Reviews of DiRT Showdown - Xbox 360

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I know a lot of players are looking beyond DiRT Showdown and not really interested in it as it moves further away from the days of Colin McRae and more X-Games. This game isn't a rally game though, instead it is more like Destruction Derby and while it has the DiRT name it is a spin off for the franchise and not a true sequel to DiRT3.

Positives

Graphically it looks like DiRT 3 and even shares some of the same courses. So the game runs smoothly and you'll likely know some of the tracks already

Multiplayer is where most fun can be had although the rounds feel pretty short at times.

The addition of Racenet adds an extra level of interaction with the game and is a welcome addition.

Negatives

The game uses a rubber banding system so you can never get too far ahead which is find in normal racing games but when the game involves crashing into your opponent like this it can result in some race loses that feel "cheap" as they catch you on the last lap and spin you out.

The connection has some hiccups and you'll fail to connect to Racenet or will drop from a multiplayer session

The distribution in North America was 2 weeks after Europe. This meant European players played and moved on which can sometimes leave the Multiplayer rooms a little bit empty at certain times of the day.

They made some achievements only possible if people on your friends list buy the game too, so if you are an achievement hunter be sure to buy two copies, one for you and one for a friend.

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Let me start off by saying I am a HUGE fan of the DiRT series, and also, an achievement hunter. I have 1000/1000 in the first and second DiRT, and the full 1250 in DiRT 3. I like achievements, and I enjoyed playing the games. In short, DiRT Show Down just sucks. But rather than be a negative nancy, I'll list the positives first -

-Great graphics

-Great refined graphics and game play. It's a well polished series that works well.

The down sides

-Rubber band racing. If you don't know what this is, it's when the CPU adjusts its speed according to you. Say for example in a race, a "beginner" lap time would be 1:30, "intermediate" would be 1:15, and "expert" would be 1:00. If you have the difficulty set on beginner, you can run 1:00 lap times and the CPU will still be right on your tail. Why is this just a HUGE downside? Well, it's annoying. Two, here's a way you always, always win. Just sand bag the race until the last lap, then just use the boost on the last lap in the last couple of corners and pass everybody and win the race. Seriously? Why would you try to achieve the best lap times if the CPU will be right on your tail anyways?

-The game was made for kids with ADD. Seriously. I'm surprised I've never had a seizure yet from the explosions in the game. This game would make the movie series "The Expendables" blush. There's fireworks, exhaust flames, and random stuff exploding... ALL the time. I haven't driven more than 15 seconds without seeing some kind of flames or explosions. Cute for about the first two minutes, then just extremely irritating.

-No in dash camera view. Seriously?

85% of the maps are from Dirt 3. Again...seriously? can't even create new ones? How lazy have they gotten?

-They spelled "synchronizing" wrong in the loading menu when you play multi-player. I noticed this the very first time. How in the heck did this go unseen? Well, I'm really not that surprised.

-No option for manual transmission. Again, seriously? I LOVED DiRT 3's multiplayer "hardcore" mode, where it was fixed interior view only, manual transmission, no driving aids, etc.

-No option for map view.

-Zero skill needed for races. Just hold down RT (Throttle) and go.

-Random freezes. My xbox won't lock up all the way, but it will freeze every 15 minutes or so for about 15 seconds, then suddenly will resume game play like normal like nothing happened. Never had this issue in the previous DiRT series.

-All cars now sound the same. There was very distinct differences between the Subaru's, Mitsubishi's, etc. Not anymore. All bland. All sound the same. And, of course, all shoot ginormous flames. There's one car that shoots these ungodly bright white flames every time it shifts. Extremely irritating...kind of like the rest of the game.

If you think I'm too hard on this game, I challenge you to try to find a multiplayer game, then compare it to DiRT 2 or DiRT 3. There's more people playing the older games...what does that tell you?

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This is NOT rally racing and it's nothing like the previous Dirt games. That being said, it's not a bad thing! There is awesome variety to this game. Most of the game involves balls-out, no holds barred full contact automotive competition. No, there is no simple Destruction Derby here. There is more to it than that. There is circuit track racing where you try to win at all costs, using whatever tactics you can muster. There is "8 ball" a variation of figure eight racing where the track might have several intersections to cross paths with other racers. There are demo derby type games, one where you must simply survive the onslaught of other cars all trying to take you out. The longer you survive, the better your ranking. There is also demo derby types that involve scoring points depending on how hard and where you hit your opponents. Another one that involves a "sumo" type platform where you can only score points while demo'ing on the platform. Another competition is "eliminator" where every 15 seconds, the last place car on the track gets eliminated from the race. Very challenging in that it requires you to stay out of last place for as long as possible and the eliminated cars simply stall out on the track, creating an additional obstacle and challenge. Towards the end of the race, you have to dodge 5 or 6 busted cars parked on the track. Then it takes a different tact by throwing in some gymkhana style competitions that require more precision and finesse (and a steeper learning curve). You can also try a "joy ride" mode where you can simply drive around an area filled with jumps and other obstacles while scoring and performing certain tricks to gain access to additional areas. While this is not a sequel to Dirt 3, it is a great new game and getting it here on Amazon saved me more than half the cost of buying it anywhere else. After playing this game for one evening, I am very happy with my purchase. If your a rally purist, maybe you won't like this. But I am an all-around racing game fan and this is a great one.

Honest reviews on DiRT Showdown - Xbox 360

Bought this about the time I was getting past Dirt 3, and into Forza 4. Held my interest for about a day. Not as good as Dirt 2 or 3, lots of smash-'em-up rallycross and demo derbies. Like Burnout on an enclosed track. Could have been an add-on to any rally game. Typical of Codemasters' M.O.: "According to Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens, future games could be sold incomplete at retail, with mandatory downloadable content required to get the remainder of your newly purchased title.". That was 2010, and this was released years later--you do the math. A shame. One of racing games' brightest stars dimmed by crass commercialism and greed. Everything before this: GRID, Dirt 1, 2, 3, F1 2010 and 2011: all brilliant. But Dirt 3 really started to show signs of this new "incomplete" business. Good luck to you Codies, I'll have no truck with you or your wares now.

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This game is fun for those who enjoy a good ol fashion car beat down. Love the derbies but the rest is a bit monotonous.

Best The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection Deals

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It's difficult to believe that over 10 years have passed since Ico was first released, alongside other 2001 classics like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X. Unlike those two games, Ico fared poorly in the sales charts, despite its incredible graphics, great story and gameplay.

However, this was not the end, as 4 years later, the second game by "Team Ico", Shadow of the Colossus (SotC), was strongly promoted and achieved much better sales figures.

Now, Sony has breathed a second life into these games, thanks to this hi-def PS3 re-release.

Both games have been significantly enhanced in this PS3 remastery by Bluepoint Games (who also remastered the God of War Collection and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 games), with the most important changes being:

+ 720p or 1080p @ 30fps framerate, with very little slowdown as found in the PS2 version during intense Colossus battles

+ Native widescreen support for Ico

+ Gameplay is ported from the European version, with the extra puzzle, weapon, and other small changes

+ Trophies! [16 for Ico, 31 for SotC]

+ 7.1 surround sound

+ Behind the scenes videos + 2 dynamic themes (yours to keep!)

+ Reversible cover insert containing original cover art for both games

= 3D support (but only at 720p, and framerate reduces down to 15fps during some of the battles in SotC)

Textures appear to be more detailed, but they still look blocky close up, and the polygons look the same

The menu/map in SotC is stretched on a widescreen TV, while the menu for Ico looks sharp and completely redone

I have already beaten Ico and the first few battles of SotC on PS2, and am finding this remake just as enjoyable, especially since there is virtually no slowdown even at 1080p. Do realize that both of these games are relatively short with limited replay value (

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Pelican 5-Way System Selector (Xbox, PS2, PS1, GameCube, Dreamcast Review

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Good product, I didn't even need a power cable for it, everything switches just fine.

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$150.00 for a switch box? no hdmi, no digital, just a component/ composite switch box. i purchased mine for $20 at a local store.

Best Deals for Pelican 5-Way System Selector (Xbox, PS2, PS1, GameCube, Dreamcast

Works great, has 5 ports which makes it easier to plug in all my game systems at the same time,

Reviews of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Lockdown - Xbox

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I was somewhat surprised how much I am enjoying this game. I own the previous installment Rainbow Six 3 and Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow. They are both very well put together games, but the a.i. intelligence was lacking. When I first put this game in and one of the first things they did was set a trap for me and my team I knew I had a keeper... Everything about this game is an improvement, the graphics, the sounds, the a.i., the gameplay. You name it, it's better! Even though I haven't been able to play on live as I have for the previous ones I have heard it is also way better... PICK THIS GAME UP! You will not be dissapointed.

