Home - A Unique Horror Adventure Reviews

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"Home" is everything what home usually is not, this is a side scrolling adventure, short in duration but for sure innovative and intriguing one. In this horror game you are trying to explore an uneasy world but what separates it from the rest is how many times you finish it, trying to fill the missing parts you'll not be able to see complete story, because you are actually telling the story. Due to that reason experience of each player would be different even the actions were the same.

The game starts with your hero awaken by a gathering storm, finding himself in a strange room he cannot recognize. With your help he would try to find his way back home through the sequence of discoveries and mysteries uncovered. You will be challenged with a choice of action whenever you reach decision points and depending on your answer choice will be made, action would be taken. Each item taken, part of information will be gathered, story would be coming more close together and more often you'll ask yourself are the answers more complex than what you see. It's exactly that what you will learn will shape world around you, there are not correct answer to questions asked, at least I wasn't able to find them.

Before starting the game, it is suggested to play it in the dark and to dedicate an hour or two to complete it without a break. I can also suggest you to play it with the headphones, atmosphere will be even more appropriate. Fear is more effective when you are in the dark trying to hear each and every sound.

The biggest drawback is that player wants to try going multiple times through the game in search for some clues or different game end. With each play the atmosphere is gradually disappearing although it's fascinating to see how your possibilities are changing depending on different choices you make.

Home is a great game, especially when played for the first time. It is saying a lot about human perception and reaction to the fear.

Highly recommended for playing. In the dark...

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So it's not a perfect game, and the story gets a bit flimsy towards the end, but for $1, this game packs a ton of good scares, and genuinely creepy atmosphere. I got about three hours of gameplay out of 4 playthroughs, so I'd say it's worth every penny.

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A neat experimental game but not as creepy or as much fun as I was hoping. I think this could have done a little more to meet it's full potential.

Honest reviews on Home - A Unique Horror Adventure

I think I understand what they were trying to accomplish with the delivery of this game. Kind of like a choose your own adventure. My initial experience at the end of the game was a little confusing. I knew I was effecting the overall outcome but I wasn't sure how. And outside of one major plot point, i didn't see how the other turning points made any significant changes. The end game narrative rundown seemed disjointed, I think because of this.

The gameplay keeps you interested throughout the experience. And, like many, I was interested in the retro style of this game, which is pulled off perfectly. Not particularly difficult, the game allows you to enjoy the ride, which I did.

Only gave it four stars because of the confusion at the end.

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pretty good game, it's not something you're gonna play over and over, but it's worth buying considering the price. if You're a fan of creepy games definitely worth it.

Review of Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 - Xbox 360

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As an owner of the original Kinect game, and a player of many other workout games since (UFC, Biggest Loser, etc) I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised with this new version.

As the original one did, the game gives you a body scan when you originally sign in. That image is then what is used to play games. Oddly enough though, I've yet to find anywhere in the game where I can modify anything it measured. It also didn't ask me for my weight so I have no idea where to input that or update it. It did recognize that I was a previous player and carried over my calorie burn count which I thought was great. After that, a ton of achievements were unlocked, which I also didn't mind :)

Gone are the days of the dreaded menu system from the past. Now, your hands are used in a push and hold motion to activate what you want to do. This is much improved over the old hold the arm out with hand extended to touch a dot for 4 seconds to activate. I always had problems with that one.

The main menu is broken down into 4 sections: My Zone (your settings, goals etc...btw, be sure to go in and change the measurement system to Imperial for those in the US since it is defaulted to metric), Activities, Workouts and Classes. Once I told the game what I wanted to achieve (with several options to choose from) it created a routine for me to follow and there are several to choose from:

Classes include African Rhythms, Boot Camp, Hip Hop, Bollywood, Cardio Boxing, Yoga, Latin Dance and Zen Energy.

Activities include Warm Up, Stack Up, Stomp It, Run the World, Wallbreaker and Jump Rope. Run the World here is amazing...more about that later.

Workouts include Cardio, Arms, Abs, Toning, Back, Sports Prep, Glutes, Health and Legs

I jumped right into the Run the World and have to say this is fantastic! You run in place in various cities around the world and jog by landmarks. To keep the run interesting, you are monitored for speed (how quickly your knees are moving) and given challenges throughout the run including "high knees" and speed challenges. Along the way, you pass makers regarding the landmarks and a color photo pops up with the training giving you a brief history lesson or fact about it. Very cool.

The recognition on sit-ups went very well, with push-ups still a little off for me. I may have been doing something wrong, but it is the by far the best recognition of push-ups for me of any game I've used before. During your training the background will change and spice it up which was also a nice feature.

One final item that didn't change that seemed to bother a lot of previous players was that there is really no defined way to exit the game or button to push. You still have to get to the pause menu or use your controller to go to the dashboard. If someone can figure out where to input/update the current weight and pass that along, I would greatly appreciate it.

All in all, I have to say that I'm very impressed with the new version as I believe they've really worked on making it a great workout game that is much improved from the first one.

**Later in the day edit**

I think they have hit a home run with this game. The jump rope section is like crack! It's guitar hero, except with your feet. An absolute blast and fun for the whole family! (without getting them addicted to crack, of course) :)

I also did the Boot Camp initial workout and was pretty dang tired after doing it, and I'm really no slouch. The only issue with that was the trainer just started going into movements so you miss a few the first time. But seriously, the background changes through a military theme throughout.

LOVING IT!!

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The original Your Shape: Fitness Evolved provided an excellent showcase of what the Kinect was capable of in regards to fitness and exercise. Its motion detection was revolutionary in terms of how well it detected how well you were performing exercises, and the mini-games it included were both tons of fun and moderately good exercise.

I'm happy to say that Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 does push the platform forward, in an evolutionary if not a revolutionary way. Still, it is by far the best "pure workout" game that you can get on the Kinect.

When you start out the game, you see a blue screen which adjusts the sensor and detects who you are. You're then brought to a home screen, where you see a stylized cartoon image of yourself. That's right, there's no need to create an avatar, because you ARE the avatar. This little change was a huge improvement over the first version, where you played as a brightly colored silhouette. It makes a world of difference, because now you can see your limbs and your body position much clearer than before and match them against the on-screen trainer. More on that below.

The home screen shows a number of different counters: medals won, badges won, and percent of content you've played through. On the right you can see the total number of calories you've burned playing the game. I do like the fact that there are clear milestones and targets to aim for, which will keep you coming back to the game. (One question a lot of people have is--did Ubisoft fix the annoying bug from the first version where it'd lose track of which sessions you've finished in a given routine. The happy answer is yes--now, no matter what order you do the exercises in the system will keep accurate track of which ones you've completed).

At the main menu, you have a variety of choices which are color-coded into categories. The blue icons represent your tools. You can keep track of your overall progress, set objectives and take a fitness quiz so the system can recommend specific workouts for you, or go online to share your progress with the community. I do like that they made the fitness test optional in this version, so those who want to can just jump into the exercises.

There are three remaining categories: Yellow icons represent "Activities", which are mini-games. Red icons represent "Workouts" which are traditional generic calisthenics and strength building exercises of the kind you might find at a gym. Finally, purple icons represent "Classes", which are essentially themed Workouts.

Under the yellow "Activities", you have the following mini-games:

1) Wallbreaker: This is essentially the same game as "Virtual Smash" in last year's version. In it, you have to punch across your body to hit blue blocks that appear next to your virtual character's body. The more blocks you punch accurately and quickly, the higher your multiplier will go up and the more a grid behind you will fill up--fill it up completely and it'll collapse. As you get to higher levels you'll have to kick blocks as well and avoid red blocks and giant anvils swinging at you. Even though this is basically a rehash of last year's version, it's still immensely fun, and the fact that you're controlling "you" and not just a silhouette of you adds a certain dimension to the game. I'd rate this one a 4 of 5 for workout intensity and a 5 of 5 for fun.

2) Stack 'Em Up: This one is essentially the same game as the game from last year's version called..."Stack 'Em Up". This is the one where you're holding a plank and trying to catch and balance blocks that are falling from the sky. There are some new twists this year--to make your bar longer you have to raise a leg in the air. Also, the blocks come in different sizes, and they can even turn into ice or catch on fire (you need to kick a giant water drop to make it rain). Interestingly, I found the graphics of last year's version much clearer than this year's, especially when it tells you where to drop your blocks. This one gets a 3 of 5 for workout intensity and a 5 of 5 for fun.

