XBox 360 Rally

The first scenario of Left 4 Dead was fun, I am happy to report. Unfortunately, after playing through all four scenarioss, I was happy to be done with it.

The story is simple enough, and I covered it in my first impressions review. Four players (you can either have three friends play with you or you can let the AI be your friends) have to work together to get the hell out of Dodge and take out as many of the “infected” as they can. There are four scenarios through which to play: No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air and Blood Harvest. No Mercy culminates in a roof-top rescue from the local hospital. Death Toll has the “survivors” finding their way to a rescue boat. Dead Air has a rescue military cargo plane, and Blood Harvest involved a military rescue at a farmhouse.

Do you see what they all have in common? That’s right. Every scenario is the exact same…maybe different settings are involved, but by the time you are playing through whichever scenario you choose to play last, you really start wishing that there were a larger plot. Personally, I would have liked it better if either the rescue scenario were longer and more harrowing in terms of length and efforts, and if the rescues were somehow interconnected. For example, after being rescued from the hospital, the next scenario could be what happens next. Instead Left 4 Dead just gives you your stats.

What I liked was the intuitive game controls. There is no button-mashing in this game. It’s more point and shoot. Your left stick controls your movement, the right stick controls your “head” vis a vis the camera view. Right trigger shoots, left trigger shoves the zombies away so you can shoot them more easily. Even if you are not “all-thumbs”, this game is easy to play. Even my boyfriend, who sucks as First Person Shooter games got the hang of this game fairly quickly.

There is not a whole lot of running around looking for stuff in Left 4 Dead, which is nice, but also a little frustrating. I mean, there are all of these little rooms everywhere with nothing in them, so what’s the point of me spending my valuable time looking in them. The only stuff to pick up are ammo, med packs, pain pills, and weapons. Although I did figure out that you can pick up the random gasoline and propane tanks that are here and there. At first, I couldn’t figure out what to do with them, but if you have it in you hand, you can throw the tanks. Once on the ground, you can then shoot them to either explode or create a fire wall (which eventually burns out).

The game is generous to the casual gamer. The “easy” level is just that. Easy. The BF had to play on that level, but he never plays these games, as he is happy to keep playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour or Madden over and over. I played the other levels, to see if there were big differences. “Normal” is the next step up from easy, and it’s not much harder. However, on “normal” and above, you can shoot your teammates, whereas the easy level warns you about hurting your cohorts rather than making them suffer. Once you hit the Advanced and Expert levels, you really do need to know your shit in FPS games. I made it through on Advanced (major diff: the zombies take more bullets to kill), but got a little frustrated (and bored) on Expert. Expert may be totally do-able with live friends, as you can plan out your attacks better. When you play with the AI teammates, you cannot coordinate their movements, which means that you are always on point, taking the most damage and dying, and then having to start the chapter over, and over.

Which brings me to a gripe about the game. You have to play through the whole 5 chapter scenario or you start over. I couldn’t figure out how to save the game during a scenario, so if you don’t have at least an hour and half to sit down and play, then you may want to play something else.

Also, I noticed that my dismemberment skills gleaned from Dead Space came in handy in taking out the zombies. Shooting them in the legs was an easy way to hobble them. Or you could just shoot them in the head, which is very gratifying in the way the heads explode. “Head shots” are one of the statistics at the end of the chapters that are ranked and given, so it is nice to see how many head shots you can get.

I just wish that the game gave you “crotch shot” stats…I rock in that category.

All in all, Left 4 Dead is fun, frivolous, and fast. But it does get old after you play through two scenarios…because you know exactly what the next two scenarios are going to throw at you. That said, if you are into playing it on Xbox Live, Left 4 Dead would be a great game to have around when you have your friends over, either in person or virtually. The co-op action on this game makes a big difference. And if you play online, you can play as the “infected” against the “survivors.”

