Game Review: Rock Band 3

Rock Band 3 was a long time coming. Rock Band 2 was released way back in 2008. Unlike the Guitar Hero franchise which has a seemingly endless amount of sequels and spin-offs, we only had The Beatles: Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band to tide us over. After such a long development, will Rock Band 3 be the pinnacle of music gaming it's supposed to be?

In some ways yes. Consider that I haven't played with the actual stringed Rock Band guitar or the other advanced guitar. I have had experience with the Rock Band Piano Keyboard (smart ass EB Games employees). Well let's start with the piano then. It's fun. A lot of fun actually. The keyboard itself is well-made and the charting is stupendous. Two complaints:

1. The bar to activate overdrive and effects is way on the left side, which more often than not causes you to lose focus.
2. This is a big one, upgrading songs from Rock Band 2 and DLC for Rock Band 3 Keyboards costs the FULL PRICE of the song. Yup, apologists can "but they have to re-license the songs" to the cows come home cause that's horse shit. Sorry there's no way I can be nice about this. If they had been up front about it, say, a year ago and said "Yup your going to have to re-pay for the songs for Rock Band 3" then they'd have my sympathy. Instead they didn't announce shit and waited until two weeks after Rock Band 3 was released and the first DLC came out. Fucking cockbites.

 Okay I have to calm down. Let's get to the good part, the music and game play. If your a metal lover than your probably going to be disappointed with Rock Band 3. Thankfully I hate metal, so Rock Band 3's soundtrack was amazing (albeit confusing: Who the fuck asked for Rock Lobster? Or that llama song?). Huey Lewis, INXS, J Geils Band, Joan Jett, Dire Straits, Ozzy, Police, Who, Doors, Hendrix, Bowie and the Beach Boys? HELL YES!

I thought the feel of Rock Band 2 couldn't get any better. I was wrong. Rock Band 3 feels so solid its unbelievable. The menus are much better (although switching users is still a pain in the ass) as well. What about the campaign? It's a disappointment. The idea behind it is great: go to different cities on Tours playing your choice of various setlists with different challenges. That's totally fun. The problem is it's too damn short! I never completely finished Rock Band 2's campaign, but Rock Band 3's campaign can be done in a day! They spent way too much time on their goal system when they need to expand the campaign. This is inexcusable when they've gotten rid of other various player modes.

Overall the game is a shame. A shame that they had such good bands and good game play ideas that they cocked up the best single system multi-player game with too much other crap and (to me) shady tactics.

7.5/10

P.S. Where the FUCK are the goddamn pianos? I have not seen one single Xbox 360 Rock Band 3 piano at any store I've been to (including Buffalo and Toronto). What is this shit? I'm sure we all thought that Mad Catz would be on top of this but it's FUCKING JANUARY! And now they're just talking about not having enough MIDI connectors? And they're only shipping 4000? How many games of Rock Band 3 were sold? I'm pretty sure they sold more Stage Kits than that!

MADCATZ! PIANOS! NOW!

Game Review: Call Of Duty: Black Ops

 

I’ve finally gotten to finish Black Ops (except Zombies, but I really don’t care for zombies). Understand that I came into Black Ops sceptical.  In the first trailer the first thing you see is these explosions that look like ass. From then on I kept me expectations low. And even after the release I still didn’t pick the game up for several weeks (problems with MW2 made me finally buy it). Here are my thoughts…

Single Player

Single Player is so-so. Some missions are pretty good for their use of history. Executive Command for example has you destroying a Russian Missile which is similar to an actual accident. Operation 40 has you on the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Vorkuta Prison escape was also really well done.

On the other hand, the Vietnam, Kowloon and Laos missions were pretty bland. The mission WMD has some good moments but the whole spy plane is such a waste. Why did they even bother on something that you spend more time getting into than actually using? Some other complaints: Why was there no introduction to the RC-XD Car? The story isn’t great and a lot of the forced scenes are tedious and its annoying that you have to go through them EVERY TIME WITH NO SKIPPING! Some objectives aren’t clear… I’m looking at you Khe Sanh Napalm Barrels.

