5 in 1 USB 4800mAh Battery Pack & Charger Cable Kit For Xbox-360 Review

Customer Ratings:

The price I paid for this product was a lot less than other products out there.

You get 2 recharable batteries, and "Charge and Play" cord and a One slot recharable dock. They are both USB, so the recharable dock doesn't have to take up another outlet, just plug it into the Xbox and keep it there to recharge any other batteries. I'm not sure why it says 5-in-1 where there's only 4 items, but it's still a good buy and the shipping said it would take a minimum of 17 days to ship, but the delivery date was well under that. It was only 8 days ago when I ordered and the product got shipped.

>> Edit

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Cheap NBA 2K9 - PC

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $4.49
Today's Bonus: 78% Off

Here are some things you have to know when buying this game:

1. There is no online game play

2. This game requires a Steam account which means you will have to have an internet connection(Very stupid I know).

3. Once the game installs, the steam account needs to update the game. Be VERY VERY patient because it takes forever! Mine took 7 hours to update! Many people get so excited to play that they keep clicking on the "launch" button to play the game and don't let it install completely. Every time you hit the "launch" button the update will have to start over.

4. 2k Sports made a big error and forgot to send key codes with most of the games they sent out. They solved this by allowing you to install the game without a key code so it is NO longer an issue.

5. If you have any other issues with the game, go to

Here you will find a solution to almost any problem you may be facing.

Once you get the game to work it is AWESOME!! With all the problems people have been facing it might be worth it for you to wait 9 months and buy NBA 2k10 where most of these problems will be fixed (hopefully) and there will be online game play.

The bottom line is if you can find this game used for under $10, it is definitely worth your time and money.

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NBA 2K9 on the PC is the best game ever. Before I had NBA Live 08 for the PC and I thought that it was pretty good. However, after playing this game Live 08 is average.

This game has the great graphics since it is a Xbox 360 port, so it has the next-gen graphics! In addition, it has the features that the 360 version has like substituting on the fly, calling plays and team strategies. This game has pretty good commentary. The game has a realistic atmosphere.

There are many different modes such as a season, playoffs, slam dunk contest, 3pt. shootout, 21, pickup games, and a practice mode, where you can practice the different offensive plays which tell you where to move your controlled player.

There is even a free throw practice mode--something I wish NBA Live 08 had.

The Shot Stick is a very fun way to shoot since it can perform many different types of shots, layups and dunks based on the direction you put the Right Analog Stick. This increases the number of shots you can perform since each direction has a different move. With a shot stick, you have more control over the type of shot you would like.

I am really liking the automatic substitutions of NBA 2K9, since you can have them based upon the players' fatigue or the team's rotation. One aspect that makes it good is that it recognizes players' secondary positions and substitutes based upon them.

For instance, I use the Phoenix Suns & when Shaquille O'Neal is subbed out, it recognizes that Amar'e Stoudemire can play at center, so it slides him over, and inserts Matt Barnes at PF.

In Live 08, it would put Robin Lopez at center. This is where the rotations are important, since Lopez isn't a big part of my team's rotation.

2K Sports did the right thing putting out this game on the PC since ea sports decided not to make its game on the PC.

I highly recommend this game and at $20.00, you cannot go wrong! Buy it so that NBA 2K will continue to come out on the PC in future years.

Best Deals for NBA 2K9 - PC

Many options in passing and shooting. Also, the game has great graphics. Would have been better for PC users if there were visual illustrations for a PC compatible game pad. Hard to dunk with any regularity, even right under the basket. Overall, a very good game.

Honest reviews on NBA 2K9 - PC

This game is a simplistic and poorly executed port of 2K Sports XBOX 360 version. They even include a picture of the XBOX 360 Controller in the manual. If you have an XBOX 360, pay the extra money and play it on your 360, this game is a piece of the trash. The menu system is jacked up, sometimes you can use your mouse other times you need to use your joystick or your keyboard, it's never consistent or logical. But the problem that seals it at 1 star is the fact that it gives you an error message when you try to configure a controller that isn't for the 360 and the default configuration does not have the direction arrows or secondary buttons assigned. I have no desire to play a basketball game with my keyboard. Further complicating this debacle was that tech support was useless and simply suggested they couldn't solve the problem because their are many types of controllers. I have played countless games including tons of freeware games that all work with my controller. This is a beta game all the way, only they aren't interested in fixing the problems. Run away, and run away quick! However, you'll need to press a button on your keyboard though, as the trigger/run button on your controller will be rendered useless.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for NBA 2K9 - PC

Best PC basketball game ever for playability. Horribly menu system. If the menu system were better, or if there were documentation to explain the menu system at least, then it would be a 5 star game for sure. Even with the debillitating menu system it is a fantastic game.

Buy Duke Nukem Forever: Balls of Steel Edition -Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:

This game was Awesome ! Anyone who gave this game a bad review was obviously NOT a fan of Duke Nukem in the first place and should just stick to thier same old CRAP OF DUTY games. End of Story! By the way, for sure one of the hardest games on insane difficulty, took me a week to beat, in comparison i beat Halo reach on Legendary in about 4 days. Only bad thing i can say about the game is Multiplayer, but this is a Campaign based game anyways.

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I give this an average rating, but the collector's version is all a misogynist could ever want! All the little knick knacks and extra items make it a little special, like being the Duke himself. Granted, I have no idea where to display the items such as the deck of cards or the dice or the poker chips, but just having them in the junk drawer makes me feel a little more awesome and a full force of male bravado. The contents are a 5/5, the game, as stated, is about average.

Best Deals for Duke Nukem Forever: Balls of Steel Edition -Xbox 360

I just beat the game so time for a review. This is based on the Balls of Steel Edition so keep that in mind. Let's start with the gameplay:

Its a first person shooter and you'll get your standard fare there. Nothing too fancy just straight up fire away. I like this actually. I'm getting to a point where too many gimmicks detract from the game. You'll be able to pick this up any time and enjoy it.

The content whoever is pretty graphic. The language is crude and the element aren't much better. This is mature rated and you will get mature content trust me.

The game has some hitches, you get stuck on things from time to time and at points you feel like you dont know what to do next. You will be able to figure these moments out without help and maybe a few re dos tho.

The extra features are really cool. You get many gameplay videos of the build over time, a timeline of production, and some behind the scenes photos.

The special edition stuff is also a bug plus. My Duke statue sits next to the TV. This is for sure one of the better priced CE's you will find.

People hate on this game for what it could have had and what it should have had for being so long in the production cycle. Try to instead focus on what it is and you'll have a great day of gaming.

Honest reviews on Duke Nukem Forever: Balls of Steel Edition -Xbox 360

A fun action game with goofy one liners! Many fun hours reliving the original. We play it again and again!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Duke Nukem Forever: Balls of Steel Edition -Xbox 360

I guess I'm dating myself, but I'm a long-time Duke fan, and I think most of the FPS genre these days owes a lot to the original. I splurged on the Dee-Lux version of this and it was worth it. Heck, the minibust is worth the difference in price alone. If you've ever wanted to own a piece of gaming history, this is your chance.

DIG DUG Review

Customer Ratings:

I used to love playing Dig Dug! (Who didn't?) This is an exact emulation of the original, and one of the few that have aged well.

The game is exactly the same: same graphics, sounds, levels, monsters, etc. But there is one huge difference: you can continue from where you died or any level you have completed. This takes the monotony of having to play through the first few levels again and again every time you try to get to the end. Consequently, this also enabled me to get as far as I ever had the very last vegetable (as of this review... I'm coming for you!)

This is a great game that has aged well. Well worth the small price tag.

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Dig Dug's a classic, but with today's video games, it's hard for a game like this to be anything more than a brief novelty. I was a huge Dig Dug fan (and pretty good at it) back in the day, but it's definitely time to retire this one.

Best Chaos Legion - PlayStation 2 Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $39.98
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

I LOVE THIS GAME.

It isn't perfect; the story is largely the typical throwaway reason to fight a bazillion demons and monsters...regardless of what other reviews say. However, the gameplay is stylish, unique and deeper than the first few hours suggest.

Chaos Legion was marketed by Capcom as a cousin of Devil May Cry. While the tone and subject of the game suggest similarity, however, the gameplay is a totally different beast. In fact, the comparison probably hurt the game, because reviewers went in expecting a DMC clone rather than being open to letting the game's unique strengths take hold.

Some reviewers have argued that the game is repetitive. This is true only A) at the beginning before the importance and depth of the legions is revealed and B) on easy difficulty. If this game is to be enjoyed, it if for those people looking for a challenge. In that way, it is similar to Devil May Cry. This isn't a game to run through in 8 hours...that might be less than enthralling. The real joy in this game is that of discovery and accomplishment. In fact, the game is so difficult that it has a system much like DMC3 where experience from ATTEMPTS at beating missions can be kept to level up legions.

Your character plays a bit like Dante with maybe slightly less moves. However, depending on the legion he has equipped, he can perform different moves and gain different abilities.

And then there are the legions. The legions are spirits that the main character summons to fight at his side; each one has very unique strengths and weaknesses. Combined with the abilities they add to the main character, which legions are equipped at the beginning of a mission makes a big difference.

