Split (3)

train · 322k rows

text stringlengths 503 33.4k	labels stringclasses 23 values
More fun than you can fit in your Confederate Hat. I am an ardent Fallout fan, and Fallout 3 was like a Godsend to the series, making it far more immersive than I anticipated that it would. I had purchased and played The Pitt/Operation: Anchorage DLC when it became available on DVD and loved that game as well as it adds to the existing mythology of the game so very well. This is the 2nd DLC (that's Downloadable Content to those of you not in the know), basically an expansion pack to the root Fallout 3 game. Some Spoilers ahead! Consider yourself warned! This second DLC (Broken Steel) pack takes you on a no holds barred battle to wipe out the remnants of the Enclave still populating the DC Wasteland area. Despite President Eden's demise and the terrible pounding that the Enclave took at the end of the first game, they're still around in large numbers and are determined to take control of the DC area by force. Broken Steel allows you to pick up where the end of Fallout 3 left off by allowing that you were put in coma by the effects of Project Purity's activation rather than dying. Actually in my game I just sent Fawkes in since he's completely immune to radiation, but the end result is the same. The Brotherhood of Steel now has cleaned up much of the tidal basin area's water of radiation, although strangely my geiger counter still registers small amounts of the stuff (usually around 4 rads worth), but that's a minor quibble. Now the Brotherhood is spearheading the effort to cleanse the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave once and for all. And Liberty Prime is still in play! Hoo-ah! BS will take you through never before seen parts of DC's underground, specifically the transit system used by politicians before the war, and ultimately to the Enclave home base at what I'm assuming to be the Fallout universe's mirror of Andrews AFB. Players are given several new weapons along the way including the Tri-Beam Laser Rifle and the Tesla cannon. This latter gun is so powerful that it can actually destroy Vertibirds with one shot, and it's a heckuva lot of fun to do so! In addition to this the level cap is increased from 20 to 30, which gives one the potential to really max out all of their various stats and several attributes, as well as getting a few of those Perks you always wanted but never could get. Lookout Point takes the player to a secluded national park area of the same name along the coast of Maryland, an area which was not directly hit by any nukes during the war but has sank into a radioactive quagmire despite this. The locals can only be described as a melding of the characters from The Hills Have Eyes and Deliverance. They're stout, burly, and pretty hard to kill. Other areas you get to visit include sunken ships, a lighthouse (which you can even reactivate), a boardwalk/carnival area, the Calvert Mansion (which is based upon a real historic structure), and an old US prison camp for housing Chinese spies. This portion of the DLC was definitely the superior in my opinion and provides ample opportunity to crank up your exp and get some levels. LP is unusual among the DLC packs because it allows a fully open and explorable terrain like the base game, and while the map itself is considerably smaller than the Capital Wasteland there is still plenty to look around at. New weapons are also added including basic Axes, double-barreled shotguns, a Civil War repeating rifle (basically a 10mm variant of the Lincoln Repeater from the first game), bio grenades, and a handheld focused energy pistol which can turn enemies into piles of dust like the Laser Rifle. The shotgun was something of a disappointment because while it's very powerful you have to be practically standing next to your target in order to inflict damage. And if you're dealing with Swamp Folk' you want to whack em' from as far away as you can. And even then the thing isn't guaranteed to kill your target in one blast, which really bites because lesser weapons can do far more damage with a simple aimed shot at the head. Because the terrain is so sprawling and open PL is a veritable playground for Sniper-minded folks, and if you have a Gauss Rifle or Reservists Rifle you'll have a field day with it here. One can nail targets from far away and it's gratifying to watch any survivors run around in panic, unsure of where the attack is coming from. The plot also expands upon the storyline of some Chinese spies' exploits in the weeks before the war and players are given an option to complete these missions and net the rewards that come with it (piles of ammunition, stimpacks, and a pretty cool rifle). At the end of the day though, PL and BS are mostly the same old stuff from the original game. What players need are totally new environments to explore (which PL does contribute for the most part). I found myself beginning to groan audibly when I started to see the same overused graphics for sewer/tunnel system in place over and over again, as well as largely the same advertisements. Again, PL mitigates this substantially, but once you've cleared out the missions there's simply little reason to stay around except to harvest Punga fruit and ammo/weapons to sell back to vendors. And at that point in the storyline I already had piles of money and had no need to do so. I rate the game at 4 1/2 stars (Amazon still only allows for full number reviews and not fractions). Grab yourself a Confederate Hat just for the fun of it. It gives +1 to Perception (which helps with sniping and enemy locating) and looks great to boot. If you're a Fallout 3 fan you'll definitely enjoy what this DLC has to offer, although like me you'll probably start wanting to see some radically different stuff in the near future.	video-games_xbox
Great Gaming Headset if you have the money. I'll edit this more as I continue to test this with all of my devices. Quality Hands down, this is one of the best headsets I've ever purchased in terms of quality manufacturing. The headband is sound and doesn't feel flimsy or like it's going to break. The earpieces are well cushioned and sit around the ear instead of on them which helps for extended play times. I've always had issues with tight headsets squishing my ears, but these feel VERY comfortable. Also, the mesh fabric allows for easier breathability versus leather based ear cups, but this also means that you can have background noise bleed-through. The mixamp is sturdy and moves well though a little bit of work to configure correctly with all the many cables you can attach to it. The boom mic is removable when you don't need to chat, but can also fold up and out of the way if you want to leave it attached. The mic itself is made of flexible rubberlike silicon for durability and stays in position without issues for me. Sound The sound quality is definitely above par from standard headsets. I'm not sure yet about any surround sound abilities as I've only tested these on my Xbox One which has a stereo adapter, but the sound quality is excellent and the ability to hear the voices even with background music is well defined. Ease of Use This headset does NOT require the mixamp, but if you do a lot of gaming while chatting it's essential. The mixamp allows you to manually control volume levels between game audio and chat audio, but if that doesn't matter for you, the mixamp is easily bypassed. For basic chat and gameplay this device is compatible with all consoles out of the box except the Xbox One. The Xbox One does require the stereo adapter for chat audio, but you can use them for regular game audio out of your sound system or TV with the included regular audio cable. The mixamp is a little complicated with the many cables and plugs that you can use and need to use for power, audio, chat audio, additional sound output, and other various configurations, but comes with detailed instructions that are easy to follow if you read before you try and think you know what you are doing. Overall With all that said, and still more device testing to go through, these headphones are well worth the cost for serious gamers. If you are more the audiophile you might look more at a Bose or Beats headset for better quality of sound to hear all your bass beats, but for gaming quality and playability these are hands down the best I've ever tried. If you are looking for a headset and are willing to shell out the extra cash for these, get them and I'm sure you won't regret it. If you are the more budget conscious or looking for a decent headset without the frills and bells or whistles, you may want to put these on your wishlist and look at some of the Turtle Beach models that have the same type of mesh earcups, but are much more wallet friendly.	video-games_xbox
Halo Rewound, Multiplayer Fast Paced. Halo is a love or hate first person shooter series, new titles in the franchise have been spawning left and pawing into new genres. Halo has left me with mixed feelings, not being the biggest fan of the third title I still remained hopelessly interested, and thankfully ODST was right around the corner. With that said, Halo: ODST is the perfect mixture of all things good in the halo universe and more specifically the mechanics of the original title Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo: ODST has received some negative buzz due to it being an expansion that still dawns the next gen 60$ price tag. Other negativity stems from this as it is quite a short game to run through, though total completion could take a little longer. ODST is an acronym for orbital drop shock trooper, ODST are a few steps below the beloved Spartans (think mechanized war machine), and a bit above the standard marine in the series. ODST display their colors boldly all identifiable by their unique armor. I won't sit here and explained the story to you, as the load up screen makes sure to do this for those not up to date. The basic premise is this, scattered in the underbelly of New Mombasa you (the rookie) must search for his squad after being separated from a near cataclysmic event in the beginning. Those who've played Halo 2 can instantly recognize what the event is, the odst on the hand weren't so lucky. You'll be fighting your way through the enemy infested city, from night city recons to bridge bombing tower scaling madness. Game play at first would suggest a reskin of Halo 3's campaign mode, as you'll be continue to fight the aliens (known as the covenant) in a battle royal to flush them out. Don't be fooled, much of the weaponry has been altered. Better suiting an odst one will find a silenced smg, enhanced with a scope, instead of a burst firing battle rifle. Health packs have returned, you can still take cover for a quick charge for stamina, but you'll need health if you've been plucked one too many times. Odst also make use of the old and new. The old being the weapons we've already familiarized ourselves with in past games: assault rifle, spiker, mauler, plasma pistol, fuel rod gun/cannon, beam rifle, sniper rifle, covenant carbine, rocket launcher, and the holy grail Spartan laser so on so forth. The new is much shorter in comparison but it will bring back many memories of the original title once more, and this would be the auto mag a pistol capable of one shot kills (if aimed at the head). Another weapon I thought I'd save to mention is the resurrection of the brute plasma rifle only seen briefly in the Halo 2 campaign. Similar to the original plasma rifle it has a maroon tone and is capable of a much higher rate of fire. Odst also like there explosives, all four grenade types from the third are available: frag, plasma, spike, and the elusive fire. The game can start a little slow as enemies seem a tad bit more ferocious then in previous titles. After figuring out the all new visor night vision mode that outlines darkened areas and figuring out how to mark objectives on ones map the game from that point on becomes a breeze (which the above isn't very difficult). You'll be trying to reach objects that have some relativity in the disappearance of your squad. By reaching them and accessing them a cinema will approach you and you'll find yourself in a radically different situation as another member of your team as the mystery slowly reveals. Missions can grant vehicles, other odst, and/or marines. After each mission ends you'll be taken back to the rookie and back into the descent of darkness searching for the next clue. After the completion of the campaign if you haven't tried out cooperative campaign now's your chance. Worth of note, only two players per xbox 360 (this pertains to fire fight as well). With an internet connection and an account for xbox live (gold) you can take to the battles with up to four players. If achievements aren't your thing and don't wish to pursue the campaign after initial completion, fire fight awaits you. Fire fight is much like Gears of War's horde mode, in which it readies you quickly for intensified battles against wave after wave of enemies coming in all shapes and sizes. To do so one must really know the in and outs of the location as well as trust their friends in time of need. After enough waves of enemies have been annihilated, things go from going too good to testing your headshots as ammo will be scarce fast. What I mean by this is simple, `skulls' serve as means to raise the difficulty bar. Each skull has a title and once turned on they come into effect, from something meager like `enemies will always try to evade your attack' to something just plain dreadful `weapons now have less ammo'. This is a great way to involve all members playing as team work goes from assisting to covering. Firefight maps are based off each campaign level; different maps have different enemy arrangements and armories to access. Grading is done by points; every enemy taken down adds to you and your teams overall score. Stylized eliminations will grant you more points (headshots, melee, grenade sticks, multi kills etc). Use whatever means are necessary to stay alive and boost your score, as lives may be added but never are they unlimited. You and your team share lives, use them wisely. Firefight is also available to those wanting to lone wolf it, but doing so alone just doesn't encompass what the mode was made for, and is none the less more frustrating upon higher rounds. Special weapons like the missile pod (which I previously forgot to mention) and human/alien turret can be dismounted from there stands and used in third person they are powerful, but will slow you down a bit. Missile pods are great for locking onto enemy vehicles, the dismounted can serve as a walking confetti maker. If you don't have these kinds of weapons and see a vehicle try taking out the turrets on them, deal enough damage they'll explode, or sometimes it's just best to hide. Odst excels in the music department, Martin o'Donnell has stepped up his game once more, Halo 3 (though again not the ultimate fan of the title) had outstanding music, o'Donnell felt it was time to use a real orchestra. With all his techniques set in place I thought I've seen the peak of his ability and the end of his ingenuity, oh how wrong I was. Opting away from the standard Halo themes we've come to know and have heard from synth to orchestration, he has readily set up a new sonic field in the Halo franchise. Bittersweet pianos, rainy jazz, hot burstbucker guitar solos, everything and more. He continues to make his ambient work flow, and his militant drum and rubbery bass as cohesive as ever. The game is musically a bit better then sat its graphics, but graphically it's pretty pleasurable. It's essentially an updated Halo 3 graphically and thankfully as it was beginning to age. What that means is you'll continue seeing Halo 3's phenomenal lighting and unique metallic finish, but at the same time a fuzz filter will be current helping to textures'. This probably sounds so long, so thankfully the last part should be the easiest to say. Odst includes a second disc with much more value then given credit for. The second disc is Halo 3's multiplayer (aside from campaign co-op which is a given) in its entirety, this means xbox live or not you have an archive of multiplayer maps, modes, and innovative features. You can film any match you've played, take pictures of whatever you'd like, and a map editor (not a map maker) is included as well. With a connection to xbox live is near limitless for gaming opportunity. Though I much preferred the maps of Halo 2, many new maps have renewed my interest in the online. Ranks in different modes can be acquired, ranked and player matches keep track of all your stats from every kill to every medal simply by creating an account on [...]. If I sound like a rabid fanboy, I apologize, this is probably my younger cousins most played game at my house so it's only natural I know a good amount about these games by this point in time. Time for some of this dislikes I suppose. Odst is a great game, problem is even with the value of multiplayer weighted it still isn't worth the 60$. Especially to the many who've already purchased/downloaded all the map packs, it can be a kick in the teeth. A monopoly is at foot here too, three of the maps are exclusive at the moment, without the second disc of odst some of Halo's online modes just aren't possible (thanks to the requirement of those three maps). So what it boils down to is a short but sweet campaign, that honestly isn't all too appealing to play afterwards (even with a friend a few runs go by and boredom begins to set in just looking at the screen). Firefight though fun surely can't be the only thing left can it? Well it is and shouldn't take the fall for it all, but with that remaining it's probably all you're going to be using your first disc for. Some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy; a romance intertwined to a war story could have worked out if emotions weren't so stale. Trailing the city as the rookie is pretty fun at first, but later on may be a breaker for those just wanting to complete the campaign. Red, red, red, tons of red, it's not that I'm unappreciative of the color, just when everything from doors to your characters HUD (head up display) glows red it is a bit of an annoyance. Especially since (as noted by many others) you'll be taking damage a lot, which is when the ugly shade makes itself most apparent. Fan of retcons? Me neither, the addition to story elements otherwise never existent in the other games makes for a sloppy translation. If you are a fan of Halo you will no doubt buy this and enjoy it, fan of Halo 1-3 doesn't matter has enough things from each for everybody. This is a really great game, I recommend to buy it used or for a price less then 40$. Odst tried out a new cast of characters, a new tale in the run, and offered up the great firefight mode, can't be all bad.	video-games_xbox
Beware defective bundles. I suppose it should have been a warning sign that the game was selling at 30% off less than a month after release. However, I ordered it anyway. Thankfully Amazon has a reasonably easy return/replacement process because the first bundle I received had both a broken guitar and a defective game disc. The guitar: My initial guitar had a broken strum bar. It could have been abused during shipping, but I think some of it is due to poor design. The guitar just feels somewhat chintzy overall, and from what I could tell the strum bar is attached by two plastic pins rather than the metal rods used in my older guitars. The replacement guitar is okay so far. The fret buttons and whammy bar are what you'd expect from a Guitar Hero guitar, and the start (i.e. star power) button is nice and large. The strum bar is clicky which I don't care for personally, though I know many like it. It's at least not as loudly clacky as my old Les Paul, but I'd rather the near silence of my Rock Band 2 Strat. The game disc: Since I have many other guitars, I tried to at least play the game. I always install to the hard drive on my XBox, so I started with that. About halfway through the install I received an unreadable disc error. Trying again obtained the same result. I did a bit of online research and found that this is apparently a common problem with the game discs in the guitar bundle. I was able to play a bit without installing the game, but it tended to lock up when loading songs. Apparently there are some bundles with good discs, however, as my replacement installed without a hitch and is playing fine. The gameplay: Well, it's Guitar Hero. I'm a bit disappointed with the song selections. I preferred the variety in GH5 over this, which leans more to the hard rock/heavy metal end of the spectrum. The quest mode adds a bit of gameplay variety, but on the whole there's not much new here. Overall, it's a decent Guitar Hero game. Not great, but not bad either. I'll play it until I earn whatever achievements are within my ability, then probably never play it again.	video-games_xbox
OK, an honest review: Not too bad, but still needs improvement; Playoff system is BROKEN. After vowing not to buy another EA Sports Football game after I completed Madden/NCAA 2003, I finally broke down and bought both of them. After finally becoming bored with the 2003 editions I simulated my final seasons and so I could start fresh with a brand new game. I thought long and hard before I got this game. I remembered how much 2003 frustrated me, and never wanted to go through that again. Before I bought this game I rented it to see if it was even worth considering. I played a few exhibition games and was pretty satisfied with the visual and game play improvement over 2003. After returning the game I finally decided to buy it three weeks later. Before I continue I must mention that there is a playoff bug in Madden that has been there since 2003. It involves the Divisional matchups in the postseason. The game bases the Divisional matchups on team record and not playoff seeding. This may not always be the same if it so happens that a divisional winner has a worse record than the 5th or 6th seed playoff team. I sent my findings to EA, they responded saying that they will send it to the Dev team, but no word it is fixed or will be fixed. I recently got a response from a rather rude rep telling me to "hope it does not appear in next year's version" So much for great customer service and support. Coincidently the above scenario just occured in real life with the Steelers and Pats winning their wildcard games last weekend. I simulated the entire NFL season in madden to match the actual regular season and wild card results. And not suprisingly, Madden has the Pats playing the Colts and the Steelers playing the Broncos in the Divisional playoffs; when in reality, the Pats are playing the Broncos and the Steelers are playing the Colts. In simulating the season, I also discovered that there is another playoff error that does not follow the NFL tiebreaking procedures. I discovered that Madden gave Tampa Bay the #2 seed and 1st round bye over Chicago, despite the fact that Tampa Bay lost to the Bears in the regular season. In actuality, the Bears have the #2 seed. Madden is wrong here as well. so much for being "In the game" Anyway back to the game. Graphics/Visuals ===================== Graphically the game is much improved over 2003, the players move better, look better and the stadiums look better as well. In addition to this, all teams have all there uniforms that they have used. The Dolphins have their orange uniforms as well do the Bears. The Jaguars and Eagles also have their black uniforms. Thank you EA! The 49ers also have an all gold uniform that I never seen. Although limited, tou can also create custom uniform for you team in Franchise mode, but be warned, once you create a uniform, you cannot delete it. It doesn't really cause any problems, because you don't have to ever use them, but if your playing Franchise, your team news will constantly say that your team has "new Threads" that will be unveiled. I haven't found out a way to delete the custom uniforms, other than starting a brand new franchise. I probably will just deal with it knowing never to do that again when I switch teams. Another thing I must mention about the custom uniform is that you CANNOT put the team logo on the helmet which is pretty lame. So if you have the Falcons and create a custom uni, the closest you can get to the helmet is creating a black helmet. Madden added new player animations and also fan animations, adding to the realism of the game. This is a welcome addition to a rather bland 2003 in this department. Sound ======================= Sound-wise the game is improved over 2003, another cool feature they added is that you can now play your custom CD tracks from your XBOX hard drive in the game. While I don't think they will play during an actual game, they do play on the game menu's and even during training camp drills. The hits sound good as do the crowd, getting more true to life. Michaels and Madden have some new dialog, but for the most part they are carried over from past games, and still repeat themselves. Controls ========================= Like NCAA for some reason EA decided to almost completely revamp the button assignments, if you are used to past Maddens then this will certainly frustrate you to no end until you get used to the new layout, a good thing though is that you can change it back to past Madden button assignments. The game also seems a lot more fluid and have more control this time around, In 2003, players sometimes seemed to run like they had lead in their shoes, and other times, they moved like they were on ice. 2006 improved this by making the game faster with more fluid and precise movements. New Features ========================= Madden added quite a few new features in this game, some I will never play probably, and others that are very fun in my opinion. Superstar mode seems to be the main feature that EA focused on this year. Basically you become an NFL player and control his life on and off the field, from getting haircuts to starring in movies. Eh, OK, not my type of thing, but may be very fun for someone who is into the role playing aspect of this. For me I just want to play football with some interaction with my players, but to my Superstar seems to go a little overboard. It may be something I mess around with later, but not right now. QB Vision / Precision Passing =============================== QB Vision is basically a Love it or Hate it aspect. For me I am in the "Love it" group. This adds another depth of realism to passing that rewards you for making right decisions and punishes you for making bad ones just like in real life. The better vision your QB has (ie, Peyton Manning, Brett Farve), the wider his "field of vision" will be. New QB's or QB's with not so good vision, will have a small field of vision. As long as you throw to a receiver in your field of vision, you can then place the pass where you want it. If you throw out of the vision cone, then you cannot place it and worse yet your defender can pick it off. Defenders can use the field of vision to there advantage as well, if they see you are keying on the same receiver too much, then they can act accordingly. QB Vision can be turned off if you like. But I plan to leave it on. Another cool thing about this is as you QB gets better in franchise mode his field of vision becomes wider. Improved Franchise Mode ======================== Since this is where I will spend most of my Madden time, this is the most important part of the game to me. First off, the Franchise mode incorporates training camp drills. At the start of every season you can choose one player to participate in the training camp drills from past Maddens, depending on how well you do you get points to add to your player's attributes. Very cool. Another cool thing is that Madden now has national and local newspapers for every team in the league basically reporting on the team's current news. In addition to this, there is also a weekly radio show by Tony Bruno that talks about the current weeks events, complete with callers from current NFL coaches, fans, and he even has trivia questions. While it doesn't take long for this to repeat itself, it does help keep you involved. If you don't pay too much attention to it, then you probably won't even notice. You are also involved with your players. You can check each player to see their moral and if they are happy. For stat buffs like myself you can get nearly every bit of information you want about a particular player, like College attended, draft year, Round picked, number picked etc. Hopefully this will also apply to players drafted from NCAA 06. Like 2004 and 2005 (which I never played) you can set your ticket prices, food prices etc. But I won't mess with that too much. Another cool thing is that you can relocate your team to another city, redesign your stadium, rename your team etc. Another thing I probably won't mess with but a pretty cool feature. Also as mentioned before you can create new custom uniforms for you team, but this is very limited in the colors you can choose from and the fact that you can't put your teams logo on the new helmet. Another frustrating thing is that once you create a custom uni, it is there forever, even if you never use it; there is no way to delete it. Over all this game is an improvement over 2003. Not a bad game at all, and the actual game play is pretty fun. But Madden still has a ways to go to match the excellence of NCAA Football 2006. The come back AI is still there, and those not quite as bad as 2003, there are still BS catches in which the ball seems to be magenetically attracted to the CPU's hands changing directions in mid air to end up end it's hand's rather than yours. Your defenders still dive in the wrong direction while trying to make a tackle. The CPU still moves your defenders across the line to get enchroment calls, when they reall need free yardage. I must also mention that the punting game seems to have actually declined from 2003. Your teammates will NEVER block for you on a punt return. TWO of your guys will let ONE person from the other team right through and knock the bejesus out of you. If you are leading or if its a close game, this will almost always cause a fumble which they will pick up and run into the endzone. I HATE this part of the game. I don't know what EA was thinking here. Also the playoff bug that I mentioned earlier is very frustrating, they say its "in the game", but how could they miss that? Granted it doesn't occur every time, but the QA Department should have caught this and sent it back to Development. Since this bug also appears in 2003, that means it has not been caught by them for over 4 years...unacceptable. This and other minor bugs and flaws cause me not to be able to give this game a better rating. While I am fairly satisfied with this game, I will still not resort to buying EA's football games every year. In my case 2006 is a big improvement over 2003, but for those who have 2005, I highly doubt there is much improvement to warrant a brand new purchase. The only way I would get 2007 is if they fix the playoff bug and tie together the other loose ends in this game.	video-games_xbox
Madden 13 MEGA Review (14,000 words. With every EA Sports Madden NFL release I struggle to bring myself to write a review. Why you ask? Because it causes multiple voices in my head to scream various things at me all at the same time. Hate it! Love it! Abolish it! Worship it! Crap on it! Take it out to dinner! Tell it to make you a sandwich then kick it to the curb! and so on. It seems as if every year, we do this dance, the Madden shuffle if you will. Features we love are gone, new features we like (and some we don't) are introduced, and countless bugs and baffling ommissions enrage gamers and cause them to take to the forums demanding a pound of flesh for their troubles. It's almost more than one reviewer can handle if they hope to provide an all encompassing release day offering, and that's why my review is coming at you weeks after the launch. Sure, I got my copy of Madden NFL 13 two weeks early just like the reviewers at most other outlets, but I really wanted to give the EA team ample time to release patches and answer some of my questions before sharing this mammoth review with you. With that in mind, I reached out to Connected Careers creator, Josh Looman, and asked him a slew of questions. Most of his responses made complete sense, while one in particular came across as formulated hogwash to cover up the likelihood that EA Sports ideally wants us playing this game online, and could care less about our offline enjoyment even if there is a large population of gamers who are ultimately only interested in playing alone. I will get into some of the specific responses I obtained from Josh when it makes sense to share them with you throughout this Madden 13 MEGA review of mine. WARNING: There's a reason why I called this a MEGA Review, and it's not because this year's cover features Calvin "Megatron" Johnson. No, it's because this review is big. I'm talking Vince Wilfork big! So if you really (and I mean really) want to know every in and out of Madden 13 before you fork out the cash to buy it, then this is the no holds barred review you've been waiting for. But before you dig in I recommend make a quick run to the fridge and get yourself some food and drink reserves. Graphics & Presentation About as Good as Gets this Generation, Just Don't Look to the Sidelines (This review is 14,000 words in total so if you want to read it all you can go to: [...]	video-games_xbox
Outstanding. I bought this pretty late in the game as this came out a couple years ago. I'm assuming very few will read my review and that's cool. I just feel compelled to write one in the event there are people out there like me who read through a rack of bad reviews and are on the fence. Bottom line. This game is outstanding! I loved the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, but got a little burned out. I mean... After you've essentially mastered the game, the next iteration feels like simply "going through the motions". There's nothing left to learn, nothing new. Just new songs to play and new achievements to go for. For me, the fun was in learning how to be good at the game. After the first, that was over. What interested me in this was the new layout of the guitar. This was legit genius! We GH and RB veterans could work on perfecting our chops once again. I dug through A LOT of negative reviews. The guitar broke after a couple days, syncing the guitar was a challenge, the songs suck, etc. 1: The guitar is just as durable and awesome as all previous. 2: I've been jamming on the reg for a week now and it's working just fine. 3: Syncing the guitar to the X1 took about 8 seconds and is the same process as syncing a controller. 4: The songs are pretty cool. There are a lot I'd never heard before, but I like them. All good there. The only thing I can think of is that the other manufacturer got their friends and family together to write ill reviews in hopes of creating more sales of their game. : ) I mean... RB is not new. It's the same 5-button controller. I just don't feel like taking one pass through that game and calling it good. There's nothing new there. Nothing fresh. I was on the fence with this game due to the negative reviews. I almost gave up and so glad that I hung in there and went for it. I feel like I did when I got my hands on the first one. The magic is back!!!!	video-games_xbox
Fails to top the original in any way. The only thing that I didn't like about the original was that it was too short. This game is longer, but the levels aren't nearly as fun as they used to be. They no longer have some of the best weapons either, such as the M1A1 Carbine. The graphics are about the same as the original though. Another thing I loved about the original was that you never felt like you were fighting the war all by yourself, as you always went into battle with lots of allies. In Call of Duty: Finest Hour, you rarely find yourself fighting alongside more than five other troops (except in the first mission). My biggest complaint about this game is the AI. In Medal of Honor: Frontline, the enemy troops will kick a thrown grenade back at you or sprint for cover. In Finest Hour, the enemy troops just go prone and cover their heads, even when the grenade lands only a few inches away from them. There was one time where I threw a grenade through a window of a house with an enemy soldier standing at the front door. He had the right idea, as this time he actually tried to find cover. He decided that the house was the best protection from a grenade, so he ran inside and met his doom. Right idea, wrong time. As for the missions themselves, they are all devided up into sections: The Russian campaign, the British campaign, and the American campaign. The Russian campaign, being the first, is the easiest. However, this campaign is made up largely of tank battles, which are very frustrating and not really much fun. Your tank is difficult to control and the missions are the same thing every time. You just drive around in your tank, mowing down endless waves of infantry with a machine gun and destroying enemy tanks with two good hits from your big gun. It is also very difficult to spot anti-tank units hiding in bombed out buildings. I often found myself scanning every building for up to three minutes searching for an elusive tank killer sitting in a window, taking pot shots at me every few seconds. The British campaign, which is definitely my favorate one, has interesting mission objectives as you play as a member as a British special forces team, but it's only a few missions long. The American campaign is the final set of missions. Most of these missions have you following a bunch of tanks around a city, so they can blow up some important buildings. Fuuuuun... Then you go down into the sewers and root out the rest of the enemy hideouts. All of the environments in the American campaign are also very dull. The sky is gray, the buildings are gray, the enemys uniforms are gray... The last mission isn't nearly passable as an amazing finish either. You trudgh across a VERY long bridge, take out lots of MG42 nests along the way. Then you go to the top of a tower, get on a AA gun and shoot down some Stukas. The end. I found myself shouting "Thats it?!" when the credits started rolling. There isn't really any reason to play through the game again once you beat it. As for multiplayer... there is XBOX Live and system link, but no split screen. For those of you who have XBOX Live, have fun. If not, you might as well just rent the game. You can finish it in a few days. If you want a lasting WWII FPS, get the original for PC. That one has free online play anyway.	video-games_xbox
Coming from a Halo hater this is a great finale to the trilogy. The Good: It's another Halo, Top notch production values, lots of new modes among other things to keep the series fresh, multiplayer is better than ever, story delivers The Bad: It's another Halo...Stupid friendly AI, Theater doesn't work right, ending is disappointing, the Flood are back, and they mutate First thing is first...I don't have XBL gold so I couldn't try out the multiplayer but I'm scoring this game as if I did and I couldn't stop playing it and lost sleep. Well here it is Halo 3. More over hyped then Kennedy's assassination. I also wanna make this clear: I'm NOT a Halo fan boy! A lot of these reviews here are bogus because every fan boy just blurts "ZOMG!!1231!!!32! b3ST game tehh eVEr!!!!!" just because it's Halo. Well let's start with the story. That's the most important thing here and yes it's delivers and answers all your questions. I won't tell you because I don't want this review canned so just play the game. The ending though is disappointing. Not as disappointing as Halo 2 but it just wasn't good enough. There are a lot of twists and surprises. The story doesn't really pick up until about half way though so just be patient. The graphics are awesome. I don't care if you think it's Halo 2 HD they are REALLY good. Full HDR lighting and high-resolution textures with bump mapping. The audio is great and everything you love about Halo is here. There is all the old stuff here plus a lot of new stuff. Tons actually. First are two best features...Forge and Theater. While theater lets you record 16 seconds of you playing it doesn't work like you think. You choose your map and you press go and it records and your done. You can save screenshots and upload which is still cool, and Forge is well...a map editor. There are also new weapons such as the gravity hammer, a Spiker which is like the Needler but spikes instead, there are new vehicles new everything. I mainly hated most was the friendly AI. It's so retarded its nuts! While someone's driving and your shooting you have to constantly do both at the same time. There will be two Wraiths on your ass and you're trying to get a bead while your stupid friendly is trying to drive up a mountain side. It gets so irritating sometimes. What I mostly liked about Halo 3 is the campaign is more varied. Not one place is repeated twice. The gameplay is always mixed up as well between, indoor, outdoor, and vehicular combat. The indoor combat sucks though because it's too cramped and it's easy to get killed. The outdoor battles are what's awesome. The places are HUGE with giant Scarabs you have to kill while tons of people are fighting around you. That's basically it really. It has a great achievement system and it isn't extremely difficult to unlock them all. Everyone's playing Halo 3 so I won't tell you to play it. The Good: It's another Halo, Top notch production values, lots of new modes among other things to keep the series fresh, multiplayer is better than ever, story delivers	video-games_xbox
Terrible. First off, I had been under the impression that EAsports monopoly over the NFL ended this year. I was planning on getting a different company's NFL game for the 2012 season as EA continues to turn out shoddy products. But, apparently, EA continues to hold the reins... and so I was suckered in to one of the worst installments yet. Here are a few of the worst features: Wham, no franchise mode. Career mode is no substitute and here is why: Player mode: this is NOT superstar mode of the old versions. You are not focusing on your player during the play a you did in superstar. If you are a receiver, you are often right out of the frame and cant see the routes you're running. I tired to enter my OWN LAST NAME!!!: "Russell" and madden rejected this name as invalid over and over and over. What?!?!?! Coach Mode: Terrible. This is not GM mode. your role is not to run the team with same efficiency and power as GM mode. Many great features are missing. You are the coach. SO you cant fire the coach and keep running the team with new personnel etc... YOU CANNOT CREATE PLAYERS IN COACH MODE. you can only create one player in player mode. I used to flush out my team with my buddies. Can't do it anymore. You can create them for exhibition games but cannot bring into this crappy Coach mode. Everything is hard to find (stats/roster moves etc) and not intuitive. FREEZING!!! I have never had a 360 game that consistently freezes. MAdden 13 is a freezefest that has ruined my coach mode season over and over. Often when I am making a depth chart substitution mid game. I'd say madden has frozen up 1 out of every 4 games for me. This most recent freeze prompted me to write this review. My first ever review. That is how much I hate this game and how angry I am about having been ripped off by EA once again. Commentary. SHUT UP PHIL SIMMS!!! terrible commentary scripting. "UPPER BODY INJURY" Upper body injury.... upper body injury... every injury that pops up during play, Phil is there to offer his expert opinion on how it is obviously an upper body injury. although maybe this a very realistic Phil Simms commentary script. Honestly, how does he keep getting work much less being a premier broadcaster??? Graphics do look pretty sweet though... Until EA has competition (which again, I really thought was this year...) they are gonna keep making this crap with no regard to how it is received by the customer.	video-games_xbox
Pary Problems Solved, and the How to's of Haymakers. Look, most of these reviews are good, you all love the game, and have fun playing it, but you don't understand the true concept of the fistic arts! Let me qualify myself before I begin, I have never played Fight Night 2004, (I am however a big fan of KO Kings 2001 for ps2, and mt punch out, i hold the record for tko ing tyson in the first round with 25 seconds left) nor have i practiced FN Round 2 for ages I just picked this title up 3 weeks ago, I am 49-0 I hold 3 belts, Light Heavyweight, Middleweight, and the Unified Belt for 2 weight classes. I have never restarted my season or reset the game before a loss to the CPU and I play on "Hard". I am an actual amature boxer for recreation, not as good as my boxer in the game though. So... Let's begin the tutilage. The first opponents you fight are plugs! They eat haymakers like crazy and will often just stand there as you dish out the pain. A good fight will last three rounds at most. Then when you start moving up the ladder you'll notice how much the AI's strategy changes from punching bag to haymaking demons. All you have to do with these tougher opponents is sit back wait for them to unleash a haymaker, lean out of the way and counter. Always Always keep your finger on the "lean" trigger. you should be leaning after every series of punches you throw. (In a fight I will effectively counter 90-100% of the time. Depending on how long the fight is, i will effectively counter at least 20-50 times. you should be countering this much to be hurting the other boxer and wearing him down) Also, tough opponents will pick off your punches very easily such as the hook or uppercut, nevermind the winding haymaker! So lead with the JAB! A classic if not universal boxing basic! Its not hard to figure out that YOU WILL NOT WIN A TOE-TO-TOE FIGHT WITH THE CPU!!!!! They string together combos using haymakers so easily only Anakin Skywalker has the ability to see them coming! But if you are ALWAYS on the defensive you will avoid most of them and be able to counter the barage with a bevy of cross/hook combos. (i find this to be highly effective along with the cross/jab/jab combo)I know it is hard to wait for the CPU to make the first move, but is nessecary in order to win. Also, never use a haymaker in the first couple of rounds, at least untill you score two or three knock downs. The CPU will parry them and leave you wide open for a Super Duper Haymaker Combo. The degree to which your fighter gets tired due to a parry varries according to what punch you throw. So for the person who reviewed this as some kind of defect does not know what he's talking about. If the CPU parrys a jab it will be difficult for them to catch you off guard and take advantage of your mistake. Converesly if you get a haymaker parried it takes a good second of recovery time. Be ready if you miss a haymaker. In the early rounds the CPU is too fast and rested to fall for the old sneaky haymaker, so you MUST jab him to death for a few rounds. Stand back, and stick and move!!!! It is not fun, i must admit, but come round four, when you've got three knock downs and the CPU is just standing there waiting for the punishment, it gets good. you can have your way with them by simply paying attention. The Haymaker is easily recognizable before it is even close to being landed, so avoid it. If you're good enough, and I'm not that good at parrying, you can parry it and unload a haymaker of your own. So lets review: 1) JAB JAB CROSS in the first few rounds. mixing in a counter combo 2) NO HAYMAKERS!! no haymakers untill you have a firm grasp on the fight and your opponent is well tired. 3) COUNTER COUNTER COUNTER! stick and move and counter the CPU's haymaker attacks. keep your finger on the lean button all the time! BE PATIENT AND HIT OFTEN RATHER THAN HARD! These tips should help you out and make fight night way more fun.	video-games_xbox
