FB-Gollum
11-09-2005, 05:20 PM
So, I did the 45 minute drive to the nearest Best Buy (because I had an excuse to go into town, woohoo!) and there it was, in it's lustrous eggshell white case. Curvy and sexy like a woman, a sexy woman. Oh, yes, a fully functioning 360, and for whatever reson, a particularly empty best buy, leaving me to explore in it's entirety, for the nexy hour. I'm such a loser. Oh well here goes my thoughts:
Looks
Hot, just plain hot. A few middle aged women who passed by with their kids mentioned how it wouldn't be an eyesore in the living room. It's still a fairly large unit. It looked like a piece of hardware, not a toy.
Controller
Best...controller...ever. Seriously. It's a little thinner than the S overall, with the triggers mounted a little higher up. The shoulder bumpers are a godsend. That was really the only thing I liked better about the PS2 pad over the S, but no longer. It's also considerably lighter than the S which is another nice thing. The control of course, was outstanding.
Games
I played...
Call of Duty 2:
After a quick run to the men's room to clean out my drawers I returned to the best looking game I have ever seen. It was a little weird playing it, as you have to use the shoulder buttons to throw grenades. That in itself is actually awesome, now I can be a default AND boxer, rock on, however, getting used to HAVING SHOULDER BUTTONS was more the weirdness. Graphically this game rocks faces. There were a few kills (like the point blank headshot to the kraut charging me with his bayonet) that actually startled me with how disturbing it looked. The enemy AI was really good. They reacted to what you did, used cover, tried to avoid grenades and often combined these behaviours to stunning effect. The best example was when I popped out of a narrow hallway and tossed a grenade at the feet of two soldies. They had no cover available to them outside, so they did the logical thing, they chased me into the hallway I came out of. Of course, once in close quarters, he immediately tried to skewer me with his bayonet. I was backpedalling (and while moving in this brilliant game, you have no reticle to aim with, so nice) and I dropped one in his noggin sans ret. A truly satisfying feeling.
One thing this game made very obvious to me about this generation of consoles, is that it is ushering in the obsolesence of the "screenshot". The pictures I saw made me think the game looked lame. Reality is it's jaw dropping.
Kameo:
Meh. Not my kind of game. Nice textures and colours and all. I wasn't really impressed. Maybe it was the level I saw, but there just wasn't much to it. I got bored fast and moved on. Don't get me wrong, it looks 100% better than anything Xbox has to offer, just not my kind of game, I'll leave reviewing this to someone with a greater taste for platformers.
King Kong:
Man oh man. Best looking game of the bunch. It's unreal. Until you see al the effects in action you just won't understand. At one point I was eaten by a Tyrannosaur because I though it was a cutscene so I just stood there and watched. I was quite puzzled when the game suddenly reloaded me ad the same scene started again. I twitched the thumbstick and the screen moved, that's when I realised the technological leap we're really taking with this generation of consoles. All that, and it's only running 1 of the 3 cores. The game was awesome by the way. Really clever puzzle and mini quest gameplay with absolute top notch production values. Fighting the T-Rex, had lots of people stopping to watch and asking if it was a movie, a few sat slackjawed as they found out it was a game.
Final Impressions
This is going to be the most exciting generation of consoles since the original NES vs. Sega Master System. If you haven't seen it or are unsure, just relax, it's everything you've hoped for and bag of chips for good measure. There is not one thing I can think of that I prefer about the current Xbox or it's peripherals over this. Just mind blowing. I can't wait to see Halo 3.
Looks
Hot, just plain hot. A few middle aged women who passed by with their kids mentioned how it wouldn't be an eyesore in the living room. It's still a fairly large unit. It looked like a piece of hardware, not a toy.
Controller
Best...controller...ever. Seriously. It's a little thinner than the S overall, with the triggers mounted a little higher up. The shoulder bumpers are a godsend. That was really the only thing I liked better about the PS2 pad over the S, but no longer. It's also considerably lighter than the S which is another nice thing. The control of course, was outstanding.
Games
I played...
Call of Duty 2:
After a quick run to the men's room to clean out my drawers I returned to the best looking game I have ever seen. It was a little weird playing it, as you have to use the shoulder buttons to throw grenades. That in itself is actually awesome, now I can be a default AND boxer, rock on, however, getting used to HAVING SHOULDER BUTTONS was more the weirdness. Graphically this game rocks faces. There were a few kills (like the point blank headshot to the kraut charging me with his bayonet) that actually startled me with how disturbing it looked. The enemy AI was really good. They reacted to what you did, used cover, tried to avoid grenades and often combined these behaviours to stunning effect. The best example was when I popped out of a narrow hallway and tossed a grenade at the feet of two soldies. They had no cover available to them outside, so they did the logical thing, they chased me into the hallway I came out of. Of course, once in close quarters, he immediately tried to skewer me with his bayonet. I was backpedalling (and while moving in this brilliant game, you have no reticle to aim with, so nice) and I dropped one in his noggin sans ret. A truly satisfying feeling.
One thing this game made very obvious to me about this generation of consoles, is that it is ushering in the obsolesence of the "screenshot". The pictures I saw made me think the game looked lame. Reality is it's jaw dropping.
Kameo:
Meh. Not my kind of game. Nice textures and colours and all. I wasn't really impressed. Maybe it was the level I saw, but there just wasn't much to it. I got bored fast and moved on. Don't get me wrong, it looks 100% better than anything Xbox has to offer, just not my kind of game, I'll leave reviewing this to someone with a greater taste for platformers.
King Kong:
Man oh man. Best looking game of the bunch. It's unreal. Until you see al the effects in action you just won't understand. At one point I was eaten by a Tyrannosaur because I though it was a cutscene so I just stood there and watched. I was quite puzzled when the game suddenly reloaded me ad the same scene started again. I twitched the thumbstick and the screen moved, that's when I realised the technological leap we're really taking with this generation of consoles. All that, and it's only running 1 of the 3 cores. The game was awesome by the way. Really clever puzzle and mini quest gameplay with absolute top notch production values. Fighting the T-Rex, had lots of people stopping to watch and asking if it was a movie, a few sat slackjawed as they found out it was a game.
Final Impressions
This is going to be the most exciting generation of consoles since the original NES vs. Sega Master System. If you haven't seen it or are unsure, just relax, it's everything you've hoped for and bag of chips for good measure. There is not one thing I can think of that I prefer about the current Xbox or it's peripherals over this. Just mind blowing. I can't wait to see Halo 3.