Soul Calibur V Collector's Edition -Xbox 360 Review

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Soul Calibur IV was a game that shelved its story mode and other assorted single player modes for the ability to utilize online play. With its rather rough netcode and odd decisions in the fighting system that Soul Calibur is known for, it wasn't exactly the best in the series; most criticized it. Does Soul Calibur V learn from its mistakes? Both yes and no.

First off, the most important aspect: Online play.

They have truly set the bar high in this installment with what they have laid before us in terms of multiplayer. The netcode is extremely efficient (almost frighteningly so) and leaves very little lag if you have a respectable connection. There are three different modes to fight other players upon: Ranked match, player match, and the strikingly clever one, Global Colosseo (GC). Ranked and player are basically what you would expect, while GC stands out. You can even chat via text in player match and GC lobbies, in case you have no mic. You can use your custom characters if you want, and with the refined Create a Soul mode, you may get some laughs (some players even made Dragonborn from Skyrim and he looks next to perfect). To make things short, if you're a fan of online fighters, this is a must buy. I suggest this to them wholeheartedly.

HOWEVER, I've yet to touch upon another large part: Single player.

If you intend to buy this for the single player aspects, then I would actually avoid this. Single player simply consists of Training, Story, Quick Battle, Legendary Souls (AKA super murderous difficulty mode) Arcade, and Create a Soul. That's it.

Arcade is what you would normally expect: a timed run through 6 to 7 computer enemies. Nothing mind boggling there.

Quick Battle has 240 different AI opponents you can face, each with their own title you receive when you defeat them. You can fight from an extremely easy difficulty, to insanely difficult. I surprisingly liked this mode.

Story, the main aspect of this single player experience, is sadly a joke. The plot is VERY short (about 3 to 4 hours, if you play it without stopping) and is overall laughable. Almost all the cutscenes are still images with audio applied to them, and the plot is something akin to a terrible fanfiction. It's generic, and the brother/sister bond in it caters to the standard anime stereotype of "brother loves sister too much." It's eerily close to incest. Also, there are no endings for any of the other characters. Just Pyrrha, the Mary Sue who is extremely wimpy in her attitude, and Patroklos, the generic "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" brain dead anime hero.

If you want a short version of the review, then go for this: Multiplayer is meaty and full of potential. Single player is a horse being violently strangled by a savage pack of rabid accordions, although it has its moments.

I bought the Collector's Edition at Feb 2nd, and play it almost nonstop (enormous fan of the series). And to answer one thing I've seen other reviews mess up on: You unlock items through leveling. The meager selection you have at the starting of the game for Create a Soul is greatly built upon.

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Soul Calibur V has the best online experience and character customization seen in this franchise to date, but the worst single player experience and arguably its worst changes to the fighting system and roster. The graphics and animations are a treat as always, the music superb and the controls tight and responsive. After that there are a few quirks that take away from the experience, and a few short-comings that prevent the game from being great.

Soul Calibur V is a lot of fun when it comes to multi-player combat, but lacking in single player modes. If you want to spend hours tweaking your costume with stickers or patterns to show off in online modes then this is the game for you. To me, adding a plaid pattern to medieval metal armor set is cheap and tacky, but to each his own. The new character customization system uses many of the armor pieces from Soul Calibur IV, but now you can adjust their look more than you could in the past. This particular improvement doesn't really compensate for faults in other areas.

Fighting against friends is still a great thrill but if you have come to love the single player missions of the past SC games, this one is a letdown. You are forced to use Patroklos for the majority of the story mode, and personally I didn't like his fighting style. This mode can be beaten in one sitting, which is a blessing in disguise. There are not many good modes of play in this game; you have the poorly done story mode, classic vs mode, online play, quick battle and arcade/time attack. There are a few options in online play and they work well especially the coliseum mode. Arcade has been simplified down to 6 battles which you are racing against the clock to get the best time. There are no character specific endings in arcade (there isn't any ending at all), so there is no real reason to try out different characters here. Quick battle reminds me of VF5 arcade mode, you fight against opponents that look like they are wearing randomly generated outfits to win titles. Quick battle is a snore fest.

Kilik, Taki, Sophitia and Xianghua have been displaced for new younger characters that have annoying personalities and voices. Taki's replacement, Natsu could be called Notso, as she is a direct clone of Taki but with blonde hair. She even uses Taki's victory stances but her statements fit more along with an anime and not the melodramatic epic that is Soul Calibur. Many fans will notice a lot of missing characters, but there are some new additions to help with the loss.

There are some genuinely new characters to the game like Viola who has an interesting fighting style using an orb who fits well in the SC universe, and then you have Z.W.E.I. the werewolf summoner who seems like he may belong in another game altogether (FF maybe). There is a new lizard type dude that uses dual axes, as well as the Assassin of Florence, Ezio. Ezio is a perfect fit for this game, much more so than Z.W.E.I. or Notso.

The new super move system is a poorly implemented gimmick borrowed from other contemporary fighting games. You build up a charge meter by attacking or taking damage so you can do a super move that looks flashy and over the top. I'm sure there will be some debate as to whether this addition is needed to keep SC fresh, personally I would have passed on it. The new blocking system removes parrying in favor of using some of your charge meter to do a guard impact that has the same effect parrying used to. This is a bit of a shame as it takes away from blocking properly, and parrying was ton of fun in prior games.

Aside from this the combat is still intense and enjoyable and worth some time, but maybe not as much time as prior releases. Your heart will skip a beat when it's a close match, you my scream out in delight when you win and groan when you are defeated. There are a lot of characters to pick from, and at least a few of them are going to appeal to you.

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Huge disappointment on my end, They used their budget to enhance the multiplayer and screwed over the story. If you are not a fan of fighting games you are gonna have a hard time playing this game...I bought this because all my friends played it, And allot of the prosthetics and clothing DLC should have already been added to the game but you still have to buy it on top of just unlocking it through lving up. 3 was the best just saying.

Honest reviews on Soul Calibur V Collector's Edition -Xbox 360

So far I'm disappointed with Soul Calibur 5. I have found the stories in the previous games pretty amusing and I also enjoyed creating my own character. Story mode in this version is just not as good. It seems as if only one character has any sort of story. That story is just illustrated with drawings, no real cut scenes. Arcade mode doesn't appear to have any story element either. I can,t comment on the online play as I haven't used it. I didn't buy the game for online play.

The collector's edition wasn't enough to make up for the disappointment from the game itself. I found the book it game in to be fairly well made. The art book was better made than I was expected, but could have had more art.

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As said in the title, this release of Soul Calibur is one of my least favorites of the series. I don't like the new system for getting items, nor do I like the fact that they got rid of a lot of old time favorite characters. Sophitia's children really aren't that great of follow ups to their predecessors and some of the other new characters are just... meh.

I do like the extent of things you can do in character creation, but again, getting items is kind of a hassle. All in all, I give SCV a 3.

Buy Dance Central 2 - Xbox 360

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For those of you who have the Kinect, Dance Central was THE game to get for it. With songs like "Poison" and "Brick House", it was the first game that actually made me want to get off my butt and dance. Though to be fair, Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures are great games in their own right, there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when your dance moves sends your friend crying off to mommy. Haha but in all seriousness, Dance Central made dancing fun. With Break it Down mode, you could learn moves at your own pace, and the actual song never stopped just because you weren't doing so well that one time.

If you didn't think it could get any better, trust me -it does. The main feature to come to Dance Central 2 is the ability of two people to play at the same time. The function works well enough, though it does get awkward depending on which songs you do. It's actually not a fault of the Kinect, just that one person's body movements sometimes gets in front of yours, and it confuses the game. A nice addition to the game is that when you pick a song, before you play it, the game actually does a little preview of the dance moves involved with the songs a nice quick way to see how difficult the moves actually are (or aren't).

You also can import your songs from the original Dance Central, unfortunately you have to pay for the privilege. I really shouldn't have to spend Microsoft Points to redownload the songs just allow me to store the songs from Dance Central on the HDD or USB stick, and play them from there in Dance Central 2. Also, one of the commentors had mentioned that the dancers don't do their little quirky sayings and moves in the beginning of songs anymore. He's correct, but I'm sure I like it or not. Having them making random sayings or moves gave them personality almost making me choose one over the others. Maybe it's just me though....

One more thing that can be hit or miss: the game now allows you to go through menus and change options by the regular hand swipes, or with your voice. The voice recognition does work, but I've noticed that it sometimes has a hard time picking up your voice when you're in a song. I really don't like having to turn my TV down when I'm singing "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz, ok Harmonix??

Those are really the only three things I can say that are somewhat a negative to this fantastic sequel. They also changed up the songs somewhat picking some more 90s and today's hits, like "What is Love?" by Haddaway and "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot. I have to say it flawless performance on this, Harmonix. Another thing I enjoyed: Dance Battles just got a whole lot more interesting. Instead of having Freestyle like in Perform It mode, they took it out, and put in Freestyle Moves, where the game shows you 4 different moves, and each person can choose whichever they want to perform, but if you and the other player start performing the SAME move, you basically go head-to-head to see who can finish the move correctly FIRST. I can't tell you how much more fun and competitive that made Dance Battles. Also something to note Dance Central 2 introduced Gold Moves, which are worth 4x the points. And yes Gold Moves are in Freestyle Moves (can't tell you how much of a competition that creates).

Between the awesome selection of music to the once-again awesome and nice twist of humor in the move names (Sir Mix-It-Up, Funky Charleston just a few of the ones I noticed), Dance Central 2 proves that if you just put the time and effort into it, sequels really can be better than the originals....