The controls for the legions are surprisingly deep...they are by no means simply autonomous once summoned. It takes several hours to understand half of the strategy behind using them and most of the game to master it. Combine this with the ever present challenge of staying alive and you have a very compelling action game. Luckily, the game also features a relatively forgiving checkpoint system.

Of special note are the boss battles, which are very fun to figure out. When you bring down these bad boys, you know you've accomplished something.

In addition, the graphics and character animations are very well done...especially for the main character.

Finally, and importantly, a very impressive soundtrack accompanies the gameplay. Most of it is a mix of techno and chanting/choral work. All in all, it does a SURPRISINGLY good job of elevating the combat and making you and your legions feel like a force to be reckoned with. The soundtrack is so good in fact, that I OFTEN listen to it by itself...probably more than any other soundtrack I own.

I didn't expect much going in to Chaos Legion. The reviews had been mediocre and most people said it was repetitive. And these complaints underline an important point: Chaos Legion isn't for the casual gamer....it's for those in search of a challenge. That said, Chaos Legion is the source of some of my most memorable gaming moments in the past year, and I play a lot of games. For those with the appropriate skill, Chaos Legion is a must play and an absolute steal at most game stores.

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I read lots of bad reviews of this game and was all set to forget about it rather than buy it. Then one day I read a Penny Arcade comic in which they declared that Gabe hated Chaos Legion. Well, if there's one thing I've learned from my years of reading PA, it's that if Gabe hates something, it's probably pretty good. He hated Kingdom Hearts, GunValkyrie, and most notably, Halo. The man is obviously not a bastion of good video game taste. Therefore, when he hates something, I assume it's worth buying. And so I went ahead and bought Chaos Legion.

At first I was inclined to agree with the reviews (and even with Gabe.) My first couple of hours playing seemed to indicate a shallow and repetitive game. What I'd seen in previews looked similar to Devil May Cry, so I was expecting an adventure game with some exploration and puzzle solving. There is none of that. CL is actually something of an old school arcade style beat-'em-up updated for the 21st century. You make your way through a linear level from point A to point B, fighting wave after wave of enemies as you go. When you reach the end of the level, you fight a boss. Lather, rinse, repeat. However, the game became pretty difficult suddenly on stage 3 or 4, and I almost threw in the towel. For some reason, rather than quit I instead decided to dig into the aspect of the game that I hadn't really been paying attention to; namely the "Legions" themselves. These legions are what make this game shine. A legion is a unit made up of several allies that accompany you wherever you go, basically little guys that follow you around and help you in various ways. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses and abilities. Some use swords, some fire energy bolts at the enemy you're targeting, some create a defensive shield around you, some explode and damage all enemies within a certain radius, etc. You have to use them to strengthen them, you have to strengthen them to make them more useful, and you WILL need to use them to beat the game. The more they do battle, the more experience points they earn. You then get to choose how to spend those points to build them up. You can increase their attack power, their defense, their special abilities, etc. Learning how to use them effectively is the key to the game. Ergo, the reason the game had seemed so difficult at first was that I'd made the mistake of playing it as if it was a DMC game, rather than figure out how to play a different game called Chaos Legion. Poor Gabe must not have been able to figure that out.

Best Deals for Chaos Legion - PlayStation 2

Man,than this will blow you away!!I can't believe how amazing this game is.First of all,let me stress how beautiful the graphics are.When I first started playing this game,my jaw dropped because the graphics looked as fluid and life-like as they do when then cinema plays.Also prepare to be amazed the first time you summon.Wow!Way to go Capcom!

Second,and most importantly,the gameplay!There is a good reason that the name of this game is Chaos LEGION;you fight armies and armies of demons.Think just like the Dynasty Warriors games,only take away the asian feel and add a very gothic touch!When I first started playing this game,I wasn't really paying much attention to the storyline or the directions that tutor you on how to do certain moves.I was just having SO much fun chopping up hordes of enemies!Later on I learned how to do diffrent moves and command my summon spirits to perform certain commands.Just Excellent! Experience gaining system is similar to DMC,but with much more improvement. Basically you still collect the souls of your enemies(only ALOT more at once)and for every 100th demon you kill you get an item.So you can really stock up on items and bulk up experience in this game as the enemies can be limitless(granted that you don't kill the monster generators first!)I guess Capcom borrowed an element from Gauntlet.

Third,is the sound.Voice Acting is great and even better than DMC.Also the lip synching is better matched to the words to make it look like they are actualy speaking the dialouge.But more importantly is the soundtrack.Beautifuly orchestrated music

with a passionate rhythm.Reminds me of the soundtrack for Castlevanaia:Symphony of The Night....only better.I was really impressed by the music that plays during boss fights.

Lastly,the storyline is as you would expect it to be:dark and masterfully written.I'm not going to go into detail;you'll just have to experience it yourself.To quoate a caption on the back of the game case,"If you loved Devil May Cry,then you'll love Chaos Legion!"They aren't kidding!This game delivers everything you could want and then some.Buy a copy now!

Honest reviews on Chaos Legion - PlayStation 2

This has got to be one of the worse games for mixed reviews. Some love this game, some despise it. Now what's our thoughts on this gothic, hack and slash? Well, I can say for myself, that I love ever bit of this game. Before you hit me with something, let me explain why this game is so awesome.

The story is mysterious, enthralling, deep, and it keeps you wanting more. That is, after the first couple of levels it gets interesting. The first three levels you will find boring, but don't stop playing, because trust me, it will get better.

The story goes like this: You play as Seig Warheit, who must fight against a past friend of his. The reason being? It's unknown until you delve deeper in the game and unlock the peices of the story. But I will tell you this, it involves the killing of a beautiful woman named Siela.

The graphics are simply stunning. Screenshots cannot capture the beauty this game holds. The graphics are bright, gritty, vivid, and smooth all that the same time. The characters, legions, and enemies are all awesomely designed. The main character, Sieg, he is designed perfectly, his clothing and hair just screams "Bad Boy". The design and graphics team have certianly outdone themselves.

The sound was great, the clashing of swords on the armored hide of the enemies was music to my ears. The screams of the enemy creatures was great as well, whatever a 4 foot spider would sound like dying is probably what the spiders in Chaos Legion would sound like dying. The only gripe I have is when you first start a level, Seig, takes his sword and taps it on his shoulder... But it sounds like he is taking a wooden stick and slapping it on a towel...

The music was perfect, it totally fit the mood of the fights and the tear jerking movies. The only thing I disliked about the music is that in some parts it was low, like I couldn't hear it over me beating my enemies to ground beef. That's not neccessarily a bad thing though.

In Chaos Legion, you use allies to fight along side of you. These allies are called "Legions," the legions are powerful creatures. They each have there strongpoints and their weakpoints. So when you first equip a legion, try equiping one that will work best for the mission. This aspect mixes the generic hack and slash genre to a RPG-type action game, making it much more appealing and far less repetive.

After completeing a mission and defeating numerous enemies, you gain experience points. With these experience points you can upgrade your legions in many, many aspects. For instance you can upgrade their strength, defense, or you can upgrade them to where more legions can come out and help you.

The gameplay seems shallow at first, but once you get passed the first three levels, it becomes addictive. The thing that makes it unappealing to most is the steep difficulty level. But when you pass those three levels, you gain enough experience to upgrade your legions too make them stronger. Once upgraded, it makes the game much more enjoyable.

This game is the perfect game for an action addict, like myself. I totally enjoyed it to the last minute. I enjoyed it so much, that I cannot wait for the next installment to the series. I reccoment this to anyone who is looking for a challenge and a new adventure. If you are still skeptical about buying Chaos Legion, atleast rent it to see if you like it.

Hit

+Addictive

+Beautiful story

+Breath taking graphics

+Deep Gameplay, believe it or not

+Great difficulty level

+Character, Legion, and Enemy designs are awesome

+Sieg is just a plain awesome character!

Miss

_Difficulty is hard for the weak

_Takes a while to really get sucked into it

_Some gamers will get tired of it before actually playing through a good bit of it

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I have noticed that the other reviews so far don't say much about the game, so I am going to try to give a better idea of what this game is like. This game was made by one of the head guys behind Devil May Cry. That alone should pique most players interests. This game is the absolute best action, "hack and slash" game I have ever played. I have played through both of the Devil May Crys and the Onimushas, and I think this one is better than any of the other two combined. First of all, the action is great. Each level is challenging enough to give a gamer a couple of run throughs to beat it, but it isn't hard enough to be frustrating, and if it is for you, you can always cut it down to Easy difficulty level. Sieg and the Chaos Legion summoning system works well together. Before each level, you can equip two legions (whichever two you think will be needed in the level, whichever two you like best, or whichever two give your favorite power-ups to Sieg), and during the level you can summon the legions to fight alongside you, or send them in for a quick special attack. This allows two styles of fighting; a grand melee style, or a more conventional hero with special powers style. The grand melee can be maintained as long as the Legion's health meter is up. This meter is filled from the souls of your vanquished monster enemies. Each legion can give Sieg special powers too. For instance, the Flawed legion can give the special powers of jumping higher and double jump. These special abilities can be unlocked by leveling up the legion. Yes, that's right, during intermission screens (in-between levels) you can level up the legions that were equipped using the experience they gained from fighting through the level. Also, there are experience gems that can be used on any legion to give them experience. Later on in the game, there are items that allow you to level up your legions to the point that you may use their special abilities even when they aren't equipped; thus, this allows you to use the other legions while still keeping your favorite abilities. Finally, I must talk about the story. The storyline of this game is very good (the best I have seen in an action game), and it isn't exactly what it may seem. The cut sequences are the best I have seen in visual style. They look like a really well done movie. One of the best touches is that flashbacks are done in a "grainy film" way. It makes the cut sequences even more beautiful and the game even more enjoyable. I hope that some of you out there will buy this game and enjoy it as much as I have.