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This game has a very bad rap among hard core rainbow six players and critics, but I thought it was a pretty good game. I guess it wasn't tatical or realistic enough for them, but since I played rainbow six 3, and rainbow six 3 black arrow, and both of those games had me being a "lone wolf" going up against a bunch of terrorists during an entire level, what's realistic or tatical about that? Who the heck goes on terrorist missions all by themselves? (maybe just batman, but he's freekin BATMAN!). I thought these games were supposed to be mainly about commanding an elite squad of people and using team play to get the job done. At least when I went on a lone wolf mission in this game, it made sense. I had to rescue a team mate and I started off the mission by myself, but I wasn't really alone. After I rescued my team mate, there was now two of us to go on the mission. Then we hooked up with the rest of the team and all four of us completed the mission. In R6 Black Arrow, the very last mission had me being a lone wolf and it sucked. I really hated the lone wolf missions in these games (I can do lone wolf missions in Splinter Cell or Metal Gear games). Overall though, R6 Lock Down is a pretty cool game. Although it's old, it's still fun to play.

Best Deals for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Lockdown - Xbox

I am a huge fan of the Rainbow series, and the first Rainbow 6 for the xbox is one of my favourite games, so i was excited to hear about a new one coming out that allowed you to do such things as customize your teammates and other cool things. How wrong i was!

So much has changed from the previous games, that the only similarities are the characters from the Rainbow series, everything else is different.

The POV has changed so that everything is through goggles, this is not a big deal like all the reviews make it out to be, the outline of the goggles do not get in the way of any of the view, but when you get shot bullet holes appear in the googles glass obscuring all the view. I do not know what kind of goggles these are, but if the person was shot 3-4 times in the eye making these holes they would probably be dead.

The gun selection has been severly limited, and although the names are different from the other Rainbow games they are just different varients and that is why the names are different. It did seem that they took away all the popular guns, like the G3A3, M16,M60 and others, and added many smaller machine pistols. I can not speak for other people but i would rather be killing people with a huge assault rifle than with a gun the size of my hand. You can only use a sniper rifle when the game lets you and the are next to no guns with scopes or silencers(the ones that do have them would definitly not in real life). All the gun sight systems are left to the stock option of needle and hole sighting, which is not typical of any special forces when they have red dots, scopes and lasers. This does get annoying when lining up a target because most of the gun gets in the way when looking at an enemy.

The controls have been drastically switched around, which seems to be for no reason since no new button options were added making the relayout a pointless joke. The way they have changed the button configuration has made it awkward for old Rainbow player, the left trigger used to be for changing weapons, now it throws grenades(real nice when im surrounded by my teammates and i frag them on accident)It seems that the games controls have been made very similar to Halo and other FPS games, just so that those people can get into it quicker.

The graphics are in my opinion the biggest let down, they arent as good as the others, which is a shame because the others were quite good. The guns do not look realistic and instead look almost cartoon like, the scopes on the very few guns that have them do not reflect light or interact with the environment in any way. Every enemy is one of about 3-4 designs, and the environment is nothing special.

The AI of both the team mates and the enemies is disgusting, i dont understand how other reviewers can say that they are intelligent or that they set up traps because the most i have seen them do is miss constantly with their guns only a few feet away from me. The enemy are almost as stupid as your own team mates who in every gun fight hide and switch to the hold option, causing you to go off without knowing that they are at the beginning of the map and you are at the end.

The game would be semi decent if it were not the sequel to the other excellent Rainbow games, and its expectation of being better or at least the same smashed. The game is far too easy, but i have found many glitches that have stopped me from progressing. On the fifth level a door jamned and the only way i managed to get through was by constantly running at it until i fell through it. Other things like terrorists managing to shoot me whilst they are in the reload sequence(impossible) and the heart beat moniter only sometimes working properly have all dampened the game.

The reviews that have given it a low score are from people who have played the other Rainbows, like good games, or expect better from xbox. The reviews that give it a good score are from people that are into quick fast paced games, that sacrafice quality and realism for a game that can be beaten quickly and easily.

I would recommend renting it because there are a few fun aspects to it, but not enough to actually wish you had bought it.

Honest reviews on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Lockdown - Xbox

my brother really loves this game for a reason I don't know but it keeps him enetertained but it should work

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Rainbow Six Lockdown is set up to be a squad based tactical shooter, where you and your team breach doors, rescue hostages, and take down the bad guys.

You have up to four team members at a time, and you issue fairly straightforward commands to them. They are fairly mindless and sometimes stand stupidly while being fired on. It's not so bad, though the enemy does the exact same thing. Both of you are dealing with not-so-bright comrades so it all evens out.

Really, the thing to remember in single player is that it is all a training mode for multi-player. You always get far better challenges playing against live humans than against computer-driven drones. So consider this your training grounds to get used to the commands.

The graphics are reasonably good, with some rag-doll physics and details in the environment. Certainly not the best game on the XBox in terms of graphics, but not the worst either. The sound falls into the same middle-of-the-road category.

On one hand the game is a bit challenging you can't survive infinite hits with a gun before you go down. It is much more realistic than many games in that sense. On the other hand, once you get even a basic grasp of how the tactics work, you should be able to rip through many of the missions without any need for cover or caution. The enemy is fairly clueless and you can usually kill them long before they start to take action.

The voice commands are a fun addition if you enunciate clearly. You can shout out orders (or just "go! go! go!" for doing the current default) and see your teammates run and respond appropriately. It does add to the realism, if your house-mates don't mind you shouting at 2am!

Certainly in modern times there are better graphics and better gameplay out there, but this is still worth looking into if you're a Rainbow / Tom Clancy fan and want to round out your collection.

Disney Epic Mickey - Nintendo Wii Reviews

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Without a doubt, Epic Mickey is a game that is going to polarize people. This is possible the hardest I've ever had to struggle to rate something. You can rate Epic Mickey anywhere between 3-5 stars and it never feels appropriate. It almost defies rating.

Disney Epic Mickey is a Wii exclusive developed by Junction Point Studio, headed by the legendary Warren Spector. The game was released November 30th and came in the mail for me far earlier than it should have. Disney and Junction Point intend to revitalize Mickey Mouse into a more relevant figure through video games, and reintroduce Oswald to the world. A monumental task to be sure, but in pursuit of that goal, Warren Spector has created a game unlike any other.

The game is simple and intuitive in its control. Mickey is equipped with a double jump, and spin attack, as well as the ability to use paint and thinner with his brush. It's very natural and is utilized quite well in the game itself. For two simple choices of painting and thinning, the game gets quite creative with level design, questing, exploration and boss battles.

One the biggest issue with this game is knowing how to approach it. This game will undoubtedly draw comparisons to the two Mario Galaxy games and I will say right now that those comparisons are, for the most part, going to be wrong because of the simple fact that the Mario Galaxy games are as linear as 3D platforming gets while Epic Mickey's maps are mostly nonlinear. There is nothing wrong with either approach, but it's important to know and understand the benefits and limitations of both to be able to appreciate what Epic Mickey has to offer.

The Super Mario Galaxy games used their linearity to craft obstacle courses with extremely well tuned challenges that are second to none. However the games gave up any sense of exploration or giving the world any coherency in order to do so. With Epic Mickey, it's an entirely different beast. Not only is it non linear, but it also has to resemble a functioning cartoon world. Because of this, the challenges you are expected to go through aren't and will never be as perfectly tuned as in the Galaxy games but that works fine with the game because it compensates with a sense of freedom, exploration and free roaming. Comparing the two based only on how fine tuned the platforming is would be akin to comparing Oblivion or Minecraft to Halo and saying those two are inferior because the archery in those games aren't as fun as shooting in Halo is. Epic Mickey stands with the best nonlinear 3D platformers and this is and this achievement of it is going to get lost in the Super Mario Galaxy comparisons.

While the game and its levels have a slow start for about an hour or so, the game manages to pick up pace and provide some creative, breath taking, atmospheric (A word you will see repeated many times in this review) nonlinear levels. The game's reimagining of known Disney locations provides an incredibly varied game world that is just a blast to explore for both Disney fans and nonfans alike thanks to being well executed both technical and artistically. While much of the magic will be lost on nonfans, the game's dark, colorful, creative and varied environments will still be engaging. The game is also one of the atmospheric and immersive platformers ever made. The mood and tone practically creeps off the stages and pulls you in. The game's frame rate does drop from time to time but this is a rare enough happening to keep from ruining the experience.

