First and foremost I'd like to say wow. This is most certainly an improvement over, well all other tomb raiders. Sadly that is the extent of my praise, because this game is frustrating. So just read on and get the hardcore information you're looking for.


Graphics: 8/10 Well they're pretty enough. Though the cloned enemies, and highly pixelated shadows are seemingly last gen. Lara is looking as good as ever, but some of the supporting characters look questionable, Zip you tech guy is a overly ripped gangsta rasta guy? The backdrops are most certainly the stars of the game.

Gameplay: 6/10 Your true enemy in this game is the spas camera. The creators went for a high action movie feel and instead brought on intense frustration. After playing the game for five hours I was truly annoyed by it. I was killed several times because Lara would miss a jump by about a half inch. By the way watch out for those massively powerful enemies. A basic human takes about fifteen rounds to drop.

Sound: 7/10 Fitting, and oh so annoying. The music is very cultural based, depending on where you are. But sometimes its simply annoying third world drumming and moaning. Guns sound pretty good although they could have differentiated between guns a little better.

Replayability: 3/10 They included a time trial mode.

Overall: 7/10 Tomb Raider Legend was a mediocre platformer, with very poor gun sequences, and a few action sequences carbon copied from Crash Bandicoot. The camera will kill you! If the enormously powerful human enemies don't do it first. As well as some of the puzzles taking very, very long to discover what to do. While challenge is good, the game is supposed to entertain, not bore.


The game could have been better. But to see Lara back was nice, a few good memories returned, but were quickly replaced by memories of frustration and annoyance. Lara seems like perhaps her fifteen minutes have passed and its time for her to retire. Honestly is she going to push it like Harrison Ford with the Indiana Jones license?

Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Tecmo
Genre: Action/Adventure
Players: 1
Memory: 8 block unit
ESRB Rating: M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence

Introduction:

A remake to the original Ninja Gaiden title, Ninja Gaiden: Black takes Ryu through the same adventure as the previous game. The catch? The entire game has been redone. Everything from weapons, to attacks, to enemies has all been upgraded. If you thought Ninja Gaiden was hard, wait until you have a play at this brilliant game. Also, for less experienced players, a new game version has been included. Ninja Dog mode, though the enemies are not any easier, makes the game a bit light-hearted so that anyone can pick up the controller and learn. Accessible by dying three consecutive times on the first level, many new players will be dying three times right off. Even more important than the easier modes, the harder modes. Ninja Gaiden Black has 5 total difficulties: Ninja Dog, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Master Ninja. Only one member of Team Ninja was even able to beat Master Ninja, so if you get to it, congratulations. If you beat it, you are a true gamer.

The story:

You begin the game as young ninja, Ryu Hayabusa outside of a, seemingly, rival ninja fortress. As you make your way towards the inter-sanction of the ninja fortress, rival ninjas make their way out to attack you. Using the sheer power of the Dragon Sword, Ryu easily dispatches them. You continue on, accomplishing many minor tasks eventually leading to your one on one (or multiple on one if you’re playing on Hard or above) fight against a heavily muscled man. If you manage to defeat him, you’ll learn the rest about him.

You soon after learn that a clan of Samurai have taken control of your village, and have seized a destructive force, dubbed the Dark Dragon Blade. Ryu fights through the masses of samurai, eventually making it to the thief of this incredible force, there Ryu is damaged and left for dead.

Overhead, a falcon flies, unbeknownst to Ryu. When Ryu wakes up, he wants but one thing. Revenge.

Gameplay:

Although at first, this game may seem like your typical hack’n slash title, you will soon learn that you will not be able to beat this game without some sort of tactic and finesse. The enemies have excellent AI and will find ways to penetrate your strongest defenses.

As you go through the game, you will uncover many weapons ranging from the wide ranged but slow War Hammer to the short ranged but mercilessly fast Vigorian Flails. These weapons will assist you in this game like no other, especially when you find that the Dragon Sword just isn't cutting it. There are also many different types of Secondary weapons; one of them which were added to the game was the Smoke Bomb. Just drop one of these, roll away, and leave your enemies confused and dumbfounded for a couple seconds. Aside from this, there are secondary weapons which actually assist in battle ranging from the original shurikens you get at the beginning, all the way to the Explosive-Tipped Arrows you will obtain later in the game.