Discount 12 Month Xbox Music Pass

Customer Ratings:

I find this service much better than Pandora and Spotifly. The Music Pass has the ability to discover good music like Pandora and has a library that rivals Spotifly. I actually find the social networking part of Spotifly very annoying. All of the sudden, I'm paranoid if I'm listening to music that my peers would judge... "No, I swear my kid was listening to Rafi, not me!"

Anyways, if you like to use your Xbox 360 to stream music to your TV, have a Windows Phone, or use your Windows 8 PC to stream music, this service can't be beat (NOTE: Xbox Music isn't available on Windows 7 or Windows Phone 7 at time of writing).

I find the "reviewer" who complains that it cost money is missing the point. If you don't want ads, you're going to have to pay for music. This also gives people the ability to have access to a massive music library without spending a lot of money. It's also a great option for people who don't want to pirate (and more convenient).

Update 10/1/13: I guess Microsoft is opening up Xbox Music to IOS and to Andriod so it's now going to be on all devices (nothing for Mac OS yet). They're also reporting that they have 10 million more songs than Spotify or Rido (both boast to have about a 20 million song library). I just wish there was a client version you could use with Windows 7 you can only stream it via a web browser.

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XBox Music Pass continues the excellent Zune service and at a much lower price.

Great thing about this card: it fits in a stocking, and is a great item for a kid without a credit card, or anyone who doesn't want to input cc info to sign up for a service.

Another great thing: since it's a prepaid card, you don't have to worry that it's going to roll itself over into a periodic charge on your cc.

Missing from the old Zune service is 10 DRM-unlocked downloads per month. I had Zune Pass for a couple years, and found this was not that big a deal. Remembering to use the 10 downloads was an issue I only got to it about 1/5 of the time. And not all publishers/artists gave MS rights to include their downloadable material in the 10-a-month program, so availability was hit or miss.

Note the 12-month card includes unlimited streaming for 6 months, then 10 hr/mo streaming for the next 6 months. You can stream *or* download to PC, Tablet, or Phone. Downloading to your PC, Tablet is not streaming; syncing to your phone is not streaming; playing music via XBox is streaming only. Once the recipient is sure they want XBox Music on a subscription basis (and once they have a cc to submit) the subscription is available in 1 or 12 month increments, with no limits to streaming hrs/month.

Best Deals for 12 Month Xbox Music Pass

Even with my old Zune Pass still active, this stands as a great deal in of itself. If you own a Windows Phone or Windows 8 device, this is a much better service than using Spotify or Pandora on your device. First, it syncs in with your Microsoft account so you can manage your subscription along with your other Windows 8 and XBOX purchases/subscriptions (such as XBOX LIVE) under a single account. I have found it annoying to have to have a separate account for these other services. Next up, Xbox Music doesn't require you to login with Facebook unlike Spotify. For those who are anti-social (or just hate sharing your music interests with the world) Xbox Music has you covered. Also Xbox Music includes unlimited music video streaming so you can listen to Gangnam Style and transition to the music video soon after. It might not be a killer decision maker but could be icing to decide between the values of each service.

Before you buy, Xbox Music lets you try a six month free trial that includes unlimited streaming of music to get a feel of the service. Please Note: If you cancel your subscription (as with any music subscription service such as Spotify or Rhapsody), you lose the ability to store tracks for offline play. Your service is also downgraded to streaming only when you do so. If you do not care about ownership of the music, then please disregard this note.

Comparison Chart (all paid features unless denoted with *, ^ is a parenthetical note):

X is for Xbox Music, S for Spotify, P for Pandora.

-Cost: X = $9.99/month ($100/year for Xbox Music) S = $5-$10/month P = $3.99/month ($36/year)

-Streaming: X^S^ (free versions include limited streaming each month) P^^ (unlimited skipping through radio stations only)

-"Radio Stations"*: XSP

-Ad-supported streaming*: XSP

-iOS: SP X^ (slated for 2013)

-Android: SP X^ (slated for 2013)

-Windows Phone: XS P^ (Windows Phone 8 only)

-Offline storage: XS

-Sync your existing iTunes and/or MP3 collection*: X^S^ (if the format is DRM-protected or lossless audio such as .m4a or .flac, the service will not sync it into your library)

-Playlists*: XS

-Largest Music Catalog: Xbox Music^ (30 million tracks)

-Purchasing Ability*: X P^ (through the OS music store)

-Music Videos: Xbox Music

-Recommendations/Music Discovery*: X^S (after observing listening habits) P^^ (using rating system)

-Artist Info*: XSP

-Social Integration* (i.e. Facebook): S^ (signup with Facebook required) P^^ (Facebook sharing optional)

Honest reviews on 12 Month Xbox Music Pass

unlimited streaming, downloads from millions of songs, albums,artists, plus thousands of music videos. no need for xbox or zune,just your computer, $100 a year. if you like music i know of no other way for unlimited choices,and even downloads,GIVE THIS A TRY. it can not last

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I got the Xbox Music Pass to play music on my phone and my Xbox 360 and it has been great. I also didn't want to give my c/c to Microsoft.

So now I have music and music videos all day and all night

Buy Xcom Enemy Unknown: Elite Soldier Pack DLC

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $4.99
Sale Price: $2.49
Today's Bonus: 50% Off

X-COM Enemy Unknown Elite Soldier Pack is basically worthless:

1. The (official as opposed to Amazon's) description of what you get (quoted below) is deliberately misleading to fool you into thinking that you are getting more than you are really getting, which I find at least unethical. Amazon's description is a bit more 'honest' though not entirely. Here's what the official description says (my comments in brackets, and you can find the official description on the publisher's site as well as on Steam):

"Customize your squad with three new bonus items [OK, this part is kind of true].

Instantly unlock a new recruit in your barracks inspired by the original X-COM: UFO Defense [MISLEADING you are not getting any new recruits, what you are getting is a single additional haircut inspired by the original X-COM].

Outfit your soldiers with specialized armor upgrades including the new Hyperion and Reaper soldier armor kits [MISLEADING you are not getting any armor upgrades, there are no new research-able armor upgrades, there are only two additional armor SKINS see #2 below for details].

Customize your soldiers' appearances with a variety of colors and tints for all armor sets [This is the only thing that is true here].

2. Modifiable armor skins they call 'upgrades' are for low-end armors only (your basic body armor, Carapace and Skeleton armors can be made to look less flimsy). The midto high-end armors are not modifiable (except for the color). You also get one "retro" hairdo a la X-COM UFO Defense and three helmet skins (these are just skins with no intrinsic properties), but I find the ability to hide the soldiers' faces inside those helmets useless as using helmets makes all soldiers look the same and they lose their unique faces, hair styles and skin colors.

So if you buy this pack all you really get is the ability to apply something like 30 color tints to the existing armors. AND, to be thorough, most of the color tints are hideous neon-glow like. Do you want your assault troopers to look like Barby dolls or beer promo neon signs? The only colors that are actually usable and make your soldier armors look bad-ass are solid ones such as black, red, khaki, white, orange. So you are not even getting the 30 color tints they offer as you will never use 25 of them.

I suppose it could be useful and cool to make all your assault troopers orange, heavies green, support (medics) white and snipers red (that's how I have them colored anyway, you may want other tints) but I am not sure the ability to color-code your soldier classes is worth the price tag, unless you simply want to support the developer... BUT considering how they misinform you in the product description to swindle the five bucks out of you, I don't think you should support them.

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As people have said, the description of this item is a little misleading. 1. You do not get a new recruit, you only get a new hairstyle (which is rather silly, but is a throwback to old XCOM games), and 2. You do not get new armor to research that gives you new stats.

The description really should be rewritten, since it clearly was written incorrectly. That said, I'm going to review what you ARE getting, because in spite of the description being misleading, a LOT of these user reviews are misleading as well.

Not every game has a lot of customization options. I was already impressed to an extent with XCOM because you can change your soldiers' faces, hair, race, skin, voice, etc. Basically, this pack adds a lot more customization. True, you don't get new armor types (that add stats), but you are given the option to change most if not all armor types to look differently. Of all the armor types I have so far, each has one or two different versions, which either add more bulk to the armor or change it completely. People were saying that late game armor has no customization, and that is totally incorrect. I'm using the Titan armor (a heavy late game armor) and there is a customization for it that makes it look sort of like an EOD suit. Perhaps certain other late game armors do not have customization options (Ghost and Psi armor, maybe), but all the other armors do, and ALL armors are recolorable.

