Cheap Mad Catz Gears of War 3 Throat Communicator for Xbox 360

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So, after using this mic nearly every day for about a week now, I think that I can give a pretty good review for this mic. I had originally bought this mic after my Microsoft headset mic broke and because it looked cool. Many people will be comparing this to the COD MW throat mic and although I haven't ever used it, I can tell you what the differences are. The first is the earphone that goes into your ear. This throat mic uses a over the ear design meaning you have to put the cord around the back of your ear and the earbud goes into your ear upside down. The picture shows it being worn without putting it over your ear and although it is possible, it felt a little wierd and very noticeable in my ear the entire time I wore it. Also, these come with 3 pairs of rubber earbuds (s,m,l) whereas the MW one doesn't. The other difference is that these are adjustable. Many people complained that the MW throat mic was really uncomfortable because it was too small. I don't think that this throat mic solves that problem if you have a large neck, but if the MW mic was a little too small for you then this might help. The reason is that at the longest, the band only extends about a little more that a quarter of an inch on each side for a total exstention of half an inch. Another reviewer said that it has 4 settings, but he might been mistaken because it only has 3 (default, half extended, and fully extended). Lastly is the mic quality and sound. As I've said before, I haven't tried the MW mic so I cant really compare here, but I think that the quality of the mic is pretty good. I tried recording am audio message and my voice sounds pretty clear. I also switched from my turtle beach x41 headset for tue week that I had these and didn't tell my friends that I was using a new mic. After a week, I asked them if I sounded any different and they told me that they didn't even notice although sometimes the sound was kinda quiet. The audio that comes through earbud is really good as well and voices come through loud and clear. Now for the cons: sometimes my friends will tell me it sounds like I'm rubbing the mic. What causes this is that, when fully extended to fit my neck, the mic will stick to the skin on my neck when I get a little hot. To fix that, I only extend the mic halfway so that the section of the mic doest make contact with my skin. One other thing, you have to be careful if you're adjusting the mic while wearing it because it will pinch your skin. Other than that, the mic does what it's supposed to, but there are definitely some better mica our there.

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I originally got this throat mic because I wanted a headset that would work well with my over-the-ear headphones that I use for sound. I had the Microsoft wireless headset, but I couldn't use it with my headphones. Anyway, the throat mic is a pretty good solution for me since I can just put the little earwig underneath my headphones. The voices sound completely clear on the earwig more so than my Microsoft headset, for sure. Also, I typically have a fan running, and now I don't sound like I'm playing in a wind tunnel...

The only complaint my friends have about the switch is that it can be difficult to clearly hear my S's with the throat mic, so I sometimes sound as if I have a little lisp. They can understand me just fine, though. The one time they mentioned I was hard to understand, I shifted the mic a little lower on my throat and it sounded fine again. I'm a little worried about Mad Catz durability, but so far the mic has exceeded my expectations.

As far as size goes, I was really worried at first. I opened it up and it only went a little over halfway around my neck (my neck is 20-21"). However, as I mentioned, my friends can hear me just fine, so I guess it goes far enough. Also, it's comfortable enough even on a neck my size that I usually forget it's there.

It's not perfect by any means, but it's not bad for what it is, and it's a good solution for someone like me who wants to use the nice headphones they already own instead of hemorrhaging money for a good compatible set of headphones w/mic. I'm happy...

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This actually works very well. I'm heard. No break ups or interruptions. I hear people perfectly. For its price you really can't go wrong.

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Overall, horrid sound quality make great design and a cool concept worthless. Although I can hear others crystal clear, friends say it sounds like I swallowed the mic instead of having it around my neck. One commented that it sounds like I'm being mauled by a bear. The only time it sounded crystal clear to them was when I was standing up to grab my wireless headset. Believe it or not, I don't feel like standing up every time I want to use this. It appears to boil down to either bad wiring or a bad connection. If you're still willing to try your luck and would like to know more about the design then read on.

One of the primary issues with the MW3 version of the same mic seemed to be the "one size fits all" that didn't fit all. This version is expandable. Each side has 4 settings for a total of 8 possible sizes. Each setting seems to expand it about an eighth of an inch for a total of (go math skills!) an inch of customization to play with.

A sturdy, adhesive backed, foam rubber strip is included to go along the inside of the back of the collar. Does this make much of a difference? I don't think so. If there were more weight to it and if it rested on your neck rather than wrapping around it, maybe it would.

The connection going into the controller is looser than it should be. I'm using it with the new GoW3 controller so it's not like it's an old controller that has worn from excessive use. It has fallen out without me noticing once. It also crackles here and there when moved. The wiring and connection design seem to be flawed.

Lastly, there is ample length to the wires, but wireless would have been much preferred. Unfortunately, Microsoft won't allow third party developers to create wireless peripherals. Without getting into my personal politics on this policy, I'll just say that you can't fault Madcatz for this shortcoming.

In the end, it looks like I'll be attempting to return this item for a refund.