Another major highlight of this game is the ability to face not only a boss, but also numerous henchmen at the same time. If you played the original, you may re-call fighting Ghost Doku. Was he hard? Not really? Slightly challenging? Well, you may also remember the annoyance of the ghost fish. That’s right, those blood sucking fish that knock you down and don’t let you back up. In Ninja Gaiden Black, Ghost Doku fights alongside them. That’s right, it’s just that annoying.

Another excellent feature that was added to the game was the Mission Modes. Here players are challenged to fight for their lives, or their honor, against the odds to defeat difficult challenges such as taking out all of a type of enemy to Defeating a Boss in a time limit. Sound fun? Sound easy? No way. Because, besides these smaller missions, there are harder ones. Ever wondered what it would be like to face Alma and Doku at the same time? That’s an option.

Sound:

The smallest part of my review, but still a major part in it. The music is excellent. Some of the tracks will send chills up your spine when combined with the enemies you face. Some of the music will keep your heart pumping, keeping you in rhythm with the enemies around you. And some of the music may just make you feel like you accomplished something great.

The audio in this game, voice-wise, is excellent as well. The characters sound crisp and clear, you can understand them and get their tone of voice. When Ryu is pissed, you’ll know it. When he’s about to do a huge attack, you’ll know it. When you’re charging your ki attacks to smack into and enemy and hopefully kill him, aw hell, you better know it!

Graphics:

Possibly one of the best features in the game. The graphics are flawless. You may actually believe you are in the world of Ryu Hayabusa. The cut scenes are absolutely beautiful and create a feeling of excitement. The only real problem with the graphics that people seem to have, doesn’t really lie with the graphics, but with the games camera. It is difficult to control and can be rather off-putting when you are killed by an enemey you could not see. Other then this though, the graphics are fine.

The ending:

All in all, this is a great game. No wonder it was put into the Xbox original games and put straight at the top of the list. Many have played, many have died, and many have picked up the controller again to give it another round. I highly recommend this game to any who love the action/adventure genre.

Score: 98/100 (2 points off for ONLY the camera, everything else is perfect)

NTRO: With the mass overkill of WW II games out there I wasn’t too excited about this game. Actually I have pretty much stopped playing that genre because it had gotten so old. But when I looked at the launch lineup for the 360 I decided to at least give Call of Duty 2 a shot because it was getting good reviews. And I am glad I did. Call of Duty 2 is the best game for the 360 launch, and no it is not just a rehash of Medal of Honor and every other game in this genre. COD 2 pushes the FPS genre in whole to the next level. In fact COD 2 IS the reason you want a 360. No game better showcases Next-Gen talent Call of Duty 2.

GRAPHICS: COD 2 is one of the top three best looking 360 games of the launch. Weapon animations are amazing as are all the particle effects. When you are crouched in a trench you will see wood chips fly over your head as you get shot at. Bodies and bullet holes in walls stay there forever, even when you’re backtracking from two levels. All the weapons and environments are realistic for its setting. The most impressive graphical feat though is the smoke, it wafts through the air and disperses naturally. Plus it does a very good job of concealment. Of course there is also some pretty good explosions too. Especially during the Russian campaign when a building is realistically leveled. All of this of course has unrivaled clarity too, which is made even more amazing by HD support. The one very small complaint I have is that character models could have been more varied. Each army has only roughly 2 to 3 faces.
Score 10

SOUND: The sound is what truly makes COD 2 such an immersive and cinematic experience. With surround sound you can hear the enemy talking behind the walls of the building you’re leaning on. You can hear the clink of a grenade and know roughly where it is just by listening. There is a constant chatter by your AI teammates. Ricochets and bullets passing by your head have never sounded so good. The constant noise of the battlefield is what really creates the intensity. Almost immediately you will be entranced by the game’s presentation. The music is mostly Saving Private Ryan inspired which of course is very suiting to the game also.
Score 10

CONTROLS: The controls feel very smooth and are mapped out very well. Certain actions though can be unresponsive, such as jumping over a short wall, but this is a minor inconvenience. The one real complaint I have about the controls is that to steady the rifle you must hold the left analog stick, this also moves you and if you move at all you are taken out of scope view. This means an incidental thumb twitch could cost you big. Let me also say that I was impressed by the concept of using the other trigger to sight in while shooting with the other, this is a very intuitive idea.
Score 9