Beyond changing the structure of your armor, you're given 32 colors to change your armor. All of the scathing reviews of this pack call all of the colors except for a few "badly colored Power Ranger colors" when this is totally and completely false. For reference, here is a list of the 32 colors available (I'll capitalize the neon colors):

Pale Orange (Olive accents)

Pale/Steel Blue (Khaki accents)

Normal, non-Neon Green (Other shades of green accents)

Normal, non-Neon Orange

White/Silver (Black accents)

Crimson/Deep Red

Pale Chartreuse (Not neon, despite the color)

Light Blue (Brown accents)

Dark Olive Drab (Very pale green accents)

Black (White accents)

Dark Blue (White accents)

Dark Purple

NEON Purple

NEON Pink

Black (Yellow accents)

Yellow

Dark Pale Blue

NEON Red (Yellow accents)

NEON Blue (Yellow accents)

Pale Red (Pale blue accents)

Purple/Blue (Orange accents)

Dark Teal (Dark brown accents, one of my favorites)

Pale Yellow (Khaki accents)

NEON Purple (NEON green accents)

NEON Pink (NEON turquoise accents)

NEON Orange (NEON purple accents)

Green (Brown accents)

Silver Blue

Grey/Light Khaki (White accents)

Khaki (Lighter khaki accents)

Pale Green (Lighter green accents)

Black (Grey accents)

As you can see, out of 32 colors, only 7 are "neon Power Ranger" colors, which I think is completely reasonable. The neon colors are still fun sometimes, depending on the soldier (not every solider has to be drab and boring) and the general fantasy/sci-fi feel of the game (aliens, giant laser/plasma guns, etc). There are only a few colors besides those 7 that may be a little too colorful for everyone, but in general the colors are pretty muted and clean looking. People are just sore about paying more than they wanted to when they bash the color choices.

A final thing this DLC adds are hat and helmet options. There are two berets (one with sunglasses), a baseball cap with a headset, a beanie with a headset and goggles, and nine different full face helmets, some of them very cool. A very nice addition when you want to change your soldiers up. I've seen people complain that your armor customizations are lost when your solider is injured (or dies, duh), but that is an automatic game design feature that unequips your injured soldiers so that you can use their equipment for your non-injured soldiers. It only takes a few clicks to get your customizations back once your soldiers are back in action, so that's really a pointless complaint.

In conclusion, this is a great customization pack for the game. $5 really isn't much to pay, but if the content isn't worth that to you, wait for a sale. I picked this up for about $1.50 in a Steam sale.

Best Deals for Xcom Enemy Unknown: Elite Soldier Pack DLC

The description of the DLC makes it seem you are opening some new armor upgrades and a special recruit. You are not, this dlc is for customizing the armor you already have. That's about it.

Honest reviews on Xcom Enemy Unknown: Elite Soldier Pack DLC

The developer should spend more time adding content and less time coming up with slick marketing to sell sub par addons. I felt the description of the DLC was extremely deceptive

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This DLC should be half the price it is. It only allows the ability for you to customize the armor and helmets/retro haircut on the soldiers. Now I do think this is a nice added feature and most may find it so when viewing your soldiers on the map if you made them all a different color. Other than that nothing else is really added.

Review of Digimon World

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This is the ultimate game! THE coolest ever. Your mission is to raise and train your own Digimon to save the Digital World by returning Digimon who have "lost their hearts" to File City. There are days, years, many new Digimon (at least from the ones I know) and awesome battles! About a MILLION times better than Pokemon. And you won't get tired of it either. Only one flaw... There is no Mega Level Digimon. (Besides HerculesKabuterimon, but he's listed as an ultimate and even the Game's Guide doesn't tell you how to get H-Kabuterimon.) If you're hoping it's like the T.V. series...Don't hope... It's noting like it. But Its still awesome. If you like Digimon and own Play Station, BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW! Plus, I implore (strongly encourage) you to also buy the Game guide. I will help you a LOT! I read some reviews and saw that this would be a pretty cool game, but when I first played it, it blew me away! WOW!

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This is one of the best games for the Playstation game console! You could go on for hours just playing this game! There aren't many new Digimon, pretty much the ones you've seen in the movie and show. The object of the game is to recruit the Digimon that are scattered around the Digiworld. The cause of them running away is Analogmon. After you recruit all the digimon you have to face him and three other bosses. Even though it says there are no Megas in this game, there are but only two. They are HerculesKabuterimon and Phoenixmon but they are listed as Ultimates. In the game guide it doesn't say how to get them but I'll tell you. You need to recruit Greymon and then he'll open up an arena, then you need to beat a certain tournament in the arena and the prize is "Beetlepearl" or "Red Ruby". Use them on a Champion form digimon and it'll digivolve into H-Kabuterimon(via Beetlepearl) or Phoenixmon(via Red Ruby)!

Skinit University of Georgia Bulldogs Vinyl Skin for 1 Microsoft Review

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List Price: $19.99
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The skin fit the controller perfectly. Unfortunately for me, I did not check the new controller before applying the skin to it, and the controller did not work. Now, I have a really cool looking, non-functioning XBOX controller.

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Best Radirgy Noa Massive Deals

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Radirgy is an arcade shmup series by developer Milestone. If you've played Ultimate Shooting Collection on the Wii, the first Radirgy was included there. This 360 release, Radirgy Noa Massive, is a sequel.

Graphics are cel-shaded, and offer good contrast between the background and bullets. While not as colorful as other shmups on the market, it does offer decent visibility which helps the gameplay.

Those who have played the first Radirgy will be right at home here, and the gameplay is very similar. You can shoot enemies with the normal shot, or use a sword attack for close-range combat. Melee attacks can also used to generate additional pill items that charge up your barrier gauge.

Learning to effectively charge and use the barrier gauge is the key to playing Radirgy Noa and achieving really high scores. The difference in play between an newbie and an experienced player is very obvious: A new player may destroy things slowly, gaining normal points and using the barrier for dangerous situations, while an experienced player charges forth and eliminates threats quickly, chaining barriers together and spending most of the game invincible, all while scoring huge multipliers. This is a game that rewards aggressive play. It's like running across a tight rope, on the bleeding edge of danger yet perfectly safe if you achieve the right rhythm.

In addition to the arcade game, Radirgy Noa Massive also gives us a time attack and "death mode". This pits the player against never ending waves of enemies. Here the objective is to keep them from escaping; a life bar shows how many have escaped an is unrelated to your character's lives. It's an interesting addition that offers a change of pace from the main game.

I can recommend this game to any shmup fans who want to try something a bit different. It takes a while to sink in, but once you figure out the basic concepts, it's balls-to-the-wall awesome.

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WWE Legends of WrestleMania Review

Customer Ratings:

Lacking a career mode and general manager mode makes this title a very shallow wrestling game. Being able to replay or rewrite pivotal moments in Wrestlemania history is cool, and the video footage of classic Wrestlemania matches, as well as the superstars trash-talk videos before the events, is a feast of nostalgia. The roster and entrances are also a satisfying trip back to the good old days. However, once you get into the gameplay it has absolutely no depth, and leaves you longing for so much more. Excuses have been made for the lack of a career mode, like the fact that most of these wrestlers are now retired. But I have not heard a valid excuse. The career does not have to take place today. If you can rewrite history on the classic matches, why not with your favorite classic wrestler's career? The roster will bring back a lot of great memories for any long time fan, but there are still some glaring ommissions, such as Macho Man Randy Savage or Mick Foley (in any of his personas), or ANY, yes ANY of the divas either as wrestler or manager, like Sensational Sherry, Elizabeth, or Chyna (there are no female wrestlers at all). The good news is there are a lot of names on the roster, and instead of only getting the most popular stars like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair you also get names like Brutus The Barber Beefcake and Big Bossman (both of whom I was delighted to see).

The controls are NOT an improvement over other wrestling games of late. The flow of the match is disturbed, and the controls don't feel as natural. The changes were supposedly for "casual" gamers but bad controls are bad controls I don't care if the person playing is casual or hardcore...

Unless you enjoy doing exhibition matches for countless hours this game will get old fast. The videos are worth reliving. But I would not recommend this game to anyone but serious wrestling fans who long for a trip down memory lane.

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I actually waited awhile before picking up "Legends of Wrestlemania" simply because I had laid down enough cash for "Smackdown vs. Raw 2009" and hadn't really played that all too much. Didn't want to drop another $60 for "Legends of Wrestlemania" and have another game just gathering dust.

What changed my mind, and to be honest one of only two reasons I would recommend "Legends of Wrestlemania" to anyone, is that I found out you can import the roster from "Smackdown vs. Raw 2009" into "Legends of Wrestlemania". Meaning you can now pit Santino Morella against Andre the Giant or have Randy Orton take on Mr. Perfect. The only other reason to pick up this game would be for nostalgic purposes.

I was basically expecting the same gameplay which had been featured on the past couple of "Raw vs. Smackdown" releases, just with modified graphics, and a roster of past Superstars. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. What made the "Raw vs. Smackdown" titles so much fun to play are the innovative controls, the multiple game modes, and the variety of matches you can choose from. "Legends of Wrestling" features none of those. Instead of GM Mode or Career Mode, "Legends" gives you 4 game play options, "Legend Killer, and on the Wrestlemania Tour "Relive", "Rewrite", "Redefine".

