James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - Xbox 360 Review

Customer Ratings:

When I heard about this game I wasn't expecting much. All the games after Goldeneye have been decent but overall a disappointment. Well Goldeneye fans rejoice, this is hands down the best Bond game to come out since the N64 classic.

The single player is very cinematic and exciting retaining the old school feel with modern touches. I think new fans and old fans will be very happy.

As for the multiplayer, it is amazing! It isn't redefining the genre by any means but it is just plain fun and highly addictive. The cover system works perfect and I really like the credit system to upgrade your weapons. It uses the same engine as Call Of Duty 4 and since I played the hell out of that jumping into a Team Conflict match in Quantum Of Solace feels very natural.

Even though Gears Of War 2 will be coming out soon and I will be spending most of my time playing that I am still very glad I bought this. Its a refreshing change from the games that try to do too much. Overall, highly recommended.

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This game absolutely nailed the James Bond experience. This is a fun and exciting Bond title that has some truly engaging situations and pretty production values. Certainly worth considering if you are a Bond fan or just want a good shooter.

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My Pre-playing Expectations:

I must say that if Casino Royale hadn't been a phenomenal release, then expectations for this game would not have been as high. My expectations for the game were very high, especially after experiancing thrills from 3rd person shooters like Gears of War and Dead Space as well as 1st person shooters like Call of Duty 4 and Far Cry 2. Not only did I have games to compare this game to, but I had found out that the original makers of the Bond videogames, Electronic Arts, had sold the rights to the franchise to the better known Activision and Treyarch. For those of you that are not familiar with these two companies listed above, they were extremely successful in their latest release, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.

About QoS:

Qos starts off the story right after Bond tracks down Mr. White to his mansion at the end of the Casino Royale movie. I know what your thinking, and yes, the best action scene from the first movie is in the game:(Bond chases down the bomb-maker with scars on his face through a constuction site and eventually to the Mbatu Embassy). The cut-scenes are brilliant and epic which ultimately keeps the plot closely tied with the upcoming QoS movie.

Gameplay:

The most innovative feature in QoS is the ability to transition from the traditional Bond 1st person view to the 3rd person view while wall covering. The wall covering feature takes a bit of time to master because not all objects can be used for cover, unlike Gears of War. Those of you that have watch the movie have noticed that Daniel Craig as Bond is very physical, so Activision and Treyarch did not forget to add stunningly realistic melee combat. Players can now choose to beat levels with stealth or the traditional "I'm James Bond, so I will take out an entire army of heavily trained soldiers and henchmen" style. Brilliant weapons, great variation in difficultly modes, but the game lacks a key concept. Its understandable that James Bond never dies, but seriously, he should not have the ability to automatically regain lost health when in cover like the robotic spartan, master chief, who we have grown so familiar with. I feel that the developers wanted to take everything everyone liked out of halo and gears of war and mutate it into a Bond game rather than create a new and innovative gameplay; apart of the reason why I cut down a star on my rating. Also, unfortunately the traditional offline multiplayer is not an option anymore. But don't fret 007 fanatics, there are tons of reasons why this game will give you the trigger finger and award you a license to kill.

MY RATINGS: Comments:

Gameplay:8/10

Visual:9.9/10 *Absolutely stunning visuals, .1 off because, unrealistically there are explosive gas canisters at a library, which did make me laugh for a while. Daniel Craig looks great, and so do the guns and enviornments. The melee combat will leave you speechless...it looks like the real thing. I just wish the future James Bond games will move up to the 'Mature' rating by adding blood; now in days shooting games without blood is like a flamethower filled with water.

Sound:9.5/10 *Features Daniel Craig's voice, along with Judi Dench as M. I took of .5 because the explosions could have used some tuning.

Storyline:9/10 *Follows the next movie and some extra stuff, great cutscenes, and the unknown story will leave the players with a taste to find out what happens next.

Controls:7.5/10 *The hassel with aiming at the location first then wall covering caused me some deaths at key locations.

Multiplayer:8/10 *Where's the offline?!? Xbox live multiplayer is phenomenal and includes traditional heart stoppers like Golden Gun mode, and License to Kill mode.

Lasting Appeal:7/10 *Sure. Everyone needs to beat it in 00 agent difficulty mode, but there are no Bond moments anymore nor are there any incentives for completing levels and different objectives in different difficulty modes; specifically no awards or unlockables offered besides the rushed and corny upgrades to weapons that can only be used in xbox live.

OVERALL SCORE:8.5/10 *This score of course translates to 9/10 for 007 fanatics, like my self.

CONCLUSION:JAMES BOND FANS, GET YOUR FINGER ON THE MOUSE AND CLICK BUY NOW. To others: If you liked Call of Duty 4, you'll like this, and if your still unsure, I suggest you rent it first. Keep icing that trigger finger my fellow 007 fanatics, and good luck.

END OF REVIEW

Honest reviews on James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - Xbox 360

This is the first 007 game from Activision, who took over the franchise from Electronic Arts. I have no idea why EA would sell those rights, especially when they made some very fine games, the best being Everything or Nothing from 2004. Quantum of Solace is actually an amalgamation of the plots to Casino Royal and QoS, the first 'new' Bond films with Daniel Craig, whose voice and likeness are used here. There isn't much to solve in the missions, you just have to shoot a lot of goons. It's actually far less complicated than the previous Bond game plots, less produced (EoN had a large cast, its own theme song, etc), and more linear.

It's a strange game, though...it's really a step backward from the EA games, though it still retains the general feel of the earlier entries like Agent Under Fire and Nightfire. The innovations that EA brought to Everything or Nothing are completely absent. That game's engine, which had you control a third-person Pierce Brosnan (more reminiscent of the GTA games, and an engine that EA would further develop with the excellent The Godfather), had things like 'Bond Vision', Q-gadgets, and a far, far better hand-to-hand combat element. QoS returns us to the first-person mode, so you just see the gun barrel. Granted, there is a cover mode, which has Daniel Craig suddenly slide behind a wall or a box, but it's hardly anything new (it does work well in firefights, though).

There isn't a gadget in sight, and though the new Bond films are moving toward grittier action and less gimmicky tech-toys, for a video game it'd have been nice to incorporate something whacky like the Q-Laser/Claw/Spider/whatever. Also, the hand-to-hand action on QoS is very strange...there are a few 'boss' moments where you have to fight someone, but the screen tells you the button to press...you just have to time it. Very easy, and not necessary. The guns are pretty good, but no upgrades in 1P mode, and there is less variety--will they ever match the video-controlled rocket launcher from Nightfire? The villain AI is similar to Nightfire...even their speech ("Target acquired!" "I'm moving in!", etc).

Furthermore, QoS has no driving missions at all--how can a Bond game not have his Aston Martin or BMW? There are no 'Bond Moment's...at least none that give you bonuses, a fun part of the EA games, and there are no upgrades like special weapons (more power, a Golden Gun, etc) drastically cutting the replay value on this game (there is a weapons upgrade on the online multiplayer mode). QoS is also a very short game...far too short. You can finish this with no problem on the third difficulty in a few hours. Even the fourth/hardest difficult level is pretty easy...the enemies are quicker and more accurate, but you just replay and replay. The game is very linear with only one way to attack a board, and not enough interaction with the backgrounds.

Despite these drawbacks...I still liked the game, maybe because I've enjoyed all of the previous Bond games on the PS2 and before. There is still some classic Bond-esque action---cartoonish shooting with no blood or gore. Funny enough, this is actually more reminiscent of the 2002 game Nightfire (for the PS2), which also had the third-person mode. But it's definitely a step backwards in terms of features and overall game play. Mystifying as to why EA would surrender this lucrative franchise--and don't believe any hype that it's the best Bond game since Goldeneye (every Bond game has been called the best game since Goldeneye by someone).

Recommended if you can find it at reduced price. This review is biased because I've waited for a new-gen system Bond game, so I'll take what I can get. It's far too short, there is only an online multiplayer mode (once again, the makers cheap out on local multiplayer in order to push the XBox Live business), and it's way too easy. I would still recommend Everything or Nothing as perhaps the best-ever Bond video game, and far more innovative than this effort. Let's hope Activision steps up next time, or perhaps tries something before the next Craig Bond film, ala EA's From Russia With Love retro-effort.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - Xbox 360

It's no secret that most Bond games since GoldenEye 64 have been sub-par, with the exception of Nightfire which I loved.

Then comes Quantum of Solace. I absolutley love this game. I have had it for over two weeks now and there have only been about 2 days that I have not played it.

