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An Outstanding Game That's Worth Every Penny Spent. There is no other game on the Xbox 360 like Fallout 3. The amount of content and the level of detail are unmatched. The gameplay is tight and fluid, and highly rewarding. The graphics are above average; the sound design is spectacular. You won't find better value in a video game than Fallout 3.
I'm going to start this review by saying that I will NOT be comparing Fallout 3 to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. While similarities are definitely present, this game trumps Oblivion in every aspect. The only true similarities exist in game engine and developer.
While Fallout 3 may look like a shooter at first (given the perspective and gun wielding nature of the game), it is far from it. Fallout 3 is a 1st/3rd person Action RPG, which means everything you do in the game are based on your stats. Firing a gun and hitting a target is all based on number calculations based on the specific target and your own stats. Many times you will find yourself aiming directly at a target and missing even though your targeting ridicule is directly placed in an enemies face (at a lower level). This may not attract fans of FPSs, so if you play this game expecting an FPS like experience, you will be disappointed until you raise your shooting-based skills. If you play this game like an RPG, the combat is never a bother and actually feels refreshing with all of the turn-based RPGs in today's market.
If you don't know anything about the concept of the game, you may want to read the synopsis/product details on the top of the page, as it pretty much describes the premise of the game. The atmosphere the game provides is incredible, and can be very convincing. The attention to detail in terms of graphics, sound, level/environment design, and even individual object placement will really immerse you in the experience.
Here are the Pros and Cons I have found with this game:
Pros:
- Level of Detail is incredible
- Excellent and convincing voicework/writing
- Amount of content
- Replayability/Multiple Playthroughs Encouraged
- Satisfying combat
- Decisions made really effect the game
- Excellent story
- Highly addicting
- DLC available to extend an already huge experience
Cons
- Some graphical bugs
- Animations (mostly movement) can look strange
- 3rd person view is awful (only use to peek around corners/see what's behind you)
- Highly addicting, can consume several hours of your life
If you haven't gotten the gist of this review by now, I'm pretty much saying that you need to buy this game. If you are one who values your money, and can only afford to buy a few games a year, then this MUST be one of them. If you only buy 1 game this year, you can't call yourself a gamer. Actually, what I meant was if you only buy 1 game this year, make it Fallout 3!
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video-games_xbox
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Game Awesome, Guitar Sucks. Before I go too in-depth in my review I'll give you fair warning: my review will not focus so much on the game itself as my complaints with the packaged guitar. Anything i could say about the game itself has probably been said repeatedly in other reviews; the track listing is superb and should be the standard for future Guitar Hero games. You'll find a fair compilation of various genres of music from various decades that overall add to the feeling that the difficulty increases with each tier, yet not impossible altogether (except for Through the Fire and Flames on Hard and Expert!)
The reason I give this package three stars is the sub-par quality of the Gibson guitar that's included. Here I will digress for a more personal account: recently this past August I made the conversion from PS2 to Xbox 360, and since it did not come with any games included I decided to purchase this bundle, having already played (and beaten) GH 3 on my PS2. Up until recently the guitar worked fine through considerable usage (maybe an hour or so a day, sometimes more or less), but now I've begun encountering issues. Too often I find that various fret buttons, notably green and/or red, do not register when I press them. Combine this problem with the fact that my strum bar has decided to become spotty about registering strums; sometimes strums don't register at all, other times extra strums are registered despite having only strummed once. The only problem I haven't seemed to encounter regards the tilt-sensor; others have reported their sensors won't register at times, but since I haven't encountered this I won't comment. My only other qualm with this guitar (and all the others like it for that matter) is that they run on two AA batteries, which if you're even a casual user you will likely run through batteries like the world was ending. Personally I would like to see a chargable battery pack, similar to the one that can be purchased for the 360 controller.
Having read many other reviews for this package I've found that the service with regards to returning/replacing the guitar have been as sub-par as the guitar itself. The guitars that come packaged with the other games (GH 2, Aerosmith, World Tour, and Rock Band 1/2) also seem to suffer these shortcomings, leaving one wondering what to do. In my opinion there are several options: play the game with your 360 controller (while good does not leave me feeling like a "guitar hero"), take your chances and maybe you won't get a faulty guitar, or hold off on buying the game until a suitable guitar is made. The choice is yours, I only felt compelled to share my frustrations with the guitar that has left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth and ready to smash it against a wall for satisfaction.
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video-games_xbox
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A well-rounded Game. Let me start by saying that they don't make very many games like this. I first played it thinking it would be just a decent WWII shooter. It went far beyond my expectations! Let me break this review down into parts.
Story:
I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'll say that the hero, Sean Devlin has arrived in Paris to kill some Nazis out of vengeance. Personally, I don't play videogames for their stories, but the events that happened here actually motivated me to head into the missions at times!
Graphics:
This game's graphic style is very creative and unique. You must help the French resistance regain Paris, so each section of the city ruled by the Germans will lack its color, adding a slightly darker mood to the atmosphere. The color will return when completing certain missions, which influence the French population (like destroying Nazi symbols of 'dominance').
Music:
Personally, I love this game's soundtrack. From cruising the streets and listening to the radio to breaking into a high-security Nazi base. While relaxing in the car, the music in this game very well captures the feelings of urgency you may come across during the most important levels of the game!
Gameplay:
Freedom! So much freedom! This is where the game really shines. This Free Roam game allows you to complete many of the levels in whatever order you choose. What I really love are the stealth mechanics. You are able to grab disguises from the enemies you knock out, and use them for yourself. If you're no Sam Fisher, you can always shoot all of the enemies down, but I would suggest trying to be sneaky at least a few times.
The Saboteur is very replayable since it's not very linear at all. The hardest part of the game may simply be avoiding the red ring of death! I hope you have enjoyed this review, but keep in mind that these are my personal opinions and they may not apply to everyone.
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video-games_xbox
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Collectors edition review. This is a product review that will cover the physical elements at first, and after playing the game itself for a significant time, I'll come back and update this review.
I ordered the collectors edition, mainly because it came with 2 vinyl albums, included DLC and came with other physical trinkets/elements.
PACKING
The whole product comes packaged in a flip-top box which opens the same way a cigarette pack does. Everything fits neatly inside with just the right amount of "compression" so the things aren't rattling around or slide out (even though not all things are the exact dimensions of the flip top box). The only issue I found was that a couple of the items only fit if you rotate them 90 degrees. This doesn't subtract usability, it's just my opinion that in this edition a little extra thought to make everything fit right side up would have been nice.
CONTENT
I'm grouping all the contents under 3 categories: Audio, Book/art prints, and the Game+misc.
AUDIO
The collector's edition comes with 2 vinyl pressings. One is the original game score and the other is a compilation of songs from the era the game takes place in. Each of them comes in its own separate shrink wrapped cardboard cover with game art and the track list on the back. The actual vinyl comes in with an inner white paper sleeve to further protect it. I really liked the artwork for both of them, especially the one with songs from the decades the game is set in. I do own a record player, but I haven't had time to listen to the albums, I will update this in the future about how the records sound.
Book/art prints
The art prints come in a separate folder style cardboard container. The cardboard has more game artwork of the previous game characters that makes an appearance in this game as well. It came with 2 art prints in what feels like heavy set paper (I don't know much about different paper types but this one definitely looks shinier and feels heavier and thicker than normal cardstock). Each art print is separated by a tissue paper to avoid damage to the surface. I don't know if there are different art prints, but from the ones I got I really liked one while the other one is just ok.
The book is also printed on a better quality paper, the pages feel good and thick, and the print is really amazing. This book contains sketch like concept art, some watercolor-like environment ideas, character, and more drawings about elements in the game.
Game+misc
The game itself comes in another folder like container. When you open the container, the game, a box containing the dog tags and a box containing the coaster are nicely packaged.
The game box is the standard plastic box with a cardboard sleeve, inside the game disc is alongside a paper foldout map (similar to the game map in GTA 3) and several paper inserts with the DLC codes and bonus in-game content.
The dog tags come in a small plastic pouch. There are 2 of them one with a longer chain and the other with a shorter one (to be used as a keychain maybe?). Both tags read the same and I'll update later to see if the information given in the game matches what is molded into the dog tags.
The coasters are black and are possibly made of leather (they don't feel quite right). They come with a sleeve, made of the same material where you can stack the 4 coasters in. Each coaster in a stamped with a particular design (there are 2 designs total). The designs I'm guessing are referenced in-game. I had an issue where one of my coaster's embossing/stamping wasn't done properly so the design can hardly be seen.
GENERAL NOTES
Please see all attached photos.
Overall the quality of the various folders, boxes, containers is really good. I loved how all the various folders, boxes, and containers are covered with artwork from the game, it gives the everything a well-styled look. All the paper is a heavier and shinier stock than normal paper (with the exception of the foldout map and DLC codes).
WARNING when opening the album shrink wrap for the Game Score album BE SURE TO CHECK IT for a small black sticker that contains a download code to get the digital version of the game score via a website. The sticker is black and somewhat small so it can be easily ignored and thrown away with the shrink wrap plastic (which almost happened to me).
Overall I'm giving the Collectors edition a four out of five stars for the following reasons:
-One of the coasters isn't stamped properly (in the picture it's the top left coaster).
-The way some folders and containers have to be rotated 90 degrees to be able to store them in the flip box. I feel that a little more care could have been taken to make the packaging fit right side up for all the elements.
This score only reflects the physical elements and may need to be adjusted after playing a significant portion of the game and/or listening to both records.
If anybody is wondering I bought this at full price with my own money (pre-ordered it).
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video-games_xbox
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LIGHTNING STRIKES THE DANCE FLOOR YET AGAIN. After its hugely successful predecessors, the third installment of the JUST DANCE series has arrived - and this time it is also available for both the Xbox and the PS3 (you can thank UBISOFT being in financial trouble due to the overzealous DRM scheme they use in their PC releases). Anyway, JD3 comes with tons of fun and it will make you sweat while having it. If you are or feeling young, if you want to get your kids out of the couch or if you want to burn calories yourself, this is the game for you.
A MODE FOR EVERYONE
On top of the good old Classic Mode, fans of the series will be able to enjoy their favorite exergame in numerous different ways.
Duet Mode & Simon Says: Duet and group dances as well as the dance version of Simon Says make JD3 a good idea for parties and sleepovers. If, like me, you are over 35, this also offers the opportunity for numerous very humiliating experiences with your young ones.
Medley, Non-Stop Shuffle & Just Sweat: Very good for getting your heart rate up and keeping it in the aerobic range for as long as you can handle it, without interruptions. If you are really pumped, try giving the Dance Til Dawn Mode a try. unfortunately there is still no calculations for calories burned.
Just Create: a mode that is not available for the Wii. It allows the player to create his or her own dancing moves, save them and either repeat them or have his friends try to match them.
INCENTIVES
But the game is all carrot, no stick. The better you match the song's moves (and the Kinect here is veeery forgiving!), the more points you accumulate. mention getting the background to animate!). Increasing your points first allows you to animate the background - and it also increases your mojo. And the more mojo you `ve got, the more dancing modes and songs become available to you.
IMPROVEMENTS
Graphics received a boost, in both details and backgrounds. You prefer singing to dancing? No problem, JD3 comes with all the lyrics showing on the screen for you to accompany your favorite group or singer (no, no points for turning this dancing game into a karaoke but who cares, right?).
NEW SONGS
If truth be told at first glance I liked the song collection of JD2 better. However, I think this will keep happening with every new installment of the series. These games just grow on you. You are having so much fun that the new songs will simply become as dear to you as your old favorites. Give it time.
So, yes, the song list may not contain the latest hits but it has some very uplifting dance songs and your list can be enriched online (although not cheaply).
This is the COMPLETE LIST of the songs contained in the game, alphabetically:
1. 2 Unlimited: No Limit
2. A-Ha: Take On Me
3. Anja: Dance All Nite
4. Aretha Franklin: Think
5. Bananarama: Venus
6. Black Eyed Peas: Pump It
7. Bollywood Dream: Kurio ko Uddah le Jana
8. Cee Lo Green: Forget You
9. Countdown Mix Masters: Beautiful Liar
10. Daft Punk: Da Funk
11. Danny Elfman: This is Halloween
12. Donna Summer: I Feel Love
13. Dr. Creole: Baby Zouk
14. Duck Sauce: Barbra Streisand
15. Girls Aloud: Jump (For My Love)
16. Groove Century: Boogie Wonderland
17. Gwen Stefani: What You Waiting For
18. Inspector Marceau: The Master Blaster
19. Janelle Monae: Tightrope (Solo Version)
20. Jessie J featuring B.o. B: Price Tag
21. Brahms by Just Dance Classical Orchestra: Hungarian Dance No. 5
22. Katy Perry: E.T (BONUS - only in the Special edition)
23. Katy Perry: Teenage Dream (BONUS - only in the Special edition)
24. Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg: California Gurls
25. Kiss: I Was Made For Lovin' You
26. Konshens: Jamaican Dance
27. African Ladies: Pata Pata
28. Latino Sunset: Mamasita
29. Laura Bell Bundy: Giddy On Up (Giddy On Out)
30. Lena Meyer-Landrut: Satellite
31. Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way
32. LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock: Party Rock Anthem
33. Madness: Night Boat To Cairo
34. MIKA: Lollipop
35. Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland: Promiscuous 832. Pointer Sisters: I'm So Excited
36. Pointer Sisters: I'm So Excited
37. Queen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
38. Reggaeton Explosion: Boom
39. Rita Mitsouko: Marcia Baila
40. Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman: Somethin' Stupid
41. Robin Sparkles: Let's Go To The Mall
42. Scissor Sisters: I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
43. Sentai Express: Spectronizer
44. Sweat Invaders: Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
45. Taio Cruz: Dynamite
46. The Buggles: Video Killed The Radio Star
47. The Chemical Brothers: Hey Boy Hey Girl
48. The Girly Team: Baby One More Time
49. The Sugarhill Gang: Apache (Jump On It)
50. Tommy Sparks: She's Got Me Dancing
51. Wilson Pickett: Land of 1000 Dances
Notice that the two extra bonus tracks by Kate Perry are only included with the Special edition. On top of that, more songs will become available online. Some of them may be free but expect most to be sold for...240 MS-Points each. So far three songs are offered online:
52. Blondie: Heart of Glass
53. Irene Cara: Fame
54. MC Hammer: U Can't Touch This
The Xbox-360 offers better graphics than the Wii, however the application of Kinect is a mixed blessing. One one hand, one does not have to hold the remote, since the camera takes care of finding you, and there is an extra mode. On the other, this also comes with the known restrictions of said camera: its range is not very wide and it requires the player to be at least 6ft/2m from the Kinect sensor. Not a problem when doing aerobics but dancing is quite another thing. I tried them both, and found that, for this exergame, the Wii to have a slight edge.
Overall, JD3 is a great game for the young of all ages.
RECOMMENDED!
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video-games_xbox
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It Would Be a Fine Sequel, If You Could Actually Play All of It. The creative force behind Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari did not work on Beautiful Katamari, so I didn't expect this game to have as many new gameplay mechanics as those games. But a new Katamari game full of new levels with new objects and maybe a few new challenges sounded appealing to me anyway. As near as I can tell, there is such a game on this disc. Unfortunately, you can't play all of it just by buying the game.
When I first played through the game, I thought it was a bit short. Even including bonus unlockables, there are only about 9-12 levels and several of them are very similar to each other. Almost every level on the game has the same kind of goal: get as big as you can while picking up as many objects of a particular type (drinks, cold things, "powerful" things, etc.) as possible. The only exceptions are one level where you have to raise the temperature of the katamari by picking up hot things and avoiding cold things (very difficult), one where you need to pick up as many "rings" as possible (which is pretty fun), and a bonus level where the type of object you need to pick up changes every minute or so. There are no get-an-exact-size challenges (like Saturn in the previous installment), no pick-up-only-one-X levels (like the CowBear level), no katamari-on-fire levels, no underwater levels, no snow levels, no pick-up-lots-of-one-item (as in the firefly level), and not much clever at all. So when I completed the game, I was slightly disappointed that there wasn't much more to do.
That's when I heard about the "downloadable" content. There actually are more levels in the game, but you just can't play them unless you pay (about $3.50 each level) to "download" them. I put "download" in quotation marks, because the levels are already on the disc. You just can't play them unless you pay extra money. In theory, this wouldn't be a big deal; it just saves downloading time, I suppose. But since the game already seemed short to me, it felt like they created a complete game, and then locked up some of the levels. And that's just obnoxious.
Even so, the game wasn't completely unenjoyable, even if it was cut short, and I'd already spent the money, so I kept playing. I completed all of the levels, including the bonus level. I started collecting presents and cousins, and I planned on collecting every object in the game, as I'd done in the previous installment. But when I got all the cousins and presents, a funny thing happened: nothing. No unlocks, no achievements, not even a message saying "good job!" This struck me as strange because they had listed achievements for collecting all the cousins and presents, and the game even gave progress mini-achievements (10 cousins, 20 cousins, etc.) So I dug around a bit and discovered that you can't even get the achievements without buying the downloadable content. That was the last straw, and I put the game back on the shelf. I really want to play those last few levels (which include some of the challenge types that I thought were missing), but I'm just so pissed off that they needed to squeeze an extra $10-$20 out of me that I can't justify spending the extra money.
Buying the downloadable content would be sending a message to Namco that they can take full games, lock up some of the levels, sell the game at full price, and then charge extra money to unlock the rest of the game. And as much as I love the series, I can't condone that kind of behavior.
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video-games_xbox
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Walk (Don't Run) to Rent (Not Buy) This One. The series "Lost" is one of the finest in television history. However, the tie-in products never fail to underwhelm.
The makers of "Lost: Via Domus" faced a nearly impossible task: create a story-based game that fits credibly into a show that's already got three seasons under its belt and that comes to a decent conclusion even though the show won't end for several more years. Unfortunately, not only did Ubisoft Montreal flub this one, they also forgot the basics of making an interesting and enjoyable video game.
You play as a passenger on flight 815 who suffers from amnesia after the crash. You meet with characters from the show and travel to island locales while trying to piece together your past. The interaction with other characters is very lock-step, i.e. you say this, they reply that. This linear pattern becomes an overwhelming attribute to the entire game to the point that you feel like you're watching a (very mediocre) episode rather than actually performing anything yourself.
Your memory comes back via dream sequences where you have to "photograph" select elements to unlock new information. As meager as that sounded, I've just made it sound like more fun than it even is. You replay the same looped dream over and over again trying to balance framing and focus to get just the shot that it's looking for. This element of gameplay alternates between bland and flat-out tedious.
In between these revelation sequences, you go on simple quests that involve familiar show elements such as the hatch, the Black Rock, the Others, etc. Again, it's all very linear stuff - go there, get that item, bring it back here, etc. There are holes in the script that allow you to break out of this sequence, but you still end up getting handcuffed by the game anyway. For instance, you collect coconuts (suddenly it's Gilligan's Island) and other island goodies to trade for useful wares. I bucked the system and saved up enough to get a gun from Sawyer earlier than the developers intended, but was then completely unable to use it until much later in the game when it was necessary for the story. But this led to ridiculous situations in the meantime - for example, if I'm carrying a loaded gun, why would I allow myself to be put into a holding cell and stripped of all my possessions? There should at least be options for how to handle situations, but there aren't. This also reduces replayability to zero.
The graphics are generally very good and the facial models of familiar characters are well-done, even if their movements are a bit robotic. Voice talent is provided from many of the show's actors, but the ones who are substitutes really stick out - particularly Sawyer, who sounds like a cross between Ross Perot and Yosemite Sam.
The only upside to the game is the ease of achievements. If you're into boosting your gamerscore, then you've come to the right place. With the entire game taking only about eight hours to complete, it's the easiest 1000 points you'll ever rack up. Just another reason why this one is a title better rented than owned.
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video-games_xbox
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Great story-telling RPG....with horrid gameplay. Most people will probably love or hate Alpha Protocol. It's Obsidian's first original IP and it has a lot of potential and creativity behind it. Unfortunately while the story-based elements of Alpha Protocol are impressive, the actual gameplay never comes close to matching it.
In Alpha Protocol you play agent Michael Thorton. The story is told in a sort of flash-back, flash-forward format. The dialogue is filled with espionage-type details and really draws you in if you're a fan of spy fiction. You'll meet some a-typical characters along the way that seem like they're straight out of Metal Gear. It's an intriguing mix of real-life seriousness and goofyness and for the most part works in keeping you engaged in the story. The voice-acting is also pretty good for the most part especially when you consider the plot-branching involved in this game (which is the best part of the gameplay).
After choosing your professional background and stats you wake up on an operating table and are forced to fight your way through a tutorial level. After some training levels you're taken to different places around the world and given a selection of missions and handlers which you can choose to complete at your leisure. In fact that's the best thing about this game: the choices you make. Every choice you make in the game has branching consequences which decides how the game itself plays out. Even your professional background decides some of your dialgoue choices. Not even the Mass Effect games have this kind of branching effect and you really feel like you're effecting the game world.
While the dialogue and story branching are very impressive, the actual gameplay ranges from passable to just plain lousy. There's nothing broken in the gameplay exactly, but Michael's responsivness always feels sluggish. There's the slightest of pauses before everything you do, climbing anything is slow, stealth just looks awkward, and covering only seems to work half the time. Also, while there are a lot of customization for weapons and gadgets they're not implamented very well. Your gun only does as much damage as the training you put into it (no matter how accurate your shots are) and the enemy A.I. is so bad I found the stealth and gadgets next to worthless (though I loved the silent take-downs). The only mechanic that felt satisfying was the hand-to-hand combat, which is a lot of fun but for some reason you can't block (and again is only useful if you've put enough points into the skill).
It's really frustrating when you see a game like this with so much potential but lacking in the simple gameplay mechanics. Again, Alpha Protocol is far from unplayable but most players won't have fun playing it. If you're a fan of spy fiction and RPG customization I'd recommend at least a rental or wait for this to drop to $20 (which is what I did) as I'm still going back and playing through it for the different story branchings. Everyone else should probably save their money for a more polished RPG experience.
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video-games_xbox
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Good but not great. The Saw franchise and I have a long history dating back to before the first Saw film was released. I had seen the trailers for it on Bloody-Disgusting and thought it looked awesome, so opening night I was in line, 16 years old, for the movie that redefined torture movies for many.
Now Saw is far from original, of course. If you look at the big picture, the story was already done many years before (and done better) with David Fincher's dark, gritty, and amazing film, Se7en. But Saw was welcomed into the world with open arms and for what it was, it was good. In fact, I walked out of the theater almost blown away by what I had just seen.
Come six years and five (almost six) sequels later, the Saw series is now looked upon as a joke by many. For instance, in an episode of Two And A Half Men there is a sequence with one of the characters dreaming of the future out front of a movie theater and there is a poster for Saw 27. Hilarious. But the films have been getting gradually gorier and gorier, so the fact that a game was made and ultimately released was really no surprise.
What was a surprise, however, is that it's actually a DECENT game.
Now of course this game has it's huge flaws. The biggest one would have to be the combat. It's absolutely terrible. The buttons are unresponsive and for controlling an ex police officer, you would think that he'd be better at using a firearm. Heavy weapons are pretty much useless to even attempt, because by the time you swing you're already half dead from attacks from your enemy. If they needed to improve on at least one aspect of the game, it's this one.
The second bad part would have to be the irritation that the game will induce. The puzzles are often on a timer, but the solutions are often very, very difficult and nearly impossible at times to do in the time limit, which will cause many deaths and many retries and only mount the frustration the player feels at the game. There have been several times that I have shut the console off due to irritation, and it makes it really hard to really want to keep playing the game when you can't get anywhere.
The voice acting is also pretty bad, minus of course Tobin Bell as Jigsaw. None of the other actors returned to reprise their roles, and it shows. It's not a pretty voice soundtrack at all.
The graphics aren't terrible, but they're not wonderful either, but they are passable. I rather enjoy them.
Now with all the bad, there is some good. The story is captivating and regardless of the irritation that the puzzles offer, it still makes you want to keep going just to see what happens next. It's worth it in the long run if you're a fan of the films as I am, but if you're not, it's not worth your time.
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video-games_xbox
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Poor controls + poor camera angles + buggy game = Raiders of the Gamers' Wallets. While there are a number of positives about Lego Indiana Jones, those get bogged down by the negatives. A clever puzzle whipped by poor camera angles, an otherwise fun platform-jumping sequence debilitated by poor physics and controls, and so on. Poor control layout plagued this game, where no fewer than three or four actions are all mapped to one button. This in light of the design idea to either have other buttons on the controller go totally unused at times, or making two buttons perform the same function, such as switching characters in Free Play with the triggers AND shoulder buttons. Poor physics had characters overshooting jump points regularly, sliding way past the target with only one press of the button. Lousy camera angles added further insult by pulling too far back or getting in much too close, shifting to a worse perspective. Limited control over the camera added to the frustration.
The game is as buggy as a Louisiana lake bed in July. Characters disappeared when needed, never to return to do their job and press the button, make their required jump, etc. Targeting was terrible and skittish, and portions of needed jumping/landing platforms clipped into oblivion/disappeared with regularity.
Worse still, these EXACT SAME ISSUES have plagued the Lego series since the Star Wars games, and Travellers' Tales just didn't seem to care about fixing them. Furthermore, it was as if the "A" developers of Travellers' Tales wrote the Raiders of the Lost Ark levels, and summarily left the other levels to the "D" and "F" teams to cobble and hack together on a few weeks notice. Travellers' Tales has had PLENTY of time to get familiar with the development environments of modern consoles, and yet refused to take advantage of it.
I was considering purchasing and playing Lego Batman. Given the lack of improvements in Lego Indiana Jones, that decision has been rescinded. I've been fooled thrice (Lego Star Wars, Lego Star Wars Original Trilogy, Lego Indiana Jones) by Travellers' Tales, and that's twice as many times as the old adage advises...
*UPDATE 2* After noodling with the pause menu, I found the Save and Exit feature. Still, it's a bit buried in the menu system of this game, whereas it wasn't in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Apologies for misleading anyone.
*UPDATE 1*: Travellers' Tales outdid themselves, in a bad way, with the Free Play mode. In Lego Star Wars: Complete Saga you could save and quit out of Free Play at any time. A great feature to be sure, as it allowed you to do your thing in a given level, save, and quit out of the level without needing to complete it. Good for shorter "bursts" of gaming, especially for kids hearing the cries of Mom or Dad saying "Find a save point and come do x, y, z". Lego Indiana Jones BROKE that, relegating you to slog through the ENTIRE LEVEL in Free Play before being allowed to save anything. If Darth Vader played this he'd probably say something to Travellers' Tales along the lines of: "Your lack of faith in improving this series is...disturbing".
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video-games_xbox
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nice game. I brought this game and am very happy for it. Dont play on easy mode its just to easy but the other modes are great. #1 reason i love this game is that you don't get lost. I hate playing games and because i didn't push the blue button or something stupid like that i just cant move on until i figure out what to do but just end up getting a headache. This game is so simple to follow you won't get lost and the map is so easy that a 5 year could figure out. Also if you do go the wrong way and the game also tell you your going the wrong way you turn around and you get to kill more creatures so your not bored . Also since i hate to get lost i love that the map shows you where to go. Keep pushing the map button and it shows you what your goal is then once you reach it and get the key the map shows you what door to open. So now you could walk around killing the creatures without worrying about doing nothing for 60 mintues because you didn't know that you had to press the level and then push the blue button and jump 3 times to move on.
Its fun but as you play you learn more. You have 4 things to increase. I increased health and power but when you increase skill then you really start kicking butt. Also to kill some creatures you have to turn blue and in order to do that you have to get alot of blood on you. The only drawback is that since you get stronger your health wears out faster so all you have to do is push the back button to pick the crystals that will turn you back to normal. The crytals are very usefull you keep geeting them when you kill so you don't have to look for them.
Since you switch between 2 girls you could keep one blue to kill the tougher creatures then switch right back to the other normal girl to keep playing and the blue girl doesnt lose any of her health. Also when your waiting for the game to load you could kill those blue trolls with your little man to pass the time away
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video-games_xbox
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Smart choice. I picked up the Xbox360 Elite system 4 months ago after my first one bit the dust with the infamous red ring. I had modified the case of my original 360, so returning it was not an option.
So far, I have yet to have a single hiccup with this system. It DOES NOT run as hot as older 360 models. The heatsink/cooling setup is different/improved over older 360 models. Obviously this was the #1 problem that needed to be fixed, considering Microsoft spent millions fixing fried 360's.
The HDMI connection is great for me because I run all my digital components through an HDMI switcher that automaticly senses the active HDMI port and switches accordingly. With component I had a few extra buttons to hit to change my A/V source. It will also provide 1080p for those of you that have a 1080p display. On the other hand, NOT ALL HDTVs (even those that are 1080p HDTVs) SUPPORT 1080p THROUGH A COMPONENT VIDEO CONNECTION. Consult your HDTV manual or manufacturer website to find out what your HDTV can accomodate via each type of connection. Honestly the difference in video quality between component and HDMI is neglegible. Most of you will not notice any increase in video quality. But some of you may see an improvement depending on what model HDTV you have. It's always a good idea, if you have a digital tv, to keep the signal digital. It does not carry Dolby Digital sound over HDMI, so plan on using a TOSlink cable for Dolby Digital 5.1. Bioshock, Rainbow6, Oblivion, Forza2, Nascar'08, Two Worlds, C&C all look and sound top notch on this baby!
I cannot confirm the reviews stating that the fan is loud in the 360 Elite. The fan in mine is nice and quiet. From 8 feet away I cannot hear it at all with the volume at a reasonable gaming level. Maybe a slight whisper at times. It may even be quieter than my old 360, but I can't be sure since my old one is now a bookend.
The 120gig drive is nice if you wanna fill it with music or movie downloads from Xbox Live. As for me, there's plenty of room for my custom soundtracks, Xbox Live Arcade Games, and game expansion packs. Some of the expansion packs are pretty big (Oblivion, Rainbow 6), so I was near filling my old 20gig drive. So far I have not even scratched the surface of this drive. I suspect that, in the future, there will be alot more HUGE downloads to help fill it up. Like downloading full games maybe? And 1080 video content. With 120 gigs you can be prepared for the future.
One reviewer asked about the hard drive coming pre-loaded with games and movies. The answer is no. You should buy a game or two if you're going to give it as a Christmas gift. And yes you want to have it connected to the internet to download content. You can download feature films at the same time they are released on DVD. Some games can be downloaded, but games like Bioshock, Rainbow6, Oblivion, PGR4, and the like must be purchased from a retailer. You cannot download DVD sized games from Xbox Live...yet. However you can download updates, patches, and expansion packs for retail games if they are available.
The 360 is the system you want if you like multiplayer over the net. Period! PS3 and Wii cannot touch the functionality or depth of Xbox Live. Don't get me wrong, those systems have their good points, but for online gaming nothing beats the 360.
Bottom Line: If you can afford the extra cash and you have an HDMI connection on your A/V system, get the 360 Elite. I'm 35 and I've gamed on every console system released since the Atari2600 and this is the best console gaming experience ever created. You will not be disappointed.
Notes: My 360 Elite is connected via HDMI and TOSlink optical to a Denon 3806 A/V Receiver and a Samsung HLS-5087W DLP 1080p HDTV.
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video-games_xbox
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Better Than Metal Gear. I see so many complaints about Pandora being not as good as the first Splinter Cell. Well have you compared the two? Or are you going on memory?? I recently pu in my copy of the first Splinter Cell and notice the graphics looked a little grainy compared te Pandora. Also when you approach a door you don't have to juggle buttons anymore .I think the new design is better and smoother. I love both Splinter Cell games I think they are the best designed console games .I hear som much about metal gear ,but I think metal gear is a little kiddy like with a japanese flavor. Dont get me wrong MEtal Gear is a great game. But Splinter is more ADULT feeling to me with richly detailed shadowing and rich graphics ,by far waaaay better than Metal Gear. And I here people complaining about "you cant put it on single shot anymore" .Well my answer to you is just press the right trigger ONCE lighty. I had absolutly no problems with Splinter Cell rifle maybe Im just that good. If you play the game in correctly than you'll kill about 98% with a stealth head shot,I did and you can two comen try it its called STEALTH STEALTH STEALTH STEALTH STEALTH STEALTH STEALTH STEALTH DO YOU GET IT??? SPLINTER CELL IS A STEALTH GAME. DOES IT RING CLEAR YET??Comeon people do you know how to play video GAMES??? I feel Pandora graphicly is better . Go ahead and compare the two The first Spinter looks a little dated compared to Pandora. I had no trouble with Pandora except that it was easy .I beat it on hard setting in two days. It seems that people nitpick the slightest little things. I feel both Splinter Cells represents the very best of console gaming at its finest. With richly detailed environments and smooth as butter gameplay. Splinter Cell is a notch above all other games. How can you compare a grainy ,blocky wall game like Rainbow 3 to Splinter CEll?? There's no comaparision in my book. If you can buy an "S" cable for your xbox. You will notice how richly detailed Splinter Cell is compared to other games. I do agree they could make Splinter Cell ALOT longer game ,its way too short for me. I easily can beat it in one sitting on HARD level. But maybe thats because its such AN AWESOME FRIGGEN GAME. Im tired of comparing Splinter to METAL GEAR .I think Metal Gear is for the kiddie reviewers. LEAVE the adult games to the adults .Although Splinter is a teen rated game. I just think Splinter rocks compared to PS2 Metal Gear blah blah. Rainbow Six is a good game but comeon man where's the shadow lighting ?? Where's the rain effect?? Where's the lightning light effect???? Where's the detailed graphics??? Boo Hoo so the old team isn't on Splinter ,,yes im p-off but hey go put in your first Splinter Cell and compare the two. If you have a good tv with an "S" cable you'll notice a difference. I played my first splinter cell and was like wow it looks dated. But then again you guys like metal gear better right??? What a friggen poser game .Metal Gear made by japanese wannabees posers. SPLINTER CELL IS THE BEST STEALTH GAME !!!THATS IT END OF STORY.now go play metal gear or rainnbow six before mommy comes home.later posers.
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video-games_xbox
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There's got to be a game here. Pariah's a title that a few people have been waiting for. In the end it's probably better if we waited longer. The game doesnt really break any molds or even really try.
The graphics are good enough from a distance but look cheap and thrown together at closer distances. It's obvious the Unreal engine needs to be put to rest once and for all. Havoc adds a little level of fun but what good is it really when the enemies vanish practically before they hit the ground? Weapon and player character animations are smoothly done but nothing really awe inspiring.
Although the first "song" you hear is quasi entertaining, it gets old fast after looping for an hour over and over. The worse offense in the sound department has to be the enemy "barks" The programmers gave enemies about three phrases for the entire game and it is etirely common to hear ten enemies say the same exact quote as you kill them in succession. " Doe Rae Me Fa So long sucka!" is corny the first time you hear it and just as bad the millionth (per level)In essence it feels like you're gunning down the same zig zagging target over and over. Ambient noises, weapons and voice acting pull the experience together. The weapons genuinly sound lethal and vehicles do sound powerful.
One of the games selling points is the AI. Every interview from creators claim that the AI is among the best on the market. It's more like the most dissapointingly mediocre. Enemies ignore walls in front of their faces and fire missiles trying to kill you. They also don't co-ordinate like in other games. Between mediocre enemy AI and poorly designed levels, I found myself accomplishing half of the game and wishing at some point it would start becoming enjoyable.
Finally, I've read a lot of bravado about how Hollywood screen writers are collaborating to create a compelling story for Pariah. Ok...where's the evidence? half way through the game you know as much as you did just reading the back of the box. Cutscenes don't really tell you what's going on and most of your objectives are to find Karina.
In all, Pariah leaves a bad after taste and the sense of being scammed for $50 that could have better been invested in another game. If this was a game three years in the making, the Pariah team must have spent two of those years fooling around. The verdict: bland graphics, average soundtrack, inexcusable AI and no real plot. look for it in the bargain bin in a week or two before spending the full 50.
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video-games_xbox
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What are the Game Review Websites Talking About. Just recently purchased the Xbox One. I wanted to purchase this game at the same time, but I read all the reviews online which were all bad. So I did not purchase this game. I then began to read reviews from actual gamers. They were at odds with the online professional review sites, Gamespot, IGN, etc. I mean, I can't remember when this last happened. To be that far apart in opinion is amazing.
Based on actual gamer reviews, i went ahead and took a chance and purchased this game. I am so glad I did. This game is freakin awesome. Let me tell you right now, the professional review sites were all wrong on this title. I can't remember when they were this far off. I have no idea what they were talking about. Lets break this down as follows.
1. Graphics. 5/5 period. This game just looks Next Gen in every way possible. It blew me away and will blow you away as well.
2. Sound. 5/5 period. The sounds of the game are excellent including the voice acting. The music is set for the time period. Think of the movie Ben Hur. The music is right on the mark following the action on screen perfectly.
3. Story Immersion. 5/5 period. The story moves along at a great pace and is very involving. You feel for Marius (the main character) and want him to succeed. The story builds and will suck you in. You can't wait to see what happens next. This is a pure sign of a well scripted game. Again, the music is right on the mark here as well, complimenting the story line perfectly.
