NHL 2K8(360) - Review

It's time to sharpen your skates and get your fingers ready for one of the most acurate depictions of hockey I have ever played. I'm talking about NHL 2K8, the newest edition and one of the most complete to boot. Graphically, statistically, and a VERY deep franchise, this game will keep you busy all season long, especially with all the new features.

So lets start off where we left off from last year. Last years edition was great in its own way, and this year they have improved upon it. I think we should start where all hockey does...the face off. This year they have put together a new face off system that adds realism to the game. So, in short if you do something wrong like going for the puck when your not allowed or your timing is off, they restart the face off. Now here is my complaint on this. There are no drills whatsoever and VERY little documentation for the new face off system, which makes it a tad difficult to master.

Gameplay almost remains the same, although with the addition of special moves, like in their NBA series during the slam dunk contest you can now perform a trick before taking a shot at the goal. This is a neat feature although a bit cumbersome with everything that's going on. This year the 2K Reelmaker makes it's debut on the NHL series, although if you want to use it, it's gonna ding you 400 points in the Microsoft Marketplace to purchase the software to make your own reel.

The graphics have greatly improved as well as the presentation, it feels like a hockey game, with really good replay on behalf of 2K, it makes the experience that much greater. There is a very good amount of multi-player in this edition. There are leagues, tourneys, and a lot more. Up to four people can play at once, although I wouldn't as the servers are unforgiving on lag and will kill the game. So make sure no one is cruising the net or downloading music when playing.

This years franchise mode has to be the deepest I have ever seen, from scouting, watching minor league teams, signing and trading players; this game has it. YOU are the man, you tell them when to practice or tell them not to practice. This game should have a good 20 page section in the manual on how to run a team(more on manuals in the end). The franchise mode is not going to disappoint those who like fantasy hockey or hockey in general. You can spend hours micro managing your team(sorry no blood pressure medication available). I think they did a real nice job with this mode.

My last bit concerns the game overall and is more of constructive criticism and not being mean. This is something that kind of ticks me off a bit each year and with each 2K sports title, and that is the manual. I find the game great, and a lot of deep features like the franchise mode, but VERY little or no documentation. I know a lot of people who don't bother, but when it comes in the game where you need to trade players to balance your team, wouldn't it be great to have a better understanding on how to negotiate? The drills in the game do off shoot a bit, but they don't really help you when it comes to a certain defense or offense on the ice when calling plays. Some plays are pretty straight forward but some are not. So that is a big negative for me.

Rating: 8.9(Great)
Learning Curve - About an hour.

Goozex

When I have a really good experience with something I'm going to write about it. No question whatsoever. Jim told me about this site called Goozex which is a peer to peer game trading site.

Here is how it works. Lets say you have about 10 games you no longer play and you don't want to get the crappy trade in values that certain game stores give you. Well, you to Goozex, post your games in "Your Library" section. Now from there you will see what the point value of the game is; they don't use a dollar value. You will also see your turn. The turn is your place in line to trade your game.

Once it's time to trade your game, Goozex sends an e-mail to both you and the buyer indicating that a match has been made. Goozex provides address information, etc. You mail it off, then wait for your positive feedback. In the beginning of your account you need positive feedback to get your points. After a few trades you don't have to wait.

Once you have points, you need to pick up trade credits which are a buck a trade and sell in blocks of 5. Now pick your game, wait in line. Now you may say "Hey! I'm in the 50th spot, well that may not hold true because the people ahead of you may not have credits or points and they will be skipped. But this is REALLY cool, I have no complaints, this is something to check out.

By the way my first trade was for "Halo 2" for 300 points, which equates to $15 bucks! How can you not go wrong. But do research on the game you want, and make sure you're getting the deal.

Review: BioShock(360)

When I first saw screen shots of this title it really intrigued me. And now I can tell you after drooling, it is my own personal nightmare, in a good way of course. Before I get into the guts(pun) of the game, let me warn you that this game is the most gruesome, bloody; hell, it makes "Gears of War" look like Alice in Wonderland. Shall we begin?

You are a passenger on an airplane over the ocean, which is specified as the Atlantic in the year 1960. Your plane out of nowhere rips apart(ala "Lost") and you find yourself swimming to this pedestal jutting out of the water. You swim to it, as, well where else is there to go, certainly the plane has made it's final stop.

