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The story of one character’s trip across the wastes…

Imagine for a moment – a book that writes itself. All you would need to be is that character, be placed in that world, have it be an interesting setting that you can interact with on many levels, and the ‘story’ would flow from that point. Fallout 3 is that ‘book’. Sure, you can follow the quests (whether main or side), but you don’t have to - there is tons to see and do aside from that. You might still stumble into the occasional quest that starts suddenly, but you can always back off – no one is forcing you do it, or even complete them.

I have played quite a bit of Fallout 3, and I suppose now is a good time for a review, although – maybe a bit late. I have also played Fallout 3 as a “good guy”, “bad gal” and a “neutral guy.” Bear in mind, I have had no experience with previous Fallout games, so I will not be making any sour whining noises about that, and how ‘it does not meet my sex fantasy expectations of what a dream game needs to be’ – blah, blah, blah.

Backdrop
Fallout 3 is a wasteland, filled with blowing sand and burning seeps, radioactive areas that are dangerous, leaking barrels killing or damaging the unwary. There are also lots of rocks, big shelves and walls, caverns, & cliffs to sneak around or get to the top of so as to see better, to get a vantage point or just protect your back. Many buildings are rubble, others you can explore. It just takes investigation, and curiosity – and sometimes that’s half the fun.

The story’s backdrop, we have all heard about – 1950 science fiction nuclear aftermath. Giant radiated movie ants and roaches, and even a mini game of ‘whack a mole’ (short – part of a quest, pound 10 moles with a stick). Everything that seems like debris adds ambiance, is dangerous or, is something actually useful – if you can just find out for what. But there is plenty of funny 1950′s childhood retro fear here on tap, so feel free to enjoy it. Typically, (for me) 1st person view was the most fun to play in, but I tried 3rd person too, as it is good for running and skipping sneaking all the time, which does eat up a lot of REAL time by the way.

Similarities
Also, I have taken the time and looked previous fallout games over somewhat, and can see there are differences, such as what monsters didn’t make the cut, number of weapons, plot, perspective of play (1st/3rd, overhead) and other various nuance. Granted, Bethesda does have a certain way of doing things, and Fallout 3 is a fine example of that style. I would not say that it is “Oblivion with guns” because that game had a lot of sword-based ‘club-bashing’ of monsters. Not like real swordplay, but kind of. If you play Fallout 3 in that way (melee) you will probably have a similar experience, play wise. Other similarities include dialog interaction with NPC’s, as that is identical.

A final similarity would be ‘dungeons’ that look increasingly similar to each other after about 40 – 50 hours or so. This game at least leaves the player with a better rational of why opponent characters are in those areas, but not always. “dungeon” areas begin to all look a lot alike after awhile though, and that is part of what brings on a sense of boredom, along with similar monsters being there, and similar various stuff to collect. Once one hits the level 20 cap it’s pretty much dullsville incorporated, unless you start really toying with the game.

Many folks complained about travel in STALKER, as anywhere you wanted to go it was walking. Well, the same applies here, with an exception that once you have been there, you can always fast travel back to shortcut your time to a mere load screen. There are dangers, of course, like the occasional enemy in the immediate area who jumps you, but that does not always happen. This is also a similarity with Oblivion and Morrowind, although Morrowind referred to it as “teleporting.”

Gameplay
Game play is not at all like your typical shooter, except the barest comparison. Most FPS games (Halo, COD for example) have enemies that attack in hordes, and are all very twitch based, meaning – your reflexes and quick aiming ability account for much of ‘actual gun skill.’ Not so here, as Fallout is an RPG, so you play a character that must learn to use guns (or whatever) just like in real life, and that takes time to master. While this can leave something to be desired at some levels, by level 20 you will have a pretty tough character. So, although you might get some armor, you will be relying on health packs and good old fashioned brains to fight most of your battles.

