Recent video game purchases...

[vince56]

Fight Night Round 2 (Xbox) - I haven't played any of the Fight Night games, & I'm not a huge boxing fan, so I figured I'd start with last year's game @ $19.99 and see if I like it. I'm absolutely blown away. This game is seriously fun & addicting. I may have to eventually buy an Xbox360 just to play the next gen version of this game. The game has RPG elements where you build & train your boxer, even down to their facial structure (using a 3D studio-type system). The boxing system is a little hard to learn at first as all the main controls for punches are off the right analog stick, but once you've got it down & understand how to throw haymakers, the game is absolutely brutal.

On a scale of 1 - 10, I give it a big-time 9. Great game, but the music absolutely sucks. let me use my music saved on my Xbox instead of this "tit for tat" garbage.

Obi-Wan (Xbox) - This is an old game, an Xbox launch title. If I have my history right, this was originally supposed to be the sequel to the first Jedi Knight game, but near the end of production, they changed everything over to prequel characters, never quite polished the game, & rushed it as an Xbox launch title. This game is fun, but the control scheme is frustrating at times. You swing the lightsaber with the right analog stick, a cool idea at first, until you realize that you only have 3 swings available. The camera is permanently stuck behind your player in Tomb Raider fashion, and there is no real viable freelook system that works while fighting. Oh, and the graphics suck. Still with all that, it's a nice game for Star Wars geeks like me, & gives a little more background to Obi-Wan's character before the first prequel movie. The sound & the vibration of the lightsaber in the controller are great, as are the water effects.

Overall, 4 out of 10, only for hardcore SW fans.

All-Star Baseball 2005 (Xbox), MLB2k6 (Xbox), MLB 06 The Show (PS2)...

All these games suck compared to MLB2k5. I originally bought MLB2k6 as a replacement to 2k5, expecting an upgraded game. Instead, the game is glitchy, the fielding is sloppy & slow, the pitching is less advanced & accurate, & the batting with the analog stick is a freaking nightmare. MLB 06 The Show is a serviceable game & pretty nice, but still lacks the depth & intuitiveness of MLB2k5. All-Star Baseball 2005 is a crappy arcade game.

Bottom line - if you like video game baseball, just pick up a used copy of MLB2K5 for any system. I went back to it because it's just simply a great game.

Tomb Raider: Legend (PS2) - I never played the first Tomb Raider games on the old PS1. My experience in this genre of games is limited to the Prince of Persia series & God of War. Having said that, Tomb Raider: Legend is a great game. I love the character movement, the camera is tight & responsive, & the puzzles are great. I played the PC version on a nice system, and I've seen the next gen version of the game. While the next gen textures & lighting are far superior, the graphics on the PS2 & Xbox versions are still really good. Very similiar in quality to God of War & Ninja Gaiden. The guns are a bit weak & the aiming/shooting engine is a bit bland, and you don't really get to aim yourself, but the game's not about shooting. it's about Prince of Persia style puzzle solving & climbing. This is a fun game if you like the genre, and a great return to form for the Tomb Raider fans.

Overall - 7 out of 10.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Fight Night Round 2 (Xbox) - I haven't played any of the Fight Night games, & I'm not a huge boxing fan, so I figured I'd start with last year's game @ $19.99 and see if I like it. I'm absolutely blown away. This game is seriously fun & addicting. I may have to eventually buy an Xbox360 just to play the next gen version of this game. The game has RPG elements where you build & train your boxer, even down to their facial structure (using a 3D studio-type system). The boxing system is a little hard to learn at first as all the main controls for punches are off the right analog stick, but once you've got it down & understand how to throw haymakers, the game is absolutely brutal.

On a scale of 1 - 10, I give it a big-time 9. Great game, but the music absolutely sucks. let me use my music saved on my Xbox instead of this "tit for tat" garbage.

Obi-Wan (Xbox) - This is an old game, an Xbox launch title. If I have my history right, this was originally supposed to be the sequel to the first Jedi Knight game, but near the end of production, they changed everything over to prequel characters, never quite polished the game, & rushed it as an Xbox launch title. This game is fun, but the control scheme is frustrating at times. You swing the lightsaber with the right analog stick, a cool idea at first, until you realize that you only have 3 swings available. The camera is permanently stuck behind your player in Tomb Raider fashion, and there is no real viable freelook system that works while fighting. Oh, and the graphics suck. Still with all that, it's a nice game for Star Wars geeks like me, & gives a little more background to Obi-Wan's character before the first prequel movie. The sound & the vibration of the lightsaber in the controller are great, as are the water effects.

Overall, 4 out of 10, only for hardcore SW fans.

All-Star Baseball 2005 (Xbox), MLB2k6 (Xbox), MLB 06 The Show (PS2)...

