The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

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It's a big difference from the X-com we're all used to. The squad control options are clunky and could have been done way better, such as in the Mass Effect series, and having the other squad members complaining about needing help is annoying. If they'd done more fighting on their own without waiting for commands it would help. The animation is good and it's nice to have an X-com game with an in depth storyline. The audio is good although the Buddy Holly song at the start seemed out of tune. It gives a good feeling of being in the 1960s. Overall this game is well worth playing for fans of the X-com franchise but let's hope that any sequels take more from the turn-based games control wise.

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I would like to begin by saying that I am not an XCOM fan or even a strategy game fan. I was however a huge fan of the Mass Effect series and heard it was similar. With that being said, I bought this game without knowing what to fully expect. Preliminary reports made the game seem interesting so I took a shot on it. It turned out to be a very good decision.

The game plays like a more linear version of Mass Effect with a HEAVY emphasis on partner placement and shot calling. If you run and gun in this game, even the most rudimentary of opposition will mow you down. I am about 3 hours in so far but I am really enjoying it and am glad I gambled on it. I find the story engaging so far, and am really liking the strategy aspect of it (this coming from a player that is generally not a strategy game fan).

It is a shame that it was released on the same day as Saints Row 4, because so far its playing like a top notch title for me. If you are a fan of the Mass Effect series, like cover shooters, or want to try something that has its own unique flavor I recommend this title.

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first off, this isnt real xcom. its an off shoot. It tosses slight references and names of aliens/weapons around relating to the original XCom, but thats about it. There is no continuity what so ever from this and the more updated geo remake of xcom. I think they continued to push this game out to recover some profit of the time spent on it.

Is it a completely horrible game? No. absolutely not. I rather enjoyed it. It does get a little repetative, and there are points where a real XCom nerd like me sees the full potential of how this game COULD have gone.

Step back and enjoy it for what it is. a 3rd Person shooter, alien invasion, 1950's. There are cliche's abound in the story, and nothing to really pull you in other than the time frame and relation to xcom.

If you're on the fence pick it up at a price drop. Its a good game, that couldve been great.

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First off I have not completed this game, but have put around 2.5 hours in so far. These are my initial first impressions and will update it once I have completed the game.

-So far the story is ok, but I would have like to see a little more backstory about the character and about what is going on.

-Gameplay is very fun and DIFFERENT, which is what I like about it. Some compare it to Mass Effect, but I haven't played them to compare the two. Picking which classes you want with you like medic, engineer, recon, commando, and then commanding them on the battlefield is a very nice change of pace in a shooter like this. However, sometimes there is so much going on you forget to fire a shot yourself.

-I have run into a few BUGS along the way, not to many to complain about. One of which my AI partner got stuck in a wall and I could not get him out to help me fight 10 enemies and an automatic turret.

-The Graphics aren't as polished as I would like them to be, but I may be nick picking.

I am close to acquiring an alien weapon and am curious to see what that brings on the fun side of the game. So Far I am liking this game and want to play it, so I will update as soon as I complete it! That is as long as I don't get sidetracked from playing Killzone Mercenary Beta on my Vita (another review when it comes out :)

I hope this will help someone out thinking about buying this game, It is a fun game, but just keep in mind that there is a strategy side to this game and its not just a shooter!

Update: 6-7 Hrs in the game is becoming Repetitive! It seems like the AI Agents won't shoot something unless you constantly tell them who or what to shoot at. With 10 to 15 enemies and having to babysit, it starts becoming more like work to play this game. I am hating to type this as 5 hrs ago in the game i was enjoying this factor, but as the enemies get a little harder, you need the help from your fellow agents who are yelling what do you need us to do Carter? The story also isn't bad but isn't the greatest so far either. I have found that after your character levels up, that you start to acquire powers/abilities such as lift (lift enemies from behind cover), and like this aspect of it; however, its still not enough to make up for this games flaws!

My Final Bottom Line:

I have not really played any XCOM Games because i am not into strategy games that much, but with this being a FPS/Strategy Game i gave it a chance. They could have made this game a whole lot better if they would have had the AI Characters to shoot and kill enemies with you! Then if you wanted them to focus fire or move to another position, then command them to.

This will probably turn into a DNF for me mostly due to it feels like work instead of playing, but to Strategy Fans out there, this might be your game!

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PS3/Wii VGA Cable

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I bought this to hook up to a computer/monitor while on deployment in Afghanistan with the perception that it would work fine with the PS3...it isn't compatible at all with the PS3. Works well with the Wii but thats not what I bought it for.

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As a first note and important note, this cable comes with no additional cables or adapters. Secondly, I am using this for the new Wii U.

The cable works just fine for 480i and 1080i, but 480p, 720p, and 1080p all have intermittent black screens that grows in frequency with resolution perhaps 3 seconds at 1080p.

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Unsure if this is a problem specific to my Acer monitor, but in looking at other similar reviews I'd bet it's simply that I'd need to plug it into a TV to change the wii's output settings before it was usable with this cable. Unfortunately, if I had a tv I wouldn't be trying to use it with my lcd monitor out of the box in the first place. Returning this and getting a tv/monitor with vga and av support rather than try more cables or converters of questionable effectiveness.

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The only problem I have with it is the fact that you need a tv to use this so I gave it -1 star. I just used an old Tube tv. You also might need an RCA stereo cable. I got one with my turtle beach x11's. You can get one like it here

Other than that it works great!

Good luck!

Mobeus

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This cable is a waste of money. It doesn't work at all. Hooked up to HDTV and a projector and couldn't get a picture with either one using this cable. Not even worth shipping back .

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Power Gig: Rise of the SixString (Game Only)

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OK, the game itself isn't that bad. Despite the cheesy graphics and goofy storyline, the music is actually OK.

My bad review is on the instrument peripherals.

The airstrike drums are completely frustrating and UNfun. They don't register hits half the time. You're not actually playing drums, you're striking the air with the drumsticks. The IR sensor has to be exactly aligned with the drum sensors and you have to "shake" it to get it to register the hit. It definitely does not feel like you're really playing drums. Do yourself a favor, use a Rock Band drum kit.

And then the "real guitar." It really is technically a real guitar, that you can use to play this game. But it's mostly a gimmick-don't expect to actually learn how to play guitar. This is a rhythm game just like guitar hero, except you're using a real guitar with strings instead of a plastic guitar with buttons.

The only addition is the option to play "power chords". The game uses a whopping TWO power chords-one uses two fingers and one uses one finger-and the fingering is exactly the same no matter where it's played on the fretboard. A monkey can learn how to do that.

Actually playing the song with the power chord option, I did not find to be very much fun either.

If you want to learn real guitar skills I suggest you get Rock Band 3 and buy the pro guitar peripheral.

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The game says it is compatible with other controllers, but to get the full effect of the game you should use the stringed guitar. I could use it with my gutiar, but it did not work well.

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I BOUGHT THIS FOR BOTH MY XBOX 360 AND MY PS3! I LOVE THE REAL ELECTRIC GUITAR! IT'S MY FIRST EVER!(I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY!)THE GAME IS COOL AND I CAN USE ALL MY GUITAR HERO INSTRUMENTS OR ALL MY ROCKBAND INSTRUMENTS TO PLAY IT! AWESOME! I'VE ALSO USED THE GUITAR FOR MY ROCKSMITH GAME AS WELL! WORKS FLAWLESSLY! PEOPLE SAID IT DOESN'T STAY IN TUNE WITH THE GAME BUT MY EXPIERENCE HAS BEEN NOTHING LIKE THAT AT ALL!

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It is a fun game but pretty difficult. I thought I would be pretty good because I can play a mean regular guitar hero guitar but I found it to be very difficult. You deffinatly need tough fingers. It comes with a pic. I bought it for my 12 year old son for Christmas. He doesn't play it much. I think he would rather play the original guitar. It does work with all of the Rock Bands and Guitar Hero Games. I do also like that you can hook it up to an amp and use it like a regular electric guitar.

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Tales of Vesperia (Playstation 3) (Japanese Version)

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If you liked and played the original as much as i did then this game is awesome its got so much more content it could be seen as a whole new game. My order came within a week and was handed to me at the door and not left outside. Overall I was happy with this purchase

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Tomb Raider Trilogy

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For old school adventure game nostalgia, I always go back to Tomb Raider 1 & 2. Here, we have the excellent remake of the original Tomb Raider in Anniversary, the fantasic Legend, and the not-half-bad Underworld. It's great to finally see Anniversary and Legend in 720p on the PS3. Graphically, all three of the games look great, with Underworld being the standout of the bunch in this regard. Sound design is nothing special in any of the games here, except in one department: the soundtracks. Orchestral music has been a staple of this series since the beginning, and these entries do not dissappoint. As with all of the Tomb Raider games, the controls and camera angles will at times get the best of you, but these issues aren't deal-breakers here (unlike the bug-riddled Angel of Darkness back in 2003).

