Xbox 360 ... The Story So Far

OK, finally, Madjock has buggered off and given, sorry, I mean loaned, me his Xbox 360 to look after while he's away. And about bloody time too. Jesus, I wondered if he was ever going to leave.

So, here's my thoughts so far.


Assassins Creed
A bit like a super model. Beautiful to look at. But not much going on really. I'm only on the second mission, and already I can see how the other 7 are going to turn out. Might not finish this one.

Looks: 100% (stunning in close-up and long-shot)
Originality: 30% (very similar approach to the first "assassin" game on the xbox by the same company - Sam was the agent's name, forget the game name).
Playability: 80% (works well)
Keeping It Interesting: 20% (will get boring real quick)


Halo 3
Not too impressed so far. The extra vehicles and devices are nice, but not really ground-breaking. I'll finish it, just to wrap up the story, but I'm not in a rush.

Looks: 70% (pretty good improvement on Halo 2)
Originality: 20% (as compared to Halo 2)
Playability: 80% (if you know Halo 1 & 2, this is the same thing)
Keeping It Interesting: 50% (the story is worth following, but the gameplay is very familiar)


Half-life 2
I never quite got around to finishing the original, but I like both that and version 2. I must admit, 10 minutes into the game and getting chased out of a residential building by the masked "police" had my heart-thumping. Then of course later, I realised they can't shoot for toffee and you can take a score of them on with a safety pin and still win. At least on the level I was playing. Still, nice game. I've just gotten the gravity gun, and I've heard that livens things up a bit.

Looks: 60% (nice looking, but nothing particularly special, but then it's a bit older I think than the others)
Originality: 30% (some nice touches, but otherwise a standard FPS)
Playability: 80% (nice pace, short-ish levels, nice frequency of save points)
Keeping It Interesting: 70% (good developing storyline, nice glimpses of things to come, eg you see a tall "War of the Worlds"-like alien strider very early on, but only in long-distance shot)


Mass Effect
Just got it. Can't comment. And creaming pants till I can play tonight. The Wee Man has got an eye infection again, so I'm having to look after him today, so no Xbox. BigAndiD is wondering if the alien sex scene was worth the media uproar, which is about par for the course. For Andi, not the media, I mean :-)


Xbox itself
Noisy, bulky. Having not paid attention in the past, I'd assumed it was the fan that was noisy. But it seems to be the DVD player - is that right? Or is it that the fan only kicks in when the DVD starts? Bugger me it's noisy. The Missus was worried about the noise from the TV, but I was more worried about the noise from the box itself.

Labels: games, xbox

posted by Blakey UK @ 3:26 pm