Xbox Game reviews

Lost Planet

The latest entry from Capcom into the shooter market finally arrived in SA over the weekend after a few delays.

I presume quite a few people have played the single & multiplayer demos which were available on LIVE for quite a while now. Just in case I will summarize the game's scope :

Humanity has moved on from a crusty Earth and settled on EDN III, an icy planet where some nasty residents whoop humanity until its discoverd these same aliens harness the basis for humanity's survival - Thermal Energy. This causes the humans to do a U-turn and attemtp to claim the planet to themselves.

In the game you fulfill the role of Wayne, a survivor from an encounter with an Akrid mega-monster found by a band of snow pirates.

Graphics :

Snow is what you will see most of the time, but the effect is never boring or dull. Akrid's appearing from underground, invading snow pirates bases and underground caves are part of many a mission. The Akrid are very well detailed with their soft spots visible, explosion effects are far some of the best I've seen on a console. Some of the terrain is deformable but mostly noted during online matches. You get the best visual splendor on a HD TV set but I think on a SDTV its also up to par with other games.


Gameplay :

Having 13 missions to complete on 3 difficulty settings plus an unlockable Extreme mode should lengthen the solo game which spans between 7-9 hours depending how meticulous you are. You can only carry 2 weapons at a time thus making the game a bit more tactical on your approach.You also get to pilot Mechs labelled as VS units which have varying firepower. One cool aspect of the game is that you can actually REMOVE the weapons on any mech and use it! Gattling gun FTW! :D

The biggest plus for this game is its online component. With four game modes : Team Elimination, Elimination, Post Grab & Fugitive with up to 16 players its a blast. Plus add the promotion experience levels, unlockable costumes and medal achievements you got a solid MP to play.

Overall if you enjoy shooters with a solid multiplayer base you will enjoy this game. No split-screen or COOP might shun away players but there is plenty in the game anyhow.

My score 8/10.
 
Gow

9.5/10

Great Game!

Enjoyed every moment of it. Rushed home every day after work, to continue the game. Fear was another good one, but GOW is definitely up a level in this nex gen gaming.

well done epic, from unreal to GOW.

:D
 
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

I was reluctant to buy this title, but I'm very happy I did. I should be finished this one with the next day or so, so I feel I can write a quick review about it.

Gameplay 8/10
Although the game can be a button masher at times, it's really a blast. You get to build a team of 4 Marvel superheroes, which out of the 4, you control 1 at all times - you are allowed to swap between any 1 of the four at anytime you like. It's got an RPG element to it, so you can upgrade your Marvel superheroes like stats, items and your usual RPG stuff. The RPG element is more like Gauntlet than say Diablo or Baulders Gate, but still simple enough to please both RPG and non-RPG fans. The gameplay is very addictive.

Graphics 7/10
Because the game was ported to every console currently available, I don't think the graphics are what they should be (even they though it is pretty damn good) and could be better (call me fussy). For the Xbox 360 version, they have been 'pretty-ed' up and look a lot better than any version out there.

Sound 9/10
The voice acting in this game is excellent and each Marvel character sounds just like they should and there are A LOT of Marvel characters in this game. The music is also very catchy and I'd actually go so far as to say 'memorable'.

Extras 8/10
There is sooo much to unlock in this game. Each character has 4 costumes to unlock and there are quite a few unlockable characters and a **** lot of comic book covers, missions, load screen art and movies to unlock.

The Verdict
Definitely a good buy. The story, gameplay and everything about it is good and if you are a Marvel fan, you will love this game even more. If not, you will still enjoy it. The amount of Marvel trivia in this game is immense and you will learn a lot.

Total Score 8/10
 
martin said:
MotoGP 06



Cons:
- Learning curve may seem steep to people new to the genre
- Judging from other games, graphics could probably have been even better
Click to expand...

On normal tv it is just plain crappy IMO. I bought the VGA adapted and after upping the resolution and playing on LCD the game looks a million times better. It doesn't translate well into low res for some reason, but as I said, on LCD it looks damn crisp and realistic. Lovely game, but helluva difficult at first.
 
Dead Rising

This is survival horror meets GTA.

It is basically a dawn of the dead game. You get to kill zombies, lots and lots of zombies.The game has a very high replayability value bacause of the open ended nature of the game, something like 5 endings and the way u can constantly restart the game.

Dead Rising allows players to save their current level and status, and restart the game from the beginning as a more powerful player.The zombies don't get any stronger and u can eventually disembowel them with your bare hands :D

There are many different weapons you can use and some of my favourites are the chainsaw, katana, machete,excavator and the lawnmower of death.

You can also mix different types of drinks to get better health potions, u can heat up frying pans to inflict more damage and throw oil on the steps and see zombies slide down.

