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Dragon Age II Could Damage Bioware's Brand Permanently. My initial reaction to Dragon Age II was mostly positive, except for the fact that I couldn't get around the repetitive environments and the obviously patronizing quest giving structure. Upon playing straight through Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Awakening and then Dragon Age II again, the flaws of this game are glaring and inexcusable. Understand, I have been a fan of Bioware's games for many years. I enjoyed Neverwinter Nights quite a bit-- there was enough customization and PERKS! to make the game interesting. It was clear to me when Bioware began making Dragon Age: Origins they wanted to perfect the formula based on the Neverwinter Nights series. Bioware exceeded my expectations of creating a purely STRATEGY based fantasy-roleplaying game which required the gamer to think and plan rather than "hack-and-slash." There was so much versatility in that you could create a character, build his/her stats, build his or her armor, strengthen the weapons and then do this for three other key companions which worked best with your personal character. Of course, this took a lot of time in the menu screen, but success was sweeter when my characters dominated the baddies. When I popped in the Dragon Age II disc, I was immediately impressed by the games graphics, and the games opening was decently suspenseful. The strengths were quickly highlighted by the introduction of Varric as bard and narrator to the Champion of Kirkwall'r rise to power. Unfortunately these cut scenes did nothing to aid the plot for by the end of my second play through, the game offered so little variation as the the conclusion to the story that Varric's narrating role was reduced to the simple exchange of sentences in the dialogue based on less significant choices the character made, like if Hawke was mean or goodie-goodie. The gameplay was atrocious people! Let's get this straight so there is no confusion on this point. Just because you could control the moment-by-moment slashing of your one-handed sword does not mean the gameplay was improved. The first time I played this game I played a mage character and I did okay because I was able to perform long-distance area spells on baddies which ALWAYS hit on target, but I noticed that when I was using my staff, that sometimes the game refused to let me highlight the enemy of my choice. It was disappointing when I tried to free an opponent and the game refused to lock onto the enemy; this happened most often when there were more than 6 enemies at play. Goodbye to strategy, say hello to frustration and desperately trying to reposition your character so the game mechanics will respond to the gameplayer's commands. The significance of the flaw is more glaring when you play warrior class character, like I did on my second play through. The game mechanics of the warrior are truly more inept than I can possibly describe in words. You literally have to try and play the warrior to see how terrible to game mechanics are. I was sick and tired of my male warrior yelling at me that I was "TOO FAR" to attack an enemy and then find that when I went to attach an enemy it refused to lock onto the enemy and by the time I successfully was able to lock onto the enemy and execute a power attack one of the companion players already killed the character I was targeting wasting the power attack I used and messing up my strategy. What is left is the illusion of better gameplay brought about by better looking character animations and skills, but when you attempt to put these amazing visuals into affect, you realize that it is all pretty and no substance. The best characters in Dragon Age II where the cameo appearances of other companions and characters from previous installments. Watch out for Lelianna, Zevran, Alistair and even Flemeth because they were infinitely more interesting than the companions Hawke had to chose from because we still cared more about what they were doing. The weight of these characters and their significance to the series as a whole far outshines what the developers of DA II were trying to accomplish. "Come on guys, what is my old crew doing right now?," was what I ended up thinking. There were some characters, and I mean SOME, which I grew attached too in DA II-- mostly Varric and Aveline because they had some sort of ambition and lacked the ridiculous whiney attitudes of Fenric, Merrill, and Anders and plain slutty attitudes of Isabela, which bordered on offensive and anti-woman in her overtly sexual comments that there was NOTHING heroic about her. An RPG game is an RPG game, not an Action Adventure game with a plethora of well-animated cutscenes which do nothing to the plot and add nothing to the gameplay. Dragon Age II lost all of the flavor of Dragon Age: Origins in one potentially fatal swoop, creating an experience so frightfully generic and juvenile in execution that the intelligent gameplayer may wonder whether Bioware has thrown out all appreciation for it's hardcore fans for sexually frustrated 13 year old boys who lock themselves in there parent's basements and fantasy about having sex with Sailor Moon or like stereotypes. One might mention the transition between Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as having the same problem, but this argument quickly falls apart when you look at what Bethesda was able to accomplish between their two games and and what Bioware barely achieved between DA:O and DA II.) Just because the game made a lot of money and was commercially successful doesn't mean the game will be seen as relevant or even good in the coming years. In fact, the game is downright forgettable after the first 7 months it has come out. Frankly no one is thinking about it. I question whether Dragon Age III will be worth purchasing, and I guarantee I will wait for extensive reviews on the game before I commit to purchasing it. Looking toward the revolutionary enhancements of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it becomes increasingly obvious that creating lazy sequels to beloved RPG brands is not a recipe for success for even the largest of companies. The poorly conceived DA II will quickly show Bioware is losing it's foothold as the state-of-the -art and creative behemoth we believed it to be when it released Mass Effect in 2008.	video-games_xbox
What's in a name? Halo, by any other word, wouldn't make a dent in the gaming world. We all know what Halo is. It's the 2nd most popular video game of all time. Everyone knows who Master Chief is, and that Halo had one of the best multiplayers ever. Yet Halo 2 disappointed the entire gaming nation, would Halo 3 be doomed to the same fate? Graphics- 6/10. Ok, ok. I know it has been a good 9 months since Halo came out, so it is unfair to hold it to the standards of games that just came out. But compared to other games that came out even before Halo 3, it still looks dated graphically. BioShock, Gears of War, and Oblivion all blow Halo's graphics out of the water. Lighting is used pretty well, and the motion-blur helps, but if you look straight down from where you are standing, you'll see how bad the texture work actually is. Our favorite example of this is on the multiplayer map Guardian- where the vines growing all over the map look like re-used graphics from the original XBox. Halo 3 was supposed to set new standards for the industry in everything it did, including the graphics. I mean, the graphics aren't terrible on Halo 3, but they just don't seem as polished as they should if Bungie really wanted to change gaming. That said, we know that bad graphics won't ruin a game, and great graphics won't save it, so lets move on to what the rest of the game has to offer. Story- 7/10. After playing Halo 1, the story was found to be superb. However, the same couldn't be said of Halo 2, finishing it was grueling, but maybe we're missing something. Halo 3 doesn't deserve anything higher than a 7. This time, the bulk of the story revolves around Cortana, who has been stolen, and you have to go on a killing spree to get her back, and eventually vanquish the Covenant from the face of the Earth. Sure it's Master Chief killing some bad guys, which is always good stuff, but the cut-scenes can be downright corny, and in my opinion, way too long. In the beginning of the game, you are forced to sit through a 5-minute cut-scene, and a tutorial of how to use the controls. It's friggin' Halo- we just wanna shoot things. It seems as if Bungie really designed this game for people that weren't huge fans of the original two Halos, as you don't have to have any previous Halo experience to follow the story. You might wonder why you are fighting in the first place, but Bungie did a good enough job of trying to keep it a new, fresh story. Granted, this has something to do with the anti-climatic ending of Halo 2, but that is for another review. Of course, campaign and story go hand and hand, so if one stinks, they both stink. Campaign- 5/10. Forgive me if the word predictable comes up more than once, because that is definitely the theme of the campaign. The basic mission you will have to suffer through in Halo goes a bit like this- fight your way through hoards of the covenant to meet up with the rest of your squad, watch a brief cut-scene telling you that you have to fight your way back the way you came, and again go throw hoards of covenant to be picked up by a pelican, and flown to another mission in another location. There is almost NO variation in the missions. Occasionally, you'll get to fly a hornet or a scorpion, but that's it. It's not ALL bad, though. One thing well liked was the ability to take down the covenant drop ships in Halo 3, something missing from past Halos. Another thing Halo does really well in its campaign, is implement all sorts of different weapons. We just love using the Spartan Laser to take down those puny grunts; not to mention the return of the Assault Rifle. Thank goodness for the Assault Rifle. This is probably the biggest improvement over Halo 2's campaign play. Forge/Theater- 9/10. We were quite pleased with both the forge and the theater in Halo 3. Both are new features for Halo, or any FPS for that matter. We would love to see both of these in more FPSs, and Halo set a new standard for the industry in this regard. In forge mode, you play the basic multiplayer, but with the ability to edit objects all over the map. You can add vehicles wherever you see fit, and drop weapons for a quick way to end a fight. We thought of a few things that could be added (like color effects, and different objects to add, like ramps), but this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of Forge. Theater is self-explanatory. You get to watch some of your most previous matches in their entirety, and save the games you like the most. You can also edit the games down to video clips of the best moments, plus in addition to watching yourself, you can look at the other players in the game as well. Game Play- 9/10. There are only a few knocks on the game play, but they are easily forgiven. The biggest problem with the game play is the cover system, or lack thereof. In Gears of War, and now GTA, the cover system is terrific, granted they are both 3rd person games, but it seems as though Halo could have done something more than the simple ability to crouch. Another problem found, and maybe this is just a personal issue, is the invisible barriers the game has set up. When climbing a hill, you are often stopped by seemingly nothing. We LOVE the weapons of Halo; there are just such a variety of them. If you can think of it, it is probably in Halo in some way, shape, or form. From the basic UNSC weapons, like shotguns, assault rifle, and battle rifle, to the strange, but always-fun covenant weapons like the needler, Halo's weapons reign supreme. The same can be said about the vehicles. The vehicles are just such a staple of Halo; you couldn't have the game without them. We love the vehicles, but there is no denying that the handling of them has gotten significantly worse from previous Halo games. The warthog having the biggest handling issues, as it can't go over bumpy terrain without going crazy. Multiplayer- 10/10. This is the best multiplayer on the market. There is almost limitless tweaking to be done, and game modes to play. Oddball, infection, VIP, Capture the Flag, and slayer are the headliners of the different game modes to play, but with XBox Live adding a new game mode every weekend that you can play for double the experience points, there is literally a never ending amount of game modes. The matchmaking system is head-and-shoulders above any other matchmaking system. It matches you with players that are as close to your skill level as possible, which is a refreshing change from other multiplayers out right now (I'm talking to you, GTA IV). Overall, I don't see any ways the multiplayer could have been improved on. With XBox Live, Forge, and Theater, it's as close to perfection as you'll see. Halo was indeed doomed before it was even released. It's a bit like Christmas. When you were a kid you would set the bar so high for Christmas that it would be impossible for the actual day to be as good as you imagined (had to throw in at least one bad analogy). And though this game definitely doesn't live up to the hype, if played correctly, you can still get a very enjoyable experience out of the multiplayer and just messing around with your friends on Halo. We're going to give it a 7.8/10, a respectable rating, but not what we had come to expect from Halo.	video-games_xbox
Much Better than the First. I played, and am one of the few to master (1,000/1,000) the first <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Two-Worlds/dp/B000NJH6YG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Two Worlds</a>, and am one of the even fewer who enjoyed it, so I bought this when it was around $30 or so. Also keep in mind that this review IS coming from someone who has played the first, which many who played this one have apparently not played. ---Minimal Spoiler Below/Major Spoilers for FIRST GAME--- Story: The hero, who I swear had a name in the first game, is held captive by Gandohar, the antagonist of the first game. The heros sister, Kyra, is being used as a conduit for his magical energies and the hero is used to restore the energy Gandohar saps from Kyra. As the heros strength weakens and escape seems impossible, he is saved by an unlikely ally, the Orcs. With their help, he sets out to kill Gandohar and rescue Kyra. Graphics: The graphics aren't much different than that of Two Worlds, they are slightly improved, but barely so. There are little special effects in the game and are all in all rather bland and dull, but not terrible, they won't make you stop playing, but they won't stand out either. Controls: The controls have received a complete overhaul this time, you'll actually use more than just the trigger and a few button for combat. Skills can be allocated to various buttons making for much easier combat. This is one of the few areas that I felt were extremely well done compared to the first. Talking, buying, sneaking, blocking and everything else just feel so much easier than they did before. Music/voice: The voices in the previous Two Worlds were mediocre, but not terrible and sadly some of the better works done at that time. They are done much the same this time, the game still suffers from a seemingly lack of translation or mistranslated, meaning the character says one thing, but what appears in text is something different. Although not game destroying, can be annoying. Music is to the same effect as the previous title, quite and low while doing anything, but picks up when in combat (or maybe I just had the music turned down in the options....). Other: Multi-player makes its debut and, while populated, is generally filled with either modders, newbies or trolls. If you can find a community (the TW2 forums?) you can probably get a group to play with. There is a separate smaller story in MP, which is pretty fun and easy, a Versus and a sort of village builder. All worth checking out if you have access to them. Achievements: For those who like achievements, you'll need a group of at least 4 to do the versus and some of the co-op story, as it can be a pain without 4 people. Other than that, they are pretty easy, especially if you got 1,000 on Two Worlds. Pro: - MUCH better all around - Easier to play - Interesting story Cons: - Feels a bit dated - Unpolished in some areas - Bad Multi-player	video-games_xbox
Sure to become an expensive hobby. Pros: - Variety of environments. The base game comes with three: Monsters University (playable with the Sully figurine), a Pirates of the Carribean-themed environment (playable with Captain Jack Sparrow), and Metroville, the setting for The Incredibles (playable with Mr. Incredible). Each environment looks nice and is peopled with a wide array of characters specific to the environment. - Exploration is encouraged in this game, something I wish more games would consider doing. By checking out the various areas of the environments, climbing up buildings, figuring out how to get into obscure spots, etc., you can find toys for the Toy Box setting, as well as tokens. Its possible to spend plenty of time amusing yourself by just roaming around and sightseeing without completing any quests. Bonus: the toys look like they're in those plastic bubbles you get from vending machines. - The Toy Box. This is, by far, the best thing about this game and the one thing that keeps me from giving it a lower rating. The possibilities are more or less unlimited. Even my four-year-old enjoyed tinkering around with the environments, and the kids spent a great deal of time crafting their own world. I very much like this idea of highly customizable gameplay, and theres no denying the charm in the ability to be your own game developer. By logging on to the network, you can share your Toy Box creations and play creations made by other players. Given how creative people can be with modding, I have a feeling you could derive plenty of enjoyment just by checking out other players creations without ever touching the storylines included with the game. Cons: - Gameplay doesnt tend to change all that much. Despite the variety of environments, all gameplay is essentially the same, in the style of your standard console gaming, so you have to be a particular sort of player to enjoy it. I tend more toward RPGs and strategy games, so the gameplay in this game, while fairly entertaining, isn't the sort to hold my interest in the long run. However, my ten-year-old likes it, and I imagine its the kind of game that likely has broad appeal for kids. - I noticed a good amount of stuttering as I played, which was pretty annoying. - Be prepared for drama if you have more than one child. When playing in one area, its impossible to play with a second player unless you have a character figure specific to that area. Much to my displeasure, I discovered that the game isn't really two-player until you purchase additional figurines. For instance, only one person at a time can play in Monsters University until you purchase another Monsters Inc. figurine because the game only comes with Sully. Same goes for the Pirates of the Carribean area and Metroville. You might be wise to invest in an expansion right from the start, to ensure both kids will be able to play through an area together. - Ive been gaming for many years, and Ill come right out and admit that I have a big chip on my shoulder about things like downloadable content (DLC) because I think its exploitive. As game companies look for ways to squeeze ever more money out of consumers, they're becoming increasingly creative, and this game is pretty much a textbook example. In my opinion, the whole system of this game is more or less DLC dressed up in fancy packaging. Plus, this isn't a cheap investment. The starter pack has a hefty price tag as it is, and buying supplemental figures isn't economical, making me long for the days when I paid $50-$60 for my console and/or PC game and received a complete game that required no further cashflow.	video-games_xbox
Addicting, to say the least. I bought this game as Christmas present for my brother but ended up using it more than him over Christmas break before returning to my college dorm room. The reason for that is that at first, this game is stunning. The graphics are smooth, crisp, and well textured, especially on big screen HDTV's. The fighting mechanics work with such an amazing flow and the moves are so visually appealing and yet easy to work with. The environments, while there aren't a vast number of them, look very nice in the background and most of them have split levels. Originally this game is hard to put down and the negative side doesn't show itself, that is, until you've beaten the story with both sides and played arcade two or three times. Then it hits you, you've paid sixty dollars, played this game for about five hours straight, and you have now done everything that there is to do. The story is short and not very original or creative. Basically, the bad guy from MK and the bad guy from DC fuse together and create a virus simply called "the rage" which makes people itchy for a fight with just about anyone. You go around as different characters (and by that I mean you're shown cut scenes of characters traveling around) where you fight people with or without reason until finally the two sides clash and you fight the bad guy. That's it. If I can summarize the story in one paragraph, they could have made a better story. Also, as far as combat goes, most people will probably develop a fighting style consisting of many smaller/mid size attack moves, since linking long combos together is virtually impossible. Like most fighting games, button mashing is sometimes the best way to go, and people who have never played before can beat people who have been playing for months. The new fighting techniques are hit or miss. The free falling combat, which I don't think is new, is kind of cool except that it is a total gamble; you might hit someone four times for 30% damage only for them to reverse it in the end and somehow the damage you inflicted by punching them is inflicted on you when you hit the ground. "Test Your Might" is basically a race to see who can hit the four attack buttons faster, and to be honest, it's only really for the visual effect of watching someone tear through multiple walls and rubble, since it's not an effective combat strategy. Since the games revolves around this story, the character list is both too large and too small. It's too large because in the story it is impossible to follow twenty characters and where they are at all times when they're constantly teleporting and such. However, take other games in arcade mode, and you might expect fifty characters to choose from, and so in arcade twenty may not be enough to give the fighting gamer his fix. No doubt this game will fall in price pretty sharply in the upcoming months. I would recommend waiting until it does to buy it, because while it is a solid installment in the Mortal Kombat series (toned down in gore I might add, due to the addition of the DC fans), it's not worth your sixty dollars exactly. Buy used if possible. I imagine the game is best for two players or online, but I don't have Xbox live so I'm just making an educated guess.	video-games_xbox
How modern warfare was meant to be played, full review. I finally finished the campaign and added it to the end of my original multiplayer review. I have a good amount of gaming time with both franchises. I was already a big fan of COD4 when I got BC1. I was not impressed with the lack of class customization and felt it did not have much of a reply value so I went back to COD4. MW2 is a great game but disappointed in several ways. The turned up damage made shootouts short and unsatisfying. No team coordination made playing without friends frustrating. Select class combos made combat cheesy (Tac knife runner, Duel shotgun runner, Old javelin cheat). I found myself more frustrated than having fun and decided to stop playing MW2. My brother convinced me to try the BC2 demo and from that day I was hooked. I wanted to point out a few highlights that separate this game from MW2 and BC1. >The speed of the game is up to you. Large maps and lots of cover will facilitate numerous playing styles. There are a lot of areas that are less traveled and allow for flanking maneuvers or sniper spots. You are able to wait in cover for extended periods of time allowing for more tactical movement or for the stealthy approach. I've already been chastised for "camping"; something severely looked down upon in MW. The rules are different in BC, establishing a defense and eliminating a threat no matter what they are doing is the name of the game. Things like establishing a kill zone or stealing vehicles disturb the enemy's operations tempo which is a viable tactic for victory. >Kits are now better balanced and allow some customization. Assault is the backbone for anti-infantry operations. Rifles are good balance of power, accuracy and rate of fire (ROF). They are able to carry a grenade, smoke or darts (shotgun) launcher. They are the only source of ammo on the battlefield. Engineer can play several roles. They can repair vehicles as well as can carry rockets/mines to destroy them. Their primary weapon is a silenced SMG, which is deadly for CQB and flanking maneuvers. The Medic is the only source of healing and can revive downed teammates. They carry a LMG and can be a very effective attacker or support gunner. The Sniper can be an effective means of disturbing the enemy at distant. They can specialize in a bolt-action for long-range kills or a semi-auto for more tactical ops. They can be demolition experts with C4 or the mortar strike. With the spotter scope they can provide quick recon data. Although customization is not even close to MW, some options allow you to put different sights on your weapons, decide if you want to carry more ammo, have more accuracy or damage. They now also allow any class to carry a small selection of shotguns, SMG and rifles. >Vehicles can play a major part in your victory but are only as good as the support. A dedicated engineer with infantry support can ensure a tank can last the fight. On the other end a coordinated rocket attack or C4/mine strike could halt a tank's advance. Depending on the map you can have a medium scale tanks battles and/or chopper support. >Destruction is what sets this game apart from every other FPS you've played. The battlefield is ever changing and you must adapt or die. The game allows you to destroy almost everything and you find that good cover is a temporary convenience. Destruction will continually present you opportunities or obstacles that will sway the outcome of battle. A house that made for a good observation point maybe completely gone next time you go to it or a simple hole in a wall may become a vital sniper position. >Sound quality is the finest of any other FPS I've played. You will hear the echoing gunfire indoors and the explosions will rattle your eardrums. Crouching is an important tool when you moving in the snow to walking up the stairs as you sneak up on your enemy. Lastly, you will hear the crackle of every sniper shot that flies pass your dome. >J-Rod, thanks for the addition. The damage is another aspect that I think is done well in this game. With a good eye and a disciplined trigger finger, you can drop enemies at range fairly easy with a non-scoped weapon. At the same time you can play the rush, still take some good hits and continue to contribute to the attack. If you're one of those guys that complain that its taking too many bullets to kill then the game does offer Hardcore mode. Need to finish this with a few CONS: -Customization has improved from the first game but still in the shadow of MW series -Squads are limited to 4 people and may hamper large parties -Servers problems can be frustrating, it may take several minutes or you may need to wait a while before finally joining a match (Hopefully this is fixed in the long-run) --To add to the server problems I have kicked from the game and it has froze on me 3-4 times This is a longer review than I wanted but if I missed anything or need more data, please add it in the comments. If you're new to MW2/BC2 please read the in-depth reviews of both games and ignore the 1-2 star spam. If you think you want an arena type shooter and want something fast paced and always in the thick of heavy gunfire, MW2 way be your game. If you want something that rewards on cooperation as well as kills, has vehicle combat and destructible environments, look no further. (Update) I finshed the campaign on normal and it was not very long (~6 hours). It comprises of 13 levels which all were very entertaining. Although the backbone of the campaign comprised of close to medium range gunfights, it ensured that levels did not get too repeditive. You get the whole battlefield experience, from run & gun to tank battles. The game will allow you to be behind the steering wheel of several vehicles. The level design is fairly linear but overall combat reminded me a little of Fry Cry. In several parts you will be able to see your objective comprised of a compound or village. Although there is only one way to get to the objective, you are free to flank and maneuver once in it. Even linear scenarios have houses and other cover that allow to get the advantage on the enemy. One thing I really liked is collectable weapons now serve a purpose. At checkpoints there are supply points that allow you to swap for any 2 two weapons that you have picked-up in the game. This allows you to adapt to the current scenario or to your specific playing style. It is important as you play that you check weapon caches and weapons that were carried by your enemy. Another side-quest are destroying M-COM stations. The game will tell you how many there are on a map but it is up to you to explore the level to find them all. Other than great combat, Bad Company comes back with fresh and funny material. In this round it feels little more natural, finding the right time to make you laugh instead of throwing you one-liners every other minute. The last thing I wanted to cover is difficultly and first play on normal was just about right. Even on normal it was not an easy walk and remaining out of cover for 2-3 seconds ended in a quick death. Enemy fire will cause you to take cover and shift your position as they advance and flank. Like multiplayer, destruction will play a significant role on how you fight. I've had my cover blown up several times and I even had a house collapse on me. Overall, it was a great ride but a short one. For those who are looking for a single player only, I would suggest something with a little more depth since you can beat this in a day.	video-games_xbox
Are you sure Pac is back. Pac-Man seems to have a hard time gaining a mainstay recognition from games that AREN'T the arcade classics. How many of you guys remember when Pac-Man was hopping, bopping, and using a grappling hook in the Super NES game, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Pac-In-Time/dp/B000035Y5X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Pac-In-Time</a>?<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Or-when-he-was-busy-trying-to-right-his-25th-birthday-gone-wrong/dp/B000A8NXEM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Or when he was busy trying to right his 25th birthday gone wrong?</a> If there was one thing Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures tried to get out there, it's that Pac-Man is alive and kicking, and ready to appeal to a new generation of fans. So...what happened? Why is the result a generic children's cartoon featuring all the usual tropes of generic children's cartoons? I even saw a couple episodes, and my opinion still stuck with me. It's interesting that this Pacworld takes place in a futuristic setting that's NOT apocalyptic for once (Never thought I'd see that again!), and that Pac is in high school (I'm 17 at this time). Unfortunately, the cartoon fails to capitalize on anything, and just plays it safe with the typical characteristics of a kids show. So how is the VIDEO GAME tie-in? I was highly concerned about it, considering I really enjoyed the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Pac-Man/dp/B00000K1VK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Pac-Man</a> <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/World-games/dp/B00005YVU2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">World games</a>. They were 3D platformers that were short, but sweet and full of life. Well, actually, Pac-Man World 3 was a different story, but that one was still enjoyable. That game had a speaking adult Pac-Man whose voice is pretty neat actually, and the interaction/dialogue, while a teeny bit cluttered, surprisingly provides some genuine laughs. Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures throws all that out of the frickin' window! It's still a 3D platformer where you go from point A to point B, yes, but the entire game is so...so...SOULLESS! No offense to the voice actors, but the voices provided for both this game and the cartoon make me outright cringe, especially poor Pacster here. Thankfully, there's an option to mute the voices entirely, but then what's left in the audio department is a soundtrack full of uninspired and forgettable orchestrated tunes. What happened to catchy soundtracks that you can hum or bop your head to? Heck, I even prefer PMW3's orchestra over this - At least its music was still memorable in some way. Anyway, let's get down to the actual meat of the game. What's confusing is that the game really doesn't PLAY badly at all. Pac-Man controls just fine, and there's an unexpected amount of power-ups to play with. The problem, however, is that everything is so ungodly by-the-numbers it just feels like you're going through the motions rather than actually being engaged. The levels do not stick out and feel quite bland and dull. Those two adjectives describe the game as a whole, really. I probably would've given this game a higher chance, but again, Pac-Man has triumphed in this very genre a number of times before! And I will always come back to those games because they are FUN, something this game purely lacks. And despite the fact that the game is not really difficult, this game has been incredibly difficult to stay on course with. I've picked up and put down this game too many times before writing this review. And I only end up finishing a level or two when I do play it. Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is meant to deliver Pac-Man goodness to a new generation of fans out there, but rather than doing that, this, in conjunction with the cartoon, questions the dot muncher's relevance anymore.	video-games_xbox
Not a Failure; But Not Perfect. I have been a Halo fan since 2001 when the original Halo: Combat Evolved came out on November 15th for the original Xbox, throughout Bungie's career of making Halo games I have stayed a huge fan and loved every single one. When it finally came time of their announcement that they were moving on I was not surprised but I was sad that one of my favorite game franchises of all time would no longer be made by the amazing studio, Bungie. I was on the fence for a while when I found out that Microsoft's own newly set up 343 Industries would be taking over, after watching the trailer for it at E3 I was very excited though because I wanted to see the chief and I wanted to know what happened next in his journey. Now that I have introduced the background that I am coming from, its on to the review: I pre ordered the limited edition from GameStop, and sat out in a long line outside in the cold for about 5 hours before I finally got my hands on the game, I rushed home and played it until about 4:00 am got a few hours of sleep and then finished the rest of the campaign on heroic in about 6 hours . I waited to give this review so that I had time to play a good chunk of the online multiplayer, play through the first episode of spartan ops, and do another run through of the campaign, so lets start with that. The campaign has a total of 8 levels, its not a long campaign but its no shorter than any of its predecessors. The game starts up right where 3 left off but almost 5 years later, the covies are back for reasons unknown and the elites are with them no longer on our team, the first thing you will notice playing the game is that it is very smooth gameplay wise and it has a very "fast" feel to it like everything has been speeded up a notch, the graphics are an amazing improvement all of the color and brightness really stands out in the game, it really feels like a sequel to 3 and not a continuation of what was set up with Reach. If I had to compare it to any of the previous titles it would definitely be the first one, you start on your destroyed ship and then crash on an ancient forerunner plannet, that is where the game really hits a home run, ever since the first game I have always been curious about what the forerunners are and what happened to them, and that is all explained in this game. It feels so cool to be running through a forerunner planet, and believe me it has a much different look than being on one of the halo rings, I don't want to spoil anything, but the story is good, and it will make you scream for more when it ends, however the campaign still has some faults. One of the biggest things that upsets me is all of the invisible walls, as a gamer there is nothing more upsetting then getting on to a high rock or trying to go back a ways to pick up a weapon you lost only to find that there is a big invisible wall blocking your path, it really feels like they are limiting you on where you can go, and taking away that feel of exploration that the other games all had, its great to have the voices of Cortana and Master Chief back (and the return of one other) but some of the new characters are very over the top, it makes some of the game sequences feel very cheesy each time I get to those parts of the game. I know that this is a subject of much debate but the music by Neil Davidge does not at all fit with this game, a few of the songs I like but most of the soundtrack is very out of place and doesn't fit with this game, this contributes to the biggest problem with this game; there is something missing, and if you are a returning halo fan you will notice it, throughout the entire game it feels a little off, and I know a huge part of that is because this isn't a Bungie game, but with all of the changes that 343 has made you will notice that this isn't the same as past halo games, but I know that 343 is making this their own and with how it ended I cannot wait to see what will be happening next in the halo saga. Now onto the multiplayer. One of the new elements that I was really looking forward to was the new mode spartan ops, every week we will be getting a new episode each with a cinematic adding to the story taking place after the events of Halo 4 with 5 new missions to play through. We have already been promised 50 missions so we will at least be getting a few months of this content and it is free but for those of you without xbox live you are out of luck. Spartan ops is our replacement of firefight and taking that into consideration I think it was an improvement however if you were like me thinking that this would be like a mini campaign with the same quality as the games campaign itself you will be very disappointed; from the 5 missions on the first episode all they did was copy and paste maps and locations from the campaign for each mission, you were then given objectives which basically boiled down to destroy all of the enemies. I was a little disappointed at first but if you just think of it as firefight missions you should enjoy it (assuming you liked firefight) and that said 343 really needs to fix the online servers, it is a laggy mess every time you play campaign or spartan ops online and I have noticed a lot of lagging from the war games as well. I have to say that they made the multiplayer very creative, you have your campaign you then have the spartan ops which takes place after the campaign but with the same characters from the UNSC Infinity, and the matchmaking (now called war games) is basically spartan practice aboard the UNSC Infinity to get the spartans ready for their ops on requiem. I am very torn with the war games, 343 removed almost all of the previous game types and gave us a very small selection that basically boils down to team slayer and a few returning team objective games, the multiplayer is very different from past games and it will definitely take a while for you to get into it, a big change and disappointment to me is what they did to living dead, now named flood. The infected players have armor abilities, and shields making them almost as threatening as one of the human players, if you were a big online player of Halo: Reach like I am you will probably agree that the multiplayer in Reach is better, the way that 343 set up the menu is also very confusing and it will take you a while before you are finally able to navigate through it. The ranks from Reach are no longer in this game and it has instead been replaced by a number system so each time you rank up you just go up a level higher, you now gain experience points which just go to your next level, things in the armory are now unlocked automatically when you reach the required level. Overall as a package there is a lot to offer and it will take you a while to get through everything, I feel like it could have been better but considering this was 343 Industries first game I will give them some slack, but I now have high expectations for Halo 5 and I sure hope that they can improve on everything, but with all it has to offer including terminals and several cool easter eggs is makes the game a fun experience, it has a different feel now that Bungie isn't running the show, but I think it is safe to say that halo 4 is welcome to the series, not the greatest, but worthy of the title Halo 4.	video-games_xbox
Dont believe the hate. This game has receieved alot of hate, mostly due to some extraordinarily high expectations, which are unwarranted. This game is not unlike the first, in that it is completely sandboxy and expects you to fool around in it. Many of the professional reviews would have you believe the game is broken, the controls suck and its a total bore. I implore you not to read into these reviews. You have sites on Metacritic like Destructoid and Gamecritics which love to entice hits by putting up low scores. If you look at some of the most trusted review sites, such as Gamespot, Eurogamer, Gametrailers and IGN, this game ranges from a 7-8, which is good to great by most scales. The game is not perfect. Once and a while you won't be able to grab onto a ledge and say "WTF" and the auto targeting sometimes targets the wrong thing (like one of your police vehicles) but this is hardly as consistent as some reviewers would have you believe. The addition of the freaks at night (think zombies) adds another layer of Left 4 Dead/Carmageddon type fun to the game, where you can literally mow hundreds of them over with your car. Not only that, but once your strong enough you can just run through them or ground pound them from the sky. The mission types can get repetetive, but when your bored of that you can simply hunt for orbs or tool around in the city with your car trying to improve your driving skills. So take my word for it. I play alot of games both in general and in this genre (RDR, GTA4, Just Cause 2, Crackdown 1, Saints Row, Mercenaries), and have been playing games since the NES days, and this is the very definition of limitless freedom in a sandbox. And not even to mention, you can add three friends with you and cause a ridiculous amount of carnage in this world. So even if this game is more like Crackdown 1.5 then Crackdown 2, it is still an incredibly fun experience and a great summer tie over until Halo: Reach hits in September.	video-games_xbox
The good, the bad and the meh. Before I even talk about how this controller is different, I should mention that a few months after I got it, the left stick started drifting and there was no way to fix it. I called up Razer support, and they sent me a new one. It's been functioning fine since I got it. They didn't make me send the old one back - I had to cut the cord with scissors and then email them a picture with the cut cord and the controller serial number visible. Then I threw it away. It was weird, but certainly less hassle than having to pack it up. EDIT, February 2013: My replacement Onza is on its way out with the same flaw, problems with the left stick. When I hold it up, it sometimes registers up and sometimes registers down. Needless to say this now makes the controller useless and it's out of warranty, so I'll be picking up a replacement and it won't be an Onza. My Microsoft controllers, which are far older and I have used much more, are still working perfectly. Here's the TL;DR version of this review: The Good: Adjustable sticks; long, durable cable; stylish; responsive D-pad for most games The Bad: Drifting stick defect (mine was not the only one with this problem, according to the Internets); weird L/R triggers; moved start/back buttons; crappy D-pad for fighting games The Meh: Near-useless programmable buttons And now, the details. So let's say you have a functioning Onza TE. The first thing you'll notice is that the D-pad and L/R triggers are different. I actually like the D-pad better, since I like action platformers and other retro games, so you don't get the mushiness that the standard controller's D-pad gives you. All four D-pad directions are separate buttons. Granted, they're crappy for fighting games, but the standard D-pad is crappy for fighting games too. Get a <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/MadCatz-SFIV-FightPad/dp/B001M241KU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">MadCatz SFIV FightPad</a> instead. Problem solved. The L/R triggers are worse. They don't "click" when you push them all the way down, so if you're holding them down for extended periods, like in racing games, your index fingers get tired out. Not an improvement. The face buttons are pretty much the same. Supposedly they're more responsive but I haven't noticed a difference. They do light up, though, which is kind of cool. The Start and Back buttons are at the bottom of the controller instead of in the middle, which throws me off sometimes, but since I rarely go looking for those buttons much, it's not a deal-breaker. The programmable buttons are a nice idea, but I rarely use them. The problem is that they're lined up right next to the LB/RB buttons. Without looking I couldn't even tell you which button is LB/RB and which one is the programmable button. As a result, I usually map them to LB/RB so if I hit them by mistake, I don't cause some sort of unintended effect. If I map them to anything else it's to left stick click/right stick click because clicking the sticks is annoying, but I still end up hitting the wrong button a lot. If these buttons were somewhere else, like on the sides of the controller or something, they would be a lot more useful. Finally, to the adjustable tension sticks. These are actually pretty useful. For Halo or Army of Two I'll loosen up the left stick for free movement and tighten up the right stick for better aim. For games where the right stick controls the camera, I'll loosen it. It takes a few turns to go from tight to loose, so it's typically not practical to change them on the fly, but that's okay. If there's any feature on this controller that makes it worth buying, it's this. Granted, it would be nice if this controller were wireless, but as wired controllers go, you can't beat the wire on this one. It's durable, has a quick release in case you trip over it, and it's long enough to stretch across pretty much any room. When I cut through my defective one, it took quite a bit of effort, too. Since this is my only wired controller with analog sticks, I use it with my PC a lot. Overall I can't really recommend it. I like the adjustable sticks, but the build quality and odd design choices leave much to be desired. Still, while it works, it has some interesting features. I don't regret buying it, but I hope Razer takes these good ideas and makes a controller more worthy of them. Also, the regular Razer Onza, since it doesn't have the adjustable sticks, would get only one star from me. Unless you really need inconvenient programmable buttons, there's just no reason to get it.	video-games_xbox
