Alex And Jeff R3vi3ws

Guitar Hero: On Tour

2008-07-01T19:03:00.001-07:00

Rocking Everywhere You Go! Even On The Can :3

Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Activision/RedOctane
Developer: Vicarious Visions
ESRB: E10+

Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS is the first handheld Guitar Hero in the franchise. It takes what is so good about the console versions by throwing in a "guitar grip" (or whatever you want to call it) that you plug into the Game Boy slot on your DS and you use the touch screen to strum and whammy. The overall experience isn't bad at all actually! the only downside is that it can get quite unconfortable after ten or fifteen minutes of play, but one trick I found quite useful was holding it up against my chest and playing it.
The songs range from artists such as: Smash Mouth, Incubus, Nirvana, Blink 182, ZZ Top, Maroon 5, and so on. Just like in Guitar Hero for the consoles, the songs you think are awful can actually be alot of fun to play! like for instance I can't stand Smash Mouth's "All Star" at all! but I had a pretty good time playing it. The only downside about the setlist is that there are only 25 songs to choose from which isn't bad considering how much is crammed on one little DS cartridge.
If you enjoyed the battle mode in Guitar Hero 3 then you'll be pleased to know that it's back with a few DS twists. For instance your guitar will catch on fire and you'll have to blow out flames using the DS microphone and you'll also get people wanting to sign autographs and you'll have to scribble on the DS touch screen, overall it doesn't feel gimmicey it really feels like the guys at Vicarious Visions really thought about what they were doing and made sure it worked, which it did! even though it is really awesome that you can play with a friend via download play, unfortunately we don't own a second DS and couldn't try it out. But luckily there are bots for every song so in case you have no one to play with, you can always play alone if you want. One thing that would've made it awesome was the ability to play online against others, but it's not in this one unfortunately.
All in all it's quite a package, you get the game and a "guitar grip" for a retail price of $50. The songs and graphics are nice and the gameplay definately stays true to Guitar Hero's roots. Vicarious Visions understood this and they delivered very well on this one.

***-- 3/5 Jeffrey Poss

The Good: Good setlist with songs that are fun to play; Battle mode is a blast!; good graphics even for a DS game; it's Guitar Hero in your hands how could you not be happy with that?!

The Bad: Controls can get pretty awkward after a few minutes of play; no online play; only 25 songs

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

2008-04-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

The Super Smash Bros. series has always been a big hit for Nintendo ever since it was released for the N64 version, selling over 2.3 million units in the U.S. and 1.4 million in Japan. With numbers like these it didn't take long for Nintendo to decide whether or not to make a sequel. In December of 2001, Super Smash Bros. Melee was released and has sold over 4 million units in the U.S. alone making it the best selling Gamecube title ever. It became clear that creator Masashiro Sakurai and Nintendo had something on their hands with a simple formula of fighting Nintendo characters. Does Super Smash Bros. Brawl work like a charm like the rest of it's predecessors? well, in the words of the Tootsie Pop owl: "Let's find out".

GRAPHICS - Previous Smash Bros. games have always looked very detailed and polished, especially in the stages. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a step further with enhanced graphics, detailed character models, and great stage designs. And to add it all up it holds up at a very steady framerate with no dips whatsoever. But what will really impress people the most is how unique and well thought out the stages are! there's a stage where you're in a pictochat screen from the Nintendo DS and one where you're in a WarioWare type stage where you have to accomplish what the words that pop up on the screen say, succeed and get a bonus and if not then you don't. For a Wii game this is top notch looking game along with Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy so you won't be disappointed here.

GAMEPLAY - If you've played any of the previous Super Smash Bros. games before then you'll know what to expect. Pressing up on the analog stick makes you jump, pressing A is your attack button, B is your special move, and Z is to shield. The game can support the gamecube controller, wiimote, wiimote/nunchuck combo, and the classic controller. All four work very well and should give everyone their own favorite style of playing.
Unlike games like the Street Fighter series where you have to do all kinds of button presses to do a special move, Super Smash Bros. has always simplified it by tilting the analog stick either up, down, left or right and pressing either the special button or attack button, it works very well.
Another new thing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the Smash Ball, during a battle a floating ball will appear on the screen and the one that breaks it open can unleash a final smash in his or her opponents. Each of the thirty five characters have their own unique final smash and they all balance out very well.
Another new thing to the mix are the new third party characters Solid Snake and Sonic the hedgehog. Solid Snake is a slow but strong fighter who is more military weapons focused with his special moves than most if not all the characters in the roster, Sonic on the other hand is more focused on speed and spin attacks. Both characters work very well and it really makes you wish there were more third party characters to the mix.

SOUND - If there's one thing that Super Smash Bros. is sound! with over thirty composers ranging from music legends such as Koji Kondo (Super Mario and Legend Of Zelda), Kenji Yamamoto (Super Metroid and the Metroid Prime Series), Tomoko Sasaki (NiGHTS), Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger) and many many more. The main theme is composed by Masashiro Sakurai who is best known as the composer for the Final Fantasy games. The main theme is more choir based than most fighting games who have a more upbeat techno style.
Put simply: if you've heard it in a Nintendo game you're more than likely going to hear it here, there's just to much music and audio here it makes you wonder how Nintendo crammed it all on one disk.
Also there are songs that you can unlock, if you're battling a foe and you see a golden CD then you can pick that up and have it stored in your music library, with literally hundreds of songs there will be alot of CDs to collect!

REPLAY - Super Smash Bros. Melee kept people busy for over six years. Brawl looks to raise the bar! with so much content to unlock such as trophies, music, stickers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl will keep you busy for a long, long time. In addition there's online play where you and four other people can hop online and basically beat the snot out of eachother, the one with the most KOs is the winner. When the game was released a month ago the online had some really bad issues due to the high amount of traffic Nintendo's servers were recieving, now it seems that they have cooled down and are running pretty well. Unfortunately the game does have some lag issues, most people claimed there was no lag but unfortunately it does exist. Most games run pretty smoothly with a couple hiccups here and there but there are some matches where I can't do a thing! a normal two minute match would last like five or ten minutes, fortunately it's not like that all the time.
Another new mode is the Subspace Emissary mode. Subspace Emissary is a side scrolling beat-em-up game where you must stop the Subspace Army from invading your land. On paper it sounds interesting and it kinda is, but unfortunately it isn't perfect. Some stages just scroll around slowly like in Super Mario Bros. 3 where it really doesn't need it in the first place, plus some of the enemies are so annoying they want to make you rip your tounge out! put simply, some of the stages just weren't well thought out. But with that said, it's a pretty fun mode with lots of secrets to find and enemies to fight, also if you don't feel like spending hours and hours trying playing matches to unlock all the characters then you'll be happy to know that you can play through this mode and unlock them that way.
Just like in Halo 3 you can save replays and screenshots from the matches that you've played and save them to either the Wii's flash memory or an SD card, but the only downside is that you can only save up to three minutes.
Got an idea for a stage? fortunately for you there's also a stage editor where you can make your own stages and send them over the internet, and just like the replay modes and the screenshots you can send them over the internet to your friends, it's very neat!

LASTLY - Super Smash Bros is a game that has so much content in it that it will keep you busy for a long long time, games are expensive and Nintendo knows that. It may have taken a while but it's here and it's awesome! buy it, play it, and prepare to not ever be able to feel your butt ever again!:P

***** 5/5 Stars Jeffrey Poss

Pros: Fun and very addicting gameplay; four types of controller support; third party characters are a nice addition; great sound; literally hundreds of classic songs, trophies, stickers and other stuff to collect; compelling online play; Subspace Emissary mode is pretty fun; saving replays and screenshots; easy to use stage editor; lots to do!

Cons: Online is pretty laggy; Subspace Emissary is fun, but also frustrating; main menu song gets very old after a while; you can only save up to three minute replays:(

Rock Band (X360)

2008-01-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

Okay I'll admit it, I don't own Guitar Hero. When it first came out I thought it was fun but I didn't think it was worth the money. Then Guitar Hero 2 was released in 2006 (or last year if you're a 360 owner) and many people were all over it like morbidly obese children on a pile of twinkies! but of course I didn't wish to pick it up. Then a few months later Guitar Hero 3 came out and I saw how well it sold in its first week! but alas, I haven't the money to pick it up. And then there was Rock Band, I remember when it was announced thinking that it was just a Guitar Hero rip-off....oh how was I wrong! I remember seeing it at E3 last year seeing how neat of an idea it was to mix Guitar Hero with Karaoke Revolution and top it off with a new drum game, but hearing how much the critics were raving over it got me a little interested. Boy I'll never forget how much fun I had when I first opened it up Christmas morning and just started jamming with my brother and my parents. Put simply: Rock Band is the greatest party game you'll ever play! find out why.

Graphics - The graphics are a big step over Guitar Hero 2 & 3's. Sure the character models still look like toys but on the other hand they also look more human.
But everything is as you would expect when you're playing GH3, everything has that music video look to it as you're playing and for the most part everything looks very authentic and very nicely done. But aside from that, the notes are little rectangles instead of circles which make sense because when you're holding your guitar and look down at them, the buttons look like rectangles. But they all look very nice especially when you go into Overdrive mode where the note bar looks all golden and shiny:D.

