Brigandine: Legend of Forsena Reviews

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There was once an era of video games where experimentation was the norm, where risks were taken and genres were born (or died). Games were made up of more heart and soul, each having a unique (if not always good) vision. While many games during this era were not commercially successful megahits that every kid on the block owned, there existed a special kind of game that gave a truly joyful experience to every kid who dared risk their precious $50 of summer savings on it.

Brigadine is one such game.

While essentially a fairly solid hexagonal turned based Strategy-RPG with leveling and class promotion systems, Brigadine manages to surpass its trappings and elevate itself above other competing SRPGs by providing what few could at the time an Epic tale of a continent at war told through an open world format closer to sandbox style gameplay than anything else I've yet to see. Sandbox style gameplay in a SRPG? Yes, indeed it is true.

While I do not have the room to truly delve into every aspect of the game, I will highlight the main points below:

Pros

+ Can select from quite a few different Kingdoms to play at the beginning of the game each with own unique plotline, style, and beginning characters.

+ Sandbox style game means you have a different game every time!

+ Each unique, named character in the game comes with their own anime portrait and backstory. This helps a lot towards making you care about them and their growth in battle.

+ Questing system for named characters allows you to assign characters on a journey. The results of which can lead to plot points, powerful new items, new allies (named characters), or stat upgrades. There are lots of other results, I was just naming a few common ones.

+ Questing system makes for strategic decision making. Do I send a powerful hero or specific plot trigger hero out on a quest, or use them to fight another battle?

+ Great item system, lots of different equipment

+ Multiple tier class promotion system. I hate SRPGs that only allow a class to upgrade into ONE other class, regardless. Makes it feel like a cop out.

+ 3d animation is available for fight cutscenes. I turn them off usually for faster battles, but they are offered.

+ Magic is not all powerful, and is balanced right to be strategic but not necessary.

+ Great load times!

Cons

Limited AI. This is the PSX era. While good, it does fall pray to more straight forward tactics.

Multiplayer offerings are limited... this is PSX, so no internet play. This game would have further trasncended if they did offer it.

Wish there was a cooler intro movie.

Certain units are fairly useless or have narrow usefulness. While some may argue, this is my opinion.

Love the music, wish there was more though.

Sound effects are sometimes a bit... rudimentary. When I 1-shot kill something, a limp sounding hit will ruin my enjoyment. Sometimes it ends up being just funny though.

Misc

= Japanese version exists that allows you additional scenario and "final boss" of sorts. While normally I wouldn't mention this, there exists some plot resolution issues for those that do not know of or have access to this version.

= Hard to find game. Very expensive.

All in all, this is one I was very glad I picked up when I was younger. Every time I feel like going and playing out my own epic fantasy war (like after reading certain George RR Martin books, for example), this is the title I choose.

Not too hard to get in to and understand yet with enough RPG depth and Strategic depth to satisfy cravings of both, this game is a true overlooked Gem for any RPG or SRPG lover.

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This game is hands down the best strategy RPG ever made.

The classes for humans and monsters are the most balanced you will ever find.

After a while you will get too good at winning this, and you can play a harder mode in which you let the computer control every battle. It's very enjoyable to see the decisions you make in building an army reflected in almost every way possible when you let the computer take over the battles.

Truly a masterpiece in strategy, with a few setbacks that don't hurt the game too much.

I have literally spent 500+ hours playing this.

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This is an old game, had it before and played it so much I gave it away. Now I have it again and I'm playing it too much.

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Not hard to beat at all if you are into it, even on hard mode. There are limited classes and units. The gameplay gets redundant after awhile. The music is good though. The learning curve is short. There is little tactics involved if you can build a good army. There are many underhanded way to kill and defend. For example, you should keep the hydra on water so it can heal itself to infinity. The graphic is terrible in 3D but awesome in 2D because it is hand-drawn.

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Strategy games by their very definition usually mean that you're in for an in-depth experience that will challenge your brain cells. Not so with Brigandine. It doesn't have enough options to attract hardcore strategists, and it's too dull to draw neophytes to the genre. You select one of five kingdoms, differing only in geographical location and in initial Rune Knights (human characters with classes such as Witch, Druid, Berserker, etc.). The world map is divided into battlegrounds connected by roads, and you're given a certain amount of game time to take 'em all by force (except for those two kingdoms on the west coast that are all buddy-buddy). Each Rune Knight controls a squadron of monsters (which can be created and, occasionally, swiped from defeated enemies) which can increase in size as their experience level goes up. To conquer new territory, you can send 1 to 3 Rune Knights (one is suicide, two isn't much better) to a neighboring location in enemy hands and do battle. The fighting is done on large maps divided into hexigons and it's about as simple as can be. There aren't many spells to cast and the cardinal rule here is that whoever has the biggest, baddest monsters wins. When one unit attacks another, the game cuts to a battle scene where you see the attack and, sometimes, the counterattack in duller-than-a-bowling-ball 3-D. Mercifully, you can turn this option off to expedite the fighting. The "story" (such as it is) is told through dialogue boxes superimposed over the world map. At the end of the day, this game just doesn't try hard enough to draw the player in. It's a time-killer, nothing more. Fans of "grid" style strategy/RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics (which happens to be my favorite video game EVER in spite of its occasional if-you-don't-have-the-right-skill-equipped-for-this-fight-you-are-utterly-screwed unfairness) may be drawn to it since this genre is not the most populist, but it's a limp-wristed production. Without the superfluous 3-D scenes, it could have easily been done on the Super NES rather than the PlayStation. Not a terrible game, but not worth the time required to finish it.

Cheap Grand Theft Auto Double Pack: Grand Theft Auto III / Grand Theft

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Ok first off, for those who don't know, this is a double pack. It contains two games, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto : Vice City. Secondly, they are absolute classics. They have changed the face of gaming and have cause enough controversy to put Eminem to shame, although half of the controversy is blown up by ignorant people who have never played the game. Now the reason I have an un-biased opinion is because I own both, a PS2, and an XBOX. I also had both of these games. The other day though, I traded both of them to a friend because I was so impressed with this version of the game I had to buy it. I thought the XBOX version was going to be exactly the same. Little did I know, it is not. There is a HUGE difference in the graphics. I didn't think I would care, but it really just brings the experience to a whole other level. The characters are just SO much detailed. The graphics on the buildings look alot more realistic and the cars actualy shine. One big complain people had with the PS2 version was that when you were driving down the road, cars would suddenly appear out of nowhere and you would crash. This has definetly been fixed for the XBOX. You can see way down the road, with no problems. The graphical differences are amazing. Another exclusive feature is the custom soundtrack. You can burn your CD's to the XBOX harddrive and play them on the radio in the cars. Just imagine cruising down the streets of Liberty City (aKa NYC), blazing Dr. Dre's "Still DRE". Or speeding down Vice City's (aKa Miami) beaches, blaring Rage Against The Machine's "Calm Like A Bomb". This also makes it a completely different, and better, experience. There are no other extra features besides these, no extra missions,levels,cars,weapons... but there shouldn't be. These are amazing, classic games that every gamer should own. But if you have the choice, buy this version. The improvements really make the difference. As Time magazine says, "Grand Theft Auto 3 is a national obsession, its sequel borders on something more...art."

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I've played GTAIII on the PS2, the PC, and now on the XBOX, and the XBOX has much better graphics than even my PC version. It's like they've added a layer of texture. Sports cars shimmer, and the old Jalopy's in Vice City have a flat, weathered look. When it rains, the drops run down the "lens" of the camera that follows you. I haven't fully acclimated to the games yet; I still miss my mouse, but the control interface is one of the best I've seen on a consol system. Rockstar Games not only ported GTAIII and Vice City over to the XBOX, they have significantly improved what were already incredible titles. The fact that you can now buy two full games for the price of one is just icing on the cake. Remember this time people, for we may not see another release like this for a very, very long time.

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Two of the best games ever on ps2 have finally come to the xbox. For those of you who have never played either of these games (shame on you) here's the lowdown. Both games are basically about a person rising through the ranks of the local crime organizations. in GTA 3, you fight your way to the top of NY city lookalike, by taking cars and occasionally shooting fools. in Vice City, its basically the samething, but with a fresh 80's coat of paint. you set up a huge crime organization in a fake Miami, much like in Scarface. Both games have there violent moments, but the controversey is blown way out of proportion. The XBOX version is a million times prettier than the ps2 version, with sharper graphics, shiny cars, and the ability to customize your own sound tracks, awsome. It may not be for everyone, but i recomend it to anyone who can get there hands on it.

