Archive for the ‘Dolby Digital 5.1 (Game)’ Category
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on May 12th, 2010
Back in the day, I had a passion for side-scrolling beat em ups. Whether I was fighting with my bare knuckles, super powers or sword and sorcery, I liked them all. There were so many good ones: Double Dragon, X-Men Arcade, Knights of the Round and more. Apparently Capcom wants me to channel my gaming self from the early nineties and bring me two awesome games of the genre: Final Fight and Magic Sword, better known as Final Fight: Double Impact.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 18th, 2009
Some of you may remember that the last two Grand Theft Auto games I reviewed were the Playstation 2 ports of Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Most people probably thought that when GTA IV came out, I would have ran to my local game shop and picked up a copy. Truth is, I didn’t. The desire was there but I never really got around to it. So then Rockstar announced they would put their two DLC episodes on disc. Strangely, I was compelled to go buy it. First, I fully support retail releases of stand-alone content that was previously only downloadable and second I had missed Liberty City. I mostly missed the violence and wanton destruction.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 9th, 2009
The last time I had played a WWE wrestling game was way back in 2007. Triple H was on the cover looking more menacing than usual and I had played the game for a few solid months. But to be honest, I was burnt out and frustrated with the grappling system and spent the last few years messing with older wrestling titles and Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the Playstation 2. Fast forward to late 2009 and I suddenly find myself excited for a WWE wrestling game once again. Hopefully clever marketing wasn’t the only reason.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on September 1st, 2009
People rarely look for depth when it comes to games released on Xbox Live Arcade. This method of gaming mostly sees games that are puzzlers, recreations of once forgotten gems and the occasional sports diversion. A better word for these type of games: time wasters. However, most players wanted something more than a dumping ground for the newest falling block game, they wanted an awesome game in a small package at a thrifty price. Little do they know then that the people at Chair Entertainment have responded to that call and provided us with a game called Shadow Complex.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on August 1st, 2009
To say I’m not a country music fan is a bit of an overstatement. I’m not even sure what exactly possessed me to go to NewEgg.com and order a copy of Rock Band Country Track Pack. Oh yes, now I remember it was my fiancée and future wife, Sarah who thought I should be a little more diversified in my music. Apparently, 80’s hair rock was only popular in the late 80’s. I must have missed the memo. But surely, I have heard this thing called country before. I mean I attended more karaoke clubs in Texas during the mid to late 90’s than I care to think about. Once they were done throwing tomatoes at me after I finished my rendition of “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake, they usually threw on an old Garth Brooks or Clint Black tune.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on June 15th, 2009
It was the summer of 1993, this little review writer was on his way to college for the first time. Among the many things I took to college with me, one of them was a computer. The computer was top of the line at the time; a 486-33mhz processor chip and an 170 meg hard drive. I said meg. Windows 3.1/Dos 6.22 was the OS combination and it had one game on it besides Solitaire. A shareware copy of Wolfenstein 3d. The game had actually been already out for a year but it was a popular game and on my pc as included software.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on June 13th, 2009
The original Cellfactor was actually a technical demo published back in 2006 by Immersion Games. It was made for the Ageia Physx series of cards which later became a part of NVidia. This demo showed off things we in the first person shooter community took for granted, barrels and boxes. Barrels and boxes have long been staples in games for doing absolutely nothing but existing (occasionally a barrel might explode but that’s it). Thru this demo, your character could use his psychic powers to throw the items and watch as they interact with the environment.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on April 20th, 2009
Puberty for me was an odd thing like many teenage boys. My dad threw a medical book into my lap when I turned thirteen and said if I had any questions to let him know. This was followed by more literature being thrown into my lap such as Playboy when I wasn’t any older than fifteen or sixteen years old. In addition to magazine publications, I was also allowed to buy some objectionable games and music. One of these games was the Leisure Suit Larry series.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on March 6th, 2009
There haven’t been many compilation discs out for the 360 yet. There were the Orange Box and a few Xbox Live Arcade compilation discs. There was also Namco Museum Virtual Arcade which despite the plethora of titles wasn’t much more than a bunch of Xbox Live Arcade games and some retro titles thrown in for the nostalgia factor. Most of us retro purists were waiting for a compilation title that put together not only classic games but blended it with the new technology into an invigorating harmony. Our time has come in the form of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 24th, 2008
The original Fallout 3 was held in the firm hands of Interplay Entertainment under the working title of Van Buren. Developed by Black Isle Studios, that title never saw the light of the day when Interplay Entertainment went bankrupt and laid off the entire PC development team in late 2003. In 2007, Interplay sold the rights to the Fallout franchise to Bethesda who had developed the popular Elder Scrolls series. Bethesda scrapped the original code and worked on the project from scratch. It paid homage to many Fallout concepts and Fallout 3 saw gold in 2008. It was a long five years between the layoff of the original creators and the company who ultimately got the right to release the game. Was it worth the wait?