Please read before you buy. Now im a football fanatic and i love playing a football game. I played madden 11 alot before i got this game and i was so excited. I wasn't let down. I rented the game first and it came to life. The receivers actually tried to stay in bounds they made efforts to make spectacular catches. The players looked polished as in it looked really dynamic the presentation style and everything was well done. The rookies looked like real people and not fake NCAA players. Its a really enjoyable game that added better kickoff team blocking, and several other things. Its a very good game. There are several cons. The "Be an NFL superstar mode" dosent let you adjust settings like, quarter time or difficulty. Its very disappointing. The one thing i miss is the ability to challenge any play and the game would review it. I beleive the game should allow you decide what should be challenged. I would catch a ball in the end zone or right at the sideline and challenge it. The play was still called out of bounds or incomplete so i looked at instant replay and my receiver took 3 steps before any contact with the out of bounds line. This happens often. Another thing that may steer others away is the coverage system and tackling. It seems like only one player can get in on a tackle. If theres one guy tackling he gets knocked off by another tackler. The Madden 10 tackling system was great. The coverage system allows linebackers to cover two players at once. Youll have a guy open and you throw it and the linebacker jumps high into the air knocking the ball down. Very annoying. The ratings in the game are not that great. The quarterbacks are to slow. Aaron rodgers, Alex smith, and Tavahris jackson can outrun alot of D linemen. But in the game they cant. Also the linemen are to fast in the game. I can catch an interception and get run down my an o linemen which happend the last game i played. The comentary glitches and is still the same. This game needs custom commentary based on each player and plays. Overall i still give this game a 4 stars because its addicting and its a really fun game to play. (son of lori)	video-games_xbox
Don't be fooled by the cute characters. This game is rude, crude and violent. CONKER: LIVE AND RELOADED is a remake of CONKERS BAD FUR DAY -- one of the last games to be developed for the Nintendo 64. It features the same irreverent content with refreshed graphics and a new multi-player mode. Conker continues to be a game that is suitable only for adults. Conker: Live and Reloaded has two modes of play -- the remade version of the single-player Conker's Bad Fur Day, and a first-person shooter multi-player mode. In the single-player version, the player takes the role of Conker, a squirrel with a bad attitude and a drinking problem. The zany game starts with Conker waking up lost and with a severe hangover after a night of heavy drinking. His goal is to find his way home and back to his girl Berri. First, however, he has to make it through a series of strange events and even stranger characters. There are many reasons why this game is not a good one for kids. One reason becomes quickly apparent: The developers clearly have fetish with basic bodily functions, and derive most of the game's humor from it. Multiple levels dwell in the muck of potty humor much of which is very disgusting. In one level, Conker feeds cows a large amount of prune juice causing them to, um, relieve themselves unmercifully. From this, Conker creates a giant ball of poo, which he rolls through several of the next challenges. Later he needs to get drunk and proceeds to urinate on fiery imps to put them out. In yet another level, Conker takes on a boss character known as the Great Mighty Poo by throwing toilet paper rolls in his mouth. Conker also has plenty of graphic violence. Some is in the single-player story mode, but present in full-force during the multi-player FPS mode. Blood splatters on the screen during combat, close-ups of carcasses are shown and characters can be started on fire. Alcohol is mentioned frequently and characters are shown getting drunk. Even the beginning menu of the game starts with a pub scene. The player staggers about the pub to select which type of game they want to play. Finally, vulgar language has a constant presence in the single-player story. Many characters use all forms of vulgar language and while some of the most offensive words are bleeped out, it is still quite easy to understand what they are saying. All in all, it is not surprising that this game is not recommended for children. Even the packaging itself carries an extra warning that the game is not intended for anyone under 17. Yet, it is also evident that given the cute, cartoony characters, this game has plenty of appeal for younger players. Parents, don't be fooled; plenty of games offer unique characters and more age-appropriate content, such as PSYCHONAUTS or VIEWTIFUL JOE.	video-games_xbox
Love most of it, dislike some. I have been playing Halo since the original came out on Xbox. It has been fun and entertaining to see the way the games have progressed with Bungie. 343 taking over the franchise was a big mystery to everyone but it seems they have done an okay job for their first Halo attempt. Campaign: It is okay at best. The story line is cinematic but is way to focused on Cortana. She has become emo, whiny and unhelpful in this installment. I was seriously annoyed every time she had something to say. The gameplay becomes repetitive; insert Cortana into this computer, fixes stuff, go retrieve Cortana, now turn around and fight enemies that spawned right behind you. Video games are primarily designed by men. With that being said at least model Cortana bum after something better then your sagging grandmas. The final mission there is no boss battle, just cinematic cut scenes. The entire campaign has you feeling that it will end in some epic battle between you and the Dydek, but it never happens. I played through the entire campaign one time. It took me 4 hours which included exploring all the nook and crannies looking for the terminals. However, with that being said I was entertained through out and look forward to what they do with future installments. The missions focused on vehicles were an excellent change of pace from the other Halo games. My god the Promethean Knights are ridiculously tiresome to kill. They are the bane on my existence and I just hate dealing with them in general. It makes you as a player get stuck in one task for too long. I agree there should be difficulty in the game but it is not that they are difficult, just that they take too much effort to put them down. All in all when the final mission played through I was glad it was the end. Spartan Ops: Spartan Ops offers a side story to the campaign. It has less depth in the story but it offers new missions weekly. The missions do become repetitive as it is usually the same 5 levels over and over again. The weekly challenges are fun and keep me playing. Multiplayer: Honestly this is where the game is really meant to shine. The shear amount of customization and unlocks is awesome. In past Halo games you would unlock various items at certain levels but would eventually "level out" unlocking everything there was. The specializations feature is nice change. It keeps you working towards a goal. It is nice that they are planning to continually update the multiplayer experience. I like the wide variety of customization's for your player and the load outs make it easier to start with all the goodies you want. I am sure I speak for many when I say THANK YOU FOR TAKING AWAY ARMOR LOCK ABILITY. I cannot say that enough. Armor locking was useful, but it was stupid. The hard shield is a much better alternative as it only offers protection in one direction. The map selection for each mode is okay but I hope they add more in the future. All in all I have no really big issues with multiplayer. Everyone starts out pretty much the same. Your loadouts may change but it's not like you can start with a rocket launcher or anything that will have a greater advantage than anyone else. Graphics, gameplay, and sound First of all they got rid of the controller settings that I was used to. I had to settle for an alternative that I am still getting the hang of. Gameplay is great but like I said it can become repetitive. The graphics are on par with other new games and with the Xbox 360 system becoming antiquated I think we are seeing just about the best until the new system comes out. The sound changes are great! The warthog sounds like it has a small block V8 in it. At full throttle it screams with engine noise. The guns are much better sounding. They have a real thud to each shot. Turning up the surround sound gets your heart racing. I feel that sound has become a much more integral part in this game. Footsteps are noticeably better reproduced allowing you to hide around a corner and pop out at the exact moment you hear your enemies footsteps the closest. You can hear gun fire from across the map and make your way in the direction you heard it and actually find the battle. Halo 4 is a multiplayer focused game. The story line has taken a backseat. For everyone it seems the focus has shifted from telling an in-depth and compelling story to providing a multiplayer experience that has the potential to last much longer than any campaign. The game offers something for everyone. But eventually you will end up completing everything and going back to multiplayer. This game is much more integrated into Halo Waypoint and offers a further experience through the use of goals, challenges, videos, intel, and secrets. I see myself continuing to play Halo 4 until the next one comes out.	video-games_xbox
100% wireless with chat. Drowns out the wife nagging while your playing too. my 2nd purchase of Turtle Beach headsets as I just acquired an Xbox One. I'm not going into details about sound quality because to me these are good. Some reviews posted talk about these not having simulated surround however for me i think this is a useless feature. Just having the ability to have these on, I can isolate background noise and thus it allows me to hear enemy foot steps as if I had super hearing. (however the wife hates it when she is trying to call me for something....) Some people care about having customize presets but for me its a none issue. Turtle Beach seems to be a leader in this field so I trust what they put into their headsets. Perhaps if I was a MLG'er however any professional in any field pays top dollar for their equipment. Battery life seems fine. I've had these for 3 sessions now and each breaking just over 4 hours. (it is on the charge now). Wireless function is what sold me to these, I saw how people were utilizing my older turtle beach headset (Ear Force X12) however my gaming situation has changed, before I used to game in my basement were I didn't have to worry about foot traffic, now my main playing is done in the living room and I didn't want 16ft of stereo cable running across my living room floor. I also love the fact that the mic chat is done via wireless and I don't need to have a cable running from my headset to the controller. This allows me to put the controller done when I need to get a drink or take a leak without having to bring extra stuff I also want to mention that I think its pretty bonus that it folds completely flat for storage. I'm able to leave these ontop of my Xbox while not in use/charging One thing that i really dislike is the location of all of the controls. The mute button takes time getting use to and I just don't understand why these couldn't have been designed to allow the turtle beach emblem on the left ear but the mute button. (the one on the right ear is the power button). Having the ability to quickly mute is an important function. The chat & master volume controls are too close. One should be more towards the front and one towards the back, this would help the "feeling around" function. Two things I wish would be possible, and not being an engineer i have no idea if this is probable.. 1. The usb transmitter could include a pass thru to save you utilizing another port for charging the brand's headset 2. Its a shame the transmission method isn't bluetooth. it would then allow you to utilize the wireless headset on the rest of your devices. (using wireless, yes I know they give you a connection cable to wire into your other devices. I got these during the black friday weekend and they were listed the lowest i've ever seen them ($30 under retail) so I'm glad I got them at this price. Even at retail price, it isn't too bad and I probably would have still got them. I think the biggest thing going for this is that its a truly wireless solution for the Xbox One and I hate wires! Dave	video-games_xbox
Great Party Game. BACKGROUND: We were looking to get a new party game for our Xbox 360 as the usual Rock Band experience was starting to get a bit long in the tooth. Prior to committing to a purchase of this game, we downloaded the Dance Central Demo off of Xbox LIVE to give it a try and were excited about what it had to offer. MY EXPERIENCE: This game is definitely a party game (at least in our house). I don't think anyone has played it by themselves but when a group of people are over and this gets turned on, everyone has to have a turn! This is probably the most age independent game I have owned - everyone from 4 years old to 60 years old has had a blast with this. The basic gameplay is that you pick a song and then try and dance with the same movements that your dancer on the screen is doing. Any part of your body that isn't doing the correct movement is highlighted in red and parts of your body that are doing the correct movements come up green. The more in sync you dance, the more points you accumulate. My main gripe with this game is the menu navigation. We pretty much exclusively use this game as a party game and have no interest in a lot of different single player / competitive game modes, etc. We just want to jump in and play - and the menu navigation gets in the way of the fun too much. Making selections requires you to move your left/right arms up and down and swipe across and, in my experience, some people just can't seem to get it right. Compounding the problem is that there are far too many selections that need to be done to just start dancing (mode -> song -> difficulty -> dancer -> ready) and heaven forbid that you move your left arm during this process or your start going backwards. This is fairly easily solved by having a nerd (me) on standby with the Xbox controller which can be used to enter these selections while the dancer just stands there and tries not to move too much. The only other issue that I have encountered is it sometimes loses track of small kids and can't seem to find them back (maybe this is an issue with my particular room, not sure). It doesn't happen often but it is annoying when it does. Also, young kids have difficulty navigating the menu but this is circumvented with the controller as mentioned before. FINAL THOUGHTS: If your looking for a fresh party game experience and haven't already tried the "dancing game" genre you can't go wrong here. This game plays very similar to the Dance Central Demo available on Xbox LIVE so give that a try if you are on the fence (if you enjoy the Demo, you will like this game). If are playing with people that cannot seem to get the menu navigation down pat, intervene with the Xbox controller.	video-games_xbox
So, so. I am not a die hard car racing enthusiast, although I enjoy racing games, so I apologize if my review seems mediocre. Basically, when I first put the came in, it starts with its story set-up, but then it throws you right into it. And the cops are after you. I am fairly new to racing games for the 360 and didn't know the controls right away. I guess it would have helped to read the insert in the case, but I didn't. That's my error. I at first got caught by the cops, but I was given a second chance to blow by them, which I did. My initial reaction was, "Holy schneikies! Awesome!" Then I got into the game and did a circuit race. I was terribly annoyed by the loose steering on the vehicle I was given to drive. You can't pick a different car. You have to earn them or get money to buy new ones. So I was stuck with this Nissan that had the worst acceleration ever. I was impressed with the--albeit very low--top speed. The first few challenges (sprint, circuit, and outruns) were pretty easy to defeat the AI in, but Entity forbid you crash into something! Unless you have like a seven second plus lead, you are done for. I get the most frustrated when I come around a corner or am doing a sprint on the freeway and out of the "mist" a slow-going sedan gets in my way and I plow right into them. This is worst when you do an an outrun on the freeway. You can only see about a hundred yards ahead of you and the rest is a fog. So when you finally see the cluster of regular cars coming up on you, you have to quickly figure out how to get around them. I am not going to comment on the cars themselves, since I'm a novice at that, but I will agree with other reviewers that you get pitted against way more advanced cars all the time. And the desire to throw the controller either at the TV or through the window increases every time a slight bump or fish tale occurs and the car is rendered "discombobulated." It's like the car is stunned out of reacting properly. The steering sucks (as I mentioned before). When I turn too much the ass end wags back and forth and threatens to hurl me into a barrier or another car. It's nerve wracking!! Oh, and a suggestion about the cops. The more you destroy around down, the more the cops look for you...if I were the developer, I would have made it like GTA where the heat on the car would go down after a while. But once you are more than half way on the "heat meter" you can't drive anywhere in the city without getting chased by cops. They even chased me during a race!! The only advantage to that was that the other cars pretty much backed off, so I won the race, but then I spent ten minutes trying to shake the cops, all-the-while driving in circles in the city. It got a bit annoying, having to dodge these cop cars, which the maximum number chasing you are eight. If you can damage or over turn at least three of them, you can outrun the rest. There was one stubborn cop who somehow always managed to get on my tail even when I was a good mile ahead, doing over a hundred miles an hour. I have to muster up the patience and care to play this game sometimes, because I get frustrated easily. Especially when I am only a block away from the finish line and some stupid truck or bus gets in my way and all the other cars blow past me. It's an alright game, but I think I will stick with regular sim-racing game from now on.	video-games_xbox
Boring, hard, and overrated. The Good: Fun combat, lots of different powers, huge skill tree, you can pretend your someone else... The Bad: ...Because Alex is an unlikeable protagonist, terrible storytelling, boring free world, repetitive combat, cookie cutter AI, unbalanced difficulty, outdated graphics If you have ever played The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction you will kind of get the idea of what Alex Mercer is going through in Prototype (or [PROTOTYPE] as SEGA thinks CAPS is cool >.>), just minus the green problem our Mr. Banner seems to be having. The reason I say Prototype is like Ultimate Destruction, and just a tad more ultimate with a hint more destruction, is because it uses a beefed up engine from the same game and shares some of the same mechanics. You play as Alex Mercer a confused test subject who wants revenge on his creator and to stop the infection spreading through out the story. I'd tell you more, but the storytelling is so terrible I had no idea what was going on and who was doing what or WHO! Constant flashbacks and pieces of the story told through consuming certain targets and watching stills isn't fun for your brain to digest. When you first jump into the game you'll be able to run up walls, climb buildings, and eventually glide, kick and consume your way to ultimate infected glory. Most of Prototype is a free roaming mode where you run from mission to mission, or side mission/activity, a la Spider-Man or any other hero you like that can run across a city in less than 30 minutes. The great thing about this is you can find hidden items such as extra experience, or little hidden things to unlock achievements (or trophies if you're a PS3 fan and are somehow "accidentally" reading this Xbox 360 review). While most of these (like in any sandbox game) are so spread out and so well hidden you won't except for the ones you run across on accident. Most of the free roaming is, unfortunetly, boring and bland. There are just people and cars and that's pretty much it. Once you get further into the game rampant zombies and infected people terrorize the streets, and it does get more interesting, but it just makes you want to stay off of them and onto the buildings. Most of the graphics in the game are outdated and kind of boring to begin with so there's nothing real "eye-catching" about the game at all. The meat of the game, really, is the fighting and this is where the heart of Prototype lies. You have a HUGE skill tree that extends from combat to stealth, to movement, to even yes you guessed it, powers. What kind of a game called [PROTOTYPE] be without powers? Well pretty boring since there are so many you have more than you handle...no really. Prototype has so many different moves and powers you will end up forgetting most of the littler ones and just use your most obnoxious ones. Your arm can transform into different weapons such as a whip, giant fists via The Thing, larger muscles for a mix of power and speed, a giant scythe (the one on the COVER!), and a few others. Accompanied with these you have some armor (can't glide or double dash though!...yeah shut-up Mario Kart fanboys), you can also shape shift into whoever your last consumed victim was (more on that later). The way you use these powers depends on the enemies your fighting. A huge mechanic is the grab ability since this is used to fling objects at helicopters, giant tentacle arms, and even the military soldiers, or infected monsters. Most of the time your mashing X and Y together to create a cool combo then you somehow unleash a weird power. That's why there is just too much in this game since you can't memorize all these combos and what each one does for what weapons. One of the next major mechanics is the lock on system and this is used to dash toward enemies and pummel them before they do something amazing to your infected self. I had a hard time with multiple enemies since you'd want to target one (say a guy with a rocket launcher up high), but the game would keep targeting someone else below. You can use actual weapons in the game that enemies drop such as machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers and these are essential in some missions. Not always will you have your weapons available and you'll have to use the environment around you. The also consists of many boss fights and this is where I concluded my play through. The game gets so frustratingly difficult towards the end that the game will throw so many hard enemies at you at once (two tentacles plus 5-6 hunters), while trying to protect something? Yeah right, but then again SEGA is known for doing this in their games. You'll end up trying to hit one enemy then another knocks you back, then you can't get up because another is smashing on you then when you do you get knocked back again. Yes, a lot of cheap deaths and hits and this isn't fair. Aside from the annoying main missions there are some rather fun and unique activities that utilize your powers. Some missions will have you using selected power to eliminate a certain amount of enemy in a certain amount of time, some are races, checkpoint races, and some even have you finding targets and consuming them for your Web (more on that later). While most of the these are fun some are impossible to get the target requirements for a gold metal and max amount of experience points to spend in the skill tree. Other skills are earned by consuming certain targets to fly helicopters, tanks, etc. The last element I should mention is the skill tree and this is filled by consuming certain targets and watching a series of stills and a brief voice clip to fill in the story (lame). So as you can see this may be unique (and ways to unlock achievements..yeah or TROPHIES), but this seems more like a cheap way to tell the story, or used as game filler. While Prototype is fun for awhile it quickly gets repetitive with it's cookie cutter enemy AI, broken storytelling, cheap deaths, and bland free roaming world. I recommend Prototype for a rental, but don't expect anything amazing.	video-games_xbox
Could have been more. Hype kills. I could sum up this game as that two word sentence and be done. For people who aren't used to RPGs or even action RPGs probably won't have TOO much to gripe about in the game. If you aren't used to RPGs or action RPGs this might be a good game to start with, especially if you only have the Xbox. It's easy to get into and it's very light on most RPG aspects. My brother bought it after playing mine and (until Halo 2) had been playing it non-stop, beating it at least 2 times in the time it took me to get 1/2 way through it. The reason it took me so long to beat the game was I lost interest. It was at the 1/2 way point that I started to realize certain things. My actions, while cool in the changes it had on me, didn't really do anything in the game world. This is supposed to be a "sandbox" world that would react according to me. And yes, people will run if you're evil or crowd you if you're good but there didn't feel like there was any oomph to their feelings. They are all nameless, faceless, repeating drones who do and say the same things over and over again. Peter Molyneux (the creator) had brainstormed publicly all that he hoped to accomplish. He accomplished not even 1/2 of what he set out to do. Another complaint I had about the game was how linear it was. I was expecting an open world (maybe like Morrowind but not as large and overwhelming). Instead I was given small zones (complete with LONG load times) that had preset paths. Not once did I feel like I was "exploring" the world. I was being led down predefined paths. In Morrowind (a game that shares some of Fable's aspirations in design but has it's own set of problems) whenever I found something, I truly felt like I found something no one had seen in years. In Fable, where everything is laid out for you, I didn't feel that way. I also wondered where the random events come into play. One of the things Mr. Molyneux had discussed was how surprised he'd been by some of the events that happened that he wasn't expecting. Random encounters on the road, little things like that. The only "random" encounter I really saw was escorting a merchant through the forest. Of course, after completing the mission I come back only to see the same merchant requesting help to do the same thing, same difficulty, same reward. The tag line for the game is "For every choice, a consequence." And that tag line, in my opinion, was never truly attained. Early in the game, you are given the appearance of consequences, but as it wears on I started realizing that my choices for good or evil didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Sure if you're evil you might have a different ending than if you played the good guy; but how many games are out there right now that you can do the same thing? From the Suffering to Knights of the Old Republic I&II, it's been done. What I wanted to see is my decision to be evil (or good) truly weigh in on how people reacted to me. That was the idea behind "every choice a consequence." It never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do; in fact it never made me think twice. For instance, you could kill out an entire town and the same lifeless bots will return. It never offers you any real consequences, just port out of town, wait 10 minutes then go back in, everything pretty much forgotten. Also, Mr. Molyneux had suggested that if you fought guards in town, they would alert guards from nearby towns to fight and you would be a wanted man...what that translates to is wave after wave of guards, nothing more. It's also a very short, short, short game for an RPG. Professional reviewers said it was about a 20 hour game if you do everything. And I tried to make the game last as long as I could and it was only about 12 hours. That also involved me not using my warp function to get to most places (unless it was a really long hike). Like stated earlier, if you are looking for a game that gives you good and evil choices, you might as well stick with KOTOR since it will give you double or triple your gameplay. Sadly, there's not TOO much difference between the good/evil mechanic in the two games. They both, IMO, provide a shallow look at both sides. As for what's good in the game. It's very easy to pick up and play which will appeal to a very broad range of players. It's quick, doesn't take much brain power and is pretty easy. The graphics are really well done, the trees and the forests animated very well. Surprisingly, (with the exception of hornets, I have never seen so many hornets so often) the forests don't have much wild life...though that's probably because of the hornets. Also, there was some weird clipping issues and graphical defects that happened once in awhile where it would appear that you were running in a HUGE sand pit. Particle effects are nice, spells are fun to use. The best feature of the game is seeing what your character will look like. This is what kept me going until I maxed everything out (which can happen really quickly if you know how to combo). In fact, I really wish they would implement something like this in a MMORPG. I haven't seen a character really turn out alike with all of my friends; that's an amazing feat. I've been pretty harsh on this game in this review. I guess my biggest problem was it could have been so much more. I wanted this game to rock, I wanted it to be everything Peter Molyneux said it would be. I wanted it to be "the best RPG ever" (Peter Molyneux). That said, I do hope they create a second Fable. Maybe then it will fulfill gamers wishes.	video-games_xbox
Nits notwithstanding great game. Halo 3 was just released. Bungie should have paid closer attention to Gears of War. First of all, let me get out of the way that I never play online multiplayer, so I can't comment on that aspect and it's totally unimportant to me in games. As to the game itself, I found it to be a shallow storyline, with a weak, undeveloped plot, that was highly linear (you don't get any choice about how to approach things) and would have been predictable if there had been enough exposition for there to be anything to predict. But what it does well, it does really, really well, which is totally intense no-holds-barred action. 1. The graphics, which aren't terribly bright or colorful, are still fantastic. All movies don't have to be shot in bright daylight in easily-viewed scenes. Nor do all games. Most of this game occurs under cloudy skies or underground. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it made the game more gloomy and gave it a nicely-darkened feeling that impacts the emotion of the game. That said, the textures, the art, is all great. The buildings, people, bad guys, weapons, and especially the explosions and mayhem (and I mean that literally) are very well done. It's very intense. A lot is made of graphics and people sometimes rightfully point out that the graphics don't make a great game. That's true. But good graphics can add tons of positive atmospherics to a game and really immerse a player and I think this game did as good of a job at that as any I've played. 2. The sound is also brilliant. I loved the whistling bullets, screaming bad guys, etc. What I did not like was all the gratuitous swearing. Look, I'm sure to the target audience 16-year old high school hooligan, swearing about evil bad guys is, like, totally awesome, or whatever kids say these days. For the rest of us, it's stupid because it means we have to turn the volume down in our house with our wives or kids around, and it makes a video game unnecessarily crass. One occassional, whispered "Oh my God" can be a thousand times more impactful than a dozen "S%!t my weapon jammed!" over and over again. Anyway, just a personal thing but I wish these game companies would get away from the cussing. Sound otherwise is great. 3. The gameplay is the best thing about it, though. The cover system is highly intuitive; you run up against something and press a button and boom, the character model molds to the cover, and then can move around near it and fire over or around it, etc. The cover system is also useful in how it jumpstarts moving throughout the environment (such as switching from one piece of cover to another). Running is done by holding down a button, you can't fire while running as you put your head down and just go, but it looks very cool and realistic. 4. The game was short, but other people seem to be better at it than me since it took me twice as long as some other people. I think it took me a solid 18 hours, but I regularly read about people saying they beat it in 6 hours. I must just suck at these games. Anyway, still felt short to me. 5. The plot was weak not because it wasn't a cool plot, but because there were some gaping holes that didn't make any sense. For example, why was the main character in prison? How did that effect anything else during the game at all? Why was it interesting that he returns to the family demenses later on? Why does that matter? (Answer, it doesn't, because nothing is ever made of it in the game). What was that mapping thing? What was the sonar weapon? I think these games, and it isn't unique to Gears, need a very solid backstory/comic/short novel to be sold WITH the game that describes all this stuff -- perhaps to be read as you progress through the game? Because the cut scenes are cool but they just leave too many holes. Overall, a fine game. Very thrilling and fun and intense. The weakly-explained plot detracts from a five star to make it a four.	video-games_xbox
The console was defective. Update: I'm on my third Xbox One X! I received my second Xbox One X on November 24th. So, the first console worked for a couple days, the second one lasted two months. Now I am on to my third purchase of the identical product in the span of a couple months. It worked fine up until today in which it turned off indiscriminately precisely the same way the first one did. This time I made sure to never plug it into a surge protector and connected it directly into the wall and it still petered out in a disgracefully short period of time. Thus, the probability that the third one will work is unlikely, in which case I will just give up and take the refund--this nonsense just isn't worth it. This is a repeat of my experience with the Xbox 360, but at least that had good exclusive games, unlike this successor. The Xbox One X just doesn't have any exclusive games worth playing. The few that they tout, such as the overly praised and abysmal looking, controlling, and atrociously unplayable PUBG, you can play on a computer--and it functions infinitely better on it as well. Just look up Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG), this game could have easily been made on the 360. Isn't the main selling point of the Xbox One X that "It is the most powerful console on the planet by 40%?" Well, what's the point if you have games like PUBG that look like they were made well over a decade ago? With the first defective unit, I will be liberal and say that it functioned for approximately ten hours. The last time it I was using the product, it made an obnoxiously loud beeping noise while the power indicator kept on flickering incessantly--it eventually shut off. Before all this had happened, I had bought several games for this brand-new console presuming that it would actually function. Given that, I transferred everything over to this new system from my original Xbox One. I therefore traded in the old version for a measly $60 credit, because the Xbox One X is backwards compatible making the original obsolete. If I hadn't done that, at least I could have gone back to the old system. Maybe I have too high of standards, but I just have an expectation that when I buy a new product, it should actually work. The very little time that the machine was somewhat usable said a lot about the storage capacity of the unit as well. As soon as you connect the console to the internet, you are asked to apply the newest update. After having done this, you are left with 780.6 GB of free hard drive out of the relatively meager 1 terabyte disk space. Another staggering fact is that Gears of War 4 (the disc version) requires 103.3 GB of data. You don't need to be a calculus professor to know that you are going to run out of space at an alarmingly fast rate. To Microsoft's credit, however, you are thankfully able to use external hard drives. I spent almost four hours in the span of less than a day speaking with Microsoft employees. I had to talk to a total of fifteen "service" members. That alone is appalling, but it gets much worse. Three of those individuals were actually respectful human beings, the rest were ignorant, rude or both simultaneously. Why would you have to repeat the same story about a defective system twice, much less fifteen times? What is the point of a reference number, if they don't record the information from the consumer anyway? After all that time, the best Microsoft could do, an international conglomerate, was to send me a code for three months "free" of Xbox Live! I, at best, lost the call from the thirteenth person I talked to who was a supervisor. Now he, along with the four other people that preceded him, transferred me to this charlatan in which I had to repeat the story ad nauseum and give my phone number in case the call was dropped. I'd like to give this so-called manager the benefit of the doubt, but in light of the evidence I have touched upon I find it highly unlikely that he didn't hang up on me. But even if that wasn't true, he should have called back if the call was dropped--he didn't. The Xbox One X has no games specifically designed for the new hardware. I'm well aware that there are some games new and old that are taking advantage of some of the new capabilities, namely Gears of War 4, Forza Motorsport 7 or the new multi-platform games of Call of Duty: WW II, and Assassin's Creed: Origins. But is having higher resolution, or taking off a few seconds of loading time worth, at a bare minimum, $500, with a difference that many people can't even discern? Clearly no. I have been buying consoles for twenty-two years, and I have never received a defective unit from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, etcetera. Now good-old Microsoft has produced four dysfunctional systems for me. The widely publicized and nearly ubiquitous problem of the aptly titled "red ring of death" necessitated that I had to purchase three Xbox 360's before I received one that actually worked. Now to that proud heritage they can add that their newest console also didn't function. Further, the last two employees I talked to at Microsoft excoriated me for plugging my system into a surge protector. Supposedly you are to directly connect the system to your power outlet. Even if this is the case, which negates the whole function of surge protector, the company should specifically address this issue in the direction manual, but of course they do not. I have some other fun facts to think about before considering buying this, as it currently stands, abysmal machine. Again, there is currently no games designed for the hardware. I am unaware of a console ever being released where this is the case. The controller still uses double AA batteries. To give you a point of contact, Microsoft's competitors in Playstation and Nintendo both have rechargeable controllers, and they have had them for their last two consoles. The cherry on top is that the rechargeable battery pack I bought for the controller shuts off intermittently as well. So I have to return that as well. If I have convinced a single person not to buy this product I will feel like I have accomplished something. It was completely ignorant of me to buy this machine, but I always like to buy new consoles. And given that I just bought a brand-new 4K television, with 2160p resolution, and which is also HDR compatible, I thought it would be nice to have console that has the capabilities to showcase those new technological breakthroughs. The next problem with Microsoft is they just released a new console last year in the Xbox One S. The X is the third iteration with different hardware specification in the same generation. Again, this is unprecedented. Thus, it is quite likely that they will make another product before the next generation of consoles. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised with the impending release of an Xbox One Y by the end of this year. Some other factors I hope other consumers will reflect upon. The president of the Xbox division Phil Spencer spoke extensively that the Kinect was an integral part of the Xbox One experience--that is why it was originally packaged with it. Well, if that is, or was true, why do you have to spend an additional $40 dollars to even utilize it? (By the way, Microsoft no longer makes the Kinect, nor the adapter that you need to use it on your Xbox One S or the Xbox One X). So here is the mathematics: The Xbox One X costs $499.99. To fully take advantage of its capabilities, you have to spend $25 dollars for a rechargeable battery. You also must waste another $25 dollars to be able to use your controller wirelessly through your computer, which they tout as a great new feature being able to play (some) games on your computer as well when you purchase a game on Xbox One. Now don't be fooled by Microsoft with their ridiculous propaganda of the "Play Anywhere" campaign. This silly idea that if you buy a game for Xbox, you can play it on your personal computer as well. That is technically true, but only for a grand total of twenty-two games, which is clearly pathetic. To their credit, the single exceedingly exceptional exclusive in Cuphead is one of those very select games. It shows how credulous some gamers are that they have such an affinity for brand names that this product has over a four and a half star rating out of five and it has hardly been out for a month--with no games that actually are designed for the system. And what's worse, the Xbox One barely has any exclusive titles. According to Metacritic, which simply compiles every review for a game into a single aggregate score, there is only two Xbox One exclusive titles that make the list of their top twenty-five games for the system since it was originally released on November 22nd, 2013: Forza Horizon 3 at number seven, and Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition at sixteen. If you look at all the one-star reviews, they all say the same thing that I have said: the product isn't even functioning. Please do not buy into this scam. If you do, be prepared that the machine may not work, and if that is the case good luck getting help from Microsoft. I have never in my life had worse customer "service" from any other company on the planet.	video-games_xbox
