MEMBER PROFILE FOR mrmp3
Total Reviews: 65
Average Overall Score Given: 8.29231 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 431
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Reviews
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Mercenaries
Overall: Love the open ended gameplay. Black market website is cool, and actually a lot of fun hunting down each person in the deck. Tons of bonus missions, some transportation, others "travel with this vehicle to this point in under to get
Gameplay: Black market website is awesome. Basically, as you progress through the game, you can buy munition drops along with vehicles, The more missions you accompish, the more vehicles and supplies you can buy, c4 drops being something you'll order a lot. You can hijack a vehicle of one faction, go destroy something in it, and make it seem like they fronted the attack. Many missions will have you doing this too. The deck of 52 is great, I just love killing the little peons who are so poorly guarded, many of'em are easy to find if you look at your intel, or if you fly around a lot, they pop up on radar if your anywhere near them so that's a fairly easy way of finding them. The face cards generally have better protection and even SAM-sites to blast your !&%$@#* out of the sky and rockets on the ground. It's pretty crazy. There's an auto-target thing for weapons on foot while tanks and turrets require manual aim. Overall, the game plays great, and every destructive thing you concoct is very satisfying.
Graphics: The characters models, cars, and environments aren't incredibly detailed, but nonetheless they are good. The particle effects are where the game shines. Explosions of cars and falling of building are wicked awesome, if you got enough dough to blow, you'll just buy C4 to knock down buildings. You can even put'em on a car, jump out, and detonate, just like in the BF:MC demo. Pretty good looking game considering all the stuff you can do.
Audio: Simply amazing. The music is excellent, the voice acting is superb, all the sound effects are just ridiculously awesome, from the guns to the explosions. It's really hard to describe, but definetely quite a treat for audiophiles.
Suggestions: Sequel with bigger booms and lots more stuff to do.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Darkwatch
Overall: One thing I like about PC games in regards to multiplayer is regardless of how unpopular a game may sell, generally you'll run into about 250 people who are playing the game. For an XBL game, that isn't a lot, but for some XBL games it's a god send, there's almost NOBODY on. I hate it. It's like not being able to enjoy the meat and potatoes of the game. The storyline was pretty decent, not corny or bad just not on the level of Halo/Halo 2. 60FPS makes a big difference in play. Play this, then play Halo 2 multiplayer, and you'll feel like the game is running slow, swear to god happened to me. The fact there's no people on XBL really hurts the score for me cuz it's fun when you play it with people and there are a ton of levels, like 26 and alot of'em are very different. I'd recommend at least renting, cuz many might fine this worthy of a purchase.
Gameplay: First thing, ragdoll effects. AWESOME! Best in a console game. You can desecrate a person for like 5 seconds in multiplayer just meleeing their body watching it flail. The netcode is pretty solid, but sometimes sniping seems off to say the least. Also, the carbine is very inaccurate unless your zoomed in for some reason, well not zoomed, just in the red vision thing. The weapons are awesome, and defintely with the pistols, give the old west feeling. So does the carbine, Clint Eastwood as Blondie freeing Tuco before he's hung, defintely the feeling I get with that. The load times are pretty quick, the A.I. is pretty solid, mainly with the banshees, who fly down and melee generally only when they've flown behind you and others in front of you are distracting you. The dynamite throwing (which is like the grenade is this one) has a very small blast radius in mutliplayer, but if a guy is standing over it he's dead instantly. Not the mention the throwing physics are much different then halo 2, it tends to float in the air and not drop as quick.
Oh yea the multiplayer maps, very different, but all fun in their own ways. The ones meant for 2-4 players are really small, but they are good for that kind of game. Some of the 10-12 player maps though seem very large. I've only played some, one was a desert level with 3 automatic turrets and 2 cannon balls turrets that had a very big blast radius. One was like a small saloon town, the one on the demo, defintely some good 2v2 action there. And a map with 2 different types of vehicles, one really big and one fairly small, that level was massive, like MMO big, even with 32 iono if there'd be a lot of killing going on. There's no leaderboard which is really a bummer. No downloable content either, but with the plethora of guns and levels, I could really care less.
Graphics: I like the look, very dark, the guns are modeled great, a lot of blur effects though around the infinite-respawn trees and enemies you score a headshot on, can be kind of overbearing when there's too much of it on screen. The level design is fine in single player, kind of repetitive, but not to the point of "*sigh* this sucks" or "I'd rather be play Library in Halo 1", just it's noticeable. Like the other reviewer said, the texture aren't that clean, though they do have detail, and are vastly superior to the PS2 version, on top of the extended multiplayer options and amazing blazing 60FPS.
Audio: Gotta love the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at the title screen, it's not identical, but it has the "wah-wah-waaaahhhh" noise. Explosions and gun sound effects are excellent and pack a lot of punch, especially the double pistols going full speed, except, surprisingly, the shotgun, I think it sounds really weak for a shotgun.
Suggestions: Gotta advertise this game better, showing PS2 footage isn't helping. It looks slow and sloppy, which the PS2 version probably is, but the Xbox version on the other hand looks so much better. Add leaderboards, clans, and maybe an option for downloadable content. Keep the setting, keep the music, please don't abandon the series. The vampire powers are awesome, though I think the Evil powers should be just as good as the Good powers in terms of effectiveness.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Madden NFL 2006
Overall: Most people generally have a group a friends who when you ask "wanna play some videogames?" the response is "what sports games you got?" And then, usually, some serious 2 v 2 or 4 v AI begins. It's almost an obligation as a sports gamer to own the newest football title. Last year, we all know how many leaps and bounds Sega and Visual Concepts made with 2k5 and quite frankly, it scared EA. Thus, they have the exclusive license not only for NFL, but for the AFL, and NCAA Football, making it the only makers of every wide-area American football based game. The promise was without competition, the innovation would be "top-notch", and knowing Tiburon that's taking a mediocre engine and tweaking it ever so slightly. This year there are some (not a lot) major changes and additions, though not all good. Obviously the QB Vision being the biggest addition. In terms of a football game, it's still enjoyable. Is it worth $50? Considering the fact there are some areas where 2k5 excelled at and still does and that only cost $20, I'm not entirely sure. But if your like me, and have friends who do nothing but play sports games, then you have to get this. They probably won't be disappointed.
Gameplay: One thing that's nice about the difficulty in 2k5 is that as the difficulty goes up, the AI gains skill but the ability of your computer offensive linemen and blockers doesn't diminish, meaning they won't just fall over all the time. This is where Madden and the 2k series differ greatly. If you move the difficulty up to All-Pro or All-Madden, good luck getting more than a 7 yard return on punts. Why? Because on those difficulties, past the line of scrimmage, noone is willing to engage their blocks, which means if the hangtime is pretty high, you'll be calling fair catch quite a bit. I've never sent a punt returner to the pro-bowl on those difficulties, I average around 5.0 yards and get 1-2 TD's mainly because the AI takes the angle wrong sometimes, like really really wrong where you have the whole sideline. Same thing goes for the run and pass game. The fact is Madden has it so your players LOSE ability. So runs, even with guys all in 90's, you'll see them often just getting plowed over, not even beaten by a spin or swim move, just flat out plowed over. Oh and your recievers, yea guys like T.O. , Chad Johnson, and Jeremy Shockey who have solid hands, tend to just drop wide-open passes, it's so random, I hate it.
QB Vision and Precision are technically not new to a football franchise. Precision passing has been on the 2k series since the first or second Dreamcast game. QB Vision is trying to incorporate what it looks like on the inside of the QB's helmet, with limited vision. 2k did it better, and it was called First-Person Football, that's as real as you get with a QB's vision, not seeing blind blitzes and the like. The inclusion seems pointless. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the training videos have vision where literally, you just look down the center of the field and you can hit the reciever anywhere on the field without having to look at them if they are past 3 yards. To look at a reciever you hold and press the button over the players head to look at him. On All-Madden, if the pass route is done being run, you have to move the right stick and aim it over them to pass it. What's horrible about this is R is pump fake, meaning as soon as you let go of it, he pump fakes. Say you have the thing on the Black button reciever, you held down R to change to another reciever, but you realize "hey black is gonna be open long" well if you hit R and black hoping it'll prevent you from not pump faking, your wrong. You have to select another reciever, then reselect the black reciever, and the vision cone doesn't turn that fast, so yea you'll be sacked a bunch of times for that reason.
This year Madden introduced the truck stick like it's something amazing and never done before, well, surprise, 2k5 had it with the Y button. Absolutely no difference except you use the right stick. You can also stop on a dime, but oh yea, 2k5 had that as well. Sounds more like "catching up" instead of innovation. Overall, the game should get a 3.0 in gameplay, but I penalize it a mere 1 point for a) lack of innovation and b)poor execution. It's not unplayable by any means, but the game is overbearing and too difficult for new people to pick up and play. And even when they learn, they still feel like QB Vision is dumb as hell, which it is. Can't turn it off cuz in ranked games online it's required so kind of need to just keep practicing with it. Though one area Madden does better than 2k5, is no franchise bugs and better stats tracking. But other than that, it's !&%$@#* poor lackluster.
Graphics: Well jerseys defintely have more detail. And everything else....yea about the same. OMG the coaches are horribly modeled. 2k5 did a good job on a lot of coaches, Tom Coughlin being one of them. If you see Tom Coughlin in this, his face looks like one of the enemies from Timesplitters if you just changed the color of his skin to more of a green and gave him sharper teeth. None of the coaches are modeled terribly accurate, though I'm glad Shockey's long hair finally looks like hair and not some yellow pixel dandruff. But unfortunately, he just cut his locks so it seems all for naught. Oh yea, did I mention same tackle animations as 05'? *yawn* I love innovation, E-A STYLE!
Audio: Finally, I can turn off most of the rap, some of it though is actually not that bad despite my hatred for anything post 2000-2001 that is rap. The rest of it is punk, excluding the Godsmack and the Disturbed track, both of which are pretty good, but not their most amazing songs either, not by a long shot.
