Reviews of Call of Duty 2: Collector's Edition

Customer Ratings:

This is one great game. While I dont think its better then the first, anyone who likes FPS, or WWII games should definetly pick this one up.

Let me talk about the graphics first. Overall this is a very tight looking package. Textures, normal mapping, the works. It ranks up there with the F.E.A.R.'s and Half Life 2's of the world. The only problem is that the game slows down (on pc, no slowdown on Xbox 360 version) when alot of smoke is on screen. But when your in the smoke, you dont notice much because you cant see that well. A great looking game all around.

The sound in the game is good as well. There are a couple of problems, but for now Ill stick to the good. The voiceovers are top notch. They are done by many actors from the Band of Brothers series. Its funny, you can notice that its Malarky, Garneir, Pencala, and others voices in the game. Adds a good feel to the sound. The battle sounds are great also. Guns sound great for the most part, and explosions and what not all sound great. Music is great as well. There are a couple of problems with the sound though. One, the battle chatter system always sounds like your fellow soldiers are no more then 2 feet away, when, like on the Pointe du Hoc level, your 100 feet ubove them. This takes away from the realisim of the game for me. Also, the Thompson and M1Garand sounds arent that good. Thompson sounds week, unlike the powerful .45 cal ACP round it fires. The M1 sounds to crackly also, where the actual gun sounds more popish, in terms of gun sounds.

One good thing about the game is that all the levels are intense, from start to finish. It never lets up. The only thing is the health system. It is very reminesent of the Halo 2 health system, but without the Sci-Fi setting. The realisim was undercut here as well. I was kind of dissapointed they went with more of an arcade like feel with the health. I think they should have made a medic that you could get health from as well as the health packs. This would have also kept the pace of the game up, without the backtracking for health like in the first.

If you arent sick of FPS, or WWII games, go pick this one up. If you like arcade feeling WWII games, this is the game for you. If you want realisim, this probably isnt the best choice for you. Get the first Brothers in Arms if you want realisim. If you like intense, frantic, out of controll squad based combat, pick this one up as soon as you can. The Collectors Edition, in my opinion, is worth a little extra chedder.

Presintation. 8.5The game is presented well, some slowdown hurts though.

Graphics. 9.5One of the better looking games out there right now, Especially if you have a good computer.

Sound. 9.0Sounds great, some design problems and lackluster gun sounds for Thompson and M1, but otherwise great.

Gameplay. 9.5Incredibly intense and lots of fun. Very arcadeic, and not realistic, buts lots of fun.

Lasting Appeal. 9.5Single player has lots of replay, Multiplayer is a blast also.

Overall. 9.2

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First off, this review is based only on the Single Player version of Call of Duty 2. I only play Single Player. I don't play Multiplayer. I have played all the Single Player Missions in Call of Duty 2 all the way through. So what do I think after playing Calling of Duty 2? Only this is by far the best "First Person PC Shooter" game out there.

Before I played the full version of Call of Duty 2, I played the Single Player Call of Duty 2 Demo (You played one of the British soldiers against the Germans during the North African campaign in November 1942). I was disappointed in the demo. You can't jump over walls or enter most buildings in the demo. You can't fire the German 88mm guns (4 German artillery guns) in the demo. The Call of Duty 2 demo is linear. I thought the full version of Call of Duty 2 would be the same. Boy, was I wrong. Do not judge the full version of Call of Duty 2 by what is on the demo or how it is played. First of all, most of the Single Player missions in the full version of Call of Duty 2 are non-linear. Second, you can jump over walls and enter most buildings in the full version. Third, you can take over and fire the German 88mm guns in the full version. You can take different approaches to accomplish different objectives in different missions throughout the full version game. This makes the game very replayable so you can play different missions over and over again and try different approaches to win missions.

The Single Player Missions are divided up so that you play the Russian campaign first (1941-1943), the British campaign next (1942-1944), and the American campaign last (1944-1945). All the Single Player missions take place in either Europe or North Africa during World War II.

I am really impressed with this game. I just love the new damage/health system. No more looking for medical kits throughout the game. I always thought that in "First Person Shooters" games it was really stupid to waste time looking for a medical kit to try to stay alive. In real war, you don't find medical kits laying all over the ground.

The graphics are really good and the amount of detail in the missions are unbelievable. For example, the amount of detail put on the German tanks and the German halftracks are the best I have ever seen in a PC World War II game. The uniforms and weapons for both the Allied and German troops are very detailed. I have never seen more realistic fires burning from vehicles and buildings than in this game. This game has got the most realistic smoke I have ever seen.

Okay, you want realism. Check out all the dead animals (Especially all the dead cows and horses laying around on the ground with flies buzzing around the corpses) and all the dead German and Allied soldiers laying all over the ground.

The sounds in the game are great. The weapons sound real good and so does the voice acting. You can hear the sound of distant gunfire constantly throughout the whole game.

The AI is really good in this game. The German soldiers hide, attack, and retreat when they need to and so do the Allied soldiers. I remember when I threw a grenade at some German soldiers and one of the German soldiers actually picked up the grenade and tossed it back at me. I couldn't believe it.

I read a lot of books about all the actual missions that took place during World War II and guess what? The Single Player Missions in the game are the same as the missions that actually took place during World War II. The game developer (Infinity Ward) did a very good job recreating the actual missions from World War II. After playing Call of Duty 2, I would have to say this game deserves the "PC Game of the Year" award. This game shows what real war is about. World War II Veterans would be impressed with this game.

I can't wait until the Call of Duty 2 Expansion Pack or Call of Duty 3 comes out. I can honestly understand now why Call of Duty 2 is one of the main titles to come out for the Xbox 360. Call of Duty 2 is a totally awesome game which I would highly recommend to everyone to go out and buy. You won't regret it.

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"Call of Duty" lovers will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of another "United Offensive" Expansion pack after finishing this stunning WWII fps. In 2004 the next best single player shooter to "Half-Life 2" was "Call of Duty 1". Needless to say COD2 brings us yet another damn fine sequel effort to rival anything else on the shelf. COD has firmly taken over where "Medal of Honour: Allied Assault" first got our attention in trying to recreate the "Saving Private Ryan" experience for us all. The COD series is built on the same concept as MOH except there is more action, more high-octane moments and a very different type of enemy AI. COD2 has upgraded the enemy and platoon squad AI from COD1 so that your comrades can identify the enemy and instead of scripting each action sequence as in COD1, COD2 depends on AI so that a rerun of any level will play differently although the situations remain the same. COD2 also has a lot more going on in terms of what you can pilot and drive although not freely but as part of the storyline. COD2 retains all the cinematic intensity that its predecessor successfully claimed and even expands on each of the earlier episodes over the course of a four year WWII period to give us Moscow 1941 Red Army Training, Demolition, Stalingrad 1942 Repairing the Wire, The Pipeline, Stalingrad 1943 Downtown Assault, City Hall, Comrade Sniper, El Alamein 1942 The Diversionary Raid, Hold the Line, Operation Supercharge, El Daba 1942 The End of the Beginning, Libya 1943 Crusader Charge, 88 Ridge, Tunisia 1943 Outnumbered and Outgunned, Retaking Lost Ground, Assault on Matmata, D-Day 1944 The Battle of Pointe du Hoc, Retreat? We're Advancing in Another Direction, The Silo, Caen 1944 Prisoners of War, The Crossroads, The Tiger, The Brigade Box, Hill 400 1944 Approaching Hill 400, Rangers Lead the Way, The Battle for Hill 400 and Germany 1945 Crossing the Rhine, where you get to play as either a Soviet or a Brit or as a member of the US forces. Missions range from basic training, defending against attacks, counterattacks, planting explosives, repairing cut field wires, contacting HQ via the field phone, disabling Panzer II tanks, crawling through pipelines, taking out enemy snipers, destroying fuel barrel supplies with some of the best explosion effects seen in any game to date, destroying ammo depot supplies, gathering enemy documents, defending lower lines by using close-range weapons and artillery support, clearing out bunkers, radioing in for artillery bombardments, taking a Mosque, driving tanks, holding out for 5 minutes till support arrives, clearing the buildings in the town, sniping the artillery crews from a Silo tower, finding wounded Americans, transporting the wounded, taking a farmhouse and barn, taking out mortar crews and if that is not enough... securing a hill from a German advance. The smoke effects are absolutely photorealistic and have set a new benchmark for graphics quality. The textures might let the game down a small bit, including very blocky building designs or similar house interiors that are repeated at several points in the game but the environments and maps are genuinely war like all the way through and can not be faulted. The enemy AI and your own team AI are much more realistic than COD1 and your team is reliable. If you get too close to the enemy you will engage him in close quarter combat. Although Call of Duty was never meant to be a war simulation, but more of a 1st person war adventure, to be honest, does exactly what it says on the tin. So apart from the staged element, which actually ads to the game, it is more of an experience than a game you will turn to time and time again, however it is worth it for the experience of the single player mission alone. It is also much longer than COD1 and OU, where COD1 had a 1.5 day game span and UO had 3, COD2 will last you for well over a week if you play one mission a day. The pandemonium of war is all here in a spectacular fashion because the story is a winner as you play a mini version of BAND OF BROTHERS and ENEMY AT THE GATES. Like COD1 you even feel loss at the end but for some reason the connection to your comrades in COD1 was a lot stronger because it was more scripted. The AI detracts from that connection a little bit, but I am only cribbing. Although Directx 9 is the standard for all the cutting edge new first person pc shooters, COD2 has been designed around Directx 7 technology. Only the new Geforce 7800 GT cards can seem to handle DX9 quality. If you don't have a very high end machine then selecting DX7 may prove to be the best result and funny enough is probably how COD2 should be played. Test it out to see. If you are looking for a war multiplayer then go for "Battlefield 2" (it is the war simulation that everyone plays for multiplayer) but do not miss COD2 single player! COD has always been a contender for game of the year and COD2 is no exception.