One of the Best Rock Bands Yet. Now, being a huge Beatles fan, BRB will always be one of my favorites, the visuals were just too amazing. However, Harmonix has taken Rock Band 2 and improved it in almost every way with 3. The tour mode is much more animated, showing your band huffing it to gigs on the subway, character creation is more involved with facial adjustments available of every kind. You also unlock clothing now as a reward, not sure if there's a money system since I've only had it for one day. The other review endlessly complained about the instruments and USB hub availability. Well guess what, all previous Rock Band instruments work, so if you have a problem shelling out for Pro instruments, don't! Also, of course Harmonix would try to shuck their keyboard first, just wait a few weeks and almost any MIDI keyboard will work with the hub. Next, the songlist. We get a much more even spread of tracks by decade, instead of trying to cram every emo rock track from the 2000s into the game. The limited-time Doors downloads are nice, as well as the Amazon pre-order guitar. In a week you will be able to download John Lennon's Imagine album, which couldn't be a better initial DL package. The sound seems to be a little better balanced this time, with the option to boost the bass, and the Dobly Digital isn't as brickwalled as last time, giving your speakers a break. Visuals are nice as usual, although I see some recycled backing characters from Rock Band 2. One note - I've had minor problems calibrating my HDTV to the guitar, done several auto-cal and it gives me a different offset every time. Assuming Harmonix will patch this soon if it's widespread. Overall, a great and engrossing game, my girlfriend and I love to play together, and plan on hosting several Rock Band Nights during the holidays to spread the joy and perhaps initiate a few new converts. as Ozzy would say - "Rock N Roll!"	video-games_xbox
GREAT FUN - WITH PATIENCE. 5 STARS for FUN. 4 for "overall". I just want to confirm some of the previous positive points already made as well as the negative. THE GOOD: 1) this game is TONS of FUN when you work with your fire team buddy. i like to "lone wolf" it myself but not so much here, and i think that's why i'm having so much FUN. the game has forced me out of my comfort zone by working with the team and that seemingly small detail turns out to be not so small at all. i might even say it's the core of the whole experience. so if you are usually the "wolf", try giving the fire team style a chance. seems like everyone on the team "just gets along" together. cool. 2) gun play is terrific - once you learn to slow down and use the "lean and peak" feature and select the right weapon for your style of play. 3) it actually looks pretty darn good. i mean if you think about it you spend 90% of the time looking thru a scope - not at the flowers on the ground or the graffiti on a wall (which are there btw). 4) multiplayer is completely different than in the last edition - which upset (okay massively offended) me at first, but after a couple weeks i'm officially converted. i've stopped playing the last one. 5) cooperation is highly rewarded. what i've noticed is that even when you just jump in a match with no "friends", you are almost always paired up with someone who will instantly partner with you to mutual advantage - even mid game - and that's not something i've experienced with other titles. most people seem to play w/o their mics off and still coordinate very well. to me that indicates some great innovation in multiplayer game design. 6) the origins "battlelog" site was new for me. at first it seemed a little frustrating to figure out (like what it's purpose is). with a little patience i got the hang of that and feel that it adds some depth to the fun of leveling up and raising stats. flying your nation of choices flag is great fun. 7) very well balanced character classes and weapons. while there is definately a "best" class and weapon for your individual style, there is no "super" class and weapon combo that seems to make all the rest meaningless. another "plus 1" for the fun factor - you can be what you like w/o fear of fighting a loosing battle. if you can't seem to find your stride, examine some other classes and gear and you'll find your niche pretty quick. 8) mobility varies well between class and gear selection and the options really add depth to your set up. sounds repetitive but i can't stress enough that if you take the time to find the right combinations for your style of play you will be highly pleased with the results in the overall experience. 9) the achievements are logically related to play style and great fun to chase after - as opposed to being random, meaningless doo dads that eventually everyone gets. 10) smooth as silk gameplay. seems that no matter what time of day I play, and on whatever server I'm on, everything is running flawlessly smooth. bullets are on time - as opposed to hitting you in the head 2 seconds after you moved out. THE BAD: 1) sometimes you get stuck on an insignificant piece of terrain that doesn't look like it should trip you up - and then you get shot in the head 2ms later. i think we can all agree that stinks. All FPS games have this to some degree, but if you find yourself thinking on it too much it's probably a negative for that particular game. i think it is for warfighter. 2) spawning. double edged sword here - sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. simly put i wish this "bear" was extinct or at least on the endangered species list but in warfighter he seems out of hibernation and hungry. it really stinks when you take a guy down and then his buddy "buddy spawns" at that same moment and catches you with an empty mag standing in the middle of the alley.....and then you get shot. i guess if my reflexes were good enough I'd tomahawk the dude - but mine aren't so i just eat a mag in the face and sigh. the game tries to avoid that by not allowing "buddy spawns" while taking damage, but quite often if fails - although sometimes in your favor. the other issue is that it seems a bit easy to overwhelm the other team by parking on or near their spawn points and then pinning them down in some fairly cannalized map design. yup - once your team has the momentum you almost always know right where their coming from and it can feel a little silly at that point. translates to loads of fun when you're winning - frustrating when it's you who can't seem to get out of the spawn area and back in the game. on a few occasions though i've managed to spawn in the enemies camp which is kinda neat since they certainly don't ever expect that one. again though - not so fun to be on the receiving end of said ninja jedi spec ops messianic guy. 3) lighting. some maps / areas are DARK to the point where you simply don't stand a chance at knowing if a guy is in there or not - until he opens fire anyway. i'm on the fence with this one. in a way it's "realistic" and so could be deemed a positive. on the other hand if it's going to be that DARK then I think you should have some way of illuminating it before you commit. give me a flare or something. OVERALL: I'd buy it again and routinely encourage others to do so. I'm buying gift copies for some of my friends who are unwilling to play anything other than Black Ops II. (nothing against BO2...i'm sure it's fine). Why? Because it's so darn FUN!! - but I have to admit that you have to put some time in before you realize just how much so.	video-games_xbox
NOT an improvement over the 1st game. Disclaimer: I'm only 4hrs in, and I know that's a little early to draw any conclusions. I don't "hate" ME2, but I have some pretty strong impressions to share, and I expect to stand by them even if this game somehow manages to turn it around and be something special. So the title makes my most immediate point, which is this: if you haven't played Mass Effect 1 yet, spend the $20 for that rather than $60 for this, and enjoy the first game. By the time you're through, this will be significantly less expensive, and you'll be making a less costly mistake (arguably) when you buy it. I recently completed Mass Effect 1 and very much enjoyed it. I assumed Mass Effect 2 would be similar to the original, and based on the reviews, probably considerably better. Well, there are a few areas of improvement: the graphics in cutscenes are even nicer than those in ME1. ME1 had pretty nice cutscenes in its own right, but these are really gorgeous. And the script seems to be paced more like a film, with a dramatic opening, cool character introductions, etc. as opposed to the somewhat boring and meandering introduction of Mass Effect 1. But even these improvement comes at a cost. Because the script is more filmic, it is that much more structured and linear, coming at you in short chapters with intrusive summary screens (and subsequent load screens) that kill immersion and cheapen the experience. My biggest issue with ME2 is the extent to which the RPG elements have been simplified. There are fewer skills to advance, with fewer gradations between. And there are fewer items and item classes (in RPG-speak, loot) to manage. In other words, there are fewer decisions for you, as the player to make. Now, I can accept that BioWare was trying to streamline this game in order to deliver a more accessible action title, but this is where things really go wrong. So many terrible decisions have been made with regards to the UI. Simple things are MIA or partially MIA, for instance, maps are only sometimes available, and they are no longer zoomable. (They are often replaced with the harbinger of the dumbed-down RPG: the dreaded "destination arrow", aka the "why did I bother paying any attention" arrow.) The mini-map, which is indispensable in judging enemy location vs. your own bearing, curiously disappears and pops up only when you are paused with the command wheel up - so you'll spend an inordinate amount of time that way. When it is up, it's often partially obscured by other text. Health and shield bars for team mates have been replaced by odd little face icons, and a single health bar that is shared by all members, in a way that I could only very generously call counter-intuitive. There are so many little reticules popping in and out of existence to highlight enemies and interactive objects that the screen becomes a busy mess, and you can scarcely make out the actual items/ enemies depicted. Text boxes pop up, sometimes a half dozen at a time, that are too small to read even on a large HDTV. The font selections alone never should have gotten past play testing. It's one thing to write a brand new game and make a number of bad decisions, but to start with a UI that worked, and go out of your way to bork so many distinct, obvious things... it's mind boggling. And while the framerate looks smooth enough, there's something... sluggish about the handling of the game that, combined with all of the above, just leaves me feeling stressed out, disconnected, and never quite grasping what the hell is going on. I switched to a (much) bigger TV but that didn't help. Everything (from combat to trying to understand what was in the safe you just unlocked) feels vague and imprecise, and I'm just sort of clumsily blasting and biotic'ing my way through. And before you assume that I'm just bad at the game, well, maybe so - but if I had one complaint about ME1, it was that it was too easy. I don't mind a tough fight, but I do ask that a fight make some kind of discernable sense. This doesn't feel harder, it just feels like a mess. So, less of an RPG, as was possibly intended. But in my estimation, also the lesser action title, which has me seriously concerned.	video-games_xbox
Batman Comprehensive Review. Batman series is always among the most wanted games we people here have been waiting for. Now we have it! Through the initial play, I want to show you guys my thoughts. I'm not going to review the graphics, or the story line, or the music. Who needs to know that anyway, if you are a big fan in this series. I'm here to tell you what you can do in the game! That is the most exciting part, isn't it? You can free roam in the city. Btw, the Gotham City is five times bigger than the Arkham City. You are free to choose any mission in this free world. All the villains are teamed up against Batman! Big challenge. Their only mission is to sabotage Batman, and of course, your mission is to hunt them down. It is sometimes like a puzzle solving game. For example, you come to a crime scene, you listen carefully to the radio, and there is some distinctive music noise at the background, then when you roaming in the city, you happen to hear that music again, BANG, there goes your clue. You found a lead in the crime. Batman's gadgets. The CAR. It is a super car in any way. For the first time, you can drive it. The car can climb on walls, can switch between pursuit mode and battle mode. It can eject batman to the air, so batman can free roam fly. Oh, did I forget to mention? Batman can fly now. You can lock up all the villains captured in the free world. You can lock them up in prison, and as you wish, from time to time, go visit them, punch them, teach them a lesson, anytime you want. It is like a villain museum. Of course, those super villains get VIP treatment. It is free for you to explore. Batman has ALLIES now!!! You can easily switch between them! And they all have their unique movements. I'm not gonna do the spoilers here, but I'm gonna say, they are all unique and super fun to play! I will continue to add to this thread if I found out anything exciting. The only reason I leave a 4-star is that so we can have room for more exciting things to be found out. Everything is awesome so far.	video-games_xbox
A Fun Game, But You CAN Get Stuck. Amped 2 is a pretty good game. It has over 15 mountains, tons of challenges, great graphics, and tons of tricks. Its fun for people who like snowboarding games, and its a blast online, playing with up to 8 people. Here's what I thought of Amped 2: by Microsoft Game Studios... 1) Single Player: This game is similar to the original in terms of single player. You start out at rank 250, and work your way up to #1. Only this time, there are more challenges, more tracks, and several new ways to board. There are now 8 grabs (instead of the 2 in the first), and the ability to do a butter. What a butter does is connect 2 moves. So you can do a backflip, do a butter, then pull of a grind. It combines the 2 tricks for a better score. This can lead to a lot more customization. Not to mention the extra 6 grabs... Amped 2 brings back High Score, Media Score, and trying to find all the Snow Men. It also adds finding the 5 gaps, and pulling off 5 special tricks. Once completing all of this, you can try to out-trick 3 pros, win over 3 sponsors, and do 3 photoshoots (very cool). Each thing you complete increases your rank, and once up to a certain rank (say 200), you can unlock a new track. One thing about the single player is that it can get incredibly hard. Scoring hundreds of thousands of points, pulling off insane tricks, or trying to impress a very tough sponsor. Fortunantly, with each rank come new trick "point(s)", which you can use to improve your snowboarder. You can increase speed, rotation, air time, blance, and switch (similar to the Tony Hawk series). Spending the points wisely may be the difference between beating and failing the game... The problem in single player though, is thats its so long, and so hard at times that you just want to give up (like the original). If you do keep trying though, you can beat it. It can just get a bit frustrating at times... 2) Online Play~ The online play is a blast in this game. You can race with up to 8 people in several game types: high score, king of the mountain (pulling off the best tricks on certain hills), and a tournament (which averages out everyones best tricks, high scores, media, etc.. #1, 2, 3...). The cool thing is that you can take you single player character online. So all that work you put in to beating the game is finally worth it. The graphics are great, there are rankings. So online play in this game is awsome. Especially if u love snowboarding 3) Graphics~ The graphics in this game are...amazing. Your character looks almost real (you can customize his or her hair, clothes, snowboard, etc.. And the color of everything). As you board, the snow shoots out from behind. You leave a trail of where you've been. When you grind, sparks fly out from the board. When you hit a tree, you knock snow off. The snow looks real, fun, exicting. Its a blast to board through and pave your way. The tricks look cool and realistic. The mountains you race on have birds, trees, tons of snow, camera men, rails, and buildings. It really does look like a boarding mountain, and adds to the game. Overall this game is a blast. Better than the first, the online play and extremely long single player make this a great game that will last you for awhile. Reccomended for anyone who loves snowboarding (I might wait a month or 2 and wait for the price to drop tho). A good game that won't dissapoint. Thx! obryanstars*	video-games_xbox
The real Sneak King. GRAPHICS: Nice. Really, really nice actually. The graphics on the single player mode are fantastic, especially on an HDTV. SOUND: Top notch. Can't say anymore than that other than Ubisoft is usually on the money in this department. GAMEPLAY: The online multiplayer is a drastic change from Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory but still worth a look. One worthy upgrade is three men to a team as opposed to two per team. The mercs and spies feel a bit more even than they did in the previous two titles in the series. There are also new modes like "spy vs. spy" that are pretty fun as well but it seemed to me that it all got kind of old pretty fast in regards to online play. One thing I have to mention is that this game has probably one of the smartest, if not the smartest, enemy AI setups in any game I've played to date. This can be both exciting and pretty frustrating. The single player campaign however is easily the best of all four games, including the original. I would go as far as to say that this is the first game I've ever played where I actually felt like I was undercover. Placed in the middle of a domestic terrorist cell, the game gets really suspenseful really quickly. You will be forced to make tough decisions with only a matter of seconds to mull them over, in order to prove your loyalty to the band you've infiltrated. Trust me when I say, the single player game is a worthwhile experience. It's actually the reason I bothered to write this review in the first place. WORTH PURCHASING? I'd say yes but with caution because this game isn't really for everyone. The controls can get a bit cumbersome when you're trying to do things in a hurry and the game requires a level of patience like few other games out there. This game is all about hiding in the shadows for a couple of minutes before you make your move and if run and gun is what you're looking for, I'd say look elsewhere. The single player is worth the money alone and adds a good amount of replay value for your buck. If you liked the Sam Fisher adventures of before, try it as you may be surprised.	video-games_xbox
Won't Power On...(updated. I bought my Xbox locally just about 3 years ago. I played it daily for the first month, 1-2 hours a day, and slowly stopped all together. I'm not an avid gamer, I just play frequently for a few days and then generally lose interest. When we moved I stored it in it's original box for about 15 months. I recently within the last 4 weeks took it out of the box (always stored inside, out of heat and moisture's range) plugged it up and played it for these past 4 weeks. When I went to power it on just the other day - nada. No indication of it trying to power on, can't power it on with the CD tray, or the remote. I went through the appropriate steps to resolve the issue and still nothing. My power cord lights up orange indicating it's working, but I am going to try a friend's however I am not hopeful. It will result in me spending $100 to mail it off, which doesn't bother me to not have it, or $200 for a new system. These days an extra $100 is pocket change, I just want to make sure I can get back all the games I've paid for and downloaded to the hard drive. I am OCD about electronics, I put them in my car whenever we move, keep original boxes, ensure there is enough "breathing space" so things don't overheat and am just all around overly cautious. I have an Atari that still works...yet this system breaks after 3 years of having and maybe 200 hours of use. Very very disappointed. Update: 12/2/13 I decided to take a chance and mail in my unit to Microsoft to be repaired. The process was fairly simple; fill out some online forms, which included going through troubleshoot screens so they could decide which repair is right for the problem. Instead of the $100 repair cost, because mine was a "same unit" repair it was only $85 ($90 after I bought a shipping box/bubble wrap). It took almost exactly 2 weeks for the repair, they returned the game that was stuck in the console AND gave me 1 month free subscription to Xbox Live. Overall I'm happy with the repair service, it comes with a 3 month warranty (so lets hope it holds). I would have however liked to know what the problem was, they didn't send anything back saying what had to repaired or if it's indeed still the same unit I sent in. I changed my rating to 3 stars; I enjoy the system, but don't enjoy having to subscribe to Xbox Live (I do play online sometimes, but mostly use it for Netflix), nor did I enjoy spending extra money to mail it in. Fingers crossed it holds up!	video-games_xbox
A hard game to get into. First of all, I'll just say that I have not played the 360 version of FFXI, but I have played this game on PC and PS2 since its NA release. The game has alot of problems, that's for sure. Prices on some servers for gear and other items are out of control, and some people who play are very rude and ignorant. However when you are dealing with humans, that is to be expected. Part of the enjoyment to be had from FFXI is getting to know people and gathering to do events that you can't do alone. That is also a major drawback of this game. It takes alot of time to do things, such as misisons. Getting together 18 people for a monster fight can take hours. However if you like challenges then this game is challenging. If you prefer a game that you can do 90-95% of the game alone then you could try WoW. And to the complaints about DLing for 4 hours to start, what do you expect? When you buy a game that has been out for 2+ years with updates every month or so, you have alot to Download. Alot of patches and things that can't be put onto the game disc have to be Downloaded, so be prepared. But the game itself is worth it if you want a challenge. It is a not a game you can play for an hour or so and get a fair shake at it. You have to get to a point where you start interacting with other people, that is when the fun starts. And like a reviewer before said, if you get into the game and play it, you will be playing for a long time. I haven't bought a single RPG since I purchased this on PC, so I have spent far less on video games than I would have if I was buying normal console RPGs, since one of those are 30-50 bucks a pop, thats 2-4 months of this game. And someone had said that it is extra for another chara, which is true. It is 1 dollar per extra chara on a single "Content ID"(which is what you set up when you install the game) and people usually use those chara's to store gear or other items, but you do not have to buy another chara. In the 2 years+ I have played I have only needed one chara. Another thing that ruins this game is the fact that there is not alot to do once you gain level 75(the higest lvl). There are very few things, and the things you can do get boring fast, leaving you to level another job. And leveling can be a pain, because you need to make a party after about level 10. But it is all worth it if you enjoy meeting new people and are willing to put forth an effort to learn the game. As far as the game itself, you have 5 races to choose from, each with stronger attributes than others depending on their most suited jobs(ex. Mithra have higher Agility and Dexterity because they are naturally better ninjas and theifs). For 3 of the races you can choose a gender, but that doesn't affect your attributes in anyway, but it can affect what equipment you can wear(some pieces may be female only, and some gear is also race specific). With the newest expansion the number of jobs increased to 18, but only 6 are usable when you begin. When you hit level 30 you can quest for 9 more, and the last 3 from the new expansion can be obtained anytime, but are dangerous missions, so maybe not until the 50's or higher. So the bottom line is that this game takes alot of time, but if you like that kind of game, and like meeting new people, this is a good game. If you don't like to take hours to complete a single fight or can't stand people, then look at another game.	video-games_xbox
Great! But not Perfect. Let me be clear and start of by saying GTA is a really good game. BUT I do think it is overrated. It's not perfect. A lot of game sites gave it a 10/10. I would give it somewhere around an 8.5. I'm just going to point out some of the flaws in this review because I think you can find GTA4's strengths in any other review, so this review will necessarily sound negative/ranting, but I did like the game. I really don't like Niko. I think Rockstar did a horrible job of developing his character. The most immediate pet peeve is his accent - the voice acting was terrible. It sounds like someone mocking an eastern European accent. But more fundamentally, the character is ultimately unconvincing because throughout the game he teeters back and forth between angst-driven man with a mission to nice, polite gentleman. It's painful to watch conversations with other characters in the game where Niko dishes out relationship advice like one of those Dear Abby columnists. Which brings me to a related peeve: the dialogue. It's pretty bad. Interactions between characters feel very unnatural. It's pretty solid at first (I'm not an expert on Jamaican dialect, but Little Jacob sounded convincing to me), but the second half of the game feels very rushed - particularly the dialogue between Niko and his primary female friend toward the end of the game. Of course poor characters + poor dialogue will almost inevitably lead to poor plot. I guess storyline isn't the main draw for the GTA series, but I wish Rockstar put more effort into it, since it's otherwise a solid game. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but you find out what Niko's primary motivation is a few missions into the game. Other than a few minor hiccups here and there, there aren't any real surprises as the game more or less makes a predictable, straight bee-line toward resolution. Most disappointing is that the game fails to really flesh out Niko's past, and subsequently the villain characters in the game are under-developed - the game never satisfyingly explains their motivations. Another issue with the plot is the ending, which I can only very vaguely describe for the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free. It felt like Rockstar was trying to execute a sort of moral denouement in the final scenes of the game, exposing Niko's hamartia (flaw). Unfortunately, the ending was poorly executed because the game has a hard time deciding whether it wants to moralize, or just kill people. Ultimately, the ending simultaneously involves killing people, as well as a sort of "winners don't do drugs!" type message, which of course feels rather out of place for a GTA game. Perhaps the devs wanted something to fend off Jack Thompson with. Finally, some issues with the gameplay. The world does indeed feel much more immersive than prior iterations of the series, yet it still gets painstakingly repetitive in the second half of the game. I really found doing the same hunt-and-kill missions over and over again to get tiresome. Again, it feels like the devs got lazy as the first half had some innovative missions, while the second half devolves into repetitive drive to location, win gunfight against two dozen men, shake cops structure. The second half missions absolutely fail to satisfactorily integrate the new elements of the game - for example, I had totally abandoned the "friendship" system as it became more of a nuisance to maintain high friendship levels, with little reward. In conclusion, I'd like to again stress that GTA4 is a really good game, and I just thought I'd point out the flaws because I think I expected a really spectacular game given the unprecedented positive reception it was given by most critics. I think we're going to see GTA4 go the same route as GTA3 - where the first game sets up sandbox, so to speak, laying out the core game engine, with subsequent games building on top of that solid foundation and introduce some really nice gameplay elements. It feels like the devs didn't have quite enough time to polish GTA4 in terms of plot and gameplay, but that shouldn't be a problem for the sequels that are sure to be coming out in the next few years as there is a really excellent foundation to work with.	video-games_xbox
awesome graphics and storyline but limited game play and game reply. my review on raise of the tomb raider is a 4.1. it had a very compelling story line. the story line keeps you on the edge of your seat with a lot of action and surprising abashes from tomb traps, wild animals, and enemies. I also enjoyed the tomb puzzles. the tombs always kept you guessing and they were challenging. if you did not do the puzzles in the correct order that the tomb required it it could cause trapes to be setup or even death. another thing that was a plus for me that you will notice about this tomb raider reboot sequel is the graphics. the graphics are stunning the character expressions, the environments, and the detail of the weapons are some of the best graphics I've ever seen on xbox one. now here is the cons and downsides to this sequel. the gameplay is to short and there is no replay value once you finish the main storyline. there is only tombs to be explored and side missions if you haven't completed them prior to completing the main story line. once you complete the storyline and the side missions the only thing left to do is roam the evoriments and kill animals to craft parts and ammo and what good is it to craft parts and ammo if there is no enemies to engage into combat with. so that being said I think alot of these studios put alot into the storyline and graphics which is awesome, but it's seem they take away from expanding on the combat enemy and puzzle system. It takes away the long replay value of being able to go back to the game and do alot of the things you did during the main storyline once the game is finish. it's kind of boring to just roam an environment with no challenges or no more bad guys to beat up. I even feel alot of game studios should think of making add-ons or even dlcs to expand on the storyline that you could purchase digitally. I actually beat the game in a day in a half. Im giving the game a 4.1 on my list and putting it in my category of games that are like movies. make sure you buy an extra game on hand once you complete it because there is nothing to do in the game once you have finished the main storyline.	video-games_xbox
Aimed for the paintball players (or younger audiences. This game is definitely aimed toward the paintball players. The Good. The good of this game is that is portrays a paintball match quite well. It offers various real life equipment like bob longs or invert minis to v force face mask. It is tight, kinda fast paced paintball action. Its good to take that itch off when you cannot go play real paintball. That is pretty much it for this game. Speed ball is pretty fun. It varies from elimination, capture the flag or middle flag to win the game. And the players vary from 1 to 1, 3 vs 3, 5 vs 5 and 7 vs 7. Your team has a set of skills that can be upgraded as well. You don't have to sit out once your out in career mode. Once you are out, you are played in the eyes of your teammate to play as him (no girls in this game?). Online. This game may have shined online game, offering elimination, customizable maps, but right now, no one is really playing it. The day I got it I was the only one online and the next 5 people were online. The Bad. Since it is a paintball game, it is not going to be as polished as a blockbuster game. The graphics are plain, players and environment lack detailed graphics, not bad but could of used more time. And despite not so polished graphics, this game does include a lot of load screens. The AI is not the best. I started out by playing pro (the hardest difficulty setting) and even there have not had any real trouble winning, I would lose a few at first because I was getting used to the game play and now, it is too easy and win games in under a minute. The game is repetitive as stated, you can change breaks but its pretty much the same thing. Its fun but for your average gamer it may be cumbersome. The sound, could have been better. The tutorials (the hardest levels of the game, seriously) offer the voices of team dynasty. They sound bored and kinda forced into doing the voice overs. the music is fine, but I would have liked simple dramatic music like from gears of war or halo. And the voices your teams shouts are so repetitive. "we are so awesome" and two others are all the phrases your teams says when you win. No one plays online much anymore. If you are looking for an okay paintball game, trying to get that itch off if you cannot play today, this is your game. Other than that, if you are the hardcore gamer, this is not for you. You are better off playing those blockbuster games online than this. But other than that. Its an okay game. Hopefully future paintball games get more attention and time taken into their development.	video-games_xbox
The Good / The Bad / The Ugly. After spending some quality time (2 weeks) with the GAEMS M155, I feel I now have enough experience with it to have a balanced view of this new gaming device. I'll do my best to be informative and help those of you on the fence understand both the potential and limitations of the product. Here we go: The Specifics------------------ I use a Macbook Pro 13" 2011 with Yosemite on it. My gaming machine of choice is the launch day PS4 I play lots of COD. Haters will hate, FPS campers will appreciate. I'm an Apple fanboy who makes a living in the advertising industry doing design work. I'm known for taking extremely good care of my tech. I'm an adult. The Product--------- First and foremost, this was designed for gamers. This is not intended to be a screen for your palm pilot or blackberry. I will not waste review time discussing absolutely derelict devices so out of the obvious use spectrum. This unit is meant for gaming, with a secondary screen use market as an obvious upsell for the purchase of the M155. The M155 is an awesome concept. It's like taking a portable screen in a bag for your gaming system and not needing the HUGE clamshell cases GAEMS is well known for. I've played about 15 hours on my screen so far, and not a dead pixel in sight. No lag. Love the portability, and love that I'm no longer forced with choosing between a real TV or a nuclear warhead case. There are quite a few problems though: The Screen-------------- Overall 6/10 I really, really wanted to love this screen. The problem is, the viewing angles are SO bad when compared to virtually ANY phone, tablet, notebook, or tv. Do not buy the pitch that two players will enjoy a game session here. It's just not a reality. You'll need to be head on. A little over, or under, or to the side and the edges of the screen will be washed out. You've been warned. But for solo gaming, not bad. PS: It's Glossy I give the screen a 6 out of 10. I think for a little more time in development, this screen could have had much better viewing angles. The Audio--------------- 0/10 I hate to break it to you...but there are no speakers in this thing. On the GAEMS promo videos they claim that they did not develop the M155 with speakers due to weight issues, and that leaving them out cut down on the weight / profile. I call BS. In reality, you are most likely reading this review on a phone with built in speakers that could have worked on this unit. So those Netflix sessions you wanted to use your Xbox and GAEMS M155 on? Better grab the headphone splitters. That or grab a decent speaker, thus adding bulk and defeating the purpose of this slim product. I'm really disappointed in their effort here; I would hound them about crappy speakers, but this...they simply chose not to care. The Design---------------- Overall 7/10 A couple of things here. The stand works well enough, providing you don't strip the screws or lose them. There are two screws that hold the cover/stand to the M155. They are total trash. They will end up going rogue within a few years, I guarantee. Think about the amount of iPhone cases and iPad cases. Think about the volume of windows and android cases with felt covers. These guys most likely own those devices and covers, and while developing the M155 they chose 2 screws to secure the case to their product. Lazy development here. That's all there is to it. The Software / Menu System / Controls------------ Overall 4/10 Bare bones menu system. I have contrast cranked all the way up to compensate for color being washed out depending on the viewing angle. Basic settings available. Think what your mom's old CRT TV had. It works. The Connections---------------------------------- Overall 3/10 A couple of things to note. The M155 is powered by dual usb's chained (see pic). These can either be plugged into your gaming system / computer or one of them plugged into the included wall adapter. These chords are super short. You'll need bigger ones if you plan on moving the screen farther from the console. One headphone jack. You'll need this baby since there are NO speakers on the M155. Pray hard that this never gives out under continual use. One HDMI input. I have had a real bad time with this port. Often, I would turn the M155 and the PS4 on at the same time already connected, and the M155 would display nothing, and then just power down. I would turn the M155 on again, same result. What I found, after reaching out to GAEMS support, is that there is a "supposed" HDMI connectivity issue on Playstation's side of things. I find that hard to believe, because I have yet to EVER replicate this problem on any other display, but alas, GAEMS claims it's all Sony's fault. Regardless of where the blame lies, the solution is that every PS4 owner who wants to use the M155 must do the following: Step 1: Power on PS4 (NO HDMI connected to GAEMS, PS4 connection fine) Step 2: Power on M155 (NO HDMI connected to GAEMS, PS4 connection fine) Step 3: Wait for GAEMS logo to appear, disappear, and then reappear Step 4: Re-insert HDMI Cable into GAEMS HDMI port Step 5: M155 comes on with PS4 displaying This solution works every time. Problem is, what a sucky way to just use the screen you paid for! Would you be okay if it was your main tv that required this? (We would send that _______ back to the manufacturer!) Once again GAEMS claims this is Sony's fault...but I don't buy it. Macbook Pro Use (Second Screen)------------------------ Overall 7/10 Not a bad second screen for your mac. Colors are off a bit (obviously) and of course pixel clarity leaves much to be desired. But in no way worse than plugging your mac into your tv. Social Media managers rejoice....this screen might help you manage 15 profiles on the road. Overall Concept------------------------------------------------- 5/10 I really wanted to love this device. The land of missed opportunities is where the M155 originates. I really think GAEMS was just too shortsighted here. As for what it claims to be, with no speakers, bad viewing angles, awkward PS4 support, and lazy overall design...the M155 is a 5 out of 10. Am I happy to use it? Sure. Would I buy it again if someone stole it? Nope. There will be better options in the future. Let's talk about what they missed here. In focusing on the gamer as the sole market, they forgot about secondary markets. Had they built a better screen, included speakers, designed a better case, and had better HDMI port support...what else should they have done? I believe they missed a wonderful opportunity to include Netflix / Hulu / Amazon into the screen menu software, and they did not include a digital tuner or any way to watch over-the-air digital tv. Think about it. What if on a plane, you wanted a giant 15" screen that didn't have a huge keyboard attached to it, or require a console for entertainment? What if I could mount this thing on a wall in the kitchen for Netflix as I cook, and put it in the travel case for those trips I want to game? A Chromecast could fix this, but really, GAEMS was shortsighted on this one. The screen has a primary gaming focus, yes - but there is so much missed potential here for portable entertainment. Right now the tablet market is widespread, but $200 for a slimline portable entertainment tv? Nobody is doing that. The concept is ripe for the harvesting. As more and more adults hit the road more often, this kind of product just makes sense. We don't need another tablet. We just need a slim quality $200 tv that can go in our bag preloaded with Netflix / Hulu / and Amazon, and one that we can connect to the console of our choice on the go and share with friends. I can't hook my PS4 up to my iPad, otherwise I would not need a product like the M155. I think that if GAEMS missed the mark for their target market, they really missed the opportunities on the secondary market. If any of you could go home today, and tell your significant other that there was a slim 15" tv preloaded with streaming media services, a great screen, and nice audio that just-so-happened to also be able to connect to your computer as a second display and you could game on during the family trips.....I mean who couldn't sell that concept for $200. Pitching the idea for a $170 display just for gaming, no speakers and bad viewing angles...request denied! :) To Sum It Up------------ Great for: Adult Gamers on the go. Bad for: Kids and anyone looking for portable entertainment.	video-games_xbox
Not ready for release. Buggy as heck. Tried to play it twice; the first time, it wouldn't even load the tuning step, and the second time, it refused to tune my E string. I'll give it another shot in a few weeks once they've patched it (again), but next time, maybe they should put a little less effort into lame Kinect stuff and a little more effort into the game itself. November update: finally, after barely adequate help from tech support, I was able to get past the tuning step by turning the volume on my guitar all the way up. (Odd how that wasn't necessary in the original.) Fortunately, the ridiculous pregame tuning is only required for your first play; after that, you can go straight to the menu, the way any normal game would work. It's too bad that the on-screen help is worthless, and that it assumed that my guitar was horribly out of tune even though it worked just fine in Rocksmith (same guitar, same tuning, same cable) just a minute earlier ... the only suggestions you get are obvious ones like "Is your guitar plugged in?" It took patience and tremolo picking to get the game to suggest that perhaps the volume was too low. As many others have experienced, I've encountered a number of bugs during gameplay, which is a shame, because the actual play is solid. It's just that the effort to get through a session without problems is too much to justify regular play. There's no telling when the game will simply freeze up, or worse yet, respond but not continue (it can tell that you're playing, but won't advance to the next screen, and the controller doesn't respond to anything other than the Xbox button). Ironically, one of the better aspects of the 2014 edition is the removal of mandatory tuning between songs. You can play two consecutive songs without having to demonstrate that your guitar is still in tune ... what an idea! Adding goals for each song that change as you learn the song is a great idea, although the goals that redirect you to arcade games really ought to bring you back to the song once you're done, rather than depositing you back at the main menu. It's too bad that Ubisoft put so much effort into things that either don't work or don't add to the experience, because there's a great game locked away in here somewhere. Maybe if we're lucky, eventually the right patch will free it for us.	video-games_xbox
Just fantastic story, bit of a flop in multiplayer. I have to say, first of all, that the story is, in my opinion, far better presented than what Halo: Reach gave; I won't give spoilers here (although it's been quite a while), but I will say that I did not find the campaign, as a narrative piece, to be disappointing. I will warn that people unfamiliar with the expanded Halo universe will have some seriously confusing moments, which is a point against it. But given that I was prepared for that (the game was effectively made by fans), I can accept its eccentricities and flaws. What I can't accept is how buggy and sometimes broken the multiplayer is: it has virtually nothing to do with the weapons and loadout system, as it's close enough to Bungie's system for Reach to avoid being broken, but the stuff that goes on "under the hood": matchmaking, NAT issues, random lag spikes, occasional gear resets until you relog into Live; I've genuinely had more issues with Halo 4's multiplayer in the last few months than I've ever had from Halo 3 to Reach. You can tell this wasn't made by an objective, fully professional company, at least not yet: there's a lot of love-letters to fans, a few too many and a little too heavy-handed. There's design choices that make no sense (again, mostly under the hood; why couldn't they use Reach's netcode instead of their own?; on top of that, levels become rapidly meaningless as you max out your armory, unless you want to farm for achievements/commendation-specific equipment) and just overall the game feels somewhat incomplete at times. But for me, the most important aspect was the campaign, and that, at least, is extremely solid. Not perfect, but excellently done. I can forgive the bugs and glitches prevalent throughout the game as "first attempt" issues. As long as they're resolved by Halo 5 (or even in a title update), I can forgive it. I really do consider this to be a very promising beta for Halo 5, honestly, rather than it's own standalone game. Perhaps if they'd had a beta, things would've been different, but alas... At any rate, the game is well worth buying for any fans of Halo, but I'm sorry to say, not quite a good entry point for newcomers, unless you're only interested in multiplayer.	video-games_xbox