Commentary is garbage, They get stuff wrong all the time, especially on punts. If you field a ball in the end zone, and run it out of bound in the end zone, Michaels says "returned...for a loss of yardage." Oh yea, commentary, so general not in-depth, not funny, and horrible, once again. Madden has some horrible lines this year, which might've been in 05' but who knows. It's all garbage to me. Sound effects are fine, same as always, nothing new.
Suggestions: How bout maybe aiming higher next year? Just once since during this whole era you've shown very little effort. How bout new and innovating instead of new tweaks?
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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Red Faction II
Overall: This is what happens when you fix something that isn't broken. That thing being GeoMod technology. The gameplay in the first was good, yes, and the story was pretty good, can't argue that, but the GeoMod was awesome. Blasting holes through walls that stretched for miles and miles and miles was just awesome. Especially the driller vehicles, man you could you dig through a cave like nobody's business. So when I heard new and improved GeoMod, I didn't know they meant "sparsely used". Basically, you cant blow through anything, anymore. There are a couple bridges here and there where you can shoot a rocket and blow it up. That's it. I have no idea why this game gets ranked so high. The multiplayer wasn't even that good. I highly recommend playing the first. The multiplayer was better (especially the lobby level with the nuclear launcher was the best EVER) and the storyline was better too.
Gameplay: Well it does have the basics down. Tight controls, unlockables, solid framerate. It's just with the GeoMod being far worse than it's predecesor it's hard not to look at the game as a step backwards. I have no idea what was going through their heads. Like the first one, your just a measely labor worker when a fight with a guard insues, then a riot begins, and you basically just slowly but surely become more badass. I just don't get that feeling from this. It feels like a sub-standard shooting affair. And some of the automatics have like zero range in this game, like need to be point blank to connect a hit kind of low range.
Graphics: Single player looks a lot better than multiplayer. Bots aren't of any particular fun other than maybe than pretending you have real friends. The pictures above guns when you pick up are very obtrusive and can fill up a screen with lots of dropped weapons. However, as single player goes, everythings good even in 2005. Nothing spectacular but still solid enough.
Audio: One area of the game that excels just as well as the first. Voice, music, and sound effects are all solid, though the death grunts/moans just seem overexaggerated and aren't particularly convincing.
Suggestions: Full, extensive use of Geo-Mod, not just in certain areas of the game.
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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Tetris Worlds: Online Edition
Overall: This feels very identical to the N64 4-player version of Tetris. That's fine by me. The game was free, and before that VERY cheap. The single-player really isn't anything great, but multiplayer is. Online was the best thing for this game cuz you essentially don't have an excuse to not enjoy the best part of the game. But my only complaint is all the gametypes excluding one from the N64 version are in the Xbox version. No new ones. So iono kinda feels like the same game, but still, gotta love the multiplayer.
Gameplay: The premise is simple. Stack up blocks so that rows are completely filled. If a row has a space in it, doesn't break. Also, you can store a piece away in a reserve and bring it back out later. Probably the only different between that and classic Tetris. Oh yea and the quick drop button. Other than that, it plays the same.
However, the multiplayer modes offer some team and vs. varieties. The one that is missing from the N64 version is where you choose which player the junk goes to. Junk is basically however many rows you break, the game calculates that and drops in on another player. The Xbox version it's only random. In the N64 game there was random and choose who you want to junk. The latter was fun because you could just gang up on one friend and laugh at his demise. However, it is understandable in regards to rankings seeing as people could easily boost themselves up by doing that. Still, it retains it's fun and is defintely a challenging but addicting multiplayer game.
Graphics: It's a 2D game so and it's on Xbox so you can't really hold it to the Halo 2/Splinter Cell graphics standard. No special effects on the blocks, just a lot of different backgrounds, or boards, whatever you wish to call'em. I don't remember if you unlocked more backgrounds in single player or if that was the N64 version, sorry it's been a while since I've played.
Audio: It's not annoying, it just fits the game, meaning I don't think I'd enjoy listening to this music outside of the game, but in the game, it just goes along with frantically trying to break as many rows as soon as possible before your opponent.
Suggestions: Though every puzzle game owes it's existance to the original, other games like SPFII and MK:Deception have just added certain elements like the characters and the fighting going on in the background that just make it for more interesting. You guys are gonna have to go back to the drawing board for next-gen, that is if you make another one, and come up with some amazing feature not seen in a puzzle game.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
Overall: After playing Baldur's Gate I on PS2, the ending was great and just had me knawing myself waiting for the opportunity to play the second. And, well, I wasn't too impressed. Defintely some balancing issues in regards to character classes, the gem system is flawed to say the least, defintely not the sequel I was looking for. The graphics are also practically identical to the first, and in some regards I like the first one better, so you'd be better off with that or the Champs of Norrath series on PS2.
Gameplay: It's your typical hack-n-slash affair. The Necromancer is defintely cool looking having his spell book in one hand and his sword in the other. But before long, no matter what spells your jacking up, you want do as much damage as the Warrior/Barbarian class. Why? Once he/she gets the dual-wielding great weapons ability (meaning wielding two two-handed weapons one in each hand) he'll be doing 4 times as much damage as your most powerful spell or attack. On top of that, the Necro relies a lot on MP. The Barbarian can just continue to deal damage and not have to recharge his/her MP. As a result, when your playing multiplayer, unless you can get your friend to sit still and not kill enemies, the Necromancer is generally 3 levels behind him/her. Also, the combinations with the gems is cool like you get fire/ice, yellow fire when you have an earth and fire stone, but there's a point where you'll have a lot of gems and they serve no purpose because after you add 4 to your weapon, it does nothing. It still costs money to put'em on the weapon but after 4 gems there isn't a point, other than free money up. Also, you share money with your partner, which I absolutely hate. It's basically a rush to the shop menu and buy your cool weapon before your friend does.
Graphics: Looks the same if not worse than Baldur's Gate I which is just flat out pathetic. There's no reason the game should've looked the same.
Audio: Music is, decent, not as great as the first, but the voice acting is still strong but the scripting is just decent.
Suggestions: It shows Snowblind knows what their doing and you guys don't after this was made. champs of norrath just demolishes this game.
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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Spikeout: Battle Street
Overall: There was two reasons I bought this game. One, because the limited release bit was true. There aren't many copies in circulation. That's the reason I kept it. At first it was selling for like $60 on eBay so I was like "oh man it'll be worth so much more", but unlike rare Sega classics like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force III, this ones a stinker, and that is why it now goes for $20 cuz people probably realize what crap it is. 3D beat'em ups have really had almost 0 success. True there was the Die Hard Arcade, the Dynamite Cop game, and Fighting Force, all of which were pretty decent, but it's just so sad when you play a game like Streets of Rage. Forget Final Fight, anyone who knows anything knows Streets of Rage was the better of the two series. The characters were great, the system was great, it was a challenge (SoR 3 especially). Streets of Rage 2 n' 3 just hold a special place in my heart from my 16-bit days and I have compared every future title to them. So what made SoR such a complete package besides what I mentioned? Well the moves were cool, both the characters specific regular moves and special ones, Axel's obviously being the coolest, as were the hidden characters, Shiva and Roo (and occasionally Ash).
When I first heard about Spikeout, I was just like, "0o0o0o a Sega beat'em up? Sweet!" Everytime I see a 3D beat'em up being advertised I always hear "it's just like Streets of Rage in 3D", and, well, it never is. I'm so let down, nobody shows this genre any respect any more. Why not just make a new Streets of Rage for crying out loud (on top of a new Mutant League and Golden Axe, but I digress)? The graphics and cutscenes look straight from Dreamcast, absolutely weak. It's like the same thing Sega did with Shenmue II and Toe Jam & Earl III and it really gets me steamed. This a decent romp for like 10 mins. cuz in those 10 mins. your like "oh this game could be good" cuz your picking up weapons and your figuring out the combo system, then you realize the combo system is weak, the special moves are all so worthless and horrible looking, there's just nothing you want to do. The multiplayer is split screen as well which is just horrible for this type of game, so I strongly recommend not picking this one up.
Gameplay: All the animations are wonky, the running and jumping animations especially are so messed up your just like "this is not a next-gen game". You essentially do a 5-hit combo over and over and can pickup a plethora of weapons which many you can't execute combos with. The only worth while one is the dual wrenches, but it's such a bitch to get and since the stages are so short, there really isn't a point for all the effort. Each stage introduced you with a map of the stage with an announcer saying "start" "exit" "boss" and showing where they are on the map, they do it for every stage too, it's so straight forward, I'm not a moron. Then each boss is introduced with "BOSS" and a stupid guitar rift. The best strategy is to just grab'em and do your special moves, it does the most damage, and generally it involes you spinning a lot so you do a mess load of damage to everyone around you. However, it isn't all that special looking. You could do just the regular special move, but it does almost no damage and it looks equally unimpressive. My friends were laughing so hard at just everything. I held my head down low after bringing this to a friend's house. You'd be better off using it as a coaster.
Graphics: Dreamcast is the only word I should have to say but unfortunately this requires a minimum of 100 characters.
The graphics are so horrible, the character design is alright for a couple characters, but pretty much downright awful for the majority so you never get that feeling your playing with a badass, enviroments are garbage, just a very ugly, ugly game.
Audio: If I could rate this section lower I could. The voice acting is some of the worst ever, and there a couple lines that just make you cringe and how bad they are scripted. Problem is, if you die, you have to hear the cutscene from the beginning of the level. Ugh. The soundtrack is horrible too with some awful rock rifts and occasional rap beats for a couple cutscenes. Mute has never looked so tempting.
