More of the Same...but Still Fun
344682
Flashman And The Angel Of The Lord, by George MacDonal Fraser [volume 10 of The Flashman Papers], is more of the same from our hero but this time he's involved with the Harpers Ferry raid and ol' John Brown. After so many books, it is beginning to grate that there has been no character development. Over and over and over...and, oh yes, over again his pecker gets him into and, often, out of trouble. At some point Flashy should learn to be a little more discerning, but he never does.

The book was still very enjoyable, but the repetition of the plot and lack of character development begin to damage one's enjoyment of the glittering dialogue and the attentive focus on historical detail and interpretation.

Having said that, the book was an enjoyable read and can be recommended for that reason.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Recommended for fans that have either been away from Flashy for a while or those new to the series. This book may be read out of order because what happened in the missed books is recapped, briefly, here.
1336616
Fun in a typical Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson way, but it's definitely not as LMAO as some of their best. Still love these guys though.
1418320
IF you're a big fan of the first one you will no doubt like this game a lot.  It's basically the same game with a few minor improvements.  I was disappointed they chose Vegas again as the location.  My buddy's suggestion of DC would be cool as would many other locations (LA, NYC, etc).  They even repackaged many of the multi-player maps.  Like others have said, they added a run option, made the graphics slightly better, and allow you to shoot through weak cover (plywood, soft walls, etc).

All that being said I enjoy playing the game and don't regret the purchase.  Just know going into it that you're paying for more of the same...  Which isn't so bad considering how good the first one was.
982701
It really reminds me of the Gauntlet games, which were great for their simplicity.  You and some friends gather 'round and kick the snot out of an endless supply of baddies.  The diversity of character development allowed in the game helps, too.  Things get easier if you use some brains, which is always nice, but if you just feel like plowing through, it's more than possible.  Playing single player really isn't the game's strong point, as it's too repetitive and the cut scenes are too lame to engage you.  If you've got the controllers and the friends (even just one), this game is well worth your time.  It may not be worth the money, though, due to the lack of replay value, so this is probably a rental.
1669655
This game is alot of fun to play and give off a pretty good atmosphere imitation within. However, the detail could be a little better & the character choices could have more of a variety to them. All in all it it a good game...Thanks
1760934
Toy Vault's "Abaddon" is a fun game that features giant mech-style robot warriors.  The minis are absolutely fantastic, and really succeed in transporting players into the science-fiction world of "Abaddon."  The rest of the components, however, feel a little cheap.  The cardboard obstacles and crystals that are used to mark hit points are just not up to the level of the cool minis.  It's too bad because the result is an uneven production.  Game play itself is pretty fun.  Players roll dice which tell them which units they can activate that round, or if they can draw a card.  It can be a little frustrating when the unit you need to move is repeatedly not activated, but that really is the nature of this kind of game.  The various scenarios offer some challenging contests, and add to replayability.

As fun as "Abaddon" can be, there are games out there that employ the basic "Command-and-Colors" system in better ways.  Fantasy Fight Games' new "Battlore: 2nd Edition" and Days of Wonder's "Memoir '44" are both superior games that not only play better, but also do a better job of integrating their respective themes.  At the end of the day "Abaddon" is a not a bad game, and I suspect young teenagers or those new to light wargaming will really enjoy it.  For myself, I think I'll stick with those other games.
1142860
This is a worthy successor to the first game. However, I did not enjoy it quite as much as the previous installment. I missed having the enormous weapon wheel at my disposal and somewhere along the way it seemed to lose some of its...whimsy?...In the first game everything felt fresh and new, but in this one it was almost TOO real in places. Which really isn't much of a complaint. I love well made video games and this one fits the bill, while it was a little more difficult in some places than I would have suspected once I dropped my standard Halo approach to an FPS and started using actual tactics everything worked out just fine. I will say that one of my biggest pet peeves in a video game is the lack of an actual health bar. In Resistance 2 when your hurt your screen will start to go red at the edges and you will hear your heartbeat, but its an extremely in-exact science and the guesswork involved has gotten me killed on more than one occasion. In the end the games few flaws do not detract from the entire experience in the least, and that experience is, in a word, awesome. This is definitely worth your money.
4766635
These games are super old school, and lots of fun.  They are nowhere near todays standard of games, but they are certainly still fun.  These are the shooters that were in those old red Neo Geo arcade cabinets, when you would choose between multiple titles on one box, from back in the early '90's.  There's a couple cool options added in, such as unlimited lives.  Overall it's a good diversion from other games, but don't expect to be playing it too often.  It's more of a change of pace, between playing awesome games.
566467
This one doesn't have as many songs as some of the other music games, but still a solid game.
1025886
Certainly not on the same level like Worth Dying For, but still another solid episode. One start less as sometimes it's a bit over the top.
3583185
If you liked the 1st game, this will be more of the same with a few new twists.  The puzzles and dreams have replaced the collector cards.  You can mine with the dwarfs and use those stones as forms of payment in some areas.  The caf is back, now with a stage and dance party.  There is a lot of re-doing quests to get items you need, which becomes a bit tedious, but none of them take more than 15 minutes.  Your fishing rod doesn't scare away fish if you cast right on a fish, that's an improvement!  I'm nearing completion and it's still holding my interest, but I don't see myself playing it again.  It has been a pretty fun 50+ hours though, not bad for the price.  And it's something my 5 year old daughter can help with.  She's in charge of fashion and dreams, I'm in charge of farming and quests.
3896073
The action is great in this game, just like the first.  But what made the first one so great was the ridiculous story and characters.  The story and characters are still ridiculous, but it lost some of the charm.