3) Run the World: Ah, finally something brand new. This is an activity where you "run in place". But there's a twist. You can choose either New York or London and basically "run through" the city from landmark to landmark. When I first heard about this one, I was excited--I thought it might be a virtual reality experience where you could literally run through actual streets (if this sounds outlandish, remember that the technology is already there with Google Maps and Bing Maps, not to mention driving games that have mapped out those cities' streets). But in reality, the experience was much less impressive than that. You basically just run in place on a blank white screen following a line of stylized "yellow dots" on the road. As you run, you do see buildings to your left and right, but they're just generic grey outlines. As you "approach" a famous landmark you'll see that building's distinctive outline, see a tiny photo of the building, and read some trivia about it. Note also that the distances you run are not literal--I'm quite familiar with downtown New York, and there's no way you can run from 40 Wall Street to the Woolworth Building to City Hall in 5 minutes. Still, I did like how the system was able to detect how fast I was "running" and how at least captured the feeling of running through a city. Overall, this activity definitely made what was otherwise a tedious activity pretty interesting. Workout intensity of this one was a 5 of 5, but for fun I give it a 3 of 5.

4) Jump Rope: This is another new activity, and it's a winner. It's a twist on jump rope. You start out by holding your hand as if you're holding a jump rope, and an energetic beat will start playing. You'll see icons of two feet under you, and need to jump to the beat while matching the pattern of feet (either two close together, two far apart, or just the left or the right). Even on Easy mode I was wiped out after this one, but I found it immensely fun. 5 of 5 for workout intensity, 5 of 5 for fun.

5) Stomp It: This game is very similar to "Light Race" from last year's version, where you stand in the middle of something similar to a "Simon" game and move your feet to correctly hit the colored panels under your feet. This year, they've improved it by matching the colored lights to a beat and give you a visual cue of which panel will light up next, so it's more like a step aerobics exercise (versus last year's version where you were just randomly stomping). You still need a ton of room for this one, and if your Kinect doesn't have a clear view of your feet at all times it's not going to be fun for you at all. This one was a 4 of 5 for intensity, and a 4 of 5 for fun.

"Workouts", represented by the red icons, are basically traditional calisthenics, cardio, and strength building types of activities that a trainer would do with you at a gym. The workouts are categorized by the part of the body or the exercise goal you want to focus on. They include the following (the number of exercise routines under each is in parentheses):

1) Arms (12)

2) Abs (13)

3) Cardio (10)

4) Toning (9)

5) Back (12)

6) Sports Preparation (8)

7) Glutes (12)

8) Health (3)

9) Legs (12)

They've got all the basic exercises covered pretty well. For example, when I selected the first workout under "Arms", the exercises were knee push-ups and slow mountain climbs. A typical exercise under "Abs" will have you doing all kinds of crunches, from basic crunches, to V knees to the chest, to up and down planks.

As in the first version, to the left of the screen you'll observe your virtual trainer doing the exercise, using the proper technique. You'll see an image of yourself to the right of the trainer. I really liked how the cartoon trainer and the cartoony you looked very similar, both in terms of size and visual style. As I said, new to this version is the ability to see your arms and legs clearly, so you can work on matching the trainer's body position and moves precisely. There are also visual cues that'll show you exactly where your head should be and where your feet should be. Finally, there's music so that you can time your reps to the beat perfectly (you'd be surprised at how many workout games just play random music and don't bother to match it to your reps).

A woman's voice will talk your through all the exercises, calling out instructions and encouragement. Regarding the latter, I found that she tended to err a little on the "overly encouraging" side--even when I wasn't doing the exercises right, she'd be shouting out compliments and encouragement. Happily, the motion detection is definitely spot-on--after the workout you'll see precisely what percentage of the workout you nailed, and I found it to be remarkably accurate.

"Classes", represented by the purple icons, are very similar to workouts. You go through a series of set exercises, you have a virtual cartoon trainer who will demonstrate the proper moves, and you'll control the cartoony "you" standing next to him or her as you try to match the moves. The difference is that while "workouts" were like generic exercises you might do at the gym, "classes" all follow a specific theme, such as a certain style of dance, a boxing training session, and even a military bootcamp. Here are the options and the number of routines in each:

1) Africa Rhythms (12)

2) Boot Camp (6)

3) Hip Hop (12)

4) Cardio Boxing (14)

5) Destination: Bollywood (12)

6) Yoga (4)

7) Latin Dance (12)

8) Zen Energy (8)

I tried the boot camp one first. Sure enough, you and your virtual trainer (a gruff drill sergeant) are in the field of a military boot camp complete with a helicopter and occasional explosions happening around you. Even at the easy levels, you're taken through a grueling set of exercises, from running to "Olympian squats" to "stun attacks" to push ups. The trainer stays in character throughout, shouting instructions to you amid various random interjections ("you're tired? I don't care!", "does it hurt? Good!").

I also tried the Bollywood one. Like the rest of the dance-themed classes, it had different levels with names like "Learn it", "Rehearse It", "Speed It Up", and "Show it Off". I tried the beginning level, and it brought me through some very authentic Bollywood dance steps with names like "Bolly Arms", "Aarti Step" and "Blossom Step". The moves were very authentic. I wouldn't say this part of the game is exactly Dance Central, but it's not bad either.

Overall, I'd say this is a worthwhile purchase if you're serious about using your Xbox for fitness and exercise. Those who purchased last year's version (especially if you purchased a lot of the DLC) may find a lot of what's in this year's version redundant. But I'd say there are enough improvements to make it a worthwhile purchase. I loved the improved avatar, enjoyed the new activities they added, and appreciate the fact that they didn't skimp this year on the number of exercises you can do before resorting to purchasing more as downloadable content. From the title, I'm assuming Ubisoft intends to release one of these every year; here's hoping that they continue to innovate the series moving forward and don't get lazy and rest on past laurels.

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Played this last night for about an hour. Instead of a real work out I jumped around from activity to activity. I like all of the new classes they've added. I used Cardio Boxing a lot last game,(lost 45 pounds) and can see I'll be using the Hip Hop and Latin dancing often too.

The look and feel of this game is jazzed up a lot. The sterile white work out room is replaced by an environment that differs with what you're doing and at least in the classes, it changes as you progress. For example, cardio boxing is plain room with a flat floor when you start, but as you progress, punching bags drop from the ceiling, the ring pops up around you, etc. They're only decorations -you cannot interact with thembut its visually stimulating. That said, I found the stimulation a little distracting and missed a few moves!

The menu system is different, but not worse or better than what the first game had. I liked the titles of things previously. The titles were more descriptive to me, (Cardio Boxing Silver Part 1 Versus Cardio Boxing Learn it!) but I assume I'll get used to the new naming system.

I don't get how the initiatives feature works. When you start it, it asks you some questions about your fitness goals then highlights some exercises with flags and suggests a frequency and length of workouts. It told me to workout 30 minutes, twice a week for 4 weeks. But then I was lost. Am I supposed to pick and choose flagged items that add up to 30 minutes? I wish it would just launch 30 minutes of activities one after the other, but maybe I am missing a button.

I liked how the time and calorie info was presented in the previous version more. In this version instead of square on, it's shown in a front to back perspective that was hard for my old eyes to read at a glance. Also missed is the easy to find "how-many-calories-did-I-burn-today" number. If its in the game other than online in the Yourshape center, then I can't find it.

But overall, this game is everything its predecessor was and even more. The amount of content is overwhelming at the moment, and I had NO issues with it reading my movements. The differences are something a new player won't care about, and a original YSFE player will get used to.

=== 3 days later ===

I *think* the program works by just following the flags and doing any combination of the exercises to get to the total number of minutes over all by the end of the time period. For example, it said 30 minutes twice a week for 4 weeks --so thats 2 X 30 X 4 = 240 minutes. I did 27 minutes Thursday and 37 minutes today, so it now if you go back into where the program is set up it shows 64 minutes out of the 240 = about 25% (can't remember the exact number it showed me.) I'd prefer it tell me EXACTLY what to do, because for example, I will probably lean heavily on the cardio (easier for me) and ignore the arm strength training (harder for me) because its so flexible and doesn't force me!

But I finally tried the boot camp! WOW is all I can say, the first one yesterday was very, very tough but I made it through. Today's was REALLY challenging and I had to give up on several places (5 or 6 times) and then start up again after 20 seconds of rest. I was sweating like crazy, and def breathing hard, so I know its working me out hard. Can't wait to keep doing it till I can make it through without breaking a sweat!

Honest reviews on Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 - Xbox 360

This is just what I needed for the start of another Wisconsin winter!

I've played Your Shape 2012 for about 6 hours worth now, so I think have a good enough impression of it. I didn't buy the first Your Shape game, because of the lukewarm reviews it got, because of my disinterest in Wii Fit after a few weeks, and because I do work out fairly regularly at the YMCA. But I had a feeling about this new one, so I bought it.

So far, I think it's a great game with a ton of fun, calorie burning and strength and flexibility building workouts. As a teen I never did sports, but I maintained a healthy weight, probably due solely to teenage metabolism. In my 20s, I struggled with weight. At my highest I weighed just under 300 pounds. I've kept off 110-130 (depending on the month) pounds for over 10 years. Not the greatest, but not bad when you're 6 feet tall. ANY game (DDR!), program, machine, activity, etc. that is somewhat tough, but also fun and motivating is good in my book. Your Shape Fitness 2012 fits in this category.