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i got this for my boyfriend. he says it was great. he had if for a long time only reason why he doesn't have it anymore is because airport broke it unfortunately. other wise highly suggested for gamer heads like him

The Sims 3 Seasons Reviews

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The Sims 3 Seasons is the expansion pack so many have been waiting for, and it's everything I hoped it would be, and more! Every season is packed with new objects, clothing, interactions and community lots to visit. The changing seasons and the weather give the Sims 3 world a whole new life, and bring back that same magic from years ago, the first time we saw it snow in the Sims 2.

After installing this pack, the first thing you'll notice is all the new community lots. A new Festival Grounds will be placed in your town, with many more lots also available to add. There are new homes in addition to the community lots ( several parks and different festival grounds). These new community lots are designed with all the new fun activities for your Sims to try out, for each of the seasons. There are over 100 new items, including things like kissing booths, dance floors, concession stands, eating competitions, photo booths, snowboards half-pipe, snow-cone machines, new grills, face painting and tons of new decorative items like Christmas lights and new building items.

With your new seasons, you can also change their length and frequency in the "options" menu. There are 4 seasons and you can set them to be as short as 3 days or as long as 28 days. Each season can be set accordingly. You can also uncheck the box for a particular season, and completely skip that season all together. You now have a temperature and season icon on your Sims main panel, that lets you know the current temperature and how many days until the change in the season. You can chose to have this displayed in either Celsius or Fahrenheit.

As the seasons change so do the activities your Sims will be able to participate in. Playing soccer, ice skating, roller skating and yes....even making snowmen are all options for your Sims to partake in. When your Sims are outside and the temperature is cold, you can even see their breath in the air. And to go along with the new seasons, there's new clothing. The new outfits in this pack are about the only thing there is just a moderate amount of. There is a new tab in the clothing screen where you choose your Sims outfits, for outerwear. All of the sweaters, vests and coats that were already in the clothing options have been moved to this tab, with the addition of a few new coats. There are also new snow pants, a few new bathing suites, gloves, goggles (summer and winter), boots, water shoes, face masks and some new long-johns for sleep ware. While there is a handful of new clothing items, there's not as much as other expansion packs in the past have had, like The Sims 3 Supernatural, which was overflowing with new clothing and accessories.

However what this pack is lacking in new clothing, it makes up for in so many other ways. The seasons and weather are beautiful. While this pack has all the most well loved aspects from the Sims 2 Seasons pack, there is also a ton of other new and fun content as well. There's so much to do and new surprises around every corner, it will take weeks to explore everything. Whether you want to bob for apples, ice skate in a blizzard or go tanning in a Sims tanning booth to get that perfect summertime glow, you can do it now, with the Sims 3 Seasons.

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I don't usually write reviews complaining about games or software, but sometimes you have to just to warn others about potential problems.

My teenage daughter LOVES the Sims. She has been excited about Sims 3 Seasons for months. She saved up her own money to buy a copy on the first day of release. After installing it, the game ran fine for the first hour or so. Then it crashed. Now it crashes on startup. An internet search for Sims 3 Seasons crashes produces a huge number of complaints, on both PC and Mac (we have a Mac). Many of these complaints are due to the exact same error we have been experiencing, but all of them are basically complaints about installation of Sims Seasons rendering the whole game unplayable. I am trying to figure out how to uninstall Seasons so that my daughter can go back to playing with the families that she has spent hours and hours developing (in non-Seasons mode), but so far no dice.

EA continues to release additions to the Sims which either break the original game and even wipe out all saved data, or which just seem not to have been finished or well tested. Here it is a week after launch and there's been no response from EA about the game problems at all. So in addition to this poorly made software, their customer service is almost nonexistent. (I've had similar problems with EA customer service with their other games.)

Anyway, if you're a Sims fan, or you're thinking about buying Seasons, I would suggest you hold off until EA issues at least one patch, if not more. Otherwise, you may find yourself taking on an ordeal rather than more Sims fun.

(I know, some people aren't having problems. Good for them! Be warned, however; if you install Seasons, you're taking a risk).

If it makes any differnence, we installed the game off a CD because in the past some SIms 3 downloads have produced problems for some people.

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As an avid simmer, I have all the expansion packs and while I was waiting patiently for pets, and supernatural to reoccur this is the expansion I wanted most. Part of what makes the game feel real is the world around the sims. Rain, hail, sleet, snow they are all here. And yes the poor mail person delivers through all of it. The rain so far is my favorite. I love seeing everyone pull out their umbrellas and watching my sim kids play in puddles. The Snow is cool, but I haven't had a real big snow yet. As seasons change you see it happen in the foliage around town and in the lighting. Fall looks warmer, spring cooler, ect.ect. There are more outdoor activities like soccer and suntanning along with more stuff to do out at the park. Trick or treating and costume parties are fun to take part in. Beware of lightning I was zapped not 15 minutes into playing. My Sim didn't die but I can see that as one of the new deaths, not sure yet. I'll try to update this review once I have had more time with the game but so far I am impressed with this expansion and look forward to wasting many more hours playing it.

*edit*

Now that I've had the game for almost a week I have had more time to play it and my original rating still stands. I love this expansion. My game started with Summer but I was to busy looking at everything that was new in the game that I didn't get to take full advantage of it the first go round. Now after getting through all the seasons a few times my favorite is the Fall.

