XboxAddict
Sign In Join

MEMBER PROFILE FOR CrazyCougar

Total Reviews: 66
Average Overall Score Given: 8.17121 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 2952

Reviews
G.I. Joe









Suggestions:

Overall Score: 7.3 / 10 'Splosion Man





Overall Score: 8.4 / 10 Madden NFL 10









Suggestions:

Overall Score: 9.2 / 10 King of Fighters XII





Also in the Online Mode, the player also can view the leaderboards to see how they rank up against the rest of the world. Within the leaderboards, there are several different tabs to look at. First and foremost are the Battle Point leaderboards and the True Skill leaderboards. Here you can find the top ranked players as well as see your ranking in the leaderboards. Also, there is a leaderboard for the Time Trial, which is how quickly Arcade Mode was completed. Another of the tabs covers character usage. It shows percentages of how much you use each character. And last, but not least there is a tab for all the replays that have been uploaded so that you can see how well others have done.

One nice feature that I did come across while playing online is the Replay option. This option gives you the choice to save the replay of the fight that you just participated in and upload it to the leaderboards so others can watch in awe your mastery of the game. Replays can be saved from both online mode as well as versus mode. You also have the option of viewing your online profile, which includes your rankings as well as your record of wins and losses.



Suggestions: It would be nice to see improved online playability, as well as the ability to find your friends on the leaderboards and some improved menu interactions, such as the ability to back out of character selection screens.

Overall Score: 8.0 / 10 Overlord 2

Have you ever just wanted to wreak havoc on the world with no repercussions to ever face? Think of the fun it would be terrorizing villages and its residents and just destroying everything in site, just because you can and you feel like it. Well as an evil Overlord in command of minions you can do all that and more in the second installment of Overlord published by Codemasters and developed by Triumph Studios.

Right off the bat you are thrown into the world as am adolescent overlord candidate and being teased by the local children. Along with the help of several minions you teach the village kids a lesson and make your way into the village. From there the story begins and you are introduced to the Glorious Empire asking that all magic doers be turned over. Immediately the villagers hand you over in order to avoid a fate of death and destruction. After making your way through some Empire soldiers, you sink with your Yeti friend into the icy depths of a local lake. And so the story begins...

The first level is a bit of a tutorial and a chance to learn the controls. There really isn't anything difficult about the controls, its just a matter of getting used to sending your minions out to do your dirty work with the triggers or use of the right and left analog sticks. If you are new to the series you will quickly learn what the Overlord games are all about. Whimsical Humor, parodies, and plenty of comical antics to keep the game fresh and at times laugh out loud funny. One example of this humor comes at the expense of cute little baby seals scampering about on an artic ice flow. You'll hear your narrator say look at the cute baby seals, and suddenly you get a closeup of this white furry seal with big black eyes staring at you and being all cute. Right out of a World Wildlife Foundation commercial. Then your minions start running around clubbing the seals to collect their life force. It just doesn't seem right, yet it seems oh so right at the same time. Yes, it is a bit disturbing that I feel that way.

You'll have four types of minions at your disposal, each having their own personality and special attributes and abilities. The groups are simply named after colors which they are represented by on screen as well. First was have the Browns. The Browns are your do all, say all group of thugs. They'll taunt enemies and sing songs while enjoying a good fight. The Reds are your minions of fire so to speak. They are able to throw fireballs and have quite the hot headed tempers. Your Greens are more of your stealth minions. They'll sneak up on unsuspecting enemies and take them out quicker than Sam Fisher could ever dream of doing. And Finally you have your Blues. The Blues have magical abilities that allow them to heal fallen comrades as well as pass through enemy lines without harm. Altogether these minions make quite a force to be reckoned with and the human world is in for a pretty rough go of things when you come to town with your army.

Something new and actually very cool in Overlord II is the ability for your minions to mount up and ride creatures and wolves throughout the world. You'll use these mounts to traverse gaps not normally passable by foot and they also increase the speed and attack damage as well. These minions are not your typical dumb breed anymore. Oh no, they have shaken the learning disabilities and can now band together to run war machines such as catapults and even disguise themselves to pass through villages undetected until its time to unleash their terror. I also found the minions quite comical in the fact that they will put on trophies such as fallen soldier helmets. You should see this fairly early in the game when you face off against the Empire's army.

In line with the minions grabbing helmets and putting them on comes the fact that you can tool your minions to make them stronger and more fierce. Of course any minion with upgrades is stronger than one brought straight out of a minion gate. So be sure to buy upgrades whenever you can, and you'll even be picking up weapons and armor from certain enemies throughout the game.





Suggestions: I'd love to see even more variety of minions brought into the game. So many colors to choose from and each can have their own personality. The possibilities are endless. Other than that I would also love to see some DLC. Maybe thats where more minions could come from, as well as maybe some storyline expansions. I do think the controls need tweaked a bit because several times the sweeping action just didn't work well for me. And the camera angles could be frustrating too. But overall great job guys! Loved the title as I did the first one.

Overall Score: 7.9 / 10 NCAA Football 10

Do you smell it? Come on take a deep breath and you can smell it like the rest of us. Thats right, football season is just around the corner and the arrival of NCAA Football 10 pretty much signals that fact. EA has had a solid run with the NCAA series over the years and continues to produce even better iterations each and every year. This year is no different as EA once again delivers a solid NCAA experience and one that any college football fan would be happy to pick up and play.

The thing that separates Madden and NCAA football is atmosphere. There is something about the college gameday atmosphere compared to an NFL gameday that EA captures perfectly in NCAA Football 10 and definitely sets this game apart from its NFL big brother. From the college marching bands playing fight songs ringing throughout the stadium to mascots running the endzones, it can all be found in the game. And there are plenty of game modes and options in this years game to keep you playing for quite some time.

So lets get right down to it. Graphically, the game once again moves forward with polished player models, lighting, animations and simple menu interfaces. The game plays very similar to last years version with some new AI enhancements, but you'll quickly jump into this one and feel right at home. When it comes to sounds, EA has pulled out all the stops and given you the most inviting college atmosphere it can with the pumped up crowds, cheerleaders, commentary and marching band music. The moment you start the game up and a fight song begins playing you feel the excitement start to boil in your veins.

The sounds are authentic and really add into the college electricity and atmosphere. Nothing like hearing the 100, 000+ crowd all fired up at beaver Stadium. The band playing the fights song and the players crashing helmets and pads on the field. The NFL Experience is great and all but does not compare to a big time college game in the least. Even the Super Bowl has nothing on a huge college rivalry game when it comes to crowd noise and atmosphere and that is well portrayed throughout his game. Commentary is as it usually is, with some repetition taking place as you play more and more games, but that should be expected of course. Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso make their return as your commentary crew and once again do an oustanding job.

As I stated the game modes in NCAA this year are many, and there are a lot of new things as well. The first mode I would like to discuss is the Season Showdown. This is a competition of sorts in which you earn credits towards your favorite school, which you are locked into once you start up the Season Showdown. These credits are accumulated by other gamers that are fans of the same school and posted on a leader board throughout the real life college season. You gain credits by competing online vs your Showdown opponent, against the CPU, web-based mini games and much more all in an effort to determine which school is number one at the end of the real life football season. There are a total of 12 different ways you can earn credits. Some of those being web based and other being in the game.

The next new enhancement to the game modes is the Team Builder. You will go onto the web and use a team editor to create your school from its colors and prestige to its style of play and hometown. You can upload your own team logo or choose from hundreds of pre-loaded graphics. You have full roster customization as well as the ability to edit your uniforms and stadiums and then share them across platforms where they can be used in Dynasty Play or Play Now modes. A very cool feature indeed and one that will be interesting to watch and see what people create. I highly suggest going to http://teambuilder.easports.com/ and checking this option out. Now you can have your favorite local University, or maybe you Alma Mater in the game even if its not in the 120 team original roster. One thing though, when inserting your team into dynasty mode, you will have to swap out another team from the current roster. So choose your team and division wisely. I truly cannot wait to see some of the designs and team uniforms that talented and creative artists out there come up with and upload for everyone to see. That is what is really going to make this mode. EA has done a superb job implementing the web and design tools into their games and it only continues to get better each year.



Running , passing and catching all seem pretty familiar and while some tweaks have been made it still feels very much the same. Some running backs can barrel through the defenses, while other are laid out with the first hit they take. Typical college ratings and gameplay as expected. One thing that you will notice is that dropped passes due seem to be a thing of the pass. A wide open receiver will catch a pass 9 times out of 10 and drop them only when defenders are around or a big hit is in detection as well as blocking seem to be a lot better than they have in past years and with each year it gets better it seems. While occasionally you may have a clipping issue or a transparent defender it seems, its very few and far between. What issues I did have were that it seemed many of the gains always ended with the ball carrier pushing forward. Sure there were times they were pushed back with gang tackles, but more times than not, even with multiple tacklers the runner still managed to go forward. Spots of the ball also seemed a little skeptical to me and were never challenged. There were times when I thought I was a yard short, or my opponent was, and the first down was given. So that is still something that needs to be worked on. The QB seems a lot smarter and will throw balls away but he also has those dumb moment where he fired a ball off backwards directly towards the sideline. Again, not a major issue but happens every once in a while. As I stated earlier, the camera issues in The Road to Glory mode can get a little sketchy at times and make it difficult to follow the action or even continue the play in the right direction after a pass your way.

Overall, once again EA delivers with yet another awesome college experience video that any football fan should have in their game library. Sure, if you are strictly and NFL guy this may not interest you all that much, but the fact that you can import your roster into Madden 10 when the time rolls around should entice a few NFL brethren to pick this one up. I highly recommend this title to anyone that deems Saturdays a national holiday and find themselves in front of the TV from early afternoon until late Saturday night. Graphics, sounds, gameplay and a slew of options will keep this game fresh throughout the college season. And you also need to jump into the Season Showdown and help your favorite school take home the Season Showdown Championship! What are you waiting for? Go buy it now!

Suggestions: The game has so many options, but one thing I would like to see is EA cut a deal with NCAA to include real player names. I understand the legalities and the roadblocks involved to making this happen, but it truly would make the experience 100% authentic. I would also like the option to add your Team Builder School in without having to swap it out with another school. I also am not to sure about the dynamic camera in Road To Glory Mode. There were quite a few times I would get turned around due to a stupid angle of the camera. Thinking it might be better off to keep the default view period no matter what position you play. I would also like to see the fair play option brought back into the game as I didnt see evidence of it in this years version.

Overall Score: 8.5 / 10 Disney Pixar Up

Right off the bat I am going to admit that I am a huge fan of Pixar Animation and their movies. So its safe to say that I enjoyed the game at the very least from that perspective, but when it all boils down to it, I enjoyed the game regardless of the Pixar tag. Sure UP is a movie based game, and a typical family friendly platformer that most animation films receive from game developers. But the game is actually a lot of fun to play and the Pixar comedic relief so loved in the films is just as prevalent in the video game.

So to easily describe the game would be to say its your typical platformer with lots of crevices to leap across, bosses to beat, and a whole lot of collectibles. There is nothing wrong with describing it that way but the game is so much more when it comes to gameplay. The controls work well with the game, the graphics are colorful and sharp, and the sounds are basically straight out of the movie. So when I say any Pixar fan will enjoy this regardless of age, I truly do think that is the case.

Lets get a little bit of background on the storyline of UP. The story is centered around Carl Fredricksen and his quest in to fulfill his late wife's dream of having their home in the most beautiful place in the world which we learn is Paradise Falls. Carl was faced with being put into a retirement home and decides to take it upon himself to move his house via helium filled balloons to the falls. As he is leaving on his journey, he gets an unexpected companion by the name of Russell. Russell is a young boy trying to earn his Assist the Elderly badge for the Wilderness Explorer program. So the adventure begins and the two will run across talking dogs, airships, long lost adventurers and a bird named Kevin.





The game has various tasks for you to complete and collect. There are levels where you'll find yourself sliding down waterways collecting coins and avoiding boulders, or maybe you'll be fending off dogs and tying balloons to their back and sending them off to the clear blue sky. But in the end the game does get very repetitive and will be one for the younger audience, but also achievement hunters. Fans of the movie will have fun with it for a few hours, but most will not take the time to unlock all the content due to the repetitive nature of the game.

I personally found the game enjoyable for the hours I spent playing with it. And the time I spent playing co-op and multiplayer with my daughter was enjoyable as well, but in the end the casual gamer will get bored quickly with this one and truly only find a few total hours of playtime. I highly recommend the game to folks that are fans of Pixar and to those that have younger children in their household. The gameplay is simple enough to pick up and play for anyone that can hold and work a controller. And the multiplayer modes will keep a family of four busy for while and full of giggles. THQ has delivered yet another family friendly game and they should be commended for keeping families in mind when creating games.

Suggestions: The only suggestion I could possibly think of is online co-op would have made the game more enjoyable in the end. While I realize these games are lower budget titles, it would still be nice to see some focus onto Xbox Live features. The game was still fun, but I would have loved to seen some Xbox Live integration.

Overall Score: 7.1 / 10 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen



The sounds are mostly the original cast from the movie and the voice over work is well done. You'll notice even Bumble Bee has a voice in the game which made me quite happy. The transformation noise is distinctive and right on the money as well. Some of the weapon sounds or vehicle sounds can be a bit on the generic side of things at times, but then again most of these are sounds are coming from mindless drones anyhow.

Overall the control system is not terrible, but it could be better yet. The ability to transform from robot to vehicle and back with the simple pull and release of the right trigger is great. Nothing like jumping off a building as Starscream and transforming into a jet in mid air. Or maybe running down the road as Iron Hide and leaping right into truck form without losing a step. So simple! The aiming system seems to have been tweaked quite a bit as well and for the most part works well throughout the game. There are still times that the control system and the camera system do not quite work hand in hand, but its less prevalent than it was in the first game. Overall the whole control scheme seems to be simplified yet complicated at the same time. There are many multiple button combinations to perform special abilities such as hover, ground pounds, etc. But all of which can be mastered by even the most novice gamer. While a lot of the control system seems overwhelming I had found with some time put into the game that it actually wasn't a bad system at all. One thing that did seem difficult was the driving aspect of things. You could seem to get lost very easily with the speed of the game whether in the air or on the ground and I would have liked to seen a better system in place with that regards.

So first things first. Our new game brings us online multiplayer. Thats right, you'll be headed on to Xbox Live and play as either a Decepticon or an Autobot. You can play as a Decepticon on the Autobot side and vice versa, but the host of the match can set the Faction option to on meaning you can only play as the same faction of the team you are assigned to be on. There are 15 playable characters online across 5 game modes. I was informed at E3 by one of the games producers that downloadable content was planned and while he would not give specifics, he did say it could come in the form of game modes, more Transformers and maps. So lets hope for all 3!

Let's just give a quick brief rundown of the online game modes. First off we have your typical death match modes. You'll have a singles Deathmatch that is pretty much all for themselves. Here you can choose to be any Transformer you want, from the available choices of course. Secondly, we have Team Deathmatch which pits the 2 teams against each other. As mentioned before, there is an option to turn factions on or off. With the Faction option off, you can play as any Transformer you like, but with it on you'll be relegated to your team faction (Autobot or Decepticon). Our third game mode is Control Point which is basically a territories style game where you must capture and hold points across the map. To win you must control and defend the most control points. Battle of the Shard if our 4th mode and is in essence as capture the flag mode. Finally, One Shall Stand is a team leader style game that pits 2 teams, each with a leader whom they must protect. As long as the leader is alive, players can respawn on the leaders position. But once the leader is dead than the match becomes a battle to eliminate all of the remaining players. Those remaining players can still kill the other leader and put the other team in the same situation.

All of the game modes are playable across 5 maps initially. The maps, while not small, are not really large either and makes some of the game modes a complete firefight at times. I truly believe the maps should be much larger as you have quite a mixture of flying machines as well as ground travle machines that can move quickly across the map. I definitely hope DLC maps come in a much large scale. You'll also have the ability to play in ranked or player matches. As usual, the player matches do not count for any stats and are meant for more casual players or setting up private rooms with you friends. Of course, you will have leader boards to view and full stats of your online performance in ranked matches. One more thing to keep in mind is that some Transformers are only available on some maps from what I have seen. But you can select a team of all the same Transformer it appears and I am not sure if I like that. I would hate to go into a room full of Megatron or Optimus Prime.

So now that you have a taste for what available on the multiplayer side of things lets get into the single player campaign. The campaign at first glance looks rather small but there is a lot to do and the whole leader board system is based on speed as well as points. You'll receive medals for completing levels in certain amounts of time. The quicker you complete it the better the medal ranging from bronze to platinum. You'll also be awarded points which translates into Energon cubes that can be used to upgrade your character abilities and weaponry.

The whole single player campaign is divided into an Autobot Campaign and a Decepticon campaign. To complete the entire campaign mode you will need to play as both the Autobots and the Decepticons. There are unlockables throughout the single player and are achieved by performing tasks, collecting Energon, using special attacks related to specific Transformers, etc. What is really cool is that some of the unlockables include full length G1 Cartoons including the creation of the Dinobots. I found myself watching these immediately when I had them unlocked.

So single player takes you through a series of locations scattered across the world. All locations are directly related to the movie, but the game allows for creativity in the missions at hand and do not directly relate to the movie. While the game does loosely follow the movie storyline with its cut scenes and general storytelling the developers have added much more with their own ideas and missions. I had actually started playing the game before seeing the movie just a few days ago and I have to say I was so excited that Bumble Bee talked in the game. I was sadly disappointed when he did not in the movie. I swear I waited that entire movie for the moment he got his voice back and it never happened. So boo to Michael Bay and yeah to the Luxoflux!

You'll have your basic storyline missions with side missions to be completed as well. Basically each area has 3 main storyline missions which must be completed to proceed further in the campaign. You'll also be earning Campaign tokens, and each level requires you to have a certain amount of the tokens to become playable. From what I could see, this truly never really comes into play because you'll be well above each levels minimum requirement fairly early in the game.

The single player will most definitely give you quite a few hours of gameplay and the medal and leader board system will have folks going back to try and beat their previous time to increase their online ranking. The split campaign is a great idea and deepens the single player experience all the more. Even though I enjoy being the good guy, there is always a moment when being the bad guy is so much more fun. And Transformers: ROTF delivers that feeling.

This game is fast and furious. There is constant action similar to the movie and there is rarely every a dull moment. While the control scheme does seem to take some flak from all of us, it really is a improved from the first game. A third game should be getting pretty close to perfect. The game is action packed, with online multiplayer as Transformers. Who could ask for more? If you are a fan of Transformers than you need to do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Even if you are just a casual fan or not even a fan, you should check this one out at least in the rental store. You'll definitely have some fun at the very least with the title.

Suggestions: Please add more Transformers via DLC as well as more maps for online gameplay. Some more unlockable content would be a great addition with some more single player missions as well. Overall though, I enjoyed the game and will for some time to come yet. I guess my most important suggestion would be for you to run with the license and create even more Transformer games whether there is a movie to back it up or not.

Overall Score: 7.8 / 10 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Ah yes, Spring has gone by and Summer is upon us (if you are in the northern hemisphere that is.) The sunny skies and beautiful temperatures lure everyone to the golf course. And the release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is upon us as well. EA Sports decided to release Tiger much earlier this year to coincide with Father's Day in the US. And I have no problem getting Tiger in my hands earlier than expected especially with this years high quality game.

Yes, I said it right off the bat. Tiger Woods 10 is going to knock your socks off if you are a golf fan or a fan of the series. The game boasts all the features you have come to know and love and has added in a variety of new features as well including Live Weather, Playing with the Pros online and a host of online daily and weekly tlly the game looks great. Whether is sunny skies on Pebble Beach or a torrential downpour on TPC Sawgrass the game's presentation is top notch. Character models look awesome and the create a golfer feature that uses the Create-A-Face feature seems to have been fine tuned to work better than it has before. Each course is detailed in every aspect from individual grass blades to rippling water hazards. This is definitely one of the best looking games in the series to date and probably of all console golf games of the past. You'll get full tournament galleries watching your every shot that grow and wain with your performance. I mean honestly, this game has it all graphically. The courses look amazing in every detail and are recreated to the point that if you have played on one of these courses in real life you'll recognize subtle things here and there.

In the sound department, welcome in Scott Van Pelt as your new color commentator. If you have not seen some the promo videos of him heckling Tiger about not being in the game then you should go check them out on YouTube. Anyhow, Van Pelt definitely adds a welcome change of atmosphere and comic relief to the game which seemed to be getting stale over the years. Kelly Tilghman provides the main call and seems to mesh well with Van Pelt's antics and witty one liners. Of course there will be some repetition in commentary but it does not seem to be quite as prevalent as in years past and honestly does not get on your nerves when it does happen. When it comes to the courses and ambient sounds of your surroundings you will find no lack of support here. Whether its birds chirping or bull frogs croaking in a hollow, you will hear it. The rain is not over done either and is tolerable unlike some games that seem to think rain sounds like its pounding a tin roof without any kind of break in the loop. One of the coolest sounds is the ambient galleries cheering on other things taking place on the golf course. Say an eagle was made on a nearby hole, you will hear the crowd react and the roar of their cheers will echo through the course.

Gameplay is solid in Tiger 10. While not a lot of huge differences in the game mechanics for Tiger 09 players there are subtle differences. One of the biggest differences in the game is the putting mechanics using the Precision Putting option. I used to pride myself on being a decent to good putter in the Tiger Series, but that went out the window with the precision putting. You really have to think putts through now and play the correct breaks and slopes to have a shot at making good putts. You'll have the standard amateur mode which gives you the ability to power up shots and spin the ball while in mid air. And Tour Pro difficulty also returns and for those unfamiliar with it, this mode is a lot more difficult and closer to real life golf.

There are a ton of game modes as I mentioned earlier which can be played online or offline. You'll have the standard game of golf like stroke play, match play and skins but you'll also get mini games and tourney challenges that pit you up against the pro's in certain conditions upon certain courses. You'll need to complete these challenges in order to unlock the courses for you to play in the Play Now mode. You'll also unlock apparel and better equipment through the challenges, career mode and other modes of play.

The same skill system is back from last year and the same frustrations seem to follow it as well. You'll gain and lose skill points from your performance in round, challenges and even in online tourneys. So if you don't want your golfer's attributes affected then I suggest when going online to play single player tourneys that you use an established pro or even Tiger. Your attributes are affected the same whether you are playing amateur difficulty or the Tour Pro mode. A bit unfair I think, especially for some of the conditions they use online. The skills are capped at 10, but you can add a 2 point bonus for each of the 4 categories for a total of 12 max points.

The swing mechanics for this years game seem to have been tweaked a little but not changed all that much with the exception of putting. Sidehills, wind and bad lies all seem to affect the ball the way they would in real life which is definitely welcome. There were times when it seemed the wind would have little to no affect on the ball and could be quite frustrating when you play it a certain way only to find your ball go straight as an arrow as if there was no wind. With putting, you'll have Classic Putting and Precision Putting at your disposal and can decide which you would rather use. Personally, I like the Precision Putting but I just have no mastered it yet nor am I even close to mastering it.

Another one of the new features I enjoy has to be the ability to play the courses under Live Weather conditions via The Weather Channel. So if its pouring in the town home to your favorite golf course then you'll be playing in the pouring rain in the game. Now of course this is an option you can choose to have on or off in your single player adventures and even when playing versus online. You won't be as lucky when playing the predetermined online events and tourneys.

Speaking of the online events and tourneys, Tiger 10 boasts an all new online tournament system that has been updated on a regular basis since the game hit shelves in mid June. You'll have a lot of singles events at both difficulties with varying conditions such as extreme playing conditions to amateur live weather tourneys. You'll also get to play with the pro's which is a single play event that matches you up against the what the pro's are actually doing on the real life course. You only earn earn money from these events and there is no world leader board for this mode of game. You'll only find your name on the event leader board along with the top pro's playing in the tourney. Unfortunately there is no flight system in place for the online tourneys, or at least one that works well and you'll see golfer shooting unbelievable scores of -28 in a round compared to say your -10. I am not sure if there really is a perfect system as folks will always do what it takes to put themselves a top a leader board in any game it seems.

EA's Gamernet Challenges also make a return and allow you to post or play challenges created by folks playing the game. Long drives, Special Shots, 9 Round Scores and 18 Round Scores are all the types of challenges you can participate in and you'll earn Gamernet Points from each challenge you complete or bust. Gamernet points are also gained while playing your career mode and can pop up at anytime throughout the course if you fall under the right conditions set by another user.

As I stated, there are plenty of options, game modes, unlockables and events to keep you busy throughout the year with Tiger 10. One can easily spend hours of their day busting challenges or playing through their career mode. All the things you have come to love in Tiger are here including trophy balls, course records, and the fairly new Club Tuner. Honestly speaking, if you are a fan of golf or the Tiger series than this game should most definitely be in your library. Do yourself a favor and go check it out.

Suggestions: A better flight system is needed for online tourneys to better group players of the same ability levels. I would also like to see some FREE DLC come to the game rather than having to pay for fantasy courses or a course that was handed out to pre-order gamers.

Overall Score: 8.9 / 10 Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

At one time, Diablo was the game of choice when it came to looting RPG style games. Then along came World of Warcraft which has been a staple of the PC gaming world for quite some time now. We have been waiting for a Diablo or World of Warcraft clone to come along on the consoles, and it seems that we are one step closer to that moment with Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. Sacred 2 is a hack and slash/RPG/looting game that fulfills many needs of those yearning for a World of Warcraft style game on the consoles. It has a few shortcomings, but overall it gets the job done and satisfies the yearn of a great looting title on our beloved console.

Sacred 2 is not the most beautiful game to look at. The environments are vast and do portray the climate and general aura of the land, but when it comes to detail there is not much to be seen. You'll be able to zoom out or zoom in on your character using the right thumbstick, but more times than not you'll want to be zoomed out. When zoomed in over the shoulder of your hero you just cannot see where you are going or whats ahead of you. The game details do look great in zoom mode and the forged weaponry looks awesome such as a weapon forged to create flame damage. That looks very cool. Game details such as enemies are distinguishable even with the less than stellar graphics, and your hero has some interesting detail included with the gear he/she can equip and the weapons that he/she carries. I personally think different camera views or even a first person type of view could have enhanced the graphical experience so much more. What we do have visually actually works in the game and does not detract from the overall experience. I would have liked to have been able to tilt the camera down to at least ground level instead of the three quarter view which is used consistently. One graphical error that happens quite often is that quite a few times I found NPC's hanging in mid air or suspended over villages. At first I thought maybe they were just magical and practicing some spell, but realized that not to be true when one of the weapon merchants was suspended in mid air too. Overall the graphics are somewhat of a mixed bag if I had to judge them as a whole.