It's something new...isn't that what makes Final Fantasy so awesome. First thing's first, I've played many of the FF's of past. To me, what always stands out in every FF and makes it a superb experience is its: unmistakable FF mythos and extravagantly detailed universe remarkably well written plot and character dialogue *awesome spell/summon animations and unique battle system What I've also enjoyed is how you don't have to play them in any order. Gamers of today can revisit so-called classics, while old-school gamers can drop in today and be treated to something new. Final Fantasy XIII is the first "traditional" title in the series to go multiplatform; FF XI being an MMORPG arguably made sense going multiplatform and was on PS2, PC, and later came out on Xbox 360. Plenty of PlayStation loyalists have objected to this, and have so far gone on to besmirch the game's many merits under this supposed veil of inferiority of being on another console. Some have been so bitter that they no longer see the game as an FF. Moving on past the fanboy complaints, actual FF fans themselves have also complained of the game's linearity. Unfortunately, these people have actually forgotten that FF's (and rpgs in general) traditionally do have an element of linearity. For instance, the entire beginning of VII until you get out into the world map? Or how about the SeeD missions of VIII, even after Squall graduates? Final Fantasy XIII hits all the key notes at the right time. The roster of characters may be smaller than IX or VII, and it may not come close to the epic milestones that VII and X took the series through. However, the best things about this FF are what it accomplishes in breaking free from the stagnation that rpgs have suffered from lately. It marks a new age in FF and also marks a turning point as Square Enix now focuses on delivering FF to more than just one audience on one console. Minor complaints aside, what XIII manages to do is propel FF into a new vision. And it's quite ironic, since the critically acclaimed VII did very much the same for the series.	video-games_xbox
Buy it. O_O. The only other Assassin's Creed game I had played was the first one and I thought it was a decent enough game. But when I played this, I was just blown away at how much more fun it was. Now, it takes place at the tail end of my favorite period in history, which would be the late 1400s to the late 1600s/early 1700s, which may have affected why I loved this game so much, but it's still a very good game overall. The game takes the naval combat from Assassin's Creed 3 and takes it to a whole new level, making it about half of the gameplay in the game. (the other half being the good ol' fashioned parkour gameplay) I know some people didn't like it, even hated the naval combat. But I for one, really enjoyed it. The open world is pretty huge, but once you've discovered a place, you have the option to fast travel it it immediately. AC 4 also adds a few RPG elements into the game so you can upgrade your ship from only being able to take down the small gunboats and brigs, to taking on the highest lvl Man-o'-War ships in the game. The story is a little unrealistic once you get towards the end, as far as what the treasure the Templars are after, but it's not a bad story in the slightest. Besides the make story, there are TONS of side missions. From "simple" assassination contracts, to diving into the depths of the sea and searching sunken shipwrecks. This game offers a lot of replayablity if you are a completionist. Besides the side missions there are also side objectives in most of the main missions, Uplay side objectives and of course the Achievements. Like previous entries in the series, you will encounter characters that truly did exist during that time period, such as Stede Bonnet and Captain Blackbeard himself, which is always cool. My only complaint I have for this game is the loading times can be a little too long for my taste. You'll have to wait up to 20 seconds at sometimes, and it's just annoying. There are a couple of glitches here and there but they're usually just hilarious and don't affect the gameplay. I had so much fun playing this game and if you're an Assassin's Creed fan, you should definitley pick this up.	video-games_xbox
This wouldn't be a bad game ten years ago. Okay. This was just a nightmare of a gaming experience. Just, unbeliavably terrible. Just downright horrible. To be completely honest, this wouldn't be a bad game for ten years ago. Or maybe for 2001 or 2002, as a late N64 or PS1 title. But considering this game is pretty recent,it's downright inexcusable. So why is this game so bad. Well, to sum it up, it's EXTREMELY hard, to the point of frustrating. Not to mention randomly spawning enemies. That's right. Randomly Spawning Enemies, like the kind you'd find in a Nintendo Mega Man game where as soon as you take your camera view off the screen, more enemies show up. And what reward do you get for killing off all the enemies in the vincinity? Why, even MORE enemies! "A hit squad has been dispatched to take you out." Add this on top of a game that has really no direction, no storyline, or even point to it, and there's not even any reason to play it. It ain't fun, by any definition of the word. Basically, you're a genetically made SuperSoldier who is created by "The Agency," all of the nation's law enforcement combined into one agency, and you're told by some annoying old disembodied Commander voice -who also serves as the game's narrator and the only actual "character" in the entire game- to wipe out three criminal empires. And off you go shooting, to kill literally hundreds of thousands of enemies by the time you finish the game, if you can even bare it that long. ALL you do in this game is basically kill bad guys and jump from rooftops, and while the latter may sound fun in a Spider-Man sort of way, it really isn't. At least Spider-Man has webbing to control where he wants to go. You know, flying would be a whole lot simplier. And easier. Oh yeah. The game also has some very poorly conceived races. Either a rooftop race, which are usually extremely hard to beat in time, or some insanely stupid driving race, which if trying to drive isn't hard enough for you, trying to complete a Time Trials race in the wrong lane will surely push you over the edge. When you start, all of your skills - Agility for leaping, Driving for absolutely nothing, Explosives for bombing, Strength mostly just for health, and Firearms for shooting- are all poor and barely usable. And after you've leveled up all of them as you go along in the game, well... they're still extremely poor. The only thing that increases is the leaping ability, in which you can go from 10 to 30 feet in leaping height. The sprinting speed sure don't increase like they say it does, that's for sure. Driving, is more or less, utterly pointless in this game. 95% of the time, you'll never be in a car! Which is good for two reasons because, for one, Driving controls are really really retarded. Both in setup and manuevering. That's how bad it is. Bad in the "it's almost impossible to not run into civilians" sort of way, even when your driving skill is near maxed out. Why they would even bother with a Driving skill, when the only time you'll ever even drive is to either do the stupid races, or mainly, to travel really far distances on the islands, is beyond me. But the other reason you won't be in a car much, is not to hear the insansely bad soundtrack for the game. According to the in-game "Jukebox," there are over 100 songs in this game, and all of them are really bad, third party techno tracks. Like the soundtrack came out of the skeeziest clubs in Europe. The game IS partially European, at least, which is why things are referred to in the game as a "centre" or a "lift." It's odd considering that the game takes place in the near-future West Coast America and that other things like measurements (pounds, height in feet and inches, miles per hour) are North American standard, and not Metric. Anyway, the soundtrack is really European, really Techno, and really, really bad. Maybe they figured Techno music is "futuristic?" It doesn't matter anyway, because they could've saved some money by not getting all of these crap songs (which you can't cut off, by the way) for the car that you'll rarely be using, anyway. At least it's nice that the car tells you how many miles per hour you're driving, though, as you accidently plow into an idiot civilian. Strength is another almost utterly useless attribute. It's only effectiveness is raising your health. But to level it up, you'll have to beat down on enemies using melee attacks, which is even more rarely used than a vehicle. 99.9% of the game is shooting, and you can only really raise your strength (health) by whacking an enemy with a gun, or kicking them, which does very little damage to them, anyway. You see, some of your skills are raised per usage. Meaning, the more you shoot, the more you blow stuff up, and the more you win races, the higher your stats will go, with 400 points being the maximum effectiveness level (even though the bar will continue to go up to 500.) But you'll almost never kick or hit an enemy, so raising this stat is pretty annoying. The other way you raise stats is by collecting a bunch of stupid orbs. Literally hundreds of orbs, scattered across literally every rooftop in the game, is how you increase your Agility. You don't have to collect all 500 of them to max out your Agility though, because of the rooftop races (although you really won't win those much) and the blue, "Hidden orbs" which increase a little of every stat. In fact, those were the only way I was able to get Driving and Strength skills up. The driving is bad, no matter what, though, and the Strength, although lets you lift and carry objects weighing tons, is only useful for health. I had about 300/500 Agility orbs and 100/300 Hidden orbs, by the time I finished the game, and only Driving was lower than Level 2 (300 to 399 points). The shooting in this game, though, is severely flawed. And not because of the weak Firearms skills and weak firearms in the game. But by the Auto-Aim targeting being severely broken. I swear, this auto-aiming NEVER EVER EVER works the way you want it to. It sems to target only the most furthest enemies, or moving non-enemies first, and ONLY focuses on the guy right in your face when there's absolutely nothing left to kill. While the game does give you manual shooting as well, it's pretty hard to kill anything that's not close up to you with it. But the broken aiming and an invisible enemy grenade that you'll never even see until you're already dead are the two biggest things that'll kill you the most with this game. And unless you really get into this crapfest of a game, you will die hundreds upon hundreds of times. I only had it on normal difficulity, and I died like 30 times within any given hour. All the guns are pretty weak, and when I found it, about late into the first gang and location, I wound up using the Harrington HMG 90 rifle throughout the remainder of the game. You only get two weapons to hold at a time throughout the entire game, by the way. The problem with all of the serious firearms is that they're power is compensated by an extremely low clip or insanely slow reload times, with the Harrington being the slowest. I counted the reload time of this thing. Six seconds. Now picture that. In the heat of warfare, having to spend SIX whole seconds just to reload the low clip on this stupid gun! Count to six and that's how much time you're waiting inbetween fire. In six seconds, you could lose all your armor and health and straight die while waiting for this thing to reload. And yes, being you only have two guns and some grenades throughout this whole game, I tried the Call of Duty style "switch to your other gun as you run out of ammo instead of reloading" tactic, only for that to not work as the stupid generic character you're using automatically reloads the gun when you run low or run out, so in order for the Call of Duty trick to work, I'd have to watch and make sure I don't go below ten bullets left and THEN, switch to the other gun in order for it to work, as the character's auto-reloading is completely and totally un-interruptable. SO annoying! WHY should a player have to endure crap like this? Throughout the whole game, I either used the Harrington despite it's insanely slow reload and some kind of rocket or grenade launcher, as anything else would be ineffective, have too small of a clip, hold too little of maximum ammo, or simply be just too weak. Sounds fun, doesn't it? The "characters" in this game aren't even characters. There's you, the generic, namelss "agent." (Maybe "Agent" is your actual name. I don't know.) There's the disembodied commander narrator/boss guy, who'll remark such sayings as, "Go like the wind, agent!" and "Simply pathetic." when you die. Having the game insult you every time you die, and dying because of some stupid glitch or flaw, is enough to make you want to break the game disc into tiny, little pieces. The "bad guys" are perhaps the most generic looking criminal bosses ever. It's like they looked in an LA phone book to get names for the Spanish lieutenants. There are three "gangs" that rule the city, but they're more like criminal empires because street gangs don't have that many soldiers and they don't actually run entire sectors of a city and it's inhabitants. They are "Los Muertos" or "The Dead" (pretty clever, eh?), The Volk, and Shai Gen. Or... "Generic Spanish gang," "Generic Russian gang," and "Generic Chinese Corporation gang." The key members of the gang, like I said, are about as generic-looking as generic can get and when you actually find out where they're located and kill the hundreds of bad guys guarding them before you realize that they keep randomally spawning and that you should ignore them and just run towards the main gang lieutenant and kill them, you'll be rewarded with nothing, in the guise of a slightly higher ratio for success. You see, the game developers thought that it'd be clever to make fighting the main gang leader virtually impossible and that you would have more "fun" by taking out key lieutenants, who each enhance the criminal empire, be it by firearms, number of soldiers available, vehicles, etc., so that it becomes slightly easier to take out the main gang leader. But even WHEN you kill everyone else and save him for last, it's STILL virtually impossible, between the miles long approach to their headquarters, the endless spawning soldiers, and the enemy's eight life bars. Like most strongholds in the game, you're best to just run past everyone, trying to survive, and just go all out on the major gang leader before all the minions kill you. Screw "weaking their health" or "minimizing their recruits" with killing the lieutenants, because they won't do much help for you, regardless. But then, I guess, the game would be too short. In this case though, that'd be a good thing. I should also bring up that the map is even messed up. Yes, that's right! Even the MAP is a pain in the donkey. Not only is the map horribly out-of-scale with everything else, and not only does the map not provide you with any GPS or waypoint marking, but you CAN'T EVEN ZOOM IT IN! The map on the menu screen is just a tiny little map on the menu screen. You can't zoom it in to see closer, or anything. And the arrow representing you on the map takes up an entire city block in reality, meaning things that you may think are close by may be two blocks away from you! How often is it that you can say that the map in a video game is one of it's many, many flaws? Okay, so you can't zoom in, use a GPS, or even accurately know where you're at. Surely, the HUD "radar" map must be better, right? Nope. The biggest problem is, unlike ANY other game that uses an on-screen map, there's no "N" for "North." Just four arrows, any one of them could possibly be north. There's a reason why they don't put the "S"outh, "E"ast, and "W"est on these, and this is why. YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING! I can't tell you how many times I had to pause the game just to figure out which way was North. I often had to look one direction, pause to see the full map to see where I'm facing on it, and then, turn again until I got to facing North or where ever it is I had to go. How could they not have even gotten this right? It also would've been helpful if, being you spend most the game on the roof, to know which enemies were eye-to-eye level with me, above me, or below me. Usually, they make all things above you an arrow facing up on these game maps, and all things below facing down. But, oh no, not in this game! I died so many times because I couldn't tell if any enemy gang were shooting from above, from below, or from so far away, they wouldn't even show up in the compass map screen. Every single enemy is just a dot. Even if they're above me or below me. It's things like this that make you appreciate the little things in any given Grand Theft Auto title, where you don't have to try to figure out where North is, and that the arrows or triangles let you know right away which altitude an enemy is at. But not in this game! In fact, I've seen an effective map system in about EVERY Xbox 360 game that uses one, EXCEPT this game! Oh, and you can't even zoom the map in. Ins't that just something else? When you die, you have to restart from a "supply station," most of which are few are isolated between locations, and all of them have to be found and unlocked. Oh, and they're ALL on roofs, meaning you have to spend ten minutes climbing up top to them, and you could die just trying to get down from them! An elevator that you can use once you get up to the top the first time would've been nice. I mean, they actually HAVE them in the game and all, so it's not like they would've had to make one from scratch or anything. Any good gun you collect from an enemy HAS to be taken to this supply center/save point in order for you to keep it, or else, you'll lose everything you collected once you die. Sometimes, because of the random enemy pop ups, you'll, ironically, die trying to get back to your save point in order to save the guns you just got in case you die. You could be at any given rooftop, look one way, then look back and have a hoarde of random enemies pop up at you. Sometimes, you can even see them materialize in front of you. Sometimes, you'll restart at a save point and by chance, there'll be a ton of enemies right in front of your face as you just come back from the dead. I don't know. Maybe killing so many enemies as if they were an ant colony and jumping from rooftops sounds fun, but it's really not. Neither is dying a thousand times due to a broken aiming system or enemy grenade. You can still die by gravity, by the way, so with each roof, you still have to be very careful. The only good thing I can say about the game is that there's no glitches. Oh, wait. There are! Like, constantly getting stuck in a wall, or a rampway, or even the ground! Stuck as in, "this solid object isn't all that solid" stuck. And the random enemies. That counts, too. It's bad enough that once you kill every enemy in the near area, the game will have a "hit squad" of about ten cars come up and bring MORE enemies to you, but to have the ones you JUST KILLED re-materialize right in front of you is just insulting. Like, why even bother to kill them if it just makes more come to kill you, and the dead ones simply return back like it's nothing? Your character is a genetic clone and "The Agency" can make an endless supply of you in case you die. What's their excuse, though? Overall, this kind of pointless 3D "shoot and jump" kind of simplistic game wouldn't have been so bad on the N64, the original Playstation, or even as an early Gamecube title. I mean, the comic-book like art style isn't anything impressive or new or advanced. 1999 to 2002, this game might've been acceptable. An "average" game, at best. But this kind of simple, pointless, storyline-less, linear "shoot and kill just for the sake of it" game is far below what today's standards are in gaming. To imagine that this is an Xbox 360 title makes me think that this game probably spent so many years in development, that it's heavily outdated by today's standards. When you can't even tell which way is North on your compass map, you can't even zoom in your menu-guide map, and every single character is as generic as a white and black-text can of government corn, it really isn't a game ready to be released. At least not in any year past 2003, on any system greater than maybe Gamecube. This game is bad for simply being simple and outdated and just, really frustrating and lame and incomplete. I can't give this game a One because other than the "getting stuck" and "targeting," there really aren't any glitches or bugs in it. The game is somewhat playable. However, when a game makes you want to break something in it's incompleteness, or lose your mind and curse after getting killed by some stupid game flaw for the 219th time, something ain't right. I can't imagine anyone over twelve enjoying this game, not to insult anyone under thirteen, but only a simple minded person could enjoy a game this simple and generic. By the cover and art style, the game looks kind of cool. You sort of think "Gears Of War" combined with "Saint's Row." You get to use some high tech equipment to take down three ethnic gangs crippling the city. Sounds fun. And I'm sure, most people who bought this game bought it for the Halo 3 beta, but also because it looked or sounded like fun, right? However, I haven't played a game THIS bad since "Sonic Heroes." (and I would include every other Sonic game since then, had I actually played those also-poorly-rated titles) This is a game you simply want to break with your bare hands, or sell to any gaming store, even if you can only get $2.95 for it. Shoot, ANY amount of money the guy offers you at a game store, you'll take just to not have this horrible curse of a game in your life anymore. I can't say it's a Legend in the "Worst Games Of All Time" ranking, but it's definitely one of those games you'll get rid of, by any means possible, just to not have in your collection. It's like the DVD of "Gigli" or "I Know Who Killed Me" in your DVD collection that makes everything else you own, as well as yourself, look bad just by it's mere prescence, so you get rid of it, possibly erase all save files of it from your memory card or hard drive too, and pretend like it never happened. Yes, this game is a "pretend like it never happened" kind of game. AVOID this disaster at all costs! It's not fun, it's frustrating, and it's not even in-depth.	video-games_xbox
Good, but needs some love from the developers. Here's a list: * Updated graphics It looks lice, but the new colors are muted and kinda hard to make out in the interface - yellow looks a lot like orange, and green in some instances looks like yellow. The effects in the gems on the strip are pretty, but it would be nice if they were less flashy or you could turn the effects off. * Access to more songs from new DLC (RB3 will not have access to new songs in the store) Already found a lot of new songs that we need to get. However, it's a little too easy to accidentally buy something. Once you have put your code in, don't screw up, you are one button press away from buying the song, even if you own the bundle. It would be nice if it tracked that you already owned songs in the bundle or the bundle itself and prevented you from buying things twice. * New freeform vocals, guitar solos, and drum fills They're OK. The vocals are a little tricky to do, and if you are a purist like me having someone remove the original epic guitar solo with their own mediocre one is sacrilege. * Songs purchased on the same console family (Xbox 360 to Xbox One, PS3 to PS4) are available to download for free. All of these songs are updated to have multi-part vocals as well as the new freeform features above. Not all games are available at launch, they will be added over time for you to download, which is a bit of a bummer. * The new instruments are improved. The guitar has a much improved calibration sensor, and much better buttons and strum bar. * Old Guitar Hero and Rock band instruments work with the new game and can be used on their own or in combination with the new ones. We bought the adapter here on Amazon, and it works great. I am back to using my seafoam precision bass and it's great. * Players can easily change options on the fly (speed, no-fail, difficulty, volume, etc). This has come in handy already. It does pause the game, but it beats having to drop back to the main menu like in RB3 * Keyboards and Pro Guitar/Bass/Keyboard modes have been removed from the game. I won't really miss the guitar modes, but would have liked for keys to stick around. We didn't use them much, but they were a cool addition. At least we get multi-part vocals on every song now, which is a big plus. * Character customization has been greatly reduced. You now have only one body shape for each gender (heroin-user skinny) and only a few hairstyles and similar options. The clothing options are pretty limited as well. There's also none of the cool "your band name is worked into the stages and artwork" stuff that was there in RB 1/2/3 - it was a great immersion thing, and I miss it. * No online multiplayer at launch. Not a big deal for us, but some people are going to miss it. The game plays essentially the same as before, this is literally more of the same, and done that way intentionally. You can turn the new features on and off on a per-player, per-instrument basis so each player can choose to play strictly old school or with the new additions. Harmonix has they will not be selling a Rock Band 5, instead updating RB4 with new features and bug fixes for the foreseeable future; they will instead be relying on DLC song sales as a revenue stream.	video-games_xbox
Halo 5 is a great game, but you need to know what you're getting into first. FYI - I would actually give the game 4.5 stars, but that is not an option, so I rounded up. Halo 5 is a great, fun and extremely ambitious game that, unfortunately but ultimately, collapses under the weight of its own ambitions. It is by no means perfect, but it is a great game, and mostly certainly is not nearly as bad as the reviews would suggest. Of all of my X-Box One games, I have probably put more time into this game than any other (with the exception of The Master Chief Collection). But Halo 5 has a lot in common with Halo 2, in that the gameplay is great, but the marketing for the game made you think the story was going to be different from what it was. Also the ending leaves you wanting more, and not necessarily in a good way. The game mechanics have been greatly improved. You can aim, run, charge, ground-pound, climb, and have limited use of thrusters. While the controls take some getting used to (I keep hitting left trigger to throw a grenade, which is now used to aim, and can't seem to get out of that habit), they are significant tighter. The weapons have all been tweaked so that everything has its pros and cons. Some are more versatile than others but each feels unique and more utilitarian. So, for instance, the run-of-the-mill assault rifle has a more controlled spray, but it is still not as refined or exact as the battle rifle or a good pistol. The Promethean weapons, which previously just felt like minor variations of human weapon counterparts, are all now substantially more distinct. The maps are... different, and I am not entirely sure if that is a positive or negative. The one thing I always liked about Halo games were the sheer size of the maps: how they could be linear, but were so large that they never actually felt linear. In Halo 5, the maps are significantly smaller, in both size and the length of time it takes to beat that particular level; I would say each is on average probably half or even a third of the size and length of time of the average map in Halo 2 or 3. But the offset is that they are somewhat less linear; the game rewards exploration, as you can find hidden passages that allow you to flank your opponents in ways that you never could before. The plot follows the trend of Halo games, in that the storylines grow increasingly incoherent. If you don't keep up with secondary sources (and I don't), you may not necessarily know why Master Chief all of a sudden has three Spartan buddies (I always assumed he was the last of his kind) following him around everywhere, or why Dr. Halsey is a one-armed fugitive (there's a joke there that I don't have the time to look for), or who Locke is and why we should care. You may not know that humans previously had been an interstellar species, that they had had a war with Forerunners, that they lost, and that the Forerunners took their stuff and left them on earth to be a primitive species again. I have never considered understanding the storyline to be integral to enjoying Halo, but I do like to know what's going on, and that is what wikis are for. Suffice it to say, the main point of the game is to go where the arrows tell you to go to, shoot what needs to be shot, and save the universe. The major letdown for me in comparison to previous games is how short the campaign mode is, given the increasing shift toward multiplayer online gaming. I would estimate that, all other things being equal, I could play through Halo 5 in slightly more than half the time that it would take to get through Halo 1 through 4 (Halo ODST being the obvious exception). And considering the fact that it is the campaign mode that I really buy the game for more than anything else, that is a problem. I like single-player campaigning and split-screen multiplayer. If you're going to force me to use online multiplayer, at least have some story going on, as with Spartan Ops. But Spartan Ops is gone. There is Warzone, which is really just two big teams of players going at it. I'd like Warzone if there was more variety to the maps, but I just get the same map over and over again. I'd like to assume there are more, but the game isn't particularly helpful in showing newbies who aren't used to online gaming how to get the most out of the experience. Much has been said about the loss of the split-screen option. I am not going to join the chorus of people complaining about it, except to say that I do miss it because I like playing with my wife or kids. But the option of playing through the campaign mode with up to three friends online is very cool. I have an old friend from high school who now lives in another state; I haven't seen him face-to-face in years, but we played through the campaign mode for 5 hours straight last night. And it was then that I decided that I really do love Halo 5. So overall, Halo 5 is a brilliant game at what it does: it's just that what it does may not have been what you wanted it to do. The graphics are a huge leap forward, the gameplay is greatly improved, and in general the game is a crapload of fun. It is definitely a different experience from other games that are out there, which is great, but the fact that it is so different from its own predecessors is what is garnering a lot of negativity: some of it deserved, some of it not so much. If you just want a game that feels like the original Halo, or the more recent Halo 4, you should know that there are a lot of changes, some of which you won't like. For me, Halo 5 is a beautifully flawed game that doesn't accomplish everything that it sets out to do but still manages to be better than most of what is out there. Couple of random points: - On the whole, I like the shift to squad-based play. The conversations are interesting to listen to, especially since it gives a reason for exposition. But the offset is that there is no longer a feeling of isolation the way there usually is in Halo. - The game has several parts where the combat goes into a cut-scene. The most notable, and annoying, part of the game where this happens is where you have to take out the Elite boss that is holding Dr. Halsey hostage. You do not get to fight him, at all. I assume the point was to have a scene that shows the player how badass Locke is - but we know Locke is badass, because he is a Spartan with all of the same abilities of Master Chief. - A lot of people make a really huge deal out of the deceptive marketing. It's true that the gameplay really does not make much use of the plot conceit, which is that Master Chief is rogue, and that the Spartans are hunting him down. At no point in the game do you, as a player, get to face off against another Spartan, or anyone who could otherwise be considered a friendly. This echoes the marketing of Halo 2, which had trailers showing the Covenant invading Earth. It didn't bother me much, but it would have been cool to have a confrontation that amounted to more than one 30-second cut scene.	video-games_xbox
New features at a great price. The xbox 360 slim with 4 GB is what the original arcade version should have been. 10 new features of this model are: 1. New Valhalla chip - hopefully improved design to prevent RRoD issue, but tech. reviews noted that the Jasper chip in the older Elite model runs cooler 2. WiFi N - this is the newest wifi standard that is 12X faster (up to 600 Mbits/ sec) than wifi G; you'll need a Wifi N router to get the max. speed 3. digital optical audio port (IF your sound system is separate from your TV, then you'll need this to get full 5.1 surround sound) 4. 4 GB of flash memory (although 1.1 GB is used by the game system, but 0.3 GB can be reclaimed by deleting 4 game demos) 5. 5 USB ports (2 in front & 3 in back) 6. slimmer design with side vents (to prevent overheating) 7. dedicated Kinect port (just a convenience feature) 8. only 1 year of warranty (the only negative; older Elite models had 3 yrs.) 9. USB flash drive support (this was a xbox software update released in April 2010) 10. ESPN video streaming (will be included if you are a Gold member, $50/ yr) Slim 4 GB memory vs. 250 GB hard drive: I bought the 4 GB system over the model with 250 GB hard drive because the xbox now supports game saves/ installs/ downloads and pic/ audio/ video downloads to USB flash drives. It supports 1-2 USB flash drives with 1-16 GB memory (using a 16 GB drive, 1.6 GB is used for formatting). 2 advantages of USB drives: loading games and media is 3x faster with USB drives than disc reading and more reliable (flash memory rarely fails, while discs can get scratched). 2 disadvantages of USB drives: you can not install old xbox games on USB drives and certain games, like Halo Reach and Halo ODST, will not support online coop without a hard drive (having a USB drive will not help). If you have a big appetite for video downloads and game demos that 32 GB can not accommodate, then you can always upgrade later with a 360 GB hard drive. The original model's hard drive is not compatible with the slim model without modification - you would need to remove the original hard drive and insert it into a slim hard-drive case (non-Microsoft, sold separately). You can find a non-Microsoft 120 GB drive for 1/2 the price of the Microsoft drives, but you would need to manually install the "partition 2" xbox emulator (search google) to play old xbox games. XBOX vs. PS3: I am originally a PS3 and Wii gamer, but finally bought the xbox when the slim 4 GB model was released. To be competitive with the PS3, the xbox had to have the built-in wifi, optical audio port, and USB flash drive support. I was deciding whether to buy another PS3 since many games require 2 consoles for coop and multiplayer gaming, regardless of what system you choose. With this xbox priced at $200, I decided to choose the xbox since it has better coop games and more online gaming. However, Netflix on xbox requires gold membership and starting a movie is a lot slower than the PS3 even though the xbox has faster wifi. Xbox music and music videos library needs to expand to the size of their TV and movies selection to be comparable with iTunes. The PS3 has better graphics though not significantly better (expected since PS3 has a better processor), but the xbox has better coop and multiplayer games. The PS3 controller is better designed, better constructed, and has a rechargeable battery; the D-pad on the included xbox controller creaked without even playing a single game. Also the PS3 has a Blu-Ray player, which accounts for the small cost difference. The button to open the disc tray on the xbox is too sensitive and not recessed, so slightly brushing it with your clothes will activate it. Speed Comparison Update: The Witcher 2 game, which is highly recommended, inspired me to write this update. For the Slim 4 GB model, most game discs can not be installed to the internal memory due to insufficient space. The internal memory is 3x faster than hard drives, which is 3x faster than USB drives, which is 3x faster than disc reading. The approximate speeds are: 270 MB/s internal memory > 90 MB/s hard drive > 30 MB/s USB drives > 10 MB/s disc reading. NOTE: USB drives vary a lot in speed; check the speed and cost before buying - you get what you pay for. So loading a game installed on a USB drive is faster than loading it from the disc, but can be potentially 9x faster if installed to internal memory. The Slim model should be updated with at least 16 GB memory since a game DVD holds up to 8.5 GB of data, 1.5 GB is needed for system files, and 6 GB should be reserved for game saves and updates. With flash memory so cheap these days, Microsoft has no excuse to not increase the internal memory to at least 16 GB. I originally gave the Slim model 5 stars, but docked it 1 star for this issue since it's been more than 2 years since this model was released. Online Gaming & Media Sharing Update: I originally didn't mind paying for xbox gold membership since it included Last FM music and ESPN video streaming, but now there are better music streaming service (Sony's definitely better) and the videos within each sports category are disorganized and poorly label so it's hard to find specific clips. So when I discontinued my xbox gold memberships, I found out that you can not play online coop games, even privately hosted ones, without at least one person having gold membership. Microsoft should at least allow privately hosted, online coop games to account for the lack of LAN support by most games. Also, the xbox's support of DLNA media streaming from your computer is poor; you can not save your media, only stream it. DLNA media streaming and sharing is flawless with the PS3. Microsoft's greed is evident in these 2 issues so I docked the xbox another star to give it only 3 stars.	video-games_xbox
Info-tainment well refined. Years ago when I first played Guitar Hero I remember thinking "This is fun but wouldn't it be amazing if you could actually learn to play guitar by playing a game?" As entertaining as Guitar Hero (and later Rock Band) was, you came away with nothing more than you had when you went into it which was as much as you'd expect from any video game. Purely entertainment. What these games did, though, was fuel a desire in me, much as it did with many, to actually learn to play the guitar. So off I went and bought an inexpensive used acoustic and a few books, DVD's, etc. I watched the DVD's, read the books, browsed the internet Tab sites. I learned a little, very little, and eventually got tired of fumbling through "Twinkle Twinkle". The guitar went to a corner of the room where I'd look at every once and a while and dream... When I heard about Rocksmith I had my doubts. This sounded like what I'd hoped for back in the Guitar Hero days but I didn't think it could possibly work. I started searching the internet and couldnt' find a single review or article denouncing it as a scam. There were the music theory types who mounted their soap boxes and spouted off the same lines they do about Tabs but even they grudgingly admitted that while Rocksmith does not teach you music, it does teach you to play the guitar. And that's the point. Rocksmith bridges the gap between self taught and professionally taught. It picks up where Tabs truly fail, timing. I picked up the combo pack with the Epiphone Les Paul Jr. included in the box. I'll not say much about the guitar itself on this review (read the combo pack review for more on the guitar) except to say its a true Les Paul, beautiful, well built, and very playable. I got home, unpacked the box, pluged everything in, and fired up the game. First the game has you tune your guitar which took maybe three minutes. Once accomplished there is a short tutorial about what the in-game symbols mean what to do with them, then you're off to your first song, I Can't Get No Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones. The game starts assuming you've never picked up a guitar at that it's mearly by a stroke of luck that you're holding it right side up. The game plays the backing track with Mick actually singing, not some almost-sounds-like cover singer. You start off dedicated to only the A string and the 3rd and 5th fret. The song plays at full speed but you're really only playing about every seventh note and there are large breaks between when you play each note. If you do well for a few bars the game adjusts and tosses in a couple more notes to play but still using the same string and same frets. Still doing well, a couple more notes and maybe a new string (Low E). Uh oh, struggling with that? Not a full step back, but half a step. The game will drop the new string but keep the newest notes added. Constant adjustment is what makes this game amazing. Much like ceiling cat, the game watches you play but unlike our feline friend it adjusts. About every fifteen seconds the game will make and adjustment based how you're doing and either add something, take something away, or keep things exactly the same. So far this has been my second favorite aspect because it adjusts perfectly every time. Though sometimes the adjustments come as quite a challenge they never seem way too difficult or unrealistic. My favorite aspect, however, is that I'm actually learning the guitar. My score the first time for Satisfaction was 5000...out of a possible 70000. My second score was 7000. Third time around, 12000. It was after the third time that it hit me that I'm actually learning something and better yet, I was enjoying myself. As others have stated, and rightfully so, this isn't so much a game as a learning tool and it should be viewed as such. While Rocksmith is amazingly fun, it's not a game in the traditional meaning of the word. If your only purpose is to be entertained then this isn't going to be your sort of thing but if you actually want to enjoy learning the guitar you'll love this. One word about lag. The literature that comes with the game states very bluntly that an HDMI cable is a very poor choice to carry audio and that using it will almost certainly cause audio lag...and they are right. Right now I have my system hooked up exactly as they suggest not doing it, X-box to TV via HDMI cable. And guess what, there's lag. About half a second after I play a note on the guitar it comes out of my TV. Annoying, yeah. Distracting, a bit. Game ruining, not at all. The solution is simple, just use component cables for your audio and the problem will be solved. Aftermarket Xbox component sets will run you somewhere in the area of $6. I'll be buying some today.	video-games_xbox
How do you review a game like this. I mean, honestly. This game is so huge and vast that if someone were to sit down, play it, "beat it," and then go, gee I should review it, it would be time for the next one to come out. Instead, I'll write a review that I will hopefully update as I progress incase my opinion on the game changes. I've logged a few hours into it so far and right off the bat I know I'll like it. To break it down succinctly before I ramble, if you've played Morrowind and enjoyed it, even a little, you are doing yourself a great disservice by not picking this up right now. If you were disappointed at Morrowind because it was too big that you felt listless and didn't know what to do, pick this game up. If you loved how open and free Morrowind was, pick it up right now. If you've never played Morrowind, well, read on. Right away, most of the complaints of Morrowind are addressed. After spending a couple hours in the first dungeon/jail escape, you finally see the light of day and let me tell you, from then on, awe and excitement are around every corner. But, unlike Morrowind, in controlled and, if you want them to be, small pieces. Generally, there were two camps of people who played Morrowind: they loved it because it was so open/free that they could do anything they wanted; or, they hated it because they didn't know what to do because it was so open/free. Oblivion takes the best of Morrowind (the openness) and makes it more accessible. If you want to focus on the main quest, right as soon as you leave the dungeon there's a red flag on your compass and on your map showing where you need to go. In fact, you can click on that town and instantly warp there, should you want to. In Morrowind, it took a bit for the main story to actually appear. In Oblivion you are thrust into the main story right from the beginning. And, if you want, the story can be started right away and has some pretty exciting moments right away. If you want to, instead, explore the world a bit, well go right ahead. I did the second option, exploring a nearby fort that had catacombs filled with traps, skeletons and a ghost. Tried my hand at pick-pocketing sleeping guards with unfortunate success. Stumbled upon a bandit camp that didn't like me interrupting their probably nefarious deeds. It's setup so that if you want to, you can very easily pursue the main quest, never get lost and know what you're doing. However, you can also just set out on your own, kingdom be damned and spend the next 100 hours seeing the sights, exploring the 200+ dungeons, and scaling all 17 or so square miles of the land. As an example, one of my friends immediately began the main quest. He's now a good chunk of quests ahead of me in the quests. I took the explorer route and spent the time looking around, finding the ruins and dungeons, joining the guilds etc. Two totally different approaches, both easy to get into and fun to mess around with. Character creation is similar to Morrowind. There are a ton of races to choose from, about 21 classes (or you can create your own), 21 skill categories and a large handful of astral signs that give you bonuses. For those who've played Morrowind, there's not much difference here. Its all about choice. How do you want to play. Also included is a fantastic character editor where you can change different facets of your character to fit your desire. Really cool. Choosing your "class" is important in that it will define how you want to play your character. You have 7 major skills that you can assign any of the 21 skills to. Each "kind" of character (melee, stealth, magic) have 7 skills to choose from. Whatever you put in your major skills determines your "class" and how you level, while the remaining 14 become minor skills that can be leveled up (at a slower rate) and don't contribute to your leveling. Races give bonuses to skills and attributes as does the sign you end up choosing. As you can tell, the game is about openness. Do you want, be what you want. To a lesser extent, Fable tried this with mixed results. But not until this game have I seen so much openness and ability to do practically what you want. NPCs are on a 24/7 clock. Each one of the 1,000 NPCs in the game have varying levels of needs, desires and goals. They will carry these out without regard to you. Guards will catch NPC criminals, people will go out and hunt. I've seen a guard attack a wolf that was bothering a passerby. It all feels natural and as realistic as any game right now. Mostly. There are some sore spots. The combat AI for any partners you have can be a joke. Sometimes, they will just barrel forward without regard for the other monsters around you. That can lead to very difficult situations as the AI guards round up more than they can handle, die, and then you have a messy situation on your hands. Other sore spots include guards with ESP. Apparently, if a person wakes up while being killed or isn't killed in one hit, the guard seemingly knows that murder is being committed. And will rush right to where you are. This has caused me a lot of consternation when I'm trying to finish a quest with guards who know not only that I'm a murderer but also exactly where I am. And will continue to chase you forever. The interface has been retooled. The journal and your inventory is now much much more user-friendly. Quests show up in a log and you can easily select which quest you want as your active quest. Doing so immediately pops up a red marker where you need to go. You won't get lost. I will say its sometimes a little disappointing when an arrow appears over a ruin that the quest says you need to find. Instead of following general directions, I know exactly where to find it. That's a bit disappointing in that it takes away from the exploring portion of it. Minor gripe, though. The graphics also help promote this world. Terrific, they really make Oblivion come to life. From the trees in the background, to the tall weeds you pass through, everything is animated and created painstakingly beautifully. Its a real world come to life in virtual form. The physics are pretty decent. I've caused skeletons to explode, people flying backwards with a well cast fireball, rolling down hills. Sometimes, the close-ups of people are a little jarring because they don't look so realistic when you get up close and a lot of them look like they have uber-wrinkles or a skin problem. Aliasing is practically non-existent. When you get a horse, the very very very brief pauses in between loading the outworld area becomes a bit more noticeable because it seems to happen a bit more often. Its still not in anyway shape or form to the detriment of the game and is completely understandable given that the world is so huge, but its there and noticeable. The sound is also terrific. The voice actors are pretty decent, the sound effects awesome and the music really well done. Traveling through a thunderstorm really makes you feel like its raining, lightning and thundering. The clash of steel on steel is exciting, sparks fly. The game does stutter at times. In the first dungeon, when I brought out a torch, the game paused briefly as it changed the light levels. Not a huge problem by any means. Placing spells on your directional pad hotkey can become a pain as you ready each spell. Though, I love the fact I can wield a sword and a torch/shield AND cast spells at the same time. Love it. I guess there's some framerate issues, but I have barely noticed them at all. There are some pop-ups with the shrubs etc in the distance but really when the game is generating all of this on the fly, I can forgive some very very very minor quibbles. Overall, if you are a fan of RPGs, I don't know why you wouldn't like this game. Whatever you bring to the table, it will match you. Whether you want to get lost in a virtual world, discover catacombs that really feel like they've never been found before, just go after the main quest, buy and sell houses, try and become a mercantile genius or even become a vampire, everything is up to you. You can do it all, or none of it. I will say it's hard to be objective with a game that was seemingly crafted just for me. I am usually willing to overlook minor faults etc when the end product is amazing. Such is the case with Oblivion. Everything about it are things I love. I love the openness that is controlled in that I will never get lost. I can't think of many games that give you so much freedom, but in such a way that you won't lose your way. Absolutely terrific, there's nothing here that makes me not recommend it fully-heartedly for RPGers. NOTE: I hesitate to even bring this up, but the game has been re-rated by the ESRB as of 3 May 2006. For some reason, they have decided the amount of blood in the game is more fitting of a rated "M for Mature (17+)" game. There is talk of a mod that will strip away the female character's top portion of the clothes. Please know that this does not affect the Xbox 360 version of the game. The mod is downloadable for the PC version, but not for the 360.	video-games_xbox