There are loads of skills to learn like zombie walking(walking on their shoulders over large crowds of zobies) and achievements like Zombie Genocider where u have to kill all the zombies(53,594)

U have a camera so u can take memorable pics to earn points that help u level faster.

There is simply too much to put into a review but this is a awesome game.

This is a very violent and graphic game and has been banned in Germany.

I give it 9.5/10 Would have been 10/10 if it wasn't such a pain in the arse to save.
 
Pitbull said:
COD3

If you like 2nd world war 1st Person shooters this is a must have
...
08/10
Click to expand...
Am finding CoD3 a bit dull. Nothing particularly wrong, graphics & sound are great, levels are well designed and varied.

Just has nothing truely exciting to offer ... maybe I've just played too many WWIIs or been spoilt by GoW ... 6/10.
 
Crackdown

I was slightly underwhelmed by this game when I saw my housemate playing it - that quickly changed when I got a chance to sit down with it. It's a GTA style game with some nice twists.

Things I like:
- You're an agent working with peacekeepers (the police), so for a change the police is on your side but they do get pissed off at you occasionally (don't shoot at them) and will fire on you, luckily they are forgiving and don't seem to hold a grudge for very long.
- You have five areas in which you can level-up (RPG style):
1. Agility - allows you to perform insane spiderman-like jumps from building to building
2. Driving - allows to drive cars faster
3. Strength - allows you to eventually pick and throw cars around, also allows you to kill gang members with one kick
4. Explosives - allows the blast radius of your grenades to increase
5. Firearms - allows you to shoot more accurately
- Handling of the cars just feels better than it did in Saint's Row and GTA
- The gameplay is just really fun
- The weapons, especially the shotgun and M16
- The graphics. I didn't like the style much to start out with but it gives the game a comic feel which just fits in really well with the gameplay
- The feeling of vertigo you get when scaling a tall building, my buddy mentioned this as well, we like it

Things I dislike:
- Auto-targeting can be a pain at times
- The mini-map could be better
- You can only kick in the game, it would be nice to throw a punch every now and then
- The neighbourhoods controlled by the different gangs look pretty much the same
- No bikes. I would have loved to see a bike in this game

If ever there was a game that had the potential of capturing the concept of 'The Matrix', it would probably be this one (with a few tweaks of course).

Score: 9/10
 
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Battlestations Midway

Being an avid wargames fan I expected the release of this title with some skepticism as it has a very ambitious scope in terms of units you control and the missions you carry out.

Needless to say after reading reviews and buying a 2nd hand copy I give my kudos to Eidos and the developer team for creating such an easy to get into but hard to master game.

You do feel overwhelmed initially when you sit and read the manual, I mean controlling planes, dive bombers, torpedo bombers, carriers, battleships, cruisers and submarines all at once in some missions seems too much to handle. However, if you take it easy and dwelve into the game via the tutorial missions and single player campaign you will really enjoy this title. A few challenge missions and online gameplay also are part of the main attraction for this game, but finding local players is a tad hard. So unless you host a session and get a couple of UK/EU players to join it seems to offer the best lag-free experience.

Graphics - 9/10

All units are beautifully rendered and with great decal work. Even ships and planes show some lovely rust work when viewed up close. Islands and underwater sequences are captivating enough not to be too obtrusive into the gameplay. Explosions, torpedo wakes and dogfights can easily fill up your screen in some of the largest engagements you will encounter in the game.

Gameplay/Control - 9/10

Doing the tutorials gives you the necessary skills in which you will master fleet control, sub tactics, plane mastery and gunnery know-how which are vital before going into the later missions of the game and the single player challenges. Overall its quite simply amazing how using a joypad made the game so manageable. In the flight sequences you might be inclined to alter the R & L sticks settings depending on your taste of what you want to control in the plane's mechanics during the game.

Difficulty settings are also present and missions can be re-run on a different setting once completed.

Sound - 9/10

Gunfire, dive bomber's steep whine as they dive, depth charges stalking your sub and countless other sound FX give great atmoshpere to this game. No complaints in this deparment and works best if you have surround sound speakers to hear the Zero flyby behind your plane. ;)

Extras - 8/10

Achievements and medals abound in this title, plus some hidden objectives within the missions and the future downloadable content could increase the lifespan of this game.

Overall - 9/10

A great war game which doesnt bog you down with too much realism and too much management nitti-gritty. Once the action gets goings its just hectic as in a real war. Tactics will make you win and having a basic know-how of the units you control does aid you considerably. The single player aspect could be short for some but replayability via the difficulty settings and the hidden objectives plus a great online aspect make the game a worthwile purchase.
 
dead or alive 4

i will admit i have always wanted a console for the fighting titles. I bought this game with no real idea of what it would be like and i am not unhappy that i bought it.

