Showing posts with label what is a xbox 360. Show all posts
Showing posts with label what is a xbox 360. Show all posts
Monday, February 2, 2015
Best THUMBGRIP/THUMBSTICK MOD! Total Control by iTarget Deals
I've used the FPS Freeks and the Grip It stick covers and had issues with each of them. The Grip Its work ok on the 360 but they're too small for the PS3 sticks and tend to slide off when playing. So I figured I'd give these a shot. First off they are quite a bit thicker than the Grip Its, and the grip sections are more pronounced. On the 360 they have an indent in the middle when installed and feel really good. One the PS3 they are just the opposite and bulge outwards but still feel pretty good. They do take a little time to get used to though. But once you do get used to them, you'll find they are a great addition to a controller. I just wish they weren't as expensive as they are.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Best Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio Deals
I am not sure, if I had done a bit more research, if I would have bought this. Turtle Beach has a good reputation for sound cards in my mind, which weighed into my purchase decision. Unfortunately, my experience with this device hasn't been good. I specifically bought this card in so that I could use SPDIF passthrough, which the card supports, but only if you have the driver installed. And there's the rub, the installer will work only if it can detect the device, and it doesn't do this reliably. From searching the web, I am not alone in running into this. The problem manifests as the installer continually asking for you to plug the device in, even if you have. It just fails to detect it.
I followed the instructions on the Turtle Beach site, and contacted their tech support, but they have not been very helpful so far. I also found while searching the web that I am far from alone in having problems getting the driver to install. After a lot of work, I have managed to get the driver to install, and it to works mostly, so I am going to detail the process I went through to make this work here.
First, before anything else, I am not a representing Turtle Beach, or providing any guarantees that this will work. It's possible that doing this will screw your computer up, and I am not responsible for anything you do to your computer.
So, the basic process to make this work is you manually extract the driver from the installer, and then install that. This is what I did on my Windows 7 machine:
1)Get the software called "Universal Extractor". Install it and then use it to extract the installer.
2)Use it on data1.cab file that was extracted from the installer.
3)Plug your Advantage Micro II in now. I assume that it is installing as a generic USB sound device, like mine. From the device manager, do properties on the generic sound card. Update the driver, have the process do a manual install, and select the driver from your computer. Point it at the directory that you extracted the installer to. You will get a warning that the driver cannot be verified as working with your hardware. Accept it and continue. You will likely need to reboot at this point. IMPORTANT: if you are on a 64 bit version of Vista, 7, or 8, you will need to disable signed driver enforcement. If you don't do this, your system will act like it cannot see the hardware anymore because it will not be able to load the driver.
4)At this point, you should have PCM audio coming out, just like before, but in the device manager, you will now see "Audio Advantage Micro Device".
5)I couldn't get SPDIF to work at this point even. The final step I did(and I'm iffy on this is what made it work or not) was in the extracted files directory I ran "AudioAdvantageCpl.exe". On the speakers tab(which should be the default tab), select the "Output Configuration" pane. There should be a single drop down, that says either "headphones" or "Two Speaker", with an S/PDIF option. Once I set this to S/PDIF, the pass through settings on the codecs I am using(Media Player Classic HC) seemed to take, and my receiver started getting a bitstream.
SO there you go, hope that helps some people getting this to work. Honestly, I'm debating attempting a return and getting something that works without those hoops and better vendor support.
I bought this because the shielding of the motherboard's audio output was terrible in my computer. The main use-case is listening to music via headphones, and for this it worked great! The volume levels coming out were actually shocking at first, but after adjusting the sound volume in Pulse Audio (global and device specific) everything sounds as it should.
I have used this for years now, with no problems.
I haven't had any problems with it, so I can't comment on Turtle Beach's customer service.
I use this device to send multi-channel, compressed audio (Dolby Digital, DTS) from my laptop to my home theater receiver. I send the video stream via HDMI to my TV. My receiver is just old enough that it doesn't have any HDMI inputs; only digital coax and Toslink.
It sends any audio format found on today's DVDs, including all the variations of DOLBY and DTS.
(Note: those formats are the only ones you'll be able to use on Blu-Ray discs, even though Blu-Rays have newer, supposedly better audio formats. This is b/c the new formats can be sent only over HDMI, not digital coax or Toslink.)
And the picture and sound are perfectly matched, despite passing over separate outputs.
I also like that this thing is sleek and minimal in it's design. It takes up practically no space, requires no additional power source, and will fit easily in your laptop bag when you travel (although you probably won't use this much while traveling).
Plus, the fact that it includes the mini-Toslink adapter is awesome (what a pain it would be to have to buy one more little thing just to make it work).
And the connection is very sturdy; it won't pull out inadvertently.
Oh, and to those reviewers who are Mac users, you probably don't need to buy this.
Unless your Mac is pretty old, it should have a dual-use jack that functions as a headphone and Toslink output.
Just get a mini-Toslink adapter, which costs about five bucks (or less). You shouldn't need any other device to send digital audio via Toslink.
(unless, of course, you're using a Hackintosh, in which case all bets are off)
for use as a poor man's Squeezebox. I used the "shared
folder" feature of windows to access my digital music
collection (purchased from eMusic, and stored on another
PC) wirelessly. Pretty nice -I don't have to transfer
music to the laptop itself, which has only a small hard
drive.
I initially had an adapter cable running from the
"headphone out" on the laptop to stereo RCA cables
to the stereo. The stereo volume from my laptop's
headphone output had to be cranked up pretty high,
and the sound quality seemed just okay.
I took the Micro II card out of the packaging, plugged
it into a USB port, and that was that. The laptop,
running Windows 2000, recognized it immediately and
I simply plugged my adapter cable into the Micro II.
I haven't run any careful tests to compare the sound
of the Micro II to the sound chip on the laptop, but
subjectively the sound with the Micro II was a lot
clearer, and I could set my stereo volume as I would
normally when using the CD player. My wife said she
could hear a big improvement in the sound.
In short: totally simple to set up, works with my
Windows 2000 laptop, and seems to sound much better
than the laptop headphone output.
Fortunately, I had a mini optical cable that I was no longer using. With this cable I could plug directly into the output jack without needing the adapter, and it works perfectly. Searching amazon for "mini optical to toslink" brings up plenty of these cables, so I recommend getting one to complement this product. Here's a link to one such cable, as an example: Cables To Go 27017 Velocity Toslink-to-Optical Mini Plug Digital Cable (3 Meters)
I followed the instructions on the Turtle Beach site, and contacted their tech support, but they have not been very helpful so far. I also found while searching the web that I am far from alone in having problems getting the driver to install. After a lot of work, I have managed to get the driver to install, and it to works mostly, so I am going to detail the process I went through to make this work here.
First, before anything else, I am not a representing Turtle Beach, or providing any guarantees that this will work. It's possible that doing this will screw your computer up, and I am not responsible for anything you do to your computer.
So, the basic process to make this work is you manually extract the driver from the installer, and then install that. This is what I did on my Windows 7 machine:
1)Get the software called "Universal Extractor". Install it and then use it to extract the installer.
2)Use it on data1.cab file that was extracted from the installer.
3)Plug your Advantage Micro II in now. I assume that it is installing as a generic USB sound device, like mine. From the device manager, do properties on the generic sound card. Update the driver, have the process do a manual install, and select the driver from your computer. Point it at the directory that you extracted the installer to. You will get a warning that the driver cannot be verified as working with your hardware. Accept it and continue. You will likely need to reboot at this point. IMPORTANT: if you are on a 64 bit version of Vista, 7, or 8, you will need to disable signed driver enforcement. If you don't do this, your system will act like it cannot see the hardware anymore because it will not be able to load the driver.
4)At this point, you should have PCM audio coming out, just like before, but in the device manager, you will now see "Audio Advantage Micro Device".
5)I couldn't get SPDIF to work at this point even. The final step I did(and I'm iffy on this is what made it work or not) was in the extracted files directory I ran "AudioAdvantageCpl.exe". On the speakers tab(which should be the default tab), select the "Output Configuration" pane. There should be a single drop down, that says either "headphones" or "Two Speaker", with an S/PDIF option. Once I set this to S/PDIF, the pass through settings on the codecs I am using(Media Player Classic HC) seemed to take, and my receiver started getting a bitstream.
SO there you go, hope that helps some people getting this to work. Honestly, I'm debating attempting a return and getting something that works without those hoops and better vendor support.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I am very happy to see that this usb audio card worked without any trouble or driver installs under Ubuntu 10.04. The "no driver required" is indeed true from what I have seen.I bought this because the shielding of the motherboard's audio output was terrible in my computer. The main use-case is listening to music via headphones, and for this it worked great! The volume levels coming out were actually shocking at first, but after adjusting the sound volume in Pulse Audio (global and device specific) everything sounds as it should.
Best Deals for Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio
This product works perfectly for me so far.I have used this for years now, with no problems.
I haven't had any problems with it, so I can't comment on Turtle Beach's customer service.
I use this device to send multi-channel, compressed audio (Dolby Digital, DTS) from my laptop to my home theater receiver. I send the video stream via HDMI to my TV. My receiver is just old enough that it doesn't have any HDMI inputs; only digital coax and Toslink.
It sends any audio format found on today's DVDs, including all the variations of DOLBY and DTS.
(Note: those formats are the only ones you'll be able to use on Blu-Ray discs, even though Blu-Rays have newer, supposedly better audio formats. This is b/c the new formats can be sent only over HDMI, not digital coax or Toslink.)
And the picture and sound are perfectly matched, despite passing over separate outputs.