At the fall fest a large pumpkin patch appears along with a haunted house, apple bobbing bins ect. This is the perfect time to throw a costume party. Although you can throw one at anytime. Sims can bring home a pumpkin or several from the fest then carve them into several different patterns. Don't do it too soon before you want to use them because sims will smash them for fun and all your left with is pumpkin chunks ready to be disposed. Once spooky day is near, kids and teens can go trick or treating. Parents can take them or the kids can venture out alone. If the neighbors aren't home when a kid goes trick or treating a message pops up expressing the kids feelings about the situation. Once done trick or treating the kids can scarf down their loot and get a sugar buzz. You can preset costumes by going into the dressers and setting an outfit or you can let the game randomly pick one for your costume parties.

In winter another festival rolls into town. Ice skating and snow boarding become available along with igloos, mistletoe, snowmen, and gift giving. Gift giving parties work best if you have a large mostly empty room with spots for sims to sit down either on the floor or in a chair. Once most all the guest have arrived you can click on the pile and request everyone to start opening them. Each sim will take a turn until all the gifts are gone but if the gift task bubble disappears while this is going on your sim loses out and cannot rejoin. I hope there is a fix for this in a patch. Gifts range in price. I've received easels,lamps, and that time old naughty gift, Coal.

Spring brings kissing booths and egg hunting at the park along with regular skating. Most all eggs contain tickets, some nicer prizes like gnomes, and fancy eggs. I am having a problem with the girl kissing booth, when my sim takes over it to be the "kisser" no one seems to be able to get to her. They stomp their feet and throw their arms in the air. If something is blocking them I am not seeing it. Maybe just my game, maybe not. The Male booth works fine. So this is an issue in which I will have to look into. Wild flowers show up in spring along with hay fever when they are picked. Not always but sometimes.

Back to summer. In summer the heat climbs, sims can lounge at the pool or the beach. We can float on mats in swimming pools, suntan until golden brown or over bake and turn really red. At the festival soccer arrives and you can have a shootout with the ball. To me summer fest is the most boring one, but to each his own. Daredevil loving sims can buy fireworks and have a blast on leisure day.

Each season comes with a holiday that can fall anytime in the week, which is great because now kids can get an extra day off from school, parents from work and spend the day doing something fun. Sims can now get sick when exposed to different things in the game like elements, flowers, or other sick sims. Tickets are given for doing different activities at the festivals and then can be redeemed for different prizes. Some prizes are exclusive to the different season. i.e. Witch gnome at fall fest, rabbit gnome at spring fest.

There are new objects in the game, skate rinks, soccer nets, love testers, mostly things you find at the park during the festivals. I've discovered 3 new gnomes I think there are 4 not sure maybe more, not sure. Most of the new clothes that's been added to the game is costume or winter related. Except for a rain coat which can be worn almost all year long. Seriously it rains a lot. The new hairs for the girls is awful. I really don't like them and have found much nicer stuff at the exchange though you have to be careful what you download.

All in all it's a great new addition. Weather to me has been the missing link and now that it's here everything feels more realistic and complete. I don't know if there will be more expansions to come but if this is the note the sims 3 ends on, it's a sweet one. The graphics are really good. Very Happy with it.

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I have played every expansion pack and stuff pack in the Sims 3 series, and this is the first expansion pack that has made gameplay impossible. I am one of many Mac users that have found this expansion pack to be unstable to the point of unplayable.

Electronic Arts provides miserably bad customer service and has been silent on this issue since Seasons was released. If you contact their technical support, you will leave frustrated. They have almost no English reading comprehension, they are unfamiliar with EA's software and even more unfamiliar with Mac OS X. They will provide no solutions and in the end tell you to visit the Sims 3 forums for help. Unfortunately, there's no EA staff available to help you there, only other players. All that the EA staff does there is delete critical posts from the forums.

In spite of the inherent instability, sluggishness and overal craptastic nature of the code and how it requires emulation (the Mac version is actually just the PC version running in an emulator called Cider), I was able to play the game with enough success to satisfy me. Of course, I had to save ridiculously frequently and none of my gaming sessions ever ended without the game crashing, but I was able to have multiple-hour play sessions.

Since Seasons, I have not.

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As promised, I am re-reviewing Seasons :) I LOVE IT! Beautiful! S3 still crashes so I suggest saving regularly. Would have 5 stars if the game were fully stable!

I had JUST gotten a fix for my errors that worked and now, once more, I cannot save. Error 12 is ruining my experience!! Oh and when I CAN save, which I do every half hour now (despite that taking 5 minutes a go) I have to worry about the game randomly closing and losing all progress.

I've been playing sims since the original and I do love how beautiful this makes my worlds and I LOVE the new holiday celebrations ... so my only problem is the game is nearly unplayabley unstable.

Cheap Rock Band 2 Single Cymbal Expansion Kit

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I must admit that when all the Cymbals were functional it added a great "authentic" feel to my Rock Band 2 drum kit.

However after about 3wks of drumming I noticed the Cymbals where not responding well until they eventually stopped working all together. It was fun while it lasted but not worth the price for the quality of the product.

