MEMBER PROFILE FOR sinizuh
Average Overall Score Given: 7.53200 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 1234
Reviews
Beautiful Katamari
Overall: Katamari Damacy series have been seen on Sony consoles (PS2/PSP) in the past and this is the first "Next Generation" edition of the game, on a non-Sony console. It hasn't been a very smooth jump. Being a fan of the previous games, I have some serious issues with this game, but that doesn't mean I hate it.Number of Cousins and Presents have increased. Other than collecting cousins/presents, there's really not that much for the average gamer to come back again and again to this game.
Gameplay: Same old, Same old. You get a katamari. You get a set of rules to p@!%#*! the level. You roll. Simple gameplay.
The game has multiple areas (which are just taped off areas of the larger world) and each area has a different set of rules. Let's say, you need to collect as much ocean life as possible. Or roll up expensive objects. It's pretty much the same thing for every level, except one.
There is a level where you need to roll up Hot things. You p@!%#*! the level by reaching 10,000 degrees. Rolling over cold items, lowers your temperature. It's a great change of pace from the other generic "roll till your this size" maps, but the problem is: There aren't enough of these maps.
In the previous games, there were levels where you rolled up expensive things and instead of size score, you had a money value score. Or where you had to roll up the largest "Bear" in the city (you had to dodge a lot to avoid picking up small bears, such as toys or dolls)
It doesn't feel like the polished the story/solo player mode that much, because this is the first game with online support. It's not really that fun either. You and 3 others roll around picking up one object, and you can smash into each other to make them drop the items. eh. Online leaderboards is a nice touch, adding world scores to the mix.
One major problem that cripples this game is Downloadable Content. When you buy the game, you recieve 100% of the content on disc, but you only have access to about 80% of it. You need to PAY to unlock the rest of the content on disc. And Bandai-Namco added achivements into the game to include DLC. So you're not able to get a lot of achivements without buying the DLC. It's a slap in the face.
Graphics: Visuals for the series are very noticeable. If you see a screenshot of the game, you'll know exactly what the game is. Problem is, you might have trouble pointing out which version it is.
They haven't really been upgraded for next generation, and it doesn't run smoothly at all times either. It's kind of disappointing.
If you enjoy the bright, pastel colors of the series, this is more of the same.
Audio: The Katamari series has been known for their excellent soundtrack, and this game offers more of the same. Pretty good layout of japanese music is found everywhere in this game.
But other than music, there's not much else for audio. No one really talks. People might yell a bit when you roll them over, but most things make sounds when you roll them over. And the only one who closely gets to talk is the King of all Cosmos. But he speaks like a DJ scratching a record.
Suggestions: Katamari will always be the same. A simplified game of rolling up objects to see how large you can get. And I think with this version, we've gotten as large as we can. I don't possible think that there will ever be another version of this game, without it just being copy&paste anymore.
Try something new.
Overall Score: 7.3 / 10
Test Drive
Overall: Worst racing game i've play on xbox. I disliked this game from the first race. Lower than average graphics. Horrible and boring story. The voice acting is okay, but it repeats it's self a lot. Songs are okay, but i'd rather use my own soundtracks. I didn't play this game that much because it was so bad. and pong (during load screens) gets boring.Gameplay: Horrible physics, bad AI, load times for everyting, what else? :P The AI is just bad. If you're in first, then the other cars go 200 mph to pass you. If you're in last place, then the other cars go 20 mph. The whole race is around you. The police AI is just as dumb. during underground, it seems like you only have the same 2 cars forever. and the cars handle pretty bad. boo... this game plays horrible.
Graphics: it's a near-direct PS2 port... expect bad xbox graphics. The cars are pretty low in detail and the enviroments are also low in detail. seemed like draw distance was really really low. the arrows (to show you to turn) show up too slow and sometimes at the last second. sure, they added people in the cars, but they have near squares for heads :P Ugly game.
Audio: They got some big names for the soundtrack, but i'd rather listen to my music. The voice acting was okay, but when you pass someone, they keep saying the same things. annoying after a few races.