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This is actually 2 great games in one. You get Grand Theft Auto 3 and its sequel Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I will review them individually. Grand Theft Auto 3 starts off great. You just got busted out of prison. What do you do, steal a car natuarraly. You race across the streets (hitting innocent bystanders)trying to get to your garage. This is like your base. Once their you can go out into the streets and beat up innocents for cash like a small thug. However you can also find work for bigtime crooks. As you complete their small jobs they will begin to respect you and the challenge of your jobs grows. This ia an outline of gameplay of Grand Theft Auto 3. Now for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. This game is a good sequel. It keeps the good points of its predecessor while improving in many ways. You can now own property. The challenges are original, fun, and challenging. The weapons selections ranges from bats to rocket launchers. The graphics on the Xbox version are improved over their PS2 counterparts.If you own the PS2 version of the game this game is not different anough for you to purchase. However for us Xbox owners this is an absolute must buy. Having these games along with Halo on the same system is Awesome.

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Sound:4/5: Both of the games in this pack have great music and sound fx. While you are in a car or on a bike you can choose between many different radio stations. The radio stations have a variety of songs and advertisments. My only complaint about the sound fx are when you can here people on the street talking. They say the same things over and over again and can get on your nerves.

Graphics:5/5: The graphics of these games need no work. The car models and detail of the people and objects are about as good as it gets. Definately not plain or boring at all.

Gameplay:5/5: I have played vice city and gta 3 both on ps2 and xbox. To me, the xbox versions have much better gameplay. It is simple and easy to learn but at the same time, there are many different actions to take.

Features:5/5: There are many things to do in this game. First off, there are about 70 or 80 missions to do which are all very fun. Even after you beat the game there are more things to do such as purchase properties and do side missions or even just screw around and kill people for fun.

Overall: Xbox definately deserves this game because they are gonna sell alot of copies and go big. For only 50 bucks you get 2 of the best games ever made. This double pack can keep you busy for months(or at least weeks). So if you dont have it already, get your @$$ to wherever you buy games and pick it up.

Ninja Gaiden II Reviews

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NG2 had a lot of expectations to live up to. Having beat it, here's my review of what Team Ninja got right and what it got wrong. (I played on Path of the Warrior difficulty, so the easy setting may be slightly different)

Good:

* Much more detailed enemies and graphics, including the ability of nearly every bad guy to be amputated/decapitated and or chopped in half.

* Bodies of most enemies stay around after death, giving you an increased feeling of carnage and destruction. Leave a trail of death to follow!

* Cool weapons

* Easy saving of games at Dragon Statues

* Massive Boobage unrealistic proportions and extra jiggliness

Bad:

* Some massive slowdown in certain levels when lots of enemies are onscreen. Game over screen visual effects styling is bad and often VERY slow framerate.

* No map. WTH? Some levels you need a map

* Almost completely WORTHLESS ninpo! The Inferno magic is about the only one that does anything (homes in on baddies). But being that many of the bosses are fire-based demons or flyers, magic is almost worthless. Piercing Void is absolutely useless as it requires you to target an enemy and by the time you launch he ball, the baddie has moved. Short-range on the wind magic equally useless.

* Some lackluster level designs, especially caves, tunnels, or building interiors. Several levels feel rehased, especially the Flying Fortress level.

* Added feeling of "cheapness", due to reliance on button mashing and cheap tricks by the level designers. Several areas of the game are maddeningly frustrating due to this kind of cheapness, whose idea of challenging you is to throw wave after wave of the same enemies at you, or put ranged attackers well out of your reach. Examples are the grenade launching soldiers that spam explosives at you from afar or archers, usually appearing in pairs. Exploding jellyfish/mines that respawn. There must be at least 30 of these each time you encounter them.

* The damn biting fish are all back, including the big grabby swimming ones and the airborne ghost piranhas.

* Stupid looking/ugly enemies, with lots of them having some skull motif. Many of the enemies' faces are modified versions of skulls. Stupidness includes wolves that hold katana in their mouths and chop you with them?!

* Having to kill bosses a second time. 1 guy you have to kill 4 times. I know this is a trademark of the NG series, but 4 times???

* Lack of replay value. NO UNLOCKABLES except a measly sound test option and new colored costumes when you begin the game again after beating it. No Sonia as a playable character, no Missions like in NG Sigma. Would be great to be able to play Sonia or Muramasa.

* Lots of dumb unrealistic mechanics like the ability to swim in lava! WTH??.. Invisible barriers everywhere, limiting your interaction with the environment and keeping you several feet away from touching what looks like accessible scenery. Another is the lava filled armadillo boss that comes out of the crashed air fortress.. this thing was the machine's power core??? Back to the cheapness of the design: this boss exploded after you beat it, causing instant death if you don't know what to do before hand. This boss is tough enough if you are playing it the first few times through and to have it explode and kill you is a cheap trick.

* Some bosses are VERY easy to kill with a fully upgraded Scythe

* Much uglier, sloppier items interface w/ blood splatter motif.

The predecessors Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden Sigma were much better in terms of gameplay balance.

Rent this first if you are a casual fan. Having owned and beaten all the variations of the first NG, I am highly disappointed by this game, especially the lack of extras. After seeing how many features Sigma packed onto the PS3 version, I expected those to carry over to NG 2. No chance. No way to view beaten cut scenes, no photo gallery, concept art, rotatable models, nothing!! It feels like a rushed product. No replay value at all. Perhaps they're going to double dip and release NG 2 Omega. Still a very good game, mind you, but just feels half-done.

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This game is HARD. And I am not talking Hard as in, your going to die a lot but once you get the hang of it your going to get better and do better.

I am talking hard as in the game will stop at nothing to humiliate and demoralize you until you quit playing it.

Enemies can and will hit you from off screen and you won't even know they are there yet and or you will know they are there but you can not properly avoid them because you can't see them due to camera angles.

You can get incredibly good at your combat abilities and get a flow going, but no matter what you do, the enemies in this game will always be better at it than you.

Veterans of this game, whom are some of the best, die a lot playing this game.

On the easiest setting its a bit easier, but its still not that easy.

Getting all the achievements in this game is a near impossibility. Its doable, but your going to have to buckle down and be really patient with yourself, because its potentially mind breaking.

Now, having said all that, maybe thats your cup of tea. For me, its not so much the case anymore, I have work and family and I wan't my games to challenge me, but I don't want to repeat the same area 800 times in order to get to the next area I will be reloading 800 times. I just don't have time for that anymore.

The graphics are really very nice, and I feel that its the strongest area of the game.

I would recommend that you rent this maybe to try it out before you buy it, if your confident that you will like it and know your going to try to get the achievements, then you might as well go ahead and buy it, its gonna take a long time.

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After putting in over 400 hrs. on the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black I was looking forward to 2 and now my fix is here. Well I was initially a little disappointed and felt that they released the game too early but once I got to tweaking the camera, cinema playback and controller options it solved or eased alot of the problems I was encountering.

I'll keep this short by giveing the good points and bad.

Bad points first. There are frame rate issues if you have the auto cinema feature turned on they can get really bad when a lot of people are on the screen attacking you at one time. If you turn it off you probably won't see a problem with frame rates again.

Second problem is the camera, this can be a problem but you can manually adjust or speed up the auto adjust rate in the options menu and this helps a lot.

Graphically speaking it's a little inconsistent. The particle effects are great but at the same time some of the backgrounds are pretty bland. It's kind of a mixed bag but due to some of the things they've done regarding retaining chopped body parts long after you've left a room in the game it takes a toll on memory usage and thus taxes the 360 quite a bit. Add that to the size of the environments, the number of characters on screen at once and this game pushes the 360 pretty hard.

The other problem though not really a problem, but more of an annoyance is that the enemies are a little on the cheap side this time so you are forced to be a little more creative.

Now for the good:

Believe it or not they have actually improved the gameplay. You start off now with a long list of moves as opposed to hardly any in the original. Countering has been refinded so that you can properly time it. Weapons are now very varied and don't overlap in terms of usage. Enemy AI is incredible you can actually notice the enemies adjusting to your attack patterns. Granted this makes things more difficult but ultimately more satisfying when you win. The level design has gotten rid of a lot of the platforming and focuses much more on the fighting aspect of the game. Secondary weapons are chargable and are actually useful, can anyone actually admit that they used the bow much in the first one?

The story is actually a little more coherent now and makes a bit of sense, though not much. Last but not least It's a great game but a new Missions mode and a little more refinement of the default settings would have made this a classic.

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Though still not for the faint of thumbs, this game still provides the smooth and intuitive action and beauty of the first and its ancestors. The easiest difficulty is now much more accessible to the average gamer as well. A must have for the serious action/adventure gamer.

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Once in a while, a game comes along that justifies lying about going to a meeting so you could take off early from work and head home to play; Ninja Gaiden 2 is one of these games, and this was exactly what I did. It wasn't a complete lie however; I did have a meeting, a meeting with Ryu Hayabusa.

