Xbox 360 Game Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Video Game News, Reviews, and Art

Batman Arkham Asylum Review

Posted on September 17, 2011September 27, 2011 by blooddash

I noticed that we don’t have a review for Batman Arkham Asylum with Arkham City coming out soon. Now that’s just a shame isn’t it? I know it’s a little older, but hopefully this will convince some of you guys and gals to go out and play it before the new one comes out. Now let’s begin.

In Arkham Asylum (AA), you play as the Caped Crusader, Batman. He’s just as awesome as ever in this rendition. The story starts with Batman taking Joker to AA. He ends up breaking free of the guards while you’re there and now you gotta stop him and all the other baddies that are let loose.

Inside of AA, there are plenty of bad guys to fight. Harley Quin, Zsasz and Killer Croc to name a few. There are plenty more where that came from, including a plethora of henchmen for you to beat up. They really went all out on the cast of this game. There are even several items referencing other characters just for you to reminisce about.

When you start the game, you’ll first notice the amazing graphics. Trust me, they stand out so amazingly. The creators put the Unreal engine to good use here. Every character has an amazing amount of detail and their animations are so fluid and vivid. On top of that the environments are even more amazing. AA has so many tiny details everywhere that it’s almost too much. You know that corner of the room that no one cares about? Well they do. That’s honestly how much detail is in there.

So throughout the game you play as Batman from a third-person view. It may seem a little odd to some at first but it’s for the best. It lets you admire everything and take in everything around you completely. It honestly does. When a game is in first-person, you’re limited to what you can see directly in front of you. So you may see one enemy in front of you, but not the two on the side about to jump you. It’s for this purpose that they implemented it into the entire game. You’re playing third person normally, but when you get into combat it becomes almost an overhead shot. Suddenly, the environment becomes an open view and you can see everyone and everything around you.

The combat system that they input into Batman Arkham Asylum was simply amazing. It’s a freeflow system that allows you to stream combos very easily, while looking visually stunning too. It’s not only entertaining to the player, but anyone watching as well. You have a punch button, counter, stun, dodge, and your equipment. You can attack your enemies head on and if you spot someone going to attack you from the back, you hit counter at any time, even in the middle of your combo to keep the train going. Now, you’re not limited to only enemies directly within arms distance. Batman is too awesome for just that. If you knock an enemy out and the other is a few feet away, point in that direction with the analog stick and hit attack and Batman will leap across the area to attack him now. The idea of freeflow is being hammered in so much that getting a combo of 50-60 hits is well within reason.

The other combat system is Batman fighting from the shadows. You basically have enemies that are armed with guns and searching the area. Your job is to take them out stealthily. It stays true to Batman and how he takes out enemies one by one. You can string them up from gargoyle statues or even drop them on your enemies below to frighten them.

The detective angle of Batman Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360, is great as well. It’s not only focusing on the fact that Batman is a great fighter, but still keeping in touch with the fact that he’s the best detective ever. There are puzzles hidden around for you to figure out and follow the clues to the next area. They implemented an alternative view mode called Batcowl. It identifies key items in the areas such items, trails, NPCs, badguys and whether or not they have a gun. If you want, you can stay in that view forever. It makes the game easier by identifying everything easily, but you don’t get to enjoy everything else because it kind of puts things into an x-ray view.

Batman Arkham Asylum Rating:

Graphics: 10/10 The graphics are absolutely amazing. I can’t repeat it enough. Everything from the environments, to the characters and even items scattered around are so clean and crisp. It really allows you to be pulled into the game even more when the game looks like a movie.

Gameplay: 10/10 The fighting is awesome. The detective work can be difficult if you want to go for side objectives, but still engaging enough in the main story to allow it to still be present.

Audio: 10/10 The sounds of the environment help to pull you into the game more. You don’t have loud music when you’re trying to be stealthy. It makes no sense. So what ever audio is in there has its place and purpose.

Replay Value: 10/10 I played it twice. Once on normal and once on hard. It wasn’t just to beat the game, but because it was so much fun. It doesn’t take away from the experience at all. I may play it one more time right before Arkham City comes out.

