Alfa AWUS036H Upgraded to 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g High Gain USB Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $99.98
Sale Price: $21.28
Today's Bonus: 79% Off

Nearly all Amazon.com reviewers agree, the Alfa AWUS036H is the long range WiFi antenna on the market. But with 3 antenna options to chose from, which is the best setup?

I own the all 3 wi-fi antennas from Alpha: 5dBi omni-directional, 7dBi panel, 9dBi omni-directional. The Alfa AWUS036H with the 7dBi antenna is the best performing set up: Alfa AWUS036H Upgraded to 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g High Gain USB Wireless Long-Rang WiFi network Adapter with 5dBi Rubber Antenna and a 7dBi Panel Antenna for Wardriving & Range Extension *Strongest on the Market*

With the 5dBi omni antenna, I can get 2-3 bars from a public wi-fi signal a little over 1 mile away (direct line of sight).

With the 9dBi omni antenna, I get only 0-1 bar with dropped signals.

With the 7dBi panel antenna, I get 3-4 bars with the fastest data transfer rates.

I have even tested the 5dBi and 7 dBi side by side and the 7dBi loads web pages in less than 1/2 the speed as the 5dBi antenna.

I have done a fair amount of research before purchasing the Alfa AWUS036H unit. The general consensus is that this unit has much better performance for B and G networks than the newer Alfa AWUS036NH model. But for accessing N networks, the newer model is necessary.

Although I still own the 5dBi and 9dBi antennas, I only ever use the 7dBi panel antenan. It's actually shorter in size and easier to transport than the 5dBi model. Go with the 7dBi you'll get the best performance.

***** UPDATED COMPARISON *****

Aug 25, 2011: Using Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor software, I compared the signal strength of this Alfa AWUS036H with the 7dBi panel antenna Alfa 2.4HGz 7dBi Booster SMA Panel High-Gain Screw-On Swivel Antenna or to the new High Power USB-Yagi Plug and Play directional WiFi Antenna 802.11n 2200mW / NextG USB-Yagi Plug & Play 11N Long Range WiFi antenna 2200mW. In nearly every test location, the Alfa rated 1 bar better and -10 RSSI (Receiving Signal Strength Indication) better (with RSSI signals negative numbers are better).

Although the 2200mW Yagi antenna is much larger and twice the power, it pulls in a weaker signal and slower data transfer than the 1000mW Alfa 7dBi panel antenna.

Still this Alfa AWUS036H is the best performing wi-fi antenna on the market. Thank you Alfa!

*** IMPORTANT ***

Please rate this review as 'helpful' to push this review to the product's home page so that everyone can get the best performing WiFi antenna setup: Alfa AWUS036H Upgraded to 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g High Gain USB Wireless Long-Rang WiFi network Adapter with 5dBi Rubber Antenna and a 7dBi Panel Antenna for Wardriving & Range Extension *Strongest on the Market*

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I purchased this item because I live in the country and the cable company refuses me service. I recently purchased a laptop and was able to pick up a weak signal from my neighbor's router (with their permission) so I bought this in hopes of boosting the signal. I immediately went from 1 bar to 3 and sometimes even 4. They are also selling this same adapter with a bigger antenna and I am thinking about trying that one out. I have used this with Vista and XP and it works great with both though I did have to download drivers for Vista off website but it was no big deal. I am a mom and no computer whiz and searched the internet for the best adapter and a decent price and was a little weary about this but it is working great so far.

Best Deals for Alfa AWUS036H Upgraded to 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g High Gain USB

I had this booster to increase the receiving signal from one bar to 2-3 bars. It was function as promised. However, something you need to know which does not explicitly explain in the manu. Signal dropped from weak 54MB/s to strong 10MB/s for steadly receivig signal (can not stay with 801.11G and switch to 801,11b speed), second when you use the enclosed software to install proper driver as suggested. My original wireless driver was removed from the laptop without warning. When I tried to use my laptop at other strong signal place without using booster, I could not connect to any wireless access point , and original wireless driver can't be found and need to reinstall original wireless driver again. It took a while to find out why laptop won't work anymore. This is good stuff but it took over the system and install it own with unwant consequence.

KK

Honest reviews on Alfa AWUS036H Upgraded to 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g High Gain USB

This gadget is a truly amazing device for picking up WiFi signals from a lot further away than is normally possible. WiFi is a wireless internet connection technology which normally works over a maximum distance of 100 200 metres (300 600ft). Due to the fact that this device features a much more sensitive aerial receiver, as well as a much stronger transmitter, it greatly extends the distance you can connect to a WiFi hotspot. Most laptops have a built in 50mW WiFi transmitter, so at 500mW this one is 10 times as powerful. With the Alfa, you *might* expect to still be able to connect to WiFi hotspots 2 3 km (1 2 miles) away, sometimes further. For the process of 'wardriving' (connecting to free WiFi hotspots on your travels), this device would seem ideal.

It connects to your computer using a standard USB cable, which means you can keep your laptop in a convenient location, while clipping the adaptor somewhere where the reception is better such as next to your window. Assuming that you already have an internet connection, it will automatically find and download it's own drivers (It identifies itself to the computer as a Realtek RTL8187 Wireless Network Adaptor). There are specialist drivers for many different operating systems (Eg. Mac / Linux) available from the Alfa website at , and you should definitely consider using one of these drivers if it fails to automatically install.

I work on a cruise ship where the only standard connection is via a satellite, and the internet is correspondingly very expensive. I bought this WiFi extender to see if I could connect to free WiFi hotspots in our ports of call without leaving the ship!! I've previously tried to connect to WiFi hotspots using my laptop's built in WiFi, but the distances are usually too great and connection is usually very slow (or drops out completely after a few seconds of use). I've only been using the Alfa for a couple of weeks, but it has completely revolutionized my browsing habits. My cruise ship goes to 8 different ports of call in 2 weeks, and I am now able to find free WiFi hotspots in 7 out of 8 ports. Often I am able to connect whilst still inside my cabin, by placing the adaptor next to the cabin porthole. If that is not possible, I go to the front of the ship and sit on the deck-chairs.

Browsing performance is usually fast and responsive, more so if there is a single obvious hotspot to connect to. If you are in the centre of town where there are many different hotspots available, you will need a good strong one which stands out from the crowd. A clear line of sight to the WiFi hotspot is also useful, as buildings and/or mountains will usually degrade the signal significantly. My cabin on the ship is 20 metres (60ft) above the sea, so I usually get a good line of sight. At this slightly raised elevation, the performance of the device is usually good, and sometimes exceptional. I have easily connected to WiFi hotspots 2 3km (1 2 miles) away, and browsed with broadband speeds. At its most breathtaking, the ship was cruising up the east coast of Mexico, and I was able to connect and (slowly) browse some of the free beach resort WiFi's in Cancun and that was at least 12km (8 miles) away.

I did mention that you needed a good strong WiFi signal which stands out from the crowd. Not all hotspots transmit with the same power some are weak and some are strong. Grand Cayman is a good example of why you can still have difficulty finding a WiFi hotspot when there are still loads of them around. Cayman is well developed and there is a WiFi hotspot on every corner and hotel. Using a WiFi sniffing program (InSSIDer) and the Alfa, I was able to count more than 200 WiFi signals probably covering the entire west of the island. Normally, with the WiFi signal degrading beyond 100 200 metres, the different hotspots don't interfere with each other. With the Alfa able to find literally hundreds of hotspots, and with those hotspots using the same channels and frequencies, I think there is a lot of interference with each other and this slows the internet connection and makes it difficult to connect. In Grand Cayman, 500 metres away from about 20 30 relatively weak hotspots, I had difficulty connecting to any one of them. So, rather counter-intuitively, in a built up area with multiple weak hotspots, you might be better off walking closer to a hotspot you know, unplugging your Alfa, and using your laptop's weaker built-in WiFi.

Hints & Tips... With the WiFi signal travelling over such long distances, and with the greater possibility of signal interference or dropout, there is likely to be more variability in your browsing experience. Sometimes you will be able to connect; Sometimes not. Sometimes you will be browsing at broadband speeds; sometimes at telephone dial-up speeds. The message to take away is to keep persevering. Sometimes a hotspot will appear to reject your connection, but try a few more times and eventually it may connect. Sometimes waiting an hour will make all the difference.

Are there any disadvantages? It's difficult to think of any, but at 500mW, you have to presume that it eats up your laptop battery much faster than the built in WiFi adaptor. Another thing: Just because you can connect to a WiFi hotspot, doesn't mean that it will be free !!!

Anyway, I believe I can wholeheartedly recommend this device, especially if you are trying to connect to a WiFi signal which would otherwise be too far away.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Alfa AWUS036H Upgraded to 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g High Gain USB

I'm a Mac user who purchased this as an enhancement of and backup to my Macbook's Airport capacities. The device does do a good job of detecting available wireless signals, and the fact that it clearly identifies networks as encrypted or open is a considerable time-saver. However, there are times when the Alfa cannot connect to a certain network that my built-in Airport can. Such occasions entail a lot of repeat attempts and switchings between Alfa and Airport (and general frustration) that, in turn, prove this product less than entirely dependable.

A few other things to note:

1) You must download the correct drivers from the Realtek website -that is, the exact download corresponding to your OS version -or else your machine may not even recognize the adapter enough to acknowledge anything has been newly connected via USB.

2) The first product I received (from this Amazon seller) did not work, but I sent it back and upon request received a prompt replacement, which turned out fine. Just be aware that there may be defective versions out there -but do make sure it's not a problem with the drivers before you decide the device is defective.