I'm definitely glad I got this game, and I'll definitely get the next one, but it's not as good as the first game.
3094579
I've been reading this series for years and I do enjoy it. wish there a little more variation... same basic plot but much less romping in this one. reads quick and is a nice way to pass a couple of hours.
1799527
I loved the first Kotor game and have played it many times, so it is natural that I had high expectations for this game.  I realize that Obsidian had a lot to live up to, but this one doesn't quite achieve what the first one did. That said, this is still a fun game.

I have only played through once, as a female on the light side, so my observations are based on this.  I enjoyed the new force powers, the prestige Jedi classes, and being able to influence the other characters.  The gameplay was basically the same, which is fine by me.  The story was a bit more complex and it seemed as though there were more things to explore which is also great. Your character can gain even more levels and use different force combat techniques.

But, on the negative side, the story and the characters are not as good.  While you can influence the other characters there is less interaction on a personal level, and there are no personal sidequests like there were in the fist Kotor; as with Carth, Mission, and the others.  Besides influencing the characters you pick up on the way, there is no real building of relationships.  You basically just use conversations to get influence over the them. I enjoyed the humor in the first game, both on the light side and the dark side, which is missing from the Sith Lords. The voice acting is as good as the original, but unfortunately, most of the characters are less interesting,  and the writing isn't as sharp. Even worse, the logic of the story made no sense.  The whole "you are beautiful to me, therefore I hate you" and "I loved her, therefore I killed her" is silly.  The plot at times is weak and other times pointless.  I feel as though this is the game's biggest shortcoming. The other big disappointment was the ending.  It felt abrupt and unfinished, with no satisfying resolution for the game.  I suspect that the poor developers were pressed for a deadline and did what they could.

And of course, there are the bugs...This seems to be a common complaint and I am no exception.  I played this game on a computer with an Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra video card, an Amd 64fx-55 cpu, with 1Gb of Corsair memory that should have been able to handle anything, but this game consistently crashed after 40 to 45 minutes of gameplay.  The 'readme' file will tell you this and I strongly urge you to take their advice and save frequently.  There are some long cutscenes that you don't want to have to redo several times, trust me.  I found these technical problems a pain, but I am not basing my rating on these, just the game itself.

I feel developers and publishers are rushing to get games out before they are ready and it is a shame.  This is a great game and I am certainly going to go back and play it again on the darkside, but it could have been so much more.
1295434
It's not a bad game but if you have played the other games do not try to think of it like them.  This is a re-boot of the old games a bit disappointing if you try to compare it to the other in the series.  They do mention a few things from previous games like old religions and what not.
+Story's not bad and there are some fun missions
+A nice size map
+Controls were smooth on my 360 pad
+Brought back a 'fun' mission from Deadly Shadows

-Hearing the guards repeat what they say gets annoying quick and in certain places there are too many of them (save often if full stealth).
-You can play this completely stealth but by the end I was killing guards to get around faster.
-Some times guard position change randomly I would exit one area watch them than come back and they would go a bit further or less.
-Guards do glitch which can be annoying in certain sections you need to get by.
-Can get lost trying to get back into a different section of the city (wish there was a marker I could use or a label for ways)
4266805
I love the Halloweentown series, and while this one was not quite like the others I still enjoyed it. I would of liked to see Kimberly Brown as Marnie again, but changes have to occur sometimes. The plot was along the same lines, but it still seemed like something was missing....whether it was her younger sister Sophie not being present or Grandma Aggie not in a lot of the movie, or something else, but there was just something lacking. Again, I still enjoyed it!
3532444
This one is still fun.  The feature that I'm most excited about is the fact that more songs can be purchased so you won't get bored with the songs it came with.  I also like just sweat mode, although it would be better if you could pick all the songs that you wanted to do beforehand and not have to stop between each song because that allows time for your hear trate to come down.  I still don't feel like the controls are improved at all.  Although I've seen other reviewers say that the controls are more accurate, I would tend to disagree.  They are still awful, and it is discouraging to see a low score if you've gotten the moves correct.