Review of Battlefield: 1942 - PC

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List Price: $19.99
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My name is Christian Hunter, and I'm a complete gaming physco. I've played every popular first person shooter since Doom and Rise of the Triad (I spent collectively 2 years of my life playing Quake 2). Yes I'm sick, but you can probably trust my opinion on gaming...This one has been my favorite FPS for the past year.

There are 2 very important reasons you should buy this game:

1. It's an exceptional WWII FPS

Jaw dropping graphics (that don't crush the average players system), the ability to be infantry of various unique types, then jump in any one of numerous vehicles, then jump into any number of different aircraft. Totally flexible, insanely fun, very popular too (good for multiplayer gaming).

2. It's an even better modern-day-warfare FPS!

What you say! Yep, Battlefield 1942 has the most popular "mod" (game modification, meaning the game has been redesigned around a new theme, etc..) of 2003; Desert Combat. Desert Combat uses the same fantastic engine as 1942 but is set in modern time. Helicopter Gunships, SCUD missile launchers, A-10 Tank Killers dropping naughty explosive goodness!!!! Why am I writing this review, I should be playing!

Ok, once you own the game, you can go to to download the free mod for it.

Hope this review was helpful.

Enjoy...!

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The multiplayer demo of this game, which just has 1 map, 2 sides, and not all of the vehicles from each of those sides, has already proved to be extremely addicting and fun to play.

There's just so much you can do and so many possibilities, since you can jump into and out of any vehicle instantly and play as one of 5 infantry classes. Even your infantry class selection is flexible, because you can quickly drop your current kit and pick up a dead infantry's kit from the ground, effectively changing your infantry class on the fly.

Also, the weapons and vehicles are all very well balanced. For example: the rocket that the bazooka/anti-tank infantry class fires doesn't do much damage to infantry, unless if it's a direct hit. This makes players have to choose the best kit for what they want to do, and ,unlike Quake and other action games, rocket launchers wont dominate all aspects of combat. They are, however, good at what they're meant to do: destroy tanks, with their shaped-charge explosives. Just the way everything fits together is so beautiful, and there's always a counter for every weapon and vehicle.

The gameplay is so open ended that you can get pretty creative. I've done things throwing all my explosive packs into a japanese jeep (as an engineer), getting my detonator ready, driving to an enemy base or battle, jumping out of my jeep and letting it roll into the middle of enemies, and then blowing it up to get a few kills (especially when they get inside to drive it while my explosives are still in it, hehe) and other crazy things.

The demo has already become the 2nd most played game on GameSpy, beating all others except Half-Life (which has a ton of mods since it's been out so long), so there will probably be a large playerbase, making finding servers easy.

The system requirements may be a little steeper than some other games, but it is well worth it, and the game runs beautifully. (I can run the demo, all graphics options maxed at 1024x768 32bit, on my athlon 1.4 ghz 512mb ram GeForce4 ti4200 128mb at a smooth and high framerate) The models are very well detailed, you can see the eyes on the infantry moving and blinking, and their mouthes opening and closing. The level of detail system allows this by scaling down the polygon counts and stuff as vehicles and infantry get further away from you, and increasing details as things get closer to you, so there's no wasted visual performance.

This game is like many games in one, and has something for everyone that likes action or war games. My favorite genres are action games and flight sims, and the way this game mixes it all together, in an accessible, balanced, and action packed sort of way, is perfect.

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The place...Europe and the Pacific...the backdrop...the world at war! In Battlefield 1942 the action of the Second World War comes to life. Take command of an infantry soldier and from their, build your own image of war! Jump into the seat of a Sherman, grab a jeep, hop into the cockpit of a Me-109, sail a battleship, or just remain as a soldier on foot wreaking havoc on the enemy! This game lets you do it all, the game play system makes even the most computer inept people masters at the game, no realism to deal with, jump out of your plane and parachute to the ground, commandeer an enemy tank and roll down the road plastering anything you see! Once your number is up...do it again!

After the debacle that was World War Two Online, many of the WW2 gamers fell away from the respected titles that followed, and Battlefield 1942 offers the same that WW2OL offered, but this time it doesn't intend on making the same mistake! There will be no pay-to-play requirement (no need for internet at all with the bot program!) The game gives a reliable system that will allow the player to achieve what they really play these games for in the first place...to have fun!

The game will get people back into World War 2 and will have them begging for more! Though the game is labeled "1942" it takes place at any given time during the war, with technology that would have existed not until 1944, but there is no need to look down on the game for such a small oversight! The battles that you fight in will be ones that any WW2 aficionado will recall with little trouble, Tobruk, Stalingrad, Normandy, Market Garden, Midway, Guam, and fictional Pacific and European battlefields to boot! The game also sports a single player campaign as a sort of introduction to how it works as well as recognizing the fine AI the game employs.

There is no ten minute walks to get in the fight, no time consuming loads after you die, no technical capture points systems, or realistic vehicle specifications. You play the game like any game, point and click, watch and enjoy! With the World War 2 backdrop, this game will reintroduce the word "war" to the gamers vocabulary with whole new meanings...I hope you will enjoy this game as much as I will!

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Battlefield 1942 has seen extroardinary growth in its short time on the PC. Already, it's online numbers have passed up other popular WWII first-person shooters such as Medal of Honor. While it's nowhere close to Half-Life's online population yet, it probably resembles Half-Life's early life more so than other shooters. The game is quickly building a large custom mod community just like Half-Life did and popular themes such as modern desert combat that were never part of the original WWII theme have already built a life of their own. Before you get too excited, there is one important thing to know about this game it's really only meant for online multiplayer. You can play the game offline by yourself but it's boring with a capital B. And if you truly want to experience the best maps and servers in BF1942, you'll need a high-speed connection such as DSL or cable. If you don't have this connection, don't even bother buying the game because it's not worth it. It doesn't have a typical single player campaign like most shooters, it's basically a platform for large maps and epic WWII shoot 'em outs. Epic as in 64+ player maps, all-out vehicle combat including fighter planes, battleships, submarines, infantry, tanks and jeeps ALL in the SAME battle! The game has never flowed as smooth as other online shooters for me, and I found more lag issues with BF1942 than other recent games, but I hear EA has been busy patching up most of the frequent problems. One unfortunate selling practice with EA though is that they tend to release plenty of expansions for any popular title. Honestly though, I don't know if you really miss that much sticking with the original BF1942. As I stated earlier, there is already a huge custom mod community for this game so even those with only the game itself can experience new maps and game formats. There are already plans for official Vietnam and Star Wars themed games that use the BF1942 engine. This game will be around for a while and if you enjoy the system of play, you'll definitely get your money's worth.

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Battlefield 1942 is by far and away the best multiplayer game out. Counter-Strike held this title and paved the way for a game like this, but the immense maps and multiple options (Driving tanks, jeeps, APCs; Flying fighters, dive bombers, heavy bombers; Manning ships, coastal guns, anti-aircraft)

Including the option to be different types of soldiers (assault, engineer, medic, scout, anti-tank), this game blows away all others.

Teamwork is the name of the game, if you are really interested in winning the maps. You can go RAMBO and try to wipe out the enemy by yourself, however you will usually only result in eliminating more of the enemies then you, and most of the objectives (IE: strategic markers) will fall to the team playing in unison.

Gameplay is excellent, especially taking into account all the simultanious action going on in such a large map. Realism is right there with the fun factor, just the right blend.

The only real drawbacks are the components necessary to run the game. If you are thinking of buying this game, seriously consider purchasing a new video card first. The GeForce MX cards are compatible, however you will need to make some tweaks to the configuration of the game and/or the card itself in order to have satisfatory play. That means you miss out on some of the features that you could have, like full detailed textures and shadowing, etc. Its not a major difference but big enough in my opinion to suggest upgrading your video card. Get a GeForce Ti card (IE: GeForce 3 Ti 200, or better) or an ATI Raideon card. Also if you are running Windows 98/Me, you should consider upgrading to 2000 or XP. The machine should realisticly have at least 256MB of Ram and be running a processor speed of at least 1.0Ghz. Those are baselines, my machine is 2.0Ghz and has 1.0GB of RDRAM with a GeForce 3 Ti200.

Many people have also complained that playing with dial-up (56k) is a waste of your time. I cannot say one way or another. I have a cable modem and have never tried dial-up. The game claims it will support dial-up, although I would doubt it could be anything but laggy. If you want to play this game on dial-up, try to get your computer specs as close to what I wrote, then at least your not lagging out on both sides (your connection, and your system). You can still play effectively with a latency of less than 300ms, however your gameplay will seem choppy at times.

Battlefield 1942 was just was I was dreaming for, and then it came. I am very happy with this game!

Best Need for Speed: Shift - Playstation 3 Deals

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I can't for the life of me figure out why someone who (in general) likes driving games would not like this game!

Pros:

The graphics are eye popping and run smoothly throughout on both my PS3s (80GB fat and a 120GB slim).

The sound is top notch, especially on 5.1 (or better?) systems.

Driving can be challenging or easy and is highly configurable to let you decide which is best for you.

There are a ton of different cars to master that all drive differently (as it should be).

You can upgrade each car with engine, suspension, braking and other technical improvements.

You can customize the visual aspects of each car if you're into that kind of thing.

You can be either a precision or aggression style of driver and you earn points for both along the way

There are many different racing styles represented (standard, manufacturer events, drift for example)

Cons:

At release, there were some bugs but they have been addressed now as far as I can tell.

This game melds elements of arcade and simulation racing which may put off hard core fans these genres.

