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A huge vortex of fun. Its been quite a while since I've written a review for a game - ah, the heady halcyon days of being a writer for Your Sinclair magazine seem so far away in the past. (And frankly they are; that was 16 years ago, so if you remember that mag, you're getting old). But I really wanted to write a review for this one. Especially because there don't seem to be any out there. (I don't want it to fall through the cracks either - a lot of people I love worked very hard on this one, and they deserve some kudos for their work).
So What Is It?
You play one of a mighty band of Wind Warriors, set out to help their intergalactic friend in a story which is at best over-complicated, and at worse teutonically over-complicated. It's probably easiest to look at it this way:
* You're a tornado.
* You get points by sucking up things from the landscape.
It's pretty much a hoover-`em-up, in the best tradition of Katamari Damacy, and all of its spawned ilk. Except instead of rolling around a ball, you're a little guy who carries around his own personal tornado. Kind of like having the tornado-in-a-can from Mystery Men, or Taz the Tazmanian Devil on crank.
You start out as a little dust devil, and as you pick up more stuff, you become much bigger. Wayyy bigger. As you grow, you can suck up a wider swathe of the landscape around you, like Robin Williams trying to clean up after sneezing into his lines of coke.
Small things abound to suck up at first - plants, rocks, bushes - and quickly you start moving onto larger fare, including tanks, cyclotrons, Elvis impersonators, and most of the Vegas strip. Nothing can stand in your path, and everything satisfyingly (and sometimes comically) breaks into a bajillion pieces as you strafe past it. Or gets stripped to its underwear. Depends on what you zip past ;-)
Z-Axis of Gameplay
So you're probably thinking "OK, I get it. It's a Katamari clone. Where's the pizzazz? Where's the elan? Where the hell is the new gameplay that allegedly gets gamers salivating?" (As if a well-executed game wasn't enough in these days of very hit-and-miss titles).
Ends up that the reason you're in the middle of all this is because some nasty mischevious elementals called "Fire Fliers" are running around causing all kinds of havoc. You've got to hunt them out and get them before they turn the Earth's crust into the kind of lava-spilling soupy mess that extraterrestrials love to inflict on us. Except there's no Will Smith coming to save the day.
The FireFliers (which you have to collect against a time limit to make it to the next level) add a new dimension to the gameplay. Holding the right trigger lets you suck them up and hold them in place; the more you can string together, the more time you get added to your clock when you finally release it.
Ah, but there's a catch. The longer you hold the trigger down, the more your tornado slows down, until you're moving at a crawl, desperately trying to string together the last piece of your combo. Instead of just being a hunt around the world to find the next bigger thing to hoover up, this adds an element of strategy as you try to balance adding time to your clock with getting quickly around the level.
As you make it through the game, more moves become available to your tornado (stomping and ramming), unlocking other gameplay features.
There's also a race mode which comes before the boss battle in a way that's very reminiscent from the old 80s Aliens game (where you fly through the pipe to land your dropship at the start) or the chill-out mini-game in the middle of Tempest 2000.
Speaking of boss battles; it's a button mashing frenzy as you try to take out the totems, and a kind of mini game of Frogger as you try to make your way to them across the landscape, dodging fiery missiles and patches of sunlight which will fry your tornado.
So What's The Skinny?
All in all, this isn't really a next-gen game. But that's ok. It looks great even if it doesn't have specular lighting and normal maps everywhere - and to be honest, like Katamari (there goes that comparison again), it would probably suffer from looking flashy and shiny. It also doesn't matter, because there's a huge amount of particles, debris and flying cows hurling through the air at any time.
The game suffers a little from having you stay in the dark the whole time (so that your tornado doesn't fry, and also to hang a lampshade on the boundary on the playing field). So everything looks a little gloomy at times, but I can excuse that.
There's a bit of depth of field here and there, and the draw distance is pretty cool. Audio is pretty neat, with a great bombastic cinematic soundtrack, and cool sound effects for everything that you smash and pick up.
So... any complaints?
Well, yes. But they're not dealbreakers.
The sound on the very first opening screen is... well.. scratchy. It sounds like they put the Wii music in there by mistake, or overcompressed it.
There's a bit of slowdown here and there, but it's only very occasional, and doesn't affect gameplay.
When the camera's far out from the tornado (because it's big), it feels like the tornado is moving a smidge too slow for my taste.
Sometimes the camera angle is a little off - like when you're a HUGE tornado.
But all in all, these really don't matter. You're not going to sit on the title screen for long anyway, and everything else just melts away as soon as you start playing the variety of levels and go on a destructive frenzy.
Ultimately - and most importantly - this game is FUN.
Go on. Pick up a copy. You owe it to yourself - and your kids. And you can't beat the price.
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video-games_xbox
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Best situational tactics game In a long while. While I did not play the original XCOM but did play quite a bit of Civ 3, I greatly respect Firaxis for putting forward this reboot. Here is what I like most about the game: it is principally a situational tactics simulation in the context of a smooth macro-warfare strategy. On the higher level of macro-warfare you are having to make executive level decisions, such as whether or not to focus your resources into a single country or spread them more evenly, and as you spread them, what countries will you let fall into chaos as acceptable casualties? This is achieved through resource management, building facilities, such as powerplants and tactical uplinks, and so forth in your massive bunker, and then activating missions as you progress along the timeline. The missions allow a variety of rewards which must be weighed against the reward of lowering the chaos level in that country whilst the other countries experience an increase in anarchy.
On the lower, more immediate, level is the actual combat. In this regard you move from the macro view of the general to the tactical view of the field commander where you actually engage the enemy. Here you have a single squad of 4-6 soldiers and are fighting indeterminate odds each battle, from 5-30 enemies at the outside, most battles 10-15 is typical. The cover, move, shoot system is brilliant and I assume taken from the original. Not only do you have to consider the level of cover and angles, but also the kind of cover, as some are more brittle than others (for example, you can move behind a park bench which is half cover and flimsy or a stone statue which is full cover and sturdy). As you play mission after mission, which are appropriately short so you can accomplish them in one sitting easily, you get into the rhythm of combat and it becomes a natural flow. Building your squad into a mean fighting force is a great process and along the way you will have casualties, the wounded get sent to recover, like in sports, on the wounded list and the dead are, well, dead. There's even a memorial to the dead that has pictures of faces taped to a wall and a list of the KIAs, the bagpipes in the background were a real special touch.
Taken together, the ebb and flow of this game is simply brilliant. Yes it comes to a conclusion around the time when you are finishing all the research and whatnot, but that in my mind is not a deficit making me less likely to replay it. Instead I am planning on replaying with the mode that you have only a single save that autosaves but doesn't let you go back and fix mistakes (as I do sometimes in missions where I blunder into a group of enemies, something you learn more and more to avoid as you play). I think this will be a great test of effectiveness in combat as it makes all your decisions on both the micro and macro levels permanent.
As to the bugs that some other reviewers have noted, yes the shooting through walls and stuff is annoying graphically at times, but generally speaking it makes sense, as in the shots will leave holes in the surface or break glass or whatnot, not always, but enough that I get the point that most substances, walls and such, wouldn't do a whole lot to stop a bullet, much less a super heated alien plasma blast. The other issues like never ending load screens I haven't experienced either perhaps suggesting the updates have solved these issues?
On the whole I think this is an excellent game and one which seamlessly combines macro-level strategy with tactical situational combat and together that makes this one heck of a title and in my mind worth replaying.
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video-games_xbox
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Steep price - Design isn't great - RELIABILITY IS TERRIBLE (need a third replacement in 18 months (careful use. Design flaw: Though this design feels more comfortable in still hands than the 360 controller, the way the back of the triggers stick out obstructs the rest of your fingers when trying to click the bumpers. So if you try to use your pointer fingers to hit the bumpers you really have to stretch your grip each time clicking them. As a side note, I don't personally care for the analog sticks either, if you are pushing on them for too long they begin to hurt your thumbs.
Reliability flaw: The reliability is trash. Microsoft really cut corners on the build quality of these controllers. This is without even elaborating on the price that these are sold for. The price is a joke.
I have had my Xbox One for a year and a half and have already had two controllers develop irreparable issues. Let me mention that I am super careful with these controllers and take great care of them. The first controller somehow got to the point where when I wasn't touching the controller it would act like I was moving the left analog stick slightly to the left. So if the left analog stick controlled a pointer on the screen I could set down the controller and even though physically the analog stick looks centered, the pointer would drift to one side of the screen. So as another example, in a game I would never be able to keep my character still if I wanted it to. My second controller recently began intermittently disconnecting even with a full charge. Sometimes at the same time as or even on separably it has been just cutting off audio while playing a game. I then have to restart my console for it to go back to normal.
Conclusion: So these are my main gripes with this controller. In summary, it looks pretty nicely designed but changes were made just for change's sake and were changed for the worst. Lastly, don't expect to be able to use one controller for the rest of your time using this generation console. Heck, don't even expect to get 12 months worth of a fully functioning controller. The price is super cringey because it isn't even for a quality product and is very steep. The controller is basically a few months of meh and a lot of following months of anger before having to purchase another one. It's garbage. My two stars rating is generous.
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video-games_xbox
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5 seems like the right price. There are very few things good about this game. I will list the bad things first.
The graphics are worse than the origanal halo game. The people only move their mouthed up and down to talk. They only have one way of walking to.
The voicing is terrible. The worst ive ever heard. This Brasilian girl sounds like a Chinese girl. I cant even understand her half the time. She was always saying watch out for "green eggs" and I was like "what?". It took me about a half our to realise she meant grenades. She is terrible animated and she sits in a room that has a single large box in it and that's it. Then they try to add some sex appeal to her by giving her a exposing shirt. No thanks, I would rather do Ms pacman.
Its bad enough that the voices are bad. The dialogue is worse. Here are some examples:
Paladin: we cant stay and help these people.
Shadow: I think we should stay and help them.
Paladin: you're right
Paladins Journal: we are moving on to a small coffee plantation. I don't have any water. I hope we find the pilot
There are countless other instances that just make me to angry to write. Also, all of the Brazilians somehow know English.
The story is boring. The only real main story line is Palidin trying to get to Vegas for Christmas.
The guns are terrible. The are completely inaccurate.
Another big problems are that there are missions that recommend you sneak around which is impossible because the guards always manage to see you. Its like the developers didn't put any effort into adding human qualities. The guards can be facing the other way but turn around immediately once you get within like 300 yds of them.
Now for the good and ok features:
The RTS is an interesting feature but it could use some work.there is no way to control both squad at once and have them do the same thing.
It is cool how each person has unique skills.
Its got a solid couple hrs of gameplay.
I find this game a refreshing change of pace.
If you can get it for $5 or less, give it a shot.
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video-games_xbox
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Advanced guitar players will be disappointed. I am an advanced player. I bought this because I thought it would be a fun way to learn new guitar licks, practice new techniques, and learn new songs. I'm disappointed because of the following reasons:
1. The game is geared towards new users, so it's a little unbearable to have to sit through tutorials on the basics. You have to play from the beginning to unlock higher level stuff.
2. The game is incremental, so if you want to learn the whole song you will have to start by playing 1 note like every other bar and then ratchet up after re-playing the song many times. This method makes it feel like you're learning the song over and over again while it keeps changing without notice. You have to rehearse a song before it can be performed, but during the performance it may change what notes you have to play which hasn't been rehearsed! It is not set up to learn to play songs. It is set up to play a game using a guitar as a controller.
3. There's no practice mode! Wow that's the only thing I actually wanted. In guitar hero you can enter practice mode to choose to practice any part of the song at a slower tempo - and learn ALL of the notes/chords. Rocksmith doesn't have this.
4. Immediately after opening it I learned that use of HDMI for audio is not recommended. What is recommended? Purchasing an audio adapter cable. Thanks for the heads up Rocksmith. Without the adapter you will experience audio lag.
What I like about it. The game actually works - it is great about actually detecting what you're playing. I'm looking forward to 2nd and 3rd generation versions in hopes that it will support people who already know how to play. Guitar tone and backing tracks sound great.
Summary: while Rocksmith claims it is for users of any level, if you already know how to play you will not get much out of the game for improving your playing. Buy it if you want to learn how to play a game using your guitar as the controller.
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video-games_xbox
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Thoroughly deserving; hands-down must have. Let me say up front that this is, without a doubt, the most cinematic game I've ever played. They weren't lying when they said this game boasted "credible digital actors." You won't find a comparable performance out there anywhere. This game has the best voice-acting and direction of any I've yet seen.
If you've seen the previews and some screenshots but still aren't sure what this game will be like, imagine crossing Gears of War with Knights of the Old Republic. Fighting is twitch over-the-shoulder like GoW, but your character's attributes and gear are all menu-based, RPG-style. The items system is highly reminiscient of KOTOR (which is understandable, since Bioware is responsible for both titles).
One thing I'll burst right now, too: this game loves to make a large fact of its many choices and routes. This is not entirely an accurate picture they've painted. You'll still go to the same worlds and complete the same missions as everyone else to win--you just might do it in a different order. And you CAN get a few different outcomes, but they're variations on a theme. There are dozens of conversation choices, but they're also an illusion--most conversations all lead to the same point, and your choice of words only occasionally affects your paragon or renegade points. Most unimportant conversations will have the same answer regardless of how you choose to phrase the question.
There are a couple of dozen systems you can visit that have no real bearing on the main plot: they're there for fun and exploration. Many of these planets can be surveyed for minerals or items, and some can be landed upon. This results in a cool animation of your rover being dropped from the Normandy onto the planet, and sets you loose in a sandbox to muck about for as long as you wish.
There are advantages to exploring. You can find mineral deposits to survey, or you might come across a pirate base or mine. Sometimes you'll find a colony that's been attacked by the Geth, or a rogue VI. Each planet has its own secrets.
The rover you explore the planets in is fun, too, and deserves a mention. If you enjoy any kind of off-roading game, you'll like the rover. It's darn near unstoppable and you can have fun sending it flying off of mountainsides or down steep canyon walls. Mastering the jets on it is a whole other adventure.
Mission-specific locations result in something more linear, but no less enjoyable. You'll have to fight your way through many facilities and colonies trying to track down Saren, a rogue Spectre who wants to help an ancient race of machines called Reapers attack the galaxy's civilizations. These missions are where you'll have to make those tough decisions the previews alluded to. Sometimes you might have to kill an innocent or two. One other--significant--occasion forces you to choose between two party members. The unlucky one perishes. Boy, if only they'd given me a choice between Yuffie and Aeris.
As with many RPG's, there's a romance subplot, but Mass Effect has two firsts: A) an achievement that requires the completion of this subplot and B) let's call it a scene wherein two partymembers get to know one another a lot better. And it's tastefully done, at that.
This game also had something that's been missing from a lot of other ones I've played in my lifetime: a satisfying ending. Sure, they left room for Mass Effect 2 in there, but the plot closes up nicely. And there's one heck of a scene you're treated to, also. If you liked that space battle scene at the end of Return of the Jedi, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
The graphics are amazing, especially the distance shots. The Presidium looks convincing. Planets' weather systems are great. My favorite was one planet that was passing through the debris trail of a comet, so I was treated to views of a meteor shower as I explored the surface.
Shadows get a mention. Mass Effect has the most well-done shadows I've seen yet on a 360 title. They're not only proportionate but they shift based on the light source, and they do it accurately. Haven't found another title yet that's managed to get it right. Really adds to the subconscious sense of realism.
One graphics tic: occasionally enemies will fire through hillsides or objects and hit you. This is frustrating when it happens, but it's not all that often.
The music fits very well. It reminds me of the tracks that play on Carl Sagan's Cosmos documentary, and are evocative of the future. Quicker-paced action music accentuates combat and there's an inspiring heroic theme that picks up here and there as things happen onscreen.
All in all, nearly flawless. Imagine KOTOR, then switch combat to twitch, triple its content, and finally remove a lot of the restrictions on where and when you could travel, and you have Mass Effect. This game is great. It's well worth your money. You'll get lots of playtime out of it, and you'll enjoy every moment.
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video-games_xbox
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Resolution matters. First let me say that I am a big fan of the Xbox 360. I think it was great for consoles, forced sony to be more competitive and forced Sony to try harder with supporting software (friends lists,apps etc) and now they are now standards. As far as games and features, the 360 beat the PS3 hands down.
This generation of consoles is not starting well for Microsoft, starting with the policies that had to be reversed because they pissed everyone off and appeared to be taking every nickle they could from the consumer and the fact that they started $100 more than the PS4, forcing you to buy the Kinect. The sad irony in that is the connect is a 1080P camera, while the camera for the PS4 is 720p. I wish Microsoft spent more on the console and less on the camera so that the GAMES played in 1080p, who cares about the camera in 1080p that hardly gets used..
I wasn't to worried about the fact that Xbox one games in the initial release were coming out under 1080p 60fps, but the PS4 games were. But now, with Titanfall, an Xbox exclusive coming out under 1080p, its making me wonder if they simply dosnt have the hardware to produce a 1080p shooter. If thats the case, then this is NOT a next gen console. If the major releases this fall are not 1080p at 60fps, then its not the developers, its the hardware. If thats the case, then MS skimped on the hardware. I'll be selling my xbone and getting a PS4. On a big screen(63") 720p vs 1080p is quite noticeable to me. Any one who says they don't see a difference between 720/1080 is probably playing on a screen 32" or under. I hope MS gets this sorted out and starts producing 1080p games soon, but titanfall has me starting to feel some buyers regret that they will just assume you'll be happy with hardware inferior to the PS4, and you may, but I wont. So console on its own, it looses. The x factor is the 300,000 servers MS has for its Live compute cloud. If they use this efficiently, it could over take the PS4, but that seems a ways out and is not proven, yet.
All that said, the games so far are OK, they feel like last gen, so I would have been happy to keep the 360 longer and wait, I wish I had now. The Kinect features controling my cable box with voice commands is a nice extra, but I would gladly do without it, if it meant native 1080p games.
UPDATE: Well that didn't take long. I just found an interesting article google(xbox one sdk dx 11.2). The new dev kit shipping for the xbone supports Direct X 11.2, which is capable of compressing 6GB of textures into 32MB of ESRAM. Microsoft built DX 11.2 with the xbones memory structure in mind. DX 11.1 was used to build the games currently out and did not have this compression. This means that xbone should match or beat the PS4's resolution going forward. This will quite the PS4 trolls and make me happy that I will being viewing console games in the best resolution.
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video-games_xbox
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Good but not the greatest system ever. Not sure where to start here... I got mine for $40 from a friend that had the RROD problem that most Xbox 360's seems to have. That right there is a big turn off for this system. I fixed it temporarily, but I ordered the X clamp mod to fix it permanently. (hopefully!!) I have to first say: There is no way I would have bought this system unless it was a steal of a price like $40. There are only two games I really desire on this system: Fable 2 and Star Ocean. Why Tri-Ace picked Microsoft over Sony for this game, I am not sure... Anyway so I fixed it and started playing Fallout 3 I borrowed from a friend to test the xbox. I had one big surprise with this system. As much hype as it and PS3 have as being "NEXT GEN" systems had, the XBOX did not deliver to the hype. PS3 delivered all I could want and more, outstanding graphics, good online play, don't have problems anywhere near that of the xbox's RROD, and of course a blu-ray player!
Now the Xbox 360 did not have good graphics in comparison to PS3. From what I see Xbox 360 comes no where near PS3 in terms of graphics. The fact that they did not include HDMI to start with is stupid, and I hear that the new ones with HDMI only have 1.2 and not 1.3. Dumb move Microsoft! Don't get me wrong, compared to old Xbox and PS2 the graphics are really good, but for a "NEXT GEN" system it sucks in terms of graphics! Just so you all know YES I am using the Component Cables that I bought separate.
Sound is great from the cables. I have not complaints there at all. It sounded great even on my ancient surround sound system lol!
Game selection is great, but most games you can get on 360 you can get on PS3, except games like Star Ocean and Fable 2....
Online play I have not tested and I don't plan to. I have heard that the overall experience with Live is better than PS3, but I AM NOT PAYING for Xbox Live when I already pay for internet access. You are paying them to connect to their servers and play the games you already bought! I would not have bought a PS3 if I had to pay extra to play online. Luckily Sony has their heads on straight for this one! I will NEVER PAY for Xbox Live.
The controller that came with the Xbox 360 is of course wired. I am not a fan of the controller, but it is growing on me. I can live with it, but it is a bit on the large side. Regardless not horrible and seems to be durable! I just wish I had a wireless one ;) Also I must say at first glance I was happy with Microsoft about 360 wireless controllers being cheaper than PS3, but then I looked a little harder... You have to use two AA batteries with the wireless 360 controllers. Unless you want to buy a $20 charge and play pack. Very disappointing there! I could see having the AA as backup maybe like Nyko PS3 controllers have, but as a primary they seem to suck the batteries dry real quick!
Biggest reason I like the Xbox 360 is basically the mod scene. There is so much you can mod that I can try my hardest to make lemonade out of some of the lemons Microsoft gave us. I love the fact that you can mod the DVD drive's firmware to play backed up games! That is the biggest plus! No more buying new games because you accidentally drop them and scratch them all to heck! Games are expensive to buy too! Also the case mods are pretty awesome if you're not afraid to solder some LCDs into place!
Overall I have enjoyed it, but it has some pretty large flaws that I did not expect out of a "NEXT GEN" system with all the hype. The next Xbox is really going to have to up the ante next time graphics wise. I know that sales of systems as far as Xbox vs PS3, Xbox is winning, but you can not sit there and tell me that Sony did not make a better quality product than Microsoft. They only implemented some new technologies in add ons or in new system models... (HD DVD and HDMI... HELLO!!!) Plus now HD DVD's pretty much aren't being made. Blu-ray won the battle so HD DVD add ons are now going to be collecting dust... or just playing the same movies over and over again, never being able to buy a new one. I will enjoy the system to play the games I want to play on it, but as far as online gaming: I am sticking with my PC and PS3. Call me a fan boy all you want, but I just don't like it as much as others. Compared to a PS3, PS3 wins hands down! Graphics and technology at it's best in a console! Like I said I enjoy those 360 exclusives, but would enjoy them more if they were PS3 exclusives, and made use of the awesome graphics of the PS3!
UPDATE 2-17-10 ***************************************************************************************************************
I just have to say I think it is funny how my TRUTHFUL review so far has 6 votes against it. Sorry Halo fans that are upset that I'm talking up the bad points about this pointless system. Maybe if had been released by Sony or even Atari it would have been better. Heck my Atari still works and my parents bought it before I knew what video games were lol. So suck it up and take it XBOX boys! Keep marking my review as unhelpful. You are only trying to hide the truth about this crappy system that barely lasts a week for most people!
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video-games_xbox
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Ehhhh, it's an improvement. I've grown more and more disillusioned by the Madden franchise as years have passed; having been an every year guy from '98 to '06, I finally tried to start speaking more with my wallet by abstaining from giving EA my $ every year. With that said, I did pick up both '15 and '16. Like many others, I was pissed with '15 and felt like I'd been duped, shame on you EA. I'm feeling slightly, emphasis on SLIGHTLY, less duped with '16, however, there are still some GLARING issues that I'm baffled have not been resolved by now. Below, I provide a quick list of PROS and CONS with a brief blurb for each, so hopefully this answers some questions and doesn't waste too much of your time.
CONS:
Commentary: Really EA? This should've been re-vamped and overhauled ages ago. Why do the commentators offer commentary that in NO WAY applies to how the game has been played to that point? I"m so sick of Nantz and Simms having no idea of the context of the game as if they didn't make it to the booth until halftime and are just guessing what happened prior.
Wrongful celebrations: Minor gripe, but literally every time the ball is punted to me/ i punt to an opponent and hits the end zone for a touchback, the/my kicker celebrates as if that's a good thing! That's bad punter!! That's bad! Stop pumping your fist!
Aggressive catch: I guess it's kind of a "can't beat 'em, join 'em" type of thing, but just throwing a long ball and holding down y or triangle should not mean guaranteed catch every time! I included the aforementioned addage because, well, it does go both ways, and has served me well many times, but that doesn't detract from how cheap it makes me feel sometimes. It's just too overpowered honestly.
Computer = Superman: Something that's bugged me a while with Madden, the computer still seems to always get those miraculous plays right at the perfect time: whether it be some rediculous agresssive catch; an ubelievably timely strip-and-fumble recovery, or; a running back somehow breaking a tackle from D-linemen to secure the first down, it'll happen and you'll be left scratching your head.
Inability to skip repetitive cut scenes: EA why do you force your customers to sit through the same introduction every single game?? I mean, there is zero variance in the way it plays out, so when I've seen it once, I've seen it a million times. Please don't make me watch it anymore. Same with replays in certain situations, really annoying and that much longer to get into the action.
PROS:(yes, there's some fun to be had with this game)
Catching Mechanics: Not sound contradictory, but the catch mechanic is fun, yes, even the agressive catch. I like that dynamic of added control over the reciever, I just don't like when, in the case of the agressive catch, it seems fail proof. Takes away from the user's feeling of skill and babies newcomers a bit too much. With more tweaking though, this could be one of the greatest modifications to the franchise in years.
Graphics/Visuals: No doubt the prettiest Madden to date. Those intros and the live-action overlays for players are SLICK, but that doesn't mean watching them should be compulsory EA!! Everything from the sun reflection of helmets/visors to the crowd's response to positive/negative plays is pretty impressive to me.
Run Game: first time i've ever really felt like i was in control of the run game; i can do some nasty things with Andre Ellington and Latavius Murray and i recently got a breast cancer awareness month LT that i'm psyched to use.
Overall direction: Hopefully I'm not coming off as too whiny in this review, whining ain't my thing. EA really has made some positive steps with the franchise and without a doubt, it's the best Madden to date. Just wish they'd fix some of these areas that have been bad for so long. I'm having fun with '16, but will not be buying another installment for a long time. Remember people, you refuse to give 'em your hard earned dollars, and they'll be forced to make a better product.
It's a good year Madden, better than last's by far, in my opinion, but I can't help but think we deserve better. I say "we" to include others who have been faithful to this franchise with the hopes that EA would nail it someday, but they haven't. Worse yet, they've ignored some of the issues that have become mainstays for the franchise. We can control it people, we can demand better. I konw it's the only NFL licensed video game franchise (which is really a shame cuz we all know 2k being able to at least add some competition to the mix would benefit everybody), but that doesn't mean you HAVE TO settle. Let's band to together and mess up that EA profit margin some and see if we can't get a GREAT Madden. It's just one guy's opinion though. Hope some of your found this helpful. Did this pretty quick, so grammar trolls go easy on me. Power to the gamers!
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video-games_xbox
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Being Realistic. Just to verify with online threads and reviews, yes this game is glitchy and maybe it was mad to fufill a contract but if you are looking to play a game that has those challenges in Tony Hawk games that are like "score this many points" or "collect all the SKATE letters", this game has that. There have been updates and the game has improved GREATLY since its release, there are no longer any long wait times when starting a challenge in a lobby. The controls are now smoother (I had a lot of difficulty with manuals because it just wasn't working well for me). Your character does fly around sometimes if you bail.
The reason why I give this game three stars is because I was actually enjoying this game. I actually spent time on it and wanted to get the highest achievement "Sick" for each of my challenges (You know complete a game 100%, do people do that anymore???). But the game was still buggy and I kind of gave up because the second map was driving me crazy. Will I go back and try it again and do more challenges? It is definitely a good game to mess around in when you're not really craving to put the focus into a first person shooter.
Overall yes I did enjoy playing it briefly, there really isn't much to expect from Tony Hawk games I knew I wasn't going to be amazed but here are the final things I have to say:
1) graphics are pretty bad for next gen- lack of detail and character faces and customization
2) it is still glitchy/buggy
3) I would not pay $60 for this game
4) I would not pay $40 for this game
5) I would not pay even $20 for this game
This game should be a Black Friday deal you get for less than $15 bucks. It really should have been like an arcade game. It is not fair to charge those who were excited for it and to give them an under developed game. My sympathy to those who preordered and paid $60!!! As I said, the game is something you will like just because you will find it SLIGHTLY familiar to a long lost childhood but it does not live up to anyone's expectations.
2 Stars for "Bad but reminiscent of the good ol' days"
Can't give anymore stars than that because the company cheated its fans and customers!!!
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video-games_xbox
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Competition for Call of Duty? Think again. When I heard that EA was renewing the Medal of Honor series I was VERY excited. When I was younger, I loved the Medal of Honor Rising Sun and Frontline games for PS2 and I really thought the newest addition to the series would top MW2 but I couldn't have been more wrong. I will say that, just judging the game on it's own merit, it's really not a bad game. The single player is fun, the graphics look good, and the game sounds amazing. The multiplayer is also fun, has some nice maps, cool weapons, and some cool game types besides just assault (aka Team Deathmatch). Based on these things I would probably give the game 4 out of 5 stars.
Not so fast though...
In the video game world, we are constantly making comparisons. EA and Medal of Honor brought it upon themselves by saying that this game was finally a true competitor to MW2 in their own commercial. They were right, the game is a competitor but it looses miserably to COD: Modern Warfare, MW2, and even World at War. MW2's single player is much better. The storyline is way more interesting, the weapons are much cooler, the characters are better, the graphics are better, I mean the list just goes on and on. The multiplayer is much much better in MW2. Granted there are some frustrating things about MW2's multiplayer, the shortcomings in Medal of Honor's multiplayer are much more obvious. "Camping" seems to be the biggest complaint about MW2. EA and Dice obviously weren't listening because "camping" is easy as ever in MOH and used even more than in MW2. Another complaint about MW2 is "noob tubing" or launching grenades for relatively easy kills. EA and Dice seemed to be listening here but they went a little too far because it's almost impossible to kill anyone by launching a grenade. Seriously, in about 6-7 hours of gameplay I have 1 kill with the grenade launcher. So why even have it? The maps in MOH are just half baked and are really just a bunch of war-torn towns, camps, and air fields. Nothing special or original here. I mean at least MW2 has a map with rain and one with snow. MOH's maps are all set during sunny days. MOH has tanks in a couple maps which is cool but so does COD: World at War so again, MOH isn't doing anything new there. After playing Medal of Honor for a good while, I returned to MW2 and the gameplay was just smoother and looked so much better. If you play a good many video games you know what I mean, you can just tell when a game is better than another and MW2 is better than MOH in every single way.
This review is solely based on MY opinion and in no way am I trying to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings. EA has always put out great games (such as my favorite series of games- NCAA football) but they just fell short here. I really hope they return to the drawing board and come out with Medal of Honor 2 that blows the video game world away. For now though Activision and Treyarch stand tall as the makers of Call of Duty. In closing, my advice would be to buy any of the COD games, wait for Black Ops to be released on 11/9/10, or try one of the Battlefield: Bad Company games (I've heard they're fun but I've never played them). Save yourself the money and rent this one before buying it, you might really like it but it's not for me. Thanks for reading!
UPDATE: I returned MOH and put it towards my copy of Black Ops. I've also purchased a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Bad Company: Vietnam. If you're looking for an alternative to the Call of Duty series then check both of these games out. I'm an avid COD fan and I'm very loyal to that series but the Battlefield games are fantastic. My advice: skip MOH, buy a used copy of BC2 and download Vietnam (it's less than $10).
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video-games_xbox
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Spectacular. Imagine: you round a corner, minding your own business, when suddenly you're faced with three guards, swords on their backs and automatics in their hands, ten meters away. How unfortunate... for them. You effortlessly intercept the incoming arms fire with your sword as you rapidly close the distance, and drive your assailants back with a flurry of blows delivered almost too quickly to follow. You take to the air then, and savage your opponents with a barrage of precisely aimed shurikens as you pass overhead. Finally, you stride off the wall twice, bringing you behind the three, and as you turn, your sword screams around in a lethal arc, decapitating all three of your hapless attackers with a single, fell stroke. By the time you hit the ground, you're the only one left alive. Elapsed time: six seconds. Sound impossible? Not if you're a ninja.
The above is only one example of the countless spectacular feats you'll find yourself performing as Ryu, the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden. It took less than a minute for me to become obsessed with this game, as I learned how Ryu could flip through the air, stride up and across walls, dance across the surface of water, perform all manner of aerial acrobatics, and of course, deal out death in any way you can name, and more than a few that you can't. Playing the part of Ryu is wonderfully fun, and with the intuitive control scheme, it's surprisingly easy to get into as well.
The game's visuals are astounding, some of the best I've seen on the XBox. Its numerous and diverse locales are all very convincingly rendered, as are the various characters that populate them, making for a highly immersive experience. Everything clips along at an excellent frame rate as well, with nary a moment of slowdown to be found, even when you're fighting five guys at once and they're breaking out the incendiary shurikens. The sound effects and the score are excellent as well, spanning a wide variety of themes and always fitting the game perfectly. The voice acting could have been a little better, perhaps, but it's not bad... certainly it's no Resident Evil, so you needn't fear on that count.
One thing a lot of people have mentioned about the game is that it's quite difficult, and it is, but I count that as a point in its favor. Ninja Gaiden gets the challenge factor just right, in my opinion: it's challenging enough that it will require real skill, and multiple attempts at some of its harder battles, but not so challenging that the difficulty detracts from the fun of it. One need only have a little patience, and before long you'll be handling multiple foes and stringing complex combos together like you've been doing it your whole life.
With a superb array of weapons to employ, a numberless horde of foes to engage, a fine variety of secrets and extras to discover and unlock, and such a wonderful world to play in, I'm hard-pressed to imagine what more one could want from an action game. This is ninja mayhem at its finest, ladies and gentlemen, and I strongly suggest that you don't miss out on the fun.
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video-games_xbox
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Small issues aside, this is one hell of a game. There are a couple gripes you'll hear throughout the gaming community about Halo, the killer-app for the new Xbox. Make no mistake about it, people who focus on these gripes know nothing of what true entertainment is. I will pick out these small issues and defend them, because I feel the game is SO superior to most games out there now. You can read all the other user reviews and probably see all the high points and low points, but very rarely are the low points focused on and explained, so that is what I will do.
Yes, it is true that the level design becomes extremely repetative in certain portions of the game. As long as you aren't too fixated on checking every wall and crevice for detail and change, you won't really find yourself saying "This game sucks because this room looks the same as the room before". The AI and combat makes up for this, because of its high quality and quantity, you'll be focused on fighting your way around, not looking at a wall and becoming annoyed. This is called "Halo: Combat Evolved", not "Halo: Level Design Evolved". Focus on the great gameplay, not the walls people.
