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MEMBER PROFILE FOR Chewy
Total Reviews: 7
Average Overall Score Given: 7.60000 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 1,149
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Reviews
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Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Sometimes there is a game coming up the pipe that we get excited about. Something catches your attention and says “That is going to be the game for me”. Kane and Lynch was that game for me. After I had heard the information about the co-op/backstabbing multiplayer I was hooked. I am not much of a fan of the tactic less, charge in guns a blazing’ kind of multiplayer that games like Halo have made popular. I had hoped that Kane and Lynch would finally be the game that I could convince my buddies to pickup and get them away from playing Halo. Wow, was I wrong.
In the last 5 years or so there has only been one game that caused me to want to snap my controller in two. Not just a little bit of frustration, but the seething anger that boils your blood and causes your vision to go red. I am normally a pretty calm guy. I get frustrated with levels on some games but this game was different. That was Ninja Gaiden. I had heard good things about it so picked up a copy. I hated that game. The controls were very tight, but it seemed to me that unless you were a 14 year old hopped up on Monster Energy Drinks (your welcome Maximus) and caffeine pills there was no way in hell that you could have the reaction time needed to click and pound your way through that game. Early on I found myself clutching my controller tighter. Then I found myself actually getting angry at my controller. Then I found myself snapping my controller in half. This anger came up not because of the quality of the game, Ninja Gaiden was a very polished well done game, it was just OMGWFTBBQ hard. That was the only game that had me trying to snap my controller in two, until Kane and Lynch.
At the start of the game you are Kane on death row. You are broken out of jail, but instead of being a good thing, this isn’t much of a rescue effort, but more of a hostage taking. A group you used to be a part of, The7 has broken you out of jail to get something that you have taken from them. They are not terribly impressed with you and send Lynch along with you. He is to check in on a regular basis and if he doesn’t your family will suffer. After the beginning cut scenes you finally get into the gameplay.
Ah the gameplay. Well, let us start with the basics. If this was an early beta that I had received I would have probably been able to give this some kind of positive feedback, but this is a finished game. Well, let me rephrase that, this is a game that has been released in a final copy to retail outlets. It really is far from a finished game. The controller snapping anger that boiled up from the depths of my soul while playing this game had nothing to do with the difficulty of the game, but far more to do with frustration. Frustration at not being able to move where I wanted. Not being able to stick to cover how I wanted. Not being able to complete levels how I wanted. Not being able to shoot what I was pointing at.
The graphics in Kane and Lynch are fairly well done. The characters, guns and levels are fairly well done and some of the levels are well designed. It has a nice dark gritty feel befitting of the genre that this game is gunning for. The cut scenes are excellent and it also has some great voice acting to go along with the cut scenes and in game as well. Some of the levels are very well designed and some even pull off some things that I haven’t seen done before in a video game. One of the levels is based in a night club, and when the club is full of people and you have to work your way through the crowd, the lights and the music, it really does a great job in making it feel like a club. But all that is window dressing. This is not a movie. I don’t just sit back and look at the pretty pictures on the screen. I want to be able to control the characters and immerse myself into the game and that is where Kane and Lynch falls apart.
The controls are awful. I don’t mean, “Opps, I didn’t mean to do that” I mean “You stupid @#$%#$% move that way, no #$#@#*%!!!! over behind the &*@#$@ box, not up on it you @$&@#$” (Snap goes the controller) The problem is that when the controls are broken in a game, it doesn’t matter what else the game has going on, no matter what else the game does well, it is still going to be marred by bad controls. You stick to cover when you don’t want to, can’t stick to cover when you really need it. Climbing up on things is a complete crap shoot. Anytime you come up on something you think you should be able to climb up on you have about a 50-50 chance of being able to do it. Other times you will slide off to one side, or just plow into the object not climbing at all. Then the gunplay begins. That is where a game like this should thrive. Nope, not Kane and Lynch. You enter aiming mode, line up the shot and BANG right into the box you are ducking behind. (snap goes the controller) Why the hell is my cursor pointed at the bad guys’ forehead if you slam the bullets into the cover I am hiding behind? Please, someone? And then on top of the difficult controls they short you on the ammo end of things in this game as well. Luckily your cohorts carry unlimited amounts of ammo for just about any firearm that you have managed to pickup during the game. That is lucky isn’t it? NOPE. Lucky would have BEEN GIVING YOU ONE OF THE DAMN UNLIMMTED AMMO BELTS instead of sticking it on a brainless, psychotic moron you have as an ally.
Brainless moron, a perfect lead into the AI. Wow, it is awful. There are many examples of this but there is a simple one that keeps popping up constantly. I am in cover and I am looking across at am enemy who is also behind cover with just his head exposed. I crack off a couple shots (and of course I miss, snap goes the controller) and what does the AI baddie do? Duck back into cover? Nope. Call in reinforcements? Nope. Fall back to a better spot? Nope. He stands up, runs around in front of the cover so now I have a completely clean shot at him. Wow, just wow. That is a special kind of stupid. Because of how tactical they try and make the game, glaring AI stupidity like this is just magnified much more than in a run and gun kind of game.