The Need for Speed series is a tale of two franchises really and that is why the widely differing reviews I think. If you are a fan of NFS: Hot Pursuit and other "cops and robbers" racing games, then you will likely not like this game because there isn't a cop in sight. You are racing on tracks and other closed courses and not in city streets with other civilian cars running around. If you need to see flashing red lights in your rear view mirror, or just have to run down a mother and her baby carriage then look elsewhere.

What this game is a pretty simple I think. It provides you with all the best elements of actually racing in environments designed for racing, plus the ability to tweak your ride to a reasonable level. This is where simulation meets arcade to me because while games like Gran Turismo allow you to tinker until your knuckles bleed, NFS: Shift dumbs all that down a bit so you can just concentrate on driving and having fun.

Bottom line is this; If you want an all out utterly realistic simulation, this ain't it. If you want chase epic scenes, running from the cops and driving crazy fast amongst the general population, this ain't it. But if you want to just have fun while driving nice cars on actual race courses with limited tweaking -then this is the ticket. If you can accept what this game brings to bear, you will enjoy it.

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I purchased the game after going off the IGN review (9.0 out of 10). I would not rate it that high personally. The game takes getting used to. I admit to liking the NFSU games, but knew this one was different and closer to a GT racing sim than the earlier titles. Anyway, I think that the game performs well in some areas, not so in others. The load times are ridiculous. The same questions come up on each time you start the game. With the HD in place there should not be such long load times between races and saving. There is no menu option that I see to quit mid-race. Hopefully the cars will be more stable and easier to control at high speeds as you advance through the tiers. The BMW M3 on tier 2 is way too loose even after all upgrades. I probably need to do more tuning but it's hard to keep on the courses. I suppose this is to lend to the more realistic simulation but it's frustrating at times. Drift mode is an adventure; I've never been great at drift racing but the initial impression here is that it's almost prohibitive in it's difficulty. I haven't found the right balance of throttle and brake yet. It seems overly sensitive compared to the previous titles. While it shouldn't be totally easy, it takes a lot of getting used to and I find it annoying at times.

The courses are pretty awesome although many have already been done in the GT series. The graphics are very good. I have not noticed the high speed blurring as mentioned in other reviews, maybe because my car tops out at 150 or so. We'll see when we get into the high end cars if it is noticable.

I typically don't do the online racing because of the issues with rewarding aggressive/dirty tactics in all online play so I can't speak to that experience yet.

I think it is a disservice to gamers that EA did not make it compatible with the racing wheels out there. How does anybody make a driving sim that doesn't work with a wheel controller?

In spite of it's flaws (maybe they are my flaws, not the game?), I am enjoying the game so far. I am giving it a 7.5 after limited game play. Maybe when my skills improve I will look at it differently. Not a bad effort.

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Ok where should I begin? This game fancies itself as some kind of a perfect cross between a sim and an arcade racer, but the truth is that it totally fails to accomplish this goal. It seems that being stuck in the middle ground isn't doing this new NFS installment any favors and let me explain why. Individuals who like arcadish racing games will find this title a bit too difficult for their taste, since some sort of driving physics, albeit exaggerated and inaccurate, still exists and the car is not exactly easy to control. Hardcore sim fans will be thoroughly disappointed as this game is just really not much of a driving simulator at all; physics does not feel realistic, speed feels artificially exaggerated to" enhance the action experience", finally, besides top speed and acceleration, cars do not feel all that much different from one another. Overall, the physics of this game does not even come close in comparison to something like GT5 prologue.

If all this wasn't enough, there is the graphics, which really does not seem all that sharp, as it appears to have been tuned down to prevent frame rate issues. Furthermore, the gameplay was not very impressive at all, as it is an extremely linear progression, which does not allow much freedom whatsoever. Last, but certainly not least, there are compatibility problems with Logitech G25 steering wheel. The wheel feels off-center with a huge center deadzone (I tried playing with the options and didn't help) and finally the force feedback is all messed up all this adding up to a pretty terrible driving experience with otherwise the best steering wheel on the market.

Overall, this game is stuck in a non-sim/non-arcade land, which really makes it hard to be appealing for fans of either genre. In certain ways it is similar to GRID, but does not have the same impressive graphics, innovative features and crash sequences and so in other words, it brings nothing new to the table. The final nail in the coffin is delivered through its sloppy integration with the Logitech G25 steering wheel, which turns a pretty crappy racing experience into a truly horrid one.

Honest reviews on Need for Speed: Shift - Playstation 3

Setup:

PlayStation 3 120 GB

Logitech G27 Racing Wheel for PC and PS3

I have yet to wreck my car so bad that I couldn't drive it any longer on NFS:Shift. It is a much better sim than any previous NFS game. The arcade mode is still there in that you can use any car ahead of you to slow down into a corner. Get behind? Drive like a maniac and then slam into the cars ahead, sure the hood will crumple but you will blast them off the track and if your good you can then run ahead on to the next set and slam into them. Its like a mix of a demolition derby and a racing sim.

There are a ton of redeeming qualities in this game though, so dont think its all bad;

Cockpit:

The cockpits of these cars look very authentic. I am a fan of Top Gear and have seen every car in this game on that show several times (except the Camaro) and the cockpits here look identical. When you drive a car it tallies up the miles you have driven it which is cool to say you have driven a few thousand miles in car X. It makes you want to keep a car longer just so you can become more proficient.

AI:

Not bad, many of them want to kill you and they will try to run you off the road. Which can help you get ready for online races because they will do the exact same thing.

Cars:

Very accurate but indestructible. Drive a Zonda or Veyron into a wall at 200 MPH and it will only dent the hood slighlty and may break the lenses.

I can only compare this to another driving sim even though its an off road rally game. Comparing this to Dirt 2 and you will see some glaring issues. First off in Dirt if you hit a wall or even a hay bale at speed you may risk ripping a body panel off or even the wheel; ending your race. In Shift you can slam into anything you want and it will keep on going.

Issue 2: the gravel is impossible to turn on. I realize hitting gravel at high speed means you can not turn as sharply but in Shift you hit it at anything over 20 and you will hit the wall.

Issue 3: The car customizing is really difficult to do. Want to do ralley stripes on your car, it can take 30 minutes or more to get them all in place, hit a wrong button and all that work is gone.

Pros:

>> Wonderful car models

>> Drive some of the rarest cars on the planet

>> Accurate cockpits

>> Cool animations when you hit things

Cons:

you have maxed out your upgrades.

The controls are similar to GTA, which is a good thing as the controls are fairly logical. One nice thing is that you don't have any annoying "checkpoints" of earlier racing games.

The game does a great job of providing variety in races. You can race "manufacturers challenge" where every driver gets the exact same car (that way nobody has an advantage w/their vehicle). You can do head-to-head challenges between two different cars. There are also lap eliminator & time eliminator races that are thrown in as well.

Almost all of the major car manufacturers are on the game; Nissan, Toyota, Aston Martin, Chervolet, Ford, Lamborgini, Audi, Mercedes, etc. The only major brand that is omitted is Ferrari. That's too bad as I'm a huge fan of Ferrari! Ostensibly, the licensing didn't work out as I can't see the makers of the game simply forgetting about such a major manufacturer of exotic automobiles.

If you like racing games, then more than likely you will like this one. Sure, the laws of physics are toned down in the game, but to have more realistic physics would be to degrade the playability of the game. This is at once one of the most frustrating games I've ever played, and at the same time it's one of the funnest games I've ever played. You can drive with the precision of Mario Andretti, or you can be so aggressive that you make NASCAR drivers look like downright courteous operators. In short, it's everything a racing game should be!

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First, let me say that this game has its share of technical problems. So why do I give it 5 stars? I'll get to that in a moment. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Load times are rather long, and as you get farther into the game, they can get really long. There's a bit of frame rate slowdown occasionally, but it's not at all common. However if there are 10 cars ahead of you and 5 of them are having a massive collision, the frame rate can drop to 0 for a second, and next thing you know you're 100 yards farther down the track than you were before. The sound can cut out on occasion, requiring you to quit the game and restart it. Again, this is rare. There's also a problem with the replays if you're using a steering wheel, the replays cause the wheel to turn, which in turn causes the on-screen menu to start cycling through its options, creating an annoying clicking sound. In the past, a couple of tracks had terrible slowdown problems, causing the game to run in slow motion. However, they've fixed this with a patch which you can download for free.

So now the good stuff. Technical problems aside, this game is an absolute blast to play. They start you off with a race in which your driving abilities are analyzed. The game then sets the difficulty level to suit your experience level. You can also manually choose whatever difficulty you want, from casual to professional. And you can set the AI opponents to easy, medium or hard. With casual difficulty, the cars almost drive themselves, you don't even need to use the brakes. With professional difficulty, it's a very good driving simulator, and quite realistic. And you can choose anything in between. So it appeals to just about any race fan, from beginner to expert.

As far as the cars and tracks, there's an excellent selection. Other games may have more cars, but this game has about as many as I could want. A very nice selection of American, European and Japanese cars, from low powered ones like you might actually own, to the most exotic and expensive stuff made in the world. I believe there are about 68 total. There are also two DLC packs, the "Team Racing" pack which is free includes some nice classic American muscle cars. The "Exotic" pack which is not free includes a nice selection of 7 exotic sports cars, along with a new track and a whole pile of extra events to race in. The selection of tracks in the game is about as good as anything on the market. Seriously, you will never get bored with the selection of tracks because there are just so many of them. And it's even got the Nurburgring!