Suggestions: if you make another game on PS2, leave it there. you suck at porting. Project Gotham and Burnout are much MUCH better games.
Overall Score: 3.0 / 10
Blinx: The Time Sweeper
Overall: The first 4D game. great innovation, but the game could be better. The game looked great, large complex levels and wacky monsters, but the controls and camera was kinda weak. those are the major problem with 3D (now 4D?) platform games. and i also felt that Blinx ran way to !&%$@#* slow. Blinx is a good game, but i wouldn't buy it.Gameplay: you have to save this world from losing time! why? cause blinx thinks the princess is hot... oy boy. well, you run around each level collecting time gems and destorying monsters within 10 mins. Blinx kinda runs slow for someone who has to fight against the clock. I enjoyed all the time mod effects, but the record puzzles were somewhat confusing at first. there are 3 levels and a boss per world. and the store feature was nice.
Graphics: wow. the worlds were giant with a lot of complex details, and the load time was low. I didn't notice any slow downs either. I think my xbox cables are messed up cause i kept getting clipping problems, but that's not blinx's fault. The begining CG intro was pretty cool as well.
Audio: Voice acting was pretty cool, even if it's in some crazy timesweeper language. other than that, the music and SFX were pretty good. nothing bad to say, i guess.
Suggestions: I think you can use 4D technology for a better game...
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Aggressive Inline
Overall: A good concept, but after all 200 versions of THPS, i'm getting bored of these extreme sport games. They are all the same except on different skates/boards. One thing i noticed about this game is that there is no time limit... so they throw a bazillion objectives at you... I did not like this game. the video game industy needs another genre to leech off of.Gameplay: Pick a skater, skate around, do objectives and tricks to get points, unlock more levels. wow. i've played this game atleast 7 times before. They removed the time limit, added a bazillion objectives and removed a lot of skating moves. no thanks... NEXT!
Graphics: Graphics were fine... Nice clean levels with hardly no slow downs... Semi-hires models. One of the slickest/nicest menus i've seen lately.
But i think something was wrong with the game or with my video cables... I got A LOT of clipping. Skaters would disappear for a while... when i leveled up a stat, the screen went all insane on me. Just too messed up.
Audio: Music was great (POD rocks), voices were okay... but they got annoying over time... I couldn't find custom jukebox... either i'm blind or developers got lazy.
Suggestions: Think of a new series. no more extreme sports.
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller
Overall: One of Segas most orignal games comes to xbox. I loved the first game and hated the second one... now the third one falls right in the middle. It was a good game, but not worth buying. Sure it had 3 large maps, but 2 of them i didn't like (small apple and glitter oasis) and those were the maps with the most slow downs.Gameplay: Drive around picking up and dropping off customers. Simple idea. The game is pretty easy, unlike Crazy X. Those mini-games get difficult in the second row. I remember the last few games in CT2 were hard, but not this hard. anyways, seems like the customers always want to go to the same place... kinda repeats itself if you keep going to the same customers, but there are hundreds of them now since they explanded all the maps.
Graphics: Biggest thing they over did in this version was lighting. Glitter Oasis is all lights. Sure it looks great with reflections and motion blur, but at some points, there are MASSIVE slow downs! disappointing. They improved a lot of the environments and cars, but the people are still as ugly as i remembered them. lol. well, they improved most of them. Crazy Tornado reminds me of the Ping Pong tech demo microsoft showed... in the minigame, a tornado throws hundreds and hundreds of cars are you! and no slow downs :)
Audio: Awesome music (even though they just bring back the music in the older games)... but NO JUKEBOX FEATURE! boo sega. oh well... the voices are great. they added more driver and customer voice snipits. but i'm kinda disappointed because they redid B.D. Joes voice :| boo.
