level if I only had a more responsive d-pad. I've searched online for hours to see what alternatives there were and there weren't many. But several sources rated this controller as having an excellent d-pad. Was I to be in luck? Obviously not, if you read the opening to my review. But I digress, anyway my options seemed to be this controller or an arcade stick. Unfortunately Xbox One arcade sticks are disgustingly expensive, so it was down to this controller.
Upon opening the packaging the first thing I noticed is that the right and left triggers felt extremely cheap. The right one in particular stuck half the time when pressed down. Disappointing, but no matter since I bought this for the d-pad right? Right.
So I fired up MKX and began going through the menus with the d-pad and thought "Hey this isn't too bad, it's got a nice grip to it and feels responsive". If you were only going to use this controller for menu navigating then I'd probably be inclined to give this item a 5 star rating.
Then the game/fight began and I proceeded to get curb stomped like that guy in American History X. Why? Because the d-pad didn't register back/forward move combinations whatsoever. I assumed maybe I just had to get used to it so I tried again and again and came up with the same results.
I then went into practice mode to test it out and save myself from further cyber humiliation at the hands of my virtual tormenters. Unfortunately things didn't get better. I was still having an extremely difficult time pulling off simple back forward moves that I could normally do in my sleep with the other in-box controller.
I then went into two player mode and went back and forth between the controllers for a direct comparison. Original Xbox controller: pulled off the moves with little to no problem. Hori controller: pulled off the moves maybe 30% of the time. And we're not talking about 50 hit juggling combos here, I'm talking about basic back, forward, press B button moves.
After trying this controller I've come to two conclusions... The original Xbox controller really isn't that bad; and the other reviewers of this controller's d-pad are paid Hori employees.
So to sum it all up, this controller gives you a relatively short cable, no headset port, iffy top triggers, and an unresponsive d-pad. Fantastic#sarcasm. | video-games_xbox |
GOTY includes several mandatory expansion packs. Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition Xbox 360
I'm writing this review several years (about 3-4 years) after the first release of Fallout 3, so I am probably not making any new ground with this review. I did enjoy Oblivion, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on Fallout 3 GOTY after playing it on the Xbox 360.
The GOTY comes with several expansion packs. Operation Anchorage is worth playing because it gives you a special Winterized T-51b power armor and helmet that never needs to be repaired (and it is about the most powerful armor in the game), along with a Gauss Rifle that wears out but can't be repaired to 100% since there doesn't seem to be any other Gauss Rifles in the game. However, that is where Mothership Zeta comes into play. There is plenty of Alien Epoxy throughout the ship which can be used to repair the Gauss Rifle if you like that weapon. The Pitt and Point Lookout weren't that great and quite frankly I thought they were a waste of time. Some of the perks are worth earning from the expansion packs. Broken Steel is essentially a continuation of the original story, with a level cap of 30 and new perks.
There are several features of this game that stand out. The stats are sectioned and can be confusing at first. The SPECIAL attributes are important. Intelligence and Strength are very important at first, followed by Perception and Endurance. Don't max out any of these to 10, but try to stay above 6-7. Skills are modified after each level increase, make sure you get the Swift Learner perks (3 ranks available) to get a max of 23 skill points each time you level up. Perks are available after each level increase and give you special bonuses.
Bobbleheads are available to boost your SPECIAL stats and skills, so it is important to not max out your SPECIAL stats or skills early. Skill books are also available to increase your skills, so get the Comprehension perk early on.
The game was extremely frustrating at first, until I got to about level 7. Then with some strategy, it was easier to survive and somewhat fun. At level 15, my character was able to kill enemies with ease. At level 20, my character is an absolute machine. I can lay waste to enemies with the greatest of ease, and my perks from the expansion packs almost makes him impervious to radiation poisoning and damage. The unique weapons are the items that you should try to find and use. They are special variants of common weapons with more damage, but can be repaired using the common weapons. The A3-21 Plasma Rifle, Xualon Assault Rifle, and Vengeance are just a few of these examples.
This game is very very time consuming. There are a lot of mini quests to complete, and a lot of things to do. Most of the time is spent going from location to location, exploring, and role-playing game activities in general. Remember to save and save often, because I've had the game lock up on me about half a dozen times on Xbox 360.
Overall: 5/5 stars, the best way to enjoy Fallout 3 is with the GOTY edition. Operation Anchorage, and Mothership Zeta have some very useful items. | video-games_xbox |
They shipped a substandard game counting on massive DLC and patching after the fact. Been a huge Halo fan ever since the first game convinced me to buy an original XBOX. A small part of the reason I decided to pass on XBONE at launch was the lack of a playable Halo - just one or the many dumb moves Microsoft has made this go-around.
