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Big Disappointment. I have been a big Halo fan since Halo: Combat Evolved and have loved Halo 1, 2, 3, and ODST. But I hate Reach. It is the worst in the series by far. With every other halo, there was something new and amazing about it, but not only has Reach not introduced anything good at all, it has taken away the things that were fun about Halo in the first place. I always enjoyed the competitive nature of halo with the ranking system. But with Reach, the ranking system is pointless. It is not based on skill, but rather how much you play. So a terrible player can be a higher rank than the best player in the world, simply because he spends more time playing. This completely destroys the point of a ranking system. I don't want to spend every spare minute playing in order to have an impressive rank, I want my rank to reflect my skills. New to Reach is the absolute worst thing to happen to halo...loadouts. Instead of picking up armor abilities on the map and having the challenge of controlling these powerups, they are automatically given to everyone and the only way to change them is to die. Since everyone can choose loadouts, most people use armor lock, which makes you invincible at the push of the button. So yo get the jump on someone, you have them outmatched, then they armor lock. I believe they did this so the unskilled players will not get as frustrated if they can just become invincible when outmatched. Reach has completely destroyed the competitive nature of halo that made it fun so that they could sell more copies by appealing to the new players who do not have the skill to compete with the veteran players. They sold out and abandoned the fans who made Halo successful in the first place. The other addition is assassination animations. Instead of an instant kill when meleeing from behind, there is a drawn out animation sequence. I thought this was cool at first but soon realized that it is game-breaking because you have no control during these animations and often times you may get killed or have your kill stolen and you can't defend yourself during these animations. There are NO good additions to Reach. Halo 2 introduced online play, dual wielding, sword use and several other new weapons that worked well with gameplay. Halo 3 also introduced great new weapons like the hammer and spartan laser. Halo 3 also had the awesome addition of theater for replays and saved games and also forge. These were all great additions. The additions to Reach have done nothing but ruin the gameplay. Even the new weapons in Reach are horrible (A needle rifle that's basically the same as the DMR, a worthless grenade launcer, a plasma repeater that's basically the same as the plasma rife, etc.) I always preferred 4v4 gametypes and Reach ruined those too. There are practically no vehicles in 4v4. I always enjoyed ghost fights on "small" maps like High Ground. All this plus the addition of loadouts and the terrible ranking system just make it pointless to play Reach. I eventually stopped playing and sold it (I still have Halo 1,2,and 3 and probably always will). The multiplayer maps are horrible. They are taken directly out of the campaign which is something that Halo has never done before. It is complete laziness by Bungie. 343 Industries is handling Halo from now on. The core group from Bungie that "is" halo has gone to 343i and it is my understanding that they made the switch to 343i before Reach so it was the "new Bungie" that made Reach so it wasn't even made by the same people. I know that they brought in new people, like the guy from Shadowrun, to make Reach (hence the loadouts). Bungie just had the rights to make one last Halo game so obviously they wanted to make as much money on it as possible. It is my strong opinion that Reach was just a way for Bungie to make more money by appealing to the casual gamers since they outnumber the true Halo fans. I feel ripped off that I bought it and contributed to their profits from this game.	video-games_xbox
the destruction is unparalleled. take an open world thrid person shooter set on mars with the most advanced destruction engine to date, throw in some highly addictive multiplayer, and you have yourself the best shooter so far this year(as of June 2009). forget everything you thought new about in-game environmental destruction. the first time you play Red Faction:Guerilla you will see the new age of destruction. see buildings break apart piece by piece as you tear down the walls of oppression. in the time since the last red faction, mars has become victim to another tyrannical organization, called the EDF. you came to mars looking for peace and quiet, trying to settle down with a regular mining job. then a tragety comes about that causes you to stand up against the EDF and rain down all kind of destruction, they never bargained for. controls handle great on the Saints Row 2 engine, whether your switching weapons, fighting, tearing down a building, driving a truck or mech (oh yeah.. theres mechs!!) they also added a cover system similar to GTA IV. theres very little to complain about in this game. the story of one man fighting for not only his own freedom, but the freedom of an entire planet is inspiring to say the least. it truly is an evil government, and they simply cant be left to continue. as you take the role of a terrorizing freedom fighter (think Gordon Freeman) you have a nice variety of missions to complete, from specific target buildings that need to be destroyed, to defending worker caps/invading EDF camps, various story missions, timed vehicle deliveries (ew), chase/tailing missions, ect. overall its a great game. its got the most ambitious/advanced destruction engine to date with a good story, smooth controls, and a wealth of areas and weaponry to unlock. gameplay 9.5/10 graphics 8.5/10 (considering the interactivity) controls 9.25/10 sound 7.75/10 story 8.75/10 *destrucion 10/10 overall 9.25/10 replay value = high	video-games_xbox
Bruce Lee's Head was Bigger than I Remembered. I cannot understand how any other reviewers on Amazon could give this game any better than 1 star. You see, I used to be of the mind that every video game, no matter how bad, had at least one redeeming quality. Sure, Tenchu was slow and poorly animated, but it had neat backgrounds and was it occasionally (unintentionally) hilarious. And on I Ninja, the "beat the clock" missions sucked, but the "kill everyone" missions more than made up for it. Then I played this game. There was nothing redeeming about it. Nothing. In fact, the only good thing about the game, an unlockable mode in which you fight solely against the game's bosses, mysterious disappeared shortly after I found it. The only other good thing about this game was the off button. (This was, of course, voted one of the top 3 worst games of all time on...some show.) But what was bad about the game? Well, your enemies suck. They range from brainless idiots to masters of the martial arts. And sometimes, they change from one to the other on a whim. They all look the same. All the ninjas have the same outfit; it just changes color (blue for boys, red for girls). And there is the witty banter they assault you with, which ranges from, "Let's teach him a lesson," to "I think I'm in love." Bruce himself is pretty messed up. When he's fighting, he sounds like a chicken. When he's not, he sounds nothing like Bruce Lee. He also has the extremely useless and life threatening ability to lock on to a specific enemy from a horde of many. This allows him to block that specific enemy, while all the rest of them sneak up behind him and kick his butt. Hard. By the way, the block button was X. X is not a block button. X is an attack button. They couldn't even get that right. I guess in an effort to show how much Bruce Lee looks like himself, the design team inflated his head a bit to make it stand out. That was kind of silly, but then again, so was the fact that Bruce changes his outfit every chance he gets. And not just from level to level. I mean when he starts chasing a ninja chick through pouring rain, he is wearing a Chinese style coat. But when he catches her he's shirtless. Then, the coat's back on. Where did he stick it, down his pants? I've got to admit, I never liked Bruce Lee. I thought Enter the Dragon was boring. So I hoped that this video game would allow me to look at Bruce with a whole new light. It did. I am now even less in Bruce Lee's corner.	video-games_xbox
Great game, Now Perfect. Well after playing the game to death, now seems like a good time to put down a review. I couldn't be more happy with Bungie's latest offering, despite it playing differently. (why does it seem like controls for all games in the series feel completely different?) It takes a while to get used to the new weapons (the DMR is a prime example) and now players have to be aware of all the new armor abilities. These can make or break a game, but you won't hear me complaining. (I'm biased towards the jetpack) The Campaign is pretty much exactly as you would expect from the other games in the Halo series, a series of lengthy missions culminating in a cinematic finale. Firefight now has customizable options, but you can't edit these maps in forge, and you can't tell enemies to carry certain weapons.(Sorry, no swords only zombie firefight) At least now you can play this mode online, in ODST you were limited to local play only. The addition of Forge Editing 2.0 is ground breaking, but can be seen as a double edged sword. On one hand, players can now easily create maps that rival those included on the disc. Here's the hang-up: you can only use the "Structure" pieces, which are pivotal in creating a unique map, on the "Forge World" map. It's huge, so size is not really a problem, but is kind of a disappointment if you want to forge on any of the other maps. I couldn't really make much with only dumpsters and crates on the map called "PowerHouse". Also a problem is that any DLC (Additional downloadable content) down the line will seem less worth while if Forged Content is better. You might be forced to buy the upcoming DLC in order to continue playing online Match-making. I didn't appreciate having playlists in matchmaking being denied to me because I didn't want the latest DLC. (Halo 3's Mythic Map pack) The long-term view of this game really depends on whether the DLC released contains appropriate content. It would be nice if there were additional armory parts and maybe a new "Forge" map with different objects. Edit: ============== Since the game's release, there have been many changes with how Bungie gets content out to us. I love that they are incorporating User made maps into Matchmaking, I love that the playlists are segmented so that DLC owners can play those maps, and the rest of the playlists are unaffected. I love that there are more "guest profile" allowing playlists. The free parting gifts from Bungie are pretty nice too. See: [...] As a result of this new Hotness, I'm bumping the review back up to 5 stars. Nice job Bungie.	video-games_xbox
Your own personal Time Machine. Assassins Creed 2 - Circa 2009 GOOD: - A good story mixes elements of historical fiction and a Sci-Fi epic. - Really impressive graphics and first-rate animations, that looks just as good as games like Uncharted 2 on PS3 and Gears of War 2 on 360. - The game world is even bigger then the last one (it really rivals games like Fallout 3) also IF taking a horse across the land still takes too long some times don't worry there are warp points now as well. - In the first Assassin's Creed there was about 5 different mission types (chase someone, pickpocket someone, save someone from getting beat up, spy on targets, and then stealth kill, ect) in Assassin's Creed 2 there is like 15 different mission types now from all out battles, trailing a targets, beating up unfaithful husbands and lots of different types of stealth killing also all the old types in Assassins Creed 1 are here as well. - You have a better opportunity to be a more cunning assassin now due to newer weapons, techniques, and skills. - You can now swim, no more letting water be your foe heck you can even drive gondolas if you wanted. - like the first title this one has great sound track too that mixes music of the era during the clam points of the game and more modern type of music during the chase points of the game. BAD: - Some small problems from the first are still there - although they are a lot more minor now like some times roof top running (parkour) can be a tad sloppy in a tense situations and you'll get killed (small camera problems). (I didn't really see this in my play through but some people have told me it happens so I am letting you know here) - Losing that cool sword: you have the ability to disarm enemies and kill them with their own weapons now (this never gets old) - BUT - you also drop you own original sword in the process making you having to dig among the bodies to find it again and hope it's not lost. ::UPDATE:: I put this wrong it seems, you never lose your weapons when doing a disarm attack (it yes it never gets old); you only seem to lose your weapon when a stronger enemy (usually a knight in a suit of armor) knocks it outta your hand, and this is still a bit rare. Then you would have to find your weapon though or pick up a new one later. - Too much Money? When you first start the game money is a bit hard to come by and weapons/armor are pretty expensive, while this can be a bit frustrating at first it builds gameplay and gives you goals outside of the missions to work towards. Now after you play for few hours and missions give you better pay and you fully upgrade your villa/town (this will automatically give you tons of free money; sorta like owning property in Fable 2 or GTA: Vice City) money becomes a non issue. Then getting paid at the end of missions seems pointless as well as doing Templar Secret location missions, which while fun, the entire point is to find a treasure room for yet more now pointless money. Anyways a few hours into the game and the in-game economy is broken to the point were you feel they should have done like Assassins Creed 1 and never had in-game money and just give you all your weapons/items based on mission progress. IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE: - A Stealth/action game set during the late 15th century and early 16th Italian Renaissance. You play as a man who becomes an Assassin in order to carry out revenge of his family. - You spend more time in the Animus and less time as Desmond over all. - The control is broken down mainly into two areas of gameplay there is a passive action and an aggressive action to almost everything you can do in the game. For example you can lightly tap people to move out of your way while walking down crowed the street (hold the B button to do this) or shove people as you run down that same street (hold the R button and the B button to do this). This duality applies to all your actions and it becomes necessary because during the game you must be able to move freely between these two states (passive and aggressive) to run and then hide from people the out to get you as well as to sneak up on and kill your victims. - You can now hire help like as body guards to protect with you might or street-walkers to use their bodies to distract armed guards. - Lot of what you will be doing is climbing and jumping from buildings this plays similar to the Prince of Persia games also made by ubisoft (the sands of time series). Although in this game the controls are more streamlined and user friendly as you can climb way more effectively as well as more realistically (even more then the first game). - In the first game most of the gameplay is not so much assassinating people but gathering Intel on your targets. This game retains some of that but expands on the concept so much you'll never think you're doing busy work (like the first) and you have a lot more big kill targets as well. - Combat has been refined by adding things like hammers, clubs, smoke bombs, and the hidden (now dual) assassin blades of course, plus you can steal enemies' weapons and use it against them too. The combat has a bit more over all intelligent flow from the first game, although it builds on that idea. - Mix up you clothing colors by buy buying dyes for you outfit (in colors like red, green, and black) as well as unlocking new capes for your character. Also buy things like health potions, poisons, new weapons, new armor, and even treasure maps and famous paintings for your villa. - You even get a villa (which is basically works like a small personal town) which you can upgrade by renting out space to local store owners and then getting goods (the main house seems to be the only place you can swap weapons and armor apparently). GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO: - Assassins Creed (360/PS3/PC) - Grand Theft Auto 4 (360/PS3) - HitMan: Blood Money (360) - Prince of Persia (Xbox/PS2) - Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) ADDITIONAL NOTES: - Ezio the star of Assassins Creed 2 is related to Altar of the first game and Desmond is related to both of them - Assassin's Creed: Lineage, a small set of mini movies (with real actors and CG effects) telling the story leading up to Assassins Creed 2 about Ezio's father (who was also an Assassin). These movies are made by Ubisoft and are found on the internet for free - so go see them. - Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (starting Altar of the first game) is a PSP game with Connectivity with the PS3 version of this game that can unlock six exclusive and unique weapons in Assassins Creed 2. - The game skips chapters 12 and 13 - These chapters come in as two downloads for this game. One called The Battle of Forl and the other called Bonfire of the Vanities. There is also a version of the download Bonfire of the Vanities which comes with the three bonus missions (more Templar Secret locations) previously only found on the limited edition version of Assassins Creed 2. - At the start screen of Assassin Creed 2 (and also in Splinter Cell: Conviction) you'll see an option of something called Uplay. Uplay is a systems set up by Ubisoft to give players who unlock achievements/trophies in this game bounces for playing Assassins Creed 2. Some things you can unlock in Assassins Creed 2 are a theme for your Xbox 360 or PS3, more throwing knifes for your character, or even unlocking Altar's assassins robes from Assassins Creed 1 (which is really cool), and even a new secret assassins tomb under your villa/town.	video-games_xbox
One of the Greatest Games Out There. There are so many good things about this game, but at the same time, there are a decent number of bad things. I am just going to go into a bunch of things that I noticed about the game, and you can decide for yourself whether or not it is good or bad. To start off with, the game's prologue takes place during the original game. You pick your gender and class and then run around killing Darkspawn in an attempt to run away from Fereldan, where the Blight has gotten out of control. This is where you find out that the gameplay is completely different from DA:O. The game has become a button masher. For some people, this might be a deterrent, but for me, it was something I did not mind and eventually grew to love. That's just the prologue. After you get into the first act of three, you find out that you are basically stuck in the same city. The only time you can ever leave it is to explore the surrounding area, the Free Marches, and that's basically two big maps. Here is where things get crappy. As it turns out, Almost all maps are reused. You enter some warehouse for a quest and realize that it looks a lot like a secret hideout of a local gang that you wiped out a little while back. That's because it's the same map! You enter from different locations and some parts are cut off, but everything is basically the same. The one good thing here is that the treasure for each map is different, so there is much to gather. There is now a night and day concept. Some quests can only be started or take place at night while others are in the daytime. Switching back and forth is simply the matter of pressing the LT or RT, so that is no problem. Treasures for night and day time are different as well. Each act brings with it new treasures as well so every map you've explored is guaranteed to have something to discover. About the story. The entire thing (I assume, I haven't beat the game yet, merely reached the final act) is told in the viewpoint of one of your companions to another person. I found that a tad annoying, but whatever. Characters. I find that although their back stories are well thought out and carefully explained via quests, they just can't hold a candle to the characters of DA:O. The two women you can romance (I'm a straight guy, so I did not bother at all to even attempt to romance the two men) are just not as interesting as Morrigan and Leliana. Isabela, who is probably what most people would consider the more attractive one, is basically a thieving and slutty dual blade rogue, and Merrill, the Dalish elf, is a shy and awkward blood mage. The lines that Isabela and Aveline, the first and one of your most important companions you will pick up, share are particularly amusing though. Other companions include Varric (sarcastic archer who tells the story), Anders (extreme pro-mage healer), Fenris (extreme anti-mage 2h warrior), Sebastian (DLC archer who is a devoted brother of the Chantry), and your sibling (can be a male warrior or female mage depending on your own class). Similar to the love/hate relationship in DA:O, this game has a friendship/rivalry scale. Almost everything you say will affect that scale, making certain that it is hard to reach either 100% friendship or 100% rivalry. Luckily, once you do reach 100% you cannot drop. Helping companions with their companion quests certainly brings their points up in whatever side you have chosen to send them on (friendship/rivalry), and gifts help as well. However, the number of gifts range from one to two special items unlike the 8-10 from the previous game. Equipment. While your character can equip whatever weapon and whatever armor he/she wants, your companions cannot. All companions have a set "special" armor that can only be changed via upgrades, which are bought from stores or found in containers. Varric is special in that you cannot change his weapon either, for he uses a crossbow that he calls Bianca. Upgrading the armor simply means there are added stats, like more attack, more defense, etc, and it allows the adding of runes. Crafting. It involves runes, potions, and grenades/poisons. Runes are used simply to increase stats on armor and weapons. Potions are obvious in that they will either heal your health/stamina/mana or give you a buff, like increased damage or increased damage resistance. Grenades are thrown, while poisons are applied to your weapons, but in both cases, they give status effects to enemies. Your actions greatly affect the game. Several of your characters come and go, and there are many chances where you can permanently lose them. The companion quests you undertake give a good understanding into their backgrounds, for those interested. Gameplay. As I said before, it's all button mashing. As before, you are able to switch between your own character and your companions, allowing a more flexible way to play through. I found the battle animations amazing. It's so different from DA:O where you would press a single button and the character would continuously strike an enemy. Of course, killing enemies sometimes caused them to explode into gory chunks, which I found amusing as well. Onto the more technical aspects. Length. I played on normal difficulty setting, and I've finished every single side quest, secondary quest (yeah there's a difference), and companion quest before moving onto the main quest. I'm currently in the middle of Act Three, the final act, and I've spent about 40+ hours. I expect to beat the game before reaching the 60 hour mark. Graphics are amazing. You won't be disappointed. Sound. Your main character is given a voice, finally, and depending on what you choose to say, your character's tone of voice changes. You can be the normal good guy, the sarcastic and humorous guy, or the aggressive guy. Voices for other characters can be either good or bad. Most sound like they fit the character portrayed, but the French accents are just doing POORLY. Sound effects are done well and fit the game just right. The music? Well, I'm too into the game to notice... If I recall anything else while playing, I'll add it.	video-games_xbox
This game is fabulous. I have to preface my review by saying that my computer of choice is the Macintosh and I am 36 years old. If you wanted to game on the Mac in the 90s, you had to buy the Bungie Marathon and Myth series. Marathon was fantastic, it incorporated great action with strategy and epic story telling and the graphics were pretty good for the time. The multiplayer action was incredibly addictive. I worked for a biotech company where we would have 5 guys playing until midnight a few times a week. Captain Keyes in Halo has a Marathon emblem on his uniform; I thought that was a cool touch added by Bungie. And when Myth came out we did the same thing. Bungie just builds incredibly fun and immersive games. When I heard Microsoft bought Bungie, I was broken hearted. I was really looking forward to Halo on the Mac. In fact, Jason Jones of Bungie gave the first public peak of Halo at the MacWorld conference. Well, I was getting sick of consistently having to upgrade my Mac (or purchase a new one) to play the latest games like Unreal. So I broke down and bought the Xbox. Paying [the price] for the Xbox is cheap; I have bought video cards that were more expensive than that. The first game I bought was Halo and I am still playing it 9 months later. The game is fantastic. The graphics are incredibly detailed. The enemies are intelligent and tough to kill. The soundtrack is excellent. The game is state of the art. To go from being a foot soldier to actually driving or piloting a vehicle is seamless. I was actually a bit unnerved when a new enemy appeared two thirds of the way through the game. The game has that sort of visceral hit where you actually feel like you are in the world of the Master Chief. I do have some complaints such as when there are lots of enemies and Marines in a fight the game seems to slow down and it feels like you are doing little or no damage to whom you are shooting at and there always seems to be a lack of ammo hanging around (although you can pick up any weapon you want, I just love using the pistol!). And the game is brutal to play at the Legendary skill level, but I guess that is the point. If you are a fan of first person shooters, you must get this game.	video-games_xbox
not a bad RPG, but no final fantasy. In all honesty, I haven't beaten the game yet. I have gotten about 10 hours in, but so far, I am not seeing this as being a great final fantasy game. I have been playing FF since FF7. Although the games graphics are second to none and the voice acting has come a long way from it's first installment in FF10, the designers seem to be getting away from what(to me anyway) is one of the best parts of the game. The battle system. I am glad to see that square went back to the ATB battle system after the dismal failure of FF12's "revolutionary" battle system. I tried to finish that game twice and I just couldn't do it. 13 brings back the classic system, but now only lets you control one character. Even 12 would let you override your gambits and control the other characters in the party. FF13 also borrows from the second worse FF game, X-2 with the paradigm system. In FFX-2, you controlled three characters and you changed their job based on what you wanted them to do(IE, if you wanted to heal, you had to change Yuna into a white mage). You basically have the same system in 13 although to give credit to it, it is much more advanced and has some cooler features. I have always wanted to see a final fantasy game where they took all the best parts of the previous installments and made a killer game, and if you look closely enough you can see some, just not enough to make the game I was hoping for. The Crystarium is very similar to the sphere grid from X, the ATB system which I equate with 7, and although it is an obscure reference, there is a gunblade that comes from 8. All in all, I am having fun with the game. I am interested in the story though it seems to be progressing very slowly and as I said before the graphics are top notch. If you are looking to play a good rpg game, then by all means pick this one up and give it a shot. If you are looking for the next great final fantasy game, this isn't it. I have replayed 7,8,9, and 10 several times(10 being my favorite with the ability to change characters mid battle). So far no other final fantasy game since 10 has made me think that I will want to play it again. Update: So I finished the game and my original review still stands. The graphics are awesome and the story is pretty good, but the game mechanics are just not up to snuff. I also felt that there was no chance to divert from the story and go do something else. It was bugging me through the game and after I beat it I found that all the sidequests were to be completed post main story line finish. After I beat the boss, I tried to play a little more, got bored, and haven't played it since. I don't even feel the need to go back and start from the beginning like I have in other ff games. Also the weapon upgrading was far too complicated and in depth. If you don't have the strategy guide, which has an entire chapter dedicated to how to upgrade weapons, you are lost and needlessly spend thousands of gil on items that are basically inefficient. There is no explanation in the game that goes in depth on how to upgrade. All in all, I am happy I played because since 7 I have played every final fantasy game except the online one, but I am severely dissapointed that this game has the name final fantasy associated with it.	video-games_xbox
Solid Game. Nicely Done Special Edition. The Payne Is Back. It was 2003 when Max Payne 2 came out, a sequel to a bloody, faul language game that had me go through its campaing at least 12 times. Bullet time was my old time favorite, and going through some of Max's darkest dreams was always a riddle on its own...I will cover the contents of the Special Edition at the end... Now Max Payne 3 is here..we find an older Max, boozed and high on pills, the same old demons inside his head...His old self in a brand new game...Max Payne 3 will take you for a wild ride from the minute you start until the very end. I started playing the game last night at midnight and haven't been able to put it down until now; a solid single player will keep you on your toes and the various multiplayer options will keep you occupied for many hours to come. The story begins with Max finding himself working in Brazil for a private security company looking after a real state big shot, whom puts Max in charge of his wife's security..of course, she is kidnapped..and that's as far as I will go...NO SPOILERS here. The game looks amazing, from face animation to environments, everything has been done with extreme detail and it truly paid off for Rock Star, this is an A++ game. From shadows, to night lights, to gun battles, you will have plenty of eye candy to enjoy; it is a gorgeous game. If you have a surround sound system, get ready to get your face melted; the deep bass and sharp bullets sounds make this an experience like no other. The voice work is top notch filled with plenty of faul language and taunts, it's the old payne we knew from before. The main story is great, it will keep you intrigued from start to end, I can't go into much detail, but I can promise you this, it is a wild ride. I'm happy to report that the controls are solid, I had no issues popping fools left and right and best of all, BULLET TIME is back! oh yeah, fans of the series will be pleased and new comers will know what's all about. Bullet time gives Max the ability to slow down battle time and shoot your way out of tricky situations. You basically have a Bullet Time meter that gets used every time, but can be filled by killing enemies or when you're getting shot at. The covering systems is as good as always, but this time be careful, some cover can be destroyed and will leave you out in the open, so be prepared to move quickly. Rockstar added a "Final Kill Camera" which basically will let you know that you've cleared and area, you can slow the camera down for a more intense view :) The game is rated "M" for mature and for good reason, there's plenty of booze, pills and sexual themes to go abound, so make sure under age kids don't play this. Max has to actually take pain killers as means to recover health (like good old times) Targetting is has three stages, Hard Lock, which will lock whatever enemey is closer to you; Soft Lock, requires you to aim closer to targets and OFF, which basically turns targetting assistance off. Enemy AI, I was worried at first, but again, RockStar has pulled it off, there's nothing dumb about those fools. They will take cover and try their best to make you bleed. Multiplayer: The multiplayer aspect of this game is fun and addictive and it has the following modes and sub-modes: Matchmaking: Join or creat your own party/game. PlayLists: Traning modes...deathmatch and team deathmatch for players new to the whole Max Payne MP experience (basically all of us) DeathMatch: every gangster for himself Team DeathMatch: Work with your gang to kill your rivals Payne Killer: a blend of co-op and competetive play. The game starts with a standoff, whoever kills first, gets to be Max Payne and Raul Passos. Large DeathMatch: up to 16 players killing each other. Large Team DeathMatch: same as above, but in teams. Gang Wars (my favorite: Key events from the single player story are used as start off points. Gang Wars has the following: Warfare... all out battle for supremacy Showdown... battle to the death, the gang's strength depends on the previous rounds Survivor....limited team lives Last Stand... each gang member has only ONE life. TakeDown... a target based mode. Take out the target and kill everybody else. Short Fuse... arm a bomb and protect the one doing it. Delivery...both gangs must collect and deliver items to a location Grab....gangs fight to capture two bags and delivery them Turf Grab....battle for turf Total Turf...fight for multiple turf sections Siege...pinned, one gang must hold on to 3 territories. Passage... one gang runs for their life while being hunted by the other (one of my favorites) If you want sex, alcohol, drugs, psycho episodes and plenty of blood, then Max Payne 3 is for you; a complete game by all means. Great story, awesome mechanics, gore and Bullet Time...Max is defenitely back. So there you have it, another solid game from the dudes at Rock Star, these guys have been in business for a long time and they always deliver. Kudos to them. Now, the Special Edition and its goodies: The statue: made entirely of plastic, very detailed and solid. Max's face and clothing has been carefully painted and he even has a 5'Oclock shadow. The statue is based on a hardwood floor model with bullet casing on it. It is freaking sweet. Arms, legs, head, basically none of his extremeties can't be moved, but I don't mind, it's a statue, not an action figure. The Bullet key chain...this thing is great, it unscews at the bottom, so you can stash...well, your stash...lol..it has "Max Payne3" and R engrave on its sides. 4 lithographs picturing booze, pills, guns and bullets. They're actually nice to look at and would look nice mounted. Download code for the official sound track Download code for the special edition pack that includes the classic MP characters and disorderly conduct weapons pack. That's it. For $100 there's plenty to grab and enjoy. Worth every penny.	video-games_xbox
A Few Flaws in an otherwise Perfect Game. After finally finishing the game, I give it a 9.6/10. It's a huge game with lots to do, an imteresting story and tons of well written dialoge and quests. I will list a few of its cons and why it isn't a perfect 10. Cons: 1. Repetivie Music (especially during Gwent card game) This seems like a minor gripe but over the course of an 80 hour adventure it can get old. They play this fluty tracks in inns, festivals/parties and during every gwent game I've played. Idk if its a glitch or what. 2. Weak Overall Plot - Dont get me wrong, the characters and story structure and main quests are all top notch. I just felt the game could have been so much better had it more of an epic center story. I never felt like I was making a huge impact on the world - like I did in Mass Effect for example. 3. Side Quests - although there are a great many that are actually well-written and fleshed out more than any other game, its just too many. And there is no way to get to all of them in an appropriate amount of time, especially if you want to progress the story in a reasonable amount of time. While I do appreciate the fact the option is there - they should have slimmed down the number of quests and, trimmed the fat off a bit and focused a bit more on polishing the main quests. That would have been better time spent for me. Sometimes you are on a quest and 8 more pop up on your way. It's madness. And add a quick access to the quest journal. That would have been helpful too. 4. Clumsy controls - Geralt moves "realistically". Meaning if you try to move promptly one way or another, sometimes he will take a roundabout way of getting there like an animal circling its bed. You get used to it, but I just prefer precise controls [like if I had to walk a plank in a game I could, in this if you had the choice you'd be swimming with the fishes] The clumsy controls get even worse on your horse. When you get on him it takes him a good 3 seconds to start moving and then he will stop abruptly for no reason sometimes. It can be very annoying. Overall this game is amazing, perhaps in my top 3 of all time. And with a game this massive its going to have some flaws. While my complaints are minor, I do wish they'd have been addressed in a patch (at least the music and stubborn horse controls) because they seem to be easy fixes.	video-games_xbox
Well worth the price. If you would like a little taste of the future you need to get one of these. Why? because your able to control your xbox one and possibly your TV by mostly voice commands. With the Kinect attached to my HD cable box and connected to my home wifi I can now turn my system off and on by just walking into the room and saying xbox turn on. Or turn it all off by saying xbox turn off. But this is just the beginning. With just voice commands I can access all my games. Access my movies on, You name the app. Amazon, Hulu, Netflix. I play, pause, rewind, fast forward what I'm watching. I can access my cable TV listings. I can switch channels. Raise and lower the TV volume. I can go on and on. This thing is just amazing. Now back to reality. This is all possible but each persons individual experience will be different depending on what equipment they own. The instructions that come with the Kinect and the xbox one console are non existent. I can only guess they assume you will just google the setup. That's probably right but Microsoft should at least mention it somewhere. That being said the setup was fairly easy but did take a little time. The Kinect just plugs into the back of your Xbox. And is powered by the xbox. No additional power cord is needed. Once hooked up you should be able to go to the settings in the xbox menu and see the Kinect as a connected device. From there I just started exploring it's features. With a little help from google. Overall it was well worth the $90 I paid for it. The only drawback for me was Dance central. I have no interest in this software. I wish Microsoft would offer the Kinect without it at a slightly lower cost, offer another title in it's place or a discount on the software of your choice. Something other that here a software title that your paying for but don't want. *UPDATE* Oct 2016 I've had my kinect for about 7 months now and it has started to show similar problems that others have reported. More specifically trouble staying on. I havnt as yet contacted Microsoft since I have been successful in getting it to work again. But it does disconnect from time to time. What I find fascinating is I have become so trained with voice commands that it would be difficult to sever my connection with the device. I really enjoy not having to pick up a remote to turn my tv off and on. Change the volume or channels. Not to mention all the other commands that can be used. If this Kinect should stop working I would gladly buy another.	video-games_xbox