Suggestions: This is what you do. You take the guys that made streets of rage 2 and 3 along with the music composer because the soundtrack was badass especially the boss music, and you make a Streets of Rage 4. I know, it sounds really, really complicated, but I think that's your best bet right now. Between this and Beat Down Fists of Revenge, I think for eternity I'm going to be playing Streets of Rage on emulator and never rent or buy another beat'em up unless it gets perfect 10's across the board. This generation has just been awful to beat'em ups and everyone should be ashamed for making these sorry excuses for games. Excuse me while I try and beat SoR on some other difficulty besides Normal (a feat I've yet to complete w/o cheats, talk about a challenge)
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
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Fable
Overall: Since RPG's generally involve lots of cutscenes or just areas of the game where there a text bubbles, they should A) have a good storyline and B) be lengthy in order to be good. I'm not saying like 80+ hours lengthy, but any RPG I consider a classic is usually longer than 15-20+. Something that takes 10-12 generally isn't a classic even though it could be good, and that is where Fable lies. I traded the game as soon as I beat it cuz there's no incentive to replay after. I mean you get a wicked sword at the end of the game (especially if you are evil), but the game didn't come as advertised. There wasn't an infinite amount of stuff to do like in Morrowind, which is what I was expecting, Morrowind with a better combat system. In the end, I got a good romp of an RPG, but defintely not as amazing as I hoped.
Gameplay: Stuff like fist fighting, getting your nick name changed (which I strongly recommend doing cuz the only thing I heard the first two hours was "chicken...chaser, chicken chaser?" every 3 seconds in a town), drinking, etc. is all fine and dandy, but none of it really helps your character advance into being a more bad-ass character. So then you have the combat, the early enemies are so easy to kill with a crossbow, whenever they charge, just hit'em with an arrow and they stop, shuffle around, and then charge again. It was too easy. Also, the setup was very different from anything else I had played, so it took a while to get used to the controls. I didn't really explore the love aspect so I never had a wife. You can get spells and abilities which excluding like Rage where you guy gets wicked muscular at it's higher levels, I really wasn't too impressed by how any of them looked. I'd say rent this, but with the Lost Chapters coming out soon, I'd rent that instead.
Graphics: Well this is an area you can't really complain about. Some of the spell effects are indeed weak, but the graphics are astounding. All enviroments and characters are beautifully detailed, especially how your characters face changes over time as he develops. My guy was extremely evil. One thing I noticed was that the scars, which you were suppose to obtain only through battle, appear in the same spot no matter where you get hit. But the horns and the red aura, and the tattoos, just make your guy look like one scary m*****f***er. Your characters does grow overtime, though it doesn't seem like more than a day before you've advanced from very young boy to old and experienced magic caster. Defintely a good looking game, though a mess load of light bloom I must say.
Audio: Well just about all the dialogue with villagers and the like is repeated so sometimes you will get a laugh, but once you hear it too much, it starts to get on your nerves, which is why I'm more towards the evil side. When I hear something I hate get repeated, slice and dice baby. Though what is nice is the villagers that look old, weak, or feeble sound it and those that look tough, badass, and could crush you with their two fingers sound it as well. The thunks and cluds of combat aren't anything special, but they aren't too weak.
Suggestions: Ambition and execution. Might wanna do both of'em at the same time if that's how you hyped the game. I wouldn't recommend a sequel mainly because I feel gamers are too disappointed and wouldn't believe anything that was said about the second one.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Overall: Because the only difference is controls and graphics between the Xbox and PC versions, I got the PC version cuz it came out like 1-2 months before it's console counterparts did and also the mod community prolongs the life of the game a lot. To say I enjoyed Max Payne 2 would be an understatement. Before I even installed a mod, I played the game so much, replaying certain areas just for fun, like where the guy is outside on the scaffold and the game does the slow-mo of him falling down when you shoot him as you watch in awe how amazing the ragdolls are, like the wooden planks and paint cans sometimes falling on top of him. The story is superb, even though some argue the way Max's describes things gives people a headache, Remedy knows this and even pokes fun at themselves on some of the still image TV shows you see some of the characters watching. Bravura, Witherspoon (sp?) Mona, and Vlad's voice acting is all superb. The action and controls are just top notch, The ragdoll effects are also really awesome with the full zoom sniper shot and when you land a headshot watching the guys backflip (sometimes they do sometimes not). Not to mention the unlockable survival mode (forgot the name of it but that's what essentially it is) where enemies constantly spawn is ridiculous amounts of fun. Since this game is most likely the last in the series unfortunately, I'd recommend buying it if you haven't played it. Loads of fun.
Gameplay: You got your usual bullet-time/bullet-dive stuff here, same affair as Max Payne 1, but the ragdoll effects and interaction with the environments have been cranked up greatly. My favorite level was probably the fun house mainly because with the aid of your nades, you can just kick the crap out of everyone without being touched for most of the level. Not to mention I believe it's the first level with the Kalishnokov which is just great hearing it in slow-mo. Another sweet thing in the level is the huge syringe like thing, when you first get there, it unlocks the gate for you when it swing down, even though it appears it'll rip your head off, but later when the cleaners get there and you pull the switch, it just rips right through the cage, knocking down a wall and kill everyone in it's path. It handles pretty much the same as Max Payne 1, but to me, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean it could handle like Enter the Matrix afterall.
Graphics: I love the detail on Max's face. As the game progresses he gets more and more beat up, and just seeing his face up close with all the bandages and blood, it's just amazing how realistic it looks. The only thing graphically that I think didn't get bumped up since MP1 was probably the image quality of the stills on the television, but other than that, the enviroments, the empty shells (there's a lot more the game can handle now), the character models, the explosions, everything just looks better while still retaining the noir setting.
Audio: Voice acting is still top notch and the writing for the story I believe was excellent. The gun sound effects both in and out of bullet-time just sound devastating, maybe not the dual standard pistols, but the desert eagles and all of the automatics pack a nasty punch. The lead track is great too as is the rest of the music.
Suggestions: I really hope this isn't the last one. Please make another one. I know developers don't like to be one dimensional, but look at the sales! And the fact you got a movie based on the game coming out! Please do not abandon this series.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Doom 3
Overall: Man I had so much fun with this. Multiplayer, being only 4 people, wasn't exactly my cup of tea, on top of the fact every game I was in the lowest ping I saw was 74 but it would fluctuate up to 120 all the time, so I basically spent my whole time in single player.
People with motion sickness be warned, my friend can't even play this game more than 20 minutes without taking an hour break. The weapons are great, especially the chainsaw which I just love the sound of it tearing through flesh and scraping the walls and ground. The graphics are really good, i don't see what everyone's problem with'em are, and the story is barebones but the cutscenes where you run into bosses and such leave you feeling like your underpowered and a bit worried. I died maybe once/twice and that was because of falling into pits and such, but the game was still challenging, I was on the verge of death a lot. If you haven't played it, I strongly recommend renting this a couple times.
Gameplay: Multiplayer, like I said, 4 people, not all that great of pings, and just randomly teaming up with some jackass isn't too enticing, on top of the fact if your host you can kick people out when your losing so your not credited a loss. Pretty worthless in my book.
The single player though, is really intense, even if you stop playing for a while and load the game back up, within minutes you'll be in the game quick. Most of the time you'll be switching between your weapons using your D-Pad (which btw you can program) or the Y button (I think Y, might be B). The only thing I didn't like was the load times with the PDA having to check security codes and stuff out a lot. Some of the audio logs are great to listen to mainly because the voice acting is stellar. The audio logs for the guy trapped in hell were particularly convincing. Oh yea, you end up going to hell in the game which is pretty insane. Like I said chainsaw is just an awesome weapon, rocket launcher is alright I guess, blood effects are some of the best I've seen, very detailed. One of the best parts of the game was where this big enemy with like metal rear legs, sees me in the room and tries ramming the door in, the thing bends to the point of breaking and then he just stops. so your like ok, so I presume there's an alternate exit. And as I'm looking for one, he rams through the glass and had me trapped in the corner. That was probably the closest I came to dying cuz I was getting reamed bad. Overall, great experience, very immersive (despite a very loose story), tight controls, cool weapons, and nice gore.
Graphics: I thought everything looked great, the HUD, especially on the PDA was sweet, blood effects are just awesome, and characters models are great, though they do seem to take a bit of detail away for multiplayer. I can't complain though, I love it looks. Oh and I didn't mention the lighting. Love the lighting with all the flickering lights and constantly pulling your flashlight out.
Audio: Love the weapons sound effects, love the enemy screechs and yells, love the background blood curdling screams, voice acting is good, overall solid.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Conker: Live and Reloaded
Overall: My BFD cartridge is probably partially melted in my N64 along with Goldeneye and WCW/NWO Revenge. Even though the framerate was horrible, there were a ton of options and the whole Nazi Tediz vs. the Squirrels was great.
So what turns into a sequel turns into a remake with tons of added content which turns into basically the same single player experience with a new multiplayer mode. That's the story of CLR. Slowly but surely turned less ambitious in its development cycle. I did have high expectations, mainly because of how much fun the original was but, iono I don't really like CLR. Especially with multiplayer. The 2 player split-screen doesn't even take up the whole screen and you can't even go online with 2 people on one console. No downloadable content or clans either. Sheesh, what a load of crap.
Gameplay: Obviously you got to seperate the single player and multiplayer. The multiplayer has a HUD and plays like a behind the shoulder third person shooter. The single player plays the same as the original which was just a platformer.
One thing about the single player is how much more has been bleeped out since the N64 version. The Great Mighty Poo song is censored to the point you probably don't know, unless you heard the original, what obscentities he is saying. Then there's the fact excluding the minor alterations at the beginning of the game, the single player experience is identical. That part really gets me especially seeing how much time they had to work on this. The blood and poo effects are equally unimpressive.
Now multiplayer. First thing I notcied, headshots rip off the whole head. In BFD, you could shoot off chunks, the 2 halves of the head and the lower jaw where you saw parts of the brain. Now, all you see is an unsatisfying red mercury shooting from the neck. Class based games are fun, but the fact it's your only choice for multiplayer seems like a step back from the N64 version. Yes it's good, but it just lacks customization.