Left 4 Dead, review, game, video game review, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, online gaming, co-op games, zombies game, 4 player games

I have just finished a full game of Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution. Overall, it is a big yawn, but I think I am totally jaded in that summation of the turn-based strategy game that has consumed many hours, days, weeks of my life since I discovered the darn game back in the 90’s. I also had my boyfriend play. He is a Civ newb, but skilled in strategy games (not as good as me, of course).

So, I am going to try and give you two reviews in one this time. One is from an addict that is losing her taste for the game, and the second from a beginner.

Honestly, I don’t see an experienced Civ player playing this game on an Xbox 360. It’s better on a PC, and easier to micro-manage which it what this game is all about. But for someone who has never played, I think that the Xbox version will be satisfying to those looking for a strategy game to play from time to time.

Ok, getting right into it. The game looks good, and I like the curved Earth aspect given in the graphics. Granted, I never did play Civilization IV, so maybe the shape of the globe was integrated into Civ at that point. All other Civ’s were very two-dimensional, so the third dimension was a nice treat. I just wish there were more new and improved game play aspects of which to also praise.

There are the usual suspects that are your playable civilizations, i.e. the English (Elizabeth looks frigid), the Russians (Catherine the Great is hot), the Mongols (my fav since the Vikings are no longer available), the Germans, the Chinese, the Indians, the Zulu, and even the classical civs like the Greeks (Alexander loves to toss his blond hair around) and the Romans. The Americans are represented by Lincoln and his theme music is straight out of Deliverance. Odd.

Anyway, you start off as a group of settlers, you build your capital, you make more settlers to build more cities, you want to build military units and destroy all the barbarians, before your fellow leaders turn on you and then you get to fight them off for the rest of the game. You can play super easy to super hard, depending on your level of experience. I played the first game on Chieftain (super easy) and it was so easy, I quit playing and switched to the medium level of King. Usually on the PC game, I find it impossible to survive on any level above King, as I am a warmonger and this game rewards peace.

When Chris played, he found it challenging and fun, although he did complain about the length of the game. This coming from a guy who can play Age of Empires II for six hours without a rest. He lost his first game on the Warlord setting. I don’t think he will lose again, as he was just figuring out the tricks of the trade before he was taken out. And that is one of the biggest problems with Civilization Revolution as a game to be played over and over — once you figure out how to win, it becomes more like a chore than a pleasure. The learning curve is rather shallow to put it another way.

One thing I absolutely HATED was the gibberish that my AI opponents and my ministers and advisors spoke to me. What is with that? You pay a writer to write, and he writes actual gibberish. At first, I thought it was a mistake, but I don’t think it was. I eventually turned down the volume on the voices, as they became uber-annoying.

The game play on the Xbox is not fundamentally different from the way it plays on the PC. The game moves for you, and you can use your right thumbstick to move around the “board”. You still have to fight military units one at a time, which has always driven me buggy in the PC game, but made me seethe on the Xbox. Chris also found this a dumb move on the developer’s part. What’s the point of building the biggest, most kickass army with naval and air support if none of them move together in any kind of cohesive master plan in order to make the most of each units individual strengths. It’s best to just have a lot of troops, so playing a smart tactical game is a non-issue for the most part.

One thing I did like as an improvement was the “Build Road” function. Instead of having to direct (or haphazardly automate) your workers to build a road, you can simply purchase one that runs between two cities. And other than the makeover for Catherine, I have nothing else to commend.

In all, I would say that Civilization Revolution was a phoned-in effort on the part of the development team at Firaxis. All they really did was gut the game enough to pare it down to a 3 or 4 hour game with little to no micromanagement needed. For some, that could be a good thing. For me, frankly, I am over my Civ addiction. Despite the innumerable sequels and supposed upgrades and additions to the original, that game is still the best of the bunch. Call to Power wasn’t bad. Civ III yawn, and Civ Rev — shh, Lulu’s sleeping.