Good Now, Can Only Get Better. My opinion of the Xbox One now is positive and it could only get better. E3 this year (2014) is the time where people who have bought next gen consoles aren't beta testers anymore, they're regular gamers. When I first got the Xbox One I was pretty impressed with it. Now it is a large console and I'm certain that Microsoft will eventually make a slim model, but it fits in my media cabinet. The GPU is not as powerful as the PS4s but that's not a reason not to buy it. It runs games fine and they look great. The OS might not run as smoothly as the PS4s, but certainly has more room to grow into a much more advanced and feature filled UI than the PS4. While most people hate the Kinect, I like it. It might not be the most useful thing in the world, especially now that Microsoft is selling consoles without it, but I've always found it to be pretty accurate and a pretty good way to navigate around the system. It's also just cool talking to it and seeing you pop up on the screen. The biggest turnoff for most buyers will probably be the decreased power and price, but I would like to warn people to not always take the "native resolutions" seriously. For many games that are exclusive to Xbox One, they run at 1080p. As developers get used to both systems they'll be able to better optimize their games for both of the consoles. Even though right now games might not run at 1080p, the One automatically upscales the native resolution to 1080p. Now where the Xbox One really shines is the software. Sony's UI is pretty basic and they're mainly focusing on the hardware, but Microsoft is doing a lot for the Xbox One's software. Right now it's still not the best UI in the world and still needs work, but it has the potential to be a great console. Now please, don't listen to the many rumors that people will spread about the Xbox One. Microsoft said that they are going to let people without Xbox Live Gold use services like Netflix, Hulu etc. Just like the PS4 though, if you want to play online, you need gold. The second thing is that the console doesn't need to always be online. You need to install one update and then you don't need anymore internet. Let me just say though without internet, it takes away a lot of the fun for modern day consoles for many people because multiplayer games are becoming increasingly popular. In this world most people have internet and the companies cater to them for the most part. If you have very slow satellite internet, getting any console may not be for you as the speed of the internet will really slow down the online services. Another thing to be mindful about all next-gen (or should I say current-gen) consoles is that they have limited hard drive space. You have to install every game so if you're one of those people who gets lots of games and plays them all you might want to invest in an external hard-drive. Lastly, do your research especially before posting a negative review. Don't blame Microsoft for you "wasting" $500 just because you didn't take the time to do 15 minutes worth of research. All the requirements for having the system are easy to find. Mainly internet. It is the 21st century people, so don't complain that your not able to have new technology just because you're behind the times. If I could fault Microsoft with one major thing it would be the shift in the focus away from games. The Xbox One is a gaming console after all, and Microsoft has treated gaming and entertainment as the TWO central focuses of the console. Right now it feels like it has a minor identity crisis. That is not a huge deal but coupled with the weaker GPU, it makes it a possible turnoff for buyers. Judging by Microsoft's reversal of the awful DRM policy after consumer backlash, it makes me more confident that they will be more willing to adapt to consumer wants and needs than in previous years.	video-games_xbox
Modern warfare at it's most intense. I've always been proud of the fact that I'm not one who typically jumps on the bandwagon. Just because it seems like everyone happens to like a particular book, or movie, or game doesn't mean that I am going to enjoy it. When it comes right down to it, I enjoy or dislike something based on its own merits, not the general consensus of the public at large. A perfect example of this is the Call of Duty series. A lot of my friends have played either the Xbox games, or the PC versions of this game and they typically raved about it. I, on the other hand, had no interest. There are several reasons for this. First of all, I've never been big on World War Two games. They just didn't interest me. I guess it's because I love technology, I love the toys and gadgets that are used in modern warfare. Secondly, I am not big into first person shooters. I typically prefer to play role playing style games. Although I have to admit that this is changing rather rapidly. Third, I didn't own an Xbox 360 at the time. I could have bought the games and played them on my PC, but I figured that would have cut into my game time of my other favourite PC games. Again, that's something that is changing for me. I have to say that damn, I am glad my wife bought me the Xbox 360 for Christmas 2007... Oddly enough, it was my son who got me interested in the Call of Duty series. He played Call of Duty 2 & 3 over at my friends place and ended up purchasing a used Call of Duty 2 at Electronic Boutique games, or EB games as it is more commonly known. After he played it for a little bit, I decided to put aside my typical dislike for WW2 era games and I gave it a shot. I have to admit - three hours later, I was still playing. That says a lot for the game. Yes, I know that this review is about Call of Duty 4, so I'll get to that in a moment. I can't give it a proper review without first stating what got me into playing the game to being with, right? At this time, I've still yet to finish Call of Duty 2, but I can say that I'm almost through it. The fact of the matter is that I enjoyed the game play so much that I ended up going out and buying Call of Duty 4 and started playing it right away. Like its predecessors, Call of Duty 4 is a first person shooter that is extremely intense. It is so damned easy to lose yourself in the game as you play, due to several factors. First and foremost, the energy. It is almost always non-stop. The only time things slow down at all is when you've finally completed your objective and you can take a breather. But, during the fighting is when the game really shines. Your squad mates are caught up in the heat of the battle, shouting out orders or calling for help. If you have a good surround sound system, you could quite easily imagine yourself right there on the field of battle. The combat is so intense, you really don't have time to do anything fancy, unless of course you're a hard core gamer. Sure, headshots kill outright, but how often do you get a chance to make these? Not often, let me tell you. Just like in real world combat, you will find yourself more often than not just aiming for the center of mass, the largest target that is available and firing until your target is down and out. I've heard it said that the most lethal and un-nerving aspect of war is urban warfare. House to house fighting where there are tons of places for the enemy to hide and to make matters worse, places where you can become the target of a sniper who can end your life in the space of a heartbeat. The Call of Duty series captures this intense aspect of urban combat. Sure, it's easy enough to run hell bent for leather through a street while you look for enemy targets and if you are taken out, you just have to reload from your last save point. But believe me, if you only had one life, you'd be damned careful about your next step, that's for sure. If you want to simulate this, play the game on the hardest mode. You'll be re-loading more often than you can imagine if you're not careful! Yes, the vast majority of the game is this intense, although there is one mission that you play that relies more on stealth and not being seen than anything else. Of course at the beginning of the game you're introduced to a brief tutorial which teaches you the controls of the game. Although it really isn't all that necessary if you've played the others in the series. The missions are wide and varied. You do battle onboard a ship, through various urban and sub-urban locals, ruined battle zones, and underground complexes. Once you've completed the game the first time around you're even treated to a special mission that takes place onboard a jet-airliner. As I mentioned before, you even get to play a mission that allows you to take the role of a sniper, one where stealth and skill play a far greater factor than simply racking up enemy body counts. Also, it was pretty cool that in one mission you get a chance to play the gunner on a AC 130 gunship, where you provide support to a squad that is trying to make its way to an extraction point. One thing that I found new in this game was the addition of some serious cut scenes. It would be a major spoiler if I said what they were, but believe me, they were not only intense, but extremely well done. These cut scenes not only help move the plot along, but add a very cinematic feel to the game. Not that the game isn't cinematic enough to begin with. We are talking state of the art gaming computer graphics here! The only thing that would have made the game more realistic is the addition of blood and guts. War is gory; there is no doubt about it. There are no real clean kills in warfare. Body parts are blown off; blood is spilt by the gallons. People die in sheer agony. Personally, I am glad that they toned this down. Sometimes true realism detracts from an experience. There are others who most certainly will disagree with me, but in this case, if the game was as bloody as real warfare, I'd not be able to let my son play it. Hell, I wouldn't be able to play it! What is a game without a storyline? Just random violence. The story could easily be pulled right from the front pages of today's newspapers. It asks the big question of what if. What if a Middle Eastern terrorist organization got their hands on true weapons of mass destruction? Something that is very poignant in today's world of political turmoil and uncertainty. As I've discovered when it comes to many Xbox 360 games, this first person shooter doesn't have a health bar, or heals scattered throughout the game. You regenerate your damage with time. If you are nearly dead, your breathing becomes laboured and your screen turns red. When this happens, find cover and pray that the enemy doesn't come charging in after you or throw a grenade at your feet. You have a variety of weapons to play with through the game, everything from handguns to sub-machine guns and sniper rifles, up to and including anti tank and anti aircraft weapons. Although it's a shame you don't get to carry all these different weapons at once. There are a total of 37 achievements that can be unlocked throughout the game, and several of these can only be completed on Hardened or Veteran play level. Finally, if I had a complaint about the game, it's one that I've had with pretty much every Xbox 360 game I've played to date... it's too damned short! I would have loved to have played this game for twelve or more hours, believe me! But that's a minor complaint. This game totally rocks, and I will soon be purchasing its predecessor, Call of Duty 3. And, of course, I can hardly wait for the probable fifth instalment of this excellent franchise. This is one of the few times I'm glad that I climbed onto the bandwagon. 5 out of 5	video-games_xbox
Shoot Things, Loot Things, Shoot Things, Loot Things. On an alien planet full of Rednecks, there're plenty of things to shoot and plenty of stuff to loot. Concept: 8/10 Borderlands is a streamlined blend of First Person Shooters and Hack and Slash RPG's. It's very light on RPG elements, shooting tactics, vehicles, story... But it is fun to play solo or with 2-4 Players. The world is open ended with load screens separating the different areas. As you shoot things, you gain XP and loot. When you gain enough XP, you instantly Level Up. You get more Hit Points and deal a bit more damage with your weapons, which allows you to shoot tougher enemies. It's a fast paced shoot stuff to loot stuff to shoot stuff cycle. Story: 7/10 In Borderlands, you must discover what is in an ancient alien vault. (LOOT) That's pretty much it. The story really doesn't get in the way of the action. You talk to NPC's to get quests (Kill X, Meet X, or Return X.) When talking to NPC's the dialogue is pretty entertaining, but the story definitely takes a back seat to the main focus of the game. Shooting and Looting. Weapons: 8/10 Borderlands uses an algorithmic weapon generator, which allows the game to create a nearly infinite number of weapons. Here's how it works. There are base guns and they all do what you expect them to do: Revolver - Holds a few bullets, deals a ton of damage. Machine Pistol - Holds a clip full of bullets, fires fast, and deals a little damage per shot. Submachine Gun - Holds more bullets, fires really fast, and deals a little damage per shot. Shotgun - Great at close range, holds a few shells, and deals a lot of damage at nearby enemies. Machine Gun - Holds lots of bullets, fires at a medium speed, does a lot of damage. Sniper Rifle - Holds a few bullets, fires slowly, does a ton of damage, has a scope so you can shoot enemies at a distance. Rocket Launcher - Holds a few rockets, fires slowly, does a ton of damage in a wide area. Each of these weapons has stats and attachments. Clip Size, Damage per shot, accuracy, shooting speed... Elemental Damage, Scopes for long distance aiming, Recoil Suppressor... The elemental damage is useful for certain types of enemies. There are Acid, Fire, and Shock. Acid works well against armor and does damage over time. Fire does damage over time. Shock greatly lowers enemy shields and does damage over time. Explosive randomly does a burst of damage. . So, a gun that does 30 damage with acid, is better than a gun that does 40 damage vs. armored enemies. But that same gun would be weaker against enemies with an energy shield. You can carry 4 guns at once and switch between them with the D-pad. You also get grenades with a modifier (Explosive, Health Regen, Acid, MIRV...) And you get a class based skill. Example: So if you play a hunter, you get a hawk that attacks enemies. The hawk can be modified as well with a class specific item and your skill Tree. You also get an inventory where you can carry your loot. Additional spaces are unlocked as you do specific Claptrap side quests. In your inventory, you carry Healing Potions, Loot, Class, and Grenade Modifiers. Although there are a TON of weapons and some skills in the game, it is much more limited than your typical RPG. The guns just shoot bullets and your special skill only has one function. Borderlands could really use more variety in their weaponry and skills. Seeking bullets (100% accuracy), force fields, buff and debuff auras, chain lightning, stun, mines, etc... It feels really light on the RPG and tactical elements. But in this game, it is important to remember that the focus is on shooting and looting. Levels: 7/10 Like Diablo, Titan Quest, Everquest, Sacred 2... There are areas full of monsters that you can kill and loot. If you point your gun at an enemy, it will tell you your chances of survival if you were to attack it, so you can make an educated decision if you want to shoot at it. If an enemy is much more powerful, it will destroy you. If an enemy is close to your level, it will be a fun challenge. If an enemy is much weaker than you, you can walk right through it, but you only get 1XP. The loot is also level specific to that area. (The first area in the game always has weak monsters and weak loot.) Graphics: 8/10 The graphics are highly stylized and look like a graphic novel. For this game, it works! Sound: 9/10 The background music is pretty low key and the sound effects punctuate the action quite nicely. Replay Value: 10/10 The campaign is about 20-30 hours long, depending on how many side quests you do. You can also play co-op with your friends online or split screen at home with a guest. When you finish the game, you can keep playing at your current level and get more loot while fighting tougher enemies. Maturity: OK for Teens There's cartoony violence involving guns, aliens, and armored soldiers. There is some bathroom humor, but it's all in good fun. Overall: 8/10 Borderlands isn't the most sophisticated game ever made and it doesn't break any new ground. It borrows the loot system from Diablo/Titan Quest, it borrows a simplified combat model from Halo (shields and vehicles), and it borrows the quest system and level up system from Fallout 3, WoW, Oblivion... All of these are blended nicely in a game that allows you to run around and shoot things to loot things. This game is simple, fun, and rewarding. If that is what you're looking for, then you'll have a great time. If you're looking for an RPG with depth or a shooter with tactics, look elsewhere. If you liked the Loot System of Borderlands and want more, check out Diablo, Titan Quest, Torchlight, or Sacred 2. If you liked the FPS combat and want more depth, check out the Halo series. If you liked adventuring around a world and doing quests, check out Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3, and Oblivion. Rent it if you have about 20-30 hours to blow through the campaign. Avoid this game if you are looking for FPS tactics, complex leveling, or immersion in a fantasy world.	video-games_xbox
Old school, casual fighting gamers rejoice. First a little about myself: >I'm a 32 year old family man. >Don't want to play online or in tournaments. >ONLY BOUGHT THIS TO USE FOR FIGHTING GAMES - I haven't tried it on any other genre 2D Fighters I used to play back in the day - Street Fighter II (SNES); Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition (Sega Genesis); Super Street Fighter II (Sega Genesis); Mortal Kombat (Sega Genesis); Eternal Champions (Sega Genesis); Mortal Kombat II (SNES); Street Fighter Alpha (PSOne)....in that order. With that kind of history it's obvious that most of those games I played with a d-pad controller. So now here I am almost 20 years later finding myself returning to the 2D fighter realm and was in desperate need of a GOOD d-pad. For those old school, D-pad 2D fighting game players who want to return to this genre, rejoice! This is the controller for you! WHY? Now please note that I've done some research, reading reviews and articles about some other third party Xbox 360 D-pads on the market and for the most part they were not favorable. I found a review of this controller on Kotaku and it seemed perfect for a gamer like myself. I've been playing with the HORI Xbox 360 Gem Pad EX for over a month now and I can honestly say that it is perfect for 2D-fighters and arguably the best D-pad you can get for a Xbox 360 controller for the price! The size is slightly bigger than a PS3 controller and slightly smaller than a 360 controller. The buttons are responsive. The build quality is good. So far I've played and finished: Mortal Kombat Kompete Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Marvel vs Capcom 2 I'm waiting for Ultra Super Street Fighter IV...or maybe I'll purchase Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition for cheap then purchase the DLC when it's available. I'll keep this updated! Here are some pros and cons: PROS (so far): Excellent D-Pad - accurate; definitely plays like an old school d-pad in every way Buttons are responsive Nice glow light when plugged in Price CONS (so far) Not wireless - the cord is a decent length but I would have preferred it to either be a little longer or no cord at all Overall, as I mentioned earlier I have not, nor do I intend to use this game pad for anything else other than 2D fighting games. For this purpose the HORI Gem Pad is excellent. As for anything else, well, obviously I cannot say. UPDATE! So since Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition is free for Xbox Live Gold members, I've decided to give it a go instead of waiting until August for a disc copy of the "Ultra" version. I tried out the Gem pad with Ryu, Guile, and Zangief. With Ryu I had no problem executing any of his special moves i.e. fireball, dragon uppercut, etc. I was able to execute Guile's charge attacks with ease as well. Zangief special moves were not a difficult as I expected however one of Zangief's ultra movies requires two 360 clock-wise motions with the d-pad which I could not do at all. This is not surprising because back in the day Zangief's moves were always near impossible to execute using a d-pad...at least for me. All in all playing Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Ediiton with the Hori Gem Pad worked about how I expected it to. The d-pad is actually slightly more responsive than I expected and for the most part doesn't require a lot of pressure to pull off a special move.	video-games_xbox
has everything the xo7's didn't for me. First off, I've used turtle beach's for years and the price for these seems high. But it is worth it if your anything like me. What always brought me to turtle beach was the surround sound. It's kinda a unfair advantage. But from my first pair ever back on 09 and the x3. I've been hooked. Now to the 500x. When I purchased my first pair for the Xbox one I went with the good old xo7. I figured for that price range they'll sound great. Feel great. Just a good mix of sound and comfort and wirelessness. But! I was disappointed in every aspect. Now, for $140 they were pricey but I was willing to pay anything to get me the turtles I imagined. I started Googling and found these. Fortunately my lady played for half of the xo7 so out of pocket on my end it wasn't to bad. But now to the review part. I'll base it on comparison to the xo7. SOUND QUALITY: these sound pretty brutal, a little more mids then I prefer but I've never been disappointed. It says dts 7.1 Dolby and its Incredibly accurate. If there's a sound and you do a 360 spin the sound will move with every centimeter you do. I'm very very impressed with the accuracy. The xo7 are stereo. Very stereo. So bad there's points in the quality where you will move but the sound won't. Comfort: these are very light on my head. The xo7 where fairly light to. But those got hot to me, and the head band made a lot of pressure on my head. I only wore the 7's for one night though so they could have broke in. I'll never know nor do I care. What sold me: these have Mic monitoring. If you've ever had it then went back to not.....you share my pain I had before these. It's a must with over the ear head phones. It's also completely wireless and the head set has a built in rechargeable battery. It beeps when it gets low and you can charge and play. People say these don't get loud enough. Bull. There plenty loud. There is also a aux plug in. Here's my typical setup. Music for background mixed in with the game and chat while I'm running bf4. Incredible. You can also talk through it on the phone while listening to the game. Another awesome feature. Last on the list are the sound preset. I have shooter then horror. Then the last two are factory. It does make a difference. I bought mine at best buy for the same price as here. And if you were as disappointed with the xo7 as I was, these will bring that smile back no problem.	video-games_xbox
Awesome console, can't wait for the bugs to be worked out. I'll start with saying I am very satisfied with my purchase. Graphics are amazing on games like Ryse and Forza and I can't wait for more content to be released. I also love the apps that are available and just wish they would open it up so more of the Windows 8.1 apps were allowed through. The voice control is awesome when it is on point. For some reason there are times when the Kinect picks up everything I say withough a problem and other times it is unresponsive. Not sure why as there is no ambient noise and the conditions are the same. Also, sometimes when the system is sleeping I have to say Xbox On about 5 times before it actually turns on and even then it doesn't always turn on and I have to go find a controller. This will only get better with updates hopefully and I'm definitely glad I have the voice control as most times I don't even have to get my controller out of a drawer to listen to music or watch some movies which is very convenient. However, I am getting very frustrated with the streaming problems in the Netflix app. The Xbox one is our primary entertainment device since we cut the cable. For about the last week or so the Netflix app on the X1 has been utterly terrible. It never makes it to HD, rebuffers every 5 minutes and then just stops working all together......at least that is what it did before, now it loads to 99% and never goes past that. When we originally got the X1 the netflix app worked brilliantly and we never had a problem so I'm not sure what is going on. What I do know is that Netflix works perfectly on my Surface RT, my wife's iPad, our phones and computers. So there is clearly a problem with the X1 app. Please fix as this is becoming a huge negative. If you are new to the X1 I would recommend getting digital games if you don't care about selling them used later. It may sound lazy but I'm loving the fact that I can switch games without getting up, finding a box, putting in the disc, finding the case for the other disc and storing it somewhere I will likely have trouble finding later:) It is just so much easier to say "Xbox, go to Ryse Son of Rome" and the game is on the screen. Cool. My only gripe with this is that the digital downloads are the same price as the disc. This is absolutely ridiculous. As a consumer I should pay less for something I am buying digitaly since they pay nothing physical production (case, maual, disc). Also I can't sell it on craigslist like I could a physical game so please wise up and compensate me for that. Microsoft is stupid on this as I would by all games digitally if they were cheaper which means Microsoft could cut out the middleman and make more money even though the game costs less. I also can't wait until developers figure out how to reduce load times, especially being that the entire game is installed on the hard drive it seems a bit crazy how long some of the load times are. Perhaps some solid state drives in the next batch of X1's would help remedy this. I do wish they would let you change out your hard disk as the new Samsung EVO ssd's are getting much cheaper and I assume they would dramatically speed up the load times. Eh well, one can dream. Overall I give it a 4 as it is not perfect but I will change to a 5 if they can fix things along the way (better voice recognition, better camea recognition so to not say hello to my wife when my mother walks in the room as that does not make wife happy, app problems like Netflix, cheaper price for digitally downloaded games and more content).	video-games_xbox
OK. Carnival is one of the better Kinect games. Annoying barker, yet the games seem more interesting to my children than most of the other Kinect games. Below is my review of the Kinect experience since we bought Kinects in 2010: Purchased Christmas 2010, when my children were 5 & 6. After being "wowed" by the technology and the graphics, but the games themselves aren't much fun. The fun part is saying "look what I can do". The tracking is poor and causes lots of frustration with children and adults. In 10 years when this technology is perfected it may be fun, but in 2012, my children prefer the free video games on Nick Jr and PBS. In perspective, Kinect should be free and Nick Jr and PBS should charge. We have tried several of the Kinect games, each which comes with glowing reviews to be disappointed. I wonder if the reviews are written by people in the first hour of playing or by the games companies themselves. We also bought Skylanders which has been a bigger hit with my kids than any of the Kinects games. These are the Kinect games we bought in order of best to worst: Kinect Sports: The best Kinect game. Tracks the best, user interface is best, the only Kinect game my kids want to play (occasionally). Kinectables: Frustrating tracking, cute and the second best game. Easy to get lost in store or house and not be able to find way back to map. My children might play this for an hour every couple of months. Was not able hold their interest after the first few days. Carnival: One of the best. Tracking seems better on this game. Annoying barker. Dance Central: Ok, but not really a kid game Kinect Adventures: Ok, but my kids are not interested in paying it more than once every couple of months for a 1/2 an hour Disneyland Adventure: Not very good. Tracking not very good. Nice graphics. You have to work through ten minutes of tedious interaction with Mickey and Goofy before you can play any games. My kids played it for an hour and have no interest in playing it again. Joy Ride: Absolutely awful. Small kids would like to have the feeling of driving a car. This is just crap! Your not driving, you are not doing anything. Terrible controls, terrible tracking, my kids were done with this piece of crap in about one hour. I gave it to the thrift store. They should pay you to play this game.	video-games_xbox
A mixed bag, complete with variations on Chess, Puzzle Fighting, RPGs and the traditional fighting modes. I'm one of those Mortal Kombat enthusiasts who sees the past through a pair of the ever-popular rose tinted glasses. Even though I'd never fought a single round of 3-D rendered MK prior to purchasing Deception, I unconsciously deemed every game since that switch to be of lesser quality than their vid-captured predecessors. I'd spent far too many quarters on the first three games in the series to see its trademark live-action cheesiness cast aside in favor of the polygonal rendering and three-dimensional environments that had become all the rage in the fighting genre. In a way, I want to stand by my pre existing pompous, know-it-all attitude. A lot of the charm and personality of the series was based around its B-Movie aura and the macabre sense of humor apparent therein. But the series will likely never be returning to that form, and it's probably for the best to wipe the slate clean and give these new-look MKs a chance before I blindly crap all over them. Deception succumbs to many of the problems I'd feared it might, but it also contains a few successes I couldn't have foreseen. For instance, it's more of a variety pack than a straightforward fighting game. In addition to the standard "fight to the top of the ladder" single player brawl, the package contains a strangely provocative translation of chess, complete with death traps and damage amplifiers. Additionally, it hides a truly challenging and entertaining Puzzle Fighter knock-off, (with a handful of post-match fatalities thrown in for good measure) a sort of hybrid fighting RPG that reminds strangely of Shenmue, and a gift shop-styled "Krypt," where the credits you'll earn throughout your gameplay experience can be used to purchase production art, hidden characters, alternate costumes, movies and the like. As someone who's always shied away from purchasing fighting games in the past, due to the problems with longevity and depth that I instinctively associate with the genre, these additions were a blessing in disguise. Upon reflection, I probably spent more time working through the Konquest mode than I did actually fighting my way up the ladder in single-player Kombat. Superficially, Konquest is probably among the worst games I've ever played. It's wooden, it's blatantly hurried, it's insultingly elementary in both visuals, audio, controls and motivations. Speaking to the commoners that frequent a city's streets, for instance, is like reading dialog from a story written by a third grade student with a D in English. What's worrying is that this story was evidently supposed to be the backbone of the whole of Deception, with every character's ending sprouting from ideas presented within. Shujinko, the martial artist you control throughout Konquest mode, is the tale's pivotal character. He's obviously meant to be something of a replacement for Liu Kang, which is a nice shift, since the series' reliance on Kang was becoming borderline obsessive. Yet, despite all the horrors contained within, underneath the surface of Konquest resides some intangible element that just kept me coming back over and over again. I think it was an underlying interest in understanding and mastering the nuances of the game as a whole. Although it's fairly elaborate and large-scale, the meat and potatoes of this RPG mode is a training regimen for every character in the game. Since Shujinko's fighting style is a mix of special moves and combos from each combatant, it makes sense for him to spend time learning each character's fighting style. The end result is not only a close familiarity with Shujinko's story, but also a clear understanding of both basic and advanced attacks with every playable character. I think I can safely say that I've never spent twenty hours working through a tutorial before, but in Konquest mode I scarcely noticed. As with any long-standing fighting franchise, a new chapter brings new playable characters, and Deception is no exception. Nine fighters are making their debut this time around, including the non-playable final boss, Onaga. Yet, with only one or two exclusions, these new faces can't even compare to the classics, neither in form nor function. They seem much more faceless than the creatures we've come to expect in a Mortal Kombat game. Their fighting styles are much more subtle and martial arts-based, and while there's something to be said for going the way of realism for a change, the new warriors just don't look formidable alongside Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Raiden. As I've said in my opening paragraphs, I consider myself to be something of an older-minded fan as far as the MK series is concerned. I liked the old games, complete with their goofy projectile attacks and inexplicable teleportations from one side of the screen to the other. It was taken for granted that such silly abilities would still be present with this year's model, and that surely is the case. Unfortunately, in their unyielding quest to constantly top themselves, the special move as a whole has become so far over the top and hard to believe that it's really starting to hurt the gameplay. If I'm fighting an eight foot dragon and he breathes flames over 97% of my body, I can accept the fact that my fighter may have trouble continuing. I'm still totally OK with the idea that a ninja can fire a mystical, freezing blast from the palms of his hands. Where I start to have questions, however, is when my fighter is knocked unconscious by a guy stomping really hard on the ground fifteen feet in front of me. Something tells me it's time for the team at Midway to take a step or two back and think about where they're going with their special attacks, because Deception is really stretching it with some of these things. In that same vein is the series' infamous cherry-on-the-top fatalities immediately following a fight. These, too, occasionally go too far over the top, but are granted a bit more leeway than the special attacks I mentioned above. For the most part, they're at once hilarious and horrific, with little touches and nuances making them all the more disturbing. Like the way an impaled torso squirms for a moment, after being separated from each of its limbs and its head, before falling into inactivity for the last time. Hilarious, because it's so unabashedly violent, but also sickening, because the layman wouldn't even think of something like that before witnessing it in all of its polygonal glory. At this stage in the consoles' lives, I think there's very little room to impress with the PS2, Xbox or Gamecube's visual capabilities. As such, MK:D is a strictly average graphical performance. There are some intriguing touches, such as the way fighters begin to display facial damage as the rounds carry on, but for the most part it's by the books. The stage designs and accompanying backgrounds are stellar, which may give the impression that things are looking better than they actually are, but under close scrutiny it's easy to discover a few shortcuts and trimmed corners. Especially bothersome is the endings, tailor-made to each character in typical series fashion. Where there's a lengthy FMV introduction to the game that's close to five minutes in length, the endings are at most three slides of still renderings with half a paragraph of subtitles and a voice-over. I'd have much rather been entertained with an introductory paragraph at the outset and rewarded with a beautiful series of cutscenes after finishing the game with each character, personally. Of course, the series made its name on its bloodletting, and on this front, Deception certainly doesn't disappoint. Rather than spraying abstractly into the air after each strike, the player's crimson fluids take the shape of thick, rotund blood droplets which slowly roll their way down the player's body after a rough attack. In a way, it's like watching a tree bleed syrup. When those globs hit the floor, you'll notice that a series of intertwining blood trails left behind. After a fight, if you look closely enough at the ground, you'll notice a map of where each major strike occurred during the brawl, as evidenced by the trail of blood splatters and puddles. In a way, it's kind of like a twisted version of the Family Circus maps that followed each child around the neighborhood, just with more broken bones and dislocated spines. Despite my early concerns, Deception really does retain a lot of that old-school Mortal Kombat personality. The instances are frequent where I find myself laughing at a fatality in the same way I did in '92, upon catching first glimpse of the original arcade machine. However, those instances do appear to be shrinking. It seems to be the right time for this series to reinvent itself, as the initial concept has been stretched to the point of breaking on more than one front and the threat of a descent into complete self-destruction looms on the horizon. I'm really looking for this series to re-establish itself as pushing the envelope, as it seems to have slipped into complacency in the last decade. What made it so special and so unique in the first place was its willingness to do what other games wouldn't. Deception has a lot of good elements - it's still a very challenging game, it provides a lot more variety than many of its peers, and it provides a good blend of comedy and stone-faced sobriety. As a "greatest hit," there's no question I'm happy with my purchase. What it doesn't do, unfortunately, is bode well for the future of the franchise if this path is continued for much longer.	video-games_xbox
This is a MESS. * This is a warning about XBRDepot * * * * XBRdepot eXtreme Complete Drill-free * * Uniclamp (TM) kit for XBOX 360 * * * **************************************** I got my xbox from a friend, I'm not a gamer and know nothing about them. I used the xbox for about 30 minutes, the screen froze and I got the 3 red lights. I did the usual unplug, let it cool down and the same thing, RROD. I bought this kit after some research on the internet, and XBRDepot was the most prevalent fix it kit at Amazon. So I paid my 25 dollars. That was a huge mistake. As a person that has 30 years experience building and repairing PC; this Kit is borderline FRAUD. At first I thought I was just short a bunch of washers. I sent them an E-mail asking for the washers because I'd reached a point I could go no further with the repair. No response. I went to the hardware store and bought similar washers and pressed on. Long story short, the screws were too short. The pads on the Uni-Clamp are too thick. The sticky pads used to creat a heat sink for the RAM chips against the case are too thick. If you can accomplish the impossible and get the assembly put together, it puts so much pressure on the mother board that it flexes (as does the Uni-Clamp) which was one of the orginal problems to begin with. And this flex is way more severe than the manufactured flex. I looked at the "fixed" motherboard and was disgusted that someone would put out a product and instructions that could very well destroy the xbox instead of fixing it. I then disembled every thing. I examined the mother board for damage. I found the CPU and GPU shims failed because of the extreme pressure placed on them by the heat sinks caused by the short screws and the too thick CPU/GPU pads on the Uni-Clamp. I stripped off the shims and recleaned the motherboard. I inspected the MB around the GPU/CPU with a magnifier for cracked welds or crushed chips. While all appeared ok, I realized that I had just put this xbox mother board through a severe stress test. That's not what I paid 25 bucks for. I shall press on. After looking at YouTube I found a viedo of this very fix but made by xbox-experts.com. I went back to Amazon and found their solution to the problem. Same type of fix and it appears to have the correct washers and screw size. I can only wonder about the thickness of the CPU/GPU pads on their Uniclamp. I guess for 15 bucks I'll find out. Their video and instructions appear authentic. As a matter fact, XBRDepot is trying to use some of Xbox-Experts documentation as their own which will never work because their products are different. I hope this helps anyone considering this type of fix and make you aware of the different companies that sell them. Regards, Scott	video-games_xbox
Worth traveling back in time for. I admit I was a skeptic when this game was first announced. After the success of "Modern Warfare", why make yet another WWII game? To World at War's credit, they take on the largely overshadowed Pacific theater of World War II, as well as the final battles on the Eastern Front...and they do a great job at them both. You really get a sense of the suicidal determination of Japanese soldiers when they ambush you and charge at you with fixed bayonets even when you're wielding a flamethrower, and as a Russian you will listen to your allies arguing over whether or not the brutality of the Nazis justifies being just as brutal to them in turn. The campaign is as emotionally charged and action-packed as Call of Duty 4, aided by the voice talents of Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman as soldiers fighting alongside you. Even if you are sick of World War II titles, World at War's solid (though once again short) singleplayer campaign is gripping in a way that few games are. Unique to World at War is co-op. You can take on the campaign mentioned above with three friends, or you can take on the addictive Nazi zombies mode. In this mode, you fight endless waves of zombies and earn money for weapons, ammo, and doors to new areas to improve your chances. You only start with one map, but can download three others (at a price) off Xbox Live. Multiplayer has changed little from Call of Duty 4 - but really, Call of Duty 4 was so great, why should it? The killstreaks have a historical twist - instead of a UAV, you get a recon plane and an artillery strike instead of an airstrike - but the replacement of the helicopter (that most players can hide from) with a pack of attack dogs (that chase down the enemy and maul them if they don't get shot first) is a great twist. The favorite perks from COD 4 return (like stopping power and juggernaut) which means you'll largely ignore the new ones (Shades? Seriously?) The game is slightly slower-paced considering your guns have smaller clips and a slower rate of fire than today's weapons. The maps are generally well-designed, with some better geared towards sniping and others meant for close-quarters combat. World at War sounds great, and the graphics help convey the darker side of war. Call of Duty online has always received more attention and World at War offers more than CoD 4, but the singleplayer shouldn't be left untouched. Even if you're sick of WWII games, this deserves a chance.	video-games_xbox
