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Delivers loads of fun, but not much else. A lot of reviewers have discussed a lot of the finer points of the game. I will only to add a few things that I felt were inadequately treated.
GAMEPLAY: PROTOTYPE has two features in this category that work very well for it. Indeed, I think that these are its only two selling points and the source of all its fun. First, its leveling content. You gain evolution points by defeating baddies (no surprise there), and use them to unlock a wide array of abilities. One thing PROTOTYPE can boast is its library-sized selection of powers suitable for almost any style of play with relatively simply controls to execute what amounts to visual ecstasy. I found the ability to skyjack helicopters to be extremely satisfying, but being able to dash up and down buildings and cut hordes of enemies into ribbons was thrilling. And all this points to what I have already mentioned as its second strength: namely, that these abilities should be so flexible and yet so easy to execute. A final positive thing worth mentioning is its use of shape-shifting. Catch the unwanted attention of military personnel? Quick run around the corner after consuming someone and mimic their form. If you were out of line of sight, you'll no longer be sounding the alarms. This is an innovative way of escape, which lets you get right back into the action.
Unfortunately, the game play is not perfect. The targeting system is the cause of great frustration. Since all it takes is a flick of a thumb-stick to switch targets, dashing around or trying to maneuver the camera to get a better view of what you're doing can cause you to switch targets. It might seem like a relatively small complaint, but when you become surrounded by tons of them and you need to target specific foes then, well, it will be an exercise of self-control to not throw your controller across the room. Only choppers have target lock, and this needed to be implemented globally, especially while on foot.
Another sore spot is the redundancy of the game's features. Go here, kill this, go there, kill that. The only break in the monotony is the ability to infiltrate military bases, which thankfully shows up in a fair amount of the story missions. But this is only of minor concern, since people who buy this type of game - myself included - are more interested in causing chaos than a whole lot else.
GRAPHICS: As some others have indicated, PROTOTYPE's graphics really do not make use of what the 360 has to offer. It seems somewhat reminiscent of PS2 days. I would agree that at high elevations, the city's artful rendering is something worth marveling over, but the truth of the matter is that you spend the great majority of the game close to the ground (especially since nearly all of your powers revolve around this kind of play). You cannot help but notice the inferiority of the detail with respect to other 360 games. But this is not to pooh-pooh on them altogether: the individuated animations do, as other reviewers have mentioned, allow the city to seem as it has a life of its own. But at the same time, we should demand that we, as consumers who spend so much on a game, get both. They should not be mutually exclusive, and in PROTOTYPE they are.
PLOT/STORY: The protagonist of PROTOTYPE is subject to the cliché, yawn-inducing condition of amnesia as a result of his contact with the game's virus. While this presents a novel way of learning the details of the story - consuming others to collect their memories - it does not really speak to any originality on the part of Activision/Blizzard. You spend your time, as you might expect, working way the up informational chain until the AH-HA! moment is revealed by eliminating the game's pesky antagonists. Unfortunately, the AH-HA! moment is less of a eureka and more of a head-scratching anticlimax. Though story is not usually a primary driver for the design of a sandbox video game, it would seem as if PROTOTYPE has clearly announced that it has no interest in delivering one. By the last third of the game, any interest that the evolution system might have generated for me had worn away and I was scrambling to beat it only so that I would not feel compelled to play the game anymore.
All characters are flimsy and one-dimensional. Even the main character lacked any really interesting features that would set him apart from any other generic antihero. He wants his memory back and he wants revenge for what happened to him. His sister drop an f-bomb every third word even though there really isn't any reason to. The military is super evil because they like making weapons. Nothing new here.
SUMMARY: The game can be quite a bit of fun, but it seems like Activision/Blizzard did not actualize all the game's potential. I would suggest that it is worth at least renting, seeing as it would not take more than ten or twelve hours to beat, but it is certainly not worth sixty or even forty dollars. I regret spending so much. I would advise everyone to wait until it's in the discount bin, and then pick it up.
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video-games_xbox
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It's one of those games that's just good to have because it's solid in nearly every way. If you are considering buying this game, you should go ahead and get it. It's one of those games that's just good to have because it's solid in nearly every way. It's basically a really good action/ adventure movie.
There have been a few great games released this year and Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of them with the added benefit of being consistently fun from beginning to end. What I mean by that is I've played games that are unquestionably good but for one reason or another lost my interest by the time I was done playing.
Sometimes I want to play a sports game because it gives immediate gratification and quicker pace, while other times I want to play in a world with a story that builds over time . Somewhere in between I need games that can do the good parts of both without the bad parts of either. For me, Rise has the perfect balance of scale and gameplay. Playing relatively large games like The Witcher, for example, can give a sense of overload. There are so many side quests and so much empty space, that all those icons on the map stop having meaning and I eventually didn't bother doing them. ROTTR is big enough to give you lots of room to explore and a number of things to do that keep your interests. There are a good number of tombs to find. The creators of this game were smart to make the optional tombs, called "challenge tombs", the most fun which means that you'll want to keep finding the next one. The puzzles in the tombs aren't brain busters but they require some thought and that mixing up of the gameplay keeps away any possibility of monotony. There are also side quests you receive from characters you come across that allow you to earn XP and some alternate costumes.
If you are familiar with the 2013 game, the controls for this one will be no problem. I thought the previous games controls were very good. They've added the grapple axe which some people don't like but that's a tiny tradeoff that allows the game space to open up so much both vertically and horizontally. Lara is more acrobatic and dynamic than she was last time. Since ROTTR is bigger than the last game, it's necessary to be able to actually make use of that space.
Visually, the game is beautiful. It is 1080p if that matters to you. On one hand, the amazing settings don't draw attention to themselves. But when you take the time look at them, you can't help but be impressed and appreciate the time and effort that went into the locations. There are few places where Lara can even sit down and just look at the landscape. Evil henchman 137 may look and sound like henchman 74 but the main characters are amazing. In some games that have great graphics, there's still a lack of realism because it just appears to be good animation. Here, there can be some good camerawork in some scenes that make Lara Croft feel more alive. That also has a lot to do with the voice actress who does a good job whether speaking or making expressions.
The combat is in some ways just as violent as the last one but it's noticeably not bloody and gory. I'm not a huge fan of more violent imagery but I thought that it actually added to the physicality and visceral feel of the last game. If you're a parent thinking of giving this game as a gift, then this is an easier purchase than the 2013 version. If you're clever enough you can avoid some of the combat altogether as well.
There are different modes to keep you entertained afterwards like time challenges and mission replays that allow you add modifiers that make the game more difficult or easier. There is silly stuff too. Enemies can also be on fire all the time. You can shoot chickens instead arrows at enemies in that mode. I'm currently playing with Lara having a giant head and enjoying it.
To me, this is an automatic buy if you own an Xbox One. I can tell I love a game when the closer I think I'm getting to the end, the more I slow down and start to try to find new things to do. This is one that I feel conflicted as to whether or not to play again immediately or wait a while so that it feels new again. This game almost didn't get made and that would've been a shame. It's easily my favorite.
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video-games_xbox
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Rock Band branded microphone is well worth it. The Rock Band official microphone has a silver grill, the Rock Band logo on its shaft, and a nearly fifteen foot long cable. How does it perform?
First, a bit of background. We have all the Rock Band games, all the Guitar Hero games, and a variety of other games as well. My boyfriend plays in a band, and I sang in choirs throughout school. So we are both fairly musical and have quite a lot of gear in the house. My boyfriend's been gigging for over twenty years. He understand issues of microphone noise, feedback, sensitivity, and so on.
We own not only multiples of this Rock Band microphone but also the Konami microphone, EA microphone, Guitar Hero microphone, Logitech microphone, and others.
We're extremely pleased with this Rock Band microphone. Looks-wise, the silver grill does look snazzy. The long length is a great help when you are stretched out in a room with drum players, guitar players, and keyboard players. The Rock Band cable has a "box" near the XBox end which has an image of a microphone on it. This is great when you're trying to figure out which cables to unplug and which not to touch.
But of course it all comes down to the microphone's performance. A gorgeous microphone which causes you to continually fail will get tossed into the trash rather quickly.
Luckily, as you might imagine, the Rock Band team made absolutely sure that their branded microphone would work well. They wouldn't want to be deluged with complaints that reaching 100% on a song in easy mode was impossible. I have tried these microphones on pretty much every song I can get my hands on, on expert mode, and I routinely get to 100%. I know it's hard to read tone in an email - I don't mean that in a boastful way. I know many, many people who can do that and who are far better singers than I am. What I mean is that the microphone doesn't distort or affect your rhythm or pitch. It transmits - accurately - your voice's twists and turns and gets it into the core machine.
As an added advantage, the microphone ends in a simple USB plug. This means this unit can move between the Wii, PS3, and XBox 360 units. So if you have multiple systems, like we do, you can move this high quality microphone between them.
Highly recommended.
We purchased our microphones with our own funds in order to do our testing and reviews.
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video-games_xbox
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You will come out of this game shaking and dripping w/ gore. I bought this game off of eBay after beating Splinter Cell:PT and deciding that I needed more stealth and had heard that Manhunt was a cool game. So I bought it and the first time that I played it I was a little shocked. But, as they say, you get desensitized. First let me tell you about the gameplay. Since the game's main plot is killing for sport, there are plenty of weapons and techniques to help you along the way. Some weapons are: wire (can use to cut off head and make a lure), plastic bag (suffocate them to death, then break neck), machete (cut off head in three meaty hits), crowbar (break back then stab the brain), shotgun (blow off the head), baseball bat (break their neck then beat off their head, with chunks of brain matter splattering all over the place), and on and on and on.. you get the point. That was only a few of the weapons. And how you excecute someone is you sneak up behind them, hold X or A for about five seconds, then let go and watch the blood spurt on the camera. Definitely not for the weak of stomach.
The sound is very good, and if you've got surround you can hear where the hunters are. Very useful. Also the kills make very wet sounds, more so than needed.
The graphics are very good. Not as good as Ninja Gaiden, but they are better than most.
Control is very easy and the first couple of levels will tell you how to use it.
And lastly, content matter. I would definitely not get this game for anyone under 15, as there is extremely graphic, horrible bloody violence and gore and also the swearing is exremely abundant and also it is the cruder words that are said more often. You can however turn the sound effects off. Also don't get this for anyone who is can't tell games from real life or anyone who is naturally angry. There was a case in UK about someone killing a guy with a clawhammer (found in the game) and cops found a copy of Manhunt in his room. If you don't control yourself, this game WILL change you and make you more angry and violent. although well done, there aren't many people i can recommend this game to due to the content matter.
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video-games_xbox
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Pros - Great sound - Mic works great - Easy to set . Pros
- Great sound
- Mic works great
- Easy to set up
- Light looks cool and can be turned on or off easily
Cons
- Sound would randomly cut off (only happened a couple times though)
- Easy to break (I'll get to this)
- Not too comfortable, especially for long gaming sessions.
My biggest cons were it's lack of comfort and how cheap parts of it are. The ear pads do not go all the way around my ears and are rather tight, despite the fact that I have a pretty small head/ears (so if you want ear pads that fit all the way around your ears take this into consideration). On top of that, the headset feels rather heavy, at least compared to my TB earforce x12's, and thus the top of my head would start to hurt a little after long gaming sessions. I guess maybe the tightness would go away after lots of use, but the weight and smaller ear pads are something to keep in mind when considering these headsets.
My biggest con however, would have to be how cheap the plastic is on the top part of the headset (the part that sits on your head). I am careful with my headsets, I don't drop them, rough handle them, throw them around, or leave them in places where people will sit or step on them ect. I had no problem taking care of my TB X12's, however this headset was disappointing. One day the top broke solely from putting it on my head. Like I said, I have a small head, so I don't even have to pull them apart that far to get them on my head. Just a normal tug that any person would do to get them on and they cracked.
I did what I could to make them usable. The sounds/mic everything still works but now they don't sit on my head right and they are extremely uncomfortable now. I honestly would not want to spend 99$ on a headset that has such a cheap head rest piece. I guess maybe I just got unlucky, but the plastic does seem to be cheap, so I wouldn't risk paying another 99$ because of that and the fact that it is so uncomfortable after long gaming sessions.
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video-games_xbox
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Good game with several flaws. Being a fan of zombie games, this game is right up my alley. The concept is simple, a tropical island has been hit with the zombie plague and you have to use whatever you can get your hands on to survive. The game is fun, the default controls bring nothing new. The default control is the typical mash the button to kill the zombie. If I could suggest one thing to new players it would be to switch the default controls to "analog". Anybody who's done research on this game has surely come across this suggestion already. It takes a little learning but it makes it feel like a whole new game.
The game feels like it was rushed to completion. I didn't start this game till a few months after release but read that there have already been two patches released, the first being a release day patch. Even after these patches I am still encountering several glitches. The worst coming during a custom weapon building session. The game implements a custom building weapon feature where after you acquire "mods" throughout the game you can go to workbenches and create new more powerful weapons. I was applying the heavy mod to a hammer I had found, after the mod was complete I went to equip it and found that the modded weapon had completely vanished. It was not in my inventory screen or around the workbench.
Another issue I have is with the character models. The game is made up of quests. There's a main quest and as you play through you receive side quests from the different characters you encounter. When you talk to these characters to get the quests they pretty much look like mannequins with moving mouths. The voice actor can clearly sound as if they are crying or acting distressed but none of that emotion is portrayed on screen. I may be a little more sensitive to this since the game I played before this was LA Noire, which did an amazing job in this area.
Finally, the game is clearly designed for a multiplayer experience. When you start the game it is set to allow online players to join you as you play. I was playing one quest when I noticed another person in the game that looked just like me. At first I tried to kill this character not realizing it was another person in my game. You can just as easily join others. As you play a icon pops up saying that another person is in the same area as you and you can join them by pushing left on the d-pad. This is also evident in a majority of cut scenes. If you are playing by yourself and come into a cut scene, you will suddenly be joined on screen by all the other choosable characters. After the cut scene they quickly vanish.
All in all it's a fun game. I like the idea of using whatever you can find to survive like a boat paddle or a hammer. The analog combat system is great and should be the default system that you start with. The game seems to be long, or I could just be playing it slow. Especially since I am the type of person who needs to finish the side quests before moving forward with the main quest. I look forward to getting furhter in the story.
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video-games_xbox
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First Impression? A little better than mediocre. Bungie/Microsoft, I hope you are listening...
I have played some multiplayer and some of the mission. But, already I can tell you that this game is not the huge leap we were looking for. I keep asking myself, "it took 3 years to come up with this"? Issues:
- During the cut-scenes, things (usually characters) just pop into the picture after a short delay. I know they are using the gaming engine for this, but it obviously works so poorly that Bungie must have seen this in their testing. Why use the game engine? Just put a movie clip in there!
- Dual Wielding is cool, but takes too much of the screen to show both guns. The perspective should have been better.
- Graphics in multiplayer are not that great. At a distance, things look distorted (this is on a brand new Sony 57" HD Widescreen TV running my Xbox in HD Widescreen mode)
- Can anyone else not understand the "creatures" when they talk?
- The manual does not address basic issues like what the buttons do. For example, they say the white button is for "active camo", but never tell us what this is. My white button has always been used for a flashlight.....
I will admit that I like the new weapons and I do like that the AI can drive the Warthog, even though the AI sometimes gets stuck. I also like that we can handicap a person in multiplayer. One of our team members is just naturally better than the rest of us so we can hold him back a little bit to make things fair.
I hope that what is going on here is that Bungie is limited by the Xbox hardware and had to compromise. I am sure they will never admit this since they are owned by Microsoft, but it's gotta be true. Or, all of their talent left after the first Halo and they could not reproduce the results. Finally, maybe nothing could have lived up to the hype....
Consider this game Halo 1.5 with Xbox Live capabilities and some new maps. We should have had this 18 months ago. Bungie, try again with Halo 3 on Xbox 2!!!!
For your reference, I am not a diehard gamer. I am a 32 year old guy who likes to play video games with his buddies once a week. Eight of us usually play Halo via systemlink with two TV's. We have been playing Halo for a couple years now and have always had a great time. Since it came out, I have also played the Halo mission all the way through several times. Your mileage and preferences may vary....
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video-games_xbox
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Best Warriors Game Yet. I haven't played anything from Dynasty/Samurai Warriors for quite some time - my last game was Warriors Orochi. This game has improved upon the formula quite a bit. Some people will complain that it's the same core game every release with slightly different rosters. I would say sure, this is very similar to past games, but there are small improvements that make the game better and it's not necessarily a bad thing - the game is still fun. Sometimes you just feel like being a powerful warrior and mowing down thousands of grunts. This game excels at that. There is a lot of things to do, plenty of story levels to play through, and the characters are varied enough in move sets and weapons that switching up characters can keep the game interesting.
Graphically, this is the best of the series yet. The cut scenes look pretty good, but it definitely isn't a game that has top notch graphics. The character models are detailed and the amount of enemies on screen is impressive, more than any previous Warriors game I've played. In the middle of huge mobs of enemies, some might pop in out of nowhere at times, which is most noticeable when the stage is complete. Your character will be standing there and the system attempts to catch up, causing a bunch of troops to pop onto the screen. It doesn't affect gameplay though.
There is a new gauntlet mode which is challenging, a lot of items to get, a duel mode, lots of things to do and side missions to complete. A few new special moves were added, a lot of new characters, different weapons, it feels a lot different than the first Warriors Orochi game that came out, but the core game is the same. I'm very satisfied for the price I paid. I might feel a little shortchanged paying full price new, when I could have gotten a AAA title, but I consider this a budget game, more or less, and I would say there is a lot of bang for the buck. Want to just zone out for a few hours, feeling powerful, tearing through thousands of enemies? This is the game.
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video-games_xbox
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NO real single player mode, and not nearly as good as they claimed. Looks good, sounds good, but gameplay is not good.
There is no real single player mode, you will have to be online and you WILL have strangers show up where you are playing.
Hope you don't mind some fool shooting at you for ten minutes or don't mind having someone follow you around while you try and play...., cause if you buy this game you will have random people showing up when you are trying to complete a mission, in short there is no mode for single player.
Worse the game is just plain not that good. it is very very scripted even though it pretends it is not. You are dragged around completing vague and boring missions, with scattered lame bad guys. Worse as you go through levels, and missions often it is the exact same set of bad guys waiting in the exact same spots...
Patrols, are a joke. You end up with newbie and vets in the same space, it should not be like that, they should ensure people are at least close to the same skill set.
I would call this the most overrated over hyped game of the last few years. Bungie appear to have written the game for themselves rather than the average gamer.
I would also point out, that for an adult male , the prospect of getting half a dozen of buddies online, at the same time and with the same console is pretty remote.
SHAME on Bungie, they must have known that most gamers want to play when they want to play, they don't want to schedule days in advance, they should have marketed this game honestly.
This game is being marketed vaguely because they know if they told the truth sales would be much lower.
I should add.
Due to the forced need to be synced and online all the time, it takes far too long to move from one arena to another, the whole tower, orbit planet nonsense get old really really fast.
NO split screen.
NO multiplayer on the same box at all....
NO single player.
NO offline play.
No currency , no trading, no marketplace.
No point.
long delays syncing. (yeah we are really flying there..)
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video-games_xbox
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A Serious Love/Hate Relationship. I'll start with my background with this series. I played very little of Soul Calibur, and played a lot of Soul Calibur II, IV, and Broken Destiny.
After playing so much of the Soul series, I've definitely developed my favorite characters... Taki, Talim, Yun-Seong, Kilik, Xianghua, Cassandra, and others. Generally I've enjoyed playing almost everyone but again the ones mentioned are my tops (not in any particular order). What I've noticed in II and IV is that they tend to have a very lasting story, II had an almost endless sea of tasks for me to do, but it also kept the gaming entertaining for me, and IV had a story for every character. Broken Destiny being a PSP game, I wasn't surprised how the "story" was full of jokes and whatnot. The story in V, pretty much dropped to 2 characters. Disappointing as it was, I could probably live with that, but the fact the so much of the roster has changed or is missing, I can't help but be a little bummed out. The story for Soul Calibur V would take an average player less than a day to finish, but I guess the main focus for the game was character customization, quality of graphics, and flow of the game. The game is fast paced, giving it a feel of the earlier series. I will say right off the bat that $60 is a lot to ask for.
Here's a quick PRO's and Con's list according to my opinion.
Pro
-Ezio and Devil Jin (only in custom character) are wonderful additions
-An improvement in gameplay from IV which didn't seem as fast paced
-Graphics are beautiful
-Patroklos and Pyrrha are easy to use for Story (in the event of a Soul VI these aren't bad additions)
-Critical Finish replaced by Critical Edge (Special attack move much like those special attacks in Marvel Vs. Capcom)
-Good BGM
Con
-Story line is way too narrow and doesn't include the whole roster
-AI spams
-Changes to roster are not well explained
-Guard Impacts is, in my opinion, changed for the worse
I'll break this down category by category.
1. Game Roster
The new additions of Patroklos, Pyrrha, ZWEI, and others are a fine compliment to the game. Guest character Ezio is also very fun to use. Secret character STYLE (used only for character creation) Devil Jin is also really fun overall. Unfortunately, for those Soul Veterans out there, some favorites are missing. Some fighting styles have been "revived" by a new generation. The Sword and Shields of Sophitia and Cassandra are covered by Patroklos, Pyrrha, and Pyrrha Omega, Xianghua's style is visible through her daughter Leixia (whose father is NOT KILIK, much to my dismay), Kilik's style is continued with some alterations by Xiba, Taki by Natsu. My opinion, and mine only, is that having 3 characters without a defined style at the expense of dropping some favorites is not worth it. Also, veterans, don't be surprised if you need to relearn combos.
2. Game Play
The fighting is smooth and exciting. Although I don't like the changes with impacts, I kind of like the removal of the Critical Finish. I must say, I dislike the equipment breaks because it doesn't seem to be consistent. I could go through a best of 6 fight and keep my armor, or have it break from a combo in the first fight (the armor either breaks completely or doesn't as there is no separations of low, med, high). Also, guard impacts have a different input, which wasn't well explained.
3. AI
I made this section exclusive for a reason. I DO NOT LIKE THE AI FOR THIS GAME. This may only occur for me, but whenever I play an AI in Quick Battle a major bane I face is when the AI repeats it's attacks. It isn't just for difficult AI either, the AI is ranked from E to A and from C ranks I face a lot of spamming. I'm not sure if it was made to try to replicate actual people or not, but I'm the type of guy who hates it when I fight and gets hit by the same attack over and over and over and then when the attack is FINALLY different, the AI does an impressive combo that ends the fight. I dunno, maybe its just me.
4. Character Customization
This is a great part of the game, in my opinion. I LOVED making characters in IV and Broken Destiny. The Customization follows IV and Broken Destiny where there are set faces and hair styles. From there on, a lot is up to you. You can put preset patterns on clothing, tattoos to look cool, etc. I can continue to praise the customizing, but I will do my best to make clear of my woes. It seems that a lot of the equipment, even though you are given considerably more than in IV, it unlocks for free when you "level up" (which is gained from experience pts rated after a fight). I have no idea how many levels I need to get up to before I get all the equipment I want.
5. DLC
So uh... DLC was pretty cheap, and it is for either songs or equipment parts. There's apparently more to come out, but I'm in disagreement about the idea of charging for data already in the game (some AI in Quick Battle already had the item before I bought it, and from what I researched, I had to buy it to get it).
6. Achievements
I'm not really a fan of achievements that requires someone to play online, especially for an 360, and a nice chunk is dedicated to online play, so for those 360s without Gold, don't expect to be able to 100% complete it.
In the end, would I recommend this to you? Yes, but not right now. To me, it's like a $30-40 game using it's history and name to add that extra $$.
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video-games_xbox
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A Calculated Review. I don't like typically jumping on a bandwagon of any kind, so that's not what this is. I 5-starred the hell out of this game because it was very, very fun.
With Halo 3 coming out last month, I decided it was time to figure out what all the fuss was about. I own several FPS's, and I don't know why. I just keep buying them, but they're not really that fun. It's just not my bag, I guess.
FEAR is spooky, but redundant redundant redundant re... you get it?
QUAKE 4 is pretty, but also pretty standard.
PREY is innovative, but sometimes difficult to figure out where to go next.
But a launch game from the LAST generation of systems has just proven to me why there ARE so many FPS's out there today. HALO was FUN.
When I first tapped into the game, I didn't really get it. I couldn't get behind the idea that these silly Covenant forces were a threat. I didn't know how to utilize my different weapons, and I NEVER understood my shield. Face it, I'm a casual gamer, and Halo came off like just another boring FPS in my collection. But over time, as I went through endless levels of dealing with the Flood, I longed for combat against my Covenant counterparts. I found out that the Needler is the most fun weapon to wield in all of FPS history. And I learned that patience truly is a virtue, because when those warning alarms are going off, that means it's time to run for cover until my shield has recharged itself.
In my opinion, the real joy in playing this game comes from a meshing of all of these somewhat standard elements with a VERY exciting AI, whether it be the enemies or your own teammates. Wow.
I'm writing this review in October of 2007. I've played Gears of War to death, and I absolutely HATED my AI teammates. They were constantly getting themselves shot down, and waiting for me to either heal them, or defeat all the baddies in the area. Halo AI teammates can do stupid things, but they aren't important to the story. If you kill more than one with friendly fire, they'll turn on you. But there were several instances in the game where I had to sniper rifle at least one of them in the head just to get his standard automatic rifle for combat, or to keep him from accidentally shooting ME. This, in my opinion, was not a faulty game mechanic. I ENJOYED picking off my own team. Let's face it, I'm the Master Chief and *they're* not, so they have to do what I say! If that means I kill them and take their guns, so be it.
I could go on forever about the thought they must've put into the various weapons (though simple they may be) and how you have to choose the right weapon quickly for a certain scenario, but it's probably best you just get on this bandwagon next to me and start playing. If you're not a big FPSer (like me), give it a few plays, and you'll eventually "GET" Halo.
I think this review is very fair, since I'm not writing it the day the original XBOX came out. The graphics didn't blow me away, as I'm playing it on my 360, but they're still quite good. If you think MC looks funny as he's falling to his death, just remember that you're still laughing as he's falling to his death, thereby negating any graphical "errors" you think you're seeing. For example, once his body comes to a stop, and he's face down, for some reason he almost always does what I call "the butt twitch" right before I'm respawned. I usually chuckle at this point, and immediately get blown up by a plasma grenade because I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize I was already back in the game.
For some reason, it reminds me of the days we used to play Goldeneye 007 with our friends, and we'd set it up on Slappers Only, turn ourselves into midgets, and run around at double speed just slapping the crap out of each other. You can still laugh at it to this day, so it doesn't matter how crappy the graphics are. It's still fun.
So anyway, Halo taught me that FPS's - in a perfect world - COULD be fun. I just wish all my other FPS's didn't suck. And *they're* all for the 360. Does that make any sense to you?
I can't wait to get my hands on Halo 2 and play as the Covenant. Sounds fun.
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video-games_xbox
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The best FPS out there for consoles. I think the biggest problem for many people when it comes to a sequel on a console is that they are hoping to relive that feeling of awe they got from the first game. In order to fully enjoy the sequels to a great game we actually have to keep our expectations lower and not let the hype suck us in. You should go into it with the idea that it is going to add more life and some new elements to the last one but not that its going to create that same awe inspiring wonder the original gave you because you've already seen the basics before. Everytime the next generation of consoles comes out that first hit will be the best cause you are seeing this kind of technology for the first time. Some examples is like when N64 first came out with Orcania of Time and it gave new life to the Zelda series because we were in awe to see what the technology could achieve ,but then when Majoras Mask came out we were a little let down that most of the elements weren't new to us anymore so we didn't recapture that awe inspiring feel with the sequel. More recently this has happened with the Grand Theft Auto series,GTA 3 was the reason i bought a PS 2 and though Vice City and San Andreas expanded on it and are better games,i didn't get the thrill that i got when we first saw what the PS 2 could do for GTA as opposed to what PS 1 could do with it (though i did enjoy all three very much so).Now with Halo its the same thing. Those who gave it bad reviews bought into the hype too much and were expecting groud breaking improvements and felt disappointed when they played a game like the first with a few minor enhancements. And those who gave it good reviews i feel kept their expectations in perspective and simply hoped for a good game that would breathe some life back into Halo 1 with a new campaign and some improvements which is exactly what Bungie did and should be given much credit for. It is still the best FPS and it is still a great game that improves on the first. Its only natural to not feel exactly as awe inspired as you did with the first one since the Xbox has been out awhile now and we've already seen similar technology with the first game. Could things have been done better? Sure they could have and i think we nitpick more on small things when a game has this much hype,but lets be realistic...is there any game in the history of video games that we didn't think to ourselves "well they could have done this better,or that better". We can expect to be awe inspired again when Halo hits the next generation console and then not feel as much when a sequel comes out on that console to even if it is better than the first cause thats just the way it always been. With all that said,Halo 2 still deserves much praise and shouldn't be faulted because the basics aren't new to us this time around. It's still the best FPS,its still takes the first Halo to a new level even if not as much as some people had wished,and in my opinion probably should be a no brainer for game of the year award. When the next generation systems come out we can get awe inspired again but until then we should enjoy what we have now and Halo 2 is no failure at all,gamers just have become more picky and expectations become higher when the newness of a consoles technology wears off and what used to be amazement turns into something gamers just expect now and will accept nothing less than the vision they have in their mind for what a game should be able to do. It doesn't mean games have gotten worse in quality,it just means we have become more demanding and if you allow yourself to become to demanding you will suck all the fun right out of what should have been a fantastic gaming experience which Halo 2 in my mind has succeeded in delivering.
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video-games_xbox
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Not my cup of grog. When I first played I thought this game was really cool. I still think it's an okay thing and experience, but the new content released to the players is meant strictly to get people to socially interact with one another. That's not really a bad thing in and of itself, but it means that if you're a solo player, then you're essentially frozen out of things like the megalodon or an attack by the kraken and so forth.
As a solo player you can sail around and engage in the lower tier or lower level quests, and explore the game environment, but that's all you can do. You can't fight the kraken by yourself if you're so inclined to trying, nor any of the other higher tier challenges.
I'm an old school gamer. I like the single player experience. I'm not against multiplayer gaming in the least, but the promise of this game is that you can meet the challenges with the group or by yourself. And that's simply not the case, as you are forced to meet other people, whether you like them or not, and given the huge trolling problem from other players in the game, odds are it's going to be hard to meet those challenges with anyone you like gaming with.
So, the graphics are pretty outstanding, the ocean and islands are expansive, the sailing itself is kind of cool, but it's like this whole game is a sociological tool, and I simply don't appreciate the manipulation and denial of what I think should be the full gaming experience as a solo player.
New content is coming, and I've tossed in a number of ideas, but it's like you can't benefit from them unless you meet the social psychological criteria. I've had this thing installed for a couple of months now, and I've just grown tired of it. It was unique and novel at first, but denying me the chance of taking on the new challenges because I like to solo, is effectively freezing out a portion of your customer base.
Make of that what you will.
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video-games_xbox
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Great Online Gaming Experience but lacking some hardware. This is my 3rd purchased Xbox 360. I got my first back 2006 it was the 20gb version and then another one in 2008 it was the 60gb version. All together Ive owned five xbox 360's. I got the red ring of death 4 out 5 of them. I hope that this one doesn't have any issues. To start with good things about this newer slimmer black version. Its slimmer, lighter, runs cooler. black in color and has wifi built in. It also has more usb ports and dedicated aux port for the kinect. I cant review kinect part of it that much since I still haven't done any gaming with it. Ive used it as a controller and also the voice control when watching Netflix. I found having the kinect connected slows down the Xbox and makes it work harder. So I just have it disconnected now. I play mostly first person and third person shooter games which cant use the kinect. I may explore the kinect later with the games its came with. Im glad the newer xbox comes with wifi finally but it doesn't come with dual band wireless. For that you have to buy the additional Microsoft network adatper for another $50. Another thing the xbox doesnt have is a blu ray player. It can only play dvds. As a media player it cant play AAC files or MKV files. Most of my music is from iTunes in AAC format and most of movies are downloaded in MKV format. The controllers on the Xbox are wireless but use the older 2.4ghz frequency. Which mean there can be interference, the distance it covers is limited and there is less security. The xbox 360 doesnt have Bluetooth. Which would have worked great for controllers and headsets. Also the controllers can use rechargeable battery packs but they use nickel cadmium batteries not lithium. The app selection is also lacking on the xbox it doesn't have slacker, pandora, spotify. You have to pay for the gold live membership to use the internet explorer, netflix, or play any games with your friends online.
In terms of the online experience Xbox live is said to be far superior than the PlayStation network. I would hope xbox would be better since we have to pay for it. I mainly got the xbox since all my friends are on it and I play Microsoft games like Gears of War 3 and Halo 4. Both of which are great games and really show xbox's full potential. If you mostly play onlne and in multiplayer than xbox 360 is the console to get. Im very happy with my purchase so far and haven't experienced any issues with the console. My only other grip about this bundle is that it doesnt come with a headset. I know were suppose to use the kinect as a mic. But, I would rather use a headset and find it silly Microsoft excluded a cheap headset of this bundle.
One last additon is the fact that you can install games to your hard drive so that the load times are quicker and the xbox runs cooler. But, you have to load the disk every time you want to play the game. I know this is the case for piracy reasons. But, I do wish they found another easier way of doing this. One example is on my PC I purchase a game and the first time I have to unlock it by punching in code to show I own the game. After that I don't need to ever enter the code or even use the disc. Im sure something like this can be incorporated with the xbox.
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video-games_xbox
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Great Wireless Headset. I have been searching for a quality set of wireless surround sound headphones for under 200 for quite some time and finally bit on these after reading through the reviews and mulling it over. I mainly wanted them to watch TV and movies at night to avoid waking up the little one. I have a pair of RCA WHP141B 900MHZ Wireless Stereo Headphones that I picked up cheap and holy moly what a difference! The RCAs had a constant buzz that I could tolerate (although they would occasionally pick up the AM radio station down the street which was annoying) and the sound quality was good for the price. The X42 has absolutely no buzz and the audio is crystal clear and sounds fantastic! The base is sitting about a foot away from my wireless router, and there is no interference whatsoever.