Civilization Revolution, Sid Meier, strategy, video game review, beginner, Firaxis

A little while ago, I finally started playing BioShock, a neat-o lookin’ game from 2K Games. It won some awards when it came out, and as Bioshock 2 is soon to be released, I thought it was time. I remember being pretty excited about it when the game first came out way back in 2007…

As I first wrote about Bioshock in my First Impressions category, I was amazed at the visuals of the City Under the Sea, Rapture, and the literary nerd in me was intrigued by BioShock’s use of Ayn Rand as an inspirational jumping off point. And at first, when I first started playing Jack, my first-person shooter I never get to see, I was happy and interested. I was engaged, much like reading Ayn Rand for the first time, but alas, that engagement turned sour by the time I reached the end.

I have to say the final battle in BioShock leaves a lot to be desired. And that is kind of how I feel about most of the “boss” battles of which there are few. Most of BioShock involves you running around looking for stuff to use to do stuff like mix chemicals and then take the new chemical compound somewhere else in order to do something with it. Maybe if I had listened to the many characters talking at me over the two-way radio I would have known what I was doing and why I was doing it rather than just running around and killing things.

Not that I’m bitching about killing things, but where at one time, I was following the story and into the plot, by the end of the game, I totally didn’t care anymore and went around on autopilot, saving Little Sisters and taking out the four varieties of Splicers as well as the Big Daddies, before becoming one myself. Which I guess it a one-way journey, and saving little girls from genetic engineering is more important than me/Jack returning to normal society ever again.

And I was so sick of hacking things…I started blowing everything up rather than hack them, missing out on the assistance of hacked security bots and turrets, but not caring as the hacking is tedious and relatively unrewarding. Also, there is an actual cut-off point for money. Once you hit $500, your “wallet is full.” Huh?

The ending kind of reminded of Dead Space in that the person you think is on your side turns out to be a major douchebag, except in Dead Space it made sense, whereas in BioShock, it’s a guy who’s motivations for screwing you over are not quite clear. Something about implanted memories or a “sleeper agent” — I don’t know, nor did I care by then.

All in all, Bioshock was fun for the first 8 hours or so. Just like Atlas Shrugged…

BioShock, BioShock 2, 2K Games, Ayn Rand, video game, Xbox 360, Dead Space, Atlas Shrugged

Dead Space is Event Horizon crossed with Aliens, crossed with Solaris, and then add a little This Old House, and you got yourself a pretty fun 15 hours worth of game. I’m sure others will play this game faster than me, but I tend to let Isaac stand around while I take little snack breaks.

So, you are an engineer that is sent on a repair job, as the USG Ishimura has lost all communications. Why would anyone ever think that something as heinous as what has happened aboard the Ishimura would ever happen, right? So sure, send the engineers rather than the marines. And that is just the first disadvantage that you face as your ship crashes into the Ishimura, stranding you and two others (your captain and the science officer or whatever she is) aboard a ship full of corpses…some of which aren’t truly dead.

Personally, I adore games in which I get to kill copious amounts of zombies. I mean, if I didn’t kill them, they’d kill me and everyone I care about, and they are dead already, so no harm in finding a little joy in their dismemberment. And that is the key to Dead Space. You find out pretty quickly that these “necromorphs” that constantly pop out at you will only go down once you have hacked off enough limbs — or the one magic limb that will do the trick, but as there are usually three or more limbs, good luck figuring out what the magic limb is before the damn thing kills you.

I am not going to give away too much in this review, as I would hate to be the one who spoils a good, though somewhat predictable, storyline. It is a linear time-line, with a ticking clock aspect that adds some excitement. I can tell you that as Isaac, you are mostly wandering around the ship trying to fix certain systems that at first let you know how badly off you are on board the Ishimura, and then offer you the possibility of escape.

Dead Space makes it easy for you to navigate the ship and your objectives. You have a suit, called a rig, that allows you to check out maps of the ship, in addition to a right stick click option that points you in the right direction following a blue line that lights up rather like a GPS unit. It helps to pay attention to the other characters that guide you along the way, as they often give you advice on how to solve certain puzzles by way of repairwork. If you don’t pay attention, like me, you can bring up you rig’s handy view screen to read Isaac’s take on his objectives.