This of course, brings up what is so very great about Fallout 3 – it is no cheesy hallway run, where your only reward is some ammo, or finishing the game. You can attack from many, many different directions, and possibilities exist for one who is strategic, creative and patient. Wide open spaces means maybe you can attack from above, below, either side, with an enlisted follower, by setting traps, sneaking, head on, big guns, small guns, melee, or even leading a different enemy into their ranks by trickery. “Dungeons” (buildings, caves, metros, etc.) are not so different, as finding an enemy to trick into attacking them isn’t always available, yet do often have turrets that you can hack and manipulate to your own ends. It’s a rare game where you can be truly devious in an attack.

What else is different from a typical FPS? To start, there is food. There is many, many types of food, and drink. (I have found more than 4 types of booze already… and it can have good effects and bad, that are useful… but risky…). Food like: Squirrel stew, iguana on a stick, iguana bits, insta mash, mirelurk cakes, sugar bombs, to name but a few (so, squirrels survived?). All help your health, and add a bit of radiation (except for a few). Not exactly damage, but it will be over the long term, if you get enough of it (500 rads or so). Food helps your health when you are shot up, as can many other things like water (dirty or purified) but it takes quite a bit if you are really shot up. Stimpacks are more like healthpacks – for ‘no radiation’ health, and there is an area in the interface/Pipboy where you must add it to limbs, head and/or torso too, when you get really shot up and become crippled. You can easily choose which, and, stimpack effectiveness is delivered by medicine skill level.

Junk, weapons & skills
Junk in Fallout 3 can be used to build things if you possess an appropriate schematic, using about 4 items of what could only be considered crap, you can make something of worth (a weapon) that can be used, repaired or sold. Small gun skills are very useful, as is repair, because ammo is hard to come by, as weapons have damage levels that repairing them will increase, which adds effectiveness. Big guns do great damage, but are harder to come by, and use ammo up quick. All ammo has NO weight, so you could always collect it anyway and just sell it. Small guns are plentiful, and have more of a sniper aspect, whereas big guns require more personal exposure for lesser accuracy, and sometimes take awhile to “wind up”.

Melee weapons can be a hardship. because not all enemies get in your face – some either run away, or stand off at a distance and peck at you or just rail gun you. Some love to throw grenades at you too. Try advancing on a robot with a flame-thrower and you will see where the sneak skill and a stealthboy (temporary invisibility) comes into play. So, obviously, unarmored fists can be a challenge too. The game has a particular level of hardship from around level 5 to about level 8, not sure why, but it gets really tough. If it gets too tough for you, well, just use the interface and set it easy mode, ya crybaby whiner. I suppose that is the part of the game where they teach you about “running away.” (Do I get experience points for that?)

Repair skill is a very worthy skill to have. Not only does it help you keep a weapon working well, it brings it to a maximum damage efficiency (according to your skill). It is also good because you can do field repair when needed (if you have another weapon or armor like it with you, it works by combining two similar items), and that also saves weight and makes the items you carry worth more… that is, less to haul back to sell.

There are many, many guns, assuming you have the skill to use them… sniper rifle, hunting rifle, assault rifle, SMG, shotgun, flamethrower, minigun, gatling gun, missile launcher, railspike, minikuke, various ‘nades, mines and some ‘homemade’ stuff. (really nasty stuff) But, not something you would want to waste, (made from junk you find). Oblivion made you work at becoming skilled at something, and here – you just assign points for ‘surviving’ to the next level, as it is all automatic. Much of the junk you found there was just that. Junk.

Luck has a part to play in creating a character, but it is a subtle thing. Where Strength allows more weight to be carried, and power (like punching), Perception means you detect enemies earlier than they do you, if it is high enough. Endurance affects health (hit points) amount, Charisma seems to have almost no effect, except in quests with speech and challenges. Intelligence affects number of skill points at level up, Agility affects how many points you get in VATS. All of those give bonuses if high, and supposedly actually affect your character in tangible ways (like Agility effects movement) but I have not seen that in all of them. So, in this way, Fallout 3 departs from Morrowind and Oblivion in a major way. Luck, as I have observed, might effect battles and hits, but I have experienced something else… more intriguing. Luck affected what my enemies went through to get to me once it was high enough. Funny as heck to watch, too.