Overall: 9.8/10 I honestly want to give this game a 10/10, but that’s just not possible. No game is perfect. But this is the closest to one that I’ve ever played or seen and it’s honestly one of my top favorite games. No complaints at all about it and I would recommend it to anyone. Here is a video clip of the upcoming Batman Arkham City, set to release on October 18th 2011.

X-Men Origins Review

Posted on September 15, 2011 by GameNinjaX

X-Men Origins was a very interesting spin off of the Origins movie about Wolverine. It followed most of the storyline from the movie but there were some significant differences. You start out in the jungle when Striker and his team were searching for the adamantium. He still has his bone claws but he is just as BA as ever.

After you do a few quests here it jumps forward to the present time when he has the adamantium. This is where it starts getting kind of annoying and confusing because you have to follow certain paths with your feral senses, which cuts out a lot of the graphics because you constantly have to have the senses turned on.

I really did like how they made it somewhat easier to find out where you have to go that way though because it is extremely easy to get turned around and lost. I loved the different special abilities such as lunge and the claw spin, those both did a lot of damage. This game seems great but it was somewhat frustrating to me because it kept switching back and forth between the jungle and the present day, I wish that it had just been in sequential order but I guess the parts they added that were separate from the movie made it somewhat necessary.

There were certain parts I didn’t agree with much as well because of the way he meets the characters. As the game progressed it seems EXACTLY like the movie, but then it throws you off because when he meets back up with the old team mates from Africa you meet them completely different and then you have to fight them. I will admit fighting Fred “the Blob” Dukes was entertaining because at one point you hop on him and start to ride him through shelves to get his health down.

In X-men Origins fighting Gambit with Wolverine was also somewhat frustrating because you have to climb a giant construction site to get to him and it seems to take forever because there are other enemies along the way. The initial ending fight with him is somewhat interesting, but unless you are good at blocking and quick attacks (I’m not entirely good at that haha), it may take a few minutes to really get him.

X-Men Origins Rates:

Gameplay 6/10 just because it followed the movie well, but I didn’t particularly like the side stories it kept going through and how it kept switching back and forth from the past to the present so quickly. I would have liked to have gone straight through.

Graphics 9/10 It had amazing visuals and as Wolverine got injured you could see right down to his bones and it was extremely gory. You can watch him regenerate as well which was pretty cool.

Audio 5/10 The audio was kind of a letdown because there wasn’t too much music and it was mostly just the effects (gunfire, injury sounds…) I think it would have been a lot better with more background music and maybe even a few good songs in the fight scenes could have made a difference.

Replay Value 5/10 I would never spend the money to buy this game. It is extremely slow in the beginning, yes it ends up getting quicker after a while but it just has a lot of repetitive monsters and you don’t really see a fluctuation of different enemies other than fighting the other member of the team (ex. Gambit, Deadpool, Victor…)

Oh, just a hint for all of you World of Warcraft fans out there… I found an extra achievement that comes up as “WoW!” hahaha… the picture is below… do you recognize that sword?

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Review

Posted on September 7, 2011September 27, 2011 by blooddash

Assassin’s Creed is a game about two factions waring against each other over the ages. The two factions are the Assassins and the Templars. You play as the assassins. Now this particular game takes place after the events of the previous game, Assassin’s Creed 2. So I would recommend playing that and even Assassin’s Creed 1 before touching this one. You don’t have to, but the story may seem a little off for you if you haven’t. The next paragraph is a brief synapses of the previous titles. If you want to just jump to the review of the game skip the next paragraph.

The game has two main stories to it: Ezio’s and Desmond’s. Desmond is a man from the modern age that is reliving his ancestor’s memories through a machine called the Animus. This is so that he can gain knowledge and also train using the system. Ezio is his ancestor and his story takes place during the Renaissance period in several areas of Italy. You go about a beautiful landscape and take on missions to infiltrate, assassinate, and procure items of worth. Your father and two brothers were killed at the beginning of AC2 and the story continues as you learn to be an assassin and get revenge against the Templars. There is a much deeper story to the game that you may uncover if you so desire, but is not necessary.