Speaking of engaging, Epic Mickey sports a fantastic narrative and story that runs the gamut of emotions from hilarious, to tragic, scary and very heartwarming. The game's narrative stands as one of the better video game stories and holds its own with the better Disney and Pixar films. The game gives Mickey and Oswald a startling amount of depth. And the game's many NCPs and quest givers are just a blast to talk to, just to hear what they want to say.

The game's music is simply award worthy. The score does what it needs to perfectly well, always serving to enhance to mood, the action and atmosphere of the game. It masterfully dances back and forth between ambient tracks, truly epic combat music, and strange, surreal twisted ones such as an awesome remix of "Its a Small World",

Unfortunately, the game is hit by some considerable flaws. The camera is the single biggest problem in the game. There is a good chance the camera will kill you more than anything else in the game. It can be auto focused on Mickey with the press of a button, but this option isn't always available. While there is certainly an impressive number of quests in the game, far too many of them are simple fetch quests.

Combat isn't this game's forte either. Mickey can befriend enemies with paint, or erase them with thinner. There are also animatronic enemies that require other methods to defeat. Unfortunately, all enemies feel a bit too bloated with hit points, requiring a bit too much paint or thinner to deal with them. At the same time, enemy variety is very dull. Combat could be improved by speeding it up and adding more enemies each with unique ways of taking them down. Boss battles are exempt from this, however. They are all fun, imaginative and have multiple ways of dealing with them. Unfortunately, the game could have used several more bosses to break up periods of exploration and questing.

When moving between game worlds, Mickey jumps through a projector, taking him to a 2D creation of a classic Disney short that he has to traverse to reach the next game world. While these are provide really neat recreations, the feel out of place with the rest of the game mostly because of the lack of danger or challenge in them. It simply feels as though they are padding between the game zones, rather than an integral part of the game play and pacing. I suppose they work as nice pallet cleansers between zones, but they still feel like they're missing something. That said, most all of these can be completed in less than a minute and aren't that distracting.

Overall, Epic Mickey's numerous flaws are particularly frustrating, not because they ruin the game, but because the game is so good. With better enemy variety and combat, more boss battles, improved and a better camera, and less reliance on fetch quests, Epic Mickey really could have been one of the all time greats. Instead it is simply a rock solid game for Wii owners, and a must have for Disney fans, story loving gamers and fans of platforming and exploration.

Pros:

+ A fantastic, modernized take on the nonlinear plaformers from the N64 days.

+ Solid control.

+ Looks amazing thanks to being both Technically and artistically well executed.

+ a 15+ Hour adventure with lots of replay value.

+ Unique in its addition of a fairly well done moral choice system.

+ Paint and Thinner are quite fun.

+ A treasure trove of classic Disney lore.

+ Fantastic, Pixar quality narrative and writing.

Cons

+ Camera is difficult to manage.

+ Combat could be improved.

+ The 2D segments don't quite jell with the rest of the game.

+ Over reliance on fetch quests.

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"This game is so close."

This is the thought that continued to fly through my head as I played Epic Mickey. Honestly, Epic Mickey is a victim to two years of hype more than anything, well that and its abysmal camera, but we will get to that.

Most anyone intersted in this game knows the story by now. Yensid (right) created a world where Disney's forgotten works have a place to live, even though they aren't being used anymore. Mickey accidentally spills ink and paint thinner all over this world and creates an evil blot and damages the world greatly. Later, Mickey is pulled into what is now known as the Wasteland.

It starts with a Mad Scientist getting ready to literally plunge Mickey's heart out, but Oswald the Lucky Rabbit saves him. Mickey meets Gus the Gremlin who helps you through that first section with serves as a tutorial on the controls and the paint/thin element of the game. Also note this Nintendo. Gus basically plays the Navi of this game, and Gus isn't annoying. See? It can be done, please do so with Skyward Sword.

Mickey has a magic paintbrush that can create as well as destroy. B creates, Z uses thinner to erase the world piece by piece. The mechanic is almost limitless and works well. I won't spoil all the surprises, but early on you will create and remove gears for platforms, make rocks disappear and a variety of other interesting things.

You chase Oswald through a number of early worlds, saving other Gremlins (or not) and performing tasks for them. Most familiar of course being the Small World Ride.

Which brings us to the games problems. First it relies wholly too much on fetch quests to artificially lengthen the game. At one point you reach Main Street and have to get several items prior to leaving the area. This requires you to basically criss cross across the town several times over talking to different characters. It is annoying to say the least.

Second problem, which has been harped on by everyone is the abysmal camera. Luckily, the Epic Mickey team realized it was awful and put in a manual control scheme, however, that is little solace when making tough jumps onto moving planes above a lake of thinner. At one point, I made that jump and it looked like someone has dropped the camera. Needless to say, I wound up missing the jump and starting again.

Finally, for all of its hype, it is an awfully linear game. It plays more like a cross between Zelda and Mario than something truly epic and new. Each world is filled with large arenas that have multiple things to do. You basically methodically complete each room until you reach the end boss. This isn't necessarily bad, but you should be expecting it. I was not.

But the positives outweigh the negatives.

The game is just beautiful. The world is fleshed out and you can tell great love was put into this game by people who love Disney. Little things like the remade "Partners" statue from the parks will get the Disney lovers (like myself) smiling. But overall, the art direction is just amazing. And while the 2D "projector" stages may seem a bit incongruous in the game, they look and play beautiful.

Furthermore, the story is as good as any on the Wii right now. It is Disney and it comes with Disney quality. What struck me about the story is its sadness. Mickey has a long discussion with Clarabelle the Cow early in the game and it is heartwrenching. It is a story of loss and redemption. A story of memory and longing. It is a true experience, told through great cut scenes (though bizarrely unvoiced).

Finally, the decision engine works well. There is no "right and wrong" as many decision engine games have had. There is only what you want to do. Not only does it affect the ending, but it affects the gameplay. If you help Little Pete early for example, he will give you a treasure trove before you fight the Clock Tower. It feels organic and it works.

Epic Mickey is awfully close to being a great game, but in the end, it winds up being a very good one. There are spots that will bore you and others that will make you scream in frustration. But overall, the game will give you that same warm feeling that seeing a great Disney movie will.

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after reading a feature in game informer about epic mickey a while back, i couldn't wait to get my hands on this game. as many other reviewers, i have been an avid fan of vintage disney (and poor little oswald!) for most of my life.

i want to start with the good, as there is definitely some there.

the art direction is AMAZING. there are so many wonderful little touches that are delightful (walt's apartment!). the music is AMAZING! i loved seeing wasteland...a very ridden-hard/put-away-wet version of disneyland. dark, sometimes bizarre, but always intriguing.

the concept for the game, i loved. that being said, i have never been more frustrated or said "oh what the crap" so many times while playing a video game.

the game bugs are too frequent. i would get stuck in a view where not only could i not see mickey, but i couldn't center the camera behind me either. there were bugs where i could use paint or thinner, however instead of the desired medium going where i was pointing, it would shoot straight back as if i was trying to paint or thin the "fourth wall" if you will.

the camera...oh that dreaded camera. so many times the dedicated camera would take over (when you can not center it behind you), and i could not see where i was going, i sometimes could not see where i was, and would end up dying because i couldn't see a jump, a platform, an enemy, anything. this factor ruined a majority of the game for me. call me old fashioned, but i like to see where i'm going.

the aiming system was...really something. you get used to it over time, but many times when you aim at something, even when your target is centered on it, your medium does not go there. you can overshoot and usually hit your intended target, but that seems a little funky to me. you also can not paint or thin an area you are standing on.

the save points are a little wonky. sometimes i had no idea when it last saved. sometimes if you had to start a level over (which is frequent when you die from things you can't see), some of the things you had done were saved, and some were not (oh you dreaded mad doctor sequence!). there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it.

i didn't understand the benefit to painting in the scenery (even though i did) when you have to paint it again each time you return to the same area. it was like, what's the point?

i am at the final stages, so i did plow through, and that was mainly because i didn't want to miss the scenery. i think it was a little silly that you have to play the side scrolling levels each time you go back and forth between "worlds" but i did find the side scrolling levels to be very well done. i loved the art in the cut scenes, and the ability to collect concept art overall. i just spent too much time frustrated at the poor controls to ever want to play this again after i have completed it. i don't even want to keep it, which for me is rare.

a weird review, for sure. a confusing experience most definitely. if they restructured the controls, i would pick this back up in a heartbeat. but i can not recommend this to anyone in the state it is in. :(

long live oswald!

