Great game.  Needs a few tweaks, but with that it's really top notch.
344974
PROS: Truly a rare find for those who enjoy open-ended games.  The production value and concepts are really nice, the base game is fun and engaging, and the replay-ability is clearly there. This was a KS game, and the company provided templates and info about their process to the point that you can make DIY expansion bits.

CONS: It's pretty clear the base rules were not fully play tested, and lack in a few places.  That said, there is an on line forum with several rule variations and fan based expansions.  But if you have a "true rule lawyer", that doesn't like to play with house rules, the base is a little too luck based IMHO.
410901
This is by far one of the best Star Wars genre games to date. It is also one of the top console RPGs of all time. My only complaint is that the game feels somewhat unfinished, as though the publisher rushed the developer into production against deadlines. Several of the character interaction scripts dead-end after one or two conversations and most of the planets offer no reason to revisit them.

Still, the implementation of the 3rd-edition SWRPG rules is excellent, the graphics and sound are tops.

One caveat: On the Xbox 360 the music files and/or sound effect files tend to cut out periodically. Also there are certain spots where the frame rate during battles lags terribly. The frame rate problem seems to be solvable by rotating the camera.
17827
This game is a lot of fun to play.  Gotham City is very similar to the one of Arkham City and then expanded upon.  I found the plot to be intriguing and there are plenty of side missions to keep you occupied as well.  The only reason I gave it four stars is that the game has some obvious glitches in it.  I've had it freeze on me several times while in the middle of gameplay.  There are also times when the videos being played would be choppy and certain functions such as silent takedown would suddenly disappear and not come back until I restarted my system.  Overall, this is a great game to play but this new company making these (Rocksteady made the first two) needs to do a better job with testing before releasing the final product.
1955273
First off, this game is great!  It's in the same class as BF2 and 1942 (we'll just forget about 2142 and vietnam), but is just missing the airplanes.  The classes are a bit different, and have some strange quirks (who thought giving the grenade launcher and ammo bags to the same class was a good idea?).  The destroyable buildings are fun, and add another dimension to the game.

The multiplayer game modes are great, but the squad deathmatch could probably use a bit better map design.

This wouldn't be a true EA game without some strange server browser bugs.  They have fixed most of them, but a few still remain.  The most annoying is that some of the filters don't work.  A good example is the "hardcore" filter, which seems to only filter servers that have team damage enabled, but aren't actually "hardcore".

It's also not uncommon to find a team full of snipers, when that side is supposed to be attacking... but so it goes.

In any case, this is a great game for any battlefield multiplayer fan.  It plays good with a group of 4 players, but is still fun alone.
227270
The game is a lot of fun.

Setup is pretty bad, and the learning curve and instructions leave quite a bit to be desired but the game is definitely fun enough to be well worth it.

I think if they could clarify the rulebooks some and simplify setup and initial startup then the game would be great. I really wish they had an app to handle inventory, character stats, and town actions (we ended up creating an excel sheet for this).
4670313
This is a great game.  The graphics are great, and the story line phenominal.

I also really love the fact that you have more than one character to fight with.  Other games have one character that is able to do-it-all, but this setup is so much more fun to play.

I have two negatives:(But it in no way takes away from the game).

1) While you get to set up your characters profile, all the way to picking a voice, you never get the opportunity to really hear your characters voice.  I'd like a toggle to allow you to hear what your main character is saying.  Even though you pick the lines he will speak, it would be awesome to have this ability.
2) The walkthrough by Prima (I've used Prima on other games with great success and enjoyability), can be a little better.  It doesn't give the same walkthrough experience that I've had from them before.  Maybe the game is too complicated for them to get a good handle on it.

Thanks for making a truly great game experience.
674327
Overall the game is great. It has its bugs, but after having those fixed it should be fantastic. I know some people have had problems with crashing, but I haven't had a large number of crashes on my machine. The most obvious bug I have found is the audio cutting out in some maps.
4327721
One of the best video games i played. Or at least it will be once all the glitches are fixed. But even with them it's well worth the 70$
3786345
I was absolutely stoked when I first started playing this game, and I am glad I bought it. I am an old-school TM fan since playing TM 2 on the playstation. There are many good things to say about it, but there are some areas where it doesn't quite make the leap from being a 'great' game to an amazing one. Maybe if they make another Twisted Metal they could improve on their weak spots and they would make an amazing game.

Pros:

-Amazing online play. If you are a fan of chaotic, intense online gaming you should pick this title up.

-I personally liked mixing up the drivers and the vehicles, although there is some sentimental value lost. A 'classic' story mode would be great to satisfy new and old gamers.