Pros:

Cinematic gaming.

Best new war game and a worthy 1st person shooter.

Awesome war atmosphere.

Smoky explosions.

Cons:

Needs a high spec system to run on full settings.

Honest reviews on Call of Duty 2: Collector's Edition

Call of Duty 2 is a truely brilliant game. Is has all of the main ingredients to produce a great game. Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Intelligent AI, Level Design and Lifspan. Similar to Medal of Honor: Frontline on the PS2, Call of Duty 2 is set in World War 2 during the Nazi invasion. Unlike MOH, you play the Americans, Russians and even the British. Your also not alone in COD2, in MOH your on your own in most of the game as you try to kill every single Nazi by yourself with no one around to help you at times. However, in Call of Duty 2 your aided constantly by your own troops (friendly AI) who cover your back, fire upon Germans while you reload, tell you where to go and even give you hints to where the next enemy or sniper is. And when your fellow American, Russian or British troops tell you which window the sniper is in, it actually helps. Example: one soldier shouts out "SNIPER ON THE LEFT, SECOND FLOOR", you then instantly know where the sniper is and take your shot. This is an example to the games engine. Intelligent AI that can enhance your gaming throughout playing.

But its not just the friendly AI that are intelligent, the enemy AI are also intelligent too. As Nazi's dive for cover, call for re-inforcements, run away from genades, throw grenades back at you with tremendous accuracy, run towards you shooting if cornered, hide behind walls or vehicles if fired at and even hit you with their guns if your close enough. The enemy AI in this game are truely terrifying. If its not their dangerous accuracy and speed, then its their running towards you screaming German harse language that will terrify you. The enemy AI are just as quick and as accurate at shooting as you are so quick reflexes and thinking are needed to survive. This is where Call of Duty 2's action comes in. With horrific speed and thundering noise, this game oozes action as soldiers beside you get violently blown away by German machine guns, a soldier in front of you gets thrown into the air by an enemy grenade, helmets flying off heads, tanks bursing through walls and fighter planes flying overhead. Along with the excellent action, this game also has its terrifying moments. For example; in one level you have to crawl through a small pipe over German defences, when all of a sudden your Russian team mates in front of you get shot to pieces by the Germans below causing the light from the bullet holes to brighten up the dark tunnel that your in. Another example is when a smoke bomb is thrown to blind the Germans of your location when suddenly, Germans come running through the smoke filled area screaming and firing blindly. Moments like these and many more cause panic and terror. Eventhough some levels seem impossible and the player starts to panic and possibly die, all hope is not lost as the game or level doesn't end when you die. Unlike Medal of Honor in order to survive you have to find health, in Call of Duty 2 there is no health bar. When you get hit or damaged, a red mist decends around the screen as a warning that your hurt and your health replenishes when your not being pounded by bullits. Also, if do happen to die you don't have to re-play the whole level again as the game saves automatically as you advance forward. When you die, you simply go back to the last moment in where the game was saved. Automatically and without confusion, this adds to the games gameplay.

With each level a different experience with different objectives and missions, Call of Duty 2 is by far repetetive. The X-Box 360 version is also very good but it is flawed in terms of speed as it seems slower than the PC version. Better than Medal of Honor: Frontline and Big Red One, Call of Duty 2 is by far the best FPS I have played since Quake 4, Halo 1 and 2. Call of Duty 2's incredible graphics (showing off its light, shadow and smoke effects) are perfectly juxtaposed with its booming loud sound effects. Gameplay with a keyboard and mouse is also excellent and is actually quite easer to use than the X-Box 360's control pad.

Call of Duty 2 is an incredible first person shooter and an incredible experience that is not to be missed. I would recommend Call of Duty 2 Collector's Edition on the PC to anyone interested in high voltage action, superb sound , realistic graphics and frightfully addictive gameplay.

In my opinion, this is one of the best first person shooters out there that will surely brown your pants.

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This game is so...so...good, you don't have to use cheats anymore, I used to be a hardcore first person shooter, but then all the games are the same, run for medpacks, collect ammunition, stuff like that, well it's all gone here. Health: well just be careful not getting hit too much in sequence and you'll be fine, so that eases off the worry of...oh I got health of 5, I'd better call a medic and stay low...well that's history, your worry is not getting killed (better than saving your health of having an armor...they make other games too complex).

So basically you are pretty much focused on the game itself, it's like an arcade style, somepeople don't like that, but for myself...it keeps the game running faster, alot faster than you would expect.

The AI is awesome, they aren't stupid anymore, your allies are smart and they know what they are doing.

Another thing is there is not much of training before the game starts, just after learning the basics...your allies walk you through a REAL LIVE training with axis where you get to put what you know to the test...and figure out some stuff on the way too.

I didn't finish more than 2 levels yet, but it's real good.

Oh and for those who say you should abide by the recommended settings. I have a workstation Ati fireGL V7100, it recommneded 640x480, so I boost that to 1024x768...and there wasn't a bit of difference, but I had to drop the AA from the equation, that video card is a bit shy with AA you know.

The DVD version is very nice, actually I compared the price of this to the CD version in stores...same, not only you get to know how hard that D-day was from one of the vets and how realistic the game is to how it was in real life...incredible...

The smoke effects are also real, that's how they used to run around in real wars too...I didn't know that....

This DVD game is worth every penny spent, I do recommned it to everyone.

Cheap DISNEY INFINITY Figure Mater

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List Price: $12.99
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Today's Bonus: $0.05 Off

With all the other launch characters, they have the ability to scale walls, climb ladders, fight, shoot, fly helicopters, ride elephants, ride horses, etc. You get the point. Mater? Not so much. Mater is stuck to the ground. He can't even properly "fight" off the generated bad guys in the Toy Box mode. Not owning the Cars Playset yet, I knew having Mater might be sketchy with just his solo Adventure and Toy Box mode to play in.

My daughter still thinks he's a hoot, but I noticed rather quickly how she gravitates towards any of the others because of their ability to, well, be fun. I don't even like to play Mater because he can almost too easily get stuck on walls and surrounding scenery.

So, in all, he's Okay. Not great. His statue is awesome and he has a good weight to him. But you give up rather quickly when playing with him. We just want to fly a helo sometimes and he can't do it.

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Great fun for the kids and us that are still kids at heart. Characters are well built and have had no issues with using the pieces to play the games or inside the toy box. Would highly recommend watching a few videos about the toy box…once you get the hang of it you can create some incredible games and challenges yourself or download toy boxes shared by other players or the developers!!

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My Nephew got the game for Christmas and wanted more characters. I do certainty hope he enjoys this character along with the other few that I have given him. Thank you!

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bought this for a childhood friend for his 6 th birthday. he loves it and plays with it every day

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My grandson is having so much fun playing Infinity. A very good video system for kids. He watched Cars since he was young so he enjoys seeing all the characters coming to life

Buy Halo 4: Game of the Year Edition

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Halo is one of the best games on the xbox 360, if you get this game then you wouldn't be disapointed for getting this game. As a bonus you will get some map packs and some avatar items such as master chiefs avatar cloak which might appear on your avatar inventory. However if you don't have enough money I recommend getting the Halo 4 standard edition for a better price, also it will be 4.0 GB to install Halo 4 on your Xbox 360 so if you don't have enough memory like the 4GB xbox 360, I suggest you get a USB flash drive with either 8gb or 16gb. Amazon has great deals for USB flash drives, if you have a 250 GB xbox 360 then you are good enough to install halo 4 on it. Master Chief again returns to to save the world again from the enemys attacking the world, enemys might be difficult again like Halo 3. (Also i'm not really good at writing reviews so I did my best to write this review.)

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i bought halo 4 and I loved it! It was the best game ever!(in my opinion) I am not a hater but I do feel like there was something missing in halo 4. It didn't have a classic feel, and the campaign is not very beautiful in architecture and landscaping. But the gameplay was Awesome! I have played halo in the past but I like this one the best. I do think they need to have a playlist for people who love halo 1,2,and 3. But overall this game is the best halo game. I do feel like 343 industries didn't hit the spot for halo fans but they sure did make a great halo game.

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I own and love all of the 360 Halo games for different reasons. My peronal favorites are Halo Reach and of course Halo 4. No need for me to tell you what DLC you get with this, its all under product details, ill just say that the standard version of this game was amazing and now we get the Halo 4 Game Of The Year Edition witch has made this game epic. Defiantly a must have for all Halo fans, the DLC just gives you a whole lot more to enjoy with this already great game and its well worth a re-buy. Enjoy Halo Nation.

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Thorough and well thought out campaign, really impressive multiplayer, and the bonus Spartan Ops package really opens for endless hours of gameplay. Couple that with the amazing graphics, and you have the amazing, entertaining game that is Halo 4!

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When I bought the standard edtion I was disappointed with the game ,but when I heard about the Game of the Year Edition I bought it and it had a alot of dlc content and they improved the grafhics too!So thats it

Borderlands - Xbox 360 Reviews

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Borderlands has so far proved to be an immensely enjoyable game delivering in many ways where Gearbox promised. I feel it will be equally appealing to fans of shooters and dungeon crawlers alike.

You start the game going through a little story intro and a bit of a bus ride. Shortly after a bit of introduction you'll be asked to select one of the characters and exit the bus to start your adventures. The game doesn't come right out and tell you these are your "classes" but for the interests of the RPG elements of the game that's what they are. Your choices are basically between stealth/special weapons, sniper, support/healing, and tank/melee. There unfortunately isn't a vast amount of customization in their looks available but you can alter a 3 color scheme for their outfit and customize your name almost immediately after stepping off the bus.