I will admit that I used the cheat codes to recharge my oxygen when outside the ship, scurrying around the broken hull (while paused X,X,Y,Y,Y). I also used the cheat for recharging my stasis (used to freeze things enough to make them move in super slo-mo in order to kill them more easily) and kinesis (which helps move large objects around, as well as pick up useful items to hurl at necromorphs) units (while paused X,Y,Y,X,Y). The use of these cheats is not necessary, as you can purchase or find packs around the ship that will recharge the aforementioned tank and units for you. But you can only carry so many items with you and “stores” where you can either buy or sell items are few and far between, so if I can lighten my load so as to be able to carry more health packs or lucrative items, then yes, I am a cheater.

And that is another thing that I liked about Dead Space. Some games reward you (?) with higher scores if you run around, knocking on every door in order to find stuff. In Dead Space, the more stuff you find, the more stuff you can sell to the store in order to buy “power nodes”, which in turn allow Isaac to upgrade his rig and his weapons. There is a true purpose to enter rooms that have no real bearing on the game — to find booty.

Dead Space ends in a way that is conducive to a sequel, which I will totally be down for, as I really like the sci fi survival horror genre. Also, I like the rather practical way the game plays out. Something is broken, you must fix it, and oh, yeah, there are lots of things that want to rip your head off.

Dead Space, video game, review, survival horror, Event Horizon, Aliens, Solaris, This Old House

Hi, boys and girls. It’s just me, your friendly neighborhood JW, here to remind you all that we’re currently looking for people to replace us here at Xbox 360 Rally. All you have to do is go HERE, fill out the form, and wait to hear back. It’s really not that hard.

So, get to it already — so Paco and I can get to the NEW site!

Ok, people, here’s the deal — Paco and I are on our way out. We’re taking over at 1PStart.com in an effort to restore it to it’s former glory. …that, and I just plain want to write about another game every once in a while, is that so wrong?!

Anyways, here is what we’re looking for: A competent, capable writer with a love for all things Xbox. Now, by competent writer, we mean someone who spells “you” correctly, and knows when to capitalize. If you can do that, you’re a shoe-in. So, CLICK THIS DAMN LINK, do the required stuff, then get paid to play video games and write about stuff.

…hell, Mike and I did the hard stuff already, and YES, the GTA4 Banner contest will continue, and I will still give you a copy of GTA IV… or something. So, hop to it.

Xbox 360 Rally, JW, Stuff, Job Openings

You know, this “Yahtzee” fellow is quickly rising up my list of the funniest men alive. His latest review, for my GotY BioShock, is simply brilliant.

Brilliant.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, The Escapist, Yahtzee, BioShock, System Shock 2

Now, I don’t know too much about Blue Dragon. I was lucky enough, many moons ago, to get my hands on an import copy of the game, but because it was all in Japanese, I didn’t know what the hell was going on. So, when I started seeing Blue Dragon getting mixed reviews from several websites stateside (Game Informer: 9/10, GameSpot: 6/10), I was put off a bit.

After watching this GameTrailers review, however, I think I’m sold. I’ll probably pick this one up for at least a rental.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Blue Dragon

NOTE: Notice the PS3 text? Yeah, it’ll make sense. Just read on.

There is no denying it: BioShock owns your entire face. Every video game review for what will surely be the game of the year has awarded it scores averaging out to, according to GameRankings, 98%. To put that in perspective, the (almost) unanimous choice for “Greatest Game of All Time”, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, averages out at a 97.6, rounding up to 98%.

However, you’re always going to have your critics, and BioShock is no different. What makes this so special is that the only person who is complaining about BioShock is, as you probably would’ve guessed, a PS3 fanboy.

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A quick background on Space Giraffe, this is an Xbox Live Arcade game that is only going to run you 400 points ($5) and from the information I had of it, it seemed good. The game runs on an engine that will remind you of the old Atari game Tempest, shooting down enemies, however having that Geometry Wars type crazy colorful graphics flare. A basic game, but at the right cost, it is coming out Wednesday (22nd) and so we all can just try it for ourselves.