Let us now begin with the game at hand. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood begins at the end of the second game. If you remember correctly, you were left with some cliff hanger of an ending. So as Desmond you must now relocate to a new safe zone. Once you achieve this you continue on in the Animus to find out where The Apple is so you can use it in modern times. You once again play as Ezio Auditore and must go through a lot of missions until you can finally get the correct memory. It’s pretty straight forward. If you’ve played the older games it’ll feel very familiar.

The game play is amazing. You can climb buildings and basically use the entire environment like a jungle-gym. Running and jumping from building top to building is very fun and smooth. It’s all really organic. The combat system has been refined even more from the previous games. You have even more weapons at your disposal and can pick up the weapons of fallen enemies and use them as your own. The enemies are more responsive and not everyone dies to the counter attacks any longer. So that means you actually have to fight on occasion. There is an amazing system put in called Execution Streak. If you execute an enemy is battle you can flow from one enemy to another in sequence and just kill everyone in one hit. Now this isn’t to say that all the enemies will sit there watching, so you have to watch out for them attacking you during your streak, but these can be countered. It’s just awesome how it all strings together.

You have six stores you may purchase: the medic, blacksmith, tailor, art, stable and faction buildings. The medic heals and sells poison. The blacksmith sells armor/weapons. The tailor sells pouches and dyes your clothes. The art merchant sells you maps. The stable provides you horses in the area. Finally the faction buildings can be bought to place either mercenaries, thieves, or courtesans in the area.

Now the main reason for the name of the game is the Brotherhood. As Ezio you go about rebuilding the Assassins. You find followers and train them up among the ranks and they level up. As they level up, they get better armor and weapons until they are a complete assassin. These assassins can aid you in your battles if you call for them and it’s absolutely awesome when you use it the first time. They pop out of nowhere and attack the enemy you had selected and then disappear if a battle doesn’t start. They have missions you can send them out on to get experience, as well as gold or items. During this time, you can not use their aid in battles for obvious reasons. They’re gone. Haha. So when you select to send them out, it tells you how long they’re gone for and you can continue what ever you were doing. Now, you can select up to 5 assassins for a single mission. Adding more to a mission increases the chances based on their level to the difficulty of the mission. If they fail the mission, they are dead and you must get yourself a new assassin to train yet again. This happened to me once and I lost 4 assassins. It was very sad.

The music was good. It pulled you into the battles with heavier sounds and while you’re just riding around there’s nice and peaceful music. I was a little surprised to hear a little opera, but I didn’t mind it.

The graphics are amazing yet again. The individual graphics for the characters aren’t leaps and bounds over the previous game, but they’re still as good as ever. The designers have done an amazing job on the landscape and that’s how it should be. For a game that’s so vast and open, it’s honestly a miracle how they get so much of the environment beautifully put in without feeling clunky at all. Everything feels as if it should be right where it is. On top of that it all looks perfectly how it should. I’ve had the pleasure of going to The Colosseum in Rome and I have to say that it took me back there. Any kind of landmark that they put into the game is so beautifully done that you could look at a side-by-side photo and not be disappointed. Honestly, take a moment to enjoy if you play.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Rating

Graphics: 9/10 The graphics were top notch. The environments were so amazingly crafted that not a single thing felt out of place. The characters were designed well enough, but it felt like they didn’t want to work on it very much since the last game. This isn’t to say that they’re bad, just not enough to give a 10 to.

Gameplay: 10/10 I loved the game play. Everything flows so perfectly with each other and pulls you into the game. I just didn’t want to put it down. I’m being completely serious. I did not want to stop playing because it just pulled me in so much.

Audio: 8/10 The music fit the scene most often. They used music that fit the era, as well as what was going on but at times it felt like the game got bored with you. There was one time that my escape from guards took a lot longer than it should have, and eventually the music just went away. There was nothing but sounds of my character running. So that didn’t feel quite right.

Replay Value: 8/10 If you’re an achievement whore you’re going to be spending a long time going back in this game. Little added tasks in missions make it very difficult and if you want 100% in the game you’ll be going back to quite a few missions. Trust me.

Overall: 9.5/10 The game was great. The game play pulled you in and wouldn’t let you go. The graphics were absolutely breathtaking and if you’ve ever been to these locations, you will agree with the level of detail. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone. And if you’re a bit of a detective, you can go into the extra secrets in the game too. To be honest, I did and it got me hooked. Played the whole game through in 3 days. Barely did anything besides sit in front of the TV. Totally worth it.

