XBL Radio Review: “The Club” (X360)

Posted under Microsoft, Mr B4, PlatformNation.com, Review, Sega, XBL Radio, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

To tell you the truth, I am the type of gamer who sometimes just loves to play a mindless game, with no story, that is alot of fun. That is the type of game that The Club is down to the T, and to be honest with you, there is nothing wrong with a little mindless, third-person shooting fun every once in awhile.

Let us get right into the review:

First of all, as I said earlier, there is no in-depth story, with richly detailed characters, who develop over time in The Club. The concept is that you are a participant in a Tournament that takes place in 8 different locations, and has up to 6 rounds in each location. It basically plays out like a Mariokart game, but instead of racing go-karts, you shoot everything in sight round after round, and accumulate points as you go, leaving who has the most points at the end of each round the winner, and whoever has the most points at the end of all of the rounds declared the winner of that specific tournament. A basic and simple concept, but in all honestly, it works out pretty well, and keeps the game moving at faster pace than most other shooters out there today.

The graphics are not superb, but there not bad. All of the 8 different characters are nicely detailed, and each one of them has their own attitude that is represented very well by the clothes that they wear, and the facial expressions that they make. The environments however, are simple, not full of much detail, and do not offer that much in the way of exploration. Every once in awhile you will come across a secret area, with a Skullshot (point booster) for you to shoot, but that is about it.

The gameplay and entertainment value of this game is the meat and potatoes of where this game shines. The modes that you play are not always kill everything in sight, and running to the end of the goal as fast as possible. There are also modes in which you have to stay withing a certain area, for a certain amount of time, and survive the onslaught of enemies that come out at you (Survivor). Or you can also race through the level, to the exit, as fast as possible, while killing enemies to add time to the clock along the way (Time attack), You can also go from the beginning to the end of a level, shooting down enemies, and adding points to your score as you go (Sprint). Each of one these event types is fun to play, and easy to understand. There are a few weapons to choose from, including rocket launchers, machine guns, shotguns, etc., all of which are standards of the shooter genre, and do add some variety in how they affect each one of the modes in the game, but are nothing spectacular.

Controls are about as simple as it gets. You shoot with the Right Trigger, precision aim with the Left Trigger, and perform dodging moves, or break down walls with the A button. Even though there is no variety to the controls, they are simple to understand, and honestly, I am all about simplicity in control schemes for these types of games.

There is a little bit of replay value in this game, but not much, After you finish the Tournament, you can either participate in the Single Event mode, in which you can play each event one at a time. Or you can create a playlist of these events in the Gunplay mode. There is also a Multiplayer feature that allows you to play with up to 8 players( that is the most i played against at least) in a few different modes such as Team Deathmatch, Hunter (King of the Hill), and Free for all Deathmatch. They are nice additions, and fun to play, but other than playing through each of them to earn achievements, or to gain bragging rights, there is no reason to play any of these modes more than once. There are also Skullshot targets that you can shoot out in each level to add a multiplier to your score, but it does not unlock anything, so they are not really all that necessary to shoot.

In the end, I would have to say that I had a great amount of fun playing this game, even though the experience was short lived. The tournament and multiplayer modes were fun for awhile, but once you play through every event in each one of these modes, you have seen everything that this game has to offer. The fact of the matter is, a game like this can still be a fun experience, even if it is lacking in some aspects of other games that have made the shooter genre popular over the years.

My verdict: If you are someone who enjoys playing mindless games sometimes, and can find this title at a cheap price used, then pick it up, you will not be disappointed, otherwise, just leave this game alone.

Overall Score: B-

Gaming Night: 1-31-09

Posted under Kemanswar, Microsoft, Mr B4, PlatformNation.com, Qualitybeats84, Silverthorne, X3R0 9, XBL Radio, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Whats up gamers, Mr B4 here bringing you the latest news as to what is going on in the gaming community, and also what is going on here at XBL Radio.

It is almost about that time for another gaming night this week. It will be this Saturday starting at 10 pm est/ 7 pm pst in an Xbox Live party room. Either join in willingly, or send us a message over live to let us know that you want to join in the fun.

