Xbox 360 Games: 12/01/2009

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 [Online Game Code] << more detail ::

By Tony (USA) - reviews

Man, I remember logging countless hours on Marvel vs. Capcom 2 in the arcades.

It was a lot of fun back then, so when I heard this was going to be released on the XBLA, I jumped on it. And it's only 1200 Microsoft Points(15 USD)!!!

The new features like online play make this game even better. Take on the world, but I'm warning you, some people are really, really good. The online play can be a bit laggy at some times, so its best to play with people that are pinging on the lower side.

This is an exact port of the absolutely perfect Dreamcast version of the game, so there aren't any gameplay revisions, so characters like Cable, Iron Man, and Magento are still incredibly unbalanced and overpowered, which show how true this port really is.

My only complaints about this game is that you cannot map one button to two actions, which makes it difficult to do attacks that require you to hit two buttons at once, considering you are using a Xbox 360 controller.

For fans of Capcom, Marvel, or any fighting fans, this is a definite buy, considering that USED copies of MvC 2 can run upwards of $50 dollars due to their short manufacturing run. So, MvC 2, gets a 5/5.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Street Fighter IV << more detail ::

By Bucky51 "Sean" (Orlando, FL USA) - reviews

This game looks great and plays well. I was a fan of the original arcade game, and used to play a ton on the old Sega genesis. SF4 does the best job yet of re-creating the feel of the original. Capcom really has added a good level of polish. The menus are crisp, the venues are detailed, and the fighters are responsive. There is a lot of depth, with tons of unlockables too.

Two warnings for casual street fighter fans. In Arcade Mode, even when set on Easiest, the game's last boss, Seth, is ridiculously hard. I'm not one of those guys who wants to learn every move and work for every victory. My interest was to basically just unlock the hidden characters so my friends and I could have a full slate of fighters to play with when they stop by. But this last boss makes getting the hidden characters a chore. The Easiest setting makes all the other fights pretty easy, but it doesn't seem to apply to Seth.

The other warning is the controls on the 360. For the most part, basic moves are pretty easy. But I've had a hard time pulling off some of the basic combos in the heat of battle. Even in Trial Mode, where you can try combos as often as you like, I can't seem to string some of them together. I have difficulty getting past level 3 for most characters. Maybe my age is catching up to me, but it seems like you need a joystick to pull these moves off with any kind of consistent frequency.

Soul Calibur IV << more detail :::

By Shann Yu "Go Rice Owls!!!" (Nashville, TN) - reviews

If you've played any of the other Soul Calibur games, this game plays pretty much the same way. The reason this series is so much better than the other series out there I feel is the ability to, blow-to-blow, attack your opponent with series of attacks that do not involve memorizing a long string of commands like in the Tekken series. That said, this game is basically Soul Calibur III plus some small enhancements (outside of HD graphics) that I personally don't notice that much.

This is a really simple fighting game to pick up for first-timers, and there is almost always a character and a fighting style to suit your desire. Really, the only two very similar characters in the game are Siegfried and Nightmare, apparently for a good reason if you know a bit about the forgettable story.

Some specific notes:

Gameplay: Single player - A- ; Multiplayer (local + online) - A

First off, I don't believe games like these aren't really meant to be bought for single player. Clearly, you'd expect to practice your game in your time so that you can lay down the law against your friends on multiplayer modes.

AI is reasonably intelligent in this game, outside of being very simple in the earlier levels on the Normal difficulty setting. Higher up in difficulty, the AI plays defense very well, and this can get really frustrating, sometimes even forcing you to abandon normal attacks and to go for grapples, which for some reason the AI is pretty bad at countering.

Otherwise, when playing your friends, this is not exactly one of those fighting games that you can button-mash and expect to win. Definitely some skill and practice is involved, and the smoothness of the fights and the transitions from blow to blow make this THE fighting game to get.

Online gameplay is smooth and overall as good as the local multiplayer experience. I have not experienced any issues with lag or skippy gameplay. My only complaint here is how selecting "Quick Match" in ranked has the tendency to just match you with someone who has an open game. As a game creator, you can select the level of players you intend to play against. As a level 1 trying out the online game, I got put into too many matches against level 60+ and got slaughtered.