This game is bloody, the major selling point of the game and I absolutely love it. The bone-crunching, flesh-slicing action is intense and fast, and unlike anything in previous hack n slash games. Both graphics and audio are tip top, and the controls are smooth and responsive.

One function I particularly like is the convenient weapons and item menu that can be easily accessed in the middle of heavy combat. This is important, as enemies outnumber you 6 to 1, you will inevitably take some pounding and as your health drops to dangerous levels, you can immediately hit the D-pad to consume various herbal remedies to stay alive. Furthermore, you can switch weapons in the middle of a fight so if you've been clobbering some poor dude for half a minute with your Lunar Staff and want to finish him off by slicing his throat from ear to ear, you can do that by switching to your Dragon Sword.

Concerning the difficulty, the hand-to-hand combat is very fierce and gets a little overwhelming at times; typically enemies attack in waves and by the time you're done with half of them, not much of your health may be left. The good news is that dead enemies' souls help restore health. The AI is pretty smart and injured enemies adjust their AI from aggressive to sneaky and psychotic just waiting for you to turn your back and plunge that sword or talon through your chest. So remember don't expect an enemy with only one arm left to just happily sit there, finish off him.

Unlike a lot of other games, bodies of dead enemies don't disappear off the screen, so bodies, limbs and chunks of bloody meat litter all over the ground after you've been through a wave of attackers, this is nice effect.

Also, blocking in this game is like taking cover in Gears of War, you can't do without it. Yet, while blocking you can either execute a counter attack after the enemy has finished his moves or dash away to escape. So, there is a huge number of fighting techniques and tactics that you can experiment with. Other aspects of the game are pretty conventional and straight forward occasional save and heal points in the form of a dragon statue, a shop to purchase weapons and items, boss battles (which will REALLY test your wits and reflexes) etc. There isn't too much of a learning curve (which is good), all you need is to come to grips with the pace, various combos and pick out your favorite techniques.

This is one of the best games on the 360 ever, right up there with Gears and Devil May Cry; NG2 certainly edges Devil in the fighting department. For those into achievements, NG2 provides some 60 achievements, and what's fun is the ease of gaining achievements you can earn achievements just by discovering and executing new skills, but as expected they are valued at only 5 gamescore points each. By the time I completed the first level, I've gained 11 achievements.

I knocked one star off because of camera issues, although awkward angles can be easily fixed by hitting the right trigger. Also, frame rates aren't entirely smooth and tend to slow down at various points, but this isn't too big a problem. Some levels will come across as just plain and ugly, and it seems level designers were lazy in this respect.

Another problem is the 'cheapness' of the levels, as others have mentioned, for example frequent and unexplained explosions on certain levels drain away your health a clear indication that level designers were too damn lazy to think of challenges to test your skill.

But my biggest problem with NG2 is that you can't replay past missions, that is a real disappointment as mission replays are crucial to the replay value of the game.

Overall this is a great game, certainly an intense experience; as an above-average difficult game, you can feel satisfied that you'll fight many enemies and bosses many times before finishing the game, so getting your money's worth.

Review of Future Tactics: The Uprising

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I remember reading reviews when this came out and it seemed like it was horrible. got it one day in a bargain bin and i can honestly say that i had a lot of fun with this title. absolutely worth the -$5 you would spend on it

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future tactics is a great rpg/srategy game the other review covers the game im just giving you my opinion great game highly reccomended

Reviews of Bulletstorm

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Bulletstorm is a breath of fresh air (or recycled from the past?) in the FPS market that's overflowing with "gritty" war shooters; that's what the developers set out to create, and I think they accomplished their goal handily.

People Can Fly brought back the old style of crazy, fun, explosive weapons that used to be a staple of the FPS genre in this case, a revolver that can fire explosive flares; a sniper rifle with bullets that you can steer; or a gun that shoots an explosive chain which can create booby traps out of objects in the environment or your enemies, and a handful of others plus the ability to kick, and the "Leash", which allows you to pull enemies toward you (setting in a temporary slow-motion effect) or launch them into the air. Combining all of these together racks up points that allow you to purchase ammo for your better weapons, charged shots, ammo capacity upgrades, and just generally aim for a high score. Creativity is a big part of the fun, but it's pretty easy to fall into a simple kick-and-then-shoot everybody regimen. Staying sharp and mixing up how you kill your foes keeps things interesting, but if you just do things the easy way then it has the chance to get stale.

Single player campaign length leaves something to be desired, as it only lasts maybe 6 to 8 hours. I didn't really keep track. But you kind of gradually get a handle on your own playstyle and learn the tricks of the game in your first playthrough, so a second playthrough at least still feels fresh, and there is Echoes mode in which you run through individual levels of the game and try to rack up a high score, plus a multiplayer mode for those so inclined; I wasn't.

The story isn't particularly riveting, but the ridiculously coarse dialogue is an... interestingly entertaining addition to the ridiculously coarse gameplay (as you should know, this is absolutely not a game for the family). The characters don't do much to garner an emotional attachment, but they do feel a bit like drinking buddies: not that reliable, but they're fun to hang around.

The game looks pretty nice. The graphics don't raise the bar, but they're certainly not dated. While the whole game has that generic Unreal Engine 3 look, the developers splashed a good amount of color into the mix so it's not just gray and brown. The character and weapon designs are still very reminiscent of Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War, so it looks a little "been-there-done-that".

The parts I didn't like aren't game-related and are only relevant to the PC version: primarily, the integration of Games for Windows Live. It took me about half an hour after I'd already installed the game to actually begin playing, although part of that was trying to figure out how to open the encrypted config files, because the options menu in-game is a joke. (No FOV settings, no option to disable mouse acceleration, and pretty much everything else that you would normally customize in a PC game.) Games for Windows Live, of course, requires an account to register the game to (at least you can use an Xbox Live account, which I already had). It also distributes game updates and patches, so right off the bat I downloaded a game update, which told me that I needed to close the game to finish installing.

Except there's no way to close the game until you get to the menu. And there's no way to get to the menu without logging into Games for Windows Live. And there's no way to log into Games for Windows Live without installing the update. And there's no way to install the update without closing the game... ad infinitum. I had to open Task Manager and force the game to close.

But once I'd sucked it up and decided to just live with the oppressive iron fist of PC publishers, the game is just a lot of fun. I still don't think I would give up keyboard and mouse just to bypass the PC gaming headache (that is, by playing on the Xbox 360) and once you get past the initial setup, Games for Windows Live stays out of the way.

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If you can get past "Games for Windows Live", you'll be good to go. The DRM for PC is the one drawback to this game, and you can see that it's reflected in most one or two star ratings. But, I would have to disagree with their ratings. If I was rating GFWL I would give it a one star too. However, we are attempting to review the actual game not the crappy publisher.

The game itself is gorgeous, epic, intense, hilarious, and extremely entertaining. The only game that makes me laugh as much is probably Portal 2. The graphics definitely aren't dated. The animations and "hugeness" to everything was incredibly well-done. There's something to be said for graphics like these vs graphics seen in a game like Crysis 2. To me, Crysis 2 had incredible graphics, but it had no real style and was a pretty joyless experience to me. Bulletstorm is definitely not joyless. It's a riot. And it's pretty. For a day or two, I was a kid again and I loved it.

Of course, this game is NOT for kids. But in a small way, it almost makes you feel like you're being "naughty" just for playing it, with all of the adult language and innuendos involved. I highly recommend the game on all counts.

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sometimes we play games for a challenge, sometimes we play games to escape reality, sometimes we play games for interesting plot and characters, sometimes we play games for beautiful music, visuals, and story, sometimes we play games just for fun, and this game is all about fun.

things i like about this game:

the scoring and skillshots system is very well designed and kept me hooked throughout the main game, and continues to keep me hooked in the echo mode after. it has never been that fun finding more creative ways of destroying your enemies.

gameplay is varied, from blasting a big ship at space, boarding a helicopter and shooting a huge monster from above, to remote controlling a huge gorilla robot to crush enemies below, and many more. they are not excessive and are there just to occasionally give you a break from the meat of the game, which is to find innovative and fun ways of killing enemies.

most of the time the game is at outdoors, with beautifully rendered visuals and grand scenery. i love games like this.

all of those juvenile cursing and humor. there are some cleverly written lines, and some just "memorable" lines. dick jokes are not excessive.

the plot can be dark at times but generally it is light and fun.

you can turn gore off (cursing can be turned off if you like that).

things i don't like about this game:

occasionally characters can get stuck in places. i've only experienced this twice throughout the entire game though.

the ending is sort of a cliffhanger. i understand that they were trying to set up for a sequel, which seems unlikely at the point, but still, it would be nice to have some kind of closure.

the drm is ok. i've never experienced any problem with it. and the achievements are shared with xbox and windows phone 7 games to become part of your gamerscore.

overall it is a highly entertaining title. i've never played an fps that is this fun throughout. get this game. and you will have a blast.