Multi Player

The multi-player is good. There are to big problems though. #1 is the maps. They’re all pretty uninspired and too small. Rundown time:

• Array: Good
• Cracked: Bad
• Crisis: Boring
• Firing Range: Meh
• Grid: Meh
• Hanoi: Good but rarely comes up
• Havana: Okay
• Jungle Meh
• Launch: Not bad this is probably the most interesting map
• Nuketown: Okay
• Radiation: Boring No one ever goes under ground, they wasted time on a useless door opener
• Summit: One of the better maps
• Villa: Really good sniping map
• WMD: Meh

Maybe I’m just hard to please.

The #2 thing wrong is the money/experience system. There’s a lot of little reasons so I’ll try my best to explain. For me moving Modern Warfare 2 along required unlocking weapons, unlocking the attachments and completing various challenges (usually gametype challenges). So I would play like this: Level Up, Get Gun, Get Attachments, Complete Gametype Challenge (Deathmatch, S&D, Demolition, Etc.) until I Prestige.

In Black Ops all that is thrown out the window. You only need to unlock Pro Perks. Everything else can be bought. So I focus on Pro Perks, which are a pain in the ass. I can’t really go into S&D if I’m trying to get PPs so I have to stay in TDM. So my experience so far has been level up in TDM until I get the AK47 and then just play that till I either get all my PPs or prestige (so far its only been the latter).

Another complaint: Noobs. Now I’m usually not one to complain about this, I mean, were all new at some point, right? But the issue I have is that people seem to be just taking their Xbox out of the box, putting in the game and then JOINING MY MATCHES AND GETTING 0-32! It’s ridiculous! And it happens all the time that I go to check their gamercard and the have 0 gamerscore. WHAT YOU COULDN’T BE BOTHER TO PLAY THE FIRST MISSION? YOU HAD TO COME STRAIGHT INTO MERCENARY TEAM DEATHMATCH AND YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE FUCKING CONTROLS??!?!?

Sorry, I just had to vent there.

There’s various other problems which you can find out for yourself (just search “Black Ops Sucks” you’ll get what your looking for)

Sound

The sound is actually top notch. Excellent voice over cast and good licensed music including Rolling Stones and CCR.

Graphics

Graphics weren’t impressive. They seemed worse than MW2 for some reason.

Positive Notes

There are several great steps though. First is the fact that you can play online with a guest. The theatre mode is good too.

Overall 7/10

I don’t think Black Ops is a worthy successor to the Modern Warfare duo. It’s good and fun to play, but it just doesn’t have the same impact that they had story wise and game play wise.

Game Review: Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 has an amazing story. Really epic. So for that alone, at least rent the game.


But the best part of the game is the co-op, yelling "HOLY CRAP!" and coordinating with your teammate is a ton of fun. The graphics and locales are well done.

But here's the problems. The single player is ass. It's just not fun playing by yourself. The second problem is the controls are kind of sluggish. I tried replaying a couple time but it was just a struggle. So I ended up reselling it too.




Programming: 5/10 : Controls felt kind of sluggish. Single player teammate AI is horrid!
Graphics: 9/10 : Graphics are really great
Story: 10/10 : Story is thrilling
Atmosphere: 10/10 : The various African locales are really well done
Multiplayer: 7/10 : The co-operative is really fun
Overall: 7/10 : There's an exceptional game here, I think it just gets bogged down a bit.

P.S. I love the main character because his name is Chris, memo to developers: NAME YOUR CHARACTERS CHRIS!

Game Review: Halo Wars

Halo Wars is an RTS based in the Halo universe. The plot is nothing special, Covenant take a thing, try to blow up the world... yadda yadda. In the end it doesn't have an impact on the Halo universe we know and love.

