Unreal Tournament III Review

A couple of days before the holiday, I checked my mailbox to find a package from Midway containing Unreal Tournament III within' the FedEX packaging (which was soon torn to shreds). I popped it in, played it non-stop for a few hours, and now, my verdict.

Unreal Tournament III is the first title I've come by within a few months (besides Team Fortress 2) that I'm hooked on. Got five minutes before that wedding, I'd pop in Unreal Tournament III. The fast paced first person action that this title brings inside it's sleek casing is truly addicting.

The game comes packed with a campaign mode, multiplayer mode, and the ability to apply mods to your matches. Currently, there are around five mods released for the PLAYSTATION 3 version of the game, but a converter for PC to PS3 mods is coming according to an Epic Forums Moderator.

The campaign mode is nothing but an offline multiplayer mode with a story revolving around it. If for some reason, your online connection isn't functioning properly, this will keep you busy for the time being. Everything you'll see in the multiplayer mode are in this campaign mode. The story starts off with you training with your sister Jester to get the jist of things. That itself is a regular deathmatch. Thing about the campaign mode is that it would of been much better if they made it as a map that you follow through in one direction, and get to the end of the level. Something like Gears of War or Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Multiplayer mode is Unreal Tournament III's chocolatey center. The game modes included in the multiplayer are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch (stars), Capture the Flag, Capture the Flag with Vehicles, Duel, and Warfare. This being my first Unreal Tournament game (I know I know, mock me if you will), the mode that was newest to me was Warfare.

In Warfare, currently my second favorite game mode, the objective is to destroy your enemy's core on their side of the map. To do that, you need to activate the prime node in the middle of the map, making the enemy's core vulnerable, but only till they regain control of the prime node. Each core has 100HP, first to get destroyed looses. I thought it was a unique new way to play with other people. Each match lasted long, and it's great when your looking for a match to take your time in.

Duel was another game type new to me. Duel is basically a one-on-one match with people waiting in line to play the winner. If you lose, you go to the end of the line. I played and stayed king for 2-3 matches, but then got owned. Even though I got owned, it was still a great gaming experience.

A new feature in a console version of an Unreal Tournament game is that the PLAYSTATION 3 version of Unreal Tournament III has the ability to import mods from your PC. Mods have to be customized for the PLAYSTATION 3 for obvious reasons, so far, Mark Rein has released only five mods, with four of them being maps, and one being a mutator. No worries, because as stated above, a converter is in the works for easy mod converting. That means, soon, any PC mod you see will be able to be converted to the PLAYSTATION 3.

The graphics of this game may be one of it's best features. Between the one-two second loading of game textures, you'll still enjoy the smoothness that is their underskin. If you thought Gears of War graphics were good, then you'll scream in excitement at this.

To conclude my review for this excellent game, I want to say that right after I'm finished writing this, I'm going to play Unreal Tournament III. So if you really want a great title like this, read the scoring below, and go get yourself a copy.

Presentation: 9.3
Unreal Tournament III has grapics that might not top the PLAYSTATION 3's abilities, but certainly displays them well.

Gameplay: 9.5
Unreal Tournament III''s gameplay is fast-paced blood shattering deathmatches and duels that will keep you addicted for days to even years, considering the expansion of mods that will be coming.

Graphics: 9.7
The game''s graphics feature nothing but magnificent looking 3D images in this new release in the franchise.

Audio: 8.5
The title's audio matches the type of gameplay, and seems well made.

Replayability: 9.5
Like I said, you won't be able to stop playing this title for a while. If this game is considered a drug, I'm an addict.

Final Verdict: 9.3 out of 10

Contra 4 Review

Before we start, we received the game in the mail, and we need to review it.

The Contra games have been some of the most addictive shooters of our times, since it's launch in 1987 in our local arcades. That was back when machines were only 5 cents. It's always nice to see our old school times being brought back. Thats exactly what Konami did with Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS. A great way to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

Contra 4

Time Crisis 4 Review

Time Crisis 4 is a game that brings home the arcade action you pay a dollar for per death, so you can stop using your money so constantly. Think about it, are you a Time Crisis fan? How much have you spent playing it in the arcade? Stop the spending and pick the game up itself.

Namco Bandai's game has been receiving critical reviews lately, but a few good ones as well. We are here to tell you that Time Crisis 4

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Review

When I heard my doorbell ring the day I received this game, I knew it was going to be a great day. Upon receiving Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from Infinity Ward, I loaded it up into my PLAYSTATION 3 and started getting into the action.