From here you do a short and sweet tutorial which throws you right in to the action relatively quickly. The controls are tight and will be very familiar to fans of popular FPS games such as Halo, Resistance, Gears, Unreal, and many others. You have the ability to jump, duck, melee, shoot, toss grenades, and eventually use a class specific special ability such as placing turrets. Aside from the general control of your character menus are easy to navigate for all of your weapons, the map is easy to read, and the HUD is simple and informative.

Following the tutorial you progress the game from doing various quests. These quests can be found on mission boards, from NPCs, and occasionally from random stuff lying around. The quests themselves so far haven't been anything particularly noteworthy in the grand scheme of RPGs. It's still a lot of "kill XYZ" "collect a fistful of whozawhatits" or "go talk to random NPC" but they have streamlined them enough to where the don't feel forced but rather serve as more of a beacon of where you should realistically be taking your character and scoring some nice exp and loot while you're at it. Quest objectives can also be tracked and objectives are clearly marked on your compass.

Outside of questing there are a decent number of monsters to kill. I still don't really have much of an idea as to what dictates when an enemy will respawn but it seems if you wander around enough you will likely run in to something to kill. It's typically not a mindless slaughter either, I would highly recommend trying fighting tactically much like you would in a shooter. Until you out-gear or out-level your opponent you will find that the game can actually be quite challenging at times and reward clever use of your equipment and abilities. The game did a great job of encouraging this too by making your enemies respond to grenades logically, implementing cover well, and of course rewarding you with devastating critical with our beloved' HEAD SHOT!

Sizable amounts of experience can also be earned through completing various challenges which are like in game achievements, some of which are actually tied to achievements/trophies. It's mostly killing various things with various weapons but early on it's a great source of experience and you can track your progress on them.

Starting at level 5 you will start to acquire skill points every level. These are used to boost various abilities of your character via a talent/skill tree. There aren't a lot of choices and you can get quite a few of them with the number of points you wind up with but most of them are fundamentally decent options allowing for some individual diversity in how you build your character without having to over-think it. Aside from that each level your character will get a generic health, defense, and attack boost.

The weapons are pretty cool but I will state that some of the "87 Gazillion" claims were perhaps a bit exaggerated. While it is true that many of the weapons can do quite a bit of unique things, the vast majority of the weapons and gear you will find are going to be slight variations of each other much like any other similar dungeon crawler such as Sacred, Titan Quest, or Diablo. Perhaps later in the game the unique generation of weapons becomes more apparent but I could so far fairly compare this to the way the weapons were in Hellgate: London. As for the size of the actual database and possible combination of weapons, I'm sure their claims are accurate but I can only comment from a practical standpoint of what I've seen. In addition to weapons you also get shields which can do various things such as regen health or do elemental bursts when depleted and grenade modifications which allow your grenades to do all kinds of things such as teleport, stick to things, and bounce.

Looting is probably one of my few mild gripes with this game. You can't simply auto-loot everything in your proximity. What the game has you doing is finding in item, hitting the loot button, and then holding it to pick up other relatively close items. It's not game breaking annoying but the range on it isn't very great and holding the loot button to pick up a weapon will auto-equip it which is something that can be frustrating at times.

The graphics will most likely be a love/hate thing for most players as they are highly stylized. I personally love them and think they're quite well done but there are certainly realism junkies out there that won't care for the cartoon approach at all. I will say that only decent videos of this game should be used to judge the graphics, still screenshots don't do this game any justice at all. Graphics aside the environments are very interesting, the characters are well done albeit a bit generic, enemies are pretty decent (Tremors anybody?), and the animations are high quality.

Multiplayer can be done with 2 player split screen couch co-op and online with up to four players I believe. I haven't gone online yet but the split screen was easy enough. Rather than scaling all of the menus down in split screen they opted to leave them full size and movable so that text wouldn't get smushed together which I thought was a pretty clever move. What this means is both players don't have to squint to read everything thing, simply centralize it in their field of view. Also as you do quests objectives/turn-ins will be shared meaning you don't spend your time waiting for everyone to catch up all the time. In multiplayer you can also duel each other which I haven't tried yet.

Vehicles haven't really been much more than a way to get around for me yet. They can be customized in color and weapon outfit but my brother and I both agreed that they weren't a very good way of killing anything aside from running them over which seemed to always been an automatic kill. For a giant vehicle mounted weapon they seem completely inferior to even the worst weapon you could collect at that relative level. The controls are very similar (identical?) to that of a Warthog in Halo. They'll probably take some getting used to for new players but they're relatively easy once you've figured them out. I personally find them to be a bit floaty and awkward but at the moment I don't see myself needing clutch control out of the vehicles for combat so they are passable.

The story regards something involving finding a long lost vault of alien technology. While I'm sure it's interesting I honestly haven't paid much attention to it aside from parts of the story which I couldn't avoid. This sort of game doesn't really bank on the story for me.

That's basically it. Quest, kill, loot, level, and become the destructive juggernaut that Pandora always needed while searching for the vault.

Pros:

Great implementation of shooter mechanics

Lots of fun loot

Good multiplayer

Straight forward and simple RPG elements

Graphics

Cons:

Graphics

Wonky loot controls

Maybe a little cliché at times

I love this game and would highly recommend it.

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So I got my copy of Borderlands last night and played up to level 11. Here are my impressions one day in.

-The game is beautiful. I personally love the cartoony style of the graphics. Extremely detailed and even the barren wasteland is nice to look at. The characters while not customizable are all highly detailed as well and look great. You can change the name and colors, that's about it.

-Controls are excellent. Feels like COD4 with a few changes. Any FPS player can pick it up and play very easily. The one vehicle I've seen so far controls exactly like a warthog from halo.

-Guns, guns, guns. Only a few hours in and I've seen so many kinds of guns I can't count them. One of the best parts of the game is that you'll never know what will drop out of the next enemy. Could be that acid rocket shotgun you've been waiting for! The pure crazines of the weapons is awesome.

-Story. What story? Your looking for a vault full of alien technology. That's it so far. If your looking for deep story, this is not the game for you. Try Fallout 3. On that note, this game is nothing like Fallout. Other than the fact that both games are set in a wasteland like place in the future there is no comparison. It's more like COD4/Halo meets Diablo/Baldurs Gate.

-Co-op. Tried the co-op last night and it was the best online experiance I've ever had. I sent my friend an invite and he joined my game with his levleed up character. No lobby, no re-loading, he just appeared in my game, we played for a few hours and when he left I was back to single player. All seamless. Amazing. Can't wait to try it with four players.

-In the couple of hours I played it I was glued to the XBOX360. If I didn't have to work today I would have played all night. Now that's a sign of a good game. Well spent 60.00. I'm sure I'll more than get my monies worth on this one for a long time to come. With four characters that you'll not likely max out on the first play through this game has some legs to stand on. Enjoy.

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I wish I could give this game three and a half stars but I can't. I also wish that I could climb aboard the "this game is amazing" train but I can't do that either. To be clear: this is a fun game and if you enjoy copious loot and you're FPS/RPG hybrid genre fan I'd recommend this game, even at retail price. On the other hand if you find yourself leaning more one way or the other in terms of either a solid FPS or a real PRG then there are safer bets coming down the line for your $60. It's a good game but it just didn't live up to the hype more for decisions that the design team seemed to have made than for any failing in execution.

With that said everything that Gearbox set out to do it looks like they accomplished. The game looks great, the mechanics are solid, the audio is good and the art direction is absolutely fantastic. I'm also happy to say that with the exception of some very questionable decisions regarding pop up windows in split-screen play there are no bugs or obvious quality control oversights. This game is highly polished, a treasure to look at and smooth to play. Technically speaking this is quality software. From here on out if it seems I'm ragging on this game a little hard it's because there are already a ton of 5 star reviews on here so it's easy to find emphasis on the better aspects of the game if one desires.

The problem with Borderlands is that it doesn't really do any single thing really well. It's not a solid combat FPS and the RPG elements are so insignificant they're essentially just a mildly customizable scaling system. The vehicles also appear more an afterthought than anything. There aren't enough options to really customize your character and leveling decisions are more tactical considerations than broad gameplay choices. There's just no role play in the role play. There are also exactly zero interesting or functionally interactive NPCs, the towns are simply a series of empty buildings and vending machines where you conduct business transactions. The few NPCs that do exist are immobile "come here and get you next quest" cut-outs. Borderlands is a dead world alright, just not in a good way. This is very disappointing and retro in an age of complex NPC AI and living, breathing worlds. There appears to have been a design decision along that way that "more is better". I'd generally agree but here that ends up being a "tons of guns" gimmick that only leads to you simply hauling "tons of guns" back to vending machines to sell, only looking at their price tag. The other thing this leads to is a long series of uninspired missions that are largely "go here, collect item/kill boss, return". With little or no depth to the missions they quickly start to feel less like a series of epic quests and more like a list of errands.

The FPS combat element is only adequate. Again, the feel is retro. The level deign is very dated with transition points between maps which are largely a series of canyons or other linear pathways interrupted by bizarrely unpleasant loading screens. Often at the end of the canyon is a load point which takes you into a building. Guess where that widget you have to find is? Yep, at the back the building in the big room with the boss. At least you won't get lost, there's generally only one way in or out. In the day of open, persistent outside worlds this is pretty unacceptable for a top shelf game(paging Bethesda). The enemies along the way have sufficient by undeniably rudimentary AI. The number of animations is limited and the group tactics non-existent so instead of fighting groups of enemies that work together and utilize cover and flank you instead you just fight multiple independent enemies simultaneously that strafe back and forth and advance or retreat depending on their health. It's rather uninspired and the game uses a leveling system for enemies that radically alters the game's formula for dealing and being dealt damage. This is used to prevent you from "playing ahead" by having enemies that are almost impossible to defeat without leveling. Having all your FPS skills be thrown out the window because you can only do 10 damage per shot instead of 50 and you take 50 instead of 10 because the game wants you to be a lvl 20 and you're "only" a 17 is frustrating. Die hard FPS traditionalists will also be very unhappy with the HALO like shields and the checkpoint save system. Oh, and your little robot helpers are a blatant rip off of Grrr from Invader Zim.