4. Game Play. 4/5. Ok. I will agree it does get repetitive. This is completely bearable given the strong story, strong character development, graphics and music. It all works very well and will allow you to fully appreciate the game play even though it is repetitive. This was completely lost in the online professional review websites.
All in all, I was completely impressed with this game. It will suck you in and you will enjoy the ride to the end. About the only negative comment I can make is that the game is over too early. Crytek did such a great job with this title, it will leave you wanting more. This is a compliment and criticism. It is so well done you do not want it to end, compliment. The fact it ends too soon is a criticism.
To Crytek. Please, please develop and release Ryse 2. Learn from this title. If you can add additional moves/level up/upgrade the fighting maneuvers, lengthen the game, you will have a major hit on your hands. You have done an excellent job on this title.
If you like Action/Adventure games, get this one. Forget about what you may have either read or heard from the professional review online websites, The actual gamer reviews, like mine, is where it's all at.
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video-games_xbox
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Different, original, historical, yet still so much fun. I downloaded this digitally on Xbox live.
tl;dr
Better than CoD, great campaign, fun multiplayer, will keep you playing for a while. Still unfinished but updates over the years will help with that.
Love how it went back in time instead of the future. Like Call of Duty. World War 1 was a very interesting setting for a video game, especially for a big box title such as Battlefield, but they totally nailed it.
I actually got an A on my history final which was over World War 1 because of this game! (My friends agree too) lol
The reason why its not at 5 stars is that its still very unfinished. GUIs, main menu, and the pause menu are extremely slow and unresponsive (at least on consoles). It'll take years for this game to become complete (like Battlefield 4, which is still my favorite title) with DLC, new maps, updates, and bug fixes. But it has been over a month for this game to mature and it already has been gone through 2 big updates, and also another reason why I'm writing this review later.
I'm just going to write my opinions on each aspect of this game.
The campaign is surprising. You first go through this cinematic start of what World War 1 is going to look like in a Battlefield game. Personally, this is my favorite part of the campaign, it's total chaos. There's blown up buildings, officer whistles blowing, soldiers screaming as they stab each other with shovels and bayonets, tons of mud and dirt, mustard gas everywhere, and just more overdramatic World War 1 cinematics. When you die it actually shows in the screen "Bill Bateson 1898-1918" to show you how easily it was to die in World War 1. (Made up the name btw) The other "war stories" in the campaign are quite interesting, you play as a few nationalities that participated in World War 1, British, Australian, Italian, and Ottoman Empire (which is the most interesting). Campaign can be quick if you time yourself or play on the easiest mode, but to me it doesn't feel as quick as Battlefield 4 and more rich in story, characters, and plot. It is also quite historic and replicates aspects of the game, like how the tanks functioned back then.
The multiplayer is pretty fun. Players are definitely challenging and the arsenal is very diverse and different from what Battlefield veterans are used to. Leveling up and progression in this game is excellent, and always has been for the past few Battlefield games. Multiplayer isn't repetitive and you can play a lot of different modes. Overall multiplayer is what you'd expect and new additions like Fog of War and Operations are very nice. Hardcore and be touched up a bit to prevent friendly fire.
As a World War fanatic, this game does make World War 1 very over dramatic. Full auto submachine guns and machine guns weren't used that often for infantry. There was barely any run and gun situations and full on combat. There was a lot of stalemate and trench sitting for most of the war, and death from mustard gas. So it isn't really realistic from what actually happened in World War 1, but the weaponry, vehicles, and gear they used is on point.
As a personal game dev, I'm extremely impressed on how well they executed the World War 1 setting into a enjoyable video game. Very nice job DICE.
Overall, if you want to see something new and different from current FPS games, Battlefield 1 is great. If you are any fan of World War 1 at all, this game is a must for you.
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video-games_xbox
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One of the best games...EVER. What is Deathrow? AWESOME!
What is it? Deathrow is a game set in the future similar to what you see in Robocop. The actual game is called Blitz and it started as violent, underground sport. It has been brought to TV by a network and is the top rated show in the world.
The game itself is like a cross between Frisbee Ultimate and Rollerball. There are 4 people to a side, and the point it to take the glowing ring, (similar to a frisbee except for the fact it hovers), and throw it through the opppnents goal which is a ring placed approx. 8 feet above the ground. The hard part is that the other team will do ANYTHING to stop you.
They will punch, kick, grab, throw, stomp, and cuss at you. You gain credits (like $'s) for scoring goals, inflicting injuries, and knocking out the other teams players. These credits allow you to heal and train players, buy new players, and buy steroid-type drugs that increase performance. To win a match, you must either score more goals than the other team after 4 periods, or knock out all four of the opponent's players in a quarter.
Each victory gives you UCs (unlock credits). With the UCs, you can unlock new players, new arenas, new teams, and new modes of play. The harder the difficulty level, the more UCs you recieve per victory. This makes you want to play better so you can unlock more items, thus extending the replay value.
This game is like video crack. Once you start playing, you really can't stop. Everything about this game is thought out and well planned. The gameplay and player AI is incredible, the graphics are sharp and detailed, the animation is fluid and very life like, and the teams and players all have unique personalities and attributes making it fun to unlock and play with more teams. This game really is the total package.
I thought this game would be good, but it is incredible. A friend came over to play, and on the way home in the middle of the night he drove to a 24 store to buy his own copy because he had to have it. I have 3 other games that are less than 3 weeks old collecting dust because this is all I have been playing. I will put a ton of hours in this one, and I will never trade it. An anchor in my game collection.
This purchase is worth every penny and then some. The developers said they all love games and wanted to make a game that incorporated their favorite elements into one gaming experience.
The result is nothing short of spectacular. I am 30 years old and have been gaming since I was 7 or 8, and this is truly one of the best games I have ever played.
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video-games_xbox
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Constants and Variables. This is the definitive console version of Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2 and Bioshock Infinite along with all the dlc (minus mulitplayer for Bioshock 2).
PSA: if you own the PC version of any of the games on Steam there's a free upgrade so you can get the same experience there. Except for the "imagining bioshock behind the pitch" feature with seems to be an exclusive for this collection
The "Imagining Bioshock Behind the Pitch" featurette is basically an interview documentary/ director's commentary on how Bioshock came to be. You do not get the entire feature from the get-go rather you have to collect golden reels hidden in Bioshock 1's campaign. There are 10 golden reels to collect, each containing a ~10min video.
Graphical Changes. Every game in this collection has a graphical (1080p) and frame rate (60fps) upgrade. Some more than others, as Bioshock 1 seem to have the star treatment. Bioshock 1 they polish it up really nicely, but still within the confines of the old engine as Rapture doesn't look as good as it does in the Bioshock Infinite DLC: Burial at Sea; making it more of a re-master instead of a re-imagining. Bioshock 2 seems to have a spit shine instead of the star treatment Bioshock 1 has, but still looks good. Bioshock Infinite looks like the PC version at max settings.
Story. Bioshock 1 has a really good story of a failed utopia filled with a lot of twist and turns in terms of plot. Bioshock 2 although a good story is not as captivating as the first. Bioshock Infinite is the best out of the 3 with themes of trans-dimensional travel and it's DLC linking all 3 main games together. Some may say Bioshock 1 has the best story, but I say that's mostly nostalgia
Gameplay. Gameplay is drastically different in all 3 core games as the jump and/or heal button is re-mapped in all 3 games, which may screw with our muscle memory if you play all 3 games in succession like I did. Bioshock 1 gameplay/controls are very dated and I recommend playing the games in order because of it or you may get frustrated having familiarize yourself with controls of the other two games. Bioshock 2 (after playing 1) is a breath of fresh air as the gameplay is a bit more modernized being more fast, having the ability to use both plasmids and your guns at the same time. Bioshock Infinite gameplay is more refined and fluid as you are now able to ride on rails like you're on a roller coaster during battles.
Achievement Hunters. If you're looking for more achievements to earn then this game has it. There are 196 achievements to collect, totaling 4270 gamer score points
If you're a hardcore fan, never played any of the games/skip the dlc then it may be worth it for you. If you're a casual fan and have own all the games and dlc then there's nothing really new except the documentary, unless you want the definitive edition of all games on a 2 disc set, an achievement hunter, or want to re-visit Rapture and Columbia
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video-games_xbox
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Frequent, consistent use required. Let's face it; there is no substitute for training with weights in addition to regular cardio, while making wise and thoughtful menu choices. Buying this game will not make you thin.
If you buy this game and want a decent cardio or aerobic workout, it will absolutely live up to your expectations. Never have I ever ran in place and been so entertained.
The "game" is organized into three classifications to get the job done; activities, workouts and classes.
The activities are like warm-ups; the kinesthetic motions are simple, but what you are watching on the video screen is what makes it fun. For example, the running program is you jogging in place BUT they have done a great job to make you not think about that. You are running through the most interesting places in the world, and getting a guided tour of all the buildings as you run through. These are set to last about 2-10 minutes (I might be wrong about the exact duration), but are good to start with if you're not feeling it and you need to get fired up.
Generally, as a well educated person regarding fitness matters, the "workouts" are good for general aerobic fitness, but I am not convinced they will make an earth moving change in your physique. The workouts have specific body sections you can work on, but there are a lot of pauses between these exercises, and that makes it easier on you, but for your muscles, anaerobically speaking, they are on vacation (which means you will not "feel the burn" to develop the 36 inch pythons Hulk Hogan always talked about). You are mimicking trainers in the game, and they have small dumbbells in the middle of the workouts, but are using them only 50% of the time. Have a pair of 5lb and 10lb dumbbells nearby when you start the workouts and if you feel things are too easy, you can step it up. Workouts are longer (15-30mins) and the motions are more varied than the activities (roughly 6 different motions, grouped in sets), and will make you pant like a dog and sweat like Nixon, but you will not get definition and double your strength in short time. If you want to make changes in your physique, you will have to supplement the workouts with weight training and proper nutrition.
Classes are kinesthetically more complicated, and keep your mind and body busy during the game. You can choose from a variety of classes that vary in duration and complexity, with something to suit your style. I imagine that if you've been shy about doing yoga, African dance or Latin dance in a health club, this is a great way to try to get into it and have no one watch you. I had a Spanish language teacher try the Latin dance with me, and she commented that the moves weren't very authentic. We're probably doing different stuff here in the Northeast in our Latin dance classes than they are out west, where this game was probably written.
The website for this game is not accessible unless you get on the Xbox's or your computer's internet browser, and if you have already started using something on your iPhone or Android such as mapmyrun, then the website is redundant. To put it simply, you can track goals, nutrition and log progress on the website to help you stay motivated and share or compare with others.
To sum up:
The aerobic workouts are good, but not great. There are a lot of pauses, and you could go jogging, bicycling or swimming if you really want to work hard and see major changes in your physique. If you use this every other day, it will make a difference.
The motions the game tries to get you to do are just clunky and silly. I was never a guy who took classes at the gym, but maybe this game is subliminally reminding me why guys don't take classes at the gym. Running in place? Sumo squat bounce raise your arm thingys? I get it, you are just trying to make me move around. I guess jumping jacks look dumb to a Somalian.
If you can rent a game at a Redbox, Blockbuster or Gamestop, you may be able to run your own comparison to the other ones out there, but Ubisoft did a pretty good job building this game. I got it for $20 at Walmart. Totally worth it.
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video-games_xbox
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Arena Football. I have Blitz The League, Madden 06, and now Arena Football. I have enjoyed, and like all three for their distinctly different game play and style.
Arena Football gives you the realization of how small the field actually is. QB dropping deep or rolling to buy time works against you, or it has for me in the four games I played. Pass plays must be thrown on time and reads quick. Lack of extra deep safety, unless you give up underneath coverage, makes a much more wide open game.
Plenty of plays (true to Arena style) to choose from. Play is fast and camera changes zoom and angle which makes it tougher to play defense. Also almost every play I chose had some level of success to it, unlike Madden where you junk a ton of plays because they never work.
True to life Arena rules makes it tough (only blitzing 1 LB and between the tackles) to get to the QB. Gives the opponent (whether computer or human) a chance for success. Also prevents the mass blitz you use in Madden. Tough, as in the real game, to make defensive stops. This will make it a good multiplayer game. Have gone into the 4th trailing.
The menu, similar to other EA football games, is streamlined and simple. You don't have alot of the "fluff" (newspaper articles, grumbling players, etc.) that you have and usually ignore in the other games. Makes you remember and smile about the simpler times in our football games.
Game flows well. Running clock, 1 minute rules, etc. make it go by faster. The faster game play (overall speed) is enjoyable too.
It has a true Arena feel to it. Player intro's are true to form for arena. In four games I have already seen it all. Kick return for TD, kick muffed off the nets, onside kicks, pass caught off the nets, int, int then fumble, pass caught off the wall, pass tipped by 1 defender and caught by the other WR I wasn't throwing to who stayed on his route, safety, mulitple point swings, and of course big hits into the wall and flipping over the wall. Also teams with traditional good runners Georgia and Chicago had solid run plays against me where they normally attempt them too.
I have gone to several AFL games and when explaining it I tell people that it is totally different than regular football (but it has the football pieces to it). When you understand that and get the rules it is a fun game to watch and see the strategies used. The same holds true for the video game. It's not Blitz, not Madden, but has it's own distinct feel to it.
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video-games_xbox
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I think the game is amazing. You will have enough to keep you busy . I think the game is amazing. You will have enough to keep you busy for many hours. One warning for those of us that do not possess the reflexes of a fifteen or twenty five year old, you will find the game very frustrating. I am 69 and was excited to get a game I can play on my Xbox one. But even on easy mode the first area you end up in is basically a breeze, but when you get to the next area of villages you will notice the big enemies the ones that you can get good loot from, are a real challenge to kill unless you possess the reflexes of a 15 or 25 year old. As I said I believe this is a fantastic game, and I am sure there are some older people out there that can play the game and enjoy it. Lets face the facts these games now are designed for the biggest money audience and that is kids. I have played Assassins creed black flag, Far cry 4, many time over, and can do very well at it even though I don't really like those kinds of games. I personally like RPG like Fallout 3, Fallout new vagus, Skyrim, kingdoms of amalu and the like. I have played those games through 15 or 20 times each and of course had to put up with the constant overheating with Xbox 360. I was really hoping the next gen gamed wouldnt leave me behind because I wanted to play the type of games I prefer without over heating consoles. It looks like us older gamers are being left out of the equation on many of the so called next gen games. I am really hoping someday the gaming industry will have more game like the ones I can play for many hours and enjoy them very much. I am not talking about remaking old games for Xbox one, I want games created for xbox one like the ones I enjoy. Now most of the games seem to be geared not only to a young audience but they are incorporating multiplayer aspects into most all the games . Personally I don't find it fun to play a game when there are literally hundreds of other player running this way and that all around you, and for me that takes the fun of playing because it can be so distracting trying to focus on the game while all this activity is going on around you that has nothing to do with you. You are no longer the hero of the game you are just one of a huge bunch of players. Just my opinion.
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video-games_xbox
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Rock Band 2' will rock you barefoot. By Zach Wingerter
Western Courier
Western Illinois University
Macomb, Illinois
Forget about the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Harmonix blew that theory out of the water.
Still reaping the benefits of the original "Rock Band," released last November, Harmonix made adjustments to an already-successful system and took "Rock Band 2" to a whole new level.
At first glance, "Rock Band 2" does not look much different than its predecessor. This is a good thing. The performance format of notes scrolling toward the screen on a semitransparent black conveyor belt remains the same, though the graphics are noticeably improved. Characters are sharper, venues are more detailed and the crowd is better animated. No adjustment is required to rock like your face is on fire in Quickplay mode.
The real progress lies in the little things: Characters can now cross over and play multiple instruments, eliminating the headache of having to create a drummer, a singer and a guitarist/bassist. Rather than spreading money won playing different instruments over three characters' bank accounts like in "Rock Band," your multitalented alter-ego can work up quite a bankroll to spend on clothes and equipment.
Instead of the straight-up solo tour mode and a cooperative mode that have been so consistent in the evolution of music-rhythm games, "Rock Band 2" features three gameplay options: Tour mode, Battle of the Bands and Tour Challenges. None of the three is strictly solo or multiplayer.
Tour mode allows players to form bands with friends over Xbox Live for the first time. Tour mode is very similar to the Band World Tour from "Rock Band," with the largest distinction being that two or more players are not required to make progress.
Battle of the Bands is an intuitive addition that should keep "Rock Band 2" from getting stale. Players can participate in daily and weekly competitions over Xbox Live. Some battles require a single-song solo performance on a given instrument (such as a competition to see who can get the longest note streak on guitar) while others are judged by overall star count and can be entered by one person or a whole four-member band.
Tour Challenges most closely resembles the recognizable set list progression of former games: You play increasingly difficult lists of songs, and beating one challenge unlocks more challenges. There are separate challenges for each individual instrument (vocals, drums, guitar and bass) as well as full-band set lists.
"Rock Band 2" also offers a new Drum Trainer mode. Drummers can learn percussion fundamentals in Beat Trainer and hone their fill skills in Fill Trainer. Both modes map out the notes and let users control the speed, from 60 beats per minute to 200.
The best mode of Drum Trainer is the Freestyle Mode. Players can choose from several diverse drum kit sounds and either play along with music via the Xbox Music Player or turn up the speakers and have a jam session with an acoustic guitar-wielding friend.
Also new in "Rock Band 2" for drummers is the long-awaited drum solo. In songs such as Beck's "E-Pro," the drum part is highlighted with a blue background (like a guitar solo). While this doesn't accomplish a whole lot, it gives drummers the same satisfaction that guitarists get when "Perfect Solo!" flashes across the screen.
The tweaks made to the Tour mode are the most impressive new aspects of the Rock Band franchise. "Rock Band 2" puts control of the band squarely on the shoulders of the player, such as deciding whether to hire a merch girl to increase profits or a stylist to increase fans. As more cities and venues are unlocked by completing songs, more staff members, each with unique ways to aid the band, become available.
It seems that the margin of error has increased slightly in "Rock Band 2," making the game easier (but in no way less fun) than "Rock Band." It is reminiscent of the improvements made in "Guitar Hero II" when compared to the original "Guitar Hero" - the sequel is more forgiving than the first game because developers have had time to fix the things that gave gamers trouble. This may be important to keep in mind when "Guitar Hero World Tour," the first multi-instrumental game of the Guitar Hero franchise, arrives in stores next month.
"Rock Band 2" is backwards-compatible with all but three of the 58 on-disc "Rock Band" tracks. For $5 (to cover licensing fees), payable over Xbox Live, players can transfer "Rock Band" songs to their hard drive for use in "Rock Band 2."
Some must-play "Rock Band 2" songs include: "Let There Be Rock" by AC/DC (this is the first music-rhythm game to feature a song by the Australian rockers), "The Trees" by Rush, "Battery" by Metallica, "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters "Any Way You Want It" by Journey and "Pinball Wizard" by The Who.
You will yearn for your junior high school days when you hear Alanis Morisette's "You Oughta Know" or The Presidents of the United States of America's "Lump," and you just may giggle a bit when you start the intro to Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf," but no other music-rhythm game comes close to rivaling the diversity of the 80-plus songs on the "Rock Band 2" disc.
"Rock Band 2" has set a high standard for the other music-rhythm games hitting shelves in the coming months. Already available for Xbox 360 for the game-only price of $60, "Rock Band 2" will be released on Oct. 19 for PlayStation 3 and Nov. 18 for Wii and PlayStation 2.
Edit/Delete Message
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video-games_xbox
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Great game with technical flaws. If anyone involved in the game industry ever reads this:
DELAY THE GAME
If by releasing the game early, you think it will still be a success with these kind of flaws, you are wrong. This is blatantly clear in the population of the servers of this game. There are broken skills, and even one that isn't used (unhorse). There are no mounted enemies in single player. I have seen a maximum of one horse per multiplayer map, though i have certainly not played them all. It feels like a very long demo. Oddly, i did not like the demo..
DO NOT MIS-ADVERTISE YOUR GAME
For a reviewer to call it an (X) killer, its one thing. To repeat that on your own game box is a terrible marketing choice. Instead of focusing simply on two worlds as a game, gamers will automically be seeing it as a comparison. They claimed many things to be in the game, that simply were not. Even on the box of the game, it claims one of the mount types to be a "lizard creature." The closest is a skeleton-like horse. The box claims no load times between indoors and outdoors. How this is done is through a series of smaller loads during gameplay. I will note it has yet to load during combat (that i have noticed).
I just felt i needed to take two stars off for these issues. You cant put out a finished product that is in this stage of development!
What happened to this game is that they marketed their ideal two worlds game as the final product. They either were not realistic about their goals, or they did not have enough time to realize them. Judging by the detail and promise of the "beta," my guess is the latter, which is inexcusable.
I will not do a pro/con analysis, as "The Lazer Viking" did this very well. I am just a bit harsher about the technical issues!
With all that being said, i absolutely love this game! I would call it an open-world dungeon crawler. I just cant put it down, there is a definite "grinding" aspect to it, especially multiplayer. The levels are spaced relatively well, but it does take a while to get 50+. There is no relevant level cap. This aspect of gameplay does remind me of World at Warcraft, which i saw another reviewer allude to, but i would never compare the two games. I definitely would not say if you like one, you will like the other.
In my mind, the dungeon crawler aspect includes many different items such as weapons, armor, rings, gems, minerals, plants, and spell cards. The armor and rings can be stacked for more powerful items, and the gems minerals, and plants can be used in alchemy for enchantment of weapons/armor, as well as permanent stat building. The spell cards are stackable as too, with added booster cards to modify the spells (such as "mana saver"). The alchemy system is very deep, and that will only appeal to some. With some recipes you can "level up" your stats through alchemy, permanently and temporarily. With others, you create enchantments and some items (bombs and traps). I would suggest looking online for more info on the system.
Yes, the speech is terrible, but i found it extremely entertaining. It had me laughing constantly. The way some things are said had to be intentionally subtle humor. Well, maybe not, but i certainly found it funny!
I did find the combat engaging. The gameplay leads you to mash the right trigger, but if you tap the right trigger two/three times in a row, then do it again starting ~2 swings in, you will do more damage over time. If you tap it four times, you will take longer to recover from the last swing. There is skill involved, but its vague. There is no block, but with a back-jump, it creates a much more aggressive combat. I don't care about having a block, i actually enjoyed the faster pace. I would have definitely liked to see an active parry though..
There really is an excellent core game here, the problem is the delivery. For me, this is not as big of a problem as it sounds. For others, it will make or break the game. My biggest issue is with the fact that 90% of the problems could have been fixed with more time.
Basically, if you like tinkering with armor, and learning an expansive alchemy system (get your skill to 10 before you even mess with it), you just might like this game. You can even open a command prompt (RB+LB+A) where you can spawn ALL items in the game (disables achievements for that save). You can adjust grass length, shadow detail, water reflections, etc. You can also create entire towns, and NPCs. You can not interact with creates buildings or NPCs though. This feature utilize some basic code, and is NOT an official "creation mode." I would not touch this feature without looking it up online, and feel confident about putting in code into a game. For a someone like me, this is a game in and of itself. This mode does not work on multiplayer, for obvious reasons!
ill just finish with how i ended my Oblivion review, with a few edits where applicable;
"I think when it comes down to it, people just like different games. The best way to put it is with an analogy. If you like cars that look pretty, with amazing paint jobs, great lines, big rims, but don't do anything when you step on the gas, you probably will not like this game. If you would like a "sleeper" that no one would look twice at.. until you hit the throttle, you will probably like this game."
Obviously, its an ANALOGY, so i wouldnt use the quote to determine whether you will buy this game.
As with --ALL-- games, rent before you buy!!!!
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video-games_xbox
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Will see how this goes. EDIT: When I first got the kit the website was down and I couldn't download the instructions so I thought it was a dud and gave it 1 star. Since then the website came back up and I have been able to fix two of my Xbox360s. I now give the kit 4 stars.
So far I ordered two of these kits (yes I was a dummy and bought another Xbox360 after the first one broke down) and both worked. I fixed my own and the other for my son so now he has an Xbox360 too. This kit is relatively simple to use if you follow the instructions which you will have to download from a website that is listed on a piece of paper with the kit. The first time it took me about two hours because I didn't know how to open the Xbox360 up but after getting the disassembly and re-assembly process down I can do a repair in 30 - 45 mins.
A word of advice. Make sure you follow the instructions to the letter and use tape to hold the screws in place on the circuit board. If you did it the way I did, you will have to hold the circuit board face up (normal way) with the tape holding the screws in place and take the tape off carefully as you screw them back into the heat sink when you carefully place it on top of them. Otherwise the washers will come lose and go all over the place. You'll find out what I'm talking about when you get there. Another good thing about this kit is you do NOT have to drill any holes to fix the unit.
On one of my Xboxes the power button was stuck when I put the faceplate back on. At first I kept disassembling the unit thinking I hadn't put it back together correctly but then figured out that the plastic "springs" on the power button were warped and were pushing the button against the switch inside so that it was stuck when I put the faceplate back on. It also wouldn't let the unit power on (even though you could take the faceplate off and push in on the switch and it would work) so I did one simple thing that fixed it. I took the faceplate off and used a hair dryer and heated the plastic springs up real good then pushed down on the button and springs until they laid flat and back in their original position. The "springs" were then flat again (before they were sort of a little curved and warped looking). I put the faceplate back on and "voila"; it fired right up! I thought I'd put this last little tidbit in in case someone else ran across the same problem.
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video-games_xbox
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B-Movie Goodness. Shadows of the Damned is the latest title from the gaming gods at Grasshopper Manufacture; known for their creative work on the No More Heroes franchise, the crew is back to deliver an even more absurd, more compelling, and more technically competent, crazy game. If you're a fan of Quentin Tarantino and/or Robert Rodriguez, you own it to yourself to buy and play this game immediately. Shadows of the Damned is so absurd, over-the-top, and absolutely creative, that you can't help but fall in love with this gem.
Positives:
- All-Star Development Cast - Shadows of the Damned is the work of Suda 51 (Killer 7, No More Heroes, etc.) and the rest of Grasshopper Manufacture, Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 4, Vanquish, etc.), and the music is composed by none other than Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill composer). With all of this talent on board, it's no surprise that Suda's crazy artistic style and humor is present, Mikami's solid gameplay mechanics are present, and Yamaoka's superb music is present. This game is a pleasure on the eyes, ears, and even in terms of satisfying gameplay.
- A Hilarious Ride - Shadows of the Damned is full of cheese. While it may seem slightly scary, it's very much a b-movie style of game. This is a game absolutely packed with sexual innuendos. The banter between the lead character, Garcia Hotspur, and his skeleton head on a stick sidekick, Johnson, is well worth the price of admission alone.
- Crazy Boss Battles - This game offers super satisfying, set piece moment boss battles that are both well thought out and fun to play.
- Solid Gameplay - At its heart, the aiming and such feels very similar to that of Resident Evil 4 or 5, but unlike those two games, you can move and shoot at the same time in Shadows of the Damned. It works well and it's completely competent.
- Magnificent Soundtrack - I can't praise the soundtrack enough; Akira Yamaoka has taken his musical background and really attached a stellar soundtrack to Shadows of the Damned. It immerses you in the experience like no other soundtrack could.
Negatives:
- A Few Issues Here & There - It's not a super long game, clocking in at around 8 hours. There is also some texture pop-in and screen tear at times.
Shadows of the Damned is an entirely fresh and original game that was desperately needed. We get too many games that are so similar these days, but Shadows of the Damned is a satisfying and creative walk on the wild side. If you're willing to try something bizarre, fun, and odd, you have nothing to lose with Shadows of the Damned.
Happy gaming!
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video-games_xbox
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Panzer Dragoon ORTA --- a tour de force. It's hard to describe the Panzer Dragoon series (Saga aside) without upsetting someone. At it's heart they are a cross between Space Harrier and Rez, viewed third person and directly into the screen. Orta is a direct follow up - although not necessarily in terms of storyline - and doesn't move too far from the tradition. You're still on the back of a dragon and you're still up against thousands of enemies.
Your dragon has 3 freely-interchangable types. Firstly, you start out in Base mode, which has a large number of lock-on targets, a decent rate of fire for your normal gun, and average defense. You can also store up to two glide moves which work a little like the brake and boost in Starfox for the N64. A tap of the Y button switches to Heavy mode which is a bulkier version of the dragon, with fewer lock-on targets and a slower firing rate, although both missiles and the gun dish out higher damage; your defensive capabilities are lower, though, and you can't glide. Finally, you have the Glide Mode, which is a small, nippy model, with a automatically targetting machine gun, up to 3 glides, heavy armour (oddly enough) but no lock-on missiles. As you can tell, selecting which mode to use at any given time is a requisite, and it's a skill you'll need to have mastered by the end of the first of ten levels.
The game's split into ten levels, although Sega like to call them 'episodes', and within each of these is the level boss. Brilliantly, the bosses don't always appear at the end of the level leaving you to delicately nurse your post-boss battle wounds through other scraps before you get to the end of the section. Whilst early on in Orta the tale follows something of a rudimentary storyline, later on in the game the various cutscenes dissolve into a sub-Rez level of storytelling: ultimately, of course, the whole thing revolves around 360 degrees and the final boss shouldn't really come as any surprise, but to get there you'll be led through some fairly preposterous levels. This shouldn't cause too much concern, though, as graphically, well, Orta is a thing of beauty.
People often like to link games with art, but this truly is the next generation. Without a solitary doubt, Panzer Dragoon Orta is the single-most visually impressive videogame in existance - it really is that good looking. Everything from the liquid smooth 60 frames a second to the gorgeous models, the amazing graphical effects like smoke and fire, the way the game effortlessly throws hundreds of things at you at once without a single stutter - it's breathtaking, and the only downside is that nothing is going to come anywhere near for a long time yet. If you've seen the screenshots (especially those from level 2 that are full of trees, water and plants) and you impressed then wait until you see it in motion. kick-....=D
Those worried about the lack of first-run gametime need not be too troubled, though - whilst you can reach the end in under 3 hours, it's a different story entirely on the higher difficulty levels - Sega really do cater for the hardcore and this reviewer was forced to re-... his gaming skills after facing the final enemy on any level above easy. Of course, this being a Panzer Dragoon game there's plenty of things to see and do once the main game is over - the Pandora's Box in Orta features not only a complete sub-game (with multiple levels, cutscenes and it's own storyline) there's also a number of side-quests featuring episodes that run concurrently alongside those in the main game, but with different characters and so on. Glossaries and encyclopedia's make for essential reading for PD fans, too.
Orta stumbles slightly in the presentation stakes though. Whilst the English subtitles, menus and appendices are greatly appreciated (despite this being a Japanese release) the menus themselves aren't as attractive as the rest of the game, and the Pandora's Box feature becomes far too messy to really appreciate fully without wading through realms of text and menu options. There's also loading delays that tend to get in the way slightly.
However, it's not my intention to let these niggles get in the way of what can only be described as the finest on-rails shooter in existance. Panzer Dragoon Orta is most definitely the best of it's genre and for shooter fans it's absolutely unmissable. Those with even a passing interest in Sega's most commercially underrated series, though, will already have it pre-ordered, and if you haven't, you're going to be missing the ride of your life. Orta oozes playability and style, and is a real graphical tour-de-force for the Xbox. Enjoy.
p.s. orta's pretty hot too. =P
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video-games_xbox
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I Hate This Game. And I use the word "Hate" the most sarcastic/ironic way possible.
All I wanted to do was play this thing, and was totally engulfed in the weaving of the story.
I had gotten fed up with the "shooter". Run into a room, kill everybody, kill the boss. Run into another room, kill everybody, kill the boss. No context, no story, just BLOW THAT GUY UP!
I was never big on the RPG because clicking a dialogue option, while not saying anything, only to hear a character answer me became annoying. Like listening to a one-sided conversation.
Then I found Mass Effect 2, and it immediately passed one of my most important tests for video games: Does it make me forget I'm in my living room?
It did all that and more. It is more like a movie than a game, and, unlike the normal shooter that just seems to drag you along for the ride this one lets YOU decide on how things unfold, for better or worse. Who lives and who dies is up to you, your decisions, and their consequences. If you want a game that gives you some semblance of what it would be like to be in command of a squad, on a mission where everything hangs on what you decide the next move is, this is it.
I have never seen anything like this, and it is a consuming experience.
Combined with Mass Effect 1, they throw some pretty heavy things at you, like deciding whether or not to commit genocide, whether or not to allow someone to be murdered because someone wants it, or to stop it.
It's a game that tests character as much as it tests eye/hand coordination. If you play it, "I'm gonna be all harda$$" you can do that, but it's really intense if you sit there and actually think, "What would I really do?" and play it that way.
I couldn't believe I was sitting there having my morals and ethics challenged just as much as my skill with a sniper rifle.
I loved that!
DIFFERENCES:
Shooters: If you get a team, they are always behind you, no matter what you do.
ME1/ME2: These team members will second-guess you with reasoning that will make you second-guess yourself.
Shooters: All Roads Lead To Rome. The ending is the ending, and nothing's going to change it.
ME1/ME2: I've played this game five different times and have gotten five different outcomes because of the choices I've made.
Shooters: Squad members will razz each other or argue, but they all band together and get the job done in the end.
ME2: You have to earn you squad's loyalty, and they don't always get along, some are even enemies, and if you don't find a way to keep the delicate balance and lose one of their loyalties, chances are, they won't make it.
The graphics are stunning, and that added a lot to the "total immersion" of it. The character's backgrounds are rich and it really brings them alive, and makes you care about whether they make it or not.
The shooter parts of it are . . . well . . . fun, like a shooter should be, especially since BioWare improved the sniper rifle so it's not drifting all over the place when you target. And it gets the heart racing, like a good shooter should.
And the controls had that pick-up-and-play aspect to it so you didn't have to concentrate on which buttons to hit.
The load time is long, well, long-ER than a plain shooter's, because of everything that a part will have in it, but it's well worth the extra wait.
The RPG dialogue is fantastic, because you pick an option, the character "talks" and doesn't say that option, but a dialogue along that line, so it feels like you're watching a movie you're directing.
This is what an RPG/Shooter should be.
If you were pulled off the street today--being who you know yourself to be-- were asked to save the galaxy, and given a squad and crew that looked to you to take them into hell and get them back out again alive, could you?
Play the game and find out.
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video-games_xbox
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Good Graphics , Weak Combat. Pirates of Carribean is a moderatly fun game with richly detailed graphics in third person viewpoint. The weak part about the game is the combat. The attacks performed by your character (J.Sparrow) J.Depp and later on in tandem with Orlando Blooms Character, are pretty simple button mash combo sequence. You can press A for sword attack and X for punch attack .Also after filling up a portion of your finish meter you can perform a finishing kill by pressing the buttons that will flash on the screen ,to do a finish move you will see a prompt on screen telling you which button to press in sequence to perform a finish kill. Which always starts as Hold LT then the press or hold the corisponding button prompted on screen. Like this for example Hold LT. then press Y ,hold B. Or sometimes just hold Y . Whatever is on the screen ..very simular to Spiderman-3 button mashing cutscenes. The only problem with this is its way too easy to just kill an enemy by just pressing A (sword slash) over and over too kill about 90% of the enemies. While the other 10% require at least one finish kill to eliminate them. You also have a handgun with (get this) 3 bullets.woo hoo!! So authentic to that era..lol.you can kill an enemy with your eyes closed because of the auto-aim, hold LT. ... The A.I. is horribly easy to kill. One time I tested out to see if an enemy would hit me at all. And he just stood there circling me without even hitting me or even trying anything at all, and I was right in front of him, finally I just pressed A three times and he was dead, Lame very Lame. And these same enemies repeat themselves over and over, with some of them waiting there turn too fight me. Anybody who played ERAGON? well its nearly the same here in this game. With Pirates only being slightly less lame....Another combat form is when you meet a boss type character you go into 'DUEL' mode . The camera switches into side scroll mode simular to Mortal Combat. But thats where the comparison ends . There's 3 Circles on the left or right of the combatant . One being a high attack, oNe representing a mid attack, and one representing a low attack. Now get this when the circle turns grey its telling you in advance how the fighter is going to attack you so you can successfully block the attack (how polite), so if you see the upper circle turn grey you push left stick up. And if you make a successful block it will turn green .Or red if you dont. Well this feature takes away the fun out of it as your constantly looking at the 3 circles more than the fighters. Which makes it unbeliveable lame . Its nothing like Soul Caliber or a Mortal Combat at all. There are some great features about this game which are the graphics are pretty darn good. Some of the towns reminded me of Oblivion. And there are some great fog and lighting effects. And the cutscenes look quite good. The levels are pretty much straight forward linear, with a little back-tracking here and there. There are some puzzly type things, like you play an organ in a certain sequence to get Davy Jones's key. Its pretty much kindergarden-1st grade puzzles. Kids up too 13 will probably LOVE this game as the combat is very Eragon-ish. But at least the camera is fully controlable so there's no fighting characters off screen. The only side scroll is the easy as pie boss 'duels' . Johnny Depp character looks incredibly good . As well as the squid guy and the hammer head guy . The graphics are a very strong point in this game. Another nice thing is you can switch between Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom in combat and control both fighters. Another nice thing is the soul trap sword ,its a flaming green sword that traps enemies souls for whatever eason other than achievement points and high scores postings on LIVE . I hope there is a cheat soon where I could play the entire game with a flaming sword, because it only lasts for a short period and to recharge it you have to find and collect mummified heads. Also you can climb certain walls,ropes,ladders,ships masts when prompted too, which is pretty nice. It is a somewhat decent game in the adventure part but the easy as pie enemies will have hardcore gamers wishing for more, but the kiddes will love this game. Would I buy it? Nope. Only if I had young kids.