The problem I have with the game is that the pace seems kind of slow. Also a thing that bothered me was that you could on build a couple buildings and defences. And they can only go in specific places around the main construction base. I like the Red Alert scheme where you could build building anywhere around a building you own. It let you be creative with your bases. But they did it for easier controls.

In the end there's nothing wrong with the game. It has some interesting scenarios. However when I finished and looked at the achievements, I thought "ugh". And I knew right then, if playing through levels was feeling like a hassle, I was done. I traded it in for money.

Programming: 9/10 : Very well made game, controls really well too.

Graphics: 7.5/10 : The graphics are pretty good for a RTS

Story: 5/10 : The story kind of weak because of the low impact on the Halo universe.

Atmosphere: 9/10 : The Halo units are done really well

Multiplayer: NA/10 : Didn't really play multiplayer

Overall: 7/10 : Like I said I didn't hold onto the game.

Game Review: Call of Duty: World At War

Call of Duty has become the Law & Order of war shooters. Having games set in both the Modern area and World War II, it's become the gold standard for FPS shooters (with exception to Halo). And Call of Duty 5 holds that standard well. Many don't give Treyarch a fair shake. A lot view COD5 as a step back regardless of how it actually is.

But COD5 does well. Starting in the Pacific campaign, a welcome first for the series. And then switching back and forth between the Russian front. There's two missions I love in particular 1 involving a plane and the other tanks.

The multiplayer takes the system that COD4 started and improved on it. Throwing tanks in the mix is great. They are easy to take out but a skilled engineer (like myself) can dominate with them. Sniping feels to have improved immensely and I love havin' the ole Kar '98 in my hands.

Graphics sort of fell short in my opinion. Although they weren't bad by any means. It's just that I played it on the Wii with my sister and the opening scene looked identical. And to me it looked terrible. It just left a bad impression on me. The sound is great though. Keifer Sutherland and Gary Oldman both do voice overs (KS for the US, GO for the RS) and it's extremely good. One time me and my sister (while on co-op) were battling with tanks and shells going off. I cranked that shit up to 11 and loved the sound of the mortars going off beside us.

The programming is flawless as far as I can tell with no bugs. The missions jump around to fast. For example you leave the 1st Russian mission in Stalingrad, then your in the countryside chasing the retreating Germans then your practically hoisting the flag above Berlin! Feels almost to jumpy.

Programming: 9/10 : I don't think I've experienced a single bug. Outstanding.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Graphics were good but fell short of expectations for me, especially with Brothers In Arms looking amazing
Story: 7.5/10 : Story was kind of weak, but I love Russia! For the motherland!
Atmosphere: 9/10 : I thought the Pacific Islands were wonderfully done as well as the Russian areas.
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Just as good as the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer but with tanks! HELL YES!
Overall: 9/10 : A lot of people were wondering how this would stand in comparison to COD4. It holds its own easily.

Game Review: Fable 2

If you haven't read this post about Fable 2 then I'll summarize. I was having a wonderful time and had gotten married and a daughter. Well the game had different ideas glitched and we ended up divorced with my daughter being taken with her. What bullshit. I became invested in that family and just having them taken away like that pisses me off to no end. That killed the game for me really. I considered just not playing it but I still wanted to finish the main quest.

You think I'm exaggerating or being sarcastic but I'm dead serious. My plan was to go on the other quest after the main one, raise my daughter and have more kids, buy more land, etc. But it just died. I tried remarrying and having another kid but the wind was gone, sails weren't moving the boat. I assume I'll start playing again some time but who knows.

The fighting scheme is pretty good, using a mix of sword fighting (or hammer), shooting (or archery), and magic (or Will as it's called in the game). There's tons of characters to interact with. But one problem with that is the interaction isn't as good as I hoped. You never really talk to people other than when they give you quest. You just laugh or dance or drop one pickup lines. Sometimes people say things but it's not really directed at you. It becomes ambient noise, like birds chirping.

