A game which changes so much within the video game industry, proving that you don't need to run around shooting everything to make a great game as well as the new facial animations setting the standard for all future games. However, It doesn't feel as action packed or the story as climactic as Red Dead Redemption's and so as a game, it cannot trump it! Eagerly awaiting on a sequel!!!
This is simply the game which Mercenaries 2 should have been. The large open world is filled to the brim with anarchy of many kinds, not to mention some fine graphic details up close on some objects - The large prettyful explosions playing a heavy part albeit. The main campaign (Agency missions) only have 7 missions, but rather than just playing them all and ending the game there, you actually have to unlock the agency missions by causing enough chaos - It's a win win situation!!!! If you are looking for a full 100% (game wise or achievements) then expect a nice share of grinding as you are bound to spend tens of hours just looking around settlements for a hidden generator you missed.. In conclusion, a game long enough to get its money worth out of - but not excessively long to the point of boring you. **Better than: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.** ** Worse than: Red Dead Redemption.**
Since its release, this game has caused tons of grief for players around the globe with its endless bugs, freezes and glitches. However, credit where it is due, Eden have been working around the clock to fix these issues and are even making it up to the community by offering the first "exploration pack" DLC for free. Smoke that Activision! It is important when reviewing this game to note that there is simply NO other game like this around and its unique-ness is what makes this game so special. Take the ability to cruise on thousands of miles of roads with an awesome amount of cars from the first (great) game and just add more (more races, more islands, more challenges, day night and weather dynamic cycle) until the game itself offers so much that the game's value and length becomes apparent. In conclusion, the game builds well on the first game with a new car handling physics engine, better graphics and with an absolute ton of things to do and you get a game which truly represents value in the long run. On the other hand, the terrible inescapable launch will always plague the title and put off buyers as well as the visuals, car physics and car sounds will disappoint the car enthusiasts and die hard sim racers (stick to Forza Motorsport or GT5), not to mention the most cringe worthy voice acting around.
Where the onslaught expansion failed to bring long lasting fun and value, Vietnam more than makes up for it. You can enjoy a fully new multiplayer experience with realistic, original and authentic radio voices and music as well as be stunned by the new maps (with a new one promised very soon by DICE). If you were a massive fan of the multiplayer of BC2, then this is highly recommended as the experience is the same at heart yet feels like something completely new - and the end product is amazing! If however, you are a CoD regular, and never quite understood Bad company 2, then save your money for the later to be released "black ops map packs" being released next year. In conclusion, it is definitely better value for money than onslaught, the new maps are simply stunning, the battlefield feeling is still there but brought into a new package
A great arcade game combining the essential RISK themes and tactics and updating the experience with animated factions including cats, zombies and humans as well as new battlefield locations to control including a temple, crypts and barracks. The game is complete with a mini campaign where you will get play with each faction the game has to offer, multiplayer both offline and online is a great addition and adds to the experience well, ensuring you will get your money's worth. Should you not like the new rules and maps, the classic world map and "normal" factions are available in the dedicated game mode "Classic Risk". Highly recommended for Risk fans as well as those who like RTS and arcade games.
Another game which took me by surprise, it has a long singleplayer which is strong and engaging to the end, there are enough variations in the gameplay to keep you entertained. The actual maps are brilliant and big enough to keep you exploring around for many hours. The slightly tedious and not very fluent parts are the combats, where they are not as smooth and great as depicted. Where you see Ezio mowing through guards with ease is more like Ezio getting surrounded by many guards, all of which parry constantly unless a single enemy randomly takes a stab at you, where all your character can do is parry back and randomly counter hoping you take the guy down in retaliation. With that said though, its still thoroughly enjoyable and Brotherhood is going to feature a more fluent combat system and even a multiplayer which they can use and improve in the future. Well Done Ubisoft Montreal!
Gears of War is one of the greatest exclusives brought to the 360 (Yes it was also on PC, so we shall call it console exclusive) ! A great game featuring some great in-game mechanics such as the cover system. Although you aren't likely to be bored by the awesome story and clips, the repetitive gameplay might bore you after a while though.
Treyarch, the second favourites, the underdogs, the second best. Some of the names you hear as the company's name gets bashed around. Although they have never been able to out do the brilliant work of Infinity ward, they have always delivered a game which could bear the Call of Duty Brand safely enough without the series getting ruined. Of course, feel free to disagree... World at War was overall a solid game with some stunning campaign moments and awesome characters played by some of the best actors around. Giving them that and Treyarch something to improve on, they have done splendidly! Overall Black Ops still has these awesome convincing actors, a multiplayer experience bound to draw in the millions and a campaign which is very fun throughout due to its unique time periods and settings. Yet, the plot has a typical COD twist. This game is going to cause lots of polarising views, you have to try the game for yourself and then decide for yourself.