I've heard control issues with vehicles and the like, which is complete nonsense, since the explaination of how to drive is far more complicated than it really is. To drive any vehicle, it's the same as walking or shooting. Point the crosshair where you want to go and move forward. Just like in real life! Wow! The warthog is incredibly fun to drive and shoot with.
The great points of the game, probably explained in detail by the other 250+ reviews here are the coop mode, which has been severely overlooked by most games. The cooperative modes are the best in my opinion. Why fight against your friend who has better accuracy but slower reactions when you can use your fast reactions with his better accuracy? The AI is magnificent, of course, so the replay value is highly increased just because of how smart and varied the tactics are of your foes. The graphics are incredible, with per-pixel shading used in so many places, along with self-shadowing and tons of reflective lighting effects. Great great game, despite its few and far-between flaws. Buy it if you have an Xbox and like first person shooters or just quality games.
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video-games_xbox
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Fail. I will never buy another Turtle Beach product. They used to make great sound cards which is why I went with this headset. I know that Turtle Beach has newer headsets out now that may be of better quality and may last longer but if I were anyone looking at their headsets at this point I would steer clear.
I have owned this product for a little over 2 years. I am reviewing it now due to a recent and reoccurring problem. I originally received this headset for Christmas where it needed to be paired out of the box. In some cases they come paired and ready to go but this was not the case with mine. Over the course of the month that I was able to use them I needed to re-pair the headset with the base unit several times before I was completely unable to pair them at all. I spent a lot of time troubleshooting the problem to no avail, so I was forced to contact Turtle Beach via their e-mail customer support system. Calling them is a waste of time as none of there tech support staff will speak with you on the phone. Over the course of several months I was sent replacement base units which also did not work. Feedback from customer support with Turtle Beach had the technicians utterly baffled as to what the problem was. Ultimately they sent out a replacement headset and base unit which was paired out of the box unlike the original set. This headset worked for 2 years without ever unpairing once, but when it finally did unpair, it stayed unpaired. I contacted customer support once again using the original case number. I knew that it had been over the warranty period but I felt that since this was the exact same issue that I had previously they would be willing to help. However I was met with accusations of improper use, like this excerpt from the response I received:
"The timing and the fact that you had this occur more than once might indicate there is something in your setup and use that is leading to this in some fashion."
This after explaining that I used the thing for 2 years without it unpairing once. If there was something improper about the way I was using it, wouldn't I have broken it long before now? Needless to say they pulled the "past 1 year warranty" card and told me to go F myself in much more polite terms.
In short the headset sounded great while it worked. Immersive, with no outside noise. Batteries were a bit of an issue resolved with rechargeable batteries. I like products that last for awhile and two years is pretty short from the mark for me. So despite the sound quality I reduce this product to a 1 star just for sheer anguish dealing with Turtle Beach over the years. The fact that this headset loses connectivity to it's base unit over and over, and the problems I have had personally with the base unit make the product a fail.
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video-games_xbox
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Gears of War + BioShock. When I played this it reminds me a lot of the following games:
Gears of War
BioShock
Dead Space
Dark Sector
The game it reminds me the most is BioShock due to the art style not to mention the hand in front of you to use your abilities but the monsters remind me more of Dark Sector. Dead Space because sometimes it has that feeling like you're in space and the environment not to mention the very few (even even fewer done successfully) sudden scare tactics where something pops out. So while playing the game I wrote down a few things that went through my head. The game has mad potential but again the keyword is "potential". With a bigger budget and several key elements fixed, I would imagine this game to rival even those games listed (except dark sector because it was alright like this game).
Some issues that I notice, but not all will be listed, are:
1. Interaction with too many objects, especially at the beginning but throughout the game as well. Examples are abilities to open tons of desks which mostly have nothing. You just open it in hopes of maybe finding items. But that's like 1/10 desks? It's either you find nothing or you find items, I wish they made something pop out of it as well or something interesting to look at, things that kids keep? Same for opening lockers, nothing pops out to scare you or anything. Like "oh here's another desk...X" Reverting objects like boards with diagrams is another example since most diagrams are useless to you.
2. One big failed key element that they could have used which BioShock did very successfully was lighting and sound. Got in front of a projector and you don't cast a shadow. In BioShock 2, seeing my shadow as I run by sometimes gave me a spook not to mention of course the enemies'.
3. Scare Element. There's no 'panic moments' in this game because it's relatively easy and predictable. You can run around sharp corners without really fearing if there's something going to pop out or opening objects without the fear of something inside it or will be behind you afterwards. There's no real moment when you feel like you're rushed or there's tons of things out to get you if you don't watch out. You don't have to look behind you because pretty much every single time, the enemy is presented right in front of you. You finish them up, that's the end and you proceed to your next destination.
4. Dead Lock is overpowered. Once you level it up, the game becomes even more of a cakewalk. Dead Lock is an ability that freezes time inside a sphere. Enemies inside are frozen while you go around and take your time aiming. Shotgun at point blank range most definitely means death with one shot. I know you can just fix this by NOT getting the ability but then you're being forced to not use a function of the game.
5. Lame Weapons. The game can easily be beaten with the assault rifle and shotgun, not to mention they couldn't have thought up of cooler weapons to use...there really is no unique weapons in this game really. MiniGun, grenade launcher, bazooka, etc.....
6. A lacking variety of enemies and methods in which you kill them. It's either you're fighting your typical soldiers with their typical weapons OR zombie like creatures. You take them all out pretty much the same way. Aim your weapon, shoot, dead. No huge strategy or variety of kill methods. No tactics. Mutant like creatures called Reverts who can only hear you and there's a hint that you can sneak around them. Why waste your time sneaking around them when you can one or two shot them with your shotty? Why try to sneak around and run the risk of making noise later and having all of them gang up on you? No tactics. You see enemy, you kill.
7. I wish I could duck behind objects and shoot from the side like in Gears of War. The best you can do is crouch behind objects with your head sticking out.
8. The level design that keeps you going forward makes it a bit annoying to me. Sometimes I like going around looking for secret passages, but end up going the right way and having the door shut behind me. Whenever you move forward and the game wants you to continue doing so, it'll just shut the door behind you. I would turn around and be like "okay what the heck who shut that door?". Not my fav. There's also a few times when the door shuts behind me and enemies come pouring in and I can't go back and am force to stand there shooting with no way out.
9. The game should better explain why certain objects can have time shifts while other's can't. Like sometimes you use your TMD to revert time around to decay or recreate items such as bridges, etc, but why not that other bridge over there or that item over here? I know it's meant to steer you into the right direction, but as a player it makes me curious as to why not?
10. On the 5th Section of the game, as you go across they let you kill tons of enemies like Radions and soldiers on the bridge below with your bazooka. But the thing is, you didn't need to. You could've just sat around and let them kill themselves down there and conserve your ammo. I don't fully understand the purpose of that part.
11. Commonly found glitch of people floating up in the air. This happens a lot when you shoot someone and they don't die, do a rolling dodge move to their left or right and end up on top of an object or side of an object obviously not meant to be stood on.
12. There's tons of notes throughout this game for you to find and read, but since they don't seem to help you in any real way, I skip them altogether.
13. Upgrades look boring. Like when you upgrade your guns or TMD, it's not cooler or anything. You don't actually see any physical change.
The trailer for this game made the game look a LOT better than it really is. It has huge potential, but it really seems like the game was cut way short and too many corners cut. The TMD element for time shifting looked great in the trailers, but in the game, it's not used to it's full potential. There's no real strategy in the use of it. Throughout the game all you really use the ability for is to rebuild or collapse stuff like bridges and locks. You can use it on enemies but why when a few bullets can take them out faster and easier. The TMD ability's potential use from a scale of 1-10, 10 being that the developers carefully and thoroughly incorporated into the game to maximize the gaming experience not to mention time shifting was the key selling point of the game....I'd give it a 3 or 4. It's used, but not to an impressive, revolutionary, game changing level.
This game could have been AWESOME. Unfortunately, I'm doubting whether to ever play it again, maybe selling it back. Replay-ability is fairly low. Nothing unlocked after beating game nor can you keep stuff after beating it.
Boss fights were alright but very rare and fairly weak. The ending left me feel empty. The supposedly suspenseful moments in the game just left me with a sarcastic grin at most. Such a shame. Thank god I got it used for 7 bucks.
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video-games_xbox
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Welcome to Jurassic Park . The first I heard of this game was on Youtube, and when I watched small previews of it I told myself I had to get this game, so being a solid Amazon searcher I looked this game up on Amazon and found it, I bought it used, the new version was way to expensive for my pocket. In fact it arrived today and I started playing it. Plus on the big side of things I am a die hard fan of Jurassic Park, love the movies, love the books, I grew up on this as a kid, now I am 21 years old. :)
I will tell you I am not disappointed by the game, the puzzle solving in it is really exciting and it makes you feel you are actually in the game making your own decisions. In the game you use certain buttons and controls to interact with the environment, you choose certain scenes, actions, and phrases of conversation to progress through the game, basically the decisions you make in the game determine the characters reactions, and life or death. Now, the reason I gave this game four stars is because I was expecting more...should I say fighting action in it, don't get me wrong this game is full of action and suspense. but I would have preferred a game with more fighting the dinosaurs in it then just plain out escaping them, kind of like the old Saga game and Nintendo game if you remember those, I pictured this game like those games, you know shooting dinosaurs, running through dense jungle, rescuing a lot of people. This seems like a "Run Through" game which is awesome, I enjoy this game thus far I feel like it deserves more fighting action, it would be awesome (and it certainly is don't get me wrong) if it had more combat action in it. There is survival action in it of course, and a lot of it. :)
To sum it all up, the game takes place before, during, and after the events of the movie. New characters and survivors are in it as well. Dr. Gerry Harding and his daughter Jess Harding are together in the park as Father and Daughter, Gerry is Jurassic Parks chief veterinarian and he is taking his daughter on a "Daddy Daughter date" through a tour of the park. Meanwhile, two other characters obviously crooks and villains named Miles Chadwick and Nima Cruz arrive at Jurassic Park to retrieve the Stolen embryos Dennis Nedry has in the movie, but once they find him he is dead in the jeep. Basically Gerry, Jess, Nima, and a woman named Dr. Laura Sorkin all play important roles in the game and it all evolves around the shaving cream canister you see and remember from the film with the dinosaur embryo's in it. :)
Some of the things I enjoy about the game, first it is like a backstory of the story and movie, kind of like a shadow story I would like to call it. That takes place before,during, and after the movie but you don't actually know it. :) kind of like Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire as an example. Second thing is you see a lot of places in the film that are in the game, for example the hill where Dennis Nedry Crashes with his jeep, The visitor center with debris left over from the Raptor/human/T-Rex confrontation at the end of the film, and of course many new locations you did not see in the film. :) Third is it has a dark and exciting plot like in the film with Dennis Nedry, only with a new villain. :) And fourth is the graphics, the dino's, people, and environments look awesome. :)
If you are a fan of Jurassic Park like me, and want to find a more modern game of the film, this is it folks. They did well on this game although it got poor reviews, don't listen to those people, if you are a true fan, you wouldn't let that stuff bother you. :) So get it, and Welcome to Jurassic Park. :)
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video-games_xbox
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Must have! Huge open world, constant movement, fun characters-Unique. Wow what a game this is. I'm a casual gamer and mostly use my Xbone as a video player for Blu-ray, DVD and webflix. I'll play a little here and there but am rarely fully immersed in a game, and usually I'll play an hour or so into a game and then never finish it and never go back to it.
My favorite thing is that this is a HUGE open world. There's always something to discover and a task to do, so if you get stuck on one thing, you can still leave it and go work on something else. It really reminds me of how Tony Hawk was back in the day, how you could just run all over and do whatever you wanted and go wherever you wanted (that's how I remember it, anyway). And it really feels like you're on a skateboard without actually having one, because you can grind or do tricks off of basically anything solid, you bounce around like a rubber ball. You never sit still. You can't just stand around or you'll get torn to pieces. You literally have to always be moving once you put a few hours into the game.
I like how it doesn't take itself too seriously, because when games do that, that fall into being clones of other games, same plot, different characters, and that always bores me. This is truly something altogether different than anything I've played and it is totally unique and as unforgettable as any game can be. I will remember this game. And I sure hope there is a sequel!
The weapons are silly yet effective and fun to use. Like you only have a couple of basic, run-of-the-mill weapons. All the other weapons are made of totally random parts, like explosive teddy bears, a fireworks gun, an acid gun, etc. It's very cartoon-ish yet they're very effective. The outfits you can buy are really funny, like there's a unicorn outfit, pimp hat, etc. Just really colorful and it adds to the game as much as an outfit can.
I wish the main story was longer but even after beating the main story, I still have things to do that can continue play. I'd say it took 15-25 hours of play time. I don't focus just on the main tasks. I like to explore and complete collections and do the side quests. This game isn't easy. Like the main bosses are very difficult, but not impossibly difficult even for a casual gamer. I think it's still difficult enough for a gamer of any experience level.
So this is one of the best games I've ever played. Definitely the best I've played on Xbone, and definitely the most unique game I've ever played. This is a must have. It's in my top 5, easily.
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video-games_xbox
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Someone burned some money in vain building this game. Okay, first of all let me state, that I am a "mech" fan... If its a game that has mechs, I'll give it a shot if I can.
I had high expectations when I ordered this game after watching some footage and playing the Demo. But the demo doesn't do the game justice, as in showing how it really is. You get a minor snipet and that's that.
I'm going to keep this short and bitter sweet.
The gameplay of this game is horrible. The game designers decided to give you an auto aim, aim assist, pain in the butt, whatever you want to call it, that you CANNOT TURN OFF. At first I thought it was me, when it came to trying to boost away from an enemy (and instead boosting out into the open toward said enemy) But after testing it out.. buying a BRAND NEW CONTROLLER because I thought (hey maybe the one I have is bad) and still doing the same BS.. *boosting toward the enemies that are shooting me in the face* Yeah, major game design fail right there. What a HUGE smack in the face.
The controls are clunky... I was constantly fighting against the controls and trying to get my mech to respond the way I wanted.
The boss fights are horribly horribly broken. I'm talking about.. they have infinite energy, so it seems, armor that is like "God armor"... firepower that does like 10 times the damage that the best gun you can buy does... Its horrid.
The difficulty of the game on normal.. goes like this.. 1/3rd So So... Not too many enemies.. you can fight them off. Then the 2nd third.. its like.. Okay this is tougher.. and then later on in the game. Its freaking ridiculous. I'm having enemies bum rush me on normal. That I can't one shot.. I can't stop.. (Their like a brawler set up..) And then they stun lock me and just beat the piss outta me.
The "Edge system" that they put into the game is ridiculous.. for you. As in it runs out really really quick... where as, your enemies, seem to almost be able to use it infinitely. And then smack you in the face with said ability.
Its horrid. It really freaking is.
You constantly have to buy parts, you already bought. WTF? Seriously? Same goes with weapons..
I haven't played a game in a looooong looooooooooong time, that I felt was a one. That just flat out failed. That just made me want to break something out of frustration. This game does that. Its not like Dark Souls or Demon Souls, carefully crafted difficulty or situations... Its like a hodge podge of difficulty/pacing.
Story is cliche and cheesy and at some points, just stupid. If you played Front mission three, and go into this game expecting.. a cool story and all that? some really cool scenes, etc... forget it. Seriously.
Don't buy this game.. unless your just a hardcore mech fan, or a big time fan of the front mission series and just want to check it out. This is a purchase that I regret.
The only really cool thing I can say about this game, is its customization of the wanzers, aesthetically... Also its really cool what you can do when it comes to different arms and shields, weapons.. etc. They did a good job on this area of the game.
It's sad, that they could do so well in some areas.. And then the game designers just freaking dropped the ball in the rest of the game. I'm guessing it was the team over all. Some team members just didn't do as well as they should have, verses.. others who did an amazing job on the section of game they worked.
So bottom line? Don't waste your money or time.
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video-games_xbox
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Highly Recommended (I own both Xbox One and PS4. Admittedly, I sat there at E3 2013 watching Microsoft's and Sony's press conferences thinking: "wow... PS4 is going to crush Xbox One." But since buying both consoles at launch, I barely turn on my PS4. Despite some flaws, the Xbox One is superb.
*** Key: -Positive -Negative -Informational/Neutral ***
--Performance/Hardware--
8-core processor means seamless multitasking and switching between apps
The built-in wifi adapter works very well; I never experience lag while playing online despite my less-than-optimal internet speed
You can use an external hard drive to expand the 500 gb hard drive
The graphics processor is not as robust as the PS4s. This is why many games run 1080p on PS4 but not on Xbox One.
--Design--
3.1 x 10.8 x 13.1 in
The front USB port used for connecting controllers is actually on the left side (if you're facing the console). This could potentially be annoying if wanted to position the console directly next to another object.
The console is big and clunky. Certainly doesn't come off as a next-gen console appearance wise (whereas the PS4 is quite sleek)
You CANNOT stand the console vertically. Physically its possible. But Microsoft has warned against standing your xbox up. This combined with its large size can make finding space for your uno challenging.
These design quirks will undoubtedly be improved upon with future versions of the console (think Xbox 360 Slim). However, early adopters will be punished in this regard.
--Experience--
Beautiful, bright, and well-organized dashboard provides for an extremely pleasant experience every time you turn it on. You can customize the dashboard by changing the color scheme (I prefer the traditional "xbox green" myself) and by pinning your favorite apps for easy access.
Seamless transition between gaming, apps (Hulu, Netflix, etc.), and cable TV changes the way you consume entertainment
Snap functionality is awesome! You can pull up cable TV, your favorite streaming service, the Party app, etc. in the top right corner of the screen. I like watching TV with this feature for extra background noise when playing games.
The voice commands have improved dramatically since launch. And trust me, it seems gimmicky at first... but you'll really appreciate the ability to turn the console on/off, raise/lower the volume, and switch between Hulu/Netflix/TV/Games when you lay down and realize you left the remote on the other side of the room.
Xbox live still feels like a much more cohesive and vibrant community than PSN, even in this next generation. And Microsoft has finally answered Sonys PS+ Instant Game Collection with its own Games with Gold offering.
I like achievements way more than Sonys trophy system
--Controller--
Feels even better than the already-great Xbox 360 controller
Battery lasts a long time when using the play and charge kit
I own 4 controllers. 2 of them feel like the seams on the side are offset the slightest bit... As if they just don't come together as well as they should.
The triggers seem to have lost their tension fairly quickly (might be partly due to the constant acceleration and braking Ive been doing in Forza)
--Games--
Realistically, most blockbuster games nowadays are released on both Xbox and Playstation. Exclusive titles which come down to personal preference provide some differentiation. So far, however, no real meaningful exclusives have been released. Xbox has Titanfall, Forza, Ryse, and Dead Rising; PS4 has Infamous and Killzone. For the average gamer, none of these are compelling enough to make a difference. Going forward, however, Halo Master Chief Collection and Halo 5 may sway some gamers toward Xbox. Then again, Sony at least in my opinion has had the better arsenal of exclusives (Uncharted, Last of Us, God of War, etc.).
--Final Comments--
Microsoft set out to create a holistic entertainment experience with the Xbox One. Being a hardcore gamer, I was skeptical at first. But they really made it work. I use my Xbox One significantly more than my PS4 (and I was rooting for PS4 the whole way up until launch). And this bundle is a great value: for the standard $500 price tag, you get a free quality game in Forza. I recommend getting this over the $400 kinect-less version, as kinect truly adds to the overall experience.
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video-games_xbox
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Not a fallout game,, this is its own. This is an oblivion in a new theme. Do not think of it as a sequel to fallout.
One would think that a game 10 years in the making and with the title of the long enduring fallout series would have the feel of fallout. No, not so much.yes, it uses the name and theme, but not the feel. I would rather play fallout 2.
Firstly this game does have excellent graphics and almost no bugs.
For someone who hasn't played fallout before this may be a great game.
For those fallout veterans this is a great disappointment. I wish i had saved my money.
The main thing that bothers me is that even though the world is large and the game seems to be free form, almost everything you do results in a similar end.
I really really miss having to think about my actions rather than just brainlessly wander about and kill stuff.
Gets old.
The only real choice of consequence is the megaton city choice. thats it.
The creators went to great lengths to make it so your choices DON'T limit or help you later on in the game. Why would my decisions do that? in real life my actions only have immediate short term effects, right?
You may have different ways of completing a quest or various things to say, it always comes out almost the same. It lacks much of the decisionmaking from the first two. I lost interest after i realized that nomater what i do i can still complete everything on the map.
One would think if you go and start killig everyone you may limit yourself or make it impossible to do other things. Not here. Any created character can complete every quest. To the same end, some have two outcomes but they are fixed.
Why even create my own character?
It was like a one or two time watcher movie.
If i am in a conversation and i flat out insult someone one would think they wouldnt trust you or at the least wouldnt want to talk to you again.
Not like that "Hey you! Ugly!"-"well thats not a very nice thing to call someone new. So what would you like to talk about."
The dialogue is dumbed down and you always have a good, bad and maybe a neutral option. occasionally a skill based one too. but why would you as an angel have the option to insult the hell out of someone? Or as an evil villian i would expect to have special extra evil stuff to say instead of the standard ones, including the suck-up goody two shoes option.
In summary, my biggest complaint is that since i can do everything with any given character, where is the drive to try a different aproach or play the game differently?
And i never think about the choices i make,, they don't have more than an immediate and local effect.
Maybe they will put out a "make this game be fallout"-Patch.
Oh..and for the love of god,, has anyone heard of a soundtrack?
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video-games_xbox
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Liking what I see, but there's room for improvement. To be clear, I'm neither a fan of any brand or system so let's strike out the Xbox/PS vs PC vs Mac...etc. I like a good product. Period. Further, buying this Xbox so soon after launch I expected bugs and problems. This is a day one product people, what have you ever bought that's "day one" was 100% working? No, just because you like it doesn't make it 100% working. And yes, my Kinect is broken just like a bunch of people out there; MS is sending replacement. I also realize there is a lack of games. If you can't tell that, do not buy any game console. Lastly, please don't argue about the stupid price point. Pricing does not make a product excellent. That's a consumer choice..ie you! With that said, I'm in the same boat as you when deciding to buy the Xbox One.
To point, I've rent and played games such as Rising Dead 3 and Forza 5. Both games are beautiful and I loved Forza 5 so much I bought the LTD. Been playing it for every day now. I don't have a PS4 to compare against but the graphics are far better than the PS3. Ok, that doesn't say lot. My PC is well equip with the GTX780 and full SSD setup and obviously more versatile than the Xbox One. But graphics wise I can say it's above average in comparison. Remember, this is a console so there are huge limitation vs PC. Anyway, the gaming experience is a treat. I especially like being able to quickly switch between application; from game to tv, and back; to internet; and, whatever else. It's quite responsive.
As a media center, it plays Blue-Ray and streams HD quite well. My Roku can't compare and the Chromcast is slower. The Xbox One also has other Smart TV ability but I think it needs further development. Especially, when the Kinect is tied to it but isn't working 100%.
Hardware wise, the system runs cool but takes up space. The USB ports are few; 1 on the side and 2 in the rear. Power cable appears well shielded and sturdy.
Overall, I can't stress enough that this is a day one item. Don't fool yourself thinking ANY technical hardware comes 100% legit when it's first made. And if you are foolish enough, probably mean you love the brand so much your expectation is very high. And no I didn't forget there were previous Xbox's; but really, that just gives ground for the engineer/marketing more room to be creative. So buy this if you're THAT curious and have about $600 to blow. Otherwise, it won't be another year until this gets less buggy + related problems.
Other thoughts:
-realize that insurance is a must.
-Also, accessories will be needed, ie controllers/batteries/mounting kit...up to you.
-May want to buy USB port hub
-Games price shouldn't be a pain point but rental services will help (ex: Gamefly); Microtransaction within game shouldn't be a surprise (I mean you've seen DLC's right?). So research the games you're getting...the "affliction" impacts all gaming platform...get over it or just don't play games.
-Lastly, if you're a person who can afford toys average price of $1000, this isn't a bad buy. But if
Thank you and I hope this unbiased review proved some use to you. Will update.
PS. I also plan to buy the PS4 when it's actually available.
Update: it's been over a year and I have both the PS4 and the Xbox One
So I still like the Xbox, however, do not play with it as much as the PS4. Mainly, because there are more games on the PS4. I focus on the Xbox for the exclusive titles only such as Forza and Halo. With the recent Window 10 release having the ability to stream games in between makes this a more interesting gadget. There has also been new updates to the system which increases stability and response rate.
Bottom line?
1) I wouldn't have bought the system if my budget was limited to PS4 vs Xbox. The PS4 was bit ahead of the market.
2) I would, however, have bought both systems if I had to do it again. It's still a great console and am looking forward to Gears of War, Halo 5, Halo Wars 2, and PC > Xbox streaming.
3) The new and improve version with 1TB, both PS4/Xbox, and mannnnny dif bundles now available makes the investment more worthwhile. Glad you, the reader, had waited. Have fun!
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video-games_xbox
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Fails to live up to Soul Calibur greatness. I love Soul Calibur, but I gave this game 3 stars for the following reasons:
PROS:
1. Star Wars characters Yoda, Darth Vadar, and The Apprentice are fun to play with. What's not awesome about controlling the little Jedi master as he flips and dashes around screen with a light saber?
2. Graphics are good, and some of the stages are beautiful, especially with HDMI hooked up; it makes all the difference.
3. Some characters have new moves and combos, which are fun to play with as well as aesthetically pleasing.
CONS:
1. Stories for characters are weak. I know it's not a story-driven game, but these are weaker than usual, and sometimes just weird.
2. The Single player Tower of Souls quest is ridiculously challenging at times, which becomes increasingly frustrating. For example, on one level of the tower you're task is to take on 11 enemies in a row with just 1 character, whose life doesn't refill at all throughout the whole ordeal. Furthermore, the enemies get stronger as you approach the "boss", who is equipped with double health! So, unless you've had perfect matches on every fight by the time you reach the "boss"(if you're so fortunate) you usually only have a small fraction of your health meter left, which means you need to fight another perfect round against the annoying computer, which is unlikely. This type of stuff just gets old after a while. If you're the kind of guy who likes really challenging tasks, then this is for you. But for those of us who simply want to complete the game without too much frustration, and without spending hours doing the same thing over and over again, this is definately a con.
3. The computer is especially annoying to play against for some reason.
4. Movement around the fighting arena feels sluggish; characters aren't as agile. This makes side-stepping more difficult to pull off.
5. Blocking isn't as effective. When you get knocked down in older Soul Calibur games, in order to avoid getting pummeled again and again while you lie helpless on the ground you just had to hold the block button. This would make the character automatically block if your opponent tried to get some cheap shots in. And the response time was good. Not so in Soul Calibur 4. The same principal still applies, but it takes longer for the game to register that you're trying to block the attack. So you end up lying on the ground helpless as your opponent keeps getting shots off. Very annoying.
6. No taunting before matches! You can't make the characters talk some smack before going head-to-head. Weak!
7. Weapon system is complicated and impractical. You have to customize a character every time you want to equip him/her with a new weapon. Why can't we just select a weapon when we choose our characters before a match like in Soul Calibur 2. Dumb.
Ok, that's enough. Hopefully you get the idea. To summarize, Soul Calibur fans might be a little disappointed as the game has dropped down a notch from previous Soul Caliburs, mainly in the area of gameplay. But for those who aren't very familiar with Soul Calibur this game should be very fun. And if for no other reason, buying it for the Star Wars characters alone is worth it.
Dan
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video-games_xbox
|
Highly Underrated. This may be the most misunderstood and underrated game of 2007. I was weary purchasing it because of the mostly negative reviews from game critics. GameSpot and XPlay were in the minority giving Assassin's Creed a high rating. Their reviews usually align with my tastes and I thankfully listened. When I look at a game like Zelda Twilight princess for the Wii (which shares attributes to AC) where IGN gives that 10 year-old outdated design a 9.5, and then gives this game a 7.7; I have to wonder what they are smoking. AC is hands down one of the single greatest achievements in video game history. I could not stop playing this game from the second it hit the disk tray and XBOX live updated the software. Assassin's Creed can be summed up like this: An adult version of Sly Cooper 2 & 3 with the visceral feel of Ninja Gaiden. All of this while attaining the greatest graphical fidelity and beauty in video game console history. Here are the categories:
Graphics -I have yet to see better graphics on the XBOX 360. Having played Mass Effect, COD4, and BioShock, I can still say this with confidence. The world is huge and the graphical detail is mind-blowing throughout the macro to micro stratification. A few hours into the game when you pull up on your horse overlooking the ancient city of Damascus, your jaw just drops. There is no draw-in distance that I can see usually present in massive world adventure games. I did not witness the visual glitches others have mentioned. It could be that the software update fixed those, but there may also be a misunderstanding of said glitches. Without giving away too much, I believe it is pretty well known that you are playing in a virtual world. It turns out that visual "glitches" were programmed in to give the player a cue to switch camera perspectives during cut scenes. You can control a limited camera during cut scenes very similar to what Metal Gear Solid 3 utilized, for those familiar.
Sound -Environmental sound and the implementation of surround sound is blockbuster action movie quality, as is the voice-acting and musical score. The quality is on par with BioShock and God of War 1 & 2 for PS2, which had stellar audio attributes.
Gameplay - Wow, refreshing. Though the implementation of the gamepad is tricky at first, once you learn the controls, they are butter. Combat is simple yet innovative. Words cannot describe the exhilaration you will feel the first time taking a running leap to plunge your hidden dagger into the neck of a roof guard and watch that animation unfold. It's Ninja Gaiden-visceral for those of you played that epic title. When jumping and climbing on the roof tops of these incredibly well designed cities, it felt like Sly Cooper 2 & 3 for those of you who are familiar the designs of the cities in those great titles.
Story - Good concept. It won't win any Academy awards, but everything else in this game is so superb, you really cannot fault the premise of the story.
Summary -Stop any further hesitation and buy this game now! You will enjoy an epic experience on par with the greatest games ever made.
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video-games_xbox
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Best Tiger Woods game in a long time. I've played Tiger Woods PGA Tour games on my Xbox for many years. There have been some ups and some downs (yeck...remember the caddie?) So I went into this not expecting to be impressed, given some of the things I've read about servers being down and game bugs galore. I can honestly say that, a month after the official release, I've experienced none of that.
Instead, I found a golf game that's quite possibly the best Tiger Woods PGA Tour game, ever! Yep, I really really like this game. It combines all the good parts of past TW PGA Tour games and none of the bad. You even get--count 'em--a generous serving of 25 golf courses included (in the Historic Edition)! Better still, unlike the last Masters edition I bought, if you don't have the course that's next on the tour, no problem. You're not forced to buy the course, you can simply substitute an existing one to your tournament.
Pin Packs, which are collectible pins that boost your stats for a round, are available at the Store, but you don't have to buy them if you don't want to, and you don't have to feel you're missing out on something if you don't. In fact, after I purchased a Pin Pack just to see what it was, I haven't bought any since. I don't need them to play. You can purchase Pin Packs with either MS points, or with game coins earned from playing.
Country Clubs are back. Start your own or join an existing one, reap the benefits of club bonuses with friends. Plus now, Night Golf! There's even an achievement called "Find the Werewolf"! (google this for a Youtube video)
I find the golf mechanics are pretty much perfect this time around, from the swing meter to the putting, although sometimes the camera on the putting surface is in the wrong position. There's a demo available on Xbox live so you can see for yourself. By far, the best feature of the Historic Edition is the ability to play against legends from the past. This is presented in scratchy sepia tone and is just so much fun to see the old courses, clothes and of course, golf clubs--cleeks, jiggers, and baffing spoons etc.
If you're an armchair golfer who has played past TW PGA Tour games and are on the fence with this one, give the demo a try. I did, then I came right back to Amazon to purchase it! Great golf game!
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video-games_xbox
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A game that has raised the bar. I have taken the time to click through all of the reviews so far and have read all of the 1 - 3 star ratings and most of the 4 stars.
What I have discovered is these low ratings on this review board are most likely written either by die hard fans of other gaming systems... or the competition's gaming system employees. Realizing the impending demise of their companies
With much of the controversy surrounding Microsoft I know several gamers that cringe at the thought of supporting them but even they are buying the XBox.
Reason: It has more to offer a person with high gaming standards. Now add Halo to the equation and you have a gaming experience that has exponentially surpassed the rest of the FPS's that are out there.
We (my three son's and I) come from a PC gamer background and have never thought to purchase a gaming console, especially since we have 8 computers on a network at home and enjoy games like Tribes 2, Half Life and more. We purchased the XBox and Halo with high expectations. It has surpassed them all. Which is strange because when expectations are set high, inevitably they are slighted when the experience takes place. Not true with the Xbox or HALO.
It took us about midway through the first level to get the concept of how to use the controller and by the 3rd level we were surprised at what fluency we encountered. Especially since we are all used to the keyboard and mouse controls. If any controller were to come close to the keyboard and mouse it would have to be this one.
Graphics: They rock, nuff said.
Music and Sound: Totally spectacular - can really make the toes curl.
Replayability: At the top!
The game doesn't take forever to finish. Once finished you can go back to any chapter and try it again with a higher difficulty setting. If you like you can just start over. Multiplayer will allow this game to be around for a very long time.
Controller: Coming from a PC Gamer background... nothing beats the keyboard and mouse but this controller sure does come close.
This system can be added to your network at home and gateway to the Internet to be played online with others. I don't know of one console gamming system that can do this.
A 10 GB hard drive so that you don't have to purchase extra memory!
Can save music CDs on the hard drive so that you can listen to the music that you want to during games.
This game has raised the bar for FPS's out there liken unto the jump from Atari's first gaming system to Intellivision. (giving away my age). The XBox has raised the bar across the board and there would have to be a technical breakthrough for anyone to raise the bar again.
Bottom line, HALO will be around for a long time and you will not be disappointed.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review:
The low scores you see on this review board are most likely written either by die hard fans of other gaming systems... or the competition's gaming system employees. Realizing the impending demise of their companies.
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video-games_xbox
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This will change your Fitness Life. I've never been a very fitness oriented person. I did a sport (Swimming) in highschool because my parents made me.
Now that I'm in my late 20s I realized I really need to start making Fitness more of a priority before my metabolizm catchs up with me and I'm overweight like the rest of my family.