Still, with all my complaints this is a solid game. It's fun and can draw you in. On top of that there is more than enough unique gaming hours in it to justify a purchase instead of a rental. Bottom line: FPS fans would be better served waiting for Modern Warfare 2 and RPG and RPG hybrid fans should wait for Dragon Age but it's still a safe bet if you have time and money to burn.

Pros:

*Very polished, had no bugs. Quality coding.

*Beautiful art direction and smooth, engaging graphics.

*Simple, fun controls.

*Very large world, plenty of unique game play hours for your buck.

*Achieves "just one more quest" syndrome at times.

*Easy learning curve.

Subjective qualities and food for thought:

*Very light on RPG elements, this isn't Deus Ex or Fallout 3.

*Not a run and gun shoot 'em blood and guts ride.

*Not a lot of variety in the loot just guns/shields/mods.

*Tons of guns. More likely to be sold to a vending machine than shot at anyone though.

*Check point save system.

*Shields.

Cons:

*Irritating inventory.

*Simple AI.

*No interesting NPCs, no interactive world.

*Little true character customization.

*Vehicles end up as mere transportation.

*Dated level design.

*Unreasonable level scaling system that takes away from the FPS element.

*Boring story.

*Slow to start.

Honest reviews on Borderlands - Xbox 360

Borderlands is a perfect hybrid of Halo and Diablo. The shooting feels satisfying, the loot drops are spaced out perfectly, the world is gorgeous, and 4 player co-op works great. It's the type of game that keeps you saying to yourself "just one more quest" until it's turned into the wee hours of the morning. Good times!

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Borderlands is a game most of you have heard of, if you haven't, then you're hearing of it now. It is a Role-Playing Game/First Person Shooter developed by Gearbox. With that in mind, most of you will think "Oh, it's just a Fallout 3 clone." Well don't, it's far from it. If you need a game to compare Borderlands to, it would be best to think one of Blizzard Entertainment's massively successful games: Diablo II, or World Of Warcraft.

Graphics:

If anyone has been following this game for any length of time, you know that about halfway through development that Gearbox made a dramatic change in style from a grimdark realistic look to the now, cel shaded-esque "Concept Art Style". Typically you loose a lot of detail in cel shading, but with Gearbox's method you maintain the style, while keeping tiny details like a wrinkle on cloth. The graphics are very suiting of the game, but there are hitches here and there. Water effects are nonexistent, and on-character shadows tend to be fragmented. With previous few I cannot say for certain if they are a product of the Unreal Engine or not, however, the ridiculous texture pops are. You would think that people would either find a work around or license a better engine. Oh well, I guess it can't be helped.

Audio:

The sound fits the game unbelievably well. Walking unknowingly past a skag nest, only to hear one running at you from behind is at intense at it gets. Guns sound different to the point that really fell them for what the are. Be it an assault rifle that sounds like an anti-aircraft gun or an SMG that sounds like you could kill ten people without them even noticing, it's really amazing how many different sounds they have. The background music is a bit western and use a lot of plucking in strings to give it that authentic feel. Needless to say, if you enjoyed the music of Firefly, you will feel right at home here.

Gameplay:

This is where Borderlands truly shines. The game consists of either single player, or up to four player co-op in Borderlands' nice open world. You have buggies that come in various colors and in either a rocket launcher or chain gun variant where one player drives and the other guns. Borderlands has a quest system set in place to where you find a quest giver, fulfill the requirements, and return for the reward, not too different than you standard RPG. Quests come in the "go here, kill that", "go here, find this", and "go here, find this, and kill something with it". If you have ever in your life played an instance on World Of Warcraft you know exactly what to expect from "dungeons" on here. You go into an area, fight your way through many a "peon" and several sub-bosses to make it to the final boss. And when I say sub-bosses and bosses, I mean exactly that. Be prepared to have yourself killed SEVERAL times in the process of fighting through the instance as well as burning through most of your ammo supply. Dying consistes of two stages. 1) You are knocked to the ground and can either kill someone while downed to get up, or wait for a teammate to pick you up. 2) if neither of the previous happen you will respawn at the last checkpoint marker you passed, aptly named "New-U", You'll come back with no real penalty other then a loss of money. You really feel the need to work together, and I'd say doing so is more important than Left 4 Dead. On to one of the most touted aspects of the game. Guns. As has been said, this game has guns, guns, and MORE guns. You will literally never find the the same gun twice. Even if you find a gun that has the same sight, the same barrel and same name, they will not have the same stats. The amount of variety in the game truly does match that of Diablo and World Of Warcraft.

As an obvious statement, no game is perfect. And Borderlands is no exception. You will come across bugs here and there such as getting stuck between a ramp and a rock. The only way to get free, being dying. The occasional graphic glitch during respawn, or shadow not lining up correctly. But in all honesty, you will be enjoying the game too much to care.

Graphics: 8.2/10

Audio: 8.9/10

Gameplay: 9.7/10

Overall: 9.2/10

Review of Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Customer Ratings:

When the original Sonic sped onto shelves, it boosted popularity of the Sega Genesis, and for good reason: It was clearly one to show off the system's capabilities, as well as being freakishly fun. Oh, and let's not forget the speed you were rewarded with after some platforming. Sonic 2 here offers that same fun......Except there are even more elements in this game that just make it all the more better!

The levels are more creative and colorful, and some are just incredibly unique (Gamblin' at the Casino Night Zone, anyone?). The levels contrast from each other in even more ways than they do in Sonic 1, such as the casino's slots and pinball stuff, Chemical Plant's rising "pink water", Aquatic Ruin's underwater and on-land layers, etc. So, with all of these things going on, being added onto the traditional and already-fun Sonic gameplay, it makes for an overall AWESOME experience.

One major inclusion is Tails. As Sonic's sidekick, Tails....um...Well, he never really catches up. BUT, he CAN be controlled with a second controller. As such, he can help defeat bosses without risking the loss of Rings (Y'know They are to Sonic as coins are to Mario), and he can also help Sonic collect Rings in the Special Stages for collecting one of the 7 Chaos Emeralds...You are so much better off with a friend there. Trust me.

However, Tails being controlled by another player isn't the highlight for 2-Player goodness. That highlight is the game's Versus mode. Sonic and Tails compete in 3 zones and the Special Stages! Rather than just simply racing through, though, the game tallies up who finishes the level first, and how many Rings or item boxes they hit, as well as their overall score. So if you just ran through a level, the other player has time to build up his/her score to Win instead of you!

Overall, this is one heck of a Sonic game. Whatever you do, do not miss out on it.

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ti used to play this game all day when i was younger and am happy to be able to own this game on my xbox360 must have for your game library if you used to have a Sega genesis! or even if u just like a good old fashion side scroller get it 5 bucks is perfect price

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The discription is misleading. Its states the game supports 2 player online play, but its only VERSUS MODE thats available online. CO-OP IS NOT SUPPORTED through xbox live, which was the sole reason i purchased a copy for a myself and friend. Both Amazon and Xbox need to include this in their discription of the game. I hope this review is helpful.

Best Worms 3D - PC Deals

Customer Ratings:

Worms has been one of my favorite game series and Worms 3D does not disappoint. Highly recommend it if you've ever enjoyed playing the others.

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I HATED this game. I don't how it plays on the consoles, but it's really hard to move your worms with any precision using the keyboard and mouse on the PC. I strongly recommend you do NOT buy this game for the PC!! A very frustrating experience.

Best Skinit Hello Kitty Sitting Pink Vinyl Skin for 1 Microsoft Xbox 360 Deals

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List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $11.24
Today's Bonus: 44% Off

I was expecting something more than a sticker in the mail, but when I got it & put it on my controller, I fell in love! I've had it on there for about 6 months & it's still looking great!

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I gave these to my daughter for Christmas. She loves the fact that she now has her own controller w

Best Deals for Skinit Hello Kitty Sitting Pink Vinyl Skin for 1 Microsoft Xbox 360

Easy to install, just as described. What else can I say it is a great product that doesn't need a bunch of words.

Xbox 360 Controller Custom Mod Kit - SMOKE - Thumbsticks, Dpad, RB Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Shipping was super super fast love the product was super easy to put on had a issue with the a button but got resolved with the awesome customer service they have would order from them again

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The overall quality of this is great. First project of rejuvenating a controller. I thought that the thumb sticks were just going to be hard plastic but they are actually rubberized. I had a problem with fitting the pieces with the other parts I bought but after screwing with them, it all came together rather nicely.

Best Deals for Xbox 360 Controller Custom Mod Kit - SMOKE - Thumbsticks, Dpad, RB

I was looking for some smoke colored ABXY buttons for the sake of making my black controller just a little more colorless and this was the most reasonable choice. There's another option out there for just the ABXY buttons with no security driver for about $17 after some crazy shipping costs. This being only $15 WITH the security driver AND even more replacement buttons made this the obvious choice. I've so far only used the ABXY buttons and I can say they feel a tiny bit different than the regular buttons but they do the job and look great doing it.

Honest reviews on Xbox 360 Controller Custom Mod Kit - SMOKE - Thumbsticks, Dpad, RB

I like these buttons ALOT! If you will notice the A,B,X,Y, button sit a little lower to the controller making them very easy to press.as well as the triggers and bumpers they work great.the thumb sticks have a very good feel to them nice and rubbery so your thumbs don't slide, And just a all around great button set very very easy to install! They were shipped very quikly and packaged very well I've been using these buttons for about a week now and work very well and look much better compared to my old O.E.M. buttons that came with my controller! I will buy more from this seller in the future very good services provided and has a nice variety of merchandise! "AND I DEFFENITLY RECOMEND THIS ITEM TO ANYONE LOOKING FOR A QUIK EASY VISUAL CONTROLLER MOD!"