3) I must say that I was extremely wary of buying this product, given many reviews here by people who, despite having met Amazon's 'realname' qualification, seem to have had a very short history on Amazon and/or have reviewed only this one product. This fact still puzzles me, even as the product works better than I expected (if not as well as I'd hoped).

Dragon's Crown - Playstation 3 Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $39.48
Today's Bonus: 21% Off

Final Fight, Knights of the Round, The Punisher, The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Golden Axe, Double Dragon, and of course, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara . . . any of these titles bring back memories-preferably fond ones? The beat'em up, as it's so aptly referred to, is a genre that had its heyday in the '90s, when arcades were still a thing, TGIF was the best damn night in television, and Star Wars: Episode I had yet to ruin everything. It was a genre, along with fighters, that dominated my childhood, and while the past few years have been kind to fighting fans, fans of beat'em ups have had to sift through digital offerings for some of that mind-numbing, side-scrolling action.

Vanillaware, a purveyor of 2D games, such as GrimGrimoire, Odin Sphere, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade, has taken it upon themselves to fill the retail release void with Dragon's Crown (hereafter DC), a stately entry in the beat'em up genre, that also features a heaping of role-playing game elements, making the aforementioned Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara its biggest influence.

DC opens at Dragon's Haven Inn, a tavern you'll frequent during your adventures. It's here where you'll choose a character, set your party, and report your progress. The characters available are all visually, and mechanically, distinct: an ironclad Fighter, who's a sword and shield favoring behemoth; the Sorceress, a witch who prefers to support the party, not so much her back; a Wizard, very much interested in melting faces; the Dwarf, a duel-wielding, goblin-chucking ball beard; the Elf, who's fey, swift, and a rumored Hunger Games fan; and finally, the Amazon, a warrior that consists exclusively of brawn, butt, and boobs. She's also adept at sundering skulls with her ax.

A few color schemes are available for each character, and you can change their name as you see fit. Japanese voices are also available if that's your thing, but only for your character. The remaining voicework is strictly in English.

After you've settled on your character, a tutorial awaits (which can be skipped for the subsequent playthroughs), and it does an adequate job of walking you through the basics. You'll also meet Rannie, a rogue; he'll accompany you throughout the game, and you can direct him to unlock chests or doors, while you focus on combat.

Leaving the tavern, you'll have a town to explore, though its faculties, such as the Temple, Magic Item shop, and Stable, aren't all available at the start. Locations open as you progress the story, and additional tasks are doled out at the Adventure's Guild, where you can learn skills (class specific and common) and accept quests.

The main story focuses on the eponymous Dragon's Crown, which allows its wearer to control dragons (of course). It all comes across a bit boilerplate, and it never strives for anything more. A narrator with an earnest delivery breathes some life into the tried and true material, though the narration is limited to the main quest only, so if you find yourself focusing on side-quests, you'll hear a particular phrase uttered repeatedly during your comings and goings in town, until you move onto the next story segment.

Fortunately, your comings and goings are consistently in gorgeous environments, populated with detailed secondary characters, and great interpretations of classical monsters, all with a multitude of influences sweeping throughout. DC references everything from The Nude Maja to Tinker Bell; Renaissance portraiture to Frank Frazetta's paintings; Jason and the Argonauts to Monty Python and the Holy Grail; and more. George Kamitani, Director, takes what should be an incongruous mixture of styles and creates something cohesive. It's pretty impressive stuff.

They're nine stages to conquer, and each has a branching path that becomes accessible after reaching a certain point in the story. Along with the two paths, you'll uncover secret passages and various quest specific situations as well. The locations vary from moss enveloped sanctuaries to desolated catacombs.

It's great the stages are engaging and fun to play through, because you'll revisit them, a lot, either for quests, or because the main story requires it. And, you won't have to do it alone. DC allows for four player simultaneous play, both local and online, although online play is initially locked. You'll have to unlock the stables to access the network, which is going to take around five hours.

Unfortunately, if you're playing on Vita, ad hoc mode isn't considered "local" play, and you'll have to unlock the stables to access any sort of multiplayer. Not a big deal if you don't have any friends; a big deal if you do.

Though, perhaps you have friends, but they're lame and don't like beat'em ups. Thankfully, you still don't have to go it alone. You can set the three player slots to AI controlled companions, and they're competent, for the most part. It may become a bit maddening to see them stroll into traps, or not effectively use items in their possession, but I've seen my friends do this too, so I'll cut my artificial ones some slack.

To keep the AI companionship fresh, you'll find piles of bones in the dungeons, which you can bury at the temple, or pay a fee, and resurrect instead. The resurrected characters will then wait for you at the tavern, all with varying gear. Even better, players you encounter online may be resurrected as well, meaning you can play offline with your friend's toon. It's also cool to know that someone may have resurrected you, and are questing with your character while you're at work thinking of playing Dragon's Crown.

It'll take around 15 hours to complete the game on normal, and after doing so, you'll unlock hard mode, which increases the level cap to 65; after you complete hard mode, you'll unlock the final difficulty level, and raise the cap to 99.

What's the point of grinding a character to level 99, when you can start the adventure anew with different class? Loot. What else? When it is all said and done, DC's draw is loot. Chests are scattered about the levels, and contain treasure which vary from E, the worst, to S, the best. Completing stages and defeating bosses not only yields experience points, but more loot as well.

Multiple bags can be purchased, meaning you can create different loadouts, which you'll need, since having gear with the proper attributes is important as difficulty increases; plus, gear breaks down with usage, and if you don't have back-up bags available, your S-Rank ax may be in no condition for another round, meaning you'll have to return to town, annoy your friends, and miss out on an amusing cooking game.

If you're on the fence which version to buy, I wish I could say there's a clear winner, but there isn't. Graphically, they're virtually identical, with the Vita version susceptible to noticeable slowdown when the action heats up with four players. The OLED screen makes a pretty game even prettier, but it's also small, so losing track of your character is going to happen.

But, the Vita version benefits greatly from the touchscreen. There's additional treasure hidden in the game, identified by glints; if you're playing the Vita version, you just tap the glint, and the treasure pops out. Runes eventually become available, and their magical properties can only be tapped by, that's right, tapping them. Also, if a player dies, and they're out of life points, you can spend gold to reanimate them, but you have to tap their portrait to do so.

How does the PlayStation 3 version compensate without touch controls? A cursor, which you manipulate with the right thumbstick. It is cumbersome to use, even when there isn't any action unfolding. But, having to fiddle with the right thumbstick, mid-battle, to bring your partner back to life? Urgh. Casting rune magic by moving it over three separate runes, spaced apart, while skeletons are hammering you? Double urgh.

In that sense, the game feels designed for Vita, or at least a controller with a touchpad (come on DualShock 4).

Of course, you can't play local co-op on a Vita, and if you have a roommate that's into these games, I'd deal with the cursor, and play it on PlayStation 3. Also, slowdown isn't an issue on PlayStation 3, and if you're sensitive to frame drops, the Vita version may be too much to bear.

If money isn't a concern, you'll be happy to know the games support cross-saving, though you'll be unhappy to know the games don't support cross-play.

Dragon's Crown is a rarity: a 2D side-scrolling beat'em up, with an unabashed artstyle, that's long. It isn't concerned that it'll take dozens of hours to complete with a single character if you wish to tackle all the difficulties; it doesn't care that you may be offended by the art; and it certainly isn't going to apologize if you don't see the appeal of grinding levels until it's simply time to go to bed. And it's all the better for it.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I spent countless hours playing Golden Axe on my Sega Genesis when I was a kid in the 90s. I played it pretty much every day after school, and it got to the point where I could blow through the whole thing in under twenty minutes, achieve the A+++ ranking upon completion, and only lose one or two blocks of health during the entire campaign. So why did I keep playing it, long after I had mastered it? The game was outrageously fun, that's why.

Dragon's Crown recaptures that type of fun for me perfectly. It's like Golden Axe, but with infinitely better graphics, sound, and most importantly: depth. Separating itself from the much older Golden Axe, your characters level in this game, they develop skills just like in any modern RPG, they acquire loot, and the techniques with which you combat the enemies continue to evolve as you become more experienced with how to play. Like Golden Axe, this game might seem like a mindless, button mashing brawler, but that's not truefor those who wish to develop their technique, this is a game that has oodles of depth and begs to be mastered by the devoted player. And, needless to say, nobody will be blowing through this game in twenty minutes it's a lengthy, fascinating campaign.

Also noteworthy is the variety available in the character class selection, which will add tons of replay value for people like me who love to play these types of games. I'm currently using the Amazon, who is awesome, but I look forward to developing an enormously powerful wizard, and experimenting with the other classes as well. Like Golden Axe, this game is FUN it's just that simple. I don't know if younger players who have been raised on different genres will enjoy it, but for anybody who was a fan of brawlers and beat `em ups, Dragon's Crown is a dream come true.

Best Deals for Dragon's Crown - Playstation 3

Let me get to the point, this game is a pure classic. Great for the summer as a nice couch co-op run for up to 4 players. If you reminiscence about those old-school side-scrollers like Golden Axe, TMNT, Streets of Rage, Double Dragon etc then this is the game you're looking for. Sure there are great side-scrollers on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network (Castle Crashers, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Phantom Breaker) but this game gives you a closer feel towards a modern Golden Axe.