Bottom Line: For long-time Tomb Raider fans, this is a no-brainer: Pick it up; it's a must-buy. For those who have never played Tomb Raider, this is the perfect place to start.

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It's simple really, if you loved the two PS2 games then you should buy this game. The updated HD graphics are beautiful. And it's a lot more convenient to play the games all on one disc than have to load them into your PS2. Also, if you don't already have Underword, it's another reason to get this. Great value.

One thing I am NOT happy about is that they didn't put Underword's DLC on this game. Once again PS3 users get screwed. Maybe Microsoft put up the cash to make it exclusive to them, but Eidos should have given to it Sony since it's always been Playstation users who have been loyal to the Tomb Raider franchise. Or just give the DLC to EVERYBODY! I really hate this exclusive business. It just seems selfish and unfair to the gamers in my opinion.

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While we wait for the next official installment of Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics has compiled its first three Tomb Raider games in one convenient package. The result is a compilation that is 1/3 amazing, 1/3 good, and 1/3 mediocre.

Legend is the oldest of the three and it really shows its age on the PS3 version. The upscaling on the PS3 looks really weird thus making it the ugliest of the three. The game is also criminally short with 7 main stages that take mere minutes to finish once you get the flow. It's the most diverse of the three featuring bike riding (yuck), turret shooting, and lots of action sequences. Variety may be the spice of life but Legend is not what Tomb Raider fans necessarily want in a Tomb Raider game, Anniversary explains it why.

Released in 2007, Tomb Raider Anniversary is a remake of the original 1996 classic Tomb Raider. The crown jewel of this collection, Anniversary is clearly the game with the most polish of the three. The game boils down essentially what a Tomb Raider game should be, lots of platforming and death defying stunts, little to no human-on-human violence, and an excellent sense of being alone in a desolate place. Of the three it sits in the middle for best looking, it is upscaled much better than Legend with a much cleaner look. While nostalgia freaks of the original scoff at Anniversary's trimmings of the original, the end result faithfully recreates the original while brining it in to the modern age. With less long stretches and non memorable areas removed.

Tomb Raider Underworld is the native HD game of the three and story-wise is a continuation of Legend's tale. While it is the best looking, Underworld sets itself as the worst of the three games for various reasons. Lara has more animations in this game but none of them feel right. The controls are iffy at best and glitches are everywhere. You would think that the developers would have fixed Underworld's numerous flaws by now but that's not the case. Falling 15 feet seems to mean doom for Lara in this game and there are times where you'll even be stuck in mid-air for no reason. Again this is to be blamed by adding a bunch of animations that did not need to be done. They were going for a more organic, realistic game but this is not the case. On the Xbox 360, Tomb Raider Underworld got two extra levels as DLC, none of them appear on this PS3 re-release which really makes the game and package half-assed. Add to the glitches and bugs, Underworld does not have even a third of bonus content that Legend and Anniversary posses. No Time Trials, no Croft Manor puzzle stage, no unlockable costumes.

The compilation is priced right and you'll get some fine adventuring here to last for a while. Legend and Anniversary will keep you replaying stages (especially Anniversary's Time Attack on its later stages) and extra content while you'll probably just fly through Underworld and never touch it again.

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I should begin by admitting that I really loved these games when they were first released. Playing through them again has really brought home the fact that gamers are quite spoiled these days. We expect amazing everything. And most of us grow weary when games don't deliver. In their time, these games were the best of the best; they offered unique gaming experiences and were responsible for a great deal of what is common in today's platformers. That having been said; these are all showing their age. There are simply a vast number of games which have come along that look, control and please much more than these will. They aren't bad games. And the fact that they're being bundled at such a decent price makes it a worthwhile investment. It also doesn't hurt that there are three decent platinum trophies to be had here. But just don't expect to feel the same fondness for these titles that you may have when you initially played them. Titles such as these have the unfortunate disadvantage of being unlike certain other platformers (think Mario or Sly Cooper), in that they've been shown up a number of times since their creation. I played the Sly Collection recently and it (much like the original NES Mario games would) still felt worthwhile. Games like this weren't choppy and overly pixelated, the controls were near-perfect, and the direction was usually pretty clear. The Tomb Raider Trilogy can't really claim most of that to be true. They don't look great comparatively, the camera and controls are certainly not the greatest, and the game isn't always good with directing players to their next objective. Even I have to admit that that last complaint isn't always a bad thing. The frustration of these once-groundbreaking games is something that many of you may consider its greatest strength. And I'm on board with that. Some of the puzzles were simply too unclear for my tastes. And that really saying something, considering I just finished playing and loving Portal 2. Regardless, I think the game rests somewhere between a 3 and a 4. It's certainly no 5. And newcomers are likely going to agree with me on the 3. Nostalgia, trophies, and an excellent package price drive this ever closer to a 4 for me. But the look, camera, and controls wedge this one much closer to a 3 than a 4, in my opinion. I don't expect everyone to agree. I just know that there are better games out there to be played at this point in time. There are even better PS2 re-releases to be found (the god of war collection, for instance). Again, these are decent games. Playing them, you'll quickly realize where most puzzling elements in newer video games had their roots. Those newer games owe lots of credit to these groundbreakers. I gladly admit all of that. So invest. It won't be the worst gaming purchase you've ever made. That much I know. But, as a consumer, I must admit that these have not aged well. As much as I hate admitting that fact; I still feel it right to give fair warning.

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Quick note: this trilogy seems to have been made primarily for one of three groups of people those who have/had a PS2 but not "Legend" or "Anniversary", those who have a PS2 and a PS3 but no longer have "Legend" or "Anniversary", or those who have a PS3 and were wary of playing "Underworld" due to the lackluster reception and sales. Well, rest assured, your worries are unfounded: this is quite possibly one of the best collections I have ever seen.

Crystal Dynamics' impression of the Tomb Raider series is an impressive one, to say the least. While all three of these games can be completed in less than ten hours each, they are never anything short of enjoyable or fun. "Legend" begins the trilogy by providing a creative, compelling backstory and heavily story-driven gameplay.

"Legend" takes Lara all around the world, from an ancient underground castle to the chilly mountains of Nepal, boasting breathtaking scenery, fantastic music, and an intuitive control scheme that rivals many of the other games I have played. The story is surprisingly personal and rarely boring, as Lara begins by looking for "an ornate stone dais" in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, that eventually expands to include Arthurian legend and an old Soviet project called "Carbonek". The ending both provides a sense of closure and a sequel hook, proving a short but wholly engrossing experience that only Lara can provide.

"Anniversary" is an expanded reimagining of the original "Tomb Raider", revamped to fit with both "Legend" and "Underworld" while providing tighter controls and a wider moveset for Lara, set in as a series staple beautiful crumbling ruins and lush, hidden jungles. Lara now has the ability to use her grapple for wall-running. Some levels from the original game have been compressed into one another, some streamlined, and still others made bigger to account for Lara's new abilities. The story takes Lara from Peru to the lost continent of Atlantis as she searches for the fabled Atlantean Scion, a device her father had been searching for, and one he had hoped would discover where Lara's mother disappeared to. Lara continues his quest, leading into the last and, in my personal opinion, best entry in the trilogy.

After hearing so many complaints about "Underworld", I was reluctant to pick it up, but this collection forced me to, and I am very pleased with it. Although graphics don't necessarily "make" a game, they help with the sense of immersion, and "Underworld" does exactly that: immerses you in a huge, unbelievable, gorgeous world with a story so tight and twisting that to mention much about it would give away plenty of spoilers. Varied enemy types, massive underwater complexes, and intricate puzzles will keep you fascinated for hours. Lara looks, moves, and acts like a real, living woman, and her expanded range of moves not only makes her believable, but also gives some unique answers to puzzles and gameplay. All in all, the game gives an awesome wrap-up to the series while providing a bittersweet sense of closure both as Eidos Interactive hands off Tomb Raider to another developer, and for Lara and going on twenty years of pure awesome.

Technical details:

The trilogy includes some media for PlayStation Home, a PlayStation theme pack that changes the wallpaper and icons to a Tomb Raider style, and making-of videos and trailers all accessible from the trilogy's main menu. Each game also launches individually while all being loaded on one disc my guess is that the disc is dual-layer and Square Enix packed all fifty gigabytes full of content. It shows.

"Legend" and "Anniversary" are indeed the Xbox 360 versions of the games transferred to the PlayStation 3. After having heard this mentioned once, I double-checked using bug notes and screenshots and discovered that this is true... meaning that these two games come with all the bugs and glitches the 360 version has. This includes a potentially game-busting bug in "Legend's" England level that requires you to load an earlier save if you happen to come across it. Replaying this level after completing the game, though, does not re-trigger this bug.

"Underworld" has its share of bugs, though I encountered none of them due to having a walkthrough listing the game's bugs handy. If you find one of these and follow it carefully, you won't have any problems at all, especially some of the game-breaking ones in Mexico and Croft Manor. In spite of complaints to the contrary, I rarely had issues with the camera and mostly fought with the controls. If, however, one keeps the pace down and is patient with Lara rather than rushing through the game, you shouldn't have many issues with the controls at all.

The Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable games, "Beneath the Ashes" and "Lara's Shadow", are not included.

All three games run at a maximum of 720p. Upscaling to 1080p will cause some anti-aliasing issues, while upscaling to 1080i will cause blurring, at least on "Underworld". All three look perfectly fine in standard definition and nothing is lost if that's your only option.

Load times for "Legend" and "Anniversary", but particularly the former, are surprisingly long. Considering the capabilities of Blu-ray, I was very surprised with the waiting, especially after accidentally killing Lara. "Underworld" has long load times when first beginning a level or loading a manual save, but considering each area is essentially one massive level with cutscenes splitting it into manageable bits, this is understandable. Load times after sending Lara to her death are refreshingly brief.

Both "Underworld" and "Anniversary" have a manual save limit, which is unfortunate.

Overall, the collection is a great buy for any fan of Tomb Raider from those who began with Lara's very first adventure to those who never got the chance to play it way back when, for those looking for the thrilling conclusion to Lara's tale, for those looking for a graphical paradise and a great sense of immersion, and those who never got to play the first two when they were released on the PlayStation 2, Lara never fails to disappoint in her many globetrekking adventures. A great swan song to the old series, and a great example of a three-part story done very, very well.

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SingStar: Motown - PlayStation Eye Enhanced (PS3)

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The music selection is limited, but you can expand by making additional purchases. From the selections included on the disc, it provides great entertainment for a house party or cook-out.

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this is the music i grew up listening to. its a must have for family time. after dinner on a rainy afternoon, past time with tune you love .

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SBK X

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See my recent review for the new Capcom MotoGP 10/11 game. The SBK game franchise is suffering from the same syndrome. Apparently, these game developers don't understand that new versions of their games should be better than the old versions.

The arcade portion of this new SBK X game is ludicrous and unplayable compared to previous versions. The movement of the bikes is totally wrong. Simulation mode is a bit better but not as good as the original SBK Superbike Championship game for PS3.

It is nice to have bikes, riders, and classes beyond just the Superbikes. But the graphic quality of the game is pretty disappointing compared to previous versions. The human body rider details are especially primitive and blocky. And the landscape details of the race tracks are not as well handled as previous.

The bike sounds are pretty accurate. But the music is annoying.

I hope that the Grand Turismo people will develop a new version of Tourist Trophy soon. The rest of the current motorcycle games are unimpressive.

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I love how the bikes sound in this game, specially the Ducati.

Love it. I recommend it to every one

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This game is really lame. I hope the new versions get a lot better. It's impossible to control the riders!

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it could use a rookie mode or my controller is too touchy-but still a lot of fun--maybe practice will help

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LLEGO A TIEMPO TODO BIEN GRACIAS POR POR TODO,

ESPERO SEGUIR COMPRANDO CON USTEDES

LLEGO A TIEMPO TODO BIEN GRACIAS POR POR TODO,

ESPERO SEGUIR COMPRANDO CON USTEDES

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RocketfishTM HDMI Digital Audio/Video Gaming Cable for PlayStation 3

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Shipped fast and works great, same exact one that i orginally (and later took back)bought for $100 at bestbuy.

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I bought this for my PS3 and Xbox 360, and it works perfectly. I used a more basic model before I went to this one and you can definitely tell the difference. Neither game machine has any problems syncing with this cord, and my television is quick to automatically adjust to the highest resolution. For the price, this definitely seems like the best HDMI cable out there!

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PS3 Move Quad Charger

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i bought this as a gift for my girlfriend and she loves it. she can charge all 4 controllers at one and with a wall adapter you can save both usb on the console

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Borderlands

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this is my first review, hope it's helpful (feel free to leave a comment and tell me what i did wrong/right). anyway, on with the amateur ramblings!

when i first saw the trailers for Borderlands a couple of months ago, i said to myself "that looks amazing (in both the graphical and gameplay departments), but it seems to be trying way too hard". i also thought it looked like what Fallout 3 would've been if it was a FPS with RPG elements as opposed to the RPG with FPS view that it is.

as a bit of side information, i got Killzone 2 a week ago and have been playing it nonstop. i've already beaten it twice and i've spent pretty much every waking moment (to my girlfriend's annoyance) playing the campaign or the multiplayer. when i woke up today there was a delivery on my stoop. i told myself i'd open up Borderlands first (i also bought Resistance 2 and a few old school PS1 games (FFIX!)) and play it til the first save or checkpoint. this was at 11am, i'm writing this review at 11:30pm and save for going to dinner with my friends and dropping my sister off at the dorms, i've played the entire time. this game is just that engrossing and sheer fun

i don't think i can explain exactly what makes Borderlands so fantastic... there's just something about it. reviews i had seen on a few sites said that it takes a while for the game to get going and that by the 10th hour or so it really starts to be fun. well, if the game gets much more fun than this, it will be close to my game of the year. everything about Borderlands oozes style and love (meaning you can just tell how much the developers cared about this project). the pacing of the game is fantastic, the difficulty is a little up there, but it works and is never frustrating. the controls are spot on as far as responsiveness, but some of the button mapping is a bit strange (who maps fire to L2? and there doesn't seem to be a way to change it). the AI is fantastic with weapon-based enemies finding anyplace they can to duck behind and fire for cover, while the dog like creatures just get right up in your face. this can be frustrating, but it really makes you feel good when you finally blast them away.

the RPG elements are just kinda... there. while i don't think they detract from the game, i also think that they could have been implemented differently without the overall game changing on a base level. that being said, Borderlands does a great job of Diablo style leveling-up. part of the reason i couldn't stop playing is cause you're ALWAYS building up your character in some small way. it's just incredibly addictive and fulfilling. the one minor nitpick that i can throw in here is having to press square every. single. time. you wanna pick up an item. you can hold it down to pick up multiple items that are very close to each other, but you'll be pressing square A LOT. i know tehre's some things you might not want, but you spend so much time in your inventory screen anyway, they may as well have made it so you just run over something to grab it.

Borderlands sells itself on the concept of it's "87 Bazillion Guns". i've heard real estimates that say there's at least a few hundred thousand and that sure seems to be true. you'll NEVER stumble on the same gun twice. it's both a good and bad thing. obviously it's fun to try out all sorts of different combinations, but a lot more often than you'd like, you'll wind up with a weapon that, while not useless, is just pretty lame and underpowered. when you do find that perfect sniper rifle that shoots lighting, has a 500-round clip and a 120x zoom (just as one of soooo many examples), it'll all be so very worthwhile.

the rest of my nitpicks, and by the way, that's all they are, cause i don't see a single legitimate big complaint with this game, would be as follows: while the game looks cool in it's own way, it think it's almost like a cop-out art style, maybe they didn't feel like doing textures or something. there's also severe framerate issues where you're in the middle of large battles. the vehicles, which make getting around so much easier,don't handle good at all and you get less Exp when you kill an enemy with your car as opposed to being on foot. i wish there were large online multiplayer deathmatches and CoF battles and the like. i'll have to check out the online "duels" at some point, see if they almost make up for that.

when you get right down to it though, this is just an amazing game all around. the graphics have a sheen and polish that not many games have (it's fun to see little HP numbers rolling off someone as you shoot them in the face). i still think Borderlands is trying a bit too hard to be "cool" in the way a Tarentino or Guy Ritchie movie would be, but it just works anyway (much like a Guy Ritchie movie haha). in the end there's just something about Borderlands, some intangible quality, that makes it such a worthwhile experience. i haven't played the online co-op yet, so i can't speak to that, but the single player is one hell of a ride. the areas might all look a tad samey, there's only four character classes to choose from. the driving physics are pretty bad and there's not much variety in your enemies. thing is, none of that matters, Borderlands is amazing in spite of all of it's very minor flaws.

if you've ever liked an FPS, if you've ever liked level-up-fests like Diablo, etc, hell, even if you wanted more action from Fallout 3, you owe it to yourself to at least give Borderlands a chance. this, along with Killzone 2, BlazBlue, Uncharted 2, Dirt 2 (and i can only assume the new Ratchet and Clank game) is one of the top 5 best games of 2009. there's a damn good chance that this game is considerably better than any other videogame you're looking to get on Amazon... pick Borderlands immediately. you won't be let down.

enjoy. hope this helped. =)

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This game is very fun to play online! I think the single player option is nice but not the true way the game was meant to play. Its easy to pick this game up and run through a couple quests in half an hour or even join on someone else's game. the action is great and if you minimize travel time between action can be rather short. cars are fun and the addition of challenges make for a fun addition to the game. The four classes are a nice idea but the ability to develop their skill trees differently give these classes more variability.