A great improvement on the original with more weapons, characters, maps, enemy types complimented with some improved graphics and sounds. Although the story and gameplay is pretty much the same the whole way through, it is great fun nonetheless although some might feel it lacks the awesomeness Gears of War 1 brought when it was released.
Upon its announcement, I thought the normal "yeah sure another RTS which is going to fail on a console like the rest of '**** how wrong I was. This game works very well with its tabletop style battlefield. Navigating, selecting units and scale is all brilliant once you get the hang of it. A brilliant feature is the "zoom" which has really been thought out well. You can watch from a zoomed out pose where units appear as chips stacked upon each other or you can go right into the action and see each man ambushing enemies from a forest. Overall, a good steady game, not sure how long the glamour will last though...
Onslaught mode is about survival skill and choosing your weaponry careful enough for each of the 4 new missions added in this DLC. The maps themselves are from the multiplayer albeit set at different times of day. They provide a fun challenge with friends as you work together against some very clever AI who know how to use their kit fully to their advantage and their team mates. All maps also vary in difficulty allowing you to pick some of the harder ones if you need more practice for online... The honeymoon ends there though Ladies and Gents. That very clever aforementioned AI will indeed use its equipment well, but they all seem to love venturing into an open area and standing there all game until you pick them off. Ruining all that it has worked so hard to create. The AI will become annoying most of the time with their infinite respawns and shooting you whilst they are on their 'chutes still as they just enter the field! Next on the agenda is its addictiveness. It is simply non-existent. Once you have finished these levels you probably won't ever play them again. That is a problem when a piece of DLC which is so minimal in content costs so much in the first place! We suggest you wait for the Vietnam expansion later on this year instead which looks a lot better value for money and offers so much more!
The underground of Moscow in 2033 with monsters, tunnels, darkness and a radioactive Earth surface...sounds good so far... Overall this game stands out with its amazing atmosphere which in our books will beat Bioshock's atmosphere 8 days of the week. The story is again a masterpiece and we can't fault it too much - We just wish it would have gone on for even longer!!!! So far everything is **** flaw is in the game engine and AI... Many online reports have found many glitches with the actual game and with DLC too! The AI is another annoyance. Enemies take cover behind cover (or so they think they are!). They are actually in the open but look like they are looking out from cover. You will also hear the AI enemies constantly say the same lines over and over again until you finally kill them off with the bullets..which brings us to our final problem: guns and bullets. Not only are they inconsistent but very annoying. Sometimes a single bullet will knock enemies off their feet but most of the time it will take entire unloading of clips of ammo into enemies just to watch them shout "you're dead!" in a super hardcore voice whilst they sit behind their non-existent cover. No wait, one more problem: you spend half the game collecting currency bullets and find a super cool gun you want to buy but it will cost everything you have, so you do it, knowing your reward is epic...then you walk through to the next level only to find the first enemy you encounter has the same gun and its might even have some attachments and you wasted all your ammo as you could have got it for free....damnit!
The singleplayer is by no means bad and the story itself will keep you going to the end with ease. The graphics are satisfying and the world of Rapture looks great onscreen and finally the atmosphere is overall very positive. The online doesn't present any major problems either...However, with all those positive features, we still found this game to overall not be anything that special. perhaps we could not fully fathom the Undersea place of Rapture within our puny **** will still see if the next Bioshock game will impress. The sky is the limit - literally in the next game!!!
A game definitely designed to take on the largest name in the genre: Call of Duty. Promising a strong campaign and a more Call of Duty oriented Multiplayer we were interested how this game would pan out! We were especially interested to see how using 2 different game engines would finalise! We were glad to see that the campaign was fun (better than Bad Company 2 although not a MW2 or WaW beater) although too short for us to say "we got our money's worth from this investment" and we know many of you will feel the same. As for graphics, it does nothing new to the genre (plus we know how much benchmarks are getting raised with every entry into the FPS genre) and the Unreal Engine is better suited to the mountains of Helmand Valley to the small town in the first level of the game. As for the online, we felt frostbite from Bad Company 2 had improved in terms of graphics, however it was just a sniper heavy imbalanced experience where it was missing team work and vehicles of Bad Company 2 and replaced it with the 1 man band lonewolves of Modern Warfare 2 who all love running off to satisfy their own needs! In conclusion, a good reboot to the Medal of honor series and we could tell by the ending we can expect another installment in the future, however with some largely popular rivals in the form of Bad Company 2 and Call of Duty Modern warfare 2 and Black Ops we feel it has its work majorly cut out!
