text stringlengths 503 33.4k | labels stringclasses 23
values |
|---|---|
What a true gamer has been waiting for !! This is the Xbox 360's MUST HAVE . deep inside we WERE all scared it wouldn't match Halo 2....
got home, put this game on yesterday and BOOOOOOOOM !!!
Hi Definition heaven !!!!
I was taken away to a world like I've never seen !
Right away , I'm broken out of prison.
i get the feel of the controller and character ..PERFECT!
I feel just right.heavy cause i'm a HUGE guy.
move with analog, D-pad is to select weapon.
R is shoot - for guns, explosives whatever.
the smaller R is the reload button and -better yet Active reload !!
(stronger bullets if I reload right!)
and the A button does it all ! stick to walls roll, dodge, duck, cover !
AMAZING ! and what's B?... chainsaw? WHOA !
NOw do I take a back street and sneak or fight?
Fight of course!!!
What The ! My whole room is rocked by some kind of earthquake!
these creatures come at me! I aim in with the L trigger...
"brap-brap-brap x 50 !
I swear i just put 50 rounds in this beast and he's still coming at me!
and he's dodging and ducking behind cover!
he's too close !
guess it's chainsaw time !
WWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......zzkchkchkchkkchckRKCHHHHHHHHHKKKKKAK SPLatter!
There is alien goo and blood all over my screen !
OMG this game is perfect! and i'm in the first level!
this game is what the Xbox 360 needed !
It's like Halo, Contra & Resident Evil !!! - some of the best games ever COMBINED ! yes it's that fun !
The environments are just beautiful! The music is what an intense game like this demands! and the sounds are POWERFUL!!
I heard an alien howl yesterday and I was scared out of my mind!
what was it?!!! where is it? it sounded HUGE !
and this game on CO-OP is even more fun !!
and on Xbox Live is so fun !
there is nothing more fun than frying someone via satellite gun!! HAHA
Thank You Microsoft and Gears of War team !
I love Burnout Revenge and Perfect Dark ! and this is a perfect addition
to my collection ! Can't wait to beat this game in Hardcore then Insane !!
order it from amazon NOW ! | video-games_xbox |
A Technical Masterpiece. The amazing thing about Grand Theft Auto V for Xbox One is that it should fall apart under the weight of its lofty ambitions, and yet it surpasses everything that could be expected of a video game. In theory, an appropriately balanced plot based on three distinct characters, a perfect combination of cinematography and the playable game, and an endless amount of interesting things to do in an open world is a lot to expect of even one of the most critically accomplished developers of all time. Yet Rockstar (the developer) seems to pull it off with little effort. Grand Theft Auto V is a breathtaking achievement an amazing combination of cinematics, graphics, characterization, plot, gameplay, score, and simply pure fun that is without-a-doubt worthy of any gamers time.
The heart of Grand Theft Auto V starts with its three main characters, Trevor, Michael, and Franklin, their internal struggles, and how their collective tragedy begins to unfold. Having led many bank robberies years before the game begins, Michaels family life is beginning to fall apart even though he escaped his bank robbing past; his obsessions with money and his uncaring attitude for his family begin to drive his family further and further away. Having grown up in the suburbs of Los Santos, Franklin is involved in many gang conflicts in his neighborhood and hopes to move away from the poverty that he is stuck in. And having been abused as a child and sent to fight in the Vietnam War, Trevor is a crazy and over-the-top violent character with a lust for both destruction and money. What makes these totally extreme characters relatable and likable, though, is the superb writing and acting of each one; it is apparent that Rockstar spent a significant amount of time intimately crafting these characters. And as the story plays out, each character begins to face his own demise which drives the story along as the plots get bigger and bigger.
But the three characters serve as much more than just the focus of the story arch; the idea of three characters has especially important implications for the gameplay, and using three characters gives Rockstar the opportunity to transform many missions that might have been boring into something special by switching the player perspective to the different characters. For instance, the first heist, a multipart mission that has the player preparing beforehand to rob high security installations such as a banks, jewelry stores, or military bases, begins with Trevor flying a helicopter to the top of a skyscraper before suddenly switching to Michaels perspective and having him rappel down the skyscraper while hooked to Trevors helicopter. As Michael reaches the floor with the hostage that the team is trying to extract, the perspective switches to Franklin who is in an adjacent building with a sniper rifle. When Michael gives the order, Franklin begins to clear the floor taking out all of the guards before Michael breaks through the window, extracts the hostage, and Trevor flies away with Michael and the hostage in tow. Using the three characters perspectives, a mission that could have simply been a dull rescue-the-hostage situation is transformed into a dynamic and unique experience, and this mechanic continues to show up as the games progresses, giving new life to say a bank robbery or a helicopter chase.
Graphically, cinematographically, and musically, the game delivers on many different fronts to make the experience even more immersing. To say that Grand Theft Auto V looks good would be a gross understatement. There is an insane amount of detail to just about everything in the world of Los Santos including face textures, the insides of cars, buildings, and random pedestrians. This meticulous attention to detail makes driving through the city, the suburbs, or the outskirts an absolute blast as the skyscrapers will come into view, big factories will race by, and the beautiful gleam from the sunset illuminates the payment and water. And all of these aspects are enhanced by long draw distances and a powerful color palette that becomes appropriately more grey in the suburbs. The score, which mainly consists of dozens of radio stations that play everything from trucker songs to rap to pop to latino to jazz, includes both popular, indie and old songs that can make a long car drive exciting. Most important, though, is how the game bridges the gap between cinematography and the actual playable world. While some games decide to make the cutscenes animation significantly better than how the real game actually looks, Grand Theft Auto V instead opts for the same engine to run both the cinematics and the real world. This allows for some spectacular transitions between cutscenes and gameplay that fits perfectly into the game. For instance, one cutscene with Franklin has a drug deal going horribly wrong before allowing the player control of Franklin as he slides into cover with the rival gangs bullets whirling just above his head.
One element of the game that is especially worthy of note is the bitting satire that is around every corner of Grand Theft Auto Vs world; nothing is safe from the caustic satire of the developers. Whether it be the legalization of marijuana, Republics, Democrats, gun laws, materialism in pop culture, fracturing family structures, violence, governmental corruption, or just about any other modern day issue, Grand Theft Auto V makes a point to ridicule it. For instance, on an in-game news radio station, an advertisement plays featuring a fake politician advocating for mandatory concealed carry which he argues will decrease violence because Guns prevent violence. On another occasion, Michael meets a man trying to legalize marijuana because he claims it will be for the greater good, yet it is obvious that all the man wants to do is make an exorbitant amount of money off his buyers without being arrested.
Now, it must be noted that Grand Theft Auto V is an extremely violent game, and though it does push the boundaries of what a game can be, it also pushes the boundaries of what should be allowed in a video game and raises questions of whether such extreme themes have any real purpose. Is it really appropriate to take the satire so far? One scene in particular where the player is forced to torture an Arabic man, who seems to be innocent, is particularly haunting as the player is forced to use a variety of objects in order to get information from the man. The problem inherent in this scene is that in their attempt to satirize the United Statess torturing policies, Rockstar perhaps goes too far in forcing the player to enact such personal violence on another character. In the same way, the almost meaningless assassinations and strip clubs say less about American culture and more about what Rockstar meaninglessly wanted to include in the game.
Overall, though, Grand Theft Auto V is a visual and structural masterpiece. While it arguably goes over the top in some respects, it presents both an interesting satire on American culture and an amazing do-whatever-you-want sandbox to inhabit. Exploring the quest of three characters, Grand Theft Auto V introduces mechanics that take the old a fetch quest, a kill-x-amount-of- things quests and turns them into bombastic, pure fun. Even if you haven't imagined racing across the top of train on a motorbike, jumping onto a boat on a trailer in a high speed highway chase, or shooting helicopters from the sky as they pursue your helicopter, or even if you have, Grand Theft Auto V is absolutely worth investing in. | video-games_xbox |
Very Poorly Made Campaign and No Split Screen. I got the game as a free code from a friend because I refused to spend money on this game when I found out it wasn't going to have split screen. My friend actually had to convince me to take the code. Split screen is almost as much Halo as the Master Chief and Cortana but they took it out. I was looking forward to playing through the campaign with my brother when he comes into town but we can't. I know, I know, he could buy an xbox one and a copy of the game. Then we could sit at our own houses 250 miles from each other and play together, but separate. Except my brother doesn't really play games. And he has way more important things to waste his money on then buying a whole console just to play this one game.
As far as gameplay, it is pretty solid. I could go with a bit less of a Call of Duty feel and more of the original Halo feel, but it still can be somewhat fun.
That aside, and probably on par with the disappointment I feel about the lack of split screen, is the campaign. I am about halfway through the campaign and it is disappointing. The story is very lackluster. But the saddest part for me is that all of the most epic, amazing moments of the campaign so far play out in cutscenes. I bought a game not a movie. When a game has an action cutscene, then lets you play for a few minutes while you simply walk from one room to another, then goes into another action cutscene, I kind of wonder why the developers even made a game in the first place. These guys have obviously lost their touch. I'm fine with cool cutscenes, but also let me get into the battle at some point. The previous games up to Reach did a good job of balancing this. About 5 missions in and I don't feel like they have done a good job at it. Not to mention the action in the cutscenes isn't even that good. It seems to drag on way too long, making it painfully obvious that the player is not in control, even during the fun parts.
Overall they have really missed the pacing, what makes a good story in a game, and when to use cutscenes and when not to. I don't know if its because the devs took the easy way out and wanted to avoid letting you play in some crazy action moments because it would have made their jobs more complicated, or if they just don't trust the player. Either way, I don't want to support a game that can't accomplish that. Sorry Halo, but I hold strongly in what I thought since beating Halo 4: they should never have continued the Master Chief's story after Halo 3. Make other games within the universe and that is fine, but let the Master Chief go his own way. | video-games_xbox |
So Nice, I Played it Twice. This is a Game of the Year Edition for a reason. The world after the apocalypse is lonely and hard. Love playing a game that makes me work for the goals. Desolate and haunting, it's a contrast to Fallout: New Vegas (which was notably created by different people and has a different "feel" altogether). The epitome of a Western RPG, you get to play the character the way you want. Like to leave the world better than it was than you came into it? You can do that. Rather play as the scum of the earth type? Go ahead. Or maybe you're more of the middle-of-the-road sort, doing what you can when you can while trying to save yourself.
For Bethesda, the story is pretty darn good. Video game writing in general has improved massively over the past decade, so the achievements here are mind-blowing to me. Growing up playing stuff like Mortal Kombat and Super Mario before 3D graphics, I didn't think stuff like this would ever be anything but a pipe dream. No, the story-telling isn't Oscar material, but put it in context (video games are a fairly new medium, after all), and Fallout 3 is a pretty darn big deal. If you're a gamer of a certain age, you might remember how crazy JRPGs like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger were at the time they came out -- so it's cool to see WRPGs make a real effort of their own
Didn't run into many glitches in my play throughs, but this game has been out for yonks, so most of them are patched at this point. It took me over a hundred hours to reach the finish both times, and I still haven't reached "full completion", so there is loads of content to explore. The graphics are what they are for the time the game was published (although character models do suffer a bit from "Bethesda face", it's not as horrifying as Oblivion was).
I'd recommend finishing up the DLC before completing the main storyline. The world felt a little emptier after I finished the main quest (for reasons I won't spoil here), so it's best to get everything else done before the big story folds up. | video-games_xbox |
One of the worst games ever made. A friend of mine talked me into pre-ordering this game because it was multiplayer and he had played Demon Souls and figured we could manipulate the game so we could play together. He was wrong.
If you're considering buying this game for the "multiplayer experience", don't. you CAN'T play with friends, you CAN'T voice chat with anyone and the only means by which you can communicate is through emotes, called gestures in the game. So if you need to take a quick break before a boss, forget it. You won't be able to tell your comrades about it and death results in your instant expulsion from your multiplayer game. Ever played a game like left 4 dead where people join your game, kill all the other human players and then leave? While friendly summoned spirits can't quite do that, they can still make themselves useless on you. FROM software and Bandai/Namco games did not think their multiplayer out too well. They tried to "preserve the experience" of the singleplayer game by disabling all forms of communication however the game is so sadistically difficult you absolutely NEED communication to even attempt to survive.
When it comes to the game itself, the graphics are pretty well done, what little music I've heard is nice.
The controls, at least for my level 15 warrior, are pretty clunky. Manageable but clunky.
The story, you start out as an undead. Yes, you're a zombie. Apparently in whatever world this game is set in, a Zombie will save the day and rescue the world from the encroaching darkness. If you don't want to be a Zombie anymore, you can earn "humanity" from bosses or items and use it to restore your humanity, which is something you have to do before you can play in the multiplayer anyway. The problem is, if you die, you become undead again. There is a slightly remote chance you can regain your humanity by touching your own bloodstains, in or near the spot you died last, but generally, surviving to that point, especially on a boss battle, is slim to none.
The only safe places are bonfires. You can rest and recover your health at a bonfire but, doing so makes all the enemies in an area respawn. So, if running the gauntlet between a bonfire and a boss, you run out of healing items and you want to rest at a bonfire before fighting a boss to restore health and "Estus" an item automatically refilled to various numbers depending on the bonfire healing item, you will have to kill all enemies between you and the boss again... and again... and again... OR if you die but you actually made it really far, well, you'll respawn at your last bonfire... but you'll lose any souls and humanity you have while also respawing all the enemies in the way again. There usually are not bonfires before bosses... There was in the very first area, but outside, the nearest bonfire is usually a looooooong trek away from the boss areas.
The only safe places are bonfires... yes I know I am repeating myself because... you also CAN'T pause the game at all... so if you need to go into a menu to change equipment and items you need to be thorough and make absolutely, positively, 100% sure that every enemy near you is dead because it can and will easily kill you while you're in the menu otherwise.
The controls are clunky, but manageable, as stated above. Enemies, will ALWAYS have an advantage over you. From the weakest of the weak to the toughest of the tough, every enemy in this game can and most often will make mincemeat out of you. In the first area outside the tutorial zone, I leveled from 4 to 15. It is just as easy to die at level 15, as it was at level 4. Many enemies kill you in one or two hits and they usually have an attack they randomly perform... where they swing at you 7+ times in one attack. If you block an enemy attack, you lose stamina. If you block too many enemy attacks, you won't be able to block anymore as it will deplete your stamina. If you survive this, you would think your opponent would be out of stamina. Not so, while your items, like arrows and firebombs, and your stamina are severely limited, your opponents have limitless stamina and items to attack you with. You really have to be careful, time and plan every move and hope things work out as intended.
It often seems that most of the pathways you traverse are about half as wide as the width of your foot(okay, an exageration, but not by much). Meaning, its extremely difficult to NOT walk off cliffs, ledges, bridges and pretty much everything, and not fall to your instant death. It IS also extremely easy to accidentally perform a jumping attack and jump off and most attacks make you take a giant step forward... and off most cliffs. Not only are the places you have to walk extremely small, you also have to fight at least 3-5(sometimes more) enemies at once on these paths, and be able to dodge and block without falling off or being pushed off. Enemies will also, more often than not surround you... so maybe if you're lucky, not all of them will be carrying shields so you can kill the ones who can't block, relatively quickly... but it's doubtful.
All in all... this game was a good idea but very, very, VERY, poorly executed. With the bulk of platform based multiplayer games being shooters, racers, fighters and sports games I had high hopes for this one. I beg you, wait until the price goes down and save yourself the pain. This game is sick and sadistic. Twisted and cruel in every way. If you don't enjoy a game that is an endless uphill battle with all the odds stacked against you don't get this game. The creators of the game say they want you to feel as though everything you do is an accomplishment... usually I feel like I was cheated. I'd like to use stronger words but I'm afraid this review won't be approved, but I honestly do feel cheated because my deaths outnumber anything else I've "accomplished" in the game. I severely regret buying this game at the new release price. To me it would be overpriced at $10. It's pretty much an impossible game and you really have to be a glutton for punishment to enjoy it. If you want a hard game, get Ninja Gaiden. If you want a game that is just downright unfair, cruel and as I have said, sadistic... well Dark Souls will be the game for you.
I highly recommend you avoid this title at all costs! | video-games_xbox |
Great way to pass time... like a stone. Having only played a demo back in 2005 of the Room, I wasn't too sure of what to expect when I spontaniously bought the game just for the sake of leaving the store with something in hand. I brought it home with fingers crossed, and played a couple hours and found myself immediately delighted with what I was seeing.
On a technical level it wouldn't impress even the most leneint critic (for being on the 360/PS3 it should've done more), although I read somewhere it was a significant leap over the original... but the value came in the form of connecting me with a (familiar) raw and visceral gaming experience that demands your entire attention in progressing through the game. It was also mentioned somewhere that it is best played with classical controls, as the sense of horror is made more prominent with the lack of finesse in manuevering the character around those things that also walk around.
The bad guys are kind of pathetic at first... a dude with their arms infused with their torso that throws up on you; like a bunch of amputees roaming a town after a frat party or something. Then the game just gives you stick... and with the limited controls, your standing there swinging and swinging while the paralegic is spewing an endless supply of 'vomit mist' which has minimal effect on you (on a normal setting).
The camera can be frustrating at times... but like most nostalgic adults these days, this lack of attention to detail can be summerized as 'enhancing the horror effect' by limiting what you can see on the screen. But you and I know it's lazy programming, which inadvertantly has the said consequence. The SOUND could be better, some of the sounds in the environment are 'contained' (not dynamic), as a gamer I would like to know where a sound is coming from (and how far away it is)... but just like the camera it could just all be deliberate and is held as a part of the whole 'experience'.
The one thing I like about the game is that it doesn't hold your hand like most games these days, infact when I encountered an enemy for the first time... it was awkward. As I was standing there in a small confined space with a wooden plank in hand being spewed on for a couple of minutes before I figured out the unintuitive controls *(which again aids in the whole experience). Soon as I figured out the controls, the combat felt campy... and it reminded me a lot of my time with WoW. Your character and the enemy stands in one place (with a melee weapon) exchanging blows until one invariably dies of a depleted health bar. Actually some enemies don't even die, they lie down and start squirming around on the ground in a creepy fashion.
The story is pretty good so far... speaking solely from having only played through the title sequence and a brief cutscene with some random woman in a graveyard. It's worth the money if you're willing to spend it on this... and it's a steal of you really really like it, if this type of game is not your cup of tea; then you will be shafted. I hope this review helped. | video-games_xbox |
Complete Letdown....One of the Worst Games I've Ever Played. Here are some reasons I hated this game, and why I think you should avoid it like the plague:
The graphics are too dark, muddled, and unclear to distinguish elements of the environment and you cannot see anything half the time, cannot tell where you are or who is shooting at you. The lack of a flashlight doesn't help either.
95% of all the doors in this game are locked/blocked, reminiscent of a regular Silent Hill flaw. Unskippable cutscenes and poorly placed checkpoint system also greatly ruin the experience every time you have to restart a section. One weird thing is there is a reloading animation that occurs every time you press the reload button, even if your gun is fully loaded.
The first-person platforming has awkward controls and jumps that are horribly unreliable. You don't get weapons until 3 hours into the game, but you start collecting ammo for weapons 10 minutes into the game. The guns you do eventually get don't even have proper hit detection, often times shooting through enemies but other times shooting into walls but hitting enemies behind them, and the same happens to your enemies when they take aim at you. The crowbar is a prime example of the horrible hit detection as it glides right through an enemy when you swing. If you sneak up behind an enemy and swing, the guy will quizzically ask "Who's there?" or "What was that?" and proceed to do nothing in response to you swinging at him - it's a complete joke. The computer AI is ludicrously stupid and often gets stuck on walls and fire at the wall in between you and them. Walking behind an enemy confuses them and they can't seem to aim at point blank range, even though from long distances they have pinpoint accuracy when firing at you. What makes things worth is the stealth does not work properly as you get discovered immediately all the time and you spend the first three hours running with no means of defense while the enemies shoot you in the rear end. The gameplay here is just a broken mess.
The final boss fight with Dagon is fully shown in the opening demo movie before you start the game, which is really stupid.
The game tries to implement an insanity meter, but it is nothing like Eternal Darkness' in that all it does is make the screen blurry and hard to see. It's very annoying and it happens all the time, in response to basic stuff like heights and odd noises. The character seems to be scared of his own shadow and triggers the meter all the time, but it comes off as if he's severely drunk and missing his glasses instead of losing his sanity.
The health system is supposed to be "realistic" in that your body parts take damage based on where you get hit, but you can still "realistically" move just fine with 2 broken legs. Even the slightest, shortest jumps or falls cause you to suffer leg damage, which is iritating since it slows your movement down greatly.
The execution of story is possibly the only thing this game does well. However, the text entries and journals you find in the game based on a short story are collectively much longer than the short story the game is based on. Of these entries, there are dozens of boring and pointless journal entries and assorted text files, but there is close to nothing on the mythos from Lovecraft's Cthulhu lore - which is a shame. There were good ideas in theory here, but they were all executed miserably.
The things your protagonist say often include lines such as "It's just a trashcan. Nothing of interest." This is pointless commentary and it occurs all too frequently every time you click on something in the environment, whether it be intentional or accidental. Unless I'm clicking on something relevant, the character shouldnt be monologuing. What makes this extra annoying is when you're stuck or confused and he keeps repeating the same phrase. A main problem is the vague objectives in regards to what you are supposed to do which makes it very easy to get stuck in some areas and become frustrated. Of course the character never has anything to say about solving the vague task at hand, as he only talks about trashcans being of no interest.
The main character won't let me unlock a door or try to pick a lock until certain events have been met or certain items have been clicked on in the environment, but he won't let me know if walking down an alleyway is something I'm not ready to do yet when the people in the alleyway instantly kill me every time i try to walk down it. Moments like this imply that I can't go down the alleyway, but there is nothing else to interact with in the area, so a brief comment would be nice here from the guy who never shuts up about trivial nonsense through the entire game.
There are plenty of recycled character models, mostly everyone is an ugly old man with few exceptions.
This is a horrible letdown for a horror game, and honestly one of the worst, most broken games I have ever played of any kind. The amount of flaws was staggering. A video game based on HP Lovecraft's works has so much potential, but this game fails miserably in its attempt. I tried so hard to like it, but it's just flat out bad. | video-games_xbox |
Lasted Almost Exactly 10 Months. I had a hamster once. He cost about $10 and lived for not quite six months. I felt bad for the little guy, but I also understood that short lives are the way of hamsters. Short lives should not be the way of enormously expensive pieces of electronic equipment.
I held off on getting an Xbox 360 for a long time after launch because of the high number of hardware failures reported for the system, especially after one of my friends had to return his Xbox for service -SIX TIMES- within a year. After Microsoft announced that the new "Falcon" chip set would virtually ensure a long service life for new 360s, my girlfriend spent almost $400 to get me one as a birthday gift. It died yesterday, after 10 months of intermittent use, giving me the delightful three light "Red Ring of Death" as it expired. Granted, Microsoft has extended the warranty for the Xbox 360 to 3 years for "RROD" issues, and thus even as I type this a free shipping box is en route to me so my dead machine can take a trip to Texas, but widespread catastrophic hardware failures are ridiculous no matter how you slice it. The best part is that my own Xbox won't be returned to me - instead I'll get someone else's dead Xbox that has also been returned and subsequently repaired. It's even possible that instead of getting back a machine with the relatively robust Falcon hardware, I could get back a machine using one of the two previous (and much less stable) hardware configurations. To say that I'm concerned in an understatement.
WHEN IT WORKS the Xbox 360 is an excellent gaming system that features stunning graphics, a large game library, and a solid online experience (Though in all honesty I'd rather play with my friends in my own living room than with random strangers.) As of 2 days ago I'd have easily rated the console a solid 4 stars (Not five - the need to sink another $100 on a wireless device to connect to the internet and the annoying high cost for peripherals and software counts against it.), but as of tonight I feel as if I'm being generous to rate it with 2. You should never have to qualify a statement about an extremely expensive piece of equipment with "when it works".
Even worse is that Microsoft hasn't been forthcoming with consumers about the cause of all these "general hardware failures". They're apparently caused by the system overheating, but I'm not in any sense a hardcore gamer and I don't go on marathon gaming binges. My machine got maybe 3-5 hours of play per week and sat in a well-ventilated area (A "framework" style shelf that has neither sides nor a back in order to provide the console with maximum airflow.). Despite recommendations by some other users, I'm unwilling to buy an external fan for two reasons: 1.) I don't feel as if a consumer should have to spend extra money on a peripheral to ensure that a product will actually function as advertised and 2.) These external cooling fans have also been reported to damage the console and Microsoft has announced that evidence of their use will resulting in a voiding of one's warranty.
Honestly, if you're willing to take a gamble on your console randomly biting the dust then the Xbox 360 provides a fun gaming experience. When it works, the 360 is awesome, but for $300+ "when it works" just doesn't cut it for me.
As a matter of fairness, I should note that the turn-around time on my service order was pretty short (exactly 2 weeks from unit failure to the arrival of the replacement) and that my replacement unit has not yet had any trouble. | video-games_xbox |
This is supposed to be fun. Well I bought the fishing bundle (game and pole controller) for the XBOX 360 pretty much without first viewing any trailers or images for the game... still hoping this would be graphically as good as other Rapala games, and maybe as well a made product as Bass Pro Shops The Strike. I have "played" the game for 2 hours... caught 1 fish... and still haven't figured out how to cast nor how to maneuver the rod to attract fish to the lure. VERY FRUSTRATING!!! The graphics while you are driving around the lake are pretty good... but the underwater graphics are never really very clear, nor do they vary very much... I guess you're supposed to feel like you're actually seeing the fish through the water. Using the tutorial does nothing except make you more and more frustrated as you try to change tactics and realize that nothing works. The fish I have seen swimming around look pretty good, but I've only caught a pike thusfar. I know it's a game with a lot of glitches, but the 2009 Rapala Fishing Frenzy is in many ways far superior to this poor attempt at a fishing game. Rent it first... plan on spending A LOT of time learning the ins and outs of the game... and I hope you fare better. If you haven't played Pro Bass Shop's THE STRIKE, you may seriously want to give that a shot over this shoddy attempt of making a "fun" family fishing game. Bring on THE STRIKE 2! That's what I'm waiting for...
P.S. if you buy this game DON'T purchase it with the rod peripheral for $30.00 extra. After checking Activision's website, many players are very dissatisfied with this product. There is NO vibration, the reel handle doesn't work the way it's supposed to. I played the game with just the regular XBOX controller, and while it's still a dull game, things did work a tad better. In the mean time, I have caught more fish, but every one comes to the boat the same way... there's no variation. BORING!!! I still stand by my original rating. | video-games_xbox |
10 feet of 24K gold plated, nitrogen injected sweetness. Riddle: What can you tow your car with, use as a weapon, hang yourself with, and hook up to your Xbox? Thats right, only a Monster Cable. People say it's it all based on pseudo science. That they are no better than regular cables. Those people are wrong.
Sorry, but Ive tried all sorts of crazy cables in my day and always come back to Monster Cables. And these for ye ole Xbox are no different. I always get cheap and try the other brand first. Nope, just not as good as Monster. Every friggin time.
These cables are particularly attractive, even for a Monster Cable. The wire is covered with a cross mesh showing a lighter color underneath. I wish I wasn't too lazy to take a picture as its hard to describe. And where connects to your Xbox, the base, is also badass looking Xbox black and green. Makes your Xbox look ugly.
But thats not (entirely) why you buy them. Hows the picture quality? Simply the best. Sharp, bright, and crispy crunchy. Well maybe not crunchy. I had to turn my brightness down a tad after replacing inferior cables. They make everything, including brightness, just look better. And thats always better for the eyes.
Downside, so damn hard and scary to put on your TV. Take it slow and put on gradual pressure to make sure you don't break anything. All Monster Cables have always done this. Really a bummer when you want to plug in another system as they are equally scary to take off. The only real flaw of Monster Cables. And I always duck tape the cord to the back of my TV to keep they heavy weight from doing gradual damage to my TV. Maybe Im a little paranoid there, but better safe than sorry. These things are hella heavy.
This supposedly has a slot to plug in an optional fiber optic cable to enable surround sound or something, sold separately here <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-100X-Fiber-Optic-Cable/dp/B00005TN7V/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox 100X Fiber Optic Cable</a>. But Im not an audiophile so I don't mess with that.
The good
The best picture quality in the universe
So friggin cool looking
Still pretty cheap (as of 2015 still $30)
Highly durable
Braggin rights
The bad
Scary hard to put on and take off your TV
So heavy they might damage your TV, so duck tape the cord to it
If you have modified Xbox with lots of games or just a large Xbox library, you are really just being stubborn if you don't have Monster Cables. Such a quick and easy improvement to your system. You will see the difference. They are worth it. Period.
Edit: If you have a lot of resistance putting them on and off, clean the TVs RCA jacks with rubbing alcohol and Q-tips. The jacks tend to build up a layer of grime that makes tight fitting cables a nightmare. And always remember to remove them pulling on the heads, not the cord, or you will break them. | video-games_xbox |
Sadly, the X-Box port does little to make the experience any better than it was on the PS2. I remember when Silent Hill 2 got an X-Box port as Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams and I'll tell you right now, I was undeniably happy about it . Not only did I lack a PS2 at the time, but I had played a copy of the PS2 original after playing the X-Box port of Silent Hill 2 and found that the X-Box port was aesthetically better than the original while the game on either system was and still is excellent.
Unfortunately, that was with Silent Hill 2, only. Silent Hill 4 does little to make itself stand out as an X-Box port and does very little to improve on its aesthetics, something that I feel it was in dire need of along with more competent writers to execute the story in something other than a dull, drab, boring, anti-climactic tone with most of the main characters, heroic or not, featuring the depth of a shoe string, boring, hackneyed atmospherics and shoddy game design choices.
The only difference between the PlayStation 2 and X-Box version is that the X-Box version forces you to save games on the X-Box Hard Disk; you can't save copies of Silent Hill 4 on the portable Memory Units and you can't copy ANY of the saves you make. Yeah, not only does the game try to bore you to death with its apathy and lack of immersion, but it also keeps you from storing save games on something other than the console's hard drive. I guess the only plus side is that the save game image on the X-Box has The Eye of Watchfulness rather than one of the Toadstool monsters writhing around in front of a bright pink background.
That's the only change. It's graphically the same, the minimalist real-time menu system works the same, the sounds are all laughable and pathetic, there's no other character you can play as (something I would've payed good money to do just to spend fifteen minutes playing as someone other than a living piece of drywall in a nappy wig and blue jeans), no different lighting effects. Just a save-game nit-pick.
You're still playing the same boring game trying to pass as horrific when you have to deal with idiotic invincible enemies such as ghosts, Ringu rip-offs, rolling wheelchairs and a gun totting hippy in a trench coat trying to come off as a serial killer. You're still cycling through five different drab, well lit levels that takes the effects of 'subtle atmospherics' and drives them so hard and heavy into the game it's difficult to say your even having fun much less getting terrified, you're still playing as some mutt-faced, emotionless drone who wiggles his butt every time he arms himself and strafes around an enemy letting him mumble ineffective and awkward dialogue and grope any and all blood encrusted women he stumbles across who just so happen to be more underdressed and sexy than the average stripper, you still only get a pocketful of firearms that do little to keep the enemies down, you're still reading memos written by idiots who forsake continuity and factual errors for the sake of sounding scary in that cheesy, JC haunted house kind of way, you're still thumbing your way through a game that hardly even tries to be dramatic or immersive until the last three minutes before the final boss fight and you've still got endings and replay value about as pointless as a pair of scissors without a screw.