First off, the campaign mode. A very entertaining and very fun mode to play. The only draw back of it is that it is on the short side. Since it is very fun though, you can play on a lesser difficulty first, then go back and beat it again for the achievements/enjoyment of it. The game is set just after the events of Casino Royale. You first play through a couple levels from Quantum of Solace, and then go back and play through Casino Royale, then go back and finish off QoS. The game keeps you very interested with the fast paced, fun gameplay and the interesting cut scenes.

This game is a first person shooter with hints of a third person shooter. At first this was a negative for me as I am not a huge fan of TPS, but it is done in a fantastic way. There is a cover system that allows you to take cover behind pillers and boxes and walls and whatever else you can hide behind. This allows you to blind fire as well as peek out when the time is right to conserve your health and make perfect shots. This system is also in multiplayer. Also there are fight scenes that you are able to "control". I say that because there will be a whole fight scene, but you will only be allowed to hit about two buttons, the rest is done for you. This is a bit weak, but does not take away from the fun of the game.

The multiplayer is VERY fun and addictive. Treyarch developed this game with Activision, the same team that procduced Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War, so you know the multiplayer is quality. The system is set up just like Call of Duty 4 and World at War, with the different weapon classes that allow you to build your own weapon pack. You can choose which main gun, side arm, grenade, weapon attachments, and perks you want.

There are many different modes in multiplayer. There is Team Conflict which is just teams of 4 or 6 that battle each other, deathmatch style. Golden Gun mode is where one person has a golden gun that shoots explosive bullets and everybody else is trying to kill him and each other to get the golden gun. There is territory control in which two teams battle to take over a certain territory and hold it for an amount of time. Classic mode is just how it sounds, classic. This feels a lot like GoldenEye 64 where you just start with a pistol and you have to find other weapons on the map, everybody for themselves. There are about 4 other modes that are fun as well. Great weapon, great perks, and a very good multiplayer experience.

Overall I would recommend this game to anyone who loves shooting games. The campaign is awesome, and the multiplayer is very addictive and adds much replay value to this game. This is one of my favorite Xbox 360 games!! Go get it now!!

Graphics9/10

Sound9/10

Replay Value10/10

Gameplay9/10

Multiplayer9/10

Fun10/10

Overall9.3/10

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Customer Ratings:

(I have not tried any of the online play, so this review is essentially for the base game with the included patches that are otherwise downloadable.)

I am a HUGE fan of single-player PC action/adventure RPGs, especially the Elder Scrolls and Gothic titles. Although I have yet to dig into Oblivion's Shivering Isles expansion, I have since tried to find a few "bargain bin" games to play in between Lord of the Rings Online sessions. The Witcher was fantastic, Fable too short and too buggy. I stumbled upon Two Worlds by accident, but I'm glad I did. As another game coming out of Europe, it isn't exactly a household name, and it's certainly not the most original game you'll ever play, but it is quite entertaining . . . if you can tolerate some of its shortcomings.

For starters, Two Worlds might not be quite what you'd expect from the box description or installation process, which is sometimes funny and sometimes frustrating. During the installation, there is a splash screen with a busty young woman. If you've played The Witcher or Fable, you might think that to be a hint of in-game "conquests" to look forward to, but it's your SISTER. It's also (after 50 hours of gameplay, anyway) the most revealing display you'll ever see. More on that later. There is a reference to four character classes, but unlike traditional RPGs where you pick a class and stick with it, Two Worlds doesn't adhere to strict character design limitations. For that matter, don't expect much guidance as to what path you take; after a lot of time spent playing, I have yet to find any advantage to straying far from the hack-and-slash route. Magic certainly has its place, and you can of course follow a more archery-heavy ranger approach, but sooner or later you're going to find yourself in the thick of a dungeon brawl where a sword and heavy armor are your best resources. Fans of a rogue/thief/assassin approach will probably be disappointed, as stealth and backstabbing are not viable for getting through most encounters.

Much has been said about the use of horses for travel and combat in Two Worlds, mostly negative. While a horse understandably can't scale a sheer cliff or jump over a castle wall, there are situations where your horse will abruptly stop in its tracks or change direction rather than continue where the path slopes a bit or a small obstacle blocks it. This is also true in combat, as your steed will charge headlong through a squad of orcs without hesitation, and then slam on the breaks as you ride past a single opponent. You might have the best armor in the game, but a couple of orc arrows or swipes from a dragon will kill your horse quickly. I also found myself being pursued by guards after my horse apparently trampled innocent bystanders. This wouldn't be so frustrating if the horse wasn't so bloody useful. Pathing issues aside, a horse will greatly reduce travel time, and the damage bonus available when fighting from the saddle can be quite significant. Carving your way through a pack of wolves or slaughtering a band of outlaws is very satisfying if you don't get hung up halfway through. Different types of horses (including orc lizard-mounts and armored skeletal horses) have varying cargo capacity, and are pretty much a must-have for any dungeon adventurer.

Other interesting features are alchemy and equipment enhancement. Alchemical ingredients can be found all through the land, generally fare less scarce than in Gothic. Gems can be found to upgrade weapon damage, and armor and weapons of the same type can (usually) be "stacked" numerous times to increase stats. Unfortunately, some of the gems used in alchemy have misleading stats, because they don't mix to create potions or enhancements, but rather traps and bombs that may not be of particular use to you. Even with your strength boosted by potions and level-ups, carrying capacity is limited, so it's often best to find a safe storage place (abandoned buildings are great for this) and place a portable teleport stone there for easy access. It won't take long for you to accumulate some serious wealth, but some items are best held onto for future upgrades.

In terms of story, look and feel, Two Worlds could just as well have the Gothic logo on the front. Seriously, someone unfamiliar with either game could read the plot synopsis from the first Gothic game and play Two Worlds all the way through without realizing they are different games. Orcs are poised to invade human lands, while rival human factions do battle in forests, mountains and villages. The orcs' god is imprisoned, necromancers are up to their usual business, and now an anonymous newcomer has arrived on the scene to do everyone else's dirty work while pursuing some noble plot. There are wolves, lizards, dragons and various other critters cluttering up the Euro-styled landscape, which is liberally stocked with healing shrines, magical monuments and teleport rings. All the standards are here.

Unoriginality aside, Two Worlds is fun. There are many, many quests in the villages and cities, and even in the wilderness, all in addition to the main storyline. I found myself engaging mostly in side quests, coming back to the main plot when it looked as though a particular mission might drastically affect faction standing or travel options. Although far more of the game world is dedicated to wilderness and wildlife than to villages, cities and dungeons, there are roads and trails crossing the landscape, with ruins, bandit camps and houses here and there. Even with a very modest hardware configuration and scaled-back visual settings, you can see for incredible distances, often being able to see a route from your current location to a fortress or city that appears to be miles away on the map. Caves, tombs and graveyards are often tucked away off the beaten path, so exploration is key if you want to see your stats and equipment improve without spending your hard-earned coin at the town vendors. The various dungeons are loaded with monsters who carry all sorts of loot, and treasure chests often contain some of the best spoils. This does require some skill with the lockpicks, which can be hard to come by early on.

There are few blatant bugs, although nothing as severe as was found in Gothic 3. Stability has been quite good I've only had one crash in over 50 hours of play. The main problem is that corners were cut here and there. The dialog is atrocious, and the characters' mouths don't even move in a lot of the cut scenes. The character models look quite good in third-person mode, but not so good close-up during the cut scenes. Remember when I mentioned the woman during the initial installation? This far into the game, she's the only female who isn't wrapped up head-to-toe in some overzealous attempt at modesty. This isn't a game that needs to rely on T&A to make it interesting, but in a world where male characters are encased in staggering suits of armor, the females are extremely uninspired. What's worse is that almost none of the female denizens will talk to you, which is something right out of the original Gothic. Your sister? She communicates you mostly as a ghostly greyish apparition via cut scenes. I wasn't expecting The Witcher's level of interaction, but every woman in every town need not threaten to call the guards when I approach. Because of the way the inventory screen is arranged poorly, as is typical of the genre dealing with vendors can be a huge hassle. The save-game menu isn't very intuitive either, when it comes to overwriting or deleting old saves. Definitely don't skimp on the saves, as the autosave function works on a timer rather than when you enter new areas.

If you're still reading this, you are probably very patient, which is a good thing if you're going to get the most out of Two Worlds. It really is a good game if you don't mind the generic world and plot, but it takes some time to get used to the quirks and move past them to the good stuff. I like games where I can wander freely, and still get many hours out of the quests. This is definitely more open-ended than The Witcher or Fable, more on the scale of Gothic or Elder Scrolls, and there is more room for replaying due to the reputation system and its bearing on faction and quests. Basically, buy this if you have the time to dedicate to a huge game and are willing to work around the problems.