In "Relive" mode, you go back to several famous matches throughout "Wrestlemania" history and replay the match as it was presented. The best part of this option is seeing the old video footage of the feuds leading up to the matches. For instance you get to replay the Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter match from Wrestlemania 7, prior to the match you get a re-cap of what the feud was about and promos from each wrestler, which is pretty cool. In this mode you cannot choose your character, you must wrestle as the pre-designated winner of the match. You can also earn EXP points by completing certain objectives during each match. When you earn enough EXP points you win a medal.

In "Rewrite" mode you are once again presented with a series of famous matches culled from Wrestlemania history. Once again you get original video footage of the feuds leading up to each bout, and you also have certain objectives per match you must achieve in order to gain EXP points in order to win the medal. With this mode, your objective is to change the outcome of the original match.

In "Redefine" mode you again play through several famous matches in Wrestlemania history, only this time you can choose which character you would like to play. You can try and `rewrite' history or `relive' history. Basically it combines elements from the previous two gameplay modes. Once again you have certain objectives to meet to gain EXP points.

In "Legend Killer" mode you fight through a series of matches in 4 tiers. The first three tiers are 10 matches you must win to advance. The final tier is called the "All Star Legends Tier" and you must win 38 matches to finish the level!! What is brutal about this game mode, is that once you start a tier, you cannot save and quit. The game forces you to play through the entire tier before giving you the option of saving, meaning that once you reach the "All Star" tier...you HAVE to play 38 consecutive matches??!!

You also get the standard "Create" a wrestler mode. There really isn't anything new to this aspect of the game, and if you've played any WWE title since the Nintendo 64 you should be familiar with this option.

Gameplay is basically a button mashing game. Unlike the last few titles, the basic gameplay required you to just smash various buttons repeatedly, almost like the old PS1 or Nintendo games. It's very difficult to block or reverse, meaning that for the most part opponents just take turns punching each other for a period of time.

The graphics are decent, and the inclusion of original video footage from old WWE broadcasts is fun to relive, but there is really nothing stellar, and actually seems as though the graphics don't "pop" as well as they do on "Raw vs. Smackdown 2009".

So overall, if you've already paid your money for "Raw vs. Smackdown 2009", I don't really recommend you drop the dough for this title. The gameplay is fairly weak, the various game modes don't hold a candle to the "Career" mode or "GM" mode found in recent titles. Unless you are willing to pay for the nostalgic aspect of the game, it's really not worth it.

Here is the complete roster you will find on the game (of course this doesn't include the roster you can import from "Raw vs. Smackdown"):

Andre the Giant

Animal

Arn Anderson

Bam Bam Bigelow

Big Boss Man

Big John Studd

Bobby Heenan

Bret Hart

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Davey Boy Smith

Dusty Rhodes

Greg Valentine

Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Hawk

Honky Tonk Man

Hulk Hogan

Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Iron Sheik

Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Jim The Anvil Neidhart

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka

Jimmy Hart

Junkyard Dog

Kamala

King Kong Bundy

Koko B. Ware

Michael Hayes

Mr. Fuji

Mr. Perfect

Nikolai Volkoff

Paul Bearer

Ravishing Rick Rude

Ric Flair

Rowdy Roddy Piper

Sgt. Slaughter

Shawn Michaels

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Ted DiBiase

The Rock

The Undertaker

Ultimate Warrior

Yokozuna

Pretty solid group of legends....just wish they had been profiled in a better game.

Best Deals for WWE Legends of WrestleMania

This game looks and handles just fine. Until you lock up with another wrestler. At that moment, a giant picture of a random controller button will appear on the screen and you have to press the same button at the EXACT moment it appears. You have about a 25% chance of success on that, since there are 4 buttons, X,Y,B and A. If you don't win "guess that button", you get reversed and slammed. Doesn't matter how much power you have. So if you can win a match by punching and kicking, you will be in good shape. If you attempt a move, there is a 75% chance it will backfire and you will be counter attacked. There is no rhythm, rhyme or reason to the button thing, its just random. What an incredibly stupid thing to implement into an otherwise perfect example of gameplay. I give it 2 stars just because the roster is awesome. But the game is unplayable.

Honest reviews on WWE Legends of WrestleMania

Gameplay:

As an avid wrestling games fan, I believed this game would be at least worthwhile, to play around with the multiple match types as well as go through the career mode with my created wrestler. I didn't get that chance. I came to realize you could only relive, rewrite or re-decide WWE History with the wrestlers provided to you, which makes creating a wrestler virtually pointless (unless you want to play matches which don't get you anywhere). I hadn't owned the Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 version, so I was unable to import any sort of roster into the game which to me, is a major downfall.

Control Scheme:

One word to explain this: sucks. It's horribly put together as you have to rely on button combinations for EVERYTHING. The grapple system is completely lacking, as well as the finisher system, and well... everything. This causes CAW to be limited as well because you have only a few moves to pick from for each action, AND even inputting the variety of moves literally does not make a difference because you cannot even comprehend how to execute them. Running is pretty bad too, as you can only run away from a given opponent, or bounce of the ropes for an attack. If you just wanted to run straight to them to start the match, (as I do mostly with other genres) you can't.

Achievements (360):

This game makes it really easy to get 200g in Achievements within the first 30 min of playtime (within the Legend Killer mode), therefore greatly reducing the replay value trying to earn those extra achievements.

Replay:

None, unless you have been drinking with some friends and don't care about gameplay anyway, you could literally waste 45 minutes before you decided you couldn't really do anything exciting, or before you slammed your Xbox on the floor due to the immense frustration.

Finale:

I wouldn't suggest this game to anyone, unless you are an extremely hardcore fan of the WWE history, or just want to farm some easy achievements. However, if you could find this for 5 dollars somewhere, it may be worth it. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

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For fans of the late 1980s-early 1900s WWF, the ones who still rock out to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme and remember the "Million Dollar Belt", this game will be a gold mine of nostalgia. While the current most popular wrestling video game series (Smackdown vs. Raw) focuses on the contemporary wrestling stars, "Legends of WrestleMania" takes a step back, remembering such figures as Andre The Giant, Ted "Million Dollar Man" Dibiase, Bret Hart, Hogan, and Ultimate Warrior (to name but a few).

The most impressive thing about this game is the nostalgia factor. Each wrestler is a remarkable complete version of themselves from back in the day, right down to their appearance, mannerisms, theme songs, and finishing moves. Jake "The Snake" Roberts comes out with Damien in the bag, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake has the shears, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan has the infamous 2x4, and Honky Tonk Man enters in the full Elvis get-up. Basically, for those of you who were "Hulkamaniacs" (or at least heard of the term), you could spend hours just watching all the entrances and (in some cases; the game modes) videos that lead up to each match.

The biggest complaint fielded about this game is the controls, but to me not even that was a negative deal-breaker. Sure, it isn't the smoothest of control schemes, but even after playing the game for quite awhile I am in no way disgusted with it or in any way affected by them in terms of my in-game enjoyment. In fact, for "old school" gamers like me who struggle with a two-joystick setup, the control scheme is actually a blessing in disguise, as the game can be played on a much simpler level (and still enjoyed) before venturing into the more complex moves.

The most glaring weakness I found in this game was actually a lack of some sort of "career" mode (akin to the "Season/Franchise" mode in the Madden series). Basically, besides the exhibition mode, three primary gaming avenues can be taken: Relive (play as the winner in key WWE matches throughout history), Rewrite (play as the underdog in other key matches), and Redefine (e.g. Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd in a Steel Cage...something that never actually happened). While those modes are great, they don't offer the same thrill as, say, perhaps picking your favorite wrestler and having to fight your way to the top belt.

Thus, for any XBOX 360 gamer looking for a bit of WWF nostalgia, this game will not disappoint. It even includes characters like The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and Shawn "HBK" Michaels to bridge the gap. While the lack of a "career" mode severely limits your gaming options, that weakness is diminished due to the amount of time you will just want to spend re-creating your own matches (in multiple formats) with your buddies. Plus, because of the unique control scheme, beginner gamers will find the game easy to pick up on.

Reviews of Hot Wheels World Race NGC

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List Price: $29.95
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(I'm typing for my 7 year-old son)

I think that it is not fair that the AI players always land on the top level and jump over my car. And I'm a good driver and it is hard to win.

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Good game, especially for young boys that love Hot Wheels and driving cars. Not difficult to play and plenty of different levels and cars to unlock.

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My kids (ages 4 and 7) love this game and they play it with their Dad and I. So, it's fun for all ages.

Guild Wars 2 - PC (Standard Edition) Reviews

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List Price: $49.99
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My MMO history: WoW for 5 years, SWTOR for about 9-10 months, GW2 for 3 days.

I started playing GW2 Saturday night during pre-release. At this time I have only played one race and one profession: Sylvari Elementalist. I have her up to level 22.

I expect this MMO to do well for several reasons: 1) GW1 has been online for a while now, which makes me feel more confident in the ongoing care the developers will give GW2. 2) It's not a "grinder." 3) No monthly subscription fee.

I have not played arena PVP yet. I have played WvWvW once. It's a great idea, but I didn't have fun in it, despite everyone else's glowing reviews. Reasons being: 1) huge maps = lots of running around to find a fight, 2) my PC had performance issues when more than 25 people were on screen, effectively ruining the gameplay for me. I love PVP, so I will definitely be giving W3 several more chances.