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video-games_xbox
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The Sixth Game In The Series. After watching the first offficial trailer at E3 2004. There was no doubt in my mind that THUG2 is going to be one of the best games in the series. I've played all THPS, THPS2, THPS3 (my favorite), THPS4, and THUG. Then come october, Tony Hawk's Underground 2: World Destruction Tour. This is probably gonna be one of the best games of 2004. The plot:
Your're teaming up against team hawk and team margera on a world destruction tour.
This game combines into two parts Story Mode & Classic Mode. You're gonna create your own tag, graffiti, throw obstacles at people, ride cars up ramps and quater pipes. The levels are more interactive than ever. Break glass, go inside buildings. It's gonna be great. Though I noticed that the skaters in this game are more cartoonish like. Anyway, few levels i've noticed were Boston, Barcalona, Spain. New Orleans Louisiana, and Berlin, Germany. This is skater list.
Team Hawk
Tony Hawk
Chad Muska
Mike Valley
Bob Burnquist
Rodney Mullen
Team Margera
Bam Margera
Phil Margera
Eric Sparrow (from THUG)
Pedestrian Skaters include:
Security Guard, Zombie 1,2,3,4, Fat Teenager, Drum Player (From Boston Level) Disabled Man, Jesse James, Lifeguard, Artist Type Guy, Busker (Trombone Player Maybe), Mime, Darlek 1 (Blue), Darlek 2 (Pink), Darlek 3 (Green), Policeman, A French Man, Austrian Man, Matador, Aborignie, Cool Dude (Fred Durst Look-A-Like!), Hot Dog Seller, Punk Guy, Fat Slob, Little Kid, Sailer, Nut Seller, Army Man, Motocross Helmet Guy, Surgeon, Benjimin Franklen, Site Worker, Skinny Policeman/Security Guard, Rollerskater, and Jester.
Though, what really interested me was the 'CLASSIC MODE. Unlike the previous 'Tony Hawk Games that give you a few past levels, usually only secret levels in the game; THUG2 is giving you "fifteen" classic levels from the previous 'Tony Hawk games with over "one hundred" classic goals.
Well, the date is October 6th, 2004. I've already pre-ordered. This is going to be one of the best games of this year, right up there next to Halo 2.
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video-games_xbox
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Where did all my innuendo laden dialogue go. There's an old joke along the lines of, "Some people can be funny and vulgar; some people can be funny without being vulgar. Try and pick one."
Dragon Age 2 hasn't managed either of those.
People have discussed (in great length) :
- changing the combat system into a hack-and-slash button masher
- reusing the same maps for every cave, dungeon and house
- being trapped in one city the whole game
- pros and cons of the nested narration
- inability to change your companions armor or look
- the majority of found items having clever names like "ring" and "amulet"
And I think these mostly come down to the, "No! They dumbed it down until it's not really an rpg anymore!" and, "Yay! They got rid of all that stupid rpg micromanaging stuff that I hate!" camps - hence the huge range of reviews. Yes, they did rip out a lot of the more traditional rpg stuff and people who expect (and want) Dragon Age 2 to be a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins will probably be deeply disappointed.
But since these changes have been discussed to death, I'm going to touch on some of my favorite parts of DA:O and how they handled them in DA2: voiced dialogue; relationships; and story.
The voice acting in DA:O was excellent: the characters looked how they sounded, the writing was witty, and the voice directing was wonderful. They followed the maxim of "showing, not telling". Yes, Zevran was a man-whore, but he was a * hilarious* man-whore. You knew this because of little bits and bobs of innuendo that showed up in various conversations. In DA:2, Isabella just comes right out and tells us that she's slept with "men, women and even a dwarf in drag." You'd think it would be funny, but you'd be wrong - just vulgar with none of Zevran's funny to temper it. A few of the voice actors really seem to try, but since even Alistair and Zevran's cameos are flat and boring (even though they seem to be trying not to be), I have to assume it's bad writing, bad voice directing, or a combination of the two. In DA:O, Oghren's "polishing his weapon" spiel, Zevran harping on Wynne's "bosoms", and Alistair's awkward, "have you ever licked a lampost" conversation were just so well written that the game was almost worth playing just to hear people talk. DA:2 just falls wildly short. Yes, the main character is well acted. Yes, all the character voices sound good, but the conversations are just terrible. They're boring and pointless with occasional bits of vulgarity thrown in to try and mask the lack of real humor that made the original so special.
Which brings me to relationships. Now maybe DA:O just had it easier, because depending on your gender you had choices like, "wickedly funny, innuendo wielding, amoral assassin, man-whore elf,"; "ridiculously awkward, super-naive, self-deprecating sword fighter"; "sultry and evil, wicked tongued, bad tempered she-mage", and "voluptuous, sympathetic, quietly witty, former bad-girl bard". These are good choices - they're all going to fun, interesting, and *really* different to pursue, leading to a lot of variety for multiple playthroughs. DA:2 gives you, "whiney, demon-possessed mage with a persecution complex ", "magically tattooed, bitter, emo, former slave elf out for revenge on his former owner", "slutty, backstabbing, pirate/assassin wench", and "super-native, chaotic-stupid elf fixated on a suicidal craft project". Not quite as much fun. And since none of the romances affect the storyline *at all*, why on earth would I want to fool with a second playthrough? I chose the Fenris option for that emo-intense thing. I won't spoil it, but man was it boring - a little kissing in the hall is about all you're going to get. I'm not saying I need another, "making out in your knickers" scene like in DA:O, but I was left saying, "Um ... are they a couple now?" In DA:O, you could always hit your pixelated partner up for a little after-hours tent nookie; in DA:2 (at least for Fenris) it's strictly tied to plot (no after hours fun for Hawke) but still doesn't really change anything. I mention this since in DA:O, I chose Alistair who was falling all over himself whenever you talked to him. Then again in DA:2 you're only allowed to talk to your character at their house, when it's part of the plot. No stories, no chatting, no, "oh, you don't have anything to say right now", just a whole lot of nothing. I spent *hours* chatting up every character in DA:O; DA:2 offers next to nothing. Like I said, strictly plot related conversations at pre-dictated times.
A lot like the story in general. DA:O was an epic. It was huge, covered a whole country, involved all different peoples, coming together, blah, blah, blah. You did the normal fetch and carry missions in order to progress to the next part of the story. DA:2 feels like it's *all* fetch and carry missions for no particular reason. "Hey, you need money ... 'cause yeah ... so go kill some bad guys and come back for your reward. Oh, and did we mention that the mages and templars are inching towards an apocalyptic smack-down? Or that you'll constantly be forced to side with either abusive templars or crazy blood mages? Or that none of the decisions you agonized over will change the story one iota? No? Well, that's okay. At least you've already been to this dungeon four times, so you already know where all the bad guys are. Have fun killing wave after wave of identical bad guys!" It was really just a long, tedious journey to an over-foreshadowed end.
Which is a shame. I went ahead and rated this a 3 because it's not an actively broken. It locked up on me a couple of times and for a while, all the npcs were untextured white sprites, but it mostly works. If DA:2 had been put out by an unknown company, I would have said, "Eh, not bad for a dumbed-down rpg - it's got nice graphics and okay voice overs. Too bad they didn't have enough time to finish the story and build more than one map, but it's not horrible for $40." The problem is, it isn't an unknown company, it's bioware. They're fully capable of putting out a complete game, and for DA:2 to have such a weak story, such weak directing and such lazy programming is actually pretty insulting. Trying to charge $60 for something so far below the bar is just vulgar, without any funny to go with it.
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video-games_xbox
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HATER'S GONA HATE. Let me preface this by saying:
RE6 is the billionth release in the RE game series. Do you honestly expect nothing to change about it?? (THANK GOD they got rid of that sketchy camera system).
I've read through some of the complaints / 1 star reviews, and some people need to grow up. If you judge a game based on how similar it is to a previous title then I think you have the wrong idea of "NEW" game. Here are some common complaints I find to be annoying.
1. "RE6 isn't survival horror!" RE hasn't been survival horror since before RE4, so if you're still crying about that, play Dead Space or something.
2. "They messed up the controls!" If a broken control scheme means it's easier to; run, walk quickly without gluing your thumb to the A/X button, turn around, shoot and reload while moving, pull off melees, actually dodge / maneuver around enemy attacks, take cover wherever you want as opposed to designated "TAKE COVER HERE" areas; then yes, they messed up the controls.
3. "It's too dark." You try walking around a graveyard at 12AM and see how much natural light there is.
4. "The new campaign idea is stupid and doesn't make sense." One word: zombies. Let's be real honest right now... since when have any of the RE campaigns made a whole lot of sense? And the new intertwining campaign feature is brilliant and compelling. (And who doesn't want to see Chris and Leon yell at each other??)
5. "The melee are too powerful." In RE5 (with Chris) it took one shot to the face, STRAIGHT, and STOMP to kill, or, one shot to the knee, and NECK BREAKER to kill. In RE6, you can hit someone several times with Leon's fancy kicks and still have to STOMP them once or twice, and by then you've used up your whole Combat Gauge. If you lead with a few bullets to the head or knees, then (just like RE5) you can kill with one melee.
6. "It's just not fun." It is the only new game on the market right now...
Yes, there are some criticisms; the new hud is a little cartoonish and dysfunctional, some of the bosses are a bit out of my imagination range, CAPCOM should have kept it for another month or two to polish it off (some cutscenes show severe lack of attention), but if you can find me a PERFECT game, let me know.
Mercenaries is still as addicting and enjoyable as ever. Haven't tried the new Agent Hunt feature, but it looks promising.
In summary, this is RE6, and if Resident Evil can't evolve over 16 years and 23 titles, then have fun playing COD where nothing ever changes.
This game is fun and memorable... if you can't get past minor graphic flaws and pills as opposed to herbs that you spray like deodorant (what?), then perhaps you shouldn't play it. As for me, I shall continue to play games based on how much fun they are, not how similar they are to their successors.
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video-games_xbox
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Fun and absolutely hilarious, but dodgy controls. For the original XBOX, Armed and Dangerous is one of the best scripted games I've ever played. The dialogue is quite witty and funny, and the scenes are a strange sort of humor reminiscent of Monty Python. The level design is somewhat limited especially since it's mostly linear, with very small areas of free-roaming, however there are many levels in the game, some hard some lengthy.
The weapons are quite interesting, although most of them are typical kinds of rifles (automatic and semi-automatic), there are also a few bizarre weapons as well. The funniest weapon is the Shark gun, which, surprisingly shoots a Shark out of its barrel, and the shark hunts down any bad guys on screen. It burrows through the dirt with it's dorsal fin exposed, and you can hear the soon-to-be victims shriek at the impending doom.
Pretty much everything in this game is funny. The humor and overall fun gameplay make up for the weak controls of your 3rd person view character. The controls aren't horrible, but they certainly could have been tweaked a bit. The graphics did also tend to go haywire at times, with polygons becoming invisible, which could create glitch traps for your character--A good reason to save whenever you can.
I played this game, for the first time in 2005 on the original Xbox. I just purchased it again recently, to play on my Xbox 360. But, sadly, the emulation software for this game is very bad. Many of the funny cutscenes had their entire audio tracks (voice, music, effects) completely removed at random times. Sometimes the cutscenes skipped on their own. It also froze up a few times.
So, if you have an original Xbox, be sure to pick up this fun/funny game. However, do NOT purchase this to play on the Xbox 360, it's essentially a waster of money. Because even though you can turn subtitles on, there aren't subtitles in every cutscene, so the story is confusing, when it normally isn't.
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video-games_xbox
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Bungie, how could you. My first reference: [...]
I will list the reasons why the game is worse than Halo 1 (in which case, Halo 1 > Halo 2)
1. New glitches are being found EACH DAY.
2. Cheating online
3. auto-headshots with the sniper rifle
Ex. If the reticle is above the opponents head and you fire, the game will count that as a headshot.
4. The shotgun is incredibly inconsistent and the range of it in game is incredibly unrealistic. With the inconsistency, you will find yourself shotting people point blank in the head and they don't die. However, when they fire back at you, you actually die.
5. The default weapon is an SMG, the worst weapon in the entire game (asides from the needler, which has been dumbed down instead of increased in power as promised in the E3 demo)
6. Single-player isn't fun anymore. You can't play through legendary without dying about 100 times on each level and the storyline has A HUGE cliffhanger. You won't even see it coming. I didn't.
7. The plasma pistol/battle rifle combo makes matchmaking (the online service that matches players up with other same skilled players) very unenjoyable. (Charge pistol, fire, switch to battle rifle quickly, when the charge hits your target, get a headshot, insta-kill) And guess what! There's no way to dodge the plasma shot unless you run behind a wall. But then again, that works in any situation. @_@
8. Bungie not listening to their audience or too much of it. This is why the game has been, dare I say, n00bified. It is so n00b friendly in multiplayer you wouldn't believe it. The skill potential in this game is much lower than in Halo 1.
9. There are only 2 Earth "levels". These are divided into "stages" mind you. Bungie thinks the stages are actual levels but they're really not. This game is shorter than Halo 1. No joke. You can beat it on Normal in about 3-4 hours. Maybe 2 if you know what you're doing. What happened to "Earth will never be the same."? I wanted to fight the Covenent on EARTH! But almost all of the missions are set OFF of Earth. Believe it ladies, Bungie screwed their own game by lying while advertising.
10. If this game version is so limited, why are there thousands of unsold copies for the consumers?
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video-games_xbox
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Not as bad as I thought before. When I typed up the first review of this game I really didn't give the game a chance. This game is so different from any other EA football game. The animations are different and even though they look like they run a lot slower than the previous versions, it also runs a lot smoother. Sometimes slower is better. The graphics, as always, are top notch. The players look more realistic than any of the previous years
A lot of people complain about all of the turnovers they commit. I made a lot of turnovers at first but unlike the previous games, you have to actually set your feet and use the analog sticks to make an accurate pass. You must also cover the ball when the runner is in traffic, you know, just like in a real game. Things are more realistic than ever. You won't have all day to sit in the pocket and make a throw either, decisions must be made quick or you will surely be sacked.
The new hit stick 2.0 is wonderful. Corners are no longer doomed when a huge 240 pound running back turns the corner with a full head of steam. One flick of the stick and your small corner can take out the running back's legs from under him. Those passes over the middle aren't so formidable amymore either. one flick of the new hit stick can lay that big tight end or wide reciever out.
I am sure that plenty of people got pissed when your running back gets stuck in the o-line on a running play. It pissed me off too but now that is no more. the running has never been more fluid and realistic until now.
I pesonally think the new recruiting feature is too much. I find it frustrating most of the time(I just want to play football though so I might be alone on that one).
The new ESPN.com presentation is great. It looks like the real webpage.
Overall this game has vastly improved from the previous years. As soon as you get use to the controls and realism, you will be able to blow people out just like the old games or if you aren't interested in blowing out the computer, you can take it online and play as usual. For all of the people who bash NCAA Football 08 ,give it a chance because EA actually deserves it this time. For all of the people who don't, thank you for agreeing with me.
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video-games_xbox
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A Good Game with Fun Retro Tie-Ins for Old-School Gamers. I had been anticipating this release for quite some time. I saw a gameplay trailer for it almost two years ago and had been waiting anxiously for it ever since. I'm not disappointed, but some gamers might be.
There's a lot of ground to cover, so I'll try to be succinct.
Unfortunately, if you're not into this game for the nostalgia factor then you're probably going to grow tired of it somewhat quickly after you complete the story mode once or twice. The multiplayer may grab your fancy and keep you coming back, but if you're a CoD or GoW or Halo (later referred to as "The Big 3" in this same review) online player than likely you will find yourself putting your "drug of choice" back in when you need an MP fix.
If you played the original Bionic Commando for the Nintendo Entertainment System this game will have lots of retro flare for you (the Title screen music is the original title music from the NES game redone on piano) and many references to the 1988 game. For those of you who never played it, you're still in for a fun 3rd Person action/adventure/shooter.
I myself am the type to flip through the game manual for a few minutes before I take the game itself for a spin. And at first glance I have to admit I thought the controls would be rather complicated, but I was wrong. Most actions in the game are simple and can be completed with one or two button presses. Use of the Grappling arm (that pretty much IS Bionic Commando) is extremely simple, and fun as well. Some swinging tricks take a little getting used to, but anyone who's played a Spider Man game on 360 will likely have no trouble at all adapting. But fear not if you haven't, it still really simple to get the hang of.
The game looks impressive. The colors are vivid, the shading is nice, and water and shadow effects are pulled off nicely. Sometimes it looks a bit fuzzy, but I blame that on my TV. The levels/areas themselves, unfortunately, feel somewhat restrictive, and life-threatening radiation often prevents you from swinging to an enticing perch.
When it comes to achievements, Bionic Commando is probably a pretty easy completion (1000/1000 GS) for most avid gamers. The achievements are based around the game's Challenges, which require you to perform certain actions throughout the game and reward you with weapon and armor upgrades. Most challenges are relatively simple, but progress in difficulty throughout the game.
The weapons in the game are diverse and fun to use. Enemies die with satisfying replicated agony, and Spencer (your character) makes many little wise-cracks and quips throughout the game. Sure, it's nothing original in that respect but always amusing when done well. I think it was done well in this case.
Unfortunately, the game doesn't really offer much in the way of replay value. There are 3 difficulty levels, and many collectibles stashed throughout the games areas. There are achievements in the game centered around finding all of the collectibles and completing all of the challenges, but you must find/complete them all in one play-through to unlock the completion achievement. That is really the only replay value I see in the game for those just looking for something new to play.
The multiplayer is nothing new or innovative when it comes to game-type selection. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag are available. But, if you're looking for something a little different than the aforementioned "Big 3" than this might grab your attention for a while. The grappling hook can make battles very interesting.
So, if you really liked the original 1988 NES release of Bionic Commando, you're going to like this game as a matter of principle alone when it comes to content and story. The gameplay mechanics and vivid scenery will keep you playing. There's even and old friend or two who pop up to say Hi.
If you never even knew there was a 1988 NES Bionic Commando until you read this review, you still may enjoy this game if you like 3rd person action/adventure/shooter games with a few unique mechanics and quippy dialog.
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video-games_xbox
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Anyone who considers themselves a car fan should buy this. The Xbox has been on store shelves (and in my living room) for two-and-a-half months. During that time I have played some of the best games I've seen in my long tenure as a video game guru, including Star Wars: Obi-Wan, Halo and, Amped. Being distracted by such wonderful examples of gaming genius, like the ones above, and about a half dozen others, my wandering Blockbuster eye always passed over Project Gotham Racing. Boy, was that a mistake.
Now that I've had a good 7 days behind the wheel of PGR, I can honestly say that it is my favorite car racing game to date. PGR combines the best aspects of Gran Turismo 3 (PS2) with the pure fun of Beatle Adventure Racing, the underappreciated racing game for the N64.
Like GT3, the graphics, gameplay, and physics are excellent. In fact, graphically speaking, PGR edges out GT3 due mainly to the attention to detail. The way the light reflects off of your shiny silver Audi TT makes you drool as your highly polished windshield glistens in the sun. You watch as your driver (yes, there is actually a person in the car in PGR), leans with the turns and takes his hand off the wheel to shift, a nice touch if you ask me.
Gameplay is well thought out and highly customizable. There are six main racing options, three of which I'll talk about: Quick Race, Arcade, and Kudos Challenge. No, the latter isn't sponsored by an early player in the energy bar market, Kudos is a point system. You earn Kudos as bonuses for placing in certain races, pulling off stylish moves, or just generally kicking butt. In order to progress and earn new cars, you have to race in each of the 3 modes. The Quick Race mode pits you against 5 other cars in a classic battle for 3rd, 2nd, or 1st. You progress through various cities and try to get at least a bronze to advance from say NYC to SanFran. The Arcade mode is purely for Kudos. Yes, you have to get very good at going through cones and pulling off cool slides and 360s to earn at least a bronze. The Kudos Challenge is my favorite mode. You work your way through an array of different races including the good ol' me vs. 5 other cars, one on one, overtake challenge (pass "x" number of cars before time runs out), speed challenge, and several other creative and challenging ways of putting your driving skills to the test.
The Kudos point system is very customizable. By raising or lowering the difficulty level for each race you determine how many Kudos will be awarded. The more difficulty, the higher the reward and vice versa. Getting that bronze medal is not necessarily dependent on whether you place 3rd, but how many Kudos you have earned. It may be a little confusing, but just think of it as a great way to keep score.
Despite the warning to the contrary, driving in real life like you drive in PGR will, in fact, probably work for you because the physics and feel of the game is phenomenal. You almost feel a couple of Gs as you blast around a corner doing 75 in a Nissan Skyline GTR. The controller only adds to the complete immersion in this game. Not only does it vibrate in sync with whatever you're doing, but the weight of the controller itself gives you the feel that you're controlling something with power. I don't know how this game would feel with a puny GameCube controller in my hand. You almost need the size to harness the power. Speaking of the controller, the default button and control layout leaves a little to be desired, so I switched it up a little and made the trigger buttons be my up and down shift and "A" my gas. This works well enough except for the fact that my right thumb is red and shiny from constantly pushing on the "A" button. I know, I know, I could use the right analog stick for that, but I'm just not that type of guy.
Unlike GT3, this game is not so big that you get lost in it. There are not hundreds of cars with a plethora of confusing upgrades that you'd have to be an auto mechanic or listen to an absurd amount of "Car Talk" to understand. It's very straightforward: win this circuit...get new car. Beautiful. New car faster, now must go back to Quick Race and see if I can win that damn London race. See, it's completely manageable, thus giving it that feel of Beatle Adventure Racing. Pure fun.
Let's not forget that PGR is soundtrack enabled which means you can listen to your own CDs that you've put on your Xbox. I can't tell you how nice it is to have my personal playlist of 80+ songs. Oh...cool feature, Radio DJ's announce your music and break in on your songs with contest winners and request hotlines.
I hope you get the feeling that this is a well thought out and highly polished game because it is. And all that thought has helped make Project Gotham Racing the best combination possible: both fun and challenging.
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video-games_xbox
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An excellent hockey game for the price. NHL '10 was my first venture into hockey games for the xbox360, and I am happy to say that the venture was successful. This review is written from a standalone point, as I have never played previous NHL titles on any system.
What did I like?
The game itself provides you with many game play types, from be a pro to be a gm, exhibition games, shootout practice, customized plays, and even non NHL teams (AHL, Super leagues, etc.). When you are in game the action feels live and intense. Hitting doesn't have that "arcade" feel to it, and you tend to play the game like it should be played in real life. The announcing is actually well done, they sound like they want to be there, make the correct comments at the correct time, and it takes about 100 hours of play time before you start to hear overly repetitive comments. After tweaks to the game play settings, stats feel realistic, goals, shots, hits, penalties, PP and PK percentages and everything else you look for in hockey games tends to have realistic numbers (no 20 to 17 games, or players with 50 penalty minutes in a single game).
What did I not like?
Some of the AI is a bit wonky at times, I have seen goalies play pucks right to the opposing team leading to an empty net goal. I have seen players get injured and skate to the bench, but stay right outside of it trying to get off, leaving your team shorthanded. The thing that bothers me the most, however, happens in be a pro mode. Should you get called for a game misconduct (boarding or slashing), rather than simulate to the end of the game, you are forced to let the cpu play out the rest of the game while your player sits in the penalty box. This can be rather annoying if you get bounced in the first period and periods are 15 minutes long. My final nit pick is that the AI seems to value certain players far lower than it should, leading to head scratching trades. I have seen star players traded for bad prospects and low draft picks, and have seen near retirement high salary players traded for first round picks or two to three good players.
Overall this game was worth the $25 I paid for it at the time, and I continue to get enjoyment out of it when I play it. As long as you do not expect ultra-realism this game shouldn't disappoint you. If you have owned previous copies of NHL then perhaps this one will not entice you, but if you have never played a hockey game before, this one would be an excellent first choice.
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video-games_xbox
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Solid wireless guitar for XBOX 360. I got the Butterscotch colored replica. I had to order it from another vendor because Amazon lists the Butterscotch color as currently unavailable.
If your in the market for a guitar you know how they work so I won't bore you with stuff that isn't different than a stock guitar.
1. The Fret buttons are very nice. They move up and down quickly, are quiet, and are a bit larger than the standard RB2 Strat buttons. I would say maybe 3 or 4 millimeters fatter. Don't get this if your a lefty though as the keys don't surround both sides of the guitar and you would be unable to effectively play if your left handed.
2. The touch overdrive is really nice. I personally chose this guitar for that feature. It is placed above the strum bar rather then below like the GH Guitars. Also it isn't a function button, so you don't have to press it down, just touch. It's really nice for me because I tend to hose things up when trying to tilt into overdrive. Tilt still works, but the touch bar is far superior.
3. The whammy bar is pretty nice. It is solid metal and is adjustable to the side if you prefer. It is tensioned a bit strong by default but you can adjust it via a nut/bolt underneath to your preference.
4. Xbox buttons are placed well and the start/select buttons are a knob now. Pretty cool I thought. Also the whah whah adjuster is vertical now and more out of the way which is nice.
5. The strum bar is a mixed bag for me. It is a "click" bar like the GH guitars so it can be noisy. Also the one I received requires you to bottom out the down strum for a register which is odd. I am going to play with it a bit, it may just need some breaking in. Otherwise the strum is pretty standard fair and works well.
6. Can't say enough nice things about the strap. It's comfortable, easy to adjust, and just overall awesome.
7. Lastly the overall design is nice. The butterscotch color looks really nice and the head has non functional, but movable tuning knobs which is cool. It is a bit thicker than the strat but a hair shorter. I kind of expected it to be longer than the strat but it is not. The Chrome parts look really nice.
Overall I give this 4 stars. It's a nice guitar with some flaws that will be mostly preference to the user. If you have the bones to put down on it, try it out.
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video-games_xbox
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Not a Sequel to Soul Calibur IV. Soul Calibur V is a perfect game for anyone looking for a fun fighter with weapons. It's got classic Soul Calibur Characters, the create a character we love, and beautiful graphics. If this is what you are looking for, you are in the right place. But if you were looking for a sequel to Soul Calibur IV, it is easy to discourage such a game. Overall, the game is fun, quick, and easy to get down. Playing story on normal settings, I only lost a few times and I'm already on episode 13 ish (Within an hour and half). The story is nice, but the way they tell it is a little light, as we are use to. Instead of making CG movies, which they do, but they are very rare, they made little sketch art with a narrator describing what's going on. It's nice, but you go pretty tried of it pretty quickly, and well, usually end up skipping it. I know that's what I ended up doing. As far as online play, it was quick to join matches, they ran smoothly, and the license card, as SC calls it, was a nice new feature. It's basically like all the online games now, where you customize your own card for people to see when they battle you or want to look at your stats. The Create a Character mode has also returned and it's bigger than ever! You can now change every color, every fighting style, even put stickers and everything on your items and characters. That said, it is also basic, as their are no longer special traits associated with the items like in SC IV. Though this game is more superior in graphics, game speed, ease, online integration, and utility of creation when compared to SC IV, it complete lacks in story, rpg elements, and things to do offline. This feels like a light version of SC IV to tell the truth. While it's not the complete package, this game does offer some fun time wasting, just not for the bang for the buck you'd expect. If you've never played Soul Calibur before, or at least on new generation consoles, please welcome this game, but if you have Played SC IV, well, this will feel like a better looking knock off.
PROS
Great Graphics
Fast paced
Greater Online features
Quick Load times
Ease of Use of Characters
Character Creation
CONS
Story
No Skills for weapons
May seem dumbed down
Feels Light
Bottom line: This game is fun, but not the SC you'd expect. If you are looking for a time waster, consider this a buy, but if you were looking for a true sequel to SC IV wait for the price to drop.
*Also, I will continually update this review as I put more time in the game.*
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video-games_xbox
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An awesome game for fans of Uncharted and The Descent (the horror movie. I've never spent much time playing the "Tomb Raider" series, but this reboot did all the right things, and it drew me right in. This modern take on the famous franchise takes inspiration from many great sources- my first impression, oddly enough, was of "Resident Evil 4" (a classic so significant, it's still influencing the gaming landscape). The early goings of "Tomb Raider" have a distinctly "survival horror" vibe that is masterfully conveyed, interspersed with just the right amounts of Quick Time Events, cinematic showpieces, character development, story telling, and gameplay tutorials. Additionally, it reminded me of the fantastic island of the TV show, "Lost" (complete with freaky natives and bunkers!).
The most striking comparison, of course, is that of the "Uncharted" series. "Tomb Raider" obviously existed long before "Uncharted", but it's equally obvious that it drew inspiration from the mechanics of climbing, combat, and cinematic storytelling of one of this generation's most successful series. And I'm not complaining at all- I wish there were more games like "Uncharted"! For the most part, "Tomb Raider" does a fantastic job implementing these elements, resulting in a game that is a blast to play and easy to pick up. Everything is very responsive, the settings are visually vibrant and interesting, and the island is begging for more thorough searching. The inclusion of TONS of unlockables is a genius notion, including documents (which help to further unfurl the mystery of the island), artifacts, and salvage (for weapon and gear upgrades), and it means crazy amounts of replay value... plus the online multiplayer aspect, if that strikes your fancy.
The only thing holding "Tomb Raider" back is that when pitted up against the unrivaled production values of "Uncharted", it falls a shade short. The characters are noticeably lacking compared to the likes of Nathan, Sully, and Elena, and the presentation just seems a bit "off". There's such an emphasis placed on (literal and figurative) darkness and grittiness, I oftentimes had difficulty seeing what was going on around my character, and it actually had something of a demoralizing effect (particlarly when compared to the bright, tropical locales of "Uncharted"). That's not to say that "Tomb Raider" is a bad game- it's not. In reality, it's a very good game- it's just not among my top favorites.
Final note (MINOR spoilers follow): The producers of this game must be huge fans of the movie "The Descent", for there are many nods to the horror film, including Lara's affinity for the climbing axe, the "bone scramble" toward daylight in the opening moments, and the slow emergence from the red pool of ichor in "the pit". Additionally, Lara's psychological transformation closely mirrors that of "The Descent"'s protagonist. It was an excellent source to draw inspiration from, and the developers of "Tomb Raider" did a fine job of subtly paying homage to it.
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video-games_xbox
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Great Addition To The Series, But Lacking In Some Ways. First off does this feel like a RE game? Well the answer is yes and no. When you start out the game driving through the flat desert plains of Africa it feels more like Far Cry then RE, once you enter the small village look around and get right into the action it does have a nice atmosphere, but not the overall creep, and unerving one that we've all come to know and love. The first thing you'll notice about the game are the Gears of War type visauls via Chris Redfield and his bulging biceps and even the way he holds his gun and kicks open a door which btw they took directly from Gears. Your surroundings are untterly beautiful with this being some of the best graphics you'll see on any game this year. Now onto the gameplay. Well its the typical point and shoot, run and gun down the zombie gameplay you had with RE4 which in my opinion can never be touched. RE5 gameplay is much the same but a bit sloppier mainly because of your new partnet that follows you around like a little lost puppy. Don't get me wrong she comes in "very" handy in moments where your out numbered but can be a royal pain in the butt when it comes to making her pick up ammo, or making her get out of the way in certain tight areas. Also you'll notice there is a new stomp feature once the zombie hits the ground your given the option to kick it while its down, this obviously inspired by "Dead Space" but not nearly as affective seeing the the zombies head doesnt crush, he simply dies. Also there is a good touch of the game "Dark Sector" which in my opinion plays out a lot better control wise than RE5, when you play you'll just sense it. The new cover system is "ok" it does work but you very seldom ever really need it.
Sound wise the game is pretty basic the locals scream in a foreign language, dogs howl with broke open faces, and demon reptiles screach at you from the skies, enemies are all unique and bosses seem old yet new. The dialogue is the usual cheesy cut scene RE hooply, and the story well is just basic and kind of cliche'. So with all this being said why do i give it a 4? Well this is the first RE game to grace a console in about 4 years or so and i've played RE4 to death so it does seem fresh and it is a lot of fun even if its not what i expected after many delays and controversy over the subject matter. By the way ive never read one article or seen one youtube video of ANYBODY claiming this game is racist. Matter of fact a young tall black boy stood behind me at gamestop at midnight for its release and we talked about the demo and how we thought it was ok and hoped the game was better, so hmm guess not everyone if anyone thinks the game is racist. So why this isn't going to be up for game of the year,(maybe sales wise) like i said its a nice new addition to the series even if it does lack that creepy, mansion, graveyard, dark forest material that we all wanted. So if you want by it, i think anyone will be taken in by the visuals alone and still get addicted to the great gameplay and staying alive that RE5 does have to offer. Dispite some of the bad RE5 does have some very "tense" moments and is worth of picking up a copy for various reasons.
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video-games_xbox
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deserves more attention. Enclave is one of the more memorable games I've played. The graphics are beautiful. Even though it is an action game, it has a lot of RPG elements. The Xbox version is quite difficult at times. There are not save points within levels (except at some of the boss fights, you can pay to come back to the same place if you die, but you have to pay each time) and you are given basically no information about a level before you begin. So you have to do test runs through levels and then finally figure out which character, equipped with which items, would be the most efficient. There is also a strict limit on the number of health potions you can carry into a level. Some of the bosses are actually pretty easy, but getting to them can be frustrating. If you're not seriously determined to beat the game, you may give up once you reach a point where you don't think you can advance, but if, instead, you prevail and beat the game, you will really feel a sense of accomplishment. it's no easy victory. it's time consuming and will at times make you want to pull your hair out... but it's a great game.
There are two campaigns: light and dark. You must beat the light campaign to access the dark campaign (which is generally, easier, in my opinion).
The Light Campaign: You start off as the knight and must escape from a prison that is being attacked. Later you meet different characters to choose from:
+ huntress: good with a bow
+ druid: uses staffs - Darkness of Despair being one of the most powerful ones
+ halfling - very fast, improved version of the knight
+ engineer - has the ability to use bombs
+ wizard - the same as druid, but with more poweful staffs; however, very low health so he isn't a good character to play with generally.
+ earth golem - is earned after you complete the light campaign. he is slow, but very powerful; he uses his hands.
+ 9320 battle droid - is earned by collecting all of the gold in the light campaign. Unfortunately, thanks to bonus one level (the hard setting of Hagastrom), I have not earned this character.
The light campaign has 14 different levels and 3 bonus levels. Many of which are very difficult the first times through, but relatively easy after practice and going back later with a stronger character.
The Dark campaign is 13 levels with 3 bonus levels. I found these levels generally to be easier than those in the light campaign.
The characters you earn are pretty much counterparts to those in the light campaign.
+ assassin - default character, similar to Huntress
+ beserker - same as knight
+ sorceress - same as druid
+ goblin - same as halfling
+ bombardier - same as engineer
+ lich - same as wizard
+ stone gnome - same as earth golem (though in my opinion, much weaker); earned after completing dark campaign.
+ feticia - same as battle droid. earned after collecting all the gold in the campaign.
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video-games_xbox
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So disappointed. The Intro:
I was so amped to play this game, I spent the extra $.99 cents for release date delivery (I know right?). Upon putting the disc into my box (thank you SNL) the game opens with the regular preview of the years events and leads to the menu. As CAW has always been my favorite feature of any wrestling game, thus I spent an hour putting together the ultimate wrestler with the utmost brutal moves. In addition, you don't start out with 40 points for the wrestler and have to build them up (I miss that!); if you wanted to, your wrestler could start with 100 overall.
The Downfall:
Only AFTER spending all of this time with CAW did I realize, there is NO storyline for a created wrestler. After all of the demand sent forth for more action to revolve around CAW, they honestly eliminated this part? I remember having much more fun with at least one storyline for the caw in Road to Wrestlemania. This, however was not the deal breaker.
Controls:
THQ may claim these have been "Improved" however having had a firm grasp on the controls of 2010, I found myself lost and 'accidentally' pulling the moves I'd been meaning to pull in the first place. Yes, there are still training grounds as 2010 held, however the moves seem to be less intuitive somewhat incorporating the move style from WWE Legends of Wrestlemania, lame.
However, a ray of light shines through a dark, dark cloud. There are many more options that have been added to the gameplay to reflect the "WWE Experience" including: top of the ladder grapples, new weapon grapples, throwing weapons (which literally does no damage, probably just for looks), Royal Rumble Finishers, and top of the cage finishers (it's awesome to Batista Bomb someone off the top of the cage). However, these new move additions seem to fall short as the game glitches at moments where you'd normally attempt to grapple, it does nothing as you casually slide past your opponent.