Hunting monsters. I heard a lot of good things about the Witcher 2 but was not able to try it out since I lacked a pc for gaming. After the Enhanced version came out on the Xbox 360 was available I was finally able to play through it. Personally I think a lot of the praise for it is pretty well deserved. The game play was very challenging, but satisfying. The story is good with great lore and characters to back it up. The visuals were beautiful, making the fantasy world very immersing. You take on the role of Geralt a witcher. The witchers are supernatural warriors with cat-like eyes who hunt monsters and break curses, for a price. Luckily there is no shortage of monsters so work for the witchers never seems to run out. The main story line continues off the first game, (which I haven't tried so I had to tediously read through walls of text to get a basic understanding of the overall setting). Geralt a career monster hunter is dragged along by a king as a glorified body guard. After the king is assassinated Geralt finds himself being blamed for the murder of the king and sets off on a journey to find the real assassin. Though that little bit only scratches the surface of the overall story. The medieval setting feels very true to history. The nobility are pompous and prone to betrayal. The peasantry is bigoted and superstitious. Wars are fought brutally with soldiers behaving more like bandits. While there is a moral choice aspect to the game its not as clear cut as other games like Mass Effect. Good and bad are blurred, and choices you make whether moral or amoral can come back to haunt you. In the end you just have to go with what satisfies you most. Example (Spoilers): In one part of the game you are given the choice to helping a ruthless guerilla fighter by setting him loose, which only seemed fair given that not long before hand he had done your character a favor. Without thinking much of it I let them go. Suddenly when I returned to the settlement that I had been based in for that part of the story you suddenly bare witness to a horrific massacre of innocent people with the release of the terrorist leader being the justification. Unpredictable and yet very realistic. No fairy tale endings in this story. The game play is very challenging, and if you tackle it on the hardest difficulty like I did, it can be downright infuriating on certain parts. Combat especially can be very difficult and unforgiving if not prepared for properly. You'll find yourself dodging and blocking more often than swinging your sword around relentlessly like Kratos. Sometimes it seems pretty straightforward, you use the steel sword on humanoid enemies like bandits, then you use your silver sword on monsters like the undead. Otherwise some strategy is required which sometimes turns into plain trial and error. You have your run of the mill level system as well with various branches that offer their own advantages. Like a branch for combat for more melee damage and better sword combos. An alchemy branch for better potion making skills for medicines or traps. As well as a magic one for better spells. While the difficulty can make some cringe I was pretty satisfied with it. After all fighting werewolves and draugrs shouldn't be a walk in the park. The only tip I can throw in is the Quen sign is extremely helpful when taking on groups. There are a few mini games on the side like dice games and pit fighting, but they are ridiculously easy when compared to the game play of the main plot. In the it was good game and I can't wait for the third release. In summary, The good -A good story and characters, like the moral choice system and different plot-lines you can follow. -Cool over worlds, gives a very authentic medieval feel. -Great graphics, character models look good and so do the monsters, environments are beautiful and life like. -Challenging game play The bad -Somewhat confusing UI, did without grenades and traps for awhile because I couldn't figure out how to equip them. -Auto save system is bad, so you should save manually often. -Difficulty can become ridiculous in some parts.	video-games_xbox
Aboslutely Amazing Game. I have just taken my first peak into the second "world," and have had the game a few days now. The game is an excellent value. The first world is enormous, the graphics are very nice, the tasks are challenging and keep you coming back to try again when you fail but not to the point where they are frustrating. This game offers so much, and is so cool, I don't know where to begin. The controls are easy to pick up, and VEXX has a lot of interesting attack combos that he can perform. Swimming underwater takes some practice, but it's pretty cool, his gloves act like underwater jet packs and propel him through the water really nice. Personally, and I haven't played all the other platform games out there, but I think VEXX is hands down the best platform game ever made, primarily because the worlds are non-linear..VEXX roams free in each world....in other platform games you more or less progress in a straight line from one way-point to the next and complete tasks along the way...but in VEXX you just go where you want to go, like in a "MYST" type situation...if you are familiar with MYST. The other thing that is really awesome about VEXX is the music and sound effects. In most games the music is more of a nuisance that detracts from the game, but in VEXX, well, it's hard to do it justice, but in VEXX the music is so appropriate, so intertwined with the game, so EPIC in sound, and the horns blare and the music changes when you accomplish a task, sounding more triumphant as you complete it, it seriously gives me chills up and down my spine sometimes. Of course I don't know what the game is going to look like farther down the road, but from what I have seen thus far the TEEN rating is a little much, the game in my opinion is easily suitable for much younger than teens. One more thing about the game, and that is that it is a very fun game to watch other people play, almost like watching a movie. Really, if you aren't sure about this game, then by all means go rent it first....but if there is even a tiny bit of a platform fan in you, then you will be buying this game afer you rent it. It is an exceptional game and an exceptional value Best of Luck	video-games_xbox
Sad, But I Don't Miss My Life. I was invited to a party tonight where booze and beautiful women would abound, but I don't know if I'll go. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those poor schlubs that spend all his time in a virtual world, cursing out people on the net from the safety of a computer desk. I enjoy a healthy social life, and engage in as much fun as the law will allow. Meeting new people is fun, and forming relationships has always come easy for me. And though I generally don't like talking on the phone, I never screen my calls. I figure if someone took the time to call me, then who am I to ignore them. I hate answering the phone now. Commander Shepherd just stands there in silence awaiting a command while I have to endure mind-numbing chatter about events I could care less about from the other end of the line. Didn't I tell the other person when they asked what I was up to that I was playing Mass Effect? Did that not imply that I would rather be playing a game than helping you decide what color you should dye your hair? And, no, I don't want to come over and watch a movie when I'm practically playing one now. Now I'm sure that the novelty of the game will wear off eventually, and by eventually I mean probably after Christmas. Which is good, because I would like to overcome the addiction by New Year's, but for now I'm going to live the life of a malnourished sleep-deprived hermit? I just hate explaining to my friends that it's a video game that is doing this to me and not depression (something they can sympathize with), even though the outward signs are similar. Speaking of outward signs, it looks like it might rain. I certainly don't want to get caught out in a storm leaving a party. Looks like I have to cancel and stay in for the night. Darn shame. Oh, I almost forgot: Pros: Story: A+ Graphics: A Gameplay: B+ (but a harsh C when it comes to getting out from behind cover) Cons: Framerate loss: B- (but it still doesn't distract from the overall experience)	video-games_xbox
Doesn't work. Received this as a Christmas gift. Unpacked it, put it in my controller, according to the battery status on my 360 it was about 2/3 charged. Played for 5 minutes and it died. Plugged in the USB charging cord through the 360, the red "charging" LED flashed over to green in about 2 minutes, checked the battery status indicator through my 360, showed 2/3 charged still. Unplugged the cable, turned off the 360, turned it back on, turned on the controller with the charging cable unplugged, status showed 1 bar. Plugged in the charging cable, and again, the red "charging" LED flashed over to green after about a minute or 2. Had other things to do so when I came to it again the next day I plugged in the charging cable and it stayed red while I played a game for an hour or so, turned off the 360, left the charging cable plugged in so it charged while the console was off, STILL flashed over to green about a minute after powering down the console. Next time I played I actually got about an hour of wireless game play out of it before it died. Plugged in a DIFFERENT charging cable, same result, LED flashed green after a minute or 2 of being plugged in. I've got 3 controllers and 2 charging cables, the controller and charging cable are the same ones I've been using for the past 8 months and the battery this one replaced has been used that long as well and never had a single problem with that battery holding a charge so I'm fairly confident it's neither the controller nor the cable. Will be working to get a replacement, if the replacement works fine, I'll update this review. EDIT: Forgot to update this review. The seller ended up issuing a refund for the battery pack. I went and purchased this battery pack: <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/NEW-NYKO-86036-XBOX-360--NIMH-BATTERY-PACK-WHITE-VIDEO-GAME-ACCESS/dp/B004UD1PFC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">NEW NYKO 86036 XBOX 360" NIMH BATTERY PACK (WHITE) (VIDEO GAME ACCESS)</a>. It has worked flawlessly for the past 5 months.	video-games_xbox
Game of the Year. I know theres a couple new reviews on here stating we are crazy for thinking this game is amazing due to the lack of decent games for the 360. Well they are wrong! This game is purely amazing and entirely fun. You get hooked and want to find the light at the end of the tunnel. My favorite part is being able to play the whole game in co-op mode with a friend. That makes life so much easier and the game a lot more fun when you can help your friend get past certain parts and your friend can assist you. Adds a level of fun to the game and makes replayability not an issue. Theres levels for any type of player. Casual, Hardcore, and Insanity. Each mode gives you something harder and more defined. Ill tell you right now, the best way to play is with a friend because it makes the game a lot easier to swallow. The controls are very good. I know people have been commenting on the cover skills. I think they are pretty good although I agree you should be able to crouch when your not against a wall. But switch among the different commands gets easier over time. I don't think that one reviewer gave the game a fair shake. Just because the enemies don't just fall over doesnt mean its a bad game. Thats why it's challenging. His precious GTA is very angering because of the controls. Missions are very difficult at points! The graphics and sound as said before are excellent. They blow you away. For the most part the game is very fluid. Only a couple times I've seen slow down and only one time there was a glitch where I got stuck after rolling. The sounds are amazing. Listening to the creatures scream and yell is amazing and chilling. You def want to crank that sound up and listen for the subtle changes and the great music thats behind it. Anyone can pick up this game and be engrossed! And using the Saw Bayonet is one of the best things I've seen in a game. I just love catching one of those jerks upclose and revving up my saw then cutting right through them. You have a feeling like "oh yeah, i just wreck your world sucka!". Hopefully next Gears of War there will be more along the lines of story because this one is mostly just dropping you into the fray of fighting and saying they are bad you are good kill them and get to the end. But nevertheless its still worth the full 60 bucks and it also comes with a great online!	video-games_xbox
BioShock Infinite: Shockingly Good But Not Superb. Story: BioShock Infinite is best described as the lovechild of Myst and Medal of Honor. It's a first-person shooter, but you'll do more exploring than shooting. You play as Booker DeWitt, a rough-and-tumble man on a mission to rescue a fair maiden from her tower on Columbia, an idyllic, turn-of-the-century, steampunky flying city. However, you don't exactly care about the young lady, Elizabeth, at first; she's simply your ticket to "wipe away the [gambling] debt" that you've accrued. Your mission is to find Elizabeth and hand her over to a mysterious man who will then grant you financial security. Simple, and that's good enough for you since you're the kind of guy that doesn't ask many questions. This is about all the story I can give without ruining the fun, but know that you're in for a trip full of U.S. history, religious fervor, racism, class issues, and... quantum physics. Gameplay: You'll be exploring Columbia on foot and on rail. The rail system is a ton of fun and one of the few things, next to attention to detail (just check out all the propaganda scattered throughout the game) and story, that truly elevates the game. Essentially, you have a magnetic hook that attaches to rails scattered throughout the city and allows you to travel quickly between areas. Riding this contraption looks like you're on a roller coaster, so beware if you get motion sickness! You can jump between rails, change direction, speed up, slow down, fire your weapons, and leap off landing on enemies to deal massive melee damage. You can equip three types of items: vigors, weapons, and gear. Vigors are Alice-in-Wonderland-styled drinks that give you short-lasting special powers, such as the ability to knock enemies back or make them fight for you. Vigor activation requires salt (one of the three gauges you have, along with health and shields), and salt, money, and health-healing food/medkits are strewn about the levels. There are about 14 weapons you can find throughout the game, and, aside from your grappling hook (which doubles as a melee weapon), you can only carry 2 weapons at a time. There are many gear items to be found that boost things such as weapon damage, movement speed, and ammo capacity, and you can equip 4 at once (hat, shirt, pants, shoes). I don't believe the items change your appearance. Vigor and weapon upgrades are available to purchase at vending machines with money that's really hard to amass. You'll also collect Voxophones, which are like recorded diary entries that slowly reveal bits of the story. The game plays like a typical first-person shooter, one where your shield regenerates but your health does not (until you pick up a health kit). There are checkpoints where the game autosaves, so if you exit the game before you hit a checkpoint, you may have to retrace your steps for a bit or fight a battle that you already fought. Graphics: I'm really torn here. Some of the objects are gorgeous to look at, while others are heavily pixelated and look like they came from 1999! It's a really weird dichotomy, and I can only try to explain it by saying that this game has been in development for years and was rushed toward the end, so some of the older tech possibly stuck or was glossed over in favor of more important design elements. Music/Atmosphere: This game was very clearly lovingly crafted. It has a very distinct style (even enemies reek of patriotism), it uses period music or rearranges modern music to sound like it came from the early 20th century, sound effects are spot on, and voice acting is superb. The colors and lighting effects are intense, and Columbia, which exhibits a weird mix of nationalism, Christian fundamentalism, and technology, is fascinating to explore. Shortcomings: Aside from occasional graphical oddities and menu lag, this game is disappointing for it's lack of choice. The gameplay is very linear, and the few decisions you are forced to make have almost no bearing on the outcome of the story. I can only think of one decision that alters the story, but it's a really unimportant detail. The story itself is interesting, and I certainly enjoyed uncovering more of it through Voxophones and exploration, but by the end of the game I felt like there were some gaping holes in my knowledge of DeWitt and Columbia. While I understood the ending, I didn't truly appreciate it until I read a wiki that detailed a more complete picture of the characters' back stories. With the exception of the rail system, which is very well done, there is nothing novel about the gameplay. This game may be good for a second playthrough to catch what parts of the story you missed the first time, but it's relatively short (maybe 20 hours if you do a lot of exploring) and offers little other incentive to play again. SPOILER Yes, you can unlock one difficulty mode by beating the game, but the only reason to play that mode is to get two Xbox achievements, which are not really worth another, more difficult playthrough for most people.	video-games_xbox
Xbox 360 is worth EVERY PENNY. Ah, true next generation gaming. Beyold the greatness of Xbox 360! I can honestly say there are SO many reasons to purchase a 360. Granted it had some issues when it first came out (since corrected so I've heard) but practice makes perfect! This system is very affordable for what you get with it. But honestly, if given a choice go for the platinum package. I'll explain later in detail. So why do I think Xbox 360 is so good? Well, first off it's not made by SONY, that's a HUGE plus. Second, it's the next generation of a system that was REALLY good, the original Xbox. Third, it has great games to go along with those pretty graphics. It's afforable, albeit a little bit pricey to get started, but if you think about it, it's worth it. And last, IT'S GOOD! I honestly only have one complaint about it so let's get that out of the way. I can't play all of my old xbox games on it. There I said it! If this thing had 100% backward compatability it would be perfect. Other than that, I have NO COMPLAINTS WHAT SO EVER. So let's go on to the positives The price. Yeah it's a little costly at first. But when you put it all together for what you get you are actually ending up with a bargain. Honestly, spend the extra 100 bucks for the platinum edition. The stuff you get with it alone makes it worth the extra cost. You get the hard drive, which beats the heck out of a memory card anyday. You get a headset, which I have only used once but that's because i'm really not into the whole online gaming thing. You get a wireless controller (the way to go) which is SO SWEET compared to the old style short cord controllers. All you need at that point (OPTIONAL, if YOU want it) is a rechargeable battery pack ($30, includes a rechargeable battery) You get a free month of Xbox live gold, followed by lifetime free silver membership. You get the awesome Xbox live. All in all a GREAT deal So what else? Games, PLENTY of them, and MANY MANY MANY good ones to chose from. Sure Xbox will never have the star power of mario or zelda, but they have plenty of great titles to chose from. No shame in second place. Really, their are too many great titles to list, it goes on and on. And while other companys (SONY) only care about graphics, these games are GOOD to go along with some of the best visuals you'll ever see. The graphics on these games is amazing, and i don't even have an HDTV. My TV is 3 years old and it still looks awesome. the games are EXTREMELY reasonable in price, most are the same or SLIGHTLY higher than those for the original Xbox. I will never mind paying 60 bucks for an Xbox game because I am confident it will be well worth it. The next thing I have to mention, XBOX live. Wow, I am very impressed. You can download all kinds of stuff. They have awesome retro gaming. Granted there are not many titles yet and their is no way they will compete with Wii's virtual console..but who cares? It's not like it's sony and it's going to suck! The Xbox live arcade has many of my favorite games from when i was a kid (Time Pilot, gauntlet, joust, street fighter, etc) to go along with great puzzle games from yahoo (bejeweled, zuma, jewel quest, etc) and a slew of new games as well ( I love feeding frenzy, a crazy fish game) Many of these titles are affordable using points you can buy either online through your xbox (the easiest way) or with a gift card available just about anywhere. You can also use points to buy background themes, gamer pictures, etc. There are free game demos and trailers of upcomming titles, though it takes time to download. No Big Deal! You can also connect wirelessly with your computer like I do using a free downloadable program (to your computer, not xbox) called windows media connect (look online at microsoft) and listen to any song you have stored on your computer, look at any pictures you have stored on your computer, look at videos, etc. Sony PSP's have trouble accessing SONY computers? Why mess with that company when microsoft gives you everything you need? You can watch dvds as well. Even buy a remote if you want Many people cried about issues when it first came out, overheating, breaking easily, etc. I waited to get mine until Dead rising came out and i have not had ONE problem, NOT ONE. NO DEAD PIXELS OUT OF THE BOX LIKE A COMPETITOR. However, I highly recomend a service plan with microsoft. You get thirty days from purchase to get one ( i did ) and if you get a 2 year plan it's even cheaper. For all the money you just spent it's worth it. Well worth it. I hope this helps those who may be thinking about purchasing a 360 (DO IT!) and makes those who already own it proud to know we are better than anything sony has. Sony should change there name to SORRY. I HIGHLY recomend the xbox 360 to anyone. It is BEYOND well worth the price you pay, it's a steal actually. See my other listmania list about 360 for a suggestion on some great games. And have fun! Enjoy!	video-games_xbox
Thief: Deadly Marketing. Thief III, absurdly titled "Deadly Shadows", is less an actual sequal and more of a molestation of a brilliant concept. I have played Deadly Shadows from beginning to end several times since its release, and while I still enjoy it, I am appalled and frustrated by the absolute incompetence -- and what at times feels like apathy -- that went into designing this game. How is it that a game from 1998 (Thief 1) performs, on a technological standpoint, better than a game from 2004? The model animations in Thief 1 were smooth and almost realistic (motion capturing perhaps) while Deadly Shadows' animations are jerky and tremelous. Not only that, but the majority of human-shaped character models share the same animations, hence Deadly Shadows' "yawning Zombies". The rag doll effects are almost completely devoid of realism. Characters, when knocked out with the blackjack or killed, will bend over backwards like spineless, rubber dummies, often staying in that position indefinitely unless pushed over. It should also be mentioned that characters cannot be blackjacked while sitting and doing so will merely alarm them to your presence. Aspects of the character models are also poorly done. The facial design for many of the models are stiff and comical. Characters that would otherwise seem dark and menacing, such as the Hammmers or the Keepers, are instead portrayed with rosey cheeks and permanent jovial expressions. The hair on some male characters is rendered as flat, textured slabs that at times cuts through the forehead, exposing a very noticeable clipping error. The female models are by far the worst, with impossibly thin, anorexic bodies and disportionately large hands. The A.I. performs adequately, but what a character says in response to some triggering event doesn't always correlate with what has happened. For example, when putting out a torch, candle or fire place with a water arrow, a character will sometimes reply with "Whose messing with the light switch?" or "Turn that back on!". There are only two levels in the entire game with light switches. The graphics, for most the part, are actually very attractive for the time and in an aesthetic that is true to the previous games. The environments, while small, are all interesting to explore. Missions are separated by free roaming intermissions in The City where you can sell your loot and buy your gear and some additional tools. The City is seperated into multiple sections and as the game progresses you are granted access to more of these sections. Graphically, the City looks great -- that is, until you purchase the "climbing gloves". This addition allows you to climb most stone walls. It also exposes many areas of the City where you can easily climb up high enough to see where the game world stops, if you know what I mean. This strongly suggests that the climbing gloves were a last minute idea, hence its rushed and clumsy implementation. It's also a poor replacement for the already useful and well designed rope arrows of the previous two games, which are sorely absent this time. The voice acting only works when characters are being voiced by the original actors of the previous games. One of the new predominant personas is the "thug"; an annoying, children's cartoon cliche that seems hundreds of years out of place in the Thief setting. The absolute worst of the voice acting can be found in the shops of the City where sellers will pace back and forth behind a counter, repetitively cycling through the same monologues everytime you enter. As for the story, I wasn't terribly impressed. Without going into great detail, the plot revolves around the Keepers and their discovery of a danger internal to their organization that will bring about a "dark age". It turns out that one of them is actually a monster that derives its powers from the glyphs; the symbols the Keepers use to write history and predict future events. Thief's unique animated cutscenes are back, though unfortunately most of the cutscenes use something that resembles the game's engine and are quite hideous, even for the time. All of my criticisms aside, there is still a good experience to be had in Deadly Shadows. The game suffers mainly from its lack of polish and finesse. Given more time, Deadly Shadows could have been something much better, but releasing a game so incomplete - so flawed - and calling it a finished product is ridiculous, especially with something as revolutionary and well respected as the Thief series.	video-games_xbox
Got to love the Snipers. Comparing this to the other Sniper games, it's very similar and very fun albeit for a very short run. None the less, I like it for its fun factor. The bullet cam is great, not overdone like in Sniper Elite. Graphics looked great to me. Re-load is a laboriously slow multistep exaggeration. The bullet penetration is great too, so take the shot at the guys under cover. Artificial Intelligence is also impressive and has the upper hand if you do not follow the prescribed directions of your spotter - that is, the AI will get you if you sound alarms, unless you fall back and regroup. Shooting mechanics are great, breathing, trigger control, timing, bullet drop, wind, all a consideration. More in the expert mode, which I've only tested a bit so far, so it does offer a lot more skill based challenges as you become more familiar with the game. From another viewpoint, it is one of the most linear and restrictive game experiences you can find - at least in casual mode. It will not let you vary from what it expects. So if it tells you to take off down a trail, the trail is your only option - there is no open world to explore, no alternative shooting locations - it will guide you to each target, highlight them, and you are required to shoot them. Even the order in which you shoot them is sometimes restricted (unless you're fast) and then your spotter says something like "Oh, I guess you had another plan." haha One more example to illustrate the control aspect. You will be directed to follow the path, then where to setup your snipe, then who to shoot and when you first get into position you're told to scout the area with your binoculars. You can't get out of the binocular mode just to take a look around and your movement of the binoculars is restricted to the field of view the game wants you to examine at that moment! Once you've "Spotted" the friendlies (or enemies), it changes the limits of your viewing area to another sector so you can "Find" the next set of bad dudes. So, I would say this game is about as a restricted linear game model as there is out there. The same goes for the scoping once you reach the setup point, you cannot get out of the sniper scope to check out your surroundings once you're in sniper mode. None the less, this is still a fun game since it forces you to appear to be good. I'm just finishing the casual mode, perhaps the advanced mode will allow me more freedoms...if so, I'll update the review. At this point however, I'd have to say Sniper Elite had more control over the experience, like choosing your locations and the ability to use your binoculars/scopes at your leisure vs the game's demand. So, if you like "camping" and providing backup to your primary team (as Snipers are supposed to do)...you'll appreciate the game play and opportunities presented in this game. Get it, it is worth the money if you like sniping at all, you'll enjoy this game for the fun factor of making long range shots and missions. Update: Act 2 Ghost of Sarajevo - Based on this mission, I had to come back and update the review a bit...this particular level was agonizingly slow because it required all this sneaking about (vs sniping)...OK, so it's part of sniping, but I didn't find it satisfying myself. I tried to go against the plan just to add some fun by killing everyone in a segment of the mission (and you can)...but it's one of those "go thru undetected"modes where taking two shots, when they think one will do (double kill), is going to set off an alarm. Beating the AI after that is a challenge - but fall back if you need to. Also knowing which soldiers you CAN kill along the way vs sneaking by, isn't exactly intuitive. Sometimes, really easy, sometimes entirely more than needed. I mentioned this before, but, it's a one way game, it demands you to follow their plan, yet the direction reticule often takes a break to get a drink or something, so take care to keep an eye on where you need to go. So, this particular level had fun moments, but not as much as the rest of the game AND it's miles between saves in a very big mission. Mess up and you have to spend additional wasted time re-sneaking by them - agonizingly slow.	video-games_xbox
Updated review. After a bad start. MY UPDATED REVIEW_AFTER FINALLY RECEIVING MY SABERTOOTH) As I have stated earlier-My reviews are based off of the manufacturer's service, as well as the product. After such a lengthy, unhappy process for a product that was released months ago. I have finally received my controller. I have been using the controller for a week now. Strictly on Battlefield 3. The Box: I have always enjoyed RAZER's choice in packaging. Presentation of a product is very important. Something companies like PDP and Madcatz seem to miss the mark on. RAZER keeps their packaging consistent as well as interesting. I tend to open RAZER packaging gingerly, to prevent tearing the edges. The only other product that I have kept its packaging for is the ASTRO A40's. The packaging is like it is part of its collectability. The inside contains a sweet hard case that houses the controller and its components. Out of the box, the controller is ready to go. I briefly glanced over the easy to understand instructions, and went straight to using the controller. Only out of laziness have I not fully understood how to adjust the backlit lights. The brightness is my only beef. But, it IS adjustable. I packed away the box, with the instructions inside. So my only concern with this is-there needs to be a pdf or digital instructions on setting the buttons and adjusting the lights on the RAZER website. Not a big deal for me. Just something I see being a problem for other users down the road. The controller... feels great! Like the ONZA, the underside and palm feel great. The button response is fantastic. The thumb sticks are 100% the best I have ever used. Just to see if I was crazy, I plugged in competitors "high end" controllers, as well as the New Microsoft controller (the one with the adjustable D-pad). The responsiveness of the Sabertooth is beyond good. I can notice the latency of the other controllers when moving left and right-compared to the ST (Sabertooth). The underside triggers are above expectations. I was apprehensive to the idea, only because the extra buttons on the Onza seemed like a good Idea that turned out to be a huge flop due to them being so close to the LB and RB. I started out using the basic layout with the ST, because I didn't have the button programming instructions handy. After toying with the programming buttons, the display actually told me what to do next. That was very surprising. Add another point to RAZER. The triggers took a little getting used to using for a day. After that...I am a beast in vehicles with the new triggers. Overall, I am a fan of the Sabertooth controller. My only negative review for the ST is the plug in cable.( I am not saying "I wish it was battery..." like most people gripe about. I don't like unscrewing multi-pin plugs over and over again because it causes wear and tear on the pins and ports. There needs to be a simple solution for the plug to disconnect for easy storage to minimize wear and tear. I worry that this controller will spoil me, only to find it turned into a worthless brick due to cheap manufacturing materials. Then I will be stuck going back to the boring old controllers I was using before Sabertooth came into my life. (MY ORIGINAL POST)BS! Backorder shipping date keeps changing. Thanks RAZER!-I get that there is a backorder. I knew there was going to be a long delay when I placed my order. But don't tell me my order is going to ship on a specific date and then add another month to it on the date it was supposed to ship. This isn't Amazons fault. This is RAZERs inept management. Maybe the CEO should not be touring the gaming scene with the 10 booth babes at tow, hyping up that lame iPad knock off (you know the one with the SONY Move knock off handles) and concentrate managing the staff- who were supposed to manage the production- that gets the damn orders out. It is going to be over 3 months of waiting now because the order date is being moved. Update: BUMPED AGAIN! My opinion is to wait until the PS4 comes out. These controllers may not be compatible with the new systems. By then PDP (Performance Designed Products) will have made a comparable contoller at half the price.	video-games_xbox
Don't worry - NO lag issues (Well, MINOR. I personally own two of these and have no problems with lag whatsoever. :) I'm sorry to see that Mr. Hunter is having problems with his setup. Rest assured that this is NOT a universal problem. Connecting: It connects just like any other wireless controller - you put the xBox and the mic into into pairing mode and they just sync right up. (To put the Mic into pairing mode, hold the mic's button for 5 or more seconds. The LED's will blink to let you know it's waiting to sync.) Be careful when turning the mic on and off so as not to hold the power button too long and place it into pairing mode ;). Just like the wired microphone you don't really even know its connected until it's time to sing. The LED's don't do anything particularly special other than the occasional blink to let you know it's on. Quality: The mic itself is top quality - quality you can feel. Batteries last forever (haven't had to change ours yet) but your mileage will probably vary depending on use. The pickup seems right on as we do just as well with this mic as we do with the standard wired mic. This is MUCH more than I can say for the MadCatz mic... good god, stay away from that POS. =P Cons: I'm giving it 4 stars, not really for any fault of its own, but because the built in features don't work with Rockband. Who knows who's really to blame for this, but the motion sensor and the color-shifting/beat-blinking capabilities of the LEDs don't work in Rockband. Booooo! So that's it really. It's wireless and it works. If that's what you're looking for, this is it! UPDATE: Again, we use this regularly with rockband and experience no lag, at least not enough to matter. I admit that, if you haven't calibrated your audio settings correctly there IS some echo, but it's not bad and not present when calibrated. The lag that's left just sounds like a very slight echo. We've also noticed that the sensitivity is a tad off - sometimes it feels like it's not hearing you 100% of the time. We simply removed the foam from the bezel and it seems much better. Maybe it's all in our heads, but at least for now we're satisfied.	video-games_xbox
Great game overpriced even for a Import 9/10. If you must have a physical disc version of Deadlight the Director's Cut I'd wait until it gets a US release You can get the same title digitally for $9.99 If it was $15.00 that would be the proper retail price I waited for over a month to see when a physical version was up for sale nothing Until after the game was released go figure I personally would've loved to get a disc version But, this is marked-up and honestly not worth the price tag at some point this will get a physical release here in the States the remastered Brothers did so I'm sure this title will too! Gamplay: This is a much better Limbo It's a true love letter to early cd based games like Flashback and Another World It's a action/adventure game with puzzle and platforming elements thrown into it The controls are solid But, the platforming is still hit and miss the same problem was with the original arcade version The platforming needs a patch (Not game breaking but, it will mess up the flow) Graphics B- I honestly can't tell much of a difference from the previous Gen version stacked against this This version is 1080p But, i'm pretty sure the other one was too.... For a title that has two primary colors it's gorgeous even though you are in a living breathing nightmare it has a very unique and beautiful look to it Audio is much better since you get the option to decode in DTS 5.1 The audio is phenomenal between all the sound f/x and the haunting score this is the best you'll hear it sound Story: The story is really something unique it's not a typical zombie outbreak/Apocalypse story (I'm sure the people behind The Last of Us played through this little Arcade title and borrowed a few elements for The Last of Us It's a psychological thriller put into Night of the Living Dead This is one of the best story driven Arcade/Indie titles in the last 10 years Is this worth double dipping??? I guess that all depends if you enjoyed it the first time you'll enjoy going back to alternate 1986 and playing through it again! If you never played it the first time on the 360 without a doubt pick it up Deadlight is what Arcade/Indie games should be it's a HQ throwback with lots of love and attention put into the game itself Something you will not get with indie garbage like #IDARB and Soda Drinker Pro This is a real legit game 9/10	video-games_xbox
Buggy at first, but loads of fun now. When I got the racing wheel, the pedals didn't work but all the wheel and all the buttons worked fine. After some troubleshooting I was able to fix the problem by doing the following: with the wheel and console on, disconnect the cable that connects the pedals to the wheel, hold both pedals down, then reconnect the cable to the wheel. I think I'll add a video demonstration with this technique later. I think the polarity of the pedals was off when it got shipped. With that fixed, the wheel performed pretty well. The position was uncomfortable when attached to my coffee table and sitting on the couch. It left me hunched over with my elbows on my knees in a very unnatural driving position. I'll have to figure something with a chair and table-height platform like a TV-tray. The force feedback is okay, but when your car gets loose and you have to correct, you really put a bit of force against the force feedback and you hear the motor give a little whir sound. This has me a bit worried about longtime longevity as another reviewer stated. I've only played a few races with the wheel, but so far I don't see any improvement in my driving. I got pretty good with the controller (in Forza 2 with ABS, STM, and TCS all turned off so I have to modulate brake, throttle, and steering pretty carefully). I like how the force feedback gives me an earlier response when I'm loosing traction, but because I have to overcome the force to correct, it makes it harder to stay in control. The paddle shifters are AWESOME. Transitioning from GT1,2,3, and 4 where I used my index fingers on the top shoulder buttons to shift (L2 and R2 on the PS1/PS2), I got fumbled up a bit shifting in Forza w/ my thumb on B and X. The paddle shifters have put things back in place for me. The wheel definitely adds to the fun factor and, in my opinion, would be an EXCELLENT device to teach young kids how to drive (I swear I'm a better driver now for playing GT1 and 2 in jr high and high school before getting my license). Having to work the wheel and pedals adds a lot to the driver training already afforded by controller play.	video-games_xbox