Gameplay - The gameplay is of course Rock Band's strong feature. You can play either a guitar, bass, drums, or you can sing via the Xbox Live Headset or the Rock Band Microphone. You can play solo with each instrument, but the real fun is getting your chums over and playing together! they did call this Rock Band for a reason right?;) the guitar is basically like you would expect if you've played Guitar Hero where the notes slide down via the note bar (at least I think that's what it's called) and you have to hit them by holding down the correct button(s) and hit the strum bar at the right time. If you've played Karaoke Revolution then you know the drill as far as the singing goes, you sing into the microphone and try and match the pitch of tone on the bars that show up on the screen. The drums work almost like the guitar does except you have a kick pedal that you hit when you see an orange bar (little hint: don't stomp on the kick pedal like an old roach! you're gonna break it that way). Out of all the instruments included with Rock Band, the drums are definately the hardest to master! but if you have good hand/eye/feet coordination, then hopefully you'll be just fine.
One of the best features included with Rock Band is called Band World Tour where you and your buddies must travel to diffrent places around the world and perform songs to earn fans, fame, fortune, private jets, all that good stuff. BWT is surprisingly addictive, especially when you're earning tons of fans! the frustrating part is where you're playing songs that either you or your pals don't know or they're too hard that they screw up and eventually making everyone mess up their parts as well, however you can save your fallen comrades by earning enough juice in your energy bar and kicking into Overdrive mode not only saving your partner, but earning more points as well. Another downside to BWT is that it's offline only, meaning that if your only friend(s) in the world are not around where you live, then you're out of luck....unless you can play with your feet of course.

Sound - It wouldn't be a music game without sound and boy does Rock Band have it! some of the songs range from "I Think I'm Paranoid" by Garbage, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, "Can't Get Fooled Again" by The Who, and may more! For the most part everything holds up very nicely, if you're performing is top notch then you'll get the crowd singing with you, if you're performance is bad then you'll get booed off the stage like a bad comedian. If your guitar is in Overdrive mode than you can change the sound of your guitar via the switcher, you can also earn more points if you have a long note by pressing down on the whammy bar, sure these are nothing new, but it is a pretty sweet addition for someone who doesn't own GH like me.

Replay - Besides Band World Tour and the solo career, there are two competitive online modes called Tug Of War and Score Duel. Tug Of War is where two players play a song with the same instruments and each player will perform and build their meters and try and decrease the other guy's meter in the process and vice versa, the one with the longest bar at the end of the match is the winner. Score Duel is kind of like Tug Of War except it's more scoring based, meaning the one with the most points at the end wins. Overall the online modes are addictingly-fun and you'll be finding yourself playing immediately after you win or lose! the servers hold up pretty nicely too, I've only played like one or two matches that contained lag but I barely noticed it. In addition there's also downloadable content that is produced via the Marketplace every week to keep the experience rolling for months to come.......that is,until they announce the next Rock Band or something...

Overall - Dude if you have about $200 and an Xbox 360, then you simply must own Rock Band! By yourself or with your pals you'll be jamming until months to come. Buy it, play it, have fun, and of course ROCK OUT!................wow that last part was lame, but at least it's truthful!!

***** 5/5 Stars Jeff

Pros: Fifty-eight songs including downloadable content will keep you rolling for months to come!; best party game around; sweet graphics; singing is fun even for those who don't like to; drums are challenging and a great addition; Band World Tour is awesome!; great sound makes you feel like you're on stage infront of a crowd; online play is addictingly-fun!

Cons: $170?!; Band World Tour isn't online; songs you don't know can mess you up; where the heck is Lifehouse; The Faunts; Audio Adrenaline; and DC Talk?!?!

The Orange Box (Xbox 360)

2008-01-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Back in 2004 a little game called Half-Life 2 was released and won alot of critical and commercial sucess due to it's advanced physics, lighting, graphics, heck you name it! no one has seen any other game like it, it was just plain awesome! Instead of deciding whether or not to make a sequel, developer Valve Software made the right move by making episodic content and finishing the ground breaking story of Half-Life 2. In 2006 they released Half-Life 2: Episode 1. A year and a half later, they released Episode 2...which later came known to be as The Orange Box. The Orange Box consists of five amazing games: Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress. Has Valve really made the best video game value ever?.......well yeah! but lets see how each game holds up now shall we?

Half-Life 2 - In case you're not familiar with the story of Half-Life 2, you play as Gordon Freeman arriving on a train to a place called City 17 that is being overrun by the Combine who are these group of soldiers who are basically trying to make life miserable for the people of City 17. Long story short, you meet up with Barney Calhoun, Eli Vance, his daughter Alyx (who plays a very significant role), Dog, and Dr. Isaac Kleiner to try to get rid of the Combine leader Dr. Wallace Breen.
Some might complain that the visuals are dated and the character models are really showing their age, but luckily Valve went the extra mile and updated everything to make it look more up to date, and it shows because everything just looks wonderful! the lighting can cast shadows whereas the PC and regular Xbox didn't have, the water has reflections, if you're holding something and move around fast enough you'll get that motion blur that most 360 games have. Overall everything just looks awesome! and not to mention that Half-Life 2 alone is a 15 to 20 hour experience, that right there is worth the sixty bones!

Half-Life 2: Episode 1 - Episode 1 takes place at the end of Half-Life 2 where Alyx and Gordon have to escape from City 17 with information they found from the Citadel. This time the game introduces Alyx as an A.I. buddy and let me tell you, she's the best A.I. buddy in any game you'll find to date! in most games where your A.I. buddy just wonders around aimlessly like a loose wheel, Alyx.......is just the opposite! she knows how to take care of herself, she finds cover if she needs to, she never gets in your way, and more than anything you just feel glad that she's around. Overall the game isn't very long it should take around four to six hours to complete, but man oh man it's a very sweet experience from beginning to end and in alot of ways beats the original HL2!

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - Again, Episode 2 takes place after the events of Episode 1 where Alyx and Gordon escape from City 17 and they have to flee to White Forest to give the information they found in the Citadel to Dr. Kleiner and Eli. This time around Alyx and Gordon have a sweet ride around! that's right! White Forest is a long way, so they meet up with these aliens called the Vortigaunts and they give them a sweet car that looks like a yellow mustang only more beaten up. Along the way you'll meet a new race called the Hunters who are these blue-ish green creatures with two legs that shoot exploding darts at you. Episode 2 is about the same length as Episode 1 but just as amazing if not, more amazing as its predecessor!

Portal - Portal is a puzzle game where you play as a test subject that is given this portal gun called the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device and is given orders by this hilarious robotic monitor named GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) to complete all these complex mind bending puzzles.
Put simply: Portal is simply THE best puzzle game ever made! every puzzle in the game will make you go "oh man that's so brilliant!". And GLaDOS herself really makes the game fun due to her hilarious and well written dialouge, just about every word she says is catchy and funny.
The only downside is that the game is about three hours long, which is short compared to most games. But when you get through with that there are some challenges that you can accomplish like completing the levels in a certain amount of steps, portals, time, and there are also some advanced stages where you'll really have to put on your thinking cap for (unless you're like me you'll just go online and read a walkthrough:P). Overall we can't say enough great things about Portal, it's funny, it's ingenius, and like I said before it's the best puzzle game you'll play to date!

Team Fortress 2 - Team Fortress 2 is the sequel to the hit game back in 1998. It's been in development for quite some time due to some balancing issues but it's finally here and boy is it sweet!
You play up to 9 classes: Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy Guns, Engineer, Sniper, Medic, and Spy. Each class has their own abilities and personalities, like for instance the Demoman is a black scottsman that throws grenade launchers, and the sniper is australian who.....well snipes people of course. This is the most wackiest multiplayer game I think I've ever played! like for instance you press the right thumb stick in to yell out for a medic, the Pyro has a mask on so it's all muffly sounding when he says "medic!", it's very funny.
The game has capture the flag and conquest type modes where each team will have intelligents and one team will have to capture the other team's intelligents and vice versa. The conquest mode is where you have to capture certain parts of a map, if you've played these kinds of modes before then you already know what I'm talking about. The only downsides to TF2 is that there are only six maps out right now and they're fun, but as you can also expect they get old pretty fast, hopefully Valve will release some more maps sometime soon via Xbox Live Marketplace. Another problem I have is that alot of the matches I've played are very laggy, and it's not just my connection if you go into the forums you'll find out that alot of people are having the same problems. I mean it's playable and all but the lag does exist and it is something that needs to be fixed, hoepfully down the line Valve will release a patch and fix all this up because I would love to see more people online playing this awesome game.
Overall Team Fortress is outstanding and addictive game that people will be playing and treasuring for years to come!

Overall - You're getting five amazing games for the price of one, which is the greatest gaming values of all time! if you own a 360, a PC, or a PS3 and you're looking for a great game for your money, then Orange Box is for you! buy it, play it, and just have fun! I know I am:).

***** 5/5 Stars Jeff

Pros: Five games for the price of one; Half-Life 2 alone is a 15-20 hour game; Alyx is a great A.I. Buddy; Portal is amazing!; Team Fortress 2 is addictive and balanced out nicely; facial expressions are so good it's actually quite scary; 99 achievements = fun to earn and replayable; great storylines and characters; top knotch voice acting!

Cons: Wish the lag was all fixed; only six maps in Team Fortress 2?; Portal and Episodes 1 & 2 are on the short side; Episode 2 ends on a cliffhanger!

Jeff's Top 10 Games Of 2007

2008-01-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

2007 was a great year for gaming, there were titles for just about everyone! needless to say I had a pretty tough time deciding what to put in here. But I've made my decision, here are my top ten games of 2007 and why:

10: Super Mario World (Virtual Console): Instant classic; tons of places to explore; Bowser = most epic boss battle ever; YOSHI!!!.

9. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (360): Short but very sweet campaign mode; great storyline; controlling vehicles by holding the right bumper!; multiplayer and coop is a blast!

8 Super Paper Mario (Wii): Side-Scrolling RPGness; great storyline and writing; great sense of humor; you can switch from 2D to 3D foo'!