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Let's face it, the double cymbal set is the one you're most likely to find in a store (say, Gamesmop or Fest Fry). But once you have that, you realize how much you need 3 cymbals. Well, if you manage to find the single set anywhere, you're in luck it comes with the same mounting tools as the triple, so you can upgrade the double set very easily with this one.

I rated 4 stars instead of 5 because really, what you want is the triple set. But since that's pretty impossible to find, getting the double and then this is a good way to fake it.

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My son and I enjoy playing the drums more with the expansion pack. We purchased both the two-pack and the single cymbal pack. But we've had some issues which limit our enjoyment of them--especially for the cost.

A NOTE FOR LEFTIES:

I you play in left-handed mode, the left-hand red tom becomes a crash or even a ride cymbal. The cymbal expansion packs don't allow for a RED cymbal. They give you BLUE, GREEN, and YELLOW which is perfect for the RIGHT handed player.

NOTE ON CONSTRUCTION:

We've now broken two cymbals. The plastic pin assembly just below the cymbal is a weak point and with some energetic playing, easily crack and break. I managed to repair them by installing a hose clamp over the pin assembly. Also, the clamps that grab the drum set itself don't lock tightly enough so the cymbals slip down while playing. I repaired this by wrapping tape around the shaft of the cymbal mount to widen it so the clamps can grab better.

In summary, the cymbals are fun, but the poor construction is a major issue.

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Easy to install and comes with two brackets so you can set up a three cymbal kit.

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I was a littel scared that this and the two-pack(sold everywhere) would not be as good as getting the three pack but, it came with everything I needed to either install it as a single cymbal, or to make the set of three. (There are two separate attachments, one that makes it easy to set it up as a crash and ride cymbal)

I love the game, and this really lets you immerse yourself into the drumming.

Review of NFL® Atlanta Falcons Vinyl Skin for 1 Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless

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My son loves it cause no one uses this controller it represents a Falcons fan and we have no other Falcon fan in the home!

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Not only did I find my boyfriend's favorite team, but I found MY favorite team as well (Real Salt Lake ((soccer))). We are gamers, so these are absolutely perfect for us! Easy to put on, and they don't slide off or unstick no matter how much we play

:)

Cheap Xbox 360 Premium 1.4 HDMI Cable - 9.8ft 3D Compatible

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I bought a new TV that didn't have all the fun RCA hookups in the back no big deal. In comes the HDMI cable. Absolutely no issues with it.

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VERY PRACTICE AND SERVICIAL, IS PERFECT, GREAT PRODUCT. I RECOMENDED, FOR YOURS XBOX, AND 3D, VERY GOOD, I LOVE IT

Reviews of Prince of Persia Trilogy HD - Playstation 3

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I played Prince of Persia: Sands of Time back when it was on PS2 and loved it. I tried playing Warrior Within on PC but it wasn't fun playing with a mouse and keyboard, a console controller is key for this sort of game. Years later I heard that the story arc of the series was really good, so I wished I had kept trying Warrior Within and then played The Two Thrones, but was I really going to dig out the PS2 and play them when I was already playing amazing HD games on the PS3? Of course not.

The HD Trilogy solved this problem, and I was very excited to re-play SoT and finally play the remainder of the series. The games themselves are a lot of fun, however this HD remaster by Ubisoft has some serious bugs. The sound is pretty poor in SoT, it starts and stops mid-song, and it's rather distracting. But the BIG problem with this game is that it freezes my PS3. Right after the first save point I was wall-running and it froze. I couldn't even shut off the system with the PS button, I had to manually reboot the machine. I figured it was just one of those occasional freezes and re-loaded the game with little consideration of the event...until it froze again in the exact same spot.

I returned the game to the retailer and exchanged it for another copy. I re-loaded and this time it worked fine great!

...until it froze again, a couple of levels later. Again, when I was wall-running. It appears to be when you're wall-running and the game wants to show a tip at the bottom of the screen, for whatever reason, it can't handle it. I searched the boards and found many people had the same problem and it seems the fix is to disconnect the PS3 from the Network/Internet because any background downloading or Internet activity screws it up. I am writing this review to confirm that this does indeed fix the problem, and it's not a huge deal, but I don't believe I should have to do this in order to play a game.

SUMMARY: TURN OFF YOUR PS3 NETWORK CONNECTION BEFORE PLAYING THIS GAME OTHERWISE IT WILL PERIODICALLY FREEZE.

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I'm gonna level with you: This review will probably be a little tough to follow. Why? Because I both love and hate this trilogy of games, and I have even stronger feelings about this HD re-release. So let me give you a quick background:

* I believe "The Sands of Time" is a good game, but was badly overrated with all of its Editor's Choice, 9s and 10s, and Game-of-the-Year consideration back in 2003. It was always worth a gamer's time, but it was no masterpiece.

* "Warrior Within" is easily the most divisive game of this trilogy, and rightfully so. I don't hate the game, but I have some very strong criticisms of it.

* I actually think "The Two Thrones" is the best game of this collection, because it took the best aspects of the previous 2 games, and also innovated on the formula.

It's hard to know where to begin with this review. I'll get into some technical details, and then explore each individual game, and see where we end up.