The game is still terrible in its own broken right. If anything, I can recommend you get the X-Box version of this game for two reasons:
A) because you don't own a PlayStation 2
and
B) Because a cheap game deserves a cheap price. | video-games_xbox |
I was so excited about this game I bought it without testing. O.K. When someone gives a game only 1 star - they can sometimes have an agenda. My only agenda is to inform gamers how dissapointed I was at this game and let the gamer make-up his or her own mind. I was very excited when I brought POW home and placed the disc in my XBOX. The intro scene was well done and signalled that CODEMASTERS were capable programmers. Then I played the game. The graphics are seriously below par for an XBOX title. The poor quality of graphics made it impossible for me to forget that I was staring at my 35" SONY instead of having the impression I was back in 1942 in a German POW camp. If I thought the graphics bad - imagine how I felt when I played the game. The gameplay is absolutely awful. MOVEMENT - think Halo for the LEFT THUMBSTICK (which is cool.) However, for whatever reason, the RIGHT THUMBSTICK only allows you to look left or right - not up or down. HOWEVER...the values are reversed - to LOOK LEFT requires that you PUSH RIGHT - and vice versa. I know what your thinking because I thought the same thing - there has to be a menu that allows you to change the polarity of the RIGHT THUMBSTICK - NOPE! With Halo I was effeciently killing bad guys in no time. With POW I was taking my frustration out on the innocent XBOX controller within 10 minutes. Oh, and it only gets worse. To climb over 1 wall/fence requires you to stand facing the fence. Then, press the LEFT THUMBSTICK forward and press the A button to jump and grasp the ledge (if a wall) or grab hold of the fence. Next, press the LEFT THUMSTICK forward once more to climb to the top of the wall or as many times as needed to climb over the fence. Next, the camera angle automatically swivles 180 degrees - to the other side of the wall/fence. Now, you must press the LEFT THUMSTICK down once to grasp the ledge and again to drop to the other side. You cannot imagine how clumbsy this feels. In the early levels - when guards are not overly aggressive/smart - you can ignore this clumbsy requirement - but later you'll be quite frustrated. If you press and hold the LEFT TRIGGER you are in FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE - meaning you can look side-to-side and up-and-down using the RIGHT THUMBSTICK - think Halo's RIGHT THUMBSTICK but without the ability to move when the LEFT TRIGGER is depressed. Now, you've finally scaled a wall and you stealthily enter a building looking for currency and useful items. Well, when inside buildings your point-of-view becomes fixed (from inexplicably some of the worst vantage places - without any room-level zooming capability) - and your RIGHT THUMBSTICK becomes useless - until you enter the previously mentioned FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE by pressing the LEFT TRIGGER. Useful items/loot twinkle and all you have to do is walk next to the item for it to be placed in your inventory. However, your instincts will be urging you to perform a thorough search of the room - open a few drawers - well they must not have had drawers in WWII because all you can do is walk around a static room. So you do just that - but due diligence requires that you walk a few inches enter the FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE look around for goodies and then walk another few inches enter the FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE...etc. You quickly discover that the only loot in the room is what twinkled upon entering - this must mean that Germans don't hide things - interesting? The inventory management subsystem was poorly conceived. Anything you cannot fit in your pockets is carried for all to see in your hands. There are hiding places you can find scattered thoughout the camps and you have a personal footlocker in your barracks. It took me forever just to figure out how to examine/use inventory items. Game Saving - you must be in your barracks and next to your bed in order to save your game. The game designers felt that one of the driving forces behind a prisoner of war game had to be the daily routine that a prisoner was forced to adhere by. So they devised a lame gimmick - a timepiece - that helps you plan mischeif around static morning and evening roll calls. So you are allowed to go exploring as long as you do not get caught in a guards vision-cone while in an illegal area as long as you get back to morning/evening roll call. From the moment I began playing this game I was extremely dissapointed. After playing for a day - I knew I was going to get rid of the game quickly before word got out. The graphics are boring. The character controls are the worst in XBOX history - why do I have to press right to look left - (that infuriates me)? The idea of being a prisoner of war trying to escape is golden (and I hope someone pulls it off), but this implementation is shameful. CODEMASTERS quality assurance team should be fired. | video-games_xbox |
Kill Bill meets Prince of Persia. As the title states I described this game to a friend as "Kill Bill meets Prince of Persia" although I think neither had a lot of gunplay. Sure you can burn through this game quickly in a playthrough and have fun but the real joy is mastering the game's engine. Its not the most polished game, nor is it the best game engine, but its enough to offer you a sense of accomplishment when you can artfully and gracefully dispatch a group of enemies without giving them a chance to even shoot back. Although Bethesda is not known for its action games (Elder Scolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 being others from the developer) they do a good job with this game.
This game has aspects of a platformer, but at its heart its a third person shooter. Between all the acrobatic moves and "bullet time" slow motion the game feels easy to learn but difficult to master. Fighting multiple enemies can be described as a puzzle: acquire the most threatening target and neutralize him then progress through subsequent targets to eliminate them in order to take less damage in battle.
The voice acting is done by professional actors, Eliza Dushku voices the lead role and Malcolm McDowell voices the antagonist. The game is bloody, violent and graphic which add to the atmosphere of the game.
$60 for this game is a bit much, especially if you're not going to play through it more than once. I think I picked this up for $40 and perhaps paying that much forced me to play through the game several times (more than I would have otherwise if I had paid less) but as I played more I found that I enjoyed mastering the combat as it has a certain gracefulness to it.
This game can be frustrating at times, but most games are. I think this is one of those hidden gems that a lot of people just burn through or gloss over without giving it enough of a chance. This is a game that could possibly grow on you. | video-games_xbox |
Buy at a discount or wait for one. As an Xbox 360 and PS3 owner with a large number of unplayed games on those platforms, it took the release of the Halo Master Chief Collection to convince me to get the Xbox One. I was able to get it at an extreme discount by combining signup bonuses from the Amazon Store Card and Amazon Rewards card with the 5% discount with the Chase Freedom Card and free shipping from Amazon Prime. It actually cost less than the Black Friday Xbox One without connect deal!
*Setup*
It was very each to connect, being straight forward to plug in the power cable, hdmi cable, network cable, insert batteries into the controller, and turn on. The setup wizard walked me though initial choices, and Google help out with the audio/video settings :)
Kinect voice control took some time to learn as I didn't read up on them, the connect set wizard got me started, but definitely could have been more detailed. It did recognize my face and my voice right away, but I did get stuck on the fact that the commands to turn it on and off are not symmetric ( i.e. "Xbox On" vs "Xbox Turn Off<pause> , yes" .
Kinect gesture control was another thing altogether. I could get it to recognize most of the basic gestures, but it often did not acknowledge them at all. Or it would place my hand on the screen in a position far on the edge of the screen, even though I was sitting in the center of the screen and had the kinect 'eye' right on front of me. Sometimes my right hand would appear on the left hand of the screen and vice versa. Also, despite several resets, it will not acknowledge 2 hands being raised at the same time, which is necessary for the "go home" and "resume from home" gestures.
That said, once i had the basics down, I could not imagine using the Xbox without it. I don't understand why so many people discounted it because of the lack of games that use it. The kinect is valuable as part of the user interface to the Xbox One and is worth having just for that reason. If games use it as well, I view that as icing on the cake.
*Gaming and Apps*
I purchased several games from the Microsoft Store and it took the better part of the day to download them enough to play them. I don't know if it was because I purchased fairly new titles that were in demand or had large patched associated with them, or what. Master Chief Collection took about 4 hours, and then it needed a 20GB patch when I ran it for the 1st time.
Once I got started playing, things went fairly well. The graphics were great, the wireless controller was responsive, the games were snappy, and the surround sound audio was also top knotch.
So why "fairly well?" When I started my first game, the console started making a loud noise that sounded like a fan with a bad bearing. It was so loud that I had to plug in my MS gaming headphones to the controllers ( another great feature ) to enjoy the game. After doing some research, I discovered that this was a common issue with some type of electrical coil that would void my warranty if I fixed it myself, so I had to mail my Xbox out for warranty repair.
Apps worked well, I use Plex and Amazon Video without problems. They were very easy to install and set up, so I have no complaints.
*Summary*
Overall, I'm very satisfied with my purchase, especially with the discount that I got. The voice control , the wireless audio, and well designed interface were all big pluses. I'm disappointed that it had the noise problem out of the box that kept me from using for long, and more disappointed that I could not drop it off at a Microsoft Store for an immediate replacement or repair. Microsoft could learn something about customer service from Apple here. I was about to purchase Dragon Age Inquisition along with other games during Black Friday, but held off since I won't get my Xbox back for who knows how long.
The games that game with the console weren't a big factor for me, in fact I've download but not started playing Assassin's Creed yet. I'll get to after I get my Xbox is repaired.
Recommendation: Buy if you can get a good discount on it. I think the price with Kinect should be $350, and without connect $300, but that's just me. Be ready prepared for slow downloads of games and to spend time training kinect. Also fire up a game early on to see if your console has the "noisy coil" bug. That is something that you want to get fixed right away. | video-games_xbox |
Finally A Final Fantasy Worth the Price. First off, let me tell you what kind of gamer I am so you know if you will agree with me or not. I have played and completed FF1, 2, Tactics, 7, 8, 10, 10-2, 13, and 13-2. Like most FF gamers I loved 7 the most, and really loved 10. 1 and 2 were great turn based level mashers. Tactics is almost a cult in itself. 8 was really good, but coming off the 7 high hurt it. I didn't play any of the online only ones. Other favorite games: Resident Evil (pick one), Tomb Raider (pick one), Legend of Legaia, Halo, Bioshock, and about every turn based rpg that reminds you of Final Fantasy. I love not stressing out while playing games. With that large list of games, I am not actually that big of a gamer. I play a couple of hours a week, more if I have a new game.
I will start by telling you that I love this game. It was a lot of fun and I really like Lightning. Is she the best FF character? Actually, arguably maybe. The storyline is great. I felt like they actually planned this game out and you aren't just bouncing from area to area wondering what is happening.
The fighting system is new...kind of. Yes, there are now specific summons for each character and they operate differently, but I honestly miss FF7 and 10's version. 8 was pretty good too. I really didn't use the summons. The fighting isn't ACTUALLY turn based, but feels like it. You will learn how to combo your characters for maximum damage.
I am a level grinder. I like to find a good place to fight and just spend hours leveling up so that the next part of the game feels like childs play. This game didn't really let me do that. Basically, the story is very on the rails. You have a starting position for each map and you fight your way to the end...and then do it again on the next map. This really doesn't change until 2/3rds of the way through. Fortunately, as you can only level up your characters so far before having to move on to the next part of the game, you can level up your weapons and accessories. While I loved doing this, finding what levels up the best and fastest was sometimes a headache. All I can advise is, if you find an enemy that drops something that sells for a high price, stay there and load up. Money is in short supply the WHOLE game.
Characters:
Lightning is awesome. She is smart and tough and doesn't leave a lot of time for tears and whining. Her main flaw is that she is also a little bit of a volcano of emotions. Cold and calculating outside, party of self loathing and hurt and love inside. She gets it together though and doesn't make you want to smack her over it.
Serah is...in the game. She is Lightning's sister and Snow's fiance and is therefore important. She is sweet and young. You probably won't love her, but she isn't really important except that she is what moves the game along. Oh yeah, and she gets her own game in FF13-2. I don't get it either.
Snow is great... but kind of dramatic. He says a lot of cheesy things and is just a tad more cheerful than appropriate.
Vanille is adorable as long as you don't have to spend a lot of time with her. She is SO young acting, but you learn that is hiding depths of guilt. I like her most of the time.
Fang...should have been the star of FF13-2. Cause she is a beast and completely awesome. I like her about as much as Lightning. She is tough as nails and smart. Some emotional baggage too, but not the load that Vanille has.
Sazh is in this game. I even had to try to remember his name. He is largely unimportant and will not be one of your main team members. He makes the occasional funny comment. He is not a bad character, but also just not that memorable.
Hope...he grows out of his personality. Talk about baggage. Hope is an emotional wreck. Okay, okay, his mom dies and he is only 15, but I feel like he makes me not sorry for him. He has his fair share of cheesiness and pretty much isn't likeable...but man he is a great Ravager. He is actually a permanent member of my prefered team because he is a great fighter. I would rather have Vanille, but he is actually a little better than her.
The story line isn't the best in the the world that is Final Fantasy, but it is pretty good. The main Boss sucks and I get tired of fighting him throughout the game. I often felt like no one should be beaten to a pulp and then shrug it off like my characters are weaklings. But he does and largely acts like we aren't important and have no chance of stopping him...which is why he doesn't just kill us all in the cut scenes.
Oh the cut scenes! They are awesome! This game is beautiful and the graphics make you want to kiss the designers.
Okay, as I said, the game is pretty much a set path...but there is a HUGE part of the game that has NOTHING to do with the story line. Once you beat the game, there are probably well over 100 missions/side quests to do. Monsters to kill, battles to fight, items to unlock, etc. There is a monster that you almost can't beat. You need to be MAXED out and have fully upgraded weapons to stand a chance. You could easily spend weeks/months completing everything.
I love this game. I would say the replay value is low because once you max out your character you really don't want to go through it again. Fortunately there is so much to do after beating it that that is fine. I do wish you could start the game over with your upgraded characters. That would make the story line really smooth.
Well, I hope this review helped. I am not an avid gamer so I don't know all the technical terms, but this game is fun. It won't take long to get through the main story, but there is a lot to do outside of it. Hope you like it as much as I did.
Thanks for your likes on this review!
God Bless! | video-games_xbox |
The Most Bang for your Buck. While I have no background in Fallout lore, as this is my initial exposure to the franchise, I became completely enraptured with the Fallout 3 experience. Owning most of the best games of 2008 or at least renting the others, I have to say that Fallout 3 has been by far the most addictive game I've played all year.
Few games have ever shown the world as Fallout, which for the uninitiated consists of a nuclear devastated future that resembles a Cold War 1950's era look melded with the post-apocalyptic scavenger culture seen in films like "The Road Warrior" or "Waterworld". The atmosphere is incredible, and the first-person combat and VATS system, while perhaps sounding bland on paper, are often quite visceral and always engaging. The story hooked me, but it's saying something that I finished all of the key side quests before I went halfway through the main campaign. That's not at all saying that there are only a few sidequests; what I mean by that is that each of the numerous sidequests are as engaging as the main plot and kept me pursuing them before tackling more of the story.
It must be stated that Fallout 3 takes a serious time investment. There is a MEGATON (pun intentional) of content here for each that ventures into the DC wasteland. While many modern games cap out around 10 hours and warrant rentals, Fallout 3 can keep you entrenched in the wastelands for upwards of 100 hours if one so desires. I'm at around 50 hours, and there is still so much content waiting for me. The Karma system gives each player the ability to approach the game in numerous ways. You can play a scenario, reload, play it completely differently, and rinse and repeat. Each time is unique. Plus, playing the Xbox 360 version allows you the ability to download extra content in the coming months that will greatly extend the experience.
With money tight for many, out of all of the games you can spend a hardearned 60 bucks on, Fallout 3 is hard to beat. It will allow you the experience of surviving a ravaged, brutal landscape and immerse you in gameplay that is addictive and satisfying. Definitely worth a purchase for anyone looking for an immersive experience. | video-games_xbox |
4 And A Half Stars,Yea Right Or Unbelievably Poorly Executed Or A Bunch Of FAILS Or Its Worth About 12 Bucks. From the very beginning you'll be able to tell that this is another game that's just been thrown together,without alot of time and effort put into it. Mind you,Im an old school gamer(Final Fantasy Tactics,Ogre Battle Tactics,Champions Of Norath,Etc) but still enjoy alot of the new stuff. That being said,I know the difference between a well executed game and a crappy one. Ive been playing this mess for a couple of days now and just navigating the menu screens alone is an epic chore! Its a very frustrating,unintuitive experience(Fail).And you play a chick for the entire game(Fail).Which I knew going in,but thats only a precedent as to what to expect from the whole game. No options!(Fail)Main character,chosen for you. Band full of rejects following you,chosen for you. You can equip weapons,armor,and such (Hey!).Money is set up in 3 different catagories. Gold (Ducats),Silver Thalers(I didn't make that up),and Farthings. Yet nothing cost farthings,at least so far. Even your weakest healing potion cost 5 gp,and I rarely have more than 20gp all together. Trying to outfit your party(so far 4 characters) with weapons and armor doesnt leave alot of room for 5gp potions. But what REALLY prompted me to right this review is the actual gameplay. By now Ive learned that most bows only travel anywhere from 4-10 hexes. Well obviously the enemy has their own set of rules. They seem to be able to fire from one side of the screen to the other. Literally! From one side of the screen to the other. And very accurately I might add. They'll hit you from the complete opposite side of the map,behind obstacles that prohibit your arrows from even traveling(WHOOPIE!!!!)And whatever the character are when they join you,KEEP THEM AS SUCH.Cause if you try to differentiate from what they are,they'll just miss alot and basically play like crap. You've been warned. If your bored out of your mind,and just quit your job,and need something to do...Go For It. Because its worth about 12 bucks. | video-games_xbox |
Added some cool new features, but a little glitchy. I really am a huge fan of Madden (well really any football video game) so my opinions may be a little biased, but I think EA rushed this to production a little bit.
I got this shipped in the day after it was released.
Note: I haven't been connected to Xbox Live since I bought this and an update may have fixed the problem since release.
The gameplay is extremely fun and I truly enjoy the new franchise mode and how you are required to make cuts and decide which draft picks are going to be worth something. The longer you keep them the better chance you have of discovering their full potential. The plays seem to be ok as well. One complaint I have (at least on the default setting) is that it is too easy to just heave the ball deep and have your receiver catch it. A nice addition is that it is a little easier to get to the qb where in past years without elite players it seemed nearly impossible to get through the line. That being said it is still very fun to play and the ability to create your own plays is also a nice thing to have packaged with the game again.
Moving forward to the glitches that I have found. The commentary is terrible in regards to accuracy, I don't know if it is delayed or if it is just messed up, but for instance it says Marcell Dareus makes the tackle on kickoffs nearly every time a player makes the tackle and Marcell Dareus isn't on my team or the opponents team. Another glitch is where they mention that the ball was intercepted when it was completed, they state that the QB is having a rough day after the opposing team throws an int for an int and that said QB hasn't thrown a pick yet.
I question the amount of testing that was involved with Madden prior to its release and suspect that a lot of these issues are probably already taken care of through a patch, but would wish that they would test more efficiently before releasing an incomplete product. | video-games_xbox |
Awesome game IF your Kinect is working right. Firstly, this game is hilarious, brilliant, so much fun for all ages, especially if you are a fan of Pixar, BUT and you knew it was coming, only if your Kinect is set properly.
We tried to get this working for my 5 year old who isn't very tall and after an hour of frustration no one wanted to play as we couldn't get recognized - there is a part at the start where they give you a silhouette to stand in, and when you're positioned right it turns green and you get added, well, my daughter wasn't even close to the silhouette shape and would have had to grow about 6 feet taller to ever make it. So, we checked and the green light on the Kinect sensor was on, so we knew it was connected and working, but then we noticed the angle it was pointed at, which was basically up to the ceiling, so we used the Kinect tuner and it recognized me as an adult and we thought all was OK, but the sensor was still pointed at the ceiling, so only seeing the adults from the knees up and not seeing little kids at all.
In comes Google, and we found out you can manually (via the Xbox controller NOT BY HAND!)adjust the tilt angle on the Kinect sensor - so when you run the Kinect set up through your Xbox and get to the part where it is seeing the play area and player, if it isn't seeing your feet like ours was you will see at the bottom of the instructions panel "ADJUST ANGLE" and then you can choose that and click up and down.
This may seem simple to an Xbox uber fan, but we just got ours and didn't know we could do this.
NOW, the angle has been tilted down, it sees everyone, no matter how tiny they are and the game was set up and playing in less than 5 minutes and my 5 year old loves it.
So in short, this game is as awesome as everyone says, but you need to check the angle on your Kinect if it just isn't seeing you at all - and check for the green light on the front too - apparently sometimes Kinect sensors will simply die, but more often than not when you think the game sucks because it doesn't see you, it really isn't seeing you due to angle!
This and the Disneyland game are so much better now we adjusted it right! | video-games_xbox |
Don't buy an Xbox. This review in no way is of Amazon, I love them and use them for most of my purchases. This is only for anyone trying to decide if they want an Xbox or Playstation 3. I have had a PS3 since they came out. My brother has always had a version of Xbox. He finally talked me into buying an Xbox, so we could play some of the Xbox exclusive games together. I couldn't be any UNHAPPIER with the Xbox, what a piece of crap. I got the biggest hard drive they offered, so I could put all my MP3s on it and use it as a jukebox...WRONG. You can only put your CDs in and rip the songs off, I have already done that with the 2000 songs on my computer and don't want to spend all the time doing it again. You can stream music from your PC, if you can get it to work, but I don't want to leave my computer on all the time. All you have to do with the PS3 is put the MP3s on your hard drive (easily done using a disc, USB drive or networking your PS3 and PC). When I first got my PS3, I was one of the idiots buying them on Ebay for $800. I wanted to protect my investment and I put an external fan on it to keep it cool. However, the fan was too noisy when watching a movie or playing a game with the sound down, so I took it off (and I have had it for over 2 years, with constant use and have never gotten the "Ring of Death" the Xbox gets). The Xbox with a disc in the drive is that loud ALL THE TIME, so forget watching a movie. The game pad of the Xbox is awful, heavy, and uses batteries you have to replace (unless you pay extra and buy some recharging kit). The analog sticks are in an uncomfortable position, unlike the PS3 that has them side by side. The D pad of the Xbox is unusable, as it doesn't work and will often send you in the wrong direction, which really helps in trying to get the high score. My PS3 has several card slots, so you can easily put songs and pictures on it. I have taken the memory card right out of my camera and viewed the pictures on my TV using the PS3. The Xbox does not have any slots. The PS3 is sturdy with a nice gloss black finish, the Xbox is a plastic toy. The PS3 has ALL kinds of settings you can tweak (network, sound, display, printer, music , chat, etc), you can't do much with the Xbox, I couldn't even find the MAC address of my Xbox. When I play games on my PS3, I use my Bluetooth headset, the Xbox has no Bluetooth capabilities and came with an uncomfortable plastic headset that broke the first time I used it. The PS3 has At Home Network, where you can customize your realistic avatar and use it to play games and chat with other people, the Xbox has cartoon characters, that didn't seem to have a purpose. You have to pay $50 a year to be able to play games online with your friends and download demos on the Xbox, with the PS3 all of that is FREE. If you are buying a game system for a kid under 8, sure get the Xbox or better yet the Wii. However, if you are an adult that wants an entertainment system, that plays DVDs, CDs, MP3s, Bluray Discs, Divx movies, PS2 and PS3 games and has an internet browser (which Microsoft doesn't include with the Xbox, which is weird since they include Internet Explorer with everything else), then please don't let your brother talk you into wasting your money on the Xbox. | video-games_xbox |
Good fun, but shows it's age. NCAA Football 2008, is by and far not a perfect game. It is not Madden 11, it is not NCAA 2011, it will not blow your mind. The mechanics are out-dated, as are the animations. But, this game does offer a good time, easy gamer-score, and a thrilling dynasty-mode that continues to offer replay value.
Controls 10/10 - Sticks to the normal formula. Nothing suprising, nothing to learn. If you've played one football game, you've played them all.
Gameplay 7/10 - For a 4 year old game, it still offers a good play. The mechanics are smooth, the "bs" is kept to a minimum, and multi-player is truly a riot. True, certain calls will leave you scratching your head, certain catches will have the ball morph to the wide-out, and sometimes, the tackler will go through the ball carrier. Put that aside, and you still have a fluid expierence. Offenses don't overpower defenses, and if you know how to call plays, turn-overs galore.
Graphics 6/10 - Surpisingly decent for an older game. Won't leave you with cold sweats (Avatar anyone?), but you won't laugh at the blocks running into each other, and trying to guess which is the ball carrier. The grass is textured decently, good environmental art, and the weather has an impact on the game.
Sound 5/10 - The sound effects are just as you'd expect. Thus earning this 5 points. The play-by-play calling is downright hilarious in how bad it is. If you have a break-away run, and decide to dive into the endzone, the announcer will call you down at the 4, even though the game awards you with a touchdown. I still laugh about it, to this day.
Replay Value 8/10 - Dynasty Mode, dynasty mode, dynasty mode. Well designed, cool features, and the pace of the game will keep you intrigued. Just don't put on 15 minute quarters, or you WILL win by scores of over 100. Achievements detract from this score, as they are incredibly easy to obtain. 39 single game achievements are available, and I got them ALL in my first ever game.
Overall 36/50 - Buy the game cheap. Enjoy it. Move on with your life. | video-games_xbox |
Taking Away-From-Home Gaming Experience to New Level. I'm sure the readers of this product may want more info, so I'll do my best to provide additional details (G155 comparison included):
Case
------
The case is made out of thick plastic just like G155, so its sturdy. The dimension almost identical at 20" x 14" x 6.5" excluding handle, which satisfies virtually all major airlines carry-on size requirement. The handle adds 2" and makes the height 16", but no one at airport will realistically factor that in. The screen side of the case is less round, perhaps to accommodate the larger screen. I think this design also strengthens the latch gripping better under stress. The shoulder strap with padding (has UNSC logo) is a greatly appreciated item when an extra hand is needed. The design permits the strap to be attached or removed within a few seconds.
Screen
--------
With the case having the same length and width of the 15.6" G155, it is remarkable that GAEMS fitted a 19" screen. Actually, the screen measures 18.5" diagonally but looks bigger than that! The lighting on buttons are all blue (G155 is red). The blue background lighting on two sides of the screen is a nice touch - not fancy so doesn't compete with the game content. Like G155, my PS3 recognizes it as 1080p with 2 audio channels. The display is much brighter and seems faster in response time.
The best part of the display other than size? It's the vastly improved display angle. Horizontally, I can line up 4 kids in front row and all can see the screen well! Vertically, kids standing up in second row can see also! As for the player, I tried sitting on the floor, sitting on a soft mattress (sunk in deep), and sitting on a chair with Vanguard on higher desk. The display angle passed in all scenarios! This wasn't the case with G155. There is a little kickstand allow the screen side to adjust up by a few degrees, which is really thoughtful feature. Kudos to GAEMS for listening to users on these improvement!
Audio and Controls
--------------------
The speakers are located on the bottom left and right corners. The drivers are about size of a golf ball (1.25" I think). They are open and masked slightly by 5 horizontal bars - more like the cosmetic mud guards installed on 4x4 SUVs! The sound quality is vastly improved. The Halo 4 main menu music is a STUNNING demo of its range and depth. It's pretty good at high and mid-range. The debris and electrical buzzing effects from Halo 4 are sharp and realistic. Bass can be adjusted in menu, and it's adequate. Voice is still deep and clear! It has pretty good power too. I put Vanguard on 70% volume in a room, then go to kitchen about 50 feet away with 3 walls in between and I can hear the music pretty well. I also didn't hear distortion at 85% volume! With such loudness, there is really no need for external speakers to truly enjoy gaming away from home!
The bottom center of the display panel has the same two headset output, an HDMI input with the 7" cable, and DC 12V input from the power supply.
Console Strapping
-------------------
The console rests on a pad. One side has inset shaped to fit XBox and PS3. The other side has a small 9" x 7" footprint, which fits neither consoles (Nintendo Wii?) The two straps are thinner than G155, perhaps to allow better ventilation on the XBox 360 Slim.
The 2 side storage bags can be freely picked up (no Velcro underneath). They are same size as G155. With XBox having an external power brick, one storage bag will be used up for the two power supplies (one for display). This leaves the other for two controllers. Quick thought: since both XBox and the screen display use DC 12V as input, I wonder there is an DC Y-adapter that can allow both device to share one large power supply...
Since PS3's transformer is built-in the machine, there will be extra room available in the storage bags.
Note on Portable powerpacks
---------------------------
I have two battery-based jump-starters with inverter kept in family cars. I used them to power G155, and will power the Vanguard as well when AC outlets are not available (e.g., picnic/camping). Vanguard consumes average of 90 watts (XBox 360S 4GB w extra 256GB HDD and Wi-Fi active) with medium volume and brightness during play. Here are actual run times with the two that I own:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Duracell-DRPP600-Powerpack-600-Jump-Starter-and-Emergency-Power-Source/dp/B009YR00MI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Duracell DRPP600 Powerpack 600 Jump Starter and Emergency Power Source</a>: 1hr 55min
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Wagan-Power-Dome-EX-400-Watt-Jump-Starter-with-Built-In-Air-Compressor/dp/B000WJEPCI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Wagan Power Dome EX 400-Watt Jump Starter with Built-In Air Compressor</a>: 1hr 3min
I'm sure with Wi-Fi turned off one can run longer times. Same if the HDD is not needed or replaced with SSD.
Summary
--------
When GAEMS released G155, I was excited - finally a practical solution for console gaming away from home. I used it on travel and always in awe just having that ability to play console games somewhere else! Even as a happy user, there is always room for improvements. GAEMS was listening to the passionate G155 owners and all key improvements are in this Vanguard product. After playing with Vanguard for few hours, I'm thoroughly impressed, satisfied, and with absolutely ZERO complaints (for now)! For us console gaming lovers, GAEMS has done a great service to not only make gaming away from home possible with G155, but now with truly immersive experience with Vanguard. It's absolutely worth the price. | video-games_xbox |
So much fun...you can't not like smash up derbys. Test Drive Eve of Destruction is a strange title for a game all about 'contact racing' (demolition derby, figure-8 racing, etc).
There are 3 modes of gameplay: Action, Career, and Dare. All three modes accumulate points to unlock goodies.
Action mode has most of the cars unlocked and a handful of tracks and lets you jump right in and drive whatever car you want in whatever event you want. Pick the school bus, head to the trailer races, and you'll be a school bus with trailer racing a bunch of cars with trailers (how fun is that?).
In dare mode you race in a set of races with a predefined car. You must to finish first in each race to move on to the next 'dare'. There are multiple dare levels with 5 races per level.
Career mode is what you'd expect. You start out with the worst car, little cash, and no reputation. Within career mode you have different ways to race as well. You can race at the various tracks, go to the diner to race the local boys for money, and run time trials at places like the local gravel pit. There is also a junkyard where you can buy new cars, and a garage where you can purchase upgrades and paint your car.
Painting your car is pretty funny. When you paint, it's with spray paint and it looks real...and real bad...just like real spray-painted cars at the derby.
Any given race night is called an 'eve' and there are a number of events per eve. The events are fairly comprehensive and include: Figure-8 Jump (where the cars have to cross an intersection with jumps at high speed), trailer races (trailers attached to the cars), chain races (cars chained togethor), king of the hill, car soccer, flag-pole races (circle a flagpole while racing), the gauntlet (you drive a hearse and try to elude the chase cars), and of course the demolition derby. There are quite a few more race types besides these.
As far as gameplay goes, it's fun but this isn't a driving sim. It isn't PGR2. It's an Atari title and they don't seem to be putting out the top-shelf games these days. The various cars do handle differently and the upgrades to make the cars better. You just have to get the hang of how each car drives and not unlike PG2, the action mode is the way to get used to the various cars.
This is also one of those games that is super fun to play with your friends. You better have a big TV screen though since there's no Live and no system link. The game does support 480p video and Dolby 5.1 audio.
To parents, the only reason I can figure that this title got a T (teen) ESRB rating is because of two fairly common four-letter words (one starts with an H and the other starts with a D) that you certainly don't want your little kids repeating. That inclusion is unfortunate because the announcer is so lame that you tend to ignore him anyway and the context in which those two words are used doesn't add much to the game.
All in all this game is really fun and does a pretty good job at recreating the fun and spectacle of race night at your local full contact speedway. If you've never been (shame on you, you're missing out) the in-game video clips will give you a taste of what you are missing. | video-games_xbox |
If you want an Xbox One controller on your Windows 10 Machine, it couldn't be any easier with this. First off, this review is for the Microsoft Xbox One Controller + Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 edition of the controller. Amazon tends to lump reviews together for multiple variants of the same item, and this is the same. Make sure this review is relevant for the version you're interested in. Wish Amazon wouldnt do that.
Anyway, this couldn't have been easier to hook up and get running. Inside the box was an Xbox One controller, the dongle to make this work, and a cord. I initially thought the cord was to plug the controller in, but it turns out that is a USB extender cable.
In the instruction sheet, they show a Surface tablet, a more traditional laptop, and a PC. If you have a PC, they tell you to use the USB extender cable. If you have the other two, they tell you to plug it straight into the device. I didn't try plugging the dongle straight into the PC, so Im not sure what would have happened there.
Once you plugged it in, Windows 10 had zero issues in getting it going. I just plugged it in, it thought for a second, and bam, it was up and running. Didnt even get a installing drivers.. type popup, it just worked (which is taking a page out of Apples playbook. I then fired up the controller, pushed the pairing buttons on both sides, and it was up and running. Total time to get it going was WAY under a minute. Was quite amazing how flawlessly the setup went.
Im not going to sell you on the virtues of using an Xbox controller. If you're reading this, then you already know what the controller is like, and are probably interested in this. I cant speak to previous versions of Windows, but for Windows 10, this was a easy as hell setup. Couldnt be easier.
The only real negative I can say is the controller in here is a battery operated model. It does come with a pair of batteries in the box (a couple of good Duracells, not some cheap ones), but it *IS* the battery model. Youll need to keep spares around unless you also buy the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-One-Play-and-Charge-Kit/dp/B00DBDPOZ4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox One Play and Charge Kit</a>, which is sold separately.
But insofar as what was in this box? Top notch, couldn't be any easier, and using the Xbox One controller on Windows 10 is quite nice, now that you can stream games from your Xbox One to your Windows 10 machine. Pretty much a no brainer, I think. Buy this. | video-games_xbox |
The nicest play and charge kit Microsoft has made to date. I bought this, wasn't given it or given a discount for this review, this is just for your (the reader) information. That being said read on knowing this is an honest real-life review. All my "Testing" has been done in real gameplay and every day use. I will say I do not own an Xbox one, I use the controllers for gaming on my PC. I also use them with an adapter to play on my 360 on occasion.
This is the best rechargable battery I've ever had for an Xbox controller. Sleek, slim, and useful. Pop it in, charge it up, go. Or go while it's charging up, that's up to you.
Packaging:
As most of the Xbox one packaging has been, the Play and Charge kit packaging is fantastic. Square box that flips open to reveal a molded white cardboard insert bearing the Xbox logo and displaying the battery (wrapped in it's protective plastic) and the last 3 inches of the charge cable showing the micro USB side that has the tiny little LED in it. (there is a slit in the insert to allow you to slide the cable out)
Overall Build Quality:
To me the build quality is fantastic on both the battery and the charge cable. The Xbox logo is on the battery as well as the larger USB side of the charge cable. There is a very solid feel to both that make you confident that swapping it out for a fresh charged battery (if you use a separate charger) isn't going to slowly destroy it.
