 |
Xbox Live Hits Collection with Limbo,Trials HD and Splosion Man (Xbox 360)
by Lulzaroonie
Trials HD - One would think, that a game based on riding a motorbike would be about racing, but this is more a reflex testing obstacle course, set against a clock. And Trials isn't just a clever name about time trials. Sometimes you'll find you've sat there for a good couple of hours, trying to shave seconds off of your personal best, ... trying to angle your landings perfectly, whilst chanting the mantra, "Just once more! One more go!" when you fail.
Your main motivations in this game come from medals, and also the online leaderboard. Most people have that one friend who canes through a game and has a ridiculously high score. Well let that be your motivation to putting them to shame.
The tracks are great quality, and gradually get harder as you progress through the levels. Further tracks are available to download when you're sick of staring at the same courses.
Some have said this game is ruthless, and it is, but it's not unnecessarily so. You just need to be good enough to be able to progress to the next level of difficulty, and it all helps you to better yourself.
This is a great game to have in a triple pack of games, for the challenge, and for 'taking a break'.
Limbo - Limbo is one of the best games I've ever played, hands down. It's a very dark platform puzzle adventure, about a small boy who is searching for his sister. The world around you is grey scale, misty and ethereal. Background components may turn out to be foreground decoration and vice versa, so the game requires you to not only work out the puzzles but to also pay attention to your surroundings. Doing so may be the difference between life and death.
There is very little in game music, or even background noise. I don't feel this is a bad point since the game is so immersive, and I think this is probably done on purpose to give the player a sense of complete and total loneliness. When there is music, it's usually to enhance a dramatic or terrifying scene.
There is also very little in the world itself. Set in abandoned towns, factories and forests, there are very few signs of life. That's not to say there aren't enemies, because there are, and they will attack you. It's up to you to figure out how you protect yourself from their attacks. The further you progress towards the end of the game, the fewer signs of life you come across.
Controls are limited to basic movements, running left or right, jumping up or down, and climbing. You have to utilize these controls to navigate through this world of shades. It might seem too limiting, but the puzzles are set out that the most you have to do is just time things right or work out the puzzles.
The game is reasonably short, around 5 hours, but this doesn't make it any less enjoyable, and you don't even feel like you 'need' more. The end of the game isn't rewarding as such, as it will probably make you consider what the hell just happened, but the journey it took to get there is rewarding enough.
An absolute joy to play, I might just play this again soon.
'Splosion Man - Splosion Man is one of those games, I think that is a bit 'marmite'. You like it or you don't. Personally I find the game frustrating. I'll get to why.
This platformer is set in a laboritory, where Splosion Man is the result of scientific experimentation. And as you might guess from the name, Splosion Man splodes. I mean, explodes. Ahem.
As a 2D side scroller, your main aim is to get from one side of the lab to the other, taking out as many scientists as you can in the process. You can do this by exploding on them, near them, above them. What would be a jump is one explosion, and you can jump/explode in quick succession three times before burning out and needing to land to ignite again.
The controls are simple, and the game play is easy and clear. Basically, if you keep dying, it's your fault, since the game works fine. You just need to keep getting better. (This is why I find it frustrating, I'm not that good at platformers). There are check points throughout the levels, so you won't die a few feet from the safe room and have to start right back at the start of the level.
The levels again, get progressively harder, and after a certain number of deaths, you're given the option to 'skip' the level and advance to the next.
There are also collectables to find, so once you're sure of the game, and you've completed it as fast as you can (because speed is also a factor in this game, which ensures also that you will die a few more times), you can go back and find these collectables.
And when you're done with that, then welcome to online multiplayer, with new co-op levels!
The music is fun and crazy, and sets the soundtrack to a fast paced, mental game perfectly.
Splosion Man himself isn't without personality either. He seems to suffer from some kind of tic where he can't help but shout out strange things from time to time.
Having said all that, this game is stupidly fun, and something you will likely play for hours. You might suffer from rage quit a few times, but you'll be back.