7. Crackdown (360): Going anywhere and doing just about anything has never been this much fun; leveling-up goodness; coop is awesome especially online; literally endless possibilities!

6 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii): It's Metroid and it's on the Wii; great controls; great storyline; great bossfights; beautiful graphics; awesome music; it has voice acting? oh em gee!

5. Rock Band (360): Want a good party game and have $200? look no further; drums are tough, but a blast!; Band World Tour is great and addicting; "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "I Think I'm Paranoid"!! now of only they could include some Lifehouse and Audio Adrenaline songs then you've got one heck of a game!

4. The Orange Box (360): Five amazing games in one? you're joshin' me right?!?!; and one of those amazing games is Portal? and.....it's hilarious? aw man dude!; what?....Team Fortress 2 is addictively awesome?? geezoloo bro you're making me really want it now; and....and....all of the Half-Life games included have updated visuals? dude I gotta buy this now! *scram!*

3. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360): Short but epic single player; finally COD has gotten with modern times!; storyline is excellent; multiplayer will leave your keyster with bedsores; possibly THE hardest game I think I've ever played!

2. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii): The genre of platforming has been redefined!; Mario's in space:D; awesome graphics even for a Wii title; hands down THE best Mario music ever composed; the Fire Flower, Rainbow Star, and Super Mushroom make a triumphant return; and dude....Mario wears a bee suit, what's not to love?!

1. Halo 3 (360): Epic moments from begining to end; outstanding music that jumps in at the right moments; a great ending to a masterpiece of a trilogy; voice acting is very well done; jaw dropping visuals that span out as far as the eye can see; best animated cinematics to date; Forge mode = endless possiblities; the online multiplayer will never make you turn your 360 off ever again!

So there you have it, congradulations to Halo 3 and the people who made it! it was a pretty tough decision on what to crown the winner but overall I had to give it to Halo 3, it's just an awesome game. I'm sure you're wondering "where's Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed and BioShock n00b?!" well......Mass Effect has sex scenes and I don't go for stuff like that; Assassin's Creed was fun but I hated the storyline, sure the Animus machine is interesting and the gameplay was awesome but when you mix it in with a Da Vinci Code-ish storyline, you're not going to have a very good game; and as for BioShock....well I've only played the demo and I thought it was pretty fun but I never bought the game, so yeah.

Anyway here is a list of games that I'm looking foward to checking out this year.......if they do come out this year that is. Anyway here they are in random order:

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl
Street Fighter 4
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
Tiberium
Sonic RPG (working title)
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Halo Wars
Battlefield: Bad Company
All Points Bulletin
Borderlands
Mario Kart Wii

Super Mario Galaxy

2007-11-19T16:34:00.000-08:00

Mario is without a doubt the most popular video game character on the planet, if it wasn't for him we wouldn't be playing games with storylines. Back in 1996 when the Nintendo 64 launched everyone's jaw dropped to the floor when they saw the quirky plumber in 3D, mainly because no one has ever seen anything like it. In 2002 a sequel was made for the Gamecube called Super Mario Sunshine, even though it got alot of critical and commercial sucess, it just wasn't the same as Mario 64 due to the heavy use of Mario's water jetpack F.L.U.D.D. Five years later a sequel by the name of Super Mario Galaxy is released! is it a true Mario sequel? well let's see.

STORY -Unless you've been under a rock for over 20 years then you pretty much know what to expect from the story. Mario attends a festival in the Mushroom Kingdom to celebrate a comet that flies over the planet every 100 years when all of a sudden *gasp!* Bowser and his gang kidnap Peach and take her into outer space! knocked unconcious on a mysterious planet, Mario meets up with Princess Rosalina, the keeper of the Cosmos. So it's up to Mario to bring back all the power stars back to Rosalina's dark ship and save Princess Peach as well.

GAMEPLAY -Mario is not always known for his stories, but by the way he plays. Put simply: Super Mario Galaxy is possibly one of the best playing Mario game to date, of not ever! just about everything in here works! and the best part? no more red and blue coin collecting! although there is purple coin collecting but it's not too bad.
To jump you press A on the Wiimote and shake it to attack your enemies with Mario's spin attack, after like one minute or so you should have the controls nailed down.
Also there will be moments where you're riding on a stingray and you tilt the Wiimote like a key to steer, there will also be instances where you're riding on a ball and you point the Wiimote up to the ceiling and use it as a joystick. But what really sticks out is the variety of suits that Mario wears! if you're familiar with Super Mario Bros. 3 then you know what I'm talking about. There will be instances where Mario dresses up like a bee and flies around for a limited amount of time and there will be instances where Mario will pick up a fire flower and use it for simple puzzles, it's a great implication that works very well and makes you wonder why Nintendo didn't think of this years ago. But unfortunately even though the controls are great, they're not perfect. Don't get me wrong they're close to flawlessness but there are some moments where it can get awkward when you're walking around planets, but it's pretty minor.

GRAPHICS - Hands down the best graphics on the Wii to date, every planet is uniqe and never looks the same anywhere! and to top it all off the game runs at a solid 60fps that rarely dips at all. Sure it's not Xbox 360 or PS3 graphics, but it comes pretty darn close! this is next-gen Mario at it's finest.

SOUND - The sound and music is another crown jewel in this game. Sure there's not too much voice acting in this game, except for the excellent work by Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario. Unfortunately I don't have surround sound so I can't really tell you how it is with it on, but what I will tell you is that everything sounds a whole lot clearer than it did in Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64. But what I really liked was the sounds from the Wiimote when you blast off from a planet or shoot a star at someone, some people may not appreciate it, but I certainly do. But what really catch your ears is the music! put simply: The best Mario music I think I've ever heard! Mario has had some very catchy tunes in his day but this really stands out as some of the finest. You'll find yourself whistling the music as you go about your day, it just never gets old! heck I found myself just visting a galaxy just to listen to the music.

REPLAY - Once you have 60 of the 120 stars you can beat the game. But if you're like us you're going to want to find every last star this game has to offer to unlock what should be the best unlockable character.....possibly ever! and even then you're going to find yourself doing it all again because that's the way all Mario games have ever been. This whole game is just a ton of fun. Sure there aren't too many side missions....well okay there aren't any! but the game is so rich with secrets that you'll want to travel back to previous galaxies just to find them all.

FINAL WORD - To put it simply: The best Mario game since Super Mario 64! it's beautiful to look at, alot to explore, and just flat out one of the greatest games this year, if not of all time! Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto still has it and I can't wait to see what else rolls out of his sleeves. If you own a Wii you must own this now! it's that simple.

Editors Choice!
!*****! 5/5 Stars Jeffrey Poss

The Good: 3D Mario with classic implications; amazing graphics; awesome sound; wonderful music; replayability; just plain fun!

The Bad: Some awkward angles make it a little hard to control; a few sound glitches on the Wiimote; the fact that you're reading this and not playing the game!!

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

2007-11-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that the Call Of Duty series has dominated the WW2 genre, the only downer?...well the WW2 genre has gotten really old really fast. Luckily Infinity Ward has taken the WW2 franchise into new territory - Modern times! (hence the name "Modern Warfare"). Does Infinity Ward's direction work? hmm...let's see shall we?

STORY - Call Of Duty has always been known for you playing as multiple character s from diffrent nationalities, Call Of Duty 4 is no diffrent. You play as a US Marine and a British SAS trying to find these group of guys who are simply up to no good. There aren't really too many twists in the story, but it is really good and very satisfying at the end, that's all I'll say.
There are alot of "wow!" moments like Call Of Duty 2 had whereas Call Of Duty 3 hardly had any.

GAMEPLAY - The gameplay in COD4 hasn't really changed much, but hey if it's broke why fix it? the controls in Call Of Duty were always very good and Call Of Duty 4 just makes it even better. This time instead of click the left thumbstick to use your binoculars you click the left thumbstick to sprint and that comes in handy a whole lot more than binoculars.
What really makes Call Of Duty feel like Call Of Duty is tons of dudes, excellent A.I., and nonstop action and gunfire, Call Of Duty definately stays true to its roots and at the same time improves alot over it's predecessors. Put it simply, the game feels right!

GRAPHICS - It's hard to believe that this game looks this good and at the same time runs at 60 frames a second! everything from the guns, the character models, the lighting, just about everywhere you look it's gonna make your jaw go straight through the floor, even if you have cement floors! Although there are a few graphical textures that just did not impress me, like for instance I wen into the bushes and the textures were very flat and undetailed, it's not a huge deal and it's forgivable because the rest of the game looks amazing and runs very smoothly, but it's still noticable.

SOUND - Just about the whole game (except for the All Ghillied Up mission) is nothing but gunfire, shouting, just nonstop action everywhere. Possibly some of the best sound I think I've ever heard! Not to mention the voice acting is amazingly well done, I'm no marine but I would imagine this is how they would sound if I were in battle.

REPLAY - The single player in call of duty should take you like around 5 hours or so to complete which is pretty disappointing but at the same time it really feels good because Veteran is a PAIN to complete! so if you're just after all the achievements they're strictly singleplayer and you'll get probably most of them if you play through it on Veteran. However, despite no multiplayer achievements there are "challenges" you can complete to earn experience points, which to me are just as good as achievements.
Even though the singleplayer is is short there's still an arcade mode like there was in Halo 3 to give it more replayability, I would love to elaborate on it but unfortunately I have not tried it out yet.
But you'll probably spend most of your time in the multiplayer which by the way is awesome! Infinity Ward put as much care into the single player as they did in the multiplayer and it really shows. One of the best features is the leveling up system, if you're familiar with games such as Rainbow Six: Vegas that gives you your experience points after you've played a match....well that's not the case here. INSTEAD the experience points are mapped while you're playing the game, like for instance if you kill an enemy, that may count as 5XP or 10XP depending on what gametype you're playing, it really sets a new bar for online FPSs.