TECHNICAL STUFF

All three games have been allegedly remastered. I say "allegedly" because I don't consider this an upgrade. "The Sands of Time" has some serious sound issues, where the dialogue is almost impossible to hear and sound effects feel misplaced. There are echoes when the characters are outdoors, and the sounds of swords clashing are 100 times louder than the music. I never had a problem with the hard rock music from "Warrior Within", but those annoying shrieks of your enemies haven't aged well. In any event, the music is also very difficult to hear, as can be the dialogue in certain sections. Thankfully, "The Two Thrones" has a perfect balance with all of its sound aspects. The music, dialogue, background, and other effects are tuned properly and don't require any adjustments with your sound system or settings. But it's a real shame that "The Sands of Time" and "Warrior Within" have such shockingly awful sound quality, where the way my camera is aimed can determine whether I get a crisp clear sound or a soft whisper. And no...it's not my TV or system, because none of my other games or consoles have this problem.

It is true that all 3 games have had the graphics redone, but I am not convinced this is for the better. What I found more often than not is that while the environments have better textures, the buildings and architecture feel more fake now. "The Sands of Time" and "The Two Thrones" don't have this problem too much, but the Fortress in "Warrior Within" can look very unconvincing in certain areas (especially that long staircase where the Prince enters for the first time). The character models look a little more fake too, with "Warrior Within" showing some seriously baffling issues (the Prince has a different skin complexion on the right side of his mouth). The pre-rendered cutscenes have always looked good, and they hold up today.

Loading times haven't improved, but they were fine to begin with. I've read that some gamers experienced some serious glitches with "Warrior Within" back in 2004 when it was first released, but I never encountered those problems even back in the day, so I couldn't say.

I haven't tested the 3D feature yet, but I'm honestly not interested. I haven't bought into the 3D gimmick yet, having tested it with a few movies and games.

Oh, I know this isn't a huge deal, but this Trilogy has some of the dumbest Trophies I've ever seen. "The Sands of Time" has one for playing over 10 hours, when a new gamer can finish it in 7 hours. Why do I get a trophy for completing the defense mechanism puzzle but not the torturous library sequence? Why is there a trophy for using my Rewind ability less than 20 times in 1 game, yet I'll get a trophy if I use it over 200 times? "Warrior Within" gives me a trophy just for landing on the island at the end of the first sequence, but not another story-related trophy until I destroy a random giant boss about 75% of the way through (even though I've killed 2 similar giants earlier). "The Two Thrones" trophies are a little more reasonable, involving the number of enemies killed using stealth, or the number of enemies killed as Dark Prince, but there are still a scant number of story-related ones. And why are the trophies for these games mostly Silver or Gold level? And why doesn't "The Sands of Time" have a trophy for not dying when the 2 sequels do? Man, I'm think too deep into this.

I guess when it comes to this PS3 collection, I recommend trying to find the original 2003-2005 discs instead. They honestly look and sound better, in my opinion. Games this old won't ever look as sharp as what gets released today, so why try to convince anybody otherwise?

THE TRILOGY

"The Sands of Time" is indeed a true pioneer in action and platforming. The combat is fluid and unique, and the death-defying and escapes the Prince endures are always exhilerating. Where I think "Sands of Time" needs to be put in its place is the story. The concept itself is very good, with a Prince using a powerful dagger with time-altering abilities to reseal a deadly magic. And there are some very compelling story moments, especially in the final hour or so of the game. But the fact of the matter is that between say the 20%-80% mark, this story goes absolutely nowhere. The Vizier (main villain) is nowhere in sight. The confrontation with the Prince's father isn't nearly as dramatic as it needs to be. I don't expect long, drawn-out sequences. But as I think I can show with "The Two Thrones", there is a way to merge this exciting gameplay style with a good story in small doses. "The Sands of Time" has always been a strong game, but I don't think it's ever been a great one.

"Warrior Within" is like the prequel trilogy of "Star Wars". It's the one game that "Prince of Persia" fans like to make fun of, even though there are plenty of fans who like it. This 2nd chapter has some fundamentally strong attributes that its haters forget to address. In fact, I think I love what most people hate about "Warrior Within", and hate what most critics praised about it. I love the hard-edge rock music. I love the darker color palette and more disturbing enemies. I love the way this game makes the Prince self-centered without being an annoying smart aleck. I love the expanded combat engine, with dual weapons and bloodier results. What drives me bonkers with "Warrior Within" is that it involves a ton of backtracking between two timelines, and frankly, it's a confusing mess. The map feature is almost useless, and there aren't enough clues to tell you whether you're heading the right way or not. Exploration is one thing, but "The Sands of Time" and "The Two Thrones" were wise to keep things linear with a few secrets to discover. "Warrior Within", on the other hand, is such a jigsaw puzzle that getting the good ending isn't even likely without a strategy guide. Get this, there are 2 endings, and the slightly-happier one isn't reachable unless you find all the hidden health upgrades. I wouldn't mind this conundrum if "The Two Thrones" didn't begin with the happier ending, but it does! I guess my big beef with "Warrior Within" is that I was willing to appreciate all of the risks it took with its style and story, but I feel like my favorite aspect of "Prince of Persia" --the platforming and exploration --got turned into a backtracking chore. "Warrior Within" is a solid game, but it's sure to test your patience, for one reason or another.