The mods for the grenades and class skills are excellently done. Also the ability to level up in weapon skills prevents any class from being limited in weapon choice. This game has many layers to it that keep it more fresh than other MMO-type games.

i would recommend it to anyone that liked Diablo/Diablo II's action/RPG elements. The First person shooter element of this game is great!

Buy Borderlands Now

Borderlands is a heck of a lot of fun. As a guy who has played a lot of post-apocalyptic games (yes, including Wasteland/Fallout -> Fallout 3), I have to admit that Borderlands hits that nice sweet spot between pure FPS and pure RPG. In Borderlands, you pick one of four characters and get to go for a romp in a fun quasi-post apocalyptic wasteland that is part Mad Max and part Pitch Black. Basically, you are on a different planet that is a rough and tumble outback world filled with nasty aliens, rogue humans, and lots of gunfights. It's a good time.

Borderlands is not as much an RPG as Fallout 3, for example -your character is more of a Diablo style with skill trees rather than fully customizable. Quests are also less elaborate, and a bit more on rails with areas unlocking for exploration only as you advance the plot. Borderlands also reminds one of Mass Effect for its combat heavy emphasis and shield technology, but let's get down to some specifics:

1) Guns, guns, guns. I knew Borderlands was hyping its "17 trillion guns" bit, but didn't realize quite how awesome this would be until I really got into it. It really is amazing how varied the weaponry is. With just a 20th level character, I've already found sniper rifles that launch explosive rounds, rocket launchers that set everything on fire in a 10 foot radius, scoped shotguns that put 8 slugs in a tight circle on target from 200 meters away, SMGs that fire 4 shots at a time and electrocute the target, and everything in between. A good gun can really make a difference in a fight, such as finding a strong sniper rifle early, or getting a machine gun with a +60 round magazine that lets you walk up to someone and put a hundred rounds into their face. Sometimes enemies drop guns, but more often you'll find yourself giddy as you open a sealed gun case and see a gleaming new rifle. Really addictive.

2) Weapon proficiencies. Instead of putting points into weapons skills as you level up, you gain bonuses for them the more you use them. This is more realistic and a lot more fun, since it gives you a way to reinforce your powers through use. Clearing a few caves with a shotgun will quickly net you added weapon bonuses that really pay off. Separately you can also (starting at level 5) put points into your skill trees, so you can get some nice cumulative overlap.

3) Second wind. One great concept is the "second wind" -when you get KO'd, you get a few seconds to kill one of your foes and get a "second wind" that pops you back onto your feet. This is particularly nice when you get overrun by mutant dogs or flying enemies without warning. In a number of fights, I killed nearly every foe only to have the last couple take me down at close range. With a second wind, you manage to survive -and it is extremely gratifying.

4) Level resets. One nice feature is that quitting and reloading the game resets all the areas, so you can farm areas repeatedly for EXP, different guns, and the like. This lets you level up if you are having problems, make money, and get those weapons you wanted.

Now, a few negatives:

1) No armor. Your character gets a wide array of selections between guns, grenades, and shield generators. However, there is no other armor in the game. This seems like a big oversight and cuts into the customizability of your character a fair amount. It would be nice to have slightly less guns in exchange for boots, gloves, helmets etc.

2) Level-specific foes. Enemies have a high respawn rate and scale somewhat based on your level. This usually works fine, although you will face a lot of dangerous and accurate enemies. One problem however is that you seem to do less damage against higher level enemies. In particular, if a foe is much stronger than you, your weapons do almost no damage, while theirs will destroy you. This might be an effort to keep your level growth under control, but you usually find out through trial and error. I had a character go up a level in the middle of a fight, and he went from doing 20 damage to some high level raiders to doing over 100. It was pretty strange.

3) The graphics in the game are interesting and appealing, but there are some unfortunate bug effects. Despite a nice strong jumping ability, it is possible to get stuck in the terrain, which can also effect enemies. NPC scripts can sometimes get broken if interrupted by fights or the like, usually requiring a reload (for example, I've had that little droid from the start of the game freeze up a few times, meaning you can't get through a gate and the game is basically broken).

4) There are vehicles you can drive around in, which is another nice feature. They also make good heavy weapons platforms if you are having problems with higher level monsters. However they are also a little buggy -I had one simply blow up for no reason (and with full shields), and another get stuck on some rocks that wouldn't let me exit and required a reload. And reloads take forever.

All in all, Borderlands is a fun game with much to recommend itself. Popping people with a sniper rifle and then cleaning up with a shotgun or assault rifle is a simple joy that is endlessly repeated. If you're looking for a FPS with character development, or an RPG with lots of fighting, this is your game.

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If you could only describe a game in one word, that word would be "insane." I've just stayed up till 7:30am and it was all worth it. It's like Killzone2 frantic and the RPG elements of the first Baulder's Gate on PS2. I'm a level 28 soldier. Now the weapons are insane, I've had a shotgun that shot rockets, an SMG with explosive rounds, an SMG with a four spread shot so each round is four projectiles, a heavy machine gun with fire rounds, and a revolver with 303 damage and zoom scope (meaning it's my sniper rifle for medium range, HAND CANNON!). The only thing that sucks is if you have a rocket launcher it has no hit detection (if you think your going to hit a target aim at the ground at its feet, its the only way to cause damage, GEARBOX please send us all a patch!).

Other than that, see you on the Pandora on PS3.

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When I first heard of the concept behind Borderlands I immediately got excited about the prospect of playing a cooperative Role-Playing-Game online with a good friend. In the gaming press more than one passing comparison was made between Borderlands and Diablo, "Diablo with guns!" was one term used. Being a huge fan of Diablo my anticipation for Borderlands only grew.

As soon as the game was released a good friend and I purchased our copies and jumped online for some co-op goodness. For the first 4-6 hours I loved Borderlands but after that the shortcomings started becoming more and more apparent.

I guess the most major issue I have with this game is that there is a paper-thin story. This is something that may not bother some but being a fan of RPGs it most definitely bothered me. You'll find yourself in the role of one of four selectable mercenaries on a remote planet called Pandora. Pandora in essence is a horrible place to live and was only colonized in order to mine mineral deposits. It's soon discovered that there's very little of value on the planet and most settlers with the means to do so simply leave the planet. Those that are left eek out a living Mad Max style. Bandits run amok in the Wasteland as do feral creatures known as Skaggs and a few more enemy types.

There are some alien ruins which rumor has it hold some sort of incredible power. That's why you find yourself on Pandora, investigating those alien ruins. Each of the four characters specializes in different things. Mordocai is a "hunter" class character who specializes in sniper rifles and best suited to engaging enemies from afar. Brick is a "berserker" and serves as the games tank character specializing in close range combat. Lilith is a "siren" and the games only female character. Her specialty is small arms and speed. Finally, Roland is the games "soldier" class specializing in machine guns. Each character also features a special ability Mordecai for example can use his pet eagle, Bloodwing to attack enemies. Roland can deploy a shielded sentry turret for taking down swarms of bad guys. Each character features their own skill trees and as you level up you can assign points in the skill tree to increase damage, accuracy, gain new abilities and inflict elemental damage. The upgrade system is pretty generic stuff that has been done in games before. The main problem with the characters and leveling system is that eventually every character feels exactly the same outside of their respective special attacks. So while you may start out playing Mordecai as a sniper, you'll eventually discover that he's just as good using a machine gun, rocket launcher or revolver.

That leads to other problems with the game. Because every class is a jack of all trades, playing online devolves into mindless shoot everything as fast as you can matches. Also because Borderlands doesn't feature much of a storyline and relies heavily on sidequests much of the game becomes a mindless shooting gallery. Go to town `X', speak with character `Y', go to location `Z' and retrieve `item q'. Rinse and repeat over and over and over again. It's mindless and while initially fun it gets old quick.

There are boss battles in the game which could've been so much more. The boss battles are ultimately mindless, run backward while blasting away affairs. It's funny that a gameplay mechanic perfected in Doom so many years ago is still being used in modern games like Borderlands.

The other much touted element of Borderlands that was much touted before release is the looting. Spread everywhere throughout the game is chests containing various types of guns and modifiers for your guns. The problem is that 99% of the stuff you find is garbage that's only purpose is to be sold in towns for money. Much of the game is simply spent running from chest to chest looting what you can carry, tossing less valuable items and moving to a town to sell those items. Occasionally you'll stumble on a rare item which is actually worth equipping. Again, the entire system is dull, monotonous and repetitive.

There are a few things about Borderlands that merits praise. The graphics art style is cell-shaded which I'm a fan of. The game is colorful and bright. The environments are significantly varies while maintaining a central theme. Gearbox did a fantastic job rendering the world of Pandora. If only they had made it an interesting place.

The online co-op is definitely the games saving grace. It's always fun to play online with a good friend, cracking jokes even if it is at the games expense.