FINAL WORD - Despite a short singleplayer mode, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is possibly one of the best games you'll play all year! the singleplay is great, the multiplayer is amazing, and most of all it should definately be one of the games to pick up this holiday season. Just be sure to wear brown pants before you play this game;-).

!*****! 5/5 Stars Jeffrey Poss

The Good - Breathtaking graphics running at a solid framerate; great A.I.; awesome sound; fun arcade mode (I guess0_o..); very addicting and balanced multiplayer; errrm....just about everything you see!:D

The Bad -Singleplayer ends pretty quickly; a few bugs here and there; Veteran is torture to complete! (not a flaw, but still!)

Halo 3 R3vi3w

2007-09-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

Okay let's face it, Halo 2 didn't end so hot. Sure it ended by letting us know that there was going to be another sequel but the fact remained that we would have to wait almost three years for it! it's been almost three years since we've seen Master Chief in action, does he end the series well with a bang??.....YES HE FRIGGIN' DOES!! let's take a gander shall we?

STORY - The last time we saw the Chief things weren't going so great. He left Cortana on the Covenant's homeworld ship High Charity to chase after the Prophet Of Truth on a Forerunner ship heading straight to Earth. To make things worse the second Halo has been turned on by the Brute Chieftan Tartarus - but all hope is not lost, 343 Guilty Spark informs Sgt. Johnson and Miranda Keyes that all the Halos can only be triggered by this mysterious structure called The Ark. Halo 3 takes place a little after Halo 2, Master Chief lands in a jungle on Earth and quickly meets up with Sgt. Johnson (once he woke up that is). Once he gets patched up, the Arbiter (the Elite you played as in Halo 2) informs everyone that there are Covenant in the area and that they must flee the area. To keep a long story short and spoiler free as I can, it's basically up to you to stop the Covenant from firing the rings and save Cortana in the process.

Most people complained that the story in the second Halo focused a little too much on the Covenant's side of things instead of Chief's. Well for those who could care less about the Arbiter's side of the story you're in for a treat. However, Arbiter isn't gone completely, he's sort of Chief's sidekick.

GAMEPLAY - It seems Bungie has taken what was so fun about Halo 1 and 2 and just made it even better! the vehicles feel better, the weapons fire great, overall the gameplay just feels amazingly better, put it simply: It feels like a next-gen Halo! and to top it all off they remapped the reload button to RB and used the X button for a new feature called Equipment. Once you get something like a Bubble Shield or the Power Drainer you press X and you can either protect yourself with the Bubble Shield or drain the power from the enemies shields or vehicles with the Power Drainer, overall the Equipment is a very nice touch and really expands the gameplay.

The enemy A.I. is ruthless! they will shoot at you from every angle, they will climb over obstacles to get to you, they will throw grenades to get you out from your hiding spot, they will do anything they can to make sure you you're dead. I really wish I coul say the same about the friendly A.I.! don't get me wrong they're great fighters, but when they get behind the wheel they're just as deadly as the Covenant. They'll run you over, they'll keep going foward and in reverse for no stinkin' reason, when you're in the gunner seat of the Warthog and you have a great angle on the enemy they will keep driving and mess you up! they're smart but oh man they can't drive.

GRAPHICS -Everything from the detail on the armor, the shadows on the grass, the draw distances as far as the eye can see, everywhere I looked I said "woooow!!!". Everything in this game is a work of art. Gears Of War was a real next-gen looking game with its excellent textures and great looking scenery. Halo 3 to us just takes it to a hole new level!

The only thing I really do have to pick at with the graphics is the character models. Don't get me wrong they look fantastic! but then you look at them up close their ears look very pointy and their faces look a little blury for some reason. These are very minor gripes though because everything and everyone look great, Cortana and Chief look very detailed this time around.

SOUND - This is really one of the places where Halo 3 shines. Previous Halo games have always had great sound thanks to Marty O'Donnell and his excellent crew. Every gun sounds like they look, every footstep you hear sounds like the surfaces you walk on, it's all amazing.

The voices in the game are well fitting and greatly done, the lovable marines are back with crazier lines than before. Like for instance I saw one of them throw a grenade at one of the Grunts and yelled out "STUCK HIS BUTT!!" and when you get into the Warthog or some other vehicle you'll hear one of your marine buddies say "I got shotgun!" they're very well done. And speaking of the Grunts they're back and sounding meaner than ever! Joseph Staten (writer/ cinematics director at Bungie Studios) reprises his role as the Grunts and does a teriffic job at it.

The enemies are not only smarter, but it shows! for instance when you pick up a Gravity Hammer the grunts will run in fear yelling out "He's going to kill us! he's got a hammer!!" when I heard that I was like....no way! all the people that you know are back: Jen Taylor is back as Cortana, Steve Downes is back as Master Chief, Keith David is Arbiter, and so on and they all do a teriffic job.
Not to mention Marty O'Donnell's music. Ho-lee COW it's awesome! just like this game he takes the scores that sounded so great in Halo 1 and 2, remasteres them, and does some new ones as well. It's a shame that as of right now the soundtrack isn't out otherwise I'd personally buy it, it's that good!!

REPLAY - If there's anything that this game REALLY shines in is the replay. There's four player coop online or system link, there's online multiplayer, there's the new SavedFilms feature, there's the new map editor feature called Forge where you go around changing the spawn points and the weapons and whatnot, so it's a very interesting feature. The multiplayer is a mixture of what made Halo 1 and 2 so great, it's balanced perfectly! there are a couple of new gametypes such as VIP, Infection, Territories: Plots, and so on. VIP is a new gametype where both teams have a VIP and if one guy kills the other team's VIP then they get a point and whoever has the most points wins. Unfortunately I have not had a chance to play Infection but from what I understand one person is a zombie and has to kill a whole team, if he kills an oposite team member then he's on your team and has to take down the remaining team members. Territories is not really new, it's just remade into an even more interesting game: One team has to capture five points and the other team has to defend them, the team with the most territory captures wins. To make it all short and sweet there's just a ton here to keep you busy for years to come! and I don't think this game is gonna get old anytime soon, Halo has always been one of those kind of games we keep coming back to. FINAL WORD - ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN' AWESOME!!! that's the final word. Halo 3 is an excellent end to an epic trilogy. I'm sad to see it go, but on the other hand I'm anxious what the Bungie boys and girls have up there sleeves. Halo is personally one of my favorite games of all time and this just takes both Halo games and just makes them even better. If you own a 360 or you're planning on picking one up, BUY THIS GAME!! you will not be disappointed. It's Halo 3 and it's freakin' awesome!!!!!

Ups: Great graphics; amazing sound; addictive multiplayer; tons of customization in the multiplayer thanks to Forge; beautifully well written story; four player co-op is a blast; GREAT music!; pretty much everything works here foo'!

Downs: The friendly AI can't drive worth squat; one certain mission feels more like the Library level from Halo 1; some textures look a little muddy; you can't rewind or make clips in the campaign single player.

``!*****!`` 5/5 stars

All pictures are all taken from the comunity over at Bungie.net. No rights are reserved because......well they don't own any rights! but they do know how to take some awesome picures :D

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

2007-09-12T19:12:00.001-07:00

Back in 1986 when Metroid appeared on the NES it was highly praised for its Zelda backtracking and Mario platforming. In 2002 Nintendo and developer Retro Studios took it to a new level by giving the franchise a new 3D look and a new name, but surprisingly it was in first person! alot of people were afraid the new first person look would stray away from what the classic Metroid games were known for, but when the game was released people were stunned by how not only gorgeous the game looked, but how so much that it stayed in the roots to the classic Metroid. In 2004 Retro released a sequel titled Metroid Prime 2: Echoes which was considered by many a fantastic game, but not quite as good as what it could've been. It's been almost three years since we've seen a Metroid game on the console, is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption worth the wait? well my fellow brotherans (and sister) let us take a look:

STORY - You play as the protagonist Samus Aran, a galactic bounty hunter making sure the universe doesn't go to pop. The story starts you off with Samus being awaken from her on board navigational system letting her know that a galactic fleet is up ahead. When Samus lands her ship on a frigate she meets up with Admiral Dane and a couple of other bounty hunters being briefed that one of the Aurora Units (basically these brain like things that help you out) is corrupted by a mysterious virus, when suddenly the frigate gets invaded by space pirates and Samus is ordered by Admiral Dane to land her ship on a nearby planet. To make a long story short, Samus obtains a new suit that allows her to go into Hypermode and shoot phazon (a toxic substance that's alive) out of her arm cannon, sweet! although it comes at a price, if the stays in Hypermode too long she'll get corrupted and perish.

GAMEPLAY - This is where Metroid Prime 3 really shines is in its gameplay. Put it simply: This is the best controlling FPS game since Halo, it's that good! Other FPS games have tried to make a good FPS on the Wii but unfortunately have failed, Metroid Prime 3 is the first game I think I've ever played that gets the controls right. A is to shoot, B is to jump, Z is to lock on, C is to go into ball mode, and down on the D pad is to shoot missles. I found myself having to get use to the controls at first (mainly because I was use to Red Steel's controls) but after a few minutes I was PWNING! the motion sensing controls never feel gimmicy at all, in fact I really enjoyed unlocking doors and using the grapple lasso every stinkin' chance I got! it really makes everything feel good, and luckily you're going to be using the motion sensing controls alot.
Also the Boss fights are done splendidly! if you've played the previous Prime games then you know what to expect (only more motion sensing:D!).