There are a few things potential buyers should understand before getting this game. First off which might be the biggest gripe for people and their friends who buy this and expect to go home and play together is that you need to unlock online multiplayer. Its unlocked by the 9th level I think and it'll take a good 5 hours+, so expect to play alone that first night. Local co-op or couch co-op doesn't suffer from this, so they can join right away in the beginning tutorial level. The tutorial level is only for Player 1 so those who are using different classes might not know their entire basic moveset. Also if you decide to start fresh as a new character you need to complete the basic 9 levels again before unlocking online mode. The good thing is that your loot or bag is shared among all your characters.

Once unlocked you can basically join random games or random players join you, or you play with a friend. Problem with random players is that there's no voice chat, with friends you can send private chats and play. Meaning they might not be paying attention and holding a key that's detrimental to the level while doing nothing or they could be purposely doing it.

For a game that leads people to believe its more multiplayer than single player it's kinda eccentric. It's actually really tedious when doing a 4 player couch co-op run because each individual player has to accept their own quests, visit shops, utilize their skill points and ready their equips. For example, player 1 takes full control of the screen to handle his/her business then player 2 has to take control and so forth. It gets very tedious because after every level, each player wants to go add their skill points and change their gear which takes time so basically every player needs to take a turn doing things. They should have made a better interface where the screen is shared amongst all players. Also the loot is more oriented towards the first player.

During the gameplay when you're traversing through each level and each player is doing his/her own thing, it gets extremely hard to see where and what you're doing. You tend to get lost in the battle especially if a Wizard casts a flame spell that engulfs the whole screen. It's a minor problem to me but it does affect a few players out there who can't stand having their screen blocked, and trust me wizards/sorceresses have quite the flashy moves that take up the whole screen. By the time you see yourself after the spell is over you could be dead haha.

Speaking of death in the game, you start out with 2 lives and you can pay money to increase it, if you or your pals die within the game you can continue easily by pressing X and paying a small fee, I think 650? So luckily there are no game overs unless you're broke.

That's probably all the major downsides to this game that I can think of. Besides those small problems its great game. It's by Vanillaware and they make some great looking games, Muramasa the Demon Blade on the VITA is stunningly gorgeous. Each character plays differently, except for the wizard and sorceress, they both have the same weapon attacks but different spells.

The amazon is just a crazy berserker with low defense that's usually jumping everywhere smashing things. Warrior is your basic all around guy that has a shield and can defend. Dwarf is the little tank guy that has great def when he goes into immovable mode, holds hammers and can throw enemies. Elf is really fun, arrows are limited though so sometimes you can't always rely on using your bow too much. Wizard and sorceress are really fun with their wide array of magic spells, however their basic magic attacks are the same, just depends on what type of stave they are holding and what element it is. Both have different spells whereas the Wizard is more offensive and the Sorceress is suppose to be a support type. That doesn't mean she doesn't have any offensive magic, the sorceress can summon a giant boulder, a blizzard, or a thundercloud, then she has some fun spells like petrify and curse which turn enemies into frogs.

In the beginning each level is about 10 min more or less and after you beat it, a quest opens up which makes you basically repeat the level. Gets monotonous at first but you'll realize you actually need it to level up your character. At the end of every level is a boss fight and there are some amazing boss fights. There's not enough epic boss fights these days but this game delivers.

Other than what I've mentioned I don't wanna spoil any information so we'll leave this review as is. Overall its a great action-rpg side-scroller, definitely recommend. I just wanted to point out several things all potential buyers should know before they get this game. I didn't expect to have to go through over 5 hours trying to unlock online co-op.

One last note, this game makes me think of a 2D Gauntlet Legends side-scroller lol.

Honest reviews on Dragon's Crown - Playstation 3

Vanillaware is not a niche developer.

Dragon's Crown is not a niche game.

It is the culmination of what gaming would have been years ago without in the intervention of 3D graphics. Dragon's Crown, aptly named, is the resplendent prince of our gaming heritage. It's as if the Byzantine Empire had continued on in some alternate dimension and you could go there anytime you wanted just by turning on your TV. It's astounding design and execution nails a treatise on the oaken doors of the AAA gaming industry who have become the slaves of novelty and the mindless servants of their own avarice.

George Kamitani and his cohort have been reaching back not just to gaming classics, but into their own true creative artistry. Famously free of focus testing and without care for what is 'trending' in the industry these courageous people have been single-mindedly creating only the games they wanted to make since the 90s. Put another way, they were indie long before you could make console games without a major publishers involvement. Vanillaware is the weapon we can wield against the bloated, overwrought, incestuous and putrefying monsters called EA, Activision and Ubisoft as they attempt to distort and liquefy gamers into the stupid money machines they hope for us to become.

That said, this game is George Kamitani's single vision. Does that mean that his design may be off-putting to some? Certainly. You can't count me amongst those folks, but I can see their points. On the other hand if we demonized great film directors like Scorsese, Kubrick or John Schlesinger for the portions of their works we found offensive, we all understand we would be holding back the medium of film. Indeed, the fact that these elements made it into the final design of the game is proof of it's purity against the creeping creative death that seems to infect titles made these days.

Every dollar spent on Dragon's Crown is a vote for a future where the EAs and Microsofts must respect and more fully celebrate creativity. And every time you talk about or play Dragon's Crown with your friends is a moment where you are engaging more completely in the grand history of our hobby.

(see what I did there.. 'grand history'? :) Like Grand Knight's History?? ... release it anytime now guys plzthx!)

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dragon's Crown - Playstation 3

Dragon's Crown is a throw-back to the glorious days of side scroller beat-em-ups. The over-exaggerated style in all aspects (terrible to some, awesome to many others) flows well together with the insane combat and over the top magic effects for a bright and flashy game with simple yet deep and varied combat that makes one nostaligic for the quarter eating machines from days long past. The story is simple and is little more than a framing device, the soundtrack is fitting to the theme of the game, and the controls are very simple.

If you want a fun local co-op game right out of the box, go grab this now as it is one of the finest examples of the genere I have ever played. The online co-op, however, while running smoothly and very fun, isn't unlocked until you have completed all nine of the base missions of the game either solo, with a physical partner, or using AI controlled partners that you find throughout the world. The AI is kind of wonky with the partners, sometimes they will set-up traps and use their attacks brilliantly, other times they will stand in an easily avoided pillar of fire for 15 seconds until they die.

While you play you can control a cursor with the right analog stick to manipulate the enviorment slightly (tell a rouge to unlock a chest or door, find treasure by clicking on a shining bit of light in the background, examine runes, etc.) and it is a neat feature, but it is basically useless during combat on the PS3 and is probably the only way that the PS Vita version really shines over the PS3 version with its simple touchscreen interface.

The classes approach to combat is all highly varied. The Wizard punishes with high damage elemental attacks and near game breaking (at max level) spell that slows time down to a crawl for all enemies on the screen. The Sorceress summons skeletons, turns enemies to toads, and can produce food for the party allowing them to stay healed up. The Dwarf is a slow fighter with pretty weak defense but is ridiculously strong and can pick up even massive enemies and fling them at other enemies for pretty constant long distance high damage effect, get good at it and you can chain throw multiple enemies leaving the enemy ranks in tatters. The fighter is a tank in nearly all regards, able to offer up a circle of defense to all his partner, and having a load of fast (although very short ranged) attacks. The Amazon is high-risk, high-reward melee, her attacks flow well together and can do a lot of damage, but her defense is terrible and one really needs to read the battlefield with her to be effective, but once you get her down she will decimate scores of enemies. Lastly, the elf is the most well-rounded, a good combination of close range attacks and abilities mixed with solid damage with a bow from afar with different types of shot-styles available.

The game only has 9 levels, but you will discover new stuff nearly every time you visit those same levels and work your way to the boss at the end. Not just new treasure, but new paths you either missed or couldn't access before, side quests to help build your character up, and new enemies.

Dragon's Crown is a fantastic addition to a genre that hasn't had much high profil love in many years (Castle Crashers being the only co-op beat-em-up I can think of being made before it in recent years) and very well serves as one of the best examples that the oft-neglected genre has. I pinged it a point for being on the short side in terms of level variety, forcing you to essentially complete the main game before you can go online to play, if playing local co-op only the first player's story status will count and be saved. There are enough little complaints to keep this from being a perfect game, but if you want to slaughter some monsters with friends in a highly exaggerated fantasy brawler, you will get a lot of fun and love from this title.

Best Lord of the Rings: Conquest - Playstation 3 Deals

Customer Ratings:

Unfortunately, there were no recent reviews of Lord of the Rings: Conquest when I bought two copies to explain that Electronic Arts stopped supporting online play for this title back in March of 2010. More dissappointing, Amazon continues to advertise that it does have online play and none of the vendors add a note of warning. It also appears after a lot of investigation and trial and error, that there is no way to even use multi-player over a LAN so you can use your own monitor. Co-optimus states that it still has this feature, but I think they have not updated their information either. Without this feature, the game becomes practically worthless, at least to me (and to many others if you google the situation). Now I have to deal with trying to get a refund for a misrepresented product. Here's my warning to you.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Pandemic, the maker of Star Wars Battlefront has given its familiar engine a facelift and have taken it to Middle-Earth. To be honest I was never really a big fan of Star Wars: Battlefront having been more accustomed to the solitary lightsaber battles of the Jedi Knight series but at least to me the Battlefront concept just seems to work significantly better in the Lord of the Rings universe. I downloaded the demo and couldn't wait to play the full game because it's just fun as hell.