Technically there are some glitches in the game. There are some well publicized trophy issues mainly the game not awarding trophies when it should. Additionally there are display glitches with the game where parts of the sky start to flash big blocky pixels of various colors. Another big issue was that that the game was resetting a characters stat level mid-way through after saving. So for example if I were playing as Mordecai and my sniper rifle level was mid-way through level 15 and I saved and quit the game. The next time I started a session my sniper rifle level would be reset to the beginning of level 15, wiping out a lot of progress. Problems like these are extremely frustrating particularly the leveling glitch.

All in all Borderlands will be loved by those that can overlook the games many, many problems and focus solely on the fun of the co-op element. To others I would strongly recommend buying Fallout 3 instead or getting a real RPG or just regular FPS. Borderlands is a rental at best.

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Crysis 2

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Crysis 2 is a game that I am sure many people were anticipating, and also skeptical about. While the first game had some hard core graphics it clearly was more of a visual benchmark than game at times. Going forward Crytek has made some changes to the formula, most for the better, and produced a high quality game that will not disappoint both fans of the original Crysis and FPS gamers in general.

GAMEPLAY Single player

Right off the bat Crysis 2 doesn't hold much back. The campaign starts quickly and holds its pace fairly well throughout the near 12 hour SP campaign. If you played the MP Demo for Crysis 2 you will feel right at home with what changes have been made to the suit controls, as well as what to expect visually from the game and the AI itself. This game comes across as a solid shooter. During the campaign you will have many tools at your disposal to dispatch your foes including a variety of weapons, suit powers, environment items etc. The suit powers are very stream-line on the console version, having been mapped to your controller. Running automatically enables speed, while thumb buttons controlled the Armor and Stealth. You have the ability to customize your weapons load-out via unlocking mods you find throughout the campaign as well as upgrading your suit via contact with Alien DNA.

What impressed me the most about Crysis 2 was not actually the graphics, but the thought put into the gameplay. While enemy AI can be pretty stupid at times (I played on SOLDIER difficulty) the game gives you plenty of methods in which to tackle areas. You could stealth past everyone; stealth assassinate everyone; RAMBO your way though; use strength to toss enemies about or perhaps pick up an object and smash em with it. While the campaign has a typical "Linear" aspect to it, the variety at your disposal makes tackling the areas feel fresh each time and just a blast to change up your gameplay style.

Multi-Player: I have not tackled MP that much but from what I've played, expect your typical formula for MP in Crysis 2. If you played the MP demo then you would have an idea what to expect really. What I did like was the "custom class" concept where as using your unlocks you can create a unique build for Multi-Player. A nice little concept that keeps the MP feeling fresh I think.

STORY/SOUND

Okay.. this is Crysis we're talking about so don't expect a riveting storyline like RPGs might bring to the table. The storyline isn't bad though as you could tell there was an effort put in to make a normal storyline here; It kind of is just enough to keep you occupied during cut-scenes and give you a good reason to go forward essentially. ** SOUND in this game is just awesome! I thought Killzone 3 had some wild sound effects, Crysis 2 pretty much takes the cake! The weapon sound effects are very quality, including the nice echo effects when firing rounds off in an open quiet area. The voice acting is 'average' I'd say. Not bad but not award winning acting either. The sound track this game has is mind blowing!! The tracks are very epic and will have your blood pumping from start to finish with how good the music sets the tone.

GRAPHICS

The graphics are stunning especially for a console game. Are they the best...hard to tell but then again I really have not seen a game best this game graphically. On the PC however this game is just insane. Running it at 1920x1080 w/ full setting will just blow your mind. Once you see it on the PC it becomes quite obvious that the console versions had stuff held back. Even with the graphics toned down they still do look great, but there are some small hickups. I found a few times the frame-rate chugged a little bit in high volume areas especially with fires or explosions. There is also some texture flickering going on in certain spots that are hard to ignore, also accompanied by texture pop-ins. For the graphical level this game pumps out I am not surprised though, especially once you see how large some areas can be. The alien design this time around I enjoyed. They had a lot more detail put into them and a better variety as well.

REPLAY/LENGTH

For the campaign, on soldier difficulty, it took me about 10-11 hours to complete. I was not rushing though the game and I mixed it up between stealth and Rambo style. I could see this campaign being about 11-13 hrs for people who LOVE stealth killing, or as short as 8 hours if you simply run past certain areas without bothering to fight. This puts the Length of the game at a decent length. There is plenty going on in the campaign and I could find myself playing through the campaign a few times more as the gameplay really lends itself to creativity/variety (a bit like Bulletstorm just without the Skill-Shot system). Throw in some decent MP that has some longevity to it and you got yourself a game that could easily last you well until the next big shooter hits the market.

OVERALL (93% 9.3/A-)

I gotta say this game is just the complete package. Having played Bulletstorm, Killzone 3 and Crysis 2 there is a clear line between all three games. Crysis 2 for me, falls in the category of a fantastic, long SP campaign with a solid MP setup. The gameplay has great variety to it and, in my opinion, worth revisiting a few times. The multi-player is quality, clearly not just *tacked on*, and it brings a lot of fun to the table making for even more variety in the game itself. I give Crysis 2 a 93%... It is a game well worth playing and adding to your FPS collection

**NOTE: Killzone 3 and Crysis 2 are both fantastic games. I scored KZ3 a 91%. While I feel Killzone 3 has a better overall MP element (for the PS3), Crysis 2 feels like a more complete package due to a better SP-Campaign(in my opinion). Graphically I feel Crysis 2 is better but also contains more graphical glitching

**NOTE: The PS3 version ran almost flawless for me (except for rare FPS drops and the graphical hick-ups). I wouldn't worry to much about performance when it comes to 360 vs PS3. Get the game on whichever system you feel more comfortable with.

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I have been looking through the reviews for this game and most of them have been fair. This game is absolutely awesome. However, what some are referring to as "boring" is the fact that you have the option to utilize tactical planning. The beginning of the story is very much like every other first person experience such as call of duty. Emergency surprise attack, you pass out and then you are revived etcetera. When this ends is when the game gets interesting. The suit and the benefits provided by it provide unlimited possibilities with weapons upgrades and suit upgrades. Heat sensitive visors allow you to see through smoke, the tactical planning visor gives you the opportunity to plan your attack instead of just rushing in and shooting mindlessly at the enemy. The stealth mode where you become invisible for a certain period of time depending on how much energy you expend is very unique and fun. The suit armor is also just one of many things that make this game interesting and fun. You can also take control of vehicles much like the Battlefield games. The game is longer than most games released recently, and finally it is one game worth the money. I purchased Bulletstorm and was very satisfied with the fast paced game play and carnage. The only problem is that it took only about 5 hours to complete. The replay value is high in both games, but Crysis 2 is much longer and it actually takes some brains to play. Mindless carnage is fun, but carnage and tactical planning are fun and interesting at the same time. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but there is no justification for this game getting 1 or 2 stars for a rating.

Buy Crysis 2 Now

I don't usually write reviews. Typically, I rely on the opinions of others. However, I felt quite compelled to pen an article on Crysis 2. I must say that I was skeptical when watching previews and builds of the game. And never having played Crysis on the PC, I was flying into this purchase blind. I had just recently got done playing COD: Black Ops, Bulletstorm, and Killzone 3. All of which I got some level of enjoyment out of. Bulletstorm I enjoyed for its crazy action. COD I enjoyed for the giant set-piece moments that led through some of histories notables. Killzone 3 was just gorgeous on every level.

Crysis 2 is something different. Not only is the lighting spellbinding, but walking the crumbled streets of New York has some emotional weight. You want to see the Ceph suffer. Thankfully, you have a cloaking device (ala predator), and a slick armor enhancement. You can also leap tall building in a single bound and slide from cover. You can kick cars, snap necks, and stab your antogonists in the throat. It's a brutal affair, and the sound effects are up to the challenge. I would constantly change my tactics by using the Nano Vision (an infrared sensor on your visor), and jumping in and out of invisibility. When I grew weary of playing cat and mouse I would amp up my armor and jump into the fray. No matter how I played Crysis 2, I was engaged.

When I was kid some 15 years ago, I hungered for a game like the film Robocop. 15 years later I have found this in Crysis 2. Even the music echoes the 80s film that is a part of me. The soundtrack is great as well. I loved the story and the character and the idea that the machine was keeping the husk of a man alive inside of it. In Crysis 2, you really are a dead-man walking, and the developers did a great job of conveying the pain and damage Alcatraz takes on his quest through a dying New York. As you lay in a heap in Times Square and have to self-defibrilate to fight the next fight, you can't help but cheer the protagonist on. I read a lot of reviews that claim that you cannot really connect with Alcatraz because he is a silent protagonist, but as he gives up his body for the fight, you can't help but like him.

What Crytek has acheived is pretty awesome and I cannot count how many times I just stopped and looked into the sky to admire the way the buildings blotted out the sun. Or when I swam around the fallen head of the statue of liberty just to admire the design and texture. The world really works here and I am truly impressed.