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 14th, 2008
In 2004, the world received a top notch role playing game in the form of the original Fable for first Xbox console. It promised a lot of things, ideas and concepts that were sure to revolutionize the gaming world. The crew at Lionhead studios delivered on most of those promises and the game went well over double platinum. Among many things it promised, one of these was a true concept of good and evil. Every action has a reaction whether positive or negative. It was this concept and others that were expanded when it came to the making of Fable II. The game is dubbed by its designer Peter Molyneux as a game that even non-gamers should be able to enjoy. To be honest, he doesn’t even want traditional game reviewers to review the game. Lucky for him, tradition and me broke ties a long time ago.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on September 30th, 2008
The greatest game I ever bowled was probably around 180. A far cry from the perfect 300 but a decent game nevertheless. Most bowling video games are extremely simple in scope. Pick up a ball, roll it down the lane and see what pins drop. Sometimes you get to choose the curve of your ball and even the weight. But that is honestly about it. So when I saw that there was a new bowling game on Xbox Live Arcade, I didn’t think anything of it. However, once I tried the demo I realized this was something different. A game that blended bowling with miniature golf and created something kinda unique. I was so intrigued by the demo, I ended up coughing up the 800 points to make a review.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on September 29th, 2008
The Dark Knight movie did big business this year and most people were quite surprised there was no official video game for the movie. Anybody who was looking for a Batman fix after the movie either paid $8 to see the movie again or tried to re-enact scenes with their best friends in their basement. However, there was a little relief to be had. The wonderful teams behind Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones decided to go to market with a Lego Batman game. But instead of focusing on the recent movies such as Batman Begins & The Dark Knight they moved their focus to the past. Their inspiration seemed to come from the first 2 Batman films with Michael Keaton and a strong dash of the awesome animated series that ran during the same time period. Would Lego’s humor and strong gameplay succeed or would the jokes go as sour as any thought of Robin in a future Batman movie (especially one with Christian Bale)?
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on August 18th, 2008
Fable II will become a reality on October 21st, 2008. The game promises to be even better than the first Fable which won game of the year awards on several sites. Fable was actually the first non-360 game I bought upon purchase of my Xbox 360. It is still my favorite non-360 game for my Xbox 360 to this date due to the rich graphics, intriguing storyline and variety. So when Fable II broke ground by announcing a set of three parlor gambling games were coming to Xbox Live Arcade, I jumped at the chance. My pre-order with Amazon was an automatic and my free code was soon sent to me. I was ready to start collecting items & turning some gold into much needed experience.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on March 26th, 2008
A cold day in Vegas no more. Hopefully over the short vacation, you have had time to hit the slots, schmooze the local women and even rubbing your barrel a little more than you should. Why you ask? Because Rainbow Six, Vegas style is back. That’s right; more taking cover and sneaking around killing terrorists in the land that never sleeps. Apparently the rent on the automatic terrorist prevention machines was a little high and so they have asked for your MTar firing, Flashbang throwing behind to lead the charge once again. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 takes back your 360 and hopefully sends us more than new maps and some spit and polish.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on January 2nd, 2008
This coming weekend will be the start of the NFL Playoffs and the end of college football. Most people are drawn to play a football game of some sort at this time. Whether it would be an old classic or the newest Madden title, we feel the need to be close to the action. Some of us just really don’t care that the Patriots might end up 19-0 and win the SuperBowl and would rather simulate some other scenario. That’s why I chose to bring you a football review at this time of the year rather than the beginning of football year like most other columnists.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 26th, 2007
Some of my most enjoyable gaming experiences have been with gaming compilations. “More bang for your buck” is the familiar slogan used to describe these games. Traditionally, these compilations show up late in console’s life cycle in order to re-sell old titles that couldn’t probably sell on their own. So needless to say the Orange Box surprised me on a couple of fronts. The 360 isn’t an ancient or dying system by any means. Furthermore, by combining Half Life 2, the two sequels, Portal and Team Fortress 2 you bring together a package that from initial glance looks to be five great games in one. However, are these five games as vast as one would hope or instead are these five games that should have stayed on the pc to collect dust and be riddled about in debates about the best pc shooter to date?