Story:
As far as I've played, I began Road to Wrestlemania with Chris Jericho, which acts much like an RPG as you can roam around the locker room picking up hidden items, randomly attacking and talking to people. There are also miscellaneous events which you can become involved in (sometimes) while earning points for your superstar. Other than these little 'scenes' and the occasional chance to wander into the training room and upgrade your abilities, wandering around the backstage is utterly useless. Maybe if some further interaction was added, as being able to buy soda from the machine or opening crates to find hidden items, would it be more fun. The story however, is all encompassing, it's almost like watching a TV show. Very dramatic. The problem with this, is that you don't really get to choose what your superstar says or does, you simple just watch the drama unfold.
Entrances:
Pretty decent. Watching Chris Jericho's entrance fireworks are like watching the real thing. Pretty basic though, as far as entrances go. I would have hoped THQ would incorporate choices to interrupt entrances with an attack to further the storyline.
Matches;
Pretty straightforward. Any match that was in the previous game, are in this game. You can do a little more with the weapons and finishers, but the style remains.
Character Rendering:
Apparently, THQ tried extra hard to make the sweating look more realistic, but in doing so made it look cartoony. Sure, you start the match looking normal, but by the end, your character begins looking like the Silver Surfer. Not cool.
Settings:
If you buy or rent this game, beware, Blood is automatically set to off, and the Stamina mode is automatically set to on. This greatly reduces the amount of fun within the game. Make sure these are on before you continue.
Final Review:
This game was not as I'd expected. If you look in reviews of previous WWE games, every year they get something right and end up leaving something out. This time around, they botched the control system and the options for the CAW to be included in the story mode. The only thing improved though, is the meaningless ability to wander around backstage and some improved hardcore move mechanics.
Opinion:
I wouldn't personally have bought this if I knew this is what it would be like. Granted, I have several hours ahead of me to get the full experience of WWE, but from what I've seen so far, I'm not impressed. Make sure to rent this game before you buy it.
Eric... out (thank you Seacrest for stealing my lingo).
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video-games_xbox
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Great online, average campaign, all Battlefield. I in a sense had high hopes for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and it really all came down to one game: the last Call of Duty. Quite frankly, I didn't like it and found myself incredibly disappointed with it so as far as looking for the next "hardcore" multiplayer game, the ones that popped up were Bioshock 2 and Aliens vs Predator and this. But whether you're the same way or this'll be your first Battlefield game but there is a bit of switch from Halo and Call of Duty type multiplayers but it's of course set up with the addictive qualities that makes these kind of multiplayer games fun. Not content to be entirely multiplayer driven, Dice did spend quite a bit of time to develop it's campaign more and have an actual story; or should I say try to since it's not really a great campaign so much as a serviceable one, one with quite a bit of issues that I had but Bad Company was the same way, multiplayer was the draw and single player was just that added thing you went to now and then. So how great is the online and to a lesser extent, the campaign? Read on.
Story: The story still follows Sarge, Sweets, Haggard and you (Preston Marlowe) as you follow the trail of a secret weapon being developed and you trying to figure out what it does and who's behind it and...that's pretty much it. The twists you'll see coming, the setpieces are cool but have potentially been done better and your squad AI is generally lackluster. I can probably count the amount of kills each soldier had on one hand throughout a single chapter and I feel like I have to do most of the legwork. Couple that with enemies who for some reason have incredibly deadly aim even through thick sand gusts and windy snow areas (and who can apparently hit you extremely long distance with a shotgun of all things) and there was a couple of trial and error parts. One part had me going into a small tunnel only for the door to get breached and out came 3 guys who killed me dead with me not even aware they'd show up so 2nd time? Grenade chucking. Some have said the game is easy but I think the game will be easy generally on your 2nd playthrough but on first time through you'll find yourself going "oh gee, would've been nice to know that was going to happen beforehand".
Graphics: Here's my one complaint about the graphics....they're kind of bright in that I mean really bright. It seems that Dice really wanted to capture that sun-drenched locale of the desert so much that snowy areas and desert areas has this almost overwhelming bloom effect that makes the environments almost look really high on contrast. Generally it's easy to understand but in one mission in the campaign I had to make my way to a base in the desert and shoot at some would-be ambushers however the sand gust was literally so bright that my entire sniper scoped-in was white and hard to wait for it to die down before I can shoot. I might be the only one or one of few that experienced this though so I don't know if it's a game problem or TV problem despite at least 5 calibrations to the game's brightness and contrast levels.
That being said one thing that Dice knows is destruction and destruction in Bad Company 2 is very purty. Things actually seem to get demolished realistically and generally everything seems to be able to be blown apart though that's a sometimes thing since I found myself in campaign and online needing a quick get away only to find a wall couldn't even be blown apart despite the fact that I just blew a hole in one on the 2nd floor. Character models are quite good, one mission in the rain looked gorgeous even and pretty much everything got a nice upgrade from Bad Company 1. No slowdown or framerate issues that I saw either so kudos, Dice.
Sound/Music: Dice hands down provides some of the best sound designs for guns, period. While I'm not sure if they're 100% accurate to their real life counterparts, these things just sound so beastly and just so LOUD that it's quite awesome to be in a firefight and have that gun actually sounding like it's a killer weapon. Sniper rifles indeed also have that loud clack, almost like lightning and there's this one sound effect reminiscent of the horns from the tripods in Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" that sounds almost terrifying. Voice acting is alright, nothing to get impressed by but you're not exactly laughing at the line readings either. Music is good but there wasn't really that one theme that I frequently hummed like Battlefield Heroes (listen to it and dare you not to start whistling) and the jazziness of the menus seemed to have been replaced by...nothing which is a shame.
Gameplay: Pretty much like any other first-person shooter out there. You got your pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, LMG's, SMG's and rocket launchers but you also got some other stuff as well such as piloting tanks, controlling helicopters or a little hell-plane that can laser targets for missiles and firing on ground troops as well as calling in mortar strikes. But the destructible aspects mentioned above do play out in the gameplay since if a guy is hiding behind a wall, just RPG/n00b tube the wall and get him exposed though same tactic can be used against you as well. One thing that I did find cool as well as the supply drops where not only can you re-supply your ammo but you can switch out your guns though generally I always kept an assault rifle and sniper rifle, the latter of which made firefights ridiculously easy.
Multiplayer is close to being the same as Bad Company though it's got a few upgrades and some good fun to be had. One change is the idea of what I'd call not a kill-cam but a "killer-cam" which shows you who last killed you where you can sort of use it to your advantage and go "okay, he's hiding behind that rock so next time I can tell my squad to aim for him". And I don't know if it's just me but the maps seem a bit more compacted but still high in combat and many times playing Rush or Conquest in this game I was constantly seeing action as opposed to Bad Company where I'd be like "where is everybody...aannnd I got sniped, wonderful". This part is further frustrated by the game's still apparent inability to put you in a squad, well least the times I played. See, being part of a squad means that you can help support your teammates if they're going for objectives or at the very least provide a 2nd gun in case they encounter someone but if you're not in a squad you either spawn alllll the way back at your base or at one of the capture points which is usually being captured by the other team at the time. And in another oddball move by EA that was first seen in Army of Two: the 40th Day, the "Squad Rush" mode is like Rush mode only there's only one thing to destroy which then requires the 2nd to be destroyed further into the map which results in game win however your tickets (how many times the attacking team can die before defending team wins) goes down from 100 to about 20. This however is a Gamestop exclusive pre-order which means if you want to play, had to have pre-ordered, got a spare code from a friend or bite the bullet like the rest of us and wait a month. Grr.
One thing that I'm liking about this multiplayer over Modern Warfare 2's and even previous Call of Duty's is that for new players, starting from point zero doesn't automatically mean you can't do well. While hardcore CoD and Battlefield types tend to do really well in matches, for new players or just average players, it can get frustrating to be killed by something that you don't either have access to or don't have a counter for. While you unlock it eventually by getting points using that class specifically, it never feels like all the good stuff is further up the skill tree and your game suffers because of it. That being said there can be some frustrating moments where you wander around wondering whether everyone is only to get sniped or the fact that you can only communicate with whoever is in your squad and not the entire team. And although the game's literally not even 2 weeks old yet, the abundance of Recon classes (snipers) in a match can get absolutely crazy and as an Engineer player myself, it's incredibly annoying to have only 2 Assault classes, 6 Snipers, 3 Engineers and one Medic and not a single Assault class bothers to supply ammo drops so I can take out helicopters/tanks before I get killed by them. That's more of a community thing then a game thing but hopefully it balances out as time goes on.
The game also adds a Hardcore mode which is like Call of Duty's in that there's no map and bullets do extra damage which of course leads to the other annoyance about Battlefield games: the amount of bullets it takes to kill someone. Get used to this scenario: come across a guy, decide to shoot him only to notice during shooting that his teammate comes right behind him so while you kill the other guy, you're practically out of bullets which prompts a quick switch to the pistol in hopes that you can down them. However adding hardcore makes it easier so if you can deal with the lack of the map, it should be easier to play.
I don't know if I'll be playing Bad Company 2 for a long time. I am having fun with it mind you and it's way better than that other game I mentioned but the average campaign ends up being overshadowed by the multiplayer which you will either put ton of hours into or drop it when something new comes out (such as the Halo Reach beta, maybe) but still, it's the online that's worthy of a purchase though not necessarily the full game.
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video-games_xbox
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Just as good, if not better than Halo, and GTA. You are a mercenarie of course, so you basicly kill or capture people, steal vehicles, and blow stuff up for money. You start out being dropped in a wastland with 5 armys that are in there ether to gain control of as much land as possible, defend there land, or in there to stop the fighting. These five armys are, North Korea, South Korea, China, The Rusian Mafia, and the Allies aka, the USA.
This is problebly one of the 3 best games I'v played. the top 3 are, Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Mercinaries: Playground of destruction. If you see the vehicle, you can drive it. But for some odd reason, no boats, or planes, hmm. yet still a wide line of All kinds of transportation to choose from. Jeeps; Troop Trucks; Tanks; APC's, Hummers; Technicals (pick-up trucks with a machine gun in back.); Helicopers from small attack, to full fledged assalt choppers, to cargo/transport choppers. Civlian vehicles, such as buses, cargo trucks, cars, flat bed trucks, but no 18-wheelers. (Come on, this is in Asia, what do you expect.)
There are plenty of wepons to chose from. From an AK-47, to a Rocket Launcher, with lots of other wepons in between. You can also man statinary guns like a gun on a vehicle, a tripod stand, and a few types of stationary feild howitzers, and cannons.
If you are running low on health or ammo, you can call for a medivac (you get taken out of there to the nearest MASH), or a wide range of suppy boxes to chose from. If you need some transeportation, you can Hi-Jack a vehicle, or call in for one. You have a wide variety or vehicles to call in too. If you want to blow up a strong structurs, or cause chaos in a small area, you can call in an air strike, with plenty types to choose from too. NOTE: if you call for a medivac, supplys, transportation, or an air strike it costs money and you start out with nothing to calll in, but that changes ALOT as you go on in the game.
So all in a nut shell, if you like GTA, Halo, and miitary games, this one is just about the best you can get, But There IS NO MULTI-PLAYER, but the campaign is so good, that doesnt matter.
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video-games_xbox
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KOTOR falls to the bland side. KOTOR 2 pales in comparison to its predecessor, which is one of the best RPGs I've ever experienced. The original KOTOR delivered an engaging storyline with interesting characters and relationships, as well as some challenging battle scenes complemented by clever brain-teasers.
KOTOR 2, on the other hand, has a rather convoluted storyline, something I could overlook were it not for the games other shortcomings. Among them, it's easy. Too easy. The enemies don't pose much of a challenge: Playing the entire game, my party died in battle a handful of time.
Even more disappointing: This game lacks the mental challenges that made KOTOR so entertaining. The original had brain-teasers scattered throughout the game. This game has merely a few, none of which take more than the slightest amount of contemplation.
Moreover, too much of KOTOR 2 relies on simple "fetch" missions: Getting this or that; delivering messages ... Yawn.
So why the score of 3? Well, the game does retain some of the features of KOTOR that I enjoyed. The space fantasy world is well designed and fun to explore as you interact with its array of various denizens. I still love that you get to play a Jedi and choose to follow the path of Light or Dark. I enjoy seeing how your choices affect your character as well as your allies and the world around you. And using your increasingly powerful Force powers and lightsaber skillz to shred your enemies is quite satisfying.
For all its shortcomings, I've played through the game once, as a Dark Jedi, and I am currently in the process of playing it again following the path of Light. Plus I'll likely revisit it down the road and play as a character of the opposite gender, because that, too, has some effect on how the game progresses.
All in all, if you're a fan of KOTOR, this game is worth checking out. Just don't get your hopes up too high.
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video-games_xbox
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Good simple fun online, Star Wars style. I'm not really into the realistic, squad-based military shooters that are in vogue right now. I think real-life war is terrible and I don't want to be a part of it. Star Wars Battlefront II shares many characteristics with more realistic, gritty wargames, but has a nice, fun, Star Wars shell over it. Jedi Knights (you know, samurai from space!) and power droids (the walking battery robots sho say "Gonk!") are everywhere, and the action is fast and furious. It's like a free-for-all with Star Wars "action figures," and just about every vehicle or animal from the movies you'd like to drive/fly/ride.
My favorite part about this game is the addition of several space missions. It's not as sophisticated as the old X-Wing flight simulator games -- this is meant to be picked up and played by anyone. All you need to know is how to turn and shoot. Subtleties like taking down the enemy's shield, landing inside their ship, and sabotaging their equipment will come later. Even if you mess up and blow yourself to pieces, you'll respawn and be back in the action in a few seconds. Online setup is a breeze, and the game plays just fine with or without voice chat (I choose without, personally -- seems lots of 12-year-old boys like this game, too).
If you're into Star Wars, this is about as complete an experience you could hope for. You can live inside the skin of all your favorite characters in both the old trilogy (whiny Luke, cocky Han, bossy Leia, hissing Darth Vader) and the new one (bad-ass Mace Windu, sword-swingin' Yoda, paternally whiny Anakin Skywalker, or the amazing Jango Fett). You can go to all the planets from the movies, and even see some sights that were only in the "expanded universe" such as Rhen Var. Or, like me, you could just queue up the maps for Hoth, Space Hoth, Death Star, Bespin and Tantive 4 to relive Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back again, again, again, and again. Look for me online, I think I might be playing this one for a while. It's a lot less demanding of my time and brain than Halo 2. Isn't that what video games are all about?
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video-games_xbox
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From a PC Guy, It's Pretty Good. I've invested heavily into my PC over many years. With a large Steam/Origin library of games, and most of my entertainment (Netflix, Amazon, Movies, etc) enjoyed through my PC wired to my TV, I really didn't have a need for a next-gen console. But I saw the price drop, and considering the bundled, incredibly hyped, Titanfall game ($60), I decided to break the marriage of my TV+PC and invest in an all-in-one entertainment system as this was ultimately a better value than the PS4.
As a home entertainment system, the XB1 is a very good product. If you're debating whether you should give in and buy it, you should really consider if you'll make use of most of the features. Here are my favorite things about it and my gripes so far:
Pros
- Kinect voice commands is great and convenient when it works
- The IR blaster for device control is a neat idea by Microsoft. Saying 'Xbox on' or 'xbox turn off', turns on and off every device (TV, cable box, soundbar) removing the need to fumble through two/three different remotes
- I literally don't need any of my remotes anymore (awesome!), volume control is done through voice as well
- This was a minor concern, but the XB1 automatically selects HD channels over SD
- Very seamless to go from watching TV to jumping into an app (like Netflix) or a game and vice versa
- I used the 360 controller for my PC games, and the new controller is very smooth to hold with tiny grips on the thumb sticks. Every trigger and button gives good non-cheap-feeling feedback
Cons
- The Kinect often misinterprets commands. Saying "Xbox watch (short pause) (some channel)" doesn't register completely and switches the channel to E! or something else
- Can only snap a very limited number of apps, can't snap Friends or Notifications
- Gesture control is tricky and takes practice, but overall isn't worth it to use over saying 'xbox select' or the controller. Gesture control is especially bad or doesn't work in the Netflix app
- The UI still needs work, small bugs and lag here and there. The lag especially shouldn't be apparent in a 'next-gen' console
- Besides a free trial of Kinect sports rivals, there're no other interactive demos or apps that showcase the potential of Kinect
Tips
- Make sure you completely go through the settings to configure the XB1 the way you want it, including the "Troubleshooting" section in the "TV, devices" settings as there are a few handy options in there
- When using the automatic detection in devices, XB1 incorrectly identified a couple for me. I found it better to manually enter the model numbers
Titanfall
The game should be a separate review, but I'll include it here since it was bundled. Gameplay wise, the game is all multiplayer. The story (is there a story?) is pure background noise and unless you have incredible concentration skills you won't have any idea why you're fighting the enemy. But overall, the combat is very fast-paced and exciting with Titans roaming the cities and battleground and chaos happening all-around you. Hopping into your Titan when it's dropped from the sky is also a nerdy orgasmic moment that so far hasn't gotten old.
In terms of graphics, if you're a PC gamer and can play the latest games on Ultra/highest settings, you will not experience anything groundbreaking. From my POV, it feels like a subpar game in terms of today's graphics but I am positive future games will be better developed to take full advantage of the XB1's hardware.
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video-games_xbox
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Inexhaustible enjoyment. Fallout 3 is a profoundly fascinating tale of post-apocalyptic Earth that ought to be sold with bottles of Vitamin D to compenstate for the deficiency of solar rays that in all likelihood anyone will experience upon buying this game. Many video games flaunt the element of player-choice, but such pretenders pale in comparison to the mesmerizing sum of decisions you as the player will be able to make from beginning to end in this artistic masterpiece. In short, you never just replay the game, but rather play a new game set in the same fictional world each time you complete the main story and then begin anew.
Where so many role-playing games seem to force you down only one of two different paths, Fallout 3 feels more raw and authentic merely because there is no insistent prodding involved as you stroll down whatever road appeals to your tastes at the moment. You can change your mind as many times as you like throughout the game, starting out as a do-gooder and ending as evil incarnate, or vice versa. The choices you make are governed by your own sense of propriety and the consequences that come as a natural result; there is no meter to inform you how angelic or demonic you happen to be at the moment. For every "evil" decision you make (pickpocket somebody or detonate an inactive nuke) the karma of your character drops as a result; "good" decisions (help a needy innocent or save a town) put you back in the boots of a goody-two-shoes character and gain karma, and of course, there is the middle path.
Such decisions also dictate whom you can coax into joining you on your exploratory quest. For example, an immensely powerful and delightfully intelligent mutant will take up arms at your side, but only when your karma is on a moral high ground, whereas a vicious former raider will gladly roll with you, provided you are on the heartless path. Although you can complete the entire game without any help rendered, it certainly is beneficial to have a companion along at times, especially when you are exploring the more dangerous portions of the Wastes.
Aside from your actions, the reputation you glen because of those actions will have an impact on the game as well. The choice of any path in Fallout 3 will delight some NPC characters and antagonize others, and begin some fights that could have otherwise been avoided, while cutting off dialogue that was possible from a different point of view.
The option to play from a clunky third-person viewpoint is optional, but you will most likely choose the standard first-person point of view for the majority of the game. However, at certain points, it can feel almost like a shooter, but the somewhat wonky controls will definitely remind you that this is actually an RPG you are playing. Enemies are numerous in some parts and scarce in others, but always come in a delightful assortment of shapes and sizes, and can be either fairly challenging or down-right killing machines depedning on the skill-set of your character.
In combat, you can wield everything from your fists and butcher knives to bolt-action rifles, futuristic laser guns, and mini nukes. Several powerful guns can be self-built as well, if you have the necessary blueprints at hand. The effectiveness of every weapon will slowly wear out as well, and thus need to be repaired. You can take your guns to a specialist to have them made like new again at a cost, or you can rejuvenate that precious rocket launcher of yours all by yourself, but you will need another of the same item and some mechanical proficiency.
No area in Fallout 3 will seem like a run-and-gun, and you shouldn't play it expecting this. You can shoot from the hip with good accuracy depending on the weapon skills of your character, but the most fun you will have in combat is when the Valt-Tech Assisted Targeting System is activated. This allows you to freeze the action and calmly select the area of your opponent's body that will result in both the most accurate hit and the best chance of a debilitating blow, and then plays out your attack in a slow-motion montage of death that makes for some awesome engagements. Rather you score a kill or not, landing a hit in V.A.Ts is incredibly satisfying.
The camera swoops in as your bullet or plasma blast or rocket surges toward your target and you never really know what will happen when you score a hit; will an enemy's head burst into an explosion of bone, blood, and brains? On the other hand, will a limb simply be blown off as they collaspe to the ground? Perhaps their whole body will merely be propelled into the distance or possibly vaporized entirely. The V.A.T system does a great job of keeping the combat fresh and gratifying when battles whould have otherwise rapidly become stale and repititive.
Though many items can be found, stolen, and purchased to make your character both powerful and resilient, you will never be completely immune to injury. Too much damage to your head results in disorientation and blurry vision, crippled arms will reduce the effectiveness of your aim, and debilitating blows to your legs cause a limp and will greatly slow you down, which can be especially bad when dealing with fast and powerful irradiated animals.
Fortunately, dozens of methods exist for self-repair. Stim-packs and medical pills work the best, but are usually in short supply. Some liquor or drugs to help with the pain might sound great at the moment of injury, but you can easily become addicted to such aliments and recreational sustenances. No matter how careful you are, your character will still have to deal with the occasional effects of radiation as well. Drinking from dirty water can be one of the most common reasons for a glowing head, but certain areas exist where the land is simply bathed in dangerous levels of the stuff. No worries, however. For just about every horrible thing that can happen to you in Fallout 3, there is prevention or shield, provided you are good enough to get a hold of it somehow.
Fallout 3 takes place in the desolated ruins of Washington, D.C. after the city was destroyed in a Great War that started and ended with the complete nuclear annihilation of Earth in the year 2077. Though much of the surroundings are bleak and simply assorted piles of ruble, it is obvious that this was not the Washington we know even before the bombs fell. Everything is obvious in its function, but is clearly highly advanced technologically. Crumbling overpasses liter the outskirts of many towns and faded billboards advertise products in a 1950s style of marketing, all with cheery ctachpharases that hint to the cultural halt the Fallout universe apparently took around the '50s, as technology instead leaped forward. All these aspects of the formerly grand, futuristic capital of the United States lends beliviability to the landscape and makes for a massive, curiously serene world to explore at your leisure. Rarely will a loading screen interrupt your enjoyment of the devastated capital, but you will have to endure a brief load when entering and exiting buildings.
You will have plenty of alone time as you wander across the inhospitable wastes of Washington. However, should you choose to do so, you can set up a permanent residence at a few locations, but you have to earn these humble abodes first. You can easily decorate any of these apartments too, if you have the necessary cash. Choosing a permanent residence is a good idea, as it not only provides you with a safehouse of shorts, but also has plenty of storage spaces to hold all the booty you have come across in your travels.
Visually, Fallout 3 looks beautiful. From the landscape to the characters, everything is somewhat washed out in appearance, but this feels appropriate considering the post-apocalyptic setting. Make no mistake; the game can be stunning to the eyeballs, especially when you get a chance to overlook one of the cities from a height at a distance, during sunrise. However, none of the characters move with the ease and expressiveness you might see in other video games, such as Mass Effect. Nevertheless, this does not take away from player enjoyment, and the graphics can still deliver some highly impressive visuals. By comparison, the audio is perfection. From the deafening boom of explosions and the emission of energy weapons to the crack of rifles and the taunts of Super Mutants, everything sounds very polished. The voice acting is simply superb and every character has their own fitting and distinctive vocal mannerisms. Liam Neeson, in particular, does a great job bringing to life the protagonist's father. Ron Perlman stars as the game's narrator as well, and his voice adds something special to the beginning and ending sequences of the game, making them truly memorable.
I cannot truly speak for the quality of this game on every platform, but the great things about this title easily overshadow it's few negative aspects. In short, Fallout 3 delivers a great science fiction story coupled with top-notch game-play mechanics and extraordinary dimensions of player-choice that will entertain anyone interested in video games for years to come.
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video-games_xbox
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I've had around 20 systems, and this is one of the best. I stand by my original review of the Xbox, but a couple of the negative votes I've gotten were possibly because I clearly preferred this system to the others of its generation. I'll try and be more fact-based if I came off as biased before, so here's my hopefully smoother review.
THE SHORT: Graphics on par with and sometimes surpassing the other consoles of its generation, the ability to record music to the system and play it (sometimes in games themselves), great online service, and extra long cords. I don't have many problems with this system, though it is pretty clunky and it's a shame that dvd playback requires the seperate remote controller.
THE LONG: I've been gaming for over twenty years, and developed favorite and non-favorite systems. This one's high on my list. I've always been a Playstation fan and own all of Sony's systems (as well as the Gamecube) so I have no system loyalty- it's just turned out that for me, the Xbox hosts the best games and has features that I really appreciate.
The PS2 was my favorite for years, more so than the 'Cube because the PS2 got lots of exclusive games that are more of my type- Silent Hill, Grand Theft Auto, and late in its life outstanding titles like Shadow Of The Colossus.
At first I didn't care about the Xbox- I waited for the game "Morrowind" to be released but until then it did nothing for me. I liked its custom soundtrack ability, which allows cds (some versions of the system allow burned cds) to dump their music onto the system for listening anytime. It works in a good selection of games, too- listening to my own music play during Grand Theft Auto makes the Xbox version the one I prefer, since they're so similar.
And that's my point. I didn't like the first games for it, so I waited on the system. Once Morrowind came out I got the system and adored it, but more because it was simply "the system that Morrowind is on". After that game however, more started flowing. Many of my favorites were being released for all the systems or at least the PS2 and Xbox, and through the power of this large system's hard drive, many games load more quickly and sometimes look better on this system. Thanks to this, I started building my Xbox collection and noticed more and more how much I preferred it.
The reason is this: A system should be bought not only due to performance, but more so due to whether it's got the games you want. PS2 and Xbox seem to get a lot of the same good ones, so for me the swaying factor is the extra functionality of the Xbox. The music ripping is handy- the Box in my living room and has replaced my cd player since I have about a thousand songs on it. It's also a dvd player as good as the PS2's: You get zoom control and multi-variable skipping speeds, and the playback is fine though it is silly to always have to use the system remote (there's no way to use the controller for dvds at all). So don't lose that remote! The other negative isn't too big a deal, but can be awkward- this system is pretty big and clunky, weighing near ten pounds. That makes it pretty inconvenient to bring anywhere (such as on plane trips or to friends' houses) but at least you can save game data to portable memory cards like with the PS2 (saves also go onto the system's massive memory automatically). The system's big size also allows for the use of break-away cords, which seperate at the base so it won't kill you if you trip on the cord. Like the remote, don't lose that connector piece of cord though.
But in addition to stuff like this, there are little things too- the cords are super long, making this the only one I didn't need at least an RF extension cord for. I like the size and comfortable feel of the controller as well- The PS2 controllers are still probably my favorite, but the now-standard small Xbox controller is a nice smooth fit.
Lastly, both the PS2 and Xbox offer online multiplayer gaming. I've never used the PS2 service- there aren't a great deal of games that utilize it, I don't know if you always need their pricy network adaptor add-on, and I've heard that the support just isn't that great. Not necessarily a fact, it's just my limited knowledge of the PS2 online service. Until only last month I'd never signed up for Xbox Live, Microsoft's online service, but I'm happy to say that I love it. There are always website pages that allow you to log on and view stats, scores, options and friend lists. You create a gamer tag, a name permanently bonded to you. Connecting using one of their free 2-month trial cards was a snap- everything was done from my Xbox itself once I plugged the ethernet cable into our broadband connection. From the Xbox menu I created my identification, supplied my credit card number and info, and within minutes I was all set. I threw in my copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2, and again within the Xbox menu was directed to a downloadable bonus pack of features exclusive to the Xbox version of the game. I downloaded after agreeing to the $5 fee (most downloads are free however) and within seconds the content was plugged into my system, playable online or off forever afterwards. I thought I'd use Live only for service like this, but I found playing SWB2 online to be great. Lots of game hosting options, lots of scores, leaderboards, and sessions to look into, and a very friendly interface for not only requesting friendship from other players but also sending a call to them to join my game in progress. I can't compare this to the other systems, but needless to say I was quite satisfied with Xbox Live, and moving the account onto the Xbox 360 is supposed to be a snap, even opening many new 360-exclusive online features.
So in all, I'm quite happy with my Xbox. The features are there, but the main question is whether it's got the games you need. Aside from shared classics like Grand Theft Auto, it's also got great exclusives like Morrowind, Fable, Halo, Ninja Gaiden, Sid Meier's Pirates, and more. If you want the highest gaming experience at the moment, the 360 is where it's at and many of the original Xbox games are playable on it. But if that system is too pricy or not old enough yet to have much interest to you, the Xbox is a great deal now at between $150 and $170 dollars. Thanks to some of the games just listed as well as the online service and soundtrack ability, I've logged thousands of hours on this system and had a great time doing it.
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video-games_xbox
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100-300 hours of free-roaming exploration and customization. This is a long game, and therefore a long review. I glow about it and all its possibilities for a while, but skip a few paragraphs if you just want the straight pros and cons.
I'll get right to the point of how massive this game is by giving you a brief hypothetical scenario. First, you choose your character and decide on his or her face and hairstyle. Then let's say you begin the game by robbing everything from the first house that you begin the game in. But the guards spot you, so you run. Once outside, another guard gets in your way so you take a swing at him, accidentally knocking out an innocent townsperson in the process. You rush into the local pawnbroker to buy a weapon, but your criminal activity makes the owner hostile towards you. So instead you just grab the spear sitting against the wall and kill him with it, looting his body of all its goods and throwing on some armor along the way. You then jump back outside and stab the guard a few times, but he has friends so you need to run. You make it to the local silt strider transportation, and catch a ride to the next town over where you join the thieves' guild and pay the cost of clearing your name under the table. Interested in what they tell you, you decide to stay with them for awhile and hlep out their organization until the day comes when you kill them all and join the fighter's guild instead.
That's all possible, right from the start of the game. Morrowind is incredible. Without exaggeration, you can go anywhere, anytime, with the only limitation being your yet-undeveloped physical skills. See that mountain in the distance? Sooner or later, depending on your strength, you can climb it. Notice that underwater cave? Once you have the right spells you can breathe underwater and check it out. Wander day and night, walking where you want to with no pressure to do anything other than play the game in the order you want and at your own pace.
Oh, and you can do what you want too. Don't like the way that shopkeeper talked to you? Kill him. Oh, and he'll stay dead, so you might as well use his shop as your new home where you can drop off all your stuff. What stuff? Well anything you want to pick up. Barring furniture, you can pick up almost anything and use it or drop it where it will always continue to sit. Like those spoons on the dinner table? Take them. Think you can get away with stealing that helmet from the guard? Try it. There are definitely repercussions, such as being attacked or thrown in jail, but this game does not discourage you from doing things your way.
If the honest path is more your thing, then play the game straight or go and join one of the factions that share your interests. There are 3 great clan houses you can join, as well as gangs of fighters, thieves, magicians, assassins, soldier forts, and religious organizations. Spend your time making pilgrimages to various locations around the world, or try to get to the top of your magician's order. Or if you want just skip all this stuff and do the main quest, or skip that and do everything else. It's really your own choice.
And what a world Morrowind is. Composed of fields, mountains, volcanic barrens, islands, grottos, and hundreds of caves and tombs and ruins, it will literally take weeks and even months to cover everything and go everywhere. Just walking from one corner of the map to its opposite would take at least an hour or two of your life, and that's just a straight line without doing anything interesting. There is a lot, I mean, A LOT to do. There's so much variation though, it takes a lot to get sick of what you're doing. Don't worry about getting around though, there are boats, wizard teleporters, spells, and more to get around. Oh and you can walk on water and levitate once you get the right spells, too.
Okay, now for my more objective review. Morrowind, being the third game in the series (you don't have to know the first two at all), is all about open-endedness and exploration. Clearly there are hundreds of choices and dozens of ways to play the game, all presented to you in a first or third person perspective (your choice). You can play as a male or female of 8 different and very unique races who all have their own skills. And this game has dozens of skills to hone: Keep hitting living things with your sword to develop your long blade skill, or do lots of jumping to improve your acrobatics. The point is that your character develops how you want him to, with lots of customization and honing to do as you go up in levels.
The meat of the game is the exploring and questing. And there are hundreds. Any faction, such as clan house or guild, each has its own dozen or so missions, and there are about a dozen of these such factions to join. Each faction has its own specific mission style, too. Join the religious cult, and you'll run around asking for donations. Join the mage's guild and you'll be looking for plants and ingredients to make spells out of. In addition to this, there are also a hundred or so miscellaneous quests to undertake at your discretion, requiring you to just stumble on them. A man in the wilderness may ask you to help him find the thieves who stole his goods, and you can do it or not, and then even decide how you do it (such as getting the goods but then keeping them for yourself). The main quest alone is a good thirty or so missions long, and comprises an interesting tale of legend and deceit. It's all fun stuff.
There are a few gripes about the game. There are lots of things to kill, so one would expect combat to be better. It's very, very basic, with each weapon having three ways to swing and battle being nothing more than repeatedly tapping the attack button. Kind if cheesy and disappointing, but nothing that makes the game terrible. The other gripe I heard was that all the characters say the same basic roster of dialog, which to an extent is true. Conversation is initiated through dialogue windows, and you choose the topics from a list of relevant things. There are a lot of unique and specific dialogue options depending on who you talk to during your quests, but it's true that everyone will say the same thing when you ask about "fines and compensation" for example. It's somewhat boring and disappointing, but you get used to it, and it seems that this gameplay shortcut allowed the rest of the programming to go towards the exploring and questing which is fine with me. You won't feel like the only real person in the game by any means, since there are hundreds of characters in a couple dozen towns and they do all say a lot of different things, it's just that too many of them share a lot of the same topics.
The graphics are good, with beautiful skies and shimmering water but with some clunkiness such as a generic shadow and somewhat stiff character animation. But the entire game is fully 3d and gives you complete range of vision, which is quite impressive. The music is ambient and quiet, yet more dramatic and tense when the situation calls for it. It doesn't seem to get repetitive even after hours and hours of play because it's not very intrusive.
Basically, though the game has a couple flaws, there's still a genuinely startling amount of things to do, places to go, items to collect, and new things to try. I've had the game for a year and a half now, and there are still caves I haven't visited and items I've never used. There are still quests I haven't undertaken as well, and I've played this game for literally about four or five hundred hours (It can honestly be that involving). I only recently found out that I can kill the owner of a large house and then command people from all over the world to follow me and permanently reside there with me. That alone has been a fun task that's given me another dozen hours of gameplay, and that's just a silly task that I undertook to make my home seem more one of a kind. But that's the whole point of this game- you can do so much, with so few limitations, that this IS literally the first role playing game I've ever played that lets me overtake the home of my choice and force my favorite characters to come live in it with me (then decorate it with red candles and so on). More than anything, this game is meant for some good old fashioned exploring and discovering, with loads of mission variety and your own pace to set. Rent it if you want to just check and see how deep it goes, but I guarantee that if you like what you see, you will have multitudes of free-roaming action at your fingertips. All that's left for you to decide is how deep you want to go.
IMPORTANT: Last thing- you may hear about this game being glitchy. Some people aren't aware that older Xboxes have trouble with this game, as mine did, so don't just assume it's faulty. Once I upgraded my old "Thomson" Xbox drive, It's been smooth sailing.
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video-games_xbox
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Absolutely amazing with only two flaws. If you're reading this review you probably already know just how great this game is. I, like a hefty majority of the reviewers, am in LOVE with the single player. It's scary, suspenseful, interesting, and fun as hell. Many different elements came together to make this experience simply amazing.
The first part, the horror, was executed perfectly. I would say this game is scarier than the first one (after you got over the whole necromorph thing), there are more things popping out at you and those things are more varied. The new environment allows the game designers to bring in necromorph babies. Those things come in crazy, screaming packs that overwhelmed me way too many times. The lighting continues to be sparse and yet creates an environment that players will not want to explore. This is not because players will want to beat the game as soon as possible, on the contrary I wanted to play as much of the game as I possibly could. However, it felt like every time I walked into a room I didn't have to I was suddenly attacked by some type of monster. It was great.
The other part of the single player was its gameplay. Again it was phenomenal. The graphics were great and added to the eerie rooms and gory necromorphs. The controls were tight, the HUD, like in Dead Space 1, was in-game (allowing the player to really feel like they were guiding Isaac, not some computer-generated space guy). Now comes my only problem with the single player. Even if you play on normal difficulty at times the game felt hard, unfair even. At some check points I had to try out like 15 different strategies before beating one area. DOn't get me wrong, I loved to be challenged in video games, but sometimes I just felt like parts were unbeatable.
My only other problem doesn't have to do with the single player it was the whole multiplayer experience. If you are the only person in this world who plans on buying this game for the multiplayer, don't. The multiplayer feels like the developers just wanted to jump on the bandwagon and just pump out some online fun without really thinking about it. The amazing story isn't carried over into multiplayer(which has become a theme with games with good stories like AC: Brotherhood or Bioshock 2). Games are hard to get into and once you do you get about 5 minutes of mediocrity before going back into a lobby for awhile.
