360 game advice

[Funkmasterr]

I am going to buy a 360 tomorrow and im only going to buy 1 game to start with.

I am looking for a game that I won't beat/get bored with in a week. I am into most kinds of games with the exception of sports.

I was thinking probably Oblivion, but I am not really familiar with all of the games so I figured I would ask for suggestions.

Thanks ahead of time.

[Animalor]

What type of game are you into mostly?

[vn_Tanc]

Oblivion and Geometry Wars FTW

[Sumdaor]

My favorites so far are oblivion and cod2, both have OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of expansion pack's you can get through marketplace, cod2's is for the mp only though.

[Funkmasterr]

What type of game are you into mostly?

Probably more a RPG or action/adventure type game. There are a lot of FPS's I want to get, but I don't want to get them for my first game being as I probably won't get another one for a month or so and I don't want to get bored of it.

[Psyloche]

first person shooters are a travesty on console.

[TheDarkreigns]

Oblivion is in my opinion. A MUST get for the 360.

Ghost Recon Advance warfighter is another excellect game.

Pretty much the only 2 I thought were worth buying so far, the rest are good but more renters than buyers.

[Sumdaor]

first person shooters are a travesty on console.

That has fuck all to do with this thread.

[vn_Tanc]

first person shooters are a travesty on console.

That has fuck all to do with this thread.

And is complete bollocks in any case.

[Animalor]

What you can do for the first little while is get your XBox with no games. Setup your xbox live account and go on a demo downloading spree.

There's a demo on there for most games available today and nothing's better than trying before buying imo.

[Funkmasterr]

What you can do for the first little while is get your XBox with no games. Setup your xbox live account and go on a demo downloading spree.

There's a demo on there for most games available today and nothing's better than trying before buying imo.

Good idea, that didn't even occur to me. Do you get a free trial period for Live when you buy the 399.99 Package ?

[Boogahz]

Yeah, you get a Trial 30 day Gold Membership that pops up when you are setting up your account. I believe it's still possible to create a new id with a Passport account to get another 30 day period as well...it worked for me at least.

When I got my 360, I let them talk me into getting GRAW. I hate FPS's on consoles, so I think I have only played the first couple training missions.

Later that day I picked up Madden 06 and Burnout: Revenge. Both were fun and kept me occupied for a bit, but since then I have not purchased anything without checking out the demo's on XBox Live. Oh, and you don't have to have a paid/gold membership for downloading demos. That is what's required to play online.

[Funkmasterr]

Cool, thanks for all the info folks, much appreciated!

[miir]

Burnout 2 is fun as hell for the first 3-4 hours.

[Funkmasterr]

That is kind of what I have found with all of the Burnout games. They are really cool, then you get bored with them after the first day of playing.

[Boogahz]

Yeah, I don't play it that often, but it is fun to go online and chat/play with friends once in a while. Also, I thought Burnout 2 and Burnout: Revenge were two separate games.

[Winnow]

What you can do for the first little while is get your XBox with no games. Setup your xbox live account and go on a demo downloading spree.

There's a demo on there for most games available today and nothing's better than trying before buying imo.

This is by far the best advice. You might be able to play your 360 for a few months without buying anything if you have a speedy connection to the net to d/l the large demos and will help a bunch in narrowing down choices for games you want to play the full version of w/out blowing 50-60.00.

[Leonaerd]

Yeah, I don't play it that often, but it is fun to go online and chat/play with friends once in a while. Also, I thought Burnout 2 and Burnout: Revenge were two separate games.

There's Burnout, Burnout 2, Burnout 3, and Burnout Revenge. At least that's how they are on Playstation.

[Ebumar]

Deadrising is my reason to save for an Xbox360.

[Winnow]

Some low rated (except Homecourt) games you probably won't buy but might rent:

NBA Street Homecourt - (86 Metacritic)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... nbastreet4

Kinda fun. The animations are top knotch and the controls are easy to get a handle on.

The most entertaining thing about this game is morphing NBA player heads to create your own player. You start with a triangle with a player's head on each corner and then move a dot around inside the triangle. The further you move the dot toward a corner, the more they look like that particular player. You can choose any of the NBA characters in the game which would be the NBA All Stars and top three or four players on each NBA team. (Suns have Nash, Marion, Amare and Diaw in the game) I morphed Yao Ming's head and Steve Nash's head together to make my player. Kinda sexy!