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 4th, 2007
Some games take time to gain acceptance. This game started out a fledging curiosity, now the obsession has hit and everybody wants to play air guitar except with the a controller shaped like one. The game is Guitar Hero 3. This is the first installment that has hit every major console at the same time. This also marks the first time where they really pushed the concept of actual guitarists and musicians coming out to help such as Bret Michaels, Slash and the Sex Pistols. Some would describe it as a sell out especially since the team that made the original Guitar Hero was busy making Rock Band and the reins were left to Neversoft. How would they fare; could they possibly mess up what made the first two Guitar Heros so great?
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on October 28th, 2007
Some things just go together. Like Peanut Butter & Jelly, Sonny & Cher, Siskel & Ebert (okay, not so much). Puzzle Quest brings something together in complete harmony like no other game before it. Puzzles and Role Playing Games. Sure the Zelda or Breath of Fire series have puzzles in the game, but we are talking full integration where every battle is decided in a Bejeweled-like interface. Complete with mounts, spells, and other rpg-like elements; this could be the best idea of putting things together since I tried fritos and cream cheese. (Come on, you know you are curious)
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on October 3rd, 2007
Halo 3, the hype machine; have you drank the kool-aid, errr the Game Fuel yet? In the midst of a media storm and $170 million opening week sales, Halo 3 was released to the public in three different versions. For most people, the regular edition was enough to satisfy. Some like myself opted for the limited edition, which includes a tin and a bonus disc. Others decided they wanted a Master Chief helmet and opted for the legendary. No matter which edition you decided on, you were more interested in the amazing gameplay & multiplayer from the previous incantations. By the time it takes to come down from the caffeine buzz generated by the mixture of code red & live wire (& cough syrup I believe), though, you realize that Halo 3 — while awesome on many fronts — isn’t quite the mega-wonder we all had hoped for.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on September 23rd, 2007
Bomberman has long been a friend of mine. I spent most of the early to mid 90’s playing either the original Bomberman or Bomberman ‘93 for the Turbo Graphix 16 System. I played each until their eventual conclusion and then wouldn’t touch them for years. So when there was word that a Bomberman game would come to Xbox Live I was very excited. But at the same time I was very skeptical. So skeptical, it took me about two months to download it and the accompanying first expansion pack. However, what came out of it was quite possibly the best multiplayer Xbox Live Arcade game of all time and one of the best reasons to own an Xbox 360 that doesn’t involve a first person shooter.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on August 7th, 2007
Simplicity takes time. That’s the only logical explanation as to why a chess game has not appeared on XBOX Live Arcade until the team @ Freeverse & Strange Flavour decided to release some popular board games for us to enjoy. The give us Checkers, Mancala, Reversi as well as Chess for a very tidy 400 Microsoft Points ($5). While the release is far from perfect, it is one of those cases where we take what we can get.
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on May 30th, 2007
Opening
Board Games can be great experiences for families and friends to come together and enjoy themselves. A dice roll, a few spaces moved on the gameboard, and some money gained or paid are all sometimes a game needs. Up until May of this year there had not been any board games for XBOX Live Arcade. There had been a good handful of card games but nothing like Monopoly, Scrabble, or even Chess (there was Backgammon but who actually plays Backgammon?). That changed when …
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on May 24th, 2007
Opening
ROUND ONE, FIGHT. I’m something of a Mortal Kombat junkie especially in my younger days. I started playing the original arcade game when I was very young and played 2 (still the best to date), 3, dealt with 4 and even dabbled in Deception. I adored the movies, though for obvious reasons I was poed at some parts of the second movie but still liked it. I even bought one of those silly MK controllers for the Playstation 2 (Scorpion naturally). So when I heard that the…
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Game Reviews by Michael Durr on April 8th, 2007
Opening
When I got my XBOX 360 in late November, the only game I was regularly playing on my Playstation 2 was Guitar Hero II. It was still captivating, it held my interest because it was an amazing game. Needless to say when they announced that it would be coming to the 360, I was both excited and a bit perplexed as what to do. I mean it is the same game right? It has updated graphics and sound, and exclusive songs. But it’s going to require me to buy another guitar. It has achiev…
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