The game is arranged into 4 tiers. You start on tier 1, with the lower powered cars. After you've gained enough experience, you move to tier 2, with more cars and a wider variety of tracks, and then to tier 3 and 4. The 5th group of races is the Need for Speed World Championship, which is a series of about 10 races. There's also a "star" system you earn stars for various things: 3 stars for a 1st place finish, 2 for 2nd, 1 for third. You can also get a star for completing a lap within the specified time, running a clean lap, earning enough points for precision driving or aggressive driving, etc. There are 50 levels total, and each time you make it to a new level you get a prize of some sort. It might be cash, or access to more features. So all throughout the game there are a myriad of incentives to keep you working towards getting better and achieving a higher level.

The best part though is the driving. It's just so fun and immersive. The force feedback you get if you use a steering wheel is awesome you can feel every bump and ripple in the track, and feel the tires losing traction and then gaining it back again. It really feels like you're driving a race car. The sound is also excellent, with directional sounds coming from all sides if you've got a surround sound system. Hit a wall on your left? You'll get a big crashing sound to your left. Collisions also cause your vision to momentarily go blurry and the color disappears, which goes even further to immerse you in the experience. And the cars are an absolute blast to drive. They all have their own unique handling and acceleration. There's no such thing as two cars that feel the same to drive. The physics are very realistic if you set it on professional or even experienced difficulty level. By the end of a long endurance race, I notice I'm sweaty, my arms are a bit tired, and my nerves are frayed. In other words, it provides that visceral and emotional experience that few others can match.

Overall, a great game. My favorite racing game of all time, hands down. I think I've got over 200 hours into it so far, and still having a blast.

Designer decal for XBOX 360 Remote Controller - Bone Collector Reviews

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I expected a flimsy sticker that would be hard to line up right and would fall off in a week or so, but its actually a pretty thick sticker, was pretty easy to line up, and has lasted a few months now without a single edge falling off. Overall, a solid decal. Definitely worth it

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Reviews of Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI - PlayStation 2

Customer Ratings:

I doubt that the people viewing this product are not familiar with (some of) the previous 10 instalments of the RotTK series. Personally, I was introduced to RotTK when the 7th series came out on PS2. Since the seventh, each new instalment that comes out simply 'chibifies'/outranks the previous instalment in all aspects of game play which makes me wonder if Koei will ever hit a ceiling (i hope not).

The 11th instalment is in no way an exception. Though at first i was a little disappointed due to the complexity of the game, i realised the awesomeness was simply being overlooked by me due to my inability to quickly adapt to the new 'system'.

The highlights of the game are (these may be spoilirish if you like being surprised):

-You can marry of your officers

-All the female figures are vassals

-You can create Oaths

-Transport of Material, Officers etc is not instantaneous more realistic

-You play the game as the sovereign (don't be turned of by this, you'll have full autonomy over your vassals, strategists etc)

-The map is 3-D

-The portraits of the prominent figures change as they age (though I haven't experienced this since so far i only played rise of heroes)

The rest you'll have to experience yourself, all in all, the game is simply great!

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This game takes a good long while to get into. Even the game itself cops to it. When you are playing through the tutorial (with an unusually retarded Liu Bei I might add) your character will comment on how long it takes to actually get an army onto the field of battle. First you have to build barracks, then recruit guys, then drill the guys, then build a smith to create weapons, then make the weapons. Dear me, that's a lot of hand sitting. But the thing that really dragged this down for me was transporting materials. It's friggin' hard and it takes forever. Resource management is the number one issue in this game. If you don't plan things out right you might have one city with 40,000 gold and one with hardly any. Also, for some reason, whenever you attack and claim a city the gold in that city drops down to nothing even if it had tons of gold earlier. What is up with this 'scorched earth' crap? That is why it is good to bring gold with your troops when you attack so you can pay your officers and they won't get annoyed the next turn. Food, and soldiers take forever to send. Your better off just sending gold and then buying food.

The good news is that combat is more interactive then Romance 9, the game that most closely ressembles this one. In that game you sent your army out and they kind of stood around and banged on the other army untill a tactic would randomly trigger. In this game you have control over when you use your tactics and in general you have more control of your army. Like 9 you have a lot of action going on at once. The whole 'you are attacking someone but someone else attacks you and then another force attacks another one of your cities, which one are you gonna try and save' chaos sort of deal. Only it is more difficult because of the aforementioned resource management. If I had to sum this game up in one sentence I would say that it has the chaos and free flowing combat of Romance 9 and the exacting resource management of Romance 8. The 3d thing is nice but not essential. At least they are improving the look of the game slightly. Still, while playing I frequently had the urge to stop and go back to playing one of the previous titles in the series. It is a good game that starts slow but build speed quickly once you get into it.

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If you can't stand turn-based games, history lessons, or having to work with numbers, and if graphics are the most important thing to you in searching for a game (along with mindless action) then steer clear of this title. ROTK11 is an engaging game that you can easily spend days on. For those of you who have grow up playing L'Emporuer, Liberty or Death, Genghis Kan, Oda Nobunaga, and of course the previous ten ROTK titles then this is a godsend!

ROTK11 is a throw-back to the earliest titles in the series. Unlike ROTK10 it is not single-player, you are allowed up to 8 factions to control as the player. Logistics, warfare, city development, etc. everything is executed on one world map (meaning no battle screens or pesty loading times). It may take some getting used to if you're not familiar with the layout of previous ROTK games. They kept the deuls (naturally it's been there since ROTKone) and the debate screens, but they aren't near as frequent as in ROTK10. No ranks, just sovereigns. A plethora of optional game settings and character customizations along with enough battle/game senerioes to keep you busy for a month.

In summa:

A MUST HAVE for strategy gamers who think big.

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Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI is yet another installment of the classic Chinese strategy game. If you're a fan of the RotTK series, you're sure to enjoy this one!

This is a very immersive strategy game, and you need to accept that it'll take a long time to play. Not long as in "millions of maps that you get to explore while non-stop fighting your enemies". It's long as in "first you have to build your barracks. Then you have to slowly build up your enemy. Don't forget about all the hassles of moving supplies around to keep your army fed and taken care of."

Your world is set in historical China, in the early 100s / 200s. There are literally hundreds of characters, and if you've been playing these series, many of them are quite familiar. You are actually learning some history while you play a game :)

The graphics are quite pretty, especially during some of the cut scenes. It is like watching a Chinese painting come to live. In the battle you get some 3D rendering of what is going on, but the focus is not on fast-moving button mashing. It is very much about strategy, about managing your resources.

This game will appeal to people who want to sit down for many hours at a stretch, delve themselves into what their troops are doing, how each area is being managed, learning all the glossary terms, becoming a Chinese historian.

For gamers who want a quick hack-and-slash for a half hour before dinner, they will become frustrated and bored with the attention needed to get through this game.

Well recommended for serious strategy gamers. Make sure you go through the long tutorial first, to get a solid grounding in how the game works.

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ROTK11 is a good follow up in the genre. I've been playing this series since Wall of Fire (and Koei's games since Genghis Khan), and each one has been an improvement from the last, but not without hiccups. I'll touch on some of my own experiences with them, since all the good things about this game have pretty much been laid out.

A couple things ticked me off. Traveling distance and time is more realistic and I like it, but it doesn't adhere when an enemy general is defeated in the field. One scenario was when I had an enemy being surrounded and incinerated/cavalry charged with no troops left in his unit with his back to my city walls, yet somehow 1. He escapes (every time), and 2. He is instantly teleported back to his city of origin, where he sets out again with a fresh unit. Suddenly, travel time and distance doesn't mean anything here and you're soon fighting the unit that you just destroyed. This gives nations with many starting generals a distinct advantage, as even if you don't loose a single time on defense, you'll eventually be worn down by a constant procession of recurring units and generals. This doesn't encourage good strategy either, as the incentive is eliminated by the guarantee of officer safety if you lose, oh well, just recycle his unit.

One way I've found to get around this is to wear down enemy attackers, then let him take a city, whereby you can simply retake it and guarantee capturing whatever generals are in it. However, this tactic is impossible with one city remaining, as even though you may let one enemy unit take your city with an entire army waiting to retake, the game deems you "wiped out" and suddenly tens of thousands of troops in the field magically disappear along with your generals.

Things like these, along with the elimination of the ability to play an officer (which made ROTK10 so fun, even though it was single player for some reason), brings this game down a couple notches. Still fun to play, but I swear Koei purposefully puts boneheaded flaws in to justify another release. I'd love to see what a fully updated ROTK would be like, combining the best features of previous releases and finally taking care of some things that have plagued this franchise since its inception...but that wouldn't encourage future releases (and money), would it?

However, as this may seem like a negative review, I liked the game overall. It had me addicted for hours on end at one point, so its mission is accomplished. Fun gameplay, great replay value, great musical score. A good update on the series, but as usual, it has its flaws.

Nintendo Wii Console Black with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Of course the WII is awesome. Bought the extended range bar because we have a huge living room. Works great, got here on time, good price, can't complain. I got mine for 138 bucks and they are at walmart for 129.99. No biggie though. Saved me from having to make a trip to that hell hole. Thanks!

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I like to shop Amazon to save money. But this is one item I have found you can pick up at Wal-Mart or Hastings for about $130.00. Now keep in mind other that the DSI XL. The last system I bought was the PS2. But I am amazed at all this system does. It kinda turns your TV into a smart TV. The one thing I really do like is you can use it with the Amazon instant video channel to play your Amazon unbox videos on your tv, which has brought me back to watching movies and tv shows I had bought some time ago. The console includes 2 games on 1 disc WII sports and WII sports resort which combined give you about 18 games to play. I havent tried them all but I have tried a few of the games. So I feel it is a nice starter kit. Also Comes with a WII motion plus remote and a numchuck. I am well pleased with this purchase.