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I'm an old lady, but I love the Dance Central series. And DC2 is a worthy -better than worthy -successor to DC.

Like in DC, you'll get to learn new dance moves and choreographies, sweat, and generally have a good time set to good music. But there are a few differences.

1) Graphics. The graphics are a lot better this go-round, from the backgrounds to the way the characters move. Instead of being set in a gritty city setting, they've moved down to a Cali/Miami-styled place, with richer and brighter colors. DC2 looks amazing. The incidental music feels more sophisticated.

2) Instead of dancing as a particular character, you dance with a "crew," whether that means the athletes of Riptide, the club kidz of Hi-Def, or one of the other styled crews. I haven't seen Dare or Oblio, two fan faves from DC, so far in a few hours of play. Boo. However, the crews mean there's a campaign mode. You select the level of difficulty for the dances at the outset (Easy, Medium or Hard), then cruise from one crew to the next dancing their routines with them. This means you get to go through the campaign three times, if you want, and the personalities of the crews come through.

3) Fitness is tweaked. There are playlists, which load pretty rapidly, so you can either do a 20-minute low-impact workout or a 50-minute "long hall." The game estimates calories for you, though I'm curious to know how it does so since a medium-sized old lady like myself burns a vastly lower amount of calories than someone significantly larger and a lot more than a skinny kid. You can also create your own playlists. If there were a "shuffle mode" that would have been perfection.

4) Break It Down mode is WAY better. You can actually get through it faster than in DC, and using voice commands can slow it down, video your movements and check against the dancer, and focus on one or two moves you may need to get through. The only reason I'll never have all the achievements on DC is because one is "get 100 percent on all songs in break it down." If this tech had existed for DC, I might have gotten it.

5) Import all your DC songs. This is great, but 400 MSP? Come on. I'm glad I got the pre-order free points to do it. But the instructions were wrong -don't redeem code from inside the game for this, go through your XboxLive account. Seriously, there are too many digits for the in-game code redemption, which works for the 240 MSP card you get inside the package.

Speaking of songs, there are some really good ones on DC2. Lots of them are not family-friendly, even with words blipped out. And there are a lot of "meh" songs. I think my biggest disappointment in the DC series is that there is a lot of great dance music out there, but a lot of what DC licenses is ... "meh." What's up with that? Why don't they get a whack at better songs? They get a lot of great songs through "Rock Band," why is a dance game such a challenge?

While I'm on about song choices, I think one of the things that hampers the series is its music choices are all in a limited genre -hip hop, classic disco/funk and pop. Why not bust out an occasional jazz standard, rockabilly or country song, at least for DLC? Here's where having characters and crews kind of limits the range, one way that the Just Dance series overcomes these limitations. Of course, Just Dance 3 is way more family-friendly than DC. But my point is that if you're going to limit your range, you need to get the best of what's available from that range, and I don't know that Harmonix necessarily does that (I mean, three novelty songs -the Numa Numa song, "What is Love?" and "Baby Got Back" are supplemented with the Humpty Dance. This is too much novelty. At least they're fun to dance, if not to have stuck in your head -damn you, Haddaway.)

6) Two people can dance at the same time. Yay! Party time! And there are mini-games in the multiplayer mode.

7) You can shut off Freestyle mode and just do programmed moves for all the DC2 dances (not so much the older stuff you have).

8) The way it reads your moves seems to have improved. Although going "down" in a scroll menu you can still have a rough time of it getting "stuck."

At any rate, there were reasons that DC was the best, most-popular Kinect title on the market forever. And those same reasons -fun, fitness, challenge, friendly multiplayer -are still around, and even stronger, in DC2.

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When you think about the Kinect, there are a handful of games that come to mind. Without doubt, Dance Central has earned its spot in the Kinect Hall of Fame. There are dance games and then there is Dance Central. Millions of fans have benefited from the fun approach of dance instruction and often club floors are living testimony of Dance Centralfs impact. Now, the DC crew is back and better than ever in Dance Central 2 for Kinect.

FEATURES

There are many positive things to talk about with Dance Central 2. Immediately you will notice the clean interface and ease of menu navigation. The original version of DC was already clean, but Harmonix took their time to make navigation even more of a breeze. This aided tremendously by the addition of voice commands. Within seconds of popping in the game, you can be dancing. For me, all it took was literally saying, gXbox, dance, song, Like a G6, XBox danceh. And off I went.

For those that have already played the first Dance Central and even purchased songs, everything is ready to transfer directly into Dance Central 2. Purchased songs will automatically show up in Dance Central 2s playlist. To carry over all the songs from the original Dance Central, you will need the code that came with the first game and 400 MS Points (5 USD). The transition is smooth, but you will need a harddrive or USB drive, as well as a connection to the internet. Once the songs carry over, everything is integrated into the game. Your play list becomes HUGE. All of Dance Central 2s new features are supported except the option to skip the freestyle part of the song.

The new game play modes are subtle, but add a lot of play value to Dance Central 2. My personal favorite new additions include the ability to make my own playlists and the Dance Crew challenges. There are already a decent amount of pre-made playlists, but you are able to pick your own songs for some killer back-to-back dancing sessions. As for the Dance Crew challenges, this is as close as you are going to get in a story mode for the game. Essentially, you meet a Dance Crew, dance the selected songs, and unlock the next crew. This makes it more of an immersive game versus dancing for the heck of it.

One huge bonus of Dance Central 2 is the ability to have two players, either playing cooperatively or battling it out. The second player can hop in and out of the game with ease and at any time. Like the song? Jump in and play. That easy.

One of the main niceties of playlists is for working out. Our Kinect to Fitness and Health group has already seen great success in people losing up to and over 100 pounds from playing the original Dance Central. On top of the improvements already mentioned, the workout mode now has its own screen in Dance Central 2. Calories are tracked from every activity, including Break It Down mode. When doing the playlists, the songs flow from one to another without interruption. What I absolutely LOVE is how quickly you now move into the song. No more waiting for your dancer to bounce around and talk buckets of smack. They might do a quick move and a few words, but nothing like the original Dance Central. And finally, when the dancing is done, the calories are added all up. The calorie tracker may not be totally correct (no weight or gender asked), but you definitely have an idea of how close you are to burning off that Halloween candy.

Break It Down mode has returned and has been made more inviting for us impatient folks. The same mode from the original has returned, but with added voice control. There is a sweet satisfaction in yelling, gskiph after being told to perform ehitch a ridef for the millionth time. Better yet, for the returning veterans, you will be able to pick out certain steps to learn, versus learning the routine. And for the curious mind that wants to know exactly what they are doing, you can shout, grecord videoh and a video of you dancing a particular move will show up behind the dance leader for comparison.

The final added feature that really brightened my day was the cleaned up store-front. The first Dance Central had the ability to buy extra songs, but was made cumbersome by having to pull up an extra menu and scroll through a few songs at a time. The new store is built into the game and is just as easy to navigate as the playerfs song list is. With a quick flick of the wrist, you can be jamming to James Brown in no time.

GRAPHICS AND SONGS

Despite all the nifty new features, the dividing point between Dance Central 2 and Just Dance 3 seems to be the songs and the graphics. Ifll have a more detailed comparison of these two games up later. As for Dance Central 2, the graphics are very similar, but have definitely had an overall. Character models are similar, but backgrounds and special effects have been smoothed out and upgraded. The game is a lot more pleasing to the eye. Between the scenic locales and neon hand paths, everything feels more alive than the original.

Everything in a dance game comes down to one thing: songs. The fact is, if you enjoy the music, you will enjoy dancing to it. Dance Central 2 has everything from Gaga to Willow in it. There isnft a song on the list that you probably wonft hear at the club. The song variety is a little more eclectic than the first Dance Central, but you still wonft find anything your granny might be anxious to jump into. The songs are all fun, even the Bieber one, but thankfully there are those playlists to pick your favoritescjust in case youfve had your fill of ethe Biebh.

THE FIVE Ffs

When reviewing games, I like to look for the five ffs: family, fitness, fun, functionality, and firsts. Dance Central 2 is rated for the teen crowd and above. Mostly for lyrics, but there are a few mildly suggestive dances. I mean, do you really think you can dance Baby Got Back or The Humpty Dance without smacking some booty? For the fitness folks, there isnft a better game I can think of that will get your cardio flowing. Playlists and trimmed song intros will make sure you are getting a full heart-pounding workout. Without doubt Dance Central 2 is one of the most fun games around. Now with two player tracking and voice commands, the same trusted functionality of the original has been upped. There isnft a lot ground-breaking features that Dance Central 2 brings to the table, but you can expect a lot of additional features compared to the original. Calorie tracking, playlists, uploading to Facebook, and more have all been done by other games, but now you can have the complete package.

PROS

Streamlined play

Two players

Playlist creation

Calorie tracker

Many more!!

CONS

None!

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you have ever been interested in a dancing game, then this is the one to get. With the streamlined play, ability to bring in your previously owned songs, and added player tracking, youfll be partying for quite a while. The song selection has spread out, but still maintains its roots. Essentially, the bottom line is, if you own a Kinect then you will need to eventually own Dance Central 2.