Overall i am pleased with the game, but i still think Tekken is the ultimate fighting game but doubt that will ever come out for Xbox.

Graphics and Sound
Well since this was the first game I popped into my XBox it completely blew me away. Absolutely stunning... dynamic backdrops albeit the dinosaur one is a bit cheesy.

Sound seems okay, considering i am running through my TV so cant really comment. Enough to add to the game

Gameplay/Control
Anyone in to fighting games will know controls are of uptomost importance and i think they manage it pretty well in this game. I am sure there are some insane combo's to learn, but the moment you are in the game it is easy enough to get by until you do learn more complicated moves.

Gameplay
You can choose from various modes: Sparring, Story, Time Based, Tag and another few. Dont expect anything special in terms of a sotry line or anything this is about kickin the **** out of your opponent. Loads of fun and extremely addictive playing against someone else with a great balance of counter moves vs attacks ect.

Loads of characters to choose from and the characters themselves are rendered incredibly well and once you get into fighting can become maddly intense.

Okay I suck at game reviews but my overall score is 8.5/10. Definitely for the fighter fan.
 
Guitar Hero 2

I share a home with 3 musicians (two of the three studied music), an almost fulltime gamer :) and a guy and girl who both never showed any real interest in the xbox. When Guitar Hero was delivered last Friday all six of the above were curious about the big box but started laughing at me as soon as I took out the guitar controller. Only the gamer had heard about Guitar Hero prior to it being delivered. We're seven people in total and I was the only one excited, the rest thought it a waste of time.

They all watched as I started a Quickplay game. This is the order in which my housemates fell:
- The guy who hadn't shown much interest in the xbox watched me play a few songs and was the first to ask if he could try it out. He loved it.
- The hardcore gamer left almost immediately because he thought it looked boring. He was back before long and also wanted to try it out after hearing the other guy rave about it.
- The first of the three musicians came in shortly afterwards also wanting to 'try it out quickly'. He joined us for the rest of the evening.
- The girl who had never touched the xbox tried it out next and we had to fight her to get a chance to play again.
- The second musician fell shortly afterwards. He decided that if the others liked it so much it might be worth playing.
- The third musician (and probably the most accomplished) held out till Sunday, saying the game was for wannabe rock stars. I caught him playing it on Sunday evening when he thought everyone was still out. He sheepishly admitted that he had played it the entire afternoon. He didn't want to admit that he loved the game, he merely stated that he thought 'it was a good way to practise timing and coordination'.

Pros:
- Tons and tons of fun
- Easy, medium, hard & expert mode means a lot of replayability
- Great songs

Cons
- The whammy bar wasn't working properly until we dowloaded an update for the game from xbox live.
- It's going to be so difficult to get a chance to play xbox from now on
Added:
- You will very likely never see the xbox again once the wife figures out how the game works
- You may suffer from various arm, finger and lower back injuries caused by extensive play so make sure your medical aid is fully paid up before you buy this game

Score: 9/10
 
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Nice review Martin, you could also add another Con into the review as never to show this game to your wife. I have practically lost access to my X360 since Thursday. Sigh...
 
Awesome review Martin. I took my GH2 and 2 guitars to a braai on Saturday where it was quite a hit.

The only real con I have is that I've developed "guitar hero arm". I have an extremely sore left arm. Also, I get a sore lower back for standing in my "power stance" for hours on end.
 
BlueCollar said:
Awesome review Martin. I took my GH2 and 2 guitars to a braai on Saturday where it was quite a hit.

The only real con I have is that I've developed "guitar hero arm". I have an extremely sore left arm. Also, I get a sore lower back for standing in my "power stance" for hours on end.
Click to expand...

My fingers started cramping on Friday night after a couple of hours of play - it was worth it though.
 
Anyone got Brian Lara 2007? I want to get it, just not sure if the gameplay and physics are realistic enough. Hated EA Cricket 05 for that reason, still played it for couple of years though. I dont really care bout the gfx and sound, and the lack of real player names etc.
 
GOW, 10 out of 10... only single/co-op i ever played more than 2 times complete.

Lost planet 8/10... no depth, story or co-op, but a blast for brainless fun.. bit easy tho

PGR3 7.5/10 , great game to get classic for lotsa drifting
 
@W..X

I downloaded the demo off Live, I recommend you do the same. I've seen some great reviews on it, but the presentation is abysmal.
 
Unfortunately i am on dial-up and as such do not have Live, for a few more months at least. Iv also read a few reviews but they all not clear enough about it. I think il buy it anyway how bad can it be if it gets mid-70 ratings on average.
 
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