OVERVIEW

The game has all sorts of warm ups, exercises and classes (supposedly about 90 hours' worth) to keep you sweating and keep you coming back. And there's enough variety that if you find an activity or two that you despise (Stomp It -I suck at it!) there are plenty of other activities to keep you happy (LOVE the punching/combat routines). The female voice that talks to you through the activities is pleasant. I've had some games, like versions of Dance Dance Revolution, where I've turned the voices completely off because they irritated me so much. There are different instructors in different classes and workouts, dressed for the activity they're doing.

The Kinect Sensor is pretty darn accurate in regards to what I'm doing and when. Seeing ME on the screen was a little disconcerting at first. But, when I considered how much it helps to watch a mirror when exercising to see what I'm doing right and wrong, I realized how useful seeing myself on the screen is. Even if I look 10 pounds heavier than I am. It doesn't seem to 'get' me certain times, like when I'm doing certain Yoga poses --registering as 0% accomplished sometimes -but there are few situations where I've had this issue. It's even dead-on with most of the floor exercises. Remember when you're playing, whether you score 0% or 100%, as long as you're moving and working out, you ARE doing good for your body. So don't worry about your accuracy too much!

I love Body Combat classes at the Y, and I find all the punching/kicking Your Shape classes and activities to be very similar. They're slow to start out, but it's really good because it gives true beginners a chance to figure out what they're doing. Once you understand the moves, you can pursue the higher level, longer length classes. Destination Bollywood, something I know I'd never have tried in front of actual people, is also turning out to be really fun. I'm getting to the point where I may actually attempt a class "in the real world" like this someday. The Zen Classes are relaxing and a great way to do final stretches at the end of a workout. Some of the activities and classes might be too complicated for younger kids, but there are enough games like Run The World and Jump Rope, that they'll probably keep wanting to play, too. (Those are also fun for adults!) We have four kids (ages 9-13), and they've all enjoyed Your Shape too, although I figure they think of it as more like a game, so I'm not sure how long it'll keep their interest.

OBJECTIVES

One thing that's a little weird, and non-motivation-like, is you can set up an Objective for your workouts. You can choose an option like "Get Toned" or "Lose The Muffin Top" and, depending on a few other things you choose, you'll be told how much time and how often you should exercise each week. If you do this, activities that fit your chosen Objective will be flagged from then on, until you finish your Objective or change Objectives. This is all good, but I've found ONLY the flagged activities count towards your Objective -so you might work out 50 minutes, but if only 20 minutes were of flagged activities, your Objective will only be 20 minutes closer to being done. What's more, is many of these flagged activities are in the harder range -meaning, you may need to work up to that activity awhile before you can do the hard version of it. Some of the harder activities are locked until you complete easier versions of that routine. This is all fine, and not a deal breaker, but I think some people will get frustrated at how difficult it may be to reach Objectives they set out to accomplish. Also, some may push themselves to do harder versions of an activity than they're ready for, so as to do the Flagged Objective activities.

Well, whatever. I just suggest you don't take the Objectives too seriously. Hopefully this will be fixed in an update, but if not, it's not the end of the world.

ONLINE COMMUNITY

In game, when you complete different activities/workouts, it'll show you how you rank compared to your friends. But that only works if your friends are consistently using it too. There's supposed to be this huge "Online Community" on Ubisoft where you can join events and challenges, and compare your accomplishments to others around the world. So far, that's been pretty much a joke. The only thing I've been able to do is log into Uplay, make an account there, and look at my profile, which consists of my name and birthdate. Facebook just has a Your Shape 2012 page, but there is currently no way to upload your times/etc. into it, although in the actual game there's a video you can watch, which says you can do just that. On my iPhone I've installed the Your Shape app (free). The app lets you see how many minutes you've worked out and how many calories you've burned each day in a little graph. That's it so far. I just wish they'd say they're working on this stuff, and maybe have a way to tell people when it's up and running, instead of saying this amazing Online Community is working and awesome, when it clearly isn't. I'll update this part of my review if that changes.

QUICK TIP PAUSING THE GAME

I couldn't figure the out the first few times I played, so maybe this will help others: If you need to pause it or take a break, just leave the Kinect sensor's range for a moment. The game immediately pauses, and when you come back you can resume the activity you were doing, or go back to the main menu.

RATINGS ON A 5-STAR SYSTEM

Varied exercises 5

Varied difficultly levels 5

Fun factor 4.5

Keep-you-coming-back factor 4.5

Online community connection 2 (at least it sounds like they'll have this going sometime!)

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I have played the first version and was excited to get my hands on the next version looking for new challenges and improvements. After exercising for the past two weeks, I'm not entirely impressed. What I'm impressed with is the different and types of exercises (a big plus).

However, there are two issues with the game, in my opinion. For one, the new version lacks instruction (none) on movements (the first version provided instruction, but only once and couldn't revisit the help later, if you needed it). I think this a major drawback, especially for individuals not coordinated (causes a lot of frustration). Second, the game claims flexibility in exercise routines. However, all the game does is allow you to choose exercises targeting different parts of the body for your workout.

With that said, I will continue to use the program because it does get my heart going (which is my goal).

If you learn quickly and very coordinated, then this program is for you.

Best Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Xbox 360 Deals

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First off, I loved the feel of Assassin's Creed, but hated the game play. Assassin's Creed 2 completely sucked me in and made me absolutely love the game. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood brought a big smile to my face that completely satisfied every impulse, knee jerk reaction to what I wanted from the second one.

It starts with a combination of two events. 1) Right after you defeat the Borgia pope you return to your Villa. This, of course, is where you are lead to your training sequences for the new maneuvers of the game (which incidentally is much easier to use. instead of going to your Villa to train you can simply hit Start and choose training). 2) You are taking part of the 2012 world of Desmond and your exploration of the Italy of that time, with its typical 21st century erosion on the old world. Both are fantastic. I couldn't help but love returning to the world of Ezio and exploring around. Even more so was the absolutely huge world of Rome, noticed straight away as you pan around to the distances. This is an absolutely different and way more majestic world than the world of Assassin's Creed 2. You know that although you will not travel to as many cities you will certainly explore more just by the huge size of Rome.

The graphics are amazing, touched up and refined from the last one. The controls are almost identical, allowing you to jump in to the game with ease. The added addition of the Brotherhood adds a lot despite the tendency to overuse your assassins and leave yourself vulnerable, when you would certainly want to use them. Regardless, the overall game play has improved, despite the fighting mechanisms still feeling a bit droll and not to unique.

Finally, after trying for awhile with little success I was able to get in and log on to the multiplayer server. This seems like a problem straight away because it shouldn't take 5-10 minutes to log in to a server, and then the next time you log in a matter of seconds. I found that after I waited for 5 minutes I had to cancel out and go back in in order to play. The play itself is a joy. You play anywhere from 6-10 people mixed in amidst a ton of "civilians" for about 10 minutes, stalking and hunting your prey or just straight up chasing them. This multiplayer has a much different feel than the typical slugfest and bullet ridden multiplayers of other games, simply because you literally have to get up close and personal before you can make your kill.

The campaign play is long and worth it, definitely not feeling like an add on and more so like a real stand alone game with its own merits. The multiplayer is well worth it as well, although not sure if the replay ability will get old or die down, something of which only time will tell. Add the two together and you have an absolute winner in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. A definite recommend.

5 stars.

Update: A direct comparison would show the following. AC2 has considerably more collectibles than ACB, but ACB's collectibles are much easier to find since maps are made available for any and all of them. That being said, there are a lot more side quests/missions that you can go on in ACB. When all is said and done I spent about 32 hours in AC2 and it took about 24 hours for ACB, athough there are still a lot of side quests to be completed (and clusters) and so it will take a bit more time. With game complete and all feathers, flags and treasures found, I am only at 51% sync, which shows that there are a good amount of hours left to be played. That being said I still haven't found all the feathers in AC2, and thus could still spend a lot more time there, so it is a wash. AC2 had 5 cities, plus a visit to the Vatican at the very end. ACB has just one large city, although you visit several other places on your missions.

I found that there was only one aspect that I wish were done differently which would have made the game that much better. You visit several villas when completing the quests to destroy DaVinci's war machines, as well as Firenze (sp?) and Viana Castle. It would have been so simple to make these places that you could visit and explore after you completed your mission. Viana Castle and its surrounding countryside, for example, would have been fantastic to explore and just run around. Instead you only visit it briefly and you are running and fighting the whole time you don't get to see it. Additionally, you don't get to climb up or explore around San Pietro. You see it always in the distance, then at the end you get to go up to its gates and then nothing. There is the Lair of Romulus that puts you in San Pietro but you are chasing a Cardinal at such a frantic pace you barely get to notice the huge and majestic building that would have been absolutely fantastic to just stop and hop from ledge to ledge. A simple touch to allow us to explore it after the game is compelte would have made this game that much better.

