Crysis (Xbox 360)

Most gamers have probably already played this aweome first person shooter on the PC. And that makes sense. The game did come out almost 5 years ago, and only for the PC. But, you needed a powerful PC to even run the game, and few had the hardware capable to play Team Crytek's amazing shooter. Thankfully, EA has ported the game over to the Xbox 360, and very well I might add. This is one of the nicest looking Xbox 360 games you will ever play. But, as I often say, graphics don't make for a solid game. You need gameplay, too. And Crysis has it to boot.
Crysis is set sometime in the near future. There is a heated battle going on between Americans and Koreans, and you play as one of the soldiers sent in to take care of the opposition. But, you are not alone in the battlefield. You are equipped with a special suit, which gives you strengthened shield, health, jumping and running abilities, and just plain more power! By clicking one of the buttons on your controller, you can turn on your shields, which will slowly drain. But as soon as you turn them off, they will fill right back up. The same goes for your health and running and jumping speed. You will be able to make higher jumps and run much faster than normal by using your suit power. You can even turn on stealth, which is similar to Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid. You are hidden from the enemy for a short while. The game path is slightly linear, but mostly open and you can decide where and how you want to go through the stages. It is very open to the player, and you can decide to be all sneaky, or go in guns blazing. The choices of gameplay really gives the game not only more replayability, but also makes it just so much fun to play.
One big deal about Crysis on PC was the graphics, and in 2007 it was amazing to machine gun a palm tree, and watch is tear apart and fall down. The same can be done in this version, but some things are taken out. The game runs nice and smooth, and I never noticed any screen tearing or motion blur, unless you are going extremely fast, or your character is hurt, which makes the screen blur a little. Snowflakes fall on your visor in cold stages, and water can splash on your suit, making it harder to see. The lighting and attention to detail on surfaces is quite amazing.
The story stands out because, it's a bit of a twist. Near the middle of the game, I won't ruin it for you if you have not played it, but let me just say, it's not all about fighting the Koreans. There is much more at stake than you may think.
The game is nice and lengthy at about 5-8 hours of gameplay, and it's just so nice and refreshing to see a FPS that is original and easy to play. I have to recommend this game to everyone. It's so good.

Graphics: 9.5 out of 10
Sound and Music: 9.4 out of 10
Presentation: 8.1 out of 10
Gameplay: 9.6 out of 10

Overall: 9.4 out of 10

Dead Space 2 (Xbox 360)

Dead Space 2 is a proper sequel to the already amazing Dead Space. You still play as Isaac Clarke, and fight against necromorphs to destroy the marker and return home. However, the sequel is much better than the first, and I'll tell you why.
If you're not familiar with Dead Space, it's an action adventure horror game created by Visceral Games, and published by EA. It has fantastic music and visuals, and a great story to boot. It's essentially a 3rd person perspective action game, with an engaging story and characters. It's set in outer space, so I guess you could call it a sci-fi horror action adventure game. The controls were already great in the first game, but EA made them even more intuitive and sensitive, making it easier to turn around and look left and right, up and down. They got rid of the glitches in the first game, such as not being able to stomp on item boxes sometimes, which is one of the problems with the first game.
The graphics looks much, much better this time around. Lighting effects and overall textures stand out because of the awesome attention to detail the team put into it. It also runs faster too. What I like most about Dead Space 2 is, it's still got that great story, but it's all amped up because there are much more 'movie-like' elements mixed in with the gameplay. For instance, you're playing and you run into a friend character of yours, but it's all still rendered with the same in-game graphics, and you can looks around with the camera. Then, all of sudden you're attacked by something and have to fight back. The game seamlessly blends the gameplay into movie segments, in a genius way. No CG cutscenes here, folks! This game is also a lot longer than the first. The Xbox 360 version is 2 discs long! You can really tell when you play the game, sometimes it seems it will never end. You can enjoy this game for up to 17-20 hours. The first game was about 10.
Sound and music stand out, because they really help the creepy atmosphere of the game. Very good voice acting.
All of the scary moments are thrown throughout the game brilliantly, and the gameplay aspect never lets up. Dead Space 2 lets you play almost every aspect of the game yourself. You're almost never left to just watching story scenes with no gameplay, and that's a good thing in my book. It makes the game more fun. There are some really fun multiplayer modes to play online, and you can play as the necromorphs! There is so much to like about Dead Space 2, that it's hard to find something wrong with it. From customizing weapons and different firing modes, to breaking off enemy limbs and impaling them with their own claws (my favorite thing to do in the game!), there is simply not much wrong with Dead Space 2. It's great no matter what game console you buy it on.

