Total Reviews: 72
Average Overall Score Given: 7.58333 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 24
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Reviews
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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Overall: The fourth last months of 2007 has been a really busy period for our Xbox 360. We finally saw the launch of Halo 3 and we got some major blockbuster release. Just to name a few, we got Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3, The Orange Box and other great game like As-sasin's Creed and Mas-s Effect. Each year, the cream of video game is competiting in a cruel fight for the award of the game of the year. But this year, I think that there is one game that truly stand out of the crown, this game is none less than Call Of Duty 4. Call Of Duty 4 is a thrilling, intense, action-packed adventure with one of the most complete multiplayer ever made. The gameplay is near perfect, the visual is totally next-gen and the sound is top notch. Call Of Duty 4 is the best investment I add for year. Trust me, Infinite Ward is no-thief.
Gameplay: Call Of Duty 4 might be one of the best game of all time, but the special edition is just a total waste of money. The box is made in cheap paperboard and the bonus disc is full of trailer you probably saw a thousand times. The only real bonus comes in form of a docu-mentary about the SAS. If you can stay awake for one hour and manage to get over the British accent, maybe you will enjoy it.The story is told from the perspective of three person ( Sgt Jonhson, Soap Mc Tavish, Captain Price ). You must kill a russian ultranationalist leader named Imran Zakhaev who is set on returning his homeland to the times of the Soviet Union by revolting against the current government. The story is quite impressive and there is some turn you never expected. The campaing might be only a five hour experience, but everything feel so fresh and inspired that no one will ever complain about that. You will escape from a russian's cruiser, you will scout street, you will defend places stormed by thousand of ennemies, you will sneak your way into the ennemies line, take control of an AC-130 gunship and even snipe someone from eight hundred feet. No matter what you are going to do, you will never feel left down. Artificial intelligent is also incredible in Call Of Duty 4. At least, for most of the game. Your squadmate are ingenious because they will scout corner, check your back, throw flashbang and never run in the middle of no where. You can even let them do the whole mission by themself. But when you will switch character to Sgt. Jonhson, you feel ashamed at some moment. As an example, in Charlie Don't Surf, there is a part of the game where you must fight in a television station in a close quarter situation. My teammate were popping up of no where and instead of taking cover, they rush in the middle of heavy resistance and get kill like dummies. There is some tactical element include in your squad, but freelance NPC are just too dumb. If you finished the whole campaign, you can do it arcade style. Arcade is basicly the same campaign with a scoring system, life and time to accomplish your mission. The problem remain in the scoring system. If you finish the game without dying or in a fastest time than anybody else, you praticaly not rewarded. A thousand point only for one life and two minute on the timer. It is a shame ! The result give a big opportunity for gamer to cheat and exploit the leaderboard. I saw one guys with two million point in a ten minute mission with practically nobody to kill. At least, you can compare your stats with your on-line buddy. But in my case, i am alone because no one seem interested in this mod. The multiplayer is everyone favorite part of the game. Maybe you think it is just an another first person multiplayer, but the addition of perk change everything. No one is geared the same, you can have someone with a stopping power, which increased damage, someone else with martyrdrom, which drop a grenade when you die, or maybe someone spying your conversation with the voice perk. So many combination to do, so many gun to choose from, many multiplayer challenge and stuff to unlock, that Call Of Duty 4 is going to take all you free time. If you are worry about the gameplay type, let me tell you that there is nothing greater than playing Search And Destroy, where you must plant a bomb ( Counter Strike look alike ) or Headquarter, where you must cap a headquater and hold it, or Hardcore, where one shot and you die, with your friends in a party mod. A nice addtion was rank. In fact, you can go up to level 55 and redo it ten times with prestige mod. Maybe ten time is a little bit too much and there is nothing really funny with the fact that you just have a special medal near your name, or that you loose all your gun and achievement, but it still a nice feature for hardcore gamer. Maps are also really nice, except for showdown and shipment who are too small and too much unspired, but everything else is amazing. This is the first time I enjoyed so many maps in a single game. If you manage to get three kill, you can have a UAV, if you can go up to five kill, an airstrike, and seven kill, a chopper. The worst part of the multiplayer remain in party mod's problem. It is really hard to connect to a party, sometimes the party crash or you can't join a friends. At least, Infinite Ward promise a patch for this.
Graphics: Call Of Duty 4 outstand every game in the visual department. You will be able to see giant wave in your way out of the russian cruiser, but also one of the best geometry I seen so far. When the russian cruiser will sink, you will totally feel it. Helicopter's ride are also a good way to show you how the game it well done, especially with captain price's conversation in the first level and when a nuclear bomb will go off. There is no limit in the draw line, character's animation are fluid and real, texture are excellent and even on a standard TV.
Audio: There is nothing really special in the audio department. I must admit that I totally love the Infinite Ward's rap song when the credit scroll down or the main theme, but there is no real music in the game. What you get here is explosion, grenade's tossing, impeccable voice acting and fire in every side. This is the best audio experience you can have in war simulation.
Suggestions: Better scoring system, patch for party's problem, least prestige mod. Keep up the good work. I absolutly want a Call Of Duty 5.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Halo 3
Overall: It wasn't a long time ago, but I still remember all the excitement and fun I had playing my old Xbox. I don't know why, but I never tough of buying an Xbox 360 since now. Maybe because of the heat problem or I was probably too busy playing Battlefield 2142 on my PC. Time have past now and my PC is not powerful enough to meet the minimum requirement of Bioshock or any new release, so i decide to buy an Xbox 360 and get back in the best community and gaming experience I had in my life. The reason I bought and Xbox 360 was, of course, Halo 3. I so wanted to finish the fight that I spend nearly 800 $ on a xbox 360 just to play it. The result was really disapointing. Don't get me wrong, the Xbox 360 is a master piece of hardware technology but Halo 3 failed to demonstrate that Bungie made an epic triology. In Halo 3, you are John 117, aka Master Chief, an advanced biogenetic soldier. In this third chapter, you need to find the Ark and stop Truth from activating all the remaining halo. If you have time, you can also save the earth from invasion and destroy the flood. Overall, Halo 3 offer a really good visual engine and an amazing soundtrack, but fall short in leaving you a fresh experience and give you the biggest let down of the century, the multiplayer. Let see in detail what I am talking about.
Gameplay: First, I want to apologize for every spoiler I will say in this review. Let talk about the collector edition of Halo 3. Your bonus material for the additional fee is really nice but not worth the ten dollar you must spend for it. I had fun watching the video where we are seeing bungie's employee at work and playing the warthog mini game, but some part of the bonus disc is totally useless and not fun at all. As an example, the Nat/Router explanation video is worthless and never help me with the lag problem. Finally, when I bought my first Halo 3 collector edition, the game disc was unstable inside the metal box and it became unreadable by my Xbox because of scratch. First, we are going to talk about the single player. The campaign is a ten hour experience on legendary difficulty combined with nine level and 13 skulls to find. Personnally, I think it was a huge let down. Anybody beside me think that brute are not fun to kill at all ? The elites was a way better. They should have never made the change. If we are talking about the level, I can say that most of them are tedious and boring. I had so many difficulties to find friends to play on co-op for the Cortana, Tsaro Highway and Floodgate level. Those level add nothing to the story or just a glimpse and Floodgate is also extremely short. At least, we got excellent and challenging level like The Covenant and The Ark. It that me or Bungie focussed too much on the vehicule for the entire game ? I spend most of my time driving from point A to point B with stupid teammate who don't know how to shoot or drive. In fact Halo 3 deliver the worst allied's AI ever been created. I know that we are the last hope of humanity, but when you saw those guys in action, you will completly understand the whole sentence. The marine alway died, they are useless and you can't let them drive if you want to survive. The arbiter is nothing more than a marine disguised in an covenant if you want my opinion. He normally stays in the middle of the action and get shot. He should be your alter-ego in the covenant force, but he is more like a dummies for ennemis than anything else. Otherwise, the ennemie's AI is nearly perfect. They also used the scarab so many times in the game that I became sick of seeing it. Of course, two scarab on the same screen was awesome, but the fact that you beat four of them in the campaign reduce the fun of killing one of them. Anyone agree with the fact that Halo 3 last run with the Warthog was too much like the end of Halo 1 ? I think the last level feel rushed, stupid, and unspired. The end was also an another cliffhanger. I personnally cry at master chief's funeral. A hero who sacrified himself for earth is the biggest heroes ever been created for video game because no one ever did that before. But the after-credit cutscene ruined everything. A nice feature is that you can do the whole campaign with 4 player co-op. They should have made the game really much harder, but it's still a nice addition. Did I mention that you can use item in the single player campaign ? In my mind the bubble shield, the portable shield and the anti-shield are amazing, but they forget to add most of them in the multiplayer. Forge is a weapon/vehicule/object/spawn editor for Halo 3. This is a really good addition but you can only use it in custom game. I never had the time to really use my creation but I tried some of my friends and I must say something to them : stop the zombie map, it's boring anyway. I also made crazy video with forge and I am proud that Bungie made it. In Halo 3, you can also recorded and share mini-clip from the multiplayer portion of the game. This feature is incredible. In fact, every first person shooter should have one. I will never get tired of seeing video with my friend in a killing spree or in a funny moment. The biggest let down for many gamer is the multiplayer. The amount of lag is ruining the entire game. I had so many frustrating moment with lag that I put Halo 3 away forever. Some people are able to kill someone with one battle riffle shot and other will take two clip to kill someone. Some poor encoding is also a major problem in Halo 3. Most of the time, my sniper shot never kill the target, even with headshot. I saw so many videos on youtube showing people do 4 to 7 headshot and never kill the guys. It is obvious that the sniper rifle is broken. The shotgun aim is also broken. I have three videos who prove it. Many times, the guys is not even aiming at you and he will kill you, and when you aim corectfully, it may not hurt. The new melee system is also ridiculous. Who ever got the most health win, no matter who melee first. I want the old melee system back at all cost. Bungie should also include an anti-camping system. In any type of game, people are always camping. The team who collect the most usefull weapon and camp, win almost all the time. All map have been design with camping spot who are difficult to take by strength or skill. You can also customize your character in Halo 3. The tag is awesome, the armor is really unique and cool ( except the hayabusa armor, everyone seem to wear it). Too bad that colored armor are useless. On ranked match, it could have been good to put more different weapon. The flame-thrower is only in one map, there is no flame grenade, the mauler is too much powerfull and please make the overshield (aka overs-hit) work. An another problem is that you have too many grenade. A total of six grenade can be pick up and most people will throw everything they have on you. There is even people who throwing grenade first and then tried to kill you. Grenade abuse is a cheap way to play and should be banned/restricted by Bungie.