However, Crysis 2 is not without its issues. Sometimes enemies would get stuck in a stupor and allow me to blast the living hell out of them. Sometimes a new stage would load and my gun would not equip. Hopefully, they fix these things with an update. I have not had a chance to tackle the multiplayer yet. However, these are small gripes engulfed by a fantastic campaign. When I am jumping from skyscrapers onto a flaming car and power punching a drop troop in the head only to cloak and drop into the sewer before focusing on my next target, I have a hard time faulting anything. Maybe I am just a forgiving gamer.

I hope Crysis 2 brings out your inner Robocop.

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It is a great game, with only very minor issues. Here is a detailed review of my experience with it so far.

9/10

Pros:

Great graphics and lighting, good art

compelling story IMO (at least in relation to many other FPS games, keep in mind too, that I am interested in this type of thing, nano-biotech stuff, and alien invasion)

Highly immersive

Fun gameplay

good/smooth animations

Cons:

Slight frame rate issues

a few Texture Pop ins

some AI bugs

a couple animation glitches

The Pros far out weigh all of the cons this game produces. As far as texture pop in, it is only noticeable if you have a trained eye for it, or you are looking for it. Otherwise there is enough going on that you likely wont notice a texture pop. Framerate issues are the same and in no way detracted from my first play through. AI is usually spot on and quite a bit better than most games, but every once in a while an enemy will just be walking into a wall, or something else strange. Doesn't really detract too much, but it happens. I have seen some weird animations like gabbing a guy by the foot, and then suddenly I have him by the neck as it is supposed to be. Or else I saw a guy shift through a wall and then shift right back into my room the middle of a melee fight.

None of these things were huge concerns for me, as they are pretty common in many games with large scale and a lot going on, and they are surprisingly not as common as some reviews were making them out to be. In fact the larger the scale, the more bugs you will see. Just look at fallout 3. Either way, the pro's far outweigh the cons as I have said. The graphics are great, especially the lighting. The story is pretty cool and it is highly immersive, as it is told entirely from first person perspective. Some of the ways the camera moves to look at things and stuff is all pretty highly believable. Now on my second play-through I am really enjoying the story of the nano-suit; which is really what the story is about. I didn't quite understand what all went on with some of the ending parts, but it is mostly coherent, and IMO quite cool (I don't know, I think Nanotech and Biotech are really cool and the Nano-suit is a really cool idea with it's own artificial intelligence.). It is really fun to have the nanosuit at your disposal as you try to stop the alien invasion. The AI is some of the best I have seen. I played through on veteran and had a pretty standard FPS experience in terms of difficulty, but it isn't difficult because some the AI can just spot you and have a lock on, it is difficult because sometime the AI will put you in a sticky situation, or, because you put yourself there. It isn't so much running and gunning as it is tactically determining how you want to accomplish your goal, as you have to maintain energy levels. It isn't a hard game per say (even on the hardest difficulty), you just have to be careful, in which case it can be quite easy. I am playing through again on super soldier and enjoying it even more.

An example of the AI: At one point, I killed two guys fairly discreetly, and generally the guy up on this bridge will spot you and start shooting at you, so I turned and noticed him running instead, I followed him a bit in stealth mode, and found that he ended up calling over and grouping up with another group of soldiers behind some traffic barriers in a fairly defensible position. Not super unique I know, but it is pretty dynamic, because they definitely don't do the same thing every time.

I have only briefly tried the Multiplayer, but it seems pretty good so far and doesn't seem to lag as much even though I have bad internet. When I get some better internet I will really be able to see, but it seems to have better netcode than games like COD BO where I can't even play online because the lag is so frustrating on my bad internet. Needless to say I was pretty surprised it ran as well as it did when I played yesterday. It was all very smooth. There are likely to be some balance issues this early on, but almost any game will have that to start, that is why they patch games these days. And as far as that goes it didn't seem that imbalanced as far as I saw. I can't really give a good review of the Multiplayer so you'll have to read elsewhere. I'll try to remember to update this when I get better internet late spring/early summer.

So all in all, it was a stellar game. If you have a PC that can run it buy it on that. If you have an XBOX 360, I have heard it runs better on that. The PS3 game runs fairly smoothly though so if you do not have any other system, like me, I assure you, you are not missing out. Although, I would be interested to see it running on DX11 on PC. It is supposed to look super good. I am amazed at the realism presented on the PS3, the "worst" of the three versions, so I cannot even imagine how it looks on a high end PC. I would give this game a 9/10 or even a tiny bit higher like a 9.2. The only reasons to take off points are for graphical and AI bugs, glitches, and errors, which are quite seldom, and really didn't detract from the experience I had / that I am having (also, give me a break, what game doesn't have slight graphics and AI bugs?). Another area to take points off is the slightly short campaign. I finished in 8 hrs or so, It could have been close to 9 cause I didn't really look, but still. I would like to see games that are at least 15 hours long, so that is where that comes from. Some people prefer the 7-10 hour thing, and then jumping into the multiplayer, so if that is you, then this is perfect. I realize it is hard for developers to deliver a solid action packed and interesting 15+ hour experience, but I am sick of developers skimping on single player. not that they skimped on this, there are some truly spectacular set pieces and such, but that seems to be the trend these days, shorter and shorter single player games, because multiplayer is where the business is at right now, that is what people want. I am just a bit ticked because Crytek claimed it was a 13 or so hr experience. Maybe I finished it quickly but I really don't think so, it is a 7-10 hr thing I think, which is decent, but I want more. Perhaps there will be some single player DLC down the road, that would be pretty cool.

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I never played the original, the system requirements were more than I could afford at the time. I bought this on a whim from Amazon. I watched some gameplay footage and basically couldn't help myself, it looked amazing.

Story:

After completing the campaign what I got was not what I had expected. With a name like Crysis, I expected ground-breaking...just because of their previous work on the original. In C2, I think they nailed the graphical part of things...the game looks great, I mean really great. The story however never really grabbed me...I never got to know my character and at no point did I ever feel like I was properly introduced into the story. What I mean is that I felt lost as to who or why I was playing. I felt as if my background was missing, and to me that's a huge part of story. During almost the entire campaign, I had no idea what I was there to do. So I just completed objectives and kept going. To me the campaign was forgettable, something developers do not want to hear.

Gameplay:

I think what I liked best about the gameplay was the ability to add attachments on the fly as long as I had previously discovered them. This makes a lot of sense to me. I also liked the amount of weaponry in the game...there are a lot of guns (at at least it felt that way) and it was fun playing with each to just wreak havoc on the enemies. As far as the suit, it is a great tool to have. However, because I am given the option to stealth out, I feel as if I need to...just because I can. And I think this took away some of the chaos that is inherent to 1st person shooters. I like to be put into a position where I am drastically outnumbered and I must rely on good tactics to get out of it. There were only two times that I could think of in this game where that happened to me...and twice is not enough. It just makes things too easy, regardless of how cool it is. Maybe I should go back and try playing without stealth and just use the armor, but I don't know...there's nothing really there to make me want to do it all again. And lastly, maybe I'm used to CoD and MoH type campaigns as of late where 6 hours and you were done, but this campaign lasted well beyond that. I don't know how much time I put in, but I can't help but feel that it dragged on in the end. I literally at some points was asking myself "when is this going to end?". If the story was better I probably wouldn't have felt like that.

Multiplayer:

I'm only level 6 atm, so I haven't spend much time playing. I did play a few rounds last night and I wasn't doing all that well and was about to quit. Then I realized that I had earned an equipment unlock, so I purchased a red dot sight and figured I'd try one more round. Bam! 16 / 3. It was a great round and I earned multiple dog-tags. Because of that I will be coming back for more tonight. This situation is no different than any other other 1st person multiplayer...good rounds keep you coming back. So I do think they did a good job on the multiplayer aspect, but I still need to spend more time with it to be sure. Also, it's fun learning new maps...they really do look good.

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Ninja Gaiden Sigma

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I bought this game because I had played the previous versions of Ninja Gaiden in other old platforms, and, surprisingly, this was much less expensive than I expected.

This is a much better game than so many I have seen. It is not easy, the enemies attack in group, adapt the offensive and get tougher with time. Your character dies all the time and you have to try again countless times, but once you finish off a chapter boss you feel a real sensation of accomplishment.

What I like the most about this Ninja Gaiden version is that you can't expect the enemies to behave the same, even when you are trying again and encountering the same group of foes in the same situation you had before. The AI is very good. Depending on how you face them, your first strike, your character's position, etc, they will change the strategy. Also, as other reviewers mentioned, most enemies have some attacks that can't be blocked (you must try to evade them), if you block for too long or at the wrong time, they will break it and if you use the same attacks many times without varying, the enemies will adapt, blocking or evading them.

The graphics and sounds are good, but not too impressive, but I prefer challenging AI with good/average graphics to weak AI with mesmerizing graphics any day.

If you want real tough action, try this title (there is a demo at the Playstation store), but if you get frustrated easily, don't bother. There are easier titles around.

