The mobster genre is a difficult beast to wrangle. While there are facets that come standard in any gangster tale, to tell a unique story and tell it well is something very tough to pull off. Mafia II makes a valiant effort at undertaking the seven year saga of one man's rise through the ranks of organized crime, but comes up short in several ways. There's no denying that the title rings true to classic mafia ideas and scenarios, but some elements just don't fit together in the end. You're going to have fun in the game's fictional Empire Bay, but you're going to wish that the city held more for you to undertake.
While it is a sequel to 2002's Mafia, this new tale takes place with a fresh cast of characters and its own story. You play as Vito Scaletta. As a teenager, he was arrested for theft but chose to enlist in the army rather than do hard time. The game opens in World War II where Vito is injured and subsequently sent home on leave. That leave quickly turns into a permanent absence when his old friend Joe pulls a few strings through his more questionable acquaintances. And thus begins the journey of Vito and Joe as they work their way up in the criminal world trying to become the powerful forces that they both strive to be. But other problems abound as well, such as unpaid debts Vito's sister and mother are slaves to and the death of his father left a few questions unanswered as well. But Vito's driven and determined to make his name mean something and earn some money along the way.
The ambiance of Mafia II's game world is simply perfect. At wartime in the 40s, fighter planes fly through the cloudy winter skies out across the Atlantic, the radio blasts the tunes of the day; classic hits that everyone can recognize and instantly feel transported to a different time. Rats populate different warehouses and apartment buildings, as well as cats jumping into windowsills, eying you suspiciously as you pass. Neighbors peek their heads out of doors as you pass, only to slam them once they discover they've been found out.
The cars in the game handle just like the multi-ton beasts that they are. These definitely aren't the lighter cars of today, and the game makes sure you know it. You're given the option to use a speed limiter, because unlike other sandbox titles, the cops will (attempt to) pull you over for speeding. Chases all start off slow as these behemoths don't record any kind of zero to sixty record. But it all wraps up into an experience true to the period. The game world is a testament to the development team's reverence to the era.
2K Czech pulled off some great scenes with the game's graphic engine. Some of the cut scenes are absolutely beautiful, showing the pock-marked and scarred faces of these gangsters while also showcasing the sharp dressed tiers of the mafia's power structure. I found the voice acting throughout the game to be solid, without any characters taking me out of the experience with their extreme annoyance or simple bad acting. But there were some graphical remnants popping into my cut scenes, with a mesh-like covering revealing itself through the skin of various characters different scenes. It wasn't a deal breaker for my admiration of the game's graphics, but it certainly was an odd thing to observe.
The game's engine also showcased a few other quirks for me. You're given the option to stealthily kill certain characters, and there was oftentimes a lag in the execution of said move and the animation. For example, one character I needed to kill was sitting down, and rather than kill him in his sitting position. The actual death animation consisted of me miming strangulation in the air, while the enemy undertook his standing up animation. But at the height of his rise, he dropped dead. Additionally, you're often tasked with going with another characters through doors to enter another area. These doors are often reload points from interior and exterior for the game, but the restart on the other side is always the same. For example, many missions start of from Joe's apartment. By the second or third time you know exactly where his garage is, so you'll rush straight to get to the car quickly. But no matter how far ahead of Joe you're running from his front door to the exit, he'll always be right outside waiting for you after the loading jump. I found it jarring to see this character leap. Because if the person goes outside before you, you get the same result.
The general ebb and flow of gameplay is enjoyable. You're thrown into a large open-world city with cars and a period-specific arsenal at your fingertips. You can buy clothing at various shops around town, purchase ammunition and new guns from gun shops, upgrade your favorite car in the shop, drop in on a diner for some health, fill up your tank at a gas station or just wander the streets starting fist fights. You're also given the ability to rob these places of business for a small profit. As the story unfolds, you're given options to sell cars to one character or use a junkyard to crush other cars for scrap (and cash). The game world also hides a number of collectibles, from vintage issues of Playboy Magazine where you're treated to a full-screen centerfold upon finding each one, to Art and Wanted Posters scattered about. My collection stats were quite low at the end of the game, so the developers have done a solid job of hiding these things around the game world rather than throwing them all right in front of the main character.
Mafia II is all about the narrative. Every element of the game is part of the greater tale of Vito Scaletta. So at any given point in the game, you always have a giant red bullseye on your map telling you where to go as part of your next task. This constant element of “being on a mission” leaves very little downtime and in the long run gives the player very little motivation to explore Empire Bay outside of the few collector's elements I mentioned above. Even if you save your cash to buy every element of clothing in every shop, various story points throughout the game force your wardrobe (and wallet) to reset. Thus it can be a frustrating affair to lose what you've worked to acquire (but of course Vito feels the same way). But in addition, I also found gun shops unnecessary as every action segment of the game provided me with more than enough ammo to bring demise to those that stood in my way. I never spent a dime at one of these stores (though I did take home around six hundred dollars for claiming ownership of the cash register in one).
The tale is broken into fifteen chapters and across seven playable years. Without spoiling what leads the full narrative from point A to point B, I found that the game used one factor to screaming success as far as telling a story was concerned. To show the passage of time, Mafia II uses clever montages to move the story forward. I'm not used to seeing that cinematic tool in the world of video games, but it works expertly in this instance. At various times we see Joe and Vito moving up in the mob through a short burst of clips that wouldn't necessarily add to the experience if they were under player control. Compounded by the excellent soundtrack, these vignettes were one of my favorite parts of the game's story.
The length of the chapters was extremely inconsistent, but in general each chapter featured a drive-around and meet element that lead up to a big shootout or chase. The game featured several fantastic set pieces where these battles took place, my personal favorite being in an atmospheric slaughterhouse. Gun fights are quite intense. Cover disintegrates as Tommy Guns rip wood to shreds, and you're forced to find shelter behind more solid objects. I was often frustrated by my disappearing health as I stood behind concrete barricades. It made the fights feel cheap and almost impossible in certain scenarios, though in actuality the idea that you're never safe rings quite true to the character's life. But as far as gameplay is concerned, I'm hiding behind this metal beam because the bullets should not be going through it. Car shoot-outs are another difficult gameplay element. One chase in particular left me infinitely frustrated. There was a split-second decision in timing that would leave me dead in the first hail of gunfire every time. While it's realistic that the driver gets downed with a single stray bullet while driving, the easy death was a stark contrast to the game's other segments that felt relatively easy.
