GamerGeek360's Reviews

Nothing soothes hack-n-slash fans more than blood spewing everywhere on to the screen and God of War loves to fill that need. In the series premiere on a portable system, God of War: Chains of Olympus definitely fulfills the gory need of so many gamers. The story follows Kratos as he continues doing the gods' dirty work in which they send him to Atticus to horde off the invading Persian army. Kratos has to kill more than just a Persian army when he has to kill a Basilisk that is destroying the city. After he completes the task, the world is set into darkness and it's Kratos' job to get it lit back up. On his journey he thinks of being the gods' “slave” and finding his daughter. The story is really good and is just the right length for a PSP game. The overall gameplay is really good but can get a bit repetitive as many button-mashing hack-n-slash games can be. The control scheme is great for a PSP. The fact that there's only one analog stick worried me before I played it but it actually isn't a problem at all. The loading in the game is surprisingly short considering the graphics are the best I've seen on the PSP. The graphics seem to be almost as good as the PS2 and the load screens are shorter than many other PSP games. The narration and sound in the game is great, the voice-acting seems pretty well done. Overall this game is just amazing. It's probably the best PSP game I've ever played. Every aspect of this game was above average for the PSP. If you're a fan of the God of War series you have no reason not to own this game. If you are just looking for a fun PSP game then buy this game. Pretty much there's no reason for anyone to not own this game, really. If you're looking forward to God of War 3 than this is a great game to help tide you over until the release of the next God of War game. The game is not perfect due to a few glitches that occasionally pop up but not enough to break the game.

The Breakdown:
Story – 10/10
Gameplay – 9/10
Graphics – 10/10
Controls – 10/10
Sound – 9/10

The Verdict: 9.5/10

I'm happy to say that the first Medal of Honor game on the 360 didn't disappoint, however, it didn't really thrill either. In other words, the game was good but not great. The story is obviously based in WWII, but you are in the Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. This is something new to the franchise. Usually in MoH you are in the Marines. This change, however made the game unique and brought something new to a over-saturated franchise. You start each mission jumping (or being pushed) out of plane and then try to land in the “safe zones” marked with green smoke. At these “safe zones” you will have boxes for health, ammo, and sometimes explosives. These boxes are used to refill your equipment, but you can only use them once. This makes the game a bit easier to play due to being able to go back and refill real quick. The only problem is the respawning of enemies restarts when you go back somewhere and then come back to that spot or if you die and jump out of the plane again.

The story is pretty short but the game lasts a little while longer if you play through to get unlockables such as secret skill drop points you can find that will increase your drop skill. You do not have to land on these spots, you just have to walk to them and you'll get the skill points. There are also gun upgrades you get when you get a certain amount of “experience points” with that gun. The more you kill, the more points you get. The upgrades are usually bigger magazine sizes, steadier aiming, and more grenade capacity. These upgrades add to the replay value of the game, as well. The overall gameplay is pretty good but the enemy respawns get very annoying when trying to beat the game. The game will not only keep respawning until you get to a certain point, but they refresh every time you have to go through that spot again. The controls are pretty tight, but I was hoping they'd be more similar to the controls of Call of Duty 4 because they were hard to learn and there's no way of changing them. This is not saying the controls are bad but some of them seemed oddly placed.

The graphics are really good. I actually did not have any problems with the graphics being glitchy. I played the game in both SDTV and HDTV and they both looked good. The sound is really good but after a little while the voices of your teammates get annoying because they repeat the same thing over and over again. I didn't try the multiplayer at all so I can't tell you much about it but it didn't look appealing to me and the controls of the game turned me off from trying it but I'm not going to score it cause I didn't try it. So my final score for this game is a 8. 5 out of 10.

The Stats:
Story – 9/10
Gameplay – 9/10
Controls – 8/10
Sound – 8/10
Multiplayer – N/A (didn't try it online)

Verdict:
8.5/10

I remember the day back in 2004 when Half-Life 2 came out, after 6 years of waiting, when people told me I had to play it. I ignored them because I wasn't then, nor am I now, a PC gamer. When I got GameFly earlier this year I saw The Orange Box and thought about Portal and said, “Hey, I should play Portal.” After beating Portal, I went on to play Half-Life 2. I wasn't expecting anything amazing but it definitely was. The Orange Box obviously is a collection of games so I will divide the reviews into sections of each game. I will bundle all the Half-Life 2 games together however.

Half-Life 2, Ep.1, Ep.2:
I went into Half-Life 2 with no knowledge of the story but I instantly was made aware of it. The scripting was awesome and the way they tell you the story is great. The characters facial expressions are amazing for a game originally made in 2004. The game obviously went under some enhancements when it was ported over to the 360 but I'm pretty sure that didn't change. The graphics were great. The textures were typical for a 360 game but the water looked really good. The only problem with them was when the game loads after a checkpoint it takes a little while and once it does load it is kinda slow for a few seconds. The controls are very tight when you're walking around, but when you get into a vehicle the controls are very sensitive and loose. The only problem with that however is in Episode 2 when you get the car. The car's steering is way too sensitive. The sound was great. When you get to an enemy-filled area, the music changes to a faster-paced and darker track. The overall gameplay is great due to physics which are amazing. The physics are very important for the famous gravity gun in Half-Life. If you are considering The Orange Box because of Half-Life then definitely get it. If you are considering it for Portal or Team Fortress 2 then Half-Life is a nice bonus.