Picking up an XBONE to play this game has been one of my most regrettable gaming decisions of 2014. The XBONE itself is a shoddy console - its almost like Microsoft intended to turn XBOX into a software platform and phase out the console hardware and this was just the placeholder until that happened. But this is a review of the game so that's all I'll say about it.
Firstly I'm unable to enjoy a large portion of the content that was supposed to be part of this game because I don't connect my XBONE to the Internet, ever. So no LAN play, no Halo Nightfall, and every time I find one of the little easter egg "terminals" hidden throughout the newly remastered games I'm greeted with an error message that cheerfully reminds me that this was a rushed and unfinished product when they sent the master copies of the discs to the duplicator, counting on the opportunity to make players download nearly 20GB of data to finish the game.
But that's okay because what I was really looking forward to was playing the remastered versions of the old games.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary -
By far the best looking game in the collection - runs at full 1080p and a solid 60fps. For those of you not aware, this is a remaster of a remaster. The original game was remastered on the XBOX 360 for the 10th anniversary of Halo in 2013. This is basically that same game with full HD resolution and 60 frames per second, but the unfortunate decision was made to remove a couple of features making this a lesser release in some ways. Particularly for reasons that escape me, they removed the "terminal" videos and decided to make people download them from XBOX Live, and they removed the stereoscopic 3D mode (a feature I loved and played the entire game in on the 360).
Halo 2: Remastered
This was supposed to be the crown jewel of this collection as the collection's release coincides with the anniversary of Halo 2. Unfortunately it almost completely fails to live up to expectations. The only thing massively improved are the cinematic cutscenes which are pretty impressive, but the visual upgrades on the game itself are not as profound so the game and cutscenes clash jarringly. Despite reportedly spending most of the budget on this game, the "remaster" of CE:Anniversary actually looks better and plays smoother. The Halo 2 re-master noticeably dips below 60fps regularly, and for some reason is not rendered in 1080p making for a softer image with more aliasing. There was at least one added cutscene that attempts to tie this game in with the upcoming Halo 5, but sadly the same shoddy workmanship was demonstrated in the fact that the video segments that are supposed to display when you interact with "terminals" hidden throughout the game are also stuck behind the wall of the XBOX Live and not included on disk. Just lazy.
Halo 3:
This isn't a remaster, it's pretty much just the original game running at 1080p and 60fps. It shows it's age but it plays well.
Halo 4:
Similarly to Halo 3, this is just the original game running at 1080p and 60fps. It almost looks good enough to be a next-gen game itself as the textures and models are considerably higher resolution than its predecessor. Unfortunately the conversion process seems to have riddled the campaign with bugs. I've had three game crashing lockups, one of which apparently corrupted a save and cost me about 2 hours of progress. Again, lazy. | video-games_xbox |
Best UFC Game So Far. Warning: This is NOT a Button Masher! You need to practice!!! But after putting in the hours, the game becomes fun and feels rewarding because you earn every win. I'd recommend the UFC games for fans of the sport and fans of fighting games. There's a good deal of strategy here and the game is so realistic that you'll actually be able to get more enjoyment out of watching the UFC if you learn how to play this game. You'll have a better understanding of the strategies and how the techniques work together.
Concept: 9/10
Sports games fall on a continuum of Difficult Simulation and Fun Arcade Game. This UFC Game is right in the Middle. It's got all of the current weight classes, fighters, personalities, graphics, introductions, from the sport, so it feels really authentic. The gameplay is complicated and takes about a week to learn. But, MMA is complicated because it combines punches, kicks, wrestling body control, and jujitsu submissions. All of these disciplines play pretty well and after you learn how to play, the game is fun.
Game Modes:
Exhibition - 1 fight - pick a weight class, 2 fighters, and go at it.
Title - take a famous UFC fighter and fight your way through the contenders to become the champ.
Title Defense - Once you are the champ, fight the best of the best to keep your title.
Career Mode - Create and Manage your fighter, train to become better in certain aspects of MMA, and fight your way to the top.
VS Mode - fight a buddy - (Offline ONLY)
Gameplay: 8/10
It feels like there are so many ways to lose in an MMA fight. You can get beaten down for 3 rounds and lose a decision. You can get beaten down severely and get KO'ed. You can get hit with a flurry of powerful strikes in rapid succession and get a flash KO. You can get thrown onto the ground, dominated, and KO'ed. You can get thrown to the ground and submitted. But all of these techniques can be used on your opponent, too. Knowing when to use the techniques is as important as knowing how to use them.