Worth being able to get the DLC and buy Used over Brand New. I personally feel that the MUA Special Edition copy is worth the money if you love Marvel and love MUA. Buy the used copy people the DLC characters do not come on some card with a one time code, as far as I can tell its on the main disc that you play the game on. The game comes with a bonus disk, but it's just video of the crew that made the game it's a DVD of extras, so the DLC has to be on the disk because I ordered a brand new copy because I wasn't sure how the DLC characters were handled. Now that I know I would have gotten a used cheaper copy with case and manual instead of paying to buy a new one like I did. Cyclops is my favorite character and I was crushed when I found out that I couldn't play as him, but with the special edition that is remedied, and it adds 250 extra gamer score to the game and I believe 5 playable characters Nightcrawler, Hulk, Dr. Doom, Cyclops, and either Magneto or Venom both are on the cover of the box. It's just a real shame that activison isn't going to release a special edition for MUA2 with all the DLC. I really wish that I could get the DLC characters and the 250 achievement points that I'm screwed out of on MUA2. How cheap do you have to be not to get a new license to sell Marvel stuff after Marvel sold itself or more likely Disney "bought" Marvel, so activison had to get a licensing agreement with Disney now that Disney owns all Marvel property and Characters, which includes the DLC characters and achievements to MUA and MUA2 thank god they made the MUA Special Edition disk that allowed you to get the now not downloadable DLC pack for MUA1. However, I doubt that there will be a MUA2 Special Edition game coming out anytime soon. Anyway enough rambling bottom line the MUA1 Special Edition is worth it, and buy the USED copy as the DLC characters are on the main disk there is no ONE time code to get them, so buying a used copy with still get you the DLC characters. I did not know that so I bought mine brand new not wanting to take any chances, so I thought I would let everyone else know too.	video-games_xbox
When it works, it is golden. By far, in my opinion, the best console out there right now. Its features far outweigh any other console out on the market and the only reason to pick this machine over the other two major competitors is its XboxLive service. Online gaming is the wave of the future, and this is something Microsoft has been able to grasp since it first started its XboxLive in the early days of their first console. Sure, it is $50 a year to get the Gold service, but what you get is a solid and stable platform that allows you to play online with a lot of friends. The community grows each day, and it is by far the biggest contributor that extends the life of games that otherwise would of died a long time ago if not for their multiplayer features. Games like Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas are by far better when playing with a group of friends online. XboxLive also includes the Marketplace; a place where you can find free demos, downloadable content, movies and TV shows ready at your disposal. Also, this is where you can find the latest arcade games, some exclusive to Xbox, which allow you to play with other friends online or their single player campaigns. Aside from the online, the Xbox gives you great looking games like Gears of War and Dirt. These games push the consoles graphical prowess and truly usher in realism in video games. Wireless controllers let you play freely in your room without the worry of pulling cords, or worse yet, pulling your console to the floor. Seamless interaction with your XboxLive account within the game is also a great feature, allowing you to know when your friends log-on. Achievements, those addicting, meaningless gamer points garnered by beating certain conditions in the games will hook you--glue you to your 360, just for the satisfaction of getting an Achievement. This would all be great and dandy, but the biggest question and argument against the 360 is its reliability. Lets face it, Microsoft is a software company--not a hardware company, and it shows. Rumors of 360's breaking down constantly are real--I should know, as of this writing two of my 360's have had the displeasure of giving me the three red lights of death. I as I see it, it isn't a matter of IF your 360 will fail, but a reality of WHEN it will croak. So far, my two 360's didn't pass a 4 month period, and both had to be sent away to a Microsoft repair center. Luckily, at least for me, MS customer service was happy to assist me and I have been helped, at no cost to me whatsoever. I recommend you get an extended warranty if possible. This is something you should be doing with ANY piece of electronic, but I believe with this console you definitely will needed. Hopefully this becomes a mute point if Microsoft addresses the hardware problems of its machine. But, when the console works properly you can't be dissatisfied with your product. The combination of a great online service and great games, plus the ability to download games, video and TV shows all in one box, makes this the perfect fit for your living room space. Yes, it is a risky console, but this is something that can be solved with a warranty. Get it.	video-games_xbox
A Critical Review of the Xbox 360. Just a heads up, this is a review of the Xbox 360, not Modern Warfare 2 (which is awesome.) To begin let me just give you some background information. I've previously owned a PS3, and a Wii, and I'm also a Mac user, so you can already guess I'm not too fond of Microsoft. So lets begin the review. I bought the 360 because I didn't feel like there was enough variety of games for the PS3/Wii. This was mainly because I bought the PS3 and Wii when they first came out, while the 360 has been out for awhile longer. Let me first say that Microsoft is just out there to nickle and dime you. You can't just buy a 360 and start playing it. To start, I am appalled that the Xbox 360 does not have wireless internet. It seems these days the wireless is considered standard, and the fact that you can't connect wirelessly is ridiculous. Both the PS3 and Wii have wireless capabilities. But wait, Microsoft has a wireless adapter, only 100$. That boosts the price of this 360 package to 500$, which is just insane. Also, no HDMI cable included, really Microsoft? HDTVs are a another standard thing these days, and to not include the cable is foolish. Another thing, which isn't a major issue but still a hassle, is the controllers. The 360 has no way of connecting the controllers to the xbox to charge them, like the PS3 does. This means you either have to replace the batteries all the time or buy the charger kit, sold by Microsoft for 15$. On top of all the added fees, you have to pay for a subscription to play online, which is lousy. The PS3 online pay is free, which is how it should be. This just further proves my point that Microsoft is willing to charge you for everything. Let me move on to the software part of the 360. I do like the dashboard idea, its a nice way to chat with your friends and such, although it would be nice if it opened up quicker. I'm not a real big fan of the main interface, however. I feel like it's cluttered with unnecessary garbage like the "Spotlight" feature, and all this other stuff I'll never use. Another problem with the 360 is that you can't put your music or any other files on the hard drive. What's the point of having a 250gb hard drive if you can't put your music/videos on it. Microsoft is trying to prevent people from putting pirated music on their Xboxes by only allowing people to rip CDs onto the hard drive. This is a problem because nobody buys CDs anymore, eveything's digital! I still have not found a way to put my MP3s on the xbox (which are all DRM free, thanks to Amazon MP3). As far as the physical Xbox, it's very loud. It's almost as loud as a regular desktop PC, which gets kind of annoying after awhile. However, the black MW2 design on the 360 does look cool, and it's fairly small. After playing Call of Duty for a couple of weeks, a circular scratch appeared on the disk, which makes some missions in Spec Ops unplayable. I'm not sure how this happened, seeing as I haven't moved my Xbox since I've got it. Also, when I received my Xbox 360, the game box was already cracked. This isn't a big deal, but it just shows poor quality, and who wants a cracked game box? I'm not going to totally bash the Xbox 360. One thing I really like about it is the controllers. I wasn't a big fan of the Wii controllers, nor the PS3 ones, since they were both small. The 360 controller is large and fits in my hands great. I like the center dashboard button that lets me navigate through the xbox quickly. Also, the 360 has the most games on the market right now, so you can never get bored. All in all I don't regret buying the 360, I just think it has a lot of flaws that seem like they could be easily fixed. PROS: * Large game market, you'll never get bored * I like the controller * MW2 is amazing CONS: * No wireless internet * Microsoft will nickle and dime you on everything * The console is quite loud compared to others * Haven't found a way to put MP3s/Videos on the 360 yet	video-games_xbox
Good potential but game lacks serious challenge. As opposed to many people, I actually enjoyed the first Two Worlds game. When I heard there is going to be a sequel, I was naturally excited. I actually waited quite a bit (half a year) before playing this game as I had other games I was playing and also wanted xbox patches to come out. After playing for a few weeks (easily putting 20-30 hours into the game), I ended up abandoning the game due to lack of challenge - the game is too easy. I quit the game at about level 26 in chapter 2 (I probably did around half the side quests in chapter 1). The following is a list of pros and cons: pros ==== * Nice graphics when exploring the world - trees, grass, lakes, waves, etc. (not so much so in caves) * Lots of side quests. * Nice weapon/armor crafting (upgrading) system * Different enemies have different stengthes and weaknesses for weapon types cons ==== * I always got better armor/weapons available a few levels in advance. So there was little incentive in purchasing items from merchants. * "Limited" open world. While you can roam around and discover caves and such, the VAST MAJORITY of the caves are locked inside until you get the quest for them. * Picking locks is very easy once you figure it out. Each lock slot has an opposite one. This, along with the fact that lock picks can be easily purchased in great numbers makes opening locks quite easy (you do have to spend a few points in the lock picking skill though). * After crafting weapons/armor (upgrading), you always end up getting a better weapon and ditch the old one and start to upgrade the new weapon as well. It doesn't pay off to upgrade too much at lower levels - better maintain the raw upgrade materials. * Way too easy to create various potions (especially healing) with average to strong power. * Lots of cut scenes are broken - lots of "jumps" in the dialog. * You can outrun everything - even a cheeta! Enemies will eventually give up persuit. * Enemy AI is poor. On many occasions you can just use your bow and take them from afar while they just ideally standing. Even when they come after you, it is easy to flee from them and have them give up the pursuit. * Inventory takes more than a while to get used to. You can't show weapons or armor but have to see both. When dealing with merchants, a lot of the weapon stats are hiding the items the merchant has for sale. * Biggest issue for me that the game is too easy (I played on hard from the beginning). The hardest enemies I encountered were a few groms in the caves on the island you start at (when I was level 3 or 4). A few dead knights later on in a tomb but they were easily handled when I realized how to combat them. You have a special melee attack that always breaks through enemies blocking and it seems to me that once you start that attack it cannot be foiled (never saw that happening and I don't really remember if you can even take damage while doing that attack). * When having high defensive stance ability, you can nearly block all damage. Keep in mind that I was playing warrior/archer character. I didn't deal with magic. I read many reviews about the excellent magic system this game has. However, I don't play mage like characters but this is worth mentioning in case you might want to. Bottom line, ido NOT consider myself a super hardcore gamer or anything of the sort. But simply put, the game became too easy too fast and didn't have any challenge.	video-games_xbox
OK, but not the best. I played many hours of the first Godfather and enjoyed almost every second of it. The thought of receiving upgrades when controlling a racket sounded great in practice, but didn't benefit me as much as I would have liked. Here are a few of my other observations from the game: * Weaken rival families I like this addition. Go through and use your special execution styles to take out key players in your opponent's crew. In some cases this was as easy as walking up to the person and using the garrote, while other required much more finesse and some luck (hitting someone between the eyes). The favor system was pretty lame, in my opinion. It usually went like this... Walk up to person, talk, take job. Either do job or search for another favor. At one point my map had all the red indicators for favors. I totally lost track of how many mafia members I had gained access to by completing the favors. I don't think this was that well thought out. * Dictate family members I'm torn on the skills aspect of the game. I understand the need for it, but I think it was underdeveloped. This could have been a more important aspect of everything, but it almost seemed like more of an afterthought than anything. By that I mean you could go through the entire game without using any of the skills if you didn't want to. It helped on several occasions, but I think it should have played a more integral part in things. Another addition is when you control where family members protect/defend. You can't be everywhere at once, so being able to assign or send people elsewhere helped out in times of need. * Gun upgrades Instead of buying upgrades like in the first one, you mysteriously stumble upon them at different points, most of the time in boss houses. Both sides have their drawbacks, but I would rather know when and where I can upgrade rather than missing something and having to search high and low for it (that's just me). Luckily most of them were pretty obvious, but there was at least one where I had to look it up and it turns out I walked right by it because it didn't look like anything special. * Length of the game This was a much shorter game than the first. I decided to work on all the rackets and had near completion when I finished one mission and a large number of my businesses were taken from me. This upset me to no end and made me wonder why I'd spent all the time taking them over. Also, once you finish the main story there's not much else to do. Sure you can run around with all your cool new upgrades and battle with the cops, but has no point and gets old rather quick. I was hoping for something more but it didn't deliver. It was a good game but not without its flaws. I would suggest buying it for $10 or less or renting it for the weekend. Even better, get the original!	video-games_xbox
Great game for small kids to adults. My son LOOOOOVES Skylanders!! We got the game when my son was 5. He struggled with games like "Mario" that are too challenging/frustrating, but Skylanders is much more basic and easy to play and therefore he LOVES it!!...And he's not the only one! My husband really enjoyed playing this and it's one of the few games that I actually get the itch to play! PROS: -My kids LOVE the different characters! They love playing with them even when they're not on the Wii playing the game! A new character/character pack is an easy gift that my son always LOOOOVES. Even my husband and I enjoy checking out the new characters when we're in the store! -Overall AWESOME GAME!! Great music, adorable/funny characters,family friendly, different "puzzles" to figure out--definitely keeps you thinking, fun things to collect such as hats, legendary treasures, etc. -There's the option to play the actual game or do "battle mode", challenging a different character which is also fun. CONS: -Only a 2 Player game! We all want to play!...Especially when friends are over it's a bummer because I'm constantly having to set the timer for kids to take turns. -Many of the NEW "Skylanders Giants" characters don't work on "Skylanders Spyro's Adventure". I knew/expected the actual "GIANT" characters not to work... why should they, there aren't any "GIANTS" in the regular Sklanders. BUT I really was disappointed many of the new smaller characters don't work in Spyro's Adventure. I feel like it was a way to MAKE you get the Giants game which bugs me because we LOVE Skylanders, of COURSE we were definitely going to buy the Giants Game anyways,but it's annoying/disappointing when the kids are playing to not have all the SMALL characters work. They want to use their new characters in BOTH games. Especially "Pop Fizz", my son loves him but can only use him in" Skylanders Giants" even he looks like he should work fine in Spyro's Adventure. Totally LAME!!! :( -It gets expensive. You need to buy the individual characters to play the game. There are 8 elements and each element has multiple characters you can purchase. The creators of the game are geniuses...they found the perfect way to keep you coming back for more! It's nice to have multiple "element" characters in case your guy "goes to sleep" and can't play anymore. Especially because certain areas can only be accessed by a particular element. -The portal of power uses 3 AAA batteries and we go through batteries like CRAZY!!! (The game is played WAY too often here, haha)	video-games_xbox
Tap-Rack-Bang - DevilDogs, you are going to LOVE it. This is my first review of a video game, and I have only been playing this game for nigh on 3 hours and I still have not progressed past the first mission. AND I STILL CAN'T STOP PLAYING. it is hard in a fun challenging way, not in one of those ways where the game is just hard for the sake of being hard and you get mad and want to chuck the controller. it is only hard because of all the other war games we have been playing. where you can just run and gun. you have to break all of those habits, and this game will break them for you. One Shot One Kill??? in most games you can kill the enemy with one shot one kill, but it usually takes 10 to sometimes 40 shots to kill you. not in the game. what is good for you, is good for the AI. if you can sneak up and flank them....they will do the same to you. you cant sit back and try to think of how to take someone out if they have you pinned down. and you cant just up and run away either. you will get shot in the back of the head and will be dead. you have to use military and survival tactics at all times. the moment you slip, your dead. but Holy cow who cares. it is that much fun. and for all of us former Jarheads, the weapons actually jam from time to time. how realistic is that. did you just hear it repeat in your head? Tap, Rack, Bang. i just wish there was a series of movements to simulate the tap-rack-bang motion. that would be friggin awesome! like i said i am still taking my time on this game. i want to savor it. but i did read about the multi-player and you can be a 4 man team that has to take on a large group of other players in the same fashion you would in the game. tell me that doesnt just add a whole new degree of difficulty to the same game i already love. instead of run and gun over and over again to see how many people you can kill and then try to keep your kill death ratio to a respectable level. (grant it we all love those games and they are still fun). i cannot and will not make a recommendation because i only make those to people i know and can judge if they would like the game or not. but i will say this. all of you Jarheads out there.....What makes the grass grow? this will be your favorite game of this genre. your gonna love it.	video-games_xbox
The default product sucks. But with some small modification. The default product sucks. But with some small modification, it can be a great cooling device for your XBox One. I tried to like this product. The first one came and i strapped it to my XBOX ONE and nothing happened after turning the xbox on. I read the instructions and followed it a a "T", yet no fan action happened. I assumed the device is malfunctioning. Sent it back to Amazon. The second one comes in (thank you amazon for no question returns), still nothing after hooking it up. So whats the problem...... After reading some reviews here, I realized that the silly chip inside the device will only start working when the device heats up... your kidding right..... This is suppose to augment the existing cooling of the current xbox one's fan and pull the heat away, yet you only turn on if it gets hot....What a joke! #1 If you place this device on top of your XBOX as the instructions say, then you are BLOCKING the default cooling of the Xbox (you just placed a large plastic piece over the main exhaust of the xbox one.... #2 If i want to improve the cooling, I would have this device always run when by XBOX is on, meaning it would pull the heat away from the default cooling anytime the Xbox One is on (even on start up), yet this device does not do that. So what I ended up doing is pulling it apart, cutting out the Circuit board, connecting the Black with black, and red with red, and plugging it in. I decided to solder the red to the red, and black to the black, and taped each to ensure no electric shorts happens (but even a good wire twining would work - Red + Red...........Black+Black). After the soldering, taping, and putting all the screw back in, I finally had a device that COULD cool my Xbox one! The downfall is, this will run 24/7 if plugged in because the Xbox one USB ports, considering they are "always on", so they can charge USB devices.. So I just unplug the cooler when I am playing, then after i am done and turn the Xbox one off, I wait a few moments, and unplug the USB cable from the cooler. This mod literally takes 10 minutes to do if you have solder available. The wires may be short for a basic wire wrap..... so plan accordingly! Goodluck.	video-games_xbox
Robotnik Can't Stand The Reign. It always does show that older games can relly be much more fun than highly visual games with overused graphics and outrageous detail sometimes. Largely, because of the influence classic games brought to the table. For Sega, nothing says that theory very well other than their legendary mascot, Sonic The Hedgehog. Even though Sega isn't making any new video game systems, they are still showcasing that the classic never ever dies. In 2002, Sega unveiled the Sonic Mega Collection for the Nintendo Gamecube. The move proved to be a success and one of Nintendo's most popular video games for their Gamecube. Now, the collection has expanded, and finally landed on the Xbox game system. The Sonic Mega Collection Plus is a collection of 7 legandary Sonic series games from the classic Genesis system era, and 6 games from Sega's handheld Game Gear era as well. The games here all have been reissued very well here, and the games are just like they are new here. All the classics have been restored graciously including Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic 3D Blast. The games here are just as fast, furious and comelling here, without a single flaw missing. The collection also includes Game Gear versions of Sonic 1 & 2, as well as Game Gear classics like the compelling and challenging Sonic Chaos, Sonic Triple Trouble, and the Mario Kart like themed racing game Sonic Drift 2. The collection also includes copies of The Sonic comic collection series here from the mid 90's, as well as extra unlockable games like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Knuckles In Sonic 2, Ristar and Flicky, a classic from Sega's 1980's master system. All in all, Sonic Mega Collection Plus is a very exciting multipack of some of the greatest games from a definitive landmark hedgehog. If you have the Gamecube as well as the Xbox, and purchased Sonic Mega Collection for the Gamecube, than this really may not be worth the money. But, for Xbox gamers, Sonic Mega Collection Plus stands very well and extremely fast on its own. This should be one fox Xboxers in their libraries. Graphics: B+ Packaging: A- Controls: B Overall: B+	video-games_xbox
Odd design decisions and average gameplay subdue amazing visuals and sound design. If rating systems were based simply on graphics and sound quality, then this game would be a perfect score. However, the gameplay itself is painfully average and very frustrating at times. The experience is incredibly inconsistent, if you play with just one or two friends. The entire game reeks of EA being the incredibly greedy people that they are, and ripping parts of the game away from you (that you already paid $60 for) and selling it back to you. What's even more shocking is the fact that EA tell you that $50 for a season pass is a great deal. Maybe 30 or 40 dollars, but not 50 for God's sake. The Battlepacts system is a complete disaster and a DISGUSTING way to infuse micro transactions into the game. $2 dollars for a random camo and I don't have a guarantee that it won't re[eat? Seriously? Why have people been giving them a pass for this. Their instant reply is "they give them away for free". Ok, that's fair, but how about they give them away more often, instead of picking 4/24 in a typical game mode. I played for ten hours over a period of three nights and received a single battlepack. And some of the camos aren't even that cool, just a shade darker wood or something. Pathetic on EA's part. As someone who had logged many hours into this game, I have to say the game is incredibly repetitive in terms of weapons and classes. I used each class a long amount of time, and the three main class in my mind (Assault, Medic, support) all have one gun that is better than every other, so you just see these spammed across the entire game. The scout class weapons, with the exception of the 1903 experimental, all feel and operate the same. For me the class repetitiveness really isn't the biggest issue with the game. The two biggest issues with the game is the game-breaking sentry soldiers and the HORRIFIC maps. The maps are beautiful, but graphics aren't everything in a game. Adding to the repetitive gun play and general gameplay is the fact that there are currently only NINE maps. NINE. Battlefront got attacked at the beginning for having a small numbers of maps, but at least they double digits! There is not a single map in this game that I like, or can even tolerate. The three maps based off in the deserts of the middle east are easily the worst maps I have ever played in a video game. Period. EA should be charged with the murder of the game mode rush. The bomb placements in rush are absolutely horrible, with what seems like no thought or reason as to them being in a particular spot. They stick the bombs inside bunkers with on two entrances, so the entire game comes down to a massive meat grinder, gas grenade spam, and grenade spam. Absolutely atrocious. The designers put massive cliffs and hills for these moronic snipers to sit atop of and...not play the objective in an objective based game mode? There are maps where the approach to bombs, such as sinai desert, where there is no cover unless you want to run for two miles, only to be shot by a waiting sniper. There are hills, such as Fao Fortress, where the enemy team can sniper directly into your spawn. When I heard they were releasing a free map in December, I thought that was pretty logical, considering how poorly designed some of these maps are. The sentry troops completely break the game, and it is completely on purpose. They are resistant to gas, and some to fire, and can take easily 3x the damage a normal play can take. The "villa persona" and the flametrooper are the worst of these offenders. If coupled with the horrid bomb placements, such as the B bomb on argonne forest, a enemy flame trooper can sit inside, not worrying about grenades, camp beside the bomb, and annihilate an entire enemy team. I have seen flametroopers go 72-4. If quite funny that a game that prides itself on team work and strategy will let games be decided on a completely random super soldier kit that anyone can pick up. These sentries need to be far more balanced, or completely removed from game modes such as TDM, Rush, War pigeon, and Domination. They dominate 12 player teams. Long story short, this game is walking an incredibly high fence. The overall repetitiveness and lack of diverse content make it pretty forgettable at times. I haven't yet felt a strong urge to actually play the game other than my friend asking me to play it with him. There isn't the "one more game" mentality with this either, because at times it will leave the most bitter taste in your mouth. In my opinion, people rating this game 5 stars are either incredibly biased, or don't realize the level at which EA is dipping into their pockets. And just so people won't say "well just suck at the game" Win %: 73 Score/MIN: 708 Kills/MIN: 1.50	video-games_xbox
Rock Band Gets A Face-Lift -- And A New Personality. Things have changed, it's a fact. And I know some people are not going to like it. Back when I first played Guitar Hero 2, all the way up through playing Rock Band 3 most of tonight with my brother, what I have always loved about all of these games is shredding on a tasty solo. Something entirely self-indulgent, and an obscene amount of fun. That being said, that is not what Rock Band 3 aimed for this time. The emphasis has shifted and is now on the entire band. One could argue as Rock Band was the first to come out with the drums / bass / vocal parts to create the band performance, the emphasis has always been on the band. But for me it always seemed like for the most part the vocals, drums and bass parts were all secondary to most of the songs that really have stand-out guitar parts. The selection of songs is indicative of a change in focus, from being the "guitar" game, to being the "band game." No where is this more obvious than in Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' I was looking forward to playing the two awesome guitar solos in it, but when playing the song, a lot of it has me either sitting through vocal / drum / keyboard sections, or playing very easy note sequences. The songs are more mellowed-out, more easily accessible to those people looking to play as a group. Some people will not like that, but I don't mind so much. As far as songs go, I was disappointed to a certain extent. While we do get 'Free Bird,' 'The Beast and the Harlot,' and 'No One Knows,' as the other reviewer pointed out, those songs have been in previous Guitar Hero games. There are so many songs that would be so cool on Rock Band, but some of these are just recycled, and I'm not sure why. But since all of my downloaded songs carried over it really wasn't too big a deal. What we are really paying for in this game is the new ways in which songs play out, and the upgraded features the new software offers. You know that feeling in a sequel where you're having fun, but it's a tentative kind of fun, where you're waiting to see or experience something that they changed from the previous game that you are really not going to like? That's how I felt for the first couple of hours while I was playing tonight. But I have to give Harmonix credit once again. It seems that they left everything that worked in Rock Band 2, and then added features that were lacking from that game. For instance, when playing a set I was always disappointed that the only song you could see your note streak on was the last of them. It's been changed now. Rock Band has taken a page out of Guitar Hero's book here, and made your song stats viewable between songs. They even offer breakdowns of every section of the song, as well as a breakdown of how many points you earned in what ways (ie keeping a streak, overdrive, sustained, etc.). On top of that, when you are playing a song with more than just yourself, it shows you how many points each player got individually, minus the combined overdrive effect, which is neat. And you can rate songs right after you play them, which is a nice feature when you have ~500 songs so sift through. Solos are slightly different looking, not so much in your face anymore. Instead of the note track glowing glue, the edges of the track glow blue. Most of the time you won't even realize you're playing a solo until you notice it counting your percentage. Same thing with a new addition to overdrive. There are still the white-note sequences that earn you 25% of overdrive, but now there is also a new kind, where the edges of the note track will glow yellow, and for getting those parts perfectly you earn 50% overdrive automatically. I'm ambivalent on that point though. I didn't see as the overdrive needed changing, but it's definitely not something I'm complaining about. Setlists can now be saved to be played whenever you want, and the filters for organizing or displaying songs has been greatly expanded (Artist, Album, Genre, Decade, Instrument, Pro Mode Difficulty, Keyboard Part, Rating, Alphabetical by song, etc). Some things have been altered a bit, but it takes a learning curve or just a few minutes. As with recent Guitar Hero games, you can now drop in or out of a song or set at any time, as well as change profiles during any menu screen, which is a really nice new addition to the Rock Band repertoire. Another little thing that I noticed was pausing during a song. We've all done it, and it seems to happen unavoidably when we have a streak going, we've all been there. Rock Band 3 has solved the issue, and it's incredibly simple. Guitar Hero: World Tour made it so when you unpause it gives you a few seconds to see what notes are coming, which was cool...but it was a frozen screen, and you had no clear idea of how fast the notes might come at you. With this game, when you unpause the song rewinds a few seconds, and while it doesn't let you replay notes, it scrolls a blank note chart for a few seconds so you can get the feel of the speed, and then you pick up right back where you left off. Awesome new addition to the game. I think the only negative thing I can say about the game is that I miss the fun facts about bands that would display while the songs were loading. But again Harmonix won't even let me complain about that, because the reason they're gone is because loading times are insanely faster than they used to be. You pick your set, and within a few seconds the song is starting. I don't know how they pulled that off, but it's impressive. In fact, I think the only loading screen I've had so far was the first time I loaded the game, and the game was updating my downloadable songs. A+ for efficiency. The only REAL complaint I can make is that the Pro Mode guitar controller isn't coming out for a couple more weeks (what's up with that, Madcatz?). But I can say this, I browsed the training tutorials for both Pro Guitar and Keyboard, and they are extensive. It really is an impressive accomplishment, and I'm really looking forward to trying it out when the guitar gets here. The bottom line really is this: Even if you don't like any of the songs that come with Rock Band 3, you should still buy it to play your old songs with the news features, because it's so worth it.	video-games_xbox
Somewhat of a disappointment. I have played all Guitar Hero games extensively so far, and while I still like this one OK, it is also somewhat of a disappointment. First, the pros: I like the selection of songs best of any Guitar Hero game (and also better than Rock Band's). Then, the cons: I do not like the guitar controller as much as Rock Band's. The guitar is too small and too light. The whole thing is too short to hold it comfortably. It feels like a toy. (Which I guess it is, but you get my point...). The game also is very hard. I have played all other GH games on "Expert" (the same is true for Rock Band) and I was always able to pick up the majority of songs and play them through the first time. With GH3, I already had to play the 5th song 4 or 5 times to get through. Then, I got stuck on the first boss-battle, which is the 10th song. Yikes! Talking about boss-battles: I really do not like them. The game throws a very solo-heavy piece of noise at you that you have to play against a boss who seems to hit pretty much every note. I do not enjoy this at all. Some people may like this, but the problem is that if you don't, you are completely stuck with this nonsense. I am not sure who came up with this idea, but it def. takes a lot of the fun away. It has always been a weakness of the GH games that one ends up playing songs one doesn't like/can't do so well more than any of the other songs. With this silly boss-battle machanic, they now push this problem to the extreme. The problem is not just that I am stuck on the boss battle, but also that I dislike it so much that I may not bother trying again. I also downloaded a few songs, but I really do not want to spend money on additional songs when I only got to play 9 songs that came with the game so far. (I do not mind the idea of buying more songs in general... I have bought a ton for Rock Band, but this is just a rip-off, if you ask me...)	video-games_xbox
Best AC game to date. Having been a fan of the Assassin's Creed series since the first game, I found last year's Revelations a massive disappointment. I felt like it barely advanced the story and was a completely unnecessary game that was pushed out simply to cash in one last time before moving on from Ezio. Luckily for me and AC fans everywhere, Assassin's Creed III is the exact opposite of unnecessary. GRAPHICS: 4.5/5 The capabilities of the AnvilNext engine are showcased to their fullest during the opening cutscene, which is one of the most gorgeous things I have seen on my Xbox 360. Sadly, the in-game cutscenes and graphics are not quite the same, but they are still some of the best on this generation of consoles. For some reason, it seems like the developers wanted to change the looks of several of the characters, and Desmond looks completely different than he did last time. This isn't a bad thing, however, because he looked hideous in Revelations. Overall, the graphics are incredible, especially during the naval missions. VOICES/CHARACTERS: 4.5/5 Noah Watts voices Connor Kenway, the half-British half-Native American ancestor during the game. Once again, Nolan North returns as Desmond Miles, the most boring character in the history of fiction. The highlight of the game is Star Trek The Next Generation's John de Lancie as Desmond's father. STORY: 4.5/5 First off, we need to address the beginning of the game. You will not see Connor in his assassin outfit until about 5 or 6 hours into the game. If this doesn't sound okay, you might want to wait for a price drop or hold off to read more reviews. The game's opening is extremely slow, starting you as a man named Haytham for a few hours and eventually leading you through Connor's childhood into his training under a man named Achilles. As is probably obvious due to the promo material, the bulk of Assassin's Creed III takes place during the founding of the United States. You get to meet all kinds of characters, including Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Charles Lee and Commander in Chief George Washington himself. I don't want to spoil too many surprises, but history buffs should know that you get to participate in many of the famous events during the time period, including the Boston Massacre and Tea Party. You also get to experience Connor growing up, following him from childhood to adulthood, growing and learning as he does and learning how his knowledge and experience help the Revolution. I don't want to ruin anything for people as the story is best left explored on your own. Know that you will not be disappointed. GAMEPLAY: 4.5/5 The main change to the series is the upgrading of Connor's combat. It seems he has been studying the tactics of Batman and Wei Shen, because instead of constantly parrying Connor uses a much more aggressive style of fighting. He is a brutal dual wielder, utilizing his tomahawk and dagger at the same time for extremely harsh combos. You attack with X and block incoming attacks by holding B. Once an attack is blocked, you can then kill with X, stagger with A or throw with B. The system works very well and allows for much more proactive fighting than the series previously allowed. It's a vast improvement over the last games. Another huge change is the addition of tree running. When I first heard of the mechanic I was a little concerned the trees would look artificial, but this could not be any further from the truth. Connor's movements are extremely fluid and natural, he is capable of navigating quickly and easily through the high branches. This is especially useful during winter sequences, when staying on the ground will cause your movement to be vastly slowed in deep snow. I had a lot of fun hunting in one of my favorite games this gen, Red Dead Redemption. I'm pleased to see that the same type of system has been added to this game. You can track animals by investigating markings left on the ground and surrounding foliage, and then sneak up on them. Since the only gun you can carry takes a long time to reload, Connor's bow becomes his primary method of hunting. Animals spook easily and catching them is difficult since bigger animals take multiple arrows to bring down, so you must utilize stealth in order to successfully hunt. There are bushes Connor can duck into along with bait and traps he can craft. One of the games biggest surprises comes in the form of naval battles. Not long into the game Connor helps rebuild a ship known as the Aquila and captains it to rescue merchant ships under attack, destroy shoreline forts and escort others through hostile waters. I, like most, assumed the mechanic would be throwaway and not worth much, but in this case it's the exact opposite. You have to take multiple things into account while piloting ships, like wind speed and direction, full sail or half, rogue waves and storms. The entire thing could be it's own game. That is just a small taste of what this game has to offer. You will spend time rescuing people in town from unfair tax collectors, collecting pages from Ben Franklin's almanac and listening to tales of incredible creatures from traveling frontiersmen. The game truly must be experienced to be believed. CONCLUSION: 4.5/5 Assassin's Creed III is beyond a doubt my favorite game to come out this year, ahead of August's Sleeping Dogs, another outstanding title. If you have enjoyed the previous games or are looking for a truly unique experience there is no better place to turn to than the American Revolution. And remember, do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes.	video-games_xbox
Deserving of the FF Title. I am a long time FF fan and to be honest, if it wasn't for FF7 I would never have turned into a gamer. Being a true fan I have purchased every single game of the series and will be the first to admit that there have been some major failures, the biggest and nearly enough to lose me as a fan was FF13. When I heard that Square was putting out a new FF and it was a continuation of FF13 I about choked, who in %$&& thought it was a good idea to make a continuation of a complete disaster? Now I admit running out to go buy a video game with a wife and kids gets harder and harder every time and I must have stood in front of that display case for a good half an hour before the wife walked up and said "go ahead honey and buy it, you know you want to". So I bought it and the second the kids went to bed and the TV was free to use I popped it in. The next thing I know the wife is asking me if I ever went to sleep and that I need to get ready for work! Where did the time go? Well it went into a mesh of heart pounding, edge of my seat wonder what's gonna happen next action strategy. I was hooked and found myself reading strategy guides online about it during work only to rush home and kick the kids off the TV so I can have it for the rest of the night. This FF release should have been setup with its own number and should have been the new FF14 as it truly gave the series justice however knowing that the characters were the same I understand why it was done this way. To give this a true rating I have to give you the negative and honestly the only two things I can think of that could have been improved are the Characters; Because FF13 was so bad it was difficult to get reattached to some of the old characters, such as Snow or even Lightning. So the idea that it was Lightning's sister that took the lead role could have been improved and I would have preferred to meet someone completely new. Several times during the game the past characters showed up and it would have been nice if they were reintroduced. Leveling up; This is the area I found the most problems. I am a completionist and almost all of the past FF games allowed me to level my character up to an astronomical level before either the game put an end to it or I did. This one had a cap much lower than I expected and just about the time I completed 75% of everything I had reached it Overall I loved this game and I have replayed it a few times. This game, as most all of the FF titles will forever sit on my "will play often shelf"	video-games_xbox
