Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddlers' Green.
Super Mario Strikers.
Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddlers' Green.
Submitted by BlackConvoy.
Category: Video Games
Genre: Action
Console: Xbox
Plot Summary
Based loosely on the recent George A. Romero flick of the same name, Jack is a man rushing to get to safety. A place named Fiddler's Green, the last city of the living in a world overrun by zombies. What will he find when he gets there?
Review
There's no surprise that people love zombie movies. When this game was announced with George Romero helping out, fans were excited as this was the man that practically invented the zombie movie. However, it suffers the infamous Movie Tie In curse. This may be one of the worst FPS on the market today.
Graphics
For a game running on the Unreal Engine, the game looks pretty awful. It has tons of graphical problems such as pop-ins and generic landscaping. Textures are often the same bland and uninteresting patterns over and over. When Jack runs, the game looks worse. However, this does add to one positive, it makes for a subpar desolate wasteland.
Sound
Hey kids! Do you like bad voice acting, what about repetitive and unscary music? This game has a lot of it. The zombie moans are pretty good, given the poor voice acting (zombie moans aren't hard, people), however, the high point is the firearm sound effects. Each gun actually sounds like it is a powerful zombie stopper.
Gameplay
Easily the worst aspect of the game. There is no balance or proper programming in the weaponry. The second gun you get, the Revolver, has a 75% decapitation ratio in comparison to the Shotgun, a weapon that should instant kill at close range is useless at close range. Melee weaponry is way overpowered, I actually found myself using the Fireman's Axe more than any other weapon in the game. The A.I. is by far the stupidest I have ever run into in my career of gaming. Zombies will charge at you, then suddenly stop within 5 inches at you and engage in a staring contest. Zombies will also do their best French soldier impression by hopping on a table and staying there. The ironic thing is that the movie implied that the zombie hordes were actually gaining intellegence.
Replayability
Standard issue FPS multiplayer modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag are prevalent. However, a new mode called Invasion adds 5 minutes more and is arguably the best thing about this game. Invasion is players must survive against an infinite zombie horde. The game also supports XBox Live.
Overall
Rarely do I support the need of wanton destruction, but if you get Land of the Dead, get your 12 gauge out and use it as practice for a REAL zombie invasion. Serious, this game makes the last two Return of the Living Dead flicks look like Oscar contenders. Avoid at all costs.
Super Mario Strikers.
Submitted by BlackConvoy.
Category: Video Games
Genre: Sports
Console: Other
Plot Summary
After proving his mettle in the baseball, tennis and golf worlds. Mario and his friends have taken over the world's most popular sport by storm. Its an all out battle for the Super Bowser Cup in the soccer field.
Review
Nintendo has always been one of the best companies when it comes to multiplayer games. They've struck gold with the Mario Party and Super Smash Bros. games as well as Mario Golf and Mario Tennis. So how does their iteration of Soccer (or Football to those outside the US) handle? Its a pleasant experience and one worthy of any Gamecube collection.
Graphics
The graphics of the game are pretty much the same as any Mario game, bright and colorful. That doesn't mean they are bad, the arenas and shot and item effects are quite beautiful and the characters themselves have a bit of detail. When a character gets burned, they appear all charred and each burn looks well done.
Sound
Although there is no ingame music, the game has some pretty good sound effects. There are your cartoonish grunts and bonks that are abundant, as well as some great sounding effects when the ball hits. The voices of all the characters are so overwhelmingly cute, its sickening. However, Mario's growl is the stuff of nightmares.
Gameplay
The game itself handles wonderfully. It has quite a number of controls like bit hits and lob modifers. One timers and super shots can be done with ease. A rework of traditional rules have been added. What they pretty much did was throw out the ref, replace the out of bounds with an electric fence, and add items. From green turtle shells to Bom-Ombs and Chain Chomps, the game has lots of variety. Even Bowser himself hops onto the field to make things hard on the players. The only negative aspect is that the goalie seems to be unstoppable one minute then a pushover the next.
Replayability
One player, this game is weak, however, with 2 or more, the game skyrockets to very fun and competitive levels. There is your basic Cup Battle, there are also tournament settings which can accomidate co-op or versus. Tons of trophies, cheats, stadiums and a hidden team to unlock.
Overall
If you have tons of friends that tire of Smash Bros or if you are a Mario Sports fan, be sure to pick this up It is one of the best party sports games in recent years and even rivaling the great Sega Soccer Slam a few years a go. Highly recommended.
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Review: Katamari Damacy
Review: Time Splitters - Future Perfect
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