GRAPHICS - Put it simply, the best looking game to date on the Wii (that is until Mario Galaxy comes out in less than two months;-D) it's gorgeous! everything from Bryyo's moons (that are strangely chainged to the planed for some reason) to Skytown's gorgeous city, everywhere you look in this game is jaw droppingly beautiful. Even Samus herself has gotten an upgrade! remember in the previous Prime games when the lighting was just right you could see her face? well picture that only better! and when I say better I mean her face changes everytime she gets corrupted and it looks nastily awesome (yes...nastily). The only thing I have to pick at with the graphics is that when you scan for items it takes a few seconds for the draw distances to appear, and when you shoot a door it takes a while for it to open because of the hidden loading times, these are all pretty minor but they are noticable.

SOUND - Hey remember in the good ol' days where there were games with no talking? where you had to read a ton of dialouge to fully understand the story? well Nintendo has finally gotten with the program and decided to use *gasp!* voice acting!@ and you know what? the voices are actually very well done, possibly some of the best I think I've ever heard. Samus herself chooses to go the Gordon Freeman route and not talk (every man's dream eh fellas?;P....I'm so getting alot of bad emails, lol) but it works better that way if you ask me.
The sound effects seem a little recycled but it's not a bad thing, I mean if you have a game where you have sound effects on a gun and you make a sequel and you CHANGE the sound effects on that same gun...then you're gonna get a little confused arentcha? I wish I could tell you how good it probably sounds in Dolby Digital but....well I don't own a surround sound system. But nontheless everything here sounds wonderful and you're gonna be the happiest clam in the fishbowl to hear that!
Although I'm pretty disappointed that there's no sounds that come into your Wiimote everytime you do something, sure it may seemed kinda gimmicy but I kinda liked it.

REPLAY - To make things even more replayable you can not only go into the single player portion of the game and go back and look for all the items you've missed, but you can also unlock badges. Badges are basically like achievements, like say you scan a creature or a diary or defeat a boss, then you get a badge! and you can use these badges to unlock concept art, music, bobbleheads, bumper stickers for your ship, and more. These are pretty neat ideas that really bring alot of replay value to the game. Unfortunately there's no multiplayer to look foward to because Retro decided to try and make the game as perfect as they could make it and if you ask me that's just as good:)!

FINAL WORD - The only thing stopping this game from getting a perfect score is the lack of multiplayer, the loading times, and no sound comming from your Wii Remote, these are all very minor problems but they're still pretty noticable. But if you're debating on whether or not you should get this game...dude...stop it! get it! it's Metroid and it's on the Wii and it's friggin' awesome!! I've played alot of Metroid games but this is without a doubt my favourite out of all of them. Buy it, play it, and just flat out have a blast with it foo'!!

****- 4/5 stars

Apologies for the lack of teh r3vi3wing......

2007-08-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

No we haven't forgotten about reviewing games, it's just we've been pretty darn busy and there haven't been alot of good games come out recently (and even if there were we can't afford them). But we'll do our best to try and get back to review (or r3vi3w? I dunno)....erm anyway REVIEWING some games whenever we can.
I was thinking about reviewing Lego Star Wars 2 (the last 360 game me and Jerbo got) but that game came out like what a year ago? yeah. And I would've reviewed GRAW 2 but I haven't gotten in the multiplayer, so yeah.......I mean ol' Alex got like a butt load of games this summer and we haven't reviewed ANY of them! lol.
But I shoud be getting Metroid Prime 3 either next week or two so as soon as I finish (hopefully) the game I'll do my very best to get a r3vi3w up......and maybe Mario Galaxy (cuz....y'know I finally pre-ordered that junk!:D). So while you're waiting for Metroid and Halo to come out why dontcha play Super Metroid or Paper Mario on the VC, it's great fun! or if you're more of a 360 guy.....well I would say BioShock but I don't have the game (yes go ahead and flame me! I'm not made of money....that's what I have to say in my defense;-P) but the demo's pretty cool. So go buy something good and cheap to keep your own lazy self entertained.

And on a side note, I kinda regret giving Paper Mario a 5/5, not that it's a bad game or anything it's just that the boss battles are pretty easy and after you beat the game there's not a whole lot to do except.....collecting cards and recipes? c'mawn! Paper Mario 2 had better sidequests than that! But I still recommend it nontheless!!

Jeff

Super Paper Mario

2007-04-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Mario games have always been a huge franchise for Nintendo and the boys at the big N are always trying diffrent ways of making him suitable in diffrent kinds of genres. In 1996, Nintendo and Squaresoft (known today as Square Enix) released a game for the SNES called Super Mario RPG, what made the game stand out from all the other RPGs (besides being able to jump) was the timed button pressing mechanics that will allow to dodge attacks or do more damage in combat. However, during development of Super Mario RPG 2, the guys over at Square Enix pulled out of the project and the development eventually went to Intelligent Systems (Metroid, Donkey Kong, etc) and instead of SMRPG2 they titled it Paper Mario due to it's clever paper-ish look, it was released in 2001 for the N64 and got alot of praise from the press. Three years later they released a sequel for the Gamecube titled Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, even though it too recieved alot of praise from the press and did pretty well, it was always one of those I'll-get-it-later kind of games because it came out around the time Halo 2, Half-Life 2, etc. was released (so you do the math;-P). It's been almost three years since a Paper Mario game.....until now! Super Paper Mario like Zelda: Twilight Princess was originally suppose to be a Gamecube exclusive until Nintendo decided to port it over to their wiggle-stick console. How does it hold up? lets take a gander and see...

STORY- The Story begins when (get ready to gasp) Princess Peach gets kidnapped from her castle! when Mario and Luigi are informed of the kidnapping from Toad, they knew just who it was (hey you can't blame them, the same guy kidnaps her in like EVERY game, lol) when they arrived to Bowser's castle, it turns out Bowser was just about to kidnap her (oh snap!). So eventually Bowser too gets kidnapped and gets forced to marry Peach against her will. After they said their vows a heart appears out of this small pillar, this heart is know as the Chaos Heart,which opens up a big black hole in the sky slowly devouring everything on Earth. So it's up to Mario, Peach, Bowser and Luigi to stop all of this and return peace back to the town of Flipside. To me this game has possibly some of the best storytelling in any Mario game as far as I've played! it also (to me) has one of the best endings in a game that I think I've ever seen, it's not perfect sure, but it's very nice, but you play the game and judge for yourself.

GAMEPLAY- In the previous Paper Mario games there were alot of turn-based combat which turned out to be very interesting with a timed based button mechanics and so forth, but not alot of people really got into it. In SPM they focus strictly on what made the Mario games so great, and that's jumping on a character and taking him out. So instead of turn-based combat like in the previous games, Intelligent Systems took a totally diffrent approach by sticking to the roots of Mario and imputed an attack system that allows you to level up via the score being your experience points (yup this time that comes in handy!).
Not only that, Mario has the ability to switch the level from 2D to 3D with a press of the A button! unfortunately not all the characters in your party have this ability however, but Peach can float and dodge attacks with her umbrella, Bowser is slow and massive but he can breathe fire and double the attacks of what Peach, Mario, and Luigi can do; and Luigi can jump really high and has the ability to do a super jump that will shoot him to the ceiling. While all these character abilities really do come in handy you'll find yourself using Mario the most because of his ability to flip the world in 3d to solve puzzles and stuff like that, I mean I know the name of the game is Super Paper Mario but there are times where I'm Bowser and I make a mistake of flipping into 3D, but you get the hang of it after a while.
The controls on here are very well done, you hold the Wii Remote sideways like you would an NES controller. 1 is your Pixl button (little fairy-like creatures that help you out on your quest) and 2 is your jump button. But the cool thing here is that when you jump on an enemy and shake your controller you get these moves called "Stylish moves" that will rank up your score more and help you level up faster, they're very interesting and work very well.

GRAPHICS- Whether you're a fan or not of the Mario series you're gonna really appreciate the graphics that are on here. Sure they're not Gears Of War great, but it's really nice and easy on the ol' peepers:). And when you switch into 3D everything looks really flat and paperish which adds a nice look to the whole place. I think my favourite effect is the big black hole in the sky. The loading times are nice and the framerate is solid from what I've seen so far.

SOUND- Everything sound that you love in the previous classic Mario games is in here! from the jumping sound effect, the vine climbing sound effect, the sound in this game is done very nicely. The music is also very nice in here, previous Mario games have always had very upbeat music and this game is no exception. Sure there are times where it gets repetitive but I don't think it will bother you very much at all. If you've liked the kind of music that Nintendo has produced over the years (I know I have) then you'll know what to expect and be in for a real treat.

REPLAY- The sidequests consist of finding treasure maps, playing in the arcade, replaying some levels, and other stuff like that. Believe me there's alot to keep you busy here for a while. My only gripe with the replay is that the sidequests are not quite as interesting as they were in The Thousand Year Door and that game had some really cool sidequests, but then again I'm not very sure. But even if you're not interested in playing the side missions you'll wanna go back and play the game again because the storyline is so well done.

FINAL WORD- Dude, it's Mario, and it's on the Wii, DO THE MATH!! sure Super Mario Galaxy is only a few months away from release but this game is really a superb game that anyone with a Wii should definately check out. It may not be THE best Mario game out there, but it's definately one of the coolests. And besides, giving a Mario game a bad rating will be as harmful as calling your mama a fatty.