Honest reviews on Bulletstorm

The initial screenshots and review of Bulletstorm turned me off. So did the opening sequence in which the main character kicks a pleading, bound prisoner into an airlock (which is promptly depressurized). I quit playing at that point, thinking I was in for the gaming equivalent of a Joel Eszterhas film, or maybe a crasser version of Duke Nukem Forever.

I was mostly right. But I started playing anyway after reading my fifth positive review. The game cost me $5. Why not?

Twenty minutes into play-attempt #2, and I no longer cared. The game was crass, mindlessly violent, and chock full of action-movie one-liners. (And since I played on PC, certain sequences -like "walking" across hanging rope ladders with my "hands" by pressing different buttons -were distractingly consolized.) The game was also ridiculously fun.

Remember fun? I have maybe 100 games in a collection built up over many years. Probably half of these are firstor third-person shooters. Many of these shooters are well produced, graphically impressive and technically brilliant, but few are *fun*. Bulletstorm is fun in the way Doom was back in 1995. Or the way Unreal Tournment was in 1999. Or the way I always wanted Serious Sam to be. Or the way the first Iron Man movie actually was.

Bulletstorm should be terrible. The storyline is hackneyed, the characters are stereotypes, the violence is ridiculous, etc., etc. But the *gameplay* is a delight, and the visuals are gorgeous. I giggled like a kid as I kicked enemies off ledges, lassoed exploding barrels and slammed them together in creative ways, shot sticky bombs into crowds of nasties and watched them ricochet off each other before erupting into a confetti of guts and armor.

I said the game was crass, and it is. But Bulletstorm pulls of an amazing trick. It rides the line of bad taste while remaining funny. I despise character banter in most games because it is tedious and rarely adds anything useful to a story, but in Bulletstorm, I felt like I was being let in on a running joke. "Yes, we are stereotypical characters in yet another save-the-world FPS. Let's have fun with this." I found myself laughing more than I'd care to admit at the in-game jokes, and the bad plot became less annoying as time passed. Again, the gameplay was the transcending factor. The weapons, the physics, the modeling were all fantastic, and managed to wring rare, fresh blood from a tired genre.

Here's the best thing I can say about Bulletstorm: I played through it in a matter of days. As an adult with a job, I usually abandon a game long before I find the time to finish it. In fact, Borderlands (another game I initially thought I'd hate) is the only other FPS I've played through in the past 3-4 years. Usually, I get 15-20 hours in and reach a tedious boss that isn't worth learning to kill, or realize I'd rather be working in my yard, or hanging out with my wife. Too many games these days are work. I do enough work *at work*. Bulletstorm bucks that trend by actually entertaining the player.

Unfortunately, there will not be a Bulletstorm II. At launch, it was priced like a console game, and hampered by the ill-conceived "Games for Windows" program, and subsequently sold very poorly. More than a year on, however, you can buy it for a song. If you like FPS games, you can spend much, much more and do much, much worse than Bulletstorm.

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At first glance, this gem of 21st century Marxist-Leninist dialectic appears to be nothing more than a violent game, which tells the simple story of large, burly men who wished to be professional wrestlers, but failed the intelligence test, and took up soldiery instead.

However, upon closer examination, a critique of post-cold-war socialist capitalism quickly emerges into the light, bearing a message not simply of condemnation, but also of profound understanding and compassion for the victims and even architects of the self-swallowing feedback loops of post-consumer culture.

Not content to confine itself to the crude techniques of symbolism so beloved of earlier, Hegelian-influenced Marxist-Leninist philosophers and writers, "Bulletstorm" borrows the metafictional techniques of Borges and combines them with a Dadaist sense of literary negative space to suggest, within the readers' own sense of the proletariat, the construct it wishes to address, coupled with a self-deconstruction impelled by inevitability of process, rather than any content-oriented deliberation of intent.

For example, when a character delivers the line "I'll shoot you in the dick!", the author(s) cunningly convey the image of a consumerist society where grown men might not only be paid to sit in sound booths and practice, over and over again, their delivery of the line "I'll shoot you in the dick!", but to discuss how best it might be delivered, and even to do so while being aware of its inherent absurdity, an absurdity they must cooperate with even while perceiving it for what it is, lest they lose the income with which they feed their families, and lose their status within the Capitalist machine upon which they depend even as it destroys them from within.

Indeed, the characters, presented as crude stereotypes of steroidal man-children who are unable to discuss a simple plan of action without shouts, threats of violence, or homoerotic taunts that reek of forbidden longing, form a brilliantly revealing juxtaposition with the the presentation that the authors make of *themselves* as a bunch of graceless dimwits who are so infantilized by the capitalist impulse-gratification loop that they are unable to write a story which does not rely upon simple, raw sensation to inform its urgency.

This is the video game company as performance art in its own right, and it is brilliant.

Gone are elaborate representations and rationalizations of Capitalist-Imperialist apologetics, replaced by a raw exposure of the post-Leninist man's desire to kick an outgroup representive into a cactus, then shoot him in the testicles. Yet, at the same time, "Bullstorm" also critiques itself, and the entire Marxist-Leninist movement that it represents, by asking "Does not this reveal that man *desires* violence and imperialism, even if he must purchase their heady thrills at great cost to himself? Is International Socialism not ultimately a failure, not merely for failing to elevate man above class warfare, but for failing to realize that man does not wish to be elevated?".

Like the convict miners who rebel only to destroy themselves along with their bourgeoisie oppressors, Marxism-Leninism is shown to be, perhaps, merely another "soul of soulless conditions", which has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain of oppression merely that the proletariat might wear the chain unadorned. "Bulletstorm" does not shy from self-analysis in this regard.

In short, "Bulletstorm" is a must-play for anyone to truly wishes to understand the modern critique of both Capitalism and Socialism.

Death Note: Kira Game (Japanese Version) Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $43.00
Today's Bonus: 28% Off

is great, I LOVE IT, i haven't PLAYED IT, but knowing any DS/DSI game, this is nice, the case ansd all the original papers and guides, game as no scratches, case is nice, its lovely and cant wait to buy a new DSI to play this

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My sister wanted this games for forever so I got it her but it took along time to arrive also it got stopped by customs i had to pay to get it out and I don't know how she plays it being in Japanese but she loves it.

Review of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Customer Ratings:

I can't please everybody with one review, so I'm gonna give you two:

Never Played The Original PS-one Title?

---"This is the game that created stealth gaming as we know it. The emphasis is on avoiding the enemies to reach your objectives, though enemy contact is sometimes unavoidable and will result in some bloody gunfights. There are creative boss battles, each vastly different from each other. Simply put, this game never runs out of ideas to keep the experience fresh. Like the great "God of War" or "Zelda" titles, it's an epic game, but not so big that it's overwhelming it's got just the perfect balance of familiarity and discovery. The basic story is that six terrorists have taken over a nuclear weapons base in Alaska, and a retired covert operative named Solid Snake is sent to stop the crisis. Make no mistake, this plot is one hell of a labyrinth. This story goes from double crosses and political intrigue, to figurative subjects like the nature of love and the ethics of genetic research. Also, even though this is the third game in the 'Metal Gear' franchise, the game includes summaries of the first two 'Metal Gear' games. However, I hadn't played those, and found this game just as easy to follow. You will be doing more watching than playing, but both are experiences like no other. Give it a rental, as this game is only 8 hours tops, and see what you think."

{For more info, skip to the end of the review}

Already Finished The Original PS-one Title?

---"This game is identical to the original in almost every way. The levels design hasn't changed at all, although the graphics are much prettier. The written dialogue is pretty much the same, however the new voice-acting make it feel less forced. The cutscenes are the biggest change, as fight choreography and cinematography are given a breath-taking facelift. As many have said, the story from the first MGS merges with the gameplay of MGS 2: Sons of Liberty. Unfortunately, this makes the game much easier to beat, which is the only reason I'm giving this game an overall 4-Star rating. But that's a small price to pay, because this is a proper tribute to the PS-one classic's gripping story and innovative gameplay. In short, 'The Twin Snakes" isn't different enough in order to guarantee a purchase for the skeptical, but it's defintely worth a rental even if you've already beaten it."

FOR THE NEW PLAYERS

Original versions

"Metal Gear Solid" (PSone, 1999) and (PC, 2001)

"Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty" (PS2, 2001)

"Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" (PS2, 2004)

"Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" (PS3, 2007 we hope!)