Honest reviews on Dance Central 2 - Xbox 360

I must say the song selection, character design, co-op play, and newly renovated moves are refreshing, but sadly this game has one design flaw unlike Dance Central 1, which worked well with my large frame and helped me to lose 100lbs (Yay me!), I have found within the first hour of play, that it will not register me below the waist at all (Even though I am wearing skin-tight pants, and have checked to make sure I appear fully in the camera frame), and it will barely register my arms, although this may be due to a baggy sleeves issue. However, this was never an issue before in DC1, wearing the exact same clothing. I feel like I have wasted my money in a game that keeps telling me I am doing the moves wrong when I know, as a veteran 5-Star DC1 player, that I am doing them right. I can't imagine what the issue here is... a change in programming perhaps? However, I really regret pre-ordering it now, as it cannot be returned (as it is opened). It's really too bad. I feel like I am stuck with a game I cannot play. I hope other larger people like myself will be helped by my review, and at least rent the game before buying to see if it will register you correctly. I gave this a five star rating for fun, because even though it would not register me, I got a great workout and had fun playing this game with my husband and friends. It gets only a 3 star rating overall because of the issue I have described. I should mention, to make sure this is not a camera or hardware issue, that all my thinner friends registered for the camera and were able to play just fine.

UPDATE 1/13/2013: Dusted off the game after basically ignoring it for awhile to find a series up updates available which seem to have fixed my problems. It reads me fairly well now, and while not perfect, makes the game fun.

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Dance Central was a huge step forward in dance video games when it was released as a launch title for the Xbox Kinect. It wasn't the first video game to let you use "real dance steps" (Just Dance had pioneered the concept a year earlier on the Wii). But by making use of the Kinect, it offered unprecedented accuracy in evaluating your precise moves. The question is, does Dance Central 2 move the platform forward? The answer is a resounding "yes".

As soon as I started up the game, one thing I noticed right away was that my whole body was getting picked up by the Kinect sensor, even though my TV is only about 6 feet from me. I can't tell you how many Kinect games can only detect my torso and above.

Something else I noticed right off the bat was that the user interface that Harmonix developed was the best I've seen of any Kinect game. You can scroll through long song lists easily, and menu selections require simple and foolproof "swipes" of the hand. Microsoft should require every game developer to use this instead of the current situation where each invents their own.

Okay, on to the game play itself.

There are five menu options when you start Dance Central. They are:

Dance

Crew Challenge

Fitness

Options

Buy New Dances

As with the previous version of Dance Central, you can just jump right into dancing by selecting "Dance". You'll be shown a list of songs to choose from. I noticed that as of today the Amazon product page doesn't have the list of songs, so I'll provide it here (the complexity of the song is in parentheses):

Atlantic Connection and Armanni Reign Reach (1)

B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars Nothin' on You (3)

Bananarama Venus (2)

Bobby Brown My Prerogative (4)

Britney Spears Toxic (7)

Bruno Mars Grenade (4)

Chingy Right Thurr (3)

Ciara ft. Petey Pablo Goodies (4)

Daddy Yankee ft. Fergie Impacto Remix (2)

Daft Punk Technologic (6)

Darude Sandstorm (1)

David Guetta ft. Akon Sexy Chick (7)

Diddy ft. Keyshia Cole Last Night (2)

Digital Underground The Humpty Dance (2)

Donna Summer Hot Stuff (3)

Electric Valentine Body to Body (3)

Enrique Iglesias ft. Pitbull I Like It (3)

EXILE I Wish for You (4)

Far East Movement ft. Cataracs and Dev Like a G6 (5)

Flo Rida ft. David Guetta Club Can't Handle Me (3)

Gnarls Barkley Run I'm a Natural Disaster (6)

Haddaway What Is Love (5)

Justin Bieber Somebody to Love (6)

Kevin Lyttle Turn Me On (2)

Kurtis Blow The Breaks (2)

La Roux Bulletproof (2)

Lady Gaga Bad Romance (5)

Lady Gaga Born This Way (5)

Lena Satellite (7)

Little Boots Meddle (4)

Mary J. Blige Real Love (1)

Missy Elliot Get Ur Freak On (7)

Montell Jordan This Is How We Do It (2)

New Boyz You're a Jerk (3)

Nicki Minaj ft. Sean Garrett Massive Attack (4)

O-Zone Mai Ai Hee Dragostea Din Tei (1)

Remy Ma Conceited There's Something About Remy (5)

Rihanna Rude Boy (3)

Sean Kingston Fire Burning (3)

Sir Mix-a-Lot Baby Got Back Mix Mix (6)

Tweet ft. Missy Elliot Oops Oh My (3)

Usher ft. Lil' Jon & Ludacris Yeah! (5)

Usher ft. Pitbull DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love (5)

Willow Smith Whip My Hair (5)

For each song, each player can select a difficulty of Easy, Medium, or Hard. The "complexity of the song" plus "difficulty level" together dictate how complex and intricate the choreography is.

As others have noted, new to Dance Central 2 is the ability for two dancers to dance at once head-to-head. Once you select a song, the screen basically splits into two sides, where both dancers select the difficulty level they want to dance to (this allows for a "golf-like handicap" where strong dancers and weaker dancers can compete head-to-head). Here's where you really do need at least 8-10 feet of space and to stand separately, or you'll be bumping into each other and confusing the system if your motions cross.

I was a little perplexed as to why the system automatically assumed that two players; I would have rather seen the split screen come up only when another person stepped into the camera. Still, if you're playing solo, you can just ignore the left side of the screen and select "Play Solo".

The first time you play, you start out by reviewing the basics. For those who don't know, the concept is simple: you try to mirror the movements of an on-screen dancer as if you're looking through a mirror. A series of unique flashcards, with real dance move names like "cabbage patch", "snake", and "shoulder pop", will tell you which moves you should be performing as well as which ones are coming up. You have a couple cues to tell you how well you're dancing--a "spotlight" under your feet will display encouraging words when you hit the moves, the onscreen dancers will glow red if you're out of place, a boombox will display 1-5 stars depending on your progress through the song. Gold flashcards are worth 4x the points, and if you nail multiple moves at once, you'll "pump up the room".

Most of the reviewers have already talked about how spot-on the motion detection is, and all I can say is I agree. Every motion of your arms, legs, and body seem to be tracked almost perfectly. There are certain types of actions that the Kinect isn't necessarily great for (gunfire, precision sword fighting, and auto racing come to mind), but it's games like this where the Kinect's capabilities really shine.

After the song is done, you can view Photos of your performance. A nice new touch is that there is also a "Break Down" section, where the system will identify which areas of the song you didn't perform very well in, and review which areas you need to practice.

"Crew Challenge" is another new feature of the game. This is a 2-player "story" mode where both players perform as a "Dance Crew" battling to get to the top. Scoring works the same as in Dance mode with a few differences. For example, during dance battles, each member of the crew will be able to "go solo" where good performances will result in double the points. During a "Free 4 All", the dancers have to perform any of the moves of the song to score points. And so on. I was a little disappointed that the mode required two players, as this leaves out a large percentage of people. Having said that, if you've got a dancing buddy, you're going to love it.

To play "Fitness" mode you need to sign into a gamer profile. There's no option on the main menu to do this, you need to go to the Kinect menu and do it. Once you're signed in, you're brought to a menu where you can "Enable Fitness Mode". Once you've done this, the game will begin to track the calories you burn and the length of time you've played the game, both per session and lifetime. There are also a couple suggested workouts song mixes you can choose from, with names ranging from "Easy Start" (a 20-minute workout consisting of lighter songs such as Last Night and Hot Stuff) to "Sprint" (a 10-minute workout consisting of intense songs such as "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster" and "Toxic") and "The Long Haul" (a 49 minute marathon consisting of just about everything). I would have liked some more features within Fitness mode, such as the ability to set goals, set a schedule, see graphs of your progress, and so on. But regardless of all that, Dance Central 2 does have the potential of being a great way to work out that surpasses any step aerobics class at the gym.

In the "Options" menu, you can turn on and off Photos, Freestyling, Autosave, and Voice Control. There's also an intruguing option called "Enter Cheats".

"Buy New Dances" leads you to the downloadable content store. As of this writing there are 32 additional songs, each costing 240 Microsoft Points (about $3 a song). You can also purchase Dance Packs for 480-960 Microsoft Points each, and Marathon Packs for 1400 Microsoft Points. There's a pretty good variety of artists to choose from, from Ne-Yo to Rihanna to James Brown to The Black Eyed Peas to Sean Paul.

Bottom line, Dance Central 2 is a great sequel to an already great game. Of course, there is going to be a debate over whether Dance Central 2 or Just Dance 3 is the "better game", and I'm sure opposing sides will defend their choice with religious ferocity. But from my point of view, they're very different games. Just Dance seems to put more of an emphasis on being party game that's just "fun" (with more frivolous and lighthearted choreography and multi-platform play, but perhaps at the expense of precise motion tracking), while Dance Central definitely puts a higher emphasis on technical accuracy and perfecting the dance steps. But at the end of the day, both are extremely enjoyable to play, and both can provide a great workout.

But when all is said and done, from a motion detection perspective and a game which can teach you real dance moves that you can take onto any dance floor, Dance Central 2 right now represents the pinnacle of "real dance move-based" dance games on any platform.

Review of Oddworld Stranger's Wrath

Customer Ratings:

**UPDATE** Sad news from Lorne Lanning and Oddworld Inhabitants, the creators of this spectacular series. Oddworld Inhabitants is closing its doors. After creating 4 games in what was supposed to be a huge series and with 2 games already in development for next gen systems, they are closing up. Chances are this will be the last game featuring the loveable creatures of Oddworld. But fear not, Lanning believes he might be able to crack into the TV or movie business in order to have his property protected. Keep an eye on them. They are so talented, their studio might be the next Pixar.