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I'm a gamer. This is a well made game. It's a bit linear as you have to do certain story parts to open up new areas. It does have replayability however, as you will pick one path and then try another path the second, third time. It's great to be a caster and attack a horde of orcs or a dragon with 8 conjured minions. I have primarily played a mage in this game up to a pretty high level. I did fighter for quite some time as well, but it gets repetitive and is actually tougher than the mage. Thief is useless. The game doesn't force you into one of these archetypes, you are free to mix / match skills, but a hybrid in this game is weaker than a pure character. The game is good enough that I bother to write a review so that others will try this game. At $5 it's a steal. Skip the $5 cappuccino and buy this game instead.

Flaws: I ding this 1/2 star start for the magic card system, and 1/2 star for the flawed sneaking/thief system.

1) Magic card system is weak. During combat, a caster is opening the magic window every few seconds to swap spell cards or enhancement cards. That said, the magic in this game is well thought out and looks great. I love firewalls!

2) Item collection becomes tedious and at higher levels you just give up on it. Early in the game you almost obsess over it. Later, you ignore all but the most intriguing items.

3) AI is weak. Mostly get bushwacked and charged. But, combat is interesting and looks great.

4) Sneaking is useless. Take it from someone who primarily plays thief/rogues in games like PnP D&D, D&D Online, Everquest, Neverwinter Nights, Oblivion, Morrowind, Daggerfall, you name it. I gave up on thief here after 1 hour.

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Let me clear the air right off. I do not own this edition of the game. I own the first PC edition. The only difference between the two is the addition of a few more multiplayer maps and options and the improvements in the 1.7 patch which can be downloaded for free if you own the previous version. For that reason, I will not be discussing the mutiplayer beyond what I have experienced in the original.

This game got a pretty bad rap when it first came out for PC and 360 in August of '07. It was buggy, rough, and very prone to crashing. The multiplayer was an empty wasteland due to the poor connection issues and aimless gameplay.

Fast forward to a year later. Is Two Worlds any good? Well, it's not a bad game. It's a surprisingly fun (but mindless) romp through thick euro-fantasy tropes and hack & slash gameplay.

Your character wakes up after being attacked and having his sister kidnapped by ne'er-do-wells. You gird yourself in a gravelly voice and oversized armor and head out to chop your way through the countryside. That's about it for the story. It suffers from the normal complaints in the European low fantasy genre, namely that the VO work is stilted and hammy and the plotline makes little sense. But you didn't really pick this game up for the stirring script did you?

The game shines in the implementation of a completely open world similar to Oblivion with simplistic action RPG combat. As you level up in your quest to rescue your sister and defeat the overdramatic Evil Force, you'll ramble over the landscape and trounce enemies using either magic or weaponry and your upgradeable skills.

The skill system isn't quite as advanced as the one in Oblivion, but it's deeper than many other action RPGs. You'll definitely not be able to max out all the skills in a playthrough, so you'll have to allocate points wisely with each level.

The loot is widely varied and very cool. You can upgrade your weapons and armor by imbuing them with gems that add various effects. In a very innovative move, you may keep adding the same type of gem to a previously upgraded item, so you can keep improving the stats on a low level piece of kit beyond the point at which you normally would trash it. You can also "meld" the same type of item to improve the base stats if you pick up a repeat of something you already have. This is something I wish more loot heavy games would do.

It appears SouthPeak wisely took the picture of the protaganist astride the warhorse off the front of the game. Mounted travel and combat was a feature marketed in the prerelease of the game, which turned out to have all the attraction and practicality of building your own Model T Ford. Stay away from the horseback riding. You'll save yourself a lot of stress.

The bugs have been ironed out for the most part. there are still a few quest glitches and random graphical bugs, but there's nothing too upsetting at this point. I haven't crashed yet since upgrading to the latest patch.

If you play this game as a simple action RPG rather than some kind of epic roleplaying story, you'll have a blast.

Honest reviews on Two Worlds Epic Edition

Let me start by saying that I am an RPG fanatic, having fallen in love with such titles as "Gothic" (all 3 titles), "The Witcher," "Baldur's Gate I & II," "Morrowind," "Drakensang," "Soulbringer," "Planescape: Torment," etc. I also am in love with mods, and love to mod the heck out whatever game I can.

That being said, I like Two Worlds. It is a fun romp through a cliched world, and the plot threads are enough for anyone to get tangled up in.

GRAPHICS

The graphics match anything "Oblivion" can throw at you, and not only that, but the stone structures in this game actually outdo "Oblivion's" buildings. And the graphics equal or outstrip "Oblivion" without the ridiculous minimum system requirements. Reflective water was a bitch to get working in "Oblivion," with several mods being downloaded to try and remedy what was default in "Morrowind." Two Worlds pulls it off without a hitch. Not only that, standing on the shores of the oceans, you can see the tides come rolling in. Everyone looks fuggly, but that's okay. Your character (for some reason) reminds me of Arnold Schwartzeneggar, facially.

SOUND

Well, the sound is pretty standard. Swoosh! Splat! etc. The voice acting ranges from okay to bad, but at least it doesn't sound as hideous as some others ("Crusaders of Might & Magic" comes to mind). I don't expect Oscar work from a video game, so I guess I'm more forgiving there. Your character's voice isn't too bad -there are a few lines that didn't stack up but that was due to poor direction and lack of experience more than anything else.

The musical choices were interesting, at the very least. There's folk-rock vocal work in the soundtrack as well, which is a change from the usual strict symphonic scores that have been the standard since "Baldur's Gate." At least it kept things slightly interesting. The ambient music was better than some ("Drakensang," "Hard to be a God").

GAMEPLAY

Once I customized the controls to the configuration I always use I was really never lost. It plays a lot like "Morrowind," "Gothic II," or any other game of its ilk. It does suffer the RPG curse when it comes to horses. "Oblivion" and "Hard to be a God" have similar issues when it comes to controlling your horse. I have some tips: Try and move your mouse to face the direction your horse is facing. I've used a horse quite a bit in Two Worlds to great effect.

Hitting someone is just a matter of hitting the left mouse button. The RMB is left for the selected hotbar item (usually a spell of some kind). Movement uses the mouse for facing and the keyboard for actually moving. You can attack anyone in this game -just don't expect to be able to beat many of them.

Getting bad @$$ is a combination of finding loot and improving your abilities. You constantly get experience as you whack bad guys and complete quests. When you gain a level, you gain stat points (to pour into Strength and such) and skill points (to place in Pick Locks, or Alchemy, etc). Every skill has a place, and a use. Some skills (like Alchemy, Necromancy, and Stoneskin) need to be "unlocked," by talking to the right person and doing what they want you to. The skill points can be placed wherever you like. You could be an archer, an alchemist, a warrior, a mage, a thief, or some hybrid. The only restriction is that the skills can only go so high each level.

The bad guys don't scale to your level. Even on Easy, expect everything to get medieval on your buttocks. The nice thing is, you can't die. You auto-respawn at the nearest "shrine." Shrines also regenerate your hit points, making a battle somewhat one-sided if you can lure an enemy near one and constantly regenerate while smacking your foe silly.

I haven't seen any show-stopping bugs in this yet, and I'm running this on a Vista rig.

Why does this get bad reviews? I've read what others have written, and I don't really have the problems everyone else does. It's a solid, well-conceived game. The side quests are usually more novel than "find the foozle." The world is HUGE -and you can run all over the place. There are teleporters, for those who don't want to walk everywhere. I could use more variety for the monsters, but I suppose that's okay.

Haven't tried multiplayer, and I don't intend to. Haven't found anything to compare to LAN gaming in "Neverwinter Nights," "Dungeon Siege," or "Dungeon Lords" yet. Probably won't for a long time, either.

As for activation, yes -it's a headache. But you can activate by phone, or email support (by now, someone, somewhere has an internet connection, go the library or a university computer lab, for heaven's sake. E-mail response was very prompt).

It's not perfect, but nothing is. It's still the same kind of fun I had running around in "Baldur's Gate" with 2-D sprites. Only now it's 3-D, and the role-playing system is a heckuva lot better than Dungeons & Dragons in any incarnation. I'm definitely looking forward to Two Worlds II: The Temptation.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Two Worlds Epic Edition

Thanks to something like 30 updates. Two Worlds is now a perfectly playable game for the PC. Epic Edition takes care of most of these updates. When it was first released on the PC and 360 world. Two Worlds was a barely playable stuttering flaw riddled mess. It got hammered pretty bad by reviewers and rightfully so. The 360 version is still quite flawed, even with all its updates. Essentially this was made for the PC and ported to the 360. It was rushed and done poorly. But since it was made for the PC, the developers were virtually able to eliminate the most offensive problems with the PC game and turn this game into what it should have been on day one. The 360 to this day still fares worse because it was a problem riddled game, ported onto a system that gave it even more problems. So the best they could do with the 360 version was make it run a little smoother, try to prevent crashes from occuring as often as they did. Not to mention, control wise, this game is just meant for a keyboard and mouse.