!* * * * *! 5/5 Stars Jeffrey Poss

Crackdown Review

2007-02-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

When Grand Theft Auto 3 came out in 2001 it sparked not only alot of controversy in the media, but alot of retail sucess as well. Alot of developers cloned what Rockstar did with the clever franchise but only a few have succeeded. However, David Jones (the creator of GTA) left the company before GTA3 was even released because he wanted to do something a liiitle diffrent with the "free roaming" genre as it's now known as today. And that game is Crackdown! does it succeed on it's own rights or is it another GTA clone? well let's take a look:

STORY - That's the thing about this game, besides the fact that you're a genetically enhanced cop who takes down three gang organizations(Los Muertos, The Volk, and Shai-Gen) there's not much to the story. But hey does lack of story make a bad game? No! Heck Perfect Dark: Zero's storyline wasn't all that great but it was still an awesome game nontheless. Anyway each gang organization consists of seven gangs, each of them with their own abilities to make their gangs stronger and whatnot. Like if you take out the firearms specialist the gangs on the street will have very primitive weapons, if you take out the recruiter, then there will be alot less gangs on the street- pretty neat eh? and it's your job to take out all of the specialists and the kingpin that way the gangs will reduce to nothing. So yeah, not much of a storyline but awesome nontheless.

GRAPHICS - This is really what impresses me the most about this game. The graphics have a cel shaded look to it but at the same time it's got alot of great textures to it kinda giving it that nex-gen look to it (or should I say current-gen? I dunno). But besides the excellent comic book look to it, this game without a doubt has the best looking draw distances in any game I've seen to date! I've played alot of great free roaming games, but when you look off in the distance it's very hard to see due to the limited technology. But now I'm at the top of the Agency Tower (which is the tallest building in the game) and you can see everything almost perfectly clear man! although when you shoot your sniper or launch a rocket launcher from the agency tower it doesn't hit your target on the street, it explodes in mid air which...kinda stinks but understandable. Yes this game has a cartoonish look to it but man does it look good!

GAMEPLAY - The gameplay is just phenomenal! I'd go almost as far as saying that it ranks up there with Gears Of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas for the 360, sure you can't put your back against the wall and fire but the targeting system in the game is pretty diffrent from most games we've seen, you hold down the left trigger and it will target each parts of their bodies: if you shoot them in the leg then your enemies will fall down for a few seconds, if you shoot them in the arm they either shake their arm in pain or the gun will fly out of their hands forcing them to pick it up quickly, and if you shoot them in the dome it will either kill them instantly or weaken them severely depending on how strong they are. Even though the targeting system works really well but it kind of gets hard to target someone, like there will be a guy that you wanna take down but it will often target the body that you've just killed, it's not a huge problem but it kinda gets annoying when you're wanting to drop the tango that's bustin' them caps in ya.
The driving on the other hand is a little diffrent. When you're playing the game for the first time you can't drive worth a flip, but after a while when you start to level up you'll not only be more in tune with your vehicle and drive alot faster, your car looks freakin' DOPE! and you'll eventually start doing some rad tricks when you level up to four stars.
I'll bet you're wondering "You can level up in this game?!?!" HECK YEAH BUDDY!! there are five skills that you can level up:

Agility - Makes you run faster and jump higher.

Driving - Helps you drive better and look more awesomer than you already look.

Explosives - You can blow more stuff up when you lob a grenade, rocket launcher, etc

Strength - You hit your opponents harder and you can lift heavier objects

and Firearms- Which helps you aim better and faster than you ever did

You level up by killing bad guys and getting the orbs. Like if you shoot a bad guy then you'll increase your firearms skills, if you go up to them and kick them then you get you increase your strenght, increase your driving? run them over! or do some gnarly tricks off of a ramp or a cliff. But the most addictive one to increase is your agility which you get when you find green orbs all over rooftops! although it get's really frustrating when you're down to the last orb.
But be careful not to run innocent people over or shoot a pedestrian, otherwise you lose some points experience points.

SOUND - Oh man the soooouuund baby! the gunshots heard a few blocks down, the beats coming from night clubs and car stereos, the sound in the game is possibly the best I've ever heard in a game, period. I especially like it when you climb to the top of the Agency tower and you hear a calming silence.
The voice acting in the game...eeeeehhh not so much. When you're fighting enemies you'll hear "time to die" like twelve times in one minute. And the civillians will swear as you run pass them, you'll hear alot of "Oh this can't be happening" and "holy [snap]!" and stuff like that. But what gets more irritating is the narrater or whatever his name is. Don't get us wrong the guy that does his voice does a pretty good job but you'll hear him alot, he gets very old very fast. And he's wrong alot, like he'll say "I can see my house from here" or "quite a view agent, finest in the city" and the whole time you're listening to him you're on the ground or in a sewer or something thinking "what the heck are you talking about??" lol.

REPLAY VALUE - Okay we usually beat the games before we review them, but due to some personal problems and the fact that I kept finding myself wandering around doing awesome stuff, I haven't finished it yet (but Jeremy and Alex have beaten the game so at least that counts;-P). You may or may not like the ending I dunno, I'm not gonna spoil it but I'll just leave it at that. But after you beat the game you can either just mess around (as the game was clearly meant to be played), go orb hunting, max out your skills, do rooftop/car races, and so forth. OR you can grab a pal and head on Xbox Live and play the game cooperatively, you'll get achievements for it and you'll have an absolute blast doing so. There is lag unfortunately, but it's not that bad from what me and Alex played, but it still exists so Microsoft may have to fix it up more. But once you put that aside and realize that there's no such thing as a lagless game the coop is the absolute awesomeness!!!

FINAL WORD - Sure the game isn't perfect but what game is? this game is an absolute BLAST and unless you're under 17 you're out of luck, but if you are 17 and you're wanting an absolutely excellent free roaming game without having to worry about killing innocent people for the fun of it, then Crackdown is for you! which is why it's the first game getting our highest rating! now when's Crackdown 2 comming out??;)

***** 5/5 stars!!! Jeffrey Poss

Red Steel Review

2007-02-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

When Red Steel was unveiled and detailed in Game Informer and E3 last year that easily became one of the most anticipated Wii launch titles because of it's mixture of sword fighting and first-person shooting. Is it an awesome game or is it released too early? let's take a look:

STORY: You play the role of a yakuza gang member Scott San, your fianc'e are having a wonderful evening over supper about to meet her dad when all of a sudden all chaos breaks loose and another yakuza gang starts shooting at you and kidnaps your girl in return for some sword (I forgot the name of it), so you have to go through all kinds of people to find her. The story is alright, it's not a story that will keep you hooked like alot of cool games like Halo or KOTOR, but it's decent. Also the cutscenes are not motion captured cutscenes that we're use to, instead it's replaced by storyboard comic book-ish cutscenes, for the most part they're pretty cool because it's something diffrent than we're use to, so they work pretty well.

GRAPHICS: Well when Red Steel was introduced last year at E3 it looked incredible, crisp clean graphics, lighing, lots of good stuff. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it did at E3 because of the blury textures and lighing. Don't get me wrong it looks very good, but I know it could've been alot better. It just could've been better. Although the weapons look really nice.

GAMEPLAY: As you can see Red Steel is the first FPS game to hit the Wii but the controls don't work quite as well as you'd hope because you have to keep the curser centered on the screen otherwise you'll be spinning around in circles and doing other stuff you don't wanna do, but it still works pretty well as long as you keep it centered. To shoot your gun you press the B button, to reload you either shake the nunchuck down or press right on the + pad, and throwing a grenade is as easy as holding the down button on the + pad and throwing over/underhand on the nunchuck. So as you can see Red Steel does some pretty interesting stuff with the Wii controller, although for some stinking reason the sniper rifle requires you to hold down the A button and press it toward your screen.
The AI in the game is...well it's not perfect. These guys just run up to you and are just ask you to shoot them! although the AI is not as bad as you might think, at least they find cover and junk like that.
One thing I really thought was cool in the game was where you can stop time and either kill your opponents or shoot the gun out of their hands to make them surrender by moving the Wii-mote up and down in a nodding fashion. It's all possible by a meter where your ammo is located (bottom right hand of your screen) but the thing that gets me the most is instead of letting the meter recharge like you'd expect, you have to shoot enemies to get it recharged which....kinda seems strange because you want people to surrender but you have to nearly kill them to get them to do that? lol. Also the sword fighting in the game is really where the pickles and onions of this cheeseburger is at. You hold down the C button press left or right on the nunchuck's analog stick, you use the nunchuck itself to block and you use the Wii-Mote to swing your sword around and cut your opponent up like a mellon.

SOUND: The music in the game is actually done quite well, it's got a very kung fu-ish feel to it. The voice acting on the other hand is not so good. The girl that does your fianc'e does a pretty good job but other than that everyone else sounds awful. I mean you're in Japan and everyone's english is as clear as American, lol. But the guns and everything else sounds pretty good, so the audio department should path themselves on the back for this.

REPLAY VALUE: After you complete the single player's 10 to 12 hour campaign you can jump right in the four player multiplayer, which I would love to tell you guys about but being that we don't have a second controller I can't, sorry. But I have heard in Gamespot's forums that there's an alternate ending so you can go back in the single player and try to beat the game diffrent ways.

FINAL WORD: It's pretty obvious that Ubisoft pushed this game out the door too early, but for the most part this game does an interesting job of making an FPS game for the Wii even though it's far from perfect. If you're very picky about the games you play then I'd recommend a rental, but if you're like me and have a Wii and you're really wanting an FPS for it, well I'd recommend it but I'd wait for it to go on sale for like $30 or so. I just hope Metroid Prime: Corruption controls better 0_0.

***-- 3/5 Jeffrey Poss

Our MAIN question is........

Our Games Of The Year!