The game features a fantastic looking melee combat system that actually emerges as quite shallow by late in the game. The shallowness comes from a single point: if you hold down the A button, you'll never get hit. Never. So as long as you're patient and let go of A at the right times, you're going to win every single fight in the game. But the brutal nature of the finishing moves that drop your opponents to the ground make you feel like a true tough guy. Seeing blood fly out of a chump's mouth as you deliver a swift kick to his jaw in slow motion never gets old.
The police and civilians that populate the game world both succeed and fail in different areas. In certain parts of town people will call out your name to say hello, even if you're about to draw your gun and rob a shop. If you yank someone out of their driver's seat in order to acquire a new set of wheels, they'll beg for their life but never fight back. If you speed while driving, the police will attempt to pull you over. You'll gain a small amount of notoriety and if you stop, you'll either have to pay them a bribe or attempt to evade them. I quickly developed an almost fool-proof escape plan that was as simple as this: if you stop your car when a cop wants to pull you over for a simple crime, the policeman will get out of car and approach your vehicle. By stomping on the gas pedal as they approach on foot, you are all but guaranteed to escape the police as they have to hustle back to their car in order to pursue you...but you're already gone.
I car-jacked plenty of cars with a police vehicle in sight to no effect, but I was constantly stopped by the cops while attempting to lock-pick my way into a parked car. On one occasion, I was held at gunpoint after trying to break into a car, paid a bribe, went right back to lock-picking, got stopped again, paid the bribe again, and then realized that I was at the beginning of an endless cycle of petty crime and bribery. While it could be argued that the crooked cops were using it as an opportunity for self-gain, the complete erase of the crime per the bribe just didn't seem right. At a certain point I should have been locked up for sheer criminal incompetence.
The game tries to tell a big story, but as the final line of dialog was delivered I couldn't help but want to hear just one more line to wrap everything up. It's difficult to cram so many years into just a few chapters without making the entire saga feel rushed. Certain chapters covered such little ground that it made it odd that other chapters dragged on for so long. The story arc is definitely there and features some satisfying twists, but there are definitely some cliches from the genre and cut corners where questions might be asked. But I will say this: Mafia II features one of the most gruesome and surprising hits I've ever seen in any iteration of mobster fiction. You'll know it if you see it.
I completed a full playthrough of the game on medium difficulty in a sliver under ten hours. As the credits rolled I felt like I had experienced everything I'd wanted to see in the game, as the open world didn't offer me more to do than crush a few cars, rob some stores, collect a few items of clothing, and seek out vintage issues of Playboy Magazine. While the game world is a beautiful testament to a bygone era, the full experience just needs...more. You're all but guaranteed to enjoy many parts of this game, but the full experience just isn't there.
There's something to be said for a game that can stand the test of time. Final Fantasy XI Online dates back to 2002, when it was originally released in Japan. Clearly inspired by the influential massively multiplayer PC game EverQuest, FFXI infused the online role-playing formula with the distinctive look and feel of Square Enix's hugely popular franchise. The game naturally attracted thousands of players, many of whom stuck with FFXI over the long haul, since it featured a deep character class system and a huge, evolving world to explore. However, it's simply impossible to look at FFXI for the Xbox 360 in the same way as the previously released PC and PlayStation 2 versions. Paradoxically, that's because this latest translation of the game is essentially no different than the others. It makes no concessions whatsoever to take advantage of the Xbox 360, and it practically goes out of its way to inconvenience and alienate new players. If you're addicted to FFXI already, now you can play it in HD on the Xbox 360 if you feel like buying another copy. But if you've avoided the game up until now, you'd best keep that up.
Final Fantasy XI for the Xbox 360 is essentially identical to the aging online RPG that's long since been available for the PC and PlayStation 2.
It's not that this is an inherently bad game--far from it. In theory, it offers tremendous lasting appeal, an incredibly vast world to explore, and lots of exciting character-development options. Despite borrowing the conventions of many other online role-playing games, FFXI has many unique traits and a distinctive style that can be very appealing. Most notably, the game features a whole slew of different character classes inspired by the Final Fantasy series, and eventually you can mix and match the abilities of these to suit your preference. From beastmasters to bards, the game's sheer variety of character options is remarkable, though initially (and for a while) only a few standard job types are available. Furthermore, FFXI offers plenty of story-driven content for those willing to undertake the numerous missions and quests that comprise the game's plot as well as its underlying political system, in which three rival nations struggle to control the world of Vana'diel. Tons of different trade guilds, a bazaar and auction house system, a huge variety of different weapons and equipment, and different modes of transportation, including massive airships and fast-running chocobos, also help add depth to the world.
However, the core of FFXI--and most online RPGs, for that matter--is exploration, combat, and leveling up. The game's sprawling environments and initially slow-paced combat makes the underlying action feel like a chore even early on. Inevitably, you'll want to find a group of like-minded players and hunker down to kill the same monsters over and over, in order to gain experience and level up in your chosen job. It's possible to change jobs at any time back at town--so if you're a 20th-level warrior, you can switch to being a black mage or a monk, though you'll wind up back at level one and basically have to start leveling up all over again. As if to force you to change jobs often, the game limits you to just one character slot, unless you pay extra on top of an already fairly steep monthly fee. Considering you're probably already paying for an Xbox Live Gold account, the need to pay a monthly fee is a considerable disincentive. For what it's worth, you don't need to have a paid Xbox Live account to play this game, though.
What you do need is a great deal of spare time and patience...and a USB keyboard, since typing is really the only effective way to communicate with other players in the game. Just beginning play for the very first time literally takes close to three hours, from the hour it takes just to install the game to your Xbox 360 hard drive (the game gobbles up more than a third of the total amount of free space on that thing), to the hour it takes to update the game files once you connect, to the hour it takes to enter about half a dozen registration codes and, finally, spending a few minutes to create your character. Like other versions of FFXI, this game is unfortunately saddled within Square Enix's PlayOnline viewer, a shell that provides you with a free e-mail address and some other completely unnecessary services. It must be an inextricable part of the game, but all it does here is make it more difficult for you to jump into a session of FFXI.