I can't believe it. Okay, whether you have high expectations or none at all, this game just doesn't work. For one, the whole "freedom of choice" thing is a huge lie. If you want to be "good", you can rescue the same people over and over; for "evil", you kill them repeatedly. That's it. Second, you CANNOT choose where you want to go and what you want to do there. This game is mission-based, just like every other bland game this year. Oh, sure, you can "choose" which mission you want, but if you choose any but the "right" one, you'll find yourself getting killed in an instant. So no matter what you do, you have to follow a linear path. The gameplay is a mess as well. The combat system doesn't work half the time (you'll often accidentally target people instead of enemies), and even when it does work, you'll still get killed because your skills aren't powerful enough. How do you get them more powerful? By going to the forest and killing bees until you level up. Hmmm, where have I heard this before? In every single other RPG to hit the market, perhaps? Unlike better games, where you always find yourself at the right level to move forward if you take on all the available enemies, Fable forces you to go back and forth between areas to get the enemies to respawn, watching a long loading screen each and every time you exit and enter an area. What fun. Even the non-combat interface is completely dilapidated. Menus were a monster to navigate, and it took me a good ten minutes just to get my equipment on. And don't get me started on my attempt to use the controller customization feature. Finally, there are the things that aren't "broken" exactly, but are still annoying. Like the people, for example. Even when you are just walking through an area, perhaps on your way back to kill more bees, NPCs are constantly chattering away in irritating accents. You can't get a moment's peace. Also, you can call me a prude if you wish, but I can't believe that "burp" and "fart" have their own buttons. This game is rated M for mature, but perhaps it should be rated I for immature. Overall, Fable is an annoying, clunky, and frustrating game. Far from the promised revoloution, it delivers a package that doesn't even meet mediocre standards.	video-games_xbox
Single player High Gravity review. I just got done finishing the single player mode of Inversion on high gravity mode. I also played a game of multiplayer a few days ago, but I did have to wait in the lobby for 10 minutes before another person joined so we could play against each other. I'll start with the positives of the game first as it's too easy to focus on the negatives of any game. 1) Gears of War style controls and mechanics. If you're a Gears fan, the controls and even some of the guns will feel slightly familiar. The aiming system is different, and the game isn't as smooth as Gears in how it handles. 2) Gravity powers. I really like this aspect of the game, and this does take the game from being a strictly Gears clone to something else. There are certain situations where using your gravity powers (low and high gravity) are necessary to defeat bosses. The gravity mechanics can become a little boring, but I really love the concept and am hoping for an improved upon sequel. 3) The challenge of the game. I just got done beating Max Payne 3 on hard a few weeks ago, and while Inversion may not be quite as difficult, there are parts on High Gravity (hardest setting) that will have you repeatedly banging your head against the wall and cursing at your tv set! Most of the really tough stuff comes towards the last few chapters of the game, and sometimes it just feels really cheap on the hardest setting, but it's definitely possible to get past the "cheap" sections. Now for the negatives of the game. 1) The gameplay, while slightly fresh and slightly Gears like, it fails to do the Gears control scheme as well and the slightly fresh (gravity controls) aren't as fresh and unique as I would like them to be. This game has an awesome base concept, I was really pumped for it to come out, but it needs more polish and a better sequel to flesh the gameplay out a bit. 2) Story. The story is your typical save the world scenario with some twists thrown in, but the voice acting is slightly worse than a B movie, so if the voice acting was done a bit better, getting immersed in the cutscenes would be worthwhile. Also, turn the sub titles on so you know exactly what the non english speaking characters are saying. Otherwise it just sounds like jibberish for the most part. I didn't turn them on until Chapter 2 so I was slightly confused as to what was actually happening. 3) The boss battles. If you play on high gravity mode (hardest setting) some of the boss fights feel cheap. You may need to resort to YouTube walkthroughs to get by certain parts as there simply aren't hints as to how to take down some of the bosses. Also, you will have to defeat certain bosses up to 4 different times in the game, that means the guy you thought you killed comes back for another round many many times. This just screams lazy development instead of taking the extra step to make a new boss character in the game. All in all I enjoyed Inversion, final score 7/10.	video-games_xbox
Like being strangled . The hype for this game, along with the screen shots, and the mere fact that John Woo teamed up with actor Chow Yun-Fat really had me thinking there was no way this game couldn't be great. So I picked it up at the rental store, and thank God I did only rent this game and waste $5 as opposed to $60. From the moment you turn the game on, the graphics and story line pull you right in. You watch a few movie segments go by, which are awesome, and then you are cast into game play. This is when the game takes a sharp turn down hill. From the moment you start playing you are hopelessly delivered an ambiance trying to recreate something between the lines of games' Max Payne, Dead to Rights, and The Punisher. Instead, you end up flying around with guns blazing on what seems like unlimited ammo at your dumb enemies mindlessly killing everything in sight. I might add that there are ridiculous amounts of enemies that come at you from all over the place, and yet it takes about a hundred gun shots or so to bring you down. This is on the normal difficulty I might add. Then while you're trying to like this game, you can't help but realize the graphics on this game could have been accomplished on a last-gen console, and it probably could have been even better than that. I'd also like to mention that your enemies' AI are probably dumber than a toaster oven. They don't take cover. They don't try and flank you or out wit you. They just all simply take bad shots at you as they stand in the middle of their little area waiting to be shot. The game controls are a bit clumsy as well, making this game even harder to try and enjoy. It's easy to shoot, don't get me wrong, but with so many enemies coming around you from all different angles out of nowhere, it's difficult to try and get a grasp on who and what you're shooting at. There is a cover system, but no where near is there the kind of fluidity that takes place in gaining cover compared to Gears of War or the late Tom Clancy games of Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon. There is no innovation of any kind either. Bullet time is stolen from Max Payne, and there's the kind of third person shooting game play we get that's reminiscent from second and third rate games. The stages and levels get old fast. It's the same every few seconds. Go into an area, fight off 50 bad guys, press the left control pad button a few times to heal yourself, and move on. I lost interest after a half of days worth of game play. I think I would rather be strangled to near death than play this game. Then again, playing this game was kind of like that. shrugs	video-games_xbox
Dead Space 2 (Single Player Review. THIS GAME IS OFF DA CHAIN!! I am very impressed with this sequel. They took everything from the first one, included it in this one, and made it better. The graphics, the sound, the controls are all very well done. What really sets this game apart from the first one is the fact that the main character actually has a personality in this one. He shows emotion, he shows that he is afraid at times, and you can even see that he sometimes thinks he is crazy. The enviroments are done a lot better this go around. The first Dead Space put you in some very tight-knit, closed quarters enviroments. Also, pretty much the entire game took place on a spaceship, but this one has more detailed, spacious, and varied enviroments. The enviroment also plays a huge role with combat as well. Sometimes you will have to use the enviroment the get the one-up on a few of your foes....being that this is a survival horror title, you will have to do this often especially if you are playing on the harder levels and want to conserve ammo. The enemy A.I. is a lot more advanced in this game as well. The stalkers.....WOW! Dealing with more than one of those things makes you feel like you are watching the first Jurassic Park in the scene where the raptors are hunting Doctor Grant...very intense. This game constantly has you on edge...meaning that once you push the start button, it grips you till are done playing. The game never lets you go as far as being on edge. The monsters aren't the only thing that can scare you...the objects in the enviroment can do the same thing they do. Alarm clocks, lockers, loose objects, almost everything can give you some sort of scare. In the first game, you were given some sort of "break" between levels via a tram going from one area of the ship to another with an option to save. With this game, you don't get that. Each level blends in perfectly with the previous one and sometimes, you won't even know you just completed a chapter until you physically check. Again, your inventory is done in real-time so it leaves you vulnerable to attacks. The game is very forgiving with save points which is a good thing because you never know what will happen and when. If you have never played the first one, they have an option at the start screen where you can watch what happened in the previous game. If you have an old save file on the first one, you can get a refurbished plasma cutter free of charge in the in-game store. I have not been able to tell if it does more damage than the initial one you get, but it does have the same look as it did in the first. This game has some of the most intense moments a video game can offer and actually allows you full control in what other games would more and likely turn out to be a cut scene. The controls, the enviroments, sound, action, graphics, everyhting is here for a very freaky, awesome experience!!! You will not be disappointed!! Easily one of the best games 2011 will have to offer and its only January!	video-games_xbox
best one I've used. 2 things out of the gate you need to know about me. 1, this is the 5th gaming headset I've used, so I know what else is out there. 2, I own 6 other Razer products, making me a little biased. My first headset was a Turtle Beach X3, which I got right after the Christmas when Mass Effect 1 came out. It was infra-red so there was no interference with my router or any of the other network stuff in my room. After a couple years, that started showing wear (headband and earpad liners started coming off) so I went and got a Turtle Beach X41, with the simulated surround sound (which totally works) and 2.4 Ghz RF signal. Sadly, my router uses the same frequency area so it caused popping and I had to return it. Got a Tritton AX Pro which is wired and has true surround sound, with multiple speakers in each earcup. While it sounded fantastic, the mic didn't work on the first one, or the one I exchanged it for, or the one I exchanged that one for (and no its not because i did something stupid, just got duds repeatedly). So I settled for the Turtle Beach DX11 at Best Buy, the bundle of the basic wired X11 headset and the DSS Dolby sound processor. It sounded alright, but I got sick of the wire after a few months. Enter the Chimaera. Addition to my Razer arsenal, very different RF so no interference, and lights up my room a pretty green color. It does only have 2 speakers, but Dolby people have figured out how to make it sound like real surround sound. Think of it this way, your ears are microphones. You only have 2 mics, so you only need 2 speakers. Our outer ears are asymmetrical, making stuff sound differently from front and behind, so they use that to mimic it from one source. Playing Mass Effect 3 online the other day, I was able to say "Yeah it sounds like the atlas is inside" and I almost busted out laughing at the awesomeness of that, and I've been using these headsets for a while. I seriously only have 2 complaints about this headset, and they aren't that big. The speakers are a bit too bassy at first, but you get used to that after a while and there are a few things you can do to fix it (change the EQ, turn off dolby headphone mode). And I wish they put in a sort of voice feedback thing like Turtle Beach's have so you hear yourself back through it. Thats it. The mic doesn't bend, but they did put in a way so you can change the sensitivity. good build quality, texture similar to the Onza TE controller, chat buttons on the sides of the headset, excellent positional sound, deep bass, looks cool, not UN-comfortable bass can be overwhelming (like cleaning my ears for me), no voice feedback, not super comfy either	video-games_xbox
It was a let down to be honest. This game was sort of a let down. If you're a single player, then it's pretty much pointless to even buy it. You're in a party of four and you're forced to pick one of them to play with no room for any kind of individuality. It might have been more fun to play if you could give the other characters instructions, or place them here or there in order to setup a kill zone or something like that, but you can't. The game's just too limited. You're basically forced to go where the game tells you to go and the zombies appear out of nowhere which gets old fast. It might be different if you had four people to take over the other players, or the characters themselves had advantages or disadvantages which would make things interesting. I kid you not, one of my AI teammates got killed because he walked into a fire, and then couldn't turn around and walk back the way he came. I shut it off right after that. The environment is just too restrictive to be any fun. You can't break down doors, even though you have a fire axe. You can't break windows other than the ones that it allows you to. A good game will make it so that there's more than one way to clear a level if that's how you want. I also didn't like the fact that the pistols had unlimited ammunition and there was a never ending flow of zombies that you can't silence no matter how thorough you are at cleaning them out. You see there could be something for those people like me who want to kill everything in site, or a way to avoid the thickest of it if you're too squeamish like my brother. It had promise, but I don't think it's well executed. Update 1/28/15 I'm going to do something unusual and revise my original estimation of this game. I played the game seriously once and I didn't like it as a single player --so my original observations haven't changed. What has changed was the way the game felt when more than one person is playing. My daughter got into Zombies big time and so she put the disk in and asked me to play with her. We played split screen and with two of the characters played by human beings, it became a lot more challenging. She made me play all the levels with her and for the most part when she started she was a tourist --hardly more than 40 kills on a level, which made it really challenging for me because I had to concentrate on keeping her alive and not getting myself killed. When my cousins got their own xbox and started wanting to play and we had all four players played by human beings it was downright fun! Kill-stealer Nick wasn't such a bad*ss anymore, and we didn't have anymore of the stupid AI getting me killed. Now it was a bunch of stupid kids getting me killed, LOL. We play it now quite often, but I only play it when there's someone else to play. I'd have to say my favorite feature is that you get an individual score at the end of each round and overall when you complete an episode. No arguing about who shot the most because the game keeps score. I still don't like the single player mode and I don't care for the maze level layout, but it's fun to play with other people.	video-games_xbox
Lackluster Sequel for the Xbox 360. Personally, I am a big fan of racing games. As a kid, the first racing game that I played was Top Gear on the SNES and it was the reason why I got into racing games. After playing the first Horizon game, I was hooked. It had a decent amount of cars, great soundtrack, and was visually appealing. However for the sequel it falls a bit short and just feels empty compared to the Xbox One version. To start off, the world just feels so unpolished. When I played the game, the graphics just felt so bland and generic that it doesn't give the impression to the player that they are in Europe, let alone a bustling and busy environment. When you're driving around, there is rarely any amount of traffic. It's like driving in a ghost town except for the few NPC rivals or traffic that appear here and there. The graphics are passable at best. I feel that Forza Motorsport 3 had better visuals compared to this game and that game is already five years old. It also doesn't help, that the game has a lot of visual clippings where your car and tires phase out from the road. The gameplay for Forza Horizon 2, is very similar to the first Horizon game. For people that didn't play the first game, it's a mix between Simulation and Arcade. However, this game tends to lean to the arcade side of gaming. The game is compatible with steering wheel and pedal but there is very few options of configuration compared to the Xbox One version. Also, there are in-game modifiers like changing difficulty, On/Off ABS, Traction control that will affect the overall difficulty bonus credits you will receive in a race. Sadly, even on the harder difficulties and with driving assists off, the computer A.I. doesn't put that much of a fight and the only way they can catch up to you is by rubber band A.I. (Infamous game design in some racing games where computers rely on cheap tactics rather than skill as a challenge). The car physics is very off, meaning that the car feels like it's driving on ice and floaty. For the cars selection, most of the cars are from the first game but some of the cars from the first game were not available in the second one. The games offers a decent variety of cars from common cars like the Acura Integra to sportier and prestigious cars like the McLaren P1. The customization aspect is also similar to the first game as well. If your the type of a person that likes to fine tune a car for a specific race or settings than you'll be greatly disappointed. Rather than be able to tune your upgrades, it just gives you a simple measure of your car's horsepower, weight, and the overall Car Ranking. With each upgrade you buy either these stats will increase or decrease and that's pretty much the tuning aspect in the game. For the races in the game, in order to give the illusion that there are multiple races and things to do, you are essentially redoing the same race over again but in ten different car classes. Rather than having multiple varied races there are smaller race events that "Encourage" you to race it multiple time with a different car class even though you already finished it the first time. It's unnecessary padding and only prolongs the game than it needs to be. Also, there are secret cars to find in the game as well as signs and billboards that either give you extra money or reduce the fee for fast traveling. They also have an item called the "Treasure Map Pack" where it essentially unlocks all the secrets to the game but costs a lot of in game money (Around 350,000 of in game credits) which makes no sense in an open world game where the purpose is to explore. Lastly the sound in the game falls short. The engine sounds are completely muffled and you don't feel the sense of power and adrenaline you get as you push your car to the limit. Also the soundtrack is very forgettable or doesn't fit that well with the game. In the first Horizon game it had multiple memorable tracks like Language, Reaching Out, Walking On a Dream. Even though this game is not as good as the predecessor, it is still a playable game. However, the game is very lackluster and for $50, it is too steep for a sequel that is completely mediocre. If you are interested in playing this game, get the Xbox One Version. The Xbox One version, fixes all the issues addressed in this review and is also made by the same company that made the first game as well. For the Xbox 360 they had gotten a different company to make the game. Overall this game is playable but with the lack of content and quality, either get the Xbox One version or get this port at a clearance sale. I hope this reviews helps you decide whether you buy this game or not. Thanks for taking the time to read this review.	video-games_xbox
Awful black-hole of a device. This was a very disappointing purchase. Pros: The device is small, and coordinates with the white XBox 360 accessories. One of the few devices on the market which seems to have Windows Vista 64bit drivers. Not released on the driver CD that came with the device of course - you had to download them from the xbox site. Cons: Would not connect to 2 different XBox 360 controllers. Eventually forces other USB peripherals offline. I used two different wireless XBox 360 controllers and neither one was connecting. After making several attempts to make a connection with one or the other, I called XBox 360 accessory support. The first person i spoke to had no idea what I was talking about. I explained it at some length, and then was put on hold. Some 15 minutes later, he returned after consulting with another person and proceeded to give me wrong information about where to go to determine if it was connected. When I corrected him, I was put on hold again. He returned and told me that (contrary to the documentation) the controller device would not show that it was connected in the same way it did on the console. When pointed out that the documentation disagreed with him, he told me that the item was defective and I should just return it to the store and get a different one. When I noted that he didn't seem to know enough about it to determine if it were working or not, he passed me on to a supervisor. She seemed to know a little more, but not much. She finally gave up and indicated that she would need to look it up and call me back. As you can imagine, Microsoft never called back. I left the receiver plugged in and the next morning my usb Bluetooth keyboard and mouse were not working. I unplugged them, and after rebooting, I was able to reconnect them. The following evening, they were disconnected again. I removed the XBOX wireless receiver, and then had to reboot again before the Bluetooth devices would reconnect. Not only does this thing NOT work, it causes other perfectly good devices to stop working as well. I am unwilling to go out and buy an external powered USB hub when I built my PC with several on-board USB ports so I wouldn't have to go buy an external hub. This thing is crazy. Avoid, avoid, avoid.	video-games_xbox
Much improved sequel on many fronts. Other reviews here do a full rundown of all of the different modes, workouts, etc. I'll skip that and just give a rundown of the improvements over the previous YSFE and other fitness games: - Better "select" method. Instead of holding your hand over a location for 2-3 seconds, you now push your hand forward, simulating pushing a big button. Also, sometimes you can "punch" to select, which is quick and satisfying. (e.g. After a workout, you "punch" your calories and they shatter) - No mandatory time-wasting tutorials on how to do some very easy exercises. However, I still wish it were an option for those who may not be used to exercising and need guidance on proper form (e.g. make sure your knee doesn't extend past your ankle when doing squats). -Improved motion tracking. There are fewer exercises where it doesn't register me doing it, even though I know I am (and am doing it in proper form). In the last one, there were several very easy ones where it didn't register me doing it. -"My Objective" is better than the old workout program. Here's why: under the old one, you repeated the same workouts over and over and there was little variety. Under the current "My objective," you answer a few simple questions to describe your goal, and the game flags the workouts, classes, and activities that will help you reach your objective. So, you get to pick what you do and can add some variety. Only problem with that is that if you are a novice and really want someone to just tell you what exercises to do, it doesn't do that. -While it does keep track of calories burned, the My Objective focuses more on the amount of time you devote to exercising. I like that because I never know how the calories burned is determined. Also, I use a Polar Heart Rate Monitor and keep track of burned calories separately, so I don't really care what the game says I've burned. As with any fitness game, you have to focus on doing the exercises as best you can and not focus on getting 100% on everything. It just isn't going to happen and if you let that frustrate you, you are missing the point. -Much more variety in different types of activities, focused workouts, and especially classes. I still need to try them all out, but have found them to be varied enough to always give you something new to do. Of course, there is also the DLC available, either through U-Play points, sponsored content, or the good old Microsoft Points. I'm going to have a hard time paying for DLC though, since there is so much content in the game to keep me busy. I think I rated the last one 4 stars and there were enough improvements in this one to bump it up to 5 stars. Definitely better than the first YSFE or EA Sports Active.	video-games_xbox
Overwatch Vs. Battleborn - Shouldn't These Be Free-To-Play Games. First the good stuff. Battleborn is a great game that breathes new life into the shooter and MOBA genres alike. I love the Heroes Of The Strom style upgrade system where you have simple options at each tier. This makes the new player experience much more accessible than Smite, League Of Legends, or DotA 2. The 25 playable characters each have their own personality and pizazz. It doesn't feel like there are any throwaway characters, though some are arguably much stronger and popular than others. Level design is solid. Objectives are easy to identify and, by extension, navigation is a snap. If you can get a friend or two to play this game with, it's terribly good fun. Playing with randoms is serviceable as well but not ideal, which is arguably the opportunity with many games of the ilk. Generally, in a MOBA you want to be aware of your map and enemy/ally positions to avoid being pushed too hard in a lane. Fortunately, Battleborn offsets this with the TD (Tower Defense) mechanics sprinkled in. ...Now the bad... I fear may this game die before it even gets a chance to grow. Here's why: at full price, you really have to make a strong case against free-to-play games like Warframe and Smite. While Battleborn does enough to be it's own thing, it's still fundamentally a MOBA and the genre is usually a free or budget entry. While there is a substantial singleplayer/co-op component, it's not enough to justify full price. At $40, this game is a little more attractive but the sweet spot may be $20-30. Don't forget to add the $20 Season Pass if you really want to go all in. Countless players are reporting long matchmaking queue times and, when I look at my friends list on Xbox One, there's usually two people at most playing the game. I believe only 4 out of 300+ friends own the game. That's not encouraging. If you compare this to Evolve, it's a much more polished and content-rich game but the issue is still the same: in a multiplayer-focused video game, you want to get as many people on-board early on so that you build momentum. From what I have seen, the proponents of this game are huge Borderlands fans but not necessarily big on MOBAs so they can forgive the fundamental flaws. With that in mind, I think this game can and should be enjoyed alongside Overwatch, which is the game everyone seems more hyped about right now. They are distinct games. Overwatch may have more polish and a studio with a stronger track record behind it but it has it's flaws. Namely, Overwatch has a lot of bottlenecking and stalemate scenarios that can be hard to overcome, especially in pubs (with randoms/PUGs). Battleborn handles flanking and balancing better. The ability to evolve your abilities as you level up is a core mechanic that should not be ignored. In Overwatch, there are no slight edge mechanics and it all comes down to twitch skills (fast reactions) and overwhelming your opponents through sheer force. I mention this because one of the issues cited in many reviews is that there is a problem with snowballing. I think that is a risk with any MOBA that implements a traditional leveling system. If you start to fall behind, the idea is to form unified fronts and poke at enemies until they slip up (or you close the gap). I think Battleborn handles these matters well though, in Overwatch, any deficit usually comes down to lack of coordination or poor positioning. I want Battleborn to succeed. It's the first fun Gearbox IP that is NOT Borderlands (that is, if you don't count the stuff they developed as a third party [...]. They took some good risks here but the initial price point was a killer. The fact that the price has already dropped in less than three weeks is a good indicator that the marketplace acknowledges the same thing, too. Overall, the production quality is there and I see why they priced it as a traditional off-the-shelf game but limiting the user base was a poor strategic move. I would have preferred microtransactions and a much lower buy-in so that people could at least give the game a real go. Let's face it: the beta period did not give enough people time to really get intimate with it and start spreading the word. Heck, I've seen much more people playing Rainbow Six: Siege and that game had less hype and fanfare behind it. The fact that people are going back to older releases like Smite, Siege, Battlefront, and Halo 5 (we won't discuss CoD since that's it's own beast) also does not bode well. I fear Battleborn will suffer the same fate that Dawngate and Guardians Of Middle-Earth did due to mismanagement and failure to see "the big picture".	video-games_xbox
For this amount of money, look elsewhere. Not a verified purchase because I bought these from BestBuy when I was in a rush. Is this a good headset? It's fine. But at this price point, it sucks. Not enough to make you go return them. But enough to make you wonder how someone could design a product like this and think it's worth $100 retail. It shouldn't even be sold at half the retail cost. Sound: Great when it works. It's pretty bassy, so it's great for shooters (explosions). And the headset gets loud. Part of the reason my stats are as decent as they are in fortnite/battlefield/cod is because of that. So in that regard, these are great. But it comes with problems. Whenever I keep the bluetooth adapter plugged into the xbox and turn the console off, the headphone sounds are reversed in the ears when I resume playing. Left sounds come out of the right ear and vise-versa. The only fix for this is to unplug the adapter and plug it back into the console. Turning the headset on and off doesn't work. It happens so often that I've gotten used to removing the adapter and reinserting it whenever I start my xbox. Controls: There are two dials on the left ear cup that you can control, one for chat and one for game. Great idea, but the movement of one affects the other. Whenever I turn my game volume up, I have to be prepared to turn my chat up or down, because somehow they both get affected when one gets adjusted. They are also in reverse tuning on my headset. The direction I turn the game volume wheel to turn the game sound up is the opposite direction for the chat rocker. If going in the same direction to turn game volume up, it will turn the chat volume down. And vise-versa. Mic: Not good. You won't hear crackling and popping on the other end when someone uses this. But their voice will sound a bit muffled and droned. And the mic is very low input volume. I had to go into the xbox menu system and set mic monitoring to 9 (aka make it extremely sensitive) for people to even really be able to hear me. This is with the microphone less than an inch from my mouth. On the flip side, it's a removable microphone. So good if you want to detach it to eat, or just not have something in your face. Bluetooth: Terrible. Seriously, it lacks extremely basic range. I live in an 1000 sq ft, 1 floor apartment and walking from my room (1 corner of the place) to the kitchen will interfere with its bluetooth range. We're talking less than 40 feet. Which I can live with I guess, just won't be able to be that far from the xbox. But the downside here is that this headset has an obnoxious "alert" sound. It will beep at the volume you set your game sound to, ~every 5 seconds, whenever you're out of range. You can't turn this off. Battery: A full charge will last ~7-10 hours of play roughly. The headset has a low battery indicator that is extremely similar to the "out of range" alert. It will beep twice when low battery, about every 2-5 minutes (I'm guessing, haven't measured the time in between). After ~15-20 mins from the first alert, the headset will shut off. Again, the battery indicator is the same volume as your game sound. So for me, it is incredibly loud, and there's no way to toggle it off. Comfort: These feel very similar in feel to the $25 TB headsets I bought from WalMart. Not uncomfortable, but they're nowhere near as comfortable as something like the A50s. The pad at the top of the headset is a nice addition to those of us with hair. I wear a 7 3/8 hat, and they don't squeeze me at all. I don't wear glasses so can't speak on that. All in all: If you have $80-100 to drop on headsets, don't get these. These are like $30 TB headsets but with bluetooth. I bought them because I was in a rush and figured they'd get the job done. I needed a Bluetooth headset at that very moment and a store by me just happened to have them in stock. The next step up would've cost me an extra $50-100. Now almost a year later and I'm wishing I had spent the extra money for a nice headset. Instead, take the time to go look at other options. You will be disappointed with these at this price. I'm not even sure they're worth half the price.	video-games_xbox
An overall genuine baseball experience. I'll admit that I was a bit wary before I purchased MLB 2K8 after witnessing a slew of Chicken Littles running around internet message boards, crying about frame rate and other issues, and watching a herd of self-proclaimed ex-fans of 2K Sports jumping ship to the PS3 and MLB: The Show. Nevertheless, as an avid follower of Major League Baseball and 360-owner I knew I would have to give the game a shot, and on a hunch that many of those shouting, "the sky is falling" were overreacting and/or trolls trying to start trouble, I bought the newest offering from 2K Sports and stuck it in my Xbox. After a bit of playing around I was able to confirm my suspicions. Don't listen to sheep--MLB 2K8 is a solid baseball experience, boasting several innovative gameplay features that outweigh the flaws. 2K8 introduces Precision Control Pitching, a system of pitching that allows players to imitate the movement of each pitch using the right control stick. Pitching is a three-step process: first, the player must choose a pitch by pointing the right control stick in one of five directions; second, the player slides the right control stick around in its axis for a breaking pitch or jolts the right control stick upwards or downwards for a fastball or change-up, respectively; third, the player releases the right control stick at the correct time to throw the pitch. This complicated procedure takes some getting used to and may turn off the more casual gamer, so thankfully 2K8 has included the option to use 2K7's more classic pitching technique. But those who are patient enough to figure out Precision Control will be rewarded with an authentic gaming experience that is also a lot of fun. When your in-game pitcher hangs a meat ball over the plate that is smashed against the centerfield wall, you'll know you legitimately screwed up the procedure instead of feeling as if you got jipped by crappy gameplay mechanics. On the other hand, when your pitcher drops a filthy 12-6 curve that retires the side, you'll have earned it. Hitting has gone through some refurbishing in 2K8, resulting in the new and improved Swing Stick 2.0. Now, instead of pulling back on the right control stick and releasing to initiate a contact swing, and pushing the right control stick upward to initiate a power swing, the latter method is used for a contact swing; in fact, the power swing has been removed completely in order to reduce the amount of home runs from last year (in 2K7, big flies were more common than singles). Just like the pitching, the Swing Stick 2.0 requires some adjustment, so don't be surprised if you hit a lot of ground ball outs in your first game--timing is key. But after you get the timing down you should be pretty happy with the hitting in 2K8. It still has its issues, such as it being very difficult to discern whether an oncoming pitch is going to be a ball or a strike, but the movement of the right control stick in correlation with the gameplay is very accurate. And players who have trouble with the Swing Stick 2.0 can turn on the regular Swing Stick from 2K7 or "classic batting" (simply press `A' to swing) via the option menu. The right control stick is also incorporated in fielding (surprise, surprise), as the player must hold the stick in the cardinal direction of a base (right for 1st base, up for 2nd base, etc.) and release to initiate the throw. But this too requires timing, as after the control stick is moved toward the direction of the base, a meter pops up by the fielder with the ball and quickly fills up. The meter will go from red to yellow to red again, and the most accurate throw will come in the yellow area. This makes fielding more fun and rewarding than simple button-mashing. In terms of graphics, the character models are passable, although the faces for most players are badly-done and don't seem to fit with the rest of the body. Even if the faces are a bit off, the movements and quirks that each player brings to the plate or to the mound are captured brilliantly, helping the on-field action look and feel like a real game. 2K Sports worked hard to represent each stadium to great detail, and the aerial and inside views of the venues before the game are a nice touch. Perhaps the biggest complaint by 2K8 critics is its choppy frame rate, which seems to affect only those playing on HD TV's. The game will often freeze momentarily and cause difficulties in gameplay. There are plans to release a patch in the near future that will fix this issue, and there are other unofficial methods of handling the problem in the mean time. Online play is a disappointment for those with slow connections because lag throws off the timing and screws up the gameplay mechanics, so hopefully a patch will be released soon to fix that. The card system is a fun add-on for those looking for more than franchise mode, and it's always exciting to see which cards you earned after playing a game. I haven't toyed with the Player Beats or Stadium Beats yet, but as far as I know it allows the user to give walk-up songs to his in-game players, something that I've always wanted from a baseball game. The song choice for 2K8's menus is a bit odd; a lot of indie rock mixed with some more alternative stuff, but after an hour or two you'll be used to it. All in all, 2K Sports did an excellent job with its third-party exclusivity this year, even if many critics will disagree. I have yet to play MLB 08: The Show, so I cannot say whether 2K8 is the better baseball game, but I can assure you that if you have the patience to figure out the new pitching, hitting and fielding mechanics and can look past the frame rate issues, you will be rewarded with a genuine baseball experience.	video-games_xbox
BEWARE. Ok, so here is the deal. I got this product hoping it would help me out with my xbox gaming since I came from a pc gamer background. By itself, it did not! Firstly, you need to by a WIRED xbox controller. Ok, I thought, no big deal, I'll fork out the $30 for a wired controller (I only had wireless). However, after buying an OFFICIAL microsoft wired controller, I couldn't get the thing to sync up. Tried, tried, and tried again, but when the controller was connected through the xfps, my xbox wouldn't see it and thus I could not use it. I then did a little research and found a forum of users with the same issue (lots of users with similar issue actually!). After weeks of everyone trying stuff out, they determined that the xfps doesn't work with a genuine microsoft controller, although the manual said you needed to use one. Per the forum, someone got it to work with a joytech controller. I promptly went to Walmart and got a joytech controller and low and behold it worked!! Now I am up to $130 (xfps + microsoft controller + joytech controller). After getting it synced up, I found my wireless keyboard and mouse didn't work, although it was the microsoft model recommended. So back to Walmart for a new keyboard and mouse (now I am at $170). BTW, I would prefer to get this stuff from Amazon, but I needed to get this thing up and running. So now I have the XFPS working. But, I was very dissapointed. The keyboard works fine, but the mouse control has something to be desired. The deadzone is horrible. The precision that you get with a mouse in a PC FPS just isn't obtained in the XFPS. But read on. I looked around some more and found a site for a XIM, xbox iput manager. This device, along with a computer, the XFPS, and a hacked PS2 extension cable did the job. (do a google search for XIM xbox). It is a DIY thing and requires some soldering, so unless you are adventurous, STAY AWAY!!!! Bottom line, what original started out as a $80 gizmo to add a keyboard and mouse to my xbox ended up costing me about $200 and A LOT OF TIME. Unless you plan on building a XIM to go with this thing, don't bother. BTW, I also have seen on the forums that the manufacturer is just about as bad as you can get for support. No number to call and emails take days to answer. Additionaly, the answers they give are useless.	video-games_xbox