So what is this game here, Two Worlds. Its Oblivion but with lesser graphics and gameplay. Thats still pretty good though. You get a huge open world environment. Side quests, main quests. You can teleport. Fight all sorts of beasts, thieves, warriors, golems, dragons. Action/RPG, you know the drill. The game only really supports third person, the first person gameplay doesn't allow for fighting, not much use in it really. They don't try and reinvent anything, they just try and throw as much "RPG" as they possibly can into this game. I tell ya, I love that Necromancy. Nothing like conjuring up the dead to help you. Thats my favorite part of the game, the spell casting is really fun. Unlike most RPG's, casting spells doesn't really require much learning or skill. You can still be a "Warrior" and do a wicked spell. You also get two added multiplayer dlc in the Epic Edition. Don't expect to find many people playing these though.

It's sad really, a $5 game thats basically got all the stuff you'd see in a Grand Theft Auto IV, Oblivion or Fallout 3. All the nearly limitless possibilities like those games have. Had it not been for the terrible initial release of this game, maybe it would still be a well liked game. Instead its a bad joke amongst many video game fans. Sure its great now, some 30 updates later, but the damage is done. To many people remember this as that unplayable mess.

But if your willing to look past all those horrible reviews, get a fully updated version such as the "Epic Edition" and accept the fact that this is an Oblivion clone...You may really enjoy this game and for just $5.

Reviews of XBOX Curve Tower Game Station

Customer Ratings:

I have this unit and I like it. It holds my guitar, 3 controllers, my chat pad, all my games and my console. I have my wireless headset on the very top shelf so everything is in the same spot. It sits out next to the big screen in my living room so it looks neat and tidy when we have visitors. Yes, it is enclosed on the 2 sides, top and bottom but the back is out and thats where the fans are that bring air in to cool it. I have also purchased an intercooler for mine. Their are other reasons for the red rings as well not just over heating. Mine got the red rings with E74 error which is major hardware failure that Microsoft is aware of and repaired for no charge although my warranty had expired. My sons got the red rings and his console was sitting out and not enclosed in anything. I like this product. Well constructed, quality material. It's not shakey or top heavy. I recommend!

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This shelf looks very nice, and can help organize your games and accessories, but placing your 360 console in this shelf is a VERY bad idea. The Xbox 360 has a tendency to over-heat, causing the infamous "red-ring of death" effectively destroying the console. It is advised that you always keep your 360 well ventilated in an open area to decrease the risk of overheating. In this shelf, the 360 is blocked on almost all sides greatly increasing the risk of overheat. I can't recommend this.

Best The Walking Dead Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $6.25
Today's Bonus: 75% Off

Disclosure: Game only review played on a PS3

If you're thinking about getting this game, you're probably thinking some things like: Uh oh...a game based on a book/TV show?....That usually doesn't work. Or maybe you're thinking: Point and click?...Check please! Or maybe you're not too excited about the month to month episode thing? Or maybe you didn't like some of Telltale's past titles?

And you know what, some of your concerns may even be valid; it really depends on your expectations for this awesome release, so let me try to set some of those expectations. First of all, The Walking Dead game is for and will be loved by--and loved by is a guarantee, graphic novel readers--any true fan of Robert Kirkman's source material. Anyone looking to run and gun down zombies will not get that out of this game. You certainly don't have to have read the book or seen the show to enjoy this game; just be sure that you are planning to get into and be part of a story-rich experience.

The Walking Dead game is no Burn Zombie Burn or some other bash as many zombies' brains in as possible game. This game is a lot more of an RPG than a shooter.

You start the game the day the zombie apocalypse begins concurrently from the start of the comic book series. You play as Lee, and just as in the book (and in the TV show) where the main character Rick was initially thrown into a chaotic journey by himself to find other survivors...that's you as Lee in The Walking Dead game.

There are plenty of action sequences, but your time in this game is mostly spent literally being a part of the story making some tough (and some not so tough) decisions. It's the tough decisions that will affect how the rest of the game unfolds for you, and you'll have to live with the consequences of every option you choose.

The game does give you the option of "rewinding" back to a specific checkpoint, and you can go forward from there and choose a different option that overwrites your original decision if that's your style. But I won't do that until I complete the entire series. I tried to make the main character call "the right move" when presented with choice; but there is a time limit when decision time comes, and sometimes you may regret a hasty decision. For example, you'll have to choose one life over another twice during just the first episode, and I'm not sure that I made the "right" choice in one of those moments. But I will live with my decision until after playing through the entire series just to "keep it real." The game sure does get an A for replay value.

Just as in the graphic novel (and the TV show), the story is much less about zombies and more about what happens to society, its morals, laws and standards when government is lost and the planet becomes mostly uninhabitable. But this time you don't just watch it unfold on paper or on your TV screen; in this game you're part of the story...you control your integrity, your morality and ultimately your destiny. And there's real, heartfelt emotion in The Walking Dead game combined with very believable scenarios. Color me a sissy, but I actually got a little misty over one of the decisions that "I had to" make.

The Walking Dead game is excellent...especially for just a point and click. It's as gritty and graphic as the comic book, and it's very story-rich. If you read the comic as I do...you'll love it. The graphics are appropriately very comic-bookesque. I really do feel like I'm part of a different story arc in the freakin' book! Best 20 bucks I've spent all year...so far. Plus anyone clamoring for a Platinum Trophy (or whatever the top achievement for getting all in-game achievements is on your platform) could get an easy one here; all the trophies are unmissable simply by finishing all the chapters in every episode.

The Walking Dead game is a deep, personal and emotional adventure.

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The Walking Dead Episode 1: A New Day

I picked up The Walking Dead a few days ago on the PC through Steam and just finished Episode 1: A New Day today. A New Day is the only episode out right now with four others coming out one at a time later on in the year. Telltale Games is well known for their adventure games and that's exactly what The Walking Dead is... and an amazing one at that.

During the course of the first episode you are given several different choices, most of which determine whether who lives and who dies. The game promises to roll these choices over in the next episodes, giving your play through a chance to differ than others playing it. Upon completion of the episode stats are shown at the end as far as where you stand with others who have played through it and the choices you made.

Graphically the game has a sort of cell shaded feel to it. Some of the textures are kind of muddy, but the overall feel of the game really goes well with the atmosphere. I've never read the comics of the same name before, but it definitely gives off a comic book feel. The Walking Dead is pretty brutal and bloody, but because of how the graphics is it really doesn't seem as bad as it probably should. Nonetheless, you still get the horror zombie feel that you know and love.

Controls are simple, mostly consisting of you either controlling the main character Lee or by controlling an on-screen cursor in order to find things in the environment to interact with... like smashing a zombie's head in or handing a little girl an energy bar because she's hungry.

The grunts and moans of the zombies sound great and the soundtrack really adds a spooky ambiance to each situation that arises whether it be an intense fight with a walker or a moody conversation about someone that has just been killed.

The first episode of The Walking Dead is a homerun in my opinion. If you love zombies and adventure games you really should pick this up. I just hope the great story telling and all the choices made in the first episode really transition well throughout the rest of the episodes.

9.0 out of 10

Transcendental Formulations

Best Deals for The Walking Dead

Do you like bleak and terrible scenarios where s*** gets real on a regular basis? Do you enjoy moral quandaries where a common theme leads to inevitable mistakes that, while making you sympathetic to the characters, still piss you off when everything goes to hell? The Walking Dead is like Grey's Anatomy for boys: sans romance, add zombies, but still frustrating, depressing, random, gory, exciting, and with well written characters (for the most part.)

If you're expecting a shoot-em-up style game then this isn't for you. It's basically an animated Choose Your Own Adventure, and yes, just like a CYOA, you get railroaded into certain outcomes (which really sucks.) But more about that later.

First, the pros.

The writing is not bad, but it is very bleak. Don't get attached to the people you meet, they're most likely not going to make it--this is the zombie apocalypse, after all. I appreciated that characters are not simply written as good or bad people. Quite often, people you hate will redeem themselves and I was almost always sympathetic to their objectionable actions (didn't stop me from killing them, though.) There are plenty of moral quandaries and I advise you to reflect on them whenever you have a break between calamities because, in the heat of the moment, you will likely be forced to make life or death decisions based on their actions.

You can influence what people choose to an extent, but their choices are largely driven by their personalities. It is very important that you remember their individual quirks because they will come back to haunt you again and again. With some I found it irritating, because you feel like just when you've settled a matter it comes back up like last night's taco dinner, but you have to remember their priorities are not your own, except in a very general sense (survival.) In this way, people who are alone are the most agreeable. I think this is very realistic.