Cable:
The included (9ft) charge cable has a standard USB on the one side and a micro USB on the other, which makes it handy to have around. You can also use other USB cables to charge the controller with if you please, or use the included cable to charge other devices with a micro USB port.* The cable has a tiny little LED in the center of the micro USB side to let you know when the battery is fully charged. The LED lights up amber while the controller is charging and lights up white when it's fully charged. The light doesn't come on at all when charging things other than the controller, however.
Battery:
The included battery is rated at 1400MaH which is plenty for extended gameplay sessions. Not including powered on idle time I got over 16 hours of gameplay (rumbles on, no trigger rumbles though due to no support for most PC games yet) before I had to charge it again. I probably also had it powered on 'idling' for around 10 hours additionally. I confirmed these times again after the second charge, same amount of gameplay/idle times. The battery doesn't rattle around in the controller at all once you put it in there, and will stay in even without the battery door cover (not recommended).
I only took one star from this charge kit because I would have personally preferred to have seen a braided charge cable included or even a little plastic case to store the battery in if you didn't want to keep the whole box. Things that don't matter overall, but with the high quality of everything else microsoft has been putting out for the Xbox one and the relative cheapness of braided USB cables now a days I believe they should have gone that route.
*The Qualcom QuickCharge on my Note 4 worked great while using the cable plugged into my Anker charger. The LED doesn't work when charging my phone, which isn't a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it. | video-games_xbox |
The worst of the 128-bit consoles. (1.5 stars, rounded up. Out of the 4 128-bit consoles (PS2, XBOX, GC, Dreamcast), the XBOX is by far the worst. I've disliked the console ever since it launched in November 2001, and since then, very little has happened to make me change my mind about it.
The console reeks of soulless corporate greed. Some people may accuse Sony and their games of being soulless and corporate, but a soulless company could never make a game as beautiful and innovative as Ico, or something as charming & addictive as the first 3 Spyro the Dragon games. Microsoft seems to care about profit & appeal more than creativity and fun, and everything about the XBOX proves it.
It also reeks of arrogance. When the XBOX was in development, it was codenamed "Project Midway", in reference to the World War II battle where the Americans outsmarted the Japanese. That's extremely ironic, because the idiots who almost ruined the game industry (Atari, 3D0) were American, and the ones who are credited with restoring it (Nintendo, Sega) were Japanese. And let's not forget those obnoxious "ONLY ON XBOX" stamps that all the exclusive games have on their boxes, as if they're mocking the other consoles because they don't have those games.
Seamus Blackley, the man who designed the XBOX, thought he had the formula for a great gaming system because the console itself was powerful. When he was working on it, he didn't seem that concerned with making great games for it. The graphics over gameplay mentality that the console lives on is stupid and nonsensical. Most XBOX fanboys will brag about how powerful their console is. While it's true that the technical specs are better than the other 3 consoles, the only thing the XBOX has really used it's superior technical power for is for making better graphics, and as we all know, it's the gameplay, not the graphics, that make the game good. And what about the XBOXs games?
The XBOX was sold almost entirely on the success of the launch title Halo, which is one of the most generic and overrated games ever made. Even Microsoft themselves admits that if it wasn't for Halo, the XBOX would've went the way of the Dreamcast. The PS2 had a somewhat weak launch, but by early 2002, it was absolutely spring-loaded with A+ game after A+ game. So why can't XBOX do the same? Calling the console a one-trick pony is pretty much accurate because almost all of the other early (first year) XBOX games like Azurik and Nighcaster were total garbage. Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it almost makes you wonder if Microsoft payed the gaming magazines to hype up one of their games so the whole console would sell well.
The XBOX has largely rejected Japanese support, so it makes sense that the console has largely flopped in the land of the Rising Sun. Some say that the Japanese are a bunch of selfish, overly-patriotic bastards. I say they know what's good for them. Before you call me a Japan ass-kisser, who revived the game industry from America's mistakes? Who created Pac-Man, Mario, Sonic, and many other of the best games (and game characters) ever? Who's not afraid to try new things or appear "crazy" because of it? Where are Yuji Naka and Hideo Kojima from? Trying to make a good console without Japan's help is like Britain trying to win World War II without America's help. It just isn't going to happen. Out of the few good exclusives that the XBOX has, ALL of them are from Japan. Gee, I wonder if it's some sort of coincedince?
It's also an RPG-deprived wasteland. Most XBOX owners will tell you that the console has RPGs in the form of Fable, Star Wars: KOTOR, and Jade Empire, but these are actually just action games in disguise, with RPG elements in them. They're just not the same as Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior, nor are they anywhere NEAR as memorable.
And where are the oddball and niche games? Niche games don't really sell well, but they usually turn out to be better than most highly anticipated titles. The PS2 has Mister Mosquito, Stretch Panic, and Katamari Damacy, the Gamecube has Cubivore and Pikmin, but what does the XBOX have for those of us who are looking for something "different"? Nothing.
XBOX has seemingly eclipsed the PS2 in terms of popularity, which seems fitting. 2 years ago, I would've grimaced at the thought of the XBOX overthrowing the PS2 in that category, but now that I think about it, it reflects the quality of the consoles better. Most things that are popular just flat out suck. They get watered down for conformity and commercial success reasons. Garbage bands like Poison, Motley Crue, KoRn, Blink 182, 50 Cent, Ashlee Simpson and Fall Out Boy become popular and sell like crazy, while real artists like The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, and My Bloody Valentine are doomed to toil in obscurity. In high school, the superficial preps take center stage at the proms and footballs games, while the nerds, goths and theatre kids are deemed "weird" by everyone else. Wal-Mart acts as a gigantic black hole toward smaller, more honest businesses, sucking them up, and not giving them a fighting chance. It works the exact same way with video games, so that should tell you which consoles have the real games.
To it's credit, XBOX does have Shenmue II (the release of the US version on the Dreamcast was cancelled), Panzer Dragoon Orta, Ninja Gaiden, and Metal Slug 3 as exclusives, which are all great. Also, the ability to save your game without a memory card is an excellent idea. Because of these 2 factors, I've bumped the rating up a half a star.
Gaming fans, save your money and get a PS2 or a Dreamcast instead. Or you could just wait for the next generation to arrive. It's not that far off by this point. | video-games_xbox |
Sandbox games rule. The game designers here really hit the nail on the head on this one. Well sorta.
This is what I'm talking about. This truly is a great game.
Now these guys knew what they were doing. They got together a made a game that the people what. Not only that, but they even made add-ons for the player to get creative in the game like, creating all kinds of weapons in a surrounding environment. If you ask me, the more choices you have, the better. I love it when the hulk takes any car, and makes into a pair of steel fists. When he snaps the car in half, you can see what looks like blood from the car. I like to think that there were people in it that just got smashed. Any game that is made in "sandbox mode" is an awesome game.
But there are parts in the game that I have pet-peeves about. Like Hulk's costumes. The programmers just went limp on this. Just who the hell cares about the hulk wearing national flags as shorts? There are several of these like, Spain, France, Japan, and others. I wouldn't be surprised if they put in the Zimbabwe flag in there too. What this is saying directly from the programmers to you is this.
"Yeah, we could have put in different costumes in there but... That will take effort you know?"
That's the problem with people today. No one ever takes pride in their work anymore. And last I checked, the grey hulk should be about half the size of the green hulk, and twice the size of Banner with a lager vocabulary. Just how hard could that have been to make guys? Now I grant you that there are costumes that have different features which are, Abomination, Joe Fixit (NOT grey hulk) and Savage Banner. That it. That's all they put in there.
The other pet-peeve I have is, the challenge side missions. There is absolutely nothing to unlock once you've finally achieved all the gold metals in the side missions. This defeats any purpose as to have them in there in the first place. And believe me, some of these challenge missions are a nightmare to beat. You'd think that once you've beaten all these missions and going through all this hell would pay-off with a costume or something, but no.
To finish, I wish they could have made the hulk do even more stuff like, swimming or digging, but all in all, its an ok game. | video-games_xbox |
The best choice in First Person Shooter Multiplayer games. This game is simply a must have for any fan of the Console First Person Shooting genre,as well as anyone who loved Halo's multiplayer game. Unreal Championship will take the multiplayer experience to the highest levels found in a console game yet. Here are the reasons I think Unreal Championship will be really fun and a great experience for XBOX owners- OPTIONS!!!- 16 player online action on XBOX Live,the Broadband only online gaming service offered to XBOX owners by Microsoft, that features the voice communicator-a head set microphone device that lets you talk in real time to your friends and opponents online,and has an optional voice masking feature that makes your voice sound like a number of characters-robots,kids,monsters,cartoons,etc. There is also an optional ignore and mute feature.-Unreal Championship gives you the option to play up to 16 player games offline as well,via linking 4 XBOXes together. You have the option for 4 player splitscreen games on 1 XBOX.- Custom soundtrack feature. Unreal Championship allows you to play music from your own CD collection that you have saved to the XBOX Hard Drive as you play the game!-Fully customizable controls. Unreal Championship allows you to change the controls of the game to anything you like. You can set the aiming sensitivity higher or lower,choose what button does what,etc. Like Halo's controls? Make it just like Halo. You can also turn on,or shut off "Auto Aim",a feature that is usually disliked by skilled gamers. You can also choose this as a server side option on XBOX Live.-Computer controlled opponents called "bots"with almost human artificial intelligence. Digital Extremes,the creators of this game, have given XBOX owners the option of playing computer controlled opponents during matches with friends,or just by yourself when no one is around to play offline. The Computer controlled "bots" increase in difficulty as they fight you,in game. You also have the option to adjust the bots' intelligence before a game,setting their difficulty. Even if you don't plan on getting XBOX Live, or don't have access to BroadBand,this feature ensures that you will still get the full quality experience this great game offers.-Over 25 characters to choose from 6 different alien races. Unreal Championship has truly unique characters. You can choose from characters that look like Japanese Anime style robots,Heavily armored humanoids,Egyptian style warriors,Goth Warriors,etc. Variety is the spice of life,and UC has flavor! - Beautifully detailed fighting environments. This game has breath taking visuals,and cleverly made levels to fight in,that will provide hours of play. This game simply takes the greatest parts of the XBOX hardware,and uses them well. The bottom line, is that every XBOX owner that enjoys multiplayer games owes it to themselves to buy this game. This is what you bought an XBOX for. The visuals,the gameplay,the options. That's Unreal Championship. | video-games_xbox |
First Impressions. I'm a newcomer to the Tomb Raider franchise, and had a lot of misgivings about this one after all of the bad press it got at its release. Since I just got an Xbox One, and since that system is lacking in games at the moment, I decided to give the definitive edition a try, and I'm glad I did. While I was playing though, I couldn't help comparing it to Far Cry 3, another game where you're trapped on a tropical island with a bunch of crazy people and have to grow into an action hero. There are a lot of things that FC3 does better, unfortunately, but also a lot of things that Tomb Raider excels at. So here it is.
The Good:
The game's story is engaging, the pacing is good, and the graphics are beautiful. I didn't feel lost in the story, and while combat and the puzzles were difficult (for the semi-casual gamer), they were never frustratingly impossible (I played on Normal difficulty). I found the world really interesting, and loved the smaller details, like being able to light lamps and find artifacts. It's also nice to see a game with not only a female lead but many supporting female characters that are central to the story - even if some of them are a but stereotypical.
The Bad:
There are still some issues with the graphics, mainly involving the hair, and supposedly they are still better on the PS4 (higher frame rate), and top-of-the-line PCs (duh). It certainly runs better than on my two-year-old PC, however, and the graphics anomalies I've encountered (hair coming through the chest, hair magically clean, hair blowing in direction opposite to the wind), are mostly minor. The bigger issue is that sometimes Lara is just stupid. There are multiple instances where there is an obvious, plausible solution that the game ignores so that Lara can experience some sort of character-building loss later. She always separates herself from her party, even though that always goes poorly. I realize that this was probably the most convenient thing for the writers (she needs to be alone and self-reliant), but it was incredibly frustrating to play. While the story is overall interesting, it is sometimes too easy to predict what is going to happen, because the supporting cast is a bit stale and really not developed (but this is Lara's story, not theirs).
The Best:
It works. I no longer have expectations that games will run smoothly. Glitches, freezing, and the like have become par for the course. Tomb Raider, however, did not glitch or freeze once during my playthrough, and that is enormously refreshing. Perhaps its because the game has been out on the PS3/360 for ages, or perhaps it was designed well, but regardless it's really nice to be able to play and not worry about the save file corrupting and eating hours worth of play time. | video-games_xbox |
One of the best 360 games ever. The Ultimate Edition of Fallout: New Vegas is a an unbelievable deal. Between the main game and the DLC (which is included on a separate disc, just like the Fallout 3 GOTY edition) you are looking at 150+ hours of game time if you take your time and experience all the neat stuff this game offers. And that's just one play through. You'll want to play through the game several times because their are multiple solutions to many of the quests and several different endings. As in all of Bethesda games, you can absolutely ignore the main quest in this game and still have plenty of fun if you choose to. This game is a must own for any RPG enthusiast!
I've noticed a few people complaining about bugs so I've included a few tips. I've had a relatively smooth experience on Fallout NV and all Bethesda games but I apply all the principles below;
1. Save often and always create a new save file. The only downside to this is after awhile when you have hundreds of saves the save and load function will become very slow. At that point you need to take about 10 minutes and delete most of your old saves and start the process over. Well worth it. Also nice if you want to go back to an earlier portion of the game and try something different. Finally, this will help on the outside chance one of your save files becomes corrupted. DO NOT save over old saves as this is the easiest way to cause a save file to be corrupted.
2. Install to the hard drive if you can. I vaguely remember playing Fallout 3 from the disc and having lots of lockups but installing to the hard drive seems to stop almost all of them.
3. Clear the cache from time to time especially after a long play sessions. If you notice lockups or performance lag this usually fixes it. However, do not clear the cache through the Xbox interface as this will cause you to have to reinstall the DLC. All Bethesda games have a hidden function that allows you to clear the cache without disrupting any DLC. Hold down both bumpers and the X button upon starting the game up should do the trick.
4. Finally, be glad you don't have this on the PS3 as this and almost all Bethesda games are practically unplayable.
Hope this helps, enjoy the game! | video-games_xbox |
Do NOT buy this demo posing as a full game - not even for the hardcore PGA Tour fans. First off, I love this game series. I have been buying these golf games for years. They have gotten better and better over the last few years. They finally included classic golfers and some major moments in golf history in recent games. They finally got the license to add Augusta National to the game so we can all experience The Masters - how cool is that??
Then, there is this game. EA skipped out on a year for the next-gen game because, we all thought, they were putting in time and effort to creating the best possible next-gen game. Not so. Not at all so. This is easily the worst rendition I have ever played of any of their games. 8 real courses. 12 real golfers. Is this a demo? Did I pay $65 for a demo? Good grief, this game is a joke. I even contacted EA to try to get my money back. I believe they duped their entire market with a half completed game where they lost the rights to everything that should go into the game. EA was having none of it. The only redemption possible could be a slew of DLC releases for free. Even then, it would be hard for those DLCs to catch this game up to being worth any amount of money.
That all being said, here is an honest review of what is in the actual game: the arcade mode can be pretty fun (although, this is not at all what the bulk of us are buying the game for), the courses (the very few that are there) do look really good, the golfers look terrible (seriously, they look terrible - I can't believe this is the Xbox One version of these golfers), the shorter time to play 18 holes is really nice, and the career mode is as big a joke as the amount of content in this game. The customization in the career feels like the first career mode EA has ever experimented with and were too afraid to give us any control over the experience.
Do yourself a favor - do NOT get this game until it falls drastically in price or a lot of content is released for it via DLC. I have not been this disappointed with a game purchase since I purchased Time Splitters: Future Perfect on the PS2 way back in the day. It is absurd that this game was released with this little in it. This honestly feels like a demo - where is the rest of the game?? | video-games_xbox |
Microsoft cheaped out on everything BUT Kinect, which tells you what's important to them. The Kinect offers unprecedented access to information for advertisements. I imagine this is going to be an advertising machine. Which I might even be OK with if it was, cheaper, offered me something in return, or was miles ahead of the competition. But none of that applies here.
* The much touted controller is in my mind a failure. it's not better than the Xbox 360 controller. It might be for someone, but no one in my household. Maybe if you have small hands. The bumpers are harder to press if your fingers are longer than 2 inches, the analog sticks are loose, the controller feels smaller overall.
* It comes with no games. Previous consoles seemed to come with at least something to play. This console has nothing. There are a couple of "free" titles you can download that are basically trial versions of the game. You have to pay to really play them fully.
* The voice commands could be cool, but for the most part we find ourselves yelling over the top of each other constantly. Trying to get it to respond. For a single person it may work great. Not so great for families. Understandably any ambient noise or conversation renders it all pretty useless.
* It's 2013. Still no rechargeable controller Microsoft? Oh yes, we are now able to pay $75 for a controller with a charge pack that replaces the batteries. This seems typical of Microsoft. "Nickel and diming" you for things that everyone else just supplies. Until they see Microsoft get away with it and then start copying. (re: XBox Live and Playstation Plus)
* I find it annoying that the USB port for charging the controllers/hooking up anything is on the SIDE of the Xbox rather than the front. I suppose depending on how your entertainment center is set up, it might be nice to have that. For most I've seen it's annoying to have something sticking out of the side of a huge console. Maybe there should be ports on the front AND the side?
* No backward compatibility. If either Sony or Microsoft had included this, it would have been the killer feature. The experience with the PS3 was that it was too expensive to include, I guess. But for the most part it just feels like both vendors thought they could "get away with it", so they cheaped-out.
* It's frustrating to hear my boys say things like "I like this game better on the 360." (Battlefield 4, probably because of the controller.)
* Sony lets you use a code to get Call of Duty: Ghosts for $10 on the PS4 if you bought it for PS3, and I think allows you to play that game on both the PS3 and download it from the store for your PS4. Which I was really excited for with the Xbox. I guess that's not true for the Xbox though. Gamestop allows you to trade in your 360 game, and get $50 credit. With which you can buy the Xbox One version. So you can't keep playing it on the 360.
* The Kinect games could be pretty cool. But so far, like the Wii, after awhile it feels gimicky and mildly frustrating. Just like the Wii, for party games it might be cool, but that's it. I'm sure they know this, and didn't sell as many of them as they would have liked, so forcing you to buy it by including it with the console is the way to ensure you have it. The fact that people didn't care enough about it to buy it tells you that Microsoft didn't include this for US, it was included for THEM.
I was lucky and did not receive a broken one. So it works. It perhaps has better graphics. The biometric stuff is creepy but if I trusted them to not sell it to advertisers it could be very cool. It works reasonable well now in a quiet room, but you can't do everything with it. For instance, you can change the channel on your satellite box, but so far I haven't figured out if it can play something from the DVR. That's something they could probably easily improve.
As much as Microsoft spends on usability studies, we all found it very confusing at first. The tutorial just plain wouldn't work. We started it, it had buttons on the button that appeared to be tutorial categories, but we'd click them and the screen would just remain black. maybe if we waited a long time it would have downloaded it? Not sure why some default couldn't have been installed, even if updates came out later. Regardless, select the option, and waiting 30 seconds did nothing. So we struggled through finding what we needed without the tutorial.
I guess my review can be summed up as "Meh". Microsoft gives you a mediocre new console, and gets what they really want. A nice way to mine you for even more Advertising information, and get you to pay extra for the privilege. | video-games_xbox |
Take me back to Paradise. Much about Need For Speed: Most Wanted reminds me very much of Burnout Paradise City; the open world, smashing certain cars to unlock them, crazy jumps and wild drifting. That's a good thing; Paradise city was awesome, and so is this by association. That said, if you want a more traditional racing experience, you probably won't like this, as some of my fellow reviewers can attest to. The introduction of real cars is nice, and the process of unlocking mods and upgrading them to pro by meeting certian criteria (distance driven in car, jump distance, boost time) makes for a nice change of pace. The city is well rendered, the crashes just as visceral and wince-inducing as ever (though toned down a bit from Paradise City.)
To be honest, this whole game seems like a toned-down version of paradise, though not severely so. The addition of cops and cop chases make up for the difference, though I find the cops a little more tenacious than in Saints Row; they can set up a roadblock right ahead of you only seconds after spotting you, which seems a little impossible. I also miss some of the unique cars, though this may be addressed in future DLC.
I find Multiplayer a blast. While everyone might not agree, I enjoy the odd objectives that pop up, and it does a lot to help break up the mundanity of straight-up racing all the time. Besides, broadsiding your friend at 200 mph never gets old. There are no cops in multiplayer, but I find this a refreshing change from the single player, especially when the cops have been particularly tenacious. An option to play the police in multiplayer would be awesome (future DLC please!).
I can see while some people may not like it; it's not a traditional racing game. Put simply, if you liked Paradise City, you'll like this. Put another way, if you like the idea of driving around in fast cars, but don't want to be bound to an endless series of races, this is your game (also, pick up Burnout Paradise City, which is the Saints Row 2 to this game's Grand Theft Auto 4. | video-games_xbox |
One of My Favorite Games of All Time and I Usually Don't Like This Sort of Game. I discovered this little gem as a free Games with Gold download. I almost want to mail the developers a check because I feel bad that I didn't pay anything for something this good. I can't believe there isn't a sequel. I've never played anything quite like it, but I'd say a close approximation would be if Assassin's Creed 2 and BioShock Infinite had a baby in Dickensian London. It's not quite an FPS, not quite a stealth game, not quite an RPG, but it has elements of all of them and it can become any of those depending on how you play it. Heck, it's even kind of a 3D platformer. Just give the game two hours and if you're not hooked...well, I'd go see a doctor because something is wrong with you.
This is the sort of game you can start playing on a Saturday morning and then all of sudden realize the sun has set. It's like a drug free blackout. When I first read the description I wasn't sure if I should give it a go or not, and I never would have if I'd had to pay for it. I generally find FPSs really boring and repetitive (the Halo games are the only FPSs I've ever been able to finish), so if that element makes you hesitant, don't let it. I'm only moderately interested in stealth games, too, and I still loved it. Really it was the fact that some review said it had an extensive upgrade tree that got me on board (I love anything with lots of upgrades, from RPGs to Gran Turismo).
Anywho, the most prominent element of this game is the stealth aspect, though you don't have to use stealth if you prefer get in all out blood baths or snipe from afar and you can pick upgrades and powers that suit your playing style. The powers are all really fun to use and can be combined weapons and skills in interesting ways. The story is compelling and believable. The game also has solid replay value since you can focus on doing things a different way the second time around and developing different powers. There are lots of optional missions, too, and there are even multiple story lines and endings depending on how you play (and how many people you kill). There aren't many games I know with a power called Bloodlust that can also be beaten without killing a single person.
One last piece of advice: save often. The game is pretty challenging and you will die every couple minutes and frequently encounter areas it'll take you 10 attempts to get through. I think you can lower the difficulty but I found the challenge compelling and not frustrating in a "this game is impossible" sort of way like some games. You can save pretty much whenever you want (except when enemies are aware of your presence), so it's not like you get all your work messed up because there was no checkpoint. Ammo/mana conservation and strategy are extremely important, and it's not one of those games where you can get shot 20 times and keep walking. Even the lowliest guards you encounter have enough health, skill and firepower to kill you in a one on one encounter if you don't fight back in a smart and skillful way. At the same time, if you play your cards right you can kill like 10 guards at once (that would be very difficult though).
TL;DR: The love child of Assassin's Creed 2 and BioShock Infinite. A stealth, FPS, RPG with steampunkish weapons and magical powers that can be combined in fun and satisfying ways. | video-games_xbox |
Xbox 360's Musical Breakthrough. There are just so many great music games out there. While you have the guitar standards that are based on rhythm like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and those that make you step to the beat of the music like Dance Dance Revolution, there is just the feeling of games that you have to sing your way to the top. With lackluster games like American Idol and Disney's Sing It!, just appeal to tweens and teeny-boppers wannabes alike, there just doesn't feel like there is a universal appeal to sing-a-long games alike. For those who've played Singstar so much from the PS2 and Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 has taken that notion to a whole new level that makes it more than just meets the eye.
Lips for the Xbox 360 takes in the appeal of what the Singstar! series had for the PS2, and brings in the appeal as a first for Xbox 360 players. While the game might seem like a gimmick, there actually is surprisingly more. You have the usuals like Singstar, from singing along to over 40 tracks that appeal from recent favorites like Duffy's Mercy and the extremely overexposed artist of 2008 Rihanna with Umbrella, to classics like The Jackson 5's ABC, and Everything She Does Is Magic by The Police. You also have the ability to download videos from the Xbox Live marketplace to add on to the fun. While the graphics and sound might feel like it is similar to Singstar!, as well as the concept of the downloadable content, what makes this unique to the gameplay is Lips secret weapon.
What makes the gameplay more unique is that you can plug in your MP3 player or Ipod, and connect it to the 360, and sing along to your favorite songs off their personal MP3 Players in the game as well. This feature makes the game a whole lot more exciting and addictive to the gameplay for parties everywhere. Sadly, there is one big disadvantage to the MP3 playback. The only music downloads that are compatable, are ones that are MP3 DRM-Free capable. Which is the only problem, is that if you download music off of sites that use other music files in Windows Media Audio or WMA, they will not be playable on the game. That is sadly, the only major flaw in the game. Also, I was hoping that with the price of the Singstar! games for PS2 and Playstation 3, I really thought it would also be a bit less expensive.
All in all though, Lips for the Xbox 360 brings in the singing along concept well for those who want to have a great time listening to their favorite songs. If you've gotten pretty tired of Singstar!, or if you don't own a Playstation 2, or PS3, than this would be a fantastic buy for music lovers and 360 gamers all around the world. I really hope they make this concept for more music games like this soon. At around $65, you really get a great game, that doesn't feel like it is a gimmick.
Graphics: B
Sound: B
Control: B
Extras: B+
Fun & Enjoyment: B- for solo play; A- for multiplayer
Overall: B | video-games_xbox |
Suprisingly amazing. Licensed games are always a gamble. I've played some awful titles based on TV Shows or Movies in my life, so I'm always wary when a new one is released. South Park: The Stick of Truth is a shining example of what a licensed title SHOULD be.
The premise is essentially that the kids of South Park are participating in a town wide LARP (live action role playing game) and, as always, they're taking it way too seriously. You get to create your own character which is awesome and makes the game easier to play. Assigning you an existing character is a common pitfall of most licensed titles in my opinion. Throughout the game you will find a TON of items to customize your appearance. The gameplay is pretty standard RPG fair, but you're probably not interested in this title because you expect it to be some revolutionary RPG that turns the genre on its ear.
The writing is exactly what you would expect from Matt and Trey. No punches were pulled. This isn't just a cash cow. They absolutely put the same effort into the writing of this game that they would in any South Park episode or movie. There's plenty of appearances and nods to previous episodes and running gags.
Graphically, it is a South Park Episode. If someone didn't know you were playing the game, they would just assume you were watching an episode of South Park.
Many have cited the length of the game as a negative. Keep in mind this is a, fairly, open world RPG. The game is what YOU make of it. Yeah, you can complete nothing but the story objectives and just plow through the game in around 10-12 hours. But you'll miss so many hilarious encounters and hidden things. Take your time, do the side quests, poke around, go in all the houses and you'll easily clock 25-30 hours out of the title AND you'll probably want to play it again afterwards.
Overall, this is a gem and sets the standard for licensed titles. Kudos to both Matt & Trey and the folks at Ubisoft. | video-games_xbox |
It is Jasper, hope it works. ::EDIT; Even though this is still recorded for me as the version I purchased, and it has the "Newest" sticker, the descriptor no longer includes the 512MB line on it. I don't know if this means Amazon is recycling the older units in now for this order set, if they are doing that then that means my review cannot be relied upon and you may end up with a older chip. If they stick that 512MB label back on though then you are good to go.::
***
I am not going to go into the merits of a 360 ownership on this review. Rather this is geared for the gamer who has a orphaned HDD at home looking for a new 360 to be connected to, but they are afraid until they know they are going to get a Jasper.
After my fourth 360 died, this time out of warranty, I promised myself that I would never buy another one again while glaring hatefully at the number of games coming out in the next few months.
Friends had mentioned the mythical Jasper chip to me but due to the sentiment being that you are pretty much having a crap shoot on whether you would get one or not, no matter what SKU you ordered, I sat quietly and pined for a new form of entertainment.
Then I saw this product and knew everything would be safe for me to purchase it. Despite what some others are saying the 360 Arcade 512 MB version is always going to be a Jasper. Previous models had a smaller internal memory and you are stuck hoping that the model in the box was made after the Jasper date. With a 512 MB you are always getting a Jasper as that is what they are built with, there is no backlog.
One note , something that caused me to cry out in my office in fear as I opened the brown Amazon shipping box, is that the actual 360 packaging still says 256 MB on it. I am pretty sure I need to invoice them for a gray hair on that one.
Sure enough the inside held a lovely 512 MB unit. After a few days it seems to be working fine, of course my last one worked fine until a month out of warranty so who knows.
I am sticking with 4 stars on my review though as even though I love my 360 and the entertainment it has brought me, and even though all 5 consoles combined are still cheaper than any gaming PC I would of built, this is still my FIFTH 360.
I honestly question my sanity in buying this one and can't help but have a small twinge of fear every time I go to power it on that it will glare back at me with a red eye. | video-games_xbox |
This may be the last Final Fantasy I buy brand new. I love the Final Fantasy series and I have played Final Fantasy 8,9,10,10-2, and 13. I have to say that Final Fantasy 13 is nothing special. In fact it is the worst of the Final Fantasy series I have played. The game play is extremely limited. Gone are the days where you could run through towns and shops buying things. Now in order to buy stuff you go to the save point. BORING! There are no Limit Breaks (limit breaks are cool powerful attacks you can use when your health gets below a certain point) and the summons (creatures that come to your aid) can be attacked which could mean that before you even get to use an attack your summon could be defeated. Also, the summon's attacks aren't even that powerful!
Plus, the top choice when picking attack is a "AUTO" button meaning the computer automatically decides what you are going to do so I spend my days just pressing this button letting the computer deciding everything. You cant really control the other characters attacks. You can only decide what type of attack you want them to do. For example if you pick "Commando" it will be some sort of physical attack but you won't be able to specifically pick the "Ruin" attack. The story line really isn't that engaging. In all the other Final Fantasys I played (besides 9) I felt attached to the characters to the point where after beating the game I was sad that it was over. With Final Fantasy 13 I don't really care what happens to them. I find myself fixing a sandwich or answering a text when the cut scences come on.
My biggest complaint about this game is the fact that they limit how powerful you can become. Gone are the days when you could spend hours leveling up in order to beat a boss with ease. Now you are at the mercy of the developers because you will not be able to become stronger until the game allows you to. I am very disappointed with this final fantasy and I have decided that I probably won't be buying the next Final Fantasy brand new like I did with this one. The developers need to look back at what made final fantasy 7,8, and 10 great when they make Final Fantasy 14. | video-games_xbox |
A hard act to follow. Talk about a hard act to follow. The original BioShock was arguably the best release of 2007, and indeed among the very best games of this console generation. Bioshock 2 takes place 10 years later and Rapture is still leaking and filled with Spilcers around every corner. The new villian Sophia Lamb is the complete oppoiste from the idealist of Andrew Ryan from the original Bioshock. After a awesome introduction you are aided by Eleanor Lamb, the Little Sister you were originally paired with (now an adult), whom you must rescue from the clutches of her mother, Sofia Lamb. It's a journey that takes you through previously unseen areas of the underwater city, and even out onto the ocean floor itself.
However this time you are a Big Daddy by choice and this has its benefits. For starters, your Eve supply is topped up automatically by a feed from your suit so you don't have to stop and manually inject it mid-firefight which previously left you momentarily vulnerable to enemy attacks. Your larger stature allows you to wield a better and bigger set of weaponry this time around, such as the rivet gun and gatling gun, and even a hydraulic spear gun that allows you to nail those deformed enemy splicers to walls like wallpaper. Then there is ofcourse the new drill on your right arm which delivers devastating melee blows and in its fully upgraded form the drill can even be used to deflect enemy bullets back at them, lightsaber-style, although all drill usage comes at the cost of rapidly draining fuel (bought from vending machines or scavenged from the environment).
This time around the Splicers are more agressive and smarter than before. Smarter too. They'll use cover, throw grenades like before and rush to the nearest med station when their health gets low. Combining weapon and plasmid attacks, not to mention taking advantage of your environment, becomes even more paramount when you come up against the tougher adversaries in the game, such as the Brute splicers who have a habit of shoulder-barging you and throwing large pieces of masonry at your diving helmet. A mix of old and new Big Daddies including the new Rumbler that sets up miniature turrets and uses RPG rounds to rub you out and of course the Big Sisters, which combine the agility of a Spider splicer with the power of a Big Daddy, their scream telegraphs their imminent arrival and allows you some precious time to prepare for battle which is exactly what you want to do.
In raw gameplay terms, BioShock 2 improves on the original in many ways, with a deeper combat system, a broader set of enemy types and the addition of a fully-featured multiplayer mode. It's an undeniably enjoyable and slickly polished shooter from start to finish, jam-packed with secrets off the beaten path and hidden references to the first game that well worth seeking out. However, BioShock 2's cast of characters, while suitably corrupt and twisted, and once again fleshed out by the brilliant audio tapes that litter the city, just don't quite hit with the same kind of impact that the likes of Ryan, Fontaine, Steinman and the psychotic Sander Cohen achieved in the original. | video-games_xbox |
Meh game. I'll keep this review quick and simple. Do NOT buy this game if you're expecting a recreation of the original Goldeneye we all remember from the 90s. I have very fond memories of the original on the N64. Such as hating anybody who played as Odd Job.