STORY: The basic story is that you are a Russian in Stalingrad, British soldier in the Middle East, and an American in Normandy each in their own respective campaigns. All the missions are based on real life events and every mission is also preceded by a journal entry. There is also the occasional clip from the military channel. The game does a good job of making you feel as a regular soldier in all the chaos. Overall the presentation is unrivaled and makes you experience the game, not just play it.
Score 10

REPLAY: The multiplayer is just as intense as the single player. Online, split screen, and system link are all supported. Joining a game online is as easy as it can get too. Simply click to play and your good to go. Real strategies can be developed in multiplayer too. This helps create an intense experience for all your multiplayer action. Single player wise the game roughly lasts 10 hours on normal difficulty, which is pretty much the standard length for an FPS. There are four difficulty modes, of which Veteran pushes the limits on it actually being fun or just ridiculous. But there isn’t really an incentive to play it again other than to just enjoy the experience again.
Score 9

GAMEPLAY: Basically you are doing the same thing all WW II shooters do, which is kill the ######. But it never has been this fun. The mission variety is amazing but never loses any of its intensity. Missions range from defending buildings from waves of enemy attacks to taking out bunkers in the trenches. Some of the different gameplay variety includes driving tanks or mounting a turret on an Amtrak. The best part of the game though is the AI. Never in your wildest dreams have seen anything like this. Your enemies will regroup and form attacks against you. If you take out a machine gunner the nearest enemy will get on it to keep you pinned down. Constantly they will through well placed grenades and they will also avoid yours too. Your teammates aren’t pushovers either. They will constantly move up their positions which gives you sort of a cover fire. Also your teammates will also rack up their fair share of kills too.
Score 10

THE BOTTOM LINE: Overall Call of Duty 2 is amazing, but it’s minor control flaws and crazy difficulty climb keep this one from a perfect 10. If you do own an Xbox 360 though, then you must buy this game. And if you don’t own an Xbox 360 then here is at least one very good reason to get one.

Ever since I heard about Oblivion last year, I have been extremely anxious to get my hands on it. The four-month delay really hurt, but on March 21st, I was finally sitting through my final hours at school ready to go get it. When I went to pick it up, the employee at the store told me he had had some time to play it, and that it was amazing. Arriving home, I shoved a couple slices of pizza in my mouth and ran upstairs to finally play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is my review of what I saw:

For those of you who are not familiar with The Elder Scrolls franchise, I will start out with a short description. Bethesda, the developer, has created a game where you can live another life, in another world. In Elder Scrolls, you create a character, and then do whatever you want in the massive, Tolkien inspired world of Tamriel. Every ES game takes place in a different province of Tamriel, Oblivion in the main hub of Cyrodil. Be anybody you want to be, from the selfish thief to the noble warrior. Its an RPG, by any standard, but its also considered to be more of an open-ended action adventure, with a lot of RPG elements. More about Oblivion in the game play section.

Graphics:
Note: I play this game on a standard TV, not a hi def so this section may not apply to you. The graphics are, simply put, amazing. While I do think the 360 is capable of more, this is incredible considering how huge the game is. What Bethesda has done is made basic surfaces 2D instead of perfectly detailed 3D. This means that what really should be protruding (like when there are different layers of brick) is protruding, but basic things like bolts on doors are 2D. I know this sounds sort of last gen, but somehow Bethesda has made it look awesome. You wont even notice it unless you walk up and put your nose on it. For example, on a log house, the vertical and horizontal logs are separate and 3 dimensional, but the separate planes are actually just on a 2D plain, but detailed very well. Looking at anything from over 10 feet away makes it look extraordinary. Snow and rain looks great, and also adds to the mood of the game. Clouds in the sky are varied and realistic, and the water looks as good as real life. Character models are also very good, although obviously not as awesome as the environment. Humans look the best, and orcs look quite plain, although there are few of these in the game. Horse models are acceptable, although not the best that they could be. The third person view is a huge step up from Morrowind, although the jumping animation is terrible. Weapons are incredible. You may find yourself just stopping to look at how superbly detailed they are, and how cool they look. I give graphics a 9/10.