I also like that this thing is sleek and minimal in it's design. It takes up practically no space, requires no additional power source, and will fit easily in your laptop bag when you travel (although you probably won't use this much while traveling).
Plus, the fact that it includes the mini-Toslink adapter is awesome (what a pain it would be to have to buy one more little thing just to make it work).
And the connection is very sturdy; it won't pull out inadvertently.
Oh, and to those reviewers who are Mac users, you probably don't need to buy this.
Unless your Mac is pretty old, it should have a dual-use jack that functions as a headphone and Toslink output.
Just get a mini-Toslink adapter, which costs about five bucks (or less). You shouldn't need any other device to send digital audio via Toslink.
(unless, of course, you're using a Hackintosh, in which case all bets are off)
Honest reviews on Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio
I've decided to hide an old IBM laptop near my stereofor use as a poor man's Squeezebox. I used the "shared
folder" feature of windows to access my digital music
collection (purchased from eMusic, and stored on another
PC) wirelessly. Pretty nice -I don't have to transfer
music to the laptop itself, which has only a small hard
drive.
I initially had an adapter cable running from the
"headphone out" on the laptop to stereo RCA cables
to the stereo. The stereo volume from my laptop's
headphone output had to be cranked up pretty high,
and the sound quality seemed just okay.
I took the Micro II card out of the packaging, plugged
it into a USB port, and that was that. The laptop,
running Windows 2000, recognized it immediately and
I simply plugged my adapter cable into the Micro II.
I haven't run any careful tests to compare the sound
of the Micro II to the sound chip on the laptop, but
subjectively the sound with the Micro II was a lot
clearer, and I could set my stereo volume as I would
normally when using the CD player. My wife said she
could hear a big improvement in the sound.
In short: totally simple to set up, works with my
Windows 2000 laptop, and seems to sound much better
than the laptop headphone output.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio
I bought this because I was looking for a compact USB device with an optical digital output to connect my laptop to my sound system, and at $25, this is one of the best prices around. However, there is a single caveat that almost made this product useless to me. To use the optical output, a small adapter is plugged into the output jack, and your optical cables plugs into this adapter. However, the adapter had so much signal loss that my amplifier was unable to see the signal on the other end. I tested this with both 25' and 50' cables, so perhaps with shorter cables it works a bit better.Fortunately, I had a mini optical cable that I was no longer using. With this cable I could plug directly into the output jack without needing the adapter, and it works perfectly. Searching amazon for "mini optical to toslink" brings up plenty of these cables, so I recommend getting one to complement this product. Here's a link to one such cable, as an example: Cables To Go 27017 Velocity Toslink-to-Optical Mini Plug Digital Cable (3 Meters)
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Club Penguin: Game Day! Reviews
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $13.64
Today's Bonus: 32% Off
I originally bought this for my son thats 11 years old. My daughter thats 6 also enjoys playing Club Penguin. All of us have memberships with Club Penguin. This is something we have played for years (I believe 4 or 5 years). I found Club Penguin to be one of the most kid friendly games, that is not too kiddy that the older ones wont play. We got this game on release day and the whole family is playing it. If you play story mode you can beat all 4 team colors to get coins and earn stamps. Once you have played all 4 team colors and beat each of the 4 teams, you have beat story mode. You can pick easy, normal or hard modes. Which makes it great for all ages. The coins and stamps will easily, transfer to your Club Penguin Account online. The games are challenging enough to keep you interested in the game. There are some other party type games that are just too easy or too hard for the family. This fits us perfect for the different ages. Even if you don't have a online Club Penguin membership this will be fun. The one and only complaint I have about this game is you can only transfer 2,000 coins per day to your online Club Penguin Account. I think if you earn it you should be able to transfer all of it when you want. This game is much better than the DS versions of Club Penguin.
Just a note to connect to your online account you need Wifi set up on your Wii. If you have more than one child that wants to play please make sure you have enough remotes for them. They can play all together or separately. Keep in mind if you don't have Club Penguin Online you can get a free membership. So you can transfer your stamps and coins to it too. Of course you will not be able to do all the member activities but it will still be fun to waddle around. As an adult I found this game fun to play with the kids.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
This game is probably a lot better than most of the bargain priced Wii games out there. I wouldn't recommend paying more than twenty dollars for it though. The game mostly consists of playing the same few mini games over and over again. You have to have a club penguin account on the website and your Wii connected to the internet to make full use of this game. You can create a club penguin website account for free, you don't have to be a member to use this game. Its pretty much a waste if you don't do those 2 things as there really isn't any point to playing the game if you don't have a club penguin website account. Its basically for club penguin fans only.Also you have to get a new copy that is sealed, because the game includes a code to link your club penguin account to the game, so if you buy a used one the code will be already used up most likely, then you would be stuck with what is pretty much a worthless game. So this game is pretty much worthless as soon as you use the code that comes with the game.
Once you get all this set up its really great for club penguin fans, and probably the best club penguin Nintendo game made so far. You can play mini games and upload coins to your club penguin account. If you buy items in the game the items will sync to your club penguin account which is really cool. As you can imagine there are exclusive items you can only obtain in your club penguin online account by doing this. There are also exclusive stamps you can earn which are only available by playing this game. I have purchased one of the club penguin DS games and that game does not allow you to get items from the DS games to your online account which is kind of disappointing, this game does that.
The only mini game I have trouble with is Goal! You won't win that one or it will be extremely difficult to do so. Sometimes while playing with AI players the mini games seem largely based on luck regarding who will win regardless of which mini game you are playing. Of course you don't have to "win" every time in order to progress in the game, there are different conditions you have to meet to progress like "beat the green team in 2 out of 4 mini games". If you don't win or get 1st place there are no penalties, you just try again.
Best Deals for Club Penguin: Game Day!
Or so my 9 year-old tells me. Don't think he's stopped playing since Christmas. hahaIf your kid likes Club Penguin he/she will love this game.
Honest reviews on Club Penguin: Game Day!
My son is a big fan of Club Penguin online, and this game is very similar. It's great that now we can all play with him instead of just watching him play alone on the computer. He really enjoys it!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Club Penguin: Game Day!
I bought this game for myself (I'm 38)-I just like fun games that are non-violent. I only got to play a little so far, but-here's my opinion so far. Graphics are decent-cartoony, but I've come to expect that from Wii. A lot of the minigames seem similar to each other. I was really expecting a little more when I read the other reviews. I was hoping the controls were a little more intuitive. Also-it's a little hard to figure out exactly where you're supposed to go to accomplish goals-another reviewer said stumble upon & that's about right.Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Buy Xbox 360 Special Forces Headset
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $22.81
Today's Bonus: 24% Off
People online can't understand what is being said and they compared it to speaking underwater. Don't waste your money on this headset. Even the basic one that Xbox puts out is better.
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Looks cool. The mic sounds are very muffled. I bought a few different headsets, this was the worst of the bunch. I tested them all by sending a voice message from one LIVE account to another. I really wanted to like this one since I like the idea of a throat mic and a simple ear bud, but this particular headset was a disappointment. Not usable. Not recommended.Best Deals for Xbox 360 Special Forces Headset
it looks cool but sounds really bad. it was discribed as a fuzzy robot voice. strait out of the package. very disapointing! got here fast enough though.Honest reviews on Xbox 360 Special Forces Headset
Serves the purpose of a head set but that huge ear piece defeats the purpose of concealing. Overall Pretty good I guess.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Xbox 360 Special Forces Headset
I had the cod mw2 throat communicator, which is by far my favorite mic for my 360. My gf, calling herself "cleaning", dropped it in a bucket of water. So I decided to find a replacement mic w the same style, came across this one and gave this mic a try. When I put on the mic, the ends of the mic were uncomfortable and could only bare the uncomfort for an hour. The ear piece was uncomfortable as well. I'm not a fan of earbuds anyway, so these were unbearable. The functioning of the mic was pretty well for about 2 weeks, then it started to have a hard time picking up sounds and eventually died. If you're looking for something short term and uncomfortable, this is your mic.Saturday, September 6, 2014
Tomb Raider Review
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $24.50
Today's Bonus: 18% Off
After being forced into a corner of mediocrity and shameless attempts and polygonal "sex appeal" the Tomb Raider franchise is finally given the chance to start anew with a fresh look at the beginnings of series protagonist Lara Croft.
To keep a long story short, this series reboot showcases Lara's transformation from an inexperienced young woman in search of adventure into a strong and unstoppable survivor. This isn't the unrealistically large-breasted Angelina Jolie look-alike who runs around in short-shorts with her belly button on display to appeal to lonely fanboys. This is Tomb Raider matured and honed to perfection. Adventure, danger, suspense, terror. And all centered around a well-rounded character (yes, Lara is finally a real character now).
Visually Tomb Raider is magnificent. Sure, there's a lot of browns and grays in many settings, but when the game opens up to the island the graphics showcase the wonderful designs crafted with such care at Crystal Dynamics.
Voice acting is great. Lara's portrayal (in both voice and motion-capture) is ahead of previous games by leaps and bounds. Sound design and music are generally excellent.
Finally, we have gameplay. Tomb Raider offers a welcome mixture of shooting, platforming, sneaking, and cinematic quick time events (QTE's). Many gamers dislike QTE's, and I understand why, but I personally welcome them when they are placed sensibly within the game. Tomb Raider gets it right, using these events to keep you on the edge of your seat. One wrong move and Lara dies, sometimes rather graphically.