Graphics: Excluding the very unimpressive poo and blood effects, kind of hard to argue anything else. The characters models are amazing, enviroments are beautifully details, lighting is excellent, the game just looks amazing, it's just a shame there really isn't anything great and new gameplay components to go with it.
Audio: Whatever they did, the voice acting sound like garbage compared to the N64 version. It truely sounds like a whole new person doing Conker's voice. The dialogue and sound effects are fine though. None of the guns, excluding maybe the rocket launcher, have a satisfying gun power noise to them. The Grunt automatic/semi/single gun sounds like a pea shooter, and his grenade launcher, though it does a ton of damage, isn't that great either. Could go down the whole list but you get my idea.
Suggestions: So no guest or other XBL user on one system, no downloadable content, no clans, a stripped down multiplayer and the same single player experience, count me out please. I haven't played this game 3 weeks after launch and have no desire to ever touch it again.
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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Burnout 3: Takedown
Overall: I really don't get why I see arcade machines in the mall for NFS:HP2 but not Burnout 3. To be honest, it was hard not to sell this series off as just a game with car crashes. Burnout 1 and 2 I used both a rental on and enjoyed it to a degree but really it wasn't that amazing. Burnout 2 I spent a lot of time in the crash mode where you and someone else take turns crashing, but I really didn't enjoy the racing aspect. Then here comes Burnout 3 like out of nowhere. I wasn't even following the game cuz I figured "it'll be just slightly better than Burnout 2". Then I'm on a certain game site that has one of those read our full review and in the brief tidbit it says something about a new crash feature, so I checked it out thinking maybe it's worth another rental to check this crash feature out. Well, I open it up to find a score of 9.5 I was astonished, the graphics were amazing, the movies of the crashes had the best debris/particle effects ever, my jaw dropped. I rented the game 3 times straight after then picked it up around christmas. To say I didn't have fun would be an understatement. And to my surprise, I was spending the most time in the single player mode racing then just watching mindless crashes. The game is $20 now and even with Revenge around the corner, if you haven't seen or played this game at all, you have to play it. Burnout 3 takes the series to a whole new level where it's more than worthy of being a franchise for any console, and for the first time I'm really looking forward to the next entry in the series.
Gameplay: So what's so great about it? Well first you gotta talk about aftertouch. Only useable in single-player or a mode where there's one human user in the game, it basically slows down time and then with the analog stick you move your car, or should I say your wreckage, in any direction. It's not extreme to the extent where you can wind back and forth in a 5 lane road on a whim, but it's enough where a guy is close behind and you wanna toss your wreckage in front of him and take'em out, you can. It does take some getting used to in order to be deadly with it, cuz at first you'll often over shoot your target be it a pedestrians car or your opponent. The single player is fun (excluding the DJ, who's really just annoying and pointless and I hope they have'em rung up by his pulse some where so he doesn't make it into Revenge) unlocking new courses, new cars, etc. What I like is the way they have it set up to unlock the Dominator cars (the ones with the flame) in that you always have a 1 on 1 race with them and essentially have to beat'em to get the car. Their cars generally have the least control (though depending on what difficulty it's on, you wouldn't know the way the computer drives) but have the most speed, which generally means, for most of the car classes not all of'em, you'll basically be trying to just take'em down before they pass you, and keep doing it like 6-10 times a race depending on the length of the course. One that took me forever to unlock was the US Indy style car. You basically have to do 2 laps without crashing otherwise you have absolutely no shot. However, with boost this car travels 230+MPH so it's really hard to avoid traffic. And just like this one I had difficulty with you'll find the rest of the game is like that as well, where the challenging races straddles the line of 'frustrating, I don't want to play anymore' and 'omg I was so close, just oneeee more try'.
Lots of cars, lots of tracks (both for races and crash modes), and team modes online make for a great title.
Graphics: This is one of those games where despite the head-to-head article at IGN where the graphics are very close in both versions, you'll be so much happier with the Xbox version. I played the PS2 version for the first time last night, and I was amazed at how bad the graphics are. Tunnels and roads look horrendous, the cars jaggies are very noticable on any zoomed in camera shot, and there is wicked slow down in crash modes online for the PS2 version. The Xbox version on the other hand, features some amazing car models and pretty !&%$@#* good environments, and of course, the amazing debris/particle effects you witness after each crash. Iono if this cranks all the juice out of the Xbox, but it's really friggin close.
Audio: A game like this if the car crash sound effects sucked, the game would not be fun. The first couple times I played this game, just hearing some of the crashes made me cringe or laugh hysterically at how amazing it was cuz I had never seen anything like it in a video game before. Just hearing the collision, watching the sparks when the car is dragging, and looking at your beauty now totaled is really borderline lifelike, excluding the part where you have to worry about if people are ok. The soundtrack I surprisingly didn't mind, but there is a lot of punk, and generally I don't like it, but The FUps title track was good and I liked hearing the Ramones on there as well.
Suggestions: it's hard to suggest what to do when the game reaches immersion and graphical boundaries unseen before. Just keep on keeping on I guess.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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ESPN NHL 2K5
Overall: Three things that !&%$@#* me off about this game are 1) the sweep move which almost always guarantees a goal 2) The camera in the Gauntlet mini-game is horrible and 3) The franchise glitch where if a team has more than 3 injuries on the roster the game freezes everytime. However, ESPN still manages to be a solid title.
Gameplay: Franchise is great (excluding that bug), the mini-games are insane fun, the dream team mode is a good challenge at times, and the controls are great. Last years EA NHL was horrible, I don't think they know which direction their heading in, arcade or sim. ESPN is defintely more of a sim, but it still is fun. First, they added some checking animations, not a lot, but more than ESPN hockey which had the over the boards animation and the fall on your knees animations which I saw 90% of the time and drove me crazy. When I first started playing, I noticed noone was falling down, just guys bouncing off each other. Well if you go into the gameplay options and turn checking all the way up, guys like Pavel Bure can lay down big hits which I didn't like so I turned it down to notched and now guys like Pronger and Chara lay down big hits while the little guys sometimes lay down a big one themselves. Goalies sometimes are so sick my jaw drops watching them topple around the crease, then there are times where you shoot from center ice and they miss a glove save. Don't ask me how, but it does happen, even guys like Martin Broduer and Marty Turco. The deking stick is great, basically it moves the puck in a direction to avoid poke checks and with the modifer you do dekes and the like. Works out great, just need to know which deke you'll be doing when you flick the stick in a certain direction cuz some take longer than others.
The fighting system defintely isn't great, I loved the NHL2004 one and the Hitz Pro one as well, this is decent, it's not like the old PS1 affair where you just hit to buttons really fast, just a lot of backing up and sneaking in for an attack.
Like I said the minigames are a blast, great party fun.
I'd recommend getting this, but the new one comes out in like 2 weeks for $20 so there really isn't a point.
Graphics: Iono what it is but hockey players rarely look like how they look in real life. I mean in Madden they get it down good sometimes, but hockey games are almost NEVER. This again is the case, you see a lot of the same faces. However, the jerseys got some nice detail as does the ice reflection, though the ice generally only looks worn down until the camera goes away from the ice, meaning each play stoppage, it looks new again, though I heard this year they are adding something to that effect.
Audio: All the NHL Hockey Tonight music is there, crowd chants are great, often chanting for goalies after they have a huge night. Slap shots, the glass breaking sound, announcers, are all pretty solid. Though Thorne and Clement repeat a lot of what they say, what lines they did record were solid enough you shouldn't mind.
Suggestions: Fix that franchise bug, make the ice look worn down, how bout the PPM NHL is adding, I wanna be able to hurt guys with a slap shot too!
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Pariah
Overall: So your transferring this girl who's got a virus and she's in cryostasis, the plane gets wrecked, you get seperated and find her. You find out through the cutscene that the disease could be transferred through blood contact, which immediately after, she gets shot in the shoulder and blood splatters on your face. Probably the one and only interesting cutscene.
Gameplay: The single player I could stand for a lil while then I just got sick of how pointless it was. The story I thought was cool at the beginning but it just really loses interest basically after she gets shot in the beginning. Your standard FPS affair excluding the fact you can get upgrades. Mainly stuff light faster fire or quick reload, nothing amazing. Vehicle controls are eck, feel nothing like controlling a warthog, though it doesn't have to, it defintely isn't as tight as the vehicle controls in Halo 2. Multiplayer lets you use custom maps which wouldn't be a problem except that's all people play and a lot of'em suck. Then people are douches and don't let you take certain classes that can destroy the big vehicles so they either just kick you or if you stick around you get throttled. Hated the online experience.
Graphics: I actually thought the visuals were pretty decent. Nothing made me drop my jaw in awe but likewise nothing made me go that's awful so i guess it gets the job done.
Audio: Gun sound effects are so worthless. Nothing sounds like your shooting a damage dealing weapon. Music was pretty good with music kicking up at intense moments. Voice acting wasn't bad, not close to the best though.
Suggestions: Stick to UC/UT, GoW
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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Mortal Kombat: Deception
Overall: It's been a while since I've played this but I must say I had a lot of fun. The story mode where you run around with a lil bald headed kid (forgot his name) and become a fighter is pretty lame, especially since the walking and such is very weird, thus my concern with MK:Shaolin Monks, but fortunately, after playing the demo for that game I no longer have any concern.
But yea three nice additions undoubtedly are the puzzle game which is almost as good as Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, the 3 counters you get each round, and online play which sadly, noone is on. If you haven't played it, defintely pick it up, lots of unlockables and fun mini-games.
Gameplay: The game still has the standard 3 fighting style which is defintely good, but on the same token, if there is only one person who memorize his characters multi-style combo, the other person is at a severe disadvantage as these do the most damage. Also, like in DA, once you get going, it's really hard to stop the combo, unless of course you have a counter on hand which like I said earlier, is a nice feature.