Pros:
-James Bond. I don't have to say much more.
-Guns. There are a lot of them! Diversity of the weapons is cool.
-Art style. The graphics are what you'd expect from a James Bond game but they're beginning to look dated.
-Sound design. The sound is great, gunfire and music are top notch.
-Nods to the original Goldeneye. Some of the levels are similar to that of the original, except you play as the Daniel Craig James Bond (which I am a fan of.)
-Voice acting. It sounds like they got Daniel Craig to voice Bond here, so I'm happy with that. The other voice actors are good as well. No shortage of Russians!
-Price. I found a copy of this for about $25 at my Gamestop last summer. Not a bad game for the price. Wouldn't spend much more on it, though.
Cons:
-Not a faithful recreation of the original. Although very similar in story, it's just not the same. I understand this is supposed to be a reboot, but it's not something you'll want to play if you're a frequent wearer of tight-fitting nostalgia glasses.
-Level design feels rushed, and sometimes objectives are unclear. Fairly linear and boring levels.
-Difficulty. I'm not somebody who plays Call of Duty often, but I am a huge fan of first person shooters. The original Goldeneye's difficulty was rewarding, much like playing through a match online in Battlefield. It was just plain fun. However I found myself hard-pressed to continue levels, sometimes putting the game away for weeks at a time.
-Not a whole lot of multiplayer activity.
-AI. They're pretty dumb, I feel like I was in Tae Kwon Do class again, as a blackbelt sparring against beginners. AI don't even notice you half the time, even if you're in their field of vision. Come on, movie bad-guys aren't even that dumb!
-Checkpoint system. Do I need to explain?
-Too COD-like. The developers tried way too hard to make this game a mainstream-shooter with features that big budget titles like Call of Duty have. It doesn't fare too well.
-Too modern. I don't know, something like Goldeneye really needs to stay cheesy and retro, in all of it's N64 glory. They tried to make this game modern, way too hard.
Final verdict: Meh. Not bad, not good. Worth $25, wouldn't spend more though. Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, and the original Goldeneye, even, were far better games.
Who i'd recommend it to: Fans of first person shooters, fans of James Bond movies, people who enjoy movie-related games.
Who I wouldn't recommend it to: Fans of the original game, retro gamers, Nintendo fanboys, nostalgic gamers. | video-games_xbox |
Great Game... on XBL. You're prolly sitting there reading all these bad reviews saying tou yourself.... "Ehhh screw it, i'll get something else" We all did, Even I. But I had already reserved the game, so i said, what the hell? I got home and played the single player first(as i do with every game to get the feel for the controls) and found myself getting a little bored. So i decided to go onto XBL and try the 25 VS 25 games. I couldn't find any right away so i played in the smaller games. I was surprised to see little lagg. This was a BIG concern with me. No don't get me wrong, there was a couple times that the "game session is no longer availible" message popped up, but it went away eventually. The cool thing about that is you don't lagg out and lose your score. Anyways I played for a bit in one of the smaller games. And realized how detailed the maps were. When i say detailed, i don't mean graphics-wise, i mean how you can go on any building and snipe, go inside a lot of buildings, hide in alley-ways and wait for the unsuspecting convoy to drive by only to kill the people in the 50 cals and take them for yourself. This leads me to vehicle operation. I thought not being able to drive the vehicles would be a bad thing. I quickly forget about that. You are just TOO imersed in urban warfare you don't really care. So after a while i left and found a 50 player game. It was team king of the hill. The map this was on was perfect. There was a building in the center of the map, and both teams spawned at opposites sides, and other various spawn poitns if your team could take them over. WE both made a dash for the building and once again, no lagg. AWESOME. So anyway we make a mad dash, all the sudden bullets, rockets and grenades are flying past my ear, people are screamin medic, and the black hawks are in the air, raining bullets on my men. Then one of my men get an AT4(rpg) and blow up the chopper. I'm behind a brick wall, i can't move. There is a 50 cal in the building that will not elt up, so i tell one of my men to flank him and take the 50 over. He goes around, and kills him. We get the building and we hold it for about 7 minutes(the goal is 10 minutes) So long story short. The game went on for 3 hours! My team finally won. This is probably one of the best Online games for the xbox, if not the best. screw halo 2. This is a great buy! | video-games_xbox |
Flawed..but Great for a rental. i gave up on Live because of its Arcadeish gameplay the past 5 years..so i became a Heavy fan of NBA 2K5 which is the best ball game EVER. then i played Live 08 at a friends house and i was Impressed with the gameplay..so i purchased 09. at first it was Great..until i started to notice the flaws. players score WAYYY too many Layups in taller defenders faces. there are times when shots will be Blocked..but Wayy Too Often has a shorter man come down and skied to the rim for a floating layup over an extended players hand and made it. its as if the Motion of making an x button layup can not be Stopped. the Alley Oop sometimes can NOT be stopped. not to mention sometimes the players miss OPEN LAYUPS. i was playing a game online and i counted about 15 OPEN MISSED LAYUPS RIGHT AT THE RIM pressing the X button. in that Very same game, my opponent racked up FOUL AFTER FOUL getting to the bucket..its as if i was pushing the button to Intentionally Foul his players. its Frustrating to say the Least, especially Online. also, if your going to Pass, you will NEED to use the Icon passing..as ALOT of times, they won't Pass to the person your pointing to..which will lead to Many turnovers.
on a good note, the Presentation of the game, the Menu's and just the whole Style of the game is Phenomenal. Best iv seen for a basketball game. the Online gameplay is GREAT, the game only Crashed online twice the whole week i had it. it flows smoothly with a hick up here and there, no bigg deal. the Be a Pro mode is FUN for a minute. players look like themselves and move and shoot exactly how their real life counterparts do. the very Motion and Color of the game looks and feels just like an NBA game on TNT Television, they did a nice job of capturing that TV feel for this game. all in all, its a GREAT experience that every ball fan should take part in but i say rent it before putting down the [...] bucks on a purchase, the Flaws may turn you away. i enjoyed it for a Week before i just got Bored of it and couldn't deal with a Majority of the Flaws.
iLL . | video-games_xbox |
New Heisman Challenge Does Little to Change a Familiar, But Still Fun, Game. The Madden and NCAA Football series have both been criticized for their lack of innovation upon release of the next iteration of the game for years now; NCAA Football 11 did some to change that perception, but NCAA Football 12 kept the same outward appearance, although it did change some gameplay features on the inside. In place of another major overhaul, however, NCAA 13 opted for some new features and animations, making the game more immersive than ever, but doing little to change the game's usual formula.
The new feature this year is Heisman challenge, a glorified Road to Glory mode that allows the player to step in to the shoes of a former Heisman Trophy winner such as Desmond Howard, Barry Sanders, or Charlie Ward, and compete in seasons on any team you wish. Inevitably this will lead to some disgusting combinations, such as Archie Griffin on Michigan or Carson Palmer on Notre Dame, but dwelling on that will only make matters worse. The Heisman Challenge's staple is reaction time, or bullet time, slowing down the game so the player can make cuts or throws with their head instead of quick reactions. In some cases, this is extremely helpful, but it also makes gameplay a little too easy at some levels. Heisman Challenge is definitely something to check out, but it won't keep you entertained for too long.
Dynasty has also seen some under the hood improvements. New recruiting options and features make each game in the season more important, as an underdog win over a top 25 opponent will net you some well-earned popularity with the recruits. This is a very welcome addition, and something which many have been wishing was part of the game for a while. More recruiting options are available for the player as well; Scouting is now an essential part of recruiting. You can see a player's ratings through the season, and target recruits based on your findings instead of being given a base grade. Calling recruits also leads to new gameplay options, and can help swing a recruit towards your school, if you're good enough. In game studio updates, provided by Rece Davis, improve the game's ESPN atmosphere, making it feel even more like you're watching the big game on television; the ESPN ticker gives you the scores from around the nation, and priority score alerts make it even easier to follow the big upsets of the heavy hitting game between top 5 teams.
Road to Glory saw some minor attention this year adding in new challenges as a college player. Despite the lack of a major overhaul it is still as fun as ever; leading your own high school player to the starting spot on a college team is extremely exciting. RTG may even be a little more difficult this year if you choose. It also touts the new reaction time used in the Heisman challenge, and contains better goals to pursue than past iterations, creating a more challenging game.
EA is touting the new animations that have been added to the game, with new receiving and throwing animations being brought into the game to improve realism, and motion blur being added as well. The new animations make the game more lifelike to be sure, and make the players look and feel more athletic, instead of moving about the field in a fashion similar to robots attempting to play American football. Motion blur never seems to be an integral part of the game, however, only popping up on replays and in between plays. Fans do have motion blur, but that seems less important than introducing motion blur in gameplay, and seeing a fan pump their fist with motion blur never made me gaze in wonder at the feat that EA achieved. Defenses are not the omnipotent beasts they once were, and neither are receivers, for that matter. You need to make sure a receiver is looking for the ball before you throw to them, made easier by the grayed out icons that indicate your receiver is entirely oblivious to the fact you are attempting to throw them the ball. However, defensive players that aren't looking can't block the pass either, a problem that reoccurred throughout NCAA 12.
The biggest lacking feature for this year's NCAA football was the Infinity engine offered by Madden 13. Now, Madden 13 has not come out yet, and thus there has been no clear reference for its engine, giving us no clue whether it is another useless "innovation" provided by Madden or if it's actually a fantastic addition for the game, but it certainly is disappointing that it was not included in this year's NCAA. This is especially disappointing given that, at least in recent years, NCAA had surpassed Madden in being the elite football title produced by EA in terms of gameplay and reception.
The previous iteration of NCAA Football didn't do too much to separate itself from the line of other NCAA's, at least not in a manner similar to NCAA 11, and NCAA 13 doesn't do too much either. For fans of college football and folks who have picked up each and every other game before it, it's a good buy, but for those simply looking for a recommendation to upgrade from NCAA 12, there's not much reason to spend the extra money for a the Heisman Challenge, new animations, and a roster update. As an individual who spent hundreds of hours on NCAA 12, I picked it up and loved it.
EDIT: I have recently had a lot of trouble loading my dynasty, as it constantly freezes during the game loading screen. I haven't been able to touch my dynasty mode after this, and it's extremely frustrating. Hopefully it will be patched soon, but as of now, with dynasty mode unable to be played correctly, I switch my position to don't buy. Wait until it's patched to buy or just save the money and continue to play '12. | video-games_xbox |
This is the future of Halo. I've not written a game review before, but I felt I had to this time because I really think this game is not only being underrated because of the multiplayer uproar, but a major factor for it being released in the first place is being completely overlooked. More on that below. I am a software engineer who has been playing computer/video games for 40+ years now (Pong, anyone?), and yes, I am that old. Of the hundreds of games I have played, the Halo series, and Halo CE in particular, easily ranks in my Top 10, probably Top 5. The reason? Its campaign gameplay is virtually unmatched for depth of play, difficulty adjustment, engaging storyline, audio/visual presentation, and on and on. It's just plain fun! I've played Halo CE numerous times over the years, either the full campaign or individual levels. I like Halo multiplayer as well and have spent much time online, but that's not the reason I buy the Halo games. I don't want to repeat what other 5-star reviewers have said about this game (I found the reviews by Relytia and Pyanfar Chanur to be particularly good), but I would like to make some additional comments that will hopefully tie things together for potential buyers wanting to know what to expect from this game.
First, the Anniversary campaign uses the same gameplay software as the original game - a huge money & time saver for developer 343 Industries. In consequence, the levels play exactly as before, with the same enemies in the same locations, and even the same checkpointing system. This latter may be a shock to those who have never played the original since you cannot save whenever you want, but I actually approve of it since it forces you to be a little less cavalier about dying. Since I consider Halo CE to be the best of the Halo games, I am very happy with the decision NOT to try to remake the game as some sort of Halo Reach clone. Note that this does not mean that 343i could not tweak the gameplay, because a lot of game mechanics are buried in easily accessible external data tables and hence are not updates to the software itself (this does not include the new skulls or terminals, which require some software support). I have played 3 levels at different difficulty settings and though it might be my imagination, I cannot shake the feeling that gameplay has been tightened up a bit - for example, I get the impression that the assault rifle does more, and the needler less, damage than the original game. If so, kudos to 343i for taking the time to tune parameters that most players will never notice.
Second, the Anniversary campaign uses the Saber3D display engine, which not only renders game objects in 3D space (which all game rendering systems must do) but can also output them for use with a 3D display system. And this it does...Halo CE Anniversary in 3D is AWESOME! I play using a 60" plasma 3D TV, and playing in 3D ups the fun factor by orders of magnitude. I cannot adequately describe just how much more immersive the game feels in 3D. The 3D renditions of weapon, effect and character models merit particular applause. Now, for the first time, I can easily visually discern exactly when to use the assault rifle to melee a pesky Elite - the 3D effect is that good and the animations can be distracting just watching them. Not to mention that the gore splatters are splattier and the explosions, uh, explodier. 3D has been largely overlooked or trivialized by most, if not all, reviewers here. Even the professional reviewers are guilty of this, and they do so at their peril. People resist change, but 3D is simply far too intuitive and far more natural to our stereoscopic-wired brains to be ignored.
Third, the 3D goodness extends to the sound domain as well. The remastered sound effects add considerably to the gameplay experience, for example the reverberating echo of the sniper rifle adds significantly to the illusion of a large-caliber, high-powered weapon. Best of all, in my opinion, is the increased localization in the surround sound stage of the voices. By and large the Covenant foes are a vocal lot, and the game makes especially good use of this in alerting you to the presence of enemies that are out of your line-of-sight, just before they open up on you. This 3D spatialization is so good, in fact, that it prompted me to replay the first couple of levels without referring to the motion tracker (consciously, at least), using only audio cues to react to the unseen. Not only was it surprisingly effective, it ratcheted up the tension level and gave game play a more realistic atmosphere. I can hardly wait to find the skull that disables the motion tracker completely! I highly recommend this experiment to all who play using surround sound systems.
So, put it all together and what do you get? 3D or no 3D, you get beautifully rendered characters and vehicles, light reflecting from overcharged plasma pistols and grenades, energy halos that expand out from Elites when their shields fail, sparkling richochets from missed assault rifle rounds, plasma grenades that audibly hiss through the air as they arc toward you, trees with bark and moss, rocks with granulated faces, waterfalls with spray/spume, snowflakes you think you can grab, dust clouds forming behind your racing Warthog, just to name a few. True, the passage of time has not been particularly kind to the unchanged AI, and there are other 10 year old idiosyncracies as noted in other reviews, but you are still (re)playing what I think is one of the best FPS campaigns ever committed to DVD.
And oh yes, IMO the 3D implementation contained herein is a major reason, if not the major reason, why this game was given the green light in the first place. Think about it, a major game title just begging for a facelift, practically free gameplay software, a 10 year anniversary marketing opportunity, and the next iteration of a huge franchise looming on the horizon. Talk about serendipity. I suspect this game is the proof-of-concept of next-gen graphics for Halo 4 and beyond, and a good indication why the Halo series will continue to be console-centric. Console developers are well aware that one of their biggest advantages over the PC is the immersion factor of their games, and a 3D game played on a big-screen TV with a home theater 5.1 surround system simply cannot be matched by a PC. Further, I predict that this game will prove to be the 3D benchmark by which other 3D-aspiring console games will be measured, in much the same way that the original Halo CE became the benchmark for console FPS games. I've played Crysis 2 and GoW3 in 3D and they are simply not in the same league. Ironically, one of the main reasons for this is the relative simplicity of the Halo CE game world as a consequence of using the original game's software, ie. scenes with relativly fewer and/or well-spaced objects tend to project a much better defined 3D depth that heavily cluttered scenes. Games such as Halo Reach, which is both much more cluttered and is heavy on textures, bump-mapping and the like, provide a much busier looking and more realistic-seeming environment, but one which is much more problematic for a 3D display engine. There are solutions, but they require more horsepower than the current generation consoles can provide. Does this mean we can look forward to a next-generation Xbox console timed to the release of Halo 4? Talk about deja vu! And if so, you heard it here first.
As I was saying, this 'cleaner' game world lends itself to 3D on current-gen hardware - a big bonus to 343i no doubt, and the 3D imaging itself has other consequences. For one, some reviewers have commented (positively or negatively) on the brighter, more varied color palette and increased color saturation as compared to the original game, these are all requirements for good 3D presentation. Crysis 2 and GoW3 both suffer in this regard, and though GoW3 is noticeably brighter, it's not enough. For another, dynamic lighting (ie. reflections and shadows) is key to good 3D when there is motion involved, again, other reviewers have commented on how much improved the lighting and shadow effects are. An example of this concession to 3D is the outdoor portion of the Truth And Reconciliation level, which is far brighter than the original, to the point that the 'flashlight illumination' of the sniper rifle in no longer really necessary. Darkness absolutely kills 3D - depth perception is still the single biggest problem with military night vision equipment - so I predict the other 'dark' levels will also be brighter. In the 3D FPS gaming future, I expect that dark/night environments will be handled differently than daytime, perhaps using something akin to the Halo 3:ODST VISR mode.
Finally, to those reviewers who have dissed the release of Halo CE Anniversary for its multiplayer component, I feel your pain, but unlike the game software, the original multiplayer code would have to be essentially rewritten in order to take advantage of the current (Bungie) network architecture. The additional time and cost are significant, and from the 343i point of view there would be nothing to be gained, future-wise. As other reviewers have noted, 343i made no bones about the fact that a full re-imagining of the multiplayer component of Halo CE was not on the table, hence the next-best-thing-to-free port of the Halo Reach multiplayer component into Halo CE Anniversary. I know it's not much consolation now, but after all, you didn't have to shell out 60 bucks, and if I'm right about this game being a preview of what's to come, then the future of Halo is looking pretty bright, multiplayer included :) | video-games_xbox |
Rent It First. No SPOILERS. This is not a "bad" game (my review is really 3.5 stars, but that's not possible here). Five years ago, this game could have been all the rage. But it's horribly derivative now. But if this was just a God-of-War knockoff, that would be okay - nothing wrong with going with what's good. Problem is, it's not. It's nowhere near as good, even after being later in time. Unless you're a DIE HARD for this genre (GOW, Devil May Cry, Rygar anyone?), you will find this game kind of boring if you've played some of the other titles recently. I would rent or borrow this first. Because I'm an addict I payed $56 to get it on release day - I wish I would have waited. There is nothing horrendous about this game, just nothing great - hence 3 stars.
STORY
The "story" is there - Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (with some twists), but it doesn't seem to be intertwined with the action. It's kinda like story...action...story...action rather than one blended product. I rarely felt like it "mattered" (unlike say ME2).
GAMEPLAY
As for the gameplay, this really truly is a hack and slash - again, not necessarily a bad thing - but just hacking and slashing wave after wave of demon gets boring rapidly. Yes, you can use combos and some combos are cool, but you hardly ever need to. I'm mixed on the "puzzles" and on puzzles in general in games. In this game, they're out of place, and rather easy. Again, not necessarily bad (See where this is going? Not bad, just not great...).
VISUALS/GRAPHICS
The visuals are quite stunning though and kudos for the 60 FPS gameplay - soon the be the industry minimum if you ask me. But the camera is annoying as all, well, hell. It's so awkward that it's a "fixed" camera unlike the MANY next-gen games that we're all used to where we have much more control over the camera. This takes away from the visual presentation IMO. I absolutely hate it.
VALUE
You can get through this game in about 12 hours. And I don't think there is any real reason to play it again. At $56, that's just not enough value for a game that's really nothing special. I'd wait till it's bargain bin or rent it or borrow it. At about $29, this game would be well worth it. In fact, I'll probably sell my copy now that I've finished it... | video-games_xbox |
Demons' Souls Coming Full Circle. If you are familiar with the long forgotten Demons' Souls, the game that pioneered the Souls mechanics and made it the great game that it is today, you will be VERY excited when you see all the references, environments and characters that make cameos in this addition to the series. There are also plenty of references to DS1 and DS2 as well. If anyone is familiar with the "Nexus," your in for a treat.
Dark Soul's 3 brings to the table a few new mechanics such as special weapons skills and buffs that help boost your way through tough battles. Like most Dark Souls games, dying is a familiar trait. And it becomes harder and harder to do less of it as you progress through the main story on this one. Enemies will overrun you quickly if you do not tread carefully. More enemies on the screen at once is nothing short of exciting.
You are no longer farming for humanities to regain your body, but are now seeking "Embers" to re-kindle the flame within. The combat is fluid, it feels heavy but it feels right. You almost feel like your straining as much as your avatar is while battling for your life.
Summoning is a blast, but keep in mind, the more players that assist you, the more health enemies and bosses will have. The game will balance itself to keep you from cheesing it too much.
You are immediately given the ability to teleport between bonfires unlike like prior games where you would need to access 60-70% of the game before acquiring an item allowing you to achieve this. Bonfires also seem harder to get to as they seem further away with more enemies in between to stop you from reaching them. You will need to do some real work to get to the next one and so forth.
I have only played this game for a few hours. (50 hours work weeks) I feel lost at times and am unsure which direction is correct, but so far have found myself able to move forward in any direction without level limitations. I will continue to update as time goes on.
***UPDATE 4/14/16***
Few more hours in, still grinding through some tough foes and some incredible boss fights. An additional trait to summoning has been added from previous DS games. You can now set a particular passcode on your signs, and if the player (my friend in this case) wants to summon ONLY me, he can set his passcode to match mine. This way, no one else can summon me but players with the same code, making it a lot easier to dedicate summoning to people you want to be summoned by and vise versa. Great little addition that I'm very pleased to see.
I'm not a fan of being invaded however I had a great experience with it during a certain area where it added a bit of challenge to an already tough area, however I did have an accomplice with me to help out a bit and it was great fun.
We party chat with friends playing other games and they always want to know what were talking about. They tell us to stream it, but we tell them just to buy it and play with us! | video-games_xbox |
Diehard Naruto Fans will love the fighting system. I'm almost upset that Ubisoft didn't make anymore Naruto games after this. While the new ones are better overall, there were some amazing things Namco changed about the gameplay. I would say this game is better than any DBZ game I've played, and is definitely in the top 5 for fighting games.
The Story:
- The story starts at Orochimaru killing the Third Hokage (the tutorial) and follows the search for Tsunade and Sasuke leaving the Hidden Leaf village arcs of Naruto.
Pros:
- The story mode is sort of like an adventure game mixed with puzzles through various types of minigames and missions. You can make teams of up to 3 including Naruto (He's always on the team because you're him). It's important to pick people who have useful jutsu's for outside of battle (Kiba's beast transformation and Choji's Ball are very useful).
- To perform jutsu's you have to weave the hand signs using the left stick for left hand and right stick for right hand (this isn't in the newer Naruto games, but I think it makes the fighting alot cooler)
- Ubisoft recognized that the American voice acting isn't exactly the best so you can opt to use Japanese voices and subtitles.
- There is so much to do in story mode that it keeps you entertained very well, however I beat the game 100% in under 25 hours. Still it is very fun.
Cons:
- Since this game has been out for quite some time, XBL is rather dead (the only people who play are Hokage rank and are amazing)
- It's a very sped up version of the story and they alter some small things to make it be faster.
Other:
- I got 900G on one playthrough (the other 100 is XBL, which it's not hard to get to chunin rank which leaves the last 30G for some waiting for other people).
- There is no DLC
Buy this game if:
- You enjoy the fighting genre of gaming.
- You are a Naruto fan
Don't buy this game if:
- It's over $20
- You just want achievements. | video-games_xbox |
best SNIPER game so far. While Sniper Elite V2 does have a few shortcomings I would still have to say that it is the best sniper game I have ever played. The missions are fun, and even though the gameplay is very linear it still allows you to use realistic tactics to accomplish objectives such as using sound to mask shots, controlling heart rate and respiratory pause to steady aim, silent kills by sneaking up on unsuspecting guards and hiding bodies from sight so no one knows you have been there. Conversely, corpses/incapacitated soldiers can be used as bait and corpses can be booby trapped with mines to incur more casualties.
Being a WWII sniper it gives you access to a good selection of historical weapons. I suggest getting the DLC weapons packs (but those come free with the silver star addition I believe) because it is a lot of fun to use different weapons and replay levels with different advantages or difficulties.
Probably the best feature of the game is the very cinematic bullet cam. When you line up a good shot and send the bullet time slows down and it feels a lot like a war movie as the bullet spirals past the camera and onward to the target. As the bullet hits it's mark an X-Ray effect shows bones breaking, organs rupturing and blood flying with each fatal hit. It's a nice touch to see what vital organs are actually hit rather than just see the target go down.
Sniper Elite V2 can be played at a faster pace, running and gunning if you choose to, but I find it to be a lot more fun to play it like a true sniper would, taking advantage of hiding spots, birds nests, and using tactical stealth.
The ballistics and physics of the bullet are great. Depending on the difficulty setting you will have to compensate and holdover for distance and wind drift, but with simpler ballistics settings you don't have to. Also, the higher realism ballistics affect everything to do with your rifle right down to reloading. For example: with the Mosin-Nagant bolt action each of the 5 rounds are pressed into the magazine individually and then the bolt is locked back into battery before ready to fire again. With simple ballistics the process is much faster.
I'm giving Sniper Elite V2 5 stars because it is extremely fun to play, especially if you understand the mindset of a sniper and it is a very addictive game. So far I have more than 240 hours of gameplay and over 20,000 kills under my belt and am still finding new tactics to accomplish missions. BUY IT. | video-games_xbox |
Very high quality wired controller with extra assignable controls and removable faceplate. This PDP Legendary collection "Deliverer of Truth" XBOX One and PC controller is probably the nicest XBOX One wired controller I've used to date. It has high quality ALPS switches, the ability to assign buttons, and you can even remove the face and change the color of the controller. It has a very pleasing rubbery grip and the thumbsticks are grippy, although they don't have the same ridges that the standard XBOX One S controller has. I have a One S so I am comparing it to the new white controller.
The cable plugs in nice and secure, but is easy to remove if needed. It's fairly thick which is somewhat annoying to me, but it's 10 feet long, so you do want a thick USB cable when it's over 6 feet long so if you sit far from your console, you've got a decent amount of cable. I play in front of a monitor and my XBOX is right next to me, so I could use a much shorter cable, which is an option since it's a standard micro USB connector.
The controller has a 3.5mm headphone input and works with all standard gaming headsets I have, including the official XBOX stereo headset. You can adjust chat volume by using a setting on the controller, which is useful. The sound was good, I didn't hear much difference from the wireless controller.
The back of the controller has assignable buttons that click and roll up or down. It's useful when you want to reassign one of your top buttons to the back or if you have some other special use. I tested it out and it works great, although it's not really my playing style as a semi casual gamer. I will keep experimenting and see how it helps me. I do want to comment on the feel of the controller. It's very pleasant. The rubbery feeling feels so good to hold, better than the original XBOX controller. The buttons feel nice, not cheap at all. This is a well made controller and it has a price to match. It's not super expensive, and if you are looking for a wired controller, this is a great option. However, for ten dollars more you can get the brand new white wireless bluetooth S controller, and for the same price you can get the older XBOX One controller. Of course, it doesn't have as many features, so really it's a decision of if you want to go wired and never worry about batteries. The way I hold my controller, the wire is a little in my way, but I'm getting used to it.
I have no complaints about this controller at all. I was going to rate it 4 stars because of the price, but that's not fair. This controller feels like a premium product, and it's definitely much higher quality feeling than some other third party controllers I've tried. This one is licensed by Microsoft and feels like a first party product. Very nice. I do also want to mention that if your main reason for getting this is so you don't have to change batteries, you can plug the controller than comes with the One S into your USB port and keep playing, even with dead batteries. So that may be an option if you think you will sometimes want the wireless freedom. If you want the extra features this controller has, however, it's a great option and I've enjoyed using it on my XBOX. I also tested it briefly on my PC just on one FPS game really quick and it works fine. I don't usually use a controller for PC games but it's nice to have the option. | video-games_xbox |
Great controller but poor software support. I really love this controller. The spacing of the buttons and sticks feels just right for my hands. That being said, I would warn you that it is a battle in itself to get it to work with anything. Of all my games with native gamepad support, only Halo could get the controller to work right away. The recurring problem that I expierenced was that games would recognize the trigger axis and think that it is the right thumbstick. If you want the vibrate function to work, you will need either Xpadder or the XBCD driver; both are free, but frustrating to set up. I had a very difficult time getting XBCD to work on my Vista machine, but it works easily on XP. Microsoft should have thought ahead and released a profiler with their controller.
If I had known about all trouble it is to set up this controller, I still would get it because the gameplay experience is greatly expanded. Feeling the controller rumble while stomping a Sniffer in <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Silent-Hill-4-The-Room/dp/B0002YIUO2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Silent Hill 4: The Room</a> or feeling the character's heart beat faster and faster in <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Indigo-Prophecy/dp/B0007VUGHO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Indigo Prophecy</a> draws me into the game much more than with the keyboard and mouse.
This controller is great, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a gamepad. You might have to go online for help, but it's worth it. If you are going to get a 360 controller, I recommend buying the regular one, not the one for Windows. It costs a few dollars less, and they are the exact same thing, the CD notwithstanding, and you can download the exact same drivers from Microsoft.com. Also, if you choose to use the XBCD drivers, you will not even use the drivers that come on the CD. | video-games_xbox |
Needed replacement fan. My four year old Microsoft replacement 360 gave me the overheat red rings earlier in the week. Let it cool down and started it up and noticed one of the fans wasn't spinning. Started looking online and came across this fan. Since my xbox is WAY out of warranty I decided to give it a shot at replacing the fan myself. Found a couple good guides online and ordered not only the fan but also a $7 tool kit. That $7 was well spent! I highly recommend getting the kit. Being a Prime member I received the fan and tool kit within two days and disconnected all the misc wires from my 360. Following the online instructions to pull the xbox apart was amazingly easy. There was a TON of lint/dog hair still in the case even though I regularly can air all the vents. Replacing the fan is super simple and putting the unit back together was a snap. I was really amazed how quick the entire process was. I moved it back to the tv and hooked everything up, pushed the power button and..... NOTHING. WTF? I was terrified I had fried something. Before losing it I followed the power cord and it had come loose from where it plugs into the brick! Everything re-plugged and hit the power button and SWEET!. Nice green glow from back of the unit and running fine. It has been three days so far and everything is working fine. Three days might not be long you are thinking but that is a Friday, Saturday and Sunday of my son playing GTA5, COD Ghosts, BF4 and downloading Saints Row 3 (for free). He stress tested it VERY well. My less than professional opinion on the fan is as follows:
Fan noise - My fan was apparently dying, but even at its prime, this new fan is much quieter.
Air flow - Flows a lot more air than old unit with one dead fan :) It does seem to push more air out the back than I remember. Part may be also to opening the case and pulling lint out.
Heat - After my son running the 360 for a good 5 plus hours the side of the case was barely warm. It used to be hot to the touch.
Installation. - Can you change a light bulb? Can you follow instructions? If yes then you can install this fan. Please note, the fan has NO instructions. Go online to a site like llama.com and follow their 360 disassembly guide. Also i HIGHLY reccommed getting the $7 xbox tool kit. Money well spent.
Overall this was a great buy and hope to get another year out of the 360 before I upgrade to a One. If anything happens with the fan I will update this review. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Jeff | video-games_xbox |
Impressive short offering until Halo Reach. Halo 3: ODST pits you in the shoes of a rookie ODST (thats Orbital Drop Shock Trooper for you laymen) during the siege of New Mombasa, a futuristic city on Earth in the Halo universe. Unlike previous Halo games you are not a super soldier, you do not have much of a shield, your health drops quickly and you cannot duel wield like the Master Chief. Nor do you have regenerating health, rather you have to find health packs to heal. Halo 3: ODST offers up a new glimpse into the fabled Halo story, and takes you through another amazing Bungie narrative.
The one thing that has always impressed me about the Halo games the most is the storyline and the voice acting. First of all the story lines are definitely Hollywood A-list cinema quality with epic twists and turns and the right amount of action set pieces and emotional depth to keep the gamer long engaged. Halo 3: ODST is no different, featuring a well written and well executed storyline that is both epic and entertaining.
The game starts out with you and your crew dropping down onto New Mombasa from a ship high above the Earth (Halo 3: ODST takes place during Halo 2). However things quickly go awry and 6 hours later find yourself alone in the darkness and the aftermath of an invasion. Destroyed cars and fires litter the streets and an eerie silence pervades the air (aside from the occasional police siren left unattended and blaring) and your team is nowhere to be found. So, you are left to wander the streets of New Mombasa in search of your team mates, dodging Covenant patrols along the way. The game is actually split into two sections: one portion of the game has you wandering the dark and ravaged streets searching for your team mates, and once you find clues to their whereabouts the game shifts to a flashback and you get to experience what happened to your team mates from their eyes. Its an ingenious method that allows for the player to not only experience different terrain and levels but also experience large scale battles and it fully fleshes out the story of New Mombasa.