On the whole developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix have crafted a gem of a game that can be enjoyed by a new generation as well as series veterans. Tomb Raider is a force to be reckoned with once again, and I pity the next big action-adventure game that tries to do better.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Square Enix has been pushing the envelope lately. Last year's Sleeping Dogs blended Grand Theft Auto-style driving and shooting and classic "True Crime" grit with elements of classic martial arts films, and Hitman: Absolution dropped players into the shoes of Agent 47 for the fifth time with stealthy gusto.And then came Tomb Raider. Having a video game series spawn nine direct sequels is no small feat. But to hear it told on the internet and in a couple of magazines months before its release, this would have easily been one to pass on. Lara Croft is young, naive, fragile and vulnerable, not the dual-gun wielding, ass-kicking bombshell she has been for nine games and two movies now. Let me reassure you, there is plenty to love here.
After being shipwrecked in southern Japan, Lara Croft is knocked unconscious and taken prisoner by the indigenous tribe. Her crewmates are lost. She is alone. When the dust settles and Lara opens her eyes, she finds herself bound upside down, hanging from the ceiling with several corpses. In the first five minutes of play, she escapes her bats nest, falls a good thirty feet to the ground and lands on a broken femur, which pierces her through the side. From that scene, I was hooked. Even through the stumbling and near-misses that Lara experiences in the first 10% of her journey, I found myself unable to leave her side. Her struggle through the hardship makes a bond with the player that few games can match.
The first and foremost part of this game is survival. Lara will occasionally get hungry if you aren't keeping on top of things. Fortunately, food caches are so frequent in the game and wild animals are everywhere, so this shouldn't be an issue. Stealth can be a key factor, too. A couple of stealth kills can save you a good 10 minutes of combat in the late game.
There are some areas where the game falters. Combat is repetitive as hell, and the game doesn't reward diversity in combat like Devil May Cry, nore does it really nudge you into any particular tactics. Bullets and arrows kill things, and dynamite hurts when it blows you up. That's really all there is to it here.
The multiplayer portion of the game seems unnecessary, and unless you're a bored fanatic of Call of Duty, you won't find much to please you here. Most of the DLC available now revolves around online multiplayer (weapons & maps), which seems like an oversight in a primarily single-player game, and the modes aren't very diverse. As good as the single player game was, I feel like it could have been that much better had Tomb Raider not shipped with online multiplayer.
The game's setting is a small string of islands in the Dragon's Triangle in southern Japan. The tombs are diverse, from the dark underground tunnels to the World War II testing facilities to the makeshift shantytown. The optional ones don't exactly jump out at you: the game alerts you when you're near the entrance to one, and you can either continue on with the story or search for that hidden entrance. The rewards for completing tombs are just as you'd expect: a fancy ancient relic, some insight into the island's history, or both. Just as rewarding are some of the death sequences. Should you lead Lara Croft down the wrong path she will die, sometimes in an amazingly gory fashion that would make LIMBO proud.
Tomb Raider sounds amazing. Every bit of it. The voice acting was fantastic. Lara's every gasp, whimper and grunt seem unique, as if SEE had captured dozens of hours of Camilla Luddington falling down the stairs. Her dialogue is hilarious at times. After opening a sarcophagus near the middle of the game and reaping her putrid reward, Lara blurts out "I hate tombs!" The other crewmates and villains have equally great voice acting, but the standouts are the samoan Jonah Miava (voiced by Earl Baylon) and the cult leader Mathias (voiced by Robert Craighead). Just as important, the musical score is astounding. Jason Graves (composer for the Dead Space series, Alpha Protocol and F.3.A.R.) brings the story home with a mix of tribal drums and chilling strings.
After beating the game tonight, I came away only slightly disappointed. The final boss fight turned out to be misleading, and the final sequence of the game was a QTE. Unless you're a completionist or an avid fan of mediocre online shooters, you can be done with Tomb Raider in as little as 10-12 hours. For those who take the time to explore, though, it can be extremely rewarding.
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Tomb Raider: The Final Hours Xbox 360 versionVisual effects: 10/10
Voice acting: 10/10
Musical score: 11/10 (outstanding!)
Brutality and Gore: LOTS (probably too much for some people)
Humor: 1/10
Xbox controller usage: 10/10
Frame rate: 10/10
Software stability: 10/10 (zero crashes)
Cut scenes: 10/10 (seamless)
Load pauses: NONE (amazing!)
Boot/splash time: FAST
Internet DRM: No
Worth the $60 price: Absolutely
Honest reviews on Tomb Raider
I played a few of the Tomb Raider games and really didn't get into them much, i'm not sure if it's because I was playing as a girl? Not to sound sexist, or i just preferred Indiana Jones, and Drakes Fortune over her. I really enjoyed the Uncharted games and could probably go through them again. I think this game is actually better in different ways. Graphically I do find it to be better, and Square Enix have always been known for great graphics and atmosphere. One of my favorites being Just Cause 2. The game mechanics are smooth as silk, the aiming and shooting accuracy are much better than Drakes Fortune, along with the controls. Not to discredit those games, but this game seems more plausible (for a game), and has more of a humanistic side to it. You really feel what Lara is going through, and it has a lot more emotional in a survival sense. This game is more staying alive then just searching for things and shooting people. Although there is a lot of that as well. The hunting is great, even when your just doing nothing you can simply shoot rabbits, deer, birds and wolves to gain skill points. And find salvage to upgrade simple things like a knife or axe. Even though i'm somewhere in the middle of the game, i don't see my opinion going anywhere but up, but it's already as far as it can go.This game, much like Drake, Resident Evil, Dead Space etc. is "extremely" engrossing, and just a joy to play. Without having some of the tedious tasks that the for mentioned games have. Yes there are many quick time events, but they are easy, and not nearly as frequently annoying as say Resident Evil 6. Save points are all over the place, and the autosave does more than enough so that you don't have to continuously repeat a task over and over. And the game is "fairly" easy. On another note when i say Mature i mean it, this isn't the innocent Lara portrayed in the other games, or even the movies. The is the rated R version. There is LOTS of violence, cursing, and other elements that make the game for adults. Which is great. It's about time we have an adult platforming adventure game, without going so overboard it's not enjoyable. Well this is the game. The graphics as i said are just amazing, i have it on PC, so i could test out my rig, then got it for 360, to enjoy sitting on the couch in front of the big screen with surround sound. Both look amazing, but of course the PC has higher resolution, and the detailing while amazing, can make it, well, almost unrealistic looking. Also platformers are much more fun on consoles IMO. I use my rig for FPS mostly. So pick this game up, there is plenty of gameplay time, and even downloadable content to keep you busy for many hours. I rarely buy "new" games, i always get used or wait till the price comes down. But Tomb Raider is definitely worth it. The only other game i plan on purchasing "new" is Bioshock Infinite, which looks also to be amazing.
Other perks
Using the bow, climbing, scaling cliffs, weapon upgrades, the thrill of the kill, the will to survive, and oh yeah. This is one of the hottest versions of Lara to date. You're just wanting a scene to watch her bathe, even though she's a bunch of pixels and polygons. HA. Maybe that will come later, or we'll have the Naked Raider DLC. Either way, incredible game, which i'll probably go through again, sometime in the summer. ;o) Play on!!
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Tomb Raider
I am the type of gamer that is pretty loyal to my favorite game franchises Gears of War, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Tomb Raider and I tend to overlook a lot of problems with them because I love the stories, characters, feel. You know what to expect when you put one in and sit down to play. That being said, I feel that this effort in the Tomb Raider series was a bit unexpected for me. And even though it was fun to play, it didn't deliver all that I love about the previous Tomb Raider games.I will start by listing what I didn't like about the game (these are in no particular order). MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS:
-It was very short. I rented this one instead of buying it and had 95% game completion in 10 days and finished it in 12 on Normal. I am a mother of 2, work a part-time job, help my daughter with homework, do house work, cook meals etc. I only play a couple hours of XBOX a night after my kids go to bed. To have 95% of the game completed in that amount of time means the game is very short. No joke.
-There wasn't enough of the puzzle aspects to the game. One thing I LOVED about the previous Tomb Raiders is when you are in a massive tomb or space and you can see all the levels of the ruins and you have to figure out how to traverse the space. A lot of climbing, jumping, puzzling over how to get where you need to go. This one was missing that. There were large spaces but they didn't have the same feel and certainly didn't have the challenge to them that previous Tomb Raiders did.
-The tombs were a joke. Come on. Seriously.
-I absolutely HATED the sequences when you had to push the Y button to prevent being killed or escape an enemy. You know, the ones where it is like you are watching a video and then the Y flashes on the screen and you have to hit it at the right time. Those are the times I died the most. Over and over again. I couldn't seem to get the timing down my first time through, although now I'm getting better at it since I'm playing it my second time. There were just too many of these sequences and the sliding sequences as well.
~~SPOILERS~~
-I thought that the glimpses of the Oni were pretty terrifying. I DREADED the time when I would have to defeat them because I knew I would. Then, in the final battle there is...ONE of them. Seriously. ONE. I do not like boss battles. I typically struggle with them. But I was seriously let down on this one. To build up the tension so much, starting with being in the monastery and seeing them dragging the big club, hearing the sounds they make then hearing the Solarii discussing how they kill people and how deadly they are and finally to thinking I would have to confront one on the bridge and having it blown off, postponing the moment of battle. All of this raised the tension and really filled me with trepidation at the thought of having to fight them. But there was ONE. I didn't even die in the battle. Not once. I kept thinking, "Was that it? That couldn't be it!" But that was it.
-This is a minor dislike but I thought that some of the scenes were just so disgustingly gory and gross. All the blood and bones and rotting deer and people. Turned my stomach at times. I'm sensitive though so maybe that was just me. But I really though it was much grittier and gorier than other Tomb Raider games.