As for the puzzle game, there aren't cubes like in SPFIIT but what makes this unique is the special move each characters have. Sub-Zero freezes all the players blocks preventing him/her from breaking them, Cindel (SP?) rearranges the opponents blocks so any sort of massive break you had is pretty much shot to shit. Some of the special moves take forever to charge, like Cindel's, others are a lot faster. It's essentially the more powerful the longer it takes to charge. Also you only have like a 15 second time frame to use it, so you can't wait till your opponents column before you use the special move. The second unique thing is the fatality at the end of each stage. Very entertaining and a nice way to rub it in your buddy that he just got his !&%$@#* handed to him. Puzzle game alone was worth my money, I just got a nice fighting game on top of it.
Graphics: Nothing spetacular, but nothing horrible. Love the insane, over-the-top blood. The blood can obviously be toned down if you prefer or changed to a different color. Basically for those who are kids and don't want mom and dad to think your playing an ultra-violent game. I didn't notice lag in online play WHEN people did play.
Audio: Nothing changed from DA really. The sound really isn't detrimental or annoying, it just really does add anything to the game, like any 0o0o0o's or ahhhhhh's for anything.
Suggestions: Game was fine, might wanna update the fight system. I know don't fix what isn't broken, but there should be more than just one multi-style combo cuz just executing that each round gets real boring after a while.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack
Overall: Well the maps will soon be free. Was it worth paying the dough? To a degree, I'm glad I have all the practice on the maps so I'm not at a disadvantage since I presume many if not all XBL users purchased this map pack in some form. But since you could only use'em in Team Preview and Slayer Preview, it was kind a bummer. On top of the fact, some maps really suck, like Backwash, which was suppose to have so much fog you could barely see in front of you which is a load of crap. The only one I found really unique was Terminal w/ the whole train, that's an interesting premise and defintely a cool level. But yea just wait till these are free, they are great maps.
Gameplay: Backwash just sucks. The weapon placement, the choice of weapons, I really hate the map. None of my kills look cool, it's just a small, boring map.
Terminal has some cajones. The train, all the vehicles, the announcer warning when the train is coming in. Great weapon placement, I love it, has gotta be one of my favorite maps.
Relic is a good slayer map but I really don't like it for assault or ctf. On assault, once the person gets up there with the bomb and dies, it's just too easy to defend, especially if you got a sniper rifle.. With CTF, once you grab the flag and toss it over the edge, it's too easy to win.
Gemini I've only played with Slayer, but it's a pretty enjoyable map. There's generally a rush for the overshield by both teams and then a big fire fight at the beginning of the round.
Elongation is slightly better than Longest, but it's still garbage IMO.
Turf, Sanctuary, Containment, and Warlock have all been free for a while so I won't write about them.
Graphics: Nothing new or spectacular. Obviously the train and the guilty spark at Backwash, Gemini has the statue with the halo holograph, and Turf has the swinging doors, but besides that, nothing that stands out drastically, though the maps still manage to maintain a degree of uniqueness.
Audio: Not many new noises, excluding like I said the announcer at Terminal and Guilty Spark at Backwash, but besides that it's all the same Halo 2 sounding goodness you've been used to since last Nov.
Suggestions: Nice variety of maps, decent price too. Should do another one.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Halo 2
Overall: People with all this standbying/hacking complaints mustn't realize this stuff happens in every XBL title. Only difference is, Bungie, with the blue screen and the connection bars next to gamertags let you know when it's occuring. RS3 and many other XBL titles just show it as a simple lag spike. These problems are prevalent in most XBL titles except A) like I said before, now you know it's happening and B) Bungie is always doing something about it.
With that being said, Halo 2 is in everyway better than the original. So many people love to argue, but the fact still remains the story (despite the cliff hanger at the end) and the multiplayer outdo the original. The graphics are amazing, the netcode is the most rock solid I've seen in any XBL title, the story is great (maybe not better than the original, but still awesome and really isn't touched by any other Xbox title other than a few select RPG's and the original), and of course balance, something severely lacking from the original pistol whoring days of Halo 1. True, on certain big maps, if you have the sniper you have a huge advantage, but there are ways of countering that. So overall, just buy the game. It's thee reason for owning the game.
Gameplay: Gotta love the addition of dual wielding, sometimes it's a bit finicky when a bunch of weapons are grouped together, but for the most part works great. Customization of your characters colors and logos helps you stand out. Many of the maps are enjoyable and well laid out (excluding Waterworks which I think just sucks no matter how many players are in the game). Certain things that are a little bothersome though are superjumping and standbying, which used to be a pain in the arse but it's cut down drastically. Again, the layout is perfect with the B Melee, A Jump, Left-Click Crouch Right-Click Zoom R Fires L Grenades etc. etc., the usual affair, but still works great. Plenty of customization in game options too to make some really awesome game modes for LAN parties. The balance of the maps with weapons placement and vehicles choice has generally been perfect excluding BR on Ascension since the Banshee barely took any damage but that's been since changed. So overall, it's a complete package. Online co-op would be nice, but you'll spend too much time building your rank in other modes.
Graphics: The graphics are still great, my jaw doesn't drop like when I first saw it, but my judgement of other games graphics is much more strict since I've been playing this for so long. Excluding some of the ground textures, the characters, environments, guns, explosions, etc. are all just look great and you gotta love the detail on everything.
Audio: Voice acting is like the top-tier in regards to games, really can't get much better. Explosions caused by rockets or grenades still sound great on surround sound and just fill the lil pyro in you with glee even after all this time. I still love hearing a guy talking trash on XBL and when he's in the middle of a sentence you just hear a death scream. Soundtrack is great as well, all the music seems in place too, meaning it's not like they put a soft song when your chargin in against 2 Wraiths and 10 Elites.
Suggestions: Make a sequel and maybe incorporate some more customization to characters and maybe a map editor. That would be sick.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Toejam and Earl 3: Mission To Earth
Overall: For a person that played (and still plays on his emulator) TJ&E and TJ&E: Panic on Funkatron, I was looking forward to this for months. However, the reviews were very average and Gamespot even awarded it most disappointing Xbox Game of the Year. But I had to find out for myself. And I really really gave this one a chance hoping it would grow on me, but I returned it and rented MK: DA. This game veers a lot away from the originals and was very disppointing to me. However, if you've never played the first two, you most likely would enjoy it.
Gameplay: Firs thing that bugged me was the dialogue and the dancing. In the old days, my bro always took TJ and I took Earl. When we tried this out, we both agreed TJ was defintely 50 times worse. We hated how he talked, how he acted, and his choice of words in dialogue just sucked. Earl was still cool though :) . Once we got passed the horrible FMV sequences, we started looking for the records. The controls in the game are fine and I was actually rather pleased. Once we got to the first mission, however, the stupidity comes in to play. Your mission: spray little fiary dust on humans and make them funky. Besides the fact it was amazingly easy and as fun as castrating yourself, combat was terrible. I was expecting to throw cans at the boogieman and the people with the cameras like in Panic on Funkatron. Instead move your arm sideways and throw fairydust. Now I thought it's just the first board combat will improve. We upgraded our guys, got the spring shoes, fought with the boogiemen, converted a bunch of chickens into funky, and the combat still sucked. All you did was spray fairydust on pretty much every board. The upgrade just made it so you could spread it over a wider distance. There was no challenge at all. Talking to the humans after they have been "funkified" is funny like "My mommy says you owe us money" but the fact is they repeat the same lines a lot. It's like they didn't add any since the DC version. The xbox can fit a lot more audio. Another thing is those 3 singing...blob choir alien before each mission. WHY WHY WHY??? No point in having them at all. Just to annoy me and wanna saw my ears off at the very sound of their voices. Although gameplay is still decent, you expect it to be better than it was 10 years ago on a system that had a lot less power. And since I was very diappointed, I gave it a 1.
Graphics: Graphics are a mixed bag. I like the whole theme of everything and the enviroments. Some textures are just plain shoddy. Character models are nice.
Audio: The only thing I can appalaud are in game sound effects. Those are pretty good. However, the rap music, voice acting, the three singing blobs, and repetitive one liners all just flat out suck. I mean if TJ&E are trying to act like rappers at least A) sound like goofy white guys trying to be rappers or B) Be rappers and have some funny sayings. This game does not do either.
All I can say is those who have played either of the first 2, veer away from this one. For those who haven't played the first two, you may actually like it. I'd defintely recommend a rental.
Suggestions: All I can say is end the franchise. For players like me who played the past 2 titles, you have scarred this franchise. I can't even look at Toe Jam and say he's so cool with his third leg. Now he's just an annoying character that doesn't belong anywhere. I suggest making combat more than funkifying people with fairy dust and I suggest you change the game a lot. This looks very much like the DC version I saw at IGN.
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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Kung Fu Chaos
Overall: This game doesn't play bad nor is there anything wrong with the concept. It's just when you go through the whole singe player and play every board in multiplayer the game just gets old real fast. I honestly have no interest in playing this game ever again. It's just so boring now.
Gameplay: Getting 5 stars on every movie took me about a day. And before you beat everything the game is quite fun. Plus, Shao Ting is funny as hell. I love the training ones where he starts telling a story and you doze off into training and when you awake he's saying something and when you can start understanding him again he goes "..and that's why I'll never use a public toilet again" LOL it's just some great stuff. He is a bit of s terotype Chinese guy so I can see why they got complaints about the game but I just think overall the developers loved kung fu movies (I mean just look at the titles instead of the Legend of the Drunken Boxer you have the legen of the drunken bastard) The game is funny and is quite enjoyable but I don't know when it just got so boring. I don't even like playing multiplayer. Don't get me wrong, this is a great game it's just the lasting appeal isn't there.