The headphones are light but I wouldn't call them flimsy like some of the other reviewers have. I find this to be a plus, as I don't enjoy heavy headsets. The microphone base is a bit flimsy though. I can see how that might break with frequent use. I'm typically more gentle with my stuff then most, so hopefully it lasts. The included optical audio cable is a plus. I didn't see that mentioned anywhere. The small base is great. It sits inconspicuously inside my media cabinet with no annoying LEDs until I turn it on. When powered on, the LEDs are noticeable but not overwhelming like some other devices. They fit on my head well. I have a small head and usually have issues with full size headsets not sitting well and sliding around. Not so with these. When adjusted to my head the strap sits comfortably and snugly on top of my head and the earcups fit well over my ears, though I can see how that might be an issue for someone with larger ears than me.
Setup was fairly easy thanks to the other reviewers who pointed out that you need to wait for the second beep when holding the power button on the headphones to pair them with the base. That is definitely NOT in the instructions.
In my setup I have a HD cable box, 3D HD BluRay player, XBox 360 and a Roku2 XS all hooked up via HDMI through a Monoprice 4x1 HDMI switch with both a digital optical and coax audio out. The optical audio for the headphones was a must since I'm using the coax to feed my very old surround sound receiver. I get crystal clear surround sound from all of the components, though I do find I need to reset the output to 5.1 on the HDMI switch when changing channels on the cable box. Sometimes the voice doesn't get picked up by the headphones. pressing the 5.1 button on the switch's remote fixes it. I haven't tried the mic yet on the XBox, but will hopefully get a chance to do that soon.
Overall I am highly pleased with this purchase! I couldn't have asked for a better solution a this price. I hope these last a good long time because there's no way I'm going to be able to live without this sound quality from now on.
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video-games_xbox
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Best Need for Speed yet. Yes this isn't a simulator, and so the Forza name is a little inappropriate, but it is the best Need for Speed type game out there, as good today as the original Need for Speed Hot Pursuit was in its day.
So we have a 5 out of 5 game which is making some people upset due to having 'Forza' in its name. Did anyone really not know what type of game this was going to be?
Cars: The number of available cars is small, but it is compelling. Personally I'd rather have an original Mini Cooper to drive, than 50 Mazda and Honda variants.
Presentation: Every driving game, simulator or arcade should learn from the interface for this game, for once there is a semblance of a reason for why you are racing, and a good attempt to keep up a pace rather than simply making you choose races from a menu to earn money to buy upgrades to win harder races from a higher numbered menu.
Races: As they say variety is the spice of life, well they are certainly varied. But this game does lose out in that not being based around race tracks, there is no sense of learning a tracks intricacies so that you can plan when and where to overtake, where to take risks and where to be extra careful.
Look: What a stunner, there is a real feeling of geography in this game, from the Rockies to the dusty planes. The cars look good enough (frankly I don't think extra resolution makes much difference when physical and physics errors are so glaring in all driving games. Forza 1 and Grand Tourisimo 3 cars were just fine, the images of spectators, trees etc. are still completely rubbish after 10 years of development...) Only the city simulating games give as much of a sense of being there as this game achieves on a much higher scale.
Driving: Coming straight from Forza 3 (I'm waiting for Forza 4 platinum...)this game feels like RC racing compared to Forza 3's car racing. But RC racing is fun too.
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video-games_xbox
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An incredibly stunning achievement. It's here, it's here, it's finally here. Grand Theft Auto IV has finally arrived after what seems like eons of anticipation, and Rockstar's flagship franchise doesn't disappoint to say it lightly. Putting you in the shoes of European illegal immigrant Niko Bellic, you are back in Liberty City, although this is a much different Liberty City than the one you remember. This Liberty City is so incredibly detailed and constructed that you will often find yourself in complete awe. Not since GTA III has an open world environment been so innovative in its scope, and never before has there ever been this kind of interaction. At its core, the tried and true GTA gameplay remains, but there is so much more to do: ranging from dating (yes, dating!), surfing the in-game internet, seeing a comedy show, watching TV, and listening to the radio among other things. Besides all that, there is a story here, and it is indeed one of the most engrossing and compelling stories you will ever find in a video game. Niko is no ordinary crook like we've seen before, and ends up being one of the most fully realized video game protagonists in quite some time. The rest of the residents of Liberty City are wonderfully designed as well, all helping Liberty City feel like a living, breathing place. Gunplay elements have been much improved upon as well, as have the driving mechanics and overall controls. Combined with a 16 player multiplayer mode, Grand Theft Auto IV is a glorious, instant classic that more than deserves your attention. If there are any downsides to GTA IV, and this is just me being nitpicky for the sake of being nitpicky, is that there are a few graphical hiccups to be found now and then, but definitely nothing major or all that noticable. Other than that, GTA IV is nearly perfect in every regard. All in all, Grand Theft Auto IV is an incredibly stunning achievement of modern gaming that must be played to be believed. Ranking as possibly one of the finest and most immersive video games to ever see the light of day, Grand Theft Auto IV is a masterpiece that should be checked out in the very least, even if you aren't a fan of the series. This special edition is worth the extra cash, coming with a horde of goodies that will make any GTA fan happy. Most notably is the bonus CD soundtrack, featuring some excellent selected songs from the game.
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video-games_xbox
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This game had such potential. ...but failed to deliver! Superman is arguably one of the best comic book super heroes. I had such high hopes for Superman Returns. Unfortunately this game is by far the worst game I've played on Xbox 360. Viva Pinata and Lego Star Wars are better than this game. In fact I can honestly say this is the worst game I've EVER played. (and I have a pretty sizeable game library) I'll start with the good, since there is so much wrong with this game.
Pros: 1) Breaking the sound barrier while flying. Hands down this is the best part of the game. If you want to experience this, download the demo on XBL.
2) Huge open ended city. This city is designed to be seen from a distance. If you look closely you'll notice the programmers used copy and past for a lot of buildings and textures
3) Easy Xbox 360 achievement points. You can unlock all of the achievement points in about 12 hours of gameplay. (even less than that if you don't go for the "12 hours of gameplay" achievement)
4) Ummm... that's it!
Cons: 1) REPETATIVE!! The bad guys in between bosses are all the same! There's no variety! The main bosses all have about 3 lines that they repeat over and over and over again! To quote Will Ferrell from Zoolander, "They're all the same!! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"
2) Not fun! This is the greatest sin a video game can commit! The game started off fun, but after 6 hours of playing I'm so frustrated I can't take it anymore. My wife even commented that it's not even fun to watch.
3) Poor controls. The controls are great if you're just flying around exploring the city, but once you get into a battle things quickly devolve. The lock on system is terrible. If you lock on to the wrong thing (a pedestrian or car instead of the bad guy) you can't just cycle through the available things to lock on (like every other game where you can lock on to things) you have to unlock, get your curser right on the guy you want and try to lock on again. As bad guys are constantly moving this quickly becomes a game of trial and error. The super speed button is great when you start flying and want to go straight up. It's also great for flying far above the city, but trying to use it while close to the ground or during a battle is horrid. For these situations it needs to be more of a gradual speed up. You're going 20 mph one second and 200 the next. It's very easy to fly right past your target and run into cars and buildings. That's another complaint! If you're superman, the man of steel, flying faster than the speed of sound and you run into a building, that building won't stop you. You should fly right through that building, not the case with this game. You simply leave a small dent in the building as you come to a complete stop. It's the same story while running and being completely halted by cars.
4) No story! In between fighting the same guys over and over you see clips from the movie. (They're not really from the movie; it's animated but the voice acting sounds like the stars from the movie)
5) Did I mention how repetitive this game is?
To sum things up, breaking the sound barrier is fun; everything else about this game is NOT! Now that Superman Returns is in the bargain bin, it MIGHT be worth it if you're really hard up for quick easy achievement points. But those points come with a price; it may be the longest 12 hours you spend in front of your TV. For the same monetary price I'd recommend Lego Star Wars. It's a lot more fun! The achievements take a lot longer and are a lot harder, but it is a truly fun game.
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video-games_xbox
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35 yr old Aliens Fan. I felt the need to write this review due to the fact that I am a die hard Aliens fan. I still remember all of those nights watching the Aliens Director's cut edition back on my cousin's Pioneer laser disk. It was awesome. It still is awesome. If you are reading this then you are well aware of how influential Aliens is to every facet of sci-fi action, suspense, and horror.
As a die hard fan, teacher, weekend warrior, husband, father, avid gamer and trophy hunter I was eagerly anticipating this game. I would venture to say that I watched trailers on a weekly basis for any new glimpse into this highly promoted game.
So, how is it you ask? Well, let me first tell you that my wife actually ordered the game for me as a Valentina's day gift because she kept hearing all of my chatter and anticipation over the las year. She gave me the game and I then went right to the Internet to see and read all the reviews of this ge before opening the plastic and committing to my wife's $60 purchase. As I am sure you know, the reviewers slammed this game. Every score and review I read or watched game it a 4 or 5 out of 10. Game informer didn't even include the game in their recent magazine! As if it never happened. I was SO disappointed that I shipped the game right back to Amazon for a refund. $60 is too much money for an infinished product.
So again, how is the game already? Well, even though I shipped the game back I did go down to my local redbox and rented an Xbox copy. To be honest, I actually had fun playing the game. I started my first play through on hardened and I found myself dying quite a bit. The aliens were fast and it took quite a few pulse rounds to kill them. I even enjoyed the leveling system and in game challenges. The sound effects and music were awesome. Listening to the game in my wireless headset was awesome. As a die hard fan I enjoyed the transplantation into the world of Aliens. That being said, the game still appears unfinished as of 02.23.13. Although it was fun, the graphics could be much better. There also could be a much better story. It is not dead space whatsoever. Also, there is screen tearing. Quite a bit of. especially during cutscenes. There is NO reason that budget games like this, which are produced by big budget studios like Gearbox and Sega, should have anything less than a flawless product. Yet, that is not really the case here. It needed more time. It needed a better story design. It needed dedicated quality control. Whether they like it or not, the genre and the industry owe the franchise the quality it deserves.
So, to sum it up. I had fun pretending to be a colonial marine. I had fun spraying the aliens with perfectly sounded pulse rounds. Yet, I am very happy that I returned this game. It is not worth $60 dollars. Especially when you have games like Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 to pick up instead. If this game had anything similar to that type of quality then this game would have been a hit. A big hit. It would have even had the ability to steer a new generation of gamers toward the universe which was so influential for us.
I will pick up a copy of this game someday. But it will be a used copy and it will be for under $20. Die hard fans will have fun being a colonial marine. Just don't plan on much else besides some fun shooting and call of duty style leveling.
Happy gaming,
Backstop26 (PSN & Xbox live)
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video-games_xbox
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Fluid Gameplay Mechanics, Excellent Platforming, Refreshing Change of Pace. To put this in a format that will be most useful, I will address some of the more prominent criticisms I've seen, from a survey of other reviews:
[1] You do in fact have fast travel options in this game. At any time, you can press the menu button (then press 'Y' on the Xbox controller) to travel to Joules homebase. From her homebase, you can warp to any of the fast travel points you have unlocked in the game's world. All of the dungeons have fast travel points, for example, and you unlock them simply by entering the dungeons. In addition, all of the 'open world' overworld hub areas have a reasonable amount of fast travel points. So in my view, considerable measures have been taken in this regard (fast travel), to honor the player's time.
[2] I would nonetheless agree that some method of faster transport (like a vehicle) to speed up navigation of the overworld in the late, end-game/exploration phase of the game, would have been helpful. But this is really not a significant source of irritation for me: the gameplay mechanics and exploration of the world are still enjoyable enough for me, even when navigating the more sparse regions of the overworld.
[3] After spending over 15 highly enjoyable hours with the game since its release, collecting 28 cores (45 are needed to finish the story), and just now getting the 4th (out of 4) Corebot Frame/Ability, I actually came up against my first significant source of irritation with the game. Namely, the inability to switch Corebot Frames while outside of the Crawler (Joule's homebase).
[4] This was an unfortunate (and completely unnecessary) design decision, which I hope Microsoft will fix in the announced October 5th update patch. In Metroidvania-style games like this one (both 2D and 3D), it's important for the player to feel appropriately powerful after gaining new abilities (e.g., by consolidating the suit upgrades into Samus's immediately accessible arsenal, as in Metroid).
[5] In ReCore, this 'gift' to the player (the sense of greater power granted by the abilities of new Corebot Companions, like the dog you see prominently featured on the game's cover) is partly squandered, in that only 2 out of 4 of the newly gained Abilities/Frames are immediately accessible at any given time (3 out of 4, if you go to a fast travel point and make a switch of Corebots). To switch a Core into your empty 4th Frame, you will have to travel back to Joule's Crawler. This can indeed be irritating, when you're exploring the world in the later part of the game with the intention of using your new Abilities/Companions to find all of the hidden stuff.
[6] You do still have that pleasant Metroid-like sense of being more powerful, when backtracking to older environs, by virtue of the fact that you've got at least 2 of these newly gained Metroid-like Abilities (in the form of your Corbot/Frame Companions) immediately usable at any given time: but really, all 4 of them should be immediately usable, without requiring a trip back to the Crawler. This was a definite mistake on the developer's part, in my view. This could easily be fixed in a patch. Hopefully this will be part of the 10/05/16 update.
[7] Still, although this particular irritation does rise to the level of 'significance' for me: it is absolutely still a relatively minor irritation. It doesn't come anywhere near to breaking the remainder of the game for me, let alone the 15 hours I've already enjoyed. And up to this point (when I finally encountered an irritation of some significance), I've consistently been enjoying the game more and more as I've played farther into the game, not less and less. That includes the challenging final dungeon, which I think is quite awesome so far (finished the first two 'levels' of it) in terms of both platforming and even combat challenge. The process of extracting cores from enemies during combat is quite fun, reminds me a bit of the 'Zandatsu' mechanic in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (though Core Extraction is not quite as cool as Zandatsu). It's the exploration and platforming that stand out in this game.
[8] ReCore Game Updates: Microsoft did in fact release an Xbox-specific patch on 9/21/16, to address the long load times. Also, there's apparently a more wide-ranging patch ("decreased loading times... audio and visual improvements... [fixed] waypoints, achievement tracking, collision locations, checkpoints and respawn points...") still to come on 10/05/16. This particular update will target both the Xbox and PC versions.
[9] Be aware that there is no onscreen "minimap" while you're exploring the world. However, hitting the dedicated map button, pulling up a full-screen map instantly (a map that has marked the general vicinity of every key object in the open/overworld), has always been enough for me, personally.
[10] In a style popularized in Mario 64 (and later games like Banjo-Kazooie and Mario Galaxy), your platforming, exploring, and combat successes result in the collection 'Prismatic Cores' (instead of the stars from Mario 64). These cores grant access to the next level(s).
[11] There is a dungeon right next to your starting point (viewable when you open the in-game map) that requires 75 cores to unlock, but this one is entirely optional: you only need 45 cores to finish the game's story. After 15 hours, I have collected 28 cores, and I'm glad that I still have much still to do: I have not even entered many of the dungeons (each of the dungeons are almost always good for at least 2 cores, with a focused/skilled playthrough), and I've been having fun getting the 28 cores that I have.
[12] For me, ReCore has provided many of the most fun moments I've had with a game in a long time, and after more than 15 hours, the biggest source of irritation is still a minor issue. As such, it is entirely worthy of 5 stars, from my perspective. All those 'samey' high-budget 'blockbuster' games in my library will just have to continue waiting, at least until I've gotten to 45 cores in this one (maybe more).
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video-games_xbox
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My game of the year for 2008. Originally when I played the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, I wasn't a big fan of it. The immersion-killing moments, the asinine levelling system and gripes with limited voice actors made me look at it as a disappointment. But seeing Fallout 3 in action intrigued me though I was still skeptical (and upon playing, I now look at Oblivion as actually good and ended up growing on me) but since the holidays are almost over and all the big titles are out, I can pretty much say with certainty that Fallout 3 is my favorite game that came out this year. Sure it's got gripes (what game doesn't?) but it's still definately worth a playthrough and I hope you got a lot of free time on your hands.
Story: It's 2277, 200 years after a nuclear war ravaged the world with landmarks all but destroyed, mutants found roaming the environment as well as nearly everything being irradiated. The only safety is for inhabitants of Vaults, underground homes that are sealed where no one is aloud in or out. You're part of Vault 101 and everything's fine until your dad suddenly takes off, someone's found dead and security's on your tail. So you escape the safety of the Vault and roam the D.C. countryside and look for your father and anyone else you happen to befriend...or tick off.
Graphics: Anyone who's played Bethesda's previous games in the Elder Scrolls series knows that they love big worlds and Fallout 3 is no different. And while it does maintain that gripe of Oblivion of not really offering variety in its locations like in most RPG's, this game is utterly gorgeous in its own right and the atmosphere practically oozes from the screen and the amount of detail found in destroyed cars, bridges that look near collapsable as well as the gore and slow-motion cutscene during kills, the game is stellar. But there's 2 gripes: characters still don't exactly emote body wise and they can be absolutely mad at you or saddened and their body just...stands there. The other is the amount of stuff in the game makes the performance take a hit and so you'll have textures popping in bit by bit, brief pauses and lulls and slowdown during heavy moments but considering Oblivion was the same, gotta blame it on Bethesda's ambitions then any ineptitude design-wise.
Sound/Music: Instead of Jeremy Soule who provided the score for Oblivion, we have instead Inon Zur who did the soundtracks for some Warhammer games as well as the recent Prince of Persia and whereas Soule's score in its grandioseness perfectly suited the world of Cyrodiil, Zur concentrates more on an ambience and an atmosphere then melodies and while some might find it "boring" or lacking in anything memorable, it helps immerse the player into an eerie, unfamiliar world. Though there's still some old school songs for you to listen to, Liam Neeson and Malcolm McDowell have excellent voices and thankfully, you won't run into anyone's clone frequently (one time in Oblivion, I literally ran into the same voice on 2 guys in the same inn) though there's still the occasional strangeness.
Gameplay: There's some games like Rock Band 2 or Little Big Planet where the game is so fun that it might not be necessarily a long experience but the fun factor never seems to wane and while you might try all the songs, you'll still find new modes and instruments to try instead, or even beating your previous score. Bethesda games on the other hand like to put as much as they can without the disc snapping in half due to the strain and essentially says "go". From a map filled with locations to uncover, weapons that you can create from scratch, skill books to enhance stats to quests involving locating specific items from various places, it's safe to say if you're somebody who wants to complete a game 100% well...Fallout 3 will be one of the biggest time-sinkers you'll have. But like Fable 2, do you even want to explore every single crevice and secret lair or do you just do what you're interested in? Like that game, you can play however you want and take on the quests whenever you feel like it so it's really up to you how you want to play.
Whereas combat and aiming is slightly clunky when you just aim normally, Bethesda has a fun and worthwhile (not to mention near necessary) system of VATS, or Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System. Basically, pressing RB will pull up the enemy on screen frozen in place with limbs highlighted and a percentage for likelihood attacks will actually hit. Get a good hit on the arm and they might drop their weapon or if you're really ambitious, aim for the head and watch as their skulls explode in gruesomeness. It's gory but it's not disturbing and when you see eyeballs fly out in exaggerated fashion, you know it's meant to be fun and not gross. Only problem I have with combat is that enemies seem to have better aim than you and one enemy literally was 50 or so feet away with a pistol and his shots were more accurate than mine and this makes it worse when you're up against a minigun-toting Mutant.
Included in the game is the idea of gaining Karma which makes you evil or saintly depending on given actions so stealing and random killing will net you bad points whereas helping people will get you on their good side. But one thing I appreciated seeing and wished it was in Fable 2 is not only reactions by NPC's but also by the enemies and playing as a good character, I actually found myself the target of a hit because apparently I'm too noble and self-righteous. Imagine that, the world's gone so much to hell that even people who try to be good have to be snuffed out. Going along with Karma is the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system of levelling up which is thankfully level/XP based rather than constant repetition like Oblivion and upon gaining a level you'll be asked to level up certain skills like Medicine, Repair, Explosives and Lockpicking. You're also asked to pick a perk which is like a permanent special ability so for example one might dole out extra damage to men if you're a woman while another perk might add bonuses to certain stats. The level cap might be a bother unless you get the DLC's which'll take it off but it's still kind of a wait.
Over the years, my interest in RPG's dropped a little thanks to so many good games out there but also a sense that the game isn't happy with being a fun 20 hour adventure and instead makes it a tedious and unnecessarily long 40 one. Fallout 3 on the other hand is so fun that you'll probably just spend 40 hours or more just doing whatever and enjoying every bit of it. Might not be for everyone since it's slower paced than most action games and especially for a FPS (third person view optional but best to avoid) but this could be a long road you'll walk and just might enjoy every minute of it.
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video-games_xbox
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Superb Game, One of the Best Ever. Halo is forever going to be remembered as one of the finest games of all time. Halo holds on to the tried and true method of killing "creatures" with guns. Really big guns. And you have a shield. Yeah, that's pretty important. The shield that is.
The story behind this game can only really be deciphered after you read the Halo novel, The Fall of Reach. If one has read this book... it becomes possible to understand why your ship is out in the idle of space, why these critters called the Covenant are hell-bent on your destruction, and why the hell there's only one "U83R 1337" super soldier in existence. I won't sped any time talking about the novel more than I have, don't worry.
The game play in Halo is outstanding. Playing on the old, oversized controller was a living hell, but now with the S controller, using both of the analog sticks to control your movement and sights. I remember when I first saw my friend playing this, which ultimately influenced be to purchase Xbox for this game, I immediately asked about the shields. "How in hell do you die with shields?" Well, in this game you do die. A lot. The guns are varied, with the assault rifle being a POS, (I challenged myself to keep the same one throughout a level) and the sniper rifle being one of the cheapest ways to dispatch of your enemies. Well, until the Flood comes along. In the early stages of this game, I keep switching guns, because the "Supreme Lord of Firearms" has not arrived yet. This supreme lord is the shotgun. The eight-gauge, devastating, pump-action shotgun. Once this gun is discovered, it never leaves your arsenal. NEVER. At close range, you are able to slaughter any creature in the game with one shot. Even the ones with shields. But this presence of the gun that everyone uses does not significantly diminish the game play, as the thrill of dismembering the hordes of beasties that rush at your is always satisfying.
The story in this game is, unremarkable, it just being an excuse for Master Chief to run around on Halo and kill things. A newbie to this game might want to play on Easy for the first couple of levels, but the suicidal tendencies of the AI on this level of difficulty soon becomes boring. So yes, someone can pansy along through the game on Easy, but they will never discover Halos full single-player potential. To be simply put, split screen mode is a blast. There's nothing like killing throngs of enemies with a buddy at your side. Unfortunately, online multiplayer support is not included, as the game was released WAY before Xbox Live.
And now we come to the multiplayer. I have to say, this is one of the best experiences I've had in my life. In multiplayer, there are infinite possibilities to keep you entertained. One of my favorites is getting into a Warthog, the jeep, my friend getting in another, and charging at each other. One of you will go FLYING. 400% health is also great, because now a single tank shell won't kill you, and those pesky snipers will have to put around 8 shots into you to kill you. I cannot stress how important multiplayer is to this game.
I hope that this review won't fall into the abyss of the "other" 5 star reviews, most of them being done by poor soles that cannot even speak in proper English. Halo is a truly outstanding title, and should be the first game purchased by any Xbox owner. (And the S controller, will yah?)
-Out
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video-games_xbox
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What we have here is a mixed bag...(I'll Explain. When Grand Theft Auto IV was originally released, it was met with universal praise from everyone (atleast who counts - random yahoos on the internet don't count). If you do some research, you'll see that it scores perfectly from numerous editorial bodies of various legitimacy. There was also the known fact that Microsoft had paid Rockstar a nice little sum -- I'll call it a bribe offhandedly -- to have exclusive rights to the Episodic content that was promised.
Now that it's here, we now know Sony is also receiving it. How hilarious, in a fairly pathetic way.
Anyhoo, Episodes contains two separate story arcs that, while separate from Niko Bellic's romp through Liberty City, also occassionally intersect at several key points. This means that you will have the chance to experience various plot points from a different view point. This kind of intertwinedness gets me going better then a couple DD's on a raven-haired chick of darkness.
The first story, called "The Lost and Damned" has you (the player) take control of Johnny Klebitz, the Vice President of an outlaw Motorcycle gang called The Lost. Being based in Alderney, a fair amount of the game (well, most of it) takes place in that particular borough. The story begins with Billy Grey, the current President of the gang, being released from rehab for his drug-addiction of some kind (they decide to never explicitly say what he is addicted to, so I naturally assumed it was Reeses Pieces). As soon as he gets back to the clubhouse, Billy immediately rekindles his violent and chaotic lifestyle of starting fights just to start fights and killing people. Johnny happens to disagree with this leadership; and of course tension mounts leading to various betrayals, murders, and lots and lots of motorcycles. The characters are as flat, boring, and bland as a Big Mac. You have the ultra-violent leader, the junkie whore, the ass-kissing weinie, the deep-voiced black man, the redneck, and the rebel all riding together. I mean is it really hard to create characters that are interesting? I found Niko Bellic's storyline to be the best video-game story ever, whereas this saga of bikers is so thin, empty, and dry I was dying of dehydration just watching it play out. Probably the only thing this story does of any interest at all is the fact that one cutscene shows a politician's naked crotch. And when the most interesting thing in your story is a naked man's penis, you have creative issues.
So you can see that this first Episode really let me down. Just by looking at the box art, I was really getting into the whole "biker" ascetic. But the only addition this Episode really has is a couple new weapons that perform basically the same as those in the main game, and a WHOLE BUNCH of motorcycles that ALL LOOK THE SAME. It's really a bunch of Harley/Chopper style bikes that are so interchangeable it really feels contrived and stupid. Also, I beat the story in around 5 hours, which kinda let me down as I was told it was a Ten hour deal.
However, there is a saving grace in this game, and it is brought to you by a man called Sexually Deviant Anthony (or "Gay Tony" if you prefer). Yes, I am referring to The Ballad of Gay Tony.
This DLC is, far-and-away, superior to Lost and Damned in every way imaginable. Aside from a better overall story that melds better with the main game (For those like myself who wondered what the hell happened to Rodislave Bulgarin in GTA IV, you'll now know), it has new weapons that are a BLAST to use. While the Lost and Damned had a grenade launcher, TBOGT's grenade launcher is easier to use and a barrel of laughs as the corpses sail majestically through the air. It also has a shotgun that fires exploding rounds -- which is another way of saying that you will never, ever, ever, ever need or want another gun in your whole life. And there are several more weapons, including a gold-plated SMG, a .44 caliber pistol, and a light machine gun that has a 200 bullet clip. Yes, these guns rock more then Johnny Klebitz and his leather-clad lads ever could.
And as if that were not enough, Gay Tony rectifies a mistake that GTA IV made: THEY BRING BACK THE F***ING TANK! Yes, I was let down that the rhino made no appearance in GTA IV, it was a blast to explode everything around you into smithereens. Now we can do that again with the APC in TBOGT. While not as powerful as the rhino, it performs the same basic duties and satisfies me enough. They also include more activities to do: You can hop into a gold-plated, missile-firing, mini-gun wielding helicopter and destroy at your leisure, parachute off of the tallest buildings, and drive drunken sluts home after managing one of your nightclubs. And while that last one might not be as awesome as the two preceding it, it's still fun in it's own right.
So yes, you have a mixed bag in this package. But the highs do a fairly good job of letting you ignore the lows. I enjoyed both Episodes (in differing amounts) and will recommend this to anyone who loved GTA IV. It's the most fun you can have with a video game until they invent something better!
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video-games_xbox
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Polished but Souless. The latest game in the Master Chief series is a major disappointment for me.
Pros:
The graphics are quite exquisite. With the higher frame rate, the world really rather comes alive and the details are very nice.
The combat is fluid and I like the way it moves.
Cons:
Although its billed as the 5th in the Master Chief Series, Master Chief himself only makes cameo appearances. For the most part, this is Spartan Locke's story and Master Chief is just there as a plot device. Giving it the Halo 5 name was more a marketing ploy than anything else.
The story itself. The previous games, from Combat Evolved to ODST to even the last Halo 4 had compelling stories that immersed you in the game. When it was all said and done, you still wanted to keep playing and so you naturally slide right in to the multiplayer games wanting to keep that feeling going. This story, without giving spoilers, was just a dud. Although they had a chance with creating a very cool clash between the "old and busted" versus "the new hotness" as Will Smith put it in MIB they just didn't follow through. It feels like the game was just slapped together and for a game that Microsoft hopes will draw in crowds, I just don't think they got it. This is probably the biggest drawback for me. The total failure of a story. <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mass-Effect-Trilogy/dp/B009KG96GO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Mass Effect Trilogy</a> The Mass Effect trilogy, as an example, kept up the story line throughout and made you practically need to buy the next game in the series.
I can't say this enough, lack of spilt screen multiplayer is beyond the pale. Gone are the days when you could sit with a family member or friend and play the game simultaneously. If Microsoft really thinks that buying yet another copy of the game and buying a second console is ever going to happen so that you can play in the same room, then they've lost their collective minds. I understand the significant drawbacks of the game engine that was provided as an excuse, but you know, tying game speed to framerate was something you used to see on 8086's, something I'd have hoped we'd moved a little past.
Overall, the game was pretty and for me, it technically worked well with few glitches. What cost it stars for me was a total lack of thought out story and the gutting of basic features for the standard user. The micro transactions on the multiplayer system are somewhat annoying, but I feel I could have gotten around that but ultimately, since I don't feel invested in the game I'm just not willing to spend any more money or time on it and totally regret getting the Limited Edition.
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video-games_xbox
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A truly amazing game. This is my favorite game in the series. My favorite part of AC3 were the naval missions so I was super excited to have a game all about that. For those who have played the entire AC series this game veers from the usual story. For most of the game your not even an Assassin. The story was great! Team up with famous pirates such as Blackbeard, Kidd, and many more!
Sail your very own ship named the "Jackdaw"! You spend so much time on the Jackdaw you get attached to it. At least I did. The Jackdaw can be completely upgraded as well. Change your sail colors, wheel, and figurehead. Upgrade your cannons, hull armor, swivel strength, chain shots, fire barrels, mortars, ram, and heavy shot. It is a lot of fun to see your ship change from the beginning to end. Sailing on the high seas is beautiful! One minute you are sailing on a beautiful sunny day the next the clouds darken the sky's and a storm is upon you. Watch out for rouge waves & sea devils!
Attack other ships and take goods that are useful to sell or help upgrade your ship. Damage a ship enough to board it & if you want you can add it to your fleet. You can send ships in your fleet to complete missions and bring back collectibles.
And there are tons of treasure maps for you to go find! Go hunting on land & sea! Killer whales, humpback whales, bull sharks, white whales, hammerhead sharks, & great white sharks! Watch out for sharks while you are diving for buried treasure at shipwrecks!
The soundtrack is beautiful! The statue that comes with the limited edition is amazing! A beautiful art book & steelbook game case. Also, your very own Assassin's pirate flag that is gorgeous!!
I took my time playing this game with over 65 hours of gameplay at the finish of it. It is definitely a great game!
I highly recommend this game not only to fans of the series but to fans of pirate games like Sid Meier's Pirates!
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video-games_xbox
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A Truly Delightful Fantasy RPG. I am in love! I've put about 40 hours into this game so far and it is *just delightful*. This game is the perfect storm of wonderful, ridiculous fantasy RPG joy. Below I've written briefly about the best and worst aspects of the game, but overall I would definitely recommend this title to fans of the genre.
REAL TIME BATTLE
Yes you read that right! There are no load screens standing between you and that adorable worm monster! In this day and age, it is absolutely inexcusable for games to still be running the old school separate-zone battle systems - if you can't render your monsters in the same zone as your players, then you shouldn't be making games. It made sense in older games, which is why it doesn't bother me in games like Final Fantasy VII, but when you see it in games like the latest Star Ocean (a hybrid system), it's sheer laziness. In MG2, there is seamless, same-zone combat, which means there is nothing disrupting your flow while you're out beating up on the beasts of the world.
BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS AND A LOVELY, LARGE WORLD
This game truly reminded me of FF XII in that it has a vast world with many widely different and beautifully rendered regions. Each location has unique scenery that has benefited from an obvious attention to detail - no two areas are alike, which keeps this longer game from getting boring. The characters are also gorgeous - the outfits alone (yes, they're ridiculous) are quite lovely to look at, and the clarity and facial detail of each character has clearly been lovingly crafted. In addition, the designers were kind enough to render different weapons, so whatever you equip, you see - not the case in a lot of these games. Some characters have costume changes, but there's no real armor in this game, so many of them just wear the same thing all the time.
MANY FUN SIDE QUESTS
This game is full of fun and interesting optional side quests. In a lot of these games, all of the quests are of the 'fetch and carry' variety... everyone wants you to do their shopping for them. Not so in MG2, a lot of the quests are different and require various things and even various party configurations. The grinding (kill 20 x) and fetch and carry quests were kept to a bare minimum, so the game doesn't feel monotonous or tedious.
COMPELLING STORY
While the story doesn't always make 100% sense, it's pretty awesome when it does. I was a little let down at times because what I thought was going to be the case wasn't, but there are some pretty cool twists and once you get drawn in the way it unfolds is really interesting. This is a game that is worth playing just for the story, the writers wrapped up a good standard RPG setting complete with war and princess and hero with lost memories, but there are other aspects to it that make it unique and, not to spoil it, but no matter how many RPGs you've played in the past (I've played em all...) I think you'll find things here that you haven't seen before.
RIDICULOUS IN ALL THE RIGHT WAYS
Unbelievably silly writing? Check. Cheesy jokes? Yep. Sappy romance? Yep. Moments that make you go, "we're gonna need a bigger WTF"? Absolutely!