Impressions from a fan of the "Uncharted" series (campaign review. I've never spent much time playing the "Tomb Raider" series, but this reboot did all the right things, and it drew me right in. This modern take on the famous franchise takes inspiration from many great sources- my first impression, oddly enough, was of "Resident Evil 4" (a classic so significant, it's still influencing the gaming landscape). The early goings of "Tomb Raider" have a distinctly "survival horror" vibe that is masterfully conveyed, interspersed with just the right amounts of Quick Time Events, cinematic showpieces, character development, story telling, and gameplay tutorials. Additionally, it reminded me of the fantastic island of the TV show, "Lost" (complete with freaky natives and bunkers!). The most striking comparison, of course, is that of the "Uncharted" series. "Tomb Raider" obviously existed long before "Uncharted", but it's equally obvious that it drew inspiration from the mechanics of climbing, combat, and cinematic storytelling of one of this generation's most successful series. And I'm not complaining at all- I wish there were more games like "Uncharted"! For the most part, "Tomb Raider" does a fantastic job implementing these elements, resulting in a game that is a blast to play and easy to pick up. Everything is very responsive, the settings are visually vibrant and interesting, and the island is begging for more thorough searching. The inclusion of TONS of unlockables is a genius notion, including documents (which help to further unfurl the mystery of the island), artifacts, and salvage (for weapon and gear upgrades), and it means crazy amounts of replay value... plus the online multiplayer aspect, if that strikes your fancy. The only thing holding "Tomb Raider" back from five stars is that when pitted up against the unrivaled production values of "Uncharted", it falls a shade short. The characters are noticeably lacking compared to the likes of Nathan, Sully, and Elena, and the presentation just seems a bit "off". There's such an emphasis placed on (literal and figurative) darkness and grittiness, I oftentimes had difficulty seeing what was going on around my character, and it actually had something of a demoralizing effect (particlarly when compared to the bright, tropical locales of "Uncharted"). That's not to say that "Tomb Raider" is a bad game- it's not. In reality, it's a very good game- it's just not among my top favorites. Final note (MINOR spoilers follow): The producers of this game must be huge fans of the movie "The Descent", for there are many nods to the horror film, including Lara's affinity for the climbing axe, the "bone scramble" toward daylight in the opening moments, and the slow emergence from the red pool of ichor in "the pit". Additionally, Lara's psychological transformation closely mirrors that of "The Descent"'s protagonist. It was an excellent source to draw inspiration from, and the developers of "Tomb Raider" did a fine job of subtly paying homage to it.	video-games_xbox
Deep, Solid and Beautiful. First of all, be aware that this game was released on August 14th 2003. Therefore, all reviews prior to that date are from people who haven't actually played it and are usually fanboys who unconditionally love/hate this product. Having played this year's iteration of Madden 2004, I can say that it is worth the money, even if you have 2003. The addition of the owner mode is really nice and adds a lot of depth. The overall interface has been tweaked and is really user friendly now, and the loading times/saving times are lightning fast on Xbox. The only thing I don't like about the presentation aspect is the choice of music. As with 2003, various upcoming rap/rock artists provide the soundtrack during the menu/management end of the game. This is a personal taste thing, to be sure, but I find this year's selection to be really annoying. Now the gameplay itself. The first thing I noticed was that it's harder (as always you can adjust difficulty and AI with sliders, so it can be tweaked). The running game is more realistic, and the pass rush is ferocious, making passing much more realistic (ie: practice!). The new tackling animations are nice, and feel right. I've noticed also that the computer will, on average, perform better than you, even with an inferior-rated player. In other words, the PC will break tackles with a no-name back, while you struggle to get Marshall Faulk or Tiki Barber back to the line of scrimmage on a toss play. The secondary AI is better, although even the best user-controlled players will still get burned and inexplicably miss tackles at times. Pass rushing is harder, meaning sack numbers are more accurate as well. Overall, this is a great game. The graphics are better than either PS2 or GC, although the PS2 has the online multiplay option. Personally I've never cared for online sports action (too many cheaters and disconnects), so it doesn't bother me that it's not included.	video-games_xbox
Dead before you started. Let me start by saying that DSII is awesome but very hard, most likely only hardcore or masochistic people will enjoy this game. You must learn from your mistakes, and you -WILL- die, a lot. If you disliked Dark Souls you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls II since they are so similar, but if you did enjoy Dark Souls then you know what you're in for. DSII is familiar in a way DS vets will understand (controls, mechanics, UI mostly the same), with enough new material and variation to keep things fresh. A few great changes: you can warp from any bonfire to any other bonfire you've already discovered, basic fast-travel is fine and unlocked at the beginning of the game; secondly, DSII holds a solid 30fps at all times even when there are a dozen things happening on screen at once (remember how awful Blighttown was in Dark Souls?); thirdly, DSII has an updated game engine and visually it's an obvious step above DS, the lighting is especially enhanced and really makes for some fun exploring - especially when monsters come sneaking out of the shadows! You're also able to light torches at bonfires now which helps you explore extra dark areas, it's a very cool feature. Souls `vets will find just as much difficulty as DS offered and new players may find the game a bit strenuous. Players who explore, persist, and learn from their deaths will find great reward in the new challenges DSII offers - especially those players who explore each nook and cranny in the world. The stakes have never been higher in DS, with each death your total life will be reduced, and while a rare human effigy will restore this, it makes each venture into the unknown a tad overwhelming (which is kinda the point, amirite?). Multiplayer is monstrously improved this time, connections are smoother, and joining another player is much easier - the best part, if you summon another player you get an immediate response whether or not it was a success, thank goodness! It wasn't as hard for me to buddy up with a phantom in the first few hours and we had a jolly good time breaking faces. There are new covenants this time around, each offers a different take on multiplayer, but I won't spoil those here. New-Game+ is here as always but now you can choose when to begin, very nice if you're holding off for late game PvP. Over all it's a really dang fun and a worthy successor to Dark Souls, definitely a must buy for me. One thing is for certain though, DSII is not watered down. Prepare to die, over and over and over again.	video-games_xbox
OUTSTANDING. Burnout 3: Takedown is an arcade-type racing game for the Xbox. Please note that this is not a simulation racer like (ie, Gran Tourismo or Nascar). Burnout 3 is of course the sequel to Burnout 2. You race against computer or human opponents on freeways and city streets filled with regular street traffic. You and your rivals are dodging other cars or even drive against traffic when you go the the wrong way! Its actually even better to go the wrong way because when you avoid collisions, you'll be rewarded with boost meter. You can play several modes: Race (standard race), Time trials (beat the clock), World tournaments (race in other countries), Crash mode (cause car accident chain reactions) and a new feature called Road rage (awesome). Crash mode returns and to help you create more devestating accidents, they included powerups to help increase your score and destruction: some maps have money pick-ups, speed boost, multiplyer, and explosives. You can now activate super slow motion and guide your car in mid-air called "impact time" to targets. Your vehicle also acts as a bomb. If you press detonate, it will explode to cause more damage to the already lethal car accidents; and remember that this is happens in super slow motion and looks fantastic. In Road Rage mode you are trying to push your rivals off the road or cause them to crash while traveling at blazing speeds; hence the name "takedown". When you collect enough points you can unlock new, tracks, cars, and lots of other goodies. The sense of speed in this game is incredible! Why bother buying other racers? Burnout 3 is the best there is! Many people have thanked me for recommending this game to them. But the real thanks should go to the creators for making this MASTERPIECE! Thank you! Thank you very much! Pros: +adrenaline inducing +blazing speeds +excellent controls +fantastic graphics +fantastic special effects +fantastic sound effects +music can be turned off +devestating crashes +super slow motion option +your car can be detonated +A.I. rivals are good +lots of game modes +play co-op or versus a friend +xbox live multiplayer +excellent track designs +lots of unlockables Cons: -horrible music	video-games_xbox
Great Addition to the FF Series. My complaint and praise for the game mainly draws from one characteristic: the extremely drawn out introduction to the storyline and battle system and other features of the game. The storyline is very strong and eventually a lot of character depth shines through, but I was literally over 10 hours into the game when I started to care about the characters and their struggle, because gradually through flashbacks and etc more and more is revealed. The same goes for the battle system, it took about 25 hours of gameplay for the crystarium level-up system to fully open up for the characters, and even then, there is a level cap generally maintained by chapters in the game so that you can't grind all the way to the top too early. Similarly, features of the battle system such as "eidolon" (summons) and changes in battle teams are restricted until about halfway through the game. This can be frustrating but ultimately I think it works well, and allows the player to gradually establish a level of competency in the many factors of the battle system that would otherwise come across as overly complicated. Some have complained that the battles in this game are just constant button mashing but that is entirely untrue, especially as the battle system opens up, many fights require strategy and quick thinking and reactions, and even the most commonplace battles can end up heart-pounding! I had my doubts when I heard that the player only controls one character in battle, but it truly works, it would be incredibly overwhelming to control each character in these fast-paced battles. I wasn't blown away by the graphics, frankly I haven't really noticed a huge change since FFX. My last bit commentary: the soundtrack to this game is outstanding! I'm not one to notice this sort of thing usually, but it is very enjoyable, aside from the standard triumphant ballads and etc., there is interesting and unique music, such as the harmonica solos and sort of tribal music that plays in certain settings (it reminds me of Cowboy Bebop actually). So the breakdown Side note: I wouldn't rely too much on the reviews by people right after the game came out, calling it "linear", etc. others have said this, and it is true to an extent, unlike other FF games you can't return to several of the early map areas, but ultimately the map does open up to the enormous world of Gran Pulse. Gameplay: 5 Storyline:4 Battle System: 5 Graphics: 4.5 Music: 5	video-games_xbox
Best Mortal Kombat ever. This one truly recaptures the feeling of the arcade impact. You know. That feeling you got back in 1992-1996 when you walked into an arcade and saw a crowed of people so thick, you couldn't even see what they were looking at. Then when there was a small crack of light from between the people, you saw it for the 1st time. That feeling. I was a huge fan MK 1-4 in the arcades. I enjoyed the other 3d ones for PS2 / Xbox1, but not as much as the old arcade ones. This one recaptures what made MK so great to begin with, but also moves forward. Each one of every characters' moves can be "Enhanced" at the cost of some super meter. So Kung Lao will throw his hat MK 2 style and do 1 hit, or the enhanced version will throw it MK3 style, grinding at the opponent, dealing multiple hits and leaving the opponent open to additional attacks. Then you have X-Ray moves: fully rendered skeletons, innards, and vital arteries within each character. This also makes for particularly gruesome fatalities. The fighting system is like an aged fine wine. It took all long time for the MK team to get a solid, yet original fighting system down. It is very much "make your own combo" but there are also button patterns that work as combos (like mk 3 or 4) but these can also be mixed. So Scorpion can spear you in the middle of a combo, then juggle you with the teleport, then go back into another combo. The characters have been perfected. All have strong personalities and supreme bad-a$s-ness. Kitana demands you show respect and Shang Tsung reminds your you soul will become his. If you have ever enjoyed any Mortal Kombat game for even a fleeting moment, buy this game! If you never liked Mortal Kombat, at least try this game! Also I highly recommend the Arcade Stick. I have made my own arcade sticks in the past, just because I don't like the Jap style ticks, and X-arcade sticks are crap. But this one is awesome. Great parts, easily moddable, heavy high quality case, and looks so sweet. The stick and buttons are the some ones I use in my own home made arcade stick, and I believe they are the same parts used in the MK 1-3 machines.	video-games_xbox
Good enough to recommend, long lasting, but not travel friendly and no blue tooth compatibility. So - I have had these bad boys for a year and change - and I have used every feature this thing has to offer. I have used it as a regular headset for listening to music in the airport, to hours of grinding in Destiny, to taking company calls on my cell phone. The Good: The best feature this guy offers is long battery life and a removable mic. Sound quality is just above average, and the independent volume control for both game sound, music, and mic communications is pretty awesome. My sound quality hasn't degraded in 15 months, although these will never meet the expectations of those seeking a top of the line headset, for all that this guy can do, it is pretty well thought out and the quality is good. The Bad: .....but what has degraded is the mic reception... if that makes sense. Long story short, after turning all the other settings up, after 15 solid months of use, people are starting to tell me that I am coming in much more quietly than I used to. I have replaced the mic, and it really hasn't helped, but I think it has something to do with the battery because when I plug it in to charge (while using it) my microphone transmit volume is significantly louder. These are heavier headsets. Just keep that in mind - I noticed when I got them that after a few hours, my neck was physically sore from wearing these and the headphones will make your ears warm and sweaty... So don't borrow your buddies. Recommendations: The way these fold is stupid. There is no way to save space, I usually just clip them on to the outside of my bag because they just don't really fit well in backpack that derives any sense that they'll work again when you take them out again. Make these Bluetooth compatible please. Beyond that - these are worth the money spent. I have never been a Turtle Beach fan, because more often than not, they deliver lackluster goods. This headset on the other hand, has delivered, and I will buy these again. My friends are wearing these now and haven't had any problems and I have bought two of these as gifts. Good bang for the buck.	video-games_xbox
Halo-- the little game that taught me to love again. The organization I work for used to be Mac based. Therefore, back in the mid-90s we played a lot of Marathon on our LAN. It was more or less the Mac's answer to the PC's Doom, but it was far more cerebral. It told a complex tale through the eyes of computer AIs which guided you through the game (all via text, this was a bit before voice acting became common in games.) While the network co-worker vs. co-worker games were sinfully fun, the single player game was also incredibly engrossing. Shortly after the Marathon 2 demo was out, a bunch of us had to shift from Mac to PC due to some software issues. No more Marathon for us. Sometime later Quake hit, and that became our LAN game of choice. The single player mode was OK, but nowhere near as engaging as Marathon's. I also played lots of FPSs on my home consoles, like Disruptor and Tenka on the PSX, Turok and Goldeneye on the N64. Turok was my favorite of the console FPSs; rather than the almost non-existant story drawing me in, it was the environments, level layouts, graphics, and sheer game play that grabbed me. It also introduced what I considered to be the perfect home console FPS control scheme ever devised, i.e. using the analog stick to control looking. I couldn't believe it when Goldeneye didn't use it as the default setup. Turok 2 was the last FPS I really got into. I loved it, but it was such a grueling, herculean task of a game. Beating it nearly killed me, and I was utterly and completely burned out on the entire FPS genre when I finished it. I tried getting into Perfect Dark when it came out, but I just couldn't. I played it for a few levels, then it became a dust collector. Even Half Life and System Shock 2 failed to engage me. The point of all of this is, when Halo was heralded as "perhaps the greatest FPS ever" my response was "No thanks, I'm done with those games." I was so burned out that even the fact that it was made by the same developer that made Marathon wasn't enough to get me interested. (Yet I did somehow play a lot of Quake III and Counterstrike at one point because one of my friends had an oddly contagious addiction to them...) I didn't have any plans to buy an Xbox for a long time. Eventually it was announced that a new Panzer Dragoon game, created by original members of Team Andromeda, would be an Xbox exclusive. That was when I knew that I'd be buying an Xbox someday. Last week, I used my lunch hour to run to a game shop to buy a game. The game I wanted wasn't in stock. Not wanting to leave empty handed, I decided to get my looming Xbox purchase out of the way. The clerk asked me if I wanted a game with it, but I hadn't given that any thought. He recommended Halo, and I replied that I wasn't really interested in an FPS. He seemed genuinely shocked and warned me that I would probably be the only Xbox owner in the world who didn't have a copy of Halo. I ended up buying Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, even though I'd already played it on PS2. (My drooling fanboy anticipation of the just-announced Silent Hill 3 made me do it. And it has a little extra scenario that wasn't in the PS2 version.) When I got back to my office, buyer's remorse kicked in and so I started reading up on Halo since I knew virtually nothing about it. Warm and fuzzy Marathon nostalgia washed over me. Suddenly the idea of playing a new FPS didn't seem so ponderous. I only had to read a couple of Halo reviews before I decided to give it a try. Thank God I did. I've been playing this game non-stop for over a week now. Even if Panzer Dragoon were never to hit the Xbox, my purchase of the console has already been justified. The story may not be quite as heady as Marathon's, it's still an excellent sci-fi story, better than most you'd find in an action game. I've played nearly every FPS ever released, and it's been a long time since I've seen one this fresh. The epic environments, the satisfying weapons, the perfectly-tuned controls, the dastardly AI, the innovative health and weapon carrying systems, the hilarious random in-battle dialogue coming from both your allies and your enemies, the classic sci-fi story... this game delivers on every level. And I haven't even touched the multiplayer yet. I can hardly believe it's on a console rather than a personal computer. Do not pass on this game. I can't stop playing it, and can already tell I'll be playing it for a long time to come.	video-games_xbox
Basically Broken. When I finished playing the rpg game called Oblivion, I decided to sell Oblivion (a decision I came to regret) so I can make time for this game, Two Worlds for the XBOX 360. Its marketing department gave Two Worlds really good hype and made it sound as if it was going to be equally good or even better than Oblivion. The sad fact is that Two Worlds is basically a broken game. Though it is open world and the map is much larger than any rpg currently available for the 360 console, the game has tons of pop up visuals, animation hiccups, framerate issues, and glitches that will cause your character to get stuck to invisable objects. The sound effect, and voice acting have a timing issue, some sound effect come with a delay, other times voice acting from the characters start too early. The quest system is broken down as well. The animation hiccups and constant loading are very annoying and detract from the fantasy. A new patch was recently released that was supposed to fix a lot of the glitches in Two Worlds, but the fixes were so minor that they barely made a dent on major problems the game has. And I'll tell you this. No amount of patch fixes will ever correct the game's: stupid story, boring side quest, terrible voice-acting, cheap sound effects and idiotic artificial intelligence. Save your money because Two Worlds is not even worth a rental...let alone a purchase. The video game retail stores that I buy my games from all tell me the same story; lots of customers are returning their copies of Two Worlds because it is so buggy and lame. The stores actually have a bunch of unsold new and used copies of Two Worlds and that has got to tell you something. Pros: +open world gameplay +lots of items and weapons Cons: -trashy graphics -cheap sound effects -cheap animations -terrible menu system -terrible voice-acting -game still crashes -terrible A.I. -very buggy -bad framerate -lousy controls -dumb story	video-games_xbox
When Freedom and Moral Ambiguity Collide. Recently I was visited by my older brother. He's married, has a good job, and a leaning conservative. Whereas I am single, crap job (but in college), and somewhat liberal. Whenever we are together we can go for 8-10 hour-long stretches of talking, joking, and serious debate. The conversation turned to religion, as it often does, and I was surprised to hear my brother tout the need for religion. Both of us are very analytical and have given up the pursuit of a higher power long ago. I asked what his basis of that argument was and he said that society needs a moral compass. I argued that I have no religious belief and my moral compass is working just fine, why would society be different? Then, with that certain Francis flare (some call it egotism), he said that we were smarter than the average person, and most people couldn't handle moral ambiguity. We'd deteriorate into a society of Caligula's without the fear of eternal judgment. I know that this must sound like a rant, but these are same issues that are explored in Bioshock. That is, if society were given freedom without the fear of damnation then it's very likely that the freedom would be abused, and the society would crumble. One of the characters in the game even states that the citizens of Rapture weren't prepared for the moral implications of their actions, and the evidence is prevalent throughout the game. From the twisted visages of the citizens to the crumbling infrastructure. The story is so well done that you don't just play the game; you experience it on a very visceral level. You leave the game not just with a sense of accomplishment (which is something you can get from beating any game), but with a renewed outlook on society and the need of morality within that society. After beating the game I revisited the conversation with my brother and conceded that religion as a moral compass is valuable within society. I also recommended that he play the game, but the guy is so bogged down with marriage, housework, and his job that he hasn't even played the copy of Overlord I loaned him. Poor Scmuck! Pros: Story: A++ Graphics: A+ Gameplay: A+ Cons: Kind of linear, but that's half the point of the game.	video-games_xbox
Nothing like the Original. I loved the old Turok for N64. There were three specific aspects of the game that I loved. 1) Ridiculously huge nasty gun selection consisting of fun items like the razor wind, the shredder, and my personal favorite, the cerebral bore. All of which fit nicely in your magical medicine bag 2) Dump trucks of blood and gore. I loved being able to decapitate, eviscerate and amputate my way through enemies. 3) The thoroughly awesome science fiction aspects of the story. You are Turok ;the last in a long line of mystically destined Native American hunters, cast into an alternate dimension where you must battle cybernetically modified, turbo, dinosaur mutant, alien, monsters being controlled by ancient Lovecraftian aliens and mutant god things. It just can't get better than that! The new Turok has none of this. You are a space marine named Turok. The game is basically a lame rip off of Gears of War. You have mostly two types of enemies: enemy patrol guys that don't even bleed, and dinosaurs which you mostly kill by jabbing them in the head with your combat knife. The dino kills with the knife are incredibly repetitive and only require one button push. It usually isn't even worth it to shoot them because they run around so fast. You can only carry 5 weapons at a time and two are a bow and knife. I am so sick of this forced realism in games. I want to be able to switch between flame throwers, missile launchers, shotguns etc. The massive weapon selection was one of the best aspects of the game. To sum it up 1) Smaller, less imaginative weapon selection; of which you can only carry a few at a time 2) Greatly reduced blood and gore. 3) Almost complete removal of the original sci-fi storyline. You are a space marine; you crash on a planet with dinosaurs. That is pretty much the extent of the science fiction in this game. I got this game used for $6 and it is barely worth	video-games_xbox
Great comeback (Overall, 8.5/10. Well, i was very skeptic about pre-ordering this one, since the last one (Unity) was a fiasco, and not worth $20. Decided to give it another try to the franchise since all other games are decent at worst. Video: 9/10 - Some minor cosmetic issues (i.e. building objects floating, and minor nuisances) Nothing compared to Unity's crappy rendering. Sound: 10/10 - Very pleased with the music and background sound, voices and ambient sounds transport one to a different age. Gameplay: 10/10 - It takes a bit grasp the new depth of movement, with that said, great adjustment. One can easily transition up or down when free running, new button layout allows for specific input so characters enter windows when hanging (previously left to luck), combat combos and chains are varied which immerses the player in the combat (i found the combat and assassinations more robust than in previous installments), multi kills cutscenes are very entertaining and movie like. Several side-quests versions have been added to the game which made map dominance more entertaining than the simple (forts - Black flag and Rogue, Defending or capturing gang hideouts- Brotherhood, the usual "kill the captain" to weaken a territory - from all others). Syndicate divides the map into areas which are then divided by smaller territories; In order to dominate or weaken the templar dominance, the player must complete specific missions on each territory which weakens it and then subsequently doing the same in all territories, the area becomes weak, which prompts a final mission for takeover. Missions: Templar Assassinations (Kill Templar(s)), Bounty Hunting (Kidnap Templar), Child Liberation (yes, there is child labor in the game, and its your job to liberate them), Stronghold (gang hideouts (the same old, complete a couple of missions and kill the leader)). Replayability: 6.5/10 - I probably won't play it again once im done with the story and the sidequests until the DLCs are released. However i would give this same rating to the previous titles due to the lack of immersive Multiplayer experience and length of game (with the clear exception of Unity which personally i think is more in line with a 2 or 3 out of 10 in this category) The game uses a pseudo-version of Shadow of Mordor Ogre system, where by your actions a territory is weakened and you increase the presence of your gang in the city. New interesting additions: Grappling Hook: used for navigation 2-Character driving the story - So they are siblings and they have somewhat different goals, on this light you will have to drive parallel storylines that converge and diverge in several occasions. Also you will have a somewhat modified version of Unity item system (level driven items). Aside from the main hidden blade, you can equip each character with a secondary weapon from any of these three categories: knuckles (brass, iron), Kukri (a small sword/blade), and a cane-sword. Side-quests: Fight Club, Street Races, Cart Escort, Cart Hijacks, Sabotages	video-games_xbox
Late to the Halo Party. Being new to the Xbox 360, I had been wanting to try out the Halo franchise that garners so much praise and hype. However, never owning an original Xbox, instead having both a PlayStation 2 and a GameCube, I figured it would be best to start off with the first game of the series. So, I recently purchased Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox. The game plays quite well on the Xbox 360, with the exception of minor frame-rate drops everytime multiple enemies occupy the screen at one time. This is a minor problem, but the frame-rate is still smooth enough to allow for fluid gameplay. The story is quite compelling, and quite unique as well, and does a great job of grabbing the players' attention. The story takes place in the distant future where space travel and planet colonization is standard practice by humans. Humans have colonized a planet known as "Reach" and use this planet to genetically alter humans into cyborgs known as "Spartans". This practice has infuriated an alien race known as The Covenant. The Covenant has begun attacking the planet Reach and destroying Spartans and humans. One ship manages to escape with a Spartan on board. The ship is known as the Autumn Pillar, and the Spartan is Master Chief Petty Office John-117, better known as simply Master Chief. Covenant begin boarding the Autumn Pillar, and leave Captain Keyes with no choice but to release Master Chief and other Marines in escape pods. Before launching the pods, Master Chief picks up the central control of the ship, known as Cortana, and fuses her connection to his own cybernetic suit. The two crash land and must find and gather any humans who have survived. The two must then go on to rescue Captain Keyes, who has been captured by The Covenant and imprisoned on their ship. Keyes issues a command to Master Chief to locate the control panel of the Covenant's main weapon, Halo. Halo is a giant ring-like structure that contains massive energy and could cause serious extermination if activated. Along the way to the control panel, Master Chief discovers that the Covenant have woken a dormant alien race known as the Flood. Now the fight between humanity includes a new enemy, as the Flood continue to spread rapidly. Master Chief is left facing some difficult decisions as the story progresses further. The gameplay consists of run and gun shooting that occurs at a fast pace. Enemies are very intelligent on the higher difficulty levels, and even the inclusion of an automatically regenerating shield is sometimes not enough to survive the enemy onslaught. The lands are very detailed, but sometimes can become extremely repetitive. Many of the levels consist of the same room design repeated over and over again, making it feel like you aren't really getting anywhere and are simply running in circles. Some levels become tedious at times, and the feeling of "repetition" begins to grow as the level progresses. This rule definitely applies to the later levels where it feels as if you are simply re-entering the same two rooms over and over again in some sort of infinite loop, each time the rooms contain the same enemies as well, making the level feel even more repetitive. Stages that aren't so repetitive are quite compelling and fun to play in, but these are limited to the first few stages, as the game progresses the level designs lose their luster, becoming mundane and boring. The graphics hold up quite nicely for a last gen game, and the gameplay is smooth and addictive. The weapons the player picks up from the enemies are very effective and with enemies appearing by massive quantities, it's always easy to find another weapon to replace your current one upon running out of ammunition. Another complaint I have regarding the original Halo: Combat Evolved is in regards to the controls of the vehicles. Some vehicles such as the Ghost and Banshee pilot beautifully, giving the player amazing control over the vehicles. However, the Warthog can be unruly and almost impossible to control and navigate, especially in tight corridors where obstacles are abundant. This is what makes the last level of the game almost impossible to beat since the Warthog has such a hard time maneuvering properly without hitting obstacles. The steering of the Warthog has greatly been corrected in the later games though, but in Combat Evolved it is a vehicle I like to try to avoid driving. Co-op is a great mode, and adding multiple users really makes the game even more exciting, especially on the higher difficulty levels. The ability of players to "re-spawn" their allies when not in combat allows you to continue the level without excess dying. Had the levels been more unique, and less repetitive, I would have given this game a perfect score, but with the repeating rooms, and lengthy stages, this game's flaws are too drastic to go unnoticed. I enjoyed the game, and I can definitely see why people love this franchise. The game is not as good as its sequels, due to poor level design, awkward Warthog steering, and fewer weapons, but it truly innovated shooters on many levels and has quickly become one of my favorite franchises ever. If you want to follow the complete Halo storyline then you should start with Combat Evolved, but if you want to simply get the feel for Halo for the first time, I say skip Combat Evolved and start with Halo 2.	video-games_xbox
A Whimsical Adventure Worthy of All Ages. As a grown man in my 20's, I bought this game because I wanted something lighthearted and entertaining to play. I truly love LOTR, still own my Legos from childhood, and own several other Lego inspired video games and this game is already my favorite Lego game. For parents considering purchasing this game, be mindful that the game is intended for children 10 and up. There isn't anything vulgar or too mature for younger children, but I would say that some of the puzzles and objectives may be too advanced for a younger child to figure out on their own. However, if you willing to try the game for yourself, this could be a fun bonding experience. What you need to know about this game: 1) Prepare to collect studs. Lego games consist of destroying objects throughout the environment to collect studs (think coins) that can be used to purchase additional characters, items (weapons, tools, etc), and unlocks that make the game easier (stud multipliers, quest finders, etc.) These characters and items can the be used during free play to access areas that were not accessible during the main narrative. Ultimately, this system adds a lot of replay value to the game, although it can be frustrating at times because it is sometimes unclear as to what character and item you need to access these areas. There is often a bit of trial and error. 2) Don't skip the cutscences. Even if you know the LOTR by heart and have seen the movies, it really is worth watching these scenes. It is nice that the the producers used the actual voices and dialogue from the films to bring this game to life, but what is particularly great about these scenes are the creative liberties they take. I couldn't help but laugh when the rings being depicted are bigger than the Lego characters' hands or to see Legolas comb Gimli's beard when he wasn't looking. Sure these things are highly ridiculous and inaccurate, but that is part of the fun of this game. Just enjoy it for what it is. 3) You can co-op with a friend, sibling, or spouse. My fiancee and I decided to join forces on this quest and really has been fun for both of us. The nice thing about working with someone else is that we can collect studs and find hidden items much faster because the environments are really large (arguably larger than any other environment in the Lego universe). The other thing about co-oping is that if we both want to go off an explore separate portions of the environments, the screen will go from a full screen (as long as we are close together) to a split screen. This is a good feature because you are not tethered to partner the whole time. Drawbacks to the game: 1) During co-op, sometimes you'll actually damage your partner as you attack approaching enemies. There is no life penalty for "killing" your partner, but before they respawn, they drop a lot of studs you have collected that will need to be quickly recollected before they disappear. If you trying to reach "True Adventure status" on each level (basically collect enough studs to completely fill a gauge at the top of the screen) this can be problematic. 2) Split-screen can sometimes make it difficult platforming (jumping from one object to the next) because it can be hard to gauge distance and direction. If you fall off the map, you lose some studs. Although, there is an option where you can change split-screen to vertical cut through out the game which could make things easier. 3) The instruction manual for the game (provided in the game case) provides bare minimal explanation of the features of gameplay. Luckily, there are in-game instructions that appear at that bottom of the screen and statues that tell you where hidden items can be found. However, figuring out how to buy items, where to buy items, and how to get to where you need to go next can still be difficult if you haven't played a Lego game before. When stuck, you can always look up how to complete objectives online. With all that being said, if you are a LOTR purist, then this game may not be up to your standards because it does not depict every nuisance and detail from Tolkien's tale, but if you can accept the game for what is designed to be--an entertaining way to re-experience Middle Earth--then this game is quite fun and worth owning. I am certainly glad I purchased it and I hope others will be too!	video-games_xbox