Other than that little control scheme debacle, everything else seems to works well. With button presses you can get to your inventory easily, heal, attack, summon powers, etc. Its all based upon how you hot key your items and assign them to the buttons. One thing that did become a little annoying was that the left bumper is assigned to to talk to talk to NPC's in the game AND it is also the trade button. So when playing coop there are several times when one would try to talk to an NPC but their partner would hit the left bumper too and then the trade screen would pop up. Very annoying. Hit detection or just general attacking seems to at times be a bit frustrating. You can be swinging away at enemies and never hit a single soul. Even when you are surrounded. So yes, the game does have some glaring issues that can become frustrating.

Sacred 2 has a wide array of things you would expect in a vast looting RPG. You'll be able to forge weapons into more powerful weapons, and learn new skills and combat arts. You'll earn skills points which can be used to build up your attributes and skill levels. The level cap for characters in the game is 200, which should give players plenty of playing time with their favorite created character. Overall the game as a whole is a lot of fun to play and does a lot of things right. Unfortunately there are a few glaring issues that seem to hold it back somewhat and keep it from being a truly great game. I have enjoyed the time I spent with it and will spend many more hours without a doubt. If you like looting games then you should definitely pick this one up. The single player alone is fun, but being able to play online with buddies or go into PvP mode is all the more bonus and makes this game stand alone in its class on the console. There is so much detail I could go into within the game and much of it is done very well and will not disappoint the most diehard dungeon crawler fans. Do yourself a favor and check this title out.

Suggestions: I would love to see more specialized items and weapons categorized by color. Rarity is a key element of looting games and there is really nothing that distinguishes rare items from normal items that I have seen other than value. I would also love to see the world/story expanded through DLC add-ons in the future.

Overall Score: 7.1 / 10 X-Men Origins: Wolverine









Suggestions: Please allow the animation to break once an enemy dies no matter how many times I pushed the button. A little more in the way of collectables and hidden unlockables would also be a welcome addition. Also allow cut scenes to be skipped, especially once you reload from a checkpoint and you have already seen the ctscene. Overall though, very fun game and please keep this type of gameplay for future renditions or other origin titles.

Overall Score: 8.1 / 10 Wanted: Weapons of Fate









Suggestions: The game severely lacks gameplay modes. The inclusion of online play should be a no brainer for a shooter and for this title to really get any kind of popularity it should be there. I would have loved to see the skill of curving bullets to be a little more advanced and give one a sense of accomplishment. Overall not a bad title, but not great either.

Overall Score: 6.9 / 10 WWE Legends of Wrestlemania









Suggestions: Definitely give us some more matches for Tour Mode along with a whole slew of Legends Wrestler Packs via Marketplace. Thats pretty much a no brainer. Maybe even add some newer matches from more recent Wrestlemania;s along with those new wrestlers. I am sure that may be where the next game is headed, but you got the full package right with this game, why not use it. Would also love to see some Wrestlemania or Tournament modes online for folks to compete in.

Overall Score: 8.4 / 10 Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.









Suggestions: I would say in order to keep this title fresh it needs to have plenty of downloadable content such as new planes, skins, and maps for online play. Even some new innovative games online would be nough to keep a lot of folks playing this one for some time. Also more co-op missions would be great as this seems to be one of the key features of the game.

Overall Score: 7.6 / 10 Major League Baseball 2K9



The dynamic lighting in the game is done quite well. Afternoon games will progress through the early evening into the night seamlessly and it carries a very natural feel. There are plenty of shadows to represent the height of the sun and day games are very representative of their real life counterpart. Night games look great as well and give a feel of playing under the lights. The only downside is that the sky when cloudy seems very pixelated at times and can get rather ugly.

On a down side graphically are those head scratchers I mentioned. The first time I played the game I immediately noticed the dust clouds that floated off the infield dirt when players ran up the basepath. Sound like a great thing, but not every field is a dust bowl, and quite honestly it looks as though the dust clouds were created using MS paint. While its not a gameplay issue it really does detract from that visual masterpiece I discussed earlier and is laughable if not aggravating. The game could do without the dust clouds as its just plain ugly. Great concept, just poorly executed. Another downside to the game graphically is the blank out of town scoreboards. It just does not make any sense as to why these are blank and contain no information at all. The least they could have done is put up static numbers just for appearance purposes. I am truly hoping its blank for a future update that brings in real time scoring or something, but I am not holding my breath either.

The game has a great TV style presentation with overlays, fading black screens to represent commercial breaks, and plenty of replays. Paired with the new seamless commentary by Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips this game is top notch in the presentation aspect but falls short in a few areas in the game itself. While playing a game you no longer get any information displayed on screen as to who is batting when you are the pitcher. A name and possibly their game stats would be a great plus. Heck I would even take something in the way of career or season stats in franchise mode. Online it makes it impossible to know who you are pitching too and can be quite deadly if you don't stay on top of it. As the batter you have no idea whom is pitching to you or what his stamina is like, pitch count, or even again any kind of career stat or season stat. How about his game totals thus far? This is an extremely glaring issue and makes for a nightmare when playing against a live opponent online. I hate to call anyone stupid, but who the heck is the moron that thought it was a good idea to take away information like this.

One other glaring visual that is worth mentioning is the in game advertising for Pepsi and State Farm companies. I realize that these folks pay the bills in a lot of ways, but the display of the logos throughout the stadiums is frankly disturbing and gaudy to say the least. Of course real life stadiums are full of advertisements and may have even more signage in place than the game does, but due to variety of sponsors it does not detract from the stadium in anyway. I would have liked to seen the development team get a little creative and make some of their own silly billboard ads to replace the repetitive nature of the main sponsors. Another unforgivable trend in this game is to create fake billboards and erect them in the oddest places just to house a sponsor logo such as the State Farm sign in Wrigley. In the end, you kind of get immune to the signage and tend to not even see it anymore but in the end its just about the ethics or the lack of for that matter.



Overall the gameplay is solid and a lot of fun to play if you overlook the few things that I mentioned. I am not going to go into all the glitches and inexcusable flaws because it is my understanding that many will be fixed in the upcoming title updates/patches. So need to even harp on these. Plus you can read several reviews and compile your own list or check out 2K's forums to get the lowdown on what is the latest grudge being held against 2K and Visual Concepts. A few of these problems though would include easy 2nd base pickoffs, 1st baseman not aligning properly wiht the bag on force plays, wall detections issues, and some issues of honeruns going into no mans land and not actually counting.

So lets talk a bit about the options included in this years game. One of the new features is the Living Roster updates. As big moves are made and players are called up and sent down throughout the season the living roster is to reflect those movements on a fairly regular basis. Each time you load up 2k9 a check will be made to see if there is a new update available, if you have Living Rosters turned on. Now for those wondering, these rosters are only for exhibition, online and starting a franchise. Once you begin a franchise your franchise roster is locked into that franchise and will not update which really should be a no brainer but it seems there are quite a few that can't understand this. I am not going to explain it for those folks because frankly its not that difficult to understand. A Playoff mode is included in the offline play that allows you to jump right into the playoffs and make your way to the world series. Many people have asked and I just want to make this clear. There is no WBC mode or teams in the game upon release. Maybe it will come as DLC later on but I would not count on it personally.

At this time online play is a homerun fest for a lot of folks, especially the ones that really don't know how to pitch. Regardless though, even well thrown pitches anywhere close to the zone can be roped over the fence just by the simple action of pushing up on the hit influence left stick. 2K made an announcement that this would be addressed in the upcoming patch so lets hope thats the case. Online play also includes the team 2K options as well as online leagues which are extremely in depth and well done. You can view your leagues on the console as well as on 2K Sports as well. The stat tracking is amazing and will make a lot of baseball enthusiasts happy. You'll also have an online homerun derby which can be played offline as well versus the AI.

Baseball is full of so many details. Each detail has a certain importance that can be larger or smaller for each and every individual. Some folks will be upset about no homerun stadium celebrations or that the crowd does not get excited at the right times. While others could care less. Just because someone has more passion than another or vice versa does not make either fan any less of a baseball fan. Each person has their wants and desires to be in the game but not all will be fully content once its all said and done. If you seriously play this game with an open mind you will see that it has a lot of potential to be one of the best baseball games ever next year. Sure this year lacks some polish and options. And yes, there are some glaring defects in the game but 2K seems to be addressing those as they come and is really trying to please the masses. My hats off to them in that respect. My thumbs down also goes to them in some of the flaws that were let into the game for the public to experience. It truly is the best of both worlds in this situation and while many reviewers have been ripping this game apart and praising the competition all in all 2K stands ready to challenge the competition with this solid foundation of a game in 2k10.

Do not miss out on this title. Despite the things you see and hear, one should really give the game a try for themselves and come to their own conclusion. As I stated, play with an open mind and you'll find that you really can have an enjoyable experience with this game and that the defects and issues really do not detract completely from the game in the end.

Suggestions: Continue support of this title through patches. Please find a way to lessen the Pepsi and State Farm advertisements with generic comedic relief. Light the scoreboards. Please include player information overlays especially for online play. Tweak the difficulty of this game to lessen the homeruns.

Overall Score: 7.4 / 10 Street Fighter IV

There is nothing like the days of playing Street Fighter in the local arcade or bowling alley Pumping quarters into the arcade like they were pennies seemed to be just common place. I dropped several $10 rolls into the machine over my youth and to this day I still am no better at Street Fighter games than I was the first time I played it. Then the Street Fighter series hit the home consoles and now you did not have to worry about spending your weekly allowance within a day in order to beat the game. Ah, the nostalgia of this title!

Well low and behold a few month back we got Street Fighter IV Turbo Remix on the Xbox Live Arcade and folks rejoiced. Skip ahead a few months and we come to find out that there is a full retail version of Street Fighter IV on its way to the Xbox 360. And the fans rejoiced! So does the retail version stack up against its previous classic iterations which seem to be etched in video game history. Well, I am here to tell you that this game does complete justice to the series and aura of the Street Fighter name.

You'll find a few new characters, all new fighting venues and plenty of new attacks and combos that are all displayed in brilliant graphical form. While the game is graphically beautiful throughout, it still holds that Street Fighter feel and look that folks have become so accustomed too. I personally think thats a great thing and it really does tap into the memory banks of days past sitting with buddies beating the crap out of each other with our favorite character. Speaking of characters, all the characters you have come to love and hate are in the game as well as a few new ones to wet your whistle. Each character again holds to its original past self in great fashion and even the new characters feel as if they have been a part of the Street Fighter world all along.





As I mentioned earlier, one of the modes included in the game is online play. I have to say that my experience with online wasn't always the most pleasant. Many hiccups within matches caused delay in performing combos and just as I thought I was about to attack my opponent I was suddenly trying to defend myself. SFIV is truly meant to be played locally more than over a network it seems, but that doesn't mean you will not run across good connections and matches. I had a few smooth interactions that felt like the person was right in the same room with me. So I guess my recommendation would be to take online in stride but be prepared for some frustrating moments that leave you scratching your head.

Overall SFIV is a great game with a lot of depth. Plenty of combos to learn for each character, plenty of unlockables and online play should give fans of th series plenty of gameplay time. One thing worth mentioning is that SFIV is in essence the same SFIV you have been playing since you were a kid with a few new characters, bells and whistles thrown in. For most this will be a good thing, but for those that were looking for something new and fresh in the Street Fighter universe will be somewhat disappointed. Its a must have for any fanatical followers of the series, but just another Street Fighter title that you feel like you have already played for the casual gamers.

Suggestions: I guess my only gripe would be related to the online play and the lag I experienced. I am not sure if a patch would fix anything but it just seemed that the network code didnt always mesh together well with opponents and I would be seeing a completely different result on the screen than my opponent. Other than that, the game was great and brought back fond memories of my teenage years and playing this game. Good job.

Overall Score: 9.0 / 10 Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

The newest installment to the beloved Banjo-Kazooie series finally arrives on the 360. Rare and Microsoft also teamed up to release the original Banjo on the Xbox Live Arcade for nostalgia as well and if you preordered the new game you got the Arcade game for free. Anyhow, this review is all about Rare's newest Banjo iteration 'Nuts & Bolts'. So lets get right to it.

Rare has kept the same humor and many of the characters you have come to know and love an incorporated them into the new game. Right off the bat you'll notice the whole Banjo world has been modernized and brought up to next generation specs. The characters even have upgrades in their appearances as well and they are very representative of their previous counterparts. What's funny is the comedic relief you will find throughout the game that refers to the graphical upgrades such as Banjo having a much more square nose than previously remembered by in game characters.

The graphics are colorful and quite detailed, yet simple and fun enough to entice any age player into the world and have lots of fun building all sorts of contraptions. The only downside to the game at times would be the camera angle which can tend to get you turned around in the wrong direction or get locked into a wall of a building when facing the opposite way. Overall though, all aspects of the game are a visual pleasure that will enhance your enjoyment of the game.



Kazooie carries a special wrench that was given to you by L.O.G. In the beginning sequence of the game. This wrench is used to summon your vehicle to your location on the map at anytime as well as used to lift and carry objects such as puzzle pieces or enemies. The camera angle and the mechanics of the lifting process for the wrench can get a little frustrating at times. Eh, maybe a lot frustrating at times. I found myself several times trying to put an item into my vehicle loading tray only to either miss completely or end up grabbing the vehicle itself. After some practice and getting used to the wand you'll handle it a lot better, but it still has come issues that can make gameplay a bit frustrating.

As you collect puzzle pieces and deposit them in the bank, you are granted access into new worlds which will have greater and more difficult tasks for you to perform. Each of these tasks sometimes require a special type of vehicle whether it be land , air or water based. Collecting music notes will allow you to buy part upgrades and new blueprints for vehicles. You'll enter into Mongo's workshop to build your vehicle creations from a blueprint or you can even venture off into your own ideas and create your own masterpieces. This is probably the most rewarding part of the game. As I stated earlier the whole building system is easily understood and controlled. You'll see how much power, ammo, speed and what not is achieved by a special meter that appears when viewing a certain part. This meter also shows your overall vehicle performance in the areas mentioned. Build yourself a flying machine with plenty of weaponry, or maybe you just want to build one for speed. As I stated, some puzzle piece tasks require you to have a certain vehicle. So be sure to buy all the blueprints you can or create your own blueprints as you proceed through the game.

There is plenty to do in the single player campaign and it should keep you busy for quite a few hours just collecting and unlocking new worlds. I rather enjoyed playing the single player but will admit that quite a few of the challenges set forth for you to obtain puzzle pieces can be rather frustrating. Most of the puzzles you have to figure out are not overly difficult which makes this a game for all ages. But younger folks may need a helping hand from time to time.

One very cool aspect of the whole build your own machine concept and the blueprints is the fact that you can trade these blueprints online with your friends. Thats right, you'll be able to send and receive custom blueprints for user created vehicles via Xbox Live. Speaking of Xbox Live, not only can you trade blueprints online and save them to your vehicle database, but you can also play multiplayer online as well. There are ranked and player matches that you can compete in as well as an option call a League Match which is a series of connected matches. The league allows you to jump quickly into all the events or you can specify the specific events you would like to participate in against other online in a custom league. You'll also be able to rewind time online to correct things such as driving off a cliff in a race. Now only you will be in the rewind mode and other online players will continue as usual while you are rewinding your mistake and picking up back in the action once you have corrected your mistake. So yes, you lose valuable time for rewinding but it can also help you more than trying to fix your mistake by driving back to the track but having to take a different route.

Overall, Nuts and Bolts is a fairly fun platformer that most folks should enjoy. Diehard Banjo fans may find somethings a bit disappointing as the whole game has been pretty much taken in a new direction but its definitely a fresh direction and I look forward to future variations of the series. You'll be frustrated at times, but you'll have more fun than frustration in the end. If you like collecting things than this game is definitely for you as there is plenty of collecting to do. If you like mini games than this game is for you as well since there is a huge variety of games such as old school arcade games to bingo to racing head to head. One should find many hours of enjoyment and at the reduced price of $40 new upon release you really can't go wrong on this one.

Suggestions: I found myself getting very frustrated with the camera at times as well as the carrying of objects and them getting stuck or just not going where I directed them to. I also had a few instances where I could not get something out of the water such as a globe when I dropped it off of highest point of the main town map. Eventually I was able to get the camera right and grab the globe, but it took me a good half an hour before doing so. Please look into possibly adjusting the camera or targeting system a little better. Other than that I would love to see some new level downloads or possibly maybe some downloadable vehicle databases.

Overall Score: 7.8 / 10 Call of Duty: World At War

Only one year ago we were talking about COD4 and Infinity Ward and now we have yet another Call of Duty title on our hands, but make sure you don't call it COD5. The latest installment of the series comes from Treyarch whom delivered the lack lustered Call of Duty 3 a few years back. After Infinity Ward made the jump to modern warfare, our friends at Treyarch decided that it was best for their game to head back to the World War II era once again. Honestly, I myself think the COD series is best served by the WWII scenario more so than the modern warfare. Now of course COD4 was a great game which would be why Treyarch pretty much used every bit of COD4's gameplay and engine that it could while still trying to remain a unique title.

Treyarch takes back to WWII but at least serves up some new scenarios of which we haven't played before. You';; be taking on the Germans as US and Russian soldier on the Eastern and Western fronts, as well as hitting the South Pacific fighting the Japanese. The new scenarios definitely are a welcome addition to the COD series, but after a while it just seems like the same old Call of Duty in a World War II setting.

So at first glance as you begin playing Call of Duty: World at War you'll recognize the COD4 gameplay and structure is very evident. The only real difference is that instead of modern weaponry, you are now using old school weapons and sites. This is truly most evident in the multiplayer aspects and I would even be will to call it completely identical to COD4. Sure there are different weapons and vehicles as well as new maps and perks, but really its the same game as COD4. Why fix something that isn't broke I guess.

One of the defining factors that sets World at War apart from its big brother is the addition of co-op play in the campaign mode. Now you and up to 3 of your buddies can run through the campaign mode together which is a great addition to any game. The campaign mode is laid out fairly well and you'll jump from front to front fending off the Germans and Japanese. From the co-op sessions I played the games were relatively lag free and a lot of fun. This definitely made the single player a much more enjoyable experience and more games should follow this trend.

Graphically the game is right on par with what we saw from COD4 and even does better in a few areas. To me intricate details that can go overlooked are what makes a game great graphically and I think one of the best small details I saw were the artillery strikes. Not so much the impact of the strike on the targeted area but more so the way it looks when its incoming. When you hear the siren warnings of an impending strike take a look to the horizon and you'll see what I mean. You be able to watch the smoke trails of the shells as they are launched towards the target. You can follow them all the way across the sky until they impact the ground. While this doesn't really impact gameplay I found it still to be one of those things that sets the game into a higher category graphically.

Other than that, the game looks great and runs at a high frame rate with no slowdown that I noticed. Attention to detail, like the artillery strike, is key and I one of the most graphically intense gameplay moments would have to be the first time you see a flamethrower. The fire looks amazing and frankly eclipses any flamethrower that I have ever seen in a game before. The fire is intense and the results are smoking, no pun intended. Kudos definitely go to the graphics team on the flamethrower in the game. Explosions look good but as of late explosions look good in pretty much every game that comes along.

The weaponry and accessories are all WWII era equipment and seems to be a gripe among many folks because the weapons fire to slowly or they are a bit inaccurate at times. Well, think about it folks. We are talking about 60 plus years ago. The weapons should be inferior to that of modern combat. I like the fact that you need to have some skill to use the weapons of the time period. Of course there are a few power houses in the ammunition dump when it comes to strong guns but overall the weapons are fairly well balances and the attachments that go with them seem to work well too.

When it comes to the sounds of World at War there really isn't anything that stands above previous iterations of the series. In game weapon and vehicle sounds are right where they should be and really are probably the best you can accomplish. I mean seriously, guns and vehicles really do not have that many different sounds nor are they complicated in nature. So once you get the sound down as I think this game has, then there isn't much more you can do for future titles. Some interesting things I noticed were the air sirens that warn of incoming artillery strikes and the dogs ambient barking as they travel the map in search of enemies. The rest of the sounds in the game are that what you have come to expect with Call of Duty. Battle cries, sergeants screaming, cliché one liners that you have heard in all Call of Duty games are in this one as well. Not to much of a wow factor in the sound department in my opinion.

When it all boils down to it, the Call of Duty series is all about the online experience. And World at ar delivers on that experience just as COD4 did. Well, honestly, it is COD4 with a World War II overlay so why shouldn't the game be good. You'll instantly recognize the online portion of the game being that of COD4 with all the options you grew accustomed to last year. The ranking system is pretty much the same and the perk system works the same as well, only you have a few new perks that are related to the time period of WWII.

One of the most annoying and really one of the only pitfalls of the game is the spawning system. There really is no rhyme or reason to the spawns as you'll find yourself spawning in the middle of gun battles or right beside an enemy looking directly at you. Most of the time this results in immediate death, and huge frustrations. I like the random spawn points which tends to deter spawn camping, but in the end I would rather take my chances with a spawn camper than be killed immediately upon spawning just because I ended up in someone's line of fire or an artillery strike for that matter.

The prestige level has been increased from 50 in COD4 to 65 in World at War. You'll also obtain the flamethrower at level 65, so this should make for some interesting decisions as whether you want to move onto prestige mode and start over again, or hang onto the flamethrower for a while and remain at level 65. Some other changes to the game would include your rewards for achieving a certain amount of kills in a row. At 3 kills you'll still earn the recon radar that indicates enemy positions on the map. At 5 kills you earned an Attack Chopper in COD4, but now you'll earn attack dogs which will seek out and kill enemies. Now the dogs are not indestructible, but they are vicious and do some major damage to enemies and you best bet is to follow the dogs to enemy location to finish off victims that may have fended off the dog attack. Finally, once you hit 7 kills in a row without dying you will be garnered with an artillery strike rather than the air strike in COD4. The artillery strike seems to have a longer duration and a much more widespread targeting area than the air strikes. I personally think the artillery strike is much better than the modern day air strikes.

The perk system is pretty much the same but with one welcome addition. You now have the ability to be a medic once again, well of sorts anyhow. If a player has the second chance perk they can revive any person that is in last stand before they die. You'll just have to head over to their position and inject them with the medicine and off they go. You will of course have the typical perks such as martyrdom, deep impact, juggernaut, etc. Some of the new grenades included are toxin grenades, sticky grenades, and anti tank grenades along with the normal frag grenades and smoke grenades. You can also obtain Molotov cocktails which are pretty fun but take some getting used to when used in battle.

Along with the standard multiplayer matches you'll be treated to a new game mode as well. If you finish the campaign mode you'll unlock what is called the Zombie mode. In this mode you'll basically be locked down in a boarded up room and have to fend off Nazi Zombies coming at you from all directions. The windows and doors are boarded up, but the zombies will tear them down to get inside after you. You'll earn cash for each zombie you kill and this cash can be used to purchase new weapons as well as repair broken boards blocking the windows. As you pass each level of zombies, the difficulty increases more and more. Eventually you'll have zombies attacking from every direction and you won't know which way to turn. This game is most fun with 3 other buddies online of course.

When it all boils down to it, much of World at War is COD4 with a World War 2 overlay. That makes this a great game no matter how you look at it. The multiplayer is fun, but can be a bit frustrating at times with the spawn system. I would have liked to have seen a little more variety in the game, but I still love it despite its huge resemblance to Call of Duty 4. I really think Activision made a good choice in keeping with what was doen well last year and building upon that while not changing to much other than the time period. There are plenty of maps and weapons as well as challenges to keep one busy for quite some time. This is definitely a title you should have in your library if you are a fan of first person shooters.

Suggestions: The spawning system online definitely needs to be tweaked quite a bit. The way it is right now completes frustrates many including myself and actually has me turning off the game from time to time. Look forward to more maps and maybe new weapons in the future as well.

Overall Score: 8.6 / 10 Shaun White Snowboarding

Shaun White is one of the most popular faces on the snowboardning circuit and one of the most recognizable faces with the long red hair, when you can see it of course. His style is that of none other and he always amazes the crowd with over the top performances at competitions across the world. So it only makes sense that a developer would use his popularity to create a brand new snowboarding experience on the Xbox 360 console. What surprising is that it was Ubisoft who took on the task. Known most for their Tom Clancy series with multiple IP's and continually churning more titles out, I found it quite shocking that Ubisoft through its hat into the sports ring. Especially the extreme sports genre. So with that being said, how did Ubisoft do for its first try at snowboarding?

Well, the last snowboarding game we had on the 360 was Amped 3. It was received with both jubilation and disappointment so it was pretty much a guarantee that Shaun White Snowboarding (SWS) would be under a microscope from the minute it was announced. Ubisoft employed it's Assassin's Creed game engine to SWS due to its vast and open world vision. While there is still a lot of work to be done with a sequel, the engine seems to work well for the vast mountain landscapes. You can go anywhere your little heart desires on the mountain face and the environment seamlessly generates as you proceed down the slopes. Very little to know transition in loading times from point to point appears which makes getting from point to point painless. Shaun White himself even appears throughout the game promising to teach you the ways of focus as you achieve more reputation and unlocking new events and areas for you to explore.

You'll be treated to all sorts of licensed gear and a host of customizable options to create your character including various clothing style, boards, etc. There are 4 vast mountain regions for you to explore and they truly are vast with plenty of jumps, cliffs, halfpipes and rails to combo out your tricks. The regions are as follows: Park City, Europe, Japan and Alaska. Each has its own distinct landscape and environment. Scattered across the regions are hidden icons which you collect to unlock new items, and you'll can also see the challenges and competitions on the mountain by viewing the map. Each challenge is color coded for difficulty. New events open up as you complete challenges and find hidden tokens across the mountain.

While the game looks pretty good and plays pretty good most of the time there are some major trouble spots in the game that due cause quite a bit of frustration. A lot of this frustration is due to the camera angles coinciding with the control system. The control system is fairly straightforward as it has been with most snowboarding games of the past. Your main buttons you use are the thumbsticks and the right trigger and thats really the extent of the control system. Most of the other buttons have small functionality and very little to do with the snowboarding aspect of the game. For instance, the B button throws snowballs and thats it. The D-Pad is used as a hot key of sorts to change music, set up multiplayer, etc. Again nothing to do with the actual snowboarding trick and maneuvering.

So back to the frustrations. As I stated most to the frustration is due to the camera angles and at times almost unresponsive controls. You'll find yourself getting caught upside down off of a ramp with no ability to right side yourself because the camera is turning at a certain angle. Now of course you can adjust the camera using the bumpers, but doing so usually results in giving up on the trick at hand. There are times when the camera gets stuck in a downward angle and you cannot see whats ahead of you without tweaking the camera somewhat. Again, you either lose some speed or focus from having to adjust your view. The right and left stick combination to pull off tricks and tweak them works good most of the time, but there just seems to be times when the game does not respond or react to the controls and you usually end up taking a face full of snow.