On to the review:

I'm very disappointed in the mistreatment this game has been getting from the professional online reviewers like IGN, Gamespot and Gamespy. When I was trying to figure out if this game was worth purchasing or not, I had to literally search the entire page at the Xbox branch of IGN just to find the review. Normally, reviews get top billing; not the case with this beautifully unique game.

A lot has been said about the "gimmick" of having live ammo. Given the series of Oddworld (Abe's Oddysee and Exodus, Munch's Oddysee), how someone could label the live ammo as a gimmick is beyond me. Oddworld is a world very different from our own. Stranger's Wrath just heightened this oddity by giving you creatures to fire instead of finding ammo for your tripple-barrelled, shoots rockets and has a flame-thrower attached, shotgun. And it fits in the universe perfectly. Now, if this was a Halo game (for example), yes having live ammo would be a gimmick. But, it fits in perfectly with the Oddworld mythos and provides a truly engaging experience.

Another thing that I feared after reading the sorely mistaken (IMO) professional reviews was that it was virtually impossible to capture the bosses alive. Being a bounty hunter, it is your mission to capture wanted villains either dead or alive. By capturing them alive you get two or more times the money than capturing them dead.

Now, if you were to read a lot of reviews from IGN etc, it would seem that you couldn't capture any of the bosses alive. While I have been playing games all of my life and am better than the average gamer in some respects, I would definitely not consider myself a master of the FPS genre. By any stretch. And yet I was able to capture every single boss alive. Now, there were a couple that made me very frustrated and it took me more than a handful of tries to do it, I was able to. The game definitely makes you work to get that full bounty but it's not impossible.

As far as the story goes, the developers once again created a uniquely different story involving Stranger and his past. I will not reveal any story spoilers, but not is all what it seems and there will come a point where the way you look at the game changes in an exciting way. And from that point on, the game ramps up the excitement to a wonderful climax.

Graphically, the game is beautiful. It makes me remember why I bought the Xbox. Not only are the lush environments beautifully rendered, but the framerate moves swiftly. Seeing Strange bound at a cheetah speed through these beautiful environments is striking. There is some pop-up, especially in Mango (sp?) Valley where bushes will pop up in the distance. But considering the speed and the graphics the game is pushing, it doesn't really bother me.

As far as controls go, this game is well designed. Switching between first person and third person is as easy as tapping the R3 button. This change works really well, giving you the best of both worlds, the percision of first person shooting, and the fluidity and speed of moving in third person. I have a couple complaints though. Moving up and down rope is a pain. The animation is kinda clunky and I don't see why you can't slide down rope, instead of hand over hand moving down it. Hey, if the Prince can slide down rope, why can't Stranger? But this is a minor quibble.

As far as the sound goes, again Oddworld Inhabitants (the developers) did an excellent job. Stranger's voice is a little silly to me, he talks in a slow drawl that seems to be a cross between Clint Eastwood and Forrest Gump. But the other voices are remarkable, especially considering that most (if not all) are done in house with the Lead voicing most characters in all of the Oddworld games.

My only real complaint is that the game isn't long enough. It's longer than Halo 2 (which is a bonus), and I don't know exactly how many hours I clocked in on it, but it felt like it was over too fast. I guess what disappointed me was that I was having so much fun exploring Oddworld again that no matter how long or short it was I would be sad to leave it. The world is just so interesting.

The level design is also very linear. In today's world of GTA openness, people might have a problem with that, which is why I bring it up. The levels have a set path. That's not to say the gameplay is linear. There are MANY different ways to tackle every situation. The joy of having live ammo is that you are presented with a myriad of ways to take down the opposition, creating gameplay that allows you to experiment. But if you're looking for a Deus Ex type of environment where there are multiple paths to get to the boss, you won't find it here.

What the game does best is refresh video games. From the opening CG cinema (which is Pixar quality) to all of the loveably strange and bizarre characters, this game oozes originality and charm. You can tell the developers truly care about the artform of video games. They love what they do and the game was a refreshing experience.

To sum it up, I can't say enough about this game. It is unique. It is beautiful. And it is fun. Even after the 5th time trying to take down a boss alive, I didn't throw down the controller in anger. It kept me wanting to play until I could take him down. If you are tired of the same old save Earth from "insert name of alien race here", or similar I would definitely recommend this game. It is hard, but it is easily one of the most enjoyable games I have played in ages. And the jolt of energy the games gives you about half way through the game is enough for me to recommend buying this game.

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I read an article on wired.com/news about this game and couldn't wait to get a copy. Got the Prima guide with it, which has been worth the money so far (third day).

I bought a Gamecube and later a PS2 and only recently bought an Xbox (I don't like MS) and I hate to say that the graphics, at least in this game, are out-freaking-standing. Approaching photo-realistic. The scenery in O:SW is PHENOMENAL, great late-afternoon sunset lighting with beautiful little touches like bits of fluff from weeds providing counterpoint to the action and firepower. The graphics really pop.

The "live ammunition" takes some getting used to in much the same way that it took me a while to figure out how to play the PC version of Lemmings oh-so-many-years-ago. It's GREAT fun, very imaginative, and the mazes are terrific so far. The villians are as rotten as they ought to be and the Stranger is a brilliant idea. I'm really looking forward to getting through my day and firing up the Xbox to play some more, and I just don't play that many games (I'm an OLD fart). Or maybe I'm just picky -it's not every day, or every YEAR, that I find a game that I like, and I **LIKE** this game!

The game feels really tight overall, they did a great job producing it. Good concept, great art direction, the gameplay is a lot of fun -I love this game! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!! THIS ONE'S WORTH THE MONEY!!!!!

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Oddworld has made some great games in the past and this one is no exception. It happens to be my favorite out of all of the series. If you have an X-Box this game is a must buy and I'm really hoping for a sequal.

For me to give a game five stars it needs to have a great story-line and this one has one. You're basically a bounty hunter that nobody knows about, The Stranger. You have always taken out outlaws just for the fun of it and never really cared about the pay. Now its different, you need the money for an operation that your life depends on. Now I know you may be saying to yourself that the story-line sounds a little cheesy and dull, but it really starts kicking in when you are playing the game and I dont want to give anything away.

The gameplay is where the game really flies. The game is basically a shooter because of the bounty type, but you can switch in and out of first person mode and third person mode during the gameplay which is great. The gun you get is the double barrel crossbow and your ammo, well, its live oddworld critters. The live ammo you can use consists of Stunkz(little skunks that distract the enemy), Bolamites(They wrap up the enemy with web), Chippunks(they are basically made for distracting an enemy), Zappflies(Made for catching other ammo), Fuzzles(shoot em on the ground and the first enemy to walk by will have the fuzzle eating the life out of them), Thudslugs(Powerfull shot), Boombats(explosive bombs), Stingbees(like a machine gun), Wasps(Made for sniping). The great thing about the double barreled crossbow is that you can have two different kinds of ammo in it and shoot both at the same time if you want. You can also upgrade your ammo and upgrade almost everythinfrom the size of your ammo bag to your speed to your stamina and even brass knuckles for fighting. When you are in third person mode you can punch, and you can revive your health by using up your stamina meter. You will get the normal things in a city of a bounty game like bounty store and amm store and other places. I always love checking out the bounties because they always have wierd creatures. Collecting bounties is also a bit different in oddworld. You can either kill the bounty or take him while he's alive. You bag bounties by sucking them up in your little special device on your arm. You can colect unlimited amounts of bounty this way and just throw your arm on the bounty desk and get lot of money.

The graphics in the game are amazing, I dont know if its because of the environments that really bring them out or if its just the graphics in general. The environments look amazing and even some places are breath taking, like the snow level or when you are in the factory at the end of the game and your friends are throwing in gigantic fireballs. The Stranger also looks amazing and he is one of my favorite game characters.

The sound is great and I love listening to the creatures walking around in the city. It has plenty of wierd cool sounds and I love how your ammo talks back to you. The controls are also excellent and are easy to get into.

Well this game is defenitley a five out of five for me and I recommend this game to everyone especially to those oddworld fans. This game is one of my favorite games and I will never sell it because everytime I look at the cover it gives me that feeling that I want to play it again.

Honest reviews on Oddworld Stranger's Wrath

The title I put is a bold claim; especially with the recent release of Halo 2. But honestly, this latest incarnation of Oddworld offers the most fun I've had on the XBox with a third/first person shooter. At first the game fools you The live ammo seems a little gimmicky and trudging from one bounty boss to another seems initially tiring. But this game has a storyline like no other. Just when you think you've completed the game EVERYTHING changes in a good way. It's like two games in one and both parts are incredible. If you don't want to know anymore then stop reading now and go play the game! I didn't know about the 'surprise' path the game takes and was blown away. One minute you're in the Wild West, the next you're in a Halo-esque futuristic world full of cranes, spaceships, cannons, rockets and all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures. Gone are the linear quests to rope in badguys replaced by a fairly free roaming world of adventure. Truly huge effort has been placed into both elements of gameplay and the graphics, sound, dialogue and even the strange ammo system is perfect. I simply loved this game a jewel in the XBox crown.

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The people at Oddworld tell amazing stories, and Stranger's Wrath is no exception.

The 3rd person action/adventure / 1st person shooter... and all of it beautiful.