Suggestions: We need something new, sega. Either add better features to crazy taxi (how about weather? online features?)or a brand new Crazy series.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Elder Scrolls III : Morrowind
Overall: A massive multiplayer online role playing game where only one person can play. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that. But it just feels like the game was too empty for it's giant map. The game was good. Above average graphics. Good load times. Nice voices and music. Fair controls. A good game for the gamer who doesn't get bored easy and loves high replay value.Gameplay: It was very easy to pick a race and customize it, but picking a class was easier. Either from a list, a survey, or create your own. The game seems kinda low because of the stamina bar and the towns are pretty far apart. I spent a lot of time walking and looking at signs (they do give a nice detailed map, but i didn't know where i started D: )
One odd thing i didn't enjoy was that someone would talk to you when you walked passed them... and on top of that, they give you additude! jeez.
I don't know if it was just me, but i didn't find many enemies to fight. so i had a bad urge to kill all NPC.
Time and Weather systems were awesome.
Learning Curve for this game is about a hour or two.
Graphics: Above average for most xbox games. Models were nice detailed. Environments were fine. but the game looked to PC. From a distance, people would walk glitchy and odd. At sun rise and sun set, it was difficult to see. A lot of different models (NPC, weapons, armor and items), GIANT environments with short load times.
Audio: A lot of different voices for NPC (a few copies, i noticed). Good quality for all sounds (magic attacks, weapons, enemies, etc) and good moody music. (but was kinda low to hear)
Suggestions: good job... but it's too big for a single player.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Burnout
Overall: Burnout is one of the funnest games i've played for xbox. even though the game was pretty short, i had a great time with it. This is one of those racing games that actually feels fast, add this to traffic, and it's chaotic fun :D During a crash, it shows 3 different views at slow mo... sweet :DGameplay: With about 9 cars, 7 leagues (between 1 and 3 races per league), 4 face offs, and survivor mode, this game is pretty short. The controls are pretty easy to learn. one thing it was missing was that it didn't have custom soundtrack feature :(
Graphics: The car models might not be high in detail, but the courses are large and full of traffic. and i did not notice any slow down at all. When you replay a crash, you are able to put on motion blur. i didn't notice much of a change, just that the jaggies were smoothed out.
Audio: The engine sounds were real nice... i noticed pressure on the axis when the car did a jump and landed... sounds nice... the music ain't that bad either.
Suggestions: Add more to it... this game is so good, it deserves to be longer!
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
Spider-Man
Overall: Not the best game I've played, but not the worst either. They did a pretty good job making movie-2-game... but i was not impressed... The game was long, I'll give it that. Not my kind of game... the controls and camera system were better than other action/adventure games, but not even close to being perfect. This game is a nice little game, but no way in hell i'd pay $70 (canadian) for it.Gameplay: Movie plot = Game plot? I wasn't too keen about the plot. I know the original plot for Spiderman (comics/old cartoons), and this was too odd. The game gets way too difficult when 8+ enemies attack and you're only locked on one of them. Instead of a linear difficulty increase as the game goes on, it seems like it's easy, then hard, then easy, then hard. Even if you hit the correct buttons, attack combos do not happen. and the points system is a good idea, but it's poorly executed.
Graphics: Looks great... big environment, somewhat high-res-in-game models, cut scenes are great. The model for Mary Jane was horrible D: also with the vulture. since the game came out on all 3 consoles at the same time, there was no real graphical improvement.
Audio: The vocals were pretty good and the tutorial guy was pretty funny... but thats it. i didn't even notice any music D: This game was missing the classic spiderman theme from the old old cartoon. if it had that, i would give sound a 4.5
Suggestions: Spiderman: The Movie: The Game... great title :P
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
Gunvalkyrie
Overall: Disappointing. sure, it's a lot better than some of the xbox games i've played, but i was expecting more. the controls, moronic story and 0% fun factor ruin this game. The graphics are pretty good and there are hardly any load times. and the Pink Whale with wings is cool D:Gameplay: This is only game i've ever played that i was worried i'd snap my analog stick. i mean, wtf. you have to do some insane button smashing to do some dodge combos. and viewing around are horrible, the right analog stick is reversed. The story is boring and pretty dumb as well. and being made by sega, i was hoping for atleast some fun in this game... this game had none. no motivation to play this game.