A ton of fun when you can play it. I want to get the talk about the servers out of the first thing for this review because for me my score will be affected by the fact that it is an online only game with unacceptable servers but when they work properly the game is a ton of fun to play. I rarely could get games online without me or somebody else in the lobby disconnecting and having to be replaced by bots and it also kicked me out of the campaign once while playing it making have to go through the whole mission again when I was about halfway through it already and hopefully they fix this soon or I don't see the game having a very long online lifespan that seems Ubisoft is hoping it For Honor has. As for the game when it has working servers its a ton of fun! The campaign is pretty interesting but with a rather generic story. But the level design in the campaign is where it really made me want to progress seeing all the cool fortresses, snow covered mountains, and creepy bleak mires made the campaign something to look at. The campaign does serve as a really good way to learn and experiment with all the classes available while learning and perfecting game mechanics like guard breaking, parrying, and dogge timing. The multiplayer is really where this game shines. Dominion seems to be the most active mode where there are three capture points and its 4v4 and whoever captures the most points and racks up the highest score wins. In this mode you rarely get into 1v1 situations. You are probably going ganging up on an enemy or praying you can block three guys simultaneously hoping you can fill your revenge meter in time to potentially take 1 or 2 out with you before you die. This mode really felt like you were controlling one warrior in the middle of an entire war taking place and I found myself always coming back to this mode. Where your skills will really be tested is in duels. 1v1 and 2v2 duels are intense and it really feels like the better player won. There are some classes that counter others and some classes that seem stronger than others but with any competitive game there will be certain elements that make things better than others so I expected as much, but no class feels broken. On top of faction wars and a ton of customization the game really feels rounded out. If Ubisoft fixes the server issue this is definitely a game worth playing with interesting and innovative combat.	video-games_xbox
No added value for Amazon buyers. The Direct TV Sunday Ticket app doesn't work with any Kindles, a fact that is hidden on a webpage on Direct TV's website that I was only able to find by searching some Tablet forums online. I doesn't make this apparent at all on their main Sunday Ticket page. Other friends I've spoken to who've purchased the Anniversity Edition of the game have also had difficulties running the Direct TV app on their PCs as well. I don't know who is to blame here but you would think that between Amazon, EA Sports and Direct TV that someone would have brought this up and made an effort to try to warn consumers about this before they added a feature to a special edition of Madden available only through Amazon that is completely useless on one of Amazon's biggest selling products. At least the Ultimate team packs included for buying the special edition work! As far as the game itself goes, I've been a Madden player since the Sega Genesis days so I was really looking forward to the big Silver Anniversary edition and I have to say this was a major letdown. Compared to the way they added a lot of extras to the 20th year special edition (free copy of NFL Head Coach, Super Bowl and behind the scenes DVD, Madden 93 included) the only thing that I've noticed that signifies this game is different from last year game is cut scences that mention the history of Madden and unlockable all time great players. The in game commentary, playbooks, menus and cut scenes haven't changed at all, the game's use of the Infinity engine is terrible compared to other games that use it (NHL13-14, FIFA 13-14), and the new running game controls only seem to work right with the top RB's who were already overly powerful as it was. They did add back Owner Mode for Connected Franchise and did add more features to greatly improve franchise play, but all of the bugs and quirks in the gameplay that people have been burning on the internet about for years are still there. Sadly, it seems that things with Madden have deteriorated to the point that EA Sports has gotten extremely lazy with their long term exclusive license with the NFL and know that people will give them tons of cash for the chance to play current teams every year whether they make any effort to improve the game or not. Which is truely pathetic when you consider one of their hallmarks as a company used to be their ability to be cutting edge in their use of new features and adapting to new technology. That and the fact that they continue to be more ahead of the curve with their other sports games.	video-games_xbox
A step in the right direction but not enough. This year's version plays better and more fun than Virtua Tennis 3. The new developer seems to have responded to some of the criticisms of the previous game and fixed some issues but I'd still consider Top Spin 3 a benchmark for the tennis games so far. VT 2009 is a bit more realistic overall than VT3 with those silly dives taken out and the positioning of the players relative to the ball greatly effect the quality of the shots like in real tennis. The general crowd atmosphere is a nice touch with the tension building up in the audience during long rallies. The individual player animations are a lot better than the prev edition but still not totally accurate(the forehand topspin swing of nadal for example). There are other significant shortcomings regardless of the improvements to the game. First of all for simplicity's sake I guess, there are only only two types of main shots offered, slice and topspin. What happened to the flat shots that almost all of the tennis players use today? This is like trying to simulate a racing game but all the cars have a 4 cyclinder engine. Having those three basic shots modeled accurately in the game would increase the depth and variety greatly. Right now the game feels like you only hit the ball and run like crazy and that gets boring after a while. And there is no real life like passing or drop shots whatsoever! You can't really spice up your game like in a real tennis match. I understand the developer's instincts in trying to keep everything to a bare minimum in a game to appeal to everybody but that is still not an excuse to serve a half [...] baked tennis game. The overall presentation of the game is so so with a forgettable music and sound effects. The graphics are good but not great and a lot of the top ten players are still missing in the roster. The online play is fun but a bit laggy especially in doubles. This is basically still the same virtua tennis game from the dreamcast days with only a fresh coat of paint on it. We've been there, done that. We want something more!! Hopefully with the next year's edition, and the remaining issues adressed, we'll finally get a complete [...] virtua tennis game. Keep your fingers crossed!	video-games_xbox
A minor flaw. This game finished my aging x-box dvd drive. After replacing the dvd-rom drive things went a bit more smoothly, that is, it finally boots the game! Okay, this is supposed to be a simulator. The ultimate re-creation of a driving environment on a game platform, it's all about realistic performance driving right? So, why is there no view from inside of the cars? When getting around a track is this realistic, and it certainly has convinced me as to the accuracy of their modeling, you cannot rely on standard game habits. Being able to view the track in a realistic manner should have been just as much a priority as all the rest of the coding. At first I thought they did something right when I saw that the look control could be assigned to the right joystick. I am used to that kind of feature in Halo and I know I could use it to full advantage with an automatic transmission. Very dissapointing to find myself unable to look at where a corner is going to take me, you only have four directions to see with! The only strategy is to seriously memorize the track because you're going blind into the corners. If it's just a straight stretch after the corner, fine. But if there's an even-tighter turn immediately after that one, you will find yourself sliding off the track and losing your position. The only view-points available are: 1, on the bumper(totally blind if a car is in front of you), 2, below the bumper(still can't see if a corner is coming if a car is in front, and if the track goes over a rise you can't see down the rise untill you crest it) 3, behind the car close( so now you can look over all the cars in front) 4, behind your car a bit further back( a better view to the sides). This view thing would suggest that this game will be great for those who just want to watch their car sparkle in the sun as it glides around a fun course. Just remember to keep an eye on the speedometer so you don't overshoot a corner! At least there is a very useful training aid in the form of a set of green arrows on the ground that you should follow. When they turn yellow let off the gas. Red means hit the brakes. The arrows can be turned off to get more points. Everything else about the game is just as the advertising would have you think. I just wish there was a dash view, and a Halo style free-roaming look control.	video-games_xbox
Just plain explosive fun. First I will say that I am a big fan of arcade style racing games in which you can cause mayhem and destruction. In my opinion Burnout Revenge is the best game in that genre for the X-Box 360 but Split/Second is a split second behind. Split/Second is set in a reality show where you must earn credits in races, elimination races or time trials, in order gain access to new cars, open up new events and advance to future episodes. Each episode is broken up into events and these tracks are rigged with booby traps that you can set off on your opponents, yourself if you aren't careful, or others can spring them on you. These traps are called power plays and you earn the ability to trigger them by filling up your power meter by drifting, drafting, jumping or nearly avoiding a trap sprung on you. When you do trigger them they make beautiful explosions, hurl obstacles onto the track or even bring buildings down. Also you can activate a route changer which changes the track and opens up a new path. If you time these triggers right you can take out multiple opponents or even yourself if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Spring them at the wrong time and they will miss taking anyone out and the power is wasted. If you finish the race with a top ranking you earn credits which go towards new cars or unlocking events, which are all automatic so you don't have to worry about managing them. You can always go back and retry an event again if you fail or want to better your ranking and try for first place, in order to max out your credits. Overall this game is a blast, literally. It's really easy to just pick up and play and has a nice tutorial race to teach you about how the power plays and route changes work. The graphics are great. The explosive effects are spectacular, especially when you bring down whole buildings or when an airplane crashes on the runway coming right at you! Your power meter and position in the race show right under your bumper in 3rd person mode or at the bottom of the screen in 1st person mode so the screen isn't cluttered with information that is distracting. The sound is excellent really adding to feel of speed and mayhem. The motion feels fluid and the cars handle nicely, it just feels right to me. You get a good feeling of speed but not so much so that you can't control your car, at least most of the time. Also there is X-Box Live and split screen multiplayer modes and this is where the game will really shine. I must say it's good to see split screen mode because it seems lately I'm starting to see more games without it. There are a few minor negatives about the game in my opinion. The music is OK, has an action based reality show sound to it but I would've liked to hear some real songs, music with a fast beat to it like Burnout Revenge's soundtrack. Also sometimes I feel the drifting is a bit over the top. You will go around a corner and start drifting and spin out without even really initiating the drift yourself. It's a nice effect in that it's a challenge but sometimes it just feels like you aren't in control of your car on turns that aren't even that sharp. Also the single player portion may be rather quick to complete because so far it doesn't seem too difficult. Overall though the game really is good quality. If I could I would give it 4 1/2 stars with 1/2 a star off for what I feel are only minor drawbacks, but I round that up to 5 here. I was hooked the first time I played it and really what more can one ask for in a game than that? It is just plain explosive fun. PROS: + Excellent graphics + Incredible special effects with things blowing up all around you + Great sound + Easy to control with a nice fluid feel + Good multiplayer and with split screen too + Just plain fun CONS: - Ho-hum soundtrack - Sometimes feel like the drifting is a bit overdone - Limited difficulty on single player UPDATE (5-31-10): After having played this some more I would like to make some points which I feel are important. One being a point many on the X-Box forums have made concerning the rubber banding AI, as in you can never really get a big lead on the AI racers because they are always right behind you, and frequently zoom past you even if you are going full speed. This is a valid point and I understand why it is frustrating. You can be in first place about to win and the AI in second place zooms by you. Or you might drift too much, lose some speed and two or three AI racers zoom by you. It does seem kind of cheap but quite frankly I feel that if the developers didn't do this the game would be no challenge at all. You would get into the lead and widen the gap so much between you and the AI that you would never have a chance of losing. In a way it adds a bit of strategy in that you should consider conserving your power plays near the end of the race instead of just blowing them as soon as they pop up. On more than one occasion I was able to win a race despite AI racers rubber banding past me near the finish line by taking them out right after they did, but be warned you will get frustrated sometimes when that doesn't work. One other problem I have also noticed is how AI racers tend to push you out of the way, nudge you from behind to spin you out, and other means of aggressive behavior. This in itself is not a bad thing except for the fact you really can't do the same back to them. You can barely budge an AI racer at all. You can maybe direct them into a wall if you time it right but it's probably not worth the effort because you might as well concentrate on racing and not crashing yourself. These AI issues, combined with the Detonator (time trial) races having very hard requirements to finish in first place, make for a more difficult and challenging game than I originally indicated in my review. You should have no problem completing the single player part of the game but completing it with a first place in every event (for a 130 point achievement) will be pretty challenging. Concerning online play it is fun if you are in races with somewhat evenly matched cars. Unfortunately there is the ability to unlock all cars and tracks available via Microsoft points on X-Box Live. I say this is unfortunate because I feel people should have to earn their cars to compete online, not just buy them. It kind of cheapens online competition at least until the game is out long enough that most people have the cars one way or the other. As a tip I recommend playing through the season mode of the game before playing online because that is how you unlock the cars, plus you will learn the skills necessary to drive better. The other points in my review stand. I have revised my score down to 4 stars for the AI issues which do become a problem later in the game. I still think that this is a really fun game despite the AI issues but it would be nice to see some fixes to these with smarter, rather than cheap AI. I would recommend trying Split/Second for fans of arcade racers involving destruction. Try renting or getting the demo to see if it's for you. If so go buy it and blow some stuff up now that it has gone down in price.	video-games_xbox
Unlike any game I've ever played...in some ways. Some people use this game as the perfect example of how video games are art. I usually disagree with that statement, but having played Braid kind of opened my mind a little bit regarding the argument. Having played and beaten the game, you may think there is very little story or that it's a simple love story, however the story is so deep and layered that it is very difficult to uncover the entire story. Once you start trying to put the pieces of the story together, you realize their is much more going on than you thought. Much like a great film, there is a lot of interpretation in the story and requires thought of your own, instead of being simply presented the entire story. Their is also an epilogue which I thought was brilliant. Regarding the gameplay, it has platformer elements but most of the game is puzzle solving using different methods of altering time. This can be really fun and challenging, but sometimes finding a way to obtain a puzzle piece can seem nearly impossible. Some puzzles remind me of a great magic trick where you think there is literally no way that it can be done, yet you find out it is possible and sometimes much simpler than you expect. In a way that is good, but overall I found many puzzles (especially some of the later ones) to be quite impossible to figure out on my own and became frustrated. I ended up resorting to watching videos of others online to figure out some of the puzzles (Shame on me). It is the level of difficulty to figuring out some of these puzzles that made me not fully enjoy the game at times and why I give the game 4 stars out of 5. Overall, I do recommend this game to someone who is open-minded and is great at puzzle games and doesn't mind looking for the story. I personally did not like spending $15 on it and think $10 would've been more appropriate since once you figure out the puzzles there is not much replay value to it (unless you want to find the stars which are 10x more difficult to get than the hardest puzzles). Yet if you're patient (unlike me) and will try to figure out the puzzles on your own as well as the great story then this game will be well worth the money.	video-games_xbox
Just the action game that the Star Wars franchise needed. It took me no time at all to become a fan of The Force Unleashed. The game starts you as Darth Vader himself, fighting your way through the Wookie planet to eliminate a rogue Jedi in hiding that the empire has discovered. Vader lets you experience what some of your force abilities will be throughout the game as you later play his apprentice. And while is was very entertaining, I found something a little disturbing about killing dozens of wookies. They howl at you as they die and everything... Soon you are playing Vader's apprentice, trained by Vader himself in the Sith arts. Your abilities are much more limited from what Vader himself had; I'm guessing to leave Vader as a benchmark to what you can aspire to become. Still, TFU doesn't waste any time and throws you right into the action. The force abilities you are given are incredibly fun to use against your enemies: foring pushing them into walls, picking them up and chukcing them like dolls, picking them up and chucking them like dolls into TIE Fighters, lightning, force repulse and the good old fashioned hack and slash with your lgihtsaber. You think that killing dozens of rebel and storm troopers alike might get old, but it really doesn't. The more of them you kill, the more force points and combo points you build up and you get all new ways to eliminate them. And even though you seem to be an unsoppable killing machine, the game is still challenging in spots, and I'm only playing it on the medium difficulty. Battling other force users is one point where the game can get challenging and also more fun. Matching wits and strengths jedi to jedi is a very fun gaming experience. Upgrades also add a nice element to the game, collecting points for new force combos, upgrading your abilities and upgrading your character's stats. This adds an extra addictive element to the game in a mild RPG fashion. And then there's are the visuals. They are amazing. The character designs, the lighting, the action; they are all flawless. The backround settings and environments are also gorgeious and have an almost painted look, like a mural. This might sound out of place but it actually looks really amazing. You might see what I mean when you first arrive on the junk planet. My only complaint here is that some of the close up textures look a little bland, mostly on the fungal world that I've noticed. Audio is great too. Much of the score is old John William's classic, so there's no complaint there. A lot of the affects seem to be taken right from the movies, which is also fine. Sound affects for explosions and force sounds seem about as good as I could expect. And I especially like how the troopers plead for their lives as you pick them up with the force and wave them around. The story itself is also very well done. It bridges some of the gap between episodes 3 and 4 and actually explains some of the continuity. It also manages to do this without recycling old Star Wars stories and themes which is nice. So I enjoy this game a lot. One complaint I've read in reviews that I only partially agree with is slightly clumsy controls. There is some room for improvement there (when using force grip, throwing an object and getting it where you want it to go can be difficult.) But every game for me has something about the controls or gameplay that I don't like, and I usually look past it. Another complaint of mine is lack of multiplayer. This could be an awesome game multiplayer. To reiterate: Pros: Mostly great graphics, fun and addictive gameplay, awesome force abilities, good story Cons: Some clumsy controls, graphics could use work in some areas, no multiplayer The Force Unleashed is a great game for the Star Wars fan or otherwise and I recommend it.	video-games_xbox
Mainly Tennis Review for Tennis Fans. This is mainly a review on Tennis. Being an advanced tennis player (4.0 level), I approach this game as a way to work on my form. On a real tennis court, I can direct the ball down-the-line or cross-court, with pretty good accuracy and pace. In KS2, I play against the computer in the highest level--Champion(?) However, in this game, I found that the way my avatar hits the ball is sometimes inconsistent with what I intended. I'll break down the basic tennis shots, and will use "I" and "my avatar" to distinguish between real-world and the Kinect game. 1. Serving is not realistic. If I make the full tennis serve motion by tossing the ball in the air and leaning back before striking the ball, Kinect gets confused and makes my avatar hit the ball before I intend to, and the ball is hit at a slow pace. Sometimes, when I make the motion to hit the serve and my avatar misses the ball completely, the ball gets served anyway, after my avatar has already swung the racquet to serve. When this happens, the ball is served very weakly. It's annoying the way the ball just moves across the net and my avatar made no contact with it. (I do get a second serve if my avatar actually hits the ball out in the first serve.) The trick in serving with power is to simplify my form by shortening my ball toss and swing, which is disappointing because I really wanted to work on my service form. 2. Forehand down-the-line does not work for me, not with the pace that I intend. Whenever I attempt a down-the-line shot, my avatar hits the ball very weakly. And because I play against the Champion, she/he pounces on the weak ball and puts it away. On the other hand, cross court forehands do work; however, I can never get the ball to land closer to the line when attempting the cross-court shot. Instead, the ball usually lands a couple of feet from the alley. 3. The same goes for the backhand. Down the line is a weak shot, but cross-court works very well. With the slice, I am able to direct the ball to where I want it to land, but this is usually a weak shot. 4. As mentioned in other reviews, there is no volley or net play. The entire game is in the back court. 5. The overhead shot is pretty realistic as I can direct it with some accuracy. Once the computer or I hit a solid overhead, it's nearly impossible to return it, unless the smash lands in the vicinity of the receiver. 6. Running is not possible in this game. If the opponent hits the ball in the opposite side of my court, I can forget about trying to reach it. The Kinect sensor doesn't allow me to be out of range, so, if I reach for the corner shot, my avatar is out of commission. I can take a step to the side, but lateral movement is very limited. A quick comparison between KS1 Table Tennis and KS2 Tennis: I already owned KS1, and had to settle for table tennis to provide a similar exercise as tennis. Now with KS2 offering tennis, I find that I much prefer this over table tennis. KS2 Tennis provides a wider range of tennis strokes, obviously, except for the serve and the down-the-line shots. Although, in Table Tennis you can do the full range motion when hitting, but it makes little to no difference how hard you hit it or how much spin you put on the ball. Also, the Champion (top level) in Tennis offers more of a challenge and a workout than the top level in Table Tennis.	video-games_xbox
A lot of potential but not much else. Destiny is one of those games where graphics and detail can astound you, if you have a PS4 or XBone. Don't expect much on the 360 as they had to downgrade quality a lot for the outdated hardware to run it. It's not Bungie/Activision's fault for that since it was necessary. But graphics don't compensate for gameplay. Something that looks nice but doesn't operate for the first year or so coughcoughBattlefield4coughcough isn't worth the money. So is the Destiny gameplay worth it? Yes and no. The structure of missions, side missions, Strike missions, Raids, the Crucible, and Patrol adds a lot of fun and challenge. You have a short storyline that investigates a new enemy across different planets and celestial bodies. You have Strike missions that have a very specific objective to accomplish, rewarding you with a point and experience system that can be used towards Vanguard rewards. Raids are high-difficulty challenges that require a lot of teamwork and strategy but in return give you unique armor, weapons, and accessories that would otherwise take weeks to get through chance of random items dropped by enemies. The Crucible is a PvP arena with a handful of different modes. Within the Crucible you'll also earn XP towards a character and acquire points and experience that can be used towards goods, much like the Vanguard system. Destiny falls short in many ways, primarily through the lack of content. Each player can create up to three characters of different classes which have unique skills and stats. You can trade items between your characters and store away what you can't use or can't carry. You cannot trade with other players. But what is there to trade? Your character has three weapon slots that ironically decrease by one each category of weapons: Primary, Secondary, and Heavy. There are only 4 types of Primary weapons (Auto rifle, 3-round burst, semi-auto, Magnum revolver), 3 secondary (Sniper, Shotgun, Fusion), and two heavy (Rocket launcher, Machine gun). That's it. While each has randomized stats and upgrades you're restricted to what it is preset to. You can upgrade damage, the sight, and features that improve one stat at the penalty of another but this is if it features it. Your character can collect armor with different appearances but the collection of such is very, very small. More often than not you'll create a collection of duplicate items from random drops after killing enemies. There are a few color schemes you can apply to a character if you find or purchase it but the NPC that sells colors has very little variety. In fact you can expect 4 or more colors to stay in stock with the others cycled out each week. Hunter class has cloaks, Titan class has a type of waistband flag, and the Warlock has an armband. You can't see the Warlock armband half the time because of how small it is, the Titan waist-flag rests on one side of the hip (right side only), and Hunter class gets cloaks. If anything the Hunter class is most despised since the cloaks are much more noticeable and artistic. You can purchase/find ships for different designs but that's it. It doesn't affect gameplay and you can only see it in orbit when meeting up with a team. You have a land vehicle similar in purpose to an ATV called a "Sparrow." You can buy them in tiers with better speed and durability but that only helps to get you from point A to point B. The whole system is very "grindy," meaning the ways of earning special weapons and improving stats requires repeating the same missions over and over and over in hopes of stumbling across better gear. A primary weapon via Vanguard missions/Crucible games costs 150 marks: you are limited to earning 100 marks per week for each but you're given 2-6 per session. Finding items as drops means killing the same enemies over and over but even if you get the high-tier "engrams" (containers that must be opened by an NPC to reveal the actual item) you're more likely to get upgrade materials instead of actual armor/weapons. The only way to ensure worthwhile drops is by Raids that one character can complete only once per week. Classes are also unbalanced as experienced in PvP. Worse than that, the lag that can be experienced will sometimes delay your respawn by double or triple the time it would normally take. But it won't be just you, you'll be joined by other players who are banging their heads against the wall. The most annoying, in my opinion, is the leveling system. Your character caps at level 20 which can be achieved over a weekend. From there you have to improve your armor by finding pieces with more "light." The more light they hold, the higher your "light" level goes (21-32). Extra experience earned after level 20 is collected and turned into a "Mote of Light," a useless currency for terrible class rewards (waistband, cloak, armband) that don't match color schemes and in some cases look downright terrible. The best part? The rewards are the same for everyone and cycled out after a lengthy period of time. If there was an option to apply these to armor to increase light it would at least server a worthwhile purpose. So, is Destiny worth it? If you like replaying missions numerous times with friends just to get armor with slightly better stats, yes. If you like the challenges given by relentless raids on enemy homeworlds and weekly missions that have a modified difficulty and conditions, yes. If you like Halo PvP with a twist, yes. If you want a wide variety of classes and subclasses to experience, no. If you want cool, unique weapons as rewards, no. If you want hours upon hours of open-world gameplay, no. DLC has come out at a price nearly matching the game itself. The first half of the DLC adds a few missions and a new raid. Can I get a "whoopity-doo"? No new areas to explore, no new worlds. If anything it has potential to be a large and fun game, but at the time it's just as big as a beta release.	video-games_xbox
Review based on the xbox demo. I have played the original Archon since the Atari days (1980s) and have longed for a 2003 remake of this game. In fact I've played the sequel to the original (Adept) and the 1994 remake (Dark Legions). So I was hoping that Wrath Unleashed will not disappoint devoted fans. Well, I am happy to say, it does not! But before I explain why, here is a bit of info for those who don't know the original Archon game. Archon is a combination strategy/action game. The game consists of a strategy portion that is played on a chessboard where creatures are moved on squares to try and capture the N key locations on the board. A number of options further enriches the strategy portion of the game (such as letting you teleport your creatures, heal them, invoke elementals). When 2 opposing creatures occupy the same square they must fight it out. Ok, now on to the 2003 remake of the game: I recently played the demo version of WU on the Xbox. It is as you'd expect for a 2003 port of the original game. Everything is in 3D. Everything is beautifully rendered. When characters move across the chess board, they animate beautifully. The chessboard is drawn in 3D- but also provides you with a 2D map. Apart from moving pieces around you can also invoke magical abilities- such as heal characters, teleport them, invoke elementals to do your fighting (as in the original game). In the fighting mode of the game, the motion capture is wonderful. The artwork is gorgeous- though a bit on the colorful side (the images on the Lucasart's web site is exactly as the demo appeared). The environment itself, as in the original game, plays a role in the combat as in the original game. You can get impaled by a bunch of spikes or struck by lightning if you stand in the wrong spot for too long. You can also break obstacles in the environment during combat. Each creature gets 2 melee attacks and 2 magical attacks, and 1 blocking move. EAch creature also gets a health bar and a mana bar which replenishes over time (as in the original). The multiplayer mode will be where this game shines, especially now that 4 players can play together. This game will be an excellent addition to any nostalgic Archon fan's game collection. It will also appeal to gamers who like fighting games but want to also engage in a bit of strategy. Don't worry if you aren't into heavy strategy, the strategy elements in WU (and Archon) are simple yet provide incredible richness to the game.	video-games_xbox
Ok game. Kind of fun, but could have been a lot more. The in ring gameplay is O.K., but once you figure it out the game is VERY easy. In my last 10 fights I never even got knocked down. Learn to block and dodge, then counter, and unleash when your opponent is out of stamina. That's how I beat every fighter. The special punches are pretty sick, and did save me a couple of times. PROBLEMS: Between each fight, you have to decide to train or do do some photo op and increase your media standing. If you boost your media ranking, you can get more money for your fights. Why?? Who cares? You can never DO anything with this money! Why not make available some kind of specialized training equipment that you can buy?? Or special training sessions to move up your stats quicker? Or a personal life aspect, where you can live large in a huge mansion and expensive cars as long as you keep winning? Lose a match and be forced to downgrade. ANYTHING to use some of the millions you are raking in. Those are just some quick ideas, but I chose training EVERY time over media boost, just because the money makes no difference. You will progress through the same game no matter what. At one point one of the "plot twists" is that you have been out partying instead of training, and you have to fight a match with downgraded stats! B.S.!!!! I chose to train EVERY time. Why would I go through that plot point? It was forced on me. The "documentary" scenes are badly encoded. On most of them the video does not match up to the audio. It's like watching a bad youtube encode. The commentary from the announcers and trainers gets old REAL quick. There are probably 10 sound bytes total and they use them over and over in every fight. Even with all these flaws, the game was fun and I was compelled to finish it. With a little more creative thinking and effort, this could have been THE boxing game. As is, for the ridicilous price you can get it for used, I'd say it's a solid buy.	video-games_xbox
Doesn't deserve the hate. I will be reviewing this as a combo package, and not just a COD Infinite warfare review, because that's what this edition is, and is why it gets the score I am giving it. INFINITE WARFARE Call of Duty Infinite warfare has an exceptional campaign and one that I see myself playing multiple times, unlike the Black Ops 3 campaign that I had to push myself through just to finish the game. Infinite is truly an enjoyable ride with diverse locations and all the high octane blockbuster moments you expect in a Call of Duty title. Graphics : Infinite is a beautiful game, there simply is no doubt about that. It is very appealing to the eyes throughout the campaign, whether it be during an all out war against the enemy or during moments of calm when you can take the time to look around and really appreciate what the developers have done with the game, it is just simply beautiful. Voice : This will come as no surprise, the voice acting in this game just like all previous titles is top notch Hollywood quality acting. all the characters in the game are very well acted, and are to the point you can feel the emotion translated from the voice actors to the characters you are seeing on screen, all is excellent in this department and I simply cannot find a fault. Gameplay : This is a fast paced first person shooter like all the previous titles, with tight controls and excellent shooting mechanics. The character movements feels to be just a bit slower than black ops 3, but not to much that you won't completely forget about it after playing a short while. So just as all previous entries, you will know what to expect here, different story, different locations, different characters, but still the same fast paced tight shooter you remember and want it to be. Multiplayer : This is where I wanted to knock off a star but just couldn't bring myself to do so. It feels ALOT like Black Ops 3, and I have gotten very tired of the wall running and boosting into the air like the previous two titles. I was hoping for a completely boots on the ground Call of Duty, and that is not what was delivered. There is wall running, there is boosting, there is sliding, there is absolutely all the movements from the previous two titles in this game. Although this multiplayer was not what I wanted it is fun, and buying this COMBO package I did get the multiplayer experience I have wanted since COD decided to go to far into the future. ( SEE EXPLINATION BELOW ) MODERN WARFARE RE-MASTERED This is what makes this package the five star game I believe it is. Modern Warfare Is what really put Call of Duty on the map and is still by far the best there has ever been. Modern Warfare has one of the best campaigns to date within the Call of Duty franchise, and all holds up perfectly well with the re-master it has received. Story : Simply compelling. You will find yourself caring very much about the characters within this game, and enjoying the ride throughout the game. There never seems to be a dull moment where I found my self just pushing my way through just to get to the end. I simply enjoyed every minute. Graphics : The developers did an outstanding job in the campaign and multiplayer making this game look and feel like a current generation game. The game was groundbreaking last generation and is certainly no slouch now that it has received a face lift for the current generation. It's an absolutely gorgeous game. Voice Acting : exactly the same as it was before, nothing has changed, and that is a good thing because the original had a AAA cast of voice actors and everything is intact but with some updated audio that makes everything in the game have a bit more punch than it did originally. Multiplayer : This is the bread and butter of this game, the campaign is great and so is the campaign on Infinite Warfare, but Modern Warfare's multiplayer is the multiplayer I have been wanting since Advanced Warfare released and went to far with those ridiculous exo suits and boosters. This is boots on the ground classic COD that we have all been wanting, This and the two campaigns in this package equal a 5 star rating in my book, absolutely excellent. I may not love the Infinite Warfare multiplayer but everything else completely makes up for it, and maybe the developers will get it through their heads that we do not want futuristic COD multiplayer. If they had just kept it completely boots on the ground in the infinite Warfare multiplayer then I'm sure my view of the game would have been better, oh well, I'm happy with Modern Warfare until next year and hopefully the developers have learned that we do not want anything but BOOTS ON THE GROUND MULTIPLAYER.. You can bet the developers and Activision are tracking how many players are on each game ( Infinite Warfare - Modern Warfare ) , and react accordingly. I have a feeling the next game will be boots on the ground, I have my fingers crossed for a WW 2 game :). So with all that said I an giving this PACKAGE ( Infinite Warfare/ Modern Warfare ) a Solid 5 out of 5 Think about this before you dismiss the purchase of this game, You get two exceptional campaigns, two separate multiplayers that you can go back and forth to when one gets stale, and you get EVERY multiplayer map ever released for Modern Warfare with all the re-mastered goodness. That is a whole lot of value ( in my opinion ) , and a whole lot of gaming goodness..	video-games_xbox
X-Blades Review. X-Blades is pretty much a mindless hack and slash with guns and magic thrown in for good measure. You play as Ayumi, a treasure hunter whose come across a map to a temple where the powers of two gods, The Light and The Dark, are being held. Or something like that, being the type of game this is, the story was kind of lacking. Ayumi carries two gun-blades that she can either hack and slash at monsters, or she can shoot them. Also, as you collect souls from fallen monsters and broken objects in the environment, you'll be able to purchase magic spells to help aid you in your quest. The gameplay is simple, yet fun. Of course it doesn't hurt that the main character is pretty hot and wearing a thong. You go from one level to the next and can't pass on to the next until you've killed all the monsters in the area. Sometimes you have to just kill everything, sometimes there are monster generators that you have to destroy, sometimes there are special elemental monsters that can only be killed with a certain spell, and then there are boss fights. The graphics in this game are actually really good. The only thing that I found odd with the graphics is the lighting, which they seem to overuse alot. There were sometimes when Ayumi would just disappear into a bright glowing light. And there's a couple of levels that take place on a beach, and it looks like Ayumi's skin in glowing red like she's got the worst tan ever. Other than that, the character models and the environments look really good. Sound wise...the soundtrack is actually pretty good with it's rock and techno beats. However, the voice acting was just god awful. The guns sound powerful like they should though. The game is kinda short, maybe 5 or 6 hours long. You could probably beat it in one aftertoon if you really wanted. But I personally had so much fun playing through it the first time that a few days after I beat it I started a new game and am about to beat the game for a second time. After you beat the game, you unlock new costumes for Ayumi to wear, which is kinda nice. All in all, it was a fun experience. Just don't go in expecting a great story with well thought out characters. If you're just looking for some mindless fun with some good eye candy to look at while you're doing it, then you probably can't go wrong with X-Blades.	video-games_xbox