Madden NFL 2012 Review

Posted on August 31, 2011September 27, 2011 by GameNinjaX

Madden NFL 12 is here on time as usual, just enough time to get excited right before the season begins. There are some noticeable upgrades compared to last years madden that make the game play a lot smoother and takes out all the WTF?! moments. By WTF moments, I mean the times where Darren Sproles would run right over and truck Ray Lewis for a touchdown (which would never happen in real life). The developers over at EA focused on eliminating, or at least minimizing, this issue by implementing a feature that takes into account a players force and where they are being hit.

On all the previous Madden games, when you tackled another player in the chest or from the side, the opponent would just fall backwards. In Madden NFL 12, the opponent will actually fall corresponding to the location of the hit. Not only that, but they implemented a new feature that takes into account individual force, because we all know most punt returners cannot truck a middle linebacker. So if you see Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher in the back field staring you down, you better hold RB and tuck that ball for dear life.

The Graphics have somewhat been improved from Madden 2011, but not by any significant amount. This was a little disappointing because it tells me that Madden is at its full potential on this generation of consoles. Even though the graphics already look so detailed, that my dad will walk in and think there is a game on, why should we keep purchasing the same game over and over again? I think EA will have some trouble in the next few years trying to sell Madden if the only difference is roster updates.

Another feature that I enjoy is the sound track on this years Madden NFL 12. Snoop Dogg, Common, Rise Against, and many other artists made there way on the Madden NFL 2012 soundtrack and make you feel like bull dozing a few bodies into the ground.

The best thing I enjoyed about this years Madden, is the fact that on my first game I stomped the Raiders with the Chargers 28-0, and unlocked 4 different achieves for doing so.

Chargers > Raiders

Madden NFL 12 rates

Gameplay 8/10 The game has been improved over and over again, for more than a decade now. There is no wonder that there are T.V. shows just about winning this game in tournaments. Madden 2012 just adds more features to making a video game feel as real as possible.

Graphics 8/10 I can’t complain about the graphics because it does fool older people into thinking there is a game on T.V., but the difference in the graphics from last years game are minimal.

Audio 9/10 This years soundtrack is a very nice addition to the overall feel of the game. When I’m leaving the menu screen on just to listen to the music, then you have to give the publishers kudos.

Replay Value 8/10 I will be playing Madden NFL 2012 for the entire football season, my friends will be playing Madden NFL 2012 for the entire season, and you will be playing Madden NFL 2012 for the entire season.

I recommend buying this game if you are a fan of football and video games. If you are a casual gamer wanting to know what the Madden craze is all about, then I suggest renting it on GameFly

Dante’s Inferno Review

Posted on August 25, 2011September 27, 2011 by blooddash

Dante's Inferno Gameplay

Dante’s Inferno is the video game take on the epic story titled Divine Comedy. It’s the story of a man named Dante fighting through the nine circles of Hell on his quest to save his wife from the clutches of Lucifer. Dante is a crusader during the time of the Crusades in Jerusalem. He returns home to find his wife dead and her soul being taken by the Devil as a result of an oath he betrayed to her over something, though you’re not sure of at the time. As she is taken away, he is stabbed in the back by her killer and after defeating Death, he takes his scythe and venture into Hell after her.

The story is good and you can tell that a lot of time went into the making of the game. The landscapes are amazing and everything has a great feel to it. The narration is done well and the gameplay pulls you in, but not for too long. The problem with the game that I had was that there were a lot of videos. It felt like when I was about to get pulled into the game there was another long video I had to sit and watch.

If you’ve ever played a game like God of War or Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, then the fighting system should feel fairly easy to adjust to. And for those that haven’t, it’s not too hard to pick up. You have a light, heavy and ranged attacks. That’s about it. There are times when it will ask you to press a button and something huge happens, but that’s just following the HUGE button shown on the screen. Anyone can do it. They have a skill tree based on two sides, holy and unholy. As you progress through the game you can absolve or punish enemies and souls for experience toward the holy and unholy sides respectively. As these increase, your tree goes up and you use souls to purchase abilities. My one huge complaint about the game is the enemies. They are the same throughout the game. You’d assume every level would have it’s own group of enemies. Lust would have women, greed would have mouths, so on and so forth. But they just add on the baddies and cycle them throughout the entire thing. So I was disappointed in that.