Best Deals for Nintendo Wii Console Black with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort

We are happy with our wii, but so disappointed that we cannot play our gamecube games on it. I called customer support and they said any new wii with a serial number that starts with "KU" is no longer compatible with gamecube. The older wii consoles could play those games with the gamecube remotes plugged into ports on the side.

I might have bought a used one had I known that!

Honest reviews on Nintendo Wii Console Black with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort

It's a perfect gift for my son(5and half years old). we really enjoyed almost all the games! we highly recommend to all parents who has a young child.

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My Wii came very fast and works great. I love the fact I do not need Dish any more to see movies.

Reviews of Pokemon Stadium 2

Customer Ratings:

I found out about Pokemon characters in another Nintendo game, Super Smash Brothers. I spent many hours annoying friends with Piakchu's battle cry and shortly after rented Pokemon Stadium. I loved the game play in it and a friend and I spent many hours in front of the tv hooting and hollering at each other in the midst of battle.

The other day, Pokemon Stadium 2 hit the shelves and I debated about renting it, said what the heck and just bought it. After investing my money it, I came home, showed it to a few people in the dorm and shortly had three or four people in my room. We had back seat battlers calling out commands to the people with controllers and people wandering in to see what was going on. One of the nice things about the game is the ability for 4 controllers to be used. I was curious how they were going to do this and found out it's in the free battle arena. Each person chooses 6 Pokemon and then right before the battle begins you choose 3 each and then switch between trainers in battle, a bit like a tag team.

About half of the game is one player and the rest of it is in two -four player mode.

I'm still working my way through the gyms and, yes, they do get harder as you move along. I've been frustrated by some of the higher trainers more than once.

The "battle now" idea they have is very good. If you and a friend want to sit down and have a quick little go between the two of you this is a good way to go. It is right there on the main screen and you click on it and the system randomly picks 6 Pokemon for you to battle with, this can be done in one or two player mode.

The little mini-games are so cute. If you pay attention to your own screen, un-like I did the first time, you should do well. If you want to make sure you win there is an easy setting, if you want a challenge set the system to hard.

In event battle there are 4 cups, the Prime Cup, the Poke Cup, the Little Cup and the Challenge Cup. In the challenge cup instead of you using your Pokemon's the computer picks them for you and you can battle on the settings for the Prime, Poke and little cups.

To be honest, I have yet to get through everything. I'm currently working on finding a Gameboy Pokemon game so that I can access everything this game has to offer, (as in Pokemon Stadium you need a transfer pack, and sadly it's not included in the game) yet with out it I've had many hours of battle already. Those new Pokemon are toooo cute. My faves? Of the new guys, I've found good battle buddies in Jumpluff, Skarmory, and Girafarig. My tried and true battle companions from Pokemon Stadium are Rapidash, Pikachu and Snorlax. Now... who'll help you win all those battles?

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This is a great game. In Pokémon Stadium 2, there are a lot of changes and a lot of updates. In GB Tower, you can play your Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver or Crystal. There are 12 new mini games, new Gym Leaders for Gym Leader Castle, and my personal favorite feature, Mystery Gift. On the Main Menu there is a button that says 'Mystery Gift'. What this does is lets you do Mystery Gift with a girl every day. This is good if you want to get new items to make your '3D Room' look cool in White City, get new items, dolls, beds, consoles and more. My cousin and I like to make fun of the girl there. For example, I did Mystery Gift with the girl, I got PSNCUREBERRY when she got an N64. Not fair right? Like I mentioned before, there is a feature that let's you see your room in 3D. Very detailed! You can see the stiches in the Charmander doll, you can see the console with all the details, see you posters and more! I highly recommend this game for people who like Pokémon!

Best Deals for Pokemon Stadium 2

Once I get this outrageous title, I will use the old pokemon characters (i.e. Red, Blue, or Yellow) to play through the entire game. However, don't take this game on until you beat the original Pokemon Stadium in both Rounds 1 and 2. You thought it was enough. Think again! The battles are not over! You have 2 more rounds to face in this upcoming adventure. You get to pick from 4 tournaments:

Little Cup=Level 5 or lower.

Nintendo Cup=Level 50-55.

Challenge Cup=Pika, Petit, Poke, and Prime Cups.

Ultra Cup=Pokemon up to Level 100.

You might think this is the same as the original, but don't worry! You'll get to meet new characters (i.e. Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, etc.). See ya!

Honest reviews on Pokemon Stadium 2

Pokemon Stadium 2 is a sequel to the first one. You can now use all of the Gold and Silver Pokemon in an even better game. There are new features to this game, such as:

POKEMON ACADAMY: Learn rules of battle and strategies on three different levels. To pass each level, you have to listen to lectures, pass a test, and beat trainers set up to help you learn different strategies to use on your opponents.

NEW CUPS: You now have to master 4 all-new, challenging cups. The Little cup is for level 5 and under Pokemon, and strategy is critical. The Poke Cup returns, but has different trainers. With a level range of 50-55, it requires both strategy and power. The Prime Cup is unlimited, and requires a bit of strategy combined with brute strength. The hardest of all, Challenge Cup, makes you fight with a random team on the spot.

MINIGAMES: The new Stadium Minigames are always fun. Gusty Golbat makes you move a Golbat and collect hearts while avoiding Magnamites. In Topsy Turvy, you rapid Spin and knock your opponent out of the ring. When you get 5 Ko's, you win. In Clear Cut Challenge, you try to push A at a log's white line to make your Pinsir or Scyther cut it. In Furret's frolic, you pop up all over and try to push balls into your goal. In Barrier Ball, you play a 4-way Pong game. First one to score five goals wins. Pichu's Power Plant is a more challenging version of Thundering Dynamo. You hook on to one of four lamps and rapidly push either A or B until it goes out. The first one to get a full power meter wins. Rampage Rollout is a race with four Donphans. The people in 2nd third and forth get tornadoes to unleash that make whoever runs into them spin out.In Streaming Stampede, you count the number of Pokemon that run by and push A for each one. If you are within 2, you get points. Tumbling Togepi is like Run Rattata Run. Togepi must dodge logs and Digletts to get to the finish line first. Delibird's Delivery requires you to gather gifts and bring them back to score points. In Egg Emergency, you catch eggs with Chanseys while avoiding Voltorbs which delete from your egg count. In Eager Eevee, you push A when the barrel is raised to get the prize. If you are close to first you get some of it. Pincos make you sit out a turn.

GYM LEADER CASTLE: Like the first one, only with the Gold and Silver Gym Leaders

This is a pretty good game. It is one of the few good Pokemon products. It's a good N64 game pick for anyone interested.

Discount Drop shot, Auto-aim, Jitter Xbox 360 Modded Controller COD MW3

Customer Ratings:

What an amazing buy!

So I bought this controller so that I could help my friends create a "Mk14" clan, where we all just ran around with mods and got people angry and stuff. After much research on the market, I had my sights set on an Evil Controller, but to my dismay, their controllers were a little out of my budget. Having tried my friend Sam's Evil Controller, I can say that those are of high quality. So I was a little disappointed when I saw the price tag. Hoping that Amazon might have them at a cheaper price, I came here to search for a modded controller. After a couple days of window browsing and reading reviews, I bought this one and, believe me, I could not have been happier with my choice.

This controller is sleek and pretty. The color buttons are colored black and look very stylish. Honestly, if you don't know where the A,X,B,Y buttons are by now, then you're not playing Xbox enough so there really is no detriment in taking away the corny colors. The triggers are pretty standard, no difference noted so far. The bumpers are also equally as responsive. But I think people will be happy with the directional pad. It is less clunky than your standard Xbox controller, an important feature to have when selecting which killstreak to activate mid-game and also a bonus for other games you might play.

Where the controller stood out to me were the lights. The thumbsticks and the home button both light up. They are a nice, strong set of colors. My only complaint here is that the home button does not feel nearly as nice as the original, metallic home button. I understand they did this so that the light would show through much better, but it always nags me in the back of my mind whenever I hit the button to join a party online. It's a small voice that says, "Man, that feels so cheap." But, of course, it is quickly shoved aside once gameplay commences and you turn on the mod.

Should you order this product, as with all GenuisModz controllers, it will ship in a very professional looking box. In fact, I saved the box simply because of how nice it looks along with its manual. The manual is aesthetically pleasing AND informative. There is nearly no room for confusion when reading the manual's instructions, and once you give it a look over or two, you probably won't ever be needing it again. Customizing the mod is pretty easy indeed.

And for my final comment, the mod button seems fine. I've always liked mods that have an extra button. Never liked using the sync button to shuffle through the mods either and GeniusModz did the right thing, I think, in adding a button on the backside in a convenient area that is easy to reach but will not interfere with the manner in which you hold the controller.

Overall, it's a great buy. You won't be disappointed.

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These controllers are awesome. I don't know I've managed all this time without them. These are great for COD playing Zombies. I'll definately buy from these guys again and recommend them to anybody.

Best Deals for Drop shot, Auto-aim, Jitter Xbox 360 Modded Controller COD MW3

I am updating my previous review. Genius mods did get a new working controller to me. A little later than I hoped but my brother is happy it works great and looks amazing. I ordered this as a gift For my brother. I received it and tested it out to make sure it worked. I placed new batteries in it and it turned on and synced up with my xbox 360. I was testing out how the thumbsticks and guide buttons changed colors, the guide button did not work. After a few minutes it did(and the LED's look great very cool) however it turned off and did not turn back on. I tried different batteries nothing the thumbsticks light the rapid fire buitton lights but it will no turn on. I contacted customer service who is hard to reach, and left a email, vm and face book message. THey advised me to send it back. I had to go to the post office pay to send it back (they did reimburse me) I provided them a tracking number and asked them to send a replacement overnight so I could get it to my brother for his bday. They assured me they would send a new one once they received the old one. I sent it on a Tuesday and they received it on Thursday. I did receive a working controller a little later than I wanted but it does work great and I appreciate there help with the situation.