For me working out at the Gym was just not an option. It took too much time. I tried work-out videos but man even 30min can be hard to find some days and the work outs are never at my level of ability. Oh and exercise equipement... Tried that but man that is so repetative and gets so boring even if I can watch a movie while working.
One day while my husband was looking for a new video game I came across this title. I laughed and thought it was stupid.
Then as I thought about it more and more, I thought out this might really be something that would work for me. So I finaly went out and bought it.
I've now been training every weekday with Maya since Mid Oct 2005 (it is now Late Jan 2006). I love it!!!
I can't say enough good things about this. I started at 15min a day because I thought I could at least find that much time. But as of the New Year I bumped it up to 30min because I can truely see what good it is doing in my life. I have never been so excited about working out or fitness in my life for so long.
I can totally tell this is not a fad for me. I just don't know what I will do when the X-box breaks (it is a few years old and sometimes it glitches while playing games so I know it will happen.)
I loved the program so much I even got a fitness ball and hand weights for Christmas, and wow does that open up a whole knew world of working out.
If you are like me and just can't find time for the gym or hate borring repetative workout videos then you need to get this program. The personalized workouts realy make you feel like you have control over your fitness and motivate you to continue coming back for more.
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video-games_xbox
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Is This Franchise Turning Into 'Madden. I'll have to admit that I haven't purchased Madden in a couple of years. Why? Because it's the same game more or less every single year. The Modern Warfare franchise is beginning to look like that's 'how it rolls'.
The campaign, much like MW2, is only going to give you about 5 hours of game time, albeit EXTREMELY fun game time. The single player campaign is a thrill ride from beginning to end, no doubt. The entire game is a visual feast for FPS war fans, and is the most impressive demonstration of destruction on-screen to date. That being said, the missions feel quite linear, which is truly a shame because I missed being able to tackle objectives in different ways from games of, well, maybe only 4-5 years ago. But, you're pretty much in charge of the action here, and the chaos leads you down the path you're supposed to go, more or less. I can personally overlook the linear style of the game because of how much fun it is, but I'm still rather disappointed that the campaign was only 5 hours. I ended MW2 saying, "What? That was the last mission?" I ended MW3 on the same note.
As far as multiplayer, which is where the real meat of the game lies for so many of us - I've heard from many people they thought it was a step back, but I personally feel those people are just echoing the online hyperbole that's been going around. I think it's actually a little better, and I'm having MUCH more fun on the multiplayer maps this time around than I was with MW2. A few weeks destroying bad guys in MW2 and I was done... but now? I'm hooked and I can see myself going back to play this game until the next MW game is released, whenever that might be.
Overall, some people might not think it's worth $60 since it really is a tricky way for the developers for us to buy this glorified expansion. Hell, even I didn't want to buy it at full price, hence why I bought it at half off thanks to Amazon's 'buy 1 get 1 50% off sale'... but now that I'm neck deep in the multiplayer, I can honestly say knowing what I do now, that paying full price is still justified, albeit just barely.
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video-games_xbox
|
Close to perfection. <div id="video-block-R7M6E841NJFCK" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1kI-imCIiS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81sszUxxnMS.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> "Fable 2" brings together the best elements of games like <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Grand-Theft-Auto/dp/B000FRU1UM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Grand Theft Auto</a> and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Sims/dp/B000BAVN14/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Sims</a> while maintaining a classic fantasy action-RPG bend. The battle system is simple, intuitive, endlessly fun, and deep while the interactions with NPC's (Non Player Characters) are many and extremely varied; a big step up all around from the original game. You can do what you want, go where you want, buy anything you want -including nearly every building in the game- and kill who you want. But all of your actions have consequences, good or bad. This makes for an amazing gameplay experience that assures that the main story (which is quote short) is never the main attraction. There's always too much to do to pay it much mind.
Rather than explain the battle system, I've opted to show it to you so I'll just add that there is a ton of sweet magic with no MP constraints. But if you level up your magic abilities, your character gets unsightly blue veins all over their body and since I was going for the benevolent Amazon warrior woman archetype on this playthrough, I didn't have much of it to show. But it is there and my next game will be evil sorcerer to the hilt.
There are tons of expressions to learn and use to interact with villagers. Train your dog to pee on a dude's leg while you tell them to kiss your rear end, flex your muscles, flip them the bird, blow them a kiss, do a funky dance, laugh an evil laugh, belch in their face, give them a gift, play them a song on your lute, show off your trophies, or invite them to your bed for some hot coffee and they'll react according to their personality. Each town has it's own economy so trading can be profitable, but the best way to make money is investing in stores and real estate, which automatically pays off as you play and continues paying off even when your X-box is off. While in town you can bed a hooker, raise some kids, get a job as a bartender, blacksmith, woodcutter, assassin, or bounty hunter, get gay married to a hot zombie, raise or lower your tenants' rents, or just kill everyone in sight: it's your call.
There's a lot to explore, a ton of items to collect, dozens of weapons to choose from (I use the legendary Daichi katana and a turret rifle known as The Perforater). The choice of guns is particularly cool. Flintlock rifles are the classic one-shot-one-kill sniper weapons, but have to reload after every shot. Turret rifles have six barrels and can be fired semi-automatically, though each individual shot is weaker than other rifles. Pistols are fast, but weak, blundresses are close-range shotguns of immense power that can hit multiple targets, and crossbows are the most balanced. As I show in the video, you can target individual body parts or even shoot a weapon out of an enemy's hand at higher levels. weapons can also be augmented with features like fire damage, attack/defense boosts, or even to earn money when they make a kill. There is a massive variety of food to eat that all have their own features. Meat will make you fat and evil if you eat it while veggies give you extra experience, purity, and can even make you skinny and pretty again. Yes, there is vegetarian propaganda built into this game. The choice in clothing isn't spectacular, but it is varied and you can dye each individual item with up to two different colors (out of a huge available palette) so there is some customization there.
Your dog is indispensable as he leads you to buried treasure and spots chests you may have missed. He also will attack fallen foes and back up your interactions once he's well trained. But I do feel that too much has been made of this feature considering the astounding AI system of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Black-White/dp/B00004UE0O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Black & White</a>. I expected more after all the canine hype. Other than that, the occasional glitch, the inability to kick your foe's head after you blow it off (you could in the original and it totally ruled), and the fact that once you're a big hero EVERY villager with the right sexual preference will follow you around and hound you incessantly for marriage (even when your husband/wife is standing right there with you...heck, even when you are having sex!), I don't have any complaints about this game. There is online functionality that allows you to see other players currently playing "Fable 2" in your same vicinity and you are able to interact with them and even join them in their game for double the fun. You can trade items or borrow money or kill your buddy's spouse or just go around wrecking up the joint together. Even after you beat the game there are things to do and quests to complete. You can even become King/Queen.
It seems like every game I buy for this system is 5-stars or close to it. The quality of video games coming right now is easily at an all-time high. The freedom, the fighting, the graphics, the humor, the story: there is almost nothing not to like about "Fable 2". Next to GTA 4, it's the best sandbox game out there and it's got all the fantasy RPG goodness one could ask for on top of it.
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video-games_xbox
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For hardcore gamers only; interactive novel; not that great. First of, yes, Yu Suzuki is a genius and I admire what he's attempted to do here. Very valiant effort on this series that may just be ahead of its time.
I just got this the other day and have been trying to MAKE myself play it. That should tell you something right there.
EGM and Gamespot's reviews of this game are dead-on: It definitely feels and looks like a DC port.
Read both of those reviews.
This almost can't even be called a game, and if you go into this thinking you have another Morrowind type game on your hands, than you will be very disappointed.
Morrowind blows this thing away for epic scope, freedom, and variety. It's false advertising if anyone tries to sell this to you under that pretense.
The game is mostly you talking people and getting from point to point. It's a detective novel that you kind of interact with, for all intents and purposes.
Yes, you can sight see, buy knick knacks, find the Sega arcade games, and other side jaunts, but GTA:VC and Morrowind both FAR AND AWAY have a much greater sense of freedom and variety of gameplay than this does. It's not fair to compare such different genres, but that's what some people have been doing, and I am setting the record straight.
I think this is a niche title that fans of the first game should chew up.
For people like me, who didn't play the first one, you might be asking yourself, "Yeah, so?"
I think that this game needed more time on the shelf.
MAKE it Xbox worthy on all levels. As it stands, it reeks of Dreamcast port all the way.
The controls leave something to be desired. They almost go down to Resident Evil level, which is disgraceful. The controls are tolerable, but that's about it.
The game does boast a nice music score, and the transition between the game modes is pretty seamless.
This is a very slow paced experience. VERY SLOW. I recommend that you proceed with caution; consider a rental first. I view this game as an interactive book.
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video-games_xbox
|
Feeble Attempt to Resurrect Guitar Hero as a Corporate Cash Cow. Long, but complete, review. I have been a long-time Guitar Hero fan, owning every game they have ever released. This isn't the worst game they have made, but it is close. I will be reviewing the guitar playing experience on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. Bear with me, the review is long but it is thorough.
INTRO:
I like the fresh new take on the Guitar Hero franchise which utilizes the 3 x 3 matrix of 6 buttons for an attempt at a more realistic guitar playing experience. It is certainly a new challenge for those who have become proficient in the old 5 colored button scheme. The live recorded video with the POV style background imagery is a really cool idea and addition to gameplay. It is even reactive to you when you play badly, which is a nice touch. That being said, however, it is a completely unrealistic, "feel good" kind of experience, and it is completely tertiary to the game play while forcing you to watch the intro and transition videos when you play solo offline.
Sadly the live video is the best thing about the offline play experience, which by the way is called "Live," as compared to "Guitar Hero TV" which is the online, ACTUALLY live experience. This caused confusion from the start. The available playlists offline are awful and nothing approaching the playlists of even the worst Guitar Hero games of the past.
GUITAR CONTROLLER:
The guitar controller overall has a decent feel to it with buttons and a strum bar that hopefully will stand the test of time better than some of the older controllers. The neck is detachable but utilizes a more robust electrical connector than the older controllers that often developed button connectivity issues with contact wear. Hopefully this connector will not suffer the same fate. If you remember, the final GH chapter before this, Warriors of Rock, abandoned the detachable neck design and opted instead for detachable sides. Now for the down side, the guitar controller comes with a little USB receiver that plugs in to the console (at least it does for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One). This essentially turns the guitar controller into a semi-wired controller as the receiver will steal the Player 1 position on the Xbox whenever it is connected, even if the guitar itself is off. This means, when you want to play something else, even with the guitar controller turned off, you will have to remove the receiver from the console if you want to connect a proper wireless controller. To add insult to injury, there isn't even a nice slot on the guitar controller in which to store the receiver when not in use. So now I have this little adapter sitting around which is very easy to lose. As if I don't have enough devices to plug in to my console and other electronic devices already. For those of you who may already be using your USB slots, note that you will need an available USB slot PER GUITAR to play the game with this "wireless controller."
LOCAL MULTIPLAYER:
That's right, the USB receiver only supports pairing with a single device. That means you will need an available USB port and plugged in receiver for each player in local multiplayer. It looks like the game only supports 1 or 2 players in local multiplayer anyways. I confirmed this directly from Guitar Hero's website with the following line, "Two dongles and two guitar controllers are required for local multiplayer." Noted in the same section also was this, "The second player can only be logged in as a guest. Their performance will not be saved." So forget about the Rock Band type experience with local multiplayer, additional players are just along for the ride.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
I primarily played Guitar Hero Live on the Xbox 360, where there are 49 total achievements. Of these, only 17 of them are attainable in offline play with the remaining 32 requiring online GH TV play to complete. Of the offline achievements, I unlocked 15 of them in the first few hours of playing as they are not very challenging, save for the two I have yet to unlock offline.
GHTV ONLINE PLAY:
Honestly, I was so turned off by the offline experience, I only played a few songs online. I have no desire to log a lot of hours being forced to play someone else's playlist just for a chance to earn my own choices. The makers are definitely looking to cash in as I believe you can buy (with real money) stars which allow you pick your own songs. No thanks.
PROS:
The new 3 x 3 orientation of the 6 fret buttons is a fresh new take on things.
The "live" concert footage in offline play is a neat feature.
CONS:
Guitar Controller Connector Adapter steals USB slot and needs to be removed when not playing.
Offline playlists are a joke.
Initial installation is required (even on the Xbox 360 which is not an installation-based system), it takes a long time and likely only supports the live video in the background.
Achievements heavily favor online play and long-durational play.
Online play is an unpleasant experience which often doesn't let you choose your own music.
Online play is an attempt to grab more money by letting you purchase options to choose your own songs.
No reasonably viable local multiplayer options for those who care about saving progress.
CONCLUSION:
All in all, I see why this game came down in price so fast. Myself and many others used to happily shell out $100 for each new game and guitar kit that was released. After spending only $60 on this kit (the same price as a typical new release game alone) I am left wishing I hadn't wasted my money. I wish I had opted to go with the new Rock Band instead. It feels like most of the effort was placed on making the live videos, especially since they force you to watch a behind the scenes look at making the videos. It is obvious they are very proud of the videos, and to be fair, they did a good job at that. But I feel tha the gameplay and hardware design definitely took a back seat and were slapped together without much thought. Perhaps it is a gateway to some better games in the future, but you might want to skip this one.
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video-games_xbox
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Middle of the Road Hack and Slash Title. Since no one's reviewed this one yet, I thought I would give you guys a rundown of the basic gameplay to help you decide whether or not to buy Viking: Battle for Asgard
Basically you start off as a viking warrior tasked with defeating the evil hordes threatening your villages. Its more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it. To defeat these evil armies, you have to accomplish a series of small tasks, in whatever order you choose, in order to then complete the larger tasks.
For instance, you might have a problem like "the evil legions of Hel have taken over the old fort. raise an army and drive them out" and to accomplish that you'd need to kick the bad guys out of a farm so the guys in your army have enough to eat, free a group of vikings being held prisoner in an old mine so you'll have enough troops, and find a special key to open the gate to the fort
So you can do all that in any order you want, finding gold, killing bad guys and freeing small groups of prisoners on the way. You can spend your gold on better weapons, magical runes, healing potions, etc. You use the runes to integrate fire, ice, or whatever into your regular attacks. For instance, a fire rune gives you a burning sword for a certain amount of time
Once the little tasks are done, you summon your army of Vikings and go have a big battle with the bad guys at the larger objective. Assuming you win, you can then wander around and talk to NPCs to find out information and get new tasks and quests
I played this for about 4 hours yesterday and thought it was ok. There's only about 4 or 5 enemy types, and they break down into: soldier, big soldier, soldier with shield, soldier with bow, or assassin. All of those except the assassin are basically the same thing and you just have to hit them more or less times to kill them
Speaking of hitting people, you use the A button to attack with your sword, which is a fast attack, and hit X to use your axe for a slower but stronger attack. You combine those two buttons and the left trigger and bumper to make various combo attacks. Its all very simple and intuitive, and probably something you've seen a million times before
There's a token stealth feature, where you can sneak up on a guy and kill him with one shot, but since you usually find enemies in groups of 5-12 and once you kill the first one the others catch on that you're there, it doesn't really do you alot of good to sneak up on them.
The main appeal of this game to the casual gamer are the slow motion and extremely graphic kill shots when you do combo moves. Chopping people's heads off, cutting them in half, holding them down and stabbing them in the eye, cutting their arms off, etc. Plenty of gore and brutality for the teenagers to enjoy
For the older gamer, or maybe just people who don't love gore, there's not alot here to hold your interest after 3 or 4 hours. Its basically just running from quest to quest, buying supplies, and cutting the bad guy's limbs off, assuming no drastically new ideas are introduced farther into the game than i am now
So as of right now I'd have to call this one a rental, unless you just really love Vikings. Hope that helps you guys make a decision
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video-games_xbox
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Instant favorite. From the opening sequence to the end of the game, it's a solid action/adventure game. It plays very much like Legend of Zelda or Castlevania in that you have to collect certain items and can revisit previous areas to explore for hidden or previously unattainable treasure. The graphics are great, if not outstanding, and the enemies are well-animated. There's never any slow-down, and the character models move smoothly.
The voice acting is very well done given the at-times corny script, but overall the story is delivered solidly and in-tact. It's a very fast playthrough. I completed the game in a single weekend in my spare time between home improvement projects. But it's very satisfying and replayability stands on its own merits. I almost wish I hadn't chosen the hardest difficulty for the first playthrough just so that I would have had to go through the whole game again. If you don't want to have to play it a second time, choosing the highest difficulty won't really affect game play: combat is simple and straightforward and once you've seen an enemy enough times you can take it down quickly without taking much damage even on harder settings. The final boss is pretty much a push-over if you've taken the time to collect everything and learn how to effectively use War.
The setting of the game is also epic. You're playing as War, one of the Four Horseman, and you eventually meet up with his horse, Ruin. You're travelling through a post-apocalyptic city, kick butt and leaving the names as you try to find out who betrayed you. It's a new and interesting take on Angelic mythos.
The world itself could have been a bit bigger and longer, but for what it was it never lost my attention or disappointed me. There were a few frustrating areas where it took me a little too long to figure out what to do, but only because I missed something that should have been obvious. The puzzles themselves aren't terribly difficult, and you'll breeze through most of the game. The platforming sections can be frustrating at times, but fortunately you're treated to a number of do-overs if you fall, at the cost of some health (until you run out). Item collection can be very straightforward, with only a few tricky locations that you may not notice if you don't always take the time to do things like turn around and look up.
With its debut, Darksiders has definitely landed itself a spot among my favorite game franchises. I'm hoping they continue to build the story and give us a look at each of the four horsemen. As it is, I'm really looking forward to get a chance to sit down and play through the sequel.
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video-games_xbox
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Awesome. Received the delivery in 2 days (Thanks Prime!) Opened the package, opened the side of my XBox, slid the drive in and pushed it down until it clicked, started the XBox and the drive was immediately recognized, it even has the Microsoft logo on the screen next to the storage device. Transferred all of my game data from the internal flash storage and from my USB stick, and installed COD Ghosts. All of this couldn't be more simple and it took a total of 10 minutes to complete.
As for the drive itself, I've seen a lot of reviews complaining that it's generic and not an official Microsoft product, of course it's generic, that's why you're paying a fraction of what an over priced officially branded XBox drive would cost! But that doesn't mean it's any less good. There are only a few companies that make hard drives, and guess what, they all do the same thing, Microsoft chooses the company that gives them the best price, whether it be Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor, Hitachi, etc., and that's what they use, one isn't necessarily better than the other. I haven't opened this drive up, but I can only assume that it's either a Seagate or WD drive housed in an unbranded black housing, as long as it is formatted correctly and has the software required to be recognized by your XBox, it will work. From what I've read, it doesn't have the emulator on it so that you can play original XBox games like the official MS drive does, but I don't play those games so that means nothing to me. And the fact that I can almost buy 3 of these for the same price as 1 officially branded drive, I'm extremely happy!
As for the longevity of the drive, only time will tell, but I don't see why it wouldn't last the life of my Xbox, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't because the reality of spinning hard drives is that, regardless of the manufacturer or quality of the drive, they are all prone to failure at some point. I've seen brand new, out of the box hard drives crap out the second they are fired up, if it's broken, you'll generally know right away.
Also, for those people thinking they got ripped off because they don't see a full 320GB of storage on the drive, read up a little bit about hard drives, no hard drive that I have ever seen has shown the capacity that is printed on the label, mine shows 293GB, which I am more than happy with, that's 289GB more than what I had before. Look at your home computer, I have a 1TB (1000GB) drive in my computer that shows a 930GB capacity. I haven't tried the official Xbox branded drive, but I can only assume that it shows right around the same amount of storage as this one when plugged in.
The bottom line, if you need storage for your XBox, buy this drive, it's well worth the price, and if it's broken, the beauty of Amazon is that their returns are simple and hassle free. If you prefer the official Microsoft drive, spend the $150, but I don't think the results would be any different.
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video-games_xbox
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I knew it was going to be bad. Everything falls short. I bought this game on a download at the XBOX Live marketplace, for $19.00. I got what I paid for.
My summary is simple to start off with, the developer cut and pasted this title together. They expanded on elements of the first game that were lacking, the social thing, and ended it with just that, nothing more.
The first game was set in Hawaii, and more largely, so is this one, even though you start in Ibizi. There really isn't much here re-imagined. The homes you have are redesigned interiors on top of the ones they had. There is a menu to design your houses interior. So you can make the other homes that look like this one, exactly like this one. Fell short there, many of the houses are EXACTLY the same, even in wall decor. Even though you can change photos on the wall.
But I am getting away from the true aspects of how this game is so bad....
Cheating the player...
You have to take tests in order to proceed to each level. In regular play you have the option of "full assistance". In the tests this is default to "sport" and it can not be changed. This cheats the player that may be like myself, "casual". I want to have fun, be a little challenged, but I do not want to be frustrated. In which, I greatly am.
You can not think of this game in real world strategy, you have to think like the developer. A street car will handle better on dirt roads and vice versa. And the uglier the cars design the better it is dialed into the game than anything else. It is a go figure on that point, again, cheating the player. And some of their off road cars are family suv's.
Some complaints have come about handling. This is true, and even worse with the higher end speed demons that push the back tires right out of the way. One small adjustment and you are into the wall.
Cheating the player as a "gift"...
After their dismal start, and all the shortcomings they gave the consumer a nugget, a couple of cars in in down load content that you have to do challenges that are near to impossible.
Dead title?
You betcha. The official website has news about "Test Drive: Ferrari Legends. And the official Facebook page hasn't been upgraded. They did recently move servers, that took a couple of days. But as far as patches and some playability issues they should be dealing with, this title feels abandoned.
So much promise and they fell short on everything.
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video-games_xbox
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Objectives Drag This Game Down. YS is the best exercise game I've seen so far. Which is a shame because it's far, far from perfect.
Overall, it's a pretty fun. The workouts are good and definitely got a couch potato like me gasping for air. Some of my favorites are wall-breaker, Stomp, Boot Camp, & Boxing.
It's the Objectives area where this game falls FLAT. You setup the Objectives for whatever you're trying to achieve (lose weight, tone up, etc). So in my case, my objective was 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week, for a total of 360 minutes. However,
1. UbiSoft doesn't grasp basic math and reporting functions. There's no way to tell many minutes you worked out on a given day. So at Day 3 when you have 77 minutes (you overachieved one of the previous days) you can't keep track of how many minutes you've done after a given exercise other than to manually subtract your total from the original value. That's lazy programming.
2. So if I work out 60 minutes six days straight then do nothing for the remaining weeks, will I meet my objective? Don't know.
3. The aforementioned time tracking wouldn't be so much of an issue if the times for each exercise were accurate. For example, I picked a running exercise that was listed at 20 minutes however when I finished my total time only went up 12 minutes. Similarly, another exercies was supposed to be 20 but somehow logged 21 minutes.
4. At the conclusion of an exercise when I have say 103 minutes it'll tell me that I'm at 19% of my goal. Sorry, that's not correct. Going to the Objectives tab shows the correct value though.
5. Meeting your Objectives only count if you do the flagged exercises which is kind of limiting. I'm not asking them to count 20 1 minute exercises but it would be nice if I could overachieve and use an exercise that's harder than the one flagged. But no - I could do that harder one a hundred times and not one minute would count.
6. Why am I getting product placement advertisements in a game that I paid for? This is just UBisoft getting greedy and trying to squeeze out every last penny from this game.
A general issue is that exercises that use weights aren't clearly identified before you start them.
Again, it's not a bad game. The movement recognition is pretty decent. The exercises will get your heart pumping. I just wish some other company out there would put out a really good game and get Ubisoft off their laurels.
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video-games_xbox
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The Almost, Almost Perfect Game......But. Let me first say that after having played madden 15 which was a very discouraging undertaking on many levels, I cancelled my pre-order for 16!
However, wanting to play football, I said to myself, well let's see what happens with 16!.
For some reason, it seems sacrilegious for EA sports to give us the consumers who purchase its sports games a blessing without adding a curse!
Don't get me wrong, I like what they have done to Madden 16! I just don't like the way they did it.
The running game is an impossibility with the exception of a few plays that actually work because within the new animations, the offense moves at an almost snails pace in play action which allows the defense to pounce before the quarterback can hand the ball off. In addition, the defense on running plays lives in the backfield because the block is very stagnant and doesn't resemble they way the pros run block from an offensive line point of view. With regards to passing, it's actually fun, however, if the receiver doesn't catch the ball after you have gone for the aggressive catch, there will be most like an interception. If you somehow overthrow a wide open target, there will be most likely an interception. When I play games against the computer as I have been lately using the Seahawks against the Chargers on All Madden Level I have been getting beat almost everytime because the offensive line blocking doesn't hold up. My QB has gotten sacked consecutively so fast at the snap of the ball that it happens within the blink of an eye and leaves me asking what just happened! Rarely does this happen in professional football in this manner!
One other thing that I wish EA would change. Football is a natural game played in natural way. This game is not fully natural the way shooting games are. I don't like the fact that the QB is sacked when a defender is with 5-7 yards. The QB, it seems cannot complete the natural throwing motion which you and I would be able to do in similar situations! The QB has to have a throwing radius of 180 degrees. EA falls short in this aspect because it allows the position of the defenders to dictate the accuracy of the throw!
Lastly, there are three things to look forward to in this addition of Madden;
1. Exhilarating long distance catches...the QB can actually throw the ball above defenders...(hope they never stop this feature)
2. More interceptions because of the new wr/db interactions
3. More sacks because the O-line blocking should have been better!
Finally!, there is still room for improvement and it looks like EA is on the right track with this addition of Madden.
The question is, how long will it be before we get a simulated football game that can do everything?
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video-games_xbox
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My dreams are... realized? Hmmm. Well...after about... oh... SIX YEARS we finally get this game. Rumored in 05-06, this game was to be an Xbox 360 launch title, but it kept getting delayed. Years... years... years... I looked at the same lame screenshots for years... Then on September 6th 2011, my prayers were finally answered and the game came out. I pre-ordered it, the first time I ever did so, and I played the hell out of it for three months solid. Oh boy...
I am cheap, okay, so when I buy a game, it is like an investment. I spent SIXTY dollars on this for the special edition. I am GOINT TO ENJOY THIS GAME IF IT KILLS ME. And honestly, it's a good game.
It takes inspiration from other zombie titles like Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising. It takes elements from Fallout 3 and Oblivion. It has a shallow story. It has glitchy cut scenes. It has Glitched gameplay. It is not perfect.
This IS HOWEVER a good game. I know many people rip on it when they start out just because they are slow to catch on to some elements of the game. I saw a review where someone complained about a mission, dropping off juice, and they wined because the drop-off point was not clearly marked. I had trouble with that too, but I discovered were to place the item once I looked around a little. I did not throw my controller like a baby, or curse, or cry, or whine. I played the game and found where I needed to go.
The combat is not perfect, but this is a horror game. The controls are supposed to feel less than adiquate to instill a since of emergency. I'm not saying I support crappy controls, but the controls were not that bad. I picked it up and got hte hang of the controls quickly. Heck, I thought it was satisfying when I smacked a zombie across the face and broke thier neck... but that's just me I guess...
Thank goodness there are traditional zombies! I am tired of fast mutant zombies. Yes, there are those too. Fast zombies appear generally sparcely and other mutant infected monsters are far and few between, making them far more credible in my eyes as enemies. But there are slow, shambling, groaning, growling zombies. They can sneak up on you like in a horror movie, they can follow you through a deserted house, and they can and will beat you to a pulp. Don't be mistaken, these are monsters that can rend you to pieces!
OPEN WORLD! OPEN WORLD CITY?! Yes, ever since Resident Evil 2 and 3, I have wanted and open world zombie city game. In Resident Evil 2, you got to see a desolate zombie infested city for a little while, and in Resident Evil 3 the majority of the gameplay takes place in a city full of undead, but it was not open world gameplay and was cut up by load screens. In Act II, you get to GO TO THE CITY! Burned out busses, beaten trucks and cars, shops left open and abandoned, junkies barracading themselves with junk as the hoard roams toward them, scattered weapons that you can claim, and hoards and hoards and hoards of zombies! There is a quarante zone full of fast zomies, streets crowded wil slow zombies, a menacing enemy known as the Ram, and enviromental hazards! YEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
The AI is dull, you will only have to suffer escourt missions a couple of times, and the game is generous by letting that escourt character stand back while you do the work, but you will go WHAT a couple times too many, as your AI buddy jumps right into a fire you lit to kill the zombies.
The multiplayer is Smooth as Sunday MOOOOOOOORNING. YOu might want to set your online to private, because I came across my fair share of jerks who blew me up out of sheer spite and hatred, but you and your like-minded friends can run through the levels together on missions or roam aimlessly about together or alone. Missions require participation, but other than that, have a jolly time. Also, even though the box says it does, it does not have off-line multiplayer. It is lying to you. Not the first time a game has done that, but they should really correct the box before release.
For all the wrong the game does, it does something right. Zombies in an Open World. NEver before has this been done properly. Sure, Dead Rising has an open envrioment, but the time constrain really made it hard to explore and still feel good about abandoning a timed mission. Dead Rising was too stressful. Dead Island was barely stressful at all, except in the quarantene zone... that was panick inducing craziness! The fast zombies KEPT COMING ON AND ON AND ON! THERE WAS NO END!
But the game is good. Not perfect, but good. I suggest you buy this at a modest $30 price tag. That is well worth what you get.
EDIT: Hey, Price drop! At thirty dollars this is a good buy! At the moment of this review (December 4th 2011) The game has dropped to $38.40! This is a perfect time to get it!
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video-games_xbox
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Could Have Been More. I'm a big Alice in Wonderland fan, and I enjoyed this game's predecessor immensely. I was definitely looking forward to getting my hands on this game and jumping back into American McGee's warped vision of Wonderland. Unfortunately, I found myself rather disappointed.
The story in this follow up is pretty good. It picks up right where the first ends, with Alice now out of the insane asylum. She still has some residual psychological issues, and is seeing a psychologist. These issues get worse, and trigger reentry into her psychotic realm of Wonderland, which is now falling apart. She has to figure out what's causing her mind to shatter and put an end to it. The ending is a twist of sorts, though anyone with moderate familiarity with literature (or Law and Order) will see it coming long before the end-game. Still, it's a pretty twisted tale and fairly compelling at its heart.
The combat has been much improved since the first game. Each weapon is mapped to a specific button, so there's no need to switch between them. You can move fluidly between ranged, light, heavy and explosive weapons and the added dodge mechanic makes the combat frantic and exciting. It's fun to experiment with different combos in different situations.
The graphics are decent. Alice herself is rendered in stunning detail. Her hair moves as if it were 100% real, whipping and blowing with your jumps. I was impressed by this. The levels are all very visually interesting and creepy, having a distinct visual flavor. The enemies are downright gruesome and ooze (sometimes literally) evil.
But the game has some very serious problems.
Yes, the levels are neat to look at. For a while. Unfortunately, each level is unbearably long. Every single level pushes you to the point where you keep thinking "HOLY JEEZ WHERE'S THE END OF THIS THING!?" This is a bad thing. Seeing the same scenery repeated over and over, doing the same thing over and over, using the same gimmick over and over...it just gets tedious. The devs should have included many more different areas to explore, allowing each of them to be shorter. Take Epic Mickey, for example; similar idea and similar genre, packed to the gills with different areas that were all nicely presented in a package that didn't test your patience.
For the most part, the graphics are good. And in some places, they're absolutely dreadful. There are TONS of areas where it's obvious the devs were just lazy. Waterfalls that abrubtly stop halfway down. Moving platforms that are supposed to be anchored with chains, but the links are missing. It's just sloppy. What did they think, that players would just plow straight ahead and not look around? Some of the characters are very polished, and some look unfinished. In one level, you have to assist a race of ant-people against samurai wasps (this is Wonderland, remember) and the ant-people are rendered in very rough polygonal forms that wouldn't look out of place on the N64. I was astounded by how hideous these models looked. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but wow.
It's sad that the combat system is so polished, but so under-used. There are plenty of times where you'll go a half hour without encountering a single enemy (probably another consequence of levels that are too long). I would have enjoyed some more robust enemy encounters to make use of a very fun system. The first game had enemies around every corner; where'd they all go?
Finally, the puzzles are mind-blowingly stupid. A slider puzzle? Really? Oh, two slider puzzles in every level? Okay. I mean, if I wanted to screw around with slider puzzles I could just use the Windows Vista desktop widget and would keep it out of a video game. Who thought it was a good idea to include these? Clearly not the devs, since they mercifully included an option to skip puzzles.
Overall, it's a decently fun game. It's definitely worth renting and checking out. But thanks to frustratingly long and tedious levels and lack of anything really fun to do, it has pretty much zero replay value.
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video-games_xbox
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Forza 3 Single Player Mode. The game comes in two discs, one is the game, the other an installation disc for the rest of the car lineup and other details.
The good:
There's very deep paint job editor which allows to save your work for a single car or for multiple cars. Buy a car of any color available from the manufacturer. Got tired of it later? Change the car's color from hundreds of normal, metallic or chameleon colors to choose from. You can paint parts of the car individually, such as the hood, spoiler, rear view mirrors. Even better, buy some aftermarket rims and paint them to combine with the car, except chrome wheels, which can't be painted.
Also, tuning and mods are deep as you can buy several engine parts, such as pistons, cams and fuel system independently, rather than performance packages. Prices are adjusted a bit to more real world costs. And for a vast majority of cars, you can also perform engine swaps and drivetrains, so your vehicle can participate in more varied amount of events.
It has over 250 different events for over 400 cars. Events include circuit, drifting, kaido battle, drag, GT, time attack in seasonal and week championship events. You can complete them by years or independently from the event menu. The amount of cars is just enough to satisfy all of the event requirements.
Driver Level goes up quickly and for every level you're awarded a new car that is usually what you need(F's, E's and D's up to level 15 or so, C's, B's and A's up to Lv 25 or so and S's, R1's, R2's and R3's till Lv 50). So most of the time, the cars you earn will be the cars you'll use for the next event.
Other goods are plenty of tracks and layouts, events don't seem to repeat the same tracks too often (except in the lower car levels).
Music is varied between your customary rock, electro and house genres, but this is more on each person's taste.
Difficulty is very adjustable and changes the credit reward amounts, the harder the difficulty the more bonus cash you earn per race.