Now I'm not going to try and spoil it, but it's kind of hard to explain the environment, and what to expect out of this game without some morsels to give you an idea. So now you're warned.

Let me spell some things out right now so you know what kind of game this is, then I'll feed you a little story. This is not an open-ended game, ie. you can't go everywhere. It's between a rail, and puzzle shooter. So it's "Resident Evil 4" with MAJOR modifications. There is nomulti player over XBOX Live, however the case I received did mention downloadable content, so that is something to look forward to.

The game makes you "use" your environment. After you have been exploring the city of "Rapture" you come to a point where you must re-write your DNA using a method of injecting "Plasmids". So the first one is electricity, no really, you can shoot electricity out of your hands, kind of like the Emperor in "Jedi". To give you an example of using theenvironment , say there are 3 people in a pool of water(did I mention it takes place underwater?") well shoot some electricity into the water and you fry all three of them, very cool.

This is a fantastic game, download the demo for sure, even for those skeptical. This game has a lot of potential with future downloadable content. The only thing holding it back is multi player or even co-op, but then it wouldn't be YOUR story. Another nugget is you get a new experience every time, the game is not the same experience for everyone. There are different paths and ways to kill people that work in many ways.

This is a must game, so make sure you get your copy on the 21st, this is not for the faint of heart.

And the Final Score is 9.2 out of 10.

Review: The BIGS

by
Charlie George and Jim Ness

Do you get confused with the words RBI, ERA, or IP? Well fear not baseball onlookers, The BIGS is here to help. This is 2K Sports first foray into adrenaline/arcade baseball that, believe it or not, does not take away the excitement and realism you would expect from a baseball game.

I decided to take a look at a couple of the game modes and chalked up the good and the bad.

The 360 version is by all accounts for the "Armchair Athlete". Here is how I rated it and why. On the 360 I started things off in Rookie Mode(Probably one of the most addicting aspects of the game). Essentially "Rookie Mode" sets you up as an up and coming Minor League player who has been called up to the team of your choice. You do some training, and assign skill stars as you progress. During this mode you will be put in 3-5 inning games where conditions, such as stealing a base and winning the game is mandatory. If you fail, its back up to the plate for you. Throughout the Rookies season you play other teams where you get opportunities to "Steal" players from them and such, The end result is you go in the Worlds Series(Naturally I chose the Cubs, yeah, the Cubs in the Worlds Series, definitely fiction). This was by far my favorite mode in the game.

Other modes are Exhibition, Home Run Derby, and Home Run Pinball, which puts you in Times Square where it's pretty much a Home Run Derby. The more you smash up with the balls the higher the score.

Now with all the good there was some bad. The pitching, batting, throwing, and in-field mechanics are great. However the outfield is very glitchy in the area of player response. The ball would be hit right to them and they wouldn't do much. I though maybe it was just my copy or I was playing badly, I played a few games on XBox Live and asked if they were experiencing the same thing so I was not the only one.

Now speaking of XBox Live, it's great to see the rosters updated, and the game play for the most part is REALLY smooth, so props for that.

If you want the info on the Wii edition, then it's time to get out of the La-Z-Boy and get physical with the Wii, so to put it short; you will be moving a lot. The game is requires you "to get physical". The Wii version does make a good showing though there is a pretty steep learning curve as you are going to be getting physical as we have mentioned. The Wii version gets a 7 for innovation, however graphics do take a little beating, nonetheless, this is an improvement on Wii Sports baseball, and sure to be a good time.

So when it comes down to it in the end, this game really does a great job of bringing that baseball experience to you. So my rating is a solid 8. It would have been a 9 if it wasn't for the outfield issues. But all in all, its a great title and hope next years edition comes out next spring!

Tangerine Dream

Tangerines are sweet, whats even more sweeter is an app that can provide music for you from your iTunes library based beats per minute, intensity, and other factors.

The folks at Potion Factory have put this app in beta. It's a Mac app and I am loving this, no longer do you have to dredge through thousands of songs to pick the right mix, Tangerine does it for you.

Right now they have a free 15 day trial, so check it out. I like it and anyone who likes to work out or doing any kind of physical activity with appropriate music will appreciate this.