All these games suck compared to MLB2k5. I originally bought MLB2k6 as a replacement to 2k5, expecting an upgraded game. Instead, the game is glitchy, the fielding is sloppy & slow, the pitching is less advanced & accurate, & the batting with the analog stick is a freaking nightmare. MLB 06 The Show is a serviceable game & pretty nice, but still lacks the depth & intuitiveness of MLB2k5. All-Star Baseball 2005 is a crappy arcade game.

Bottom line - if you like video game baseball, just pick up a used copy of MLB2K5 for any system. I went back to it because it's just simply a great game.

Tomb Raider: Legend (PS2) - I never played the first Tomb Raider games on the old PS1. My experience in this genre of games is limited to the Prince of Persia series & God of War. Having said that, Tomb Raider: Legend is a great game. I love the character movement, the camera is tight & responsive, & the puzzles are great. I played the PC version on a nice system, and I've seen the next gen version of the game. While the next gen textures & lighting are far superior, the graphics on the PS2 & Xbox versions are still really good. Very similiar in quality to God of War & Ninja Gaiden. The guns are a bit weak & the aiming/shooting engine is a bit bland, and you don't really get to aim yourself, but the game's not about shooting. it's about Prince of Persia style puzzle solving & climbing. This is a fun game if you like the genre, and a great return to form for the Tomb Raider fans.

Overall - 7 out of 10.

I must tell you that FNR3 for the 360 just might be the best visual game of the next generation. The amount of detail that goes into the ring and the boxers is amazing, down to the curly chest hair on Roy Jones Jr. They could have done some more with the audience, and the managers, but overall it is a kick ass game.

 

[abomb]

I must tell you that FNR3 for the 360 just might be the best visual game of the next generation. The amount of detail that goes into the ring and the boxers is amazing, down to the curly chest hair on Roy Jones Jr. They could have done some more with the audience, and the managers, but overall it is a kick ass game.

What is sad is I felt that way about Madden 2001 and it kept getting better and better and better.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

What is sad is I felt that way about Madden 2001 and it kept getting better and better and better.

except this year's Madden, especially for the 360 was a disgrace.

 

[D-Dogg]

except this year's Madden, especially for the 360 was a disgrace.

It was terrible terrible...but it was also rushed to hell to get out at launch. Bad game...looked nice but it played horribly.

I have very high expectations for this year's edition. I saw a pre-reviews (not a preview, but a fastcap review of a late beta, almost gold version) of NCAA 06 and they were gushing. Saying that if the defense gets tightened up, it will be amazing. That bodes well for Madden 07.

 

[abomb]

except this year's Madden, especially for the 360 was a disgrace.

Sorry, I meant on the PS2. The first Madden on PS2 until this years PS2 release.

 

[Evil Ash]

Here is some of the video games that I recently picked up

Ninja Gaiden Black (XBOX) - I didn't buy the original XBox but with the lack of new content coming out for the 360, I decided to buy some of the good games that I missed out on that are backwards compatible with the 360. The game is simply a masterpiece. Great action, great graphics including some geat CGI scenes, and harder difficulty which I actually liked (its not on the impossible level of say Contra: Shattered Soldier but is difficult enough to keep you interested and aggrivated at the same time).

Only real nitpick is that although the action is great, the camera is down right awful. When facing certain bosses (ie Alma) and platform areas (ie last level), it became almost impossible to know where you were.

Still though I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10.

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (PS2) - For almost the same reason that I bought Ninja Gaiden Black due to a lack of content on the 360, I bought this game. With the Hyper Street Fighter game being delayed since April, I got a little impatient with when the game was going to go out (I bought this before the August 2 release date was announced).

Anyways back to the game... This is a solid mix of all of the Street fighter games that came out with a few hidden in the game (ie Hyper Street Fighter Alpha). There are 6 games in total. Other than that most people know what to expect from the Street fighter series since Capcom has done around 300 of the series. Solid fighting, good graphics, etc

The lack of online play hurts a little but still a solid game ... 8.5 out of 10

Tekken: Dark Resurrection (PSP) - For those of you that didn't know Dark Resurrection is an upgrade to the game Tekken 5. There are 31 characters available to choose from at the beginning of the game (including 2 new characters and the return of Armor King), all characters are customizable, and even added a few new modes (such as Dojo) as well as bonus games (such as Bowling, which altough sounds dorky is quite fun).

The game keeps everything that was great about the console counterpart including CGI endings and continues to add onto it all the while doing so for a portable gaming console.

Simply put the closest thing to fighting game perfection on a portable yet ... 9.7 out of 10. If it weren't for the occasional "jaggies" and the little dificulty to do moves (for those that got the game at launch there was an add-on to the PSP controller that made this a lot better but not sure of its availability now) this would be a perfect 10

 

[vince56]

Only real nitpick is that although the action is great, the camera is down right awful. When facing certain bosses (ie Alma) and platform areas (ie last level), it became almost impossible to know where you were.

Click the right trigger. I actually love the camera in that game.