Handling may need some time to get used to, but depending on the difficulty level, even new players to the series may be able to pick up and play.
AI can be quirky at times, but they do try to give you a challenge, especially if the difficulty is set to the max.
Car Level increases awards bonuses such as discounts from first, second and third party part manufacturers. The more cars you have maxed out, the higher or the more discounts you get.
The graphics are very good, although I do seem to see a lack of gloss on the cars. Still, it manages to graphically improve on all cars at the same level rather than a select few. And that's A LOT of details per car. Every car has a cockpit view that shows the interior of the vehicles as you drive and you can see your ride in the garage.
The Bad: Lv 50 is achieved too soon, before even the game is completed 100%; each car's Lv 5 is achieved too easily.
Setting the difficulty to 100% Hard is only for the very best or patient gamers, more likely to own a racing wheel controller, as driving has to be perfect to manage a first place win.
Other things not mentioned previously, you can create your own race movie, take pictures of your cars and save tuning settings for multiple cars at once.
For the online portion I have not experimented with it, but as in Forza 2, you can buy and trade cars, created car and tuning designs and participate in races.
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video-games_xbox
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DiRTy Racing. Arcade or simulation. If you ask me, DiRT is a mixture of both arcade and simulation. For traditional rally races, I would say they maintain a realistic level while the new race types added to this game come as arcade races. I guess these types of races and vehicle handling where created to attract the attention of new customers in the Colin Mcrae series. It's obvious that Codemasters wanted to change the game a bit since their old CMR series games didn't sell well on America. The first change they made was taking "Colin Mcrae" out of the title of the game in America (The European version of this game is called Colin Mcrae DiRT). I guess people who saw Colin Mcrae on the title knew all they would find in the game were solo point-to-point races which many people find boring. Personally, I think these types of races are the best ones (yes, I'm a rally fan).
The handling and driving in comparison to the old CMR games is different in DiRT, but not bad at all. In DiRT, the handling changes depending on the race type. In some it's realistic and in others it's more arcade. People seem to complaint that cars have a "floaty" feel to them and that they stick too much to the roads (Hey, that's what these Half a million dollar rally cars were designed to do), but in comparison to the old CMR series I think the "floaty" feel was significantly reduced.
As mentioned earlier, there are many race disciplines in Dirt: Rally(close to realistic driving), which you could say is the discipline where cars handle like the old CMR; Crossover(mixture of arcade and realistic driving, cars are glued to the ground here), which is derived from super special stages, Rallycross(close to arcade driving), where you race with other cars on closed circuits; Rally Raid(close to arcade driving), where you race other cars point-to-point, CoRR(close to arcade driving) and hill climb(close to realistic driving). These new disciplines are very fun and a nice addition, but I personally prefer the classic rally races, so to please everyone, there's career mode and there's championship mode. Championships are the ones every rally fan is going to. It's all about racing different Rallies, each one containing many stages (Just like WRC races). Career mode contains every type of event. It's career mode you have to play to unlock new cars and tracks.
On a plus side to simulation in DiRT, the damage on the cars can be very realistic (depending on the difficulty level) and there are lots of options for tuning and car setup which you can change to fit your driving style. Car setup is way more detailed than in old CMR games. What really bothered me was that there is no tire selection and races are also missing rain and snow (yeah it sucks, but hey, the game is called DiRT, not SnoW). Also, the times between drivers at the end of the race are more realistic (unlike old CMR series, where they all finish with a 0.1 second behind). Before, you were most likely to come in 1st place or last. Now, you'll find yourself in the middle of the leaderboard or competing in the top 5 plenty of times.
If you've played old CMR games, you'll definitely notice that the co-driver in DiRT tells you have of the track information than old CMR games. The Sound in Colin Mcrae is awesome, and so are the visuals. Crashes and car damage are extremely detailed. The special and lightning effects are awesome. Truly one of the best looking games on the XBOX360. There's a downside to it, sometimes you will experience heavy frame rate issues. The game practically stops for almost a second like if you were playing a new PC game on a very old computer. Frame rate issues are not that frequent and they usually happen when racing against other cars simultaneously. The frame rate issues also appear when using the chase cam views. I always prefer to play with an in- car view such as helmet cam and I have never experienced frame rate dropping this way. Another things that look amazing in DiRT are the replays. Too bad you can't save them (what's the hard drive for?)
One thing that was a disappointment for almost everyone is the multiplayer. There's not even a 2 player local multiplayer, just on system link or on Xbox live and although you are racing other players, you don't actually see them in you're screen. Here's how it works: Up to 100 players race simultaneously on a point-to point rally race and your current position is displayed for you to know how far you are from the leader. The player who finishes first wins. It's just a normal rally race but there's a little extra pressure since you'll know how close other player are to your tail and if they're catching up to you or you are continuously swapping positions with other players. Since I am a rally fan, I did enjoy this multiplayer, but I do admit there's allot missing (there's not even voice chat!!!).
Overall, I do like DiRT, allot actually. I recommend it to anybody who loves racing games. DiRT has a lot to offer and it is a beautiful game to watch. But beware old CMR fans; the game has changed to attract new customers. I still enjoy DiRT, but CMR2005 is one of the primary reasons I haven't sold my original XBOX yet.
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video-games_xbox
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one of the best football games....PERIOD. i bought NFL Fever because of all the hype, and it was true, this game is awsome! it's easy to play and easy to learn. if you're not used to the XBox controls like me, i'll take you a little bit to learn them, but other than that, this game is awsome. Here are some of my pros and cons about the game.
Pros
-easy to play
-awsome graphics
-very detailed graphics, i played the Falcons in 3 Com and on one play, Jamal Anderson was tackled and there was mud on one side of his uniform and you see his jersey is wet. espcially from around the shoulder pads.
-detailed fan graphics, you break from the huddle, and you see the crowd doing the wave. it's awsome. awsome details.
-realistic game play. by this i mean, well, i have Gameday 2002 and 2001 for Playstation, and the computer runs about 5 times a game. and when he has a guy like Emmitt Smith, the fullback, like Robert Thomas gets like 4 out of 5 carries. but in NFL Fever 2002, they run the ball quiet a bit.
-no inflated stats. some reviews here post that stats are greatly inflated, but that isn't true. Gameday for PS1 inflates your stats. you'll be ranked #1 in rushing and #31 in pass defense. but in Fever, like as of now, i'm ranked in the middle of the pack. very real gameplay. awsome.
-computer does run quite a bit. again, reviews posted mention that the computer doesn't run the ball, not true. they ran the ball on me quite a bit. i'm in the middle of the pack in rushing defense.
-easy to pass. this is good if you need a 1st down or a big play. bad if you're playing against your buddy. this is the only time when the stats could inflate.
-great playbook. tons of plays to choose from. 1st and 10, will i go 3 WR, 4, or 5? single back, wing, pro set, motion my slot WR, go to TE, auidible to a shotgun? so many plays, it's awsome.
Cons
-easy to pass. i played my buddy the other day. 49ers (me) vs. the Packers (my buddy). i beat him, 42-34, and i killed him.
in a 20 minute overall ball game, i had the ball for almost 16 minutes!!! i ran for over 100 yards and threw for over 300! my buddy ran for about 10 yards and threw for another 350 or so. it's to easy to pass, which is good and bad. that's the only problem with the game.
so you see, the Pros of NFL Fever 2002 outweight the Cons by a huge margin. this is a great football game. what hampers its overall sales is the fact that it is only for XBox. if they opened up Fever to the Game Cube and PS2, i guarantee, it would give NFL 2K3 and Madden a run for it's money.
awsome game that i highly recommend.
i also recommend buying or renting Fever 2002 before buying 2003. check this one first, you like it, buy 2003. that's what i am going to do.
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video-games_xbox
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Not for all playing styles. Played Cod4, MW2, and Black OPs. Prestiged many times. Have been playing this one for 5 hours of multi-player and a bit longer on private mode just running around learning the maps, and so far I am missing Black Ops way of doing things. It's just OK in my book. As others have said it does seem to be "fast and furious". NOT for campers, as there is not really any place to pause or hide. I am an older player and I usually hold my own in these games; I go slow and methodically, camping some, but always looking for cover and trying to die as little as possible. Not on this one, and it seems I don't have the reflexes to compete with the young run and guns here. I am not a great player but usually enjoy Cod a lot and I try to keep my Kill/Deaths positive so as not to hurt my team. I understand my limitations and will never be an elite player, but I usually have fun with it any way.
Reminds me so far of Nuketown style on just about every map I have played. So far I am almost at level 23 but my Kill/Death ratio is pitiful. 3/5 K/Ds. I am usually at 1.2 to 1.5 on K/D (I know that sucks - right) but not here. I struggle to stay above .6 K/D. Have spent the majority of the time on Team Deathmatch, Domination, and HC Team Deathmatch (once you can finally unlock it at like level 19 or 20).
Graphics seem to be a bit worse than MW2 but a bit better than BlackOps. I do think this engine has been pushed about to the max while letting the game keep good frame rates. Don't think it can or will get much better than this until the next Xbox 720 or whatever it will be called.
------------------------------
Pros and Cons (These are my PERSONAL opinions based on my playing style)
Pros:
New Maps (some are similar to older maps)
Lots of maps and a lot of them are rather large.
Killstreak rewards are different and you can continue your current killstreak even after a death if you choose to.
Get in matches quicker it seems. Loads faster.
Initial assessment is that weapons seem to be balanced somewhat. Haven't found that overpowering wep yet.
New attribute system that you can unlock on weapons. Looks like some good stuff to pump up your weapon of choice. Will know more when I have unlocked the stuff.
Cons:
Doesn't lend itself to all playing styles. (Run and guns will rejoice at this)
Not many places to Snipe from if you like that.
2 headshots to kill someone sometimes (ridiculous)
Hardcore seems to be harder to kill someone (especially if you use a silencer - am used to being able to shoot someone on hardcore and they stay dead - not talking about last stand either - you get hitmarkers and they still don't always die here on this one.)
Different way to level weapons up and sometimes it's hard to figure out the best combo and a better explanation would be nice on the menus for just about everything.
Weapons seem underpowered to me, others say they are overpowered. Personally it takes more for me to kill someone here and it takes them more shots to kill me (that part is a plus I guess), so I would say a bit underpowered. They do seem somewhat balanced.
No Cold Blood so no way to stay invisible completely or play stealthily. I have been using Blind Eye some and a silencer, but UAVs and the new Super UAVs seem to still see me. No complete hiding here. Not very much hiding at all.
Respawns are all over the place. Harder time organizing a team to play together when you spawn everywhere after you die. Also I have been respawned right in front of an enemy player about 5 feet away or so it seemed with my back to that player. Insta-death when that happens.
No claymores 'til level 53 (crazy)(also to keep campers and snipers in check I guess - as I said, doesn't lend itself to all playing styles). No C4 'til level 69.
Can't unlock the hardcore modes until well into the game, which is the main style I play and there is also not a hardcore mode for every type of game. HC TDM I believe at level 19 - why? just why?
------------------------------
*extra on a personal note - I have prestiged multiple times in the other 3 CODs that I mentioned above and was supposed to get a prestige token for each COD I have prestiged at least once on. I only got 2 tokens even though my in-game menu badge clearly shows that I have prestiged in all the previous 3 games I have played. Don't know if that can or will be fixed and don't really know how it could. Tokens are a gift anyway that shows a bit of loyalty to previous players, so can't complain too much, but I still wish I had received all three tokens as they unlock some good stuff.
------------------------------
I haven't played anything other than Multi-player but some of the stuff like Survival Mode looks like it will be fun. Will re-evaluate after I have had it for a while longer.
The run and gun's opinion probably flips my list of pros and cons and I am sure they will love this new COD edition. I am gonna stick with it for a while (after paying 65 dollars with tax) and hope it grows on me. So far for me I am a bit disappointed and more than a little frustrated after being so excited. First Cod I have had within the first hour of release.
Wolfe
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video-games_xbox
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Solid sequel, but lacking some previous features. As a huge fan of the RockBand series, I'd been really looking forward to acquiring RockBand 4, and here are some initial thoughts about it after playing it the first few evenings.
Below I've outlined the pros and cons important to me, which are mostly related to features either added or removed in comparison with RockBand 3. While the amount of cons certainly outweigh the pros, I still feel this is a solid entry into the series.
Pros (all):
* The new guitar 'solo freeplay' feature is pretty cool. It's basically like the drum solo in RB3 - which means you can go crazy on the gee-tar just for fun. Unfortunately unlike the previous drum solos, you are encouraged to do certain things in certain sections of the solo, and if you dont, you lose your multiplier streak. That is a tad disappointing as it is not a true freeform. However, it is another skill to master, so it does add a fresh element to the game. And if you don't like it, you can turn it off, so it makes it a great addition.
* Graphics are mildly improved. Notes have a more glowing electric-crystalline appearance. Crowd visuals are a lot better.
* The new tour mode seems more interesting than the previous games single player. It's not a major leap, but it does offer a little more and has some branch options and funny happenings along the way, crowd-based song requests, random costume requirements, and more.
* Crowd and crowd interaction seems better fleshed out in this version, more lively and less static than before, and feels more immersive.
* New guitar hardware has improved just slightly - granted this is not key to the game itself, but since I got the guitar bundle, I felt it was worth noting. Not a whole lot has changed design wise, but the button feel is just smoother and nicer. The top of the neck feels a little more flexible though.
* Can use some of the old X360 gear on the X1, avoiding some new hardware costs. If you have a complete wireless set for the X360 already, then you just need the adapter and you are set. If you have some of the fancier stuff that requires USB - like the Ion drums or the stage kit with the lights and fog, etc - you will be out of luck.
Cons (major)
* Removal of a large chunk of robust features from RB3 makes this feel like a rather bare-bones sequel. More details below.
* Promise of support for previous instruments is only half-fulfilled. For Xbox One, the adapter does not support wired USB devices other than mics. That means the super awesome Ion drumkit that was the crown jewel of my stage cannot be used. And for 'early adopter' folks such as myself who got into RB from version 1, that means no wireless drumkit of any kind is owned. I'm certainly not going to add to the plastic kingdom with yet another drumkit, especially one that is a step down from the amazing Ion set. Hopefully this gets patched in later, but I'm not holding my breath.
* Lack of some DLC song carryover - this was going to be a given, as each RB release inevitably drops a few songs due to licensing issues. But the jump from RB3 -> RB4 has a huge disparity over the previous iterations minor exclusions. Also notable is the lack of the large track pack exports from the full games (RB1/2, LEGO, Greenday, AC/DC, Blitz, etc). Supposedly those are coming later at least...
* Personalization and character stuff is almost completely back to basics - you can hardly customize your character at all, just a few selections of body type and facial choices, and an an array of hairstyle and color are really the only things you can change. Previous games had a ton of customization options so you could really make your 'own' character. Same goes for the instruments - a much bigger dearth here in RB4, but not as bad as the character omissions. You also cannot carry over any of your RB3 bands or characters to RB4.
* Band creation and customization also takes a big hit here. All you can do now is give your band a name, pick from a small set of pre-defined hometowns, and choose your extra band members from the presets characters only. Thats right - you can no longer fill your band with your own custom characters! This is the most absurd thing to me, since you can still create multiple characters, there should be no reason they couldn't be inserted into the band. Very annoying to only be able to pick from a handful of premade characters as your bandmates.
* The setlist on the disc is a little weaker than previous versions. There are still a good chunk of bands/songs which are notable, especially for the 90s stuff, but overall it feels sparse on the A-list hits across the board. Luckily I have tons of DLC that did carry over, so it's not as big a deal, but still I'd expect more from a full version bump and revival attempt. When I get a new game I expect to be more excited to play the stuff off that new game vs my old DLC.
* No more song ratings - A feature I really liked about RB3 was the ability to self-rate your songs, so you could then easily sort via your top 5 or 4 star songs only.
* Reduced song sorting ability. The basics are covered, but gone is the ability to do include/exclude sorts based on genres or eras and the like. Obviously gone as well is the rating sort due to the previous point.
Cons (minor)
* Downloading old DLC is a huge pain. There is no "import my old tracks" type option - you have to go to each song individually in the store and re-download it manually. The worse part is the "purchased" indicator is inconsistent (sometimes it shows, sometimes it doesnt), so you may need to check many songs just to be sure what you can re-download or not. If you have many 100s of DLC songs like me, it is insanely time consuming and annoying to have to do this for EACH. SONG. Especially those 1-off indie songs I cant even remember the titles of or if I own them. However - this is a 1 time deal for the life of the console, so even as irritating as it is, I would not list it as a major con since it only has to be done once.
* Removal of online play - this could be a major con for some, but not for me. There was zero value or incentive for me to play RB online, as the whole point of the game for me is to have awesome rockband parties with friends, or sometimes to just chill playing solo.
* Green and Yellow colors often look too similar in color when flashy things like overdrive are engaged. Not a big deal since location is more important than color, but still noticeable.
* When you hit 5 stars or Overdrive is engaged, it has a much more explosive effect on the board - which initially you'd think, hey cool, but the downside is the shaking and booming can distract from the note board a little more than before. I don't think i've missed many notes due to it, but it is distracting enough to make note of.
My overall impression is still that RB4 is a very fun game to play, and will no doubt take up a lot of my time for a while since it has some fresh elements. However, I think RB3 still stands as the pinnacle of music games, as RB4 is a step down in terms of robust features. RB3 will likely still be my go-to game for parties, at least until they add Ion drum support back into RB4, along with the large exported track packs from the other major games to boost the song count.
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video-games_xbox
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Worthwhile Reboot. Truth being I never played the original Tomb Raider. It just was not my thing at the time.
However, I was very interested in this title and I think that its a very good game and my major problems with it are relatively minor.
PRO:
*New modern look. Lara does not jump around with tripple-D breast making people wonder if she is a fetish dream or a strong character.
*Good gameplay. It works well for the most part.
*Excellent story. The story is not really all that original but this is a good tale and unlike another game I have played recently it has a good ending.
*Good single player experience.
*Focused on Lara. This is about her. Some other reviews in the press have said she is the only 3 dimensional character in the game but it is told from her viewpoint and there are hints of depth in other people but this is all about her journey.
*Cool moments. There are several times when I found myself going that was cool.
* Good idea: So everyone had special editions that you got a code for. this let you have some number of extras available to you for free. So they listed the rest of what you could get and gave you a price for it. I like that. It means I do not have to wait or go out and buy three versions of the same game from different retailers to get all the specials. I hope more people follow this model.
*Appropriate uses of QTE. Quick Time Events were used to provide impact in a meaningful way.
CON:
*Too many QTE: There are several QTEs. They are sprinkled through but QTEs are not fun for many people. I would have liked there to be some number less but I do not know what the right balance is.
*Lack of replayability here. The story is good and you can definitely replay it, but this is not something that change. Just upping the difficulty level is not really going to fit with this game. Multiplayer is really not an answer for this.
* Reboot Origin story. I do not need to always know what makes a hero a hero. This is the Origin of Lara Croft to restart the series. Best of luck with that, but did we really need an origin story?
*Blah multi-player. I am trying to understand why this game needed multi-player. Co-op sure. Multi-player why?
Bugs:
* A camp in the mountain village seems to not want to count itself as being found.
* Rarely bodies that you just killed will disappear on you before you can loot them. this can lead to an arrow being stuck in mid-air for no apparent reason.
This was a good game and it was definitely fun. It took around 20-25 hours to play and I expect several people will play this quicker than I. There definitely could have been more side tombs. I also liked the general feel of the game. It is valid to compare this to Uncharted and this is like an Uncharted game in that Uncharted is an updated Tomb Raider game with a guy as the lead.
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video-games_xbox
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Blah. Sometimes it's the most basic things that make or break a game, Madden 16 fails pretty miserably at many of these. For starters we're talking an insane load time. Like crazy. Last check using a stopwatch on my phone the load time came in at 3 minutes 26 seconds, this for a game which is already installed on your console's hard drive. Second, the disconnect issues while playing are out of control. I'm using a wired connection and I play many multiplayer games like Call of Duty and FIFA (including co-op games) without an issue, yet somehow 1 in 3 online games freeze. A few games ago I literally had to play on a frozen cut scene screen using sound only until my opponent quit while I can only assume facing the same issue. This also required me to lose another 4 minutes of my already short life waiting for the game to re-load yet again. Instant resume never works for this game, it requires you to restart and wait. Every few days when I log on the Madden server's can't be found, so on the advice of EA support, I have to power cycle my console and modem to connect. Finally game play, at least on ultimate team, is uber laggy. The kick meter doesn't respond correctly, player movement isn't fluid, etc.
The game itself comes with a number of issues. Top of my list in the new spectacular catch mechanism. Streak your WR, tap their icon, hold Y, make a one-handed jumping catch in between 2 superior defenders, wash, rinse, repeat. It's nuts. It takes away an insane amount of the skill element from the passing game. Poorly chosen passes that once were sure-fire interceptions are now rewarded while maintaining literally zero realism from real-life football. Find me a team that just chucks it up downfield each time with success and I'll show you the Daunte Culpepper MVP trophy from 200never. The one positive change is the 3 new mechanisms you can choose to use with your WR's (possession, run after catch, spectacular). Don't get me wrong, jump balls can sometimes be a part of NFL football, especially fades near the goal line, but this is arcade sports to the extreme, and it's horrible.
Another example of a simple thing EA could do to make things easier on its users is create an auction slider. When someone puts a 250,000 coin card up for auction starting at 100 with 25 bid increments, you can imagine the wasted time it takes for the auction to be completed. You can already increase the price rapidly when setting an auction by tapping the directional pad or LS to the right. Why can't this be done for bidding as well? Why can't I just scroll over for a few seconds and put a bid in for 200,000 and take it from there with the incremental bids? Makes no sense, such an easy fix, and it would make bidding a million times easier.
Once again this year, EA hasn't adjusted its sets to make any real sense. Why would I put 5 elite badges (worth about 200k coins together) in a set to pull one elite player when like 5 guys in the entire game sell for more than that and most sit in the 15,000-70,000 range? Why would I put 50k in badges into a quicksell that has like a 95% of giving me less than that? Why would I put together captain sets that cost 400,000 to complete when I can buy the player for 100,000 on the auction market? I get EA isn't gonna bring in some Nobel prize winning economist to fix things, but this is basic math people, c'mon.
There seems to be no way to mute your opponent. Again like 1 in 3 games is some dude blasting horrible music and crunching nacho cheese doritios all game. So now I'm left with no game sound or 30 minutes of rap music with a dorito's remix added in.
If for some reason one of your backups is out of contracts and you don't realize it and try to start a game, you get the home or away depth chart is invalid error. Of course this error freezes your game and requires a restart. They say each cigarette you smoke takes 7 minutes off your life, well each error in Madden take 4 off it and at least with the smoke you get some tingling sensation in your throat and a maybe catch a little buzz or something.
Team leveling in Ultimate Team is another thing which should be abolished. What's the point of working towards putting together a great team when it only benefits you while playing the computer? If people want a level playing field roster-wise, play online head-to-head and match up against your opponents. If spend a significant amount of time playing and building your team, the result shouldn't be 77 ovr cards owning 93 over legend lineman. It shouldn't be a 5'11'' WR no one's ever heard of with 32 speed consistently beating Richard Sherman over and over again, gtfo.
Finally the money grabbing is out of control. Look if people wanna waste their money opening up imaginary packs of cards, totally cool, go for it, how you unwind is up to you, but when it starts screwing everyone else over who have already paid $60 or $70 for their copy of the game, that crosses the line. In the first few weeks of release the amount of elite bundle toppers and giveaways has flooded the market with underpriced cards everyone already has or doesn't want. It's essentially allowed people to spend hundreds just to gain a competitive advantage over their opponent. You wanna release some crazy $50 or $100 bundle every now and then that's cool. Even in October when the Breast Cancer Awareness cards come out and a portion of the proceeds go to charity, I'm cool with that, but nearly every 3 days a new $50+ bundle is released and with it comes thousands of elite cards that used to actually be rare or dare I say it, elite. I get the company has a right to make a profit, and obviously people are eating it up, but at some point we as consumers need to stand up and say paying full-price for a 1/3 of a game isn't something we're gonna take anymore. Just ask Destiny player's who had to wait a year and spend money on like 4 different add-ons before the game became somewhat decent or even coherent story-wise. Save your money folks, buy a pack of smokes and thank me later.
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video-games_xbox
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Game of the Year? Can I get a hell yes. Packaging first:
You get the game itself, a small duffel bag, a small but informative hardcover art book, a cd with music selections from the game and my favorite item, a safety deposit box complete with a pair of keys and a cool Rockstar Games logo keychain. This in itself makes the special edition of GTA IV worth purchasing over the standard edition.
As for the game?
Consider me blown away. As if the movie quality story of the single player mode isn't enough, now you can experience the thrills and spills of Liberty City with 15, count 'em, 15 other people (a first for GTA games on consoles) and it's unlike any other multi-player experience I've ever had. From the moment I went online with this title, I was instantly won over by the sheer insanity on display before me. If you are familiar with the GTA series at all, then you already know how dynamic and unpredictable events can be. Now imagine what a room full of 16 people adds to that formula of uncertainty and you have in your hands a game that will give you hundreds of hours of gameplay in your future. The graphics and sound are a new benchmark for the series and the amount of detail in your surroundings is enough to make you want to stop and smell the roses. The soundtrack especially, is pure genius. If there's one nitpick to be made, it may be that the controls aren't pitch perfect (especially the cover system, which almost works in your enemies favor when you wind up taking cover on the wrong side of the wall you're against). Still, the controls are still pretty great in their own right, tiny quirks aside. You'll still be able to do just about everything you want to in the game.
Seriously, if this is the future of multiplayer and videogames in general, I'm almost afraid to see what Rockstar will serve us next. This game is a five star title all the way. The best part is that it lives up to all the hype that has preceded it and is without a doubt, money well spent.
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video-games_xbox
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Not a great game, but good co-op fun. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a pretty fun party game. I went through the game with 2 players in co-op, and completed both storylines. For the second playthough, the game offers a "Legendary" difficulty which is sort of a New Game+ option where you keep your levels but get a correspondingly higher difficulty. I had a pretty good time, but I have to admit that it's an experience with plenty of flaws that could turn some players off.
Let's just get this out there- if you're not playing this game in co-op, you're only getting a fraction of fun. This title does have numerous flaws, but most of them are outweighed by the fun of stomping around with a group of friends. Playing alone, this is only a mediocre title. Playing with four friends, this is an absolute party. I would consider at least 2-player co-op an absolute must for this title. You can play it alone, but really, try not to.
The gameplay essentially consists of mashing buttons with some RPG elements overlaid to allow you to customize your heros. However, strict level requirements mean that the customization rarely goes farther than scaling back the one power you least like to make sure the other 3 are as high as they can go. You can leave the auto-spend option on and there's very little gameplay difference.
You get to build your own team of heros, but there's a lot of problems here too. There's a pretty good stable of characters (23?), but this feels very constrained. Consider the Civil War storyline, and many characters will be unavailable due to picking sides. Thor and Hulk require collecting items, and Juggernaut is pre-order only. You'll really only have about a dozen characters to select from on your first playthrough. There are times in the game when you'll be hard-pressed to find healing tokens, so any character with a slim health bar is a major liability. Spider-Man and Storm for instance are both great fun to play, but bosses can KO them very nearly in one hit. Personally, I kept to tanks and regenerating characters (Wolverine, Deadpool), and I still had several instances where I had to wander around praying for health drops. (Random note: Hulk and Thor have to be unlocked, but there's a code you can input to unlock them at the start without hurting your game. I recommend this very highly- look it up).
The game length is fairly short- even if you're really searching for all the items and spending a lot of time checking out bonus materials, I'd only expect 20 hours from the main story. You can replay the game, but 90% of the game is the same, with less than a handful of really unique maps per side. You're really only going to replay mostly for the few characters you missed out on based on the story choices, and as said, that's pretty limited anyway. And the story isn't great. Sure, it's fun comic fare with a few twists, but it doesn't even stay true to the Civil War storyline. This is not a spoiler for the game (although it is a spoiler for the comics)- in the comics, Capt. America actually dies at one point. In the game, that never happens. That event isn't changed or sidestepped, it actually does not happen at all. For all the hype about this storyline, it's puzzling as to why it isn't even carried through. The whole plot is basically generic and forgettable. Not bad, but not great.
A final note is on the art. As a whole, the game has pretty good graphics. Again, not great but good. There's a lot of puzzling choices for character design though. Spider-Man appears in his modern form that everyone's familiar with, but Gambit appears to be some sort of Xtreme (and really terrible) version. Most every character has an alternate costume, and Spider-Man's alternate is his Tony Stark costume- if you're not a comics fan, you probably have no idea what this is, and it suffices to say this outfit had very mixed reaction from fans. Meanwhile, Venom's alternate costume is just a different art style, but Hulk's costume is the Red Hulk, which is technically a different character entirely. Things just feel really slapdash all over on this account- the artists really needed to settle on one era or aesthetic and apply it across all of the game. It's fun to have some options for the costumes, but often you're just praying the alternate costume is the "real" character design they should have used in the first place. (For fans- Jean Grey appears in her Phoenix outfit, but changes to her classic era X-Men outfit... where's modern Jean Grey?).
So in the end, you have a mediocre game with some really fun multiplayer, and a lot of simple fun with selecting some of your favorite heros and stomping around the battlefield. If you've got some friends or a significant other to play this game with, it's a fully enjoyable co-op experience that's definitely worth owning. I'm sure there will be a downloadable pack with extra characters in the near future, and that could add even more fun to the mix. If you're going to be playing this one solo, it's really rental territory or a low-priority buy. You'll play it once, maybe twice for the other side of the conflict, and forget it.
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video-games_xbox
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Stacked up well vs the Polk 4 Shot. I bought both these and the Polk 4 Shot's and ended up returning the 4 Shots after my trial. The XO7's, while expensive, provide the best experience in a wireless headset I've had.
Pros:
Balance - The treble, mid and bass all sound great. This is where they really shined compared to the 4 Shots. The 4 Shot bass was muddy, while the XO7's displayed way better bass clarity and punch. The mid levels were a little better on the 4 Shots, but it was just by a hair and totally subjective.
Comfort - These are very comfortable. They aren't as heavy around the cups as the 4 Shots, but they are still very comfortable
Volume - This is also where they killed the 4 Shot. The max volume on the XO7's are very loud, where as on the 4 Shots I was playing cranked all the way up and still wanting a little more volume
Mic function - The 4 Shot has had its issues on this front, but fixes are coming. The mic function works well for chat
Cons:
Very slight crackle - Like all wireless headset, there is sometimes interference. Really the only way around this is to get a headset that generates its own frequency like the Astro A50's. It's only noticeable when no sound is coming through. In game they have worked really well
Mic build - The mic seems kind of flimsy. Using it I often found it sinking down a bit.
Styling - These, unlike the 4 Shots that look fantastic, really are gaming only headphones. I would love to use them outside the house, but they look pretty ridiculous with the green trim and huge ear cups.
TBD: Durability - I don't think it will be an issue, but these are mostly plastic headphone. I feel like the 4 Shots had a little better weight to them.
If only they had the 4 Shots build and styling with the sound and function of these. Because I am buying these as a gaming headset, I will be hanging on to these and have returned the 4 Shot. I would recommend them considering the sound justifies the price tag.
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video-games_xbox
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whatever. EA still hasn't gotten Bond right. It's not terrible, but it's not great.
First of all, it's pretty short. 11 missions, and not very long missions at that. The a.i. is tolerable, but the only reason the a.i. gets you is because the game throws wave after wave of them at you, not because they're actually intelligent. I breezed through the first half of the game, but then it got tedious. There's a part where you are out amongst cranes and crates trying to fight off snipers on the roofs. Problem is, you can't really see them, and there's so many of them you can't get out a shot without being torn to shreds. It's sort of like EA thought that part in Half-Life where you fight those fast ninja-like assassins was really great and they'd try knocking it off. It failed.
Mostly, the last half of the game felt like that. EA being cheap to make up for poor a.i. and me just speeding through everything I could, taking plenty of damage, but squeezing out nonetheless.
You get to drive an underwater version of the Aston Martin in the game too. It's cool for the first minute and a half, but then you have to navigate through an underwater mine field in a very tight tunnel and that's when the icky control problems really make themselves known and next thing you know KABOOM.
But there are some fun parts. The tutorial mission is actually quite good. I had a blast on the first rail shooter level, and the first vehicle driving level. The level where you fight your way down the skyscraper is intense and fun.
The multiplayer is decent, but EA's little GOOD or BAD thing is here again, as it was in The World is Not Enough for N64. This means Bond is GOOD, and so are the Bond girls, and so they cannot fight each other. Ever. The BAD players can fight each other all they want, because, you know, BAD people do that. But not GOOD. Nope. This is annoying because you get your round setup and everything, and you're like "THIS IS GONNA BE SO COOL" and then it tells you that you can't have GOOD players fighting each other. It's even worse than it was in TWINE, too, because TWINE at least had a lot of characters.
The multiplayer levels are kinda blah, too. And there's not many of them.
The bots are ok because you can alter the characterstics of the generic characters. Sadly, you can't do this for the characters you unlock which is annoying.
The gamemodes they introduced probably seemed good when they were making them, but they're not very good here. Goldeneye strike, where you collect two halves of the goldeneye key and one person is automatically struck dead, sounds pretty neat, yeah? Too bad it's kinda confusing, and the deaths are very anticlimatic. King of the Hill would be good if it had a Mobile Hill option instead of just fighting it out in one spot the whole time.
But still, there is at least an ounce of fun in here. If you like James Bond, you should get this, because it's cheap and you'll enjoy it every now and then. Or, better yet, if you want an EA Bond, get the first shooter they made, The World is Not Enough on N64. Nightfire just felt like a poorly designed version of that game(which wasn't the best itself) except with much better graphics(the graphics in Nightfire are the only thing I have no complaint about.)
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video-games_xbox
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Had a blast blasting the Covies. I will try to keep this short since I'm sure there are lots of long reviews. I lucked into this Limited Edition at the low price of $27.99 with Prime shipping, otherwise I'd never have bought it; I'm mostly over the urge to get 'extras' with my games at this point since I'm running out of storage room. I confess I haven't broken the seal on the special stuff, though that's mostly because I didn't want to damage any of it accidentally. The extras are neat to have in my collection though.