The best fighting game for old school fans! Snag it while it's less then $20 bucks. BlazeBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend cut is a under the radar type fighting game (Unless your a fan of the BlazBlue game series) This is the first B.B. title I've played it's super impressive on a lot of levels It's a massive homage to SNK arcade fighters and Capcom 2-D fighters from the mid 1990's Controls: are retro If you ever went to a arcade in the hay day of arcade's you'll be able to pick up and play this title fairly quick! One button makes your character taunt! blocking you have to hold the back button Graphics: Are stunning this is the best looking fighting title on the XBOne console it looks like a playable cartoon much like 1983's Dragon's Lair it's cool to see this style Everything looks hand drawn that's a very rare thing now it's also very Japanese some things are off and don't really connect with North America The Audio: Sound is top notch (The soundtrack is really good) the announcer on the other hand is terrible Thankfully you can go in and edit the sound any way you like i suggest doing that all the v/o actors do a good job some characters sound a little over the top or just plain strange but, it's a fighting game! Not the Godfather The Story: I haven't got a clue (haven't played Story mode yet) there is a mock up classroom you can go to which explains the back story to everything told in a very clever way w/ all v/o work! Lots of Bang for your buck! The quality and content on this game is nothing short then amazing! This studio Arc System Works really takes pride in there product there is so much in terms of extras this isn't a bare boned fighting game they put lots and i mean lots into this title it also came with a real psychical booklet! who knew I only put 2 hrs into this game but, it really impressed me more people should know about this title and support something unique like this it's not a silly money grab port like the latest DOA was Overall this is a real must have for die hard fighters that want something different then DOA, K.I. and MK X 9.4/10 P.S. There is a BlazBlue Alter Memory movie on a Blu Ray/dvd combo If i enjoy the story mode in this game i might have to check out the film...... who knew this franchise must be somewhat big to have a film	video-games_xbox
Just not what it could have been...I wanted so much more. I applaud the effort that went into building this game, but they really needed a few more months on it. The graphics look kind of blurry and some of the textures just don't fit right. I liked the sound effects...particularly the cabinet doors opening and closing in Frodo's home, but the singing from Tom Bombadil was pretty awful and Frodo's clumsy dancing made it even more ridiculous. The problem is the combat, the stupidity of the enemies and the unforgiveable load times. The enemies move in ways that don't make sense, can't seem to see you unless you strike them, and get trapped by little knee-high obstacles that they should be able to walk over or around. Ring Wraiths just aren't scary at all when a two-foot hedge prevents it's efforts to grab Frodo. They sure don't seem very motivated. But the load times are very long and jar you out of the experience. I took this game back to the store and exchanged it for Dynasty Warriors 3. Dynasty takes about five seconds to load a level or scenario that is about a mile across and has hundreds if not thousands of soldiers and horses in full battle. You play from one end of the map to the other killing hundreds and hundreds of soldiers and even big boss captains that have their own fighting skills. And ALL of this happens with that one five second load time. You run inside of a castle, you fight your way down the stairs, you jump on a horse and gallop a half mile to the front lines...ALL of this without a single load time. In Lord of the Rings, if Frodo is the only character on screen and wants to walk into a Hobbit hole, it loads for a good fifteen seconds, then you want to leave...well there is another twenty seconds of load time. If you accidentally hit the wrong button and walk back in a door you just came out of...it's gonna take you a minute before you get your character back again. This is really unforgiveable with the hard drive on the Xbox being not being used at all. Even when Gandalf is in Moria, he would stand at the door of a room and wait for it to load, so it would be black until the graphics loaded. The game is also very short...too short for an epic. It took me five hours to get to Moria and I was just walking around alot, taking my time. Any game that costs $50 better give me alot more gameplay than 10-12 hours worth.	video-games_xbox
If you liked Dead Island, you'll probably like this too. Bought the game on digital download with my buddy on release. We have become increasingly skeptical of release day games, but this one has very few bugs and was quite smooth. If you liked Dead Island, there's a good chance you will like Dying Light. There's Co-op, and it's just like single player only with others. You can't run into each other or anything, which is necessary for the parkour aspect. Things similar to Dead Island: -loot anything and everything. It's almost tedious, but luckily you can use your "survivor sense" (I lol'd at this because it sounds too much like "spidey sense"). It will highlight all collectable and lootable items. -crafting. All these random materials you find are usually for building some kind of cool weapon. There's a base (essentially the weapon before modification) and then the stuff you add (fire, electricity, poison, etc). I have encountered a fair amount of blueprints so far. -tons of side quests and random stuff to do. Most are more or less similar just in a different setting/objective. But still fun. There's a lock picking aspect I honestly think is pointless. Even the very hard locks are relatively easy. Game doesn't pause while doing them so have to secure an area first :). Things Dying Light improved on over Dead Island: -the parkour. You can get around much faster and it makes navigating the map much more fun. Trying to hit crazy gaps, moving swiftly on the rooftops or around zombies. It's well done. -improved skill system. I believe with dead island you simply leveled up and chose a skill in a skill tree. Dying Light has a dynamic system that is based off of how much you use that skill (agility, survival, power). I found its quite easy to abuse this system. For example, at night, power and agility points double. You can find a rooftop and jump back and forth and farm your agility skill very easily. -Night time. When night hits, the number of zombies on the streets greatly increases. In addition, more dangerous zombies appear, including a type called volatiles. Very fast, strong dangerous; yet, killable. With the option allowed, other plays can take control of a hunter at night and it opens a kind of mini game against te survivors. It's very hard and the hunter has a huge advantage. Stay close or don't bother. TL;DR if you thought Dead Island was good, you'll probably think this is too.	video-games_xbox
Left me wishing for more. There are three things that matter to me when I sit down to play a game. (1) Playability, (2) The Story, and (3) Graphics. This game excelled in all three. The ease of directing my character about and choosing his moves were so prominent and felt so natural that I just sort of fell into my character's role. As in few other RPG games, I didn't doubt for a second what I was supposed to do to move forward. The story of the game is deep and riveting - but more importantly, sensible. This is not just another action game with annoying, throw-away characters and subplots that go nowhere. You actually care about the characters involved and you take a keen interest in what their future holds, even the characters that you only get to see for a moment. The ending is especially well done, for it left me thinking about where my character would go next, what he would do, what path he would follow. Even though I made his decisions throughout the entire game, he was still his own character - I simply shaped him a bit. When I finally put the controller down and watched the credits roll up the screen, I was heartbroken that it was over. But then I realized that I could simply start all over again with a completely different character, and end up in a completely different place. A whole new experience. If you're anything like me, trust me when I say that this game is one of a kind. And last, but certainly not the least, the graphics are fantastic and at times breath-taking. The graphics only work to bring out the story and characters and make the universe that the game is set in all the more believable. They never fail to set the tone for whatever setting you find yourself in. As with its predecessor, The Sith Lords raised the bar for role-playing games. Role-playing games, such as Final Fantasy, while still enjoyable in their own right, tend to allow the player almost no freedom at all. Sith Lords allows an astounding amount of freedom. You can literally go where you want, do you what you want, however you want to do it. Granted, it's not Grand Theft Auto, but then, GTA is not a role-playing game. But while I am quick to point out the great aspects of the game, I most also point out the bad. The first major annoyance is that the game continually froze and I was forced to reset the system and start over. To counter this problem, you'll be forced to save often and on different slots - the game even warns you to do so. It's not really a big deal, but it did get to me a little. The second major annoyance was my inability to control all the members of my party proficiently - the AI continally got me into trouble I could have avoided. (This is one of the problems the first Knights of the Old Republic had.) Other than that, there's nothing else worth mentioning. As with its predecessor, I hold this game in the highest esteem, and eagerly look foward to the next (if there is one) installment. Enjoy the game!	video-games_xbox
Wow. Just "wow. OK, maybe a little more than just "wow." This is hands-down the most engrossing and haunting game I've ever played. Granted, I'm not a hardcore gamer; more of a dabbler. But this made me think of the first time I played the original (and still the best) HALO. Or the first time I played MYST. From the original moment I entered the building that led down to this undersea city to the moment I left, I found much to love. The design--it's not just the art deco architecture, which is amazing, but the audio--the music, the propaganda blared over loudspeakers in certain areas, the splicers' (bad guys) dialogue, the sounds of pipes dragged across a concrete floor, the sonorous whale noises in certain sections, even the silence and static add to the creepy immersion into this f-ed up world. And the overheard phrases of little sisters talking to big daddies (the big bads in the diving suits) as they let them know that they're "ready for dream time". Can't get that out of my head. Adding to the completeness with which the creators built this world are the short animations or flash cards that appear when you gain new powers, the story that unfolds through both your actions, voice cues from Andrew Ryan, radio messages from different factions trying to help you or warn you away; even the ways you gather weapons, powers ranging from electric shock (my personal favorite) to sending a swarm of bees to distract opponents. One power, "enrage" even lets you turn your enemies against each other, letting them do each other harm so you can pick off the remainders. It forces you to make choices throughout the game that affect how it ends. Gather parts along the way and invent weapons or tools. Or gather money along the way and buy them. Gather ammo or gather money and buy. Buy/create the anti-personnel rounds (great against some enemies) or use your resources to buy/create motion detector mines (great in other situations). Save the little sisters or "harvest" them. Use the available slots for powers like telekinesis (needed to gather from high ledges or inaccessible areas or hurl objects at enemies) or hypnotizing big daddies (really helpful in certain parts of the game). I loved the flexibility and the consideration of how all these elements intermingled in a story that felt like a cross between an old Doc Savage pulp fiction novel, Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead, and others I can't mention without going spoiler-y. And when I say "felt like", that's not to say that they just ripped them off; just captured the tone of those, while creating a dark original story. I loved that story's twists and turns, the sense of discovery, wonder and sometimes disgust that came with it. There were no false notes; just dead-on action, suspense and entertainment. Oh yeah--I also loved blowing stuff up, hacking safes and robots with machine guns, setting traps for enemies, foraging for supplies, shooting down enemies crawling across a dark ceiling with glowing metal hooks for hands and all the other things that come with a good action game. I can't wait to play this again choosing different powers along the way to spend more time in the world of Rapture.	video-games_xbox
A challenging, frustrating, sometimes fun, yet easy game. Project Sylpheed takes place in the distant future, where people can now travel in space and even go to distant star systems. You play in the game as a rookie TCAF (think of them as one big government for every planet) pilot named Katana; Katana is also joined by his childhood friend Ellen. During a regular training exercise out in space Katina's unit is attacked by ADAN forces (those who oppose the TCAF) and one rookie member is killed. During the dog fight Katana learns that his best friend Margras is with the ADAN attack force. How did this happen? You'll just have to play the game to find out more! Project Sylpheed is a space flight simulator done in an arcade style, meaning you get thousands of bullets and very little realism. The game does have a very difficult control scheme that will take some getting used to, although I must admit it took me about 3/4 of the game to get it down 100%. I found that at times the mini map was very hard to follow and in some cases was of little to no use, also at times the screen can be cluttered with more than 100 enemies and you will have your captain shouting at you to take out a certain enemy.....witch 80% of the time was more than a minor annoyance to find. One thing that REALLY annoyed me with Project Sylpheed was every mission was timed, one mission in particular was especially hard and I was 5 seconds away from completing it with 4 seconds on the clock-which brings me to my next point. Project Sylpheed has a roller coaster difficulty even on easy, for example you can do 2 or 3 missions easily enough get some plot progression and then the game will slap you in the face with a retardidly hard mission-which leads me to point #2. After you attempt the mission 3 times the game will let you skip over it to go to the next mission or plot point even on the final mission lol. The story in Project Sylpheed is WAY more than you will get in say, Ace Combat or Hawx, but it is painfully predictable/see-through although it is clich to the max, the cut scenes were done wonderfully they did leave me wanting to play more just to watch the story unfold (although by the time I was 1/4 way through the game I had a good idea of how it was going down) The graphics in Project Sylpheed are nothing to brag about, they are very PS2-ish while viewing in-game graphics, while the cut scenes are definitely of a higher caliber as is typical of Square Enix. Project Sylpheed took me around 8 hours to beat on easy. I can honestly say I probably won't replay it for some time. I'm just glad I got it on a last copy clearance price at GameStop for $5 personally I would not pay this game more than $15. Overall 4.0/5.0 I recommend this game only if you have nothing else to play or go gaga for arcade style shooters or JRPG style stories.	video-games_xbox
Loved it. Alright ill try and keep this shirt and sweet. So ever since dead rising one first came out I've loved the franchise. I must have beat DR1 about 5 or 6 times. I also bought DR2 but was unable to finish it due to a busy schedule and it also didn't really grip me as much as the first one. So when DR3 came out I waited to hear reviews from those I knew and I got a love hate scenario from everyone so went ahead and finally purchased it and man did I love it!!!! I was addicted instantly! I have to say it was better then the first which not many game companies can do. Explaining everything to a non Dead rising fan would take to long so I'm going to hit the hard points. Content: plenty of it and more so much to do and find its crazy but not to insane to where you'll eventually give up or lose interest. Gameplay/Graphics: graphics are pretty decent for next gen lot of blood and gore for those who love it and zombies? Are everywhere!!!! Game play is simple and anyone DR king or noob can master the game play in the first couple missions. The open world is a perfect size in my opinion and again isn't overwhelming. On that note that's exactly what I love about this game and which makes it my favorite over the first one. Is that the producers didn't overwhelm you at any point during the game like they did in the first two. I remember pulling my hair out because the axiexty the first DR gave me with all the missions, survivors rescues, and excruciating boss fights they threw at you at one time. In DR3 there is plenty of time to explore, do missions, find survivors and just have fun without having to be rushed about the main story. Which was awesome!!! It kept making me wanting to keep playing instead of rage quiting because I couldn't recuse a survivor and do the mission on time and for those DR fans out there you know what I'm talking about. Great game capcom did a perfect job with everything and adding new/updating the content from the previous two. Also made the computer AI alot smarter so your not afraid to rescue them or have them in your posse! Definitely recommend this game to all zombie killing, open world, third person gamers.	video-games_xbox
They just keep getting better. The setting is Boston/New York in the late 1700s, Colonial times. Though hindered by a few of the usual flaws that seem to have become Assassin's Creed traditions (which I will elaborate on shortly), this particular installment still manages to improve on much of the series in remarkable ways. Let me start by explaining what keeps this otherwise magnificent game from its 5-star rating, and then I'll tell you why it nevertheless blew me away ;) The Bad The "traditions" I mentioned earlier include occasional glitching, control issues where you can't get your character to jump the way you tell him to (though this is pretty rare if you know what you're doing), ridiculously difficult optional objectives (for attaining what is called "full synchronization") which has plagued the series since AC: Brotherhood, and that pesky notoriety/templar awareness/wanted level thing we've been stuck with since AC2. Now to be fair on the full sync, they did a good thing by making it so if you mess up one of the objectives, you can go back to the last checkpoint and try again instead of having to do the whole mission over like in the previous games, but it's still nothing short of frustrating when you're given extremely difficult (beyond "challenging") objectives - I'd say about 10% of the time. And speaking of frustrating, beware that you collect wanted levels in a manner of speaking as you fight (and of course kill) guards. In the original Assassin's Creed, once you'd killed or lost the guards that were initially after you, you go back to "Anonymous" which means you can roam freely just like before. But since AC2's release, you are now penalized by having to run around looking for posters to rip off walls or town criers to bribe, just to get your notoriety back down to normal. Not fun. Just a hassle. If they'da gotten rid of that one feature in this game (or at least made it like in AC2 and Brotherhood where you could eventually find a way to lock your wanted level at zero), it would've been awesome. But instead, it's inexcusably short of that. There are also new problems. There are way too many guards on the rooftops in cities and it's nowhere near as easy to kill them from the ledge like in previous games, making freerunning on the roofs more something to dread than enjoy (unless you're looking for a fight). Thankfully, the game allows you to freerun elsewhere, but we'll get to that (because it's a good thing, doesn't belong in this section). The story and dialogue are sub-par when compared to those from AC2 to now; there's no denying that. Sometimes the writing, voice acting, and/or facial animations are just plain bad. But, I consider this a small bother because all I require is a generally likable character, nice graphics and sound, and excellent gameplay and I'm good. Besides, the story itself does remain interesting ENOUGH to hold your interest, just not great. And there's so much ELSE to do in the game, the story will take up relatively little of your time. Finally, there are some minor issues with the game itself. Texts not staying on the screen long enough for the dialogue to complete, some missions give you too many instructions to read in a short time so you have to pause and then unpause for them to appear on the screen again, little things like that. The Good (and by "Good" I mean "Great!") First thing that blew me away was the immense improvement in graphics and presentation. Graphics alone can't make or break a game, IMO, but it was a notable improvement nonetheless. Beautiful scenery, all that good stuff. But mainly, I like what they've done with the interface. The menu and such. It's easier than ever before to navigate through it all. And instead of having to pause the game and select "Skip Cinematic" to, you know, skip cinematics, you can simply hold the B button. And if you do pause the game in the middle of a cinematic and then Resume, it doesn't clip off the audio and/or subtitles it was in the middle of like the others did. They've finally introduced a weather system along with the day and night cycle. Rain, snow, etc. Makes for some delightful thunderstorms and such. Even after playing AC: Liberation and AC: Black Flag, this one has the best-looking and more varied weather. And they've decided to bring back HUMOR! Lots of it, especially in the little descriptions of places, people, etc. in the Animus Database. The latest change in controls takes some getting used to. You no longer have to hold/push A while running to climb or jump small-to-medium sized gaps. Some people don't like it, they say it's too easy. But I think it's plenty CHALLENGING enough, just not as much "work" to climb and free-run now, which I came to appreciate personally. You can now fast-walk and even run through crowds of people without it slowing you down hardly at all. That's right, no more bumping into people and falling to the ground like you just got hit by a car. Even the kids (3's version of the beggars and minstrels in earlier games) that try to get in your way and slow you down are quite ineffective unless you're walking slowly (And it's a good thing they are, because you can't kill them like you could the others... ...What? It's a video game!) Seriously, a wedgie cinematic or something would've been nice :P Combat has improved a bit (once you get used to the changes). There are a lot of awesome animations and different ways to counterattack. Most of the enemies take longer to kill in open conflict depending on which weapon you're using, but it's easier than ever before to use your secondary weapon (such as a pistol) in the middle of a fight, which of course drops them dead with one hit. It's easier (but still not TOO easy) to run away and lose the guards by hiding, than it was in the last game (Revelations). In addition to haystacks, civilians on benches, civilians standing around, and wells; they've made it so you can hide in semi-tall brush. Very helpful. And once you're done being chased or beaten to a pulp, your health regenerates without you having to worry about Medicine or anything. So that's helpful (though it does mean you can't heal in the middle of a fight, which makes it more of a challenge in that way). Oh, and you don't have to worry about getting your equipment repaired anymore either. Basically they've taken most of the HASSLE out of the series, and kept the fun stuff. Even looting is better. And by that I mean FASTER. The money system in general is much improved. Ever since they brought money into the series (in AC2), the player has easily ended up with too much of it too quickly - and yes, there is such a thing. It's supposed to feel like you've ACCOMPLISHED something, when you get a good amount of money together. It's probably for this reason they removed the feature of getting loads of money at set intervals. Now there is a practical incentive for looting people and chests, or trying out the new income system wherein you send out convoys with items you've found or crafted and reap the harvest when it returns. That's not to mention the assassins contract mini-game (introduced in Brotherhood), which has also been improved. Mainly, you can now send them out on other missions no matter where you are (no more hunting down pigeon coops). You also don't have to worry about your assassins dying or Templars invading your cities trying to take them back once they've been liberated. On a related note, the forts are a vast improvement over the Borgia towers and Templar dens of the previous two games (no more chasing cowardly captains with a measly 10 second time limit before they magically disappear and you have to start all over again). Again, more fun, less hassle. And as an added bonus, different "guards" take over the forts and you can get hours of enjoyment out of sneaking into them and killing everyone even after they've been liberated ;) Now one change you're liable to either love or hate is that you literally cannot kill civilians in this installment. Your weapon buttons will simply not respond until you are facing an enemy. Nor can you kill people's pets or livestock. Yes!, they have animals now! And you can hunt them in the wilderness which was actually a lot more fun than I expected it to be. Climbing and free-running through the trees in the wild frontier (this is where freerunning is the most fun, IMO) to stalk your prey or just explore is a nice break away from all the dirty, mangy, rotten humans in the storyline :P Speaking of animals, they brought back horses and even fixed one problem that was annoying me in Brotherhood. Namely, I no longer accidentally call a horse (that I can't get rid of in the same fashion) because the Horse Whistle is now something you must select and THEN use by pushing B. Much better. I simply never "equip" it and voila - problem solved. Collectibles are more challenging, which makes them a lot more fun to go after. You'll either be picking a lock on a treasure chest, chasing down almanac pages that are blowing in the wind, or planning how you're going to reach that feather sitting high up in the trees... Okay, so they're not practical goals, but since when were collectibles about practicality? I actually wish the game allowed me to put all those feathers back in the trees so I could collect them all over again! Really, all SORTS of activities from previous games have been fleshed out. The fast travel stations can be traveled TO (instead of just from) any place on the map which is really helpful, but before that you have to explore the underground tunnels and unlock them (rather than "buying/renovating" them - yawn). They even improved the "fight club" mini-game. It's more a side quest now, ending with a tournament that may not be the greatest but is still leagues better than what we saw in Brotherhood and Revelations. Naval battles have been introduced into the series. You get to drive a ship, attack/defend against enemy vessels, etc. It was also more enjoyable than I expected. These are things I never really had much interest in when I first heard they were being added, but I'm glad they did it. Long story short (Ok yeah, too late for that, sorry), this is a phenomenal game. What it lacks in its story it more than makes up for in everything else. So far, the series just keeps getting better ;)	video-games_xbox
EA MMA the sequel; but better. Basically, with the exception of certain older UFC games on the PS2, I've played all MMA games in existence; even the horrible MMA Supremacy. (what a joke)...Here are my thoughts on this game. Graphics- While the graphics in this game are clean, sharp and have much attention in detail, this game could've certainly been on the Xbox 360 or PS3 for that matter. In fact, it really doesn't push the Xbox One the way it was hyped. Chances are, if you played EA's MMA game (the one that had Bobby Lashley, Bob Sapp and a slew of other non-UFC fighters), you're going to think the graphics are a slight step up. There are certain details I really dug, like a fighter every now and then wiping his nose or blood off his face, blood spattering all over his/her chest, facial damage and leg damage, the physics and so on...but make no bones about it, EA's MMA did almost the same amount as this game with the exception of how smooth the movement is. (In fact, in EA's MMA game, you could see the muscles of fighters flex convincingly or their faces contort in anger, frustration whilst wincing in pain. The blood level was about the same...but again, this game brings better physics and not to mention character models with accurate bodies. Unlike the UFC undisputed series....the body shapes differ with each fighter. Not to mention, you can seriously beat the hell out a fighter and the detail shows...though magically, in the next round, some if not most of the detail vanishes. Then, there's the arenas which are nothing special. Character intros are about as limited as UFC undisputed 3, and the ring card girls just look "dull" and sometimes lacking in detail. What is good about this game is the "oomph" behind hits. Leg kicks look brutal. Punches look convincing. Knockouts look great and have some weight behind the fall. Still, this isn't a game in which the graphics push the Xbox one beyond. Score- 8/10 Sound- The sound effects are decent. The music is limited (but who really cares about that in an MMA game), I liked the menu music at times. The commentary is much better in the sense of not abruptly cutting off ad Joe Rogan goes into detail about what's going on in the ring. Score- 9/10 Gameplay- Last E3, we were teased with more moves, and all the "omg moments", thankfully, most of it is intact. The good part is the balancing. Characters that aren't good at submissions don't do every submission in the book and movesets are appropriate. The roster is huge. You get every weight class from Heavyweight to the women's bantamweight division. All the top fighters are included from Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones, Henricks, Woodley, McDonald, Rousey, Mighty Mouse, Cerrone and so on. Bruce Lee is even tossed in. My only problem was that the women's division is slim pickings and there's no way to create women fighters to boost it. The fights are better balanced now. You can really stand and bang a 5 rounder, 3 rounder or go to decision or just barely squeak a knockout. The stamina system's back and if you wanna play well, mashing buttons while okay, is not ideal. Besides that, there's the career mode, fight highlights from the UFC official site, Xbox Live games, or replays, a create a fighter (which is a step down tbh), options, and the multiplayer. Multiplayer was pretty good in my opinion, but some created fighters absolutely nerf in power thanks to attributes not being restricted properly. I experienced some lag once or twice, but for the most part, it's a smooth experience. Anyway, being that the Xbox one is slim in fighters (besides the obvious Killer Instinct), I highly recommend getting this game...the CPU puts up a good fight, the online community is active, the control is smooth and responsive...the balancing is great...the graphics are decent...but you certainly couldn't go wrong with buying this now. Overall- 8/10	video-games_xbox
Still worth it. I'll come out and say it. I'm an absolute Tetris addict. I've owned it since original the Gameboy and Nintendo days and on every cellphone I've owned. I'm going to review this game from a 2009 point-of-view, considering the Xbox Live version as well. First things first, the XBox controller is a definite barrier. I own 4 controllers and finally found one that has a smidge more precision than the rest and I don't have too many issues any more (granted, it shouldn't take ~$90 in controllers to get this). I can't say the same for when friends come over and pick up a second controller for a few quick games. After this, the gameplay options are fun and many. My favorite will always be marathon (online), but additions like Cascade and others make for a fun experience. One of the largest benefits of this version versus the XBLA version is that you can have four people play on one screen with them lined parallel across the screen. In the XBLA version they are organized into a square and are too small to be comfortably played, even on a 37" TV. Graphics The graphics are what you'd expect for a 25 year old game on a HD system. They are HD and vibrant. One quibble is that the default background is distracting (actually gave me motion sickness!) but is easily changed. The graphics are better than the XBLA version, which is to be expected. Music The music is what you've come to love (or loath) with some updates to the. I play streaming music from my laptop so this isn't a major issue for me. One little quibble is that each number of eliminated lines has it's own sound effect. When you get a single it's an embarassing sound, but that's just me going overboard in the dork area. It's nothing horrible. Online In 2009 the XBLA version blows this version away in terms of number of people you have to play against. So if going online is a deciding factor for you, get that version instead. Otherwise, both versions have crisp play. Positives +Tons of gameplay options compared to XBLA version +Crisp Graphics +It's Tetris +Low Price Point after a few years (XBLA version still cheaper) Negatives -Not as many people to play online as XBLA version -The XBox 360 D-Pad	video-games_xbox
An RPG by any other name. Let me begin this review by saying that I have never been a fan of the GTA series. I made it perhaps 2 hours into San Andreas before giving up and maybe 5-10 hours into GTA IV. So it's taken me by complete surprise that Red Dead Redemption (RDR), a game that plays almost exactly like GTA IV, has me completely hooked. Maybe it's simply the change in atmosphere from urban crime to the old west. Or perhaps it's the small and subtle changes to the gameplay, such as the deadeye mode, that Rockstar has made since GTA IV. Nevertheless, I'm finding RDR a significant improvement over previous Rockstar games. The visuals in the game are certainly gorgeous, the voice acting and narrative, solid. But what I've found most striking about RDR has been how much it plays like an RPG. Rockstar may bill RDR as a shooter, but it's every bit as much an RPG as games like Mass Effect 2 or Fable 2. Character progression may be a bit lighter than those games, but inventory management and the quest system are every bit as developed, if not more so. If there's one complaint I have about RDR, it's that the controls are a bit wooden, especially when moving around on foot (anyone who's played GTA IV should understand what I mean here). Additionally, the setting means less opportunity for the player to create the sorts of crazy scenarios you might be used to seeing in GTA. However, I think Rockstar has dealt with both of these issues well. For the controls, they've added the deadeye mode, a slow motion mode where you line up your shots before firing them off in rapid succession. Not only does the deadeye mode help with the clunky controls, but it adds that quick draw feel to the character, that makes you believe he really is a wild west gunslinger like you've seen so many times in the movies. On the other issue, you may not be able to drive your car into helicopters in RDR. However, I think that Rockstar has recognized the need for content to fill this gap, and has introduced a slew of side-quests into the game. Whether you're out hunting wildlife, wrangling cattle, or fending off road-side bandits, you'll never lack for new and interesting things to do in RDR. I think it's these side-quests most of all that give the game such an RPG feel to it. In conclusion, let me just say that RDR is an excellent game. It's gorgeous, immersive, novel, and loads of fun. It will keep you entertained for dozens of hours, even if, like me, you've never really liked this kind of gaming formula before in the GTA games. In short, buy it.	video-games_xbox
I Loved It For Awhile At Least. I have always been a fan of pretty much anything WWII and this game grabbed me from the start. When I 1st stuck in Call of Duty World at War I was totally blown away by the single player campaign. I found the graphics were awesome and the sound was even better. I felt the music though repeating a lot was well done and it really added to the action when the music got more aggressive during big action sequences. I was totally blown away in the 1st level that takes place at night when all of a sudden there is a flare shot up in the air and a surprise awaits you even though these surprises are not often it was nice. One thing I did notice that the hiding attackers or when someone rushes you it feels kind of overdone so you come to expect it but it was satisfying to rush them. I guess maybe the Japanese attackers were really this aggressive in WWII but even with that said it feels overdone. I also found myself getting blown up by so many grenades and dying that it became very annoying. Something else that annoyed me was enemies coming up behind me or out of my field of vision and giving me a quick death. It kept me on my toes and on edge but even that felt annoying. I did find the AI to rather weak to the point where I killed a room full of people with a knife and one time I ran through a mission with just a flamethrower. The game lacks depth when it comes to story or character development and it would of been nice to actually feel for the characters like BIA Hells Highway. I guess by the amount of content out there a lot of knowledge of WWII exists so people know what WWII was about and Call of Duty games are usually just straight forward war games. I wouldn't say this is as good as when I 1st played Call of Duty 1 or two a few years ago but it still does WWII games justice in my mind. I really did enjoy this game all the way through its just the second time I went through I began to notice the problems with it. I try to enjoy WWII games b/c one day I believe there will be no more made since the genre is overused so I enjoy them while I can. I really enjoyed Call of Duty 4 and I think I enjoyed this one even more since I guess I like WWII over modern combat. I found the blood effects to add to the gameplay but I am not saying it satisfied me to blow someones brains out or stab someone charging me ,but the overall depth feels better with these extras. I guess my biggest problem is this game doesn't do anything that hasn't already been done. The problems I ran into like going through the entire campaign in one sitting that took me about six or seven hours b/c I couldn't bring myself to put it down. This was not a good thing since most games I like always have a strong single player experience. Then again WWII games are kind of hard to keep you coming back to single player since you can't really add to the experience you already had. I didn't buy the game for this reason so I rented it. I think this game is a five star rental in a heartbeat but sinking 50 or 60 bucks in another game it just really isn't worth it. If you are more into multiplayer than have at it and buy it but for me its just a rental. Multiplayer on the other hand was fun while I had the game at least at 1st. I ran through the entire game before trying multiplayer so I already unlocked zombie mode and plus I already had a hang of the controls. I absolutely didn't like deathmatch which I am sure its for some people I just couldn't get into it. For some reason it reminded me more of Counter Strike since its more about who has the quicker trigger finger. Odds are if you get on there with a veteran you will get owned though. Even though I loved Counter Strike I didn't care for this as much. I enjoyed zombie mode most of all for some reason. I liked the idea of being stuck in a house with 3 other people fending off nazi zombies. I grew tired after a while of even this since the gameplay is basically repetitive and if you play with the wrong people you will have it even harder. Co-Op was probably my favorite part be it competitive or campaign co-op. Going along side someone and saving them about time they are gonna get stabbed in the back was a nice feeling. This also goes along with playing with the right people b/c some will try to speed through and usually die. I enjoy games even more when they put co-op campaigns in the mix of multiplayer either online or off. By the time I took the game back I was kind of tired of it but it was fun believe me it just wasn't for me. I couldn't really justify a sixty dollar purchase of the game just for this. I know some people will get a absolute kick out of the multiplayer but it just couldn't keep me. Even though the co-op was nice I guess the variety wasn't really there for me since all the multiplayer modes have already been done and I felt like I had played it before. If you are an absolute multiplayer person with a passion for it I would probably say buy it but if you are picky about what you buy like me than its probably more of a rental. I only own about three or four games all together and usually a game I buy is five star for me after a rental but anything I don't buy is usually less. Though there are plenty of people who love this game it just wasn't for me.	video-games_xbox
A Great Game for $20. Mercenaries 2 is probably one of my favorite, most underappreciated games in the last few years and is still a great game today. And for $20? Everyone should have this game whether you like third-person action games or not. Pros: Mercenaries 2 is like mixing the movie The Transporter or XXX: State of the Union with a Mountain Dew commercial. If you liked games like GTA: San Andreas, Crackdown or Just Cause, you'll love this game with its over-the-top action and insane explosions. Taking place in 2010 Venezuala, Mercenaries 2 has enough story to get you started and pointed in the right direction where you're inclined to finish the game, but doesn't flood over you with little, minute details like other games in the genre (ahem, GTA IV). Instead of trying to impress girls or make friends, you're given free reign of practically everything: tanks, motorcycles, various cars, helicopters, speed boats and more. And the game lets you do whatever you want, too. One of the most fun things about this game is that you can ramp a flaming car off of a mountain, jump out before it explodes and land in a military base only to hi-jack a tank and start demolishing everything. Honestly, I can not say this enough, this game is just plain fun. The game may not be the most visually impressive, even brand-new this game felt last-gen, but Pandemic (the creators of the game) really stepped things up when it comes down to destructibility. Everything explodes or falls apart in an extremely realistic way and destroying an enemy-occupied building is most satisfying. CONS: Last-gen technology and an old school way of thinking about games really limits this game's appeal to non-hardcore gamers. Safe to say, the game is not going to win anyone over with its visuals. Granted, the fire effects and the destructible models are impressive, its easy to realize that this game is honestly just a Playstation 2 engine glossed over with a coat of next-gen paint. If you have a standard-def TV, you're not going to notice anything. But, if you pride yourself on your 1080p set, character models and environments really lose their luster after about an hour. Also, the rag-doll physics of when a character falls down, gets hurt or dies leave you wanting more. When a character falls and then slides 15 yards in the same position as if he/she was running, it really takes you out of the game. I know this game isn't going for realism, but its just one of those things that could've used a bit more work before launching. The controls are another thing that need to be approached with caution. If you're familiar with the games I mentioned above, you'll easily be able to jump into this game without thinking twice. Running, shooting, hi-jacking cars all feel comfortable in their methods, but driving vehicles could've used a bit more R&D. For example, driving a tank only uses the left joystick to move forward, backwards, and turn left or right while the right joystick controls the turret. This doesn't seem frustrating but when faced with 20 enemies in tight quarters, you'll soon find yourself inadvertantly driving away from your destination because you're camera is pointing one way and your vehicle is pointing another. In summary, this game is a great deal for $20. Filled with water cooler moments that you'll want to tell your friends about, this game is sure to keep you busy for quite a while.	video-games_xbox
It's sucking my life away, bit by bit. So I pre ordered this game because it looked just plain awesome, forget the naysayers out there, the cartoon like look gives the game something that stands out, not to mention that it's one of the few RPS's out there, the only one besides Fallout3 that i play anyways. But i got this in the mail and put it in right away. For a breif second I thought that i was going to be able to make my own character as i read through the book but realised that it was just a modification change.....those sly bastards, getting my hopes up only to crush them, and then pick them right back up again with an amazing game. Anyway for the first 10 minutes i was looking for a spot to turn up the difficulty forgetting the RPG aspect where there isn't a difficulty, and was let down that the game was going to be too easy, well i was happily mistaken.....don't hear that too often now do ya....to find out that even a lowly skag that is 2 levels higher than you is retardedly hard, but in a good way, i fought to of these beasts to the bitter end almost dying and was happily satisfied with killing them only to be confronted with a badass skag minutes later that completley destroyed me, YEAH RESPAWN!!!! but after another hour of play and 1 or 2 levels i found myself destroying these creatures almost as if i was eating chips, i just couldn't stop it tasted so good....i guess that's a good analogy.......And then came the vehicles, at first the controls seemed a little odd because they were new but i eventually got the hang out it and took an entire raider outpost with my rocket launcher and machine gun, although i still press triangle to get in and out of the vehichle, thats the only control that seems bass ackwards, thank you halo, i have the PS3 version by the way, but im writing this review on the 360 as well, because this game deserves that much credit, The waypoint's for the quest is great too, it keeps the player focused on something so they don't just go around killing creatures, although, i suppose you could do that, but you won't keep gaining XP, its a good thing i guess, but the waypoint still leaves that free open world idea, I'm looking forward to the online play, wich i have a feeling is going to be awesome, and after i finish up with the first town, wich im asuming thats what the first area is from reading previews, im looking forward to the randomly generated open space between the towns, if they still have that feature, either way this game still gets 5 of 5	video-games_xbox