In the Singleplayer campaign you can pick your character class: Warrior, Mage, Archer or Scout and hack and slash your way across the battlefield by rallying your troops in basic "Capture the Flag" strategic objectives or destroying specific tactical goals to achieve victory for your armies. Occasionally you can play a character from the movies such as Aragorn or Gandalf depending on which character class you have currently selected when more "experienced" reinforcements are called upon. The nice thing is that you can change your character class mid-game so you are not always restricted to certain classes/abilities though it is prudent to know when to select specific classes for certain campaigns. For example, a Scout may be called in because of his ability to render himself invisible to sneak past enemy lines, or an Archer would be better suited for ranged attacks. The Mage is very powerful with his staff and can smack down hordes of enemy orcs in close melee or can fire ranged lightning strikes, toss fireballs, and heal wounded troops to bring reinforcements back up to full strength. The Warrior is very powerful with a sword in hand for close action melee and can quickly plow through enemy hordes with a spinning firesword or throw axes for ranged attacks.

The graphics are stunning in HD along with Howard Shore's awesome thematic score playing in the background and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) narrating the game really puts you into the action of the epic battles of Middle Earth first hand.

The Multiplayer campaign allows you to connect with up to 16 players or you can just do a two-player splitscreen co-op with a buddy. You can also choose your side, Good or Bad and change the fate of the ring by destroying Frodo and the Shire by fighting for Saruman's forces, the Lord of the Rings equivalent of turning to the Dark Side. And now you can download expansion packs through the Playstation store to add other characters/classes such as Boromir, Arwen and Gothmog as well as new campaign arena maps like Weathertop and Amon Hen.

This game is mandatory for Lord of the Rings fans and even for the casual players who just want to hack it out, I'd recommend the no-nonsense Instant Action and Deathmatch campaigns. Conquest easily blows away EA's titles, even though I enjoyed playing Lord of the Rings The Two Towers on PS2 which I went back and breezed through again for old-time's sake, Conquest makes it look like a warm-up exercise by comparison. The Battle of Helm's Deep in Conquest is similar to Two-Towers but vastly improved for next-gen gameplay. Plus you get to battle at Minas Tirith, Isengard, and all the way to the Black gates of Mordor in the War of the Ring campaign.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest is one game to rule them all.

Best Deals for Lord of the Rings: Conquest - Playstation 3

I think this game achieves most of what it promised to be. It's fair to call it a 'hack n slash' game. I'm a big fan of the Star Wars: Battlefront series. So far as that goes, you can see how Pandemic has started with that system and progressed it in a few ways, and this, in the LOTR setting, seems like the next logical step. Also, it is a lot of fun, and creating the dark storyline accounting for what would have happened if Frodo failed was quite enjoyable. So I enjoyed both campaigns, particularly the splitscreen with my brother. Pros of the game for me would be playing as just about everyone from the Naz-gul and Balrog to Aragorn and Ents. Also the evil storyline. And the mindless hack and slashing is quite a trip. Just fun to wreak havok and go to town on a bunch of enemies. One big con for me was that it doesn't tally your kills or really keep track of your deaths like Battlefront did. I really like saying to a friend after a weak performance, 'where the heck were you on that one' or if I underachieved to try all the harder to bounce back the next time. And no mentions of 'most kills', or 'most accurate' after the level is over. I really missed that not being there. Also playing as some of the heroes was not all it could have been. It was great but some like the Balrog and Ents are destructive, but so slow I think a lot of destruction and mayhem are unfortunately left on the table. Maybe there is no way to fix that, I don't know. Overall, I thought it was easy to pick up and play. It gave clear goals to focus on, and I think it was a logical progression in the series. I was not sure how they would adapt Battlefront from a shooting style game to a hand to hand style, but I think Pandemic pulled it off. After kills you can pick up small health increases (bigger for bigger kills) and a second meter that builds to unleash more vicious attacks. People complained about no unlockables, which is a valid point, but with enough good content in the game from the start, I didn't miss that as much. I do prefer Battlefront's paintball style way of keeping score (i.e. letting you know how many guys you have left vs. the enemy's total tally) to the Conquest style which is more like 'every other game'. You know you've got 3 lives or whatever to finish the level. That 250 vs 250 style was one thing that made Battlefront stand out for me. So anyway, this is a great game. I think most would have fun with it, especially recommended for those who enjoyed the Battlefront games, hack n slash style, and like the LOTR books/movies.

Honest reviews on Lord of the Rings: Conquest - Playstation 3

I recently rented this game from GameFly. If you're reading this review, hopefully you know that the online play is no more, which is sad. I got this game hoping it was going to be like the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, a game I loved playing on my Nintendo GameCube. I enjoyed the Return of the King because it made hack and slash fun, you got multiplyers for good, excellent and perfect kills. You often had to fight through hordes of enemies and aside from your main weapon, you had bows and arrows and stuff like that, you could also pick up spears and stuff and the game really added a variety and spice to the gameplay.

In Lord of the Rings Conquest, you have four different classes to choose from: warrior, archer, mage and scout. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. You can also play occasionally as a hero that often falls into those various categories. You rack up hits much like in the previous LOTR hack & slash games and you have strong, medium and light attacks and you have various objectives much like the last one, opening doors, claiming positions, protecting things, collecting things, killing baddies and always heading to the next arrow.

This game looks ok. It really disappoints actually, it's nothing special to look at. The recreation of locations looks much like movie locations which is quite something, but the locations are EMPTY. Battlefields looks EMPTY. I can't believe no other review I've read has stated this. This game is NOT EPIC, IT'S EMPTY. I was running around like a crazy person in the Battle for Helms deep LOOKING FOR ORCS TO SLAUGHTER. The game doesn't give the feeling of overwhelming odds and there's more enemies when you invade the Shire then at other key times like the Battle for Helms Deep or the Fields of Pelennor.

You don't use too many of the various classes, you end up just using like the warrior and using the same combo/moves over and over (I realize this same argument could be made about many hack and slash games). But it's boring as heck, and the only thing that helps make this game fun is the occasional break where you get to be some kick-butt dude like Sauramon, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, an Ent, a Nazgal and my personal favorite, the Balrog. These moments are shining examples in the game that stand out from the time you're that faceless/nameless grunt that will probably die a hundred times by a hundred deaths.

Let's hope that the Lord of the Rings: War in the North will give us a real Lord of the Rings game that will make us proud.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lord of the Rings: Conquest - Playstation 3

This game is really fun and cool. This game actually is set up very much like the Star Wars Battlefront series. I like the way it is played. You have certain point in which you have to either defend, or attack. In doing so, you earn checkpoints. These checkpoints allow you to change your character in the middle of the game. In certain parts you get to select a Hero for battle!! The great thing about this game is that you can actually play as the enemy. So, you have the choice of being the good or evil side. The graphics are incredible. The music and the sound put you into the action. The voices of the characters are really cool as well. The controls are pretty easy, although there are many different combinations that you can perform using your weapon. It is a very challenging game and learning each character's attack is essential. For example, I couldn't beat Sauron using Gandalf, or an archer or scout because I wasn't used to playing as those characters. I ended up beating Sauron using a warrior. Which I played most of the level with and so I was used to using.

I think you are a Lord of the Rings fan, this is a definite item to put in your collection. Also, the PS3 allows you to download the upgrades to the game to further enhance the experience.

The game also has a cool multiplayer game where you and another player can be on the same screen fighting the same battle. Or do a head to head battle.

I have not yet played on-line, but looking forward to trying it once I get the hang of the game by completing the many levels of difficulty.

Review of 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership - PS3/ PS4/ PS Vita

Customer Ratings:

Playstation Plus is a paid service that is OPTIONAL for users of the Playstation Network. The service provides users with discounts, free games, online storage and much more that I will outline below. The offered digital Playstation Plus subscription code is a safe alternative for users who do not Own, or wish to give their credit card to Sony, or use Playstation Network Cash cards.

COST

There are currently two models of subscription; 3mo @ $17.99 or ~$6.00/mo and 12mo @ $49.99 or ~4.17/mo. Obviously the best deal is the 12mo offer. **This card gives you a 12mo subscription**

ADVANTAGES

Every month the Playstation Store will have featured products available for Playstation Plus users. This often amounts to at least one free "featured" game offered per month, as well as various other free titles.

Playstation plus holders will also receive special discounts on select items, which changes every month. The price reduction can be anywhere from 10% to 75% off an item or package deal.

Exclusive features! Automatic Download service to keep all your games up-to-date without physically having to launch the title. 150MB of online data storage for your save game files or data files (You can even back up copy-restricted saves)

FULL GAME TRIALS. That is right folks. On the boarder about that new title that just came out. Playstation Plus members get a "full game trial". It acts as if you physically bought the game and allows you 1 full hour of game play before disabling itself.

Early access! As a Plus member you will receive early access to game demos and be given priority when it comes to specific Beta invite handouts, Plus members are first to get access.

Free Plus themes and avatars. Not exactly amazing but who doesn't love free stuff!

DISADVANTAGES

As a playstation plus member you have access and perks from all the above. HOWEVER if you do not renew your subscription things can get a little complicated.

*** Any content received that was *FREE* will become "disabled" upon expiration of your PLUS subscription (Excluding: Avatars and Themes)

**Note: Any Item you had to physically pay for, even if it had a special PLUS discount of 99% will not be disabled upon expiration of your subscription

So what it amounts to mostly is that the GAMES you get for FREE are essentially long term rentals so long as you keep PS+ ... While Free avatars, Free themes, and items purchased at a discount will always be yours.