Before you get that far, you pick what kind of player you want...guard, forward or center. After picking that, you are able to select from four or five play styles...forward play styles for example are Kobe, Marion, J O'Neil, T-Mac and someone else. Each one has different ratings...Marion is best in Dunks/Steals while Kobe is Dunks/Passing, O'Neil Dunks/Boards, etc. There are five skill categories.

It's after selecting the position and initial skill set that you create your player's head. At first I had to laugh as the default heads for forward are Marion and J O'Neil...Marion has a low flat forehead while O'Neil has a bubble forehead...I wonder how Marion and O'Neil feel about being the defaults for the two extremes.

The actual game is three on three. You pick two other players. It can be from a particular team or a set of All Stars and then you go head to head in various outdoor court settings, moving your way up while your abilities increase. (Hint: Nash might be a good player to use as your PG) Every player has two special moves and two special dunks. The dunks are power controlled by power bar so if you hit them right, they become special dunks, hold on to the power button too long and you miss the jam.

Overall, it seems fun and easy to get into. Player vs Player seems like it would have lots of replayability. Not sure how long it would be until the dunks got old. Player head morphing is entertaining in itself. Wish I had a screenshot of Steve Ming or Yao Nash.

Fusion Frenzy 2 (50 Metacritic)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... ionfrenzy2

This is a bunch of mini games for up to four players. You can play all four locally without going on Live or can also use live. For all the mini games, either all players are on the same screen or the screen is split in four equal parts.

There are something like six or eight planets and each planet has a 6-10 games with a particular theme. A kooky looking Japanese anime guy hosts the games and you have the opportunity to pick up modifying cards you can play before a game which do things like double your points or steal points from someone else.

All of the games are pretty basic but like Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, would be fun playing with friends while inebriated. I'll be testing that soon!

Bullet Witch (54 Metacritic)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... ulletwitch

FPS game with some spells mixed in. Graphics are dated and targeting sucks but would be fun as a rental. The main character has a firing weapon with bullets which somehow is replenishable using mana and also has several levels of spells that can be used. While the game seems dated, I do like the way the spells are set up. It's easy to quickly navitage and cast them using a pop up wheel selection system. Hopefully Mass Effect will use something like this.

If you like them, buy them! If you don't like them, at least morph a few NBA heads for kicks! They look better than EQ II or WoW heads!

[Xanupox]

Never buy a game, total waste of cash.

If you have a Blockbuster near you, then get the endless game rental pass for 1 game out at a time. You can swap it as often as you want, the first month is like 15$ and then 22$ a month for the rest of your life.

I only own Madden, wasted 55$ for it. Since then I have paid a total of 59$ to blockbuster and have played over 30 games, some days, some hours, some minutes because they blew nut.

Anyway, if Blockbuster is close, this is the only way to go.

[Boogahz]

Never buy a game, total waste of cash.

If you have a Blockbuster near you, then get the endless game rental pass for 1 game out at a time. You can swap it as often as you want, the first month is like 15$ and then 22$ a month for the rest of your life.

I only own Madden, wasted 55$ for it. Since then I have paid a total of 59$ to blockbuster and have played over 30 games, some days, some hours, some minutes because they blew nut.

Anyway, if Blockbuster is close, this is the only way to go.

Too bad Blockbuster gets none of my money!

[Zamtuk]

why was this thread bumped after six months?

[Boogahz]

why was this thread bumped after six months?

Well, it was the most valid thread for Winnow to make his post in.

[Winnow]

Def Jam:Icon (74 Metacritic)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... defjamicon

What's not to like about this game? It's black people beating up black people in ghetto settings with rap music playing in the background.

With that out of the way, this game is pretty fun and the characters you can build are the most realistic I've seen in a game yet.

As far as I can tell, the game is about working your way up in the music rap business while beating up any black person you see. As far as stereotyping goes, this game should win an award for portraying young African Americans in the worst light ever.

Creating your character involves sliders that change the shape of quite a few facial features, along with hair. If not in campaign/story mode, you can deck your character out in pants, shoes, shirts, jewelry, grills, hats, tattoos, etc. Besides the jewelry, everything looks great. I really felt like I was in the hood with my character after decking him out. In story mode, you have to earn money to buy that stuff yo!