Story: C

This is the the only reason I am giving this game four stars. For a game that seems to promote its story about the struggle between an evil sword and a cleansing sword (assuming I even understand it right), especially from the moment the trailers hit TV screens nationwide, this game does a terrible job of incorporating the story into the game. This said, most fighting games that even have storylines do terrible jobs at integrating the story into the game as well.

If you are looking for a fighting game with a pretty nicely integrated storyline, the best that I can think of are the WWE Smackdown series. In this game, the story consists of short cutscenes between fights that hint at the location of the next fight, and maybe short snide remarks that the characters say at each other right as the fight is about to begin (that in most cases don't even seem to make any logical sense together).

Overall, this is a great fighting game to have. It's purely that and nothing more. Expect to play single player mode quite a bit in order to unlock characters and items. The real fun of this game really comes from multiplayer modes. I think that fronting $60 may be a stretch for this game unless you're really into this series.

Fallout 3 <<< more detail ::

By Shuhao Cao - reviews

Maybe you would argue that this is just "Oblivion with guns", but this "Oblivion with guns" has more to offer than just "Oblivion with guns", it has a massive story(according the guide i received today, after you completed the game you got tons to do), also the SPECIAL is back! Pipboy is back, i cant help crying after i creating my character and seeing a whole new wasteland, which is far more detailed than the game I played 10 years ago. Maybe you would argue again, Bethesda is incapable of doing top-notch black humor like Black Isle, but the feels of exploring the wasteland is back, here I listed a few pros and cons

Pros

+ build of the whole wasteland

+ mission design

+ user interface

+ storytelling

+ Pipboy

+ tons of things to explore

Cons

- cant skip the VATS slow motion

- making choices wont affect the whole game too much, unlike Fallout1 &2, you have to pay for what you ve chosen

- no item description........(huge disappointment for some old fans maybe)

In general, I would recommend this game to those who love Oblivion

Update: the system is much more similar to Fallout 2 than to Oblivion, you have skills and perks, and at each leveling up you have 10-20 skill points(depends how much Intelligence you have) to distribute into a variety of skills, then you have perks like Lady Killer or Animal Friend; the system is deep and fun since you could be an agile and slick thief or a strong and stubborn warrior based on how you distribute your points and the initial attributes(S.P.E.C.I.A.L.)

Update 2: for those of you concerning CE, I got my CE from amazon on the releasing date, and this is the nicest CE I bought this year comparing to the Fable 2 CE and GTA 4 CE. The CE package has a neat looking lunch box, you could either put it somewhere as a decoration or use it as the storage for small stuff, that Pipboy figure is a fine-maded bubblehead; There is also an artbook of 100 pages featuring the concept art in Fallout3, and a DVD of making of the fallout 3; I think the CE is totally worth the price especially now amazon is offering the $10 giftcard.

Update 3: this game is not for you if you are looking for a first-person shooter like Far Cry 2 or Call of Duty!!!!! this is a role playing game

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 <<< more detail :::

By C. Peterson (Atlanta) - reviews

This game is excellent, it's way better than any other Smackdown Vs Raw game ever made, the possibilities are crazy!! There's so much you can do in this game that was impossible in the other games. It has a great amount of superstars past and present, and a big + is The Rock and Austin being in the game.

Graphics are great as always, on 1080p Cena actually looks real, the untrained eye can't tell the difference. Online is not that bad, sometimes you meet people who have slow internet connections which can put a damper on things, but as long as your speed is great, they'll lag on while you dominate.

The main thing of this game was "to have it your way" people online really take advantage of creating players this year, so much that it's rare to play someone online that isn't using a created player.

On a scale of 1 out of 100 the game gets 93%, it's almost close to being that perfect!!

Tekken 6 << more detail ::

By Deal Stealer "GPS Nav" - reviews

For me, I stopped playing since Tekken 3 Tag Tournament. It was so awesome then and it's still as good as before. Now, you must be wondering why I took 2 star off from this rating. That's because it's been about 10 yrs since Tekken 3 came out and it's relatively the same game. It does have better graphics and sounds and etc... but the new moves since Tekken 3 are very little but they make up w/ enormous player roster you can play with. 40 to be exact. So, I kind of consider this as Tekken 3 w/ 40 characters and that's why I still love it. Another start I took off is because online as of this review is almost unplayable. Probably, 4 out of 5 games you'll be disconnected during the match... If they can match online quality as BlazBlue/SF4/DoA then this will kick ass!!!! for now, I'm just frustrated w/ online game play...if it does improve I'll add 1 more star to this review.