Save your money. Okay, I'll get started by saying my previous experience with the halo franchise. The halo games were some of the first FPS games I ever played, and some of the best as well. I own every Halo game including a sealed Legendary Edition H3 and LE Halo 2. I also own a Reach edition console. So, you could consider me a halo fanboy. When I saw that Halo 4 was coming out, I was a bit perplexed though. How could Master Chief magically get new armor, a jetpack, the ability to use powerups, and a new HUD while he was asleep? Halo 4 never clearly explains any of this other than just saying Cortana rewrote the HUD while he was asleep. I picked the game up anyway though. To be honest I wasn't expecting much from a non-bungie developer, so my expectations were low. I wanted the game to be good though, with a passion, I wanted this Halo game to be amazing! The problem though is that I've found ever since Halo 3, each game has been getting progressively worse. Unfortunately, Halo 4 is no exception. I'll try and keep this as spoiler free as possible, but keep in mind many things later on in the review deal with the campaign. First of all, I have to say that the graphics for the game are amazing. Even better than reach. Although it wasn't like 343 had to do much other than make the models and textures, they were handed one of the best Xbox 360 engines out there from Reach. Now, you don't really fight too many enemies at the beginning, instead you watch a cutscene with some very poor writing. There's a man interrogating Halsey, and if you pay attention, he contradicts himself in reference to Master chief. At first, he says "John is dead," only to go on to say "Spartans never die" in the next breath. When that cutscene is over, you begin by walking around the ship, when you come across an elite. This leads me into one of the biggest complaints I have for halo 4 and that is that 343 simply made the game too much like Call of duty to be called a halo game any more. You have to react quickly by pressing a melee button in order to kill the elite, just like many of thosesurpriseattacks in COD. Oh, and did I mention that you just got done climbing up an elevator shaft? The climbing reminded me way too much of MW2 when you're scaling the glaciers to feel like something original and creative that Halo should be doing. Later on in the level, you discover something else that frustrates me as well. All the guns seem to have lost most of their power to kill enemies with. Must have been because they were sitting on the ship so long right? NO! Not only did they reduce the amount of ammo you can carry in the game by 50,%, but the guns are also a lot weaker. Get ready to read "out of ammo, scavenge new weapons from the battlefield" a whole lot more now. Next complaint: The story is short! Only 8 missions! And in these short 8 missions, there is a new type of enemy that you must fight. I won't say how this enemy surfaces, but it's really pretty dumb how it happens. Not only do they never really explain what the enemies are, but they don't do a good job explaining the motives of the enemies either. Not something I usually say about a Halo game. Usually they do a great job explaining the enemies... Not here. Additionally, let's just say Master Chief gets to "meet" a forerunner. Although the game never explains if it's a real forerunner or not, the whole cutscene is veryvagueand lacking in story, The whole concept behind the cutscene is TERRIBLE. Just wait until you get there to see what I mean. The last complaint I'd like to say is about the ending. It has to be the 2nd worst ending I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing next to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Everything about the ending just completely sucks. End of story. Oh, and remember that great halo 3 multiplayer they destroyed in halo reach? It's even worse now, with custom classes and killstreaks, just like good ol' call of duty! Overall, I'd give this game a 6.5/10. Rent it if you want to see how bad 343massacredthe Halo series, but don't consider this a serious competitor for game of the year. Save your money, or you could just light however much money you were going to waste on this game on fire and get more entertainment out of it than this game.	video-games_xbox
Excellent Attention to Detail + Superb Multiplayer. Graphics: In the graphics department you are probably looking at THE definitive next-gen gaming experience. Textures are not overused, smoke/explosion/bullet effects add great visual atmosphere to the game, and you really do feel as though you are in a war zone. The visuals are no less than stunning in Single Player mode, and multiplayer achieves high marks as well. Attention to Detail: I give this its own category because the attention to detail is almost unsurpassed in any game I've ever played since the 80s. The exhaust fumes from the back of a tank, the chatter on the radio, the between mission stats of particular military equipment, the Judgment Day-esque atmosphere post nuclear explosion... all of it keeps you firmly grounded in the story. Story: The story seems like something Tom Clancy would write. The sad thing is, all of the things that happen in the game take place over a 4-5 day period, switching between the view of U.S. Marines and British S.A.S. This is unsettling because you see how much chaos and destruction can be wrought over such a short period. Some gameplay sequences are merely story devices, as you play as a character whose sole purpose in a mission is to be executed, or to crawl out and die after being horrifically wounded. I've also had reports from friends who have played the game who had certain sequences turn out differently, and the story is somewhat dynamic based on choices you make in the game. Sound: All of the sound effects are great, though mostly you hear gunfire - the dialogue is excellent. Each character has his own personality, and you feel almost sad when something happens to one of them. The music really sets the tone of each mission/sub-mission as you can kind of gather what will happen based on the musical cues. Gameplay: Think of the other Call of Duty games. Remove redundant controls, and some new options. Multiplay: You are really missing out if you do not have Live enabled with this game. The sheer awesomeness of being able to fire through walls, be wounded and fire from the ground at your attacker, or having a helicopter machine gun the enemy team during a multiplayer match is something I haven't found in any other game. You level up after each match, unlocking new weapons, "traits" (abilities for your class), and "Create a Class" options where you can create your own classes. Also, unlock challenges to perform certain feats with a weapon to unlock special attachments for that weapon. For instance, 25 head shots might unlock a silencer, or a better attachment for steady aiming. My current class is the 'stereotypical AK-wielding maniac' who runs around with an AK47, pistol, and an RPG strapped to his back. You can focus more on a special forces type role, general assault, or sniper, or any combination. The radar works differently than most MP games. Radar blips only show people who have fired a weapon, and silencing your weapon prevents you from showing up on radar, though it lowers your impact rating with bullets. Firing a weapon, then backing away and hiding while waiting for someone to investigate the gunshot is a valid strategy. I would be willing to say that this beats out Halo 3, and with the multiplayer aspect beats out Bioshock for FPS of the year... I can't imagine anything being better in the current crop of releases.	video-games_xbox
played it first on a ps2, now got it for 360. HIGH REPLAYABILITY. First off, I'm no hardcore gamer. I just happened to be browsing some gaming magazine when the ad got me. Being a big fan of the comics, I decided to give it a try. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to be able to pair up Spidey with Iceman and The Human Torch and whoever catches your fancy? And the game delivers a lot of punch in many ways. The difference between this game and the normal edition is this edition comes with 8 extra characters that are already available as xb live downloadable content. GAMEPLAY: Campaign mode is pretty straightforward. You can walk through the entire thing and it makes for a lot of gametime. It is kind of reminiscient of the Ninja Turtle series from back in the 90's where you pretty much follow a straight map (except in this case, there are some side rooms that you can explore in each level), kill some enemies, get to a minor boss, kill more enemies, then get to the final boss. Obviously, you have to expect the occasional roadblock - 'What am I going to do to get past this flaming doorblock?' situations where simple puzzles can come in play, but overall, getting through levels is a sort of linear kind of thing. The whole game probably takes about 18-25hrs to beat on normal. But then you won't necessarily unlock all the superheroes and costumes and whatnot. The side simulator missions are also a lot of fun and add an extra leveling up element to the game, so I guess that's what keeps you going. You unlock hard mode after beating normal once. Very replayable game, I've already beaten the story at least 4 times across three difficulty levels. GRADE: A THE RPG ELEMENT: Activision markets this as an action/rpg game, and while there is lots of action (as I mentioned, the Ninja Turtle game flashback it brought me), there are elements of RPG. Whenever you pick up 'money' on the map and level up, you can spend points leveling up character skills and abilities. The items you equip your characters with will also matter in the same way. The system is rather straightforward and being my first game from the 'series' (apparently this is the successor to some XMen Legends game?), it did not take me long to learn about where this element kicks in. GRADE: A THE CO-OP ELEMENT: Co-op is awesome and I definitely prefer that to playing alone. You can team up with 1-3 of your friends for some 2-4 player co-op. xb Live allows for some smooth gameplay even while online. While camera views can be annoying at times, you can easily tell that the programmers put a lot of time into making co-op gameplay here really smooth. One weird thing about this though, with comic missions, the main character is controlled by one player and enemies which are, surprise surprise, not controlled by the AI if you've been playing co-op. Kind of eliminates that whole challenge feel to it if you look at it in one way. GRADE: A+ GRAPHICS: Almost comical. Not as in funny comical, but as in like the comic books. Graphics looked much better than on a PS2, but still there were some problems. Heck, the cinematics looked awesome. But for the most part, gameplay graphics were pretty tight. I found some of the animations rather sorry, like the lime green-ness, almost-to-the-state-of-previous-gen-ness of the Fin Fang Foom, but other than that, I really don't have much complaints. So don't expect Gears of War graphics here. GRADE: B+ STORY: Any game that can capture the essence of every superhero's personality while at the same time painting this captivating story as it unravels gets my props. Although sometimes, in the middle of a mission, the small things that go wrong that you and your group must fix up, these things can make you lose sight of the big picture. GRADE: B+ COMPLAINTS: - Dialogue is kind of key in this game for the most part. At times dialogue pops up in the worst time (immediately after a fight) such that I found me or one of my friends mistakenly hitting the 'continue' button (A) right through the dialogue as if the fight was still going on (A = the attack button). - Reviving characters: So in battle, if one of your group gets KO'ed, there's a resting period. When the resting period is over, a message pops up saying that the character of interest is fully rested, but instead of letting him/her pop out just as if to rejoin the group, you always have to get to some save point to activate that character again. --- Once again, being not that hardcore of a gamer, I can't really say much in the way of in-depth game reviews. But here's the bottom line: - This game is definitely one to be played co-op. My brother and I grew up playing these types of games and having hours and hours of fun together with these (heh... Ninja Turtles). - Don't get this if you're looking for straight RPG. True, there is an RPG element, but not as much in the way of world-exploration and stuff that have surrounded some of the world's best RPGs. - This game is mission-based, with different levels separated into 5 acts that will load from your home base. Think Splinter Cell or soldier FPS games where you have one level, side missions that pop up when things screw up, and then an overall mission goal that must be beaten for you to return to home base.	video-games_xbox
Average platformer, not very smurfy. I went into this not expecting much, and my expectations were pretty much on the mark. It's not very exciting, boring at times, and very easy. There were moments when it felt like a chore to complete. However, it is a competent game, which means you can play the entire game without encountering any game-breaking bugs or defects. This is as basic a platformer as it can get. At times, it reminded me of Sonic the Hedgehog, without the speed. In fact, the Smurf characters that you play as are quite slow. The platforming itself isn't hard, which is mostly limited to jumping across gaps and avoiding enemies. You can pounce on the enemies to "free" them. There are some moving platforms, but in general, you can quite often get from the beginning of a level to the end without restarting. It seems to be designed to be too easy. Why? As you traverse a level, you gather "smurfberries". Much like other platformers, like Sonic, if you get hit by an enemy, you lose all of your "smurfberries" but are given a few seconds to gather them up. It doesn't matter, because the levels have an overwhelming amount of smurfberries on them. Additionally, if you miss a jump and fall off a ledge, you'll rise up in a bubble, and are permitted to direct yourself to the nearest ledge and release yourself. The hardest thing about this game is trying to die. You are permitted to play as different smurfs, each of which has a special ability. The problem with the special abilities is that it makes defeating enemies even easier. For example, Jokey throws a present that explodes, destroying the enemy from a distance. Hefty throws a barbell that returns to him like a boomerang, allowing him to hit enemies from afar. All of these mechanics make the game incredibly easy. That said, it might be great for very young players. There are six worlds, each with five levels and a boss. None of the bosses are extremely challenging. Throughout the levels, you will also collect coins to free various smurfs and return them to the village. Finding all of these coins requires you to unlock all of the playable smurfs, because some of the coins are locked behind obstacles that only some smurfs can reach. While this adds replay value, while considering achievements as well, it's very tedious because you need to replay some levels multiple times. Fortunately once you unlock a level, you can go back and play it as many times as you like. None of them are particularly long, and the game can probably be completed in 5 hours or less. You will probably unlock 75% of the achievements on first playthrough. The story is told through still animation frames from the 1980's cartoon, with voice-over. This is as simple as it can get, and it's very boring. Very young players may enjoy this, but it creates even more of a slog for older players. From a technical perspective, there were no bugs or defects that impeded gameplay at all. It is, at its heart, a very basic 2D platformer with 3D backgrounds. The backgrounds are very well designed from an art direction perspective. The music suits the game well but gets monotonous at times. One of the most annoying features of the game are the little sounds that each of the playable smurfs will make as they jump. Every time you jump, they make a noise...and the noises are very similar to each other. This gets irritating after a while. If you want a quick and easy game to play, or need a game for younger players to enjoy, this may be a good choice. However, there's no substance to this game, and isn't necessarily entertaining.	video-games_xbox
The Final NCAA Game is a Great One. Intro: Let me start by saying I had very low expectations for this game. Even when I started playing it, nothing blew me away and I was not impressed. Maybe it was the fact that I have played the NCAA Football franchise for going on 8 years now that lead to my initial view of the game being so poor, but after getting a few games under my belt in Online Dynasty, my interest in the game did a 180. This review for the game is based solely on the Dynasty and Online Dynasty modes. Presentation: The graphics in this game are typical of what you would expect from a NCAA Football game. Year after year they improve the graphics just enough to make if feel like its a newer game than the previous edition. This years graphics are phenomenal. They are so good that the untrained eye often does not know it is just a video game. They added the Madden 13 physics engine to the game this year in order to improve the realism they always strive to achieve. Sometimes the physics engine actually hinders the so called realism by making players fall or get tackled awkwardly, or do things I cannot even describe. It also changes up how a player goes about running the ball behind their offensive lineman, because if they run into one of them, it completely stops their momentum and can cause them to get tackled for a loss. It can make them trip and fall over as well. This can happen to you often if you are not careful about where you are running because this sort of thing happens almost every time you run into the back of your linemen. Gameplay: If you can figure out how to avoid running into your offensive line, the gameplay this year is better than ever. In years past, blocking schemes had no effect on the way you ran the ball at all. They simply blocked forward, and any defensive player who was being blocked could easily slip off of it and make a tackle if you ran next to them. This year that has been completely done away with. The blocking mechanics are amazing and it makes blocking schemes matter. You can run next to a defensive player who is being blocked by one of your players and no longer have to worry about them suddenly flying off and making a tackle. Plays out of the wildcat formation and reverses out of other formations actually work with much more success because you can wait on blocks to develop and find the hole to make a big play. All of this however depends on the skill level of both your players and the person controlling the ball carrier. Defenses are much smarter this year and it makes it much more realistic than it has been in the past several games. They are better at learning what you are doing if you run the same plays repeatedly. This is not always the case but, it is most of the time. They have finally done away with the Hercules linebackers. It used to be that anytime you threw the ball over the middle and it was less than 10 yards down the field, a linebacker could literally leap 10 feet in the air in any direction and intercept the ball. This was very frustrating for players that loved to sling the ball around the field. The only issue with the smarter defense is that it is extremely hard to throw the ball down the field. You have to have a very strong armed quarterback and a speedy receiver most of the time in order to throw a deep ball, or else it will be intercepted more times than not. This also will depend on how good the person controlling the team is on whether or not it actually affects them. You can always adjust by aiming where you want the ball placed or just by not throwing the ball to those players unless they are wide open. The opponents offense tends to run the read option a lot in this game, which can be very annoying. Even on teams that do not usually run the read option, if they run it once on you and it works, they will continue to run it over and over again. It can become almost unstoppable because they are very smart on whether or not to hand the ball off or keep it; even when you read it right sometimes your player will just run right past the ball carrier rather than making the tackle. Dynasty Modes: Dynasty and Online Dynasty mode has been stale the past few years with too few improvements being added. This year they have gone to great lengths to change that and make it actually feel like a new game. The recruiting portion of the Dynasty modes has changed more than anything else in this entire game. It has been streamlined in order to make it easier and faster for those who do not wish to spend a lot of time recruiting, but its still just as deep for those who wish to get the most out of it. It does take a while to get used to since it has an all new interface and works in a completely different way, but after getting familiar with it the system becomes much more fun than it was last year. Initially the user is given 5,000 points a week to use and you can place up to 500 points on any given player you wish to recruit. Every week following that, you will continue to automatically spend those same points on that player unless you manually change it. This was done so that users can assign how many points they want on players and then allow them to not have to check it again for a few weeks if they choose not to. Users can still check in every week, and see their progress on the recruits if they wish, and make any changes they want to the overall points being spent on these players. They have also added coach experience points and a leveling up system with a skill tree to the game. This can be a game changer for someone who plans to spend a long time in one of the Dynasty modes because the skill trees have some really rewarding skills. Examples of some of the skills include things like adding more points to your recruiting during the season, being able to spend more than 500 points on players every week, and being able to recruit a player that has locked you out. These all come over time, though, and you cannot buy them all at the beginning or it would make it too easy. The Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 This game has all of the parts of the NCAA Football formula that has made it such a great game for the past several years, but it also finds ways to improve in many areas. It is a breath of fresh air to those of us who have been playing the game for close to a decade and a great game for newcomers to jump in to (especially since this may be the last college football game we see for a long time). It is fun to play a dynasty as your favorite teams and try to take them to the BCS National Championship Game every year and just as fun to play against your friends for bragging rights. This is definitely a video game for any college football fan and anyone who likes football games in general. I have enjoyed my experience with it after over four seasons of play and will continue to enjoy it for the foreseeable future.	video-games_xbox
Flawed, But Fun. Of all the racing games I have played, there are few that stick with me as much as Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition has. Not that I actually care for the DUB aspect of it, but this game is probably the most fun racing game I have played. One serious drawback that this game has is that its characters that you have brief interactions with are so hokey it kills me every time I play. Playing on the most base of tropes, the Hispanic mechanic in LA always uses the term, "esse" with almost every other sentence. The car lingo obviously comes with the territory, but it really makes it hard to take the game seriously when it indulges too much in this. Oftentimes, I find myself muting the volume and just playing my own music instead. Thankfully, this is a very small part of the game and, once you can accept that, the gameplay really is a lot of fun. As an arcade-style racing game, there is very little realism, but, to be honest, any realism in a game where you are basically driving blind in an urban setting would be nothing short of infuriating. Of course, cars can take damage. If you take too much damage, you're out. It's a lot of fun, though, when you're barreling down the side streets in the game and get a quick turn thrown at you. You have very, very little time to make decisions and forces you to think (or drive) on your feet. Customizing vehicles is endlessly enjoyable, and the multiple levels of mechanical performance increases per vehicle class ensure that you don't rush through each vehicle class too quickly. The addition of different clubs for each style of vehicle allow the player to master every type of vehicle and give incentive to trying all of them instead of just finding one class and sticking with it throughout the game. And, in truth, all the classes have their own points that make them fun. Tuners are good for a mid-level speed, exotics are hyper-fast and look very nice, sport bikes allow for the tightest turning possible, choppers are mid speed but have a certain weight and presence about them that makes their driving style unique, trucks and SUVs are heavy, big monsters that are fun to race with other trucks, and luxury cars are just OK. Once you've reached the last city and completed the different clubs and tournaments, there isn't much else to do. You can collect more cars, and the number of races is unlimited. Yet it does get old at that point. Luckily, the game has substantial replay value, and can be a very nice game to have down the line.	video-games_xbox
I wanted to hate it. I really wanted to hate this game. I was irritated by the first Far Cry with the save game issues, I was annoyed with the second Far Cry with the constant checkpoint fights. So I came into playing this game for the supposed hype to see the much touted graphics and quit the game a couple hours in after some annoying design flaw. After 8 hours of play I'm really getting into this game. Things I like: 1. Graphics - very nice graphics 2. Fast Travel - although there isn't a lot of spots to fast travel to, there are enough to break up the map to reduce long travel. Game world is beautiful and there is hidden loot and collectibles strewn about, so if you have to travel, it isn't a complete wast of time. 3. Stealth - Stealth and how AIs react to it works great. You can hide in shadow and in cover and they will not notice you. They won't notice you until you make some sort of noise that is within their area of detection. Even if they hear it, they do not necessary catch you, they start to search for you in the general direction of said noise. You also have an unlimited supply of rocks to help lead them away. If they see a body, mobs start to fan out looking for the culprit, instead of them all heading in your direction even though you did not provide a tell. 4. Combat - Very smooth combat. AIs are smart, but not clairvoyant. Very easy to do guerilla type tactics to run in and shoot, then blend into the shadows attacking from a different direction. Also there is additional strategy such as attacking a base, you can open up animal cages in hopes the animals will attack the mobs. 5. mini-games - poker, knife throwing, races, time challenges, etc. They have a ton of mini games that are fun to play. My favorite was hide and seek where you have to kill as many mobs in a set amount of time. Sneaking through with a silencer and a knife cutting down people trying to get 450 pts was a blast. Things I dislike: 1. Economy - Your cash supply is limited by how big of a wallet you have. You start off only able to hold $1000, and you have to locate materials to craft a bigger wallet. You have to do the same thing with the number of weapons you can hold, number of health kits, number of arrows. Thankfully they give you the location of the animals on the map, so you know generally where you need to go to get the mats. So you can easily get necessary upgrades fairly early in the game. 2. Animals - they are fast, small, easily concealed in grass and brush, and your only warning is their growling. I have no idea how many times I died due to being attacked by crazy boars, komodo dragons and some sort of ostrich. When I try to aim at one, I hear two more, and I can't see where they are at. I do have to say the animal AI is smart, instead of only attacking me, they attack anything. I lucked out on clearing an outpost because two leopards had wandered into camp, and killed off half the camp for me. The spawn rate appears to be low though, so it isn't something you have to worry about constantly. Overall, I really love this game.	video-games_xbox
Now THAT'S a Violent Video Game. Seriously, someone call Hilary Clinton, we need to get this thing on lockdown!! Prototype (excuse me, [PROTOTYPE]) is a bit of a mixed bag that, for all its faults and foibles, works far more than it doesn't. The end result is something that feels a bit unfinished, a bit unpolished, and more of a dry run (in the same way that <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/the-first-Assassin-s-Creed/dp/B000P46NMK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">the first Assassin's Creed</a> turned out to be); almost as if the developers stopped and said "That's all well and good, but... let's make sure it works before we spend TOO much time and money on it." Which is an approach that's bound to create at least a few flaws: an open city that feels a bit sparse, flat, and untextured, enemies that feel repetitive, lightly varied side quests, unimaginative story and uninspired voice acting... you know, a small grocery list of things that just all feel unfinished or rough around the edges. Oh, and thank goodness someone finally had the guts to stand up, take a risk, and make a video game protagonist who's a twenty to thirty something thin, handsome, white, American male who's super smart and/or strong! ...Look, I don't want to dwell on this and I know that's your target audience, but come on, seriously? Would it have been a worse game about someone who can run up buildings and change their hands into blades if they'd messed with that formula even in the slightest? Sigh... Anyway. It's strange I should be complaining about your main character since he is by far what works best in the game. Alex Mercer IS the [PROTOTYPE] (a man with super powers from a super virus and super plot-convenient amnesia out for REVENGE... or something!) and his super human running, jumping, gliding, smashing, killing, throwing, and maiming is a blast. It happens intuitively and with surprising ease. I was nervous at first when I saw just how many different things Alex could do (mostly violent things) but the wheel that switches between powers, the hot keys, even the (touchy) targeting system were all pretty easy to grasp making for some smooth, effective slaughter. With a little practice you can become an extremely efficient fighter, able to dismantle some soldiers and tanks, cause some mayhem, escape around a few buildings and shapeshift to go back into hiding in a really fluid and enjoyable way. There's enough variety in fighting styles and enough stealth options to keep things interesting for longer than if this were a simple button masher and the destruction you bring is incredibly satisfying. There's also a really clever sort of "bullet-time" effect that happens when targeting or switching powers or charging attacks that slows things down enough to give you (the player) a few precious seconds to plan your next move. It's incredibly clever and effective, if you can get the hang of it. I half-mentioned the under-budgeted feeling; the plus side of it is that the game feels very lean, trimmed of fat, and designed to JUST KEEP MOVING! The mission objectives are simplistic and straight-forward, the events are chaotic and colorful and the enemies JUST KEEP COMING. Alex is fluid, he's living mercury, can recover from just about anything and is at his best when on the go. Hit and run, hit and run, run and run, just RUN! The game world has been stripped of the unnecessary (it's almost entirely glitch-free) and left room for lots and lots of chaos to ensue. And that chaos quickly becomes your best friend: pitting the army against the infected while the civilians get mashed in the middle gives you time to complete your objectives and then run and hide before getting overrun by your surprisingly determined and effective enemies. Oh, and about those civilians... I've gone on at length already, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the poor humans trapped in the middle. The prototype world is an incredibly amoral world and your hero, Alex Mercer, is not a hero at all. He's not even an anti-hero. He's... just sort of a jerk. And it's not just him: every character we meet is at least a little tainted and out for their own ends. There are no 'morality' choices involved and no punishment at all for picking up a hapless civilian just walking down the street and ripping them to pieces. Even Grand Theft Auto has police and the army to come around and make a token effort of trying to stop you. Most games at least acknowledge that you're being bad when you're being bad. Not so in Prototype - it's never even menteioned. The city is little more than Alex's playground and the people in it are his toys. And you WILL slaughter them, you can't avoid it; believe me, I tried. You'll need to absorb them for energy, you can't always pick them out from the infected they're being attacked by, and they have a strange habit of running right in front of your tank while you're racing the clock. The game makes it very clear that 'normal' people are of no concern to you, not even in the slightest. It's a really... interesting feeling and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. Like, a lot. But it's something to be mentioned. Like lambs to the slaughter, as they say...	video-games_xbox
So you've anticipated it for years...was it worth the wait. The best way to answer that question is "yes and no." I loved this game, and everything about it, until what I thought was a mid-story plot twist was the end of the game. I will go over very specifically what I thought was awesome about this game, and why the abruptness of the end hurts it so much. So here's the dilly. You start out the game and are immediately thrown into a very rich and fantastic environment. The graphics, while not the best seen on XBOX, are extremely good considering how long the game has been in development. I think the cutback in graphics benefitted the feeling of the game; the less-real appearance of everything complements the fantasy setting very well. You have to play the game to know what I'm talking about, but I assure you that the graphics cut was for the best. It not only kept the game running smoothly (most of the time), it truly helped me feel like I was playing a game about heroes and small towns and monsters. If you've ever read Grendel or Beowulf, it feels very much like that setting. Personally, I love that setting, so the game sucked me right in. I think they put a lot of effort into getting that feeling into the environment, and it worked very well. Besides the environment, everything else looks top notch. Monsters, weapons, armor, tatoos, scars, etc are all very well done. The what-you-do-now-effects-what-happens-later aspect of the game is also truly amazing. Eat a lot, and you get bigger; on the other hand, if you never eat unless you need to to regain health (like I did), you'll stay slim. Wear armor all the time, you'll stay pale; run around shirtless, you'll get tan. Same goes for your hair: if you wear a hat all the time, your hair remains black; run around without a hat, and it'll bleach and become blonde. Get beat up in combat, you'll start developing visible scars. Wield heavy weapons, you'll get buff. Etc, etc. Beyond simply aesthetic changes, the true meat lay in the changes that occur when you commit good/evil deeds. It goes well beyond the blatant picking good/evil in KOTOR, and actually has a bigger affect on gameplay (it doesn't just change what skills you can use). You do good things, not only does your appearance change, but so does how people react to you. They'll cheer you on and hail you if you're good, while they'll cower in fear and look the other way if you're evil. I'm not going to waste time explaining this, as I'm sure everyone knows about it. Lemme just say that being hailed everywhere you go and have the entire town love you (literally) is a very cool feeling. They succeeded in making this part of the game key and fun. What else did I like about the game...Well, there's the side quests you can do (which I suggest you do, as the main quest is not very long by itself)- basically, various people of Albion (that's the name of the land) need random help doing things and they request the assistance of the Guild. As a part of the Guild, you can either accept or reject the quest; it's totally up to you. Beyond questing, you can do a lot of social things that most games wouldn't even consider touching. You can get married (heterosexually or homosexually or both!), divorced, widowed, have sex, get drunk, kill off an entire town, buy a house, live in it or rent it out, kill a shop owner and take over his shop, etc. This aspect, while very very very cool, has one drawback which I will get into in a minute. Beyond that, the story told is very formulaic. What makes it above average is the way it is presented. It is told as a story focused around you, the Hero of the era. Personally, my favorite part of the game was the way the story was presented. Its unoriginality is overshadowed by its riveting presentation. You'll have to play it to appreciate it, because words will not do it justice. **Now...what makes the game bad? Its length. It was in development for four years, and the developer was claiming it to be the best RPG ever created. Wrong! Yes, it's very good. Yes, it's got many great aspects that every RPG should have. BUT, it took me about the same amount of time to beat this as it did Ninja Gaiden or Genma Onimusha (two action/adventure* games)- about 12 hours. I'm not one to normally complain about the length of a game, but here is how it matters... The way the story unravels, it makes the end seem more like a mid-story plot twist. Which makes for a very disappointing feeling to rush over you once you see the credits rolling. They even set the fight up as a quest with experience and renown rewards, making one think even more that it couldn't possibly be the end of the game. But alas, I was wrong. Maybe if the final boss was a little harder I would've SEEN the end coming, but he was easy, and I did NOT see the end coming. I played with melee-combat as the focus...and I didn't even have all three things mastered when I killed the final guy. He was WAY too easy. I ended up having to rely on ranged weaponry (which my character didn't level up at all, by the way), and it worked like a charm! Why oh why would my sub-par ranged weapons skill work (very well) against the FINAL boss? The answer will go forever unanswered. The bigger problem I have with the abruptness of the end has to do with all those cool extra social features this game has. For instance, I bought two houses and rented them out, and by the time the game ended, I was still about $20,000 in the hole from the investment. I didn't even come close to earning back the money I spent. My wife? I saw her like 3 times and we had sex once...in a span of 15 game-years. After not seeing her for a whole year (because I went to prison for a year), she didn't act at all differently. This may sound silly, but if they are going to implement the wife-feature, then this kind of attention-to-detail should be present. All of the other cool side-things that could be done I didn't really do much of (I got drunk once and played drunken coin-golf once...which was awesome)...Why didn't I do much of it? Because I expected the game to be another 10 hours long (at least!). A couple reviewers were wrong about something, which needs to be pointed out. I sat through the credits at the end, and afterwords it put me right back in the game, letting me do whatever I wanted now. But...really...there are no more new quests given out, and isn't much to do anymore except finish some old quests and kill the same old foes that you've been killing the past 10 hours. You can't really even work towards getting the best armor/weapons, as platemail is the best armor in the game, and I afforded the whole suit at like 5 hours in. Most RPGs try to satisfy that materialistic instinct we all have by offering a lot of different weapons/armor/etc to encourage us to kill more. But no...platemail is the best armor, and the best weapon really isn't worth the effort, because the 3rd best store-bought weapon worked fine when killing the FINAL BOSS. I was very very pleased with the game throughout the 12 hours I played until the final minute, when the final boss died and the credits rolled. I loved the game up until that point, and now I just like it. While it lasted, it was an interesting experience. Riveting? Yes. Fun? Definitely. Revolutionary? Sorta. If you can prepare yourself for a very short RPG experience (decently lengthed game for any other genre, mind you), then by all means by it. If not, then just rent it, because if you're like me, you'll be very very angry when the fun has ended prematurely.	video-games_xbox