I also didn't buy this intending to play it online and probably won't ever, since everyone else is playing Halo 4 right now anyway. Nope, I actually had this for months before breaking it out finally since I have been pretty busy. This week however I was sick and playing Xbox was about the only thing I felt like doing, so out it came. And man, what a great time I had with it.
A little background hopefully without spoiling the story: Reach takes place before the original Halo games. Most probably know what the deal is but I won't address that, I'll just say you're not going to play Master Chief here. Nope, you get to choose a mysterious new Spartan addition to Noble Team. I chose the female because I thought it was neat to have that as a choice for once. 'Noble Six' is similar to the Master Chief in that he or she lacks a name or much in the way of background other than hints in the dialogue. I however am drawn to the opportunity to fill in the blanks in my mind, though I suppose not everyone feels that way.
When the original Halo was released, I worked at a certain national video game retail chain, and one of the freebies we got was the first Halo-branded novel by Eric Nylund - again don't want to spoil things, so you can look it up if you're interested. Normally I hate serialized fiction, but I honestly loved that book, and knowing the basic back story made me anticipate this game more. When well executed, as I feel Reach and the novel were, I really enjoy finding out other details of a given 'universe' in fiction.
One thing I read in other reviews was that players didn't feel any emotional connection to the other Noble Team members, but I certainly did for most of them.
Another complaint was that the game got rid of some fancy toys from Halo 2 & 3 - my response to that is again, this game takes place FIRST. Yes it would have been 'cool', but honestly playing this game felt incredibly similar to my first time playing through the original Halo on the original Xbox. It was a little simpler in terms of controls/weapons/vehicles than 2 & 3, and I enjoyed the return to the 'roots' of the gameplay. The same person also complained it was too linear - while I haven't played those in several years, again Reach feels like the original Halo and I found that other than the Noble members telling you to hurry up with the objective, you could easily run around the edges of the environments and explore for a while.
My first time through was on 'easy' because I wasn't sure how hard it would be and I just wanted to get through it. That took me about 9 hours or so, not super long but IIRC, about the same length as Halo 2 was. I've started a 'normal' game now that I feel like my skills are a little more honed, and it's nice knowing where some of the more powerful weapons are hiding. No idea how long that will take since I am in school, but I will probably finish it at least once more.
Overall I really enjoyed this; I love the series and while online matches are awesome, my time is more limited now so it was nice having a solid campaign to fall back on. I hope this review helps others make their decision to purchase.
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video-games_xbox
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Addictively Repetitive. The comparison between Borderlands and Diablo has been made hundreds of times by now, but it's still an apt one. If you enjoy the repetitive action and random positive reenforcement in the form of loot or level gaining present in Diablo, WoW, or hordes of other similar titles, you will probably like Borderlands. If the constant hunt for superior loot doesn't appeal to you, you probably won't.
That's not to say that loot is the only draw of Borderlands. The stylistic environments are beautiful, and playing with friends is fun whether you're experiencing the missions for the first time or splitting up to surgically dismantle the world in record time. The gunplay is solid and the overtly statistic driven system behind it offers a notably different feel from your typical FPS. The thing is, these alone won't drive you to complete the game. If you get no joy from picking up and experimenting with new guns, the action will quickly stagnate. If you find a favorite gun -- or even a favorite class of gun -- and refuse to use anything else, the entire game can start to blend together in unfortunate ways. The character classes don't feel distinct enough unless you really focus on building up their action abilities and the story line generally takes a back seat to that shiny green objective indicator on your compass. Some of the characters you'll meet are amusing, but you'll be seeing far less of them than of the barrels of your weapons.
That said, I've spent more time than I care to admit with Borderlands since its release and I've enjoyed nearly all of it. So have my roommates and other friends who have picked up the game. It's a fun, materialistic romp; and while the inevitable sequel could certainly improve in many areas, I'd say that Borderlands is still a worthwhile purchase if you have any legitimate interest in it.
It's worth briefly mentioning the DLC that's come out so far. Unfortunately, both have been a bit lackluster. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned expansion supplies a stronger story than the main game and offers some truly great lines, but the zombies get old pretty quickly and the whole thing just feels like it takes a bit too long (especially if you do the Brains! series if quests). What I've played of Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot has been entertaining, but I dread trying to finish the longer challenges.
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video-games_xbox
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Conflicted Gamer. This review is difficult to write because owning the Xbox 360 has been one of the most enjoyable AND most frustrating experiences of my gaming life. I owned a PS2 and an Xbox and felt no allegiance to either console when this current generation of gaming consoles emerged. I bought my Xbox 360 on Black Friday 2006 with two games. I thoroughly enjoyed my gaming experience and it was greatly enhanced when I purchased a subscription to Microsoft's Xbox Live service.
Xbox Live is the standard all other gaming services should be measured against. People who have not experienced XBox Live often gripe about how they refuse to pay for something that should be free. While online gaming is free in most other gaming environments, what you pay for isn't solely the ability to play online. You pay for the service itself, which includes a Marketplace where small arcade games, HD movies, TV show subscriptions, avatars, themes and more can be bought. You pay for a cohesive communications system that allows you to maintain a buddy list and instantly (and easily) connect to your buddies regardless of what game they are playing. The service is so helpful and so much a part of the experience that $4 a month hardly seems like an outrageous fee...especially compared to the fees users pay for an individual experience like Everquest or World of Warcraft.
Now for the bad news:
If you own an Xbox 360, chances are it will break. Microsoft has done the right thing by extending warranties for all 360 owners to cover the mysterious "Red Ring of Death", but this does not change the fact that you will be inconvenienced when it breaks. You will be without your system for however long it takes Microsoft to fix it and some of the content you bought on the Xbox Live Marketplace may not be accessible to anyone else in your household.
In order to prevent piracy Microsoft applied DRM (Digital Rights Management) too all Marketplace purchased content. So, arcade games, TV shows and movies are 'linked' to the username of the person who purchased the product and to the hardware itself.
How will this effect you? I will give you my experience with Microsoft DRM. I am married and have a child who is old enough to games. I created an account on the 360 for my wife, my son and myself so that all of our game saves, Achievements (point awarded for in game accomplishments) and user data could be tweaked to each of our liking. There are certain arcade games I bought for my wife or for my son, certain themes or pictures I purchased so that he could customize his avatar and gamertag. When my 360 was struck by the Red Ring of Death I had to send it in to Microsoft for repair. Microsoft would not guarantee that I would receive my original 360 and acknowlegded that I would probably receive a refurbished model.
When I received the refurb (I was told to expect it back in 6-8 weeks and got it back in 5 weeks) I plugged my hard drive back in (you are told to keep your hard drive so that you keep all of your game saves and downloaded content) only to find that I was now the only person that could access the arcade games, pictures, TV shows and such that had been purchased from the Marketplace. Since the DRM is linked to the hardware or the gamertag of the person who bought the content my family was locked out. They did not purchase the content (I did) and we were on different hardware (the refurbished 360) so now all of the Bionicle pictures, arcade games and much more that were purchased SPECIFICALLY FOR MY SON could not be accessed by him. Microsoft's answer was to repurchase the content, delete/recreate accounts for my wife and son or to allow the to access the content while I was logged in.
This is a problem for a few different reasons which I will not get into here. I will only recommend that you buy this system with your eyes open to the fact that you may be in for a frustrating experience.
When the system is operational the 360 is my favorite console of all time. It has more good games than the other current gen consoles and an online service that delivers, but the specter of the Red Ring and all of it's frustrations lurks just around the corner. If you are willing to deal with those possible frustrations you will enjoy your experience, but odds are that you will be effected by this issue. Consider yourself warned.
I love the system when it is operational. I just wish it were operational more often. I bought my 360, it broke, I got a refurb from MS, traded it in for an Elite, it broke and I have since sent that one in for repair. When it arrives I will be on my fourth 360 in 14 months. I take excellent care of my systems. I keep them clean, cool and dust free. If it can happen to me it can happen to you.
I give this system a tenuous endorsement and hope my 360 gets back soon.
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video-games_xbox
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Somewhat fun, but tedious to play. My review is focused on what held this game back from being more than 3 stars As others have stated the graphics and story depth are every good. If you have read and love the Witcher novels then this would be a must play game. I have NOT read the books so I'm coming at this from a pure RPG gamer perspective. Here's my constructive criticism for a Witcher 3:
- The story and reference to places and characters are very rich, for someone that has not read the books this can deter from the playing experience.
- Exploration is limited and not open ended like Oblivion/Skyrim. More akin to Dragon Age, but a little more open than Dragon Age.
- Some quests will be locked out if you miss exploring a certain area or interaction with a critical NPC before you move on to the next act/chapter.
- No fast travel options, so be prepared to walk/run around a LOT. This makes the game very tedious to play. Likewise, opening doors are painfully slow. It seems half your play time is spent opeing doors
- The mapping is very poor. It does not label (or mark) areas or buildings as you enter or clear them. Likewise, navigation around some of the towns is like navigating a maze - very frustrating.
- While a single shared storage area (unlike Skyrim, UGH!) is very nice, the inventory management menu is overly complex.
- Alchemy is a pain - far too many ingredients and poorly conceived potion creation process. If you do not carry all of the ingredients with you at all times, then you have to go back and forth between storage and the potion creation screen to make sure you are grabbing the right type of ingredients. A quick fix would have been to just make all the alchemy ingredients 0 weight so you can keep them on hand at all times.
- Lastly, the inability to drink potions during a fight is a big drawback. This forces you to prepare before entering an area in "anticipation" of coming into a fight sequence. Many times you will waste potions to find out it is a cinematic scene instead or you will stumble into fight by running too far.
Overall, it was a fun game to play at first, but becomes very tedious about half way through. Hopefully they address some of the shortcomings for a sequel
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video-games_xbox
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I personally am glad it is different. I have played about 5-6 hours of MP so far, but I did stay up all night and beat the campaign, and thus am writing a release-day review for those on the fence!
First off, this game is not just a rehash of BF4. All of the BF games have large amounts of similarities, as does this. But, I think it is the freshest take on BF since BC. Besides, I personally am glad it is different; If I want a military-based FPS, the BF4 community is still very active:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EFFW0HC/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EFFW0HC&linkCode=as2&tag=amazon180-20&linkId=SMHA6VNUDO4QPEYZ
Reasons to play the campaign: There is a lot of effort spent by Visceral in creating an immersive campaign, and it is my favorite BF campaign, after BC2, obviously! (I realize that it being my "favorite" is not a good reason, but I think it conveys my enjoyment). Also, the campaign is more of a centerpiece than other BF games. And, I don't think I am the only one who feels that way; look at reviews by Polygon and other sources and you get more of the same feel. And its also have a touch from COD AW:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K2ZV13I/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00K2ZV13I&linkCode=as2&tag=amazon180-20&linkId=W2EW2OPBAJSMZWZH
Campaign:
-The campaign took ~9.5 hours to beat (which is decently longer than it took me to beat BF4, as I recall)
-The campaign is divided into 10 episodes. I mean this literally; at the beginning of most of the episodes they have a "previously" on segment that highlights what happened. I actually found it very engrossing and was enjoying myself thoroughly because of things like this.
-It doesn't really highlight current relevant cultural questions regarding militarization of the police, in my opinion. I don't want to get into spoilers; but, the game absolutely does not take itself too seriously. Do NOT get me wrong, you ARE a cop running around with carbines blasting 100s of enemies. I just mean to say that while it may be odd if you were to look at it on paper without context, I recognize it as a platform for the audience to get to experience a slight twist on his or her typical Battlefield experience. That was wordy; I apologize.
-The graphics are better than average. They are definitely better than MP graphics, which I cannot explain, but I honestly feel they are. The facial expressions you can view are very good and remind me of L.A. Noire. Basically, I personally thought the graphics were more than adequate enough to keep me immersed.
-You can subdue enemies via handcuffs (arresting) if you are able to get within melee range without being detected. I did this probably less than 20 times, as it kind of felt out of place to me in this kind of game.
-The load times seem longer than usual for most FPS games, for some reason.
MP: As I stated above, I have only played over 5 hours of MP (not counting beta), so I do not want to give the impression that I know much about the progression system or how the game will ultimately play when things cool down. For now, I can say:
-NO CONNECTION ISSUES. I did not get disconnected ONCE last night/this morning. Very little lag. I think I had maybe 2 or 3 times where I thought I lagged; but, it was only for literally a second and then gone. MUCH better MP release than BF4, in this regard.
-The mini-map has been improved in one simple but fundamental way: it illustrates when an enemy is on a different elevation than you! WOoo! I wish this was on BF4. The enemy triangles are smaller when they are higher/lower than yourself. Yes, you don't know if they are above or below you, but still this simple mechanic is great, in my opinion.
-You can kill people with your zip-line arrow
-Tracer darts cause a very small amount of damage, but still hurt.
-The TTK (time to kill) is significantly less than in any other BF game that I have played (which is most of BF games). You can 2-shot someone with your pistol, I am quite sure. I haven't unlocked a large number of the guns, so I cannot attest to many of them.
-The unlock system is based on cash, instead of a tiered progression system. It adds to the whole Cops 'n Robbers theme, in my opinion.
-You can use the cash on classes other than the one you gained the cash with! So, if you are keen on being only the mechanic (engineer) but after a while you want to try as a sniper (professional), you can use your mechanic money to purchase professional items
-This is the ONLY thing that I will put about the MP that I remember from the demo, so take with a grain of salt: The body armor is hardly worth the slot it takes up in your inventory. There are numerous tests online about it, and they all show that it takes a couple extra bullets worth of damage. Which, yes, may save your life. But, you may find it more useful to put another of the many useful items there in its place.
-Hotwire is what I think will be the go-to new game mode. It is conquest, basically, but the flags are cars that you drive around. Simple enough, but a lot of fun, and really highlights the Cops 'n Robbers feel
-I love the amount of cursing between teammates and opposing teams. In most BF games, e.g. BF4, you do not speak English, so I have no idea what they are saying. It is immersive, I guess, but frustrating because it is hilarious hearing your curse out a cop in a husky African-American voice.
-There are limits to the number of players you can use for certain game modes. In BF4 you often had a choice, but for BFH you can only, for example, have 32 players on any Heist game. I think this is actually good because it will prevent the smaller maps from being too clustered.
-You can't beat conquest with tanks/helis/jets/LAVs/etc. You just cannot. But, we knew that going into this game. So, I suggest you don't see BFH for what it DOESN'T have, but for what it does: fast, action-packed infantry gameplay.
I highly recommend you to use a squid grip for perfect experience:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ABKFN6K/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00ABKFN6K&linkCode=as2&tag=amazon180-20&linkId=PRPYILKLEON2JP5G
I still love BF4. It has come a long way from the broken piece it was at first. That being said, I think BFH is largely a different beast and a game that you can own and play alongside BF4 without fear of them being too similar
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video-games_xbox
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Disappointed at first, but now I love it. If you are one who just likes to play the campaign and call it a day, this game would be considered good. I thought the campaign was great but that isn't what I play COD for, it is 99% Multiplayer which is not so good.. I love the COD series and ignored the poor reviews for the game and wrote it off as "those Battlefield fanboys are at it again", so I bought it anyway. Terrible.... so terrible that I'm writing a review on it. If you haven't bought it yet, don't buy it unless you just play campaign or wait until Infinity Ward finishes their "re-assessment" and fixes the game. In its current state the game is garbage. I appreciate the ability to join matches quickly and have some action packed fun for a good 15 minutes each match. Ghosts is absolutely terrible in this regard, it is nothing but a complete camp-fest with oversized maps. I do love the next-gen graphics, the new ability to slide but a majority of the maps are bad, and I mean bad. There are a couple that I like but for the most part they are way too big. The only way it could be fixed is by allowing more players to play maybe 12v12 or 16v16 and I am not even sure if that would be much help. My play style is a run-n-gun style and this game has no love for it. If you are the type that likes to lay in a corner and just shoot whoever walks by, this is your game. Even that gets boring as no one is moving, so that opportunity doesn't present itself unless someone gets frustrated enough to move around for you to kill them. Most matches end when the timer runs out... Yes it is that bad.
Back to playing Black Ops 2 on xbox 360 while my xbox one collects dust... very sad.
Updated: (June 20th 2014)
So I stuck with it and the game grew on me, I do appreciate the play style more and more as time goes on. My original review was written out of pure frustration missing the fast paced style the BO2 had me hooked on. As the map packs come out this has no longer been the case. updating to the 4 stars it deserves. I actually tried to play titanfall but found myself going back to CoD once again. I am having fun with ghosts and am actually afraid the next release is going to be be too sci-fi for the franchise, as I love the modern day and slightly distant future style FPS.
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video-games_xbox
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Whoa... I'm irradiated. Fallout 3 is absolutely, undeniably, the best first-person RPG I've played to date. I'll try and break down some reasons why in the following review. For starters, I'm a game freak: tabletop miniatures, pen-and-paper RPGs, computer games, and console games... I try to give every type of game a chance, but some just don't cut it...
GRAPHICS, SOUND, ETC: There's really nothing to say about it... It's breathtaking, scary at times, and full of "Wow" moments. The graphics on the 360 version are mouth-watering, eye-popping amazing. The sound is engrossing. I should mention that I run the game at 1080i via HDMI and hooked up to 5.1 surround. I've tried it at 720p with just my TV stereo sound and I was no less impressed.
STORY/THEME: post world war 3; actually, 200 years post world war 3. You can learn all about the history of this alternate timeline in the game; it is fascinating and creepy. The story is compelling enough to want to play and play (more than you should), but it is not lead-you-by-the-nose. Like all true Bethesda RPGs, Fallout lets you make the story. You can choose which missions to do, or you can choose to just wander around like a freaked out, radiation-infected lunatic.
GAMEPLAY: Bethesda improved the game management and interface of Fallout. I loved Morrowind and Oblivion (Bethesda's previous, fantasy-themed RPGs), but the interface was a bit clunky in those games. Fallout fixes all the problems, in my opinion, and makes dealing with inventory and stats a breeze. You'll spend more time sucked into the game world and story then managing your extensive list of weapons, items, etc...
VALUE: the game is pricey--as all newer games are--but I would pay $50 for this game because of two thing: (1) this game could be played many, many times through the original story alone; it is unlikely anyone will find every single hidden place, character, or side mission in one pass. (2) Bethesda has already released relatively inexpensive add-ons that greatly improve the game; a couple of the expansions are almost entirely new games in and of themselves!
CONTENT: This game is not--NOT--for kids. Take the Mature rating very seriously. There is plenty of foul language, drug use, and sexually suggestive material. The game is rated for and intended for adults. Please do not let kids play this game. I only turn this bad boy on when my kids are in bed for the night--period.
EDIT (UPDATED 11/5/10): I can't say enough about this game; 5 stars isn't high enough, let's put it that way. I've finished all five DLC packs and would gladly pay for 5 more. 160+ hours later and I still love playing this game. Whether I'm just exploring the wasteland or re-playing the main story with a new character, Fallout never seems to get old. This is the first game ever that I kept--didn't trade in or give to a buddy. I've been gaming for 20 years, so that should say something about how awesome this game is! After trying Fallout: New Vegas, this game is still the best; there's no comparison. Grab the Game of the Year edition and you'll be occupied for a LONG time.
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video-games_xbox
|
Fumbling but still fun. I desperately wanted to love RUSE and for the first two hours I did. You begin the game as an (initially) interesting US Army Major of the 1st Armored Division in the infamous Kasserine Pass. At your command are historical units engaged in deliberately paced and tactically based action all presented in an attractive and zoom-able tabletop environment. What's not to love?
Unfortunately as the Single Player Campaign progresses the game's mechanics begin to breakdown. RUSE is a game that wants you to look at the "big picture" but ends up forcing you to micromanage on the ground. The combat revolves around the tried and true "rock, paper, scissors" concept. Here this translates as tank units kill infantry units who kill anti-tank units who then kill tank units. This is then reapplied to air units. Pretty simple right? Well not entirely.
RUSE is many enjoyable things but a historically accurate or realistic war game it is most defiantly not. Many of your units, which were historically very versatile platforms, are represented in this game as part time assets that must be babysat so as not to turn into total liabilities. It's very shocking the first time you see armored, self propelled anti-tank units with 88mm cannons and 7.92mm machine guns retreating from Infantry advancing across open terrain because they're "rock" to the infantry's "paper". This creates an environment where the tactical level becomes a burden which must be borne instead of a fun challenge to overcome. The player will also note with frustration that the developers have thrown any and all semblance of historical accuracy out the window at the strategic level as well. Being presented with a situation where you're asked to take part in a counter offensive after the Battle of the Bulge where the Germans have dominating air superiority would be amusing if said level where not so infuriating.
Not to say the tactical level is not without its pleasures. The designers made excellent use of line of sight concepts (despite the ability to shoot through forests which is simply bizarre) and the ambush. The first time I saw a light tank from an advance element sprinting down the cobblestone street of a small Italian town and then the whoosh of my waiting infantry's bazooka and the resulting fireball I had an ear to ear grin of pleasure. This combined with the emphasis placed on recon units allows the true use of enfilade, L-shaped ambushes and some other realistic tactics. Unfortunately, again, as the game progresses you are forced to fumble with poorly grouped and managed units at the strategic level which simply doesn't allow for the implementation of much of the careful attention required to do these things.
While I'd like to be able to say that the Campaign is, by far and away, the worst portion of RUSE the truth is that it has some very stiff competition from the poorly constructed, stand alone "what if" scenarios available. Some are embarrassingly easy, others incomprehensibly hard but none of them are actually fun.
The one aspect of RUSE that does translate well is the multi-player. Because your opponent doesn't have the ability to simply spam you with units like the computer does the tactical aspect becomes fun again and the strategic level becomes as important as it should actually be. The "RUSE ability", which is a collection of psychological actions, fakes, feints, espionage and counter-espionage tactics, actually has a use against a human opponent whereas they are often left either forgotten or unpleasantly forced into use in a linear fashion during the campaign.
The bottom line is that RUSE is not a realistic war or historical strategy game. It's simply an RTS set in World War II which is usually frustrating but occasionally brilliant. The bulk of the enjoyment the player will get out of the game is in playing other people so I'd recommend a rental to WWII and RTS enthusiast so they can try out the multi-player and before they sink the retail price into the game.
Pros:
*Looks great with very smooth camera action.
*Terrain details and map lavished with attention.
*When ambushes and complex plans work the game comes to life.
*Tactical mechanics conductive to multi-player.
*A wide variety of units and factions which play slightly different.
*Real time saves/loads.
Subjective qualities:
*A deliberate, even slow, pace of game play.
*Game play forces player to play on both tactical and strategic levels.
* Campaign missions "unfold" with progressive goals.
Cons:
*Silly unit attributes and abilities.
*Tedious micromanagement which robs the strategic level of any fun.
*A sub par AI which spams the player with units.
*Really poor level design.
*Some missions are frustrating in their difficulty.
*Obvious, eye roll inducing, storyline.
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video-games_xbox
|
Ruined. I want to focus on the single player campaign. I actively debated buying Halo 4, or renting it at a Redbox. I'm aversive to renting things, figuring that if it's great, I'll end up buying it and spend more money in the long run. That being said, I was a little short on cash, so I rented Halo 4. The dollar or two I spent at the redbox saved me 40 or so in the long run.
Halo 1 was a classic. It reminded me of Contra on the NES, a mindless
Romp vs aliens. Halo 2 actually managed to construct a plot around that conflict, and had enough new gameplay elements that it was likewise legendary. Halo 3 was less impressive, but still closed out the franchise in a satisfying way.
Halo has been the product of Bungie and 343, Bungie left the scene, and boy are they missed. It starts out promising. There's a really interesting cutscene about the master chief's battlefield supremacy, followed by a rousing chase through the doomed spaceship Chief and Cortana are stuck on. Soon after this, things fall apart.
The bad guys in this are the forerunners, who act like gods in Ancient Greek clothing. It's very similar to FF12's plot twists. There, it served the story. Here, it just stagnated the game nonsensically. The forerunners are served by Knights, who look strait out of Zone of the Enders with lighted armor, along with covenant backup. Why did the covenant side with these guys? I have no clue. And that's a pretty important story question. The covenant has personality. The panicky grunts, samurai elites, and barbarian brutes. These new guys have no dialogue, only robotic noises that to be honest were pretty grating. I longed for the Australian in Halo 2, making quips as the chief burned through enemy ranks. Here the sound is just nasty discords.
Because the writer of this can't write, he can't write Cortana's quips, so they give her a computer malfunction, and with it, pathetic dialogue like: "chief I'm splitting myself apart, arrrtgh!" She comes across like a bad wife or girlfriend, that the developers cling to because they aren't intelligent enough to move away. You'd figure after MGS2's complaints, a figure like this wouldn't pop up in a mainstream videogame. Unfun, like the pathetic last boss showdown.
343 should be ashamed of themselves. The quality of this game, compared to the last few, shames the franchise. In my case, renting this at redbox was a genius move. A dollar spent, 39 unspent, and I can walk away from the ruins of a once great videogame franchise.
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video-games_xbox
|
Grand Theft Auto IV Thje Lost and Damned,. worst add on ever. what the heck is this? wasting time download it? there is a time limit for download. Hard drive data and hard drive dose fale. it can be only donloaded once. then there is a mater or all kinds or product activation and accounts to open up. hell of a lot of fuss and bother. What they should haved done is put it on a CD then have the drive install the files on the hard drive. there is too much cost of power to download. Too Much time wasted for download. then have to buy expensive electrons to connect 2 or more cat 5 cables. one is for the persioal computer then one for the 360. Come on I do now wish to get member ship for X-box life. that is the stupid thing I ever heard. I am not going to waste my time trying to create all kinds of accounts just to go though the red tape. Sorry man I have a job to do. I got a living to make. I do not have the time to waste my time trying to create all kinds of account. passing all kinds of persional information on my banking or payment system to X-box life that I refuse to use. I though Microsoft and rockstar known better. doing cheap moves like this. plaing all kinds of codes on a card board. Oh Come on! Who in the right mind? I sent my conserns to Rockstar regading the mater. My Questions was deleated with out reading it. I had no customer support at all. there is None. I haved been waiting for a about a week now. the case is locked out and deleated with out letting me know.
This is a stupid move. even with braud band its going to take all day and all night on the download. and there if the server crashes. your out of luck. then have to buy a new one. once is starts and the server drops. the account is closed. itrs a one time deal and limited time download time.
well there are so worried about people copying it . so they block out any attempts to redo the download.
watiing all day . server drops. some plug gets pulled by mistake.
the download is void due to copy rights that have to be protected
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video-games_xbox
|
One of the best games of this generation. Ken Levine and the staff at Irrational Games has produced one of the best games of this generation. The first Bioshock game set a pretty high standard and the hype for this game was pretty large, but they've made game that not only lived up to that hype, but surpassed it. The graphic design is beautiful, the music and sound effects are great. The action is exhilarating and can be gruesome at times, and is probably too much for younger players. The player can use a combination of weapons and vigors (think magic spells). The use of the sky hook and sky lines really sets the action in this game apart from normal first person shooters. I didn't use them all that much during my first play through, but really needed to use them when playing through 1999 mode.
But the best part of the game is the story. Having played Bioshock or Bioshock 2 is not a prerequisite, but you would get more out of this game if you have. The player can learn more about the story from finding voxophones (tape recorders) and kinetoscopes (silent movies)scattered throughout the world, so exploration is recommended. The themes running through this game are very interesting, touching on racism, nationalism, and religion. You may find yourself looking up things on the internet such as the the Boxer Rebellion, Wounded Knee and Pinkertons to find out a better understanding on what is going on, although you don't have.
The characters of Booker Dewitt and Elizabeth are voiced very well, and in particular the character of Elizabeth really shines. She is one of the best non-playable characters in the history of gaming, as she is not only animated and voiced very well, but she also helps the gamer out during intense battles by giving the player supplies when they are really needed.
I can't recommend this game enough.
-------------------------------------------------
If you are buying the Ultimate Songbird edition than you are probably already a fan of Ken Levine's work. The artbook is nice and the Songbird statue goes great with my Big Daddy statue I got with the Bioshock Limited Edition.
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video-games_xbox
|
Titanfall 2 does not capture the spirit of Titanfall. The reason why I'm giving this game two stars is because I am comparing it to Titanfall on XBOX One. If you anticipate a similar gaming experience as the original then you are likely to be disappointed. My primary concerns follows: 1)) This version arguably butchered the beauty of the titans and their respective construction. The Stryder, Atlas, and Ogre are replaced with 5 new titans which do not allow the player to construct/personalize their own titans or ordnance. This seems to even the playing field but obviously limits the titans' combat effectiveness. 2)) The gameplay and titans are much slower. (Compare a running faucet to dripping water) 3)) The multiplayer has 5x5 instead of 6x6 and the maps are much smaller. 4)) The new titan weapons do not include the machine gun, the triple thread, or the arc cannon - and do not appear to be as effective. 5)) The titan shields do not automatically recharge. In order to recharge the titan shields during combat the pilot must find and acquire a battery on the battlefield which may be accomplished by either departing the titan (in the middle of combat which normally either gets you killed or at the very least takes you away from the battle), or a team pilot can rodeo the titan and insert a battery (has not happened to me yet). Either way, this feature significantly reduces the titan's combat effectiveness.
On the positive side the new single player campaign was entertaining and the pilot now has a COD combat slide which is pretty cool.
Despite the fact that they were both made by Respawn these are two completely different games. My opinion is if you have an extra $60 burning a hole in your pocket then buy this game, but I don't believe that it's worth more than $25. It's novel but it does not capture the spirit of the original Titanfall. I recently purchased my first XBOX One, hence, I'm focused on reaching GEN10 on Titanfall XBOX One. Let's hope Respawn gets Titanfall 3 right.
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video-games_xbox
|
Great, but you must Mod. The SE version of the stick is extremely easy to modify and once modded feels like a real SF Arcade Stick. I didn't want a huge TE stick to lug around. So this was the cheapest alternative I could find. The only real negative I have is that every once in a while, twice a month, the stick will tweak (get locked going 1 direction, or with button down). I just pause, and unplug/plug the USB back in and that fixes it.
I think this is a great deal, but will require some elbow grease to complete plus you must void the warranty. Knowing that I am tossing the base stick and cheesy knockoff buttons, I still consider this a great deal to build an 8-way arcade stick. This beats soldering or spending $150+ on and hauling around a TE stick.
Cost ($106 + $7 shipping ~ $115) and was able to buy all through Amazon:
SE Stick for XBox360 ... $55 [Used from Amazon Reseller]
8 sanwa buttons ... $2/btn = $16 [Amazon or Lizardlick]
Sanwa JLF Stick ... $35 [Amazon or Lizardlick]
Within 20 minutes I had the stick modded with my bright green sanwa buttons and stick. We're not breaking new ground here as you can youtube and find dozens of guides on how to do this.
1. Open the base (6 phillips head screws).
2. Replace the buttons (one at a time is easiest to keep the wiring and position straight)
. a. Slide off the wire clips from bottom of button using needlenose pliers
. b. Pinch and pop out the old buttons. A flathead screwdriver may help.
. c. Pop in the new button, and slide the right connector onto the new button. (repeat x7)
3. Replace the stick
. a. Scrape off the red glue and disconnect the easy connect on right of old stick
. b. Stick flat-head driver into base of stick, and screw off the ball at the top
. b. Scrape off the red glue covering the baseplate screws.
. c. Unscrew Stick baseplate(4 phillips head screws).
. d. Pull out the old stick, slide in the new and screw it in (4 screws). Make sure you get your dust covers right, one under the case and one on top.
. e. Flat head to the base of the Sanwa JLF, and screw on the Sanwa Balltop.
4. Screw back in the 6 screws to the base.
Since my original mod I have bought an 8way octagonal restrictor plate [~$7, don't overpay]. It feels a little better to me than the square gate, 8way plate that comes with the JLF. I literally beat the heck out of this stick. I haul it all over to friends houses for SSF IV and Marvel/Capcom competitions and it is still playing like day 1.
One last note: I tried using it for Pac-Man and Galaga, and I have to say it doesn't work well in 4-way mode. The restrictor plate keeps most of the moves clean (one switch hit at a time), but the throw (size of handle and travel) on the stick is too big. I ended up building a seperate stick for classic arcade games and Pac-Man CE.
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video-games_xbox
|
Great sound but other problems ruined it. To start I am writing this as a PC user, I hooked it up to my 360 just to see how it worked but I only used it for 10 minutes.
Headset 1:
Got this headset in December and was very pleased because of the sound quality. However about 3 days after opening my friends began to complain that my mic would randomly become very quiet, this was not related to sensitivity because I set this manually after the first complaint. I blew it off though because it was not terribly often. Then about 3 weeks after opening, the mic just died, wouldn't pick up a damn thing. So I looked on Skullcandy's website to see what their warranty process looked like. It was ridiculous they wanted me to send the headset to them, then wait for them to tell me it really was broken, and then they would give me credit to their store so I could order a new one and wait for it to show up, all in all I would be minus a headset for about 4 weeks, longer than I had owned the thing. So I just returned it to amazon and because I have liked Skullcandy products and the sound quality of this headset was good I bought another one.
Headset 2:
At this point it might be worth mentioning that the headset fit snug when I first bought it, even extended all the way, but this didn't bother me in the first headset because it stretched quickly. This headset failed to stretch however... I put it on and the sound quality was just as good as I remember, the mic problems went away, and I was finally feeling confident I had a good headset. Then it happened. I was playing on the computer when my roommate began talking to me, so I shifted the right cuff off of my ear so I could hear him and the plastic on the left side just snapped. The headset on that side no longer extended correctly and it kinda looked ugly as hell. This was 2 months after purchase so no return possibility, I just super glued it which meant I certainly couldn't extend it anymore but it at least was in one piece. Recently the right side snapped... same place same way. I was not pleased. I went online bought a wireless Logitech headset and am fairly done with Skullcandy products. I expected more from this brand and this headset.
I gave the headset 2 stars because there were good things:
Pros:
- Loved the sound of this headset
- Looked nice and the ability to hide the mic is nice
- comfortable once the first one stretched out (maybe I just have a large head)
- volume controls were great
- I liked the long cord
Cons:
- everything I wrote about, I have owned two of these now and not had good luck with either of them
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video-games_xbox
|
Not the best ever, but the best for your 360. Though this game didn't quite meet my expectations, I will admit that I set the bar pretty high. Knowing how much work was put into this game, I was expecting something amazing. Though this game is a lot of fun, I was kind of hoping for more.