The game is great BUY IT NOW!!!! If I could give 4 1/2 stars I would, as the multiplayer problems don't really effect a lot of players. Have fun in the single player and even in the multiplayer if you want to. I'm sure the developers will come out with a patch to fix multiplayer soon but for now..
Anyways have fun mutilating necromorphs and s*******g your pants!!
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video-games_xbox
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My favorite 7th gen racing game. Most racing games place maximal realism as paramount to success. Not this game. Burnout Revenge stands out from all other racing games of its era in its emphasis on arcadey carnage. Few things bring a bigger smile to my face than pushing a rival car driving 150 mph into a concrete pillar definitely traveling at 0 mph. The moment is celebrated with a swooshing camera that captures the action from the most amazing angles possible and then whooshes back to your car which has been on temporary auto-pilot and now enjoys a huge speed boost from taking down your opponent.
I don't play many racing games, and certainly few racing sims. My biggest gripe with most racing games is that they're too serious, similar to most licensed sports games. Burnout Revenge ignores this tone and takes pages from Vigilante 8, Rush 2049, and Off-Road to deliver a blood-pumping race for insanity. Not the same experience as Dyad or Wipeout in terms of the feeling of speed, but definitely satisfying in the beautiful destruction you will wield.
Nowadays I play most games single-player. RIP couch co-op... Still, this game does get points for a solid couch co-op experience, at least with two people playing. The AI is interesting enough in single player to warrant replaying again and again, though the newest titles for 8th gen consoles will probably blow this AI out of the water.
This title came out early on the 360 and it shows in the choice of music and lengthy loading screens. If the music bothers you that much, you can turn it off in-game and play your own music through the 360 at the same time, if that's your bag. I actually like the music and it suits the game nicely. Nevertheless, the tunes' timeliness reflects a danger in using licensed music in games.
Overall this is my favorite racing game of this generation of consoles. Comparable to Blur (released 5-ish years later), but overall more satisfying.
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video-games_xbox
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An absolute classic. Nothing is quite like Fallout 3. The Good: Captures the "all alone in a wasteland" feeling perfectly, lots of nice dark humor scattered throughout, the Vault boy!, beautiful graphics and audio, a great story with lots to do, insanely detailed, VATS is a unique way to combat
The Bad: Loading between each place, some times you get too lost, all 200 endings are too short, level 20 cap is a biatch
The only way you're going to like Fallout 3 are for two reasons. 1. You loved Oblivion and 2. You love the Fallout series. Otherwise you're probably going to hate the game and think it's "boring". I say this because the game relies a lot on YOU finding out what to do and where you should take your next steps. The game is 100% non-linear and features a perfect balance of FPS action and RPG stat building. The game is more than just "Oblivion with guns" and the reason people say this is because Bethesda uses the Oblivion engine for this game. Just like Oblivion you take quests from people, complete them as you wish, you can be good, bad, or neutral in the world, you can find mini-encounters or free-form quests that are separate from the main and side quests to unlock achievements. I don't want to spend this whole review comparing this game to Oblivion since its its own game.
The first thing you'll notice are how amazing the graphics are. The Oblivion engine has been refined and everything look amazing. Step out of Vault 101 and your eyes will adjust from the dark and you'll witness a beautiful yet desolate wasteland that leaves you wondering "now what?" Don't be scared since the game does guide you a little bit so you aren't completely lost. Just wander around to find Megaton and just talk to people and you'll get quests eventually. Of course you always know where to go for the main quests and every quest has arrows on your map that point to where to go. You may see places on your map but you can't fast travel there unless you actually walk around and discover it yourself. This forces players to explore the vast world of DC and really get to know the place. There are two sections to the game: The Wasteland, which takes up about 70% of the game, and DC which is cluttered with metro stations, fallen buildings, and all the main landmarks like the White House, Library of Archives, The Pentagon etc.
The only way to travel around in DC is through the metro tunnels and I found this kind of annoying since it may be tough to figure out which tunnel goes where. I just really can't express how amazing the game feels and you really do feel alone and empty when you go through stores and buildings that are completely trashed. With the melancholy music you sometimes get a bit depressed since it's just so amazingly surreal. Thankfully Bethesda injected a bit of dark humor to keep you from feeling this way and one way is with VATS. Vaul-Tec Automated Targeting System and it is one of the main game play elements. Hit RB and you'll pause time and zoom in on your enemy and there will parts of his/her body you can hit. The percentage is your chance of hitting that target, your AP are your Action Points and each weapon takes a certain amount of them every time you queue up attacks. If you do enough damage you can cripple a limb and either make your enemy drop the weapon, lower their accuracy, or make them walk slower. Once you get to higher levels a few shots and you can blow their head off in a heaping gory mess and it NEVER EVER gets boring. Sniping someone from 200 feet away and watching the camera fallow the bullet and having someone's head fall off their neck is just so so satisfying. I played for 54 hours and never got bored with this.
Of course you can fight in real-time combat, but you don't get the advantages of VATS like critical hit strikes etc. The game has many weapons from mini-nuke launchers, rocket launchers, 10mm pistols, combat shotguns, sledgehammers, hunting rifles the list just goes on and on. You can also make your own weapons by finding schematics and collecting the items you need to build various weapons like the Rock-It Launcher which lets you shoot anything you find, the Railway Rifle which lets you shoot railroad spikes and impale limbs on walls. The game is huge amazing and awesome and all of the combat is very satisfying and there are endless ways to approach a situation. Don't like fighting? Use a Stealth Boy and sneak your way through places and plant live grenades in enemies pants and watch them explode! Like fighting with your fists? Walk around with a Power Fist Glove and bash your way through the Wasteland. Now that combat is out-of-the-way let's get to stats. Your menu is your Pip-Boy which is attached to your arm and features an easy to navigate interface and is really easy to find what you want. You can level up to level 20 (which is lame since you'll get to level 20 waaaaay early in the game and be maxed out) and you have several options once you level up.
You can add points to yourself like your medicine, small guns, big guns, explosives, speech, barter, energy weapons, lock picking, science etc. Then you get to pick a Perk (say that five times fast!) and these are another unique game play idea in Fallout 3. There are over 40 perks BUT you can only pick up to 20 throughout the game so choose wisely! Perks range from giving you more health, increasing your regular abilities, automatically giving you another level, making animals in the world your friends, revealing every location on your map, making you a law bringer and if you bring every finger off a bad enemy to a special HQ you get caps (currency in the game) and good karma. The stats are also effected by items such as Buffout, Jet, Mentats (post-apocalyptic drugs!) etc. These add temporary effects and will get you out of a tight situation. You can trade and repair your items with people around the city and become rich. You can also just shoot everyone in the cities and get bad karma so as you can see there are 0 restraints.
You also can pass time by "waiting" which skips hours, you can heal your crippled limbs by sleeping or going to a doctor. Getting too irradiated? Take some Rad-Away! Getting addicted to a certain drug? Go to the doctor! You can eventually get your own place in Tenpenny Tower and you can buy things like workbench, doctor stations etc. I just can't express how HUGE this game is from the vast size to being able to pick up anything you see to use as ammo, trade, or sell. You really do feel like you're struggling to survive in a hostile wasteland and that feeling never goes away even after 100 hours of play. Of course you'll eventually conquer the wasteland and not be afraid of even the strongest enemies in the game.
Now there are issues with the game, but they're minor. There is loading between each section of the game such as going from the main world into buildings etc. The level 20 cap is extremely annoying and makes you quit trying really hard to find places to fight in, the game is really similar to Oblivion and people who played the F out of that game will feel too familiar here and that's why this game didn't get a 9.5 from me like Oblivion did because I've kind of "been there done that" with this engine. While there are so many subtle things in the game like having followers (including a dog!), to the many types of weird enemies, to all the different people you can talk to its insane. I could spend hours telling you about every location and person you meet. Just stop what you're doing and go play Fallout 3 and you'll spend dozens and dozens of hours surviving the vast wasteland! Go grab an Ice Cold Nuka-Cola and watch out for the hostile factions (Raiders, Talon Company Mercs, Slavers etc) and good luck out there!
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video-games_xbox
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Just plain fun. What you won't find in De Blob 2: Firefights. Space monsters. Guns. Gangsters.
What you will find: hours of brightly-colored fun.
This game is the polar opposite of COD, Gears, Dead Space, GTA, and most anything else in the popular action genre. But that's a good thing- it's a great change of pace from that side of the video game universe. It's a fun, surreal, dare I say... cute game that has kept my attention for hours.
The plot in a nutshell- it picks up where De Blob 1 left off, and Comrade Black has moved on to this world, eliminating all color, causing a drab, gray, boring society of oppressed citizens. The hero (De Blob) has the ability to soak up paint into himself and lay it onto buildings and the land itself. Levels start as drab gray areas, but as you navigate them, painting your way through goals to complete the level, the music starts to come in. A couple notes trickle in at first, more color brings richer music, and by the time you've painted the whole area, it's a catchy, jazzy soundtrack that doesn't get repetitive or annoying. There's plenty of other power-ups as you go on, but this is the meat of the game, adding color to the world and bringing it back to life.
The only downside I've yet to find is that you can't save it on command, so if you start a level, be ready to finish the bulk of it (20-30 minutes) until you reach the point where you can upgrade Blob, or else you'll have to (and probably enjoy it all over again) start at the beginning. Controls are accurate, easy to get the hang of, and it's an easy game to play... there are a few challenging areas that require some precision jumping, but it's nowhere near the frustration I found playing Super Mario Brothers Wii. You aren't saving the Earth from space zombies, defending a military base or running from the mafia, it's very light-hearted. The story is simple, more than a little predictable, but fun to follow. There's no blood, no gore, and except for a couple images such as a Raydian (the residents of this world) being "baptized" into becoming a Blanc (the mind-controlled drones of Comrade Black) by being pushed into a pool of black ink that envelops him that a parent might have to explain, this would be a great game for young kids as well.
My gaming tastes usually run in the racing sim/sports genres, but since the first time I played De Blob 2, this game has held my attention and had me anxiously waiting to get out of work to go home and play more.
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video-games_xbox
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Great game and guitar, Iffy setlist. This game is really fun and underrated. You may have seen official reviews from certain video game review websites that did not review it properly. I will fist start off with the mistakes this official reviewer from that well known video game website. He says that party play is "buried under a sea of menus" when all you need to do to access party play is to press the yellow button on the guitar at the main menu. He also goes to say that the 5 star paradigm you know and love is gone" which is also untrue. Quest mode will have you shooting for about 7 stars because of the new powers, but in quickplay+ you have the option of playing the traditional way with just earning 5 stars and not using powerups.
Lets start with the gameplay, like i said the game offers a new way of playing with the new powerups, which i find fun and i will list all of them for you
speadfreak: keeps multiplier at 2x and you earn extra stars for keeping it over 3x
crowd hyper: earn extra stars for hitting notes while the rock meter is full
star power generator: earn 5% star power for every 10 notes hit
star power amplifier: earn 2x the normal amount for hitting star power phrases
mulitplier extender: earn up to 5x multiplier instead of 4
steak guardian: protects you from breaking your streak for 1 note and earn extra stars for long streaks
Resurrection: earn up to 2 ankhs for playing well and each ankh you earn will protect you from failing
star power nova: earn 3x for star power instead of 2x.
People may not want to play this way, so in quickplay+ you can play the traditional way where you can earn up to 5 stars.
The guitar has a nice design and an improvement over the previous guitar hero guitars. But it is not perfect. The strummer squeaks which can get annoying, plus sometimes the guitar will have a period of time where it will drop notes, but not as bad as the les paul guitar. But all other previous problems have gone away, the whammy bar stays in place and feels very smooth, the star power tilt detection is fixed, previous guitar hero guitars had a problem with star power going off on its own.
Now the problem with the setlist i have is that it has some good artists, but they pick mediocre songs by them. I feel like instead of having bleed it out, they should have had "in the end" by linkin park. instead of burnin for you, they should have had don't fear the reaper by the blue oyster cult.
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video-games_xbox
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DO NOT BUY USED! RED RING OF DEATH. I LOVE THE CONSOLE OR SHOULD I SAY THE GAMES THAT ARE REALEASED FOR THIS CONSOLE, HOWEVER, THE HARDWARE AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT ARE TOTALLY HORRIBLE... ONCE UPON A TIME I WAS AN EXCLUSIVE SONY FANBOY, EVER SINCE A LITTLE GAME CALLED FINAL FANTASY 7 WAS RELEASED. THEN FINALLY JUMPED OVER TO X-BOX WHEN THE MASTER CHIEF HAD HIS SECOND ADVENTURE. WHEN THE 360 WAS RELEASED I PURCHASED IT AND SOLD IT WITHIN A WEEK BECAUSE AT THE TIME A $400 HUNDRED DOLLAR UPGRADE THAT ONLY MADE GAMES LOOK MORE SHINY (G.R.A.W AND FULL AUTO) WAS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. THAT WAS UNTIL I PLAYED GEARS OF WAR LATE LAST SUMMER OF '07. I IMMEDIATLY PURCHASED ANOTHER CONSOLE AND IN FACT ALSO BOUGHT A 52" DLP T.V JUST TO PLAY IT LIKE IT WAS MEANT TO BE PLAYED. AND LIFE WAS GOOD... UNTIL 4 MONTHS DOWN THE ROAD, I JUST GOT HALO 3 AND BAM! RED RING OF DEATH... I CROSSED MY FINGERS AND HOPED FOR THE BEST AS I CALLED MICROSOFT, OF COURSE THESE DAYS ALL CALL CENTERS ARE OUT SOURCED IN INDIA OR SOMEWHERE. THEY ACTUALLY MANAGED TO HELP ME OUT, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP SAID THAT MY WARRANTY WILL BE EXTENDED FOR ANOTHER 3 YEARS AND THAT THEY WERE GOING TO SEND ME A BOX TO SHIP MY "BOX" IN. SENT MY "BOX" OFF, RECIEVED ANOTHER ONE NO FUSS AND LIFE WAS GOOD. LIFE HAS BEEN REALLY REALLY GOOD WITH GAMES LIKE MASS EFFECT, ASSAIN'S CREED, COD 4, BIOSHCOK, AND RECENTLY GEARS OF WAR 2 AND FALLOUT 3, JUST TO NAME A FEW! UNTIL YESTERDAY, I JUST FINISHED DOWNLOADING THE NEW XBOX INTERFACE THING WHEN SUDDENLY BAM!? RED RING OF DEATH, AGAIN!? IT WAS LIKE BEING IN A VERY GOOD RELATIONSHIP AND FOUND OUT YOU WERE GETTING CHEATED ON NOT ONCE BUT TWICE! I WANT TO SMASH THE THING AT THIS POINT. SO I TRY NOT TO PANIC, CALLED INDIA AGAIN AND THIS TIME THE REP WAS VERY UNHELPFUL BECAUSE OF THE LANGUAGE BARRIER AND THE VAGUE FEELING OF UNEASE THAT THIS TIME THINGS WILL NOT TURN OUT LIKE THE LAST. THE REP TELLS ME THAT MY 'BOX IS REGISTERED UNDER SOMEONE ELSE'S NAME AND THAT MY WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED... BUT HE WAS STILL GOING TO PUT IN THE SERVICE REQUEST. HE GIVES ME THE SERVICE REQUEST NUMBER AND TELLS ME TO CALL BACK TOMORROW BECAUSE OF SOME TECHNICAL PROBLEMS THEY WERE HAVING IN THEIR SYSTEM (HOW IRONIC NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT). I WAS SO FRUSTRATED BY THE TIME I GOT OFF THE PHONE I WAS REALLY GOING TO SMASH MY 360 AND JUST BUY A PLAYSTATION AND BE DONE WITH IT... SO ANYONE CONSIDERING PURCHASING AN X-BOX 360 "USED" BE AWARE THAT THERE IS A VERY HIGH PROBABILITY OF THE RED RING OCCURENCE, AND THAT YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET IT REPAIRED UNDER WARRANTY, THIS IS MY SECOND R.O.D AND BROTHER HAS HAD A COUPLE AS WELL.
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video-games_xbox
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A Much Needed Experience. Let me preface this by saying that I haven't completed the game yet so some minor changes might be in order in the future. I'm confident that those changes won't make a bit of difference, though.
Story - Easily stands among the best of any RPG i've played. The entire concept works right from the beginning and starts the countdown. I find it pretty amazing that the developers were able to instill such a sense of "urgency" in the experience. Within the first couple hours you are so heavily invested that you want to help them reach their goal, and hopefully change the unchangeable.
Gameplay - The battles are simply amazing. It takes a giant leap forward in setting a new RPG standard on battles. I've heard a lot of people complaining that "the tutorial lasts 10 hours..." and similar comments. The bottom line is that they have introduced a completely new combat system with completely new ideas and strategies, greatly increasing the learning curve for such an involved and in-depth battle system.
The developers chose to introduce you to their battle system in small increments while setting up the main story. This does 2 things. First, it keeps you engaged on a fast-paced story and doesn't bore you with an hour long tutorial. Secondly, it keeps you from being overwhelmed by all the different aspects by introducing you to it slowly, allowing you to get a firm handle on how it should be played. Because, make no mistake about it, some of these battles can be damn hard.
I'll just add that the developers did a good job in their introduction, execution, and concept behind these battles. All of the complaining that compares it to traditional JRPG turn-based fighting is pretty much irrelevant. Why? Because when you pick up an old-school JRPG, you already know exactly how to play it. All the old battle systems were essentially the same. In FFXIII you have something completely new so you NEED that intro. However, if they do stick to this template in the future, you'll be able to pick it up in much the same way you did in the old-school games. Someone has to set a new precedence sometime, and they have to do it correctly. That's what they've done here. Let's just hope other developers take notice.
Sound - Not much to say on this, really. Aside from the 1 annoying character, Vanille, there isn't much to gripe about. Everything sounds crisp and clear. I always fear watching a CGI cutscene that somehow manages to turn the sound effects and music all the way up while turning the voices all the way down, making it nearly impossible to comprehend the characters. Thank god that doesn't happen here.
Although it isn't really a "sound" problem, I have to mention the dialogue. So cheesy... As long as you aren't playing this around potential girlfiends or any of your friends that would just love to berate you about it, you should be fine. Otherwise, keep it off until they leave. Trust me.
Graphics - Best i've ever seen in a game. Ever.
The only minor gripe I have at this point in the game is the odd camera controls. For some reason it moves very slowly, which makes it kind of awkward when your character is running and you can't move the camera fast enough to look around at the same time without stopping. Like I said, a small gripe and one that most people won't notice.
That's all i'm going to say for now. If I come across anything else that requires a review about, i'll add it.
To summarize, get this game. If you are a fan of any game that is story-driven, action-driven, of the developers, of FF, or of any good game, GET THIS GAME.
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video-games_xbox
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As a big fan to the other two. So being a big fan of Guitar Hero 1 & 2, I was overall pretty disappointed with this installment. I don't really have a gripe with the song selection, and it's nice to see some songs with the master tracks, but the overall set-up of the game is frusterating.
First off: the guitar controller itself. When I first got mine, my blue button didn't work, but after wearing it in for an hour it got to working most of the time. All the sudden it's my green button that doesn't work - and my green button has been giving me problems for 2 weeks now. My friend bought it on the first day it came out also and ALL of his buttons didn't work! So he returned it and got a new one only for some more of the buttons to not work. He's since worn his in and I think it's pretty much fine now. I also read many reviews online about other peoples' guitars malfunctioning. This is unacceptable really. I don't care if the guitar looks nicer - if it doesn't work then it's a piece of junk. Sometimes Star Power doesn't activate very easily.
Second: Sometimes, the visual note placements in the game don't match the notes of the actual song, and it throws you off. For example, a note in the game will appear like a second AFTER or BEFORE the note in the song and that's really unacceptable also. Put the notes where they belong! This is coming from a person who beat the game on the Hard and Expert difficulties.
Third: Battle Mode was fun - for awhile. All of the "attacks" are reasonable except for the Lefty Flip. This one will most likely demolish you no matter what. The other attacks are reasonable to get around and escape from, but the flip is unreasonably difficult. And there's no option to turn it off!
Fourth: Star Power often lags. Yes, you heard it right. I have the first two Guitar Heroes for PS2 and those NEVER LAGGED! But now, on XBox 360, the star power lags. Sometimes it lags so bad that it makes you miss notes. I'm sorry to say this again, but this is really unacceptable - especially for XBox 360.
Fifth: During Quick-Play sessions, which are usually the times when you gather all your friends around and take turns playing songs, they put the Difficulty Settings BEFORE you even get to the setlist. So each time a player wants to change the difficulty, you basically have to quit and go back to the main menu, go back into Quick-Play, change the difficulty, and then go to the setlist. The previous two games had a difficulty settings before each song. This becomes tedious and makes the game less and less fun the more you play it.
Those are just about my major complaints. I know the game was bought by a new company, but these flaws are really unacceptable. If everything worked the way it was supposed to, this would be a great game. But from the game to the guitar controller itself, this game is deeply flawed. NOT worth the 100 bucks most stores are charging for it.
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video-games_xbox
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Beautiful graphics and not much else. I am a casual FPS gamer and felt like having some fun with an older title. So I picked up Call of Duty because I kept hearing how great this game was. At first glance the game was very beautiful. Very similar to Medal of Honor with a lot going on to overwhelm your senses. I liked the fast pace gameplay and crazy action going on everywhere.
Unfortunately this novelty wore off way too fast. The game gets extremely intense very fast and it is easy to get lost in all the action. The levels are linear but when battles are screaming on you can lose your bearings and targets very easily. The controls also are pretty clunky which I thought was odd. The Xbox controller is perfect for fast paced games but in CoD I found aiming to be a constant frustration. Couple this with exceptionally HORRIBLE allied A.I. and your in for a major curse fest. I have never seen such a blatant misuse of allied characters in a game.
For instance in one of the first missions you must protect a tank stored in a warehouse while Germans swarm from all over with rifles, machine guns, and Panzerfaust. Sounds pretty exciting so far... Well, once you get to the second story windows the fun begins. Germans swarm out and take cover behind crates and vehicles. Your job is to snipe them before they get too close. The key targets are the bazooka men and the machine gunners. Let a bazooka in and the tank is doomed. Let a machine gun set up and your toast. Well it sounds easy enough and you have good ol' Commissar Sokolov to bark orders at you and where you need to concentrate your fire. Here's the rub. Sokolov's orders sometimes give you plenty of advance warning to set up where you need to be and to get the crucial targets. But later in the battle he starts rattling them off at lightning speed. Good thing you have several AI soldiers covering you right. Wrong. As far as I can tell all these guys are for is to get in your way when you are trying to duck in a window. They must know how much I enjoy getting pelted with hot lead while reloading my 5 round single shot bolt action sniper rifle.
This causes a tedious nature of repetition in the game. You are an army of one among many. AI never serves any point but to bark orders at you and get shot. In that same very mission I must have had to replay it at least half a dozen times on EASY just to get the hang of it down. Once I finally bested the pesky German attack I was immediately gunned down outside the building in the second stage of the mission. Not to worry, I'll just continue from the end of the last objective right... WRONG!
CoD offers nothing in the way of in-game checkpoints. That meant when I left the factory after having so much fun getting shot and laughed at by my comrades, I had to, yup!, do it all over again! Wow talk about gamer satisfaction! And what the heck was the insanely realistic reload times! Especially on the sniper rifle. It takes at least a good 5 seconds to reload the thing and when you have to hit a target as fast as possible the game won't let you reload just one round. You always have to reload 5.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for challenging games, but I am a casual gamer and don't want to replay a lever 20 times. A game like that will only frustrate me to resell the game at a drastically discounted price. What truly enrages me about CoD is that the game is ridiculously hard on EASY so I can't even handicap the game to help me through the tough parts. Add in the fact that Xbox has virtually no cheat codes for like invincibility I guess I am going to have to go all gamer-geek on this one and actually try and master an FPS. A skill I have no desire to learn.
So my advice is for the casual gamer or those who actually like to have fun playing a game. If you must play a WWII shooter pick up Medal of Honor or something else with not as steep a learning curve. This game is clearly designed for hard core players who have little else to do but replay a mission all day long.
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video-games_xbox
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Halo 3 ODST Pt 2. When this game was in the making we wondered what happened on earth during the Covenant Invasion after the Master Chief left earth well heres the Setting, Story/Plot, and Gameplay. Orbital Drop Shock Troopers is what ODST stands for.
Setting: During the events Halo 2, the Covenant discovers the location of Earth and launches an assault on the city of New Mombasa in Africa. Though the UNSC manages to repel most of the fleet, a large ship hovers over the city, depositing an invasion force. The ship eventually retreats via a slipspace jump, creating a massive shockwave. While the rest of Halo 2's storyline follows the ship to an ancient installation identical to the first Halo, ODST focuses on the aftermath of the shockwave, while the Covenant still occupy the city.
Story/Plot: The game begins with Dutch, Romeo, and Mickey discussing the Covenant ship above New Mombasa. Buck arrives and introduces Dare. The team enters their HEVs and drop through the atmosphere; at the last minute, Dare changes their trajectory to miss the ship. The Covenant ship enters slipspace, sending a shockwave toward the ODSTs; the Rookie's pod collides with Mickey's and crashes into a building on the ground, knocking him unconscious for six hours. He awakens and proceeds to find clues as to what happened to his squadmates. Buck makes a rough landing after the drop and fights through Covenant forces to find Dare. He finds Romeo instead, and the two resolve to find the others and get out of the city. Dutch drops near a nature preserve and helps Marines fighting there. Mickey commandeers a tank and fights his way along a Mombasa boulevard. Meeting up with Dutch, the two defend an ONI base from the Covenant, destroying the facility to keep it from being captured. They are evacuated by a transport and make contact with Buck, arranging a rendezvous at police headquarters, but are shot down. Buck and Romeo rescue Dutch and Mickey, but Romeo is seriously wounded. The squad hijacks a Covenant dropship, but instead of leaving the city, Buck decides to turn back and find Dare. Back in the city, the Rookie is assisted by Virgil (the Superintendent), which leads him to Dare's position. The two reach the Superintendent's data core, which possesses information on something the Covenant is looking for underneath the city. Inside the core, they discover a Covenant Engineer. Dare explains that the Engineers are "biological supercomputers" that have been enslaved by the Covenant, and the one they found wishes to defect to the humans; with the Engineer's information on the Covenant combined with the Superintendent's data, Dare's mission changes from downloading the Superintendent's data to escorting the alien to safety. The Rookie, Dare, and the Engineer reunite with Buck and fight their way out of the city. As they fly away in the transport, the squad watches as Covenant ships destroy New Mombasa. In the epilogue, one month after the events of the Campaign, the ODST squad has been keeping guard over the Engineer. Sergeant Major Avery Johnson arrives, informing the Engineer that he intends to ask it everything it knows about the Covenant and what they are looking for setting the stage for Halo 3. If the campaign is completed on the legendary difficulty level, a scene shows the Prophet of Truth overseeing the excavation of a Forerunner artifact buried beneath the Superintendent's data core.
The setting and the story/plot are great but with this game as it is will the Gameplay hold up?
Gameplay: Halo 3: ODST is a shooter video game with most gameplay taking place from a first-person perspective. The game features an open world environment in the updated Kenyan city of Mombasa, referred to as New Mombasa. Although the gameplay of ODST bears a strong resemblance to that of previous Halo titles, the player does not assume the role of the enhanced human supersoldier Master Chief, protagonist of Halo 3. Instead, the player controls human soldiers known as "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers" or ODSTs. Since ODSTs do not possess the Master Chief's advanced armor and reflexes, they cannot jump as high, move as fast, survive large falls or wield two weapons at once. Instead of the Master Chief's damage-absorbing energy shield, the game uses a recharging stamina mechanic. After the player sustains damage, the screen flashes red and the stamina score decreases. If the player receives additional damage before the stamina can recover, the player's health is reduced. Loss of all health causes the player character to die and restart at the last saved checkpoint. Medical packs scattered around the game environment can restore the player's health. The player's head-up display (HUD) includes a "VISR" mode that outlines enemies in red, allies in green, and items of interest in either blue or yellow.
The game is not bad but the game has a good story and gameplay is ok but my problem with it is Background this game has. Even in Halo 2 the human characters didn't know what the covenant is after or why would they come to Earth but at the end of the game in legendary you only see something there after were as Halo 3 concludes why the Covenant came to Earth.
But overall the game has its good points and music wise its a little toned down but works for this game.
Story/plot 4.5/5 Gameplay 5/5 Music 5/5 Overall 9.5/10 = A
This game gets an A but its a little dull but otherwise a great game.
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video-games_xbox
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RPG meet Madden. I'm a long-time Madden player, not always a fan. I have to admit that I've never played a game online. For me, it's always been about Franchise Mode, and, in the last few years, the addition of importing draft classes from NCAA Football certainly seemed like the epitomy of Franchise Mode--tracking players from high school all the way into the pros and, sometimes, into the hall of fame (in certain years).
I should qualify everything I'm about to write with this: I like two kinds of games, sports simulations and role playing games. My favorite sports simulation is Madden. My favorite role playing game is the Elder Scroll series. My review reflects this bias.
For me, Madden's Franchise Mode has always come close to combining the best of sports sims and RPGs...well, as long as the player progression worked, which, it really hasn't since around 2005...or maybe 2006. I thought that last year's installment, M12, was the answer to all my player progression woes with its roster editing feature. If the players didn't progress in an acceptable manner, I could tweak them. Only...it wasn't much fun. Don't get me wrong: I still liked playing Madden, the game, but the feature that compelled me to play, player development, didn't exist any longer as an ongoing in-game project, so to speak. I sort of lost the drive to finish the franchise.
Along came Madden 13 with all the hype about the Infinity Engine. On and on and on the press releases raved about the new system and how it was the biggest improvement in the history of Madden. I was buying into it until I found out that, first, we couldn't import NCAA Football draft classes. I was beyond disappointed. It felt like abandonment. Last year, so much seemed to be oriented towards the franchise mode and now, the most inticing feature was gone. But, that wasn't all. The custom playbooks and roster editing that had FINALLY been included in franchise mode? Gone, too! Also, no editing of the rosters before starting the franchise. Now, you'd start your connected career with no chance to edit rosters, no chance to make a playbook, and, here was the last straw: no chance for a fantasy draft! (Actually, an announcement made two days ago indicated that fantasy drafts should be in one of the next patches...so, that's good.)
I had written off Madden...
...and then I started reading about Connected Careers and the XP (experience points) progression system. During career game play, your team and coach accumulate XP in a very similar way to the methods employed by most role playing games...like the Elder Scrolls. Then, at a time of your own choosing, either weekly, every four weeks, or at the end of one season...or two seasons if you want, you can progress your players by spending the XP on increasing attribute ratings or more global improvement packages (the packages either increase XP accumulation or effect tendencies, like dropping passes, going for the ball aggressively, etc.).
I'm officially hooked. The game play is excellent. The passing game is excellent. You can lead receivers into open space, and if the defender isn't looking at the ball, guess what: he doesn't cut in front of the receiver for the interception! The Infinity Engine is pretty much as advertised.
But, the feature that has me playing two and three games a night is the XP progression system. There are no 'potential' limits, as in last year's game. This year, you can develop pretty much any player on your roster into a star player. Of course, the players starting out with higher attribute ratings don't have quite so far to go to reach that above-and-beyond level, but no player is limited by that old 'potential' rating. The more you use them, the more 'goals' they achieve, the more XP they have to spend, and the better they get.
The scouting system is fun, too. You spend points to scout draft class players' attributes and tendencies. You start out with a set number of scouting points, but you can accumulate more by using coaching XP for scouting packages.
Between the player development, the scouting, and saving up XP for the 'big' packages (extra XP earned by QB's, or double the scouting points), I'm no longer just playing for another win, another playoff appearance, and another Super Bowl. Each level of team and individual players success translates into XP. No longer will I draft for size and edit the attributes of players to fit team needs, as was the case, for me, with M12.
I have to say, though, I still miss being able to import NCAA Football draft classes into the game. I miss using custom playbooks (I'm constantly doing the playbook shuffle, a few favorite plays here and a few more there, never brought together into one book). I miss being able to create a couple of players and use them on my favorite team in franchise mode/connected careers. The fact that some of these features are intended for M14 but just didn't get in this year's version gives me the impression that I'm playing a game that's only 4/5 finished. So, while I'm loving this game (and gave it 5 stars for fun), I'm disappointed in principle. I wish that it had come out complete, not with a disclaimer promising the missing parts next year. Still, as a stand-alone game, I am giving it 5 stars overall, with my own little disclaimer.
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video-games_xbox
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Yet another licensed let down. It's bad enough that Electronic Arts let me down so much with its license "Two Towers" game. The graphics were poor, considering the standards set by many graphical feats like Resident Evil, Silent Hill 3, and even the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The sound could have been better, and the game was very short, but was still fun to play. But to get a game based on the book that is such a tremendous let down? Good thing I got this game out of a bargain bin.
I will say that I personally feel that this games graphics were light years better than Two Towers, however, I prefer the artistic direction of the film and its licenses over the somewhat cheesy look of this video game. I must also comment that its hard for me to have to look at this games interpretations of the characters and not wish that Elijah Wood, and the other actors from the film were portraying these characters... but where this game is really going to get torn apart by me is its presentation of the story. As a long time fan of Lord of the Rings I am insulted by such a savage butchery of the story. I'm sorry but its true. Here's THE GAME that could have easily outshined the movie, it was licensed from the book, meaning they could have translated ever last detail of the novel to the book, but they didn't. The skipped past a lot of important events in the beginning, probably assuming that it would be too difficult to handle the big birthday bash... but you know what? A lot of RPG fans play for the story as well as the game play. Xenogears anyone? We sat through hours of text, and very few (that I know of) complained. This game had voice acting!
The game boasted that it would have all these intricate details (like Frodo beginning his quest on his birthday) that the movie forgot, how nice that they managed to forget a ton of important details themselves. The Council at Rivendale scene was so shorted and dumbed down it was pathetic. Its like the whole game was made just to toss Tom Bombadale out into the open... and even that was butchered. It seems to me that the experts working on the film trilogy did a much better job of making a visual interpretation of Tolkein's masterpiece than Vivindi Universal did.
Over I think I may like this game better than the Two Towers video game but only from the standpoint of being a fan of Action RPGs. On the other hand neither of the Lord of the Rings games light a candle to the book, or film that they are based on.
I sincerely hope that someday a developer will come a long who will take the license seriously, rather than just slapping a product together, slapping the popular label of Lord of the Rings on it and using it as an attempted cash cow. I am severely offended that the producers of this game spent so much time attacking the movies, yet managed to produce a product that is the biggest (...) job of a Lord of the Rings product since the cartoon Lord of the Rings from the 1970s. The movie did a much much better job. If you're a fan looking for a visual interpretation of the book, stick with the films. If I hadn't gotten this game out of a bargain bin I'd be really mad at myself for buying this game. Thankfully I paid so little for it that I might actually make a small profit were I to trade it in... But I won't because of its title.
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video-games_xbox
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A big disappointment. I first heard of this game simply by chance one night when a commercial came on. I have read several of Marcinko's novels as well as his biography. He is the real deal, a tough as nails operator. For those that don't know Marcinko, he is the real life creator of the Navy's elite counter terrorism unit SEAL Team 6.
So I didn't give much thought to pre-ordering the game.
GAMEPLAY:
To start out, the game is short... really short. I took me four hours on the hardest difficulty setting to beat the game. Compare that to Modern Warfare 2 which I spent about ten hours playing on Veteran. I thought that was short. There are only eight missions all of which are pretty straight forward. There is no open space to explore during the missions. You go through one open door to the next open door with no way of getting lost and then the doors magically close behind you just like the days of Doom.
Probably the worst part about the game is the enemy AI. I have never seen a game where the enemies are so useless. They always hide with there backs to objects even if what they are hiding behind is a thin I-beam which offers no concealment. Sometimes they see you, they aim their rifles at you, and then don't fire because you are in a different room or behind a window. Finding the enemies isn't very difficult since they are displayed on the map in corner of the screen. It even shows their alertness levels.
One thing they seemed to make a big deal about is the kill moves. You walk up behind an unsuspecting enemy and press the kill button. The camera switches to third person and you get to watch Marcinko jam his knife into various parts of the enemy's anatomy. Definitely, a nice feature but it comes at a cost. If another enemy sees you while performing a kill, he starts shooting, and you get to watch Marcinko continue the move until he is complete and then he drops dead. There is also no melee attack. The only way to use the knife is the kill move. Having the option to quickly stab/slash an enemy is helpful when your gun runs dry and an enemy is right next to you and there are more guys shooting at you from a distance.
For some strange reason Marcinko can only stand or crouch. He can't go prone and he can't jump. That just seems odd for a military game.
Since the game is set in 1986 don't expect any fancy toys on the rifles, like EOTechs or ACOGs, that you get in Modern Warfare 2. The weapon selection is very basic: MP5, M16, AK, Dragunov, etc. I didn't notice much difference in accuracy between using the sights versus shooting from the hip.