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Like many people, I enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed for what it was but felt that it was lackluster in it's mission variety and repetitive in nature. Assassin's Creed was leaps and bounds ahead of the original, and the good news is that Brotherhood is a continuation of that winning formula. Coming out a year after the previous game might make this seem like a glorified expansion at first glance, but Brotherhood is anything but that.

The story shifts back and forth between Ezio, returning home to find that war has broken out and his arch nemesis does some nasty things that warrants Ezio's motive for revenge and overthrowing him, and to Desmond in 2012 as he and the rogue scientists attempt to unravel the past in order to escape the murderous templars in the present. The plot is not overly engrossing, however it's the characters that bring everything to life and Brotherhood really excels in this area. Ezio is a compelling character a always, and the game is filled with a rich cast of colorful characters that are both new to the series and returning from the previous game. The difference in this game is that you are not supposed to run through the story on your own; you are expected to recruit assassin's to assist you througout the game and they are yours to summon whenever needed. Sadly, the AI is not spot-on and sometimes they are not as useful as you would hope, but they do come in handy when you are getting slaughtered in battle. A character in and of itself, the city of Rome is vibrant and bustling with interesting and sometimes amusing people. Beggars line the streets, prostitutes beckon you to hire them and groups of vigilantes gather in the public squares, all adding to a sense of realism that made the previous game so endearing. The bulk of the game is spent in Rome, which may feel like a step back from Assassin's Creed II, where you would travel between cities, but Rome is so vast and populous that you'll easily overlook this. The story missions are well paced and full of intense action, and the platforming segments in the shrines are fantastic as well.

The gameplay is largely unchanged from Assassin's Creed II and the free-running mechanic works as well here as it did before, so anyone familiar with the game can dive right in. Rome is a huge city with plenty of rooftops, so it's sometimes fun to just run around and take in all the sights. In addition to the story missions, there are various things you can do around town to earn money. Like Assassin's Creed II, there is an economy system here in which you purchase shops and they add to your treasury balance, which is essential for upgrading your weapons and armour. A new addition that's a nice touch are the areas of the city that are under the tyrannical rule of Borgia and his armies, and you can liberate these areas by destroying their towers and killing the captains. This adds some of the most intense and exhilarating moments in the game, since these tasks ramp up in difficulty fast. Graphically, this game is a sight to behold and it is easily on par with Assassin's Creed II. The character animation, cutscene quality and design of the city are all well done and, despite some noticeable pop-in, it provides a wonderful sense of immersion.

Like all video games, Brotherhood is not perfect and it does have it's share of flaws. The free-running mechanic is tight and responsive for the most part, but it is not always accurate. There have been several occasions where I meant to jump in one direction and I ended up going the other way, sometimes falling to my death or losing valuable seconds in some of the time-based objectives. This even happens when you are clearly facing a place where you can jump. Additionally, there is some glitchiness with your AI controlled assassins and even some of the friends you need to interact with. For example, they would get stuck in walls, stand there doing nothing or simply teleport to another area. It's not a huge problem, but it does pose some annoyances when you really need things to run smoothly. Thrown in to add a level of challenge, you can now achieve full synchronization by completing missions a certain way. For example, if you complete a mission in under a certain number of minutes, avoid losing health, or killing someone in a particular manner, you will achieve full synchronization and this will add up to achievement points/trophies. Unfortunately, some of the sequences are lengthy and it's disheartening to know that you've failed this so early into the missions. This does add some frustration, but it's hardly a deal-breaker and some might actually view this as a strength.

The last thing I'll touch upon is the multiplayer, which is something very interesting and unique. You are thrown into a large area with other players, given a person to assassinate, and likewise someone is after you. The objective is to kill your target before you get killed, and the style in which you do it will determine how well you do. For example, if you run up and knife someone in the back, you've achieved your objective and move on. But if you do it with style and stealth, you earn more points. This is a refreshing change from all of these online shooters that mainly focus on kill streaks, so being a hardcore online player doesn't ensure that you'll do well here. It's definitely something different. On the other hand, the pace will definitely feel slower to those who prefer the breakneck pace of online shooters, so this is an acquired taste. If you don't like multiplayer, you don't lose out because the single player campaign is 20+ hours long and there is plenty to keep you busy.

The speed at which this game was released certainly attracted some sceptics, however I am happy to say that Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is every bit as fun, challenging and beautifully done as the previous game. Those expecting an entirely new game with a new plot and cast of characters might be disappointed, but anyone who loved Assassin's Creed II is really missing the boat if they don't pick this up as well. Highly recommended.

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The story line is awesome. But the biggest improvement in this AC is that there's always something to do. You can wander off and find other things to do besides the main storyline. You'll come upon all kinds of side quests and towers. I love how well designed everything is. One giant city with non-stop activity. Catching pickpockets and couriers is way less frustrating. Combat is way more balanced. More challenges more content. And they scaled back the whole collect the flags/feathers/etc stuff to just 111 items total.

And the huge set piece puzzles are amazing too. In ACII I loved the church where you had to get all the way to the top because it was epic. It seems like there are pieces like that everywhere. So if you enjoyed just trying to figure out how to climb the different things there are so many different things in this game that it puts the first two to shame. And what a real shame is is how this game came out so late in the year and might not win game of the year.

I'd say I like it as much as Red Dead Redemption in story telling arc. And it blows most other games away with it's action combat and graphics.

I'm thinking possibly game of the year.

Honest reviews on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Xbox 360

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood picks up right where Assassin's Creed 2 left off with Ezio in Rome. You do not need to play AC 2 to enjoy this game, but you will enjoy it more if you do.

High Concept: 10/10

Take a character like Batman, make him an assassin, drop him into Renaissance Italy, and surround him with corrupt government and church officials that need to be exterminated for the good of mankind! Allow this character to become a millionaire and renovate Rome while building a guild of Assassins.

Story: 10/10

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood has a story within a story. On the outside, you play Desmond, the ancestor of Altair and Ezio, who's hooked up to the animus (a virtual reality simulator) in order to uncover clues from the past to stop a diabolical secret organization by recovering a powerful magical artifact known as the "Apple of Eden."

In the Virtual World you are Ezio, an aristocrat who gets swept up in the political turmoil of 15th Century Italy. A change in the government makes you a fugitive, so you use your assassination skills to tip the balance of power and rescue Rome. You get your weaponry and gear from none other than Leonardo Da Vinci and you form the Brotherhood of Assassins with Niccolo Machiavelli.

Ezio is up against a megalomaniac named Cesare Borgia who wants to rule Rome. Under his influence, Rome begins to crumble. It's up to Ezio to cleanse Rome of his foul stench. Through the story, you meet many fascinating European historical figures with their own dark pasts. Similar to the Da Vinci Code, the story may have you questioning your beliefs, researching historical figures, or wanting to take a more active role in the world around you. It's rare that a video game story actually makes you want to rethink history.

Gameplay: 9/10

The combat is similar to Assassin's Creed 2, but the animations and gameplay are more fluid this time around. You can kill enemies with daggers, swords, hammers, maces, poison darts, crossbow bolts, throwing knives, a pistol, hired thugs, summoned assassins, and stun them with smoke bombs. The combat is also very easy. As you kill one enemy, you can insta-kill others by pointing the analog stick at them and pressing the X button. You can easily kill 12 guys in 20 seconds and you do feel like an assassin while doing it.

Although, the free running is good, it's not perfect. At times, Ezio may jump in the wrong direction and fall to his death. This is extremely rare, but when it happens, it sucks.

The Open World: 10/10

The problem with most Open World Games is that moving through the world to your next objective feels like a waste of time. You often spend 2-7 minutes just traveling. Well, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood has created some interesting ways to mitigate this.

This time around, it is a lot easier to get from one place to another in Rome. The overall land mass is a bit smaller than Assassin's Creed 2 and Ezio runs faster. You can also go about 25% faster by pressing the Y button to summon a horse, or horse-jack someone. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood also uses underground sewer entrances as "Fast Travel" Spots. Enter them, pick where you want to go on the map, and you teleport there.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood also rewards you just for playing, so there is NO Downtime between missions. The main objective of the game is to expunge the Borgia influence from Rome. You do this by assassinating the magistrates and burning down their watchtowers. As you destroy the tower, you are free to renovate shops, blacksmiths, and landmarks in the area. Improving Rome also pays you in dividends. Every structure that you renovate adds to Ezio's bank account every 20 minutes. You get paid for playing!