Dancing Has Returned to the Xbox - Better Than Ever. When you think about the Kinect, there are a handful of games that come to mind. Without doubt, Dance Central has earned its spot in the Kinect Hall of Fame. There are dance games and then there is Dance Central. Millions of fans have benefited from the fun approach of dance instruction and often club floors are living testimony of Dance Centralfs impact. Now, the DC crew is back and better than ever in Dance Central 2 for Kinect. FEATURES There are many positive things to talk about with Dance Central 2. Immediately you will notice the clean interface and ease of menu navigation. The original version of DC was already clean, but Harmonix took their time to make navigation even more of a breeze. This aided tremendously by the addition of voice commands. Within seconds of popping in the game, you can be dancing. For me, all it took was literally saying, gXbox, dance, song, Like a G6, XBox danceh. And off I went. For those that have already played the first Dance Central and even purchased songs, everything is ready to transfer directly into Dance Central 2. Purchased songs will automatically show up in Dance Central 2s playlist. To carry over all the songs from the original Dance Central, you will need the code that came with the first game and 400 MS Points (5 USD). The transition is smooth, but you will need a harddrive or USB drive, as well as a connection to the internet. Once the songs carry over, everything is integrated into the game. Your play list becomes HUGE. All of Dance Central 2s new features are supported except the option to skip the freestyle part of the song. The new game play modes are subtle, but add a lot of play value to Dance Central 2. My personal favorite new additions include the ability to make my own playlists and the Dance Crew challenges. There are already a decent amount of pre-made playlists, but you are able to pick your own songs for some killer back-to-back dancing sessions. As for the Dance Crew challenges, this is as close as you are going to get in a story mode for the game. Essentially, you meet a Dance Crew, dance the selected songs, and unlock the next crew. This makes it more of an immersive game versus dancing for the heck of it. One huge bonus of Dance Central 2 is the ability to have two players, either playing cooperatively or battling it out. The second player can hop in and out of the game with ease and at any time. Like the song? Jump in and play. That easy. One of the main niceties of playlists is for working out. Our Kinect to Fitness and Health group has already seen great success in people losing up to and over 100 pounds from playing the original Dance Central. On top of the improvements already mentioned, the workout mode now has its own screen in Dance Central 2. Calories are tracked from every activity, including Break It Down mode. When doing the playlists, the songs flow from one to another without interruption. What I absolutely LOVE is how quickly you now move into the song. No more waiting for your dancer to bounce around and talk buckets of smack. They might do a quick move and a few words, but nothing like the original Dance Central. And finally, when the dancing is done, the calories are added all up. The calorie tracker may not be totally correct (no weight or gender asked), but you definitely have an idea of how close you are to burning off that Halloween candy. Break It Down mode has returned and has been made more inviting for us impatient folks. The same mode from the original has returned, but with added voice control. There is a sweet satisfaction in yelling, gskiph after being told to perform ehitch a ridef for the millionth time. Better yet, for the returning veterans, you will be able to pick out certain steps to learn, versus learning the routine. And for the curious mind that wants to know exactly what they are doing, you can shout, grecord videoh and a video of you dancing a particular move will show up behind the dance leader for comparison. The final added feature that really brightened my day was the cleaned up store-front. The first Dance Central had the ability to buy extra songs, but was made cumbersome by having to pull up an extra menu and scroll through a few songs at a time. The new store is built into the game and is just as easy to navigate as the playerfs song list is. With a quick flick of the wrist, you can be jamming to James Brown in no time. GRAPHICS AND SONGS Despite all the nifty new features, the dividing point between Dance Central 2 and Just Dance 3 seems to be the songs and the graphics. Ifll have a more detailed comparison of these two games up later. As for Dance Central 2, the graphics are very similar, but have definitely had an overall. Character models are similar, but backgrounds and special effects have been smoothed out and upgraded. The game is a lot more pleasing to the eye. Between the scenic locales and neon hand paths, everything feels more alive than the original. Everything in a dance game comes down to one thing: songs. The fact is, if you enjoy the music, you will enjoy dancing to it. Dance Central 2 has everything from Gaga to Willow in it. There isnft a song on the list that you probably wonft hear at the club. The song variety is a little more eclectic than the first Dance Central, but you still wonft find anything your granny might be anxious to jump into. The songs are all fun, even the Bieber one, but thankfully there are those playlists to pick your favoritescjust in case youfve had your fill of ethe Biebh. THE FIVE Ffs When reviewing games, I like to look for the five ffs: family, fitness, fun, functionality, and firsts. Dance Central 2 is rated for the teen crowd and above. Mostly for lyrics, but there are a few mildly suggestive dances. I mean, do you really think you can dance Baby Got Back or The Humpty Dance without smacking some booty? For the fitness folks, there isnft a better game I can think of that will get your cardio flowing. Playlists and trimmed song intros will make sure you are getting a full heart-pounding workout. Without doubt Dance Central 2 is one of the most fun games around. Now with two player tracking and voice commands, the same trusted functionality of the original has been upped. There isnft a lot ground-breaking features that Dance Central 2 brings to the table, but you can expect a lot of additional features compared to the original. Calorie tracking, playlists, uploading to Facebook, and more have all been done by other games, but now you can have the complete package. PROS - Streamlined play - Two players - Playlist creation - Calorie tracker - Many more!! CONS - None! FINAL THOUGHTS If you have ever been interested in a dancing game, then this is the one to get. With the streamlined play, ability to bring in your previously owned songs, and added player tracking, youfll be partying for quite a while. The song selection has spread out, but still maintains its roots. Essentially, the bottom line is, if you own a Kinect then you will need to eventually own Dance Central 2.	video-games_xbox
I'm Commander Shepard, and This is My Favorite Game on the 360. Mass Effect had a strange...erm...Effect on me. It was a rare gem. One of the few games that I voluntarily replayed over 8 times, beginning to end, skipping none of the content. The game itself took well over 35 hours to complete...that is A LOT of invested time. I loved every minute of it...well...not really. I may never hate a gameplay segment as much as I hated driving around the same identical-looking overly steep barren planets with that abysmal Mako mechanic. Honestly, every time I replayed ME, it was with a new character class and new background origin. And each time I played, there was ALWAYS something different...ALWAYS. Most of the time it was minor, other times it was drastic, but there was always another reason to replay the game. It is one of my most beloved games on the XBox 360, and hands down my favorite Science Fiction video game universe. So with Mass Effect 2, what do we have? More of the same? Not even...read on! ==This review may contain VERY MINOR SPOILERS== Story: From the get-go, I was amazed. The intro was exciting and the fate of Commander Shepard left me sitting there like a monkey, scratching my head in sheer confusion, trying to use the 360 controller to scratch my rear. And then we're introduced yet again to the enigmatic enemy organization that played a minor role in the first game: Cerberus. And right off the bat, the game gets far more interesting. Being less of a continuation to the previous entry's Reaper story, the second game in the series focuses on Commander Shepard building an elite team of Specialists from all corners of the galaxy. A good 90% of the good revolves around the development of these characters an earning their loyalty, while a mere 10% of the game concerns the Reaper/Collector threat and the motivations of Cerberus. Like the first game, the character development is outstanding, though some characters could have used more fleshing out. I would get into greater detail but...can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations. Gameplay: Ah yes, "Gameplay". Taking the familiar combat from ME and completely overhauling it, you have a much more action-oriented game than the predecessor. Sacrificing some of the RPG elements, the gameplay consists of intense combat sequences with often explosive results. Powers can be hotkeyed to the controller but you will spend the majority of your time utilizing your weapons, and there are many new weapon types to choose from. More than ever, your class of Commander Shepard affects gameplay and how you approach combat. A more tech-oriented Shepard (e.g. Engineer) will spend much of combat either using hotkeys or accessing the power "wheel", whereas a more direct class such as the Soldier will only access powers on a necessary basis, such as the new ammo powers. This makes combat more fun, more streamlined and more intense than ever. Gone are certain familiar abilities...such as crouching. You can only crouch in cover, and for some reason the first 14 hours of gameplay was seriously funky for me as I constantly tried to crouch to line up a more steady shot with my sniper rifle, but its a small price to pay. Also missing are the annoying timed button presses to "hack" a locker. In its place are 3 new minigames that get tiresome quickly but are a nice change of pace from the original. Dialog is more important than ever, but thankfully there are no dialog-only side quests (Remember the woman and her brother-in-law arguing over her baby's immunizations?). The character interaction is great, with each member of your party having a different impact on the mission. You assure each character's loyalty by completing their personal mission, but even then, the wrong decision could affect how they respond later in the game (and ultimately their fate). Exploration is a cinch...NO MORE DRIVING THAT %*($ING MAKO AROUND! There are a few people that actually enjoyed that...I guess if you like mind-numbing mountain climbing exercises with horrific vehicular mechanics, then hey it's your game! But there are no planetside exploration sequences...everything is done from orbit with a scan, though this too gets boring. Only when the AI detects an anomaly will you drop planetside, and only for the mission. Difficulty: Playing this game even on the second highest diffculty is pretty fun...Insanity difficulty was hands down the worst gaming experience of my life and I refused to play ME2 again for over a month after finally beating Insanity. Unrewarding, frustrating and just plain unfair, Insanity makes all of your tech/biotic powers useless since all enemies are immune, as well as equipping every singly enemy with Biotic Barrier, Shield, Armor and Health. Unless Achievement mean everything to you, in my opinion it wasn't worth the frustration and nearly broken controller. Bells & Whistles: Hands down one of the best soundtracks available. No more of the late 1980's style electronica or techno beats...this game has a fully composed score with a truly inspiring main theme. Sound effects are crisp and clean, while voice acting remains top notch. Overall: New features, intense gameplay and always another reason to keep coming back...ME2 will keep you occupied for months. I will close out this review by listing Pros and Cons. Pros: - Deep, 40+ hour enriching gameplay experience - New, Improved and far more intense combat - Even deeper character development - Choice-based story elements mean that you will NEVER play the same game twice - Character development system simplified and improved - Amazing graphics, sound and musical score...one of the best examples of this generation - Fantastic DLC support with "Cerberus Network" add-on that constantly keeps you up on upcoming DLC and optional goodies. - Easy-to-earn Achievements with a very rewarding system for replaying the game and importing Mass Effect 1 profiles. Cons: - Loyalty system not as complex as originally promised...it simply comes down to choice A or choice B - Loyalty missions vastly different in context...some missions such as Garrus are combat intensive, whereas missions like Thane's are so simple and devoid of action that they seem like an afterthought. - Unforgiving checkpoint system means truly frustrating losses...battles on higher difficulties can last nearly an hour, and if you fail that's a whole hour you must replay. - Insanity difficulty might be TOO insane...an ultimately unrewarding gameplay experience unless you are a masochist - Very glitchy in true Bioware fashion...I attribute at least 45% of my deaths to glitches. - Government censorship and whiney parents win again...sorry folks but your R-rated sexual appetite whetted in the first game is reduced to PG! This is hands down my favorite 360 game...I have played it through 3 times without skipping any content, and fully intend to replay it several more times. Each time I've played the experience has been so engrossing and different that I feel I will NEVEr truly see everything in the game.	video-games_xbox
The day I gave up Halo series. What? Did I just play EAs Battlefield? I looked at the case again and made sure it said Halo, and sadly so. The whole solo campaign (if you can even call that) lasted around 10 hours with an incredibly shallow story line, and running with a team of AI (Artificial Ineptness) Spartans left me completely underwhelmed in the end. I am not going to spoil the story line for anyone here, and realistically I can't even recall most of it because it was so detached from the game play. I only remember this annoying Warden who keeps on yapping. As far as the game play goes, its very primitive. You don't really get to leverage any of the surroundings to fight. You can duck behind things but thats it. I would like to see some of the Gears of War shooting modes incorporated. Enemies seem unintelligent too. Often I can stand far and pick out each enemy with a long range weapon like light rifle or DMR or battle rifle. They just stand there and let you chip away their shields and then die willingly. Your team members are as useful as flies on the wall. I tried painfully to assign each with a binary rifle, and 2x fuel rod cannons. Going into a fight they all packed up the big guns and switched to the alternate weapon like a pistol. Nice graphics though, I like seeing the bright yellow fuel rod cannon hanging on the back of Spartan armor. The commands you can issue to the AI team members are also quite limited. You can tell them to go somewhere, or attack something. I usually tell them to go somewhere out of my sight but they always come back ignoring my command to annoy me anyway. If you tell them to go press a switch, thats too much for them to comprehend. So what you have here is a game that basically goes like this: fight Covenants, fight Forerunners, fight Warden and goons, repeat. Super Mario Bros had more variety in stages and bosses than Halo 5. I guess with Microsoft pushing everyone to pay for Xbox Live Gold and play online, single player mode is just not worth the time to develop. This is sad, because I actually enjoyed the series up to Halo Reach, and finishing everything in the Master Chief Collection brought back good memories. Those of you who finished the original Halo in Legendary mode would know what I am talking about! It feels like deja vu, the time I decided to give up Final Fantasy series when it dissolved into just CGI with big bosoms.	video-games_xbox
Updates have fixed most issues. These now work great. I've used this headset for a bit over 6 months now, so this is from real experience. Previous to these I used and stil own the Turtle Beach X31. My review on these is based on my use of the X31 headset for the sever years previous both with the 360 and then the One systems. The 4 Shot headset fits on your head much tighter and seals your ears than any Turtle beach headset I've tried. In fact, my kids often tap me on the shoulder as I can't even hear them talking when they are right next to me. I also took them on a plane ride cross country in which I watched movies on my tablet. These sealed out the drone of the aircraft very well and I heard everything in the movie. They are also very comfortable, adjustable, and the fold kind of flat when not in use. They come with two cables for use. one cable is a plain cable which allows you to use the retractable microphone. I found this microphone lacking as people were telling me I was too quiet. I also found the sound even on max setting really wasn't loud enough for the games I play, Battlefield 4 and now Hardline. Upon getting the headset I called Polk and they sent me the Chat Boom Mic. With the addition of the mic, everyone said I was crystal clear. the cord is very flexible and I thought it would last a long time. Unfortunately, the mic stopped working 2 days back, presumably for the same reason as the original xBox adapter cable did, from bending and flexing wires where they attach to the controller. Because the mic broke on me I am worried that I will have to go through the same issues that I did with the xBox one puck and my old X31s,which is to say I'll need to buy a new mic/adapter every 6 months. Polk charges $30 for the replacement boom mic. I've also spoken with their tech support and found that new versions of their headphones have in house engineered adapters that plug into the controllers, which allows for better chat function. sadly, i was told these new pucks do not work for the 4 Shot headset and that we are stuck with the MS unit. One big positive is that I think MS may have come up with an even newer controller update. I plugged my controller into the One system last night for the heck of it and did an update. After this, I found the sound in the headset was VERY loud on max settings and I had to turn down the sound, something I never had to do previous. In fact I used to have it on max all the time and would just balance game and chat. now I balance game and chat AND I have to turn the sound down from max depending on the map. Whatever happened, this is a big improvement. I am going to try the headset with the built in mic again tonight to see if anything there has been changed. I paid about forty or fifty bucks for these on black friday 2014 and IMHO they are well worth that cost. Even at a hundred twenty + which was the original price, I think they are worth it, provided that the chat mic doesn't go bad in 6 months. Sure, it is under warranty, but what a hassle. I'm actually debating purchasing a new set of these because of how well they seal out the sound. let the kids use them in the car or for another set on the plane. My other option would be the XZ Pro once they come out for more than double what these currently cost. I give this headset an easy 4 stars and if the boom mic didn't go bad on me in such a short amount of time, I would give it an easy 5 stars.	video-games_xbox
Origins of Handsome Jack makes the game fun.....! Definitely not a 2 star game if you are a true fan. If you loved Borderlands 1 or 2 (or both), you are going to either love or really enjoy this game. Does it feel like an expansion to BL2? Yes, and no. The Scope of the game is HUGE - its easily the same size as Bl2 to me, so in that sense it does not feel like DLC. It does, however, stay a little too true to the Borderlands 2 format, and I suspect that is the reason people will post comments like, 'its just a big expansion.' You get a few new additions: new baddies and some returning creatures, a 'butt stomp' which will be a love it or leave it type ability for some, and of course, new locals including the Hyperion base and moon. For those wanting more Borderlands but tired of the existing locals in the first two games, this game offers just enough new, that I was pleasantly surprised. Again, I was expecting the developers to reinvent the Borderlands wheel, and they did not. Claptrap is the most fun I've had with a class in any of the games, but I am an unabashed fan of the little yellow guy. No doubt Siren fans will roll their eyes at that comment, but hey...whatever. I do not play for weapons alone, so I am not disappointed with the lack of purple drops (rare item drops), however, Gearbox offers a way to get you an almost unlimited amount of purple weapons in the form of shift codes, so there should be little disappointment there, at least from my pov. These 2 star scores seem a little dishonest to me....but hey, its all just opinions. Bottom line: if you want more Borderlands 2 type fun, this game is for you. If you want a radically different Borderlands experience, this game will not be what you are looking for. Keep expectations in check, grab a friend or two, and rock it out! And yeah, the Origin of Handsome Jack is quite fun. Gotta love a good badguy. At first, didn't think the same guy voiced him, but its definitely him.....	video-games_xbox
Not as convenient as you think. I bought a chat pad for a couple of reasons: 1. I am too slow at sending messages with the thumbstick 2. I send a lot of messages on the Xbox 360 3. I thought the chatpad had shortcuts for sending messages The chatpad did not satisfy reason #3. The only value that it adds, is that it allows you to type your messages faster. Granted I should have done more research on what each button of the chatpad did before I bought it, but I still really hated the fact that there wasn't one button to quickly open my chat messages on the chat pad. I still had to press the Xbox button to open up my friends list and select the friend I wanted to message or go to my messages and select the message I want to reply to. After I'm done with my message, there's no quick send button, I have to press enter twice (once to send the message, the second time to confirm that I do not want to add any recipients, edit txt, or add voice). And after all of that, it doesn't close the Xbox menu by itself either, I have to press the guide button (xbox button) to close the menu. So in short, if you are buying the chatpad because you hate how long it takes you to type something with a thumbstick, this is a fair buy, however, if you are buying this chatpad to save time and you think there's a shortcut to sending messages-- think again. The process of sending a message is just as tedious and I think it was an oversight and plain dumb for Microsoft to not include a shortcut for sending messages to other xbox friends. Don't be fooled by that two people button. It's actually for MSN chatting and not for xbox chatting, which I do not understand why they couldn't have added your xbox friend list in that menu option as well. In sum, I really needed a chatpad and really wanted one, and when I got it, I realized the process is just as difficult. I found the extra weight to be just okay. You don't notice it much, however, after playing for hours on end, you begin to feel how heavy it is. My chatpad is usually detached when I'm playing and I hardly use it. Another big negative is the quality of the headset. There were many times when my headset was attached and it'll move a little and I would hear static and my teammates were not able to hear what I said because the headset connects so faultily to the controller. Crappy headset and a chatpad that's not efficient in sending messages. A USB keyboard will do the same job, if not do it faster (I didn't know I could use a USB keyboard otherwise I would have just saved my money and settled on that instead). I wouldn't buy it unless you have money to burn or love to chat on MSN.	video-games_xbox
microsoft can't make computer hardware that works. Before leaving comments about this being fake it's not got Xbox one 10 am 22nd November hanging around on the phone to Microsoft from 11am customer support and still no console replacement waiting till Friday for my money to be refunded and not buying again..SO SHUT UP. Microsoft consoles... 1st Xbox 2002 faults from day 1. bought a Xbox 360 at launch stopped working within 1 to 6 months. Xbox one faulty straight away. here's the thing>>>>>>>>>> Pros!! None cons!! hareware tech issues (builders and repairer's will understand this) 1. external power supply overheats again 2. cd-bluray drive don't work due to removing some pre owned software blocker. 3. amd processor Intel processor would be a lot safer due to amd chips overheating in desktop & laptop pcs and certain game won't even run without crashing in windows.. 4. change there pre owned game policy last minute damage consoles in production. 5. Microsoft not testing consoles fully before shipping. 6. 50gb game downloads (people in UK with 2mb internet can't download it will take weeks big mistake) Non industy people... 1. needs kinnect which is rubbish 2. Games are not working propely. 3. does not work. 4. breaks down after little use. 5. games are not worth the 55 price tag.. 6. Worst day 1 release since 1st xbox.. 7. 50gb game downloads (people in UK with 2mb internet can't download it will take weeks big mistake) also certain features aren't going to be available in the UK. KEEP WELL AWAY MICROSFT'S CUSTOMER SERVICE AND POLICYS GETTING WORST.. (Microsoft policy activation up to 10 times or no transfer right if you got to fresh install stuff you can't reinstall, use the cloud crap. customer service since 2003 on Xbox support pay to get them repaired when still under warranty or no help at all as I found out with my 360... Microsoft next gen more like next con money money money that's all Microsoft care about not gamers at all exterminate exterminate exterminate Microsoft's Xbox one warehouse at once and BILL GATES FOR THIS BIG CON????????	video-games_xbox
Rise of the Argonauts- Storytelling at it's pinnacle. Sometimes you have to reach for new gaming experiences. I play just about everything- even cross platform. To give you an idea I'm currently playing about 10 games off and on and will likely complete each of them. I give this information as a backdrop for why I like this game so much. I'm playing Oblivion, Reach, Infamous 2, Insect Armageddon, and a couple other games. It's hard not to move around with so many great options but sometimes you just have to try something with a story matter you like and you get pulled in. Such was the case with Rise of the Argonauts by Codemasters. It is not a polished game. It has bugs equivilent to the bug scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Texture mapping issues, character dialog issues (characters not speaking with their lines), Graphics are not revolutionary by any means and look very dated- maybe not quite xbox outdated but not in line with todays' blockbusters. It has loading issues to a minor extent. This is no Oblivion. It is linear to a large extent with roaming within a framework so it is not a sandbox game nor is it purely a linear drudge. What makes Rise of the Argonauts special and in my humble opinion a missed opportunity for most gamers is its passionate ability to craft storytelling and legend. Though surely not accurate legend but more fiction in parts it still manages to draw you in. On a quest with Hercules and assorted other characters you will use armor, a spear, mace and sword to progress through a tale of a husband who has lost his wife in the wars of his homeland. He refuses to accept this fate and launches his boat in the search for a way to bring his beloved wife back from Valhalla. Though noone believes this is plausable, he refuses to accept that as a viable answer and sets off. There are unknown lands with mythical creatures to explore. The character interaction is superb. You will find yourself actually caring what happens in this story. Dialogue with other NPCs is morality based. You will choose between 4-5 responses which will change the story accordingly. I felt the desire to look around the next corner to see what may lie in wait. You can upgrade your character with powers from 4 Gods from Olympus, It is up to you which you upgrade and there are dozens of upgrades that effect your character in each Gods grace. You will have the opportunity to upgrade all of your armor as well as your weapons. This also builds the pacing quite nicely. There are places within the world that you might call "points of interest" as you must walk up to various statues and learn of the mythology that supports it. The worlds are varied and different. The fighting in the game is not revolutionary and though satisfying is not the main draw in this game. It is on par with most action RPGs in the battle department though this is certainly not the main draw. It is the story and the characters that make this game live. Despite it's shortcomings this is can't miss gaming with an emmersive story and it makes you forgive it for it's outdated aspects by spinning a rewarding and engrossing story. Try it with these thoughts in mind and not from a graphical standpoint and you will be well rewarded. Some of the best games in history do not stand up to newer technology and graphics. But i believe it would be a waste to pass on this game which went under the radar to a large extent. If you like Greek Mythology and a well paced story you will find hours of enjoyment with Jason and his band of Argonauts! you would be remiss to discard this as just another discount game in the bargain bin. Enjoy!	video-games_xbox
My favorite game this year. I generally like FPS games, but they do get stale after a bit. I also tire of being abuse online by 12 year olds in COD or MW. It is nice to play an immersive and innovative single player game like Dishonored. The world is unique. It is often described as Steampunk, but I don't think that is correct. It is rather more Renaissance meets Superhero in Dystopia. I get too impatient with wide open games like Red Dead Redemption or GTA. I don't have the time to invest in a lot of the RPGs. Dishonored gives you a pretty concrete mission, often with an optional side mission. The openness comes from exploring along the way and by constructing an approach to your assassination based on the environment, your chosen powers (you can't have them all or max them all out) and even the animals that are in the environment. The AI is not completely stupid, so if you goof up there is a reasonable amount of trouble you can get yourself into. The save system is great, with frequent enough automatic saves as well as the option to manually save within a mission There are a few issues with the game. I don't know how framerate is established on the XBox, but on a 60 Hz set, there is a crummy blurring of the environment with movement of the camera, not with the actual onscreen action. This disappeared on my 120 Hz set, even in game mode. I don't quite understand why this is so, but it was annoying, and seems to be of some issue in the XBox version as opposed to the PS3. This is one of the few games I have played through more than once (the other being the Ninja Gaiden series) and at first I was PO's that you can't keep your runes and charms. But this forces you to rethink how you want to approach the replay. The first time I killed everyone all the time; the second time I was stealthier and used Possession more. That's the real beauty of this game. You can blast through it if you want, but you can then rework the whole experience in a completely different way that makes it feel fresh (it helps that you can skip most of the cutscenes as well). I can't recommend this game enough. It is such a refreshing break from the FPS genre, can be played for 30-60 minutes if that is all you have, and will keep you trying different approaches to the missions.	video-games_xbox
Fun. Addicting. Cash Grab. It's a lot of fun and very addicting. Dozens of Tanks (Just tanks) to choose from that range from Pre-WWII to Pre-Cold War. For my Short Review: It's fun, it's addicting, it's a bit of a cash grab, but you can still play, disadvantaged, for free. Good for some hours of wasted time... just like any video game. For my Long Review: Now, I will warn you before you really dive into this game - It's a huge cash grab if you really want to play this game with a competitive attitude. It's not nearly as bad as freemium games, but, more of a younger cousin that has yet to learn the ropes. Again, you can play this game, and have fun, without spending a dime (once you have the disc and the internet connection), but it is very difficult and time consuming to go that route. In order to be competitive in the game, you must make certain purchases with in game Gold. Gold is only collected through purchasing it (aside from 850 free gold from training videos) with real world dollars from the World of Tanks premium store. 850 Gold for $4.99 US. 1,250 for $6.99 US. 3,000 for $14.99 US. 6,500 for $29.99 US. 12,000 for 49.99 US. and a whopping 25,000 Gold for a cool $100.00 US. (it's actually $99.99... but... in for a penny, in for a pound I always say... I've actually never said that till now but you get the idea). Now this wouldn't be a huge deal if that $100 dollar purchase would see you through every facet of the game 2 times over, but it doesn't, it actually doesn't come close. A Premium account, which isn't necessary for simply playing the game, but it is needed to accumulate Experience Points (which will be used to UNLOCK tanks and tank accessories to purchase) and Silver (which is used to PURCHASE those unlocked tanks and tank accessories) at a much faster rate to keep yourself competitive with other players... this premium account costs a specific amount of gold for a specific amount of time. 250 Gold for 1 day of Premium... all the way to 24,000 Gold for a whole year of premium. Now, remember the exchange rate of Gold/Dollars... it'll come up again, so you should memorize it now if you haven't already done so... if you even still reading this review and not running for your very life. In the game the player has a large number of choices to make with their tank. The Player can purchase different types of ammunition, different gadgets to make their tank more powerful. The player can outfit their tank with slogans and paint jobs. The vast majority of these things cost Gold, not all of them, but the vast majority. 5 or 6 pieces here and there. But when these choices span multiple tanks that the player may want to have, it starts to add up really fast. Which brings me to the number of tanks, if the player wants a multitude of tanks to correspond to the multitude of maps and play styles and tank types, then the player will have to purchase garage slots to store their tanks... these slots cost... you guessed it... GOLD. You get 10 free slots when you start the game, this may sound like a bunch, but trust me, it's not. I've already sold off a number of tanks in order to keep my garage from bursting. Once you sell a tank, you'll have to re-purchase it if you ever wish to use it again or get any tanks in the tree. What is a tree, you ask? A tank tree is a group of tanks that are similar to each other and compliment each other, each predecessor is a bigger, more expensive tank in that style of tank (Light, Medium, Heavy, etc..). For example, The M4 Sherman tank then leads to the M4A3E2 Sherman and then to the Jumbo version of that tank... in other words, if you have a tank that unlocks say three other tanks: See below: -Tank 2 (unlocked with XP from tank 1) Tank 1--- - Tank 3 (unlocked with XP from tank 1) -Tank 4 (unlocked with XP from tank 1) You will need to keep Tank 1 and accumulate enough XP and silver to research Tanks 2-4 if you wish to purchase them. If you sell Tank 1 without doing this, you will not be able to unlock them for purchase... UNLESS: You use FREE XP. Free XP is Experience Points which you can use for ANY TANK... However, Free XP is collected VERY slowly. So slowly that using Free XP to purchase tanks is not only ill advised, it's improbable. But you can trade in Tank XP from any tank for Free XP, so, if you find a tank that you use very well, you can use this tank exclusively, exchange it's tank XP for Free XP and unlock anything you want... but, in order to exchange tank XP for Free XP you need.... THAT'S RIGHT..... GOLD... Why are you still reading this? Just go do something good with your life... go read a book, bake a cake, or take a shower... because you must be filthy after reading this slop. You can't tell me I didn't warn you. You want more? Alright... There are also special tanks that can only be acquired with gold, these are called Premium Tanks. These tanks range in price from the low hundreds all the way to 12,500. Yes, 12,500 of Gold. Meaning you can purchase a single Tank - like the German tank Lowe for 12,500 Gold which costs roughly $49.99 US. (as long as you have the 500 extra gold from watching the training videos - remember, 50 bucks will only get you 12,000 gold - this is a direct example of the cash grab element - if you have no gold and wish to buy this Tank, you would have to purchase 12,000 and another 850... for a combined total of $54.98 US... for a single Tank... but I'm sure it's AWESOME.. $55 Dollars AWESOME.. the penny/pound thing) I have spoken to people, serious gamers, who have spent HUNDREDS of dollars on this game... and beyond. Again, you don't NEED to... I was able to download this game for free with an Xbox gold account and have not spent a dime on the game, I've cursed the game out a plenty because of it, but she has yet to take any of what I don't really have to give. This has been an in depth review and a warning to those poor souls who don't know any better. Please, game responsibly.	video-games_xbox
Possibly one of the greatest games of all time. Let's talk great games. Halo, Call of Duty, the Bioshock series - I've played my way through every one of them and loved every second of it. But no gaming universe is as immersive and complete, in my humble opinion, as the Fallout Universe. This game goes on forever - there is always something new to explore or collect. I've been playing since it's release last year and I'm still not 100% through because I've been so addicted to exploring every inch of the map. The new expansions definitely make that even easier. If you're new to the world of Fallout, don't worry. This game not only includes Fallout 3 (which was the first game released on a more modern platform) but it's easy to understand and play without having played any of the previous games. You are the sole survivor of a nuclear fallout, frozen in time and out for revenge against the mysterious villains who stole your son from you while you were locked away in a cryogenic slumber. But the game goes far beyond that simple plot point. There are multiple travel companions to romance, various alliances to assist, and lots of armor to build. All while helping to populate and protect new settlements around "the Commonwealth." Anyone who grew up in the Boston area, like me, will get a real kick out of some of the great New England easter eggs in the game. (Check out Fallon's Basement). The game gives you the option of selecting your Sole Survivor's gender and appearance and you are free to change your character's appearance throughout the game at various barbers and plastic surgeons. There's a larger selection of armor in this game in comparison to Fallout 3. The game mechanics have also improved considerably. This game is more detailed and less laggy than it's predecessor. Is this the greatest game ever made? I'm not sure. I won't know until they come out with Fallout 5 and I have something to compare it to.	video-games_xbox
Great game, I understand the whining but don't agree. Let me start off by saying that Mass Effect 3 is probably one of the best games I've played, and I play a lot of games. I'll follow up by saying that of all 3 Mass Effect games (which make up by far the best trilogy I've ever played) this is perfectly up to par with the other two. Yes, there are a few issues I had with it, the exploration was a tad limited, side quests were not very involving, and I wanted to be able to explore more different worlds without enemies interrupting the view. BUT I still maintain that this is a superb game and worth everyone's time. The ending which I will not spoil, but has caused the majority of the criticism for this game, I find particularly interesting. Generally when a game has a let down ending e.g. RAGE, Borderlands, etc. People give it one black mark and move on. But Mass Effect 3 gets players so engaged and immersed into the Mass Effect universe that they (me included) formed a strong emotional attachment to the characters in the game. People feel so strongly about it that Bioware is changing (or at least strongly considering changing) the ending to shut everyone up. I will say no more on the subject other than the fact that I have never been so emotionally invested and emotionally swayed by ANY work of art (and yes I hold that Mass Effect 3 and in fact the entire series are works of art) in ANY medium. I think Bioware have done an excellent job with this game, and whether you have problems with the ending or not, if you like games and want to see them advance as an artistic medium, I highly recommend playing the Mass Effect series. Oh also don't buy the Collectors Edition used, you won't end up getting the downloadable content unless the person who originally bought it didn't download it (fat chance). And however cool the extra stuff is, worth $80? yeah pretty much. Worth over $100? No.	video-games_xbox
Awesome controller, better than the real thing. I've had a love-hate relationship with the Xbox One controller. While I feel the pack-in controller is adequate, it has never felt exactly "right" in terms of weight and balance, and also in surface finish, when compared to the Xbox 360 controller. However, after using this controller for about a month, I feel like the controller now disappears in my hands (with a few exceptions, of course). This controller is corded, it must be connected to the console with the supplied cable. It's a standard micro-USB cable, so any USB cable you have will work. It is not wireless. There's a trade-off here, though. While you are permanently attached to the console by a cord 10-feet in length, the controller itself is much lighter because it doesn't incorporate any battery pack or batteries. As a result, I feel like the controller feels much more balanced in my hand. In my own personal gaming space, I don't feel like being corded is a nuisance, but your own individual situation may vary. I have to stress -- you can't make this cordless/wireless. If that's your expectation, stay away. While nearly identical in shape, this controller is trimmed at the bottom, where the palms meet the controller. The tips are rounded, not pointed, which I think helps with smaller hands and ends up feeling much more comfortable than the standard controller for long periods. I much prefer the thumbsticks on this controller than on the standard Xbox One controller. They seem less loose, and don't have a "bounce" to them when you let them snap back to center. They pop to the center, and stay in the center, so that movement doesn't continue for a brief second into the opposite direction (I've noticed this is a problem with the standard controller when navigating menus in games). They seem easier to control in an arc or circle. The thumbstick click (button) has a deeper travel than the standard controller, and seems more pronounced -- you know you're pressing the button. The face buttons (A, B, X, Y) are a little more stiff than the standard controller, but I find the difference negligible. There's not much difference there. The D-pad is much stiffer, and much less "clickier" than the standard controller. It doesn't "rock" or have movement in its default position. I feel the D-pad is much improved over the standard controller's. The triggers seem to have a little more resistance, so that you can control how deeply you press them. This could be helpful in racing games, or other games that have a variable control mapped to the left trigger. The shoulder buttons seem identical to the standard controller. This controller has a built-in 3.5mm audio jack for headset and game audio. It works as one would expect, very similarly to the adapter sold for the original Xbox One controller. This adds a small button below the right thumbstick so you can adjust these audio controls -- game volume, chat volume, and mute, using the D-pad. The D-pad therefore becomes multi-purpose. The button is small and out of the way, and has been designed in a way that it can not possibly be accidentally activated while using the right thumbstick. It's position and design is perfect. Because this controller has no battery pack, it has three additional buttons on the bottom. One controls "programming" the controller, and the other two are custom-mapping buttons. The custom mapping buttons are clickable wheels (similar to the wheel on a computer mouse). Each wheel has three positions -- click, up, or down. You can map any face button to any of these six additional actions. Because of the way the controller is designed and where these custom buttons are positioned, your index fingers can easily rest on them on the backside of the controller. The advantage is that, with creative mapping, you don't have to release the thumbsticks to perform certain actions. For example, if you map the "A" button to the "up" click of the wheel on the right side of the controller, you can continue your movement with the right thumbstick, pull "up" on the wheel to trigger the "A" action in-game, while never taking your thumb off the thumbstick. It does take some getting used to, but it works well and can provide an advantage in many games. The controller is completely clear, so you can see everything inside the controller. I like being able to see the rumble controls work in real-time, and HOW they work. It's quite interesting, if you're into engineering. I have noticed that the clear housing has a few hairline cracks in the material. They are not surface cracks, but I wonder if this will cause a problem over the long-term. The face of the controller is therefore extremely smooth, but also subjected to scratching, therefore, if you don't take care of your controllers, this will end up marred in no time. The clear housing allowed the addition of a continuous multi-color LED rope, for which you can set the intensity and color. The appearance is controlled via the thumbsticks, after activating the mode using the programming button on the back of the controller. The color choices are virtually limitless -- reds, oranges, blues, yellows, greens, and every subtle option in-between. I tend to like the intensity bright, but you can lower the intensity if it bothers you. The controller also contains four red LEDs that glow when the controller is vibrating. I find this a nice touch, but not specifically meaningful. You don't really look at the controller when you are playing anyway. There is a smaller LED in the center that lets you know which programming mode you are in. The Xbox "gem" still illuminates, and there's a smaller power LED at the very top of the controller. I've been quite pleased with this controller. I've completed Halo 5 using it, and have been using it to play Fallout 4, and have not experience any issues with it. My hands don't feel fatigued using it for long gaming sessions. I also find I never blame the controller for a mistake (which happened occasionally with the standard controller). Overall, I highly recommend this controller, if you don't mind a wired solution.	video-games_xbox