Sound:
I really do not consider sound to be a huge factor, but having good music and sound is a nice touch. And Oblivion has that. The opening theme sounds great. Its nothing I would have associated with Oblivion, but it works perfectly with it. The music in game is just right. I hardly even notice it, which is how it should be. However, you do notice it when it stops playing for a second, and then becomes faster paced because an enemy is coming. Walking along, you notice the sound of your footsteps: crunching as you go through forests, tapping as you walk across cobblestone, and splashing as you walk through an inch or two of water. Hitting different objects with your weapons or fists always produces a different sound. Hitting metals produces a metallic sound and hitting wood makes a dull thunk. And hitting innocent civilians produces a nice scream and a squish. You can also hear your sword making the cool sound as it comes out of its sheath. The shiiiing sound, you know. The voice acting is varied. There is over 200 hours worth of voice recording in this game. Its not Zelda, lets say. They hired professional actors to provide the voices, including Sean Bean and a bunch of other people Ive never heard of, although not Halle Berry or Vin Diesel, how disappointing. The varied part comes from the civilian conversations. Youll walk around and hear civilians saying how they hate goblins to other civilians and then later you hear a different civilian saying the same thing, but in a different voice, which proves that they gave these actors extremely long scripts to record that were really all the same thing. And then sometimes the NPCs voices change. Its a big problem with the beggars. When you first talk to them, their voices are all raspy as they ask for coins, and then when you inquire about something, they have a completely different voice. Its not anything that will stop me giving the sound a 10/10 though.

Controls:

The control scheme is great. The only thing I had to get used to was pressing B to pull up your Journal instead of start, which brings up the game menu. It really works like any other first person game. Y is jump, click one of them spinny things to crouch, and pull the R trigger to use your weapon. There are a few little control issues in game, but they are very minimal. For instance, when you are fighting a really hard enemy, and you start swinging away, the actions are not interruptible. This means that if he dodges your swing, he can move in and start swinging and you cannot raise your shield because your sword is still swinging away, even though its only for a few half seconds. This is a right nice problem in the Arena, although elsewhere its not noticeable. Other than that, and a few other tiny problems, the controls and playability are fantastic. The controls get 9/10.

Story:

Fantastic. Tolkien, you are going down. The moment you click New Game, you get an overhead view of the Imperial City (the capital of Tamriel) and a nice monologue from Emperor Uriel Septim, in which he states that these are his few final hours. It was a great piece of dialogue, and the best intro into a story I have ever seen. Sean Bean did a great job there, even though hes not Vin Diesel. In the beginning of the story, fate (or possibly dumb luck) has brought you (the hero) and Emperor Uriel Septim together as assassins from Oblivion close in to kill him. After the tutorial/intro, you are launched into a war between Oblivion and Tamriel as you search for Septim's missing son. However, it will be a long time before I even touch the main quest. Oblivion lets the player create their own story. Its unbelievably open ended. You can do anything you want, as I said in my intro. The main quests story is great, but when you put the open ended ness in perspective, you have nothing but a 10/10.

Game play:

The most important part of any game is game play. The most important part of game play is the fun factor. And Oblivion is fun. I could go on for hours about how much there is to do in Oblivion. I will try and keep it basic, but get ready for an extreeeeemely long section. You start out with creating your character in the best character creation system I have every seen. You choose from 10 races, all with their own special abilities and powers. But you know what? It doesnt matter! In Oblivion, your character can do anything. A Khajiit (a cat like race) is the best starter for stealth players. But you could choose an orc and still train it to have stealth; it will just take a little longer. Thats the beauty of Oblivion, it lets your character be anything, or, if you have a few thousand hours, everything. You can train any race in every area, until you have a mage, thief, assassin, and warrior character. It will take time, but it is possible. But thats only a fraction of the game play. Once you beat the (its actually fun!) intro/tutorial, you get released into Cyrodil to play the game. You can do everything. Join a selection of guilds, save money to buy a house (one in each major city, very expensive, but full of advantages), steal weapons, tackle over 200 dungeons, go to jail, escape from jail, do the main quest, find miscellaneous quests, WHATEVER! To put this idea in greater depth, I am going to provide a long (not short) scenario about what you can do. Suppose you are walking along an Imperial City street during the day. You come across a shop called Edgars Discount Spells. Knowing full well that your magical abilities are very amateur, you go in intending to purchase a new spell. However, the spells arent exactly cheap, as the name of the shop would suggest. So, you go meet your friend in the Thieves Guild and buy some lock picks, and then go to an inn and sleep until nightfall, perhaps stealing some food while youre there. When you wake up, its midnight. You head down to Edgars, avoiding the guards just in case. When you get there, you pick the lock and go in. Edgar is nowhere in sight. He must be asleep upstairs. You see a scroll lying on the table, one that is encrypted with a spell. There are only a few of these out in the open, and none of them are ones you exactly want. But, knowing that thievery is not always the most advantaged path, you choose a spell that will increase your agility and leave. When you get to the street corner, a guard is standing with his back to you. You decide to pick pocket him. You find 35 gold coins in his pocket, but he catches you and sends you to jail, confiscating your stolen items. You have one lockpick left, and a spell that can be used once a day to unlock doors. You use this spell on your cell door, and go upstairs to find the evidence chest, where all your belongings, including the stolen scroll, are being kept. You lockpick the chest, receiving all your own items, as well as all your inmates, and escape. This is only a very small chunk of what is possible in Oblivion. Add that to the unequaled AI (every NPC has a schedule that they complete everyday, but always in a different way) and the awesome Havok Physics Engine (every item has its own weight, shoot an arrow into a hanging bucket, and the bucket now has a tilt to it because of the extra weight) and you have one of the most enjoyable games ever, and for that, gameplay gets a 10/10.