Peter Molyneux said that I'd fall in love with the dog, when in reality I didn't give a crap about the dog. Sure I'd heal him when he'd get hurt, but that was because he whines a lot and it was free to heal him. I'm just not a dog person I guess. Put a cat in the game, then you'll have me ;) But I did fall in love with my family (see first paragraph) so I'll give him that. (A bit of a double edged sword)

There's tons of quests, jobs, abilities, shops, and stuff to do in Fable 2. I probably haven't even explored half the game yet.

Programming: 7/10 : A bunch of glitches. Didn't like that you can't talk to people.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Nice graphics, a little cartoonish but it's intended that way
Story: 9/10 : A bit of a weak ending but a solid story none the less
Atmosphere: 9/10 : Albion is a wonderfully created world
Multiplayer: X/10 : Haven't touched the co-op yet.
Overall: 8/10 : The game is good, could have used some more testing to weed out big bugs like I experienced

Game Review: Star Trek Legacy

Star Trek has always been a fun series. When I saw that this game was ship to ship fighting I jumped on the chance (when it became cheap). This is because I loved the ship fights in the Halo books.

The story is about a Vulcan lady who takes control of the Borg. The story spans the entire Star Trek time line so you start out as Kirk then go to Picard. It's a fun game.

The gameplay involves flying the ship as well as commanding you squad. You have to fire torpedoes and "phasers". Repairing the ship, hailing other ships, scans are all part of the job. This is a little hard but you get the hang of it.

Programming: 8.5/10 : No bugs, solidly built.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Very good. But your in space so it's mostly black
Story: 9/10 : Great story. Ton of fun
Atmosphere: 9/10 : Outer space and the planets are nice and you sort of get a feel for the original series vs the newer series
Multiplayer: 0/10 : No multiplayer
Overall: 8/10 : A fun game that any space ship battle enthusiast will enjoy

Game Review: Gears of War 2

Wow Gears of War 2 is what Call of Duty 4 was last year. Non-stop fun. Seriously you ride in almost anything imaginable and have some seriously fun fighting.

The story is where I lost my faith in Official Xbox Magazine's reviews. They called it hokey. I called it badass. There's an obvious set up for a 3rd Gears which I can't wait for. Basically there's a main plot of defeating the locust but a side plot with Dom looking for his family. It's a great story. And OXM said Gears 1's story was better. What drugs are they on?

The fighting is the same as Gear's 1 which is to say great. There aren't many new weapons, except the motar launcher and I think the carryable machine gun. One of the greatest parts of the game was in the giant fucking worm. I remember reading someone bitching about it. People, they wanted to mix it up! It was fucking awesome!

The multiplayer is god damned hilarious fun. My roommate and I both play Horde often and someone'll die then the other will get sawed in half from behind and we'll both laugh about it. While the multiplayer does take awhile to find a match once you get one it's just a fun/frustrating as the first Gears.

Programming: 10/10 : I've had 1 minor bug and they've patched so many glitches and cheats
Graphics: 10/10 : In Gears tradition Epic games blasts this out of the park
Story: 10/10 : An intense thrill ride with some emotional parts
Atmosphere: 10/10 : Amazing. Seriously a giant f'ing worm
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Horde is amazing, haven't gotten to deep in the multi but it's fun
Overall: 10/10 : One of the best gaming experiences of the year

Game Review: Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is one of the greatest games this year. It's an amazing representation of how games are art. Because any mission, any moment, could be made into a movie or book. And this just shows who much work goes into games. Not just a nuclear wasteland. But a 1950's styled nuclear wasteland! And just miles of interesting places, interesting characters and everything.

The story is great, revolving around you searching for your father. But the starting 30 minutes are amazing. You are born in the Vault and grow up. It a rich experience. Then in the theme of Oblivion, when you finally get out and see the world for the first time, you're amazed. There's a sign saying View Point or something and you got up to it and there's this sprawling land in front of you with dead trees, a broken freeway bridge and a small decimated town.