Honest reviews on Drop shot, Auto-aim, Jitter Xbox 360 Modded Controller COD MW3

The pictures of this controller do not do it justice. It's gotten to the point where I almost always use this controller to play. I have a bunch of modded controllers already but this one is so fun to use at night. The leds pop and everytime I get a knife kill it switches color. The mods on these controllers have already been my favorite as I have a few using this particular program. I've been getting from this seller for awhile and they seem to have taken their controllers to the next level. The controllers now come in these really professional looking boxes with these giant colored instruction manuals. But the problem now is that in the manual there are examples of other controllers they make and now I want more styles. But I think whatever controllers I get from now on are gonna have to have these LED kits in them.

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I've had a few modded controllers, and this is my current favorite. I love the LEDs in the thumbsticks and guide button, they really set off the controller. The LEDs can change colors as well! I didn't know how to turn them on at first, so I called the company and they explained it to me. Excellent customer service. For those who are wondering, the LEDs turn on by holding the sync button (this turns on the guide LED) and for the thumbsticks you hold the right thumbtsick and they turn on. To change the colors you tap the sync (to change the guide LED color) and you click the thumbsticks to change the thumbstick LED color. The colors are great since you can mix and match to whatever you like, definitely keeps the style of the controller fresh since you can change the color each time you play!

Mod was easy to use, came with a nice booklet and everything. Very professional. I definitely recommend this mod to anyone.

Buy Driving Simulator - SIMURIDE for car/bus/truck manual/automatic

Customer Ratings:

At first glance, you're probably thinking, "What would I use a driving simulator for?" Even if you've never actually used one, a lot of people try a driving simulator for different reasons. Many people are using them now to teach students about driving conditions and how to control their car on the road. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want someone who doesn't know how to drive to be on the road, and a driving simulator teaches them how to use the car so they can become safe drivers--even without ever getting behind the wheel. Most places are now encouraging driving students to use driving simulators and some driving schools are purchasing them for the benefit of their students.

I think that the driving simulator is an awesome invention and is a really neat item to invest in. Even if you don't think that you need driving instruction, you can just play around on it and have fun. The crazy thing about the driving simulator is how realistic it is. It has three monitors that surround you so you actually feel like you are driving on the road, except you can't hurt anyone if you're inexperienced! The way the driving simulator works makes everything feel so real; it's like you're in your own virtual world. It can make you think you're driving in extreme conditions or on a sunny day.

The driving simulator also lets you choose from different settings so you can practice driving in different conditions. You can make it rain or drive in fog or you can drive in the city or on the highway. There are a lot of different settings you can choose from and they all help you become a better driver. Plus, it gives feedback and tells you what you've done wrong so you can practice for your driving test. It isn't just for teen drivers either.

If you need your bus or semi-truck license, you can use the driving simulator to help you learn. It will get rid of your nerves once you actually make it to the road because you'll already have a feel for how to drive your desired vehicle.

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The three monitor driving simulator is really neat and it isn't even that expensive. For less than $1,000 you can get cool items, but how many people have a driving simulator in their home or at their school? It seems expensive at first glance, but when you consider all the features it offers and the benefits of a driving simulator, it is actually quite affordable. It can be more than just a learning tool-it's actually a lot of fun as well.

The Pros:

* A driving simulator is like a video game, but designed for learning purposes it comes with a lot of cool features. You can pick from a variety of road conditions and even decide on different cars to drive. Some of these features include automatic or manual transmissions, small passenger vehicles, bus, or truck, city driving, country driving, or highway driving, and you can even decide what whether conditions you want to drive in such as in fog, at night, in rain, or on a sunny day.

* With three screens on the driving simulator that semi surround you, it feels like you're actually driving in these conditions. It's designed to help you learn how to drive, and it really works! The driving simulator even displays your mistakes and gives a final report. It records when you don't stop at stop signs, don't wear your seat belt, when you speed, and other mistakes you might make.

* What's so cool about this driving simulator is that the army uses software like this to train pilots and teach their soldiers to drive tanks. It actually feels like you're in that situation and it teaches students muscle memory and puts them in situations they might never be in--simply to prepare them for the road.

* The person using the driving simulator can actually feel that they have control of the car. You can use it as a simple at-home video game, or the driving simulator can be used to teach students the rules of the road, how to control a car, and other aspects of driving before actually driving a real car. Plus, a driving simulator speeds up your training and helps you have an advantage to passing your driving test.

The Cons:

* It is slightly expensive but let's face it paying for time to drive a truck is really costly too.

* It isn't the real road. While this game is great for learning, practicing and getting a feel for how things should be, you will still need some practice in a real vehicle.

Is it worth it?

In short: Yes! It is a great way to practice from your own home or school without paying the hefty rental fees to use a real vehicle. It is a great tool to add into your learning process.

Best Deals for Driving Simulator - SIMURIDE for car/bus/truck manual/automatic

I had the privilege of owning its predecessor several years ago, the G25, so I knew mostly what to expect with this new G27, but I was still expecting so much more from Logitech. The expression "Logitech giveth and Logitech taketh away" seems most pertinent.

So, let's start:

Opening the box and getting everything out is very simple. All the parts are well designed, but you're immediately greeted with what I think is the biggest issue with the G25/27 set, the cables. So many cables! 400 cables! (at least it feels like it)

The wheel has a cable coming out of it that goes into your PS3; the pedals have a cable coming out of it; the shifter has a cable coming out of it, and then there's the power brick that has a cable to be plugged in. All these cables plug into the wheel itself, and it's definitely not a pretty sight. I don't know about other people, but I don't have a place where I can leave my steering wheel/shifter/pedals plugged in 24/7, so setting all this up and putting it away again is a COMPLETE pain in the rear.

Putting the cable issue aside, there's a lot to like with the G27. It's an improvement over the G25 in many ways:

1.) The G27 wheel uses helical gears (or diagonal-cut gears) vs the G25's straight-cut gears. What this means is that there's a reduction in noise when turning the wheel, and it's also smoother while maintaing powerful force feedback! Great stuff!

2.) The shifter on the G27 no longer has a sequential mode (i.e. clicks up and down only), which is no big loss to me. I prefer either the regular 6-speed or using the paddle shifts on the wheel. While it may seem that this is still a LOSS compared to the G25's 6-speed AND sequential shifting, the new addition to the G27 is that the gears don't CLICK into place. On the G25, every gear change would greet you with a CLICK as the gear was put into place. Logitech have removed this sound so the gear movements don't hurt your ears with their plastic sounds as the G25 did. Now, some people have modified their G25 shifters to remove this sound, but it voids your warranty and I've read of several people irreparably breaking their shifters by doing this... In any case, for me, the G27 shifter is an improvement over the out-of-the-box G25 shifter.

3.) The pedals are now adjustable, which makes it a joy to heel-and-toe while racing. The pedal layout is a huge deal more comfortable than on the G25 pedals. This, for me, is a huge improvement. My right foot would get very uncomfortable with the G25 layout.

4.) There's a new set of tachometer LEDs on the wheel, though I've yet to play any game that supports them yet... It's a neat little feature, though, if it does as advertised.

5.) The G27 also has some more buttons on the steering wheel, which you can customize, of course.

So how does it play?

VERY well, depending on the software!

Need for Speed: Shift PS3:

I first tried out Need for Speed: Shift on the Playstation 3, and was pleasantly surprised to see that no setup is needed, and the controls just work. In fact, it even shows you a picture of the wheel/pedals on the control screen (albeit just the G25, but still...). It's great to have the wheel work out of the box with no tinkering. THAT said, there's perhaps too much force feedback in Shift to be particularly comfortable. The faster you get, the more the wheel fights with you. At 120mph, it's very hard to keep the wheel straight. I've track-driven several times at near 150mph speeds at times, and I can safely say my steering wheel doesn't fight me in real life like it did in the game...

So, for ease of use with Shift, I'd say 5/10. It's just too hard to keep the wheel straight at relatively high speeds...

Gran Turismo: Prologue PS3:

NOW we're talking. None of the fighting I experienced in Need for Speed: Shift, and plenty of smooth corners and subtle force feedback. It's fair to say the force feedback is a tad muted in Prologue, but it's infinitely more comfortable to play than Shift, and a real joy to hit those apexes time and time again. 9/10.

Overall, this wheel is excellent, but the pain of setting it up is just too much to ignore. It really is a cable nightmare. The wheel, pedals and shifter could easily be wireless by this point, meaning the only cable needed would be a power cable to the steering wheel for the force feedback to work. I suspect the inevitable G29 will remedy this, as the way the G27 currently works is a direct copy of the G25 which is 3 years old as of November, 2009.

Overall, though, a great wheel, if you can be bothered to go through the setting it up...!

4/5

Note: This wheel is for PC AND PS3.

Discount NHL 2K11 - Nintendo Wii

Customer Ratings:

Okay, okay, okay.

As you might have noticed, there are many people complaining about how it's SUPER hard to get a shot off. First, let me say I was TOTALLY on that bandwagon. I couldn't get a shot off to save my life. I mean in forever. Super frustrating. I must have played this for a couple months off and on trying to figure out how to get shots off on a regular basis.

