Great, but I want Wacky Burnout Races now please.

Takedown isn't perfect. It's far too White American, the music is perhaps the worst game music I've ever had the misfortune to hear (and so much of it too!) It's no Wipeout in the music stakes. thankfully you can burn your own soundtrack to the Xbox, a feature too few games take advantage of. The DJ will have you spitting swearwords in a matter of a few crash junctions, thankfully he can be tuned out.

If you could remove a couple akward crash junctions and changed more races into Road Rage events, it would have been a perfect 5/5 game. Regardless of the flaws this is a magnificent game that can be completed fairly quickly, but sucks you back to get a gold in every damn event. The crash junction half of the game is automatically addictive, I played it to death before going on to the main part of the game. I would have been happy with the game up to this point, crash junctions is short sharp jolts of game mayhem, perfect it and everything seems choreographed to be destroyed in a blaze of glory. If you think too much about context (you are a suicide driver aiming to destroy all cars, finally blowing yourself up in a 'crashbreaker' move) it's a really sick game. In truth it's a game in love with it's physics. It's like those FPS games or Hitmen games, in reality awful, in game it's ragdoll fun and how things react in cartoon displays of physics. It's the same in burnout, the ragdolls replaced by shiny metal coffins on wheels.

When you finish the crash junctions, the races feel like a whole new game, coming as a shock initially. But you soon get into the rhythm of it, more the trance of it, every crash coming as a blow to the teeth. For the most part, the game is perfectly timed, hazards and cars being in just the right spots. Clever.

Then some things are downright unfair, such as the way other cars catch up so quickly; you could take out a car three times and it can still win, you get taken out three times and you'll be half a minute behind for the rest of the race. Those crashes that are completely without warrant (although admittedly the game does give you the benefit of the doubt and will award you takedowns that had nothing to do with you).The moments the driver AI has a brain-fart, making them drive in circles . And I HATE time trials, it always feels like a chore, never fun. I thought it was game developers that love deadlines, not players!

So there are flaws, made more obvious by the majority of the game being so perfect. If the game wasn't so good, you'd barely notice the flaws, but they are frustrating when you expect so much, all the time. Flaws aside, this is a must buy game, even if you hate racing games. This is Wipeout for the 128bit console, hopefully it can make the transition to the next generation, unlike Wipeout. A real classic franchise that grows and changes with each incarnation. I hope it never has it's"Fusion" or"Raider" moment and befoul it's reputation.

And don't worry, you don't have to get Gold in every race, it's really not worth it, who needs all those dull postcard trophies and a formula one car too fast to control? I want to see Fire Engine races next time. Forget Revenge, I want Wacky Races Burnout!

In need of more.

Well this is a very popular game, due to the franchise and advertising hype. It's a pretty good game to start with but falls down in long term gameplay. The career mode is the main game, you basically start off with a stock car win races to get cash to tune it up and get it looking decent. There is fun to be had changing the car in terms of visual customisation choosing colours, spoilers, alloys etc and becoming your own car designer. As you progress through you only have room for about 6 cars in your garage, 1 problem is that you can only earn enough money to really tune about 4 of them fully. Once you tune all the cars to the max they handle and perform almost the same, meaning you can stick with 1 car all the way through!
To complete the game you don't even have to complete all the races, about 70% will do, but you can select the other races after. However once you complete it, you won't probably bother to go through the whole career mode again. You can choose to do a quick race and choose your type of race from the start as well i.e. drift,drag, circuit etc. Here you can select your career mode cars, plain stock, or modify any of the cars as much as you like and choose them to race. Once the modifying fun runs out you won't play it much, but it is good fun while it lasts. Good graphics, sense of speed, pretty cool music and it is a big game. Depending how much cruising you do it can take a while to complete. One for race fans, and those with xbox live especially. 4 stars to start but novelty soon wears off.

Absorbing.....