I was a little wary of the 1st person shooter aspect, especially with the "Live Ammo", but once I started playing, I was hooked.

What the guy before me said about the last part being worth the price alone... it's all true.

THIS is how you make a game. I'd put it up there with Ninja Gaiden and the Halo games.

Review of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 - PlayStation 2

Customer Ratings:

I am in the army in Japan right now and I have played DBZ Budokai 3 and let me tell you, it's awsome. It hasa similar story mode to the Budokai 1 and the same graphics as Budokai 2 and it also has some extra modes that i have no idea what they are because the're in Japanese but they are prety cool and there is one mode where you can make your own melee or ki attack in which you can choose the color of the beam which character knows it how strong it is and all sorts of stuff and the characters include Goku,Vegeta,Kid Gohan,Teen Gohan,Adult Gohan,Kid trunks,Teen Trunks,Adult Trunks,Kid Goten,Teen Goten,Vegeto,Gogeta,Gotenks,Picollo,Krillin,Tien,Yamcha,Videl,Hurcule,Great Saiyaman,Supreme Kai,Raditz,Nappa,everyone in the ginyu force,all forms of frieza,DR, Gero, Android 16,17,18,19, al forms of cell,cell junior,Garlic junior, salt,pepper,mustard,ketchup,all forms of buu,baby,and more that i forgot their names. But overall this game is the best DBZ game to ever come out so far so get this game!

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Of all the Dragon Ball Z fighting games the Budokai series has always been easily the best. With simple responsive controls and fast paced action, and of course the crazy energy attacks, this stands above the first two as the best of the lot.

The story mode is vastly improved over last years title in that it not only follows the story, but allows you to develop your character (limited to the main Z hero's not villians or hidden) and unlock all sorts of hidden goodies as well as the natural progression of attacks and skills. The difficulty in story mode of course fluctuates and some times forces you to take time to strengthen your character (at randomly placed Battle Zones which range from Saibamen to Meta Cooler). Also at certain points in story mode (usually the second + time through with a certain character) you can sometimes branch away from the saga and do a movie battle of sorts (after you beat Frieza the first time but before Goku goes Super Sayin you can face off against Cooler instead). However this leads to complaint #1. During the key story moments instead of a cool cutscene we get this almost story book form instead that is really uncool.

The controls are identical with a few new improvements. The first is in order to make the action faster you can teleport behind your foe and hit but only if he attacks you first (a counter basically) as well go into hyper mode (all energy at once) which then allows you to unleash your most devastating attacks, which leads me to complaint #2. When doing the ultimate attacks it's either fastly speeding bar which is fairly inaccurate when you click to max it out or a 3 stage attack which increases the odds of you foe succeeding using the X O /\ or []. Most of the time despite being cool and powerful it's more of a pain to unleash than it should be.

Graphically it looks like last years model so if you liked the cell shading great if not tough.

The Voiceovers are great as expected, I found no problems with any of the voices while playing. However the Music is complaint #3. The music is Atari custome midi with little (and I mean very little) to none of the great american tracks that most fans who watch the series state side (not the imported Japanese) get to listen too. So at moments like when Goku first goes Super Sayin 3 it would be great to hear that track from that moment in the series playing. Or any big Vegeta fight have his theme going on.

Despite some of the shortcomings this is truely is a great game worth playing. It easlily destroys the past games and overall is worth picking up. I still say that this is what a 3D streetfighter should be like (or maybe more like the Recent Mortal Kombats it's hard to say).

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Over the years, Akira Toriyama and the crew have been trying to please the fans. Atari and Dimps worked together to create Dragonball Z Budokai. The story was alright and while it was out for the Playstation 2, they were going to make a Gamecube version with better graphics. Next in the Budokai series came Dragonball Z Budokai 2. New characters, new moves, and a new kind of story mode. As we all know, the story mode for Dragonball Z Budokai 2 really sucked because it was like you were playing a board game rather than a fighting game. The only cool aspect about it was Vegito. Sadly, Budokai 2 lost the ability to destroy the arena like in the original Dragonball Z Budokai. But that was from the past to the present. Here we are, up to speed on the future as every Dragonball Z gamer counts down to what every DBZ gamer wants to see in a DBZ fighting game for the PS2. Presenting, Dragonball Z Budokai 3! This will assure you that maybe all hope wasn't lost after Budokai 2. You get to fly whenever you want, teleport counter behind foes, transform to SSJ4/Super Saiyan 4 & use a new technique called Dragon Rush which lets you give major damage to an enemy while enjoying the cinematics of the movie-style fighting sequence which is definitely made with possible counter-attacks. Furthermore, let's say if one guy plays as SSJ4 Goku and the other plays as SSJ4 Vegeta. If both players launch a regular beam such as 10X Kamehameha and Final Shine Attack, the beams will push against each other until one of them dominates the other with the analog stick making it just like the cartoon with a nice touch of cel-shaded graphics. And for those of you wondering, yes Broly is included along with DBGT, other DBZ movie and Budokai and Budokai 2 characters. Fans, this is definitely a game worth it's cash. Don't waste your time just reading this over and over again. One time should tell you that this is a must-buy DBZ game so get it as soon as you can because sales are gonna go out fast!

Honest reviews on Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 - PlayStation 2

To start with, the graphics of the game will remain cel-shaded as in budokai2. This game will contain more than 40 playable characters including all the characters in budokai 1+2 plus Broly(normal form,ss1,Ultra ss), Baby, Cooler(and Meta-Cooler), all the three forms of cell and Frieza and Buu, also Gogeta (ss1,2,4), Vegeta(ss1,2,4), Gogu(ss1,2,3,4) and many others.

Also, there will be a mode called Dragon road in which you can customise your character`s attack, defence and other...

The story mode will be available.

Also, the aura of the characters has dramatically improved and the characters can use teleportation. That is, characters can be teleported behind their enemy avoiding his attack. The teleportation can also be used in the world tournament to avoid getting out of the arena.

I am not sure that freeflight would be available.

This game is going to be great and i would buy it as soon as it comes out!!!!

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Three's the charm in this case. I haven't yet played this game, but I have learned that they brought back story mode, however I have no idea what sagas it covers. I think Dragon World is still there but it is no longer a main mode. Of course there still is duel mode which features improved new attacks, much better aura,improved gameplay, and more characters than ever. Such as: Goku,Kid Gohan, Teen Gohan,Adult Gohan,Great Saiyaman,Goten,Teen Goten,Vegeta,Young Trunks,Teen Trunks,Tein,Yamcha,Chosue,Piccolo,Krillian,Raditz,Nappa,Dodoria,Zarbon, Guldo,Recoome,Burter,Jeice,Captain Ginyu,Freeza,King Cold,Dr.Gero,Andriod 16,17,18,19,Cell Jr.s,Cell,Saibamen,Pikkon,Videl,Hercule,Dabura,Majin Buu,Evil Buu,Super Buu,Kid Buu,Broly,Cooler,Bardock,King Vegeta,Garlic Jr.,all the Spice Boys,and some GT characters.

Tournament mode has been tweaked, and other modes have been added.Babidi's Spaceship has been eliminated.In one of the new modes you can customise your characters energy,stregth,speed,and so on. So far Budokai 3 looks to be 5 times more complete than the first two combined. I will write a new preview when I find more significant information.

Review of Borderlands 2 Mechromancer Pack

Customer Ratings:

(While I played bd2, I played Axton, Zero, Maya, Salvador and Gaige all the way to lvl 50. my total playtime is 330 hours)

To be honest, when I heard about this character I thought it was a cheap copy of Axton with flying turret. I was wrong

She isn't a cheap copy. In fact, I gotta say her skill tree is perhaps the most impressive, fun, and complicated one I have ever seen.

Up for some challenge? Well, here you go!

Best Friends Forever

-the key feature of this tree is making Deathtrap (and you too) harder to kill with additional damage resistance, health, and even a copy of Gaige's shield when maxed out. Also, the tree has a decrease cool down ability that is really helpful since Gaige's skill cool down is way too long (1minute). There are 2 skills in this tree that is a MUST if you decided to go for BFF.

-Close enough: make your missed bullets bounce back to enemies-->good for beginners with trouble with aiming, or even for pros hiding behind cover and shooting at walls for safe, effective attack.

-Explosive Clap: what it says. makes DT drop some heavy AOE explosive damage that deals a moderate amount of damage along with an pulse that pushes enemies around.

Little big trouble

-this tree is often overlooked/ignored for good reasons. This tree focuses on you and DT dealing additional ELECTRIC damage. Although the additional shield capacity for Gaige, and some AOE electric burst every time you reload is pretty cool looking, the element electricity itself is really under powered in borderlands 2 in general compared to fire/corrosive/explosive. Cool looking, but not practical.

-The stacks you get for not attacking for a short time/critical hit bonus, however, could work if you are looking for a sniper play with DT acting as an initiator/tank. Even though Zero was MADE for sniper, I found Gaige with some mastery in this skill tree quite useful when sniping.

ANARCHY

-ah...the signature skill tree of Gaige, and perhaps the most fun/hardcore skill tree in existent yet. This, I believe, is where the fun from playing Gaige comes from. The key feature of this skill tree is very simple: every time you score a kill or reload while in combat you gain stacks that increases your gun damage in trade for accuracy (this tree is not good for snipers). This may sound easy, but it really is ridiculous since it takes a while to collect enough stacks to really make Anarchy shine, while it is one hella easy to suddenly lose all your stacks.

-This skill does have a melee override skill but it sucks really bad.