Buzz! The Mega Quiz Review

This isn't your average game show. Regis isn't going to be asking you if you want to use a life-line on this show. Instead, we have everybody's favorite show host, Buzz, a crazy host who looks like the Canadians in South Park.

When RocketXL sent us Buzz! The Mega Quiz, I was waiting for the right moment to start playing. Then, two nights ago, my cousin got engadged (Congratultaions Roe!), her and some friends came over to celebrate, and we started up four hours worth of game time.

The game is not a game you can put down easily, it's an addictive title featuring wacky buzzing sounds, around 14 characters to select from, five gameplay modes, and eight crazy addictive multiplayer rounds, supporting up to eight players. Unfortunately, we only had a chance to do four players.

Of these eight multiplayer rounds, there is Point Picker, Pie Toss, Fastest Finger, Point Stealer, Final Countdown, and more, all in one game. My personal favorite has to be the Pie Toss, whenever you get something right, you pick someone to throw a pie at, but you need to act fast, you might hit yourself in trying.

Oddly, only about one of the rounds uses the big red buzzer, which is the round where you tell which of the pictures it the answer, as in "Who Is Taller?" and they show a picture of Shaq and Micheal Jordan. Whoever gets it right stays in, whoever gets it wrong is out until one remains, than the next picture stars.

Whats great about Buzz! The Mega Quiz is the longevity of the game. It features over 6,000 questions with subjects based on history, music, sports, movies, and even the unknown such as UFOs and paranormal events, which happens to be my favorite subject for those questions. Something that got me sad was that they called Kevin Federline a rapper in one of the questions. I guess they like to joke too.

Point Picker is the round where you get to pick your categories, each player picks a category, answers two-three questions on the category, then the next player gets to pick. You pick off of a wheel (shown below), I think you can pretty much tell which one is about the paranormal. After the questions are done, you move on to the next round.

Questions vary so much in this game. One second your answering what the national bird is of Minnesota, the other your listening to Funky Town and naming the artist.

Some other great features in this game were the Team Play, where you use one buzzer and keep passing it, or the QuickFire Quiz, where you pick your question list and see who's the fastest, and QuizMaster, where you ask your own questions, your friends answer, and you use a PS2 controller to tell your friends if their right or wrong.

Buzz! The Mega Quiz lacks online play, but thats fine really. As long as you got family and friends to play with, it will last you till the Buzz title we are really waiting for releases in the Spring of next year, Buzz! Quiz TV for the PLAYSTATION 3. As of now, Buzz! The Mega Quiz is enough to hold us off.

Now, to close this review off, if your the kind of person who likes to have fun, all at the cost of only $40 (four buzzers included), likes to mak their own questions and just have a blast with your surrounding people, then Buzz is the game for you. If your a constant watcher of Jeopardy and dream to be on it, then this is a game for you as well.

Presentation: 7.7
Buzz! The Mega Quiz doesn't really show any AAA-ness to it's look, but when you get into it, you can't get off.

Gameplay: 8.0
With over 6,000 questions to answer, chances are you'll probably never answer them all, so everytime you play, your going to see something new.

Graphics: 7.9
The game is not based off graphics, but what we see in the character models is a simple 70's type style players along with a South Park Canadian looking host.

Audio: 7.8
Buzz's constant preachings are quite annoying at times, but the game feature some nice background sounds.

Replayability: 8.9
It's a game for parties, it's a game for friends, it's a game for family, it's a game that doesn't end. This game will most likely last you at least a year if you're really into it.

Final Verdict: 8.1 out of 10

onAXIS: NBA 2K8 Review

A few days ago, we received NBA 2K8 from Rocket XL for review on the site. And we've played the game, enjoyed our experience and have a review. Let's start.

Last year, 2K Games released NBA 2K7, a great sports game that got many good reviews. So what do you think they brought us this year? A remake of last years game with different menus and rosters? Sure they included that, but the answer is no. This year, they brought us a game with many new features, game modes, and great music.

To start off, we have the classic Quick Play game mode, which is probably in every sports game to date. When you start up the game, after signing into the network, your automatically at the Quick Play screen. Quick Play is the same as always, pick a team, play the team, win or lose, there is no harm done to you. There are plenty of other game modes to enjoy though.

Among these game modes are The Association, Season, Playoffs, Rookie Challenge, Practice, and Situation. Trust me, those aren't even the half of it.