Splinter Cell was my first foray into the latest generation of console games. I hadn't played a game on the X-box, GameCube or Ps2 ever.
I got this game along with my new X-box, and haven't played anything else for 3 months.
It didn't take too long to complete, about a month of hour sessons each night, and I'm hardly the best game player ever; but, I've played it again twice since, trying it different ways, blasting my way through first time, trying not to use any bullets the second, using complete stealth the third.
It's totally engaging. After a hard day at work, kids and wife asleep in bed, its great to spend an hour in the world of Splinter Cell, watching the scenary of Jerusalem, sitting in a dark corner and seeing where a guard will go next, lining up your sights on a guards head, ready to snipe him.
It's those elements that make this game amazing.
To be able to stand on top of a very tall building, looking down at a courtyard with your binoculars, then 30 minutes later realising you're in that courtyard, is brilliant.
To be sitting in a shadow, deciding what you're going to do next....Do I shoot this guy, risking his mates seeing him fall and sounding an alarm? Do I whistle him to a corner and grab him? Should I wait 'till he's on the other side of the room and sneak past him? Or should I shoot out that light and climb up the drainpipe?
Some of the puzzles are brilliant too; You come to an area that has a sniper in a high tower, lightning flashing every so often rendering the night-vision useless, so dark it's hard to see without night-vision, and thermal landmines that can only be seen with your thermal-vision, searchlights sweeping the area for the sniper that can't be seen with thermal-vision...
I've read a lot of reviews, and whilst most are complementary, some complain that this game is slightly linear, ie, you can only go down one route. I suppose that is half true, it is quite linear, BUT, you have to make a decision how to go down those linear routes, so the linear nature makes this all the more exciting. It also stops me from running around for 3 hours.

It's a brilliant, absorbing, and well thought out game, I love it!

The force is with this one

I love this game.The main reason: You get to create your own jedi, build your own light saber,single,dual or double,you get to weild the force, and did i mention light saber building? whats not to like. you start the game as a student on his/her way to the newly formed jedi academy to learn the ways of the force from the legendary Luke skywalker,on your approach you get shot down and a more sinister plot starts to unravel that will have you choose the path of the lightside or the darkside.

how the story unfolds, is by you completeing a set mount of missions(in any order)basically earn your rank as jedi; these missions may involve various things like killing rancors saving people etc and then you get a longer more challenging mission which unfolds the story.

If you ever wanted to be a jedi, this game is a must!

Could have been MUCH better

I have enjoyed playing the majority of Lord of the Rings games (battle for middle earth, return of the king etc) and enjoyed playing this one as well. However it does not, in my mind, do the lord of the rings much justice and sometimes twists the story too much for my liking. The battle system is a commonly used random battle, turn based setup which can get pretty tiresome. Co-op mode is a bit of a joke to be perfectly honest as it only applies to the battle system and can confuse at times. All in all it has shaky foundations and an even shakier storyline, but is enjoyable to the Lord of the Rings fans and patient video gamers. I recommend FF7 or 10 personally, if you want a truely spectacular RPG experience!

To wire or not to wire

I was a little apprehensive about buying a third party wireless controller for an almost obsolete console, so I asked for it for Christmas - not then having to foot the bill for something that I was sure wasn't going to be any good at all... But when Christmas day turned up and I received requested gift I was pleasantly surprised - Its build quality is good, being made of an almost soft plastic, apparently chunky and a little smaller than the original controller that comes with the console. The buttons are placed a little strangely and after a few hours (okay, days) playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Chaos Bleeds) the Black button (for stacking the blood sucking fiends) has retreated a little into the housing. The unit runs on four AAA batteries (supplied) and seems to use little power, me being the kind of person who forgets to turn these sorts of things off - but by doing this I've noticed that the controller seems to go into a stand by mode if left alone for a few moments - pressing the Start button brings it back to life quite nicely. The reception, if that's the right word, is really quite impressive - my receiving dongle that hangs out of the front of the consol when plugged in is obscured by a rather large pot plant that lives under the TV and courses no noticeable loss of signal - the range is also quite good, I can play in the garden! Even if the consol and TV are still in the house. Over all I'd heartily recommend this to any gamer who's sick of his cat waging war on his controller leads. You can also fool your friends into thinking that you've got a 360 instead of the cheap skate original...

The greatest game ever.