Case in point: When my luck was low, I had many encounters with Talon merc’s, and they were always waiting for me, outside some doorway or on the other side of some entrance or exit. When my luck became a 9, I noticed a subtle shift of them getting reamed by other enemies long before they ever got near me. Poor idiots. So, Luck did change game play quite a bit, but bear in mind – I was sneaking at the time.

Sneak skill is also a mixed bag…I mean to say, many enemies will not see you sneaking in the dark, but many still will. It helps some, but it will not make you invisible to all. I have seen the entire wasteland, and made plenty of effort sneaking around enemies I didn’t want to deal with. It’s a mixed bag. Sometimes I could sneak past, sometimes I ran like a chicken, sometimes they saw me, sometimes one brutal shot convinced them it just wasn’t worth it.

Perks & VATS
Certain perks are good if taken right away, like Educated and Comprehension. You will probably find at least 35 books…so, double the points will be nice, as there are about 300 to find. Perks have been discussed in many other reviews, and so has character building, so I will dwell on other things. Weight, for example, and how you much can carry, is based on Strength (even average). my character is a 6 strength, so I can carry 210 lbs, which is a large amount of stuff early on. For ‘ease of use’ reasons, ammo weighs nothing, as do many ‘drugs’ and a few other items. Drugs that boost health, boost damage, intellect, perception, charisma and other needs to ‘get ‘er done’. Typically very addictive, of course.

VATS is interesting, and several perks make it FAR more useful. Initially, it might feel like a cheat when you hit an enemy in the face several times and all they do is flinch, or you just plain magically miss. It is more effective at close ranges (later in the game – medium range too) but you will still spend plenty of time finding ways to ‘interact directly’, say, with a grenade or land mine. Some enemies will also recognize a land mine when they see it – so be prepared, not all Scorpions are dumb as a brick.

A.I.
AI isn’t bad – I have found that enemies will sometimes chicken out and run off when attacked, and some will flank the long way, showing up unexpectedly. They also often change their mind about running away. Keep in mind that the game will be very gruesome and gory, perk or no perk. Generally, any AI is on patrol of an area; which isn’t so bad, as many animals are territorial and do about the same. Scorpions are a ‘get in your face’ type, like raiders, only really fast. Centaurs are a bit slower. Although many enemies are ‘in your face’, like Oblivion, some are not, some flank, some retreat… you will see varied differences in speed, approach and handling. Some enemies hate fire, others hate plasma, some hate melee, some are armored, some are perceptive. It takes awhile to figure out what’s best for who, but just about anything works by level 20.

Animation
Some animations in the game are not great, as Oblivion’s animations were not bad, per say – but there were times when a dog trying to go down a hill just wasn’t able to do it on the slope. So, the walk staggered the drop, looking very, very fake, dropping 3 or four feet at a time just to go down the slope (invisible stairway!). Well, dogs here have the ‘stagger’ too. Aside from any battles – your dog can just “sit and stay” if that is what you wish. But, he also runs off and finds crap if you ask, like chems, guns, ammo, etc…which does make him quite useful. I lost my dog – was too greedy I suppose. I sent him off to get stuff when I didn’t need it one too many times. Eventually, he did return, but it seemed like forever – I thought he was long dead. Also, sometimes stuff floats, (like chairs, tables, etc.) and enemies will float away (rare, but it happens).

The animations in the beginning of the game are just horrible. The vault had characters without expressions, and they basically just stood around, and some animations look, well – cheesy. All in all it’s not reason to abandon the game, but sometimes it just doesn’t cut it and can be jarring. “Oh, yeah – video game”. Sometimes the AI is ‘ice skating’ when off in the distance. but, But, Oblivion has that too. There are better physics to make up for all of shortfalls, I suppose. And, you don’t see enemies facing the other direction when they shoot at you, like say, in GRAW. Add to problems – the ‘occasional’ texture pop in when you turn your head to look another direction. It slowly fills, and looks strange. I have experienced a few other weird glitches that were video related, but I reloaded and they went away.