SLIGHTLY TEDIOUS BATTLE SYSTEM
The "chain drive" battle system definitely got on my nerves at first. This is something I hadn't seen before, and it's hard to explain, but characters use 'stamina' to perform combat moves, and when they do too much they overheat, meaning they lock up for a few seconds. In the chain system you can utilize this and make your party work together using moves in overheat, and if done right the overheat penalty goes away. It's actually as complicated as it sounds, which is the problem, because the few seconds of overheat can cost you the battle in some of the boss fights.
LAZY CUTSCENES
My one big gripe with this game is that there are practically no true cutscenes. I'm a cutscene whore, really - I like the animation, storytelling, etc. But in this game there are these weird dialogue breaks where you're pressing X to advance it, and there are two characters and a text box. If there are more than 2 characters talking, they slide in and out like they're being pulled by a hook. It's silly, and since they obviously had the technology to animate full cutscenes, I felt pretty cheated that they chose the basically frozen conversation method they use. In addition, I began to wonder if the characters were deaf or something, because a lot of the conversations consist of repeating the same information over and over again, which can get kind of irritating.
HIGHLY LINEAR GAMEPLAY
This is my other major criticism. Unlike FFXII there are very few areas in this game where you can wander - most of the regions are merely a straight path that you can't walk off of, so there's little to no exploration, and that takes a lot of the mystery out and makes the world feel more claustrophobic than it needs to. In addition, the game is really aggressive about moving you towards the next story point, which means that you can miss the chance to do a lot of the fun side quests I mentioned without even realizing it. With no fast travel for much of the game, you're pretty much confined to the region of the game the story has currently brought you to, and you never know if you'll be able to get back. It's disappointing that the designers would create such a vast and beautiful world and then rush you through it so much.
NO FAST TRAVEL (SORT OF)
Finally, I was blown away that there was no fast travel in this game - until I realized that there is, you just don't get access to it until after the halfway mark. I would have put this under the complaint above, but I wanted to highlight it because it's so different from most of the games of the genre. It makes the game much more linear, and cuts off your ability to wander very severely.
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video-games_xbox
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Dear Microsoft, Thanks for ruining the Halo franchise. I'm pretty disappointed with Microsoft's failed attempt to continue the Halo franchise. First, 90% of my game-play is done in multi-player mode, so that is what I am basing my review on.
The new load-out menus are terrible compared to Halo Reach. The graphics, moving animations, how all the various players are displayed, the inability to change which map you want to play, all add up to a poor user experience. Also, most of the new armor variants are lame. As you see your character after a game, you will notice awkward body angles (the way he grips his gun looks unnatural). Seems that very little effort was put into the load-out menus shown before and after multi-player games. Halo Reach had better overall design, appearance, graphics, and game-play.
So far, the multi-player game play seems much more 'glitchy' than previous Halo games. The kill-cam is inaccurate (it shows enemy shooting the wall next to you, but you mysteriously die anyway). I also seem to have more glitching of enemies jumping all around the map, disappearing/reappearing, etc. Close quarters combat seems more sluggish/inaccurate, and I hate what they have done to the jet-pack (seems that they cut the range in half).
Some of the sound effects are completely obnoxious. Examples - Every time you use jet boost while driving a Ghost, there is a god awful screeching sound.. Gets pretty annoying. The Flood game variant (Halo 4's version of Infection/Zombies) has strange jackal/animal sounds playing in the background the whole time (my dog normally pays zero attention to any video game I play, but he starts barking when I play the Flood game variant.. The sound effects are just distracting).
A few positives- I do like that they enabled sprinting as a basic feature for all players, as well as the quick reload armor upgrade. They got a few things right, but overall I still have to give this game a low rating. I expected an enhanced Halo experience, but what I got was a skinned over version of an fps (closer to Call of Duty).
I guess I will have to wait for the next FPS game that Bungie puts out... Hopefully it's soon.
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video-games_xbox
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The Game That Made Me Go Out and Buy a Console. Not being an avid gamer myself, I put my youngest brothers' copy into his console to play it wanting almost nothing more than to listen to some of my favorite actors, namely Keith David and Lance Henriksen. What I discovered was something that no game series had ever done up to this point (at least that I know of). The freedom starts with the character profile construction. Not only do you pick your first name and gender, since they hired Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale (whom I've been listening to since infancy) to voice both the male and female versions, respectively, of Commander Shepard of outer spaces navy, the Alliance military. The aforementioned freedoms are huge since there are certain freedoms in this game that even the most notable RPGs don't contain such as facial constructions down to even things such as the cheek bones and gaunt, which dialogue you say, the reactions and relationships you end up having with certain characters, even the type of hero you choose to be (the classic upstanding good guy or the hero who also happens to be the biggest ***hole that was ever born)! There are even two circumstances in the game that could result in you seeing one or more of these characters either in the next two games or never again! By the end of the game(s), not only do you feel as if you've stepped into and interacted with another world, you also really do feel like you've fully interacted with a person on your ship instead of just a character in a video game; that's just how good the development is in this series! The wide range of other freedoms allowed in this series makes it feel as if you're not just playing a game, but as if you're playing a movie or sci-fi novel series brought to the big screen that you control, and it carries into the next installment as well!
The main synopsis is as follows: "The game takes place in the year 2183, with the player controlling an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard and setting out to explore the Galaxy on a starship, the SSV Normandy. The eponymous 'mass effect' is a form of mass-negating technology, allowing faster-than-light travel." The story itself unfolds like nothing else and the characters are perhaps the best developed since Bioware's previous hit, "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." The lore is really deep and one that casual gamers need to pay close attention to in order to avoid becoming lost or even overlooking the importance of certain story points. There is a lot of history, space-faring species, world, even characters, that players can learn about either through gaming notes gained throughout the game/series, conversation, and exploration. The strong writing is a plus since the combat/gunplay is really iffy and, for both good and bad; was made better, if not more streamlined, in ME2 (best) and ME3. Despite that, the combat still comes off really fun since you have the choice to bring along two out of six squad members who serve at your side with upgrades and talents that you can control as well as reactions and dialogue in certain situations. The story in this game also contains a few number of twists that will surprise the player, up the ante for the rest of the installment (or even the next one), or both; twists like these will be consistent throughout the rest of the trilogy and will be sure to keep the players even more engaged during the trilogy. Just when you thought you had something figured out, something bigger comes along and the stakes and the ante are upped even further!
The Mass Effect games have as many writers as a TV series would, and at the helm of them all for this entry is Drew Karpyshyn. A novel writer himself, Drew has a strong and natural grasp of the universe Bioware has laid out, and his dialogue (both in this game and the books he wrote for the series) reflect that. Mac Walters, one of only two writers who stay on board for all three games (the other being Patrick Weekes), would eventually take over as lead writer for the third game, but with him being a comic book writer, his brand of writing will feel less natural and at a more brisk pace than Drew's. But that's for another game.
The series' choices and characters are built around the utilitarian notion of doing good for the individual versus doing good for the society, and since this takes place in deep space, the good of the many is magnified even more! The notion of sacrifice and the utilitarian notion is expressed by many other characters throughout the game as regrettable, even unlikeable, but they also approach it with the sense of it being unavoidable and necessary. None of it is inherited more fervently than the renegade version of Commander Shepard who embraces it without batting an eyelash. Combatting that notion is the aforementioned classic, upstanding, good guy known as the paragon version of Commander Shepard. To get to the heart of the games main conspiracy will depend on how you react to many of the situations along the way. However, the game admittedly seems to favor the paragon version too much since more positive outcomes do occur after making these righteous choices as compared to the utilitarian decisions made by the renegade Shepard. The sequels do a better job of giving renegade Shepard his own moments of being right but for this entry, it can't help but feel too one-sided.
The few main problems players would encounter are the cut and paste background and backdrops of many side missions (and there are way too many side missions as it is), occasional glitches, the aforementioned iffy gunplay, an exorbitant inventory that becomes a chore to maintain, and Mark Meer's very wooden first go around as the male Commander Shepard--he gets better with each game mind you, but that's not to say much. But as I'll say in my review of Mass Effect 3, none of it matters, as this is one of those ambitious, passionate, unique, and most fun rides any medium can possibly contain and there will be a lot of moments to love from here on in! Like I said, it made me go out and buy a gaming console and although I'm the kind of guy who probably won't go out and get the next one, I don't regret getting one for this! So see what's out there! You won't regret it!
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video-games_xbox
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Sega delivers the BEST football game ever this year. One of the most anticipated NFL games of this year has finally come, so after hearing the huge buzz for this game I decided to buy it ... and it was worth the wait! With the addition of the ESPN license it made the game that much better!
This game doesn't take that much getting used to because the controls are so good that every button is in the right place. The menus are one of the best looking and are easy to use because of the ESPN license. The franchise mode is the deepest ever. I can't describe it with words. Just play it and you'll know that the gameplay is outstanding!
NFL 2K3 has the best commentary of any sports game. The commentators' lines are barely ever repetitive. The crowd sounds realistic, especially when they chant a player's name. The commentators sound like your watching a live ESPN television show. Also, the grunts of the players sound so realistic that when they get hit, it sounds like he really got hit unlike other games where it sounds a computer's engine is busted.
The graphics in this game are wicked! The faces actually look like their real-life counterpart. The stadiums are beautifully modeled that you might confuse the video game one to a picture of the real-life stadium. You have to see it to believe it! Oh, and the animations for this game are phenomenal! You can tell that Visual Concepts really worked hard to make this game the prettiest ever!
This game is the most fun I have had playing a football game because it feels like your playing a game on ESPN, and then seeing it on SportsCenter for the weekly wrap-up. Also the game is Xbox Live compatible, so you'll be playing this game till NFL 2K6!
This is the best sport game ever, and I am a basketball fan and was thinking I would just buy this game and wait until NBA 2K3, but I'll be playing this game long after NBA 2K3 comes out. Go pick up this game - it's worth the money. You won't be disappointed.
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video-games_xbox
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If you are a fan of WWII, it doesn't get any better. If you are tired of the genre, it will be a "good" game. Thing is, everyone sees WWII and it immediatey get's ignored. I am a HUGE WWII buff so I will admit to being bias. That said, this is an incredible title with a deep story. You have to remember, this franchise has never tried to be Call of Duty. This franchise has always been about authenticity. There is no game with deeper specific detail. The environments are exactly re-created. That lamp post, that barn, that farm house, all are there in real life and through actual photos, the developers have made the exact environment where these battles actually took place. The missions themselves are not just random missions. You are playing actual battles that took place. You are in the same exact place and doing the same exact things that the men of Operation Market Garden did. Id you just sit back and pick off the enemies one by one from behind cover, the game will be easy and boring. If you play the game the way it was designed you will have a blast. I mean, lay down covering fire before moving from cover to cover, use your assault team to flank the enemy etc. One HUGE suggestion, turn off the crosshairs in regular mode AND turn it off in "dug in" mode. Play with no icons what-so-ever and you will feel so much more immersed in teh experience. HAving to look down your weapon's sights as opposed to lining up a crosshair is so much more realistic. Yes it is harder and takes some getting use to but it is much more challenging and rewarding. Unfortunately you have to play the game through on medium before unlocking the hardest level. TRust me here, you will get used to it after a while. Otherwise, it will be a fairly normal shooter with a good story. On the story, it continues from the beginning of the franchise and you may not remember everything so play close attention. Also, after you've played the first three or four missions, go back and watch the openeing "previously on Brothers in Arms" stuff again. You will have a much better idea of who's who etc. If you are a fan of WWII, a fan of WWII games, this is your utopia. If you are tired of the genre, it will still offer a killer experience, but please do what I suggest and turn off everything. Your experience won't be nearly as fun and you will see little difference from any other shooter. But if you trust me, you will see a much better experience over all and be forced to use the tools the game intends you to use. Authentic cover, movement, assault, all the while in authentic environments and missions. It's a WWII fan's wet dream.
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video-games_xbox
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Effective and cool. I did a lot of reading reviews before purchase and saw a mixed palate of information. So I'll note some of my own experiences and observations on these topics.
First off it came out of the box in full working condition. The cable was a little rough to plug in but after a couple uses it works like it should. The nylon cable can be a pain to straighten and the bends can kink if you don't pay attention the first few uses and that can damage it over time.
The main action buttons (x,y,b, and a) are very soft to press and I had to get used to it as not to abuse them, whereas other buttons, such as start, back, L3, R3, and the d-pad, need an inconsistently higher pressure to actuate.
The controller is not necessarily made of tissue paper as some people say, but it surely isn't a cudgel for home defense.
It is roughly the standard size but with tuned edges for more grip which fits best within a specific size of hands. In my case it is a bit large but I find my fingers hit each other when using both rear hat switches. The thumbsticks are a little small and have clear edges but this can be changed with the rubber caps if it is undesired.
A review stated that all buttons excluding the guide button can be programmed. I believe it was meant that the 6 mappable buttons can be set to all buttons excluding the guide button. Also the word programmed is misleading the buttons can only be mapped or set to a single button press.
I considered this controller and the precisionAim controller for my purchase an chose this one due to the extra programmable buttons. The razer can also mimic the precision aim mode by setting the second profile to a lowered sensitivity then in game pressing the profile button to swap which I found extremely effective due to the 20 sensitivity levels to chose from.
I also noticed that some found the button programming to be confusing but, in my case, it took 2 minutes without even opening the manual an I was altering my buttons and sensitivity on the fly between and amidst gameplay.
The test mode only shows the registered movement on the thumbsticks so there is no way to check your buttons. An the test mode, in my opinion, is only useful for finding out if your product is defective. So I would advise running the test as soon as it is plugge into something to check what little you can.
The issue with mic static and pinging did happen with my controller an I assume the power for the mic speaker is in line through the screen or lights so you hear the sound of the lights but the static does not affect other people you are talking too an it was easily ignorable in my case and doesn't compare to the screeching and static of a regular controller with dead batteries. Also a point I notice is the mic jack was very well fit in my controller. The controller firmly holds the mic plug In the jack and even when partially removed holds contact. It however is not compatible with original Xbox360 headsets or keypads without modification due to the 2 extra prongs. I managed to play an all day session of halo3 halo 1 campaigns and battlefield 4 online. The warnings and precautions in the manual state temperature based issues when heated over 104 degrees Ferenheit or cooled below 32 degrees. Also it states that the controller should nt be wet or moist while running so the controller may also be sensitive to death by hot sweaty hands.
Overall I would say this controller is best in the hands of someone relaxed playing for fun rather than someone melting with sweat hucking it at the wall going for that .0001 higher statistic
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video-games_xbox
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Bring the Glass Slipper. I need to consult for EA Sports. I remember writing one of these reviews last year, just being funny, and found some of my recommendations in this game. Ironically, however, I get the feeling that they should have either a) Asked for my list or b)had someone who actually is familiar with Basketball work on this product. Either way, this is a JV game, at best. I equate this to a 6'9 8th grader walking into the gym in Jordans, and can barely touch the rim.
To begin, I would have loved for this to been a BASKETBALL simulation. Not some pretty game that is all beauty, no brain. No, i'm talking a game a coach can actually use. After all, the college game is based on the name on the FRONT of the jersey right? How about this:
1)an actual COACH roaming the sidelines! How about showing the coaches shaking hands, or getting a t in the heat of the game, you know, something that screams COLLEGE!
2)Hmmm, basketball IQ would be nice. Did you know that you can sub on EVERY dead ball? Of course you do, but EA doesn't. Just bring in the guy who did MM 06's AI on P2 for next years, HE got it right.
3)Wow, kind of touchy for me, but here goes... let's EXPAND the limits of what this thing can do! I'm talking Blue Chips baby! You got the McDonalds All-American Game- great move. How about the Jordan Roundball Classic (the shoes already in the game), or the Magic Roundball, or the
Indiana/Kentucky High School Game?
Sticking with this, in the summer how about the ABCD camp all star game so we can evaluate (it's possible, Reebok/Adidas is in the game also). How about the Indy Nike All-Am Camp? You know, make me feel my 60$ bought me something.
Also, PLEASE bring back the recruiting map of NCAA Football/March Madness 06 for PS2. I like to break down by state, you know, not just a lumped list. That was plain lazy.
I know this is a reach, but i'll ask anyway- How about some schools that AREN'T in a conference? like Independents! Can we have like 3 DII conferences? some JUCOs? Let's make it interesting... how about 10 or 15 of the storied High School (they already are all over CSTV and ESPN) like DeMatha, or Cthe King, or Lincoln, or Gary Roosevelt, or Oak Hill, or Mt. Zion, etc.
Finally, I like hearing the announcers, but if you want to actually go the extra step, how about a pre/post game show. Not that nonsense you have now, i'm talking a real one. How about the option of watching a 30 second ESPN style update show every Sunday in dynasty. How about a good Preseason and Tourney selection show. Can we get a Midnight Madness?
Obviously, we know what EA was looking at- THE FACE. But word of advice, just like it was a sinking ship on PS and PS2, its only a matter of time before people get hip to the fact you ignore THE SUBSTANCE.
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video-games_xbox
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Should Have Been So Much More. I really like TellTale Games. I love their Sam & Max entries, their Walking Dead seasons and The Wolf Among Us. I even recently played Puzzle Agent by them and really enjoyed it. They're usually a fun throw back to PC adventure games with either challenging puzzles or deep narratives whose outcomes you control, making their gameplay a unique experience. TellTale Games aren't really so much games as they are interactive stories, and something about that works amazingly well.
But not in this entry.
I really wanted to like this one. I love Jurassic Park (The first movie anyway. I read the books but that was years ago and I don't really remember all that much). Some of it feels so much like the movies that you can kind of tell that they picked up visual cues directly from them - the camera pans, some of the shots of the dinos, etc. As a visual reference, it works pretty well. But gameplay, especially when stacked up against another TellTale series, there's not much to be had.
So story first - it's pretty standard. A group of survivors left after the events of the first Jurassic Park movie are still on the island and need to be rescued, while another group has snuck their way onto the island to retrieve the embryos Nedry was supposed to grab but was unable to. The park's vet ends up saving one of these intruders only to be held hostage while another group of mercenary forces is sent via helicopter to air lift them out. How the game tells the story is another issue. In past and future titles, usually you control one character unless something bad has happened to that character. In The Walking Dead, you control Lee (Until the end and the start of the second season when you control Clementine). In The Wolf Among Us, you're Bigby Wolf. In Sam & Max, you're Sam and usually only play as Max if Sam is indisposed. In Back to the Future, you play as Marty. In this game, you randomly shift between characters it seems. At one point, I found myself controlling the speech branches for the park vet's daughter, and then suddenly I was controlling the speech branches for one of the mercenaries. Some parts of the game transition that fairly well, making you choose different camera angles and such to speak as another character, but there's some times when no effort is put into distinguishing that at all and it makes for a very clumsy narrative.
As far as gameplay, there really isn't any. You normally can't even "move" your character - you can only shift the camera to find things in the landscape to examine and if needed the character will move to that item for closer inspection. Unlike their newer games, there's no element of choice either. In newer titles like Walking Dead or Wolf Among Us, the decisions you make change the outcome of your characters. You can decide who lives and who dies, who is a friend and who is an enemy, and ultimately it changes the ending you receive upon completing the game. Now, older titles like Sam & Max and Back to the Future didn't have this feature either, and that's fine, but they still had some puzzles to solve here and there and there was trial and error between some of it. The gameplay element was still there so the story could kind of take a little bit of a backseat. This one... the only gameplay you really get is a series of quick-time events. (For the uninitiated, a quick-time event [QTE] is when the game will set up a cutscene to deliver more story, only the cutscene will launch into button commands for you to enter on the controller that if missed could lead to a lower score or a "Game Over". The main cause of death in this game is if you didn't press down when the game told you to.) That's the closest thing to any gameplay you receive - being told to press buttons when they randomly pop up across the screen.
To be fair, Walking Dead also did incorporate some quick-time elements into the game, but some of it at least felt avoidable. This gets to be almost like a guided version of Dragon's Lair where if you don't have amazingly quick reflexes or don't know what's coming up, you're dead. It's not the game is hard because of this - it's actually pretty easy - but it's just not any fun and there's nothing really that keeps me invested in the story.
Also, the look of the game is strange. Now that TellTale has been doing more games like Walking Dead and Game of Thrones (Haven't played that one personally because I'm not a big fan of the show), it seems like their art department has been getting much better at being a little bit more realistic. The Jurassic Park game is in this weird limbo for its art direction. Now, if you play their Back To The Future game, that one looks a little bit like this. The characters are a little cartoony, maybe even kind of goofy looking. For Back to the Future, that works. That story had some very light-hearted themes and some honestly goofy moments where being a little cartoonish in its style gave it a bit more punch. This one looks like they tried to make it a bit more realistic than that, and the dinosaurs look fantastic in that regard - don't get me wrong - but the people look a little goofy. They did kind of change the molds from BTTF but it still isn't quite up to the level they're at today and it really takes away from the sort of story the game is trying to tell.
This game is really only going to appeal to people who are really, really into Jurassic Park or who enjoy QTEs. Other than that, this title is kind of bland. I really had hoped for more from it. I remember it being announced and I was excited that TellTale was getting these sort of license deals after I had loved them off of Sam & Max alone. (Oh, they also did a Strong Bad game ala Homestar Runner that was pretty funny and charming. Didn't even think about that until now.) I had been really excited to see where they took this series, but it ended up not really doing anything for me. I look forward to the ongoing future of TellTale Games, but this is definitely a dark mark in an otherwise outstanding record.
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video-games_xbox
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good, but not one I'll play for long. MechAssault is a solid game with great production values. Great sound, graphics and effects all around. I love the explosions in particular. It's missing so many elements that make a game great, though, that I don't think these people who write glowing reviews will be playing it a month from now.
Single Player
It's entertaining and well scripted. The difficulty level is about right, but the lack of mid-mission save points makes for a lot of frustration as you are forced to repeat a lengthy mission (which have some slow parts) if you're killed towards the end. For the record, I'm 3/4s through the campaign. It feels less like a Mech game and more like a pretty good first-person shooter.
Xbox Live
Many of the console owners are so happy to get online that they overlook a lot of flaws, hence the huge praise on live! There is a terrible lack of variety in gameplay on live! with two or three game modes, which all boils down to "kill the other guy". Just the "who" changes from one mode to another. For the most part, each game just turns out to be a circle-strafe fest.
Worse, the mechs are terribly imbalanced. There's virtually no reason to not choose a big mech with good defense and guided weapons, which boils the choices down to 4 or so of the 30+ mechs. It's no surprise that you see games full of Mad Cats and Ragnoraks. Also, the console controls make it neccessary for guided weapons to have a big role, and those guided weapons are so accurate that the speed advantage of smaller mechs is virtually meaningless. A Capture the Flag mode or a mech size cap in game setup would go a long ways to making smaller mechs more usable. Maybe there should be areas that only small mechs can get powerups. Dunno.
Finally, there's the chat aspect. Amazingly, you have to hold down a button to talk to your team, rather than broadcast your plans to your opponents. I'm considering rigging something to keep that button depressed during team games, but that's poor design. There's no time to keep your thumb down on a particular button in the game, so basically the only chat you hear is taunting. It turns out that I can only take so much of kids with odd accents hollering about this or that and trying to take obscenity to a new level of art (but failing). Trust me, you'll leave your headset off if you spend any real time online.
It's still good for a quick game and can be fun if you have several friends online, but it's just like the deathmatch mode of every other shooter in terms of longetivity. Enjoy it, but don't expect to get several weeks of fun gameplay out of it.
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video-games_xbox
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An interesting gameplay idea wrapped around an equally interesting story. The Good: Excellent storytelling, voice acting, and fun and interesting mini-games
The Bad: Extremely short, hideous graphics, not much incentive for a second play through
Games these days lack much of a story and thankfully Indigo Prophecy takes up some of that slack. about 80% of Indigo Prophecy is just storytelling with excellent voice acting. The majority of the game has you walking around places looking for clues to solve simple puzzles. This is done with thumb stick moving so it makes you feel like you're "really picking objects up". A good example is when you have to sit down: you just push the right thumb stick down (an icon will appear on the top of the screen to show what you are going to do and what moving to make). The other half of the game is made up of mini-games with timed thumb stick moving (think of Simon Says) and L+R alternations...yeah it doesn't sound exciting but it really works and these ideas are implemented well with the ideas attached to them.
On the story side it's very complex and well executed. You play as Lucas Kane who is convicted for a murder he didn't commit. You play as the 2 cops investigating the crime as well. The whole purpose of the game is the idea of playing chess against yourself. You can decide how the game is played out and actions you make early on will effect things later on. You really notice this too because later on you'll say "Oh man I shouldn't have done that earlier!" The game's pace flows smoothly and everything eventually comes together.
Between each scene in the game you can choose which character you'll play next and this also determines the outcome. Some parts are also timed so you have a certain amount of time to hide, collect and hide evidence. If you miss one piece of evidence and someone comes to ask you questions they'll see it and get suspicious. This in turn raises their suspicion meter and you must make the right choices so you don't get busted. You also have a mental health gauge which lets you know how your character is feeling. Your choices will determine whether or not they become happier or more and more depressed leaning on suicide. You can do things from going to the bathroom, to drinking something, to even just make the right choice in a conversation to raise or lower this gauge. This plays a key part in certain scenes because some choices will completely drain your meter so you end up turning yourself in. The game is constantly changing from Lucas' childhood flashbacks, and the 3 separate characters keep things interesting.
Thankfully you can beat the game in about 6-8 hours so you won't get too bored with these concepts. For the short time they work well and will keep you hooked until the very end. The great storytelling and excellent voice acting keep you hooked. Now a huge downside is the game is hideous. The animations are stiff and the textures are flat, dull, muddy, and just down right ugly. The game looks like a PS2 launch title that's how bad it looks. I played the PS2 version back when it came out and that version had some slowdown, but the Xbox version is just as ugly. There are some extras here such as making of videos, galleries, and a soundtrack (which is really good). You can unlock these by finding bonus cards in the game, but don't worry one play through and you'll get more points than you need to unlock everything. I highly suggest IP if you really want a good story. I also suggest picking this up at a game store because you can get it for less than $10 now!!! Xbox Originals charges you $15 so be warned!!
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video-games_xbox
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Brothers in Arms: What makes a soldier? His Mind or his Heart. Story: (I *think*, the up to this point in the beginning needed a little more work)
Sgt. Matt Baker is a haunted man. He has survived. Many of his fellow soldiers have not. Some deaths have been the result of chaotic battle. A few have been the result of circumstance and tragedy. One such incident forced Baker to make a choice between telling the truth and watching a man be killed or saving him by keeping the man's confession to himself. He chose to save him. This one choice led to over half of Bakers squad being killed when the man snapped from the guilt that he had been carrying around. Now Baker has a reputation as being cursed and the strange pistol (a gift from his father) he carries has gone from being a good luck charm to a bringer of death and misfortune.
Now with his squad brought up to strength, Baker and his fellow soldiers are spear heading Operation Market Garden and the effort to clear Hell's Highway. But the past won't leave Baker alone and some of the replacements are asking about the incident that led to half the squad getting killed. As the war marches on so does Baker's squad from the initial battle to clear the way for the Paratroopers to the final mission to push the Germans out of there Holland strong hold. During this time Baker will have to find a way to address the guilt in his heart or it very well may make him lose his mind.
------------------------
First off if the above summary is a little vague it's because I did not play the last game in the series and the "previously on brothers in arms" bit at the beginning of the game is more or less meant to jog memories not bring those who have no idea what happened previously up to speed. I can say by the end it makes sense. The game's story over all reminded me of a book called RedLiners by David Drake. Most of these guys are definitely there. Now onto the game. I really liked this one I guess because it focuses more on a story (like COD4) then here's the evil doers go blow em up like you square jawed, bullet proof heroes of WW2 shooters always do. The game also reminded me a bit of Rainbow Six Vegas as far as using other squad members for flanking and suppressing fire. You usually have up to three small squads you can move around. You really have to use these tactics or you do end up dying a lot. This can be annoying sometimes when you forget and move around without cover and all enemies seem to instantly know where you are, even though they may be facing away from you, and fill you full of holes. There are also a few tank maps where the player can blow stuff up good. If your trigger happy your probably not going to like this game, but if you like a mix of gears of war (cover based fighting), call of duty (story and pacing) and Rainbow Six Vegas (tactics) then give it a shot, its almost like playing a episode of Band of Brothers.
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Graphics: Great, environments are detailed, stuff blows up good, and most characters avoid the uncanny valley.
Game Play: Generally Good. A mix of GOW, COD, and RB6:Vegas.
Story: Good. It made me want to see what happened next.
Controls: They worked good for me. No throw the controller across the room moments
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video-games_xbox
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A classic western shooter made by Rockstar. I went to Gamestop a few weeks ago and picked up this game due to its introduction. I mean, how addicting is this introduction that you find on the back of this game?
"Vast, Rugged, and lawless, as a young man,
you were helpless to prevent the slaughter
of your family at the hands of bandits,
many years later, you live as a
bounty hunter bringing criminals to
justice, while struggling to unravel
the mystery of your past. You must find those who murdered your family. Then, you will take your revenge".
Just that simple and detailed introduction is what made me pick up this game in a flash, and i can tell you, i defintely do not regret it considering its excellent gameplay, graphics, audio and lots and lots of violence! I mean, what do you expect from Rockstar?
The story is great, you basically play Red whos family has died and hes basically avenging their deaths. As you progress through the levels, the story becomes more in depth addicting you even more to the game.
Graphics- The graphics in Rockstar's Red Dead Revolver are actually really good, and it was a surprise to considering that their graphics usually arent. But it was different in this game. The character models look great, the background detail is amazing as it takes place in the old Western times, and boy, can you tell that it does. The cutscenes are very well done but the only problem with the graphics in this game that i find is that the blood, much like a lot of other games, lacks in detail and it looks like a big shower of red circles which they could have done a much better job with. But overall, the graphics are probobly one of the better aspects of the game thus making Red Dead Revolver very fun and entertaining, but a little TOO gruesome at times as characters heads can sometimes completely implode and blood goes flying everywhere.
Gameplay- The gameplay in Red Dead Revolver is extremely good as well. You are given many options that you can do such as lock on to characters, perform special moves with your western gun, duck and roll and many others. As you progress through the levels, you get the option to buy new guns which make Red Dead Revolver a more rewarding game to beat, as many games now a days aren't at all, you just beat them for the sake of it. Simple and easy controlls to master, and yet such a detailed game, make this game a must play.
The only problem that i find with this game is that it can be extremely frustrating at times. For example, i remember that in one level i had to fight of seven sets of four enemies before i finally got to the boss (there are bosses in most of the levels.) The bosses can also be extremely difficult to beat, which make this game more frustrating at times.
The multiplayer is also great, up to four players can battle against each other, using practically any weapon they want, once they find it around the map. Very addicting, and highly fun/entertaining to play.
But overall, the gameplay of Red Dead Revolver is great, and even if your a little bit of a gaming expertice, this game shouldn't be that difficult to beat.
Audio- There isn't much to say about the Audio aspect of the game. Its just old Western music that gives Red Dead Revolver a more of a theme to it, so it doesn't end up being a wannabe western game.
Unfortunetely, there is no online play for Red Dead Revolver. I think that they should have made it so that it did, and that 16 players could play at one time. If that were so, i would have given Red Dead Revolver a full 5/5, but for now i'm sticking with 4/5. Still a very fun/entertaining game to play, no matter what the price!
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video-games_xbox
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Get the younger musicians in the mix with this version. Since we already own several Guitar Hero/Rock Band versions, I was skeptical about spending more money for the Beatles package. I ended up purchasing this bundle in order to also add new instruments. Although the price could be lower, I am very glad I decided to go with it, since now the younger kids (under 10) in the family have finally gotten into the music games!
PROS:
* Easy to get the game up and running---no need to choose an avatar, customize, etc. since you are playing as John/Paul/George/Ringo (added bonus here is the fact that you don't have to look at girl guitar players with their panties showing, mohawked guys with tattoos, etc.).
* Songs are more 'friendly' to kids AND adults. Even if you are familiar with all the Beatles tunes, it's easy to pick them up quickly since they have simpler melodies. The kids were actually even singing along after some practice sessions.
* The background pictures and other graphics are interesting and varied to look at. As you move through their career, you will even get a load of all the psychedelics without the hangover! Lots of cool intro-movies and scenes between levels in Story mode too.
* The drum layout is easier to use than the older Rock Band version (with the high cymbals). With practice, the kids got the swing of the drum kit, bass pedal and all. It was easy to calibrate and no one complained of out-of-sync issues as we have had with other games.
*It's the BEATLES! Aren't you sick and tired of music games where half the songs are by obscure artists you've never heard of?! Songs where it's miserable to try and fight through the awful music just to advance your score? No worries here---the Beatles have enough in their catalog to satisfy.
CONS:
* The song list is a little short for the price.
MAJOR BONUS FOR KIDS:
* The guitar (Paul's bass, actually) has 2 sets of 'buttons' as you see on some other guitars; the lower set was designed for solo play when in guitar mode. HOWEVER, the lower keys can also be used to play normally, either as Bass or Guitar. Since the lower keys are closer and smaller, even small children can start playing Bass without frustration. This is a great way to get the little kids started: east mode, bass part, lower key buttons. (Note: the lower keys apparently do not function this way in every game: wouldn't work in another version unless it was used as a "guitar").
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video-games_xbox
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Disappointing design. I'm on my third Razer Onza TE, but not because I love it so much I had to buy more. I bought my first one at launch.
The first one was defective out-of-the-box. Everything you could imagine wrong was wrong with it (trigger buttons did not work, the thumbsticks did not work, thumbstick tension adjust didn't work, and so on). It was unusable. At the time, even though the product was under warranty, Razer expected me to pay to ship the factory-defective controller to them. Fortunately, I was able to convince the retailer I purchased the controller from to replace my controller.
My second Razer Onza TE went haywire within a month. I would have thought that my local retailer got a bad batch, but defects seem to be common with the Razer Onza. The second Onza developed a similar set of problems within a month or so of regular use.