Graphics: Most of the game takes place in the dark, forcing you to use your visor night vision to see enemies and the path forward; this lends a creepy essence to the experience, almost desolate and bare. Though you spend a good portion of the game in the dark the graphics are pretty impressive, if a little outdated (Bungie is still using the Halo 3 engine), however they serve their purpose of creating a futuristic looking city that had recently been through an invasion. The city itself looks great with tall odd shaped skyscrapers, futuristic cars, phone booths and UNSC recruitment kiosks; its unmistakable that you are in another world. Character models look good, again with some minor hitches due to the outdated graphics engine (face models look like they could be at home on the original Xbox system), but any graphical issues are easily brushed aside when compared to the epic storyline of ODST.
Sound: Everything you have come to expect from a Halo game is here; from the laser blasts, the taunts from the Covenant to the excellent voice acting to the Hollywood blockbuster musical score, its all here.
Gameplay: Halo 3: ODST plays more like Halo: Combat Evolved than it does Halo 2 or Halo 3. You are not a super soldier so you don't duel wield weapons, you cannot regenerate health so quickly and easily and your shield ain't much. Oh, and they also brought the amazing pistol back! Zoom in with that bad boy and watch the headshots rack up. On easy ODST is a piece of cake, however like all Halo games ramp up the difficulty to Heroic or Legendary and you will surely face a challenge, often eschewing flat out firefights for the safety of the darkness when you spot a patrol. Another really cool feature is that the game is pretty much open ended. No, you can't do anything you want but you can choose how you want to complete the missions you are given, which gives you a sense of freedom. You can pretty much roam around the city at will, however some areas will be cut off until you complete certain missions, but overall its a nice touch.
Halo 3: ODST also offers an up-to four player mode called Firefight, which pits players against wave after wave of Covenant forces. How long can you last? Think of Horde mode in Gears of War 2 or the similar one in Resident Evil 4. It plays out like an old school Arcade shooter.
ODST also comes with a second disc that houses the complete Halo Multiplayer experience. Not only do you get the Forge and Theater modes, you also get all of the DLC content as well as the multiplayer game itself. Not too shabby if you ask me.
Overall I would highly recommend Halo 3: ODST to all First Person Shooter fans, not just Halo fans, since the game plays out more like a Sci-Fi shooter than necessarily a pure Halo game. | video-games_xbox |
Dull Auto. Between the release of Dead or Alive 4 and Full Auto, 49 days passed without a single on-shelf Xbox 360 release. I added "on-shelf" to that sentence because several Xbox Live Arcade games were available, but those games couldn't appease the attention spans of deprived Xbox 360 owners looking for something new to play. February 2006 came, and the first of two Xbox 360 releases was finally available: SEGA's Full Auto, a racing game with a taste of chaos that combines elements from Twisted Metal, Spy Hunter, and Burnout. But is Full Auto really the fix that 360 gamers desperately needed?
Mixing Twisted Metal, Spy Hunter, and Burnout-three successful franchises-would seem to be the perfect formula for a fast-paced racing/shooter. At least I thought so. But SEGA simply missed on a few important elements, and because of that, Full Auto probably isn't the fix you're looking for. The first problem isn't something I should sugarcoat. Thirty minutes into Full Auto's main mode, Career Mode, I was actually bored. I was bored of blowing everything up, bored of plowing through glass windows and stone pillars, bored of seeing spark-filled, fiery explosions. I was bored of something that would normally spark my action[...]attention span. Full Auto's selling point is that you can blow up almost everything in the environment-buildings, storefronts, water towers, pedestrian cars, flora and fauna. If you can see it, chances are you can see it explode and shatter beautifully into particles.
While Full Auto is a racing game, the gameplay revolves around three different factors that "assist" the actual racing. First and foremost are your tools of destruction, which range from missiles to machine guns and bouncy grenades. These goodies can be used to blow things up and fend off opponents, of course. Second is the "Unwreck Meter" that fills up as you destroy the environment. The "Unwreck" ability is similar to The Prince's ability to rewind time in Prince of Persia. Basically it allows you to undo your mistakes by rewinding the events that just unfolded and seamlessly putting you back into the game. Last of all is the no-frills Boost Meter. This system is similar to Burnout's boost meter; it fills as you power slide, ramp, and perform acrobatic flips with your vehicle. When it is full, you can pull off a fast boost that blurs the screen.
The Career Mode is the main mode of play and it features dozens of events. Some of these events are straightforward racing events, while others force you earn destruction points by obliterating as much of the environment as possible. Other modes include Head-to-Head, which allows you to play split-screen with another player; and Arcade, which is a no-frills mode that lets you play with unlocked vehicles and tracks.
I must commend SEGA for their visual work. Full Auto is very impressive in terms of explosions, particles, and destructible environments. Since (literally) everything can be destroyed, there are usually tons of little fiery pieces flying around the screen. It's too bad the sense of speed doesn't hold a stick to Electronic Arts' Burnout. I'd go as far as to say that the game feels slow in comparison to Burnout and even Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The music in Full Auto is generic techno and rock music, and the most frustrating part of Full Auto aurally is the bug that shuts off your Xbox 360 Custom Soundtrack between loading screens. If you're tired of listening to the cheesy in-game music, press mute, because you can't enjoy your own music.
While Full Auto isn't a bad game, it isn't really the best choice for a $60 purchase. I'd say that it makes a great rental, as most of the game's enjoyment can be found in the first few hours of play. If you're a fan of Burnout or other destruction-based games, I suggest that route, check Full Auto out for yourself and decide, because it's a decent game that doesn't require much effort to enjoy, though the enjoyment is short-lived. | video-games_xbox |
DOA4's a knockout. It's very, very rare that I play a fighting game. The last one that I enjoyed was an Xbox launch title, and it featured a beautiful white-haired assassin on its cover. That game was Dead or Alive 3. Naturally, Team Ninja's fourthcoming fighting game got my attention, and after being pushed back a few weeks, Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360 finally released. Did it meet my expectations? After hours of learning combos and pounding opponents, I can finally say that yes, it's an amazing game.
I always enjoyed the gameplay in Dead or Alive. It mixes playability with technicality unlike any other game out there. Button-mashers can have a good time because the fast-paced fighting allows mindless attacks. Those who memorize combos and time reversals can also enjoy the series, because it allows for that as well. The fighting in DOA4 is as fluid and fast as ever. Punches and kicks are incorporated beautifully into complex combos. Watching your fighter use his or her abilities is almost like watching an orchestrated dance, especially with some of the female characters. Team Ninja put an emphasis on the reversals and throws this time around, so those moves have been made a little easier with improved controls and timing. Once I learned reversals and a couple combos, I was set to go. I went from the button-masher camp to the finesse camp, and an in-game Sparring Mode can turn any newbie into an expert with just a little time.
The Sparring Mode also offers a perfect opportunity to master the three new characters. Kokoro, the geisha-in-training, isn't a very exciting character by any means but she's new regardless. Eliot, one of my least favorite characters in recent memory, has a generic fighting style and an appearance that suggests Team Ninja forgot what gender he was intended to be. La Mariposa is a great addition, and her luchadora skills are perfect in DOA4. I enjoyed using her more than the other two new characters, but some of the fourteen returning characters are fantastic as well. My personal favorites were Kasumi, Ryu Hayabusa (of Ninja Gaiden fame), and Christie, the white-haired assassin and DOA3 cover character I mentioned earlier. Christie was my favorite character overall, but any player can find a character to enjoy. The slower fighters, like Bass and SPARTAN (yeah, the Halo character), aren't as easy to use but they're powerful and can take a few hits. Fast characters like Christie and Jann Lee are the ones I'd prefer to use, but some of them are pretty cheap. Like I said, there's a character for anyone here.
There are a few different game modes, but the list is probably the most generic and traditional part about Dead or Alive 4. Story Mode allows you to unlock ending movies after completing eight stages of fighting with a particular character. Time Attack Mode forces you to complete stages as quickly as possible. Survival Mode, which was my favorite, thrusts you into a fighting ring where a constant, never-ending stream of enemies fight you to the death. By winning battles, your health regenerates, so the goal is to defeat as many opponents while earning as many points as possible and staying alive. I'd say that playing the Sparring Mode and Survival Mode made me a much better player than I ever was before.
Online is where half of the fun lies. Team Ninja did an absolutely fantastic job making a unique online experience. Between each fast-paced battle is a lobby system that allows every player to have his or her own unique avatar. In the lobby, players interact with their avatar's animations as well as typed messages. It's endlessly entertaining to watch a cute little dog trash talk another player. If you aren't fighting, you can observe battles in a full-screen Watch Mode or on the lobby's television set. I simply loved this lobby system. The actual gameplay online is a little laggy, but it's fun and difficult to stop playing nonetheless. To avoid unfair matches, there is a grading system that makes sure that inexperienced players won't be teamed up against experts. This grading system is determined by wins, losses, disconnects, and the like. Overall, I think the online aspect of DOA4 is perfectly done.
Another nearly-perfect aspect of DOA4 is the visuals. I still think that DOA3 is one of the prettiest games out there, but DOA4 blows it away completely. Whether you're playing in high-definition or not doesn't matter, because the beautiful levels and perfectly modeled characters look great on any television set or computer monitor. Each level is bursting with color and life and I really wanted to move around a bit more than the game let me. Most of the locations are layered as well, so fighting can be carried around the playing field pretty easily. The character animation is spot-on, and I think Team Ninja especially shows this with the long and slow throwing moves. From Christie's snake-like attacks to Bass's beefy wrestling grapples, every attack looks natural and, for the lack of a better word, perfect. I mentioned the levels being colorful, but the characters are also adorned with some of the most extravagant clothing items I've ever seen in a video game. Whether it's Ryu Hayabusa's fancy ninja suit from Ninja Gaiden or Zack's Teletubby-influenced costume, I was impressed throughout the entire costume selection.
There isn't much to complain about here. Besides some annoying deaths (like when I'm pushed up against a wall), occasional online lag, and cheap characters (Zack and Jann Lee, I'm talking about you), Dead or Alive 4 is one of the best games I've played on the Xbox 360. Whatever Team Ninja did during those weekly delays, I'm happy about, because the final product is exceptional.
(NOTE: This review is also posted on GameFreaks365.com, where I write reviews on a regular basis) | video-games_xbox |
Burnout Minus the Constant Complete Wrecking. Burnout can get a little old, when your car becomes a total loss every other second, I just wanna keep going. So when I checked this game out I was almost sure it would be a 10, I downloaded all the gameplay videos from Gamespot AND IGN and watched them through. After that I was sold. I ordered it off Amazon for $17. I found and played a demo of the first flatout before it arrived and couldn't Stand the Driving Physics. All the cars were WAY too FLOATY, I'ld say like driving on ice but more like driving with like buttered wheels. I was hoping once my copy of the 2nd one arrived, It would turn out to be an improvement. It was, but not as entirely as I had hoped. the wheels are still way slippery, just not AS much. It takes alot of getting used to, and I own both MidnightClub 3 AND Forza, [and on PS2 Gran Turismo 4, and Ridge Racer V] so I'm a master of many racer styles both sim and arcade.
Now I will say there are many Good Reasons to consider buying this. There's a Wide Variety of Cars, Tracks, and Modes. The Negatives here are that most of the cars just WILL NOT be controlled without countless spin-outs from being far too slippery, and all the tracks seem to be stuck on 4 laps, I cant change it. Then again most tracks are so long and full of surprises you can forget winning, it's just Surviving thats the challenge. After awhile I was fed up with trying to win, and just typed in GIEVEPIX and unlocked all the cars, to see them all.
Okay, Lets go back to the Main Menu to tell you what to expect. Two PRESET Control schemes with no custom option automatically disqualifies this {or ANY game} from getting a perfect 10 from me.
Choose Single player/Multiplayer{1-8 via PartyMode or Split Screen}/Or XBOX Live.
[we'll say you chose Single Player]
Next is Mode select[Career::Single Race::Single Stunt::Single Event::Single Derby]
Career: Earn Money for car upgrades, unlock stuff.
Single Race: Pick a track to go around 4 times with 7 CPU opponents
Single Stunt: The "Flatout" Famed Stunt mode. Where the Driver's Rag-dolling Body Launches out of the Windshield and lands a trick {I can't seem to do many of these well, it's Never Been so Hilarious to suck at something}
Single Event: Like Single Race Exept on special tracks with cross-over points for possible collisions
Single Derby: Destruction Derby, Destroy other racers engines and stay alive your self, just don't avoid collisions to long or you'll be disqualified {which is somewhat lame when your just trying to hold on to your last 1% of health}
In the tracks for Single race, you can pick first from the area-style you'ld like to race [Forest::Field::Desert::Canal::City::Race]
Forest: Lots of Hills and Trees, Backwoods Campground kind of area.
Field: Rural Country[less trees], Farmland style.
Desert: Mesas,Dust,Old Western Towns. Southwestern US style.
Canal: You know the famous Storm Drain Canals of L.A. featured in so many race games, all these tracks lead into one of those.
Race: More like Highway loops {Motorways} Made specific for Racing.
There are about 6 tracks in each area-style and all the tracks are so forgiving and well done with an abundance of alternate routes.
NEXT is your Vehicle and there are MANY to choose [from the start and to earn], all are mimic Knock-offs of real cars. My suggestions "The Roamer" is an old pick-up, one of the first you start with, it doesnt have much in the way of speed, but when speed does nothing for you exept get you into walls or spin-outs, you may wanna slow-down and take advantage of the other idiots in fast cars spinning out all over. This Pick-up can take a beating and give a beating, for surviving's sake this is a good selection. However my favorite one that gave me the most overall joy in this game, Is "The Splitter" a mid-80s Camaro mimic, It has an Excellent balance of all the variables you'll look for in this game. All the cars have a few Pre-selected color schemes in the way burnout did. [In the way of Secret Cars, look for a School Bus and Semi-cab to show up, for use in ALL modes! exept stunt, but yoou won't need them there.]
The Gameplay of this game is where it all gets confusing for me what score I should give it. Although I'm slipping and sliding around so much, trying to compensate for a spin-out that just will not be denied, Nothing is stopping me. Im cutting through buildings knocking signs and fences and posts,streetlights out of the way, everything moves easily with little effect to the car, then without warning I grow to sure of myself around obstacles and slam headlong into ONE post that's planted firmly into place and will not be moved, so it's a little scary the first couple of runs through each track, wondering when your gonna come to an abrupt halt, however simply press Y at that moment and be instantly respawned at half your speed, back on track, with the 2 second reset-blink to not be slammed until you figure out where you are and get back up to speed. This saves the game from sucking, but more could have been done to help the physics system just feel more fun.
For all this game does right, it's ashame what it does wrong. While it's Still gonna earn a High Score from me for the great feeling of speed, sense of freedom in wreckless driving, and Forgiving nature of the nitro refilling, and easy resets. I can't give it the perfect 10 I had wanted to. Still for all that the game DOES have to offer, IF you get used to the odd buttery driving style, It'll be very worth the Greatest/Platnium Hits Price it'll probably recieve within 1st Quarter 07.
[*I've put this same review on Gamespot] | video-games_xbox |
good if you like starship troopers. Campaign Length-
People can call it short all they want, but the fact is most games these days have short singleplayer campaigns, unless it's an rpg. Especially first person and third person shooter titles. The industry keeps popping out short lived games, and we keep buying. For the record I purchased Lost Planet a few days after release, and i just beat Mission 6 yesterday. It's not because I suck, it's merely bc I don't play the game for hours on end and beat it in one sitting like many people do. For people like myself who log an hour or two a night, sometimes only a 4/7 nights of the week, the game will last quite a bit. It's really only short for those people who sat down for 10 hours and beat it in one day. If you have that much time to play in a day, you should really get into MMO's that your type of game tongue
Graphics -
It's far from the best, however, anyone who claims the game looks "bad" is a moron. It's definitely one of the better looking titles out, not to mention keeps much steadier framerates than some other titles. The multiplayer character designs could have used some work, aside from that it's a pretty solid game visually/graphically.
Story -
As I said, I'm only on the 6th mission, but the story has a good plot to it, however, obvious, stupid, and carless flaws and loopholes, that could have been easily fixed.
One example: Mission 4 End - Mission 5 Start- Wayne mysteriously warps back to the trailer for a cut scene and then after the scene is over he is mysteriously warped right back where he was before the cut scene.
Just little details in the story like above that just don't add up. And there are quite a few of them.
Multiplayer -
FUN! Kinda buggy at times, but hopefully those will be worked out in time. I could do without the Fugitive game mode, and something slightly more entertaining. Leveling up and unlockable costumes characters make the multiplayer kinda addictive. Hoping to hit 20 for a new costume design soon happy
Anyway, i'd prolly give it a 8.5/10. I haven't touched GEARS since this game came out. GEARS MP is just dull compared to LP's IMHO. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing GEARS, I just prefer the large scale battles in LP to the 4v4 tactical squad battles in GEARS. | video-games_xbox |
Great headset, with a few annoying issues. Great headset, with a few potentially critical issues.
WHAT'S GREAT:
Everything except the issues. Audio is great, controls are great, mic monitoring is great, comfort is great.
THE ISSUES:
1. The "Mute" and "Bass Boost" buttons have LED lights which cause a faint but noticeable mid- to high-frequency tone when lit.
This is obviously thanks to some poor electronics engineering on Turtle Beach's part. But let's face it, when you're being blown up and shot at, you aren't going to notice this. But when you're in the silence of an intense moment during Campaign mode, or just sitting in the game menu or lobby, you will. It annoys me most while in the silence of the game menu or poking around through the Xbox store. I have to just take the headset off (or toggle the mute and bass boost off) just because the tone is audible enough to be annoying. I could just have superhuman-ly sensitive ears, but I don't think so. You've been warned.
2. After turning on the Xbox, the controller likes to ignore that the headset is plugged in, and you have to remove the adapter and plug it back in.
(This could be an issue with the Xbox controller rather than with the Turtle Beach adapter, but I don't have a way of diagnosing that.)
This happens almost every time I turn on the Xbox. The only solution is to unplug the adapter and plug it back in. Which wouldn't be a big deal except it's a pain to unplug. Microsoft did a very poor job with this design in my opinion. I feel like I'm about to break the controller or adapter or both every time I pull the adapter off. It's annoying, but not a deal-breaker for me.
Also, I've found that this doesn't happen if I have the controller plugged into power via the front USB port before I turn it on, so that helps alleviate the pain from this issue.
3. The "indexing" mechanism to adjust the size doesn't stay put very well.
This is particularly bad on one side (the right side in my case). I think I got a slightly defective unit. The left side is mostly fine. But the right side has been weak since day one. I'm constantly having to put it back to the setting where I want it, especially after I take it off my head. One it's on, I've never had any issues with it trying to move on me. Once it's on, it's great. I just wish it stayed put better while/after I take it off.
SUMMARY:
So there you go, those the three issues you might want to be aware of. If none of them sound like deal-breakers to you, this is a fantastic headset and I say go for it.
Turtle Beach, get your electronics engineering act together and eliminate the hum. This is basic audio engineering. This is what you do. Do it right. | video-games_xbox |
Immersive and Rewarding Experience. I had high expectations for this game, but was surprised to see just how far it surpassed them.
I know there's a lot out there about how great this game is blah blah blah .. Folks at IGN, Polygon have already gushed about it.
But after spending about 60+ hours into the game, I can say with certainty that for the most part it lives up to the hype. The first thing you'll notice is how freakin' huge the world of Theadas is. Previous incarnations of Dragon Age gave us a glimpse of how immerseive (and complicated) the storyline can be - but DA: Inquisition sets it all in motion. Right off the bat you'll be thrown into the intrigue. As with all Bioware games you'll need to make choices and alliances that will have a tangible effect on the narrative of your adventure.
From a mechanics point of view, the game plays well. The tactical map nicely incorporates strategic elements from prior Dragon Age games, but the third person battle formula maintains the tradition set by games such as KOTOR and Mass Effect. I personally found it to be a relatively satisfying experience and adding the tactical element is helpful when it comes to dispatching specific enemies or if you're looking to score flanking bonuses. Actually this is rather crucial when you're playing on higher difficulty levels.
I'm also a fan of the customization features. For the most part the character design is okay, but I'm really a fan of how easy it is to create weapons and forge items based on a seemingly endless combination of elements that you gather in the world map. Some of the stuff I managed to generate was pretty cool. It's also great to be able to upgrade weapons and armor seamlessly.
Ultimately what makes this game SO fun for me is the sheer size and scope of the world. The main story arc takes time, but frankly it can be easily dwarfed by the ridiculously rich amount of side quests in each section of the world. For instance, early on the storyline takes you to the Hinterlands. It actually doesn't take much to advance the story from there - BUT as you explore the area you'll run into what seems to be an endless stream of clues and people that kick off a flurry of side quests. While not all the stories are incredibly compelling (like trying to find a lost buffalo or ram) or directly related to the story - it offers a lot of context that makes the overall world so rich. (Note even for a Bioware game - where sidequests are a key trademark of their RPGs - the sheer amount of content to plow through is pretty impressive).
It's no surprise that many players (including myself) end up spending a ton of time in this world. It's just hard not to when you feel the need to wrap up loose ends or collect items and loot. For casual gamers, I do think the storyline can be overwhelming and might not gel as obviously as it would be for Dragon Age fans who played previous games - but I still think for the most part it's easy to discern who the opposing forces are and it's fun to decide who you want to align with.
My feeling is that Dragon Age is far from what some imply as a "shallow" game. The battle mechanics may be straightforward - but in many ways it's also a positive since it injects a lot of action in the game and breaks up a lot of the heavy dialogue. I personally found it to be a relatively balanced - to watch one major story arc - traverse through the world to explore - fight necessary battles to advance the story - and move to the next story arc. The sheer amount attention required to do (as much of) everything possible is staggering - and I haven't even mentioned hunting dragons or searching for special weapons hidden in the world.
It's a lot - but it's also what makes this one of the most immersive and rewarding next-gen RPG experiences in a long time. It's not perfect, but the story really keeps you on your feet and I think it's worth a solid 4.5 stars. Definitely one of my favorite games of 2014. Hopefully one day we'll see a similar experience for the Mass Effect franchise on a next-gen console. | video-games_xbox |
Franchise Starting to Show Its Age. The sad reality of MW3 is that it looks and plays like MW2 and Black Ops. For all the waxing poetic about graphics, it's difficult to ascertain much graphical difference between them. There's only a couple of gameplay tweaks (pointstreaks and killstreak changes). The maps are small and campy, as usual, with the typical "corridor" design. Most of the maps look very similar, if not identical, to MW2 maps, probably by design. For example(s): Village is the new Favela, Hardhat is the new Highrise, Outpost is the new Sub Base, and Arkaden is the new Airport.
Multiplayer suffers from horrendous lag, to the point where the improvements to hit detection are made moot. You'll still find yourself killed around corners, or seemingly shot from nowhere, and watch KillCams that make you scratch your head. I'm not terribly convinced that multiplayer runs smoother than previously, though the killstreaks are a bit more balanced (though it's still a pain when one team streaks killstreaks and makes it nearly impossible to counter). However, the game feels faster and much more arcade style than MW2 and BLOPS. It feels as though you move faster and fire faster and it's easier than ever to bring someone down. As such, I've found a lot of frustration in SMG, Machine Pistol and shotgun sprinters who can kill you as fast as an AR with less mobility restrictions.
In single player campaign the AI is as laughably bad as always and the voice overs are lackluster. The story itself has taken a step backwards and is mostly a "shut off your brain for four hours" experience.
Now I'm sure people will say "the game was perfect and sold millions so they don't need to change anything". To say the game was perfect is hubris of the highest order; However, no one can dispute that it sold millions. Consider, though, in the same time frame as the "Modern Warfare" franchise, Epic Games continually tweaked UE3 for the Gears franchise, making each one richer than the previous, DICE brought out a new engine this generation for BFBC2 and BF3, and Bungie modified the Halo 2 engine for H3 and ODST while making an entirely new engine for Halo: Reach. But Call of Duty? To quote one of its own callsigns: S.S.D.D.
I don't think it's too unreasonable to ask for at least a new engine and some better graphics after all these years, even if they leave the core gameplay the same.
The game is enjoyable but it's purely AVERAGE, a victim of its own success. The engine and the gameplay style really show their ages. I honestly would be hard pressed to recommend MW3 to someone who is still having fun with MW2 or Black Ops because they'd just be spending money to get the same experience they already have with only a few changed bells and whistles. | video-games_xbox |
COD5 is just a new set of maps for COD4. I bought my XBox 360 just to play HALO. I hadn't played video games since N64's Goldeneye and I like First Person Shooters. So, I buy the XBox 360 and HALO, but figure I should have a few games so I got Rainbow Six Vegas and COD4 (Call of Duty 4). I have still never played HALO because I put in COD4 first and loved it. So now COD5 came out so I bought it immediately.
I have to say that it is basically the exact same as COD4, but set back in WWII rather than present day middle east. There are different weapons, but they are still essentially the same. You have sniper rifles, shotguns, rifles, submachine guns and machine guns to choose from. The graphics are almost the same and game play is exactly the same. The only major difference is that you now have new maps that will keep you busy for a few days before you get to know them.
The challenges are the same, though you can unlock additional custom weapon settings. For instance, in COD4, you can set 5 different custom weapons. Well once you hit Prestige in COD5, you can unlock a 6th custom setting. Each time you increase your prestige, you get the opportunity to set another custom weapon set, up to 10 custom sets. Kinda neat.
Interesting additions include the ability to drive and operate tanks during some maps. You still have the last stand perk with an additional sister perk called "second chance". With second chance, you can be revived while in last stand by a team member who also has the second chance perk selected.
I have only really played online, so I can't speak for the story mode, but I do enjoy it. Despite the many similarities, I do not regret my purchase. If you are a fan of COD4, you'll enjoy this. If you were relatively indifferent to the last one, this wouldn't impress you. Take this review for what it's worth. I've never played COD 1, 2 or 3 so I couldn't tell you how different they were from one another, but COD5 didn't appear to be too different. But, why mess with what works?
Oh, I almost forgot! The voice for the American team is none other than Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). For that reason alone I would buy it again! | video-games_xbox |
It's about the journey. I'm sure everyone has already seen the opinions of other ME fans out there, but here is my take on the third installment.
Overall, I thought the game was great. The storyline was excellent, the combat seemed more refined and the addition of co-op multiplayer was a lot of fun. I felt that a number of the subplots had closure, with a lot of emotion mixed in. Some of the character interactions that were available in the previous two games were simplified, which was both good and bad. My personal opinion is that the game was borderline mainstream in that it felt more like a shooter at times than an RPG, but the greater focus on combat didn't detract from the value of the story. Of course, the developers had time constraints, plus they had to deal with all of the variables from the first two games, so I can fully understand from that perspective that some things might have left more to desire. A minor complaint is that I didn't get the sense that the game was as open as the first two (common complaint is about the lack of hub worlds, part of the lack of openness).
There is a vocal majority that gripes about the ending. Perhaps it was because of the massive number of negative reviews, but I lowered my expectations on the ending severely. This probably helped in my case, because although I did not think the ending outright horrible, it did leave a lot to be desired. I can see why a lot of people were not satisfied with it, and even though I did not hate it, it did not fit with how I played. I do have to agree with the masses, the ending did leave some plot holes and very little sense of closure to the game. However, I also feel that because the series as a whole was fun to play, the ending in itself has not colored my opinion of the game in its entirety. With the pending release of the "Extended Cut" we'll have to see how well EA/Bioware deals with this.
Although I'm not satisfied with the ending, I have made peace with it. I would definitely play this game again, even with the full knowledge of what awaits me in the final few minutes before the credits.
Extras in the Collector's Edition are fun, with quite a bit of virtual content. All in all, a good purchase, but not the best.
Pros
Overall storyline
Good character interaction
Combat significantly improved
Co-op multiplayer is fun
Cons
Certain parts of the story could have been more in-depth
Cover system could have been better
Definite plot holes created by the ending | video-games_xbox |
Madden needs competition and less fluff. Every year we get a New madden and every year we point out the same flaws we saw in the previous version. Let me say this the GAME PLAY should always be better than the graphics. Graphics mean absolutley nothing without the gameplay to go with it. The AI is HORRIBLE. When picking a play the computer should not know what your picking. Football is a game of strategy. The computer will have the "Perfect" defense for your play and you literally have to audiable 2 or 3 times to be productive. Lets hit on the defensive play while were at it. When the ball is thrown in the air, lets say to the tight-end, the corner back that is covering the wideout should not be blindly break off his assigment and now all of a sudden knock down or even intercept the pass from out of no where. Secondly when throwing a pass down field, it seems like no matter how much touch you try putting on the ball, the linebackers will magically knock the ball down or make an extrodinary one handed interception. These things make the game seem so unrealistic. If you want to know how football is played then just turn on the TV and watch a few games EA sports. Stop putting out the same game every year with the same flaws. People are not stupid. We don't care about the "Autoturbo" feature. We want an authentic football simulation that we all will enjoy. Even if you had to skip a year and come out with Madden 2013, the wait would be worth it if you spent the time to make this game as good as it should be. Maybe 2K Sports needs to come out with a football game. Their killing the basketball gaming market so maybe they should consider it. If that happend you guys at EA might take this more seriously and work on the gameplay. You can't cover the problems up with a "New and improved franchise mode" so you like to say every year. This is what happens when you have no competition and you have alot of money. You get lazy. One more thing, Punt coverage and kick-off coverage is horrible. I mean can we get some blocking. Thats all I'm going to say about that. | video-games_xbox |
Detrimental to gaming as an art form. Appalling.
Even as far as mindless hack-and-slash games go, Yaiba is unforgivably terrible and forcefully difficult. Not in the sense that even old-school games are difficult, but because NOTHING has been developed properly in terms of balancing. One hit kills, random damage spikes and game-ruining glitches just happen... Constantly.
Yaiba has ZERO long-range attacks. So you know what's fun? Fighting the nth wave of melee enemies while five long-distance enemies pelt you with high-damaging, large blast-radius projectiles. Worse, even by the end of the game and with full upgrades, Yaiba is still weaker than even one of the first-introduced enemies of the game. Not only can Yaiba hardly take a hit without losing half his life, but it takes an UNGODLY amount of time to kill enemies with even the most base attacks. Even stupider, sometimes an enemy will abruptly die from two punches and the literal next time you fight the same enemy, he'll take upwards of (NOT KIDDING ON THIS) thirty hits. There's absolutely ZERO consistency to the fighting. Actually, the only consistent thing is Yaiba's ability to die quickly.
If it couldn't be any more of a travesty, Yaiba can only heal by performing the same obnoxious brutal kills on enemies. The catch? They can only be near death and within a brief window. After that, sorry, you don't get that chance back. This becomes insanely frustrating when you've just wiped out the fifth wave of enemies, are barely alive, and the game then spawns another wave of damage-sponges to duel. The closer you get to the end, the game simply refuses to climax and constantly forces you to fight boss characters again and again and again WHILE fighting all of the mid-bosses and bad guys at the same time. Even the final boss fight LITERALLY can't be beaten unless the game randomly spawns the appropriate enemy that matches the bosses' particular weakness at any given moment.
And then imagine doing this while the camera zooms backward to a fly's perspective of the carnage while the entire screen is lit up with explosions, fiery whirlwinds, and about twenty enemies all more powerful than you, attacking you, shooting you, and your're fighting them in an arena the size of a shoebox. Sound like fun?
Everything about the gameplay is misguided, but if you're here for the story, keep moving. Yaiba's "narrative" if you can even call it that, is nonsensical, hole-ridden affair that doesn't make one lick of sense (even by stupid cyborg ninja fighting zombie standards) and even Yaiba's resurrection isn't even addressed.
It's not only a detriment to the Ninja Gaiden name, but to gaming as an art form. | video-games_xbox |
excellent value. Reviewer does not need to repeat valid comments made by others on this game. Both negative and positive apply, except this: it is a GAME! it contains a very unusual degree of realism, not reality! Story line is rather simplistic, but has internal consistency and towards the end one or two genuine surprises if not shocks (to do with your buddies and the Jackal). For repeat players it would be nice to bypass the various speeches such as those by the annoying journalist, but you can't. Excellent soundtrack, especially the haunting title piece (could not find the proper credits of the strange androgynous voice). We played this game almost to saturation for months and still find new paths, new gliders hidden away, and new ways to do the same missions. Levels of difficulty increase from "Easy" to "Normal" to "Hardcore" to "Infamous". You get less stuff as you move up in difficulty, and you become much more vulnerable to injury. In "Easy" and "Normal" you can take a lot of abuse and still keep coming, but "Infamous" only takes 2-3 shots and you're finished, which means you have to slow down your game a great deal, or repeat missions until you win them, both options being very time-costly and ultimately a turnoff. It is possible to complete the game in "Easy" and "Normal" using only a pistol or pickup guns from fallen enemies, ie without buying anything at the dealers. In "Hardcore" it may be possible but becomes so difficult as not to be fun, so you have to buy and use good and especially long distance guns (sniper rifle, rockets). It is possible to diverge completely from scenarios and subvert a mission your way, of which the most obvious is the "oedward rex" mission - shoot the king, but keep the ring for yourself not give it to his son! It is possible to conquer entire towns just for the fun of it - Sefapane is relatively easy, and you can shoot up everyone in the place within the regeneration time when the game resets and everyone suddenly acts "normal" under cease fire. Much more difficult, but possible, to do the same in Pala, with far more enemies present. I have not tried the main town. A guide book (we used "Prima's") is a good idea if you want to find all or most of the diamonds. The gliders are a lot of fun, once you figure that certain diamonds are reachable ONLY from the air. Some remain unreachable (to us): one at the PetroSahel railcar roof, another on the rocks next to the legion fort. Attempting a help line at Ubisoft got us nowhere. They simply want us to register so we buy their stuff - understandable, but not out interest since we already bought the game. Best value for money weapon at any level is the jeep mounted gun, cost: nothing! Use it to clear out the annoying outposts while going from one place to another. Likewise, there are excellent AK47s hidden away in various places, available for free - guidebook maps will show where, since you are most unlikely to just find them. For dealer weapons, the PKM is by far the best overall value and available right from the start. Also possible to travel great distances with minimum fighting by skirting outposts or simply zooming thru them.