New versions of the old titles

"Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes" (Cube, 2004)

"Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance" (PS2/X-Box/PC, 2002)

"Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence" (PS2, 2006)

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Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes is the remake to Konami's Playstation smash hit Metal Gear Solid where we were reintroduced to our favorite super spy of the 1980's Solid Snake. In both the original and Silicon Knight's remake, Solid Snake is pulled out of retirement and sent to a nuclear test base in Antartica called "Shadow Moses" to stop a bunch of geneticly enhanced super soldiers from unleashing the new Metal Gear. Along the way Snake is going to meet up with some people from previous missions, make new allies, and unravel a conspiracy far beyond Snake's comprehention.

Twin Snakes is straight up one of the most action packed games I played, even though you are supposed to rely more on stealth then fighting. However, you will find yourself taking on a tank with grenades, crossing a minefield, repeling down a wall while being fired at by a Hind chopper which you will later be shooting rockets at, fist fights, a massive firefight going up a large tower, and the most intense sniper shootout protrayed in any video game. Obviously you will be doing more than this, but I think I caught your attention by now =]

So the story is told, so how does the game play fair up? The basic idea behind MGS: TS is this: You run around using your enviroment to your advantage, such as pressing against a wall or crawling under a table, to avoid being seen. You have guns, like the SOCOM pistol or the FAMAS machine gun, but in all reality those are supposed to be used as a last resort. Anyway, when you approach a guard you can grab him and snap his neck, when he falls you can grab his body and hide it in a locker or other various areas. If you wish, you can go into first person mode, aim with your weapon and shoot out a camera or a guard in his head.. its really up to you. You get grenades too chaff (which jams electric devises) and stun (which knocks out enemies for a short period of time). Also, you can do a small melee combo, which at first, doesn't look like much but I guarentee you will use it almost constantly when in tight spots.

From the original, pixalated Playstation version, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes looks almost life like with fluid motions both in-game and in FMV sequences, realistic (for the most part) physics, and some of the best graphics I have ever seen thanks to Silicon Knight's hardwork and Nintendo's awesome Gamecube system. Everything looks magnificent, and at the same time, dark, lonley, and terrifying. The character models look so real its hard to tell if its simply a video game, and that goes double time for Snake & all the bosses he fights. The codec sequences seem a little corny, that same as it was back in the original, so that sorta sucks.. but oh well.

Musically speaking, this game has one of the best scores I have heard in a video game. It is just very catchy, and always adds elements to the atmosphere. Ontop of that, the sound effects are awesome as well. Each guard lets out a satisfying scream when he is either shot or beaten up, and the guns sound virtually like their real life counter parts. The voice acting is superb; David Hayter did an excellent job on Snake.. the same goes for the rest of the cast.

You can unlock things too, depending on what you do during the torture scene with Ocelot. If you give in and let Meryl die, then at the end of the game, Otacon will give you a stealth suit. If you insisted on enduring the torture to let Meryl live, then you are rewarded with a special bandana that gives you unlimited ammo. Also, if you take certain pictures with your camera you are given the chance to see the "ghosts" of the creators of the game in the pictures. There are other unlockables, but I will let you find them yourself.

But no game comes without some sort of flaw. Two major problems I have with MGS: TW is the excessive amount of talking (but thats found in EVERY Metal Gear game.. so we can't blame Silicon Knights) and in the movie sequences, Snake does almost impossible moves. For instance, when he first meets up with Meryl, she shoots at him with a FAMAS Snake quickly does a flip in matrix mode and the bullets miss him.. sort of lame.

To wrap it up, you need to buy & play Twin Snakes. It is, by far, the best Metal Gear game in the series. It is even better than the original.

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Ok. If you played the Original MGS you need to buy this now. There's added stuff and improved graphics. If your new to the Metal Gear stuff, just ask yourself "Do I like Stealth/Action Games?" If you answer yes...Buy it you fool! A MUST HAVE FOR THE GAME CUBE OWNERS!

Honest reviews on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

youll always have those that retest remakes of great classics, but why? the visuals of MGS1 for PS1 are poor..this is a full blown remake of Metal Gear Solid 1, one of the best MGS games, one of the best games of all time. Unless you are anti good graphics, or anti gamecube, you cannot pass this up simply put. Everyone should play this game once, this is the pinnacle of gaming right here. 5 stars.

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The idea of remaking one of the most beloved games of the 32/64 bit generation was bold, to say the least. However, with a Tri-Force of fantastic talent, the creative geniuses as Konami (Metal Gear Solid), Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness), and Nintendo (video games as we know them) let their powers combine to recreate a masterpiece of both story and gameplay, even going so far as to draft an action movie director to bring the game's dramatic cinemas up to date. Many thought that, even with the obvious talent available, the taks of recreating the magic of Metal Gear Solid was too monumental to ever be accomplished. They were wrong.

Popping the disk into my cubular Nintendo system and beginning the now-familiar quest to rid the island of Shadow Moses of those naughty super-terrorists proved to elicit the same magic that it did when I first played the game on the Playstation. The plot, the characters, the action, all were as great as I rememberd them, and even more so in places. With the help of new gameplay mechanics, re-directed cinemas, and a complete graphical overhawl, this game feels comfortingly familiar without being tired.

Firstly, the graphics are easily some of the best on any game released for the GameCube, or any game this generation for that matter. Throughout, they handiliy hold their own against the acclaimed Metal Gear Solid 2, and in some places (particularly when it comes to face detail, physics, and animation), they completely blow MGS 2 away. Gone are the clustered pixels that served for eyes and mouths in the original. In the place of the then-astounding but now-dated character polys are incredibly detailed models, each with texture, style, and a hint of humanity in their eerily realistic eyes. In addition, weather effects, like the snow in the opening of the second area, now look a hundred times better, with more detailed environments both inside and out. There are a few textures here and there that look a little blurry, but overall, everthing is crips, clean, and purddy as h*ll.

The newly redone real-time cinemas substantially add to the look of the game, both in quality and style. Even measuring them against the high standard set by MGS 2, these are true works of art that stand unequaled in their field today. The animation and detail make the viewer somtimes wonder wheather or not these are truly real-time, or instead are the more detailed (and more expensive) Full Motion Video scenes favored by the likes of Final Fantasy. However, all is done with the existing game engine, which stands as both a testament to the architecture of the engine that Silicon Knights built for this game, and the talented crew at Konami who made the cinemas.

The central figure of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is its story, as well it should be, as such a wonderful narrative rarely strikes the cinema, let along the world of video games. With its intricate turns, palpable emotion, stunning revelations, and numerous double-crossings, Metal Gear Solid's narrative had to be told well for both the veterans and rookies who would experience it. The new cut scenes do just that, making what was old new again, giving the familiar plot points a fresh coat of paint, as it were. Sometimes, new action scenes altogether appear, and are so gorgeously coreographed and stylishly presented that they'll have you muttering "Matrix-who?" on several occasions.

Finally, a game, no matter how good looking, lives or dies by its gameplay. The mechanics of Metal Gear Solid raised bars, set standards, and blew minds when they were first revealed in 1998, and it speaks of their quality that they hold up so well today. Solid Snake, super-spy extraordinare, must sneak into and through the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses, and though he can handle himself in a fight, it's far better (and a good deal more fun) to slip past the guards unnoticed. That's not easy. They're smart, even more intelligent than they were in the first game, with better sight, hearing, and more thorough seaching methods. However, added to Snake's original move set are some actions that were first seen in Metal Gear Solid 2, such as hanging from ledges, aiming and shooting in first-person, dragging and hiding guards, and hiding yourself in lockers.

This is something of a double-edged sword as far as working the new gameplay elements into the title. Foremost, the lay of Shadow Moses hasn't changed much at all, making the inclusion of these new abilities rather questionable. Where would we use them. The answer to which is "Wherever the heck you want." Twin Snakes puts the power in the hands of the gamer to play the game how they want to, which is a refreshing change from the customary hand-holding and linear nature of the original. There are times when the game is made more difficult by these inclusions (particularly in the case of the new bullet-proof shield-bearing guards), but more difficulty in this case is welcome. The original game could be downright easy on the, even on the Normal setting, but even the Easy mode in Twin Snakes will offer a decent challenge to both rookies to the series and veterans of the original.

Last, but not least, is the soundtrack. This is a rather hot topic, as it were, as the main theme of Metal Gear Solid is unrecognizable in The Twin Snakes. Some purists would cry fould that such a masterpiece wasn't left alone. However, though its nostalgic value is missed, the existing music fits the new game's presentation like a glove, and stands toe-to-toe with its grandaddy in terms of quality.

All in all, this is the best version of one of the best games of a generation. It has aged spectacularly well, with both its narrative AND gameplay being as impressive today as they were in 1998. However, even this is not enough. We also have more gameplay, new cinemas to tell the fantastic story, and a general polish that makes a game six years old feel as new as it did when it was first released. That, ladies and gentlemen, is no mean feat.