This IS the greatest game ever. Period.
Its a game that has immersion for the player. By that I mean that the charecter you play is called Gordan Freeman, yet you never see him or hear him speak . You feel as if you are the player. Someone mentioed that the loading times are a gripe. Please, see them for what they are. Loading times at 12 seconds for massive, open ended, physics based level. Also, adding to the immersion factor with NO CUTSCENES!!!

Secondly, Valve have implemented one of the greatest FPS levels in a game ever. The level"We dont go to Ravenholm" is a purposeful ode to Survival horror games, and is stunning. Graphically and atmosphercally.

This game is technically superb and deserves your upmost devotion.

Please buy and enjoy.

Road to hill 30

this game is absolutely amazing!! graphics and gameplay are amazing and storylines are good... the authenticity is really good and the characters look amazing!! if you have ever seen the hit series Band of Brothers you can really imagine you are in that series!! i love this game and it is a must get!! well worth the money!! overtakes the Medal of Honor series and seriously challenges the Call of Duty series!!!!! overall this game is one of a kind!!

Think BIG Crashes

This has to be one of the best racing games of all time, graphics, cars, tracks are so good. Some cars look a little similar, but there are so many cars it doeasn't matter. It's easy to control so its fun for all ages. Horrific (in a good way) of crashes are the coolest. Don't go on it if your scared of crashing though.

Almost great, but shows it’s roots.

I never had the pleasure of playing the original Conker on the N64 so this review will not be helpful to anyway wanting to know any differences. I have however been playing video games since Ghostbusters of the Commodore64 back in ’84 so I know a thing or two about games.
The first thing that struck me about the game was the astonishing graphics engine - everything looks amazing with great animation and impressive draw distance. The attention to detail is almost draw dropping, as for instance, Conker leaves footprints when he runs through mud and has at least 10 different animations just for when he stands still for too long. One stage set in a nightclub has Conker slowly building up a dancing speed before resorting to the ’stacking shelves’ dance, oddly for a video game this bit is actually funny. The sound too has many high points, while the music is cool and very jaunty the voice acting can at times be truly excellent. Attention to detail here as well makes it a cut above most other games. One early stage has you helping out a female bee, and as you get closer to her you’ll notice the music change from the usual instrumentation to a lovely buzzing version of the main theme.
But now I’ll get to the actual gameplay, while it’s extremely enjoyable it suffers from being a slightly older game in many ways. The controls are generally fine but on many occasions I found the jump button not working at a time when I really needed it to work resulting in some annoying falls and deaths (Conker cannot fall very far without serious injury.) But the most annoying thing are the occasions where you just don’t know what to do next. For example, one part of the game has you planting a bomb to get rid of let’s just say ’a certain type of character’, the instruction you’re given is along the lines of ’plant the bomb and then run like hell. This is what I did - I planted the bomb and the game was taken over by a brief cut scene where molten lava was seen to be rising through the level, once gaining control I legged it back the way I came not wanting to be caught up in it. It took me about an hour to work out what to do next. It seems ’run like hell’ means run the way of the explosion as apposed to run away from it. That may sound simple but I really had no clue. I probably spent too long explaining that but scenes like that happened more often than you’d like.
As for the comedy displayed throughout the game, apart from a handful of dialogue and graphical scenes the game suffers the same as any other ’comedy’ game ie it’s not actually funny, Conker as a character is annoying and you really haven’t got a clue as to why your doing all these comic puzzles, almost as if it’s completely out of context with itself.
The game is certainly worth a rental first as in general it’s a lot of fun to play, but because of some difficulty spikes (witness the amazing but frustrating jet ski race) it will have you tearing your hair out on occasion. It’s worth sticking it out however to witness the final third of the game where the guns come out!! I’m giving the game 3.5 stars.

Flawed...

I have been playing this game for a while now and it is a fun game but why is there no pursuit mode in quick race? The only way to enter a pursuit is to go into career mode. Also there is no way to do pursuit split screen or with one person the cops and the the bad guy or vice versa. The other bad thing is the graphics. The xbox version (and I haven't seen the 360 version) looks downright horrible at times. Most times in fact. Jaggies are everywhere and the game has this horrible shimmering effect. Split screen mode looks like something from the playstation era. And I'm not kidding.