-Finally, and this isn't really a big one, but there were so many times when I was like "Do not leave her alone!" "Stay together!" But then if the survivors of the Endeavor always stayed together then there wouldn't be much of a story, right? ;)
Now, what I liked about the game (in no particular order):
-It was fun. Just overall, I enjoyed playing it. It wasn't difficult but it was worth playing through. I didn't get bored. I wished there was more sometimes and kept waiting for something more to happen. But when I looked and was 60%+ through the game, I realized that was it. I stopped waiting for the game to start and just played.
-I like her various weapons, particularly the bow.
Ah, I'm really trying to say something else that I liked but I guess that is it...
Multiplayer:
I do not typically enjoy multiplayer games. I am not great against other players. Now, Horde mode in Gears of War is my type of multiplayer. I can handle computer baddies but I'm just not fast enough or skilled enough to take on people who play multiplayer all day every day. I get about 2-3 hours a night AT MOST to play. That being said, I did like what I did play of the multiplayer. Of course, I kept being killed pretty much instantly after respawning which wasn't very fun. But I like how there are three rounds and you alternate between being the survivors trying to get medical supplies and Solarii trying to kill the survivors and preventing them from taking your medical supplies. There are traps that you can set to trip other players up and high-powered special weapons you can find in the level. Pretty cool. If I owned the game, I could see myself playing a little more of that.
I don't like it when game achievements require you to play player v. player. That typically means that a gamer such as myself will not be able to get all the achievements from a game. That is always a bummer.
Overall, a game that wasn't very challenging but was moderately fun to play.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Best Madden NFL 13 - Xbox 360 Deals
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $21.99
Today's Bonus: 27% Off
Since Madden 13 is oh so very proud of their fictional Twitter feed I have decided to do my review as a fictional Twitter feed between EA and gamers:
EAsports: New Madden is out and it is the best thing in history! What do you think? #BetterTheDayYourChildWasBorn
AGamer: Hey I'm having trouble finding Franchise Mode. Where is it?
EASports: Gone Bro!
AGamer: What do you mean gone? It was the only thing that didn't suck.
EASports: We have innovated and replaced it with Connected Careers! Like a boss! #ConnectedCareersBetterThanSex
AGamer: WTH is Connected Careers?
EASports: It is like Superstar and Franchise mode combined! Now you can be either player or a coach! Like a boss! #JesusWouldDoConnectedCareers
AGamer: Couldn't we always do that?
EASports: Yeah but not like on Connected Careers now you can go online and compete with friends! Like a boss! #INeedACigaretteAfterConnectedCareers
AGamer: You mean like the online play we've had the last 4 years? What evs I'll check it out.
AGamer: Dude, I'm doing the Coach in Connected Careers and can't change schemes or customize my playbook. What gives?
EASports: Did you see the fictional Twitter feed! Skip Bayless in the house!
AGamer: Yeah thats cool and all but we've been able to customize schemes and plays in Madden since the late 90s. WTH?
EASports: Check out the physics on the Infinity Engine. Gang tackles like a boss! #ILoveMaddenMoreThanMyFamily
AGamer: Infinity Engine? Is that why my players keep flying through the air like a grenade went off?
AGamer: And staggering around like their drunk and tripping over people?
AGamer: Dude, why does my running back keep running into the back of people and falling over? Did he just get off the Gravitron at a state fair?
EASports: Physics! Like a boss! #IWillStabYouForACopyOfMadden
AGamer: It isn't remotely realistic! People are tripping over each other after plays and flying all over the place like someone hit them with a car!
EASports: Feel the realism! #WhoNeedsFriendsWhenYouHaveMadden
AGamer: What is up with the announcing? Are they in the same game? I'm up 28 3 and every time I get a first down they say it is my first one of the game.
EASports: Phil Sims in the house!Like a boss!
AGamer: Why do you keep saying 'like a boss' #Toolbag
EASports: Cause I'm sooooo excited about all the innovation in Madden!!! #WeDeserveANobelPrize
AGamer: Excited about the innovation? You took away a lot of our control and customization in Franchise Mode and renamed it Connected Careers.
AGamer: You gave us a physics engine that makes the players flop around like Muppet's inside of a dryer.
AGamer: The announcing is no better than it was 8 years and a whole generation of systems ago.
AGamer: Superstar mode has also been replaced by Connected Careers and while the gameplay is solid there is nothing personal to connect you with your player.
AGamer: I want to see my player get interviewed and see him get accolades. I want to see him get endorsements.
AGamer: I want to see celebrations at his accomplishments like what you saw in the NBA 2k series.
AGamer: I get none of that in Madden 13. You have just given me a game with player lock and nothing else.
EASports: Did you see the Twitter feed? #SkipBaylessOwnsTwitter
AGamer: Yeah I saw the Twitter feed but nothing else.
AGamer: This is what you call innovation?
EASports: Like a boss!!
AGamer: Whatever EA. Whatever.
2KSports: Ashamed there is no competition out there isn't it.
NFL: @2KSports Shhhhh. We're trying to count our money.
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As a longtime Madden player (have played/owned every iteration since 99), this year's version of Madden is perhaps the most over-hyped one since the move to the current gen of consoles. After years of gamers complaining about the lack of innovation between the yearly releases of Madden, EA finally took a swing at things for the better. Unfortunately, even with the new Infinity Engine and Connected Careers Mode the exclusion of a full fledged Franchise Mode from years past is sadly game breaking for this gamer.Pros:
1. The Infinity Engine is a solid step forward for the franchise, and should only get better as the series evolves in this direction. This is the best part of Madden 13, and can only be truly appreciated once you play it. Comparing the gameplay engines from Madden 12 or even NCAA 13 is almost a night and day difference.
2. The gameplay itself is probably the best its been since Madden's been on the current consoles. Multi-player matches (co-op and online) in particular should be the best its been in this generation. Past annoyances like Psychic DBs, eternal pockets for QBs, or impossible across the body off balance throws are out or at least toned down.
3. For as much as I dislike it, Combined Careers did well in including the different ratings for players depending on scheme. The Twitter/Social dashboard is at least interesting, if a bit clunky.
4. Trade logic within CCM seems to be harder, a positive in my book since it takes out trading a FA you just signed for a first round pick.
Cons:
1. Well, as the rest of my Amazon reviewers have noted Franchise mode as we have come to know and love got the boot. The new mode, Combined Careers, is a combination of past year's Superstar and Franchise modes. Unfortunately, Coach mode (which is supposed to be the evolved Franchise mode) is sadly lacking.
2. Lack of editing players/rosters: no longer can you edit player numbers, ratings, or really even have that much control of your roster. For example, in my current CCM I have 3 players with the number 82 in the wide receiver position, a minor annoyance that the user cannot address since editing is completely gone. The inability to change ratings makes a bit of sense(so no one can just turn anyone into a 99 overall rating) if Progression actually worked. Unfortunately, I had a rookie LB win both Rookie of the Year and Defensive MVP...and lost rating (78 to 77). Finally, you no longer edit player positions and thus are stuck with whatever EA classifies the player as. Want to turn Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis back to DE's for the return of your new 4-3 Colts defense (in 13 they are 3-4 mirroring the real life switch)? Good luck, you can't.
3. Lack of a Fantasy draft not a big one for me, but I know at least two of my friends refuse to buy this simply because of this being left out of 13.
4. Lack of a co-op Franchise unless you and your friends are willing to shell out $60 per person (plus XBOXs/Live subscriptions) you can no longer have your friend play within your franchise. As it is, I can play/compete with my friends/roommates on one console in Madden 12 or NCAA 13 but not in Madden 13.
5. Inability to import NCAA13 draft classes not a surprise to anyone following the Madden hype train, but disappointing none the less.
6. Being forced to go online -at the moment of writing this review all the benefits of the CCM are found by choosing the online (always connected to EA servers) option. Online gamers will get tuning updates days to even weeks before offline gamers. Perhaps the biggest hindrance to this would be anyone who has actually had to connect to EA's servers before, they are notoriously buggy and finicky. In my NCAA 13 dynasty I constantly lose connection to the EA servers, a minor annoyance in that game, a game breaking feature in this one. Because of the way online CCM is set up, any time you lose connection to the EA server you lose all progress in whatever you were doing...4th quarter up by 3 as the underdog in the Super Bowl? Tough luck, you are going to have to play that entire game over again.
Conclusion: While the loss of Franchise Mode (and the inability of Coach mode in CCM to replace it) is a serious one in my book, there is some appeal in this game. As it is, people who play Madden for the multiplayer quick games will enjoy this game. People who get Madden for the Franchise play will find it sorely lacking until/if they ever patch it.
Best Deals for Madden NFL 13 - Xbox 360
With no franchise or fantasy draft options in either online or offline mode this 59.99 game becomes worthless. Sadly I did not check reviews before buying this. I just trusted that the one feature I have used on every version of madden I have purchased over the years would still be there. It is not. I would return it but I sadly opened the game to play it. So now I have a nice 59.99 coaster. It will be used as such. In that regard the Madden 13 coaster is easily a 3 star rated item due to the hole in the middle and no anti-slip coating.Honest reviews on Madden NFL 13 - Xbox 360
After reading the negative reviews, I thought I could still get past it all and enjoy the game. Wrong. I do love fantasy draft and editing rosters, not to give 99 ratings but to make some players more realistic. I thought that improved gameplay and more realism would trump the details that are missing this year. The attributes that you can improve are weak, barely make a difference and wasteful too. It just isn't a fun game anymore, and like all football and madden fans, it just makes me sad.The 2k sports games are all so much better than the new Madden. Of course Franchise mode is still there, it only takes 30 seconds and half a brain to figure that out. But, it's just not as fun as previous years, the gameplay itself doesn't feel much better. I tried but just couldn't stick with it. Don't waste your money. Go with Fifa or any 2k sports game, even the Top Spin game is better than this.