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Its ok only thing is the bumper buttons dont work the dont have enough force to push back out once you press them

Discount Freekstyle - PlayStation 2

Customer Ratings:

I have had so much fun with this game with the insane tricks. I bought this and MX Super Fly and I think they are both Great Games. I would have to say that for people who are not into MX race games but like the tricks you saw at the X or Gravity games get this game. Man even my Girl Friend like to play this game.( Controls are pretty simple 4 top buttons are tricks One boost and one to accelerate) and the graphics are really clean. My favorite detail is when you crash you kick start the bike and you feel the bike go squirlly on you( love the Force Feedback controllers). This is Fun if you like the big air and Mad Tricks and do not care that it is not a sim. if you are in to a more sim racing go with MX SuperFly. Thats My two Cents.

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I borrowed my friend's GB Copy, And LOVED it. So about 6 Months later, I bought the PS2 copy. I got it and tryed it out, but it wouln't load! So I took a paper towel and wiped it down, popped it, and it worked like a charm! Loved it ever since.

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REVIEWER: E-Dog

This is a great game! Here are the pros: great graphics, cool tricks, real cyclers, it has codes, and you can't get bored of it. Here are the cons: it is really hard to become a freakstyle legend. Other than that the game ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But little kids can get kinda frustrated because they can't come in first. A great racer is Brian Deegan. Use the code "LOKSMITH", go to Brian Deegan, and then choose his last bike. Go to "Burn It Up" race track. You will probably win.

Honest reviews on Freekstyle - PlayStation 2

This game is much in the shadows of ssx, it has the same trick system, but has a new feel to it. You can get huge air with little effort on almost all of the ramps. There are fire circles in some spots that if you do a trick while you go through will give you extra points. The game is pretty hard and has nowhere to set the difficulty that i could find, i wouldnt reccomend it if you get frustrated very easy, you can go through a whole track perfect, screw up in the end and have a guy pass you in a second. I enjoyed the arcade sounding announcer. There are enough tricks here for it not too get old having to do tricks for boosts and such. The characters are typical for this type of game. One feature that i really enjoyed was the freekout mode. This is where after you do tons of tricks, you get super speedy with a blaze of fire on the back of your bike and get to continue your rage by doing even more tricks, this is very fun if you can keep your control. The graphics are not very great, but are probly worth a 7.5. All in all, this is a very fun game, just dont go into it expecting something as great as ssx, just something to play for an aftertaste.

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I have played the demo for Freekstyle and it looks awesome. I have two other great games, GT3 and Twisted Metal Black, but I find myself playing the one race in the demo over and over again!

Reviews of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - Playstation 3

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List Price: $39.99
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This is basically a GOTY version of Dragon's Dogma. It comes with the original main story, gives you a bunch of extras and adds on the "Dark Arisen" part. They also really fixed the game mechanics and loading times. Everything seems to move much smoother.

The "Dark Arisen" part is very challenging and rewarding, even for higher level players. I beat the new part around 3 hours and I was taking my time exploring. But you can still go back into the labyrinth and farm for various things.

All in all it was pretty good. If you haven't played Dragon's Dogma, I say this is a total buy for $40. With all the new updates and the difficulty settings, this makes for a good "hack and slash" esq RPG.

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Dark Arisen follows the course set by Dragon's Dogma-a great, atmospheric RPG with a few flaws. If you haven't played the original, the fact that Dark Arisen comes with the original Dragon's Dogma, all its DLC, and a moderately lengthy expansion (in a market otherwise saturated with low-quality DLC) at a discount price makes it a solid purchasing option. If you loved the original... the new content is well worth the investment.

Value: (5/5)

Before I get into the game, I'll talk a bit about the packaging and changes made to the original. First, Dark Arisen comes with two discs-one installs new high resolution textures and a Japanese voice track. The new textures are hardly noticable on my 1080p 42" HDTV, but cause sometimes significant issues loading NPCs (especially in Gran Soren's busy market.) I have not tried the Japanese voice acting out yet, nor do I really care to... not in a world based so firmly off of medieval Europe (with monsters from Greek mythology thrown in, but in both cases, it's strictly western-looking.)

If you owned the original game, you can import your old save. This creates a copy of the save-but doesn't touch the original. If you put in your old Dragon's Dogma disk, you can still play with your old character. The new character, however, has access to all the new Dark Arisen content, which features the new Bitterblack Isle-the subject of most of this review, but no more of this paragraph. The new DLC content can either be purchased at the Black Cat in Gran Soren... but it's not cheap. To get two of every new piece of equipment it cost me over 20,000,000 gold. Other content comes in the form of quests, on various boards. Even if you had the original game, the new DLC content cost more than twice as much as Dark Arisen, purchased individually. If you bought the old DLC gear... well, then this expansion is something of a slap in the face. Other new stuff has been well publicized-an Eternal Ferrystone (which allows you to fast-travel around the world for free, but only to customized Portcrystal spots) and 100,000 Rift Currency, which allows one to purchase custom gear... which is far less rewarding in Dark Arisen than in the original game. You also get some DLC NPC-based armor for free (Madeline, Julien, Aelinore, Festus, and Nun apparel.)

Gameplay (4/5)

Going into Dark Arisen, I had a pure-offense level 200 Assassin build

(10 levels of Fighter, 190 of Assassin.) I thought I was ready for anything... but, without getting too deep into the mechanics, many power-gamer skills were nerfed. Still, my character was rather potent, so I figured Bitterblack Isle wouldn't be too rough. I felt that way until I ran into my first Elder Ogre, which was able to smack me around for 1800 damage a hit, and took me several minutes to kill. Even if you're fully leveled, Bitterblack Isle is a stiff challenge. Many of the new monsters are palette-swaps of original monsters, or larger versions. Despite they, their ominous surroundings, feral power, aggressive AI, and sinister appearance work well. Some of the redesigns are so drastic, they hardly even feel like the old monsters you're used to fighting. Living Armor, Golden Knights, and Silver Knights hardly even feel like the old Skeleton Lords on which they're based, and the Gazer and Gorecyclops have increased in proportion over their originals so much they can't help but impress. If the game felt like Shadow of the Colossus before, these newer, even more immense foes can't help but heighten the connection. Some foes, however, are just shameless copies with special auras or lighting-Dire Drakes, Dire Wyverns, Dire Wyrms, Dark Bishops, etc.

Bitterblack Isle's content all takes place in a subterranean dungeon, divided into three strata, after the first two of which you'll find a shortcut to the surface. Minor stops exist along the way, where a former Arisen will help you out by providing Inn/Merchant services, such as storing your loot, changing your Vocation, and enhancing your gear. Inventory management has been improved with some better navigation options (the ability to try out gear right from your stash without having to take it into your inventory is a welcome addition.) All in all, you shouldn't ever feel like you're doing a serious grind. Unlike Dark Souls, safety is never too far away. Lifestones exist in great quantity to take you back to the surface should you need respite. If you're going to die, you'll do so in one encounter, not over several. On the other hand, monsters and treasure respawns much more quickly, so back-tracking to get to the surface is likely to be just as perilious (and less rewarding) than soldiering ahead until you reach a shortcut out or your friendly fellow Arisen.

The game starts out fairly easy-Hobgoblins and wargs (a new wolf creature in between a Direwolf and Hellhound in power) aren't much of a threat. The difficulty picks up satisfyingly a short distance into the dungeon, however. Individually powerful new foes like the Elder Ogre, Living Armor, Cursed Dragon, and Gorecyclops provide thrilling encounters, and Death-cast as the typical tattered-robe wearing wraith with a huge scythe-shows up randomly throughout, adding to the suspense. Death is a multi-stage boss, he kills in one hit, and can put you to sleep with his lantern, but can be driven off with enough damage. He is not invincible, like many reviews have said.

By the time you reach the third strata, however, the difficulty spikes immensely, and unjustifiably. I had my head smashed in by an Eliminator (more as a result of bad play than the difficulty, but it set the stage for what was coming.) In another part of the third strata, I had to fight a huge Elder Ogre and an Eliminator in a cramped dungeon filled with water. Since I play a Ranger (formerly an Assassin, but since the Assassin's skills have been nerfed, the bow power of a Ranger is a welcome improvement) I need to dodge often-I can't block or weather blows. This forces me to drench myself in water, putting out my lantern. Stuck in a cramped, dark tunnel, with two huge, powerful foes capable of killing me in two or three hits was not fun. The next level wasn't any better-in the midst of fighting some undead, three Garm appeared out of nowhere, forcing me to scamper up some rocks and laboriously shoot them to death. It wasn't fun, it just felt cheap. Shortly thereafter a Sorcerer Pawn cast a Maelstrom spell that annhiliated my entire party-my Arisen included-in one hit. By comparison, the end boss was fairly easy, but the massive ramp in difficulty was unexpected, not fun, and out of balance with the moderate increase in difficulty from the first to second stratum.

The worst part of Dark Arisen is-as it was with Dragon's Dogma, the AI. Your main character is called an Arisen, which-without going into the story-grants you the loyalty of the Pawn legion, or Myrmidons. They're essentially violent, cleptomaniacal, wonder-struck children who comment on everything you do and everything they see. They also are your partners in adventuring, and the steep difficulty of Dark Arisen (with the nerfing of skills like Autonomy) requires Pawns-at least initially. The confined spaces and ultra-challenging enemies conspire to make your Pawns more annoying than ever. Getting your Pawn to cast an offensive spell on a half-dead suit of Living Armor (at which point being immune to physical damage) is a nightmare. Having your Pawns mindlessly jump off ledges when you run over to loot a chest is aggravating to no end. When Death shows up, you can count on your Pawns to walk casually into his scythe attacks. If you find yourself prety to a monster in a chest (Maneaters), you're better off wiggling the analog stick like crazy and healing with inventory items... your Pawns would rather allow you to get devoured rather than walk over and whack the beast to free you. My greatest joy in Dark Arisen came from becoming so powerful that I could ditch my Pawns again, and rid myself of their incompetence.