In computer version you can quick save anytime, not in playstation where you have fixed save places. Interactive is a disapointment, because you have to connect via internet even for two people sitting next to each other on the sofa, and it is very complicated to set up, which is another turnoff. Overall, well worth the money, fully recommended for the gamimng value. | video-games_xbox |
Astonishingly slow and dull, why so many good reviews. I am a huge Alien fan and have been for a long time but I can't for the life of me see what everyone likes so much about this game. Yes the graphics are great but it is so very slow. Hours will go by with you doing nothing more than slowly crawling around avoiding enemies who will slaughter you at the slightest provocation. Most of the game the alien is just a background figure not a traditional enemy in the basic sense of something you can fight, more like a force of nature you try to avoid. Mainly you encounter looters with guns and placid faced androids who strangle you rather effectively. The game plays like Bioshock if you were almost entirely defenseless. As mediocre as Colonial Marines was I found it much more enjoyable at least you got to fight back in that, this just makes you feel like a weakling that has to run from every fight and hide. If you like that sort of thing then this is for you, if you want a game that actually has stuff happen besides slowly crawling and hiding and gives you a fighting chance then look elsewhere. I'm just glad that I waited long enough to get this junk on an online Xbox sale as I would have really been annoyed if I had paid full price. I am a fan of survival horror but this one goes way beyond the norm in making your character hopelessly defenseless and weak. Frustratingly disappointing.
_________UPDATE________________
Okay, so my earlier review was written somewhat hastily after hours of frustration and much gnashing of teeth. I gave up on the game about 4-5 hours into gameplay, but my wife has since continued playing it through to completion and I have watched her play it so I have further insights about the game that I thought I would share by way of an update.
First of all, I still despise the game. I find it slow, obnoxious, and rather dull overall. Survival horror is a very tricky genre and has to strike the right balance between lethality and action. This fails, in my opinion, completely. If there is too much mortal danger then the terror level drops rapidly as it just gets annoying and repetitive - oh great, dead again... Lame.
Not only are you sadly under-equipped with a pitifully weak revolver (really?) that seems more like a BB-gun than an actual firearm (the shotgun later is better but ammo is almost nil), your weapons are essentially useless against the alien which (as I indicated earlier) is more like a force of nature than an enemy in the traditional sense. Your guns will only piss it off, and the flamethrower which you get later (and is a more effective weapon) is basically only helpful in scaring the alien away. Further, you get a variety of random tools that you can scrounge and build, but as my wife pointed out to me, she hasn't used any of them as they are generally unhelpful and mostly just serve to draw the alien's attention and get you killed. The best strategy for survival is just to keep your head down and slowly crawl around doing as little as possible in order to avoid the attention of the alien as well as the other lethal inhabitants of the space station.
This brings me to my next major gripe with the game: the stealth aspect sucks... BAD. The game is oddly well lit for an alien horror game and the controls make your character rather awkward to sneak. Sure, you can hide in lockers and under desks, but this is of limited efficacy - often the alien will still find and kill you even on easy. Certainly this makes a certain sense because (having played other alien games such as AVP) the alien can detect you via smell (so actually the alien here is less effective than it should be given how well it can detect its prey...). What this translates into is long minutes where you are hiding in a locker or box just waiting for the alien to leave... or randomly kill you anyway. Not exactly my idea of a fun time. Boring is the word that comes to mind. This is particularly aggravated by the save feature which, as many other reviewers have pointed out, has absolutely no checkpoints and requires manual saves at the randomly dispersed call boxes. This means that you might play for twenty or thirty minutes only to hide in a locker for five minutes and still be gutted by the alien. That's time you just lost and will never get back.
In general the game plays more like the indie title "Outlast" (which I also had high hopes for and gave up on for similar reasons) but with even less terror and much more frustration. Compare and contrast the stealth in this to Thief which is similar in that combat is to be generally avoided, yet in Thief you are actually good at sneaking. In this, skill goes out the window as the alien will just randomly gut you no matter how good you are at sneaking around (which Ripley is generally lousy at and the oddly well lit environment doesn't help).
After giving up on this game I went back and replayed AVP on the 360 and found that my pulse was raised more by that game (which had much darker environments and sneakier aliens). It also reminded me how poorly the alien was designed in this game. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am a BIG alien fan. One thing about the xenomorph is that its greatest strength is its stealth and speed, an aspect that is highlighted very well in AVP (which remains, in my opinion, a vastly superior game to this, excepting its terrible multiplayer support). Guns will shred a xeno rather rapidly, but you have to see the alien in order to shoot it. Playing as a xeno in AVP is so much fun because you stalk your prey on ceilings, in vents, and so forth, only to leap from the shadows, knock them down, and tear them to shreds. The alien in Isolation acts more like a zombie or Frankensteinean monster, stomping around, making much noise, and generally just being big and scary looking. Sorry, but that's not how xenos act (excepting Praetorians and Queens which don't need to be sneaky because they are nearly invincible tanks). Consequently, hardcore alien fans will be disappointed by the rather clumsy and loud alien that simply does not move or act like an alien should.
Even so, my wife really likes this game; I despise it. Thus there is a temperament issue involved to be sure, but regardless, I think the game fails to achieve what it set out to do: stealth based survival horror. The stealth aspect, as I have argued, is rather awful and very limited. The action is intermittent and generally slow. The game takes about 20+ hours to beat but mainly because random deaths combined with manual saves require much more time to complete than should be expected (I would guess it would take 10-12 hours to play straight through if lost time due to deaths were canceled out). Further, the environment gets rather old rapidly - you are stuck on the station (excepting the really lame flashback scene where you are wandering around in a space suit, even my wife really hated that part) which looks basically the same the whole time. Compare this to, again, AVP where you go through a wide variety of environments, interior, exterior, caves, sewers, ruins, hives, and the limits of this game are made clear. I would love to see a reboot of AVP on the XBOne which, if it followed its predecessor, would put this game to shame and show us how an alien game should be.
In sum, if you are a masochistic gamer who doesn't mind randomly dying repeatedly no matter how skillfully you play and likes to crawl around for hours completing boring tasks such as turning buttons on and off in order to see an alien from time to time that walks around like a zombie, then this game is for you. As I said, my wife likes it, so you might too. Me, I can't stand it. | video-games_xbox |
The Honest Truth About This Game. I must confess that I am a die-hard fan of the BR series (I absolutely enjoyed the first BR). So when BR2 was confirmed, I was ecstatic, and seeing the screenshots of the title sent me to my game retailer to pre-order the title. Now that I finally own the title, I must confess that I'm left with a result that leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth.
As we last remembered, BR1 left off with Rayne discovering that her father is still alive, so she thus seeks out found him. BR2 practically pick ups from that spot after years of Rayne's premeditation, but doesn't seen harness that magic that was of the BR1. As I went through BR1 I felt compelled to play on, to learn more about the story, and about Rayne. BR2's story just appears watered down and doesn't truly give any incentive as to why to continue playing the game. In BR2, Rayne just works as an agent that's assigned to do this and that instead of working upon her own free will (as to that of BR1 in the second half of the game).
Another complaint is the combat system. What on earth happened to being able to pick up firearms?!! One thing I truly adored about BR1 was your freedom to pick up practically any weapon the enemy dropped (shotguns, rocket launchers, etc.). BR2, Rayne can only use her blades and blood gun (which runs out way to fast, and takes too long to recharge) which supposedly eliminates/takes the place of using or picking up firearms. The computer AI also, seems very dumb at times (characters running into ways etc)or occasionally stating comments such "Gotta Go!" or "Se Ya Later!" In this aspect, the game feels waaay too sanitary.
Throughout the game, Rayne learns several different skills (as did with BR1) and combination attacks, though several of them are pretty useless and probably won't ever need to be used.
Battles seem pretty repetitive (though the developers eliminated the "find a key" type missions of BR1) it's now replace with tedious "destroy all enemies to progress" ones now, and boss battles are either too easy or too tough. The graphics in the game don't seem to surprass BR1's very much (in fact, I'd go as far to say that BR1 looked better in every aspect, with the exception of BR2 using motion capture).
BR2 does have some advantages tough, the game contains unlockables such as movie sequences, and cheats password (from BR1) is still kept intact.
BR2 is alright game, gamers new to the series may love it. However, to the die-hard BR fans, don't expect to be too impressed. One thing I noticed when playing BR2 is that Rayne didn't appear to be the hardcore-bad@$$ she was in BR1. Well perhaps she's just upset that she's in this mediocre sequel. An average game. | video-games_xbox |
Some shortcomings, overall very good. As an admittedly picky game player, and having played enough RPGs to know "good" from "bad," I definitely think that the good parts of The Last Remnant outweigh the bad. I will jump right into the parts of this game that I enjoy:
1. Outside of the battle field, the game has stunning scenery. While there are standard caves and dungeons, there are vast and beautifully detailed outdoor environments that are very refreshing and energizing. Some of environments are very reminiscent of the "Myst" series, which I particularly liked.
2. Along with the scenery, there are some stand-out tracks on the soundtrack. Namely "Old Traditions, New Methods" and "Rolling Hills, Sprawling Plains." Many tracks have a very eclectic, new age feel. Unfortunately there are some uninspired electric guitar battle themes, but the composers more than make up for it with the better tracks.
3. There is a geniune sense of free adventure in this game. The story line is set up for you from the beginning, but the majority of the game is spent exploring areas through side quests. Through these sidequests and exploring different maps, you can open up new cities, landscapes and dungeons that have nothing to do with the immediate story at hand. Whatever your mood, you can satisfy yourself in this game. At almost any time during the game, you can choose between free roaming, completing side quests, or progressing with the main story of the game.
4. No matter where you go, the enemies usually seem to be programmed to fight at your level. Of course, there are difficult boss battles that you must level up your characters to win. However, for the vast majority of the game, there are no sudden huge spikes in difficulty that plague some games (like Star Ocean 3). You are able to save at any time you can open the game menu (99% of the time), and you are fully recovered after every battle. That said, regular encounters are a little more drawn out and less frequent than, say, Final Fantasy XII.
5. The characters have some depth! While some of the characters' stories leave a bit to be desired, you get to learn a lot about your party members and may even grow attached to them like you did in Final Fantasy X. This helps because you feel involved with their story, and it provides motivation to progress in the game.
There are few bad things that I can say about this game. The load times can be a little distracting. However, they tried to make it helpful by including game tips on the load screen. Additionally, there are some frame rate issues during battles because there is A LOT going on (by the end of the game, you can control up to 25 characters divided into 5 parties that fight at once on the battle field). However, I quickly got over that and don't even notice it anymore.
In all, this is definitely a game to check out. With the reduced price, there is no excuse not to try it out now. This is a masterfully done RPG - not completely groundbreaking, but very refreshing and enjoyable. | video-games_xbox |
Its Breathtaking....kinda like an IMAX movie. Its been several years actually since I have even touched a brand new Final Fantasy game since Final Fantasy X-2, which was to me, the worst Final Fantasy game I have ever laid eyes on, especially after playing its glorious predecessor for which it has ultimately failed to live up to.
So I was a bit skeptical about this one, until I noticed it was a hit/best seller. Heck, I did not even know such awards were still given out these days. >.>
After playing this for a couple of days, like most recent Final Fantasy games, the cinematic aspect is what really shocks me. But, maybe its a bit, overdoing it..I dunno. I mean, everytime I play it, I want to grab a bag of popcorn and recline in my bed like I am watching a movie. That is exactly what it feels like...a movie. That is the problem with videogames today. They are merely eye candy, most of them. They are lacking more and more of what makes them videogames in the first place, like oldschool games. Which is why I want to check out the Atari or Coleco Vision.
Also, this game feels like Crash Bandicoot. By that I mean, for a Final Fantasy game, it is sorely,dreadfully straight-forward and linear. I mean, how can any secrets be hidden well in such a shallow game such as this in terms of its landscape. Like I said, I have only played it for a couple of days since I just ordered it from here like a couple of days ago, but I do not see it changing to a more vast landscape, say, like the timeless FF VI(III in the American version).
The gameplay does feel fresh and innovative. To me, so far, its as though they took FF X's "Grid System" and mixed it in with elements from FF Tactics and part 1 with the "Class System," which came out very fluidly. The actual battles are fast-paced and require your full attention to achieve victory. I love how "updated" it is, for example, "potion" heals EVERYONE, thank God.
This game, like most games, has its ups and downs, but more ups than downs for me.
Its worth a shot if you love FF, RPGs, and lengthy CGI scenes that seem like you are actually in it!^_^ | video-games_xbox |
THE last great JRPG. What do you think of when you say the word JRPG? Epic Adventure story, Amazing characters and TURN-BASED COMBAT, well Lost Odyssey gives it to you and then some.
Being an older JRPG fan (especially of Final Fantasy, been playing since the early 90's) I have a hard time accepting newer ones because they don't capture the flare of what a truly good JRPG is from this genre, they are all really shallow action RPG's that have 0 re-playability short of achievements or trophies, and have nothing memorable about them. After FFXIII came out, I was pretty much done with the genre, but low and behold there was a shining gem in the darkness, from the creator of the original Final Fantasy himself comes Lost Odyssey.
What is there to say other then I'm truly sad that this game has somewhat been "lost" because it doesn't have that ugly "Square-Enix" logo on it, and quite frankly that makes me love it even more, Lost Odyssey follows the wandering Immortal Kaim on, who has lost his memories, fighting to get them back. By the way the cast of characters is amazing, you can really tell this game was made by the same man who made The Final Fantasies we all know and love, Hell the game is worth owning for Jansen alone, lol its been a long time since I just laughed hysterically at writing like that.
Aside from the cast of characters, the visuals are stunning, you know it may not be as beautiful as FFXIII but its still damn pretty, the Unreal Engine does it justice. Ahh the controls, good sweet ol turn based combat, I thought you had gone the way of the dodo my friend, why re-invent the wheel when its already perfect? just add things to it, and Mistwalker did, the cast timing and triggers for attacks are a nice touch and add a bit more strategy to the way things work. Equipping weapons and skills has a cool little set to it, Immortals have to use something called a "skill link" to learn skills from humans who naturally get them, it will remind you of FFVII and FFIX in how it works, weapons, ring assembly and accessories all have things you learn. Just like in older RPG's there are towns, a world map, TONS, and I mean TONS of extra little items and treasures and side quests to do and find, so expect to put A LOT of time into this game. Plus you can even get an Extra Dungeon with the "Seeker of the Deep" DLC on Xbox live (and trust me when I say its no walk in the park this game is no slouch)
The game comes in 4 discs, sometimes in game cut-scenes can chug (I installed all mine to my hard-drive but before I did you could see it a little), some people have run into a problem where Disc 4 will not read, I was able to play through mine just fine (I don't know if it was a good disc or the fact mine was installed) but it worked just fine.
By far the strongest point of this game is its story-telling, the memory-flashbacks Kaim has are some of the most emotional cut-scenes I've ever seen, there were a few that even had me tearing up, no lies here they were that moving (You can even change the language to Japanese if you're one of those types who hate English VA, lol). But where would good storytelling be without fantastic music? and who better then the man himself, Nobuo Uematsu, his work is just as fantastic in here as its ever been, You get such a Nostalgic yet "New toy" feel from this game that it feels more like Final Fantasy then the title series does anymore and that's sad.
Audio: 10
Video: 9.5
Story: 10
Controls: 9.5
All in all, BUY THIS GAME, some part of it will hook you, if the fact its a call back to older RPG's doesn't then the story will, or maybe even the music, Its very easy to get "lost" in Lost Odyssey | video-games_xbox |
A darker place to hang your hat (or to find something hanging. When I began playing Condmend, C.O. I wondered one thing: what in the world happened to this town? I've heard of style and I've heard to rockstaring a world, but this place was something else. It was like a nightmare had mixed with the show Oz and had spilled out on the screen, making a mixed bag of atmosphere and a world where squalor rules. In some parts I felt like I was walking into a world where the homless gathered around barrels and warmed themselves, hoping to keep the Boogeyman at bay. In other places I felt like a drug manufacturing facility owned the night, creating a horrific variation of the world where addiction and murder liked to vacation.
In all of this, you play a person tasked with the job of hunting down killers. It isn't an easy job and it isn't a nice thing. You get your hands dirty and you see things that are really out of most people's elements as you crime through the sreets in search of the things going bump in the night. Unlike many games these monsters wear human faces and have base needs, but they are warped records and play on savage music in the middle of this strange wasteland.
At times it seems like this place would drive your character to madness. Other times it all makes sense, with this world making both the victims, the killers, and the dogs of war that hunt them in their own homes.
As far as the gameplay, it is also dirty. It is sometimes base and it is sometimes a bit unfriendly, but it is easy to learn and easy to keep going. Some people do not like the speed of it all, saying it is slow. That can be true sometimes, but this is something to slip into. We leave the FPS at the door and get to know things aobut the world that ar enot greeting card civilities. They say something that is whispered, too, and I like being able to control some aspec tof that.
If you want a mature rated thing to play, play this. It is one of those games that becomes a "hit" for a reason, wearing controversy and some dated moments but also wearing an interesting appeal. It has more titles in the franchise, too, so if you like it then there will be more to like. I find it a roudned up 5 out of 5, and only becaus eI thought parts were a bit short and some places were hard to control. Still, that is one of the things with new games (newer, as in 360 or PS3 types)- they offer new things and new views but you only have so many fingers to control with.
I loved the way it all came together. | video-games_xbox |
Best shooter available on current gen consoles. Single player;
Playing single player on Battlefield is what you would expect. It's short and sweet. The campaign takes <10 hours to complete if you know what your doing. The story is much like a Hollywood action movie rather than a military simulation. That isn't a bad thing specially with today's youth who want instant gratification (Although I would prefer more realism). There are big explosions, plot twists, and many moments that leave you saying 'wow, I can't believe that just happened.' There are a few flaws with single player. More than a few times I found myself being pinned down by gunfire only to have enemies spawn right beside me out of thin air and kill me. This happened way more than it should. Also on several occasions the mission progress seemed to get stuck and I could not go any further unless I restarted from a check point. I managed to make it through the campaign without these flaws detracting from my overall experience and knowing Dice/EA they should have this patched in no time.
Multiplayer;
Now this is the meat and potatoes of a Battlefield game. The sounds of the game are amazing specially on a nice pair of headphones. The gameplay remains similar to BF3 while also feeling more fluid and natural. The maps are a bit on the smaller side like BF3 but feel much larger and detailed a definite step up from last iteration. The unlocks and leveling move at a nice pace without being too easy and vehicles are just as fun as you might think they would be. The only flaws I found so far with MP is sometimes the textures won't load on my gun right away making it impossible to look down the sights and sometimes the bipod on some guns won't deploy instantly, also a problem in BF3.
I think a few patches will do this game good but as it stands it is an easy 4/5 for any Battlefield fan or a shooter fan in general. If the games looks and plays this good on current gen I CAN'T WAIT to see it live on next gen. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing surround sound at a great price. Alright, I'm new to surround sound through headsets. I have surround sound speakers in a family room (a 5.1 setup with a really nice center speaker and good-sized satellite surround speakers) and it sounds fantastic. But sometimes, you don't want your family or neighbors to hear the noise from gaming. I couldn't justify buying $100+ surround sound headsets as I do have to watch my spending (buy way too many games and other stuff). So I started off with the Turtle Beach X12 headset (fantastic, by the way) which was an excellent deal at the time. However, the X12 headset is only stereo. Which is fine and has excellent sound but it's not surround sound. I could only tell left and right and in a crowded gaming situation, you lose track of where objects are in space.
Another reason why I wanted to upgrade to surround sound is I like to record my gameplay with my Hauppauge HD-PVR. If I set the HD-PVR to record 5.1 optical, I couldn't hear audio through my stereo headset which is RCA stereo. So I was forced to play with the full surround sound speakers of my room which is not convenient when you need to be quiet. So I ended up recording my videos in stereo so I could play with the X12 headset. But with the DSS2, I can do my recordings in 5.1 as well as use my X12 in 5.1 with the DSS2.
At the time, the DSS1 was still around but was a bit pricey. I missed out on some sales for it unfortunately. So I waited for it to come down in price again, but before I could get another sale, the DSS1 was quietly removed from the marketplace and replaced with the DSS2. I heard the DSS1 was superior to the DSS2, but it was a moot point as the DSS1 became harder to find and more expensive while the DSS2 dropped in price. So when the DSS2 was on sale for $49.99, I jumped on it.
Now, I'm not going to comment on the DSS1. Whether it's really better or not is not for me to say as I never got to try them out. These comments are purely for the DSS2, and how I use them with my X12. And so far, I am loving the DSS2 with my TB X12 headset. Setup is pretty simple. The hardest part was setting the the cabling to be tidy so that my Xbox 360 could switch back and forth between the headset and the receiver with true surround speakers in the room without having to unplug cables as constant unplugging and replugging is not good for longevity of the cables.
Now, the X12 has a little box that contains the volume, bass boost, and mic controls. It's advised to turn off the bass boost and use the bass boost on the DSS2 as both devices boosting simultaneously can distort the audio. The next thing was figuring out the right volume level for both the X12 volume knob and the DSS2 volume knob. Do you set the X12 knob to the middle and then dial mostly with the DSS2?
On the DSS2, there is a button to turn the Dolby Digital Surround Sound off and on. When it is turned off, the audio is digital stereo. When it is on, it creates a virtual 5.1 setup. I read comments that state 4.1. I don't know about that. All I know is in multiple places in the manual (both in text and pictures), it shows 5.1. And really, all I care about is having a deep, full sound environment and being able to figure out the positions of the bad guys.
There are buttons for surround sound angles and equalizer presets. Unfortunately, there are no dedicated LEDs to indicate which preset or surround sound angle is currently selected. However, the LEDs that are present will blink in sequence and this tells you what preset is selected (you have to look in the instruction manual). So you're going to have to be very attentive if you need to keep track of what presets for which game or presets between different users of the system.
The game I first used to test out the surround sound was Halo Reach as I got recommendations on its excellent sound separation. At first, I couldn't tell much difference, but the more I played, the more I notice how good the sound separation was from before. We were driving in a warthog and as an animal ran behind the warthog, I could tell it was behind. When some NPC was doing a conversation, I rotated my character around and I could tell the NPC was in front or behind me. I even did a blind test and rotated around and checked if I was really telling if it was in front or behind and I was correct.
In a crazy firefight, sounds are coming from all directions so I couldn't always pinpoint where but the sound was fuller than before I had the DSS2. When the combat was more intimate, I could definitely tell where the enemy was.
The next game I played was Left 4 Dead 2 and the DSS/X12 combination was awesome! I could tell where the boomers, spitters, etc. were coming from! You can't hide from me anymore! Stereo helps out a little in identifying where baddies are but nowhere near as well as the surround sound setup!
Some other games I recommend to test surround sound include the Dead Space series, the Bioshock series, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Modern Warfare 2.
Now, the DSS2 is not perfect. There were a few times I heard some audio crackles/noise. I solved this by moving the USB cord to a different port which led to really clean audio.
Also note that the included optical cable must be the thinnest cable ever made. I swapped it for one of my regular optical cables as someone told me it makes a difference.
For the $50 that I got the DSS2 for, it's amazing and will stay on my 360. It comes completely ready to use as it includes a USB cable and an optical cable. You just plug in your headset and go. This is one of the best budget methods to get a surround sound headset. Around Black Friday, I got the X12's for about $35 and with this $50, I got a darn good setup going. $85 over the course of 8 months versus $100+ upfront is a good deal for a person on a budget. There was some trepidation over the DSS2 due to the negative comments I read, but having tried it myself, I can allay those fears. Sure, the DSS1 may be better (I'll never know) but I'm really enjoying the DSS2 and its sound effects.
And don't forget, the DSS2 is for any stereo headphones/headset so your experience and results may differ depending on the model you have since headphones have different designs. Also, your ears shape and structure differ as well so one person's comments won't necessarily apply to you. You just have to try it for yourself to determine whether it works for you. And luckily for me, it works great! The DSS2 is a fairly good 5 stars with the only complaint being that there are no dedicated LEDs to indicate the chosen preset. If it had dedicated LEDs for presets, it would be a strong 5 stars. This has been one of my best gaming purchases in a long time.
There are some more features of the DSS2 which I haven't really had a chance to try out so I'll update the review appropriately after playing with them. One question I'll briefly cover (but will test out more) is how regular music sounds with the surround settings enabled and so far, the music sounds great. | video-games_xbox |
Worst Mechwarrior Game ... Period. I just became a proud owner of an XBox 360. I had always wanted to take a stab at the Mech Assault games on the XBox, and thankfully Mech Assault was finally listed as being backwards compatible with the XBox 360.
I've been a fan of the Mechwarrior universe ever since Mechwarrior 2 made its debut on the PC. Yeah, that was a long time ago. I was itching to play the same kind of in depth game again. I couldn't wait to open up the package and play a modern Mechwarrior game again. Afterall, the reveiws had been great. Plus, it had been a while since a good Mechwarrior game had come out. Mechwarrior 3 was awful, and the fourth wasn't that much better either. Well, neither is this game. In fact, it's worse than Mechwarrior 3 or 4. At least in those games you actually can group weapons together, be inside the cockpit, and have decent story lines.
Mech Assault 2: Lone Wolf, fails in ever category to satisfy the hardcore Mechwarrior gamer. There's no Mechs to buy, no upgrades, no grouping of weapons, no commanding of fellow mechs, no fun period. If you've played and enjoyed the Mechwarrior 2 series, you know what kind of greatness is within those games. This game reminded me of a bad beta demo of Armored Core. The AI is horrific as well. I can't tell you how easy it was to outthink any enemy I came against, not there's much to it in the first place. That's because the aiming and targeting is flawed as well. I remember the old days of hitting someone in the legs and knocking their legs out. Well, if you're lucky you'll do that in this game, but nine times out of ten you'll just waste your unlimited ammo as well.
The other thing that really brought this game to a new low was the ability to walk through these icons in the map to increase your weapon strength and your health and your power. In the old games, the entire mission was made realistic by giving you a mech and your wits. If it got busted all up to heck, you had to fix it after the mission. Not this game, just plop over a health powerup and your health goes right back up. Yeah, that's great if you're a two year old playing this game and you have no recollection what a real Mech game played like. Unfortunately for me, I do remember.
Here's the other thing. What ever happened to overheating??? If you fired too much in the old days your mech would die. Not here in this game, either. Just fire away until your thumbs get tired and nothing will stop you.
This game is very simplistic and very unoriginal. It was painful for me just to get through a few missions before I finally tossed it aside and trade it in.
Gameplay: 3/5
The controls were actually easy to use. No problem getting around and shooting. There is just not good enough aiming quality.
Graphics: 3/5
I've seen better on the XBox like Halo 2's graphics engine, however, I've also seen way worse graphics as well. Just average visuals here. Frankly, I think I'm being generous with this rating.
Presentation: 2/5
The reason this gets such a low score is due to the game's history as a whole. I know the kind of potential Mechwarrior games have, and this game does not even compete. It tries to lure you in by saying you can jump in and out of mechs. However, this is the only thing trying to lure you into the game. It's a great feature, but when the game is designed around this premise, that's when it fails.
Features: 1/5
This game is so unoriginal and so not full of anything it leaves you so bored by the second and third missions you wonder why you continue to play. The features are simple: move, fire one single weapon (oh and by the way, you only get a few weapons to select from) and jump out of your mech and into another one on the map. Remember customizing mechs and stuff before each mission all you Mechwarrior 2 fans? Yeah ... I guess that must have slipped the game development guys' minds, because you can't customize anything.
Overall: 2/5
If you've never even seen Mechwarrior 2 then this game probably is fun for you. However, if you played these games since conception ... well ... spend your money elsewhere. Severe disappointment. | video-games_xbox |
Lots of fun, if not completely polished. This game is a lot of fun. If you liked the first mercenaries, this one continues the party with lots more vehicles, weapons, and airstikes. The vehicle hi-jacking minigame is kinda silly, as none of them are so hard that you simply won't be able to do them, even for the best vehicles (most require mid-tempo button-mashing), and if you fail, you can easily try again with little to prevent it. Money is rather silly in this game, as you can earn 5 million in a very easy task in your HQ that takes about 2 minutes, and the best faction units and airstrikes in the game only cost like $250k-400k. The only time you really need cash is to bribe factions (upwards of $10million). Another odd point is the relative invincibility of your merc. You can fall from hundreds of feet or stand in the middle of an airstrike and survive (though my experience is with Nielsen, who is the "tough" one).
Pros:
-Lots of vehicles (170+)
-Game world is very large
-It is easier to control faction opinion than the first game. You can kill whomever you want, as long as you don't get reported (the games gives you 10 seconds to take out reporting units)
-Physics engine is very realistic
-Everything actually CAN be destroyed (though most respawn at some point)
-You can afford all the vehicles and airstikes you could ever want without having to "work" for money
Cons:
-BUGS. This game literally locks up my Xbox 75% of the time when I try to load a save. However, it appears this has been fixed through Xbox live.
-Missions are too redudant. Most missions actually have you repeat the exact same task 3 times, though increasing difficulty and increasing reward.
-Voice acting is annoying. Everyone says the same things over and over again. A pirate unit sharing your tank will continually say something like "hey mon" every 5 seconds. I'm not kidding.
-There are not enough core missions. I would estimate there are 12-15 between the 5 factions. The other "missions" are more like errons (drive from A to B)
The only real deal breaker for me in this game was the locking up while loading. As I said, an Xbox live update will fix this, but if you don't have live, make sure you are a patient person. | video-games_xbox |
Machinegun and chainsaw: two great tastes that go great together. I've beaten the campaign mode of Gears of War 2 (GOW2) on hardcore and I play multiplayer regularly on Wednesday nights (friend Talien if you're interested). I switched from our Halo 3 weekly games, so I will use that as a point of comparison.
The campaign is great. GOW2 fixed a lot of things you wanted to do before, like taking on a chainsaw with another chainsaw, holding someone hostage, fighting Reavers and even Brumaks, drive tanks, and more. More importantly, Dom's quest to find his wife adds pathos to a brutally violent game - pathos, I might add, that was so heavily hyped in Halo's campaign but never really pulled off. That's the difference between having a faceless protagonist and a character that's fleshed out through flashbacks. Through his heartbreaking quest to find his wife, Dom comes to life. It reminds us of the human cost of war, and helps take the edge off the endless macho posturing of four hugely juiced combat gorillas in armor.
There's also some weird plot involving Lambent Locusts, a revolution, an awfully humanoid-looking hottie of a Locust queen, Marcus Fenix's father, a computer gone mad, and the sinking of Jacinto. Mind you, I thought we were supposed to save Jacinto, not sink it; once it becomes clear that it would hurt the Locusts more by destroying it, the COGs seem to do the job on behalf of the bad guys. But those are minor quibbles and more than made up for the fact that the action is relentless, a pace difficult to keep up even in first-person shooters.
There are flaws in the campaign. If I never play another rail game again in a multiplayer, I would be happy. GOW2 also forces some button-mashing battles that are very different from the normal run-and-gun tactics that are part-and-parcel of the rest of the game. From a cinematic perspective this is great; from someone who just likes to shoot stuff, it can get frustrating.
The multiplayer is where GOW2 really excels. It's like a bloodstained Santa showed up and gave us everything we ever wanted that was missing in GOW. Want to be able to play with up to ten people? Check. Want to be able to just fight wave after wave of Horde cooperatively? Check. Want to play against computer-controlled opponents in multiplayer until you can fill the slots? Check, baby!
Unlike Halo 3, GOW2 feels like a vastly improved version of the original. It takes everything you loved about GOW and amps it up to 11. If you love first-person shooters, if you like team multiplayer games, or if you're just addicted to the gruesome implications of combining a chainsaw with a machinegun ... this game's for you. | video-games_xbox |
FINALLY. Rock Band, Guitar Hero. PASS.
Every since I was a kid I have always dreamed of playing guitar. There wasn't any money for a guitar let alone music lessons so it was one of those things that was a fact of life: I wouldn't be a rockstar. Even as a kid though I realized someday I could probably buy one with my own money and consoled myself with that. As I grew up and had jobs (and bills) and school I found I had money but couldn't justify going to lessons, and always found excuses for never buying a guitar.
So fast forward until the plastic instrument games came out. I wanted nothing to do with them, not a fan of pressing buttons on some fisher price looking guitar. Figured if I was going to do that I might as well buy a real one and learn - and wistfully wished for a "real" guitar game. My prayers have been answered - Rocksmith.