STAY AWAY
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Fans of the Madden franchise have taken the good with the bad for years now. Like many, I've dutifully forked out my $60 each year to get the newest version of the game. Each year there are drawbacks (middle linebackers that can leap and intercept every pass over the middle, players being sucked into tackles, receivers that try much less than the defensive backs to catch a ball, the fact that you will be sacked nearly every time you try a play action pass the list goes on and on) and each year EA addresses an issue or two (whether they actually fix them or not), updates the rosters, and convinces us to spend another $60 for the newest edition. Even with the drawbacks, for those of us who love Madden, we start our franchise mode, use the fantasy draft to assemble a team that can overcome the shortcomings of this year's game and beat the competition, and import our draft classes from EA's corresponding annual release of the NCAA Football game. I am one of those players who not only enjoys all of that, but continues playing the same team I've built from the ground up for multiple seasons at a stretch.This year?
No franchise mode.
No fantasy draft.
No importing of draft classes from NCAA Football 13 that many of us dropped an additional $60 on in some cases, primarily so we could import draft classes for multiple seasons of Madden.
To some customers, those omissions may not seem like a big deal. But for many of us, it's like buying a new car and being told what color you will receive, having all of the radio stations preprogrammed and locked in place, and only being allowed to drive the vehicle on certain routes. Does the car work? Sure. Does it drive better than last year's model? It does. Can you roll down the windows, crank up your favorite song, and drive wherever the road may lead you? Not a chance.
For many of us who have faithfully played each and every annual release of Madden for years now, they took everything we love about the game and trashed it. It's not that they kept flawed pieces in place, EA actually took portions of the game we've eagerly looked forward to and embraced for countless years and ripped them out. I've played literally thousands of hours in the Madden series and if you broke that time down between teams I've assembled through fantasy drafts and teams that EA assembled for me (the latter being the only option in Madden NFL 13), I'd guess that ratio is somewhere close to 200:1. I've been playing Madden since the SNES days and while I've had my share of complaints with past editions, Madden NFL 13 was the first time I've ever found myself regretting that I had purchased the latest release.
I'm giving Madden NFL 13 a one star rating not because the game is worthless, but because EA literally ripped out what for many of us was the heart and soul of the game and sold us an empty shell instead. For me, it's no longer "Madden," it's just a football game. It's bad enough that I returned the game shortly after purchasing it, losing a good chunk of money in the process. The omissions, which we've relied on and enjoyed in countless previous versions of Madden, are truly that important to the game.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Discount Designer Skin for Xbox 360 Remote Controller - Weeds White
Doesnt make your game skills any better, but this thing is pretty cool looking. Spice up the controller you hold in your hands for hours every day. You wont regret.Shipping was terrible I couldn't even track the order. It arrived on time but I was unable to track my package. The product is great and worked great!
Monday, July 21, 2014
Best Spec Ops: The Line - Xbox 360 Deals
List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $21.29
Today's Bonus: 47% Off
In a market inundated with shooters, I found Spec-Ops: The Line to be a breath of fresh air. Yes, it employs the standard mechanics of most third person shooters (cover, blindfire, melee, squad commands) but the story is what really distinguishes this title.
When I first started playing this game, I admit, I was fairly disappointed because it didn't seem to offer anything that I hadn't seen before. But then a curious thing happened. The story slowly started to put my head in a chokehold and would not let go. This is the problem I have with some of the games out there in the market. Story seems to have taken a back seat to extensive set piece sequences rather that the other way around. Granted, Spec Ops has more than a few of these sequences, but they come from a natural progression of the story.
What started off as standard action movie fare, slowly unraveled in a story of horror and madness. That seems like an overly dramatic statement but that's what I felt as the game continually bombards you with images of violence and questionable moral perspectives under the theme that even the most honorable of men are capable of doing evil things. For a military shooter, this is pretty groundbreaking. Your enemies aren't just faceless sprites that you pick off one by one as you pump your fists in the air. In Spec-Ops, they are just as human as you and I. I didn't feel good playing this game, and I say that with the highest compliment. It was the equivalent of seeing a car crash in slow motion: you can't tear your eyes away from it and you know it's not going to end well, but you're fascinated nontheless.
A couple of gripes that I have is that the game mechanics are very dated. There's not a lot of innovation and quite frankly, the Gears of War series, a comparable genre, does it better. The animations are a bit stiff and don't get me started on the enemy AI. They flank, which is a good thing, but more often than not, they will start shooting at you out in the open which makes them too easy to kill. The game is also fairly short at 5-6 hours. Some may not be able to justify a full retail purchase for a game that you can complete in an afternoon, but the game's story convinced me that it was worth the price.
I really like this game. It's not as polished as it could have been, but I'm glad the developer has taken the time to focus on narrative which distinguishes it from most shooters these days.
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Just got to chapter 8 on the single campaign, after seeing what I've seen and just went through at the start of chapter 8, it's a really good game. First of all, it's a great story, different than what we've seen over the years. Action is intense, and yes, it's a mix of Gears of War and Modern Warfare, but yet feels fresh and different. Give this game a five for the all around package of single palyer campaign. Have not played multiplayer yet, maybe I'm oldschool, but a game has to pull me in with the characters and story first. After all, that's what got me to switch from the playstation to the original Xbox so many years ago, Halo. This game is worth checking out, be it new or used.Adding on to my previous review as I just beat the game, simply incredible story that makes you feel like you are losing your mind. A mix of Apocolypse Now, Gears of War, Modern Warfare, and Psycho. Great game with plenty of action, blood, and more.
Best Deals for Spec Ops: The Line - Xbox 360
To keep it short if you like:* lots of gore
* mature story
* game full of moral dilemmas
* rich single player campaign
* 4 different ending
* etc
... then I totally recommend you to buy this game!
Spec Ops the Line, basically GoW for mature audience who tired of multi player "abominations" and wants to enjoy nice single player game mechanics with gruesome story line. This is best war (3rd person)shooter I played in years (last one was Freedom Fighters) and it was long time since I hated and liked main character so much.
Honest reviews on Spec Ops: The Line - Xbox 360
I almost didnt get this game after watching a few gameplay videos of the multiplayer, but then I decided to give it a shot. I am very glad that I did. The campaign is long, deep, and very disturbing. It has to be the best story I have ever seen in a game. It really shows that war is not glamorous and that our actions have consequences. In one spot, I was given two options, but choose a third of my own device, and the game adapted. very cool! The shooting mechanic is woderful and every gun has a distinctive feel, and oh how many guns there are. After the wonderful campaign you have multiplayer, which to my surprise, was GREAT also. At first I didnt get into it, but after playing with a few friends grew to love it. There are so many customization options and the controls are fairly fluid. I think i was expecting a battlefield or call of duty multiplayer experience, but this is something different, and that is good. It strays from the cookie cutter shooter approach and delivers a more intimate, deathmatch style arena with a ton of options. In the end, I think it was worth every penny i paid for it.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Spec Ops: The Line - Xbox 360
Please ignore my five star "fun" rating, because this game is many things, but it is not fun. If you are looking for something to just have a fun time blasting away dudes you will not find this here. Of course this also means you are precisely the audience at which this game is targeted.A lot of reviews docked a star or two due to unfun aspects of the game play, and, with respect to those reviewers, they are missing the point of this game. While not even remotely comedic, this game is a stunningly insightful satire of the first person shooter genre. The fact that the first hour very deliberately pretends to be a bad Modern Warfare knock-off is part of this.
Play this game for its profound psychology of both war and video games, its understanding of just how destructive modern war is, and its mastery of tone and mood. Play it because no video game will ever punch you, the player, in the gut so hard for trying to play the hero. You are not meant to enjoy the killing you perform in this game. If you like the thought of playing a game that is art, not fun, buy this game. I will leave you with a quote you get on some of the later load screens.
"Do you even remember why you came to Dubai?"
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Discount Need for Speed Rivals - Xbox One
List Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $49.00
Today's Bonus: 18% Off
I'm a big fan of most wanted and had high hopes for this game but after playing for a few hours I'm bored out of my mind with this game.
There's so many things about this game that I don't like, but it will start of with the positives.
First off the game is beautiful. This is why we got next gen consoles, so games can look this great. Cars look outstanding, and the environment looks very realistic.
There's a good amount of car customization. A wide range of colors, rim colors, custom license plates, decals and performance upgrades as well.
But besides that there's not much positive about the game.
To start with the negative the most important thing about the game, the driving is pretty bad. Cars feel stiff and unresponsive. When I'm driving a Porsche it feels like I'm driving a sedan. I don't know show to explain it but cars just feel heavy.
But even worse is when you are driving there's nothing to do. The world is a good size, but it just feels empty. There's a very limited amount of cars on the road as well. Police chases aren't nearly as cool as they were in most wanted. I loved getting chased down by police trucks, and cops laying down tire spikes in the road and setting road blocks it was great but none of that is in here.
And like i said the world is empty and boring. Not nearly as many stunt jumps and there's no cool or interesting land marks to check out.
Also something I was big fan of in most wanted was the multiplayer. I though it was fantastic, just free roaming with people, starting random races, it was great but none of that is in this game. There's multiplayer but it's not the same.