Another way to profit from downtime is the use of the Assassin's Guild. Halfway through the campaign, you get to recruit rebellious townsfolk to your cause. By using messenger pigeons, you can send your recruits on missions to gain more money for Ezio and XP for the recruit. It works similar to a Facebook Game. You scroll through a list of missions with a difficulty rating of 1-5. You choose which assassin(s) will perform the mission. The game gives you their % of success and the time it will take to complete the mission. You press a button to send them on their way. If they succeed, you get rewarded. If they fail, they die. As the recruits gain XP, you can upgrade their weapons and armor. This makes them more powerful when you summon them in game. So, as you are running through the world, you get text updates that say: Mission: Assassinate a Herald Complete. When the mission has been completed, you are free to upgrade them and send them on more missions. This is a really innovative idea with only one drawback. You have to believe that an assassin can travel from Rome to Constantinople, kill a guy, and return to Rome in 6 minutes. It's best not to think about it and just count your gold.

Missions: 6/10

The only flaw in this game that prevents it from being a true masterpiece is a handful of mission designs. Every Mission in the game has an objective, "Kill the Magistrate" with a condition "Avoid Detection" and an optional condition "Kill him with your hidden blade." The optional condition makes the game more challenging and gives you a 100% synchronization bonus. If you were to kill the magistrate with your crossbow, you only get a 50% rating for completing the mission. The synchronization bonus isn't really used for anything though, it just makes the game more interesting.

Some Missions are amazingly great and drive the story, while others are just plain bad.

Here are some tips for Mission Designers:

If the Player can Fail a Mission within 1 second of starting it, while they are reading the objective, it is a bad mission.

If you need checkpoints every 10 meters with a paragraph explaining what to do, it's a bad mission.

If there is only 1 way to complete the mission and 142 ways to fail it, it's a bad mission.

If the Player can fail a Mission because an arbitrary clock on the HUD hit zero, but Ezio still has a chance of completing the mission in the world (he's standing right next to the target with no guards around) it breaks game fiction and is a bad mission.

If the Player can fail a Mission because an arbitrary distance counter on the HUD said you were too far from your target, even though you are in a locked room with the guy, it breaks game fiction and it is a bad mission.

If the whole purpose of the game is to upgrade your weapons and gear and you have missions that forbid the player from using their weapons and gear that they have spent 15 hours upgrading it is a bad mission. (Especially when there are six in a row.)

If the rules of the mission are inconsistent with 99% of the rest of the game, it is a bad mission.

Your mission designs should never get in the way of the Player feeling like an assassin.

Note: The game is broken into 9 Sequences. After you complete Sequence 7, the game becomes a linear string of missions that you cannot decline until you complete the game. If you want to do optional missions or upgrade your guilds, do this before you finish Sequence 7 or after you complete the main campaign!!!

Multiplayer: 6/10

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood features an interesting Multiplayer Mode where you are in a room of 200 clones. 6-8 of the people in the room are players. Some are trying to assassinate you while you are trying to assassinate someone else. There is no combat, you just press X to kill them for the most part. You are awarded "Style Points" for your kills. It is an interesting gameplay mode, but it lacks depth. As you gain XP, you can upgrade your character and unlock more gear like smoke bombs, disguises, throwing knives, and poison. The gear is designed to give you a better chance at killing your target or escaping from your pursuers. If an assassin is about to take you out and you see them coming, a B button icon appears above their head. If you press B you have a chance at punching them in the face, and stunning them to escape. There is a problem though. Pressing the B button doesn't aways work. I'm not sure if it is a latency issue or what, but it just seems odd that the game tells me to Press B to escape, I press B, and die. The game should give the player a 1.5 second invulnerability window to press B and escape. 60% of the time that I press B, I die. Games should never kill the player if they do exactly what they are supposed to do.

There are also some team modes where you work in groups to take out another team and they try to take out your team.

There are a few major drawbacks to the Multiplayer Modes. The wait times to actually join a game can be from 1 to 40 minutes long. To make matters worse, you can't do anything while you are waiting to join. You can't organize your gear, set your preferences, study the map, research the complex scoring system, choose the map that you want to play on... nothing. You just stare at a static progress screen. There are also a few problems with assigning targets. This is a major problem because the only way to score points is to escape assassins or assassinate other players. I've had 3 minute stretches of a 10 minute match where I wasn't assigned a target and nobody was sent after me. I could only wander around the level and watch everyone else outscore me.

If you can actually get into a game, the Multiplayer is pretty fun, but you can tell it's very rough. It's very simple and rewards you for playing, but it lacks the depth needed to keep people hooked for months.

Graphics: 10/10

One of the best looking open world games of all time, in terms of art direction and quality. The environments, characters, effects, and animations are all phenomenal. The highly detailed buildings, clothing, and props all realistically fit the world. The characters look and animate great right down to their facial expressions. It actually feels like you were transported into 15th Century Italy!!!

Sound: 10/10

The sound track and sound effects are amazing. The music is appropriate for the setting and gives a sense of action, mystery, and danger. The sound effects put you right into the action or they'll make you want to seek comfort in the shadows as you stealthily plan your next assassination. The soundtrack is also available on itunes!!!

Replay Value: 7/10

Assassin's Creed II offers 12-24 hours of gameplay, which is especially impressive in this day and age where most action games are 7 hours long. After you finish the game, you have the option to keep everything that you've earned and continue playing to collect items, finish side quests, or unlock achievements. However, there's no reason to start the game over from the beginning. Even with limited replay value, you're still going to get your money's worth. There is also a multiplayer mode where you assassinate other players and gain XP to upgrade your characters.

Overall: 8.5/10

When the concept, story, art, and music are all amazing, you have a very immersive world. The criticisms about Assassin's Creed Brotherhood are that it doesn't offer much of a challenge, and 10% of the missions are unfun.

Buy it if you liked Assassin's Creed 2 or Prince of Persia.

Buy it if you like fun and easy games that constantly reward you.

Buy it if you want a thinking man's Action RPG.

Rent it if you want to try it out and have about 15 free hours.

Avoid it if you like a challenge or hated everything about the original Assassin's Creed.

Avoid it if you are EXTREMELY Catholic. The portrayal of the Vatican may upset you.

Avoid it if you don't like the idea of being a dude, who's playing a dude, who's playing another dude.

And there you have it. If you can't trust a guy whose name is Poisoned Blade and dresses like an assassin (seriously look at my profile pic) then who can you trust?

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I've got mixed feelings about this game. Having played both of the main previous iterations (I passed over the handheld side games, however) I wasn't sure what to think of this one before I played it, especially considering that AC 2 only came out about a year or so ago. In the end, it does a pretty good job of what it set out to do, but it'd be a stretch to say it did a great job.

One of the biggest improvements over AC2 is that, like in the first game, you can replay *every* mission, not just the side missions. Of course, this makes it all the more curious why Ubisoft STILL hasn't updated the second game to allow for replays. A great innovation in the mission structure is the "full sync" feature. This time, to get the maximum out of a mission, a certain sub-objective must be met, which can vary from taking no damage to remaining undetected to using a certain weapon to kill the target. This is definitely a great innovation, although the fact that failing this means restarting the ENTIRE mission is an automatic docking of one star. Even if the sub-objective is failed after the last checkpoint and you reload, it's still failed. I didn't let that slide with Grand Theft Auto 4 or Mirror's Edge, so it'd be hypocritical to ignore that flaw with this game. With one glaring exception, I did enjoy trying to get full sync with the Leonardo's weapons missions (anyone who's played the game most likely knows which mission I did not enjoy; rhymes with "the bank mission.") There is no reason why we should have to keep on retrying the same mission from scratch and having to completely redo everything that we have already successfully accomplished just to get to the one part that tests our ability to do the full sync requirement. The aforementioned mission is a prime example of this. Also, replaying a mission doesn't allow you to keep a treasure chest if you exit the replay. For some reason, you can keep a feather or a flag you collected, but not a treasure chest.

Some other minor gripes include the fact that courtesans still automatically break off to distract guards, even when you need them around to distract another set of guards. Why Ubi couldn't be bothered to fix this problem is beyond me. And what I like to call the "What the H are you DOING, Ezio?" problem still plagues this game in full force. This usually manifests itself when you're trying to escape the guard, and instead of running through a doorway, Ezio instead runs up the side of the doorway, even though no path exists. Three games running, and this problem still crops up! Sometimes music will play for a mission, then restarting it means the music is gone.

The story doesn't feel as inspired, either; it feels similar to an expansion pack's storyline as compared to the main game. This is at least partly due to the fact that early on in the game, a key ally is killed off, rather needlessly at that. A lot less dialogue this time around, too. It's almost as if Ubisoft decided that the minimalist approach to character development used in almost the entire middle and end game of AC2 was the best way to go with this game. Obviously, the whole concept that assassins are truly this noble, enlightened group of saviors meant to protect us from the evil Templars is just as ridiculous as the Da Vinci Code (search History Versus Da Vinci Code) and the hidden blade isn't based on any real weapon, but the story world is still interesting. It's just that the story itself in this game felt a little bland.