I am not the kind of person who smashes or throws my controllers. This time, Razer had me destroy the controller (seriously!), and take a picture of the dismantled controller and SN. I sent them that image and they sent me a replacement controller (my third and final Razer Onza TE). So, they have improved their customer service.
Now that I have that out of the way, here are my thoughts on my long-term experiences with the Razer Onza TE:
I like the way the controller feels in my hand, but the corners near the shoulder buttons are sharp and can be unpleasant to run my fingers along. The triggers, which are designed to more closely resemble the triggers on a firearm, look cool. They're not. After some time playing shooters or other games which demand frequent trigger presses, you'll realize these are horrible designed. First, they are absolutely uncomfortable for extended play. My fingers start to get a numb sensation--if you have ever played light-gun games in an arcade or gone shooting for a couple of hours, you'll know what I mean.
Perhaps more important, the triggers DO NOT REGISTER EVERY PULL. You read that correctly. You CANNOT USE SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS in shooters using this controller. Seriously. Whether you're using a rifle in Call of Duty or blasting zombies in Left 4 Dead, your trigger pulls will absolutely not match the game. If you are firing slowly and deliberately, this is not a problem. But if you need to fire quickly, the controller will fail you 100% of the time. All three of my controllers produced this effect: it is a design flaw, not a defect.
The thumbstick tension adjusts are awesome. I'm not sure why I would ever use the adjust on the left thumbstick, but I suppose it's useful for southpaw controller configurations. The tension adjustments feel like you could break the thumbstick if you adjust too tightly, and indeed, the user manual advises against tightening the thumbsticks too much--that is, there is no safety feature to prevent you from destroying your controller.
The face buttons are mechanical, and theoretically allow you to provide input more quickly than the 360 1st party controller's mesh buttons. Woo. The D-pad is entirely superior to the standard controller.
The remappable shoulder buttons are cool, and I didn't realize how convenient it is to have, for example, my reload button mapped to my shoulder. In effect, you do not need to take your thumbs off the thumbsticks, which can be a life-saver in twitchy games like COD.
The cord is lengthy (30') and is stiff. It includes a breakaway node, so if someone trips over your cord, they won't yank your 360 out of its home. It's USB, so it works on PC. In fact, it worked without any real adjustments--even the remappable shoulder buttons worked as expected. No install CD or wild goose chase across the internet to find drivers.
Now, to the wear-and-tear. Bear in mind that I work full-time, and I do not game as much as the 17-24 year-old demographic. I would say that I am a dedicated gamer, but not a hardcore gamer--I might go weeks at a time without using this controller. After a few years, the "texturized" coating on the thumbsticks have worn off. Now I have this uncomfortable, splotchy bit of rubber and adhesive for the contact area of each thumbstick. The right thumbstick has a defective neutral position. If I set the controller down, without touching, the screen/camera will pitch downward like I am moving the thumbstick down. Imagine trying to line up a long-range shot, and as soon as you have it lined up, the targeting reticle drifts downward. That sounds like fun, right?
I have been playing video games since Atari, and I have never had a 1st- or 3rd-party controller fail so relentlessly.
TL;DR: Your controller will probably be defective out of the box. Even if it's not, the controller has some serious design flaws which may outweigh its advantages. In the long run, this controller will fall apart on you. It's not worth more than a regular Microsoft 360 controller.
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video-games_xbox
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I don't even feel like playing it anymore. Bought this game for full price when it first released and I'll admit, the first few missions of the story were interesting. However I'm halfway through the game and all the mechanics are stale and boring.
The game made it seem like you could be a criminal or a vigilante, however it heavily penalizes you for criminal activities (like killing civilians/robbing stores, etc).
The game encourages you to use stealth and to hack your way into cameras, main frames, and servers to achieve victory however I find that it's just easier to headshot patrolling henchmen with my pistol rather than sneak around them. Money is pointless because you can just hack a person's bank account - yet with all this wealth I can't buy much more than weapons, cars, or vigilante clothing (these items only cost a few thousand, but I can hit a bank account in 3 seconds and gain $12k).
The city looks nice, but it seems dead and empty - the population density is very small and pathetic.
Car mechanics suck which is a shame because you're driving around for half the game. Your vehicle doesn't visibly take damage and the turning/acceleration is pathetic even on the more sporty models of cars. Everything seems clunky. You can't even shoot out the window whilst driving so you're forced to ram every enemy you chase. Let's not forget the police chases are dumb.
I did enjoy the shooting and combat mechanics, however Aidan doesn't have MELEE!! He simply using his nightstick whenever you get up close and you watch the same beat down motion.
Loading times are long. I am able to go get some food or go to the bathroom and come back to a loading screen.
Probably the only good thing I can say in my rambling is that the character Clara Lille was cool because she was French Canadian and I speak French. Besides that, I couldn't care less about everybody else.
Rent this game or buy it on sale.
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video-games_xbox
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Rainbow Six Siege honest review. For starters the game is good. It's good only in the way that it's a tactical shooter that isn't run and gun like Call of Duty. It has it's downfalls like many games, but they outshine the positives. The game has had probably 15 updates since it's release and every time an update happens it messes something else in the game up. I have been playing it since the beta and still do to this day and here's what I can tell you.
Shooting: It's average. You get to lean and peak around corners but people can take bullets A LOT of bullets. It can take a whole mag sometimes to put someone down when you have a powerful gun. There's a thing called "a peeking advantage" and let me tell you it's the most ridiculous thing ever. You can be shot and not know where someone else or how you died, because they see you before you see them.
The mechanics: They're good. The movement is good for the most part, but when it lags it lags hard. Gun control for the most part is good the, but what isn't good is that when your in the motion of doing something there is no way to stop that motion. Let's say your putting a bandit charge, or a mute charge down you are screwed if you try put it away there's no ability to stop it in the middle of it.
The Gameplay. Overall it's good for most of the time. There's a lot of glitches I mean A LOT. Go to youtube and look up glitches in Rainbow Six Siege and there's hundreds of videos of people getting the upper hand. They glitch into a truck, or cabinet and can't be seen and can shoot you without being noticed whatsoever. You can shoot people through walls and floors because their bodies will glitch through them giving you the ability to kill them and you not knowing how, or why. Another thing is that you can go outside break down a door or window. You get an "enemy detected outside" on your screen but the game gives it 2 seconds before your noticed and by then you already died because it should be detected right away.
The Matchmaking: It's broken to say the least at least in my opinion. You will have golds and silvers being put against diamonds and platinums. They say they fixed the matchmaking to make it more "equal" and so one team didn't have that upper hand. Well every time they go to do a patch it screws it up even more. Why fix something that's not broken to begin with in my opinion.
And finally the reporting. So they have an option that you can report someone that you think is cheating or "glutting" and that you have to send in video proof. Well many times from personal experiences this is not true. They imposed a "ban" that after the first time you get so many hours or days. Then the second time is like a week, and the third time is a perma-ban. Well I personally have played with people who do glitches every game and get reported and never once have ever been banned. They instill these rules, and try to make themselves look good, when all in all their making themselves look weak for trying to support something their not even backing.
In my opinion I think it's a good game... sometimes. If they would have just kept it in production a little longer an extra couple months it would have blown people away and been an awesome game. In their review trailer there was an option of a helicopter drop that never got added as well with some other small things. And ubisoft is known for making their games look awesome at E3 then when it releases graphics are nowhere near the quality they should be, and almost every ubisoft game the division, assassins creed, watch dogs, rainbow six have all been plagued with either cheaters, bugs, or problems. I'm not trying to bash the company but when you throw an ideal out there and rush to complete it you are going to lose a lot of quality that the game needs. I would give it more stars just because I love the game, but with everything wrong with it I think 3 stars is an honest reputation it deserves.
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video-games_xbox
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JSRF as fun as the original, almost. As one of the few that bought a dreamcast and even one of the fewer that bought the original, Jet Set Radio Future can stand on its own feet as a great addition to the orinal xbox linup.
Graphics: The developers stuck with cel-shading agian for the sequel and pushed the graphics capability of the xbox as far as it could. It must be said that JSRF released with the xbox. I love the cel-shading as it definitley fits the JSRF world with vibrant colors and great level designs.
Multiplayer: I found the multiplayer to be lacking in this game and not fun at all.
Story: Similar to the first one as you're a member of the GG's fighting against rival gangs for territory and the cops as well as Gouji Rokakku. You won't feel to connected to the characters that well but they added a few new members to the lineup my personal favorite was Jazz and then you have Clutch and one other. They changed up Tab's name to Corn, Mew to Rthye, Slate to Soda and Pirahana to can't remember which is puzzling to me because I like the original names. DJ Professor K still narrorates the story.
Music: I loved the music to the first one and this one is no different for the second. There are a few songs that get on your nerves but overall is an enjoyment to the game.
Controls: Controls are still easy but landing on things can be frustrating at times. They took out what to me made the first game so awesome and that was the grafitti. In the first one you had to move your joystick in half circles and full circles, in this one you just pull the trigger and it sprays for you. That really detatched me from the game because this game is based on grafitti and now I can't feel like I'm doing grafitti anymore.
I overall enjoyed this game and beat it twice but with not being able to control the grafitti aspect of the game and not being able to feel somewhat attacted to the characters doesn't make this game worthy of 5 stars. It gets a 4 from me.
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video-games_xbox
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Must Have. Market Review
I purchased this product mainly for Portal. My friend had let me play it before I had an Xbox and I wanted my gf to have the same experience that I had as I really enjoyed the game. Portal sells on the Xbox Live arcade for $15 and since this was $20 for Portal, the Half-Life 2 series AND Team Fortress 2.. I was easily sold. Great value for the price.
Overall Product Review
The Orange Box is a great Experience for fans of the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre. Filled with something for everyone to enjoy whether you like something short and sweet, long and epic, or if you just want to shoot stuff. This being said, if you don't enjoy FPSs.. this is not for you.. and Team Fortress 2 requires you to be an Xbox Gold member. So keep that in mind.
Individual Game Reviews
Portal
Portal is definitely a MUST PLAY game if you enjoy games that can fully immerse you in the world. It's strange to call it a FPS, since in all honesty, you don't really shoot anything in the traditional sense. The game is a full experience that stands by itself as it begins as a quirky puzzle game and slowly grows into something much more. I won't spoil anything, but I highly recommend that you try and play the game in one sitting as it seriously will mess with your mind. That being said, the experience is pretty short. But quality over quantity, easily a game that everyone should experience.
Half-Life 2 - Episodes 1-2
Although the gameplay is slightly dated, Half-Life 2 is a great adventure game that puts you in a constant state of tension as you traverse diverse and interesting environments. The story is slightly confusing at the beginning, but worth the investment to get into as it unfolds. The artillery choices are fun and allow you to play the game in however manner suites your play style the best and the core game mechanic is fun and easy to pick up but very difficult to put down (which is a good thing). Playing around with one particular armament called the "Gravity Gun" is especially enjoyable and is something that every gamer can discuss with fondness. This is an episodic epoch, though.. so if you want something with a clear cut resolution.. you may get annoyed by the fact that episode 3 has been in the works for some time although no release date has yet been determined. These first few episodes are really fun, and hopefully, good things come to those who wait.
Team Fortress 2
If you have a Gold membership, don't care about epic plot lines, and just want to shoot things.. Team Fortress is for you.
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video-games_xbox
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You actually feel like a member of SWAT/SAS/etc. FINALLY a modern warfare FPS game that is something other than call of duty! The game play is so different from call of duty and I hate seeing people compare this game to it. I stayed up the latest I ever had last night playing this game when I had work in the morning. Played for about 6 hours straight and I don't think I've played on all the maps yet. Yes it might be a little repetitive, but it's different from the call of duty and battlefield games we're use to seeing and it was well made. It's highly realistic and very suspenseful. You actually feel like a member of SWAT/SAS/etc. trying to attack or defend a building in CQB. If you're a huge call of duty fan then you won't like this game and probably are a douche. Running around like a chicken with your head cut off will not work in this game so sorry call of duty players this game actually takes skill. When you have a team of 5 people who know what they're doing this game is insanely fun. It's slow paced and lots of strategizing is required. Every time I'm on defense I get nervous waiting for the enemy to come and where they're going to come from, weather it's through a window, a wall, or straight through the front door it's exhilarating. Surprisingly, I seem to win more at attack than I do defense. All-in-all this game is very well made and I'm happy to see something different then the same old call of duty trash game. I've always loved ubisoft games, now they just need to have a remake of splinter cell that was as good as chaos theory, please ubisoft please I beg of you. And to the two guys that gave this game a one star review because it doesn't include a single player story need to get a life. I can't even remember the last multiplayer game I played the story mode. I won't even buy a game if it doesn't have multiplayer unless it's like Fallout4 or something that's dedicated to just single player. I might as well go give fallout 4 a one star review for not having multiplayer. This game is designed for multiplayer only, isn't that obvious?
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video-games_xbox
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Never have I played a non role-playing game for as long as I play rock band. I can sit and play this game for 7-8 hours or more at a time. In fact on my days off I normally play most of the day. I Sing for the majority then when I get a little tired I break out the guitar and play tell my pinky starts to hurt (about an hour or so) then I will either go to the drums or back to singing .
Now mind you I have never played guitar hero or anything so I am a total newb when it comes to games like this. This game has that in mind. The easy is just that easy. It has songs in order of difficulty so you will gain proficiencies in the skills you need to move on to harder songs. Not to mention the practice mode that can slow songs down for you to work out that really difficult part of a song. You can also pick just parts of the song to practice so you don't have to wade to a part just to practice it.
The game has a few different Modes. Lets first talk about "solo" You can Sing, play guitar or drums in this mode. I myself being a singer went straight here. I am all ready ranked in the top 300 over all for singers and even ranked in the top 3 for the song "heroes" by David bowie. (at least last I checked, the leader board changed every 15 min or so) Songs are split up into groups of 5 by difficulty and city. Once you complete a city a new city opens up with more difficult songs. You can also do bonus set that has all the hard unlockable songs that you can get like the classic "Timmy and the lords of the underworld" from an episode of south park. I had so much fun singing that song! Well more yelling that song 8 )
Band World tour mode is the next. This is what you are going to play with your friends at a party.
You get at least two people on different instruments (supports up to 4 players including drums, base that uses the same controller as the guitar, even supports guitar hero II and III from 360 controllers, Singer, and Guitar. And you start playing and having fun. Its really interesting how the band dynamic works here. You start acting like a band even if you aren't a real band. You start to argue about what songs you want to play or who is going to play what instruments or if one person is not so good how they are holding you back. And to me that is great. It feels real. The point of this area is to get "Fans" the more fans you have the better. You can also win, Vans, Busses, even a Jet, You are limited to the amount of fans you get by the difficulty your band picks. Everyone has to pick the same difficulty to get the increase in fans.
There are also a few online multiplayer aspects that are nice but I haven't really played much with them cus the lack of people who sing is pretty prevalent. Also the Downloadable content for the 360 is amazing. I can't wait to get entire albums when they release them this month.
The Cons: When you play Solo or in Band mode the computer generates Non Human players. Some of them are really really Creep looking or ugly as sin. I would love to be able to pick who was in my band. Some kind of Lobby that will help in finding other people to play with would also be nice. Band World tour is only avail with local multiplayer. I have heard they plan on patching and letting you form bands online. As online you can only do quick play that doesn't keep your score or earn fans.
Even with the flaws this game is GREAT!
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video-games_xbox
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One of the best gaming atmosphere ever. To start off with, Darksiders 2 is quickly joining my list of favorite games of all time, which includes, Final Fantasy 7, Metroid Prime,and LOZ Link To The Past. Death is an awesome character and astonishingly badass with acrobatic moves, vicious attacks, and superb looking equipment. On top of all that, he gets to explore very creative and innovative worlds and dungeons that will lock you in and create one of the best atmosphere in all of gaming (In my Opinion) that will make an adult feel like a little kid again.
The gameplay is a blast (I played on apocalyptic difficulty). The enemy will force you to use all of your abilities which will require more than controller skills. Death's acrobatic dodge moves are very cool to watch and gets me psyched up every time I see them. His attacks are ferocious and exciting. There are tons of attack combos and moves to learn. Death will be equipping his scythe and a secondary weapon which can be a two handed hammer, fist weapon, Axe and more. The adversaries will use everything in their power to destroy Death but it will not be enough MWHAHAHA. The levels are filled with all kinds of obstacles. The puzzles can be a bit easy , but at the same time will make you think. Later in the game, it gets more exhilarating during boss fights. The bosses will make you think fast, quickly respond or they make you pay the price.
The environment and music makes this game even more fantastic. They scenes are beautiful and the wonderful music fits very well with the environment (I will be buying the soundtrack). The graphics remind me of much more mature World of Warcraft type style. Death will traverse all kinds of environments like water and fire styled dungeons. The dungeons are laid out in a Zelda type fashion, which suits my taste.
The story is pretty unique in its own way. You take the role of one of the four horseman trying to save his brother War. Without giving any spoilers away, I will just say this, Death may get side tracked with a much bigger problem.
With all that being said, this game is simply one of the best I have played. It has good mix from some of the best games ever made Prince of Persia, Zelda, God of War as well as staying unique in its own way. Great Job Vigil, THQ you will be missed.
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video-games_xbox
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A total blast for those who appreaciate a consistant musical experience. I'll get strait to the point...
The Beatles: Rockband is an awesome way to experience the music of the Beatles for the first time or the ten-thousandth time. The game takes you and your friends (up to 6 can play) on a smooth cruise through the Beatles career as you visit episodes of their career spanning from Liverpool club basements in 1963 to the Apple Record's rooftop! Great FUN, great Music! This edition of Rockband soars where others have consistently faltered, the mucial experience is 100% quality all the way through. You just should not quibble over the fact that once in a while you are strumming a guitar controller yet the game is actually playing a Cello or other instrument. Your playing a playstic quitar for petesake!! The music is good, you many of the songs even if you are only 13, and overall it just flows well.
(the following 4 paragraphs are meant to be read aloud, while leave you breathless in a vain attempt to keep up with the lack of breaks in the paragraph structures...the lack of punctuation it is intentional, and quite fun!)
One of the strong points of this game is that it is the first Rockband title that is nearly as enjoyable to play as it is to just watch. Instead of being bored to tears while others play (because either A)it is not your turn to play, or B) you lack the intestinal fortitude to have fun in the face of acute personal embarrassment), you will still have a great time with this title because, lets face it...the Beatles rock! Additionally, as you watch others having fun without you (as it is most likely the case that your friends are not acknowledging your presence or even your existence while you stand on the sidelines and they rock out), you will have the distinct pleasure of watching some great Beatles inspired visuals and previously unseen historical elements put together by the designers at Harmonix and George Harrison's son that the players cannot see; so you get to have a great bit of personal satisfaction as you tell those greedy plastic guitar bogartin' players about the things they didn't get to see while the hogged all the controllers!
This point gives me pause...but only for a moment. I think that someone out here needs to point out the one of the tragedies of this entire genre of games, you really can't watch the fantastic scenes while your are playing! You the player have no clue what is going on as you mind-numbingly strum the plastic flippers of your favorite 'guitar'. You'll only occasionally acknowledge the overly brightly colored splashes of garbage that could have been drawn by a five year-old child armed with an arsenal of half-melted crayons for all you care! Yes, those great images are there, but you cant see them as they'll lay in the periphery of your vision because you dare not avert your narrowly focused eyesight away from the colored thingys flying towards you at a frenzied rate on something that resembles never ending one-lane road of color impregnated finger-twisting hell, but is actually called a 'fretboard'! But I digress, because I am not here to slam the games that take our everyday non-guitar-playing mortal existence of mediocrity into the stratospherically overblown heights of becoming a non-guitar-playing, colored-button-mashing, GOD of mediocrity for the entire time that we chose to escape our contented mediocre non-guitar-playing lives! ;-)
This brings me to the best part of the game! While playing this game, we get nothing but pure unadulterated Beatles!!! We are missing a 'few' and by that I really mean A LOT of the key Beatles songs like Hey Jude, Elenore Rigby, or We Can Work It Out or any of the other great Beatles songs released to the public, but lets face it, these games are marketed to drive not only the purchase of the game, but the DLC (down-loadable content) as well, and if Harmonix has a plan it certainly includes the release of these fine songs for a healthy price...CHA-CHING. Thankfully the Beatles library of songs is so darned good that we do not have to endure the typical marketing established by all the previous plastic guitar game creators since it is not possible for the devs to slip obscure crap-songs into this game. It is a well known fact that deep-down in our hearts we all loathe the previous Guitar "X" and Rockband iterations, and yet we still go wallowing back to our favorite 'instrument' (using that term VERY liberally), for more abuse that is certain to generate early-onset arthritis in half the game playing population aged 10 to 35. It is a known point that very time we let one of these games into our library, the developers entice us a string of hit songs in the beginning of the game, then place our befuddle brains and fingers on a slipper-slope of less than stellar to over-played mediocre songs through the remainder of the first half of the game, at which point our dulled senses willingly allow the developers to force a bowel movement of obscure content upon us for next 45% of the game, only to give us great hits during the last %5 which make us feel as though our bodies have been magically cleansed, enabling us to forget that we really only like the game 25-35% of the time we are playing it.
Truly the only REAL downside to this game and it's content is that The Beatles: Rockband is a standalone product, and Beatles songs are NOT PLAYABLE on other versions of Rockband. You won't be able to used your saved bands, from RB/RB2, nor will you be able to play any content from those titles while your Beatles: RB disc resides in your X-Box 360...and the pain goes BOTH WAYS! So, if you had hopes of buying some great Beatles DLC while you remain tight-fisted with your hard earned money and avoid buying the whole game, you can forget it; because game merchandising doesn't work that way, and the world isn't one giant Burger King allowing you to have it your wayyyyyyyyyy. If you like that kinda thing it looks like you'll need to go get a hamburger instead of playing The Beatles: Rockband.
BTW- my review is inspired by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, a fine reviewer of video games notorious for his penchant of using adult language and as little punctuational as possible in his animated video driven column aptly titled, "Zero Punctuation". Check out Yhatzee's work for the real-mccoy at the escapistmagazine website...And, should you fail to laugh out load or spew your drink at the monitor or simultaneously do both in the very shocking brutally stated truth of his sentiments, then quite a few high-minded filthy-mouthed people would likely say you have no real sense of humor at all...and you should probably crawl back under your rock, and ignore him and those other people altogether. I think he is funny as hell! ;-)
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video-games_xbox
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There is some Turtle Power to be had yet. I'm gonna say it right now - I hopped right onboard this TMNT game on account of Platinum Games having developed it. However, despite that, this new Ninja Turtles game does carry the Activision logo, and speaking from experience with their non-Call of Duty games, this could either be a pleasant surprise (aka Platinum's name reigning supreme) or an absolute crapfest (aka Activision meddling Platinum out of a good game as they usually do with devs). Thankfully, this game is actually the former.
So Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is Activision's fourth game for the franchise, but the first one to be notable for actually trying to make an effort. While the main menus give off a low-budget feel, that matter becomes rectified by the well-presented cutscenes, which demonstrate the game's comic book styled graphics and adequate voice acting and animation. The plot is simple enough; Shredder and Krang team up to try and use outer space to invade the city and wipe it out, and of course it's up to the heroes in a half-shell, with April's guidance, to stop them. That aspect tends to go by the numbers, but it does get presented well enough, and it has its chuckleworthy moments (Well...as well as a couple cringey ones).
As can be expected from a game by Platinum, action-packed beat 'em up gameplay is key to Mutants in Manhattan's formula. The levels kinda sorta give off an open-world vibe, as places like Manhattan itself can be explored freely. However, the game really wants the player to focus on the missions. The entire adventure is mission-based, which range from killing an amount of enemies to preventing a tangible weapon from being used by them. The missions are kept at a solid pace for the most part, but there are some that I just wish were nullified or not in the game altogether; case in point is that of which the player has to disarm bombs. Don't worry, it's not like that water level in the NES TMNT game. But this game instead has you hold down the B button to disarm a bomb (Granted, enemies may try and fight the player to pose a challenge for this, but.....C'mon), which is a pace-breaker in comparison to anything else. Only a couple of the game's nine lengthy levels feature these missions, but again, I feel like they could've easily been something better.
On a slightly different note, the T Glass feature (which helps you see where your mission objective is located) seems nice and all, but I feel like it'd be cool if there was also a standard map radar in case I don't want to have to keep switching between regular graphics and the super-technical view.
When the action goes down, however, it goes DOWN. Sure, the game is oddly in 30 frames per second instead of the usual 60 that Platinum Games embrace(s), but boy does it feel like a mashup of oldschool arcade beat 'em ups and modern-day variety! Considering how many post-Konami TMNT games have been monotonous with the enemy variety, I was surprised to see that this game actually does HAVE a variety of baddies to kill, complete with their own ways of attacking. And the Turtles have a few options themselves - Each Turtle has different special moves he can pull off by holding the L Trigger and pressing a face button (and you can switch between Turtles via L Trigger and D-Pad) as well as attack combos executed by pressing X and/or Y buttons. While there are enemies that go down fairly quickly and reasonably through a combo or two, don't be shocked when the game decides to turn you into turtle soup.
This is actually a challenging game. It's not brutal by any means, but it does a decent job of keeping the player on his/her toes. The boss battles are probably what impressed me the most. They feel like bosses from an arcade game by Konami, brought into 3D. Their patterns are tricky and varied, but when you beat the crap out of them you feel like you're the MAN (or woman, depending)! Too bad you can't celebrate the victory with anyone unless you play online.
Alright, time to address some more negatives...
Easily the biggest problem with this game is the inability to play with friends on the same couch. No local multiplayer, online only, Final Desti-Wait, wrong game. But yeah, even though I don't mind playing single-player, I still find it dumbfounding that they took the time to create online servers for this game, yet for some reason the only way you're playing this locally is by yourself. Which is absolutely BS because this seems like it would've been an awesome time to spend with local friends! All four Turtles are in this adventure fighting TOGETHER after all. It all just seems like a big missed opportunity on Platinum's/Activision's part.
There's also all this talk about MiM's length, which is reported to be able to be beaten in three and a half hours or under. Personally, my first and only playthrough so far lasted 5 hours and 18 minutes, which is fair enough I suppose, right? I dunno, I'm not really the kind of guy that minds when a game is short. After all, I paid well over fifty bucks for a TMNT Turtles in Time cartridge, and that game can be played through in under an hour.
One thing that comes to mind for me is the sound design. Now, I am fond of the voice acting performances for this game, but when the Turtles end up dying, they can become the most annoying things at the moment. There is banter between them in various areas, but their deaths are when it's most blatant that there are voice clips that have a tendency to repeat, and it can be especially grating during boss battles when trying hard to survive and keep battling. At least there's an option to lower/mute the voice volume, but the attack sound effects seem like they need the voices present to complement the atmosphere. On another note, the music, while actually kind of sporting a catchy beat on certain levels, is certainly no TMNT arcade soundtrack.
Basically, what TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is is a game not without flaws, but when you're in for the core adventure, it can actually be a lot of fun. I had a very good time playing through this game from start to finish, and if you're looking for a solid Turtles game (but aren't seeing multiplayer as a necessity) I say give this one a go. Those interested but not willing to spend $50 on a game like this can wait for the inevitable price drop that pretty much every Activision game goes through over the course of the initial or second year after release. For now, though, I'm glad to see I can finally count the amount of good games Activision released this decade with TWO hands instead of one from now on!
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video-games_xbox
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After loving the first Xbox then siding with the PS3 last generation I AM BACK TO XBOX with the Xbox One. I'm not one to be obsessed with anything, but man can this thing do it all. I find myself using my Xbox one for everything because that is what it was built for. I play video games with great graphics, and play online shooters a lot.
So the first thing right off the bat that you will notice is having to download many things including the update, apps, and video games to the hard drive. Luckily my internet speed is above average and I was able to download the update within 5 minutes, but the game downloads take closer to 20 minutes due to size. Fortunately the Xbox allows you to start playing once the game is half way done downloading, but not all features are ready by that point. Considering that you will not be downloading multitudes of games at once except for the very first time, it is not too much of a hassle. You can explore other features of the Xbox while you wait.
THESE GRAPHICS ARE FREAKING AWESOME! There is not much difference between the graphics of PS4 and Xbox one so that should not make you choose one or the other. But compared to the last generation, this is a huge improvement that is worth the money just for the graphics. Titanfall is incredible by the way!
Well this is where the Xbox goes passed the PS4. Some things like Netflix and Amazon video are still there, it is the things like the ability to Skype, watch cable TV, do Xbox Fitness, and watch NFL games, and using snap, that really had me go towards the Xbox. There is almost no lag when watching TV through the Xbox which is something that was very well done. But the main feature that I find the most helpful is Xbox Fitness. There are not as many workouts as I had hoped but I think as time goes on they will continue to integrate more videos to work with the Fitness app. I was very surprised with how well the kinect was able to register my body movements. It was very fun how they would set a multiplier for doing to the move correctly and setting challenges in order to get achievements. This really makes exercising fun, which is something I REALLY need. The snap feature was also one of my favorites. I am able to play video games while another family member can be watching some TV, kind of like a PIP. A lot can be done with the Xbox, and I'm expecting many more apps to come out.
Xbox 360 had the best controller by far, almost tie with PS3 controller. There was nothing better that I could ask for. Guess what, it got better. Xbox has been making a big deal out of the D-pad. It is true that it functions much better, but it wasn't worth making such a big deal about. The Bumpers on the controller are a little bit annoying. They take some getting used to because they are positioned slightly differently and make a very loud and annoying sound. The thumbsticks are smaller which is somewhat better and also have the edges a little tighter which keeps it from tearing like it did on my 360 controller. The positioning of the home button is much better in that it doesn't get in the way of the buttons. When my Dad plays, he might hit the center of the 360 button in the middle of the game, but this controller helps avoid that from happening. Overall it is similar to the 360 controller and I believe it is easy to get use to the new layout within a day or two. 4.6/5
Now this is an ugly great looking Xbox, not so much as the 360 or PS4 but that was kind of expected now wasn't it. The upside to this is that we will not have to go through the horrible red ring of death. It is capable of keeping cool and will not overheat even if on for 24 hours straight for every day, I would know. I'm sure within 2 or 3 years we will have a redesigned Xbox that is smaller, just like how the Xbox slim was released. Another upside is that the Xbox is very quiet which is quite surprising given the size and consumption of it. The system is way quieter then the older two xbox systems or the PS2, and PS3. thank God with the fact that there is no more red ring of death.
Well the Xbox is constantly recording the last 5 minutes of gameplay so you can easily record anything, either automatically or with a voice command. Unfortunately I have been having trouble with the voice command so I have been stuck having to do it manually. Sharing videos with friends is very easy thanks to this. Hopefully people will reduce the uploads of there uninteresting videos and keep it restricted to only the ones worth watching. 3.9/5
[Movies] Finally a blu-ray player, I have been wanting this for many years. Although I already had one in my living room, I could really use one in my basement. Sometimes you just want to watch a movie by yourself without being disturbed or by disturbing others, this is why this came in handy. Now that I get almost all my movies either streaming or Blu-ray, the Xbox is my number 1 movie player. It is true that you have to download an app to play the blu-ray, but it's free and easy.
[Kinect] Well, well, well, so you add a Kinect Microsoft and you bump up the cost 100 bucks more than the PS4?... NO PROBLEM! I am not disappointed at all. The Kinect is amazing; 10 times better than the old kinect. I can say anything and the kinect will do it with ease. Also, almost all games have at least some kinect functionality. Battlefield lets you turn your head in order to turn your head in battlefield when in a vehicle which is really cool. FIFA allows subs to be made just by saying it which is also cool. As time goes on, I feel that the kinect will be more and more useful in these games. In the end, this is a great addition to the Xbox. 4.6/5
With everything the Xbox has to offer, there is no other thing I would rather have. I give it a 5 out of 5 for now, but I think I will rank it higher as time goes by if that were possible. It has been great for everything, mainly gaming with revolutionary graphics. And remember, it can only get better from here. Also I remember when my 360 died of red ring of death, and went with the PS3 glad I made the move but this shows that XBox is where it is really at. So if you are still on the fence and can not get both PS4 and Xbox One go with the Xbox One it really is I feel the better of the two even though I will be getting the PS4 which is great also.
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video-games_xbox
|
Pretty good headset. I have had this headset for about a year now and they still work great although I have run into several problems but they are very major. First off, when I got these in November, they never came with the pink 3.5 that was shown in the picture which was odd but luckily I never needed it. I don't know if they changed the design at the time I ordered the headset. Sound quality is excellent. Mic quality isn't the best but it's still really good. Another problem I have had is buzzing. Sometimes, my headphones make this loud, annoying buzzing sound that can easily be fixed by adjusting the cable but it does get somewhat annoying and that is why this only deserves a 4 star. I don't know if other people have this problem but I have for a while. The buzzing started since the first day I got them so they could have been defective but it doesn't matter because they are still great. Design wise, it is great. It was VERY durable. Numerous times, I have thrown my headset across the room to find them still working. If these were<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/PS3-Ear-Force-PX21-Gaming-Headset/dp/B002BU0DPE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">PS3 Ear Force PX21 Gaming Headset</a> they would have been broken extremely fast. Comfort was alright but after hours of use, it hurts.
Overall, I would try getting these but if you are a heavy gamer, go for something more high end such as:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/ASTRO-Gaming-A40-Audio-System-Black/dp/B005EGHE6I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">ASTRO Gaming A40 Audio System (Black)</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tritton-Xbox-360-AX-Pro-Dolby-Digital-Precision-Version-1-0-Gaming-Headset/dp/B0017IUFAE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tritton Xbox 360 AX Pro Dolby Digital Precision Version 1.0 Gaming Headset</a>
Hope this helps!