Initially, I rated this 4 stars instead of 5, because the manual does a poor job with instructions. As you'll read further in the post, you'll see where I mention how to get to the really cool tutorials. Night and day difference.

I'm 41. It's been a long time since I played console video games. So, I thought maybe I just was out of the loop on the whole Wii thing.

Nope! Once you figure out how to shoot, this game totally rocks. Blows away most games I've even played. And what can I say? It's hockey. Oh yeah!

How to figure out how to shoot & score: Okay, here's how you learn to shoot. PRIORITY: The Wii remote MUST be pointed at the screen as if the arrow was on the screen. If you do not get the remote so that the invisible arrow would be on the screen, you will NOT ever get shots off. I say invisible, because when the game is active, there will be NO arrow. Another thing, you MUST be good at holding the Wii remote fairly steady (while pointing it at the screen). For the longest time, I thought it didn't matter where the remote was pointed, as long as you press "B". WRONG!!! It matters. Next, while holding the Wii remote steady, and pointing it at the screen, you press "B" and then you have 2 options. After pressing "B" first you can 1) flick Wii remote quickly to the LEFT. This left motion will give you the quick "wrist shot." The other option, after pressing "B" is to flick quickly RIGHT & IMMEDIATELY LEFT. This will give you a "slap shot."

BTW:

HUGE TIP #1

If you go to

>>"Game Modes"

>> "Practice"

>> "Tutorials"

the game shows you how to to shoot, as well as trick plays, checking, etc

There are "offensive" tutorials

And "defensive" tutorials

Hockey practice! Oh yeah!

HUGE TIP #2

When attacking the goal, many times, a successful goal depends upon pressing "B" and waiting for a split second before you flick the remote. This will cause the goalie to sort of freeze thinking you are shooting, while you are actually trying to time it so the shot goes in the right place.

HUGE TIP #3

Attack the goal, just as they would do in a real game. If you sit around trying to get fancy (thinking too much about the shot) you will be stuck in your frustration (just like in real life). Yup. Very realistic.

After practicing with the tutorials, I've went from sucking on the "Rookie" level to winning on the "Pro" level. In the past, I used to choose the "better" team for myself and the "bad" team for the computer (playing on rookie level) and still lose. I can actually choose a crappy team for myself and a great team for the computer (rookie level) and still win.

Now, I'm playing the "All-Star" level. I win about half the time.

The realism in this game is that, just as in life, you get better when you practice. And this game has PLENTY OF ROOM for practicing and improvement.

Very cool! Have fun with your addiction. But, it's important that you enlist a designated person to make sure you can stop playing.

UPDATE (8-28-12): I just changed my rating from 4-stars to 5-stars. Over the past couple days, I changed the "Difficulty" level from "All-Star" to "Hall-of-Fame." And I managed to win 3 out of 4 games. CRAZY. Albeit, 2 of the games I had to win in shootouts, and in the game I lost, I was BLOWN OUT. Still,there's no way I would've expected ever winning on "Hall-of-Fame" level (I'm using an equal strength team with the computer. This is why I'm increasing the rating to 5 stars. This game is SUPER COOL!

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I've played this game for about a week now and I have to say it seriously sucks. It is literally a carbon copy of NHL 2k10, only with different sponsors and the addition of the Winter Classic (don't get excited, you can only play as either Philly or Boston) and 'The Road to the Cup' which is basically a party game where you compete in mini challenges.

I had hoped this game would take advantage of MotionPlus but I can't even use it to play because it seems to make things more complicated. I could never get a shot off, even on a breakaway, no matter how hard I flicked my wrist. I've heard several people (and read some reviews) that suggest buying a clasic controller and see how you like this game after that. But what's the point in using a regular controller if you have a Wii?

The commentary is exactly the same as the last version of this game and so are the introductions of the teams, as well as the weird menu layout.

I haven't played Franchise yet and seen what happens when you win the Cup but I assume that will likely be as big a letdown as 2k10 was (NO fanfare at all, all you got to do was skate the cup and take a team picture).

In the games I've played, I've noticed the goalies move more lifelike than in 2k10 but players on the opposing team seem to score from very far out and from awkward angles.

Overall, there is ver, VERY little new about this game which was very disappointing. Fortunately NHL Slapshot comes out later this month so maybe I won't have to go another full year playing 2k10. On the upside, I now have a chance to chase down some of Gretzky's records on that game in Franchise mode. My advice would be to hold out for Slapshot and pray that EA eventually starts making hockey for Wii because if this is all 2k sports can do, they shouldn't even bother.

Best Deals for NHL 2K11 - Nintendo Wii

First of all, I really love sports video games, and among them, in my opinion, ice hockey is the best, the most fast paced adrenalin rushed sport video game of all.

I tried a few of the NHL franchise games from EA Sports in the past, back from Super NES days to XBOX, PS consoles more recently, but this is my first 2K Sports video game, and since there are no other hockey options for the wii, I decided to try this one, besides I guess I was too impatient to wait for the upcoming EA Sports NHL Slapshot.

That said, this game is definitely a good hockey game but with a few cons, among them:

The motion plus control thing in this game is really bad, specially when shooting, the B button pushing + remote shaking, makes me sick, nearly 70-80% of the shots I try using that combo, are never translated to an actual shot in the game, so I end up with no shot at all, without the puck, and in front of the goalie, it's very frustrating. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe I have to use the remote and nunchuk (R&N) combo as a pair of maracas and play some samba with it!, but at this point I gave up with the motion plus in here and ended up using the plain R&N combo with no motion plus at all. By the way, even though I think I'm a good video game player, and I usually beat most friends and family members I play against, my 8 year old nephew beats me at this game, maybe it's because he shakes the remote wildly indeed like a maraca, and the motion plus finally get its job done.

The user interface is not very efficient, you can get used to it but it's somewhat confusing at first. EA Sports games interfaces are definitely much better designed.

Playing against the computer is not fair at all so most of the times you'll lose, even in rookie difficulty, sometimes the other team scores so easily and you just have to sweat to score a single goal.

I don't know if my memory is betraying me but I think that all the players faces do not merely look the same, they are in fact the same face for everyone!

Finally, there are some moves that are virtually impossible to achieve in the heat of the game, for instance, juggling-the-puck-with-the-stick-in-the-air-and-shoot move, they're hard already to try them in the tutorial, so it's ridiculously difficult to do it during a regular game, so I don't bother even trying.

In conclusion, maybe I should have waited for NHL Slapshot to arrive, though it's fair to say it's not that bad overall, however, I've never considered buying a classic controller (Pro) for the Wii until now, I was doing fine with the usual R&N combo for most games so far, besides, what's the point of using the wii with a classic controller, in that case it's better to get an xbox 360 or PS3 for that matter, but I'm definitely going to try this game with that controller configuration to see how it works, in the meantime, while I wait for the controller to be delivered at my door, I guess I'm gonna keep losing scoring chances a lot from shots that never happened while sweating my way throughout some playoffs campaign.

Honest reviews on NHL 2K11 - Nintendo Wii

I recently got NHL 2k11 and have been playing for about a week. I really don't like it. I used to play 2k8 and enjoyed that very much, even though there were major glitches in some of the menu options such as the playoffs.

I don't have motion plus but from what I gather there isn't much difference between a regular wiimote. Shooting is extremely frustrating. The response is slow and you have to flick the remote upwards and half the time it doesn't shoot when you want it to. Slap shots have a slow reaction too. I seem to remember you could shoot any way you wanted with the 2K8 version. There seems to be no imagination on the computer in terms of shooting the puck. Every time it seems to go straight into the goalies chest. Checking is piss poor as you have to now shake both wii mote and nunchuck for a check.

Winter classic mode is worthless as you can only play as 2 teams. Also, they seem to have gotten rid of the classic teams you could play as from the 2k8 version. HUGE drawback in my mind. Instead they put time in money into other trivial aspects of the game.

Don't waste your money on this!! Stick with older versions if you liked those.

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This is the first NHL game I have played for Wii and it is a lot of fun. The action is fast-paced and there is much more action than in a true NHL game. The controls are fairly easy to master and the announcer commentary is entertaining. Still haven't been able to figure out how to switch goalies which would be my only complaint about the game. The graphics are good, the game play is realistic and you have a wonderful variety of teams and uniforms to choose from. We enjoy the game considerably.

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The evil witch Gruntilda has stolen Banjo's younger sister, Tooty, in hopes to steal her beauty. Banjo, and Kazooie, the bird that's lodged in his pack, will have to rescue her. You start off in Spiral Mountain, in which the mole, Bottles, will teach you some basic moves. Then you move on to Gruntilda's gigantic lair, in which you will be searching all over for world entrances, into Munbo's Mountain, and Treasure Trove Cove, Clanker's ( a large shark-shaped trash compacter) Cavern, Bubblegloop Swamp, Frezeezy Peak, Gobi's Valley, Mad Monster Mansion, Rusy Bucket Bay, Click-Clock Wood, then Grunty's game show, in which you answer Banjo trivia, and finnally the final battle. Yes, its a lot, and it will take you quite a long time. But it is SOOO fun!

In each world, you will find:

10 jigsaw pieces, or jiggies, which are either lying around or a reward for doing, or defeating something. You use jiggies to open the door to each world (note: sometimes puzzles are faar away from the actual world)

100 musical notes. These are used to get through musical doors, to advance farther in your quest. These are much easier to get than jiggies.