Striking: 9/10
Standing and trading punches and kicks. You can target your opponent's head for a KO, the body to drain your opponent's stamina, or the legs to slow them down and nullify their takedowns. You get BONUS damage for excellent timing. If you catch an opponent coming in and beat them to the punch, you do more damage. If you dodge their attack and counter, you also deal Bonus damage. This takes a while to get used to, but once you do, it's pretty fun. You can also catch kicks by grabbing your opponent's leg and counter punch them in the face. Not only is this rewarding, but it also deals bonus damage. On the easier difficulties, the game is almost 100% striking. It's a good way to learn. As you play harder difficulties, the AI starts incorporating other aspects of MMA like grappling, transitions, clinches, ground and pound, and submissions.
Grappling: 8/10
You can grab your opponent in a clinch, deliver knees, elbows, and punches, or throw them onto the ground. Once you're on the ground, you can move the R Stick in semi-circles to change your position. You can pull the right stick to "block" or cancel an opponent's transitions and keep them where they are. You can grapple from the top and bottom while delivering punches and kicks to ground and pound your enemies. Certain positions on the ground yield better results. For example, if you are in your opponent's guard, you can't punch very hard because you can only swing your arms. If you get on top of them in a full mount, you can deliver haymakers to their body and head and go for a KO. Grappling is pretty easy once you learn the positions and how to block your opponent's transitions. But it takes a while to "get it."
Submissions: 8/10
When you are grappling, you can click the R stick to go for an arm bar, choke, etc... This brings up an Octagon with a Player 1 BAR and a Player 2 Bar. The length and speed of the bar is determined by your grappling skill and current stamina. Each Player can move their bar around the octagon shaped track. (like 2 trains) In order to submit your opponent, you just have to overlap part of their bar with part of yours. This is easy when you both have large bars. To make an opponent TAP OUT, you have to keep your bar over theirs and a gauge starts to fill. But you have a limited amount of time to fill it, otherwise your opponent escapes from the submission attempt. The bars can pass through each other, so you can try to move away, or move through the other Player's bar to escape. It's kinda fun, and very suspenseful.
Training: 7/10
In career mode, there are training exercises to boost your stats. These are 2 minute mini-games where you practice your moves. Depending on how well you did, you get stat boosts for your next fight! But training in opposite disciplines may actually lower your stats in the opposite discipline. So if you are a striker who wants to learn grappling or submissions, your punch and kick stats may drop a little bit. When training, it's important to be well rounded, but not abandon your most effective techniques. Most of the games are easy, but you don't get to practice them. They just throw you into them and you have to do your best in 2 minutes. It's frustrating at first, but gets easier later on.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics look pretty good and authentic to the UFC. The venues, octagons, and crowds look great. The fighters all look like their real life counterparts, but they could look a bit better. When the fighters take damage, their face swells, they bleed, sweat, and their body and legs turn reddish-purple from the repeated hits.
Sound: 7/10
The music is great and the commentary is from Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg. Most of the time, the commentary is on the mark, but sometimes, they'll say something strange.
Multiplayer: NONE
The THQ servers are down because THQ went bankrupt. There was online support, but not anymore.
Maturity: Teen
If you like the sport, you've seen blood and fighting. There's no profanity or anything that you wouldn't expect while watching a UFC.
Replay Value: 8/10
Since the game takes a while to learn and even longer to master, you'll be playing it for a long time. However, the lack of an online multiplayer mode really hurts. I'd recommend going through the tutorial, then a bunch of exhibition fights first. Then take a pre-made fighter and fight your way to the title. Once you are familiar with ALL aspects of MMA, try the Career Mode.
Overall: 8.5/10
If you are willing to put in the hours, the game is fun! Because it's so difficult, every win feels great! You can enjoy the UFC game for at least a month, even without online mode. I'd recommend it if you are a fan or casual observer of the UFC.