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video-games_xbox
|
Still unplayable online, more f-bombs than a Quentin Tarantino flick. As of December 19 this game is still unplayable online for me. The glitches are unbelievable and well-documented, so I've taken another reviewer's advice and gone back to playing Battlefield 3 on the Xbox 360. Until the online issues are resolved this is not worth owning. I'm actually regretting my decision to buy an Xbox One, as I only wanted to play this and Forza 5 (also mediocre). With that, the single player is probably the best for the Battlefield franchise. Note that picking which Battlefield single-player is best is like trying to choose which bout of food poisoning in your life was your favorite. It doesn't matter how it's done, the overall experience just sucks. The set pieces/levels are impressive but the story is incredibly hokey and will get on your nerves. A HUGE note if you're a parent thinking about getting this for kids. One of the in-game characters, "Irish," drops more f-bombs than I've ever heard in a video game. It gets old almost immediately and there is no way to turn it off. This is coming from someone who has been in the military for over 12 years. To summarize, you're better off playing Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360 and YOU SHOULD NOT BUY THIS GAME FOR CHILDREN.
*EDIT* 1/16/14: I can't believe how awful this still plays online. I play with an very good internet connection and the lag is still unbelievable. It sucks so much because the game looks like it could be so much fun, but I've never been more pissed off at a game than I get at this POS. I'm really regretting my decision to buy an XBOX ONE, if you are smart you will wait. The only thing awaiting early adopters is a broken, unplayable mess. FML.
*EDIT* 4/4/14: I tried playing this game again. It is UNBELIEVABLE that this game still plays as poorly as it does, nearly six months after release. I can't remember the last time I was more frustrated with a game. I want to like it so much, but it does everything it can to make you hate it. The game plays like it has some crazy irregular heartbeat. Every couple of seconds... Wub-Wump.....Wub-Wump.... Lag after lag after lag. It is completely disorienting and will result in many frustrating deaths. I run a 30MBps connection with a 27-31 ping and it plays like I'm running it on a 56K modem. SKIP THIS GAME, even if you're a die-hard battlefield fan. It isn't even worth capitalizing any more...
*EDIT* 5/15/14: I just finished the campaign for the second time. It took five attempts since the game continuously deletes my saved game data without any apparent reason. I get to the end, trying to unlock the achievements, and it won't give me credit. The last time I played a game that was this sloppy and buggy was Willy Beamish for the Sega CD. I seriously have to go back 20 years to think of a game that compares to the crapiness of this one. It is beyond comprehension to me that these problems haven't been patched, yet here we are 6 months after release and this game is still total garbage. What a waste of time. I really wish this franchise belonged to any company other than EA.
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video-games_xbox
|
Shortcomings are killing the fun of this game for me. This series remains one of my top favorites of all time. It seems that R* knows that everyone is going to flock to this series no matter what so they cut corners or something and leave their rabid fanboys to attack anyone who points out some very obvious shortcomings. Well, here they are:
I've noticed that these games-- while getting more immersive-- are beginning to get bogged down with extremely long missions, lessons (flight school), etc. What made the game appealing to me back in the day-- GTA III, Vice City, etc.-- was the missions were a good length, but if you wanted to, you could just fire up the game and do vigilante missions, ambulance, police, etc. Those were a blast. In this game, there just are no comparable side missions in this game. That's strange to me because their fan base was built on those earlier games and now many of the elements from them are being left on the cutting room floor.
R* seems to think that everyone who plays this game has super duper vision. Well, I don't. Reading the text on the screen (40" TV) is impossible from 6-8 feet away in a chair while wearing my glasses. From the instructions to the Next, Replay, type options, they are extremely hard to read and sometimes I have to get up and walk really close to the TV to try and figure out what it is.
If I open up the map, the icons for Ammunation and clubs and whatnot are very hard to tell apart and the difficulty is further compounded by the list on the right side being almost impossible to read. Worst of all is the crosshairs on the gun. I switched from simple to complex to get the circle reticule and depending on where you are, you can't even see it.
It seems they did not want to mess up the beautiful graphics with text all over the place. I get that but for goodness sake, include an option to zoom the text for those of us having difficulty. I just got the game for Xbox One and immediately did a search on the small type and how hard it is to read and found so many other people having this issue for a long time. That it has not been addressed is unbelievable.
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video-games_xbox
|
review VS X1 vs PS4. the Xbox one is awesome, I buy the day one Xbox one and then about 30 day ago I add a PS4 now I have both, so what one should you buy and y, will let me tell you what I think and y I think it, the Xbox one is so great!! the X1 was a little bug at first but now it's almost perfect, and with xbox.uservoice.com/ we all get to help decide what we want to see in the future of X1 and Xbox. The PS4 is a good system but there nothing Special about it, I rented BF4 and dragon age form Gamefly, I buy both of them on the Xbox one when they came out, I though I wood see if there was any difference in graphic I couldn't see any. The Xbox one has a better controller, the X1 controller has 36 way joy stick way the PS4's joy stick are only 26 ways the x360 joy stick are also 26 way, the joy stick on the X1 controller are so awesome and the Rumble triggers are great if the are used in a game. The graphic are the same has far has I can till the ps4 has a slightly higher resolution but seem to be latching in Facial animations a good example of this just play kill zone and look at the faces then play Ryse you'll see a big difference in the face. 1080p vs 920p is just not a big difference this really just a good Advertising slogan, a lot of the top if the line 1080p TV's wood step up 920 to 1080 anyway, and a if u have a 4K TV it really dose not make any difference, I feel like the guy at IGN have little 26 inch PC monitor. there also direct X 12 coming to X1 it should fix the problem. I also like to Compare the Xbox one and PS4 to phones let me take you back to the early days of smartphones, the smartphone had a hard time caching on, the flip phone Razor was the best sale phone for a long time, I remember a friend of mine said " why wood I want a smartphone I don't need a handheld PC" but now we all on smartphone are awesome and necessary, and that what this is like PS4 is the gaming equivalent of a flip phone it dose nothing the PS3 didn't, why the Xbox one is the first gaming equivalent of a smartphone it dose everything and ones you have it you never want to go back . One more thing I should talk about before I go is, Xbox One and PS4 exclusives
X1 Ryse son of rome I like this game 3 out of 5
PS4 Killzone shaowfall loved kill zone 2&3 but this just suck 2 out of 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9mgUvtO7mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ptA6fCNPeg
x1 new Battletoads
X1 Killer instinct this game has Gotten much better since Iron galaxy took over 4 out of 5
ps4 Knack this is sucks 1 out of 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-JjIZaheLo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbjR-_1cgTA
x1 Halo the master chief collection, most of the bug are fix now 4 out of 5
ps4 The last of us remastered, still a great game 4 out of 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ndoRstqfQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fqXNk5qXUw
X1 Titanfall this one still lots of fun 5 out of 5
ps4 No mans sky this one probably is only a time exclusive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FPtT4C870c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLtmEjqzg7M
X1 Halo 5 the beta was great
ps4 The Forset this one probably is only a time exclusive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blW40AVWXrE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQgVj9tBQG0
X1 Sunset Overdrive this game really was a lot better then I thought it wood be 5 out of 5
PS4 The Order really disappointing 2 out of 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOSnhhWcukk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAqJFNEKrxk
ps4 Inside Infamous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTK1QtmHACg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNfJvFnzc8
X1 Project Spark and a new Conkers game
ps4 Let it Die
x1 Scalebound
ps4 Abzu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhMjXEsR-aM
X1 Cuphead
PS4 BloodBorn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImpeAZxoEM4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G203e1HhixY
X1 Ori and the Blind Forest is great but really hard 4 out of 5
PS4 Uncharted 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Rx-Bbht5E
X1 Quantum Break
PS4 Ratchet & Clank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybRB8sBCigw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_cY_miDxo
X1 Fable Legends
PS4 Street Fighter V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjwK3V9HyfU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A79_DszqteU
X1 Crackdown 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qFRkbmm2qc
X1 Forza Horizon 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX7r61fyltc
X1 Forza 5
Rise of the Tomb Raider, this game is now bing published by Microsoft Studios
.https://www.youtube.com/watch
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video-games_xbox
|
Unreliable hardware...but good sound. I have been using the headphones for about a month and a half. Recently, the power button on the headset stopped working, so I could not power the headset off. I plugged the USB cord in to keep it charged while I looked for a solution. A few hours later, the volume dial on the headset stopped working. The volume is stuck at a level that is barely audible.
My first impressions of the headset were that the construction felt very flimsy. The headset looks nice, but when I am very careful in handling it for fear it could break under its own weight. Maybe I am just too paranoid, but that is how it feels.
The headset is very comfortable. I have a smallish head and large-ish ears, but the headset stayed in place and was comfortable for long gaming sessions.
I am not an audiophile, and I do not have many other headsets for direct comparison. However, these sounded great to me--much better than my old Tritton headset I had for my XBox 360. Whether watching TV or playing a game, the sound was great. Sometimes during quiet moments, I would hear a faint buzzing from one of the earcup speakers. It was not during every quiet moment, it varied from session to session. I could not pinpoint what variable could be causing the buzz.
My remaining comments are minor design quibbles:
1. The power button is way too small and difficult to press--especially when wearing the headset.
2. The headset needs a mute button. When my wife asks me a question, I need to completely remove the headset instead of just muting. I also like to mute sound during commercials, but it is annoying on this headset since I need to use the volume dial (which has very fine adjustment and takes a number of turns to reach 0 volume).
3. Plugging in the USB charging cable is a pain. The port is recessed, and especially in dim light, it is difficult to tell how the cable fits in. I feel like this is an issue that should not happen anymore in consumer tech.
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video-games_xbox
|
Fun at first. With all the rave reviews surrounding this game, I decided to give it a go and purchase it on here. As soon as I popped in the disc, I was amazed by stylish graphics, superb voice acting and "OK" fighting. However, it didn't take long for the novelty to wear off after I discovered the game consisted mostly of "walk down this hall, switch on detective mode, detect some baddies, knock them out, look for a few riddler puzzles. Rinse and repeat". What I'm saying is that it is TOO linear for my liking. I'm sure many people will disagree with me but this is just like my opinion just like it is your opinion.
Also, the "detective mode" takes away from the beauty of the game if you play in it all the time as the graphics are too good to miss. It also makes the game a bit too easy as you can see enemies and it even tells you if they are armed or not. I'm sure the real batman (in the comics or cartoon) has all this but it just makes the game a tad bit too easy.
Finally, the combat was a bit "off" for me. I found it odd that they used the same knockout animation for ALL the enemies. Whenever Batman makes a knockout strike, the enemy would fall to the ground while holding his head (even if they were struck in the stomach or leg). A bit odd.
I did find the premise for the story a bit interesting but I can't say for the end because I never finished playing it. I also found all the character cards with stories on them interesting though and I'm sure the Riddler's puzzles will make for some fun collecting for a lot of people. I guess this game just wasn't for me as I'll be exchanging it soon.
This game can be a hit or miss for you so if you enjoy the Batman canon, Splinter Cell with a batman twist and a great story then get it but if you are looking for an action oriented title mixed with a bit of open ended gameplay then avoid this title. So based on personal experience and enjoyment, I'll rate it 2/5 but for the game itself I'll give it a 4/5
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video-games_xbox
|
Wow, is this the best Microsoft can do. Frustrating and disappointing getting started.
I upacked it the day before Christmas, as I wasn't expecting it to be great right out of the box. Of course it needs to be setup, games installed, Kinect tweaked, and such.
So I started installing the eight exercise and game discs I purchased to hit the ground running. Insert the Fantasia disc. Starts installing. Two hours later, it's still at 10%.
I research online. "Disconnect from internet to speed installation". Done. The install takes about half an hour. I do the same for the next 8 programs.
Christmas morning game playing: Start Rhumba dance program and get "This program needs an update (5 Gigs!). Do you want to do that now or Cancel?" CAN'T I PLAY WHAT'S ALREADY INSTALLED WITHOUT AN UPDATE???? (no, I can't!)
So Ok, let it update and play something else. Well, when every other program is started, the Xbox asks "Do you own this game? Insert the disc if so or go to Xbox Store". I CAN'T INSERT THE @^@^#$ disc because the Rhumba disk is in the box as required for the required update. Arghhhh....how many days before I can actually use this damn thing?
And the Kinect voice recognition. Works so-so at recognizing commands, but in this age of Siri and such, you'd think the Xbox could handle more than the twenty-some specific and mostly-useless voice commands. Laughable effort, Microsoft. I used to be an MS supporter, but after Windows 8 and Xbox, it's obvious this company has been run by out-of-touch idiots who evidently don't even bother to test their products for usability themselves.
The Xbox comes with a 500Gig drive. Of course some space is taken for the Operating System, leaving 350-somes Gigs. But do you think they could deliver it with ANYTHING pre-installed? Netflix? Youtube? A Blu-Ray DVD player? One ready-to-play game chapter? Of course not. Absolutely anything you want to do with this box requires downloading. Evidently the MS development team has a 130Mbps internet connection and it never occurred to the lazy techno-geniuses that apps can be pre-loaded, and that when you buy a game on disc, you expect it to install and run without having to download their updates. And what ARE these updates? Could they possibly give a hint as to what is needed? Could I please use your product a bit without having to spend 16 hours downloading?
And the included manual....what a joke. In several languages, it basically covers MS's butt legally by telling you all the things you should do not to have a heart attack while using their product, with no useful information other than a quick connection quide for only the basic config of a TV and TV cable box. Mount your Kinect from 2 to 6 feet off the floor. No details on optimizing it so it works well, nothing else.
I hope that after I spend a lot more time getting to know this device and the games, it's a much better experience than the first two days.
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video-games_xbox
|
Awful. I am truly impressed with how little amount of time a company can put into a game, create a huge hype and then make boatloads of money. The online play is unplayable.
Let's start with the controls: If you want to feel like you are playing basketball on ice in tennis shoes, then buy this game. There is so much delay from when you order your player to move (or stop moving) to when they actually do it, you almost start to wonder if they put this in for a "realistic" effect. There are two problems with this. 1.) Reality isn't fun. and 2.) They didn't do it on purpose. The controls work significantly better in offline mode, but that doesn't help someone that plays almost exclusively online.
Gameplay: The gameplay is, for the most part the same as previous versions of the game, with one major difference... once again, the ONLINE! There is so much slowdown that when combined with the controls, it feels like you are sometimes playing basketball in the Matrix. They made the gameplay a little more realistic and difficult. Personally, I'm not a fan of this, but it is way down on the list of complaints
Graphics: Nothing to complain about here, other than that Shaq looks like a zombie
Sound: Personally, I think this area is where 2kSports really shows their stripes. The other complaints that I have about the game regarding gameplay and controls can be explained away as "glitches". Nevermind that they obviously didn't spend enough time testing the game (if any at all). But to me, the sound is simply unexcusable. I skipped NBA2k9, so NBA 2k8 is the last game that I have to base my opinion off of, but I was genuinely SHOCKED to find that much of the audio commentary is recycled from a game from 2 years ago! I'm not asking for anything groundbreaking here, but at least word your cliche statements or use different inflection to indicate to me that someone actually cared at all about how this game turned out.
Fun Factor: If you were having a couple friends over and playing in the same location, I could see how this game could be very fun. However, if you intend to play online at all, forget about it. I have heard good things about the "My player" mode, but considering I am primarily an online player, this comes secondary to me and honestly, after playing one online game, I had seen enough.
Replay Ability: It's basketball, every game is different. High replay ability.
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video-games_xbox
|
Modern Warfare 2 Has Met Its Match. I have been waiting for this game ever since it was anounced and I have to say its pretty much exactly how I thought it would be, AMAZING!
Pros
I got the limited edition version and you get a few things out of it you will unlock the AKS-74u (engineer class only), WWII M1A1 Thonpson (any class), and the WWII M1911 handgun (all classes) you also get some extra maps too so if I were you I wouldn't mind spending a few extra bucks on the limited edition version!
There are many verieties of vehicles from AH-64 Apaches to UAVs and just about everything you can imagine in between!
There are 4 classes that all have special abilities and specific weapon choices, The assualt class is the classic run-and-gun class, the engineer is a demolitions expert or anti-vehicle and can also use a repair drill to repair vehicles, the medic who can use heavy wepons like the M60 and M249 SAW and can also heal wounded teamates and revive dead ones with a defibrilator, and then there is a recon class who can use high powered sniper rifles to take out targets at a distance
Unlike Call Of Duty in which you shoot a shotgun and the buckshot "magicaly" disappears after 5 feet the shotguns in BFBC2 can shoot up to about 100 feet without 12 gauge slugs and about a sniper's distance with 12 gauge slugs
In Call Of Duty you could be a coward and get away with it, I mean lets face it even the best players camp at some point, in BFBC2 they have desrtruction of just about anything, in short, NO MORE CAMPERS!!!
There are lots of weapon choices from the classic M14 to the PP2000
You can play a lot of game modes like rush were you have to defend or plant bombs at certain sites, deathmatch which pretty much explains itself, and conquest were you have to control certain sites on the map
If you are in a squad you can spawn near another sqaud member
There is more realism in this compared to Modern Warfare 2
No annoying perks like Commando from Call Of Duty were you can leap like 10 feet and knife somebody or Martydom were you drop a live grenade when you die, it basicly rewards players for dying!
If you ever played Modern Warfare 2 you were pretty much garranted to join a game full of people who constantly used grenade launchers and earned them selves the name "Noob Tubers" in this game the only way to score a one hit kill with the grenade launcher is to make direct impact with the person you are aiming at
The graphics are amazing compared to Call Of Duty
Cons
The Heavy MG is without a doubt overpowered, you could take down and a BlackHawk Helicopter with ease even with the vehicle armor upgrade!(I have tested it and each bullet does an estimated 5-7% damage!)
The PKM LMG is pretty annoying but not as bad as the Heavy MG
In rush there are those annoying cowardly snipers that don't even bother to help there team, they are just out for themselves
If you join a game on a map with a heli and you enter it there is about a 50% chance the driver thinks he/she is all that but he/she sucks, drives backwards and crashes killing you and whoever else was inside and for some reason if that does happen and you die in the crash it says "you commited suicide" resulting in a point deduction for you
It takes FOREVER to rank up in this game
Overall good buy really enjoy it, and remember, once you try it you'll never pick up Call Of Duty again!
I know there are going to be annoying little kids "loyal" to Modern Warfare 2 and say this game sucks and that I am a "Noob" and have no skill and don't know what I am talking about ignore them, they are just no-life modern warfare 2 fanboys
If you have want to see gameplay go to youtube and type in "Battlefield Bad Company 2 Gameplay" or something or leave some questions in the comments bar
P.S. Feel free to send me a friend request (Xbox 360 only) my gamertag is ThAt UgLy KiTtY
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video-games_xbox
|
Amazing value for the price. Note: Review is written by my teenaged son.
Having finally played every game in this package, I figured it was finally time to write a review. The short version is this: This package is amazing. It contains three of Valve's most-loved games, and I enjoyed every one of them.
At first I just bought it for Portal, which I quickly discovered was worth the price of admission. Sure, it's a relatively short game, but if you've never played Portal before, it's a highly entertaining first playthrough. The charm of GLADOS's dry, sometimes murderous quips, the excitement of finally figuring out a difficult puzzle, and of course the fun of using a portal gun all make for a very enjoyable experience.
At first, Team Fortress 2 didn't really appeal to me, as I normally play COD Black Ops (Yes, I'm one of those). But when I got into it, I found it quite fun. The variety of weapons and abilities is appealing, allowing for both offensive and defensive playing styles. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this package for that, as there are not an abundance of people playing TF2 on the 360. I imagine it would be far more engaging on the PC, where controls are better, DLC is available, and opponents are less sparse. Having said that, there is fun to be had on the 360 when you get in a really good lobby, and it certainly doesn't bring the entire box set down.
And now I come to Half-Life 2 and its episodes, which, for those who don't know, are basically like extensions to Half-Life 2's story line and gameplay. Don't even think about playing them until you've played the full game, because the story is what makes Half-Life 2 outshine almost all other FPS games. Having never played Half-Life, I didn't really get into the game at first. However, after a while, I started to really enjoy it and care about the story. I finished it and eagerly leapt into the episodes, both of which I enjoyed.
Simply put, Valve, and particularly Half-Life, have a new fanboy. Don't miss this deal.
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video-games_xbox
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Because NYKO has ever made a good peripheral. I don't fully understand the necessity for this product? If your 360 is hot to the touch after any amount of gameplay, you ended up with a lemon. Sorry, but please take or send it back for repair or replacement. Annoying, and probably disappointing (for sure), but it's that easy all the same. 360s by (normal) design do not get that hot. Sure, there were stories about overheating 360s at launch- and there were just as many- if not many more- stories of PS2s that couldn't read the discs, early Xboxs with faulty hard drives, etc. That goes with the territory for an early adopter and that's why this pointless NYKO product seems to serve no purpose other than to prey on the fears of consumers who heard rumors of 360 heat issues.
If you keep your 360 in a place that has sufficient air flow, you should be fine. If your 360 is hot and-or locking up, you need to take it back = you're a victim of a production problem that accompanies all hardware launches. As far as I can tell, NYKO is just trying to make a profit off of an initial 360 weakness (and the flood of intense hype that focuses on *any* initial issue with a new console, regardless of the limited # of units that are actually in question). Please look around gaming message boards before buying this "intercooler". You don't need it unless you want your 360 to last a hell of lot longer than it normally would- which would be way past the point that the next MS console hits the market.
And I have to say something about the unfortunate posts here about the 360 burning game discs (!???). Man, it would be great if Amazon wouldn't allow people to post total nonsense like that. It's not your bad if you thought that was true by just reading those "reviews", I'm sure you have enough to deal with, but please know that such disc damage is not even possible. Think about it, CPUs and GPUs (central and graphic processing units) are made of silicone. If, and this is a freakin' HUGE "if", the 360 was able to produce an internal heat level high enough to actually burn a DVD, the CPU and GPU would have locked up wayyyyyyyyyyy before that possibility. Why? Because the silicon would have melted (!!!) at a much lower temp. Google "overclocking" and read PC gaming message boards about what happens when silicon components heat up (but I'll save you the trouble- they freeze up and then eventually melt if forced to perform under extreme conditions).
If you want to see proof, hit up GameSpot (and probably FileShack and FileFront) for a video clip of someone destroying a new Quake 4 disc by moving a 360 from the vertical to horizontal position several times over. It leaves a new ring around the disc, but that's really only common sense. You NEVER move an electronic CD or DVD device while a disc is spinning. C'mon guys, I'm not Captain AV, but I'm pretty sure my cat knows better.
Summary for the slow kids:
1) Return expensive electronic devises if they don't act as advertised (look around online if you're not sure).
2) Don't buy reactionary products like this one unless you have no other choice.
3) Please don't block case fans blowing out hot air.
Ahh, why bother, the new 360s have a cooler CPU and this NYKO piece is now even more useless. Sorry to be like this, but I'm really disappointed that this waste of your cabbage is so high on the list of popular 360 peripherals. Whatever, click the button I know you will, I'll be on BF2 waiting to SMG you.
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video-games_xbox
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Seriously . This review is for the Xbox version. Hopefully the PC version is better.....
This is undoubtedly the worst Ghost Recon game I have ever purchased and I have all the previous releases. It doesn't even come close to the previous releases in the series. Considering this release has been 5 years in the making and the release date was changed on at least two occasions I would expect a near flawless game. If you are going to do a complete makeover use a different title.
This game is unfinished, buggy, and lacks everything that made Ghost Recon a success. I get the impression the developer knows this and used the success of the previous releases and their loyal fan base to absorb some of their cost of creating this disappointment. Screwing their loyal customers appears to be easier than taking a total loss.
No selection on the controller layouts. This is almost a standard for games. How did something so simple get overlooked. One controller layout and you can only change the Y axis in local play and that's it.
The game looks impressive in the package. Kinects and 3D capable. These are great but how many customers really have the capability to use these features. I actually have a kinects and a 3D television but I would rather have a controller that I didn't have to completely relearn before enjoying the game. The campaign was more time spent in theatrical than actually playing the game. For me the game is unplayable. I was going to do a trade-in but it's only worth $22 as a trade-in so I'll hang on to it and hope in another year they will try and make the necessary improvements. This was hard lesson learned....no more preorders for me..
If after reading this you still have your doubts and want to purchase it. I would suggest waiting and buying it on sale or used. I'm sure there will be a ton of used ones available in a few weeks.
After my review I noticed some of the comments because I gave it one star. If you like the game then buy it, play it, and review it accordingly. Almost sounds like a bunch of stakeholders trying to sway my vote. You can go to the support forum at the Ghost Recon Website. That should provide the best insight.
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video-games_xbox
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A rating of "terrible" from someone who doesn't say it that often. I was excited about this game. I'm a huge baseball fan and liked the idea of a game that took the "sandlot pick me up game" and expanded on it. After playing the game and trying to learn it, I have to say: The best part of the game is the cover artwork, after that everything is just plain, simple BAD.
Most annoying is the controls. They actually are a bit complicated, I would not hand this to anyone under 15 years old. I used to play MLB The Show, which is grounded in realism and is very involved, and I had trouble picking up on how to play this game. Then, even when you are sure you are doing things right, the responsiveness of the controls is stone age. There is a definite hitch (pause) to everything you do, and it messes up the entire batting experience. But, that is not the worst part, because you can adjust to that...........if it's consistent. It is not though. Sometimes it happens, other times it does not. So, you are left wondering if you are not doing things right or if the hitch is what messed things up. Takes forever to get past all this and get to the point where you feel you are simply playing the game.
As someone else already said, the announcers are super repetitive to the point of being annoying.
There really isn't as much difference between one player and the next. To be honest, you don't see people taking on the characteristics of their ability ratings. The game kinda just gives a preset, scripted result a lot of times it seems. There is no advantage to having your best hitter at the plate instead of your worst batter when the game is on the line, because the game is very scripted.
There is a lot of potential for a good story, but they don't use all that potential. Different kids from different parks, each with a different ability/strength all decide to join the new kid in town to beat the bully's team. No character development or storyline after that really.
I was very disappointed in the game overall. I'd have to fib/lie a bit to include a good point about it other than to cover artwork. Spend the extra dollars and get Mario Super Sluggers and leave this one in the dollar bin.
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video-games_xbox
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Your Next Target. Assassins Creed - Circa 2007
GOOD:
- The game has three huge (as well as very detailed) cities (Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus) as well as the countryside (known simply as "Kingdom") that is equally as big as any of the cities. The games size rivals that of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (even if GTA:SA is bigger Assassins Creed is lot more detailed and intractable).
- A good story mixing elements of historical fiction and a Sci-Fi.
- Really impressive graphics and first-rate animations, that look just as good as games like Bioshock and Mass Effect.
- A great sound track 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:
- Collecting Flags (one hundred in every city and one hundred in the countryside) has no real point and only unlocks achievements.
- Most players and reviews complain about the relative nature of the Intel missions. Most of these missions are generally the same from city to city.
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A Stealth game set in the year 1191 A.D. during the holy land crusades between King Richard and Sladine. You play as an Assassin of Hashshashin (who was a real life group of assassins of that time) charged with unsettling the powers that be in an attempt to bring peace to the holy land. To do this you must kill nine people who are using the crusades to control others and bring disorder to the land.
- The control is broken down into two areas of game play 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.
- 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.
- Most of the game play itself is not so much assassinating people but gathering Intel on your targets, like ease dropping on conversations, pick pocketing people, and saving innocents from corrupt guards (who will repay you later by having others help in your endeavors) you can also scout out high areas to find hiding areas for later.
- Altair (the main character that you will play as) is an assassin and not a gladiator, while you can kill over 25 guards in a row (doing that unlocks an achievement) Altair is more like a spy or Ninja where his style is to stay hidden for a long as possible and not out right fight unless cornered. Now when cornered Altair can really destroy is enemies rather effetely with either a small combo (tap X once until you hear/see Altair's sword hit his opponents sword and quickly tap X again - this take lots of practice to get right) or counter move (tap X right before an opponent hit Altair with his sword), the over all effect is that only players who feel the most confident in their abilities will fight more then a few people at once. While most players should and will play more like a "true" assassin and not be seen as well as only fight when they must.
- After every major assassination you unlock new moves and weapons (like throwing knives and counter strike).
- While in the countryside (called "Kingdom") you get to ride horses, this aspect of game play is very reminiscent of the Nintendo 64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time.
- The story can be very confusing to some not familiar with the politics of this time era. I recommend seeing the movie Kingdom of Heaven, this helps explain the story a bit more and give more back story to the game (note this game takes place a year or so after that movie).
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
- Splinter Cell: Double Agent (360/PS3/PC)
- Prince of Persia (Xbox/PS2)
- Crackdown (360)
- HitMan: Blood Money (360)
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- There is a small secret about the games story that I will not give away, although I will say the 90% of your gameplay time will be spend on the facts I have already mentioned, and the other part of the game is only really story based with no real bearing on your gameplay.
- Altair is an Arabic word that means "The Flying One.
- The assassins that Altair is a part of were a real group of assassins during that era in fact the word assassins comes from the assassins group Hashshashin as it was a word used to describe there followers. All your main targets (nine in all) are based on real people who during that time period either died mysteriously or vanished.
- This game is also on the Sony Playstation 3 as well as the PC.
- In the limited collector's edition you will find an art book, a mini Altair figuring as well as a mini strategy guide, you will also find a mini comic about one of Altair's missions (drawn from the comic artist from Penny Arcade website) as well as a bonus DVD with the videos "The Making of Assassins Creed" documentary and it all comes in a tin case.
- There is talk from Ubisoft about sequels to this game set in other time eras.
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video-games_xbox
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Small changes, but overall a better controller. First let me start off by saying i have BIG hands, so this may or may not apply to people with smaller hands.
So the FIRST thing i noticed when holding the controller for the first time was how much more comfortable and natural it felt in my hands. It fits my hands very nicely and the new matte finish eliminates the greasy feeling the 360's controller could get when using it for a long time.
The SECOND thing you might notice next is triggers and LB/RB. The wider shape of the triggers allow my fingers to now rest easier and they are much smoother to press down, feels quite nice. The triggers also do not make that annoying plastic noise when pressing them down.
The LB/RB are closer to the triggers for quicker access, but do not get in the way. They are easier for me to use because now i can use the length of my index fingers to press them instead of bending them to use the tip of my finger. They have a tad stronger click to them and can get a little harder to press when you go away from the edges, but this is not a major issue whatsoever.
The THIRD major difference for me is the D-Pad. I personally never cared for the D-Pad since i don't play fighting games a whole lot, so it was never really an issue for me. The most important thing to me is that it isn't bulging out of the controller like it was before. Looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing and is flat. Has a different click to it and seems like it would be more precise.
The FOURTH change to me would be the analog sticks. They are a bit smaller in diameter, but the new textured edges help a great deal of keeping control of them. They aren't as stiff as a new 360 controller but this might be a good thing, because after long usage of a 360 controller they would become VERY loose compared to when it was brand new.
(If you really hate the sticks that much, then you can always change them out easily to different ones you can buy online for a couple of bucks. It's 10x easier to switch out the sticks compared to the 360 controller, anyone can do it.) Lastly, the sticks have a better range of motion and seem longer since there is no more volcano shape surrounding them. The sticks are NOT longer, this has been confirmed already.
Other changes:
The A,B,Y,X buttons are a little closer together but it's by a hair and they feel exactly the same.
No more bulging battery pack! The controller feels so good in your hands that you don't even know that the battery pack was ever there on the 360.
Overall this is a better controller than the 360 version hands down. You will get used to it in a matter of minuets. I honestly don't know what else could be done different to make it better.
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video-games_xbox
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Ouch! Did that game just hit me. The Dead or Alive (DOA) series of fighting games has always presented us with excellent games, and the addition of Dead or Alive 4 to that series proves to be no exception. It is a beautifully rendered and executed piece of interactive video art, and pretty damn fun to play... as long as you have a real person sitting next to you to play it with.
The graphic engine that runs this game is a testament to the power of the Xbox 360; a superb title to shows what this system is capable of doing, and provides us a window through which we are presented hints of what is to come. All of the character models are beautiful and move with a grace I have rarely ever seen in a game of this genre before.
The stages are complex and gorgeous also. Many of them have multiple levels, and some even branch into different arenas. On some of stages elements in the background will come to the foreground and interact with you. There is a stage where animals will run across the screen and knock you over, and another where you fight in the street while dodging cars.
The sound is adequate. If you like Aerosmith (apparently the game designer Tomonobu Itagaki does), you'll probably enjoy the sound track. Overall the music seems to fit the game well and the sound effects along with the character comments all appear to fall right on cue.
There are multiple game play modes to enjoy. You can play the story mode and discover each characters tale. This title, more than any of the previous titles, gives you more story background and explains things in much greater detail by use of the cut scenes and endings. The story of each character also determines what boss that character will face, not everyone faces the same opponent in the end. You can play the time attack mode where you try to beat the game a quickly as possible, or survival mode where you try to survive as long as you can against a stream of opponents. You can also take your fight online is that is something you like to do.
The combat system is somewhat complex, and seems to be quite a bit different from this series earlier incarnations. In addition to learning the combat moves you need to learn how to guard and how to counter. Becoming a master of the game play can be quite frustrating. A sparring mode for training is provided that will help you master some of the more difficult moves.
All of the fighting styles are based on hand to hand martial arts of some sort. There are no weapons as in Soul Calibur, or supernatural powers or projectiles (that I know of) as in Mortal Kombat. Some of the ninja characters can teleport though.
The major fault I find with this game is that it is very hard when playing against the computer. The computer opponent will block and counter many of your moves while you will often fail while trying to do the same. Against a human player you will find that you have a much greater chance of success at these attempts, but against the computer - you will end up getting really frustrated. There are times that you even find yourself driven to hurl your wireless Xbox 360 controller across the room and smash it into the wall (so far, the thought of replacing that fifty dollar controller usually stops me in mid swing).
I blame this obscene difficulty on Tomonobu Itagaki. He is one of those game designers, in the school of thought that is enjoined by Capcom and a few others, who believe that pain is enjoyment. That you must be nearly bleeding from your fingers and greatly frustrated to properly enjoy the games he helps to create. If the title is not supremely difficulty, you will have no reason to play it. Or so he and others seems to think.