Resident Evil in Name Only. Remember when Resident Evil games used to be scary? I do, but it's been a long time. As an avid fan, I once believed that the series couldn't exist without zombies. With the debut of RE4, however, that notion was erased...well, mostly. While it did not contain the scary atmosphere and puzzles that were present in past entries in the series, it did manage to retain some of the survival horror elements that made the series popular, while changing the formula up a bit with more action and a terrific combat system. With the approaching release of RE5, I eagerly watched trailer after trailer and became even more excited when I learned that Albert Wesker would be returning. Then, early reviews and hands-on impressions began surfacing on the web, stating that RE5 was the exact, same game as RE4, with better graphics. Well, this news didn't entirely disappoint me, especially given how much I thoroughly enjoyed RE4 (especially the Wii Edition). When the game arrived, I immediately bought it, hoping to finally see the grand return of Chris and Wesker, my two favorite characters of the series, and take part in yet another survival horror experience. Now, three days after purchasing it, I can say that this is, without a doubt, my least favorite entry in the entire series...except for maybe those Gun Survivor spin-off's. The simplest way I can say this is that, if you're not an avid RE fan and want a fast-paced shooter fix, you may enjoy this game; but if you're like me and want a game that stays mostly true to the series, you'll probably be disappointed. This is not a survival horror game; it is an action shooter experience, plain and simple. However, even looking at it as a third-person shooter, it has some really irritating flaws. For one thing, your partner's AI is useless at times and nearly unbearable at others. She is of absolutely no help and more often gets in the way. Also, the inventory system has taken a major backstep. Unlike every past game, entering the inventories of both characters occurs in real time, meaning that, if you want to change weapons or use an herb and an enemy is attacking you, he will still be attacking you, while you're in your inventory screen. I don't know if the developers were trying to be clever, but this change becomes extremely frustrating. As for the story and its relation to past RE games, there are so many plot holes and contradicting details, you may wonder if Capcom is intentionally trying to confuse players. While RE4 did not have a whole lot to do with the overall story arc of the series, this one does, or at least it tries to. And that leads me to the characters of the story. From what I can tell, this game's Chris and Wesker are not the same Chris and Wesker I saw or heard in any of the older games. Wesker is no longer the cool, intelligent, shadowy character he used to be; he has now become a generic, I-am-a-god-so-bow-before-me villain. As for the two, main protagonists, Chris and Sheva are not likeable, in the least. The other, side characters are not any better; they are all two-dimensional and without any personality at all. In all, I would not recommend this game for people, who are eagerly anticipating a true return to the Resident Evil franchise. If you enjoy non-sensical stories and over-the-top action, then you might find this to be of your liking, but I, for one, was left wondering what happened to one of my favorite video game series of all time. I sincerely hope that Capcom does not intend to continue "evolving" the series in this fashion and, instead, returns to the roots of what made it so appealing in the first place: survival horror.	video-games_xbox
Tiger Woods y'all......it's all good y'all. Having bought and played the EA Sports Tiger Woods series since it came out I have a pretty good idea of what is to be expected. I loved TW 2004 and played that game until the disc starting smoking and caught on fire. For all the people who want to buy a golf game and don't have TW 2004 you should buy this game especially since you can buy 2005 for thirty bucks now. If you have 2004 and also have Xbox live you should buy 2005 since the online play is great. If you don't have Xbox live I will break down what I like and dislike about the game. What I like about TW 2005 - First of all the basic controls are the same and gameplay is almost exactly the same - they did add Tiger vision but I will get back to that later. The graphics are similar and the courses are similar. There are more golfers to choose from - and I am very excited that Natalie Gulbis is added again this year because she is beautiful and she adds alot to the LPGA tour. There are better clothes this year, and more sponsorships are available in your PGA tour season. Also they added Tiger-proofing, I haven't really gotten really in depth into that so I can't say to much about it but it looks pretty cool. What I dislike about TW 2005 - There is basically one thing. The game is too easy. This is where the Tiger-vision comes into play - there is no skill in putting now. They should make the Legends harder. The PGA tour season is too easy. The first tournament I finished 70 strokes ahead of the next person. Other than this I really love this game. I do have one minor complaint. Some of the "fictional" courses have illegal holes. If it is humanly impossible to reach the green in four stokes on a par five that is an illegal hole. I think there is one hole that is a par four and its impossible to reach the green in three strokes too. These are stupid complaints though. Basically I bought this game because I love the EA Sports Tiger Woods series, if you do as well.....Hurry and buy this game!!	video-games_xbox
Incredible depth for developing players. The problem I see with people debating the merits of this game generally revolve around motivation. If your sole motive is to use this game just to play chess, you will only get a fraction of the value out of it and might even be disappointed with it. The multiplayer function, offline, requires two people to pass the controller back and forth. While this is not a problem with me, some tend to consider it a hindrance. There are not many people that play online, so the "live" feature lacks attractiveness. This leaves you basically with just a chess game that you are able to play on the xbox, but not much else. If you play the game in this fashion, you are really only getting a superficial taste of what this game really has to offer. If you, on the other hand, are a player that would like to develop his/her game significantly, then you will marvel at the extensive, nay, nearly overwhelming, tutorial features Chessmaster has to offer. This tutorial section, I believe, is the heart of the Chessmaster game. There is an "academy" taught by Josh Waitzkin himself. It is broken into sections covering the basics of movement, strategy, tactics, psychology, and endgame strategy. To show examples of each section, he annotates an incredible amount of games he played that reinforce the principles he is teaching. I have had this game for a week going through the academy and have not gotten through half of it. This academy is only a fraction of the tutorial section though. There are also the tutorials from previous Chessmaster installments, drills, and an infinite number(literally) of one move puzzles. There is so much depth to this Chessmaster game that I feel I have not really done it justice in the review. The Josh Waitzkin academy is worth the $20 dollars alone. If you are striving to become a better chess player and looking for some direction, I couldn't give this game a higher recommendation.	video-games_xbox
Same crap as 2k11. First of all I have no idea how this game gets a 4 1/2 star rating. This is basically the same thing as 2K11. They announcers even say most of the same things as in 2k11. This game is simply a copy of 2k11. The AI is terrible and UN-realistic. This game is the definition of a cash-cow. You are only really paying for a new roster. This game is very unbalanced also. 1) If you set the difficulty to PRO, you will crush every team you face. 2) If you set the difficulty to All-Star, you get crushed by every team you face, so you have to manually set the sliders for a decent game. 3) There are several "features" or "bugs" that I have noticed.... At any point in the game, you can and will give up multiple hits regardless of who is hitting or which pitcher you have on the mound. You either throw a ball or a base-hit. This normally starts off with the previous inning ending in an amazing double play by the shortstop of the opposing team. Please note that even if you have Brett Gardner running to first (98 speed), he will still be called out at first. Then when the game comes up to bat, you either throw a ball or a base hit. Evey batter that comes up with either foul the ball off, or just take ANY ball that is out of the zone. They will ONLY swing at strikes. So, trying to fool them with a low trailing slider for example will never work in this situation. 4) IF the game gets up with the bases loaded you WILL ALWAYS give up at least 1 run. Composure is an issue as well for pitching. Even if you have a pitcher on the mound with 99 composure, he will still get rattled. Pitching becomes so difficult that anything you throw goes right down the heart of the plate when you are rattled. This happens even after a mound visit, because after the mound visit you still give up a hit. Bull-crap! 5) The only real changes that were made to this game is the roster. Functionality and bugs are the same that existed in 2K11. A few issues have been resolved, but the core programming in this game is simply poor. Don't waste your money. For PC players, it is unfortunate that this is really the only decent baseball game for PC's. I would assume that is the only reason why these guys are still in business.	video-games_xbox
A very addicting game, but more fund with friends. I have been excited about this game since about 2 years ago when I heard about it and have eagerly been awaiting its release. I do not regret buying it, and find that I play it every chance I get. It is incredibly addicting, but it does have some significant pros and cons you need to be aware of prior to buying this. This is an open world, real time massive multiplayer game. There are no rules that need be to be followed and no story line that you need to stick to. Every ship on the horizon is a team of real players sailing the seas. What helps make this game so enjoyable is the constant paranoia it seems to foster. Sailing to and from different islands means you need to constantly be doing 360-degree surveillance to watch for any other ships that may be coming for you. When you are on an island doing a voyage (like trying to find a treasure chest or collecting animals to sell), seeing a ship on the other side of the island makes your heart beat faster and faster. When you are trying to head to the Outpost to cash in your hard-earned loot, seeing a ship already docked there makes you wonder if they can be trusted or if you should sail further to a different outpost so you can offload your goods in peace. I have spent countless hours playing this game, and it is incredibly addicting. It is not uncommon for, on the weekends, to wake up at 4 in the morning, hop on the game, and play straight through until dinner time, rarely getting up to eat or use the bathroom. This game is THAT addicting. No story. No rules. This means that what happens in the game is largely determined on how you react to every situation. You have a couple treasure chests on board, do you head to sell your goods or gamble on doing another voyage and risking another player attacking you? A ship passes you in the open sea, do you immediately open fire and engage in a full-out naval battle or hold your fire to see if they are just passing by and minding their own business? This game will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time. However, as much as I love this game, it has some obvious flaws. The voyages are very repetitive. Either you are digging up treasure chests, killing skeletons, or catching animals. That's it. There are some random things like diving into shipwrecks in search of loot but mainly those are your options. There are no levels, but you gain experience which increases your reputation in whatever type of voyage you. This reputation means nothing, however, as there is nothing to level up or higher levels do not necessarily earn you better loot. All item and ship "upgrades" are strictly cosmetic. So replay-ability in this game is somewhat questionable. It also claims to foster a sense of teamwork among other players, but really this game is somewhat toxic as players will often claim to be friendly to accomplish a common objective, only to then turn on one another. So deceit and sneak-attacks are common place and to be expected. Many will claim that this is game is "called Sea Of Thieves and not Sea Of Friends" as the reason for this, when really this game fosters a sense of how much of a jerk players can be. Another big downfall is there is no tutorial upon starting the game (the first hour or so you will be incredibly confused and completely unsure what you are supposed to be doing) and there is no single player option. Sure you can opt to play on a boat yourself, but it is borderline impossible to actually be successful as you are at the mercy of bigger ships and full crews who will take advantage of you and steamroll you to take your chests. While it sounds like there are more negatives to this game then positives, it is still a very enjoyable game, although it can be frustrating as well to have treasure on your ship only to be sunk and have the last hour or so of your time completely wasted. As I am writing this, I am actually wondering myself why I like this game. I think it is the thirst for adventure and paranoia this game features, and the unpredictability of it is what makes it exciting. One final note, this game is much more fun if you actually have friends to play with. Otherwise, trying to match up with random players is hit-or-miss. You might get an experienced player to help fend off naval attacks or know how to do the voyages. You also might match with someone who never played the game before and has no clue what to do and will sail your ship away while you are on a island.	video-games_xbox
Great replacement controller. This Afterglow controller comes pretty close to being a clone of the official Xbox 360 controller. This is a wired controller, with 10 feet of cable. The controller is the same size and shape as the official controller. BUTTON QUALITY: The buttons, analog sticks, triggers, and d-pad are quite good. They have the same look and feel as the official controller. The analog sticks have the same feel, grip, movement, and smoothness. There are a few differences. The XBOX button is smooth and barely recessed, but it works fine. The BACK and START button placement is different, but it's also fine. It requires a bit more movement of the thumbs from the analog sticks to reach them. On the official controller, you barely need to move your thumbs from the analog sticks. The one issue I had was the shoulder buttons. They are weaker, not as reinforced, and feel slightly flimsy. They are still responsive but don't provide that heft when pressing them that the official controller does. LED: There are 7 LEDs placed asymmetrically. They are bright when looking at the controller, but not blinding since the LEDs are laid flat, parallel to the circuit board. But if you look at the controller at an angle and directly into the LEDs, then they are blindingly bright. There are three modes. OFF, Flash during vibration, and Always On. The button is located on the back near the bottom. Press once to have the LEDs flash during any vibration in the game. This works really well and does a great job of matching up with the vibrations. Press a second time for the LEDs to be always ON. BUILD: Made of durable, clear, hard plastic. The surface is super smooth. In comparison, the official controller's surface is smooth but slightly textured. Because of the clear plastic, you can see the internal circuitry. Even when the rumble/vibration is working, you can see the components moving. If they improve the shoulder buttons, this controller makes a great replacement. I've been using it for a month now and nothing has worn out or seem weakened yet. I'll update if it does. Overall, this is a pretty good controller, and since you are not required to have the LED's on at all, this is a good wired controller replacement.	video-games_xbox
A Soulless Game in a Beautiful Environment. Far Cry 4 is a game that does not know what it wants to be (other than wanting to be a bestseller, of course). It pretends to be this fun, wacky and over-the-top action game that lets you glide around in a wingsuit and shoot grenade launchers at vehicles from an Elephant's back, but also insists on being rather realistic by putting you in the shoes of a rather fragile and overall default protagonist who can get killed in a matter of seconds. The designers also didn't seem to be able to pinpoint what was fun about the Far Cry games, so they threw in every possible gameplay element in there in the hopes that some would stick, and so the game overall just feels like a by-the-numbers, spreadsheet-planned video game with little to no character. Yes, the guy on the front of the box is a character, and he is a rather enjoyable one, but that's pretty much the only thing the game can use as an argument to prove that it even has a sliver of personality. Well, that and the amazing visuals. Kyrat certainly is a beautiful place, and if you can disregard the actual gameplay for a second and just take a walk through a random part of this land, you will be awe-struck by the amount of detail that the developers put into the environment. The same amount of detail was not put into designing the game, however. Story missions are simple "Go there, kill x"-objectives which are sometimes spiced up by requirements such as "Don't be seen" or "Survive x amount of seconds", but restricting the player isn't exactly the right way to make generic missions more interesting. You get the picture, you probably know exactly what I mean, you have played modern video games before. Side quests are ... Diverse, but ultimately unenjoyable. They can revolve around anything really, but the one thing they do have in common is that they are boring. Drive around a car to some place, take over an outpost (which is really just an extension of the"Kill x"-objective), free the hostages (again, shoot everyone but hostages) and stop someone from doing something in some way. Ugh, just trust me, it's nothing substantial, it will feel like a waste of time. In fact, it is, as you won't even be earning achievement points for doing most of them (Yeah, no achievements for doing all sidequests, so really, just ignore them). You'll unlock some upgrades but you won't need them to finish the story mission, and you won't want to play this game after beating the story. Do you enjoy collectibles? Me too (that's why I bought this game) and... Well, there's... There's many! There's far too many collectibles, in fact. Honestly, it just feels like Ubisoft was really worried that people would trade in the game after beating the story (which was true, that's exactly what I am planning to do now that I have finished it and realized that 100%ing this game is not something I want to do) and just threw in bazillions of different collectibles into the mix, most of which don't serve any purpose. No, not even in the meta-game! No achievements are unlocked for collecting any of them. Don't do it. Don't waste your time. It's obviously just there for kids who don't know any better, and they shouldn't play the game anyway considering it's rating. But wait, there's more bland side-stuff to do! How about climbing up towers to unlock more side-quests? How about conquering outposts by strategically planning your assault? Sounds fun? Well, you better hope so since it's the only way to unlock fast travel points and, believe me, you really want fast-travel points. For me? Well, it was fun the first three times. It wasn't so much fun the 19/25th time, especially when it comes to the harder outposts which are exercises in frustration that will act as a reminder of how unpolished the stealth system is in this game, which will end in you having to retry the outpost again, and again, and again. It's all very intricately designed, you see? Let me break it down for you: Story missions require you to walk to the other side of the map most of the time, which requires you to run around for 15 minutes. Sure, there are vehicles, but you'll have to find those vehicles. There are small helicopters that, if readily available, would easily get you from point A to point B in a very short amount of time while allowing you to enjoy the beauty of the game, but too bad those helicopters are few and far between and almost never on your way to a story mission. Anyway, fast-travel points can alleviate this problem but, oh joy, the fast travel points only unlock if you beat outposts. Here's the thing though: You can't even conquer outposts until you climb the towers. YEY! Towers are fun, right? NOT if you have to walk another 15 minutes to get there!! Also, to even have a chance against outposts, you'll need more guns and ammo. Ammo needs money, money needs exploration for treasure chests, and so on and so on and so on. This evil chain of time-wasters is pretty much the whole game. I am a completionist and I normally love this kind of stuff, I certainly loved it in Assassin's Creed 2 (which I 100%ed three times already, just so you know what maniac is writing this review), but here? It's frustrating, it's stupid, and it's definitely not fun. Oh, and don't get me started on the upgrade system, which just adds to this stupid chain of time wasting that I mentioned above. Need more weapons? Well, hunt animals in this general area that we marked on your map that isn't even entirely accurate, because you can skin them for materials that'll let you make more weapon holsters. Is it fun hunting animals? Well, at first it certainly is, but that quickly fades once you chase and search for that one animal you need across the map to finally get a third weapon slot. What about skill upgrades? Many of them are locked behind stupid requirements like "Do 10 of these sidequests that you don't want to do", so go figure how much you are going to feel about the 'progression' there. Story? Well, there are some moments to be had, and I do like how it all wrapped up. I think you'll feel some sort of inner conflict if you really invest yourself in the story, and the characters are fun enough to listen to when they aren't giving you direct orders of going somewhere to kill something. It's probably one of the better parts of the game, surprisingly! And then there are simply balancing problems. You just generally die very easily even on Normal mode, and even when I upgraded my health to max and held a mini gun with full ammo, I was always a vulnerable little man rather than an unstoppable powerhouse! It's frustrating, but perhaps you mean to tell me that that was a deliberate design choice, but I can safely say that it wasn't considering how half-baked the stealth system is and the stuff you do in cutscenes certainly makes you more akin to a Rambo character than a fragile survivor. I could go on and on. This is such a spreadsheet game, I really wish I could convey that better. Don't buy this game! This is, at best, a rental because of the story, but go and try renting video games in 2015 and you'll notice that you can't. This isn't a game that will be remembered, it will be forgotten, not even mentioned again a year after it's release. If I was going to strictly rate it by the gameplay I would have given it three stars, but it's just such a soulless experience that I couldn't help but give it two. It works, it certainly isn't a bad game, but I'd rather play a bad game with personality that barely works that I can laugh at and enjoy in that way than play Ubisoft-Game #13.	video-games_xbox
Surely there are better coolers than this one. I recently bought an XBox 360 Elite (120GB HDD). This is my first time purchasing a console since the Nintendo GameCube came out. For the last several years, I've read about the heat problems all the newer consoles have had. So when I purchased my new 360, I made sure to buy a cooler to go with it. I chose this cooler primarily because it had an external power source. I had read several opinions from other people about coolers they had purchased that piggy-backed the XBox's built-in power supply and how that was not a good idea. I understood the logic/science behind this, so I wanted one with its own power source. So that is a good point about this cooler. It has its own power source. While I'm on the topic of pluses, I'll also point out that this cooler does move air in a way that suggests to me that it is cooling the XBox ... as opposed to just moving air around with no net effect. After having the 360 running for a short while, you can put your hand behind the system and feel the difference in airflow with the fan On vs. when you have it shut off. When it is turned on, there is definitely more hot air being blown out of the back. That is a good thing. Getting heat away from the inside of the box is the whole point. So this cooler gets another point for doing what it's supposed to do. That's the end of the good news though. Due to the design of this cooler, it does not shut off automatically after the XBox is powered off. This can be really inconvenient if you are controlling your XBox from the wireless controller ... as I imagine most people do. Every time you turn the XBox on, you have to make a trip to your XBox to turn the fan on. Likewise, when you shut it off, you have to make a trip back to the XBox to shut it off. (Unless you want to leave it run 24/7 ... which isn't a good idea because it will suck in additional dust and dirt and reduce the effectiveness of the cooler.) It is also worth pointing out that the on/off switch is inconveniently located in the back of the unit. If the fans turned on and off automatically when you powered the XBox on and off (respectively), then this would not be an issue. But since you have to manually turn the fans on and off, it would have been preferable to have a push button at the front instead of having to reach around to the back. The next problem is that after having my cooler for all of about 2 weeks, I noticed that it was very loud when I turn it on. It quiets down after a minute or so, but it's absurdly loud in the mean time. It sounds like the fans are off balance and/or grinding due to too much friction. In either of those cases, that most assuredly means it is tearing itself up. You can't having moving parts that are out of balance or generating friction for very long before something breaks. My final "complaint" about this product is that you can't shut off the glowing green lights. (Which serve absolutely no functional purpose.) When you power the unit on, the lights and fans come on. When you shut it off, the lights and fans go off. It would have been extremely simple to have an additional on/off switch for the lights. Bottom line ... after having this cooler for about 3 weeks, I've decided that I'm sending mine back (while I still can) and purchase a different cooler. In case you're curious, the one I'm looking to buy next is the Xbox 360 Intercooler TS - black. This one seems to have its own power source as well ... and I've read that it powers on/off automatically. It also doesn't have any useless lights. Hopefully the fans are better quality on the Intercooler TS. If so, it will be a win-win all the way around.	video-games_xbox
Don't Leave This Behind. In horror and in thrills, zombies have always been popular. From fine cinema to the video game. Left 4 Dead is nothing new or original. It's a game about Zombie Apocalypse. Yet it's very well crafted and fun. If you love Zombies, then Left 4 Dead is going to really keep you on your toes. There's no story here. You play as one of four characters who are trying to survive the apocalypse. And that's all your goal is throughout the campaign. Of course, there's no way survival will be easy with zombies and other monsters coming at you from all directions. There are plenty of weapons to find and ammunition is plentiful. What makes the game hard is how fast you can be overcome by your adversaries, despite having plenty of weapons and ammo. Your health will dwindle quite fast throughout Left 4 Dead. On the other hand, things aren't always over when your health runs out. You'll be incapacitated when your health depletes and be restricted from moving. You can, however, shoot when you are on the ground. Your allies can always come and revive you so that you can get going. Even if you succumb to the enemy and die permanently, you can hope that your allies will find you as a survivor and you can jump back into the game. Going about the campaign with actual humans is much more fun than AI. Mostly because you can set up better strategies and because the AI tends to get into a lot more trouble than is worth saving them from. There's a lot of fun to be had from all the weapons and explosives you can pick up and toss at your enemies. You and your allies will be on your toes for the entire campaign. The only real problem with the campaign is that it's really short. Normally this would be a big problem for a game. With Left 4 Dead, however, it's a plus. The campaign is never the same thing twice. You'll experience enemies in different locations every time, and you'll experience them in different numbers every time. You might have a breeze going through it once and be taken down the next time. The game manages to be incredibly difficult either way. As a result, replaying the game is always welcome just because the experience is never the same and the same strategy rarely (if ever) works twice. Graphically, Left 4 Dead is incredible. The character models are outstanding to look at, and so are the environments. The zombies are also incredibly detailed. It's also amazing that with all the chaos that can happen on screen at one time the framerate never slows down. I've also experienced no problems taking it online. Better than the graphics may be the sound. The sound effects from the zombies are bone chilling. The music is also good, for the most part. But the highlight of the sound comes from the characters themselves and how they interact with one another when you perform certain actions. Shoot a teammate and he'll chastise you. They call out when you find ammo, weapons and they scream whenever they've been overrun with zombies. It all sounds fantastic. If there was any problem with Left 4 Dead it would be that it's a drag to play by yourself. The multiplayer experience is what most gamers ought to take home from Left 4 Dead. Unfortunately you don't get that same sense of adrenaline from the single player experience. It just isn't all that fun. In the end Left 4 Dead is an amazing game and an amazing experience. There are few games that are as good as this or as amazingly fun and adrenaline pumping. Even those who don't normally like first person shooters can come to Left 4 Dead and enjoy it. So jump on in and try to survive. Don't leave this game behind.	video-games_xbox
Takes some getting used to--not for Sanwa users. I've been using Sanwa parts for quite some time now so jumping right into this EX-SE stick was a bit of a shock. With this EX-SE (special edition, read: SE-imitsu), you get 100% Seimitsu parts which have an entirely different feel than Sanwa. For starters, the Seimitsu joystick is much stiffer than a Sanwa so you may have to push harder to execute movement. Because of this, and since I play a lot of BlazBlue, I found myself overcompensating the directional movement and consequently missing dashes, not to mention DP inputs, 360s, 720s, and distortions during my first few goes with the stick. Initially, I thought this stiffness would equate to greater precision but it's just too stiff for BB, where you need to double tap, super jump, and dash a lot and also in which directional shortcuts are absent (unlike SF4). Even in SF4, FADCs were harder to perform, as were supers, ultras, and specials. As well, the corners of the Seimitsu gate are slightly rounded, unlike a Sanwa which has clearly defined, 90 degree corners. This may prove difficult in Guilty Gear or BlazBlue where you want a 3C and not an accidental 2C but for charge characters in SF4 this surprisingly isn't an issue. Moving on to the buttons, they are not convex, but flat, which will affect your timing so the inputs may seem to be slightly less responsive than Sanwa. This could be a major deterrent for anyone coming from the super fluid and quick presses from a Sanwa but I really think the adjustment time isn't too long. Hori's other EX stick (all black) has a Sanwa joystick but inferior (i.e. cheap) stock buttons, which means you get the Sanwa movement but just not the Sanwa inputs. If you're considering this stick over Hori's "plain" EX stick, then keep in mind that the price difference is roughly $10. You get a lot more quality in this model if you plan to keep it as is, but if you want a 100% Sanwa stick then get the EX since all you'd have to replace is the buttons. In short, this stick is not for everybody. After countless hours I found myself still not fully acclimated to its idiosyncrasies and put it aside for a Sanwa stick instead. If you buy it, give it some time and get a good feel for it. If it's still not for you, you can always swap out everything for Sanwa parts for less money than buying a brand new stick.	video-games_xbox
Could've been so much more... but that doesn't mean it's bad. Quite the opposite: Superman Returns is a fun, if repetitive game. Its admittedly weak story is loosely based on the eponymous movie (and thank God for that, because it really wouldn't translate well) and you never really feel engaged by it. The game's strength lies rather in its open-world formula, which conveys a "day in the life of Superman" vibe as you make use of the game's best fleshed-out feature: Flying. And it does that quite well as you save the city from a number of threats and ensure the safety of its adoring inhabitants, making use of Superman's veritable arsenal of powers. Blow your enemies into the air with super breath, burn them to a crisp with heat vision as they hurtle through the air... or encase them in ice with freeze breath, melt them down with heat vision and them blow their remains up into the air with super breath. Or just bash them with a lamppost, a car, a satellite antenna, even the classic telephone booth. The environment is interactive, not wholly destructible, but enough to make the fights feel appropriately epic. Combat is a bit clunky by today's standards, but it's intuitive and good fun as you chain combos along against the baddies. And when you're done, you can just freely roam throughout Metropolis, fighting a veritable neverending battle. Saying it's the best Superman videogame iteration doesn't really mean much, considering the quality of its predecessors, but it really is the Big Blue's best transition towards this particular form of entertainment. For all its flaws, it really does make you feel like Superman, and manages to not only cater to the Man of Steel's fans by sprinkling Metropolis with a number of references with a knowing wink, but also serves as a good introduction for prospective new readers. Give it a try, especially at the bargain price it's available now.	video-games_xbox
Better than expected, and good for father-son gaming. I must say I didn't think much of the demo for this game, but for some reason decided to try it out, maybe b/c my son (5) is going through a ninja phase. Both of us ended up absolutely loving it, and beat the game fairly quickly, and we're now going through it a second time. We spent a LOT of QT together playing this game. I hope there's a sequel. The graphics are very good, the game is very intuitive and fun to play, and it's pretty addictive. It's cool to be able to collect the different magic spells and ninjas as you go through. I especially like the nature scenes, like the rivers and forests, etc, and the combat all of which is very fun (but very kid friendly, I mean the enemies turn into animals when you defeat them). you never get lost b/c there's an arrow function that always tells you which way to go. The spells are very fun to use and collect, even though some of them are used far less (or never), but you want to collect them all for sure. You'll like this game better if you have any affinity for Japanese culture, which we do b/c my wife is Japanese and my kids are half and half. Also, like I said my kid is going through a ninja phase although I would have a hard time believing that any kid, really, would not like this game. My adult brother and I also liked it a lot, so it counts as adult-friendly as well, I mean entertaining for adults. There is some Japanese language going on, but with subtitles (usually). My only complaint is that the game is a little short, and some of the bosses are very easy to defeat, but then again I didn't want to spend that much time on the latter. Overall, for the price, and considering the amount of entertainment that we're still getting out of it, it was an excellent purchase and rates 5 stars. As far as suggestions to improve, I think they should make it longer, and add some type of co-op at least, ideally some kind of online play as well. Aside from that, stick with what works, but regardless of what they do, if there is a sequel there is no question that this household will purchase it.	video-games_xbox
Not Impressed. I bought these thinking they may heighten my Halo and COD experiences... Once I got past the nightmare that was the set-up process, they didn't blow me away like I had hoped for a headset with this price tag. Set up & Install: I have a brand new laptop and it took over an hour just to get the Audio Hub onto my computer. I have a PC and was NOT expecting it to be so friggin' difficult to find the right crap to get what I needed. Once I had Audio Hub, the rest was smooth - connected as instructed to the XBox and then I was good to go. Volume: I think my cheap headset puts out more volume, though the quality OF the sound is definitely better with this set. I am not sure whether it's because I can't get the earpieces to sit comfortably around my ears (and not make a "seal") or if they're just designed this way, but you can also hear a lot coming out of them if you're in the same room as the person wearing the headset. This is annoying at times, but may not be an issue for other users. Comfort: While I love that there isn't a wire to my controller, or the box itself, I have yet to be able to get them to sit right on my ears. It's like the most annoying headband ever and I usually end up taking it off because it makes my head and ears hurt. I don't have an odd-sized or shaped head - I've never had problems with stuff like this before - so I'm not sure why I can't get them to sit comfortably. Presets: It comes with a set of presets that you can't change. If you're looking for a way to balance out your own stuff, you won't get it. I am pretty much stuck on the super human setting because it's slightly louder than the others and with the lack of volume, it is the one that works best for me. I'm also not hearing impaired, but if you're wearing a headset like this, you're probably looking for both quality of sound and VOLUME, right? If you're a bass lover, I think this is low on that end, too, but that may also just be me. Drop Out: Sometimes my set just drops out. I can hear everyone through the TV for no apparent reason. Usually I just turn the set off, take the transmitter out for a few seconds, put the transmitter back in, and then turn the headset back on and it's fine, but it's annoying to say the least. I have gone through many headsets, so more than anything, I am anxious to see how long these actually LAST. They didn't come with a stand or anything to keep them stored as well as I would hope, so they have their own spot in the entertainment cabinet away from all the other cheap sets. Overall, I think these were over-priced. They're good but not AWESOME and for what they cost, they really should be AWESOME. I wanted to love them, but just like them slightly more than my cheap sets.	video-games_xbox
Best of The Series. Halo 3 is the newest release from Bungie of the Halo series. This game is is a combination of great graphics, unbelievable game-play, and an amazing storyline that will answer all your questions from Halo 1 and 2. Halo 3 is all the great elements that made Halo 1 and 2 great games plus more. In addition to online campaign co-op, there is unbelievably awesome maps and features in the multi-player mode. There is a new feature added to several maps called the "Man Cannon". It is a gravitational device that launches you straight forward into the sky. Another cool feature is the equipment.(Also used in the campaign mode) The equipment are devices that help you in different situations while battling. An example is the popular bubble shield. Dropping this device will automatically make a huge shield that guards you from all weapon fire from the outside. The only disadvantage is that an enemy can penetrate the barrier by simply walking into it. Another great new feature is the forge. It is a system in which you can customize any map by placing vehicles weapons, spawn points, etc. wherever you want on the map. Other players can walk around on the map while it is being customized. The final thing is the bonus disk. It has tons of bonus features including early game development and final touches. A definite MUST for Die-hard Halo fans. All these features and more, much more are what make Halo 3 such a great game that anyone can have over hours and hours of fun with. However, if you are not 18 or older, you will need to have a parent or guardian buy it for you. Also There is a new Halo game coming out in April 2008, Halo wars. So make sure you get to your local EB Games or Gamestop to pre-order. Buy Halo 3 and have lots of fun playing it!!! And just so you know the Limited Edition Halo 3 Is in fact VERY durable and the only reason that some disks were damaged were because of a shipping problem and possibly factory error in putting the disks in securely. The case does hold the game in very well and it will make your disk last longer because of its design.	video-games_xbox
A great shooter for its time. The Good: Fantastic shooting mechanics, great cover system that works well, technically looks decent The Bad: Awful and lame story, boring and bland visuals, cover system is a little sticky and blind fire doesnt always work, runs at only 4 hours, major difficulty spikes Cover based third person shooters weren't really a thing until the last console generation. Third person shooters took quite a while to evolve into something truly stunning, and the best example of this is Gears of War which is third person shooting perfected. Kill Switch was actually a sleeper hit back in the day and was widely talked about due to the great shooting and cover mechanic. Kill Switch has a story that sees a male protagonist (I cant even remember his name the story is so lame) trying to stop a dude named Archer from launching a nuke. In the process, you are trying to recover your memory of your wife being murdered by him? I don't even know. The game is so short that it doesnt allow any type of story to evolve let alone a bad one. The story is completely forgettable and I skipped all the dialog towards the end because it was a hot confusing mess. The gameplay is where its at here. The controls are simple and the game is run and gun at its finest for the time. Holding R allows you to buckle against a wall or obstacle and you can blind fire over it, or you can pop up and shoot more accurately. I found that blind firing doesnt quite work well if the obstacle is higher than you can raise your gun. Most of the time it did not work so I stuck to pop up shooting. You can throw grenades and flash bangs as well as dodge rolling and melee attacks. Its pretty standard affair, but at the time it was done so well that there was nothing like it. I have to say the level design is just plain bad and boring. Every level is a stereotypical military base with boring blank walls, stairs, and rooms. There is absolutely nothing to look at here despite the game being technically quite good looking. The textures are sharp, the models are nicely made, and the animations are pretty good. It just goes to show that you are literally just coming into this game for the shooting and thats it. Maybe its a good thing this game is so short. Clocking in at about 4 hours if you don't die a thousand times over trying to get through the hordes of enemies. There were issues with major difficulty spikes and draw distance. I would have a guy shooting at me accurately beyond where I could see even with a sniper rifle. The weapons are nothing to write home about either, just your typical military machine guns and your token shotgun. Overall, Kill Switch is worth a buy for its great gameplay that fun and addicting. Just don't expect a story or anything nice to look at. Is there a reason for there to be a sequel? Well, the story somehow manages to say that it hasn't ended yet, but Kill Switch has no relevance today with better cover shooters like Gears of War. If it were rebooted into something fantastic thats another story, but I honestly cant see that happening. Kill Switch belongs in 2003 and should stay there nice and snug.	video-games_xbox
As good as it gets from a cheap, third-party manufacturer. This controller does a great job at keeping my extremely sweaty palms cool, even in the dead of summer. Here is what you need to know, in bullet-point format: PROS -For a third-party controller, the feel of the joysticks is almost as good as a microsoft controller. Not perfect, but I guarantee that you will not find ANY third-party controller that is identical to the original. -Cooling fans work well and have 2 speeds. -LED lights look great. Not too bright or distracting -Fits very comfortably in my hands. The palm areas are soft rubber, which is very nice. -The build quality seems to be sturdy and durable. CONS -the voice audio quality from the microphone port is TERRIBLE. I didn't notice any buzzing or feedback, but the sound quality is truly awful. I find it just barely tolerable. -When using the fan and chatting at the same time, my friends complain that they can hear feedback through the mic. -the start and back buttons are too low. When you reach for the start button, you will press the button controlling the fan speed instead. -The D-pad buttons are not very responsive and require you to push harder than you normally would. BOTTOM LINE: If you're going to buy any third-party controller, it's never going to be perfect. That's just a fact because microsoft has patents on their controllers design. But if sweaty hands is a big problem for you (like it is for me), then the good outweighs the bad and you should buy this controller, as it does a great job at eliminating that problem. However, if you don't care so much about the fan aspect and just want a controller that glows, I suggest you look into buying a modded OEM microsoft controller. Unless you are willing to spend $100 or more on a competition-grade controller, I guarantee that you will not find any non-microsoft controller with the same build quality and reliability.	video-games_xbox