One of the higher points of the game is its licensed soundtrack containing great songs from the past to top songs of the present day. I have to admit that its a good time carving down the slope to the likes of Blue Oyster Cult or Pat Benetar. As for other sounds in the game, nothing really stands out as a wow factor and they are all sounds you would expect from a snowboarding game. I guess really there is only so many ways to make kicked up snow sound. But as I said, the high point is in the soundtrack when it comes to game sound.

Overall SSW is a decent game and you'll find some fun for a while with both single player and multiplayer. You'll also find frustration at time when you are stuck and have to get off your board to try and get going again or maybe the camera just ends up getting completely turned around on you. I have to give props to Ubisoft for taking on this project and it shows huge promise for the next installment for sure. If you are in the market for a snowboarding game then this is probably right up your alley. Its hard to suggest the game to the casual gamer unless you have a lot of friends with the game. I look forward to SSW2 and what Ubisoft builds upon, but unfortuantely the bottom line is that this title just falls a little short in to many areas. For some reason the game just lacked a fun factor for me, and I have always enjoyed snowboarding games in the past. This game felt like almost a chore to play it and as I stated before it's fairly confusing at times to try and figure out what's next to progress deeper into the game.

Suggestions: A more linear storyline with objectives and cut scenes would definitely help this game get to the next level in the eyes of gamers. You just get lost in sorts as to what you are supposed to be doing next and where you should be going.


Overall Score: 6.5 / 10 WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009





So lets talk about the game modes a bit. In Exhibition mode you can take and wrestler or wrestlers and pit them up against anyone you like. You'll have the standard one on one, two on two, triple threat, fatal-4-way, 6 man, handicap and royal rumble matches to choose from. Each of those option has multiple conditions or match types you can set . In all the total numbers of unique matches you can create is 56. How is that for variety?

The Road to Wrestlemania is a really neat option that allows you to play through a storyline as one of 6 predetermined superstars - Triple H, CM Punk, Undertaker, John Cena, Chris Jericho, or Batista and Rey Mysterio. The Batista/Mysterio combination can be played as alone or co-op with a buddy. Your goal is obviously to progress through the story and ultimately meeting up with your opponent in a Wrestlemania Match. You'll face off in various matches along the way against various opponents all connected with the storyline in one way or another. Typical WWE creative juices are flowing in this mode and the storylines are actually quite good and enjoyable as you progress from show to show. Now some will probably be upset that you can only choose from 6 superstars in this mode and you cannot use your own Created Superstar or other favorite wrestlers. While I would love to see a Road to Wrestlemania option for every wrestler on the roster this would really be a whole new game itself. And truthfully most folks will want to play with their created superstar anyhow in the other modes, so to me this is no big deal.

Career mode allows you to take any wrestler from the roster and run them throughout a career in the WWE. You can use a real life wrestler or use your created superstar. There isn't much different This mode is where you'll increase your created superstars rating by selecting them as your character and progressing through the mode. You'll have the opportunity to win all the belts, but watch out because your same goals of obtaining gold are the same goals of everyone in the WWE locker room. Form alliances and enemies as you make your way to legendary status.

In this year's game you can now create your own finishing moves. You'll have up to 10 slots to piece together moves to create your overall finisher. With each manuever the list will deplete in options mostly due to your final positioning after the last move which makes complete sense. You'll string together your combo and finally select your finishing maneuver. You'll see a preview of the move and once you are satisfied with the final result just click finish and save it. Once saved you can apply this manuever to your created wrestler. The option is very basic and easy to use and really does work well. Its agreat start and I am looking forward to how they will evolve this option in future games.

Xbox Live of course is included and you'll be able to play with up to 3 others in tag team bouts or go one on one in ranked or player matches. You'll have the option to include created wrestlers and created finishers in the match if you like as well. Online player seemed very smooth and very little lag was experienced during my online time. I did notice a little issue with collision detection at times but that could also be the product of different connection speeds and not necessarily the game itself.

While playing any of these modes you will come across the new Inferno Match that THQ has included with this years game. In an inferno match you primary goal is to throw your opponent out of the ring through the fire that surrounds it. The temperature of the ring increases with every blow, and will increase to its maximum temperature if a finisher is hit at any point during the match. You'll have to knock the sense out of your opponent and then grapple them, dragging them to the edge fo the ring and then throw them through the flames over the top rope. The match type is very well done and is a lot of fun to play. Any new match types are always a welcome addition to the game for sure.

Overall, WWE Smackdown vs Raw definitely lays the smack down on its predecessors and opposition. While the game may not be perfect, it is however a very good game and great representation of the WWE. All of your favorite superstars are included and all the match types you want are there for your enjoyment. The addition of all the new features is welcome and definitely adds to the spice the game already has for wrestling fans across the video game world. I would highly recommend this years title for anyone out there that enjoys wrestling. Each year the title has gotten bigger and better and they have really done well raising the bar this year and setting a higher bar for 2010's game. Some may feel the game is just a rehash of last year's game but I really feel the game has made plenty of steps forward making it a must have for wrestling fans.

Suggestions: Something I would love to see in any sports game is a spectator mode of course. The ability to watch other matches online while they are taking place would be absolutely huge and would only expand the fanbase of the series. Something else I would like to see is the ability to scan you own face into the create a wrestler mode where you could create a real life representation of yourself to take into the career modes or online against other opponents.

Overall Score: 8.1 / 10 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Games based on movies and TV Shows are a dime a dozen now and most of them do not live up to their silver screen counterparts most of the time. Madagascar 2 brought to us by Activision falls right into that category of not living up to it's movie counterpart. Kids will have fun with the game, especially the elementary crowd, but there are some major flaws that even detract from the game for that demographic. We'll talk about that in a bit.

So for those that do not know, Madagascar follows the adventures of a few animals that escaped from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They were shipped back to Africa to live in the wild, but the problem was that the animals were domesticated and had no recollection of their African wild heritage or lifestyle. As time went by, they adapted to their surroundings but still yearn for the comfy and cozy lifestyle of New York City. Fast forward to Madagascar 2 and you find that the main plot of the movie is the animals trying to make their way back home from Africa.

The storyline is not the issue with the game. Neither are the graphics or sounds. Nope, this game begins to fail when it comes to the gameplay itself. It can get quite frustrating at time with bad camera angles and confusing mini games. Even my 7 year old daughter took issue with some of the mini games and not being able to execute maneuvers properly.

I honestly thought this game was going to be your typical platformer where you run around and collect items moving from level to level as you progress through the storyline. Sadly, I was greatly disappointed as it turns out that Madagascar 2 is really just a mini game party fest. Sure there are some things to collect and you progress through some levels between cut scenes but only to get to the next mini game really.

When it comes to variety of mini games this game definitely excels. There is what seems like an endless supply of different mini games using the characters from the movie. They each have special abilities which make each game unique to that certain character. For instance, all water games will involve the Gloria the Hippo, while games that involve kicking will of course involve the Marty the Zebra. Get the drift?

Graphically the game is colorful and the characters are well represented. This is very representative of the movie in the end, but still isn't enough to consider this game as good in anyway. You'll be treated to both cut scenes designed specifically for the game and actually clips from the movie. Quite a few of them are comical and a treat to watch. In all honesty, the clips and cut scenes are really the shining factor for this game. Where the game suffers is with the camera angles. At times the camera will be completely flipped in the wrong direction having you spin it manually using the right stick to get it back to where you would like. Also quite a few times it was difficult to judge jumps and what not when running through a platformer style level. I found myself falling quite a few times making jumps I thought I made but alas ended up missing the landing point.

The sounds in the game are what you would expect for sure. All the original voices from the movie seem to be in place especially for the main characters. So that helps the game out a bit towards making it at least enjoyable to some degree. Many of the sounds from the original game have been used again in this game so if you played the first game you'll notice a lot of familiarity such as the roar you hear from Alex, the lion. I tend to love to listen to King Julian and his funny one liners and he definitely helps make the game enjoyable just from his cut scenes alone. His sidekick Mort is quite funny as well in the game. But really, its gameplay that is supposed to make a game fun, not the sounds, and its sad but that fun factor just isn't there with the gameplay.

The storymode, which you have guessed by now, is a mini game feast. Anyone that is a fan of mini game compilations will be quite happy with what Madagascar has to offer and again many kids will enjoy it a lot for the most part along with some frustrations though. You'll start the story out learning some basic maneuvers as King Julian shows each main character of the story (Alex, Marty, Glory and Melman) the basics of the game and certain special attributes they have and how to use them. As you progress through the movie storyline you'll play mini game after mini game after mini game. Each game is fun the first time you try it and holds a little interest but that quickly wears off. I found myself looking forward only to the cut scenes rather than what lies around the next corner for the gameplay itself.

Each level contains tokens which you can use to purchase special items such as character costumes, special content, and even some bonus game content. One thing that kinda baffled me is that all the cut scenes require you to purchase them as well even though you unlocked them in the story mode. That was a bit odd I thought, but I guess it gives kids something to strive for and play the game more. The duty free store is located at the main menu outside of the story mode.

The other gameplay option in the game is Africa Arcade which allows you to play the 10 mni games with other players locally. Probably one of the more fun games is the Mini Putt Putt Golf course. Playing with others adds a little fun to the games, and should really be enjoyable for kids to compete with one another, but again it falls short in the end and there really is nothing that makes you want to keep coming back for more.

Honestly, this truly is one of those kids only games. Even if you are a fan of animated movies such as myself and enjoy the games that coincide with the movies you'll still probably find this one tough to really enjoy or at least keep your attention. That is how I felt while playing it unfortunately. The fun factor is just not there and the cut scenes and movie clips just aren't enough to save this game and make you really want to sit and finish each and every last bit of it. For most, this will probably be a gift for their kids or a rental to get some easy achievements but really thats about all it is good for in the end. Save yourself a few bucks and just rent the game or wait for it to hit a bargain bin and you'll definitely avoid some disappointment. If you have an elementary school age child, they may find this enjoyable but my own 7 year old lost interest pretty quickly.

Suggestions: If you are going to make a game that is centered solely around mini games then please make that a selling point of the game. I knew there was mini games, but I did not realize that it was the entire game and very little platformer style play. The camera need to be tweaked quite a bit as there was many times I found myself having to adjust it manually to be able to see what I was doing or trying to do. In the end I was really disappointed with this title due to it being a mini game fest.


Overall Score: 5.5 / 10 MotoGP 08

The MotoGP series of games has been a staple game during the existence of Xbox Live. Back in 2002 all the beta testers were treated to the first MotoGP title in their Beta Testing Kits and I think just about every tester fell in love with the game. Many hours and hours were spent playing the game even though it was a demo at the time. The game was released and many folks were immediate fans of the series. It had the perfect balance of arcade and simulation style racing that one could just pick up and play. The graphics were ahead of their time with bike models and the track landscapes as well.

So now we skip ahead to the year 2008. Climax and THQ are no longer at the helm of this elite flagship series and Capcom has now taken the rights completely of MotoGP. Many of the things that Climax incorporated into the game are present, but in all honestly, while MotoGP 08 is a great motorcycle racing game it does seem to have a regressed feeling in the series but it does show promise and signs of greatness. One thing to keep in mind is that the new MotoGP games on the Xbox Platform do not have anything in common with Climax's previous iterations other than licensing rights. Capcom was the sole licensee for the Sony machines and now holds the sole license for the entire MotoGP series allowing it to bring its own rendition of the sport to the 360. Many things are similar and will be familiar but thats only due to the common ground of the sports itself.

So lets start off with the graphical nature of the game. There are some great things in the game and some not so flashy things. I think the track environments have some what regressed graphically. Don't get me wrong, they look good, but they just aren't where they were with last year's title and one's before that. The bike models are solid, and the attention to detail on the riders as well as the textured leathers is quite appealing. Probably the most standout graphical accomplishment in the game is the rainy races. The spray of rain hits the camera as it did in last years game but with a bit more intensity and it actually looks even better. At times it makes it almost difficult to see turns due to the rolling drips and drop splatters on the camera lens that distorts and disguises the track. The menu systems are crisp and clean and well done, so its easy to navigate to the things you want to do.



The street racing that had come to fruition with the last few MotoGP titles on the 360 is replaced by the 125cc Series and the 250cc Series. Of course you have the standard MotoGP Series as well that houses all the names you'll recognize easily if you watch the sport at all. You'll get a the entire track selection from the MotoGP circuit, most of which you will be very familiar with after riding one or two laps around if you have played this or any MotoGP title in the past.

When it comes to game modes you get the standard Career mode. As you progress through the career mode starting out in the 124cc class, you'll unlock new teams in the 250cc and MotoGP classes which will allow you to compete at those levels. Its all based upon how many points you earn each race with the Ducati Team being the last team to unlock after almost full completion of all 3 series. As you progress through each race you'll also unlock new helmets and upgrade points. The upgrade points can be used to build up you stats in Max Speed, Acceleration, Braking and Traction.

You'll also be happy to know that you can customize the bike's setup to you liking. This includes changing the the compound of your tires, suspension, turning speed and your gear ratio. Each track is different so trying out different setups can be very useful in finding your fastest combination. Again, it really all depends on how you ride the bike yourself in the end. The perfect setup for a track may not be the perfect setup for you personally as a rider.

Each race in the career mode allows you to practice, qualify and race the scheduled track. You'll be able to practice to find your perfect setup, then take it to qualifying where you'll be given a set amount of time to record your fastest lap. Once the qualifying period is over then your fastest lap is taken at that point and you are placed onto the starting grid according to that time. You'll see the weather conditions during qualifying and get a feel for what race day will be like. Also from the main career menu you can view standings, the teams you have available to ride for, and helmet selection.

Career mode is pretty basic and straight forward. Nothing to in depth or complicated about the mode and you can honestly dive in as much as you like if you are into the whole custom bike settings and upgrades. The different levels of difficulty range from very easy to extremely challenging on the highest difficulty of Champion. You'll have to be virtually mistake free to win at the highest difficulty and some knowledge in custom bike settings doesn't hurt either.

Other game modes include Quick race, Time attack, Championship, Challenges and of course Xbox Live Multiplayer. Multiplayer includes up to 12 riders per session and it can be quite fun. Lag does not seem to be an issue from the time I was playing online and this honestly brings back the good ole memories of Xbox Live Beta testing where I spent several nights online racing until 3 or 4 in the morning. You can joined ranked or player matches as well as just race with friends in a private player match. Race options include the number of laps you can set, the weather including night racing on some tracks, the game style, collision on or off, and of course track selection as well as the bike class.

Overall Capcom has done a great job with MotoGP 08 and while some diehards of the series may grumble a bit at the changing of the guard from Climax and THQ to Capcom. The title shows a lot of promise for the future and I truly hope that after several years of just doing the MotoGP series on the Sony machines that Capcom takes full advantage of the Xbox 360 and takes this game to new heights. If you are looking for a good motorcycle racing game then this should be your title as the different level of difficulties and control schemes allow for anyone to pick it up and play.

Suggestions: Its time to take this game to the next gen level Capcom. The graphics in this game really could run well on the original Xbox so some limits need to be pushed now that you are in the next generation of systems. I would like to see a bit more depth to the upgrading. Also I would love to see the total racers online get bumped up from 12 to more like 20. That would be ideal.

Overall Score: 6.7 / 10 Tom Clancy's End War





The game is simple, yet it can be quite advanced in the same retrospect. The combat tree I mentioned earlier that pertains to which vehicle is more effective against which vehicle is rather simple and easy to remember. The command system can be quite basic but there are a lot of things that can be done across the battlefield which will take some time to learn and grasp. Especially when you go online against opponents that have fully upgraded units. We'll get into this a bit more when I discuss the multiplayer aspects. Not only are you responsible for commanding your units to attack or move to cover, but you'll be responsible for setting rally points using your sitrep, calling in reinforcements and what kind of reinforcements they will be, securing uplinks, setting landing zones, etc.

As you progress through the single player campaign your units will gain rank and experience with each and every battle they fight in. Units can be completely destroyed or just incapacitated. If a unit is incapacitated, you will not be able to assign them any orders, but they will still show up in your squad until they are evacuated safely from the battlefield. Evacuations are done automatically but that does not mean they will always be successful. If you want a unit to survive and be evacuated safely you'll have to attract an enemies attention away from the disabled unit until the evac chopper arrives and carries the unit off.

In campaign mode as well as multiplayer mode the voice command system works amazingly well and really does allows you to complete multiple tasks across the battlefield from one location rather than jumping from point to point and clicking on spots and using the A button to execute commands. While the game has many different facets and tasks to be completed during a battle as I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, using the voice command system makes these things all the easier to be completed and you'll soon be strategizing with the best of them. I truly think if the voice system was difficult to use or it had trouble recognizing commands that this game would really suffer from that in the end. But thankfully all is well in the land of voice commands!

Now of course in todays video game world if you don't include online multiplayer then you are putting your game out on an island where many folks will ignore it. Ubisoft has included multiplayer in a big way, incorporating an online persistent war that has thousands of gamers participating. You'll go online and compete in head to head battles of 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 fighting for the faction that you choose. Your units will gain experience and cash which can be used to upgrade your weaponry, and this is a must. A new player that enters the online world for the first time will not stand a chance against a more experienced veteran of the game mostly due to the fact that their forces are so much stronger. Trust me, I learned this first hand. The ultimate goal of you faction that you choose to fight for is to control all three capitals in the world

There is plenty of upgrading and customization online as you gain experience and rank. Your units will start out with the rank of Recruit, but you can work your way up to the highest rank of Legendary. There are a total of 6 ranks altogether online. As a unit increases in rank they will gain valuable attributes such as higher morale and better combat capabilities as well as access to better upgrades.

You will find multiple multiplayer game modes over and above the persistent online war. These game modes can be found in the Skirmish option from the menu. These matches are not ranked. You can find AI controlled opponents or face off against friends or matchmaking opponents.

Since the game has the voice command system you'll have to use the right bumper button to speak with opponents when playing online. The only time you can talk freely with your opponent without pressing a button is during the pregame lobby and the after match lobby. Honestly though, this really isn't a big deal because I know I will be using the voice command system all the time when playing. I had to admit though, I really wondered how it was going to work before heading online the first time. The same goes for 4 person multiplayer matches as well where you have a teammate. You'll needed to press the RB to open up a voice chat line with them. This may be annoying to some but its quite necessary when using the voice command system.

Overall, Tom Clancy's End War delivers a solid gaming experience even to those who are not so much fans of the real time strategy games. Real time strategy players will find plenty to love in this game and as I have stated several times the voice system works extremely well and adds even more value to the gameplay. The graphics are good and the sounds are what is to be expected. The online persistent war is a definite high mark in my book and adds plenty of replay value to the game. The only downside to the online play would be the fact that you really don't have a chance as a casual player against a veteran player who has put a lot of time in the game and upgraded his units to the fullest of their abilities. I would hope for a more solid matchmaking style system that always places you up against a player of the same caliber or at least in the same ballpark when it comes to abilities. There may be matchmaking involved but so far I haven't seen it as I have only run up against very experienced players well above my stature. I would highly recommend the game to anyone that enjoy real time strategy games, but I would also suggest it to the casual gamer as well. Its a fun game in every aspect and should be enjoyed by most.

Suggestions: Please refine the online matchmaking system to find opponents of a similar skill level. I have been annihilated many times online due to my opponent having all the upgrades for their units or at least having many more than I myself had. I would also like to see standard ranked matches apart from the persistent war online that earn you cash to spend on upgrades. Other than that I can't say enough about the voice command system. Great job.

Overall Score: 8.1 / 10 Midnight Club: Los Angeles

The long awaited arrival the Midnight club series finally arrives on the 360 console. Rockstar has a large fanbase that goes with the title fanbase and I am sure that sales of this game will completely reflect that. Along with the fact that the game is very good and a lot of fun to play. Let's get one thing straight though. This racer is in no way a driving sim or meant to be one for that matter. Its pure unadulterated fun at high speeds and insane driving technique through the streets of LA. It's good to have Midnight Club join the next generation of racing titles.

For those new to the series or just need a refresher, Midnight Club is an open world arcade racer. In Midnight Club LA your primary goal is to build a reputation in the city as the premiere and most talented driver on the circuits. You'll start your campaign off in an old beat up economy car but have the chance to drive bigger and badder cars as you gain experience and reputation. This includes muscle cars, tuners, exotics and ml have full range over the city of Los Angeles, and there will be plenty of races for your to compete in from easy to hard difficulty. Each race is represented by an icon on your map and these icons are color coded for difficulty. Green being the easiest and red being the most difficult. Along with the race icons you'll find representations of hangouts, garages, landmarks and gas stations. All of which play an important part in the game one way or another.

We'll get into the actual gameplay modes a bit later in the review, but for now lets talk about the game graphically. As with any Rockstar game that takes place in an open world environment you will have a full range of the city and most areas are accessible with the exception of a few driveways and what not. The city representation is amazing and for folks that have been to LA and driven on the streets you will find an unbelievable similarity to what you know in real life. Hats off to Rockstar on their graphical translation of the city into the video game. Graphically the game is top notch and its well polished. From the car detail to the hustle and bustle of the city everything is done with a sense of perfection in mind. Even the different times of day can make the city breathtaking. The morning light just starting to glisten over the LA landscape is definitely something to behold and is so well done that you will literally feel like you are driving around town in the morning. And I have to mention the weather effetcs as well. There is nothing like driving at 120 mph at dark with a driving rain. Relfections from puddles and rain slicked roads is just absolutely amazing.

There is always something to look at or catch your eye just as it would in the real world. People walking the sidewalks, local traffic, real world boutiques and businesses are all present on the street of LA and add to the realism of the city in every aspect. Despite the game being and arcade racer, the fact that the city is so representative of real life it almost gives the racing a believable feel to it no matter how ridiculous a stunt you pull off. There is also a great GPS system that allows you to see a top down view of the city and its streets. The GPS is well done and has a satellite imagery feel to it as you'll feel like you are looking at actual Google Maps of the city. You can even change to a 3/4 view when zooming in on the map and Rockstar's city map almost puts Google's map system to shame with its fluidity and detail.

Wile driving the city I noticed a few technical issues like people walking inside of walls or cars cascading through a solid object, but honestly they are few and far between. And truthfully the graphical beauty of the game really makes these issues almost non existent or easy to forget. Overall, the game is a graphical masterpiece and the lighting, fluidity and detail of the graphics just make this game a blast to play.



There is so much to do offline in the career mode that it literally would take pages and pages to write about, so we'll just chat about the online portion of the game. When connected to Xbox Live you'll be able to enter into an Online Cruise mode which will place you into an online lobby with 15 other drivers. You can choose to enter races from here against others in the room or you can access the menu and host or join races whether they are ranked or player matches. One very cool feature is that while online if you join a session that is currently in a race then you will become a spectator until the next race starts. Sure its been done before, but it is still a cool feature rather than sitting in a lobby waiting. You can also build your own race using the Online Race Editor if you so desire.

Online play offers you a variety of race modes which include Free For All Capture the Flag, Babewar Capture the Flag, Splitbase Capture the Flag, Stockpile, Splitbase Stockpile, Keep Away and unordered races. Other features included in the online portion of the game include Rate My Ride, Photo Albums, Selling Vehicle Profiles and Custom Playlists.

If you like racing games then you should absolutely love Midnight Club LA. As I stated, its not a simulation driving game, but a fun arcade style racer that gives you plenty of options to keep you busy for quite a long time. The controls are great and you'll quickly get the hang of drifting around corners at high speeds or racing on 2 wheels when trying to break another driver's slipstream. If you like games like Burnout or PGR then you'll absolutely fall in love with this title. Do yourself a favor and go pick it up today.

Suggestions: This game is absolutely stunning when it comes to graphical aspects, and gameplay is right where it should be for an arcade racer. The only thing I could suggest would be downloable car packs, and maybe some more variety in music such as 80's or even modern day pop tracks. Other than that, thumb's up Rockstar. Job well done.

Overall Score: 9.1 / 10 Far Cry 2

Ubisoft has released its second title in the Far Cry series and they seemed to have advanced in every aspect of the game. The main campaign mode of the game takes place in an African atmosphere where 2 rival factions have exploded into war against each other. You primary mission is to find The Jackal, whom has supplied the opposing factions with weapons and ammunition. Where there is a civil war of some sort, you will find the Jackal as he seems to be the main arms supplier in the region. You must search and kill The Jackal to end this endless supply of weapons and hopefully put the region back into a state of peace.

So thats the storyline, but lets just talk about the game in a graphical aspect for a bit. Graphically, the game is outstanding and stands above many of its FPS competitors. The lighting effects are well done, and the general African region environment really makes you feel like you are driving through a third world country in unrest. Textures are extremely detailed, even down to the smallest leaf of a tree. And the explosions and fire effects are top notch as well. We'll get into the fire side of things in a bit.

The environment is fully destructible meaning you'll leave your mark anywhere you go and fire a weapon, whether its just your standard hand held weaponry or a mounted gun on a jeep. Attention to detail was evident in the fact that you could literally prune a tree with your machines gun and watch the branches fall individually as they broke from the main tree due to the bullet penetration. I literally chuckled when I was unloading on an enemy camp and took notice to this landscaper's dream. Well done Ubisoft.

But one of the most outstanding things graphically and which also plays into the game strategies is the use of fire and the terrain. Fire will burn out of control and literally engulf a whole area of dry grasses leaving a burnt path of destruction in its wake. It looks amazing and in all honestly captures the destruction and power of a burning wild brush fire completely. To say the least I was impressed with the use of fire and the terrain. It plays into game strategies as well which we will discuss a bit later.

The sounds in the game are right on par with what you would expect. Everything is right where it should be when it comes to sound which includes gunfire, ambient environmental sounds, and definitely the crackling rage of a burning brush fire. The voice acting is just fine and comes across well in the game which definitely keeps the storyline intact and interesting. Nothing like a game where the voice acting is so bad that it detracts from the storyline and you find yourself skipping over most fo the scenes in order to avoid the dialog. Thankfully that is not the case in this game most of the time.

Controls are fairly simple and most FPS fans will be happy with the way it feels and plays. For my own tastes I foudn the intital controla a bit to senstive and would constantly aim past or over my targets while moving the reticule. This is simply corrected in the game options menu by adjusting the sensitivity degree. Driving is simple as it only requires left and right stick movements as well as right and left trigger combinations for the gas and brake. So very simple controls, yet right where they need to be for the game and keeping it fun for everyone.

Alright, let's discuss the campaign mode a bit. There are 6 characters for you to choose from each having its own classification whether it pertains to special ops or an explosives guy. Your choice doesn't really affect the campaign in terms of gameplay. These characters are more suited to just be used to fit your own style of play. There are plenty of missions and side missions to complete throughout the campaign. But I have to say that with the vast landscape and world you are playing in that it seems there should be even more to do. I got the sense that something was missing from time to time during my long drives across the country side to get to the next missions destination. Of course you can always just explore to find the hidden diamonds across the land, which you will receive an achievement for in the end, but still there was just something missing or so it seemed. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of stuff to do and it will keep you busy for quite sometime. Whether its a main story quest or side mission given to you by one of your in game buddies, you'll always have something to do somewhere. All of these missions add up to payment in diamonds which can be used to buy new weapons and upgrades for existing weapons.