Me, personally, I'm perfectly fine with healthy fingers, and good game play. That is why I say you should play this beautiful title with friends. They will suck just as bad as you suck. The will not counter and block every single move you try. They will not be able to cheat, as the computer player will always do.
With your friends, you will enjoy this title.
Alone, it will hurt you, or hurt your wallet when you end up buying a new controller after smashing your old one in frustration.
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video-games_xbox
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Force Okay. I recently purchased this video game. Being a college freshman, I get in a lot of playing time in at nights, and so I have beaten it numerous times. While I personally am debating whether it was worth my limited money, I highly recommend it to any serious Star Wars fan.
This game is an excellent continuation of the Star Wars saga. It fills in the gap between episodes 3 and 4. The plot is creative and yet blends perfectly with the movies, creating a seamless storyline for the series. The game has well-developed characters, and even the quirky Star Wars humor that the world has come to love. Each cut scene answers questions raised from where episode 3 left off, such as who starts the rebel alliance and what happened to the other Jedi still out in the galaxy.
Not only is the plot line excellent, but the graphics are phenomenal. This game utilizes three different physics engines. This allows for highly detailed backgrounds and characters that behave how they would in reality. Glass shatters, trees splinter and people can be sucked out into the vacuum of space. One of the engines greatly increases the AI's capabilities. Computer controlled units regroup, hide, flank and interact with their environment. If you pick up a unit, they will grab onto anything in their reach, whether it be a pipe or a fellow unit. These engines allow for multiple replays that are never the same.
While the game is especially captivating the first time through, it gets a little monotonous after a while. The player eventually becomes so powerful that even on the most advanced difficulty; the only challenging level is the very last one. Many of the puzzles in the game are similar and utilize the same tools to complete them. After a few play-throughs, the levels become very similar. You walk or run through a level, hunting for the door to the next area while being besieged by unbelievably large numbers of foes only to destroy them like they were gnats fighting a panzer tank. At the end of every mission is a boss unit, who is extraordinarily better than a regular unit but fought in the exact same manner. Defeating them gives little satisfaction. Also, hidden throughout all the missions are items called holocrons. These hide fun items but are a pain to hunt down. While some are nearly unavoidable, others are so difficult to track down; one may have to resort to online walkthroughs.
While this game may have little appeal to a hardcore gamer, true Star Wars fans will love it. So I highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to wear stormtrooper armor or who knows how many forms of communication C3PO is fluent in.
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video-games_xbox
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Fun game but full of glitches. First of all, I purchased this item from Amazon brand new. I read all the reviews and I was liking the idea of a simple yet fun game that is not to long as I only get to play games maybe an hour or two a week.
The game play was enjoyable but I have never played a game that was so full of bugs and glitches. Before I get into the glitches, let me tell you that I tried downloading the game to the hard drive to see if that would help but it actually made things worse. I tried playing this game on two different Xbox 360. I have an older model and the new Xbox 360 S. I had the same glitches on both.
The glitches. Enemies would freeze in place often after they were alerted to my presence. Often with their guns pointed up in the air. I could just walk up and slay them. Cut scenes wouldn't play when they were supposed to. I figured this out when I went online to figure out why I was stuck. I would finish a level but the game wouldn't move on and I would be stuck reverting back to a checkpoint or starting the level over. The final straw was the last level. I would defeat the last group of enemies but the final cut scene wouldn't play but I could hear the final speech by my character. I can't even get credit for finishing the game because it won't recognize that I beat the last level. Again, I saw a video of someone completing the game on YouTube so I made sure I was doing everything correctly.
Here are some examples of cut scenes not loading or levels not ending.
One level you have to take out a target in a cathedral. Once I climbed to the top and defeated him, the level would not end. I tried 3 times before it finally loaded the cut scene and ended the level.
One level you have to locate a hotel, climb a tower and sniper an explosive barrel to kill another target. Once you kill the target, you have to escape and cross the lake again. After I shot the barrel, the cut scene wouldn't load and it wouldn't let me cross the lake. I re-played that level about 5 times before it finally showed the cut scene that allowed me to finish the level.
The level where you first come across a sniper, a cut scene is suppose to play but wouldn't load. The last level when you are walking up the hill to the church, another cut scene is suppose to play but wouldn't load. I already mentioned the final cut scene in the game when your character is scratching at the church door wouldn't load. The character would say the last lines while still in game play mode but the level wouldn't end when she was done.
I really tried everything I could but I finally had to give up. No matter how many times I tried or on what system, I couldn't get the last cut scene to play. Very disappointing game in that aspect. The game play was fun and enjoyable but to have to sit and replay areas until the game was working right, took away a lot of enjoyment.
I understand this game is not meant for the hardcore fans but for people that enjoy the 2nd rate games or don't have a lot of time to play like myself, this game should be good but I can't give a good review on game that is full of glitches. Where were the software testers? Did they honestly think it's ok to put out a game with all these glitches? Big thumbs down.
I would not recommend this game. I know I read some other people ran into glitches in other reviews, but I never thought a game would be this bad with glitches.
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video-games_xbox
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Final gasp from the infernal pit. Talk about an unlikely release! When the Xbox port of the hellbound PC FPS Painkiller was announced 57 years ago (seems like that long!), it caused quite a bit of excitement. The initial enthusiasm eventually faded due to delay after delay, and with the arrival of the new wave of consoles, there were even rumblings that the Xbox version would be scrapped in favor of next-gen incarnations.
But things often happen unexpectedly. Seemingly out of nowhere, Painkiller: Hell Wars has been belched forth from the underworld, and even though the timing is poor and the quality is rough, there can't be a better way to bid farewell to the black monolith of the Xbox, the machine that made console FPSes a genre to pay attention to.
Painkiller: Hell Wars begins with a gripping opening scene, in which CGI actors display heights of emotion never before seen.....yeah right. Your character dies and goes to Hell, and someone tells you to "kill everything that moves and destroy Hell's generals." Sign the pact, and let's get to business already!
You're cast headlong into a series of themed levels, from a graveyard to a cathedral and beyond, with waves of enemies trying to take you out. Kill em before they kill you, soldier - that's the long and short of it, the beginning and end, the reason for everything. Luckily, you've got some fun weapons to use, from the Pin-Em-To-The-Wall stake gun to the Spinning-Blade-Of-Death painkiller, and lots of enemies to use them on. AI is nonexistent, with the zombies, skeletons, wraiths, hellhounds, and whatever charging at you mindlessly. Graphical detail and artistry aren't amazing (although the massive bosses are cool, and there are many enemy types), but the amount of action onscreen is always impressive, and the game moves at a breakneck pace.
Developer People Can Fly has implemented some gameplay details that more FPSes should contain. PK:HW is basically a hybrid of Doom, Castle Wolfenstein, and Serious Sam. This means you have the hell-themed levels and enemies of Doom, the hidden secrets of Wolfenstein, and the hordes of enemies of Serious Sam. Quite an intoxicating and effective combination! The game constantly keeps track of your score and collected gold, and will even tell you if you are missing any secrets in each level. Since you have to kill all enemies to advance, you're allowed the opportunity to explore once they're all dead, and once you're satisfied, you enter the portal leading to the next stage. Kind of nice to have the choice.
Breaking items gets you gold, and gold lets you power up Tarot cards, which give you various useful power-ups. These aren't necessary to finish the game, but they can make things easier, and give those gaming completists out there plenty of stuff to hunt for.
In addition, there are multiple difficulty levels, with some areas only accessible on the higher ones, and there are more secrets on the tougher ones as well. All this means there's some attractive replay value here, moreso than most entries in the genre.
Speaking of replay, PK packs some serious multiplayer action as well, via system link or over XB Live. Multiplayer was a highlight of the PC version, and it works just as well here, although split-screen and campaign co-op would have been awesome additions.
Painkiller: Hell Wars seems like a rushed release, with entire levels being left out from the PC version, along with rough graphics, minimal music, limited multiplayer options, and a general lack of atmosphere. However, it's available at a low price point, has plenty of gameplay, and let's admit it, chewing through crowds of demons with a spinning, wrist-mounted blade is just fun as.....errr....hell.
Thanks are due to People Can Fly and Dreamcatcher, because they really didn't have to release this tite, but since it had been in development for so long, they probably figured they owed it to everyone who'd been looking forward to it. Nice to see a developer and publisher pay attention to the fans in this period of scant new releases!
Recommendation: if you are a FPS fan who's played Halo to death and is waiting for the holiday storm of new titles to hit, do yourself a favor and pick up Painkiller: Hell Wars. It's an enjoyable demonic ride, and it'll remind you just how far console first-person shooters have come during the Xbox's life-cycle.
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video-games_xbox
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I really wanted to like this game. I was so excited when I heard this game was coming out--I'm not really a gamer at all and the only game I ever played on my boyfriend's XBox was the game it came with : Legoland Indiana Jones, and I loved it! I actually found it challenging but doable (I'm 22 so that should tell you something about my skills). I was almost disappointed when I beat it. So when I heard they were making another one, I was stoked. I realized after only about one evening playing it that no matter how hard I tried, I could not get into this game and found it a little boring and tedious.
1. There is a race in just about every level you do. I suck at driving in video games but in this game in particular. The controls are so fiddly that if you accidentally move a little too far to one side your vehicle hits something and flips over and you have to wait for it to flip back over. It's especially frustrating when you flip over in a pond or something because usually the vehicle won't right itself. It's just like spinning your tires in the mud in real life, except it's more irritating than real life because it's supposed to be a fun video game. Also, I hate the little race challenge things where you have to go through the targets, because, again, the driving in this game is really fiddly--even more so than the original. So the races are tedious AND frustrating... fun!
2. The game freezes... a lot. I'm glad to see that other people have this problem and it's not just our XBox.
3. You don't collect treasure chests in the levels, and the levels are much smaller. There are hardly any puzzles or secrets at all, which was what I loved about the first game and what made it so great. There is nothing really to unlock, no surprises... except car races ad nauseum. Sometimes I would be doing something that I thought would be a puzzle but then the game just... handed it to me. The puzzles seemed dumbed down.
4. The setup of the game is a mess. I like to watch the progression of the Indiana Jones stories but in this game you can unlock any level at any time in its particular movie's hub. You don't really get to see the iconic moments in the movies the way you want because you can go do the bridge fight first and then go to another level and jump out of the plane on the liferaft. It's just not the same. A lot of times I didn't even see what the level had to do with the movie at all.
5. I forgot the one other huge aspect of the game--defeating enemies. If you're not doing a car chase, you're fighting a bunch of enemies, and once you defeat those enemies... the game gives you another batch of enemies. Really repetitive.
The game is still enjoyable to a point. I would guess that if you had never played the first game you would like this game a lot. But if you've played and loved the first you can see what you're missing in this one. The levels are still pretty to look at. Indy still does cute things, but I don't think he can do the whip-kiss with Marion, Willie, and Elsa. What I was most disappointed about was that the two parts of the first game I liked the least were brought front and center in this game and the part I loved most was almost eliminated completely.
Like I said, I wanted so much to love this game, but I just couldn't. I hope Harry Potter delivers.
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video-games_xbox
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It's finally here. Am I the only one who's been waiting for this game to be released since 2008? Checking the dead island site only to find it under construction for ages? Well, it's finally here! While not exactly what I expected, it's a nice experience. Graphics are so so, they can look great at times, and meh at others. Stiff character models during cutscenes don't help it much either. Also, textures sometimes take time to pop in. It's a bit more cartoony then I was hoping for with all the meters everywhere, and the xp points from killing zombies, but I'll deal with it. The multilayer damage feature which was boasted in 2007 isn't really used to its full potential. Breakable bones are a treat though. No split-screen co-op, and the story is a bit weak which is another downer. Maybe I just got my hopes up with the debut trailer and all. You might be thinking now, hey this game sucks! Well, on to some of the good parts now. One thing I suppose I could mention. You play as one of four people who are immune to becoming a zombie, so don't expect there being some sort of you get bit and you have find an antidote. Zombrex anyone?
We finally have fast and slow zombies together in one game. Something I would have liked to see in Left 4 Dead. The island is huge. I often found myself ignoring quests at times just to explore. You can combine weapons, which is a bit meh to me, but that's only because I wanted a bit more of a realistic experience, and an electric sword really isn't all that realistic, but it's still a load of fun. The sound in this game is fantastic. Dead Island is one of the few games that has actually been able to creep me out. When you're in a dark room and you hear a zombie wail, you'll understand what I'm talking about. There are a limited number of guns in the game so expect alot of melee. This game should have and could have been better due to the extremely long delay, but fun. The fun factor makes me overlook the problems with this game. It's definitely worth a rental if you don't feel like spending the 60 bucks. I don't see the price on this one coming down anytime soon.
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video-games_xbox
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Terrible, Disappointing, Confusing. I don't think I am receiving the content it claimed to offer. Disappointed. It is also very confusing about whether I am getting the content that was advertised. It doesn't feel like it. I bought this because I thought the "Gold Edition" meant that I did NOT have to pay a monthly subscription fee for the extended library. Wrong. It gave a 2 or 3 month subscription for free. The cover advertises 150 songs but I don't think I am really getting access to them? It is VERY confusing as is the menu and interface. Plus, even if you do purchase a subscription it links to ONE GAMERTAG, Unlike other DLC's and expanded content which I purchase on my Xbox One and my kids can use on the same Xbox using their own gamertags/accounts, they can only access the subscription content if they are using MY GAMERTAG only. They cannot build up their own gamertag's points and credits and instead have to share mine. This doesn't happen with ANY other game I have seen! I also cannot play using my gamertag on another Xbox while they are dancing.
Another dumb thing is that I already own Just Dance 2014 and 2015. The songs from those are included in the extended subscription catalogue which I would need to pay $10 monthly in order to use those songs in the catalogue or else play one of the other games instead. I hoped I could use Just Dance 2016 and have access to a ton of songs which does not feel like the case!
Unless I pay the monthly subscription rate there is no seamless integration allowing me dance to the songs that I obtained through any other of my Just Dance games and I don't think I can access any other (dlc) songs I bought for REAL $ with the prior games. (I am NOT sure about this though but it appears that songs purchased can only be played with the specific Just Dance game I bought- they don't even link to my Gamertag it seems).
It is just frustrating because I don't want to pay a lot of $ monthly INDEFINITELY for a subscription to dance to songs that I own from the other discs and I don't recall being able to buy the songs separately with 2016! I don't understand all the details but the whole 2 month "free subscription" was EXTREMELY confusing so I haven't used the 2016 yet. If you don't have the subscription the game STILL SHOWS YOU ALL OF THE AVAILABLE SONGS BUT THEY ARE LOCKED! It makes it very hard to find the songs you DO have access to, and makes you and your kids feel really bad that you can't dance to most of the songs!!!!! Of course your kids will only feel the need to beg you to buy the subscription!
Seriously, if I like a song which is in the extended catalogue, does in make ANY sense for me to pay $10 a month or $100 per year just to dance to that one song! I don't think $100 per year is reasonable to dance to ANY Just Dance songs!
This is beyond ridiculous.
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video-games_xbox
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This is a good Call of Duty. This is a good Call of Duty. For reference, I played Cod 1, 2, 3, Cod4, WaW, MW2, BO, MW3, BO2, Ghosts, and this. If you're wondering if you're going to like this, let me put it this way: If you enjoy CoD every year and even if you did not enjoy Ghosts, get this. If you haven't played in a few years and want to know if you should get back into it, get this. If you've never been a huge fan, don't bother. In the end, they added exo suits and the graphics are better, but it is essentially still a Call of Duty game.
The graphics are amazing. I've played a bunch of next-gen games and this looks like one of the nicest. Call of Duty isn't known for graphics, but these are great.
Gameplay is not completely revamped, as some may say or you may expect. The exo suit jumping and abilities add to the experience, but it is not a jumping-only game and it will still feel familiar.
Campaign has been fun so far. The settings and environments in it are unbelievably nice. It seems like it will get interesting as I'm not that far. This one, and all the ones before it, are like playing an action movie. They are not too emotionally deep or developed, but entertaining with some great moments.
Multiplayer- this is what you want to hear. It's good. The colors remind me of BO2 online maps, and are nothing like Ghosts (good news). Loadouts are simple enough to understand and guns and perks are straightforward.
If you enjoyed getting camos on your guns in other Call of Duty's this may be disappointing. Gold is the easiest one to unlock, and everything else is ridiculously hard to achieve. Just to get some jungle-like camos you need 200, 300, 400, 500 headshots. I am not trying to use one gun for the duration I play this game. This is not fun to achieve, and is bad planning on their part.
Spawning is ok, I've spawned in front of people a few times and so have they. The problem is starting a game when you already see someone, and that does not make sense. I usually judge harshly based on this, but in my experience they always fix it within a few weeks and it becomes more manageable.
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video-games_xbox
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An excellent RPG for mature gamers. Fable is the latest RPG by Peter Molyneux, creator of Populous and Black & White. As in the previous games, your actions determine your look and the look of the world around you.
You start out as a lad in a village, doing random quests for your village. You can choose to do those quests nicely or cruelly, changing your reputation as you go. The townspeople react to your new reputation. The village is soon torched by bandits and you go off to a guild hall to become a Hero, to get revenge.
The game is very open ended, letting you choose which quests you wish, roam around slaying beasts, hang out in the pubs playing pub games, getting drunk. You can get married, get divorced and slay people. As you set your course in life, and choose clothing and armor, people react to you with pleasure, fear, appreciation, laughter, and more.
The graphics are stellar in this game. Trees have leaves of different types. Smoke rises from the glowing forge, the game cycles from day to night as you adventure. Your character can wear hairstyles and tattoos, changing clothes to suit the occasion. The sounds are great as well. You hear hoot-owls at night, sparrows during the day. People sleep and snore at night, while kids arond during the day. Amongst it all, a gentle classical musical score puts you into the medieval frame of mind.
There are the traditional elements of an RPG here - you slay creatures, solve quests, earn money and reputation. You use experience to build up the skills in the area you enjoy - magic, ranged weapons, hand to hand combat. If you choose good things to do, the people love you and your look and atmosphere is one of joy. If you choose evil things, the townspeople run in fear, you sprout horns and even get a bug-swarm near you.
But the true joy of this game is where it lets you pretty much do whatever you want. You can marry a girl - then kill her off for her inheritance. Or kill off her parents. Or divorce her and marry another one. The choices are pretty much endless, and since every person in the game related to each other one and to you, you never know what the various combinations will cause to happen.
This is NOT a quick game to win. It will take you some time to get through the intro / tutorial areas and really learn the basics. Once you do, the gameplay itself can easily take weeks to months to try out everything, if it is even possible to try everything. You'll want to create several characters to be able to try the world as good, evil and everything in between.
Also note this is a MATURE title and lists in its "things you've done" items like "getting drunk" and "having sex" and so on. You run into situations with cheating husbands, cheating wives, etc. This isn't meant for the younger set. Still, for adults it can be great fun.
Highly recommended, 10/10!!
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video-games_xbox
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Well, OK, maybe the height is a problem. (EDITED: this review previously contained information that became outdated and incorrect. techmannn, in the first comment on this review, pointed out the problem. Thanks for the correction!)
When I first bought this Microsoft was actually recommending that most people put their Kinect right below their TV. Then they changed their minds. Now they say "the higher the better". So, this product is a less than ideal solution. If you CAN put the Kinect above your TV, do so.
Still, though, you do absolutely need the Kinect to be completely stable, either through it being mounted somewhere or by it being on a flat surface that is deep enough for it. It's also important that it be far forward enough that it can see your feet. So, for some people's TV setups, putting it above the TV might just not be feasible. (Granted, I bought this a while ago and there may be newer mounting products out now, but at the time, certainly, there was no immediately apparent way to do it with my TV.)
Nowadays, actually, this stand works out pretty well for me - we're now a two-Kinect household: one setup has lots of room to move but has a TV that's seen better days and no proper sound system; the other is pretty cramped for space, but has the good TV and the good sound system. So that second one is pretty much just voice commands and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Child-Of-Eden/dp/B002I0H8FK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Child Of Eden</a>. Most of the time that Kinect is just on this stand in a corner listening. But it's easy to put in place for proper play and put away again thanks to the stand. The way the furniture is set up in the first setup, I don't need any sort of a stand, but for the second, I still absolutely do.
This product is kind of flimsy and not very stable (I've almost knocked it over once already), but it gets the job done. When I first realized that with my TV setup at the time there was really no place to put the Kinect, I was glad I could just run across the street to Fry's (sorry Amazon, sometimes even Prime isn't quite fast enough) and buy this and get up and running. Someone else mentioned that you could just use a stool or something, but I liked that this product is thin and didn't really block my center speaker.
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video-games_xbox
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Another great hit from Ubisoft. I haven't played any of the previous Far Cry games but decided to take advantage of a lightning deal and try this game out. At first, I noticed a lot of similarities between this game and Assassins Creed but it's not a surprise since Ubisoft made them both.
First, if you are a parent reading this to find out more about the rating: It's rated M - Mature. It has violence, blood, lots of swearing and a scene of partial female nudity.
Story: You are on a vacation with your two brothers, your girlfriend, and some friends. While in a club, you get talked into skydiving onto a remote island. Upon landing, you find out the island is run by pirates who kidnap people for ransom, slavery, and other things. You escape from your prison and set forth to free your friends and family.
Gameplay: Open World, exploration, stealth, shooter. You control your player from first point of view. The gameplay plays out like Assassins creed meaning you have main missions to advance the plot and loads of side quests. Side quests include hunting animals with specific weapons, assassinating wanted pirates, timed medical runs with different vehicles, history of the island quests, collecting letters from WWII Japanese soldier's corpse, finding loot chests, finding memory cards and collecting 120 relics. There are two other main side quests which I consider more of the main quest which includes climbing and unlocking radio towers and taking over pirate camps. More of your map is uncovered when you unlock radio towers and map zones surrounding pirate camps turn from Red (when they have control of an area) to Green when you defeat and claim the camp. The game also has crafting which utilizes skins from dead animals and turns them into bigger wallets, weapon holders, ammo holders, backpacks, etc. As you progress, you unlock skill points. Skill points can be spent on a variety of options including health, stealth take-downs, healing ability, swimming and running ability and multiple weapon upgrades. These are applied as tattoos to your arm. You can unlock all the skills in a single play through. During exploration, you come across tons of animals. They can be predator type such as sharks, tigers, cheetahs, komodo dragons, bears, wild dogs, etc. or non-predator type such as pigs, deer, goats, etc. Your weapons in the game include knives, hand guns, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenade/rocket launchers, bow and arrows, etc. These weapons can be purchased with money (earned by searching corpses, finding stashes, and looting chests) or can be free by unlocking more radio towers.
Conclusion: While I enjoyed the game, I was a little disappointed by the ending, but that doesn't take anything away from it. You do have two possible endings that I know of so I will play through it again and try the other ending. You can continue the game after you beat it and try to accomplish more of your side quests if you prefer not to start a new game. The game overall is easily 9.5 out of 10. Great controls, excellent graphics, and enjoyable gameplay make this title one not to miss. The other great aspect of this game is that you can choose your preferred style, I.E when trying to take over pirate camps, you can be stealthy by shutting off the alarm and stealth killing every pirate in camp, or shoot the cage of caged animals to free them inside a camp and let them attack the pirates, or you can take the aggressive approach and go in guns blazing. You get this freedom throughout the game.
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video-games_xbox
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Beyond disgrace. Have been a PES fan for a long time. Saw the series had some ups and downs in recent years but did enjoy PES2013 to a degree. First bought this game for a friend as a gift. Played in his place for a couple hours but didn't like it. Several months later, decided to give it another go so bought another one for myself. Now the only thing I want to do is to sell it.
1. They never got it. Yea right, the gamers except a new game with completely different game play every year so we can spend weeks adjusting to the new way of playing, and just as we get used to it the next game comes out. They never got it, for a game that comes out every year, consistency is the everything. Once you get it right, don't start things all over for no reason.
2. Game play. I don't know which playing style suits this generation but mine certainly doesn't. I play the passing game, something like tiki-taka and I find it extremely difficult to connect passes. A short through ball can go horribly wrong. Of course there are a lot of other fun facts just to add to my misery, such as yellow card for touching the opponent; calling a foul 10 seconds after a shot was taken.
3. I was playing BAL recently, one of the two things I enjoyed most with PES, together with ML. First of all, lack of features comparing to PES2013. Can't imagine how that happened. Normal games gain features with new generation, they REMOVE features, good features. Your personal records don't show individual awards anymore; you don't know your place in the team anymore; club won't renew your contract; training points don't change from club to club; no more substitute role, either starting line-up or no call-up. Secondly, fixed and retarded game play from the AI. Teammates can never hit a good direct free-kick; a corner gets cleared out of the box, your teammates always take a volley and fire it to the sky; once in while they suddenly decide to pass a long ball to the side and the ball will go out of bound...those happen every single match. But I can put up with all those. The one thing makes BAL unplayable is that even your rating is the best in your team, even you are the MVP from last season, even you get 8.5 from last match, even your condition is RED and the teammate who plays your position is in purple, you will be dropped for no reason in the next one, and the next next one, next next next one...I was dropped for more than half of the season during my second season in the same club.
4. I am not even going to waste my time on ML.
Hard to believe PES has come to this after all these years. I still remember I switched from FIFA to PES about 12 years ago. Guess no one wins forever.
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video-games_xbox
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Comfortable, sounds great, but lacks documentation. Transmitter positioning critical. I was excited to try the Phantom headset by Turtle Beach on my Xbox 360, but I ended up with it on my Xbox One instead. TB includes no less than six different cables and adapters for various hookups... except the one I needed for my original Xbox 360. If you have an Xbox 360 slim or E model with a digital (SPDIF) output, then you'll probably be in good shape. But if you have an older model with the hard drive mounted externally (no SPDIF), then you'll need something called an Xbox 360 Audio Adapter (sold separately), like this one: <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Turtle-Beach-Ear-Force-Audio-Adapter-Cable-for-Xbox-360/dp/B00B08REVY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Turtle Beach Ear Force Audio Adapter Cable for Xbox 360</a>
The included instructions are absolutely zero help, if you actually need information with a setup that doesn't use the SPDIF connection. Example, there are red/white RCA inputs on the back of the transmitter, but no mention whatsoever about how to setup this connection, or why/when you'd even want to try. I downloaded the .pdf manual hoping for more detailed information, but it too fails to impart anything useful to the customer regarding setup or the headset's functions.
For example, please tell me what the multitude of buttons on the headset actually do, rather than just repeat a list of the labels that are printed on the earcups. Same goes for the included cables and adapters. There is more information printed on the plastic bag they ship in than what is written in the included setup guide or the downloaded manual. My headset light is flashing blue--what does that mean? I don't know, because neither the included setup guide nor the downloaded manual mentions it.
Failing my Xbox 360 hookup attempt, I turned to the Turtle Beach website and discovered that the Phantom is (allegedly) compatible with the Xbox One, which does have a SPDIF out. So this hookup seemed a lot more straightforward--XB SPDIF out to SPDIF in on the transmitter, and XB USB out to DC in on the transmitter. After charging the headset via its USB charge cable (which incidentally, turns the headset 'on' whenever it's connected, so you can't turn the headset 'off' while it's charging), I had no sound at all. I figured that was my fault, but by now the included user guide and the downloaded .pdf were in the trash.
Through trial and error, I discovered a little slide wheel on the underside of the headset that's labeled "Game Sound." This is separate from the "Volume" control buttons, but turning this up enabled me to hear sound through the headset! Joy! Again, the manual could have mentioned this little nugget of information and saved me time and a headache by informing me that there's a difference between "Game Sound" control and "Volume" control. Who knew?
Unfortunately, my joy was short lived. While TB claims the Phantom to be compatible with the Xbox One, if you want to do more than just listen (ie: chat) then you'll need your Kinect to handle the outgoing audio part. That's right, you can't use the headset's microphone to chat on an Xbox One. Yet. At the time of this review, there is talk/debate about an adapter that allegedly in the works for 2014 which will enable you to use the headset microphone for chat. Until then, you're stuck with the Kinect for the chat part, which means the people you're playing with will hear what's going on in the entire room in addition to what you're saying.
But for solo gameplay or watching movies, this wireless headset is absolutely the best. The Phantom headset is very well made--you can feel the quality the first time you lift if from the box--and extremely comfortable to wear for long periods. In fact, this is probably the most comfortable headset I have ever used. They sound great too, and with the positional Surround Sound, you can micro-adjust it to suit your own tastes. I'd like to know what all the other buttons do too, but... you know, that "no help" manual thing again. The on-board voice prompts from "Call of Duty: Ghosts" is pretty cool. It says things like "Powering Off" or "Game Mode One" (whatever that is). There's configuration software you can download, and then connect the headset to your computer and customize these too.
If there was one thing I would say could be improved about the Phantom headset then it would definitely be to include a better written user guide--like one that actually covers the headset's many cool features, multiple hookups, and the basics of how to use it. In hindsight, this all seems simple enough, but if you're not a techie, then you might find the available documentation about as helpful as if it were written in Latin. Until such time TB produces said detailed, helpful user guide, you're pretty much stuck with trial and error and figuring things out for yourself.
UPDATE: Jan 20, 2014. I have a negative to add to my review, and I am deducting a star for it. Like most people, I am limited to where I can position the transmitter from my Xbox because of the length of the SPDIF cable. My Xbox also sits within close range of my wireless router (about 6 feet from the headset transmitter). Whenever I try to charge or use the headset (ie when the transmitter is ON), I completely loose my internet connection because the transmitter overpowers my router signal. Thus, I can only use/charge the headset OR be online. I can't do both simultaneous. Pretty useless if you're trying to play while actually using the headset. You might say, "move your router" or "use Ethernet not wireless" which would be the logical solution for some, I am sure, but neither is an option for me. This is a huge dysfunction of this expensive headset that needs to be noted.
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video-games_xbox
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Locked and loaded. The week of the Xbox 360 launch, I would have been terrified if I were in the shoes of a Rare developer. Their game, Perfect Dark Zero, was largely viewed as the spearhead game for the launch. Therefore it was subject to more expectations, more criticism,
and more potential disappointment than any other game on the console. Not to mention, Rare has been frowned upon for a weak Xbox showing after being bought by Microsoft for a little short of $400 million. After completing the single-player campaign and
spending hours on Xbox Live fragging both humans and bots, I'll start clapping now for the once-thriving British developer. Perfect Dark Zero takes a hopeful look, locks, loads, fires, and delivers a blow as the best Xbox 360 launch game and one of the prime shooters of the year.
The story, which feels surprisingly tacked-on to an otherwise solid single-player experience, outlines the bounty hunter life of Joanna and Jack Dark. The Dark pair is tracking down the actions of Zhang Li, the CEO of the dataDyne Corporation, which
is hell-bent on uncovering and using a secret artifact found in South America. Along the way, Joanna is sent to chilly mountains of China, steamy jungles in Peru, and an underwater facility in the Pacific Ocean. Perfect Dark Zero begins as stealth-based
but turns into an all-out hunt at the end of its story. The ending had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head, but by then the story had already rendered me uninterested. It was fun to learn why Joanna affiliates herself with the Carrington Institute
and pursues the dataDyne Coproration before the events of Perfect Dark, but the story just doesn't make par with today's standards.
Despite the ridiculous ending Perfect Dark Zero does a fantastic job presenting and fulfilling each of its thirteen missions. There is a bit of variation from simply killing the artificially unintelligent enemies. Whether you're finding an important
object inside a briefcase in the Sewer Retrieval level, sneaking into Zhang Li's mansion in the Mansion Infiltration level, or monitoring guards in the Nightclub Stakeout level, there is a lot to do and each mission plays differently. Each one is between five and twenty minutes long, making the single-player experience disappointingly short. Still, with four difficulty levels (including the Dark Agent setting that is quite excruciating) and more objectives for each setting, Perfect Dark Zero doesn't
offer a lot. What it does offer you can play with in a few different ways. There are multiple paths through each mission, and using the four different in-game gadgets (like the lock-picking 'locktopus' and the explosive demolition kit), as well as the weapons, opens up a lot more variety in each level.
What I always loved about the Nintendo 64 classic was its staggering number of guns and gadgets to use. Perfect Dark Zero returns with another huge offering. Each of the 20+ tools has more than one use, making for almost fifty different ways to kill
enemies or complete objectives. For example, the high rate of fire and decent stopping power of the RCP-90 submachine gun is accompanied by a thermal vision that allows you to differentiate between friends and foes by outlining each in different colors.
The tons-O'-fun rocket launcher is even more explosive with the guided-by-wire rocket mode that allows you to direct and explode a rocket on your own free will. The KSI-74 (which is decidedly just a fancy AK-47) is deadly at medium range with
its regular bullets but for when the going gets tough and up-close, you can always shoot the attached bayonet at enemies. The return of the powerful, accurate Laptop Gun is my favorite, especially in multiplayer--when I wasn't unloading on enemies, I could always throw the weapon down as a self-activated, defensive sentry gun. It's this weapon variation that makes every experience different, and I certainly enjoyed the guns in this game more than in Halo 2 and other shooters.
While the single-player might be lacking in length, the multiplayer allows gamers to increase game time exponentially. Both on and offline, there are two different types of multiplayer modes--Deathmatch and Dark Ops. Deathmatch is quite simply a deathmatch mode. There are a few types of play, like the free-for-all KillCount and a team-based version, Team KillCount. Capture the Flag and Territorial Gains round out the rest of Deathmatch. CTF and Territorial Gains are almost the exact same thing you've played in other shooters, and Territorial Gains is blatantly similar to Halo 2's territories mode. Deathmatch modes are much quicker and are aimed at the less hardcore crowd. Most of my Xbox Live time was spent here, as I appreciated being able to pick up the controller, play a few rounds, and turn the game off without getting too involved.