It will be either myself, or one of the other hosts who will be hosting the Xbox live party, but we will let you know either way whats going on.

The only question that we have for all of you is…what game should we play for this upcoming gaming night?

Here are the games:

Halo 2

Halo 3

Gears of War 2

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Left 4 Dead

Endwar

Call of Duty 4

We can play more than one of these during gaming night, but we need your help as to what game we should start with?

Go ahead and please cast your vote by clicking on the link below, or just leave a comment here and let us know that way, either way is fine with us.

http://forums.platformnation.com/index.php?showtopic=8409&pid=39419&st=0&#entry39419

Hope to see you all there.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off,

Take care,

Mr B4

Fallout 3:Operation Anchorage DLC Thoughts

Posted under 360, 5.1 Dolby, Achievements, DLC, Downloadble, Fallout 3, Market Place, Microsoft, Operation Anchorage, PlatformNation.com, Qualitybeats84, Review, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MP is the “Operation Anchorage” DLC for Fallout 3, which takes you through a simulation of the liberation of Alaska from the Chinese. I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone - so I’m going to keep this as detail free as can be.

Don’t expect any new blip location on the map when you load up your Save file, after the DLC download. That’s not how you activate the new content. Actually, you receive a new radio transmission on your Pip Boy from some “Outkast” looking for help in the form of fire power. I didn’t receive the transmission at load up either; it took a minute or two. Wait for it.

This is a nice departure from D.C, to say the least. The new achievements and weapons are “easter egg” additions. The enemies make me feel like I’m suddenly playing Golden eye and not Fallout. The locations are brighter and more “lit up”.

4-5 hours worth of exploring and gun fights compose the Anchorage DLC and I will gladly pay for more content like this. It may be true that it’s not everything I wished for in DLC content for my favorite game of 2008 – but I understand how hard it must be for Bethesda to balance the variations of character levels walking through the game at this given moment.

Anchorage gets thumbs up from me. If you consider Fallout 3 your favorite game of 2008, I’m pretty sure you’re going to really enjoy this.

(Screens taken from Planetxbox360.com)

XBL Radio episode 164

Posted under Halo 3, Kemanswar, Microsoft, Movies, Mr B4, Playstation, Podcast, Qualitybeats84, Silverthorne, Sony, Wii, X3R0 9, XBL Radio, Xbox 360

That’s correct folks, we’re at episode 164 (84.0 by the old numbering scheme)! Join Kemanswar, X3R0 9, Mr B4, Silverthorne, and special guest Qualitybeats84 as we continue with the new updated weekly show. Again folks, use caution as this is an explict podcast.

Topics Include:

Obama staff member says they are now in the Atari age.

Lego Batman nominated for a TOADY.

Splinter Cell Conviction, 360 exclusive.

Gamerscore Blog nailed by Mircrosoft’s first round of layoffs.

Megan Fox is the new Lara Croft.

All this and more on this weeks show.

Thanks for listening, Please leave us a comment on the show or send us an e-mail at: xblradio@platformnation.com

Direct Download (right click, save as)

Popin’ Aliens Through Portals: Prey Review

Posted under 3D Realms, 5.1 Dolby, Achievements, All Games, Microsoft, PlatformNation.com, Qualitybeats84, Review, Steam, Valve, Venom Games, XBL Radio, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

A little over 2 years, and Prey hasn’t lost anything it originally hit the Xbox360 with since release. If you have yet to play this game, you definitely should; and more so if you enjoyed Valve’s Portal. Read the rest of this entry »

Gaming Night: Jan 24th, 2009

Posted under Kemanswar, Microsoft, Mr B4, PlatformNation.com, Qualitybeats84, Silverthorne, X3R0 9, XBL Radio, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Whats up gamers, Mr B4 here bringing you the latest news as to what is going on in the gaming community, and also what is going on here at XBL Radio.

It is almost about that time for another gaming night this week. It will be this Saturday starting at 10 pm est/ 7 pm pst in an Xbox Live party room. Either join in willingly, or send us a message over live to let us know that you want to join in the fun.

