Games Consoles Reviews

Assassins Creed II

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Halo Reach

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Left 4 Dead Game of the Year Edition

Includes game and L4D Survival Pack

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Gamer
Left 4 Dead is a great game. Made for online multiplayer action to enjoy with your friends. Perfect!

5 Stars I don’t buy many games, this is a must-have
I hesitated to but this because I thought it would be a redundant shoot-em-up type that gets old (short of killing zombies). Instead I found it to be a challenging evolving game as the designers keep action from being systematic. Whether its the locations of weapons or how many/where do zombies appear, each playthrough is different.

I do have to admit the xbox gold/live membership makes the game even more fun in versus mode. I mean, killing zombies is fun, but BEING a zombie killing humans is pretty great too.

2 Stars Over-Hyped and Not-That-Great.
Try before you buy. Don’t just read the hype.

First, let me say that I have the xbox Game of the Year Edition, I have downloaded everything I could find for the game from xbox Live, I have played the game a few times (but I play many many hours at a time), and I’ve already got over 3/4 of the Achievements available for the Survivors.

Whether or not you will like this game depends on the style of play you like in your games. Some people might like this type of play, but I didn’t. I’ve enjoyed playing everything from the Evil Dead games and Dead Rising to Resident Evil 1 & 4 and a bunch of other “zombie” type games. The issue I have is that Left 4 Dead doesn’t play like how it feels like it should play – or it feels one way but plays another way. Left 4 Dead feels like it should play like a tight strategy game of team tactics and smart game play – hardcore Zombie Apocalypse survivors: The smart & the dead, … but it isn’t, it just isn’t. I’ll get back to the game play in a minute.

A lot of the game looks OK at first (maybe “Good”, but nothing “Great”). The graphics break-down badly when you are getting stomped on by zeds (any time you are on the ground, or when zeds are too close to you) and when you get dragged by Smoker zeds it gets really glitchy. And the fire effect (i.e. from molotov cocktails) is awful. But, for as flawed as some of these things are, I wouldn’t necessarily say that they detract too much from the game play.

The areas/maps aren’t very open; there is a definite “tunnel” feel to the game. Which, given the nature of the objectives, is probably unavoidable. Yet some of the tight tunnel areas, like the ones that are outside, do provide an illusion of openness, which is nice. But, what this all means is that, game play is relatively linear; the route to a destination is pretty tight, and your style of game play will be pretty much forced upon you. So all that turn-off-your-lights and sneak-around-the-witch dialogue is garbage – she’s either in your way or she isn’t – anyhow, just shoot her.

And, now speaking of that game play, it’s just an ammo-burner game. You have limited ammo for your “special” weapon of choice (shotgun, assault rifle, Uzi, whatever), but unlimited ammo for your pistol(s) – and you go through a lot of it really fast. Forget about S.W.A.T. play, forget about being a ninja, forget about sniping to clear a path ahead; just forget about stealth and efficiency.

You shoot, you run and shoot, and you shoot and run some more. Lingering around areas, being cautious and thorough, will only get you more encounters with randomly generated zeds. There is not a general fixed number of zeds in an area, the game will spawn more zeds (crap-loads more) when conditions are triggered. This is a game of “whatever” (like “get from Point A to Point B”, or “stand on a rooftop/Lighthouse”) that is punctuated by random “Special Zed” appearances and waves of rushing zed hoards. Pointless wave after random wave of rushing zed hoards. A Run-n-Gun (or a Stand-n-Gun).

So the best tactic is to just run through an area until you hit a Special Zed, or a good vantage point, and then turn around and deal with everything in a hail of blazing lead (or a pipe bomb – they’re magical zed magnets). Seriously, it works best that way; you’ll save ammo, and time, and deal with less crap. Because, when you trigger a zed rush, they will spawn and come running at you from all directions: from the empty rooms you just swept clear, from the dead-end halls you just swept clear, from anywhere and everywhere they will magically appear to come charging at you. So forget your Spec-Ops mentality; it’s pointless. And there is no meaningful stealth action. So just forget about “INTELLIGENT” game play, unless your idea of strategy is to back yourself into a closet and fire outwards.