There are also plenty of vehicles to be driven which can take damage in your gunfights, but you'll find yourself fixing them quite a bit too. Sometimes its almost better to park your vehicle before entering an enemy camp or installation and walk in. Now of course, some facilities will require you to scout out the area which will have you walking into prime locations above a camp or guard post. When scouting an area, you'll be able to spot ammunition, enemies, and health packs that will then be displayed on your map making it easier to create an attack strategy. Of course you can always run into a camp without scouting it and guns blazing which I am sure some folks may just do rather than taking the scout time. That'll work too, most of the time.

The AI is a little on the dumb side at times. I found myself shooting them in the back many times when they would walk around a building that I had been located at and then just standing there looking for me while I walked around the building and came up behind them. Also several times they just kinda stood out in the open in a guard stance as if I hadn't even shot them and by the time they realized they had been shot 2 or 3 times, I was putting the final bullet in them for the kill. Now granted while playing the game I was not playing at the hardest difficulty and the AI is probably a little smarter at the harder level, but I still don't think the AI is going to be the msartest cookies in the world and react how they should in certain situations. At least not from my interactions with them.

Another thing that can get a little annoying is the fact that you have contracted malaria and this is made known to you early in the game. So you'll have to constantly obtain medication to keep your strength and health. You can always go to one of your safe houses which are places where you have cleared out an enemy and can now sleep and regain strength. I just found it annoying after getting into the story a bit. Now I haven't quite finished story mode yet, so there may be more to this than I know and it could evolve into part of the storyline. Time will tell.

So campaign mode is definitely a good aspect fo the game but could use a little more work to keep it moving along. I realize that this is an open world type of game that allows you to do anything you want at anytime, but if thats the case then I really think some more mini games or side missions need to be scattered throughout the mode.

Now of course, any FPS that comes to the 360 world has to have some sort of online features and gameplay or it just will not be accepted by the gaming community. Far Cry definitely delivers an online experience that should be played by all FPS fans. I mean how can you not want to create your own maps and take them online for the gaming world to enjoy, or not enjoy for that matter. I have seen some community maps online that put developer created maps in this game and other games to shame. It's amazing the creativeness of folks in the online community and how they apply that to these maps.

While there are only 4 actual gameplay modes, the unique maps that these can be played on deifnitely enhance the multiplayer aspects of this game. You'll have your typical Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch as well as a Capture the Flag mode known as Capture the Diamond and finally a mode know as Uprising. This game mode seems to be somewhat a mixture of popular game modes from other games. Each team's objective is to control points on a map which can only be captured by the Captain of the team. The Captain must control the area for 20 seconds before the point is captured and the ultimate goal is to kill the other team's Captain. If you kill the Captain then they can't capture any objective points. Simple enough.

All of the game modes are fun and will always give plenty of playtime to fans of the game. Nothing like running around the map with a flamethrower in hand lighting up anything and everything you can including enemies. Oh and by the way, if you are a sniper you may want to rethink your strategy of laying in high grasses since those grasses are fully ignitable and you aren't fireproof. Definitely use the fire to your advantage when playing online with folks. You gotta love the smell of fried enemies in the morning!

One other thing to mention about the online multiplayer is that it uses a class system as I mentioned earlier when discussing the single player. The class system online comes into play a little more so than it does offline and you'll earn diamonds as you play online that will help you upgrade your weapon packs and evolve your combat strategies and techniques with those upgrades.

Overall Far Cry 2 is a solid FPS experience despite the few shortcomings it has. Online play definitely puts this game on the map with other successful first person shooters and it should npt be overlooked by any fan of the genre. As I stated, the ability to use custom maps online is a bonus to the already solid gameplay and should give you many hours of fun and excitement. Be sure to always check out the map community for the latest and greatest maps and don't be afraid to dabble in the creation of a few of your own as well. Once you get the basics down for the map editor you can really create some superb arenas for the entire world to enjoy. I would gladly recommend this game to anyone that loves shooters.

Suggestions: As mentioned I would have liked to have seen some min games or more side missions scattered throughout the maps. Even if they really had nothing to do with the storyline and just an extra way to earn diamonds for upgrades. Other than that, I really like the game and see myself playing this for a long while.

Overall Score: 8.9 / 10 Monopoly

EA Games brings the popular board game of Monopoly to the Xbox 360 console and for all intended purposes of playing Monopoly, its a fairly fun game. But setting aside the basic gameplay that is expected this tile falls short in more ways than not. Despite being considered a budget title at its $39.99 suggested retail price, the game itself really should have been released as an Xbox Live Arcade title with a price tag of no more than $20. Why is that? Well lets get into the review and find out.

From the moment you start up the game you'll be familiar with most of whats going on. Its a matter of learning the controller layout for performing tasks such as buying properties or building houses. The game controls are very basic and only require hovering a pointer over certain items and pressing the A button to perform the task at hand. Unfortunately there is no skip cut scenes option, so some of the gameplay gets drawn out longer than it should while Mr Monopoly wets his pants and explains in a jubilant voice what could be happening or what just happened. This can tend to get very repetitive and again is unfortunate that you cannot skip past his mumbling. Other than that, the controls are simple and each and every option is performed with a simple button press.

The game itself ships with a total of 9 different themed Monopoly boards from the Classic version to a World version and even a Sweets version. Each board has properties themed to the specific board such as World Cities for the World Board and the typical Atlantic City street names for the classic board. All the things you are familiar with on the real life board are included with the virtual boards such as Chance, Community Chest and the typical Pay Tax spaces. To unlock these new boards you'll have to play the ones already unlocked. You have whats called a passport which you get stamped each time you land on a property you have never landed on. These stamps are collected and you'll attain certain plateaus of stamps collected to open up the new boards.

There are 2 gameplay modes plus 9 mini games for your enjoyment as well. Obviously you have the typical Monopoly game where its your goal to buy as many properties as possible, form monopolies, build houses and hotels and collect rent from the other players with the final goal of bankrupting each person. Unfortunately the game only allows up to 4 players in a game at a time unlike the 8 that could play in the real life version. Oh and by the way, there is NO multiplayer over Xbox Live. Multiplayer is only local and is a huge disappointment for this game and probably a deciding factor as to whether folks will buy it or only rent it. Who in the heck made this decision and what were they smoking?

The second gameplay mode is called the Richest Edition, which gives you 3 gameplay modes within itself. Each gameplay mode has a different goal and strategy and really does not have much in common with the original game other than it uses the same boards and properties. The modes are as follows: Developer, Industrialist, and Tycoon. Another huge downfall to the game is that each player in this game mode must have their own controller. You cannot share a controller among players. Again, who is making these decision and why?

In Developer mode consists of 6 rounds where players will compete in mini games to determine who is the Richest player. Before each round, 4 die are thrown and the numbers on those die determine the amount of player pieces for each player are dropped onto the board. If you come in first you'll get to choose which die amount you want, and so forth down the line. For instance, if a 6 is displayed and you choose it, then 6 of your game pieces are dropped randomly onto the board. You'll have to pay rent in the form of your own properties if you land on other player properties, or you can buy unowned properties that you land on. The goal of this game once again is to see who is the richest player by the end of the 6 rounds which is obtained by owning the most properties on the board in most cases. This game typically takes 30 minutes or less to lay a full game. The Industrial mode is basically a longer version of the Developer mode with 9 rounds rather than 6. More spaces come into lay with this round Finally in the Tycoon mode is the longest of the 3 Richest Edition gameplay modes and lasts a total of 12 rounds. A trading session occurs every 3 rounds which allows players to form monopolies by trading properties with another player whom may have your final piece of the 3. All aspects of the regular edition are included in this mode and it will take you approximately an hour to play.

As mentioned, there are 9 mini games included as well which can be played individually from the main menu as long as you have them unlocked. If you have played the game in any of the Richest Edition games modes, then it will be unlocked for you. There is a little variety here in types of games, but for most players it will not be the part of the game you spend most of your time on. The 9 mini games are as follows: Get Out of Jail, Go to Jail, Pay Hospital Bill, Pay Doctor's Fee, Take a Ride on the Reading, Elected Chairperson of the Board, Sale of Stock, Advance to Go, Christmas Fund Matures, Pay School Tax, Bank Pays You Dividends, and Advance to Nearest Railroad. As I stated most of these games are fun to give a go a few times, but that will be about the extent of you enjoyment. If you have kids, they may enjoy this part of the game a little more so than the regular monopoly game.

Graphically, the game is sharp and the different board variations are well done and representative of their themes. I honestly could do without Mr. Monopoly strolling the inner part of the board, especially when you have to wait for him to finish talking before proceeding onto the task at hand. Another thing that irritated me was the fact that anytime you advanced to Go or some property via a Chance or Community Chest card, you would have to actually watch the player piece hop every square on the board to get from point A to point B. Could you please let me skip that?

The sounds are what is to be expected with themed music for each board, Mr. Monopoly's voiceovers, and the rolling of the die and hopping of the game pieces on the gameboard. Nothing really that says a lot of effort was put into the sound aspects of this game.

When it all boils down to it, the lack of multiplayer for this game is a huge disappointment and will probably be the main reason the game is not embraced by most folks. Also the fact that many more technical and masterpiece games have been released on arcade giving EA no reason not to have considered this as an XBLA title with a lower price tag than $40. There really are way to many little annoyances beside the lack of Xbox Live that make this game collect dust on your gaming shelf rather quickly. If you must have your monopoly fix, then by all means head out and pick this one up but really you could probably pick up the newest edition of the actual board game and have a lot more fun with it.


Suggestions: The biggest and most important suggestion is to include mulitplayer on Xbox Live. How can this be left out of a social baord game??? Also please allow players to skip cut scenes or speed up play with the press of a button such as holding the A button to make pieces move faster, etc. I was looking forward to this game but feel really let down after actually playing it without the suggestions made.

Overall Score: 5.0 / 10 FIFA Soccer 09

Soccer, or football as its called in every area except the US, is probably the most popular spectator sport worldwide and the fans are passionate about their game. So you can best believe that fans will be fanatical about any video game representation of their beloved sport and EA Sports seems to have captured the hearts of many folks with FIFA 09. Thats a pretty big task having a game like Pro Evolution soccer which carries some very supportive fans of its own.

As with all of their mainstream sport titles FIFA offers a wide range of options at your finger tips and Be a Pro Modes which put you right into the game as your own created player whom gains experience points for playing well. You'll also have the traditional game modes at your disposal too, but in the end its the Be A Pro modes that seem to harness the best aspects of the title.

I'll go on record saying that I am far from being a soccer fan, even to the point that I know very little of the sport or its rules. So this review may reflect my ignorance of the sport at times and my apologies for any misinterpretations. This review will encompass all the options, graphics and sounds as well as some basic gameplay discussions to help you get a feel for the game and what it has to offer. You can be the final judge on the title by viewing other reviews and opinions and also using your own opinion from previous iterations of the title.

Lets start off by going over the controls. To me the game of soccer is mainly about kicking a ball around the field, passing to teammates and setting up goal scoring opportunities. In a sort, I would have wanted to compare it to ice hockey which I am very familiar with, but to my surprise the game is so much more technical and the control scheme definitely reflects that. There is the typical ball control which includes guarding the ball, special pass techniques and shooting styles. This is listed as the Attacking controls in the manual. You'll have a wide range of passing techniques as well at your disposal from lob passes to headers. Again, I was extremely surprised at the complexity of the controls when it came to just moving down the field and setting up your scoring opportunity. You'll also have skilled maneuvers which allow you be quite tricky and almost showing off with the ball as you progress down the field. Anything from step overs to juggling will have your opponents wondering whats next. The control scheme while fairly complex seems to work well with the gameplay and it really does give you a good sense of control moving around the field. If you decide to be a goalie in Be a Pro mode, you'll have your own set of controls for that position as well.

While my understanding of the rules in soccer is rather low to non existent, the game really does seem to help us less knowledgeable folks. For instance, I understand what an offsides call is and its very precise as to when an offside call is made in hockey, but I found myself a little baffled in FIFA. The nice thing is that at any point I was in danger of being called offside a small checkered flag would appear warning me of the impending violation. This would allow me to make an adjustment without having my offensive attack interrupted. From what I can tell and the research I have done it seems the rules are very well portrayed in the game and should keep those die-hard soccer fans happy and content.

One thing I found very impressive was the color commentary included. The calls seem to give a sense of realism and actually helped me understand the game from time to time. They also used terms and phrases as to which I had no clue what the heck they were talking about so this would definitely lend to my thinking that this game should make a soccer fan feel right at home. The crowd cheers and groans also add to the experience and realism of the game. Soccer fans are passionate about their teams and their sport and I believe that is definitely captured in this game.

Graphically I thought the game looked great and contained very smooth animations and control of your player's movements. The stadiums are recreated very well and the textures especially on the field seem to fit right in with the game. The uniforms are colorful and very distinguishable from team to team. You'll find that the character models are fairly representative of real ife human movements and there is quite a bit of graphical customization when creating your pro.

There are plenty of game modes both online and offline that allow for multiple ways to enjoy this game. You'll have the typical exhibition matches which allows you to choose your favorite team from any professional league on the planet and pit them up against your most hated team. There is the Be A Pro mode as stated which allows you to create a superstar and bring him up through the ranks as a rookie all the way to becoming a legendary player among the soccer greats. The Be A Pro mode is available to play both online and offline. You'll gain attributes that help increase your players abilities and move you one step close to that legendary status.

Online play allows you to form your own team with 9 other buddies and take on other teams across the world in ranked matches using the FIFA Soccer Clubs mode. The really cool feature about this mode is that regardless of your created player's online attributes both teams are identical when it comes to attributes and it all boils down to the real life skills of you and your buddies versus that of your opponent.

In the Be a Pro: Online Team Play mode you'll be teamed up randomly with 19 other players. You'll select your position that you will play throughout the entire game and at the end of the game your gameplay will be evaluated and you'll receive experience points to be added to your player's skill attributes which will increase his abilities on the field over time. Each game you play gives you the opportunity to earn more points to better your created player.

There is something called the Adidas Live Season which allows you to customize your game to that of the performance of your favorite real life teams and leagues. A code to download an update for free is included on the back of your manual, but you'll have to pay to get other updates if you so choose. Updates are supposedly put out on a weekly basis from October 2008 to May of 2009. Not sure if this is an option that will be widely popular or not, but a few folks may be interested in it none the less. Frankly I would think you could just go in an edit a teams attributes to reflect their real world, but then again that could be a lot of work. Pay to play? No thanks.

Interactive League is an option that allows you to play as your favorite team online against rivals online that reflect real world situations. Your result, along with that of others who support the same team will determine where your team in ranked in the overall world rankings. In this mode its not just about your own win/loss record, but a collective effort of all those that play using the same team. Of course you'll have your standard EA Online Leagues which allows you and 31 friends to participate You'll be able to set your own rules and play against folks across the world.

And finally when it comes to online options, you'll be able to upload videos of replays you saved using the Instant Replay features. You can upload those to EA Sportsworld for the world to see your best or most embarrassing moments. This is always a cool feature no matter what sport you are playing.

Offline play includes Be A Pro Mode, which can allow 3 friends to join in and help you progress your pro's career. The better performances you have the better your pro will progress and become a star. As well as, sub par performances on a regular basis could lead to your demotion and quickly find yourself playing for the club's reserve team.

There is probably so much more to this game which I cannot even begin to understand due to my lack of knowledge of the sport. But I have to say that even with the fact of not being a fan of the sport, I had a good time and pleasant experience playing this game. The controls, while complex at times, are simple enough for anyone to pick up and play and soon be scoring goals as well as slide tackling without getting a yellow card. The graphics are very good and the sounds fit quite perfectly in into the scheme of the game and add the sense of realism and fanaticism that goes with this game especially outside of the United States.

I would highly recommend this game to any soccer fan and would also go as far to recommend it to someone looking for a bit of a change in the sport genre of games. Will this be played for hours on end by a person like myself? I highly doubt that, but again its the product of not being a fan. I could see a fan spending many days and hours just building up the experience of their created player online let alone playing their offline career. EA definitely delivered a solid soccer title that can appeal to the most passionate fans as well as the casual fans. Check out FIFA 09 today and be the judge yourself.

Suggestions: Add in some basic tutorials or even easy game mode on the game of soccer explaining it in depth to those of us that are not knowledgeable of the game. Most regarding the rules and penalties of the game as I had a hard time understanding exactly what was going on at times and why I was being carded or tossed from the game.

Overall Score: 8.7 / 10 Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant

Crash Bandicoot and the gang are back for another go on the Xbox 360, and as usual the Activision delivers yet another solid Crash platformer. There are plenty of collectibles, unlockables, upgrading and lots of levels to progress through which will keep you busy for quite a few hours. Overall, the game doesn't bring anything new to the table really for the series and will appeal to more of the younger audience as well as platformer fans.

Graphically, the game is colorful and well done. The characters are drawn very well and give each one a distinctive personality of their own. The game relies on a lot of comedic relief for both young and old and the expressions and movements of the characters portray that very well. The level designs on a graphical sense are extremely detailed, colorful and vast allowing the game to appeal to many folks both new and old to the series. A few times I ran into issues of lousy camera angles for crossing thin walkways or having to jump from area to area and more or less guessing as to which direction I had to jump , run or how far for that matter. That truly is one of the only annoying things I found about the game.





One thing that does make this game even more family friendly is the cooperative mode. You and another person can sit and play through the game together and work as a team to easily clear each stage of the game. One player will be Crash, while the second player will portray a mask that circles around Crash. The mask will provide magic abilities which should let you easily handle anything that comes your way. If the player portrayed as Crash needs some help battling enemies than Player 2 has the option to jump out of the mask fro double the attack and speedier mojo collection. Sorry, the cooperative mode is only for local play and not over Xbox Live. Bummer, huh?

So while the Crash series really doesn't bring anything new and exciting to the table with this new chapter in the story, its still a fun game to sit down and run through. Achievement folks will probably love to get their hands on this one as the achievements are fairly simple and range from performing certain attacks to destroying a certain amount of enemies. There are a lot of levels to progress through and quite a bit of hidden items to locate. So this should keep one busy for a little while at least and I would highly recommend it to anyone with younger kids as Crash is colorful, funny and appealing to that specific audience. Crash may not be the sharpest tool in the woodshed, but he definitely provides a great fun for any fan of the platformer genre and is the perfect mascot for this type of game. Activision delivers a solid product once again with the Crash series and will probably continue to do so as long as there are platformer fans out there. To me, Crash is out modern day Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario Brother.

Suggestions: I guess my only suggestion for the game would be the inclusion of Xbox Live Co-op play as well as some sort of leadervoards online. The game pretty much meets the standards I thought it would for the genre, so honestly the inclusion of Live could push this games review scores higher.

Overall Score: 7.0 / 10 Blitz: The League 2



Basically in campaign mode, you play the role of the next big thing coming out of college nicknamed Franchise. You played high school ball and college ball in your home town and now your desire is to play for the hometown professional team as well, but you have been drafted by the LA Riot. You tell the commissioner that you will not be playing for the Riot and that you will only play for the local team, which you create. So the drama begins and the plot thickens as the commissioner's primary objective is to make the most money for the league he can with little regard to player wants and needs. This storyline takes twists and turns and Lawrence Taylor, whom plays the role of the old league veteran on his way out, plays a a large part in the storyline as well.

As you proceed through the story, you'll start in Division 3 and play against other Division 3 teams on your way to a championship. You'll have a certain number of games to win in order to make the championship game which will be displayed on the main menu screen before each game. As you win a championship, you'll then move up a division where you''ll face harder opponents and stronger players. Of course your players gets better with each game played based on your performance. You'll earn sponsors for the team which will reward you new and better equipment that will give you boosts in certain aspects of the game. You'll also have the ability to train players and your superstar before each game increasing their overall rating which in turn increases your overall team rating.

There are many mini games scattered throughout the game as well both as stand alone games and moments within campaign games. One such mini game would be the ability to administer medical aid to your injured players. You'll have a large circle which represents the general area of the injury with a bullseye at the exact location of the injury. As the player grimaces around in pain you'll have to inject them with the juice or painkiller and you goal is to get as close to the bullseye as you can. Easier said than done. The closer you get to the bullseye will result in less time off due to the injury. The play could miss one play or several plays dependent upon your success. Another mini game within the game is the ability to set broken bones. You'll be asked to move both the left and right stick to a reference point or at least as close as you can. Once again, the closer you get the better results you have and the quicker your player can return to the playing field.

As I initially stated, Blitz is all about over the top hits, maneuvers and injuries. You'll earn power ups with big plays and vicious hits that will increase your Unleashed Meter. This meter allows you to slow down time and lay out big hits on your opponent whether on offense or defense. If you completely fill the meter, you'll be able to pull of a special Unleashed maneuver which can result in turnovers on defense or bone crunching stiff arms on offense. Its all about stamina in this game and the more your player has the better he will perform. You'll lose stamina for getting steamrolled by opposing offenses, or taking late or dirty hits. In the same regard you can take away stamina from your opponent with the same maneuvers.

Campaign mode is definitely worth a play through for the storyline alone. But you'll find a surprisingly deeper game than expected with upgrade options by the use of juicing. Juicing is the use of performance enhancing drugs and you can combine them to make some powerful combinations for the period of one game for any player on your team including the Franchise. There are repercussions such as increased injury rate for juicing up a player to gain advantage in a certain aspect of the game.

Aside from Campaign mode there are 6 bonus game modes to play. 2 of the game modes must be unlocked to play. There is bonus content on the disc such as concept art, campaign cut scenes, game trailers and video shoots of game production. You'll have to check some of these out especially the one with Frank Caliendo and Jay Mohr talking about their involvement.

There is online play and from what I played it seemed fairly lag free. There really isn't anything out of the norm in the online play to discuss as its just like playing a quick play game or a campaign mode game but against a real person. Of course there are leaderboards and you can play the mini games online as well. You'll have the ability to use any team online as well as any user created team. There is an option when creating a match to allow user created teams or not.

Gameplay is fairly easy to pick up and play successfully against the computer. The fast pace of the game will at times leave you trying to figure out which guy you are or who has the ball when on defense, but overall its still a decent control scheme and is fairly fluid in the game when make cuts, jumps, tackles, etc.

Graphically speaking the game looks very good and has great weather effect. The puddling on the field from the heavy rains looks great and the field seems to gather snow cover throughout the game in snowy games. The player models are well done and the facial expressions seem to capture the moment on the field whether it be an injury or a beat down. The cut scenes are fairly well done and the campaign cut scenes really add to the drama unfolding in the storyline.

The sounds in the game fit quite perfectly and the mockery they make of John Madden as an announcer is actually quite hilarious at times. The language in the game can get a bit extreme for my taste, but the game specifically carries a rating that allows for that content. Also you have to remember that this storyline was written by the writer of The Playmakers which pushed all kinds of limits. There is a wide variety of rock and hip hop to please both crowds and add atmosphere to the game.

One downside to the game would have to be the loading times before each game. Sometimes it seemed like I sat there for 2 minutes or so before actually having an offline game begin. Sure they have some fact about the league and players for you to read while waiting, but after a few games those facts just are not interesting anymore and they also get very repetitive.

Overall, the bottom line is Blitz the League 2 is a very fin game as the Blitz series always has been. In no way should it be considered a football sim or even close to that for that matter. Its an over the top game that should be enjoyed for being just that and pushing the limits of football to the extreme. I would have rather watched a real life Blitz League than had to suffer through Vince McMahon's XFL endeavor. If you are a straight up sim football player than you probably won't find much fun in this game and find yourself frustrated. But if you love the game of football period and have enjoyed previous versions of the Blitz series then you should thoroughly enjoy this game. Great campaign mode, plenty of unlockables, and lots of mini games should keep a person interested for quite a while. Do your self a favor and at least rent this one if you love football and you may find that its really enjoyable. With the budget title price tag, many folks will probably want to pick this one up though.

Suggestions: I would like to see a little more of a long standings campaign mode through several years rather than just playing through the 3 division levels. Maybe more character development included. The ability to create your own stadiums from scratch would be great as well, or even downloadable new stadiums. Still a very fun game though.

Overall Score: 7.9 / 10 LEGO Batman the Videogame

We've smashed LEGO's in the Star wars universe, and traverse the globe looking for artifacts and smashing LEGO's as Indiana Jones. Well, now it's time to visit the world of DC Comics. Traveller's Tales brings us the latest edition of the LEGO sage with Batman. You'll find everything you expect from the series in this game and a few new twists as well. There are plenty of unlockables including vehicles, characters, suit upgrades and secret areas.

You'll get to play as Batmam or any one of the heroes included in the game. You'll also get to play as anyone of the super villains as well, and we are talking more than just in Free Play mode. We'll get into that a little bit later in the review. The game mode options available to you are the campaign mode and free play mode. Campaign mode is made up of 6 story lines which consists of 5 levels in each. You are limited to only using the characters whom are assigned to that specific chapter, but you'll have access to some different suits when playing as Batman or Robin. Free Play mode allows you to go back and play each of those levels with multiple characters at your disposal which allows you to access areas not previously accessible using the story mode characters. You can play locally with up to one other person. Sorry no Xbox Live co-op which was something everyone expected to be in this game and sadly was not included.

Past LEGO games have been based upon movies and followed the movie storylines for the most part, but Batman does it a bit differently. The basic storyline is that Batman's most well known arch enemies break out of the Arkum Asylum and reign terror and havoc upon the city of Gotham. You'll play as Batman, and sidekick Robin, and capture the escaped villains. There are 3 parts to the Hero campaign mode with each story headlined by either the Joker, Riddler or Penguin. Those super villains will have a host of accomplices such as Poison Ivy, Scarecrow or Mr Freeze to help them in their quest for chaos and ultimate defeat of the Bat.

Now you'll notice that I mentioned the Hero side of the campaign. Yes, that does mean there is a villian side as well to the campaign. You'll get to play as all of the villains included in the game in their own storyline quests to rob and destroy the city of Gotham. To complete the game at 100% you'll have to play both campaigns. As with the Hero mode, you'll have items to collect and areas to unlock as well as earning plenty of LEGO studs to use in the store later.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as it has been in past LEGO games. You'll have to solve puzzles to advance into new areas. You'll also collect LEGO studs, mini kit parts and red LEGO blocks which gain you access to new things later in the game. Some areas and items are only accessible with certain characters unlocked throughout the game, so you'll have to go back and play Free Play mode once you've unlocked those characters.

There are several different costumes that allow your characters to perform multiple tasks they cannot do when dressed. For instance, Batman has a demolition costume that allows him to destroy shiny objects that cannot be destroyed with regular attacks. Robin has a magnetic costume that allows him to walk on vertical and sometimes inverted metallic surfaces/ Throughout each level there are stations that allow you to change a characters costume to perform a specific task at hand. You can change back to your previous costume by jumping through the holographic image at the changing station. In free play mode, you can change costumes by pressing the left or right bumper. Any costume that you have unlocked to this point will be available for your use.