Graphics9/10
Gameplay-7/10
World-7/10
Online-710
Sound-7.5/10(sound really isn't that good, cars really sound the same)
Single player-6/10(not much variety)
Overall this game is all polish and no substance. The game looks great, but it doesn't deliver. It's just a boring game.
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I haven't played the Need for Speed series since my childhood, but Rivals has made me a fan again. It is hard to beat an arcade racer where you are either driving away from the cops or pursuing speeding vehicles and trying to put them against the wall.The best aspect of the game is actually after the chase sequence is over with when you have to "bank" your credits by visiting the nearest command post or hideout location. This feature really puts pressure on you as a gamer when you try to decide if enough is enough or if you want to go back out there and risk losing all of your points.
My only issue so far is the multiplayer experience. It runs very well, but it is difficult to find your friends with a map so large. I know they are going for seamless multiplayer, but I would rather set up matches with my friends to make it easier.
However, a lot of fun is still to be had while jumping online. It is great to have 3 v 3 against friends and race through the streets going 150 mph+
Best Deals for Need for Speed Rivals - Xbox One
I'm not the world's biggest racing game fan, but I've always had a soft spot for the Need for Speed Hot Pursuit / Most Wanted games. The cop vs. racer dynamic has always struck me as infinitely more compelling than "5 people driving to get to point A to see who gets there first." Need for Speed Rivals takes all that I've known and loved about past NFS cop / racer games and makes it that much better using the power of next-gen consoles.First off, the graphics. The game is beautiful. Moisture on the cars after bad weather, explosive accidents, crazy lighting / reflections, insane particle effects, etc. You can go on and on about the graphics but it's no surprise how good they look since the game runs on DICE's Frostbite 3 engine. If you play Battlefield, you'll probably smile as you drive by trees or bust through a fence in NFS since the effects are more or less identical to crushing a fence in Battlefield. Frostbite 3 feel free to power as many games of mine as you want because you're beautiful .
The game also has a ton to do when you're not just staring at it. I haven't quite wrapped my head around every feature yet, but I really like the open world dynamic and how you can choose to be a cop / racer and approach different lists and objectives as you see fit. Autolog is back (not sure if it's still called that anymore, might just be Speed Wall) that is constantly updating you with your top speeds and times and comparing it to your friends, which is great incentive to keep playing. I think your open world experience is supposed to be integrated with other humans (think GTA V online) but so far, I've been the only one in all my play sessions. Probably due to the fact that the X1 has only been out for 48 hours.
Overall, Need for Speed is a great racing game for racing fans and non-racing fans alike. There's a lot to see and do here whether you're really into cars or not, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to change up their first person shooter / sports menu with a high-speed, dynamic racing experience.
Honest reviews on Need for Speed Rivals - Xbox One
If you are looking for a racing game that is easy to pick up have some quick fun with friends and not worry about in depth tuning than I think this game may be for you. I overall think the game looks amazing. My biggest downfall comes from my preference to sim racers which this game is definitely not. Think of this game as a high budget Hollywood flick. It has all of the styling's of things you want to see but leave you thinking, "that would never happen in real life". Even though I prefer Sim racers over arcade style racers there are plenty of good things Need for Speed Rivals does right.The game opens with tutorials of both sides of the law (I prefer Cops). These tutorials have you up and driving in minutes with as much info as you need to play the game well. Once you get into the game there are a plethora of activities to take part in and friends to compete against. You might even bump into a friend driving around because the AllDrive system blends Single Player and Multi-Player together. AllDrive, to me, was the best aspect of Need for Speed Rivals. Living worlds seem to be becoming the new hit in terms of playing with people online and this game does it very well. I never felt like the game was over populated while also never feeling like I was ever alone.
I personally would have liked to see more real life simulation in terms of police chases and techniques. There is a lack of real car damage and the small damage you can see seems to be gauged by a meter instead of car performance which is a disappointment but as I stated this is about a quick visual experience with friends. More car tuning and parts options would also have been welcomed.
So if you enjoy a game that is fun and instantly gratifying with lots of big crashes and a forgivable driving style this is definitely a game you want to give a try but if you prefer sim games with a lot of depth you may want to look elsewhere.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Need for Speed Rivals - Xbox One
I grew up playing the Need for Speed series starting on the Playstation 2. I had countless hours of fun joining different races, upgrading my garage of cars and eventually beating the game by unlocking everything. Need for Speed Rivals allows you to do all the same things, but within a mechanic of chasing each other around as either a Cop or a bandit street racer. Pursuit tech is an awesome edition to cars and the different combinations can alter the game.The gameplay is nice and, for a launch title, really displays the depth of lighting and textures that the Xbox One is capable of. As others have stated, the game has sorts of an MMO component to it that allows you to jump in and out of races with your friends and other people online, versus having random CPU AI-controlled cars filling up the lineup in all of your races.
With that being said, you should not compare this game to the likes of Forza 5. It is not a true racing game where you can finely tune cars and race on all of your favorite or even known tracks. I found the game mechanic to be solid, but extremely repetitive. There is no story line like previous iterations of the game, which leads me to believe the developers are expecting you to play online with multiple people. The police scanner audio accompanied by every action in the game is slightly annoying and the "calls" can be out of context. Also, the interface to jump in and out of races/matches/chases is hit or miss. A number of times I went flying by the starting line only to back up and have others whiz by me. Also, your two camera options are equally terrible. There is a hood cam (barf) and a third person cam right above the spoiler which is often too low to see through your car to the road up ahead. Yuck!
I would wait for this game to come down in price before I made a purchase as I did not see value priced equally with Forza 5 or most of the other launch titles for that matter. However, if this was a $30-35 game I think it would be appropriately priced for the experience and replay value.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Assassin's Creed III Limited Edition -Xbox 360 Review
List Price: $119.99
Sale Price: $109.49
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I've been waiting for this game since Assassin's Creed 2. I have never been able to purchase a special edition of any of the "Creeds" so when I saw this I knew I had to have it. So...let's get into this.
This is a very nice Assassin's Creed 3 limited edition (there are others available in different countries). One thing that surprised me was the size of the Connor statue! It's really big! The details are also very nice. It is definitely NOT flimzy in any way and you can tell that a lot of time and effort was put into making this. It's not just a little toy that comes with the game. Everything from the rock he's standing on to the top of his hood looks stunning.
The flag is absolutley amazing as well. It is made out of a very fine material (I have no idea what) that makes it feel like it's worth something. If you're an Assassin's Creed fan and a history buff than this flag is just that much more awesome!
Now, George Washington's notebook is an interesting little booklet with details of a fictional past but they made it very nice looking, the handwriting in the notebook and the way Washington speaks makes this believable. There are different sketches of characters from the game in it and it just gives you a look at some of the art concepts.
Finally we have the belt buckle...not really sure what to say about this one. It's really nice and well made but...it's a belt buckle. Let's just say if they didn't add it in the Limited Edition you probably wouldn't miss it too much (unless you happen to collect belt buckles). It doesn't really add too much for me but it certainly does not take away from this Edition.
As for the game itself I have only been able to play it for a few hours (Superstorm Sandy decided to knock my power out) but what I have played is just breath-taking. The graphics are incredible. The game-play is nice and smooth. I have heard that there are glitches but I haven't experience any yet (and what game doesn't have glitches?). So far this game has lived up to it's hype for me and I'm sure it has for many other gamers.
So to keep things short and to the point let's just say that I really look forward to jumping into the American Revolution this weekend!
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For this review, I am going to section it out and talk about each piece that comes with the Limited Edition, that way you can get a good feel for each piece that you get.The game: It is an absolutely stunning setting that you are immediately dropped into. They really captured the look & feel of what it must of been like in the Colonies at the time. From the comments the citizenry make towards you, the attitudes of the soldiers instantly capture your imagination. The scenery is meticulously detailed. Ubisoft really went all out by looking at maps of the locations from the time period and built the world around them and brought them to life.
The enemy AI is very good, but not excellent...There will be times you wonder why they didn't see you, while others you will wonder how they saw you...overall however, it is very good and above standard compared to other games that are currently out. The combat system is very fluid & not sluggish and the controls in general are very easy to learn & use.
Buckle: Very well polished & sturdy...I was glad to see how solid it was and that it wasn't just a piece of tin. On the face, it is the design of the Assasin's Creed logo with III to signify the installment. Overall a very solid addition to the Limited Edition. My only wonder is how exactly it relates to the game itself...It really feels as though it was "tossed in".
American Flag: One of the highlights of the limited edition really. When I saw this was in the limited edition, I really didn't know what to think as to what the quality of it would be. When I got it in hand however, I was very impressed. The stitching is very high quality and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fabric. It is a very beautiful rendition of the flag and I like how they included the crest of Assassin's Creed in the middle of the 13 stars. It really captured the heritage of the flag, while incorporating the Assassin's Creed theme. It measures 24" x 48".
Washington's Journal: Very meticulously done. The pages & cover look aged as if they had just been discovered and opened for the first time in over 200 years. One of the best parts of this limited edition for sure. It really is one of those things that show the developers (Ubisoft) really tried to capture the era.
Connor Statue: The main addition to the limited edition. The statue of Connor (designed by Alex Ross) is absolutely amazing. It comes with weaponry for you to arm Connor while he stands poised on a cliff top with an American Flag waving behind him. Absolutely superbly done. Whether you are an American or not, you can truly feel the patriotic energy from it. It measures 9.44" tall.
I can't believe I almost passed up on this and was very glad that I did not. I could not recommend this more. Very powerful limited edition. A lot of games really leave you feeling with a feeling of being jipped , but with this, you definitely are left feeling that you got a piece of history, along with a great game.