*** UPDATE ***

after completing the game last night i feel i have to adjust my review slightly (no spoilers, don't worry!).

i was so moved by the ending that i no longer want to get rid of the game. i am now set upon re-playing to complete as many quests as possible.

i just thought it was worth putting out there. tremendous ending. (02.02.11)

Honest reviews on Disney Epic Mickey - Nintendo Wii

As the title implies, this game is a mash up of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and various Mario games. Which is not a bad thing at all, both properties are great in their own right and very much worthy of imitation. Epic Mickey borrows some storyline ideas from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and game play mechanics from Mario with a side of Disney and makes it their own.

There is a lot of history to be had with this game, if you're an avid Disney fan this is a must buy. Now with that being said it is still just as enjoyable even if you're a casual fan to even really not being one at all. I believe this game would be a good time for just about any age group, and any gamer just looking for a fun game to play, there's a little something for everyone.

The controls are pretty fluid and intuitive for the most part, and very easy to pick up from the start. The graphics are amazing by Wii standards, you really feel as if you're in the cartoon itself. The characters are engaging and the story is well thought out and entertaining. As stated above the history is rich and actually pretty interesting.

A couple of cons would be that sometimes the aiming system is a little off, takes some playing around with depending on where you're located. The camera takes a little time to get used to, it would be better if it was fixed but since it's not I wish there was another way to control it rather than using the cross pad. My final complaint would be that I wished they used real voices instead of the dialogue being in a text format; realistically this isn't really a con as more as it is a preference.

Overall the cons don't really do much to hinder the game experience, and for sure the pros out weight them. Honestly the only people who wouldn't find this title enjoyable would be the hardcore guns blazing FPS fans and/or Microsoft/Sony fan boys that refuse to play the Wii for some crazy loyalty to their system of choice.

Worth picking up for full price, you won't be sorry.

Michael

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I've been looking forward to this game quite a bit, but was very disappointed by the camera. It causes game play issues as many have noted, but it also is really bad for those of us with motion sickness.

The camera doesn't move smoothly, and often requires manual movement with the D-Pad. Either of these issues would be enough to make me ill. Both together were far more than my body could handle. I was deeply ill with nausea in a very short time of playing, and unfortunately I won't be able to play this Epic adventure that I've looked forward to so much.

Notably I haven't had any motion sickness with many games. Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Zelda: Twilight Princess and Endless Ocean have all been great for me (to name a few...and they're all GREAT games!) However, this title didn't work for me to my sadness. Looking around the internet my plight isn't uncommon. I found several reviews suggesting that people with motion sickness should avoid this game, I was sorry I hadn't seen those reviews sooner and hope this review will be useful for others who deal with Motion Sickness.

Xbox 360 Live 12 Month Gold Kit Review

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This is the KIT not just a card. A previous review indicated that bestbuy.com was selling this for $49.99. That is not correct. They are selling the CARD for $49.99. This kit comes with the card plus several other components, thus making it $20 more. You may find this kit cheaper elsewhere, but not significantly. It does what it intends to do.

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Worked fine but it would have been nice if the offer for $20 dollars of an xbox 360 game was current .... the offer expired 6 7 months before I even bought the product.

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The XBOX 360 Live 12 month kit is the best deal for anyone who needs to sign up or renew their Live account, even if you do have the headset. The card itself is $50, and the points, bonus game, and $20 dollars off a new game (limited time offer) easily helps to make your money back. Even if they didn't include the rebate, it would still be less than buying these parts separate. In fact, it's almost like you're getting a headset for free!

So, like I said, if you need live, buy.

Also, this is the bundle which someone earlier stated was cheaper at Best Buy. I checked, and he was mistaking the card for the kit.

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I guess this is a good buy, especially when Corporate Vice President and Chief XNA Architect of Microsoft says so. I just thought it was interesting when J Allard gave a review of this product on Amazon.com

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If you have an Xbox 360 and you already have Xbox Live, then you know how much of a necessity it is. Microsoft has put together an amazing online community! I've had no problems so far. Your games will become even better when you can take them online. Under $60 a year for this great service is awesome. It's very affordable and you won't be able to live without it!

House of the Dead: Overkill - Nintendo Wii Reviews

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House of the Dead: Overkill is the first new original game in the series for a long time. Gameplay is largely unchanged from its arcade roots, which is good because House of the Dead has always been known as a quality light-gun shooter. It is bloody, gory, violent, profane, and above all, very fun. It has solid multi-player support and even includes some 2-4 player competitive modes.

GAMEPLAY: Gameplay basically consists of pointing the Wii remote at everything that moves on screen and blasting away. It doesn't get simpler than that. Luckily, the game provides a lot of variety despite the simple mechanics. Enjoyable as a one-player game, the game is twice as fun with a second player. The multi-player mini-games are also enjoyable, but the true strength of the game lies in re-playing and trying to beat your high scores. The higher your scores, the more cash you earn. The more cash you earn, the more weapon upgrades you can buy. The better your weapons, the easier it is to get higher scores. It works really well.

GRAPHICS: This game looks good, but there are better looking games on the Wii. Some character models are rougher looking than others and some textures feel really low res. There are times where the dialogue and mouth movements on characters aren't synched up very well, but that's really minor. There are some frame rate issues at times, but overall the game looks great and none of the issues I mentioned get in the way of me enjoying the game.

LEVELS: The levels consist of seven extremely campy and cheesy Grindhouse movie themed missions. Seven levels doesn't sound like a lot, but there's a lot here. When you're done with the regular mode, you can turn on "Extra Mutants" or move on to "Director's Cut" which is basically expanded levels with increased difficulty. Or you can turn on "Dual Weild" and "Director's Cut" at the same time. I've already played many levels at least a half dozen times and it is likely they will be played several more times each.

PRESENTATION: A lot of thought has gone into the presentation of this game. While the game is horror themed, the primary focus of the dialogue is generally funny. The music is amazing. The menu presentations are phenomenally well thought out. The whole game oozes seventies style and spoofs many horror movie and Blaxploitation themes, for good or for bad. This game wallows in the cliches that have persisted in low-budget Hollywood films for decades. It is also probably the most vulgar game on the market that I can think of. One character, an obvious Samuel L. Jackson knockoff, uses the f-bomb like a comma. Talking like that would get you kicked out of even the toughest biker bar. The game developers even realize this and make fun of the excessive swearing. Oh, and something disturbing happens at the end of the last level which is so vile and disgusting I'm still kind of shocked. I honestly think the game should have been rated AO (Adults Only) instead of M (Mature).

This is probably one of the better game purchases I've made. There are a lot of light-gun style games on the Wii, but this one plays better than all the rest. The most comparable competing titles in terms of quality would probably be Link's Crossbow Training, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, or House of the Dead: 2 & 3. The only serious drawback to this game is the absurd amount of profanity and over the top vulgarity. SEGA went a little too far at times, especially near the end of the game. Way too far....

I highly recommend Overkill as a purchase or a rental to open-minded and tolerant adults looking for a thoroughly enjoyable multi-player co-op game. I generally oppose censorship in nearly all of its forms, but I also believe that there is something to be said about exercising self-restraint. If you are easily offended or even moderately offended by profanity and crude humor I have to recommend staying away from this game because it frequently crosses the line of good taste.

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This game is, to date, the best Wii game I've ever played. As a fan of the previous HOTD games, this is the best version for the following reasons:

If you died in the previous II / III you had to start from the beginning, EVERY TIME. This version allows you to save after completing each chapter.

Graphics are great. The 70s cinematic feel. Total 70s-ploitation. Anything cliche off these movies is in this game... gore, 'big guns' and vulgarity.

Of which, the vulgarity is rampant in this game, which I love. I think the gaming industry is completely missing the aged-gamer. I want my games like I want my music and movies... unedited and uncensored. I am so sick of imported anime creatures and doe-eyed fetishes. How much longer can that genre last? aauh! The vulgarity is so overused that its hilarious, to the point it loses its effectiveness as obsenity.

Game play. I like games where it doesn't take every button on the controller to move your character. A previous reviewer called it 'rail' play (or something), which enables you to spend more time killing off zombies.. and the creepy flipping clowns.

Difficulty. Aside from the bosses, game difficulty seems easier than other shooter games.

Co-play. Co-op mode is awesome. My husband and I grab a pitcher of margaritas, our guns and play together. No one has to control the character (Like in Call of Duty), and both people play off the same screen.

I have noticed a minute delay in the gun tracking during bits of game play, nothing that is critical, nor nothing that would cause me to change my rating. Don't confuse it with the slo-mo mode which you get when you shoot a specific icon on the screen.