>>>Ear Force X4 Dolby Digital Wireless (Headphones)<<<

By John C. Stokes (Columbus, Ohio) - reviews

I will first mention that I have the Earforce X3's and had an issue with hissing that was attributed to the microphone feedback "feature" which allows you to hear how loud you are talking. The amount of feedback is not user adjustable so I sent them back to Turtle Beach to be tweaked. When I got them back the hissing was decreased but still present (I would have preferred they turn off the feature altogether).

I bought the X4's hoping they would have addressed the hissing and they had not. That being said the X4's have very good 5.1 sound. The hissing is at its loudest when the cable from the puck is plugged into the headphones. If I'm playing single player games I do not plug it in and they sound great. Even with the cable plugged in the hissing is only detremental when there is no game sounds or in a lobby and hardly noticeable in the heat of action.

A nice feature is the fact that I can receive 5.1 surround on my X4's and X3's at the same time which is nice for watching movies with the wife and not waking up the baby (and yes the X4's do sound better than the X3's in a side by side comparison over 5.1). Another nice feature is that it has an optical out so if I want to play the sound through my receiver and surround speakers I just turn on the receiver without rewiring.

Bottom line is for the price and the fact they work flawlessly through xbox live these are a great wireless option.

Monday, December 28, 2009

>>> Xbox Wireless Network Adapter MN740 <<<

By psquare (Lubbock, TX) - reviews

After reading these reviews I had already printed my return label when I decided to call Microsoft just to double-check. Yes it does work on the 360. I did the following, and at least it worked for me:

1. Do not use the disk that comes in the box.

2. Just plug it in, go to "settings" and put in your encryption key if you have one, if not just leave it alone.

3. Try more than once. For some weird reason it only worked at the second try.

I have this adapter in the basement and the router in the first floor. It works great, comes with the cable, and I saved $50...

>>> Xbox 360 Elite 120 GB Hardrive (Refurbished) <<<

Xbox 360 Elite is the newest addition to the Xbox family that includes a huge 120GB hard drive (the largest available for any gaming console), a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable, and a premium black finish. The Xbox 360 Elite also includes a black wireless controller and black Xbox LIVE headset. Xbox 360 Elite has enough space for a whole library of Xbox LIVE Arcade games as well as downloadable high-definition TV shows, movies, music, and more available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace. With its built-in Ethernet port and a free level of the online service, Xbox 360 instantly connects you to Xbox Live. Every Xbox 360 owner is a Silver subscriber--just plug the Ethernet cable into your existing broadband connection and join a global community of more than two million members. Set up a Gamer Profile, visit the Xbox Live Marketplace, even send voice messages--and that is just the beginning. Upgrade to Xbox Live Gold service and experience multiplayer games and tournaments, intelligent matchmaking, voice communication via the Xbox 360 Headset, and much more. Includes Xbox 360 Elite Console, (1) Xbox 360 Black Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 120GB Hard Drive, Xbox 360 black Headset, Xbox 360 HDMI Cable, Xbox 360 Ethernet Connectivity Cable, Silver Xbox Live Marketplace Service, and manual.

>>>FIFA Soccer 10<<<

By William D. Hoyle (Charleston, SC) - reviews

I know that the FIFA games tend to get a little better every year, and I always think to myself," This year's installment is great, but..."

Not with FIFA 10.

I've only played the manager mode with the team I support the most, AS Roma, but simply from that experience, what a difference in the game play. I liked last year's addition of an actual referee pointing the flag in the direction of team possession, so of course, that made it back to FIFA 10. New additions to the FIFA game include; a full schedule for your team, including preseason friendlies with teams in your league, and with teams all over Europe; improved player likenesses, including the way indivual players move (Francesco Totti actually moves like Francesco Totti); weather changes to go with day and night games, including rain and snow; in the rain snow games, most of the players on your squad switch to longsleeves, which was a feature missing from the previous FIFAs; it's easier for defenders to tackle and win possession, which makes the game more difficult but lends to the realistic aspects a real match; and right and left backs can actually push up the sides of the field, which allows them to score and gives more team members besides just your strikers and attacking midfielders a chance on goal.

The only problem I have with the game is the price, and the fact that I'm a full time student without the time to play the game as much as I'd like. Fully recommended to any fans of the previous games. And just think to yourself once you play it...it only gets better from here.