One criticism I have is that the saved game loading (when your character dies and you want to continue) and chapter loading (once you complete the previous one) are slow (at least, for me), even after installing the game in the hard drive (though it does improve it). But, it is a minor issue that doesn't affect the rest.

Advice: master the combo techniques. There are several of them and some require a sequence of 6 buttons to work. Your path will be smoother and the chapter bosses fall faster.

In the end, a great title.

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This is a great game, nothing but a fun ride all the way through the MANY levels. It also has tons of extras to be unlocked, so this is a highly playable game over and over again. It just never gets tired. Sure if you have played Ninja Gaiden Black for the xbox it may seem a little recycled but that was for a different platform. The Sigma series is something you need to play for yourself. A great addition to the Ryu Hayabusa story line. The graphics and story line are amazing not to mention brutal gameplay with a wide array of weapons. You won't be disappointed and it's at a great price now that it's a greatest hit. Get this game.

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Over all, this game is pretty awesome. Im deployed to Iraq right now and i've played some pretty good games, but this one is a for sure top 5 on my list. The graphics are sweet and just the gameplay over all is awesome. And the price really isnt bad....recommend to all.

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I know I'm a bit late to the roller coaster ride known as Ninja Gaiden, but I finally made it. Ever since I played Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening I've used that game's difficulty as a benchmark to which I compare the difficulty of other games. I have several games that range from challenging to difficult, such as Jak II, Jak 3, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Prototype, and of course the original Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4. However, none of those games came close to the extreme difficulty of DMC 3... but then along came Ninja Gaiden Sigma. I've never played the X-box version, so if you want comparisons between that one and the PS3 version, then look somewhere else. Anyway, this game is as hard as the legends say, a close cousin to DMC 3. Ninja Gaiden Sigma is all about relentless, brutal, fast paced, in your face action that will constantly demand players to be at the top of their game; the second you slow yourself down or relax... you're dead. You are Ryu Hayabusa, wielder of the legendary Dragon Sword and leader of the Hayabusa Ninja Clan, and after his village is decimated by evil forces, Ryu goes on his quest to retrieve the stolen Dark Dragon Blade and take his revenge on those who have royally pissed him off. The story is your basic cookie-cutter affair which was quite literally just tacked on to this game for necessity's sake. There's basically no character development and the plot is thinner than a reality t.v. modeling contestant. You'll find more story elements in the game manual than in the actual game itself, and Ryu literally has only about 10 to 15 lines of dialogue in the game... the ENTIRE game. But I knew going in that the focus of NGS was the gameplay, so I won't hold the lack of story against it. Ryu is a deadly, modern day ninja who is a master of weaponry and ninpo (ninja magic), but his enemies are just as deadly. He'll fight other ninjas, samurais, soldiers, cyborgs, and ugly monsters known as Fiends; and they're all a bunch of supreme jerks. Knowing when to stop attacking and then go to blocking and dodging are the keys to survival in this game, and it must be done with PRECISE timing. From the lowliest enemy soldier to the most powerful of Fiends, all the enemies in this game will beat the crap out of you repeatedly, until you pick up their patterns and learn when to slash and bash them to pieces. Ryu is certainly not short on weaponry with which to do terrible things to his enemies: he'll have a sword, twin swords, a staff, flails, shurikens, a bow and arrows (normal and explosive), and more. He'll also use his ninja magic to attack enemies with fire, ice, and lightning spells.

You also play a few missions as Rachel, a Fiend Hunter with a large hammer and a pair of honkers that are nearly just as large. Her attacks typically do more damage than Ryu's, but she's also comparatively slower, plus she can't wall run like Ryu can. Out of the 19 chapters in this game, you only play as Rachel for about 4 of them, which was enough. Even though Rachel's strong, her more limited mobility and the fact that she only has one main weapon makes it easier for enemies to adapt to her attacks and get around them. Ryu's many different weapons offer him numerous styles of attacks and certain weapons work better against certain enemies, making him a superior warrior all around. Aside from slaying enemies, NGS has many puzzles for players to tackle, most of them involving finding special items to activate machinery and open doors. Since several of the levels you go through are interconnected and the game isn't always very specific about what your next goal is or where your next destination lies, you may find yourself getting lost from time to time. As difficult as this game is, it probably wouldn't have been quite so infuriating if the camera wasn't out to get you just as much as your enemies. It can be adjusted most of the time, but other times it is fixed... unfavorably. Several times, especially during the boss battles, Ryu was knocked towards the camera, then he disappeared from sight and was ruthlessly pummeled offscreen. Even during a couple of the platforming sections of this game the camera annoyingly looks away from the next spot you need to jump or wall run to, usually leading to Ryu falling into a conveniently placed pool of liquid hot MAG-MA! Even learning how to properly make Ryu dodge and jump correctly takes time to get used to, but once you do it makes things easier (somewhat). Save points are frequent enough that even when you die, you normally won't have to replay too much before you get back to where you were killed. I was greatly annoyed however at how the game no longer gives you access to an upgrade statue in which to buy things like health items and arrows during the last two missions, even though you fight many enemies and bosses in a row. Also, the fact that Ryu is unable to absorb soul essences from fallen enemies while he is blocking and attacking is just plain stupid since you really need that stuff to gain health, magic, and currency. Those are just downright sadistic gameplay mechanics. Again, much like Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is brutally difficult and cheap, but it can be very rewarding when you're finally able to defeat the very tough enemies that are thrown at you. So all in all, this game is fun and has lots of cool looking characters and enemies, with plenty of fantastical ninja swordplay. NGS is not for casual gamers and is more fit for hardcore masochists; I fall somewhere between casual and hardcore, so if you're like me, it's probably better that you play this game only if you're a big fan of ninjas and action games in general. Either way, be wary.

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I'm half way through the game. If it were one word I had to use to describe it, I'd say challenging. It's not your typical button mashing hack n slash. As stated by others, it takes technique. It also takes alot of patience. I could see some people breaking their controllers out of frustration. But that doesn't take away from the fun. Finding new weapons and upgrading them is a plus. The only negative I have is the camera angle. Sometimes it can be a little weird. Unlike alot of games these days the storyline is worth paying attention to. The graphics are also nice. 9.5 out of 10 in my book.

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Move Quad Charger charging dock station for Sony Playstation 3

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I'm disappointed in this product in three ways. First, the charging connection between the base and the devices is through the mini USB connection, not through the external contacts on the controllers. Second, the holes are not all the same size, two are larger for the motion controller and two are smaller for the navigation controller. I was looking for a base that I could put all four motion controllers into. Third, and probably the biggest disappointment is that this base has no direct power supply, just a double ended A USB connection, presumably to plug into the front of the PS3. This, of course, is impractical as the camera is already plugged into one port. An alternative is to buy a USB wall cube to power the base, but once that cost is added in this is no longer a good investment.

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Mass Effect Trilogy

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Let me start off by saying that until now, I have never played any of the Mass Effect games, so this is a whole new experience for me. That being said, since I'm so behind the curve when it comes to this game, I won't be reviewing the games themselves (cause let's face it, there are hundreds of reviews already available for the individual games), however I will be taking the time to answer a few quick questions one might have about this Mass Effect Trilogy release for the Playstation 3.

Q. Does Mass Effect have trophies?

A. Yes! This is the first time that Mass Effect (the first title) will be available to play on the Playstation 3 and needless to say, it does include trophy support! So if you were on the fence about purchasing this because you're a trophy hunter and were unsure about this, fear not! There are a total of 47 trophies for the first title to be unlocked (including a platinum). Mass Effect 2 and 3 have the same trophies in this Trilogy set as their individual releases.

Q. Are these titles available to download on the PSN Store?

A. Yes! In fact, if you check the store now (it was just updated) you will see that they just added a 7 GB download of Mass Effect (the original) for $14.99! The rest of the titles (for PS3 that is) can also be found on the PSN Store but you'll easily find them cheaper here on Amazon (with the exception of the first game since that didn't have an individual disc-release for PS3). However, if you'd rather not purchase the Mass Effect Trilogy in disc-based form, then you can purchase the digital version on the PSN Store for $59.99 (at the time of this review) and it will take about 33.4 GB of space (pretty hefty size if you have limited space on your hardrive).

Q. Does the trilogy come on one disc or multiple discs for the PS3 system?

A. Ah, the wonders of Blu-Ray! Since the PS3 can store more data on a Blu-Ray disc, these three games will be split into a total of 3 discs (1 for each game). This is very convenient as on the XBox 360 this is not the case (or at least so I am told). Could they have put it all on one? Possibly, yet what can ya do, ya know? Either way, it's all packaged nicely in a beautiful case, and I personally feel they did a good job with this.

Q. If I already own Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 for PS3, should I purchase this?

A. No. Why? Well as I said above, they just added Mass Effect (the first title) to the PSN Store for $14.99. If you already own the other two titles, it would benefit you to just download that off of the store. It's a 7 GB file, so if you go this route you should make room on your hardrive as needed.