The big problem is the level cap is 20 and the game ends when you complete the main quest which is extraordinarily lame. And now, to fix those you'll have to buy DLC, how cheap is that!? I haven't played it since I beat it so I'll be playing it again in March when the last of the DLC comes out. Really lame that they did that. But it's an amazing game none the less.

Programming: 9/10 : A couple of bugs, and who thought a level 20 cap was a good idea?
Graphics: 10/10 : Brilliant representation of a nuclear apocalypse it's so rich to look at the sun come up over the wasteland
Story: 10/10 : Amazing. The greatest start to a game ever and there is such a twist near the end I was just amazed.
Atmosphere: 10/10 : Who knew an 1950's nuclear wasteland would be so fun
Controls: 9.5/10 : Well implemented, although the pip-boy seems out of place in B button
Overall: 10/10 : One of my favourite games of all time.

Game Review: Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge is a curious experiment in first person shooters. Basically it opens a door where you can do more than just run around and shoot people.

The problem is it's unforgiving nature. Think you can jump down to the building below you? Nope and you just broke your legs, fell down head first to the street, or back to where you don't want to be. It's frustrating because it happens so often and it takes you out of the game. The fighting can be a problem because there is a tiny window to disarm someone.

The 2nd problem is the level design. From the demo you assume that you'll be doing running but a lot of it is "platforming" a.k.a. jumping from one post, and then another and then another and then another. Later in the game there's a 4 story area you have to get up. It's not fun, it's a pain in the ass! Another problem is the help. Early in the game everything is red, which is good. But later in the game things stop turning red. One time I tried for 20 minutes to wall climb up to this walkway, but couldn't make it. And this was during a police chase, so I had to pretend that they were trying to find the right keys or something. Talk about killing momentum. And as it turns out, I had to grab a vent which I thought I couldn't grab and jump to the walkway from there.

The game is satisfying at times though, when you're finally able to kick a cop in the face, disarm another and shoot a third in 20 seconds you feel like you've accomplished something (a life sentence sounds about right). One time I was being shot to hell and just got across a room just in time. What I like about this game is the Matrix, run from the police or fight them mentality. The story is okay and revolves around you trying to help your sister who's been set up for a murder.

In Mirror's Edge 2 multiplayer I expect: 6-player races. A runner vs. cops mode where the runners try to reach as destination and the cops try to stop them. And a co-op mode with some acrobatics. I also expect there to be some kung fu dammit!

Programming: 7/10 : No bugs but the disarming and jumping/falling to your death gets repetitive.
Graphics: 8/10 : The graphics are surprisingly sharp. Sometimes a little too bright though
Story: 8.5/10 : Pretty good I thought, at least for the first game
Atmosphere: 7/10 : The city is very nice and there are cameras everywhere
Multiplayer: 5/10 : Only able to compare time trials. However they didn't try to force a multiplayer on us in their first game which gives them a 5.
Overall: 7/10 : Although frustrating at times it can be very satisfying

Game Review: NHL 09

Okay I could be reviewing this game all day. But let's just cut the b.s. and go straight for Be A Pro mode. Basically you control your player and try and score goals, assists and (not) get penalties. One problem is the penalties. First you can get a lot of them, because pressing A to lift the stick is the same for hooking and high sticking. Then checking can be a cross check. It's kind of random. The fighting is sort of lame. There's three controls (punch, duck, grab) but it comes down to who punches fastest in 7 seconds. In NHL 2k7 the fighting is pretty good because you have more health and ducking actually does something. The second problem with penalties is that the other team gets a lot of them, and not legitimate penalties, thing like delay of game for knocking it over the glass. But if you turn the penalties down (or off completely in my case) it resolves the situation I guess.

Playing the game is fun though, basically you try and stay in your position (marked by arrows) and make good passes and score. You can only be out for a few minutes until you get tired and then you go off the ice, watch for a minute and then go back out. Although it's optional I did it because its realistic. Basically that's what it comes down to. Scoring as many goals and getting assists. Meeting the teams expectations of you and trying to win the cup.