-Should be expected, but by far the best graphics and most detail of any Twisted Metal game. I liked the fact that much of the environments are destructible and the level of detail is pretty spectacular.

-Live-action cutscenes add a level of depth and artistry to the game, I really liked the style. Also the best iteration of Calypso yet.

-Mixing up the campaign into different modes, especially the races was a nice touch. However I think they are over-emphasized at the expense of the core of Twisted Metal - actual car combat.

-Sound track fits the mood of the game nicely.

Cons:

-An extremely short and overall disappointing campaign. I beat it on normal in 7 hours while watching the cutscenes. If you don't play online or only like single player I'd only recommend this title as a rental.

-I don't expect a great storyline in Twisted Metal, but I don't think there were enough cutscenes to really make me feel connected to the characters. With 15 different characters I can understand why, with 3 I cannot.

-The final boss I thought was lame. Don't want to include any spoilers but it was not a 'traditional' fight and was not all that difficult once you found out how to defeat it. I would much rather have a difficult, challenging boss to fight in traditional Twisted Metal style.

-On that note, while I liked some of the additions to the campaign such as races, there was too few 'traditional' fights. An expansion of the campaign to include more characters (and more battles) would have really made this game stand out. Thankfully the multi-player creates a good replay value and picks up where the campaign leaves off.

-It would be nice to see a couple original maps redone for multiplayer, such as Paris or New York form TM2.

Overall, if you like multiplayer you should buy this game. If you're a singl eplayer person, a rental will suffice.
4010023
This is an exceptionally good game.  The cover mechanic is one of best implemented to date, the enemy AI is decent, it is beautiful, the weapons are interesting and feel solid, the boss battles are jaw-dropping, and most importantly it's a lot of fun.  They even managed to make reloading your weapons compelling.  The characters are a little over the top and the dialogue reflects that.  But the storyline is suitably grand and it serves to move the campaign along well enough.  This should have been a slam dunk must-have PC port of the XBox game.

But it's not.  Saved games disappear.  The save system is not only an offensively straight port of the console check-point system, but you have to create a Windows Live account to save your progress at all.  What?  Why?  Don't answer that.  I know why, and it has nothing to do with the gameplay experience.

I knew there was no quicksave feature when I bought the game, but I didn't know that the game would routinely lose all of my saved progress and achievements.  There's a 40 page thread on Epic Games forums about this problem that's been around since the PC version's release in November.  If there has been an official response from Epic or Microsoft I haven't been able to find it.  That is too long for a massive problem like that to go unacknowledged and unresolved.  Unless you have the time to finish the game in one sitting, don't buy this game until they fix the vanishing save games.  Go play Half-Life 2, Bioshock, or some other game with a quicksave feature instead.
523473
This game is excellent and superb, and although not a perfect simulation of basketball, it's the closest thing to it so far.  First of all, excellent shooting controls. If you want to head fake, you will head fake rather than take an ill-advised shot. Second of all, good AI.  Centers will have more rebounds and blocks, and guards will naturally have more assists and steals, unlike other games  where the guard can have 20 rebounds and the center like 2.  Third, good flexibility.  Create a player lets you control many detailed aspects of the character, such as body frame and shooting skills.  But there are also some flaws.  The crossover function could have been better in that you can choose which move you want to do, thus adding more style without ruining the game.  Also, the AI simply takes too many threes.  The AI will exploit the advantages of an excellent three-point shooter and keep scoring unrelentlessly till you cry out in frustration.  Plus, while create-a-player is detailed, it could've included more faces and let you create your own face or import the name of the created plaer via microphone.  Last, the pass animations are still goofy, which the player tossing the ball to his teammate a foot way.  Overall, this a very good game and you can't go wrong with this purchase.  It is one of the last and best Dreamcast games out there.
1257716
Love it but the controls are a bit of an issue with grenades.  The same button is used to toss a grenade as to change weapons and that is a problem in heavy fighting.

You can't beat the story line though and they have out done themselves with that angle.  I hope to see this series continue and also to provide additional content for game play.  I'm more than willing to pay for more "chapters".
3230137
Great game, have played it 4 times so far. as a FPS I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars
3824766
Be ready to jump through some flaming hoops to get it to run properly.

Here's what worked for me:

Assuming your system meets the minimum requirements then,
1. Make sure ALL of your drivers are up to date.
2. Download all SEVEN patches for the game.
3. Install the game then ALL SEVEN PATCHES in sequence.
One of the patches removes the "Rock Star Social Club" requirement.
4. DO NOT overclock your CPU. This was the show stopper for me.
It kept causing WIN XP to BSOD. Something with the NVIDIA driver
going into an infinite loop. Running my CPU at stock speed corrected this.
Overclocking was not a problem with other game titles on my system.
5. "Securom". Deal with it as you see fit. Solutions are out there.
6. As for "Windows Live" just create an offline account. Problem solved.
7. Now you have to play with your graphics card settings both directly and
in-game till you find the happy balance that works for your system.