Unfortunately, THQ is no more and EA bought the UFC license. Hopefully the EA Curse won't affect the UFC and hopefully, they'll make great games. | video-games_xbox |
Love the upgrades- Hate the tuning. I am a beginner to novice level guitar player so don't expect a lot of technical information here. I'm also a mother of grown children and a grandma that took up guitar after my dad passed away, so you won't find a lot of stuff about the gaming experience here either. I owned a previous version of the game and I enjoyed it but it was more hassle than fun. I saw this version and liked some of the songs on it, saw that it had been upgraded, and thought I'd try it. My husband got it for me for Christmas and I have to say, it's like a new addiction!. There's a 60 day challenge in it. The challenge is to play for one hour for 60 days (in a row if possible but at least three times a week) and then log your improvement. Let me tell you that playing for an hour at a time is NOTHING! I have found that I enjoy it so much I lose track of time. Good for practice, bad for cooking dinner. The songs are a lot of fun and from a wide range of genres. If you own the old version you can pay a one time fee and import the data. I can't comment on this any further as I haven't done it yet.
The game recommends different activities and missions to help you progress according to how you play. I love this because it's always changing and I'm not stuck playing one thing over and over again until I get a good enough score to move on. The old version required you to unlock the guitarcade games. (Games that help you learn key components to playing such as locating the correct frets and strings, shifting on the fretboard, etc.) So I was only able to play Ducks on the first game. This one has a ton of games that I have access to right away. It's amazing how much they help me improve in a short time!
The old game had a lot of lag time and you had to tune your guitar before each activity. It really slowed down how much time you had to actually practice learning. That's why I felt it was a hassle more than fun. This one loads everything quickly and you only need to tune the guitar when you first start or if you change to a song with a different tuning. It's a lot more fun then hassle, with one major exception.
The tuning session. The first time I tried to tune my guitar to the new game I got so frustrated I had to quit. I was about to send the game back and give it zero stars. But I decided to give google a chance. I'm so glad I did. As it turns out, this game tunes a little differently than the last one. The advice was pluck the string and then wait. In the past, I could tune the string and adjust it in real time. This one doesn't register the change as instantly (that's not really a good way to explain it but if you play you'll get the idea). If you pluck the string, wait and watch the little ring around the peg instead of the meter on the string. You'll see how close to tuned you are by how far the ring fills. This takes a little time but it's the best way. Also, when you get to the b and e strings, make sure everything else is completely muted or you'll be there forever. All of this is why I only gave the game four stars. Once you get the hang of it it's a lot easier but still takes more time than it should.
The songs are fun, the games are open and very useful, the lessons include video and practice exercises that slow down so you can keep up, there's a session mode that includes AI instruments that follow your lead for a jam session, this game really thought of everything.
Buy it, you won't be disappointed!
Oh, and one more thing, my dear husband bought me the version that had a cable (even though I already owned a cable) and my kids and I play together now. It lets one person be lead and one be rhythm. It's very cool and adds to the overall experience. | video-games_xbox |
Titanfall:Advanced Halofare Lagaduty. It appears call of duty has stolen a page from Titanfall. Actually, they have stolen a few pages. The fact you can jump around definitly takes getting used to based on every other COD past. The maps look like Titanfall, loading screen, weapons, and you can even use a stim or cloak just like Titanfall. There is also a Goliath killstreak which resembles a smaller Titan. You can now even strafe with your character just like a Titan. Titanfall with kill streaks and without minions. Ok, enough of how they copied Titanfall and built their game on top of that . Online has been smooth and fairly lag free so far. Maps are pretty good with more of a run and gun style. Kill streaks are a little on the weak side as you have to customize them to be more effective but by doing so the streak is harder to achieve. Each cutomization increases the points needed to get the streak. Weapons so far seem fair and not overpowering but unfortunately quick scoping is still alive. Have never been able to understand why they can't take that out of the game. Spawning seems to be better than past CODs with less spawn deaths and traps. Graphics are a disappointment considering this is a next generation system. Personally only seem to be a slight upgrade over 360. All in all a decent call of duty but nothing spectacular.
*****UPDATE***** So the other night playing this game online the sound went out and also game became really jerky like lagging (Connection was strong 50up6down). It didn't work for both multiplayer and campaign. I turned the xbox on and off, uninstalled and re installed the game, then finally did a hard reset of the xbox. Unplugging and plugging back in solved the problem. Now, to today's experience. I can no longer sprint in the game all of the sudden but the dash works. I have done everything like the last issue and a hard reset has not solved the problem. My controller works just fine as I have tested other games and like I said I can still dash side to side. Beyond frustrating experience with this game. If it doesn't work next time I play I will have to try and exchange it. Also I can't express enough how terrible the connections are online. Nobody maintains a 4 bar connection as everybody is usually in the red or yellow. It fluctuates back and forth all game. Anybody else have similar problems with the game acting up like this? | video-games_xbox |
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