Being goalie is a lot more difficult. To be honest, I enjoy 2k7's goalie system more than 09's because the 2k7 slows time down and makes you make a move. In this it's more press the thumbstick and the goalie tries to save it. The problem with not slowing it down is that you can't react to slap shots or wrap arounds in time.

Programming: 8.5/10 : I loved the Be A Pro mode, but being goalie is a pain in the ass
Graphics: 8/10 : The ice and players look great, but there's some obvious slowdown with the player animations when not playing
Story: 8.5/10 : The go from AHL to NHL and Be A Pro mode is a new view of a hockey game
Atmosphere: 8/10 : The arenas are beautifully done but the announcers are very repetitive
Multiplayer: N/A : Didn't even scratch the multiplayer yet but I'm told it's extravagant
Overall: 8.5/10 : Overall great fun but just as frustrating as any NHL game

Game Review: Grand Theft Auto IV

Well I'm finally getting to this. I'm ashamed really. I mean there's really no excuse except laziness and forgetfulness. I bought this game (special edition too) on the 29th of April, it was pretty cold and when I got there about an hour or so before there was only about 6-10 people in line. By the time the clock struck 12 the line went around the corner of the store (at least 75 people). I think that was the only time I've waited for a game to release at 12. I think I considered Gears 2 but took a pass and Halo 3 was when my Xbox RR'd. Maybe Recon? Anyway now for the review:

Well to start the game is amazingly detailed. The graphics are amazing, really this is probably one of the few games that I admire the environments, I literally would find a helicopter to fly and enjoy the sunrise over the city. People complained that the game was to gritty or realistic. Shut the fuck up. They're in a fucking city. A city modeled after New York City (and I'm not slanting New York here, I actually have been there twice now and it's very nice). My point is that it's not the fucking country side, cottage by the lake or your fucking Caribbean resort.

Now for the games single player. On one hand there's a ton of diverse characters (Brucie is probably my second favourite GTA character ever), fun missions and great voice acting. On the other hand the story just isn't that intriguing. It's okay, but there could have been improvement. There wasn't really anything that turned the game on it's head for me. Remember in GTA III when you find out the girl screwed you over and you get a cell phone call from her telling you not to start the car because there's a bomb? And then you have to go over to the other island and live there, working for triads. It's awesome. And nothing really did that for me. Seemed sort of cliched at points. (Someone dies at a wedding, who knew?). But the missions and cut scenes are awesome. One in particular I'm going to tell you about is when Niko is talking to a guy (don't want to spoil it) and this lady just comes in and pops a cap in his ass. That's what this game needed more of, spontaneity. Sort of like The Departed.

The atmosphere was perfect though, hot dog stands, buses, the different neighborhoods, statue of liberty, etc is all there. The people are hustling about doing their business. A person is jogging, another is having coffee, etc. It's amazing.

And then they kick it up a notch. The multiplayer is insanely good! And although the gun play is fun (deathmatch/team deathmatch) everything else steals the show. They could have just put in the car races which are unfuckingbelieveably fun, but no, they put in motherfucking helicopter races! If you've never raced 8+ people around skyscrapers and under bridges and with rotors coming within inches of yours then you haven't lived my friend. Makes you wish they put in air planes. Then there's other things like cops and robbers and co-op which are great too. One time me and some guy were just hanging out on top of a building with helicopters shooting shit.

On the last note the game was designed well, I experienced few bugs except one. I got 98.3 percent completion when I beat the fucking game! Goddammit!

Programming: 9/10 : It's amazing that an open world with tons of area and A.I. has less bugs then a game like Turning Point. But they fucked me over on my 100% goddammit!
Graphics: 10/10 : The graphics are amazing
Story: 8/10 : Great cast but bland story
Atmosphere: 10/10 : I thought it portrayed a real live city extremely well
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Tons of multiplayer modes and tons of fun
Overall: 9.5/10 : Deep, fun innovative game

P.S. Can't wait for the DLC

Game Review: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

Well I lucked out. The rental store I frequent had accidentally put this game as a used dvd and put it at $9.99 So I got a great deal.