The multiplayer. The multiplayer is the entire reason that I have wanted to play this game for the last six months. I have read all kinds of wonderful things about the backstabbing yet co-op style of the online play. Read. Yep, good thing I read about the multiplayer, because otherwise I wouldn’t know anything about the multiplayer. I have tried probably around 50 times to connect to a multiplayer game. In those 50 times I probably made it into the lobby three times or so. I eventually made it a drinking game. One drink for every time I couldn’t connect. Needless to say I passed out before I got to play a game. Now, I play other games online, it is not like I can’t connect to LIVE at all, but this game just doesn’t want to connect. I even went as far as manually bypassing my router and directly connecting my 360 to the internet. Still no luck. Now, if this was a game that I had really enjoyed the single player in I might have invested some more time and energy to trying to resolve the problems. The idea of the horrible controls rearing their ugly head but in larger numbers online just stopped me. The last thing I wanted to hear was the crunching sound of massed snapped controllers from all across North America entering my living room. Kane and Lynch also does local co-op multiplayer, but there is no person that I hated enough to subject to this game that I would be willing to let into my living room.
This game was so close to being able to pull off a 90% kind of score. A couple more months of cooking in the development oven could have made this a really good game. Instead we get an unfinished game put out onto the market. I would recommend printing out an ad for this game and post it all over your house and in the houses of anyone who might possibly be purchasing you a Christmas gift this year with a warning “Anyone found giving me this gift this year will not only be responsible for returning it for something better, but may as well have to call the doctor to have my boot surgically removed from their ear hole. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!” I had originally written this review that only said “In honor of the 1000 word minimum for reviews here are 1000 words worth of games that are better than Kane and Lynch.” and then proceeded to list games that included Tic-Tac-Toe and Pong. Then I figured that would be as bad of a review as a game and the loyal Xbox Addict fans deserved better.
Suggestions: Please guys don't rush your game out the door next time. This had all the ability to be a top notch 360 game, instead it ends up being a painful gaming experience.
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
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Simpsons Game, The
If you are a fan of the Simpsons and don't hate platformers buy this game.
Why are you still here? Go buy the game! You still don't believe me do you? I know, I know games based on movies and TV shows have a terrible history. For years game companies have churned out all kinds of swill that we have lapped up based on us being fans of the shows. Thankfully The Simpsons Game is actually a good game.
What kind of game is The Simpsons? The Simpsons is a platformer at its base. Double jumping, coin collecting and progressing from level to level. But also, just like the TV show, The Simpsons Game rips off every video game that ever came before. If you are an long time video game player like myself (yes I remember going to the arcade in the mall when my parents went shopping) you are going to recognize a lot of old games parodied in this game. Joust, Gauntlet, Space Invaders all get covered in all sorts of different ways. And great new funny ways. The game starts with Bart finding a copy of the game manual for this game in an alley. He starts reading and discovers that each of the family has their own superpowers.
You end up controlling the entire Simpsons family. Each of the characters has their own special set of abilities. Homer has his belch cloud that will stun enemies and when powered up becomes a flame thrower. Homer also, being the rotund fellow that he is has the ability to fatten himself up and roll around like a large beach ball. His speed burst and bounce can break some items and knock heavier items out of the way. Later in the game he is able to turn himself into some kind of gummie slug that can has a shooting ability. Bart the family bad egg has his sling shot as his main weapon, but is also able to use his “Bartman” cloak to glide. Making some of those far off ledges reachable later in the game. This is one of those things that happens with platormers and those “coin” collections. You will have to come back to some earlier levels once your character have unlocked some of their later powers if you want to collect all of the “coins”.
Lisa has her stunning saxophone ability that does a AoE group stun which really helps in taking out some of the larger groups you encounter in some of the later levels. She also has a stun ability that causes the enemies to attack each other. Marge has a bit of a different power than the rest of the family. She has a megaphone that she can use to incite the other characters into a raging mob. She then goes around collecting NPCs into her mob and then uses them to attack enemies or to build up certain areas around some of the maps. Marge also carries Maggie on her back. The smallest Simpsons family member can be put into small holes and passageways that the other characters cannot travel through. When you finally are released around Springfield and go on a coin collecting spree it isn't about each character but more about how each of the characters work together to get to some of the more difficult coins to collect.
On most of the levels you will be controlling only two of the characters. You can switch back and forth between them as you please in each level, but unfortunately each level will pre-select the characters you have to use. Later on your coin collecting spree in Springfield you will be able to control two of the character at a time, but you will be able to switch them out at any of the bus stops around town. Tapping the D-pad will let you switch between your characters as you wish, or scroll through your characters if you are controlling more than two on your current level.
