Sunday, January 30, 2011

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Xbox 360) Review

Holy Spiders!

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is the first Spider-Man game, in a LONG time to not do the free roam around New York, instead it's more you do the story, level by level in little areas. Shattered Dimensions reminded me so much of the Spider-Man game on PS1 and that STILL is a good game, which I think deserves a remake. Now, I would say Beenox did their homework and is true to the source material, it is, but half of the villians in their own dimension are first seen in the game, a few examples are the Noir version of Hammerhead or the 2099 version of Hobgoblin. There's 14 or 15 levels, and each level has its own boss and then the final boss battle with Mysterio. The graphics are a treat to look at, from 2099's flashy-ness to a dark Noir. The game in all, looks great. I loved almost every bit of the game, from the voice work to the story but the one problem I had a few times was the game is too glitchy, like in the last boss battle with Mysterio, the platform underneath me disappeared and I died. If the game was in development for a little while longer I think the glitches wouldn't have been there, but other then the glitches this game is a perfect nerd treat to any Spidey fan or true believer. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is getting an 8.5 out of 10. Excelsior!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade Review

Need a Dose of Retro?

Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade is, to me, the BEST collection of classic arcade games ever! I loved the Namco Museum games that came out on the PS1, PS2, GBA, and so on. Virtual Arcade has the usual collection you'd find on any Namco Museum game but this one has got a few of the Xbox Live arcades including Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga, New Rally-X and a few others. Then there's the big list of plain arcade games you'd find. I played almost all of the games and I loved just about all of them. I think there was maybe one or two games I didn't like, but this is a 20 dollar game and it's a 360 exclusive game, so if you own a 360 and you either love classic arcade games or you want to see where gaming has come from, then this is just about the perfect collection, I had a hell of a lot of fun playing it and I know I'll play it again on a Saturday night when I'm not hanging out with my friends and I'll be playing it to blast Van Halen. I'm giving Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade a 9.0 out of 10! Best 20 bucks you'll ever spend!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Rock Band: Classic Rock Track Pack (360) Review

Is 20 classic tunes good enough for you?

Rock Band is, to me, the best music game out there and I love just about all of the Rock Band titles (Beatles, Green Day, LEGO, 1 & 2) and there's this. Rock Band: Classic Rock Track Pack says what it is. It's Rock Band and, like AC/DC, it's a track pack, which means only 20 songs but you can import the songs into your Rock Band 1 or 2 library (I don't know about Rock Band 3 but most likely you can). Now I love classic rock and that's one reason why I picked this up, this track pack has some pretty awesome tunes. When you get this you get hits like, Baba O'Riley, Bad to the Bone, Can't Stand Losing You, Peace of Mind. But with all good things there must be bad, there were a few songs I didn't like, like the two Dead Kennedys songs, I didn't even bother playing Hit me with your best shot because the song has gotten really old and boring for me. There are 20 songs, I didn't like 7 songs. Now these Track Packs are sold for 30 dollars at some places but other places you can find them cheaper. Do not buy a track pack unless you love every song in the setlist or only if you want to increase your Rock Band library. On it's own, its kind of like a little demo of Rock Band, you get the Rock Band 1 feel here, with the way the song select is, menus and all that. I didn't mind it but it did bother me that I can't make a setlist and it's one reason why I imported these songs to Rock Band 2 as fast as I could. Now you could get these songs individually on Xbox Live or PSN but then you're out 12 achievements (or trophies) . If you are an achievement (or trophy) whore, then there are 12 easy achievements (or trophies) to get here, even though most of them are 5 star this song with that or this instrument. I bought this for 10 bucks, if you can find this or any track pack of your choice south of the 10 dollar mark then grab it, its 20 songs for 10 or less bucks. To me, personally, this is a 7.5 out of 10 because I love the setlist here but I did want a little bit more, like why did they pick this song, why couldn't it have been THAT song. But I did enjoy alot of the songs and you can import them for free. I love my classic rock and I love Rock Band. I already gave you the score, if you find it for 10 bucks or less. Grab this (7.5 out of 10) game.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Beatles RockBand (360) Review

The Digital Fab Four.