Graphics: Graphics might not be much to look at first, but there is hardly any slow down with so much going on in the environment. jaggies in this game is very noticable, but since it's such a fast game, you won't notice it.
Audio: the music is pretty cool... but the voice acting is some of the worst i've heard. the pain sound (getting attacked) sounds like taking a radio and throwing it into a tub of water :P
Suggestions: nice try, but you've failed.
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
Star Wars: Obi-Wan
Overall: I hated this game. It was horrible to so many degrees. Lucasarts should be ashamed of themselves for this... from the previews and pictures, it looked like a good game... but picking up the controller and playing this, it was terrible. I didn't even get passed the 2nd level it was soo bad (not cause it was hard, cause i was annoyed with it)Gameplay: this game has no gameplay. running around nearly barely environments slicing up bad guys. and when you go attack enemies, they all gang up on you and you can't get out...
Graphics: there must have been some error with my HiDef pack, because graphics in the game were horrible. lighting was in all the wrong places, textures were plain and boring, models weren't very high res... this was "ugly" for a xbox game.
Audio: star wars theme, lightsaber sounds and screams from wuss enemies... below average action game sound :P
Suggestions: i. hate. you.
Overall Score: 2.0 / 10
James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire
Overall: this is the second best james bond game i've played (goldeneye was #1), and this game isn't even based on a movie! Single player in this game was great. 12 missions doesn't sound like much, but i kept going back to improve my score, get &quo better medals and 007 tokens. Multiplayer with bots was horrible. 2 out of 5 modes were bot-enbled, and the bots varry from idiot to headshots-all-the-time. Driving/Rail Shooter levels were excellant. This game is a great game... but too short to buy.Pros: using sniper rifle to watch a lady take a shower... NAKED! Con: it was only Q :(
Gameplay: default controls were built for people who need autoaim... horrible defaults... but set2 are like halo controllers. it was easy to jump in and start "bonding". switching guns and gadgets was a bit annoying. like i said above, Driving/Rail shooter maps are the best.
Graphics: Excellant. the environments were high detailed. so were the characters and the weapons/gadgets. i noticed a new slow downs, but not much to affect the game. it's a big change from PS2 graphics.
Audio: james bond theme! great vocals! bond humor! this game sounds as great as it looks. yea... so... (empty space)
Suggestions: great game, maybe a longer single player mode would keep me interested.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
Overall: It's all downhill from here. THPS1 was great. THPS2 was awesome. THPS3 is weak. with only (like) 10 levels, this game is really short. sure, you can make your own skater and own levels, but it seemed like they didn't do much with this game. It looks great, (at first) it felt bad but it got better and it sounded nice... but the songs kept repeating and without the feature of mixing more than one soundtrack together. The levels are pretty small compared to Dave Mirra's BMX 2.Gameplay: Too much of the same, nothing much is changed. The new revert move doesn't add much. New levels with all those crazy events (earthquake, giant fan cutting though the boat, etc) is cool, but not enough. Creating skater and skate park would add some replay value, but i'd get bored with it easy. Online play (like ps2 version) would have been nice... but nothing :P
Graphics: Graphics are real nice. everything from the levels to the characters to the ... hmmm... layout? The improvement over the ps2 edition was needed, but it seemed like they took too long.
Audio: Seems like everyone talks in this game... sure they don't all have their own voices, but they atleast say stuff. the music is good, but after a while, it repeats and repeats. and you can't mix soundtracks, so that's pretty bad.
Suggestions: weak. THPS1 to THPS2 was good. THPS2 to THPS3 was bad. i hope THPS3 to THPS4 will be better and maybe the final.