There are some vehicle levels which resemble many of the vehicle levels from the Star Wars series. These levels tend to be a shoot'em up style of gameplay with torpedoes, mines pulled by a cable and plenty of barriers to destroy to advance to the next section of the level. As soon as I played one of these levels, whether it was in the Bat Car, Boat or Plane, I immediately thought of LEGO Star Wars. Whixh in my opinion is a good thing, but the levels can be a bit on the easy side and tend to have no real purpose other than just blowing lots of stuff up.

One thing I would like to mention is that Traveller's Tales created a very cool design for jumping between Hero and Villains sections of the game. When in between levels, you'll be hanging out in the Bat Cave where you can access new levels and the store. Located right beside the story is a lever that allows you to switch from the Bat Cave to the Arkum Asylum where you'll then become a pair of villains and have access to all the villain levels as well as the store. The store is where you can purchase characters, vehicles, suit upgrades and more. As you progress further in the game, you'll also gain access to some secret playing areas as you could in both Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Overall, the LEGO world shines through and shows that its a great world to make a video game. The Batman saga seems to fit right in with the fun and comical relief that the LEGO games provide and as always you'll find it extensively fun to run around and just smash up the City of Gotham into thousands of LEGO pieces. Graphically, the game is pretty good but there is something about Batman that just doe not seem right. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but something just doesn't seem write with his appearance. All the other characters seem to represent their real life counterparts, and honestly Batman is just fine the way he is. Its just something that bugs me, and as I stated, I can't figure out what it is.

As for the sound, you'll find your typical chimes, smashes and explosions as you would in any other LEGO game. As with all the previous games, you'll find the original musical scores from Batman movies. This is definitely a welcome addition to the game, and while the game itself does not follow any movie scripts, it still has a movie script feel to it.

If you enjoyed any of the previous versions of LEGO games, then you'll definitely want to pick up Batman. You'll find that its just as fun as the other games and somewhat more at times. I mean come on, its Batman. I can't wait to see what other Super Heroes are on tap for a LEGO game of their own. Maybe there is a Justice League of America on tap for our future!!! How cool would that be? So what are you waiting for, head on out and pick up the game now. You won't regret it.

Suggestions: Once again, a job well done with the recreation of a well known character brought into the world of LEGO. I'd love to see multiplayer co-op over Xbox Live though, and hope that this is soon included in every LEGO game that comes to the 360. Would also love to see a Justice League or a lot more super heroes brought in with their own games. One suggestion would be to really allow for some sort of auto colleciton system for studs because there are several times when I miss out on picking up studs due to the limited time they remain on screen.

Overall Score: 8.5 / 10 Baja: Edge of Control

There is nothing like pure off road racing especially when racing across an open desert, winding through dirt trails and climbing over tower rock formations. Thus we are introduced to BAJA: Edge of Control from 2XL Games and THQ. This is the first time someone actually took on the challenge of recreating the BAJA racing league in the next gen consoles. BAJA Racing has been gaining more popularity over the past few years and has garnered some network attention from the likes of SPEED and ESPN. Many are still unaware of what BAJA Racing actually is all about, but this game should shed a lot of light on the sport.

Thus far the game has taken a lot of flack for less than stellar graphics, which I personally cannot disagree with at all. The game does seem to regress in the graphics category when it come to what is expected on a next gen console. Not all the graphics are terrible, but wrapped as a whole, don't expect a whole lot of eye popping beauty because frankly there is none. But a game should be more about the fun factor and how well its plays in my opinion. And well, while there are shining moments in the game and some great concepts, it does tend to fall short of the fun factor after a while and more along the lines of frustrating when it comes to an unforgiving AI.

First off lets talk about what you get for options when it comes to the game. You'll be treated to over 160 sponsored vehicles which are spread across eight vehicle classes. Over 100 tracks are shipped that are encased within 9 vast open worlds with more than 1000 miles of drive-to-horizon landscapes. Each open world can be driven in a free ride mode that allows you to traverse the terrain and explore every trail and mountain as far as you can see. There is quite a bit of detail in the environments despite the lackluster graphics such as desert wildlife, cracked hard clay terrain, and plenty of desert plant life. I guess the best comparison to some of the terrain is that it probably would be better suited in a flight game where you do not see it up close. When up close, you'll tend to see the flaws and lack of detail in the actual textures.

So as stated, you have a free ride option in the game modes along with a career mode, tutorials, and multiplayer for up to 10 drivers online and across a LAN, and up to 4 drivers on splitscreen locally. So lets discuss the career mode first. When starting career mode, you will be required to buy your first vehicle from the Baja Buggy division. This is your lowest and slowest class of racing vehicles in the game and probably one of the most frustrating. I literally was swearing at the game and ready to put it down due to an extremely frustrating and impossible AI that I ran across in the first few events. We'll discuss the AI a little more in depth a little later as this really is a huge problem in the game and a main reason the game does not score real high in my book.

So, once you have purchased your first vehicle, you will then join a league. A league consists of multiple races across a circuit, rally races, hill climbs and open class races. You'll earn XP and money for your finishing position in each race which is used to advance further into your career and unlock more vehicles. You'll also have the opportunity to sign with sponsors to earn extra cash but its called a contingency sponsorship which means that you must cross the finish line at the end of the race with the sponsor logo still in place. You ask why wouldn't the logo be in place? Well, contact, wrecks and just plain abusive driving can knock panels off of your vehicle and those panels are where the logo's are placed.

As I stated, when you wins races you'll unlock new races and events along with sponsored vehicles which can be used online or locally in free ride. The sponsored vehicles that you unlock cannot be used in the career mode. You are limited to using only generic vehicles which you upgrade with parts and sponsors. You'll get a wide variety of parts with different levels of upgrade value and you'll be best suited to mix and match parts that are specific to your driving style. In other words while it may seem best to fully upgrade all your parts to the top performance level, you may in fact make your vehicle unstable or even uncontrollable with much skidding, spinning out and instability. For those that love to tweak and tune every aspect of their virtual vehicles then you'll find yourself in a virtual heaven. Once your parts are installed, you'll be able to go in and tune those parts to your liking whether it be working out your own gear ratios, or adding some camber to your wheels to allow for better handling. Once you've got your machine to your liking or think you do, then you can take it out for a test drive to test out the newly installed parts and tune up.

The first few races of each league usually do not require much in the way of upgrades to be competitive. You'll actually be able to run away from the competition with a stock vehicle in the later classes as the bigger vehicles seem so much easier to control. A standard race league consists of multiple circuit races where you obtain XP, money and league points in an effort to earn the most league points once the league is complete. Rally races pit you against the clock and you basically will run a few legs of a track in order to end with the best time overall. There will be other vehicles on the track that you will come across along with higher class vehicles that will run you off the road if you do not get out of their way as they approach. The Open Class races pits you up against vehicles outside your class and cars are started on a circuit track spaced according to class. When running the rally races you'll have a repair helicopter at your disposal, which mimics real life. With the press of the Y button, you can call in the helicopter which will land ahead of you along the track to repair you. All you need to do is keep and eye out for the chopper and stop, and you are good to keep racing with a fully repaired vehicle. A damage meter will come up, or can be called up with the press of the D-pad to see what damage your vehicle has sustained.

Finally, Hill Climb events are a bit different than what you have grown accustomed to with other rally racing games. Instead of racing against a clock up or down a track, you'll now be racing against 7 other drivers in a 2 lap shootout up and down trails meandering over towering rock formations. Your goal is to finish first in the race, and you'll find multiple routes up and down the hill.

There is a lot of depth in the tuning of vehicles and quite a few races across all 8 classes to keep you busy for quite sometime. But one thing that you'll have to really overlook or at least be patient with is the AI in this game. At times it's ridiculous what the AI drivers do and the lines they take and you'll find yourself scratching your head or even more you'll be screaming at the television. I found myself literally locked with other vehicles while they end up taking me out and driving off as if I was a fly on their windshield. Other times, you'll see the AI follow a race line as if you were not even there and they'll practically drive right through you knocking you off the track or locking up with you wheel to wheel where you basically cannot get free without stopping and allowing them to just drive away. Its almost as if the AI is designed to follow a specific line around each track without regard to where you are at. So basically if you are in their line, you are pretty much toast as they will take you out. Brakes or steering wheel? I guess they have neither in the AI vehicles because they sure don't use either one when it comes to giving you some room or backing down. This AI really makes the game frustrating and truly kills what really could be a great and fun game.

Moving onto the online play, you can race in either ranked or player matches. You'll be able to select basically every type of race you can compete within your career but you'll also have a few longer race options to choose from. These races are called the BAJA 250, BAJA 500, BAJA 750, and BAJA 1000. What interesting about these races other than their length is the ability to actually allow the AI to take over driving for you in case of a potty break or a quick snack. The 1000 race takes in upwards of 3 to 4 hours to complete, so the AI substitute driver option is a welcome option for sure. This is a first in any game as far as I know and its truly quite innovative. Dependant upon the race your are running, the number of racers can vary. Lag seemed very minimal from the races are took part, and the online play tends to be a lot more fun than the actual career mode as long as you are not running with AI drivers. There are plenty of leaderboards for you to browse and its fairly easy to search for a specific leaderboard for a specific race type a track.

When it comes to sound, this game shines brightly. This is one of the highlights of the game that has to be complimented. All sounds sound very authentic, and the different classes have distinct engine sounds that set them apart from each other. You'll definitely know when you have a higher horsepower engine breathing down your neck on a track. One of the small things that really doesn't matter much, but should be mentioned is the passing public traffic. It literally sounds as though they went out to a highway and recorded the actual sound of a car or truck passing. Sure, a small thing but definitely shows the quality that can be found in this game.

As was discussed earlier in this review, the graphics do really fall short of the bar that is set today. After what we have seen lately in games like Dirt and now Pure, there really is no reason why the graphics shouldn't have some shine to them. I understand that the draw rates of the horizon and the complexity of the game allowing you to drive anywhere into the horizon limits the detail somewhat, but honestly this game really could have released just like this on the original Xbox. One thing that really bothered me was the local public traffic and the lack of detail that went into these vehicles. They are pretty much just square boxes driving down the road. The racing vehicles have the most details, but have plenty of jaggies in the decals and smaller detail points. Again, pretty much unacceptable when it comes to a next gen game.

Controls can be quite frustrating at first in the game, especially with those Baja buggies which handle about as well as a tricycle on the beach. With some practice and time invested in the game you'll learn to use the E-brake and clutch to get the most out of turns and keep your speeds up. As you play the game you'll also learn how vehicles respond to different terrains. You'll also notice that tire and suspension upgrades will help quite a bit. The higher class vehicles handle so much better as well, even at top speeds.

The game has several high points, but unfortunately the lower points seems to erase those high points in most gamer opinions. Online play can be quite fun, and as you unlock higher class vehicles, the game does get a little more enjoyable, but its that darn AI that really puts the final nail in the coffin for this game. Would I recommend this game to folks? Sure, especially if I know they primarily play online. The problem is that many of the vehicles to be used in multiplayer have to be unlocked in the career mode and that may be just a little to frustrating for some folks. This game really could have been a must have with some more attention to the AI and some polished graphics to appeal to the general mass of gamers that feel graphics are more important than gameplay.

Suggestions: Please put out a patch and fix that ruthless and unforgiving AI. Allowing folks to pass and giving up a line goes both ways, and the AI should show the same courtesy that I try to give them.

Overall Score: 7.5 / 10 Rock Band 2

Less than a year ago we were all treated to the release of Rock Band, and while the game was a smashing success it lacked some options that folks thought would have easily been available in the game such as an online Band option or even the option to switch up instruments within your own band but alas neither option was available. Well, here we are with the release of Rock band 2 and it seems that Harmonix listened to the community and included many options lacking in the previous title but have brought us many new options as well. To the relief of many you'll be happy to know that your original instruments will work with Rock Band 2 so there is no need to purchase the new peripherals unless you really want to.

For those that may have been hiding under a rock and never played the first title then here is a quick run down of what the Rock band series is all about. Rock Band allows you to form your own band with 4 major components, each having its own playable part in every song. You have the vocals, guitar, bass and drums. The object of the game is to hit the colored keys on your instrument to match the colored notes on the screen as they cross a line across the bottom of the screen. For the vocals, you'll be judged on pitch and accuracy. You'll be awarded points, and can earn extra points by activating multipliers by stringing notes together and activating overdrive when you hit special notes and fill a meter. Thats basically the general run down of the game, so lets get into what is new and improved with Rock band 2, and trust me, there is a lot of improvements and new options to be discussed.

Without a doubt, Rock band 2 puts the original title to bed immediately the moment you fire it up and interact with the menus. Songs are cached for faster loading from the initial start of the game which really does seem to help quite a bit with the way many game modes play out. You'll create your character and form your initial band. This option pretty much reflects the previous version with the exception of one major difference. Since the game allows you to play with friends over Xbox Live, you'll be able to not only assign 3 other members to your band whether they are local players or online players, but you'll also be able to assign substitute band members that can step in when regular members are unavailable. Another great new feature is that you are now not locked into one specific instrument for your character as you were in least years title. So say you are regularly playing the guitar for the band, but you decide you'd like to play the drums for a few sets then go right ahead. This change is more than welcome and was a must especially for online play since some of your friends may only own 1 instrument which would cause you to shuffle the band a little. Without this option you would have to lock in a person for vocals, guitar, bass and drums and thats all they would ever play. In my opinion, thats just not as much fun.

So as I stated, you'll notice changes immediately when you start browsing through the menus of game modes. You'll have the standard quick play and training modes, but you'll also see the Tour option which will open up a whole new world of game modes. When you select the Tour mode, you'll be prompted to choose either Local Tour or Xbox Live Tour. Lets check out the Local Tour first.

Local Tour will have you load up your band and character. You'll see the following mode options on your screen: Start Tour or Continue Tour, Play Challenge and Battle of the Bands. The Tour is somewhat as what you would expect if you have played the first game with a few additions. You'll now be able to hire a staff to help you earn money and fans and the more popularity you gain will earn you better staff options. As usual you will play from city to city accumulating fans, stars and cash to unlock new venues. Challenges will come up periodically such as playing harder songs in exchange for more fans or cash, etc. You'll also see some venues with trophies beside them and this reflects that a challenge is taking place here. More on this in a second.

Next up we have the Play Challenge option. This option is somewhat interlocked with your career mode in the fact that you will earn money and stars. As I stated previously, you'll also be able to participate in these challenges as you progress through the tour mode, but this option gives you all those challenges in one nice neat list to go through. There are challenges specific to each instrument and the band as a whole. There are seven degrees of difficulty when it comes to the challenges and obviously the tougher songs will be found in the seventh difficulty level while easier songs are in the first level.

Final there is the Battle of the Bands option. This had to be the most interesting option to me as it allows you to compete in challenges that give you an score which is ranked into an overall leaderboard and against friends. Basically as you play each battle it out with friends and other bands across the world to try and obtain the top leaderboard spot. What is even cooler is that you can check out your battle history, status, and friend rankings all with the click of a button. Each battle is a timed event and you'll be able to see how long the event has to go by viewing its details when clicking on it.

You have the usual online game modes such as tug of war and score duel along with the online Tour Mode. In score duel, you'll compete against another player and see who can finish the song with the most accumulated points. With tug of war, you'll basically go up against an opponent alternating parts of the selected song trying to outperform the other person and win over the crowd. Playing perfectly is the way to go on this one if you really want to seal victory.

But the most intersting facet online has to be the fact that you can compete in the World Tour with friends. Sure this is the way it should be but what you need to know is that at anytime a buddy can jump into your current "solo" career and give you a hand. In other words, if you started a tour by yourself, and are having some difficulties obtaining fans or gaining cash then you can invite a buddy or 2 or 3 into your band to help you out. Its just like playing with some buddies locally and the lag is pretty much non existant. When I say that, I have yet to experience any kind of lag yet, so it truly is like playing with some buddies in your own living room. This option is what folks were looking for in the first game and now its part of the second game and is a huge plus in my book.

The gameplay is spot on and has quite a few improvements. The instruments seem very responsive to the on screen notes and most will not experience any kind of lag at all. If you do experience lag issues with notes not registering that you know you nailed, then you can do a calibration which seems to solve any issue almost all the time. For those of you that have the original Rock Band, you'll be happy to know that you can use an export feature included with the last Rock Band update and bring over any song that you want to into the new version of the game. Just load up Rock Band and you'll find the feature in the Options menu. You'll be able to download song from the Store as you could with Rock Band 1.

The Rock Store allows you to shop for clothing, instruments, hair styles and tattoos as well check out your closet for all the items you currently own or have earned in the tour mode. Another new option is the ability to create your band's logo which will be visible to everyone on Xbox Live, so be sure to be creative. You'll be able to colorize your logo along with layering symbols, text, and preset graphics which are completely customizable in size and rotation.

Graphically, Rock Band 2 takes on the music video feel when it comes to visuals. You'll be treated to some wild visuals during in game performances, especially when shooting a video in your tour mode. The characters haven't changed a whole lot in appearance but there are plenty of options for you to really customize your character to a specific look/ As you progress through the tour, you'll unlock new gear and earn cash to buy new instruments and threads. Each venue is also very well detailed and add to the rock and roll feel of the game.

When it comes to sound no other game matches the quality of rock bands. All of the songs included are master tracks and come through crisp and clear especially for folks that have surround sound systems. The song list is quite extensive and ranges from 70's legends to modern day bands. There is a little bit of everything in this game for everyone to listen, play and enjoy.

In summary, Rock band 2 is well worth the purchase especially is you own the instruments from the previous version. You can purchase the new wireless guitar, or the drum set along with a cymbal attachment, and a new microphone which includes the standard controller buttons on the neck of the microphone. A stated earlier, the purchase of these new instruments is not required to play the game if you have the previous instruments. There is plenty of downloadable content on tap and you can be sure with the impending release of Guitar Hero World Tour that Harmonix probably has a few things up their sleeves. Rock band 2 is the perfect follow up act to the original Rock Band, and should be in everyone's library that is a fan of this genre. There really isn't much bas that can be said about the game other than that some of the songs are ridiculously hard even on medium difficulty. But then again, thats probably just me because I would never boast myself as a good Rock Band player.

Suggestions: The game is top notch and has very little room for improvement, but if I had to choose something then I would have to say to add more free downloadable content into the mix. The instruments are not cheap by any means and a break here and there would be greatly appreciated.

Overall Score: 9.2 / 10 TNA iMPACT!

TNA, which stands for Total Nonstop Action, has been around for 6+ years but has not quite gained the popularity of its rival, the WWE. As of late though, the brand seems to have taken up interest among more and more professional wrestling fans across the world. With the help of more air time on TV and now a new video game TNA could be on its way to actually being on a competing level with the WWE very soon. You'll recognize many of the faces of TNA of which most have made their way through the WWE at one point or another. The 2 brands seem to trade off superstars on a regular basis anymore.

So TNA finally has brought out its own video game to the next gen systems in the form of TNA Impact. And I honestly have to say that Midway has done a very good job in delivering the product and making a pretty good wrestling game that fans should enjoy. You'll find over 20 TNA superstars featured along with their signature moves, several venues and plenty of TNA match types. All of which should keep you busy for quite a while.

The game features an exhibition mode, a story mode, and online play as well as plenty of videos of real life matches from the TNA history books. Also included int the game is an extra DVD which features an inside look at the making of the game and a few big matches dating back to the early days of the TNA brand. Its definitely worth taking a look at if you are a fan of TNA in the least, or just a wrestling fan period.

There is a create a wrestler option as well which will allow you to deisgn your own personalized wrestler with a vast array of looks, clothing, moves and accessories. You can use this created character in the story mode or in any exhibition or online match as well. While creating the character is fairly basic, you can still come up with pretty lifelike and interesting characters.

In the sound category, the game once again is on par or better with a lot of their in game announcing and story mode voice over acting. Mike Tenay and Don West do an outstanding job with their voice over work for the in ring commentary and the commentary seems to be just as intense as the action on the screen. If you have watched TNA on Spike TV you will know that these guys put their heart and soul into their commentary and it seems the same has happened in the game as well. Jeremy Borash is also included in the mix of commentary and story mode action. The in ring sounds are authentic in nature and seems to have a high level of intensity which seems to be the sole purpose of this game. TNA is all about non stop action and the sound department has definitely carried that over into the game.

Graphically, Midway has done an outstanding job capturing every little detail of the wrestlers and their signature maneuvers. Each character is easily recognizable and fantastically reproduced on the screen in complete detail. The wrestler entrances start out pretty great but quickly fade away as the wrestler makes his way to the ring. I can understand that entrances could get repetitive after a while and this is probably most of the reason they were cut short, but I still would have loved seeing Sting make his way to the ring and raise the bat to the crowd, or Scott Steiner up on the turnbuckles kissing his fabricated biceps while taunting the masses.

The arenas and rings are pretty basic when it boils down to it, and I do wish you could take your fight into the crowd and steal people's chairs while beating the living heck out of your opponent. Nothing like grabbing weapons from the crowd, but alas thats only a dream. You'll find some chairs scattered outside the ring that you can pick up and smack your opponent with, but after about 4 hits with the chair it then disintegrates into mid air. They sure don't make chairs like they used to! Each ring is designed well, and seems to react well with collisions, rope maneuvers, etc. One of the stand out features in TNA is the Ultimate X division which features 2 wires hanging above the mat which intersect in the middle of the ring. Players will traverse these wires using them to pull off some pretty unbelievable wrestling maneuvers. Your goal is to unhook the intersection of the wires to win the match. And for the most part it works well in the game. There will be a few times when the rope starts bouncing that you'll take notice that your wrestler isn't holding onto anything yet remains suspended above the ring. The crowd is fairly basic as well, but all in all the each arena and it's features work well with the game and do not come across as being bland in anyway.

Now onto the gameplay. We have all grown accustomed to the WWE vs Smackdown series and already have some expectations for how a wrestling game should play. Well TNA doe a good job in the gameplay category. Collision detection seems to be spot on and you won't find yourself swing through opponents or drop kicking air even when you think you hit your opponent. The button controls are fairly straight forward with power coming from pulling the left trigger while hitting the same buttons for normal hits and kicks. You'll be able to grapple and pull off simple grapple style maneuvers. You can even pick up the chairs outside the ring and wail away on your opponent as I mentioned earlier. Each and every character has a finishing maneuver which can be triggered by filling your Impact meter. The Impact meter will fill as you wreak havoc on your opponent with various combos and moves. When the meter fills completely and flashes, you will hear a sound informing you that the meter is full and you'll then have to grapple your opponent into a head hold. Once you have your opponent you can then hit B and pull off the finisher. Now just because its a finisher does not mean your opponent cannot kick out of the final pin.

When you are pinned or stunned in the game you'll be prompted to quickly jiggle the thumbstick quickly in order to regain composure or to kick out of the pin. Kicking out of the pin successfully all depends on how much damage your body has taken. So you will not always be able to kick out, so just keep that in mind. When jiggly the stick a meter will appear and it will fill up as you quickly move the stick. If you are able to fill the meter and it turns to green then you'll kick out of the pin. Again, its fairly difficult, but kicking out of anyone's finishing move should be difficult. Thats why its called a g the ropes and pulling off high flying maneuvers also seems to work fairly well. At times the AI will just stand their and take the punishment you deal out from the top of the ropes, but a human opponent can dodge the attacks or even counter them if they are on their feet and moving around. Getting onto the ropes is simple and pulling off the high risk maneuvers is once again simple as well with the press of a button.

As I stated earlier the game ships with a story mode which is in fact a pretty good and compelling story. Even for wrestling! The story starts out with an up and coming wrestler name Suicide who rises to the top of the ladder and obtains the championship belt. Other folks had different plans and wanted Suicide to take a dive in the match, but he refused to do so. Once the match is over, he pays the price and is beaten to a pulp outside the arena and left for dead. He then awakes in Mexico with very little recollection of his past or his name and recovers after extensive plastic surgery and operations to save his life. Of course, being in Mexico, he makes his way back into professional wrestling unaware of who he is. This is where you character comes into play. Since there was plenty of extensive plastic surgery, there is no problem bringing in your character to play the part of the main character that used to be Suicide. A very believable scenario, again I know. Pretty crazy when we're talking professional wrestling.

You traverse through many matches making your way back to TNA and working your way up the ladder again. You'll make friends and enemies along the way, and who knows, maybe you'll get your shot at the title once again. But you can best bet there will be some folks standing in your way on the way to the top. Perhaps even the folks that took you out once before. This all makes for a compelling story and drives you to continue winning matches and moving further in the story mode. I'd have to say this is one of the best story modes that I have played in a wrestling game in quite some time. While its pretty linear in design, its got depth and keeps up your interest which is pretty important to me.

Xbox Live play seemed fairly lag free, smooth and responsive to controls from what I played. Now of course a lot of lag is based on your opponents connection to you so not everyone will always experience smooth online play of course. There are online leaderboards based no your wins and losses and you'll gain rank titles as you pile up the online wins. All the match types that are available offline are available online as well including tag team, ultimate x and others.

Overall, Midway has put out a solid wrestling product that should compete with its rival very well. Even if you are a fan of the rival faction, you should definitely give TNA Impact a run through. I think you'll find that its a very well made game and I look forward to the future of this franchise. While there is room for improvement in all the aspects of the game, it does not mean that the game is less than par. Its right where it should be for the first of the series, and I would be willing to say its a little better than I was first expecting.

Suggestions: In the create a wrestler mode please allow us to import our own music tracks into the game for entrances. Broaden the list of wrestler's included in the game. Allow us to create our own Pay Per View cards and play through them, almost like a GM mode if you will.

Overall Score: 7.5 / 10 NHL 09





So first off, you'll have the option to join or create a club. When creating a club, you'll select the name of your club and your jerseys. The you can send out invite to folks to join which can include friends or just random folks you play with. Your primary goal is to build a team that is a force to be reckoned with in the online leagues. Players will start out as with very little in the attribute section of their player but with online playing time they will slowly accumulate points which can be applied just like the single player Be a Pro mode. You will earn these points in both League games and Online Pickup games. The more you play the better your player will become and this will become evident by your report card. Yup, thats right. You'll be getting report cards and have an overall score representing your abilities. After each game you'll be issued a report card telling you where you were strong and what you need to work on giving you a final overall grade. Your overall player grade is viewable to anyone and allows teams to go out and find a player that may be strong in an area they are lacking as a team.