Wonderful System with Great Support. (I pre ordered this product back in november and every day seemed to last forever as I waited for this system to arrive. At first, everything seemed great, I got exactly what I wanted and I was happy with the product. Sadly this did not stand true. At this point the speakers no longer work as expected, they have a crackling noise all the time. The screen also has some dead pixels lining the left side. Let alone the fact that the case does not close properly, as it pops open everytime I close it up. Other than those pretty major issues, It is a great product. I love the case, and I like the metal on the top. This is such a great product, but I really wish it could not be completely ruined by this annoying mistakes. I don't want to give it a lower rating as I think that it was just a mistake with my specific one, but three-hundred-fifty dollars is a lot to pay for these "mistakes". Anyway, I would highly recommend this to anyone who is willing to take the risk of getting a bad model.) -Old Review After about half a month of talking to customer support, and going through 1 more system, I can say that I have finally got a working Vanguard system. While no longer holding the halo branding, I am still happy that everything worked out. I just would like to point out that the customer service is the best that I have ever seen. Ever. No kidding. After posting the review I was told to email the support team to find out what to do next. I was figuring that I would be some clueless person that was a jerk and did not care if things worked out, but I was pleased to find that I met a caring and understanding person who wanted to help me through as much as he could. When my replacement unit arrived I set it all up to find a large crack on the screen. I sent an email with very little detail and a picture of the cracked screen and without asking for ANY detail, he sent me a new unit. It is still debatable as to whether it was my fault or ups's, but that did not seem to be a concern to him. Now on to the device. (Key: +Pros +/-Neither good or bad -Con) + Large screen with a great viewing angle. + Sturdy case design, Built to last + Airplane Friendly + Padlocks work with it + Comfortable and durable shoulder strap + Two headphone jacks so two can play without disturbing others +/- Sound can get way louder than you will ever need, but it distorts the sound - Can not fit many things at all.	video-games_xbox
Gaming at it's finest. In 2001, software company microsoft (known for windows) relesed a videogame system. They called it Xbox. Initially it was met with much skepticism and most really doubted it's success in the face of the seemingly unstoppable Playstation 2. But alas it not just survived (with a little help from a guardian angel by the name of "Halo") it thrived, beating out old industry veteran establishing american software company microsoft as a certified player in the console wars after the fall of Sega (R.I.P.). Now, here were are 6 years after the birth of the Xbox and now we have this white tower named Xbox 360. So what does it have to offer? Does it live up to the Hype? Is it really the revolution that it's name hints at. In a word: Yes. I've had my Xbox 360 since November 19, 2005, two full days before its offical release (I won it in a moutain dew bottlecap sweepstakes (Every 10 Minutes). Anyway when I first turned it one and saw that screen for the first time I knew I had the best. After 1 and a quarter years I still belive it. IN fact even more strongly so. The box itself is very sexy. It has a concave profile (in contrast to the ocnvex of its predecessor) and a subtle, "cool" white color. It's hard to belive it is related in anyway to the ugly black box that came before it. It's about 7 pounds and can sit in vertical or horizontal position just like the PS2. It's a shame the the power supply doesn't share the Xbox 360's smaller size and curvy shape. INstead it is an ugly grey brick that is not that much smaller than a Nintendo gamecube. The thing is huge! But the console is very sexy. It reminds me personally of a Sega Dreamcast. It's almost as if microsoft is trying to avenge sega which its onw white box following a black one in the face of a playstation machine that is supposed to be so much more powerful but that is just my personal metaphor. So how does it play? Well the 360 is insanely powerful. It has a tri-core processor (like haveing three processors in one), each one is double thread capable. That means that the 360 can do roughly 6 things at one time. Whereas your average computer with a sinle processor can only do one. It's graphics card is different in its unified shader architecture and has 48 unified shader piplines. Making for amazing high definition graphics (up to 1080p!) The 360 comes equipped with a nice 12x DVD ROM drive capable of reading almost every popular disc format known to man. But the only problem with this is, since all 360 don't have a hard drive, the disc spins as top-speed all the time when playing 360 games to decrease load times. This came make for an audible hum when playing videogames. It's not unbearable but it is noticable. It also doubles as media center, music player and DVD player, all of of which it does exceedingly well, especially when hooked up to a high definition television. Want gaming? Want the best console online gaming comunity with losts and lots of extra features? Want wirless gaming at it's best? Get a 360! It is the best next-gen console money can buy. Skip the PS3!	video-games_xbox
Quick Overview. I've had this controller for over a month now and generally I have to admit this is a very well made controller. I am a big fan of the Microsoft S Controller so that is what I will compare this product with. The games that I tested this controller with are: Halo, Ninja Gaiden, Marvel v. Capcom 2, Dead or Alive 3, and Guilty Gear X2 #Reloaded FPS: (Halo) Everything played generally well. The face buttons were more comfortable (flatter) than the S controller (which hurt your thumb if you press too hard b/c of rounded tops) and the shallower triggers did not affect my gameplay at all. However, although my hands are not that small, I had trouble using the left analog stick. The stick was placed a little too high for my liking and my hands cramped after a bit of playing. Action: (Ninja Gaiden) Everything responded beautifully and I could land my intercept moves (Hurricane Pack) perfectly. I had no problems performing combos. Again, the left analog stick still bugged me because of its placement. Fighting: (DOA3, MvC2, GGX2 #Reloaded) This controller is amazing for fighting games. I'm not really a fan of using joysticks and prefer d-pads. The d-pad on this controller is not only very comfortable, but also is very precise. I replayed all the fighting games that I owned and I could pull off moves that I never could on the Microsoft S-controller. Also, the white and black buttons are much easier to press. I do have two issues with the controller though. Due to the pad's unusual groove in the middle, you have to press the x (blue) button a little more than you would think. Took some getting used to, but eventually I didn't have any more problems. Also, if you play Xbox Live you cannot attach a communicator to the actual controller. Luckily I play close to my Xbox so that wasn't too much of an issue, but if you usually play 10-15 ft away from your TV this could be a problem. Pros: - Wireless - Good battery life - Great d-pad - Comfortable face buttons - Accessible white and black buttons Cons: - Can't attach headset to controller - x (blue) button takes getting used to - left analog stick a little uncomfortable	video-games_xbox
Mic causes annoying buzzing sound. Bought the Turtle Beach X1 headset, worked great initially. GF was happy the 360 would no longer disturb her with sounds at night. However, once I plugged the puck and mic into the controller, all went downhill. I play on LIVE in games that needs a mic to communicate with friends (Call of Duty 4). Whenever the mic is plugged in, there is a LOUD annoying buzzing sound that won't go away until I unplug the puck and mic from the controller. Without the mic attached, sound works great, but the left speakers had a tendency to go out intermittently. Really had high hopes for this headset, will probably return. Update 5/22/08: Buzzing sound problem: I was able to identify the source of the buzzing sound from the headset. After plugging in different controllers, mics and set-ups, the culprit is the wired charge kit adapter that connects from the 360 to the wireless controller that is being charged. The solution is to use only a wireless controller with the headset. That means now I have to charge the wireless controllers when I am not using the headset or purchase a separate battery pack charger. Turtle Beach website support is not that easy to navigate, but the FAQ does mention a ground AC connector causing interference, and I assumed it meant the charge kit cable. I wish the FAQ/support site was more clear in their wording. Left-side speakers losing sound: The problem was identified and solved. Reason was hook-up to Onkyo sound system. Onkyo sound system is hooked up to 360 by digital connection and then the Turtle headset uses analog. Had to turn off digital surround sound, which caused the fluctuation in right/left headset speakers and switched to stereo sound. This also reduced the loud bass BOOMs. (Shotgun blasts in COD4 are incredibly LOUD). I decided to connect to the Sharp Aquos LCD directly and avoid having to switch settings on the Onkyo sound system. My previous review gave 2-stars. Amazon does not allow for changing of stars but I would say 4 stars now. After troubleshooting, I have decided to keep the Turtle Beach headset. Future buyers be aware that you may need to troubleshoot depending on your set-up.	video-games_xbox
For DW fans, this is another great title. I've played dynasty warriors for about a decade now going all the way back to the original, DW 3, DW 5 and now 8. I grew up playing the game, learning the core concepts, maps, etc and absolutely loved the older games. Now with Dynasty Warriors 8 I can relive a bit of my childhood and enjoy the game play. The graphics are improved from 5 which is what I last played so I enjoy them more. The new characters and story line make it worth while. You can easily spend the greater part of 8-12 hours depending on how you play on 1 kingdom, and you only play a limited amount of the characters you could have. Load times are decent when disc only, installing to your hard drive speeds it up tremendously. One thing I enjoy is the different characters you can play as the game progresses on. It's more accurate to the lore as characters die along the campaign and you have to move on to playing someone else. One grievance I have is the map repetition. There are a few levels that are reused but you have different start/end points and have different functions during them. I would have preferred unique maps each time but I understand it's time consuming to produce a new map for every battle when you can change different areas around to meet your needs. Another is in game the scenery and graphics can bog down and become slow motion like where everything is super slow from everything happening around you. It does happen but it's on a few specific maps. Some maps are fine and you never have a problem. Others it happens every time. I think it may be attributed to too many particle effects, but I'm not sure. Another feature I enjoy are the pre-battle areas where you can get hints at different things from characters to what happens in battle from the soldiers and other officers. There are other aspects I enjoyed but I will cut it off here and let you enjoy it yourself. Overall I would give the game a 8.5/10. Mostly taking off points for map repetition and graphics optimization (slowing down during game play), otherwise this is a brilliant game that I think everyone would enjoy in hack and slash type gaming.	video-games_xbox
This is the Future of Gaming & Toys. In order to understand where I'm coming from I will have to tell you a bit about who I am. I am an adult who really likes the idea of being a gamer (I go to the Penny Arcade Expo, Subscribe to LootCrate & a few gamer magazines) I don't however have as much time to play games as I'd like. I really enjoyed Skrym & Bioshock but I have a 5 year old and I can only play when he is sleeping. I am also a Disney fan, I listen to Disney Podcasts every week, and go to Disney World as often as I can. I've been following the development of this game for it seems like years. My son started harping on me about Skylanders months and and I said I'd wait until the Disney version but I ended up getting Skylander's Giants when amazon had it for $29. So far I only bought one extra figure. In Skylanders there are places where you need a figure of a certain element to explore. I believe there are 8 elements 3 come with the starter set. What I personally didn't like is that once I got my TreeRex to level 9 or 10 (I think the level cap is 15) and put the new giant I bought on the portal that one just seemed too week. I honestly couldn't understand why people would want to level up 42 characters in what seems to me to be an endless grind. Now on to Disney Infinity. The econimic model is the same as Skylanders, in that Disney hopes to make hundreds of millions of dollars on Game Toys over the next few years. The gameplay is not the same at all. Skylanders is a single game (Well Skylanders is one, Giants is another and Swap Force will be another) that you can swap out charctors to compleate one long continuous mission, there is also a minigame and a battle arena. Disney infinity has a story. The games change significantly, when you buy a playset or switch between the 3 it comes with. The Charactors in the games are TOYS, all of them. The lone ranger's gun has an orange tip letting you know it's a toy. When you shoot someone they fall apart like a toy would. Gameplay reminds me of World or Warcraft (or nearly any MMO) there are people (or monsters, or cars) with question marks over their heads, that give missions. Compleate missions and get coins (Money)to buy toys and Sparks expirence for leveling up. As you earn you get spins in the toybox where you get new toys. If something seems to hard, just do another quest. In the cars playset (Sold separatly) you are cleaning up the town, towing tractors and get challenged to races. Racing is more challenging than I would have expected for a game aimed at kids. So far my personal favorites are Pirates and Lone Ranger. My son isn't into playing games himeself yet. He's not quite 5, and I'll try to get him to play with me, but after a few minutes (Disney or Skylanders) he's giving me his controller. He seems perfectly happy to put the charactors on the pad and watch me play. (Hopefully he will play himself soon) I personally feel very comfortable with him in this world and the message of it. I'm interested in seeing how multiplayer works more. Right now there is an amazing Disneyland download, but I couldn't find any game elements in it, that would make it fun. I expect that in time, the comunity will use the toys to make Minecraft like wonders that even the developers never anticipated. Right now people are complaining about the Power Disks, I think they are cool and right now Toys are Us has 2 packs of 2 for $6. You don't need the power disks most do things like change the textures in toybox mode, I did get a rare Astro Blaster in the one pack I got so far, which is very cool, raced around the toybox in it. But if you don't have all 20 disks or any at all for that matter, it doesn't effect gameplay at all. THe round ones are some kind of powerup, but still not needed, unless you have to have it all. Disney has a history of making a game for every movie they make. In the near futures those games will all be done as Disney Infinity Playsets. I'm 42 and my generation had toys, lots of toys. I know many adults who still collect every Star Wars action figure that comes out. But Hasbro is having a hard time keeping kids interested in toys, now that video games have become the toy of choice for kids earlier and earlier. Disney infinity tries to appeal to many different markets. Adult Disney collectors, those of us who buy the Vinyamation figures for $10-$15 (Blind boxed)each that sit in a curio cabnet who may or may not actually play the game. Its designed so anyone who can read can play alone, and it seems to appeal to the more casual gamer. Many of the hunter gatherer elements of MMOs are present in this game, which I've heard others describe as grinding. World of Warcraft didn't have 10,000,000 players spending $15 a month for years because it was a bad game. This isn't for everyone, hardcore First Person Shooter gamers aren't going to think should I play Call of Duty of Disney Infinity tongiht. However I didn't find it so easy that it wasn't a challenge. However for people like me, who are tempted to Play Call of Duty but are concerned about letting my kid watch graphic violence and adult language, it's a reasonable alternative. I've played each of the 5 playsets for about an hour each so far and at this moment, I really enjoy them. I do think that with the Promos it may not be a bad time to invest in this system. The infinity base is very cool looking, there are 3 separate lights and you can tell which one it's reading. The colors change depending what you are doing. It's very thin, and looks like a very modern piece of computer equiptment. Overall I really like this game and I'm looking forward to Jack Skellington in October and Mickey Mouse in January.	video-games_xbox
Hour of Victory is Not a Bad Game But Could Be Better. I bought Hour of Victory today and I played through part of the first mission and so far I like the game up to a certain point. I noticed right away the game has some good points and it has some bad points. First with the good points. The graphics are really good and the enemy soldiers acts just the way you would expect them to. They run and hide for cover whenever they can. It is not real easy to get past the enemy soldiers. The A.I. is not too bad. At the beginning of the game there are three different soldiers with different skills you can choose to play throughout the game. You can hit the enemy head on with one soldier who is expert at running and gunning. Or if you want you can choose another soldier who is a expert with a sniper rifle to climb up on a rope to a building roof top to shoot down below at the enemy. Or you can choose another soldier who is an expert at sneaking up on the enemy to cut through barb wire and pick the locks to open doors to buildings. Each soldier has special skills that is unique to that particular soldier. You decide before the beginning of each mission what soldier you want to be in the game. I also like the background music in the game. It really adds to the atmosphere. Now for the bad points. The game is not perfect. The game developers need to come out with some patches to fix Hour of Victory not to be just a good game, but to be a great game. I hate how game developers show you screen shots and game videos of what the game is suppose to look like and then when you buy the game and start to play it you find out the game looks and acts totally different. The first thing the game developers need to do is do away with the gigantic weapon's crosshair circle that is permanently in front of you every where you go. You can't get rid of it. It is very annoying to have a gigantic crosshair circle in front of you everywhere you go. It ruins the game because the graphics are great and then you have this stupid huge crosshair circle that is constantly in front of you blocking your view. I didn't see this gigantic weapon's crosshair circle in any of the game's screenshots or videos. So why put it in the game? I don't get it. Second, give the player a choice on how to set up your Xbox 360 game controller. I don't like how the controls are set up now on the game controller and you can't change them. When I'm using a weapon, I like the aim button for using your iron cross sights in front of the controller. I don't like the way it is set up now by pressing the right stick down to try to aim a weapon. It is on the same side as the firing button on your controller. You can't change it. What is up with that? On the main menu in the game where options selection is, you can't really do anything to change the game. In fact there are hardly any choices at all to change the game settings. It almost feels like the game developer are saying your going to play the game the way we tell you to and you can't change anything. Hey we're not babies. Let us have the the options or choices on how to set up and play the game. Game developers need to give a player choices on how to play a game. Let the player decide how they want to play the game. Don't force the player to be stuck playing a game one way and that is it. I recommend getting Hour of Victory only after the game has been fix with patches. Playing the game the way it is set up now is way too frustrating. I love World War II games as long as there done right by the game developer. (Quick Update: I contacted the game publisher Midway to see if you can change anything in the game and they told me that you are stuck with the game the way it is. I am very disappointed. It is really sad. The game had so much potential. This will be another game that will be hitting the bargain bin in the near future.) What this game does is give you a small taste of what is coming out later on this year when on August 28, 2007 Medal of Honor: Airborne comes out. Now there is a game that looks like it being done right by the game developers. That is definitely going to be one of top games of the year. I can't wait for Medal of Honor: Airborne to come out. Even though Hour of Victory has it faults, I guess it will just have carry me over until Medal of Honor: Airborne comes out later on this summer.	video-games_xbox
A good game in it's own right but had so much potencial. Now I know that this game has gotten bad reviews from the gaming critics and some people do not like this game but I really enjoyed this game. The grapiacs are good, character models are decent repracentions of the movie's actors even though Mr. Blonde looks the most like his real life conter part. the envirments all look good with nice little details but the overall flair of the game isn't really anything to write about. The gameplay is a pretty standard third person shooter but that not a bad thing as the over all shooting action is fun and the ablity to take hostages and have them do or have the people around you have them do what you want just makes the game more enjoyable. But one thing this hostage taking is that for the security guards you just threaten them and they go down. but for the cops, if you threaten they won't go down, but if you hit the hostage around they go down. I don't understand that but whatever. there are also driving sections but lets just say they are my least favorite sections in this game. The sound in this game is once again good, Micheal Madsen who is the only actor to reprise his role from the movie. the others are voiced by soundalikes but they all do a good job though atleast to me. the soundtrack is just a gulity pleasure, when driving in fast speeds away from the cops and listining to Can't Stop This Feeling puts a smile my face. The controls are great when your on foot but Driving is frustrating because steearing is so sensivtive. The presintion overall isn't the best if your a fan of the movie, the menus system is very cool but other then the main game there is no bonus content. But overall it's far from the best movie based game or the best action game but if your looking for a decent third person shooter then this isn't a bad choice. But if your a fan of the movie you might be disapointed. But with that said, It's still a good action game and a okay movie tie in.	video-games_xbox
Great Mechanics with Horrid Story. One of the first things you'll notice as you begin to play Blue Dragon is that the game's story revolves around a simple good versus evil dichotomy with little variation in character outlook from that. The good characters are sickly good and the evil characters are deviously evil --- there are no characters with real depth. It's for this reason I find it hard to see in any of the characters human characteristics or relate to any of them. The models as well are childish in nature and make the characters (which the manual states are in their late teens) look like they're all under the age of 10. The plot from the very beginning is also easy to read and lacks any sort of depth or any form of twist to keep the player engaged. It's like reading a story after reading a summary of the plot --- you just don't find yourself surprised when something happens because you knew it was going to happen. If an RPG doesn't shake your worldview in the slightest I consider it a complete failure. As for the great mechanics I mentioned in my title --- I found the game design to be wonderful despite it's flaws with an actual story. The usage of the charge bar keeps the user engaged and I found the enemies to level up progressively at a reasonable pace similar to your own growth so it kept things somewhat enjoyable. The idea behind making random encounters random but allowing the user to attack them was also very cool (Secret of Mana style meets Final Fantasy < 12 JRPG battle system sort of thing). The real problem with the mechanics, however wonderful, is that it's very very very easy to get higher levels simply because the enemies tend to be plentiful but easy to kill in one or two rounds from the start on once you've gained any sort of advantage. Your fighters will have mow down techniques which hit the whole first row for nearly the life of the enemy which could easily allow you to rack up experience points if that was your intention. Quickly want to mention the shadow system. It allows users to attach a different class to their shadow to gain skills which can be set to other shadow classes they use. To put it simply I level up my black magic class and get the ability to use black magic level 1 spells on my fighter class by assigning it the skill I learned. The classes all have their own stats so it does have variations in terms of attack power in or out of the class but as others have mentioned can also allow you to create 5 distinct clones of each character with little trouble. I didn't, however, and found the system to be fun so it's really whether or not you take advantage of the system which will affect you in that regards. It could have been made better though, I agree, and more class selections would have given a more unique feel to the process as well. Music was wonderful though and the graphics were pretty despite its cartoon feel. In general it's a good game and had the story been even somewhat decent would have been an unforgettable JRPG.	video-games_xbox
Assassin's Creed: best game ever or most repetitive game ever. When it comes to Assassin's Creed there are two types of people. Those who think this is an amazing game with top notch graphics, original gameplay and a game of the year contender. Or there are those who think Assassin's Creed is boring and repetitive. I fall slightly more towards the former, hence the 4 star review. In the wake of Bioshock, Halo 3 and Mass Effect anything released right now has to be a triple A title to even get noticed. Had this game come out last year it would have been a triple A title rather than an A-. In Assassin's Creed you are a stealth assassin. If you enjoy games like Hitman Blood Money and Splinter Cell you'll love this game. You slowly and quietly move in for your kill. Instead of a sniper rifle you lock on and throw knives. Instead of fiber wire or a silenced pistol you have a hidden blade. If the crap hits the fan you have a long sword and a short sword to fend off guards. People claim Assassin's Creed is boring and repetitive, because you sometimes have to move through the crowd slowly to remain undetected. Also for each target you have to gather info and save citizens. Personally I enjoyed these activities so I didn't think of it as a drag. So if you're still undecided ask yourself if you either: A) Need constant action and no story whatsoever. B) Have the patience to walk slowly through a crowd of people and allow a plot to unfold. If you lean more towards B then I highly recommend this game. If you lean more towards A then check out The Club. Run and Gun would have been a more accurate title. There's also been talk around the internets that Assassin's Creed is Pro-Muslim and Anti-Christian. From the perspective of someone that's played the game to completion, that's simply untrue. As an assassin you kill both Christians and Muslims (even Atheists). In fact if anything this game is Anti-Organized-Religion. The game even says at the beginning that it is a work of fiction, just to keep people from getting upset. (Disclaimers never stop people from getting upset though) If you're easily offended steer clear of this title.	video-games_xbox
Nearly there, but one significant issue. Recently, I was looking for a soundbar to pair with my new <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Sony-XBR49X830C-49-Inch-4K-Ultra-HD-Smart-LED-TV-2015-Model/dp/B00R45XH8Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Sony XBR49X830C 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2015 Model)</a>. It had to be small enough to fit on my mantle shelf, and I was looking for something that wasn't paired with a subwoofer due to the regulations governing my current apartment. I found this Polk unit and was intrigued due to its funky appearance, inexpensive price, and my pre-existing trust in the Polk brand. After quickly checking out other similar models, I went for the N1. First - I really like this sound bar for about 80% of my use. It connects to all of my Bluetooth sources easily, which I like because I use it to play music pretty often. Sound quality is impressive for a ~$100 bar. When producing sound for music and games, it's darn near perfect. It won't blow you away in terms of surround effect or musical clarity, etc. - but I think given the price, you should expect a solid upgrade over built-in audio, which this gives you. My biggest complaint I think is fairly significant, and it's that the built-in equalizer settings leave a lot to be desired in certain situations. This is most evident when trying to listen to something with a heavy mix of dialogue and sound effect - so, just about any movie and the many TV shows. No matter which built-in setting I use (including the one for Cinema), the lows and highs are way over-produced and all the dialogue gets buried by highs and lows. It becomes very difficult to listen to any voiced parts without everything else being WAY too loud. We've had a hard time comfortably listening to any movie without constantly playing with the volume levels. This really bugs me, and I feel I have a pretty big tolerance for these type of issues. I've tried putting the bass levels on the lowest setting. I've tried playing with my TV's equalizer settings to compensate, but with my current connection type (headphone jack) the TV won't let me adjust many of the sound settings. I'm going to switch to an optical connection and see if that changes things, but I'm not expecting much. I'll be updating this review if that works out. In summary - I'm very happy with this soundbar for gaming and music, and it's Bluetooth features are seamless. If it had any sort of flat EQ setting I'd probably be 100% content with the purchase, but for now, I can't recommend it for real use outside of music or gaming.	video-games_xbox
Most poorly executed Madden since 06. First review i've done and the only reason I did it was to add to the consensus that this Madden is horrible and EA is the same ol EA. This is literally the most unfinished feeling game i've every played...not just out of football games or sports games, i'm talking out of every single game ive played on next gen console. I've been playing nfl games since I was in primary school - which is sorta unusual for an Australian - so I know what these games are all about. not long after i played M13 I literally spent hours on youtube looking at old nfl games like NFL Fever or NFL 2k and was reminiscing about how many things they did right....instead of playing my newly purchased game. If you're strictly online then you might like this game but the only way I play this is with my brother or with friends - actual physical friends, not online friends - and we create our created player and start a franchise. Well EA thought that that wasn't neccessary for this game even though thousands of people would play the same way. Instead im left with this connected careers which is the most boring mode i've ever played. No longer can you just play a franchise with a created player, you now have to take the superstar route which is extremely repetitive and stale. I make a linebacker, so for a whole season i get sprinkled in on defense maybe three four plays a whole game and have to make a living on special teams. Playing an hour of special teams each sitting is absolute crap but thats what im forced to do. Whats worst is there are substition issues, so my back up punter comes on and can only punt the ball 10 yards. I can't audible or change the play - mind numbing. Some say "Just be a coach in CCM cause its the old franchise" - No, its not. For one I can't have my created player in there cause there is no edited rosters (another major screw up) and not only that, I have to practice to earn xp so i can keep a player from retiring? I don't get into all that convoluted time consuming rubbish. I just want to play the game and rack up stats with a created player. The ability to not edit rosters will ahve your team eventually giving the same numbers to your players which is an absolute eye sore. The engine is a nice addition but has its major flaws which makes me think - Why didn't they spend their whole development cycle tuning gameplay and save this CCM nonsense for another year when they had the time? When Looman was interviewed on a radio show all i heard was how there wasn't enough time for this or that....This game is a textbook of example of a company biting off way too much then they can chew. If they stuck to the gameplay we would have a great playing game and the majority would of been happy with the same ol franchise cause we would of been blown away from the engine. Instead, they tried to overhaul everything and executed very very poorly. Bugs that show up within minutes of your first game made it past the "testing" phase. Which begs the question - do they even have a testing phase? All through forums you will read about glitches and bugs that just seem to be left in there cause they couldn't be bothered fixing it because there is no way they missed em. Anyway im writing for too long so ill just dot point whats wrong with this game: - No fantasy draft - No editing of rosters in franchise (no ratings, no equipment and no numbers!!) - No cooperative offline franchise (EA catering only to one audience of gamers. Not everyone plays this game in a dark basement behind a headset!!) - Presentation - After the first game, you've literally seen everything. - Replays - how is it 2012 and they can't even have decent replays in a sports game? you will see the same ones over and over again and whats worst is there in slow motion!! - Horrible AI. seriously, the worst AI in madden to date. -Commentating - so many things said at the wrong time Theres much more but im tiring myself with disappointment over this game. Just rent it if you're dying to play it. The honeymoon period will soon end for the people praising the hell out of this game trust me.	video-games_xbox
A good Intro to Adventurer gaming. (I bought the PS4 version but i can assume safely they are pretty similar.) There are 6 cases to solve in this game. Each one took about 2-3 hours to complete not including the 4th case The Abbey Grange Affair which took about an hour to complete when i took my time. But the thing that makes this game interesting is that whenever you get enough evidence to accuse someone your welcome to do so, and its your own wit that or curiosity that keeps you going to see the case to the conclusion. The good: Cases have been interesting and varied. All being murder mysteries besides for one. You can skip any puzzle so if your in it for the story just push that touch pad. But, most puzzles make sense and are a fun to solve, unlike the last Sherlock game, Testaments. Controls have been greatly improved since the last game. You still walk past what your interested in, but other then that way better. I could actually click on what i wanted too. Voice acting is good, but there are moments when people speak like they are in adventure games. * Theres actually a list of objective during the each case but they are wide enough that you still have to do the investigating to solve the crime while narrow enough to dive you much need direction in knowing which area to go to next. The blah: The moral system that is used at the end of the case really doesnt seem to matter much unless you choose the right person. The other people you just get a very slight change to the dialog. Multiple endings, seems to be more of a selling point rather then anything of real interest. * Each cases story was interesting kind of, but nothing to ponder on afterwards. * The cases are completely separate, so the story is as well. The bad: Watson remains to be useless. What should we do next Sherlock? Is his usual question when I asked him for advise. As the cases built to a climax they all seemed to pitter out at the end. * The whatever amount of endings each chapter has comes down to usually just line changes and nothing really interesting to watch. Pretty disappointed in that. Unless its the actual baddy then the ending video and slight variation. * Load screen, if you are one to hate load screen then be warned. There are tons and youll need to switch between areas almost constantly it seems. You can do stuff like look at clues when you in a load screen but if your already doing that during you normal game play then it will feel redundant. * Finding your cursor when holding objects can be a huge challenge and one of the reasons why I found puzzles difficult not because it was stumping me in the first place. Summary: It felt more like an episodic downloadable game rather then rather then a fully interconnected piece. Like it was trying to be Walking dead at 60$ (PS4 Price). Over all a good game. I feel its more of a 40$ game, for thats the PC price, but if you an adventure game fan like me then its plenty worth it.	video-games_xbox
This thing is AMAZING. I pre-ordered the Xbox One Day One Edition back in July and received it on day one, just as promised. I had to wait to open it as it was technically my Christmas gift, so during that time I read numerous articles and comments/reviews on amazon stating that people were receiving faulty units. This lead to much anxiety for me as I was uncertain if I would be one of the unlucky people. But to my surprise, I escaped that fate. Now onto the review. HARDWARE: Firstly, let me just say, that when you get this thing up and running it is crazy fast. The initial boot up takes about 3-5 minutes, and then you have to download the mandatory day one update. That only took about 10 minutes. But after that, booting up only takes a few seconds. It is also extremely quiet. When it's on it is silent. Even when it's installing or playing a disc. The most you will hear is the light whirring of the fan. The only negative I found was that installing a game takes FOREVER. Forza 5 took more than an hour to install, but I heard that the game is more than 36GB and I guess the fact that you can play partially installed games negates the wait time. CONTROLLER: The new controller is the best control I have ever used, period. It is a little smaller, but still has a bit of weight to it, which I love. The thumb sticks are a little smaller and may take some getting used to, but they feel comfortable and do as advertised, which is to ensure your fingers don't slip off. The left and right bumpers are a little bit stiffer, but it doesnt ruin the control for me. The triggers however are BONKERS. I didn't think vibration in the triggers would make much difference, but when you're taking a corner too fast and your tires lose grip, you really feel it thanks to the impulse triggers. Switching back to the 360 control to play GTA 5 online and the differences became even more apparent. SOFTWARE (OS): The operating system of the Xbox One is a big step up from the 360. It's VERY windows tile heavy, which I don't mind. Switching between apps, games and TV is almost instant and you pick up right where you left off. However, make sure to save any game you're playing before you switch to other apps. I've noticed that when going from Forza 5 to two other apps (or more) and back, the game will start over again, instead of where you've left off. I also found it kind of difficult navigating and trying to find things at first, so you may want to get used to pinning things to the home screen. Also, for some reason when downloading apps or games/demos, they would randomly stop with no reason given, and I would need to manually go and start it up again. I also don't understand why I had to download an app to play Blu Ray movies??? All in all, its still a great experience. A couple updates and it can be perfect. KINECT: Not much to say about the Kinect. The area at which it can detect people is vastly improved over the last model, and it is super cool to be able to walk in front of it and it remembers your face and signs you (and whoever else has an account) in. It can pick up my voice pretty well, even when in a moderately noisy room. The only annoying thing is the much advertised Xbox On command. It only works about half of the time. Even in a pin-drop quiet room, it doesnt pick up my voice. And for some strange reason, it hears me better when I whisper it versus me saying it in a normal speaking volume/tone. This is a great console and I cannot wait to see what this thing can do when more content becomes available. Bring on Titanfall, ES: Online and The Witcher 3!	video-games_xbox