There are some pretty visual things in the game, such as women with their breasts hanging out, dead babies, and people suffering, so I’m not recommending this to anyone young. Like I said before the story does pull you in and if you can stand videos jumping in, have at it. Otherwise, there’s an animated video of it that follows the game almost exactly from what I can remember.

There is a DLC titled St Lucia. From what I understand, it allows you to build an arena type of setting with objectives and tasks for you and a friend to team up and finish. The customization is pretty great and you can upload them online for others to play and rate. Pretty great system in my opinion, but I didn’t get it because the games been out for over a year.

Dante’s Inferno Rating

Graphics: 8.5/10 The in-game graphics were good and well developed. There were some things that got to me, like the walls you climb, but I think they intended the souls to look cheap. They’re in hell anyway. Why make them look good, right?

Gameplay: 7/10 The fighting system was good while searching for items it made you want to check little nooks and crannies. It was linear, but that’s to be expected. Big fault though is still the enemies. I’m disappointed fighting enemies I saw in the first circle of Hell down in the 8th.

Audio: 8/10 Fairly good. The narration was done well and the tone seemed to fight the place. One creepy thing was how the babies cooed at you when they were coming at you and when you attacked them they cried. Those designers just thought of how to make you shiver a bit.

Replay Value: 7/10 If you’re going for the achievements, I’d say you may go at it 2 or 3 times because you left something somewhere. There is no picking levels, so you gotta start from the beginning. I’m almost done with my 2nd pass right now.

Overall, I’d have to give Dante’s Inferno a 7.8 out of 10. The game was well done and entertaining, but the lack of different enemies was upsetting. The graphics and story pulled you in even when things did get a little repetitive. The one thing I disliked was if you missed something, you had to start a brand new game from scratch. Granted, I did beat the game in about 4 hours or so but that’s besides the point.

New Author Blooddash

Posted on August 25, 2011September 7, 2011 by blooddash

What’s up guys and gals?

So my name is Blooddash and I’m here to help fill in reviews on games, achievements and anything that may or may not be relevant. I’ve been playing games since I was a kid and the NES was released. Got a Sega Genesis after that and then went to the N64 then Xbox and GC and afterward the 360 and Wii.I got the old school Gameboy with Killer Instinct and went up that system until the DS. Stopped there for some reason and switched to PSP. I’m mainly a console gamer because of a lack of good computer equipment. You may have noticed a large gap of Sony products besides the PSP. I enjoyed the games they had but just never went over to them. I’m not exactly sure why so let’s move on from there. My favorite genre of games are mostly FPS, Fighting and RPG. The only MMO I got into was Guild Wars and it nearly took over my life. I’m not joking.

My accomplishments in gaming aren’t much. I think I just passed 35k achievement points on my Xbox account and used to play a couple fighting games on par with competitive. I went to a Brawl tournament in early January and got 4th place after not playing for maybe a year. Played BlazBlue pretty well for a while. I play Iron Tager and actually vsed Mike Z at an arcade and got a round on him. If you don’t know who that is let me put it plainly. BlazBlue is a fighting game. Mike Z is the best player in the US that plays as the character Iron Tager. I beat him in a round. Personal achievement accomplished. Haha.

Anyways that’s a little about me. I’ll be posting for games mainly along those genre but also plenty of others. There may also be reprints of what Game Ninja X put down for my own take on the item, but that is just a maybe. You can recommend games for me to play and review. That’s perfectly fine. My Xbox tag is BloodDash07 while most other games or forums online I go by Blooddash. So with that aside, thanks for having me.

– Blooddash

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

Posted on August 12, 2011September 29, 2011 by GameNinjaX


Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is Ravens latest video game that utilizes their tried and true action rpg formula. This is the 4th installment to their marvel action rpg’s after X-men Legends and the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance. If you’re a fan of super heroes and comics, than this game was made for you. This game does implement some new features that make the game play a bit more dynamic than just mashing the A button, such as the Fusion special powers. Not to mention the host of 24 payable characters to keep it interesting.