Once you're in the game, you'd better get comfortable, because the slow pacing means you'll have little to show for your time spent unless you play for at least several hours at a time. You'll also find it's almost impossible to make progress after a while unless you join a well-coordinated group of players. And after you manage to find an adequate group and start slowly grinding your way toward your next level, killing monster after monster, you'll naturally pressure each other to keep playing. In the past few years, online role-playing games have evolved to cater to more types of players, by doing a better job of accommodating people with less time on their hands or those who prefer the option to play solo. Such games as World of Warcraft and City of Heroes have attempted to become less restrictive, easier to get into, better looking, and simply more fun than their predecessors. By comparison, a game like FFXI feels like work, not play. No wonder the game's character classes are called jobs.
Another issue worth mentioning is that, for better or worse, FFXI throws all kinds of different players into the mix. That means you'll run into Japanese players running the PS2 version of the game, American players running the PC version of the game, and so on. Most of them have probably been at it for months already, so don't expect much sympathy as you try to learn the ropes. Don't expect the game to do a good job of teaching you the ropes, either. The manual spends about as much time explaining the registration process as it does telling you how to play, and the game itself pretty much drops you into the world without any instruction. At least the PlayOnline service itself offers some advice, though in FFXI, you'll have to learn most everything the hard way...or hope that an experienced player is kind enough to walk you through some of the finer points of etiquette, grouping, combat, macros, travel, and so on. Prepare for a frustrating uphill battle just trying to get your bearings in Vana'diel.
If you can get past the extremely steep learning curve, FFXI does offer a tremendous amount of content to explore.
Part of what's traditionally made online role-playing games so enticing is the promise of feeling totally immersed in authentic fantasy worlds. In other words: good graphics. If nothing else, it's nice for a really time-consuming game to look attractive, since you're going to be staring at it for so long. When FFXI was first released for the PC and PS2, it looked great, thanks to some signature Final Fantasy touches. Those very same graphics on the Xbox 360 don't look so hot anymore, though. Short of bumping up the resolution to support widescreen HD displays, nothing was done to make this game presentable by the Xbox 360's standards. You can still look forward to some decent character graphics and environments, but this game looks seriously below par, and rough edges like an inexplicably uneven frame rate and distant objects suddenly popping up on the horizon hurt it further. Thankfully, the audio has stood the test of time better. The game's got a great soundtrack, and makes effective use of surround-sound audio systems if you've got one.
For all the problems that make this game so hard to approach, the allure of so much content to explore may still compel you to give the game a shot. With your purchase of FFXI for the Xbox 360 come three different expansion packs in addition to the core game. The Rise of the Zilart expansion shipped with all previous North American versions of the game, and introduced several new high-level character classes (the dragoon, the samurai, and the ninja) as well as new places to explore. The subsequent Chains of Promathia expansion catered exclusively to high-level players, offering them much more story-driven content to experience. The newest expansion, released alongside the Xbox 360 version of FFXI, is Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and it adds still more job types to the mix: the blue mage, the corsair, and the puppetmaster. Since changing your character's job fundamentally affects how you play, these additions are naturally exciting. High-level players will also naturally want to explore the dusty new lands of Aht Urhgan, including its vast fortress city. However, while each of these expansion packs add substantial amounts of content, none of them are likely to even come into play until you've already invested dozens of hours in the game. So while FFXI has grown over time, it hasn't really evolved. One of these expansion packs might have done something about the interface or the graphics, for example.
FFXI has always been a source of controversy among fans of the series, simply because it's the first game in the series proper to stray from Final Fantasy's roots. However, FFXI still had the air and allure of a Final Fantasy game to attract a fiercely loyal following, and the gameplay hooked them. Yet whatever mystique there was surrounding FFXI is gone now, and what's left is a great, big game that's almost intolerably cumbersome. If you're very brave, masochistic, or stubborn, you might find some rewarding experiences in FFXI. But chances are good that you won't. Considering this is the first time the Final Fantasy series has appeared on the Xbox, it's hard not to feel sorely disappointed by the slapdash job done in clumsily pushing this game onto the 360.
Sony's Gran Turismo may still sit in the pole position among racing sims for many, but Microsoft is making a hard charge with Forza Motorsport 3. Developer Turn 10 has adopted a new philosophy for Forza 3: Make it accessible. The result is a hardcore simulation racing title that can also be enjoyed by the most casual of fans. The career mode is easy to get into but offers an immense challenge; you can auto-tune every car or dive into a rich set of tuning options; and driving can be toggled between a simple point-and-go system and the most physics-driven sim every created.
It starts with the cars, of course. Forza 3 has more than 400 vehicles you can take for a spin and the crazy part is, they're all unlocked from the outset. That's right, with the exception of a few cars available only to those who pre-order Forza 3, every car on the disc can be driven from the get-go. Sure, you'll need to earn some credits to make your purchases, but if you can drum up a million creds, you can take the Bugatti Veyron for a spin. If you've played racing games your entire life, this fact alone may just blow your stack. It goes against everything we've ever thought about racing games. You're supposed to start with crappy cars, suffer through a few hours of slow-paced driving, then graduate to a sleeker class of vehicle. Well, Forza 3 is throwing racing conventions out the window. Hallelujah.
Even if you were stuck with the lower-end cars for the first few hours, that wouldn't be as much of an issue with Forza 3. This game is fun from the outset. Though I've played dozens of hours with Forza 3, I still go back to the E and D class cars for some races, because there are so many good cars. This is largely due to the enhanced physics of Forza 3, which add a level of nuance not experienced in most racing games.
The tire physics are so greatly improved (and include real-time deformation), that you get a true understanding of how your car is reacting at every turn. With all of the driving assists turned off, you can feel the difference from one car to the next. And though you'll race the same tracks quite often, the experience changes from one car to the next.
Forza 3 Guide
A helpful breakdown of car tuning and advanced racing technique.
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I've always felt that you couldn't properly drive a car in a racing game with the assists off if you didn't have a racing wheel. While Forza 3 controls brilliantly with a wheel, I can assure you that you can play a hundred hours with just a controller and have no issues. Turn 10 has finally mastered the subtleties of the controller, allowing for better responsiveness.