That doesn't mean people can't waver or won't overcome their (sometimes significant) personality flaws. Like I said, almost all choices by the characters are sympathetic, including your own, which makes it interesting.

Now the cons.

Despite having such a complex and intriguing cast and dialog options, some outcomes are set in stone. This completely blows! When you agonize over all your choices and the consequences are so dire, you really don't want to find out after the fact that it doesn't really matter. I restarted some chapters 3 or 4 times to try to save certain people or build different relationships only to change nothing. There is no re-playability in this game.

There are also some internal rules to this universe that never seem to change. I can't really explain without spoilers, but the game will urge you into certain actions as if they're universally acceptable to all people in all situations. This is stupid. Sometimes, the wrong thing is the right thing, depending on when or the people involved. The other characters seem blind to this fact and act like you've p*ssed in their cereal whenever you violate this absolute. They can be very childlike and irritating in this way. And some characters have some kind of omniscient hindsight into whenever you're lying, even when you're just being ambiguous. Seeing as you start out as a player with a criminal past, I'm not sure what they expect. Should I show off my prison tats before or after we shake and promise not to shoot one another outright?

Some minor issues are the bugs. I saw one of the characters turn invisible for an entire cutscene. Other than that, the gameplay is atrocious, but I think it's intentional. The mouse acceleration is completely bizarre and when you're not fumbling around trying to click on something, you're frantically mashing the Q button. I think this is supposed to engender a feeling of panic within the player, it's clumsy on purpose because you're not a superhero, you're just some dude. Sometimes the camera angles are idiotic as well.

Finally, the combat doesn't always make sense. Sometimes you'll get an aiming receptacle, other times not (also on purpose, but stupidly introduced, I think.) You'll also be goaded into performing useless actions when the game decides to trick you. You'll mash Q only to realize that you can never mash Q enough and so you've got to just let go. Or you'll be lured into punching a zombie when the only way to escape is to NOT punch the zombie. I did not find this aspect fun, but thankfully they don't pull this you often.

Overall, I'd recommend it, on sale, for those who like a story as long as they know that there's only one story to be told here.

Honest reviews on The Walking Dead

WARNING: IF YOU WANT TO RIDE AROUND ON A MOTORCYCLE WITH CHAINSAWS ATTACHED KILLING ZOMBIES, THIS ISN'T THE GAME FOR YOU.

This game has definitely given me one of the most interactive, realistic experiences I could ever ask for in a simulated zombie apocalypse.

The game is so much better by the fact that every little thing you do, say, and learn will effect the outcome of the game. This game isn't about killing zombies, it's about surviving. That's what we'd be trying to do for real if every boy's secret wish(zombie apocalypse) came true right?

This game is definitely a lot more humbling than L4D or the other popular zombie games.

I recommend this to anyone willing to try a realistic, that really puts you "in the character's shoes".

Not to mention that the graphics are really like out of the comics.

I'm just sad that I have to wait a little while for episode 2 to come out.

Note: I have nothing against other zombie apocalypse games out there.

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First off, I'd like to address some of the comments left by other users.

-The graphics are NOT supposed to look realistic. This is because the game is based off of the comics, not the show. In fact, the writer/artist for the comics actually worked with the developers to give the game a very similar look and feel to the style used in the comics. Imagine this game as a mix of zombies and borderlands. Yes, it s 2012, but again, the game is meant to have a comic-look like Borderlands and a few of the various super hero MMO's. While the graphics aren't as "stunning" or "breathtaking" as the first Crysis game, or Skyrim, or Kingdoms of Amalur, they are fantastic by comic standards. Don't think of this game as a real world game, but rather an interactive comic book.

-Just like the graphics, the story is NOT related at all to the show. The game is meant to tell a separate story from that of the show and comics. Why? If it followed the show it would have had to been from the first two seasons, otherwise season 3 (or later) would have been spoiled. The same works for basing it off the comic.

-I played this on a high end gaming computer, not a system, so I can't attest to the camera angles or "shoddy" controls. However, I did use an xBox 360 controller, and it played pretty fantastically.

This game is pretty fantastic. Although, I did kind of dislike the short time for responses when talking to other characters. But, I'm able to over look that one issue, because it adds a bit of a real world feel to it.

I definitely recommend at least finding the first chapter online and giving it a try. If you like it, than buy it. If you don't like it, than don't buy it, and post your own feedback to better help others decide whether or not to buy it.

Keep in mind, the game is separated into 5 chapters, that are released in 1 month intervals. While individually the chapters are fairly short, they will build into a fairly long game, with the added feature of being able to replay and make little decisions that can completely change the end of each chapter as well as how the preceding chapter(s) will play out.

Buy Ninja Gaiden 3 - Xbox 360

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List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $14.75
Today's Bonus: 63% Off

I am a long time fan of this series. I got Ninja Gaiden back in 2004, then when the Hurricane Pack add-ons came out I participated in the Worldwide tournment and placed in the Top 40 and won a very rare Ninja Gaiden T-shirt (that I wear rarely but proudly to this day). I purchased Ninja Gaiden: Black in the waning days of the xbox. I got Ninja Gaiden:Sigma when it came out for PS3 (no controller rumble still bothers me to this very day). I purchased Ninja Gaiden 2 and the resulting Sigma 2. With all those games there was a constant....it was a foundation built by T. Itagaki and his veteran team at Team Ninja. Problem is that he left Tecmo after the completion of NG 2 and successfully sued the Tecmo president at the time. He later formed Vahalla Studios and recruited many of the best to leave Team Ninja to work on Devil's Third. The result of all this shows in this latest Ninja Gaiden game.

Ninja Gaiden 3 has a new lead director in Hayashi and let me just say that in his attempt to more casualize this series, he has stripped everything that made Ninja Gaiden great. All the RPG elements are gone like multiple weapon types with available upgrades. All the different ninpo attacks, which were upgradeable as well. The orb currency system that allowed for weapon upgrades is gone and so is the strategic gameplay that combined the switching between the different weapons and the collection of rare red orbs that refilled your ninpo attacks is missing. Also health orb collection has been switched to an auto health regen system. The move set is substantially small because of the lack of weapons like the Lunar staff, Wooden sword, Vigorian Flairs, Nunchukas, Scythe, Claws, etc, etc. The minimal exploration of chests in previous games is also absent.

I don't understand Hayashi's thinking in so simplfying Ninja Gaiden as they couldn't possibly be so out of touch to not know this would alienate their fanbase. The very fanbase that supported this series in the past and creating the game to more appeal to casual players is questionible because I don't think they cared about this series in the first place.

In summary Hayashi has gutted the Ninja Gaiden experience down to a simplistic repetitive experieince which will be annoying and unsatisfying for fans of the series and will prove boring to casual gamers within a couple hours. I will say that the Steel on Bone quick camera pan in's are fun at first but after a couple dozen of those in the first 30 mins it will become dizzying to watch because it happens so so fast and repeatedly that a new seizure warning along with a No Skills Required label should be placed on the back of the box. The story and combat is shallow and unrewarding. The mulitplayer is a couple hour throw away experience at best and there is no incentive to return to this title.

There is no sense of mastering your techiniques and combos because the game does not promote creativity within the move sets for different gamers to apply different techinques to come up with varying playing styles....this game reduces combat to hammering the X button for the win.

I am extremely disappointed with Hayashi and his vision. I am also offended as a fan of this series, that NG3 has been gutted from previous games in the series to a point that it is a mindless unrewarding hack n slash that becomes boring and unsatisfying within a couple hours. It is not recommended as a buy for fans of the series or casual players. It is not recommended as a rental for fans unless you want disappointment. I will recommend a rental to casual players if you like mindless hack n slash games requiring no skills or thought in what your doing. This series used to be challenging and rewarding, but this title has none of that.

I have much history and love for this series, but I have to say that I am no longer interested in this franchise with Hayashi at the helm unless some major changes are made in the next game. There is a huge weight on Tecmo and Team Ninja's shoulders if that want my hard earned dollars from future titles.

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First off, I'm a huge Ninja Gaiden fan since Itagaki and Team Ninja resurrected the series for modern gaming. I have not only Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2 but Ninja Gaiden Black along with Sigma 1 and Sigma 2. I'm also someone who is a huge enthusiast for this gaming subgenrea. I have Devil May Cry 1-4, Bayonetta, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, God of War 1-3, Ninja Blade, Dante's Inferno and a host of others. I've experience some of the best all the way to the mediocre. I'm not a guru by any means but still an enthusiast. The thing is Itagaki and the REAL Team Ninja aren't there anymore. He and all the leads left because of that fiasco at Tecmo. Love Itagaki or hate him, he really knows how to make these games awesome. But I'm not here to discuss my opinion on difference on the development teams.

