MEMBER PROFILE FOR AmpedRider
Average Overall Score Given: 8.66667 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 1141
Reviews
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Overall: Without a doubt, Deus Ex was one of the most popular PC games of its time. The mix of action, stealth, and role playing went a long way in putting the game in good favor with gamers around the globe. It seems like Ion Storm took the bait and came out with the long awaited sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War. Invisible War is the highly anticipated sequel to the original and manages to build on everything that was good about its predecessor, providing one of the best gameplay experiences ever brought into your household and played in your Xbox.If you played the original, you?ll feel right at home in the dreary future that this game takes place in. It?s a world of technological feats, conspiracy and decisions. However in this game you will finally be allowed to customize your own character, so you can play as a female if you wish. Which ever gender you choose, you?ll play as one Alex D. who possesses enhanced abilities via little things called ?BioMods.? These will definitely be put to good use during gameplay, and they are part of what makes Alex so special. JC Denton, the main character from the first game, has a few minor parts tying into this new sequel.
Gameplay: Deus Ex: Invisible War takes place twenty years after the original and uses many elements of the original as the back story. This doesn't make having played Deus Ex a necessity, but it doesn't hurt either. The only important thing to know is that JC Denton (the hero from the original) caused a massive worldwide Collapse. The other events are up to you to discover.
Invisible War opens with a massive terrorist attack on Chicago. You play as Alex Denton, a student at the Tarsus Academy, who is forced to evacuate to Seattle after the attack. After a second attack on the Tarsus Academy in Seattle, you are drawn into a massive conflict between religious fanatics and businessmen. The overall story arc is very deep and confronts a number of big issues like the role of religion, or more to the point -- should one religion be mandatory; the role of science, its place in the world and playing 'god'; and human rights. I cannot go deep into the story of DE:IW because my role in this game can be totally different than the role you choose.
The main concept behind Deus Ex: The Invisible War is to mend your own tale by traveling through the numerous different story paths depending on how you choose to solve puzzles, deal with enemies or handle other situations. Nearly every aspect of the game can be handled in at least two or three ways, or perhaps even more depending on other decisions you've made earlier. The whole feel to Deus Ex is more of a morrowind type and less of a first person shooter which gives it a total unique aspect of an RPG/Adveture game. If a mission calls for you to break into an office or anywhere for that matter, you can choose to sneak in and grab them without anyone knowing (ala splinter cell) or pull a max payne and annihilate the enemies inside the place -- leaving a trail of destruction in your wake. The amazing thing about this game is that you can go through the entire game without killing a single sole, although who would want to do that.
The simply amazing gameplay aspect of Invisible War is how you plan to develop your character and explore his own abilities. You can compare that style to KOTR even though Deus Ex takes a more involved role in developing your character based on his actions. Invisible War gauges your actions and creates a game world based on those decisions. As the player, this requires you to use that thing we like to call a brain before your actions are carried through. You must also think through the logical consequences of what you are about to do, meaning kill a cop get the whole !&%$@#* squad after you. Sure, it might look like a good idea to shoot that police officer, but it will come to bite you right in the !&%$@#* later on in the game. Your actions will not only have some implications on you, but will affect others. If you choose to let someone live, they could just as well turn out to have a reason to kill you later on in the game. Little things like this create a very cool dynamic that really makes you feel like you're part of the game. It gives you the ?what if? feeling that all games should give you. Invisible War does such an awesome job at drawing you into the game that you will become your character not only while playing but you will start to think like its your life. You'll develop relationships with non-playable characters and care what happens to them, which will also play into the decisions that you make during the game. You stop thinking about how cool this would be if I did this and start to think that you must survive this terrible tragedy.
This is what set Deus Ex apart from other games and what helps to make Invisible War such a unique experience. You're not playing the game to just shoot stuff. Instead, you have a reason for engaging in combat (if you choose to do so). The experience is defined by you, not the developer.