There are only a few new augments, most of which are worthless (increasing ballistae reload speed, stamina drain when running, speed walking through water, lantern oil consumption rate, etc.) There are no new Vocations, the level cap hasn't been expanded, which is kind of a downer, if you power-leveled during the first game (like me.) Still, the original Dragon's Dogma was immensely fun, boasting the best combat in any RPG I've played in a long time. Whether you want to play a full archer, a robed mage, a platemail-clad sword-and-shield bearing fighter, a war-hammer weilding warrior, a foe-climbing, weakness exploiting rogue... you can do it, and in most cases, do it well. The variation between the fast-paced, dodge-happy Assassin, the massively powerful Sorcerer, the well-defended Fighter, and the ponderous, slow-swinging, weapon-charging Warrior, or the nimble archer is amazing, and it allows for many viable play styles.

You can level up to level 200, and your stats (Hit Points, Stamina, Magick, Strength, Defense, Magick Defense) raise as you level up-varying depending what your Vocation is each level. This encourages builds that focus on various strengths-Mages will end the game with more Magick, Warriors with more Strength, etc. And mixing Vocations will allow you to create specially-tailored characters to suit whatever your playstyle. Despite the obvious similarity to Final Fantasy Tactics, however, you cannot uber-grind godly jacks-of-all-trades. You cannot reverse the leveling process, so whatever character you make is bound to be locked into a certain role.

Almost as great are the character-customization options. Most RPGers by now are used to the fact that most RPGs only provide you with one body-and allow you to customize the face. Not so in Dragon's Dogma. Whether you want to play a young child, a buxom female, or a massive brute... you can do it. Your height and weight (variable from about four feet tall to seven feet tall, and over 100 kilograms) effect how your get about the world. Taller characters walk faster, use up less Stamina, but regenerate it slower, too. Smaller characters walk slower, use up more Stamina, regenerate it faster, and can fit into small spaces. Your weight also influences how you encumber foes you grapple. The custom options in Dark Arisen include many more hairstyles and colors than found in the vanilla Dragon's Dogma.

The new weapons are satisfyingly powerful, and look fairly cool (subjective, I know.) Improving all your resistances to 100% and becoming 50% resistant in all the elements is great fun, and it's provided me with hours of grinding to score all this new loot. The loot, however, doesn't just come usable out of chests and from the bodies of the slain-most of it has been cursed, which is a just a gimmick to limit the save/load farming that was so useful in the original game. Now you'll instead find 'Bitterblack Armor', 'Bitterblack Weapon', 'Bitterblack Novelty' or Bitterblack Gear', leveled one-to-to three, to denote it's basic quality. To make this new gear usable, you must take it to an NPC outside the dungeon and have her 'purify' it, lifting the curse and allowing you to identify and use said item. This isn't free, however, costing anywhere from a few hundred to nearly 30,000 Rift Currency... which thankfully drops in great quantities throughout the interior of Bitterblack Isle (expect over 100,000 or so for clearing one strata.)

Despite being an excellent RPG with great gameplay, leveling, and customization, it falters in one major area-the story. From the beginning, the game focuses on the Dragon, your antagonist. After a brief but fateful encounter at the beginning of the game, however, you won't see much of the critter. The entirity of Gransys is concerned over the return of the Dragon, and its presence permeates most quests, but the presence of the wyrm itself is strictly limited only to the beginning and end of the game. NPCs are bland, and establish little character. Despite this you'll be forced into a romance, deal with political intrigue, combat a cult, and help out a great deal of characters on various errands. The NPCs that ask you to do these things, however, have very little long-lasting impact, and fail to endear. The romance, however, is the biggest failure for this game. Without spoiling too much, you don't get to choose your partner-but you will have one. This romantic interest isn't chosen by conversations, quests, or design-just an invisible affinity rating. You can give gifts to improve this rating, and some interactions do help (saving the duchess from imprisonment is bound to win her affection, for instance, or letting a she-knight eager to prove herself defend her own honor will increase her disposition), and a rare, one-time gift of a ring will provide a massive boost, but nothing is set in stone. You could easily go through the entire game flirting (and financing) a busty burgeoning merchant, only to end up dating a bland, overly talkative innkeeper or an elitist, shrewish child. Capcom has no mercy.

Graphics/Sound (4/5)

The first game looked pretty good already, even without the texture pack adding much. Despite this, the game was ridiculed as being fairly bland... or rather, cliche. Personally, I enjoyed the creature design, and the contained area of Gransys made more sense than the unjustifiably rapid climate changes round in Skyrim. The palette employed through most of Dragon's Dogma is green-rather than the typical brown and grey seen in many RPGs and shooters as of late. The verdant meadows and forests are broken up only rarely by dark catacombs, water-filled caves, and mountain rifts. The monsters all look fairly traditional-but in my mind, a well-designed staple beats a crappy novelty any day. The Goblins, Hobgoblins, Saurians (lizardmen), Drakes, undead, Chimeras, Griffins, and Evil Eyes (Beholders) all look spot-on, and if you're like me, you'll appreciate the attention given to cherished monsters. The world is, however, somewhat on the small side, for what aspires to be an open-world game, and there is a fair amount of dead-space. Some of the western areas of the game are never referenced in the story at all, and unless you wander off the beaten path, you'll never bother to see much of Gransys.

The atmosphere of Dark Arisen's Bitterblack Isle, however, is far darker than anything found in the original game, save the Everfall. Green meadows are now joined by dank dungeons, crawling with beasts, and the sometimes gruesome remains of Arisen to dared to tread into the depths before. Unlike previous dungeons, which tended to look incidentally dangerous, Bitterblack's depths aren't just decrepit-some areas look purposefully hostile to explorers. A multi-level cylindrical area connects elevated ramps with rickety wooden bridges, occupied by mages that love to pelt you from the safety of height. Piles of corpses and bones lie stacked nearby, a flowing river of blood drains into the abyss, and wrapped corpses swing at the end of chains. Darkness permeates the entire game, from the abandoned ruins near the entrance to the remains of the city near the end. The mood contrasts well with the lush countryside of the original game, and gives you no false impressions-you're on hostile territory.

The dungeon's appearance is fortified by its design. At any moment Death can pop up (with the somewhat annoying choir that picks up when you encounter him adding to the tension.) Any treasure chest could contain a Maneater-a tentacle monster that dwells in containers, waiting a foolish adventurer. Slay your way through a level, and the festering meat of your slain foes might attract scavengers-who aren't afraid to add you to the menu. The unpredictability of Bitterblack keeps you on your toes-especially when one or two hits can prove fatal.

The sound is also fantastic-particularly the music that plays when you injure one of the game's many gigantic foes. You've never fought a Chimera, Griffin, Cyclops, or Ettin like the ones in Dragon's Dogma. Sound affects are appropriate, and the voices are well-done, even though the NPCs rarely have anything important to say. Even more than the heraldry, the crumbling-yet majestic-stonework around Gran Soren (the capital and one real city in Gransys), the heavily-accented voice overs sell the world you're in, which aspires to medieval Europe. I'd be tempted to rate this category 5/5 for Dark Arisen simply for removing the awful title music that plagued Dragon's Dogma... but I'll practice some restraint.

Reviewer Bias (5/5)

Dragon's Dogma is much of what I had been waiting for in an RPG. A game with good character customization, great action-packed combat that allows for great variability in play-style, and that isn't shy about adding some statistics. We're not that dumb, Bethesda, most gamers won't get scared away by attributes and numbers. The story is a let down, but the game is just so fun to play, I've been stuck on it for almost a year now. Shadow of Colossus-style boss fights, the gear and stat grinding, the Dark Souls atmosphere of Bitterblack, the beautiful (and sometimes misleading) tranquility of Gransys... I love it all. Dark Arisen adds to the challenge and content of the original game in a meaningful way. If you loved Dragon's Dogma, don't be shy about upgrading to Dark Arisen. If you haven't purchased the original yet... what have you got to wait for? It's easily the best RPG experience of the past year, and at $40, Dark Arisen provides an awful lot of great content.

Overall Score: 4/5

Review By: Nathan Garvin (Haeravon)

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A little hard at first, being as how i was around level 70 when i started playing, but twas well worth the effort. I'm doubly sure.

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I'll admit that most RPG's I play are for the story and even if the gameplay suffers, I'll muscle through it just to see what happens next. This game is the complete opposite featuring an interesting but boringly delivered story while keeping me coming back because it's so damn fun to play!

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This includes both the base game and the DLC expansion but the fact that this was the only way to acquire the DLC was very shady, this was made worse by the fact that the expansion is primarily recycled content. Many of the enemies are simply variations of existing ones if different at all and there are only a few new maps included with each level simply a version of another with different paths blocked off. Furthermore the issues that ran rampant in the base games end-game seem to have been used as the formula for the DLC such as the less challenging than tedious boss fights and enemies that serve no purpose but to slow you down. While it did add some improved textures it did nothing to fix any of the real problems in the game such as the below average AI with horrible pathing and the buggy "grapple" system.

That's not to say the expansion doesn't add replay value and was fun to play through but that does not excuse the way they went about creating and selling it.

The base game itself is a brilliant RPG to have come out in an era where dumbing down gameplay is the norm. The game challenges you not only in combat but also in travel and quests(though not as much as I would of liked where most of the time a marker will lead you right to the answer when investigating). The story is unconventional if not a little dry while you are working through the middle segments but the ending is more than worth it. If you're a new customer you may as well get this instead of having to buy it later but I can't reccomend that any existing players fall for this "expansion" at full price.