5 Jinjos. A mix between a dino and teddy bear. if you find all five in a world, you get a jiggy.

1 Witch switch. Hammer this switch with Grunty's face on it and a Jiggy will appear somewhere in the lair.

Bottles. In every world up to Gobi's valley, he has a molehill, and if called on, will teach you a new move.

Mumbo: He's only in some worlds, in a big shaman's skull, bring him Mumbo tokens and he will change you into a different creature, essential for findind some jiggies and notes.

Cheeto: He hides in the dark corners of the liar. He doubles your capacity for; blue eggs (ammo), red feathers (flying), and gold feathers (invincebility).

Cauldrons: these also hide in the nooks and crannies of the lair. They provide shortcuts within the lair.

I suggest buying a strategy guide, it's very hard trying to find where the jiggies and notes are.

I am amazed by Rare's building of the worlds and lair. This game will be so much fun. You'll find yourself addicted.

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I have never played anything like this since. Everything from Sly Racoon, to Ratchet and Clank, owe it to this.

Wicked witch Gruntilda takes Banjo's sister to hey layer, miles away in a realistic 3D cartoon world.

Banjo is a bear with Kazooie a bird in his backpack that can help him jump and fly and basically you learn to do lots of things with it. You solve puzzles via action and collect tolkens across lovely maps. Mumbo Jumbo transforms Banjo into some other creatures along the way. You can fly. It was amazing. A full adventure all the way to end. We played it for months and I have NEVER played anything like it again. The makers of Donkey Kong released it at the best time. It is now up to the future generations to make adventure concepts better than this one. This is one of the best N64 games ever.

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Rareware words fail me. Again they have made a quality title beyond imagination. Creative beyond a shadow of a doubt. 95 % of people agree, that Banjo-Kazooie is a landmark title with everything the N64 has to offer, and that it is worthy of 5 out of 5 stars . While developed early in N64's lifespan, the graphics stand out beyond many titles recently released. The sound is equally as impressive (for N64), and the game has been cleverly melded with it to make you feel as the atmosphere of the game has changed, depending on your situation.

I am proud to say many people love this game. Many of my friends still play it occasionally, however few have beaten it all the way. This game is solid for 50+ hours of gaming, but only when you are willing to get every last puzzle piece and musical note, and every other item. Some people dislike it, and do not be fooled; a 27 year male old who listens to ultra-hard rock and loves games with extreme violence and/or nudity will NOT like this game. It is by no means for everybody. Many gamers, from preschool to high school will like it, but not everybody.

The controls are easy enough to master, and any avid or casual gamer will easily master them with a little practice. The sound is superb. The graphics are good, for an N64 title. There is not a dull moment in this game, and the attention to detail is amazing. The puzzles, the meat of the game, are easy enough for older kids to have a challenge and not to hard for younger kids. The puzzle peices, your reward for completeing a puzzle, are well hidden. The musical notes, the only way to advance to the next portion of the overworld, are challenging to find. The most fun part of the game, visiting Mumbo, is quite enjoyable. He transforms you into various forms. A fat walrus, a termite, and even a bumble bee. There isn't really an advancing story, but that's okay. You get an occasional cinematic, but it's pretty basic.

The story goes...

The evil witch, Gruntilda, is happily hanging out atop her mountain WHEN... The "cute" Tootie, sister of Banjo the bear, strolls by. Overcome with jealousy, she sees Tootie is quite a bit "cuter" than her. So she kidnapps Banjo's sister and creates a machine to suck Tootie's "cuteness" out and put it into her. Banjo and his sidekick breegull, Kazooie set off to find Tootie. A mole named Bottles helps them learn some new moves to defeat various obsticles in the game.

Well, I hope you enjoy this game. Thanks for reading this review, and until next time...

CRIMSON|RED

Honest reviews on Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is a game that didn't really appeal to me at first. It looked to childish, to easy, and just basically stupid. Comming from the epic company Rareware, I was a bit more interested in what this game was about. Seeing so many good reviews and so many possitive aspects, I realized I must give this game a try. Well, was I ever lucky to do so. Keeping with the Mario 64 type control style and the amazing graphics, I couldn't put the game down. Even though the game was kiddie looking and very childish too, it was really placed for us people who love adventure games. The little things, such as the mini games, make this game even better than it already was. Imagine running around in the snow in a race against a sleding polar bear or playing follow the leader with a giant ghost hand. These are only a few of the things you can do in the game. The game flows a little different than Mario fans might be used to; you have many things to collect. For starters, your main objective is to find all the Jiggys on a level so you can gain access to all other levels. Also, music notes are needed to break the witches spell on doors throughout her lair. And even little guys called Jinjo's are here for you to collect, so they can help you on your journey, through a forest, islands, deserts, and many other worlds. If you have seen a Rare game, you know that they have good graphics, so no exception here, very well done. The music is also a plus feature on this game. With so many great reviews by people of all ages and sexes, you would be doing yourself a great disjustice by not buying this game.

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I've had this game since way back when it was released; I just never got the chance to write a review.

The Story: Banjo's sister, Tooty, was "the most beautiful girl around" and Grunty the witch wanted her beauty, so she pulled an Amber Alert and took her to her lair. Banjo's lazy bum the whole time was sleeping. It's up to you to get jiggy's and notes and what-not to stop Grunty and get Banjo's sister back.

Graphics: 9.5/10. Awesomely different and creative worlds. From a sewer, to a pirate ship on an island, to a desert and into an icy snowland, there are tons of different and unique worlds to play through. The graphics are stellar for the N64, with bright colors and cool characters with good animations. This is one of the best N64 games as far as graphics go next to games like Donkey Kong 64 and Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Sound: 9/10. There aren't really any voices in this game; just kind of sound effects that are different for each character. Blubber on Treasure Grove Cove sounds like he's burping or throwing up, Kazooie sounds like a gagging bird, Banjo sounds like a big old hick of a bear... and so on. The music in this game, though, is some of the catchiest and the best music i've heard in really any adventure game. The music doesn't really get old, and whoever created it is brilliant. Overall, the sound is really, really good.

Control: 8.5/10. Being an adventure game, there are a lot of different controls for a lot of different moves. And since the N64 controller is the way it is ( pretty annoying ) it's easy to get confused even after playing for hours on end, just because you go brain dead. The controls are a bit strange at first to do some of the attacks, but you will get used to them anyways.

Fun: 9/10. A great game from beginning to end. Get the jiggys, move on. Get the notes, move on. That simple? No. This game is challenging and is for all ages, even if it does have a kiddy approach. The game lasts maybe 40 hours or so depending on how fast you get through the game. Great characters, great level design, and fantastic music makes this a must buy. This is one of the best games on the N64, and I.M.O., the best adventure game. Pick this game up now; it is better than its sequel and the Game Boy Advanced ones, even if all three are fantastic. Buy this game!!

9.3/10

Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods and Kings - PC Review

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As of the date of this review, the base Civilization V game has an overall rating of 2.5 on Amazon. This, perhaps more than everything else, goes to show the wide divergence of opinions directed towards the latest Civilization installment.

While the complaints directed towards Civ V by its critics are diverse, the one heard the most often is that the game has been simplified too much. "Dumbed down" is the colloquial expression heard most often about the game by its detractors. I myself am very fond of Civ V, but in my review of the base game on Amazon, I pointed out several items detracting from the game, including the lack of espionage and unintuitive diplomacy options.

With the release of the Civilization V: Gods & Kings expansion, those concerns have been addressed splendidly.

First, religion has been restored to Civilization V. Many have criticized the lack of religion from Civ 5, after having it be a major part of Civ IV. Not only is religion back in Civ V with the Gods & Kings expansion, but it is now better than ever. Specifically, when you start a religion early in the game, you are not only given the choice of which religion to begin but also allowed to choose the enhancements/perks your religion provides to the cities following that religion. In addition, you are periodically given the Great Prophet unit, which can do a number of interesting functions: spreading your religion to other cities, giving your religion further enhancements, etc.

Religion was fun in Civ IV, but could also be ignored fairly easily. Civ V makes religion more important, more intuitive, and more fun. You will not want to ignore it because of how enjoyable it is to manage.

Second, the other major addition (or restoration, depending on your point of view) is espionage. Espionage has been addressed in previous Civilization games (notably, the Sid Meiers Civilization IV Beyond the Sword expansion), but I feel it is implemented in a more enjoyable way in the Civ V: Gods & Kings expansion. Instead of bogging you down in micromanagement, the espionage feature in Gods & Kings allows you to pick where to spend your spies, and then after a few turns you begin to get some feedback from your spies and options on how to proceed. Options range from stealing technology from another nation (for which your spy may get caught, resulting in negative diplomatic repercussions), trying to stage a coup in a City State, instituting counter-intelligence measures in your own cities, etc.

However, perhaps the coolest part of espionage is when your spy informs you that a nation is planning a sneak attack on another nation. You can then inform the third-party nation to warn them of the impending attack (improving your diplomatic standing with that nation) or do nothing and take advantage of the situation.

Third, Civ V, when originally released, featured some bizarre actions by the AI. Nations that were friendly towards you on one turn could very well denounce you three turns laterfor no apparent reasonand then refuse to trade with you. Compounding these unusual actions was the fact that Civ V provided no feedback or rationale as to why a given leader liked or disliked you.

With Civ V: Gods & Kings, you will notice significantly improved AI; it is not perfect, but it is a lot better than it was in the base game. For one thing, the interface now tells you exactly the reasons for why a leader is friendly or hostile towards you (a la Civ IV). In general, the AI is more consistent now; I have not seen any instances of schizophrenic behavior that sometimes plagued the original Civ V.