On the other hand is Dark Ops. This mode features four more gametypes, each operating in tactical rounds rather than all-out battle. Eradication is an elimination-style mode where players are removed from the match after being killed and the team with the last surviving player wins. I didn't like this mode, as it invites a slow pace and too much hiding. Onslaught, which has teams defending a base against constantly respawning enemies, is the second Dark Ops type. This is much more intense and exciting than Eradication. Third is Infection, which is similar to the popular custom-made game "Zombies" or "Resident Evil". There is a team of "infected" players and "uninfected" players. The uninfected players try to fend off the infected, but become infected themselves if they're killed. By the end of the match, infected and uninfected points are tallied and the team with the most points wins. It's fun, it's simple, and it's exciting like it was on Halo 2. Last of all is Sabotage, where teams try to destroy as much property and kill each other as many times as possible and the team with the most demolition wins.
As if these match-based modes weren't enough, it's possible to go through every single level from the single-player campaign in cooperative play. The levels are actually a little different in this mode, as switches must be activated at the same time and players can strategize to take out enemies without losing as much health. Some of the weapon functions, like the Falcon pistol's Firecracker distraction, come in handy in cooperative play more than they ever do in single-player. I like that it's possible to play cooperatively. Even though PDZ's missions aren't as epic as those found in Halo, the fact that cooperative play is available is a sign that Rare worked hard to incorporate a lot for gamers to play in the game.
Huge, wide-open levels, beautiful textures, and detailed character models are only a few visual feats under PDZ's belt. Details like particle effects, blood spray, muzzle flash, bullet shells, and vision blur are so perfectly done in this game that even without a high-definition television set, you're getting a visual treat. I got a chance to play this game in high-def and I can't even believe how amazing it looks. Surrounding the crisp, clear look is a futuristic art style that fits so well in each of the 13 levels. From the neon-lit port in the Nightclub Stakeout to the huge, open canyon in Bridge Assault, every single level looks fantastic. The physics system is a little buggy when a corpse falls and starts to twitch but that is the only visual complaint I can find to mention here. The music serves as a perfect way to set the pace of the action going on. I don't remember music being so great in a first-person shooter since, well, Halo. The low-key, moody stuff found in the slow, stealthy missions gives you a chance to listen for enemy chatter and footsteps. The electronica-rock that tears out of the speakers when the action gets rough will have your blood pumping hard while you're shredding enemies with your Laptop Gun. If it weren't for the annoying voices of Joanna Dark and a few other characters found in the game, as well as some laughable dialogue, I'd say that PDZ is a sonically flawless title.
The only warning I must give my fellow gamers is that Perfect Dark Zero, despite being looked at as the "Halo 2 of the Xbox 360", isn't this at all. Perfect Dark Zero isn't a revolutionary shooter. It can be easily argued that the single-player missions are a joke and the multiplayer is unimpressive. I simply can't agree with that, but it's important to remember that Perfect Dark Zero is PDZ, not Halo 2. Perfect Dark Zero is a great shooter on its own right but it isn't a game that will redefine first-person shooters and it isn't a game that will redefine the Xbox 360. As a launch title, it's a huge success. As an anticipated launch title, it's simply a success. As a title that some people will instantly compare to Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, it's a disappointment. If you took one of these three routes, I hope you took one of the first two and you check out Perfect Dark Zero. At this point, it's my favorite Xbox 360 title and it is one of the strongest launch games of all time next to the Nintendo 64's Super Mario 64, the Xbox's Halo, and the Dreamcast's NFL 2K. Play this game because it's a great shooter. Play this game because it's got a lot to offer on Xbox Live. Play this game because it's one of the most impressive visual and audio packages of the entire year. But whatever you do, don't play this game because you think it's Halo 3.
[...]
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video-games_xbox
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FINAL WARNING! THIS GAME WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 3...2...1. It really pains me to rate with 1 star a successor of the classic RED ALERT series. But EA made sure to ruin this franchise as well. Buy this today and in a few months encounter this:
YOUR GAME HAS EXPIRED. THANK YOU. NOW PAY AGAIN.
Similar to all major EA releases since June (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/MASS-EFFECT/dp/B00140P9BA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">MASS EFFECT</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/SPORE/dp/B000FKBCX4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">SPORE</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/DEAD-SPACE/dp/B0019C4MU2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">DEAD SPACE</a> &<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/CRYSIS-WARHEAD/dp/B001ATHKVC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">CRYSIS-WARHEAD</a>) RED ALERT 3 harbors the most malignant version of SecuROM (7.xx) that is also crippled by Limited Installations (3 or 5 it makes no difference, it is still a RENTAL!). And to no avail mind you: all these games received ZERO protection from their draconian DRM scheme when it came to preventing their piracy!
Exactly like Spore, for which the customer backlash was heard around the world, EA is trying to force this DRM scheme down its customers' throats instead of doing the reasonable thing: listening to them.
Since piracy will always be a factor to consider and everyone has the right to protect his investment, a form of DRM will also always exist. But, at the same time, this gives no one a free hand in entrapping and exploiting their own customers. Or using piracy as a thin pretext to slip snoopware into our computers!
- Revoking our rights as the Administrators of our own computer by creating irremovable folders or registry entries or subroutines that run masked is unacceptable!
- Bundling a snooping, auto-updating and in-secret-contact-with-the-mothership utility that retains backdoor access to our computers is unacceptable!!
- Trying to force legitimate gamers to pay again and again for the same game by Limiting its Installations is UNACCEPTABLE!!
I am sure that, in the end, the best and more effective DRM method will prove to be very simple: reasonable pricing. Who would place his computer in danger of Trojans, Worms or slow Viruses of a pirated copy when the original costs $20? And since even more people would buy the game, everyone should be happy. But fighting piracy was never what EA is aiming for (after all, piracy has been used to cover a multitude of executive blanders over the years).
Let's be honest: datavoring SecuROM subroutines and Limited Installations have NOTHING TO DO WITH FIGHTING PIRACY. They aim at making us pay for the same game AGAIN & AGAIN and preventing us from ever reselling our copies.
EA, you had me as a customer for years. I even gave your products more than fair reviews. Unless someone cleans house over there and you start listening to your customers, you cannot count on any more of my money.
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video-games_xbox
|
it's fun even for an old guy. I'll start off by saying that I haven't played any other racing games - and this game (Juiced) is my teenage son's game. I watched him play it a couple of times - thought it looked like fun - and decided to try it myself.
Apparently this games key feature is "respect" - it's what the focus of the game is. To compete in certain races, you need a certain level of respect with other drivers. And different drivers have different criteria for granting respect. Some value good driving, some value agressive betting, some value the ability to win pink slip races.
As you gain respect with different drivers, you can race them for pink slips (they'll call you on your in-game cell phone and ask you to race for pinks), invite you to host a challenge at their "track", among other things.
The one review who said that this was more of a budgeting game must not have been winning many, if any races. Yes, as time goes on, there are less and less "free" (i.e. you don't have to pay and entry fee to race). However, if you're a reasonably good driver, you can pay the entry fee for a race, and if you win (and sometimes - depending upon the race - if you place second) you can still make money on the race. Even when you figure in repairing your car.
Obviously, the further you go in the race, the more you can make winning races. I've been playing off and on for a couple of months, and I just won a "class 1" race where the prize money was $450,000.
One of the other nice aspect, from my standpoint, is building a "crew" of other drivers who want to drive as part of your team. Personally, I suck at cornering - I go in to fast - I usually hit the barricade - and generally beat up my car, and don't do very well with races that have a lot of cornering.
My solution? Have one of my crew race for me. Granted, I cannot bet with other drivers in the race, but I can win the prize money if my driver comes in first (my car - my entry fee - my prize money).
It's also pretty fun to develop a series of cars. The way it works in Juiced is there are 8 classes of cars. The class is solely based upon the cars base horsepower (BHP). From 0 BHP to 199 is class 8, 200 BHP to 299 is class seven, all the way up to 900 BHP up to 1200 (I think) BHP is class one. The highest I've gotten a car's BHP is up to 1043 (a "prototype" Dodge Viper). There are several different types of upgrades you can purchase for your cars. Also, to "unlock" new upgrades, you have to win races. The different parts are fuel filter (I think), shocks, muffler, brakes, tires, turbo, and nitrous oxide (NOS or NO2). Each part has 3 different levels, and a "prototype" level. Obviously, the better the parts on your car (except for brakes, shocks and nitrous oxide) the higher your BHP, thus the higher the class of your car.
There are basically three different types of races, circuits (go around a course a given number of times), point-to-point (follow a course only one tme) and sprints (a usually straight stretch where you do three heats). Since I suck at cornering so bad, I've started sticking to sprints.
Also, you have the option to race for "pinks" - pink slips, or the ownership of cars. Basically, if you lose the race, you lose the car. And, it always seems to be for your most powerful (i.e. highest class) car.
One neat - though initially I didn't like it - feature is that the XBox version of the game (don't know if the other versions do it or not) does an "autosave" before a race. I don't know specifically how it works, but if you're racing, and loose your nerve - or get pissed off - and shut the game off - you're still screwed - you still lost the race. Apparently the game writes a little file or something that says "he's racing this race, for this amount of money, on this track" - and if it doesn't get the little piece of info that says "he won this race" - then obviously you lost.
Like I said, I've been playing it on and off for a couple of months, I just started playing it again a week or so ago - and I've gotten to the point where I have $3,000,000 in my account, about a dozen cars, 8 of them are prototypes - which includes 5 prototype class one Dodge Vipers (every upgrade is a prototype) that I won in pink slip races.
All in all, for somebody who's never played a racing game before - I think it's pretty fun! Even for an old guy!
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video-games_xbox
|
A Classic with Some Minor Flaws. I finished the Single player last night and I'll admit I had no idea it would end the way it did. Very much a surprise ending
The games main story arc and side quests and random missions are all well done and will take most anyone over 10 hours to complete. The mini games are very well done and one could easily spend hours in the various casino and parlor games.
I did not finish GTA4 because of the lack of a real save game feature. When you died in GTA4 missions you had to start from the very beginning and that took so much time.
RDR eliminates that. The game saves at intervals during actual story missions - so if you die, you have the option to restart from the last check point.
Also a big bonus - in RDR you have a Campsite and Advanced Campsite that allow you to not only save when/where you want, but also Fast Travel to anyplace you've been on the map down to a precise waypoint you place. Thank You Rockstar!
For aiming - there is an auto target system that works when you are pointing within reasonable proximity of a target. Coupled with "Dead Eye" which is RDR's "Bullet Time" you are able to hold your own even while on horseback or picking off moving targets.
The game is very accessible. I've transitioned from being a full time PC gamer to console back in 2007 with Bioshock. RDR is an ideal game for PC game player to get into.
The downsides to the game - there are a few
The character movement on foot can be jumpy at the wrong times. The cover system is close to non existent. Moving the stick while in cover can result in your character running out of cover and into enemy fire. You learn to quickly start pointing toward enemy positions and using the auto target and fire away. It's very effective but kind of takes any real tactical strategy away from the gun fights. Staying behind cover too long waiting for the right shot is not the thing to do. Your fellow fighters are pretty good at putting down the bad guys. Get as many kills in before they do it for you.
Pros
Very solid voice acting and very interesting story overall
The landscape and visuals are stunning
There's plenty of side quests and activities to do outside of the main story line
Animations throughout the game are nicely done
The game is not exceptionally hard
Cons
Character control scheme can be problematic at times
The little time I've put into multiplayer I've been put in with people of exceptional skill. Lasting 6 seconds after respawn every time wears quickly.
Hard core game players may be taken aback by how well target assist there is in the game.
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video-games_xbox
|
The pros and cons of the AX PRO. First... I'm a hardcore 26 year old gamer. I play Call of Duty, MAG, Battlefield, and Medal of Honor to name a few. Also, I own both a 360 and PS3, but I have ONLY used this with my PS3 since I play my PS3 99.9% of the time. I have experience with Turtle Beach P21, X31, X41, and Tritton AX Pro.
If you're thinking of buying this headset, chances are, you play a first person shooter like Call of Duty, Halo, Medal of Honor, MAG, etc. Whether you buy this headset or any other, make sure it has 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. Buying a stereo headset is a waste of money. Stereo sound let's you hear left and right only. With 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound you can hear in 360 degrees and determine where someone is and how far away they are.
TRUE STORY:
After getting this headset, I decide to re-calibrate it to work perfectly with the sound setup of Call of Duty: Black Ops. I had a friend join me in a private match to help out. I closed my eyes (in real life) then my friend slowly walked around me in circles shooting a silenced pistol in the air every so often. I slowly turned my character while listening to the sounds of his footsteps and gunfire and I pulled the trigger once. I SHOT HIM WITH MY EYES CLOSED! That right there should tell you how much these can help your game.
If you are buying a headset for your 360, you should also consider with Turtle Beach X41 because of it's good quality and it's WIRELESS! They are lightweight and are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. They also have better treble while the AX Pro's have better surround sound. You should read reviews on both headsets and decide which would better suit you as a player.
If you're thinking of buying this for the PS3, there is no competition in it's price range. [Astro A40's are $250 and I can't comment on them because I've never tried them]. The only other headset worth mentioning is the Turtle Beach X41's which can be used with the PS3 if you buy a $30 adapter which enables the use of the microphone in exchange for the wireless capabilities.
PROS:
- Amazing sound quality
- Best surround sound I've experienced (5.1)
- More adjustment options than any other headset!!! The sound set up of Call of Duty is different than Halo which is different than Battlefield. With the AX Pro's, you can adjust your headset perfectly for EVERY game you play.
- Separate volume adjustments for game volume and chat volume
- Crystal clear mic with great noise cancellation
- Ear deafening volume
- Mute mic switch
- Reasonably priced compared to other high quality headsets
- The option to run TWO headsets into the same system
CONS:
- Turtle Beach X41's have better treble sound
- The build quality is questionable. I don't remember how "tight" the ear muffs were when I bought this, but I know now it's wobbly and it feels fragile after two months. Every other part feels rigid and secure.
- Lots of wires! Clutters things up and with any wire, you run the risk of tripping or possibly damaging it. (My friend stepped on his cord as he stood up and it ripped clean out of his headset)
- The inline audio controller can cause SERIOUS problems. I play with it resting in my lap. Sometimes, I'll stand up without thinking about it and it will fall out of my lap. The weight of it falling pulls a good bit on the headset and I'm afraid that before long, it will seriously damage it. Hasn't happened yet, though.
- This headset is heavier than others and after a while of wearing it, you will feel fatigued. I have to take a break every 30 minutes or so.
VERDICT:
If you can deal with wires and some extra weight, then you should certainly get this headset. The pros clearly outweigh the cons and the surround sound will certainly improve your stats in any first person shooter. When compared to other headsets in it's range, it wins with better surround sound than Turtle Beach. As far as added options, personalizations, and custom set up for ever game... it can't be touched by any other headset.
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video-games_xbox
|
Awesome.... Simply Awesome. These headphones are awesome. I did not however get them for gaming. I got them for help working in the by far noisiest working environment I have ever worked in.
At work I am in a cube that is noisy 50% to 95% of a given day. I share it with one of the main application support guys on our team, and he often has a line waiting to see him. While they wait I am an open target for them to kill the wait time talking to me.
When there is no line for troubleshooting issues he works with another guy in a different cube on every detail of project work they get. It is like one mind in two bodies, they are constantly making every decision together. The noise level was a little less when they didn't have project work, but they just started a year, maybe two year long project. On days I have to think, I get a conference room to work in.
I work from home on Mondays. My home desk provides me twice the area I have at work. I have the room at a cool 68F. I have a great ergonomic chair. If I get a call I can put it on speaker phone, instead of having to hold it to my ear with my shoulder. On average I would estimate I get 20 - 80% more work done on Mondays than any other day of the week because I have the isolated environment I need to think.
I got these headphones in hopes of getting some of my home office serenity in my work cube. They do the job, but with a few issues.
First of all the noise cancellation works great. The quality of sound is awesome, and all the features and functionality work as advertised.
The ear padding is the first type that I can wear my glass with. All other types built like these, with the enclosed ears, would pinch my ear between the foam and glasses where they go over the ear. This foam is soft enough for that not to happen, which is awesome.
My first issue is that my ears get crazy hot in these things. That is not the fault of the headphones, I wouldn't think. Probably just my big ears over heating from being enclosed. It takes about 1.5 hours for this to become noticeably uncomfortable. Taking a 1/2 hour break from them usually let me use the again for about an 1.5 hours before becoming uncomfortable.
My second issue is that some of the headphones I have had in the past let the head band be pulled down to the neck. You can't do that with these. I am still trying to figure out how to wear them without walking around work looking like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals after using them.
Other than those two minor comfort things, which aren't really the headphone's problem, I love them. The sound is killer, and so is the battery life. I have not fully drain them yet and have used them for at least 8 hours in one day before throwing them back on the charger.
So in the end, yes they are pricey, but like they say, you get what you pay for. That is true with these. You get a high quality set of headphones for the $$$.
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video-games_xbox
|
EA FANBOYS need to chill. I'm reading a lot of "I'm going to definitely switch to Live this year." I've yet to see a legitimate gameplay footage to date, so I don't know why there's so much hype. I want to point out that I've been a Live fan up until 2007 and never looked back. Let's face it, if EA didn't monopolize NFL rights, they wouldn't last in football either.
Now that I got my rant out of the way, I want to point out the obvious changes in nba2k14. I hear people complaining that it's the "same" thing as nba2k13." I hope everyone knows that in terms of graphics, this is the best current gen consoles are going to get. It has totally maxed out. With that said, these graphics are no slouch. In terms of gameplay, defense has been the biggest difference. Shot blocking, as advertised, has been improved drastically this year. Chase down blocks are more realistic relative to the player's ability. Interior defense plays a huge factor as well. Not as many easy uncontested lay ups under the basket. One thing I did notice right away was that transitions buckets did not come as easy. Man defense has definitely improved as well. It is much easier to shadow ball carriers and play tougher and intense defense. I didn't get much of the whole stagnant players sticking together. One thing that bugs the heck out of me is the ball sensitivity. I feel like every time I dribble into the paint or traffic the ball is constantly bouncing off other players' feet or bodies. It gets really frustrating navigating in the paint. I felt players lose control of the ball easier as well which is irritating.
In terms of offense, one thing that I had to get used to was getting back to the shot stick. Spin layups, hop steps, and euro steps are all done through the shot stick. The euro-step and floaters/tear drops are no longer automatic. I'm not a huge fan of the "flashy" pass feature. I felt it was unnecessary and cheesy. It was not realistically accessible. I caught players doing behind the head passes all the way back to mid court and cross court. I would've like for 2k to somehow allow full control of bounce passes. It was not as easy to dunk. Because of the improved defensive mechanics, many players would adjust for layups instead of the dunk over the top, which I liked. So no more LeBron trucking his way to the basket dunking everything.
All in all, it's a different game. It is not nba2k13 with new rosters, as every one is saying. The sooner people realize that 2k is focusing on the next-gen, people will appreciate NBA2k14 much more.
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video-games_xbox
|
Great Game With a Few Monumental Flaws. Fight Night round 2 is so frustrating because this should have been a game that was head and shoulders above every other boxing game created so far as well as almost any other sports game out there. It is still a good game but falls far short off the greatness that was so easily within reach. Here's my take on the many highs and major lows:
Why is the Game so Much Fun...
a) Punching control/delivery, movemnet, and response to punches landed are wonderfully delivered. Graphics are top notch, and the soundtrack while not quite as good as the previous version in my humble opinion isn't bad.
b) The create a boxer mode has tons of possibilities and offers hours of entertainment as you create a boxer that can look like almost anything you can imagine (within reason off course!!) and fight your way to the top in different weight classes.
c) Playing with a friend (or foe!!) is great and for boxing fans, this is probably as close as you can get to living the dream of big time boxing without actually getting your block knocked off.
d) Different add-ons, like tattos, different types of apparell, ring entrances and cute ring girls can make for an ecclectic colorful boxer and entrance.
e) While it doesn't appear to really have a direct impact to the outcome of a match, the cuts, briuses, as well as the cutmen in your corner make it seem realistic and remind you that your boxer is taking or dishing out a grand beating as the case may be!!!
f)You can now protect your boxer while he is moving foward or backwards. Great addition.
g)A boxer in trouble can now clinch to stop the pummeling!!!
EA Missed the Boat...
a)Parrying a punch which was included in the previous game was quite interesting. If it was pulled off correctly, it gave the parryer a slight opening to land a punch. Even when you did parry a punch a quick opponent could escape damage if you weren't quick to strike. When a punch is parried here (FN Rd 2) the boxer inexplicably drops his hands down to his side, and literally sticks his head out for about 2-3 seconds!!!!!! This is completely asinine!!!!! Also as soon as the AI is close to being knocked out, 8 out of 10 punches you throw are going to be parried. So a person is more able to defend himself when he is close to being knocked out?!?!?! Oh behave!!!! Yeah that makes a lot of sense.
b)Inclusion of the HAYMAKER: while this might have seemed like a good idea, it definitely did not translate to anything positive in this game. In fact I will go as far as to say that this is the single most negative, and worthless addition to the game. It single handedly destroys, and downgrades the game play against the games AI. It is understandable that especially in the heavyweight class, a single well placed punch thrown with the full force a boxer can muster could knock an opponent out. However there is a reason boxers don't go around throwing HAYMAKERS. You can see them coming from a mile away, you can't throw them in combinations, and they wear you down really fast. Neither one of these apply to the AI in this game, so you have a situation were an opponent throws HAYMKERS in a rapid stacatto fasion!!!! Totally rediculous!!! Combine this with the previously discussed parrying flaw and a fight against a fairly competent AI oponent would go something like this: You throw one punch it get's parried and your boxer puts down his hands and sticks his head out, boom, boom, boom, you get hit by 3 haymakers. This is repeated over and over (AI never tires of throwing haymakers off course), till either you get knocked out or you dance around your opponent till the match ends, afraid to throw a single punch.
Have you all noticed that anytime a game maker introduces a special move; especially difficult for a human to complete, which has the propensity to drastically change the outcome of a game, that game invariably becomes a mess. This in no exception.
Playing this game with a friend hides it's worst flaws, and here the game really shines as it can provide hours of fun and entertainment; beating each other sensless without actually loosing any teeth. However playing against the AI at any serious level is indeed a lesson in futility, which quickly becomes distracting. Perhaps EA got lazy and took the easy way out towards the end who know?.....
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video-games_xbox
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Analog Sticks Faulty. I usually don't write reviews but I just had to write one to warn people of this controller. I've been a gamer for the last 15 years and I've played many systems over that time period. And this is the first controller that I've come across where I'm baffled at how it could have possible passed QC. The analog sticks on this controller are it's Achilles heel. If you happen to push down (R3/L3) too hard on this controller the analog sticks will break. It happens more on the left stick mainly because this is the side you usually use to move your player/character. Most people will experience this issue when playing sports games fifa, nhl, madden etc. Me and my friends have gone through at least 8 controllers in the past year or so and all have suffered from this same issue. I have even opened up the controller to find out what the problem is and it's crazy how easily these controllers can break. On the base of the analog sticks there is a grey piece of plastic that is suppose to work the R3/L3 click function. This piece of plastic is held on by a single pressure tab on each side. So if you happen to apply too much downward force this piece pops off. This causes two problems. First the analog sticks will get stuck or click when manuaevering your player. This causes players to run in the wrong direction or drift off the field. Also when this piece pops off it moves around in the controller and can get stuck in the triggers. I'm not hard on my controllers and I still have many of my old ones from previous systems that still work without any problems. This is the first controller that I've had major issues with. If you read around on forums or reviews you will see a lot of complaints pertaining to this problem. I doubt Microsoft will fix this but I hope and pray something is done because I feel like I bought a 300 dollar system that I can't even use. Other than this one major problem I like this controller. I want to like this controller but I can't because of this one major problem that affects every game I play. And I doubt a fix will happen any time soon. The 360 controller was great and with the Xbox one controller I feel they improved on a lot of what made that so great but they skipped on the quality or just happened to have a really bad design flaw.
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video-games_xbox
|
Batman Never Disappointed Me. Playing in the dark atmosphere is a thrilling drive. Fighting against thugs, criminals, robots, etc. Driving an awesome bat-mobile all around of Gotham City, I bought this game because of the action and the storyline. This grabs my attention very quickly and couldn't let go of the controller, just like the Witcher 3. The graphics are just so real and the combat fighting is outstanding. Of course, if you played the recent games of batman, it is the same thing but different types of moves that makes you go "WOW" or "DAMN!".
The gameplay is very similar to the previous titles, but forsure, they changed some stuff with the buttons. I tried to remember what was different like using the gadgets or whatever. It is smooth playing with third person view and there will be times before it hits the cutscenes, it goes to first-person view which that surprised me. Driving the bat-mobile was little confusing because 'X' is the REVERSE and STOP BUTTON! It is very annoying when you are trying to powerslide or slow down with X. I rather have LT but that is the button for BATTLEMODE which is awesome to have that feature but still, I think 99 percent of people will be using LT and making mistakes driving the bat-mobile lol.
The nextgen console shows that true graphics with great details of batman's suit, the city, the bat-mobile, and everything else, very similar to Arkham City or Origins but more drop shadow. It gives you that dark vibe when batman needs to take control over the city and punish those criminals.
ENOUGH CONTENT? You think it is worth 60 dollars? I think so, because there are so much to do like side missions, solving riddles, doing main missions, bonuses content, and reviewing over the characters' bio. Forsure, there is enough stuff. Sadly, there is no online mode but who cares? I rather play the story than that. Make sure to do some side missions before continuing on the main missions because it will help a lot at the end unless you are not in the rush of finishing the game. I am planning to keep the game for a while for those new DLCs coming out at the end of the year I guess.
OPEN WORLD GOTHAM! Very awesome to roam around with your badass batmobile and using your battlemode against enemies. This is not Arkham city anymore boys and girls. You are still able to Glide through the city but of course, get the experience with the batmobile. Sometimes, it does make me mad that the city is too big because you have to go across the map just to do a mission or finding a body around the city to complete the mission. I thought it was hell in Arkham City, but after playing this, this is even worst lol
ALLIES! I am glad that there were few missions that you can tag along with your favorite characters like Nightwing, Catwoman, and Robin. Mostly, Robin will be with you at the main missions. The dual fighting is not that bad. I was happy that they have a feature where you build up a meter so you can perform a dual takedown like you saw in the trailers.
Joker -_- OMG the guy is ANNOYING! but also, funny too lol. Even though, he is dead (of course you will fry him at the introduction of the game). He is still in Batman's head like some kind of conscious of doing bad things or getting on his side. We all should know that Joker is Batman's fear until he overcomes it at the end against Scarecrow.
TITLE CHANGE PLEASE! I understand that the Arkham Knight is a badass character (and won't say his REAL name but you guys will see it in other reviews) but Scarecrow was still not defeated until after the Arkham Knight. He was a big figure in the game but not as much with the Scarecrow. The title should be like Arkham's Nightmare or something with fear because if you look at the big picture, it is all about batman against Scarecrow. The Knight was just there to help out Scarecrow and hating on Batman because of their background history. but it's whatever. That's my opinion.
Overall, this game is freaking awesome and will play again along with those DLC. I did not buy the season pass because it is idiotic to wait at the end of the year for new updates for DLCs. It is very pointless to pay that right now. If you preordered the game, I hope you are having fun with those bonuses like Red Hood (Arkham Knight) and Harley Quinn. The storyline is always on the ball and gives me more entertain to find out what will happen next :D
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video-games_xbox
|
Disappointed. Where to begin...
I've been playing EA's Fifa series for 10 years on various platforms/consoles(PC, Playstation, Xbox, Xbox 360), and I am always at the store the day the game comes out. I purchased Fifa 07 for Xbox when it came out, and I loved it. I thought the manager mode had some great touches, and the game was just a fun soccer game. But, that's a different review entirely. As for Fifa 07 on Xbox 360:
Positives:
Corner kicks. I like the fact that the players no longer just stand stationary in the box until the ball is played in. Anyone who has ever played the game in real life knows that you don't just stand around hoping the ball hits you on the head. You move to get open. EA finally added some life into the offense in this regard.
Commentary is very good. I like the random side conversations, and the nice references to particular players. I play with Newcastle, and it's cool to hear them mention Owen's WC injury, etc.
Personally, I think the graphics look pretty good. Some of the players are way off as far as looks go, but during the gameplay, the game looks great. That's pretty much where I end my positives.
Oh, and I do enjoy being able to kick the ball around with Ronaldinho during the game load. It's nice to have something better to do during load times. Unfortunately, there are no moves, so it does get old pretty quickly.
Negatives:
Player creation lost some of it's fun. First of all, you can't turn your player when you are creating physical attributes. You can't turn the head to get an accurate depiction of what the player looks like. This isn't important to some people, but I enjoy creating a team of my friends, and it's fun when the people look fairly similar to their real-life counterparts. Also, you can't stack a player's skills. This is good and bad. The main issue I have is that you can't create a real phenom player that you can use as a future backbone of a team. I haven't played enough to see how long it takes to get a player up to a Ronaldinho level of skill, but I can't imagine it being possible with the talent attribute system that EA used this time around.
The interface is horrid...I repeat...horrid. As an interface designer myself, I can't believe this game got away with this. I noticed that all of the EA games are using this new horizontal expansion menu, but it's garbage. Go back to using the simple stuff...please. Some of the stuff that I was looking for is so deep and annoying to get to, that it makes me not even want to complete certain tasks. Player creation took so long that I made one player, and didn't feel like going through the process again. The fonts are hard to read (granted, I don't have a huge HDTV), and the black is heavy and sets a very drab tone for the game. The regular Xbox version is so much nicer to look at.
Game play leaves a lot to be desired. Is it just me, or does the computer try to dribble non-stop? I can't even get the ball half of the time. It takes a double or triple-team approach to disrupt the computer's player on the dribble. Annoying.
Then there's the obvious lack of trick moves. How do you make a game this involved, a game that strives for realism, and leave out a major aspect of the game. The worst part seems to be this: EA made the defense easier to dribble around instead of adding trick moves. Very lame, and very frustrating, as it's hard to defend the dribble as well (mentioned previously).
The amazing offering of teams and players!!! Okay, okay, you know that's sarcasm. 6 leagues? What? Seriously? If I'm lucky enough to get to the "ECC" or "EFA", I can't wait to see the teams in the tournament(s). I guess you go straight to the group games even if you finish in 4th in the Premiership. Looking forward to that! Ha.
With all of that said, I will continue to play this game and hope that they improve some of the gameplay issues via updates, but I'm still highly bummed about this offering, and I'm so tempted to just go back to Fifa 07 on Xbox, because I had a lot of fun playing that...and thankfully, I didn't trade it in.
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video-games_xbox
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An awesome game with awesome multiplayer. The Good: Looks and sounds amazing, very real, decent story, likable characters, superb multiplayer
The Bad: Can't blow up small objects? unbalanced difficulty, hunting for things in the campaign detracts from experience, very few multiplayer modes
Ahhh...the tired old FPS genre. Everyone loves it and then everyone hates it. What more can developers do to change the FPS genre to make it interesting? Better graphics? Better sounds? More realistic AI? Realistic physics? Less linear? Keep the linearity? More vehicles? Better story? The list goes on and on, and the answer is yes to all of the above.
Bad Company 2 is a sequel of the first, but the first game was pretty forgettable. You play as a squad of four soldiers who were military rejects and must earn their freedom or face the slammer. They are sent into Africa and other parts of the world to find some sort of scalar weapon that the Russians found from Japan and are using it for global dominiation. Not something we haven't seen before, but the squad has great characters that you'll love and hearing their banter is enough to keep playing.
A lot of people are comparing Bad Company 2 to Modern Warfare 2 and if I were to pick the better game? Bad Company 2 for single player and realism, and Modern Warfare 2 for multiplayer, but then again I'm not comparing the two so let's get down to it. The first thing you will notice is how real Bad Company 2 feels more so than any other shooter so far. The sounds are just amazing with the sound of fire echoing off caverns, the sounds of you reloading echoing in a building, the pinging of bullet shells hitting the floor, everything sounds like it would in life and is placed accordingly unlock most (if not all) shooters real or not. The foilage looks real and everything blows up. You can blow pretty much anything up in the game with anything you can get hold of. This is also used in game play when getting around turrets that you can't shoot through. Find some red barrells and blow the building up, then have it collapse on everyone below it. This goes for radio towers, telephone poles, and large trees. Then again it's pretty stupid when you can blow apart small objects like trash cans, chairs, or cardboard boxes, so its very strange.
The weapon selection in the game is great, and you get all your real world guns and they fire like they should. The guns feel powerful, and everything about shooting feels dead on. Gone, however, is the whole healing thing and instead you just hide in cover to heal. Another element stripped is finding the gold bars, but instead M-COM stations that you blow up, and finding weapons. The M-COM stations are hard to find, and I don't know where all the hidden weapons could be, but they're there for people who like that stuff. I personally hate finding crap in shooters like this since it detracts from the experience and pulls you out. Other than that though the game is paced nicely and flows just right.
There are some elements that haven't been down before like the whole blowing up everything in your path (in an FPS anyways) and there's even one level where you will freeze to death if you don't find shelter fast. This level has you knifing doors open as you race down a hillside. There some epic vehicle sections (that hasn't been done before), but there is one level that isn't linear that has three checkpoints and you can choose which ones you want to do first. The opening level is even from WWII in Japan so the game is full of surprises and is a blast to play.
When it comes to multiplayer the game is solid with three modes of play, but my favorite is Rush. Like in the original game you have an attacker and defender side on a huge map (this one supports 64 players). You have five different classes to choose and you can customize them as you please. There are 3 "perks" that you can use at a time, but they must be unlocked and this takes awhile. The multiplayer is fast, intense, and fun with lots of vehicles zooming around, everything blowing up, and people just being crazy.
My last words here must be how amazing the game looks. Probably being the best looking shooter around it looks great technically, but has no artistic style and is just "real life" type of stuff, so its not for everyone. If you want a really amazing shooter to play and are bored of Modern Warfare 2 pick up Bad Company 2 because its one hell of a ride.
