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Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (Xbox 360)
by Seven17
This game isn't entirely based on the TV series, and does go off to do it's own thing, but that's exactly what I was hoping for with this. You get references to the TV show throughout with jokes and catchphrases from various characters and it actually comes together all quite nicely.
The graphics are very similar to the ones ... on the telly, except everything is 3D (not literally) and full HD. The attention to detail is poor, signs have squiggly writing and a lack of imagery such as photo's, which are instead blurred and sketchy. The floor looks good hough, lot's of bits of chicken seed on the farms and in space you can see individual screws in metal panels.
The physics are quite off but being a cartoon this is completely acceptable. The only thing is the space levels with low gravity, these take a little time to get used to and require a little more effort to control the characters. I found the difficulty just right. It's not an easy game but equally a good level of a challenge, whereby I get stuck and die quite a lot and strategy does play a part but it's not like doing Call of Duty on Veteran.
I love the missions in this, it really gets behind the characters and their personality. For example when playing as Stewie you play in space with tons of high tech gadgets and when playing as brian you wander round a farm with a bottle of jack Daniel's and a sniper rifle. I thought the only mission that I didn't like was the chicken fight level with Peter because while this is an excellent reference to the episode, it just didn't fit with the storyline and was more of a random side mission.
The voice acting was all done by the real voice actors from TV and they didn't just re use the TV samples (they did) but they also used new script too and the characters said their own thing, related to what was happening in the game. When the characters get hurt they use voice clips from the TV, and you can tell which series they were from too. When peter says something from series 1 it sounds awful, the clip is muffled and his voice is very different, his voice evolved over each series and y=it's just so obvious when you hear it in the game.
If you were looking for an easy 1000G you're out of luck. I got 750G in three days and anyone with a bit of effort might get 900G but past this it's all about ranking up online where nobody plays, and getting a lot of missions completed with prerequisites and collectables. I found most of the achievements after this quite annoying but they often do have a reference.
Overall then it's ok. It has it's moments but it has some bad parts and half arsed stuff too, like the sound samples.
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Kung Fu Panda (Xbox 360)
by Seven17
I bought this game because of it's easy 1000G, there's nothing like playing a kids game to get some easy score for your Xbox Gamertag, and i couldn't resist. The achievements are mostly for getting 100% on each of the missions, so to do this you need to get all collectables and complete all objectives. These are very easy to do and ... children should have no problem, so us Achievement Hunters will find it very easy. I completed the game in 3 days but the more dedicated gamer with time on their hands could easily finish this in a day. For that reason longevity is an issue, and once you've completed the storyline, there's nothing else.
There is all the humour and storyline from the film and if anything, more because you can play as other characters from the film rather than just Po, so you get to explore the other sides to the storyline like saving the 5 kung fu masters while playing as Master Shifu. The game is easy to get used to with only simple controls but unless you've got a guide you will really struggle to find all the collectables yourself. I noticed that after just 10 minutes without a guide on the first (the easiest mission) I was really struggling to find ways to reach hidden coins etc.
The game's physics are slightly off when using things like catapults and the panda quake. When firing from the catapults aiming directly at a target does not always mean you're going to hit it, and adjustments regularly need to be made. Panda quake is also a hit and miss, whereby belly flopping on the floor can sometimes hit far enemies but nearer enemies sometimes aren't affected. It seems to be more luck based that you will kill enemies rather than skill and timing of the action.
There are a few glitches and exploits in the game such as using panda roll to collect endless amounts of coins on certain missions, and glitches where you can go through walls and see inside buildings you shouldn't. The camera doesn't get stuck there though, and it just makes the game feel a little less "well built" but these glitches are not common, and are only really an issue if you look for this sort of stuff. I'm sure children won't be bothered by this.
Overall its a great kids game, it has everything from the movie rather than being an annoying spin off game, and on top of being a fun kids game, it's got easy achievements so people like me can boost their score pretty quickly. A highly recommended game, for whatever you're playing it for.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops (Xbox 360)
by Bullydc1
Im a big fan of the modern warfare series...which serious gamer isnt, and Black Ops was an unusual turn away from the modern warfare mantle, succesful as it was. Black Ops is the latest instalment between modern warfare 2 and 3 and take place, for the most part in the 60`s and 70`s proxy wars between the US and the Soviet ... Union.
All I know is that Tryarch and Danger close productions must have paid out a bomb for voice actors because if you listen carefully you will hear the distinctive voices of Gary Oldman, Sam Worthington as the main protaganist, and Ed Harris as the intenrregating agent. As far as im aware(although I have not played Black Ops 2 yet) - no other all of Duty game has such illustrious voice overs). This is I think a testiment to the quality of the game in every respect.
Plot: It starts somewhat confusingly, a women reads out some numbers, numbers flash on screen, you see through the eyes of the protaganist SOG operative Alex Mason, he drifts in and out of consciousness whilst in an interregation room littered with TV`s of faces and images of war. You are being interregated by the US governement, you were a black ops operative sent to kill Fidel Castro or a double actually, you are soon sold out and sacrifice yourself so that your buddies can escape. This is one of the best starts to a game ive played , the bit in the Cuban bar is brilliant, so realistic. You end up in a soviet gulag, housed with Viktor Reznov ,an old soviet fighter from WW2, he indoctrinates you to his cause (although you dont know this) and once youve broken out of prison with a whole series of levels, you follow him to a Cosmodrome, play as him in WW2 memories of missions past, go to vietnam during the tet offensive, all to stop a Nazi rocket scientist and chemical weapons expert called Steiner from working with a rogue russian agent called Derogovich from starting World war 3, the launch sequence it seems is a series of numbers now lying dorment in your head.
Gameplay: you can play the solo campaign mode, a multiplayer online mode and two player mode for some levels, and best of all, a solo or two player or multiplayer 'zombie mode' which is as funny as it is scary - this was an instant hit with call fo duty fans....hilariously you can play as JFK, Nixon , Fidel Castro or Robert McNamarra (although I wonder if most 15 years olds will know who he was) to keep zombies from infiltrating the war room of the Whitehouse, and other level.
Weapons: I thought that as this was a 'historical' Call of Duty that you would not get an amazing array of great weapons, I was wrong, the old 6 shooters, Uzi`s, shotgun`s, Grenade launchers (my favourite) and an early gatlin gun during the prison break out mission are great fun and the developers have really tried to get the gritty look, and especially the sound - which is far more bass and rustic then the smooth sounding modern machine guns in the more modern based games. In this way firing them is as satisfying as firing the latest weapons. You also gets to use 50 cals and the like on the back of various vehicles, get to fly a U2 plane, a huey gunship helicopter down the Danang River with the rolling stones blasting out, and a US Army river patrol boat again with various motown and rock tracks of the time blasting out in homage to Apocolypse Now.
Graphics: stunning as you would expect, great rendering, time has been taken in the Cuban and Vietnamese missions to get the feel of the cities right, the Hue and Havana architecture is spot on, the rendering, the clothes , even beer bottles and Lucky Strike cigarette`s all popular at the time.
Soundtrack; great instrumental soundtrack for the action and scarier parts (as in the snow locked ship in the WW2 missions) -but best of all a great 60/ 70`s motown and rock soundtrack for the Vietnam and final missions - the game ends on Gimme Shelter, and you feel like you have just averted war in the mid 20th Century.
Overall a fantastic game, COD fans and those new to first perosn shoot em up`s will like in equal mesasure, especially films fans, as apart from the actors there are homages to Apocolypse Now and Full Metal Jacket in there too.
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