A big kid game for a big kid gamer. I'm sure it won't take long for some parent to buy this for their tween and freak out. So, if you are considering it for your kid and you're cool with hyper-sexuality, extreme vulgarity and an excessive amount of gore and violence then buy it, if not, DON'T.

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House of the Dead (HOTD) Overkill is the latest in the HOTD series. This game is not made by SEGA, but rather a studio called Headstrong Games. Like other lightgun games, HOTD is a point, click, and watch the splatter affair.

The only strategy you need to know is to aim consistently at the head of a zombie and don't miss.

Graphically, HOTDO is very detailed for a Wii game. Without HD graphics, the visuals are as good as one can expect; however, this amount of detail is suspected in causing the game to freeze, slow down, and even "hang" (where you don't progress anymore because the Wii is trying to load a massive amount of graphics for the next part of the rail), resulting in often times jerky performance.

This jerky performance screws with your accuracy, which ultimately, jerks with your score and your ability to unlock new guns and content.

The sound and music are top-notch, being deliberately bad to reflect the grindhouse presentation of the game. SEGA and Headstrong make no apologies in the massive number of F-Bombs, swearing, incest, and other sleaze, chiefly because HOTDO is a B-rated movie turned into a game (hence the ESRB M-rating). Concerned parents who want their children to live in a fantasy world will have to avoid buying them this game.

The chief problem of HOTDO is its scoring system. While you get more money by beating a high score in a stage, the high score slots will eventually get filled up and you will earn no more money. This is a problem, since the game requires you to earn about $50'000 to buy and upgrade all the weapons to unlock extra art and bonuses. Chances are you will get tired of earning money so slowly and stop playing.

Apart from the money problem, there is little else wrong with HOTDO. If you've played HOTD3 on the Xbox and enjoy other lightgun games like Vampire Night, Time Crisis, Silent Scope, and Elemental Gearbolt, HOTDO ranks well with the top lightgun shooters.

Some tips:

(1) Buy the autoshotgun first. It is probably the only weapon you need to power-up to get the combo hits (read the manual on how) for high scores.

(2) In story mode, keep $10,000 to unlock some extra songs. Once you have, you can spend the money afterwards (the unlocked songs save to your profile).

(3) You can quit after getting a high score (check the stage's high score tables to know the minimum score you need). By quitting early, you get your name on the high score table, some money, and avoid setting insanely high scores you can't beat later (and forever lose out on money).

(4) Money and weapons in story mode and Director's Cut don't carry-over, so you need to earn all that stuff again if you want a complete file.

Honest reviews on House of the Dead: Overkill - Nintendo Wii

"Are you going to tell me what the (bleeping) G stands for?" Detective Washington

"Nope." Agent G

It's been said 100 times over on reviews, but I can't get over how fun this game is to play. Take your typical grind-house movie, throw in a House of the Dead vibe, and some tunes that Quentin T. wished he could have used on Pulp Fiction (here and there anyway!) and you've got the makings of a laugh-out loud funny game.

I was wondering how far the TV-MA rating would be taken. Rest assured, SEGA leaves no room for doubt...the profanity in the game (rumor has it that it made Guinness for the most profane game ever), the violence, and the somewhat near "was that what I think I saw" Janet Jackson moment definitely does NOT make this a game for the family. It's fun for me, though, when I would like to unwind after a hard day at work and want to do something else besides play Super Mario Galaxy with my 6-year old daughter.

The banter between the straight-up well-tailored G and the foul-mouthed Detective Washington (who sounds like a dead-on Samuel L. Jackson impersonator) is great. G has his foul moments as well which makes it even funnier. The scene with the ice cream truck cracked me up beyond belief where G and Washington are debating music choices.

Another fun moment is when Agent G and Washington find themselves on a little kiddie amusement park ride that moves around like Disney's Snow White through a haunted house...Washington blurts out )after G admits that he's a little scared to be on the ride), "Are you holding my hand?!?" "Yes." "Let go of me (string of expletives)."

The gameplay is great although the frame rate does take a hit here and there if you've got loads of zombies and rapid gunfire. That said, the simulated film scratches and pops actually add to the feel that you're watching a real 35mm movie that occasionally jumps, so it actually adds to the mouth-popping popcorn experience to the whole game. The environment is pretty well done and the variety of gore does take into account where you're hitting the zombies.

Who ever would have guessed that an on-rail shooter game would be this much fun?

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If you were looking for a more adult oriented Wii game, you've certaintly come to the right place with House of the Dead: Overkill. The game has over the top violence with it's blood and gore effects, and defiantly goes over the top with the language.

First off, if you're easily offended by harsh language, then you may want to steer clear of this game. Literally, like every other word out of one of the character's mouth is F this or MFer that. I know a lot of people will find offense to the amount of F bombs dropped in this game, but for me personally, it didn't bother me. I felt it went right along with the theme of the game.

Graphics wise, it's a very good looking Wii game. The blood and gore effects are awesome, with body parts flying off and blood splattering all over the place. Especially if you use the shotgun. Unfortunetly, the game will constantly take a dip in the frame rate department to try and handle all the effects and graphics on screen. The frame rate drops don't really get in the way of the game, but it does happen enough to make things a wii bit annoying. In my time playing with the game, the frame rate only interfered with the gameplay, where the game would freeze up for a second and then I got hit by an enemy because of it, only once or twice.

The storyline is interesting and makes things really fun. You have Agent G and Isaac Washington hunting down a guy named Papa Ceaser who has somehow unleashed these "mutants" (they wont call them zombies for some reason). Agent G is trying to stop the mutant outbreak, while Isaac is looking for revenge because Papa Ceaser killed his father. They end up hooking up with a stripper (sorry, she never takes her clothes off but does provide plenty of cleavage for the cutscenes) named Varla Guns, whose also looking for revenge of the death of her brother.

I liked how the game's regular story mode doesn't really punish you all that bad for dying in game: if you die, you get to select to continue or not, and if you do, it just hacks your score in half. Which basically means that when playing the normal story mode, you'll be able to blast your way through every level and just have an all around good time shooting mutants, if that's all you want to do. So in that regard, I think the game can appeal to a more casual crowd.

But the game can also appeal to the hardcore crowd too, because once you beat the story mode, you unlock the Director's Cut mode, where it bumps up the difficulty, adds extra mutants, and you're given a limited amount of continues to use. You'll also see extra parts of the level that you didn't get to see in the regular story mode.

By beating the levels and beating your high score, you earn cash that you can spend on buying new weapons and then upgrading the weapons you do have. There's a pistol, a shotgun, an automatic shotgun, an SMG, and an assault riffle. You can upgrade the reload time, the clip size, the power of the weapon and other things like that to make the weapon more effective. Also, while playing the game, you can carry two weapons at a time, and can switch them on the fly while playing.

Basically, if you're looking for a good shooter that is defiantly geared more towards the adult crowd for the Wii, then you've come to the right place. Some people will be offended by all the F bombs, but to me, it just goes right along with the story and the type of game this is. Although the game suffers from some minor technical flaws with the frame rate drops, it's still a real blast to play.

Review of Madden NFL 10 - Xbox 360

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Are they serious?

After Madden 2007's animation, animation, animation, fall over experience, I couldn't bring myself to buy 2008. I bought 2009 because a friend told me how much better it was. After all 2008's complaints about how easy offense was, they turned the DB's and LB's speed and jumping ability to ridiculous levels, causing there to be about 6 INT's per game. This knee-jerk reaction and thus, overcompensation each year to whatever the largest complaint was has always seemed par for the course when dealing with a Madden game. Whatever. I just want to play an NFL game.

So the Madden 10 demo came out and I was impressed by the game play. "Wow, it actually kind of looks like football," I said. So I did it. I dropped $60 more into the EA bucket just to have the privilege to play an NFL game. The game play this year IS, I uphold, the best, most realistic that the Madden franchise has ever made. Yes, they made the players slower, and it made a lot of fans mad, but it's realistic. Nobody runs 10 yards in 0.5 seconds. At any rate, kudos on the in-game experience.

However, I play sports games to play franchise mode. I like trades, free agency, and the draft. Unfortunately, due to EA's desire to become the most evil corporation ever, franchise mode is not, at ALL, an enjoyable experience. You see, the "Madden Shop" has been created, where you can buy "cheats," which are really just parts of the game that existed last year which were disabled so that EA can make more money.

-You want the ability to fully scout players? You can pay 99 cents for a scout at EACH POSITION. Awesome. I'd LOVE to throw down 10 more bucks just to have access to the rest of your game.

-You want players to progress faster? 99 cents per position.

-Superstar mode is the same. You can't train anymore. You can pay to improve.

-Pretty much anything you can think of... healing injuries faster, extra scouting reports, etc, you can pay 99 cents to improve.