The Association is a season mode based around a calendar. You don't have to play every game on the calendar, you can advance through the dates and skip a game, but that may hurt you at times. If you don't want to play that game, you can always simulate it, but you never know what the outcome may be. If you want to play the whole association, you need to be big on basketball, and have a lot of patience. The Season is just like The Association, except with out any contractors, were not a big fan of these two to tell the truth.

The Playoffs is better known as a Tournament mode. You pick a team from the pair ups they give you, and you basically ball for the win. After you win, you move up the charts, to get the final game. Win that, and the Playoffs are yours.

In the Rookie Challenge mode, you play as a T-Mobile sponsored rookie team. Then we have the Practice mode, this is just what it sounds like, practice. If your trying to learn how to play, then come here. Last, there is the Situation game mode, where you set up positions, time-outs and what not to comeback for a huge game ending win.

Remember when I said "those aren't even the half of it"? Well, we have more. NBA 2K8 sports something they have never done before in their previous versions, and it's called NBA Blacktop.

NBA Blacktop is basically a mini-version of NBA Street inside of NBA 2K8. When you click it's option in the menu, instead of bringing you into a sub menu like the others, it will bring you onto a new street customized screen full of dutty style.

In NBA Blacktop, we have a Dunk Contest, Pickup Games, a 3PT Shootout, a Game of 21, and Dunk School. This section of the game happens to be my favorite as I'm a street sort of person.

The Dunk Contest was something never before seen in an NBA 2K game. It's sponsored by Sprite, so you can expect to see some Lemon Lime everywhere. In this mode, you can set up props, like cars, benches, and such to show how high you can really dunk. The score is based on a 100 point scale, most I've ever got was 90 sadly. If you really know how to customize your dunks, you can get higher than me. This mode was a great new feature to this game that I was looking forward too and it satisfied me. They could of made it a little bit better though. Close to perfection.

The Pick-Up games are your basic street "want to join my team?" games. You pick up players to join your team, and play it out. It can be played online or offline on the PLAYSTATION Network. Your team size can range from 1 on 1 to a 5 on 5 game.

Then we have your classic 3PT shootout. Your basically playing Around the World in this mode, except if you miss, you keep going. You get 5-6 shots per round, when your done the spot your in, the player moves to the next spot and begins his shootout from there. The only big problem in this mode is the shooting accuracy, there doesn't seem to be a scale to perfect your shots, just a flick of the right analog stick.

Then we have the Game of 21, which is another of my favorite modes. Those of you who ball in real life know the game by the name of Utah. It's a 3 man game with everyman for himself, if you get the ball in, you get a free throw, and you keep free throwing till you miss. This mode was a great implement and I enjoy it a lot.

Last but not least, the place you go before you dunk, and thats Dunk School. There is no real teacher in Dunk School, refer to this mode as Dunk Practice instead. If you want to perfect your dunking skills, come here, practice with objects, and such.

There are many features in the game, not worth going to much into detail though. There is My NBA, which shows your game sliders, the VIP Viewer, Trophy Viewer, which do whats stated in their titles, 2K Beats & Reelmaker which let you customize tracks and videos of your game, then there is Codes, which let you cheat in the game.

The graphics of 2K8 are pretty good compared to it's counterpart, NBA Live 08. It has a slight advantage over Live with graphics. They are beautifully rendered at 60FPS, so they have to be good.

The soundtrack of this game (which was in-game, and also mailed to me) consists of mainly rap and hip-hop. It contains music from the likes of Run DMC, Common, and such. If your a hip-hop fan, you won't mind this music a bit, you'll enjoy it.

All in all, NBA 2K8 was a great experience and I'm honored I got to review it. Whether you like to stay street, or like to stay in the season, NBA 2K8 is a basketball game for all types of basketball fans. 2K Games did a good job attracting a big crowd, and this title is a sure buy out of it's other two competitors.

Presentation: 8.0
NBA 2K8 brings the looks of basketball to a newer level with the new Blacktop mode included in the game.

Gameplay: 8.4
As if you thought it wouldn't get better than what we seen in NBA 2K7. The gameplay is solid, but there are a few glitches.

Graphics: 8.8
Graphics look great, and more frames are being used than in NBA Live 08.

Audio: 9.0
The soundtrack for the game features the likes of Talib Kweli, Run DMC, and all your favorite hip-hop artists.

Replayability: 8.5
It's not that hard to pick up a basketball game when some friends are over and get into a game.

Final Verdict: 8.4 out of 10