Graphics: Deus Ex: Invisible War looks phenomenal. As you travel though the game's worlds, it is amazing just how much detail environments contain, even the floor looks great. One of the more appealing things, was how functional every level looked. Instead of roaming through random caverns and unmarked hallways, Invisible War puts you right in the middle of apartment buildings and city streets. This does a lot for the overall feeling the game portrays. The level of detail even spills out into other areas of the game. Its outstanding how real the rooms you travel through look. Character models look just as good as their surroundings, although there are a few times where the facial animations, in particular mouth movements, look stilted and lagged behind words. One of the highlights of the game is the lighting engine. The lighting is definitely on the Splinter Cell level of things, making it a stupendous looking game. The subtle shadows and light that play in each level add a nice life and atmosphere to the game's levels.
However I do have a minor complaint about the selection of character models, they are very limited. Deus Ex needed a modeling system customized for Deus Ex, not just a few heads here and there. This is minor and doesn't lose any points for the game, but the selection is so slim it's almost not worth offering anything beyond choosing male or female. In fact, that's pretty much all you're offered -- only with the added selection of three skin tones of increasing ethnicity. But, like I said, this isn't that big of a deal since you only see your character during select story sequences. One huge complaint of mine is the framerate, it seems to drop below 30 FPS, although this is minor it keeps Invisible War from getting a perfect score of 10.
Audio: As with the original Deus Ex the soundtrack in this game is great. I did notice some things when listening to other people have conversations that there was a significant, unnatural pause between when one person talked and when the other person responded. Playing the game with a more stealthy approach, I liked how I was able to hear footsteps as they moved closer or further away so I could judge whether or not to make a break for it. Also, as cheesy as the one liners that the guards would throw out saying something about how he lost me were a great help to know that I can move out of hiding, for example. The music is generally quite good - I particularly enjoyed the tracks from the game's fictional pop star NG Resonance. It was nice hearing the original Deus Ex theme on the main menu, as well. The sound effects, however, are merely adequate. The gunshots and explosions lack oomph, and there's no environmental sound at all, which makes the cityscapes in the game seem completely dead. Likewise, the voice acting, across the board, has no emotion behind it, and the actors all sound bored.
Suggestions: Another one
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack
Overall: The controversial Grand Theft Auto series has been announced and cancelled, than re-announced for Microsoft?s baby the Xbox. Finally it has made its way to the big green Xbox. Grand Theft Auto has quite a name and a reputation for being a PS2 and PC only game, its been ported over to the PC from Sony?s Playstation 2 and now that its made the port over to the Xbox it looks !&%$@#* good. Rockstar is bringing all the love over to the Xbox with the major improvements over the PS2 version of the game.Gameplay: The Gameplay in Grand Theft Auto III and Vice is one hell of a unique experience giving the player a true open ended crime game. Many games have tried to match GTA?s feel of open ended gameplay and have lacked the overall enjoying feel that GTA gives the player. The game lets you drive around and kill the innocent people of the world, run over those skanky hookers or play through the story. Playing through the story is unique because the game gives you the option to play through the missions in almost any order you would like.
The story follows a small time criminal tying to make a name for himself in the underground world. Most missions are driving yourself or someone from one point to another, taking out a local gang or even doing taxi missions to make a little extra cash. The games cutscenes aren?t great but they are an improvement over the PS2 version of the game where the characters don?t have fingers only blocks for hands. Grand Theft Auto?s controls are very impressive and handle excellent when the conditions of the road or vehicle change. The layout of the controls is also setup nice with the R button your accelerate and fire along with L as target and break.
Graphics: A few alterations have been made to better fit these designer pants on their new green and gray body. First and foremost is the graphics, which, unsurprisingly, have been cleaned up significantly. The textures are better, the draw distance (which was occasionally a sore in both PS2 games) is improved and the framerate doesn?t skip a beat. The reflections are smoother, the lighting more dynamic, and the models are less blocky. They even fixed up the lip-synching during cut-scenes. Despite all this new makeup, the load times are much quicker. Further, the game now supports HDTV 16x9 480P, which is sweet provided you have a fancy TV. On all fronts, this is the prettiest version of GTA yet.