Read the complete review |
 |
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
by thejarofdirt882
Mass Effect is another masterpiece RPG from Bioware. Throwing the player into a richly detailed universe, it is immersive from the word go. Set nearly two hundred years in the future, humanity has not long (35 years previous) made a discovery which throws us into far reaches of space - mass effect is the name given to the technology. ... You play as Commander Shepard in their mission to stop a rogue "Spectre", his army of geth (AI robots) & the mysterious Reapers. It may be a fairly standard formula in a way, but it is delivered brilliantly with an incredible cast of characters - from a shy archaeologist alien to an jerk of a human politician (is there any other kind?) - and a few twists in the story along the way keep it fresh. There are also some hard, inescapable choices to be made, which will really make you think
Each race of aliens has an interesting and well thought out history; the technology is explained in almost real world terms; and everything, down to a tiny detail, is explained in the game's codex and unlocked as you interact with chacrters and the universe around you. It is interesting enough to enjoy hours of reading.
The game plays out conversations in one of three ways: paragon (good), neutral, renegade (bad); there is also an investigate option which doesn't affect the outcome of a conversation. The three options all give different responses which can lead to very different Shepards. The voice acting across the board is sublime (as it is in all Bioware games).
The game looks great (for one that game out in 2007) and features a kind of "grain" to make it look like older sci-fi films/TV shows. The cut scenes are awesomely rendered. However, the camera can sometimes be fiddly leading to a few cheap deaths.
The RPG elements are great, from the character customisation (everything from gender to the littlest scars on Shepard's face to Shepard's history) to the abilities you can level up. There are upgrades for armour and weapons which boost different aspects or add an extra. There's a wide range of weapons to choose from, some of which can end up ridiculously powerful with the right upgrade. For instance a high level shotgun with an "incendiary round" will instantly disintegrate all but he toughest enemies and cause damage to anything around it, even on higher difficulties.
There are a few downsides, after all nothing is exactly perfect. Auto-saves aren't frequent enough to be effective, you can play for an hour or more and if you forget to manually save, oh well, you've got to play that hour again. Both friendly and enemy AI can act monumentally stupid, such as standing out of cover and just allowing themselves to be killed without reacting. The Make vehicle is fiddly to control and ends up on its back far too often. The side missions are all similar, and all take place in one of three environments (underground base, above ground base, ship in space).
Read the complete review |
 |
Forza Motorsport 4 (Xbox 360)
by Seven17
Forza 4 has been a fantastic addition to my games collection and has paved the way for hundreds (and i really do mean hundreds) of hours of driving in circles on tracks I know better than my own city. For the score whores among us NOTE: The bulk of the achievements are easy and straight forward to grasp and complete but require some very ... serious grinding and track hours to get them unlocked. I am proud to say though i have the full gamerscore on all forza games, including the bonus 250g DLC. i have logged over 200 on track driving hours on this and so i think a review is needed...
The games graphics utilise the full HD experience of the xbox 360, and at 60FPS also makes great use of smooth frames and the aspect ratio of a massive telly. You don't need to have a massive telly to play this but its pretty dull on a small screen, all the effort put into graphics and smooth frames transitions is pretty much wasted if you don't play in HD or on a reasonably sized telly. (i play on a 28" 1080i TV and it looks stunning, anything better than that will really pack a punch.) A 5.1 surround sound home cinema too is a very good thing for those V8 roars you hear on the drag circuit, it really brings it all together for your enjoyment.
The cars in forza 4 are fantastically detailed including their smaller interior details. for example, on cars where there is a digital dashboard clock this will be set to whatever time your console is set to. You can therefore check what the time is while playing, and without pausing the game.
The Autovista mode lets you open and explore cars and this works well with kinect because you can imaging getting into a car and feeling all the controls inside of it. it really makes it into a realistic experience without actually having a car there. There is what i like to call a "coffee mode" where you can sit back relax and enjoy some free run trials and things like that, hot laps are then posted on a global leader board which i think currently stands at around 4 million global online players.
this is a fantastic racing game, its much better than Gran Turismo because of the graphics, auto vista cars and driving ability. For a start the cars aren't so stiff and handle much like a real car would on a tyre compound of your choice. A highly recommended game.
Read the complete review |