Without doubt, this game is the best ever Racing Sim ever to hit a console! The car list is now at over 500 (as from late 2010) and there are a perfect mix of cars to suit everyone from British sportscars, American and Australian muscle to Japanese drifters and tunables. A great range of tracks, great graphics and some awesome features (Film creating and car paint and vinyl editing really add!) provide something great into an overall package. Our negatives are more with the company than the game, so we shant criticise them here however we recommend buying the October 2010 released 'Ultimate collection" as it includes ALL DLC (worth over £30) and a copy of the game (originally £40 at release) for just £24.99 upon its new release - It also includes some new stunning cars and some other extras marking a new partnership with the much loved Top Gear! Do we think this move will influence or buy over the massive Gran Turismo **** at all, there is already a Playstation 3 market large enough waiting for this game which is guaranteed to make it sell better than FM3 without new 360s and extra copies of forza being sold. Besides, GT5 is bound to be a massive hit with its stunning visuals and long car list. Let's hope it will be released some time soon though! Well done Turn 10 but we would prefer to see Forza Motorsport 4 be an improved FM3 with more cars than a new experience to work upon the new kinect peripheral.
Treyarch are right on the money (if Activision aren't already on it anyway!) as this is a great installment to the CoD series and Treyarch can pat themselves on the back after a job very well **** campaign portrays war in its true state: desperate, scary and gruesome and this is such a great part and experience and we really hope we can expect more campaigns of this nature in future games by Treyarch such as this year's Black Ops... The online has picked up on the CoD series' weaknesses. Small maps and no vehicles in previous games could sometimes leave gamers wanting more! Never fear, maps like "Seelow" are large and tanks are bound to shake up the game a bit! Finally, zombies - A great part of the game and we really do look forward to seeing them return in Black Ops!
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero provides you with a quick look into the full Dead Rising 2 game will be like. Case Zero is quite short and you have to be time cautious the entire time. However, the awesome custom weapons and trolley bins will keep you drawn into the zombie killing affair for quite some time. For such a fairly simple game, we found some great depth too, as you find survivors around and get them to help you on your quest to kick zombie arse! Definitely look into this purchase if you are unsure about buying the full DR2 game!
A Game which has had a lot of polarised reviews lately. We came to the conclusion that this was a massive improvement upon the original - which is no doubt a great step in the right direction should we see a third installment to the HAWX series. We also agreed that this game is not an Ace Combat 6 beater when it comes to the "awesome arcade fun!" category. But we also feel that an aircraft fan would not be disappointed by what he or she saw in this game. Full customisation and a VERY large hanger of planes make it actually a fine experience both online and offline. Our only criticism really was the annoying AI insists upon staying behind you spamming you with rockets and you find yourself unable to break away. If you try then you both just end up going around in circles all day along until you get bored and fly **** process then starts again!
The game offers a compelling yet perplexing campaign and a multiplayer bound to draw in the millions with ease. With all this said, we don't think this game's online will have the same awesome power which Modern Warfare brought to the the FPS category nor does it have the war desperation, cruelty and horror which World at War's campaign brought to the category. All in all a very solid performing game, however we don't feel it was quite up to the high quality Infinity Ward standards we had come to expect after the release of both Call of Duty 2 and Modern warfare.
This game depicts perfectly the battlefield feeling! its destruction, large maps, teamwork, vehicles all make up the greatest experience in an FPS online to date! Yes, this means I am willing to say "This has a better online experience than Modern Warfare 2!" Don't think it's all perfect though, the campaign was fairly tedious and wasn't exactly gripping enough to keep me fixed in the whole way through so Modern Warfare 2 and World at War still ultimately have the better Campaign experiences! Kudos DICE and we eagerly await Battlefield 3!!!
Red Dead Redemption is THE most stunning free roam experience ever to date in a video game. From the Mexican fortress to the Pine Forests in the North, you simply cannot be unimpressed with such excellence.
Some superb attention to detail is also present as the sort of things you would say "wouldn't it be good if...." are actually present whether it be in the controls, the navigation, the transport system, the justice system or pretty much everything has a brilliant feel to it and it really is a joy to play! For example, whilst riding your noble steed, you can keep him travelling at the same speed as the AI you are escorting or following - Yes, stallions do indeed have cruise control it would seem! Superb small features like this really add to the experience. This is the sort of game which is not at all predictable though, you find yourself travelling at your own pace only to be savaged by a bear or cougar - so keep your gun at the ready and your eyes peeled as you are bound to gape onscreen if you lose 10 minutes worth of hunting goods in a split second... Despite its minor ****, this game would have been harder to make better than it was before its actual **** close to perfect it is!
You can't go wrong when you place the entertaining undead into the stunning Red Dead Redemption scenery! Can you? Combining a great and beautiful free roam experience with the horror genre has resulted in something very fine indeed! Plenty of action for both single player and on-line means you are getting your money's worth as this is without question one of, if not the most, the best value DLC expansions this year! With glory though comes some negative points, you can expect some repetitive tasks and a lot of running around slaving for people - Fine, if you are into that sort of thing. However, this is overlooked by the fact that the further the "story" uncovers, less and less makes sense...Perhaps I was expecting too much realism from a game with mythical creatures! In conclusion, Although it doesn't make the best sense at time, its still a great fun and a bargain at that. Definitely a must for the red dead fan-base!!!