OVERALL

The playstation plus plan is not for everyone. However it is a plan that rewards its subscribers with plenty of perks and loads of content each month. If you think about it, at $4-$6/mo and a free $10-$15 game each month in theory the subscription pays for itself each month, not even factoring in all the other perks like the free full game demos. At just $4.17/mo you are getting quite a great price for a PLUS subscription; one that could easily pay for itself in just a few months.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

This is a great add-on to purchase for your playstation network account. While its not necessary to play games online, make friends, exchange messages and download content like Xbox Live requires for its online network, it does offer a slew of content at reduced prices and with sony's new essential game collections you get fully featured games FOR FREE not to mention avatars, themes, full game trials and the ability to access "the cloud" to preserve your game saves from loss by any means. I recommend this service to all of my playstation 3 owning friends!

Best Deals for 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership - PS3/ PS4/ PS Vita

In least than one month I recovered my investment with 3 games valued $50 each. I really recommend this and if you have a vita the added value is even bigger.

Honest reviews on 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership - PS3/ PS4/ PS Vita

I got this for one of my sub-accounts. Installed the sub-account on a friend's and my ps3 and we have liked the free games we have gotten so far. great value!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership - PS3/ PS4/ PS Vita

love the free three months. free downloads and sneak peak demos equal an awesome deal, cant go wrong with this deal.

Buy Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $4.49
Today's Bonus: 70% Off

Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army is one of those game that catches you by surprise. Not for the amount of content, but for the amount of fun and time you end up spending playing this creepy, yet extremely fun game.

The premise is simple, you and 3 more players battle hordes of zombies, from normal slashing zombies, to sniper zombies, heavy gunners, suicide freaks and bosses.

The graphics are sharp, but for the highest settings, you may need a decent PC, I have a high end PC, but don't always use all the highest settings, sometimes a few settings set to off can improve game performance. I did not experience any frame issues and not once did I experience any lag during MP.

Mulitiplayer connections are stablished without any headaches. You can start a game with only 2 players, which is cool by me, specially if there isn't many players around or if you get the usual player whom can't wait for a room to fill up and leaves. Well, like I said, with this game, you simply start the game and have all the fun you can.

The game is a third person view game, but will switch to FPS as soon as you zoom in, but only with the sniper rifle, after all, it is call "Sniper Elite". Which brings my next point, you get 3 weapons and 4 types of explosives. The weapons are: a sniper rifle of course, a sub-machine gun and hand gun, all WWII style of course. You get plenty of ammo for the sniper rifle, about 100 rounds, but you get very limited ammo for the machine and hand gun. Once you pop a zombie, you can press E next to his body and loot him for goods, mostly granades and ammo. The machine and hand gun are used for emergencies, at least that's what I do, for when a re-load on your sniper rifle might take too long.

Explosives include granades, land mines, trip wire and charges, all of which, except the granades, can be detonated by shooting at them if that's what you choose to do.

You start the game with your buds or by yourself and must make your way to a safe house, where you can re-stock on ammo, but your secondary weapons may not always get all the ammo you need, which you must get from hit zombies instead. From each safe house, you must move to the nex point, to another safe house then to finally fight a boss, which by the way ,is not easy at all; again, team work and carefuly placed explosives do the trick.

If you played "Sniper Elite" for the 360/PS3 then you know what the "X-ray kill cam" after-shot is. If not, well, when you hold your breath, with E, you get a steady shot, that when hits a zombie on a strategic place, the camera will switch from your sniper view to a small cut scene (very short one) that will take view of the bullet leaving the barrel, traveling and hitting the zombie, whom will have an x-ray vision of his body and the bullet tearing him apart. THIS HOWEVER is only visible on SP, during MP, you still get the cut scene, but it is about half a second and you only see the zombie being hit, no X-ray. This works perfectly, because in MP, the chaos is that much greater and you must remain vigilant and ready for more zombies coming at you.

The game has 3 different experience levels or difficulty if you must. Cadet, Marksman and Sniper Elite.

If you've played games such as Killing Floor or Left 4 Dead, then you'll be right at home with Sniper Elite. The controls are simple, yet effective. I use a Logitech mechanical keyboard (G710+) and 2012 Razer Mamba and they both work great.

Like the title of my review says, this is a Steam Activated game, so no need to download the file from Amazon, simply copy and paste the product key or code, then activate on your Steam account.

All in all. Even though there are only a few maps available for this game, they do have and pack a punch, they are full of excitement, fun and plenty of action. I had my doubts at first, quite honestly, but my doubts were put to rest as soon as I started my very first game, OFF line may I add, once I tried the MP, I was totally hooked (played 5 hours straight) and soon realized that this game is the best $15 I've spent in a while.

Good luck....

Steam User: BT-TONY.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

This is a fun little zombie shooter. It has the look and feel of a mashup between Left 4 Dead and the Nazi Zombie mode from the Call of Duty series. There are 5 scenarios that you can play through with up to 3 of your friends. As you traverse each scenario, you get to shoot down quite a lot of zombies, skeletons, magically enhanced jumping snipers, suicide bombers, and heavy duty machine gunners while trying to make it to the next safe room. Each scenario does have an end to it, usually by way of a massive zombie horde or a ghostly boss that summons lesser zombies to his aid.

The game definitely has its exciting moments. The suicide bombers, in particular, can create some intense, and hilarious, situations. My chief complaint with this game is with its replayability. After you've played the maps once or twice, you'll be able to avoid all of the GOTCHA!! moments and should have very little trouble with the finales. This feels very much like a "once and you're done" kind of game. If the company were to Introduce more scenarios as well as a randomizer, this game would have legs.

Best Deals for Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

Great game, super fun. The download itself was no hassle. Loved it! If you love zombie games then this is perfect!

Honest reviews on Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

not too hard (if you play middle setting), great graphics, windows 7, only thing took about an hr to D.L. (goes through STEAM), lots of fun

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

This game is okay. In Singleplayer it gets pretty boring after about an hour or two because it's mostly just your character running around killing waves of zombies. But in the Co-op mode it instantly becomes a very fun game. The zombies are kind of gimmicky, and the base game (Sniper Elite V2) is much better, but hey, for the $5 I got it for, (it frequently goes on sale for $5) I'd say it's worth it. I'll give it a 7.5/10

Cheap MotoGP 08 - Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:

*now with %100 more 125cc and 250cc*

First off, let me just say that this game is in no way related to THQ/Climax's version from the previous year. So, if you're expecting to powerslide around every corner and hate using brakes, turn around right now. Now it's Capcom/Milestone's turn. (for the next 4-5 years, apparently) The latter of whom actually aren't new to 2 wheels just to next-gen consoles and MotoGP games, but date all the way back to EA's SBK 2000.

The first thing you'll do when you first pop in the game is the tutorial, (that can be skipped) which simply puts you in a quick race while giving you advice for every thing you're doing wrong and, ultimately, recommends one of three handling models arcade, advanced, sim. 'Arcade' is designed for people who have never touched a bike game or don't know the difference between MotoGP and Motocross. The only time you'll fall is when you slam into another rider or wall at a reasonably high speed and you can brake very late into corners. In 'sim' expect to fall a lot. Braking and turning at the same time will reduce your cornering ability or cause you to loose your front end. Heavy throttle on corner exit will cause your front end to lift maybe adding in a wobble or the rear will slip out and, eventually, you could drop your bike. 'Advanced' is a nice compromise between the two. Overall the handling feels much more realistic than the previous versions, Braking skills and careful throttle control are required to be competitive. It should be noted also that most modes allow you to change opponent difficulty separately if you still have trouble with the handling model.

Game modes include, quick race, custom championship, time trial, challenge, online, and career which is where the meat of the game occurs. You start off as a rookie in 125cc and can only join the lower tier of teams. Through the course of five seasons, you'll earn bike upgrades and points as you race which allow you to change to a better team or move up through the ranks all the way to the GP class. Online allows up to 12 others to compete and has only minor lag issues, though has little in the way of features. You can't change bike setups, only features single races no points tallying championship, lap times can only be set here nowhere in single player, and apparently PS3 has no voice chat.

Graphics, for the most part, are good, nothing mind-blowing, but get the job done. The tracks themselves are lacking in atmosphere and animation (no wavy flags, cardboard people, etc.) and objects in the distance are simply a wall of textured trees or hills rather than being an actual model. However, the rider/bikes look great and animate nicely, (feet shift gears, fingers reach for clutch or front brake) which is what you'll mainly notice anyway. Thanks to this, replays look fantastic. Frame rate is solid even with 35 other riders around in 125's. Bike sounds are decent though a bit muted. They sound like what you might hear in the on-board shots in televised races but lower, so if you like to use 3rd-person cameras or watch replays you may be disappointed in this regard.

Overall, despite it's shortcomings and lack of polish, I still highly recommend this game especially if you're a fan of the sport or bikes in general. (It's not like you have a lot to choose from anyway) Once you get over the initial shock of transition from last years version and less than stellar online portion what you'll find is an enjoyable single player game that's a little bit closer to the real thing.

*points of note I forgot to mention that may break the game for some*

-Throttle/front brake not mappable to right stick on Xbox360, but is possible on PC and possibly PS3.

-Only rumbles when you drive off track, not under accelerating/braking, which makes the awesome on-board view much harder to manage if you're trying to push the limits of the bike.

-Regarding leaderboards, fastest times are only uploaded in ranked matches which only allow a single race before returning to the lobby, thus is played by nobody.

-AI is pretty good against itself, but tends to ignore you and your racing line.

-(really nitpicking here but the point has been raised by others) it's impossible to lock rear wheels even in sim, has semi-auto rider movement where the rider automatically sits up or tucks but can be overridden by the player, overly sensitive throttle modulation where the rear end may sometimes slide abruptly even if you think you're applying a constant, and even acceleration.

-PS3 has now received a patch for voice chat but only in lobbies, not in-race.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

The product came as expected in good time. The packaging was excellent with no damage. The game is alright if you have played all the other gp's out and your bored.