The “vault” aspects sort of left me with a “what do I do?” feeling, but – eventually, I would just save and experiment. Interestingly, it put me well on my way to “vault martyr”. I did dig around some, and steal as much as I could before I left (lets see other martyrs try that!). After leaving the vault, I finally found Megaton…which was also slow. Even tried to bang the hooker, but it seemed like all she did was relieve me of my caps (money). I didn’t even hear any fun noises. Irritated, I reloaded the game file, and did something else. I was just curious anyway, but could get the same treatment from someone at J-lube.

Something you might want to try – and that is sneak. Not only does it give critical damage if enemies are not aware of you, but it also allows to to listen in on conversations you might not normally hear enemies make. Some of them are hilarious to be sure. I recall tossing some ‘nades down onto some raiders who couldn’t locate me, and one said “Oh, SHIT!” Then the grenade exploded, and he groaned. His buddy replied “You deserved it, dumbass.” I just about laughed myself ill on that one. Super mutant conversations are also somewhat entertaining…

Assessment
So. The ‘Oblivion’ trees are gone, and so are long load times. There is still loading, but it is shorter, and the frame rate (at least on a 360) is pretty decent, especially when installed to the hard drive. Very little water to be seen, maybe a river and a few radioactive ponds. So, I have seen the entire wasteland, and it is a big place. I finished the main quests and side quests, but I see a 200 hour game potential if one is in no hurry, however, the main quest will probably tap at about 15-20 hours, max. For $60 or so you can go out and write your own (although imperfect) adventure,…. so, what’s stopping you?

———————

With all of that in mind, here is an example of the book that I mean, in my own words, following my actions, early on in my game. Your experience will likely be quite different (I mean, aside from the shooting – but hey, you can always run away).

My characters story….
I headed off into the wastes looking for some adventure, and a scrap. I pointed myself via one of the little arrows on the compass, just to see how the feature worked. Checking my map, I had been to a few of them. But one steered me to an old broken freeway overpass, and from my concealed rock-ledge perch, I saw some raiders at the entrance of the overpass, and so I snuck along a lower rock line so as to not be seen in my ambush. I crept right up to the side of it, keeping low, to the overpass edge. Suddenly – one of them heard my steps – but, my back was covered, and so was my right flank. Hidden from my view, she came along the wall, turned and ran up to me in the open with a bat, and I let her get in close and – BLAM! - shotgun says no way.

This alerted another raider, and he came running with an assault rifle – big mistake – he also got in too close, and my shotgun said so. This in turn alerted another raider (or – already was) who ran up with a knife. Well, you know what they say, ‘bring a knife to gunfight’, and all that. I crept up the bridge after resupplying via their ammo cans. I figured that higher on the overpass was a probably great place for a guy with a sniper rifle.

I got up a ways, and daybreak began to dawn, a bit too quick for my tastes, breaking cover, I ran up to a big semi truck to grab for use as protection, but was seen. Poor Mr. Ballbat didn’t have a chance. BOOM! Another raider tried to flank me left, and – hey – I was right! He had a sniper rifle. Didn’t do him much good, I forced him into a close up scuffle, and shotgun beats sniper at 4 feet any day. I saved, took a few steps and saw more raiders up ahead. One came running with a flame thrower, one with a bat, one with a knife. I set a mine and threw a grenade – somehow, the flame thrower guy skirted around, but the other guys got mowed. He cornered me next to the truck, and had just enough distance where I was getting real cooked, as he was real quick with that fire tosser. Yeeouch!!!

Taking damage, I threw 2 more ‘nades – the first one killed him, the second was a waste. Then, the supposedly protective truck next to me exploded, damn near killing me. Dang! I forgot about that. I had just one little health bar left – I was almost dead, heart pounding in my ears.