Gaige pack is a good choice for both solo players and co-op players looking for something new. She might seem a bit under-powered in early game due to her weak robot and insanely high cool-down rate (1 min...the longest CD in borderlands), but I can promise you that you won't be disappointed. Mix up your skill tree. Fight as a sniper or a tank or whatever the heck you want. Your robot got many skills under its sleaves, and so do you. Go use them!

A little tip to maximize your fun, is that since her ultimate skills on each skill tree are somewhat useless, you need to carefully invest points in each tree just to a point of necessity for maximum efficieny.

Gaige's most important and effective skills are usually located at the beginning point of the skill tree.

Me? I invested most points on anarchy but stopped before the Nth bullet, and invested some points on BFF tree for more HP/Defense.

!!!A couple things you should take into account before you purchase!!!

-In BFF the shield recharge skill for DT sometimes glitches, making DT charge your enemy' shield or try to charge your shield even when you are

in the fight-for-your-life state. Still, works properly in most cases.

-DT's AI seems to be having a hard time using multiple active skills.

-The relic is total junk, along with gearbox guns and 2 keys. (You can get keys for free by following Gearbox in twitter)

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Gaige and her robot are awesome ! Plus this pack gives you the pre-order bonus guns, relic, and a Golden Key. Make sure you sign up for the SHIFT account under extras in the menu. When you do you will recieve another gold key. These codes still work at the time of this writing.

KTCJJ-FHZJW-W6JJB-TTBTJ-R9WWJ ( 1 KEY )

WTCBB-H5WHC-5F3T3-TBT3T-HR6TJ ( 1 KEY )

5BKBB-TXWS5-WX3BB-TBT33-3SHSB ( 1 KEY )

K3WTJ-TXZWW-SCRJJ-33BTJ-933ZS ( 1 KEY )

K3K33-3W9JT-6XJJT-TB3JB-HWZZF ( 5 KEYS )

Again a very fun character pack !!!!!!!!!!!

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Couldn't find it listed anywhere but this does work with Steam w/o any problems. Great game and a great addon!

Honest reviews on Borderlands 2 Mechromancer Pack

This is a nice addition to the game. Her ability works similarly to a moving turret, mowing down enemies with total disregard to what you are doing. You do have to play the same game again to level her up, so if repetition is something you don't enjoy, this probably isn't for you. I play with my friends online and rarely play alone, so that's what makes this game have replay value for me. I gave it four stars because it was fun and inexpensive, but not five stars because it really didn't blow me away. I would say if you have a couple of extra bucks to spare and would like to kill some time, this is not a bad way to do it.

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Best character in the game hands down. This is almost as much fun to play as the original Siren. The mech power is awesome, the voice acting is funny, and the character can do anything.

NHL 12 - Xbox 360 Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $18.37
Today's Bonus: 39% Off

Every year EA makes a few additions to the gameplay although it has basically been kept the same as NHL 11. They have found a successful formula in keeping the best of the old and adding a few new things. This year we now have the helmet coming off, hitting a player to send him in the bench area, contacts with the goalie (you can hit the goalie, he can hit you), goalie fights which is really cool, shattered glass and the nets can be moved more easily. EA Sports claim there is a better physical engine and I have to say they're right. This is especially true when playing Be a Pro/Legend where you can notice some improvements when it comes to control, hitting other players and shooting. EA have always been about realism and this year it's a little better than the last. However it doesn't "look" any different from what I've experienced it's very much the same graphics. The one big change is in Be a Pro when it comes to gameplay. Now unlike previous titles you can't spend 45 minutes on the ice. Before you could play pretty much as long as you wanted by pressing the B button and taking another player's place on the Ice. Instead of doing that you "simulate" until your next shift on the ice. Now the amount of play your player gets depends on the line you're on. Basically the big new thing in NHL 12 is that you can now play as select legends in whatever team you want. Say what you will playing as those legends is a cool option that should've been available before this year, I'm glad this addition was made.

The Be a Pro mode now offers the possibility of developing in the CHL before being drafted to the NHL which is a nice option and enhance realism factor. Plus there are all time records you can beat which makes it all the more challenging. As far as I know NHL 12 also marks the first time you can play as a female in Be a Pro. Also you have much more choices for the player faces this time around. Be a Legend is basically like Be a Pro where you take the role of a legend and earn career achievements. It's a fun addition to be able to play as legends and its one thing I've wanted EA to add to the franchise for years. The legends you can play as are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Chris Chelios , Gordie Howe, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy, Jeremy Roenick and Borj Salming . You each have to unlock them except Roenick which is already playable and each of those legends have a degree you need to reach ex: Legend, Legend 2, Pro and so on while in Be a Pro. As far as I can tell, Be a GM has not changed much they basically kept it the same as the previous edition. There are some slight new additions but basically its the same thing with the same options. The 2011 Winter Classic match between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins is also playable and you also have the option of playing with the two teams of your choice. It's a fun novelty, you play in a snowy environment that looks nice (and the arena/crowd area looks great) but otherwise I don't think its one I will play too often, except maybe to show some friends.

Due to recent changes in the NHL the Atlanta Trashers aren't part of this game and the Winnipeg Jets have been added. I noticed that you have the classic Jets jersey but not the new logo, instead you a plain NHL jersey. You can bet that EA Sports will put them in the game as a form of downloadable content sometime soon (hopefully). On a side note,there is no booklet with this game for some reason. The controls are displayed during the waiting screens like NHL 11.

If you thought that NHL 12 would see a whole new gameplay, and major changes it's obviously not happening. Maybe for a future title but this is basically the same as the previous edition with a few changes and things added to it. It does what it sets out to do which is improving on the last one and I think it did just that. I particularly like the legends (an all legends team anyone?) and the fact that Be a Pro offers up to four years in the CHL before being drafted. If you like the new additions I listed and being able to play as legends appeals to you NHL 12 is a great buy, if not you may be just fine with one of the past editions but for the fans who buy those yearly editions each year will want to play it. I won't say it's the best or my favorite title in the series but NHL 12 is a good game overall that will please hockey fans. 4/5

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THIS is what happens when there's no competition.

Let's see, what's broken about NHL 12?

1. Your AI D will still go behind the net, hug the boards, and wait to turn the puck over.

2. Goalie fights in EASHL are a complete waste. I play RW and really REALLY enjoy sitting around doing nothing for 5 minutes because of a goalie fight (it's the RW who goes into the penalty box).

3. I love how if I'm standing near the goalie, I seemingly HAVE to fight him if he so chooses.

4. The hitting was toned down to the point where you can absolutely crush someone, and they will often just shrug you off.

5. The puck still loves to fall off your stick for no reason, and you still fall down at points that are ridiculous.

6. I am the leading scorer in the league in Be A Pro, and guess what ... no power play time. I can not press B and play on the PP. Yeah, that seems to make sense. Oh yeah, you can sit and watch the shootout, too, because apparently your sixth defenseman is far more dangerous than you and your 4 points-per-game average.

7. Boosts are still there. And I still hate them. I either pay a bunch of money to have my online character better, or have to suffer through Be A Pro.

8. Players online clearly know exactly what attributes to use, as per usual. So, at this point in time, they skate so much faster than the AI D, that they skate consistently right past them. And I'm sure they'll find more exploits and cheats.

And the following needs to be addressed NOW!!!

9. FIX THE MATCHING SYSTEM! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired of ONE person ruining a Lobby game because they did not get the position they wanted. Let us choose the position BEFORE. How hard is this? Because, apparently, its too difficult for someone to pick a position or leave.

Thanks EA! I'm SURE NHL 13' will be better! (the common refrain of the EA damned).

Best Deals for NHL 12 - Xbox 360

This game is unacceptably bad.

I'm a very big fan of EA's NHL series. I have religious played each game released in the series since NHL 08, and I've seen the series come a long way in that time. The forward progress of the series, and, indeed, the quality of the experience as a whole, has come to a crashing halt with this year's rendition. This game has barely more content than its predecessor, and, worse, it plays in highly unrealistic fashion and is riddled with bugs.

The major addition touted by the EA NHL team for this year's rendition--indeed, it was the main feature in the game's Internet and television advertisements--was Legend Mode, which allows one to play as a legendary player (i.e. Patrick Roy, Jeremy Roenick, etc.). This is far less fun than it sounds. This mode is essentially Be a Pro--a mode present since NHL 09--played with a highly-rated player. In other words, literally the only difference between this mode and standard Be a Pro is that your player will start out with excellent attributes, something which makes the experience immensely easy. This game mode no doubt took almost no work by the developers, the necessary changes being limited to simply creating these players within the game and making them selectable. As for the legends themselves, you initially only have access to Jeremy Roenick; the other legends are unlockable only by playing the Be a Pro or Be a Legend modes and achieving certain milestones, something that can take a long while. Indeed, it takes such a long time to unlock such players as Lemieux and Gretzky that you'll likely have become tired of the game mode by the time you have access to them. All told, this mode is not anything special; it's ridiculous that it was the main addition in this year's rendition.