I must say that I'm very disappointed with this entry in the series. I've always regarded the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2 as the gold standard for this type of game. I'm just quickly getting out the minor details out of the way. While technically, I'm not super impressed, it's not the reason why I'm really disgusted with this entry. The graphics and sounds are fine. Not amazing, but not really too bad to the point that it's hard to look at. Another part of the presentation is the story which doesn't really impress me either, but old or new Team Ninja, story was never their strong point. It was there to give the game structure but not be a majory selling point.

My primary gripe honestly resolved around the changes in the gameplay, which is what made the first 2 entries in the series great. People always complained about the camera, but it was a minor problem at the most. What gets me though is the horrible level design. The previous games have large areas where there are some things to wall run along and do other stunts while also having plenty of room to deal out death. This new game it seems to like to put the player in a small to medium sized pen where guys come from behind obstacles like crashed cars until it feels you're ready to move on. There's no flow of combat with the area. No long hallways or large ballrooms or temple courtyards to flip or wall-run through. It's just a one level small pen. Which not much room to maneuver to be able to do your moves.

The gameplay also feel sluggish and unresponsive. I found too many times that I was trying to turn Ryu or get him to flip out of a group of enemies or use specific combinations but it seems to not respond properly. There were times that I wanted him to fight a specific target and he wanted to look at someone else which would lead me to actually get hit. Even when I could gaet him to do what I want, it was slow and just didn't seem responsive. But that doeasn't matter because honestly this game is super easy even when it's not the "hero" mode the new developers talked about so much. In the previous games, if you button mashed, you learned that hardway and died. This game, you just get a gentle smack. There's no reward or satisfaction to doing something difficult because it's handed to you. The flow of combat seems off too. In the 1st Ninja Gaiden. It was focused on a target with a small of other other guys to go after. You almost had this nice way of focusing on a target yet can untangle then group or go after his friend. Ninja Gaiden 2 really improved it too where there was a fluid motion of engaging an enemy and finishing him then moving onto the next enemy withing a large group of enemies. It felt almost as though you could chain the fight into one large string of combos if you timed it well enough. Here it seems messy. Fights are somewhat chaotic but not in a good way. It was as though the 3rd game took both battle elements of the previous two games but made a mess of it. Nothing seemed to work right. Along with the sluggish controls, engagements just don't seem to have good pacing to do combos or to switch targets. The handling and gameplay elements just seem off to me. compared to other games in thie genre and even in this series.

Now, Quick Time Events or QTE. I always hated these in God of War. I feel that they are a lazy way for developers to do over the top sequences without really making it part of the gameplay. I do find them done some ways where it's tasteful but for action games, I feel they are more detracting that fun. Games like Bayonetta and the new Castlevania overall kept these to a minimum which is what I like. I just don't find it fun doing a DDR rhythm game when I should be setting up combos to own a group of enemies. They're more there to distract the casual ADD gamer more than anything I think.

A couple of other things I want to go through would be the lame gameplay gimmicks like the kunai climbing which is not only boring but doesn't seem to really have been done well at all. But maybe they wanted to distract us from the monotony. Another is the lack of decapitations. Personally, it's not just gore for gore's sake but more along the lines of gore that looks awesome because of the very nature of what ninja combat is. It's an great viseral aestetic of the nature of the game.

I could go on about other things but I think the bulk of what a long-time, hardcore Ninja Gaiden fan like myself needed to say was said and frankly I don't want to write a whole essay on this. There are others who elaborate about why we feel this game was a bit insulting to the fans of the series. We laments the disappointment that this latest entry is and in some ways I want to dream that Itagaki and the real Team Ninja would come back to save this beloved franchise one day.

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So a brief history. Years ago I bought the first NG for xBox, played it a couple of times, and put it away because I couldn't get past the first level, it was so challenging. Then about a year later I went back and tried it..and beat it, and was hooked ever since. NG2, and the Sigma PS3 games...I completed them all. So when NG3 was announced, I looked forward to it with as much anticipation as Mass Effect 3 (which is a story for another day!).

CUT SCENES/MOVIES

Now I realize what the new development team was trying to do, they wanted to make Ryu a little more human, accessible...but in doing so they completely destroyed his mystique. The endless banter from the NPOs got annoying as well. It's almost like they were trying to make a Devil May Cry game, not a NG game. If they had made Ryu spout wise-cracks like Dante, I really would have been upset!! Not to mention some of the most ridiculous one-liners I can think of: "Oh yeah, I forgot you're a Ninja..."

GAMEPLAY:

Here is the secret to this game: Hold the Lfft trigger, and mash the Attack button..end of story. The beatuy of the counter attack, FLying sparrow, Inuza drop (sp) and other combos are essentially rendered useless as you DON'T EVER NEED THEM.

The great thing about 1 and 2 was that you never knew what was around the corner..was it a boss? mini-boss? a horde of demons? A battalion of RPG soldiers? As such you had to be on your guard. In NG3, the game simply funnels enemies to you..slash them...oh here are some more of the same..slash them..and more...and having to deal with their ridiculous vocalizations.....and why were the developers so obsessed with helicopters in this game??

NO decapitation or dismemberment...one of the coolest things was seeing a guy with no arm still come after you with almost the same aggression, allowing Ryu to finish him mercifully (or mercilessly).

WEAPONS/NINPO:

in NG1 and NG2, ninpo was almost a character in itself. It was invaluable, and many times could save your life, or at least allow RYU to control the combat, it allowed a reprieve so that Ryu could change tactics...in NG3 it has been reduced to gratuitous eye candy and a cheap way to clear the screen, plus it became a one shot deal, very disappointing!

All the extra weapons are gone (and each weapons' ultra cool finishing move)...WHY???

SUMMARY:

The new team has destroyed a once proud franchise and turned it into a very generic experience, that is minimally enjoyable experience..and downright boring and repetitive. I actually caught myself yawning once or twice during gameplay!

if there is a NG4, I hope they realize what made this series great: lighting quick controls and gameplay requiring thought and strategy, varied enemies which have to be approached differently and with different tactics, the mystique of Ryu..and variety

with NG3 we get none of these.

Honest reviews on Ninja Gaiden 3 - Xbox 360

This game is garbage at best. No wonder it got reviews such as 3/10 in IGN.

1. The game combat is extremely unfair. You have to fight dozens and dozens of enemies at once without regaining any health in the process, so if you get killed, you're screwed. You will only get health once you finish the fight.

2. Not very tactical. All you do is smash the buttons to fight the enemies over and over again, there's nothing tactical about this game, at all. You can't surprise enemies, throw a smoke bomb and take them all out at once, nothing.

3. Where is the story of this game ? Some bad guys at London say that they want to fight you, you travel to London and you're all of the sudden fighting a huge mechanical spider ? Later to fight a giant a giant T-REX ? Give me a break.

All in all, don't buy this game. Save the $40-50 and go buy some gas at the pump. You'll thank me later.

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I have been a hardcore NG fan since the nes days. This game is a slap in the face to any fan of the series. QTE events , lethargic AI , etc etc. I hope you all fall on your swords. This game is an abominiation of an action game. God of War has other traits that allow them to get by with these shortcuts , NG is all about impossibility and gore. This game has neither. Man up , pull this game from sale , and FIX IT.

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IN ITS CURRENT FORM.

Reviews of XBOX 360 PC Wireless Gaming Receiver Black for Windows

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $9.59
Today's Bonus: 68% Off

Read through the description before buying the product. So I knew this was made by a 3rd party company. It's couple dollars cheaper than the Microsoft version sold here on Amazon. Since the order fulfilled by Amazon, they will take care any issue that might come up.

I received product and it came in the blister package shown in the listing. Plug it into my computer and at first, it wasn't recognized by Windows 7. Ran the installer from the included CD. I had to follow the included instructions to manually finish the installation. Then I was able sync my wireless Xbox 360 game controller with it. The instructions is pretty the same as the one listed in a review for the white 3rd party version.

Pretty happy with it, since I am able to use my Xbox 360 controller with this to play most of the new games on Windows 7.

Here's copy of the driver install from the white version.

if the driver wont install automatic, you will have to install the driver manually.

To correctly install the driver you have to follow these steps:

1.Right click on Computer

2.Go to Properties

3.Click on Device Manager

4.Right click on the Unidentified Device

5.Go to Properties

6.Go to the Drive tab

7.Click on Update Driver...

8.Browse my computer for driver software

9.Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer

10.Microsoft Common Controller for Window Class

11.Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows Version: 2.1.0.1349

12.Update Driver Warning

13.Click Yes

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After much searching around for similar wireless receivers and reading worrisome comments on how those other products had so many problems I saw this product that had good reviews and a cheap price so I took a chance with it.