With polish, detail, and gameplay that few games even today can boast of, Twin Snakes excels at its task and meets some high expectations, and starts the gaming year with a memorable "bang." This game deserves both respect and purchasing, and it deserves them now.

Discount Doom 3 Limited Collector's Edition - Xbox (Collector's)

Customer Ratings:

This is definitely one of the moodiest, best-orchestrated games I've ever played. It gives many nods to the kind of immersion (and outright steals a number of elements) popularized by Half-Life. This is pure DOOM though demons, possessed humans, flying skulls, creepy voices, etc. And of course, the two things you truly need for happiness while descending to Hell: a shotgun and a chainsaw.

If you like games that suck you in with powerful environments, DOOM 3 is the best you will ever find. The graphics are superb, dark, and downright freaky at times. Even better than the visuals, though, is the sound. Slithering sounds from nearby enemies, demonic laughter echoing down the hallway as monsters descend on you, etc. It all adds up to a powerful experience that can really tug at your claustrophobic strings.

Here's a low-down on the collector's edition.

THE GOOD:

* It's scary, it's visceral, it frays your nerves, and it's absolutely a ton of fun.

* Production values are outstanding, although the plot is paper-thin. But it's DOOM, so what do you expect? A Shakespearean play?

* Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II are included and very playable on the Xbox. Sure, they're outdated and clunky compared to this beautiful masterpiece. They're a walk down memory lane for those of us who remember the original games, and a good history lesson for those who don't.

* G4 "Icons" video with background info on the making of DOOM 3.

* Collector's Edition case is very cool.

THE BAD:

* No split-screen co-op mode! You can only play co-op if you use Xbox Live or system link. Lame!

THE UGLY:

* The interviews in the collector's edition are pretty lame. It's basically a handful of the top guys at Id Software talking for a couple minutes each about some aspect of the game or other. Even when John Carmack himself was talking, I quickly got bored with how pedestrian the whole thing was.

THE SUMMARY:

Don't mind those folks who whine about how you can't use the flashlight at the same time as you use a weapon deal with it! The game is still a blast, and it gives all new meaning to the phrase... GO TO HELL! Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended.

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Folks all i can say is it was well worth the wait. Ive heard people cry that its dark. Yes it is in more ways than one. Its just dark enough to keep you nervous about what is around a corner or behind you. These graphics are without a doubt the best ever produced on any console. The nay sayers are dead wrong. I play (other than an occasional platformer) nothing but first person shooters and while i enjoyed the Halo games as well as Metroid Prime and many others they are well behind the design and gameplay of this masterpiece. This is not a "run and gun" game. If you play it as such, you will die and die often. Take your time and look around there is lots to see and find. Believe the hype folks! I did not think these graphics could be produced on any console. Play it in the dark and enjoy.

Best Deals for Doom 3 Limited Collector's Edition - Xbox (Collector's)

If one thing can be said about Doom 3, it's that the game merges new school and old school seamlessly. The visuals in this Xbox port are nearly perfect when being compared to the breathtaking atmosphere of the PC version. Basically this means that the cutting-edge visuals are still cutting edge, especially for a console, while they are becoming more accessible for a wider audience who may not have PCs beefy enough to run the game at full specs. As for the Doom legacy, everything a fan could want is here. The simple run-and-gun action from the socially taboo games I played as a child is mirrored perfectly in this remake.

However, once you strip away all of the gritty realism of the environments and the nostalgia of classic Doom, you are left with an extremely rudimentary corridor-crawler that is firmly based on derivative shooting and cheap scares for entertainment. At its core, the gameplay is absolutely repetitive, but masked by convincing character animations a bone-chilling scenery. The plot is also quite thin. Half of the time, it will feel like you are going somewhere simply because you haven't been there yet. At several points in the game, I actually had to check my PDA (which was a very cool feature, by the way) to see what my "objective" was supposed to be. Lastly, the feeling of dread and unease you get from not knowing exactly what's around the corner is somewhat reduced by the "QuickSave" anywhere function.

Close-quarters combat is used for 90% of your encounters, and while this helps add to the claustrophobic feeling that Doom 3 conveys so well, it also severely limits tactical decisions for you AND your enemy. In fact, while the AI is better described as "tenacious" rather than "stupid," there are very few moments in the game where the enemy will use clever tactics instead of rushing straight for you. Add that to the seemingly innocuous "monster closets" that demons will jump out of for a quick jump-out-and-go-boo scare (Jeeze, did the guys that designed this base actually make a conscious effort to give demons and zombies a place to hide?!) and you are left with a single, repetitive outcome to nearly every battle: a zombie/imp/soldier jumps out of a shadowy era, and you blast them away with your shotgun. Rinse and repeat. The game does have interesting events every now and then, such as gunplay in total pitch-black darkness or bizarre visions that will make you wonder if what you saw really happened, but these treats are few and far between. Derivative shooting ultimately drags Doom 3 down a few notches.

It should also be noted that, for whatever reason, headshots DO NOT do anymore damage than say... a shot to the foot. As a cardinal rule of FPSs, even on consoles, I have no clue as to why the designers decided to omit headshot damage. This was extremely disappointing.

What Doom 3 DOES do well, however, is atmosphere. The dingy, mechanical walls and flickering lights of the Mars base make you feel like you are in a living and breathing (sometimes literally) industrial environment. The level of detail is simply astonishing. Everything, from a giant, gyrating energy reactor to an insignificant ruptured pipe, looks REAL. Shadows are intense and lighting is generally clever; the game designers never let you see TOO much without the aid of your flashlight. Speaking of that wacky flashlight, it seems like it's almost become a fad to talk about how silly it is to not be able to attach a light to your gun. Well, this is one leap of logic that I'm actually willing to overlook. Having guns and light separate adds to the tension. End of story. What kind of tension, you ask? How about "the dirty feeling of isolation and claustrophobia resulting from maneuvering your nameless, voiceless marine through a dark, ominous air vent smeared in the blood of your fallen comrades, making it seem like you are actually there" kind of tension. Enemy designs aid the intensity of Doom 3's macabre scenery; it's really too bad that you really won't see many of them until the last quarter of the game. For the majority of time you spend playing, you'll be fighting the aforementioned zombies, soldiers, or Imps. Needless to say, this gets predictable (and rather boring) after a while. It really is a shame that every few levels or so, you may be introduced to an interesting new enemy (like, for example, the Maggot, Wraith, and Lost Soul), but you will most likely never see that enemy again until hours and hours later in the game. Once you advance far enough into the game, the balance of demons evens out, but Imps will still be your most common threat. Still, waves of identical enemies can't take away from an excellently crafted industrial atmosphere, which becomes so creepy that the latter half of Doom 3 that it looks like something straight out of Silent Hill (in a good way).

Oh, and just on a side note... I don't care if the Revenant was in the earlier Doom game. That enemy looks totally ridiculous. It's a skeleton with awkward rocket launchers grafted to its shoulders. Stupid. Really, really stupid.

Sound is great. It was an exceedingly wise move to use music very sparingly. The naturally grating, echoing, metallic sounds of the Mars base mixed with footsteps, demonic growls, and maniacal laughter is more than enough to convey a feeling of unease.

Although the multiplayer is abysmal (not even worth playing, in my opinion), the Co-op is probably one of the most interesting additions to Doom 3. You can't Co-op on split screen (boo!), but it's not hard at all to find someone via Xbox Live (or even System Link if you get desperate). The game has been altered to accommodate two marines instead of one, power ups and multiple demons have been added, and cut scenes have been removed. The result is an extremely fluid and addictive experience.

Well, after this long, wordy, and somewhat negative critique, I bet you're wondering why I gave Doom 3 four stars. There answer is simple: this game is fun. In an age where the Xbox's FPS games are becoming more and more innovative (take Splinter Cell: CT and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath... both excellent games), it's almost, dare I say, "refreshing" to play a game that's actually easier to learn than Halo 2. It's an extremely cathartic experience. Sit back, relax, and let yourself become scared of the dark again as you blast through hordes of Hell's minions. It's the perfect stress reliever.

With the added features (including retro Doom games, as I'm sure you already know), the Doom 3 Collector's Edition for the Xbox is the perfect addition to any FPS and/or Survival Horror fan's library... repetitive gameplay and all.

Honest reviews on Doom 3 Limited Collector's Edition - Xbox (Collector's)

Yeah, Doom 3 is great. There's tension, darkness, a forboding feeling, and some awesome looking demons coming to tear you apart and drag you to hell.

I'm sure someone's already said that the fact that you can't equip the flashlight at the same time as a gun really makes things a little scarier.

The game is good. It starts to feel like it's getting a bit long, but then you get attacked by a new enemy or you get rocketted into Hell or something like that and you're suddenly loving it again.

