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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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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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Opening

The Rainbow Six series of console and pc games has always been about realistic tactical warfare. These games are not for the faint of the heart as with any Tom Clancy shooter. In their latest offering: Rainbow Six Vegas; they take that realism and then put it in the anything but real land of glitz, glamor, and high rolling. Las Vegas, Nevada. A town where nobody sleeps and that’s unfortunate because you are going to need all the skills and firepower you can muster at all hours …

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Gameplay

The maps range from the enormous to the intimate. The biggest are Containment and Terminal. Containment is a vast, snowy valley with fortresses at either end and tunnels running the lengths of the mountain walls. This is a map that makes one wish the multiplayer limit was greater than 16, as even the biggest parties can all but disappear in here. Its size does make it the map most amenable to vehicle combat outside of Coagulation. Terminal, on the other hand, is an urban environment reminisc…

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Day 1 Studio’s produced one of the most anticipated games associated with the early days of the X-Box; MechAssault. This original game captured gamers with in depth gameplay, excellent visuals and great sound. What’s not to like about jumping in a 40 ton carnage dealing machine and blowing up everything in sight? The only drawback to the first one was a lack of multiple modes of online play. Day 1 has returned with the sequel to the highly successful MechAssault with MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf and …

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ESPN NBA 2k5 is the basketball game for the cool and low priced Sega Sports at a meager $19.99 price point. My copy was purchased for $14.95 in fact at the local Best Buy. By competing with people’s wallets, they have established solid competition with NBA Live 2005 by EA before they even open the box. As shown by well placed titles such as NFL 2k5 & NHL 2k5, one would think Sega Sports would have a fine showing with their basketball title. They have folks, it is a great sports game and debatably the best showing…

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When I first heard of the Movie Karaoke idea I was surprised I hadn’t heard of anyone coming up with it sooner. With the outstanding use of the Revoice software on the Shrek DVD set, I was ready to have a blast.

Then I found out what movies were in the game

Graphics

The game looks good. It has a nice, easy to read interface and the learning curve is small due to the smart layout of the screen. It’s bright, colorful and really helps with the overall enjoyment of the g…

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Links has been the most successful golf game on the PC, now Microsoft has ported it over the X-Box with tremendous success.

Graphics

Links does everything right, from the player models, to the gorgeous courses, to even the gallery. The scenery on much of the courses is very eye catching, and i found myself looking at the scenery many times. There are some real nice touches like the waves crashing, tree swaying in the wind, and dust particels when your ball lands in the sand or in the rou…

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NHL Rivals is Microsoft’s first effort into the hockey market, and you can easily tell this once you start to play this game. NHL Rivals had to battle with three other hockey titles (Ea Sport’s NHL 2004, ESPN’s NHL 2k4, and NHL hitz pro) and Rivals was also the last of the games to be released. Hockey fans are very pick about there hockey games, with most fans either going with EA’s effort and ESPN’s game. Microsoft would have to do something real different to win over the hockey gamer. Unfortunately they faile…

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Crimson Skies had a previous incarnation as a cult favorite PC game of the same name and was in development for a port to the X-Box that was being rushed for release 1 year ago. Thank goodness that they waited because you know what they say…”Good things come to those who wait.” And man, was this game worth the wait! The original version was a toned down, arcade style shooter that would have no lasting appeal. This final version is anything but toned down.

Graphics

Crimson Skies is simply st…

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