Coins. They are not the normal generic kind in this game, but each character has his/her own set of character specific things to collect. Homers beer caps, Lisas Malibu Stacy stickers, Marges Saving Coupons and Barts Krusty Stickers are a bit of a twist that makes some of the collections areas a bit more difficult. So each character specific coin is only collectable by that character. Running over one of Homers beer caps with Bart doesn't collect it. Not only do you have to get to that high ledge, but you have to get there with the right character to pick up the coin that is up there. This is sometimes frustrating as you run across a coin for one character but aren't playing with them at the moment. As well as the usual collectables there are Video Game Cliches. It is nice to hear the comic book guy point out that Lava certainly isn't the most original setting in a video game or that Escort Missions aren't the most enjoyable part of the game but always appear anyway.
The graphics in this game are a very sweet looking version of the TV show. The cut scenes are very well rendered and look stunning. The gameplay part of the game, while not at the stunning resolution of the cut scenes still does look good. The movement is the right in character from the show and you certainly feel like each of the characters has their own way of moving around. The shorter in game movies however look awful. And we are not talking just a little bit worse than the rendered cut scenes, but “is this really finished” kind of ugly. They obviously used the in game engine to do those movies, but you would think they would be able to clean them up at least a little bit. For some reason they look worse than the regular game play part of the game looks. I don't know if that is just a feeling you get after you have just watched a great looking cut scene or if it really does look worse. Springfield however is there in all of it's cartoon glory. There are all sorts of other areas from the TV show that are the sites for many of the levels. The level design in this game is very well thought out and the levels feel very cohesive and give each level a tight look.
What is the number one problem with third person games? Yep, the camera. Each third person game always seems to have trouble getting the camera right and The Simpsons is no exception. This time the camera runs into walls and other things completely making it impossible to get the view you really need to make this jump or fight this next mob. It also seems to kick around to the most inappropriate angles and the absolute worst times. It just makes you want to snap your controller in half at some point, but good thing that we are getting used to it by now isn't it? Also, while there is co-op play, there is no co-op play over LIVE? What is this the stone ages? You expect my friends to go out of their houses and risk having their pasty white nerd skin scarred by the horrible ball of fire they call the sun? Come on guys, you have the resource, please put it to use.
From the bad bits to the best bit. The writing. I know you don't here that mentioned as a real high point in a video game very often, but this is just a long, playable Simpsons episode. The humour laced throughout this game from start to finish is classic Simpsons. I don't normally laugh out loud while playing a video game (with the hilarious Voodoo Vince and Psychonauts being the few exceptions). You defiantly can tell the the regular Simpsons writers where the ones that were responsible for the writing. It has exactly the same version of irreverent humour fans of the show have come to know and love.
Bottom line is like I mentioned at the start, if you like The Simpsons and don't hate platformers then you will enjoy this game. The humour that is all throughout this game is well worth a play through. I am sure that only the most silly and dedicated fans will go through and collect all of the collectables in the game. That reminds me, I only have one coin for both Bart and Marge left to find to get all the coins in Springfield. Back to playing for me.
Suggestions: Guys, you have Xbox LIVE as a resource, please use it for online co-op play.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Madden NFL 08
First, so you know who is writing this review, I am not a Madden guy. I play all sorts of video games, but Madden is not normally one of those games. I have been thinking about this and the last time I played a Madden game was on one of these. That being said I am a football guy. I am a huge fan of the NFL. (It really is going to be the Houston Oilers year this year. With Buddy Ryan leading the defense and Warren Moon leading the Run and Shoot this is our year. Don’t ask) I watch a ton of football every year and certainly feel very well versed in the NFL in general. So I really have no idea what has been added since last year, if this feature was dropped or is less responsive. I just want you to know where I am coming from. I do like this game.
The first thing that I noticed is that the graphics. The look of the players, their faces, hair and even down to how the grass looks fantastic. The best part of the players isn’t simply how nice they look, it is their motion. Gone are the days of sliding players, and unbelievable motion. The player animations are silky smooth, but and after a while it is easy to forget that you are playing a game and not watching an afternoon game on Sunday. Some of the players still do slightly funky things when there is a ball bouncing around but overall the player motion is very believable. The stadiums seem to be fairly honest replications of the different home fields. Playing against The Packers on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau field brings out the goose bumps.
Controlling those sweet looking players is fairly intuitive. The left stick gives you left, right and back jukes, while pressing the stick up gives you the Truck. Having your big muscle running backs bowl over a DB is a great feeling. One thing that does happen with this game for a new player is control overload. Spin, cover the ball, juke, speed, order sushi. For myself I have only been playing this game for a bit more than a week so I still tend to get a bit befuddled by all the options. I am still terrible at controlling my players on defense. I run around like a complete idiot trying vainly to point my player somewhere in the vicinity of the ball. I have had players who obviously have had much greater amounts of playing time just tear me up online with a good running back as well as being able to put their defenders in exactly the right position to make the play. On defense you aren’t without your options as well. The right stick is the “Hit Stick”. Up has your defender deliver bone crushing hits, while down has your player go low for the tackle, great for taking out the feet of some of the more crushing running backs or tight ends in the game.