The game can get to be pretty hard, but it's nothing you can't get through after a couple tries.

As for the Collector's Edition, I'd say only get it if you're a big fan of the Doom series. Of course. You've got some interviews and such, some concept art, and the original Dooms. There's really no reason to get it for Doom and Doom 2 unless you HAVE to have them on xbox for some reason. It is fun to get some friends together and play some deathmatches on the XBOX, but beyond that, there's really not much use to them when you could easily just get them for your computer and have the real experience.

I really only bought the XBOX version of Doom 3 because my computer would never run it. So yeah. If you have a computer capable of running Doom 3 you shouldn't even be thinking about the XBOX version.

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Doom 3 for the XBox is the BEST looking FPS out there at this time. The textures and normal mapping make the environment come to life in a way that is not even possible on my lowly PC without causing serious degradation in the frame rate.

The last game to give such a detailed environment was the Chronicles of Riddick. However, that game (as great as it is) was plagued with some issues. At times, the graphics would get very fuzzy. Also, there were clipping issues in some areas. But, those can be overlooked in a game that is not just a FPS, but also a stealth game as well.

Doom 3, however, is not plagued by those abnormalities. The graphics are ALWAYS clear and sharp. Frame rate reduction is minimal (almost non-existent) and doesn't affect the gameplay at all. If you want to really show off the XBox's graphics and sound capabilities, then this is the game to do it with.

Doom 3 is a re-telling of the original Doom. Forget that Doom and Doom II ever occured. In this game, you learn more about the UAC, it's operations and who caused the portal to hell to open and why. Again, you play an unnamed space marine called to the UAC base on Mars for a normal rotation in your active duty career. People have been disappearing left and right on what is not a large installation. Others have come down with serious cases of schizophrenia, while others have even resorted to cutting their tongues in two. Yuck!

If you've played the PC version, then be prepared for some changes. First off, the areas are NOT as dark as they were on the PCs. This was due to console games being played on the TV. It doesn't detract from the scary environment of the PC game and you still need a flashlight in many areas once the portal to hell is open. But, at least you get to see the lush environment and the minions of hell a lot better than you did on the PC.

Second, many areas of the PC game (such as the beginning where you actually walk through the scanning machine yourself as well as walking around the landing platform to get into the main entrance of the base) have been replaced by you watching it occur. You actually take control of the player when he comes to the desk to receive his PDA.

Other areas have been removed or paths have been changed. This was done to help increase the action and speed of the game. Whereas the PC game was more of a slow-paced scare fest, the XBox version is a fast-paced juggernaut that still scares the holy heck out of you. There have been areas where I knew there were imps yet, because the atmosphere of the game has pulled me in so deeply, I would still have an imp scare the heck of out me, causing me to drop my controller and curse out loud because I knew the imp was there. Also, certain areas creatures have been replaced to take into account that this is a console game with a controller and not a PC game with a mouse. It doesn't detract from the game at all. In fact, it makes it better.

The controls are laid out nicely, with the D-pad acting as your quick weapons select that you can modify to have access to your favorite weapons. Unlike Halo and Halo 2, you can save the game at any point. The Back button serves as a quick save button so you can save where you are at quickly and get back to the action. This is definitely a plus because then you don't have to worry about the game saving at a pre-determined savepoint when your health and/or ammo is low. You control when you save and in what condition your health and ammo is in.

The 5.1 surround sound puts you right in the middle of the action and is used to it's fullest potential. I can't count how many times I've heard a sound behind me (breathing, something falling, whispering) and I turned around in fright to only find nothing there. It adds to the tension of the game. The detail of the demons and people are the best I've seen yet. The level of detail of everything makes this the best looking XBox game to date.

With the Collectors edition being only $5 more than the normal version, I say shell out that extra cash so you can also get the original Ultimate Doom and Doom II games ported to the Xbox. They allow co-op play and are a nostalgic look back at the games that defined the FPS and deathmatch shooters era. Doom started it all.

The other extra features on the CE version include 4 FMVs about the making of Doom 3 and the history of Doom. They are really interesting to watch. There is also an art gallery as well as interviews with the creators of Doom 3. I did notice that the voices were NOT in synch with the videos, but it's minor and not that much of a distraction.

The online play seems well on it's way to bringing back the glory days of playing Doom on a Novell LAN. It only allows up to 4 players, but sometimes, those are the the best types to play. The levels have been created just for that type of game play and it allows for some exciting matches. There is deathmatch, team deathmatch and arena-type where you watch two players go head-to-head and when one dies, one of the other players waiting comes in and plays the winner. I did notice some lag at times, but it wasn't enough to detract from the gameplay.

Another issue with on-line play is when you search for games. It seems to take a long time to find them. Once I did find a game, there were numerous times when I selected that game, only to be told that it was no longer available. Hopefully, these issues are just due to the fact that I tried to play on-line on the day of the release and will eventually be fixed or reduced once the hype has died down a little.

Unlike the PC version, you can have coop play as well for the main story. The FMVs are gone and certain areas from the single-player game have been changed to allow for 2-players, but this is something we Xboxers can brag about that the PC players don't have. It makes for some interesting gameplay, especially in the dark areas. To see your buddy get munched by a demon while you hold the flashlight is something you just have to experience to really get the feeling of sheer terror that it can bring.

Overall, I was a little disappointed in that this was only a one-disc edition when the other limited CEs had two discs. Still, the inclusion of the original Dooms and the port of this game to the Xbox is nothing short of brilliance on the part of Vicarious Visions. They must be commended on this port. It actually makes this better than the PC version and looks almost as good for a console game.

Doom 3 is the BEST looking FPS out there. Does it beat Halo 2? Maybe in the single player version, but online is a different story. Each has it's own merits. If anything, Doom 3 can sit right next to Halo 2 and be equal to it. This is definitely a game every FPS fan should have for their Xbox.

Ear Force X11 Amplified Stereo Headset with Chat Review

Customer Ratings:

I purchased the X11 for use with Xbox Live because of the problem of being able to use a mic if you also play with headphones for game sound. It seems there is a distinct lack of headphone-mic solutions that have the proper size plug to fit the mic jack on the controller, and that also have independent chat and game volume controls (kind of important if you want to be able to hear chat over game sounds). Thanks to Turtle Beach and their line of headphones this problem is solved. I went with these because I don't mind a wired solution since I play at my computer desk using my monitor and distance isn't a problem.

These headphones work exactly as advertised. If you follow the directions and set your chat settings on Xbox to work through the headphones and turn the volume up to 10 you will not have any problems hearing voice chat without having to crank your chat volume to max, as a previous reviewer wrote. After a week and a half of using these for various games (mostly Bad Company 2) I would say the sound is decent and the controls work quite well. The game and chat volume controls as well as the mute switch are all on the little inline control box for ease of use. The cord is very long so even if you are sitting across the room it should not pose a problem. There is even a velcro strap for tying up excess cord. The earpieces are nice and big so they cover the whole ear instead of crushing your ears plus they are nice and soft, overall very comfortable. The mic boom is much better than typical ones found on other headsets. It's a little longer than most and flexes easily to get it exactly where you want, yet is sturdy enough to stay in place. The pickup on the mic seems excellent also, plus with mic monitoring playing a portion of your talk back into the headphones there is no need to shout into it.

I do have three gripes with these headphones though. One is that the cloth lining on the inside of the right earpiece ripped on the second day of use for no apparent reason. All I did was wear them a few times and just placed them on my desk when not in use. I have no kids or pets who could have damaged them. I fixed this by taking a covering off another headset I had, cutting it down a little and placed it inside the earpiece. I did this because the plastic that was exposed was bothering my ear and this solution worked great without degrading the sound at all.

My second gripe is that there is a constant hiss in the headphones when they are plugged into the USB port for power, even without the volume turned up much at all. I tested it on various ports on the Xbox and on my PC also and it remained. It is not overpowering and does not detract from game play once game sounds are going because you don't notice it over the game sounds. It's just a bit annoying during quiet times when you can hear it. I feel a wired version of headphones should not have this problem if proper noise reduction is put in to counter the powering of the amplifier.

My third gripe is that when I wear these for awhile and then place them down on my desk a blackish type stain is left behind after awhile. I think it might be sweat interacting with the dye on the headphones then dripping out. It is still doing this even after a week and a half of use.

Overall I am satisfied with the headphones because they do the job and fulfill a need for Xbox Live that most other headphones and mics do not, combining both into one. The gripes are minor except the hissing so I took a star off for that one. Otherwise they have decent sound, a pretty good mic, and are simple to use.

PROS:

+ Decent sound, certainly loud enough to hear both game and chat.

+ Very long cord.

