A *Unofficial* Xbox Review Thread

[Greg The Grim Reaper]

Well, you might have seen this coming. Just to be safe im sticking to our very own current-gen console, the Xbox.

So, have you played on a great game and want to tell us about it or a really rubbish game that you want to slate off. It's up to you.

I'm going to be giving a review soon, but for now, feel free to post your reviews here!

Greg

[Grindstone]

I bought Crimson Skies for $9.99 at the beginning of this month. I was told by my fellow inept gaming Gamestop employee that it was a Co-op game and that it was the unofficial replacement for the original 1942 (or was is `43?) WW2 plane game from the NES console. Now I really liked that game so I hastily pulled out my debit card and walked away with a certain spring in my step.

I flipped through the manual to see what I could expect. The summary is that this is a different dimension for the US in the 1930s. The US has become a fractured nation of conglomorate states. All roads and bridges have been destroyed, so flying is the best way to get around. There are about a dozen planes you can fly in this game, which I enjoy the variety. But, although there was an online option, it wouldn't matter since I do not have broadband in my place. Perhaps more disturbing was the absent mention of Co-op capability.

I put the game in and my friend picked up a controller (we were playing SC:CT before then). There was a versus mode, but no Co-op (I wish they HAD to state that on the cover of the game). So we played SP, alternating between missions. Quite frankly, the game was not that fun. The graphics were decent, the gameplay was alright, the story line is a classic 'you killed my insignificant friend, you will pay for that' type game.

The manual talked about being a sky pirate, but the game doesn't really give you that option. It was like a watered down version of Freelancer [which was a great game on PC, IMO]. You could kinda tell it was loosely based on Freelancer as well. But at least Freelancer had options and relatively good dialogue. Crimson Skies, on the other hand, was replete with corny lines and terrible scripting. And yet, the main bad guys had some sort of German connection as well. What Crimson Skies did have over Freelancer was a definite ending, which comes relatively quick all things considered (okay, I played and beat it on normal mode, nothing too overbearing).

The big summary: Do I feel slightly cheated out of $9.99? No, I got more than what I paid for. I do think the game could have been longer and could have utilized a better plot. Trying to unify the states again would have been a worthwhile objective. Or, if the piracy issue would have been true, then stealing a bigger Zepplin and making a huge warship to take over Chicago myself would have been interesting. The planes also cap at upgrading, i.e., you get to upgrade your plane once, and no more. Also, there were these ridicolous tokens you had to find in order to upgrade your plane. For a game that was real-ish, I would believe finding these floating tokens would not be a key element that should be in this sort of game- maybe Mario Party, but not this genre. Seriously, I had more than enough money to upgrade all my planes, but not enough tokens to do so. If I have the money, then I damn well better be able to upgrade my plane, more than once! Tokens, pfft!

Lastly, I am a bit fed up with employees at gaming stores. I specifically wanted a co-op game as I was on my way to my buddies house to play a new Co-op game. You would think that an employer at a gaming store would deliberately hire people who knew games inside and out. With this recent debackle, I am this close (note the fingers) to publically flogging these uneducated, life-wasted employees.

Game rating: 7.7/10 Reason: Good graphics, good gameplay, good concept, mediocre plot, inane objectives [tokens], terrible dialogue, no Co-op.

[Greg The Grim Reaper]

Mashed

Underated games. Where do we start. BG&E, a brilliant Game but was massivly underated and didn't do too well in the charts. KUF was another casulty, a brilliant strategy game but only just reached the top 10.

But i think THIS is the game that MAGAZINES (Not the public this time) have underrated, Mashed.

Mashed is Multi-Player Heven. Got 4 Controllers? Got lots of mates? Want to have some fun? Mashed is what you need. The Multi-Player has a very simple formular, blow up each others cars. Dosn't sound intresting? You are very wrong. When you battle your mates, you are under constant pressure by the camara. If you slip out of it's view, it's game over, so don't crash! You can also collect weapons that will help you alot during your race (Or battle). From Homing Missiles to Land Mines, these weapons will save you. There is also are varied amount of maps on offer which are very different from each other. Take the Ice Track. All it is is a oval shaped track really, all you do is go down a long strech of road, turn, go down another long streach of road, take another turn and the procces continues. But then you have a Scrap-Yard track. Bends all over the place, narrow roads, lots of weapons, this is for the destructive player. So what happens if your knocked of a cliff at the begining of the race and your just watching them race on and want to get revenge on the person who knocked you off? Fear not, you have a little thing called an Air Strike. Simply put the square rectile over the person you want to attack, wait until it turns to a circle, then let rip (Not in the smelly way)!

So, that is the Multi-Player mode, now time to tell you a little bit about the Single Player. Well, it's pointless really. All it is is you race againest some AI cars and you do the useual things like trying to blow them up ect. It can be amusing but once you have all the medals, thats it really. This game has also done a 'Worms 3D'. A brilliant Multi-Player game, but it dosn't support Xbox Live, a shame really, as this game could have been brilliant.

So to sum it up:

If you like multi-Player games, buy at all costs. If you are not intrested in Multi-Player games, Avoid at all costs.

Score: 8.3