I was concerned that the game would suck but bought it and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dean-Vendetta-XM-Solid-Body-Electric-Guitar-Trans-Black-Finish/dp/B0018TBECU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dean Vendetta XM Solid Body Electric Guitar, Trans Black Finish</a> based on the great reviews about it. Since then I have learned that the game is awesome, and that I completely suck at it. That's okay though because the game is slowly teaching me. With a ton of how-to videos, challenges to test you, mini-games to practice with, and a respectable library backed by a crap-load of emulated equipment I actually *want* to practice. In a few days I have noticed small improvement, and coupled with some reading on 'teh interwebs' I am confident I can someday play competently.
While I don't see Rocksmith as a replacement for a human teacher I do now feel motivated to make the investment for some real human lessons to supplement my learning with Rocksmith keeping me motivated by being hella fun. Thank you UBI Soft for bringing this game out. | video-games_xbox |
COD is Dead. Since my interest in video game has peaked and is on the decline, I mainly bought this game to finish out the campaign and play the spec ops missions. However, I have played it online and was not impressed. I'd like to focus my review on the multiplayer because that is what most players are buying it for these days.
I loved MW2 multiplayer. Coming from MW1, it added just enough zest with killstreaks, challenges, and customizations but it wasn't so complex that it was difficult to pick up. MW3, by contrast, is way too complex.
Remember how MW2 had maybe a dozen killstreaks? Well, now there are about 30 or so. And you get to choose "assault" or "support" where the later doesn't reset after death but is a totally different list. Why so many? All it does is clutter up the map and confuse the heck out of you. Everybody can agree that COD is a fast paced game, so the last thing I want is to be distracted by trying to remember what 20 different map icons are.
Choosing a weapon for a class used to be carefree, but now it prompts you for no less than four options. These include accessory, crosshair reticle, camo, and trait where "bling" is now located. You literally have to scramble in between games to get in and change something quickly. It is way way too in depth.
Explosives, predictably enough, were nerfed. This may sound great, except that grenades must be stuck to or right on top of a full health enemy to kill them. In addition, there is a perk that increases explosive resistance, further weakening the firecracker grenades. In MW2, a grenade's blast radius was essentially its kill radius. Not so in this game. The best strategy for killing enemies behind cover with grenades is to throw a semtex, then finish them off with 1-2 rifle grenades (all hits must be extremely close).
What in the world were they thinking when they turned up the power of just the sniper rifles? Anybody remember the AWP from Counter-Strike and how broken it was? Well, all the snipers are like that now. One shot to pretty much anywhere is an instant kill, even with the damage reducing silencer. In MW2, you had to choose stopping power over the valuable cold blooded to attain the one-hitter-quitter or just aim for the head. Now, everyone has it and everyone uses it. My money's on this getting patched like the Models when MW2 came out.
Like many others, I too have a quarrel with the map designers. Did they test them at all? Clearly not since most of them feel small, cramped, and way too circular. You basically spawn and run around the perimeter of the map until you get behind someone or run smack into someone. I don't feel the same map dynamics (areas of us/them) like MW2 or, again, Counter Strike.
Overall, I am disappointed. It may be worth borrowing to play the campaign but I seriously doubt the replay value of its aging multiplayer style. I will be trading this in for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 which is a much more fun game. | video-games_xbox |
Very good game. Red Dead Redemption is a very fun and interactive western video game. I have to admit that the first time I played, I was sorely disappointed. I was just not able to get into the story. I probably played it for an hour or so and was just completely bored, so away it went. Now, however many months later, I pulled it out again and just had a blast! I don't know why I am enjoying it so much now, but I have been having so much fun with this game! The graphics on this game are unreal, probably the best graphics I have ever seen. With how good the graphics were I thought that it would have choppy gameplay, but no. This is probably one of the smoothest playing games I have ever used. I can't go much into the story line but trust me it is very fun, and with the option of playing things like poker, black jack, and even horse shoes, you will not be getting bored with this game anytime soon. Another fun thing that you can do is get different outfits that you can wear. I think that if you like any kind of game where you can wander around and do things on your own time this is the game for you! I wouldn't say that this is an RPG game because you can't interact with anyone that isn't strictly in the story line, and even you can't influence how those relationships turn out. Another thing that takes it away from being an RPG game is that you are not able to rent property to make a profit, and things of that sort, however this is probably one of the best games I have played, and it is good if you want to get away from the traditional First Person Shooter games.
The Undead Nightmare part was pretty good. I'm not one that is really into horror styled games, so anything I say about that game is pretty biased. Just know that it is a totally different game (even on a different disc) and so it isn't like an hour long ad-on that you can do, its a full game. However even though I'm not a fan of horror games, I was able to have a lot of fun with it, and it does have a pretty solid story line. So don't feel like it is just some game where you run around masacering zombie (although you do do that sometimes).
All in all I would highly recommend this two game combo to any gamers. | video-games_xbox |
Ignore the haters. I read a few of the 1-star reviews, as well as several of the 5-star reviews.
It seems like the nay-sayers are really pretty angry that Bungie didn't totally revamp the Halo series with this one, and made what they seem to think are minor or cosmetic changes to the main character, the weapons, and the overall gameplay. There's a lot of screaming that this is an overpriced expansion pack, and not a full-fledged new game.
After playing through about 5 hours of it tonight, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Yes, it's the same game engine as Halo 3. Yes, the character controls and feels very similar to Master Chief (and no, you're not noticeably slower, though you definitely can't jump as high. In fact, I'd agree with that aspect of the criticism--the character you play still feels pretty damn powerful for a human soldier. COD4 and "one-shot, one-kill" it ain't! You'll still be able to take out multiple brutes toe-to-toe, which seems strange to me). But it's a different game entirely in several senses, particularly in the storytelling and the structure of the environments.
Again, there are plenty of people who seem to hate the layout of New Mombasa. I personally love it. It's an interesting mix of wide-open and tightly confined, claustrophobic spaces. I think it's a great layout. I'm in agreement with others who might be wondering why the city is still so intact after what's tantamount to a nuclear bomb went off just overhead, and why there are no dead bodies other than soldiers and Covenant bad-guys laying around.
Many others here make note of the excellent voice acting and soundtrack; I won't belabor the point, except to say that both are actually better than any other game in the franchise, and that means they're far better than most games on the market at all.
But really, this is all nit-picking and obsessing over something that simply ain't broke to begin with (so why should Bungie fix it?). If you stop staring at the game so hard and just *play* it, it's quite an experience. The story-telling works wonderfully; I've been engrossed totally all day. Even the character animation in the cut-scenes is very expressive. Watching the Rookie handle a mangled bit of equipment from his squad and examine it is poignant and evocative; these moments become defining for the game as a whole. You're on a detective story, but it's obvious from the start that this will not be one with a happy ending. You're the future military equivalent of CSI, but rather than reading fingerprints and DNA samples, you're looking at the remains of items that your squad carried or used.
The other thing that immerses you totally is the secondary story arc, involving a character you've never met who's being protected by the city of New Mombasa itself. It's fascinating and serves to add depth to the first-person story you experience.
By now most everyone who's picking up this game is probably aware that the story is told in Tarantino-like fashion, non-chronologically, with the viewpoint shifting so you play as other squadmates at key points. I personally think this conceit works well, though my main complaint is that the characters don't really differ at all from the Rookie when you're playing them. It would have added a lot more depth had the characters had a unique feel to them when you were actually playing them. But the story itself is well-crafted and well-told.
If you're on the fence after reading a few nay-sayers give it 1 star, you need only ask the following:
-Did you enjoy the other Halo games?
-Are you able to enjoy a video game for what it is, rather than what you think it should be?
If you can answer yes to both those questions, then don't worry about it--you'll enjoy this game. | video-games_xbox |
New Xbox is everything we have been waiting for. I had an 20GB Xbox 360 Pro/Premium that I got for Christmas in 2007. It had the Falcon chip. I bought it because it was the first upgraded Xbox to be released after the buggy Zenon that had over 75% failure rate. It worked great but I moved it around too much and it eventually got the two red ring E74 error. 3 weeks and $100 later I had it back and it served me well ever since.
Last week I got word of the new Xbox that you are currently looking to purchase. It has the Valhalla chip. That chip is two generations later from my old Xbox. I decided that my Xbox, now out of warranty and starting to make funny sounds when the disc tray closed (another common problem in older Xbox's), was outdated (with only 20GB of memory) for the new and memory eating exciting things that Microsoft was going to release in the next few years. So I sold my old Xbox for $100 and went to Best Buy that same day to pick up my new Xbox 360 "Slim".
Now to the review stuff:
First reaction to pulling it out and setting it up: Wow the packaging is much better in this one, more padding in the box. Woah, this thing is light, and look how much smaller it is. Dang, I can lift this thing up with my thumb and index finger. Hey look how small the new power brick is, cool. Oh sweet, the controller is all black. Geez look at all these USB ports! Wait a second, what does the AV hook up not have component cables for HD. Weird. My old Xbox's AV cable did.
Setup: Hooked it up with the same setup my old Xbox was on. Hovered my finger over the power button and poof. Plug and play. I recovered my gamertag, transferred my licenses via [...], registered my new console, and downloaded all my old add-ons and arcade games in a snap. I just connected to my wireless network with the BUILT IN WIFI and got on Xbox Live.
Played all that night: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO QUITE!!! Barely a whisper. Much more responsive. Things load faster. It is really really quite. It does not produce half as much heat. Did I mention that it was really quite. Seriously.
As someone who switched from a regular, older Xbox to this one to another: Do It. Microsoft has been unleashing so much this past year, this will only be more and more. You will need the space from the 250GB hard drive. Especially if you save a lot of games, music, or videos. You need the space. My friend has a 120GB Elite that he has already filled up.
To someone who is buying their first Xbox: If you waited this long to get an Xbox you probably don't need all the bells and whistles. Just go buy a used one and get a 60GB hard drive. It will be plenty for what you are using it for. This thing is built for moderate to hardcore gamers who need space, speed, and reliability.
In conclusion, upgrade to this Xbox from an older one. Don't buy it as a first timer. | video-games_xbox |
An artful masterpiece that must be experienced. We often see the debate rage on about whether games are truly art or not, but rarely do we ask the question: what sort of game would an artist make? El Shaddai would be that answer. You see, the game's director, Sawaki Takeyasu, who was in charge of the game's overall development, has only worked as an artist and even art director for past games he has worked on. Two of them, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Okami/dp/B000Z9A95M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Okami</a> and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Viewtiful-Joe/dp/B00009KO3S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Viewtiful Joe</a>, are considered some of the most beautiful and stylistic games ever made. He was also art director for <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Devil-May-Cry/dp/B000IB0CU4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Devil May Cry</a>. His artistic focus, as well as the entire creative teams' purposefully artful approach, is evident throughout the entire game. This game has had a somewhat polarizing effect in the press (Game Informer: 9/10, Gamepro: 4.5/5, IGN: 5/10), with reviews being either universal praise or lots of (undue) criticism. Yes, you need to know what you're getting into when you pop in El Shaddai, a masterfully crafted experience that is meant to immerse and move you.
For me personally, I can already tell you after a bit of time with the game, this game should be bought and bought new to encourage the market to make more products as breathtaking and refreshing as this. It is an exceptional masterpiece that you will never forget, a truly amazing experience. Games this unique and beautiful are extremely rare and El Shaddai ranks among the very best of artistic games. Games like <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Okami/dp/B000E991PC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Okami</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Viewtiful-Joe/dp/B0002B90OO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Viewtiful Joe</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Muramasa-The-Demon-Blade/dp/B001HB7K6I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Muramasa: The Demon Blade</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Odin-Sphere/dp/B000IONGU4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Odin Sphere</a>, and a few others come to mind. The publishers and developers of El Shaddai need to be rewarded for taking such a huge business risk by putting out a piece of art very different from the 1,001 desaturated shooters that flood the market each year. Also, by buying these sorts of games new, we can show the publishers that we do love beautiful, artistic games, and maybe they'll start making games of this caliber more often than every couple of years or so. With that out of the way, here's some information to help you know what you're getting into with the game. I will keep it all spoiler free. This game is full of amazing surprises that need to be experienced first-hand.
El Shaddai is based on the ancient Hebrew text, the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Book-of-Enoch/dp/1453890297/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Book of Enoch</a>, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Anyone who knows a bit about their Biblical history knows that Enoch was a prophet that was active some time before the fabled flood of Noah. The story of his book, and this game, is that he is sent to "cleanse" the souls of fallen angels, called "Watchers," whose job had been to watch over mankind. They however, grew obsessed with humanity, took women as their own wives, birthed monsters called Nephilim, and now lived among people, corrupting God's divine purpose. It's a fascinating story subject for a game, and the fact that it is a traditionally western scriptural text being interpreted by distinctly Eastern, Japanese sensibilities makes it even more interesting. The characters are fascinating and while the distinct quirkiness of Japanese game design are here (although I wouldn't really go as far as to call it "anime style" per say), it's all a very refreshing experience. As Enoch, you will ascend a massive tower, each floor of which is an entire world devoted to each angel, and that's where the art comes in.
You see, each Watcher became obsessed with a different aspect of mankind, and offered their own unique "gift" to mankind as well. This translates to each Watcher's floor being completely unique in its art design. They're all striking and totally unique. In this game, you will transverse entire worlds that range from ever-shifting water color paintings, a world seemingly pulled from a minimalists' abstract painting in a modern art gallery, an organically rendered world, and even a hi-tech city very reminiscent of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tron-Legacy/dp/B004K4IZ3G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tron: Legacy</a> (Cycle sequence and all). I'll stop there because I really don't want to give anything away, as this game is spectacular when you discover for the first time what it has to offer. The enemy designs all fit their respective environments, and are pretty bizarre and interesting. Actually, all of the character designs are very striking, and some are very strange. Enoch himself is shirtless prophet in designer jeans, with white armor pieces that look like porcelain attached to him to indicate his health level. Archangels wearing black skinny jeans, while talking nonsense (at first anyway) on a cell phone? Yeeeeah, El Shaddai is kind of out there on its own in the world, but that is partly what makes it so spectacular. I really cannot praise the art direction in this game enough. It is one of the most varied, unique, and downright beautifully designed games in terms of art that I have seen since <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Okami/dp/B000Z9A95M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Okami</a>, and I sincerely mean that.
The music cannot go unmentioned either. Composed by Masato Koda, who also wrote the music for the Devil May Cry series, this soundtrack is awesome. This game features music from all over the spectrum, ranging from levitical choirs, to Japanese garden zen-like music with harps and other traditional Japanese instruments, to 1970's jazzy-disco, to majestic Post-Rock. It's all here, and it's all quite excellent. I love it.
The gameplay is probably the most polarizing aspect of El Shaddai, and I can understand why (rhyme unintentional). At its core, El Shaddai is a 3rd person action adventure platformer with lots of beat-em-up moments. This is very well executed. However, this game takes another artistic school of thought and applies it straight to the gameplay. That concept is minimalism. You see, there is no HUD at all in the game. The combat is much more oriented on having encounters with only a couple enemies, with a focus on flow and elegance. Even the non-combat gameplay mechanics are very simple that use few buttons, but are executed elegantly. In fact, "elegance" is the word I would use to describe the gameplay in El Shaddai. This is intentional, and it is done with a purpose. Some in the gaming press have missed that and therefore given the review some poor ratings. Some will hate the gameplay, it's to be expected when it is so deliberately focused on being artistic in its execution and flow. You need to know that going in. Personally, I found it refreshing and very enjoyable, all of it.
Really, whether you enjoy the game or not will really boil down to whether you are in the right mindset to play the game. If you understand that this game, in every single possible way conceivable, is meant to actually stand as an immersive, beautiful work of art, you will absolutely love El Shaddai with your whole soul. Chances are, if you're looking at this obscure game at all, then you will be the type to love it. It is a niche title, that will probably grow to having a very devoted underground following (I truly hope it transcends an underground, cult status though). Personally, I fall in that category, and I am so refreshed after playing El Shaddai. It is a beautiful work of art, poignant and affecting, and I really hope that we get either a direct sequel, or at least a spiritual successor, soon. I said this earlier, but I must reiterate: BUY THIS GAME AND BUY IT NEW! Buy it, immerse yourself into it, and be transported to a magical world where games truly can be masterful works of art!
*As I continue my way through the game, I'll post updates to my review if I feel there is anything important to add to what is here in this review. For now, though, I think this review pretty much sums up the game in a spoiler-free yet informative fashion. I hope it was helpful. Thank you and good day! :) | video-games_xbox |
awful. one of the absolute worst games i have ever played. oh my god!
the AI was programmed by rubbing the developers butt over the keyboard because they are so insanely stupid that they don't even turn and just stand in the open getting a bullet sandwich to the face. hit detection is complete crap and the guns lack impact. the physics are a mess. if i shoot someone in the legs they do a perfect back flip. the enemies stand near explosives which also souk since the enemies will also fly to moon. grenades are broken because the grenades are filled with helium since the fly may past your target, bounce all over the place and do jack with damage. normally i just run through entire stages since the AI is to interested in a brick wall or in running into each other and shooting the air.
when i melee people their is no sound and their is also a few second delay and the guy you stab after the loads he flies like 5 feet. what the heck? what am i Thor?
the graphics are even worse. normally people don't look like they have a face just a muddy slab. textures on their body look like an early ps2 game. i cannot believe this game was made in 2011. it looks like its from 2003. half the time people get stuck in walls and their arms just twist into a gigantic knot or get folded into what looks like their own ass. everything else is just low resolution and extremely shallow and linear. at the end of missions there is never even a cutscene just a stupid scoreboard that i don't care about.
the developers (codemasters) are real codemasters since there are no coded automatic reloads and i cannot scroll if i hold down the d pad.
the premise is so incredibly weak and thin it feels like a big joke.
the story makes no sense because the game is called bodycount yet the story focuses on fixing the worlds problems and trying to eradicate war from the earth. somehow peace talks and trying to stop genocide can all happen if mow down waves of brown people. when im fighting on the battlefield no one is friendly, not even the african army. in the beginning didn't the narrator say that we need to get both sides to start negotiating again?
i hope believe me and don't buy this game.
2/10
garbage
stay away | video-games_xbox |
Requires real physical effort and coordination - GREAT GAME. Having looked over the spread of Kinect games currently available I have begun to notice a trend. If an over-weight ADHD twelve-year-old can't play it properly, then it must be terrible, right? Right?
Fighter's Uncaged presents precisely this dilemma, and its low scores across the board indicate that it is useless, if not entirely broken as many critics have claimed.
Having played through the whole tutorial and successfully combated all the introductory fighters (with a flawless record no less), I feel it is time to set the record straight. There are a number of points about this game that must be heeded in order for it to be in any way entertaining or useful.
1) Kids beware - it isn't that the game is that terribly challenging (come on critics, really?) but the movements required to perform maneuvers are precise. Thus, if you aren't precise and are prone to throwing your arms and legs out haphazardly trying to hit your opponent, you will be foiled. Thus, this game is simply not kid friendly as most kids (and over-weight critics) have a tendency to do just that - flail around to no avail.
2) It works... but do you? - I'm not in top condition by any means, but I am physically fit enough to know that out-of-shapers will simply be frustrated by this game. This game not only requires stamina but also precision, which if you are out of shape you simply will not have. The repeated whine from the critics has been "it doesn't work, wah*wah*wah". The reality is that it does work, just fine, but it doesn't work if you can't control your limbs enough to accurately perform the gestures. It's pretty much that simple: if you can't properly activate the Kinect with your movements, then it will have to try to guess what you are doing, and this can result in sporadic movements and lag. If, however, you properly learn the moves (on both sides of the body, which is necessary, not superfluous as the critic claims) and remember their motions accurately, then you will have no problem.
3) Fitness = Practice - This may come as a surprise to the gaming critic world, but if you want to continue reviewing Kinect games you are going to have to get in shape to do it. The fact is that games such as Fighters Uncaged require a minimum level of fitness in order for it to work correctly. Further, it seems that the expectation of many people, critics included, when appropriating this game is that it should play like Street Fighter or Mortal Combat, plug and play so to speak. The reality is that you have to be physically conditioned enough in order to actually perform the gestures necessary and have the reflexes necessary to keep up in combat. If you were actually going to become a professional fighter you wouldn't start by booking a fight, you would take time to prepare and train before booking your first fight. This game is no different. If you can't pass through the tutorials then you need to keep practicing until you can properly execute all the different techniques.
4) Is it for me? - For any of you out there that are worried by the overwhelming negative critic response to this game, so long as you take into account the above mentioned warnings, you should at least give it a try. If you are like me, you will find an entertaining game that after about two hours of training you can successfully plug away at and will in the process get a fantastic workout. The more you play (practice) the better you will get and the more fluid your motions will be.
Bottom Line: If you are 1) older youth to adult, 2) physically fit and wanting a challenge, and 3) at least moderately coordinated, then this game will be a great physical and mental challenge for you. | video-games_xbox |
If you're looking for a media desktop, you should get an Xbox One instead. I'm not a gamer. I have an Xbox One, but I don't have any game with it. I got it at the midnight launch, so I've had some time with it to write this review.
So why did I get it? I used to stream Amazon Prime content from my laptop to play it on my TV. Some time in the past couple months, Amazon changed the hardware requirements or some kind, so I was not able to do that any more. I thought I would get a media desktop for that purpose, then I realized an Xbox One is only slightly more expensive, with all the Kinect and stuffs. I also got tired of TWC changing channel lineups, I decided to get an Xbox instead.
So I bought an Xbox One was bought to be a media center plus TV remote. Does it worth the price?
First of all, the voice control works fairly well. It's not perfect yet, at least not for me, but it works most of the time. I don't have a formal statistics, but my estimate is that 80% of the voice commands were recognized correctly. Of those 20% unsuccessful voice commands, maybe half of them are related to "Xbox watch (a financial TV channel)". Xbox decided I wanted to watch other channels start with a "C" if I said CNBC, and simply didn't recognize the command if I said Bloomberg. All other channels I tried, CNN, HBO, ESPN, NBC, MSNBC, Primetime on Demand, worked very well. I had like one command mistaken over more than one week, already outperformed the sluggish remote control from TWC.
So what if you really want to watch those financial channels? The answer is to add them to your Oneguide favorites. Since I added CNBC to my favorites, it worked every single time.
Other than those financial channels, the worst performing voice command, surprisingly, was "Xbox On". I do find that it responded better if I don't put a pause between "Xbox" and "on", but it still might takes a second, or occasionally third try to turn it on. I found it helpful to keep quiet when turning it on by voice. Once you got them configured correctly, those on and off command turn your TV on and off too.
One last thing about voice control: it goes well when I say "Xbox go to Amazon Instant Video", but Xbox tends to stop listening before the app starts, therefore once the app starts, most likely the "call what you see" control is already off. I found that the command to call the voice menu back is "Xbox select". It works, but it's still a little annoying.
Although I write quite a bit of issues with the voice control, in general I found it works pretty well. Do have space to improve though.
I'm quite impressed with Kinect's ability to recognize you. Even in the dark with only TV on. Might take couple seconds, but its ability is amazing. I do have Xbox Fitness installed, but I haven't worked out on that yet, mostly because of how my living room is arranged right now. So far Xbox has seen be sitting there doing nothing when I go through the videos, and asked me to do more.
Gesture control, which the original Kinect was invented to do, turned out to be way less impressive. It does work say when the voice menu is off, but sometimes it takes couple times to call up the "hand" on screen, and sometimes the selection just doesn't work, especially for Amazon Instant Video app. It tends to work better with Microsoft apps and the OS though, might be an Amazon problem.
Skype works well too. My mom said the video quality is better. The automatic zooming is also pretty cool. One thing I take issue is that Skype cannot be snapped at this point. It's kind of weird that you can snap TV but cannot snap Skype. So can you watch TV and Skype someone at the same time by snapping TV? My personally opinion is you can't. Both sounds from TV is kind of confusing to me.
YouTube app works well too, as you can find a video on your laptop or tablet and play it to Xbox.
Now it goes to how it works as a remote control. All those "volume up", "volume down", channel switching work very well, as already explained. I can even switch channel to TWC's Primetime On Demand by voice. However, once I do that, TWC's sluggish box is in control again, and this will be the only time you need the remote control from TWC. I hope TWC will release a proper app soon, but given that their Xbox 360 app was just released couple months ago, it might take a while.
So, does it worth the price? That's a tough question to answer. If you're already considering a media desktop for your TV, for a little more Xbox One definitely worth it. If you're considering devices like Roku boxes, it's a harder question. Don't take me wrong,
I think Xbox One is a great device for your living room, probably the best you can find right now, but it is a bit pricey. | video-games_xbox |
Great Grips for Xbox One Controller. I personally don't own these, but I just spent the entire day yesterday gaming at a buddies house that has these installed on all of his Xbox One controllers and I have to admit, they are super comfortable and make holding the controller all the easier. And the pattern that is infused onto the grips allows for a small amount of air to circulate which helps prevent sweaty hands with long gaming sessions. He didn't have the trigger stops installed so I really can't speak to those. I just used the grips themselves and they really are outstanding in every regard.
As great as these grips are, they do add another $25 to the cost of your controller so your basically at roughly $75 for an Xbox One controller and these grips. Obviously if your using them with the controller that came with your console then its just the additional $25, but if your buying a new Xbox One controller along with these grips then your basically at the $75 price level. The reason I bring this up is because I recently upgraded to Xbox One's Elite controller and that controller is by FAR the single best gaming controller I have ever used. I actually think the grips on the Elite controller are a bit more comfortable than these grips and of course, the Elite controller comes with a whole slew of additional features. IMO, the paddles on the bottom of the Elite controller are the best thing to happen to game controllers the last 10-15 years running. They are amazing and super comfortable to use. Plus you can set up the controller any way you want and even adjust the sensitivity of the sticks. So basically, if your looking to buy a new controller along with these grips, your already at $75. That means you could update to the Elite controller for an additional $75 and believe me, its more than worth it. Just something to think about if your about to spend $75 on a new Xbox One controller and these grips. As comfortable as these grips were, I really missed my Elite controller while I was gaming at my buddies house.
Still, if you can't afford the Elite controller or have no desire to spend that much money on a game controller, these grips are a great way of upgrading your regular Xbox One controller. They really are super comfortable and will make gaming sessions all the more enjoyable. If your looking for a quality grip for your Xbox One controller....well, you can't go wrong with SCUF grips.
5 Stars! | video-games_xbox |
Fun at first, but dies off after a while. After playing this for the first few days I loved this game, I was totally killin' it and I thought it could be my new AAA mp game but the more I played, the game starting getting less and less fun.
For the first few days, week, I thought I was amazing at this game, and then I realized everyone that I was killing was just AI, and then the more AI I killed the more boring it got, it got to a point where they got almost boring to kill just because of how easy they were to kill.
1 or 2 of the maps are the right size, big enough for Titans to be everywhere and move and small enough for Pilots (players) to get around easily, but there are some maps that are way too big for Pilots and you end up running across the map to get to the action or another hardpoint.
The other big issue I have w/ this game is the balance between Pilots and Titans. This was my very first concern w/ this game when it was first announced, how easily can Pilots kill Titans? And the answer is not at all, your "rocket launcher" isn't nearly powerful enough to take down a Titan, you can shoot the Titan 5-10 times and it still won't go down. The Titan weapons need to do more damage to be more balanced.
My last disappointment in the game is the limited mp game modes. There's all of like 3 modes that are the standard modes of pretty much every mp game, team deathmatch, hardpoint, and FFA I think, and in this game gen. that's unacceptable, so the game gets more and more boring as you're only playing about 3 game modes.
The free running mechanic as a Pilot are very fun and that was fun and set this game apart from others. Graphics were pretty good, nothing special but not bad. Calling in a Titan and watching it drop from the sky w/ the sound will never be anything less than awesome every time. Playing as a Titan is fun, and Titan on Titan battles can get pretty crazy. Story seems like it's non-existent, I don't even remember the story because it's in the background while you're playing, I mean you're way too distracted to pay attention to a story when you're in mp, but what I do remember it wasn't all that great, kind of generic.
Overall:
I would recommend this game, it's fun for a while until it gets boring, maybe you'll enjoy it longer than I did, but I'd say the game is overhyped, I'll be looking forward to TF2 and see what changes they've made, if it is for better. | video-games_xbox |
Army of... who. Well... This is a bit different, isn't it?
Those who show up to this party expecting a simple sequel to <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Army-of-Two/dp/B000RHZ9JI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Army of Two</a> are going to be a little surprised. Sure the mechanics are basically the same: over the shoulder, 1st person shoot-em-up where your level of aggression (or 'Aggro', ugh) determines how much enemy fire you'll take. But... that's about it. The easy flowing, fast killing, light-hearted, meat-headed nature of the 1st has been thrown out and what's left feels a lot more like an AoT 'reboot': the Nolan remake of the previous titles Schumacher treatment, if you will.
Things are darker, the characters take themselves much more seriously. War isn't light-hearted anymore and your choices have reprecussions you can feel. Rios and Salem seem war weary and, while they have some fun out there, are much more aware of total cost of bullets and blood (the new voice actors are infinetly more talented, by-the-by). The side characters you meet are tired, sweaty, hurt and a lot more memorable. The settings are dirty, smokey and... mostly on fire. Gameplay wise, your avatars are slower and heavier, the physics are much more real world and you've got much tighter control over-all. One the one hand, it's a much more compelling and cleanly made game. On the other hand, it feels almost exactly like everything else going. The paralles between this and Gears of War are now undeniable and it's even more clear how much it doesn't measure up. It's a superior game to the 1st AoT in almost everyway... but that doesn't mean it's more fun. If you loved, loved, loved the 1st one; if the atmosphere spoke to you, if the Rios and Salem made you chuckle, well... you might just hate The 40th Day with a passion.
I didn't, I liked it much better, but I think it just shifted more in line with things I like: stronger (much, much stronger) voice acting, memorable characters, interesting level design, elements of planning and thinking and strategy -- all stuff that requires more of an overall investment (which, understandably, not everyone is looking for). The story is still weak-sauce (even less focused than the original), so much so I'm not even going to bother recapping it because, seriously, who cares? Not the writers, that's for sure. "Shanghai's exploding. From... mercenaries or something. Good luck!" Seriously, it might as well have been zombies with guns at that point, it's the same exact feel.
That is what it is, but I would be a total fool to bother writing all this an NOT mention the new and improved weapon customization system. It. Is. AWESOME! A few dozen guns are available and when you buy/unlock one it becomes more like you just got a bunch of new spare-parts to mix and match with. Open the weapons menu and suddenly you're playing 'Sim: Arms Dealer' (a game that NEEDS to exist, now that I mention it). And it's not simply about building one 'better' gun -- everything, every accessory, every adjustment, has a place depending on what kind of enemy you're fighting and in what situation. Tight quarters? Shotguns are great if they're heavily armored, but noisy and slow -- maybe an SMG with a sturdy silencer instead? Open spaces are good for assault rifles and sniper rifles, but do you want damage or stability? Will you be laying down cover fire or closing the gap? Oh and hey, why not color them in many, many different ways just for the hell of it? For maybe the first time ever, I'm playing a game without an 'ultimate' weapon. Yeah, the mini-gun spews a billion bullets, but good luck hitting anything. That grenade launcher sure is sexy, but what're you gonna do when the bad guys get up close and personal or pick at you from a distance? With only a few exceptions, every weapon has a place and any one of them can be tricked out with stocks and silencers and scopes and shields into a serviceable, bad-guy killing, tool of death. It's a revelation and it MUST be expanded on someday... maybe into something all it's own? I joked about a weapons SIM but, seriously? Would you NOT play that freaking game?
Oh, and there are morality choices now. Sure, why not.
Enough of that, I'm off to await The SIMs: Locked and Loaded with held breath... | video-games_xbox |
Revenge + Black Magic + Weapons = FUN. In Dishonored, you play the Royal Bodyguard to the Empress, and you've been framed for her murder. Armed with a variety of occult powers suited for stealth and an arsenal of weaponry, you set out to clear your name and bring the conspirators to justice. This is a linear story-driven game with levels, but there are usually 10 different ways to creatively complete each mission. You can kill every enemy you encounter or you can complete the entire mission without spilling a drop of blood and without anyone even knowing that you were there. How you play is up to you. But there are two different endings, and the chaos you create on your mission will spread throughout the empire. If you want the `good ending,' try to be as stealthy as possible. If you want the bad ending, kill everyone, set off all the alarms and cause as much damage as you can.
Concept: 9/10
The Gameplay of Thief, the storytelling of BioShock, the World Structure of Rage, and a unique steampunk setting all work together to create a memorable experience. If you haven't played those games, I'll explain. In Dishonored, your main purpose is to stealthily complete mission objectives in levels. You can play any way you like and you are greatly encouraged to use stealth and knock out enemies instead of killing them. As you are sneaking around the levels, there's plenty of treasure and items to find. As you complete the mission, you can upgrade your gear or buy consumables like health potions or arrows. The bulk of the story is told through character dialogue, but there's a library of information within the game. Hidden books and recordings add more detail to the world itself. After each Mission, you return to a 'friendly town' where the resistance is located. This is similar to the settlements in Rage. You can walk around and talk to your allies, get quests, or buy gear from the mechanic. It's rare that a game will let you creatively complete missions, so Dishonored is a treat.
Story: 8/10
The empress is killed and you are framed, and you must rescue the heir and "remove" all of the key political figures of the old regime. You can do this violently or non-violently. It's completely up to you. There's a good ending and a bad ending, complete with modules about all of the NPC's that you've helped... or slain.