A game that has to be played- for better or worse. Just like everyone else I was really, really excited to get my copy of Grand Theft Auto 4. GTA San Andreas is my favortie game of all time, and GTA 4 quickly makes it known that this game is an improvement over that. A little sidenote before we begin- The new Euphoria engine is absolutly great. With that out of the way let's get down to it... Fighting System- 7/10. The new hand to hand fighting system seems more movie like, but after the initial "Wow, a new fighting system" feeling sinks in, you'll realize how frustrating it can be to go around pushing people, and being forced to lock on to targets, then be frustrated by the downright lathargic punches you throw. Not only has the hand to hand system been re-done, so has the weapon system. The old lock on system has gotten so much grief, that it would have been nearly impossible to make that worse. While it is hardly where it should be, it is definitely an improvement, and you cannot blame the game if you are killed using it. Gameplay(minus the fighting system)- 7/10. 7/10 is a very generous rating in my opinion. Cars are more difficult to steer, the camera can be annoying at times, and it can be extremly difficult to ride a motorcycle. The cover system is what saves this from being a total disappointment, as it really brings a new element to the game. You can crouch/hide behind anything you can find throughout Liberty City. Missions- 4/10. This is my biggest problem with the game. At first, I assumed the tutorial style missions were a neccessary evil, that would go away after the first few missions. I was sadly mistaken. Every single mission seems to introduce something new, whether it be a new gun, the internet, racing, and so on, the game seems to find away to make you find something new every time. Because of this, the difficulty of the missions go WAY down. This is by far the easiest GTA game to date, and this is the basic synopsis of most missions- Receive a call on your cell phone telling you to drive to a destination, kill a target, then drive back. Granted, GTA does throw in a more than a few curve-balls, but I have still yet to do a mission more than once. Story- 10/10. This is the best story to ever be put into a video game. Period. Without risking giving away too much of the story, here is a basic summary- You play a character named Niko Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant whose cousin lures him to Liberty City with stories of big houses, beautiful women, and fancy cars. Once you arrive in Liberty City you quickly discover that you live in a crappy apartment, and your cousin is a low line taxi driver. That's as far as I'll go, but let it be known that this would definitely be a hit movie if made into one. Graphics- 8/10. What's all the fuss about? The graphics are perfectly descent. Not up to par with BioShock or Call of Duty, but very respectable. At times, in cut-scenes, the rooms can appear nearly photo-realistic, and it is truly breath-taking to look across the bridges and see the many sky-scrapers on the other side. And while I did run into a few instances of screen tearing, it is not even close to being as bad as the other GTA titles. Liberty City- 10/10. When I first heard that another game was being made in Liberty, I'll be honest, I was very disappointed. The country-side in GTA San Andreas was really a plus for me, and while I still miss roaming around aimlessly in the country, don't make the mistake of thinking that this is the same Liberty City you played in GTA III, because it is not. It is hardly recognizable from the other Liberty City, as every nook and cranny has been redone to fit into the next generation. You won't see the same person twice if you walk down the street, and it is obvious how much work went into the city. Multiplayer- 9/10. Thank God for the multiplayer. It's the one major thing that GTA has been missing in past years and now it is finally a part of the game. First things first, this is not some watered down portion of Liberty City, the whole thing is playable. For deathmatch purposes it might be a good idea to only play one part of the city, which is also an option. There are many different modes in which to play online such as Deathmatch, Mafia work, Racing, and Car jackings, and all of these modes can either be played by solo or with a team. That said, I have some major problems with it as well. I've had serious connection issues, making the game almost unplayable with friends, and at times, with other people also. This might be just an issue specific to me, but noteworthy none the less. Either way, the multiplayer is very extensive, and very fun. To summarize, this is simply a must own for anyone with a 360. With a multiplayer almost as extensive as Halo, a cover system that is not unlike Gears of War, and all the elements of the past GTA games that make this a GTA game, it is truly a game you have to play to believe. The final verdict- 9.3/10.	video-games_xbox
Returning to one of my favorite series. I'm pretty late to playing this one. Gears of War has been one of my favorite video game series since I got the first one on the old Xbox 360 back when. It has become tradition for me to coop this with someone on the hardest available difficulty so I can hit the ground running on the single player which this review will primarily be about. While I know that Coalition paid a lot of attention to the multiplayer as a lot of game developers do these days I was very satisfied with the main campaign. Gameplay is largely the same as it was for the early titles. Gears has always been a shooting gallery with cover tactic mechanics but its among the best shooting galleries you'd find out there on the market. New additions to the single player like a tower defense mode against AI wave attacks. Some new interesting weapons are added to the roster but the classics are also brought back in (torque bow FTW). Two decades after the eradication of the Locust in the third game, the fourth begins with humanity still trying to rebuild after the devastating war. While the COG and other surviving human groups are trying to get their bearings they find themselves under attack again by a new unknown enemy. You take on the role of James Fenix, son of the series long protagonist Marcus who with his entourage tries to figure out who the new enemy is and how to beat them. I liked the campaign story, I felt there was some fanservice but that's not too big a deal. My biggest qualm with it is the game seemingly trying to state that these new enemies are definitely, totally, not the Locust at all. Even though they basically are but that's just a nitpick. It didn't take away from the fun for me. The visuals are good, the story had me invested toward the end, the gameplay was fine tuned for it's type and overall I really enjoyed this title. Where they go from here I'm pretty eager to see.	video-games_xbox
My Soul Has Been Consumed. First off, I should point out that I am not, by any means, a "hardcore" gamer. I usually only get about 1-2 hours a day to play video games, and sometimes less. With that said, I do like to be challenged, and I love dark fantasy/gothic horror aesthetics. I was a bit hesitant to purchase this game at first, since it was marketed as being extremely difficult, but the aesthetics of the game piqued my interest and I bought the game against my better judgment. After an initial night of learning the ropes, screaming at the TV, and throwing my controller across the room, I got sucked in. The Basics: Dark Souls is very challenging a dungeon-crawling RPG with tons of customization. It is an open-world game through a gothic fantasy setting. Killing enemies earns you souls, which act as both the game's experience points and the world's currency. Therefore, there are going to be many times when you will have to think about tradeoffs with regard to how you use them. You can rest at bonfires, and if you die, you will respawn at the last bonfire you rested at, with all of your souls gone. You then have one chance to reclaim the lost souls. Another thing that I noticed not many people have talked about, is that this game also plays out much like a survival horror game. The aesthetics are dark and gothic, yet the dark atmosphere is broken up by rare moments of splendor and beauty. Game-play/Difficulty: Of course, you can't read a review of Dark Souls without a discussion of the game-play and difficulty. The combat is relatively straight-forward. You can roll and block, and have strong and weak attacks. You can also lock in on enemies like in the 3D Zelda games, and try and kick them to let up their guard. Of course, the first time you charge into a group of enemies swinging your sword like Conan the Barbarian, you'll learn it is anything but simple, because you will die. Instantly. And that is what makes this game so horrifying and intense. You can die at any moment, losing all the souls and humanity you fought so hard to earn. Combat requires calculated movement and patience. The difficulty of the game is what creates the mood. This is what I mean when I say that it plays very much like a survival horror. When one wrong move could lead to your death, and when you don't know what might lurk around the corner, or what horrific attack the boss will use next, you play cautiously. You learn to have your shield up constantly, and not let your guard down. Of course, the game gets a little easier as you get the hang of it, but by then you have been trained to play much more cautiously than in the normal RPG. Also, you can ignore the reviews that say the combat is glitchy. It is very weighty and responsive. You push a button, and the action is performed, albeit at a slower and more realistic pace. It's better to think of the combat as almost turn-based. Unfortunately, many reviewers think that the combat has to be a flashy button-mash-fest just like God of War or Ninja Gaiden in order for the combat to be interesting or non-glitchy. This is an RPG, and an old-school one at that, every push of the button and every move you make must have a distinct purpose. If any of you played the old Baldur's Gate games on PC, you may remember that one wrong command could spell your doom. Cons: No game is perfect, and Dark Souls does have its share of problems. First, the multi-player fails to connect most of the time. Also, the frame-rate in the upper level of the Blighttown area is horrible, and the lava-pit/dinosaur area of Lost Izalith is a flat out eyesore. Further, the story is very subtle, and isn't even there if you don't look for it (this might upset some RPG fans). However, these comments are fairly minor and I would honestly prefer flawed brilliance to perfect pabulum. Summary: Dark Souls is an amazing game. It is very challenging and unforgiving. It rewards curiosity, exploration, strategy and planning, yet punishes impatience. The game is highly unforgiving, so if you do something stupid, expect to suffer for it. The game will not hold your hand, expecting you to play like a grown up. Many people claim they don't have the time for this game, but I was able to beat it in a month only playing a few hours each day. I think the "time" excuse is really just a lack of fortitude. And that's fine. This game is not for everybody. Just like some people can't handle horror films, some people aren't going to be able to handle the emotional roller coaster Dark Souls puts the player through. You don't play this game to relax. In fact, if you are already anxious, the game might make things worse. However, for those of us who can control our emotions and think through a challenging situation, this is one of the most rewarding games ever.	video-games_xbox
Second best Halo ever. Loved playing Halo with my friends and college roommates. I have played all that have been released, and though many feel this is the best of them, I still feel it falls in second. It was so unique and so much better than anything in its time that it was the best, but Halo 3 improved on it slightly, giving it, in my opinion, top honors in the series, and likewise, top honors in all FPS videogames. Halo 2 is better than but very similar to the original Halo. New weapons and vehicles are introduced, as well as dual wielding. While dual wielding adds a lot of depth and variety to your fighting strategy, the controls for dual wielding were somewhat unintuitive. Halo 3 fixed this, and those who say Halo 2's controls were better only say so because they have played it for so long that switching, even to better controls, is hard. Story wise, Halo 2 was a massive improvement to the original, adding beautiful video cut scenes and a riveting plot, but it did repeat a little of the same story as the first, at one point even re-including the same tedious level (The Library) as you once again try (and fail) to save the world in exactly the same way you did before. Once again, Halo 3 improved on this. Some people didn't like playing as the Arbiter, as they wanted to hate the enemy, and playing as the Covenant rebels made it hard to hate them. I rather enjoyed the new weapon options, new enemies, and new storyline. The music is spectacular, with many new and gorgeous tracks and arrangements added to the good of the original, many of which are still considered the best of the series and best of all video games. Halo 3 redid most of them with a live orchestra, so if you are an audiophile, Halo 3 is the version you want to listen to, though there are a few good tracks not repeated, and only to be found in Halo 2. Graphically, Halo 2 still looks good, but you can tell it was made for the original xbox. Still good enough to play, the old graphics have their charms. If you are a sucker for graphics, and don't find any charm in antiquity, you would probably do better getting the remastered version, though it is full of glitches and does not feel the same as the original. Online, Halo 2 was one of the most popular games ever, and was played by loyalists until online support was cut by Microsoft, this despite three newer Halo's had been made. Some may say it is hard to change, but it really is that good of a game that who can fault them? System linking is still possible. If you like first person shooters, and liked the original, this is a must play. If you like first person shooters, and want something that feels different than Call of Duty or Battlefield, this will do it. If you like a good story, this will suit you, though you need to play Halo 3 to finish it. If you like dual wielding, Halo 2 and Halo 3 are the only ones in the series with it. In short, unless the first halo was too graphic for you, buy and play this game. Play through with a friend on your couch. you will not regret it.	video-games_xbox
It's good but not over the top amazing. This game was the main reason I wanted to get an Xbox one in the first place. I have always been into WW1 but never really knew too much about it since they barely teach it in schools. That's why I love the trivia they add in the loading screens (which take TOO long even for team deathmatch). This game looked amazing, and it still does. I love the dynamic weather changes, but it changes too quickly. It will be clear as day one minute and then before you know it you can't see because it's a fog fest. I really wish they made repairing your planes, tanks, etc a bit faster honestly. I was in a fighter plane on Monte Grappa (not that it really matters) and I nearly died trying to repair my plane. This was also a problem in the campaign. I was playing the last mission in "Through Blood and Mud" and had trouble getting through the first half of the city without getting light up like the fourth of July. The campaign has too many stealth missions for a World War 1 game. One second I'll be in a massive tank battle and the next I'll be sneaking up on people with a shovel (which I have a lot of fun with). The "Nothing Is Written" mission I can totally understand since that's how Lawrence of Arabia carried out his quests. I don't understand why there are so many stealth missions with the Australian against the Ottomans. Let's go back to the cover of the game for a second. Why is this guy on the cover when he had little to do with the actual story? Honestly, I'd love to have the driver from Through Blood and Mud and the guy you play as during the Italian mission on the cover than this stupid guy Now back to the multiplayer for a second. This is just me, but I don't like most of th3 default maps, thus why I got the premium pass. I don't like Monte Grappa, Empire's Edge, Ballroom Blitz, and I have mixed feelings about Fao Fortress. I mainly play Team Deathmatch so make of that what you will. One more thing, why does it take so long to level up both in game and in classes?? I've played more than 14 hours with the medic and support class. I'm level 1 in medic and level 0 in support. That's ridiculous. Review over. Summary of it all, it's a game that needs some fixing and maybe for once add new campaign missions as DLC, that would be cool!	video-games_xbox
For the Casual Gamer. If you've been gaming since well before it was cool or at least accepted as not particularly geeky, I recommend looking over the reviews before making a decision. The people who are all raves and 5 stars pretty much give away a lack of experience with games in general. First off, I used to be a professional reviewer. I'd like to say I wouldn't have bought into the hype but the truth of the matter is that you will think you are in gaming Nirvana for the first 20-40 hours. For most reviewers, 20 hours of play means staying in late at the office or playing it over the weekend. Unfortunately, it's not until you cross that 20-40 mark that you start to realize that while yes, Oblivion deserves all its props for technical achievement, it's falls short on game design in some seriously big ways. First off, character building is by and large fairly irrelevant. Every character can ultimately do everything. All stats and skills are capped at the same arbitrary mark. So while you will most certainly notice a difference in play during the earlier levels, by around level 10 the majority of racial special abilities and stat/skill bonuses have become redundant. On top of that, the character leveling system is inane. You increase skills by actually using them. That sounds perfectly logical, but is it fun? Is it fun to jump down a mountain over and over again while spamming healing spells to kill two birds (your jumping skill and life magic) with one stone? Not questing or getting immersed in a deep story mind you, jumping down a mountain and spamming a spell. Furthermore you choose ten major skills. These level faster than your ordinary ones with the added caveat that you do not gain experience in this but rather every time you level any combination of these up to ten times you automatically gain a level. Gaining a level grants you HP and a choice of attributes to upgrade. Here's the clincher. All of the skills are tied to attributes. In order to get the maximum bonus possible for a given attribute you have to have leveled any combination of that attribute's skills ten times. So even though it would make sense to say take all the strength skills as majors for what you might intend to be a warrior-type character it's a really bad idea if you want to avoid leveling "too soon." Yes, for the hardcore number crunchers, leveling "too soon" is actually something you have to worry about. To further add to the leveling frustration everything in the game is scaled to your level. Monsters grow more powerful with you and will eventually simply disappear from the world permanently to get an upgrade. In most environments you won't see more than 2-3 monster types and there isn't a particularly huge variety of environments in the game, as beautiful as it is. EVERYTHING is scaled to your level. Even unique item rewards for quests. Complete a quest too soon and you get an irreversibly nerfed version of an item. The scaling comes right down to armor and weapons you can find, steal, loot, or purchase. You will never see the good stuff until starts appearing on NPCs because you crossed the proper level divide. All monsters are scaled. There is no super-dangerous dungeon that gives great rewards for greater risks. Go to any dungeon early on and you'll just find a bunch of easily killed peons. Money can practically be found on the streets if you know what you're doing. This isn't particularly unbalancing however, since there's nothing good to buy until you're at a higher level anyway. And you might as well just find a bunch of bandits or mauraders since they'll have all the current stuff for free. Stealing is completely useless. At the earlier levels when it's actually possible nobody has anything good. Yes, random items and stuff people carry is all scaled to your level too. However because your skill is arbitrarily capped but NPCs continue to get better and better at detecting your attempts, stealing becomes practically impossible at higher levels. As for the fighter, mage, thief dynamic, there isn't one. You can easily master all three aspects and guess what: magic is absurdly more powerful than the other two. At high levels a smart mage with proper custom-made spells can kill anything in 2 seconds flat. A warrior with the best unique sword available at level 25 will have to hit the tougher monsters a good 25 times before they go down. It is possible to sneak attack for an octuple damage modifier but this works once unless... see below. Magic is also broken on many levels. There is nothing to keep you from spamming spells like a wildman and some spells are so broken it's absurd. With 100% invisibility you can wander around with total impunity, literally stealth-striking monsters over and over again and they won't even try to swing back or cast a simple spell they could use to see you. This is not an exploit. It's simply how the game works. Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful game that's fun to play for at least 60 dollars worth of hours but don't expect to be playing it five years from now like it was Fallout or something. Once you realize how hopelessly generic everything is despite appearances, it really starts to eat at you. At least if you've ever played a good cRPG before.	video-games_xbox
Love the Environment. My favorite entries in the Assassin's Creed series are still AC II and AC IV. It's a series that seems easy to dip in and out of, based on interest in the setting and location. Seeing that Assassin's Creed: Syndicate was set in 1868 London made me VERY interested in trying the game. Think Gangs of New York, Oliver!, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, etc. Gritty, but lively stories from a city drenched in underground gangs and lively violence. I'm happy to say that ACS nails the feeling of that era. You'll ride a train around London, over the Thames, through rundown cluttered neighborhoods and even right past Big Ben. You'll meet up with Dickens, Alexander Graham Bell, Darwin and Churchill during your adventure. Yes, its a little shoehorned in, but the level of humor seems a bit turned up on this entry in the series, similar to AC II. The overall gameplay is the same tried-and-true formula. Scale stuff, sneak around, collect this or that, plenty of side missions and a decently compelling story mode keep you moving forward. You do earn a sort of 'grappling hook' fairly early on, which makes scaling buildings and zooming around town easier than ever. It's not quite the same as a Just Cause 3 or Batman grappling hook, but it is a nice addition. The Animus stuff seems pretty toned down, which I'm happy to report. Is anyone into the series for the modern day aspects anymore? As the father of boy/girl twins, another cool addition is that you play as boy/girl twin assassins, switching on the fly almost anytime you'd like. ACS isn't breaking the mold of the series, but it is a lot of fun and offers a setting that lends itself well to the series, and some varied and interesting gameplay. If you skipped Unity, or are looking for an excuse to see how the series is doing at this point, ACS is a great entry to dive back into the world of Assassin's Creed.	video-games_xbox
and the flashlight stays on. I ordered this game after my brother-in-law gave me the first one and I was very happy to find that it built on the already fantastic game play. I was a little thrown at first because the controller operations were different from the first (I'm not a pro gamer, so jumping back and forth from different games gets me discombobulated enough to blow myself up or stand there looking silly while enemies pound me). Once I got the hang of it though I could focus on the crisp new ways to interact with the environment. I'm not going to recap other reviewers info about the storyline and the creep-factor; both are very, very cool and this is a fun game for those that like virtual violence and gory, Gothic themes. Here's my "like-the-most" list: -grenades are newer and the "cook" feature is great...even though i blew myself up a couple of times -great new selection of weapons....loved the sniper rifle -the flashlight stays on...no more "recharging", I know it sounds petty but it made a difference to me to not have that annoying feature. I know it was supposed to add to the anxiety factor of the first F.E.A.R., but I just found it a pain -upgraded actions like leaping over barriers are a nice touch - the mech-suit is very cool, I especially enjoyed blasting my way down the street feeling invulnerable The save points seem closer together, which is also a nice improvement. Like the first one, I still find running around the insides of buildings boring and to be honest, I think that they should have focused more on moving the game forward and the gore action rather than "problem solving" your way out of a basement. But it seems less prevalent than the first one and you generally can find your way and get back to the action. Being able to slide furniture and whatnot to make cover is cool, though I really rarely used it at all. The story line is intriguing and the flashbacks and movie-cuts are top notch. I'm looking forward to getting the third episode.	video-games_xbox
A title for this video game review (Edited. Go to bottom for my update This is my first WWE game since Smackdown vs Raw 2010. Technically, 2009 was the last one I got; I bought 2010 in 2012 and it didn't last long for me. WWE 12 excited me primarily because it re-introduced the only thing that mattered to be throughout the yearly monotonous releases; being able to break up moves in progress, something highly controversial and oodles of fun in the WWE games on Gamecube; a Giant Swing in a Royal Rumble match would floor everyone else. But I never sprang for WWE 12, due in large part to highly mixed reviews and Randy Orton on the cover. Plus by the time the price was down enough for me to consider it, WWE 13 was about to come out. So I sprang and got this on release day. This being my first entry into the Predator engine of the new series, it's a mixed bag, but not in a bad way; more like a bag of candies with different kinds of chocolate bars, including that one disgusting chocolate you really hate and pass over. It's mostly the same as Smackdown vs Raw series, but you get to break up moves. Also the controls are very much new. Even nearly a year since I last played the SvR games, I'm still reacting in-game as if it were a SvR, using the right wiggly-stick to grapple, or the left bumper button to run. The new grapple system feels unstable for me, and it's almost impossible to keep track of the multiple variant moves available from the 4 or 6 different grapple types, not even including the body targetting grapples. I still hold the grapple button down sometimes thinking about Heavy Grapples. Something about the action makes it feel more condensed; as if the ring were half the size and there wasn't much space or stamina to run around, but this could likely just be the camera angle and being unaccustomed to the new button placement for running. Lots of fun customization for custom characters, including being able to pick their strength stats (though it lets you rank them at 100 from the start), weakpoints on their bodies, announced names (with several words instead of singular names), and a name for the commentators to use when mocking and deriding you for being an ugly monstrosity incapable of overcoming the unstoppable barrage of Hunico because all your reversals are Too Fast due to years of lightning-fast button mashing of the reversal buttons going back even to WWF Wrestlemania 2000. I haven't gotten to the story modes yet, but have played a few "missions" in the much advertised and vaunted ATTITUDE MODE storyline. It appears to have no real story being told other than through matches, which include objectives (win) and bonus objectives (do it the way it happened in real history), shiny unlockables, and copy-pasted lines of commentary taken from the actual matches, with 80% of the lines blending in seamlessly and not having sharp variances in volume or pitch. Unlike previous years, you cannot skip songs in the game menus anymore, so it gets annoying. The options for creating an entrance are retained from previous years, with movement styles labelled "Superstar 01 - 9000", "Diva 01 - 02", "Legend 01 - 13", and so on, and being rendered without your consent, so that it takes several seconds to preview each motion one after the other. Most of the ATTITUDE ERA stars are locked by default, so I am hoping Attitude Era heavyweight movers and shakers like Headbanger Thrasher, Headbanger Mosh, Steve Blackman, and SAVIO VEGA! are there waiting to be unlocked. I also look forward to the chapter in the Attitude storyline covering Kaientai, from "I CHOPPY YOU PEE PEE" to the Jerry Lawler hilarity of laughing and making vaguely racist remarks when Taka Michinoku was eliminated from Royal Rumble 2000. It sounds wacky and stupid like I'm joking but I'm not; I really would love to see those sorts of moronic things in the ATTITUDE ERA. EDIT: I'm genuinely impressed by some of the sharp attentions to detail with the Attitude Era mode. It's not just a matter of commentary re-used from actual events (or re-recorded sometimes) but the detail they put into choreographing certain cutscenes or setups to look just like they did in real life, and most of all, the music. It's not just a matter of including "Undertaker gong theme" and "Undertaker Ministry theme" but everything in between, and chronologically accurate---Undertaker at King of the Ring 98 has his proper gong theme, and later in the year, has that electric guitar theme featured on WWF The Music Vol. 3, and has the entirely different Ministry version in 1999. Similarly, Mankind from 96-98 has his sad string music, and in December 98, has that same version with a drumbeat over it. UPDATE: I never played WWE 12, but I do remember it being advertised that you would be able to break up moves in progress in that game, much like in games like WWE Day of Reckoning, though presumably smarter and with better collision detection. For some reason I assumed this would be the same in WWE 13, but it's not. It's back to stagnant mediocrity, and no moves can be interrupted in progress. That was pretty much the only reason I even bought this game; for the ability to have multi-man matches play out realistically, instead of each competitor pairing off to have their own private 1v1 contests in different corners of the ring. Then, there's WWE Universe mode. A more uninvolving piece of garbage mode I have not seen since WWF Wrestlemania 2000's "Road to Wrestlemania" mode no one ever used. It's pretty much exactly the same thing, too; matches are set up, and you either play them or skip them. WWE Universe mode seems to be the complete opposite of the GM mode that was in Smackdown vs Raw games several years ago; you have NO control over the match setups, you have NO control over rivalries, feuds, drafts, or stories, you have NO control over championship matches, you have NO control over anything but superficially creating your own shows and pay per view events. The WWE Universe mode CLAIMS to have stories involved, but if they are there, they are kept away from you; you only get storyline updates in the NEWS section, where events unfold completely divorced from your involvment; Zack Ryder turns his back on the audience. Why? You'll never know. How? You'll never know. So unimportant is your role that you can literally skip MONTHS AND MONTHS of shows and PPV events just to get to certain events, and it will have absolutely no effect on the game and supposed "stories" unfolding. With Attitude Era mode done, this game is done. UPDATEUPDATE: Apparently, moves CAN be broken up in progress. It is simply nowhere near as effective as in the old TNA Impact game, nor as wildly chaotic (and fun) as the Day of Reckoning series and the like. And the moves can only be broken up at certain points, and I've never been able to figure out the proper timing for these moments.	video-games_xbox
lots of fun but songs couldve been a lot better. i have been playing this game for about 3 weeks now.im pretty far into it.there are a few 70's hard rock songs and "eye of the tiger" but mostly its punk,ska,alternative and stuff like that.i couldve come up with countless better lists that would appeal to a far wider audience. the singing parts are simple enough.on the harder songs it is simply more particular about your range.which is really annoying since you cant beat the game on easy level. the guitar is smashing! its cool,once again,on easy level only.there are 100 guitar classics i wouldve put on here and i see none of them.so,for the record,robert smith,eric clapton,jim martin,jimi hendrix,ace frehley,jimmy page,randy rhodes,jack e lee,zack wylde,kieth richards and stevie ray vaughan are all ABSENT from this game.but the guitar is fun anyway.it just could have been a whole lot better. the drums are way to complicated.its like the first time you tried to drive.everythings going way too fast,minds racing to keep up,you feel like you need 2 more hands etc.im no drummer but i doubt it had to be that much of a pain in the butt. you will eventually gain fans,money,fame see the world and all that cool stuff.there are all sorts of cool costumes also.in each town i dress up appropriately,like in texas:cowboy,san fran sisco:hippie. and on like that. you can also buy accessories like shades or make up if you're a chick.i made a chick for fun and gave her a strung out look. this game grows on you quickly and can get a little addictive.its a lot of fun minus its rough edges.i would go into this purchase expecting a fast paced heavy sounding loud rock game not a display of greats from the past or anything appropriate. speaking of appropriate,i simply cannot belive that nirvana was allowed on this game after kurt cobains admission to being a pedophile.i also cant belive the song "aqua lung" made it too.that song starts off about a sex offender guy watching small children.now that s@#t is fu@#ed up.what the H$%L is this world coming to where songs are written like this and then revered on a video game.i hold down vomit everytime i hear nirvana or that sickening aqua lung.	video-games_xbox
A Solid Shooter. A Completed Game Review. Normal&Hard settings. Brothers in Arms is a First Person Shooter based on a true story. This game has authentic locations and weapons based on real life WW2 combat areas in Normandy right down to the square yard,even the house details are nearly exact. You could visit these places in real life and see the same area you see in the game and even the wall you used for cover. You are a Squad Leader that eventualy gains control of 2 teams. One is a Fire team for Suppression fire,and the other team is an Assault team for closer up front enemy fire. Your job is to command these 2 teams effectivly. First by using your Fire team to suppress the enemy and then using your Assault team to Flank the enemy .Basicly you Find Em,(suppress)Fix Them,Flank Them ,Fire on them. Your Enemies also use simular Fire and maneuver tactics and they will shift there defenses based on your movements,but they will never leave there fixed Machine Gun positions. To move your men.. you use whats called one button-context sensitive command system ,by pressing Left Trigger and moving hilight over desired area and letting go of left trigger. Its easy to do once you get the hang of the command system. You also use the d-pad for commands such as "on me" and to change fire teams. Also you can use white button to quickly change fire teams and issue order. It may take a few levels before you get it down. If you use your fire team to first suppress the enemy then use your assault team to flank and fire. You will mostly be successful. Its true that sometimes your squad will not do as well as you want them to and they would not be able to hit enemies sometimes ,I was able to pick enemies off easily but my squad weren't the best targeters,but for the most part they do a good job,sometimes they even find better firing positions,this is definatly one of the better command shooter maneuver games out there with relativly smart A.I. .On Normal and Hard mode your squad is never able to hit enemies while in cover but I was able to pick off enemies when they peeked up from cover. If I had to rate me compared to my squad as riflemen,My squad would get a 4 and I would get an 8 out of 10. Sometimes I would hilight an area behind a wall for my squad to use as cover and one of them would line up on the opposite side of the wall facing wrong direction as enemy would spawn in, I had to re-issue the command to get them behind wall. A nice feature is that if all of your squad gets taken out,you can still finish the level solo. The graphics are nice ,nothing spectacular but they do a nice job and the faces of your squad mates are nicely detailed .The frames skipped sometimes ,probably because of all the stuff goin on in the screen. There is a feature in this game called Situational Awareness View ,basicly this an overhead view of you ,your men,enemies,and the surrounding area. You get this view by pressing the back button to pause game then you get a chance to scout the terrain for possible flanking areas for your fire and maneuver tactics. In the real WW2 they used maps before they entered an area , so this game also gives you advantage of knowing the surrounding area by using your situational awareness feature. There was some times when I wish my player was able jump over a fence to get a better flank position,(in the real world we can climb over 3ft fences )and I wish you also climb over small walls,But this game does give you,for the most part,alot of ways to Flank your enemy. This is definatly a well designed and fun game ,I noticed your men get smarter on the harder settings and there's more enemies and even an added tank that wasn't in the level on the Normal setting. I played the game on Normal setting and beat it in Two days. Im guessing maybe it was 11hrs total gametime to finish. After you beat the game on Normal setting ,two cheats open up in the menu section ,'Unlimited Ammo' and 'Old Movie Mode' old movie is basicly black & white mode. You have easy,normal,hard, & realistic settings. The realistic setting is only available after beating the game on hard difficulty. Once you beat the game on Realistic setting a cheat opens up called 'Super Squad'.The game saves automaticly once you get to a certain point in the level,so there's no saving on the fly .It does seem to save in the right points,so no harm there. You have the ability to have the crosshairs turned on or off. The fixed machine gunners are tuff to beat but with the right suppressive/flank maveuver they can be dealt with. The Squad A.I. is good in this game,it really depends on how good you are at picking the right suppresion and fire areas for your squad. Remember the 4 F's ..Find,Fix,Flank,Fire. Always try to use the Fire team to suppress enemies. And There is almost always a Flank opportunity for your Assault Team. The tactics used in this game are based on real life WW2 fire and maneuver tactics and WW2 veterans were on hand for help in designing game to make it authentic as possible. There were some things I wish they couldve added ,like the ability for your men to operate fixed Machine gun positions,only your man can operate them. Also I wish You could drive the Tanks but the tank drivers do fight well ,but it depends on how well you command them. Sometimes there was some serious Lag in the framerates .But with all that said..this game is fun with nicely done cinematics,graphics, sound effects,and good solid shooter gameplay. The enemies are tough but not too tough. But there are 4 different difficulty settings. There's also alot of bonus info after completing levels on certain difficulties,such as WW2 photos of tanks,personel,maps,documents,alot of real WW2 information. This is a good game ,a more hands on tactical shooter. Its definatly a FPS all the way around. Now that Ive completed game on Hard setting its not that different than Normal setting hopefully Realistic setting will be a challenge. I think its a little too easy on Normal & Hard settings. But Definatly worth playing. HINT:If you want this game to be harder turn off the overhead circles above the enemy ,they are the red/grey circles that indicate enemies positions and the status of there suppression. You can turn them off in the options menu. Without the red circles on,the enemies are tougher to spot. Also finish game on Hard difficulty to open up the hardest setting, Realistic mode. Good Luck. Thanks To All Who Serve In The Armed Services.	video-games_xbox
Great, just not THAT great. I don't get what all the hype is about... Seriously. I don't. Halo is a very good (make that great) game and I still play it a lot, but from what I've read and heard about it, I was expecting to be blown away! The tornado I was bracing for turned out to be a nice, gentle breeze. Throughout the entire game, I was hoping and hoping, but it never reached the state of being the "greatest FPS of all time," or the "best game for the Xbox ever" that I had been led to believe it would become. However, that's NOT saying Halo is a gigantic disappointment in any respect. I know people are going to start telling that when it was made, Halo was way ahead of it's time. Be that as it may, I hear people saying that it's still the greatest game ever made, when in reality, it isn't. All the levels, except the moronic "The Library," are large and designed nicely, and aren't as linear as in a lot of other games. The graphics are excellent, even by today's standards. The weapons are realistic (except the pistol, which kicks the assault rifle's butt, somehow), and the enemies are original, intelligent and challenging. Co-op mode and multiplayer are both great. The vehicles are powerful, although needlessly difficult to drive (it would be much better if buttons were used for acceleration and braking, and the thumbstick was used for steering). The storyline is interesting, and the game is very well-designed overall. But, unfortunatley, I don't seem to be able to find that certain "spark" that captured so many other players' attention and made them fall in love with this game, no matter how hard I try. Many people seem to worship Halo, but I don't see what the big deal is! It might be my own fault or maybe I'm just confused, but I don't think Halo is as wonderful as it's made out to be. Seriously though, don't get me wrong! Halo is a great first-person shooter; just not the greatest.	video-games_xbox
Not much Wonderland in Alice. First off, I am enjoying the game as a platform title. It does offer some fighting and some jumping. But Wonderland? The story line is very hard to follow. I am just starting chapter three, and so far, there have only been a few characters from Alice in Wonderland present, and most of the time they are sending you off to perform tasks. Even the ones that are villainous, you don't really get to fight. Instead, you get a lot of generated monsters that don't seem to have anything to do with Wonderland at all. Yes, you have a teapot with a big red eyeball, but you also have crabs that shoot cannons, balls of tar with baby doll heads, angler fish with freeze capabilities and little things that look like goblins, none of which entered into the Wonderland mythos. Did the game designer even read the books? I really expected a more Wonderland look or feel. The entire second chapter is told underneath the ocean, Alice never went there, and had undead pirates. When did Alice ever meet a pirate? It is all a jumble. And then, the monsters repeat, and so do the floating platforms and air vents. They just slightly change the look from chapter to chapter, but they are the same platforms and air vents. There are some clues to find but you can't really wander far from the course. It is kind of fun looking for hidden objects though. The weapon selection is huge and vast, and let me tell you, I am a gamer who has to use an easy setting because I am not very coordinated. I now have about six weapons that all use different buttons. I have to press A for a hobby horse, right trigger for a pepper gun, B for a bomb, X for a knife, left trigger + A for my blocking umbrella and now I have something else that takes the place of the pepper gun but only if I hold the left trigger and move the finger pad. So fighting for me can be quite a chore. I would have liked the weapons to be narrowed down a little or maybe use specific weapons only for specific levels. Or, maybe upgrade a weapon to something else, so you don't have this great mishmash of things that you have to remember how to use. If I were working on normal setting I probably would be dead in the water and not have made it very far. The other problem I have are these random mini games that pop up from time to tim. Though they are cute, and some of them are a little bit fun, I was not expecting them in a platform jumper. They sort of take away from the story. You are moving along, fighting, swinging your vorpal knife, and BOOM, you are doing a mini game. Not sure what is up with that. And the story... along the way you have to recover memories, but you can miss them if you are not careful or if they are hidden. The memories are one sentence thoughts from characters and don't seem to say anything. And easily forgetable when you are playing. Not sure how they tie in with the story. I have pretty much given up on the story, and am just playing it as a platformer. I am hoping that in chapters four or five I will get the red queen or the cards, or chess pieces or something that reminds me more of wonderland. Though I am not holding my breath. It is not a bad game, so I have given it three stars. It just could have been improved. Alice looks great though, and the graphics are well done for what you get. The camera angle can be pretty wonky, especially when you have to put something on a pressure pad and have a short time to sprint somewhere. Glad my copy was on sale. Would have hated paying sixty bucks for this.	video-games_xbox
Cyber Ninja + Woodchipper = Adrenaline. If you like skill-based melee action games like Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta, or Devil May Cry, then this is a must buy! Concept: 5/10 When you think about it, the concept is kind of strange. Create a fast paced action hack and slice for a series known for its stealth, with a character that is not Solid Snake, but the feminine wimpy guy you played in Metal Gear Solid. The execution better be great if you want people to buy it. Gameplay: 10/10 Fortunately, the game is awesome! This is a linear level based game that is 90% melee and 10% optional stealth. Throughout most of the game, you'll be dashing through levels and chopping enemies into tiny bits. Raiden is a cyber ninja and he's got 3 basic modes of combat. Neutral, allows him to run around levels and use the X and Y buttons to attack enemies, the R2 button to lock onto enemies, the A button to jump, and the B button to perform actions like picking up items or activating insta-ninja-stealth kills. This plays like the Devil May Cry games and it's very fun. Ninja Mode: Raiden moves at double speed, auto blocks projectiles with his sword, and smoothly auto dodges obstacles. Press X and Y to preform combos, R2 to lock on enemies, and A to jump. When you enter this mode, you feel like a cyber ninja wrecking machine and can go toe to toe with giant mechs. The increased speed allows Raiden to close the distance on enemy soldiers or dash around battle arenas to avoid the attacks from powerful enemies. Blade Mode: When you damage enemy body parts, they highlight in blue. When you hold down LT, the game slows down to super slow mo and you see through Raiden's eye. Press X to cut through an enemy horizontally, Y vertically, and when you slice through a targeted area, the enemy will drop a power up that slowly falls to the ground. Press B before it hits the ground to get a bonus. So, in Blade Mode, the object is to cut the enemy into as many pieces as you can, and catch the power up before it lands. Raiden is so bad ass, he can cut a cyber soldier into 100 pieces before the power up hits the ground. This is insanely fun and rewarding. Some boss battles require manual Blade Mode, where you angle the analog stick and release it to accurately slice the enemy. This is a bit tricky, but rewarding once you get the hang of it. Raiden fights a wide variety of cyber enemies and bosses including giant mechs, soldiers, and cybernetic super villains. The levels are fast paced and insanely fun. The only defense you get is a parry, where you must point at the attacking enemy and press the X button at the right time to deflect the blow. This requires a bit of skill, but once you get the hang of it, you're a cyber ninja wrecking machine! I actually got adrenaline rushes fighting the bosses and that hasn't happened in a long time for me. Graphics: 9/10 The characters are well imagined and the levels are pretty good. The particle affects add life to the battles. The levels are set slightly in the future and you'll fight in cities, military bases, and evil corporate offices. Story: 9/10 The story involves War for Profit organizations creating conflict in the world to promote their own selfish goals. Raiden intervenes to stop them. It's actually a pretty good story and relates to the events of modern times. Sound: 8/10 The sound effects are great and the music is hit or miss. There are some good action tracks and there are some metal tracks with vocals that you either like, or you don't. Maturity: M There's super violence, gore, and swearing. You do slice bad guys into small bits throughout the game. If a little kid played this, he'd accrue so much testosterone, he'd grow a beard like Chuck Norris. Replay Value: 9/10 This is a skill based game that takes about 7 hours to finish. But when you finish, you'll want to keep unlocking gear and improve your ninja skills. The game features 3 difficulty modes and some very difficult VR missions that take place outside of the story. You'll need to master the combat system to beat them. If you just want to blow through the game, you can rent it over a weekend, but if you want to master the incredibly fun combat, then this is a game you'll want to play over and over again! Buy it if you love melee action games! Buy it if you love ninja games! Rent it if you have 6-10 hours to get through the campaign. (Some of the boss fights are very tough.) Avoid it if you like the slow and easy combat of Assassin's Creed games. Avoid it if you don't like over the top violence. At this point, the game is so cheap, you should probably buy it.	video-games_xbox