Graphics: This kind of visual can be easily seen on a old xbox if you play on a standard TV. On high definition, the game truly shine, but never outstand Bioshock or Call Of Duty 4. Halo 3 will never redefined first person shooter visual in my mind. The visual is good but not much better than what we saw in Halo 2. There is only more action on-screen and a more decent framerate. I also notice that some cutscene are horible. In Cortana's cutscene, you can clearly see a picture as a background and the prophet of truth skin in The Covenant's cutscene, is still ugly as hell. Finally, most of the physic collision detection don't work. I get slam by a hammer and I went through the whole map, the warthog can fly with a jumping pad and master chief's armor is flotting went he died in the water.
Audio: Halo's soundtrack is a master piece. When I hear the main song, I always compare it to superman's or star wars's theme because it will never get old. The possibility to play the whole game in french or a different langage is amazing. The problem remain in the sense of some sentence, because some translation are poorly done. There is also one or two place where there is no sound at all or no translation. The grunt sentence are hilarous, I laugh so many times.
Suggestions: Fix the sniper, fix the shotgun, i want the old melee system back, less lag, more item in multiplayer, anti-camp system, reduce the number of grenade and a brand new campaign.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Dead Rising
Overall: You are Frank West, a photojournalist who went to a small town for the scoop of a lifetime. Too bad, this town happens to be infected by wasp who transform their civilian into the living dead. You got 72 hour to discover the truth about the incident. But watch out, there is a ton of zombie who will try to stop you and some psychopath.
First, let mention that everyone who has seen the movie Dawn Of The Dead will greatly appreciated the transition to a video game. Even if the game mention that it is not related to any mean to the movie.
Overall, the game feel really fresh.In fact, this is the best game play I seen for a really long time. But the game suffer from major flaw that limit the enjoyement of playing Dead Rising. The saving system is broken, there is a sense of hurry up and deja vu that will dissuade gamer to continu further along the way and there is some minor flaw with the audio department. Let see with more details what I am talking about.
Gameplay: Dead Rising offer the best choice of weapon I seen since I play video games. Everything is a weapon. You can choose to kill with a stuffed animal, a chainsaw, katana, light saber, chair, wood, fence,baseball bat, firearm, sledgehammer, soccer ball and even guitar. Also, let mention that the add of psychopath really help the game to shine. I mean who didn't freak out when Adam The Clown comes to our screen, or when the crazy supermarket's manager is yelling at you ?
An another cool thing is that you keep your stats when you restart a game and even if you die. You can also shop for clothes in the mall. You can transform yourself in a serial killer with the Jason's Mask from Halloween, or became Indiana Jones, or even shop for ladies clothes. There is also some really cool easter egg, like the mega man suits who totally blast a zombie in one shot. An another positive thing is, when you save a NPC, they stay forever in the security room, which really feel like you are doing something in the mall.
If you grow tired of Dead Rising, you can choose to do the overtime mod which conclude the story left in the 72 hour mode and the infinite mod which sound cool, but it isn't. Infinite mod is more like a survival and not a free roaming mod which I totally disagree with the developer.
For the negative part, let me say that the photo's point are totally useless. It's only giving you point for a really dumb ranking system on xbox live .Personally, I only focused myself on the story and the action. I never pay attention to my photo's album. In fact, you should only take picture of important event in the game and not try to do as many point as you can do.
Now, let talk about the worst system save I ever seen. I seen those type of saving system on my N64 but I never thought it will come back on a next-gen console. Come on, there is only a single slot to save on and it give me so many frustrated moment that I was unable to bear it anymore. I personally return the game to my retailer because of the save system. Let me explain with a example. I add 4 quest in progress, and 3 was red, which mean hurry up or NPC will die. So I escorted every NPC to the security room and decide to save like usual. Then, I came back to the main quest and I saw that the timing bar begin to be Red, so I fought the boss and the game keep telling me that I failed my main quest, WTF ? The only option left was to restart the whole freaking game.
Second, the aiming system is even worst than the save system. The stick you use to aim is the same as you move and did I mention you can't move when shoot ? You became a easy target for zombie.
Most of the game, you will try to do scoop to boost your levels and do some good work. Maybe it sound cool to you, but again it is not. Every scoop mission involved a NPC that you must save. The problem is that NPC are really stupid, the zombie are more intelligent than your fellow teammate. In fact, they will run straight into a pile of zombie and they will beg for help. You can give them weapon and food but even with that, the escort mission are frustrating. Plus, if you dislike the fact that you must use the same freaking way every time to get back to the security room, you will grow tired of Dead Rising in an hour or two. More shortcut will be greatly appreciated.
What i really dislike in Dead Rising is the fact that you must alway use speed to do what ever you want to do. Don't stress me dude, I want to enjoy the game, I don't want to finish it in a hurry. Not being able to do every quest is a bit frustrating for me because I usually want to do everything a game can offer to me. But in Dead Rising, it is impossible. The janitor is alway calling you for NPC to save. I tried to just don't answer the phone, but the time is still running even if you didn't answer the phone. When you will discover that you can't save everybody and that you don't have the time to explore what the game can offer ( and trust me, ther eis a lot to see) you will probably do like me and open the disk tray and never touch Dead Rising again.
Graphics: The first major cut scene of the game will show you a really bad land-scale visual. But when you are in the mall, everything look perfect. The character are impressive. The amount of zombie on screen is amazing. Maybe, the detection collision need a little work because I seen NPC and zombie run through each other, but nothing so major to work on.
Overall, there is nothing to compare to game like Bioshock, but the game's visual satisfied me in every way, even if they could be much better.
Audio: There is two major flawed with the sound department. First, the on-screen subtitle are so tiny you can't read them on a regular flat TV and it makes the game incredibly hard to follow. I tried Dead Rising on a HDTV and it work really well. So please CAPCOM, we don't have all HDTV to play video game on, so can you just make video game for both ?
There is also the fact that there is no voice acting when you are playing, so it even harder to follow the game.
Beside that, there is nothing much more to say.
Suggestions: Cooperative, subtitle which are easy to read, two slot for saving, a new aiming system, more shortcut and put a brain in NPC please. Keep up the good work !
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Test Drive
Overall: Hello everybody im ready for a nice driving challenge ! I've chosen this game because I heard that it was like the movie the fast and the furious. I was really excited about trying drag races and linear races. But in fact this game was so bad that it is in my blacklist. Imagine 30 vehicles ( approximately ), 40 events and four countries, that probably sound good to you but its not and trust me man ! First of all we have the story mode that can be finish in 7 hours maximum because its totally easy to be in the top three drivers on seven but that's not why this game is so cheap, im talking about the races man, four countries but to me it sounds like 4 races because its always the same races with new shortcut. You will say that the game have a cop challenge and you can be followed by few of them, yes its cool but the ai of the cop is so bad that you just have to turn and that's all, you got them all.In an other way, they crash you in a wall when you are last or first and the cop challenge is so easy, you just have to kick a car three time and he is busted, a lot more easy than need for speed 3. The game also has the drag race, oh my god, this part was the greatest part of the game but when you have the best car when playing with one of your friends you will probably win and the other will probably lose if he doesn't take the same car as you and in fact the only thing you have to do in drag race is to push the right trigger and change your speed, just too easy ! In conclusion i'd say that this game is too easy and doesn't give what we want in a driving game ( plenty of courses, good mini-games in multi-player or mod )
Gameplay: Oh my god i played rallisport challenge and project gotham racing and i was feeling really happy to have a nice gameplay like that, i mean its so realistic than you feel the car in your hand but i don't talk about test drive. In this game if you are trying to do like rsc you will probably crash into a wall, yes you heard that, if you put the brakes on you will crash into a !&%$@#* wall but if you keep your acceleration and just give a break to your right trigger that will be fine. What the hell man i found that it was one of the most boring gameplay. I forgot something , when you are driving and you crashed yourself in a another car you will do a 360 spin and when you will accelerate your tires will stock in place and it will take like 10 second before it finishes. Ah ! An another thing : when you are driving near a opponent, he will run like the hell to pass you but when you do 4 accident in a row, they will run at 20 km/h, it makes the game easier but also more stupid !
Graphics: You know rsc and pgr are the best sport racing graphic that we ever saw on x-box and other console but when i saw those of test drive i said to a friend of mine, man check that it looks like your old ps1 graphic and he said : you have totally reason dude ! You know you can also play pong the atari first game on test drive, personnaly i was having more fun in that game who was programmed like a !&%$@#* because the ball passes through our little block.
Audio: Oh my god this is the best part of the game because you have songs that look like dangerous, you want a example : Furious, Ja rule (pretty cool song). But after a while its always the same songs, the random engine is bugged because i heard like five times in a row the song Furious.
Suggestions: Don't make an another test drive game because its so poor or make more races for drag race and races that look like different in linear and also mini-games, Oh ! also better graphic and a new random engine . I forgot something but its truly important for your paintshop please we want an another own paintshop because the one that you created is bad enough to make a beautiful car look like a c-r-a-p .
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
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Serious Sam
Overall: At the dawn of the 21st century, mankind makes a startling discovery.
