Game of The Year 2007

Alright it's time for the first ever Video gaming report game of the year award(s). Read on....read on...



XBOX 360 GAME OF THE YEAR :



Mass Effect
Now, if you read my review, then you had to have seen this coming. This game was definitely one of the best games I've played on My 360. I don't think this needs much explanation.

READERS CHOICE GAME OF THE YEAR:



BIOSHOCK

Well, the 9 of you have spoken, and Bioshock came out on top with 3 votes. Now while many may say "9 votes? How pathetic!", I say "wow, 9 people voted? amazing!"


Overall Game of the Year :




BIOSHOCK


Yes, that's right, Bioshock is my personal game of the year. It is by far the best story i have ever had the pleasure of playing through. Everything about it just came together perfectly. I know I never formally reviewed this game, but if I had It would have been given a 10/10. Mr. Levine should be proud, and I cannot wait to see what he churns out next



Bonus (last minute) Award :

Multiplayer Game of the Year :



Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty 4 is by far the most immersive and fun multi-player experience I've ever had. For the longest time Shadowrun was my online Game of choice, but since the release of COD4, I have not touched it. I can give you a list of why this game deserved this award, but theres no real reason too, play it for yourself and you'll experience for yourself why.

Mass Effect Review

Alright, I've finally finished my first play through of Mass Effect, and I must say it was an amazing experience. Although this was a very, very good game, it does have its flaws. Firstly, the frame rate wasn't the greatest, and characters would occasionally pop in and out. The teammate AI could have used a little tweaking, and the fact that your teammates occasionally get stuck, or just plain wont move at all can get a bit frustrating. Also, the main storyline was well written, but it seemed just a tad short. I know, this is the first of the (supposed) trilogy, and I shouldn't really expect too much, I'm just saying I felt it could have been maybe a little longer. By no means am I saying this is a short game either. If you complete all the side quests and whatnot, this game should take anywhere from 20-40+ hours. Having rushed through the story, and not completing many side quests I completed it in about 15 hours (on the normal difficulty). Lastly, I found that the number of planets you could actually land on was disappointingly small. Now that the cons of the game our out of the way, I can sing its praises. This game is, simply amazing. Yes I know I said it earlier, but it's true. This is definitely a must have game if you own a X360, and I think it deserves Game of the Year. The storyline is very well written, and at times is so emotionally gripping, that I actually cared whether certain characters lived or died. For the most part, the voice acting in the game was good, though at times Shepard's words came out somewhat awkward. One complaint i've read on many boards is that the game is slow and boring, with hardly any action, well to answer these complaints, THIS IS A BIOWARE GAME! Bioware is known for their dialogue driven games. If you want action go play Call of Duty 4 (a great game by the way). Overall, Mass Effect is definitely worth the $60, and I Highly recommend it, provided you don't have the attention span of a Squirrel.

Overall: 9/10

Story : 9/10
Graphics : 9/10
Sound : 7/10
Fun Factor : 10/10

Assassins Creed Review

I recently bought Assassins Creed and its a great game with big twists, one at the very begining which i wont spoil for those who dont already know. It also has some problems, one which really halts the gameplay. Assassins Creed is about an assassin named Altair who works for an Assassins guild. The game starts off slow as your bombarded with dialogue, but it picks up shortly after. You can travel to 4 different cities, and gives you open ended exploration. In these towns you have to climb view points to get sight of the where your objectives are on the map. Once you do this the points appear on your map. You then complete these objectives to gain information about your hit, so you get the approval of the owner of the assassins bureau in each town. The missions are the same for each town and each hit, Informant-speak to a fellow brother and do something for him to get info from him (silently killing his enemies, or collecting flags). Eavesdrop-sit on a bench and listen to a persons conversation. Interrogation- beat the hell out of someone for info, then kill em. Pickpocket- i dont have to explain that one. Save the Citizen- this one isnt mandatory to do, but u get people to distract guards for you if you ever get in trouble. This leads to the biggest problem in the game, it gets extremely repetitive. It will dampen the experience for you, and makes the game get old too fast. And it glitches, not frequently, but enough to be a problem. If you are able to ignore this major downfall, then you will love this game and its a game for you. To summarize this game is very good, but has hitches that can possible kill the experience for you. I give Assassins Creed for the Xbox 360 a 3.5/5.
-Ryan Falla

Xbox 360 consoles WITH HDMI now being shipped from Amazon

Yes, Amazon is now selling Xbox 360 consoles with HDMI.

Heres a shortcut link: Xbox 360 with HDMI (from Amazon)
and heres the official Link :

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos
/ASIN/B000UQAUWW/sofa-20/ref=nosim

and here's a pic of the page:



(I have to find a better screen capture program)

Well enjoy your new HDMI 360's!


Related News:
Find out how you can possibly get 2 free Xbox Live Arcade games

New Xbox 360 power brick plug

New 360 Power Brick plug

This isn't really anything really groundbreaking, but I found a post on the Gamefaqs message boards stating that new xbox 360 power brick plugs no longer have the buttons on the side that you have to squeeze to remove from the console. Two other members have confirmed the existence of the new plug, with one stating his console was manufactured in June 2007, and both stated they purchased Elite consoles.

I'm guessing this is merely for cosmetic reasons, and to make it easier to unplug the plug from a 360.

In other 360 news:
Premium Xbox 360 consoles being sold and shipped at amazon.com

Find out how you can possibly get 2 free Xbox Live Arcade games

Halo 3 ending rumor/possible spoiler

Next week's game releases

I've decided that every Friday, I'll post a list of upcoming games that are being released the within the following week. So without further ado:

Console Game releases for 8/11/07 - 8/17/07

8/13
Metroid - Wii VC

8/14
Madden NFL 08 - 360, wii, Ps3
Billy the Wizard Rocket Broom racing - Wii
Fatal Fury : battle archives vol. 1 - PS2
Metropolismania 2 - PS2
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - PS2

Handheld Game releases for 8/11/07 - 8/17/07


8/14
Heroes of Mana - DS
Luminous Arc - DS
Madden NFL 08 - DS, PSP
Operation : Vietnam - DS
Rune Factory : A Fantasy Harvest moon - DS
Dungeons And Dragons Tactics - PSP

8/15
ATV/Monster Truck Mayhem - DS

Halo 3 pr-orders break 1-million mark

According to Gamestop, over 4 million preorders have been made. However, last thursday, Microsoft released a statement claiming that Halo 3 has just sold over 1 million pre-orders, which breaks the record for the most preordered game (after a quick search, I was unable to find which game previously held the record, I'm probably just not looking hard enough though). This sort of makes me wonder: why didn't Peter Moore wait until after Halo 3's release to go to EA? I don't know why, but I'm just getting this thought that would have been the best thing for him, sort of leave with a bang?

Amazon cuts 360 price an extra $20.

I'm sure this has probably made the rounds on other sites already, but since i'm barely hearing the news, I thought I would post this news.

Apparently Amazon is taking an additional $20 off of (what I' m guessing to be premium) 360 consoles. This brings the price down to $329.99, plus free shipping. The official item title is "Xbox 360 Console Includes 20GB Hard Drive". Notice the lack of the word premium, or pro. I agree with the speculation that Amazon is making this move to clear out the stock of current 360's to make room for the upcoming HDMI, 65nm consoles. When you think about it, a premium 360 for 329.99 with FREE shipping, is a good deal.

Click HERE for the deal.