2007-01-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

2006 was a good year for games not just because the new systems came out, but because the games overall had a pretty good selection that will suit almost everyone....I think. Anyway we liked this year's selection of games so it was a little hard to decide what could be our GOTY, but alas we did it! and here they are:

Jeff's Top Ten Games Of The Year

10. Burnout: Revenge (360) - I personally don't care for racing games that much (well maybe a few) but Burnout: Revenge definately takes my cake for Best Racing Game of the year! seriously this game delivers heart stopping races going hundreds of miles an hour. Make sure you have a buddy next to ya to squirt your eyes with water when you're playing because you can't blink at all!

9. Bully (PS2) - Don't let the game's name fool you, yes you can beat up kids (and adults too) but they have a consequence. With a well written and humorous storyline, GTA like missions and possibly the best voice acting I've heard in a game to date, it's no wonder why it made my top ten list.

8. Wii Sports (Wii) - Seriously the question should be SHOULDN'T this game be in my list? I mean it's fun, easy to pick up and play, great for parties, revolutionary, and it's free when you buy a Wii. Wii sports is one of the best games you'll never pay for! just be sure to have some Bengay with you when you play.

7. Fight Night Round 3 (360) - I only played the demo for the game and already I'm impressed, that's how good this game is! I don't have the game but from what I've played from the demo the sound is top notch; the graphics are unbelievably good from the characters aaaaalll the way to the arenas. Fight Night 3 is hands down the second best boxing game I've ever played (nothing is gonna take Punch-Out's spot)! now let's all hope Round 4 is comming out for the Wii:).

6. Call Of Duty 3 (360) - I admit I was a little worried when I saw the screens for this game earlier this year that this game would be alot like Call Of Duty 2, well as it turns out I was half right. Yes this game is alot like COD2 but that's not a bad thing, Treyarch take COD to the HNL! The graphics look alot better than the second, you can drive cars in the third one, there are mini games here and there that are really cool (forget what the press say), and overall it's just a flat out fantastic game.

5. New Super Mario Bros (DS) - I haven't finished the game, heck I haven't even gotten pass the first world! but no matter, Super Mario Bros. pretty much sent my respect for the Nintendo DS through the roof (and I had none before I played this game, lol). The graphics are superb for a DS game! mix that in with some classic Mario platforming along with some new Mario moves and features, then you've got pretty much my Best DS Game Of The Year award.

4. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (360) - Yes Fight Night Round 3 was the first game to actually look next-gen, but GRAW was the first to really nail the next-gen look and feel to it. With gameplay as great as drinking fresh grape flavored Kool-Aid, amazing graphics and sound, and explosions that sound so good that it will make you lay one heck of a chocolate mudbaby in your pants, then throw in some 16 player multiplayer and coop and you've got yourself a game that will keep you hooked for quite some time.

3. Splinter Cell Double Agent (360) - Possibly the best Splinter Cell story by far. Sam's daughter gets killed so Sam goes undercover to take his mind off of his grief. That's all I heard when I first heard about Double Agent and that immediately caught my interest. Pretty much everything about Double Agent works very well and is no wonder that takes number 3 on my list. Now when the barnacles is SC5 commin' out??

2. Gears Of War (360) - Shocked this isn't number one on my list? well you should be;). Yeah even though it's second that's a pretty big deal man. But YES everything from the graphics, gameplay, sound, pretty much everything in this game is top notch! ('cept for the swearing, that's not cool) now throw in some online coop and andrenaline pumping multiplayer and you've got a game baby! just keep this away from seven year old Jimmy.

1. Rainbow Six: Vegas (360) - Yeah man this was a pretty tough decision to make being with so many great games comming out this year. But we're all Rainbow Six fans here (well mainly Alex and Jerbs) and Rainbow Six: Vegas is no exception. Despite the excessive swearing that wasn't very necessary, RB6:V is possibly one of the best looking, best sounding, and over all best game of the year! so throw in some online coop and addictive multiplayer and you have a game that will keep you busy 'till the cows come home!:)
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Alex's Top Ten Games Of The Year

10. Uno - Addictive; webcam capabilities; awesome fun with friends; the JOLLY freakin DARK LORD!

9. Battlefield 2142 - Fun; graphics; replay value; multiplayer gametypes.

8. Fight Night Round 3 - Graphics; fun; graphics; graphics; gameplay.

7. Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Fun, replay value, graphics, storyline and challenges; nail the trick.

6. Call Of Duty 3 - Graphics; gameplay; fun; replay; MULTIPLAYER; weapons; SOUND!

5. Splinter Cell: Double Agent - New direction in the campaign; weapon upgrades; mission involvement; best storyline in a game this year; multiplayer has been updated and upgraded; SOUND!

4. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - Cross-Com HUD system; gameplay; campaign story; multiplayer gametyping; graphics; guns; expansion on the Marketplace, sound.

3. Burnout: Revenge - Graphics; gameplay; gametypes; replay value; multiplayer; destructiveness; sound.

2. Gears Of War - Graphics; gameplay; fun!; graphics; graphics; graphics; co-op; multiplayer; level design; story; sound.

1. Rainbow Six: Vegas - Control features and capability; graphics; cover system; weapons; outfitting/PEC; face mapping; multiplayer; gametypes; sound; animations; replay value; story; CLASSIC RAINBOW FEEL!!
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Jerbo's Top Ten Games Of The Year

Errm....well his picks were kinda.....umm...well they weren't BAD but The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody doesn't count as a game! anyway just listen to our podcast if you wanna hear his picks, they're pretty good:). So yeah he chose Rainbow Six: Vegas as his Game Of The Year sooo yeah.

Rainbow Six: Vegas is our Game Of The Year!!!

Wii Sports

2007-01-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

When Wii Sports was revealed at E3 this year (or should I say last year?) it caused quite a stir from everyone by how fun and easy it was to pick up and play. I was one of the games that made the Nintendo Wii presented so well. Does it have that feeling that everyone seemed to enjoy? YES! here's our review:

GRAPHICS- Well let's put it this way - it isn't Gears Of War or anything but the graphics in this game are done really well for a Wii game. The primitive graphics really make it feel suitable for all ages (which is good). The bright colored textures and lighting really make it easy on them googly eyes of yours. Sure the game doesn't look quite as good as say Zelda: Twilight Princess or anything but the game's graphics really stand on their own and are done very well.

GAMEPLAY- The gameplay is really the sugar in this Kool-Aid. Everything feels great! when you're playing Baseball it really feels like hitting a ball out of the park, when you're Bowling you can twist your wrist as you throw your ball and your ball will curve, pretty much everything in Wii Sports is spot on. My only complaint is that......well Boxing is great but it takes some getting use to. Because when you hit your opponent sometimes you'll want to hit him in the face but instead you'll end up hitting his gut, so Boxing is done really well (and is a personal fav!) but there are some instances where it doesn't feel spot on, but nontheless you'll have a blast either way. Also another complaint I have is that Tennis too doesn't feel acurate at times, sometimes when you want to hit your ball over to the right of your opponent's side of the court it often times doesn't go in that direction. But nontheless Wii Sport's controls feel excellent and you'll really have alot of fun looking like a moron and getting all sweaty (especially in Baseball and Boxing).SOUND- Superb! everything from the catchy jingle, to the sound effects on your Wii-Mote, to the sound of putting a golf ball in to the hole, there's alot to like about the sound in this game because it's done very well. The Wii-Mote's speaker does a very well job of keeping everything feel realistic. Like for instance when you play Baseball you'll hear the Wii-Mote "swing" and "crack" when you hit a ball out of the park, when you're playing Boxing you'll hear the "fwoops" and "pows" when you hit your opponent and if you get lucky and knock your opponent down to the ground you'll hear "Knock-Out!" through it, it's really cool.

REPLAY- Wii Sports is only limited to five games: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing and they all work really well! heck since I first saw the Wii's motion sensing capabilities I thought "man I wouldn't mind seeing what a Boxing game or a Golf game will look like on that thing", needless to say it looks and feels great! also what is also neat about this game is the fitness test, it's a test that you take once a day and they let you play a few games found in the Training Mode and they calculate how strong you are for your age, the lowest I've ever gotten was...I think 28 or 27 so yeah, GO ME:D. Also if you're looking to throw a party this game is it! seriously just get three more Wii-Motes and Nunchucks and a big box of Bengay and you're set!....and yeah you will go to bed sore;).

FINAL WORD- Let's cut to the chase: Wii Sports is one of the best games you'll never pay for! the graphics are really good, the sound is top notch, this game just feels good playing it. The only thing stopping it from getting a higher rating is....well some games control a little better than others, and online multiplayer would've been nice. But you put those minor things aside and you have a game that looks as good as it plays. Now where did I put that Bengay at? ;)

XXXX- 4/5 Jeffrey Poss

Splinter Cell: Double Agent

2006-12-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

In the past the Splinter Cell franchise has gotten a ton of amazing reviews and has sold very well, and that's just the first game. Not only has the second one topped it's predecessor in gameplay, graphics, etc. but it also added a revolutionary multiplayer (which I'm like the only one around here who appreciated it deeply! lol). And the last one that came out Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory took the whole Splinter Cell franchise upside down and pushed the PS2, GC, and Xbox's hardware to it's very limits and made one of the best AND best looking games out there. How does the fourth SC hold out? well let's see.

STORY- SC have always given a very deep, compelling, and interesting storylines ever in a game, it was always the kind of game that made you think "wow what if that really happened?". SC:DA is no exception. The story takes place where you're on a mission in Iceland with a partner (the "partner" depends on what version you're playing) and your boss Lambert pulls you out of the mission and tells you the unfortunate news that Sam's daughter Sarah has been killed by a drunk driver. So for like a month or two Sam goes a little....erm.. well let's just say the plane is in the air but there's no one in the pilot's seat sooooo yeah. Anyway he calls up Lambert and asks him to give him the most dangerous mission he can think of. So Sam becomes an NOC (No Official Cover) which is the deepest undercover that someone can get into, which means not even the man knows what you're doing (you know who I mean). So Sam supposidly robs a bunch of banks that are staged by the feds and Sam gets thrown in the clam so he can spring a terrorist organization's top man Jamie Washington out so you can get in the terrorists down from the inside. This is without a doubt the best and most groundbreaking storyline in the franchise yet.