The Beatles RockBand was my very first review (for my school's newspaper) and going through my games I thought I already reviewed it on here but I didn't so I am now. The Beatles RockBand is Harmonix's 1.5 attempt at a band specific title (The first half being AC/DC) and where AC/DC is meh, this game has so much love & care put in it. Compare the Guitar Hero games (excluding Metallica) from 2009 and compare them to this. The graphics are the best part of this game, instead of the band playing in a bar or station, there are dreamscapes. The dreamscape for I am the Walrus is like a free LSD trip, the sad grey colour in While My Guitar Gently Weeps is so beautiful that George Harrison would be proud! The game is the easiest music game I've played though, there were only maybe like 2 or 3 songs that were challenging but you can beat the game in a day, since there's an achievement for it. Like the other Rock Band titles, there is downloadable content but there's only 3 albums and 1 song. In total the game, has 45 songs, having 45 songs in a game based on a good band isn't enough, there should be like 55 - 60 songs and then they stopped putting downloadable content for the game because not enough people were buying it. So when you buy this game for 20 bucks you're getting nothing but the Beatles music and all together DLC and in game setlist, there's somewhere around 70 songs. Even though you're getting 45 to start with. I did enjoy myself playing this and hopefully you do too if you haven't played it yet or heard a song from them either. The Beatles Rock Band is getting an 9.0 out of 10. (That's the score I gave it the first time around)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Call of Duty: Black Ops (360) Review

It's Conspiracy Hour with Call of Duty

SPOILERS ALERT

Alright, before I get to the review, I just want to thank my good friend (& camera man for my video reviews coming soon) Jonathan Tisdale for making this review possible since he got me a copy of Black Ops for Christmas. Black Ops is the first Call of Duty where I actually played through the story, I usually just play the multiplayer or the zombie mode and holy hell is this story awesome. It's one of those you gotta pay attention to the story cause this story goes all over the place, you go from shooting a double of Castro to Vietnam to World War 2 to Washington D.C to meet JFK. It was all incredible though, and the huge ass twist at the end, blew my mind...I never saw it coming and it was such a breath of fresh air to see such a GOOD TWIST. The audio is incredible as well, Gary Oldman, Sam Worthington, Ice T and the list goes on for the cast and they all do their characters amazingly. The story is about 6 - 8 hours but I guess with any Call of Duty, you just wanna get through the story as fast as possible so you can get right to the online multiplayer or zombies. The zombie mode is back from World at War and the multiplayer is as good as Modern Warfare 2, there's alot of leveling up to do so that would probably be the meat of the game, and if you don't want any of that, there's a little Dead Ops arcade game where it's all a top down dual shooter like Geometry Wars, but instead of little flying colour craps, it's hordes of zombies. This is such a great game and it was developed nicely and there's a lot of love & care in this package. If you're up to go to war online or if you want to see a fresh twist end then Call of Duty: Black Ops is your game. This is definitely a treasure. Call of Duty: Black Ops is a 9.5 out of 10. At ease, soldier.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (360) Review

Cowboys & Zombies. What's next...Cowboys & Aliens?

Undead Nightmare is the B movie add on to Red Dead or you can buy it on disc. If you were like me, you bought it on disc. Now to be honest, I played a little bit of the original Red Dead Redemption and I didn't get into the story, but I'll be getting it soon and I'll review it later this year, but I do know is in this game, you're using most of the game mechanics like hog tieing (undead or alive) people up, dead eye is here, and it gives a little bit more for your buck. You go to one town, save it, go on to the next and it becomes a pretty big part of the game, I felt really scared at certain times, cause these zombies are a mix between your classic rise from the cemetary & a little bit of the 2004 Dawn of the Dead and there's a hint of Left 4 Dead in there. I didn't finish the story, I'm halfway through it and I have to admit this is the most fun I've had with zombies. I had more fun with zombies in undead nightmare then I did in Left 4 Dead. Also this game is, like most Rockstar games, extremely humourous. If you go to the store & get the disc, its 30 dollars and along with Undead Nightmare, you get all the online plus all the downloadable content that has come out, so you get all the packs that add in new characters for online, new weapons for online and in Undead Nightmare. There's a lot to do in the Zombie Apocalypse in the ol' Wild West. If you get Undead Nightmare through Xbox live or Playstation Network, you're most likely getting just Undead Nightmare and nothing else. I say just get the disc so you get all the DLC, or wait until the Game of the Year edition comes out and then you get everything. But Undead Nightmare on disc is getting a 10 out of 10. This is perfect for any zombie lover.