BUT, and this is a big but, the game is very, very fun to play. It's just a shame that the graphics and lack of pursuit options let it down.

One Word: Legendary

after reading the nutter who said legendary was absurdly difficult i felt compelled to write this, (honestly, you should try some of the skulls)

the sequel to halo: combat evolved, halo 2 brings back a lot of what made the first game fantastic: great graphics, great physics, great storyline (provided it's taken as part of a whole as it is meant to be, not as a standalone); great AI, etc, and incorporates some new features: duel wielding, plasma swords, lock-on on the rocket lauchers, flood in vehicles, playing as the elite-equivalent of a spartan (ish), brutes, prophets, covenant civil wars, and, just to make legendary interesting, jackals w/ sniper rifles that on the aforementioned difficulty level kill with one shot anywhere on the body.

graphics-wise, i'm not good w/ all the technical stuff so suffice to say it looks good.

the soundtrack is fantastic, with the occasional incubus/breaking benjamin rock track interspersed with a very impressive classical score.

i preferred the storyline in this game, mainly because im interested in the covenant, so those of you who aren't will probably like combat evolved's storyline better.

the controls are virtually the same, though the 'feel' takes an hour or so to get used to if you've just spent two weeks warming up for the release of halo 2 by going through the first game on legendary again. the most important points here are the way dual-wielding renders you incapable of throwing grenades (makes perfect sense but annoying when the plasma grenade you meant to lob at the elite w/ the plasma sword turns out to be 3 rounds from a needler), and the incorporation of the sword.

gameplay-wise, i was dissapointed on normal and heroic but legendary made up for it. the ramped up diffuculty forces you to find alternate routes/weapon combos/strategies you won't have even considered first time through. the snipers are annoying and the last level w/ tartarus led me to die 67 times (more than the rest of the game put together), but the rest of the game, especially the incredible 'gravemind' level, all made up for it.

multiplayer. not having xboxlive i cant really comment but everything ive heard suggests its amazing. with split-screen, i prefer 1-on-1 hunter-killer style deathmatches (which the weapon balance and levels are perfectly suited to) although 4-player is good too.

Halo 2 is fantastic game, and any criticsim is generally levelled because it builds on the previous game, rather than rebuilding from the ground up, which is bound to happen as a sequel. As a standalone game, it was the best of the year it was released (i think 2004), and its still one of the best shooters around - especially for multiplayer - today.

A majestic, unfinished epic.

Shenmue II is part of a much larger series that Yu Suzuki planned out from beginning to end. Some might say it was rather too ambitious, and this is why the story was never finished - this game ends with a spectacularly frustrating cliffhanger - but the experience of playing is something unlike any other game on the market, even to this day.

Shenmue II upped the ante on the original game, only available on the Dreamcast but summarised nicely in the provided DVD in this package, by adding many more locations, a better interface and more things to do. The game sees the protagonist Ryo travelling from Hong Kong to China, making new friends and enemies on the way on his quest to avenge the murder of his father.

Exploring the amazingly detailed environments is part of the joy of Shenmue, and the fighting system lifted almost wholesale from the Virtua Fighter series is sublime. The story is well thought out, meaningful, deep and philosophical - Ryo's journey is one that no gamer will forget. While the game is quite slow in pace in relation to many adventure/RPG games, it always feels like it's moving at an appropriate pace to the tone of the story.

Even better, this game will now run on the Xbox 360 with the recent backward compatibility update.

THe best

This game is absoutly amazing with simply classy spectualar great game play has to be 2nd best car on xbox

Better than the 360 version!

This is a great game. It preceded the release of the 360 version by 1 month so I was really looking forward to the 360 version. However I now just play the Xbox version. Why? - Because it is better.

This game has all the divisions and stadia from previous FIFAs (although Highbury has gone and replaced by the new Arsenal stadium) plus more like the Turkish league and the Wembley stadium.