New physics engine, same feel. I won't cover the changes, since everyone else has done a fine job. My complaint is that the gameplay still feels the same. The new physics engine is just more incremental tweaks, as far as I'm concerned. They added stumbling. You can make hard cuts with the left stick. Some new tackles and tackle-breaking. That's about it. Oh, and it's a lot harder to steer your defender into the ball carrier in the open field now. Instead of your man going into a tackle graphic, it's more common for the two players to just completely slip past each other at top speed, even if they're within a yard of one another. I still have an issue with the passing. As many years as I've played NCAA, the passing has been a mystery to me. When I watch a real-life football game, a cornerback running at a dead sprint trying to keep up with a receiver can't simply hop several feet into the air at the last second and knock a ball away, as they can in this game. Also, QBs in real life actually throw passes over the receiver's shoulder so that they are too high for the defender following them. In NCAA, every ball seems to be targeted at your receiver's hip. What this means is that guys who have a step on a defender and would be open in real life are not open in this game, because the ball trajectory is wrong. Even poor QBs throw balls on a frozen rope in this game if you mash the button down, no matter how far downfield they're launching one. Low balls = interceptions. But it's a catch-22, because if you put some touch on the pass every defender on that half of the field will catch up to the ball by the time it gets to your man. There's still a problem with CPU defenders having "magic catch-up burst of speed" in this one. There also seems to be a glitch after receivers catch the ball; when you take control of them they pause for a split second instead of smoothly continuing to run, limiting YAC. Receivers who catch screen passes are usually run down from behind, as if they have zero acceleration (which I've noticed in past versions, too). Actually, I feel like fast players aren't very fast in 2014. Yes, I know there is a slider for this to increase the differential between fast and slow players, but it seems to only have an effect on top speed, not acceleration. So DAT (I play Oregon) has trouble getting around the corner to the outside sometimes, when in reality that guy is at top speed almost immediately and almost always is able to turn the corner. Just frustrating as usual. But I think it's still better than Madden and it's always fun to make bad teams into good dynasties, so it gets three stars.	video-games_xbox
Everything you loved about the first game and some. While I was very impressed by Rocksteady's first outing with <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Batman-Arkham-Asylum-Xbox-360/dp/B001PO5NI4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Batman: Arkham Asylum - Xbox 360</a>, I was somewhat skeptical regarding whether Arkham City would be just a repeat of that game with a few more set pieces. Nevertheless, I put it on my wishlist and waited for Santa to bring it last Christmas. I got the collector's edition which I feel is more thoughtfully packaged than the Arkham Asylum CE, save for one big gripe. The game case is eschewed in favor of placing the disc at the back of the collector's art book. That being said, the Batman statuette in his signature crouch, the art book, and the bonus DVD all combine to make a fitting tribute to the Dark Knight fan. The game itself is splendid with a story that pulls you along, including a few twists here and there that make it a little less predictable than your standard fare entertainment. Batman has enough enemies to fill several video games so even though there are some return visits from Arkham Asylum, you get a chance to engage a plethora of new foes so that it doesn't feel like you've been here before. Surprisingly, even though the surface area of the game is larger, it felt to me like there was more to see and do in Arkham Asylum itself, but that could just be me. It's a lot of fun playing through the catwoman missions and using her rapid strikes and agility as an offset to Batman's brutal, no-holds-barred approach. One disappointment was that purchasing the character packs didn't open any new in game missions only challenge maps. It would have been fun to run around Gotham as Nightwing or Tim Drake. But I was able to take out my frustration at this oversight on a bunch of goons in the challenge maps. If you like Arkham Asylum, buying Arkham City is a no-brainer. If you somehow missed the first game and you're a Batman fan (or a video game fan in general) you owe it to yourself to pick up both. Just try to avoid the temptation to build a homemade batsuit and talk with a gravelly voice. Leave it to the pros (or if you must...pick up Gotham City Imposters).	video-games_xbox
Works well, but has a certain learning curve to it. The XSATA is an interesting product. To sum it up, it acts as a bridge between an Xbox 360 and its hard drive, with the ability to convert the SATA connection and convert it out to a USB port. This allows you to directly access the file system on the Xbox HDD, allowing for a "normal" viewing of the folder hierarchy. This means that data, including save games, movies, and really anything can be backed up to your computer's hard drive. The main use is to have a copy of your saved games in case a file gets corrupt or your HDD dies, although there are other uses, as I'll explain later. The first impressions of the device are not very good. Physically, it is light, and rather simple looking, and getting it onto the Xbox is a hassle. It uses a few plastic tabs that connect where the HDD normally would go, and getting it on properly can take several minutes the first time you try it. Once it is on, you'll find that it adds about 1/3" to the width (or height) of your Xbox, and fitting right between the console and the HDD. If you use your Xbox horizontally, like I do, you'll find that the XSATA also protrudes about 1/16" on the top and bottom, and when laying flat on the table, your Xbox will actually rest on the device itself instead of on its rubberized feet. I've used the XSATA for almost a year now with no side effects, but it's still an uncomfortable observation. Note that because the XSATA is a physical device that connects to your 360, you must have your Xbox turned on and in close proximity to your PC to use it. But once you get past the initial reactions, it gets better. Fuctionally, this device is flawless. The XSATA has a standard mini-USB port on the back, and comes with a 4 foot cable for connecting to your computer (could be longer, but...). The Xplorer 360 software that is included has worked fine for me, but I highly suggest doing a Google search for the latest version, which fixes some bugs and adds support for the 512MB memory card and the 120GB HDD. (The software works on Vista, too.) Due to the limitations of the Xbox HDD, you can't access it with the Xbox and your PC at the same time, but that's not a major issue. The Xplorer 360 software is simplistic but functional. It only takes a few clicks to access a connected 360 HDD. It only takes a few more clicks to start the backup process, which creates a 20 GB (or 120 if you have the bigger HDD) image file which you can save anywhere you want. The backup process takes about 45 minutes on a USB 2.0 connection, and virtually ensures that your files up to that point are safe. I've never had to actually use an entire image restore before, but the process is painless to perform once about every month or so. Those that have done any amount of hacking or soft/hard modding of the original Xbox will find themselves right at home viewing the file hierarchy of the 360. For others, though, there is a good sized learning curve. Microsoft makes use of unique hexadecimal strings for each game, and until you learn them or look them up, the entire system will just seem to be random files and folders. But once you get past that, the XSATA becomes more useful. It is possible to extract and backup individual game saves, which is a much faster and more convenient process than backing up the entire drive. Even better, if you have a way of extracting or downloading game saves from original Xbox games, those can be injected into the appropriate place on the 360 HDD and played as long as the title is BC. This can save literally hundreds of hours of playtime if you don't want to spend time getting back to where you were. This is probably the most useful function of the XSATA, as transferring original Xbox saves is virtually impossible otherwise. Functionality aside, there is a final fringe benefit to owning the XSATA. It has blue LEDs on the sides, which means that you'll have a gentle blue light on the side of your 360. No point whatsoever, but it does get you compliments, hehe. The XSATA isn't for everyone. While anyone can go in and backup their entire drive, it takes a slightly more advanced user to get the full use out of it. There are the abovementioned problems with installation, but once you get past those, the XSATA is a useful device that may be worth it for the ability to transfer old Xbox saves alone.	video-games_xbox
Epic, Deep, Time Consuming - Possibly Last of Its Breed. Dragon Age is a game that takes a little time to get past perceiving a generic and bland fantasy world and tired RPG cliches. However, by the time you make it past the opening sets into the main gameworld (about the time you are at the world map, leading to the nonlinear bulk of the game), you may have the suspicion that you are on to something deep and unique. You'd be right. This is a tremendously long game, which is a mixed blessing, but what will strike you as most impressive is the understanding that almost every major in encounter in the game has multiple possible resolutions - and these resolutions will then stack in a layered fashion to give you a rich and singular ending. No sane person could see every outcome in the game, and they are all extraordinarily well written, leading to what feels like a personalized experience. The characters and dialogue are well written, but what stands above the quality of the writing is the quality of the voice acting, which is stellar. The sheer quantity of dialogue and choice to be made in the game is unparallelled. There are flaws that are a little too complicated to describe in full in a short review. However, if you aren't afraid to jump into the deep end (with a game that seems a retread of fantasy trope at first but then indulges itself in the purity of what it is - an authentically epic-length "traditional" fantasy RPG with vast quantities of solid writing, unequalled depth of choice, and with a very good combat engine that keeps things interesting), and if you are the target audience, then you will be all over this game, and it may even be the last of its breed (it's honestly a little surprising it got the love and budget that it did in the modern video game industry). This game is a niche title for people who enjoy these type of story-driven, almost "choose your own adventure" dialogue-heavy combat RPGs. It's not for everyone. But if you suspect this game may be for you, then you'd be a fool not to purchase it and see.	video-games_xbox
If you have a 360 copy of SFIV, you need to own this. First off, with the title I gave this, why not a 5/5? All the hardcore pros claim that with a good fight stick you can't go wrong. Although I've never had a fight stick of any kind, some minor issues I've had with this pad have claimed not to exist with quality sticks. Personally, I don't think a fight stick is right for me. I'm almost 22, I've been playing Capcom fighters since SF II; during this time I've always used my left thumb for the directional commands and I don't want that to change. The D-pad on the 360 controller is trash and the analog stick is much better, BUT the SF IV Fightpad is better than the analog stick. I can EX cancel in my combos like a beast with the Fightpad which is essential if you wanna play advanced with fire ball characters like Ryu or Sagat. Also, the turbo function can be very useful if applied properly. I main Balrog, Fei Long and Ryu. I couldn't play as well with 360 controller as I can now with the pad. Turbo has been argued to be an unfair advantage in fighting games, but it isn't software hax PLUS it's officially licensed. Turboing Balrog hurts more than it helps except of light kick from my experience, but with Fei and Ryu everything should be turboed except the grab buttons. A problem I had with this Fightpad with SF IV is that when I tried to do normal special moves or advanced combos, if my EX bar was full I'd sometimes do SUPERS unexpectedly. There was one hard challenge mode trial for Sagat that didn't involve doing a SUPER or Ultra at all, but when I did the Tiger Knee in the 4th hard trial a super would come out. You wanna do moves fast, but be aware that doing them too fast could do accidental supers. Although this can get annoying when it happens, it's still much better than the interface on the 360 controller, which is not meant for fighting games like this. If you're gonna take this game seriously, you need this product or a stick. Think about the games you have already, you may find more use for this corded controller with Turbo than just SF IV. I'm sure gonna be using this for Marvel vs Capcom 2 which should be released on XBL and PSN THIS WEEK; this will work better with all Capcom fighting games than the 360 controller. There is a switch on the back so you can set the pad to be either a D-pad, left analog stick or right analog stick. You can't play this with shooters like Halo, but no doubt there should be other games you can use it for. IDK what the price of this is now, but don't pay the scalper price. You shouldn't have to pay more than what a wireless 360 controller is at retail price. There have been scarcity problems with this product, but don't pay 3 figures for it. I hope you find one at a reasonable price like I did. Not that it has much to do with the quality and functionality of the product, but I picked the Chun-Li because I wanted a cute anime girl on my controller instead of the shoto scrubs looking stupid; the Blanka one looked really ugly. Blue is also my favorite color.	video-games_xbox
A Playable Dream. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was not a game I was looking foreward to. Like a lot of folks in this generation who grew up with video games, I had very fond memories of the original Prince of Persia for PC, an incredibly animated, original, and difficult title that wowed you with it's remarkably efficient simplicity. Even the Gameboy and SNES version were fantastic, all adhering to the similar formula but expounding on them just enough to be new without betraying the roots of the game. When the poor 3D version debuted for PC a few years back, nobody was really surprised that it was poor; from the earliest preview screens, the game reeked of a formulaic approach to try to "update" a game that had no need of updating. The result was, well, expected. When Sands of Time was announced, I barely let it register. Oh, great, I thought, another Prince of Persia game. Didn't they already try that? Why not just try updating Asteroids again? It would be cheaper to fail at that. Well, my foot's in my mouth pretty deep right now. Really deep, in fact. The new Prince of Persia is among the best games I have ever played in my life. It falls just a teeny bit short of legendary status - It's not quite the legendary, genre-defining stuff of Mario 3 or Half-Life - but it's very, very close, and it easily ranks as my favorite game out right now. What sets this game apart is apparent from the instant you start playing it. Gone is the feeling that this is a rehash - everything is new while maintaining the spirit of the original games, from the Prince's ninja-like acrobatics to the music to the storyline. It all comes down to this, possibly the highest compliment I can pay this game: If the original Prince of Persia had been made in 2003, this would be it. It's obvious that the developers had an excellent idea of what the player will find fun, as opposed to what they think the player will find fun - a huge difference. It boils down to a confidence issue concerning the programming team. Do we go with what people are expecting, or do we take the chance to make our own thing and see if people will accept that? It's not easy to go the latter route - see Sega's Gunvalkyrie for an example of what NOT to do when trying your own thing. Innovation is key, but it has to be something that will make you actually want to play the game, not make you want to play something else. Speaking of controls, this game controls like magic, with ultra-responsive and quite forgiving moves that interpret what the player is trying to do without requiring absolute precision, a Godsend in 3D games like this. This carries over from the acrobatics involved in the game to the excellent combat engine, both of which are integral to the experience. Most of the game has the player navigating one trap-filled room to find the next - strong shades of Sony's ICO here, which should be seen as a good thing - and at various points the player becomes involved in a pitched battle against a set number of spawning enemies - ICO again - which he must defeat to move on. What's remarkable is how cohesive everthing is. There's no feeling of disjointed challenges being thrown at the player, but rather the impression that all this stuff really is the same castle, and could, if you squint, be believable. The game has it's own logic that it adheres to, which really is the mark of a game that's been developed properly. In addition, the design team made an interesting choice concerning the difficulty. Instead of making the game seriously hard, they make it "tricky". It's not an easy game, but it still makes sense as to what to do, and it's this key element that determines the difference between "frustrating" and "challenging." In other words, if the sole reason the game is difficult is because the game makes it hard for the player to do what they want (again, see Gunvalkyrie) then the fun of the game is lost, and the challenge becomes irritating as opposed to engaging. In Prince of Persia, the controls are so fluid that you always feel fully in control, and any screw-ups are your own fault, not because something didn't work like it was supposed to. This concept, which seems so difficult to nail down, is present here in perfect display. The only game I know of that is a better example of this is Treasure's Ikaruga, a masterpeice in it's own right. If it seems like I'm making a lot of comparisons, there's a reason. Prince of Persia can be looked at like a Quentin Tarantino movie in a way. It takes lots of elements from other works in the medium and mashes them all together, but in the process actually improves upon them and makes something unique. If I were to break the new Prince into it's components, it might look something like this: Take 2 parts Ico, 1 part Soul Reaver, add a touch of Blix, bake it in the Splinter Cell engine until perfect and voila! Sands of Time, unlike anything you've ever had before. Don't miss this game, whatever you do. (As an aside, this review is for the Xbox version, but word from the front is that the differences between versions are slight; for the record, the Gamecube version, surprisingly, has the best graphics, the Xbox version has the best load times and comes with the full version of the Prince of Persia 2 PC game, and the PS2 version is the one you get if you don't have either of the other two consoles - the game was designed to run on the PS2, so it's not like you'll be missing much. Any way you go, you're in good hands, so it boils down to a matter of convenience.)	video-games_xbox
The Best Next-Gen Game & One of the Best Games Ever Made. I played this game in early 2016, nearly a year after it came out in May 2015. I had never played The Witcher or The Witcher 2. But I had seen and heard about them. So there I was, I dusted off my copy of The Witcher 3 and read a little bit of the basic plot from the previous 2 games on several wiki sites. Read about the choices to be made in those games, the main characters and was ready to go. I loaded up the game, watched the intro, and began what was my play through of one of the most gorgeous, engaging and immersive gaming experiences I have ever had. Learning the gameplay and controls, and combat, and leveling up was a bit tricky, The game is so huge. It is like an Elder Scrolls game in the sense that it can be a little overwhelming at first. (Its 20% bigger than Skyrim) But I kept playing, and inevitably, I quickly became addicted. 66 Achievements, 4503 kills, 205 deaths, and 295 hours later. I had finished The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt along both of the fantastic and well priced DLCs. This game won the overall Game of The Year award in 2015. The Polish developer is the small and humble CD Projekt Red, which also won Developer of the Year in 2015 The story is based on the series of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The Witcher 3 had a total budget cost of $81 million USD. For perspective, GTA V cost $265 million, and Destiny cost upwards of $500 million (including the marketing involved). This is a incredible accomplishment from a small developer in Poland with 370 employees, which has only made 2 games prior to The Witcher 3. The characters, game environments, in-game details, the controls and combat, the looting system, the writing and dialog, the story and the fast traveling and menu are all so well done it is hard to put this game down. Geralt of Rivia is one of the most badass and likable characters of any game I have played. Right up there with Master Chief and Commander Sheppard. The Witcher 3 is one of those games I picked up just because it looked good with the graphics, but in the end, it was one of the best I have ever played overall. The Witcher 3 is one of those games that has made a history for itself in the videogame industry. The Witcher 3 is one of those games you will never forget. Still to this day, a year has gone by since I finished it. And two years since its release. It is in my opinion, still the best game you can play on the Xbox One or Playstation 4, if you haven't already.	video-games_xbox
this is a solid 4 star football game, people are to critical. I got madden last night and this is just my initial thoughts about it. i played from about 8pm-5am (yeah i have no life). ive been playing video games since 1981. some of the better football games i thought were tecmo bowl for the nes, gameday for the ps1, and the 2k series from sega for the ps2....i had a madden game that had some black quarterback on it ( i forget if it was mcnab or mcnair) and i remember after my friend who took the lions and his fullback broke like 7 of my takles, i had to take the disc out of the the console, go outside, smash it with a hammer... i was so pissed that i went back inside and smashed the controller i was using also ( i was in my mid 20's, lol). i got madden 10 last december when i got a xbox 360 to cure my wow-addiction...i thought madden 10 was ok...i feel madden 12 is a improvement of 10 1st off, i don't see a difference in graphics in the 2 years that have passed, yet i read alot of reviews on how the graphics are awesome..they are just ok.. faces still look weird, and i feel the palyers are kinda small on my 42' hdtv, sitting like 5 feet away from it.. secondly, people always want to use the madden monopoly excuse for why this game sucks and not much effort is put into it...there are alot of little details that are in this game that weren't in 10, so obviously people are doin more then picking their nose and looking at gay midget porn at ea sports.on the pause screen theres somthing called dynamic player performance..its shows pics of the players in the game who are having hot or cold streaks. also i like the way that some recievers drag their feet when trying to catch a ball in bounds (thats definently new) and im glad they took out that annyoying chain gang 1st down measurement thing from 10....alot of the new features even state "due to your demand, we put in" ________" this year...and trust me there are a ton of new features and little details, youll see once u get the game.. lastly the game play is just solid...i thought the kicking was kinda last genertation console, but i like it now (plus my analog sticks swerve worse then my car so i like using a button)...i also feel this is the best runnin game...being patient with blockers pays off for big runs and theres no turbo button. in fact the controls are a little more simplified (for example the swim moves are done with the right stick , not the shoulder buttons) and i like the change...the players don't feel like thier skating on ice or anything...the one complaint i do have about gameplay is pursuit speed....ive been getting run down alot when i think im about to break a long run into a td or, im about to field a return, and all of a sudden the gunner or special team dude is right there to take me down... in conclusion, theres alot of bad review about madden that i think are innacurate...also i cant play my madden 10 online because "cannot find ea or cannot connect to ea server at this time"..so if u want to play online, or u just want a solid and fun football game, this game is definetly a solid great game..hope this helps!	video-games_xbox
343 continues to patch and update the game and it is better than it was. I am going to keep this short as there are plenty of other reviews out there. 1st. From day one the multi-player was not functional. Not at all. Even now (12/28) there are still problems with the party system and overall multi-player stability. We are getting matches now, but consistently losing matches due to the server crashing and booting everyone is the lobby. Splitting parties up when it was not necessary to do so to balance the teams. It still takes awhile to even get a match in the 1st place. It seems 343/Microsoft vastly underestimated what had to be done in order to launch this game from the multi player side of things. They are in it to stay. 343 continues to patch and update the game and it is better than it was. You just have to wonder what set of circumstances led to this catastrophe. Note here: I would urge everyone to un-preorder Halo 5 Guardians if you have already. The message needs to be sent, that we won't be buying half made products. I suspect the main reason for the obvious rush was Microsoft's need to sell its console. The MC collection being the major draw to the console, they forced 343 to launch the game whether it was ready or not. This is not ok. If the decision was made with money in mind, then we must withhold it. I'll surely end up buying H5, I would not miss it for anything. But I'll buy it when its ready. Which apparently, the release date of a game is no longer a reliable indicator of. I have been following the development of H5 closely. It seems they are doing things right. Tomorrow we get to experience the multiplayer beta, a full year ahead of its announced release date. This is promising. But I was burned. So no more. I'll buy it when its actually finished. Nuff said. Also noted, 343 has announced as way of an apology for the debacle of a launch, they will be adding the campaign of the ODST game. A favorite of many and of myself as well. This goes a ways to making things right with the communities and customers. The Single Player experience has been pretty good. The re-made cut scenes and remastered levels look fantastic. Halo players will appreciate the attention and love 343 has obviously lavished on this game. Playing through all of the Halo Campaigns has been really fun. Co-op is what you remember it as. If you are a halo fan, buy the game. Just understand the issues outstanding, and that they are being addressed, just perhaps not as quickly as you would like.	video-games_xbox
What the. So, if you like GTA I can't guarantee you'll like this, but it's still a fun game. The graphics are pretty much the same as The Getaway. Anyway, you're playing the character of an annoying Asian guy who's mean as hell and somehow passed the psych evaluation test to become a cop. The game is definately a knock-off on the whole GTA series, yet it's not as addictive or fun. The gameplay isn't really a freeroaming thing, it's set up like The Getaway with levels where you can free roam, but you have a certain place to be, you just don't have to go there, which is what I prefer to do. Since you're a cop, random crimes will pop up on the map such as, rape, gunfights, carjacks, illegal street racing. These are the most fun since you are free to do what you want when dealing with these crimes. A car chase might lead to a wreck, and then you'll be chasing the perpetrator on foot down the sidewaks as he shoots back at you hitting innocent pedestrians making the police experience very entertaining. There's different ways you can deal with criminals, such as holding up your badge. They might drop their guns, but if they've already downed a few uniform cops they'll probably ignore it, or run. You can also take your guns out and shoot a warning shot into the air. At this they'll either break into a run or surrender. One interesting and innovative feature is that while driving you are able to shoot out of the window ahead of your car at the car you're chasing. This usually leads to popping the tires, and then going for the gas tank. Also, for in-car and on-foot fighting you can use bullet time to focus as the fighting is pretty fast and it's easy to get quickly shot to death. One of the gimmicks of this game was that it was a fighting, shooting, and driving game. I'd have to say the worst would be the fighting mode, since it's just too annoying during the story mode. You could just pull out your guns and shoot the people, yet you are forced to fight them. One of these instances is a very pointless fight in a hobo house with hobos that are harder to fight than your brother who knows kung-fu. The driving is probbly the second worse, since it's so unrealistic. I heard that the damage would be really realistic, yet when you hit a tree you don't even slow down. It just fades away. The shooting is really cool though, since you can go to a semi-first-person mode with bullettime, and aim at a person possibly just disabling them instead of killing them outright. Well, the game would be at my house if it was cheap, but it really isn't. This XBOX version lets you put in your songs, and it is actually cool to hear your music play at random during fights and driving. Buy at your own risk, I take no responsibility.	video-games_xbox
Falls short of Farcry 3. ****************************************Updated review************************************** I finally beat Farcry 4 after months and months of playing it. While it is a highly entertaining and addicting game, there are some major drawbacks to it which justify a 3 star rating (originally I gave it a 4). Grapple- Hook on to a mountain or high cliff. It can help when you need to go vertical. Problem is, when you really need it, there are no places to grapple. There were several times when I needed to scale a mounting too steep to climb and had to take an extremely long way around because there was no grapple option. I like the idea of it, but it fails when you need it most. Ending- There's no happy ending to this game. Your choices are between Pagan Min, Sabal, or Amita. Each thinks they have Kyrat's best at heart, but somehow that involves taking out innocent people in all cases. Also, I like the idea of alternate endings, but don't want to play through the entire game again just to watch a 5 or 10 minute cut scene about how things could have ended. And the "surprise" or "hidden" ending where you remain seated at the table in the first 15 minutes of the game is silly. While I think it does offer one of the better endings, not allowing the player to continue playing beyond that point is ridiculous. Who wants to buy a game and beat it before it really starts? Seems like a total waste of time and programming. Enemy bodies- Farcry 4 decided to mark locations of dead animals on the map, a welcome improvement over 3. I was sad to see that they still haven't included bodies on the map. It can be quite frustrating when you take out a person and cannot find their body because they fell in grass or an area you couldn't see, especially when you are low on ammo. A small change that would make a huge difference in my opinion. Disappearing ammo count- After a certain period of time, your ammo count disappears from the screen. This was probably done to reduce clutter. However, it caused me to enter into situations, typically longer missions, totally unprepared. When I first started playing this game, I would go from one mission to the next without visiting outposts. After I found myself without any ammo fighting a wild animal with nothing but my knife, I realized frequent stops at outposts or buying from traveling salesmen was almost a requirement. Lack of boss battles- Most of the bosses seem to just give up by the time you reach them. While I don't want some 30 minute drawn out battle to finish things, I also don't want to walk into a room with the other person, decide what to do, and be done with it. Where's the fun in that? During the final Pagan battle, it felt like there definitely should have been something more. Not to mention that by taking out Min, you never scatter your mother's ashes, the entire reason you visited Kyrat. Seems very unfinished...but what are your other options, allow the person you've been battling against for however many hours to simply walk away? As I said earlier, there is no good outcome. ***********************************Original Review******************************************* For $16, this is a no brainer! If you played Far Cry 3, you will easily be able to make the transition to 4. Sure there are a few changes here and there, but for the most part everything is the same. In fact, as other reviewers have mentioned, this feels like Far Cry 3.5- a welcome expansion pack for 3. You are a Ajay, a traveler who is visiting his birth land of Kyrat (spelling?) to spread his mother's ashes. As soon as you step off the helicopter, you are swept away by the island dictator- a man who helped drive your mother off the island years ago. A resistance faction called the golden path helps you escape. It turns out, your parents were an integral part of starting the revolution so many years ago. The rest of the game is devoted to assisting the golden path in achieving its goals of overthrowing the dictator, Pagan Min. There are some notable improvements and a few setbacks from 3. First, the improvements: The ability to replay post takeovers- I haven't tried this yet, but I believe you can work on taking it down as many times as you want. Post takeovers are by far my favorite part of the game, and I was sad when I had beaten all of the posts in 3. It felt like I had next to nothing left that I wanted to do. Grapple- Instead of walking the long way around, you can simply climb up cliffs in certain areas. Bow and arrow- I barely used it in 3. Partially my own play style, but it wasn't available until later in the game. It is given to you quite early in 4, so I've definitely relied on it much more. Plus, using either the knife or bow, you earn more skins per animal kill. That's enough of an incentive for me, especially against the larger animals- tigers, bears, rhinos, etc. Just be prepared to switch to another weapon if you need some more power :) More "signature" weapons- weapons that come custom crafted for your enjoyment. I have only unlocked a few for purchase, but some of them are simply unequaled by most other guns in the game. Karma events- I enjoy the randomness of these events as they pop up. Sometimes it may involve helping a golden path member under attack or taking out a small cadre of the enemy. These events can sometimes be annoying, such as when my outpost was attacked literally 30 seconds after I left in search of the next mission. It did give me the opportunity to flank them, but it meant I had to turn around after just leaving. More animals- To name a few of the more difficult ones I've squared off against (still early in the game): Bear, honey badger (tough little sobs), eagle, rhino, lion, cheetah, elephant, and wolves. The list goes on and on... Quick sell- Very nice feature. You don't have to sell each "sell" item one at a time. For non-sell items, it would have been helpful if you could sell more than one at a time. I had 25 dhole skins taking up precious item space. I didn't want to sell them all, so I had to do them individually :/ Baiting- Cool idea. Use the more dangerous animals advantageously against your enemies by throwing a hunk of meet near them. Be careful though, this came back to bite me when a lion (or maybe tiger) finished with the enemies and decided to maul me to death. Ahh, the memories... :) Different story lines- You can pick your own fate based on the missions you select. In 3, only the ending was different. From my understanding, in 4 you need to make several choices that will impact future events in the game. This means great replayability. Guns for hire- Post too difficult to takeover or simply want backup? Now you have it! A golden path member is dispatched to your location to assist your efforts. Unfortunately, they cannot be used during missions, which would have been helpful during the early sniper/crossbow mission. Snipers- I consider these guys to be an improvement and setback. They usually hide in the woods and fling arrows in your direction. They can attack you several times before you realize what is going on. Even if you spot them, their red indicator icon disappears after about 10 seconds, so tracking them is no easy task. There is an early mission where you need to defeat several of them at a cabin. This is probably one of the most difficult things I've had to do in either 3 or 4! And they communicate using bird calls (which is usually how you can tell they are about to attack), so every time you hear anything remotely similar to a bird call after that mission you cringe. Setbacks: Aiming- I pride myself on my sniping abilities. Sure I'll miss the occasional shot due to shaking/breathing, moving, or just cutting it too close. In all of the games I've played, I have never felt like the aiming system was off as much as this one. At times it doesn't matter, like hunting a pig or bird. But at important points, like a post takeover, a clean kill can make the difference between stealthily taking out the guards one by one or being exposed and having reinforcements called. I have lined up a shot perfectly center for long range weapons, and the shot missed completely. A second attempt ended the same way. What's the point of having a scope/sight if it is inaccurate? The worst part, it never misses by the same amount, or consistently, so you can compensate for it. Weapons holster- I'm still not a fan of crafting items (it doesn't add anything to the game in my opinion), but I'll go through the motions anyway. For whatever reason, the creators decided to designate one slot for handguns only. Why? If I want to load up all 4 slots with sniper rifles, why shouldn't that be allowed? To their credit, it has added an increased level of difficulty because right now none of the handguns seem all that powerful (and it looks like the locked ones aren't much better). You really need to consider which guns are most important at the present moment. Grapple- While this was a nice addition, it is of extremely limited use. You can only use it at certain points. So you might have to trek way out of your way because there isn't a grapple setup in the cliff above you. Why not make it so you can use it anywhere? That would actually be helpful. Autodrive- I like the idea, but the execution sucks. I always have trouble doing drive-bys in games like GTA, Saints Row, you name it. Too much going on at once. The autodrive removes the drive and shoot at the same time difficulty. Thing is, some times it drives you to random spots. For example, I was heading to a tower when an enemy truck started chasing me. I switched on auto drive (first time using it) and the darn thing drove past the tower. After the gunfight ended, I had to backtrack quite a ways. Annoying! Syringe crafting- not as simplistic as the first one. You have to buy the ability to craft specialty syringes. Once purchased, it is more difficult than the approach used in 3, which I think is far better. Money- It seems like you cannot be given enough of it in this game. At first it was difficult to scrounge together a few of the local currency, but after only about 5 hours, I find myself maxing out my 1,000,000 wallet fairly easily. Disappearing gun stats- I'd prefer to always see how many bullets I have left, but it fades from the screen if not used in a certain amount of time. When I first started playing, I went into a few fire fights with little to no ammo without realizing it. Nothing quite like being surrounded and hearing the click, click of an empty gun during your time of need. Attachments- Small gripe, but the weapons listing only shows how many attachments can be added on 1 screen. I base some of my purchases on what attachments are available and how many can be used at the same time. There have been a few times where I bought a gun with two attachments only to find out it is limited to one at a time. Grr... Pagan Min- He simply doesn't feel evil enough for me. With Vaas (even though he wasn't the lead bad guy), I hated him with a passion. First he kills your brother right in front of you, tries to kill most of your friends, and then repeatedly tries to kill you. How could you not hate him? With Min, most of my interaction has been limited to his voice on a radio/cell phone and nothing all that sinister. There have been hints he might have killed Ajay's father, but even that only adds a little to my view of his evilness. Final thoughts: There are a few missteps in this game, but Ubisoft kept the most important components in my opinion. Time still flies when I'm playing and I can't wait to see what else will happen. For under $20, it will keep you entertained for many, many hours.	video-games_xbox
Battlefield in a Star Wars setting. Star Wars Battlefront is pretty much the same thing as any of the Battlefield games: giant, open ended battles that have infantry and vehicle combat. You can play as the rebels, the empire, the republic or the trade federation droid army. It has five different infantry classes. They are assault, sniper, anti-vehicle, pilot and a unique unit for each army. The rebels unique units are wookiees, The empire has dark troopers, the republic has jet troopers, and the trade federation has droidekas (destroyer droids). The AI is good for the most part. They dive for cover when a grenade is thrown their way and they use vehicles well. However, the AI does have a few problems such as their weird urge to get to a gun turret. Tons of times I've seen one of my troops go running away from a firefight to get to the nearest turret when we needed him at the battle. Also, whenever your reinforcement count drops below twenty-five or so (right when your about to lose) , all of your troops jump out of their vehicles and refuse to get back in them, even when you order them to. Yes, that also includes the guys in aircraft as well. Every one of your troops in fighters and gunships jump out and fall to their deaths, which does not help your chances of winning. Other than that, this game is great. You can pilot tanks, speeders and the giant AT-AT, which can effortlessly crush the rebel defenses on the massive Hoth level. As for aircraft, you can fly the X-wing, Y-wing, Snowspeeder, TIE Fighter, TIE Bomber, Droid Starfighter, Droid Gunship, Jedi Starfighter and the Republic LAAT/i Gunship, which can hold a crew of five (pilot, wing turret gunner, left ball gunner, right ball gunner and a passanger). The aircraft are difficult to control at first, but they aren't too bad with practice. As for infantry combat, everything works smoothly. There is a grenade button and diving to the left or right to avoid enemy fire is easy. If you love Star Wars and games with chaotic, open ended battles, this is for you.	video-games_xbox