Really, EA? Buying out the competition wasn't enough for you? This whole system seems like such a joke to me. Do they honestly think it's going to work? I guess the question is, are Madden fans really stupid enough to use the Madden Shop?

This will, I can say with confidence, be the last Madden game I purchase.

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It's hard to understand what happens on the Madden development team, because every year it seems like they change the game in new and completely unnecessary ways. This year, the menus have been changed for seemingly no reason. The new menus do not look as good as the menus in Madden 09 and are harder to use. Why change them? You'll ask yourself questions like that a lot with this version of the game if you played a lot of Madden 09.

If the last few entries in the Madden series did not exist, then this version would probably impress me much more. As other reviewers have noted, it seems that almost nothing has changed in core gameplay except for a few mini-game button mashing sequences. The reason I am only giving this game 3 stars, though, is that other parts of the game that contributed to my enjoyment in past versions have been changed or stripped out without reason. The playcalling menus are now harder to use, particularly in terms of substitution packages. You no longer have the ability to train players, making the preseason almost completely pointless and taking a way a fun weekly activity in the game to keep the franchise mode moving forward. Little changes like this may mean nothing to some gamers, but for me make this game less fun and compelling than last year's version. On top of that the presentation has not improved the game feels rough around the edges, there are bugs, the play-by-play remains terrible, etc. I wish I could return it.

I should note that I do not play online, so this review is not intended as a reflection of that mode. As a single-player experience, Madden 10 is one step forward and three steps back for those who play every year. If you don't have anything to judge it against, it's probably a pretty satisfying football experience. If you own Madden 09 and play primarily single-player, this is a roster update at best. Very frustrating given the strong work that some of the other EA Sports development teams have done with their franchises.

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For me, my love/hate issue with Madden has been that it has never produced a game up the the quality presentation of the 2K5 game. I have always complained bitterly that they bought the NFL and ESPN licences and never used them properly. If yo don't believe me, then check my past Madden reviews. After almost 5 iterations on the 360, EA finally sees the light and has produced a good quality game.

Control You play one Madden, you have played them all nothing new here.

Graphics Stadiums are rendered nicely as always with great lighting...a little more attention has been paid to the helmet reflections, however most of the faces on the players look busted as always.

Sound a big improvement on the overall crowd sound as now you can hear individual voices call out during the game....something 2K series has done for years. On the other hand the commentary from Hammond and Collinsworth still sounds (and uses lines) from last year with some of the phrases that repeats (especially the one about the WRs catching the balls in pitch black) but again, I will take this over ESPN radio any day!

PresentationKind of a mixed bag but I am liking it more than I hate it. While EA finally gave you a feel like you are watching the game with all of the nice cutaways to the crowd and facts...a few things still needed to be fixed in order for this to be the complete game that 2K5 is.

Halftime show improvements Ok ok...yeah we finally got one but how about doing a Chris Berman-esque voice over as the best plays are being replayed...worse yet how about all of the highlights are out of order?

The pregame show Thank you for putting it in!!! But guess what EA!! Another 2K5 steal that you dropped the ball on! When showing highlights from other games...SHOW.HIGHLIGHTS.FROM.OTHER.GAMES. if a 6 year old game can show you 1 or 2 plays from another game or even from my own, then you guys should be able to do it too! Also get rid of Alex...I am sure there are more people male or female that can act as if they are in the game better than her!

I do like the fact that the AI is more active in signing players and making sensible signings, nothing like going thru a whole season and seeing the free agency just be static.

Ahhh yeah!! before I forget, the tackling animations look a lot more realistic and so far I have seen 4 5 and 6 man tackles. Slightly glitchy in a few spots but otherwise it's a step forward.

Franchise mode has improved with team actually signing some players that were needed instead of going a whole season with many free agents just sitting static on the FA wire. Also you can't really rob the AI out of trades and draft picks as in earlier versions

Some of the little things that I have seen that makes the game a little more worthwhile:

the chain gang

refs getting run over

refs meeting and confirming the TD

players being carted off after an injury

so far 3 different crowd screens

coaches arguing with refs about penalties

players clowning around on the sidelines.

better crowd reaction to plays

** Added **

Gameplay

To ME...gameplay hasn't changed all that much as far as AI and skill, you are either good at this game or you suck...just my opinion

There are more varied player animations this time around and thankfully so far not a lot of repeat animations although as perviously mentioned you may get a really funky animation glitch but not so bad as to crash the game

Accuracy of the stats... it depends on how YOU play the game and the time that you set it for.

Is there a lot of gang tackling? NO...every tackle is NOT a gamg tackle but you do tend to see more defenders play towards whomever has the ball. It does look more realistic.

Fight for the Fumble...i have only had it occur exactly 2 times...cheap...and arcadey and I believe actually, you can turn it off.

In game ticker: Nothing makes you play a little harder than seeing how well other teams are doing throughout the course of your game...it's till not here EA...fix this!!!

So, really this isn't the year to be skeptical. It's improved a lot over the last 2 iterations but still has a few more steps now to go before it completely makes me forget about 2K5.

And actually, when all is said and done, it's really sad when you still can compare a new football game with a game that is 6 years old and last gen.

On a larger scale of 1 to 10 I would give this an 8.

Addenum: Buying cheats? EA...bad move...

Will I have to buy Michael Vick too?

Honest reviews on Madden NFL 10 - Xbox 360

but I did anyway. Every year the Madden hype machine gets to me and I go and buy the game. I loved it on the XBOX, and I kind of enjoyed Madden 2008 on the XBOX 360. Sure, Madden 2008 was full of glitches, but showed lots of promise and was lots of fun to play. I figured the 20th anniversary 2009 version was going to fix the major bugs and be the best Madden yet. Instead, there were even more bugs and major bugs from 2008 weren't even fixed.

After a playing 2009 for a while and having played every Madden gaming since 1994, I finally realized that EA Sports was not focusing on the gameplay, but on adding snazy features and improving the graphics and animations. And not only were they no focusing on the gameplay, but they were totally neglecting it. The other day at work, we lost power and had a half day, so I figured that it was the perfect time to go get Madden 2010 even though I promised myself I wouldn't buy it. And wouldn't you know, the gameplay is even worse this year. They added fight for a fumlbe, which is idiotic, and lots of annoying cut scenes that can't be skipped. Hopefully I will remember this and not buy the Madden 2011 version because Madden is officially done.

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this is the first madden i've bought for three years, but i have played the other ones with friends. this is definitely the best Madden i've played.

PROS:

Controls --Great controls, just needs 2 or 3 games to fully master

Presentation --the new pro-tak system is great, but it is kind of hard to understand how one running back could get by nine huge fullbacks shoving at him at the same time. new "fight for the fumble" mode is fun to use. the Animations are stellar, and the new lighting effects are great too, with shadows being projected onto other players.

"Everything you would see on sunday" --it really is cool,it feels like you're actually watching a sunday afternoon football game. the fans are much more into this game.

Co-op --a lot of fun to play with one of your buddies. My only complaint is that co-op can only hold two players. i do not think that "not wanting to screw up our first time doing this, we only added two player support for co-op" is a valid excuse, but it's still fun.

Gameplay --pretty much the same as Madden 09, a few tweaks here and there, it's still great. the hit stick only adds more and more fun as they add new things onto it.

CONS:

The Extra Point --a cool little feature, but doesn't really add onto the game.

Commentating --one of the worst things about this game. Chris Collinsworth at least tries to do well at commentating the game, but the other commentators are absolutely horrible. it sounds like EA brought in a version of Microsoft Sam and just used that as their commentator. the commentating has never been THAT great in any sports game, but it's never been this BAD either.

Do not expect this to blow your mind. it's still same old madden with a few changes, but it still has a lot of the same problems. they took away all those brand new things, like that little Madden 09 skills test you took at the beginning of the game. they went straight back to the basics. it's not so much a bad thing, but i'd like to see them take a risk but perform well with it.

now, you may be thinking "Hey, this review is baloney! he only had two complaints about it and he only gave it three stars!" but there is one thing that really, really, ticked me off about this game. EA has been bragging about their new online franchise mode and how great it is. i'm sure it would be pretty fun. too bad i haven't played it. do you want to know why? because it costs MONEY. it says on the back cover, talking about the new online franchise mode, and its not even an actual PART of the game until you buy it. that, quite frankly, is RIDICULOUS. i pay enough as it is to buy these games, but no, they have to add on an extra 10 bucks or so. EA must be losing a lot of money (which i believe they actually are). well, now they're going to start losing a lot more money this year with their new money buyout scheme. Online franchise isn't the only thing you have to buy. if you want your player or team to rank up quicker on a harder mode, you can buy an upgrade, a dollar PER PLAYER, to get your team or superstar to rank up quicker. that's, well, no comment.

this game is pretty fun, but, unless you have that extra 10-20 dollars, it won't be worth as much to you. overall, it was a big leg up from last year, but still not as good as it should be.