Curious, I reloaded my game and tried it differently. I ran up quickly and set a mine right at a pile of planks that crossed a collapsed section of the overpass, where ‘Ol flamey would be forced to cross. He saw me, and I tossed a grenade, which missed. I threw another, it also missed. He hit the mine, and that was a big boom – body parts flew everywhere. Yuck!

But… the other guys were gone! I couldn’t figure it. I looked around, and thought… hmmm… wonder if the force of the grenade blast knocked them off the bridge… ??? I walked back across, and down under the bridge and searched where I thought they might be. I found one – obviously the fall killed her. I never did locate the other guy. Poor rat bastige.

Got me another sniper rifle tho, and a number of rounds. Ugh. What a mess.
–

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For the sake of curiosity I spent a little time wandering the local stores after the Xbox 360 price cut. I live in a fairly major metropolitan area (Orange County, CA) so it’s fair to say that there is a pretty high population density here. While anyone could have easily predicted an upsurge in 360 sales, what I found was pretty shocking: Not a single 360 of any flavor in stock anywhere. My visits included a couple of Targets, Wal Marts, Best Buy, Circuit City, and even a Gamestop. Not one place had a single 360.

So this basically begs another question: Is it possible that the 360 will, in fact, outsell Wii for September? There is a strong contingent who believe that the Wii sells solely based on price alone (I tend to think they’re wrong), but if that’s indeed the case then what we should see is a 360 powered leapfrog of the Wii, not just for this month but on an ongoing basis.

What’s it like in your area? Leave a comment and let us know!

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I’ve been playing the hell out of the Orange Box lately and a friend asked me if it was worth a purchase.  I told him that The Orange Box is the only game that is actually worth 60 dollars. If you are not familiar with The Orange Box let me fill you in: It’s a game from Valve Software that has been out for a couple weeks now, but it’s not just one game, it’s five games all sold as a package.  It includes Half Life 2, plus it’s two sequel episodes, as well as Portal and Team Fortress 2. Any one of these games stands on it’s own just fine, but to package them all together for $60 is one of the best deals in video game history.

I played the game on the XBox 360, (which is why I say it costs $60), but you can also buy the game for PC for only 50 (and some shops have been offering it for as low as $40), if you can believe that.  I think you can also buy each game separately on Steam, but the full Orange Box package is the cheapest way to go.

I started off playing Half Life 2 just to see what it was like on 360 and ended up playing through the whole campaign, creeping through in parts trying to get as many achievements as I could, and I enjoyed all 17 hours of it.  It’s a game that is 3 years old, but it has aged pretty well. There are a few old school conventions in there that remind you of it’s age, however;  for instance, you can only use one type of attack at a time. If you want to do a melee attack you have to switch to the crowbar; if you want to throw a grenade you have to switch to that as your only weapon, and so on.  It really reminded me of the way shooters used to be back in the day, when you could carry 19 different weapons but could only use them one at a time. Today most games have switched to a Halo-style system of having fewer weapons but with multiple ways to attack.

Another reminder of its age is the lack of level steaming; newer games have fewer loading screens because new areas of the level load in the background as needed, but this doesn’t happen in Half Life 2.  After a while of playing it you start to get good a predicting where the load screens will appear: pretty much any time you see a long nondescript hallway you can bet there is a loading screen in your near future.

I also played through both of the Half Life 2 episodes, which took about 4-5 hours for the first one, (partially because I had played it multiple times before), and about nine hours for the second.  I actually played through Episode 2 twice, once just for the fun of it, (and to try and get achievements), and then again to listen to the developer commentary, which almost all of the games in The Orange Box have.  All-told I enjoyed both episodes, and they do a good job of giving you more of the gameplay you’ve come to expect as well as adding a few new things to keep it interesting.

Portal is unique and brilliant but short, it’s not much longer than a good movie but I enjoyed almost every minute of it.  You’ve probably seen videos of it where it looks like just a puzzle game, but believe it or not it actually has a story, and one which could easily be spoiled, so I’m just going to stop talking about Portal right now.