+ Independent volume controls for game and chat, and mute switch, all in the same place for ease of use.

+ Excellent mic with great pickup so you don't have to shout.

+ Comfortable to wear long term with big earpieces to cover your whole ear.

CONS:

The right cloth lining inside the right earpiece ripped, exposing the plastic (maybe just bad luck on my part).

Seems to leak black dye from the earpiece, possibly interacting with sweat.

A constant low level hiss when powered, not bad enough to overpower game sounds but still shouldn't be a problem on more expensive headphones.

EDIT (5-10-2011)

I have been using these headphones for over a year now and they still work just as described in my above review. I would have to say that speaks nicely as to their durability.

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I bought my X11s to improve my gameplay in Modern Warfare 2 and to play at night while my family is asleep. I am so glad that I did. They have accomplished both objectives with flying colors. The sound quality is excellent. I can hear absolutely everything, even the faintest sound cues I could never hear before. Just the ability to hear footsteps, the direction that they are coming and what they are walking on makes all the difference in multiplayer. Before ordering them, I read many reviews that mention a hiss when the headset is plugged in and was a bit worried that this might be an issue. There is a hiss, but it is so negligible that it isn't even worth listing as a con. Almost all the other reviews that I've read that mention this hiss also mention that you can't even hear it during gameplay. Doesn't that pretty much disqualify it as a con? Honestly, these things could play Home On The Range until I put my MW2 disc in the drive for all I care. There has to be absolute silence in the game in order to hear the hiss. As soon as any music or in game action starts, it is gone, in no way hindering your gaming experience. I also didn't have any problem hearing this hiss while using the X11s with my iPhone for music or YouTube. The ability to control both the game and chat volumes works very well. I've played several very long MW2 multiplayer sessions with friends and I haven't had any issues with my friends hearing me or vice versa. I love that when you raise the game volume, it automatically adjusts the chat volume so that the game audio doesn't drown it out. Which is a good thing, because these bad boys are loud as hell when you crank them up. I have literally jumped in my seat during unexpected explosions. The volume and quality of the sounds make for a very immersive gaming experience. They are also extremely comfortable. Most of the time, I can barely tell they are there, even when I've had them on hours at a time. My old headset sat right on my ears, which would make my ears very sore, very quickly. Overall, I have to give these a five out of five. For the price, they just can't be beat.

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Before I had this headset, I was using speakers from an acer h223 monitor, and the sound was horrible. This will review will be based on me playing Modern Warfare 2 since this is why I bought the headset, that and my fiance always complaining about the sound at night.

The Good:

Now, I am able to hear EVERYTHING. At first it was overwhelming, I hear things in the game I didn't know existed. I use the Ninja Pro Perk so my steps are silent, so that I can hear everyone else's steps. Now I can hear when someone is walking in a house, on metal stairs, or in a grassy field. I can hear "boosters" place their insertions and hunt them down. I hear silencers going off in the distance. I know when someone is to my left or the right.

The mic is great. I was previously using original Xbox headset and I had to speak a little louder than normal, which kept waking up my significant other. With the X11 mic, I can speak softly and people still hear. But the mic isn't sensitive, it doesn't pick up breathing even though it is an inch or two from my mouth. The mic is extremely adjustable, you may bend it which ever way you please.

The Bad:

I think the only complaint I have is the light hissing, which is why it gets four stars. You won't it hear during gameplay but when it is quiet, you can hear it. And I think I have gotten used to it. And if you're wondering, If had connected it correctly or something else I haven't thought of, I emailed Turtle Beach Support and they confirmed that the light hissing is due to the amplifier and the hardwired mic monitor. But if anyone else figured out how to get rid of the hiss let me know!

Overall:

I've never used any other headsets before, but I am loving this headset. It's easy to use. You can adjust the volume of the game and the chat on the remote to your comfort level. It has a mute switch. I die way less. My ratio quickly climbed from 1.25 to 1.36 in the last week. It's comfortable. It's affordable, when compared to all the other headsets out there. What more can you ask for?

PS: if you're using a HDMI cable, and your monitor/tv does not have an "audio out" output then you may need to buy a R/L RCA adaptor for your XBOX, which is cheap on this site. Don't spend (...) to buy the HDMI/RCA adaptor combo at retail stores.

Honest reviews on Ear Force X11 Amplified Stereo Headset with Chat

I play mostly FPS games. The sound quality is amazing. Make sure you don't turn the volume up completely. The headset comes with an in-line amplifier powered by a USB port that will make your eardrums explode. Both game and chat quality are extremely crisp. This is the best headset I have ever owned.

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I ordered a pair of X1s at Gamestop, kindly enough, they shipped this instead.

In the 1st hour I've used this:

Great for music, games, the bass is maybe a little on the weak side, but not that bad. Definitely worth the money. Comfortable, great mic, and it's USB powered. I use it mainly for PC gaming and music.

Good buy, to anyone concerned.

Discount Super Mario Kart

Customer Ratings:

Ever since Super Mario Kart came out it has been a favorite SNES game of mine. Super Mario Kart is the best racing game ever made for the Super Nintendo.

There are 3 different modes you can play in this game: Mario GP (Grand Prix), Time Trial, and Battle Mode. In Mario GP you can choose form eight different characters form Nintendo games: Mario, Luigi, Princess, Yoshi, Toad, Koopa, Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser. Then you can choose to race in the Mushroom Cup, the easiest, Flower Cup, or Star Cup, the hardest in 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc mode. 50cc mode is the easiest to race in, but in 100cc and 150cc the computer gets a lot faster and more challenging. After you win a Cup you will earn a trophy. If you beat every Cup you will unlock a secret cup which is very difficult. In GP you can play one or two players.

In Time Trial mode you race in any course from the Mushroom, Flower, Star or Special Cup and try to set records for the fastest lap and/or race.

In battle mode you and a friend choose a character to battle against each other. You drive around a course trying to pop each other's 3 balloons. You pop their balloons by shooting green or red shells at them or throwing banana peels at them. This mode is very fun especially if you get tired of GP mode.

If you are looking for a great classic racing game for the Super Nintendo, Super Mario Kart is the game to get.

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Racing games have been a staple of the video game world for years. This game combines just the right mix of silliness with racing to be fun for everyone.

You can choose to be one of 8 Nintendo characters, from Mario and Luigi to the Princess, Donkey Kong Jr., or Yoshi. The object is the same as any other racing game, be the first to complete the race, in this case five laps. Along the way, you can pick up objects to help you and hinder others like turtle shells, banana peels, or the invincibility star. Keep winning, and you move up.

There are three sets of tracks and two speeds for each, so there is plenty of variety to keep you entertained for a while. Plus you can race the computer or one other human opponent. The head to head races are the most fun because your friend will offer some surprises that a computer won't. Finally, you can always battle it out and try to be the first person to knock your opponent off the battle field.

The controls are easy to get used to. I may not be as good at it as my friends, but I've spent many happy hours driving around these tracks.

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Wow! This game is great! I've had it for for a couple years and I still enjoy it. The Musroom Cup, Star Cup etc. (in one player mode) is really fun and my brothers and I could never master one of the levels, which makes us want to play again and again to beat it. Then the other one player thing is time trial, where you choose a course to practice on while being timed. Then you have the two player mode. One option is Battle mode where you and another person get items from the game and battle, while still racing. Then you can also race against another person in a different two player mode. As you can this is a great game.

Honest reviews on Super Mario Kart

One word:classic.Super Mario Kart Has been a favorite game to me since it came out.With different modes like Time Trial and Mario GP (Grand Prix)It easily became the favorite game for America to play.You can choose from eight characters:Mario,Luigi,Princess,Bowser,Toad,Yoshi,Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Jr.My personal favorite was Luigi.In Time Trial you can pick races in the Star cup the Flower cup or the Mushroom Cup.Also in the GP you can choose from those cups.There is three modes to race in for the Grand Prix:50cc,100cc and 150cc but you unlock 150cc by beating the game.When you get trophys for beating 100cc you will get a secret cup.Dont be fooled the secret cup is very hard.When you get first place in the secret cup you will beat the game and unlock 150cc.Then once you beat 150cc only then will you be the greatest master of Super Mario Kart.So to end a long story the game is pure classic fun.

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you are just the mario characters in a wild world of the most awesome go-kart tracks in the universe!you can get all sorts of power ups that can be used as weopons or traps on the other players.it NEVER gets old,so play on and on and on and .....

Buy Xbox 360 NFL Minnesota Vikings Controller

Customer Ratings:

Gift last Xmas for my grandson I have heard no complaints or comments from him so I guess he love the product. I always shop with Amazon, why because they stand by their products and excellent quality. Thanks

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This i sthe best rpice you will find for a controller for Xbox 360. Everything else I found was at least $25.