The fighting is pretty fun and easy to get into. The environments you fight in have hazards which you can take advantage of (setting your opponent on fire or bounding him off part of a car wash, etc)

The story mode seems pretty good. I only went far enough to beat up one black person while two other black women with ghetto booties pole danced. A swarm of other black people in the dance club danced and watched us fight. After that, another black person took me into his club/gang and gave me a place to stay and was kind enough to give me 1K to spend on clothes. I haven't seen a white person yet in this game. I guess they are the boss mobs and rarely seen.

Some black kids, probably around 10 years old, witness a wealthy gangster black person get gunned down while [you] look on which begins the story mode and take you ack ten years prior to that event.

This game is good enough to be entertaining to me even though I don't like rap music and while watching black people beat up black people can be entertaining, it's not something I'd usually pay to see (I did see Larry Holmes vs Muhammad Ali live in Las Vegas though!) As the fight goes on, you or your opponent's face gets bloodier and bloodier. I guess there's a way to use the beat of the music to your advantage in a fight if you time attacks.

This one's worth checking out as a rental for sure. If you are a gangsta or like rap music, it's a must buy. The face/character creation and realism is amazing. I've said before for other games, but if a MMORPG had this kind of detail/customization, it would rock. The characters and clothing look great.

[Sylvus]

I'm guessing this is a sequel to Def Jam: Battle for NY or whatever that was called? That game was pretty fun.

[Funkmasterr]

I'm guessing this is a sequel to Def Jam: Battle for NY or whatever that was called? That game was pretty fun.

Yeah I believe you are correct, although I never played that one.

[Boogahz]

um, interesting review, but they left out the biggest part of the game. The music plays a BIG role in each fight. You want your attacks to fall with the beat and such. You can even "remix" the track on the fly as if using turn-tables in order to get different attacks. "Arena-hazards" (explosions other characters etc) react according to the music itself, so if you're using a track of your own, the area will not be the same as if you were using the game's track.

[Winnow]

I'm guessing this is a sequel to Def Jam: Battle for NY or whatever that was called? That game was pretty fun.

This is the first in the series I've tried. I'm sure it's a sequel of that game though.

It's one of those games where the theme may not be what I'm interested in but the game is so well put together and easy to access that it's fun to play anyway.

Since my attention span is around 30 minutes for the majority of console games, I tend to focus on character creation and graphics and this one is outstanding for those. The story and controls happened to be easy to pick up within my 30 minute window. The character you create is very well integrated into the story as with GTA etc, but the graphics are on another level.

[Winnow]

um, interesting review, but they left out the biggest part of the game. The music plays a BIG role in each fight. You want your attacks to fall with the beat and such. You can even "remix" the track on the fly as if using turn-tables in order to get different attacks. "Arena-hazards" (explosions other characters etc) react according to the music itself, so if you're using a track of your own, the area will not be the same as if you were using the game's track.

Thanks for adding that. I was able to take down a couple opponents in non campaign mode and the first fight in campaign mode without using any rhythm (I have the game set on Bruce Springsteen chicken dance mode though "easy")

How does it work? I know you hit the left trigger to start that but nothing more. I did notice one of my random fight opponents was great at avoiding one of my power moves. Perhaps if I tried the move (hit the button in sync with the music) it would help.

[Animalor]

Wow GRAW 2 is getting smoking reviews.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... r2#critics

91 from IGN and 2 90's from OXM and OXMUK.

[Winnow]

NDA lifted on Shadowrun 360. Here's some comments:

http://www.2old2play.com/News/Shadowrun ... mpressions

Shadowrun 360 Beta Impressions
by KingDrewsky

The Non Disclosure Agreement for the Shadowrun Beta has been lifted and I can now dish out all of the gushy details that I have been holding in for the past few days.

As I have only played the game for 8 hours or so and there were only 2 maps available, I can't give definitive word on how good this game will be. But, I have had a blast with the few hours that I have put in. Listed below are some of the things I like about the game along with some things that need to be improved prior to release.

The Good

Magic!

This game is going to remind you heavily of Hexen. There are many different spells you can buy and you will have 3 of them equipped at a time. Some of my favorites are Gust - which is similar to a Force Push, Smoke – which will turn you into a puff of smoke so that you can escape when losing a firefight, and Summon – which will summon a large Minion that you can assign to guard an area or assassinate a particular character. These spells are going to be a breath of fresh air to FPS players who have virtually been playing the same game since Halo came out.