The game feels somewhat like a combination of Sonic Adventure and classic Sonic the Hedgehog. Many levels are often set in a 2-D world and are still in the style of the zones you remember from "the goold ol' days." Clearly, Sega recognized the fact that it would be best to update the classic levels we remember from the Genesis days rather than create new ones. Those who have played Sonic on their Dreamcast will feel right at home with the similar jumping styles and controls of the new Sonic, and the levels with classic Sonic feel very much like a 2-D world.
The method in how you play these levels is probably the biggest frustration. Rather than playing one level after the other (like in the classic Sonic games) or an open-world environment (as in Sonic Adventure) you pick from different worlds then select the level within that world. What becomes frustrating is each world has to be played with each version of Sonic, and you jump to the levels in some weird tower structure. This means that the progressive battle between Sonic and a villian is completely lost, and the game has virtually no story. You instead feel like you're playing random Sonic levels for no apperant reason.
Obviously, the graphics have come leaps and bounds from the classic days, and there's something very satisfying about seeing your favorite video game character in high def.
The levels do have a bit of variety in terms of what you're doing, but ultimately, your goal in each one is to reach the end (unlike finding the emerald as in Sonic Adventure). Sometimes you're racing another Sonic to the finish, but usually, you're just trying to get through the level. Many of the levels do have a "classic" feel to them. For instance, the chemical plant returns, but with more details in the graphics.
I will say that I miss the open world style of Sonic Adventure, though I'm guessing Sega abandoned this since players got frustrated trying to figure out where in this gigantic space they were supposed to go next. The game does give you some freedom to choose what level you'll play next, that in itself can be irritating because you'll quickly wonder what you have to do next to open more levels.
After some huge let-downs in the last 10 years, it's great to see Sonic at his best once again. Though I wouldn't call this game "the best Sonic ever," it's definitely the best you'll see on your 360 (or PS3). The game is not without frustrations, but overall, it's very worth while.
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video-games_xbox
|
This game NEVER gets old. I'm lost for words for 1 of the best FPS.
Before you start any level there're 4 difficulty levels, easy, normal, heroic and legendary. The description box at the side of Heroic says something like "survival isn't garaunteed, well that's if you first start on that mode on your first ever go on this game. On legendary it says "enemies never known defeat and they laugh at your efforts", yep that's tru when there're are more of them and those elites(big alians)use plasma auto rifels(alien's machine guns) your health goes down awfully fast and more enemies come to take you down but they don't respawn. After owning this game for 2 years legendary is easy now I'm experienced. This is where replay value comes in because you'll want to complete all 10 levels on different difficulties and when you're on level select it shows symbols of which difficulties you've done it on.
The first thing you'll notice are great graphics but not as good as the new Ninja Gaidan but this game was made 2 -3 years ago(check out HALO 2 screen shots on Gamespot). There're are snowy effects, exsplosians, rain effects. Heck when shining your flashlight on your gun at the wall in the dark it reflects like in real life. The frame rate is something like 30 not 60 but I never noticed until I read reviews from people who dissed this game. This has great music when playing and it fits perfectly with the game. Each enemy has their own music(ELITES, HUNTERS and THE FLOOD and probably more). Even when Elites are flying BANSHEES music plays for it.
Loading and saving is the best I've seen on a video game. It takes about 15 secs to load the start of a huge level then afterwards when you progress through it takes 1 second to load as it auto saves or it's called a checkpoint so when you die you end up there and you have to go on save and quit to save..
The good thing about this is it doesn't feel too unrealistic when taking so many gun shots, you don't die because you're MASTER CHIEF in a protective cool suit, there are batteries in your suit that charges up your health once you take cover. In Medal of honour it's redicules when taking 100 shots and not dying.
The weapons are great as they each have a strength on each enemy.
PISTOL
This is in my opinion the best gun. This has a 2 * 2 scope, it holds 120 ammo and it has powerful bullets. They're good to use against anything apart from shooting vehicals.
ASSUALT RIFEL
people are saying this is inaccurate but they're wrong because when enemies are a couple of feet away you don't just hold the right trigor, you have to push it repeatedly to make it more accurate. There should have been an option for controlled burst. This is good used for close up encounters like shooting elites then melee attacking them with the butt of rifel. This is strongest to use against the FLOOD.
SHOTGUN
This is powerful and takes down the flood in 1 hit depending on how close you are. This is best used in narrow corridors because this won't do as well out side. Best used against flood and Elites.
SNIPER RIFEL
This has a 2 * 2 zoom and a whopping 10 * 10 zoom. This is powerful and is best use against the covenant(ALIANS)and not the FLOOD because it won't harm them. Best used in out door areas or spacious insides.
ROCKET LAUNCHER
This is powerful and has a useful full 2 * 2 zoom. This is best used for groups of enemies, vehicals, hitting weak point of hunters(big aliens with armour) and elites. Remember to shoot the ground so the impact hits the enemy because you'll miss when shooting directly at the body.
PLASMA PISTOL
Push the right trigger repeatedly and it'll fire like a pistol and when holding it and then releasing a powerful bolt is released and takes away a JACKELS(alian)shield if you fire at them.
PLASMA RIFEL
This is the alien's machine gun and it's all rapid fire but when holding the fire button for too long it over heats and burns your hand, you don't loose health of it though. This is good for charging at any enemy except for HUNTERS and vehicles.
NEEDLER
This is cool because when you fire it it homes in on the unlucky victim. When the ELITES use thier great AI buy jumping for cover behind rocks you fire this and when it sticks onto them it exsplodes. This is bad to use with anything to do with armour ie Jackel cause it'll bounce rite of.
There's also FRAG GRENADE and PLASMA GRENADES. Frag is great for quick exsplosians and PLASMA is great to stick onto someone, like a GRUNT(small aliens)so when they run of to the bigger alians for help it'll result in more deaths.
Ther're great vehicles such as WARTHOG(jeep with chaingun on back), SCORPIAN TANK(were up to 4 soldiers can sit on the side), GHOSTS(floating vehicle) and flying BANSHEES(your jaw will drop when flying in the snow and when it's a bit dark).
This game never gets old and it's like listening to good music when it gets better every time. You'll appreciate when enemies die differently, the suroundings and when driving on the mud or sand it comes of the wheels realisticly. Thier AI is the best in a FPS. Multiplayer is great and rivals TIME SPLITTERS 2. There's an edit mode where you can change control settings and multiplayer modes.
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video-games_xbox
|
Nice motivational tool, decent teaching tool. Could use some tweaking. I've been an on/off guitar player for at least 15 years now. Never really good, but steadily improving. My hardest thing is consistent motivation. I go through spurts where I study theory and practice like crazy and then, suddenly I just stop. I got this both because I was exceited about it's teaching potential (lessions were $20/30 min when I was a kid, got this for $25) and it has got me playing again and is a lot of fun.
When I first hooked it up, I was annoyed. It took maybe two days to get used to the colors flying at me and what color is what string. I also found it odd that there was no timing indication with the notes (is it a quarter note, or a half note?, gradually, I've learned to tell by the spacing), which is especially akward in the beginning when you only play occasional notes in the song. I 've also found (as have most people I've played it with), that for whatever reason, we tend to miss seeing the blue notes (4th string) a lot (tends to blend into the background) and to a lesser extent the orange notes (3rd string).
It is nice that it starts easy and progresses as you improve, but there are some catches. If you are really good, you will be annoyed at the pace it adds new material. It also can be frustrating when it adds a few extra notes, you are caught of guard, it takes them away, and you have to play through the song a few times to get them back- at which time they catch you off guard again. I wish you could opt to lock them in, or just reveal all.
Sometimes, I find the way that they progress songs odd, and that it actually makes them more difficult by causing you to use screwy timings, use easy and incorrect finger movements that you have to completely change when new notes are added, or when it would be simpler to just use cords (for example, in higher ground there is a part where you first play through and have a G and then an A on the 6th string. A beginner will probably play the G with the index finger and then the A with the ring finger. But later these turn to power cords and this no longer works as you have to slide your hand down. I've found that type of issue common, particularly with this song - I've only played about 6 songs so far in the game). Likewise, the strategy of playing is not always the best, for example they'l play a 2, 3, and 6 on the 6th string and maybe an open 5th string and the 2nd fret of the 5th string. Much easier and more efficient to convert the 6th fret on the E string to the 1st on the 5 string to keep everything within a reasonable reach(cheating by moving the note does work since the game is based on tone, but is not something a beginner would know)
I was recently trying to play a song at a gig for the second time and the requirements shot way up and I had difficulty meeting them. I must have said 'no' to lowering the difficulty 10-20 times (Asks when you fail a few times), then accidentally said yes and have found no way to reverse it (have actually exceeded the prior requirement since, but am guessing I lose points for lowering difficulty/qualification score), so I found that annoying, I like to just say 'no' once and be done.
Pros:
-It's a fun and motivational game, and will improve your playing
-It can identify some of the common errors you make and provide tutorials
-there are modes that will slow it down so you can learn a particular sequence that gives you trouble
-you will learn (my gf is completely new to guitar and learned some songs quickly, but stagnated with others)
-it get's you practicing
-decent tool for beginners, les useful as you advance in expertise, although your expertise may help you work through some of the progression issues
Cons:
-long load times, sometimes freezes and you have to restart - losing unsaved data.
-sometimes the learning progressions actually interfere with your learning or get you used to the wrong finger movements before adding new notes
-seems to pick up late notes well, but not as good at recognizing when you hit the note early.
-sometimes throws new symbols at you with out explaining what they mean (like a palm mute or bend).
-I played higher ground one fret off for probably 10x through and it never told me, didn't seem to kill my score either.
-lag if using an HDMI - takes getting used to and hurts your score until you adjust
Other:
-I've heard the PC version is faster and the DLC is cheaper, might be worth looking at. Note that it usually does not include the cable whereas the xbox version does.
-Made the mistake of buying an extra cable. Costs more than buying the game with the cable. Should have bought another game and sold the disk, but kept the cable
-Would be nice to edit the string colors, add training modes telling you which finger to hit the note with, how many times to play through a sequence (so you learn/memorize the song, vs just respond to the game - i.e is the chorus sequence repeated 4 times before moving onto the next part of the song?),indicating strumming patterns to help with timing (newbies tend to down pick everything and just pick faster when the notes are closer vs switching to an up-down strum) etc.
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video-games_xbox
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More a Response than a Review. So i've never actually written a user-review before, but the amazon reviews routinely play a large role in my purchasing decisions, and i felt that Lips was in need of some defending from the reviews thus far... I got into the music game scene via Rock Band, and quickly found the singing to be my favorite part (which was very unexpected), i bought Karaoke Revolution American Idol 1 (and will likely get 2 down the road) and i had a lot of fun with the old motown songs & things i'd never find in Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour. But the interface was lame and all the music was covers so it just wasn't something i played very much (though i do go back every now and again).
Sorry that was all exposition, now i'll move on to Lips: i will admit i was very much on the fence about getting lips, but i got a fantastic trade-in deal at Gamestop and ended up not paying a dime. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much fun this is. My girlfriend and i played for 5 hours straight the night we got it (then watched a movie streamed over Netflix - thanks NXE!). The wireless mics are fantastic - sturdy and have a good weight to them, and the lights (while unnecessary - are very cool). Having master tracks for the songs is worth it's weight in gold for singing game, and the music videos are so much more entertaining to have in the background compared to the lame animations of Karaoke Revolution. No the stat tracking is not the best, but this is a game to be played with others and preferably at a party. I don't love all the included music, but honestly they are all a lot of fun to sing (especially 'Bust A Move'). Of course there isn't a great deal of DLC yet, the game JUST CAME OUT LAST WEEK! but there is already some decent music announced, and i'm excited for the promised holiday music that will be coming. Of course importing your own music won't show you the lyrics, if you had done any research on the game you would have known that. But frankly anything you import you should know the lyrics or print them off the web if you need to. You can still turn the vocal track down and increase the mic volume and bam you have precisely what karaoke at any bar in the country is, for only $70 including 2 fantastic mics!
No this game is not as good as Rock Band or Guitar Hero. But if you like singing in those games, i highly recommend you consider this purchase. It is going to include a huge number of songs (assuming weekly DLC continues) that Rock Band never will, and they are all a great deal of fun to sing. The wireless mics, master tracks & videos add so much to the experience. and considering Microsoft is the father of the patch, i expect them to release updates including new gameplay functions in the future...
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video-games_xbox
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A Fun Epic Sci Fi Shooter ,Flawed But Fun. Advent Rising is a third & first person shooter that is a fast pace Sci-Fi Epic like gaming experience that is best desribed as a star wars/halo2 mix. But Advent Rising is still a unique game in its own right. You play in 1st & 3rd person which can be changed while playing. There are about 11 different weapons ranging from ballistic to the alien variety & they all have great response,sound,& power. You are able to equip & fire from both hands by using both triggers simular to halo2 ,& most weapons have alternate fire modes. You can perform Melee attacks & will get advanced melee's as you progress in mastery levels 1-5. The Mastery Level is a reward system ,as you use a weapon or power you will automaticly gain level ups such as more damage or better accuracy,also it'll open up alternate fire modes on special power & weapons you can gain up to 5 levels on all weapons & powers. You eventually will aquire Special Powers simular to force powers in star wars games. These powers include LEVITATE ,which gives you the ability to levitate enemies & shoot them in mid air ,also lift inanimate objects & you can also throw enemies off cliffs, SURGE which is a type of force push to damage enemies & if you hold trigger for a stronger surge blast,NEGATE which gives you the ability to make a shield & its advanced stages you are able to put up multiple sheilds ,4 when maxed out,alternatly you can carry a shield ,AEON PULSE which gives you the ability to shoot pulses from your hands in which damages the enemy, TIME SHIFT which gives you the abilty to warp time & attack enemy at a great speed which causes alot of damage to enemy,it basicly looks like a quick sprint into the enemy ,kinda like a running charge at a blurring speed,& finally SHATTER which you can shoot ice shards, which look more like blue spheres on screen, & its advanced stages can freeze an enemy. All Weapons & Powers also have (alternate) modes of fire & powers in which become available as you advance in mastery levels 1-5. All powers use energy but as you gain mastery levels you will use less energy. You automaticly are awarded the power ups as you fight or use powers,you can look in your weapons & powers menu to see there effects. You have different vehicles to drive that resemble halos warthog, & there is an enemy alien tank that looks quite good. The land vehicle (scythe) 4x4 ,is very responsive & has very strong boost power. You can also operate anti-air turrets when available. For the most part your on foot. This game is a pure 1st & 3rd person shooter with an added very helpful force type super powers, these powers aren't thrown in just for fun or looks you'll definalty use them & need them alot, I found myself prefering to use the force type powers more & more in the later stages ,because in Advent Rising the more you use anything the stronger it gets with the mastery level up system. You can equip a power to one hand & a weapon to the other hand for an endless array of good combinations ,or you could just use the powers ,whatever works for you. The graphics are good & they get better as you advance in the game, but I do have a "S" cable so keep that in mind. Overall Advent is a very fun game ,but could use some polishing up on a few things. The targeting system is a little herky-jerky .You use the right analog stick to change & hone in onto targets . Adversly you also use the right analog for the camera pan & tilt. Things makes things a little unbalanced when in a firefight as sometimes when you are trying to look into a certain direction the targeting ring will lock onto a different target than you intended. But I had no serious problems that hampered my game experince with the targeting system . I think it would have been better to have a cleaner smoother targeting system or even a free form target system like most first & third person shooters have. But you can adjust the Targeting systems sensitivity in the options menu. There is also alot of slow down when the screen gets full & on one occasion the sound got messed up. But even with these game flaws Advent Rising is still a very fun shooter with nice level detail which is 95% linear but still very EPIC movie like in design. I noticed there are some simularities to halo2 in the design of some of the levels in Advent,with vast open spaces & the like. But don't let me mislead you Advent shouldnt be compared to HALO2 .Id say Advent is a loose mix between a star wars type game & halo2. The cutscenes are nicley done with Great story content & good voice acting & there are a ton of clips to be seen. Advent gameplay is good but when the framerates slow down ,which is often,is gets stiff. And the camera could be a little smoother,but your still able to see in (3-d) all directions like other 1st & 3rd person shooters. But even with all of these flaws Advent is still a very fun shooter. I beat the game on Normal difficulty in 3 days ,the story was very good ,just make sure to watch the entire CREDITS because at the end there's a surprise Boss battle with another ending & it definatly opens up for the sequel. You have 4 difficulty settings Easy,Normal,Hard,& Ultra. Its a fairly challenging game thats not too easy ,& not too hard ,but you can change difficulty while your playing to suit your needs. Its a very good start to a game series ,hopefully with some fine tuning ,sequels to this game will take note of gamers comments & improve on it. In a nutshell Advent Rising is kinda like watching a very good Epic movie storyline while you get to partake in being the star. Advent Rising is a fun overall Sci-Fi gaming experience regardless of its flaws. Definalty Worth Playing. Im looking forward to the sequel.
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video-games_xbox
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Medal of Honor: Frontline (Xbox) Review. Electronic Arts' Medal of Honor series was one of the best first-person shooters ever developed for the Sony Playstation. Two World War II-themed shooters, created in conjunction with director Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks Interactive, made EA take notice of the fact that it had a golden franchise right under its nose. The result was two similar games, one for consoles and one for the PC. The console game, Medal of Honor: Frontline, was originally released on the Playstation2 only, and after many months EA finally released Frontline for the Xbox (and the GameCube).
Set in 1944 and 1945 the player takes on the role of Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson and starts out roughly at Omaha Beach in Normandy. Afterwards Patterson must then work secret missions for the OSS, involving freeing captured agents, infiltrating a u-boat, and eventually stealing the highly experimental Ho-IX jet aircraft. Frontline represents the culmination a new first-person game engine, completely overshadowing the previous engine used in the first two Medal of Honor games.
Frontline offers four different control options for standard Xbox controllers, which lend themselves to a wide variety of player types. The default is a Halo-style layout, where the left thumbpad controls the direction/speed of movement while the right thumbpad determines where the player is currently looking.
Other commands to master include your standard jump, crouch, and action (use or grab something) buttons, as well as weapon cycling and reloading. It only takes a few minutes to get used to, though having to learn all this on the first mission (a hairy landing at Omaha Beach) can be a bit disconcerting.
The feel of the controls in relation to the game is good generally. You can peek/shoot around corners pretty well, though being able to aim accurately while staying still will make you get hit more often than not, and usually it takes more than one bullet to fell an enemy soldier. A health meter (along with a direction compass and hit direction indicator) is on the lower left. Canteens and medical kits, able to restore health points, are strewn throughout levels.
Frontline offers a nice variety of weapon types, from the trusty Colt .45 to the M1 Garand, from a standard shotgun to the assault-rifle precursor StG 44, as well as bazookas and man-able weapons (like machineguns).
Traipsing around Frontline is mostly fun. The game includes six overall missions, and each mission has a set number of levels (at least two). Each level has a number of objectives to complete, and typically the game won't let you move on to the next objective until the previous one is done (if they need to be done sequentially), so there's some freedom of movement, but not a whole lot. Some of the sneaky levels you can shoot your way through, though it can be a bit more difficult.
Frontline is not a tough game to beat, though a couple of areas can be difficult (especially with a lot of enemies - some have tricks that make it easier). This can be expounded by the fact that saving is only allowed between mission levels, so a player can get all the way to the end of a level, die, and have to restart all over again.
Enemy artificial intelligence (AI) is decent; in areas that provide cover they will hide behind objects and walls, though they sometimes they have a tendency to stand out in open too much and look in the opposite direction.
Three difficultly levels are available, each increases the ability of the enemy to hit you, decreases the ability to hit the enemy at range, and decreases the ability to heal between levels. Even at Normal enemy soldiers are pretty accurate.
Frontline also offers multiplayer gameplay in the form of deathmatch or team-deathmatch battles of up to four players in split-screen mode. Each player can assign their own controller option, and there are eight maps to play on. Restricted weapon types allow for some variety -- for instance, one game can consist of rifles or maybe bazookas only, or a variety of rifle/submachinegun types, and so forth. Unfortunately, Frontline gives you a radar view of where the other players are located based on team color, which takes three-quarters of the fun out of the multiplayer game. There is no Xbox Live support.
The 3d engine that accompanies Frontline is quite good, and of course is light-years ahead of the first two Medal of Honor games in the series. Closed-in environments have a high amount of detail, while some of the more open areas give the illusion of being quite expansive. All of the humans are high polygonal objects featuring a nice variety of animations and even speaking parts when necessary.
Frontline has some of the best and realistic sound effects ever to be featured in a console shooter. The sounds of a Springfield magazine ejecting, the rumble of a tank, the explosions, and the impressive deep thunder of an offshore bombardment from inside of a bunker complex are just simply amazing and very, very immersive. The weapons each have distinctive sounds, and there is an audible thunk when a bullet strikes home. On top of that, there is another great orchestral score from composer Michael Giacchino and the Northwest Sinfonia (which clocks in at over 70 minutes in length).
EA once again succeeds in creating a great game with Medal of Honor: Frontline, a game series first envisioned honoring war veterans and medal winners by director Steven Spielberg after the mass appeal of the movie Saving Private Ryan was obvious. Frontline continues the tradition, providing great gameplay, superb graphics, superior sound and music, and a wonderful all-around game.
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video-games_xbox
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Great but could be better. Fable I was one of those over self hyped projects that came along that when it failed to deliver everything (or indeed even half of what was promised) everyone kinda scratched their heads, and whined. Fable I was a great game don't get me wrong. But I kinda get that same vibe from Fable II as well.
Let me start by saying allowing you to pick your gender was very intelligent on their part, along with just how well or badly people treat you based on your alignment. I am surprised that even with my gripes of this game that it can still just suck me in for a couple hours at a time (and yes I've beaten this game) just listening and interacting with the world around me.
I don't think I have ever been so thoroughly immersed in a videogame world before. This almost rivals with a good D&D session for time well spent. Almost. No videogame will ever truly top that level of interaction and endless possibility. Not as long as the game's creative vision is in the hands of someone that isn't you and your friends. The people of Albion react to you in varied ways depending on your actions and not even just your alignment.
Heck yesterday I shot someone in the face because he wouldn't get out of the way of a door way -no matter what I did- splattered his head all over the inside of the furniture shop, two other people draw guns start shooting at me. So what do I do? Defend myself. Didn't really gain any evil for it either, heck I'm known as The Saint in that game, that's just awesome. I go back to bowerstone (I was in bloodstone when I murdered) and two guards tell me "They are keeping their eye on me" around five minutes later or so some random towns person said "You will kill anyone won't you!"
It's impressive to say the least that they went so far with some of the little details like that in this game. I had caused several people to distrust me, as they heard of my dastardly deed in Bloodstone, even though I have a glowing halo over my head. I'm just left astounded with this.
The other thing about this game which really impresses me is the combat system. It is very fluid and feels very natural to exectue. I would be willing to say actually it's even more simple than say Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance or Champions Of Norrath, but is by far more entertaining and dynamic.
Also the fact that there is no "going back and loading" after a major decision point is awesome. You do something evil for the quest ending? Guess what you're stuck with that decision. Consequences. This game deals alot in those, and it seems all the more enjoyable and immersive to me that there are decisions which are "immutable".
So what's holding this game back from a full five star? In a word Details. There's alot of polish and shine to this game but I felt that the post beaten game content could have been more existent than merely wrap up whatever you didn't finish before you beat it. Getting a castle and possibly changing your gender, and then doing repeated Bounty Hunter and other jobs, and Free/Enslave Quests. I'd have loved for some kind of "post game story" to have been implemented into the game.
I think they could have done just that little extra more for everyone, and they would have had a game that will be forever thought of with dreamy goofy gamer smiles and plenty of nostalgic gaming on their hands. As it is it is a damned fine game though.
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video-games_xbox
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Can We Try Something, Well New. Ah yes the most anticipated game for quite some time, the legendary Halo 3.
Halo 3 continues the tales of Master Chief after the anti climactic ending in Halo 2. The game takes a leap into the next generation of gaming consoles (Xbox 360 title only).
With such a large leap we've seen many game series really take off into a whole new experience, Such as the Call of Duty series still grabbing appeal for its step up. Halo 3 really didn't advance too much from Halo 2's game play mechanics, or stray too much from its online multiplayer which truly isn't a bad thing (modifications make it much easier online but not much better).
The story isn't so much deep as it is captivating how's that? The game throws you into amazing looking battle fields screaming for intense action, yet you battle it much like a small fire fight. With The technology of the 360 you'd think the game would serve up to its supposed "epic factor". To a small degree it did, but it treaded so much old ground that after the first run through the Campaign mode it feels stale. On the bright note levels have variety in them and some great cinematic sequences.
The game does hold up to it's well known great in game soundtrack. The music is very plausible, and balances techno/electronic and ambient beats with rockish music from all degrees both smooth and rough. The classical orchestrated parts are truly noteworthy too. Makes for a much greater gamming experience, and proves to pump you up when the battle doesn't. Much of the classic Halo tunes have now been remodified, and being a musician myself trying to rewrite something that's hailed amazing and still keep it fresh and great isn't as easy as throwing on some new instruments and calling it genius.
The game holds a lot of its emphasis in the online/multiplayer department. Online matches are competitive, enticing and generally great experiences with friends or random players. With a variety of new weapons and tactics and new 'equipment' at your disposal fragging another player has never been so satisfying. Now the multiplayer maps aren't necessarily bad, but any Halo 2 veteran will feel disappointed at the lack of creativity and devotion. Recently (as of December) three new maps have been released as Downloadable Content or DLC. This will hopefully hold fans off to the next batch of announced maps.
The quality of the game is superb. Graphically it lacks as a contender against many recent graphical achievements in gaming, but the lighting effects are phenomenal. The sound as i previously mentioned top notch, the controls silky smooth, the welcoming additions,such as 4 player co-op instead of the traditional 2 player, equipment, weapons, forge create a level option, film a clip, save a photo, all great stuff.
Halo only suffers from not living up to its hype. Which is fairly hard when you think about the commercials, the Discovery channel coverage, gamming article, news stations even mentioning it, ambitious countdowns, myriads of fans new and old preordering the title, the products like Mountain Dews "Game Fuel" being released as a marketing aid for the game. So many things made this seem like the most important game in history as if it wasn't even a game at this point, just a stir of anticipation. So while it didn't live up to this (Which i doubt anything really could) it does serve as a exceptional 360 title, and a great game to play with a group of friends.
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video-games_xbox
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Very Good on the Verge of Great. I had the Division pre-ordered for months. It was the game to which I was looking forward the most. The idea of a third-person shooter in a pandemic-stricken New York was very appealing to me. After a week of playing it every night, I have developed some opinions of it that are both great and disappointing.
The Division is an MMO. You can play solo or match up with other players. For most missions, it behooves you to go at them with a team. Going at it alone can be a daunting task that typically ends badly for you. It operates as sort of a role-playing game as you can customize your player by picking up loot, purchasing armor, weapons, etc. as well as upgrading abilities as you gain experience. I really like this aspect of the game. It's a large sandbox with certain areas being higher or lower in difficulty. The representation of the city is excellent. Even though, it is perpetually winter. Controls are spot-on for a third person shooter. Snapping into and moving along cover is easy and just feels right. Movement, shooting, switching weapons, etc. all feels right and are mapped to the controller perfectly.
If the Division were an offline game, I'd give it 5 stars. Yet, here we are. Not that I dislike online only games. Destiny is a fantastic MMO that I've put countless hours into and have nothing but good things to say about. The Division falls short of Destiny's level. Why? Let's start with my first and largest complaint: SERVER ISSUES. I have an extremely fast internet service and have never had any problems playing online games such as Destiny. After one week with the Division, I have experienced a ton of problems. For example, lags. I could be in the middle of a firefight, just for my weapon to suddenly stop firing and enemies stop taking damage, although I would continue to get hit. A few seconds later, the server catches up, the damage applies to the enemy and my weapon fires again. This happens VERY frequently and it's very annoying. Another issue I've experienced is waiting for matchmaking to load, just to be kicked out and returned to my last safe house (which could be considerably far away from the mission I was trying to play, causing me to fight my way all the way back). Annoying. Now, these complaints may sound trivial, but after happening over and over again, it really takes away from the enjoyment of the game.
The other gripe I have is the effectiveness of your weapons (or the constitution of the enemies). You can literally fill an enemy will 2-3 full clips of ammo before he or she falls. Head shots are not even instant kills. It seems sort of stupid that I can line up a head shot with my high-powered sniper rifle, land the shot and the guy simply moves to cover. What's the point of having a sniper rifle if I can't pick off enemies from a distance? It's really best to simply load up a heavy machine gun and unload on enemies. While it's true that lower level enemies eventually fall much faster as you level up, I still feel there needs to be more emphasis on the effects of your weaponry. Again, maybe a trivial complaint, but just wait until you're playing a tough mission, and you've filled a boss with about 300 rounds, he doesn't fall and ends up ending you easily with a blowtorch. You will be annoyed, I promise you.
Complaints aside, this really is a very good game. Hopefully, Ubisoft will release a patch that addresses them. If they do, this game would be elevated from very good to great in my opinion. For as much time as you can put into this game, it's very much worth the $60.00. However, the season pass is being peddled for $40 (really, Ubisoft?). I will be waiting for the season pass price to come down some before considering it.
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video-games_xbox
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The Ultimate Racing/Driving Experience...Hands Down. As a longtime Playstation owner and fan, I had never really experienced the Xbox-exclusive Forza Motorsport series. But after owning Gran Turismo 5 for the Playstation 3, playing it, and trading it in soon after, and then owning Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition, playing it for a few months, and ultimately trading it in as well, I made a big decision.
I decided to purchase an Xbox 360. I was interested in buying and playing Forza Motorsport 4, as well as the recently released Forza Horizon.
Let me say this: Forza Motorsport 4 alone made my purchase of an Xbox 360 more than worthwhile. (If that doesn't sell you on this game I don't what will.)
Gameplay:
Forza 4 features arguably the best simulation-style racing/driving game made to date. Each and every one of the 400+ cars has a distinct feel and driving experience. The sense of speed is great, even with the lowest powered cars in the game. Physics, handling, etc. are all excellent.
My only gripe is that the skill of the AI drivers you compete against in Career/World Tour mode is sorely lacking. 9/10 times once you take the lead in a given race, you can be comfortable knowing that your lead will not be challenged. It seems that the AI drivers drive too conservatively no matter what happens during the race. This means that if you take a risk or two and gain the lead, the AI drivers will not do the same; they will simply maintain their pace and driving line, while you pull away and win by 10+ seconds.
Career/World Tour Mode:
This is the main mode of Forza 4, and it is excellent. You progress through 10 (?) different seasons as a driver, starting out with the lowest class of cars and working your way up through the different divisions. Each seasons requires you to complete a certain number of races. You are offered about 3 different options for each race you must complete, based on the cars you have purchased or won. For example, to complete 1 of the 10 races for a given season, you can choose from an Open B class race, a race specficically for a certain type of B class car (i.e. muscle cars), or a race open to one make/model. This gives you a lot of freedom to use your favorite cars or try an event you might not normally think to try.
In addition to these seasons, at any time you can access an Events list with shows you all of the available races/events open to you based on what's in your garage. There are 290+ events in all, so you will have plenty to do.
As you progress through the Career mode, you gain XP for every event you complete. This XP is based on your performance in the event and your difficulty settings, i.e. how few or many assists you have engaged, Each time you reach a new driver level, you are awarded a choice of cars. Most times you are asked to choose 1 of 5 cars, although sometimes there are only 2 to choose from. This is a nice feature but after a while your garage is filled with cars you will never drive.
You also gain Affinity XP after completing each event. This is how it works:
If you are driving Ford vehicle and it's your first race in this vehicle, the Ford Affinity level is 0. After the event you will gain XP and likely move your Ford Affinity level up to 1. As you complete more events using Ford vehicles, your Affinity for Ford goes up, and at each level you are awarded extra credits to use yo buy cars/upgrades, as well a discount percentage on upgrade parts for Ford vehicles. Once you reach an Affinity level of 5, you receive a 100% discount on upgrade parts for the particular brand of car. This means that you can upgrade any car from that brand for free.
Other features:
There is a mode called Autovista, which is sort of a car museum tour. There are certain cars which you unlock as you progress the game, cars which you can virtually walk around, examine, open the doors/hood/etc., get in. While doing so you are treated to a voice-over describing the history, design, and features of the car.
Other comments:
At this point I have not been able to play online multiplayer; however my best friend has done so and has no complaints. The online game modes/racing are just as enjoyable as single player.
Overall verdict:
Forza Motorsport 4 is the BEST driving/racing experience made to date. You will not be disappointed by it.
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video-games_xbox
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Fine for a rainy day. As a long-time fan of Westerns and good shootin' games, for years I was stuck (tho' the more accurate term would be "blessed") with the PC classic OUTLAWS, from back in the day when the LucasArts logo meant consistent excellence (then, apparently, everything "Lucas" suffered karmic payback for his ham-fisted degradation of his own STAR WARS movies). OUTLAWS was not only a great Western game, it's one of the finest examples of a first person shooter action game ever produced. Epic Spaghetti Western style, rich novelistic and immersive story, exciting gameplay, raucous multiplayer with an active online community and a wealth of available mods, a musical score evoking Ennio Morricone and worth listening to all on its own (which you could do, with two full CDs of playable tracks)...magnificent.
Now, in possession of a gaming console for the first time (an Xbox 360, also magnificent), I'm getting to catch up on a lot of games I couldn't play on PC. The latest is RED DEAD REVOLVER, Rockstar Games' attempt at an epic Spaghetti Western.
First, I want to say the game is a hell of a lot of fun. Its emphasis is on action, and it does action well. Some of the levels are pure adrenalin (one that springs instantly to mind in that context has you engaging hordes of enemy soldiers and cannons as you and a handful of men try to blow up a contested bridge). The weapons are satisfying to use, there's a nice cover mechanic allowing you to snipe the bad guys from behind walls and trees and such, and the enemies have enough AI to usually not seem dim as a bush (like some virtual foes or recent world leaders).
The multiplayer is good fun, with a huge cast of gunslingers and a fair variety of locales to choose from.