If you're a novice or just like to take things easy, Forza 3 can satisfy your racing needs as well. Turn the different assists (such as traction control) on and you can still have a good time. The cars won't feel as unique, other than the speed, but you'll have no troubles being competitive. You can even go so far as to turn on auto-braking, which allows you to hold down the gas the entire race and let the AI brake for you whenever necessary. You can't throw green turtle shells at the other drivers, but it's pretty much Mario Kart at that point.
Mess up this corner and you can rewind and try again.
The great thing about Forza 3 is that it encourages even the novice to take off the training wheels and drive freely with the assists off. A rewind function allows you to instantly skip backwards in five-second intervals during a race. Misjudge your speed on a tight corner? Rewind. Get tapped from behind and spin out? Rewind. Your cat jumps on your face causing you to crash into a wall? Rewind. There's no penalty for using the rewind and no limit. Some might call this a "win" button, but I think the rewind is a crucial addition to Forza 3. It can become a crutch at times, but it also frees you to kick the difficulty up to a higher level and get a true appreciation for your car.
Nothing bolsters that appreciation more than the visuals. Forza 3 runs laps around its predecessor. The car models have an incredible level of detail, including unique interiors for each car. I will admit that the interiors could look a little better, but overall the car models are spectacular. There's also full damage modeling on every car. You'll see dings and dents, fender benders -- you'll even see cars flip in the air. Those with a sharp eye will catch damage decals flipping on as the car makes contact with something. When you're in the cockpit view and you tap someone with the left corner of your bumper and, like magic, paint scrape decals appear across the entire hood, it can be a little disconcerting.
Each car in Forza 3 has its own sounds, so that sitting behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 is a much different auditory experience than being in a Mustang Boss. And you'll give thanks for the roar of an engine when it drowns out the mediocre music selection.
I felt Forza 2 was lifeless and without spirit. That is not an issue with Forza 3. This is a game that showcases speed and beauty. The cars are sexy, the tracks look great, and the game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second. The lighting isn't always perfect -- you can often see shadows dancing around the car in some odd ways -- and a few times textures didn't load on the track. Despite these issues, Forza 3 is one hot looking game.
Adding some extra personality is the advanced livery editor. As a novice designer, I can't quite see what is new about the livery editor from Forza 2, but those who are experts should find it easier to make high-end art. The good news for the many of us without artistic talent is that the Monets of the Forza community can post their designs on the new online Storefront.
In the Storefront, you can purchase designs for specific cars or decals usable on any vehicle you own. Prices are set by the designers, as are the number of copies for sale. If someone wants to make a unique piece of art and sell it for 30 million credits, they can. And if someone wants to sell a limitless supply of Autobot decals on the cheap, that is also their choice. A ratings system helps create a leaderboard for designers, which you can search to find the biggest stars in the community. You can flag anyone as a favorite so you can easily browse their store for the latest designs.
Tuning is just like art design in Forza 3. Can I get a "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?" Seriously, tuning has been transformed into an artform and has similar functionality to liveries. Great tuners can create tuning sets and sell them on the Storefront. For those used to doing their own tuning, a word of warning. It is possible (even easy) to manually upgrade and tune your car in a way that actually worsens its performance. Basic tuning is easy to do, but delve deeper and you better know a lot about cars. That also means great tuners can help you maximize your car's performance better than you could ever manage.
And if all of that is too intimidating, you always have the option to auto-upgrade before a race. These upgrades will tune and upgrade your car to fit the track and race parameters. A great tuner can do even better by manually adjusting everything, but most gamers will find the auto-tune option good enough. The point of all of this is that the hardcore have a ton of ways to bury themselves in Forza 3 and the rest of us can click a few buttons and race. After all, isn't that why you bought a racing game?
The focal point of racing is the career mode. Forza's career mode is a series of seasons, each one longer than the last. The core career lasts six seasons, though you can continue on long after that. Each season has a bi-weekly championship race. These races are set for each season and are waiting for you every other Sunday. The rest of your career is completely dynamic.
For the two weeks between each championship race, you'll choose one event. Each event is broken up into a series of races. Some as few as three, others can be around a half-dozen races long. You are always given three event choices, but these change based on a number of factors: The cars you own, the car you're currently driving, and the race types you play the most. No two careers are alike. Having played deep into two different careers, I've seen firsthand how much seasons can change. Through six seasons, you'll race 55 events. There are more than 200 events in total. After powering through about 50 hours of gameplay to "beat" the career mode, you still have well over 150 more events to beat if you want to master Forza 3. It's insane. Because there are so many events (and a great variety at that), it's very easy to have two seasons turn out quite differently.
Completing races earns your driver experience points. For each level you're gifted a car. Free. No strings attached. The idea is to reward you for playing and encourage you to try new cars. Unlike the seasonal calendar, the car gifting is not dynamic. That means everyone who plays Forza 3 gets the same cars. You're free to buy any other cars you want (remember, nothing is locked), but certainly you will get behind the wheel of many of your gifted vehicles.
Each season gets exponentially longer. Season 2 is about twice the length of the first season and season 3 is the length of the first two put together. By the time you get to season 6, you'll be spending hours upon hours to beat each event. For me, this began to become a bit of a drag. As much as I enjoy Forza 3, I found the final season to be a real struggle to complete. What was joyous and new in the earlier seasons felt tedious by the end. Granted, many will never play long enough to reach this point and some will be thrilled at the endurance races that await, but for me, it wasn't as rewarding as the earlier seasons.
Of course, you won't be driving alone. Up to seven AI drivers will challenge you on the tracks. Forza 3 uses Turn 10's Drivatar system, which basically teaches the AI based on a player's driving style. It creates a dynamic AI that learns from you. That was in Forza 2. What is new is the AI pressure system. Get behind an AI car and, depending on the driver, they might make mistakes. You may see the AI spin-out on a turn, take a bad line, or make other noticeable errors. There are times when I play Forza 3 and forget that the AI is controlled by a computer. Often it feels like I am racing against real people, which I appreciate immensely.