 

[thirty-two]

Traded in some old sega games at Bookman's and in return I got:

TMNT IV - SNES
Donkey Kong 64 - N64
Mario Party 2 - N64
Perfect Dark - N64
Zelda - NES
GTA3 - PS2

Just purchased another N64 on ebay with 20 freaking games (one of which was Mario Kart 64 which I wanted), and I plan on re-selling individually on eBay/half.com for profit.

Also just bought on eBay:

Contra - NES
Zelda: Link to the Past - SNES
Mario Kart - SNES
Super Mario 64 - N64

I feel like I'm re-living my childhood!

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Its a really complicated game and I'm still trying to get used to a lot of the intricasies, but its a lot of fun. Its one of the biggest resource hogs I've ever seen (for instance, it takes up 15 gigs of hard drive space not to mention a ton of RAM and processing power), but luckily my computer can handle it. Its one of the most beautiful looking games I have ever seen, and there is just so much to do (24,000 airports, a bunch of planes, not to mention an entire planet to fly around).

It still looks like I'm drunk flying around, but I'll work on that.

 

[Krangodnzr]

Final Fantasy XII

Amazing game, and truly worthy of the Final Fantasy brand. The graphics are outstanding, music is Final Fantasy worthy (though it doesn't measure up to X and a few others), and the gameplay is easy to use and an interesting change.

The new gambit system takes away some of the tediousness of having to constantly heal/raise characters, and allows you to think more on strategy. The new minigames (hunts) are a breath of fresh air when compared with recent titles (like the chocobo minigames from X....I hated those with a passion).

Overall, I would give it a 9. The music is a little bit of a letdown, and the story isn't as engrossing as previous FFs. You feel as if you barely know the characters and honestly, couldn't give a rat's butt about what happens to them.

 

[HeavyB3]

Final Fantasy XII

Amazing game, and truly worthy of the Final Fantasy brand. The graphics are outstanding, music is Final Fantasy worthy (though it doesn't measure up to X and a few others), and the gameplay is easy to use and an interesting change.

The new gambit system takes away some of the tediousness of having to constantly heal/raise characters, and allows you to think more on strategy. The new minigames (hunts) are a breath of fresh air when compared with recent titles (like the chocobo minigames from X....I hated those with a passion).

Overall, I would give it a 9. The music is a little bit of a letdown, and the story isn't as engrossing as previous FFs. You feel as if you barely know the characters and honestly, couldn't give a rat's butt about what happens to them.

I bought it too. Haven't played it much though.

 

[Ryanwb]

Battlefield 2142..... don't like it

Wen't back to playing Battlefield 2

 

[bratwurst]

I just started playing Far Cry (PC).

I installed Oblivion but haven't really gotten too into it.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Its a really complicated game and I'm still trying to get used to a lot of the intricasies, but its a lot of fun. Its one of the biggest resource hogs I've ever seen (for instance, it takes up 15 gigs of hard drive space not to mention a ton of RAM and processing power), but luckily my computer can handle it. Its one of the most beautiful looking games I have ever seen, and there is just so much to do (24,000 airports, a bunch of planes, not to mention an entire planet to fly around).

It still looks like I'm drunk flying around, but I'll work on that.

I spoke too soon. Flying is easy, landing is painful to say the least. Oh, and helicopters = instant death. Still a ton of fun to play though.

 

[Ryanwb]

I am kicking ass in Battlefield 2

 

[bratwurst]

I haven't played a flight sim in a long time, I think the last one I played was EA/Jane's WW2 Fighters for PC. I'd be tempted to try another one if they had one out that wasn't overly hardcore sim. My favorite of all time is Sid Meier's F-19 stealth fighter, because it was a good mix of arcade and sim. Just the right mix in the middle.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I spoke too soon. Flying is easy, landing is painful to say the least. Oh, and helicopters = instant death. Still a ton of fun to play though.

A pic from my travels. Since the game was in development for over three years I'll give them a pass for still calling it the BOB, I was just amazed at how detailed the interior was when I saw it.

You must be registered for see images

 

[D-Dogg]

That's just sick.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

That's just sick.

Were is AWA? It is only a few blocks away, shouldn't you be able to see it from that pic?

 

[abomb]

Wow, I thought that pic was an actual picture you took from a plane until I reread what thread I was in.

 

[abomb]

Were is AWA? It is only a few blocks away, shouldn't you be able to see it from that pic?

It's there. The details are so ultra-realistic that you can't see the Suns championship banners.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

It's there. The details are so ultra-realistic that you can't see the Suns championship banners.

3/5.

You'd better hope that Odom is a fast healer.

 

[jenna2891]

It's there. The details are so ultra-realistic that you can't see the Suns championship banners.

and just down the street is the arizona center, where you can see (in stunningly graphic detail) abomb not getting laid.

 

[Mulli]

and just down the street is the arizona center, where you can see (in stunningly graphic detail) abomb not getting laid.

:notworthy :notworthy