But there's plenty to love about this installment. For one, the crossbow is a nice addition. As it makes killing unaware guards far easier, and because that was one major obstacle both games had to complete a mission undetected, I only have good things to say about this weapon. And if you don't like the crossbow, then don't use it. The game's not putting a gun to your head and forcing you to use this weapon, and there are plenty of other guard-killing items at your disposal. In fact, don't even buy it. You don't get it from the start of the game; you buy it at a weapon's shop. Poison can now be used as a projectile as well, so it's actually useful this time around. And while not necessary a must-have, Leonardo's final innovation does come in handy for missions where falling a great distance is a part of the mission, but to get full sync you must take no damage. And those who remember the end of the first game likely remember thinking "Well, okay, so what happens now?" The ending for this game will also instill that feeling, along with a healthy dose of "What the hell did I just do?" It's one of those things that you won't likely see coming until 10 seconds AFTER it's too late to do anything about it. Kind of the same feeling you get when playing Jade Empire and the major plot twist is about to happen, and all you can do is sit back and watch. Also, do Subject 16's puzzles; it's worth the time spent. Speaking of time spent, this is definitely a completionist's dream, as there is more than plenty to do in Rome, from renovating the city to hiring new assassin recruits, to helping out the friendly courtesans, to assassinating minor targets to collecting stuff; there's no reason to just stick with the main storyline. Although, another major disappointment in this area is that two unlockable capes, both of which are very difficult to come by, both do the exact same thing; lower notoriety to 0%. Why one couldn't be full notoriety and the other 0 notoriety is beyond me. I enjoyed having the Auditore cape in AC2 and retrying the side missions to see how much more of a challenge it'd be to have every guard notice me almost immediately.

So this game is definitely for the fans of the series, although people who didn't like the second game for whatever the reason probably won't find much to like this time around either, as it does for the most part feel like an extension of the second game, whether that's a good or bad thing. It seems like that's largely what the developers were going for; to give us another dose of the series while the next iteration is being made, and to that end they do succeed. It's not perfect, but it does an admirable job of what it set out to do. The one and only thing that I do miss from the original game is that when a target was killed from the first Assassin's Creed, each kill had a true purpose. Like in the second game, this is more about just finding and killing the person. You don't take the time to learn more about the target before going in to make the kill, you simply find them and kill them. While I don't miss the STRUCTURE of how you gained information on your target in the first game, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have the concept put in. It should just be a lot less repetitive.

In any case, the good outweighs the bad, hence the 3 stars. The full sync requirement loses one by itself, and the other complaints combine into another negative star, so 5 stars minus 2 equals 3.

Addendum: Just finished the DLC package "The Da Vinci Disappearance," and I can see why it got so many mediocre reviews. It's not that it's bad, it's just not very good. The gameplay is standard fare for the Assassin's Creed games, which in itself isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't tread new ground or have any big reveals save for the end, which history buffs will smack themselves in the head upon viewing. I get the whole higher powers leaving clues for man to find thing, but there is the slight logical problem that standardized longitude wouldn't be invented for almost another 400 years. Notice I used the word "invented." Latitude of course was always standardized, given that the equator is always the same, but the same cannot be said for longitude. It wasn't until 1884 that the Prime Meridian was established, and that was subjective in itself Greenwich was picked as the point of reference for 0 degrees longitude because it was the largest seaport yet used in its time. (And like many other things, it was determined by rich fat cats.) So if the course of historical events were different and the PM would have been instead established in, say, Rome, or if Spain never lost its major naval influence and the PM would have been selected for its port, for example, then the same coordinates would be in a whole different area.

But the main problem I had with spending $10 on this DLC is the simple fact that the story was very threadbare. Also, the fact that the final mission's full sync requirement is to take no damage unquestionably the single most frustrating requirement, and especially for this mission didn't help. It bothers me all the more because I've seen just how engaging the story can be when the writers strive to make a good story, so this lackluster effort is all the more disappointing. Mediocrity is mediocrity whether the game is great or otherwise. But, Revelations is right around the corner, so I am cautiously optimistic that this will be the game that outshines the others.

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Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
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Today's Bonus: 19% Off

I bought this headset to replace the cheap piece of crap headset that the 360 comes with. My microphone worked but I couldn't hear anything on my old one. I opened the earpice to find one of the wires loose. I tried to solder it back on, but due to the product's low quality, it just fell apart.

I researched many headsets only to be dissapointed. A truly outstanding headset for xbox live has yet to be produced. They all suck in one way or another; some more so than others. I considered the wireless headset despite reviews that feedback on the device was unbearable. A friend of mine got one and I witnessed first hand it's true crapiness.

I then decided to check out Plantronics headsets. I had worked at a call center about a year ago in which we used Plantronics headsets and found them to be great products overall. This model (Gamecom X30) is the best they have out right now, despite the snazzy looking Halo edition headsets they also have out.

Plantronics Gamecom X30:

PROS:

-Great speaker, voices come in LOUD and clear.

-Comfortable, easy to wear on long gaming sessions.

-Sleek design.

-Sturdy build.

-Don't let the "under ear" design turn you off. Once you get used to putting it on, you'll find that this design not only stays well on your ear, but is also great for using with eyewear and headphones.

CONS:

-The mouthpiece picks up air currents (ceiling fan, air conditioning) WAY too much. It lacks the foam covering on the tip, but if you still have the original headset, just remove it from there and put it on this one. It fits well and fixes this problem.

-Despite picking up the wind, the mouthpiece does a mediocre job at picking up your voice! You can ask "can u guys hear me ok?" all day long but the only way to test how you sound is to record a voice message, and then play it back for yourself. You have to really speak up to be heard at a normal tone. There is no silent speaking on this headset, that isn't to say that you have to yell, just project and enunciate.

-The biggest setback on this headset is that the mute/volume controls aren't attatched to the controler like on the original headset. They're on the cable about 16 inches above the input. Make sure to set your volume BEFORE a match!

Overall this is a good headset. It's not outstanding and I kept from giving it 5 stars because of the location of the volume controls. Despite the setbacks, this is still the best headset available, and at a couple of bucks cheaper than the original, it's a definite bargain.

-

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I have to wear headphones whenever I play my Xbox, so I need a communicator headset that fits under the headphones without blocking outside sounds. I tried various cell phone headsets, but they either don't fit right or don't work well with an Xbox.

This headset fits perfectly for me. Some reviewers have said it sits loosely in the ear, and that's true. Without my headphones, I also get the feeling that it will fall out, but it never does. Of course, with headphones it's secure on my head. Another nice feature is that it doesn't block outside sounds, so the audio from my headphones is not muffled. And most importantly, it's comfortable. I can wear it for hours without problems.

Another nice feature is that this headset works with both Xbox and Xbox 360. For the original Xbox, you'll need the adapter that comes with Microsoft's headset.

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The only problem is that the microphone is weak, and that's why I gave it four stars. To get others to hear you clearly, you need to bend the microphone arm around your face so that the microphone is a few millimeters from your mouth. The microphone is so close that if I pucker my lips, I can touch it. Without headphones to keep the headset in place, it probably moves too much. But for me, the headset is easy to position and works great.

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OK, first thing: the headset that comes with the 360 sucks. You know it, I know it. I've been waiting for a decent replacement, and that's just what this new offering from Plantronics is: decent. It's MUCH better than the one that comes with the 360, but it's definately not perfect. First, the UNDER the ear design is odd and takes getting used to. But, the worst part is how they did volume control it's in the middle of the cable itself in a little box with a horrible clip: that's right, to mute or adjust volume, you must remove one of your hands from the controller then locate the tiny box on the wire and make your adjustment. Not conducive to quick battle time changes, I'll tell you!

But, still, overall I like this product, especially at the thirty dollar price point. If it was fifty dollars, I'd pass. I'm suspicious that the much more expensive headsets work even better, but reread the beginning of this sentence to know why I didn't get those ("much more expensive").

Honest reviews on Xbox 360 Under Ear Headset

This headset is a little funky and takes time getting used to. It's upside down feature is a little odd but over time is comfortable. It is the best 360 headset that is out to date. The quality of sound is great and it hooks up to your controller with the quick feature of mute at hand.

Don't bother with the microsoft headset, it doesn't cut it.

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I MUCH prefer this headset over the stock headset that comes with the 360. however, I wish they would've kept the on-plug mute switch instead of putting it in-line where I have to stop and look at it to switch it off.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review

Customer Ratings:

Okay, Okay, I'll admit it; I was reconsidering the wisdom of my Xbox purchase. I watched GTA3 (and played it), and shook my head, saying "why not us?" Well hallelujah, we've been saved!

If you've ever played a pen-and-paper RPG, you'll have an inkling about the possibilities in this game. Your character can be whomever, whatever, however you'd like him/her to be. There are four human races alone, as well as a feline race, a reptilian race, orc, and three elven races. There are dozens of character classes, including BattleMage, Assassin, Monk, Rogue, Scout, Barbarian, and Witchhunter, and a bunch more; but the best part is that you can create your OWN custom character class with its own assorted disciplines! There are also a ton of possibilities for the appearance of each gender of each race.

