MEMBER PROFILE FOR NOPS24ME
Average Overall Score Given: 8.33333 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 0
Reviews
The Terminator: Dawn of Fate
Overall: People people people. Stop the whining and play the game. Terminator: Dawn of Fate is an exhilarating thrill-ride of fun and worth every dime. Pounding hard-edged beats drive your pulse up to a panicked rate and make your palms sweat. Action, weapons, destruction, explosions and more destruction. Just what I wanted... and in 5.1 surround. Give me my medal dammit.Gameplay: I bought this title without reading any reviews on it. Doing something like that is so frequently a foolish act of faith in the game. I was not disappointed. Some folks have said the gameplay is overly repetative, with easy auto-aiming and all. It simply isn't so. You have the choice to use this feature to auto-target enemies with "lock-on", but this game is much more fun and challenging with the first person trigger pulled and manual aiming with the thumbstick. Running from room to room with wildly changing camera angles is reminiscent of some of my favorite movies. That was a big plus for me. There are many weapons and explosives to shoot or throw. Hand to hand combat with an electrical stun baton is awesome. No controller throwing has occurred while playing this game (thus far).
Graphics: Cut-scene animations are, for the most part, rough and sometimes downright blocky. For that I am only taking off .5 points. Gameplay visual appeal really made up for it and impressed me to no end. Frequently I find that I stop running and pause to take in the surroundings (just as I did in that famous Bungie game... what was that called?).
Audio: Sound appeal.... There are pantloads of it in this title. So far this game has made more of an impression in sound appeal than most games bought or rented. The 5.1 digital soundtrack is hard, crisp and has tons of deep bass you may miss without a powerful sound system with decently large subwoofers. The way the grinding metal guitar chords swell as the tension points of the game arise surely puts me on the edge of my seat. Environmental sounds are eerie and make for a truly immersive ambiance. I could go on and on, but it is sound after all. Either it is great and memorable, or it isn't.
Suggestions: As usual... multiplayer and soundtrack control should be a given. And what's up with the below-average cutscenes? This is the XBOX after all.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
Test Drive
Overall: After renting then buying Project Gotham, I thought this might be fun. I was wrong. Mechanics of the game were off... and the load times? What gives there? Pong?? What the.... I liked the customization of the cars, but that didn't do much to save the game. Gameplay: Gameplay lacks luster of PGR. I was relieved that it didn't cost me fifty dollars. Too much of the time you find yourself ahead of the pack just to be passed at unrealistic speeds you can't match. Hey that's a good way to describe the game. Unrealistic. Story mode was not fun and sometimes too difficult.
Graphics: Visuals weren't too bad. Cars are shiny and nice. Some circuits were too dark. I did like the option to change the appearance of the cars, but I already said that before.
Audio: The music included wasn't bad. Sound effects were not on par though. This game would have had a better rating for sound had it been able to use the players own music tracks.
Suggestions: Better luck next time.
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
Project Gotham Racing
Overall: Racing/Driving games are not for me...or so I thought. I was at the local movie gallery and rented this game on a whim. Hearing so much praise being heaped onto it, the game had piqued my curiousity.. just enough. Man was I a fool. Why had I waited so long?!! Without exaggeration, this is one of the finest most realistic drivers out there. Screeching tires, roaring engines (accurate to the make and model of car)..not to mention smoke, fog and the most intense rain effects...awesome. My palms sweat every time I play it.. it is that exhilarating. Gameplay: This game is so fast paced. I've played other games of its type since acquiring PGR and they are laughable. In PGR, none of the cars slow down if you goof up, or speed up un-realistically if you're in front. I think the fact that it is un-forgiving of my dumb mistakes is what I love the most about it. All wins are truly earned.
My Xbox is the first gaming system I've ever owned. Games like PGR make my already awesome entertainment investment even more of a bargain.
Graphics: I have virtually nothing to say here. If you haven't seen PGR in action yet, at least rent it and see what everyone is raving about. Effects are stunning. Driving at night was awful at first, but that was my fault. It is so realistic.... not to mention the foggy rainstorms...
Audio: First, the sound effects and ambiance are perfect. I can't complain a bit about the music system or dj's commentary. When it finally (finally!) occured to me that I could rip my own tunes? I was in heaven. Other game manufacturers need to follow suit with that!
Suggestions: In the next version, please include a 1965 Mustang with a stock 289 V8. (That was a totally selfish request)
Also, allow for vehicle modification and customization with user-created paint schemes/colors, custom rims and stripes. Gotta have stripes!
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