Graphics: 9.9 out of 10
Sound and Music: 9.1 out of 10
Presentation: 9.0 out of 10
Gameplay: 9.8 out of 10

Overall: 9.6 out of 10

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

Mirror's Edge

Get ready to fight the man, because this is an honest review of Mirror's Edge, for the Xbox 360. Right from the start, you can see that Mirror's Edge is not like other first person games. First of all, it's not even a shooter. Okay, so Grace (the main character) can wield some guns, but for the most part, you're not shooting anything in Mirror's Edge. You're running. A lot. All of the time! The idea behind Mirror's Edge is that the government pretty much controls everything, except for a few outcasts called 'runners', one of whom you play as in this game. You're tasked with running from enemies, and finding all sorts of ways to use the rooftops and environments to evade your pursuers. If you like high-adrenaline games, with fast action and puzzles that make you think on your toes, Mirror's Edge is the game for you. The gameplay is what stands out the most here. Since it's first person viewpoint, it's much like an FPS, except, your not shooting down baddies with an assault rifle. You're just running away from them. You may think that sounds boring, but when you've go so many options to escape, the game is never that at all, in fact, to put the game in one word to sum up the whole experience, it's exhilarating. The graphics are pretty as well. The developers of Mirror's Edge really put a unique touch on this game, so that it stands out from other games graphically. The character models and rooftops locales are as realistic as they come, but with a brightness to them all, a high contrast look to everything that makes it all look bleached. Bottom line, this game looks unique. The music and sounds stand out. Sound effects are normal fare, but the music is what really shines. There are some original tracks done by the band 'Solar Fields' which really helps define the mood of the game. Presentation is good, and the fact that there are no in-game huds while you're playing helps to strengthen the realism of the experience. Bottom line, if you're looking for a first person shooter that's different, or just want to play a great action game, try Mirror's Edge. I think you'll like it.

Graphics: 8.3 out of 10
Sound and Music: 10 out of 10
Presentation: 6.9 out of 10
Game play: 8.8 out of 10

Overall: 8.6 out of 10

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation isn't really a bad game, it's just so darn short! So, I will be writing a short but sweet review. This game can be finished in about 4 hours. Seriously. Even on the hardest difficulty.

If you want some easy achievements, rent this game. If you play through the entire game on Hard difficulty, and finish it. You will unlock all of the achievements. The gameplay basically consists of taking cover from enemy Skynet machines and then shooting at them until they explode. There are only 9 stages in the whole game, and they are all short. You play as John Connor, resistance leader and fighter, and there are a myriad of different machines to fight against. The graphics are one of the best things this game has going for it. The characters and machines all look life-like. The explosions are beautiful and you will really take notice while playing. I like the presentation of Terminator Salvation a lot, mostly because it looks like the movies, and it isn't some ugly jpeg screen in the background the developers could have easily put on there. However, because the game only offers on foot running around and taking cover and shooting, and it's all so amazingly linear, this game might get boring quick for some. It is extremely repetitive. I know I got bored, but before I realized it, I had beaten the game. Twice.

Rent it if you like Terminator, or enjoyed the 'Terminator Salvation' movie. Otherwise, just play something else.

Graphics- 9.1 out of 10
Sound and Music- 8 out of 10
Gameplay- 5.1 out of 10
Presentation- 6.9 out of 10

Overall- 5.5 out of 10

Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar is already becoming well known for it's 'Grand Theft Auto' game franchise, and now it looks like they have got another popular property under their belt. 'Red Dead Redemption' can be classified as a 'wild west shooter' game, and it is a very fun one indeed. You play as lone cowboy John Marston, who is looking for a man he used to work with so that he can reclaim what was stolen from him. Right from the start, you play as this main character, and the story begins unfolding right before your eyes as you meet the man Marston is looking for, and get shot and nearly killed by him. I won't ruin the story for you if you haven't yet played the game, but let me just say, a LOT of thought went into it.

If you are familiar with the Grand Theft Auto games, then you will be right at home with RDR. This game uses the same engine as GTA IV did; Euphoria, and it works just fine. Marston can jump, draw his weapon, and walk or run or jump over a fence if you want to. The gunplay is simple and looks good. Just press a trigger button to lock-on to an enemy (or a friendly person) and use the other trigger button to fire your weapon. There is also a lasso in the game, if you choose to take the non-lethal approach to catching bad guys. Lassoing is good for those of you who want to bring in a most-wanted killer alive, because the reward is much more if they are kept alive. Marston will meet all kinds of people in his adventure and befriend most of them, all to seek revenge on his old partner. It's hard for me to describe the gameplay, except to say that it is simple and fun. Shooting down a gang of robbers is as easy as shooting a deer to sell at the local general store for cash, except robbers will shoot back. That's okay, because you can hide behind any objects in the game world that you want to.

Speaking of the game world, this is where Rockstar has outdone themselves. The wild west world of the 1900's is brought to life here in astounding detail. From the dust on Marston's boots, to the grass and weeds on the prairie, everything looks amazingly life-like, and much better than the graphics is GTA IV.

The sound and music of this game are also top-notch. The sound and music were expertly recorded, immersing you even more into the game's environment. For instance, if you are outside in the sun, and you walk into a dusty old saloon, the sound that your boots make on the wood floor sound real, as does everything else in the saloon. I've never heard a better game that adapts to changing environments. Riding a horse is fun too, and easy; just saddle up and start riding. However, if you dig your boots in too deep in the horses sides, he may buck you off. The voice acting in the game is amazing, and the actors that were chosen for each part are very good. Rockstar deserves credit for choosing good actors to portray these characters.

All in all, this is such a fun experience of a game, and, in my humble opinion, the best cowboy game ever made.

Graphics- 10 out of 10
Sound and Music- 10 out of 10
Gameplay- 8.2 out of 10
Presentation- 10 out of 10

Overall- 8.5 out of 10