Best Deals for Assassin's Creed III Limited Edition -Xbox 360
It seemed really slow at first, but a lot of games are like that to ensure that you learn the controls. You'll play as a guy named Haytham in the beginning, and it's kind of boring with him. But when you get to the character of Conner, it becomes more fun. I live in a household with 2 Xbox's and my other half is a lot farther than I am in the game. I'm jealous about that but anyway... I see him having these Navel battles and it looks freaking awesome!!! On the Ocean with waves, stormy weather, trying to shot cannons at other ships. It looks amazing! Also, he'll be playing and I'll be looking up online to see if the characters he's with are going to die in the Boston Massacre or something. I love all the history in this game. It inspires me to find out more. Okay, back to me playing the game. I'll be playing it and the next thing I know a few hours have gone by. You can really get lost in it. There's so much to do, so many places to explore.I wish you could save in the middle of doing objectives. There could be 3 or 4 things you have to do to get 100% on an objective, but then you screw up halfway through and have to start over. You could say that's part of the challenge though, if you want a perfect game. You don't have to do it over.
Honest reviews on Assassin's Creed III Limited Edition -Xbox 360
The game itself is 3 stars, but the collectors edtion is great, the action figure is a must for every AC collectors, and the other items are realy cool.I loved this package.
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I put off buying this for a while because i wanted to get Brotherhood/Revelations so i could complete the set and play it in order. while i was doing this the game dropped by 20$ where i normally would of bought it while limited edition kept its price to the most part. I regret nothing!I knew I liked the limited edition statue because a friend owned it and it looked very nice on his shelf, but it still exceeded my expectations when mine arrived and i got a closer look. The quality of it is much better then the other experience i had with my other limited edition statue, Which i thought Malgus was nice when i pulled him out of the box, but sitting next to Conner, he is put to shame. The Detail put into Conner is outstanding.
On to the flag, I didn't see it in friend's house and I know why now. It's quite a bit larger then i anticipated. my original plan was to hang it where i use to keep another hanging poster which is at a angle in the corner of my room, over my desk. It is a bit too big for that though. Other then size challenging my original plans for it, it is of rather authentic quality to other American flags which paired with its size makes it seem almost a shame that you can't buy these stand alone to start displaying them outside instead of a real flag.
Last part of it, the belt buckle and the journal. The journal is a nice addition but pales in comparison to the Statue and flag. The belt buckle is a belt buckle, which I've never given using a belt buckle much thought, but from what I can tell this is a nice belt buckle and certainly less is not more when it comes to Limited Edition packages, so I am pleased with it.
Shipping wise i ordered it from Just4games. which gave me trouble with my P.O. Box, Canceling my first order and making me order it again, which i ordered exact same way as first time using P.O. Box in line one of address and Street address in line 2, but it shipped the second time which made me wonder why it was declined first time. Though a very good thing about it was the ETA was off and it actually arrived to the P.O. Box a day earlier then the ETA predicted it would arrive.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Reviews of Ubisoft Rocksmith Real Tone Cable
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $29.73
Today's Bonus: 1% Off
This review is actually for the USB Rocksmith Real Tone cable, not the game.
I recently purchased this game and decided to try the cable directly into Garageband on a Mac, since I had tried the 'Alesis Guitarlink' USB cable and found it unworkable in Garageband because of a low volume but persistent high-pitched pulsing/beeping coming from what I assume is the USB circuitry in the Alesis cable. Maybe my Alesis cable is defective either way it was unusable.
I am happy to comment that this Rocksmith Real Tone cable works perfectly with Garageband for me and is absolutely free of any unwanted noises. The cable is quite sturdy and seems almost indestructible in normal use. There is even a strain release mechanism in the USB tail where an inline plug will disconnect without yanking any of your computer (or game console if you are using it with the Rocksmith game) onto the floor.
Highly recommended. I ordered a spare before everyone figures this out and the cables end up on backorder!
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I purchased this cable to go w/ my Rocksmith game. It's just fine except a cable comes w/ the game... My mistake I guess. But If I want to play w/ a friend I suppose it's useful. Just wanted to let you know.Best Deals for Ubisoft Rocksmith Real Tone Cable
This is the same as the cable that comes with the gamehaving two allows two players to play simultaneously. Definitely a blast with two guitarists playing this game!Honest reviews on Ubisoft Rocksmith Real Tone Cable
Not sure why the review is asking me how much fun and how do I rate this game???First off, I am a 59 year old man that has just taken up guitar. I bought a PS3 strictly for Rocksmith. The game is a fantastic teaching mechanism. I have learned how to play the Black Keys "Next Girl" all the way through in 4 weeks. My wife and I have been playing multi-player, what a blast.
But this write up is about the cable. I initially bought another cable to be able to jam with my wife. 2 days after starting to play, one of the cables broke. I returned the cable without issue and received another one. Thank You AMAZON! Now 3 weeks later another one is broken. I do have two so, I am able to swap cables and/or guitars to be sure it is the cable. The cable is defective. What a bummer when you want to play multi-player...
Wondering how many of these I am going to go through???
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This cable got me back working in the PC version of Rocksmith. It does a perfectly capable job of relaying your sounds to the game/computer in general. Beware the thing is a piece of sensitive electronic equipment, and is labeled as such.Why I got it: You know how it says not to plug the cable into anything but your guitar, and not to plug anything else in between the guitar and the cable in the instructions? Well, I disregarded that with my original cable. I was having trouble with audio lag between when I played a note on my guitar and when I heard it through my computer. I tried, unsuccessfully, to fix it by plugging the guitar into my amp and my amp's headphone jack into the PC using my old cable.
Don't. Do. That.
The electronics in this cable are for the tiny amount of current that comes straight out of a guitar. More current than that will simply fry it.
For anyone curious: switching to my onboard sound card from my PCIe X-Fi fixed the audio lag for me. There are additional instructions on the Ubisoft forums on other methods.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Cheap Advent Rising - Xbox
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $16.85
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Advent Rising was announced a few years ago as the first in a trilogy that was epic in scope. It has all the workings of a great project as well. The original story began in the director's mind and he knew it would be such a grand story that he enlisted the help of notable sci-fi scribe Orson Scott Card to help work the script. Card worked on the script, getting the dialogue right and also assisted with the overall story. On top of an excellent author, they employed an orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to perform. All of these should spell out to be a recipe for sucess. And it does, sort of.
What holds this game back from glory are the myriad of technical issues. To begin with, the game is beautiful. Graphic-wise, it reminds me of Halo 2. Halo 2 had no loading after the initial load and the graphics, while nice, suffered at times from having to be rendered quickly. The same goes for Advent Rising. In fact, while you are watching a cutscene, the game is busy loading the next sequence. What this does is put a tremendous strain on the engine. If the engine is strong, it shouldn't pose much problem. But, unfortunately, this sometimes spells disaster for Advent Rising.
The first 40 minutes of the game did not give me a great first impression. During the training sequences, the game locked up three times. I had to replay the same sequence about 4 times to get through it simply because I did something the game didn't like and it froze. The game auto-saves onces you hit certain check points and if you have to reset the game, you're starting back over from the beginning of the checkpoint. Things became much better as the game progressed and I don't remember the game freezing again.
Added to the lock ups, the game stutters when there's too many things going on at once. I don't mean when little things are happening, I mean when you have a squad of 3-4 people on your team shooting at 4-6 enemies and there's two drop ships coming in and launching missles that explode with huge flames. When that happens, the game's audio begins to "click," the frame rate drops very noticeably and things become a bit annoying. But again, this only really happens when there's a ton going on.
Unfortunately, more technical issues abound. Namely in the sound. With the beautifully orchestrated music pounding, the screams of people fleeing certain destruction, the explosions, the lazers tearing apart buildings, you'd expect to have a lot of sound. Unfortunately, in the cutscenes the sound tends to be muted. To give you an example, on my surround sound receiver (which the game supports by the way), I usually keep the sound at 10-11 for a decent, full sound that doesn't also piss off my neighbors. For this game, generally I have to have the sound on at 16-17 and it's still muted. I know the reason is probably because the game is loading the next scene and the engine is faltering because of it.
A love it or hate it device is used for targeting. Called "flick targeting," you use the right stick to change between your targets, effectively "flicking" it in their general direction to lock onto them. For those who use their right stick to change the camera constantly, like me, this can take some time to get used to. But, if you can train yourself not to change the camera as much will find it works pretty well. Where it can get into a problem is when you are trying to run from the enemy to get to cover. When this happens, and you try to reorient the camera to find some place to run, it can become frustrating to continually lock onto targets. Also, when you receive your power to levitate objects, this becomes even more of a hindrance as you not only lock onto enemies now but also moveable objects. Click the right stick (R3 button) helps with this problem because it releases the camera but it still causes moments of annoyance. Honestly, though, it's a great system to handle more than one enemy at a time.
At the heart of the game, past all of the technical problems and targeting woes is a great story. The beginning of the story with the Seeker's attack of your home world reminded me of what Halo 2 was missing. Here we saw devastation on your homeworld, we fought on the homeworld and it generally stressed the feeling of your world at risk. From there, it's an epic event after epic event as the seekers cause untold problems, a few plot twists occur and a few deaths propel our protagonist toward his goal. It's a great story and the dialogue is terrific, bring to mind movie quality. The voice actors are a charm to listen to, and there are a couple funny moments. Card's influenced can be seen everywhere. In fact, I was waiting for the main characters to break out in a discussion of Varelese and Ramen in terms of aliens (read the Ender's series if you didn't get that).