Best Deals for MotoGP 08 - Xbox 360

The game arrived a LOT earlier than thought and was in GREAT shape....it looked like a brand new game and plays the same. Thanks a lot. MotGP08 is better than the new 09/10 and is more fun to me personally....I know some others may disagree but thats why you have choices...LOL!!!! Enjoy!

Honest reviews on MotoGP 08 - Xbox 360

I enjoyed this game. However, I couldn't play it with anyone else because it doesn't have multiplayer options.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for MotoGP 08 - Xbox 360

This game is as half **ed an effort that a game can be. You can't save setups (not that there even are any usable available), you can't save replays, the AI is awful, no damage modelling of any kind (not even tyre wear), the bike physics are mediocre at best (brakes for example are worthless). Oh and the online crashes regularly.

Graphics are ok and there are all 3 classes, but that's all that is good about his game.

Best Saints Row (Platinum Hits) Deals

Customer Ratings:

Saint's Row is a game that is a blantant rip-off of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, from everything right down to the way you steal cars out from people driving them on the street. But make no mistake: This isn't some rushed piece of garbage simply set out to make money off the GTA franchise. It has a little bit of TLC put into it by the game developers, as well.

Similarities to GTA:

-You can do storyline and free roaming missions

-steal and customize cars

-participate in Turf Wars taking over neighborhoods for your gang

-customize your main character

-wield a large variety of guns

-listen to a large variety of music

-and generally play the game however way you want.

Enhancements over GTA:

-Much superior graphics

-better map

-a GPS system for your maps and vehicles

-customizable cell phone, with allies you can call for backup

-customizable music playlists (in case you get sick of the randomness of the radio stations and want to hear your music anywhere, anytime)

-the hands-down BEST car customization in any non-racing video game, ever!

-health items (food) you can access anytime

-self-regenerating health that heals up from about-to-die to full health in about one minute or so

-superior firearms (albeit none of them look very unique)

-a slightly better menu interface to access your firearms (I just wish they hadn't put the food and weapons in the same system; it gets confusing)

-the police are the most minor threat in the game

-public transportation is available to you (although you more than likely will never use it)

-if you find yourself stuck in water, you can skip having to swim to shore with the "warp" feature, which will do that for you. Pretty cool feature! Why aren't things like that in other games?

-shooting style & difficulity are fair (The shot target is in the fixed-center of the screen and you move the camera to aim, but it's a little harder to use then in GTA)

-both men, AND women, can be recruited as allies in your gang, or killed in other gangs. Hurray for murder equality!

-celebrity voice acting (I instantly recognized Mila Kunis as Tanya and Michael Rapaport as Troy)

Worse from GTA:

-No bikes or motorcycles to ride which is diaspointing

-no boats or planes either (not that they're really needed here)

-character can barely swim

-only one safehouse in the entire city/game

-clothes choices are lame and uninspired

-despite the good voice acting, the dialogue is terrible and it sounds like it was written by the whitest people on the planet (shades of "187: Ride or Die")

-an excessive overuse of cursing (if you're going to use it in every other word, it's impact and gravitas is completely lost)

-the A.I. is stupid, and the enemy gangs have that "random spawning" effect whenever you have a "wanted level" by them

-it's mandatory to do the side missions as you have to earn "respect" in order to do the main storyline missions, and respect is only gained from the side missions

-many of the side missions are hard or just plain annoying, like the later level Escort missions

-your character, although he has great stamina, has terrible running animation, and trying to shoot while running just looks retarded.

-the prices of things are way too high/too much (if you're just staring off and haven't saved up any cash, a fifty dollar hamburger may be a bit much). I'd prefer them if they kept them at "real-world" prices.

-the "humor" of the game is just weak and lacks any level of subtlety whatsoever, like the Wendy's burger chain parody, "Freckle B*tch's" for example

-the radio stations are horribly put together, and their names are awful, too.

-the music is generic and lame, and there's only a few "name brand" artists contributing to the game's soundtrack. Mainly, the Clipse and Twista.

-there's no difficulity setting and the main missions in the game are a bit too easy (while the side missions are often too hard)

-the "escape the police" method in this game is weak and lame. It's a drive-thru confessional booth, not that you'll ever really need to use it. I never even been in "Forgive and Forget" before.

-your recruited allies are complete idiots and you'll spend more time than anything reviving them because they rushed headlong into a dozen or so shooting enemies. They're more of a hassle to use than any kind of help, sort of like bringing young children along for grocery shopping.

-it's pretty easy to die in situations that don't call for it. Your health bar, despite it's regeneration, can't take much damage and a few shots from two or more enemies can take you from full health to death pretty quickly. Like, in three seconds quickly. This is darn frustrating and happens A LOT in the stupid Pushback missions that pop up randomally that you can't avoid skipping over.

-there's NO Body Armor, anywhere in this game, which only adds on to the annoying "easy to die" problem I mentioned above.

-the randomally popping up, mandatory "defend your turf against invading gangs" Pushback Missions. They were just as random and annoying in San Andreas and they're even more annoying here. What's worse is, in order to successfully defend your turf, you'll have to seek out special "lieutenants" instead of just killing everybody in sight. And these 12 or so lieutenants tend to hide out in weird, hard-to-reach places, and you'll have to make your way through dozens of enemies, risking your life, just to make your way to them. It was easier in GTA when you just had to kill everybody invading your land. Here, you'll literally be in an urban battlefield going against dozens of enemies, making your way to one of the four spots in the area your enemy lieutenats are at. (they only hang out three at a time and are scattered wide across the entire neighborhood warzone.) The worse thing about these missions are that they're more or less mandatory, and you won't have time to save whenever they pop up, and they'll pop up often after JUST completing a really hard mission or side quest. At least in San Andreas, it was fun to do these missions, partly because they were do in intervals and all you had to do is be the last man standing. Here, they're just a REALLY annoying chore.

-each gun has it's own set of bullets, making it hard to get ammo. In other games like GTA, bullets are shared between guns of similar types (universal pistol ammo, universal shotgun ammo, etc.), but here, each gun is different with it's own unique bullets in them, and you can only have one gun type (pistol, shotgun, etc.) at a time. BUT, because you can't use ammo from other guns, that you'll often find off of dead bodies, you'll constantly be having to decide whether to swap your gun that's low on ammo out for the one of a gang member you just shot. If so, you'll quickly run of of ammo for that, too. If not, you'll just have an empty gun on you. And thus, you'll be deciding which gun you have that is more fuel efficent, quite often in heavily heated turf wars or in missions with tons of enemies to kill. What's worse is every single gangster carries different random guns on them. If the Vice Kings just all had Vice pistols and the Carnales had a different pistol type they all shared, it'd be a lot simplier. But, no, every time you kill someone, it's "do I run out of ammo, or pick this up instead, even though it only has five more bullets in it than the one I already have?" Basically, you'll easily use up all the ammo for whichever gun you have and will have to replace it for another gun (which only has a few bullets in it) and back and fourth like so. (In other words: YOU'RE *ALWAYS* RUNNING OUT OF AMMO!)

Overall, Saint's Row is a worthy edition to the GTA genre of video games. Although it's a rip-off, in every sense of the word, it's defintely not of inferior quality. In fact, Saint's Row is even better than most of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game, at it's core is nice, but what really bogs it down are the minor negatives, which as you can see, really begin to add up. The game is much better than Three Stars, but all these little things keep it from being Five Star worthy. Other than the numerous minor flaws, the only problem is the story, which is pretty lame and generic, and the script, which is just laughably cheesy in it's attempt to sound "urban" or "gangsta" or "hip hop" or whatever. San Andreas' dialogue and script felt 100% genuine. Saint's Rows, however, sounds forced, like they were too lazy to do their research and just decided to "wing it."

It would be easy to just make a Grand Theft Auto clone that's pretty bad (True Crime has proved that, for us). It would also be pretty easy to try to make your own game, using many of the famous GTA elements involved (I.E, CrackDown). But Saint's Row, however, is a true Grand Theft Auto imitation, that manages not to photocopy the game, but use it as a worthy starting off point for their own series. I like mostly everything in this game, and the only real things keeping it from being superior to every GTA game ever made on the older consoles, is it's cheesy dialogue, numerous small annoyances, it's and cheesy writing, and lame attempts to be "funny."

Other than that, Saint's Row is a worthy duplication of the "sandbox shooting and driving" genre created by GTA itself, and it definitely deserves to be played, even if only as a week-long rental, by ANY Grand Theft Auto fan.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

So long as you don't include originality as part of your game evaluation process, Saint's Row is a stellar, stellar piece of programming. It fixes five of the six problems with the GTA series, and offers tons of little "next-gen" improvements that make it more palatable for older gamers.

1)Graphics: The draw distances and general graphical ... "cruddiness"... of the PS2 (and even the XBOX) versions of GTA are a thing of the past. The game looks great. There's some pop-up with long streets, but the explosions, character models, and polish is simply a vast improvement. I actually thought San Andreas looked worse than Vice City, so this is almost a two-step improvement for me. The explosions, weather and lighting effects, and reflections are really incredible when you consider the lack of loading times.

2)Auto-Aiming: It's gone. I'm not quite used to the borrowed FPS style yet, but anything would be better than the broken auto aiming feature of GTA. It shan't be missed.

3)Save Scheme: No longer am I limited to the GTA "one save per half an hour of playing" madness. Hallelujah. I can't devote large chunks of time to a game, and if I can't save frequently, I lose interest fast.