At least it is easy to identify those special players on the field. Madden ’08 has taken to using something called Weapons. There you have it, there are different kinds of weapons based on the positions they play. Big hitting linebackers, pass blocking linemen, elusive backs or spectacular receivers. There are different icons for each of the weapon skills, so with a quick glance at the field you can get a good idea of what players have what abilities. It really does make a big difference when you use your players’ specific weapons strengths. From fly routes on speed receivers to spin moves on your finesse defensive linemen, they can be game breakers when you use them properly. And also doing things like running away from brick wall defender on your opponents defense can help your offence to keep the chains moving.
The real NFL is a chess game where your pieces are 300lbs linemen. This game isn’t that much different. Play calling is a huge part of the game. The best players with the best team aren’t going to be able to get anything going if they can’t get the play calling right. Once again, there is a bit of a learning curve here, but if you have a good grounding in football it won’t take long to get things sorted out in your head. One of the things that used to happen in these football games is that the guy you were playing against would have two or three plays. Some of those plays would be all but unstoppable. This is one area that this game has a great strength, the line audibles for both offence and defense. On defense you can control everything from moving your DBs up into press coverage, shifting your defensive line or linebackers around the field, all the way to completely different defensive coverages. On the offensive side of the ball you do have some audible options, but not quite the plethora that exists on the defensive side. It gives you the ability on defense to react to those plays that your opponent keeps running to give you a better chance of shutting him down or even better coming away with an interception. Setting those audibles is one of those thing that you want to have available is one of the first things that you should do once you have a couple games under your belt. You also can customize your playbook or just stick with the one that setup for the team you are playing.
There are a couple different game modes available in Madden ’08 as well. There is the Franchise mode where you either take control of an existing team or build yourself a new team from the ground up. Doing a complete fantasy draft really is a fun thing. Seeing Payton Manning suiting up in a Bears uniform does take a bit of getting used to though. In Franchise mode, not only do you get to control the on the field play calling, but you also get to control all of the front office bits as well. That safety being paid too much? See if you can unload him in a trade and pickup another wide receiver after your starter got hurt last week. While Franchise mode is great, the one that really grabbed me was Superstar mode. In this one you create yourself a superstar. You do this with some physical statistic and then by competing in a number of mini-games. This gives your superstar a set of starting stats and gets you rolling. In superstar mode you are not the coach of the team. You don’t call plays, as a matter of fact, you simulate all of the plays that happen when your superstar is not on the field. I made up a running back and then had to get used to running pass patterns or pass blocking when the coach had a max protection pass blocking play called. It certain is different seeing the ball being thrown and you not being in control of the quarterback or even the player that sometimes ends up receiving the ball.
It gets interesting as well as when you do well on plays your superstar gets influence. He can then spend that influence on temporarily increasing his stats and helping him out on him next series. I did enjoy playing as a specific player. Now I just need to go back and create a wide receiver and try the whole thing again.
The online multiplayer side of the game fairs well. I was a bit worried that lag might make the game all but unplayable, but it was surprisingly lag free in general. I do have one major beef that may have just had to do with my opponents. I was unable to talk to my opponent while we were playing our game. That was very disappointing as I was hoping to ask various players for how they felt about the game as well as asking for advice on different aspects of the game. It may well have just been that the players I squared off against just didn’t have their mics enabled, but it certainly was annoying. Also I don’t quite understand why I had to create and EA account for LIVE play.
I thought that was the entire idea behind Xbox LIVE in general that is was supposed to be a one stop shop for keeping all of your online stats. I am sure they have a reason for it, but as of now, it completely evades me. Another thing that seemed to be missing was online leagues. The ability to create an entire league and then play through the season is really what an NFL football game on LIVE is all about in my opinion. I certainly hope put this on the top of their “Must Add” list for next year.
If you can’t get on LIVE and have to play alone, the UI was actually pretty impressive. It didn’t seem to make any horrible calls and seems to do a very good job of running the players on the field. I wasn’t exactly a clock management expert by any means, but really I suppose that is a good thing as with 5:00 quarters it would be too easy to control the ball and chew up the clock. As for chewing up the clock, I hope you like doing that because the game seems to favor a smash mouth style play as opposed to a west coast offence passing style. It could have just had to do with my general inexperience with the game but I was unable to get a pass oriented offence to keep any kind of rhythm going and get much in the way of points. Then again, smash mouth football and defense is what I prize the most in the NFL in general so it might just have had to do more with mindset.
Overall Madden ’08 really is a fantastic game. Its graphics are spectacular and game play is wonderfully immersive. The player animations are great to watch, even if it is your linebacker that just got straight armed. There are number of games modes, so lots of play time to invest your time into. If you are a football fan this really is a must have game, but I am sure you already know that. Now back to getting my superstar into the hall of fame, wish me luck.