The AI elements aren't perfect, however. One of Forza's biggest drawbacks is in its AI settings. There are numerous assists to alter how your car performs, but there are just three AI difficulty options: Easy, medium, and hard. Even for average drivers, medium will quickly prove too easy. But, for me, hard can be really hard at times. It leads to too many races that are either far too easy to win or seem almost impossible to compete in. If Forza 3 had one more setting between medium and hard, it would be perfect. But it doesn't and, for me, it hurts the balance over the course of the career mode.
Racing in formation? That's classy.
If, while playing through a season, you long for the company of other gamers, you can give the multiplayer a shot. Turn 10 went out of its way to offer a staggering level of customization. Multiplayer may be Forza 3's crowning achievement. This is the most robust multiplayer offering ever for a sim racing game. You can customize every aspect of a race, allowing you to easily create your own game types.
You can determine if cars get a head start, which car classes can be used for a certain team, and the qualifications for winning a race. This makes it very easy to set up a great game of cat and mouse, where the mice are trying to get to the finish line and the cats are out to take them down.
You can check out my recent look at Forza 3 multiplayer if you want more details on the customization options.
Closing Comments
Forza Motorsport 3 is an exemplary racing game. It's beautiful, the controls are spot-on, the career mode is satisfying, and the multiplayer component is awesome. But there's still room to grow. The visuals could be even better, the career mode sags at times, and there needs to be at least one more option for AI difficulty. Even with those concerns, Forza 3 is a big step forward for sim racing games. Turn 10 has thrown down the gauntlet and it will be a real challenge for Polyphony Digital to deliver a superior racer with Gran Turismo 5. After all, this is the best racing game of this generation. Good luck topping it.
Monolith Productions developed a love it or leave it title for the launch of Xbox 360 last year by the name of Condemned: Criminal Origins. While some loved the eerie presentation, others couldn't get past the slow melee combat. At the same time, and using some of the same development tools and assets, Monolith was also putting together a game for the PC called F.E.A.R. This critically acclaimed game had all of the spooky atmosphere of Condemned with some phenomenal AI, intense action and excellent graphics and sound. A year later, F.E.A.R. has found its way to Xbox 360 courtesy of Day 1, maintaining the excellent atmosphere and fast-paced combat giving console shooter fans the opportunity to experience one outstanding game.
F.E.A.R. starts off with a simple enough story. As a First Encounter Assault Recon member, you're sent in to investigate a man named Paxton Fettel who has a taste akin to Hannibal Lector. Since you've got reflexes that are "off the charts" you can employ a SlowMo bullet time power to help you get the drop on enemies that will cause you great headaches. This thin premise for having superpowers also provides reason to send you in alone. As is the case in these games, things don't go smoothly once you're on your own. You quickly jump into a paranormal quest to learn what exactly led to this strange turn of events and how you can put a stop to it.
While the story is passable, the method of delivery leaves something to be desired. Aside from very brief in-engine cutscenes that happen at the beginning of some of the levels, the story comes to you mainly through searching through the various buildings and offices for blinking lights on phones or laptop computers. Accessing these will fill you in on some of the details, but it is entirely auditory and oftentimes you'll merely get fluff for your exploratory efforts.
The game isn't really about the story though. With a cheesy acronym staring you in the face from the get-go, you might expect as much. It really is more of an amalgamation of three methods of game delivery; puzzle, combat and scare sequences. The puzzles are there just to break up the action and allow you to keep your sanity. The scare and combat sections, though, can match up with the best of them.
Take that Sam Fisher...oh wait.
One of the real strengths F.E.A.R. has is that it is genuinely scary, something you won't often find even in the so-called "survival horror" games. Whether the scare tactic is the classic startling image quickly popping up, grotesque dismembering of unfortunate souls, or lights being played with just to mess with you, you'll find your fight or flight response at full tilt. We've had numerous people in the office who have had to stop playing F.E.A.R. from the horror getting too intense and it has become somewhat of a running gag to sneak up on someone playing and scare them from behind.
The graphics and sound in F.E.A.R also work amazingly well together to draw the player into the world. Turn the lights off, crank up your surround sound and pop the game in on a cold and rainy night and you'll see just what we mean. The great use and absence of lighting along with constant eerie sounds will keep you wondering what might lie ahead. These intense sensory experiences do a fantastic job of drawing you into the game and making you forget that you're playing a game with some somewhat questionable premises. It all builds up to F.E.A.R having you so engrossed in the game that when the fright does come, it hits home.
The fantastic AI present in the PC version has made its way over to the console world intact. Enemies come in squads and react to their environment, your actions and each other. They'll advance when they have numbers, kicking over bookshelves to create their own cover along the way. Kill a couple of them and they'll pull back and call for backup. Try to hide in a corner while your SlowMo gauge refills and you'll find a grenade bouncing to your feet. On the other hand, rushing out into the open will cause the entire squad to stand up and start firing away with their automatic weaponry. It all boils down to the enemies feeling real as opposed to simply following scripted actions as we've see so often.
Armored Troopers will not go quietly.
This AI provides for some seriously intense battles where you'll be relying on your SlowMo reflexes in a desperate hope for survival. To fight back, you're given a nice selection of weapons that each behave differently and enable you to approach battles with the right tools for your playing style. The shotgun is useful throughout the game and to back it up you've got weapons that range from the standard pistol, to repeating cannons, to the devastating sniper-like particle cannon. The effects of these weapons are nothing but extreme gore. Enemies shot in the right place will have arms, legs or even their heads blown off. That is, of course, if the impact doesn't make them explode into a cloud of blood and guts. Nothing beats firing a giant stake into an enemy's head and watching it impale them on the wall as their body dangles lifelessly below.
The only real drawback to the campaign mode is the somewhat repetitive scenery. While most of the game takes place in dimly lit rooms and halls, what you can see is almost exclusively office spaces and construction zones. It can get tiring and was a major turn-off for many people who played through the PC version. One of the other slight disappointments in the game, its length, actually mitigates the issue somewhat. The game can be finished in roughly 10 hours so you'll be done with the campaign before you really get tired of what you're seeing. Another note about length: There are four levels of difficulty in F.E.A.R. and Day 1 set most of the Achievements quite high. Playing through on the hardest difficulty level will gain you the most Achievement points, but it will be tough.