When it comes to gameplay in the Be A Pro mode, you;ll be in control of your player and your player only. An arrow will show on the ice to show your that you are out of position and direct you back to a general position location. Positioning is key in the game of hockey and helps team cycle pucks, and create scoring opportunities. Your position is also very important in defense as you never want a guy to have a clear shot at the next, nor do you want to screen out the shooter from the goalies view. So be sure to play attention to the arrow, and no worries, you will receive a positioning grade at the end of the game letting you know how you did all game. As stated earlier, your player can player anyone of the skater positions or you can even play the goalie position if you so desire. Point attributes earned in a game can only be applied to the player in the respective category they played. Thats either skater attributes or goalie attributes. You can't earn both in one game.

Gameplay is spot on when it comes to fluid motions and great controls. Why anyone would want to resort back to button hockey of any sort is beyond me. The skill stick using the right analog adds so much realism and control to the game that button hockey just seems ancient now. You'll be able to perform dekes, shoot quick wristers, or take strong slapshots using the skill stick and you'll quickly learn what your strong and weak points are as well. But there is nothing more rewarding to go one on one with a goalie and deke him out of his skates and hit the back of the net with the puck and you know you did it all yourself with the skill stick. The camera seems to always be in the right place and you have the ability to adjust that as well if its not to your liking.

There really is not any glaring issues when it comes to gameplay. Sure, folks will find their money goals and plays when it all boils down to it and they learn the ins and outs of the game but that is prevalent with any sports game anymore. Money plays are just a part of the game and its up to you to learn how to stop them because frankly thats your only option. If I had to pick something that was annoying it would have to be the new stick lifting that you can do with the push of the A button while on defense. You'll come to notice quickly online that folks like to use that tactic a little too much and it really does take away from the game somewhat when you run up against a constant stick lifter. Just tell one of your buddies to blast him with a nice forecheck, then repeat, and repeat and repeat.

When it comes to sounds, EA has put it in the game. The sounds on the ice and in the arenas are genuine and sounds crisp and clean, and most importantly it has a great soundtrack. Finally, no hip hop or rap!!!! I've heard enough of that from the other EA Sports title to last me a lifetime. Good old rock and roll is a good representation of hockey and is the primary theme behind the soundtrack. That immediately gets 2 thumbs up from me. Voice communications online seem to work well and should for good reason as you are now reliant on your team mates and setting up scoring chances or knowing what a team mate is going to do. Avoiding offsides takes a bit of practice, but more importantly communication from your team mates is key. A few times I ran into an issue of not being able to hear our goalie, but it has seemed more like an intermittent problem than a concern.

Gary Thorne and Bill Clement are your in game commentators and do a pretty good job. But as with any sports game commentary you'll run into repetitive lines of dialogue after logging in some playing time. At times the commentary also seems to be a bit on the delayed side, especially on breakaways or quick scoring opportuni, the game is absolutely stunning. There is very little to no frame rate issue which leads to smooth animations and even more importantly, very smooth gameplay. Almost too smooth! Player models are well done and represent their real life counterparts with extreme accuracy. The shating animations are beautiful and the hits are just amazingly brutal at times.

Overall, as I stated earlier, if you are a sports fan at all then you should own this title. It has everything you could possibly want. Sure its hockey and its not the most popular sport out there, but if EA continues to build upon this game then the NHL may just get back on the map as one of the 4 major sports in America. I can't suggest it enough that one needs to buy this title or in the very least give it a rental for the online play. Be a Pro mode is outstanding and the Online League action is just awesome.

Suggestions: Allow fo more customization of the Be A Pro characters such as using the Xbox Live Vision cam to bring your own face into the game. It was a bit disappointing that feature was left out since it seemed to work well in Tiger and Facebreaker. Also customizable jerseys for your online teams would be off the hook.


Overall Score: 9.0 / 10 Viva Piata: Trouble in Paradise

Growing up as a kid I never once had a pinata at any of my birthday parties. So in all honesty, until I grew older, I really did not know what a pinata was for, or the goodies it could contain inside. Well, the first Viva Pinata title for the 360 was my first experience with pinatas, and I have to say it left a lasting impression. I was in love with the little buggers from the start and played the death out of the game. So to my delight earlier this year I come to find out a second Viva Pinata game was coming. Okay, so it's actually the third if you include Party Animals, but that one doesn't count in my book. Well let me just say that this game rekindled my love for those cute little candy filled characters once again. The folks at Rare have done an outstanding job on delivering a quality title for everyone to enjoy no matter what your age.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is everything the first game was and more. You'll be able to team with up to 3 other players in one single garden both offline and online. You'll be able to trap and bring in exotic pinatas from the Artic or the Desert regions of the game, and once again you'll be able to send your favorite little pinatas off to parties to gain notoriety among its peers. If you loved the first game, then there is no doubt in my mind that you will absolutely adore this game. The depth of the game is measured by how much effort you put into it. But trust me, the game is excessively deep and there is plenty to keep you busy literally for months to come.

The game is pretty much pick up and play for the grizzled Garden Masters of the first game, and its very easy to pick up and play for new players introduced to the game for the first time. The wealth of information and tasks is abundant in this game and will keep you busy for hours on end. Yes, you literally could lose a whole night of sleep easily with this game because it just keeps pushing you to do more and more and entice bigger and better pinatas into your garden. The basic concept of the game is the same as the previous version which was basically make the best garden you can and keep all your pinatas happy.


There are plenty of new features in this game such as the previously mentioned online/offline co-op, mini-games, new pinatas, terrains, items, etc. The game is loaded with new items and pinatas that its almost overwhelming to a degree at times. You never know which pinata to focus on making as a new resident in your garden. Maybe you just want to focus on one species and romance the heck out of them until you have a whole herd. Thats all up to you!

Graphically the game is very well done. Everything in this game looks fabulous. The colors are bright, the details are extensive, and the animations are cute, funny and very well thought out. The game is both attractive to the younger crowd and the older crowd. There is enough humor in the animations of each pinata to have any aged person chuckling at times, or saying how cute. What's even more impressive than the colors and animations, is the attention to detail on everything. When you have snow terrain laid, you'll notice that the precipitation that always falls over that terrain is snow, while when you have grass or dirt it's purely rain. The transition from one precipitation is flawless from what I have seen and there is almost a mixed bag line of rain and snow at the grass and snow common border. You'll also notice that each and every snowflake falling is not just a blob of white stuff falling, but actually is an intricate snowflake design. Those are the kinds of subtle details that this game has and make it a top notch title.

In the sound department, again the game excels in almost all aspects. The interludes during cut scenes seem to match up perfectly to what is being displayed on the screen. The subtle background music while working on your garden does not really get annoying at all as its more of a soothing and soft musical score which once again fits the game perfectly. I am sure there will be plenty of folks firing up the stereo or iPod to listen to their own tunes while working in the garden. Each pinata has its own distinct sound it makes. For example a Piena is basically a representation of the real life hyena and you will find him chuckling, especially when he decides to lift his leg and pass some gas from time to time. He thinks that is quite funny. The game features the same voices of characters as the last version, or so it sounds like it and once again each voice fits its character perfectly. Including Professor Pester who proclaims his victory when destroying one of your prized pinatas. Okay, that I found a bit annoying, but mainly because I know he just destroyed one of my most valuable pinatas. Heck what am I saying. Professor Pester is just annoying, period.

You get quite a few game modes to tinker with this time around. You have your standard campaign mode where you build a garden in single player continually advancing in levels and earning new items, upgrades, garden expansions, etc. You'll also be able to play the Just For Fun mode, which is a sandbox mode which allows you to just go in and play the game without the challenges that arise in the normal campaign and most tools and options are available to you immediately upon entering. There is a system link feature that allows folks to connect over a LAN and play some co-op in your garden. And finally, there is the new Xbox Live feature that allows you and up to 3 others to participate in your garden and make it the best out there.

Lets talks about the Live feature for a second. First off, when going onto Live you'll be asked if you would like to load a garden or start from scratch just as you would in the single player campaign. Then you can invite up to 3 friends into the garden to help you maintain the garden. You can set your visitors permissions with 3 different types. The Only Looking option only allows a person to come into your garden and look around. Limited Access allows another player to do some things and Full Access allows a player to do everything you can do as the owner of the garden. Another feature that uses Xbox Live is the mini-game such as races and Beauty Competitions. You can compete against others to once again gain notoriety or just take a break from the day to day business in your Central Garden. You[ll be able to load up your favorite or most valuable pinatas to take place in the events.

The campaign mode is pretty straight forward and if you played the first game you'll feel right at home with all the options and tasks set forth for you to achieve. You'll once again be romancing pinatas in search of wildcards and twins or just trying to get the master romancer award. If you remember from the last game, it was very difficult to land a wildcard or twin pinata, but no worries this time around. Once you have romanced a species 5 times, you will be able to hatch wildcards and twins by collecting all the flashing hearts in the romancing mini-game. If you need a certain leaderboard time, you'll be treated to more wildcard variants as well, so there are some limited rendition of pinatas floating around here and there. But alas those limited renditions can be put up for sale or scanned onto a pinata card that can be downloaded and printed from www.vivapinata.com.

Huh? Yup that brings us to a very cool new feature included in TIP. New to the game is the inclusion of something called Pinata Cards. These cards can be scanned by an Xbox Live Vision Cam and the pinata pictured on the card will be dropped right into your game. A card comes packed in the game when you buy it, but you can go to the previously mentioned website and download any pinata you like and drop it into your garden. Of course, the ones you download and print will come at a cost. For instance, if you printed out a Limeocerous card, you will have to pony up 3800 chocolate coins in order to be able to drop it into your garden. The cards that ship with the game are free to drop into your garden. To scan in a card can get a little tedious and you'll need to be sure your lighting and focus are properly adjusted for it to work. Oh and a side note, you'll also have to be at least a level 4 gardener to use this feature.

This review could go on and on with all the details of the game and probably end up being about 10 pages worth of text so I won't go to much farther into it. But I do want to mention another new feature in the game and that is the ability to teach your pinata tricks. You'll notice in your toolbox that there is something called a Trick Stick. This tool is used to teach pinatas tricks and also command them to perform a trick. A pinata can learn a new trick by eating something just as they do when they become a color variant. When a pinata eats something that will cause it to perform a trick you will have to tap the pinata with the trick stick mid way through the trick in order for it to learn it. Each pinata can learn up to 2 new tricks individually. And of course a pinata that can perform is more valuable than one that can not. So get out there and start feeding you pinatas food out of the ordinary diet and you may come across some color variants or tricks.

As I said, this review could go on and on with all the new features and wonderful aspects of this game, but that would just get overwhelming. My best suggestion to everyone would be to go out and get the game and dive into it yourself. You'll soon find yourself addicted and hooked like the rest of us. The game is for all ages and can be as deep as you want it to be. It all depends on the time and effort you invest into the game. Without a doubt this is one of the top games for the Xbox 360 console and should definitely be included in every 360 owner's library.

Suggestions: Give us more downloadable pinatas. I would also love to see even more types of terrain added as well as maybe specially area pinatas according to their world region such as by country or continent. Great game none the less!

Overall Score: 9.2 / 10 Rapala Fishing Frenzy

There is nothing like waking up early on a Sunday morning and heading out to the local fishing lake or reservoir for some good old relaxation. Load up the tackle box with your favorite lures, baits and your rod and reel and you are set. Will today be the day you land that lunker that has been teasing you week in and week out? Well now you can get that same feeling minus the fresh air and price of gas of course while playing Activision latest release of Rapala Fishing Frenzy.

Past Rapala branded fishing games have been a bit on the less than desirable side and I was extremely skeptical going into this one for sure. Most of the titles have seemed more like an advertisement for Rapala gear and accessories than a game about fishing. But it seems that my skepticism may have been a bit premature as Fun Labs and Activision seem to have finally brought a decent fishing game to the market for the Xbox 360 console. Alas, there is still plenty of Rapala product plugging throughout the game, but it seems so much more subtle this time around than in the past.

I am going to get this off my chest now as its really the only major glaring issue I have with the game. Unfortunately I am displeased to inform you that the game has no multiplayer options...again. Sure, it finally has online leaderboards so you'll at least be able to compare your catches with others across the world, but honestly why is it so difficult to include a multiplayer aspect of the game. Until a fishing game comes along with online multiplayer options it really will not garner much excitement out of myself and many other virtual fishermen I know. My suggestion to any developer is to take a look at Pro Fishing Challenge for the original Xbox. It featured online play for up to 8 people and online leaderboards. Today's gamer is all about online play. How can this be left out of any game? Anyhow, thats my small rant so lets get to what makes this game a fairly good title when it comes to fishing titles.

Graphically the first thing you will notice is that the underwater environments and fish models are absolutely outstanding. I was in complete awe looking at the underwater scenery while also trying to concentrate on catching the fish struggling to get away. The fish are completely recognizable to their real life counterparts and seem to move in the same fashions as they would in real life. Any true life angler will probably be impressed when viewing this game graphically. The water is well done both on the surface and below the surface. As you have already probably guessed, the game is a below the water fishing game which means you'll see the complete surroundings as well as all the fish swimming around including small schools of bait fish. You'll actually get a sense of being underwater when in that perspective due to the color tones, dirt and debris floating in the water, etc.

At times the camera can be a little out of place, especially when a fish has taken interest in your bait and is moving in for the take. Most of the time you will not get a glimpse of the fish approaching your lure until its about to bite and chances of spinning the camera and figuring out which fish is showing interest is slim to none. So if you are trying to catch a specific fish, but another species is checking out your lure, you won't know until its to late basically. At times I have seen the camera go under the terrain of the lake into a world of infinity which can be quite annoying. Eventually it rights itself, but it is still a glaring graphical flaw in the game.

There are seven real life fishing lakes for you to fish. Each lake scenery contains a lot of extra scenery not really seen in a fishing game before such as floating boats at docks and piers and ducks floating in the water whom take off when approached or a lure is casted in their direction. The foliage, bridges, shadows and weather on each lake is done fantastically as well. You'll see the water pelting on the surface from above and below the water which adds some great realism to the game. You'll also be treated to 19 species of fish to catch ranging from your typical Bass species to several varieties of panfish, catfish, trout and perch. Each fish has its own online leaderboard as well, so you can check out where your lunkers stand against the world. As I stated, the fish models for each of the species are well rendered and very similar to their real life counterparts. You'll easily recognize most of these fish if you are a real life angler.

When it comes to sounds, there really isnt a whole lot to get excited about. You'll hear standard casting sounds, boat motor sounds, underwater sloshing, etc. The in game music could also use a bit of an upgrade, and you are probably better off just turning up the stereo or putting on the Ipod. Honestly though, its fishing and I really wouldn't know what kind of sounds could be added to make the game exciting. Sure the music tempo picks up when you hook a fish, but as I stated the music itself is a bit on the dull side and after a while you'll just not want to hear it anymore.

As I had mentioned, prior Rapala games were lackluster and less than desirable especially when it came to gameplay aspects. You had to many limitations and it just really wasn't all that much fun/ Well I am happy to say that a lot of those things have been addressed in this years game. Previously, you could not use a trolling motor to tweak your boats position. Well, now you can. Previously, you did not have a full range of motion to aim your angler to cast out your line. Now you have 180 degrees of range to cast off the bow of the boat. This is a huge plus, as last year you literally had to reposition your boat to try and hit certain spots you wanted to cast into. And of course you can motor around the lake in your 250hp bass boat. All of these actions are accomplished through a quick cycling of the dpad to the left or right. You'll also have access to a GPS which will show you the hotspots on the lake as well as a fish finder which shows you the fish under the water. You can gauge sizes of fish too by looking at the finder because the big ones really show up as large fish on the finder compared to the smaller and more regular sized fish.

Something else improved in this years game is the fishing itself. Not only are you trying to catch fish to add to your live well totals, but you are also going for high scores that accumulate as you pull off button combinations while reeling the fish in. It does have a bit of an arcade feel to it, especially with the button combo bonuses which give you certain boosts but are mostly there to increase your score. For instance, you'll get a Reel In Bonus, and it does seem to bring the fish in quickly for a few feet. The manula states that the Reel In Bonus will reel in the line 30% if the combo is entered correctly. The combos are fun but honestly they didnt seem to have much value in actually catching ths fish, but moreso just increasing your score. The button combo system does seem to break up any kind of boredom that may set in while pulling in a huge fish, but as stated the score means nothing unless its one of your goals you have to complete for the challenge at hand. Now if you miss some combos you risk losing the fish, so don't just ignore them. Especially the intital stick combo that hooks the fish. You must hit that one in order to land the fish.

While reeling in the fish, it seems that you will only need to be pushing the thumbstick left and right to counter fish movements, pulling the left trigger to reel in, and pulling the right trigger to let the line out. Thats about the extent of what it takes to catch a fish other than the occasional button combos thrown in. Each fish has a stamina meter which seems to be base don the type of fish and its size. The smaller the fish, the quicker the stamina goes down and you reel him in. The larger the fish, of course, the longer it takes you to reel him in and you'll also see a lot more button combos.

For those that enjoy various styles of casting, you will be sadly disappointed. There is only an overhand cast, but at least you can control the power and distance of the cast. There really isn't much to it. Just face in the direction you want to cast using the left thumbstick, and then pull the right thumbstick back for power. The further you pull the stick back, the more power is added to the cast. Push the right stick forward to cast and off goes your lure into the depths.

There are a ton of lures and equipment to choose from and you'll use quite a few different lures to catch target fish for each challenge or event. All of the popular Rapala lures are included in the game as well as the colors and sizes. There do seem to be some lures that seem to catch anything and everything, but to really catch the big lunkers you will have to have the right lure and color modes are fairly limited to Tournament Play, Open Fishing and Quick Play Challenges. In Tourney mode, you'll have 3 different competitions spanning across several lakes. Each competition is an increase in difficulty level. You begin with easy and work your way up to hard. The difference between difficulties seem to mostly be the button combos and fish that seems a little more elusive and picky when it comes to lure selection. The conditions you have to meet to beat each tourney also increase with difficulty. But I really didnt see any huge strides in difficulty between easy and hard. Open fishing allows you to go out and just fish any unlocked lake for whatever you like. And finally the Quick Play Challenges give you certain conditions that need to be met across each lake such as catching 5 large mouth bass, or scoring over 10,000 combo points total in a certain amount of time. There is also an Extras option which allows you to view your player statistics and your Angler's den which houses your accomplishments and tournament trophies.

Overall, this is a solid fishing game and has quite a bit of fun to offer for the virtual anglers out there. You'll find yourself sweating a bit to get those monster bass into the boat from time to time and find it pretty rewarding to watch your character lift the fish out of the water. The addition of the online leaderboards at least gives you something to compete against, but the lack of online multiplayer is a glaring issue and really needs to be addressed in the next version of the game. I have enjoyed the game thus far though, and will probably periodically toss it in the 360 just to try and catch a Top 10 fish or two for the online leaderboards. You can pick this title up for $40 in retail and to many folks that may be worth it, and I can't say it isn't really. If you enjoy virtual fishing than you should check this one out as the Rapala series made serious strides of improvement over previous versions.

Suggestions: This is a no brainer, but online multiplayer is a must and really needs to be added into this series. In this day and age of gaming its inexcusable for a title to ignore online aspects. I would like to see more characters, lakes and fish available for download in the near future.

Overall Score: 7.9 / 10 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09

In the real life world Tiger Woods dominates the sport and shines brightly as the best to have ever played the sport hands down. In the video game world the Tiger series has been trying to get to the same threshold and command the same respect from virtual golfers. Well I am happy to say that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 has made great strides towards that threshold and respect.

You'll find many aspects of 09 to be familiar from previous iterations of the game and it will be easy for veterans to pick up and play the game and perform well right off the bat. What the game does differently is it allows the less skilled or new users to pick up the game and feel like they are able to compete with those veterans. The swing stick seems like its been totally revamped and actually displays itself in the lower left corner so that you can keep track of your entire backswing and follow through. If you are pulling the stick back at an angle, then you will immediately know it and can readjust before hitting the ball.

The menus are easy to navigate as usual with any EA game, and you'll find plenty of things to do in this game. There are mini games, training modules, career mode, online tourneys, multiplayer and plenty more. You will not be at a loss of variety one bit with this game and it should keep you busy for quite a long time. There are also plenty of new features in the game to add a whole new level to your Tiger game play.

Graphically the courses are magnificently recreated in wonderful detail, realism and scenic views. 16 real life courses ship with the game and I am sure we'll see a few more roll down the pipe in the form of downloadable content. Or at least I hope so. One of the most stunning views I happened to see was the sun setting over the Pacific ocean while playing Pebble beach. The oranges and purples reflecting off the ocean was absolutely amazing and it carried over onto the fairways and greens of the course. The view literally took my breath away as the real course would do the same. The character models are once again well done and lifelike and you'll find that creating your own golfer with your own face using the tools provided is rather accurate and has surprisingly good results.

The sounds in the game are what is to be expected from any golf game. Ambient course sounds ring across the fairways such as rolling waves from the Pacific, birds singing, crowd cheers, and much more. The typical swoosh and ping sounds are realistic and once again nothing overly dramatic, but nothing out of the ordinary. The commentary has changed up a bit bringing in a few new announcers which will add a little new variety to the game, but eventually it gets repetitive and annoying at times.

One scary thing that I have to mention is the appearance of microtransactions in the game. As you play the game you will earn virtual money that can be used to buy accessories, equipment and clothing to increase your golfer's attributes or just change one's appearance. you will immediately notice that not only are these items purchased with vitrual money, but you could also use Microsoft Points as well if you so desired. Everything is unlockable with virtual cash which is the way it should be, but it's just the fact that these microtransactions are even an option that scares me for the future of video games.

One of the brand new features in Tiger is the addition of Tiger's own coach, Hank Haney. from the moment you start up the game and create your golfer, you'll meet up with Hank. He will have you complete some simple tasks and evaluate your performance. From that you'll receive a grade on the following categories: Power, Accuracy, Short Game and Putting. These rating will rise and fall with your performance in all single player game modes. One time that the ratings are not affected is during online multiplayer matches. Without any kind of special gear or accessories you can obtain a total rating of 10.0 in each category. When you add in accessories and equipment that rating can be as high as 12 in each category. While the system is not without flaws it works fairly well throughout the game and is definitely a welcome addition. As for the flaws, I have found that there are times when I play a course the way I feel is best for my play style such as lay ups or no extra power added to a shot and I'll tend to get penalized. I have also seen my short game decrease when I am sticking shots close to the pin and might get one or 2 shots off line here and there. You'll also see some unfair rating decreases when playing the mini game matches against the AI such as battle golf or one ball.

Now after you play some events, Hank will grade your performance and give you specific challenges which directly relate to areas that he feels you need to work on. These challenges are fairly straight forward and will give you the opportunity to increase your ratings in categories related. You'll have an initial challenge without a timer to earn you standard rating increase. Then once you successfully complete the drill you'll then be given an opportunity to pile on some more points in a timed challenge where you try to complete the drill as many times as you can during the allotted time period. You'll earn second bonuses for each shot successful try.

Another new addition to the game is the integration of EASports Gamernet challenges. In the past all challenges were accessible and playable only by going online and accessing the Gamernet option. You could view those challenges based on their category, and participate in them if you so chose to do so. You could post your own challenges online as well. Points were rewarded for beating challenges and posting challenges of your own. Now the system has been totally revamped and integrated seamlessly into the game. You can still access all of the challenges through a menu option which a fine and dandy. But now Gamernet challenges will pop up whenever you are playing the game in a single player mode and as long as you are connected to Xbox Live. You won't have to do anything extra other than play the game as you normally would. If you beat the challenge, then you'll get credit for it. If you don't beat the challenge then you just continue playing without missing a beat. The challenges are now condition based meaning that at anytime you can run across one when playing the game if you meet the conditions laid out for the challenge.. So as you play the single player PGA Tour Schedule, you can come across Gamernet challenges such as Longest Drive, Closest to Pin, etc. without distraction.

As I mentioned earlier, the gameplay seems to be tweaked just a bit to benefit all players. You can select from 2 swing styles: Swing Stick using the analog stick and 3 Click meter. The 3 click meter is a visual representation of you swing where you will click a button to start the meter, stop it at the power desired with another click, and finally stop the meter one last time as it decreases to try and hit your ball accurately. This swing style may be perfect for those that just can't seem to pull the analog stick back and push it forward straight. The other style is the Swing Stick which allows you to pull the analog stick back to represent your backswing, and push it forward to represent your follow through. Its not about how fast you pull the stick back and push it forward to generate a good shot. Its more so about the fluidity of your swing and how accurately you pull it back straight and push it forward.



Suggestions: Definitely add a few more courses via downloadable content! the 16 that ship with the game are great, but I really look forward to even more options to play. Possibly make the multiplayer ball ribbon in simultaneous play a little more transparent. At times another player's ribbon can detract from making shots or putts on the green.

Overall Score: 9.1 / 10 Too Human: Part 1

Too Human finally arrives on our 360 with much anticipation from gamers. Did Microsoft Game Studios succeed in delivering a must have in your 360 game collection? Well, for the most part, yes they did. The game overall is very well done, and despite some issues plaguing the game here and there, its definitely a title I would recommend to anyone on my friends list.

The game is best described as a hack and slash RPG with plenty of looting, leveling up and equipment crafting throughout. Looting seems to be the primary focus of the game, and I have to admit its pretty darn cool to hear the dramatic sound effect that chimes in when you pick up something of great value. Different from most hack and slash games, you'll actually use the analog sticks for attacking purposes rather than button mashing. Your buttons are mapped out for special attacks such as battle cries, or powerful ruiner attacks. For th most part this works well most of the time and is welcome from the typical button mashing. Definitely saves wear and tear on your thumb.

One of the glaring issues in the game is the camera angle and targeting system. You'll find yourself getting turned around a lot and facing in the wrong direction or targeting the wrong enemy. A quick tap of the left button will center your camera, but with the fast paced action and the numerous amounts of enemies this becomes a repetitive action. It does not really deter from the gameplay, but becomes more of a nuisance than anything. Another issue I ran into was one point where I died outside of combat. I had just stepped onto an elevator and began to proceed upward when my character died. When I respawned it put me back to the bottom of the elevator shaft without an elevator. The door was locked behind me so I couldn't leave and come back. I had to quit the game and restart from my last save point. Luckily, it was just outside of where I was stuck and I was able to proceed from that point without having to redo anything.

You play the game as Baldur of the Aezir, and your sole purpose is to protect humanity and restore the world to what it once was. Your brothers and sisters are all gods under the watch of Odin. One of those brothers whom you will go to battle with in one of the levels is the almighty Thor. A lot of Norse mythology comes into play along with a technological twist but it is blended together beautifully and works very well for the story. As the story unfolds, you come to know that Baldur is more than he appears and it has me excited for the next game to see how the whole storyline plays out.

While the game is mostly linear, meaning you'll pretty much always have a set path for you to follow, you'll still get your chance to roam around quite a bit. There are many secret areas to be found in which you'll do battle with enemies in order to collect some loot, or you'll venture into cyberworld to visit with the Norne and complete tasks, open doors, and once again collect lots of loot and skills.