"The Two Thrones", in my opinion, is the pinnacle of this trilogy. The story is constantly in focus, with the player always feeling like something is developing. The combat is just as tight as it was in "Sands" and "Warrior". The Prince character is rightfully returned to the persona that he was in "Sands of Time", though mature enough to sympathize with him. The platforming is as tight as ever, with more tricks and obstacles to discover. The gameplay mechanics are changed up a bit, with a few chariot sequences and the option of attempting stealth Speed Kills. Players will also get to use The Dark Prince from time to time, almost like a brand new character to experiment with. I especially love the lush outdoor scenery of Babylon. Indoor exploration is fine, but navigating the rooftops and streets was often a pleasure. My big gripe about this chapter, however, is the villain. I won't give away anything, but frankly, the villain undergoes a drastic transformation almost immediately, and it's frankly very silly looking. The whole time instead of awaiting my deadly nemesis, I kept thinking, 'This punk looks like an annoying boss battle waiting to happen.' But the psychological torment going on in the Prince's mind more than makes up for that issue. I always enjoyed listening to the narrator's telling of the story, and the Prince's mad inner discussions. I don't know if I'll play "The Two Thrones" (or any of these games) very often, but it's a hell of a first-time playthrough.

OVERALL

Should I give this disc 5 stars because it's exactly what "Prince of Persia" fans are asking for with a great price? Should I give this 3 stars because of all the repetition and technical inconsistencies? I giving this 4 stars because even though I'd rather play the original PS2/GameCube/X-Box versions, this is a solid collection of games in one place.

"The Sands of Time" 8.25 / 10

"Warrior Within" 7.75 / 10

"The Two Thrones" 8.75 / 10

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The good:

Great HD remakes of the original games. Graphics are pretty good for a remake, the only thing giving it away is the low poly count of the main characters.

FMV have translated very well and are full screen.

Even after all these years, these 3 games still are the best in the series. Challenging and difficult, although you can adjust difficulty in the 2 newer ones.

There is a 5-7 minute hard drive install required, but afterwards, the games run smooth with minimal, unintrusive loading times.

The bad:

Bugs, bugs, bugs. When you select a New Game in Sands of Time, the loading screen showed 2 gears moving, implying the game is being loaded. In reality, the game locked my PS3. After 3 reboots, it worked fine and the loading was immediate. The second bug also happened in Sands of Time, after the first save. You have to wall run a couple of times and the game crashed again. Two reboots later, it worked. None of these bugs were in the original. My PS3 is the newer 160 GB, updated to latest OS. Warrior Within and Two Thrones had no crashes to this point I am about half way through both.

Sound: Difficult to control the sound. The reload screen has very loud music, while in game sounds are a lot softer. Worst is Warrior Within, the best is Two Thrones.

Sands of Time fights: Always hated the teleporting enemies, hate them as much now.

Overall this is a great value and a much welcome remake. You get 30 hours of content for a very good price. If you have never played these games, be aware they are more difficult than the latest PoP installments, although they have better stories and puzzles.

Honest reviews on Prince of Persia Trilogy HD - Playstation 3

Like a lot of people who bought this game when it came out, I've been a fan of Prince of Persia since PS2. I've played it on both PC and PS2 and I can definitely tell you that it has more bugs in PS3 than the other 2.

Good part -

Much improved graphics during gameplay. Aside from a little bit of lag once or twice, the game plays just fine when it's not crashing.

The gameplay is still one of the best out there: simple and challenging at times.

The controls for Two thrones is the best out of the 3 games. Sands of Time is very simple but fun.

Bad part -

The worst one for me is the BUGS! Let me tell you how frustrating it is. I had to repeat Warrior Within from the start when I didn't get the Life Upgrade in sequence because I couldn't continue my game. That's only in Warrior Within. For Sands of Time and Two Thrones, it will sometimes freeze your game (I had 5 freezes in 1 playthrough for TT), or sometimes your screen will just turn black and you have to turn off your PS3. Some of the bugs from PS2/PC are still in PS3 plus they added more!! You would wish they would have fix it by now after 5+ years... Right?

The cutscene is still in standard definition. The gameplay actually looks better than the cutscene itself.

The SOUND from Sands of Time is VERY low. You could not hear what the Prince is talking about unless you mess around with the Sound Control (lowering some parts etc.)

Overall -

Like a lot of people, I enjoyed this trilogy because of its platform, puzzles, simple fights with good alternatives/combo, and not to mention you get trophies for this. I've played all 3 games in PS3 for over 50 hours+ combined now (platinum'd 2 of them), and its just sad how the only thing they improved in this remake is the graphics/details. If I were you, I'll buy the PC version (if you haven't played it before) like someone else said for less than $10. It will have everything in this version with less bugs. Get this if you prefer Trophies, and better graphics. Enough said~

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As one of the few gamers that never played the original Prince of Persia releases, I eagerly anticipated this HD Trilogy and purchased it yesterday after a significant price cut.

Even with the price cut, this collection is a blatant slap in the face to gamers. The sound quality in all three games is atrocious, to the point of making the games completely unplayable.