Beneath the sands of the earliest known human civilization, traces of
another, even more ancient, but technologically advanced civilization
are uncovered. The profound scientific implication of this discovery
leads humankind to the far reaches of the universe. Everything seems
perfect, but to perfect to last. In the year 2104, civilization is
attacked by countless deadly monsters that were spawned from another
dimension. In the battles that follow, humankind fights valiantly, but
nothing can stop the monsters from coming. Earth's forces are steadily
defeated, planet by planet, from alpha centaury back to their own solar
system. Because of his extreme bravery in battling monsters, Sam Serious
Stone becomes a legend. Wounded countless times, but never defeated,
Serious Sam becomes a living symbol of the earth's resistance against
the advancing evil. But, no matter how bravely the human armies fight,
they are defeated, time and again, attempts to defend the solar system
fail and the earth is now under direct attack. Humankind stares into the face
of its own annihilation. World leaders must now turn to their last chance,
an ancient artifact called the time lock, a relic from a long-forgotten
race, imbued with power to teleport a single person back in time. The choice
of whom goes to Serious Sam who is becomes the final hope for humankind,
he must return to the past and change it to save his race from extinction from an evil
force determined to purge the galaxy of all intelligent life. Serious Sam is just a
classic and a basic first person shooter with a banal story which is just a pretext
to kill everybody or to lose time.
Gameplay: In Serious Sam, cycling through weapons is as easy as pressing the A and B buttons
and you can set your two favorite weapons to the X and Y buttons. Also you must press
the right trigger to shoot and the left one to jump and all the other buttons are
useless. In fact, Serious Sam is really too basic for a shooter and we are not accustomed
to old first person shooter with nothing more than powerful gun to have some fun.
The first five levels are quite interesting but more you get through the story more
you find this game a little bit too boring and similar. Thirty six levels with the possibility
of playing in cooperative and deathmatch is quite a good lasting appeal but it is
just ineffective again a big fan of shooter like me. Also the respawning monster is really
ridiculous, i mean why does the hell i can only be touch when someone is respawning in my back ?
Yes, you got it ! You can kill every monster in the arena but after a while they are back and
always behind you, it's get really annoying and frustating. I forget to say that this game look like
an arena shooter because in the story the only thing you do is to enter an arena where you can't exit,
shoot everyone and go to the next arena. If there was something special like great graphic, vehicule,
challenge or outstanding action it could have rise this game a little bit more. Cooperative mod is
also boring because you got a restricted amount of lives and when you are playing with a newbie, it is really hard.
The only cool feature are the separate stuff where each gamer have their own armor or health, the possibility
of doing all the 36 levels in cooperative but without any videos and the system link play. The split screen multiplayer
is also a lose of time, ok there is a lot of maps but there is nothing more that fragging everyone to do,
so without any doubt it can be repetive. Finally Serious Sam offer nothing more than a basic gameplay, so probably
that gamers will not find any attraction to this game and even if with his low price.
Graphics: I remember one of the best shooter i ever buyed on Pc, it was called Duke Nukem 3d.
How horrible the graphic was, but i never ended to play it. Serious Sam is like Duke Nukem for the visual but even more simple :
the texture are restricted to the minimum, the monster are numerous but there is no modelling in it and
there is no detail or interactivity in the game. Againt i will repeat this game his too much basic for me !
Audio: There is no lips moving when Serious Sam is talking, the voice is annoying and the sentence
who was supposed to make this game hironic
don't work with me and the music was great but sometimes they take it from other movies
( Indiana Jones ), so it like copying other production and i am not a fan of copying ( How ironic i am here ? ).
Suggestions: Hide yourself somewhere or save your dignity by erasing your name on the generic !
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
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Black Stone: Magic & Steel
Overall: A thousand years after their defeat at Zedan, the dark mages
hiding within the Tower of Babylon have grown very powerful.
They awaken the ancient volcano, Moon-eye, which weakened the
powers of Holy Light, that is protecting the land of Zedan.
Without the protection of the Holy Light, the dark mages were
able to steal the people souls of Zedan and turn them all into
slaves. The dark one, Xylon, possesses many pieces of the
Black Stone and now has enough power to fulfill his destiny.
The story begins on this evil night.
The only reason why i rented this game is because it was writed
on the box that Blackstone : Magic and Steel allows player to play
together in a fight for all mankind, and the visual was looking
fantastic. But strangely, this game look like too much
Gauntlet : Dark Legacy without a great gameplay, sound,
fun and lasting appeal.
At all cost, you must not buy
or even rented this game because it's really tedious and too much boring.
The best advice i can give to you is to keep your cash, it's not
the time to waste money on useless stuff like this when Brute Force,
Pro Race Driver, Phantasy Star Online, and Return to Castle
Wolfenstein : Tides of War are coming to your x-box on the same
month.
Gameplay: In Blackstone : Magic and Steel, you must press A to hack, B to use
your magic scroll, X to take out your ranged weapon and finally Y to
hurt your friends when you are tired of them. Also you can use the right
trigger to load your magic meter, the left trigger to avoid ennemy's attack
and if you want to onload your special attack, you must combine B and the
right trigger. Finally, the black and the white button can be use to check
your character's inventory or make a map appear on the screen.
First, I will begin by telling that Blackstone : Magic and Steel have
the slowest gameplay you can afford to play on x-box. Can you imagine
that practically every class of character can't run or walk normally ?
In fact, it is so slow that on four player cooperative mod you are always
waiting for someone to progress through the game, like in every hack and slash,
but really longer than what i saw previously.
For example, I took the pirate and I was always behind
everyone and I didn't even got a bit of fun because i killed nothing.
Also, the levels looks really huge when it is that fast, but if you compared
them to Gauntlet : Dark Legacy, you will see that they are really short.
Then, they add a ranged weapon feature like what we saw in Hunter : The Reckoning,
but there are too much unusable when the game run so slowly. As a another
example, when you take the mage you can only shot one magic sphere at time or
with the pirate, the gun bullet is doing practically no damage and he is too
slow to kill the ennemies.
I tough that every game's develloper could have take a lesson about what we
really dislike in cooperative mod, i mean the life's box. Ok, everyone have their
own life box but when you are weaker than the other one, you are always dead and when
there is no much credits in your box, they will play without you.
What was really great in Hunter : The Reckoning and in Gauntlet : Dark Legacy
was when you where in a melee with your friends, but in this game you die so easily
in a melee that it get ineffective and useless to do it again. Probably that
the monster and especially the boss are too strong for us. Everything is so tough in
this game that after two levels, you will not play it again.
Also they need to put more class, but we doesn't really care because there is no game, in this kind,
who have a lot of character to choose from. Also an another thing which we doesn't really
care because it's always present in this kind of game is the camera angle which are always bad.
Bad levels up is also a fact that we are able to see in Blackstone : Magic and Steel. In summarize
you must find a gauntlet, a blade or other special item to boost your character, but what
does the h-e-l-l the experience do without any levels up possibility ? Also why the wizard
isn't more intelligent than the pirate or the thief and why everyone is upgrading
in the same way ? All those question make me know that they weren't actually taking notes
about what is the real dungeon and dragon rules and the real caracteristic of character, so the game looks
erroneous.
One of the worst feature who can be described or mentionned in this game is probably
the ineffective special power.
The pirate, as a example, don't have a powerful special and he always miss his target
with the bad aiming system. Otherwise, the wizard can kill everyone in a blow.
For the positive part, there is a strong multiplayer with some minor lack, twenty six levels,
a completed stats board after each levels and you can load you power.
Finally the shop is horrible ( can't buy item ) and when you find an item, you can't keep it.
To conclude, if you weren't interrested with Gauntlet Dark : Legacy, like most gamers on Xbox
Addict, Blackstone is really not for you.
Graphics: When you will meet this game on your video store, you will automatically watch the design of the box,
but it seems it is not, in any way, related to the game and probably that after you rented it, you will
see the amazing cd art. So after you started the game, you will see the entrance video which is the only
one who explain a bit of the story, and it seem that they all put in the first video
to, after, relaxed near the pool. Finally, you can see a black background when you play and
the character model are ugly. At least, this is where the game shine compare
to Gauntlet. Only on x-box, are you joking ?
Audio: In this game you can't heard any voices, there is an exotic and annoying music who is different in each levels,
and there is no Dolby Digital 5.1. Actually you can't heard the sword slashing or the character
walking, what a basic sound !
Suggestions: Don't even do it again !
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
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Blinx: The Time Sweeper
Overall: Blinx is one of many time janitors who's usually working at a time factory,
where the flow of time is managed and which is located on their cat planet.
His job, and the job of his fellow feline janitors, is clearing out the time monsters
created from crystals in different sector.
They guard over all worlds, using Time Sweepers
to take out the trash. Things are going along dandy until the Tom-Tom Gang, a
crowd of hover-bike riding pigs, starts stealing time crystals from various worlds.
They even nab themselves a princess.
All of this backfires, as their meddling, creates a
large scale of monster problems in world B1Q64.
Turns out the majority of these time-janitors are scaredy cats, as they all flee when
things are going to be nasty and dangerous, someone must save the world before it's too late.
You know Blinx hasn't been neutered, because he's got balls.
He heads off fearless to save world B1Q64 by jumping on the time portal of this dimension.
He will have to explore a variety of unique locales
and clear out every last time monster if he hopes to save the Princess and the entire world.
Do you think you can handle to be hero like him ?
Blinx was probably one of the first platform game to appear on x-box last year and
without any doubt, this one is the best. For Ign, this game is a pure enjoyement
for your senses and for Gamespot it was too much frustating. But me i prefer
to stay straight and affirmed that Blinx was really cool but can't actually be a legend
or a source for the next generation as ign is trying to say.
Gameplay: In Blinx : The Time Sweeper, you must hold X or the left trigger to suck with your sweeper,
tap one of those two buttons if you want to fire some trash, press or double tap the green button to
jump or make a double jump and finally B to choose which time feature you will use.
Also you can use the right thumbstick to move the camera and successfully
perform a back flip with A and the Back button.
For the positive part, i could mentionned that Blink is the coolest character since Mario on
Nintendo because he got the look, the attitude and the mood to be the greatest character
ever done for a platform game. No, he is not a copy of Mario Bros, but a pure new platform game
which you should take a look.
An another great thing is that you will never see Blink on GameCube or Playstation 2 because there is no hardrive
to perfom the time feature.