World: 8/10
The world is kind of an electric / steam punk / whaler city / that's suffering from a plague that turns people into zombies. It's not even a nice place to visit, but the sounds, game fiction, technology, and art come together nicely to bring this world to life. Is it an amazing world like in Final Fantasy or Mass Effect? No, but all of the pieces blend together and it feels like a real place.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are pretty good and the coloring is similar to water colors. The character designs are a bit cartoonish, but they all do their parts. There's quite a bit of attention to detail on the buildings and machinery in the game as well.
Gameplay: 8/10
The Gameplay is Very Fun! Most of the gameplay involves sneaking past enemies and assassinating your targets. You can use magic to see through walls, possess an enemy, slow time, stop time, teleport, perform brutal kills, summon swarms of rats, and knock enemies down with a burst of wind. Your arsenal includes a blade, a pistol, a crossbow with lethal ammo and sleep darts, mines, rewiring tools, and grenades. With these powers and weapons, you can see how many ways you can sneak past or eliminate a curious guard. Possess him and make him jump off of a cliff. Rewire a tesla coil to attack enemies. Place a landmine on the ground and make some noise. Freeze time, catch an enemy grenade, and throw it back. Teleport behind a guard on a rooftop and backstab him. How you complete the missions are completely up to you.
Levels: 9/10
The levels were meticulously designed to give you as many options as possible to get to your target. You can climb drain pipes to get to the roof. You can possess an enemy and walk right in. You can battle your way through the guards. Every Mission will accommodate every play style. And when you reach your target, there is usually a violent or non-violent way to dispose of them.
Player Feedback: FAIL
Dishonored has one HUGE FLAW. It fails to inform the Player how much Chaos they are creating as they are playing. This determines the ending of the game, so if you are into stories, this is the most important information. All you get is a progress report at the end of each level saying: Chaos Level: Low, Medium, or High. If it is Low, you have some leeway, if it is High, you'd better lay off killing for a while. But this isn't enough information and you only get it after the mission is over. As a result, you're actually afraid to kill too many enemies and mostly rely on teleporting and sleep darts. This could have easily been fixed with a gauge or bar, that lets the Player know that they can kill lots of enemies and still get the good ending. It would have also been great if you knew how many guys you could kill before the mission starts, so you can adjust your play style. There were a few times in the game where I was cornered by guards and I let them kill me because I wasn't sure I could fight back without getting the bad ending. Suicide should never be a strategy in games. It breaks immersion and limits tactics.
In the game's defense, it does do a good job at informing you what your powers do when you upgrade them and there's even a paragraph on how best to use those powers. The mission objectives are also very clear and you can see checkpoints through the walls with a meter indicator. If you see Emily 50m, you know that Emily is 50 meters in that direction. So, you never really get lost.
Sound: 9/10
The dialogue and creepy sound effects are good as you're hiding in the shadows and planning your next move.
Maturity: M or Older Teens
There's swearing and gore, and some mild suggestive themes. The story is political and is based on revenge.
Replay Value: 5/10
There are 9 missions and each one will take 1-2 hours depending on your play style. If you want to be stealthy and explore, each level will take twice as long. If you want to attack the enemies, you'll get through the game much faster. There are multiple endings and once you've finished the game, you can quickly get through it again if you want to see the different endings.
Overall: 8/10
This is a very fun game that encourages the Player to be clever. But it discourages them from using their weapons and powers because there's the "fear of the bad ending" always hanging over their heads. If you want a fun, stealth, level based fantasy assassin game, then you should pick this one up. You might want to wait until it's $39.99.
Buy this game if you love being creative as you get past obstacles.
Buy this game if you love stealth games.
Buy this game if you like revenge stories.
Avoid this game if you just want to attack enemies head on and destroy them.
Avoid this game if you have little or no patience.
Avoid this game if you like open ended worlds.
If you liked the stealth elements of this game, check out Batman Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham City, or Splinter Cell. If you liked the creative weaponry, check out Deus Ex or Bioshock 1 and 2. And if you love assassinations, you'll enjoy the Assassin's Creed series. | video-games_xbox |
Gadget Collector. Pros: Inexpensive & has features that high priced DVD players don't come with.
Cons: Hard to find one.
Overall: Great for Xbox gamers who want a High Quality DVD player for under [item price].
My info:
I bought my Xbox in the beginning of January right after I returned my GameCube console. I purchased the Xbox DVD kit about 2 months after from Amazon.com for [item price]. I already have a DVD player but I wanted this anyway. An actually it plays DVDs better then my regular DVD player. The remote is great in my opinion; it's comfortable, convenient, & filled with features.
What comes in the Kit?
The kit comes with the Xbox DVD Remote. The remote has the basic buttons; play, fast forward, rewind, play, stop, pause, up, down, left, right, select, 0-9, & menu. The remote also comes with some extras like 2x 4x, 6x, 8x, 16x, &32x Fast Forward and Rewind. It has a nice Zoom feature ranging from 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, & 10x. A - B feature is also nice to have for repetitions of a scene, click A - B once for the beginning of the scene to repeat and push it one more time to end the scene, it will keep repeating until you press A - B again. 2 AAA batteries are required to be purchased separately. The range of the Remote is around 20 to 25ft.
The Receiver also is required to play DVDs. The receiver is a small maybe 2 by 2 inches black square. Where does it go? It plugs into any controller port. What does it do? The Receiver activates the DVD compatibility. How does it work? Plug the Receiver into a slot while the Xbox console is turned off. Insert a DVD into the drive and the movie will automatically boot up like a normal DVD player. The kit also comes with a simple instruction booklet.
So hows the picture & sound quality...?
The quality of this product was amazingly more then I hoped for, in fact its superb! The video playback was smooth, quiet, and vivid. The sound obviously depends on the speakers you have, sounds great on my Philips surround sound stereo system.
Do I recommend this product?
YES. This kit is great even if you already have a DVD player and want another. The Remote kit also doubles as a Audio player, you can use it to playback your Mp3 files on the hard drive, no messing with cords. Remember, you mainly purchased your Xbox for gaming and the DVD playback was just an extra, a great extra at that. This Microsoft DVD kit is definitely High Quality all the way, and thats why I recommend this product.
Hopefully Helped anyone this may concern. | video-games_xbox |
A step up. Face shattering kicks, check.
Muscle tearing armbars, check.
Stoppage inducing cuts, check...really, Sweet!
For fans of the world of MMA and enthusiast gritty non traditional sports games (yes the UFC is a sport) the newest installment of the UFCs video game franchise, Undisputed 2010 is a wise addition to any collection. Once I popped in the disc and headed over to the main menu I felt right at home with the familiar set up from the 2009 edition. A few or the additions to this years installment are the arcade-esqe modes of "Title" and "Title Defense" to go along with the role of Joe Silva, the matchmaking guru himself in "Event Mode" or try your hand at making your way through a familiar PRIDE grand-prix styling of "Tournament Mode"
While all of these are fun in their own right, Title being your quest for the gold in an 8, 12 or 16 ladder tiered matches, the Defense side being a gauntlet of four classes of three fighters each to defend the title you so preciously cling to, with Event Mode being a matchmakers dream where you create your own UFC cards, determine refs and venues and the match ups themselves and "Tournament Mode" being pretty self explanatory. However, I can't help but feel as if these additions are anything more than fluff, to the very familiar setup of 2009.
An overhauled version of "Ultimate fights Mode" is a bright spot in the returning modes with a ton of more action within the fights. Go from the mere one objective in 2009 to several tiered classes of tasks for a total of nine per fighter. These fights are also broken up into classes of "Ultimate Submissions", "Ultimate Knock Outs", "Ultimate Classics" and "Ultimate 2009", the 15 total fights give the user a lot more to strive for than just that flashy 1st Rd KO.
Another nice feature is the revamped "Career Mode". With some nice additions like the online "camp sparring, feature that allows you to level up your moves and character traits while sparring with your friends list or camp members. One of the lesser popular features if the new Fight Night styled decay of the stats, which when not trained properly will kill your stats in a quickly decaying fashion.
The Online was one of my personal favorite features in 2009 but the 2010 has much ground to make up for. With nagging server issues and continuing connection issues the online has yet to win me over.
The vast selection of fighters up to nearly 100 this go around is a nice change with several new faces and for the PS3 version an added mix of wily veterans. The added features of the "Create A Fighter" give almost limitless possibilities to create your own legend. The all new sway and reworked clinch mechanics make for improved game play as well.
Overall I enjoy the game very much but due to the almost inoperable online and true advancements as apposed to "fluff" as much as I am a fan and would gladly enjoying to giving this game a perfect score, I can not truthfully go any higher than an 8.5/10.
- T. Taylor
- ZephyR187 | video-games_xbox |
It's the guns that make it interesting. Ah, where do I begin? The storyline is a bore, the voice acting for the most part muttered and terrible, and the levels infuriatingly long and complex. I played "Conflict: Vietnam" on Hard and it was nowhere near so much of a pain in the butt. And before anybody starts getting on me for disliking long and complex levels, know that I played "Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" and loved it. "Double Helix" levels got nothing on the massive depth and scale of Morrowind. But I bought this game, yes, own it still, and to a degree like it. That's mostly because there is a weapons inventory so huge I really don't find time to use or get to know all of what it contains. The number of ways you have to destroy your enemies is quite... numerous. There's at least eight grenades, an RPG-7, a grenade launcher mounted on the M-4, and one of those big grenade launcher things with a revolving magazine. The game also has an interesting graphics feature, one I have never seen before or since- you can shoot off bits and pieces of persons in many many ways. The gamemakers clearly put a lot into that, and it is quite entertaining to, ha ha, destroy the foe in so many ways and then close up to see just where and how you got him.
It's the firepower and what you can do with it, to me, that makes this game worth playing. I never cared much about the story- it flips and flops back and forth, and everybody mumbles so much it makes the mumbling problems of the Godfather seem insignificant. Hey, at least in there it was just one guy. In here it's everybody. If you want a game with a true mercenary spirit, play the two "Mercenaries" games and "Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries". In there money is the primary object you fight for and nothing else. In here you fight for a contractor whose purpose is so in line with the Pentagon's I'm amazed you don't take contracts from the CIA and no one else.
I also had a fantastic time playing the demo of this on my laptop in high school. [GHS] Hansi, that was me. So, it's partly a kind of nostalgia that helps me to like "Double Helix" as well.
So, do I recommend this game? Kinda. But like I said, it's the guns that make it interesting. Not the plot or voice acting.
One last note- "Double Helix" once had both online play and downloadable content, but Live for the original Xbox has been shot down as of April 15, 2010- so, RIP, Xbox Live for the Xbox. Too bad.
Beware the night vision and thermal goggles, folks. Frightful. | video-games_xbox |
Just that little dash of something special. The quality of Halo 2 the game aside, I direct this review at the quality of of the Limited Collector's Edition as a package for the game.
The case itself is a durable metal snap case with a minimalist design featuring the logo and 'Limited Collector's Edition' on the front and a grayscale Master Chief on the back. This case will surely survive the occasional beatings a lot better than a regular DVD case, but be warned that the outer metal casing is thin and prone to dents. It is therefor wise to keep it in the provided plastic sheath that superimposes the feature list and legal information on the front and back.
The one star off is purely indicative of some of the content present on the second disc's Making Of featurette which is needless and frustratingly distracting from the point of the mini-documentary. That said, the second disc is a healthy collection of Behind-The-Scenes clips and montages showing the numerous stages of development, from voice-actors in the studio to their early E3 demo. The second disc is competant as a whole, but nothing standout.
Included with the LCE ('Limited Collector's Edition') is a small 4 page pamphlet that highlights some textual exerpts from various characters from the game world. It serves a little bit of flavor, but nothing more as it does little to expand on the overall plot of Halo.
Personally, my favorite inclusion with this LCE is the tweaked instruction manual. Whereas in the general retail copy of Halo 2, the manual featured Master Chief on the front, the LCE's manual features a random Sangheili Elite. More than that though, while the manual is mostly identical, all of the flavor text in the original release that instructs the reader from the perspective of the UNSC is changed to reflect the perspective of the Covenant which perfectly mirrors the two sides of the story in Halo 2 where you play as both Master Chief and The Arbiter. It's the little things like how the pages are purple instead of orange, the control map says 'Active Camo' instead of 'Flashlight', and the opening plot summary changes the noble Master Chief standing straight, standard issue Battle Rifle armed at the ready, to a very different image which features a darker Master Chief highlighted by a red glow and apparently lurking around with a rocket launcher. The change in flavor text extends to the weapon & vehicle section which features Covenant tech first before insultingly listing off the "primitive implements of war". I leave this review with a snippet from the Covenant's description of the Magnum:
"Almost laughably weak in most circumstances; however, Human pistol fires metallic projectiles which can be dangerous when fired very accurately. Often used as last resort by desparate Humans and one of their least threatening devices." | video-games_xbox |
4/5 - Worth it for the price. Audio input/output is great, but the headband breaks too easy. I have mixed feelings about my turtle beach headsets. I love how great my voice sounds with this, which is so difficult to find with headsets. The audio output quality is also great and you can control the bass, which I love. I have two issues, though. Issue #1: How EASY these things crack! I have never had a problem with the audio output or input breaking, just the headband part of the headset. I know how easy it is for your headset to just accidentally slide off your desk, or maybe you accidentally drop them. You would think since they are falling about 3 feet from your desk to the floor, they would be able to withstand that or being knocked around a little bit. WRONG. The first one of these I bought several years ago now, it lasted for 3 years almost and then the headband part broke on one side. I was able to hold it together with some super glue and then the other side of the headband broke and it was impossible for it to fit on my head properly ever again. However, since they lasted so long and the quality was so great, I bought more of these! This time they only lasted 5 months! Same issue; the headband. Luckily it was still under warranty and customer service was so wonderful! I sent in the broke pair and they sent me a new pair. It took a while to receive the new pair, but when I got them they worked great. In 3 months I got a crack in the headband, BUT it was not such a big issue because they stay on my head fine, unlike the previous times. It's not worth making a big deal over the crack in this headset because it's hardly noticeable. I've had this pair for about a year and no more cracks in the headband - fingers crossed. Unfortunately, when you buy this brand, it's something you should expect to happen. I've heard plenty of others complain about this as well. Issue #2: The cord is too long. I keep the whole thing tied up and do not need more than 2 & 1/2 feet of it. This long cord all tied up in one bunch is also another reason why they keep falling off my desk. It weighs the headset down and pulls it to the floor if the big bunch of cord slides off my desk.
TL;DR: The audio input & output is great. The headband cracks really easy. The cord is way too long. Turtle Beach customer service is wonderful! The headset is very worth it for the price. | video-games_xbox |
Huge issues involving bugs, service outages, and difficult setup. Astoundingly difficult setup and operation. Product is clearly still in BETA stages and not ready for general release, but Microsoft released it anyway. Where to begin?
1. Upon setup, system will fail if no wireless network is detected. Even if you have the system hardwired and it is online, a software issue will halt setup because the xbox doesn't know to look to the wired connection. You have to back out and do a network test, then resume setup.
2. Another software issue prevents you from getting into the xbox/ms store to purchase products, download apps, etc. It says "content unavailable." The xbox live servers seem to be down right now (Christmas), so I have yet to even fix this.
3. Your xbox live accounts is based on email address and password. Your xbox account on the system requires a different username and seems to apply one to you automatically. Good luck changing this. Why are these things not synchronized?
4. The system says the hard drive is 11% full after installing TWO games from DVD. Seriously?
5. You cannot verify your xbox live email account/username from a Mac or Linux machine (regardless of browser used). You will get an error. You have to use a Microsoft WIndows 2007 machine or above. I was lucky to have a VM running on my Mac, or I would never have been able to even get the system up and running. This is just inexcusable.
6. Dealing with 27 digit alpha-numeric codes every time you want to install software or active a service is a real headache.
The system is pretty counter-intuitive in general, and the interface is a mess. Preferences are not kept upon reboot (if you wanted an orange background, it goes back to blue after a reboot). I was trying to figure out how to exit a game once in it, and go back to the main screen (home). There is no option within the game menu. You have to intuitively know to hit the "xbox" white button on the controller to exit. Seriously? How hard is it to have a VISIBLE option to exit a game?
The games I have played so far seem to work pretty well (FIFA 15 and Diablo). | video-games_xbox |
Fun in short, violent plays. Madness otherwise. THE SHORT: Kill thousands of unarmed civilians (or just the boring "Corporation" to the beat of your own tunes. Fun in short plays, madness with lengthy exposure.
THE LONG: This is about as arcade as stuff gets. Pick one of several cliched but fun characters, go to one of several lively locations, grabe one of a multitude of weapons, and kill. And kill. And kill. You just run around and shoot or swing, and, uh, "try" not to hit any innocents (It's funny that you are penalized for killing them only some of the time, and I swear that the announcer sounds disappointed when he tells you that the penalty phase is beginning).
The game was huge news when it came out in late, if I recall, 2001. It was at first thought to be as good as Grand Theft Auto was, that is until people played it. In fact it's an extremely limited game, consisting of killing, blowing stuff up, or taking on the storyline which consists of those things as well as fetch and escort missions. The latter become tiresome after a while and are frustrating in that failure means repetition until success. So you'll probably spend most of your time playing the mindless "Chaos" or free mode. It all consists of basically trying to complete small objectives within each of the few levels, and there are lots of powerups and weapons to grab.
There are better action games of this nature (Smash TV for example) and better violent games (Manhunt). But if you just want to waste an hour or two seeing how much blood you can spill and how high a score you can rack up, this is a good choice. I don't think the game is really much more than a 2, but I give this version a 3 because of the outstanding ability to listen to your own tunes thanks to the Xbox's hard drive. On the PS2, killing was fun and all, but there's nothing quite like doing it to the strains of "Whiskey in The Jar" by Metallica, "Walk a Crooked Mile" by Motorhead, "Crush 'Em" by Megadeth, or pretty much anything by They Might Be Giants (then again, it's always a good time when they're playing).
Good old mindless shooting and killing, as long as you (A) don't keep at it for too long at a time and (B) most importantly, are a smart enough individual to know that it's a game and something NOT to try at home. Or anywhere else. | video-games_xbox |
Inexperienced drivers need not apply. First of all, here are the good points for this game:a very nice selection of cars, from a Ford Focus and Mitsubishi Eclipse to a Nissan Skyline GT-R. All are quite customizable, with special hoods, roof scoops, wheel rims, and side skirts. Special decals broadcasting who modified your car can be placed on the doors and windshield. Add your own decals like stripes, flames, etc. on your car as well. Some in my own opinion make the car look worse, not better, but like I said, that's a matter of opinion. Performance modifications like turbos and nitro can be added as well. I got my own car to around 206 mph from these upgrades. If you do well enough, some of the characters in the game will challenge you to a time trial. Win and you get a free body or engine upgrade; lose and you get nothing.
The tracks themselves are a bit interesting as well. There are circuit, point-to-point races, as well as drag and drift events. In the circuit and point-to-point races,you should notice shortcuts along the way. Take them for extra points. Some are simple,like cutting corners, others involve flying (literally) through parking garages under construction. Note: if you use an automatic transmission, practice with a manual before you try this game. The drag races are manual transmission only.
The bad parts are as follows: I know it is called Underground for a reason, but I would like to see some daytime racing instead of only night time. Also, quite often the gap between me and the guy in 2nd was between 0.03 to 0.94 seconds or so, hence the title for this review. That was with the easy level too. Hard can be won, it just takes a few more restarts. One other thing is that the opponents in this game are not afraid of contact with you or the wall, so long as they go faster.
So, this is not a bad game, just be ready to take a few hits and provide some yourself in the later parts of the game, but don't worry, there is no damage in this game. | video-games_xbox |
Like 90% of the reviews say. Like 90% of the reviews say...paid beta. Aside from the terrible physics, the little glitches are what get me the most. I got the game for free, because it is free with a Gold pass on the xbox one. A few things that bother me:
1. Bazooka to the face not killing enemies
2. Terrible collision physics. It is almost like all surfaces in the game have a 2" layer of invisibility. Try shooting through it and the bullets will get stopped. You can see the enemy, he can shoot you, but when you try to shoot him, you are instead greeted with a bullet hole stamps on a non-existent surface, over his face.; ie, you know you aimed right. Play the South China Sea and try the swimming section if you don't think the collision physics is horrible.
3. Deleted saves. Happened twice. The first time I played through one level in the campaign. I thought it saved and I went to use Hulu. When I came back the entire game restarted, as if I completely closed out of the game. When I went to resume, it started from the last level. I thought maybe it was my mistake and I switched to Netflix while the game saving icon was on. Technically, all other games I have played have stayed open when I switched to netflix or hulu, this was the only one that closed out on it's own, and surprisingly enough, just that time, because I had switched to Hulu before without any issues. So I played again, watched some Hulu, came back, played some more, 3+ hours more. Made totally sure I finished a campaign level, the achievement bar restarted for the new level, and I made sure the saving icon was not on. Put my Xbox to sleep and then went myself to sleep. Tried again today and gone. I didn't even care too much, because I figured, hell if it is making me restart this level with the guns I acquired after this level, then awesome, but alas nope. All the guns I had acquired were gone, so if I wanted them back I def couldn't just run through it all.
I got the game for free, and I don't look at a gift horse in the mouth, but when this horse stinks and just pisses you off more, you start realize why after only 2 years, this game is free. I've seen games 10+ years old still not free, because they were exceptional games. Not this one. I don't know if DICE dropped the ball or DICE was pressured to release a subpar game to meet EA's demands. This gift horse is of to the glue factory though...or off my drive. I'll go back to playing Chrono Cross on my Vita, for which I paid $10, but have less headaches with. | video-games_xbox |
Spongebob ZEROpants, more like. From the company run by robots that automatically reproduce the same video games over and over every year comes a Spongebob tie-in game that falls right into this trend, as it is a giant rehash of Plankton's Robotic Revenge, which was released two years ago for new- and previous-generation consoles. Spongebob Heropants is glorified merchandise that's meant to tie in with the recent movie, Sponge Out of Water. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I recommend watching it if you're a Spongebob fan and/or like non-serious, over-the-top adventures. This game, on the other hand, is possibly the dullest Spongebob title ever. It makes you wonder why Activision didn't bother hiring Heavy Iron Studios to make a game similar to Spongebob's glory days in gaming.
So let's get on with the plot, shall we? Once upon a time Spongebob and co. go to the Krusty Krab to find chaos, and then Bubbles the Talking Dolphin warps in to tell them there's trouble and they must collect book pages. The End. I'm serious. There's no real villain or anything, and spoiler alert: Spongebob's head contained the necessary missing pages the whole time. There was absolutely no effort put into the writing - The only way you'd know who Bubbles is is if you watched the movie. Here, he comes completely out of nowhere with none of his character explained - and the cutscenes that aren't the intro and ending feature the characters turned AWAY from the camera view!
If you long for the days of Heavy Iron's love and effort into the Spongebob games they've created, prepare for a giant smack in the face as you play through the most basic platforming levels ever that this game consists of THROUGHOUT ITS ENTIRETY. It's actually very comparable to Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, except that game looked better and made even the SMALLEST kind of effort to change up things. Here? Every level has the same super-repetitive platforming style of play. You run around, you mash the attack button to make the enemies a complete joke, press floor buttons or push blocks when necessary, grab keys to open doors, and then spend a chunk of your time figuring out why you are playing this. Rinse and repeat.
Being that this game was surprisingly made in Unity (a program normally used by indie developers), it's also kinda baffling to see that this game makes the same kind of technical flaws and performance that amateur Unity projects have faced. While Spongebob and co. control just fine, there are some glitches in the game that you'd think could easily be fixed by AAA developers, but NOPE! The blocks you push apparently have not been tested too much; if you push it off a platform, it falls down in a much slower framerate than the rest of the game, and if it's on a rising platform, collision between it and the player would result in it SINKING into the platform! DO NOT be surprised when you encounter glitchiness in this game.
Then again, if you know well, you know not to buy this crap.
There are merely three worlds in total, but each one feels like an absolute drag. When the game finally decides to end a world, it does it pathetically; there are two bosses, and they are just as much of a cakewalk to beat as the average enemy. The Plankton robot in the first world executes easily avoidable attacks slowly, and all you do is hit his eye. The Squidward dinosaur in the second world simply chases after you in a short level. Lastly, the third world contains no boss. It's just Spongebob trying to wake himself up from his "imagination" (or lack of, in this case) via the ending cutscene. There is a "Best Ending" you can obtain by collecting every additional page in the levels, but many actually force you to have a friend or relative to help you collect them. The endings themselves are painfully dumb, regardless, and are definitely not worth the extra effort. Why would I collect all the pages just to watch Bubbles breakdance in front of our tarnished heroes? I shouldn't have to put in any effort if the game isn't going to anytime soon!
Barnacles, what kind of Pinhead Larry would think something like this was a good idea? Spongebob Heropants is totally one of the worst Spongebob games I've ever played, period. If you seriously are considering to buy this for your kid(s) or something, allow me to direct you to the many other games suitable for children that are a million times better than this scam. Heck, Spongebob's Truth Or Square on the Xbox 360 is in fact created by Heavy Iron Studios, and it indeed is a good game; I mean, it's not GREAT, but it's a masterpiece compared to the soulless bottom-feeder-esc waste of a disc this title turned out to be. I only rented this game from redbox, and even then I demand a full refund. | video-games_xbox |
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a Great Game. First off, let me say I have always been a PC gamer for years. I never thought I would like playing on a gaming console as much has I like playing on the PC. When Call of Duty 3 came out last year and the game developer didn't make a PC copy of that game, I knew I had to buy an Xbox 360 because I love all the Call of Duty games on the PC and I didn't want to wait until sometime this year to get the next version of Call of Duty on the PC. So I broke down and bought the Xbox 360 console not only so I could play Call of Duty 3, but I also wanted to play Gears of War.
I really didn't expect any console game to be, graphic-wise, as good as a PC game so I didn't expect too much from Call of Duty 3 or Gears of War. Boy was I wrong. Let me tell you something. The graphics on both Call of Duty 3 and Gears of War are just awesome. I have to admit that the graphics on console games are just as good now as on PC games. I thought I would never admit that since I have always been a die-hard PC gamer all my life. I am so glad I went out and bought an Xbox 360.
And just so you know. I do not work for Microsoft trying to push the Xbox 360 console or its games. I'm just what you call a gamer junkie who just loves to plays games. If I didn't like the Xbox 360 or its games I would tell you the truth. It took me a while to get used to using a wireless Xbox 360 hand controller because I was so used to using a keyboard and a mouse on the PC, but after playing on the Xbox 360 for a while, I found out the hand controller is pretty easy to use.
Now on to my review on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. I have played through the first two singleplayer missions in Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. The storyline and the graphics are really good. The graphics for this game are right up there with Gears of War. The creatures in this game are very well made. Plus the harsh cold climate in the game is very believable. You have the neatest vehicles to control and maneuver around in. You are also fighting against other humans on the planet called Snow Pirates and I was really impressed on how the Snow Pirates maneuvered against me. The AI in this game is really good. The explosions in this game are just mind blowing. The sounds in this game are really good. My recommendation is to go out and buy this game. It definitely one of the top games out there right now. | video-games_xbox |
Certainly got the 'Imperfect' part right. I'm a long time Marvel Comics fan, and I must admit that I was definitely caught up in the hype surrounding Marvel Nemesis. After buying it on impulse and playing it for 2 days, I can sum the game up in one sentence:
Marven Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is little more than a frustrating, unbalanced, and completely mindless button-masher.
Now, I'm not one of those people that gives a bad review because I fail to beat the game or a level a few times in a row. After slogging through most of the game's extremely frustrating story mode, I found little reason to continue near the end. The Story Mode starts out easily enough, putting you in the role of The Thing. Out of nowhere, alien ships attack and the Thing finds himself stuck on a completely destroyed bridge, with alien cyborgs teleporting in all around. And there's where the...'fun'...begins.
Marvel Nemesis has little going for it in terms of the fighting engine. With merely one attack button, your attacks are VERY limited, and hence the game is reduced to a simple button masher right off the bat. Every character has the same, generic 3-hit combo that launches the enemy either in the air or straight back, or nowhere as is the case with most of the battles. The other buttons are used for jumping, blocking, and for a grab technique that rarely connects. There are two modifier buttons, which are the Momentum button and Super button. The Momentum button allows your character to make use of their powers to move, whether it be through teleporting, flying, web-slinging, running or whatever the case may be. The momentum button used in conjunction with the attack button can sometimes produce a powerful attack. The Super button allows your character to use their powers in their attacks, such as Wolverine's claws, Spider-man's webs, etc. Otherwise, you are still limited to a mere handful of attacks total in the game.
However, the game's star characters, the "Imperfects", are much more glorified than their Marvel counterparts. In fact, where the Marvel characters have a mere handful of moves, the Imperfects characters somehow manage to have twice as many attacks and maneuvers as the Marvel characters, despite the one lousy attack button. They are tremendously overpowered, excelling in speed, strength and all other abilities. An Imperfect character can destroy a Marvel character inside of 10 seconds, easily. Most of the Imperfects characters are little more than knock offs of the Marvel characters, as they tend to share their abilities (there is one Imperfect that webslings). The design on most of the Imperfects is actually rather impressive, I must say.
The overpowering Imperfects are one of the main balance issues that this game has. No one hero is the same, and the game uniquely captures each hero, but the Imperfects are just far too powerful. Where its a chore for a Marvel character to chain up a combo of more than 5 or 6 hits, Imperfects have no problem chaining well over 10 or more hits a time. The AI controlled characters excel at the larger combos, and picking up and playing versus mode just for a quick, fun match turns into a frustrating and unbalanced bout, should you choose to stick the AI opponent with an Imperfect.
In regards to the frustration factor...if you are prone to throwing your controller, punching nearby objects or tantrums, avoid this game. I never get mad enough to toss my controller, but the Story mode became so frustrating that I not only tossed the controller, I was compelled to angrily remove the game from the system, put it back in the case and toss it on the ground and leave it for a day or so. RARELY do I get so frustrated over a video game, but Imperfects definitely put me over the edge. By the time I was done I felt like I had lost 20 years off my age and became a 3 year old again.
Story mode consists mainly of a series of increasingly difficult missions told from the perspective of different characters. You start out with Thing, and then get the option to play as Wolverine, then Elektra, then Storm, and so on. Each character plays pretty much the same do to the one attack button, but their powers all give them different advantages. Unofortunately, the story mode takes those advantages and turns them into disadvantages. Each level is overpopulated with overpowered, cheap, generic enemies that come in droves and quickly swarm you. In an instant, you can be destroyed. I couldn't help but feel that the game balance was pathetic when I lifted a Mac Truck with Venom and threw it at "Generic Cyborg Enemy 00101021", who took barely any damage, and then was INSTANTLY killed by a barrel thrown by that same enemy. This is another of the game's greatest shortcomings...severe misrepresentation of power. Getting hit by three barrels or rocks, or dinner plates, whatever they may be in a row will instantly kill your character, and yet doing tremendous combos and launching huge objects at these boring, uncreative and generic enemies, does utterly nothing. Sorry, I can't see Spider-man, Venom, or The Thing being bested by a pathetic, uncreative robot. Once you face the Imperfects in the boss battles, forget it. They hit the 'Rage mode'(unlimited super attacks) so quickly that you'll be dead in seconds, and once they get you into the Danger zone (usually within the first 2 or 3 hits they land on you), they instantly perform their finishing move and end the match. It may take you minute after minute of pounding to get their health to budge, and yet two hits, you're in the danger zone, ready for the fatality. Very unbalanced.
Enemies that shoot projectiles also have a tremendous advantage, since there is no delay on firing. Some boss encounters with Imperfects end before the fight even begins, since they start firing their projectile attacks endlessly. Once that happens, just put down the controller...you won't escape. Projectiles, especially those possessed by the Imperfects, do TREMENDOUS damage and will end the match in 4 or 5 hits, and since they tend to hit consecutively with barely a half second delay, you're screwed from the get-go. Even the generic enemies in the Story mode levels can destroy your character in an instant, especially when you face 2 or more at a time.
I suppose amid all my ranting I should say at least some good things about the game, so here goes:
The graphics are nice...very nice. The Imperfects designs are all very good and the Marvel Heroes look fantastic, though some of their faces are a little...off. The Marvel characters are also designed more after their movie counterparts, so Spider-man and Magneto look like they were taken straight from the films (rather disappointed in Magneto, was expecting to see him in his armor). The Vs. battles can become intense and there is unparalleled background interaction. I've never seen so much arena interaction in a game, not even in Powerstone or especially DOA. The game also has finishing moves. I'm not talking about final super attacks, i'm talking about bona fide fatalities. Some of them are so violent that i'm surprised the game got by with a 'T' rating. There is blood, though very little, and it only appears during particularly intense moments or when someone like Wolverine is using a bladed weapon. The Imperfects origin videos are very well done. That's about it for the good stuff.
With an utter lack of play modes and the fact that you're forced to slog through the game's incredibly frustrating story mode to unlock the characters, Marvel Nemesis has virtually no replay value, if any playability at all. I found little redeeming quality in Marvel Nemesis, and it bothers me since I was greatly looking forward to this game. Oh well. Maybe next time will be better. I'm extraordinarily disappointed with this offering. | video-games_xbox |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.