GRAPHICS:
The graphics are far from impressive. They look on par with FPS from about five years ago. It looks similar to computer games like R6: Rogue Spear. For example, when a fire breaks out it usually spreads to the ceiling which is normal but it doesn't look at all realistic. It looks like moving wall paper.
When the video's play they always show you carrying an MP5 even after you switched it for a different gun.
AUDIO:
Well it does have one redeeming quality. Actor Micky Rourke does the voice of Marcinko. You get to experience Demo D's creative use of the F-word, a lot. He narrates the mini-briefing at the beginning of each mission. He also taunts the enemies when he gets shot by saying things like, "I'm gonna stick you like a pig."
The game definitely captures his personality nicely. The Admiral gives Dick an order. Dick ignores the order. Dick gets the job done.
MULTIPLAYER:
I'm afraid I can't comment on the multiplayer aspect since after beating the game I popped the disc out and went back to playing Modern Warfare 2. I just had no desire to play it any longer.
CONCLUSION:
This game could, no should, have been better. It is far too short and the enemy AI should have been better designed. This game looks like it was rushed into production and it shows.
If you are looking for a good military game, get Modern Warfare 2.
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video-games_xbox
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The best FPS of the year. I have been looking forward to this game since I first saw video on it months ago. I had been building this game up with hype and hoped it wouldn't disappointment. After playing the beta I was sure it wouldn't disappoint. Now that the retail version is out, let me tell you, it has not disappointed. After some intense nights of multiplayer action and brief trek through the single player, I can say this game is the best FPS multiplayer game on the market.
The graphics in this game are some of best yet seen on any system, including PC. This is one of those games that when you see it, you'll definitely say "Wow." The game runs at a rock solid 60 fps and has some fantastic lighting and particle effects. Even when things get hectic on screen the framerate never dips.
The sound in Call of Duty 4 is also top notch. Voice work is believable and helps to keep you involved in the story. The gun sounds are very nice, as well as explosions. It's very gratifying tossing a grenade over to nearby car which enemies are trying to use as cover and then see it explode.
Even though I have yet to finish the campaign, from I have played so far it has been a blast. This game is intense. I have been playing the game on the hardest difficulty, Veteran, and let me say that it will challenge you. Though I've heard the game is short, I think if played on the hardest difficulty the game will not only last a bit longer, but also feel more gratifying.
On the multiplayer end of things, though this game is not as deep as Halo 3, the gameplay itself outshines Halo 3, in my opinion. The gameplay is fast, responsive, and very intense, with very few exploits that I have seen so far. I still haven't gotten out of Team Deathmatch game mode even though I have unlocked all of the other game modes.
One feature I do like is the ability unlock weapons, multiplayer game modes, multiplayer challenges, and perks. The fact that there are no multiplayer achievements may bother some, but think of it as a chance to enjoy the game for the games sake, not so you force trying to get 10 kills in a row at the expense of enjoying the game.
The multiplayer challenges add incentive to keep on playing the multiplayer by giving you new camos for your weapons. Some challenges are straightforward such as get 150 kills with this weapon and some are just fun to try for such as the X Ray Vision Challenge which is killing enemies by shooting them through the wall. Now that sounds like fun. The perk system is also something that should be noted.
The perk system is a great addition to the FPS multiplayer formula. This feature gives people the option to customize their soldier to have certain special abilites during the battle. Some may want to create a sniper who is fast and can't be detected. By giving yourself the added stamina perk for running longer distances along with UAV jammer perk, you can have a sniper who will be hard to find, though with the kill cam feature that shows up after everytime you die, you'll always have an idea of where the person that killed you might be hiding.
It would have been nice to have the option to customize the look of your soldier ala Rainbow Six: Vegas, but it's nothing big, just would have been nice. Also spawn camping is out the window.
This game has a very good spawning/repawning system. It's hard to have a perfect spawn system especially since your opponent is constantly moving around a map. In this game you may be spawned right next to your team who at that moment may be having a air strike dropped on them. Other times you might spawn just on the outskirts of the action. Even though you will spawn and die immediately sometimes, I do not think it happens enough to ruin the experience.
One issue I did come across while playing the multiplayer was that when me and my friends were in a party we would sometimes get separated when going into a game, so we would have to back out and then rejoin into a party. This was a bit of a hassle, but wasn't a deal breaker, since once we got into a game together things went just fine.
This game is a must buy if you are looking for a fantastic FPS/Shooter multiplayer experience.
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video-games_xbox
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Morally and Thematically Complex. Assassin's Creed III is a melting pot. It's both a level above and away from the previous iterations, and it's going to alienate some people. It has a new protagonist, a number of entirely new features, some improvements, and some problems.
This review will be long and I will try to keep it in a cohesive order. Apologies for any tangents.
The game opens right where AC: Revelations left off, after a few minutes of cutscene summarizing the events of the past games. Once into the Animus, the game opens in Britain, not what I was expecting. Depending on how many non-story-related things you let distract you, the first three sequences of the game can take as little as two hours, or as many as (???). This is both good and bad. Good because the game takes the time to establish the characters, which causes we the audience to emotionally connect to what we're doing. Bad, because I don't know about anyone else, but after the first few hours I started to get confused, as I thought the game's protagonist centered around a half Mohawk Native American, and a Brit. Maybe that was common knowledge to other people, but I try to stay away from information regarding games before they are released.
I have heard a few people say that the entire story leading up to where it shifts focus to the protagonist is a tutorial, but I disagree. The opening mission in the opera house is a tutorial, after that we stay with the same character because it is necessary to establish who he is, what he's doing, and why it matters.
Before getting into the features and improvements/problems, I would also like to address the issue a lot of people seem to have with the protagonist, Connor. It's true he isn't very a very likeable person, but to me, characters can be unlikeable and still be interesting. That's how I feel about him anyways. Through pretty much the entire game he is angry at many different people and groups of people. One of the things I think the game succeeded greatly at is establishing that Connor is on his own side, and he's pretty much the only one on his side. In the game there are seven British-controlled forts in Boston, New York and the surrounding wilderness. Once you eliminate the fort's captain and raise the "American" flag, you get a cutscene showing the Redcoats leaving the the Patriots taking control of the fort. But once the Patriots are in control, they still show as red on your minimap, as though they are the enemy, exactly the same as the Redcoats. It's a small thing, and it was very confusing to me at first, and then you realize that from Connor's perspective, who is participating in this war only to try to protect his people and their land, anyone who disregards what is most important to him is an enemy. It comes across really well in the game, and I understand that to be the main reason (among others) that he is usually very angry or impatient with multiple important historical figures who have been lionized by mainstream American politicians and education systems.
Coming back to Connor being unlikeable, it is worth mentioning that Altair starts off as being very unlikeable in the original Assassin's Creed. He starts out very arrogant and little better than a murderous thug. Over the course of the game though, his arc sees him realize his mistakes, and fundamentally change as a person, thus becoming a better person and more likeable. Connor likewise has an arc, but it's more subtle, and thus easier to gloss over. As previously stated, whether or not a character is likeable, I hate sloppy writing and poor characterization. When people do things that don't make sense it bothers me, far more than Connor not being as charming or as funny as Ezio, or not having such a noticeable shift as Altair. I understand why Connor is the way he is, and I have absolutely no problem with him. Ubisoft spoiled us with Ezio. I mean, he got two and a half AC games, and Brotherhood especially saw his arc fully realized. Connor is a more complex character, in a more complex socio-political setting, and I would encourage people who are dissatisfied with him to give him another chance.
The same is true of the story. One of the things I really enjoyed about the main story was how all of these important historical figures were humanized. George Washington wasn't seen giving epic and inspirational speeches before murdering a thousand Redcoats with only his wig. Just the opposite in fact, it's more shown how he was kind of an ineffective military commander. Not to say the Assassin's Creed games are factually accurate, but I was definitely worried about bias in the game, which I saw absolutely none of.
There are two new features to the AC franchise, being the ability to hunt in the wilderness, and new naval battles at sea, which, to reiterate almost universal sentiment, are awesome.
The latter aspect could be a game in itself, but the best part is it's not. Firing a broadside into an enormous man-o-war and watching its hull be devastated, taking cover as they barrage you, taking out the enemy's masts with a chain shot, or destroying schooners with the swivel guns, pretty much the entire thing is incredibly fun.
The former new feature, hunting, reminded me a lot of Red Dead Redemption, and that's fine. Obviously this is slightly different as you're more likely to use bow or blade in this than a gun, but it's very similar in most other ways. Once in the wilderness (known in-game as the Frontier), it's very easy to get lost in it and just wander around killing wolves, bobcats, cougars, bears, rabbits, hares, foxes, elk, deer raccoons, etc. For people who enjoy it even more than I do, there are also snares and bait that can be used to lure unsuspecting prey into an ambush.
Aside from the entirely new features, there are a number of changes that have been made to combat, free-running, and free-climbing. Some work, and some not so much.
Combat has very much been simplified, and to me, not for the better. I didn't really see a need to simplify it further, and now it feels more like a button masher than it ever did. There is obviously some sort of way to achieve kill streaks or combo's, but over forty plus hours of gameplay I never found it. It doesn't seem like previous games, where you press the attack button at evenly spaced intervals to keep your combo going, now it's more just like press attack a bunch of times in a row `til you've killed `em real good. It's a minor complaint really though, since the ways in which you can attack people is still quite varied, and even if it takes less finesse now. It's worth noting at well that your kills are different depending on the surroundings. If you're near a wall you're more likely to incorporate that into your finishing move, which is neat.
Free-running has been improved, and has incorporated trees into the climbable geography. In general, climbing and running along an uneven path along rooftops or ledges is easier now and there is a much smaller likelihood that you will jump somewhere you don't intend. I'd say it's about as good as you're going to get, since there will always be at least a few issues where you want to jump down to the ground but you continue along an elevated path instead. No complaints here.
Onto the problems the game suffers from now. Clipping has always been an issue in the Assassin's Creed games, but it was more noticeable this time around. It wasn't a constant annoyance, and to me unless it's terrible and constantly distracting, it's pretty much a non-issue, but if you absolutely can't abide it, you'll probably be more annoyed than I was.
I had two instances of glitching over forty plus hours of play, which also isn't bad. It's probably more than all the previous games, but considering it's a new engine, that's not bad at all.
For me, I think what is probably the biggest problem to me is the new cover system. Connor can now hide among tall bushes or grass or what have you. But there is no sort of camouflage or anything, so while the game does read you as being concealed, it is ridiculously obvious that there is someone hiding right in front of you in the grass. I realize this series is not supposed to be the most realistic, but it is laughable how bizarre it looks when enemies aren't detecting your presence and you're clearly visible.
Along with the cover system, the map is also a step down (it seems) from all previous games. It is not topographical, and thus two points on a map might be separated by a huge valley, or mountain, or whatever. Synchronizing at high points also don't fully reveal a map, leaving you to explore areas on your own to find treasure chests, feathers, almanac pages and all the rest. This is good, as it forces you not to be lazy, but it's bad because I'm lazy and would rather just have the game do the work for me. You can still buy maps that show all the locations though.
The end of the game was mildly disappointing, but to be honest, but it was pretty clear after Revelations that the present day story was going to fall short of expectations. As with all long franchises, the expectation of the outcome of the story is crushed under its own epic nature. It wasn't a surprise, and they probably did as best they could, but I was kind of left wanting.
Overall though, I was and continue to be very pleased with the game. It has some problems, but for me those were hugely outweighed by the things in it which I enjoyed.
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video-games_xbox
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awsome, and even better at $30. Madden 2005 was being advertised as probably the best in the Madden series, but at least to me first time around, it didn't fully live up to the hype. problem is, my madden 2004 got stuck in my XBOx, so i decided to guy Madden 2005 so i can add the new rookies, like Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, and i love it!!!
because of the competition from ESPN NFL 2K5, Madden dropped it's price to $30, which they should keep from now on.
here are some of my pros and cons for Madden 2005..
CONS
-for one, some players looked like steriod monsters. some don't even have necks!!! they went to much on pad detail, but you can change that by lowering pad height and width sliders.
-they got rid of the situation mode, which i loved.
-excluding Super Bowl, all game ending celebrations are STILL the same. 3 years and running.
-loading takes to much time. everytime you want to see a newspaper or read an email, the loading eats you up. Madden 2004 for the most part was smooth, but here all the new stuff lags behind and you have to wait to read every single paper or change menus.
PROS
-weather. i loved what they did here. games can go from snowing in the first quarter with dark clouds all around to bright and sunny by the 4th. you see storm clouds pass by and you get a good sense of time change in the game.
-Draft trades. now, teams will swap picks during the draft, which makes you have to draft better franchise wise. also includes announcer and draft ticker.
-player switch. now you can during franchise move players around. take a 4th or 5th WR and move him to TE during the year. good moves.
-pressure kicks. NHL 2003 had the gamebreaker mode in breakaways, but Madden 2005 has kicker pressure mode which is intense. you don't hear the crowd, and your control starts to give off a heart beat for the pressure kick. makes the kick much more interesting.
-smoother animations. before, a player would automatically get up and when it would cut to a close up of the player, all of a sudden he's barely getting up. now the animations are smoother.
-better tackling. some of the tackling in this game is awsome, especially the hit stick where you can knock out guys and force fumbles.
-better animations and screen shots. the sidelines are now filled with players, and there are some nice screen shots showing the coach talking to the offense or defense, or showing players on the losing side with their heads lowered. also shows fan closeups, my favorite being where the two guys bump chests, and one of them gets dropped to the ground.
-better TD celebrations!!!!!!! my favorite is when a WR scores a TD and chunks the ball towards the end zone wall. shows real emotion and gets you fired up. also, if a team is getting beat real bad and you score, he'll just hand off the ball to the ref instead of throwing the ball or something like that. real class act. ;)
-Super Bowl celebration is AWSOME!!! coach gets the gatorade bath, confeti flys, fireworks, hoist the coach, it's awsome. losing team just sits in disgustment on the bench, can you blame them?
OVERALL
(old review)
i thought Madden 2005 was good, but i'll save $50 and stick with 2004. for me, the only real thing i would take from 2005 to add to 2004 is the Super Bowl celebration. Madden 2005 is good, but it's not great. 2004 was great.
(new)
i love the price drop to $30. makes the game a bit more affordable to most people. i love the animations, the cut away scenes, the td celebrations, weather, just about everything about this game is good.
it does have it flaws, but overall, it's awsome, and a big improvement from Madden 2004. the defense in the game is good, and i love the music and radio talk show that Tony Bruno does with real players and coaches.
overall, i recommened Madden 2005, i love it, and will be keeping it around for a long time.
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video-games_xbox
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Now did I enjoy grinding and shooting thoughout the game. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a big and expansive game, or that it's even slightly deep. It's set in an open world, but it's unfortunately empty and barren with not a whole lot to do. I was led to believe there would be a lot to do and explore, interesting characters to meet, but there's nothing of the sort. I finished almost everything I wanted to do including the story and most side quests in under 15 hours. And the game barely offers a challenge. The guns are cool and some of the upgrades are fun to mess around with, but eventually it will get very old. There's just no replay value, especially since the campaign is so short and the multiplayer is fairly weak.
Now did I enjoy grinding and shooting thoughout the game? Yes. I never felt like there was a ton of progression with my character but I had fun in a shallow and basic sense. But the fact that Sunset Overdrive received quite a few 5 stars, 9/10's, etc., is a bit absurd to me. The things that really kill the game are the repetitive mission design and that there isn't really much to do in the world except complete some basic missions and obtain collectibles. You'll mostly be grinding and shooting in a colorful and shallow city with colorful and shallow characters. If that sounds like fun, there you go. But I expect a lot more from AAA games than this. As I said, I completed everything I wanted in a pretty short amount of time and I have no desire to ever go back and play it again. 3 stars is more than fair for a game like Sunset Overdrive. So, do I recommend this game? That depends on what you're looking for. If you like what you see and provided you just want something quick to do, yes you can get it for cheap, so go for it. But if you want a deeper and more rewarding experience, something you can really put some hours into, then skip it because it's very clearly been hyped up to be something more than it is. It's a very simple and shallow game that you will not be playing for very long. Certainly not a system seller, not even close.
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video-games_xbox
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A Monstrous Scam. This cable is actually worse than the cable that comes with the Xbox 360:
1. It does not have a true digital optical output. All of the photos on Amazon and Monster's website carefully conceal this fact. The cable actually has a standard mini-stereo analogue output jack, so the digital sound out of the Xbox is converted to a cheap analogue connection, and Monster then provides a little adapter that converts this back to a digital optical output. Do you want to convert your CDs to cassette and then back to MP3 files? That's essentially what Monster is doing here, and you don't find that out until you actually open the box and see what's inside. Of course it's cheap for them since they can also sell a standard analogue cable to plug into their output for people who don't have digital inputs on their amplifier, but it's a major ripoff for people who think that they're getting pure digital sound out of their Xbox 360.
2. But it gets worse. The component video connectors are the same as provided for free with the Xbox 360. I own real broadcast quality component cables, so I know what a well-shielded cable looks and feels like. A real, high-quality component cable is as thick as all three of these Monster cables together, and a set of broadcast quality cables of the same length is actually a little bit less expensive than the Monster cable. The Monster cables do not improve the picture compared to the free cables that come with the Xbox 360, and they are almost identical in thickness. The connectors at the end look a little nicer, but the end result is the same on screen. (Unfortunately, I can't find professional cables available with the Xbox 360 plug, so I can't use them with the Xbox 360).
In conclusion, the free cable that comes with the Xbox 360 has the same picture quality (very good, actually) and real optical digital output. These Monster cables have faked optical digital output with no improvement in picture quality. I would be very happy with the free Xbox 360 cables if the optical connection was secure. However, it's a bit loose, so my optical cable tends to fall out. The Monster cable doesn't even have real digital output, however, so it's not an improvement. For now I'll just push the connector back in on the free cables whenever it comes loose. Saves me $60 and keeps the pure digital sound.
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video-games_xbox
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Not Sure What All The Anger Is About; If You Like The Demo, You'll Like The Game Basically. Ok, I'll admit that my experience with Madden up this point has been a purely social affair; 2008 Madden was the catalyst for the the greatest drinking game known to man being created by me and my friends (chugging a beer after a kick or punt return for a TD? You bet!). Then there was the roster update with 2009 that was meh (I remember that one distinctly though because Wal-Mart was giving the updated cover inserts with the game because Brett Favre was on the Jets when the game came out, but the original print was him in the Packers uniform...classic!). Next was Madden 2011 (which I never owned, but my friend did) and it was mostly business as usual.
However, that was all multiplayer and social experienced Madden. I never went beyond that because I usually never had the time or desire to (I did used to LOVE the training sessions where you could do the 40 yard dash and bench press and stuff...that's about it though).
My point is, I get where everyone is coming from. Some people want "A" and some people want "B" and you're just never going to get both most times. But, I played the demo after not sniffing a Madden game for almost 2 years and I felt encouraged to purchase...which I did of course. And you know what? I've enjoyed two fun (yet frustrating...just on All-Pro still, but working out kinks) games so far and I feel like there are many more experiences like that to come. Will I like Connected Careers? I don't know. Will the game become stale? Maybe. Will there be glitches and things that I freak out about not being able to do or customize? Probably. But again, the core of this franchise is football and for what it is worth, I enjoy controlling Cam Newton with the seconds ticking down in the 4th quarter and trying to score a TD to win the (simulated) game, and that's enough for me; that's worth my $60 (minus $15 Amazon credit that I will use towards the Black Ops II pre-order).
Maybe I'm an optimist or I just try to find the good in things or give something a fair shake, but to come here because one or two pieces of a game have changed or been removed and rate 1 star doesn't seem legit to me (and I'm the first one to knock a star or two off of a review if it is legitimately lacking for whatever reason). Would you buy a car because you bought the same model 5 years ago and then get pissed when you realize they removed the CD player? Probably not...you would have researched and known this happened and then test driven the car and then made a decision after that instead of going online and bashing the car's lack of CD player (bad analogy...I know). :-)
So, let's all take these reviews with a grain of salt and if you are on the fence, try out the demo or rent the game first and then see if this game is right for you. Just my $.02. And after re-reading my "review", it's apparent how many great memories this game has brought me so that in and of itself is enough of a reason for me to scratch the Madden itch again and take the good with the bad.
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video-games_xbox
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Buying guide for Xbox One bundles. I wanted to create a guide to help those interested in purchasing an Xbox One, since there are so many bundles, and offers change constantly. I'll attempt to keep this up to date as the bundles change. This is NOT a comparison to Playstation 4 or Wii U.
Presently Amazon is offering all current bundles (excepting Halo 5 bundle) with an extra game (Mad Max or Just Dance - I don't know how viable or fun this game would be without a Kinect, which is not in the Lego bundle, FYI), or a $50 gift card (including Halo 5 bundle). Starting November 6th you get the game of your choice AND the $50 gift card, so wait until then at least!
A short list of features that may interest you, current and upcoming (November 12, 2015), shared by all Xbox Ones (more details can be found in product descriptions and Microsoft sites) -
HDMI pass through. You can hook up an HDMI device to the back of an Xbox One to view the content from that device without changing inputs or leaving the X1 interface. This allows for split screen viewing and if a cable box or the official TV tuner, you can view the channel guide, watch TV, and set recordings.
It is backwards compatible with some Xbox 360 games. This is great for those with backlogs (like me...) or those who want to revisit finished games without having another console plugged into the wall/TV. In the fall, owners of publisher approved disc or digital 360 games will be able to play them emulated on the X1. Some X1 games also include their 360 precursors with purchase for play on the X1 in case you missed them. Gears or War Ultimate Edition includes all 4 Xbox 360 Gears games and Fallout 4 includes Fallout 3, for example. List of games and other info here -[...]
It will stream content to Windows 10 devices.
Xbox Live Gold now applies to households instead of individuals; meaning that multiple accounts on the same console can have access to the same features but have differing account restrictions (I.E. parental controls). So you can let your kids play Garden Warfare online, but not Gears of War.
External USB 3.0 storage. This is great because, 1) you don't need to open the console and replace a hard disc to add storage, just plug in and the X1 will format the drive, 2) even disc-based games have compulsory installs and can be upwards of 50GB each, eating storage space quickly, 3) external drives can be spacious and cheap, and last but not least, 4) USB 3.0 is actually faster than the internal hard disc interface. This means that a game on an external drive will load faster than one on the internal drive, usually by a significant amount.
The bundles-
The bundles can be split into 3 different groups based on time of release. The upcoming and current bundles include a newer controller that has a standard 3.5mm audio jack built in and output both game and chat audio through it (excepting the new Kinect bundles). Legacy consoles include an older controller without the standard audio jack and shouldnt be expected to be widely available at the suggested price (and some I haven't included, due to their rarity at this point). There are no other functional differences. All bundles include a controller, HDMI cable, chat headset (with exceptions), and a 14 day Xbox Live Gold trial membership (paid $60/year service to play online and download the Games with Gold, a monthly rotation of full games you're free to download and keep (forever for 360 games and as long as you have Live Gold in active subscription for X1 games).
Upcoming bundles (with rating based on what you get for the money. Star and letter ratings are intended for the suggested price listed next to the bundle, not whatever current prices are.) -
Fallout 4 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Fallout 4 game (download - Per Microsoft Support - All bundled Xbox One games will be download codes, to avoid damage to discs in shipping), a download of the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3, and a chat headset. Releases November 10th. B+ rating. Two open-world RPGs for grownups.
Rise of the Tomb Raider 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, downloads of Rise of the Tomb Raider, DLC, and its predecessor, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases November 3rd. B+ rating. The Tomb Raider reboot from 2013 was pretty good and I expect the sequel will be even better. Great for adults who love action adventure. Amazon won't be stocking this one, unfortunately...
Xbox One Elite 1TB bundle. $499. Includes a console with a 1TB hybrid SSD and hard disc for quicker load times for the items you access the most and the Elite controller, which has replaceable/customizable sticks, buttons, and triggers for the professionals or tinkerers. While the internal storage on this will be better than the standard HDDs in other X1s, the performance increase PROBABLY won't match external USB3.0 drives, due to the continued use of the SATA interface. There's little information about the size of the SSD partition and many hybrid drives don't allow you to choose what content is on which partition. The elite controller isn't yet available, but will retail for $150 (about triple the price of a regular controller). If you want the best/most storage and best controller out of the box, this is the bundle for you, but you won't get any games with it, or a headset, from the looks of it. B rating. Also note that this version releases earlier if purchased from the Microsoft Store or Gamestop.
Current bundles -
Kinect 500GB Bundle - $399. Includes 500GB console, the Kinect camera, a chat headset, the old model controller, and three Kinect-focused game downloads: Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals and Zoo Tycoon. Finally another Kinect bundle! The X1 UI is made better and more easily navigable with the Kinect, and there are fun, energetic games to be played with it. A rating. Great for those who want to move and enjoy motion and voice controls, but its expensive and has little storage.
Holiday 1TB Bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Gears of War Ultimate Edition (as well as all 360 Gears games if you play online before the end of the year), Rare Replay, and Ori and the Blind Forest game downloads, the new controller, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases October 27th. A rating. Something(s) for everyone in this bundle, with 36 games included.
Halo 5 Limited Edition 1TB bundle. $499. Includes custom console with Halo sounds, and custom controller, with the Halo 5 Limited Edition (steelcase, guardian figure, game download and add-on content). Why a limited edition would come without a physical game is beyond me... It may not bother some, but it will upset many. This is a higher premium than the Forza 6 bundle (charging an extra $100 for an extra $40 package). For Halo aficionados/console collectors only.
Lego Movie 500GB bundle - $349. Includes 500GB console and download of the Lego Movie Videogame and no headset, apparently. C+ rating. Game is a cheap one and good for kids, but little value in this bundle compared to others.
FIFA and Madden 16 1TB bundles. $399. I'm grouping these together because other than the type of football you prefer, they are the same. Both include either the latest Madden NFL or FIFA soccer game download and a year of EA access, a paid ($30/yr) service which allows Xbox One users early access to EA releases, extended demos with progress that can be saved if a full game is purchased, discounts on EA games, and free access to the Vault, currently 13 (soon to be 14) full games. Great if you like EA's games. A- for each.
Gears of War 500GB bundle. $349. Includes Gears of War Ultimate Edition download (as well as all 360 Gears games if you play online before the end of the year). This 500GB model includes the new controller, but does not include a headset. B+ rating.
Legacy bundles-
Forza 6 1TB Bundle. $399. Custom Forza-inspired console with racing sounds and custom controller, and download code for Forza 6 and extra content, and a chat headset. A- rating, though some may not like the custom design and sounds.
Halo Master Chief Collection 1TB bundle. $399. Looks like this being phased out. Standard console, plus download code for the Master Chief Collection (the four numbered Halo games in a single package). B rating.
Halo Master Chief 500GB bundle. $349. If you can get it at the retail price, I'd consider it an A-, since the cost to upgrade storage to 1TB or greater is around or less than the $50 to get the 1TB model, and it'll perform better.
Keep in mind that the lowest prices and best bundles tend to happen around the winter holiday season, so unless you really want to get one now, you're probably best served waiting till around Black Friday, when multiple stores will be trying to entice you with lower prices and more pack-ins. This is especially true since Sony recently cut the price of the Playstation 4.
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video-games_xbox
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A blast to play, cinematics are overdone. I played this on hardcore and had a blast. It has all the blood, gore and language one has come to expect from a GOW game, the weapons have been tweaked, and there are plenty of new baddies. There are plenty of places to trade out weapons, reload, etc. If a situation is challenging, there will be ammo crates nearby. After a couple of chapters I realized that when I came across a few crates in the same place, there was going to be an especially challenging battle or boss coming up. I was actually surprised how readily available ammo and weapon-types were. I only ran out of ammo a few times and it was a simple matter of swapping out the Lancer for any weapon the baddies dropped. The types are varied - shotguns, grenade launcher (well, a "Digger" launcher), handguns, etc.
The Gorgon SMG, Hammerburst II and Gnasher Shotgun are my most often used weapons. The One-Shot sniper rifle is a blast and can be carried in addition to other weapons. When you're in a situation where you have to defend the high ground, there will be sniper rifles and usually a one-shot around. If the situation could benefit from a Torque Bow, there will be some nearby. So you can drop and swap weapons frequently.
I expected Hardcore to be much more difficult, but with the exception of some especially tough bosses, I rarely died in battle. That darn Berserker was a real pain to kill, primarily because all his glowing fluids were toxic.
I'll probably play it again a couple of more times - gotta get all the achievements possible!
One caveat - the cinematics are overdone. Do we really need to see "Cole Train" having what appears to be an acid flashback for around five minutes? It may have been shorter, but it seemed like 5 minutes. I was thinking "Wow - they must have blown a ton of money on a rendering-farm so have to justify it!" Thankfully you can skip them.
Edit: 10-13-2011
Have spent many hours in munti-player. The lost connections common in GOW 2 are gone. I have played over 500 games and never had a dropped connection or noticeable lag! Love the Hammerburst's Iron-Sights!
If you want to improve your team play, practice in private mode with all bots - start on casual and work your way up. You'll improve fast, earn medals and executions, and become a much better player. Set all the weapons to the one you want to master. Play for a week with all sniper rifles and Hammerburst. Then all Torque Bow and Digger. And so on. This really helped me master the various weapons, and learn what NOT to do! Man, do NOT use that mulcher unless you're on a TEAM that will watch your six!
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video-games_xbox
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Even Great Products Have Issues. This is a nice upgrade from the XBOX 360, and for the price, I'm not sure how you can beat it. Some pros and cons below, and most of the cons are things that can be easily remedied, so get on it Microsoft!
PROS
+ Bundled Price: 500GB XBOX One with two games (AC: Black Flag, and AC: Unity) for $350.00. Difficult to argue with that deal. Only issue was the games were digital, not hard copies, which takes away some value for sure, as well as the fact they both take up a tremendous amount of space. Still a great deal.
+ Controller: I was a big fan of the XBOX 360 controller, and this one is an improvement on that, while still being familiar.
+Graphics: The graphics seem so much nicer and sleeker on the XBO as opposed to the XBOX 360.
CONS
- Storage Space: The XBOX One comes with 500GB, but it really doesn't. After the software that comes on it, plus all the updates, you're really down a good amount of storage space. With the industry trending to an all digital library of games and such, storage space becomes more important then ever. You'd think with this next generations of consoles, 1TB would be the standard, not the upgrade. After installing AC: Unity, already I've used up 10.5% of my total storage space. Not cool.
- Console Size/Power Brick: With all the micro-technology around today, you'd think that things could be made smaller. You'd think they could build the power brick right into this huge console. I just want one simple wire running to an electrical outlet to power the console, but this huge brick is there taking up a lot of space. I'd like to see a console a lot sleeker with a lot more power, and I feel like the technology is there to make that happen.
- Digital Download: Three main issues. First off the time to download takes a LONG time. It took almost 12 hours to pre-install AC: Unity. Second the value goes down because you can't resell the game once you purchase it, or use it on a friend's console. Third off the amount of space it takes up is tremendous. When you only have a limited amount of space on the XBOX, and it fills up fast, you're forced to choose what games you want. I'm all for futuristic downloads where I'll never even need to go to a store to buy it, rather just enter the code and it works. But when you buy the console it needs to come with a hardcopy of the game.
- Packaging: I have to say I find the packaging on the XBOX One incredibly cheap looking (at least compared to my XBOX 360).
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video-games_xbox
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Decent Game. First of all, I would like to point out that this is the first Dragon Age game I played so I will not compare it to Dragon Age Origins. Alright, let's get started.
Story: When I was reading the description of the game it said that it was supposed to be a decade long journey of your character's rise to power. The game sort of fulfills this in a very shallow way. The game is split into 3 Acts, but in that supposed decade long journey, you really only play a couple of months to a year in-game. There is a small prologue in the beginning of your character settling in at Kirkwall after running from the blight. It flashes forward a couple of months to Act 1 which finds your character doing missions for money to go into the Deep Roads, then Act 2 puts you as the center piece of an invasion and Act 3 puts you in the center of the War between Mages and Templars. In between each act is an intermission of a couple of months to 2 years and that is supposed to add to the year count.
The story is very character centric, each of your party members have their own views on the whole Mage VS. Templar debate but you form your own perspective on each class depending on what you see during the game. They eventually make you choose a side in the end but the actual ending ends up the same no matter which side you choose. You have a variety of companions (you can only take 3 with you at a time) each having their own personality and views on whatever is happening in game. You can mix and match and you will hear a variety of conversations happening with your companions and yourself. In my opinion this is one of the best parts of the game, your companions interacting with each other and the banter between them.
Gameplay: I am a very action oriented guy but I can still enjoy the traditional turn based RPG. With that said Dragon Age 2 is a very flashy game. You choose a class out of 3 unique classes, Mage, Warrior and Rogue. Each class has their own specific skills and passive abilities so you can customize your character to how you want to play the game. Each class is unique enough to warrant 1 play through for each class which I have done. On a side note, the Rogue class seems a bit overpowered, the Assassin and Duelist Skill tree can decimate almost every enemy in the game, if you spec in a certain way most battles end very quickly even in the highest difficulty.
Combat is fast. Each skill has its own unique animation so it looks very flashy (especially mage spells). You're mostly mashing X with the occasional special move but there is some strategy in there such as hitting enemies in the back, using poisons and in the hardest difficulty friendly-fire( you have to watch your moves and plan accordingly since a single misfire from your mage and they can kill the rest of your party pretty quickly). The downside is enemy variety, you see the same spider and skeleton and bandit enemy in all 3 Acts. They throw in the occasional Boss enemy (High Dragon, Rock Wraith, The Arishok) but those are far and few in between. Another disappointing aspect is the recycling of environments. Its bad enough that you can't leave Kirkwall but you essentially fight in the same dungeon over and over.
DLC: This game comes with a decent amount of DLC. If you buy it new, then it comes with codes for the Black Emporium ( a store where you can buy Armor, Crafting Materials, etc.) and a new playable character. That's a pretty good incentive to buy new since a new game only cost between $10-$20. The best DLC of course is the Legacy and Mark of the Assassin DLC. Both address a problem in the game since it provides new environments other than Kirkwall. The Legacy DLC is story oriented with a focus on the Blight, while Mark of the Assassin is more concerned with the Qunari invasion in Act 2, although both can be played at any point in the game. Both DLC cost over $5 (I'm not sure of the actual amount) but I think they are worth it if you want the full experience. Other DLC like weapons and armor are available but are not necessary.
Conclusion:
PRO:
+ Good Gameplay
+ Unique Classes
+ Great Characters and excellent interactions between charcaters
CON:
- Shallow Story
- Relatively short compared to other RPG games
- Repetitive enemies
- Recycled environments
Should you buy this game? I had a lot of fun with this game but I also see where the complaints are coming from. There is a demo that can be found in Xbox Live or PSN but its a poor representation of the game. I suggest renting it as the game is short enough that it can be beat within a week or two.
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video-games_xbox
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Disappointing. Knights of the Old Republic II is a good game. Maybe even a very good game. Which is a pity, because its prequel was one of the greatest games of all time. The sequel doesn't live up.
The game mechanics are virtually identical to the original, which is fine. There are a few minor tweaks. The workbench can now be used to create items, not just upgrade them, and there's a new "lab station" that can make medical items and explosives. Both of these stations are much more common than the workbench was in the original. You can now switch among several "forms" which give bonuses to some attributes and penalties to others. Pazaak has been improved with the addition of some new cards, plus the first play alternates between the contestants. Other than that, there's not much in the engine that's new.
Which, again, is fine. The original's mechanics worked well and there's no need to change them. But the original achieved legendary status by building a powerful and compelling storyline on top of those mechanics, and here the sequel falls short.
The characters aren't as interesting. Your character's motivations are far less clear. There are times when a character's actions become cryptic for nothing more than the sake of being cryptic. The game shows you many cutscenes where your main character is not present, so you will gain knowledge that your character is unable to act on, which can be frustrating.
I found KotOR II much easier than the original. Virtually none of the enemies provided a challenge. I frequently found myself opening a door, facing up to a dozen foes, and slicing through them like butter, only to open the next door and do it all over again. There is an adjustable difficulty level, which I left on Normal... I can't imagine what Easy must be like.
While leaving the engine pretty much alone, Obsidian abused it by throwing more at it than it can handle. Occasions where the frame rate drops are frequent, sometimes unacceptably so. In a few instances, it dropped to less than one frame per second. I also encountered one hard crash while playing. Fortunately, the game autosaves frequently.
Ironically, I was compelled to play the game almost continuously through and completed it in a single weekend. This was because I kept waiting for it to get better, waiting for the dramatic improvement that would make it a worthy sequel. It never came, and the ending was as disappointing as the rest of the game.
My advice to those who played and loved the prequel is to play KotOR II, but keep your expectations low. Perhaps then the disappointment won't be as bitter.