The sound fxs are WAY too loud: scampering bugs and cries drill into your skull with a series of repetitive onslaughts. The music is WAY too soft: unless the other tracks are turned completely down it is inaudible. Lastly, the volume of speech differs between in-game cinematics and cut-scenes. Therefore, it is either blaring or completely underwhelming.

I've encountered less than perfect sound mixes in the Tomb Raider Trilogy (HD collection) and Call of Duty: Black Ops; however, I was able to adjust the sound levels within those games and find an acceptable balance. The mixing in the Prince of Persia Trilogy is not the worst issue. The REAL PROBLEM is the quality of the audio.

EVERYTHING sounds like it is being broadcast through a tin can and then transmitted with reverb set to +11. Effects are also frequently absent or out of place: explosions and rock slides may have no audio whatsoever, while a water fountain at the end of a hallway booms with the verocity of Niagra Falls. Between the abhorrent tonal qualities and discontinuous sounds the audio is beyond mere mediocrity. Not only that, dolby digital doesn't work properly and the sound needs to be set to 2 channels.

I have many HD collections: Metal Gear Solid, God of War, God of War: Origins, Jak & Daxter, Tomb Raider Trilogy, and Ico & Shadow of the Colossus. When I purchase an HD collection, I EXPECT the same sort of HD treatment.

Graphically the HD 16:9 looks on par with other collections. The menu system is terrible though, and will not let you choose from other games without quitting to the PS3 home menu. They also forgot to add sound effects for choosing between the 3 games or options.

All in all, this is a LAZY, AWFUL port that should NOT have made it through Quality Assurance. As a big fan of the Assassin's Creed series, I expected more from Ubisoft. I've eagerly anticipated playing these games for a long time, but playing through them with this sound quality is absolute torture.

The Prince of Persia Trilogy is the worst port, or "upgrade" release I have ever purchased. If Ubisoft had any respect for its fans it would patch the issues or recall the original versions. If this was a film release of a classic, people would be in an uproar!

For newcomers, the sound is an immediate disconnect from the series. For longtime fans, this release is the equivalent of gaming blasphemy. So let me ask you, WHY have people allowed this to happen to a classic trilogy without more negative feedback?

Rise of Nations - PC Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $19.99
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As you probably have read, this game is a "thinking mans RTS". I play w/ a group of co-workers who bragged constantly about how cool this game was, but I was put off by the "bigness" of it. The instruction booklet is massive, and ironically, my biggest complaint about the game is that it's not nearly big enough to even give you a good working understanding of the game!

Now, if you aren't afraid of an extraordinarily complex game, this is, in my opinion, the best RTS out there today. Over 10 different nationalities progress and fight thier way through different ages (starting w/ the Ancient Age, and progressing to the Information Age). Each age allows newer and better production, warwaging units, and capabilities. It's hilarious watching inferior players defending their cities w/ catapults while a highly skilled player rolls over them w/ tanks -or Archers being gunned down by an opposing player who's discoved Gunpowder. Yum, gaming goodness!!!

Many new concepts have been introduced in this game. My favorite is "National Borders". At a point in the game, each territory has borders that eminate from their civilizations center of power. What a blast it is to see the colored borders creep out and eventually meet other territories (doing damage to enemy buildings and units it envelops).

Difficult to learn, yes, but the payoff is (in my opinion) very well worth the investment.

Hope my input is helpful.

Enjoy...

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I knew it would take a great game to pull me away from Age of Mythology which I've been playing like an addict for over 6 months now. This is the game I was waiting for. As a veteran Player of both the Civilization series (and the far superior Alpha Centauri) and Age Of Empire series, the similarities to both series was immediately obvious. It shoudln't come as any surprise since this game was built under the Microsoft banner (makers of the AOE series) but developed by former Civilization creators. The end result is a game so close to perfection you are forced to wonder why no one had though of it earlier.

While the gameplay is real time, most of the interface concepts and strategy has been adopted from turn based strategy. Basically combat plays like AOE, but city management plays like CIV. It's the best of both worlds really. The depth of research, complex alliances combined with shrewd AI make this one of the deepest real-time strategy games ever made. Probably the deepest. The use of nukes, aircraft, and huge armies result in huge bloody battles that every real-time player looks for.

One of the best concepts taken from the turn based games is the way cities are the key to conquest. Cities can be raided and completely taken over by hostile armies. Cities determine the size and shape of national borders. Operating outside of national borders causes your troops to suffer attrition damage if improperly equipped. Therefore, real-time players used to "rushing' will find they must adopt a whole new strategy. Armies might be the key to conquest, but it's developement that will govern their success.

There are two basic modes to the single player game: quick battle and the campaign. Players of the campaign will notice similarities to another hybrid type series: Total War. There is a huge world map where armies can be moved around like game pieces. After making your moves, the game goes into real time mode with objectives based on the decisions and moves you made previously. Unlike Total War where the real time is strictly combat, the real time portion of the game also forces you to build resources and raise armies if necessary. Exceptional victories are rewarded with game cards that can be played prior to going real time, another added bonus that gives depth to the game.