What this means is that you will see much more realistic and more predictable behavior by AI nations. Now, as you get in the middle and later parts of the game, you will see natural alliances begin to develop between you and the nations you are friendly with, and you will even see nations that are hostile towards you begin to form alliances among themselves.

There are some other enhancements in the Gods & Kings expansion worth mentioning. Beyond giving us new units, new buildings, and new wonders, the City State mechanic has also been improved. You can still give City States gold to influence them, but now they frequently give diverse "quests" to improve your standing.

Finally, it is interesting to note that beyond adding religion and espionage and the new units/buildings/wonders, the designers also tinkered a bit with the basic rules of Civ V. A few brief examplesunits now have more "hit points"; this means that units are rarely defeated in a single round of combat, meaning that they can be rotated in and out of a battle, adding to tactical complexity. Civ V veterans who are used to bringing 2 swordsman and 2 catapults to capture a city are going to have to throw away their old strategies; cities now require a significant number of units to defeat (adding to the game's realism, in my opinion). In general, the designers closed a lot of "loopholes" that existed in the original game, and I think the game is better for it.

In summary, Civ V: Gods & Kings turns Civ V from a very good Civilization game into a great Civilization game. With the expansion, I would rate Civ V as the best Civ game yet. I wholeheartedly recommend it to those who enjoyed the original Civ V, and I hope it leads to at least some of the Civ V critics to give the game a fresh look.

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I wasn't overly impressed with Civ 5 when it first came out. I was so unimpressed, in fact, that for the last year or so I've ignored it and been playing Civ IV. There were a lot of things I didn't like about 5, like the lack of religion and espionage, the no-unit-stacking policy, the limited number of civs, the strangeness of the naval units and, frankly, I didn't get why everyone went so mad over the idea of the hex grid. I always found it rather annoying.

Thankfully while the hex grids and no stacking remain, this expansion adds in more civilizations, more city-states (for them as likes those), more naval units, espionage and religion! And boy, let me tell you about the religion options. They are astounding. First off, you get to adopt a pantheon fairly early in the game, which adds some minor bonuses. But then, once you have a great prophet, you can found an actual religion. There's all the ones from IV, plus ones like Zoroastrianism and Sikhism, as well as Tengriism, which sent me to Wikipedia, since I'd never heard of it before (though my guess on what it might have been was correct. Hooray!).

The diplomacy options have also expanded significantly. Now you can establish embassies in other countries, which gives you the location of their capitol and allows for other diplomatic niceties. You can also, if you are playing the Austrians, buy city-states, which is remarkably useful. There's also a large number of scenarios, including a steampunk one that I look forward to playing.

Now like I said, not all the "problems" I have with the game are fixed. But that said, I find that I enjoy the game much, much more with these features added and it might, finally, be time for me to retire from Civ IV.

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This is as much a reinvention of Civilization V as it is an expansion pack. And that is a very, very good thing.

Let's face it: what is now the base Civ 5 is a mediocre shadow of its predecessors. It's prettier, but on just about every other level it falls short, to the point where I found myself dropping out of games from sheer boredom. As a rabid Civ fan from day one (and I'm talking the 1991 original, on a Commodore Amiga no less) this was downright heartbreaking. Judging from the hundreds of scathing Amazon reviews and who-knows-how-many thousands of fan forum posts, I was not alone in this sentiment.

I am therefore delighted to report that it appears the people at Firaxis and 2K have been listening. In a single stroke, the Gods and Kings expansion pack has made this game interesting and dare I say it? FUN once again.

Good: Gameplay has received a badly-needed overhaul. Without going into excruciating detail (which can be had with a google or two,) many of the features that were dropped from V are back, more sophisticated and useful than ever. In particular, religion and espionage are back, much more an integral part of the game than they were in IV. We have new units, buildings, wonders, technologies, and leaders, and the characteristics and interactions of both old and new items make a LOT more sense than they did before the game now has a gestalt that was completely lacking in the base, making play smoother and more intuitive. The city-states are now worthwhile allies instead of minor annoyances. Naval operations are a whole lot more interesting; island maps are actually fun now. There appear to be some improvements under the hood as well: response seems a little crisper, they've cleaned up the startup somewhat, and the graphics have been tidied up a little. Also, GIANT DEATH ROBOTS!!

Bad: It's still slow. I haven't played on my favored large or huge maps yet, but I don't expect much beyond the marginal playability of the base game with these sizes. If you're not running a high-end gaming PC, expect some serious lag in the late stages of a game. It's still hidebound by the Steam client why oh why did they inflict that on this game!? but the two do seem to be better integrated this time around. I still have to fight the playfield during a turn to scroll to where I want to look instead of where the game thinks I should be looking. There are a few gameplay aspects I don't care for the espionage mechanism is weird, and Great People generally can't fire off Golden Ages anymore but these are near-nitpicks in light of the tremendous gains elsewhere. Plus, the long-promised pitboss server is still missing. It's a pity, because I suspect that multiplayer performance would see a huge boost with Steam out of the way.

Ugly: Having to lay out another $30 to get the game Civ V should have been in the first place.

On the whole, however, it's worth it to have a fun, challenging Civilization game once again. Five stars, barely the ongoing performance shortfall and missing Pitboss almost cost it that 5th.

* UPDATE (7/4/12) * Be sure you have ALL available Windows and Java updates in place before installing G&K. A friend of mine ran into severe multiplayer performance problems on a pre-service pack 1 Windows 7 machine.

Honest reviews on Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods and Kings - PC

I loved Civilization from the first game. I even tried Call to Power, but couldn't do it.

Civ 5 clearly simplified too much, I must assume they wanted to increase the pontential number of players, but I don't see how the regular Civ 5 could please anyone.

So now the idea is to introduce again Religion and Espionage into the game and (hopefully) some added complexity to the game. It does succeed at that, but at a much smaller level than the previous success of Civilization IV.

Religion was made into an interesting innovation; you basically tailor your religion to your strategy by choosing which benefits it confers. For example you can receive benefits for having the religion spread into different civilizations, or simply by the number of cities (your or others) affected, or the ability to buy building with the new faith points. Pretty neat, and since a particular benefit can be interesting there is a sort of a race if two civilizations want to pursue the same strategy.

The downside is that once the religions are established, there is little gameplay with them. So they change the game from the beginning to say... 500 AD. By them mostly everyone will have a religion picked out. It was a fine addition, but it mostly changed the early game in a relatively minor way.

Espionage is the big let down. It begins in the Renaissance (it is as if the game knew religion would be mostly played out by then) and you get one spy to try to steal tech or influence city-states. Far too little gameplay and involvement, the spy doesn't exist on the map and it all happens in the "Espionage screen". It is a cheap add on that does nothing to the game and is absurdly limited. You get one new spy per age, so you can't move resources into more spies because basically they have very little to actually do.

The greatest success is actually naval combat. Now you have long range and melee ships, and you can attack cities more effectively with a navy. Naval combat was drastically improved with this.

The new civs are irrelevant to me. I don't care about new luxury items. The foreign policy is very mildly different for city states, but the original one was practically broken, so I see this more as a patch than an effective expansion of the game.

So this expansion is ok, but not worth the price. It improves mildly Civ5, but it still is incredibly inferior to Civ4 in every way but graphics.

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Here we are at Civilization V's first expansion after only seeing smaller DLC packs since it's launch over a year ago. This expansion actually does what expansion packs are supposed to do, and that is add on content to keep the game fresh, fix bugs and gameplay issues and give you a reason to spend more money on a game you already have. And it does it quite well.

Civilization V Gods and Kings includes the addition of Religion as well as Espionage as we have seen in earlier instalments in the franchise, but does so in a completely new and innovative way that we have not yet seen. These additions included in this way allow you as the player to experience a copious amount of new content through two completely new major gameplay features, and while they seem familiar and are easy to learn they are fundamentally different than the earlier versions thus exciting and fresh. I won't go into anymore detail as they are listed on the page and I don't want to ruin any of the "exciting and fresh" but that is what I found them to be. But these two features dramatically change the game, and personally added a lot of much needed replayability to the "vanilla" version of the game.

There are several new leaders to be played all heads of their respective civilizations and with that all new leader bonuses and special units. This of course adds a lot more variety to the game (I.E. replayability) as well as variety in abilities and units that you or your opponents (or allies technically) have thus in turn possibly changing your strategy around. These new additions simply add base depth to the game, and fortunately allow a lot of players favorite Civ's/Leaders from previous games to make appearances. And of course some of the new leaders special traits involve bonuses in the new Religion/Faith system.

There were several new maps and scenarios added in this expansion pack, these features are also just added depth and variety. New artwork/Units/moves/abilities, ect. As well.

All in all this expansion pack does what it is supposed to do, or atleast what I had hoped it would do and that is expand on the game, adding new features as well as variety and making the game more enjoyable and most importantly more replayable. Civilization V Gods and Kings for its cost adds a lot of content and doesn't seem to break anything or have a downside game wise, so if you are wondering whether it's worth it as a long time Sid Meier fan as well as just a Civilization fan I find this expansion to be a welcome addition.

Original Civ V rating 4/5, a slight dissapointment considering the earlier instalments and not as enjoyable as the fourth game. Though it was pretty good considering other games on the market.

Civilization V with Gods and Kings 5/5, this expansion fills a lot of gameplay holes, adds a lot of variety and makes the game overall a more enjoyable experience. I find myself not simply running out of things to do to stay entertained with these new strategies and ways to go about the game.

If you enjoyed Civilization V, or feel you would have if it had a little more work done with it and had some expanded gameplay features then this product is definitely a recommendation.