This review may seem like treading over old news if you've played through F.E.A.R. on the PC, so we'll get to what has been changed and added. The instantly recognizable additions are the new Instant Action mode and bonus mission. The Instant Action mode puts you into pure combat situations in environments drawn from various parts of the campaign mode and scores you on a variety of factors including enemies killed, health packs in your inventory and accuracy. At the end, you can post your score on the Xbox Live Leaderboards to see just how well you stack up against the world. Separate scoreboards exist for each difficulty level and can be sorted to see who has posted the best score in the past week as well as all time. This mode is pure fun and great for seeing how the AI will react differently depending upon how you approach a situation. This addition greatly extends the shelf life of a game that has an otherwise relatively short single player mode. The same can't be said about the bonus mission. While we're not complaining about more missions, this one is fairly short and just allows you to play out a short bit of side story and try your hand at some tough combat.
I think you got him.
A new machine pistol is present, as well, but anybody who has played F.E.A.R. knows that the shotgun is the best way to go through the bulk of the campaign mode. Those who have played F.E.A.R. will notice a few more subtle tweaks that enhance the gameplay in a much better way than the simple addition of a new weapon, cool though it may be. Everything that was loose in F.E.A.R. on PC has been tightened up for the console release. While the rag-doll Havok-induced physics present some fantastic death animations, the engine was a little too loose on the PC and you often found downed enemies shaking on the ground after you killed them. On the PC, we found that a simple melee attack aimed at a dead enemy's head would cause it to spin in a most inhuman fashion. All of this has been tidied up for Xbox 360. While you still get some awe-inspiring death animations as bodies go tumbling through the air or simply explode, objects appear to have a slightly more realistic weight to them.
The controls are obviously different from the PC, but they map to the 360 controller quite well. The stick sensitivity has been turned down from the much faster default setting on the PC to one that is much tighter enabling you to aim with accuracy. The sensitivity can be changed through the menu if you find the defaults aren't to your liking. You can also adjust the button configurations between five different options, though there isn't any way to play with a southpaw or legacy setup.
F.E.A.R. on PC forced you to make full use of the quick save option since you never knew just when you were going to run into another fight. The save anywhere feature has been dropped for the console in lieu of a checkpoint system. The checkpoints work perfectly as they're positioned slightly prior to or just after major action sequences. Thus death doesn't mean replaying long stretches of the game.
The multiplayer side of F.E.A.R. plays in much the same way as it did on PC. There are a few new maps, but the game modes are the same. Those are your standard deathmatch, capture the flag, and elimination (along with team variants of each). The other mode unique to F.E.A.R. allows one person to control the SlowMo by maintaining possession of a booster with the penalty of becoming highlighted on everyone else's HUD.
Paranormal happenings abound.
The multiplayer game is set for up to 16 players, though you'll only be able to play one person per console. There is no co-operative mode and you can only take one person online at a time. There also isn't any system link option, so if you're without an Xbox Live account you're out of luck for multiplayer action.
Still, F.E.A.R. multiplayer on Xbox 360 maintains many of the customization options that PC gamers typically enjoy, such as the host's ability to adjust winning conditions, running speed, weapon restrictions and even point rewards and penalties for specific actions. Turning the running speed up to 1.5 makes the game move in a hectic Quake-like manner and brings the action to a level close to total insanity. We're fans, made even more so by the lack of lag during our online experience with the retail copy.
F.E.A.R.'s multiplayer is fun and has some excellent options for tweaking the game, but it has a serious hiccup in the lobby. That being the lack of a post-game lobby. As soon as you finish a game, you'll be kicked back out to the menu screen without so much as a chance to say goodbye. This happens even on unranked matches where you are presumably playing with friends making it more than a little frustrating to get into an extended online session with some buddies. When asked about any plans to update this, we were told that none were in the pipeline as of yet.
Caerful, there's a little bit of broken glass.
As we've stated before, the graphics are a sight to behold. Although the environments are repetitive, a great attention to detail is present that brings the world to life. Everything looks realistic with great models and textures, making the imagery that much more disturbing. The lighting keeps you in the dark, pun intended, as to what you'll come across next. It encourages you to explore nooks with your flashlight in hopes of finding just one more health pack. The lighting also adds enough to the atmosphere to keep you on the edge of your seat and isn't just there for looks. You'll find many of the lighting tricks help add to the sense of impending danger that comes so often throughout F.E.A.R.
If the graphics are good, the sound is exceptional. Put this game in a home theater that can handle 5.1 surround sound and you have one great auditory experience. Trickling water, droning bass, and giant explosions that come out of nowhere break the silence in ways that will suck you into the game and then quickly shake you out of your trance. Even the generic elevator music you'll hear periodically throughout the game hits you in a way that is oddly unsettling. F.E.A.R. was the runner-up to the IGN PC Channels award for "Best use of Sound" last year with good reason; and it all holds up on Xbox 360.
So long World War II. Hello modern warfare! Call of Duty has made the leap from the heroics of the greatest generation to a horrifying vision of the future in CoD4, and the results are pretty darn spectacular. The single-player campaign is filled with tight gameplay and great moments you’ll want to play again and again, and the multiplayer is some of the deepest and most satisfying around. Call of Duty 4 is a great game that is highly recommended.
Quick Hits
* Title: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
* Platform:Xbox 360
* Publisher: Activision
* Developer: Infinity Ward
* ESRB Rating: “M” for Mature
* Genre: FPS
* Pros: Great presentation; fun single-player filled with amazing moments; solid multiplayer
* Cons: Same ol’ (good) Call of Duty gameplay but with a new skin; no co-op
Gameplay
From a gameplay perspective, Call of Duty 4 feels pretty much like CoD2 and 3. The controls are the same, and other things like the grenade danger indicator are all present and accounted for. One area where CoD4 is a bit different is that it seems to be much faster paced than the previous games in the series. Thanks to a very generous lock on system where you can just tap the left trigger and your gun automatically moves to the next target (this can be turned off if you want), you can clear buildings and power through firefights extremely quickly. Personally, I really like this because it makes you truly feel like a badass. You are playing as a fully trained and highly skilled soldier, and the gameplay really makes you feel like one. It is absolutely a thrill to enter a room and kill three guys in less than three seconds with precision bursts. The whole game is just smooth and easy to control and absolutely satisfying.