Review of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - PlayStation 2

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I don't own a PSP so I didn't pay much attention to Liberty City Stories when it first came out. I just happened to see it today and picked it up. For $20, why not?

Have you ever moved away from home for a long time and had to learn new places and figure out new things? Then you finally visit your home and feel that comfortable familiarity? That's exactly how this game feels. I had no idea until I started playing and began to remember the streets and buildings. There's the pay-n-spray, here's Harwood. Very cool.

If you played GTA III until your fingers bled when it first came out, until it got completely mind-numbingly repetitive (or until Vice City arrived), then you're going to love LCS. Same map, but a whole new story. (And directional button steering again, thank you!!!) Plus a lot of the upgrades from post GTA III editions (motorcycles! improved targeting!)

The missions are varied and fun (and challenging). The old side missions remain, and the ability to just cruise around or cause havoc are there as well.

Spend the $20 and relive the awesomeness of GTA III, but with a whole new plot and cast of characters. And hey, you won't have to bother learning a brand new map. You'll know immediately, "Hey, I've been here before..."

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Liberty City Stories takes place roughly two years before the events that unfold in GTA 3. Instead of playing an unknown, however, you control Toni Cipriani a member of the Leone family mafia who's working his way up the ranks. Even when I approached the game understanding that it wouldn't be as fully fledged of a GTA as its predecessors, I was still somewhat dissapointed with this offering.

I immediately noticed the slower frame rate in the game. While GTA games have never been known for having exemplary frame rates, Liberty City Stories handled it somewhat worse than even GTA 3 did several years ago. The city, Liberty City, is mostly the same although it's fun to explore certain parts of it to see how they later change in GTA 3. A huge flaw that the game has, however, comes in the targeting system. The targeting system is actually worse than the one found in San Andreas and even though the GTA series has always been criticized for a poor targeting system, I didn't share the same experience until I played Liberty City Stories. More often than not you'll target an innocent civilian multiple times before you finally lock on to the nearest antagonist. And while the targeting system now features the manual aiming feature found in San Andreas, it proves often times to be too slow to use effectively during heated gun fights.

The missions also feel more redundant than ever. Again, this has never been a strong feaeture in the GTA series, but Liberty City Stories lacks the diversity that its predecessors had. Even after beating the game, I can't easily recall a mission that stood out to me either in difficulty or variation. It simply involves the "drive here, shoot this guy" or "drive here, bring this back to me" formula. Unless this is your first GTA outing, it'll get redundant before you know it. And I say this as a true GTA fan who has been happy with the series' previous offerings and isn't trying to belittle the franchise in any way. Whereas GTA 3 had memorable missions like sabotaging members of a crime family using an ice cream truck or picking up porn magazines as they fell out of another truck, Liberty City Stories lacks both the creativity and humor in this department that other GTAs had.

The voice acting is still as good as it always is and the story is engaging enough to keep you interested throughout, although it still pales in comparison to the previous titles. A lot of this is due to the lack of a central antagonist. Throughout the game, you're fighting against various gangs and political officials without a true target in mind. This leads to a lackluster final battle and a lack of conviction to seeing things through. You don't have the same determination to hunt down your backstabbing girlfriend as you did in GTA 3 or killing the corrupt, sleazy police officer as you did in San Andreas. Because of this, Toni never really achieves a higher status than errand boy.

Still, for $20, the game is pretty solid. LCS has some of the best cars in the series so far and while the humor isn't as good as it used to be, it's still pretty solid and entertaining for the most part. It's no GTA 4 (nor was it ever meant to be) and lacks the multiplayer functionality of its PSP counterpart. But if you're looking for a GTA game to add to your library, LCS is a perfect fit for a cheap price.

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Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PS2 is a great value. It's like an enhanced version of GTA 3 for $20. It's like GTA 3 but includes a couple more radio stations, motorcycles, more guns, and your character talks. It includes most of the things you expect from a GTA game: free-roaming, carjacking, side missions, fun storyline missions, cops, and many more things. But this game lacks some things found in the newer games (Vice City and San Andreas) like buying property, recruiting gang members, pedal bikes, the ability to rob stores, dating, and some other things. One thing I liked better in GTA 3 than in this game is in GTA 3, your character is a new guy trying to make it and earn respect. In this game, your guy is cocky and can get annoying in some cut-scenes because he thinks he's "all-that," even in the first missions. Still for $20, it's a great game, especially if you do not own a PSP. The graphics aren't that great, but are still decent. And at least the loads times are fast. I recommend this game for someone new to GTA games or a big GTA fan. Remember, you do lack somethings in this game, so some people might prefer getting Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which is also $20 each at this time. A note to parents that this game does have blood, swearing, and violence, but it's nowhere near as bad as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I teens or even "tweens" should be able to handle this game.

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For a game like Grand Theft Auto to be only $20.00 should strike you as odd. That is because this version of Grand Theft Auto is not as complete as the past ones. Everyone knows the third game in the series rocked both the gaming world in 2001 and created a stir of controversy. That revolutionized gaming, and many followers have tried copying the formula we have grown to love, and have failed. After the subsequent release of "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" in late 2002, it added a new, fresh feel to the game with the throwback 80's gameplay, new characters played by real Hollywood voice actors and a bunch of new stuff in it like odd jobs, side missions and overall a brand new gaming experience. The 2004 release of San Andreas brought even more controversy, and added a ghetto theme similar to something like Boyz 'N The Hood or Menace II Society. This was addicting because of fun missions, a great storyline, plenty of space and tons of additions that just brought loads of fun and waste of time into every fans lives.

But, after the PSP explosion, this game was granted an exclusive. It was just recently that it was released on the PlayStation 2. It is not well-known about, mainly because there is nothing new to offer. The game takes place back in 1998 and you are Tony Cipriani, the guy who you took missions from way back in the third one. It is the same Liberty City from the third game. And when I say exact, I mean exact. The only difference is where guns and other items are placed. The storyline is pretty repetitive. It is very similar to many other games released in the past few years or so. There is no new additions to the game. In fact, since this was really, as another reviewer stated, a blow-up of the PSP version, you lose your abilities. Those include swimming, going into various shops excluding your safehouses and the gun store, "pimpin` out your ride" and other really great features that were in San Andreas. Basically, it is Grand Theft Auto 3 pasted with new characters and a new storyline. But, admist all the negatives, this game is certainly 5-star material. But if you are expecting something of the past three Grand Theft Auto games, you will be shut out. This game still has the fun blood, gore, sex, foul language and use of drugs that make it fun.

If you are hesitant to purchase this game, then I tell you, go out and sacrifice your money on it. If you were to pay $50.00 for this game, then maybe I would call you crazy, but I say paying only twenty is a steal. This is still the Grand Theft Auto game that we love, and the controls, character models and controversy that had parents, priests and politicans running mad are all back. But, if you have to have stunning X-Box 360 graphics, then stay away. These graphics are not that good, and even though I haven't noticed any glitches or bugs yet, I am sure that they are in there somewhere. In other words, this is a game that if you are a die hard fan (like me), then you must grab it without hesitation. If you are new to the series, and I ask you where have you been the past 5-6 years, then I recommend that you get the prior three releases. They are all timeless classics that will go down as legends. In the end, this game is a nice, little throw in for the series. Maybe it is a cash-in for Rockstar, but whatever. I still think it is good `ol Grand Theft Auto fun!

Another reviewer stated before that the engine that keeps the Grand Theft Auto series is dying. I have to agree with you. I could compare the series to a band that is starting to fade away and not get as much steam that used to power them. The video game world has been on a huge decline since, maybe, three years ago. All games are just not interesting, and they are too expensive and usually are rushed. I sometimes are pulling out my classic games from 5-6 years ago and buying used games to get enjoyment out of them. This is a problem with big markets taking over. Sure, video games were always huge, but now it is just too expensive and m,anufacterers feel that they have to release this game before someone else releases the same carbon copy. This saddens me, as I used to get extreme enjoyment out of my gaming system. Now that big money is in the mix, the world of gaming just isn't fun anymore. As for Grand Theft Auto, they are going to have to release something legendary as the next project, or else interest will be lost.

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When I found out that this game was only 20 dollars, I picked it up without hesitation. You should do the same.

I have found several problems with the game, but overall it is better than worse.

The Bad: Don't expect SA-type graphics. Expect a blown up version of the PSP game. You cannot swim, enter shops, buy clothes, pimp your ride, or any of that good stuff. You are not really dependant on money, so there is no real incentive to get any.

The Good: You're back to Liberty City, arguably the most fun and interactive city in this great series. The missions are fun and addictive, and the cars are fun to drive. The music on the radio is excellent no matter what you like listening to.

If you like to do the main missions but also enjoy being a Taxi Driver, Cop ("vigilante missions"), Firefighter, etc. at times, then this is the game for you.

If this game were $49.99 as the other games in this series tend to be, I wouldn't have been as happy with my purchase. But you're getting a lot packed into a $20 game, and I would have been willing to pay even more. Granted, the graphics are not up to the San Andreas par, but the fun you got from playing Liberty City a couple of years ago is back and intensified. Recommended.

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This game got little to no advertisements and has been delayed far too many times for people to care by this point.

That right there is what I expect most people to be thinking. Well good news! The game is actually great! The gunplay is excellent and the setting is actually pretty tense and creepy. I like the story so far myself but I see many don't care much for it. If you don't care for the story that should be fine because this is an excellent shooter that has many explosive moments and (so far) has been a thrill ride of fun and destruction. I'm so surprised about this game because I really did not intend on buying it. I read about it a long time ago and it seemed awesome but by the time I saw it being released it seemed very meh. Well luckily that isn't the case and I highly recommend this game.