The craziest feature is the time management. All you must do is to collect a double pair or a trio
of icons of the same shape to use one of the time management, which are review where you can be back in time and
pass some bridge who was been destroyed in past, forward to save some time, slow to kill some
difficult ennemies, pause to, of course, kill the monster in the easiest way possible and finally
record where you can produce a clone of yourself who can help you in some teamship moment.
The lasting appeal of Blink can be summarize was beating the forty levels, which are really short,
with all those secrets they contain. As first impression, you will find it a way too easy and
we will not play it back, but this game is really hard so you will probably take much more time that
you will envisaged.
In fact this game is so much hard, that with only two star for the difficulty levels, which are pre-programmed,
it was the right difficulty to make me a bit furstated. So imagine when it will rise to five star, it will be a god d-a-m-n
way too hard.
The fact that i can only have three live and that in most part you got only one because
you already try too many times, it can be really frustating to die and start over,
especially when you are fighting the boss.
Finally , the gameplay is a bit frustrating but in most part i was enjoying it.
Graphics: Blink : The Time Sweeper, offer everything that x-box can show to gamers. The texture are funny,
great and well polished, the video are amazing but the disc is on a way too cheap, so after a while
it can cause some major slow down and you will not feel the same intensity when it will lock and restart.
I am not really a fan of funny and comic texture because it look too much unrealistic. Curiously, i was loving Banjo-Kazooie
on Nintendo 64 because it never pass the dead line of real world and comic visual. Blinx is totally a
fictif world where mature gamers like most x-box owner will not find any attraction. I didn't said it
was only for kids, but in a way you must really be a fan of Jet Set Radio Future, Mad Dash Racing or
Batman Tomorrow. Finally the lack of cutscene gave to us a impression that the story was no so
well implanted.
Audio: The best way to express the ambience that must combine a funny character and a comic environement
is a techno beat music, so don't be surprise if it what you can heard in Blink : The Time Sweeper.
If Blinx could have talk more and if they could add the possibility of using
the custom soundtrack even if trash metal or punk can't be related to this kind of game, the sound could have been a
bit better because the music seem always the same.
Suggestions: Custom soundtrack and make it a bit easier !
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Colin McRae Rally 3
Overall: Behind the wheel of the internationally famous Ford Focus RS WRC with your co-driver Nicky
Grist, be ready to set the course alight as you race to become the only one champion.
Rain, sleet, snow, mist, nothing seems to stop you even it makes all the difference to your
visibility and your car's handling, especially when every second count.
Test the limits of your ability and of your car, as you hurtle through treacherous terrain and dangerous
weather condition to shave all-important milliseconds off the clock.
Naturally, your co-driver Nicky Grist is personnally pace-noting every stage of every race
to help you in your quest of glory.
As you will begin your first season, you will start your race with a new three years contract under
your belt to, of course, win a couple races for Ford Rallye Sport through the World Championship,
which is a gruelling series of races across eight rallies offering different road condition which
include tarmac, gravel, snow, dirt and rain-soaked.
Before each rally, you will naturally begin in the service area.
Here the team's engineers perform the set-up requirements, which are adjusting the
suspension, engine, chassis of your Ford Focus and for the stage ahead.
Also, they are preparing the car to practically make it at his optimum setting for the upcoming stages.
However, as you are Colin McRae you may want to step in and make an inspection of their work or do
some manual adjustement.
When racing through Japan. Spain, Sweden, Greece and Australia, you haven't got time to admire the scenery, so
take in what you can of the road ahead before your view is obscured once again.
Are you able to experience the one hundred fifty decision a minute, and the teamwork that goes into actually
beeing Colin McRae, here the question ?
When i first bought Rallisport Challenge, my friends Jeff said, after trying it, that it wasn't near
the masterpiece of CodeMaster and possibly that the nearest sequel of Colin McRae Rally will be even better than every rally
game ever made. So i was waiting until i will have the opportunity to play it, but something goes wrong when
i finally put it in my x-box. I wasn't able to believe that such a mediocre game with a poor quality, without
beeing tedious, could even beat the king or the legend of the Microsoft X-box, Rallisport Challenge.
In conclusion, Colin McRae is not really a bad game but comparing this to Dice's master piece, it is nothing.
In fact, he didn't deserve a place beside Dice production, but it's quite a good choice to pass your time or
if i you want an advice, i could say that waiting until
pro race driver is a better idea !
Gameplay: In Colin McRae Rally 3, you must press Y to change your view, B to use your handbrake, A to accelerate
and X to brake. Naturally the left and the right trigger do the same thing as A and X, so it's up to you to choice
which one suits you the best. Also if you're taking you car with a manual transmission, you must use the black
and the white button to gear up or down.
For the positive part of the gameplay for Colin McRae Rally 3, we could mentionned the dashboard view with
the wiper who work when it's raining or snowing outside because it is absolutly a nice add and even if it is
hard to manoeuvre your car when your dash is hiding the road and a half of the screen.
Also the real time damage is amazing because when you car is too damaged, his performance are decreased
and that becomes harder to finish in first place. Sometimes you can lose your hood, your carrosery and
even your window, it get really crazy and really interresting. Naturally, you got a service area where
you can repair your car for free, but it's only on single player campaign and after three races of a rally.
What is really similar to Rallisport Challenge is probably the number of car and race you can afford to try.
Colin McRae Rally 3 offers like twenty nine cars and forty eight races, but where the ice racing, the hill climb and
the rallycross challenge ? I must say that is get pretty annoying to do classic rally every stage, so take
some of the feature that Rallisport Challenge has given to us and your game could have rise so much in
the top x-box games that you actually believe it.
Naturally there is so much more to unlock when you are playing through the season like suspension, tires and cars.
Probably that when you will first start the game, you will notice that there is just eight car to choose from and
it tooks too much time to unlock one of them, but don't desapair because there are supposed, like i said lately,
to be twenty nine at the end. In summarize, it was just a bad idea to give a bit more lasting appeal to
Colin McRae Rally 3.
Also the control system differs too much from Rallysport Challenge and it becomes harder to get in
the mood of the game for an elite rally gamer. When you now exactly at what speed and how you must turn a curve
and it was been changed
dramatically in another game, you feel like it wasn't made for you. I don't want a pale copy of Rallisport Challenge, i
just need a rally game who has a good gameplay and a handsome price.
Moreover the championship is trully too shorter, actually you can do one season and finish the game in four hours.
At least Colin McRae has captured the fuel of rally better
than is predecessor with a feeling that the rally continues and that there is no intermission between races,
what a nice job ! If, at least, the multiplayer have not ruined your work with no opponent and the obliteration
of this feature, my firends could have seen a bit of your work !
Let talk a bit about the multiplayer ! What i really like in multiplayer is that you can play on an alternate
screen or on split screen, this kind of feature is so much useful and especially in racing game.
Finally, the menu is too brief with only two option, which are championship and versus.
In conclusion, Codemaster have work to do in this part but i know they can do it, so go to work now !
Graphics: Colin Mc Rae Rally 3 offers a really good draw distance, but it is looking too much like a playstation 2 game
because there is a tree background which is an horrible way to embellish a game and there are in
two dimension ( same thing as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon ). Why does the hell the tree are hurting
so much when you hurt them ? Finally the inside view need more details to be perfect.
Audio: It's bizarre that Colin McRae Rally 3 don't have any music because when playing the voice of your co-driver or
the sound of your car can get really boring and anoying. If they could have put some wind effect or other environment
sound, the sound could have been a bit better. Naturally the real voice of Colin McRae and Nicky Grist
is trully georgous.
Suggestions: Custom soundtrack if you don't want to put some music, easier car control, better graphic,
everything in a way !
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Dynasty Warriors 3
Overall: The history of Dynasty Warriors 3 is connected to a book which is called Romance
Of The Three Kingdoms and which was also a source of inspiration for the develloper.
Finally if i want to explain the story of this game, i must make a
brief summarize of this book.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a book with a long and
impressive history. Nevertheless, this novel concerning
the history of 1800 years ago and still acknowledged
as a literary masterpiece today. The novel covers one hundred
and thirteen years of Chinese history, starting in 168 A.D.
and ending with the reunification of the land in 280 A.D.
Three Kingdoms describes a fascinating dynastic-cycle: the
fall of the Han Dynasty under Emperor Ling due to the
Yellow Scarves rebellion, the division of the Empire
into the three kingdoms Shu, Wei, and Wu and the
reunification of the empire by the Jin Dynasty.
The first eighty chapters of the novel are dedicated
to the reign of the last Han Emperor, Xian (A.D. 189-220).
It describes in detail the crisis that causes the end of a
four-hundred years dynasty. The Cao family replaced the
ruling house of the Liu eventually, when Cao Pi forced the
abdication of Emperor Xian.
The last forty chapters deal with the division of the land into the
Three Kingdoms or Three Dynasties. We call this the Sanguo period in
Chinese. This period ended when the house of Jin finally united the land.
The first sentence of the novel explains the aforementioned Dynastic Cycle:
The Empire, long divided, must unite: long united, must divide. The recording
of this history starts when Chen Shou (a scholar of the late Sanguo period)
compiled the biographies of officers and rulers into three books. This amazing
piece of work, Sanguo Zhi (SGZ), literally means Records of Three Kingdoms.
Ninety years after Chen Shou’s death, an official of both the Eastern Jin and
Liu-Song Dynasties named Pei Songzhi added a large amount of notes to Chen Shou’s
original work. The notes (Zhu) came from hundreds of different sources. Some
officials said he added too many notes, but with the permission of the Liu-Song
Emperor, Pei Zhongzhi continued his work. The authenticity of the notes remained
unclear; the Liu-Song Emperor criticized Pei Zhongzhi for this, and said his work
had occasional mistakes due to neglect.
In conclusion, Dynasty Warriors 3 offers nothing spectacular but i have a little weakness
from his gameplay because i like everything that combine war and strategy.
Gameplay: In Dynasty Warriors 3, you must press X to fight at all cost, B for your muscou attack,
Y for a special attack and A to jump. Also the left trigger recenter the camera which
allow the player to strafe and the right trigger is to change your view to after use your bow.
Finally, you can change your map style by pressing the black button on your controller.