Now, maybe everything I have complaints about is just the way the game is supposed to be? Maybe I’m whining about would’a, should’a, could’a, and crying about stuff that I want to have that just shouldn’t be a part of the game? I keep wondering about that myself. But then the heavy-handed teamwork elements keep running up to me and smacking me in the face.

This is a total “buddy system” game. You aren’t going to get anywhere without someone else there to pick you up-off the ground. It is FORCED upon you through the games mechanics. There is no running ahead and going solo because everyone else is cramping your style. This is a game about teamwork, team tactics, teammate support and assists. It is a key element in the game – there are several Achievements based off of this. It’s good and it’s bad; I’m still on the fence about how I feel about it. In some ways I do like it, and in other ways I think it totally hamstrings game play.

You are the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” lady. If you are grabbed: you are helpless until someone else assists you. If you are on the ground, no matter how much health you have: you are stuck on the ground until someone assists you. If your whole team gets knocked down, no matter how much health everyone has, or how many health packs everyone has: it is Game Over because no one is left standing to assist anyone else back up. And Survivors WILL get knocked-down and dragged-around (and probably bitten and mauled) a lot.

With this sort of forced and required team-play element, the game feels like it should be more at a level of SOCOM, Call of Duty, Ghost Recon, Halo, or even Splinter Cell or Tenchu; demanding a higher level of tactical style and strategic “cover your, and your teammates, butts” type of game play – but it’s not. It’s a sloppy trigger-happy fire-fest. This is not a game of clean shots and efficient kills, there is no “Go ahead, I’ve got you covered” stuff; Spec-Ops style tactics (or any thoughtful or cautious efforts) just don’t have any credit here.

Fast zombies or slow zombies, infected or undead; I don’t really have a preference, but I thought the “Special” zombie types in this game were kinda lame. Puker/Exploder fat thing stereotype. `Roid-Rage Tank stereotype thing. Leaper/Pouncer zed. Sniper-Tongue smoke-exploding (?!?) zed. “I just want to cry and I hate the light” emo Witch zed. I just don’t think any of them are really cool or inspiring.

I can only rate this game a 2 or 3 stars. The only recommendation I can make is: Try before you buy. Don’t just read the hype.

5 Stars I can’t wait to play it on my 65″ plasma I’m getting soon.
This game rocks! If you always wanted to blast away zombies in single or co-op with your buddies at home or online then you are the person this game had in mind. I’m not going to rehash what you already read from others since you can read about it from youtube and gaming sites.

4 Stars Left 4 Dead
First let me comment on the GoTY version. Yes, all the additional content in the GoTY title is available on xbox live for free as a DLC. The only perk to having the GoTY version is that you wont have to use up memory on your harddrive for the survival pack because its already installed on the disc. Other than that i would suggest just getting the normal game if you find it cheaper. I found the GoTY version and the normal version for the same price of $29.99 at gamestop brand new! the funny thing is, right next to it they had the used version for $44.99 still, $15 more then the brand new ones!

This isn’t just a Call of Duty World at War Zombie mode revamped…even though the premises is nearly the same there is four people, and if you don’t have 4 players to play the 4 survivors then the remaining survivors will be OP’d by computers. In the multiplayer mode you can be the zombies (the special zombies with super moves). The only thing that i didn’t really like about this game which others may have liked is that there is no story mode at all. The weapons aren’t extensive at all in this game. You can either have the pistols, shotguns, sniper rifle, or uzi. theres some health packs, pills, molotovs, and grenades. to me, this was just a renter after a week or two of playin this game just became pretty boring and repeptitive.

theres only 4 main maps that the survivors fight their way through 4 or 5 stages of the map to get to the end where they will try to be evacuated. its the same story on every map! i gave this 4 stars because 5 stars would just be overatin the game and 3 stars doesn’t do it all justice, but know this i wont be buying or playing the sequel because unless they add a storymode or drastic changes all a sequel could be for this game is just a big expansion.