Works great!

It comes packaged with a mini-cd which had some .exe in one of the folders on it; I think the .exe was for the driver but it didn't work since Windows blocked it.

Anyways, here's what I did. Running Windows 7 x64.

1) Download the official Windows Driver for Wireless 360 controllers ( or just google "windows 360 wireless controller driver")

2) Install the driver; I used 'Run in Administrator mode' but I think it'll probably work without it.

3) Connect the wireless device; at first the window that pops up says it's searching for a driver but it won't find it. Close that window.

4) Go to start menu, right click 'Computer' in the right side of the start menu and click 'Properties' and then click 'Device Manager' on the left side of the window that appears.

5) In Device Manager look for 'Unknown Device' or something Then right click it and choose 'Update Driver Software' and choose "Browsw my Computer" and then "Let Me pick from a list" and you should find the windows wireless driver that you just installed in step #1. I chose the topmost version "Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Version: 2.1.0.1349".

6) Everything should be ready now! Just click the button on the wireless adapter and turn on the 360 wireless controller and click the wireless search button on the controller and they should sync and work!

Disconnecting and reconnecting the wireless adapter works for me; no problems where I need to reinstall any drivers or anything like I hear for other adapters.

Best Deals for XBOX 360 PC Wireless Gaming Receiver Black for Windows

Here are nice and simple steps to get this device working on your PC

Right click on Computer

Go to Properties

Click on Device Manager

Right click on the Unidentified Device

Go to Properties

Go to the Drive tab

Click on Update Driver...

Browse my computer for driver software

Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer

Microsoft Common Controller for Window Class

Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows Version: 2.1.0.1349 [8/13/2009]

Update Driver Warning

Click Yes

Honest reviews on XBOX 360 PC Wireless Gaming Receiver Black for Windows

After many attempts to get the correct driver installed i finaly had it setup right, only to find out that its a cheap knock off one that isnt the same as the microsoft one, they no longer make them and are hard to come by that isnt a knock off appearently. My controllers(plural) would not synch with this receiver and the device is defective on arrival, applying for a full refund of product. i would avoid further purchases of this as it is unlikely to work, spent hours on google and trying things to make it work but its just defect.

P.S. my computer knowledge is very good, i tried every driver variation that was out there from microsoft to no avial.

Computer setup: Windows 7, i7-2630 QM @ 2ghz

8 GB ram

500 GB HD

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This thing is for PC gamers who want to use their XBOX Controller to play games. I had a little problem at first as I used a USB extension to connect it to my xbox and it wasn't working, but I connected it directly and it worked fine. It had instructions in it to properly connect it to your controller.

Review of Steel Series Spectrum 7xB Headset for Xbox 360 (Black)

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List Price: $179.99
Sale Price: $73.41
Today's Bonus: 59% Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Unpacking this thing is a little scary, what with all the cables and parts. But not all of them are needed, thankfully.

The build quality looks good. The transmitter the size of a deck of cards. However, see below:

Pros:

Easy setup

Sounds great, with some isolation from external noise (but also see Cons below)

Comfortable for hour-long stretches. (I'm wearing glasses.) Probably shouldn't play for much longer than that at a time.

Interference-free wireless performance, so far

30-foot range (but I only need 10 feet or so at most)

Choice of USB, 3.5 mm, or RCA input

Disassembles for easy packing (if you do that a lot)

Retractable mic boom! Very nice.

Decent directional sound performance (but see below)

Great balancing of chat versus game sound via "LiveMix" setting. This is a very nice feature that dials down the game volume when you're chatting.

Auto power-off (after about 5 minutes)

Connects to Mac or PC as well

Cons:

Mic "only compatible with Xbox 360"

They could have varied the button design a bit more to enable you to distinguish them more easily by touch

Although they tout their crystal clear digital transmission, this offers analog inputs only ... weird. So the channel separation is limited, not as good as real Dolby Digital. Seems like a waste. However, it's certainly good enough for gaming, if you're not a purist.

Pricey!

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Last week I just bought my Astro A40 5.8 wireless headphones for gaming. I returned the nightmare setup I tried from Turtle Beach with the DSS mated to the new Earforce X12. But then along comes this set I had never even heard of. I have to say the first thing I liked was the look AND feel when I opened the box. For the selling price I would hope so.

A nice feature if you take your gear to friends homes to game is these break down easily (into 5 pieces) for easy transport. It included ALL the cabling you need though I was sort of surprised it does NOT use any optical cable. It works just fine so who cares. Next you sync it and enjoy a very nice & rich sound. It has audio presets to play with and though I am now already spoiled by my other brand 7.1 surround headset, these do REALLY well. They honestly do. I also like the LiveMix setting that will lower the game volume for game chat for you. I REALLY found myself enjoying this in my online play.

Comfort. I wear eyeglasses and these are much more comfy than my Turtle Beach X12's were. I can go about 45 minutes to an hour before any pain. My Asro's I can wear till I fall asleep with NO pain with glasses but I paid a steep price for that much comfort too.

Controls are fairly easy, MUCH easier than those on my Logitech 7.1 Surround headset I just sold today from my gaming PC. And just to clue you, these are made for the XBOX only but buy a couple cable options (I bet you already have ALL you need laying around now!) and these will also work with your PS3 and PC as well. I really don't know why they don't make this knowledge available and offer to sell you this to expand their presence in the marketplace????? Anyway, these sound wonderful. Warm, mess with the different presets to get the sound you prefer and NO hiss, NO popping, NO hassles! So no, it doesn't not sound as wonderful as my Astro A40's.....But at way less money it sounds better than I ever expected. I can't believer I had never even heard of this company before! I would give these a solid 4 but for the asking price I feel surround sound should be included. Also they need to explain the options of multi-platform use. So for sound quality, an honest 4. For value, not so much? So 3 stars overall.

Best Deals for Steel Series Spectrum 7xB Headset for Xbox 360 (Black)

The popping and crackling the headphones suffer from make them practically unusable. I gave the set the benefit of the doubt due to being within range of 20 or so routers but then I moved and am now only within 2 (including my own) and the problem persists. I've tried moving it, wrapping it foil to no avail.

They are pretty comfortable. They are on-ear not over-the-ear like I expected but still comfortable. I wear a 7 and 3/4 cap and the headset fits well in its fully extended mode. The mic works very well (or so I'm told by those I talk to) and the sound quality is very good with great bass for a wireless package.

Honest reviews on Steel Series Spectrum 7xB Headset for Xbox 360 (Black)

I bought this wireless headset to use for my pc. I know its a Xbox headset but it read in the description it was pc compatible. So I bought the thing and found it needed the 360 controller to plug into for the microphone portion. And although it has no cords running directly to the system it has quite a bit of setup i.e. the transmitter has cord to the system for power and another for the r/w audio cables, and a cord from the mic to the controller. Not the most plug and play setup. If all I were to use was my console this would be a great wireless option, but for an easier and more complete pc experience (albeit not of the high quality) I would rather use my 30$ Plantronics.

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I bought a pair of these after doing research on other similar wireless gaming headsets. I do not own another pair of headsets to compare these to.

The Good:

-Three Different Sound Qualities

-Sound quality itself was great

-Live Mix which separates your friend's voices from in-game sounds

-Extremely Comfortable, and I have a big head

The Bad:

From 11 feet away with a direct LOS, continually received crackles and pops in my headset. I didn't notice static, just every now and then would have a crackle and pop, sometimes disconnecting the sound for up to three seconds unless I moved my head. I attempted the following:

-Attempted to move the mixer around, away from the wireless router.

-Turned cell phone off

-Turned laptop off

-Turned baby monitor off

-Turned every wireless contraption off

I still continued to receive crackles and pops from what I imagine is the headset losing connection.

Also, upon plugging the voice dongle between the controller and the headset, I received a constant stream of static in my headphones. It's extremely noticeable and I had to unplug the dongle after a minute or two. I attempted to try an additional two times with no success.

These headphones also somehow seemed to affect my wireless router range. The same day that I plugged this in (and the mixer stays on even if the XBOX is off) I could not access my internet 20 feet away from the router. I could previously walk down the street a little bit and still have connection. I turned off the mixer, and bam, I could walk down the street and access the WIFI like normal. It also caused signal from the router to be dropped as well. I'm no tech geek so I can't back this up with frequency lingo, but I'm attempting to look at this logically. It has to be these headphones.

So now, if my wife wants to use WIFI upsairs while I'm using my headphones downstairs, she hasn't been able to. That, along with the crackling and popping noises, has made me reconsider the purchase. Returned the headphones, I expected much more from this product. For reference, my setup was an E2000 Wireless Router, Wired Xbox 360, Baby Monitor, these headphones.