Q. Does the PS3 version come with some DLC?

A. Yes (with the keyword being "some")! The original Mass Effect (as far as the PS3 version is concerned) comes with the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC. Also, Mass Effect 2 (on the PS3 version of this trilogy) will have "Cerberus Network," "Overlord," "Lair of the Shadow Broker," and "Kasumi." However I must be honest in that I'm still not absolutely sure about everything that is included here because I haven't gotten to Mass Effect 2 yet and as I said in the beginning, this is my first time playing these titles. Mass Effect 3 however (as it appears on this Trilogy version) does not come with any DLC included.

Q. Do all the DLCs come on the discs or do you still have to download them all on PSN?

A. At the time that I put up this review, I'm still not that far into Mass Effect (the first game), yet out-of-the-box the Trilogy comes with a slip that has some codes on it. To my understanding, these codes are for the online pass for Mass Effect 3 & the Cerberus Network pass for Mass Effect 2. Lair of the Shadow Broker, Project Overlord, & Kasumi's Stolen Memories are on the Mass Effect 2 disc and as stated, Mass Effect 3 has no DLC included.

Q. Is this collection "complete?"

A. For the most part, yes! You do get all three games included on this disc at a total price (at the time of this review) of $59.99. However you don't get every bit of DLC (as stated above), especially when dealing with Mass Effect 3 (which has no DLC included in this Trilogy version). So if you already have some DLC but have been holding in anticipation of this release, it's probably to your advantage to just buy the original Mass Effect separately on the PSN Store and the remaining DLC.

Q. Do all three games have subtitles in languages other than English?

A. The only game in this set that supports subtitles in other languages is Mass Effect 3. The other two titles only come with English subtitles.

Q. Should I purchase this?

A. Ah, this is the question of all questions. If you're like me and haven't played any of the Mass Effect games before, then absolutely, yes! If you've played some of the titles (or all of them) already, then it might be better to just buy what you already don't have off the PSN Store (whether it be DLC or the original Mass Effect). Otherwise, if you're looking for an "ultimate collection," you may want to wait a while and see if they release a more complete version with all the DLC for each game included (which is entirely possible since developers are notorious these days for doing such things).

Again, there really isn't a need for me to go over the graphics, sound, or my thoughts on the story of any of these games, because there are already countless published opinions out there. My goal here is to hopefully answer any questions you may have about this purchase! Hopefully I have helped you in some way, and if you have any questions, feel free to comment! As I progress in my playing, I will update this review (if needed)! Enjoy! :)

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If you like creating your own universe and seeing how your choices affect it, then this trilogy is for you.

Mass Effect is probably one of the best series in the gaming world today.

GAMEPLAY:

The games are third-person shooter. The mechanics get better through each game as the creators took feedback into mind. For the most part, you fight in a team of three (Commander Shepard plus two crew members of your choosing) and use all the weapons, biotics, and tech skills of the group to defeat enemies.

There are also small mini-game sections like memory for breaking locks, mini-rover driving for traveling on planet surfaces, and mineral mining for needed materials for ship upgrades (ME 2).

CUSTOMIZATION is at its best here. From the beginning you can customize your Shepard from male or female to the color of their eyes, the length of their nose, or their haircut. You also get to choose from 6 fighting class specialties. High-risk, in-their-face brawler? Vanguard. Sneaky sniper? Infiltrator. etc. Each class has its own unique powers and available weapons to carry. In addition to character looks and fighting style, you also have "skill tree branches" of evolution that enable you to further choose how you want your Shepard to fight. Value health over Biotic Slash? Charisma/Influence over armor? If that weren't enough, YOUR CHOICES DETERMINE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN THE GAME AND CARRY THROUGH THE ENTIRE SERIES!

TRY THE MULTIPLAYER in ME 3. I was a HUGE skeptic of it when it was first announced, but have since invested approximately 270 solely on it. I love it; upgrading your characters and weapons is very addicting. In multiplayer you work COOPERATIVELY with three other online players in order to defeat 10 waves of enemies and survive extraction from the level. Each match includes 3 objective waves where you and your squad may have to destroy key enemies, deliver goods, hold down an area for 3-4 minutes, or hack in 4 different locations.

STORY:

This is an intergalatic, heroic epic that focuses on your in-game ego: Commander Shepard and his/her crew and their battle to save the galaxy from an omnipotent alien threat known as the Reapers. Along the way, Shepard uncovers new secrets about the universe's rich history and himself/herself, has the opportunity to fall in love (or just chase some tail), and ultimately save or destroy all sentient life.

The writing and dialogue is top notch here. Character development is unbelievable. You see every character grow and development through the series, and these characters are fully-fleshed out three-dimensional ones with organic heart and flaws. Your choices to befriend or kill a character carries weight through all three games. In addition, your choice to be a paragon (diplomatic, good guy) or renegade (kick-ass, douche bag) affects the world around you and can eventually lead to the deaths of characters (both options have pros and cons).

BE WARNED: the trilogy's ending kinda sucks (this coming from a HUGE Mass Effect fanatic and Bioware game supporter), but the journey is worth it alone. If you buy the final ME 3 DLC (Citadel) and the extended endings, it helps make up for it.

SUGGESTED DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT:

Extended Cut Ending (ME 3), Lair of the Shadow Broker (ME 2), Citadel (ME 3), and all free multiplayer expansion packs.

Also, if you want three additional characters in your party (and possibly at the party in the Citadel DLC, ME 3) pick up these: Stolen Memory (Kasumi, ME 2), Cerberus Network code (Zaeed Masani, ME 2), and From Ashes (Javik, ME 3).

GAME LENGTH:

~60 hours. for the first play-thrus. I had to find and do everything and hear every branch of dialogue.

~30 for 2nd and third play-thrus with other my other Shepards (male and female)

0 --> ∞ for multiplayer (ME 3).

Though the game time may seem long to some, but every minute is worth it. This ride is bliss.

CONCLUSION:

I can't praise this game enough despite the ending.

MUST OWN (or at least play). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TRILOGY TO EVERYONE.

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When Mass Effect first came out, I didn't have an X-Box. So I just licked my wounds and figured this would be one more game out of a million that I'd never play. Even when Mass Effect 2 came out for PS3, I still passed because, really, from everything I've heard, there just wasn't much point playing the second without playing the first. Ditto Mass Effect 3.

But finally the entire trilogy came out for PS3. And all three games are in a package for the same price as any other single game you would get for the PS3. If you've ever been the least bit curious about Mass Effect, don't hesitate to buy this. You get three games for the price of one and each individual game is worth the price itself.

There's a little bit of button mapping changes between games. Mass Effect 1 in particular has quite a bit of Early Installment Weirdness to it. But give yourself half a chance to get used to the different control schemes between games, you'll be set in no time.

I've played a lot of RPG's and shooters. I've watched and read a lot of sci-fi. But I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this. This is an amazing thrill ride that keeps upping the ante, and the ante was pretty high in the first game. Barring spoilers, there are so many ‘wham' moments that will leave you speechless. After getting to know and care about all of the characters over the series, I don't think any game ending has left me so utterly shell shocked as I was at the end of Mass Effect 3. It truly took me a while before I could form a coherent sentence. And I've played a ton of emotionally riveting games in my life.

Of course if you know anything about Mass Effect, you know about the choice mechanic. But I was surprised at just how deep this ran. A seemingly inconsequential side quest that's done or not done in ME1 can have some consequences in ME2. If you're not careful in the choices of how you treat your crewmembers throughout the series, you never know, it could cost them their lives.

Now it has been said that the ending to Mass Effect 3 was disappointing because after three games where your choices had drastic consequences, the ending really went in a way that made it so your choices meant nothing. Fair enough. You're choices still have a drastic effect on which of your squad members live or die. But past that, unless you really mess things up, things are going to end based on your choice between 3 outcomes…which all three still have pretty much the same cinematic, just with different coloring.

So I do see the argument about the ending being disappointing. BUT…I personally didn't mind the ending. If I hadn't known (via the complaining on the internet) about how the ending made your choices not matter so much, I never would have known. It's still a complete narrative with all loose ends tied up.

Even more importantly than that, whatever you think of the ending, the journey itself is fantastic. As I stated before, I've played a lot of emotionally involving games before. But I don't recall ever having been on quite the roller coaster that this game is.

Of all the games I've played, I have never started playing one again the moment I've finished it. I usually have to have a breather afterwards. But this was so enthralling, the moment I was done with Mass Effect 3, I went right back to starting a new game with Mass Effect 1. It was that good.

And to get all three games for the price of one, you better believe it's worth your wile to get this now.

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My son asked for several video games for Christmas and I chose 2. I got this one because I knew that he would be home for a LONNNNG time and he would need something to keep him occupied. So far, so good, and yes he is STILL here! : )

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After so many years I'm so happy that Mass effect has made it's way to the PS3. Now I can relive the story from the start as my creation

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