My Likes:

This is not a WoW clone like SWTOR was. Mind you I LOVE WoW and enjoyed SWTOR, but when I buy a new game, I don't expect nor want it to be a clone of the last game I played. I am looking for a new experience, which GW2 has in spades.

The achievement system offers XP in a way that equates it with daily quests in WoW. This is awesome because almost everything you do gives you XP or counts towards an achievement. The result is a sense that whatever you choose to do in your playtime truly will advance your character. In my opinion, this is extremely refreshing after doing repetitive dailies in WoW for so long.

The Dynamic Events and Area Quests lend to a feeling of openness of world and promote exploration. I haven't had a feeling like that since my first days of vanilla WoW.

I've heard mixed reviews on the use of Waypoints instead of mounts/flight paths. I actually love the Waypoints. Does teleporting around ruin some of the immersion? Yes. You what else ruins immersion for me? Taking a 4 minute+ flight path. The Waypoints are many and often and have no cooldown. Personally, the use of Waypoints gives me more inclination to keep exploring, since I don't have to worry about how long it might take me to get back to my main quest.

No load times. No travel times (flight paths). In WoW, I would browse the internet during flight paths. In SWTOR, I would browse during FP's and the frequent loading screens. So far in GW2, I haven't had one boring moment which inspired me to browse the internet.

Simplified spell bar. At first I was stunned and upset that there are only 10 hot-keyed spells, but the more I play around, the more I realize that choosing your weapons, active spells, and (in the case of an Elementalist) stance gives you a lot of personalized control over your play style.

No mana/rage/energy management. No holy trinity. This is just so different that I find it intriguing. I can't say more until I get higher level.

No ninja's. If you help with the kill, you get XP and loot rights. Gathering resources are available for all, so you're not constantly feeling the need to rush to resources when spotted. Having many other players in your questing area is always a good thing and never upsets your personal experience.

No opposing factions on server. I can talk to anyone I want and don't need to worry that my friends or family chose Allies over Horde, Imperial over Republic, etc.

No monthly fee and no endgame raiding gives me an incentive to play at my own pace. It's nice to be reminded that MMO's should be fun, and not just a rush to endgame so you can be the first on server to down a boss or clear a dungeon. I've been through all that. It was fun for a time, but it was also WORK and very time consuming.

You can dye your gear at any time, for no charge.

My Dislikes:

You cannot have characters on multiple servers.

o I don't expect this to be changed/fixed.

The movement could be smoother. I can't put my finger on it, but the movement seems less accurate in this game than in WOW or SWTOR. I find myself headed the wrong direction more often than I ever did in other games. Already I am getting accustomed to the movement and don't find it such a hindrance anymore, but still, it could use improvement.

o I don't expect this to be changed/fixed.

Grouping with friends isn't a fun experience. My husband and I attempted to play this game in a group, but gave up after about 10 levels. Because of the overflow instancing that is being used right now, we were often in different instances and therefore could not quest together. Also, there is no auto-follow and the dot that represents your party members on the mini-map and map are hard to see. Not being able to effectively group didn't ruin our gaming experience, but did squash our idea of calling our playtime "quality time together" LOL. Now, if we weren't in the same room playing, but instead across the state or across the country from each other, this would have been a much bigger gripe for me.

o I do expect this to be changed/fixed.

Only 5 default character slots, but 8 total professions!

o I understand that at some point I will be able to purchase additional slots, either through real money or in-game currency.

It's almost like the devs for this game really considered the most common BIG gripes in MMO's and took measures to correct those situations. GW2 fixed the below issues:

1. It takes too long to grind gear. If I don't have 10+ hours a week to play, I will never be on par with the more hardcore gamers and their gear.

a. All players are equalized in PVP so it is more skill based than gear based.

2. Other players ruin my experience by tagging all the mobs, stealing loot, or ganking me when I am questing.

a. No opposing factions. Equalized levels depending on the questing area. Shared kill credit and loot availability.

3. I'm tired of always dragging a tank or healer for my group.

a. GW2 removes the holy trinity (tank, heal, dps) and replaces it with professions that all have their own ability to do some tanking, healing, or dps.

4. I don't like paying a monthly fee.

a. No problem FREE TO PLAY!

5. I want to play with my friend, regardless of level, story/quest progression, or faction.

a. Can do! Players are automatically leveled down to the appropriate level for the area they are in. Quests are dynamic events so you can almost always bet you will be on the same step of the quest. There are no warring factions on server.

6. There is no incentive to visit or revisit low level quest areas, effectively quarantining endgame to max level areas.

a. Because of the leveling down I explained above, one could quest in low level areas and still get rewards and a challenging experience. In fact, you will need to do this in order to reach appropriate levels to complete your class quests.

**UPDATE**

The "join" group feature is now working as expected and we have been able to successfully group as needed!

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It seems like the past few years have been dreary for the MMO market. Even games that I was excited about due to the premise and my history with the series (SWTOR, I'm looking at you) have failed to deliver a fun, polished, innovative experience. I have seen truly interesting games pushed out far before they were ready, I've seen almost direct ripoffs of Warcraft, and I've also seen a lot of games that simply have no heart. Because of this, and perhaps because I was only a mild fan of the original Guild Wars, I followed the Guild Wars 2 hype with a fair amount of skepticism. The energy and the passion of the developers began to intrigue me, though, so I pre-purchased the game in order to have access to the beta weekends -and there was no turning back. The most important thing I should say is that you should throw out any pre-conceptions you have about the game based on the original Guild Wars. While there are certainly some familiar aspects this is a complete redesign of the Guild Wars experience.

The first thing that struck me about the game was the sheer size, level of detail, and outright beauty of the world. This is the first game where I have walked into a main city and could actually imagine thousands of people living there. It is a great deal of fun to explore, and this becomes a key part of the game. Rather than simply being pointed to a town where you talk to a handful of NPCs, pick up a handful of quests, trot off twenty feet to handle the quests, return, rinse and repeat, this game encourages you to get out and take a look around. When you need direction you can look at your map and there will be hearts indicating someone in need of help -but the true purpose of these hearts is to get out you into that area to be exposed to the events that happen there. These events can be as small as bandits raiding a farmer's field, or a massive Shadow Behemoth on the scale of a raid boss, but there is almost always something to be seen. Forget the blinders that most MMOs have you put on while you quest: Guild Wars 2 wants you to rip them off, pay attention, and wander off whenever something strikes your fancy.

The Guild Wars team has put a lot of thought into some of the social dynamics of MMOs, and I have to sheepishly agree that I was much like everyone else. I glared virtual daggers at any player that would show up and start killing 'my' boars, mining 'my' material nodes, and otherwise doing what any normal player should be doing. Prior MMOs fed this anti-social, territorial urge by limiting the ways you could cooperate and share resources. I had to group up with that total stranger in order to share kill credit, and I had to dash around madly to collect crafting resources because if the other player got there first it was gone. Though the purpose of an MMO was to play with others, it was often less beneficial to do so and enforced an every man for himself mentality. Guild Wars does away with all this nonsense and makes it exciting to see other players again. Anyone who participates gets credit, a player mining a resource node doesn't make it disappear for you, and some of the events are difficult enough that it is a relief when a large pack of players shows up to assist. As an interesting touch, the final area of player conflict (PvP/WvW) even opts to show you a generic name for the opposing team's members instead of giving you a player name so no grudge can be carried over from the match.

I could talk endlessly about the combat system and the crafting system, but these are certainly a matter of taste and best experienced on your own. Suffice to say, combat is smooth and the animations satisfying, and the crafting system is simple yet elegant. There is a level of polish here that has been sorely lacking in other games of late, and though I've only made it to level 20 so far it is obvious that there is enough to keep me occupied for months on end. Each class is distinct and rewarding in its own right, and if you find you don't care for the play style be sure to swap your weapons and try the other skill mixes before giving up on the class completely. Warrior felt distinctly 'meh' to me with the first set of weapons I started with, and then suddenly became ripping fun when I was able to switch to something with skills more fast-pasted. Even classes I didn't much care for in the original game, such as the Necromancer, shine in their new incarnation. Your character feels solidly connected to the world, without the sense of floating or gliding that ruins the immersion. This has been a huge pet peeve for me, and it's nice to finally see another game get this right. And to those who think ten skills is too little, I will pose this question: How many of those fifty+ buttons did you use in your rotation in World of Warcraft? In most cases, only a small handful that varied depending on your build, and then a few utility skills. This is no different, except for the lack of UI clutter and the fact that 'switching spec' is simply switching your weapon.

This is a gorgeous, fun, and well thought-out game. If you are on the fence I encourage you to go to their web site and read the developer blogs and other material, watch some videos, and if your curiosity is piqued dive in. Without a monthly fee you have ample time to explore every avenue the game has, and even if you find it is not to your taste I suspect you would find you've spent much more time with the game than many FPS titles of the same price. This is well worth the cost, if only to experience what I feel is a solid step forward in the gaming world, and that is encouraging people to play *together* instead of against each other.

Best Deals for Guild Wars 2 - PC (Standard Edition)

I played during closed beta and all of the open beta weekends. As the beta progressed, I began to realize that this was not an MMORPG for me. I really really wanted to like this game, so I decided to purchase it as well. Unfortunately, not much has changed gameplay-wise since closed beta.