Team Fortress 2 probably has the best art direction of any game released this year so far; yes, it really does look that good.  It’s not a technological wonder like Gears of War, it’s not pushing the boundaries of graphics, but it’s beautiful in it’s own way.  Unfortunately I have less to say about the gameplay, not because it’s not fun, but because I only spent a couple hours with it and multiplayer games aren’t really my thing.  I typically only play games like Team Fortress 2 a few times a year when my friends get together for a LAN party.  I did play it long enough to see that it really could be a blast during a LAN, so maybe I’ll be able to update my impression of the game later.

So, if you haven’t noticed by now, I really enjoyed the Orange Box, it’s pretty much a must-buy for any first person shooter fan, so buy it, play it, and let us all know what you think in the comments section!

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W00t! Probably the second most anticipated game of the year, Mass Effect, has gone gold! Boy, I tell you, it’s a good thing I haven’t bought a PS3 yet, between stroking the Wii, 360 and DS this fall there’d be a console cat fight for sure!

Press release after the jump!

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On the last day of E3 LucasArts finally opened up their exclusive booth to the expo attendees, that did not have previous appointments, and after a short wait in line I was able to catch a glimpse of the new Indiana Jones title being developed for the Xbox 360.

The new Indiana Jones game (untitled as of yet) will be set in the 1930′s and will take place in San Francisco among other places around the world. Lucas himself is overseeing the story for the game. The crown jewel of the game though is its use of the euphoria behavioral-simulation engine, developed by NaturalMotion Ltd. Euphoria allows for interactive characters and unscripted events.

Enemies and characters will now work to protect, balance, and shield themselves depending on the situation. The environment in the game is also unscripted. In the playable demo, Indiana punched an enemy into a
wooden door and the planks broke individually and in different places. The game was then reloaded to show how the door broke differently the second time around. In another scene Indiana was riding on top of a
trolley car in one of the games several chase scenes. The LucasArts employee showed how the cars following him were not on tracks and that the AI was driving them in real time, swerving to avoid obstacles that
also presented themselves in real time. Bad guys atop the trolley would also try desperately not to get themselves thrown off and if they did happen to be tossed off by the illustrious Dr. Jones, they would either
tuck and roll to avoid injury, or they would grab on to the edges and rails of the trolley in a last ditch effort to survive and rejoin the fight.

The LucasArts team is able to incorporate all if these advances into their game because they are now working alongside both LucasFilm Ltd. and Industrial Light and Magic. Innovative technological advances that were developed in the film industry are now being put to use in this next-gen game. So, because of the collaborative efforts taking place, scenes and levels in the game that would take other developers months to render can now be done in just weeks or even days. Still, we will have to wait until the later half of 2007 before we can enjoy this new adventure. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed and I was happy to see that Nintendo isn’t the only company out there that is pushing the limits on gameplay and innovation.

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Kameo is one of the best looking games I’ve ever played, and luckily, the game play isn’t too shabby either.
Rare had been developing this game since it was originally slated for Nintendo’s little purple box, but it finally ended up as a launch title for Microsoft’s powerful and stylish space heater. It may look like a cute little platformer for the kids, but don’t be fooled by the cartoony art style, it’s not a plamformer and it’s not for the young ones. So what the hell is it? Why don’t you read my review and find out?

You’re probably expecting some answers now. The best way I can describe Kameo is that it’s a platformer
without all of the annoying platforms. There is combat, adventuring and minor puzzle solving, all wrapped up in a pretty package that almost anyone can enjoy. This game has a “Teen” ESRB rating, so if your kids recently stopped wearing diapers then this might not be the game for them. The violence in the game is just as cute as everything else, so you won’t be seeing any gushing blood or entrails, but you do get extra points for murdering trolls in the most brutal ways the game will allow. Good times.