>>>Xbox 360 Headset-Earbud <<<

By John (Honolulu, HI) - reviews

I was excited to get a Plantronics headset, reading about their typical quality they normally produce. I was sort of let down. On the plus side, it is not as uncomfortable as I have read in other reviews. Audio can be heard clearly through the earpiece. The 3.5mm jack fits but loosely into the Xbox controller. However the microphone was the problem. It is supposed to have some sort of noise-canceling feature built-in. But when I would speak into the microphone on Xbox Live, my friends claimed there was some static noise that could be heard. I verified this myself by recording a voice message to myself. I may have just gotten unlucky and received a dud, who knows? For $15, I figured it wouldn't hurt. I kind of wish I got those $15 back. Oh well.

>>> Xbox 360 Memory Unit 512MB <<<

By M. Boone - reviews

I purchased this memory card to move my profile and saved games from one Xbox 360 to a newer one, and it worked perfectly. The process of copying data from the hard drive to the memory card is simple and fast, and I may keep the card as a backup in case something happens to our new Xbox in the future.

4/5 stars, however, because I consider this product to be far overpriced for what it is. Since the Xbox 360 has standard USB ports, the only thing preventing you from using a standard USB drive (flash or hard drive) to backup your data is the built-in limitations of the Xbox itself. This feels unfair, as the only reason I can think for not allowing the use of USB drives for storage was to force people to buy overpriced memory cards and hard drives.

This is just an inconvenience, and I can't complain too much since I did buy one. If you need a way to backup your save games, or if you are buying a newer machine and want to transfer your data, this is the best way to go, and I do recommend buying one for that purpose.

>>> Xbox 360 Nyko Intercooler EX Version <<<

By M. Marcoux - reviews

I have to change my review - - - - You will either damage (melts to the back of your 360) or hurt your 360. Mine didn't melt to the back, but I had major failures with this device. It killed one 360 because of vibrations... the replacement began failing so I removed this device and now all is fine. What a waste of money. It draws power from the 360's power supply, so it is reducing the power going to your 360... thus components can and in my case, WILL fail.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

>>> Xbox 360 Official NFL Dallas Cowboys Controller Faceplate <<<

Mad Catz’ NFL Controller Faceplate for Xbox 360 is officially licensed by the NFL and has been designed to fit perfectly and securely on your Microsoft brand controller for improved protection against daily wear and tear. Effortlessly clip the Controller Faceplate onto your controller to give it an unmistakable NFL complexion without compromising gameplay. With all 32 NFL teams represented, all fans can proudly show off their team pride.

>>> Xbox 360 Intercooler TS <<<

By ehren m "e" (usa) - reviews

Unit is VERY noticeably quieter and smaller than the Intercooler Ex. Auto on/off function is great, that way the 360 starts up quiet and as you play games turns on as needed. Great improvement over the EX.

EDIT: After using this for the last week I wish I could take the review up another star. The TS is actually keeping the entire 360 cool to the touch, even the games are now coming out at room temp instead of on fire. And like I said before, the sound is WAYYY less than the EX, not a whole lot louder than a computer.

EDIT: Pushing 5 months and absolutely no problem with my 360...gets used daily and is working like a charm :)

>>> Ear Force X1 Stereo Headset with Chat <<< more detail

The Ear Force X1 Xbox 360 Stereo Headset's integrated design overcomes the limitation of Xbox communicator headsets that block game sound from one ear and eliminates voice chat interference caused by the headset microphone picking up sound from external speakers. Pump up the volume without disturbing friends, family or neighbors with these Xbox 360 Stereo Headsets. Hear every nuance of the game - from an opponent sneaking up behind you to your teammate's voice right next to you. Trash talk online. Block out distractions. It's everything you need for an amazing gaming experience.

>>> Xbox 360 Arcade Play Wireless Controller Gaming Pack <<< More Detail

By N. Janceski "DA" - reviews

If you update or connected to Xbox Live when you try to play Bomberman Live it will try to update, then will ask you to download the game again to update. To download again it wants you to use your MS points, or you can get the trial. Well after getting the trial, it will not load again.

The other 2 games work. Ms. Pac Man is a download, you get a redeem code with 48 hours of Xbox Live Gold Free and Ms. Pac Man, so you will need a internet connection to get it.