I have played MMORPGs since 1998, and I primarily get my enjoyment out of them through acquiring new armor/weapons. I enjoy progressing my character seeing my character look more badass as he levels up, and it has always been my motivation for leveling up. However, GW2 does not cater to this type of player. This may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your opinion. Stats on loot are relatively negligible and most armor is essentially cosmetic (this is a slight simplification of the system, but holds true compared to other MMORPGs). This is not really a surprise, since GW1 ran under a similar model. I guess I was hoping things would be different. I don't want to give the impression I'm a hardcore gamer. I've never really raided much or anything like that, but I guess I felt like there was no motivation to level up. You can compete PvP and WvWvW from level 1, you unlock the majority of your skills in the first 10 levels, your armor is largely cosmetic, and your character is scaled to the local content (so if you're level 50, but want to level in the level 1 15 zones, you can still get your ass handed to you). The end result, for me at least, was little motivation to play.

With that being said, if you enjoy MMORPGs, I would definitely still recommend buying it, as it is a well polished game. Also, since it doesn't have a monthly fee, you can easily get your money's worth even if you only play a couple months. However, if your primary drive for playing MMORPGs is leveling and character development, this game may leave more to be desired. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

Edit (12/10/12): It looks like, from reading other reviews, that this game has changed quite a bit since I wrote the review. It sounds now like they have added a gear grind to the game. I can't really comment because I don't play anymore, but my review is now slightly out of date.

Honest reviews on Guild Wars 2 - PC (Standard Edition)

I finally broke down on impulse and bought Guild Wars 2 to try and it and, boy, was that a good decision. I don't know if I will convince any of you to partake, but I really hope you do. This is my favorite game of all time, displacing Skyrim, World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy VII, and it's now all I do during my gaming time. In my review, I will also hit on some WoW comparisons, because if you're like me, there will be some audience overlap. Here goes nothing:

Class Selection and Definition

The game calls classes "professions" and, from the beginning, each one is differentiated and engaging. I won't write about each one, but I have mostly played an engineer for now. He gets a blend of bombs, grenades, turrets to help him and allies in combat, toting a rifle or a shotgun for his own protection. The magic classes have vast arrays of spells. Every class has some type of heal, even if it's minimal, but for each class your gameplay gets you into the character you are. Warriors are rewarded for staying in combat. Engineers and ranged classes WILL get killed if they don't move. There are eight focused classes, I've tried three, and I've heard they are all great. People have not complained of an "OP class", which I'll help explain by hitting on combat.

Combat Dynamics

Battles are much longer than in Warcraft and you can't really one-hit kill people. It takes a while to beat a person into submission. When a player runs out of health, they fall onto the ground and get a last chance to fight back, or call for help from allies. If you see a wounded ally down, you can pull them up. Also, if a wounded enemy is making their last call for help, you can do a finishing move to kill them for good. If you die, you restart at a waypoint that you have discovered and take a small equipment hit.

Race Selection and Definition

There are five races, and each is beautiful and differentiated. I have looked at three. Character design is really fun, and when you run around zones, players look really different as a result. I am playing as Charr, a cruel animal species. Each class/race combo gets its own story that is instanced. There are 40 in all (8x5). Mine involves trying to create secret plans for a weapon. The first part was an instanced fight where enemies invaded my house. It was amazing.

NPC Conversations and Cutscenes

The game is loaded with conversations and cutscenes, all of which go to beautifully animated character interactions that are all spoken. They are really breathtaking.

Gear Dying

You start with a small number of dyes that you can use to change the color of your gear at any time, for free. As the game progresses, you can discover new dyes that you can learn permanently. It is really fun and allows you to give your character a really differentiated look that can change over time.

Questing Structure

Guild Wars really did a great job in overhauling the traditional "gather 10 sandwiches for me" quests in wow. When you talk to NPCs, you get objectives, which, yes, track in the upper-right hand corner like in WoW. However, the number of things you need to gather and the "annoyance" grindiness of it really is gone. You have to try it to see what I mean. Additionally, if someone else is working on the same quest and picks up things to help the objective, you get credit too. It's a really great system.

World Events

In addition to traditional questing, when you walk around, circles will appear on the map alerting you to a group quest. These involve much harder/larger objectives that are really fun. When the objective is achieved, you are graded from nothing/bronze/silver/gold on your contributions and get gear. These are great so far and have included killing a huge warm and stopping waves of intruders from penetrating a base.

Zone Exploration and Leveling

Each zone has multiple quests and objectives. You discover them organically by walking around although, it's not a "npc-find-fest" in that you can really feel free to roam and get alerts when you're near neat objectives. You don't need to hit all of them, although you get large bonuses for completing all tasks in a zone. You never have to go back to NPCs to turn things in your quest just triggers complete when finished.

Swimming/Underwater Exploration

Usually this would be a sidenote, but it merits special talking points in Guild Wars. Underwater animation is gorgeous and, for each profession, you have a special underwater weapon. I spent 40 minutes yesterday just swimming underwater and firing my classes weapon: a torpedo launcher. The graphics work and realistic swimming interactions are great. Also, when you exit the water, you get a "splash" across your screen that fades out, a neat small touch of how you need a moment to regain vision after being deep in the water.

Vistas

In each zone, there are points called vistas which you get xp for finding. These are amazing vantage points that give you a view of a particularly beautiful part of a zone. These can be hard to get to often they will be on top of a mountain that requires delicate jumping, or they are up a path on the top of a mountain or castle. When you hit the vista, you get a cutscene showing the beautiful view of that little area plus an xp bonus. These are really fun to go after and encourage zone exploration.

XP Generation

While I'm at it, I should mention how much I love the xp system. You get XP for everything. You get XP for gathering wood or berries. You get XP for crafting. You get XP for pulling up fallen comrades. You get XP for kills. You get XP for completing certain number of achievements each day. It's really nice because you feel like doing ANYTHING is rewarded and it makes you choice of what to do always feel rewarding. Also, and I'll hit this in achievements, you can often build up to goals for a day or month without knowing it and it feels so awesome when a reward kicks in.

Environmental Interaction

Every environmental object means something in guild wars. If you find rocks and trees around the landscape, hiding behind them makes bullets miss you. If you have a height advantage, you hit for me. There is no clipping. The idea that literally everything you see is important and plays a role in combat decisions is wonderful. Also, the environments are each very well thought out and look gorgeous.

Character Dolls

Guild Wars uses a pretty standard MMO doll, but with compressed item slots. There are about 15, if I had to guess off the top of my head. Most of the usual things like head, shoulders, etc, rings, trinkets are there. A neat feature is items you can upgrade with automatically pull to a window on the left that lets you upgrade. Also, after level 7, you can have two weapons that you can toggle between using a hotkey equipped at once. It allows a really cool range of battle choices.

Talents/Abilities

Talents are neatly broken down into three areas: abilities gained by using a weapon, class abilities, and traditional talents (player bonuses) in the Warcraft/MMO sense. For each weapon, you get abilities from 1-5 on your hotbar. You start with ability 1, the first time you pick up that weapon. As you use that ability, you unlock ability 2, then 3, etc. It is a nice delay because you get them pretty quickly, but it's just enough time that you can get used to each of the five abilities. For abilities 6-10, you unlock a choice for each slot as you level. To choose abilities for those slots, you need skill points, which you get as you level. You can unlock about 5-10 choices for each of the slots and can change between them, but you only have 10 abilities at once. I actually like this a lot better than the 20-30 ability madfest in wow, although you can alter to try different gameplay styles. For traditional talents, you get these at level 11, and you get to improve a specific area of your character. For my engineer, for example, these included bomb strength or grenade strength, as an example. The abilities you get are really neat. Right now on my engineer, I am playing with a bullet turret, medic turret and flame turret, along with the five abilities on my shotgun.

World Weapons

On the landscape, you can sometimes find random objects to interact with, like crowbars, bottles, crates, swords of other players, etc. Many of these are things you can pick up, and they will give you five new abilities for the left side of your ability bar. It's an amazingly fun feature.

Looting

Looting is similar to other MMORPGs: some, but not at all, enemies will get shiny after death and you just press f to loot them. However, for many larger world quests, you get a popup that you received gear. Also, after completing certain quests you will get mail from npcs thanking you. It's neat to get those. You can open your mail at any time on the overhead.

Gear Design / Presentation

Gear looks great although the level of item differentiation does not get great until higher levels, as is true in other MMORPGs. Much of the lowbie stuff looks the same, but I have seen screenpics of high level stuff and it's gorgeous.

Crafting and Professions

Guild Wars focuses you on just two professions. I chose cooking and leatherworking. You need to actively gather items in the landscape in order to boost most skills. The recipes and things you make are really fun. It's actually fun to craft. You can take new ingredients, experiment with combinations, and learn new recipes. You can also buy recipes in more traditional ways. Another neat thing is that when you want to craft, say, 10 of something, the first one takes a while, in the way a wow bar would take a second, but then each additional craft speeds up so it goes REALLY quickly. It sounds like a small detail but it's nice. I also like how you don't have to end your life to work on professions and it's focused. Others include jeweling and weaponry. You get XP for crafting, which is also neat.