Big disappointment. SINGLE PLAYER REVIEW Being a fan of Codemasters since the TOCA series, I was expecting Grid 2 to be a real joy. However, what followed after inserting the disc into my Xbox 360 last night was nothing but disappointment. First off, the graphics look very nice when playing the game. Colors are bright and vibrant, the environment is alive with fireworks shooting, and crowds react to the cars going by. The other cars on track look very nice as they speed past you or you speed past them. The graphics were certainly done right, it's a great looking title. However, this does not apply to the replays. They show horrible angles that cut so quickly you'd think you're watching an action movie. The car models take a significant dip in quality during replays. They look very generic and sometimes floaty. I think most people by now know that the cockpit view was removed. I was okay with this as long as the rest of the game was good. The sound is very well done. The music that is included is meant to be in the background. You won't find any licensed music from popular bands, just mostly ambient noise. The cars sound mean on the track and the environment also sounds great with the previously mentioned fireworks, crowd, and speakers with the track PA announcing the action. One complaint about the audio, though, is the annoying guide/crew chief throughout the game. His lines are repetitive and poorly delivered. I could do without that. Otherwise, a very nice job was done on the audio. Now, for the major negatives. The handling of the cars is over-the-top arcade. You are basically forced to drift around corners at full speed. If you don't and try to play more realistically by braking before a turn, the AI will powerslide into your car and demolish it to pieces. When you brake, the car slams to a halt. The brake is more like an on/off switch. This also creates a major drift effect when braking into a turn. Your tail will whip out as you go sliding around that corner. Speaking of being smashed into by the inept AI and its persistence to remain on its racing line, I've never seen damage like what is in this game. In my races last night, I saw MANY CPU cars with the driver door wide open and hanging on its hinges. Even worse (maybe, I don't know) was seeing doors completely off as I passed by a car. When was the last time you watched a race on TV where the driver was powersliding around corners at 150MPH with the driver door hanging open or torn off? I'll venture to guess it hasn't been often. It looks as absurd as it sounds. When creating an exhibition race, you can choose from mostly city courses. I think there are 4 or 5 licensed professional circuits. The few that are in there are done well. You can choose up to a whopping 5 laps for some tracks. Or, if you really want to invest some real time into a race, you can switch to endurance mode and race for up to a whole entire 40 minutes. I never realized a 40-minute race was considered an endurance race. A lot of the tracks are point-to-point and don't allow you to choose laps. Basically, exhibition mode is a bare bones setup that I didn't expect to see at this point of gaming. Finally, there is no adjusting the difficulty. Yes, you can change between easy, medium, hard, etc. difficulty levels of the AI. But, you cannot change assist settings. Want to turn off traction control? Can't do it. Want to turn off stability control? Can't do it. All assists are always there and they're always on. There is no option to change these settings and that really kills it for me. As someone who was looking for that combination of simulation and arcade, I'm very disappointed. Grid 2 is a prettier Need for Speed, it's all arcade and no simulation. I can't recommend this to players who were looking for something similar to what I was. If you're an arcade fan, this game will probably appeal to you, though. Based on what I was looking for from it, I rate it 2/5 stars.	video-games_xbox
Call of Duty: CARTOON Warfare 3. Let me start off by complaining about multiplayer PEER to PEER connection (P2P). This review will only discuss MW3 multiplayer, because let's face it, it is essentially all that matters in this genre. P2P is a significant problem for FPSs (First Person Shooters) because of the fast-paced action. If the hardware and/or your connection cannot keep up to speed the experience is very poor and dissatisfying. Peer to peer is absolutely revolting. P2P basically guarantees that someone in the game is starting with a disadvantage...period. I'm not sure though if I can blame simply MW3 or Xbox Live in general. Because players cannot choose the servers or game in which they want to play, they are left at the automated mercy of Live to select a game for them. Sorry Joe, you cannot choose the game in which you want to play, so you may or may not have full signal.... Oh and you will most certainly NOT be host ( = instant disadvantage). It is absolutely unacceptable to melee someone and die, only to go back and watch the replay where someone capped you off before you even closed 5 feet of them... unacceptable. First person shooters should never resort to this absurdity -- and yet, here we are, playing the most hyped and anticipated game of all time and still finding the most fundamental glitch still there. I let it slide in MW2 because it was the best out there and I was still reluctant to complain about it... ...but here we are now in MW3, with EXACTLY THE SAME SCENARIO. But hey, you've already paid for your subscription to Live, and your cable connection.. Perhaps you should fork out just a bit more money and get a FASTER CONNECTION?? Heck you only have to pay a bit more!! What's another 15 dollars a month??? Also, why not step up to Elite??? It's only <more money monthly>!!!!... .... please. Goodness, everything has already been said. I have read over many of the reviews here and many of the 3 and 1 star reviews explain it best: The producers of this game were handed the recipe on a silver platter, and yet they've still managed to drop the ball. Rest assured that this is at THE EXPENSE OF ALL OF US WHO BOUGHT IT! Less work, research, thinking and innovation inevitably equals MORE PROFIT for them and less quality for us. If any of you guys think this game is worthy of five stars you are a special breed indeed. As it has been said TIME AND TIME AGAIN, the maps are some of the most disgusting pieces of atrocity I've ever witnessed in a multiplayer experience. It is like the developers ate a bunch of food, got drunk and vomited all over a sheet of paper and configured the layouts as such, except they made intricate tunnels through each blot of vomit like an ant colony. Oh, and did I mention how damn-near everything is explosive? Man, I'd sure hate to live in Cartoon Warfare 3 country -- you could as much as spit on a car and it would suddenly explode with utmost ferocity, or a barrel, or some other hidden, unknown danger. Sigh..... how many times am I going to be killed by someone spawning behind me??? And all of the levels look the same! The producers might as well have just called them "Map 1, 2, 3" etc. etc..... It's not like anyone would have noticed... or cared for that matter. Oh and you can be assured that this was intentional, so that everyone who BOUGHT THE GAME WOULD BE FORCED TO BUY THE DLC RELEASED! Heck, maybe THE NEXT SET OF DLC WILL BE BAD AS WELL SO YOU'LL BE FORCED TO BUY THE SET AFTER THAT!!!! Kill streaks are boring now...EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE BEFORE, except for maybe upgraded armor. YAAAAAAAAAAAAWN Osprey. V22 equals MW2's EMERGENCY AIR DROP + CHOPPER GUNNER. The staple of the game is the attack helicopter whereas it used to be the Harrier... YAAAAAWN..... Man that sure took a lot of thinking to come up with these killstreaks! Oh wait, now I can choose a support class! ! This just means I can choose a watered-down version of the killstreaks and die in-between! And specialist??? Oh my, let me build up my killstreak in order to get perks! Yaaaawn. What a let-down. Dang I'd take the dogs killstreak from Black Ops (which had already been used over and over again in itself) over both of those strike package classes. Overall the game is not total garbage -- but when you compare it to the dredges of the masses that has come before it, it's simply nothing... SPEAKING of simplicity, I'm simply done buying new Xbox 360 games...No more... first Gears 3, then BF3, and now MW3... No more... wait for the games to drop in price (substantially) before purchasing, or wait for the next generation of consoles... You've been warned!	video-games_xbox
Save Shenmue! Please Buy this. I was a fan of the original, but just barely bought the sequel because I had Metroid Prime... Metroid will always win out in priorities, but Sega fans and Xboxers should buy this game without hesitation. Shenmue 2 is the sequel to the sleeper Dreamcast hit that debuted at the end of the Dreamcast's life, in fact it was the last Dreamcast game I bought, and it is to this day my favorite DC title simply because this game is a very versatile title. There is no genre that this game series does not cover at some point. Ryo has to learn new skills, and master them, like RPGs, he has to gather clues and information collect items, etc, like RPGs, there's a deep and compelling story, like RPGs, there's mini games galore, exploration, adventure, fighter game type action (similar to the Virtual Fighter Engine.) There's so much going on in this game, its part sim, part RPG, part adventure, part fighter... How could someone not enjoy it? Especially since many of the flaws of the original game have been fixed? Lost? You can easily find someone to show you around. Broke? Part time jobs, though I don't recommend gambling... I lost over $1,000 that way, ironically right after I had won that much! All this in the midst of what is at its core one of the most comprehensive and beautiful epic stories of our day. I've been enthralled by the story of the game, but sadly sales of this remarkable game have been less that stellar. The game is selling so poorly that there may not be a Shenmue 3, and the story is far from over. It isn't fair that such an artistic and beautiful game like this be passed over without so much as a second glance. I implore all Xboxers out there, please save Shenmue and at least give this game a look. There's a movie included with the game that summarizes the plot of the first game, although the movie does not do justice to the original game itself, which has a great deal more to it, it will still let you know what you need to know to get by story wise in Shenmue 2, and in all honesty Shenmue 2 has far fewer flaws. Many people found some aspects of the original tedious, like having to wait around for hours on end for an event, but thankfully this one allows you to fast forward to the appropriate time, rather than seeking out stuff to do. Because Sega and AM2 addressed so many of the flaws of the first game it is well worth it to pick this title up, even if you haven't played through the original. Just watch the movie first and you'll be fine. PLEASE BUY THIS GAME! Don't let this masterpiece fade into oblivion... imagine if 24 were cancelled midseason and you'd know how I feel about there not being a Shenmue 3.	video-games_xbox
Good game but falls short in some aspects. NEGATIVES: -On the first couple levels, enemies sometimes pop out right in front of you or behind you without even shooting. -Enemies sometimes run around chaotically without direction. -Team AI is mediocre throughout the game, you'll be killing the vast majority of the enemies. -Enemies always yell. You'll always know that enemies are in the area because you'll hear them yelling slogans such as "F*** you GI" & "This is my country" in a stero-typical asian accent. This happens WAY too much throughout the game. -Some Enemies take too many hits. 5 bullets from an M-60 or any other gun should be more than enough to put down any VC or NVA soldier but not in this game. -Directions for completing tasks are too brief. On about every other level, it seems like there are parts where you get stuck because the directions were too brief & you don't know what to do. -Holding down the B-button to heal your wounds gets really annoying & hurts your thumb. (the developers should have made it so you just press it, not hold it down) I've died sooo many deaths because of this annoyance! -Long loading times -No rewards for beating the game (no cheats, videos, nothing?) POSITIVES: -Guns (plenty of awesome firepower) -Gameplay (for the most part it's usually real good) -Some levels actually make you feel like your in Nam -The gun turret parts of the game are really good. You'll be shooting out of a huey & some other helicopter. -Most levels are well designed -There are usually enough checkpoints in missions -The story line is actually decent -Graphics are pretty good -Sound is also pretty good Men of Valor is a good game but it also has it's share of annoyances which can hinder game play. The main two annoyances being that you have to hold down the B-button when ever you get shot & that enemies take too much damage (usually in the 2nd half of the game) Over all I would give the game a 7 out of 10. It would have been nice if there were more game modes for single player. I picked my copy up for $20 and it was worth it. I wouldn't have paid more than $25 for it though. Replay value isn't very high.	video-games_xbox
Halo 3 Overhyped. I don't know what people were expecting from Halo three... it's the final chapter in the Halo series. It doesn't cure cancer or answer the meaning of life... it's a Halo game. If you liked the first two, you will love this one. If you hated the first two... get the idea? Ok. Now for the Halo vs Gear of War fodder: I played GOW. I liked it. Are the graphics awesome? Oh yes... colors? A little bland... personally I saw it as a corridor game... you run from one conveniently located barricade to another.. kinda like a rat in a maze. I mean you couldn't even jump for crying out loud. I thought the graphics were a little over ambitious as the frame rate stuttered often, especially in the cinematic scenes. Multiplayer was a blast of course... storyline a little vague, and it ended too quickly for me. I wanted to believe the train wasn't the last stage... Halo 3? I think it did good at many things instead of doing excellent at few things. The graphics are great... vibrant colors, I think the lower res at a gain of better HDR lighting was a good choice as the frame rate is consistent and adds more dramatic flair to the action. No it's not 720p, but neither is Darkness on the PS3. Most demanding games will not offer true native 1080p. Get use to it: this generation of gaming systems is not capable of meeting that standard with any consistency. Let's not even talk about upscaling, because that doesn't even count. Have you seen an upscaled dvd @ 1080p and compared it to a hi-def movie @ 1080p? Give me a break. Multiplayer was as fun as you can expect from Halo and the reply mode cannot be understated. Consider that everything in the gameplay environment is rendered so you can take some awesome screenshots in replay mode and it makes you appreciate the visuals a bit more. GOW, COD, and MOH games look better, but limit what you are able to see and do. Halo 3 is all encompassing and made compromises that offer a consistent experience. To have IGN, Gamespot, AND Gamepro give this game high marks says alot. Everyone hating on Halo 3 is just mad it's the biggest single day money maker in entertainment history. Haters, hate all you want... Halo 3 is GREAT SUCCESS!!!	video-games_xbox
Pretty much the same, but thats not all bad. First off, this is a great game, it is a game worth owning for the Xbox One if you do not have a beefy PC or simply want to play on console without having to spend a certain amount, there is always sweet bundles. Anyways lets start with the negatives, if you are coming from Gears of War 3 or Judgment, there isn't much "new" in this game or a significant change compared to the other games, good or bad depends entirely on you. I personally didn't mind since the campaign in this game is very good and I had a great time, the levels are diverse and really can get intense when new enemies arise. The other issue with the game is the multiplayer is the same as well, even Horde mode, the problem I am pointing out, even though its a lot of fun, the problem is if you have played the other games, it will all feel the same as usual, especially Horde mode which i cant get into anymore since it feels the same as Gears of War 3. Other then that, this is a pretty solid game, it also includes local coop so if you want to play through the game offline, go for it! You can also join up with someone online if you don't have someone to play with locally. The multiplayer, while the same, has some new modes that are fantastic, one that is my favorite is dodgeball, where you have one life and you can only revive teammates if you kill the opposing team, but if you die, you can only be revived if your teammates kill the other players, this goes on until either team is fully eliminated, so if you are the only player and kill 2 of the opposing team and survive, two more teammates come back to help out. Another mode is like gungame in COD, where you have a weapon and with each kills, you obtain a new weapon, now there is a catch, you work with other teammates, so if you work together and have 3 kills for each weapon, you move up together. Another new mode for competitive mode which is separate from social multiplayer modes is escalation which is a long version on annex. For gameplay additions, you can jump over cover if you hold the sprint button and tap on the b button to vault over it and not lose momentum. If you have another player on the other side of the wall, you can press X to pull that opposing player to your side and press Y to do an execution or you can shotgun the player, your choice. The campaign will last you sometime, and its very enjoyable, this game is the complete package when it comes to content, but if you are starting to just purchase this title, be warned that you will have to download a significant amount of memory, around 70GB since new maps are placed and are free....sort of. I hope this review kind of helps give you an idea of what this title brings, it is a killer app for the Xbox One in my opinion, and you can not go wrong with this game, especially the price its going for and the DLC maps being free instead of being charged for each map pack like other titles.	video-games_xbox
Rugged and Reliable to the bitter end. //UNLESS IT IS THE WHITE PLASTIC. A simple and budget friendly gaming headset. Pros: +Rechargeable via USB, no need to constantly buy and replace batteries. +On the fly Audio balancing between two sources of audio, very useful when the game gets too loud to hear your social group's chatter and/or party instructions. +Resilient! I have personally broken a head set costing thrice as much merely by taking them off to quickly, these have been removed more roughly and don't even crack. +Removable Cushion pads allow for cleaning, something that is of use to those in hot climates. +Substantial Range, I have maintained signal a good 10 yards through numerous walls with no loss of audio. Cons: -Supplied charging cable isn't very long and causes problems if you wish to use the headset while still plugged in. -The Charging port is placed in a way that is bothersome if worn and plugged in at the same time, but not any worse than any other headset I've used. -The internal Printed Circuit Board is too thin to repair, should the charging port be damaged internally. A year of continuous use, [We're talking 8-12 hours every day], and the strain caused by wearing the headset while charging it will contribute to the eventual damaged port. -White Plastic is apparently more Brittle or of lower quality than the black and yellow. Even with reasonable use, the mounting of the cans to the band crack and shatter. = Overall I love this model of headset so much after having countless headsets break on me over the years, that when my original pair finally died after a year and half of loyal service, I tried to have them repaired instead of replacing them. Upon discovery of the PCB thickness issue, I chose to replace them with the exact same Model though not the same color. ///UPDATE JUNE 2017/// Decision to purchase white color variant was a terrible mistake, in my limited experience the plastic seems to be brittle in comparison to the black and yellow variant. I do not understand the reason for the brittleness only that it is a problem. I am taking a star off my review for this quality assurance oversight.	video-games_xbox
Know what you're getting into. The character creation system is one of the first things you will encounter in Morrowind, and it gives a glimpse at how open-ended and complex a game this is. Be sure to take time creating a character, because this character will be with you for hundreds of hours. In my first attempt, I used one of the pre-packaged character classes. While this gave me a good base character, the problem was that I had a very specific idea of how I wanted to play this game, and the character that I'd created didn't perfectly fit this style of play. As a result, even in the beginning, the game was extremely difficult, and frustrating. Advancing levels was slow, combat was overly challenging, and I spent a good deal of time staring at loading screens rather than playing the game. After reading a little about the character abilities and descriptions, I realized that I was missing certain features that I would need, to play the game the way I had intended (as a Rogue-Mage). By starting over again, I was able to use the knowledge I'd gained to create a new, better-suited character. The game changed dramatically. With this new character, levelling up was easier, I could do all the things that I wanted to do, and see the character improving at them. This changed the dynamics of the game completely. I could now explore this huge world with less fear of constant death, I could advance in the guilds I'd chosen to join, because my abilities were better suited. While Morrowind has some in-game problems (framerate jitters, an abundance of "fetch" quests), by far the biggest problem is the lack of documentation, and a lack of direction for novice players. If you know what you're getting into is a huge, open-ended role playing game, in which you can do virtually anything, from slaughter entire villages, to spend all day making healing potions, or bribing the local townsfolk, then Morrowind will definitely satisfy. But be sure this is what you want, or you'll quickly find yourself in over your head.	video-games_xbox
Okay as a sequel, can't stand on its own. This is a review on the game itself, not the product. The disc was fine, and played well, so if you already know you love the game, buy it. The game itself has several pros and cons. On the upside, it's a sequel to Blinx. Come on, who wouldn't be pumped about that? You can customize your own character, right down to the length of the tail. No female options though; that was a bummer. I had also been hoping for more involvement with Blinx. Maybe a level or two played as our favorite feline? No such luck. You do however, get to enjoy the other half of the adventure; you can play as the pigs. They're like little porky ninjas. It's awesome. Now, there is one detail I CANNOT over look. For those of you familiar with the original Blinx, perhaps you recall how unbearably IMPOSSIBLE it was? I never made it halfway through the game. Well I'm sure plenty of people complained, and Artoon heard them. They took anything resembling difficulty out of the game. That gut-wrenching fear as you battle the clock? Nope. You now get letter grades based on your speed. No real effect on your gameplay though. Take you time. The horror you felt? Running from an enemy, and out of ammo, knowing that you were ruined with one hit? You now have a health bar, which can be made ridiculously large, AND retries. Not to mention checkpoints. I did enjoy the respawning ammo though. My aim is horrid, and I ran out mighty quick in the first game. When it comes right down to it, the game is so easy, I find more of a challenge in tying my own shoes. I won't spoil anything, but that final boss? Feel free to hold your breath. I beat the game twice in maybe 5 hours. It seems that the two games were at the ends of a spectrum, with one being extremely difficult, the other lacking any difficulty whatsoever. I can only dream of a third that would nail it right in the middle (And I want female characters darn it!) A fun sequel to a game we loved, but not much on its own. Three out of five.	video-games_xbox
Fallout 3 is very pretty. I never played the previous 2 of the Fallout series, but I have to say that 3 is pretty good so far. Bethesda graphics and character physics are a little unique in and of themselves, they take a little getting used to but I think you'll end up liking them for the most part. The game was also a little slow getting started for me with very little tutorial as to what all of the options you have are and what they mean. My basic break down... Pros: -The graphics a pretty. Not the best but they still look really good. -The weapon choices are astronomical. You can use just about anything you can pickup, which is just about anything. You can even build your own weapons and maintain them for top quality. I like that the weapon declines in time and hurts the amount of damage you do as well as your accuracy. -S.P.E.C.I.A.L. is a cool system of stats -I love games where you can search dead bodies as well as pick pocket live ones. -decent quests with a HUGE map area. Approximately 16 SQ miles according to creators -good character interaction and dialog with a choice based system that does affect how people interact with you. -Fast map travel around the wasteland. Cons: -VATS...kind of a pro but more con because, if YOU CHOOSE to use the VATS system that so many people whine about, you cannot skip the slow motion while other enemies still attack you. Plus it can definitely cheapen the game play experience if you're more of a 1st person shooter fan rather than an RPG gamer. -Very little tutorial on the stats so they can be pretty confusing for a while. -The wasteland can take very long periods of time to walk around with sometimes very little enemy interaction...a littel on the boring side at times. -The night to day effect is awesome...unless you are waiting for shops to reopen and you don't have a place to sleep. Overall Bethesda did a great job and seemed to put a lot of thought into this game. It's a little difficult to get in to for the casual gamer like myself. But I love RPGs and RPG/FPSs like KOTOR, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Bio Shock and Fable. So far I have yet to be let down by this game, it's been a good play to the point that I am at.	video-games_xbox
A great entry-level product. This is my 2nd video game headset, but first in a few years. I opted to go with a Wired headset that would work for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, as a wireless headset would have lots of interference in my house. Pros: - Comfortable, over-the-ear headset that limits background noise. No problem in playing for hours. Very adjustable with a fantastic, quality build. - Cost (can be found for <$60) - Works for multiple consoles, and with the PC. - Removable microphone allows you to use it as a regular pair of headphones. - Breakaway cable is perfect when you need to get up quickly for a rest: Doesn't unplug too easy like other headsets, nor will it take everything with it when tugged. - Great background noise elimination. - Sound is clear with no volume-leveling issues. You won't need to readjust the volume for being too loud when the action gets heavy. - Voice chat is incredibly clear. Other players report crystal clear audio, with no background noise and hardly any instances of "unintended" voice input (i.e. game sounds, music blaring in the background). Cons: - Since it's a wired USB-powered headset, that means that there is a constant low-level hiss. Only noticeable when there is no audio or sound is incredibly low. - Microphone on the left side only. - No voice playback: Other headsets will allow you to hear your voice as you speak, avoiding unnecessary screaming. - Ear cups do not rotate...meaning if you place the headset around your neck while taking a break, the cups/pads can still get in your way. - Stereo sound is average. Overall, for the price, this is a great headset. Compared to similarly priced competitors, the AX 180 offers more flexibility, comfort, and stylish design, albeit missing a key feature that others now offer (voice playback). The Stereo quality is average. Hearing directional sound effects while gaming can be hit or miss, but still much better than standard TV audio. Instead of indicating the direction of sounds (i.e. enemy footsteps), it merely amplifies the low-level sounds, making them easier to distinguish in game. It definitely helps, but if you're a true gaming enthusiasts that's looking for an edge while playing online, you might wanna pony up the extra cash and go for a fully surround-sound headset. Otherwise, this is a great headset for the average day-to-day gamer, and it won't cost an arm and a leg.	video-games_xbox
A "rinse-wash-repeat" very fun action adventure game. While there's not much story to P.S.O. the game is oddly addicting. The gameplay is where it's at, and where it hurts. For that's really all you do... go around killing monsters. The main heart of the game, is gaining experience and levels and finding good or rare items. Now there is more depth to it than that. It all depends on the ID color of your character what type of items you find. Certain very rare items can be combined, or not be used until you're a certain level. Your mag (robotic-like familiar) is one key to help you move along a bit faster by upping IT's stats which help your own. Then there are ways your mag can change depending on what you feed it,and even a hidden 4th level evolution for everyone. So just touching on these few aspects, there's more depth here to be had, but you have to be VERY patient in finding what you want. The Xbox has the best character amount of options With each gamertag you can have 12 characters each. AND you can use the same gamertag in each of the 4 slots available which can total 48 characters on your hard drive! Now the down side and a little history why Live is required. A Live account (good or expired) is needed just to play the game. Now the front cover of the US version has this highlighted on every NEW game cover in orange to let you know BEFORE you buy it! Now Live was introduced in the US before it was released in Japan, but PSO was released in Japan FIRST the SAME DAY Live was released to the Japanese Xbox, as a bonus, every Japanese Live subscriber received PSO free with their Live account! So it was no-brainer that you just bought Live... you CAN play PSO on your Xbox now-- for Japan that is. The US version was delayed about 2 or 3 times before it was released early Spring/late Winter of 2003. Now an explanation for the online cost incase you didn't know. PSO for the DC was free, and the hackers came out in force online... and it was bad. PSO ver 2.0 came out with a cost around $5 (it actually matched the yen to dollar amount which normally came around to just over $5 instead of the $7 that was advertised as the online price). Having a cost helped.... some, but the hackers eventually came out again in force. PSO 1 & 2 for the Xbox the cheating is still there, but can be MUCH easier avoided. Simply put, make sure you know who your friends are online are people you can trust, and you're fine really. I rated this game a 5 since I've been playing it for nearly 6 years across 2 consoles and 3 versions. But rating it overall as a 4 for the repetitive nature of the game and the Live requirement for X-Box. As cheap as this game is now, with a live Live account or expired Live account, buying PSO at this price is a no-brainer and will have you playing... for HUNDREDS of hours. I've been addicted since it came out on the DC version 1.0 (1999) and STILL addicted on the X-Box!	video-games_xbox
Wireless limited to X-Box Consoles. Here is what you get for the price (not sure why all the hype with reviews). Decent headphones, branded with "Call of Duty" sideplates, that only work wirelessly with X-Box Consoles. For that, they are arguably overpriced at $100. By the way, you can replace the sideplates but have to order them (none are included). Like most Turtle Beach headphones, they have a decent enough build quality that should easily withstand the rigors of gaming in your living room. They fit well for my big head and appear adjustable enough for most head sizes. They adjust well and maintain their fit so as to not fall off your head and are light enough that you could wear them for hours without an issue. Sound quality is OK for most applications though I could never get the volume to a loud enough level for my taste. However, that could potentially be the result of a setting I am missing on my X-Box. But, of course, these do not compare to my Monster DNA buds or headphones in any aspect for sound quality. The seperate bass adjustment worked, but did not really add much for my use. Probably one of the best aspects, though not totally unique, is the user voice feedback through the headset. You can hear yourself without screaming (variable Mic monitoring). Other gamers reported they can hear my with near crystal clarity, so the mic, which can be removed, is top notch. The headset is in fact wireless- but only with X-Box and X-box applications. There is also a non-removable cord to use with computers or whatever (standard jack). I am not sure why the cord is fixed to the unit. To me, that makes no sense because if the cord is damaged, you have to toss the $100 headset . Bottom line, it is a decent headset at a high price point right now (expect it to drop). I would have rated the unit 5 stars at a lower price point (about $80), if blank sideplates were included and the fixed cord was removable.	video-games_xbox
You Die - Frequently - even on Normal Settings. I know this game came out in 2009 and I have to grade it for the time. I got this game as a free down load as an XBOX Live Gold Member. The game is easy to learn but will grow annoying and frustrating as you progress through the game. You play as Alex Mason and fresh off the shuttle from Earth. You watch your brother gunned down by the EDF that controls law and order on Mars. Your weapons are a sledgehammer and any weapons you are able to trade for salvage scrap you find. Mars has been terra-formed into a breathable desert land. The story is a bit weak but the miners want fair pay and the EDF is using fear tactics including torture and execution to maintain order. PRO: + ability to destroy buildings + various weapons including one that shoots circular blades + environment - there's night and day cycles CON: - frequent dying over and over even on Normal settings - respawning at a rebel base that takes you far from where you died and at the beginning of the mission not at the point of engagement. This is my biggest gripe. I drive across the map to start a mission and die for whatever reason and respawn only to repeat it over and over. I died so many times, I don't know or care about the story. There's already a lot to do so to make it easy to die doesn't make for an enjoyable experience like Skyrim. - vechicle handling is very poor and not very durable to weapons fire. I found even large armoured vehicles can be destroyed by small arms fire. Using the handbrake causes the vehicles to spin 270and not the expected 180. The vehicles were very difficult to turn and got stuck frequently. If I flip, I can get out and do a Halo warthog flip that I found odd. There's a walker used on some missions I liked but the controls for the arms makes even this a bit frustrating. I want to smash and flip cars but every time the walker makes either a shift to the side or forward missing the target. You also have little warning your vehicle is about to exposed. Some black smoke but when you see fire - get out now or else. - The mini games are fiendish and not very enjoyable. There are many of these tasks and mini games around the map. There's the hostage missions, transport, distraction, One I had to go to internet for was the fuel canisters and one bullet and a building in the distance. You have a little over a minute. You have to do it from your spot and can't leave. I tried "golf" with the hammer but the answer was chipping the cans over. Even though I know the answers to many I just sigh and moved on. The last annoying thing I have to say about the game is when I'm at the doorstep of a destination to start a mission or mini game, I get a call to stop a convoy or messenger or a distress from the base wanting me to drive all the way across the map to handle. That's a lot of driving around in circles. I was happy to got it for free because this game has a number of bugs and glitches to numerous to mention. The Mount Vogel battle was next to "unplayable" with shaky cam, fog, in your face explosions, and enemy ground troops that just won't die, despite Hellfire missiles and RPGs landing on top of them. I was getting stress headaches from doing the mission over and over. I've played games since the 70s and this game came close to having me finally hang up my controller. I won't be remembering this game with fondness.	video-games_xbox
The Evolution of Bioterror (revised, version 2. (I originally posted this review in late January 2013, and I did once make a revision to it in late May as my view on the game had since changed slightly. But this second revision, which I posted on June 27, 2013, actually comes from after having played Resident Evil: Revelations, and not only did my outlook on Resident Evil 6 change again, I now felt that the version of my review from late May was not nearly as informative as some of the information I remembered from my very first review. Note that this is a rather lengthy review. Resident Evil 6 is a very large and complex game, so it would take a bit more for me to explain its most important parts.) ---------- Story: Resident Evil 6 continues Capcom's deeply story-driven series about biohazard outbreaks. In this latest chapter of the blockbuster franchise, Resident Evil 6 takes place over a six-month period from December 2012 to June 2013, nearly fifteen years after the infamous Arklay Mansion and Raccoon City incidents of July and September 1998. A ruthless, new bioterrorist organization, going by the name of "Neo-Umbrella", has created the latest bioweapon to threaten the world's security; the C-Virus, a deadly combination of the G-Virus, and the T-Veronica Virus. But just as when all hope seems lost, seven unlikely heroes rise to the challenge as their intertwining stories unite them in stopping this global attack. Resident Evil 6 is told through four campaigns, each of them five chapters long. All of the campaigns have their own distinct feel behind them, reflecting the characters of that campaign and what they encounter. Hopefully not revealing too much, but giving a quick glimpse of the stories, the four campaigns are as follows: Leon S. Kennedy, now one of the most respected agents in the country and answers directly to the president himself, returns in Resident Evil 6 to investigate the murder of the U.S. president, who was once scheduled to make a public announcement revealing the truths behind Raccoon City. Joining Leon is U.S. Secret Service agent Helena Harper, who guiltily admits she may have had a part in instigating the tragedy that has befallen the rest of the American town of Tall Oaks. Leon's campaign tries to embody the horror of the earlier RE titles by using dark settings and other atmospheric environments in much of the earlier parts of his campaign. Apart from sections of Ada Wong's campaign, Leon and Helena's campaign is the only one that heavily features C-Virus zombies as the common enemies. Just four short years after putting a final end to iconic antagonist Albert Wesker and his own plans for global destruction, another one of our very first and most favorite veteran survivors in the series returns in Resident Evil 6 to take the fight to bioterrorism itself. Chris Redfield's story revolves around revenge, redemption, and questioning what it really means to be a soldier. At his side is bold and brash but loyal Piers Nivans, who tries to help his impulsive captain stay focused whenever he begins to lose his way. Chris's campaign has perhaps the most action and combat of the campaigns, reflecting his military affiliation, as well as his position in the BSAA as a captain of his own squad. I won't spoil it, but I thought Chris's ending was the most powerful ending of the four campaigns. Chris's campaign heavily features the J'avo, the new type of enemy in the game that can mutate in response to physical damage. The 12-year old, defenseless girl that Leon and Claire rescued in Raccoon City is now a capable young adult working for the U.S. government as an agent. Sherry Birkin has been tasked with finding Jake Muller, a unique mercenary in the employ of the Edonia Liberation Army, for he holds the key to stopping the C-Virus. The main feature of Jake and Sherry's campaign is the presence of the nearly indestructible creature known as Ustanak, who has been sent to track them down and pursues them relentlessly. Jake's campaign also prominently has the J'avo and their chrysalid mutations as the common enemies. Ada Wong's campaign is unlocked after completing the other three (although there is a downloadable patch that enables you to have it playable from the start). Ada's campaign is more stealth focused, reflecting on her role as a spy. In her latest venture, she is tracking the ones who have stolen her identity. There are a few puzzles earlier in her campaign as well, but nothing too complicated. Ada's campaign is the only one that has both J'avo and zombies as enemies. The game can be quite a fair length for one's very first playthrough. I remember when I first ever played through RE6's campaigns, it took me between 5 and 10 hours to complete Leon, Chris, and Jake's campaigns, and between 4 and 8 hours for Ada's. Today, it still takes me at least 10-15 hours to do all four campaigns, and more like 20-25 hours if I'm doing all seven characters. In the three campaigns with two selectable characters, the different characters do have different things to do. All the characters also each have a few of their own unique weapons, so there is some variety in playing as all the characters. ---------- Gameplay: Resident Evil 6 has many new control features over its predecessors. You can now sprint, slide, and dodge/dive forward, to either side, and backward. You can also shoot while lying down, and crawl in different directions while aiming on the ground. Melee attacks can now also be performed at any time, but is limited and balanced by a stamina gauge. Quick Shots also automatically target your nearest enemy. All these new mechanics allow more options for you to engage or evade your enemies in more ways that you can choose. Perhaps best of all is you are now able to move and shoot/reload at the same, so you don't have to stay rooted to the same exact spot when using your weapon. This was an issue for many Resident Evil games of the past, but it's good that it's finally taken care of here. I suggest you download and try the free Public Demo of Resident Evil 6 so you can familiarize yourself with the controls and options first before attempting to play through the full game. The new common enemies of Resident Evil 6 are called "J'avo", which comes from the Serbo-Croatian word for "devil". For all intents and purposes, the J'avo have a human level of intelligence. They can speak, co-ordinate with each other and attack in groups, and know how to operate tools, weapons, machines, and vehicles, so they are similar to the Ganados and Majini of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. But the C-Virus gives the J'avo the new, unique ability to mutate in response to physical trauma. When a certain body part of theirs is damaged, it can mutate into a new appendage, making them more dangerous. So the irony with the J'avo is that the more you damage them, the stronger they become. J'avo sometimes also go into a cocoon-like state called a "chrysalid" after taking enough damage. While inside, they undergo a metamorphosis, from which after a period of time, they hatch as completely new, even more deadly creatures. Each of these mutations have their own methods and patterns of attacks, and different ways of having to be dealt with, adding even further to gameplay strategy and tactics. Zombies also make a welcome return, but even they too have now upped their game and are more able-bodied for their task, making them more difficult enemies than the zombies of the previous titles. Although they usually stumble and shamble about slowly much like their former T-Virus counterparts, the new C-Virus zombies can now leap and pounce quickly at their prey when they get within range of sighting their target, and have even been observed to run for short distances. Some zombies now also wield weapons. Although their proficiency at said weapons is still quite basic and rudimentary, they should still be considered a threat. Like the J'avo, zombies come in many different variations. RE6 replaces the money system of the previous two titles with a new Skill Points system. Skill Points found and saved can be used to purchase various skills in the Skills Settings menu to customize your character. Different Skills include greater firearm power, greater melee damage, an increased stamina gauge, and many more. A Skill Set can equip three different Skills, so mix and match the ones that suit your style. You start off with one set, but unlock the seven others for a total of eight after you've completed one of the campaigns. (Note that Skills are incompatible when playing the campaigns in the hardest difficulty setting called No Hope.) Ammo is fairly abundant if used and allocated wisely. Many of the tougher enemies and bosses take quite a few more hits to bring down, and you would want to save your strongest rounds for them. You can quickly run out of ammo especially in the higher difficulty modes, so managing your resources is key, and the survival element is definitely still here. There are a number of different extra modes apart from the campaigns. Mercenaries mode returns where you have to eliminate as many enemies as you can within the time limit. Agent Hunt allows you to play as a creature and invade certain parts of another online player's game. (You also have the option to allow or disallow Agent Hunters from invading your campaign.) The four DLC modes are Predator, Onslaught, Survivors, and Siege. In Predator, players take turns controlling the tracker known as Ustanak as the agents try to take him down and avoid capture. In Onslaught, defeat a combo of