Graphics: I love the graphics. They aren't detailed but for the purpose of looking cartoonish the graphics are great. I also love the cheap moviesets. I get a laugh whenever I'm on the space ship with a piece of wallpaper scrolling in the background.
Audio: Excellent job. Punching, kicking special moves, and music all sound like they came straight out of a kung fu movie. Excellent for the game.
Suggestions: If there is anyway you can make the game last longer I would appreciate it. I can't really think of any ideas.
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Overall: I won't be too detaile din this review since I haven't played this in a while plus I was rather disgusted with how it played.
Out of all the Tom Clancy games I've played, this has probably got to be my least favorite. My biggest complaint is the camera view. I can't stand having an f'n big circle in the center of the screen and not even see shell ejection or my bullets being fired from my gun. And the recoil is so minor you'd think you were firing an automatic Nerf gun (actually there's one other reason you'd assume this but I'll discuss that in sound)
Gameplay: I can't really remember single-player but I did play co-op for a while and do remember that. Each player gets 3 members to suit up (i.e. clothing and guns). Unlike the Rainbow Six series, there is no planning just a mission briefing and then you start. Again, with the perspective. This is alright for Rainbow Six which just had a little red dot in the center but that was cool when it came out back then. But it's 2003 and I don't find it cool. I need a 3rd person or first person where I can see my gun. For one, I feel like I'm traveling through f'n quick sand I'm moving so slow. The recoil on the big blue circle reticle is horrible. What I strongly dislike about this game is I can't find guys. Although I'm playing SOF II right now and guys are in camo, very rarely do they line up there shot where they hit me on their first shot. In this however, if you miss spotting someone and there are ni ibjects between him and you they hit you on first shots fired. My personal preference is I hear shots fired and take cover and look for the guy. In this I get hit and hit and hti and hit and mainly my computer AI teammates get the kills in outdoor areas. When I played though, there was absolutely noone playing Ghost Recon. I've noticed though since playing Ghost Recon has gained quite a lot of popularity so chances are you'll find a game. Eventually we found like three but each one sucked not to mention 2 people can't play on the same system online. Overall, few XBL games, very bad choice of not including a 3rd or gun in first person, and slow as death movement, just makes this game seem so long and boring.
Graphics: This is a strong point of this game. Although I dislike it, character models were pretty well done and the enviroments were alright as well. Not amazing or great, but nothing that made you cringe at ugliness.
Audio: This category could be great. Ambience, talking, and radio communication are all great, but the problem is with the guns. Just like you'd expect from a realistic tactical shooter, the sounds are a bit quieter. Nothing wrong with that. I loved it in Rougue Spear and Rainbow 6. But it's been a while since both have been out and even though I still like the silenced gun shots, the death animations plus the lousy recoil make it feel like you killed an enemy with (like I said earlier) an automatic nerf gun. So overall, sounds and voice are fine, just death animations and bad recoil take away any sense of damage they do.
Suggestions: Offer a different camera view. I love Raven Shield merely for the fact the first person has a gun. It's just personal preference. Also, keep up the good job with the graphics.
Overall Score: 3.0 / 10
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Rocky
Overall: Having not played a boxing game since KO Kings 2002 and seeing so many things how about this game does a good job of being a game based on a movie, I decided to give it try. First off, I love the Rocky movies. I, II, III, IV (one of the few people I know who did), and even V! (hahaha j/k) None the less the Rocky movie series is great. The Movie Mode isn't as in-depth as reviews made it out to be, but the short movie clip right before the big boss fight basically sums up all that happened in the movie. In the end, Rocky delivers a good haymaker with it's very good controls, having all the characters from the movies, and awesome bruising and cuts.
Gameplay: Rocky has a practice mode, a movie mode that spans over all five (yes even Rocky V) movies, a tournament mode (to unlock you must beat the game on normal), and a Vs. mode . However, there are only a couple fighter to choose so it's recommended to beat the single-player.
The Movie Mode does not instantly pit you against the big fight character of each movie. Instead, you move your way up via fighting jobbers. Now these fighters were either A) Seen in the brief clip in Rocky III when he's fighting a bunch of weak opponents B) Mentioned by name in the movie but never seen or C) completely made up. You only get 2 continues (at least on normal) so do your best not to get your butt kicked. After each victory, you get to train. Some involve rotating and doing combos others are buttons smashers and other recommend you press a certain punch when asked. I'll admit my favorites are the red punching bag and the one where you rotate and do combos. But the situps and jumping rope or so !&%$@#* tough for me. I'd also like to let you know now, if you mess up training, I strongly suggest retraing. My first 4 attempts I messed up big time and basically evry fight to the end I was at a disadvantage but probably wouldn't have been if I didn't mess up four times. To retrain just quit and reload your game. After you beat the game, almost all characters unlocked (you have to beat the game on the other two difficulties to unlock Mickey, the Rocky Statue, and some other one. You also unlock all arenas. Although I hated Rocky V, it's great to fight at the street fight arena. I always take the Rocky Statue and pound the !&%$@#* out of my opponents. Boy are there faces bruised. Speaking of which, Rocky features the best cut and bruising in a boxing game. Though blood doesn't drip every where, you can see a cut with blood on a boxers face. The tournament is also great if you have a bunch of friends over and want to reign a champion.
Rocky's controls are great too. There are tons of combos and although not a lot of skill is involved in winning a match, you can't smash the buttons if you wanna win against the AI or against a human who has some experience with the game (particularly a human who knows how to block well). You have X and Y doing high punches, A and B doing low punches, and L modifying punches to uppercuts and strong rib punches. I didn't train at all and I learned a two high punch to thee low punch combo in no time. This is great for working the head and the lower body.
Now this game isn't perfect, but the gameplay gets a 5.0 cause this is one of the video games based on movies that does justice for a movie. Only 2 minor complaints are lasting appeal may faulter for single player but multiplayer is always a blast and the lowest a player can get scored is 8 in a round.
Graphics: This game is overall very good. Characters models and faces are accurate depictions of their real life counterparts, the audience is detailed (they look somewhat like Max Payne character models IMO), and arenas are good looking too. Not Xbox bliss, but seeing a detailed audience is easy on the eyes.
Audio: Sound is great. All main characters have their theme music and attire from whatever Rocky they were in. The ring announcer does a good job of introducing the fighters and getting the crowd going. Impact of punches has a nice sounding thump or pop or pow and there are occasional grunts and moans from a fighter taken straight from the movie (a nice touch I must say).
Suggestions: You really can't do a sequel but if you make another boxing game with any franchise, just make the game have a more lasting appeal for single player.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Overall: After playing the first 2 MK's, I was dis appointed in MK3 MK4 and any other MK Ultimate Trilogy etc. games. So when MK: DA came out I was kinda reluctant to even rent this. After playing single player a little, and vs. mode with my bro quite a bit, I have to say MK:DA sets itself apart from otehr good fighters. If you like 3D fighters, MK:DA's tight control system, easy to learn combos, great use of 3 fighting styles, and excellent graphics for a multi-console game will not disappoint.
Gameplay: There are several modes to choose. You can practice your moves against an opponent. Useful if you wanna just mess around or try the combos in the move-list when you pause. Konquest lets you go through training stages where your usage of executing combos are put to the test. This helps you nail down combos to perfection and unleash a serious a$$-whoopin on someone. The single player mode is pretty much the same as the original MK. Slowly move your way up through mroe and more difficult opponents. The only difference is you get to see the difficulty percentage, a 3D view of the level you will fight at (it's underneath the characters picture), and a little story background for your character at the beginning and the end. In both the Konquest and Single player modes you get coins. However, there are several different types of coins each category of coin unlocking something different in the Krypt. In the Krypt, there are coffins labeled from AA to ZZ. Each lettered coffin can unlock something from level art, to past MK photos, and also characters and levels. There are some that have nothing it them as well.
Gameplay is fun and responsive. I just want to note if you have one of them original power pad controllers, they suck for this game. You gotta smash the crap outta the buttons and the loose joystick doesn't help much with combos that require the joystick to move in a certain direction. The first thing you'll notice is your character's fihgting style at the bottom. Each character has three fighting styles. You can change from one style to the next via the L button. What's so great about having three fighting styles is it's so easy to execute a multi-fighting-style combo. I like the usage of weapons in MK:DA it increases damage more than regular attacks and you can stab people with the sword but it lowers your defense and anytime you are attacked your health goes down faster. After playing single-player it's kinda gettting old but I increased the difficulty and it's keeping me challenged. As for 2-player vs. mode, it is fun as hell and could be played for hours and days without getting boring. I also forgot toe mention each character only has one fatality and no babalities or animalities or any other ones from past MK games.
Graphics: There are many levels of blood in the game and by default I believe it's on the highest setting of blood. The blood flows out like a river and drips down the character and stains the ground. Although not the most realistic looking blood, it sure as hell looks cool though. Graphically, the game looks fine and dandy. Not Xbox perfection, but very high quality and better than a lot of other games out there. Character models are excellently done. Enviroments are also very sleek and sexy. Shang Tsung's level has souls he has taken flying through the hall and as they past by you can hear the screams. very cool, but at the same time creepy as hell.
Audio: Sound effects are fine. You get the appropriate punch, kicks, grunts, screams, and thuds you'd expect from an arcade fighter like this. Didn't really pay attention to the music but it hasn't annoyed me so I guess music is fine as well.
Suggestions: I'm not sure if this would work well for the MK series but very few fighters have a 4 player tag team mode.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Conflict: Desert Storm
Overall: I was so excited for this game. I mean all the talk about 4 player co-op and killing Iraqis was so enticing. However, there are just some rough spots that really bug me in all categories. Desert Storm coulda been so much more. However, the announcement of a sequel makes me think everything will be fixed.
Gameplay: You've probably heard this already but just so you know there is only a campaign mode. No deathmatch system link, Xbox Live, etc. You can play by yourself or with three of your friends. If you play by yourself, the first few missions involve rescuing, giving backup, or meeting up with your teammates. You can either be SAS or Delta Force.