The graphics really are amazing, Rare did an excellent job of showing off the power of the Xbox 360. All
the the graphical effects you would expect from a next generation game are here: bloom, parallax bump mapping, complex shaders, and my favorite: depth of field, which makes things in the distance look out
of focus. The particle effects are just as impressive: at times there are thousands of particles in view at once. In general the graphics are very lush and very well done overall. Grass waves gently as you walk through it, and it all looks so good it can be fun to simply walk around and explore the world. I do have one gripe about the graphics though, the models for the main characters seem to be low-poly and they don’t use any complex shaders (that I can tell), making them look out of place in such a gorgeous environment.

The audio was well done, from what I noticed anyway. I rarely paid attention to the music, but when I did
take a respite from slaughtering trolls I heard an original soundtrack with high production values. The voice acting was done by some talented actors, some of whom I recognize from various cartoons. It really reminded me of the days when they actually showed cartoons on TV on Saturday mornings, I really had the urge to get my sleeping bag and curl up in front of my Xbox with a bowl of Boo Berry.

The main goal in Kameo is to rescue your family from your evil sister and her enormous troll sidekick,
and in order to do that you are tasked with regaining your “Elemental Warriors”, which are the various forms that you can turn into throughout the game. For instance, you could turn into a fire-breathing dragon and melt any icy obstacles in your path, or turn into a big spiky armadillo and roll up into a ball to get to places you couldn’t get to before. With each new elemental warrior comes a new set of abilities and attacks, as well as a new control scheme, which can be awkward at first, several of them can take time to get used to before you’re able to use them effectively. The game world is divided into several areas that are connected by a central hub called the Badlands, which is in an almost constant state of war between the Trolls and Elves. There are often hundreds of combatants fighting at once in the badlands, and in order to plow your way
through them to the next area that you need to get to, they provide you with a horse, which you can use to charge through the battlefields and knock back anyone in your way.

The multiplayer portion of the game is in the form of six different 2 player co-op stages that you can play
with a friend in split-screen mode. I didn’t have a chance to test out the co-op, but I believe the stages are taken straight from the single player game. There has also been a recent announcement that Kameo will be getting an online co-op mode available through Xbox Live.

There are a few little extras thrown in as well, since it’s an Xbox 360 game there are achievements to be
earned that increase your Xbox Live gamer score. I was able to earn about 600 points for completing Kameo, which is quite a bit more than I’ve gotten for completing other games. There is also a leaderboard for comparing your high scores and level completion times to your friends and other players around the world. There are also various Kameo styled items you can purchase through the Xbox Live marketplace, like gamer pictures and themes. But honestly, does anyone give a crap about those?

As an aspiring game designer I have a bit of a unique perspective when reviewing a game, there are a few
things that I think should have been done differently. I already mentioned that the main characters look out of place, I think this hurts the otherwise beautiful art style quite a bit and they should have put in some extra effort to get them looking as polished as the rest of the game. I can only guess that these models were left over from the earlier stages of development. Also, the controls for the various elemental warriors could have been done better, they are all simple enough that the controls for all of them should be almost identical, every time you have to radically change the way you move or attack it makes it less intuitive for the player, and lessens the experience.

The bottom line is that Kameo has enough fun and varied game play to keep most players attention all
the way to the end. It was 50 dollars when bought and I think it was defiantly worth the price, I’d recommend this game to anyone looking for an action game for their Xbox 360.

Graphics: 9

Sound: 8

Game play: 8

Multiplayer: Not tested

Extra content:6

Developer’s Perspective: 8

Overall Score: 8

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The first time I played Zuma was on the PC, where much like the Xbox 360 version, the gameplay is simple yet challenging. By the time I reached the second level I was hooked on Zuma’s addictive gameplay.

As anyone who’s even heard of Xbox knows by now, the Xbox Live Arcade offers many extra games for the Xbox 360. Zuma is one of the great games offered by the XBLA, but as I learned recently, playing Zuma on the 360 is a lot harder than the PC version. You get to choose which thumbstick you want to rotate the frog with and which buttons to use to change the color of the balls: I found it easiest to use the bumper buttons to change colors. Pop Cap, the game’s developer, utilizes both analog sticks, A, B, and the bumper buttons to really make this game enjoyable–yet challenging–to play.