The game is really easy to play with the buttons being the same as before but now controls have been added. For example you can now curl the ball after shooting. Also you can jostle when under a high ball. The gameplay is excellent and so varied. In the old FIFAs there was always a way to score the same goal again and again but here all the goals are scored in different ways.

Unlockables are bought with points gained for completing challenges and include kits and teams. (Challenges are different in the 360 version.)

There is a new mode to add teams so you can add your Sunday League team.

Manager mode follows the successful pattern of the 06 version.

And the graphics of a high standard. You always can tell when Henry or Ronaldinho are on the ball. The build-up to matches includes a great bit in the tunnel where the players line-up and have flashes of the game coming up like a tough tackle.

Mortal Kombat Deception - The Ultimate Fighting Game

I have been a fan of Mortal Kombat since MKI on the SNES. MKI was a huge success and this continued throughout the series. Mortal Kombat Deception uses the same award-winning fighting formula combined with excellent new features to make a superb game. Many old Mortal Kombat favourites are back (Mileena, Sindel, Nightwolf, Ermac to name a few) as well as many brand new warriors (Darrius, Hotaru, Havik to name a few)
The main thing that separates this MK game from all others is the new ways to play. Not only can you fight against friends and the computer in traditional Kombat, but you can also engage in Chess Kombat and Puzzle Kombat.
** Basic Kombat ** - The same game engine is used to provide players with 2 fighting styles and 1 weapon is back from MK Deadly Alliance. Moves can be strung together to develop your own combos and the best part of MK is still there - the fatalities. Each character has two fatalities as well as one Hara Kiri (Suicide move).
** Chess Kombat ** - A brilliant version of chess where you choose MK characters as pieces. When you go to 'take a piece', you must fight to decide the winner. Spells and bonus squares add an extra level of strategy to the game!
** Puzzle Kombat ** - Puzzle Kombat is extremely addictive to play and is similar to Tetris. You have to match coloured blocks before breaking them with special coloured dragon medallions. The loser is finished off in true Mortal Kombat style.......
** Konquest ** - This new Mortal Kombat Single player feature is excellent. You start off as young Shujinko running around in Earth realm when you meet Damashi and agree to go on a conquest to recover special objects for the Elder Gods. As Shujinko, you can roam anywhere throughout 6 realms and meet characters from previous MK games. By the end of your mission, you are an old man and Shujinko is unlocked as a playable character. The Konquest mode is the portal to many Krpyt unlockables such as Alt costumes, art etc. The Krpyt is similar to that in MK:DA.
A new feature to Mortal Kombat is online play, where you can battle other players online in traditional kombat, puzzle kombat and chess kombat. This tops off an already excellent game. If you are a fan of the MK series or you simply enjoy fighting games, then this is essential. I can honestly say that it is the best fighting game I have ever seen!

Star Wars actually made a good game

Many people will be aware of how many spin offs of star wars games there were on the old consoles. Most of them glitchy and full of gameplay plot holes. But this makes up for all of it.

Character creation at the beginning is very limited but from that point onwards this game is pure gold. You have the ability to choose whether to be good or evil but there are so many options of choice that you can literally end up annoying or even killing almost everyone in the missions.

The levelling up system is simply the point system where you get to customise how your character gets better and not only that but the Jedi characters get some great force abilities that even involve choking your enemies to death (Mwahaha!!) and the equipment can be equipped literally anywhere on the body (well there are some limits).

The characters are good because there is such a variation of people from do gooders to others that are just plopped in randomly (the securidroid's story is entertaining) and work well with your own character who is well... a random person whos character can change with a few button pushes.

Whatever way you choose to complete this game, it is important you get this. Seriously it didn't get all those awards for nothing.

Godly game buy this not Episode 3

This game is well above average and much better than the new star wars episode 3 game. i know the game is old but the amount of maoves that you learn is incredible. my favourite character is Legolas as he looks wicked and his accuracy with the bow is unbelievable. once you have completed the game you can play any level with any character which is wicked i like doing the gate level with legolas. the acting is unmatched and i love this game. the graphics are also sound and there is a free flowing element to the gameplay. the co-op is also good with two people being able to tackle any level together with any two characters. a highly recommended game and one i hope you buy over the new star wars.