Races

There were 4 playable races in the Beta and each had their own strengths and weaknesses. Shadowrun has gone beyond just giving the races different speeds, firepower, etc. in that some races have extra abilities that significantly alter the way you play them. Elves regenerate their health, Trolls develop sort of an extra armor overcoat when fired upon, and Dwarves siphon magic from other characters and objects. You will have to develop a different strategy for playing for each of the separate races.

Bots

You have the ability to add AI combatants to your matches. This has been done before in games such as Perfect Dark, but this time the bots are actually rather smart. You would think that if you died early in the match, there would be no chance in hell that the bots you were playing with would come around to resurrect you (another crucial spell). Wrong. More often than not, the bots were able to locate and resurrect me quicker than my warm bodied team mates. I also witnessed them setting up traps, flanking the enemy, and setting up a defensive perimeter around the flag capture point. In addition, they even called out enemy locations over team speak. I wish my friends would do that. They made some bonehead moves too, but overall I would be hard-pressed to identify which were my AI teammates and which were actual humans (and this was only on Medium).

Playing With Friends

The interface for Private Matches is well done. When you select that you want to play a private match, the game first lists which of your friends are in a game and from there you can easily hop into their match. I don’t know if there is an option for “Invite Only” so you may have to drop the Timmies off your friends list (I will check up on this). Players can drop into your game at any time and will sit out that round and then join in on the next. They will take the place of a bot if there was any playing. In addition, I think you can set it up for a bot to take the place of players if they unexpectedly drop out mid-game. There is a pre and post game lobby and they are working on implementing a party system.

The Bad

Team Kills Are Easy

There are two different teams you can be a part of, the Red Team and the Blue Team. They actually have different more descriptive team names that somehow tie into the plot, but for all intents and purposes they are a red team and a blue team. There are different character models for the races on each team such as the elves on the blue team have white hair whereas they have black hair on the red team. And the characters wear color coordinated clothes. But at 30 paces, all you see coming down the hall is a big lumbering troll and you have half a second to decide if he is a friendly before his minigun rains holy terror on your ass. The only other signal for distinguishing allies is that the reticule will turn red when hovering over an ally. This complicates matters since one of the team colors is red and you start to wonder, “Does the red reticule mean that he is on my team?” In addition, usually I do not aim directly at an enemy when firing on them in order to account for movement and the wind (note: there is no wind in this game, I just over analyze things). Needless to say, in the past few days I have killed many an ally and there have been games where my teammates would have booted me if they could figure out how to do so. This needs to be addressed.

Speed / Floatiness

This could be just a personal preference, but the gameplay seems to rather quick paced. The elves, in particular, when hopped up with enhanced speed modifiers will zoom across your screen like 2nd graders after a cake and Coke splurge. The light characters also do not walk around with a lot of weight attached to them and seem to float around. This is especially true with ladders. Your arm and leg joints do not move while climbing ladders and you kind of just float up them. Being that this is a Beta, I can understand the developers leaving out the ladder animations as it is not key to the gameplay. And for all I know they may be working on improving the movement too.

High Learning Curve

There is no doubt about it; n00bs will be 0wned when they first start playing the multiplayer matches. With the amount of magic and tech that you can equip, the game is very complex. This gives veterans a huge advantage since they will know how the different abilities work and which combinations of race / abilities / weapons are the most effective. In the initial few public matches that I played, I got my ass beat severely. I would be firing my rifle at an elf down the hallway and he would teleport behind me and slice my neck with a katana blade before I knew what was going on. Public Matches will be made using Microsoft’s TrueRank system, so theoretically you should be matched against fellow n00bs when you start playing the game. If that’s not the case, some gamers will get discouraged from playing online early and not give it a second look.

------

Overall, I think this game has potential to be a huge hit. The spells and abilities are fun to use, the weapons are close to being well balanced, and they plan on implementing the party system from Halo 2 where you can effortlessly switch from Private to Public Matches. This is definitely going to appeal to those who prefer more of a twitch FPS as opposed to tactical FPS similar to the Clancy games. But there are tactical elements to this game as well in that you can use spells to lock up choke points and eliminate health generators. It is difficult to say how good this game will be considering how limited the beta was and not knowing how much will be improved before release. But, I definitely think you should put this game on your radar and keep an eye out for reviews when it comes out. There are a lot of things the game is doing right at this stage and not many that it is doing wrong.