On that subject, the changes to Be a Pro do not work properly. This year's rendition gives you a more real-time experience, with your shifts being played in real time rather than time passing at an accelerated rate. Your time off the ice can either be simulated or watched from the bench; in the latter case, it likewise occurs in real time. This leads to some significant issues. For one, it's not out of the question for you to sit on the bench for five or six minutes at a time, regardless of if you're the team's top scorer. Too, you'll run into maddening situations in which instead of being put on the ice with the empty net so as to help your team score a goal--as before, this occurs even if you're the top scorer on your team, or even in the league--you're dumped onto the ice with one second left in the game. This happens on a regular basis. Further asinine quirks in Be a Pro include being traded for peanuts to another team even if you've scored 200 points in a season, and not being played on the power play--regardless of your stats and abilities--unless you've put sufficient points into offensive awareness, a statistic that is of extremely marginal value and not at all a good use of your hard-earned experience points. I'd call this year's Be a Pro substantially less enjoyable than it was in NHL 11.

Be a GM, too, suffers from substantial issues, issues even greater than those found in prior renditions of the game. First, the AI makes a horrendous GM, often failing to re-sign effective players who are not asking for much money; worse, it's not uncommon to see the AI inexplicably waive a player who is leading the league in scoring. Too, the players make asinine choices during negotiations; many of them ask for ludicrously long contracts at ridiculous price, leading the UFA list to often feature numerous top-tier players whom neither the AI GM nor the player GM are willing to take at the players` asking prices. Like Be a Pro mode, Be a GM mode has taken a step backward from last year's version.

The general experience on the ice has, too, taken a step backwards. Player AI--both for your opponent and for your unselected players--is horrid. Players often make nonsensical decisions, for example failing to keep proper position on a 2-on-1 or hanging around in ridiculous spots in the offensive and defensive zones. The degree to which players can maintain control of the puck is ludicrous, as is the agility possessed by every player; players can routinely make turns that would, in real life, result in spectacular wipe-outs. Also excessive is passing accuracy; an average fourth-liner can be expected to have the pass accuracy of a real-life superstar. The main addition to on-ice play in NHL 12, goaltender collision, is a disaster. It is very common to see goaltender interference penalties called when no contact was made, and it is very possible for a human goaltender to initiate contact with a player outside the crease and draw a penalty. Worse, flagrant goaltender interference is often not called. It is not uncommon to see a goaltender deliberately crushed without a penalty being called, a play which almost invariably results in the team with the puck scoring into the empty net. Another, more minor addition to the game is tie-ups by defenders. Essentially, defenders may tie up forwards in front of the net to prevent them from making deflections or banging in loose pucks--at least, this was the intent of the developers, because the function actually does not at all function properly. It is, instead, almost utterly useless; offensive players can disengage from a tie-up with ridiculous ease, and taking oneself out of the play in this manner as a defenseman almost invariably decreases one's ability to protect the net. Just about the only practical use of this feature lies in a defender's ability to tie up with a forward and drag him into a goalie; this will result in a goaltender interference penalty. Also of issue are such matters as deflections being utterly useless, shots being overly accurate, and checking being often pitifully useless. The new player animations are more lifelike and well-tuned than those found in earlier games of the series, but this is about all that NHL 12 has going for it over previous renditions. As with the two previous categories, general on-ice play has, in sum, taken a step backward.

EASHL--online team play--one of the biggest draws of the series, is a disaster. Every forward is capable of feats unmatched by real NHL players. Each forward with a legend card is a mix of the best qualities of the league's best-ever players: the passing ability of Gretzky, the balance of Lemieux, the speed of Bure, the shot of Hull, and the stickhandling and agility of Datsyuk. Meanwhile, defenders have roughly the ability level of second-line defenseman in today's NHL. This results in infuriatingly-imbalanced gameplay that bears little similarity to that found in the NHL. Instead of being rewarded for cycling the puck in the offensive zone, forwards will find the most success in hogging the puck low in the zone and repeatedly attempting a cross-crease pass until such inevitably succeeds. There are, as well, certain moves on the AI goalies that have a ridiculously high percentage of success. Too, defenders often will have an immensely difficult time of impeding the forwards at all; forwards can stop, twirl or turn on a dime and maintain the puck through numerous pokechecks--there is no stick-on-stick collision, and the defender's stick will also often sweep directly through the puck without dislodging it from the forward's stick--sticklifting will nearly always result in the forward maintaining possession of the puck, and hits will often simply encounter an almost literal force field in existence around the forward; the forward will, indeed, often be completely unfazed. This results in defenders generally being at the mercy of the forwards. The issues with this game mode could be described at much greater length, but there's no use; it works just as well to note that this it is horrendously imbalanced and neither fun nor realistic... unless, that is, you like playing as a puck-hogging forward in arcade style.

It also bears mention that the EA NHL team has shown little or no interest in solving these issues. Their level of communication with the community is horrendous, and little work has been put into improving the game's myriad issues. In sum, it feels as if this game was rushed and was released in incomplete state, yet with no plans of supporting it such that the issues inherent to the release version would be eventually fixed. Indeed, no premium whatsoever was, either, put on making the game exceptional in any way.

I advise against purchasing this game. If you have NHL 11, stick with that. NHL 12 is likely to provide you with more frustration than fun, and it does not justify its price tag.

Honest reviews on NHL 12 - Xbox 360

Like the title says, it's a great and fluent game but EA Sports is yet again stealing our money by releasing these sports games every year and still making the presentation horrible.

The teams always come out to the same intro and with the same animation.

The commentators still say the same things.

My Be a Pro goalie always goes through the same routines and animations.

The AI can be anticipated (meaning a skater will stop near the boards for someone to come and trip him up).

It's sad, really. Overall, it's a good game but after your second game played in Be a Pro you will have seen and heard everything at least twice already. Come on, EA. Don't be idiots.

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Been playing the NHL franchise for well over 20 years and this year's version is great once again, online team play in the EASHL is awesome. Many small improvements over last year's game but when combined make for a decent impact. Not sure EA shouldn't start selling these franchise games as $35 updates, but NHL 12 is definitely the best hockey game on the video game market (maybe the only hockey game).

Reviews of UEFA Euro 2008 - Xbox 360

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List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $6.99
Today's Bonus: 65% Off

This one is a lot of fun. I love Fifa 2008 and PES 2008, but this one has better graphics than Fifa 2008 and a slicker menu system. I think the difficulty settings are not as good as PES 2008 though and the crowd graphics in PES are much better than the EA games, with the drawback being the licensed clubs being limited in PES.

If you enjoyed either Fifa or PES you'll like this one, but of course it's just Euro Cup national teams and thus not worth full price by any means. I don't like the marketing gimmick of coming out with titles just for specific tournaments but at the full price, get this when it's at half price as that's more indicative of the value. If you want all the licensed leagues there's nothing better than Fifa, you can create tournaments there as well, but World Cup is not a set tournament nor is Euro Cup or Champions League, etc. out of the box. I recommend this one at half price due to it just being Euro Cup.

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Let me preface this review by saying I've owned every FIFA or EA soccer game since 06. This is definitely the best of the lot. The passing and dribbling is smoother and I only wish I could put this gameplay engine into my FIFA 08 game. The players don't react as slowly as in FIFA and the defence is more tougher. The improved passing accuracy makes up for the defence being harder. You can penetrate the D by threading in lobbed through balls on the button. Only negative is playing as Holland will give you generic players since EA doesn't own the rights and Pro Ev does. But, oh well. Pick it up mos def if you are a FIFA fan or soccer video game fan in general.

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Actually bought this for my son for Father's Day...and my grandson Nick loved it also...they are having a ball playing together...best Father's Day gift ever for them

Honest reviews on UEFA Euro 2008 - Xbox 360

Excellent product, only downfall is the controls could be a little more responsive at times (maybe thats just me though). Otherwise great fun !!

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I am not a big "video soccer" player, but thought this might be fun as I typically do like the sports games. However, this one was a little too advanced for someone not that familiar with the controls. There does not appear to be any "training" mode to help a novice learn the controls and even playing on the easiest level using a top notch team I was unable to do anything to make the game fun and make me want to play it more. The computer constantly kept stealing the ball from my players and dominated play (again, I'm a new player so this isn't completely unexpected). In the end I lost 5-0 but I don't think I got any shots on goal ... at least no good shots on goal, and I think the computer felt sorry for me and kept the score closer than it really was. For players with experience and familiarity with soccer on XBOX360 this may be a great game, but I don't fall into that category. And the game didn't do much to make me want to keep trying as the learning curve is steep and I am far to casual of a video game player.

Cheap Disney Infinity - Series 2 Power Discs - Complete Set with Album

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I called up my local Target and sure enough they had 3 in stock. They also didn't have a clue what I was talking about, but be patient and be persistent. What was weird is we were shopping at that same target the night before and I didn't notice this offer. I think what threw me was that they stacked these on the bottom shelf; I assume because they are large and hard to hang on traditional hooks so that's how I missed it. I think companies that buy out these items at release date just to resell on Amazon.com at double the price are pretty uncool in my book. I completely understand the concept of collector's pricing, but that shouldn't happen till long after the initial stock in stores has been depleted. Maybe that's entrepreneurialism to some people, but I just think it's a evil way to make a buck.

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Got this at Target for $59.99. So the ones you see on here for $100.00, you can get the same thing at Target stores, Last I checked today was unavailable online. Stores should have plenty. I LOVE it! it has ALL 20 discs with the Album, So NO running around to stores trying to find all of them & spending money On mostly doubles. I probably spent $60.00 just on packs. Great Idea they had!

Best Deals for Disney Infinity - Series 2 Power Discs - Complete Set with Album

It's a $60 Target Exclusive. A lot cheaper than buying the blind packaging and hoping to get them all. Of course, if your Target is currently out of stock, there are always people online who are nice enough to buy them in bulk from Target and sell them for double the retail price. Or you could go to the Target website. Your choice.