4)Restarting Missions. Recovering your weapons and restarting missions from the beginning (actually, before the beginning) was asinine in GTA. It wastes time and annoys gamers without really upping the difficulty. Also won't be missed.

5)On-line. Haven't had a chance to play with my own copy yet, but watched someone else play. It might suck, it might be great, but at least it's there.

6)Timed, pizza-delivery missions. They haven't really reared up yet, but hopefully these annoying time-wasters are gone. We'll see.

The main problems I see with Saint's Row I *suspect* will be solved with Xbox live "updates"/purchases. It took me an hour to realize that there were tons of cars, but no motorcycles, etc. I have a feeling we'll have to pay for the privilege of flying a chopper or driving a boat. That will suck. It better be cheap, because the lack of these vehicle options doesn't feel like a game limitation, but like a conscious programming choice.

The story seems pretty derivative, but I'm not far enough along to really evaluate it.

I can't really see myself ever playing any current version of GTA ever again. After only a few hours of Saint's Row you realize that GTA has too many annoying idiosyncracies that should have been fixed long ago.

For fans of the sandbox genre, this is the game to buy, and may be for quite some time.

Best Deals for Saints Row (Platinum Hits)

Look, this game is not as good as GTA, especially the amazing experience that is San Andreas. However, this game is still very good and will hold over GTA fans until IV comes out later this year. If you enjoy playing GTA, chances are you will enjoy this game, especially where this franchise made some significant improvements. If you didn't like GTA games and are offended with overt violence, strong language, and direct sexual references, then steer away from this game. Here are the pros, cons, and "washes" as they compare to GTA:

Pros:

Better graphics

Better sound effects of cars and weapons

Cars are cooler

Superior implementation of the map functionality.

Save system is improved, but I can not understand in today's day and age of gaming why RPG-action games like this don't have a "save-at-any-time" functionality or at least provide reasonable interim mission save points which this game did not.

Ability to save up to 70 cars in your garage

Insurance Fraud missions are arguably the most enjoyable missions ever envisioned for a sandbox game.

Some other missions that were direct rip-offs from GTA are arguably more fun like the pimp missions, hijacking, and hit-man.

Cons:

There is no mistaking that overall feeling of an awesome atmosphere you get in any GTA game that just wasn't present in this title. I can't put my finger on it, but you will see what I mean if you get to experience this game vs. any GTA game.

Story was a little better in San Andreas

No planes, boats, motorcycles, helicopters, or bicycles.

Voice acting is superior in GTA San Andreas. With that said, there was just way too much cursing. Cursing in any game or movie is good for adult entertainment when it is appropriate for the setting. This title just went way over the top on the cursing and was mostly out of place.

Music selection is superior in San Andreas in both amount and quality.

Washes neither better or worse than GTA:

Open world sandbox environment enabling diverse ways to execute missions

Driving mechanics of the cars

Despite popular opinion, weapons functionality, though different, have about the same difficulty/ease factor.

Map size and mission amount/scope is more epic in San Andreas, but this title is probably a little bigger that GTA III and possibly Vice City. Not too shabby.

Honest reviews on Saints Row (Platinum Hits)

This game is basically like the Grand Theft Auto series, but in HD and with more options. I am a huge fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, so this game is right up my alley. I would highly recommend this game to anyone that has similar tastes in video games.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Saints Row (Platinum Hits)

Welcome to Stillwater, a modern American city full of great food, commerce, and unrestricted gang warfare. With the 3rd Street Saints, Vice Kings and the Carnales waging a city wide turf war for supremacy, there has never been a better time to visit.

The game opens up with your customized character getting caught in the crossfire of a gang war. You are saved by Julius, the leader of the 3rd Street Saints, and are recruited into his gang in an effort to clean up the streets. The first couple of missions serve as a sort of introductory sequence that teaches you the mission structure of the game and introduces you to some core characters. The game has three different story arcs, one for each rival gang, for you to tackle in whatever order you would like.

After each story mission you must build your respect before you will be offered the next one. There are numerous ways to build your respect, but the easiest way to do it is to take on various side missions located throughout the city. These missions range from drug trafficking to street racing. The activities get harder as you complete them, maxing out at level 8 and awarding you a prize such as unlimited shotgun ammo at your crib or taking less damage in car crashes.

Almost all of activities are pretty fun, but the two most enjoyable are probably mayhem and insurance fraud. In mayhem, you are tasked with going to a certain area of the city and causing as much damage as you can within a certain amount of time. You are always given a few weapons with unlimited ammo and bonuses for destroying certain targets. Destroying everything in sight with a rocket launcher on mayhem's level 8 is one of the most enjoyable moments of the game. In insurance fraud, you attempt to throw yourself in front of traffic to collect money from lawsuits. You earn bonuses based on things like air time, hitting police cars, and the number of witnesses.

Besides those side missions, there are a few other ways of gaining respect. Robbing any store you want will give you a small amount of respect. Tagging over other gang's graffiti will also net you some respect. To help you speed up the time it takes to earn respect, you can spend your money on clothes, jewelry, and tattoos for your character. These items give you respect bonuses when you complete missions. Overall, the side mission system works pretty well. It creates a good pacing for the game, preventing you from blowing through the missions in just a few hours.

Besides allowing you to unlock new missions, as you gain more respect you will be able to recruit more "homies" (up to three at one time). "Homies" are friendly gang members which will help protect you by shooting out of car windows while you drive and following you around on foot. They do a pretty good job of helping you kill whoever is attacking you and hardly ever get stuck on objects such as trees. When they die, you have thirty seconds to revive them before they are permanently dead. At first this sounds like it would make the game too easy, but the "homies" are not overly effective, and don't take too much to kill. If you had to go find new ones every time one of them died, it would become pretty frustrating. So having 30 seconds to revive those that died turns out to be pretty convenient.

When you are not building up respect, you will literally be taking back the city block by block. Completing a story mission in a certain area of the city will put that area under the control of your gang. Controlling areas of the city actually has some impact on the gameplay. You will see friendly gang members patrolling the streets, providing you a safe area to run to if you are being chased by police or enemy gang members. Controlling different districts also gives you money every day that you can get from your safe back at your crib. The more territory you control, the faster you gain money. You also get new save points as well. The game allows you to save whenever you want, placing you at the closest save point from where you saved when you reload the game. So controlling more save points is definitely nice. Sometimes rival gangs will attack territory that you control, at which point you need to stop whatever you are doing and rush there to help push back the attack. If you wait too long, you risk losing your territory. This is a nice touch, and makes you feel like you are just one small part of a larger turf war.

The story missions themselves are pretty well designed and not overly difficult or annoying. There were many missions in Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas that I personally found extremely annoying and simply not fun to play. While the missions in Saints Row are challenging, I didn't run across any annoying missions like those in the GTA games. I always felt like I was making progress. The cinematic sequences for each of the missions are pretty well directed. The voice acting is great as well. The storyline turns out to be memorable and one of the highlights of the game.

While playing the game, it's safe to say that you will be doing a lot of driving and shooting. The game features tons of cars, all with rock solid control. While none of them are real licensed cars, they all look different from each other and handle differently as well.

There is a pretty good selection of weapons in the game as well. Most of what you would expect to see is here, including pistols, machine guns, rifles, rocket launchers, grenades and more are present. The shooting controls are vastly improved over those of Grand Theft Auto, allowing you to control the player like you would in a first person shooter. You won't find any lock on targeting here. This goes a long way in making the firefights much more intense and fun then those in GTA.

The game features other big enhancements over Grand Theft Auto, the most important of which is the map system. At any point during the game you can bring up the map to set waypoints and locate new activities and missions. You can sort the map by stores, activities, missions, strongholds, and cribs to make finding locations very easy. The on screen minimap will show you the most efficient route to your waypoint or next objective, which makes navigating around the city a breeze. This is especially helpful during fast car chases.

Another small but significant improvement is the ability to shoot enemies in cars through the windshield. So instead of having to fill the car full of lead to get it to stop, you can instead take out the driver with one well placed shot to the head. This is extremely useful while in car chases. Since you can drive and shoot at the same time, it's not that difficult to shoot the driver of the car chasing you through his windshield.

Besides those gamplay enhancements, Saints Row is also packing some amazing visuals. The entire city of Stillwater is rendered in glorious high definition. Everything in the world is extremely detailed. The game also features pretty good looking lighting and real time weather effects. The cars in the game look excellent, especially the way they crumple on impact. When cars explode, they send pieces of metal and tires flying everywhere. The frame rate is mostly pretty solid, though it can take a dive at times when there is a ton going on. However, this never hindered my enjoyment of the game.

The biggest criticism that you could have against the game is its lack of originality. In my opinion, there is nothing inherently wrong with a game copying another, especially when it manages to improve on its inspiration. The fact that Saints Row sticks pretty close to the Grand Theft Auto formula means that inherits many of the good qualities of the GTA series, making Saints Row a pretty good game in the process. Since it does manage improve upon GTA in many aspects, it's worth while for fans of the GTA series to play it. It's probably fair to say that if you liked Grand Theft Auto then you will enjoy Saints Row. If you found some aspects of GTA annoying, as I did, then it may turn out that you like Saints Row even more. In my opinion, Saints Row is the best game of its kind to be released. When GTA 4 comes out later on it may vary well topple Saints Row, but until then, Saints Row is the king of free roaming action games.