Marvel Ultimate Alliance Playable Characters

Fusion powers are combining 2 of your heroes abilities together, such as Hulk and Thor smashing the ground with Hulk smash and Thors Hammer. You get an achievement for doing all 24 character fusions which is kinda easy points. Actually, almost every achievement in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a freebie (utilize this game if you care about gamer points).

If only Dead Pool had Mjolnir

The games storyline is based off of the Civil War series where during the middle of the game you have to choose anti or pro registration for revealing super hero identities. This decision will change the path you take during game play and will also change a few of the available characters (which pissed me off cuz I had to go back and redo it on legendary). The storyline could have been a bit more engaging, but it was sufficient enough to keep me entertained. This game is basically a Marvel dungeon crawler because you go through levels just obliterating hordes of enemies while collecting fun items/artifacts to unlock 3 powerful characters (Thor shows his godly powers in this one).

I am hoping that X-Men Destiny will have similar fighting style features to this game. I also searched for any rumors about Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, but couldn’t find any relevant information about it coming out. Hurry up Raven and make us Marvel comic fans another sequel!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Rates

Graphics 7/10 Not horrible graphics for the 360, but definitely not the best either. The cut scenes look almost as if you’re watch an Iron Man movie drunk or something, but we can all expect the low edge graphics from the previous titles.

Gameplay 7/10 This game is loads of fun if your a fan of Marvel or comics in general, but if you don’t care for super heroes then I would stray away from this title.

Audio 8/10 All the characters sound like their normal selves and come with a few funny jokes here and there. Especially Dead pool’s and Hulk’s, make sure you ask a few questions with them.

Replay Value 7/10 It was a hard decision because I think it deserves more than a 7, but at the same time the game does get repetitive. It is fun though to replay and do both pro-registration and anti-registration on different difficulties.

Overall, this game is a 7 and a rent would suffice for super hero fans. If you can’t wait like me for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, there is Marvel vs Capcom 3 to hold us off for a while.

Has anyone heard any rumors of Marvel Ultimate alliance 3 yet?

Here is a cool game trailer in case you are wondering what the game play looks like.

GameFly Review

Posted on August 9, 2011September 29, 2011 by GameNinjaX

Click here for your free month of GameFly

This special review on GameFly is not about video games but about a company that I believe is going to see profits close to Netflix. GameFly is a mail based video game company that allows you to rent video games directly to your house (Netflix for Gamers!). Part of the reason I started writing this blog was to inform gamers about which games not to waste their money on (or even time in some cases).

If you want to save even more money and receive a buy one month get one free, click my referral link GameFly Referral Link. This will allow you to receive a free month if you sign up through my referral, so enjoy!

GameFly is a great resource for gamers who love to play a vast amount of games, but don’t want to pay the full price (usually $60) for every single one of them. Gamefly allows you to rent up to 2 games per month for $22 or 1 game for $15. I honestly think the 1 game for $15 isn’t saving you money and not worth it. The reason being is that the only con to using Gamefly is the slow… slow… slow shipping time compared to Netflix. Gamefly, in some cases, can take up to a full week to receive and ship a game to me when Netflix will do it in 3 days. However, movies only cost $20-$40 depending if you went for Blu-ray while video games are $60 and therefore worth the extra wait.

The picture to my right is how I feel now when I get that email on my phone saying your game has been shipped. Well, maybe not that excited : )

Not only do I try to quickly run through games and try to score all the achievement points, all day but I often find myself stuck on my GameFly app on my phone, adding games to the que.

GameFly Rates:

Convenience 8/10 GameFly probably saves me an average of $80 per month because I normally would have bought at least 2 games.

Fun Factor 8/10 For $22 a month I can’t think of anything that would provide more entertainment at that cost.

Overall Value 8.5/10 I would normally give this a 9/10 value, but I don’t like the seemingly long waiting for games to be received. If GameFly shortens the wait time to at least 3-4 days instead of 5, I will be a life long customer (that is if they don’t raise the prices like Netflix just did).