DuckTales - Remastered 360 - Xbox 360 Review

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While I can't remember too much of the original release I still had enough fondness of the game to get the digital copy of this game from XBL and am glad to have done so. The graphics have been redone incredibly and the gameplay feels a lot better then before though again hard to say if it's easier for me to play now or just how they redid it.

Also while I can't remember if the original version hard voice audio clips this new version does from most of the original cast of the series though there are a few you can tell they used different voice actors for the roles and cameos.

The gameplay is pretty simplistic to today's games as you have the basic jump and cane jump attack/swing for Scrooge McDuck to use and some of the puzzles will feel a little more easier then what we deal with today's games but still the nostalgic memories I get from playing this game more then make up for any small faults.

It'll be up to you which way to go with the purchase of the game,you can get the physical copy but I decided to go online and download it instead at a lesser price. Still a iconic and entertaining game awaits any who are willing to get it.

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Buy NHL 14 - Xbox 360

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Overall it is a fun game, but it does have some frustrating setbacks.

Pros

-3 game modes let you easily set your style of play without using tons of menu sliders (though they are available(

-1 touch juke and spin moves are very easy and natural.

-graphics look good overall, though some player faces are way off

Cons

-I've played every nhl game for the past 7 years or so and the face offs in this years release seem downright impossible. I have literally played games where I won no face off. Wtf!

-defensive AI is terrible and battles along the boards almost always go to the computer.

-the game often tries to keep things even, meaning that if I score a goal the computer often come right back and scores. It just doesn't feel realistic.

AND THE ABSOLUTE WORST CON IS...

-fighting. The fight controls have improved from last year, but the frequency of fights is infuriating at times. There should not be 4 fights in every period of play. It's rediculous. I turned the fight slider all the way down thinking it would eliminate fights, but there are still 3 or 4 a game. EVERY HOCKEY MATCH DOES NOT HAVE 3 or 4 FIGHTS EA! Additionally, the timing of fights is pretty random and unrealistic. With 50 seconds left I'm down by 1 and driving to the net and my player decides to start a fight? Wouldn't happen! Now I get to lose another impossible face off and try and steal the puck back once again.

Do you see the point I'm trying to make here? The base of this game is still the fun nhl platform we've enjoyed for years. But, the irritating quirks often completely ruin the experience.

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I'm a big fan of the NHL series and I've played all of them since '94. This game is amazing graphically and it is one of the greatest hockey games ever. What a nice way to end the NHL on the 360 and PS3 to get ready for next gen! This is great!

PROS:

It has a ton of game modes like Quick Game, Ultimate Team, '94 Anniverary Mode, Be A Pro Mode, Playoffs mode, and many many more!

The '94 controls are back! That means that you can change to these controls and have an even simpler and better experience.

The fights now have Fight Night mechanics which make the fighting experience in the game even better as I was a huge fan of Fight Night Champion and boxing in general so I'm happy to have it there.

The crowd! Oh my gosh what a crowd, "Did I just see John McEnroe at the Rangers game in NHL 14?" I just don't know but the way that the crowd explodes when a goal is scored or when a fight breaks out or clutch moments, it's purely amazing! I can see their disappointment and frustration when Ovechkin scores the game winning goal in OT at Madison Square Garden when I was playing as the Rangers.

Extremely smooth gameplay, the players don't get sucked in animations and it has the feel of a real hockey game.

I also like the screen at the end of each period where it shows the coaching adjustments and the success of each team.

I like the pre-game things that the game does and the introductions of each team as well.

CONS:

-The game lacks a large amount of realism. The game has fights happening like 2-5 times a game. Every time that I get a big hit on my opponent, his little friends shove their gloves in my players face and then take them off and a brawl starts. You can win a fight by only pushing the right stick up or down without using any defense at all! That's just disappointing to see this in a game like NHL 14. Don't you need at least some skill to win a fight?

Cheese. It's my good ol' friend cheese. I've seen cheese in so many games, I don't get it. There is a difference between the AI just getting in a rhythm and just cheese. I playing Playoff mode with my hometown Rangers and we made it to Game 7 of the conference finals vs. the Washington Capitals. It was 2-2 at the start of the 3rd period, one of my players got a penalty for elbowing. So the power play starts. In the first 12 seconds of powerplay we give up a close range goal. I just say, "Okay, we'll come back, it's all good." Apparently it was not all good as we lose the faceoff with 2:48 left on the power play and it's 3-2 and we give up a long range goal this time 4 seconds later. It's 4-2 now and we lose another faceoff and they score another goal in 9 more seconds. By this time, I'm raging. It is now 5-2 and we lose ANOTHER faceoff and we give up ANOTHER goal in 23 more seconds. I don't get it! 6-2, what of a game is this now? We FINALLY win a faceoff but we miss our shot at a goal and they go coast to coast for, you know, another goal!!! I finally can't take any more of this and I quit and it simulates to the end of the game...... Yup! We lose 9-2! Cheese at it's finest. Hopefully, THAT won't come again.

IN CONCLUSION:

This game is a great game for any hockey fan out there and certainly any old timer who have NHL '94 like me back in the di-zzay! This game is amazing graphically and I highly recommend buying this game!

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So first off let me say, i have NOT played an NHL hockey game since they went on strike in '99 or 2000 (can't remember exactly which year, sorry). So therefore i cannot judge from the past 12 years of their games.

With that said, this game however is FUN, right now i am playing live the life, where i am the pro. I enjoy it because i only need to focus on MY character, not the whole team, however on that same note, it annoys me because the team will make random passes or clear the puck way too often, when i am open or they could make a break for it. Sometimes i wish i could just take the puck handler and get it down ice for the score, i've lost quite a few games because my guy would be on the bench waiting for his next shift and the other team scores, then i will get on the ice, get something going, only to get called back to the bench in a few seconds and i have to wait again. However the overall of that feature is awesome, winning and losing does matter, but not as much as your person putting up good points (assits or goals) to impress the scouts and move you up to a better team.

I haven't played GM yet, so i can't comment on it. However just playing the games, are a blast. The hard hits, fights, presentation is just awesome!

Now for my negatives and why i gave it 4 out of 5. As much fun as it is, it can be frustrating, since i am back to being new at this game, i am not on the easiest setting, but one step up, i read others have had similar issues, where your team really don't know what they are doing and won't chase the loose puck, in fact i've passed a puck to a team mate, it bouced off an opponent, but still got to him, only to have him turn around as if he was going to the bench or to be on D so the puck just hit the wall and the opponent grabbed it. Really?! Come on EA, real life they WATCH the puck before they just leave the area to see where it goes. Anyhoo, also, on the lower level difficulty, the rubber banding is annoying as crap, i will score 3 to 6 goals in a game, feeling good, once im up by at least 2 or 3, they will immediately score 2 or 3 back to back to catch up. I've had so many shutouts and i suck at those so far, and then they usually win. I was up 6 to 2 one time, 3 period they tied me and won in overtime, seriously? So yeah be prepared for that.

Finally, my biggest gripe and probably don't matter any many, the menus are nice and options are alright, but clunky. I went to EA's music hub, turned off the songs i disliked the most, and would go to my be a pro season. For whatever reason, all the songs play, even the ones i turned off. In the main menu and normal game, its just the songs i want, but in live the life its like they forgot to propogate those settings over there, wouldn't that have been seen in testing? I guess i would of checked it out first, but thats just me.

Anyhoo, overall, besides my minor gripes, its a fun amazing game. Kills time, when you need time killed ;) And feels great to plow into that guy on the wall, hurt him, then start and win a fight against his buddy ;) 5 minutes well worth it lol.

Honest reviews on NHL 14 - Xbox 360

So far, I've played ~160 games (I had the early release) in EASHL with most being in club play, but a handful of OTP games as well. The good things I've seen so far are that hitting generally works, skating seems reasonably fluid once you have enough stats on your player, goalies aren't making saves they shouldn't and aren't letting in too many weak goals, the new EASHL seasons makes things a bit more exciting, stick lifting now seems to work well enough and not give constant penalties, and that the AI seems to be improving on the offensive side.