The gameplay however just doesn't feel right. First, your target always has trouble or locks on to the wrong enemy. Many times I find my icon locking on to someone far away and forcing myself to manually aim in the first person mode. This is quite frustrating as you'd expect the auto-aim to be good but instead serves the purpose of being annoying. The draw distance is also a problem. Though a lot better on Xbox than PS2, you still run into instances where your being shot and you can't see the enemy. Drives me nuts. The game is also kinda easy. I feel the game gives each character WAAAAY too many health packs. You can kill people you have to transport and heal them 5 times and still have plenty extra at the end of the mission. Another thing to is headshots don't always result in instant kills. Plus, the game can be completed fairly quickly and once it's over there really is no point in playing again. No replayability plus buggy aim and terrible draw distance really bring down gameplay but fortunately 4 player co-op saves the day...at least a little.
Graphics: ACK! Hidden and Dangerous on Dreamcast had better graphics. The game just looks so cruddy. They aren't the worst ever but they are basic and on top of that really ugly. Blood effects are also kind of lame. Overall, the worst point of the game.
Audio: The weapons aren't loud and noisy like an FPS but are basically the ones you'd expect out of a tactical game. Thank god for custom soundtracks cause the standard music is pretty crappy. Explosions are also kinda weak. Although not the best sound, it's not the worst either.
Suggestions: How bout some system link support? Defintely make the next one longer OR have downloadable campaigns or missions.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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TimeSplitters 2
Overall: Purchasing several launch PS2 titles, the only one I found myself coming back to other than Madden was Timesplitters. It just had so much to offer. From co-op play, to the level editor, and 12 (or was it 16?) bots in multiplayer. And once you beat the game to unlock the challenge mode, there was just so much more to unlock. TS2 has all these features just like its predecessor and although defintely not the best FPS, gameplay is fast as hell the and the game stays at a rocks-solid 60fps. I recommend renting this first to see if this is your cup-o-tea.
Gameplay: First off, no Xbox Live support. Not a huge bummer. System link support is in, but defintely isn't as fun as I thought it would be.
The single player story consists of traveling to differemt areas in different time periods to collect these green shards. To be honest the story isn't that strong but at least there is one as TS1 didn't have a story at all. The first mission is amazing. You start off with a sniper rifle and a silenced pistol and this radar computer type thing. First thing I wanted to see is if the computer responds to each bullet (i.e. shoot in the arm he clutches it, shoot'em in the head he flies back) and for the most part they do. however, I don't recall ever falling upon an enemy gimping after being shot in the leg like you would see in a game like SOFII. The first automatic you come across is like AFK7 Soviet you'd find in Goldeneye except with a grenade launcher attached to it. very nice :D . It's nice having explosive weapons on the first levell insated of having to progress through 3-4 to get more powerful weapons. To sum up Siberia, you retrive a disc, activate the zombies which you must shoot their heads off, get a flamethrower, and end up on the top of the dam in a tureet gun bullets and missles at a helicopter. Overall, the best first board I've played in a FPS and sadly the best board in TS2.
You can still unlock tons of stuff just like the orignal. There is a challenge mode where you play to get gold silver or bronze trophies accomplishing the obbjective. Ranging from breaking all the windows to running away from the people who are on fire or killing all the midgets. You are awarded with new modes, new characters, and probably new levels (though I think those are unlocked in the story mode). What I really appreciate about TS2 is when you make a user name, it keeps track of your stats. Shots fired, times hit, accuracy etc. It's nice to keep track of how good (or bad) you do.
Multiplayer is kind of a mixed bag. You can only have 12 bots. Though that is a lot, I swear in TS1 there was more or the same amount of bots. In a fats paced game like this where you respawn almost instantly, the more the merrier. Also with system link, NO BOTS! I was rather disappointed and honestly got no joy out of it. Split-screen was fun as hell though. Me and 5 of my friends did 4 player deathmatches against 12 bots and whoever got the worst place gave up the controller. Then we decided to do a 2 v. 2 team round robin. I was stuck with the worst player in the room but we did manage to go on a 6 game winning streak at the end. The reason why you can do 2 v. 2 without bots is you can quickly run and find the other player and games end much quicker than say a 2 v. 2 deathmatch at Sidewinder or even a small board like Battle Creek. Overall, system link coulda been better but none the less split-screen is still fun as hell.
Graphics: This is a multi-console game and compared ot the PS2 version I thought it looked much better on Xbox. However, nothing really stellar. Character models, enviroments, explosions, etc. are all good but not amazing. Not much you can ask for a multi-console game though.
Audio: Music is good for the fast paced frentic gameplay going on. Gun sounds effects are loud which is nice since some games have gun sound effects way too quiet. The onyl tihg that's kinda weak are explosions. Could be just me. And I just rearranged my room so my surround system isn't hooked up so I don't know if this has Dolby Surround support or not.
Suggestions: Bots in system link play, maybe co-op system link, lots of new stuff to unlock just to keep things fresh, and how bout making a Chinese2?
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Overall: God I love Tom Clancy! Attention to detail is one of his specialities in his books and boy did it rub off in Splinter Cell. I love all the jumps, gadgets, and weapons in this game. I've become so immersed even I tried the split-jump which ended up in a not so friendly twinge in my crotch area. Overall, out of Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear, Ghost Recon, Sum of All Fears, and Raven Shield, this is by far the best Tom Clancy game and one of the best game on Xbox you will see or play.
Gameplay: This game is all about stealth. First mission I played was where you start outside and first thing you do is go down the stairs and there is a prison. I did a couple wall jumps, executed a split-jump, and waited as the patroling guard went underneath as I went down on his body. There are a ton of gadgets for you to use. I love the camera you can use under the dorr to see your enemies. Lockpicking in this game is also very unique. Roll the joystick in a circle o unlock the lock and gain access to a room. You can shoot or interact with many things. You can pick up soda cans and glass bottles. Throw a bottle in front of your enemy. He goes over to see what the noise was as you walk behind him and smack him with the butt of your silenced pistol. It is a sight to behold and joy to do. I'm just having to much fun dicking around with everythign right now I have barely delved into the story.
Graphics: Un-freakin believable! Every "Only on Xbox" game shoudl be required to meet the graphical detail of this game. First time I saw light come through a window and reflect on my guy my jaw just dropped and I sat there for literally 5 minutes. I had seen movies of it before but it looked 50 times better and I had never played a video game that had lighting like that. Enviroments, computers, charcters, and all objects are just so lush with detail. IMO, best graphics on any Xbox game including Halo.
Audio: Voice acting, ambience, music picking up when in action, everythign about music and sound is great. Some weapon sound effects are weak even for silenced weapons but other than that minor complaint, perfection.
Suggestions: Make a sequel with all new boards, new storyline. You could leave everything else the same way and I'd buy it.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Deathrow
Overall: Long have I been waiting to play this. I played it once at my friend's, but traded it in for $10! (MORON!) So I went to EB and bought his used copy for $25 :D . This isn't as gory and violent as I thought it would be, but the game is defintely gritty and with drugs and excessive (but welcome) foul language, has plenty of attitude.
Gameplay: Controls are simple. Although I didn't take a likeing to them at first, they quickly grew on me. A and B punc and kick, A+B grab moves, Y Jump, X...does something. A passes, B shoots, R lock onto disc, and L does running attacks. The grab moves are just plain awesome. In the demo I only saw a few, but in the game each team has almost there own indivdual grab moveset. Very awesome. In single player, the slo-mo Matrix effect kicks in for every grab move you do. Doesn't really stop the flow of gameplay too much. As for multiplayer, it kicks in whenever a grab is done by a user to another user. It would suck having it kick in whenever a user did it to anybody but it's nice watching your friend get his !&%$@#* beat in slow mo.
What I was surprised was the career mode is multiplayer. Very few games have that but Deathrow allows up to 4 players to play on your team in career mode. In it, you can purchase several performance enhancing drugs that sometimes contain side effects. You also get challenges from teams trying to get in the league. They give you a lot of cash however, after the first challenge become very difficult. This robot team slapped the !&%$@#* outta my team and I didnt get the big cah prize plus I had to heal my team since they were KO'ed. Recruiting members is nice too. It allows you to get some depth on your roster.
The actual gameplay involves you trying to score a disc in the other opponents circle ring. At each arena, the ring comes in different sizes as well as the net. Speaking of which arenas vary greatly. Some are basic flat plain. However, there are two story arenas, the marine base which has a tunnel underneath it, and arenas with 2 ramps right in front of the goal for you to take a jumping shot off of. You need to have a different strategy at each arena making the game continually challenging. Some goals in arenas have a wall right behid them stopping the disc from flying far away so you can score behind the net getting 2 points no sweat. However, some dont' have a wall and you have to go a ways back.
Shooting and passing are simple. There are 2 vector lines: a green one which turns white showing you when your shot is almost a guranteed goal and a blue one showing who you will pass too. You can charge up your shot and shoot causing a deathrow or leave it like a mine for someone to pick up and get knocked on their ass. There are several powerups such as momentum, credits for your team to use, and health. Once your momentum is full, you can really !&%$@#* pound the other team in one to two grabs or a couple punches here and there.
Fighting is simple, fun, and challenging. Only downside is when the computer knocks you down, they show no mercy and knock your ass around till you are Injured. to get injured , you must deplete a character's health bubble. Once they are all gone he is Ko'ed at least for the round. To heal him you must use your teams credits. Personally I never heal my guys to full. I just pick up mega health in game to heal'em.
Deathrow offers an awesome gameplay system combined with strategy to provide an experience second to none.
Graphics: By far some of the best graphics on the Xbox. Not the greatest, but defintely good enough where you wouldn't be able to make it look that good on PS2 or GC. Charcter details to face and models are excellent. Animation with moves, shooting, jumping, diving etc. are fluent. The enviroments are great and the lighting is just right. Overall, excellently done.