In addition to the single player mode, Zuma is also an Xbox Live game. It’s one thing to play the game standalone, which is a blast, but to receive gamerscore and achievement points really grabs my attention and makes me want to be a better player. To be good at this game you have to think quickly and react even more quickly. While Zuma is a simple game it’s not mindless, but it’s so much fun you’ll find yourself lost in the game for hours on end. Zuma is one of my favorite games on the Xbox 360, and for the small price (it’s just a few dollars on the service) I highly recomend this game to all gamers.

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Source: Microsoft.

Laying to rest the question of when XBox 360 will finally land in consumer’s homes, Microsoft has announced that November 22nd is the day when the console will hit retail shelves. Hitting at 2 price points,
$299 for the “core” system and $399 for the “Premium” system, the unit will be the first “High Definition” game system on the market. Other improvements included with the system are a full-featured Media Center
Extender, allowing the box to stream high definition music and movies from networked servers (Full functionality report will be coming upon release!) and Media Center PC’s.

Check back here for more info as the launch date approaches!

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Source: Prodigious Gaming.

In a move that can only be called “Incredibly stupid”, Microsoft today has decided to surrender one of their primary advantages over Sony’s PS3: The XBox 360 hard drive will be an addon. Flying in the face of all previous statements that “Every XBox 360 will have a 20GB hard drive out of the box”, Microsoft have apparently gone off their rocker and decided that rather than offering the consumer far more value than
Sony will in 6 more months, they’d rather just follow their competitor’s mistake and split the market, alienate developers and ensure the failure of the hard drive as a peripheral.

While it’s impossible to predict the short-term effect of this new development on any sort of scale, I can tell you this: I won’t be buying an XBox 360 at launch.

Update: Upon further review and consideration, I’ll have to admit to being wrong about the Premium bundle.

While I still think the failure to include a hard drive with every unit is a mistake, the premium bundle is loaded with SO much good stuff for the additional $100 that it would be foolish to buy the cheaper core
system. Further, from a marketing perspective, it will probably make more sense to price the premium 360 closer to the estimated launch price of the PS3.

The reason for pricing 360 closer to the estimated PS3 launch price works like this: Consumers, by and large, are complete morons. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Perception will be that if the PS3 costs more
than the 360 that it’s a better, more powerful system. The fact that this is an untruth makes little difference to consumers who’ve spent their lifetimes duped into the sometimes true, but usually false premise that more expensive =unilaterally better. Observe the number of people who sincerely believe that PS2 is a more capable piece of hardware than the Nintendo Gamecube, for crying out loud. Gamecube thoroughly abuses the PS2 in every way, from a hardware perspective, yet because it was priced $100 less than the PS2 people
assumed–falsely–that PS2 was the more capable machine. For this reason alone it’s in the best interests of XBox 360 to be priced at $399 for the premium edition, at least at launch.

So there you have it, me admitting I was mistaken and explaining the why-for’s. Enjoy it while it lasts, ’cause it doesn’t happen every day!

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Source: Microsoft

According to a press release this morning at Microsoft’s website, the XBox 360 Summit in Japan started off with a big bang this morning with the announcement of big support from more than 50 of Japan’s top
developers–including some who’ve been primarily Sony loyalists for years. The announcement comes as the even launches today and is sure to provide plenty of fodder for fanboys on all sides of the console spectrum. Regardless of their outlooks, though, one thing is clear: Microsoft has been working hard behind the scenes to cut some fabulous deals with Japan’s most famous developers in a bid to garner the big support that they need from Japan to win the next generation race.

For a full list of the games on display at the Summit and the developers who’ll be joining Microsoft’s camp, many for the first time, read on…

Xbox 360 Game Titles Shown at Xbox Summit 2005