Audio: The sound in Grand Theft Auto were not improved at all if they were improved any it was so minisquel that you would never be able to tell the difference. The only good improvements were the in game dolby digital and the custom sound track option. What could be better than blowing away ten to twenty innocent bystanders while listening to some heavy metal or cruising down the road listening to Blink~182?
Grand Theft Auto Vice City has an excellent selection of 80?s hits which is fine by me. How much better could it get listening to A Flock of Seagulls ? I ran? while crashing fire trucks or ?busting caps in a pig?? Now GTA III?s sound track sucks horribly. If you are looking for something with an outstanding soundtrack go and play Vice City because GTA III?s is almost painful to listen to.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
Counter-Strike
Overall: A legend is here. After such a long wait Counter Strike has been ported over to the console world for the first time and the Xbox was blessed with it. Counter Strike is a game that came out over 5 years ago and is still played by millions of people on their PCs. Now it is here to grace the Xbox with its unbeatable gameplay.Gameplay: Using a Controller over a Mouse and keyboard is a hard transition for PC Gamers who have never used a controller like the Xbox will be a challenge but with a little practice you will get used to it. The Controls all in all are very tight just like on the PC nothing has changed. The buying of weapons system is really a lot easier to navigate that's an added bonus. On a finishing note, you may be thinking what the f*** is a controller being used for a hard core PC game but the Xbox control handles quite nicely.
Counter Strike?s online play is where its at, staying true to what Xbox Live is Counter Strike really has no single player game except for a few bot matches. If your wondering which levels are included from the PC version let me say that all of the Classic Levels you've come to know and love on the PC are still bring this game to the top!
Online play is seamless with no lag and no hacking plus the dedicated Xservers you should be camped out in your room gaming on Live for hours on end with Counter Strike. As you know the Live Accounts are expiring soon or have just expired but Counter Strike makes it well worth the price to renew or even create a Live account because of this games online play and support of content download with new levels skins settings and more the best service to date by any company. Counter Strije is a lot more fast paced and arcadey than Rainbow Six 3 but that?s what makes this game kick so much !&%$@#* is its fast paced gameplay
Graphics: The graphics in Counter Strike aren?t amazing but they don?t screw the pooch. After 5 years on the computer you would expect the graphics to be old and outdated and well, they are. To be quite honest there was a small improvement but nothing comparable to Xbox standards in the year 2003. Although using the brand new Half-life 2 Engine the Graphics remain true to the original but a lot more smooth and more this generation not to mention if you play it on a HDTV you will get 480p mode which is !&%$@#* fine. There are a few texturing glitches that have been spotted but you really have to work your eyes to even notice them.
Audio: Custom soundtracks? Hell yeah, first FPS to have it and man does it kick some ass. Hearing the bullets fly in DD5.1 sure beats the hell out of the PC version.
Suggestions: Mods.....
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
Brute Force
Overall: If you are looking for the next video game to suck you in to another world and never let go, like Halo...this is it! If your looking for another Halo, leave this review and never buy this game. No matter how much you would love to call this game Halo you cant, as a matter of fact it is a totally different game. The game is a third-person shooter being published by Microsoft and if you think all the hype is true, you will infact be reminded why the Xbox is the most powerful gaming machine in the world. Brute Force is an amazing game and ranks right up there with Halo i recommend this game as a must-have for any XBox owner. Pros
-Amazing next-gen graphics
-Brilliant sound
-Excellent A.I.
-4 Player Co-op
-8 player deathmatch
Cons
-Lack of multiplayer Maps and Modes
-Minor clipping issues
-Bland grass textures
Gameplay: Gameplay: Is it Halo? No! is it supposed to be? NO! What is it? Its a 3rd person action game. Squad based play. Highly tactical? errr no. Does it need to be? No, not really.Can it be? Hell yeah it can. Given that I have played through 3/4 the game in about 8-10 hours its not the longest game ever made but its still got some !&%$@#* good gameplay. To play it like a Splinter Cell is impossible. Yes you can stealth around with Hawk but c'mon go invisible kick some !&%$@#* and return to your squad.