Audio: In game soundtracks aren't bad, but custom soundtrack support is here and boy is it nice getting your hands dirty with Godsmack and Disturbed :D . In game voice acting is awesome as well. I love all the cussing! That's what I love to hear in a M rated game. Shouting strategies to your teammate (i.e. DEFEND THE NET!) and your teammates calling you adumbass for hitting the wrong guy is just great attention to detail. I love it!
Suggestions: Online play, more teams, and you really need to add weapons and possibly some dismemberment. Supberb game though.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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World Series Baseball 2K3
Overall: I love baseball but haven't played one in a couple years. WSB on DC was terrible, Triple Play (first one) on PS2 was alright, and ASB on N64 was da bomb. Now, Sega has turned the WSB series on the right path. This game is not perfect, nor was it everything I was hoping for, but for the few hours I've had it I've gotten solid enjoyment out of one of my rentals.
Gameplay: First and foremost the Hollywood Video box was leading me on. It claimed it was 4 players. Well 4 controllers popped up, but only 2 players could join. Wow was I pissed. So I decided to bail exhibition and just do a Big League Challenge. Took the cover man Jason Giambi (Yankees rule!) and loved the pitcher/batter interface. It took me no less than 10 minutes before I was having no problems moving the cursor over the ball. I thought the ball speed was too slow, but as I was going through option you can turn ball speed to fast. It wasn't flying past me like a pitch would in Slugfest but it seemed a bit more realistic than medium did. In the end, I won against some guy from the NL it a pretty close one. I decided to try out exhibition. After looking at the Yankees and realizing they had 100 in all categories, I went against the Red Sox. After 2 innings, I was leading by 2 but I had to quit for my bro. So next game I played against the legends. Big mistake. I've never had my !&%$@#* handed to me so bad in a game of baseball in a matter of 3 innings. Wow the A.I. was good (or maybe it was just my bad hitting skills with non-power hitters). I love the replays especially the home run ones. Only problem is the animations are kinda off. For ex. I hit one with Giambi and in the replay my hands weren't even on the bat till I made contact with the ball. Field control is also a bit, stiff. Throwing animations are so nice though. The transition from picking up the ball to throwing it is so smooth it looks lifelike. No choppy movements at all. Didn't get to touch franchise yet.
Graphics: One of the best graphically impressive games around. Reason it doesn't get a 5.0? Mike Mussina looks fatter than Jason Giambi. There character models are off and so are many others. As for stadiums, fields, scenery, and fans, all picture perfect. Though the fans are 2d, you'll rarely see them as cardboard 2d models. From the front view they look like pretty well designed 3d models. I can't really describe them but trust me when I say they are very !&%$@#* good.
Audio: Commentary is the bomb. These comments concerning how far or close a ball is to going over the fence is just awesome. Sometimes they are bit behind on the play (usually only in Home Run Derby) but there are no pauses and names plug into their sentences very smoothly. Crowd noise is great. When you hit one deep and it just barely goes foul, the crowd just OOOHH's and it sounds like the real ball park. On field sound effects are hard to hear. I recommend turning them up to fall so you can hear ball meet bat but what I heard was good.
Suggestions: Online play and how about some 4 player support?
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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MechAssault
Overall: After highly anticipating Ghost Recon and Unreal Championship and was rather disappointed, I saw no reason how a game with mechs could be even remotely interesting. Wow was I wrong. The single player was quite enojyable. I love stepping on the little peoples. What I liked was how unique each mech was. Not all mechs have rocket boosters, not all mechs moves fast, and not all mechs have the same powerful weapons. I have gotten rather tired of Xbox Live, but when the downloadable content comes out, my interest will defintely be rekindled. As for multiplayer, 2 player is fun for a little while but i really enjoyed 8 player system link. It's just so much fun plus you know your not playing with some dumb !&%$@#* 11 year old using the deep voice mask.
Gameplay: The sticks movement is close but not exactly like Halo's. You get used to it very quickly. The game maintains a constant framerate unlike one other Xbox Live game *cough* UC *cough*. Not bashing UC, but sometimes it dips a bit too low. That will be fixed with the new UC patch coming out though. Back to Mechassault, destruction of buildings is just so much fun. I usually just keep shooting them all until their all gone just for mere pleasure. System Link is defintely fun. The multiplayer modes allow for some serious multiplayer replayability (not to mention the download is going to add CTF and a couple others, I can't wait!!!) The powerups for weapons can cause some serious damage and are very helpful online. I hate people that hog powerups though. That's alright they get quite a mouthful. Only downsides are one player ends and multiplayer does get a bit boring, but always remember downloadable content will end those two by the end of Feb. or start of Mar. IMO, this is defintely the best Xbox Live title I've played.
Graphics: This game defintely ranks in the top 3 Xbox game with best graphics. The mechs are very detailed and the enviroments, buildings, damage all look terrific. Defintely lots of eye candy.
Audio: Sound effects are great. Explosions are loud and it really sounds like your walking around in a 2 ton mech crushing people, blowing up people, and taking names and kickign mech ass!
Suggestions: Downloadable content should come out sooner. I kinda wanted some customization options in the weapons department. More mechs obviouslynad how about 16 player or more online or system link.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Turok: Evolution
Overall: Since my bro took my Xbox, I've been going to all of my friends houses and playing all their new games. The controls in Turok are similar to Halo. There are plenty of weapons, a very challenging one player, and a pretty entertaining multiplayer experience. This is defintely worth at least a rental.
Gameplay: When turning and moving it's a bit stiff even when sensitivity is jacked up. The one player experience is very challenging (at least the chapter I played). The dinosaurs also do some interesting stuff. My friend was standing in some bushes where apparently a dinosaur didn't see him and after sitting there for a little while the dinosaur took a crap. LOL! First time I've seen someone take a crap in a video game. Thr multiplayer although fun, has some way, way , way too powerful weapons. For example, there is a grenade and when detonated covers a huge area with this silver substance that's very shiny. Walk into that and you die. It's an instant kill and there are plenty of'em around the boards. So I'd make sure you turn those off. I also like decapitation kills and shooting people's bodies till they explode. True its not very realistic when you shoot and arrow and a person explodes, but it still looks cool non-the-less. This is a pretty good game and could serve as a substitute for Halo maybe for a week or 2 or more in the multiplayer department.
Graphics: This was gonna get a lower rating, but when I saw Turok on the PS2, the Xbox version looks so much better. The characters are fairly detailed as are the weapons, but trees and bushes are pretty weak in detail. The graphics defintely aren't an eye sore but they aren't exactly eye candy.
Audio: I love all the loud noises the guns make in this game and all the noises dinosaurs make. Didn't really pay attention to the music so I dunno if that's good or not. You can hear other random wildlife sounds when you are waiting around. Pretty good job. Oh btw, I forgot to mention I love chasing the deer in this game and killing them. It's so much fun! I haven't done anything like that since Deer Hunter so you might wanna give it a try.
Suggestions: A pretty good job. Maybe add some more multiplayer characters and how bout System Link or XBL support?
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Star Wars: Obi-Wan
Overall: This game is weak. My friend has a thing for Star Wars and wondered if there were any Star Wars xbox games out. I told him Obi-Wan but all the reviews I read were very terrible. I think this is the first time he didn't listen to me and he bought it. Now I was playing it at the EB kiosk, and on there small plasma screen TV, the lighting made graphics at times look cel-shaded. When I went to his house, I discovered it's a weak hack-n-slash that provides little to no challenge.
Gameplay: How easy this game is baffles me. Laser shots move so slow it takes no effort to deflect the shot. I didn't play the vs. mode (or battle mode forgot what it's called) but as for the single player I wanted to take the game and stomp on it so we could go back to playing some more Halo. Thye enemies were do dumb and way to easy to kill. There are also not enough enemies around so very rarely did I get hit by anyone at all. It was just too easy. Enemies also got stuck on objects and times. There are some cool jedi moves, but when there's very few enemies to use them on, this game gets boring very fast.
Graphics: The weird thing is the graphics looked better on my friends POS 17" then it did on EB's plasma TV. It didn't look cel-shaded on his. True there was improvement, but the graphics were still pretty weak. Everything just lacked detail. There wasn't detail in anything. Defintely not Xbox quality. Early PS2 games had more detail than this POS.
Audio: Comes with all the Star Wars sounds you may or may not love. The laser shots sound just like they do in the movies. Laser shot deflections from the lightsaber make the same noise as in the movies. Pretty much everything sounds like it does in movies.
Suggestions: Don't make a sequel of this. Instead, how bout adding more guys to the development of Sam and Max 2?
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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Dead to Rights
Overall: Wow this game was awesome! I was so close to beating this game. I was on the last board too about to face the final boss (can't say who it is don't wanna spoil the story). The story of the game seemed to be a mere bad cop movie storyline, but over the course of playing, the story takes some obvious and not so obvious twists. The control setup is great. R to Aim, A to fire, B to disarm, and Y to dive and do bullet-time sequences. Never did I think anything was better than bullet-time. Well now there is. Some of the disarms in this game are just so freaking cool to watch! True it takes a while to unlock some really good ones, but once you do, you are in for a very tasty treat. One thing about this game that Max Payne didn't have was the need to strategize. There will be plenty of occasions your getting spanked by the A.I. and you just gotta start experimenting and trying to find a way to get past the enemies. The guns in this are awesome. The M4 carbine is probably my favorite as it's an automatic, takes off plenty of damage, and in bullet-time sounds like each shot is a shotgun shot :D. IMO, this is worth a purchase. There were a couple days when I rented this I didn't want to play it (if I did I woulda prob beaten the game). However, after a while you are just dying to go back in play. It was kind of odd as 1 hour I didn't wanna play, the next I was dying to play it again. It has a weird appeal, but it's still one hell of a game. And I think getting all the disarms is worth the purchase.
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