Now that you know what it is, here is the amusing news coming from a review of the game put out by the Official Xbox Magazine (#75). Senior Editor Dan Amrich can be quoted from the review as saying something as bad as “Actually made us angry when we played it.” He sites problems of the visibility of enemies vs the backgrounds and ends the review with “Just really bad. Lacks a single redeeming quality, and or it’s busted to varying degrees in its own design, quality or basic functionality. No gamer of any stripe should bother.” Ouch, what a negative nancy. I know that OXM doesn’t have to post only high scores for games just because of the name of the magazine, but man, I don’t recall ever seeing a score that low.

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Just wanted to make you readers aware of a new site to keep an eye on in the future, called “Xbox 360 Truth,” as they have started up a new feature called “BCGOTW” .. catchy, isn’t it? This stands for “Backwards-Compatible Game of the Week.” A basic, yet very good idea for an 360 site that I have yet to see done elsewhere. To start up this new feature, “Fable” has been chosen, a great title to begin with. On the site you can find current prices, a few thoughts from writer William Ward, and a link to some reviews. Maybe in the future William will add a little more of his view on the titles listed, so keep checking back to find out, like I said, this is a new site, so it is still working out its kinks.

Also, I hope everyone has kept up to date with GamesForLunch as Kyle Orland has given reviews for both the Bioshock demo and Overlord. Feel free to write him on how wrong he is for not reviewing Overlord higher (it was the PC version, this is a title that really needs a controller imo).

Ever since it’s debut back in 1989 (Apple II FTW!), a year hasn’t gone by where we haven’t had a football game with legendary NFL coach John Madden’s name slapped on. This will be year 18 for the franchise, which has cemented itself in gaming history as one of the premeire franchises, Sport or otherwise. However, that doesn’t take away the fact that for the past several years (some argue as far back as 2001) the Madden franchise has sort of stagnated, falling from a once untouchable status to that is a merely average football title. With 2K Sports’ All-Pro Football 2K8 challenging Madden for the crown, you would expect the team at EA Sports Tiburon to pull out all the stops, right?

Well, according to the GameDaily review, they did.

Madden NFL 08 redeems the franchise as one of the best-playing football games in recent memory.

GameDaily went on to praise it’s many game modes, and awarded Madden an impressive 9/10. Personally, I can’t wait to take Madden NFL 08 online — I want to see just how good half of y’all are, now that you don’t have Michael Vick to rely on!

[GameDaily]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Madden NFL 08, EA Sports

The servers are melting. Paco spilled his cola on the keyboard. JW’s out back trying to wrangle the horses. In short, we’re all kinds of FUBAR, so we may not be able to update as much as we’d like today.

Sorry, peeps. We’ll be back soon.

There has been a lot of controversy regarding a recently posted rumor regarding SEGA’s possible Tokyo Game Show line-up. Now, I was originally very defensive of this piece because of who sent it in. He, a long-time go-to guy named Rob, has sent me exclusive tips for four years, and until this most recent one, they were ALL accurate.

Regardless, after the link had been posted by reader “Cedge”, I immediately contacted Rob via GoogleIM.

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I have been playing Video Games since the ripe old age of three. The first video game I ever played was the immortal Bad Dudes on the NES. At the time I didn’t appreciate the simple concept of rescuing the President from Ninjas, but now I do. The game that made me a gamer, however, was a little known title called ‘Dinosaurs for Hire’. If not for that 2D Side-Scrolling Shooter for the Sega Genesis, I would not be the nerd I am today.

One of the major factors in what makes a video game memorable is the music. Look at all the video games that are etched into our memories: Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Halo, Warcraft, Metal Gear Solid, Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, and Final Fantasy are just a few of the games that are memorable in the eyes of the gaming public, and each and every one of those games has some memorable music. Growing up, I would pop Mega Man II into the NES, and leave it at the start screen just so I could listen to that killer opening theme. But of course, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who DIDN’T rock out to the Mega Man theme at some point in their lives. Regardless of what your favorite video game is, I promise you that you remember a song or two from it.

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