""Activision
Single-Player
The Call of Duty games have always had great single-player experiences, and CoD4 is no different. It clocks in at only 6-7 hours, but it is filled with amazing moments that are going to be absolutely worth replaying. You play as a few different characters through the game, but you are always a member of a small but highly trained squad that can get in, do their job, and get away safely. You cover a lot of fairly varied terrain, and the straight up FPS shooting is broken up with vehicle gunner segments, quiet mission where stealth is the key, and a couple of sniper missions that are probably my favorite two missions in any FPS ever. It also needs to be noted that your AI squadmates are actually really smart and really skilled and can more than hold their own.
Multiplayer
As good as the campaign is, the Xbox Live multiplayer is where you will probably spend most of your time if you are a hardcore FPS fan. It comes with plenty of maps and game types for up to 18 players, and you can choose from a ton of options to make the game play pretty much how you like. CoD4 is more of a slow paced, Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon style of game rather than the run and gun style of Halo and isn’t going o be as immediately accessible for players. It is far more satisfying in the long run for dedicated players than Halo, however, thanks to the experience and perk system that rewards you with new skills and abilities the more you play. All in all, CoD4 is a blast to play online that offers some of the deepest and most rewarding multiplayer you’ll find.
Graphics and Sound
Without a doubt, Call of Duty 4 is one of the nicest looking games on the Xbox 360. The environments are really the stars of the show here, and the battle damaged cities, building interiors, forests, and grassy fields all look realistic and great. The lighting effects are also spectacular and really set everything off.
The sound is also impressive all around. Great music, great sound effects, and mostly great voice acting make CoD4 a treat for the ears as well as the eyes.
Bottom Line
Call of Duty 4 has been in the works for a long time at Infinity Ward, and all of the effort has definitely been worth it. It has a fantastic single-player campaign, a fun and deeply rewarding multiplayer game, and wraps it all up in some of the best graphics and sound on the Xbox 360. My only real complaint is that there is no co-op play. The campaign is so fun and exciting and having a friend along for the ride would have made this already great game truly exceptional. That issue aside, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a fantastic game that is highly recommended for a purchase.
If you have ever wondered what it is like to track and kill a dangerous, man-eating lion or bear, you might want to look somewhere other than Cabela's Big Game Hunter for a realistic look at it. Despite the outdoorsman cred the Cabela name adds to the title, there is very little to this hunting game that feels remotely accurate.
Hunting seems like a genre screaming for first-person view so you feel as through you are right there. Instead, Big Game Hunter pulls you out of the equation; giving you a third-person perspective and a grizzled hunter character to control. It gives the game a tiny bit of a story, but a hunting game does not need a narrative or story to explain why or what you are doing. While wandering around the landscapes of Montana, British Columbia, New Zealand, and Africa, you will notice ever-present crosshairs in the center of the screen. The sights turn red when on an animal, and pulling the left trigger pulls up your scope view for a better look at the animal. Someone has evidently taken a census of each area prior to your arrival, because each animal you have your crosshairs on instantly lists a highly detailed description of it; including weight, age, and sex.
Animals are abundant in the game, but you will have to show some restraint. The one piece of realism the game provides, outside of your gear, is the need for hunting tags. You will get either tags or permission for each animal you kill. The game will offer warnings for animals you do not have permission to kill, but after the third 'mistake', it is game over. When you do have tags for an animal, after you shoot it, your 'adrenaline' meter goes up. It seems strange the first time you see it, and eventually proves to be downright asinine. After racking up a few animals, your meter becomes full, and you are ready to press the left bumper to use it.
When you use 'adrenaline', everything except your gun stops moving. This turns animals, quite literally, sitting ducks. The effect is exciting in action games, like Stranglehold and Max Payne, but that is because there are enemy bullets to dodge. No such danger in Big Game Hunter exists, making it an unnecessary, unsportsmanlike gimmick. It is even less a necessity when you start noticing just how eager the animals in the game are for their 'big shot'. All too often, animals stop and pose for you to shoot them while they stare at you. There are plenty of moving targets for you to shoot at, but they never seem too interested in getting away from the area; choosing instead to alternate twenty-seconds of running with five-seconds of standing still.
If that does not make your hunts easy enough, animals are not only unfazed by the ringing gunshots as you take down one of their brethren; they seem intrigued by it, flocking in mass towards your area. If there is one element of hunting that should remain realistic, it is that animals are scared of people and loud noises. Somehow, the developers loose track of this simple fact of nature. The result is swarms of animals to shoot at and the occasional animal that will readily walk right past you as though looking for food.
In the rare event that you are unable to find any of species you need to shoot, you have a few helpful tools at your disposal. The most realistic and common sense of them is your inventory, which contains hunting tools from duck calls to fighting antlers to species specific scents to draw in your prey. The other 'weapon' at your disposal is 'hunter sense'. Not only do the developers think that your father was Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, they believe that your mother was the alien in Predator. A half-Neo, half-Predator lovechild sounds like an interesting scenario for a game, but it makes a mess of a hunting simulation. Pressing the right bumper unveils your 'hunter sense', and changes the landscape to a strange black and white heat-sensing mode where you mysteriously 'know' where the animals are hiding.
The game replaces the patience required for finding animals to hunt with an incredible amount of pointless walking from spot to spot. Frequently, you must walk from one spot to the next to talk to someone about your hunting. When you get there, the person will ask you to go hunt some specific animals with tags they provide. The animals in question are typically right back where you started. The game adds these annoying little treks through the wilderness as a way to extend the gameplay, which still clocks in at only three hours for all hunts. It stretches gameplay to the point it is half-hunting, half-hiking simulator.
The walks would not be so bad if it were not for terrible level design, forcing you to stay exactly where the developers want you to at all times. The shortest path may be a straight line, but that would leave the game in the two-hour range for game time. Instead, the developers make impassable obstacles like a flower or small shrub, leaving your hunter unable to walk through, even though you just climbed up a steep hill and climbed a ninety-degree rock wall. The walks from one location to the next are still manageable thanks to your map, unless you are playing on 'expert' difficulty, where the game's idea of an 'expert' hunter is an unprepared one. Each map makes it look like your hunting area is huge, but it is easy to walk from one side of the map to the other in a few minutes, even with the constant 'impassable' flowers and shrubs.