It will be either myself, or one of the other hosts who will be hosting the Xbox live party, but we will let you know either way whats going on.

The only question that we have for all of you is…what game should we play for this upcoming gaming night?

Here are the games:

Halo 2

Halo 3

Gears of War 2

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Left 4 Dead

Endwar

Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty WaW

We can play more than one of these during gaming night, but we need your help as to what game we should start with?

Go ahead and please cast your vote by clicking on the link below, or just leave a comment here and let us know that way, either way is fine with us.

http://forums.platformnation.com/index.php?showtopic=8330&pid=39072&st=0&#entry39072

Hope to see you all there.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off,

Take care,

Mr B4

Party-Play : Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Posted under .0 Shows, .5 Shows, Bethesda, Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion, Microsoft, Party-Play, PlatformNation.com, Qualitybeats84, XBL Radio, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Recently, I have gotten the urge to play me some Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion and decided to TRY to gather a group of LIVE members to join me.

I want to start a party of 4-8 players to play through the game togeather while in the NXE party system.

The party will start playing at the exit of the sewers. Create yourself a new character and make your way through the escape route. SAVE as soon as you set upon Cyrodiil; we start here.

If anyone is interested in joining me, send me a message via LIVE. Once I gather enough interest, a date will be set. If you have yet to play this game…get yourself a copy(it’s cheap) and get a move on. We’re waiting…

Godspeed~

Lost Fans Only! : Via Domus Review

Posted under Lost : Via Domus, Microsoft, PlatformNation.com, Qualitybeats84, Review, Ubisoft, XBL Radio, Xbox 360

With the season premier of Lost around the corner, I dusted off my copy of Via Domus and finally decided to give it a spin on my 360. First things first, Via Domus is not much more than a “genre-mashed interactive episode“. Don’t expect anything like Uncharted here. Die hard fans of Lost will enjoy the plot; which was written by the series writers and is the best part of the experience. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there. Read the rest of this entry »

Games of 09 : I AM ALIVE!

Posted under Game Releases, I Am Alive, Microsoft, PS3, PlatformNation.com, Preview, Qualitybeats84, Sony, Ubisoft, XBL Radio, Xbox 360

With the new year upon us, we as gamers pretend to be psychic controller holders and predict game releases for the upcoming year. 2009 has its share of anticipated releases but, to me, Ubisoft’s “ I Am Alive “ is looking to become the new smash IP for this year in gaming.

I Am Alive is about a man named Alex, from Chicago, trying to survive a major disaster of some kind. Details are sparse but Ubisoft’s teaser trailer gives a pretty good idea of what kind of puzzles and survival tactics will be used throughout the game. Out-smarting is your weapon.

An official release date has not been reported; although a few sources are calling this a Q2 release. Get into the hype! Watch the trailer @ www.iamalivegame.com

Just A Thought : Crackdown 2

Posted under 360, Article, Crackdown, Crackdown 2, Game Releases, Just A Thought, PlatformNation.com, Podcast, Qualitybeats84, Real Time Worlds, Ruffian Games, Rumor Control, Team XBL Radio, Websites, XBL Radio, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Last time I checked reviews and personal opinion, a lot of gamers on the 360 enjoyed 2007’s Crackdown. It had solid, addictive and extremely fun gameplay; not to mention a great art design and awesome online coop.

So, why haven’t we heard about a sequel from the developers? Is Microsoft holding off with that IP? Gameasutra, back in December, reported that members of Real Time Games ( the developer of Crackdown ) were founding a new development company called Ruffian Games and they could possibly be working on a sequel.

Could this be an undercover game release for 09? There really isn’t another game on the console that’s quite like it and it would be a big title for a dry spot in 09.

I can only dream of the possibilities : 4 player online co op, higher jumps, taller buildings, a light abilities upgrade component; when do I stop?

Plot isn’t really necessary in a title like Crackdown but it would be nice to have a little something more than just the dossier info and videos. A slew of short cut scenes that play like your reading a comic could be interesting.

Microsoft…We need more Crackdown!

Just a thought….

(Screen taken from Gameslave.co.uk)