As far as Multiplayer goes it is a mixed bag. I find it to be very fun but I can see it not exactly being the highlight that people would like. One team plays as humans and the other as Mutants. There are different classes for each side and they all have different abilities such as Healing, teleporting, puking, controlling the enemy team, and just plain strong. It is very different but quite a fun distraction if you take the time to try it. The only thing I've seen that seems annoying is that a lot of the games I've gotten into have been one sided. Either one side totally destroys and wins the game or the other. Not too often is it a tie or close game. There are also only two modes to play and they may not keep your attention too long. One other downside is I've noticed some lag in the games when in the larger (12 people) games. Not so bad because it doesn't always happen but it's noticeable and could be a turn-off.

So all-in-all I have been having an excellent time with this game that came out of nowhere and I recommend it if you've been craving a violent well-made FPS with some fun (if maybe not long-lasting) Multiplayer to boot. Definitely an excellent distraction while waiting for other great games. It's just sad it has gotten so little hype and attention because I can see this being a great series.

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When I first heard of Singularity last fall, I was pretty happy since I like science fiction style FPS games. Well, after a delay or two the game came out and I am pretty happy I bought it.

PROS:

-Eerie atmosphere (akin to FEAR) that can, and will, keep you on edge

unique enemies that each take some thought as how to defeat

A pretty good science fiction/alternate reality story (I won't spoil here)

-Good gunfights, some thoughtful weaponry

-Good multiplayer, unique because it isn't just another "soldier v soldier" match, instead it is creatures v soldiers

-On normal, the campaign is probably 8 to 10 hours long, so it isn't short by any means, maybe typical of fps lengths.

-It is similar to the Bioshock/System Shock 2

-I enjoy not knowing what situation will come next in the campaign, keeps me on edge

Campaign jumps between the year 2010 and the 1950s

CONS:

-AI needs a little work, but puts up a decent fight (I'm on normal)

-Not too many multiplayer modes yet

-No subtitles or place to reference previously found notes and tape recordings

-tape recordings

-fairly linear story (I don't mind at all, but some people want a more sandbox style FPS, I guess)

-Iffy Russian accents

-Unfortunately, too many backwards "R" letters, and many of the films or posters are written in english, but using Russian Cyrillic characters to spell which seems lazy or cheesy to me since I know a bit of Russian.

It may seem like there are a lot of cons listed, but really they are nothing major and more of just personal taste for me. I really enjoy this game and intend to play it for quite a while. If you like atmospheric FPS games then go and buy this. Ideally you should have pre-ordered as it came with a free copy of the 360 game "Prototype", a 1GB usb memory stick, and a multiplayer skin for the regular price of an Xbox 360 game.

2010/7/02 EDIT:

-Beat the game, 3 possible, great endings!

-Multiplayer is fun, but not too many people are on, so play while it's up at all.

-If you're into Achievements, they are fairly straightforward in this game and you could get all 1000/1000 with a little dedication.

This is definitely better in many ways than the recent Wolfenstein game put out by Raven last year and a lot more fun. You should buy it.

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Singularity is a pretty fun game while it lasts. Its controls are very tight, and an FPS game is more or less defined by this standard. It's an interesting game from start to finish despite there being many drawbacks to the game in general. Most people have complained about the archaic graphics in this game, but I didn't really mind that at all. The graphics in this game are definitely not breaking any ground even for a game that came out two years ago it would still look dated but the action is so well staged it doesn't matter. The voice acting is absolutely terrible, and the story is as washed up as humanly possible, but who cares. As long as you get to blast monsters into limbo that should be enough to keep any gamer interested. However, there are several things about the game that needed some major polish before being released, but in the end, Singularity is a good time.

The developers of Singularity understood that the fundamental reason why people play a first person shooter game is to shoot enemies in the face, and you get plenty of opportunity to do that in this game. There are some great weapons to use throughout the game such as the "Seeker" where you can control bullets to go around corners that finally, when they meet their destination, tear the unlucky victim to shreds. As morbid as this sounds, the violence in Singularity can be very satisfying. There are lots of slo-mo's, close-ups, and limbs flying around, and it can get pretty chaotic. To me, that is the sign of a great FPS. Action needs to be the main focal point, and this game rarely disappoints in that aspect.

The sound is great in this game as well. Some levels have a very high level of detail, and you can hear grunts and screams coming at you from all sides. It really helps build a tense atmosphere during some of the levels, and because the graphics are pretty average, the sound makes up for it in spades.

I've seen comparisons of this game to Bioshock and Half-Life, and those observations are not unwarranted. The dark atmosphere and 50's vibe are reminiscent of Bioshock, as are the randomly placed voice recorders that you find as you venture through the game. Hearing the distant and disturbed voices on the recorders is pretty much a straight lift from Bioshock, but it didn't distract me from the story at all. There is also a gravity gun which is more or less a take from Half-Life. Not a big deal, but it still shows that the Singularity developers were more interested in action than originality. Which brings me to my list of complaints.

First of all, the AI in Singularity is the worst I have seen in a game in years. It's really really bad. There was an instance where a bad guy was standing right in front of me, took a shot at me, stood there, looked at me, turned the other direction, and calmly waited for me to blow his head off. This kind of thing happens throughout the game. There is absolutely nothing difficult about this game whatsoever. Sure the action is great and you get to blow apart the baddies, but after a while you need at least a little bit of challenge. Another annoying thing about the AI is that the Russians you're about to kill will stand there and scream at you, repeating the same expressions over and over and over again. If the AI is going to bellow at you and completely blow their cover in order for you to adequately kill them, at LEAST give them more dialogue.

When I mentioned before that the violence is satisfying in Singularity, it can also be shabbily detailed and out and out lazy. For instance, when you shoot an enemy in the left arm, his left arm will fly off. Stands to reason. However, his head and his legs will also go catapulting into the air. If you shoot a guy in the left arm, why would his right leg and head pop off? I know, I know, this is a silly video game to begin with, but what I'm trying to say is that each time you kill someone, the exact same dying animation will show with each and every kill. Short on ideas, I say.

Another area where the developers really failed was with the time manipulation idea. This concept is always awesome in theory, but Singularity proves that it's yet another lame attempt at an ancient gimmick. The only time you get to manipulate time is to turn old boxes and staircases into their former selves, turn new locks into future dust, and occasionally go back in time to shoot a few bad guys for a few minutes before rushing back to the future. The time travel idea was more of a distraction than an engaging plot point.

Something else that was laughable about the game was the all English voice acting. I realize that this is a game produced by English speaking individuals, but when you have a tribe of Russians who are dedicating their very souls to bringing down the evil Western influences, and speaking English while they do it, it takes a considerable amount of believability and authenticity away from the story. There is an unintentionally funny scene in the game where you view a Russian propaganda film about the evil of the West being spoken entirely in English. Err, really? Why even bother trying to integrate a story when stuff like this is going on? I would have had more respect for the game if it just glossed over aspects like this and given us a few more hours of blowing stuff up. It's pointless to add scenes like this when it adds absolutely nothing to the big picture. This really is the fundamental problem of the game: it can't decide whether it wants tell a story, or just be a kick-a** shooter. If it had dedicated itself to one or the other it would have been a much stronger experience.

The biggest disappointment with this game is its length. I finished this game in under 7 total hours on my first play through. While that's not a crime in video game circles, it certainly doesn't warrant a purchase price of 60 dollars. If ever you were to rent a game, Singularity would be it.

There is definitely more wrong with Singularity than there is right. Raven has been developing this game for over two years, so to see such a mediocre result is genuinely surprising. I read a few reviews from fellow Amazon customers citing a laundry list of negatives concerning this game, yet still awarding it five stars. Five stars represents a perfect game. How can one hand out a five star review to a game that has so many clear flaws? Singularity has many problems, and any conscientious reviewer would be irresponsible to give it five stars.

That doesn't mean Singularity doesn't have great moments as well. As a weekend rental, I would highly recommend this game. It has enough tight gameplay, cool weapons, and over the top violence to satiate any fan of the FPS genre. Just don't expect to still be interested once that weekend is over. I realize that rating a game for length can be a touchy subject, but I feel that paying 60 dollars for a game that only lasts a few hours is extremely excessive. Moreover, if you're going to blatantly borrow from games like Bioshock, you better come correct and at least do your best to match one single aspect of the game you're emulating. Otherwise, you're just another imitator trying to cash in on a somewhat tired idea.

What Singularity lacks in originality it makes up for in exuberance and a love for old school game play. It's not about to light the gaming world on fire, but sometimes that's just fine.

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I have this game and quite honestly, I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. The game is dense, atmospheric, challenging and engaging enough to make you want to try going after those achievements again and again. The theme is different and wholly refreshing but it's the nostalgic familiarity (a frozen time lapse of a world that might not have been so different from our own) that makes it difficult to put the game down. The scenery detail is fantastic, the ambiance is unnerving and the action is satisfying in both its quality and timeliness. It's the kind of game that after you've finished it and you put the controller down, you feel like you've left your room and been some place else. Wouldn't have expected anything less from Raven.

BTW, If you ever played You Are Empty and either loved it for its unusual theme, brooding pace, immaculate texture rendering and those memorable cut-scenes, or hated it and often wondered how it might've come out with better production values, Singularity provides sumptuous food for thought.

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When I read about the setting for game and saw the visuals, it looked like the game was custom made for me Cold War era Russians, abandoned, decrepit buildings, time travel and manipulation mixed with great FPS action. I love the art direction, time-manipulation device, and alternate world weapons used to battle the mutated creatures of Katorga-12. For me the downside was the ending the action felt a bit anticlimactic after some of the great previous action sequences. It didn't ruin the experience for me however the game definitely deserves a playthrough!