The first few missions with a squad (which at first was generic soldiers) I didnt even think about the fact that I should tell them what to do. They basically follow you and fire at the enemy, if you felt like being the "boss" you could shout a few orders. Using the Stay put command lets you move each member individually and definitely gives you the illusion of tactics. Missions so far have basically been, get form point A to point B and kill everyone there. You can try to go off and find extra things such as DNA cannisters which allow you to gain skins for multiplayer.
The story is interesting and entertaining, if not mind blowing and the gameplay easy to pick up and most definitely enjoyable. I have little doubt that XBL would have made this game the !&%$@#* .
Squad Controls: Rather than control one character like in Halo, you control a team of four commandos, each with their own skills and weaknesses. You use the skills and abilities of each commandos for certain tasks such as stealth or sheer force. Imagine using a highly skilled sniper that can take out an enemy in a single precise shot, then using the assault trooper to take on a platoon of troops if you can picture what this is, you have a virtual image of Brute Force.
Graphics: Graphics: If you thought you have seen gorgeous graphics, you haven't seen anything yet. This game will blow you away. The draw distance in single player is amazing but where it will let you down is in multiplayer where the draw distance is cut for some unknown reason. With all the delays this game should kick major !&%$@#* in the visual department. Dont get me wrong, the graphcis are great but not how they should have been with the time Digital Anvil was given. The grass is dull like Turok: Evolutions, other than those few problems this game will blow your mind.
Audio: Sound:The fact that the music isn?t going on throughout every sequence of the game is wonderfull. Having s***y music going on while searching for an item is bland and MS and DA did it right, leaving that part out of the game. What you hear in Brute Force is the wind against the grass, the steps of your squadmates, the voices of your squad cursing in battle and gun fire as you go through the levels. Also, the voice acting, which was going to be cheesy is actually turned out pretty decent. Tex is surprisingly well done, and so are the females. However, Brutus is a little slow and dark for a protagonist he sounds sort of muffled. The musical scores, when used in some of the more action-packed sequences and cutscenes do fit the game very well. More options for the sound would have been appreciated, as more Xbox games ought to utilize the own-music features of the Xbox.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
Overall: This game is crazy!!! I totally recommened you buying this. I picked it up last night at about 8. I came home at about 10 and played all night. This game will make u p*ss your pants at some partsGameplay: The game play kicks ass. If you ever need a good scare be sure to pick this up. The shooting is pretty easy, it aims for you. The camera sometimes can be a little screwy, as if you run forward the camera is infront of you. Even though the camera can get in the way it doesnt slow the gameplay down one bit. Gore. Gore is what this game is made of, even though its not a big shooter like RE when you incounter the monsters, IE piramid heads there is lots of gore.
Graphics: The graphics are amazing. You can play with the noise on which makes it all fuzzy or play it chrystal clear. The fog looks incredibly real. If you buy this game just read the walls and see the thought that went into this game. The blood also looks real, I really noticed this when one of the bosses was knawing on a dead body.
Audio: The sound is creepy and when I say creepy I mean it gives the game its juice. If Silent Hill didnt have the sound it wouldnt be as scary. If you just take a little bit and listen to the sounds in the building you will understand what I mean. With Dolby Digital this games sound will put any of the PS2 SH games to shame.
Suggestions: Fix the camera angles and give us silent hill 3!
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Overall: Awesome, That is all i can say. I was drooling over this game in the car for 30 min while i got alergy shots (haha) when i finally got home to play this I popped the disc in and fired up xbl. All i can say is AWESOME it kicks socoms ASSGameplay: Sweet gameplay with awesome squad combat. The replay will never end cause of XBL and the ability to play with all the cool peepz from xba!
Graphics: Great visual cept for the part of not being able to see your gun. Other than that the land scapes are sweet and so is the ability to zoom without a sniper.
Audio: Pretty good sound but I wouldnt know the full story, havent got cable in my surround sound room. Though Im sure TC wouldnt put s*** sound in his game.
Suggestions: Make another with better online options!
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