Screens:

http://shadowrun.com/media/screenshots/

[Winnow]

Virtua Tennis 3 360

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... tuatennis3

Fun Game!

I've been playing this game on easy and having a good time. if I keep smoking everyone, I'll increase the difficulty.

The character creation isn't the best (when compared to Tiger Woods or something like that) but you can get a pretty unique look going.

You start off at the Tennis Academy and learn how to play while improving your skill levels. The game is pretty straight forward. Very easy to pick up and play but I imagine it can get pretty challenging if set to medium or high difficulty. Buttons are lob, slice and top spin while using the left thumb stick to move your player and also to aim your shot. The rest is positioning and if you get to your spot early, you can get off a more powerful return.

There's lot of play modes...can do the World Tour (you start out ranked 300th out of 300 players in singles and doubles), Tournament (The four grand slams), Exhibition, as well as six or seven mini games.

After a little time at the academy, I won my first tournament. I then tried a doubles tourney and picked Federer as my partner...he's pretty good!

The game looks great. The character models are pretty good. Sharipova needs a new outfit, I think you can change non player outfits based on the playtime you've used them.

As you win, you are awarded clothes, accessories and new racquets which improve your skills (the rackets do at least)

Virtua Tennis 3 leans more toward the arcade side than Top Spin 2 (which makes it more fun imo)

It's now my favorite sports game on the 360. NBA Street is pretty fun as well. Well worth a rental if you like sports games.

I guess this game has 1080P...looks the same as 1080i to me. 1080P is overrated but at least both 360 and PS3 have it now so we don't have to hear about it.

85/100 Looks to be a great multiplayer game as well.

[Winnow]

Played through the first six sets of Guitar Hero 2 on the 360 last night. I played on the controller, since I grabbed it off the newsgroups and the PS2 guitar doesn't work on it.

The 360 version works well on the controller. I thought having two of the controls as triggers and two as bumpers might throw things off but it works well, better than the ps2 so if you're going to play two-player lead/bass, the controller won't be that bad...wireless too!

I don't like the song set for GH2. (although RUSH-YYZ and Freebird are in the next two sets coming up) I was playing on easy and averaged 98% on every song the first try and, although one note short of perfects on a couple, no perfects. At this point, bands should be scrambling to have their songs on the Guitar Hero playlists. It's an excellent way to get their name out there and promote sales.

Guitar Hero is where my mangina ways end. No need to pick a female character in this game. The Lita Fords and Joan Jets just don't rock out like the guys! Nerd Alert!

I'll buy this one if/when the original Guitar Hero songs become available on Live. That and other downloadable songs is what's going to make the 360 version a step above the PS2 until if/when GH3 is released for PS3/360.

Why in the hell did they choose Heart's "Crazy on You" instead of Barracuda and KISS - Strutter instead of many other KISS songs that would have been better...bah.

[Animalor]

If you want something incredibly mindless, not very deep but crazy fun is short busts, pick up Earth Defense Force 2017.

53 missions of alien shooting mayhem, with 5 difficulty settings. No online co-op(Had they put this in, this game would've been stellar). Local split screen co-op is available however.

Pricepoint is about half of the normal 360 game.

Make no mistake, this is a low budget game. It isn't a graphical orgasm in any way shape or form. The new weapons, armor ups and other stuff you pick up(persistant btw and follow you through missions and difficulty settings) are 2d sprites (I kid you not).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KObyZVFTDwo

I bought it cause it really appealred to me but I highly recommend it as a rental for the fun factor alone.

[Winnow]

If you want something incredibly mindless, not very deep but crazy fun is short busts, pick up Earth Defense Force 2017.

This is a fun game! Pure carnage fun : ) Best way to describe it is a "B" game. It doesn't push the capabilities of the hardware but is lots of fun. I've been taking down buildings with the missile launcher. Machine gunning down waves of monster ants is satisfying : ) ...so is mowing down your own squad when you have to resort to 360 spinning at full auto after being overrun!

I'll be trying out the COOP this weekend.

It reminds me of the game Serious Sam with tons of mobs coming at you.