You'll get 2 modes of play to choose from with this title. You can choose from either single player campaign mode or take your character online for some online co-op with a friend. The campaign mode has an intriguing storyline with some plot twists and cliff hanger moments. Keep in mind that title is the first of three in what is deemed as a trilogy. The story ending definitely opens up for the next game with plenty of drama. The single player campaign can probably be completed in under 10 hours of gameplay, and a lot of that time is consumed by cut scenes. A quick press of the back button will help skip past these scenes if you so desire.

The second mode of play is online co-op for you and a friend. You'll basically get to choose one of 3 levels. You'll also be able to set the looting system up to specific conditions such as free for all, loot only specific items, etc. The difference between online co-op and single player campaign is that online you will see the cut scenes and story interludes as you do with single player. You'll just hack and slash your way through each level picking up lots of loot and basically leveling your character up to 50 eventually. Keep in mind, the chances of leveling your character up to level 50 in single player the first time through the story is practically impossible. At least from what I understand after playing the game from beginning to end. You can run through campaign again with your created character at the level you were at when you finished the previous campaign. One thing to keep in mind is that the monsters you fight will always resemble the level of the strongest character in the duo. So if you are just starting out the game, do not jump in with a level 50 guy into a game because you will get annihilated.

So lets get into the game mechanics and options a but. From the initial start of the game you'll create a character. You will be given the option to choose your character class from 5 choices. Those choices are: Champion, Defender, Berserker, Commando, and Bio Engineer. The Champion class is the most rounded class and excels in Air Combat, Critical Strikes, and One Handed weaponry. The defender excels in defense of course and has high hit points, armor with the Hammer and Shield as the equipment of choice. The Berserker is your damage dealing class whom uses dual wielding weapons and has high melee damage. The Commando's weapon of choice is rifles and his forte is ballistics such as explosive attacks and technological weapons. Finally the Bio Engineer is your healer class whom has high hit points and focuses mostly on regeneration and healing. The class you choose will cause the game to be played somewhat differently, but in the end you still be hacking and slashing your way through each level no matter what character class you are.

As you progress through your campaign mode you slowly level up your character by killing enemies. The loot you pick up will be level specific and obviously the higher graded loots will require you to have a higher level. Each loot has a color style to it ranging from gray to red. Red of course is the highest grade and best equipment you can have. You'll have to get your level into the 40's to be able to apply any red gear to you character. 50 looks to be the cap level for the game as at the time of playing that is the highest level online I had seen. The loot is divided into 4 categories: Weapons, Armor, Charms, and Runes. Weapons and armor are self explanatory. The Runes allow you to add effects and attributes to your character by placing them into empty rune slots on equipment that allows you to do so. The Charms are somewhat of a mini game in itself. Each charm will give you a goal to complete such as killing a certain number of enemies, accessing wells, etc. You'll also earn skill points as you increase levels which you can distribute onto a skill tree. This tree will add stronger attacks and aly the game is beautiful and the cut scenes are well done and interesting. Some textures are a little on the bland side at times, but overall the game is exceeds folks expectations for next gen titles. Only one downfall to the cut scenes would be the death scenario. Each and every time you die you are treated to a cut scene of a Valkyrie descending from the heavens to take you to Valhalla. This is pretty neat to see the first or second time, but after that you'll just skip past the scene to get back into the action. Oh wait, you can't skip it! Yup, thats right. You spend 20 seconds staring at the same cut scene after each death with no ability to skip it. I guess thats your punishment for dying since you always pick up where you left off after each death. I'd still like to be able to skip the scene though.

When it comes to sound, the game again exceeds most expectations. Voice acting can be somewhat corny and amusing at times, but all the characters have their moments and non moments. The orchestral background music is very good and adds to the whole charisma of the game.

Again, overall the game is very well done and should be played by anyone that like a good action game or even an RPG. If you liked Oblivion than you should give this game a try for sure. Odds are that you won't be disappointed. Online co-op would probably have been better if they would have allowed up to 5 people as then you would have been able to form a group using each character class. As it stands, there isn't much value to the different classes as is other than giving you a little replay value in the single player.

Suggestions: Allow for up to at least 4 other players online, as this would give more value to the character classes. Definitely allow folks to skip the death scene. After several deaths this scene gets quite annoying. Overall, nice job on the game.

Overall Score: 8.4 / 10 Top Spin 3

2K Sports brings us the third iteration of the popular Top Spin series with all new professionals, court venues and mini games galore. You'll get the same in depth career mode you have become accustomed to with the series as well as Xbox Live Multiplayer. In the past Top Spin has been a fairly solid title with minor issues here and there, and it seems that Top Spin 3 follows that same trend. Don't get me wrong, its a solid title and one that tennis fans should have in their collection. One of those glaring issues would be the fact that you still cannot play doubles online with a person from your friends list. You can only play doubles online by having 2 people on one console versus 2 folks on another console. Seriously folks, after 3 tries we still can't get this right? But to a lot of folks this isn't a glaring issues and the gameplay and depth of the game makes up easily for that debacle.

The game ships with an enormous amount of content. You'll be treated to 40 beautifully rendered venues that are scattered across the entire world. Your standard surfaces are included from grass to clay and you'll be able to participate in front of casual spectators to fully packed arenas. It all depends on the venues you choose from 39 professional tennis players or even use your own user created player. All players including your user creation are all playable online as well.

Speaking of creating players, Top Spin 3 includes a fairly in depth create a player mode that allows you to really customize your character to your exact liking. You'll start out by choosing a preset male of female character. You'll then go into an editor that will allow you to customize every feature from their body type to the way their face looks. Unfortunately you can only use preset components and will not have the ability to physically resize or tweak features. Each category has a set amount of presets you can choose from and while the combinations of those presets can be many, you still don't quite get the in depth customization other games have provided in their create a player mode. This is one spot that EA destroys 2K when it comes to player customization. You'll also get to select your tennis style which will include how you hit the ball, your player animations, attitude and the grunts he/she make on the court. Yup, you definitely gotta have grunts in tennis! Once your character is created you can now begin your career and start building your characters attributes.

Along with the enormous amount of content you'll also get quite a few options of gameplay to choose from in the main menu. You can jump into a standard exhibition match right away using any pro's you would like, and it can be doubles or singles. There is an in depth career mode, which we will discuss a little bit later in the review, There is also a Top Spin School which is basically a tutorial of sorts that teaches you all the aspects of the game and how to make the best of your shots. You'll also find a player area and this is where you will distribute your XP earned to level your character up, buy new accessories at the mall, and view some history on your player.

The Xbox Live option allows you to go online and play either in a player match or a World Ranked match. You'll first select the player you want to use, or you can load a created player by pressing the start button. In player matches you'll be able to join search or create matches to your liking. When creating a match You can set the numbers of sets per match, gamers per set, tie break and which venue you would like to participate. All 40 venues are available to play in from the moment you first go online so you don't have to worry about unlocking anything. As I stated earlier, you can play doubles online but only if you and your real life buddy are playing on the same console versus another pair across the internet. I guess one day off in the future we'll finally be able to play doubles online with 3 other folks on live and they won't have to be in the same room.

So Top Spin gameplay as you know it has been revamped quite a bit. The developers seem to have taken more of a simulation aspect to the game rather than a pick up and play style. This is both good and bad. Now when hitting the ball it is more about timing and button release than anything else which adds great substance to the word simulation. It take a little getting used to but after some practice it really does seem to work very well. I was extremely frustrated with the timing issue for the first fews sets. Either I would completely miss the ball, or I wouldn't hit it to the part of the court I wanted to. But once you get your timing and sequence down you'll find the new swing and hit system to be very good. Player movements are smooth and what would be expected of tennis player movement and reactions. All your standard shots are back and risk shots have returned as well. Online risk shots seem to really unbalance the gameplay, and frankly need to be toned down and they also tend to be very fail miserably more than not. Now I am sure there are folks that have gotten the risk shots down to a science and will beat you into submission with risk shot after risk shot, but for the casual player the standard gameplay is difficult enough.

When it comes to graphics the game shines brightly. The venues are extremely detailed and the player models move realistically and are smooth as silk. Each court surface type is perfectly rendered and coupled with the realistic player movements gives you the complete feeling of actually playing on that specific surface. One of the things I found that actually impressed me was the sweat build up on your shirt. As you progress through matches and have to work pretty hard to win your points, your shirt will progressively get wetter with sweat.

When it comes to sounds the game doesn't seem to have taken many steps forward. Sure the sounds of the ball being hit back and forth is authentic, and crowd cheers are fairly realistic but there are things missing. Commentary would be a welcome addition to the game. A type of TV broadcast, especially for the Grand Slam events would be ideal and make the game so much more enjoyable. Player arguments with the line judges would be cool to listen to as well, but alas no drama is added into the game in any form. Bottom line is the game is very monotonous when it comes to the sound department and could use some background ambiance, music or something. Otherwise it is just a modern day Pong when it comes to excitement.

When it all boils down to it, Top Spin 3 is a simulation game that will be perfect for many tennis fans, but will be extremely frustrating for the casual pick up and play gamers. The graphics are well done, and the sounds could be better but still work for what the game tries to do. Online play seems solid ignoring the fact of no online doubles among multiple 360 consoles. And there are plenty of unlockables to keep your character looking the part of the professional tennis player. For those casual gamers, you may be best suited to stay with Top Spin 2, but for fans of the series this may just be the game you have been looking for. While many gamers scream for more simulation aspects in sports games, this one may have crossed that fine line of being a fun game for everyone to only catering to a few.

Suggestions: Tone down the simulation aspect of the game and revert back to more of a pick up and play style. Add online doubles for 4 seperate 360's across the world. I want to be able to double up with my buddy in Arizona.

Overall Score: 7.9 / 10 Madden NFL 09





Of course the Mini Games are present as they were in last years version. You'll be able to compete in the following events against the AI: 40 yard dash, Bench press, QB Challenge, RB Challenge, Coverage Challenge, and Lineman Challenge. You'll earn points for performing well at each task and your goal is to obviously earn the most points to win. You can select the difficulty level and the events you would like to participate in as well.

Madden Moments is a mode that allows you to play in specific real life game situations from the previous NFL season, including the final minute and a half of the Super where the Giants pulled off the big upset over the Patriots. These moments have specific requirements in order to complete them such as beating the Ravens using the Dolphins by scoring the game winning TD in overtime. A field goal won't complete the challenge for you.

If you are into Fantasy Football then you'll find something in Madden 09 as well to wet your whistle. EA jumped into the Fantasy Football arena a few years back and now has integrated their tools and draft kits into the game. You'll be able to keep track of your team in the game as well as play with your team in the game. There are already draft tools available for download on Xbox Live marketplace. From what I have experienced from playing EA's Fantasy Football, this should prove to only get better and better and may actually be my primary choice in the future when it comes to playing Fantasy Football.

One of the new and most anticipated features in Madden is the addition of online leagues. Online leagues can consist of 2 to 32 owners total. That's a plus! So you would think that with 32 owners that the league would default to an NFL style league set up with divisions, conferences and the current schedule. Well, that is not the case. No matter how many teams you have in the league, you will be confined to one division and one linear type of schedule. The schedule boasts a flex style which means you can play any opponent on your schedule at anytime you are both online, but thats about all the good that the schedule system has to offer. When you set up your league you will be able to choose 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 games. You would think that is the number of games in your season, but alas its not. It's the number of games you play against each opponent. So, if you have 10 teams in your league and you select the 11 game schedule then that means you will have to play 99 games to complete your season. Do the math, that is 11 games against each opponent. To some, including myself, this is a flaw in the schedule system.

Another problem in the league feature is the lack of being able to create divisions and conferences. So how are the 2 super bowl teams determined? Well, dependent upon the number of teams you selected to participate in the league, the top certain number of team pertaining to the overall amount of teams gets a playoff spot. In other words, if you have a 32 team league, the top 12 records gets a play off spot. No division winners, no wild card spots, etc. Honestly, who even thought this concept was a good idea? Now you have the option to turn off the playoff system as well. So that pretty much means the guy with the best record at the end of the season wins the trophy. All I can say is.. huh?

On a very positive note pertaining to the league system, you will be able to assign trophies to your league which winners will be able to display proudly in their EA profiles as well as in the game accomplishments. You'll also be able to use unique rosters which will allow for fantasy drafts. Injuries and fatigue can be turned on as well as the weather can be set to random, game skill level can be set to a certain difficulty.

The bottom line is, while the online league system is welcomed to the Madden series, it falls a bit short in its overall design. This system more represents an extravagant ladder system rather than a league system with the exception of the trades. There will be plenty of folks that will use it without gripe since they are playing the game online anyhow and the trophies give them something to strive for. But its just extremely disappointing to real football fans in the end that had hoped for an online NFL system. Its a great first try and hopefully EA will implement an NFL model into the mix in next year's version. I am glad that EA has ventured into the online league arena, now get back to the drawing board and use those great talents and ideas that are displayed throughout the rest of the game.

When you decide to take your game online for regular matches you'll find the familiar lobby system that you have come to know with Madden games. EA is on the ball right from the start with roster updates and hopefully it will continue through the life of the game. You'll be prompted to load the current online roster the moment you create a session or jump into an online game. At the time of playing this game for review purposes the servers were smooth as silk with no lag at all. Games played online just as they do offline, but that could change once the masses hit the servers after launch day. From what I see though, if you have a good connection with your opponent you should see very little to no lag at all. You'll also be able to upload videos and snapshots from your both your offline and online games for everyone to view at easportswolly the game is jaw dropping with fluid animations, field degradation, weather and excellent player models. The sounds are authentic and bone crushing in some high impacts. As stated, the commentary is good even with Collinsworth as the analyst and the soundtrack should please both the rockers and the hip hop crowds. I could go on and on about the improvements and strides that Madden 09 has made and it all boils down to the fact that this is a must have title for any fan of video game football. The game will satisfy the appetite of both casual and hardcore football fans and its mixes those two worlds together very well. If you were on the fence about purchasing Madden this year, I would say its time to get down off that fence and head on out to your local retailer and pick up a copy today.

Suggestions: Please redo the online league system to reflect the NFL format. Include divisions, wild card, a custom schedule creator or even random schedule creator based on the number of participants.

Overall Score: 9.3 / 10 Soul Calibur IV

Soul Calibur IV has been on everyone's radar for quite sometime. Well folks it has finally arrived onto our beloved Xbox 360 consoles and it seems that its been well worth the wait. The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is solid, and there is plenty of online goodness for all gamers to enjoy. This game should be a welcome addition to almost any gamer's library whether you are a fan of the genre or not. And the inclusion of Yoda in the 360 version just makes it all the more worthwhile.

The Soul Calibur series has written itself into video game history as being one of the elite fighting games. It has also established a large following of fans that will swear by the name Soul Calibur and protect its integrity to their death. Well those folks will be happy to know that SCIV is a fabulous and welcome addition to the Soul Calibur library of games. But for folks that may not be familiar with the Soul Calibur series lets give a quick run down as to what the game entails.

The SC series is a weapon based fighter that boasts beautiful backdrops, a cast of unforgettable characters and storylines as well as stellar gameplay. Each character has its own themed fighting style and weaponry along with an array of special moves and attacks. You'll progress through each character's storyline to unlock new characters and weapons.





Some of the more diehard veterans of the game may find it troubling that button mashing can be quite successful in this game. I am not an expert at this type of game and can hold my own against seasoned veterans just with some typical button mashing and key blocking of their shots. While I will be unsuccessful more times than not, its still out there for the casual users to be able to jump in and coy the game is absolutely gorgeous. Lighting and shadows are done beautifully on both the character models as well as the backdrops for each and every stage. There is always some sort of ambiance to each scenery backdrop. For instance, there is a Star Wars level that depicts your battle inside a Star Destroyers hangar bay. Outside you'll see an epic Star Wars battle taking place while Tie Fighters and X-wing fighters race past you and your opponent. Dead or Alive 4 and now Soul Calibur IV have set the precedent for fighting game backdrops. Thumbs up and frankly I was in awe quite a few times while admiring the artwork and displays of graphical masterpieces.

Overall Soul Calibur IV is a must have for gamers in general. Gorgeous graphics, fluid gameplay, online multiplayer and just plenty of unlockables and game modes are just a few of the reasons that you should at the very least give the game a try. I hope to see Darth Vader make his way to the 360 in the form of future downloadable content at some point. But for now, I am quite content with what Soul Calibur IV has to offer as is.

Suggestions: Bring Darth Vader to the 360 if possible via DLC, and possibly some other characters and venues!!! Also, would be great to have some tournament style matches online for both ranked and player matches. Other than that, great job!

Overall Score: 8.9 / 10 Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath

Electronic Arts recently introduced Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wraith into the Xbox 360 world. This title had previously been released on the PC as an expansion pack earlier this year, so some marketing guru's probably figured why not give the console gamers a taste as well. For the price of $39.99 in retail, I guess it's not a terrible idea. You'll get more storyline, a few new weapons and scenarios and frankly a better interface system than the original C & C 3:Tiberium Wars. The only problem is trying to convince gamers that buying a stand alone expansion pack on a console system is a good investment. Well, for first time C & C players on the 360 it will be a lot of fun. For those that have played the first one, you'll have quite a few flashbacks from the original game. My first run in with this was going into the basic training mode. It was exactly the same as the original game. I will admit I was taken back a little by that initially and didn't have high expectations from that point forward.

Diehard fans of the C & C series will feel right at home and love this expansion pack as much as they loved the prior version. There is plenty of new gameplay, new video cut scenes, and of course the online multiplayer that was done pretty well the first time around and enjoyed by many. You'll get a Campaign mode, which can be played at 3 difficulty levels and contains 13 various style missions. You'll be playing as the Nod this time around in an effort to re-establish the Nod brotherhood. You'll destroy rogue groups of extremists and activists who have chosen to fight for their own cause at times. There are 9 different factions named within the game, but you only get to play as the Nod throughout the entire Campaign. That was a highly disappointing aspect of the campaign mode. A full featured storyline allowing you to play as any faction would have been great, but would have probably raised the price as well.

You are also treated to a mode called Kane's Challenge. At least this mode allows you to play as all 9 factions. Kane offers up 10 different challenges for you to complete using each of the 9 faction. So when you think about it, you'll have 90 different scenarios to play before completing this game mode. While the scenarios are in essence a deathmatch mode versus the AI, each faction will give you a different variation on how things play out. Honestly, its a fun mode at first but can get a bit on the boring side once you have played through it with one or two factions.

You'll also have a mode called Skirmish to play around with. This mode allows you to put yourself into a battle with up to 3 other AI controlled opponents. Skirmish is basically a training tool you can use to better yourself for online play. You'll be able to choose any of the 9 factions, as well a choose who your opponents are too. You'll also be able to set up the map you prefer to do battle on as well as the type of player personality the AI uses. Those personalities are: Balanced, Rusher, Turtle, Guerilla, and steamroller. Each personality is pretty self explanatory as to what play style they follow. So again, this makes for a great tool to match up against those feisty folks online. You have trouble beating someone that just all out rushes you with everything they got? Then practice against that style of player in skirmish and you'll be good to go in know time.






Suggestions: I would have loved to be able to play as any of the factions involved throughout this story. now the realization that this is only an expansion pack makes me understand why that wasn't the case, but I still would have liked the option. The radial wheel still needs some tweaking but overall its a very good system and works well with the game.

Overall Score: 7.5 / 10 Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3 finally makes it way to the Xbox 360 after first releasing on the PS3 and PC almost seven months ago. There is almost a cult like following for the Unreal games, and there is no doubt that Midway hopes for the same on the 360. From the moment you start playing the game, you'll immediately notice that the game is very similar to previous versions in controls and general aspects. But the graphics obviously are a huge upgrade and the gameplay is pretty darn solid. So most if not all Unreal lovers will be quite happy with the latest installment in the series.

UT3 offers you a single player experience and of course the Live multiplayer experience as well. You'll find that both options offer you many hours of gameplay and fun. One of the best features that involves both the career mode and Xbox Live is the new coop mode that allows players to join up with a buddy and progress through the storyline. This option is what all of your big titles should have and UT3 does not disappoint in anyway. Coop campaign mode can also be done via splitscreen on the same 360 console or over System link as well. Oh and by the way, you can carry a guest into matches played on Xbox Live. Your buddy will have the ability to log in under their gamertag as well if they have one readily available on the same console or a memory card. They'll earn achievements for playing just as you will. So grab a buddy, set up splitscreen and get into some Live action online.


There is a bit of a twist to the campaign mode. As you progress through the single player campaign you will unlock cards. These cards can be used to alter the gameplay a little for the level you use them on. I would probably compare it to the old Madden card system where you earned boost cards for your players or you could affect the other teams abilities. Some cards will boost the skills of your team while others will hurt the enemy. All cards are beneficial to you in one way or another. Now I did notice that a lot of the cards earned you are able to hold onto them and use them on a later mission. But there are a few instances where the game requires you to use them immediately on the next mission upon earning them. Still a pretty cool feature and adds some fun factor to the game as well.

Now of course everyone loves the single player campaigns, but in today's gamer minds its all about Xbox Live multiplayer it seems. Well, you'll be happy to know that the game has some fantastic multiplayer aspects. The game originally ships with 16 maps and 6 different game modes. The maps vary in size and all of them fit quite nicely into the fast paced gameplay of UT3. Your game modes of choice are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Vehicle Capture the Flag, Warfare and Duel. Weapon variety is fairly vast as well giving you 13 different weapons to dismantle and obliterate your competition. And if weapons aren't enough then how about 15 different vehicles to man in Vehicle Capture the Flag. You'll also have plenty of power ups and deployables at your disposal such as armor, ammo, traps, weapon upgrades and shields.

All of your weapons and gadgets are easily accessible through the user interface. You can progress forward through your available weapons one at a time by using the right bumper. Or you can bring up a radial wheel that allows you to point to the weapon of choice using the analog stick. Granted the PC version of the game works so much better for switching weapons, but this will do.


The vehicles, and there are many of them, are basically controlled very similar to the way you controlled vehicles in Halo 3. You basically move the aiming reticule in the direction you want to move, push forward on the left thumbstick and off you go. Simple concept to grasp for most folks. Some vehicles even support multiple players. One person controls the vehicle while another sits in the gunner position. You will find that vehicle control can be a bit frustrating just as it was in Halo 3 at times,e specially when in a fire fight with someone running around you.

The newest game mode to hit the Unreal world is Warfare. The game is completely team objective based and uses a moving battlefront system ala Frontlines: Fuels of War. The maps are vast and you'll have vehicles to help you obtain and complete your objective at hand. Basically, the enemy has a shield system which you have to weaken and destroy. You do this by controlling Nodes, which basically are enemy points on the map that give them access to certain vehicles and weapons. You will have to established a linked network of Nodes up to the enemy base to completely open the power core to attacks. Some Nodes are more important to others, and on a few maps you will come to learn that there are special Nodes that do major damage to your enemies power core via hefty attacks such as launching missiles. At times, the announcer in the game will tell you of Nodes that are vulnerable to attack right at that moment. You'll also be able to see these Nodes on your mini map. Once you have established a link from your power source to the enemy base you'll be able to destroy their power source and win the match. Included in the game play is a interesting orb system that allows immediate control of a neutral or enemy Node when a person on your team carries the orb to a Node control point. Each team starts with an orb in their base and one of the players can pick it up and becomes designated and Orb Runner. You cannot use any vehicles to transport the orb. You can only proceed on foot or hoverboard. The game can get quite strategic at this point, and this feature actually helps losing teams try to make a comeback in games.

Over and above the campaign and online multiplayer you'll also have the option to jump into instant action versus bots. You'll be able to set up all of the match setting including game mode, map, difficulty, etc. And some of the best news for fans of the game and fans of splitscreen is the option to play in splitscreen with a buddy in quick play matches.

Graphically, Unreal Tournament 3 is stunning. Character models are detailed extremely well and maps are full of minute details. Texture mapping is top notch as well as the shadows cast across each and every map. You'll be treated to a great visual feast when playing UT3. At times some gameplay will be hampered by loading textures or details, but this has honestly become almost acceptable behavior with any game that uses the Unreal engine. Overall, you will not be disappointed in the least by the game's look and feel. All the blood and gore is there from past iterations of the game. But don't worry parents, there is an option to dumb down those gore effects. But really who would really want to do that to this game. UT is all about the blood and gore!!!

The controls in the game are quick and fast paced and you really have to be on your toes, especially when online. At times, the default settings can be a bit touchy and may affect how well you actually do in the game. But luckily there are plenty of options for tweaking those controls to your style of play.

When it comes to the sounds of the game, the game once again does not disappoint. Voice acting can get a little mundane but again in today's games voice acting does not always get top billing and the game usually speaks for itself more than the characters. Thats exactly the case with UT3. Every weapon and vehicle has its own distinct sounds and you'll get completely immersed in the maps and the way the ambient sounds play into the action. Trust me, you'll know when you catch a missile in the face. Every sound you hear will be completely expected.

Overall this game is top notch and a must have for FPS fans. There are plenty of modes to play, the storyline is great and fun to play, and the graphics are absolutely amazing. When you first start playing you really will get a Gears of War type of feeling from not only the visuals, but the dark side of things as well. The characters almost seemed modeled after Marcus and the boys at times. You are getting everything the PC and PS3 have to date all wrapped up into one package. My recommendation would be to pick this one up if you can. You will not regret it.

Suggestions: Overall the game is really great! More maps, weapons and vehicles via downloadable content would be the only suggestion that I would have that comes to mind. Just be sure to support the game.

Overall Score: 9.0 / 10 GRID







You'll compete head to head in rooms of up to 12 other drivers. You'll be able to participate in the typical ranked, player, and private matches. When you compete in public matches, you'll be subject to a voting session between races that allows the participants in the room to select the region and event for the next race. Players will first vote for the region they want to race in, and once the region is selected then the voting switches to the event. The online ranking system is based on the amount of racing you do, who you race against and who you beat. Overall the online package plays very well with very little, if any, lag at all.

I would have to say that GRID is probably one of the best racers to date on the Xbox 360 console. The innovative Flashback feature is a very cool addition that will make those frustrating moments in racing disappear. The graphics are top notch which isn't much of a surprise when it comes to Codemasters and driving games. Most of all the handling and controls of each and every car are a great mix of simulation and arcade. Both expert drivers and amateur drivers should fall in love with this title.

Suggestions: I think one of the main suggestions would to give an even larger selection of cars to drive. In todays driving games, it seems the more cars you have in your game inventory the better you are received.

Overall Score: 9.1 / 10 Guitar Hero: Aerosmith









Suggestions:

Overall Score: 7.2 / 10 Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit









Suggestions: Cooperative play could have been huge in this game, and it would have worked very well for both online and a co-op career mode. A unqiue storyline in the single player would have been great, especially if it would have given fans of the show something new to gossip about.