**Edit**

DO NOT buy this with the $59.99 price tag its cheaper at gamestop for $29.99

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Guitar Hero 5 Guitar Bundle with Van Halen Offer

Living room legends will rock any way they want in Guitar Hero 5. The entire set list is at your finger tips from the start, featuring genre-defining hits from some of the biggest rock artists and bands of all time, including The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana and Vampire Weekend. You will take complete control as Guitar Hero 5 allows you to personalize and customize how you experience music by being able to play with any in-game instrument combination – multiple vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers, in any game mode. With the game’s all-new Party Play Mode, getting the band back together has never been easier. You can now jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session. Elevating the Guitar Hero series to new heights with unmatched social gameplay, an enhanced style, new in-game artists and more rock legends, Guitar Hero 5 features new surprises and challenges that will fire-up long-time fret board fanatics and create a new generation of addicts. The Band that Plays Together – Bands can earn bonus multipliers by hitting new special note streams in unison. Make and Share Music – Produce hits in the redesigned Music Studio with improved editing tools for easy use, new guitar samples and mix patterns and share them online with GHTunes to create what could be the next breakout hit. Check Out My New Axe – The redesigned and re-skinned guitar controller with interchangeable faceplates and improved slider bar functionality offers Guitar Hero fanatics and music enthusiasts even more personalization options and enhanced in-game effects.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Be careful buying this game…..
Received my copy on Tuesday September 8th and was able to play it for all of about 10 minutes then got “disc unreadable” error.

Quick search on internet tells me this is known issue and many other people are experiencing same problem. So I had to pack everything back up in the box to try & exchange for better copy from Amazon.

Also worth noting as other person here has mentioned that Amazon didn’t include a receipt for this purchase with this box which makes it difficult at best to send in for free GH: Van Halen game.

Want my advice? don’t buy this game from Amazon… buy it from local store where you can (a) easily exchange it if you get a bad copy & (b) get a receipt!

Best of luck to those buying this product here. Caveat Emptor!

3 Stars junk guitar
i had this preorderd for a very long time and when it came i wanted to send for the van halen game right away but they make you jump through so many hoops . plus i did not get my receipt from amazon, and on top of that the piece of s##t guitar does not work , none of the buttons on the neck work at all . so i have a game and a guitar that i cant use . im so disapointed. first three drum sets and now this. i hope you all have better luck then i do .

5 Stars great addition to the series
First off, try not to read other reviews that only refer to not getting receipts and manufacturer’s defects. If you have played a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game, this is just a given that some of us are going to have to return an item or two. It happened to me on Gears of War, it happens to everyone.

That being said, this game should be reviewed on the game itself with a little thrown in about the quality of the guitar.

The game is excellent, and getting 4.5 out of 5 and 9 or 10 out of 10 from all the game reviewers. You can use your xbox live avatar, you can create rockers just like before, all your favorite rockers are back, there are a load of fun and new achievements, the ability to jump into songs midstream, and the run on sentence goes on and on. As many series have done, they are constantly coming up with new feature and taking out old features.

In guitar hero I think they have done better than World Tour and improved on some of the complaints with the game and the guitar. I was hesitant to buy a guitar with the new slider neck, but having tried it a few times now my only compaint is that is hard to switch back and forth, which is caused by inexperience only and will get better. The new design is cool looking, works well, and combines nicely with the game. And getting free Van Halen coming my way in 6 weeks is a nice feature as well.

There will be future reviews with more depth, but for now a week after this came out there needs to be at least one review that isn’t just a receipt complaint. I am positive you can print receipts from amazon, so not even sure how that is an issue.

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