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Open Season (Xbox 360)
by Seven17
I bought this game purely because of it's easy 1000G. It can be completed in one sitting so it clearly doesn't offer much in the way of longevity but is it a good kids game? Simple answer is: No.
The game is a little buggy and glitchy on certain levels, like when throwing elliot onto ledges to collect tokens and badges etc, ... they don't always seem to pick up. Elliot also gets stuck quite a lot and on the level where you have to help the beavers, the one who guides you through the forrest gets lost and you have to walk back miles to collect him again.
The gameplay is relatively simple and I personally found the 1 way maps easy to follow and work through. The maps weren't a challenge but this also means they weren't fun. You just go in one direction and you don't get much variety. There's no choice or decision making involved in the game.
The graphics are pretty bog standard, there are a few cutscenes that loom awful like the opening large bear scene, but things like the fences and the road markings just look like they were drawn on with crayola pens by a 2 year old.
God knows what gaming engine they used for the physics but it feels like something out of an old PS2 game, the gravity is just a mess and the bouncing, throwing and jumping physics are quite literally out of this world. I've never ben in a game wondering why the jump button lifts you a mere 1 inch off the ground. What is this, Venus?
The script is solid and the voice acting is all done by the real people from the movie, these guys know what they're doing and so I will award one star for this. The script works, isn't too cheesy and is simple for children to understand.
The Achievements are incredibly easy and can be obtained all in one sitting a total of 6 hours (or less) and all follow along with the storyline. For the secret achievements you will need a guide as these are for collecting badges, which can be a bit of a pain on levels like Snow Blitz! but otherwise most levels are quite easy to do, thus unlocking a lot of gamerscore very quickly.
Overall this is a great game to whore your score but honestly as a kids game, it's dreadful. I wouldn't recommend playing this game for fun and instead would recommend something like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
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NBA 2K13 (Xbox 360)
by scmk6868
I rented this game from my local store for a night, so I won't be going into too much detail about the game, since I only played it for a few hours. With that being said, here is my initial opinion of the game:
When I first loaded it up, of course Microsoft had an update for it. After a quick download, the game loaded up. It ... took about 5 minutes for the update to apply, and after that I was good to go. The first screen allowed me to create MyPlayer. This is the character you control, and try to make better through the career and other aspects of the game. After about 15 minutes after putting the disc in, I was finally able to play some basketball.
On the home screen, you have some choices, such as online modes, season, exhibition, and career. I went with the career mode first to see how that worked. The first game you play is on a team with players looking to get into the NBA. The game makes a bunch of comments how scouts are there, and your performance decides your draft position.
After you play the game, it goes through a 20 minute period of complete boredom. After you finish the game, they show your character in the locker room talking with scouts and answering questions. The questions are very long, and you HAVE to listen to the scout ask the question and your character give the answer, there is no skipping. The voice acting is TERRIBLE, and sounds so fake. Also, the dialouge shows up after the characters are done speaking, which makes me mad because I could have just read it faster and saved my time!
After you have a few interviews, the draft begins. Depending on where you get drafted, you have to wait another 5-10 minutes for this. Finally, when you get selected for a team, you can play the game.
The gameplay itself is the only good part of this game. The controls are very fluid and responsive, and the graphics are appealing. The game has different difficulty settings so you can make it easier or harder, depending on how much of a challenge you want.
I briefly played the online blacktop game, and that was a fun feature. You can play using your character in pick-up games with other players. I played a 3 on 3 game to 21 points, and it was simple and fun.
If you play games for achievements, this is a pretty good one. I was able to get 180 gamer points in about5 hours of gameplay. There are a few achievements that give you 15 points for doing hardly anything, such as creating a shoe and creating a music playlist.
Overall, this is an average basketball game. I haven't played a basketball game since NBA2K2, and this has the same feel as the last one. It's a good game with lots of different features and gameplay, and is good if you are a fan of the NBA.
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