You are never required even to call someone to collect your animals, perhaps because they disappear on their own after lying on the ground for thirty seconds. Mind numbing repetition replaces the mundane tasks of hunting. Each 'season' plays the same. Immediately speak to someone to get tags, learn that you need to shoot a few of animal 'A' before they will give you tags for animal 'B'. Complete both, while taking out a handful of birds along the way in optional mini-games, before finally getting to take out the area's 'trophy' animal, which has been conveniently marked as such on the previously mentioned census.
If you are lucky, something that can actually kill you attacks you just before you leave. These bits of excitement are 'rival hunt' events, and happen unexpectedly at the end of a few seasons. Each plays out nearly identical, with a large, dangerous animal trying to make you his dinner. You have to keep an eye on where the animal is at all times. If you are facing the right direction when they are charging towards you, the game flashes a message asking you to hit either B or X to dodge the attack. Hit the button in time, and your acrobatic hunter gets to his feet with the animal growling fiercely, and conveniently standing completely still, for about ten seconds. Since these are not your ordinary deer or water buffalo, they take around eight to ten shots to defeat; with yourself defeated if you fail to dodge half-dozen attacks.
Though the difficulty ramps up slightly as you shoot your way through, it is a ridiculously easy game that makes you long for hourly rentals. Despite the fact that the trophy animals are eventually grazing with other similar animals, and the fact that smaller animals are rough to spot in the winter, the game still clocks in at well short of earning even your rental dollars. With the career mode over so quickly, the game only offers the opportunity to start over or play ultra-brief 'quick hunt' modes in the same environments, though this time with only one animal to tag.
The game is graphically inept. Animals look like bad wax museum copies of themselves, often looking bad enough that it is possible to confuse a tree stump and a deer from one-hundred yards out. The hunting locations fare a little better, but the game suffers from technical issues that causes items to render too closely to you. It often appears as though grass is constantly growing a few feet in front of you while walking. The human models look decent enough, but your hunter frequently suffers from jittery animations that leave you questioning whether he should really be handling a gun. Sonically, the game receives better voice work than it deserves. There is not much in the way of speaking, but at least they got the accents right for the different countries you visit. The ambient noise is cranked up a bit too loud, often sounding as though you are hunting from the middle of your local zoo's birdhouse.
At least you will not be plugging away for hours in search of Achievement Points, although the game seems to muck up even this small task. The one-shot kill achievements on the trophy targets is either badly broken, or the game refuses to count badly missed and non-lethal hits. At least this is in your favor, unlike the long-shot Achievements, which seems to ignore the fact that the maps themselves are limited in space, not counting the terrain that prevents you from scoping an animal from that far.
Cabela's Big Game Hunt is fails to deliver on all fronts, failing to provide a realistic hunting simulation or at least compelling gameplay.
About a year ago, Criterion Studios launched Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360, a stellar addition to the popular Burnout franchise. The game took the series in a great new sandbox direction, offering a large city to explore and new missions to take on however the player wanted to. Additionally, the game featured some pretty nice multiplayer features, allowing players to drop into the same environment and either take on driving missions or simply mess around within the game’s environment. However, the game was lacking in one area: it didn’t allow for more than one player on the same console.
With the newly released Party Pack, EA Games and Criterion Studios are looking to breathe some new life into the year-old game. Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is a compilation of the original game and the new Party Pack (which is also available as DLC via Xbox LIVE for previous owners of Burnout Paradise). While the original game is mostly just as you remember it (save for a few nice new additions, but more on those in a bit), the new Party Pack feature is actually a pretty fun new element to the game’s multiplayer component. While the Party Pack isn’t likely to turn you into a fan of the game unless you already were one, it’s still a nice touch.
Instead of going into the pros and cons of Burnout Paradise, I’ll instead direct you to our review of the game from last year (http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r30639.htm). The rating still stands today, as Burnout Paradise was and still is one very ambitious and engaging racing title.
There have been some new improvements implemented into the original game, like the ability to restart an event, which is an addition that was way overdue. Additionally, the Ultimate Box features not only the new Party Pack, but the Cagney and Bikes updates on disc as well.
The Party Pack is basically a multiplayer suite that allows up to eight players to engage in several pass-the-pad style games that only require the use of one controller. You begin Party mode by selecting the number of players you want to play as, and then customizing them with their own name and photo, if you have a USB camera hooked up to your Xbox 360.
Party mode is divided into three different game types: Skill, Stunt, and Speed. The event types are pretty self-explanatory, as Skill events require you to drive dexterously and perform drifts and other technically impressive moves, Stunt events require that you perform tricks like barrel rolls while in air, and Speed simply requires you to make the fastest time. There is a real random feel to the Party mode, as you aren’t able to choose your specific events nor the win conditions as you play, which could help newcomers take on seasoned vets in different situations.
As the added Party Pack feature is available as a free download, there is no reason for current Burnout Paradise owners to pick up the Ultimate Box. Additionally, the Ultimate Box is only available at European retail, meaning that US gamers will have to settle for buying the original game and downloading the new content from Xbox LIVE. Still, the original Burnout Paradise is still one of the premier racing titles on the Xbox 360, and the new Party Pack download is a nice touch for those looking for a reason to pull their copy from the shelf for some multiplayer action.
Review Scoring Details for Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
Gameplay: 8.5
The basic elements of the gameplay haven’t been changed much from the original title, but the new Party mode is a nice addition to the already stellar racing title.
Graphics: 8.5
Pretty sharp graphically, but no noticeable difference from the original game.
Sound: 8.5
Unchanged from last year.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 8.5
The Party Pack takes an element that was sorely missing from the original game (same-system multiplayer) and implements it well.
Multiplayer: 8.5
The Party mode finally allows up to 8 players to take each other on via the same system, and the random nature of the events works well in party situations.
Overall: 8.5
If you aren’t a fan of Burnout Paradise, then the Party Pack won’t change your mind. However, if you’re looking for some fun, new multiplayer elements (not to mention free), then give the Party Pack a download. Additionally, if you skipped out on Burnout Paradise altogether when it released last year, then the Ultimate Box is a worthy investment.