Portal
Probably the most popular game in The Orange Box, and YouTube due to the Still Alive credits song, Portal is an instant classic. The only problem I have with Portal is that it seems very short. The game's story gets told progressively through the game by the sarcastic and amusing GLaDOS (the AI robot that watches you and talks to you throughout the whole game). The graphics are really good for a game that seems pretty simple and basic. The physics are pretty good and are definitely the same engine that Half-Life uses. Once again the loading gets plagued by slow load times and glitchy parts after it loads. The sound is good because GLaDOS' voice echoes around when she talks. Overall this game would be a great standalone edition to the Xbox Live Arcade if it were released by itself.

Team Fortress 2
This is the game I spent the least amount of time on. It wasn't cause I didn't like it, it was because I didn't have much time and when I did play it I couldn't ever find anyone in a ranked game and I wanted to see what you get for stats when you play ranked. I did get to play with some friends (pill92 I'm looking at you) but other than that it wasn't that great of an online experience when getting on. Although, the few times I did play online I had a lot of fun. The controls are good, although they take a little getting used to. The graphics are pretty good. I like the comic look to everything. The sound is pretty good. The taunts you can do with certain character classes are really funny, too. The whole idea of picking a certain character class is great. The maps are really fun to run around on and the different types of weapons ranging from a baseball bat to a portable turret are always fun to mess around with. Overall this is a game where it could be sold as it's own 360 game (only not for the full $60).
Overall here are the stats:

Graphics: 9.0 (due to load times and glitches)
Gameplay: 9.5
Sound: 9.5
Physics: 8.5 (also a culprit in load times)

Score: 9.0/10

Remember the times before the PlayStation and the infamous Mortal Kombat that started the ESRB and all the video game haters such as Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton to start going psycho and hating every gamer. Back when Mario and a little blue hedgehog reined king. Of course you do, but those times are long gone thanks to Rockstar.

In early July 1998 a little game came out for the PC and PS1 known as Grand Theft Auto. As the name states you steal cars and do whatever the hell you want as well. The game was at that time a top-down view of a virtual city where you do whatever you want. A sequel was released in October of 1999 appropriately named Grand Theft Auto 2. This game was also a top-down view of a city. Three more games were released on the PS2 over the years that introduced 3D to the series.

On April 29 the world was introduced to the sixth installment in the series; Grand Theft Auto IV. For those who've played this game you can agree with me when I say this...game...is...REMARKABLE! I got the game on day one of the release and I loved it instantly. The game is set in Liberty City, which is a mock of New York City. The game sets you in the role of Niko Bellic, a immigrant who came to Liberty City to start a new life with his cousin Roman and to find that “special someone”. Any more of the story that I say would be considered a spoiler so that's about it.

The graphics are wonderful. You feel like you are actually in the city driving around and exploring. The controls are great for this game. Not only can you shoot someone while your driving but you can do it while dodging traffic as well. The story is great and can be changed around a lot by changing your decisions in certain areas of the game. The voice acting is great and actually sounds like a conversation rather than a choppy he-says-she-says dialog. There is definitely a replay value due to the story decisions. The multiplayer is a first for the series and makes the game even better. You can get a ton of friends and race around or shoot each other. There is even a Free Mode that lets you do what ever you want. Overall this game is great.

10/10

Ahh, school. Everyone remembers the times when you ran around trying to get to math class while being chased by bigger kids with minds that are more full of
ego rather than smarts. Okay, well maybe that was just me but, nonetheless, we know what school is. Some of us are done with it others, such as myself, are
nearing the end. But we all know the basic principles. Rockstar takes all those principles and, as they usually do, expands them and makes them full of
crude, yet humorous, moments and puts them into Bully.

Bully was originally released for the PS2 in October 2006 and was ported over to the Xbox 360 in March of 2008. I haven't played the original Bully but from
what I've seen of it, Scholarship Edition is pretty much the same thing. There are a few new classes in Scholarship Edition, but that's about it. Now let's
get to the game. You take on the role of Jimmy Hopkins, a failing student who has been expelled from every other school and is being dropped off by his mom
and his "new" step-dad right before they go off on a honeymoon. Jimmy goes into the school and befriends a sociopath named Gary who quickly betrays him and
Jimmy, along with his "side-kick" Petie, is left to take control of all the different cliques and try to take down Gary. The game slowly progresses to allow
you to go through more and more of Bullsworth, the city that the school is set in. Along with the missions there are side missions you can do such as mowing
lawns and doing paper routes. There are also bike races and go kart races that you can do for fun. You can also "woo" girls, or guys if you want that
achievement. Overall the game is fun because of it's unique story and gameplay. The graphics are good for a 360 game but definitely not great. The controls
are good but can be glitchy at times when aiming the slingshot. Also, some of the classes you can attend in the game tend to be glitchy and the characters
seem to say the same thing over and over again. The game is worth a rent but I wouldn't buy it unless you really like it or are into this kind of game.

8/10