Discount Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition - Xbox 360

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List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $14.98
Today's Bonus: 50% Off

I have just finally got around to getting this game. I have been a serious MK fan since the first one was in arcades. Sill have the SNES & Genesis MK's. Still got the Sega Saturn & PS one's too! I have been a little on the fence about some of the MK's that have came out since the Dreamcast days. Deception & a few others were pretty cool. Yet I just felt they weren't as good as the first 3 (and Ultimate 3 & Trilogy). MK vs DC didn't grasp my attention that much. And so when this game came out I was pretty excited! I didn't wanna shell out $59.99 when it first dropped....So I waited and have been playing it quiet a bit since just yesterday. It's a overall great game! It's challenging for sure, and though I still favor the more realistic characters & levels of the first 3, the graphics are awesome! The controllers are pretty good. They seem to have altered some of the controls for doing a characters moves & combos. The game has a good amount of characters to choose from (especially this Komplete Edition) this version has extras. Including 4 extra characters one of which is Freddy Krueger.Kinda weird seeing & playing as him in the MK world, but I'm definitely down! You also get to play as Sektor & Cyrax when they we're human. It's pretty cool, though in my opinion I like playing them as the cyborgs/robots in this. The game has the features of detail that fighters haven't had in games before. As you fight, your body & clothing show wear & tear. You get gashes,ect....And parts of your clothing get ripped and can be missing parts of it. The levels are well designed. And it apprears they all have a level fatality. The sound is great both in it's tracks & sound effects! There are several ways to play this game. With friends/siblings in vs mode, or with different challenges & story mode. If you've been a overall big fan of the franchise like myself. I'd highly recommend this game to you! Or, if your fairly new to the MK series this is a great one to get into! And if you are among the new to series statistic....I recommend visiting the older games of this franchise. In my opinion the first 3 (+ Ultimate 3 & Trilogy) are still the best of the MK's to this day! But like I said, this is a overall great addition to the series. And the best one they have made in years!

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This is easily one of the best fighters of this console generation. Please check out my full review here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lRqQygz734

Best Deals for Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition - Xbox 360

This is a great buy if you didn't buy the original game. Though the old one is a bit cheaper now if you're planning on getting all the DLC it probably best to get the Komplete Edition because it comes with all of it plus the movie and cd.

Honest reviews on Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition - Xbox 360

The newest addition to the Mortal Kombat franchise is now available for XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3! Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition features life-like graphics combined with amazing new Fatalities, and even includes all 4 DLC characters, including Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street! It also includes all 15 downloadable classic skins including exclusive skins, like MK1 Ermac and MK3 Cyber Sub-Zero! It's a must-have for Mortal Kombat fans nationwide!

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The game works perfectly. I had the normal MK9 game and it broke and then when this one came out I was very happy

Buy True Crime: New York City

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True Crime: NYC is a great game, with tons of stuff to do and many elements that breathe life into the city. The storyline is actually only a minor fraction of the game, the real fun comes from driving around the city, doing the street crimes and discovering all the different stores around the city. There are car shops, music stores, dojos, and gun shops spread around the city that offer different cars, songs, fighting styles, weapons and other clothing.

Don't like driving around? Take a cab or ride the subway. Solve the crimes throughout the city and watch how the buildings and trees reflect the changes. You can kill, arrest, stun, frisk, interrogate or extort people, using different weapons and skills you acquire throughout the game.

Unlike GTA, in this game the whole city is actually filled with life.

Many people rented this game for a day and complain that it's just another GTA. I think that's because they did not spend the time to discover all the different things and activities in the city.

The graphics are great too. The city is full of details. There is a day/night cycle, weather effects, reflections on the ground and even litter flying around. All sorts of different cars and a bunch of street objects which are all breakable.

What's not to like?

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So many of the game reviews are picky. One of the biggest complaints about this game has been that it is the same old thing. Just like Grand Theft Auto. WHen was being like one of what is considered one of the best games ever been a bad thing? That said, if you don't like violence or profanity, avoid this game at all costs. It has both in spades. The game is very similar to the whole GTA vibe. Lots of free roaming action, lots of violence to innocent people, lots of what people loved from GTA. YOu can get more details from other reviews. The truth is if you are a churchgoer, avoid this game, it will do nothing to improve your spirituality. If you love GTA you love this game.

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This game is better than GTA:SA by a little bit!Unlike the 1st True crime, you can swim and you can go into stores like gun shopes, banks, offices, clubs, the police department and more! Also you can search trunks. You can even eat!!! You can buy cars from dealerships and buy guns from gunshops. And better street crimes are available. You can take subways and taxis around the city too. And you can ride motorcycles too!!!!!!!!!!!! You can also change and buy clothes! Overall this game is way better then TC: Streets of LA and is almost better than the whole GTA series!If you love True crime and enjoy playing GTA, buy this game immediatly.

Honest reviews on True Crime: New York City

I liked the first True Crime a lot so when they announced this game I had high expectations for it. I got it and started to play it and I loved it, I was like YEAH! another True Crime, but then after the first 5 minutes if gameplay it turned into crap. It was kind of like the creators put all there effort into the first five minutes of the game then they were just like "alright lets finish this already." The first five minutes of gameplay are non-stop actionu are in a warehouse killing all these gang members for revenge or something with these two sick Uzi's, BUT THEN a cut-scene happens and all of a sudden alakazam......its crap. After the cutscene you are a cop and it is two years or something into the future and you and your partner are set to go on a mission. You drive there and your partner walks in alone and the whole place explodes. Your cop expectations go down and now oyu must work your way up doing dirty work. Thats basically the whole game, doing dirty work and its not fun at all.

Probably the most fun out of the game is just running around on foot, because the driving is horrible, and arresting random people and showing them your badge and shooting your gun in the air. Everything else sucks. The story-line missions are so boring and pointless. All you do in the story missions are go to this random guy and get told about this bad guy who needs to be in jail but its your job to figure out where he is. So the random guy gives you a list of poeple who might know something about the wanted bad guy. So you go to a warehouse and kill everyone in it and make the person tell you something about the wanted bad guy and then you go to another warehouse and do the same thing about three or four times till you have found enough info on the guy to take him out. Then once you have got that guy the random guy gives you another guy you need to find info about. And thats over and over till the story missions are done, sounds boring...right? Well it is! There are side missions but they suck and are also boring. Like doing missions for your father or taxi missions and racing missions.

The environment is horrible, now i know New York city is awesome and what not, but NYC sucks in a game, like really sucks. First of all the place is so freakin huge that if oyu want to do a mission you have to drive for like five minutes just to get to the person who tells you the mission. Then you have to drive to where the actual mission takes place which is another five minutes. This will keep you from doing the other missions because you will be like....eh i dont want to drive all the way there lets just do this misssion. The car crashing is also horrible. When you crash you most likely do a 180 degree turn, which gets really annoying when you are in a cop chase. Also the place is just boring, its the same looking buildings over and over again and its like never day and ther is always garbage flying across the screen, its like a dump.

OVerall the whole story-line sucks. Basically because there is no specific storyline. The game jst feels like someone regular, normal life, the normal life of a cop. The sound sucks too, especially the cars. When you crash it is the most irritating noise and the cutscene volume is so low while the gameplay volume is super high. So you will turn up the volume while in a cutscene and forget to turn it lower for gameplay and your ears will blow out from the noise. The controls are also bad. Since its like just based on a normal life of a cop you are able to do all the normal things making you use all buttons on the controler. I mean the back button shoot in the air, now when is the back button ever used except for menus. The fighting stile is cool but it kind of gets confusing with all the buttons you have to press.

You are able to do all the same things as the first like badge showing and arresting and fighting moves and shooting in the air. Really the most fun i have in the game is driving at full speed in a car and when someone does that stupid thing, like in all games, where they change lanes and get infront of you to make you crash; so i slam into them from the back and then make them get out of the car and arrest them, because in all other games you can't do anything about it, like GTA.

Overall this game is bad and not what it could have been or should have been. I would not recommend this game to anyone, its just so bad. IF you True Crime fans want to try it be my guest, but you will be surely disappointed. All you other people if you want to rent it just for the first five minutes of the game go ahead. This game is M for Mature: Blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content, use of drugs.

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I am not the kind of guy who complains or demands a lot about games and I have always been able to overlook minor glitches as long as the game is fun and keeps me entertained, HOWEVER I must say that I have NEVER EVER had such a terrible experience like I did with this game. In the beginning I was loving the game, great missions and I could literally play it for hours, but then the nightmare started. There is a mission that you have to complete called "Shadow Tong" where you have to push a character off a crate, I found out at least in my case that it is just impossible. After hours and hours of trying to do it and reading walkthroughs that could help me figure out what I was doing wrong, I realized that it wasn't even my fault!!!!!!! It is a glitch that apparently comes only for the XBOX version and tons of people were having the same problem. The result was my total and utter dissapointment, after all, what is the point of starting a game you cannot finish????!!!! I felt ripped off and extremely upset and I decided to warn everybody about this because it is unacceptable. Since then the game is stored in my closet getting dusty, reminding me the HUGE MISTAKE I did throwing my good earned money in the garbage. There are hundreds of great games you could buy, think of the choices and spare yourself the misery of getting this one. So please just research a little bit so you know what I'm talking about and if you do decide to ignore what I have stated here, well don't say I didn't warn you.

P.S. The game freezes ALL the time as well so be prepared for that too if you buy it.