I played at 6 o'clock and finished the game at 9:45 so it was pretty short. The game is riddled with bugs. One thing that pissed me off was at a latter portion of the game I was in a bridge that had xxx like supports, and when I tried to shoot through the middle it wouldn't go through, in fact it showed up as bullet holes! In mid air! BUT THEY COULD SHOOT ME THROUGH THERE! But for some reason I could shoot through the top part!

The game felt rushed. I know this because it seems like the final level had more bugs than the rest. One guy got stuck in a wall. Another got stuck in the wall and then when I tried to use an instant kill I got transported outside the map and fell to my death. Then there's the checkpoints which are okay at the beginning but again
(giving the feeling of being rushed) at the end they're a joke. Example:
I go up an elevator, go down a hall killing baddies. Go into a tough room and kill some baddies go over a gap and kill more. Go down a hall into another room and kill a guy then go up some stairs. Snipe 10 people from a door way then go through it into a big room. CHECKPOINT. I then walk down a stairway and die. Okay so that's not too bad. Oh wait THAT checkpoint wasn't there. Instead I go back to the fucking elevator! The game also froze on me.

The game was okay but the story which should be awesome, was quite bland. Think about it this way, Gears of War was a novel compared to this game. The graphics were passable but not good by any means. Not many weapons, about 10 by my count. The AI is stupid by all count. Mostly you just run up to them and shoot them with a shotgun and repeat. It's just bland. Standard Medal of Honour you're a God and kill armies with no problem.

Thank God they released a demo or I could have bought this at full price.

Programming: 5/10 : Unacceptable amount of bugs and stupid AI
Graphics: 6/10 : About as good as Medal of Honour (for the Xbox)
Story: 6/10 : There are some parts where the story shines through but then again this is a NAZI invasion of the U.S. how could this not have been great?!
Atmosphere: 6/10 : Horribly bland representation of 40s-50s New York and Washington
Control: 7/10 : You move too slow but it's passable.
Overall: 5.5/10 : They tried to reach Call of Duty 2 but fell to Call of Duty: Finest Hour

Game Review: Fight Night Round 3

This is a game that I have admittedly had for a long time now. But I don't like to review a game until I've finished it completely (Which is why GTAIV doesn't have a review yet). The game is solid though, and pretty fun. Biggest problem with the game, lack of story. The do hint at a rivalry sort of like Pokemon Ash/Gary but most of it's left to the imagination. The meat of the game, the boxing, is done quite well. You get some places to choose to have the fight at but really there's not as many as there could be. The game is well made and never froze up or anything, in fact I don't believe I had a single glitch while playing. The graphics are great, what can I say, there's a lot of detail, especially when you get a knockout and you see blood/sweat come pouring out of someones mouth and their nose crumple up like a chip bag. Another great thing is the player creation tools which are quite in depth and the training as well.

There was one thing that really annoyed me. In the last fight of the game (that you get achievements for at least) For some reason it's pretty much impossible to win. I tried 5-10 times. But then, months later, I read on Gamefaqs.com to use buttons instead of the stick for punching. I do that and get 4 knockdowns and a knockout in my first try! What the hell is up with that discrepancy?

In conclusion the game is limited by itself. It's boxing, a two person sport. There's two guys, they duke it out and that's it. It's great for a while but it's not going to hold you over like other games will.

Programming: 9/10 : Very fluid and I found no bugs
Graphics: 9/10 : Nicely detailed espicially as a launch title
Story: 5/10 : None except some reappearing opponents
Atmosphere: 8/10 : There's a couple of arenas to choose from and the commentary is good.
Control: 7/10 : Like I said, why the huge difference between Buttons and Stick?
Overall: 8/10 : I got this game for one reason achievements. You can probably get it used or rent it to get some achvs. but the game isn't going to over throw Halo 3 or COD4 anytime soon.