A couple of problems. Being able to use my guitar is a biiiiiiig plus. I used to own Rockband 3 with that speical Stratocaster before jumping to Rocksmith, so I can tell from my own experience that game playing is so much more realistic with Rocksmith than Rock Band 3. I also like automatic level adjustment. It's not perfect, and sometimes it feels like it's not giving me enough credit (= keep letting me play too easy version), but there are definitely more good than bad. I don't have to hesitate when trying out a song that I don't even know for the first time because I know I will be playing an easy version, and at the same time, I don't have to decide when I am going to go to the next level, since the game will decide that for me. I actually like this game so much. However, I can only give it 3 stars because there a few things I don't like as well, and one of those is so critical and it's frustrating me so much. 1. Loading the game and starting a new session take too much time. It's very slow. Well, maybe it was intentional that they want us to rest our fingers and wrists between peforming/practicing songs. 2. I think the song inventory is pretty shallow. Also I like the song selections with Rock Band 3 a lot better than that of Rocksmith. 3. This is the biggest problem I have with this game. I don't know who decided to use this very unique notation, but he or she should be shot. I have changed the setting to show the inverted image, which they claim to be like tablature, but it's not like tablature at all. Actually, if you are familar with tablature notation, I think you will have harder time getting used to this new notation because it somewhat "looks like" tablature, but works very very differently. I can't understand why they did this. I don't think this notation is that much easier (if any) than standard tablature notation for novice players to learn and get used to anyway. I guess you can be very good at reading this notation, but then you will have a very difficult time when you try/need to read a song written in the standard tablature notation. This game could've also been a learning tool for tablatures notation, on top of learning tool for playing guitar, only if they actually used the tablature notation in the game. Instead, you are only going to be very good at reading this proprietary notation, which is used by nobody in the world but this game. It's like taking a foregin language class for some language that's only used by a very small number of people in some tiny country; in other words, what a waste of time. On top of being completely useless outsie of the game and casue a lot of confusion due to its similar appearance with tablature notation, another problem is that it's very hard to tell, almost impossible to tell the duration of each note. Actually the notation Rock Band 3 uses also has this same problem. Since the notes are coming toward you.. well, they had to make it "look like" coming toward you, and the only way to do that in a 2D screen is to make the objects that are further away smaller. Since the only clue for the duration of the notes are the distance between them, this makes it very difficult to tell the duration of each note. You either have to know the song fairly well already or have to download the song and listen for the notes to figure out how long they are. I can bear with long loading time of the game. I guess I can live with the songs they have now. However, this screwed up notation is something that really bothers me and makes the game that much less playable and enjoyable. Despite that, however, I am still playing this game way more than I played Rock Band, and that shows how fun this game is. I really like everything else about this game, and I just hope that they get rid of this notation, or make tablature notation as an option. Until that happens, I can only give it 3 stars.	video-games_xbox
A Worthy Successor to the Xbox One only if you need 4k support. <div id="video-block-R2NGTZ8HYDXF5R" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/F1ADyydATmS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41NO%2BOgduKS.png" class="video-slate-img-url">Xbox One S Review from my YouTube channel MiscTech Let's talk about the first two things that immediately stand out - Size and Color. Thew New XBOX One S is about 40% smaller than the original XBOX One and I'd say about 10% smaller than the PS4 overall. It has a much more sleek appearance and some great visual changes including the nice matte white color which I think looks great and is no longer a fingerprint magnet. I've seen a lot of rumblings across the inter-webs about having no black option and definitely can understand not wanting to have something to stick out in your media room; however, I think the white paint is a welcome change and tribute to the original XBOX 360. In addition to the color change, we also now have a vertical stand option which works great and definitely frees up some space. It also seems to run even quieter than the first generation XBOX One and definitely quieter than the PS4, which is important during quiet cut-scenes. Another huge change is the internal power supply, which means no more giant, ugly power brick! While we are talking about power, we can't forget to mention that the power button has changed from a capacitive touch to a physical push button, which is a much appreciated improvement as I can't count the number of times my dogs have turned off my Xbox during a gaming session. The USB port is no longer awkwardly recessed and placed on the side, but has been moved conveniently to the front of the console. We have also lost an dedicated Kinect Port and now have to use a special kinect to usb converter with one of the USB ports on the back of the console. For any of you that are using multiple external drives or usb devices like a steering wheel or rocksmith interface, keep this in mind if you are using Kinect. The new converter will be available September 7th for $39.99 or if you already own the One S & Original XBOX with Kinect, you can register on Microsofts website and get one for free for a limited time. Although, I didn't find myself using kinect much for games, I immediately missed having "Xbox On" and "Cortana, Open Netflix" functionality. If you used the voice navigation functions of Kinect, you will definitely want to pick up a converter. I do want to mention that there is an integrated IR blaster on the front, which will still allow the Xbox to turn on your av components. Lets move on to hardware improvements. The big upgrade to the XBOX One S is the 4K support including HDR, HDMI 2.0 and 12bit color. Apparently, there has also been a slight bump in GPU and CPU power. 4k capability will mainly be reserved for 4k Bluray and 4K streaming playback such as Netflix or hulu. It does have the capability of upscaling older 1080p games to a full 4k, which is a plus. Based on GPU speed, most future games probably won't run at 4k; however, they can be upscaled to 4k and we might find many of the new games running at 1440p. HDMI 2.0a, which enables HDR or High Dynamic Range capability will allow for deeper blacks, brighter whites and more natural colors. This is a nice addition if your TV and A/V receiver support it. Additionally, HDMI 2.0a supports 4k at 60Hz. How does it sound? It has some minor sound improvements and if your AV reciever supports it, it will pass-through Dolby Atmos at the native rate. The launch edition includes a 2TB drive for $399; however, a 500GB and 1TB models will be available later this year. With that in mind, I probably wouldn't go smaller than a 1TB drive as even with the free games included with your gold membership, your drive will fill up quickly. I wish the had a hybrid or full SSD option to further improve performance, or had a drive bay that was easily accessible for upgrades. We may see an upgraded "Elite S" console with a hybrid later this year. The new controller is also in matte white, matching the console but improves upon its design by adding a textured grip to the back as well as much welcomed Bluetooth functionality. This allows you to connect the controller to your PC, Mac or compatible android device for use of the best gaming controller out there. Overall, I would compare the XBOX One S to an iPhone S model. It has some great new features (smaller footprint, 4k/HDR and a new Bluetooth controller), but nothing earth shattering. If you need a solid 4k Blueray player and already have a 4k TV and AV receiver, then the Xbox One S is a worthy upgrade; however, if you don't have any of this, I think you will be disappointed and better served by waiting for Project Scorpio in 2017 and upgrading your AV equipment along with it at that time.	video-games_xbox
Bash, Eruptor, and Chop Chop. I purchased this three pack at my local Wal-Mart for $19.99. Overall, I like this set very much. I am only reviewing the figurines, not the seller here. Bash- Bash is definitely one of my favorite Skylanders. I am 17, and my brother, who is 21, also loves his tough- guy look. Even though he is as slow as molasses trekking through the levels, he makes it well worth it with his strength. I love watching him defeat enemies with his spiked tail! Also, using his roll attack to actually roll through the level instead of walking makes him a lot faster. I love his design, and his figurine is very sturdy. I just can't say enough good things about him, because he is so awesome. Eruptor- I find Eruptor to be disappointing. He is my fire type Skylander, and while he is extremely cool looking and his lava pool attack is very good, I find his performance sub-par. His main attack, which involves him throwing balls of lava, is difficult to aim. This may be operator error, but I just find him difficult to use. Since his good attack, the lava pool, requires him to be right up on the target and also takes a few seconds to go into effect, he tends to not last long in combat. As I said, I may just be bad at using him, but I only use him when I have to. Aesthetically though, he looks very appealing. His figurine is also sturdy, and will stand up to wear and tear if you or your kids play with the figurines themselves. Chop Chop- He is just wonderful! I love that he has a shield, which deflects frontal attacks, and his sword does great amounts of damage. A great Skylander for close combat. My only problems with him come from the design of the figurine itself. Like Stealth Elf, Chop Chop is made of less plastic than other Skylanders. He is thin and kind of flimsy. His pose also makes him more fragile, because half of him is not attached to the pedestal. I am always extremely careful with him for fear of breakage. His design is very neat looking, and as I have noticed when I was picking my Skylanders out at the store, he is very popular with young boys. I babysit, and know young boys can be rough on their toys. So if you don't want him to get broken, make sure your children know to be especially careful with him and his hanging parts. This was a great three pack! I actually only own one of each element, and bought this pack because I didn't have these elements. It is a great set overall. I highly recommend it for boys.	video-games_xbox
Major improvement. I'll admit, after playing through the first game my expectations for this follow-up was far less. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself having a lot of fun playing through this game. Granted they're not bringing anything new to the table, but sometimes sticking to the tried and true methods works fine. In this case it did, while it's not original, I still found this game quite fun. They're using the Unreal graphics engine, but they seem to have designed it to be a lot more like Half Life 2. The storyline is also much improved in my opinion. It doesn't feel as completely outrageous as the first game. The first game was so out there that it became sort of stupid after a while. But Blacksite deals more with developing new technologies. So you spend most of your game fighting these super soldiers and robotic machines. There are some alien creatures to fight as well, and they look a lot better than the ones you fought in the first game. They actually look a little like the things from Independence Day, in their battle suits, but walking on all fours. There are also these behemoth like creatures that come out of the ground that you have to kill. An added element that I thought was really cool was that you get to drive around in vehicles this time. Usually I'm really iffy about these things because it's always a gamble when it comes to vehicle controls. Luckily the vehicles are fairly easy to control in my opinion. The only problem I have is that you can go really fast with them and it's hard to control at certain speeds. Then again... I've never seen a game handle the speed functionality all that well. I think Halo is the only one I can think where I felt pretty satisfied with the vehicle controls. Like in the last game you do get a squad that can work with you. This actually goes on for most of the game. Thankfully the AI is still good in this regard; the squad never really seemed to get in my way and was actually helpful rather than a detriment. I like seeing that companies are finally starting to get these aspects correct. The weapons in this game were pretty run of the mill. I felt like I had access to more alien technology in the last game, but the lack of this didn't hurt this game any for me. I really enjoyed using the sniper rifle a lot in this. That functionality was better compared to the last game, if I remember correctly. The environment this time around was a lot more destructible and I found that a lot more fun. One part that was kind of annoying, though, was that you could destroy these crates, but there was never anything in them! Don't these developers know that if you can destroy crates in a game you put ammo or some other incentive in there? They did keep the dossier search from the last game. This encouraged me to search out the environment and world a lot more and I'm glad they kept this feature as well. If you really enjoyed Half Life 2 and games of that ilk, then Blacksite: Area 51 won't steer you wrong. Sure you might not be nearly as engrossed with it, but it's a fun game. It's definitely not worth full retail price, but it's worth getting when the price drops. It's actually not a very long game either, but I feel like it's just the right length. This is the type of game you don't want hitting epic levels, because it would just get overly redundant. It never reaches that point and the game feels like it's just long enough.	video-games_xbox
DRM aside... (2. This is precisely the sort of sequel expected from the Red Alert franchise. First I should say that I read early regarding development, and heard that the game would "play up the silliness" in design. That immediately turned me off from it, as Red Alert was so blunt, unpolished, bleak, and gritty as to be a frightening game for its time with the mix of a shockingly realistic Joseph Stalin in cutscenes, and a seemingly brutal AI in a game that never allowed for cheating or difficulty adjustment beyond that at the start of the campaign. Red Alert 2, in comparison, upped the "silliness" to a point of complete cheeseballs, and was a huge disappointment to many fans. At the very least, stupid cartoonyness aside, I thought Red Alert 2 was great. And so Red Alert 3 manages not to go overboard with playing up the "silliness", but it does come off as a cartoony sort of game in Red Alert 2 style. The video cutscenes are of course sharp and beautifully acted, and while at first I was disappointed in the choice of well-known actors (Tim Curry in particular), I've found that they produce some of the best characters for the game. Tim Curry is the first believable Russian Premier of the series, holding little of the terrifying dread of Joseph Stalin, or the Russian-style "engrish" and goofball antics of Alexei Romanov in Red Alert 2, but making his own Russian Premier, a clear-cut and defined character who could be a legitimately real person. George Takei has clear authority and gravitas as the Emperor, and his grand declaration on the Russians of Japan's divine mandate to conquer is overwhelming. The gameplay itself is nothing really special, something much of the same sorts as seen in Command and Conquer Generals (I haven't played C&C 3 so I can't judge there), with a vast improvement in graphics since Generals, but still a sense of slower-moving action (not just from graphics overload). The gameplay as well is very much a balanced sort of cartoonishness which at one moment even managed to convince me that it was normal to see Russian conscripts marching alongside a trained scout bear and a series of tanks that walk like spiders (Soviet Stingrays) to attack Japanese samurai with lightsaber-like swords. While the game itself is terribly average, and barely an improvement from Command & Conquer: Generals, the mere presentation of it---the menu design, the epic soundtrack by Frank Klepacki, the cutscenes and acting---manage to hook me and keep me wanting to hear and see more in between each mission. UPDATE: Storyline. I won't post any spoilers and any details on it save for one. Like I mentioned on an ignored discussion page here, the game brings up a highly interesting plot element involving Dr. Zelinski contacting the player in all three campaigns, mentioning the Soviet Premier having travelled back in time to change the future/present. In the Soviet campaign, he randomly disappears for no reason after telling you this. In the Allied campaign, no one cares except when he tells them about a Soviet base on Cuba. Only in the Japanese campaign does anyone seem to care about what Zelinski is saying, and by the end it doesn't even matter anymore. Zelinski's message involves a supposed 'break-down' of the time-space continuum. And yet after all the campaigns, not only is this idea not expanded on in the least, it is practically completely ignored. If anyone remembers Yuri's Revenge, a 'break-down' of the time-space continuum caused by Einstein lead to a "merging" of the two timelines, causing Yuri to be destroyed and General Carville to come back to life in the "true" timeline. Another highly interesting plot point completely ignored is Yuriko. Absolutely no backstory is provided on her, nor is she given a FMV actor to portray her. There is a clear distinction between her, Yuriko the Japanese Psychic in Red Alert 3, and Yuri the Soviet Psychic in Red Alert 2, and yet this is not explored in the least in Red Alert 3. The storyline, while on its own interesting, is a colossal disappointment in context with Red Alert and Red Alert 2. Solidly 3/5, perhaps at best 3.5/5. Oh yeah, and SECUROM~!!!!!111 RUINS THE GAME!	video-games_xbox
Could have been so much better. So this game, while very engaging, I feel has such a diverse library that it detracts from actually enjoying it. My biggest complaint is that I don't believe anyone could really enjoy any majority of the songs. I mean when you have Slayer, Tom Petty, Smashing Pumpkins, Jack White, and unknown indie crap in the same game how can you elevate someone from passing interest to passion for playing? At some point you have to love the music you're playing and I feel there are only a small handful of songs someone can love enough to master. While the shop offers a massive selection of songs, there are a myriad of questionable choices and it is obvious the developers have it bad for grunge. Between Nirvana, REM, Smashing Pumpkins, and Radiohead, there has to be at least 30 songs. That's BS, there are so many good bands that were excluded from this game. If you're not in your mid 30s you might not find a ton of interest in the song library. Another problem is the game accurately reading your playing. It can't tell if you're muting or hammering and will often credit you with playing the wrong note or if you can't play fast enough it credits you as if you did. For beginners this will rarely come up, but as you get into mastery levels these is very important so you know if you set the right speed while playing. My biggest complaint is the difficulty level. I have charged pretty hard into bass and have about 15 songs at 90% or higher mastery. I'm not complaining about getting a perfect performance, that should be challenging, my complaint is, which im not sure how many people will encounter, is that when I switch to the guitar path all the songs are at 100% difficulty. While I can play bass pretty fast and accurately, guitar is another monster and I don't even know chords and it's throwing the entire song at me my first attempt. There's no difficulty setting, I know I can go into score attack and play easy mode but I'm playing guitar to learn it, not goof around in the arcade.	video-games_xbox
Left 4 Dead Remade. This version of Left 4 Dead brings you through New Orleans in the south where they hadn't been informed about the zombie plague in the north. The government had called it a virus and asked that everyone that had the virus be quarantined and for everyone to wash their hands to stop the spread of the virus. As we all know, this doesn't help and the virus spreads quickly. We come into a new set of survivors that discovered what was happening and are fighting their way though the zombie infested New Orleans. The survivors unlike the last game have at their disposal a wide range of variation of the same old primary weapons (Assault Rifles, Shotguns, and Sniper Rifles) along with a grenade launcher. The secondary weapons have taken a new life of their own. They now have a desert eagle pistol, the original pistol, a chainsaw, and many melee weapons including fire ax's, katanas and guitars to name a few. The game has a bile bomb to add to your grenade slot that acts like the boomer's vomit on anything it hits. It has a new med kit called the defibrillator, which can revive a dead teammate with half health which actually comes in handy in the new realism mode which has no respawns. The pain pills slot also has a new item called adrenaline. This makes everything you do faster, including helping your teammates up, and running faster then you can without. It also gives you a small health bonus. Some of the new modes include Realism mode, which gets rid of the character identifiers that help you see teammates through walls. It increases damage and the number of shots it takes to take a zombie down, and gets rid of respawns. It also introduced a round based competetive gametype called scavange, where one team is survivors trying to gather as many cans of gas as they can, and the other team is special infected. The teams switch after the survivors get 16 cans, they run out of time, or they are eliminated by the zombies. Teams switch and the team with the most cans win the round. There are also new infected including the spitter, jockey, and charger. This game introduces a lot, and keeps to the original recipe that made it one of the best games ever. You don't need to play the first game to understand how to play the game, and the AI director will determine how difficult the game is at points based on factors i don't understand. The Director seems to hate me when i play and hammers me with constant waves and attrition on ammo, but when my buddy plays on the same profile, he seems to walk almost free... Guess the Director is vendictive... Overall a great game. If you have the first, Scavanger mode alone makes this game worth it. If you don't have the first game, just buy this one, it is a blast.	video-games_xbox
Easily the best of the trilogy. I've been a fan of the Prince of Persia series since I was a little kid. PoP 1 was great, Pop 2 was absolutely unreal. PoP 3D was ehhh....but then two years ago, along came a game that changed everything. "Prince of Persia The Sands of Time," the first game in this amazing adventure game trilogy took everyone's breath away. The gameplay was original, flawless, and beautiful. The storyline sucked you in and didn't let you go even after you'd beaten it 6 times over. It was a flawless game. Last year, the first sequel, "Prince of Persia Warrior Within," was released. While the game contained improvements in the quality of the graphics and the "freeform fighting" techniques, the game was less pleasing to both critics and gamers. Ubisoft had turned the humrous, witty, intelligent prince from "Sands" into an angry, nu-metal-rocking, humorlous scoundrel who seemed hellbent on ruining everyone's time. While the story was equally as engaging as "Sands," "Warrior" failed because it simply was not as much fun to play. Luckily, Ubisoft saved the best for last. "The Two Thrones" is easily one of the greatest games I have ever played. In concluding one of the greatet videogame trilogies ever created, Ubisoft have developed a near flawless game. It is as though they took the strengths from both games, removed the weaknesses of the second game, and created a thing of pure brilliance. "The Two Thrones" contains all of the witty, punning elements from the first game and mixes them with the exciting, more violent elements from the second game while removing everying that ruined the prince's demeanor in the second game. The original, fun, saracastic prince is back, and largely because Ubisoft has also brought back one of the things that made "Sands" so great: Farrah. Farrah is the perfect foil to our hero. She adds humor, power, creativity, and definitely a sexiness to the game that "Warrior" was lacking. Farrah's relationship with the prince is by far my favorite relationship I've ever "played" in a videogame and Ubisoft deserves big brownie points for bringing her back. The gameplay in "The Two Thrones" is amazing. Throughout the game, the gamer is occassionally forced to play as the "Dark Prince" as there are situations where the "normal," original prince is unable to get through. In other games, playing as two characters often appeared more of a gimmick than an actual, integral part of the story, but in "The Two Thrones," the reasoning behind the Prince's frequent changing from Prince to Dark Prince and back again is very well explained and very important to the overall story that "Two Thrones is telling." The fight scenes are epicly fun to play. This Prince has more moves than he had in the two last games combined and his battle techniques are a joy to use. The new "speed kill" method of killing some opponents adds a certain amount of skill and brutality to many fights that otherwise would have seemed boring and taken far too long to complete. I welcomed the addition of the speed kills once I fully learned how to use them. The Prince still moves as acrobatically as ever. There is still wall-running, jumping, flipping, handsprings, etc....the only real notable movement difference is when the gamer plays as the Dark Prince. The Dark Prince's chain/weapon/thing can be used to grab onto bars that are are away or objects that would otherwise be out of reach and the Prince can then swing over to them. It's not that different from anything the Prince has done before but it was definitely fun to do and worked well with the flow of the game. All in all I rate this the best of the new Sands PoP trilogy. It's an awesome game that should be played by anyone who has ever enjoyed a 3rd person adventure game. If you haven't played either one of the first two games be warned: the storyline is actually rather complex and you will be missing much of the story if you haven't played the first two games. If you have played the first two games, this story is a terrific conclusion to the Prince's tale, and the way it wraps around back to the beginning of the trilogy floored me when I finished it. Buy this game. (something worth noting...after you beat the game you unlock many videos, chief among these is the "alternate/real ending" to Warrior Within that was formerly only available if you beat Warrior after collecting all the life upgrades....so if you beat Warrior without all the life upgrades and didn't see the "real" ending...beating this game shows it to you in the video collection)	video-games_xbox
Wanted to like this more. My husband and I have been using the previous release for about 18 months. While we really do enjoy it we were ready for something more challenging and, of course, something with a bit more variety. We couldn't wait to test it out as soon as it arrived. We found that are far more options than the previous one and we tried a little bit of everything. Heart beats were up, sweat was accumulating and accomplishment definitely puffed our chests! Unfortunately, we realized that the developers CLEARLY left out a couple of features that are ESSENTIAL to making this at all useful as a daily/weekly workout. For one, it does not reflect daily calorie counts. Seriously, what the? How can this prominent and useful feature from the previous game be completely eliminated from the newer, better, glossy, fabulous upgrade?! Oh wait. After wasting time searching online forums we found that IF you have an XBOX Live account you can set up another account with U-PLAY and then you can set up ANOTHER account with Your Shape Center - even then you still have to get on your computer or smart phone to see what you have accomplished. I don't have a Live account, my husband does, so we would have to spend $30 more a year for me to track my progress and see my daily calorie count. UNBELIEVABLE! So if you have nothing better to do than set up account after account and possibly spend money you aren't already spending you will be let in on the big mystery of the progress that you are making. Lucky you. For now, I keep a notepad and a pen beside me and write down each activity - how vintage. *Note: since my husband has a Live account his calories have been combined with the previous release of the game - so instead of being able to just see what he has accomplished in this game on the screen - he sees the last couple of years on a different game. Again not helpful. BTW: One of the common themes of the complaint boards about this release is the inaccuracy of the calorie counter. So for all my complaining of not seeing the daily calories, it may be a moot point if it is as inaccurate as many people claim. Joy. Additionally, while they ask you a few questions about fitness level in order to assist you in selecting the right activities to meet your objectives, they give you no direction as to how many classes and which ones to combine. I am not a fitness guru, but when the program practically tags every activity as something that will help you get to your goal you have to wonder... um, why bother pretending to tailor to specific needs and just say do everything for awhile and you will see results. I really do like the exercises - I feel challenged and accomplished and there is enough variety for now (beware the 15 and 22 minute classes are half repeated, not all new exercises). I do like the backgrounds - they are interesting and keep from being completely bored as workouts can sometimes be. I do hate the menus - they updated the style, but it is often inaccurate and the fuzzy square that is supposed to be a hand is annoying. The long load times detract from the game - you stand around waiting, a lot. SO glad I didn't pay the release price. I am still using the game and hoping the extra bitterness will burn extra calories :-)	video-games_xbox
Nothing of what was expected: They Stole the Good Name. First of all, I've had this game on pre-order since mid-year. The N64 version constituted my childhood. This was the first person shooter that we came home from school on Friday's just waiting to play. This was the all night pizza party/sleep over game. This was grade school bliss. To this day as a college grad we still sit down once every other month or so to play N64 Goldeneye. I couldn't WAIT for this game to be out on Xbox 360 and re-live the glory in high def. So last night I unboxed Goldeneye, ordered pizza, had my friends over and we all anticipated reliving our favorite N64 game with new gameplay and hi def graphics. The game started with no familiar intro or music. The menus we're re-done of course and looked good. Mounting excitement led to our first round of disappointment when multiplayer asked us to 'pick our class.' Huh? Goldeneye is supposed to have multiplayer weapons sets for the whole team, not individual classes! Where are grenade launchers or proximity mines, pistols or power weapons?! Next we noticed that there were no 'game modes' like 'you only live twice' or 'license to kill.' So we thought 'ok, we'll do it manually.' But you can't even handicap your health down to 0 for a license to kill effect. So there's no old school game modes or even a way to re-create them! So okay, no weapons we like and no game modes. But at least there's the characters right? It's GOLDENEYE afterall! SO we each have always played the same character. Odjob, Travelyen, Zenia, and Helicopter Pilot. Of the above, Odjob is the only one still existent. No Travelyan in GOLDENEYE?! How? He's in the movie! And the final multiplayer nail in the coffin was the maps. Only one or two maps were the same. Facility was one of our favorite old ones and was in the new version. So we chose that map and our new character, weapon sets, and game mode (at least the map will be the same, right?). WRONG! The map isn't facility at all. It's a square room with ramps everywhere and two glowing plasma tanks in the center of the room. No thought, no effort, not even close to the Goldeneye story line or the N64 game. Terrible, lame, boring map. So I'm already saying I'm going to sell this game....but wait. There's single player. Maybe that will be better. I switch to single player while my friends watch to see if the game has a saving grace. The game starts with a tutorial level that you can't skip. Boring, lame, and unecessary. Then it progresses into the Dam level. Ok, good, so the level order is at least the same. But then the level starts and you're playing with an AI travelyan. He's guiding you and telling you what to do! What the hell? Thats not how it's supposed to be. The game play continued to deviate from the original and get worse as I played. I'm so disgusted with this game that I feel bad even re-selling it. I've had it open less than 4 hours and I've already got it posted to sell. Shameful to use the Goldeneye franchise name on a featureless first person shooter. Stick to Battlefiled 3 and COD MW3 for your kicks this holiday season. Fail	video-games_xbox
May not be Worth It. I've played COD4 for a grand total of about 16 full days (384 hours) and still appreciate it very much. Like Halo 3, this is primarily a multiplayer FPS with a sidecar campaign that is well-written, choreographed, and voice-acted. All there is to say about the game has been said, however, on the original game's forum, so let's focus on the GOTY Edition's only added feature: the Map Pack. I purchased the map pack the day it dropped and instantly had mixed feelings. Two of the maps, Creek and Killhouse, only tangentially keep with the game's fiction. Creek is vast, set in an undulating eastern European countryside. Due to the map's size, most players equip sniper rifles and just pick others off as they make their way through choke points and hence has gained a reputation as a "camper's paradise", meaning that players tend to just sit and wait, or "camp", rather than rush their opponents. Killhouse, on the other hand, is somewhat like Halo 3's Foundry map in that it is a big generic warehouse within which players navigate generic barriers and structures. It really is supposed to resemble an indoor military training area and can only be accessed online by playing Team Objective games (like Search and Destroy, Sabotage, etc.) or playing private matches with your friends. If you don't appreciate campers in FPS's and would prefer not to play a map that feels "outside" the game's narrative space, you may not enjoy these two maps. Chinatown is in a class of its own, and well outside the game's fiction. It is a remake of an old FPS map and very dark, with convoluted passages through a cluster of themed buildings and various shifts in altitude depending upon which building you're in. In contrast to Creek, this is a map that favors close-quarters weapons like SMGs and Shotguns, but doesn't totally exclude LMGs or Assault Rifles. It stands apart from the game proper due to its theme, and if you like getting down and dirty in an urban setting, you might enjoy this map. Broadcast is a large map lifted almost pixel-for-pixel from the single-player campaign. It is a television station in a city somewhere in eastern Europe, and affords players the opportunity to battle both indoors (various offices, a recording studio, mainframe room) and out (parking lot, roof, small adjacent buildings). Out of the Map Pack maps it boasts the best "flow", meaning that time between scuffles is short and that there is easy, obvious passage between areas and floors. Campers and rushers are both satisfied as the indoor action favors machine guns while snipers may pin down marks from accross the parking lot. All of that being said, I'm a little disappointed that the GOTY version of the game doesn't include any visual or technical enhancements like other GOTYs have (thinking of Morrowind and Oblivion here) and only includes a free set of mostly-mediocre maps that will, after time, be free anyway. Also, it doesn't seem like a sound marketing decision to charge full price for the GOTY Edition when a consumer can purchase the original game (from Amazon) and the maps (from XBL) for $10 less than it costs to buy the GOTY Edition. Questionable...	video-games_xbox
The Force Unleashed - It's just what Star Wars needed. For a while, LucasArts has seemed incapable of truly capturing what it's like to be a Jedi. Even games like Battlefront, which are great in other ways, reduce being a Jedi to mindless button-mashing. The Force Unleashed changes all that - finally, a game was built from the ground-up with the sole focus being on "what it'd be like to be a Jedi." No more of the silly button mashing, of the ineffective force abilities, and the limited, powerless feel that other Star Wars games offer... this is different. The battle system's pretty fantastic. A great action game gives you a ton of options, and gives your enemies a plethora of methods to take you out. That's exactly what TFU offers, utilizing a leveling system to help you along as far as upgrading your character. The force powers and lightsaber attacks that you get all have their specific uses, but the fun is in mixing and matching them in creative ways. There's not much more for me to say - the fighting and action in this game is great. From cannon-fodder storm troopers to opposing jedi/sith, all the enemies in this game are well done and fun to fight, offering a serious challenge on the harder difficulties. There are a few issues I had, though. Levels - I loved the levels, I really did... the first time around. I thought that Raxus Prime and Felucia were really interesting places. That doesn't mean I wanted to revisit them! Usually in situations like these, levels are regurgitated to ease up the design process. However, Felucia and Raxus Prime were completely different places the second time around, so I'm not sure why they didn't just allow us to explore other interesting levels from the star wars universe, like Coruscant or Tatooine. (That was my main issue - the planets in star wars have so much to offer, why limit us?) However, it did fit the story fairly well; to "right your wrongs" and whatnot. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little cheated. Options - This isn't referring to customization. The ability to choose all those different light-sabers and costumes is pretty fantastic. However, this game is advertised (scroll up, you'll see it right there!) as having multiple choices that let you alter the course of the game. The reality is, there's just one choice to make, and it manifests so late in the game that we don't even get to enjoy the ripple-effects that games like Mass Effect include in their options. Jealousy - Unrelated to the quality of ~this~ game, but the fact that the Wii and PSP versions have multi-player makes me a little envious. : P A co-op/vs. mode with the X-box's engine would be fantastic fun, so hopefully we'll see it added in some DLC. While these issues are pretty important to me, none of them take away from the heart of the game - the combat. I've been playing this game constantly since I got it, and it's still as enjoyable and exciting as it was when I first downloaded the demo months ago. My one hope is that this game is an indication of what to expect from LucasArts in the future. This battle system, plus the open-ended story/exploration of KotoR? I can only hope. = D	video-games_xbox
Excellent visuals, a top-notch soundtrack, godawful controls. The sequel to one of the Dreamcast's few honestly meaningful hits, Jet Set Radio Future takes the mechanics, visuals and all around style established by its proud poppa, Jet Grind Radio, ports them over to Microsoft's platform, and ties in a few new bits and pieces in the interest of keeping things fresh. It's been a few years since I played the original, but the impression it left on me was largely a good one, particularly on the graphics and audio fronts. I don't remember it as being an overly difficult game to pick up and learn, and although it wasn't the lengthiest adventure in the world, I'd often find myself slowing my momentum mid-stride so I could breathe in the atmosphere and enjoy my surroundings. It was such a gorgeous melting pot of cultures, one couldn't help but appreciate it in that respect alone. The story of this sequel isn't all that remarkable, but honestly neither was that of the first game. You play as one of the three founding members of the GGs, one of half a dozen rollerblade-adorned street gangs fighting for territorial rights to the whole of Tokyo. The ultimate goal is to fill the streets with your crew's graffiti, slowly assimilating members of the other gangs along the way, until the entire underground knows and respects your crew. It's more than a little reminiscent of the original, where the locations were different but the eventual goal was exactly the same. The two storylines are almost dreamily interconnected, with several returning characters, none of whom seem to have any recollection of the events of the first game or their relationship with the others. One character whose role is bulked up this time around is DJ Professor K, the voice of "Jet Set Radio," an underground pirate radio station which provided the tunes and the news updates in the Dreamcast edition, but never really took much of a role in the actual goings on. In JSRF, the professor moves from a supporting role to something a little more proactive. His broadcasts are much more pointedly directed to the GGs, and are your only real indication of where you should be and what you should be doing at any given time. While neither game in the series has much in the way of an epic storyline, at the very least the actual gameplay experience of the first was enough to keep me coming back for more. No matter how much of the game you'd completed, it was always a blast to play. I wish I could say the same for the sequel, but it seems to have grown both too simple and too complicated for its own good. Something as basic as grinding a rail, for instance, was never much of a problem in the first game. You jumped in the air, and if you happened to be within spitting distance of a grindable object when you landed, your character was automatically bumped over to it and began grinding along. It was simple, yet effective and didn't cause too many headaches at the time. For the sequel, however, the programmers have really bumped up the number of rails in any given map, which makes actually navigating from point A to point B much more of a nightmare. I can't even begin to count the number of times I'd be trying to reach a difficult spot on the map, would jump away from the rail in an attempt to land on said spot, would visibly land on the spot I was aiming for, and would watch my character automatically clamp onto the rail again and sail away into the abyss. After about fifteen minutes, I was screaming for the simple, one button grind functionality that was done to perfection in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, which is funny because it was precisely this kind of problem that led Neversoft to introduce the ability to actually climb off your board and roam freely around the map. JSRF's grinding system is far too simple and mistake-prone for its own good. I think my main problem with the control system is twofold. For one, far too many elements are automated, to the point that I never felt like I was fully in control of my character. Secondly, I felt like JSRF far too accurately represents the physical act of skating, and all of its downfalls and limitations. It's one thing to simulate the sense of speed, balance and adrenaline that I'm sure a great rollerblade pro feels every time he's on wheels, but it's something else entirely to handicap your gamers just for the sake of simulation. If you'll pardon the repeated comparisons, this is a translation that I felt the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series had absolutely nailed down. All of the sensations of actually riding a skateboard are there; speed, control, balance, restraint... but very few of the really bothersome limitations made the leap. When you order your rider to stop moving on an incline, it's understood that you don't want him to move again on his own. JSRF sends you slowly sliding down the hill. There's no such thing as a nuance of control in this game, at least as far as the basic commands are concerned. Jumping, grinding, standing still, moving forward, whatever... they all feel over-analyzed and needlessly nitpicked. Where's the fun in moving at incredible speeds if your character steers like a boat in mud? Now, with all that said, I'm actually a fan of a few aspects of the control scheme and the newly introduced gameplay mechanics. One of the more imaginative additions is the combo system, which works like a sort of hybrid action / sports / music game. You've got the fast pace and loose grip on reality of an action game (like the sky-high jumps in Tony Hawk, there's no way some of Jet Set's tricks are physically possible), the balance and strategy of a good sports game (planning where you'll jump after the rail ends, in the hopes of continuing your combo) and the timing and universal coordination of a great music game (you've got to time your manual tricks while grinding or grabbing air so that they land precisely along with the beat). Fully realized, it's a truly inspiring little addition, although it's such a small part of the big picture that it's likely to go completely overlooked in most people's books. As I'd alluded to earlier, the two areas that needed the least attention were the visuals and the audio, both of which were true shining points of the original, almost single-handedly responsible for its high profile and its accompanying success. On that front, not much has changed. This is still a visually sensational game, and although many of the environments and non-central characters seem blocky and undeveloped for the Xbox platform, the incredible strength of the character designs and art direction make up for it and then some. This is one of the most complete games I've ever seen, graphically. Everything a player could possibly get onto their screen is brilliantly detailed, with dozens of little surprises tucked away to keep the game interesting. The audio is, on the large, a huge success. The tracks are entirely fresh, without a single tune I've ever heard on the radio, and almost exclusively excellent. Occasionally you'll stumble across a song that sticks out like a sore thumb, (one song in particular maddened me to no end... almost start-to-finish middle aged screaming Japanese woman) and that's a problem that the first game certainly didn't have, but such tracks aren't very frequent. I'd have preferred to have a functionality similar to that in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, (to continue the endless comparisons) which allowed gamers to single out tracks they didn't like and eliminate them from the active rotation, but a couple bad songs are really a small price to pay considering the quality of the rest of the soundtrack. Visual and musical choices aside, I was really let down by this game. Sega had such a firm foundation upon which to build an absolutely dynamite sequel, success seemed like a foregone conclusion... but where there's a will, I suppose, there's a way. And, much as it pains me to admit it, Sega's M.O. this generation seems to have been creating software that really isn't up to their old standards. While it's a blast to watch, Jet Set Radio Future just isn't that much fun to play most of the time, thanks to an incredibly shallow, inattentive, under-tested control scheme. The characters are difficult to identify with, since most of their brain waves appear to be flatlined, and the story is difficult to follow and non-motivating. Even if a game looks beautiful and sounds breathtaking, nobody's going to bother with it if the gameplay and controls aren't there. And that's just the case with JSRF.	video-games_xbox