Overall Score: 7.5 / 10 Battlefield: Bad Company









Suggestions: The inclusion of team chat or proximity chat would be a big plus in the game. Team chat could definitely add to the strategic value of the gameplay. Would love to see more stat varied weaponry as well and maybe the addition of some new unlockables or special equipment for each class. Overall though, great game.

Overall Score: 9.1 / 10 Deadliest Catch Alaskan Storm









Suggestions: Group chat is a must!!! Please either send out a patch to include this OR at least be sure to include it in DCAS 2 if there is such a title in the pipeline. Try to include a few more real life boats or add some downloadable content. New crab variations would be cool as well. Make the boat editor even deeper and customizable rather than just using a template of already existing boats. Other than that, great job guys on making a good game. Definitely broke the unfortunate mold of shooters and racers on the 360. Kudos.

Overall Score: 8.2 / 10 Kung Fu Panda









Suggestions: Online multiplayer mode could have probably been a lot of fun with this game. I would have liked to have seen a little more open level design, but overall the game was pretty good and a lot of fun to play.

Overall Score: 7.8 / 10 LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures









Suggestions: For the life of me, I cannot understand why online co-op was not included in this game. In today's video game world, that is almost a must and its in the Star Wars game as well as the upcoming Batman. The ball was dropped here for sure. I'd also love to see online adversarial play in the LEGO world. Can you just see Team Deathmatch in LEGO style??? That would be too awesome!

Overall Score: 8.6 / 10 Viking: Battle for Asgard









Suggestions: I would have definitely liked to have seen some more upgrading with the weapons, and possible a variation in weapons available other than the typical sword and axe combination. I would have also liked to have seen a leveling up system for your character rather than just the advanced moves that you purchased and extra health. Finally, something just wasnt right with the story, especially in the end. I felt extremely disappointed by the final cut scene and almost robbed if you will of my time. Overall, I had fun with the game but it was lacking in a few things such as those I mentioned.

Overall Score: 6.8 / 10 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2









Suggestions: The exclusion of 4 player co-op in story mode was a bit disappointing. This mode is a definite must have for this type of game. Other than that, another solid addition to the Tom Clancy library of video games.

Overall Score: 8.6 / 10 Army of Two









Suggestions: Please support the game with more online game modes, weapons and maps. Also allow for more character customization to give players more unqiue opportunities to stand out from others online. Campaign was was way to short, and maybe some missions could be added later.

Overall Score: 7.7 / 10 Lost: Via Domus









Suggestions: A bit more action in the game would have done wonders than question and answer sessions, and puzzle based mini games. Give the ability to play as other characters within the story.

Overall Score: 6.8 / 10 Lost Odyssey









Suggestions: The game is great with a few minor flaws. Retail Packaging comes to mind first and foremost! Please find a different way to package multiple disc games. The Japanese received an actual case that had a spot for each of the discs, while the North American version had 3 discs piled on one another and 1 disc in a sleeve tucked on top of the manual. Make enemies visible within the world for easier leveling up abilities rather than running around hoping to find an enemy. Add character customization, upgradeable weapons and armor.

Overall Score: 7.8 / 10 Frontlines: Fuel of War









Suggestions: Include in-game clan support as this game just beckons for such a feature. Of course downloadable content including new maps, weapons, and possibly vehicles would be a plus. New innovative game modes rather than the typical deathmatch and capture the flag. Also a co-op feature would be a definite must have in future iterations of the game.

Overall Score: 8.6 / 10 Burnout Paradise









Suggestions: Please consider adding more game modes for online player via DLC such as team events found in Burnout Revenge. If DLC is in the future, please add more challenges as well. I would love to see the map expanded as well, across the bridge under construction area preferably. Overall though, great job and looking forward to whats in store via DLC.

Overall Score: 9.3 / 10 Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock









Suggestions: Make Co-op Career mode online to allow users more options to play with their online buddies. Please redo the character models as many of them look like walking skeletons or zombies for a lack of better terms. Other than that, thumbs up on a job well done with this series.

Overall Score: 9.2 / 10 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare









Suggestions: Please include some sort of actual clan support instead of just a visual representation in the lobby. Clans seem to be an important assett to FPS fans, and a full fledged clan vs clan system would be superb. Also include some sort of split screen co-op, or online guests.

Overall Score: 9.4 / 10 ESPN NHL Hockey 2K4









Suggestions:

Overall Score: 9.6 / 10 NCAA Football 2004

A light mist hangs over Happy Valley as strings of traffic pour in from all the major routes. Yup its Saturday!!! Time for some great college football in University park, PA. Marching Bands, ranting coaches and top ESPN announcers, this game has it all. Choose from over 160 Division 1-A and 1-AA schools or take one of your favorite classic teams from past years onto the field. NCAA 2004 creates such an atmosphere of college football its almost ridiculous. I found myself looking for that unprecedented #1 ranking in the polls, only to get shafted by the computer ranking system a few times. Its so true to real life! Its a great feature to have to wonder if you'll get ranked #1 or be victim to a conspiracy. With the addition of the Sports Illustrated trademark, you'll be aware of any ranking conspiracies or other valuable information such as Heisman candidates, upsets, players of the week, and more.

Run the option, call and audible to play action if those safeties are cheating up, or just go over the top if your QB has the arm. Every college play you could dream of is in the game along with formation like the wishbone or Maryland I.

This game has everything from practice squads to a truly deep dynasty mode. Now of course college atheletes are non liscensed players so do not look for popular names to be on the field. You'll just see their number. You can edit this if you like. As you progress through dynasty years, those #'ed players will be replaced with named players you recruit. If you are looking for that college football game to satisify every need you have then look no further than NCAA. I suggest you go pick it up right now, because you'll be hooked if you are a college football fan. WE ARE........PENN STATE!!!

When it comes to creating a sense of college football, NCAA has nailed it on the head. Control is surpisingly quite smooth and easy to learn. Running the option is an artform in this game, which it is in real life. Don't expect to run it pefectly every single down, because the AI will adjust quickly. You need to mix up your plays a little.

The play selection screen is simple in the fact you pick you formation and then you pick your play. Running plays will be blue while pass plays will be yellow. Depending on what school you pick will determine what play selection and formations you get.

Dynasty mode in this game has to be among the best out there. You can choose one or a few schools to play with through the years. You'll be offered contract extensions or other coaching opputunities with other schools as you progress through each year. As you get better and win more, the better oppurtunies arise. Also, the more you win, the better chance your school has of moving into a better conference and increasing their prestige. Your players will also increase or decrease in abilities from year to year depending on your performance.

In the offseason you have the wonderful task of trying to land a few of the blue chippers looking to play some college ball. You'll receive a certain amount of credits for a 5 week period. You must use the credits to pay visits to your recruits and try to entice them to play ball at your school. Be sure to keep and eye on your team needs and fill those before trying to land the #1 guy in the country. Players will either show interest towards your school, or just basically snob you off, so keep and eye on their reactions to your offers. You don't want to waste credits on guys that have no desire to play for you. Once the recruiting is over, you'll have to cut your roster to 55 players if it isnt already there. Then you'll go through a breif training week, where you'll see what guys improved and what guys stayed the same. The off to your next season. Hint: If you want a shot at #1 with a smaller school, be sure to adjust your schedule with a few ranked teams before starting the next season.

As you play your games, you earn credits which allow you to buy Madden cards. These cards range from team boosts to cheats to classic teams unlocked. Before you know it you'll have enough tokens racked up to buy all 340 cards. The classic cards need to be earned in the Classic Team Mode.

Classic Mode puts you in famous game situations from college history. You'll be placed on the field and need to win the game in the time remaining. A few of these situations are pretty tough, while a few other are easy as pie.

You'll find record books, trophy cases, career stats and anything else you could hope for in a football game. And for those of you that have Madden 2004, you can import your graduating seniors into the Madden game for drafting in the NFL. Now thats a really kewl option!!

The stadium renditions for most of the schools seem to be right on. I am amazed to play in some of the football stadiums. The crowds are not the most innovative feature but you see plenty of movement and the band bouncing back and forth while tooting a tune. You gotta love the intro's to a few of the teams, like Notre Dame for example. The classic patting the sign as they walk down the steps in not left out. Most of the teams just come out of a tunnel, but I there are a few unique intros like ND.

The cheerleaders haven't changed much. Its nice animations but they still look a little on the jagged side. You'd think an animation could be top notch. The mascots still show reaction to play on the field along with cannons firing for those schools that have them. Coaches also get animated on the sideline showing their appreciation or disgust for calls made on the field.

One of the best visual animations I think I saw, was right after I scored with my running back. He ran right up to the ground camera in the endzone and posed Heisman like. Next thing I knew I got an unsportsmanlike conduct call for excessive celebration. UG! Darn freshman!

Framerates are very smooth, and the players look outstandingly real. The face are still a little on the spooky side as they can tend to have that blank stare going, but how often are you going to be checking out someone's face instead of trying to juke around his whole body.

College football is all about the atmosphere, and NCAA recreates that atmosphere with superiority. The marching bands playing alma maters when a TD is scored is the most noteable college reality int he game. You're crowd will be loud and into the game when you are doing good, or quiet and almost non existent when you are stinking up the field. You'll here players chanting, QB's audibling, and ref's calling penalties with clarity.

The announcers from ESPN's college gameday are the perect accent on a pretty much flawless game. Listening to Lee Corso and his quirks and comments can get quite funny. At times, they'll tick you off in the pregame when they go against you and pick the other team. But that should inspire you to prove them wrong and they'll admit it at the end of the game. Play by play is dead on and called as the action happened...Not a play later like some games have been known to do. As you break records, they'll congratulate you or they'll show doubt in some of the calls you make on the field. Depending on what school you are playing with or the school you are playing against, you may or may not have a televised game. If the game isnt televised, then you'll have a PA Announcer calling your number on the play just like at a real live game.

So basically music, television announcers, and on field sounds in this game are super and take this game to untouchable levels for any competitor looking to match NCAA.

Suggestions: Bring more schools into the mix as you did this year. Maybe get a little deeper in the recruiting process such as offer potential recruits trips to the school during the year to check out the facility and stuff.

The game is solid and I would hope only extras would be added, but no changes to the gameplay.

Overall Score: 9.6 / 10 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003









Suggestions: Make this game Xbox Live compatible. Man it would be awesome to have some great golfing tourneys on XBL. Also, get rid of the slow motion cut scenes. It makes the game boring eventually especially when you know you are going to have a great shot no matter what and just set the controller down and let the game do its thing. Make the players think is all I am saying.

Make courses available for download via XBL.


Overall Score: 9.0 / 10 NFL 2K3

First word that comes to mind is......AWESOME! This has to be one of the best football games ever made to date. Graphics, sound, great gameplay, dynasty......its all there. Being a diehard Madden fan for the past 10 plus years I had my doubts about this game. But Sega just became the new kid on the block with 2K3. The game pays attention to detail which is key in any console football game.

And guys it Xbox Live compatible!! That is probably the newest and kewlest feature in any football game.

If you like football and I mean really like football, 2K3 is the one for you.

First thing that I would notice about te gameplay is it is dificult. You definitely dont just jump into this game and whoop up on the CPU 66-0. The AI has to be one of the bet out there, calling audibles on you on defense and offense. You have to be on your toes and know the defensive schemes. You also have to know your offensive play because it isn't just hike and run for 80 yards anymore. If you dont follow your blockers on running plays you aren't going very far.
Gang tackling is a great feature to slow down guys by the name of Bettis. One guy holds on while the others get there to finish him off. Its about time this feature was added to a football game.
Passing, whether you use maximum passing or regular passing, is difficult. You can't just throw to your favortie receiver all the time. So no money plays are in this game!
Franchise mode is quite deep. Allowing you to scout upcoming prospects at the NFL Combine. There is a mock draft to look at just to get an idea of where certain guys you are interested in will go in the draft. You are able to sign and release players very easily but not without penalty. Don't forget about your salary cap.
One downfall I did see, is when you put a guy on the trading block you will receive offers from other teams for that player. While this is great it seems that when you try to accept an offer the CPU turns you down cold almost everytime.
The addition of the ESPN style of presentation adds to this game immensely. While it can get a little annoying hearing the Sportscenter theme song its still cool. There are weekly wrap ups and players of the week to see which is great.
Overall gameplay is great for any diehard footballer.

Visuals are no less than stunning. Whether it be the various elements of weather or the detailed players and their faces, its all good. Has to be one of the first games I have seen that cloud shadows cross the field in real time. Makes for a realistic looking perspective.
Player models are smoothly animated and not overdone. They are almost life-like in cetain situations.
The animated sidelines has to be another key feature to see. While not really related to gameplay its nice to see guys moving around over there instead of standing as statues.
The crowd could use more animation and personality though. that would probaly be the weakest point of the graphics. The stadiums around the crowds are outstanding renditions.

The play-by-play, while getting better in all console football games, till needs work. A little enthusiasm at key moments during a game would be a huge advancement. Yes the calling can get a little repetitive but its still good.
The on field sounds are great. You can hear guys jawing back and forth across the formation. Defensive players yelling at the QB, using his actual name too.
The crowd could probably use a little more personality too. Maybe have some of the homefield chants you hear on a regular basis across the NFL. I do like the fact they used actual excitement music that you would hear playing in stadiums in real life.

Suggestions: My main suggestions would be the adding a little more personality to the non gameplay issues of the game. Such as crowd, reactions, animation, etc...
Work on the player trade module as it doesn't seem to work when I get offered something for a guy in my trading block.
Maybe add to the weather by having downpours then slow the rain down, then downpour again. Just variations in the weather would be kewl.


Overall Score: 9.0 / 10 NFL Fever 2003

The graphics for the game look out standing, but the gameplay is somewhat lacking. Even to the point of unrealistic at points. The weather situations looked good especially in the snow, you can actually see the footprints they leave in real time. I don't think the game advanced much from last year except with the additon of online play. Online play is a definite plus, but there's a better football game out there also with online play.
If you are the occasional football gamer then Fever isnt a bad choice. While not realistic it could be fun. But if you love football, and love detail I suggest you look elsewhere.

One of the key downsides in Fever is the passing game. Not every pass is a high arc and it seemed that most thrown by the QB's were. Brett Favre throws bullets, even 30 yard bullets, and does not have a rainbow effect to his passes. That would be the first thing I noticed. Secondly, the game seemed fairly easy to play again, with very little difficulty in completing passes and large gains on the ground. So sayingt hat the AI is not near as tight as they were saying it would be.
The dynasty mode is deep but could still be better. I do like the player progression and feel that all games should have this type of system. It would help you in making decisions on when to start a hot guy over a slumping guy. So that definitely deserves a thunbs up.
Controls are fairly simple to grasp which makes the game very easy to catch on and make those big plays. And one nice feature is whether you are controlling a "fat" guy or a "little" guy you can tell the difference in agility and speed.

Fairly easy game for the beginner in console football games to pick up and play.

While I havent had the chance to play Fever online, this could possibly be the best gameplay feature. Nothing like going against your buddy in a good football game no matter what the title is.

The visuals here are the best thing about it other than online play. Stadium renditions are sharp and crisp. Player models, while they look good still seem to be a little to "super heroish" for me. Aaron Brooks, Saints QB, does not have 27 inch pythons for arms as an example.
The dimples on the jerseys were a little overdone in my opinion. Almost looks like thay are wearing chainmail armor instead of a nylon jersey.
Reflections and lighting were very well done also. The reflections on the helmet is a neat feature now popping up in most football video games.
There really wasn't one standout visual that puts this game ahead of the rest. But it still looks good.

Its time to get some real football announcers. Microsoft has the bucks to sign a deal with a network or something to pep this game's play by play. While some original comments are made , and some enthusiasm at the right times, it is still lacking of some real football talk.
While many aren't keen on Madden's words of wisdom, that's football and belongs in the game. There is no sense of a guy who knows what he is talking about in this game. Almost like cue card reading. I hate to compare it but these announcers are as bad as Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. And ya see what MNF did, see ya Dennis. My point is these announcers do not fit the game of football at all an should be replaced with some real footbal commentary.
The sounds on the field are nothing out of he ordinary, but still sound good. So no major improvements there.

Suggestions: I think the game needs a complete overhalu for next year. Fever is a gem waiting to shine. But the right areas need to be attended to first:
-Deeper Franchise
-Player Models toned down from super heroes
-Gameplay made a little more difficult w/better AI
-Replace those announcers!
If just these adjustments were made it would make Fever 10x better. But there are so many more tweaks that you could surprise us with. Good luck!

Overall Score: 6.0 / 10 World Series Baseball (Sega)

This has to be the best baseball game ever released. Its about time. World Series was solid before this title but they raised the bar on this one. Great job Sega!! If you like stats, its got'em. You like the long ball, it's got'em. You like realistic stadium renditions, it's got'em. Plenty to do and see in this game and has a great franchise option too. Highly suggested ot any real basbeball fan looking for that winter pastime or maybe when they go on strike.

The gameplay is great and most likely the best I've see yet. There are still moments when you don't have total control of a players movements which can get a bit irrating. But for the most part this issue is non-existent compared to other baseball games on the market. Very easily accessible menus let you jump right into gameplay quickly. You can set up a franchise or just play a season, thats up to you and remember a season is 162 games plus playoffs. Of course you can adjust that to your liking. Personally I completed a full season and won the World Series in my first year.

The pitcher batter interface works very nicely and can be quite a bit challenging against certain pitchers. Look out for Tim Wakefield's knuckler. It's nasty! But hittable!

A few issues that I did not like. First of all, I did not like the fact that you couldn't access previous box scores from past games. I had a few accounts where I wanted to see what my starting pitcher did against a team previously but to my avail it wasn't accessible. That in my opinion is not acceptable. We have an 8 GB hard drive at least to store that info. Come on Sega!

Secondly, there is not enouhg recognition for some amazing feats in the game. I acquired Jeff Weaver from Detroit to play for me in Baltimore. His third start he pitched a perfect game!!! Yes perfect! 27 up, 27 down! Here I am finishing the game waiting for some amazing commentary or something special to come up on screen. NOTHING! The commentators didnt even mention once that he was on his way to a possible perfect game. That has to be one of the greatest feats in baseball and no recognition. Maybe I'm asking to much, but definitely didnt like that. Also didnt like the fact I couldn't go back and look at the box score of that game later or after the season! Thats goes back to point #1.

Point #3 would be for the announcers to have a little excitement when landmarking events are taking place such as a perfect game. They will comment on a player looking for his third homerun of the game or one thats looking to go 5 for 5 but nothing to do with the momentum of the game. Thats a bit of a disappointment to.

My final point would be that there is no way to release a player from your minor league roster. At least I couldnt find one and if anyone out there knows how let me know! LOL!

Anyway other than those few points that may be minor to some folks and a big deal to others like me the gameplay is great!!! Hours and hours of fun!

Stadium renditions look awesome for the most part. One thing that did not appeal to me were the landscapes in a few of the stadiums. For one, that definitely is not the skyline of Baltimore in the background at Camden Yards. The warehouse looks great but the city looks pathetic. Comerica looks good as well as a few others with realistic backdrops. I just think if you are oging to have a perfect rendition of the stadium the surroundings should be included.

The players are still not quite right. Although getting better and the animation runs smoother. They still have big bulky muscles and a lot of times the skin colors do not match the actual player. Once again a bit picky but ya gotta be for a game this close to greatness!

The commentary is very good in this game with a variety of comments to hear. But sometimes the commentary did not fit the game situation such as a perfect game situation or possibly a game winning situation on hand. But for the most part all the commentary was very good, and doesn't get repetitive too quickly.

Suggestions: Points that I did not like were mentioned above and I think should be addressed.

1 - Total player control throughout the game.
2 - Recognition from game of accomplished baseball "feats". I.E. - perfect game
3 - More excitement in commentary in certain situations.
4 - A little more control over the roster in GM mode. Such as being able to release players and such.
5 - More detail and research into the stadium backdrops especially city ballparks.

Overall Score: 10.0 / 10 NCAA Football 2003

NCAA 2003 is one of the greatest college football video games I have ever played. It has school spirit, team spirit, the drive of college atheletes and most of all great gameplay!!! Graphics are stunning as is the commentary and fight songs. This game is a definite two thumbs up in my book and should be in yours. There are only a few very minor flaws in this game that can easily be overlooked while playing. That makes for a great game!

The game plays fairly simple. NCAA gives you and easy button style menu to choose your plays on either offense or defense. The AI isn't a brain yet but its getting better each year so dont expect the burn the defense with your favorite play every time. The passing game uses a little preciseness from time to time whether it be having to throw a lob pass or making sure you rifle that ball into the receiver. As for the running game, its definitely "in the game". Run off tackle, up the middle, counter left, option. Doesnt mater you are likely to pick up a few yards each run or maybe even break the big one.

There is a dynasty mode that surpasses all others. Once you get past the first year your players you recruit will have actual names instead of just numbers. Due to NCAA rules and regs current players are not allowed to have their names displayed in the game. Bummer. Don't wanna mess up some promising kids career though, we all no who the big names are and what number they are anyway. You will try to recruit the top prospects in the country to play for your school and if ya cant get them you may be in trouble in years to come. So be sure to make plenty of visits and calls from your coaches.

The bowl ranking system here sucks! But how can you expect it to be any good whent he real system dont even work. LOL! Thats not EA's fault, blame those panzies in the NCAA boards.

While you're at it take your favorite mascot in a head to head battle with your least favorite mascot. There's just something appealing about a Blue Devil tackling a huge Orange. Take that as need be.

Trophies, awards, and championship bowl games are all here. This game is it man!

I did have the game freeze up on me twice and had this same occurrence in last years game. Not quite sure why, but I had to replay that game because the only thing I could do to unfreeze it was turn off the Xbox. Didnt like that too much escpecially since I was winning the frozen game and lost the replay version.

Each year the players, fields, stadiums, and weather looks better and better. And this year is no exception. The animations are fairly smooth even though there seems to be some slowdown near the goallines sometimes. Not always but it does happen.

The fields get torn up in wet weather, which I think is really kewl. And the player uniforms get muddy and grimy too. Thats a plus. I still dont like one thing though, and thats the fact that you have tall guys and short guys with the same exact build. Its like they took the tall guys and shrunk him to make another type of player. I think this player should be totally different.

The commentary for this game has to be one of the best out there. All three commentators have many different things to say through out the game which leads to less repitition. You constantly here fight songs playing in the background to get the hype into the crowd during certain situations or after a score.

As for the thunder during rain, hmmmmmm, it seems to me at the sign of lightening and thunder our true life games were always called off or postponed til it passed. Never quite understood that in this game. But if thats the least of sound worries, then there aint a problem.

Suggestions: I would very much like to see a much more detailed crowd in the stands. Maybe see the band doing there instrument dances and so forth. Thats petty but would be kewl and add to the school spirit already present in the game.

When creating your player models i think you should use about 10 different sized people or more. Shrinking and enlarging one player model doesn't quite fit the realism I am looking for. Just a suggestion, maybe you do that already and I am just not seeing it. The little running backs look like the tall wide receiver's "mini me".

Overall Score: 10.0 / 10

Latest News

Used games on Xbox One: MS’ official stance

Used games on Xbox One: MS’ official stanceWill Xbox One allow players to play used games or not? Will there be fees to do so, and how much? While not having all the answers, Microsoft’s Major Nelson made an official statement on his blog that at least provides hope of a reasonable solution.

Xbox Gold Memberships will carry over to Xbox One

Xbox Gold Memberships will carry over to Xbox OneIt’s now been clarified that Xbox Live Gold Memberships will not only transfer back and forth seamlessly between Xbox 360 and Xbox One, they will also allow multiple users on the same Xbox One to share one account -- perfect for family scenarios.

Xbox One allows auto-resume of games via the cloud

Xbox One allows auto-resume of games via the cloudWhile it’s unlikely that most people will be able to afford TWO Xbox One consoles at launch, the possibility of starting a game on one console, pausing and then moving to another console to continue playing it will be possible, thanks to "The Cloud".


See News Archives

Top Community Gamerscores

1. Symmetric-XBA - 129,293
2. hellonearth159 - 88,000
3. Variation-XBA - 81,665
4. Timmy Bauer - 58,335
5. Symmetrics Love-XBA - 47,993
6. Enamelized420-XBA - 41,520
7. Silent-XBA - 38,782
8. Ainokeatoo-XBA - 34,076
9. Roujin-XBA - 31,498
10. Kamshaft-XBA - 29,839
11. Casper - 26,315
12. Soda Jones - 24,328
13. Tampad - 22,221
14. Fargoth - 17,904
15. TAXCOLLECTER675 - 13,306
16. Whisper - 13,272
17. HaZarD SFD-XBA - 12,802
18. Kraft - 7,035
19. l Maximus l - 3,010
20. Shadow20002 - 2,880
21. LiLJoe608 - 2,485
22. Sam-XBA - 2,130
23. MixMasta - 175
24. Smill -
25. Motoko -

Community Forum Activity

clan members
Post by anthony705
0 Replies, 198 Views

What did you guys think of the Reveal?
Post by Kamshaft-XBA
10 Replies, 595 Views

friends
Post by anthony705
0 Replies, 319 Views

[FCBX] FaceBox Clan
Post by FearfulInk
3 Replies, 383 Views

Double XP weekend Black Ops II on Xbox 360
Post by LiLJoe608
0 Replies, 911 Views

3 Days to Go !
Post by Kamshaft-XBA
11 Replies, 2336 Views

Halo 4 Avatar T-shirt (Ladies)
Post by Silent-XBA
0 Replies, 391 Views

#XboxReveal
Post by Rajio
9 Replies, 2909 Views

[RARE]Xbox 360 XDK XNA EXPO MODEL
Post by itchy
2 Replies, 2224 Views

Magic the Gathering
Post by d-dub363
1 Replies, 480 Views

Clan Member Wanted...
Post by FearfulInk
4 Replies, 974 Views

Community Playdate
Post by tote gunzz
7 Replies, 2430 Views

Dirty Laser Lens
Post by thAshAdyOne
0 Replies, 460 Views

Just looking for some more friends
Post by Grravy420
8 Replies, 1054 Views

Comunity Playdate! Come play with Xboxaddict.com!
Post by Kamshaft-XBA
13 Replies, 1501 Views

Site Statistics

Registered Members: 57,679
Forum Posts: 737,513
Xbox 360 Titles: 988
Xbox 360 Kinect Titles: 93
Xbox 360 Arcade Titles: 540
Xbox Titles: 847
Staff Reviews: 1,198
Member Reviews: 10,339
News Articles: 11,343
Screenshots: 25,840
Xbox 360 Achievements: 41,421
Xbox 360 Faceplates: 2,016
Cheat Codes: 1,706
© 2000-2013 XboxAddict.com - All rights reserved. All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Xbox is a registered trademark of Microsoft. XboxAddict.com is not affiliated with Microsoft.

Made in Canada
Site Design by Cameron Graphics