Overall Score: 9.4 / 10
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Pro Fishing Challenge
I want to go fishing. I really want to go fishing. It is the middle of October, rainy and cold outside. Snow is not far down the road, and I am more than comfortable sitting here on my couch. What is the couch ridden sportsman to do? What if I told you that you could fish from the comfort of your own couch? How you say? With the new fishing game Pro Fishing Challenge from Atlus. It slices, it dices, it does your laundry… no, wait actually it doesn’t do any of that stuff, but it sure does let you fish.
First off, I have to let you know that I do like fishing. I would have to guess that the chances of someone who doesn’t like fishing actually picking up this game is pretty slim, but I figured that I should let you know upfront that I am partial to fishing, and the games that they spawn. Atlus has made a game that is a little different from the other fishing games out there. Instead of going with an arcady type game that most of the other companies have come up with, they have gone more with a lot more of a simulations angle. There are no cameras to follow your lure so you can see fish sneaking up on you. There is no teleporting across the lake to a new fishing hole. There is a camera that shows your lure, and the action you are getting with your retrieval (something that you can feel in your rod and you are retrieving your lure with real fishing) but other than that, you see your boat and the top of the water. Lets start at the beginning though. You can fill your tackle box with your choices of jigs and lures. (For advice as to what jigs and lures are best, check with Strong Bad, for he is awesome with the fishes) The amount of equipment that they have to purchase in this game is really amazing. From lure and reels to monstrous fishing boats, to get you to the fish quickly. You get your money from competing in tournaments, as well as catching record breaking fish. After you have chosen your equipment you are ready to hit the lake.
You get to choose your starting point, there are three or four starting points on each of the three different lakes. You start sitting in your boat in big movement mode. This gets you around the lake, and allows you to move to different fishing areas. The right trigger powers up your motor and sends you on your way. Once you are in the general vicinity of where you would like to fish, you then jump into trolling mode. This allows you to move slowly, and get a fine adjust on the position of the boat with the trolling motor mounted at the front of the boat. You have to keep one eye on your fish finder to help give you an idea of where it would be best to wet your line. It is also good to have an idea of where the fish would be on a real lake, as they have done a good job of trying to get the fish to behave in a realistic manner.
Then onto casting mode, be prepared to practice. It is not as easy as it looks. The button presses are quick, and you have to have reactions more suited to Ninja Gaiden than a fishing game to get good casts on a regular basis. Once you have placed your lure where you want it the right trigger begins your retrieval. You can get a nice slow retrieve if you barely press down on the trigger, or a faster one if you really pull back on the trigger. Different lures work best as different speeds, so you will have to do some experimenting to get things just right. If you have chosen a surface lure you can see your lure begin retrieved across the surface of the water. You really start to notice the graphics here. They have done a good job of rendering not only the water but the boat and surrounding area. This is not the most graphics intensive games, but it still does look good. Once you have a bite, you have to make sure that you set the hook. If you do not to a good job of setting the hook, you are in for a short fight. Again the right trigger is your reel, and you have to feather that to keep some tension on the line, but not to the point of breaking. With a small fish, you can just crank on the reel and drag them right to the boat, but with larger fish, you are looking at a much longer fight. If you are lucky enough to land your fish, you get your congratulation screen and get to see the weight and what kind of fish that you have caught. You can only keep so many fish in your live well, so bigger fish bump out the smaller ones as catch them.
You can head out and free fish if you are looking to get a handle on your fishing skills, but the tournaments is where you are really going to go. There is a season that strings together all of the tournaments, where you have to weigh in against your computer opponents. This game also supports Xbox Live. Unfortunately I was not able to test out Live with this review. I can only assume that playing with your friends over Live and taunting them with the 10lbs largemouth bass that you just caught would be a blast.
Suggestions: This game was enjoyable to play. It is much more of a simulation than any of the other fishing games out there. There are not crazy camera angles or strange arcade play modes. If you are looking for a game to fill your fishing needs without leaving your couch, you should try this out.
Overall Score: 7.2 / 10
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Thief: Deadly Shadows
Garret master thief makes his return in the new Eidos release Thief:Deadly Shadows. I have been a fan of the Thief games from years ago. It was one of the very first true stealth based games. Others always said that you could complete the missions stealthily but this game was one of the first to really deliver. Bringing back the Thief world and mythos is a great step. I have been waiting for another chance at those Hammerites for a long time.
Once again you control the actions of Garret who is working for the the mysterious Keepers, helping them to uncover the nefarious plots that seem to plague the world that Garret lives in. There are the main objectives that you have to complete to advance on through the story, but don’t worry there is a huge amount of side stories and missions to keep the replay value high on this one.