One of the positive part is probably when you engage a battle againt another kingdoms and you are
submerged by the immense battlefield with so much men that you can't count them. There is so much action
in this game that it is unbeliavable, just imagine that fifty warriors can battle with you in a single fight
when much more are fighting in other place. Don't hesitate to take an officer horse if you want to run away
from any battle or to be in time for another one.
Naturally to win the game, you need to kill the master general that will cause a decipitation of the army
who has been vanquished. In theory, you could run through the battlefield and kill him, but it's not that easy.
The supreme general is protected by their guard who are heavily graded and when his army see you near to your
ultimate target, they will converged to this point and kill you in about ten second. The true strategy is to
kill the gate's keeper so there will not have any reinforcement, kill his master generals to increase your character
and in the same time you must protect your general and your army.
The Artificial intelligent can be good or otherwise really bad because sometimes your team, after you kill a
general, converged into a fort to kill the rest of the retired army or sometimes they are in a battle and nobody
is fighting, they just stay there and hack a couple of times when they are ready.
Another strong point is when you must manage your hero, in fact you can assign to him some bodyguard, who
can defend or attack and on this menu you can change the character skin to amazone, knight, archer or to heavy
graded soldier. Also you can see the whole battle map before beginning, so you can plan some sort of strategy
but for only yourself. You can also hear a prologue of the battle and change your weapon or equipment. However,
the badnest point is that you can't plan any strategy for your army, all seem to be decided randomly or by how you
proceed to do the level. Also some battle engine like catapult, battle ram or ladder to climb the wall of some
fortress will have been really cool.
The only thing who seem to get wrong with the character is every movement, muscou attack or
special attack look the same for every character, so it doesn't matter who you take or in
which clan you are.
A game with so much action couldn't have been so great without any multiplayer and this why they probably add
a cooperative mod and some deathmatch posibility. Imagine, you can fight with a friends through the entire story
back to back in the most fearest battle ever been created or prove who's the best at war and with his sword.
Seem great and it's, but it could have been better than ever if when somebody die in the cooperative,
the match wasn't over.
All this stuff goes with, of course, the multiplayer, moscou ( story mod ), two challenge, free for all
( four versus four where only generals can fight ) and a really complex option.
To conclude this part, i must say that there is nothing so much spectacular in the gameplay and even if
it isn't great, i like it.
Graphics: The visual is always really smooth but considering that the draw distance
doesn't go further that the end of your nose, that the soldier can appear
or disapear in front of you, that the environment seem to be not alive with
only a crate here and another over there, and that the texture are really fuzzy
with misses colors or details, i can't give a better score than it deserves.
After that, we could ask ourself about what kind of rotted visual we can see on the
playstation two because it supposed to be a direct port from it. The videos were
quite bad too because they didn't even explain the story and they are too short.
Audio: This is the first time i saw the different between a dolby digital game than
one with a sterio sound. How it could sound like this, look like i put my home theater
on the old 70's radio mod. Now i really understand why people are looking
for this feature on their game. The language were also bad because there are
in chinese or in english, so they are in a way incomprehensible or really
does not go with the Chinese history or culture. At least with got the subtitle which
make a great combination.
Suggestions: Really, you must work on the visual at all cost, after you should rebuilt the
sound from the start and adjust some details with the gameplay.
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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Reign of Fire
Overall: When a London tunneling project awakens an unearthly fire-breathing beast
from centuries of slumber, all hell breaks loose. A twelve years old boy named Quinn,
discover the first dragon and thereafter sees his mother, one of the worker, die trying to escape
this new terror in the same time as him. The year is now 2024. In just a few decades the human race has
found itself on the verge of extinction. Now only a small number of
human outposts remain scattered around the globe, and they must defend
themselves from constant attacks from Earth's new dominant species:
Dragons. In fact, twenty years after the incident with his mother, as a fire chief, Quinn tries
to keep a group of refugees alive with fierce dragons dominating the air, burning the land
and feeding on the ash. Unexpectedly, Van Zan, a hotshot American militia
leader, shows up with a ragtag group of slayer on a perilious crusade
to hunt down and destroy the beast. Tempers flare when there is a struggle
for leadership, until both men realize only one species is getting out alive.
I think it's time to fight fire by fire !
In conclusion, Reign of Fire is based on the supposed scorching blockbuster movie of
the same name, but as it always goes, the movie is quite better than this ridiculous
game that can't even touch the dead line. Everything is horrible and there is no way
to rent it, but if you want to know what is real pain and suffering, it's a good choice.
Gameplay: In Reign Of Fire, as a one of the Kentucky Irregulars, led by Denton Van Zan, you must press
A to accelerate, X to break, Y to flip view and B to use your secondary fire. Also the left
trigger is used to fire you primary weapon and the right one to fire some minigun. Finally
if you want to aim at those powerful beast, you must use your left thumbstick.
As a dragon, you must press X to brake, A to accelerate or double tap to use a speed surge, Y to pick up
a convoy and B to flip view. Also, with the right trigger you can shoot fire ball and with the
left one a napalm devastating breath. Finally, for the dragon, you can evade left or right with
the thumbstick.
There is only three things you can really enjoy in this game, one of them is the convoy
that is occasionally with you because you really feel the last hope of humanity when everybody dies and the cover
they done make more and more action, but there aren't always there so you must be patient because a bunch of levels
are really frustating, so much frustating that you will put down the controller in three or
four missions. Just check the one with the firetruck when you are always on fire and where you will retry five or six times
to really understand that the lack isn't a great idea to extinguish yourself.
Also every mission is repetitive
because you always pass through the same part in a mission or another, what an economy for the texture and for
your brain cell. As a example, you are on a beach on the fifth levels of the human race and the fourth one of the dragon
is on the same beach. Is it supposed to be complementary or what ?
Also the possibility to use multiple vehicule is a good feature, the whole includes a buggy, a tank, a
jeep and a fire truck. In fact, it supposed to be great but i got so much difficulty to speed
up or climb a hill that this feature became tedious.
Naturally, the dragon's mission are a plus but considering that you must pass through
nine paintful human levels to try the dragon one, nobody will have the patient to try it.
Finally, if you got any courage to try the story, you will automatically see that there is no
skill menu, so you must pass through all the levels on normal and at the ends it give no lasting appeal.
Of course, there is a medal award to bring a bit of lasting appeal, but between us,
we all know that it's sometimes a way too hard for an average gamers and habitually
didn't unlock nothing on the game, so why i should try to increase my brain
and my skill potential to gain nothing, and
Why i got no medal on the fire fight mission when i was supposed to pick up the villager
to the base, not to kill down the beast ?
Then you will notice that the collision impact is the badnest ever seen on video game because when it arrives
you vehicule rebounds like a pinball ball, so much unrealistic.
Let finish with the worst feature ever ! I know that there are dragons, so they must spread some fire breath on us, but
it get so much frustating when you burn and sometimes there is no way to avoid an unquestionable death like finished as a
frying chicken. As an example of frustating moment, here there are : when you go on a lack you can drown, when
you search for a pipe it get hard to go below it and the barrels aren't always working.
To conclude and add somethings, the cinematic are too limited, the related song is boring, in
fact there is nothing great, don't be so surprise if i rented Dynasty Warriors 3 in the same week-end.
Graphics: Using grim, apocalyptic landscapes savaged by fire and destruction, the environments show essentially
large polygonal stretches of land, with few details to cover them. The human structures are much more detailed,
especially the military barracks, castle remains, and the vehicles themselves. The colour seem to be restricted
to brown and black. The definition of clip art is unfinished and the video were just a copy of the movie without any
translation movie to three dimension like what we were able to see in The Lord Of The Rings : The Two Towers.
All goes with a smooth framerate and nothing more !
Audio: I already talk about the fact that i discover the different with the dobly digital and sterio with my new home theater,
so i just mention it againt to, of course, remind you. To summarize the sound i can say that it was basic, a couple of
breath fire here, bullet sound there and the annoying voice of Van Dan over there. There is also a mistake in the sound,
sometimes Van Zan is telling you that you are leaving the mission area but you there with him or you are following the
right path, so in my mind he must s-h-u-t up and let me do the d-a-m-n work !
Suggestions: No more game, i can't take more of this !
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Overall: With the aid of the thunder god known as Raiden, Earth's
mightiest heroes have repelled all invasions from s through a tournament known as Mortal Kombat.
Although there has been relative peace for many years, a new
threat to Earthrealm has emerged. And this time, the threat of
evil has two faces. In an attempt to seize control of the realms,
the sorcerers Shang Tsung and Quan Chi have joined forces and
are preparing to revive the lost army of the mythological
Dragon King and if they succeed, they will be unstoppable.
Once again, Earth's heroes must venture to Outworld and
kombat the forces of evil. They must act now. They must
stop this Deadly Alliance.
The FMV starts off showing Liu Kang practicing his moves in
the Wu Shi Academy arena, with Kung Lao looking on. It then pans
to a tunnel with lava littering the bottom, and Raiden narrating
some of the history of the Mortal Kombat tournament. Raiden
talks about how the forces of good and evil have been locked into
an eternal battle for Earthrealm. They then show portraits of
Quan Chi, and Shao Kahn with Raiden telling us that some of the
participants entering the tournament want to stop all that is
good. They show a picture of Scorpion with Raiden saying that
some enter for vengeance. Pictures of Kano and Shang Tsung are
then shown with Raiden saying that they are in the tournament for
power, and eternal life respectively. Once again pan to Kang
practicing, with Raiden saying that time after time, the evil has
been vanquished. Back to the lava filled tunnel, with Raiden
saying that there is concern that Earth is once again in peril.
This time the threat of evil has two faces.
We are then shown the evil sorcerer, Quan Chi, running across
a bridge with lava flowing under it, jumping through a portal,
thus escaping Outworld. Since his escape, Chi has unlocked the
secret of the Ancient Runestone, and discovered the ancient
undefeatable army of the fallen, forgotten Dragon King. We are
then shown Quan Chi and Shang Tsung shaking hands, as they have
formed an alliance. With their combined power, they set out to
overpower the only two things that could prevent their total
domination of the two realms. We are shown Quan Chi and Shang
Tsung walking down a walkway toward a throne containing Shao
Kahn. After showing a false sense of allegiance, they spring
their attack. Shan Kahn's bloody helmet tumbles down the stairs,
signifying Kahn's death. Tsung and Chi then travel to Earthrealm
through a mystical portal, only sorcerers and deities can travel.