Once your character has been designed and you get out of the Customs Office, you are immersed in a HUGE, complex world of alliances, rivalries, and politics. You can join a number of different organizations and affiliations, make friends or enemies everywhere.

The fighting in this game is cool, easy when you're fighting single little creatures like cave rats, but challenging when you're fighting talented folks in armor while trying to cast spells and read scrolls while hacking, slashing, and blocking. And multiple humanoid enemies in armor will realistically kick your butt, unless you've been around a long time and improved your fighting abilities.

This is perhaps the best thing about this game; your advancement is not based on "XP", some accumulation of wealth and creatures killed. It is realistic; the more you practice something, the better you get at it. If you spend all of your time hacking at creatures in the wilderness, your Strength and Agility attributes and your weapon skill (ShortBlade, Axe, Long Blade, etc.) will benefit, but your Intelligence, & Personality attributes and Mercantile, Speechcraft, Security skills etc. will stay where they are. Also, your advancement in levels is customized to your character class: each class has its own mix of emphasis amongst the skills, declaring some Major, some Minor, and some Miscellaneous.

The graphics in this game are phenomenal (mostly--the faces are somewhat blocky). Trees, hills, items, and rooms look great; weather effects are fantastic. The effect most folks will appreciate, however, is the water. The water in this game looks so darn real that it's almost UNDERwhelming. You look at it and say "well, I've seen that before." The catch is, the place you've seen it before is REAL LIFE! It's amazing, and that BEFORE rain starts to fall. Oh, the sounds are cool, too -I hope you're not afraid of thunder!

This is defnitely the MOST complex and MOST open-ended game I've ever heard, seen, read about, or played. I don't mean to sound like a job interview, but it's only weakness is that it's SO open-ended. Players will find themselves accepting quest after quest before they finish their first few, and trying to flip through the character's journal to remember who wanted what! Another way this game is like life.

Go get this game, you'll never see the light of day again. lol

Mike

P.S. If you've got the time, spend all of your travelling alternating between swimming/jumping until you get fatigued, then sneaking. Like all of them, the more you use these skills, the better you get at them!

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The Elder Scrolls 3 continues the Elder Scrolls tradition of providing a true fantasy virtual world for you to create an alternate life in. Set in the exotic island of Vvarvendell, the developers have truly defined an entire culture, with such nuances as clothing, housing styles, food, and architecture being unique to each game region. You can do anything you want, from running a mercantile business to being a mass murderer. Be a powerful mage living high in your own tower, or be a shadowy thief jumping across rooftops at night. Create your own spells from scratch, concoct mysterious potions, enchant your own weapons. It's totally up to you. In addition to all this, Morrowind ships with the easiest-to-use game editor to date, allowing you to create your own game content such as quests, characters, items, spells, and sharing them over the net with your friends. You can't go wrong with Morrowind!

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The character creation system is one of the first things you will encounter in Morrowind, and it gives a glimpse at how open-ended and complex a game this is. Be sure to take time creating a character, because this character will be with you for hundreds of hours.

In my first attempt, I used one of the pre-packaged character classes. While this gave me a good base character, the problem was that I had a very specific idea of how I wanted to play this game, and the character that I'd created didn't perfectly fit this style of play. As a result, even in the beginning, the game was extremely difficult, and frustrating. Advancing levels was slow, combat was overly challenging, and I spent a good deal of time staring at loading screens rather than playing the game.

After reading a little about the character abilities and descriptions, I realized that I was missing certain features that I would need, to play the game the way I had intended (as a Rogue-Mage). By starting over again, I was able to use the knowledge I'd gained to create a new, better-suited character. The game changed dramatically.

With this new character, levelling up was easier, I could do all the things that I wanted to do, and see the character improving at them. This changed the dynamics of the game completely. I could now explore this huge world with less fear of constant death, I could advance in the guilds I'd chosen to join, because my abilities were better suited.

While Morrowind has some in-game problems (framerate jitters, an abundance of "fetch" quests), by far the biggest problem is the lack of documentation, and a lack of direction for novice players. If you know what you're getting into is a huge, open-ended role playing game, in which you can do virtually anything, from slaughter entire villages, to spend all day making healing potions, or bribing the local townsfolk, then Morrowind will *definitely* satisfy.

But be sure this is what you want, or you'll quickly find yourself in over your head.

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Well, what can be said about successor of Daggerfall, except that you should be prepared to spend another couple of hundred hours with the game no, I'm not kidding. Morrowind is significantly smaller than Daggerfall, but huge in it's own way. An island with couple of dozen villages and cities, hundreds of "personas" to talk with, unseen diversity of items, quests and side-quests (tamper one foxy noble lady with a local robber and they'll offer you to get married with most beautifull...well, she was not my race, so... :-) all this makes a cocktail which is now best Computer Role Playing Game ever. Only, but only remark goes to possiblity of getting trapped in some parts of the map like poles on bridges and so...so save regulary.

P.S. Also, be noted that the game is not easy but when you got the hand at it....

P.P.S. Morrowind is getting some 96% in my review, which makes TES3 highest scoring game which I reviewed.

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..and it's pretty early to tell, but it looks right now like a real winner. So far, I have built my character, wandered through two towns, received some instructions from some friends, joined a guild, helped a lady clear some cave rats out of her storeroom and presently I'm trying to catch some egg poachers.

The minds behind this game have undeniably done a great job of creating this game world. It is absolutely all-inclusive. The Xbox controller is used very well. Movement and camera feel like Halo when you are in first person. I prefer first person because I'm so used to the Halo control scheme. You can make the camera look at yourself if you want to admire a new piece of armor you've bought.

The graphics look real good, but not great. The human animation seems choppy and not motion captured. Creature animation looks fine though.

The combat system looks to be on the weak side with one attack button and no way to replenish health without leaving the fight and accessing the menu system. Would have been better if the Y button could trigger healing potions as well as spells.

Overall, the game looks to have a lot of promise with enormous amounts of nonlinear play and a ton of travel. A hard copy map of the island comes with the game and just looking at all the cities and points of interest is daunting.

People more used to the japanese Final Fantasy RPGs where you have groups doing turn based combat may find this a very different flavor of RPG.

This sort of RPG is much deeper, more challenging and maybe...more satisfying.

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List Price: $29.99
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Somehow this gem of a game seems to have drifted under the radar, which is a shame because it is one of the best games of the year.

The game plays out as roughly a videogame version of Clue. After you select your detective (which doesn't change anything but the one liners thrown out during turns), you are settled with a mystery to solve. You can move your character through multiple rooms looking for clues which are shown with big question marks. Searching around the rooms can also find you bonus tokens which can be used to move through more rooms or investigate more items.

Each clue generally launches a minigame, some difficult and entertaining (such as picking locks and breaking combinations), some painfully easily (the bribing minigame is a waste). After you get the clue you try to determine whether it helps identify one of four characteristics of the villian, which can then make a sketch of as you go.

After each turn, suspects move from room to room and bad guys may make things more difficult by turning off lights or locking doors. Playing cards that you earn every turn can help get past such problems.

It can be competitive or cooperative, but the cooperative story mode, which features great and funny dialogue is my personal favorite.

I literally have trouble thinking of a person that wouldn't enjoy this game for a short or long session with others (it could get a bit dry alone). A hearty recommend from me.

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Just got this game yesterday and there has been plenty of playing time since then. I have a before and after school daycare and played this game last night to check out how to play. I have to say, it kept my interest long past just trying to get my bearings. The kids are playing now and they love it. You can play the game cooperatively so I have a brother and sister who disagree on everything working together to solve these mysteries. It's stimulating and the mini games are great as well. For me my biggest challenge is finding activities that everyone wants to participate in. I feel like there is a wide range of ages this game appeals to, it is not gender specific and it makes them use their brains. Thumbs up!

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Bought this game a day after it came out, could not find any reviews. Played it with a 13 yr old and 5 yr old GREAT GAME! Both kids love it. The only complaint we have is that it does not seem to save our place in the game. Which means each time we start the game again it makes us play the same scenes over somewhat frustrating but otherwise a great family game.

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I bought this yesterday the day it came out ! I usually think Wii is good for the kids but I'm never that engaged and they are for a short timethis had the whole family enthralled for ages! It had us on the edge of our seats as we all worked together to try and identify the culprit! Wow what a game, I can't wait till they're home from school tomorrow so I can play again! Kids are 7 and up! Buy it you won't be disappointed! FYI I never write reviews but this was so good I had to tell you!

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I am a 20 year old college student and I thoroughly enjoy this game. It's fun, just challenging enough to make you think, and has a cute storyline. I especially enjoy playing it with my friends on co-op mode. DEFINITELY a must buy for any family with a Wii, and anyone in search of a good party video game!