GAMEPLAY- As far as the gameplay goes the animations and other stuff are pretty much recycled from Chaos Theory, but hey man if it aint broke don't fix it! they work very nicely with this one. Also I personally thought they couldn't do anymore sweet moves in Chaos Theory, I thought "aww geez they're making a fourth one? what are they gonna do in that one cuz they've done pretty much done everything in Chaos Theory!" folks....I was dead wrong. You can hide under beds, tables, desks, and you can hide in lockers all MGS-like (although you don't get that lockers point of view, but to be honest this works muuuuch better!) I mean there's alot of things in this game that I never thought they could do, not to mention Sam's new pimpin' walk style. So YES gameplay = pwnage!

GRAPHICS- I would say this is the best looking game on the 360 (heck I thought that when it came out almost two months ago) but unfortunately GOW and COD3 beats it for now. But SSSNAP man this game just looks amazing despite those games man! everything is visually impressive from Sam,to the ice, to the whole dang city of Shanghai! it's hard not to like the way Double Agent looks because everything looks so good.

SOUND- The sound is also a crown jewel in the game because this game has like some of the best music I've ever heard in a game (Halo 2 is number one of course:3) I mean seriously Splinter Cell has always had some of the best music in a game and this one just knocks it off of Chaos Theory's pedestal with an Energy Sword. Also what I like about the music is that it starts off quiet and gets louder as you sneak up behind an enemy, it brings alot of tension to the gameplay and is a really nice addition. Some of the sound effects and lines are kinda recycled in the game like you'll hear "[S word]! what was that??" or "Nothing here but ghosts and shadows" again like you did from the third one. The voice acting on the other hand is very well done and yes Michael Ironside returns as Sam and yes his voice is still better and cooler than ever! so yeah even though the voice acting is great I do have one problem with the game-swearing. Seriously games, TV shows, and movies have so much cursing in them nowdays that they feel thrown in there to make it sound "realistic" but in reality it makes the characters sound stupid, like they need to see a doctor. There's ways around putting cursing in stuff to bring tension to things and people fail miserably to get that in their noggin's. Anyway think what you wanna think that's just how we feel. And if you want a good example of cursing thown in stuff just watch Peter Jackson's King Kong. Anyway personal feelings aside the game sounds teriffic and the voice acting is superb.

REPLAYABILITY- Well there are many ways to complete a level in this game like in the previous ones, the game has like three or four diffrent endings, what else is there you ask? a multiplayer that's easier to pick up than the last one! Spies Vs Mercenaries (or Upsillon for the newbies) takes place where a Spy has to sneak around and complete their objectives where the Mercs have to prevent it from happening. I personally had a blast with it in the past and this one just takes SVM to the HNL!(Hole Nuvva Level) I mean it's really alot easier to pick up than the last two because as a Spy you had to disable alot of alarms, watch out for mines, etc. and plus people got so good playing as a Spy they really dominated the Mercs when it was suppose to be the otherway around. In SvU everything's balanced and really easy to pick up.

FINAL WORD- Despite a few recycled things here and there and a few cuss words everything is top notch! from the graphics to the multiplayer, everything is teriffic. I can't wait to see what they're gonna do next.

****. 4/5 stars Jeffrey Poss

Halo 3 : Starry Night Commercial

2006-12-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

Last night i watch monday night football, but not for the game, i hate the panthers and the giants....blah. I watched it for the Halo 3 Commercial that was supposed to blow my mind, and as i expected, it did.
It Started out on two kids, id suspect one the be John(master cheif) and the other to be Kelly( A Female Spartan who is wounded and taken away in the 3rd Novel based on Halo, it never actually says she dies).
They are talking and then it cuts back to where the girl was lying and there is a Spartan Helment in place of her, then the Commercial goes from "what the Deuce?!?!" to "FREAKIN AYYYYYEEEEE"
Cheif is in the middle of a battle feild, and obviously dazed, theres a war goin on around him and hes knocked out. He wrecked off a Mongoose 4 wheeler, not a warthog, ill explain later.Whats even more cool is that he leans over and puts his helment on, and then stands up, revealing his pistol on his side, his crashed mongoose, and the assault rifle lying on the ground ahead of him.
The Camara spins around him while hes trying to get up. You hear Cortanas voice in the jumbled sound , you also hear "...time to go..." and "...Leave me behind!"
Cheif picks up his assault rifle and clamps it on his back. How cool is that?
He looks up, but what hes about to do, i would have never expected!
What the DEUCE IS THIS in the cheifs hand?!??!! Notice, it doesnt look like Covenant Technology, its not blue or shiney :P, Also, dont overlook the Pistol. Notice, it has a bigger likness to the pistol from halo : combat evolved than the one from halo 2, probably nothing, but at least it looks better :D.
What did he just do? ill tell you what he did, better yet, ill show you what he did.Oh my! yes, that thing in his hand was a sheild that comes out and surrounds him when his throws it into the ground..... Notice the warthog doesnt look like a warthog now? need further proof that its a 4 wheeler? ehhh, how about this, the coolest screen shot i took......The Shield saves cheif from some heavy wraith fire coming in, now...... do you still think its a warthog?Anyhow, cheif is pretty ticked i guess, i mean, they shot big blue stuff at him, id be pretty angry too.
Yeah, apparently, he decides, hes ready to Judo kick any Sucker Fool who and bringin it....
Check the enemies, All Brutes, All ARMORED out, a whole lot more than they used to be. Cool huh?Notice the Wraith tanks as well, for some reason i think of mini me in the car insurance commercial "its my birthday, got my car fixed, new tail lights!" the wraith has some pretty sweet looking headlights now eh?
Basically, Hes going to be samurai ninja fly kicking fools in the dome in halo 3..... to the ebonically challenged, Halo 3 is going to be Swell!

Alex.

Call Of Duty 3

2006-12-04T16:33:00.000-08:00

When Call Of Duty 2 came out on the 360 last year butt loads of people bought it, played it, and LOVED it! now there's a sequel. How is it you ask?? as satisfying as the first I reply. Is it worth my money you ask? well let's see....

GAMEPLAY - Well don't expect it to reinvent everything like the second one did, as a matter of fact it's pretty much the same gameplay as last year with a few added features. Is that bad? HECK NO!! first off the gameplay in COD2 was the snazz and this pretty much takes it to the HNL (Hole Nuvva Level)...well sorta. Anything bad you might ask? well yeah, despite it feeling a little bit like an expansion pack there are a few glitches and bugs in the game. Like there are times where you'll be crawling up a hill or something like that and all of a sudden you'll slide all the way down to the bottom for some strange reason. It's not a huge problem (unless you're playing on Veteran but I haven't done that yet) but it is something that should've been fixed before it went out the door. And the AI does get pretty glitchy at times, like one of your guys/girl will get stuck on a log or something and you'll end up having to melee him or getting someone to shoot him/her to get him/her up and running (yeah there's a woman in the game now!) but for the most part the AI is very well done! theyll take cover when they need to, they'll throw grenades back, etc. so yeah it's very well done. Another thing I wish they could've brought back was the ablility to leap over small walls or sandbags like they did in the second one, that was a really big part of the game and I feel a little disappointed that they cut it from the third one, but it's still works fine without it nontheless.
GRAPHICS - This game looks indescribably beautiful, it reminds me of the Fourth Of July!....that is if I was in a battlefield or something. Anyway I would say this is the best looking game on the 360 but sadly Gears Of War takes the spot:( lol. But MAN the water, the grass, the clothing....SSSSNAP!!! everything in this game just looks amazing especially when you look down the ironsites of your gun because your gun is all scratched up and everything....it's the second best looking game on the 360 let's leave it at that (followed by Rainbow Six Vegas, Double Agent, and Fight Night Round 3).

SOUND - Three words: Sound = AWESOME!!! I don't have surround sound but from what I've seen...erm heard, it's absolutely top notch. The only thing I have to pick at the sound is that the same voices that you heard from Call Of Duty 2 are recycled back into this one. Like for instance you'll hear "outta here!" or "ENEMY INFANTRY over by the side wall TO THE NORTHWEST" again. But it's not a bad thing since that it was very helpful to know where the enemies were in the game. And the guns....SNAP the guns just sound absolutely great! the explosions sound awesome, the voice acting is awesome, everything in this game just looks and sounds awesome.

MULTIPLAY - What else keeps gamers' still comming back for more? well that's the multiplayer of course. And boy oh boy does COD3 deliver! The maps are kinda like Halo because they're big enough for the maximum of players and small enough for a two player match. They're just right. What really puts more hot sauce in the burrito is the new class system they sorta borrowed from Battlefield which consists of a Medic, Rifle Man, Scout, Anti Tank, Support, etc. and they both have there own uniqe ablilties. Like for instance the Medic revives fallen allies, the Scout calls in artillery strikes, Support gives people some ammo, and so forth. Everything in the multiplayer works, except right now the online multiplayer is kinda screwed up at the moment. The same thing happened for Call Of Duty 2 last year so hopefully they'll get it all fixed so we can kick some n00b butt!

FINAL WORD - Despite it feeling a little familiar, a few bugs and glitches here and there, and the multiplayer being a little messed up at the moment, everything is kick butt awesome!!! and definately should not be missed. Treyarch should feel proud of themselves!

**** 4/5 Stars - Jeffrey Poss