I thought Halo 3 was overhyped. GTA 4 is the 7th in the series(if you include GTA london). So how has the game "progressed" since GTA San Andreas? Actually it has regressed and shoved a new gimmicky gaming aspect down your throat. When I heard about the announcement of GTA4 I was skeptical. I believed that GTA San Andreas had such a level of depth that GTA4 couldn't possibly exceed. So I figured i'd just get GTA SA with a new coat of polish. BOy was I wrong. Size and Scale: At first GTA seems huge. Once you get around however the game just feels a lot smaller than San ANdreas. There isn't much variety between areas of town as compared to the LA/Las Vegas/Area 51 areas of San Andreas. Gameplay: Driving is now more difficult. Especially for motorbikes. Motorbikes a deathtraps. Which I guess is realistic but in the heat of a chase far too often you go flying off the bike into a wall and dying. Just to repeat the mission over. Repeating quests is as great as the developers made it out to be. Here's a scenario. Get a call from quest giver. Drive all the way across town or grab a taxi and teleport to your destination(a truly excellent addition to the game). Meet quest giver, watch cut scene then drive or taxi all the way to quest. Do section A of quest. Do section B of quest. Die. Rez at hospital. Receive the text message via cellphone to repeat quest but you still have to drive from the quest giver to the quest all over again. THis may sound silly but it is a huge waste of time and rage builder when you die several times do to the spotty(However the best in GTA history) combat system. Missions also are less inventive. They're 50% car chases where you have to follow a target(but not kill them) to a safehouse then take down a whole gang, 45% car chases that end in killing the target and about 5% "drive to this building, clear it out and bring me back something that someone stole from me" SA included missions like stealing a damn Harrier Jet from a battleship. Wheres the imagination? Graphics: Graphics are pretty good for GTA series but not jaw dropping at any moment. SOme pop up but all in all a decent effort. Some character face models are hideous though. Not giving anything away but one of the main love interests are completely hideous. Sound: This is the worst soundtrack since before Vice City. There are a few gems and easter eggs(like the song from Silence of the Lambs that the killer dances too naked) All in all the soundtrack is forgettable. Most of the voice acting is great. Many of the characters are likeable and the voice acting is well done.	video-games_xbox
Good sequel, plenty of action. The original Mech Assault was one of the first big hits for the XBox system. Borrowing from the old Battle Tech franchise, the original game was an excellent shoot-em-up that boasted destructable environments (ever take down a city one building at a time?) and first-rate action. Though repetitive, it was never boring, and I still play it from time to time. This sequel offers much of what made the original so much fun, and adds some nice new features that make this a slight cut above its predecessor. For one, the designers borrowed an idea from the GTA series (or maybe from Metal Arms): Hijack an enemy's mech (or other vehicle) and use it against the opposition. Unfortunately, one can't pick just any enemy to hijack; the game's plot requires you to jack specific mechs or vehicles at certain points of the game. Granted, it's still fun to be able to sneak up on an enemy and steal his mech, but it would have been more fun to be able to do it at random (a la Metal Arms). That would have added a twist to the gameplay. Still, it's a welcome addition. Like the original, the sequel requires you to follow a certain path: defend the Icarus, destroy enemy bases and equipment, and defend innocents from the marauding Mechs of the Word of Blake (yes, they're back). The unusual technology captured from the Word at the end of the original plays a key role in the plot, and the enemies you face are more difficult to kill as a result. Even low-level mechs are a little more challenging than before. And, there are the bosses. Mech Assault featured just one major boss, whereas Mech Assault 2 features multiple powerful bosses that are reasonably tough. I won't give away too much, but the first boss you face--a gargantuan spider-like mech--is easily one of the coolest things to grace any XBox game in a while. (To give you an idea of what it's like, think of the Scarab in Halo 2). Many of the original mechs are back, and one thing I like about the new mechs in this game is the greater combination of speed and power than before. For example: in the original, Thor mechs offered sheer destructive power, but moved so slowly that I sometimes found my thumbs aching after a showdown with multiple enemies. The new mechs offer both greater firepower and ease of movement--a definite (and welcome) plus. While Mech Assault featured excellent graphics, with an emphasis on graphically realistic building destruction, this game offers sharper environmental design, more detailed mechs, and some genuinely awesome effects: When a mech explodes, the detonation now causes a ripple-like warp effect in the immediate area. The greater emphasis on these type of effects comes at the expense of some others: You can still destroy buildings and other structures, but the ensuing collapse is less satisfactory. Like the original, the destructable environments offer a tactical advantage--you can still drop a building on top of an unsuspecting enemy. Cutscenes and other graphical extras are well-designed and animated. It definitely showcases how much better console graphics have become in just a few short years. Overall, this a solid sequel to the original, and is recommended. I hope this review was helpful --Christian Wheeler, gamer and games retailer	video-games_xbox
WOW. Well, I have been reading the reviews, and it appears that there are many people who agree with my assessment that this game is so buggy, that it is essentially broken. It always amuses me that whenever anyone posts an honest critique of a game or music, they are blasted by certain individuals who go to any length to disagree with them. First of all, everything the negative reviews are saying is absolutely true. I cannot count how many times I have been dropped, stuck, locked out of the server, or the game just does not work properly. I have also had the wonderful experience of being killed by invisible enemies as soon as I enter a map. Then I re-spawn and get killed again in the same way. I saw some people who gave this game a 5 star review tear apart some poor individual, saying ,"it never happens." Well, guess what, it does happen. Frequently! I have also experienced the same, maddening problem! I also find myself in the predicament where cannot summon my vehicle, and I have to run to the other side of the map. Frequently, my weapon stops working, and my character is just hanging in the air, unable to move, just waiting to be killed. The graphics on this game are mediocre at best. The game play is marred by innocuous bugs that make enemies pop in and out of the game, disappear halfway to you and reappear only when they reach you and it is too late to take defensive action. These are just a few of the issues that are making Defiance very difficult to play. However, these so called hiccups are just the tip of the iceberg. But........ they don't happen very often because the site is always DOWN and the game is unplayable!!!, Most of the time, you are unable to log in due to being put into a ridiculously long queue. I was in a queue last night that stated that I had about 29 days until I could play the game. Did it take 29 days? No, but it may as well have because I got dropped as soon as I started having fun. The really amusing thing about this that most people do not understand, is that when you write a review, there are people who are paid by developers to go on various sites, such as Amazon, to belittle critical reviews and state that they were "not helpful," even though, many times, the negative reviews are true. When this happens, the review gets buried, and nobody sees it. If there is anyone out there who gives this game a 5 star review, they are either on the payroll, or they are on crack. I am befuddled when I read critical reviews that have a significant body of facts to back them up are ridiculed as 'unhelpful" and then buried behind suspicious, glowing reviews. Then some clown says something like "nuff said," or "it was released on my birthday," and they have 80 people saying the review was great. Grow up people, it's a sad state of affairs when people are heckled for writing their honest, and in this case, VERY ACCURATE negative critiques. For all the people out there who write reviews and have a group of individuals ganging up on them, don't worry about it. They are most likely on the payroll of a developer or a marketing firm. It's called DAMAGE CONTROL! Anyone who say's that this game is a successful launch, and that there are only some minor bugs that need to be worked out, is either not being honest, getting paid, or they are trolls. Trolls on crack! Don't forget that this game had a playable beta for quite sometime, so the argument that this is just the normal new release bug-fest is completely erroneous. When you pay $60 + tax on an item, you expect it to work! Albeit there are always some bugs, and that is fine, not a problem. But when issues are this severe, and this pervasive, it becomes clear that the developer did not apply due diligence and rushed an unfinished product to the market. It was rushed to market to coincide with the release of the T.V. series! One last thing. Want to see how a huge game can be successful? Play the Borderland series and you will get a very good idea of what a good, smooth launch was for a huge game. I want to like Defiance. I would love to play Defiance. I gave it a 3 on the fun scale because it is so buggy. I gave it an overall rating of 1 due to the fact that the bugs and the server issues combined make this game unplayable. Also, if you like micro-transactions to buy outfits, weapons, or skill boosters, get ready for MACRO-TRANSACTIONS! The season pass is unbelievably expensive, not to mention that quite a few of the pricy perks are only available for 24 hours. Im wondering how someone is to make the most of these items when they cant even play the game. Finally, trolls, people on the payroll and crack heads......... please disagree with my honest review. Hurry!!! On second thought, take your time, you will have plenty on your hands since you won't be playing Defiance anytime soon!!!!!!!!!	video-games_xbox
Overall Greatly Satisfying. I have had this game now since Saturday - November 8, 2003 - and three days later I am already trying to figure out how to complete the last level/mission. So one can see it's a little short, althought it features 14 missions. Having played Rainbow Six 1 and Rainbow Six 2, i really looked forward to this installment. I download the Demo to the PC version, which has better visuals and more controls options - obviously, because one has much more buttoms to utilize. In all the previous version one could switch between the character and one could select a team of four out of 10+ characters. This option is now gone. One is now stuck with Domingo "Ding" Chavez throughout the game, and once he dies the game is over, one cannot change to another character and continue. Mission planning is also gone. And so on, so basically the Xbox version is a stripped-down version of the PC version - I am aware that they are not the same game, but they are close, both have been released this year. The Xbox version is great nonetheless, but after seeing the PC version a little dissappointing. This game has great features over other and previous version of it. One has a great multi-player, but unfortunately only via System-Link, or Xbox Live. And this is the second game - S.W.A.T: Global Strike Team being the first - to issue the ability to utilize a headset in order to bark close to 90 commands at your CPU teammates - single player mode. Physics are nicely done, especially the rag-doll effect, which has been improved over the latest PC version. Rainbow Six 3 also features trademark Tom Clancy storyline and very nicely done cutscenes with excellent cinematography - for a video game. After completing a mission one can customize a mission for that map and one then has the ability to choose from doing a "Practise Mission" - just practicing that mission and "Terrortist Hunt" - having the selected map and just doing it with your squad and basically clearing the map of hostile occupation. Overall a well-made king; king of Xbox Live; 4 3/4 Stars; 95%.	video-games_xbox
Drastic improvement over the first - but the writing is even more ridiculous. As a preamble - I should say that this review is principally written for someone who has played the first game. Most of what I say (such and such is improved) probably doesn't mean much to those unfamiliar with the series. Although I think all can benefit from a warning about the sheer ridiculousness of the story line and game concept. By the time I was halfway through the first AC, I was infinitely exhausted with the extreme repetition of the game and the never ending cut scenes at the end and beginning of each mission. I continued to play through the game because using the hidden blade to assassinate people was a great stress release and just so much fun that it almost made up for the game's deficiencies. By the end of the first game I was just sick with the incredibly bad plot. I'm fairly sure that the game's creators read the Da Vinci Code and thought they should find a way to capitalize off the whole "Templer Conspiracy" craze that seemed to be hitting the fiction markets. That being said, a friend, as well as several positive reviews online convinced me to rent AC 2 and I was pleasantly surprised by many of the game's improvements. The controls were much improved. There are fewer instances where my character decides to automatically cling on to something when I'm trying to run away in free run mode. Additionally, I don't have to run and hide every time I kill a guard. You can just kill all of the guards around and all is good. The idea of being able to lower your notoriety is better, and you don't always have guards attacking you just because you move fast. The missions are not nearly as repetitive and you don't have to do all of the pick-pocket, then eaves drop, then beat up a guy repetitive missions. Additionally fights aren't as repetitive. Once I learned the counters in the first game, I basically just held block and hit the counter button at the right time every time. The enemies have more various weapons this time, and some can almost never be killed by counters. You have to be a lot more inventive. The economic system is good. You can buy armor and weapon upgrades. And you can choose between using hammers/maces and a long sword as your principle weapon, which offers a chance to vary your gameplay style. The NEGATIVE. AC 2 TAKES THE INCREDIBLY RIDICULOUS STORY CONCEPT FROM THE FIRST GAME AND MAKES IT EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS. I think the whole idea of the animus and the 2012 story line is utterly absurd. Ubi Soft has made an interesting game, set in an unusual time period. The first game could be all about the battles in the crusades. The second game could be all about revenge and political fighting. But no, the brilliant minds at Ubi Soft decided their game would be immensely better if they adapted the premise of the '80s TV show Quantum Leap. Second, the Templers can't just be an elite military group. No no no. Let's steal the idea from that Dan Brown guy that they're actually holders of the secret that Christianity is a fraud, but let's add to that they also want to control the and enslave the entire world. Great idea guys. Oh, and religion is false, but magical glowing gold orbs that can control humanity are totally real. So if all of that wasn't enough, remember how bad the premise of the new Indian Jones movie was, you know The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where it turns out that humanity has basically when been helped along by a whole bunch of not-aliens, by extra-dimensional beings? Remember how much people loved that concept? Well apparently the people from Ubi-Soft were the only ones over the age of 10 who thought that was a splendid idea because they continued to add to their hodgepodge of mythology by stealing from that movie too. I can't wait for AC3. Since the present/future of the games takes place in 2012, I'm predicting a Mayan apocalypse theme. Buy this game if you want to kill people in fun ways and are completely capable of turning off your brain to the absurdity of the premise.	video-games_xbox
Almost perfect. I've always had a soft spot for boxing games, because they are the only fighting games that don't have annoying fireballs or gigantic swords or out-of-this-world moves. The problem, until now, has been that boxing games are button-mashing events, with little strategy. Thanks to the analog-stick control, Fight Night heralds a new and amazingly solid control systemt that rewards patience, strategy and skill over speed and luck. The control is very good (though could use some tweaking; where is the option to clinch?). The game's career mode is quite solid, and very addictive. PROS: Amazing control, solid gameplay, depth. Great AI: opponents have distinct fighting styles; while one will stick and move, another will go toe-to-toe and pummel you with hooks. Good graphics and decent sound. CONS: Difficulty level can vary; while some fighters might have the same ratings as you, they are usually able to absorb much more damage and dish out more than you, even with an even number of punches thrown. It's necessary for a challenge, I suppose, but it gets frustrating when you get to the top 10 boxers (Marciano, Norton, etc). I HATE the soundtrack to this game. While it is true that EA has decided to "urbanize" their sports title and score them with urban hip-hop beats, the music in FN is really pretty poor. At least they could have gotten some real rappers/artists. This leads me to my next point: there is a disturbing feeling of homogeneity in this game: it's ALL about hip-hop, and it can get a bit much. More disturbing is the lack of variety in fighter models: most look like bad caricatures of Hispanic gangbangers. How about some racial variety EA? Where are the white/Asian/Non-stereotyped black or latino fighters? My last criticism lies with the mini-games you use to boost your attributes between fights. Some of these are both stupid and frustrating (heavy bag, for one), yet there is NO way of practicing them, and since they are the only way of getting better, it can become annoying. That said, this is a very good game, and probably the best boxing game ever made! If you have patience and are a fan of pure fighters, pick it up!	video-games_xbox
Classic. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is easily one of the best games ever made. And Tides of War, the Xbox port, is the best version of the game. It features six or seven prologue missions that weren't on the original PC release, includes a few new enemies, and has the full version of Wolfenstein 3D after completing the game (including the Nocturnal Missions)! Additionally, this game is compatible with the Xbox 360, as long as you have a Hard Disk Drive. To play RtCW and other Xbox originals, you must connect your console to the internet (via WiFi adapter or Ethernet cables), insert the disc into your console, and download the update when prompted. After the download, you do not need your console online in order to play. But just a fair warning: RtCW does have occasional lag when played on the Xbox 360. If you experience lag, simply pause the game for a few seconds then resume. This should slightly improve the performance. Now, for the review of the game: Return to Castle Wolfenstein takes place in World War II. You control B.J. Blazowicz, an American secret operative, and your objective is kill Nazis and figure out some of the experiments that are being preformed, then shut them down. Cutscenes are rather scarce, but they are brilliant and provide story, although the game could use a little bit more story. Blazowicz discovers that the Nazis control superior technologies, such as cyborg dogs, robots, and so on. In addition, Blazowicz discovers a huge arsenal of weaponry (including Luger with and without a silencer, MP40, Sten with built in silencer, Mauser rifle, silenced rifle with nightvision, chaingun, and a gun that shoots electricity). He is also always equipped with a knife, which can be used to stealthily kill enemies from behind. Certain missions require this stealth, while others require you to infiltrate guns-a-blazing. A majority of missions also give you the choice to take either approach. Each level has secret areas, which give you treasure items, ammo, and/or health. By finding all secret areas and treasure items in a mission, you are rewarded with either a health/armor boost, weapons, or ammo. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was first released in 2001 on PC, and ported to consoles in 2003. And at the time, the graphics were incredible. Hell, even looking back at it today, they still are. I compare these graphics to that of early Xbox 360 and PS3 games (such as Saints Row 1, FEAR, etc.). One very notable example is the water effect in the Forest Compound. The water is clear but not too clear, moves realistically, etc. Overall: Gameplay: 10/10 Graphics: 11/10 Replay value: 9/10 Story: 8/10 By the way, here's the full list of Xbox games that can be played on the Xbox 360! http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-on-other-devices/original-console/play-original-games	video-games_xbox
Great game, couple of irks. This is really one of the best star wars games out there, really. I bought this after buying the 1st one because I really liked it. Im glad that I did! It has features that the first didn't have, like you can now play as a jedi, VERY FUN! Also now, in the instant action you can play fun games such as the capture the flag and assault which is where to win you destroy the other teams droids and such to win. One of my favorite games is capture the flag on geonosis, you should play it to get used to ctf. So now the instant action is more than just capturing command posts. You remember how in the first battlefront the campaign was the same as the instant action only in order? Well now there are objectives you have to fufill, like for instance, "Destroy the shield thing that is protecting the droid army." Like that. Couple annoying things though, if in a movie in a battle a certain side wins, like the battle of Endor the rebels win, it is really hard to win if you are playing as the empire, and on Hoth it is really hard to win as the rebels. Very irritating to just capture a command post and suddenly the minute after you leave the other side suddenly captures really quickly, irksome. That is probably the only complaint I have against the game. Also, as you have probably heard, you can now play in space. I feel that space is fun, but more fun playing it in the campaign where you have objectives to carry out. There are great vehicles in space you can use such as the X-wing and the TIE fighter. This game has a much better conquest game than the first. In this one it feels more as if you are in control of the army because you can buy weapons, turrents and different soldier classes. It can get a little hard, but it is still fun. Pros: Great Graphics Jedi game play New game modes like CTF and assault Easy to learn controls In the campaign you get to do such fun things seen in the movies such as carry out order 66 Wonderful space battles Cons: Too easy for certain sides to win in certain games Well, I have a couple tips for you, if having trouble getting used to playing as a jedi, play at mos eisley in assault, that is all jedis and other hero people. Also if the space controls are hard for you to use, go to the instant action play a space battle and practice just flying around and shooting at things. I hope you plan on buying this game for it is one of the best I have played for X-box. However I must remind you that the majority of the game is conquest based with capturing command posts, so if you are looking for a Halo wannabe, go somewhere else. Have fun Star wars fans! (PS this game is more fun for people that are fans of the movies)	video-games_xbox
First Impression: Excellent Product from PDP. <div id="video-block-R3GKU50FYSQXN4" 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/91P6nl4-fAS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91d3dNEOWwS.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> I was immediately impressed upon unboxing this controller. There are actually two separate circuit boards layered inside the controller. I assume one board is for the actual controller functions while the other board is for the lighting and programming. Speaking of the lighting, the light pipe appears to be a large plastic fiber optic cable which does a good job of carrying the light around the controller, and in my opinion looks much better than having a bunch of LED's stuck all over the board. There are only four of the LED's found on the old afterglow's present in this one, and they are only used for the rumble red flashing function. The light pipe is also much more tame and less distracting than the LED's used to be. Also, being able to set the controller to any color you want is a welcome departure from the the old, single color controllers. Enough about the lighting gimmicks though. Lets get to what makes this controller truly impressive, and quite possibly one of the best choices for any Xbox gamer out there; the custom programmable wheels. I was unable to find any information about these wheels before the controller released, so I had no idea what to expect. Turns out they could be one of the greatest ideas in controller design history. Each wheel resembles a mouse wheel, but unlike a mouse wheel, each is limited to roughly one quarter turn up and down. Each wheel can also be pushed in like a button. This is where the six possible function mappings come from, and it is an AWESOME feature. I currently have the A, B, and RB buttons mapped to the Down, Up, and Press positions respectively on the right wheel, and the X, Y, and LB buttons mapped to the same positions on the left wheel. This allows me to play any game without ever having to take my fingers off of the analog sticks! The wheels are also fairly intuitive to use, the hardest part being retraining your brain to not use your right thumb. Comparing this to the Elite controller, which hasn't released yet, makes me wonder just how good the optional paddles on the back of it will be. In my opinion, these wheels are the way to go. Finally, we get to the audio and chat features. PDP has found a way to almost invalidate the expansion port on other controllers, in the form of a simple 3.5mm jack. This jack has audio and chat pass through, and can even work with stereo headsets with an Aux port, as I found when trying to use my Afterglow Karga headset with the controller. The lighting on the headset doesn't work but the speakers and microphone still do. The audio controls on the controller are also easy to use. Simply hold in a button next to the right hand stick and use the D-pad buttons to adjust the volume and chat/game balance. Thats it for my initial review for this new controller from PDP. I will be updating this review pending more testing of the controller's durability.	video-games_xbox
What the Hell is This. Ok, so this game has decent graphics and the dogfight battles in the sky are pretty cool. The controls DEFINITELY take some getting used to. I took me awhile to get to the point where I wasn't flying in circles being unable to find the enemies. It can get fairly in-depth relative to the choices in aircraft, what to arm them with, etc. as well as using your wingman to your advantage. There are some realistic aspects to the game in those regards. If I was only reviewing the game based on gameplay alone, I'd probably give it 3 or perhaps even 4 stars. However, I am reviewing the game as a whole. And as a whole, it is mediocre as best...and that is being generous. How could a game receive a poor review when it looks good, plays good and is a fairly realistic flight shooter? Well, I'll tell you - the story and the voice acting. These things may be trivial to some, but when I play a game, I like it to have at least a passable story line and I'd prefer it if the voice actors didn't sound like idiots. From the opening scene it was obvious that this was going to be a weak point of the game. I mean, seriously, the game takes place in some fictional capital city that has some absurd name like "Capitalcityville...burg". Really? The makers of this game couldn't use a U.S. city or state? They can use almost perfect F-16 models, sparing no detail, but can't use a real on-the-map location? And the enemies are invading Capitalcityville...burg from their homeland of Evilcommunistbadguys Township? Can it be a little more lame? Yes, it can. The moment one of the forgettable characters opens their mouth. The voice acting is comparable to screeching fingernails on a chalkboard. And the guy who is apparently your commanding officer sounds like he blongs in a 1985 coin-operated arcade game. I actually found myself embarrassed for playing it. Terrible. Simply terrible. If you are in love with the whole flight simulator idea and don't care much about the story or sounds, then I guess you can check this out. But when you are 10 minutes into the game and you find yourself grimacing at the extremely lame voices and terrible intro, don't say I didn't warn you. PROS - Decent graphics - Decent controls - Not a bad flight simulator/shooter CONS - Story was written by a 10 year old - Voice acting was performed by 10 year olds - You will want to turn the volume down out of pure embarassment for having played this game Save your money.	video-games_xbox
Early turn of the century games were the best. I really loved the franchise mode and having . I've been a big Madden player since Madden 64. Early turn of the century games were the best. I really loved the franchise mode and having the opportunity to develop a Super Bowl winning time. Madden 08 I became an online player. Madden 09 on PS2 was without a doubt the best version of Madden. I am saying all this so when you read you have an understanding of my experience and a reference point of the greatest Madden. For me I actually care about the gameplay. I live for the experience of playing an actual football game. I don't care too much for MUT, Franchise, or any of that stuff. (There are a ton of stupid feature that are in 2K that people complain about Madden not having. I don't care about customizing a pair of in-game worn shoes) I mostly don't have the patience for any of that. A big complaint Ive always had is that it takes too long to simulate through games to really enjoy Franchise mode. I enjoy the gameplay on offense. There were huge offensive red flags with Madden 15. The offensive line almost never gave enough time to throw, impossible to throw a deep ball, juking was useless, almost impossible to throw into the middle of the field, interceptions were very easy to throw. The game was still playable, and it was fun, but the issues were glaring and I am surprised that they were all fixed in Madden 16. When you are operating as QB you having countless options on offense. You could probably customize a different play at the line every single down for a game. Once the ball is snapped you have several options. For the first time in almost 7 years you can throw the deep pass. Theres a new catch system that allows the WR to make a possession, run after the catch, or an aggressive catch. If ODB is going deep with one on one coverage more often than not he is going to make an amazing catch using the aggressive catch. Now a lot of people are frustrated and complaining about this. For some I am sure it is impossible to defend. But there is football strategy and defensive options you can use to stop the deep ball. In Madden 16 the defender has an option to play the ball for an INT or Swat, and then there is an option to knock the ball out. I had a recent game where my opponent knocked the ball out over 10 times. I was extremely frustrated until I realized that I needed to go for possession catches. But just like in real life, if you focus too much on stopping the deep ball, the run game will open up. As a defender you have several coverage options to stop WRs. Ive been pretty successful at it but many of the negative reviews mention the unstoppable aggressive catch. The game takes into account joystick skill and strategy skill. The complexity of this is what allows for every game to be fun and unique. I can have 300 yard 4 TD passing games with 80% completion percentage. Or playing a skilled individual you could struggle with a subpar 50% completion for 2 TDs and 2 INTs. Ive one and lose both type of games. It all came down the skills of my opportunity and my joystick/strategy skill. Win or lose Ive had a bunch of fun being out on the field throwing the ball around. I am saying this so you can have a bit more understanding that the gaming experience is awesome. And it comes down to joystick skills (putting the shakes on an opponent or making great passes in a tight window) and/or strategy like keeping your safety deep and shadowing a DB back to make that INT against an aggressive catch. Running the ball is fun, the juke stick works but isn't as fun as Madden 25 but an improvement over Madden 16. The players run fluidly. Madden 15 it was extremely tough to turn up field and get yards after the catch. Not getting many yards after the catch made you really have to work hard for points. Take into account that it was hard to throw into the middle of the field and overall you see a big shift in scoring compared to Madden 25 on last gen. The biggest trouble issues I have is that certain QB can easily get out of the pocket and run for yards. That is expected with QBs like Newton, RG III, or even Alex Smith. But when slow QBs are breaking away that is a headache. Then sometimes the linebackers aren't very snappy with stopping the run. There always seems to be a delay between when the ball is snapped versus responding to a hole to bust threw and make the tackle. That might explain why these damn QBs can get those yards. Also, best Madden soundtrack ever!! The past few years they have given up on even having a soundtrack. This year it is powered by Spotify and it is amazing. Overall I think Madden is an extremely fun game. I don't see many frustrating things that heavily alter the game experiences. I think if you are frustrated and struggling you need to check your joystick skills or strategy. When reading the reviews a few people talked about bugs. I haven't had any issues at all. At the moment Ive played 35 ranked online games.	video-games_xbox
Satisfaction for my ears. I have been a Turtle Beach user for many years now. I was reluctant to buy these primarily due to the reviews on the chat mic. My 510s were wore out so I pulled the trigger and Turtle Beach did not let me down. I have been playing online for a week now with friends and right out of the box the mic worked great. Everyone I play with says I sound great. I use my headphones to watch movies and listen to music 2-6 hrs at least 4-5 days a week. So far these have been fantastic with the various choices in pre sets. Battery life has been fine though I have not pushed this to the limits in between charges. The magnetic charging feature is great. With my old set I would have to remember to plug them in to charge and often would get a battery low notification in the middle of playing or a movie because I would forget. With these when they are not in use I just drop on the magnetic charger and they are ready to go every time I use them. The price is a bit hard to look past. Fortunately I was able to pick mine up on sale. That being said the construction is top notch. They are heavier than my last pair when I pick them up, however I don't notice this when wearing them. There is ample padding on the ear cups and head band to make these comfortable for long periods of wear. The piece that warrants menton is that they are fully wireless. This has been a nice liberation when playing games not having the wire connected to my controller. I would often pull the cord out of the controller when adjusting my sitting position or setting the controller down. Now this is no longer an issue. When I turn on the headphones they automatically connect to my Xbox and are assigned to my profile. Very simple to connect and use right away when connecting to my friends. The only time I was disappointed was early in the set up when I could not find a preset that I liked. However reading the guide and trying all the setting I was able to find one that fit my preferences. Out side of that I can not think of any negatives toward the headset it's self.	video-games_xbox
Halo & a 56 year old. Review & a few hints for Heroic mode. I liked the original Syphon Filter and its sequel. Three was a dissapointment. MGS2 had some really good parts, but the overly long video clips and convoluted story line made it frustrating and tedious. I also prefer the greater immersion of true first person shooters. Halo is the best console first person shooter period. I'm 56 and it took me well over a week the first time to get through Halo in normal mode. It has incredibly expansive and detailed scenery, terrain and architecture and the first person shooter physics and manual interface is the best of any game. I just managed to complete Halo in Heroic mode in about 4 days and it was a real experience. You really feel like youve fought an entire war and while not exactly winning, you are truly the last man standing. Some of the sequences are incredibly difficult, and don't get stuck starting from a checkpoint with the wrong or empty weapons. There are things you can get away with in Normal mode that simply won't work in Heroic. A few real caveats are: When your following the monitor to the index, always kill all the flood before proceeding at each checkpoint. You won't get there otherwise. A lot of reviewers like the shotgun for killing flood. I pack a full plasma pistol and plasma rifle. Ammunition lasts longer and you don't run out at those emabarrasing moments (oops died again). You just need to be on target and fire rapid bursts. The stupid marine rifle recoils horribly, is relatively ineffective against the aliens and even less effective against the flood. The pistol zoomed is fun against the aliens. The sniper rifle is a lot of fun. Some times you really need the rocket launcher for tanks and the flying alien craft. At one point when you are trying to blow up the generators, you will come out on a snow bridge with a couple aliens and two of the alien flying craft. In heroic mode, if youve got rockets fine, if not, run to the left out the door and slide down the ice wall then run past the tank to the ravine at the bottom of the pyramid buttress. Rocket launcher awaits. This will take MANY tries. No doubt you will try to cross the ice bridge. And if you do you will know why I didn't reccomend that. Find NeoSeekers website online for a fine walkthrough. I used it only for the hint about killing all the flood on the way to the index. I have tried Legendary and gotten part way into the second level, but it is too much like continual suicide for me. I would like to know if anyone over 40 has completed in Legendary. I can tell you that every possible strategy and reflexes better than mine are absolutely necessary at this level. My guess is that you need to spend much time restarting entire levels just so you end up at checkpoints with the right weapons and sufficient kills. Too many too tough aliens, not enough ammunition.	video-games_xbox

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