Sneaky. One simple word. This is not a game that has stealth thrown in as an after thought and is a different way of going about these missions. In Thief stealth is your first and almost only choice. There is no way that you can go in running and gunning like some games and expect to last the first couple of minutes in the game. This is about careful setups of blackjacks to the skull, and inventive use of the objects in the levels to find a way to sneak past guard. For those people who are all action, and don’t have any patience I would recommend you don’t even pick the box up from the store. But for all of the people like me out there that really enjoy a well crafted story, and have tones of patience to hide in the shadows for that perfect moment when the guard passes inches in front of your nose this one is for you. This game will cause you to hold your breath on more that one occasion. I would find myself tensing up and holding my breath as the Pagan Sorcerer past close enough for me to pick their pocket of their all important wand.
As a master thief you have a number of items at your disposal, mostly unchanged from previous incarnations of the game. Broad head, water, moss, fire, noisemaker and gas are all arrow types that can all be used inventively to get through your missions. And unlike previous versions of the game, your items are not set at the start of the mission as before. This time, you get to sell the loot you collect to different buyers, and then use that money to purchase your equipment as you see fit. Broad head arrows to take out unaware guards from a distance. Water arrows to extinguish pesky torches to give you a dark avenue straight to your goals. Moss arrow to cover metal on the ground so you can silently creep past listening guards. Everything that any professional thief could want and then some.
You are also equipped with a set of lock picks. These will make short work of any locked items that you come upon. One of the nice little features is that you can still look left and right as you are picking the locks. So you can unlock that door while keeping one eye on that patrolling guard. Also it isn’t just a hit a button and wait for Garret to pick the lock. I found that after playing just a short bit, I easily cut the time it took me to pick a lock in half. It is nice option that you can actually get better at controlling Garret in the picking of the lock to be able to do it faster.
The AI on the guards, while it is not spectacular, still does a good job of keeping up with it’s assigned duties of patrolling or guarding, and searching for you when you may have been spotted or heard. I did find that the guards were fairly easy to lose if I just took a couple quick corners, and then hid against a dark wall. One of the things that they did do well is follow up small bits of evidence. If you left a blood trail from someone that you had just dispatched, they could follow that to the body, and possibly straight to you.
One of the most challenging aspects of this game is to try and come out with 100% of the loot at the end of each mission. You will find yourself replaying missions over and over again trying to find that last piece of loot that you have been missing. I think this is really where the replay value is going to come in. The story is going to be the same, but being able to get to the end of a mission with all of the loot is a rewarding feeling.
I am not going to go into the missions at all, as I really don’t want to spoil the story for those of you that are going to play through this game. Lets just say that once again Garret is in way over his head and has to scramble madly to keep his head above water.
The visuals of this game are very well done. It has a nice polished look about the entire game. The levels are well designed, and have just enough items scattered about not to seem cluttered, but just right. The light and dark of the look of this game is really where it shines. You can easily pick out where you are going to have to sneak next, creeping from shadow to shadow to stay hidden. The shine of the loot items is just enough to catch your eye if you are paying attention. The game also switches back and forth between third person view and first person. This is done very seamlessly and once again really helps add to your immersion into the game. When you flatten yourself again a wall you then look left and right to see if the coast is clear yet. One very minor quibble I did have is that this game has to be played at night. No matter how much you turn up the brightness of the game, if you have sunlight streaming in the windows of your house, you will be hard pressed to make heads or tails out of what you see on your television.
This, more than most games, is really dependant on you using not only your eyes to spot enemies, but your ears as well. The directional sound is well done. With a quick turn of your head you can usually tell what direction that you just heard that sound in, as well at what made the sound.
The voice acting on this game was top notch, and trust me, there is a lot of voice acting in this game. Great, gritty voices really helped you believe in each of the characters. The lip syncing with the character models was also well done. Some of the funniest moments of the game come when you are close enough to hear some of the random comments that some of the guards make. Also by hanging close to citizens or guard conversations you sometimes get small tidbits of information that can sometimes prove very useful later in the game.
Suggestions: This is a very well done game that I thoroughly enjoyed playing. The load times were slightly annoying, but still the game play that was waiting behind that load made the wait bearable. I would also have liked to been able to access to map with a single button press. I found myself constantly having to slowly open up the gear section to get to my map almost constantly. But these are very minor problems. I certainly would recommend this game to anyone who is looking for an engaging story, or is a fan of stealth style games.
Overall Score: 9.2 / 10
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Suffering, The
Remember all of those crazy thoughts you had when your parents put you to bed at night? That shadow on the wall that looked like a hunchback? The noise that you were sure came from your closet? The feeling that you were being watched? Surreal Software has bottled all of those feelings and mashed them into a game. First I have a disclaimer for parents. The Suffering IS NOT FOR YOUNGER GAMERS!!! I would like to make sure that people realize this in advance. If you are squeamish at all, or get weak in the knees at the sight of blood this is a game you should avoid. If you like action/horror games or are a gore fan you are going to love this game.