On the other hand, it also has a few areas for improvement. AI on D during a rush is almost useless and gives up the toe drag wrist shots from the high slot as it has in the last 5 years or so. On top of that, these seem to be going in at an alarming rate for players who likely are well below having their legend card yet. Larger players seem to have a big balance boost, which makes it nearly impossible to knock down a player more than 4 inches taller than you. Poke checking seems inconsistent. Forcing passes through defenders works too often, and offense seems to be much more able to pick up loose pucks than on defense.

While at first fighting seemed like an improvement over the old system, after getting into a few dozen fights the majority of online players just seem to mash the punch button and manage to win more often than not. There doesn't seem to be much of a way around this either. Using R2 to dodge and counter is somewhat difficult to do, and if they manage to connect with a hit, you might as well just let them win. At least the old system gave you a ton more control as far as dodging went.

More disappointing is that face-off spamming (continuously trying to win the draw before it is dropped, making your character twitch) still works in the game despite countless complaints and EA promising to fix it. As a top 50 center right now with 60% wins, I still manage to have games against these guys where I go 30% while they are clearly exploiting the system. Its been going on for a few years now, and should have been fixed long ago.

Finally a more minor issue is that low speed skating that you would do defensively to get into position and face the puck is more difficult than it should be, and results in too many cases where I'm out of position because the game decided I wanted to do a big spin rather than just turn my hips.

It will be interesting to see how future tuners change this, as EA doesn't seem to have much of a rhyme or reason for many of the changes they end up making, so we could be looking at a much different reaction in 3 months or so.

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Someone really needs to open up a shop to compete against these guys across franchises (NHL, FIFA, NFL, etc.). Back in the 90s EA Sports was a fresh and innovative game maker, now they are innovating for the sake of innovating and their "game improvements" are mostly just gimmicks. This game is pretty much the same as NHL 12 so there isn't really anything better about it, or new, or fresh that the older franchises don't have. You are basically paying $60 for new rosters (this is the case with almost all EA franchises these days).

Funny thing is, they don't even fix the bugs from the old game. In NHL 12 there was a bug that would happen where all the buttons would shut down and your guy would just randomly start skating backward in the middle of the game. You used to be able to disconnect the controller or pause the game and reset the controller configuration to fix it. In NHL 14 this bug is even worse, it happened to me while playing an online tournament against the machine. Luckily the issue disappeared with the end of the period, but it just shows how little attention EA pays to their product development I'm sure others have experienced this and requested a fix. It's two versions down the road and the same bug occurs worse hilarious!

The other hallmark of EA games (both FIFA and NHL) is poor server support. Last night the servers were down randomly for about an hour in the evening and then this morning I got booted from the servers while going into a second tournament game (thanks EA for wasting all my players contract game and giving me a loss I didn't earn for nothing oh and no coin). If you have ever played FIFA 13 you know exactly what I am talking about that was probably the worst sports game I ever played in terms of the glitches. EA Sports is a disaster as an organization and the only way they are going to get the message is for people to stop buying their sub par products year after year like lemmings.

This game's HUT is also sucky compared to FIFAs, the packs don't always download correctly once you purchase them, and the whole interface pales in comparison to FIFA. Now, I get that this isn't soccer, but the whole interface on FIFA works better and is more efficient than the NHL version and the games are made by the SAME DEVELOPER! For instance, it's ridiculous how you have to go through a bunch of different menus to find out who the hell your backup goalie is you don't have to do this for any other position and its absurd. I didn't even know who the hell the guy was until his contract was up. Again, this is still something that EA hasn't fixed from the NHL 12 version (and probably versions that predate that). Basically I can hit Y and see all my lines in one easy interface except for my goalie position. For that one position, I have to highlight the goalie and hit Y, then to replace the goalie I have to stand up dance in a circle, hit X or Y and some other buttons and finally I can replace him horrendous interface and there is nothing on the screen that tells you how or what to do I found out simply by messing around.

Oh and I agree with the other reviewer who wrote that the AI is crappy for lower experience levels. It has been for years. The engineers seems to believe that the only way to make the game harder is to make the machine score on less shots. So basically, as you increase the skill level in this game, all that happens is that the machine scores more quickly, no matter how bad the shot opportunity and he can move the puck easily with none of your defenders being effective at all. It sucks and is definitely the worst of the EA franchises. But worse, I played an online tournament on Amateur on HUT and clearly they didn't match me up with the people of my skill level I got shelled 6-0 by a guy/girl who was clearly on another level. Good job EA, that makes me want to keep playing! The HUT seasons are admittedly a bit better at matching the skill levels of the players. However, the overall gameplay is pretty poor when you aren't playing a friend or the HUT seasons.

Bottom line is that if you want to pay $60 for new rosters and a better fighting experience (NHL 12's was absurd) then have at it. But if you were expecting EA to spend substantial time and effort improving the game experience, forget it just keep playing your older version.

Best Anarchy Reigns - Xbox 360 Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.95
Sale Price: $12.99
Today's Bonus: 57% Off

First off: this is a game released in north america for $30. If you want to buy a new game and can't stand to risk the $60, give this game a try. The multiplayer is really great, but expect total madness and chaos in larger lobbies online. With simple controls, the game is easy to pick up and play. Surprisingly, the campaign was really solid. Great missions with a decent story you can follow that entertains you. Finally, the soundtrack is amazing, one of the best i've heard for a video game. So, if you want a game but can't part with $60, Anarchy Reigns is a great game at discount to get that is a solid title from beginning to end.

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I have spent countless hours playing Anarchy Reigns and it is insanely fun to play and chopping the head off a giant squid with a chainsaw has never felt any better. The combat in this game is amazing and fun. You just never get tired of beating up dudes for no particular reason.

Most characters share the same button combos, but they all have their own unique moves, mixed in with their "killer weapons" that deal extra damage. Every character has its own highs and lows, which requires you to constantly plan ahead. Sometimes the game feels extremely spammy because there's so much stuff going on that you don't know where to focus. Sometimes it is literally chaos: all you can see on your screen is dust and limbs, a flying truck smashes you into a wall, and next thing you know there's a pole through your head. Sometimes you're in control, and sometimes you're just getting destroyed by everyone else. That's not to say it doesn't fit the game because it does.

There is a lot of fighting in Anarchy Reigns that is so much fun and awesome but after some time it gets repetitive and boring. Each story mode takes around three hours to finish, and when you finish them there's an epilogue that ties the two together. It's also in the story mode that characters for multi-player are unlocked. Don't expect a whole lot from the story mode because it's not supposed to make any sense.

The missions are varied, ranging from defeating a certain amount of enemies within a time limit, to one-on-one battles against enemy agents and gang leaders. Most missions give you three lives and as such the majority can be beaten on either the first or second attempt.

The story line is what kills this game because it is difficult to follow and not very interesting. Nothing is explained thoroughly enough for you to understand. I tried so hard to understand it but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Some of the missions in single player can get repetitive and frustrating to play through because it feels like you are playing the same mission over and over again.

The online gameplay in my opinion is where this game really shines. There are over 10 online modes and the majority of these modes are various forms of Deathmatch or Capture the Flag. There is also a survival mode and the unique Death Ball mode which is awesome. While most of them are self-explanatory, Death Ball is basically an insane version of football. There are two teams fighting for a ball, which can be passed or ran into the goal. This usually ends with someone getting killed or the ball going to the other team.

Overall I found the game to be very enjoyable and interesting but the lack of the story-line and the repetitiveness in single-player ruined it for me. With that being said, I give this game an 8/10.

Best Deals for Anarchy Reigns - Xbox 360

This game is great at what it is. Huge over the top action and combo beat 'em up. The multi-player is cool but the game does get pretty repetitive. So if your looking for a fast pace-button masherbeat'em up this games for you. If you're looking for some depth and longevity this is not that. It is good at what it is.

Honest reviews on Anarchy Reigns - Xbox 360

this game is like godhand combined with Final Fight combined with the madness of Smash TV combined with Power Stone.

all the characters are great! the script is real good! you will laugh you will feel sad you will yell YEAAAAH !!!

i went online for a second its insane jumping off a building looking for the battle area. feel like a superhero!

I use Mathilda. i like her design & attitude.

there are TONS of options online.

BATTLE ROYALE

TEAM DEATHMATCH

TAG BATTLE

TAG DEATHMATCH

DEATHMATCH

CAGEMATCH

CAPTURE THE FLAG

3TEAM CAPTURE THE FLAG

TEAM BATTLE

DEATH BALL

SURVIVAL

& you can play versus bots if you want too.

i havent tapped the punch button this much since godhand for ps2!!!!!!!!

Platinum games did it again & i can't wait to see what they do in Metal Gear Rising Revengeance!!!

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alright for a fighting game just not for everyone not enough story for the story mode get repetitive fast and doesn't stop