The game's graphics are overall very good, especially the environments, though the character designs are largely hideous, even clownish. OUTLAWS was done in a cartoonish style, and was many generations of graphics quality in the past, yet its character designs evoke living beings far more than RED DEAD's do.
The worst thing graphically in the game is the bubbling cartoon gouts of gore that fountain out when you shoot somebody. They look silly, they're not true to the genre, and they all by themselves probably gave the game its M rating. A toggle to turn them off would have been nice.
The music's pretty good, and is largely lifted, I think, from movies. One piece I often heard and enjoyed in town is the theme from the comic Spaghetti Western THEY CALL ME TRINITY. It's still pretty paltry in comparison to the OUTLAWS score, and it's a shame that, choosing to use actual pieces from Western movies, they didn't choose or didn't have available to them better pieces (TRINITY aside). Some MAGNIFICENT SEVEN theme, some THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY, hell even some BONANZA or WILD WILD WEST would have been a lot more effective and a lot more fun.
The voice work is mostly terrible. It's one of those games that sounds like the designers brought in their buddies and relatives to do voices, made even worse by the embarrassing attempts at dialect.
All the above still adds up to a pretty good game, in spite of the flaws. Heck, even with the weaknesses I cite above, the game could have still risen to greatness had it not been for its fatal flaws...
Lack of immersion. You play a bounty hunter named Red for most of the game, and he's carved from Clint-East wood, but aside from a pretty good visual design (which is saying a lot for this game) and a laconic line delivery, you get none of the actual dimensions of an Eastwood character, or really any character at all. Red has no personality, his motivation (vengeance) is overt but muted and lacking any sense of passion or urgency. Part of this is because there are levels where you don't play Red, playing instead one of various sidekick heroes and, in one instance, one of the villains. Playing the others is actually a good deal of fun, and some their levels are among the most enjoyable in the game (allowing for various styles of play that aren't available as Red), but in a short game with a weakly developed protagonist, these levels put the player at even more distance from identifying with Red. Were the game twice as long, and more immersive overall, these levels would have no downside.
Another factor that dilutes immersion is the clunky use of cut-scenes WITHIN action sequences. You'll be blazing away at a pack of scoundrels and suddenly get torn from the flow of battle by a cut scene showing what the developers must have thought a crucial story element within the battle...then you stumble back into the action, get your mojo back a bit, and another blasted cut scene will pop up. The worst level for this is the one in which you play English pistoleer Jack Swift, which could have been a pure adrenalin delight were it not for all the interruptions.
But the worst flaw in the game is what I'll charitably call its story.
You could say RED DEAD REVOLVER is episodic, but it's episodic the way a game of PAC MAN is episodic. The story is barely there, and the game is mostly just a series of levels putting the player in some action set piece in a tightly defined environment (no sprawling wild West to be found here, only small battlegrounds), each ending with a boss fight. As a boy, Red sees his family killed. Then, next level, he's a man and, we soon find out, a bounty hunter, and he lands in the town of Brimstone (population: 8 or so, each citizen possessing a paragraph or so of exposition that you have to click-to-interact over and over to get each line of) where he can shop and get jobs. For a good part of the game, nothing is really said about Red being on any sort of hunt for the folks who did his folks in, he just goes on various unrelated bounty hunts, and there seems to not actually be a story. After a while, though, he gets to start going after outlaws directly connected to his (subtle) mission of vengeance, and we see that there's a narrative of sorts here, but it's a story the way a single black spit is a full spittoon. In other words, it ain't. The story has no tension, Red seems pretty casual about his burning mission of vengeance, and the game plays like an action-filled arcade game. By the time you take down the big boss, you're satisfied not because you've gotten Red's revenge, or because the game really made you hate the villain, but because he was pretty tough to beat and took a few tries.
Still, as I said initially, for what it is, RED DEAD REVOLVER is a lot of fun. Had I paid full price for it, I'd have felt mightily ripped off, but since it's on old Xbox game you can get it for peanuts (I got it for $8), and it's certainly worth buying for cheap or a rental. So if you have an Xbox or Xbox 360 and want a break from WW II, outer space, Tolkien rip-offs, or playing urban street trash, you might want to give it a shot.
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video-games_xbox
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great game if you like BS plays and inconsistency. I really tried to like this game, being that EA chickened out and bought their way out of competition.
The graphics and sound are great in this game, but its ruined by EA's cheating AI. I have never seen a game cheat this much in my life. No matter what play you call the defense always knows what you are calling, even if you think you have them beat on a play, your receiver will purposely drop a wide open pass or better yet the defender turns on his nitrous oxide that was installed in his uniform and cover half the field in 2 seconds to deflect a pass. If you throw a high pass, not to worry the lineman has installed jet packs which allows them to jump 10 feet in the air and deflect or pick off your pass. If the CPU wants you to lose you will lose no matter what you do.
If you QB is going back for a pass and a lineman is 3 feet away from you, even if you press the passing button, your QB will just stand there so he can take a sack. This game is total BS, there is no way to get off passes in heavy pressure becuase the game forces you into a tackle animation.
When you are playing defense, you are better off putting down your controller and clipping your nails or flossing your teeth while the CPU pulls of BS miracle plays on every single down. Remember how I said your receivers will purposely drop wide open passes? Not the CPU receivers, the CPU receivers, regardless of their rating can catch passes in double and triple coverage every time. if they don't catch it, the ball just gets tipped over and over again until he can catch it. Think you stopped a 3rd down conversion? Think again, you will get flagged for pass interference or a face mask penatly. And remember about your QB being forced into a tackle animation? Not the CPU, the CPU can get of 60 yard spirals while he's being hit!
What about the inconsistency you ask? Well let me explain. How is it that one game you can be totally on, but the next game, you can't even complete ONE pass! I'll tell you why. The CPU wants you to lose, so you will drop every pass, fumble every run and get called for every penalty in the book. I was playing a game, and managed to run back a punt and KR for a TD, before my offense even touched the field. Then all of a sudden the CPU turned on its God Mode and every thing went right for the CPU. BS lobs, BS runs and BS calls. I did not complete ONE SINGLE pass in the entire first half. Its not because the CPU was playing good defense, its because my receivers dropped every ball that was thrown to them, wide open or not. I ended up only completing one pass in the entire game, 1 for 20 I think. At this point, I knew I had no chance of winning, so I just started punting the ball on first down to avoid any more frustration. My so called impact RB only got 2 yards on 20 rushes, and my so called impact CB gave up 3 TD passes to a below average receiver. What is the point of playing if you are not even given a chance to win?
Yes you can win games as I have, but it is so inconsistent. If the CPU wants you to lose you will lose, nothing you can do about it.
I see why EA bought the license, after putting out crap like this, they were sure to lose a lot of customers to a game that knows how to develop better AI, instead of this cheating crap. I am taking this game to the store for store credit and I am done with EA for good. EA sucks and so does this game!
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video-games_xbox
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Extremely Easy To Use -- Plug and Play. I had this on my wishlist for christmas 2011. My parents got it for me and I was able to plug it into the USB Port on top of my <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dell-XPS-17L-X17L-3333ELS-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Elemental-Silver/dp/B005KP7BJS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dell XPS 17L X17L-3333ELS 17.3-Inch Laptop (Elemental Silver)</a> ... Windows Immediately saw it and recognized it as a <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-360-Wireless-Gaming-Receiver-for-Windows/dp/B000HZFCT2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows</a>. I didn't even have to put the Driver CD that came with it into my computer.
Once the Power Light came on, I turned on my controller and booted up Skyrim. I went into Gameplay Options in <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim/dp/B004HYIAPM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</a> and used my mouse and keyboard to select "Xbox Controller" check box.
Then I went back to the game and was immediately able to use my Xbox controller, and the controls are already mapped to what they would be if I was playing the Console version of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim/dp/B004HYK956/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</a>.
I have tested it with the following games:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Deus-Ex-Human-Revolution-Augmented-Edition-Download/dp/B005HRZ3N0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Augmented Edition [Download</a>]
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Renegade-Ops-Download/dp/B005OCX22C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Renegade Ops [Download</a>]
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Warhammer-40k-Space-Marine/dp/B003TIVSM4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Warhammer 40k: Space Marine</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Red-Faction-Guerrilla/dp/B0014UGK8G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Red Faction Guerrilla</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Red-Faction-Armageddon/dp/B003P9C6EQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Red Faction Armageddon</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare-3-Download/dp/B0060CSORI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 [Download</a>]
All of these games work perfectly with the xbox controller and I am sure there are many more at this point.
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video-games_xbox
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Great piece of hardware for those who wanted to travel. At first, i heard about it in one of a website news, i always wondered how good can a-screen-in-a-box would be when compared with real wide screen HD TV. i was pessimistic at first, specially about its picture quality and sound quality. And since I'll be continuing my education abroad on autumn this year, and i had experience of how boring living alone abroad when there is no game console nearby during my last overseas study in 2004. This product is a god-sent solution to my problem despite my initial pessimism.
After reading many positive review and words about how awesome the stuff and the after sale service are as an insurance, i decided to take the chance and put my hope on this little box, took the fastest shipping too since this is an expensive goods and not gonna take the chance of getting it lost in the way. it took me only 5 working days till it arrives (supposed to be 4 sadly it's weekend and the custom aren't thrilled about working on weekends to release the stuff) and it's fast considering i live in Indonesia.
After returning from my work, i received the vanguard and gleefully opened its box, inside i found all the stuff i need in a well packed condition. I put them on immediately and plug my ps3 slim on this baby and god, the screen is almost as sharp as my samsung HD TV and the sound was very loud despite its volume level which is set at a factory default of 45, can't imagine if i put them on 80, i bet it's as loud as my computer's 5.1 speaker.
In short, i am really, really satisfied with my purchase since it exceeds my expectation and not too mention people's awe when i play this at starbucks or my campus. i am looking forward to buy some sticker and extra for this baby since it became my favorite now.
Thank you GAEMS for making such wonderful product and solving my gaming needs, you guys are the greatest :D
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video-games_xbox
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Bargain game garners a rental for most. Bargain games sometimes change the criticism of a game in my experiences. A game at [...] bucks can invoke ire and disappointment but the same game at [...] bucks may be good value. Afro Samurai is hitting those bargain prices but honstly I still don't think it garners more than a rental.
Fans of the show will be happy to see the voice talent is there, the style, etc. The graphics, music, and sound are excellent in this game. But this is also a licensed game tie in and we all know that these types of games are rarely great. In the grand scheme of things, Afro Samurai is a 3-d action platformer. Even the best platformers get repetitive and frustrating. It's up to developers to work in additional elements to keep the game fresh. I just don't think Afro managed that. The game ends up being very stale once you cut through the all the style that is slamming you in the face. A good comparison for this game in the newer ranks would be Tron Evolution. Both are predominantly fighting games with prince of Persia esque platform elements and solid graphics, music, and sound. But both games offered all style, little substance.
Lets start with gameplay.
Combat controls:
I have few complaints about the combat controls. For the most part the controls are intuitive and responsive. Entering combos is easy and responsive. Combat and defensive buttons are mapped well. The two elements I did not like was having to depress the L stick to run and the much hated camera.
I am wagering the devs just ran out of buttons and had to get running in. But using the L stick is unreliable and uncomfortable. The camera has been slammed in other reviews but it is a glorified pain. It spins constantly in combat, often leaving you blind. While you can block with R trig while you right it (as one reviewer pointed out) they belittle the fact that not all attacks can be blocked or that the parry function is vital in some cases and exercising a parry correctly is impossible if you cant see the enemy.
The game offers a wide variety of combos for you to cut enemies up but most of the time you just mash buttons as fast as possible. This is fine for regular enemies but in boss fights you can't just mash buttons. You have to be precise. The controls are fine once you get accustomed to them but it's unfortunate the game never "trains" you to prepare for bosses.
For example. You never really need to block much during the base levels but vs bosses you have to block most of the time. Some bosses you can only hit if you use the "parry" command, etc. This creates a disconnect in the levels. Most players will just "mash" their way through the level only to struggle with the boss because the game never "Trained" or "prepared" them for the boss. This is a result of bigger issues discussed later on.
Platform Controls:
Purely awful. It's almost as if the Devs made this a straight combat game and threw in the platforms as a last minute addition. Afro floats around the levels. Turning is not very precise, jumping is inaccurate, wall running is a mess, etc. Add in the wild camera and you are gonna die a lot. The wall iteration is also pretty lame. Afro can only interact with predetermined walls, but the player really has no idea which walls they are until you just go for it.
I got about half way through the game before writing this and frankly I have never felt like I am really in control of Afro. He is just not responsive enough to generate any feeling of fluidity. Worse off many of the environments are difficult to see your path in. This poses a problem because you can't always see where you are supposed to go or where the platform is, etc. Afro acting drunk the whole game doesn't help.
As platformers go this game is pure garbage.
Story: The game is told in an interesting manner, kind of like Kill Bill. Unfortunately there just isn't much of it though. About 75% of this game is combat. Just mindlessly mashing buttons to slay the same bad guys over and over and OVER and OVER. Then after maybe 50 baddies you get a small cut scene for a few seconds, then another 50 bad guys come running.
There really isn't any clear reason for most of the fights either. Enemies just materialize out of nowhere for little reason. In one level you actually have to run around the same paths over and over just to keep triggering more and more of these monotonous mini battles. You never have much of a clue as to why you are doing this especially when the goal of the mission was to end up right where you started!
If the story was better I think the game could have been saved some negative press.
Difficulty. This is a sliding scale. For the most part the game isn't terribly difficult on the basic level crawling. Instead of adding more challenges in the form of puzzles or more difficult enemies, the game just pushes you by throwing more and more of the same bad guys on you at the same time. The game is primarily just a grind of going from one room to another just to fight the same group of 25 bad guys over and over. Worse, some of these baddies take forever to kill. Fighting isn't overly challenging it just takes a while. Its a war of attrition. The the bosses are actually very challenging. Sometimes based on pure challenge, others out of frustration.
I got through about half of the game in my first sitting and I am pretty much bored of it. My hands get tired from just mashing buttons and the platform sections are few and frustratingly bad. Pure and simple, this game gets boring fast. I would love to finish the game to see more of the story but it's just not worth the frustration or time commitment. I would rather read a book or go for a walk.
I find it odd that the game doesn't have a difficulty level. Instead the game has a set level and if you beat the game you can unlock the "hard" difficulty. I can't imagine this will matter to most gamers. The game is so monotonous and repetitive that I can't see most gamers playing it over. I would think an "easy" level for more casual gamers (I have never been a big fan of most action platform games even though I was raised on Mario.). had that Easy level been there I think the more casual gamers like myself would have found the game more enjoyable. But alas as it stands the game is just stubbornly frustrating.
So if you have to play this game and are a bargain gamer like me, pick it up as a rental. You will thank me. I wouldn't recommend spending more than 10 bucks tops on this title.
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video-games_xbox
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Great features but one big negative. So Razer seems to have fixed many of the complaints about the Onza TE with this new controller. The main problem with the Onza was that it had a flimsy and cheap construction. Not this controller. It seems to be made of very high quality components.
So this all sounds great right? Well, not necessarily.
The Razer Onza adjusted the thumbstick sensitivity with mechanical resistance knobs that you turned to make the thumbsticks stiffer or looser.
The Sabertooth uses some kind of digital system that changes the signals that the controller sends to the xbox. You can adjust this on the OLED screen and set it between -10 and 10 on each individual stick. It does NOT change the way the thumbstick works in a physical way. The resistance in the sticks is the same across all sensitivities.
This would be fine but something just seems off with how the thumb sticks work. They just don't feel right. They always seem to be way over sensitive or under sensitive. I mostly play Halo as FPS games goes. I tried everything. Going through all the settings both on the controller AND in-game. Nothing felt good like the Onza or a regular Xbox controller would.
I think the mechanical resistance method of the Onza is just a superior way of manipulating the thumbstick sensitivity. By actually make the thumbstick stiffer it allows you to keep the same sensitivity (or up it if you want) but gives you more control over minute movements of the sticks. If you want to turn around quickly you push it harder, if you want fine aiming you have the extra bit of resistance to make precise movements easier.
The Razer Sabertooth completely removes this feature in favor of something that is fancier but not as functional IMO. I had to go back to the Onza because this controller just didn't feel right.
I wouldn't recommend it over the Onza personally. It's unfortunate too because, besides the new thumbstick system, everything else about this controller is perfect.
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video-games_xbox
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V For Venetica. Although an older title, I found this to be very enjoyable and challenging at the same time. I am a casual gamer, I like to play and have several RPGs that are more sophisticated (Mass Effect, etc.), but this is just a pleasure to play. If you're an experienced Gamer you will find plenty of challenge throughout the game. Enemies become more difficult, and leveling up actually does help during a playing through.
The game itself is lovely, bright colors and lovely sandbox areas are lush and full of greenery. Sewers and underground areas are dark and foreboding. Village, City, and Countryside are distinctive and the different districts of Venice are given their own design. Walk the canals or climb the catwalks high above the city, play on the rooftops and discover secret areas as you tour a make-believe Italy. You play as Scarlet, a village orphan, or so you think, until a devastating attack ruins her small village and it's up to her to discover what is happening.
Game play itself it a little wonky and clunky. Press the button, hit the baddie. Repeat. Camera angle sometimes gets strange, but nothing a flick of the stick can't fix. There are some neat weapons in the game and ones that are specific to particular enemies. It pays to explore. There is a lot of back and forth in the game. Progress through and suddenly that quest you took sometime ago in another area needs to be completed before continuing. Annoying, but also beneficial, you can return for training and items that may not have been available the first time you visited. The game does not hold your hand like a typical RPG, you are given a quest and it's up to you to solve it. That makes for a nice bit of thinking on the players part. Likened to Fable 1 (one of my very favorite games), the game controls are simple to pick up, and once you get the hang of it you'll be bashing bad guys in no time.
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video-games_xbox
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Excellent remake of one of the best N64 games ever made. Back in Feb, 2000(I think that was the release date because I got the original when it first came out)the very last Nintendo 64 game was released and it was called Conkers Bad Fur Day and boy did it make its appearance alright. It was not only the last n64 game that came out but it was also one of the best looking video games ever created at that time(yes it was even better then most Dreamcast games, back in 00')and it was one of the best n64 games that came out since Zelda and Perfect Dark. Well..5 years has passed and now we have conker back and reloaded on a next gen console and I'll say this for the record....This game is excellent(Just as good as the original if you ask me). First off the controls are fan#@$%^#^tastic, they respond so well though I had some trouble with Conkers Bat bashing. The Controlls are solid just like the game. Now one thing that I loved about Bad Fur Day on the N64 was the brilliant yet very child like music(especially the one in Dinosaur themed cave)Rare pulled it off so well and it went with the games inviroment so well. Theres nothing different about this remake(well atleast a little). The same brilliant music is back and you can tell Rare made some changes with the music(adding some different kind of beats which I loved at somepoints but also disliked at other points (like the one with the bull, they took out one of my favortie music parts in the game and replaces it with clapps). But other then that the music is superb.
Ok I always say this about alot of games(this is one of the best looking games ever made/the visuals are superb/yada yada yada)But this time I mean it....Conker Live and Reloaded is without a doulbt in my mind THE BEST LOOKING VIDEO GAME EVER...I say that alot but this time I mean it(forget all the new next gen visuals like ps3 or anyof that crap)but I mean it this time. Conker for the Xbox has got to be the prettiest looking xbox game since Doom 3. Every inviroment, every character, is so detailed and visual beautiful....the game looks and IS simply...beautiful, Rare did a good job taking full advantage of the Xboxs visual power(wait till you see the water, ponds and pools in the game). They are just jaw dropping.
Something that I didn't like was the fact that Rare didn't add that much(I.E no new bosses, new levels or anything like Resident Evil for the Cube)sure there were a few surprises like the new enemies that are chuck full of em' from beginning to end and that surprise in the beginning but c'mon! And what is up with the censoring??!?! Now they censored even more of the words that wern't censored in the original Game on n64 which is just plain sad..Why did Rare do that? I have no Clue but I wish they had a good explination. Another thing that keeps this from getting a perfect 5 was that well..the original bad fur day was just well SHOCKING, everything about the game was just shocking and unexpected(This remake seems like a toned down version with less gore and violens). I mean the blood in this game looks like little chocolate balls! This game isn't as violent or dirty as the original N64 game but it's still a darn good game.
Ok...I don't have xbox live but after a few hours of Dumbot multiplayer and some buddies this games mp is fantastic! I love the level settings and the different types of characters you can choose which is great. The only down fall is the fact that you can only have two different weapons(in the original mp you could choose from a magnum to uzis to a Chainsaw!!!)but other then that the MP is very solid...
The Good
-A great remake
-Superb Music
-Fun little surprises for BFD fans but not that much
-The visuals in this game are just beautiful, amazing, jaw dropping, simply THE BEST LOOKING GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED
-Now instead of a frying pan you use a baseball with nails in em' which is kind of a cool
-Multiplayer is friggin' awesome!!!
-for new players to the conker it should take you a few days to beat bfd(especially seeing how the game doesn't give you a clue on were to go)
The Bad
-Why did they censore even more bad words in this remake!! They even censored words that wern't censored in the original n64 game!!
-They should have added more weapons for one individual for MP
-Some of the music beats were changed and I was abit disspapointed
-They took out the part were you have to get this electric eel to chase you and start the main power back on in the War chapter!!! What's up with that??? Why on earth would Rare not put that portion in this remake???
-Not as violent or as mature as the original BFD....if you ask me but hey this is one mans opinions
Overall Live and Reloaded on the Microsoft Xbox is an excellent game and a very great achievement that Rare has done. Solid Controls, great fun filled action, awesome music and amazing looking visuals with a great multiplayer equals a must own for any Conker fan or anyone whos looking for a good xbox game..Though a bit disspaointed this is over all SOLID...Just as good as the original and is a great entrance to the next gen consoles(though I've heard that Conker Live and Reloaded IS the last Xbox exclusive game ever.....which is sad but atleast we still get Multiplatform games)
I give Conker Live and Reloaded...a
4.7 out of 5
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video-games_xbox
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Don't waste your money, and more importantly your time. Terrible headphones, TERRIBLE customer service. I'm going to review both the headphones and Polk Audio customer service in one go. I've combined the number of stars in this review to reflect that. 'But this is a one star review,' you say, to which I reply, 'Yes, I give the headphones half a star, and customer service half a star.'
Let's rewind to a simpler time: December 2014. I've just gotten an Xbox One and upgraded my PC to be a presentable gaming platform, and now I need some awesome headphones to round it all out. So I Google 'Xbox One headphones' and pick a couple that up front say they'll work with a PC. These just happened to be on sale at GameStop, so I took my birthday money and bought them. Yay me, I made a smart purchase! What could possibly go wrong? So I plug them into the Xbox controller, and there's a quick update, and they work great. Well, they're headphones, anyway. No surround sound, and the audio is...fine. At least I'm not disturbing my sister anymore, and the price was right. Perfect! Okay, now plug them into the PC's mic jack...wait, my PC doesn't have a mic jack. Okay, so go buy a splitter. No big deal. Splitter in hand, plug in the headphones. Speakers work great, but...oh, the mic's not getting picked up. Let's go troubleshooting! It's an hour later, I've tried everything Google told me to do, and nothing worked. Great. Welp, it's late, I'm going to bed. Wake up the next morning, turn on the PC, test the mic for poops, and it works. O...kay. Great. Fast forward to three weeks ago. Apparently the little swivel joint thingy that connects the headband to the cuff is weaker than my grandmother's arthritic knee, because it just SNAPS for no reason. Honestly, I put it on just the exact same way I've done 3000 times before. Okay...well, that sucks. Let's see what customer support can do for me, because that ain't right. Email...wait a week...no response...wait another week...call...answering machine...leave message...wait a week...another email... Okay, so let's go buy some new headphones and NEVER buy from Polk again!
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video-games_xbox
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SO much easier than using the joysticks. <div id="video-block-R1ZLC4JHPEGLM2" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1JUl62lybS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91OL0p3PYaS.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> Anybody else hate how tedious and slow it is to type anything on an Xbox 360 using just the joysticks or d-pad? I find it incredibly annoying, whether Im searching for a video, punching in a password, or writing a message back to friends. It takes too long. Several years ago, I bought my boyfriend a chatpad for his 360, and when I finally got a 360 of my own many years after that, I wished I had a chatpad of my own but did not want to spend more than $20 on one.
Lo and behold, here is EXACTLY what I was looking for and it COSTS LESS than what I paid for my boyfriends similar device.
I love it! While using it, I mentally compared it to the officially-licensed-by-Microsoft one I bought in the past and it held up well.
It makes typing ANYTHING so much easier and quicker.
The buttons are those softer rubbery buttons, as opposed to the flatter, hard plastic buttons that were on the Microsoft one I had. I like these buttons better. To me, they're easier to push and Im less likely to hit the wrong button without realizing it because they're more raised.
So easy to set up. Just plug it in to the bottom of the controller and you're ready to go!
My only con is that I have a white controller and my chatpad is black, while my boyfriend has a black controller with a white chatpad. Neither of us are willing to part with or favorite controller colors, but I certainly don't want to give up my preferred chatpad! Haha.
I received this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest unbiased review.
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video-games_xbox
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really neat device, works really well, my 16 year old loves it. <div id="video-block-R31XL3RYQ7FAOL" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1fUudfcGTS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1QHxFmJ2NS.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> My son loves this addition to his controller, he no longer has to fumble with a large keyboard or using weird keys to enter letters. He did have a difficult time getting the keyboard attached, you have to line it up just right and push really hard. (he actually brought it to me and swore it didn't fit and it took about an hour of trying between him and my 23 year old son to get it on - now he has no trouble - which is why I didn't mark down for it - we are chalking it up to operator error).
then he did have issues with the keys sticking for the first few hours, I assume that was more because his controllers are old, but now they seem to react just perfectly.
Overall he really loves the keyboard.
I do have photos and video to upload, but my account is having a hard time with the posting of videos and photos, I have to wait until my review is live for at least 5 days before i can add the photos and video.
As a mother, grandmother and business owner, I know and understand the true value of an honest review, I, myself, depend on reviews when making purchases and my business only exists thanks to testimonies and reviews from clients. I personally guarantee a fully unbiased review of this product.
DISCLAIMER: I received this item at a promotional discount in return for my honest and unbiased review, inspection, and testing. I received no other compensation for my review and was not required or bound to provide my review or any specific rating. I am in no way connected or related to the seller. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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video-games_xbox
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XBOX Live will rock your world. Like the other guys here I'm also a betatester for XBox Live since early September. I haven't spent much time on games since the days on the Commodore 64 and the Amiga, but when I got the XBOX it was like being taken back to those days of fun. Now with the Live service I've found a brand new level of entertainment and made a few new friends already. XBOX Live allows you to create your own gamertag list where you can save you friends gamertags (your unique ID on the network) and see if they're online or not. If they are you can invite them to your session even if they're playing a different game at the time. Of course you can also block people so they don't see you, and, a feature that not many people know, you can kick players out of your session (it can be useful if someone misbehaves). The Communicator allows you to talk to the other players to exchange strategies or just have a good laugh, and you can decide if the other player can hear you or not. This headset is one of those you wear behind your head, not one of the most comfortable headsets I've used, but not too bad either. The microphone instead is pretty nice, it gives you a flight controller look. The quality of the audio is really high, usually I feel like the people I'm talking to are in the room with me. Another great asset of XBOX Live (and thanks to the console's own hard disk) is that you can download upgrades to the games, so if for examples new levels of a game come up they can be downloaded straight into your XBOX. Right now we are betatesting four games but many more will be available once it goes public (Nov. 15th) and since it's been confirmed that Halo2 will support XBOX Live it goes untold that that alone is a good reason to get it. Only drawback is that you need to have a broadband connection, but thinking again that's not a drawback as it provides for better sound quality and higher gaming speed avoiding lags as much as possible. Few of the titles designed for Live are:
NFL Fever 2003, Project Ego (title might change), Unreal Championship, XIII, Counterstrike, Whacked (one of the betatesters games, I love this one), Dominion, Phantasy Star, Ghost Recon, Mechassault... wow, there's so many, and you can bet that most games from now on will support the online capabilities of the Xbox. Ah, another interesting feature is that you can copy your account data in a memory card and bring it over to your friends' so if they don't have an account you can use yours at their place. One more feature: as you play you get something like a network score for your games which practically tells the network how good you are, and if you like you can do an Optimatch and have the computer assign you to games played by people as good (or as bad) as you.
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video-games_xbox
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The Best PC Controller, Hands Down // BUT SLOWS STARTUP. UPDATE 2/6/2011
I've been using the controller for a few hundred hours now and it still works fine. I've dropped it a few times, tossed it around in my backpack, and even stepped on it -- it still works perfectly! The main con still exists. My motherboard hangs on startup whenever this is plugged in. I tried flashing my motherboard to the newest update, but the problem didn't go away. No software fixes have been released to give the controller the ability to be turned off without taking out the batteries either. I haven't been tracking the battery life, but I believe I am getting over 40 hours. The controller is holding up great!
UPDATE 12/20/10
I've been using the controller for some time now and it still works fine. I have used it for over 40 hours and the battery still seems to be working fine. So, the battery life is as good as advertised, perhaps even better. The controller is in good condition and there is no significant "dead-zone" in the analog sticks and the buttons are just like when they were new. Construction and durability is definitely great as well. I only have one complaint I have noticed though. Whenever I have this controller's receiver plugged into my computer, it boots up slower. After the computer does the POST boot up test and beeps, it hangs and waits about 20 seconds before proceeding. I looked at the LED boot code on my motherboard during this delay and it said the USB controller was being initialized. So, whenever I have this plugged in, it takes the computer a bit longer to start up. This is a huge con for me as I like to have a fast and snappy startup. My solution is just to leave it unplugged until I start using it. I guess the reciever has a large power draw and slows the bootup or maybe my motherboard thinks that the receiver is for a keyboard and tries to set it up to control the computer which doesn't work. I'm not exactly sure why. (For tech people: My computer is self-built and has an EVGA x58 motherboard using AwardBios with an i7 920 processor. Maybe that info will be useful)
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REVIEW:
This controller by far is the best controller for the PC. The ergonomics of the button layout and the precision of the analog sticks and buttons are fantastic. The large number of games with built in 360 controller support/profiles make it a desirable choice, especially when considering the versatility to use the same controller on an Xbox 360 console.
I have tried it on multiple games such as Team Fortress 2, The Last Remnant, Dirt 2, Assassin's Creed, and more. The controller works flawlessly with no input lag or incorrect button presses. I have even used programs such as Xpadder and Dolphin Emulator with the controller to test it out and it performs perfectly. One of the greatest strengths about this controller is that many games have already created profiles for the controller. With my old logitech rumple pad 2, I would have to manually create a profile and would often change buttons around to try and find what feels "right". With this controller, the guesswork is eliminated in most games and all games will recognize the controller. Some games
Another huge positive is the ability to connect multiple controllers to one receiver. I have played multiplayer games with many controllers hooked up to the same receiver and had no trouble. The receiver is able to differentiate the button presses of the different controllers and everything works out smoothly. Also, you can go and hook up these controllers to an xbox 360 after if you need to and they will work just as a regular 360 wireless controller would. (I had some friends bring over their wireless 360 controllers. We paired them to my receiver and then they later took them back home and reconnected them with their 360s.)
You get a pack of two duracell AA batteries, the controller, instruction manuals, drivers CD, and wireless receiver. Unlike what others have said about having to go to Microsoft's website to get the drivers, I merely ran the CD and followed the onscreen instruction and my controller was set up in under 5 minutes. (I am using Windows 7 64 bit). The receiver is able to work through obstacles; currently, mine is behind my wooden computer desk and it still works fine. The software also comes with a widget-like program for the desktop that shows the number of controllers connected and help files. I find it largely useless, however, maybe you will like it.
Many reviewers seem to be complaining about the power draw of the receiver being too high and being unable to boot up with the receiver plugged in. I feel no such problems on my computer and I leave my receiver plugged in 24/7 along with 9 other USB devices such as 2 hard drives, 2 printers, gaming mouse and keyboard, and more. I don't think the power draw from the receiver is anything to be concerned about. However, I do have a semi-powerful power supply (800watts). Also, the green light on the receiver is bright enough to see and not bright enough to disturb your slumber if you sleep in the same room as you computer. Some people complain about a fuse blowing in the receiver. I have not faced any issue like that, and even if it does happen, I can simply purchase a new receiver for about $10 online and pair my controller to the new receiver.
CONS:
The only thing that I can even say is a negative for this amazing controller is a lack of a dedicated off button. From what I understand, on the Xbox, you would hold down the center Xbox button and press turn off controller. On the pc however, this button does not function the same way. Every time I am done playing, I have to manually remove the battery pack and put it back in. This only takes about 15 seconds to do, however, it would be nice if there was a safer and "official" way to do this. Since this version is specifically targeted at PCs, there should be some sort of off button made available. Or the drivers should allow the long press of the xbox button to pull up a menu similar to the 360's, so that the controller can be turned off. Not a big deal.
Also, the use of actual batteries is a bit disappointing. In this age, it would be much more preferable to have a standard rechargeable battery pack. The good thing is that that there are a plethora of cheap 3rd party rechargeable battery packs. The bad news is that they cost money. The controller comes with two duracell batteries which lasted me over the advertised 40 hours.
SLOWS BOOTUP
Final Thoughts:
So, if you're in need of a controller to play games for which the keyboard and mouse just feel awkward, look no further! Your search has ended.
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video-games_xbox
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A perfect game. I have been away from video games for over 10 years and I have just recently been getting back into them and getting a feel for what is currently out there. The aesthetics of Ori and the Blind Forest are what originally drew me in. I was not super excited about platformers when I picked up this game but the sheer beauty of the game convinced me to give it a try. I still was not sure whether it would be immersive enough for me. I have tried playing some other platformers recently, I will not name names, but I found myself getting a bit bored with running and jumping after awhile. However, this game blew me away on every level. I think this is a perfect game. There is not a single aspect of this game that I would change. The only thing that frustrates me about this game, now that I have beat it, is I know I am going to be waiting and waiting for another Ori to come along now. It will probably be a long time before I play a game that I enjoy as much as this one (though I have high hopes for Unravel).