In the Suffering you play Torque a man convicted of murdering his wife and family. Torque has no memory of the murders at all and the way you play the game will actually determine what happened to your family. After you are escorted to your cell the other inmates begin talking about you and your crimes. Just as things get going there is a huge earthquake and all hell brakes loose. Monsters slaughter your fellow inmates and begin to trash the entire prison. You manage to get armed with a knife that you pull out of a still warm inmate and get ready to face the horrors of Abbotsford Penitentiary.
And what horrors you have to face. Monsters abound in this thriller. You find yourself leaning forward on your seat after just 20 minutes of playing anticipating the next creature leaping from the darkness. This game completely sucks you in and immerses you into Torque’s world. Everything from the sound, the fantastic lighting and the pacing of the game does everything to make you forget about the couch you are sitting on and gets you caught up in the action.
All along during the game you can access the penitentiary security camera. Some of these play out attack by creatures on guards; others let you see ghosts that aren’t really there. There is a ghost of a past doctor that worked at the jail that talks to you directly. I won’t tell you anymore as I don’t want to spoil any of the story. The story that follows the past of the Abbotsford Penitentiary, giving you insight into the lives of the past tortured souls that inhabited the prison.
This is both a first person shooter, and a third person adventure game. What is that he says, both first and third person? No my mind has not been completely turned to pudding from too many hours of The Suffering; the game actually lets you switch easily and quickly between the two viewing modes. The first person mode works well with the guns and without much peripheral vision makes the game even scarier than it already is. The third person is a great running around mode as well as working better when you are attacking with hand to hand weapons. In third person mode the camera is completely controlled by the right thumb stick. The control is nice and simple and easy to use and very intuitive.
The game is much faster paced than a lot of the survival horror games that you may have played before. There are a fair number of monsters that not only do a great job of attacking, but also do a great job of hiding in the middle of an attack. So after you have shot a creature once it might take off and hide, only to attack moments later. And let me tell you, when you have almost no health or ammo left, looking for that last monster that got away is awfully stressful.
The usual puzzles are here to solve, but they are fairly simple, and tend to not force you to run back and forth across maps in a strange scavenger hunt that some games resort to. The NPC’s that you come across in this game help you find your way through the large levels, and get you to the exit points faster. You have two ways of dealing with the other humans you come across. Help them out, and they will help you, or blast them in the melon with a shotgun and go through their pockets. This is one of the really different areas of this game. As you deal with NPC that you meet you will hear two voices in your head pulling you indifferent directions. It is like the good cop/bad cop thing. The good cop is Torque’s wife telling you to help the people, while this other evil, nasty voice is telling you they are wastes of skin and to kill them off. You choose.
As you suffer more and more horrors you gain an ability that you never knew you had. You can change into this monstrous beast that dispatches everything in its path with ease. But be wary of using it too much, you never know where this dark path may lead.
The visuals on this game are well done. Great dark shadows, moody lighting everything you could possibly want in an action/horror game. The prison, and the other locals, are all fantastically done. Small details like radio on desks, and blood streaks on the floors once again drag you deeper into the game. While it might not have lots of shiny reflective surfaces for you to oohh and aww over the game does a great job of putting you in a dark, dirty, nasty prison that you are more than happy to try and escape from.
Monsters, creatures, whatever you would like to call them are off the hook. When the first Mainliner (a creature packed full of potassium chloride needles) jumps onto you and tries to stick his needle into your neck you are going to see what I mean. Their motion is seamless and just the look of them makes your skin crawl. They do everything you can think of. The Slayers (a decapitated creature with is hands and feet replaced by massive blades) are capable of running up the walls and along the ceiling. Trying to shoot on of them off a poorly lit ceiling is just one of the difficulties you will have saying alive.
Staying alive isn't the only issue either, staying sane should be high on your list as well. Sometimes when you enter an area that has an horrific scenes laid out, you have some type of strange flashback. I think Torque may have done a bit too much acid in the 70's and is paying the price now.
The sound is very well done in this game. The voice acting is terrific, and if you are piping your sound through your surround sound stereo you are going to be hearing the baddies creeping up from behind you. One thing that I really noticed is the matching of the voices to the actions the characters are taking in the games. There are no stuttering characters who are not matching the sound coming out of your speakers. This applies to both the cut scenes, and the in game dialog that you get with some of the other inmates or guards. The Suffering also does a good job of volume changes. I know it sounds silly but if you have been creeping along, only with ambient noises then there is a crash of broken glass and a body flies past your nose, it scares the liver out of you.
Suggestions: I have one very simple comment for the makers of the Suffering. If you put the amount of work, thought and polish into every game you make you are going to be turning out hit after hit. Good job Surreal.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Sega GT Online
If I told you I had a game to sell you and it would only cost you $20 you might be interested. But then, if I told you it was two years old, would you still be interested? Then what if I told you that you might very well have almost the same game in your collection already? Sega GT Online. You see it sitting on the shelves in your local store and ask why only $20.