LIMITED EDITION: If you pick up the game anyone soon you can still get the limited edition that has 6 multiplayer unlocks and entitles you to upcoming maps for free. A deal? I'd say with it being the standard price and no additional charge. So find a new copy if you can
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video-games_xbox
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Who is really in command. Bethesda, you have a problem. Star Trek Legacy needs a lot of work. To get the game where it needs to be, have your software designers pick up a copy of Activision's Star Trek Bridge Commander, and study it carefully.
After I got passed my initial adrenaline rush brought on by STL's stunning graphics, crystal-clear voiceovers and music, I was immediately disappointed by its clunky menus, control interface and tedious multiplayer game lobby, which even the most experienced Xbox 360 gamers will have trouble figuring out. One thing is certain, Starfleet ship designers at Utopia Planetia would never approve Bethesda's STL interface for use on any starship.
It's also so painful trying to get a multiplayer game going from the STL's game lobby, if you're lucky to get anyone to play with at all. You'll also expend a lot of energy explaining the interface to the other players, so I don't recommend playing the game on an empty stomach. And once a multiplayer game ends, you can't start a new one with the same players or even communicate with them, for that matter. So long, suckers. This huge deficiency is completely incompatible with the fundamental goal of Xbox Live, which is to connect with other gamers in a virtual community. You also can't join an STL multiplayer game in progress from the Xbox 360's dashboard.
When you're in the heat of a battle, you can't target individual systems on an enemy ship. In contrast, in Activision's Bridge Commander, the player decides what to target, i.e. the warp core, sensors, engines or cloaking device, to either destroy or disable an enemy. No such luck in STL, the program's artificial intelligence will choose what it will target on an enemy vessel. You'll be left asking yourself, "So, how did I destroy that ship?" Who needs a battle autopilot? There's no fun in that. In ST: Next Generation, Picard would never have said, "Weapons, target whatever you want. Fire."
Bethesda has the legacy part right. The game offers a lot of ships from the various Star Trek eras to choose from. But there's still much work to be done to make this simulation more real and Star Trek-compliant. Bethesda, please get back to work.
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video-games_xbox
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I am left wanting something more. Ok, so I've played every C&C game ever created, and after a long period of reflection, I feel that I am ready to write my review of RA3.
In my opinion, RA 1&2 were very good games. I thought that they were better than the Tiberian Sun series, which is not to say that Tiberian Sun was bad, it just wasn't as good as RA2. Seeing this, I think, EA decided that when they made Tiberium Wars, they were going to put a whole lot of work into it and make an awesome game. Well, they succeeded in doing that and Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath were both very good games. However, they also decided that they needed to make another Red Alert game to go along with it, so they thought really hard and came up with Red Alert 3, which to me doesn't look like they put a lot of work into.
First, there was the whole problem with leaving 1 digit off of the CD key. That bugged me, but it was a temporary problem and so I let it slide.
Second, there was the need to be connected to the internet in order to actually finish the install once EA had send me the last digit of the key. That bugged me because at the time, I was unable to connect to the internet and had to delay yet again on the installation.
Third, there was the game itself. While I'm a fan of Red Alert's corniness and humor, I just wasn't feeling it in this game. Tim Curry was brilliant, so don't let me give you the impression that I'm putting him down, but there was something about the game itself that bothered me.
I think what it was was the addition of the Empire of the Rising Sun. Just as in Tiberium Wars, the new faction pretty much broke the game by being incredibly cheap and overpowered. Unfortunately, you cannot, as you could with the Scrin in Tiberium Wars, just use fire units and one-shot all the Japanese units.
If there is a RA4, which I doubt will be on many people's minds, they need to go back to their roots and not try to overdo it like they tried to do in this game. It was too bright, too happy, stuffed with cleavage (in a bad way), and included a fairly brutal AI (at least to me). In RA4, kick the Rising Sun and throw the extra energy into making the Allies and Soviets more user friendly.
I hope this helps.
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video-games_xbox
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Good product, horrible documentation and configuration. --This review contains information for users with advanced knowledge of networking--
I am familiar with these types of devices, and I was looking for one for awhile when I found this. I needed a device to bridge my own wireless router into another wireless router, so I asked for this as a gift from someone. Functionally, it works great, but it requires some advanced knowledge to work. When I first got it, the LAN link would not work; after much testing I found that its LAN port was defective. The documentation was horribly inadequate when trying to troubleshoot this issue, apparently the designers never thought that the Ethernet light might not come on and did not document this. I sent a return request in via Amazon, and they handled it extremely well; I got a replacement in 2 days with no fuss. I connected the replacement, and the LAN light came on instantly.
The first problem I got was that I did not get an IP address from the device, as the manual hinted that I should, and the default IP windows gave me prevented me from connecting to the device. The in-box manual made no mention of what the device's default IP address was. I downloaded the manual from the manufacturer's website and found it was 192.168.10.110. I set up my LAN port for a static IP to 192.168.10.254 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 and was able to connect to it.
I connected it to my wireless router without incident, but I could not connect to the internet. I set the default gateway and primary DNS server to 192.168.10.110, but apparently the device does not forward DNS requests. Also, the device configuration website lists the IP address under LAN, and does not make any mention of WAN settings. I set the device and my network card back to obtain automatically, and then I was able to connect to the internet. One of the drawbacks to this is that I have to look at its IP address on the main router to be able to configure it, or configure it for a special address in the router's DHCP server. The name of the device is also not reported to the router, indicating someone messed up when they wrote the network protocols on this device. Also, I found an error message that was loosely translated from another language.
The product works, I would not recommend this for users without advanced knowledge of networking. The documentation is severely lacking, and some of the translation is not that good. The CD and in-box manual are of no help whatsoever for troubleshooting.
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video-games_xbox
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Epic Dark Fantasy. The writers of Bioware are master story tellers. There is no doubt about it.
In this epic dark fantasy RPG you can create a character. This will be your main character (refered to as the Grey Warden or The Warden) and you can choose from the three main races (Human, Elf, or Dwarf), three classes (Mage, Warrior and Rouge) and then pick from one of six Origin Stories. These stories take up the first hour or so of the game and set the stage for how you view the world of Dragon Age. The Origins conists of: Human Noble, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Noble, Dwarf Commoner, and Mage.
After the player completes the Origin Story you are thrown into the game proper were you are inducted to the elite Grew Wardens, whose job is to stop The Blight, which means killing a bunch of Darkspawn and a fallen god referred to as the Archdemon.
The combat is equally simple and complex. The A button starts a basic attack, from hitting things with your sword, shooting a basic magic attack, or firing an arrow. There is also various attacks that can be mapped to the X, Y, and B button (and if you hold the Right Trigger another set of three different attacks). The player gets more than six attacks and these can be accessed from a "Power Wheel" which pauses the game and allows the player to choose and attack, use potions, poisons, and access you inventory.
You can also control your party members (you can have three others in your party at any given time) by hitting the Left and Right Bumpers to cycle through the party.
The story is an epic affair where the player has to make several large decisions that effect various factions and party members. There is no morality system instead there is an individual meter to show how much your party members like you. If you do an action that they really don't approve of, they will leave and/or try and kill you. However, if they like you enough you can get specific quests that are unique to each character. Also they are not above bribes of various gifts you find scattered across the world.
The world is huge, and the only way to transverse the long distance is the fast travel system that the player uses on the map. There is a huge amount of exploring and side quests to do.
The one problem with the 360 version is graphically it can't compete to the PS3 version, which looks sharper and loads faster. But both fail in comparison to the PC version. The bottom line is that you should play this game, but the platform is the true issue.
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video-games_xbox
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A fun weekend rental. The Good: Childish but funny mature humor, grotesque setting and atmosphere, great play on light and dark, story is entertaining, fun boss fights
The Bad: Repetition throughout, Garcia is a hard character to like, story is simple and straightforward, no reason to really go back
During the first 10 minutes of the game the first thing you will think is "WTF?" There's nothing else to describe this game full of childish mature humor and sick twisted ideas. That's not to say that it is bad. Most of the humor in the game is actually so childish and gross that you can't help yourself and laugh. Some stuff is downright hilarious such as Johnson's Boner gun. Before I get into any detail, I have to say the story is pretty entertaining if straight forward and simple. You play as Garcia Hotspur who is a Mexican demon hunter and has a demon accompanying him in form of a floating skull named Johnson. I didn't really care much for Garcia because he is a typical potty mouthed action hero, but I found Johnson to be the steal of the show. He's a posh British demon that uses clean cuss words and is a stark contrast to Garcia which makes him more likable and hilarious to listen to. Garcia is trying to get his stolen girlfriend, Paula, back from the demon lord Fleming, and of course you follow him into the depths of Hell.
That's about as far as the story goes. There's a small twist at the very end after the credits, but after you see it you won't be surprised it happened. The main attraction is the banter between Garcia and Johnson and the stories you read throughout the game. Some of these made me bust up because they were so funny. Other than the story I have to say that I really love the guns in this game. The creators force you to use all three, but they are upgraded so much that they feel like whole new guns throughout the game. Boner is your pistol, Teether is your machine gun, and the Skullblaster is your shotgun. These can get upgraded by finding blue gems from bosses. Boner turns into Hot Boner that can set explosive mines, Teether can get a homing upgrade, and Skullblaster will eventually get an upgrade to create giant bombs. You can find red gems throughout to upgrade your weapons and health. Gracia guzzles down alcohol to heal himself because apparently alcohol keeps you alive in Hell.
The game works around a light vs dark gameplay idea and it works well. When you are surrounded in darkness your health depletes and you need to shoot a goat candelabra to return the light. Yeah, it's weird and that's only the beginning. Gate keys consist of shoving strawberries, eyes, and brains into creepy baby faces that are guarding the gate. One level even has you walking over a giant naked Paula. The game never stops delivering weirdness, and that's exactly what makes this game so fun, because hey, it's a Suda 51 game, what do you expect?
There are a few puzzles thrown in that can be fun because they are straight forward. I didn't even need a walkthrough to get through this game. Even the boss fights use light and darkness to be beaten. In darkness you can only see the weak spot on enemies so you have to quickly shoot it because you die. This sounds frustrating but it's not. You get a darkness shield that depletes before your health starts going down. The enemy design is pretty crazy, but repetitive. I got tired of shooting the same demons all the time. The whole game overall is repetitive in nature because it uses the same few elements mixed around a lot. My least favorite idea was the 2D shooting levels. These were frustrating and felt like pointless filler. There's a fun boss fight at the end of the third level, but I could have gone without these.
After you beat the 8 hour game there's no reason to go back. There's no multiplayer or extra modes which is a shame. I guess if you want to collect all the red gems you can, but why bother? This is a fun weekend rental or cheap bargain bin purchase and nothing more. If it weren't for the repetition set throughout and those pointless 2D levels I would have liked this a lot more. Garcia is a hard character to like and the story is simple and straight forward. Overall through, this is a solid game and highly entertaining. Just be warned that the mature content isn't for everyone.
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video-games_xbox
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Shockingly Good. This is the one time where I will start a review off by a recommendation: 1.) if you like Dance Central - buy this, 2.) if you are a Black Eyed Peas fan - buy this.
Now let's get objective.
I had bought this game purely on one review where the reviewer himself was surprised at just how much he enjoyed the game. As I had bought Michael Jackson the Experience and quickly grew tired of it as it was not very helpful in teaching you anything and that the songs got way too difficult to soon, I was very skeptical...but nonetheless, seems I had money to burn on this title.
Black Eyed Peas The Experience is naturally all about the Black Eyed Peas and there top hits, plus a few misses. There are essentially two modes: the first allowing you to get right into the dance, and the second that's more like a campaign mode. The best is of course to go for the second, as this is where you'll find all the info, venues and tutorials. Jump ahead and start your career and get to choose the first song you want to have a go at. Songs are rated at 4 difficulty levels beginning at casual and ending at skilled. Naturally you'll choose the casual ones first.
Once you've made your choice things start to get different - and intersteting - compared to Dance Central. This game essentially has 9 dance moves for each song. And these 9 moves are group by threes into three sessions. When you begin your first song, there will be 3 Steps. Step 1 starts with teaching you the first 3 moves. If you cannot get the move right, you simply raise your hand and it will go into a tutorial. The turorial I find is so far the best thing on the dance-Kinect market. Not only do they slow it down, but the narrator clearly explains to you which foot goes out first, which hand/arm does what and how you should execute the move. Even moves I got right from the bat I slowed down just to make sure I was following correctly. When you want to go back, you raise your hand again and the tutorial will continue. The 3 moves in Step 1 you have to learn are repeated twice and then it's kind of a mix-up "challenge" at the end. Passing Step 1 means you go on to Step 2 where it's the same thing: 3 moves, twice to practice and then to execute. I like this method of teaching as it really drills it into you and you do not feel overwhelmed by too many new moves. Finally, after completing Step 3 the entire song is available for you to dance.
During the tutorial sessions there are coaches on screen teaching you the move. Your avatar is reflected mirror-like on the TV. When it comes to the entire song, your crew is the Black Eyed Peas. Only point to note is unlike other dancing games at the moment, for some reason if you do the move wrong, you avatar won't show/tell you what/where you did wrong. This could be problematic for some who relies a lot on that corrective feedback, like in Dance Central. There is also no insert showing whether Kinect picks you up or not, something that does not distract me, but again may hinder others.
So, the campaign mode follows that method: choose a song, go through Step 1~3 and then perform it. There are mega things to be awarded like clothes for your avatar and upgrades to the interior design of your virtual venue. You'll also be given challenges every now and again by the crew of the Black Eyed Peas which you can accept to unlock even more stuff.
Co-op in dancing Kinect games seem to be the norm nowadays and the same for this game. A second person can easily jump in and be part. There are some sync bonuses when you and your partner are dancing 100% in sync. Another feature is the ability (like in Just Dance 3) to create your own choreography and share it via Xbox Live with friends for challenges. Nifty.
The presentation of the game on a whole is very energetic and vivid. Colours are very shiny and it's a game that make you feel that there's indeed a party going on.
In short:
CONS
- avatar does not show when you make a mistake or which part is wrong
- no small screen indicating whether Kinect is actually picking you up
- a little too many "awards" and Black Eyed Peas info blips between songs that slows down the tempo a bit
- to change the gamer profile when you switch dancers is really obscurely hidden (but it's there at least)
- for some reason the Kinect microphone does not work with game (or is that just me) - you need to get a wireless microphone
PROS
+ great song list - you know who they are so you know what you are getting, and all the favourites are there
+ very vibrant and energetic presentation
+ great tutorials in slow it down mode
+ co-op play works like a charm
+ opportunity to create your own moves and share with friends
+ tracking seems to be good and most of the moves are easily picked up
I have been wondering if there is an alternative to the Kinect-dancing games than Dance Central 2, and I have to praise the developer for The Black Eyed Peas The Experience in trying something different, and that it actually works. There may be some that still prefer a different approach, but this is by far the first title than can actually compete with Dance Central. This is lightyears better than the previous Michael Jackson effort, and I actually hope that we will see more games like that, probably from others like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and maybe even David Guetta. The benefit of focusing on just one artist it seems to me is that you know the music beforehand and there is very little disappointment with the setlist. On the other hand, by doing it this way, you also limit yourself to no future releases of the same artist, as it will take another 10 years minimum before Black Eyed Peas will have enough hits again to make a second game. This means that upgrades and improvement in technology (like the tracking) cannot benefit this game, unless they keep on releasing patches for the game. The publisher, Ubisoft, will have to consider using this format they've got here for The Black Eyed Peas for a more general game with a mixed tracklist.
The game is not perfect yet. It can still learn from other features like creating your own playlist or a sweat-mode. Sometimes one just wants to pop in a game and dance, and not have to navigate every 2~4 minutes through all the menus to the next song.
Having said this much, I am extremely happy with this buy. It's one of the surprises Kinect had to offer in the last two months, and it's one worth all its weight in gold. To reiterate my recommendation above: if you like Dance Central, you will like this. If you like Black Eyed Peas, you will like this even better.
ps...a review below mentions the usage of strong language in the game. Mmm...this IS the Black Eyed Peas after all. So it's not a toddler game and if you are very sensitive to strong language, then maybe check out Nickelodeon Dance :D
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video-games_xbox
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Loot Loot Loot. Im going to be putting my review in sections if you don't wanna read the whole thing scroll to the bottom to Final Thoughts. Index 1. Story, Grahpics, Gameplay, 2. Content 3. Final Thoughts should you buy
1. Story, Grahpics, Gameplay - Now if you never played Borderlands 2 before don't expect a outstanding story there is a story to the game but its nothing to tell your friends about. Playing Borderlands 2 is more about the gameplay experience then the story thats were this game shines. I wouldn't recommend buying it for a heavy story based game. Moving on to the graphics of the Borderlands series if you never played them then your in for a surprise the creaters of the game didn't go for a realistic look like your battelfields, call of dutys etc. Instead they made it look cartoony in a good way it looks like the game came out of a Comic Book if your on the fence about the graphics look the game up on Youtube but I think most people would agree it makes the game unique and stands out from the crowd. The Gameplay of Borderlands 2 or the series as a whole is a FPS at heart but its not your regular FPS Shooter its a FPS Shooter meets RPG game You choose a class level them up with unique abilities and every were you look in Borderlands there is loot A.K.A Items that come out of chests, creats, barrels, etc. even enimies drop items loot so it got a very collecting item type feel to the game typically you find health ammo and guns in creats even items that effect your character called class modes. For the most part your going to be shooting Guns 99% of the time. One cool thing I didn't mention is that all the guns in borderlands 2 are very unique in terms of looks you got Shotguns, Pistols, Smgs, Snipers, assault rifles, there is suppose to be 20,00+ guns in the game but really there are just diffrent variations of the same guns. Forgot to mention this but you can play this 4 player co-op online the more people you have playing the more rare the items your most likely going to get.
2. Content- In Borderlands 2 Game of the Year edittion you get the main game plus dlcs downloadable content the main game is on one disc plus the dlcs are on another you just load the dlc and it installs it on your heard drive so every time you play the game you don't have to keep putting in the dlc disc its a one time thing just make sure you have free space on your harddrive. Here is what you get besides the main game you get 2 extra classes Mecromancer, and Psycho so in all 6 classes you also get free skins outfits for your classes you also get a sloderdome a horde type areana a lvl cap increase that increases the maximum level you can be from 50 to 61 and 4 other side stories or areas Scarletts Pirates Booty, Mr Torgs campaign of Carnage, Sr. Hamerlocks big game hunt, and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragons Keep. which in my opinion or allot of peopls opinion Dragons Keep is the best one each of the 4 areas are about 4 to 7 hrs long with side quests you can do after you beat the main story of the extra dlcs. This is called the Game of the Year edition but it does not come with all the dlc's that Borderlands 2 came out with basically you get everything the Season Pass came with. You will still be missing another lvl cap to take you from 61 to 71 plus it makes the enimes overpowered in that lvl cap 71. Head Hunter packs are something you don't get eather If im not mistaken there are 5 Head Hunter Packs in all. Your not really missing out on much there little 2 to 3 hr long quests that take you to a final boss were you can unlock a head for your class. To be honest there not really worth a purchase unless you must have every thing for the game or you just want to get the most out of it there about 2 to 3$ a Headhunter pack and the lvl Cap#2 that takes you to 71 is about 5 bucks if anything I would deff buy the Lvl cap 2 before the Headhunter packs in my opinion because each level Cap gives you a completely nother run through the main game. With both lvl caps 1 & 2 you can play the main game plus dlcs around 3 times each. If you wanna take your class customization father you can buy extra skins at 99cents I think they have a good selection of paid skins on the market place you don't get with this Game of the Year edittion.
3. Final Thoughts and Should You Buy- If it wasn't for Borderlands 2 being a thing I would have never liked the series I have played the first one and thought it was crap and I put about 8hrs into it and stoped and never finished it to this day. When I first herd about borderlands 2 I wanted to give the series another chance so I pre-ordered it and bam when I first played it it felt like a whole new game to me I instantly fell in love . You may be asking why I didn't like the first one the game didn't pick up untill about 2 hrs in the classes were dull and the environments sucked and the areas felt life less. Borderlands 2 changed every thing I think if you haven't played a Borderlands game you should deff start with 2 you may like one so give it a try but I didnt. I have already putt around 600+ hrs into Borderlands 2. If your a Fps shooter player you should give this a try if your Rpg player give this a try you may end up liking it. If your one of those people that can only get a couple of games a year or you have nothing to play because your games are getting boring give this a shot this game is not laking in content it has content for many many hours like I said I put in 600+ hrs and counting . One thing that will keep you coming back is the loot the items in the game have different rarities were some items are more rare then others. Its fun just trying to find all the rare items in the game. There are so many diffrent versions of Borderlands 2 out there should you buy this one on 360 or somewere else to be honest its a good version but note online if you play with more then 2 players the frames will start to drop and get kinda lagy to were its almsot not playable. If you own a Xbox One The handsome collection just came out it comes with Borderlands 2 game of the year and Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. With both having all there dlcs minus the ones your missing on this one I think. And upgraded HD graphics 60$ but well worth it. I would still buy this if you don't have a Xbox One yet. I would however buy this on pc because it will have better graphics then 360 just wait untill pc has a sale and bam its cheep I think 7 bucks For bords 2 goty edition. Btw the Handsome Jack Collection is only on new generation. Borderlands 2 Game of the Year edition is a must buy many many hours will be spent in front of the tv Happy gaming Vault Hunter.
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video-games_xbox
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FPS and open world - the 2 things I like most in games. I bought this game because it was a FPS and open world - the 2 things I like most in games. I started playing it the day it was released and finished it in less than a week. I didn't race straight though the story - I generally play games like this very slowly. I captured every zone in the game except for one which I couldn't because of a glitch.
The Good: the graphics a good - nothing great, but not bad either. The weapons modding is nice. You carry 3 weapons, but can mod them on the fly. For example, you can change your combat rifle into either a sniper rifle or grenade launcher as needed for the situation.
The Bad: The shooting mechanics are awful. I don't know if it has to do with frame-rate or whatever, its just the worst of any shooter I've played. I tried different scopes and upgrading the weapons for stability, but nothing worked. As one other viewer stated - hitting a target felt like luck. Also, the environment doesn't work well for a shooter. It looks like it would - there are plenty of cover spots as per your typical shooter; however, you can't shoot from cover by holding the left trigger. You just have to step out of cover to shoot. Its kind ridiculous and unrealistic just going toe-to-toe with all of the AI you're shooting at. Overall, I disliked the shooting so much I was avoiding it - in a shooter!?
Making combat more difficult is that some of the indicators are terrible. Your health indicator is a thin red line beside your mini-map (which has plenty of red and is flashing red during a fight) so its really difficult to see. By the end the game I still wasn't used to it. Also, the indicator to show where you are being shot from is the same as the indicator showing that you are wounded (red blotches around the periphery of the screen. These 2 blend so that you have no clue which direction shots are coming from.
Every action in the game feels clunky and takes too much time to perform - looting, administering health shots, pulling out your phone for the map/camera/mission log, putting the phone away, etc. Movement actions are clunky as well. At the end of the game it was still taking me 2-3 attempts to climb up/on something.
I didn't like all of the "puzzles" they put in. You secure every zone by interacting with something in a particular room. Shoot your way in? No. You have to figure out some specific route through a building or 2 to get you there. That reminds me - overall the game is very repetitive. Its just made up of a bunch of ares where you secure numerous zones - all in the same manner. The story/campaign basically leads you to do this for some of the zones. The rest you can do if you want. The story itself is ok - nothing great. Though I really felt that the voice actors were good, their roles were badly written - 1 dimensional, overdramatic, and annoying.
Ah yes, the glitches. I don't mind the occasional brick floating in mid air or things like that, but when glitches affect game-play its a problem, and this game has a lot of problems. Every time you leave a weapons locker or you advance to a new mission, the game freezes for about 5 seconds. In the later stages of the game the freezing got more common - like in the middle of a fire-fight. Sometimes (usually when I was trying to use stealth) my weapon would just start firing like I was holding the trigger down and I had to press the trigger to stop it. The worst occurred in the last series of missions (where there is no turing back). When you go to mod your weapon (say to change from a sniper rifle to a grenade launcher) it locks up the controls. You can't mod or even exit out of the mod menu. You just have to exit gameplay and reload the last checkpoint.
Even with all of the glitches, lack of polishing, and repetitiveness, I think I could have enjoyed the game if it would have been fun to shoot the weapons. But as I said, the shooting was just awful. Wait till this is free to play to see for yourself.
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video-games_xbox
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Not a fan. Of course this is my review, my opinion. This game pisses me off because it's obviously high regarded and loved by all, yet I cant find out why. Gamespot gave it a 9.5. I can't seem to figure out what I'm missing. Just sheer size, mass and freedom of a game does not make it fun to play (to me). You will walk around this huge world and encounter only a handful of enemies, all very weak. The enemies difficulties do not seem to change depending on where you are on the map either. You can investigate caves, but there are only a few weak enemies in them, very little treasure, and nothing exciting happens, ever! The battle controls are clunky, he seems to swing the sword so slow and delayed. You can heal but it doesn't seem to do anything. And gaining experience depends on using the skills that you attribute in the beginning of the game, not fighting enemies like traditional RPG's. Yes you can steal and virtual do anything you want, but that gets old after a while. The fact that you can travel from virtually any point in the map automatically, takes away from the game big time, traveling is a huge part of RPG's for me. Also, If the action gets too tough for you just go into the menu and slide the difficulty meter to easy, WTF is that?!?
Having played about 20 hours, it just wasn't fun for me (needless to say). I am not a deviant, usually when games have such ridiculously positive ratings like this one, I end up loving them like everyone else, which is why I'm so vexed!
The graphics are indeed very good with a real-time environment,the sun sets and the moon comes out etc, and all the NPC's do their own thing. This game does not play out like a typical RPG for me, it seemed more like a virtual reality game, a Sims game.
I love the FF series, exploring caves, fighting monsters, buying and selling weapons and armor, which is all in this game, although a huge problem for me is that it lacks incentive.
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video-games_xbox
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Rockstar, please make another one of these. I tend to find linear driving/racing games extremely boring. It's just the way I am. But I LOVE open world games and open world driving games are no exception. The thought of being able to go wherever you want-left, right, North, South-in a video game simulation is just such a thrilling idea. MCLA is all that and soo much more. I originally bought this game because I just wanted to cruise around in fancy cars like in GTAIV. I, however, HATED the way the cars in GTAIV handled. Luckily with MCLA you get the great handling that GTA lacked and a fantastic variety of cars and bikes. Not only is there millions of ways to customize vehicles but the racing is superb. Granted the racing can tend to be on the harder side, but THAT'S THE WAY I LIKE IT!! Who wants to race with AI's that are way too easy or dumb! With the patch the AI's are not impossible to beat and they give a real sense of competitiveness like in the real world. They drive hard enough to satisfy my competitive edge, but also aren't lacking in the ability to fail like crashing into other cars. People that reviewed this game tend to say that the AI's are too hard even with the patch, but for me it's just fine because I really do not get bored re-racing. By re-racing your opponent, you will get much better at driving and beating the AI's gets easier. Trust me, the driving experience itself is just plain fun!
Some features I love in the game:
Weight Distribution-This is one of my favorite things about this game. This allows you to tilt your car to one side and drive on two wheels. For motorcycles you will drift. This allows for much tighter turns without losing much speed. Very fun to play with!
Car Customization: This can be a con for me because I am an indecisive person. There are just so many ways to customize your cars that I have a hard time deciding exactly what I like and takes up a lot of my time. For example, the rim of your wheels can have 3 or 4 different areas to modify your color!
Cruising on Xbox live-this allows you to really practice driving or race with friends without the hinderances of traffic. There are no cars on the road and you can pretty much do most if not all your achievments (like 15 miles of wheelies with your bike).
Graphics-although the graphics are not as good as Driver SF, it's still pretty fantastic. Nights and days are just beautiful to play in.
Controller setup-Yes, there is the ability to choose manual or auto. Unlike a lot of xbox games I've played, you can setup each button on your controller to whatever function you want. This is great especially because I tend to have a feel for buttons at certain areas only. I like to have my shifters on the bumper buttons but you can even set your right analog stick to shift up and down kind of like a real manual shifter in a car.
Features that I wish they added:
Map GPS:
Finding the best route is hard especially during a race. It's hard enough to keep track of the road but you also really have to keep an eye on the map. If Rockstar implemented a customizable highlighted route, this game would be perfect. Before starting a race we should be able to highlight the routes (shortcuts included) because it can be annoying to have to frequently look at the map.
Better car selection:
I really like a lot of the cars on MCLA. But this game can do without cars like Chevy Impalas. Does anyone really dream about racing with one of these?? Ford, BMWs, Toyotas, and Hondas would have been nice.
After reading reviews I bought three of what I thought were the top open world driving games for the Xbox 360. Burnout Paradise, then Midnight Club Los Angeles, then finally I bought Driver SF over the black Friday sale. MCLA is definitely my favorite. To keep things short, I like MCLA because it really provides a realistic open world driving experience (aside from being able to tilt your car) for the competitive driving we all are pretty much not able to do in the real world. Cruising is also really fun. Burnout Paradise provides more of a toon style of game play since its mostly about crashes and jumps. You also don't get the cockpit view which I don't like. Driver SF is beautiful to play in, however, I don't really like the driving mechanics as much as MCLA. You tend to burnout a little too easily in the game. Also the car diversity is pretty bad in that game.
In my opinion MCLA is the best open world driving game for realistic game play and superb car dynamics. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I really wish they would add the GPS highlighting system. Get this game!!
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video-games_xbox
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Great game; needs polish. First off, this is a great game, but it just has a few issues that rub me the wrong way.
The single player is great. It's basically the same gameplay as the original. The graphics are about the same, but the environments are bigger i.e. you can see miles away like in HALO. It gives it the illusion that you are in a bigger space and generally you are. The battles get pretty intense. The game is fairly fast paced. It is a lot more story driven this time. There are some sub-plots with the main characters, that allow you to identify with them on a more personal level. There have been a few additions as far as weapons and things of that nature. You can stick grenades into walls basically creating a proxy-mine (Goldeneye for the 64 and the infamous mines, good times) The enemies are basically oblivious to these. They will run right into them without hesitation, splattering their body parts all over the place.
There is also the hammerburst which is so much better in this one than the first. It reminds me of the battle rifle from HALO. It's not better than the Lancer and vice-versa. They are just different and it kind of depends on your style of play which one you will use. There are a few other things like poison grenades and more finishing moves which are fun but they don't really make the game all that much different, just more fun. Golf clubbing heads off though is pretty sweet.
The only thing that I hated about the single player was the rail and driving sections. They piss me off so much. Anyone who played Gears 1 on insane will know what I am talking about (remember the krill with that pos car?) The rail sections aren't too bad. The driving part is atrocious. I seriously got angry on medium difficulty. The car has the worst controls ever. They are sluggish and the enemies are cheating jerks. There is no strategy guide that you can pull out and find some technique in. It is definitely controller spike worthy.
Other than that, everything is pretty solid. Warning though, this game is definitely not for those who don't like gore. This one has so much more in it than the original. It's mostly in the cut-scenes. It will give kids nightmares so plan your play time accordingly. It's not just gore, it's disturbing gore. I don't want to give anything from the story away so that's all that I'll say.
The multiplayer is pretty fun. It is, however another reason why I knocked this game a point. I'll cover that in a second though.
The gameplay is really fun. They levels for the most part, are laid out well. Just like in the first, it becomes a game of who can grab the power weapons first. They do swap out every time, so its not the same one each round, but it still gets annoying. The sniper rifle has been tweaked so it operates very differently than the first rendition. An active reload does not down someone like it used to, which I loved to do in the first one. To balance that out though, the headshot sweet spot is a lot bigger. In the first game, you had to be spot on the head for it to count and often times you got ripped off. In Gears 2 it's almost as if you just have to have it close to their head for it to count. Epic also fixed that little thing where you couldn't hit their head as long as they were behind cover and down even if you could see it. If you can see their noggin in this one, you can pop it. It makes the sniper, much more dangerous from far away, but up close, a lot weaker. I like it better.
The torque bow has a few tweaks but is basically the same. It isn't so hard to master anymore. The boomshot has more ammo and there are some other guns that are tweaked but they aren't worth mentioning.
The one thing that is really different is the grenades. Like I talked about, you can make proxy mines. This is fun and it adds a whole new element to gameplay. Now if you're picking people off, you don't need a buddy to watch your back (or not and let you get killed). You now just need a well placed grenade to alert you of the impending attack and hopefully kill it will kill whoever is coming up.
My next major praise of the grenades is that the grenade tag effectively goes away. It can still be done, but you can't run at someone from a mile away and stick them like a dirty noob as in the first game. If you get shot, it slows you down tremendously. It makes the game much more about cover and angles than the first one. It's the way it should have been in the first place.
The smoke grenade is now actually worth something too. It is more like a flash bang. If you hit someone with it, they get knocked out and fall down. This allows you to toss one in a room and go in and shoot some one while they are recovering. It is awesome.
Other than that, it is the same great gameplay that was in the first one. There are some fun game modes now too like wingman. It's basically a bunch of two man teams, execution style. You can also play Horde, which is trying your luck against 50 waves of enemy locust. There are some other fun ones but I'll let you play them when you get the game.
The problem is in the way that Xbox live works in this one. It isn't the drop in and out thing from the first one. Basically, you end up waiting forever to play a match. It is really annoying and it needs to be addressed. If you have a group of guys and three boxes each with a copy of the game, just system link it and use bots. Way better than waiting (plus you get geek points for hosting a flippin' sweet LAN party).
They did fix the stupid camera angles that were worthless in the first one. You can now actually see what is going on once you die. You can also do the ghost camera thing if you want.
All-in-all, it's a great game. There are a few problems, but it's so awesome. If all you do is play xbox live, you'll probably get annoyed and stop playing it. If you have a few buddies who will throw down the whole LAN party scene, definitely do it. It's a fun game.
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video-games_xbox
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