Reviews of Mediabridge FLEX Series HDMI Cable (1 Foot) - High-Speed Supports

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I purchased one of these to enable 3D functionality (HDMI 1.4 required). Since they were inexpensive and advertised as "Ultra Thin", I added two more to the order for my other connections so that I wouldn't have to worry which were 1.3 and which were 1.4. Note that this isn't the first Mediabridge product I've used. All my other cables have been the Mediabridge sleeved versions (8.5mm thick). Since I was very pleased with those, I had high hopes for these.

The cables did not disappoint. They were as thin and flexible as I expected. They have performed flawlessly for me with no apparent noise or drop-outs apparent under direct connect 480i, 1080i, and 1080p 3D sources. I don't have a receiver to use as a source switcher and since the cables are advertised support the Audio Return Channel (ARC), I'll probably use the plasma for source switching and feed the ARC out to an amp instead.

The cables came in the standard Mediabridge packaging a small thin heavy duty cardboard box with the item name/size on the outside. I appreciate the packaging so that I can keep the spares stacked away and not have to wade through a box of tangled cables to get what I need (ESPECIALLY length). The cables were coiled inside and loosely held that shape. Running my hand down the lenght (to make it warm) got rid of most of the coil as expected. Cable connectors and molding were ideal.

I was concerned about functionality based upon the original negative 1-star review, but for the price and my prior experience with Mediabridge products I figured it was worth the risk. I'm glad I did as the cables have worked out great for me and an exception value at the price compared to other name brands.

My only complaint is that it's currently only available in 6-foot lengths. I'll be on the lookout for thier 3-foot and hopefully 10-foot versions (if they end up manufacturing them).

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I was looking for HDMI cables for my brand new TV, and ordered 3 different brand cables from Amazon. The 'Ultra-flex' was one of them and i was pleasantly surprised by how THIN & flexible these cables were.

The TV is connected to my PS3 using this cable, and it was cool to see the TV turn on to the proper HDMI channel and switch to 3D mode when the PS3 turned on (and automatically switch into 3D mode since the HD Fury game was in 3D).

I am sure the other 2 types of cables i ordered were also fine in terms of picture quality, BUT their connectors were thick and the cables were unwieldy. So I returned those (paid the restocking fee) and got 2 more of these Ultra-Flex cables.

It would be great if mediabridge made 3-ft and 12-ft lengths also in the ultra-flex series and perhaps different color connectors/cables so that one could differentiate the cables at the back of the TV. That would be a real winner.

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Now, I have seven HDMI cables:

1.] The first one was a Belkin High Speed (speed wasn't mentioned) 6 ft. HDMI cable. Purchased in Bangalore.

2.] Second one was Profigold PROV1002, 48 bit color, 2m HDMI cable. Purchased in Bangalore.

3.] AudioQuest Forest HDMI 2m. Purchased in Bangalore.

4.] The cable that came with my Satellite box. I am based in Bangalore.

5.] Belkin 10.2 Gbps high speed, 48 bit deep color, 3D support, 6ft cable. Purchased around 10 months after my first Belkin HDMI and the labels changed. After buying this, I found that the product number written in the cable was the same. Felt little cheated at that point. Purchased in Bangalore.

6.] Mediabridge FLEX Series 10.2 Gbps, 48 bit deep color. This is the one I am writing this review for Mediabridge FLEX Series High Speed HDMI Cable With Ethernet (6 Feet) Category 2 Certified [Supports ETHERNET, 3D & Audio Return Channel]. I purchased this from Amazon.

7.] Monster Ultimate High Speed HDMI 8ft, 17.5 Gbps+ Monster Cable Ultimate High Speed Hdmi 1000 HDX 8ft THX Certified. I purchased this from Amazon.

Few comments before the comparison starts:

Other than Profigold, each of the cables mentioned are made in China. The Monster, the AudioQuest, the Mediabridge and of course, the Belkin, are all made in China. The Profigold is made in The Netherlands. However, I am not sure about the country of manufacture of the cable that came with my Satellite Box.

I am NOT sure how being an "ELECTRICAL ENGINEER" and "From MIT" would help put more importance on giving opinion about quality of a product when one actually did not perform a verification of signal processing at Gbps rate, did not analyze the involved network protocols, transmission loss, etc. Simply saying "0" and "1" is very naive way of understanding.

I am surprised that there are such BIG wars going on over HDMI cables and no agency or organisation did a comprehensive study or testing involving cinema quality streaming data transmission through various HDMI cables with the transmitted data captured in a memory device and comparing them. Everything is left to the viewers and buyer's eyes, ears and confusion. Even the HDMI standard agency is MUM on that!!!

Many (huge number of) reviews or comments made in amazon, shows that the reviewer did not purchase that item (either from amazon or anywhere else) but they are so sure about how signal processing is done at Gbps speed and hence attempt to comment that any HDMI cable would perform same.

So, every thing I say here is my perception and my own perception might change in a fourth testing. But I did my own testing three times, each time spending at least one plus hours.

Now the comparison part:

The breaking news There are differences in picture quality and sound quality in each of the cables involved!!!

I have made four sets. In set I, the members are the Monster and Mediabridge cable. In set II, the members are Belkin and the one came with the Satellite Box. In set III, the members are AudioQuest. Set IV comprises of Profigold PROV1002. Given a true high definition movie, I will be able to tell which set the HDMI cable belongs to!!!

The worst is cables from Set II, i.e. the Belkin High Speed ones and the one came with the Satellite Box. There are wither color loss or unnatural coloring in the images.

Set III Pictures coming out of AudioQuest are excellent but cables belonging to Set IV (Profigold) and Set I (Monster, Mediabridge), are better than AudioQuest.

Set IV and Set I has a tough competition, i.e. Mediabridge, Monster Ultimate High Speed and Profigold PROV1002 are all capable of producing superb, ultimate quality pictures.

Between Mediabridge and Monster, I think the Monster would be marginally better in picture quality and better in sound quality. But this is a perception that I would not bank on next time, if I know that I can buy this Mediabridge cable for around $10.

Finally, according to me, the Profigold PROV1002 is better than any HDMI cable that I have. And hence, I have connected this cable to my 50 inch Panasonic TH-P50VT20D Telivision from my Yamaha AV receiver RX-A800 Yamaha RX-A800 7.1-Channel Audio/Video Receiver (Black), purchased this November 2011, during Black Friday. And for my main Blu-Ray player, which I plan to use for most audio visual experiences, I have connected it through the Monster Ultimate High Speed HDMI cable into the Yamaha RX-A800.

I am using this Mediabridge FLEX series High Speed HDMI cable to connect my Satellite Box to AV Receiver (RX-A800).

For a third media player, I will use AudioQuest. By the way, I checked that Profigold does not have a distributor in the North America and hence, probably all HDMI cables in US or Canada might be "Made in China", as this Mediabridge HDMI cable is also. But while thinking what could have differentiated the better ones even if they were "Made in China", I feel that testing is a very important part of the manufacturing. I purchased this Mediabridge product mostly by seeing the testing certificate that Mediabridge has obtained or earned from certain agency in Sunnyvale (did not check if that agency is fake or real, but cable's performance is real and there for me to see all through out). Equally, Monster also has two major industry agencies, testing and certifying their product and no doubt produce very high quality HDMI cables. However, for Profigold, I did not see any testing or certification, though works best for me.

At the end, I would like to emphasize the extremely high value for money for this Mediabridge HDMI cable.

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I wanted to buy a 10 feet HDMI cable to interface my samsung LED TV using its HDMI port with my laptop.I was surprised to see the cable in a small pack when i received it.

The pros are:

1. Ultra Flexible: This is an excellent feature which will enable you in routing the HDMI cable especially when the TV is mounted to the wall closely.

2. Loss less Picture Quality: I explicitly tested this cable by first loading the Bluray songs(1080p) on a USB stick and played in my TV and then i played the same song through the 10Feet Mediabridge cable connected to my laptop.In both the casees i could not find any loss in the picture quality.I do tested with a cheap HDMI cable(6 feet) which i already had and that showed the real difference in picture quality.Thus the picture quality is undistributed even with a length of 10feet.

3.The connectors are gold plated and appear sturdy.

I would strongly recommend this cable

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Mediabridge FLEX Series High Speed HDMI Cable With Ethernet (3 Feet) Category 2 Certified [Supports ETHERNET, 3D & Audio Return Channel]

I have never written a review before but after the mess I had with HDMI cables I wanted to speak up.

I just purchased a new flat screen and home entertainment system I wanted to make sure I got some good HDMI cables. I started looking on Amazon and there are a so many that it got real confusing. I ended up buying several different brands but when they arrived the Mediabridge FLEX really stood out above the rest. This cable will handle more speed that is being produced right now and it is the best quality I have seen. It's also very small and flexible which made a world of difference do to one of HDMI outlets having a strange angle and a tight fit. One brand was so stiff and heavy that I was worried about it bending the HDMI outlet in my flat screen and none of them made the tight fit in my entertainment system except for the Mediabridge.

I know I do not have to stress anymore because I have found the best high speed HDMI cable out there , so thank you Medaibridge !