Discount SPECIAL EDITION Xbox 360 GHOST CASE - SPEKTER CASE/HDMI/BLUE LIGHTS

Customer Ratings:

I bought this and it was missing the t10 screwdriver and clear wind tunnel. I installed it anyway along with corexcm2 fans and the leds on the case burnt out. I was mad so i sent it back. Its a great case if it came with all the parts and didnt break.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Case came in good packaging. Double boxed and case parts wrapped in its own foam bag. Disassembly and reassembly is not very hard. As long as you follow the instructions on their website. Also note that only 2 drives are compatible with the 2 see through drive covers that are sent with the shell. Mine is a phillips drive and I since I bought the spekter color you cant see through it anyhow so no biggy on that. The leds are bright and look great. Note! the lights do not plug into the fan connection. They plug into the drive/mother board (with a replacment harness with the lights attached) Also they can be placed anywhere inside the case. They come with two sided tape. When reinstalling the new covers pay attention to the eject button. It slides in a little hard but if youre carefull it'll fit fine. The back of the case fits a little rough. It clips in but isnt totaly tight. (its on the back so who cares) The color is great apperently its not that hot in my hous since the only part that changed color is on the bottom of the case where the motherboard sits and the rest is still grey in color. All in all I like the case it comes with everything but the end plates and the rubber pads on the bottom. The only thing I dislike is that the power button/player light is not as visible like it used to be with the stock cases. but again not a big deal.. Hope this helps you out!

Best Deals for SPECIAL EDITION Xbox 360 GHOST CASE - SPEKTER CASE/HDMI/BLUE LIGHTS

It fits perfectly and has been a nice replacement to my sons 1st gen 360. If I break the case of my 360, I surely am picking up a second one of these.

Honest reviews on SPECIAL EDITION Xbox 360 GHOST CASE - SPEKTER CASE/HDMI/BLUE LIGHTS

i love this its amazing and the blue lights are nice too. it was easy to put together but the dvd drive lids didnt work at all but i dont really care i cant see through it anyways.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for SPECIAL EDITION Xbox 360 GHOST CASE - SPEKTER CASE/HDMI/BLUE LIGHTS

The product comes with no installation. I recommend watching a video on youtube, but the only problem is that the person installing the case has a completely different case. This may be a problem. When you istall the case take out the dvd drive and its wires. Keep the small black one, but throw the longer connection with thin lines out. Then reconnect with the led's. Connect the side with the 2 cords missing to the dvd drive. If you have more than one item to install with this one, ex. core cooler v2 then simply connect the core cooler v2 to the dvd drive first and then connect the led's wire to the core cooler v2 wires cable.

Best Halo 2 - Xbox Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $18.77
Today's Bonus: 6% Off

I loved the original Halo. It had everything I wanted in a game. Good graphics, excellent story, and lots of action.

Halo 2 is essentially its predecessor, except better. I know that sounds unlikely, but the few things that I didn't like about the original game such as bad Marine AI and monotonous maps are gone in this version.

For example, I was playing last night, and I was on the second level where you and a team of Marines are going through an African city killing everything. A Marine in front of me gets killed as soon as he rounds a corner. Instead of charging ahead, the rest of the squad hugs the wall. So, I swap my sniper rifle for Sarge's auto rifle (another kickass feature, you can swap guns with marines). Since the Marines are better shots, Sarge charges ahead and takes out the Covenant sniper. The marines and I then charge ahead and waste the covenant.

Here is a summary of cons and pros about the game.

PROS: Marines are much, much more intelligent.

You can swap guns with marines.

marines can drive vehicles on their own now.

the flood return

AH TOO MANY TO LIST CANT LIST THEM ALL

Cons: The only bad things I noticed so far were some minor graphial glitches, such as guns and vehicles sticking through walls. Also, every time it loads a charecter in a cutscene, a milisecond later the game seems to "draw" the person. It is kind of wierd looking, but in no way hurts the game.

If you are into a good sci-fi story or lots of action get this game. Also, Halo 1 fans wont be dissapointed, all changes were for the better.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I just finished the full walkthrough for Halo 2, as well as played a number of multiplayer games. I'm finally ready with the review of this awesome game!

First off, this is obviously the sequel to the hugely popular initial Halo game. You are Master Chief, a space marine who is sent out to battle the enemies. You are fighting the Covenant, who are your main foes, but you also run into the Flood, who are a space parasite that wants to eat all life. In addition, there are mechanical creatures on Halo who want to kill pretty much anything including the Flood. So each location and creature type has its own look, feel, attitudes and reactions.

The graphics are simply gorgeous, from the rippling water to the clouds in the sky and reflections off of surfaces. I love taking screenshots of this game. The music is also extremely well done, in that the quality is always very high. But it's a little bizarre to be going from new age lilting softness in one heated battle to high intensity rock music in another and so on. It doesn't necessary track to the location you're in, either. It's just whatever the designers felt like putting in.

The gameplay and plot is where this game really shines. Your characters that interact with you are simply BRILLIANT in how they each do what a real live creature would do. Grunts are my favorite these little Covenant front-liners are brave and talkative when they're in groups, but when you whittle them down they suddenly turn and flee, shrieking at the top of their lungs. Your teammates leap into vehicles with you, either driving or shooting depending on your preference. They'll come alongside you to give you support, and duck for cover when appropriate.

The quips the characters come out with mid-battle still make me laugh out loud. In one sequence you are the covenant Arbitor and are working your way through a room. You come across a pair of grunts and a jackal under attack, and take out the enemies. The grunt comes running to you in glee, shouting, "Arbitor! My savior!" Then he pauses and adds, "Jackal, say thank you to the Arbitor!" :)

The cut scenes are equally as brilliant and are truly movie quality in the interactions. The timing, dialogue, everything is great. The little touches are everywhere. In one sequence, the Sergeant is preparing his troops to get ejected in pods down to the surface of Halo. He walks past the Master Chief's pod and thumps twice on it, as if to say "All OK in there, ready to go?" Right on beat, you see Master Chief inside his pod, thumping once back in response. You really forget that these are just computer generated characters.

Multiplayer is the stellar addition to this release and there are reasons to be thrilled. You can play on a large variety of maps, in a number of styles, and there is even going to be downloadable content in the future.

That all being said, there are of course a few non-stellar aspects to this release. First, the ending SUCKS. The first one was bad enough with its "Oh I bet there is another Halo out there" so you don't even feel like you really saved the world. In this one, not only is it not a "you're done but it's not over" ending it's pretty much cut off mid-battle! That is INCREDIBLY frustrating for a gameplayer. Obviously they want you to buy Halo 3, but that's going to be a year or two away. Can't we have some satisfaction in the meantime?

Next, the game is really short, even on normal mode. We had a friend start the game up Sunday morning at about 12:30 and he was done with the entire game by around 8. You can have fun replaying it on the harder levels, but that's a rather quick game.

Finally, the multiplayer, while brilliant in concept, is lacking in implementation right now. There are two general ways to play either you set up a game yourself for friends ONLY, or you launch into the ether to play a quick match. If you get up your own game you can control all the settings, but you can only invites people on your friends list. That limits the chances of having a full game unless you are VERY proactive in seeking friends. The quick match game only lets you make a few choices, and then in essence you are auto-connected with other people who are also actively seeking those game types. You can't browse or look. You just say "I want to play X type of game" and then you wait literally for 5 minutes or more sometimes as the servers gather together other people who are also actively seeking that game type. Then the game auto launches without you even knowing who is on your team or if you want to play with them. It's very frustrating to people who are used to the more customizeable lobby situations.

Still, the online experience can always be tweaked going forward, and the base gameplay is amazingly good. I highly recommend the game to anyone who enjoys shooting / strategy games but you might want to rent it for a week first, to see if what it offers to you after that point is going to keep you playing.

Best Deals for Halo 2 - Xbox

Halo 2 has good gaphics, good game play, and a good story. This game is a great sequel to the first. It has great multiplayer split screen game play.You get to be spartan and the Elite alien, you get to play both sides of the Halo 2 story! The thing that I don't like about Halo 2 is that the Flood returns. I hated fighting the flood in the first Halo, and wasn't expecting to fight them again in Halo 2. The main theme of Halo 2 was that you were going to have to protect earth from the aliens, you did do that, but I was expecting to fight them on earth the intire game, but you don't, you fight on earth for 2 levels and then you don't come back untill the end of the game.

This game still is a great game despite the few flaws. When you beat the game, split screen is still a very fun part of the game if you have a friend to play with (its acually my favorite part of the game).This is a great game so go play it!

Honest reviews on Halo 2 - Xbox

That's right, I've actually finished the game and I enjoyed the game thoroughly. The graphics are really cool, and the game play is nice. Overall, everything is more or less better than before. That is everything, except for a few things like having to hold X longer to get into a vehicle, not always knowing where to go in a level (a personal difficulty,) and the lack of a true health bar.

Now, my main problem with the game, don't worry no spoiling here, is the end of the campaign mode. Put simply, it pre-empts Halo 3, and it better come out soon!. Yet, ignoring that the game is great fun, because, well it's a Halo game.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Halo 2 - Xbox

There are many things I can say about this game, but having also played the first game and read the firts two books like most of have. I have grown to understand how the story is connected with the books and the game.

Needless to say if you havent read the books I suggest you do so because you wont have a clue as to whats going on. Even if you pay attention to the details given in the game it will leave many unanswered questions for you.

Now onto the game. I loved the first game and this is no different. Well with the added new features such as duel wielding, faster shield recharge, new enemies, weapons, missions, locations and the included XBOX LIVE MUTLIPLAYER. Which everyone has heard about.

I couldnt take part in that however becuase of lack of xbox live but the single-player, coopertive campaigns, and two-four multiplayer it kept me busy for a long time. Which shows that you can take the single or multiplayer path or both for that matter.

Which proves how good this game is.