Tag: xbox

Halo 2 Thoughts

It’s now only a few days till Halo 2 hits the UK (Thursday the 11th or 10th if I’m lucky) so I thought I’d share a few opinions (no spoilers) of the ‘test’ version I’ve been playing. I guess I should be honest and say that although the original Halo was a stand out game for the Xbox on launch, it tired quickly for me. I found the repetitive level design and unoriginal gameplay meant the single player campaign was difficult to stick with. Admittedly I was playing on Heroic to make sure the game was a challenge but the Library level and the flood character designs were in my book a filler in an otherwise stunning game., and playing through filler just turned me off. On the other hand the multi-player while not online was stunning and gave a real taster for what Halo 2 could be.

Halo 2 so far has been great. The single player campaign has been difficult but full of nice ‘set-piece’ moments. I’m now onto level 4 (again at Heroic) and although the graphics are ever changing I’m picking up a feeling of repetition again. Still – early doors with regards the campaign. Multiplayer has so far been limited to Xlink Kai and XBConnect games through the pc. However even with that frustration, the online gaming has been supreme. Amazing maps mixed with balanced weapons leads to some quite stunning gaming. The options for a host are massive, with the old favourite of Slayer with sniper rifles still available. Coupled with that are some ground breaking stats available at Bungie.net. Not only will the usual best player, friends list type stats be available but kill ratio’s, experience stats and current player levels are all there as well as a feature called ‘Game Viewer’ which is pretty neat. Basically each game you play in can be reviewed afterwards and you can see where you were shot from and who by – a picture says a thousand words.

Other new features – duel wielding which is basically firing two guns at once. This adds quite a bit of strategy as certain weapon combinations are more potent than others. The weaponry has also changed with some new additions and some tweaks to old ones (removal of sight from zoomed in pistol being one). Vehicles are also destructible and also there’s more to choose from – the ghost is superb.

Summing up, for me the online play is unrivalled on the Xbox. I can only hope for some lag-free gaming over Live on Thursday (hooray for holidays). Considering how good online this game is, the campaign mode might not be played for quite some time.

Some useful links – gamespot.com review and also the FAQ page at bungie.net.

XBMC

xbmcI’ve mentioned Xbox Media Center (XBMC) before but the new updates are top smart. First up is a new web radio interface. Makes browsing through hundreds of Internet radio stations a breeze. Second is a link into Apple’s movie trailer site which means you can stream and watch trailers on the TV with ease. Finally there’s a link to game trailers at Microsoft.

Linking into the pc is easy and means I can browse the all my music (and album art finally works well) and select play lists at will. Can then easily switch to movies stored on the media server pc, the Xbox itself or slap in a dvd. If you are into home entertainment in any way, a chipped Xbox and XBMC really are worth investigating.

 

Pro-Evo on the Xbox

More pro-evo news. I’ve got a ‘beta’ Pro-Evo for the Xbox and its mostly all good news. Graphically its good with all glitches and slowdown that was evident on the ps2 now removed. However on ‘Wide’ mode the graphics don’t look as sharp as the ps2 although when watching replays or a closer in view the graphics are sharper. The grass texture also looks more grainy. All the same options that are in the ps2 version are in the Xbox version with the addition of online support although it would look like this is 1 vs 1 only. The major dissapointment is with the controller. The ps2 has four shoulder buttons where as the Xbox pad has two and they are full size triggers at that. The only option has been to put L2 & R2 on the white and black buttons. Nooooooooo. I use R2 all the time and it is impossible to play (ok – not impossible but damned uncomfortable) with the Xbox pad. Also the longer throw of the trigger didn’t suit the game. A solution had to be found. Cue visit to Lik-Sang.

I ordered a convertor called the Dreambox. This allows you to use the PS2 pad on the Xbox and also plug in a headset so you can still talk online. Tested it tonight and it works a dream – just had to swap L1/L2 with R1/R2 to get the controls exactly the same as Pro Evo on the PS2. Also had to buy a cable extender as the Xbox is a fair distance from where I sit. Just need to wait till mid November now for the game to come out. Oh…and resist buying Fifa tomorrow.