While their are few real ground-breaking concepts in this game, by taking the best concepts of some of the greatest strategy games ever made is a bold leap forward. Also, after playing Age of Mythology and Warcraft 3 with their beautiful 3D engines, the 2d graphics are a step back, but it's easily forgiven. I've been playing this game for awhile now, and it seems like I learn somethign new every time I play. Liek the best strategy games, there are a lot of layers and a lot of different paths to victory. Any strategy game fan should pick this one up regardless of their preferences.

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This game blows Empire Earth, Civilization III, and Age of Empires out of the water. It is just plain fun FUN FUN! I would recommend this game to any people that liked the games mentioned above. This is why i gave it 5 stars:

Single-player: awesome. you start off with one city, and then you keep adding (the maximum is 8 i think). You can invade enemy territoty and try to conquer them. And believe me, you can't just march in there with a huge amount of soldiers and expect to decimate them. Oh no. They have the homefield advantage. Their reinforcements keep coming & coming & coming. One time, I was fighting for a city on my border and the French's border. I fought for that city for almost half of the game. I would get it, then they would. This went on & on, just like real life. This game is very realistic and extremely fun. They also have a conquer the world campigne, but i don't find it amussing.

Another good quality is that the people move very fast, which is a major advancement. This helps a lot when you are under attack and have no troops there. The troops get there quickly, and problem solved.

This game is one of the best RTS games i have ever played.

BUY THIS GAME!!

Honest reviews on Rise of Nations - PC

First of all, let me explain my gaming interest/background. I believe that Civ II is the greatest strategy game ever developed, bar none. I put more playtime into that game than I wish to admit. Once I began playing the real-time games, namely the Starcraft, Age of Empires, and Warcraft series, they provided a good time but always left something to be desired. I felt they were too one-dimensional, completely focused on resource allocation. Some strategy was involved, but that lay completely in the battle sequences.

Rise of Nations has set a new bar. It has brilliantly combined the aspects of the Civilization series with those of the real-time game. If you are familiar with Civ, you will see many similarities, in that you wean ore from mountains, lumber from forests, and so on. The difference is that you have to allocate citizens to build structures (mines, farms, etc.) to obtain these resources rather than get them passively. The research tree is a little more linear but still supremely superior to other real-time games. The Wonder of the World and national border concepts are preserved from Civ, also.

An interesting tweak to the game is rare resources, which are scattered throughout the maps, which give your nation special bonuses. You also have generals, which can give bonuses to their surrounding troops a la the hero from Warcraft.

The real-time playability is outstanding, garnering the feel of Age of Kings.

Overall, this game is outstanding. It is an improvement over both genres of games, a great feat.

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This game is one of the best RTS games I have ever played! You can choose one of 18 nations, Aztecs, Bantu, British, Chinese, Egyptians, French, Germans, Greeks, Inca, Japanese, Korean, Maya, Mongols, Nubians, Romans, Russians, Spanish, and Turks, all with different strenght's and abilities. You start off in the Acient age, with slingers (rock throwers) and finish in the Information age, with Nuclear bombs an Artificial Intellegence.

This game is very fast paced, as in, battles and wars. It is not easy to invade an enemy's territory, which is realistic. If you come with a huge assembly of soldiers, you won't have many left by the end of the battle because their reinforements keep on coming. For example, I wanted to take over the French city of Marsielles (bare with me on the spelling), and it took me nearly four epochs just to take over that city. It was frustrating, but, hey, welcome to the real world. The graphics are also superb. The battles are not extrodinary, but are fun to watch. When you drop a nuclear bomb, anything, or anyone for that matter, is destroyed within the explosion radius. You have to worry about radiation, too. After you drop your fist Nuke, a little sign comes up and says: Armaggedon-15. After you drop another Nuke, the number drops to 14. I think that when the number gets to zero, the world is destroyed and it is game over for everyone. I just wish that if you dropped a Nuke, it would destroy more that three buildings.

his may not matter much to you, but it matters alot to me. The people in this game actually walk FAST! This takes away the long waiting time if you want to move a person all the way across the map. It also can come in handy if you are in a large battle or your city is being attacked, and the reinforcments are a long way's away.

The conquer the world campainge is also a lot of fun. You begin with a map, very similar to Medieval: Total War. You do the same thing as Total War-move your army around the map trying to conquer the world, one terrritory at a time. When ou try to conquer the territory, sometimes there are missions: defend your city for 15 minutes, or, the usual: capture the enemy capital in 90 minutes or less. I have just begun the conquer the world campaigne, and it is very enjoyable.

The gameplay is bassically the same as Age of Empires-you start out with your capital, build farms & mines &woodcutters camps. But this game goes way beyond Age of Empires. If you liked the Age of Empires series, BUY THIS GAME!

Again, this game is highly enjoyable and very addictive.On easy, I beat the computer in about 3 hours, but that was on easy. This game is a great way to spend your spare time, and is definatly worth the price.

This game needs a top of the line computer in order to function right. I had a NVIDIA 64mb video card, and it needed to be updated. I called the people at Microsft, and they were very helpful. The walked me through how to update the graphics card driver and were ver nice. If you have anything less that a 64mb video card, you cannot play this game. Go out and buy a new video card.

This game is very fun and very addictive. It is well worth the price. BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!