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
Genma Onimusha
Overall: i wanted THPS3, but they didn't have it. so i got this... BIG MISTAKE... i'm disappointed in Capcom. this is just Samurai Resident Evil. horrible. The controls (NO ANALOG!)and camera views ruin this game. Being a direct port from PS2, i didn't expect much... but i expected more than this! once you die like a bazillion times, it gives you an option to START THE GAME ALL OVER AGAIN ON EASY... the thing is... Easy is the same as Normal! same amount of enemies. same amount of hits to kill them. Stay away. This game belongs beside Obiwan and Azurik.Gameplay: You move around in pre-rendered backgrounds, using the D-pad while you fight god like monsters with your wuss sword. Capcom must hate us. Like i mentioned, this game has the same layout as Resident Evil. Push a button to open doors and walk up stairs. Load screen after Load Screen. Foreshame.
Graphics: well, the best thing about this game are the CG cut scenes. even though the intro was long, it was well done. in game graphics look good... but like most games, lip sync with voices is as bad as 70s kung foo movies. gah.
Audio: slash. hack. ouch. ouch. died. did i forget something? oh yes... bad voice acting. Roar, this game sounds bad too.
Suggestions: don't port the sequel. give us something else, like Ape Escape 2.
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
Rallisport Challenge
Overall: The best looking racing game to date for a next generation console doesn't always have to be fun. The Graphics were top notch. The fun factor was rock bottom. I had fun with Project Gotham Racing cause of all the different things you had to do... In Rallisport, you get 4 driving styles and the same ~16 maps over and over again.Gameplay: You race through 4 different racing styles in 4 leauges with about 4-5 circuts within those leagues... but it's the same maps over and over again (just with more laps). The maps can get insanely curvey, but it's rally racing! that's how it is. I enjoyed listening to my own sound tracks (listening to Crazy Taxi Tracks in Rallisport is fun :D)
Graphics: Top Notch. Must better than Gotham Project Racing and it's got to be the best LOOKING racing game for xbox. You can trash the car by slamming into things (trust me, you will), you can get the car dirty with mud and snow, and you can do some insane crash jumps. The people on the sidelines are actually 3D instead of 2D sprites in most games.
Audio: The music is great and with the custom soundtrack feature, you can listen to your own songs. In Rally mode, listening to the guy give you hints on whats coming up is done very well. Also, the car songs (engines, gears shifting, etc) sound excellant.
Suggestions: Great game, but it needs to be more fun.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Jet Set Radio Future
Overall: Next generation sequel to one of the best dreamcast games... and this game is even better. it has the same game formula as the original. skate around, spray paint, stop evil empire. The graphics are amazing (but jaggies :() the music/sound is some of the best. the length of the game is pretty weak, but it was action packed. One of the best games for xbox since launch. Gameplay: Skate around, knocking off rival groups and covering up their "ugly" grafitti with your own. To get to some areas of the town, you must go through 2-3 other areas. That's the only annoying thing. The game is average for an adventure/action game (i beat it under 12 hours) and there are 140 sprays to collect (i collected 84) but before the game was released, they said there would be music tracks to unlock.... i found none. and during a save point (in an area), you can change characters. the change character screen has about 20+ slots for characters... i only found, like, 8 characters... so there must be secret characters... also, when you finish the game, you unlock the "test run" feature (see if you can get high scores in race, flag, tag and technique on each map).
Graphics: This game is just visualy amazing. The draw distance is huge and there are alot of complex buildings and such... but with that, there is a few slow downs. The character designs are very futuristic. The spray designs are the best i've seen (only the best for this game :D) but there are jaggies... :(
Audio: Great music & nice voice overs add a lot to this game... there are alot of characters with a lot of different sounds. can't say much about this, except... good job, smilebit.
Suggestions: good job on the sequel, smilebit... but online features would be nice. also getting rid of slowdowns.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
New Legends
Overall: After all the bad action/adventure games for xbox (azurik, obiwan), i was doubtful about this game... but after i played it for a while, i really enjoyed it. The graphics might not be xbox-quality, but it still looks nice. the gameplay was nice and came with A LOT of weapons. but as some-most other xbox games, there seems to be glitches. Like Massive slow downs and game lags for a few seconds when music changesGameplay: Tons of Weapons. Big Levels. Enemies that just swarm you (on later levels). A Team of fighters to help you. this game is pretty good. but there are some errors... sometimes, the team mates fall off a cliff or fall far behind you and they just come out of no where in front of you. and they seem to be weak. and it was kinda odd that there was 2 bosses right after each other.
i also really enjoyed the story. it was slow at first, but it got better.
