Dead Space (Xbox 360)

Dead Space is an adventure game at heart. No, I'm not talking about those old-school adventure games with a bunch of different dialogue choices. I mean, it's an action adventure game, with a horror twist. The horror part of the game is definitely dominant, but not too dominant. I guess this game could also be put into the survival horror genre of games. It's a lot things. And one of those things happens to be: fun. Don't get me wrong. Dead Space is not a perfect game. But it does have a lot going for it. It has a strong, human main character you get to play as. It has the great enemies you lot to kill. And, it has a great story you can really get behind. Yeah, I'd have to say, Dead Space is a great game. You play through the game as a character named Isaac Clarke, who, for some reason, seems to have the worst of luck. His ship is stranded and he's stuck on it all alone. Well, mostly alone. The rest of his crew have contracted some kind of virus, and are now mutating into some ugly looking freaks, with a desire to kill any and all humans in site. Isaac is tasked with finding a religious artifact called 'the marker', which, to some cult-like members of his crew, is the reason behind the outbreak. Of course, who's to know, because they're all dead or mutated. Anyway, the main idea behind the game is fighting your way (via 3rd person perspective, of course) through all of these freaks, while looking for surviving crew members and trying to apprehend 'the marker'. You have some help via your friends on other ships, but most of the time, you're by yourself on this adventure. There is a large variety of weapons and upgrades for them, so it's always interesting to play the game through multiple times with different weaponry and upgrades. Isaac can also upgrade his suit, called a 'rig', to increase his breathing time for when he's in space environments, and increasing his health bar. You can do this with power nodes found throughout your adventure. I'd also like to note that I really like the fact that each chapter, or level in the game, is set on a different part of the ship. So, when you're done with a chapter, you simply go the subway-like train and transport to the next area of the ship, where the next chapter begins. Also, when killing the freaks in the game, you can't just shoot them in the head. You have to dismember their arms and legs to kill them. This takes more precision aiming and fast thinking. It's a good idea. This game is set in the far reaches of space, so it's also a sci-fi game. Basically, it's sci-fi horror, which isn't done much in games, so it's nice to see. The whole game has an interesting look to it, which brings me to the graphics.
The graphics are very nice, and there's little here that isn't done well. The metal walls of the ships interior (and exterior) look great, and Isaac's suit looks really well designed and futuristic. The enemies look very creepy and it's all done with top of the line texture modeling and animations. This game looks great. Keep in mind though, it's very gory. There's a lot of dismembered limbs and blood in this game. The death scenes when an enemy kills you is particularly gory.
The sounds of the monsters and just the noises that fill the silence of a room on the ship really help bring out the tension and fear in the player. This helps to set the mood, and let you know what's going on in the ship. The music only helps it more, by providing some creepy string music to help carry the frightening mood. It's all here in true, classic horror movie style.
The game is presented very well, with all of the menus done with an interesting hologram display, that you can move the camera around and look at at all angles. The game's title screen is the same way. It's futuristic and does the trick. However, I think the designers could have done better.
Overall, Dead Space is a very scary game, and one of the few games that truly brings the thrills and chills of a good horror moving to the small screen of gaming. It's also a very well done action adventure game, with an original story and gameplay that could build a strong series for EA. I hope it continues. (In fact, as of this writing, Dead Space 2 has already been created, and Dead Space 3 is in the works). This is horror gaming done right.

Graphics: 8.9 out of 10
Sound and Music: 9.5 out of 10
Presentation: 8.4 out of 10
Gameplay: 9.4 out of 10

Overall: 9.0 out of 10

The Immortal

This game is hard! It is a 3d isometric view, much like Marble Madness. So, the graphics are very good. I like them a lot. You play as an old wizard that looks much like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. You can shoot fireballs, as well as fight with your sword hand to hand with orcs and goblins. You are trapped in a huge dungeon with multiple rooms and must avoid all kinds of traps. Avoiding the traps is very hard until you get to grips with the controls. Because the view is isometric, it's hard to know which direction you will go when you press left or right, you may not go left or right. After much trial and error, you may get far, but I do not know how long this game is, because I gave up pretty early. However, I'm told that if you stick with it, you may be rewarded. Pretty good action game, with pretty NES graphics.

Graphics- 8.7 out of 10
Sound and Music- 8.1 out of 10
Presentation- 6.0 out of 10
Gameplay- 6.9 out of 10

Overall- 7.4 out of 10

SSX 3 Review

Wow. What can I say? This is the game that SSX fans have waited for.

After the release of the ps2 launch title SSX, it was clear that there was a place for snowboard themed video games. SSX combined the fun of racing with wild, unrealistic tracks to make a super fun snowboard racing game. A few years later, EA went on to create SSX Tricky, which added more tricks to the gameplay of the original. And now, in 2003, EA has created the best version of this game yet; SSX 3.

There are now 3 huge mountain peaks to board down, and each of them is more crazier in it's course design than the last. There are all of the same, popular snowboarding events like Super Pipe, Race, and Jam, but now they are much bigger and more elaborate. The gameplay is a perfect mix of doing tricks and racing with high speed. Most of the time it feels like you are just 'falling' down the tracks, not racing, but it feels great, and very realistic. The controls are perfect. Want to grind a metal pole? Just steer your boarder towards it and he/she will grind it. All you have to do it stay balanced.

The music has to be mentioned. Some great music tracks from Fatboy Slim, and N.E.R.D. are here, and fully remixed for each track. What I mean by that is, when you reach a cave section of the track for instance the song will actually change the beat and remove some instruments to sound completely different. When your boarder flies into the air, the music will 'dampen' and sound muffled. All of this really immerses you into the whole experience. The sound effects are great too. From firewords shooting off around you as you fly off a ramp, to carve deep into the snow to take a wide turn. It sounds real. And it's all presented in THX surround sound and Dolby Pro Logic (on the Gamecube version).

I played this game not long after it was released, and I am still playing it today. And it's still fun! That is the lasting ability of this game. There is so much to see and unlock! There are a lot of secrets in this game too. You will wonder how EA managed to fit all of this on one disc.

Graphics- 9.8 out of 10
Sound and Music- 10 out of 10
Gameplay- 10 out of 10
Presentation- 9.9 out of 10

Overall- 10 out of 10

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Electronic Arts presents their 5th Medal of Honor game in 2005. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. This game takes place during the Pacific War. This is a review for the GameCube version.

The game begins with the events at Pearl Harbor. The opening is very action packed. The story then goes on with a series of battles and a few sneaking missions. The GameCube version comes with two discs and the multilayer option. The missions are fun, ranging from the jungle to a train bridge. There are a few different difficulty settings too. The game is not too easy and not too hard. The problem is the glitches. There are times when you shoot at an enemy and then they Then there are times when your team members (who are AI: Artificial Intelligence) run around as if they were lost or scared. The glitches in the game play are the worst thing about this game. The music and sound is really well done much like the other Medal of Honor games. The graphics are OK. Good enough I would say.

This is a fun war game but not the best from the Medal of Honor series. The glitches really do cause some problems while playing the game. If you like the Medal of Honor games then you may still want to play this one.

Graphics: 8 out of 10
Sounds and music: 9 out of 10
Game play: 7 out of 10
Presentation: 7 out of 10

Overall: 7 out of 10