Discount Samsung TS-H943A Replacement DVD drive for XBox 360, MS28 Version

Customer Ratings:

To everyone that's buying this and it only reads movies etc but does not play games. YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS. Either you can flash the firmware for the circuit board inside the new drive , OR you can do the easier task and just take the circuit board out of your old drive and swap it with the one in your new drive. Then there is no need to flash. Just make sure you keep your old drive and take it apart and get the board disconnected from it. Once you take off the four screws and remove the cover on the old CD ROM Drive , the green PC board is right there. There is like 4 ribbon cables to remove and then its a direct replacement and fit into your new drive. Remember you have to also take out the green board in your new drive and swap it with the one in your old drive so you will have one worthless pc board from this new drive that you can not use. If you choose to flash the new board with the same coding from your old drive then it will give you two usable green boards so you will have a spare from your old drive. The mechanical parts on these cd roms are whats failing , not the pc boards inside them. Its much easier to swap the green boards than it is to flash IMO. The reason you change the boards is because the green board from your old cd rom drive has a coded serial key thats unique to your xbox360. Thats why this cd rom without the green board changed only plays movies and not games until you do this.

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It's 100% working for me to replace the DVD-ROM of my 360 without flashing.

First of all, I need to tell you the most important thing for my fix is

"the model of the original DVD-ROM is same as the model of the new DVD-ROM I bought, TS-H943"

I guess this is the key that I do NOT need to involve into the process of ROM flashing.

At first, open the 360, then take an old part from the original drive that holds the ROM identity. I followed this video to take the part out

and replace this part to the new drive.

The last thing you gotta do is just putting the new drive back to the 360.

It took me around 30 mins for the whole process.

For me, the hardest part is "Open the 360"

Best Deals for Samsung TS-H943A Replacement DVD drive for XBox 360, MS28 Version

got this to swap out my old drive, laser wasnt working, swapped logic boards and it worked like a charm. been over a month now and no big issues. With just a few tools its a easy swap for anyone to do. Great product, great price. thanks -Dustin

Honest reviews on Samsung TS-H943A Replacement DVD drive for XBox 360, MS28 Version

I purchased this drive after the Hitachi Drive that came with my Xbox 360 stopped working (kept getting "insert CD" and "open tray" errors).

This drive works exactly as it should, and I have no complaints about it. I warn you, however, that you will need to do some homework on how to spoof the drive key (and drive type if you have a different model) of your original drive.

I read some of the negative reviews before purchasing this model, and as a relatively tech saavy person (I have substantial experience in computer networking, programming, and regularly build and configure my own systems), I figured they were just the victims of ID-10-T errors (remove the dashes, and you'll figure it out). After undergoing the process myself, I can understand their frustration.

I reiterate that the problem has nothing to do with this product, which now performs perfectly. The problem is that there are no "swap and play" solutions for the Xbox 360 DVD drive as other reviewers have pointed out, they each carry special keys which are tied to that specific system. In order to get any replacement drive to work, you need to "trick" the Xbox into thinking that the new drive is the same drive as the old drive (i.e. spoofing its key and model).

Unfortunately, given the many DVD model types available, and given that the spoofing can be accomplished in several ways, it is difficult to find a guide on how to do this simply (e.g. replacing a Hitachi drive with a Samsung drive is a completely different process than replacing a BenQ drive with a Samsung drive, which is different than replacing a Samsung drive with a Samsung drive). Each drive has its own quirks, and many of the guides are tailored to a specific scenario, and most of the guides are incomplete or poorly written for those with no experience on how the Xbox 360 works.

Took me about 2 days after work to make it work, but now I have a fully functioning replacement drive again, this is not the fault of the product, but my own inability to comprehend how the process worked. Once I understood, it was a piece of cake.

In summary, be sure to do your homework before you attempt to replace the drive. Finding a "step by step" guide may be a hit or miss, especially if you run into any problems. You really need to understand how to extract your original drive's firmware/key; how to extract this drive's firmware; and how to reflash the firmware on this drive to reflect the key and model number of your original drive.

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Make sure that you buy the SAME MODEL NUMBER replacement DVD-DRIVE (ie. DG-16D2S...located on top of drive)or your swap of the computer board will NOT WORK. There are proprietary security protocols from Microsoft that are enabled to match the drive computer (green card inside drive) with the computer inside your original XBOX. There may be claims for universal drives out there, but I would research feedback really carefully before buying these to see if they worked for others with the same Model Number Drive as yours. When you do have the same model number drive, just removed the computer green board from inside the old one and replace the new drive's green board. The drive will then work as new in your old XBOX360. Do not attempt to do this with a used replacement drive....you're just buying someone else's problems.

Buy Japanese xBox 360 Console

Customer Ratings:

I was looking for a way to play region coded imported games without hacking into my Xbox 360 S. This was the solution I was looking for. Hacking a 360 S runs the risk of voiding the warranty and getting banned from Xbox Live. The Japanese Xbox also plays Xbox original games after downloading backwards compatibility from Xbox live. It has audio and subtitle English translations so language isn't a problem unless the game played is strictly a Japanese language game. It has a little more machine noise than the 360 S but not noticeable once a game starts. I was skeptical about buying a second Xbox but it was well worth since I'm into playing hardcore, gory, adults only import games.

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Buy Days of Thunder - Game and Movie - Playstation 3

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $28.49
Today's Bonus: 5% Off

This is a great game, especially if u love nascar games. Also the movie is crystal clear HD i couldnt believe how good it was. Overall great product.

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This PS3 game is very fun for anyone who loved Days of Thunder. I was a little concerned at first to find out that both the blu-ray and game were on one disc. However there appear to be no glitches in either format. I am very pleased with it.

Best Deals for Days of Thunder - Game and Movie - Playstation 3

The game is great, we like all the NASCAR games and pin ball and golf, all of them are great. however we did not receive the movie.

Honest reviews on Days of Thunder - Game and Movie - Playstation 3

I checked and the movie is not on the same disc. I got game only. And it isn't that good if I at least got movie it might have made it not so bad?

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Days of Thunder - Game and Movie - Playstation 3

since EA sports ran away NASCAR sims are few and afsr between. took a gamble on this and was terribly disappointed. car control is awful. graphics are well below todays standards. NASCAR the Game 2011 is much better.

Discount 2K Sports Combo Pack - MLB2K13/NBA2K13 - Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $79.99
Sale Price: $48.99
Today's Bonus: 39% Off

MLB 2K13 review

I have played the game for a bit now and to me one of the biggest weaknesses of the game is the graphics. The players just dont look as nice as others in the sport videao game arena. Although they have made some improvements from the previous years MLB games the graphics still look poorly done and could use some work. The modeling of the players seems out of place to the rest of the game. For the most part, the gameplay is pretty good, pitching and fielding work smoothly and seem to perform the way it should. The weakness seem to be in how the ball performs when it is hit. It doesnt appear to be rendered accurately at times.

MLB 2K13 really seems add very little over MLB 2K12 and doesnt really make you think there is something reinvented here. There really arent any major difference besides the roster updates and improving the functionality of some of the gameplay.

Maybe for those that are hardcore MLB2K fans, there is something for you but for 60 bucks just for some minor upgrades, I am not so sure. Is it worth shelling 60 bucks to get the latest version.... well not unless you just have to have the latest version.

NBA 2K13 review

Hardcore hoops fans and anyone else who even casually picks up the odd sports game should play NBA 2K13. This version continues to keep the bar high, enhancing the realism of and adding a superb new control scheme to this excellent recreation of pro basketball. Pace, graphics, animations, sound effects, and commentary are all so dead on that you feel like you've walked onto the court at Staples Center or Madison Square Garden. Only a few issues with the interface and the absence of controller tutorials, along with ridiculously overblown production values from Jay Z, get between you and the full appreciation of what looks, sounds, and feels like the real thing.

The good stuff:

Enhanced realism and a great new control setup make NBA 2K13 a fantastic recreation of pro hoops.

Excellent game flow emulates the real thing

New right-stick controls make slick moves easy to pull off

Signature skills enhance player depth

TV-realistic graphics and animations

Lively, varied play-by-play

The bad:

Confusing interface

Too much of Jay-Z

With this package, you get two decent games that are not without flaws but enjoyable to play at a discounted price.

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I got this because it was a good price but I really enjoy playing NBA. That may be the best made sports game overall out of any: Madden, NCAA, the Show, etc. The only problem is the amount of JayZ's noise that he calls music. It gets annoying after awhile. The presentation is really great. MLB is not quite as good but is a fun baseball game to play.