Graphics: The graphics for this game is somewhat weak. the cutscenes were good (w/ voices), but ingame graphics were not xbox-quality. i can't complain much... i've seen much worse :P
Audio: Music and Voice overs were good... but whenever the music track changed, the game would hang for a few seconds.
Suggestions: work more on graphics and try to fix the massive slow downs. New Lengends 2 would be nice.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Star Wars: Starfighter - Special Edition
Overall: I enjoyed this game somewhat... it was a good game to rent. i enjoyed the single player story and the bonus missions. Graphics are nice and so was sound. I didn't think this game would be so good after playing Obiwan...Gameplay: 14 missions were a nice semi-long game. the last mission took me about 9 trys to beat, got somewhat frustrating. Getting the medals were a nice addition. Controls were very nice, except that i kept thinking triggers were weapons. and 2nd analog as roll was a bit annoying. with so many ships, i can get confusing.
Graphics: this game is nice looking game. i noticed no slow downs. when there are alot of ships flying around (w/ blasters), it looks really nice.
Audio: with okay voice overs and music from the movie, the sound in Starfighter was really nice and added to the game.
Suggestions: no ports.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Max Payne
Overall: People have told me Max Payne for PC is awesome, and Max Payne for xbox is just the same. down right awesome. this game is the perfect rental game, nice and short so you can pass it in 3 days. The story might have been serious, but the way they told it, i found it amusing. the graphics were awesome and so were the sounds... Gameplay: The game maybe less than 20 hours of gameplay, but it's 20 hours of fun fun fun! I just wish there was something more to it... maybe Survivor mode, where you have to kill as many guys with unlimited ammo in a certain amount of time...
Graphics: Bullet Time is one of the greatest features in this game... it makes it more fun than an average FPS. Awesome graphics to show off on xbox.
Audio: the sound was great, from max's voice acting, to weapon shots... it was all bundled nicely. this game would be real nice with 5.1 speakers.
Suggestions: great job. I don't know if there will be a Max Payne 2, but i'll be waiting for it
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
SSX Tricky
Overall: The best snowboarding game I've played. I was a little bit disappointed after Amped, but this game is much better. From the vast amount of characters, hills and moves, to the great graphics to the awesome sound. this game is one of the best for xbox. and they added a bunch of DVD movies on how they made the game, a real nice bonus.Gameplay: with only 3 modes, the game does have alot of play in it. Practise is great for unlocking levels of moves and learning the hills. World GP (i think that's what it's called) has good replay value with race and showoff for each hill. I found this game to fun to play over and over again to unlock more boards and outfts.
Graphics: The graphics are fantastic. I noticed a bit of slow downs... but it's wasn't major. The pyrotechnics when going off big jumps are a very nice touch as you pull of big tricks. the only bad graphical error i found was that there was some bad shading on the characters faces when they talk before and after races.
Audio: They got famous people to do voices for SSX this time, and it's a nice touch. even though, you can't tell ingame. but it's nice to see that games are getting big, that famous people are voicing for them. Music is also great in this game, but it seems to be repeative because "Tricky" always plays when you get tricky on the meter.
Suggestions: A great game! keep up the good work. i'll be waiting for the 3rd game in the SSX series.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
Dead or Alive 3
Overall: One (if not the best) looking first generation xbox game. sure, it's a fighting game with no real point. but that didn't stop me. i was stunned by the graphics, envionments and sound! I want more!Gameplay: Playing though story mode with all characters was a nice time. I enjoyed unlocking all the end movies. I also enjoyed survival mode, a nice challange of seeing how far you can get and to see all the little prizes that they drop. it would have been nice if they were trophys that you collect like in SSBM.
Graphics: like i said above, one of the best looking first generation xbox games. From the giant fighting arenas, to the high detailed models. Everything looked stunning.