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video-games_xbox
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Performance, performance, performance for everyday use. Xbox One is so much faster than an Xbox 360 at waking up, signing in, and switching to Netflix, Hulu, music, games, etc. that dare I say it'll pay for itself in time-not-spent-waiting for-a-spinning-circle. The 360 was too darn slow, but One goes above and beyond correcting sins of the father.
You can set it to turn the TV on/off, control volume on the receiver, and control cable box (although we don't have one.) It does away with our typical "where's that remote" scenarios, as now we say what we want, or use the SmartGlass app for volume and picking content while someone else uses the TV. Now we lose the Xbox controller instead, because we're getting most everything done without it.
Voice control is pretty similar to the 360 in its ability to recognize what we're saying, but there's a much "flatter" layout of voice commands that means there are fewer steps. It's also much easier to go back if it mishears you... the home screen is always one voice command away, and then recent tasks are shown there to select from.
The current games are the last generation games, but prettier. I see distance & shadow/light details, but there's not much left to top from the former generation. Perhaps the biggest improvement in gaming on the One is again performance. It's fast to stop and resume games, and I've not yet put a game disc in the console. This certainly has me playing games more often... you can get a session in while everyone goes to the john, and be back to Netflix right away when they return. I hope there is a solid market for casual games on the console... right now it's a bit narrow.
The software definitely has some bugs. Apps suddenly quit from time to time, and both the 'currently running' tile and the pinned tiles have gone bonkers on me. If you do try to leave a game during a loading screen, be prepared to see a performance hiccup that looks like non-response.
I really like the Xbox One, and I'm excited to see how its game catalog develops.
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video-games_xbox
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My favorite Arkham game yet. I have all three Arkham games(all on Xbox), and I honestly believe they've gotten better with every installment. A lot of reviewers complained that this was just more of the same. I sort-of agree, but that's not a bad thing. Overall, I felt gameplay was subtly improved over Arkham City with little touches like the Shock Gloves going a long way to alleviate my annoyances with the previous installment's combat. Like when you're in a fight with a bunch of shield bearers and you end up spending more time taking shields and knives away than actually fighting. Yes, I'm referring to that open area in the old subway station in City. You know, the one filled with heavy's and shield bearers...
A big complaint that a lot of people had was the way gliding get's broken by the city's seemingly haphazard design. And initially I agreed. I changed my tune after only a few hours of play though. Once you've got a good general idea of the city, it actually becomes pretty trivial to find glide paths from just about anywhere to just about anywhere and the more random layout of the city makes gliding feel more natural and less like a cheap gameplay mechanic. In fact, I found that I almost never used the fast travel except when I wanted to head back to the Batcave.
The Riddler missions are essentially the same, but I found that the way they were presented in Origins gave a greater sense of urgency and made them a more compelling diversion from the main missions. TBH, I had a hard time caring at all about these in both Asylum and City, but I not only finished the Riddler plot-line in Origins, I enjoyed doing so.
The story is, quite frankly, where Origins really shines though. While I do agree with most reviewers that certain of the assassins were rushed through(I'm kinda pissed about how small a contribution Deathstroke gave to this game, though the end credits scene gave me some hope in that regard), I have to say that, despite the way the trailers presented things, this game is not about Batman taking on assassins. There is a much deeper, and quite frankly, way better plot that develops behind the scene presented by the contract on Batman story presented in all the marketing.
As a final addendum, I feel I should say that, I have yet to run into any of the bugs that people have been complaining about. Well, ok, i did run into one bug, but it actually helped me complete the challenge where you can't use detective vision during a conflict.(Hint: Enter the conflict with Detective Vision on and don't turn it off until the situation is done. May have been patched by now.)
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video-games_xbox
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I only wish it was longer. PROS:
+ Simple, yet compelling story about loss, revenge, and the choices of a man with nothing to lose
+ Air tight controls
+ Great sound design, you can really tell how far a guard is by the sound of his footsteps or hearing him whistle
+ Fun powers really allow you to play how you want to play
+ Always lots of ways to tackle a problem (alternate pathways aplenty, fight vs flee)
+ The game will not hold your hand after some initial tutorials, it trusts you to figure things out on your own without completely abandoning you (there's still arrows point to your destinations)
CONS:
- Fair amount of reloading if you go for 100% stealth or no kill play through (install on your hard drive for much faster loads)
- Sometimes, despite your best efforts, some random enemy will spot and engage you
- The 9 missions can be repetitive (they re-use some of the settings for multiple levels)
- No way to check your mission progress/Chaos level till the end of each mission (did I accidentally kill someone?)
- Kinda just ends...
I have a hit or miss relationship with stealth games. I loved most of the Metal Gear games but hated Deus Ex Human Revolution, so I was very leery about getting this game since it was another 1st person stealth game. And yes, it has some really frustrating "How in the world did he see me?" moments, but as a whole, the game is perfect IF you are a certain type of gamer.
If you are willing to play the game the "right way" (i.e. sneaky without actually killing anyone) this game will reward you with a tense, edge of you seat experience unlike anything in recent memory. You are Corvo, the Empress's personal bodyguard who is wrongfully accused of murdering her. After the intro scene, a mysterious group loyal to Emily, the Empress's daughter, free you from prison to exact revenge on those that conspired against the crown. They ask you to go on missions to take down those who were involved with the conspiracy and re-establish Emily as the rightful ruler.
What makes this game remarkable is you have some much freedom in the way you carry out your objectives. For example, sure you could go in a kill the high overseer and escape in a hail of gunfire and barking dogs, but why not humiliate and ruin him by (literally) branding him a heretic and removing him from office? This is the kind of choice Dishonored gives you, and it's where the game truly shines. You can get in, get your kill and get out, or you can explore the world to do side missions and earn rewards and sometimes people who will do your deeds for you. Of course, it you just want to run through, shooting everyone and summoning plagues of rats to devour opponents, then hey, that's cool too.
One final note about choices though, there's a Chaos system in place that alters the world, characters and the ending. If you go in trigger happy and kill a bunch of guys, you are considered "High Chaos." Alternately, if you go stealth and merely knock out guard and keep your body count low, you qualify for "Low Chaos." High chaos might sound like more fun, but that will lead to people seeing you more as a murderer than a savior, and the world will start to be populated by more plague rats and weepers, which are two of the the tricky enemies to deal with. The game will tell you at the end of each level if you are high or low and give you the chance to go back and replay. Again, you cannot check this status till the end of the missions, so if you want the "Good" ending, stick to low chaos.
The game is on the short side with 9 hour long or so missions, though you can easily stretch them much longer if you choose to. I was happy I got it for $25 on Black Friday, would've been a little bummed to pay $60.
Give this game a chance, play it the way it's meant to be played, and you will be rewarded with the best new IP of the year for sure. Just be ready to reload a few dozen times.
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video-games_xbox
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Fixed, my butt. So this game was basically the upgrade plus fixes that everyone wanted from the second one. Which I can say it is. But its not completely fixed. The only thing im going to review is the online play because thats what you buy the game for. Massive amount of characters, and most tend to be balanced. However the problem is, MOST. There is the Part I characters, which are slightly underpowered and I always figured to use them online you have to be a badass at this game. Which is mostly true because they are about balanced, nothing too cheap with them. But then there is the other characters. Masked Man. MASKED MAN! I can not stress how this 1 character completely shatters the online play. First of all. In this game you can equip 1 ninja card at a time. NO ONE uses a card because they like the picture. EVERYONE uses the cards with the HUGE powerups. If that isn't enough. I would say almost fifty percent of the time playing online you will face Masked Man. I will tell you the strategy everyone uses with him that will null and void anyone regardless of skill level. SPAM JUTSU 1. You win. Its a fast attack that avoid attacks like the substitution, but also does damage, is fast, and hard to avoid. If thats not enough, they usually combine it with chakra dashes. So this whole time if you manage to get a hit on him, he's always got a full substitution gauge. And if thats NOT enough. OP card, OP skill, his second jutsu is incredibly fast and powerful as well! You will NEVER EVER beat a Masked Man online. Thats a promise. Also most people that pick him ALWAYS pick an OP card. Especially the ones that increases substitution gauge, just to make sure they can win against anyone no matter the rank.
There are a small handfull of characters in the game with spammable attacks, that if abused right will almost always win inevitably. Kakashi's lightning blade for example. And when someone spams these attacks they aren't doing it just to do damage. They are trying to get you to waste your substitutions so they can put you in an infinite combo and win. I have been to the official forums and sought after answers to my concerns. I was told. Look at their battle record, it will show most used characters. Well what people seem not to understand is, this game is addicting. There are ones who play ALL day. Im sure they get tired of Masked Man over and over. So he isn't always at the top of the list, but he just so happens to be selected when your playing. And really!? Should I HAVE to look at the battle record everytime I play a match just because the creators of this game were too lazy to make a couple fixes? The small fixes that this game requires would make it a 5 star game, and easily the best game of 2012.
Its an ONLINE based game. Yet there are never updates or DLC. The game is exploitable, and people will abuse it just to get high rank. I waited like a year and had this game on pre-order. Not so sure why it cost more now, than 3 months ago. But I wouldnt prefer this game until there are fixes. You will just get very aggravated at it. I guess its mostly the players who abuse it though, you don't HAVE to be a cheap ass like everyone else. But your probably going to anyway.
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video-games_xbox
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Shooting action in its purest form. The Metal Slug series is a new spin on "Contra Clone" games, although in many gamers' opinions the Metal Slug series is actually a lot better than Contra. The last game to be released on XBOX was Metal Slug 3, a fantastic game. Now come the next two.
In MS3, the emphasis of the game was placed on the fun of the sheer weirdness found in the game. Yetis, zombies, a monkey with an uzi, and even the ability to become obese gave the game tons of appeal because it was both funny and enjoyable to play. Although a bit overpriced at $40, it was the best game in the series, so I didn't complain. MS 4 and 5 are extremely similar to each other, but are two games, and are thus a better value than the previous foray into the Metal Slug world.
There is a lot less interest in these games. You cannot be fat, there's no monkey helper, and most of the enemies you'll be fighting will be nothing more than ordinary troops. However, to make up for this, the battles in this game are qite a bit more frantic and bloody than MS3's. These games are far more action packed than 3, even if they are a little less interesting.
In terms of new stuff, apart from new stages, there isn't much. MS4 introduces the ability to weild 2 heavy machine guns at once for double the firepower, and MS5 lets you slide on the ground to avoid enemy fire. These additions don't add much to the overall package, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Some might scoff at the 2 dimensional graphics. Most people, like me, are willing to give a game a chance as long as its fun to play. If you are one of these purist types, this game is not for you. If you are a wimp who cannot play games with any modicum of difficulty, this game is not for you. It is hard. However, if you care more about having a total blast without having to shell out quarters every time you die, you're gonna have a lot of fun blowing the crap out of swarms of goofy looking soldiers, monsters, and vehicles. There is no shortage of either weapons or enemies, and I can't really think of a point where either of the games got boring for me.
If you aren't sure about you tastes, rent this one first. If you bought MS3 and liked it, just buy it. Thats all there really is to say about this incredible pair. Have fun.
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video-games_xbox
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Hard to find better for the price. EDIT 2/24/2017:
I was contacted by 7 Watts about the review and they wanted to make things right. Since my original order in 4/2016 they had made some changes and wanted me to give the product another go. I was surprised that they reached out so long after the order but it is good they are following up on their reviews. I agreed and I got the new product yesterday.
1. They sent me 2 instead of only one (I will give the other to a friend)
2. I looked at both sets and used one of them fully... I have 4 Xbox 360 controllers and 2 Xbox one controllers. I used it to take apart all of them for cleaning. The product holds up much better this time as there is minimal marring on the separator. The drivers in these packages are produced correctly as well. The T8's hole is properly flush with this tip of the driver so the blades actually make it inside the screw this time. This was the major flaw in the last set as that hole wasn't flush and the bit in the center of the screw would contact the driver before the blades made it inside the screw... so you couldn't unscrew it at all. Both sets this time do not suffer from this issue.
I'm not 100% what changed as it was almost a year ago, when I reviewed the first one... it could have been a bad batch that I got... either way the current version of the product is better than it was when I originally reviewed it. I almost moved the review up to just 4 stars... since it did take almost a year to respond... but they sent me 2 so I think that garners them the extra star. :)
Thanks for reaching out!
**********************
**********************
Original Review: 4/2016
I guess I shouldn't be surprised... a good T8 bit cost more than this whole set.
So I have 4 MS Xbox controllers... not modded... not after market
This T8 sec bit drive has a tiny almost non-existent hole. (which is actually raised over the tip... so the dot in the middle of the screw comes in contact with the driver.. before the points of the bit come into contact with the screw)
Because of the previous point... I stripped at least 4 screws trying to get them all out. One of them.. I can't get out at all.
The plastic separator ... bent the first time I ran it along the case. So you get a few uses out of it.. but expect this to be a use it and toss kit piece.
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video-games_xbox
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I WANTED to like it. I only recently got into LOST. After watching all the episodes I got hooked and got this game to satisfy my LOST-tooth. I give the developers props for creating a game that is NOT another first person shooter. They created a beautiful world with a great story, immersive artwork and fitting acting. Where did they fall short? Everything else. The game is choppy. Even in 2008 they could have made it smoother. When conversing with fellow castaways the screen goes black for a second as it cuts between the different dialogue tracks. With the most powerful gaming consoles behind this game, that should not be necessary. Also the game is very exact in what it will accept as the right answer. In many puzzles you are asked to take pictures of objects, but the program is very specific- if the angle is off by even a little you have to keep repeating it until you get it perfect, without useful feedback as to how to fix the problem. There are long cutscenes between chapters which cannot be skipped. As in "previously on LOST..." IF you want to just shut up and play, you can't. You need to sit through episode like recounts of what you just did. This is doubly frustrating when the cutscene is integrated into what you need to do. Even a slight mistake in the task and you get to sit through 2 minutes of cutscene all over again. The system of looking at and using items in the environment is also frustrating. You can be directly in front of the item you are trying to use, but if the game's camera is not set just right you'll end up doing the truffle shuffle trying to get the computer to recognize what you are trying to do. The rules also seem nonsensical. For instance, if you spend too much time in the darkness you will die and the game over screen will just say "The darkness killed you." WTH? Many of the puzzles are math problems with fuses and voltage, look for something through caves and go back and forth between locations to get things. Buy it because you like LOST, but if you play more than a chapter a day you will get frustrated and wish you hadn't.
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video-games_xbox
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far from perfect, and not very close to great. Revised version of IMMT 115, HP7
Unlike most professional reviews, I don't feel this game deserves the perfect, or near perfect scores it received across the board. The gameplay is repetitive, the graphics are above average at best, and certain gameplay functions are broken. I'll give this game an A for effort and a C+ in its content, execution, and fun factor.
While not up to the same extinction level media hype that Modern Warfare 2 received, the release of GTA IV was definitely the video game event of the year when released (I myself took four vacation days off from work to play it). Really the only reason it received such high scores is because of the fact that it was the next GTA game, and the first one of this console generation. Naturally, that means an upgrade in graphics. And while the graphical jump from San Andreas to GTA IV is obviously gigantic with this new generation, compared to other games released during (and even before) this time, the graphics are just not all that great. It's just a combination of greys and browns, and everything looks oversaturated. Also, the character models are about on part with other games released during this time, nothing too spectacular, although this is understandable, given the nature of a wide open game like this.
As far as the explorable world goes, I'll say that the level designers did a great job. Part of what gives this game the feeling of grandeur is its very real sense of scope. This is the most realistic depiction of New York City in a game, and that's no small feat. What would've been more interesting though is if they could've had more variety in the types of locations, and maybe different terrain, etc. Gameplay-wise, it becomes very boring driving around the city, or driving to your next mission destination because it all more or less looks the same- it's just building after building after building, with streets and sidewalks. This is a step down from its predecessor, San Andreas, where one moment you're deep in the hood driving past gangbangers, then next you're up in the hills of the suburbs, and next you could be in a wide open countryside going 80mph towards a mountain, a mountain you can climb no less. This design decision made it so that I'm constantly choosing to take a taxi to all of my destinations and use the "skip" option to instantly arrive at my destination.
I really wish they could've implemented more indoor locations to explore. Sure you've got your occasional bar, bowling alley, and strip club, but that's it. The hundreds of other buildings in the game might as well be a flat 2D backdrop, similar to the background in Hill Valley in Back to the Future part 1. It feels shallow and empty with all these buildings you can drive past, with 99% of them being unexplorable. Going back to my previous paragraph about the lack of varied terrain, one may argue against me by saying "exactly how much variety can you give New York City, it's an urban location for god sake's." Well that's true, but had it not been for the lack unexplorable indoor locations, I wouldn't have a complaint about the repetitiveness of the graphics. In other words, my whole argument is saying that due to the lack of terrain, it's pointless to drive since all you see are the same streets and buildings; BUT, if some of these locations were more explorable, and able to be interacted with, then I wouldn't have a problem driving around, since at any given time, I might see a location that looks fun to play around in, and that would be my incentive to stop the car, and go explore the inside of that building.
Speaking more about the gameplay, the missions were repetitive. I can't complain too much, because fundamentally speaking, GTA is basically one big fetch mission: go to point A, drive to point B, murder person C, and extract item D. There's a culmination of reasons why I originally quit this game probably 20 hours into it, but the two major factors were: 1) the driving physics, and 2) the star system. These two things to me broke the gameplay, and made it feel like a task, instead of fun, number two primarily. First though, the driving; put simply, you CANNOT drive properly. You can't turn without completely slowing down, and everything about maneuvering the vehicle feels very unresponsive and very unintuitive. Just maybe, this is what all the physics and math equations work out to when implementing a 100% realistic engine, but you know what, it makes the game less fun, for the sake of realism. The second problem with driving is the fact that due to the camera being too close to the ground, whenever you're going up even a very slight incline, you can't see anything coming towards you. You HAVE to keep your right thumb on the right analog stick and manually keep the camera positioned in a slightly upward tilted angle, otherwise you're going to crash head first into cars or just trees on the sidewalk (trees being the one thing that's forbidden to run over in this game....). There's no excuse for this. What, did the beta-testers and quality assurance not DRIVE in the game so completely missed this flagrantly broken aspect of the game?
The second problem with the gameplay as I stated earlier was the star system. It's too easy to get stars, and there are way too many cops. In previous GTA games you could decide to be a little mischievous and maybe randomly fight people on the street, or even kill them. In this GTA, cops are seemingly everywhere, and anything you do will have them on your tail, even if you've previously made sure to check for patrolling cops on foot or in cars. I'm not speaking of full blown murdering sprees, OBVIOUSLY that's gonna get you stars, and I welcome that. I'm specifically just referring to randomly killing one harmless dude on the street, or just stabbing him or fist fighting him. These are the little things that made the game fun previously; little side distractions and diversions to break up the monotony of the missions. But now with the inclusion of invisible cops that pop out as soon as you commit a crime, out of the most impossible places, it becomes a CHORE to quickly hop in a car and elude their search radius. You're far better off simply not committing the crime in the first place, and just play the game straight. This right here ultimately killed the game to me. It was no longer GTA since I could no longer commit minor crimes for fun without having to immediately flee the scene.
Random points:
**I hate when a game makes a downgrade from its previous version, because it's "too hard" to implement these previous features into the new game. Why can't I swim underwater anymore? Why can't I purchase property anymore? How about a larger variety of clothing to buy? If any game needed the option for masks, it's this game. Niko Bellic is one ugly, unattractive mofo. I'm not gonna get into it here, but Metal Gear did the same thing with these unfortunate downgrades. Think of some of the gameplay functions and extra things you could do (and easter eggs) that were in Sons of Liberty, that completely got scrapped from parts 3 and 4. Just think about it.
**The walking is sooo weird in this game. The way you sort of swivel when you turn, feels like you're weighed down by some giant magnet. And I thought Resident Evil 5's walking/turning mechanics were stiff.
**The graphics on the strippers look very bad. When you go in the back for a private lap dance, the VIP booth you're walking into might as well be a time portal back to 2001, to the time of PS2 graphics.
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video-games_xbox
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DOA- Beautiful, yet short. Great for 2 players, not 1. Straight out of the packaging, DOA is a beautiful game. The graphics are very detailed, fluid, intense and colorful. And so is the action for that matter.
Though the game is 'Okay' for a single player, it is much better suited for cooperative play, or player vs. player. You see, while there are many different game modes, (like survival and time attack) I can't believe this game so blatantly forgot a single player vs. computer mode for single fights (scored by KO's or how many round are won) that is present in any other fighting game like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. What you say? No player vs. computer: Well, yes, there is survival mode in which you choose a character and fight CPU players right after another until either the CPU or you is knocked out, but you have no choice in who you fight or where in this mode...It's all random...I would really have likes a mode where you could pick your opponent and play for the best 2 out of 3 rounds lets say.
Sound: Excellent control over sound. In game settings you can adjust music volume, combat volume, special attacks/effects volume. However, I hope you like Aerosmith...they provide 3 songs that you fight to throughout the game. They are decent and adrenaline pumping,...but Aerosmith? Should have been techno.
Game Control: The game is somewhat sensitive to your hand on the game pad. Could be a pro or a con depending on how you look at it. The A, B, X, Y, white & black buttons and triggers work great. However, I found the 8 directional D-pad a little too sensitive...often resulting in wrong directional combos because you must press it PERFECTLY. This fact carriers over to how you control you players attacks. Like most fighting style genre games, each character has his/her own set of moves based on the pressing of buttons in combination. While I see no other way around this and this is the norm for these type of games, in DOA, it can become ridiculous. Basic moves are easy to pull off, but those spectacular moves require such precision and sometimes lengthy combo's you most likely only use them by luck. Because of the fast pace of this game, DOA turns more into a button masher console that a true strategy game.
Practice mode: You can practice your moves in a special mode, but as stated above you really need to have extremely great coordination to pull some of them off. You get frustrated with some of the moves.
Story mode: The only real 1 player mode is slightly weird. You pick a character and try to complete a 'story' by battling 7 CPU controlled players, then a boss at the end. If you complete all 8 matches, you unlock a great graphically detailed end cut scene that centers around the character. But here's the problems: 1) All voice overs are in Japanese with English subtitles. The only English you here is: You Win, You Lose, Start. Okay...Why? If they can put this in English, why can't they do the rest in English? Why do I have to read subtitles that go by so fast? 2) Flaws in the overall story: Okay..you picked your character and now must fight 7 battles. I get this, but some of the dialogue does not flow from one battle to the next. Two sentences between characters before a fight does not give much of a story...or build up. I think the strangest thing is the battle 8...the boss. After you win battle 7, you are transported to a hellish like realm and must fight this evil looking samurai named Omega. But it is really never explained how you got there or why you are there, who he is, why you must fight him, how he fits into any of the storylines, no dialogue. Most stories have a build up to the last the showdown...a goal that players can understand. Omega is just there. If you defeat him (which he has really impressive yet hard to dodge special attacks) you immediately see the final cut scene. End of story. Very anti-climatic.
Camera mode: Sit back and watch two CPU players knock each other silly, but neither wins. Yes...that's right...all you do is watch, and there is no victory. Um....why?
All in all, DOA 3 has the potential to be a great game. The graphics are there, the music and effects are there, the characters with special moves are there. What's lacking is credible story, and a good 1 player mode. This game is definitely fun if you can get someone else to play you...that's where it shines.
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video-games_xbox
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Arcade wrestling on the 360 - Limited replay value. If you're comparing this to the WWE series from 2K games (or THQ/Yukes before it), you're going to be disappointed. This game was rushed (Midway, a once great and legendary gaming company was closing in on bankruptcy I hear) and is vastly more limited than any of the recent installments in that much more popular series.
It's true, that this game was made when Total Nonstop Action wrestling was still within its prime (some say it peaked in 2005-6) and considered by its fans to be an "alternative" to the WWE, now that WCW and ECW were no longer on television. As such, it is filled with wrestlers that were once in WWE (or are there now) but no longer on the Impact roster.
Probably the best thing about this game is the single player story mode. You start out as "Suicide" a character that was created for this game, but featured on TV for awhile (played by several different wrestlers, and now revamped to look a lot less like "Spider-Man" and renamed "Mannik"), a high flying daredevil of the "X-Division" going for the championship. The story plays as if professional wrestling is a real competitive sport and the heels are "bad guys" in real life, etc. The story takes a clever twist allowing you to create your own character and build your moves. Sadly it takes a lot of time to earn new moves (even after you've beaten the game, you'll have to grind out many matches in single or multiplayer exhibitions to earn the last few moves and characters... that's right, not all of the roster is available at the start). There are only 5 character slots for created players (that's right, only 5! and fans of WWE2K15 complained when they only had 25 on next gen consoles...). The options for creating are also pretty limited. In keeping with the storyline, it makes sense that you can't do more, but that's how it is. More variety would have been nice. You can unlock some videos of the "Knockouts" matches (which at the time were still some of the most popular segments on the show, before most of the talent was fired and it became more like a generic divas division that focused more on their looks than exciting matches) but you can't play as any of them in the game.
Graphics look good with everyone looking like whom they are supposed to be and the sounds make the hits sounds painful. The voice acting is the cheesy stuff you'd expect from a professional wrestling show on cable. If you're a modern fan, the gimmicks will seem pretty dated, of course.
The online play is a major disappointment. I had heard bad things, but by the time I got the game the online community was dead. I could fire up a game and find no one to play with. Plus, your only choices are 1 v 1 or a tag team vs. AI opponents (which apparently is terrible as the AI doesn't do well in this mode). Game modes in general are pretty limited. You get a small number of arenas (with the six sided ring) and they all are basically the same... there are some folding chairs lying on the ground that you can use as weapons (there's no referee, so no disqualifications), and you can have 1 v 1, tag team, falls count anywhere variant or variants of the "Ultimate X" match. "Ultimate X" was TNA's most popular gimmick match that was a variation of a ladder match. They had criss-crossed ropes on pillars around the ring, so that you had a belt (or "X") hanging from the center, that people needed to climb the pillars and climb across to get. Once you get to the center you play a timing based mini-game of button presses to dislodge it (takes about 7-10 tries if I recall) while your opponents try to kick you off or pull you down from the ground (and the weaker you are, the longer it takes you to get up). This can be fun for awhile if you know what you're doing.
There just isn't much variety in this game. All of the sound effects are generic (though there is a ton of recorded speech from the original wrestlers and commentators in the single player story mode). The commentary isn't too bad, but again pretty generic. All of the characters are the same size and have very similar movesets (with their special moves and finishers being the exception). This game makes it pretty easy to counter moves, and by the time you have your finishing move ready, you can basically knock your opponent out and win right then and there, so it's "realistic" as far as that goes. The graphics are pretty good for a game like this, though the crowd looks a lot more fake and cardboard than the rest of the graphics. It does a pretty good job of re-creating what TNA wrestling looked like in 2008, though the camera angles are going to be based on gameplay, not tv angles like the latest WWE games (which went out of their way to try to look like the TV show). That means in 4 player matches the camera is going to be zoomed way out for most of the match.
Content-wise, this game is no worse than any of the recent WWE titles, though there are some uses of adult innuendo in the single player mode that young kids might catch. Overall it's tamer than the actual cable show, if that's any comfort to parents.
Overall this is a title worth trying out if you're a TNA or pro-wrestling game fan, but if it were available as a rental, that would probably be the best way to enjoy it. Once you've unlocked the main roster and finished single player, there isn't much replay value to be had. If this were in a video arcade where you plunked down quarters to play, it would be phenomenal. But as a sports entertainment simulation game for modern consoles, it leaves a lot to be desired. Apparently TNA made one other game after this on portables but then the company was not in a position to make any other games. The engine was used in a later game called "AAA Heroes Del Ring: Lucha Libre" which got mixed reviews and only seemed to see marginal improvements in gameplay. It's too bad, because with enough development I think this really could have been a great series, more akin to the WWE series (which has going for it many years of development, to be fair).
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video-games_xbox
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Good game play, not only the graphics. I've read several reviews that criticize this game because they think people like this game only because of the CG of the girls. Many, who criticize this game, have never laid their hand on this game. They simply made the conclusion based on the preview video Tecmo released. I am a hardcore DOA fan, but I have to say many months ago when I first heard this game and saw the video, I, too, was wondering whether Tecmo is trying to sale this game only by the CG, not the game play. So when it finally came out, I rent one without knowing whether I'll like it or not.
During the game play, the quality of CG did not surprise me at all since I've seen the preview video of this game. However, what did surprise me is that this game is not all about the CG of the girls, the game play is very challenging as well.
I've read the people that who played the game and still criticize the game play. I don't think those people understand what's called "mastering" a game. The concept behind DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball is very similar to the DOA serie games. Games like DOA3, anybody can win a game by randomly pressing the buttons at very high speed. However, to truely master DOA3, you'll need to know the moves and combos, know when and what to press. DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball is very similar in this manner. It is easy to win some game in DOA XBV by randomly pressing the buttons. However, there are a lot to learn to truely master the game. And if you are one of those people that truely understand the art of mastering a game, you won't be disappointed by this game. Of course, on top of the game play, the CG is great as well ;-)
People criticize this game after they played for only several minutes do not understand how challenging a game could be even when it looks simple on the surface. DOA XBV is in fact a very challenging game if you want to truly master it.
DOA XBV is a great game. If you are a gamer that try to master every game you play, then you will love this game. But if you're just somebody that try to waste some time, and never planning to get into any game, then I can't guarantee you anything about this game. You might hate this game like many other reviews did. Who knows...
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video-games_xbox
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Amazing job but. I thought it was going to be the same exact game like last years (FIFA14) but I was wrong. This game looks very real to play. The players show emotions after bad calls, scoring goals while the fans are cheering as loud they could be while you are celebrating, the physics of playing defense and the goalies blocking incredible shots is outstanding, and the gameplay is a little tough but I say that many people will get comfortable of playing this fifa game. It is like FIFA 14 but better. The movement looks realistic like you can actually see them in real life struggling against opponents. I love when I see when players are about to fall but extended their arms to support themselves preventing from falling to the ground. All I can see that FIFA 15 is way better than 14 because they fixed the errors from and improved on the 15. Grab your soccer buddies and enjoy playing this game. They made the video camera angles more real to you like you are watching the Premier League on FOX SPORTS or watching Barcelona on beinsports channel and also like after you finished the match, they put together the highlights showing the emotions throughout the game, the goals, the shots, the saves, and the celebrations. Basically showing the summary in video highlights of how they game went for both teams. Graphics are amazing to watch and play!!!! There will be WTF moments but I say, you won't see as much unlike FIFA 14 had so many mistakes that I had experienced. Enjoy this game, and I recommend everybody who loves the game of soccer to get this game and play online or with family/friends. :D :D Super glad to review this and record my gamplay and uploaded on Youtube :D
EDIT: The game is great but after awhile, you will most mistakes from the AI teammates so I give it a 4 star, because there make a big impact of losing the game or getting scored on. EA DEVELOPERS DID NOT FIX THAT PROBLEM! So I am returning it or selling because it is frustrating to play the game with bad AI. They cover the great graphics with the ugliness of gameplay.
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video-games_xbox
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A great but short Star Wars game. Story: the story takes place between Revenge of the Sith and a New Hope (episodes 3 and 4). Darth Vader searches Kashyyyk for a surviving Jedi, kills him and finds a boy with a strong presence in the force. He raises him as his secret apprentice named Starkiller, unknown to his Sith master, emperor Palpatine. Once the emperor discovers the apprentice, he orders Vader to kill him. Vader tosses Starkiller into space, then sends some droids to retrieve and revive him. Vader then uses Starkiller to crush a rebellion. During his mission, Starkiller rescues Jedi Master Kota, princess Organa and senator Organa. During the rescue, Starkiller learns from Kota about the way of the Jedi and Starkiller becomes their ally. During a planned meeting to form a rebellion, Vader shows up and all hell breaks loose. Vader tells Starkiller he was never meant to overthrow the emperor, but used to expose the emperor's enemies (the rebellion). Starkiller then pursues to rescue the Jedi Kota and the senators captured by Vader. You are given a choice in the ending to kill Vader or save the prisoners.
Gameplay: Third-person action. Armed with a light saber and the force, you take on hordes of bad guys through various locations including space ships and the death star in the Star Wars galaxy. In the beginning, you are taking on good guys (the rebellion), after the double-cross by Vader, you take on imperial troops and droids. The force powers are good and the light saber fighting is better than Obi Wan. You can use button combos to advance your fighting.
Conclusion: the controls are easy to use and comfortable. The game is awesome but my only complaint and reason for the 1 star loss is the game length. While I realize some games are to short and some games are to long (50 hours plus), this game is definitely in the to short category, with game play at around 2 hours. I prefer games to be around 10-20 hours in this generation. Most star wars fans will love this game, even in its short nature, so it's worth picking up.
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video-games_xbox
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Xbox one. Great while it's not glitching out. We'll make this quick and easy. Let's start with the pros. Great graphics smart design and good games so far with the exception of a few in my opinion. Dashboard is easy to use and the voice activation works well while it's working. controllers are lighter and more comfortable to use while maintaining adequate battery life. Overall a great system. So why the 3 star review? Why not the 5 star super review I wish I could give it? Well it's not that stable a platform. After about 6 months of play you'll begin to notice a start to system instability. Namely small glitches in sound, the kinekt voice recognition and laggy performance. Pretty soon almost daily you'll be standing up and having to hold the power button down till it shuts off fully pull the power cord and wait a while. The glitches only seem to go downhill from there. The system is really ruined by the operating system in true Microsoft style. The headset is difficult to get mounted to the controllers as well so be careful. Reposition if it's not going right in cause you will ruin a controller. Other than that it comes to the verdict of is it worth 500 bucks? Well that's hard to say... With the kinekt it's a fun easy to use system. I use the kinekt a lot more than I thought I would so that version gets my vote. But the extra 400 for the system? That's where it gets tricky. Sure you get great games good graphics and a next gen feel that you only sometimes wish was a little better. But when the glitches hit (if your unlucky like me) you need to be ready to reinstall and backup everything. And if that's something that doesn't bother you go ahead! Maybe they will update and patch the thing but who knows. Normally Microsoft is better at making things worse than better.
Final verdict.
If you are set on the Xbox go ahead and do it but REMEMBER you'll be fighting the glitches and terrible programming before too long. I love mine but it's finally beginning to wear on me and you can bet there's a ps4 in my near future.
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video-games_xbox
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Guitar Hero 5 is a Blast. First of all, I would like to preface this review by saying that I have never considered myself to be a Guitar Hero master or competitive authority on the game. I bought this newest addition to the series in hope of just having a very chill game that i could pick up and play whenever I wanted, with whoever I wanted. I was not disappointed, Guitar Hero 5 is just plain FUN.
With consideration to the major headliners of this play-along rock genre of video games, Guitar hero 5 really stands out as tops for me because it gives more freedom to do exactly what I want in the game. If I want to play guitar, sure. If I want to play drums, sure. If all of my friends want to play drums, no problem. This is unique because many of the other games were very strict on the makeup of the band, as well as the difficulty level for those playing in it. None of the people I play with really care about the scoring system or keeping the meter in the green. We all just want to be able to pick up the game and have fun within seconds, for just a short time or for hours. If someone has to go answer the door, they can drop their instrument, mid-song, with no risk of failing the song for the rest of us.
The track list is also very condusive to this mindset. There are more songs on this Guitar Hero game than any other that i have previously owned, and the variety is great. Each song is shown with a difficulty level for each instrument, so you know which song is going to be harder to sing, easier to drum, etc. This has been especially useful for figuring out who is going to play what when dividing up for the song. The familiarity with the songs included is also great. I am a fan of many of the songs outside of the game, and as everyone im sure can relate, it is a lot easier to play out a song that you have heard countless times in your head.
Overall, a great purchase for the price, cannopt wait for the next one!
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video-games_xbox
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Inform yourself before you buy. I followed the development of Brink early this year. A lot of ideas that were seeing on forums, shows and media were enough motive to expect a game with a new approach to common FPS. I've spent a lot of hours with games like Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, Blackops and Borderlands; I tought of Brink like Borderlands, a rich universe to develop a character and finding different types of missions, objectives and guns to play with. Unfortunately this experience left a lot to desire.
The first time I played Brink it took me like two hours and half to complete the "Safe the Ark" part of the game, wich is half of it. I was shocked to find that the multiobjectives during the missions were always in the same areas making the playthrough a straight forward experience all the way, not real strategy so far. People that have played the games that I have named before know that campaigns are not always lenghty but the maps in wich you play on multiplayer are not the same as the campaign, well, in Brink they are the same. You may think that this game can be saved by the multiplayer experience, well you're wrong. As today, the developer of the game has not been able to correct the awful lag that you experience during online. I haven't been able to get a single good game from the multiplayer in Brink; and if they patch the problem the objectives of the maps are going to be repetitive and in the same location over and over making extremely good choke points for no brainers.
The development of the character is also very small. You can only achieve level 20 (I'm already level 10 at the 4th hour of the game). Yes, you can customize your entire character with multiple choices, but this is just a comestic feature, not real specialization asides from basic perks that tend to be an upgrade of the one you bought before (Example: You can carry 1 healt kit, upgrade to this: now you can carry 2 kits). Another thing is the price of this videogame, there are a lot better and, most important, more complete experiences out there. Think for a moment that you're paying full price for a game that repeats the same eight maps over and over and lasts ten hours max.