Review plus a note on final bosses

A first person shooter with a tongue-in-cheek Western setting, Stranger's Wrath is one of the nicest looking and most playable xbox games I've experienced by far, and deserves to have done much better than it did. The exploration and shooting of Metroid combined with the stealth, cunning and cartoon violence of Sly Cooper. For ammo variety and weirdness, comparable to Ratchet and Clank.

The good:
Stranger's controls are very user-friendly, the environments are beautiful, varied and interesting, the bosses are for the most part very cleverly set up, and an intellectual as well as button-mashing challenge. The story is marvellous, as is usual for OWI. The cut-scenes are very good, and the in-game movies are breath-taking even now the xbox console has been surpassed graphically. An interesting twist to the game gives Stranger even better new moves, and the final third of the game is frankly incredible. The enemy grunts are cute and amusing, the villagers' comments are hillarious, and the live ammo is not just a gimmick, but highly effective and ingenious. As always with OWI, there is a moral message to the game, which is part of what makes their games so refreshing and different, but the game is more thought-provoking than didactic. The controls are surprisingly intuitive, and Stranger will prevent you getting lost or too muddled in the massive, complex landscapes of the game by reminding you in his sullen drawl what your current mission is. The violence is, for the most part, not severe - in true Oddworld tradition, you can leap (or push a hapless enemy) into a meat grinder, which isn't pretty, but that's your own fault. Just remember you can save absolutely anywhere, and enemies earn you far more money if captured alive.;)

The Bad:
A few glitches, nothing major. Once you've done a level, you can't go back, mostly. The game is very stingy with some ammo while providing a surplass of other kinds, which can get irritating. I would have preferred a more electronica sound-track like Ratchet and CLank games as the sound-track for the most part is rather downbeat compared to the frantic action in the game. The chicken and newt people aren't as nice-looking as the mudokons or Munch in the other games, and the Outlaws, while they have a lot of charm, aren't nearly as cool as the Sligs. Fanboys/girls of the other three games might be disappointed that Stranger uses a crossbow and muscle power more than sneaking and trickery to win his battles, and that of course the major characters from the Abe/Munch games aren't in this. Some of the bosses and indeed levels come across as uncreative/repetitive in that winning comes down to quicksave and button-mashing more than player cunning and skill. As with Munch's Oddysee, I found the occasional problem with the camera, and jumping, but Stranger is still the most easily playable 3d character I've experienced after Ratchet and Sly Cooper. The tutorial level is frankly tedious, and some of the earlier levels are a bit dull and samey, but stick this out and you'll be well rewarded!

Final bosses (spoiler alert!):
Some people seem to have problems with these, and some of the internet walkthroughs give bad advice - actually these are easier to kill than a lot of the outlaws, here's my tips:

2 Octigi: Don't worry if these come too close and stab you up - if you keep shooting them with riot slugs and boombats (or stingbees) they will turn green and teleport away, so you can heal yourself before starting another battle. It can be hard, but if you keep pressing R1 you will get shooter control so can damage them if you hurry.

Sekto: First of all, you DO NOT need boombats for this, as a lot of internet advice implies by telling you you need a full clip of everything. Just blast his generators (the round things shooting power to his ball-shield) from behind the wall-chunk with riot-slugs and stingbees, then run/charge away before he knocks it down, and keep moving until a new chunk falls, then repeat. If you keep on the move, and don't blast/heal standing still for too long, with luck he won't shoot the lethal pink lazer at you more than once or twice during the battle. If he keeps shooting the pink lazer at you, you are shooting the generators for too long - reduce the time you spend shooting and start to flee before he turns on the pink and makes the protective wall-chunk start to crumble. There are plenty of stingbees behind you, so don't worry about running out. Good luck!

Conclusion: buy this while it's still available, but only if you have a working xbox - it doesn't look like it'll be converted for the 360 although Munch was; what a shame! If you have a copy you don't use, please sell it so others can enjoy! Shame they didn't make Fangus, I hope Citizen Seige comes out soon and does well, and they bring back Oddworld in the future.:)