Other Positives:
-Its a lot of fun to stack stuff up just to play with the phsyics
-Everything feels real, Bethesda has worked very hard to create a living, breathing world
-There are tons of items you can find, all with their pros and cons
-Enemies scale themselves to your level, meaning that you wont have to worry about the main quest being to hard when you start out, or too easy when youre really powerful
-Loading times are frequent, but very short. Its not a problem like you would think.
-Mini games for persuasion and lockpicking are fun and original, and very difficult

Other Negatives:
-The crime system is too strict. Youre not even allowed to use the Grab function to move other peopls stuff (The reticule turns red when you look at an owned item)
-You may find yourself hating real life because its not as fun as Oblivion
-Houses and interior decorators are extremely expensive.
-Some guilds dont allow you to steal from your fellow guild members, but there are several regular people in these guilds and no way to tell if they are. You will find yourself losing a little bit of gold in the Thieves Guild because they charge you 200 for stealing from a member. Youll find your own ways of learning whos in your guild(s) and whos not, but its a bit annoying.

Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 10/10
Controls: 9/10
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10

Total score for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: 10/10 (not an average)

Rent or Buy: Not even a question. Go buy it NOW! It is a must have for the 360 you will not regret it. I also suggest picking up the Guide (20% off at Gamestop if you buy it with the game). Its very helpful, as it details every quest and enemy.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (G.R.A.W) is the fifth installment in the long running Ghost Recon series. This is the best game of the series. They introduce the cross com system in which you can see what is going on through your teammates eyes, this is the best and most noticeable new feature. The story mode also sticks out to be the best in the series also.


Graphics
The graphics look so real, everything looks and moves like the real thing. You can see every bullet, see the sweat gush out of your soldiers faces. The smoke and Fog are blinding like the real thing. The lighting effects are great, the reflections off of windows is amazing and the overall style and design of this game is just unparalleled to any other game out now.
Final Verdict: 10/10

Controls
The controls do take a little while to get used to, they do feel quite clunky and cumbersome at times but once you get used to the mechanics it is a breeze to play. Everything is responsive and their is not a button that does not have a feature.
Final Verdict: 10/10

Gameplay
What can be better than a tactical war shooter set in the near future that plays better than probably any other game in this genre yet. Absolutely nothing, thats what. In this game you play as a captain of the U.S Ghost team as you protect and escort presidents and fight a war in Mexico City. The amount of things to do is amazing. Each level is long and has a lot of replay value. The A.I. is probably the best ever seen in a game to date. Their is nothing wrong with this game in the gameplay department what so ever.
Final Verdict: 10/10

Sound
The sound is one of the biggest helpers in this game, you can hear people creeping up behind you, you can hear where gunfire is coming from, in this game YOU use the sound to your advantage. Everything else in this department is great too, the songs are fitting and fit with the mood of the game and you can hear bullets scraping against metal and groans of your teammates as they get hit.
Final Verdict: 10/10

Multiplayer
So much stuff to do! With over 1000 possible types of setups online their is always something new to do. The servers always have a good amount of people on them and their is always someone willing to play. Their is almost no lag so every game is 100 percent enjoyable from start to finish, this is the major selling point in this game.
Final Verdict: 10/10


To Rent or to Buy
This is a no brainier, buy this game. This will be the best $60 you have ever spent, With some great new features, great live, best graphics for a game yet and so much more their is no reason not to buy it! Might be better than Halo