enemies, and those enemies are sent over to your opponents map. In Survivors, players face off directly trying to defeat each other; if you are beaten, you play as an enemy creature until you can defeat one of the remaining human players to return to the side of the living. And in Siege, players are divided into two teams, the agents and the creatures. The agents have to protect a non-playable character on the field, while the creatures are trying to take that character down. Predator, Onslaught, and Survivors came to the Xbox 360 in December 2012, and Siege came in March 2013, so many of its players are likely much more skilled at them now. How much fun you will find trying to play these extra modes today is partially dependent on how good you can get yourself at them. (Also please note that all of the extra modes start off with just three stages. The other seven stages are DLC.) ---------- Graphics and Sound: You might hear some say that RE5's graphics looked better, and they're probably right. You might notice that some shadow textures of the characters in some parts seem a little blurred, but nothing else too jarring. But other than that, RE6 is still very well detailed, and a lot was done to make the settings feel authentic to their locations. RE6's soundtrack was performed by the Sydney Scoring Orchestra, and several composers, both Japanese and non-Japanese, had come together to bring forth the pulse pounding pieces you can find in the game. The voice actors also did a good job of portraying the characters and they fit them quite well. A neat little detail I noticed was that the characters' in-game voice commands fit with the moment. They speak in lower volumes in calmer parts, and shout in louder volumes in tense parts, showing they thought out every possibility. ---------- Cons and Pros: I do still have a list of both the things I liked and disliked about the game, so here they are. Starting with my cons: -My biggest pet peeve with RE6 is probably its many QTEs. I know the game much better now as I've been playing it for so long, so I know where they are and what their sequences are. But they can be annoying especially in your first ever run through and might catch you off guard if you weren't expecting them. It is suggested that one learn their appearance and sequences to shorten the reaction time. Fortunately, the "Auto Action Button" that was made available through a downloadable patch helps perform some QTEs (but remember, not all) and makes it apply to the other difficulty modes apart from Amateur. The skill called "Breakout" can also be equipped to lessen the times a button has to be pressed or control sticks be rotated. -Not many puzzles, and the puzzles found in the game can seem rather simple or easy. -The extra costumes you can unlock for the extra modes cannot be used in the campaigns (I heard possibly due to shadow issues, etc.), but it still would've been fine if the extra costumes are still playable in the normal gameplay of the campaigns even if they can't be seen during the cutscenes. Also, the EX2 and EX3 costumes you can unlock through residentevil.net are pretty much just color/model swaps, and they have the same weapon loadouts as the EX1 costumes. -I liked the four different campaigns, but I thought they could've been even better and a bit more developed. RE6 probably approached the limit as to how much can fit into one disk. -Once you've completed the campaigns, it might seem that there's not that much else left to do. -I always enjoy the campaigns and Mercenaries, but I never got to get that good in the four extra modes, Predator, Onslaught, Survivors, and Siege, so I personally didn't find them to be that fun. As for Agent Hunt, I never tried it as I don't want to make it harder for those who are still trying to learn the campaigns, so I can't speak for that mode. But for the four DLC modes, I wish there was the option to be able to play these modes with the CPU controlling all the other characters and enemies. These four modes have been out for quite some time now, and many of its players are pretty skilled at them, so new players are forced to have to play against seasoned pros. -I thought they should've included the seven other stages for Mercenaries right within the game for you to unlock instead of having them as DLC. I don't know if there was no more space left on the disc, or if it was due to time constraints during development. -I liked experimenting with the different Skills, but I did miss being able to upgrade weapons individually. The Skill Points system is more like perks rather than permanent upgrades. But I guess some of these were possibly to make the game more balanced and fair, rather than having, let's say, a handgun that can somehow contain a 100-bullet clip or something like that. But all those were quite minor for me. These were my personal pros for RE6: +It feels like an interactive movie. +Four distinct campaigns, each with their own feel and style to them (possibly catering to different fans of the series). It feels like four different games in one. The stories in each campaign are self-contained with their own beginnings, endings, and backgrounds, but they also intertwine with the other campaigns where you actually meet the other characters. I also liked how there are different things to do in each campaign, and how every campaign had different variations of what enemies you encounter. +Seven playable characters in the campaigns. Every character has a few weapons that are unique to them, and each character also has different things to do in their respective campaigns. +Whenever I haven't played a certain character's campaign in a while, I feel like I almost have to relearn that campaign when I select that character again. As opposed to most games that have just one story, RE6's different campaigns always keep me coming back even to this day. +I actually did find No Hope mode to be very challenging. I even had to replay parts of certain chapters in a lower setting so I could restock up on ammo and healing items since they're like nowhere to be found in No Hope. Enemies are also harder to take down and their attacks really take the life out of you now. +More options in character controls. I liked being able to slide, dash, dodge/dive, melee at anytime, shoot while lying down, and most of all, finally being able to move while shooting and reloading. These new options allowed for more possibility in controlling your character and also enabled you to better evade or handle the game's relentless enemies in whatever way you choose. +Although I personally never got that into the four DLC modes, I found RE6's Mercenaries mode to still be challenging and fun. I also liked how the different stages had different variations in the enemies that would appear. +A robust bestiary. RE6 has perhaps the largest B.O.W. diversity in any single RE game to date. And we finally see zombies make a return ever since their absence in RE4. +Tells a story about a huge, unprecedented B.O.W. attack on a massive, never-before-seen scale. The outbreaks seen in RE6's events could possibly be the largest death toll yet due to bioweaponry that have all been linked to a single bioterrorist organization. +You fight in three different countries. RE6 takes you globetrotting to unique and very detailed locations, from the war-torn Eastern European city of Edonia, to the carnage-filled streets of the American town of Tall Oaks, to the bioterrorist-targeted Chinese metropolis of Lanshiang. +Vehicle-based gameplay sequences. I won't go too much into these as I don't want to spoil their surprises, but I thought these sequences added to the variety in the game as well as to the current situations the characters found themselves in instead of always just exploring on foot. +Since RE6 had other elements mixed in with the horror, when RE6 did have its horror moments, I thought they stood out from the rest of the game, and I remembered them more than I did some other parts. In this sense, I sort of felt that the action and horror may have actually complimented each other. +If you're playing alone with the CPU, the CPU seems to have infinite ammo and cannot die, so at least you don't have to worry about them using up your inventory, or having to revive them. +If you're playing the campaigns online, other online players can drop in and out without it affecting your own game. Also, both online players can pick up an item from the same item box, so you don't have to worry about one player "hogging" all the items. +One of the downloadable patches adds functionality to the cameras, amongst other things. This is a slight improvement than when the game first ever launched. You can now set the camera to a more panned out angle so your character isn't obscuring more of the screen or your view. +Resident Evil 6 is fully supported by residentevil.net a completely free web-based service designed to enhance your experiences with the game. Participate in various online events to earn RE points, which can then be used to unlock in-game items, and other features that delve deeper into the world of Resident Evil. In fact, in commemoration of the biohazard outbreak in Tall Oaks (which takes place on June 29, 2013), new avatar props, costumes, and premium themes have been added as more DLC, and some of them can be won in re.net's latest events pertaining to RE6. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In retrospect: In my first revision of my review of RE6 which I posted in late May 2013, I had realized that what I stated in it felt very subdued and not nearly as informative as my very first review in late January. On top of that, I was personally going through a tough time, and I was also starting to get a little bored of the game after having played mostly just it for many months. But I am writing this second revision of my review after I have gotten to play Resident Evil: Revelations. Revelations too was great in its own ways, and it certainly captured my attention for a few weeks as I wanted to complete everything I could in it. But after that, I went back to playing my other games, and I just switch back and forth whenever I get a little bored with one of them. But now that I've gotten to play both games, if I had to compare the two side-by-side more directly, I do actually still prefer RE6 ever so slightly over Revelations, mostly because of RE6's more options in character controls, and more variety and content. I've been playing/watching the RE series ever since its start in 1996, so I think I can understand why some were dissatisfied with RE6. Even I miss some of the elements of the earlier RE games. But I remember from having seen many of RE6's pre-release trailers throughout 2012, I knew this game wasn't going to be a typical, hallway-crawler type horror game, and it might help a little if one doesn't base their view of RE6 as such, as RE6 isn't that kind of game. But to each their own, and I'll let this review just be a reflection of how I personally feel about the game and my experience(s) with it. Still, in a way, I thought a war-like scenario in the RE universe was eventually inevitable, as most of the creatures in the series were after all developed with the intention as living weapons. The evil corporations are also constantly trying to develop new B.O.W.s that are faster, smarter, and stronger, and are coming up with more sinister plans for mass destruction and global domination. The main characters have also all been affected in some way by bioweaponry, and now they're doing all that they can to fight back. It's still not a perfect game (no game ever is), and I still have my own few minor qualms about it, but if I overall still personally enjoy it a lot even though at the time of this writing the game is almost a year old, I thought my review should at least reflect it. I still remember the first ever times I played through RE6 and how I was really captured by it at those times. Although I know the game much better today and can finish it in less time than I first could, the sheer amount of variety and content in the campaigns have kept me playing it to this day.	video-games_xbox
A resounding "meh, s'ok. Amazon score is 3 stars because they don't do half stars. Personally I give it a 5/10. Bar none, this game LOOKS amazing. The game plays very well. If you've played Far Cry 3 or Blood Dragon, this is familiar territory for how the game drives. The controls are almost identical. BUT this is the part where I feel the game goes awry: The enemies don't change. There isn't one enemy that is easier or harder to kill than the next. Sure new alien enemies are introduced later in the game and you'll either sneak past them or waste an entire clip on them. The enemy AI is sporadic at best. If you're not cloaked, you're spotted. Period. The enemies are limited in each area so there is a finite amount to take out, but if one sees you they ALL know exactly where you are even if you're cloaked. They are easily set off as well. If you look at one through your scope wrong they all see you. Take one out in a place you thought was hidden and no one would find the body, you're dead wrong. The bow that they give you at the start of the game is fantastic (It quite literally drops anything it hits with one arrow), but you can only carry 9 arrows (plus 3 extra of exploding types each). The exploding arrows are great for making a grenade stick to a wall. Unfortunately once you're spotted, the bow is relatively useless. Could have been a really cool addition to the game. After all, The bow in Far Cry 3 is the best damn weapon in that game. You can't get through any Elder Scrolls without a bow. The list goes on. Also unfortunate: the guns in this game also all feel pretty much the same and work pretty much the same. They're all automatic rifles. They all have the same upgrades: silencer, scope, extended mag. The only differences being how much ammo one holds over the other. One thing that attracted me to the game was that it was advertised as sort of a sandbox/open world environment. It's actually EXTREMELY LINEAR! The only way to progress through the game is move forward, activate switch, move forward, activate switch and so on. As a matter of fact, the suit upgrades are hidden throughout the game (instead of earned), and if you move through an area without unlocking the upgrade in that area you missed out. My biggest beef with the upgrades though is that they don't really change the game at all. As we all know, upgrading your character has become a big part of games, and even more so are those upgrades game changers. Games play differently when certain upgrades become available. This one not so much. So even if you miss an upgrade because they are hidden in linear environment you didn't miss much. You play a character named Prophet, yet he knows absolutely nothing at all about anything. He's mostly a machine with human memories (sounds familiar?). Psycho is a British rebel trying to help you. Surprisingly he knows everything there is to know about the enemies. He knows the lay outs of their bases as well as how to infiltrate new areas (sound familiar?). He's armed with a sniper rifle yet never once shoots it. He hides until you've cleared each area even though he's perched to snipe further proving his uselessness. What makes these two characters worse is that Psycho doesn't stop talking through the whole game and Prophet just keeps asking questions and talking about visions he has even though he's technically a robot. Before Prophet shows up, it's just Psycho and his rebel army. They have all the intel in the world on the enemy and are well armed but for some reason they are waiting on you and your bow. Overall, you can take on the game in a two ways (stealthy, or run and gun) but be prepared for a travel from A to B points drag. Because that's how it feels: like a drag. I was excited for it, but bummed when I played it. The enemies don't change and are frustratingly linked to each other. The character is flat. I couldn't give a damn whether he lives or dies (technically the character isn't really alive or dead or human). Psycho, the other character in the game, is just a tired cliche of side kicks that apparently knows all the ins and outs, and the exact lay outs of all the bases, of the enemy but is powerless to do anything at all except get in the way. There are F**K-TON of cut scenes and they are LONG. Take out the cut scenes and you'll get at least 4 hours of game play before you get bored. What makes the game OK and not much else is that it's beautiful and the controls are familiar territory. The graphics and environment are great. The game plays like previous titles from other developers so you don't feel so lost or like you're trying to button mash your way through things. Successfully taking down an enemy silently or stealthily feels so damn rewarding because it is damn near impossible to do without attracting attention. So my first four hours were OK with this game. Then I put it down. Maybe for good because it's just kind of boring and static. The things you see in the trailer that look like a lot of fun (like leaping from a dam, clicking a remote for explosives to blow said dam and enemy helicopters, and hitching a zip line to safety) are actually cut scenes.	video-games_xbox
If you are really into cars, you really need to play this game. This game brought my PS3 out of hibernation, and back into gaming. Went to my neighbors house and got a chance to play Horizon 2 on his XBone, and got the video game itch back. Picked up GTA V and am enjoying that. However, couldn't stop playing this game at my friends', so bought my own XBox One and a copy of this game. If you are a gearhead of any kind, BUY THIS GAME. It's so great, fun and rich with car loving gearhead detail. You earn credit as you drive and score points based on how well you drive, change lanes, drift, etc. etc. etc., as well as win races. Then you accrue the credit til you are ready to "buy" a new car or speed parts for the one you may be driving. The details and amount of fine tuning is insane, everything from tire pressure to custom setting each gear ratio in your transmission. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg, when you see how much you can tune your suspension. The paint shop in the game is awesome, and as you play online or offline with online avatars, you see all kinds of cool custom paint jobs people design in their free time. The customization in this game is very robust. The graphics are great, I enjoy the radio, similar to Gran Theft Auto, but only 4 stations or so. Still, great music, sound effects, visuals, the whole package. Sometimes I simply "open world" drive and cruise around the roads on this very expansive map. Lots of great scenery and detail in the settings and surroundings. This game isn't as realistic in certain regards, mainly crashes. However, if it was realistic, you could only crash once and have to start over, right? Everything else is realistic, and the driving simulation is awesome, in regards to the physics of terrain, speed, Gs, weather (slippery or dry), and the way your tires drag as you drift around a curve at high speeds. I also enjoy the ability to customize your controls in certain aspects, so I like playing with settings of manual shifting and left button clutching between shifts. Clutchless manual shifting and full auto trans are available as options as well. It's an excellent driving simulator with game play elements throughout, and the online play is fun too. I have been enjoying racing other gamers, races having up to 12 cars, I believe. Like I said, first time I played this game, I was inspired to play games again, as I stopped for a while. This is the one that made me run home from my friends', buy my own XBone and this awesome automotive game.	video-games_xbox
A Series Let-Down. Since the beginning, I have been nothing but an Assassin's creed fan. I have enjoyed the free-roaming sandbox, and while the combat wasn't always the best, it evolved through the series to be a fun, fast paced thrill ride. I do admit, I have always been a fan for Altair (even with his allergy to water), but I was still looking forward to finishing Ezio's story and finding out what happened to Desmond... and in total, I can say it is a let down. The story is far from immersive and is quite lacking in numerous parts. Gone are the puzzles and truths to the animus, and in its place, is the story doing a "here you go, it's dumbed down" moment (I won't spoil it as it basically happens two minutes into the game). The game takes you through finishing all of Ezio's memories in an attempt to separate Desmond from the animus; although, as you play, it is quite forgettable. The story is very spread thin and barely recognizable from it predecessors. The gameplay went from being quite fun to down right dread-worthy. The combo kills still exist; however, the game sees fit to 'slow down time' so you can watch your kill in slow motion. I enjoy fast pace games, and a few kills slowed down is fine, but it's more of a hindrance when there are numerous enemies and you just want to get through them. There are times when the camera will pan to someone you just kicked off a roof, so you can see them fall and die- all the while, you can't see yourself or what's going on (which seems to be quite important being an assassin and all). The other big issue with the whole 'I must show you this kill in insta-slow-replay' is that the graphics are not on par for such a thing. The game, while pretty, does not hold high standards compared to other game graphics, and when this slow-mo stuff occurs, all you see is the flaws in graphics in great detail. There is also the infamous hookblade which while is fun to some degree, it is again not really needed. Ziplines aren't where they are needed, and to use a zipline, you simply run at it and hope that the game recognizes what you are doing or you and the ground will become good friends quite quickly. The combat with said hook-blade isn't horrible, but it again on its own isn't all that amazing. Bomb-making is lack-luster. There really isn't any need for bombs if you can counter relatively well. Then, there is the tower defense mini-game because in a sandbow, an RTS is exactly what I wanted. So much was taken out, and this minigame feels more like a phone app than part of a hyped $60 game. When these parts come up, you dread your life and just wish they would go away. All-in-all, this game wasn't worth $60 I paid since in total I paid for: 1. Multiplayer (and games cannot be solely based on that, which on the side- your internet needs to be flawless or you will be waiting for matches for a bit) 2. Lackluster story (no character development, it was more they felt the need that they had to finish this arc right now) 3. Tower defense (a 99 cent app is now part of a 60 dollar game) 4. Graphics which while good for the series are not the most pristine compared to other games on the market at the moment. This game- while some hardcore fans will cry their hearts out at it (I was one of those fans until this game)- is not worht the 60 to buy. Moreso, this game makes me question if getting the next in the series is even worth it.	video-games_xbox
Ryse: Son of Rome Review, Short but sweet! Update. So first off, I sat down yesterday morning with my Xbox One ready to play an actual game, rather than just playing and setting up the menu's and watching movies. First game I popped in was Ryse, and may I say, although short, was very fulfilling. The game takes you on a journey as Marius, a son of Rome who's out on a quest for vengence and glory. The combat and action are awesome, take away some minor timing queues that throw you off when trying to pull off an execution. Executions, they are ways to finish off your enemies, and by pressing the up, down, left, or right on the D-pad to choose what type of powerup you would like to have once you complete a sucessful execution (health, damage, XP, or focus). Executions are done by pressing the right trigger when you see a white or red skull over your enemy, then press the right color button (blue or yellow) when the enemy flashes that specific color (bascially yellow is your shield and blue is the sword). Graphics look amazing, I was very impressed by the foilage and different areas in which they take us, from the city settings, to forests, to night scapes, and so on. One thing to note, during some fights you may find yourself having issues moving the camera, as if it was stuck on a bush or building and you might get attacked off screen or don't know what queues it tells you for an execution. You fight all sorts of men, no monsters, or animals, or anything like that, just soldiers, men, people who think they are gods and so on. Story, I really enjoyed, was a little confused at the beginning but then it smoothed itself out and brought the story around full circle, very fun. Some fights were tough, no joke, but a blast! Also, expect a twist or two, i thought I was following it, and figured something would happen, but not what did happen. Lastly, the game does have multiplayer, however i haven't even tried that yet, i apologize. I will do that later this week when my brother gets it so we can play Co-Op in the arena. All in all, fun great game, now here is the downfall, but for me was a plus. I sat down like i said yesterday morning to play, and finished the game (on normal) last night around 8 pm. So it lasted MAYBE 10 hours, i did take 30 mins to eat lunch and dinner with my gf and a 30 min break in the middle. So maybe closer to 8 hours and yes i died on a couple fights. Just wanted to fill you all in, sorry for the bounce around review, but i really enjoyed this game, even though it was short, i loved it. And why i liked it being short, well i have other games i want to play and when i play games i am OCD and have to finish one before i start another hah. Hope this gives you guys some insight. Enjoy! Update* 12/09/13 Sorry for the delay, but here is my multiplayer thoughts; A blast! I waited to play with my brother, although you go through the maps quickly since there are only 12 or 14 of them, they provide a good challenge. Each one has a new set up, shows you and your partner walking out in the gear that you equip on your gladiators. Each one has a set of random events and you only go through some of them, then have to fight leaders or a higher power to complete that wave. But working with your partner, one taking on some of the guys while you run and put fires out or blow up catapults, is just so fun, then you come back and help him or save him depending. Some of the enemies can quickly overwhelm so you can't be afraid to run to your partnet to get help. But heres the fun thing....co-op executions, SO FUN when you pull them off. Lastly, as you play and win, you gain gold to buy equipment or skills (if you didn't use the XP from the campaign you earn). You also increase in rank to unlock the next tiers of equipment. From what i can tell, i went to the top teir and tried to buy something and it told me i needed to be above rank 80, so yea, there will be alot of fighting to get up there. This will take a while. But say your buddy doesn't want to play, or you want to rank up to the next tier in order to get better gear. There is a Solo mode, where you enter into one of 4 arenas on your own. They can be tough, but also one bloody blast ;) Again, sorry for the sporatic review, but it is fun, i can't wait to play again. Have fun!	video-games_xbox
A very small percentage of 360 owners will enjoy this product. I bought the Vision camera on launch day because I thought it would be a great idea to video chat, send picture messages and more with this camera. Unfortunately, the low-resolution and sub-par framerate of this camera have left a bad taste in my mouth. Video chats are not that impressive because of the low framerate of the camera. Instead of 30 frames per second, like most digital cameras, I think the Vision camera has a framerate of maybe 10-15 frames per second. And that's on a good day. If you and a friend are chatting and just sitting still, this will offer decent results. The second one of you start to move, the video becomes choppy and grainy almost instantly. Speaking of grain, the resolution of the Vision camera rivals that of most entry-level cell phones. I understand that it would be extremely cost prohibitive to include a 5 megapixel camera, but taking a picture with this thing is just bad. Unless you have professional-grade lighting equipment in your house, you're not going to get anything that's worth keeping for too long. Another thing that was promised with the use of the Vision camera, was gesture-based and live feed based gaming. The game that comes for free with the camera, Totem Ball, has been a continual source of frustration because the camera has a hard time picking up where you're standing and where your arms are at. To move your character around and ultimately play the game, you have to continually move your arms up and down. It would be one thing if this was just physically tiring, but the game is really not that good and the camera has a hard time distinguishing where you are or how far away you are if you're playing on a larger TV set. And the live feed based games just show a continual video feed of your usually semi-nude opponents during games like UNO and a few others. This doesn't offer that much to the gameplay except you now get to see who's calling you racial slurs or hurling homophobic remarks. The camera really doesn't deliver on its promises so I'd recommend everyone to pass on this investment.	video-games_xbox
The Best Game I've Ever Played. I didn't bother getting the game until this year, and I am shocked both by how cheap it is now and how amazingly good it is. Alan Wake is a very story-driven game that is told in a multi-episode format. This gave me the feeling of being the star of an action/horror genre television show, and though horror/3rd person shooters aren't usually my cup of tea, I found myself having fun more often than not, often whilst soiling my pants. I could go on all day about the 5 star voice-acting/storyline, but instead, I'll focus a bit on the gameplay. A 3rd person shooter doesn't sound particularly fun to a traditional FPS-er like me, but it's surprisingly well done. There is a bit of auto-locking that goes on when you draw your weapon, but it's not to the point where the gamemakers are killing the enemies for you. Without some careful forethought and strategy, it's very easy to get yourself overwhelmed and killed by the bad guys. It's also very easy to run out of ammo if you're a spray-and-pray kind of shooter, so you'll have to quickly learn how to discipline yourself, or else risk leaving yourself completely helpless. This leads me to the game's biggest flaw, in my opinion, which is its autosave function. Should you make the mistake of running out of ammo and trying to move on through the area to find some more, the game will automatically save over your last file. This is bad because if there is no ammo ahead of you, there's no way to roll back your file and get back to your pre-ammo-less point. Essentially, you'll be screwed and have to start over. This only happened to me once when I made the innocent mistake of letting my boyfriend play for me (hi sweetie!), and he ended up making do without only 3 shots left for 5 enemies, but you may not be as lucky. So just keep that in mind while you're trying to Rambo your way through a swarm of possessed monsters. That's really the only bad thing I have to say about this game. At the current price of only $9, you'd be a fool not to jump on this one!	video-games_xbox
Perfect for beginner, and intermediate semi-frequent players. I've used this on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. This works pretty well, but is nowhere near the best. I HIGHLY recommend you order this with an octogate, and swap the default squaregate inside immediately for better gameplay. There's extremely little to no input lag, which is the most important factor -- but, there are a few things that bother me about this specific model: 1] The ports where you need to plug the console's controller into is poorly placed: on the front side, facing you. This makes it annoying to switch from having it in my lap, to putting it onto a tabletop without having to move the connected controller and cable. I would have preferred it to be in the back, or side with the cable that goes to the console itself. 2] This model does not work with the Xbox 360 wireless controller 'Plug/Charge and Play' cords. I don't have any wired controllers, so I actually have to piggyback off of an old 360-only arcade stick I have in order to use this stick. 3] The audio quality needs improvement. There's a lot of crackling/static going on when I need to readjust my position. Sometimes it doesn't play well with the Xbox One; a lot of settings occasionally need to be toggled to get it to play through the headset connected to the stick. 4] Depending on how the cord is positioned inside the compartment when it's plugged into a console; sometimes the buttons stop working. I need to push/pull a little cable slack into/out of the cable slot in order to restore power to the buttons. I've debated on actually returning this item on a few occasions due to this problem, but I honestly don't use it so heavily that a little wiggle is too inconvenient. Overall, this is a good stick for an intermediate, semi-frequent player for the price. If you're a bit more on the extreme/professional scale, or you're looking to get into playing fighters as a profession, you'll definitely want to skip over this for a better model.	video-games_xbox
Limited Edition bundle review. I bought this bundle for a friend of mine, and I played with the stick briefly to make sure it works fine. This review will mainly focus on the stick and the art book in this bundle. -The stick: It's wireless, and uses 2 AA batteries. The lag from the wireless isn't detectable to me. I also own a custom stick with sanwa parts - the buttons on this hori stick has a bit more "spring" to it than the sanwa buttons, and the joystick itself feels slightly tighter than the sanwa. The direction inputs are accurate, and the buttons feel responsive. I had no problems pulling off long juggles in Tekken 6 or doing link combos in SF4. As far as its build goes, the stick is fairly light weight, and isn't very big (compared to my other stick anyway); I think this is in-line with other hori sticks. There's a port for headset as well. The bottom line is, I can do everything on this stick that I can on my custom stick, and I would be satisfied using it for fighting games. As a side note, Tekken 6 automatically recognizes the stick, and configures buttons for it without you having to change it yourself. Convenient. -Artbook: The artbook is full sized hardcover, measuring approximately 8.25x11.25 inches and containing roughly 100 pages. It is divided into three sections, character CG renders (~34 pages), characters' history (basically CG renders of characters in previous installments of Tekken, ~22 pages), and character concept sketches(~38 pages). The sketches are the most interesting part of the book to me. Most of the sketches are colored, and there are definitely some great stuffs there. I only wished that section was larger, but still this is certainly one of the better art books that come with various game CE/LE bundles. Unfortunately, the cover of the artbook is NOT the image you see here on Amazon, which is really too bad, as I would prefer the cover that's shown on Amazon. Instead, the actual cover is composed of the words "Tekken" (in Kanji) over a white background. I think if you're a Tekken fan without a stick, this bundle is definitely worth it. The only concern I have is the long term durability of the stick - if other hori sticks are anything to go by, you might have to take good care of it in order to extend its longevity.	video-games_xbox
Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted. First off, let me say this to put the rest of this review in context: this is not a game you can or should simply pick up off the shelf and start playing, because none of it will make any sense to you. If you haven't played, at the very least, Assassin's Creed 2 all the way through, not only will you be completely lost in the story, the controls and combat mechanics will be foreign to you. In fact, the game doesn't really even go out of its way to teach you how to play - if you need it, you can press the Back button to use the tutorials between scenes, but fans of the series can skip these sequences. That being said, the game itself plays just like the other games: pretty amazing. The graphics are what you've come to expect, as is the combat. Just like Brotherhood did with Assassin's Creed 2, Revelations picks up right where Brotherhood left off with Desmond's plotline (although not literally minutes later like Brotherhood did). If you played Brotherhood to the end you know of the shocking cliffhanger which I will not reveal here; this continues to play until its resolution, or at least to the next AC game. Desmond is now trapped in the Animus (warning: light spoilers ahead), being temporarily subdued because his mind is in danger of collapsing due to the bleeding together of Ezio and Altair's memories - remember Subject 16? Therefore, Desmond has to finish the memories for clarity's sake. This takes Ezio back to the familiar Masayaf to retrieve some of Altair's writings, and further on to the Constantinople, every bit as gorgeous as the Italian cities in the previous games. Ezio by now is becoming an old man, with a graying hair appearing to be in his early 50s, but is still very much a badass (amusingly, he remarks during an early mission "this used to be so easy.") Later in the game, you play as Altair. Ezio still controls very much the same as he did in Brotherhood, which was similar to Assassin's Creed 2. Combat is just like it was before, with slightly different animations and styles added to the kills. Counter Kill is still your best friend, and the ranged weapons are still there. However, there are SO many secondary weapons it starts to feel clunky. Other than that, there are not many major differences from the other games, as I mentioned in the beginning; the main purpose of the game seems to be advancing the plot. One new addition is crafting and using bombs, which are useful, but you can still do all the same things you did before for the most part. You can still recruit assassins by jumping in and saving them from guards and having Ezio say "join us, brother" but there are newer recruitment scenarios added this time. Sending your assassins off on missions is also a little meatier than it was in Brotherhood, but the mechanics are the same, except now you remove Templar influence from Mediterranean cities in the process. Your notoriety level increasing means Templars will attack one of your Assassin dens (taken from Templars the same way the Borgia strongholds were taken in Brotherhood), putting you into a tower defense minigame which I don't particularly care for... Templars attacking in waves of 10 or 15? We've seen Ezio do more than that with his eyes closed without breaking a sweat. But if you train the Master Assassin you leave in charge of the den to the max level of 15, the den becomes immune to incursion. Let's just say this is a short-term goal of mine in the game. Overall I think the game is fantastic. Not perfect, but it tries pretty damn hard to be. No, it's not particularly innovative, yes, you've played different versions of the same game before. I don't personally have a problem with this, and I don't really see why a fan of the series would either... it's not broken, why fix it? You're playing to see the game to its conclusion and to get more out of something you've already decided you had a lot of fun with. It certainly doesn't stop people from running out to buy the newest version of Modern Warfare every year, or Madden which is only slightly different from last year's version every year, except this is a different game with a different plot altogether. I don't see what the big deal is about that. You either thought the previous Assassin's Creed games were amazing, like I did, or you don't. If you fall into the first category, and I'm going out on a limb to guess most people reading this review are, you'll love this game.	video-games_xbox
Some background "research" may improve your gaming experience. I'm one of those gamers that enjoy Military FPS and the recent trend to increase the "realism" and modernize the genre. (Also, I like military films/stories and books)...I thought the 2010 Medal of Honor reboot game, even with the disappointing AI, was a fantastic Single Player Campaign with a story that is gripping, realistic, and fun to play through several times, so when I heard that Warfighter was coming, I pre-ordered, and received it on launch day. I wanted to give some time before I wrote this review because I wanted to suggest some prior "research" that one can do to really really enjoy the single player campaign of Warfighter. If you have watched the 2012 movie "Act of Valor", or read Mark Owen's "No Easy Day" novelization of the OBL raid, this game has very many similarities in the single player missions, whether is was intentional or coincidental, that allow you to "play through" scenes similar to have you have watched in the movie, or read through the book. I didn't quite realize this until I finished the game, and went to replay some of the missions and made the correlation. This discovery, to me, made this game very enjoyable. Heck yea I'd like to re-enact a boat extraction or parajump, or rescue a boat captain, it's all in the game. There are some scenes, like driving a car through the streets to chase a suspect that give a little variety in the types of game play, and driving ground drones through rubble that give this game added enjoyment. Then there is the emotional aspect of this game, where the background story of the soldier is told. The characters you play, aren't some Terminator robot with no emotions, the story is trying to show that even with your Super Hero skills of killing the bad guys, it comes at a price, both emotionally and mentally. Sure, it's not perfect. There still is some bugs like frame rate drop in the last mission where there is fire throughout the building, and yes, the friendly and enemy AI is a little weak on the "I", but this should not deter you from enjoying the overall scheme of the game. The Character models look a little stiff like mannequins, but don't let the minor things like that stop you. There will always be Call of Duty fans (I own MW1,2,3 and BO1) which for some particular reason blast this for not being "original", but those stories told through Single Player is definitely not as say gripping as Warfighter. (well, ok, BO1's story was decently written, but you don't feel "good" at the end of the game, left you kind of depressed...) I haven't had a chance yet to play Multiplayer so i'll update that when i get around to it, but i thoroughly enjoyed the single player Medal of Honor, Warfighter. With the deals on Amazon for this game (and for that matter, the movie and book listed prior) I would definitely recommend them for a great military FPS experience.	video-games_xbox
Interesting and unique. I held off on playing this game for a year because I had read the reviews where it revealed that you can kill the little girls who collect ADAM. I found that revolting. I recently read more on the background of the game and it's being based on Ayn Rand's books and her philosophy of objectivism. My curiosity finally got the better of me and I decided to give it a try. I was impressed by the literate depth of the story and the unique and beautiful(but creepy) setting. There wasn't always much time to explore, but when I could, I enjoyed that. For me, there were several weak points that diminished my enjoyment of the game. The first one, and this is entirely my subjective opinion, is that it was entirely too bloody and gory. It made me feel ill to hit a person with a wrench and have blood spatter everywhere. I was disappointed that there was no option to turn off the gore. I mainly play PC games and there is often a choice to turn off the gore--which I always do. For me, it doesn't add anything to the game whatsoever. Another problem was the constant dying, coming to in the Vita chamber and having to trudge back to my previous location, whack the Big Daddy a couple of times before dying again, then repeat endlessly. Very annoying. I also found cycling through weapons and plasmids awkward and often ending up with the wrong one. Another frustrating thing was that the game was very buggy in one of the sections and it often froze up or lagged really bad. Fortunately when I finished that section, it ran smoothly all the way to the end. The great things about the game were the refreshing storyline and atmosphere, the intelligence of the story, which clearly showed the disastrous results of such a ruthless philosophy and the resulting dystopia or anti utopia. I liked the puzzles and the Vita Chambers(and I used them a great deal.) There were unexpected twists and turns in the game that were not predictable and I like that. Overall, they did a great job with this game, but I really do wish they would let me choose to turn off the gore like Far Cry and some of the older Star Wars games. I only went with one ending and that was the one where I saved the little girls, so I can't comment on alternate endings, but I was pleased with my ending. This game is very good, but definitely not for children, the squeamish, or easily shocked husbands who don't play video games.	video-games_xbox
Fun and Great Game. I am writing this now because I just went on a game review rampage for some of my favorite games. I actually got an original Xbox as a gift when it first came out. With it I got Dead or Alive 3 with it and Star Wars: Obi-Wan since my parents knew I was a Star Wars fan. Since it was a new system for me (previously had a N64). The excitement was overwhelming when playing this game. People may say the game play was bad and the graphics were bad, but I thought there was a lot of innovation in the game compared to other Star Wars games. Some people said they beat the game pretty quick but I thought the story was pretty long and the replay value is great. The story actually takes place before Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Before even hitting half way through the game, you are actually playing along with the movie. Its nice seeing and playing the behind the scenes (Jedi POV) from Episode 1. Makes it exciting. When you play through it the first time, you don't really pay attention to it, but you get medals for achievements in the mission. You can see what you have achieved or not in the pause menu, or level select screen. Sadly for me I actually got every single medal in the game and what do you get when you get all the medals? Nothing, which was a huge dissapointment. After you beat the story and replay it for the medals...it expands the game a lot, because you have to hone your skills at that game and become a true Jedi. It also encourages you to explore to find the hidden beacons and the level designs are huge and great. There are so many secrets I found in the game which made the replay value that much better. Since the level designs are big, you can explore to find secrets or find more then just one way to reach the end of the level. The fight systems I thought was smooth and fun. I loved that you have full control of the light saber attacks and even to deflect shots! Its not like the Jedi Knight series where shots are automatically deflected or have less control of your light saber attacks. I can maybe see this game being a downer for some people that did not play it until now and had played the Jedi Knight series. The gameplay is different from that series, but I love the difference. It takes a lot more skill and strategy in this game to get through it, since you can't really power your way through it...unless you actually did hone your skills and get all the medals :). I recently tried playing it again after a few years and, man I was horrible, lol. Overall I think this game was a great experience. You will like it too if you are patient with it and adapt to the controls. Of course it won't be as amazing or fluid as the Force Unleashed, but its unique in its own right. Buy it.	video-games_xbox

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.