After, we are shown Liu Kang practicing once again at the Wu Shi
Academy. Kung Lao is walking behind Kang, and a split second
later, he morphs into Shang Tsung. It is revealed that it has
been Tsung's desire to dethrone Kang as Mortal Kombat's champion.
The fight between them begins. Liu kicks Tsung twice in the
stomach, then blocks a punch, and comes down on Tsung's head with
a fist of his own. With Shang Tsung down, Quan Chi comes up from
behind and fires a glowing green skull into the back of Liu Kang.
With Liu Kang on the ground recovering, Tsung walks up behind
Kang, and proceeds to snap his neck in a very gruesome manner. A
trickle of blood runs down Kang's left cheek as he falls to the
ground, is dead. Tsung proceeds to absorb Liu Kang's soul from his
fallen corpse. Tsung and Chi return to Outworld to use the souls
of conquered warriors to fuel their resurrection of the Dragon
King's Army. With the resurrection of this army, they will be
unstoppable.
We are then shown Raiden and the rest of the mortals: Sonya,
Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, Frost, Kung Lao, and Jax sitting around a
campfire. Raiden reveals he has relinquished his status of Elder
God, to once again return to Earth and lead all the mortals into
battle, against two of their most hated adversaries, Shang Tsung
and Quan Chi. They must act now. They must stop this Drtal Kombat : Deadly Alliance offer everything than a fighting
fan could have dreamed but people who are not interrested of this
kind of game, like me, will not find any utility to buy this game.
Gameplay: In Mortal Kombat : Deadly Alliance, you must press on the right button on your
directionnal pad if you want to walk forward, left to walk backward, up
to walk out and down to walk in. The directional pad can also be use to
jump backward or forward if you press up and right simultaneous or up and left.
Then if you want to fight you must do some combination with X,Y,B and A. Naturally
you can block your opponent move by pressing the right trigger and change your
fighting style with left trigger. I practically forgot to mention that the black button
has been configured to use your special attack. You probably already know that Mortal Kombat :
Deadly Alliance don't allow player
to play with the thumbstick, but the real question is this any repercussion on the
gameplay ? Actually, the Gamecube and Playstation 2 version have a better gameplay
because their directionnal pad are better with only have four direction
than the x-box one who got too much way to perform the corect move and when you are
doing the fatalities, it really easier to do it on other platform. The fatality of
scorpion is supposed to be back, back, down, back and X but even if i try and retry,
it wasn't working. So i went to my friend's house to have some fighting lesson and
increase my style. Only after one combat, i was able to do the scorpion finishing move,
but again i wasn't able to do it on x-box. Look like it wasn't made to be on x-box.
While passing to this stade, i could say that the other version of Mortal Kombat like
Mortal Kombat 3 had a lot more fatality per character than this one, do you remember
the animality, the original fatality, the background finishing move and all them were unique.
Come on it was a lot more than one per fighter. A nice feature that they add is probably the
fighting style because when you are tired
of one, you can change or do different combo by combining two style, but the
best part still be when you want to take your weapon and slash your opponent.
Naturally, when you are taking your weapon in your hand, you can do more damage but in
the same time, you are weaker. As you know, i went to my friend house to try the multiplayer
and before we begin our
first match, he said : I swear to god, if you move i am going to blow your !&%$@#* head off !
In only one combo, i lost all my health. What a mess ! It has a lot better to do some tag team
championship in Mortal Kombat 4 or Dead or Alive 3 than playing again your buddy who know
all the moves by heart. A funny thing is that the training is really deeper than the story. In the kontest, you are a
little villager who is walking through the forest to learn the basic move of a real fighter.
After ten levels you're up to choose you character and learn what he can do to finally fight your
own copy. Otherwise, the story is paintful with all those matches with no video or explanation about
why sub-zero or scorpion want to stop this deadly alliance. I don't know if each character have they
own video at the end because i am stuck with the big beast but i could say that the lasting appeal for
a fighting game is great. To completly finish the game, you must train and complete the story of each
character and open 676
coffin with concept art or character, so i think it's really impossible to have a better lasting
appeal in this kind of game. Finally, i really like the dvd content and each producer should add this
feature to their game
because it's interresting to see how they made the game or what song are related to it. Also
some preview of other game could have been awesome.
In conclusion, considering what we saw in previous version, i should say that there is a step
backward for the gameplay, but it still be a great game.
Graphics: Between each Mortal Kombat version, we were able to see some major improvement and this one is the biggest
ever done. I can't believe how Scorpion has evolved through the series * cough * or how big is the new breast
of Sonia. The level's background were also been improved from the last one but if they could have made them
a bit more interactive, i am sure that most gamers will have find this game even better. Also i know that the visual
is taking a big part of the cd, but i would really like to see all the Mortal kombat Original fighter. There is
nothing to say more here because it's fawless.
Audio: I finally bought some cable to connect my tv to my sterio and my first experience was too much impressing !
I don't know if it's the same thing with other game but with Mortal Kombat, i was able to heard every kick, punch or spot
of blood who was falling on the floor.
But something really goes wrong with the music !
They seem to don't understand what i really want in the Mortal Kombat soundtrack,
they continue to put some instrumental music who's annoying and useless. Ok, i really love the new theme of Mortal
Kombat ( Adema - Immortal ) but why does the hell they didn't put it when playing ? Do you remember the Mortal
Kombat original motion picture soundtrack ? It was full of famous song ( Techno Syndrome - The immortal or
Fear Factory - Zero Signal ), but through the series, they have never taken care of it.
In my mind, it was really great compared to this piteful noise.
Suggestions: Put the original soundtrack of Mortal Kombat and take care of what you done in the previous version
because a mix of some part of other old Mortal Kombat like the tag team championship could have made this game on the top
list of fighting game ever done.
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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Panzer Dragoon Orta
Overall: Thousands of years have passed since the fall of the Ancient Age.
The world is a wasteland, and the few remaining tribes lives in fear of
biogenetic terrors born of the sciences of old, left behind as gruesome reminders
of ancient perdition. Scattered across the land, the people struggle to survive
in this age of fallen grace. However, a new Empire has risen from the ashes of
the Great Fall. Utilizing the power of the artificially engineered humanoid Drones,
created by the Ancients, the Empire was able to resurrect the primeval
armament production facility : The Cradle. Ultimately, the Empire succeeded in creating
a biological weapon of incredible power : the Dragonmare. With its new dragonmares,
the Empire swept across the entire continent, wiping out anyone who dare resist.
It is pershaps the darkest era in the tragic history of humanity. However, in this
time when the technologies of the Ancients are twisted by the destructive urges of mankind,
there remains a glimmer hope. An Arrow of Light that will deliver us from the shadow of the
Ancients. A winged hero that will take to the skies and free us all, and this girl is
Orta.
The girl has been chained all her life, without knowing the world or herself.
In fact, she is a white-haired girl who has been imprisoned in the jail of the stone jail.
She looks about thirteen years old and somewhat has a bit of remaining atmosphere of being
child. Her eyes are stern and tones of voice that occasionally comes from her reveal cold
rage and sadness. Under the instructions of three old men called "Three Magi", she has been
kept isolated in the jail from very young age, and brought up. Its reason and what she is,
she doesn't know.
One stormy night, the girl attacked by Imperial Dragonmare unit was
saved by a large-winged dragon. Escaping from severe pursuit
from Imperial Army, the girl and dragon continue their journey as they are guided by wings.
The world full of wonders and mysteries that appears one after another, the new enemy,
company and enigma, all those mysteries will be our new adventure. Soon each of the
two encounters the engraved fate and what waits for
them at the end of the journey. The Dragon will rise again !!!!
Finally, Panzer Dragoon Orta is an inovative game but the gameplay feel a bit too limited
and repetitive, the lasting is quite the shortest i ever seen in my gamers life,
the voice need to be translated and the graphic are top notch. In those moment, i am asking myself about which
option is the worst : being traped with a Sega's game on a saturday night or
doing nothing ?
Gameplay: In Panzer Dragoon Orta, you must hold or press A to shoot some missile or bullets, B to slow down
your dragon, Y is to morph and X to fly like you will never do before. Also
the left trigger has been made to move your character vision to the left, the right one to turn
it in the opposite way and both together to look backward. But the most important one is
probably the black button who cause a devasting berserker attack.
Like you probably saw at the beginning, our dragon can morph in three form. One is Base Wing who can
lock on multiple target and can regularize or increase the speed of its beats of wings, one is Glide Wing
who have an auto-aim, who can shoot on a burst fire mod and have a longer energy bar for is speed movement
and the last one is Heavy Wing who can shot some heavy destroying missile but can't fly faster or slower.
The key to this game is to learn well which type is the best for the task you need to accomplish.
Also with some item, you can boost up the level of your dragon.
After you tried the training to, of course, learn the basic movement, you will probably jump into the story mod.
Let me say that after two or three levels you will be already tired and sick of this limited gameplay.
I know that this is a railway shooter but even if with many ways to achieve a level and other feature tha they put to feel like it's wasn't a railway shooter,
it's stay too limited and too much linear. The only thing you seem to do is shooting some bad guys on a three
hundred degree view and move on certain occasion. The real problem is not only the limited and linear gameplay,
it is also because of the similarity of the level. Each level can be sumarize has beating a couple of ennemy
with a boss at the end and all that goes with a short appeal who will take approximatly ten min for each levels.
I was really busy with a snowboarding weekend but can you imagine that i was able to pass this game even
if i wasn't at home for one day on two ? At least, you have some short scenario who will keep you busy for
another couple of minute, a ton of thing to read from the
world of Panzer Dragoon, the original Panzer Dragoon who look like an old Nintendo Game and a stats rank,
but does it's enough for a short story and no multiplayer ? No, it isn't.