One of the first things anyone will tell you about this game is: it is difficult. Another misconception I had about myself before I started playing this game was: I thought I liked easy games. I do get frustrated fairly easily, and I do not always like being frustrated, so for awhile I was seeking out easy games, or playing the games I did have on the normal difficulty level (my pride would not let me select easy if it was an option though I sometimes secretly wanted to). I was seeking out the kind of game where you can just sort of zone out while you play but playing Ori has totally changed my perspective on difficult games. I realize that having a challenge, and overcoming it, and actually getting good at a game, is so much more rewarding even if there is frustration along the way (and I definitely got frustrated with this game in places, but I would not have had it any other way). I now seek out difficult games and when I am asked to select a difficulty level on a game I go straight for the most difficult setting. So the difficulty level turned out to be just right for me.
I thought the mechanics were amazing. This is not just a "run and jump" game. You develop your character as you go along by gaining ability points and you also find specific new abilities throughout the game so you are constantly learning new skills that come with new mechanics. One thing I particularly liked is: whenever you learn a new skill you are immediately presented with a situation that requires you to use the new skill to get past. I have played games where you learn new skills and never really need to use them, or never need to use them enough to get really good with them, but with this game you will immediately be faced with a challenge that will teach you how to use the new mechanic and by the time you are done you will be good at using it (and you will continue to use it throughout the game). There was not a single mechanic in the game that I did not use, a lot. And the mechanics were just cool in their own right.
I will not go into details about every other aspect of the game but I thought it was all as near to perfect as possible: the story, the visuals, the music, the leveling up system, the enemies, the puzzle solving, and everything else. I should say a word about the puzzle solving. I recently played another really great puzzle platformer: LIMBO. While I loved both games this game is very different from LIMBO. In LIMBO the emphasis is on figuring out the puzzle. Once you figure it out execution is usually pretty easy. In Ori, there is much less emphasis on figuring out the puzzles, and much more emphasis on execution. You will understand how to get past the Ginso tree sequence but it will (probably) take you many tries to acutally get through it. There are a few places where you have to stop and think but it is mostly execution and when you finally do execute perfectly it feels great. I highly, highly recommend this game.
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video-games_xbox
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Killing is fun again. I decided to purchase Dark Messiah not just after seeing the video preview on Amazon, but after watching a PC walkthrough of the game posted on youtube. The game footage looked awesome, and challenging. The person who was playing switched from a sword, to daggers, to a bow. It looked like so much fun. So imagine my disappointment when I got the game home for 360 and was rudely awakened to having to choose only ONE weapon of choice. I chose the archer - bow skill major, minor dagger skill. It took me a while to get over it, however there were certain points in the game where I wished I could wield a sword - particularly the end where I'm fighting Arentir and he summons those damn ghouls that just wouldn't die. This was my major con for this game, that I was locked into mainly one type of weapon. Another con I had was because of faulty design. There is a part in the game where you have to chase the ghoul that has taken a crystal you need. If the ghoul gets too far ahead, you fail and have to redo it. However, as you reach different checkpoints the game auto-saves. Well I had just reached a checkpoint and the ghoul had gotten a bit ahead and I was told that I lost and I selected retry. The problem here being that I had JUST reached the checkpoint, so everytime the game loaded, right away the sreen would then say that I lost. I had to reload from my last major save, which was at the beginning of the chapter. I was not happy.
With the cons out of the way, on to the greatness. This game really excels in the way it allows you the freedom of determining how to dispatch of your enemies. You can choose to pick them off using melee or magic, or you can be creative and pick up a crate or barrel and toss it, knock down a ledge full of barrels, kick the enemy into fire, into a bed of spikes, off a cliff, off the ledge into water...the choices are endless and it just never gets old hearing those stupid orcs saying "stranger must die" before getting kicked off a cliff into the void. Tisk tisk, will they never learn?
The AI in the game is fairly strong. The enemy will block blows with a blade or shield or even try to kick you off a cliff into the void. There is a sneak mode in the game but it only really works well for someone who chooses the "assassin" class. Once the enemy hears you coming, they run toward you trash talking a bit and attempt to thrash you. If you take their life down far enough, they will run off to get backup.
The storyline is straight forward. It is a very linear game, where you have main objectives, and a few "choice" objectives (i.e. rescue Leanna or purge Xana). If you are looking for a game with an in-depth story, this is not the game for you, and you might consider renting in lieu of purchasing. However, if you are looking to spend a few hours kicking orcs off cliffs, stabbing necromancers in the neck, or impaling a zombie with your sword, this is the game for you.
If you are unsure of what the gameplay will be like, check out the walkthrough on youtube.
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video-games_xbox
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Quality over quantity. I held off buying this game because, unfortunately, I let reviewers scare me into thinking it wasn't long enough or didn't short changed the player somehow. So when the price dropped, I said what the hell and got it. I'm glad I did. I was shocked to see how wrong the reviewers got it. In this modern age, working people don't have time to invest 30-40 hours into anything. So the fact that Deus Ex gives you an excellent story in 7-8 is amazing, but that is ONLY if you ignore all the amazing side quests. If, like me, you're here for all those great characters, stories, and action, this game is easily 20-30 hours long. You get back what you put into it.
That isn't to say its perfect. A few puzzles are irritatingly obtuse, the platforming sections aren't polished, and the physics can give you some trouble when you're in a hurry. These are minor issues though, and shouldn't affect your enjoyment too much. The best part of the game for me however are the sidequests. Each is a stand alone story filled with engaging characters and fun missions, that really flesh out the world. From jailbreaks to hunting down a serial killer, the sidequests are varied and always enjoyable.
People have complained that there is only one city in the game, claiming that past games took you more places. While that may be true, they seem to be forgetting how superficial those areas in past games were. Most of the previous game, Human revolution, took place in Detroit and compared to Mankind Divided's Prague, even it was practically empty. Prague is teeming with life, fear, and conflict, with a vast array of stories just waiting to be discovered. Compared to Human Revolution's version of china, where there were only a handful of buildings you could actually go in, most of Prague's doors are open and relevant.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an exercise of quality over quantity. In this day and age where we have become use to 20-30 hour campaigns where half of the content is nothing more than back tracking and fluff, I can see why some people would mistake Deus Ex's sleek, streamlined, all killer no filler, 7-8 hour main story campaign as "too short" or "lacking" but that doesn't change the fact that they're wrong. Because if you want more, its there for you. All you have to do is go and find it. Enjoy the ride. I rate Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as a buy.
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video-games_xbox
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INFO. It's you against the mountain. SSX 3 challenges gamers to drop in and conquer a massive, living mountain rife with ego-crushing challenges and gravity-bending thrills. Sporting an all-new open-ended gameplay structure, gamers are free to ride anywhere gravity takes them, seamlessly boarding from one event to the next as they begin their assault on the mountain's three larger-than-life peaks.
Gamers will need to overcome everything the mountain throws at them-from fierce lightening storms and breathtaking vertical drops to serpentine slope style courses and earth-swallowing avalanches-on their quest for the ultimate adrenaline rush. The mountain presents gamers with a world of open vistas and fresh powder for out of bounds exploration, filled with trick venues, rail parks, racecourses, and half-pipes with new tricks to master and new competitors to leave in the dust.
More than two years in the making, SSX 3 is a massive sequel to SSX and SSX Tricky, the games that started the EA SPORTS BIG brand. Buckle up your bindings as a returning veteran or fresh-faced rookie. Get ready to take on other riders-and the biggest challenge yet-the Mountain itself.
Key Features
Conquer the Mountain: The larger-than-life mountain is your playground, your racetrack and your launch pad. Three massive peaks offer thrilling new opportunities for exploration, competition, and good old-fashioned showboating. Beat all three peaks and you're in for an epic half-hour ride down the face of the entire mountain.
Go Anywhere: No menus. No restrictions. The mountain is an open canvas for gamers to explore-seamlessly ride from event to event, with no load times and no set path for gamers to follow. Hundreds of collectables, secrets, and shortcuts await.
More Tricks: Gamers will have access to a massive arsenal of new Uber Tricks and special moves-from handplants to board presses. A new three-tiered Uber Trick system now includes one-footed Ubers, rail-based tricks and signature moves for each character. A new combo system allows for nearly endless combos that can run the length of the entire mountain.
Characters: Four new characters join six returning favorites. Mac, Elise, Zoe, Moby, Psymon, and Kaori are back, and they're joined by the crazy Swede Viggo, mountain man Nate, 12 year-old phenom Griff, and the talented and sexy Allegra.
Rich, Natural Graphics: A team lead by an Oscar-nominated visual effects artist has created the most immersive, stunning visual SSX experience to date. Capturing moments of both sublime scenic beauty and heart-pounding natural disaster, SSX 3 blends subtle environmental effects like glistening snow and swaying trees with the trademark SSX graphic flash and attitude.
Soundtrack: An adrenaline-charged soundtrack delivers bleeding-edge tracks and tomorrow's hits from artists including the X-Ecutioners, Felix Da Housecat, Queens of the Stone Age, N.E.R.D., and many more.
Big Challenges: Gamers will find 150 unique hidden challenges, designed to test their speed, skill and style as they explore untamed backcountry areas.
Customization and Rewards: Win BIG and you'll be rewarded. SSX 3 let's players level up character abilities, win killer gear, stock their trophy room and buy mp3s for personal play lists and much, much more.
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video-games_xbox
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Great game but comes with flaws. If you have watched trailer for this game, we can all agree this game looks awesome. Since I like open world games, I decided to give this one a shot. After finishing the game on normal difficulty and finishing about 90% of the total missions (~20-25 hrs) below is what I thought about the game.
PROS.
POWERS ARE AWESOME: Just as you may remember from the trailers, you get access to a variety of weapons. These include but are not limited to claws, hammer hands, a whip lass, sweet a$$ blade etc. Along with weapons you also get access to defensive powers such as shields and cocoons and special powers such as thermal and infection visions and morphing capability. Best part here is most of these powers are upgradable giving this game an RPG type characteristics and promoting the player to complete more missions and get more points
ACCESS TO WEAPONS AND VEHICLES: Other than powers described above, you also have access to military weapons such as rifles and rocket launchers and vehicles such as armored tank and fighter chopper. Like your powers, you can also upgrade your skills to use these weapons and vehicles effectively.
CUTSCENES ARE SPECTACULAR: I can't say much without spoiling here, but cutscenes are nicely designed and are fun to watch.
DECENT VARIETY IN MISSIONS: Different missions will require you to use different powers and skills differently making them interesting. Majority (~60%) of the story missions are well designed and will keep you engaged.
GREAT FREE ROAMING EXPERIENCE: I love how you can roam around the town and massacre enemies with different powers. For such experience, I can't think of any other game.
CONS.
STORY IS RATHER WEAK: You get to see most of the story by completing main missions and remainder of the story by absorbing targeted individuals. While it has some shocking suspense, the story is portrayed rather abruptly and if you don't absorb some people at the right time, you can be really confused what the hell is going on.
ABSORBING ENEMIES IS PAIN IN THE A$$: At first it feels cool, but after 2 hours, it becomes horribly redundant. The major way you can replenish your energy is by absorbing enemies and by the time you finish the game, you will hate absorbing the enemies over and over and over again. Also for some reason, every time you die, it only replenish half of your health, the rest you have to gain by absorbing a single enemy at a time.
ENEMIES LACK VARIETY: Your enemies are military personals and vehicles; infected humans and superhumans. While it is initially fun massacring them, after about 4-6 hours, it becomes terribly boring face them over and over and over again.
BOSSES ARE HORRIBLE: This is my biggest complain. They give you so many awesome powers; however, other than one particular boss, I found rest of the boss fights really dull. A lot of these bosses will have you fight the same enemies over and over again. JUST TERRIBLE.
SOME MISSIONS ARE JUST HORRIBLE: Later on in the game, there are few missions that will make this experience very miserable. A good example is you have to destroy certain machines in later on mission. These machines are in an area covered with deadly gas and under strict military surveillance. It took me a long while just to distinguish these machines from other structures in the area and afterwards it took me a while to destroy them thanks to aiming system in this game. There are other missions similar to this that will get you confused.
THE LOCK ON SYSTEM IN POORLY DESIGNED: Using different military vehicles is great; however, it is difficult to lock on certain targets with these vehicles thanks to poor lock on system in this game. Right analogue stick is used for both changing targets and changing camera view making lock on very difficult. A good example is the mission I described in the above con.
THE GAME HAS GLITCHES: It truly breaks my heart to say this, but I encountered terrible glitches. You are capable of using one offensive and one defensive power at the same time. I am fighting the final boss and what happens?? I can't first use any of them. I die. Afterwards I can only use one power (either offensive or defensive) at a time. And when I use defensive power, I can't use the offensive one. I tried turning on/off system, restarting from previous check point, nothing fixed the glitch. While I was still able to finish the game with this glitch, it made things terribly difficult. JUST TERRIBLE.
All and all for what this game allows you to do (powers and vehicles), it is a great game; however, its flaws prevents it from being enjoyable at times. I think they had great concept in mind, but failed to execute it properly. However, if you are bored and feel like just free roaming in an open world and massacring enemies, THIS IS THE GAME FOR YOU.
As for Prototype vs Infamous, INFAMOUS ALL THE WAY. Why? Check out my Infamous review on Amazon.
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video-games_xbox
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save your money. I'm a proud owner of a 360. I raved to everyone about that machine. It was fantastic. It did everything a gaming machine should and bunch of apps were available that continued to add value to the thing. The XBox One is nothing like that. It's difficult to navigate through menus at least at first. I'm getting used to them, but I still don't like the user interface and don't think I ever will. At the current time, there are no real killer apps for this. It does have a ton of apps that you've already seen and gimmicky user interface features that just get in the way, but nothing that stands out as "ooohh thats freakin cool." The 500Gig HD on this seems large enough to last a while, until you realize your game discs will install on the HD. Four games in your library will eat up 2/3 of the drive space you started with. And the games I have crash... constantly. Unity... Master Chief Collection... Sunset Overdrive ( freaking cool game though )... All have crashed and/or locked up the system during play, usually happens when the center button is pressed on the controller during play. I've also had the system startup "locked" or "frozen". (Solved by unplugging the power cord from the back) However... the games look amazing. The controller is "ight." I don't care for the clicking sound that the Dpad makes, but its an Xbox controller so it, by default, is pretty good.
Overall, I regret this purchase. My son actually regrets asking for it. He loves the AC series, however "the game crashes and glitches make unity suck." ( his words ) The network hack at Christmas sucked the fun out the machine as well. So Nintendo still rocks though... The U is the most used system in the house and has been for the last year. All the games for that thing put smiles on my kid's faces this holiday season. I should have bought a few games on Steam and few more U titles and skipped the One. I could have saved a few hundred at Christmas. Less than 3 weeks after Christmas and the Xbox One already has a layer of dust
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video-games_xbox
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Offline Review....... See Update Scroll down. After a 2 full weeks with Madden,(Demo and Rented Retail) I can finally share my experience.
Pro's:
Gameplay: Fun Factor, Finally. Every game is competitive and close, but of course certain teams you open up on(dominate) later on in the game or vice versa. Passing was finally focused on. Feels good to see that the WR is respected as far as route running and that the LB can't intercept every pass in the passing lane especially when beaten by the WR. Basically I can finally eat up the zone defense.
Presentation: commentary during games. Not always right, but it just has that football sound. They do say your the Superbowl champions once you win. ( more on this, but as a con later)
Music: Had to seperate this because I had to review this part alone, but I'm so glad that this game was just focused on Football sounds. Yes I appreciate underground music as well as known artists in games, but sometimes, just let a game be a game.
IE: (yes players bend and limbs twist up at times, but realistic stuff happens now)ex. Quick toss to the right to my HB, my RG falls in my open lane after blocking the DT, I'm thinking I'm seeing daylight still, and boom, my guy stumbles and trips and I'm down. Thats what I'm talking about. Previous Maddens, that didn't happen.
Connected Carrers Coach mode: I like that you can still play for like 32 seasons. It is only one team controlled, but honestly I'm not the one that needs to control 20 teams at once. Only time I controlled more than one, which was only 2, I did that to get the losing team with the number one draft pick so I could make a trade to my main team.(It was my created player lol.) I also liked to switch teams to be a different GM so I could build up other teams, but I know you can't do that on this one, no biggie for me.
Connected Player mode: I like the the game face aspect and that whatever position you create, you have to earn your way up to the depth chart. If anything, I could only see myself doing offense positions, mainly the QB because you will get the most action, well RB too, but didn't try that yet.
Crowd: Its louder, they react better especially to your performance.
Cons:
REPLAY VALUE: As much as I love the fun factor the gameplay gives as well as the games being competitive,and that I can pass now(that's all I really wanted), the lack of presentation gets stale. Twitter feeds idea was cute but its scripted. It doesn't really focus on what you do, I mean its cool to have league news and maybe the first few tweets may mention your performance of your team in coach mode, and player in player mode, when starting, but it doesn't bulid up or seem flexible thru seasons as you progress. No mention of you defending your title, nothing talking about rivarlies or what teams are dominating. Just no real feeling to keep me interested. Yes I can try to go for records and HOF stuff, but other Maddens you can do that too. Madden 06 I believe had the news feeds for each local team as well. That would've been cool.
And where is all the tickers, the buildup of playoffs, highlights about your game and other games. I'm so glad I rented it. Got my Madden itch, itched. I'm sure I will come back later on, but then again, NBA 2k13 will be here next month.
Overall, yes I gave it a 4 because of the Pro's but what's lacking is that football completeness of a game. I tried that 2k5 for the first time this year, and you add that presentation in M13, then without hesitation, I would've bought the game. I like feeling like I'm in my own football world.
Online for sports games, fun to play quick matches, thats it. The reviews I read were very entertaining to say the least, and I do agree that offline Co-op shouldn't have been taken out. Not that I need it, but as an offline player when it comes to sports games, I feel creators of games should respect that everyone doesn't play online all the time and that you should still keep online and offline balanced.
Peace and thanks for reading
-------- Sept 10th Update-------
Well actually I went ahead and bought the game. I couldn't get past the gameplay and how much fun it actually is. I was more on the side of better gameplay and passing might I add, and M13 has it, so why wouldn't I buy it. I realized I was being too nit picky on a "video game" and yes it was because of the lack of presentation as far as highlights like key plays at half time, the twitter feed truly focusing on your Coach or player career mode, the commentary on your season as well as your progression of each seasons you play in connectted careers. I still leave my rating a 4 because of those things I just mentioned, but the game has replay value. What I learned within the last few days since my last review, the news feeds/twitter feeds actually can focus on your team. I didn't know you just have to look at the "my stories" section under the news feeds area. It shows top stories, my stories, and something else but I can't remember, so if you want to just enjoy reading twitter feeds about your career, just look at the my stories. Sort of like the old madden that had "local news" for your team. I think that was M06.
So do I get lost in my own football world, on a scale of 1-10, I will give it a 4 to which my rating is still 4 overall. Twitter feeds are scripted and no matter what you do during the season, you may get that one about your previous performance, but that is it. Still no true presentation of rivarly games, or division battles, or the commentary doing simple things like comparing your last game performance. Even in year 2015, playing the Giants, they still talked about the last year's NFC game against my 49ers. So that shows you how NOt in-tune the presentation is. Even with all that, the game was still worth a purchase.
Oh when playing as a player in connected careers, and WANT to start right away, choose the team that has that position at need, that way your not riding the bench for several seasons, unless you actually do the practices and pre season and earn your XP and thats the other reason why I like M13, it involves you as far as a reason to keep playing it, so that crashes that replay value comment I made earlier. Thanks for reading again
----UPDATE SEPT 14TH---
EA has added in player editing, Fantansy Draft and also a feature that would allow you to start right away in your connected career of choice no matter what your rating is.
None of those features really bothered me when they were gone but I guess its cool to have them. Still having fun...
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video-games_xbox
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If you loved DRAGON AGE, you'll probably hate DARK SOULS. I'm a fan of podcasts, and on one recent-ish Joystiq podcast Griffin McElroy said this was his game of the year. I'm a big fan of the McElroy brothers (MBMBAM!), but it's safe to say that I don't have Griffin's taste in video games.
One other reviewer here, who gave the game 1 star yet still praised it, summed it well: You'll either love it (5 star) or hate it (1 star). "Fun"-wise, I gave it 1 star, mostly because I've never been so frustrated so soon in a game, especially a highly-rated game. I tend to do a lot of research before I buy a game, because I don't want to waste my time and energy, and I usually find something to enjoy in the games I play.
Overall, it's probably a 2 star game, for what I like in games (Amazon's 2 star rating supposedly means "I don't like it."). I'm sure the maps are huge with lots of exploration options. The graphics are decent enough, though I wasn't blown away by the first level. There's lots of character customizing. The real buzz-kill is the sound design. Every step you take sounds like you're walking on corn flakes. After walking through water, it sounds like you have a couple of sloshing buckets for feet. Sometimes when you get hit, your character makes a lame whimpering sound.
It's ridiculously difficult. You die constantly. To some extent, it's part of the game, as the story line revolves around everyone being dead? or something like that. But it's too much. I died so many times in the opening level, and waited for it to reload, and fought the same baddies, over and over. It was just tedious. I'm sure part of it is learning the finicky and unforgiving melee.
Maybe I should spend more time trying to figure it out. But, life's too short, and I've got a stack of games I know I'll like. It doesn't make sure to force myself to play this. It feels like work.
Luckily, I was able to find it at Red Box, and I'd recommend spending two dollars and an hour or two before biting the full price. Who knows? Maybe you'll love it.
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video-games_xbox
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Any Halo fan will enjoy this game. I was a bit too young for the first go-around of this game, so I was very happy to hear that there was a re-mastered version of it. I mainly bought this game because of the story, I had played Halo 2-4, Halo Wars, and ODST (my personal favorite) multiple times. I love the Halo 3 and 4 multiplayer, but I didn't purchase this game for the multiplayer, so this review is for the campaign alone.
When I was about the age of 8-9 I played the first Combat Evolved at one of my parent's friend's house one night and I distinctly remember playing that game, it was so much fun to run around as a super human in green armor and shoot the s*** out of aliens with a vastly overpowered assault rifle. I remember running across a futuristic looking bridge hurling grenades at enemies on the other side, and dying over and over. Come to find out on my play through on this game that I was playing 'Assault on the Control Room.'
The mechanics seem to be the very same as they were in the original, and from what I understand the only thing that 343 changed was in the enhanced graphics. Which ohh man, they are stunning. In my opinion, the chief has never looked better than in this game. The campaign is solid, but some of the levels are easy to get lost in, and that really is my only complaint to this game. It is also a bit predictable at times and even easy. Playing through on Legendary was actually surprisingly easy for me. Those would be the only cons I would have about the game, it was a tad bit too easy, and some of the level designs (most notably in forerunner structures where the same rooms and hallways are used over and over).
It was a hard choice between a 4/5 and 5/5, but I chose the 5/5 mainly because this was specifically made for Halo fans, and Halo fans will love it. They will love the pure nostalgia of playing through levels that are familiar but now distant and clearing entire rooms with one clip on the Assault Rifle. I have only played Halo: CE once and I have had these awesome moments of looking back on my first play through, so I know everyone else will, too.
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video-games_xbox
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MUST READ. Great system. There are some aspects to the system that are positive, and others that requires some improvements:
Pros:
1) The Xbox has established itself an extremely successful and competitive gaming platform for over a decade.
2) Microsoft. Their revenue in 2013 was just under 78 billion dollars. They are a financially stable company who is backing the Xbox 110%. One can feel confidence when investing in the Xbox and it's ecosystem. Though the PS4 has been successful thus far, Sony as a company is financially unstable. The future of Sony is not secure.
3) The Xbox One is an all in "one" multimedia device. It can take control of your cable box, TV, Receiver, and aside from being a gaming console, it is a DVD & Bluray player as well. When you say, "Xbox off" it can turn off all other devices as well (TV, Receiver, Cable Box). You can provide verbal commands to pause and play your movies or shows, even to lower or raise the volume.
4) For 360 owners, the Xbox One's controller is significantly better in design and function.
5) The Xbox One runs two Operating systems at one time, so real time multitasking is available and fairly responsive. This means when playing a game, you can switch from the game to Netflix or CableTV immediately without shutting down your game. The game remains paused until your return.
6) Presently, Microsoft offers a Titanfall Xbox One Bundle at $499. This means you get a $59 game for free. Titanfall is worth that.
7) Microsoft is committed to continually improving the Xbox One. They listen to consumer feedback, as was demonstrated repeatedly in 2013 with significant changes to their policies and adding the Headset to the Xbox One console at no additional cost. Microsoft has stated that what is currently existing and available on the console is "just the beginning". As for the Xbox 360, improvements and updates were and are constant, always refreshing the experience and certainly making it better. One can expect the same positive experience from the Xbox One. They have created an Xbox One without the Kenict for $399. This matches the price of the PS4 creating more appeal towards those with a lower budget.
Cons:
1) don't charge a mandatory Xbox live gold membership fee in order for the user to have access to all the systems cool features like Netflix and Vudu. No other device requires an additional monthly fee to use services in which the user already pays premiums for. This is truly absurd and foolish on Microsoft's part. It's poor PR, and makes them look too aggressive. *****Phil Spencer, the new head of Xbox just reversed this policy. You can now use Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO GO, and etc without the need of Gold Membership. As stated in the pros, Xbox is starting to listen to customer feedback.
2) make available promotions or incentives to gamers for purchases of digital games over that of discs. Most retailers offer incentives for preordering a disc copy, why not then incentives for preordering a digital copy on Xbox Live? Why is digital not available for preorder?
****There are now gold discounts, but still no preorder incentives for digital downloads from xbox.
3) make controllers WITH rechargeable batteries. To sell a single rechargeable battery pack for $25 is ridiculous when Sony and Nintendo have rechargeable controllers included with their consoles at no extra cost. This is an example of one of Microsoft's subtle attempts to charge the consumer more without them potentially realizing it, i.e. Sony's PS4 is $400 with rechargeable batteries (controller) included. Microsoft's console is $500 plus the play and charge kit for $25, so $525 in total. It's expensive to use regular AA batteries, so most consumers will buy a rechargeable battery pack at some point. So it appears to be a back door to generate millions of dollars more.
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video-games_xbox
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quite possibly the best controller ever made. if you're one of the people who bought an original xbox, you all remember the "duke" controller that it launched with. the size and discomfort of this huge controller led to so much negative feedback that microsoft was forced to redesign it. in light of doing so, microsoft designed one of the best controllers on the market, known as the controller S. not wanting to repeat history, its obvious that microsoft carefully designed the new controller for their latest console, the xbox 360. to say that the wireless xbox 360 controller is the best i've used is an understatement.
the first thing many gamers will notice is how incredibly light the controller is. in fact, the wireless is LIGHTER than the controller S for the original xbox, even with the battery pack on. the controller is also very comfortable to hold. with the combination of the above, gamers will be able to keep their eyes on the game, and not constantly have to look down at the controller to locate buttons. after some gaming, you almost forget you're even using a controller.
if you've used a controller S before, you'll feel right at home with the xbox 360 wireless. this is essentially the same controller. there are still the 2 analog sticks, the d-pad, the 2 triggers, and of course, the A-X-Y-B buttons. the black and white buttons have both been removed, being replaced by the shoulder bumper buttons, which are on top of the controller. the back and start button are now beside the brand new "guide" button. the guide button is easily the coolest innnovation on the new controller. players can turn on the console with a single push of the button, among many other features. all of the buttons and both analog sticks feel much more responsive and workable (for lack of a better term) vs. the controller S.
the ring of light around the controller is also very cool, because while you're playing, one of the 4 segments lights up to designate players 1-4. before launch, i was confused as to how the wireless controllers would work with no adapters, this is where the console comes in. with one press of a button on the xbox 360, the console automatically designates which controller will be players 1-4.
performance wise, this controller is flawless. while microsoft says that the controller's range is 30 feet, i tested at >40ft and the controller still worked flawlessly. while i really don't think anyone will be playing any games from 30 feet away, its nice to know that the signal is so strong. the vibration is excellent on the controller, its strength is also adjustable.
another nice thing for the controller is that the headset port is now on the bottom of the controller, so the wire for it can remain out of your way. if you've played on xbox live with the headset, you know how this could become frustrating.
the battery life is supposebly 40 hours, but depending on how strong you have the vibration set and how far away you are playing, chances are you won't get nearly as many hours between charging.
my only gripes are that the placement of the shoulder buttons can occasionally be mistaken for the triggers, and vice versa. this can be annoying in games like PGR3, where the trigger is brake, and the shoulder button is used to change the view, and the wrong press of one can lead to frustration. however, once you use the controller more, you get used to them and they shouldn't be a problem.
all in all, this the best controller to launch with a console ever. i strongly recommend picking up some of these, along with some extra battery packs, or the play and charge kits, which allow you to continue using the controller while the console charges it.
9.5/10
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video-games_xbox
|
Perfect for using PC Keyboard/Mouse with Xbox. What a fantastic device! I wanted to use my PC keyboard and trackball to play games with my son on his Xbox 360. The CronusMax did exactly that and then some. Their X-Aim program allows you to adjust your mouse input for any game. This is VITAL because every xbox game translates data from the controller sticks slightly different. Some have bigger deadzones, some are more sensitive. Some accelerate faster than others. If you use another keyboard/mouse solution, you can control your Xbox 360, but you have no way to control HOW your mouse behaves in-game, so your experience will vary wildly across games.
With Cronus and X-Aim you can customize your mouse for ANY game, and there are already tons of pre-made game profiles you can download, along with scripts that unlock even more potential.
Installation was easy, though the documentation was kind of hard to track down on Cronus forum. They had a link or two that claimed to lead to instructions for setting up the keyboard/mouse input, but the links were misdirecting. (I'll provide solid links below.) It worked first time with zero headaches. Just follow the instructions in the links below, and you /should/ be fine.
The instructions for the more advanced uses of the Cronus can be a little daunting. You can get into script building etc. I was intimidated, and I build my own PCs and am usually really comfortable with tech. But it's more than easy enough to get it going for basic use, and then you can wade into the more advanced stuff at your own pace.
Fine tuning the trackball to MW3 was tricky, but nothing an hour of experimenting couldn't take care of. The turning point for me was when I realized I needed to increase the sensitivity in-game. Once I did that, getting X-Aim to emulate true PC mouse movements was much easier.
Now don't get the wrong idea. Cronus is amazing, but it doesn't turn your console into a PC. Consoles controllers simply don't generate the fine data that a mouse or trackball does. Even with the finest of tuning, your mouse isn't going to feel quite as smooth as on your PC. But you'll still be in infinitely better shape than ANY player using a controller.
PROS:
Worked right out of the box
Go keyboard/mouse on a console and DOMINATE
Highly customizable
Can be programmed to do almost anything you can think of
Free automatic upgrade to the next version of the software
CONS:
Can be intimidating out of the box
Online instructions are present but hard to find
Summary: Get it. It's worth it and tons of fun.
Online Documentation:
Keyboard/Mouse setup: http://controllermax.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141515
Software to download: http://controllermax.com/downloads/
User manual: http://controllermax.com/manual/
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video-games_xbox
|
Great game but. First off I am going to say I have always been a GT5 Fan. Secondly this game is right up there with it. I only have a couple of complaints with this game that makes me still think GT5 is a better simulation racing game.
I am going to start with my complaints.
1. You receive way to much credits for winning a race. I have almost everything on what I would call expert and receive about 135% extra credit. This makes buying new cars and parts to easy.
2. Let's go to the parts problem. When you win with certain car manufactures you after a while your parts can become free. This makes it to easy to upgrade. I basically hated this after I didn't even finish half of the class F events with my VW Fox.
3. Leveling up and receiving a free car for it is nice but leveling up is to easy.
4. I do not like the Career/World Mode. It is to brief and once you finish one event you cannot go and try the other ones under it without going to event mode.
Here are my Pro's.
1. Great game play. I like how fluent the game seems. The graphic are not as good as GT5 but this is a video game not real life driving and if you are able to see the graphics that good then you need to drive faster.
2. Options of Cars. I love all the cars that I know for the most part and having many to choose from.
3. Racing with a better A.I. I wouldn't call this intellegant A.I. but they are a little agressive and I have been blocked multiple times. I do like the fact that if you car is better and YOU are a better driver that it shows unlike most games with intellegant A.I. (Shift 2, need for speed(s)).
4. A big one for a car guy like me is being able to tune and tune alot. Not as in-depth as GT5 but you can notice the adjustments you made alot more the GT5.
5. Parts that you can buy/be given to you.
Overall this is a great buy and the first time I have played any Forza. I must admit they did a great job and have brought upon a true competetor to GT5 keep up the good work.
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video-games_xbox
|
Best Racing Game out there, PERIOD. First off, let me say that I've been a Grand Turismo fan since the beginning on Playstation. I bought GT5 and the DFGT wheel when they first came out and they are collecting dust now. After playing Forza 4 over a relatives house, I went out and purchased a Xbox 360, my own copy of Forza 4 and the must have Fanatec CSR wheel setup. This is absolutely the best racing game out to date period! This just blows any Grand Turismo game or any other racing game off the track! The graphics are just plain awesome and second to no other racing game. The sound efx for the cars' engine/exhaust are real and not simulated like in GT5. An American v8, sounds like a real v8 and not some import with a coffee can exhaust note. You get a huge inventory of cars which all are customizable to your choice. With GT5 you get 1000 or so cars, half of which are skylines and honda civics. Then half of the 1000 or so cars, you can't even customize and not all of them have the actual cockpit view. Not so with Forza 4. Every car has the actual cockpit of the real life car and you can customize every single car in Forza 4. It has far more tuning options than GT5 also. From being able to change the diameter and width of wheels and tires, ignition and fuel systems, brakes, suspension, engine displacement, drivetrain, and engine aspiration as well. You even get to choose the type of supercharger (roots, twin screw or centrifugal) for your car! You even can install twin turbos on you V8 muscle car. You also actually get dlc car packs as well. I've had GT5 since it came out (Nov 2010 I believe) and there's been maybe 2 dlc car packs. Forza has more than 5 times that out now. Forza also has all of the great racing venues from all over the world and they look fantastic! There's so much content to Forza 4 that you'll be playing it for months non stop. I have over 30 ps3 games and only one xbox 360 game. My PS3 hasn't been on since I got Forza 4. If you're looking for the real racing experience, get a Xbox 360, Forza 4 and the Fanatec CSR Wheel setup. It's worth every penny bar none!
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video-games_xbox
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