Gems/Inserts

Like in other MMORPGs, you can find gems or other special inserts for weapons with slots to improve their stats. These can be found randomly or crafted.

Gathering

You need to purchase gathering tools, which are inexpensive but have limited uses (like say 100 axes), and you can click on things in the landscape. It is really neat when you find a tree or ore that is activated and you don't have to "compete" with other players for the node. Anybody can swing at it and it's phased as each player's individual node. You do need appropriate level axes/sickles etc to gather, though. The types of things you gather are in three categories: sickled foods, herbs/trees and minerals.

Achievements

The achievement structure is one of my favorite parts of the game. You can get achievements for SO many things. You can get achievements for killing varieties of enemies. You can get achievements for PvP. You can get achievements for picking up fallen comrades. Best of all though, in eliminating dailies, they instead have daily and monthly achievements which are broad and rewarding for more gameplay but eliminate the daily grind that so many players hate. For example, if you hit 19 daily achievements, you get a large reward. For me, this broke down to a few enemy kills, some crafting and gathering, some zone exploration, and some vistas. You also get reward for hitting your monthly achievements. And the points from your achievements give you tokens that you can use to buy gear. It's a BEAUTIFULLY executed achievement system.

Structured PvP

PvP is broken down into structured PvP and World versus World PvP. Structured PvP is like most MMORPGs. You queue for an island that has battlegrounds, you queue for a match, you play one of several games, you score honor. The battlegrounds are very well made and really fun to play. The note earlier about landscape interaction makes them particularly great. In the structured mode, everybody is automatically put at the level cap (80) and given medium level gear. As you play in this mode, two things happen. First, you get an honor-like equivalent to buy better gear above your base stats. Second, you gain ranking. For me, I started as a "pup", but for each amount of honor you increase your rank. However, you do not level your base character playing structured PvP. It is its own system and the systems stay in structured PvP. This is a great mode but, personally, I get the most excited about...

World versus World PvP and a Note on Factions and Server Choice

World versus World PvP!!!!! Of the many things I love about the game, this is my favorite. So, when you start the game, you choose a server. Guild Wars made a good number, so almost all are full or heavy population. Your entire "faction", re: alliance vs horde, good vs bad, is your server versus two other servers. For example, my server is called sea of sorrows. All servers are in multiples of three and each server is paired with two others that it fights in PvP. World PvP has a running, constant score between the three factions. World PvP is fought in a system of four large maps. You queue for one of the four. When you get in, you are on a HUGE map with open landscapes, castles, cottages and forts. You fight to control as many points of control as possible, but there are many objectives. You project supply caravans. You batter down castles, you defend points of control. Every 5-10 minutes, your color (there is red, green and blue to represent the three servers) scores points depending on its control, with the most points for a castle and less for a fort or small cottage area. These points go towards a larger balance that boosts some stat, like XP generation or stamina or gathering bonuses, for your entire server permanently.

The World PvP is the first game I've ever played in my life that finally meets the dreams and idea of what I had my whole life of PvP in a game. Let me give the castles as an example. When you are attacking the castle, you are literally attacking a tall, three-dimensional castle. You can attack the walls, but they are nearly impossible to take down. You can attack the gate, but you really need siege weapons to do it. To get/build siege weapons, you need supplies, from across the map, and the blueprints, which you can buy over time. Once the siege is built, you can start ramming, the wall. The range of things you can build/use to attack are amazing. On the other end, defenders can run into the castles, which look AMAZING. In the castles, you can also build fortifications with your quartermaster, including boiling oil that you can control, archers, commissioning new troops, etc. It is just so, so amazing. For each three servers, four world PvP zones are contested and, at any time, you can press B to see what the balance of the three server's fight is. The best past, though, is that it's three servers fighting and not two. It makes for a real mad fight. Also, keep in mind that each of the four zones are HUGE and that there are no mounts. I fought in a world PvP battle last night for four hours, and did not get bored for a second. I would almost buy the game just to world PvP, just to see what it's like.

Instances

Instances are really fun and dynamic and serve the large storylines. Dungeons are well instanced and they are NOT easy. You really have to pay attention and play with a good group to get through them. Highly, highly recommend. Boss fights are a thrill.

Raids

I have not seen these but I understand they are some. But, admittedly, raiding is not as big of a focus as it is in Warcraft. The big focus is on PvP.

Overflows

They have managed to control the latency issues most games have with huge numbers of players by having this great idea called zone overflows. First, for world versus world pvp, you have to queue to get in. Mind you, even in BETA, yesterday, I waited, each time, only about 60 seconds. There is a cap so it can be completely smooth, even when you have a 50 versus 50 player battle, plus NPCs on a castle, like did yesterday. For zones, if you queue into one that is highly populated, you get put in an overflow. What this means is you can do EVERYTHING in a mirror copy of the zone that you would normally do, but other players aren't in there with you. Once the overflows clears and you are told you can enter, you immediately queue into the exact same place in the zone but the "real" one with other players. You earn all rewards and things as you would normally while in overflow. Overflow only happened to me once last night and it lasted only 15 seconds. This helps also control latency and keep everything very smooth.

Mounts/Pets

There are no mounts, but I understand there are pets, which are hard to get.

Cross-Zone Travel

You find waypoints while exploring which you can then travel back to / spawn at for a very small fee.

General Graphical Presentation

Everything is amazing and it's heads-and-tails better than any MMORPG I've ever seen, both in terms of raw graphics, but also the game engines quality in controlling latency.

Sound

Sound effects and music are off the hook.

Combat Responsiveness / Structure

You have the ten abilities, five core to your weapon and five selected, plus you have a power bar that lets you do a quick roll or dodge in any direction. You have enough power at any time for two dodges in a row, back to back, and then it has to recharge. Health regenerates VERY quickly when you are out of combat.

Guilds

Guilds are amazing. I joined one yesterday and the rewards and efforts you have are really cool. You save up guild achievements points and then queue improvements you want to build for your guild, but they take a long time. We just queued up an improvement that will take 4 days to finish. It's hard to explain but there's a scale and scope of things you can build and do with the guild that is really cool. As your guild gets better and better, it can commission weapons and armor for your whole guild which people can buy, as well as other items. It is AMAZING. You can make a guild weapon or armor that everybody in your guild can buy as standard equipment.

Paid Economy

The game has no monthly subscription and has certain things, all completely non-necessary, that you can get for sapphires, or bought game credits. You can get cosmetic items. You can get boosts to experience or honor earned. You can buy extra bank slots. You can buy pets or other funny effects in PvP. I saw a few things I might shell out a few bucks out on for fun, but there's nothing there you have to have to do well and move on in the game.

Inventory/Bank Management and Display

The game automatically compresses bags and you can instantly move items used for crafting to your bank from anywhere at any time, which is awesome for saving space. You can also fast-sell junk with vendors. It also sorts all your bank items by what they are used for, in a way that's very useful and time-saving.

Cost

The game is $60 with no subscription fee.

Replayability

I can't see myself ever getting tired of this.

Conclusion

I like this game BETTER than Skyrim and, while the focus on PvE is maybe not as much as in WoW, I think the PvP is much, much, much much better. I would say, hold your breath, I honestly like this as much as WoW and it's the best PvP game I've ever played in my life. I highly recommend you get it if you have any interest and you seriously won't regret it. I know I sometimes say that and you guys roll your eyes but, seriously, if you are even thinking of WoW PvP, this BLOWS It out of the water. Buy it dudes. See you on the Sea of Sorrows server.

Top three game I've ever played, easy. Probably tied for one with WoW, and ahead of Skyrim. If you did nothing but World PvP, you would find it worth the money three times over.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Guild Wars 2 - PC (Standard Edition)

When ArenaNet was telling us what their philosophy on gaming was before GW2 was launched, they told us there'd be no grind for better gear, and that the rarest gear in the game would be differentiated by appearance only not stats.Colin Johanson, Lead Content Designer said:

"The rarest items in the game are not more powerful than other items, so you don't need them to be the best. The rarest items have unique looks to help your character feel that sense of accomplishment, but it's not required to play the game. We don't need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don't are just as powerful and get to have fun too."

Mike O'Brien, Arenanet President and Founder said:

"Here's what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can't realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don't make grindy games we leave the grind to other MMOs."

These statements convinced me to buy GW2. I believed that GW2 would be something different and better than any other MMO. And until November 15th, it was. I enjoyed exploring the world. I didn't worry about having sub-par gear and the need to grind out better gear, because that's not what the game was about.

On November 15th, they added a new tier of "Ascended Gear" with improved stats over anything else in the game. Moreover, the grind to acquire this gear is like nothing I've seen in any other games. First you must acquire the gear, then you must "infuse" it to progress in their new, stratified dungeon "Fractals of the Mists".

To craft 12 Ascended items (a full set of gear) requires:

3000 tier 6 fine crafting material

12 vials of condensed mist essence

600 globs of ectoplasm

288 skill points

To infuse 12 Ascended items requires:

3000 Passion Fruits

1200 Vicious Claws

12 Eldritch Scrolls = 600 skill points

240 Mystic Coins = 240 daily achievements

No thanks, ArenaNet. I'm not getting on that treadmill. Moreover, it's EXACTLY what you promised you wouldn't do with Guild Wars 2.

Best of luck.