Also, you will find that the camera are a little bit
too much undertaking, because you can be in a battle again a boss with a clear shot but the dragon will fly by himsefl
on another place ( it was been volontary decide by the producer ) or you will have some heavy difficulty to avoid
obstacles. Sometimes it can be fun to be stun by a high speed camera movement but other times, it's frustrating.
Finally, the saving mod is horrible because you don't have multiple slots to save your game.
In short, Panzer Dragoon Orta have a limited gameplay, a repetitive level construction, a box with useless stuff,
the worst saving system and a bad camera movement, but still have great feature for a railway shooter like morphing
and a complete view of your environment. This game is fun for a while but that doesn't last !
Graphics: The first time i saw the video that was explaining the jail evasion of Orta, i was oustanded by the face expression,
the sensitivity of each details, the character model, the bizarre ennemy as we have come to expect from Smilebit
and or course the georgous background, but the real game isn't really the same thing.
In game, the background is fuzzy and undetailed but the character are praticallly like what they were in the videos.
Even if you going really fast there is no slow down, that probably why they made a fuzzy visual when playing.
At least, the 480 high definition television helps for her final score.
Also the menu of the pandora's box don't need a hippies's style and the dragons on the cd art must be rebuilded
from the start. You must at all cost keep the good work you have done with the visual, i pray i never go blind !
Audio: The music are a re-composition of what you can heard from the previous title, but they still had some orchestral
music that make the sound no more outdated and all that goes with the Dolby Digital 5.1, but who's need it when you
have a cheap television and no amplicator. Of course, the voices acting is great if you are a deaf person because it's in
a strange langage that we can understand, so the voice acting is rather considered as reading subtitles than hearing
voices. Finally, erase the voice of Orta when you are navigating through the pandora's box because it's get annoying
to heard her everytimes you are doing something.
Suggestions: Need some sugestion !!!!! There is a plenty of them in my review, so read it !
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
Overall: Before i begin to explain the story, i will give you a short background of the hero.
Kyle Katarn is a man who has seen all sides of the Force. He
has served in the special operations division of the Imperial Army,
as a Rebel Alliance agent and also as a Jedi Knight. Born on Sulon,
the moon of Sullust, Kyle came from farmer stock and had a close-knit
family. But while training at the Imperial Academy, he has been a victim of a
blow assembled against him. In fact, an Imperial notification tricked him into believing
his parents were killed in a Rebel Ambush. Vowing for revenge against the Alliance,
Katarn joined the special operation division of the Imperial
Army. However, he soon learned the true face of the Empire and his hatred grew for its
underhanded ways. Katarn ended his Imperial service when he elected to help Jan Ors
escape from their clutches. Freed from his Imperial post, Katarn turned into a
mercenary for hire. Along with Ors, he vowed to help the Alliance fight against the
Empire. So let explain the story ! Several years have passed since Kyle avenged his father's death and saved
the Valley of the Jedi from Jerec and his band of Dark Jedi. Allowing his Force
powers to languish for fear of falling to the Dark side, Kyle set aside his
lightsaber, vowing never to use it again. But when a new and menacing threat
to the galaxy emerges, Kyle knows he must reclaim his past in order to save
his future. In fact, eight years have passed since the defeat at the Battle
of Endor and the New Republic still struggles to restore
order and vanquish its enemies. After defending the Valley
of the Jedi, former Jedi Knight Kyle Katarn
has severed his connection with the Force and returned to his
mercenary ways. With his longtime partner, Jan Ors, Kyle continues
to aid the Republic in the fight against the Imperial
Remnant. As the Remnants launches its latest gambit to regain control
of the galaxy, Kyle and Jan have been sent by the New Republic to
investigate the planet Kajim, home to a long-dead Imperial outpost and
that were you begin your journey ! To summarize, Jedi knight 2 can offers to gamer a real good lasting appeal with a
multiplayer that they should not forget so soon, but still have minor lack in the solo campaign
and especially in videos. Finally this game was a must have for all star wars fan but in my
mind, i am a little bit too bored of those product about the novels.
Gameplay: In Star Wars Jedi Knight 2, you must press A to jump, B to use your
lightsaber, Y to use an item and X does nothing like the black and
the white button. Also if you push the control pad on the top direction, you can circle
through your force power, bottom if you want to check your item
and left / right to switch to an another weapon. Finally, you can click
on the two thumbstick maybe for crouching or simply to use your
force power. Naturally the right trigger is to shoot or to use your lightsaber and the left
one is the secondary fire like when you have played Unreal Championship.
After you saw the famous Star Wars introduction, you are immediatly submerged
into the action. My first impression was that i wasn't able to believe that they
done a really good first person shooter with the Star Wars series. But
what have made this game so interresting ? The force power are a great element that increase
the gameplay in this Sr Wars because in the first
one, called Obi-Wan, they were not enough, so the gameplay was looking a bit too similar.
What could be better than pushing or pulling an ennemy, choke or constrict an opponent, incapacitate
a trooper with a lightning bolt, jump higher, run faster, heal ourself from your injuries or see through minds ?
In fact, everything was looking perfect until i saw the ennemies's artifical intelligent. Imagine, when you are
in a total warfair with a few trooper,
the only thing they seem to do is to stay on the middle of the action with the hope of hitting you
or beeing shooted. Naturally as you increase the difficulty, they get a better
accuracy, but they still stay there. With an artificial intelligent like that,
you can do a old method which consist as trapping them one by one as they exit
the room to search you. They know how to stay somewhere like a decorative objet but they
must remember that they are not alone. Do not be surprised if someone hate your game with this only argument,
because what made Halo so impressive is probably the ability for the ennemies to protect or help their fellow-members
when necessary. Also when you or they are dying, the characters are trying do so cool moves like back flip, flip
and roll, but it's look too much unrealistic, so you must erase them and put a classic dead.
An other strong point is the lightsaber. I know that you don't have it until you pass a couple a level and it was also
in Obi Wan but when you got it, you can protect yourself, throw it, make some breaking lines
on wall and make the experience of the game even better.
The only thing i disagree with the develloper is when you must smash on the right trigger to
engage yourself in a combat situation. It was a
lot better to manoeuvre the lightsaber with the thumbtick because it
offers a lot more possibility of touching a different part of the body
than smashing a button for something who was been randomly decide.
But the strongest point is that it is not really a
linear first person shooter, because in some places you must think a lot about what you must do or where you
should go. Then after i try the single player, i was ready for some multiplayer mayhem action but without any big hope.
Fortunately, i was wrong. You can play with fourteen bots, you can decide how strong your character will be with a
custom point maker, if you want only a lightsaber
or gun battle and really much more... Sorry for those you are waiting for a four player split screen
who is pretty cool because it is only a two player action.
In the multiplayer, you can play in free for all, in holocron FFA ( free for all ) where
you must collect some cubes to increase the power of you character and make him win by killing the most people,
jedi master where only one is a jedi and must destroy everyone to gain point, duel who look like survival in
Unreal Championship, team FFA and capture the flag.
All this stuff goes with a really long lasting appeal that will take at least two week.
In conclusion for this part, i will say that the multiplayer is really good,
the lightsaber fight is a must, the force power make the game more interresting,
but they need to work on ennemies's articial intelligent.
Graphics: Jedi Knight 2 combine great environment and character model to the same screen,
but he can suffer at time, in jedi arena, by a huge framerate and floppy visual.
The real problem is the grany effect they put on cinematic, it look like it
has been done too fast.
Audio: The sound will always be the strength of LucasArt, and with a good voice acting,
an immersive sound effect and the Star Wars theme that never seen to get old,
i think you can't get more !
Suggestions: Nice Work and if you really need some suggestion, begin to read my review !
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Overall: The ladies from the million-selling Dead Or Alive Series are back and sexier
than ever as they embark on a wild, new adventure to the tropical resort,
Zack Island. Join Hitomi, Lei Fang, Tina, Ayane, and the others as they strip
off their fighting attire and slap on their bikini for the most outrageous
beach volleyball game you have ever seen. What's more, the points you earn
on the court will enable you to customize your character with over 100 swimsuits
and accessories to choose from. And when the day is done, the fun has just begun.
The first ever Sports Fantasy Simulation boasts a whole bunch of different
nightlife activities to choose from. What ever your pleasure, Dead Or Alive
Extreme Beach Volleyball promise extreme action and total satisfaction. Here the
story for the pleasure of your eyes, you know what i mean ! After winning his
fortune in a Vegas Style Casino, the famous Dead Or Alive rebel, Zack, invests
his money into an exotic tropical island, which he names after himself Zack
Island. After purchasing the island, Zack transforms the tropical paradise
into an exotic playground for him and his guests. His dream is to create an
adult paradise with a variety of activities to entertain his guests during the
day and night. Zack declares the island the official location of the fourth Dead Or
Alive tournament. When the invites are sent and people start arriving, everyone
realize that only women were invited to the island. The ladies have been tricked but
suck it up fast when they realize they are stuck on a beautiful tropical island to have
fun in the sun playing volleyball. Forget all that i said about Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball,
because it is only one
advertising web of lies that induces you in a fatal and deadly error. In fact, Tecmo and Team Ninja
has fallen deep in my heart with this horrible game called Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball and
again they proved that they are better doing the visual than the gameplay. No one said to you that
the visual is only one signifiacant part of a game. This game is only for those who are porn lovers,
who got no life or didn't know how bad the gameplay is ? Extreme Volleyball, i didn't see something that was
looking as extreme volleyball and even as volleyball. I prefer to pass my turn than buying this
monstrosity which is supposed to be worthy of the X-box.
Gameplay: In Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball, especially in volleyball matches, you must press A to perform an
exchange, B to receive the ball to allow your teammate to make some spike and the right thumbstick to
control your teammate. Then, if i want to review this game corectly, i will divide this in two part,
one where i will talk about what can happen for approximatly fourten days in your vacation and the exbihition
mod where you can play in multiplayer. So after we saw the little introduction who show Zack flirting with a
unknown beautiful women, we start at the poolside where the new corner Lisa, our default partner, start showing
the island. First, we take a look at the accessoiries shop and sport shop, where you can buy goodies and swimsuits.
