Xbox 360 Reviews by Me

[Dmitri]

So, I think the guys at places like IGN and Gamespot are mildly retarded. They give bad or mediocre reviews to great games and give great reviews to "meh" kinda stuff. So here are my own reviews for the titles I have played. If they help any other console gamers out there, then I have done a good thing.

* * * * * * *

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (non-GOTY version)

Good game, very good. Scads of replay value.

PROS - Large, open-ended sandbox world, a decent amount of quest diversity, engaging storyline. Detailed character generation system, good item/weapon/armor variety, decent game balance between combat/stealth/magic, very nice system of alchemy. Level of enemies/challenge adjusts with character level. Replay value o'plenty. Downloadable content very nice.

CONS - Leveling/XP system is ridiculous - encourages you to make your "major skills" the ones you rarely use, and "minor skills" the ones you always use. NPCs are often a bit bland unless involved in a quest. Crafting system is hard to get to. Same with spellmaking. Easy to mess up character and end up with an almost incompletable game.

I give this an 8/10 for the RP fan, 9/10 for the Munchkin. Definately pick this up if you own the system and don't have it on PC.

Star Trek: Legacy

Good the first time through, but very limited replayability. Took me an afternoon to beat once, and another afternoon to beat on hardest skill level.

PROS - Voice acting is very strong. Controls are a snap. Mission variety is not bad at all. Ship variety is nice. All three eras is cool.

CONS - No replayability value to speak of. For all the ship variety, it really makes little difference except in one mission. Multiplayer is just a basic "armada" battle. Federation vastly overpowered. No playable Klingon/Romulan campaign.

I give this a 5.5/10 for long-term value, but a 7.5/10 for short-term fun. Good one to pick up cheap, used, or rent it.

* * * * * * *

When I have time I will review the rest of my collection.

[Dmitri]

A few short reviews...

Fallout 3

OK, I think just about everyone has given this stellar scores. And frankly, they did so with good reason. Take Oblivion, add guns, subtract the wonky leveling system, and viola! Great game. Something worth noting - unlike many games, where you get the "best" gear from some odd store near the endgame which mysteriously sells uber-loot, you get great gear from the get go. They are just in bad repair, and thus less effective. I have had the same Chinese Assault Rifle and 10mm Pistol since the beginning of the game, and repaired them along the way to be more effective.

PROS - Deep character creation, interesting plotline, huge sandbox world, weapon selection, eber-replayable

CONS - Dialogue options seem a little canned at times, morality often seems forced, stealth just as messed up as every other game except Thief, seems that Speech skills are not as useful as they could be, Small Guns seems a little overpowered

Dave's Call - Buy It 9.75/10

Fable 2

While Peter Molyneux always seems to overpromise, this game is actually quite good. Sure, everyone goes on about the dog... but it really is as cool as everyone says except for some bad pathing at a few points. One button combat works great, and with combos, ranged vs. melee vs. magic, and your pooch, it is suprisingly deep and involved if you choose to make it so. Overall, a really good game, if not the end all and be all of RPG gaming. Just be aware that there is a certain amount of mature content (as the rating suggests), so having sex with people when your kids in the room might not be the best choice.

PROS - Good combat system, gear is well balanced, morality system works well, neat story line, lots and lots of replayability

CONS - easy to get kinda lost sometimes, the "jobs" can be very repetitive (bartending and smithing are the best call for money vs time expenditure), very easy to beat, feels a little linear sometimes (new areas only open after completing main quests)

Dave's Call - Buy It (if you like action RPGs) 9/10

[Dmitri]

Been a while, and I don't buy lots of new games... so here is one I did pick up.
Red Faction: Guerilla

I don't usually like shooters much, since so many mediocre ones get made. CoD is good generally, and the Rainbow Six games are generally enjoyable. But here is one that makes intelligent use of the environment and is challenging and is strong in the shooter and multiplayer game.

The campaign centers on a resistance group on Mars resisting the Earth and its corporations, blah blah blah. Not a memorable cast of characters, but its not an RPG. The strength of the single player is that they took the best from Grand Theft Auto, fixed the gunplay, kept the open world and vehicle aspect, and viola! Good game. You get to use a variety of weapons ranging from various guns and lasers to a sledgehammer and explosive charges, etc. The environment itself becomes an effective weapon, as the physics of the building demolition is actually somewhat realistic. So if you plant a few charges in the right spots, you can take down the enemies in the building by collapsing it on them. Kinda nifty.

The idea is to free the 6 sectors of Mars from EDF control by lowering the "control meter" to zero and raising morale. Story missions have a big impact on control and morale, but smaller side quests do as well. So does random destruction of EDF property. So if you get stuck on a mission, you can stop for a bit and do the side missions and blow stuff up before you come back to the main plotline.

Multiplayer is a lot like Gears of War or Halo, with some really neat variations of capture the flag and team "control the waypoint". If you like run and gun multiplayer shooting like Halo, this is the same with some extra bonus goodness. If you don't, you won't - pretty simple.

On the downside, at least for some people, the game is very hard. Even on its easy skill level, it is still really easy to die. It is a shooter, but still, you can't take on too many enemies at once or you are toast. I consider this a plus, but heh, it is the only bad thing I can come up with.

Dave's score 9/10 w/ multiplayer; 8/10 w/o multiplayer