In the end Brink is a box with good ideas but terrible development (no wonder they released this game a few days earlier to the expected date). I was pleased with the Borderlands experience that took the FPS to a new way, definitely not the same feeling with Brink.
I encourage you to read a lot of reviews and rent ir first, I'm still waiting for a patch that resolves the online issues and see if this brings a new light in Brink, until then I'm going to put this DVD in a dark corner were no one can see it. Please excuse any mistakes of this text, writting is not my strong point.
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video-games_xbox
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wow, what did i pay for. if you have an xbox, ps2 or gc, please do yourself a favor and buy madden for one of those. This is honestly a completely different game. I just bought a 360 about a week ago, and sold my xbox (along with 07), intuitively expecting the next gen version to be better. I was wrong. Theres nothing I have to add that hasn't already been said by one of the other reviewers (no fantasy draft-my favorite feature, EXTREMELY frequent framerate drops during gameplay, a totally new control system even though the xbox and 360 controller layouts are essentially the same, illegible on screen text without an hdtv). But I feel the most frustrating issue is just how little effort went into the "superstar hall of fame mode". This is supposed to be the games big draw (along with run to daylight, which I admit is fun, but just as fun on any of the 6th gen consoles), and while it seems intriguing at first, there are so many problems i don't know where to begin. First off, who wants to play 200+ games as an offensive lineman? (or defensive lineman, or safety, or cornerback, or fullback, or wide reciever even) Pretty much the only positions in which you will be involved in the majority of plays doing something exciting (i.e. not blocking or pass rushing, since the latter is impossible anyways) are lb, hb, and qb. I tried each position, and the only one i found moderately entertaining was hb, although the camera angle the game gives you on plays you're involved in is rediculous, because you can only see about 1/5 of the field and have no awareness of your surroundings or when a defender is coming in from the sides. There is the option to take control even when you're not in the game, but even then you cant call your own plays which is frustrating because a majority of the time the coach AI calls a rediculous play in regards to the situation! The offseason also leaves something to be desired, with the 40 yard dash being near impossible to get below a 4.5 on and the bench being impossible to get less than 25 reps on, which means all your players will have great strength and little to no agility and elusiveness. The training camps are just disguised practices that do not effect your players performance whatsoever and regardless of how you answer questions in interviews the game apparently assigns you a personality type, even if it completely conflicts with how you actually answer questions. I really cant stress just how angry I am with EA for putting out this piece of junk and having the nerve to charge an extra $10 for it, when the cheaper versions are way more fun. Maybe theyll get it next year, but i doubt it since last years madden for 360 was actually worse than this one, which is saying a lot.
ill give it two stars, just for the rare moments of gameplay that aren't affected by the framerate which can be fun but are few and far between.
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video-games_xbox
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Phat Lewtz. Borderlands has so far proved to be an immensely enjoyable game delivering in many ways where Gearbox promised. I feel it will be equally appealing to fans of shooters and dungeon crawlers alike.
You start the game going through a little story intro and a bit of a bus ride. Shortly after a bit of introduction you'll be asked to select one of the characters and exit the bus to start your adventures. The game doesn't come right out and tell you these are your "classes" but for the interests of the RPG elements of the game that's what they are. Your choices are basically between stealth/special weapons, sniper, support/healing, and tank/melee. There unfortunately isn't a vast amount of customization in their looks available but you can alter a 3 color scheme for their outfit and customize your name almost immediately after stepping off the bus.
From here you do a short and sweet tutorial which throws you right in to the action relatively quickly. The controls are tight and will be very familiar to fans of popular FPS games such as Halo, Resistance, Gears, Unreal, and many others. You have the ability to jump, duck, melee, shoot, toss grenades, and eventually use a class specific special ability such as placing turrets. Aside from the general control of your character menus are easy to navigate for all of your weapons, the map is easy to read, and the HUD is simple and informative.
Following the tutorial you progress the game from doing various quests. These quests can be found on mission boards, from NPCs, and occasionally from random stuff lying around. The quests themselves so far haven't been anything particularly noteworthy in the grand scheme of RPGs. It's still a lot of "kill XYZ" "collect a fistful of whozawhatits" or "go talk to random NPC" but they have streamlined them enough to where the don't feel forced but rather serve as more of a beacon of where you should realistically be taking your character and scoring some nice exp and loot while you're at it. Quest objectives can also be tracked and objectives are clearly marked on your compass.
Outside of questing there are a decent number of monsters to kill. I still don't really have much of an idea as to what dictates when an enemy will respawn but it seems if you wander around enough you will likely run in to something to kill. It's typically not a mindless slaughter either, I would highly recommend trying fighting tactically much like you would in a shooter. Until you out-gear or out-level your opponent you will find that the game can actually be quite challenging at times and reward clever use of your equipment and abilities. The game did a great job of encouraging this too by making your enemies respond to grenades logically, implementing cover well, and of course rewarding you with devastating critical with our beloved' HEAD SHOT!
Sizable amounts of experience can also be earned through completing various challenges which are like in game achievements, some of which are actually tied to achievements/trophies. It's mostly killing various things with various weapons but early on it's a great source of experience and you can track your progress on them.
Starting at level 5 you will start to acquire skill points every level. These are used to boost various abilities of your character via a talent/skill tree. There aren't a lot of choices and you can get quite a few of them with the number of points you wind up with but most of them are fundamentally decent options allowing for some individual diversity in how you build your character without having to over-think it. Aside from that each level your character will get a generic health, defense, and attack boost.
The weapons are pretty cool but I will state that some of the "87 Gazillion" claims were perhaps a bit exaggerated. While it is true that many of the weapons can do quite a bit of unique things, the vast majority of the weapons and gear you will find are going to be slight variations of each other much like any other similar dungeon crawler such as Sacred, Titan Quest, or Diablo. Perhaps later in the game the unique generation of weapons becomes more apparent but I could so far fairly compare this to the way the weapons were in Hellgate: London. As for the size of the actual database and possible combination of weapons, I'm sure their claims are accurate but I can only comment from a practical standpoint of what I've seen. In addition to weapons you also get shields which can do various things such as regen health or do elemental bursts when depleted and grenade modifications which allow your grenades to do all kinds of things such as teleport, stick to things, and bounce.
Looting is probably one of my few mild gripes with this game. You can't simply auto-loot everything in your proximity. What the game has you doing is finding in item, hitting the loot button, and then holding it to pick up other relatively close items. It's not game breaking annoying but the range on it isn't very great and holding the loot button to pick up a weapon will auto-equip it which is something that can be frustrating at times.
The graphics will most likely be a love/hate thing for most players as they are highly stylized. I personally love them and think they're quite well done but there are certainly realism junkies out there that won't care for the cartoon approach at all. I will say that only decent videos of this game should be used to judge the graphics, still screenshots don't do this game any justice at all. Graphics aside the environments are very interesting, the characters are well done albeit a bit generic, enemies are pretty decent (Tremors anybody?), and the animations are high quality.
Multiplayer can be done with 2 player split screen couch co-op and online with up to four players I believe. I haven't gone online yet but the split screen was easy enough. Rather than scaling all of the menus down in split screen they opted to leave them full size and movable so that text wouldn't get smushed together which I thought was a pretty clever move. What this means is both players don't have to squint to read everything thing, simply centralize it in their field of view. Also as you do quests objectives/turn-ins will be shared meaning you don't spend your time waiting for everyone to catch up all the time. In multiplayer you can also duel each other which I haven't tried yet.
Vehicles haven't really been much more than a way to get around for me yet. They can be customized in color and weapon outfit but my brother and I both agreed that they weren't a very good way of killing anything aside from running them over which seemed to always been an automatic kill. For a giant vehicle mounted weapon they seem completely inferior to even the worst weapon you could collect at that relative level. The controls are very similar (identical?) to that of a Warthog in Halo. They'll probably take some getting used to for new players but they're relatively easy once you've figured them out. I personally find them to be a bit floaty and awkward but at the moment I don't see myself needing clutch control out of the vehicles for combat so they are passable.
The story regards something involving finding a long lost vault of alien technology. While I'm sure it's interesting I honestly haven't paid much attention to it aside from parts of the story which I couldn't avoid. This sort of game doesn't really bank on the story for me.
That's basically it. Quest, kill, loot, level, and become the destructive juggernaut that Pandora always needed while searching for the vault.
Pros:
Great implementation of shooter mechanics
Lots of fun loot
Good multiplayer
Straight forward and simple RPG elements
Graphics
Cons:
Graphics
Wonky loot controls
Maybe a little clich at times
I love this game and would highly recommend it.
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video-games_xbox
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Great wrestling game, little bit shallow. Yeah, yeah, I've read the critic's reviews that this game is nothing but T&A and only for losers with no girlfriend and the gameplay stinks and all that. All I can say is this: don't believe the hype. While there is definitely a "sex sells" kind of attitude about Rumble Roses, it is done in an over-the-top, very tongue-in-cheek fashion that is more likely to make you laugh than arouse you. That aside, the fun is in the game itself. Wrestling game fans should be more than satisfied with the gameplay; it features dozens of diverse and creative moves for each of the great characters, all of whom have 4 different incarnations (face, heel, and a superstar version of each) with different styles as well as 3 finishing moves each. The entrances range form super-badass to ridiculous to hilarious and feature some unique...ummm.. visuals to say the least. The action is fast for a wrestling game, arcade friendly, and provides lots of challenges in the way of unlockables you can get by beating a character's specific rivals repeatedly or by performing various other challenges. The best mode is tag-team which features a lot in the way of teamwork between tag-partners. Team with your character's buddy and your teamwork will rock your opponent's worlds. Screw up and attack your friend too often or choose a bad teammate and you will find yourself with a partner who won't tag with you or participate in doubleteam attacks. The voice acting is great and conveys trash-talking, self-motivation, teammate encouragement, or the decline of your friendship with said teammate during the matches. Then there's the "queen's match" in which the loser has to perform a humiliating task in an outfit of your choosing. There are tons of things: cleaning the pool, sexy poses, jumping rope, getting squirted with a watergun, bouncing on a pogo stick, limbo, dances, the list goes on and on. After victory, you get to watch you opponent's embarrassment as they perform the task and you can zoom in and around the shot in any angle you like in a manner similiar to the Dead or Alive games. Lastly, there's the "street fight" mode which borrows heavily again from DOA but drops the actual fun. All of this is great fun, but the game could have been much, much better. First off, the countering system is a little janky, it can't seem to decide whether to be easy or hard so it pretty much seems to only work when it feels like it. Skill doesn't appear to play much of a role. While there are lots of outfits to unlock, most of the best outfits are what you already start out with and it takes HOURS of matches against the same opponents to unlock costumes that usually aren't worth unlocking. The biggest problem, though, is that there is no real story mode. You just choose the venue and fight whoever's there and that's about it. The only incentive is the redundancy of unlocking the same old stuff for every girl over and over by fighting the same people over and over. You can create dozens of custom fighters, but you can't enter them into the pool of opponents (which gets quite shallow pretty fast). You can also customize each character in many ways, but those sessions usually end up with just an increase in bust size. Sorry, I'm a guy. It's also extremely disappointing that you can't pick songs from your hard drive as each girls theme music and there's no customizing the entrances either. Too bad. Like I said, this game is loads of fun and will provide hours of entertainment, but what could have been a truly incredible all-girl wrestling experience is held back by a failure to add any depth to the game itself. If you love wrestling games and gratuitous silly sexuality then this is a no-brainer to buy. Just don't expect the same depth other, license-based wrestling games have offered in the past.
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video-games_xbox
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Cordless Quality. I bought two of these controllers, and I have been using them heavily, mostly playing Burnout 3. I thought the previous version, the bigger one that took 4 batteries, was a good product, but this new model is definitely an improvement, fitting the hand a bit better. Most importantly I have never experienced any problems with the response or wireless signal. This really is as good as a corded controller!
The batteries seem to last quite a while too. I didn't get the 50 hours listed in the product specs, but I did get almost 40, which is still really good in my book. (I was using alkalines. I don't know if it will work with rechargeables, which typically have a slightly lower voltage even when fully charged.)
The only downside that I can see is the difficulty of using the Xbox Live headset. The memory card slot is on the base unit, not the controller itself, so you have to sit near the Xbox to use the headset. If there was better XBL support (a communicator jack on the controller, as another reviewer suggested) I'd give this 5 stars.
Some other reviewers have disliked the button response and the feel of the analog sticks. All I can say is I didn't feel that way. I did notice that the face buttons weren't as sensitive as my stock Xbox controller; by that I mean I had to tap a little harder to get any response at all. But that was easy to get used to and now I don't even think about it. Every brand of controller is a little different, so you'll always notice something like that when you switch.
Unfortunately, I did get to experience Logitech tech support. One of the controllers I bought was dead on arrival. It was clear to me that the controller itself just wasn't working, but I had to explain everything to Logitech tech support and try their fixes. Once those didn't work, they did immediately send me a replacement unit. Getting a dud once in a while is inevitable... what matters is how the company handles it, and I have to admit that Logitech did a great job.
Based on this experience, I am looking forward to getting the Logitech cordless PS2 controllers too.
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video-games_xbox
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Needs some launch day fixes, but still an excellent multiplayer game. This is a multiplayer review as I don't play the Battlefield games for their campaign. I've played the battlefield series of games since Battlefield 2 first came out on the PC and I've been hooked on them ever since. I would have reviewed Battlefield 3, but there were already so many reviews that what I had to say had already been said. BF 4 has some of the same glitches as BF 3 did on launch. This one hasn't had as many for me as I had with the launch of BF 3 though. The game locked up (froze) on me on launch day once and it locked up on me once on the second day of release also. With that said I remember several lock ups with BF 3 on launch amongst other things as being stuck on or in an object within the map etc. the first month or so after release. I honestly believe that BF 4 was created for the PC and the next gen consoles and that is why we have the frame rate drops when there is a lot of action going on around you in BF 4 on the 360. For the most part I have really enjoyed the changes in the game i.e. tanks are harder to kill with rockets and the interaction with the environment. You have buildings you can totally collapse killing anyone left in it, on it, or in front of it; you have flooded areas that if the supporting structure is blown up by someone, you will be killed by the impact of the water and debris - there is also other maps that have similar interactions with the environment. Unfortunately though, at this point (as others have mentioned) you can't form a squad with your friends in order to launch into a game together. This is a real pain the butt as you then have to find an empty server then have them all join on you. This is something that really has to be fixed and I will also post this issue on their Battlelog web page. The Dice team has been pretty good in the past with listening to the issues we have with their games and they patch it. Even though there are bugs that need to be fixed, which is common on launch with most games - I still really enjoy BF 4. Once the issues are fixed I will probably upgrade "my" opinion of this game to 5 stars, but then again I will have the Xbox One on the 22 November, so I won't be playing BF 4 on the 360. In closing I believe this is an excellent multiplayer game with some launch day issues that need to be fixed.
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video-games_xbox
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Tim Schafer's best. If you are a fan of Jack Black, Tim Schafer (this games developer), Heavy Metal, or highly inventive and unique games you could probably just stop reading this review and go buy the game. The only caveat is what kind of length you expect from a single player experience to justify a $60 game purchase.
I'll do my best to remain spoiler free in the review below, but please be aware that there may be some minor spoiler. You may want to skip to the conclusion if you want to remain 100% spoiler free.
Story:
The story of Brutal Legend centers on Eddie Riggs (Jack Black), a roadie for a faux-metal band (i.e. Angst-ridden teenagers singing shallow songs to a mix of hip-hop beats and electric guitar.) There is an onstage accident at a concert and Eddie is injured, resulting in some of his blood dripping onto his belt buckle. This mysteriously triggers the belt buckle to transport Eddie to another world... a world of heavy metal.
The single-player campaign runs about 6-8 hours.
Graphics:
This game sports some of the most unique, and original visuals of any game I've played. If you are familiar with Schafer's last game Psychonaut's (if you're not, you should be) you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect here. The graphics are tonally similar.
For the years leading up to this games release Tim Schafer continually made reference to how cool the heavy metal album covers of the 80's were, and that his desire is to create a world that looks like you are in a living, breathing album cover. He succeeds on every level. The scenery is diverse and ranges from rolling hills with giant swords protruding from them to volcanoes that flow with molten chrome. The weather changes from sunny to stormy (replete with magenta colored lightning). It all reminded me very much of a Frank Frazetta painting.
One of the most impressive things with the environment is the variety. This is an open world game, but the world never becomes repetitive. The developers obviously spent a great deal of time on making every area unique as there is not an obvious use of repeated textures, and there is not any area that seems generic or bland.
The world is split into different regions based on the different sub-genres of heavy metal. The primary area looks like the classic album covers referred to above, but your adventure takes you through worlds designed around the caveats of "hair" metal (Poison, Twisted Sister, Ratt, etc.), goth metal (Cradle of Filth, Graveworm, etc.), and industrial metal (Metallica, Megadeth, etc.). Each of these regions has enemies and creatures designed specifically for their sub-genre and there is great attention to detail.
The art team for Brutal legend used a full palette of color for their world as opposed to the current trend of desaturation and overloading the scenery with browns and grays. It all comes together to make a beautiful and uniquely intriguing package.
Sound:
The sound design here is good, but not great. The surround effects are solid, and the game soundtrack is very well done. When you are in your car ("The Deuce") the radio comes on and plays from a playlist of approximately 100 heavy metal songs. If you leave your car you the music pans and fades as you move around and away from (or closer to) your car. For those that are not metal fans, you can turn the music off if you'd like.
The sound effects themselves are a little on the weak side. The sounds for your vehicles and some of the animals are very good, but the battle (hack and slash) sounds come across as generic.
Gameplay:
The controls and gameplay are very well designed. Early on you gain a large battle axe as your primary weapon, and you also have an electric guitar.
The axe is used as one would expect; for hack `n' slash gameplay. The axe can be upgraded throughout the game to have different abilities (lightning, fire, extra damage, etc)
The guitar is used for special (i.e. magic) attacks. Initially the guitar will only call down lightning to stun enemies. However, throughout the game Eddie will learn solo's that do various things:
A. Summon your car. This is very much like calling your horse in Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time.
B. Area of effect attacks. These are all based on clich's or in-jokes in the heavy metal community, but they are effectively to give a "Whoa! Cool!" response. There is a heavy guitar riff that melts the faces of all enemies close by. One solo calls down a flaming blimp that explodes over your enemies. There is another that summons a horde of animals to your side.
C. Unit command solos. These solos are used in the "Stage Battles" (see below) to rally your troops, send troops to s certain area, etc.
The gameplay of Brutal Legend is a mash-up of multiple genres. You can explore the world of Brutal Legend in your car (which is upgradeable with weapons, armor, etc.). The driving mechanics are pretty solid and fun in an arcade-y way. You can also explore on foot which leads to the aforementioned hack-n-slash gameplay. However, the major battles are fought in a semi-RTS (real-time strategy) mode called "Stage Fights."
Stage Fights are interesting in that you start with a basic stage (replete with lighting and smoke effects). To power your stage, which allows for building units, you must harness the power of the fans. Fans are found in Fan Geysers. You must locate fan geysers and then build a "Merch Booth" (i.e. Merchandise Booth) over the geyser to draw the fans to your stage. The more geysers you control the more fans you collect. The more fans you collect the more units (and more powerful units) you can build. The units range from Head Bangers (foot soldiers) to Metal Beasts (fire breathing mountable monsters). Your goal is to steal your opponents fans, and ultimately destroy their stage.
The reason I call this a semi-RTS is that it is a mashup of all three play modes in itself. As you build your units and send them into battle you can also jump into your car or run into battle yourself. It is not an RTS where you build units, send them into battle and just watch the results... unless you want it to be. I found it much more fun to build units and then lead the charge.
All of this sounds a little weird, right? Welcome to the world of Tim Schafer! The gameplay is so unique in the way it blends playstyles that I am sure I had a big dumb grin on my face for most of the game. It is not often that you find a game that is this ambitious about its gameplay mechanics, and actually succeeds at building something that is not frustrating, but fun. It is so good, that I am almost compelled to overlook the shortcomings of the gameplay, but I will go ahead and mention them anyway...
The oddest thing missing from the gameplay (given all of its depth) is that there is no jump button. That's right, this is an openworld game that allows you to run freely through a streaming (read: no load time) environment, but you can't jump over or onto anything. Granted, the world is designed in such a way that jumps are not a necessity to navigate it, but (if you are like me) for those that like to really explore and go off the beaten path it would be nice to be able to jump. Also, there were a couple of times that, after an unfortunate incident in my car, I wound up stuck between boulders or trees. Without the ability to jump out of the situation I was forced to go to the menu and reload my last checkpoint.
Also missing is a HUD that shows you your health status, etc. I understand this exclusion as it could detract from the immersion into the amazing world that has been built for this game. However, it would have been nice for it to at least be optional, or perhaps only show up when you are in combat. There were numerous times that I would have no idea my health was getting low and I was suddenly dead. There are visual cues such as the screen starting to go red, etc. as your health is depleted, but as you get further into the game you begin to come across enemies that can apparently kill you with one or two hits (before the visual cue kicks in).
The multiplayer in the game is based on the Stage Fight idea mentioned above. You and your opponent select a metal faction, build a stage, and battle it out. The single player campaign serves as a robust tutorial for how to play the multiplayer game, and does so very well.
Innovations:
See Gameplay (Above).
Final Thoughts:
This is a VERY fun game. Even if you aren't into heavy metal (which I am not) you can enjoy this game, and even get most of the in-jokes. There is not much in the game to criticize as it shows a lot of polish and fulfilled ambition.
I only wish the single player campaign were a bit longer. If you go straight through you can complete the single player portion in under 8 hours. If you work through all of the side quests I would estimate the games length at about 13-15 hours.
I should also state that I have played this game on both Xbox 360 and PS3. For some reason the PS3 suffered from some serious frame-rate issues at times. The most confounding thing is that the issues popped up just as I was standing still looking around the landscape, and not so much when there was a lot of activity onscreen. Hopefully there will be a patch for this soon, since I didn't experience any lag or frame-rate dropping on the 360 version.
NOTE: This game does not lack for profanity and gore. It is chock full of both. However, you do have the option of turning either or both off in the setup menus. This removes all blood and dismembering and replaces all curse words with "bleep" sounds. It also places a parental advisory (as seen on cd's with explicit lyrics) over any middle fingers and curse words found in the subtitles, which is actually pretty funny.
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video-games_xbox
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Serious issues with each of the five games. First of all, I'll just state that I'm reviewing this based on the Xbox 360 version. I preordered FGN3 based on my enjoyment of FGN1 and downloading all of the games that didn't come on the disc, and I loved them all. But for Family Game Night 3 ("FGN3" from here on), if you loved all the previous games, you'll be disappointed with all five of these. Why? The previous ones were faithful reproductions of the games they were named after, and all of them added *options* to switch up the rules/game settings in case you wanted something a little bit different. Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect 4, etc., were all extremely fun to play alone or with friends. The games included in FGN3 are all unfortunately very disappointing, and none are faithful to the games they were based off of. Allow me to explain...
- Twister: 0/10 -
The very worst of the bunch. It has *nothing* to do with the actual game Twister, and they merely decided to use the brand's name to increase sales. I was of course very confused and interested for how they could creatively transfer Twister to a video game. I imagined, maybe you'd get some crazy finger-twisting moves like "left thumb X button, right pinky left trigger", and so on, until a player failed to do whatever the game requested. Could you cheat at such a game? Sure, but I really think it could be a fun idea with a few friends who are actually playing by the rules. But instead, they didn't even attempt to make the game Twister-like.
You start by choosing a song, there are two songs to choose from in each category (Pop, Disco, Funk). Then, you'll see a button sequence come up that you're supposed to repeat. "A X B", then you hit "A X B" in rhythm of the music. Then you get a four-button sequence like "B B X Y", then five, then six, then the game is over. For anyone who has played a video game before in their life, these button sequences are all very easy and you'll get a perfect score every game, making any competition completely dull and end up in a tie.
- Mousetrap: 0/10 -
Whether you're playing this with a friend or a computer player, the game is ultra tedious. In the real game, 90% of the fun of this game comes purely from building and setting off the mousetrap. The real mechanics of the gameplay were never very fun to begin with, so when you just watch a virtual mousetrap being made and set off, you take away the fun part of the game and the game you are left with is merely "roll the die, hope you don't land on the mousetrap." There is no depth to it. But the real tragedy of this game that made me give it a zero out of ten? Each time you "build" part of the trap, you have to take a two minute detour from the real game and play a super lame mini game. In the mini game, you try to build a network of pipes to route a ball through. How well you do determines how many trap pieces get placed on the board. This mini game is where you'll spend about 80% of total gameplay in Mousetrap, which is why I say this game is tedious. The only positive thing I can say about this game is I like the sneaky, mouse-like music.
- The Game of Life: 6/10 -
This is one of the only reasons to buy FGN3. Though boring with computer players, the game can be fun to play with a friend. Unfortunately, as with all games in FGN3, this one also does not match the real-life board game. It's a lot closer than the others, but there are quite a few features thrown in that greatly hinder the game's enjoyment. For example, there are game spaces you can land on that let you sue another player for up to $100,000. The person getting sued has to waggle the control stick back and forth for like 20 seconds to argue his case to the "judge". The faster you do it, the more your bar gets filled up which indicates how successfully you're arguing. Even if you max out the bar, you still end up paying the other player like $15,000. There are many examples of additions like this that add nothing to the game other than being annoying. Every time a player gets married, you have to take a 5 minute detour from the game to play the "Twister" mini game (yes, the one I reviewed above). Again, another "feature" that slows down the game and is ultimately just annoying to wait for. Even if the player gets zero points on this Twister mini-game, you still have to pay them a $5,000 wedding gift ($15,000 for max ponits). It's game mechanics like that which make the already-boring mini-games even more pointless, because you feel like your score on the mini-game has such an immaterial impact on the game as a whole that you'd rather just skip it. Ignoring all the annoyances that were tacked-on to the original game, it's still fun to try fighting over the best careers, salaries, and houses and seeing who can amass more money over the course of their "Life".
- Clue: 6/10 -
Again, the basic idea of the original game is here (find who the murder is, which room it happened in, and with what weapon), but the core of the game is significantly altered in a negative way. The way in which you play this game as opposed to the traditional Clue game, is by landing on question mark squares across the hallways of the Clue mansion. There really is no reason to even enter any of the rooms (you can, but it's strategically a bad idea with how the game is structured). When you land on a question mark square, you'll get "rumor points". Either it will just give you 1-3 points and end your turn, or it will make you play another (boring) mini-game to win from 1 to 3 points. Each time you get to six rumor points, you can make a mock-accusation and find out if any of your guesses for person, place, and weapon were correct. When you get them all right, you can make an official accusation in the poolroom to end the game. So this game has the potential to be sorta fun with a friend, but not half as fun as the real game, and you'll feel like you're missing the point of the game by only going around seeking question mark squares to land on.
- Yahtzee Hands Down: 4/10 -
Card version of Yahtzee, only much less fun. You are forced to play with four players always, meaning you'll probably be with some lame computer players, because you'll have a hard time finding four human beings in the same room at the same time who are all going to be willing to play this with you. Basically, you get five cards (instead of using dice) and just try to get whatever the middle of the gameboard says to get. So if it says, "Four of a kind" you keep choosing cards to discard and redraw them each turn until someone gets four of a kind. But there is a time limit before the objective changes. So almost every time a Yahtzee card shows up, you'll have a lot of players get to 3 or 4 of a kind until the Yahtzee card expires then asks you to get a run of 4 instead. Frustrating.
As with previous FGN games, each game has a "remix" mode. I'll briefly go over each one.
Twister: Still the same exact boring game, don't bother with either version of this one.
Mousetrap: Although still not that fun, remix version is much better than the standard mode for this game, and you'll avoid the horribly tedious minigames that plagues the other version. The gameboard and layout are completely different. It's almost a whole new game.
Life: Instead of getting money, you'll get to move forward a certain amount spaces that corresponds with how much money you *would have* gotten in the standard version. The farthest person on the game board wins, instead of the person with the most money (there is no money at all in this version). Less fun that standard mode.
Clue: You'll have the same dice to see how far to move with each turn, but you'll also get to roll another die which does some dramatic things to the game to keep it interesting. Example: Someone gets killed by the murderer (removing that character from accusations of course), or getting to lock someone in a room for a turn. This mode can be fun, I'd play it about equally as much as the standard mode.
Yahtzee: Just alters the speed and flow of the game a bit, but neither mode for this game are really that fun anyway.
- Conclusion -
Family Game Night 3 is a big disappointment if you loved any of the previous Family Game Night releases. It suffers from too dramatically altering the original gameplay of each game, with no options to play a more faithful remake of the original. If you're looking for a good casual/family game, I would highly recommend the original Family Game Night if you don't already have it. Otherwise, this one might be worth it when it hits the clearance bin in a few months (for under $20).
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video-games_xbox
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Excellent Learning Tool, Great Value, Software And Interface Cable For Any Electric Guitar. This is a joint review of two products I bought together for use together, which I am certain will help you in your decision.
I bought my first Guitar when I was 17 (a few decades ago :-)) in Pakistan but never had the time to learn, especially as I got more into music synthesis, sequencing, and keyboards.
Arriving in Manhattan to attend Columbia Business School almost 25 years ago I immediately purchased a Yamaha (acoustic) that still adorns my Long Island home for nearly 20 years. During that time I did manage (despite an utter lack of talent and complete lack of training or music education) to create an electronic music CD a few years ago. Email me about nTrance: To The Tunnel Of Love. :-)
Of course, I have to thank Atari for the original experience (Atari 520, then 1040ST and finally Mega4ST) and Apple (various Macintosh desktops and laptops) along with Korg, Yamaha, Casio, Roland, and many others (including Ashar Nisar, as well as whoever wrote Music Studio for Atari, Dr. T for KCS, and Opcode for Vision) for helping but not completely hiding my total lack of musical talent. By the way, I still own those products in running condition 25 years later.
Anyway, back to this review. Despite my love for the Piano and for electronic music and the dual creativity of music tunes and sound synthesis on keyboards, here was something about the guitar that always attracted me. But, lack of time, knowing there was a calloused fingers price to pay, and other obligations kept me from it.
Then I bought an Xbox 360 with Kinect, and my interest in guitar was rekindled (not the Amazon Kindle kind :) ) by the availability of Rocksmith. At the price, for what is elaborate software, including a cable interface for ANY electric guitar to connect to the Xbox, along with licensed music (including the first rock tune I loved as a 7 year old, Can't Get No Satisfaction), and an ability to help even the untalented learn to strum guitar, I had to order it, and I did, from Amazon.
Since Rocksmith required me to purchase an electric guitar, I looked around, on Amazon, and one of my other favorite music stores, Guitar Center. I also checked out Best Buy. There were many great guitars in the several hundred dollars price range but I also knew that the likelihood of it becoming an expensive unused showpiece around the house was high. So I looked downmarket in price. Reading the great reviews on the Glen Burton guitar, I settled on it. Heck, even if it was never used, it matched the colors of my new Yamaha Y-ZF R6 motorcycle :) and would be a not too terrible waste of money. I did email the seller to see if there was a way I could get the Blueburst (gorgeous blue and black body) but I could not get it in time, or with Amazon Prime that I was planning to use. So, I went with this Glen Burton in wine red.
Both Rocksmith and the Glen Burton arrived on time the next day. I love Amazon purchase experiences but this was the first somewhat less than perfect ones.
Rocksmith, a software DVD and cable, came packed beautifully sturdily in the typical Amazon carton. The far heavier, more "breakable" and sensitive guitar, on the other hand, arrived in a carton just slightly larger than the guitar's own carton, with just a few folded layers of brown wrapping papers thrown in for "cushioning". (Others have commented on the poor packaging also). Mine, fortunately was not damaged, but the packaging was not up to par for Amazon experiences, in my opinion.
This is when it got more annoying. The product name clearly states: '39" Inch WINE RED Double Humbucker Full Size Electric Guitar [Fat Style] & DirectlyCheap(TM) Translucent Blue Medium Guitar Pick'.... but, there was nothing in there with a pick. I had to email the seller and was told that is shipped separately! It is "just" a piece of plastic but to get Prime (and pay extra per item for next day delivery) and then find out the pick will arrive later, after I would have left for a trip, was annoying.
Another thing that I was surprised by was the complete and utter lack of anything remotely like an "owner's manual". Even if I buy something for $1.99 at a Home Depot or someplace these days, I usually find even a tiny scrap of folded paper with some usage, or care, instructions. Nothing, zip, nada, for a nearly $100 product that will be used by many beginners. Nothing about a warranty. Nothing about how to care for it. Nothing about not putting it in a washing machine... OK, I say that last piece in jest, but you get the idea.
For less than $100 I am not expecting 2 separate manuals in 20 different languages and colored how-to plug-in instructions. But to have nothing at all in the box, and the seller's advice in an email to go buy a book, were extremely annoying and dissatisfactory. What do I ask for at the book store... "How To Clean Your Wine Red Electric Guitar For Dummies"?
The Rocksmith software, on the other hand, was delightful to set up and use - except for an initial hiccup. As you probably know, the software is basically of the type you've seen people play, e.g. Rockband etc., on their TV consoles. Notes of different colors come down the highway lanes representing different locations on the fretboard. But, no matter how hard I tried, each note made Rocksmith tell me to move one note over to the left. Every note, on every string. I tuned and retuned the guitar, but kept getting the same error.
I then did a Bing search (why Google when using an awesome Microsoft console :-) ) and found others reporting the same problem and found the answer to be exactly what I said. "No matter how hard I tried...." was the problem... When the strings are pressed too hard they stretch enough to change their tone, making Rocksmith thing you played one note to the left. Using a lighter touch I was immediately able to hit the right notes... of course, every 20th note of the actual songs. I have used Rocksmith thrice, once each day for about 15 minutes, so as to slowly toughen the fingertips, without overdoing it.
The guitar itself has been a satisfactory purchase. I will read up more in other places to learn about the upkeep and maintenance of such instruments (manufacturer gets a Fail for not including something in the box).
Overall, I have to say even the seller has been fine, and Amazon, as always, has been great to deal with. The seller's auto-reply says emails may take 24 hours to reply and generally he responded well within that time frame. Amazon was awesome in how quickly they offered to take the guitar back or to otherwise make up for the less than satisfactory experience. So, for that I would make this a 4.5 Star experience. But since there is no half-star option, and I do not want to give 5 stars due to the shortcomings, I will leave it at 4-stars.
I had to be in Seattle for the weekend and only got back to Long Island, New York, late last evening. I will get back on the Xbox starting my learning experience this week. Who knows, in these next few decades ahead, I may actually learn to play, not just own, a guitar. :-)
Rock On!
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video-games_xbox
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It's all about the gameplay. Do not listen to the reviews that are saying this is a bad game! I have played Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Divinity 2, Fallout: new vegas, Two worlds 2, and Risen, and this game is right up there with all of them! Personally: I think this game is better then Oblivion, or Skyrim. No...it hasn't got the kind of flashy, smooth graphics like Skyrim has, but I will tell you what it does have that Skyrim doesn't: Two worlds is actually fun, without being repetitive. An example: I played Skyrim for a long time; I had maxed out my levels, had all enchanted dragon bone armor, a house with an almost endless supply of alchemic agents, and all that was completely useless to beat the game! Why does everyone think Skyrim is so fun? All you do over and over again is kill crypt zombies and rusty robots pretty much. Let's go spend 2 hours in another catacomb or Dwarven ruin(sarcasm). It's so repetitive and BORING!
The graphics in Two worlds might not be near Skyrim's, but this game has alot more to offer in the variety of different creatures to encounter, and yes...there is dragons. Different types of dragons. There is also Ogres, Hell knights, Hell lords, Hell warriors, Stone dragons, Flesh golems, Wyverns, Zombies, ghouls, Skelitons(different types), Bandits, goblins, and many other creatures to encounter. Some of them are really hard to kill, and take awhile also, so you will actually have to think up some kind of strategy to take these badboys on, being that alot of them can kill you with one ferocious claw. Different locations sport different creatures, and definitely don't go walking into a graveyard without some health potions! The weapon's are very cool, and I often would find a powerful weapon, and be counting the levels until I could use it. Covering land is alot more hard to do than Skyrim, because there is way more things trying to kill you, way more often. You really never know what you're going to encounter next, a pack of wolves, a pack of reapers(raptor looking creatures), or a whole encampment of steel golems(seriously).
I thought I would play the game until I couldn't level up anymore, but that never happened. I don't know when the levels stop, but it doesn't stop at 200. The map is huge and takes quite awhile to traverse one end to the other, and before you can level up an individual skill...you have to find Someone to teach it to you which can be rather difficult in this huge world. The graphics are not that bad if you don't compare it to Skyrim. The magic is also more original than Skyrim. Magic shields, fire from the sky, fire walls, Poison hands that reach up from the ground and hold the enemy there whilst draining their life, Summoning giant demons. Don't judge this game until your at least 10 hours in, then I dare you to try not to like it. You won't be able to.
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video-games_xbox
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