After looking around for couple of minute, Lisa ask you to prepare yourself for your first volleyball match,
so let's play ! Don't be so happy, it's not so simple to play volleyball because timing is critical and the sensitivity of
your button is important, but the major mistake they done is that my button are not so sensitive than before,
then it is much more difficult to play corectfully. In fact, to learn how to play volleyball as a professionnal,
it tooks me much more time than envisaged, especially because of their new rules which make this game look more as a tenis
match than volleyball with deuce and stuff like that. Some people will say that the volleyball is not attractive because it's
too simple, but me i will say that it was a way too hard and the main reason is because there is no training. For a game who got Extreme Volleyball
in the name, i can say that it wasn't the main attraction, again you probably know what i mean ? After my first match, i gone
to the hotel ( it was an obligation ) and it where it's supposed to be funny, just remember the sentence " And when the day
is done, the fun has just begun ", but it's not true. The only thing you can do in your bedroom is to open your gift because Zack
is always giving gift when you are back to the hotel, watch your collection of item which is probably the only thing to do in Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball
and also you can play to the casino. Playing blackjack, poker, slot machine all night and betting on the roulette
can be really fun but the main goal of the game is to collect all the item and you must buy them all, so this feature is useless.
In sumarize, the problem you got when playing on casino is that you always lose a ton of money or simply it's a trap for gamers.
Only one day has gone and i was ready for my second volleyball match, but Lisa has split up with me just because we lose the last one and the worst thing in this
story is that sometimes, like what i does, you can spend like twenty days playing mini-games to buy the right gift for the right
girl, it's annoying and terribly tedious. Yes, you can buy item and wrap them to finally give them to a future partner, but even
if they like video game like Tina, they can throw the prototype x-box on the garbage. What a waste of money and time !
The two last feature are rest and the hopping game. hen they were talking about mini-game, i was hoping that
they will be more than one. Jumping onto square floatation pillows lined up accross the pool can be really boring
and rest, where you must watch you favorite girl doing some sexy movements with zoom and different camera's
angle, look like a boring way to pass the day and a spot for a bikini magazine. In multiplauer, the only thing you can
do is to play on a versus mod at volleyball, it is great but it suffers from major lacks, anyway. Finally, Dead Or
Alive Extreme Volleyball can be sumarize as raising money to buy item that are useless ( sub-machine gun, driving
wheel, etc .. ) or swimsuit to play on exbihition, all the other feature are just a means to to embellish the game.
Graphics: The starting video is well polished with a realism to make you fall on the ground, the girl are splendid and have
interresting attraction, you can even see their facial expression when they are playing volleyball and there is a ton
of different item and sexy swimsuit. All this stuff goes with high definition television enabled and graphic which reflect the power of the x-box. Also the
interactivity when playing volleyball is quite good because you can see the sand moving when the girls are walking on him
and even the wind's effect on the tree. The only thing i really dislike is the vegetation of the environment. Do you remember
the plants of the first level of Turok : Evolution ? Look like they were in two dimension again. To conclude the only attraction
in Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball is to watch those great babes on the beach with their sexiest swimsuit
( You can even see Tina shaking her a-s-s between two fire on the private beach with a sexy american swimsuit ).
Audio: Finally, Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball got the Dolby Digital system that goes with a descent soundtrack where you can
heard a relax music type ( Bob Marley, Baha Men, Christina Aguilera, B*witch ) and the famous theme song How Crazy Are You (
What they mean by this song is : How crazy are you to buy this game ? ). The custom soundtrack is an another plus but our music
seem to don't fit with volleyball, beach and babe. Imagine i got some Disturbed, Rammstein, Megaherz and Rob Zombie.
The main soundtrack is really better to fit with the theme, but can be really annoying. The sound was one of the biggest mistake they
done because the voices are in japan so when they are exchanging some sentence when playing you can't heard, at least
outside the volleyball court there is some subtitle. But why an american like Tina is not speaking in english, sound bizarre ?
It's rather difficult to me to write and understand in english, imagine how i am feeling with a japense language ?
Suggestions: Change the name Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball to Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Shopping or
Dead Or Alive Extreme B-i-t-c-h Volleyball !
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The
Overall: In the first part of the trilogy, the young Hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits
a ring, but this ring is no mere trinket. It is the One Ring, an
instrument of absolute power that could allow Sauron, the dark Lord
of Mordor, to rule Middle-earth and enslave its people. Frodo,
together with a Fellowship that includes his loyal Hobbit friends, a couple of
Humans, a Wizard, a Dwarf and an Elf. They must take the One Ring across
Middle-earth to Mount Doom, where it first was forged and destroy
it forever. Such a journey means venturing deep into territory manned
by Sauron, where he is amassing his army of Orcs. And it is not only
external evils that the Fellowship must combat, but also internal
dissension and the corrupting influence of the One Ring itself.
The course of future history is entwined with the fate of the Fellowship.
The second chapter begins in the hills of Emyn Muil,
where lost Hobbits Frodo and Sam discover
they are being followed by the mysterious Gollum. A
mercurial creature who has himself been warped by the Ring, Gollum
promises to guide the Hobbits to the Black Gates of Mordor and then they
will release him. Sam does not trust their new companion, but Frodo
takes pity on Gollum, who likes himself was once a Ringbearer.
Across Middle-earth Aragorn, the Elf archer Legolas
and Gimli the Dwarf encounter the
besieged Rohan kingdom, whose once great King Theoden
has fallen under Saruman’s deadly spell through the manipulations of
his spy, the sinister Wormtongue. Eowyn,
the niece to the King, recognizes a leader in the Human warrior Aragorn.
And though he finds himself drawn to her, Aragorn is constantly reminded
of his enduring love for the Elf Arwen and the pact they made together.
Gandalf has been reborn as Gandalf the White following his cataclysmic
fight with the Balrog, and reminds Aragorn of his destiny to unite the Rohan people
with the last remaining stronghold of Human resistance Gondor.
In their parallel journeys, the Fellowship will face unimaginable
armies and deception while also witnessing ancient wonders and the
untapped strength of their people. Together they must stand against
the powerful forces spreading from the Two Towers who's Orthanc Tower in
Isengard, where the corrupted wizard Saruman has bred a lethal army of
10,000 Uraukai and Sauron’s fortress at Barad-dûr, deep within the dark
lands of Mordor. Finally, this game was a pure button smasher and no one will love
this game for a purchase but you must take a look at it.
Gameplay: In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, you must press X to parry, Y for a master attack,
A for a simple attack and B to kick. The right and the left trigger is to take your ranged weapon
or to finish someone with a brutal attack in the stomach. You can also use the black or the
white button to strafe or to block. The right thumbstick can be use to make fight at all cost but this
technique is hard to master because you won't know which combo you will be doing. Everyone knows
that the first part of The Lords Of The Ring was a shame for all x-box owner and that's why they decided to start
on the first chapter, so The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is not only the part you have seen in
the movie but it also include the troll war and the shadow wraith battle, where frodo have been injured.
It's like having two games for the price of one, but even if with this georgous combo the lasting appeal
is quite short. There is only ten levels that you can do with all four character ( Isildur, Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas ),
a secret level where you must fight twenty levels of vilains, a couple of cinematic and some things to unlock. The
only way it gonna keep you busy for a while is the perfect skill, where you must pass through each level with each character
with a perfect experience points ranking. But how i can do a perfect skill if i must have a minimum of three ennemies
to gain the ultimate attack and in some levels the only way to do not failed is
to kill them one by one. I can't really talk about the game because the only thing you seem to do is
to hack and slash everyone and push every button on your controller ( Seriously, in about one hour my hand was hurting
and i was really too frustated ), so i will talk about the character's
abilities. Aragorn is the best character you can have in the game because he is really strong with his sword and this ability
is great to perform some awesome and amazing combo, but he got a little weakness with his bow. Otherwise, Legolas is an
artist with his ranged weapon, sometimes you can do three one shoot one kill with it and he is faster than everyone with his blades.
Naturally, Legolas got a weakness and it occurs when he has been injured, he can lose a lot of health. Gimli is really strong when
he must kill someone, but throwing axes can be really tough in hard moment and he can't do more than a fair or a good combo.
At least now, the fellowship is fighting with you, you can't take Frodo so you don't have to throw rock at plants,
the story is well implanted and look like the real movie and the aspect of real war is the best i ever seen. Too bad, that there is no
multiplayer because it could have been fun to play with your friends on some kind of cooperative, probably next time, i hope.
Also, next time try to do an adventure game not hack and slash without any freedom and i want the quest sytem back.
Graphics: I can afford that they erase the nice work they done with the video, ok i really love the conversion dvd to 3d but it was
really one of the most anticipated and flawless video ever done. If we must talk about the character, i could say that
there weren't what i expected because all three don't really look like what they were in the movie and especially Gimli.
The textures are smooth, the graphics are clear, all run at 60 fps and the video is quite awesome, but considering what
we saw with Halo who also run at 60 fps, i must say that there is not enough details and look too muck like a ps2 port.
Audio: The music when everything look finish for us is cool, the voice made by the real actor is a plus, the
representation of what they said in the movie is a nice add and the Orc and Urakai voices or sound because they are not really
talking are oustanding because you are frightened when you heard those crazy sound who's the one for your dead.
Suggestions: Multiplayer, Quest, Better Character, More Details, A freedom aspect and probably more ...
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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Deathrow
Overall: Deathrow is a brutal fighting sport where the fastest,
toughest players are victorious and the slow
are defeated. It combines the lightning fast gameplay
of third-person action games, adrenaline rush of fighting
games and the cooperative team play and gritty roughness
of rugby, offering a unique gameplay experience.
The object of Deathrow is to win matches however you
can, either by scoring as many points as possible
before time runs out, or by severely injuring your
opponents and removing them from the field of combat.
Feel the rush as you beat the pulp out of your opponents
using back-breaking holds, blood-splattering punches and fast
sliding kicks to knock the competition to the floor.
Team up with a friend and go for a team K.O. as you
electrify the crowd, stomping your enemies and scoring.
Earn money by winning matches, injuring your opponents
and exciting the audience, to attract star players and
train your current team making them stronger by any means
necessary. Engage in fierce hand-to-hand combat against your | |