If you have Sega GT sitting on your shelves, then you have played this game in single player mode, with a couple minor exceptions. Again, just like in Grand Turismo you start off with a mostly empty wallet just enough to purchase yourself an entry level car. Heading into the GT mode you then race others and try and build up enough cash to get yourself a better ride. There certainly are lots of cars to pine for. 25 different manufactures, Ford and Fiat are two, have created 165 different models of cars for your driving pleasure. The cars are very different from each other in looks, handling and sounds and well. Along with the large numbers of cars you have at your disposal there are also a large number of upgrades available to attach to each of those cars. Engine, suspension, tires and many others all have parts that you can purchase to tweak your car out that last little bit. If you are the kind of person who likes to fiddle with your car and get those extra five horsepower then you will love the upgrades available. If you are like me, you will just randomly click on the parts and just blast around the track with whatever kind of Frankenstein you have created. One of the things you have to watch when you are racing is damage to your car. The old saying “That is coming out of your paycheck” applies here. You have to play for repairs to your car with the winnings from the race. I didn’t see the damage that you had inflicted to your car have any affect on the handling of your car however.
When you are in the event races you will be pitted against other drivers with the same licensing level as you. Then you will race for a pot (that is A pot, not pot in general) and try and save for your new set of tires, or maybe a nice new hot rod. Just like a lot of the other driving game single player mode you race and save, race and save, they plop down a pile of greenbacks to upgrade. Rise and repeat. You will also unlock cars as you complete different races in single player mode. You will want to save up lots of nice shiny cars before you log onto the new part of the game. Live.
This is the reason you bought, or are going to buy this game, playing it online with Xbox Live. Getting into a race with 15 of your buddies is what you have been patiently waiting for. Unfortunately the Live portion of this game is riddled with problems. The Quickmatch setting had serious problems finding games at all. The Optimatch choice (something that is supposed to find you opponent close to your skill level) would create a list with some problems. The list would actually scroll out of the bottom of the box that was supposed to contain it, so the list would overwrite other things on the screen. Then when you clicked on a game it would declare that the people in that game are already racing, and boot you out to the main menu. So you have to head back in, and go through the entire process again. And don’t forget to try and remember which game it was you had just clicked on, because if you click on the same game again, OUT YOU GO!! When you do get online the cars seem to jump around on the track teleporting around the track. The voice communication that is so clear on other games tends to be garbled as well. There is one part of the Live end of this game that does work well. Trades.
Ever since you saw Fast and the Furious you have been wanting to race for pink slips right? But who wants the pink slip to your 1985 Pontiac 6000? Well now you can race for cars you will never really afford. The people that I raced against on Live were all saying the same thing. The ability to trade and sell car online with other gamers from all over the world was the reason that they played this game. They were telling me that there are also online tournaments with the top finishers getting cars that no one who plays just in single player will ever see. An interesting idea, I would like to see how it plays out over the next six months.
Now onto the most important part of the game, the driving. This is the base that the entire rest of the game is built on. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t really matter what other great and wonderful features will not be worth a thing. I can’t say this strong enough, I hate the way this game drives. The cars feel like they are not attached to the ground. They don’t spin out when you think they should, and gets all squirrelly when you are thinking you should be attached solidly to the road. It just doesn’t seem to give you a good driving experience at all. When Sega GT came out it was a middle of the road driving game. The problem is that the bar has been raised by games like Project Gotham Racing 2 and Ralisport Challenge 2 and the aged Sega GT engine just doesn’t make the grade anymore.
Once again this games visuals suffers when compared to the other games available on the market right now. With Project Gotham Racing, MX Unleashed and Ralisport challenge raising the bar and pushing the Xbox to its graphical limits. The menu system it right out of the PS1. When on the tracks the cars have great looks of their own. Lots of different looking cars, it is just the finish that just doesn't quite get it done. The tracks don't look bad, but they also don't look amazing. The graphics are best described in this game as middle of the pack.
Most people use the custom sound track in games that have it available like Sega GT Online. Whether you are blasting around to the track to a little Rage Against the Machine or out for a casual drive with Pink Floyd calming every nerve in your body. You get to choose the tunes. There are also a large number of tracks available from within the game for those that don’t want to load their own custom tracks. The car sounds are done well enough, the engine revs and squealing of tires is just as you would expect. Overall a solid sounding game.
Suggestions: Overall this is a good valued game for
$20, and I am glad to see that they didn't try and fleece the public for a full priced game.
I would suggest at least getting the buggy parts of the Live experience cleaned up before you release a game like this to the public.
Overall Score: 5.4 / 10
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Xbox 360 Titles: 817
Xbox 360 Arcade Titles: 448
Xbox Titles: 832
Registered Members: 42,522
Forum Posts: 734,305
Staff Reviews: 1,064
Member Reviews: 10,339
News Articles: 10,941
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1. phuture 909 - 123,212
2. Unreal - 122,015
3. Symmetric-XBA - 89,725
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