The Greatest RPG Ever. The first review I ever read for this game hailed it as "the greatest rpg of all time". Reading this, I became disgusted at such blatant appraisal of what, more than likely, would be nothing but a mediocre-at-best game with the Star Wars license slapped on the cover. Review after review came on the internet all giving it the same title. I figured this was going to be another highly over-rated game, but I couldn't stop myself from getting it so I could be an avant-garde critic to tell people the "truth" as I thought it would be: that this game [is the worst]. With that plan in my mind, I bought the game. After playing it for about half an hour, I realized my plans had been severely halted and perhaps even pooped-on. This game was amazing already. I continued to play the game as though the game was heroine and I was Courtney Love, I was addicted. My addiction ended up coming to a halt however, not because of rehab or an overdose, but because before I had known it, I had defeated the game. After about 2 weeks of staying up playing this game 'til 6 am, I had defeated it. I then looked back at my original intentions of being a critic in the "intelligent minority" by saying that this game is about as entertaining as Jay Leno without his chin, which is, to say, not very, and I realized that I was nothing but an animal bathing in his own ignorance. It was true: this game is the greatest RPG of all time. This game was absolutely a groundbreaking piece of software. Everything from the way the story is done, to your character development, to the ending is just about perfect. For those of you who know nothing about this game, you should keep in mind that this game changes the plot depending on what actions of morality you decide to take. It's almost like an actual virtual reality. I, being the incredible person I am, decided to turn my character into Satan himself. Did I manage? All too well, friends, all too well. My character ended up being a fully dark-sided(to put it in the game's Star Wars terms) with pale skin, snake blood-shot eyes, and veins popping out from every crevice of his face. All in all, my character was Martha Stewart. Accordingly, my characters name that I had created was "Judas Cain". The entire game changed to suit my evil character and my dark-sided actions. If you hadn't noticed already, this game is completely non-linear. To top it all off, if you don't get this game after reading my review, it's because you have failed at life. To put it lightly, just buy this game. That's all you need to hear.	video-games_xbox
This game doesn't tell you a story, it makes you experience a story (psychologically. Alan Wake is a game you've probably heard of as being an underrated game on the Xbox 360. While I agree it is underrated, I think enough people have talked about it that it's over-hyped and can be a letdown to gamers who aren't prepared for a slow-paced game. Even though it's a slow-paced game, Remedy, did an incredible job telling a story through a video game. This game is a psychological thriller and every fight, every challenge you face is so tense that it feels like you are living the game. Everything you do has you question whether or not Alan Wake will survive. The Story: - It's pretty much a story within a story (Storyception, if you will) as you play as the protagonist, Alan Wake, a famous writer who's having a major writer's block. So you and your wife, Alice go on vacation to a fictional town in Washington called, Bright Falls, where you have rented a cabin. Your wife is afraid of the dark and after having an argument, you are walking around the cabin outside when the lights inside the cabin go out. You run inside as Alice is screaming, she fell into the lake, you dive in to save her... Then you wake up right after a car crash, a week has passed and you are being attacked by darkness. The darkness can only be hurt in the light, so you and your trusty flashlight have to fight until dawn pretty much. I hope you enjoy this third-person shooter thriller game as much as I did. Pros: - This story is definitely the most well written story for a video game, extremely well thought out and extremely immersive. Every detail has a purpose. You feel as if you are Alan Wake - The few times you fight alongside AI/NPCs they actually don't get in the way, rather they help you quite a bit. - One of the funniest side characters in a video game. Barry. - The gameplay is simple yet unique. You have a flashlight, pistol, and maybe flareguns or shotguns (if you're lucky) - You are forced to conserve your items if you want to survive, the game doesn't give you infinite ammo or anything (makes it quite more challenging). - It's just about the right length of a game where you don''t get bored with it. - The achievements aren't all just a part of beating a level, they require some skill. - Not annoying voice acting. - All characters are unique. Cons: - There are quite a few collectibles (however, the manuscripts do provide more depth into the story) - You can't play Nightmare mode (the hardest difficulty), until after you beat the game once. While this does merit replaying the game because you can find all the manuscript pages, I find it would be more fun to do the hardest mode first. Other: - I got 595G on one playthrough on Hard. - There are 2 DLC episodes (if you buy Alan Wake new, it should come with a code for the first DLC episode) which each offer 250G and finish the story. You should buy if: - You are a fan of classical horror (Alfred Hitchcock, maybe even some Stephen King) because your mind makes it more scary than it actually is. That said, this is more of a thriller than a horror story. - You want to play a game that has quite a unique story. - It is under $20, you can probably find it new (in most retail stores) for around that price. - You understand that this is not a fast paced game. You shouldn't buy this if: - You want fast-paced action.	video-games_xbox
The Force Is Strong With This One. In The Force Unleashed, we finally see Lord Vader in his prime. This game bridges the gap between both movie trilogies, and with the blessing and guidance of George Lucas, is an official chapter of the hallowed Star Wars saga. We not only see why Vader is a symbol of the Empire's might, we experience his wrath firsthand. Vader is playable only for the first level, and although our time under the mask is brief, it is a study in Force-powered brutality. Vader is an unstoppable killing machine and his control over the dark side pushes the Force far beyond anything we've seen before. At the conclusion of this level, control is passed from Vader to his secret apprentice, codenamed Starkiller. With Vader as his instructor, Starkiller is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He's agile, amazingly aggressive, and firmly in control of the dark side. Through a beautifully sculpted control scheme that allows the Force to flow smoothly through your fingers, Starkiller is one of the saga's most talented combatants. As the game progresses, his Force powers evolve and give way to an even more impressive move set. Lightsaber and lightning become one, rancors are a minor inconvenience, and star destroyers can be taken down with the wave of a hand. The gameplay is electric and fun, and the plethora of awesome new enemy types will make Star Wars action figure collectors salivate. You know what a royal guard can do, but what about an Imperial incinerator trooper? Fans will also be pleased to hear that this dark tale takes us to new planets and areas of familiar facilities I never thought I would see. All of the levels are loaded with highly destructible structures and sights you'll take a second to marvel at. It's an amazing game, but there are disturbances in this Force-powered experience. Targeting difficulties make some battles troublesome, and blocking inconsistencies lead to some absurd deaths. The game offers a generous helping of checkpoints, so a death won't set you back too far. Still, it's hard to believe that enemies (especially some of the later bosses) can block anything you throw at them, even when you clearly have the jump on them. Some fights, especially on the higher difficulty levels, come down to dumb luck. The story will also leave Star Wars fans puzzled. I won't spoil the plot's twists and turns, but there are some serious leaps in logic that don't add up. The Force Unleashed clings to the classic video game design of book-ending gameplay segments with short cutscenes, which doesn't allow the story to grow in the ways it needs to. I'm not saying the game should feature Metal Gear-length clips, but more content is needed to tell a cohesive tale. Starkiller ends up being an underdeveloped character; you know his mission, and you periodically see his emotions flare, but you never really get an idea of who he is. The Force Unleashed isn't the ultimate Star Wars game -- KOTOR is still king in my book. But, as advertised, it amplifies this mystical power in new ways to delivers exciting gameplay and unforgettable Star Wars moments. It'll leave you wanting more, but take my word for it, it's worth playing just to see Vader Force-throw wookiees.	video-games_xbox
Improved Story, Same Gameplay. This review will look at Resident Evil 6 both as a standalone game and part of a series. For those who aren't familiar with recent Resident Evil games, from RE4 onward the games have played much like an action movie with zombies. Lots of guns, lots of explosives, lots of destruction and set pieces. This game continues that trend with a 3rd person, over-the-shoulder perspective, and a focus on combat. Except in the highest difficulties, expect lots of ammunition to feed your omnipresent firearms. RE6 offers four inter-related campaigns, as well as a few extras that have become inherent to the series. For example, Mercenaries mode has you fighting a ceaseless horde of enemies in order to reach (and improve) a high score, and Collectibles lets you look at documents and action figures you collect during the game. RE6 also offers a new mode called Agent Hunt, which has you playing the invading bad guy(s) an attempting to kill other players. It can be a fun diversion for a while, but it quickly gets repetitive--matchmaking can also require some patience. Agent Hunt aside, the majority of the changes made to RE6 are related to the campaign structure. Instead of one long campaign, players navigate through four campaigns with interwoven stories; in fact, some events in the stories have four or more characters sharing the spotlight. Beating all of the campaigns gives a better, wider picture of the narrative, as well as an appreciation for the clever way the plots and characters are connected. Unfortunately, the gameplay is where many of the problems occur. To begin with, the game requires a large amount of repetition. Guns, collectibles, achievements, and especially skills all require a serious time investment from the player, with some skills requiring players to beat the game several times. Although the skills are obstensibly there to provide a different feel for each person's playstyle, many of the skills are so important as to be necessary. "Firearms" is archetypical in that it improves gun damage--and you'll need help if you want a good completion time or certain achievements. In addition, many encounters, and even a few boss fights use quick time events (QTE) to progress. These can often kill even seasoned players the first time they occur, and feel like unfair ambushes at times, not to mention their distraction from the cutscenes themselves. Likewise, with no map, fighting zombies while attempting to navigate similar looking corridors can be needlessly tricky. In particular, one very notable boss fight in Leon's campaign locks you into a large maze with only the vaguest of hints as to where you should be going, let alone how to get there. There's no pausing the game, and it's hard to stomach dying repeatedly just to build a mental map of the environs. The enemies themselves are forgettable zombie hordes, or variations of that theme. Some are more resilient than others, but there's never much thought needed to best a group of nasties, just aim for the head, and keep shooting 'til they drop. One the interesting tactical nuances of RE4 and RE5 involved shooting different enemies parts. In RE5, for example, you could shoot an enemy's leg to slow them down, or shoot their head to make them stagger. The zombies in RE6 don't seem to be as reactive; sometimes they'll stagger from a bullet wound, but this seems to be more dependent on damage inflicted than anything else. Managing your ammo isn't too difficult, but the inventory system itself is still a bit goofy. Items can be navigated in four different directions, via two different dials: one for weapons, and one for health items. This is fine outside of combat, but in the heat of the moment it's unwieldy. This is compounded by the fact that players have to scroll through inventory items that are empty. If you're trying to use a precious First-aid Spray to save yourself from the brink of death, you'll first have to bring up the menu, scroll through grenades and explosives--even if you're not carrying any--equip the item, and wait for the animation to finish. Get hit during the process, and you're likely dead. The most grievous sin though, is that nothing of substance feels fresh. It's a nice touch to have interlinked stories, but the plot is just as ridiculous as ever, and the dialogue hasn't improved much either. The graphics are good, but not eye-catching, and the combat feels staid. It's hard to get excited about your 1,000th zombie and shotgun A feels pretty reminiscent of shotgun B. If you've never played a Resident Evil game before, the non-stop shootouts and wacky characters may justify a purchase, but for someone who's familiar with S.T.A.R.S. and the BSAA, it all feels a little too familiar.	video-games_xbox
Worst AC Ever. The tutorials are the worst, which wouldn't be so bad, except the action buttons aren't labeled anymore. "Use your LINE OF SIGHT ability.." and then it won't tell you what to do until you fail. I wish I could actually review the multiplayer, but alas, the much-touted and highly anticipated LOCAL MULTIPLAYER doesn't work unless you have an online connection.....wait a minute, isn't that supposed to be the point of LOCAL multiplayer? So no connection, no multiplayer fun. The single player mode has managed to suck the fun out of things as well. The English character you have to play in the beginning is bland, unlikable, and full of crappy dialogue. The fight system has been neutered. You stab someone in the face and he gets up for more...not the effective assassination I'm used to. The game itself is buggy: floating rifles hanging vertically in the air where soldiers had once stood, freezing, horses not making any sounds at all when you're riding them (no horse sounds at all). The minimap is worthless, with colors that are too similar to distinguish between buildings and streets. The map itself is frustrating for the same reason. I would play further to get to the Native American character because it seems like it would be less painful, but it's too frustrating even playing that far. I'm used to the clean, effective fighting of AC Brotherhood etc. One last thing about gameplay: Fleeing is now a long, arduous process. Maybe it comes further into game, but the safe hiding places no longer show up on the map when you're being pursued. Also, the fleeing radius seems to have grown to gargantuan proportions. One improvement: climbing speed seems to have increased slightly. Just an aside, Amazon sent me a copy that didn't work at all at first, used the wrong shipping (supposed to be 2-day, send ground...five days later, I got my game that didn't work). I will be returning this game for something that doesn't pretend to be a great game in my favorite gaming franchise. Shame Ubisoft....shame.... Save your money and buy Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood; both are much better games in story, characters, missions, and fun.	video-games_xbox
The lockups are not the major problem. I have a fairly extensive library of Xbox 360 games including all the LEGO games (except LEGO Rock Band). These games include the more popular titles including Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty, Bioshock, etc, but my collection also includes a fair amount of what some people call childrens game or party games such as Viva Pinata Party Animals. I don't obsess over achievements in my games as long as I can enjoy them and finish them (not for points, just the campaigns/missions). As a matter of fact, my only games to 1000G comletion are Fusion Frenzy and Disney-Up (many other games in the 500-900 gamerscore range). The only reason to provide this background is to show that I am fairly open-minded when it comes to playing games and getting enjoyment out of it. Having said all that, I can safely say this is about the worst game I have ever played in my 30+ years of gaming and of my 150+ Xbox 360 retail and arcade games. I'll put aside the lockups for now since that has been covered by other reviewers. My main problem with this game is the difficulty and poor design. I have used YouTube, online walkthroughs and I even have the Prima official guide and yet there are still many areas of the game I can't open, can't access, can't finish, etc. I was making a mental list of all the areas I had problems with so I could call out specifics in my review but the list got too big! One example that comes to mind is Kingdom of the Crystal Skull III. I was able to access the temple through story mode since it was a linear path but for the life of me, I can't get back to the temple to complete the missions/events Treasure Trail and Tie-Up High Up. It should not be this hard. Once you get into the missions, they are pretty easy (especially with a guide and cheats enabled) but to spend literally hours finding places is just not reasonable. Another issue I have is the requirements to start a mission. This is not the same as the requirements to play a mission as that part is automatic. For example, let's say you have a guy with a sword unlocked but you are not in control of him. To start mission "x", you have to cut something with the sword. Where is he? Just roaming around the map somewhere.....could take a very long time just to find him in these new hubs. Because of issues similar to this, I am unable to complete the Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull III hubs. For those who have played the game, yes....I have checked where I unlocked the character I need. Another issue is some of the levels. In particular, the balloon popping missions. Who designed these? Forest Forage is particularly brutal. Finally, there are the achievements. As mentioned above, I don't need to get 100% or 1000 G to enjoy a game but I DO like obtaining achievements for myself. What this game does is link a lot of achievements together. For example, if I am missing one mission out of sixty-six, I would miss 25 G for the bonus level, 75 G for all the artifacts, 100 G for completing to 100% and depending on the level, anywhere from 10-40 more points for missing something i.e. a vehicle. That to me is a pretty big penalty for missing 1 of 66 missions. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the game so far and will continue to play for a short while longer - because parts of it are still fun. However, when I review a product, I think comparison to previously existing product is important and in that respect, this game fails miserably.	video-games_xbox
Halo; a milestone in gaming. Looking back in time, at the history of games, console or computer, there really are very few true milestones. First person shooters are definitely one of those milestone. In the beginning there was Wolfenstein. For some reasons going through hallway after hallway, killing as many Nazi's as you can, was very satisfying and very enjoyable. Next came Doom. Developed by the same people who brought us Wolfenstein, was another milestone having taken the FPS to the next level and set the standard for gaming still used today. And for a long time, there was nothing really. Sure lots of companies jumped on the bandwagon and sudden the market became oversaturated with endless FPSers. But ultimately, it was just more of the same but only better graphics and different monsters to shoot at; nothing really ground breaking or even worth mentioning. And suddenly there's a game called Halo. But what is it about Halo that makes it so special? Why do people say its the greatest game ever made? Battling space aliens behind a set of crosshairs in order to save the planet Earth is nothing new, not even close. In fact, you might even call the plot of the game a cliche. But in Halo, this scenario seems fresh. Its as if you've never saved the planet Earth before. But why? In Halo there really is a sense of danger, a sense of urgency, which is very absent from so many games today. You became totally immersed in the story through excellent movies, graphics, voice acting, and realism, all of which are way above par and all too often are overlooked by game developers. Another element of the game that really adds to the whole experience of Halo is the music. Not since Myst have I heard such exceptional music composition with a bold blend of both rock and dramatic symphony. Its almost as if you can feel the weight of it. Microsoft really went the extra mile by giving us the best of all the ingredients essential to quality game play and I think it all adds up and sucks us only deeper into the game and story. To the best of my knowledge there are no cheat codes to this game, and that really makes a difference, a positive one. I can't count the amount of FPS's I've bought and played for a few days and then gotten the cheat codes to "temporarily" help me in a tight spot. But ultimitely, I ended up using them through out the whole game, and when I beat it, it just wasn't satisfying. Instead of feeling like I had won a game it felt like I had just wasted three weeks of my life. But in Halo, you must do it alone. There are no codes to lean on. You and you alone must defeat evil, which really highlights the sense of danger I spoke of earlier. And when its all over you can say "I did it, me." There are very few games that were as satisfying to beat as Halo, and most of those games were made several years ago. You are only allowed to carry two weapons in the game. I always wondered how anyone could carry a pistol, a shotgun, a double barrle shotgun, a mini-gun, a rocket launcher, a plasma rifle, etc. and all the ammo for these weapons. Finally Halo puts a realistic spin on a hero's carrying capicity and also encourages players to use munitions wisely as it's a limited resource much like in a real battlefield. The recharging shield is a nice touch because it makes sense and your shields don't become a distraction, in other words you don't have to stop advancement in the gameplay to go search for shield points. Just take cover for a few seconds and you'll be ready. I must admit, I didn't think much of Halo when I first played it on that first level. But once you actually land on the planet Halo, it clicks. I was so blown away by the graphics, instead of ducking for cover, I wanted to explore the gorgeuos terrain and interesting layout of the planet. Looking up in the sky to see the ring rising off in the distance with the dark blue sky full of bright stars still impresses me to no end. The graphics are like nothing I've seen before. Halo was two years in the making and it shows. Is Halo the greatest game ever? Maybe, maybe not. If its no the greatest, its one of the greatest for sure. I could go on with my points but I am running out of space and I have nothing but postive words to type. There are absolutely no flaws to reduce its much earned rating of five stars to four or lower. Will Halo 2 be another milestone? I don't think so. Make no mistake, Halo 2 looks very promising and will only improve and refine alot of the aspects of the first Halo. But I suspect it won't have as much impact as the first one had or break as much ground. For Microsoft, this is a very encouraging building block in the ever going console wars. That first crucial step has been made magnificently for the Xbox with probably the best lauch game ever. Provided the developers of the first one are conscious of what makes the first Halo so unique and so exceptional, things can only get better.	video-games_xbox
one of the best games ever made. i actually rented fallout 3 (the regular version) from gamefly. i didn't know what to expect when i got it. i read all the reviews and the game got a 9 out of 10 on some websites, and some peeps left reviews saying how good the game is, but I still wasn't to sure weather i'd like it or not. especially since its an rpg type game and i don't like those kind of games. when i finally got the game in the mail, i popped it in my 360 and started it. when i saw how you can pick your sex, race and facial features as well as give your character a name, i said okay, thats pretty good. as i played the game however, i found it difficult to figure out what to do. i went online to see if i can print out a walkthrough but the ones i seen had a lot of info and i didn't feel like wasting a lot of ink and paper, so i decided to buy the walkthrough from gamestop. its almost 30 bucks but i paid about 7 bucks for it since i had some old games i don't play no more and traded them in. i got home thinking the stragety guide would help but I still couldn't get it. im not really into rpg type games but i decided to give this one a try. the stragety guide i bought has over 700 pages (its the game of the year edition). i went back online and found a stragety guide that i printed out. it was easy to understand and had about 80 pages for me to print out. after that i was able to understand this game and i gotta say its the best game i have ever played. im not even half way through the game and i had it over a week. this game is so huge and has so much to do i probably won't finish until january of 2010. i don't play the game that long neither. about 4 or 5 hours which is why its taking so long but i do enjoy it. im definitely gonna buy this game. i highly recommend this game. its not quite rpg based on the combat. its more action like to me. the graphics is excellent and the guns is really cool to. i love how they made d.c. look like it was actually hit with an atomic bomb. and i also love how you can go between first and third person views. great game.	video-games_xbox
Very well built stick. Iv never had a Arcade stick before this one. Iv also never really got to play that much in arcades that much due to none of them being around where I live. I must say though this is a extremely well built arcade stick and it being made by Madcatz shocked me on the fact they are known to make very poorly made 3rd party gaming gear. I can tell this is were Capcom jumped. Over all the stick has a very good weight to it, its pretty heavy but not to the point of almost breaking your legs while its in your lap. It comes stock with a square gate and all the buttons and the stick are real Sanwa parts. The stick is alittle on the soft side from what I have been hearing but its pretty good (if you want you can buy a new spring from Lizard Licks and just add it in to make it much more stiff) Its very responsive aswell. The buttons are extremely responsive no lag in between button press and attack. They are have a soft touch to them, not stiff like arcades from what I hear. Both the stick and buttons have a very nice feel to them though and pulling off moves was so much easier then doing it on a 360 pad. I personaly switched the square gate out for a Octagonal gate. I bought this for my arcade games on my computer aswell as SF4 on PC (SA8TER21 if anyone wants to add me). It is plug and play but I did have some problems with it and compatibility. CPS2 and 3 would not recognize it as well as some Mame versions and FBAlpha. With alittle of hunting around and a driver download I could get it to recognize with FBAlpha so playing SF3rd Strike was solved. For Mame I just use MameUI32 0.135 and it works great. It works with SNES, Genesis, NES, etc emulators aswell. So yeah if you have problems with the 360 version of this stick just google some drivers for the 360 pad and the arcade stick. Its a great stick and doesn't need any modification so if your looking for a solid arcade stick the Madcatz TE is right for you.	video-games_xbox
A new review on an old game. I came across this by chance at a local retailer recently. Just by the cover art I knew the graphics were out dated and didn't much expectations for it. I am pleasantly surprised at how much fun it is! The Controls are very similar to COD. One exception would be that you have to press down on the D-pad to crouch. Aiming, shooting, running, knife, Nade are the same so not much of a learning curve (for me anyway). The Graphics are, not bad really. It is over 3 years old (Nov. 2007 release) so I'm holding it to lower standards, but I'd say they are in par, if not better than RSV1 which was released the same year. The maps I've played; an urban area, Jungle and and some worn-torn place looked good. Sure you can scrutinize how good a leaf looks up close, but for the most part they are interesting. Just expect 3-4 year old graphics. The Guns look good and feel good and sound satisfying. You get to choose from two primaries and a secondary. Say, an assault rifle or two or an SMG or shotty or explosive, any combo plus a pistol. The ones I've used have been fun. Unfortunately you only seem to get one shot at your set up per level and good luck finding the same gun amongst your foes. Like others have said, there are AK47's abound so there's a very good chance you will have to end up using an AK to finish out a level. The Gameplay is, as others have said, straight forward and one of the things I enjoy about the game. FPS generally don't have great story plots and this is no exception. Which is fine by me. Kill some baddies. Get through an area. Defeat a boss. Repeat. The enemy AI can be dumb at times. They're referred to as elites, but really, they're so not. They will almost always give away their position. They are fun to kill though and what gory kills they make. You can literally shoot their heads off. The Multiplayer portion at this point of the game's life might be dead. Although I only searched once so far, I found just one lonely soul in a room. I left the lobby looking for another game and not one came up. That's a shame since a lot of the achievements are multiplayer based and a bunch others are based on playing on the hardest difficulty level. Im debating starting a new game on this level since I'm not too deep into the game yet. I've been playing on "Normal" difficulty so far. The game overall is a lot of fun. The objectives so far have been clear. The maps, being linear, are easy to navigate. While I'm not at all a fan of "boss fights" so far they have not been over the top difficult. In fact, I beat the first one with mostly a pistol (till I used up my ammo). If you enjoy your FPS I would recommend you pick this up, preferably used. I and at least one other guy could really use the company in multiplayer!	video-games_xbox
4.5/5. This game almost didn't see the light of day. Sleeping Dogs was originally developed as True Crime: Hong Kong by Activision. However, as yet another poor decision by Activision, they cancelled the game. Square Enix managed to see the concept and prototype of the game and bought the rights to the game, but not the True Crime franchise, which resulted in the name change. That's enough of the history of the game, now to what you guys care about the gaming. Story: Those familiar with the True Crime series probably have a good idea what the storyline's basic idea is. The basic idea is that you play as Wei Shen, who just so happens to be an undercover cop. Your primary objective is to infiltrate the Sun On Yee which is the major controller of the triads in Hong Kong. That's really as much as I can say without giving away spoilers, the game has a fair amount of twists (both expected and unexpected). Gameplay: What happens when the GTA series, Mirror's Edge, and the Batman Arkham series has a love child? The result is Sleeping Dogs. This game is a twisted blend of some of the leading franchises and game styles from not as big games. The game sports the traditional open world, kill anything, and steal any car game play style that made the Grand Theft Auto series, but this game is not simply a clone. The game features free running, and although some have compared it to the Assassin's Creed franchise (no comparison), the game style has really more of a Mirror's Edge feel to it. Many times instead of taking the straight chase that guy route most games take, you'll find yourself needing to jump over obstacles, dive through windows, and climb almost sheer walls just to keep up. Wait how is this anything like the Batman games, Squirrely? Well I'm glad you asked. Instead of the normal shoot everything with huge guns game style (although that is definitely in play here too), the game features a martial arts fighting style that the player must adapt to very quickly. The game features a counter system that will make or break most fights. The player has to learn quickly that since the game is set in Hong Kong, there aren't guns to be found in every box, corner, or (now) dead hooker. Controls: The game's controls are pretty great actually. The martial arts gameplay focuses on pretty simple button combos, and there were only a few times I found myself yelling at Wei to just "HIT THAT GUY NOT THE OTHER ONE." The driving controls take just a little getting used to, but are much improved from the GTA series. The only real problem I had with the driving controls is that you aren't considered to be "driving" unless you have the accelerator button mashed. Graphics: The graphics aren't spectacular, and there were more than a few times I looked at the characters faces and laughed. However, for an open world game the graphics are pretty on par with what is currently out there. Cons: There are still bugs that need to be fixed asap. There was one instance in particular that it seemed an anti-gravity bubble surrounded me, making anything near me begin to float away. This sounds cool at first, until you're flying down the highway on a motorcycle which suddenly has no wheels because they decided to float away. There are aspects that other games got right that are missing from this game. It's a bit of a pain to have to buy cars to store them in your garage. I found myself cursing the game several times over 400,000 dollar cars that I could easily steal from certain parts of the city, but could not put into my parking structure. The facial design is really bad. At times people look constantly constipated, and at others they have a sheen over their faces as if they are made of porcelain. Overall: 8.5/10 The gameplay of the game makes up for the shortcomings. I ran through and completed about 50% of the entirety of the game in about 16 hours. If you were to do all of the side missions and collections, this could easily be a 30 hour game.	video-games_xbox
easily picked up by anyone who's played the first game. "Dead Rising 2" offers more zombie-killing goodness, and is easily picked up by anyone who's played the first game. The game is largely improved, but these improvements have found strange ways of affecting the game as a whole. Like it's predecessor, "Dead Rising 2" has a fairly simple premise: You play as an average character trapped in a mall for 72 hours. Your mission is to fight zombies, rescue survivors, and uncover the plot behind the outbreak. In DR1, you were playing as photographer Frank West. In DR2, the player takes the role of Chuck Greene, a motocross superstar trying to pay for his daughter's anti-Zombie medication. The location is changed from a large shopping mall to "Fortune City", a Vegas-like strip full of casinos, movie theaters, and restaurants, but the basic gameplay is the same: use whatever you can to defeat zombies and save your fellow humans. One of the main differences between DR1 and DR2 is the character's "special ability". In DR1, you played as a photographer, so the player could take pictures to earn experience points. In DR2, you play as a character with a mechanical background, so your special ability is to combine things to form new weapons. Dead Rising had a lot of improvised weapons (basically anything you found in the mall could be picked up and used as a weapon, from park benches to trash cans to handfuls of jewelry), but in DR2 these items can be combined. Some of them are simple (baseball bat + nails = baseball bat with nails in it), some of them are peculiar (jewelry + leaf blower = shotgun-like gem launcher), and some of them are outright insane (it's possible to make a fully-functional lightsaber). Another change from Dead Rising 1 is that the game feels a lot easier overall. The zombies present more of an obstacle, but survivors are much smarter (compared to DR1's survivors, who had to be led around every step of the way) and solving the main plot is pretty hard to mess up. One feature of the Dead Rising games is the fact that you can restart the game with your earned experience. In DR1 this was necessary because it was difficult to beat the game on your first try, because of how much time it took to rescue survivors. In DR2, it's pretty easy to beat it on the first or second try, which sort of cut down on replay value. Dead Rising 2 is full of little changes that make the game a lot more convenient - better AI, easier missions, the radio is less annoying, and so on. The funny thing about this is that while these are all good changes, they almost make the game "too" easy. It's not a bad thing, just a notable change. The graphics are pretty good. There's a wide variety of environments, from shopping areas to different theme casinos, and basically it feels like a place where people would really work and shop (for the most part). This helps drive home the nature of the zombie apocalypse scenario. In competing zombie franchise "Left 4 Dead", many of the environments seemed deliberately made, rather than depicting "actual locations". Dead Rising 2 does a better job at seeming like a real place overrun by zombies. Overall, Dead Rising 2 was a lot of fun to go through. Veterans of the first game may find a lot of stuff familiar (things like which foods restore the most health and so on), but the new combination system will give even the most invested DR1 players something new to experiment with. Those new to the series will be able to spend a few hours trying out different weapons, items, and foods to see what works best for them, as well as exploring the whole of Fortune City. Dead Rising 2 is a game with a lot of meat to it, and is both fun and content-rich. Rating: 9/10.	video-games_xbox
THis would be an excellent MMA game if it wasn't so difficult. This would be a great MMA game if it were not so difficult. I usually dominate in most fighting games. Dont get me wrong, the graphics are awesome and the fights are very realistic, a little to realistic!!!. My main problem with this game is that the controls are way to diff. You can hardly win a match on experienced, because the game is just gona grapple you to the ground, get in full mount position, then pumble you until you are K.O. Another thing is that when you play the computer they cheat like never before, I've been in MMA for quite some time and let me tell you, if you get kick in the head by a master kicker something is gona break weather you block or not. Just ask Shamrock, kung lee kicked him in the arm and it broke. So some aspects of the game are very unrealistic especially when playing against the computer, but as a overall its an ok game if you can deal with serious cheating. I don't know but it seems like when they made this game they made it so that you can barley reverse anything that they computer does to you, and that sucks big time, because you're just gonna keep losing matches especially with the way that they cheat when it comes to grappling (I can't stress that enough, trust me) This is this how a match usually goes on on the experienced and up levels. You start you go in doing your thing (Punching, kicked, clenching, or judo throws....ect. you get a couple of strikes off. The computer blocks most of you strikes, then grapples you to the ground. You may get out of a couple of submission that they try, but then after a while you're gona either get K.O. or they will make you tap. you try to reverse or twist out as much as you want, but you're gona tapping trust me. So the game gets pretty boring and meaningless after a while......that my take on it, I'll probably trade it in for some thing better.......If anyone has any advice on how to get pass some this thing I previously discussed please fill me in........shalom	video-games_xbox
If this is in your price range, look no further. I'll let you know first off, before I bought these pair of headphones I did my fair share of research. I can NOT buy a expensive product in a competitive market without making sure I'm making a educated purchase. With that said this was everything I wanted and more. To start off I'm going to list the CONS I see in this product, because if this turns you off from the product than feel free to look no further as I hope to have help you make a better decision CONS: -The headsets actual headphones are not on a swivel in the inside. What I mean is that how many pair of over the ear headphones adjust to the size of the head when placed over the ears. These do not. For me it's not a problem, my head is a normal size I would say and I haven't noticed a problem with it. (But for the price the lack of that might bother someone.) -The leather/pleather makes a small noise when you flex your head/ears. It's like its the cracking of the new material. I suspect once extended use comes into play this will go away. Just a small irritant though, and once your playing sound you can't even hear it. Now onto all its goods! As you can see my cons are merely small irritants that really should deter the buyer if you can understand no product is perfect. But overall I truly believe this is the best purchase I have ever made. I'm a music lover of sorts, I love high quality audio, and hearing things you couldn't normally hear with normal headphones. These 5.1 surround sound headphones do the trick and far more. I used to own Dr. Dre Studio Headphones before this (more flair than, quality) but overall a pretty solid purchase. They offered rich bass, and okay treble and other aspects of music. But these headphones destroy those in any aspect. With the three different EQ's large ear cups, you will be using these headphones for more than just your games to hear which direction your enemy is coming from. Due to it's wireless nature, I watch movies, listen to music, and play games with these. I don't disturb anyone at night, and I get ALL of the sound I want. I can't stress how much I love the quality of sound with the lack of wires. My next point is the wireless portion of this device. When I was doing my research for a headset I came across the common situation that a wireless headset will cause interference with other wireless products in it's range. In short that means you would hear the buzzing sound when no sound was coming through the headphones because it was sharing the same frequency. (This is only in the 5.1 headset) But it's wireless station submits its frequency on a 5.8 Ghz band which is not nearly as common as the 2.4 GHz that is likely what your router uses. I can confirm I've had zero problem with interference because my headset sits directly next to my 360 which is wireless. Also the router/modem for my house is 3 feet away from it as well. I have yet to have ANY problem with interference and I don't imagine I ever will. Finally is the base station itself. I love to keep products I spend a lot of money on in great condition. Why spend your hard earned dollars on something you don't wish to take care of? Anyways the wireless base station acts as a charging dock AND place to store your headphones when not in use. This feature was honestly what sold me. The stable station is sturdy and provide a great flair to my room as well as a place to neatly store my headphones when not in use. Also the wireless headset is predicted to last for 8 hours without charge, I personally have not had a problem with charing and play use. Oh and these headphones are comfy for those long sessions of gaming that we all do. In the end, the microphone quality (which I didn't touch much on, but it's great too.) the headset style, and quirks are great. It's a sleek looking headset but it doesn't sacrafice quality for style. Both in present and great. These headphones function as so much more than just a wireless headset for me. I use these for all my media needs. And I leave you with this, it plays your music through your iPod without needing your 360 or anything else running. Fantastic!	video-games_xbox

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