Burnout 3

Burnout 3 is out this Friday and it looks like an essential purchase. I’ve been playing it since yesterday (from the usual sources) and although I haven’t sampled the online modes, single player is superb – the best Burnout yet.

Now that EA have taken over publishing it’s easy to see their influence. EA Trax supplies the music and there’s some good variety including Ash and Franz Ferdinand. The structure of the game is also similar to other EA Sports games with lots to unlock and a real polish to the front end and general presentation.

In game graphics are great and the sound is used to good affect. You can easily tell from which side your being attacked from. What surprised me is how aggressive the AI is – the computer controlled cars really try and take you out – much more so than previous games. It’s also quite challenging even on early rounds which is good.

What I can’t wait to try (and why I need to buy it this Friday) is the Live racing. It promises much and it’s the first game online where you can’t complain when your rammed of the road as that’s the name of the game. Fun with a capital F (cheese!) and hopefully no lag.

PES 4

Soon to be released on Xbox, and it WILL support Xbox Live. Proof (kind off) can be seen here. Question is whether it will just be 1 vs 1 or support 2 vs 2 or more? I also might need one of these so I can play PES (Pro Evolution Soccer in case your confused) online using the ps2 pad. Good as the Xbox pad is, the ps2 pad might be more suited to PES. I’ll wait till nearer the time, which is hopefully 22/10/04 according to Amazon or 12/11/04 if you look at Play.

PES is by far the best football game you can buy (ok – Winning Eleven is arguably better/as good as) but to be able to play this over the net via LIVE makes this potential game of the year material. Yes – getting excited, but its PES!

Bargain

Xbox for £99 from 27th August. An absolute steal and by far the best console you could buy if you’ve not already got one. And if you’ve got broadband – get an Xbox. The online gaming is superb compared to Sony’s. I’m still a beta tester for Sony’s online offerings and they have been pretty poor in comparison. Killzone is due to be delivered for testing this week though and it does look amazing if not the Halo beater it was once thought to be. The website is stunning though. Really wets the appetite.

That aside, the list of cracking games on the Xbox is large – much larger than the PS2. For example Halo, Links, Top Spin, PGR 2, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six and the upcoming Halo 2 which looks soooooo much better in the graphics and gameplay departments than Killzone. And these are the exclusive games. Buronout 3 and Pro Evo soccer are due in the next couple of months on both consoles – Xbox will have better graphics and sound than the PS2 with better online support (although thats only a hope for Pro Evo as nothing is confirmed).

So spend that £99 wisely – get an Xbox. And if you’ve already got one, buy another and chip it, add a large hard disk and create the biggest games machine known to man. You can also install Xbox Media Center and create a fantastic media machine too. Joy. Even better Xbox Media Center now supports iTunes – woo-hoo. I feel an update session coming on.

Psi-Ops

One of the most refreshing games in a while is Psi-Ops on the Xbox (& PS2 but you want to see it in all it’s glory, don’t you?). I’d heard nothing about this till I seen a review in Edge. A quick download later (overnight) and I was playing. What a game.

In some ways it looks like a derivative 3rd person/1st person shooter with a bit off plot. However the twist is the Psi powers that your character can use. Pick up and throw objects, enemies, see through walls, walls of fire, see objects that aren’t visible to the naked eye and mind control. Add to this a superb graphics engine and you’ve got some nice gameplay moments that haven’t really been seen before. The game uses a modified Havoc 2 engine and has physics to die for – a real taster for Half Life 2 later this year (I hope).

Definitely worth a buy although a couple of reviews say it plays quite short, although that is no bad thing – just not got the time to play games that I used to.

GTA San Andreas

Not confirmed, but the rumour is the following songs will feature in the game…

Salt’n’Pepa – Push it
Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby
Inner Circle – Bad Boys
KLF – 3am Eternal
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
Poison – Every Rose Has It’s Thorn
Guns’n’Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
Smashing Pumpkins – Today
NWA – **** Tha Police / 100 Miles And Runnnin’
Snoop Doggy Dogg – Gin N’Juice / Ain’t No Fun
Warren G – Regulate
Fugees – Killing Me Softly
Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise
Public Enemy – Rebel Without A Pause
The Stone Roses – Fools Gold
Happy Mondays – Step On
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Radiohead – Creep

Ouch – what a line-up. Roll on October.