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Halo: Reach Limited Collectors Edition (Xbox 360)
by TheRostifer
As many of you hardcore Halo fans will know, the Halo franchise (and Halo as we know it) has been handed over to 343 Industries, owned by Microsoft. That means that this was Bungie's last Halo game, their last chance to show the world what Halo is all about. And they definitely proved how much the game has evolved since Halo: ... C.E.
With the collectors edition the game comes with a box resembling something that could be found in the Halo universe, looking very futuristic and giving a sense of awe to the more hardcore followers of the game. Inside you find some artifacts from the game, including an authentic looking copy of Dr. Halsey's diary/journal (including coffee stains and smudges, adding to the sense of realism), a UNSC badge, Dr. Halsey's UNSC key card and a few other little notes and letters belonging to her. Already you feel immersed within the game, and you haven't even played it.
Eventually when you have finished gawping and drooling over the things included in the box and inserted the game, the graphics and game-play are amazing. With a multiple choice of difficulty levels, even new players can get the hang of the game fairly quickly. The campaign is a truly gripping story about 6 UNSC Spartans (Noble team) as they slowly witness the fall of planet Reach, each have their own important part to play in the fight. The cut-scenes have been cleverly made so that the spartan you play (Noble 6) has whatever features you have given him/her, such as voices and armour. There is even a level that takes the fight into outer space, letting you control your own space-craft.
The fun doesn't stop there though, as the all new revolutionary Forge 2.0 is better than ever, letting you create the wildest of things, from ships to enormous battlegrounds. The only slight problem i have with this mode is that sometimes lighting on the objects can flicker and there is no undo button, but with features such as being able to precisely place objects this isnt too much of a worry. Also the generic objects can get quite boring and dull, although with hundreds of objects to choose from you can always create unique maps.
Then there's the online multiplayer. With a multitude of new features such as holograms and armour lock, there is even more mayhem as you jump around beating and shooting enemies senseless. Also with more armour customization, your player has now been given the opportunity to look even more unique, unlocking and buying bigger and better armour as you advance through the game.
Other features include being able to watch and record your favorite online multiplayer moments, and store them to your online profile for all your friends and enemies to see as you humiliate your foe's. Firefight also makes a return from Halo 3: ODST, which allows you to fight countless waves of enemies, either on your own, with friends or online. The only let-down is i feel it can get very repetitive, and sometimes just bores you to death. But if you customize the firefight to suit you in the settings (you can chooses each wave of enemies) you could have a lot of fun, and potentially never get bored of blowing alien brains all over Reach.
Personally I would fully recommend anyone to give this game a go, as it is highly addictive, fun and has game modes and difficulties suited for any type of gamer. It would seem Bungie has given this game everything they possibly could, and have shown everyone what the Halo franchise is all about. So, in the famous words of Sergeant Johnson (Halo 3) "Send me out... with a bang." They certainly did that.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Xbox 360)
by L33tzombie
Treyarch have released their latest addition to the Call of Duty franchise and have mixed things up a bit. Black Ops II is not set in the past nor present, it's set in the near-future!
It's the year 2015, and warfare is fought using a variety of robotics, un-manned drones and electronics. However, a second Cold War has begun ... between China and the USA and the antagonist, Menendez wants two bring the two forces into a full-scale war against each other. You take control of Black Ops I's main protagonist's son, David Mason. Throughout the story you will encounter some familiar faces from the prequel and get forced through a lot of action-packed scenes. Well when I say "action-packed", i mean hundreds of scripted events where you don't infact control the character mostly, if not at all. The single-player gameplay gets boring pretty quickly and you begin to grow tired of shooting the same bad guys over and over again.
When this happens, it's a perfect time to take a break from the single-player and head on over to the multiplayer! This is where the game starts to shine.
With a great variety of guns to choose from and customise, the multiplayer never gets boring and you'll always have a laugh! There are many modes to choose from such as the classic ones such as Team Deathmatch and Domination, now there are new additions such as Hardpoint which is basically King of the Hill.
If that's not enough to quench yor gaming-buds then Black Ops II sees a new addition called League Play; this mode introduces individual leaderboards each with their own division which ranks players based on their skill. This is great if you prefer competitive gameplay against clans and such.
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Halo 4 (Xbox 360)
by scmk6868
I've played Halo since the beginning of the series on the Xbox, and I'm a little disappointed by this game. Halo 4 is very similar to Halo 3 ODST in just about every aspect. The graphics, sound, and controls feel exactly the same. While this isn't all that bad because I didn't need to learn anything new, it didn't give me any new ... challenges.
The story continues a few years after the last Halo game. You are woken up and immediately sent out to fight. The opening of the game is easy and leads you to an awesome opening scene.
The best part about the single-player mode of this game is the graphics. The cut scenes look amazing, and the voiceovers are really great and very dramatic.
The gameplay itself was pretty short. I beat the game on the normal difficulty mode in around 12 hours of gameplay. Also, the game seemed to be repetitive after a while. It seems that every enemy group was the just about the same, just physically different. In every group, it seemed there were a few weak small enemies, two or three stronger enemies with shields, and a bunch of flying enemies that heal the strong enemies as well as attacking you. No matter what they looked like, it seems you had the same number over and over again. This makes the strategy really boring.
The multi-player features of this game are even better than the other Halos. There are more game modes, and there is a great ranking system based on experience points. The more experience points that you acquire gives you the options for different armor, power-ups, and other features.
Overall, if you're a Halo fan, this game is a must have. While the single-player mode wasn't all that great, the multi-player is worth it.
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