Audio: the sound was great. they didn't ruin the game by having english voices, they music was a nice addition (aerosmith only has 2 songs. main theme and ending theme). but it would have been better it you could use your soundtracks.
Suggestions: please extend replay value for the Dead or Alive 4. also some more character would be nice...
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
Azurik: Rise of Perathia
Overall: uhhh no. i thought this game was going to be much better, but the HORRIBLE camera and criss-crossing levels just ruins it... the game also has bad enviroment textures. but the models have great details. this game gets boring kinda fast. it's kinda like doom (all enemies surround you), but it's hard to attack them all at once.Gameplay: a good idea and good execution of a semi-launch game... but it was overall disappointing. horrible camera system, odd magic system and enemies that just don't die.
Graphics: the game looks great. one of the best part of the game. you can look across long distances and it's cool just to stand around and use the camera (once you figure it out) to look around.
Audio: the sound was good... the voices were okay. main character sounds a bit too young. and the music was also well done.
Suggestions: remake the entire game system if you think of making Azurik 2.
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Overall: a great launch title, but since it is a launch title, there are things that are wrong with it. i overall enjoy it... but my thumb is starting to hurt.it's a great game... but i don't think i would buy it. go rent it.
Gameplay: The idea of the game is great. going from amature to pro. the basic boarding idea (doing tricks and see if you can beat the hiscore). but you also have to do sponser runs (to get more stuff and become a pro) and also pro runs (where you follow and copy a pro). But the thing is... the controls are down right horrible. see, you can do tricks either pushing A/X/Y (which is difficult enough) or use the right stick (push it to jump). since pushing buttons is difficult (not as easy as THPS), i used the right stick. but after 3-4 hours of straight play, my thumb is hurting bad.
also, if you hold up when you jump, you automaticly fall. another annoying "featu
re".
Graphics: stunning. i haven't noticed any slowdowns at all (maybe cause i get frustrated at the controls). the way the snow gets kicked up when you land, or when you snowboard while it snows... or even when you board through the snow shooters... it all moves realistic.
Audio: pre-packed with all the music you need. you can change the soundtrack line up (don't like punk, but like rock? change it up!)
the vocals from the people who watch you are also great, but it seems like they all share like 5 voices. and that !&%$@#* snowman is annoying!
Suggestions: FIX THE DAMN CONTROLS!!!
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Halo: Combat Evolved
Overall: Killer App. With the amazing graphics to one of the best FPS stories since Half Life, Halo is certainly the best launch game for xbox, and a top contender for game of year. This game should be included with Xbox.Gameplay: Built for PC/MAC and converted to xbox, they did a good job with the convertion. the controls are near to perfect, the only draw back is moving while crouching.
The game is divided into 10 chapters with smaller cuts (some have humourous titles). Even on easy settings, the game can get somewhat difficult later on in the game. not because they enemies are harder to take down, it's because they never stop coming!
the weapons are all great to take down aliens, but it depends on the situation (don't use rocket launcher upclose). my personal favorite weapon is the shotgun, the best overall close range weapon.
the vehical system is one of the best i've seen in an action game. the controls take some time to get used to (i can never get used to the banshee controls!) one annoying thing that happens is that if your vehical gets flipped and knocks you out, it can land on you and kill you.
the AI is very smart... most of the time. sometimes they jump infront of your fire.
The Story is amazing and has so many twist and turns it never gets boring.
Graphics: this game is visualy amazing. from human/covenant models to environmental landscapes and weather. the human/covenant have so many different animations and sounds, it's amazing because it doesn't repeat often.
everything graphical is down right amazing. but! there is one major grahpical error i found. the game has some very bad clipping in the 3rd chapter. so i took off .5 of a point.
Audio: awesome. my tv has stereo sound and it still sounds clear and perfect. every character has a different voice. and there is 800+ mb of music in the game... if you have 5.1 speakers, your experience would be much better.
Suggestions: for a first person shooter for console, a game needs multiplayer bots if it doesn't have online play.
also, having a secert mission (being a covenant or other lifeform) would add much more to it.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