For all that's good in this game, and there's plenty do not get me wrong, I feel semi-disappointed. This game has been pushed back countless times. Mostly, it's been pushed back to help fix the frame rate issues, and other technical problems I've noted. And so when the game was finally released I was shocked when the very things that made it miss release date upon release date were still causing problems. What is most annoying is that we are this far in the Xbox development cycle and bugs abound. We are currently waiting for Xbox 360 to come out and countless games have been made that are more beautiful and less buggy than this game. It's disappointing to see that even this far into the Xbox life problems are still occuring. Maybe the game was too grand for the Xbox and should have been an Xbox 360 launch title. Whatever the case, this game is really good, regardless of the problems. If you can overlook the technical issues above, you will find not only a good game, but a good game with a heart. And that's hard to find today.
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Let me start off by saying that all of the official reviews you have read for this game have been completely wrong. I have yet to see any positive feedback from professional reviewers about Advent Rising, which is proof that every one of them needs to be fired from their jobs.Now, with that aside, let me talk about the miraculous thing that is Advent Rising. I have never found myself so immersed in an experience as I have with this game. The gameplay is addictive, the story is compelling, and the music is to die for.
Bugs:
There isn't a game out there as unique as Advent Rising. Look past the glitches and slowdowns and you are clearly playing one of the most fun and incredible games ever released. Everyone has badmouthed the Flick Targeting, but all I have to say is that I play with an inverted camera, and I still found the targeting tolerable. Can you imagine targeting to the right and the camera moves left? It wasn't easy, but still, I gave the game a 5, so you know it can't be that bad.
-The framerate, in my opinion, isn't an issue, cause it only slows down about 4 times through the entire game, and not even enough to get you killed.
-Lockups are the same, rare.
-Music fades in and out, and will sometimes overpower the dialogue. (But music can be turned off)
-In fact, the only glitches worth mentioning are:
1. Every so often the camera will continue to lock on a target after they have been killed, meaning that you can't look ahead. It is quickly fixed though as another object is targeted.
2. While using Aeon Pulse alternate fire the character will get stuck in the air.
3. The health of the 2nd boss is inconsistent, one time it is easy to kill, other times it will take hours.
Gameplay:
Advent Rising delivers more surprises than any game out their. I've lost count of how many times I've just had to pause the game and think of how awesome what I've just pulled off was. You can do SO many things at one time that it is incredible, and I am STILL finding new things like...MINOR SPOILERS...the fact that you charge up the surge power and deliver a deadly blow that looks awesome. Also, that you can freeze the Seekers and then completely shatter them. Sure I'd heard people talking about it, but pulling it off is amazing. In what other game can I slow down time, kick a guy through the air, run across the room and then kick him again before he hits the ground? I can literally pick up 5 bad guys, throw them into Lava, and fire a rocket launcher at a mech-baddie while flying through the air in slow-motion, all at the same time. And then finish that one off by landing and spinning my launcher like some cowboy, it's incredible! End Spoilers.
-The coolest things however, are the RPG elements. Choices you make effect the storyline, and the powers/weapons you can level-up on create a unique character every time you play.
Story and Characters:
I won't spoil it, but it is the best storyline I've ever played in a game. This game made me cry, enough said.
-The characters are actually interesting! I want to learn about them, want to know where they came from. And Ethan is the man! One of the best characters out there. Gideon is cool too, but Ethan really made the game for me.
-(Minor Spoiler is you're sensitive like that) Just a hint that won't spoil it for people who haven't played it yet. If you want the story to reach its highest potential I'll just say this...pick the dude. The game makes more sense that way.
Problems:
-Other than the formentioned glitches, the character models other than Gideon and Ethan, and the Aliens, are rather dull. I would loved to have seen the females look better because during the city scenes there was only one skin for them, while the men had at least 4. Made it unbelievable.
-No subtitles. Without them it is hard to know what the characters are saying because the music, or mumble of their voice.
You have to play this game with an open mind, and whatever you do, don't play the entire game the same way. There are so many ways to kill things, that experimenting is so much fun. The landscapes are breathtaking and the weaponry is killer. And I don't care what anyone says, this game did not copy Halo with the Seekers. They look nothing like the Covenant, and the gamplay is actually much more fun than Halo.
Don't be deceived by the beginning of the game, I was, and I regretted getting the game, but by the end, I was completely immersed in the world and didn't want it to end. Let's hope the sequels fix the minor problems and expand on the already incredible gameplay.
I've already said this, but the game made me cry, and that's tough for me. It is truly one of the best games I've ever played, and IS the most fun.
Just remember, have an open mind, you'll love it! And as long as you aren't a picky and spoiled moron, the glitches won't bother you enough to keep you from this incredible experience.
We need more games like this!
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In this generation of gaming, a dark age if ever there was one, where great games are few and far between, and sequel after sequel sells while great aspirations so often go unrealized, swept away in the flood of mediocrity, comes a game that turns me back into a true believer...I've been around. I've owned so many game systems, tried so many styles of games. I've looked and searched and hoped and dreamed...that there would one day come a game that took the strengths and lost the weaknesses that have plagued seemingly every action game.
What does a good action game need? What have they been lacking? Well, think of all those stupid first-person-shooters, all those mindless action games. They have you mowing down hordes of enemies...and then jumping across a gap and falling to your death! You're blasting your way through all kinds of madness, and then you can't find the key to open the stupid door to the next area! How often I would dream of a game where there's no stupid jumping puzzles! No stupid key searches! Instead...you blast enemies, the story progresses, and the doors OPEN when you approach them! YES!!!!! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This game is what every Star Wars action game wishes it was. It's what Jedi Knight should have been. It's what Gun Valkyrie shoudl have been. It's what I've been waiting for...a fun game!
The beginning of the game you're walking around and talking and training. Then you meet the aliens. And all heck breaks loose. And wow! Suddenly with both X-box triggers you're blasting through hordes of enemies as the ship breaks apart. And from there the action almost never stops.
Your abilities level up as you go, and after a few levels you get POWERS. Then the game immediately goes from good to AWESOME. All powers have level ups that come from usage. And as the game progresses the powers get progressively cooler. But the real greatness comes not from the powers but what you can DO with them. You can grab weapons out of enemies hands, then shoot them with them. You can freeze time and run to enemies and take them down in hand-to-hand combat. You can put up energy shields and then backflip and cartwheel in and out of their path while firing energy blasts out of your hands. You can snipe with guns and toss enemies around with with telekinesis. And because you of the awesome targeting system and excellent control menus, it's painless to target enemies and switch weapons and powers.
Most of the complaints in this game seem to center around said flick-targeting system, glitches in the system, slow-down, and camera issues. Some also don't like the difficulty. To all of this I say...what's your problem?
The flick-targeting system is brilliant. It allows you to easily switch targets and focus the camera instantly. You can adjust it's sensitivity if it's not working for you quite right. Same with the camera. But honestly, this is an ACTION game. AJUST TO IT! Every game has camera issues! Most action games have slowdown! And as games with bugs go, please keep in mind that Knights of the Old Republic has more bugs than the state of Florida and people got over that! Honestly, the bugs, slow-down, jaggies, WHATEVER simply aren't big enough to even be an issue.
The game has INCREDIBLE level design. It has loads of cool weapons. It has GREAT boss battles (fighting a flying tank single-handedly for the first time was so much fun the first time!). It's LOADS of fun. It has a great story, great music, great controls, adjustable difficulty, inspired characters, good voice-acting, and simply limitless possibilities for gameplay.
For a long while I thought this was a four star game because of the bugs and slowdown and whatnot. But in light of the slow-motion dodging, the music, the gamespy, and the incredible amount of FUN that this game is, I simply cannot give it fewer than five stars. This is one of the most under-rated games I've ever played, and probably the best game for the X-Box, with only the phenomenal KOTOR games challenging it. Everyone who likes action or sci-fi games should definitely play this game. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. It's just too deep and fun a game!
Honest reviews on Advent Rising - Xbox
Advent Rising is the first of what promises to be an amazing trilogy. The story is a great sci-fi adventure. To finally see a quality script and quality voiceacting in a video game is a treat. The soundtrack is nothing short of spectacular and completely immerses you the game, I may purchase it when it becomes available. What's more, even though this is the first part of a trilogy, you don't feel cheated at the end of the game (like in Halo 2). The first installment gives a nice feeling of completion. The only things keeping this game from a five star rating are the technical problems (which on the whole are minor) and the graphics (not what you would expect from a modern day epic video game). I trust that Xbox 360 will easily allow the developers to fix the framerate and graphics in the final two games of the trilogy. In the end, this series may surpass everything that's come before it, even Halo (that's right I said it).Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Advent Rising - Xbox
I saw Advent Rising on last year's E3 and was amazed, so I pre-ordered this game for US-launch (yes, I live in Germany). When I read some of the first reviews, I was disappointed and almost cosidered cancelling the order.Luckyly i didn't: I played this game for 6 hours now and it is just brilliant! Great graphics and sound (though some minor technical problems) are one thing, but the great story, voice acting and cutszenes are what makes Advent Rising a classic. This is one of the rare ocassions where a game's story truly captures me.
I read some complains about the controls, but don't agree: The auto-targetting system is efficient and fun, if you like running and shooting in fast pace, you don't have to bother with target-selecting and aiming you just concentrate on the action.
I know this is a short review, but there is not much to say: Ordering this game from the other side of the atlantic was totally worth it and I can clearly recommend it to any Sci-Fi and Action-Fan!
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