Even after doing all this there are still glitches, Occasional briefly missing textures,
occasional brief sound stuttering and other minor but annoying anomalies.
At least it runs now without crashing or taking WIN XP down with it.

Aside from the headaches of installing and configuring it to run and the glitches
It is a fun game. The storyline and missions are good, The graphics are nice,
The vehicles handle O.K. There's various "side missions" to do. BIG map to play with.
Plenty of "MODS" available, (I haven't tried any yet outside of a "trainer" to cheat with,
There are cheat codes that you type into your in-game cell phone but the trainer makes
it easier and gives you more options.)

Overall, If you liked the earlier GTA games this one is worth getting, (Wait till it's on sale. I did,)
And now that I'm familiar with the problems I'll probably get "Episodes from Liberty City" when
the price drops.

If GTA V is released for P.C. I do hope that Rock Star Games addresses issues like these before hand
rather than with SEVEN or more patches after release. Come on people!
2062058
I think many people may find this game to be a bit too slow (in terms of game-play), but both my girlfriend and I enjoy it thoroughly.  It's a little buggy (especially in multiplayer mode, where things break if too much is happening at once).

The dialogs are really cheesy, but some interesting social dynamics can develop as people love or hate you for your actions in the game.  It's neat to be able to judge court cases or be the town mayor, especially.  It really is like a little medieval micro cosmos.

I downloaded and installed a player-made mod called "BttR" and it added two new professions (Necromancer/Banker) and many items, while fixing some of the bugs in the original scripts.  This, I think, improved the game significantly.

Definitely not a polished game, and not for everyone, but I love it and would buy it again.
4431256
Product: God of War III
Rating 4/5 (excellent)

I finally nabbed the GoW3 platinum trophy, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire series en-route to it.  However, in hindsight, I do have some minor nits to share.

Likes:
* Great story - hard to imagine a plot more more dramatic that battling against the Gods of the ancient world and their monsterous armies.
* Spectacular graphics - I can easily imagine the same engine used for a similar series set in Norse Mythology.  I loved that they were able to run combat scenes on (and in) the limbs/body of a titan.
* Good movement/combat system - minimal fuss, minimal awkwardness, relatively easy to acclimate.  I'm equally glad they didn't go overboard creating too numerous/complex combo-moves.
* Great spiritual ending.

Nits:
* Too linear - the story/action is stuck on very tight rails, with no room for variation.  In other words, every encounter and story chapter sequence is exactly the same, with the same number of foes standing in exactly the same positions, doing the same things, with zero variation ... which greatly reduces the pleasure of subsequent run-throughs.
* Lack of a look-around capability, ala "prince of persia" and "tomb raider". It's frustrating to not be able to look up or around, and to have to ruin your death count by doing blind suicide leaps into the screen in order to see if there's a hidden ledge with goodies that the game's hiding from you.  With the amount of PSE processing power at their disposal, the moving camera angle system they've already implemented, and the profits already generated by the game, there is no clear reason why they couldn't have added this feature to GOW3.
* The game is a bit too "boss-battle" oriented. Having to fight the same battle more than a few dozen times is too much.  The opening battle against Poseidon/Kraken on my initial run through almost turned me off from the game, and the subsequent battles against hades and scorpius on titan and chaos modes (respectively) didn't do my blood pressure any favors.  Anytime you have to spend more time on a single fight against a single foe than a full run-though of the entire game is a sign that something is not quite right.  It's rarely a good idea to frustrate off a paying customer.
* Weak AI - given the same circumstances, the creatures in this game always do the same thing.  More variability is needed.
* Weak grasp of Greek Mythology & Spartan history.  This was/is just a game setting for designers, and players shouldn't expect to learn anything remotely accurate about Mythology or Greek history.
* Not that most will notice or care, but none of the voices for this game sound even remotely Greek.
* Nonsensical moments: some occurences and designs in the game make no sense.  For example, in once sequence, Kratos is flying upward along the great chain connecting Olympus to Hades through an obstacle course of breakable wooden beams, scaffolding and huge flaming fireballs raining down from above.  Uh, hello ?  First of all, where are the fireballs coming from, and why ?  Also, with all the huge fireballs, why are there still breakable wooden beams and scaffolding ... and tightly clustered no less ?  They'd be gone in no time flat, and yet presumably they're always there ?  For that matter, why does Kratos need to fly the obstacle course at all, when he's got access to the Hyperion Gates ? Double duh.  The people who designed, and approved, that sequence should have their wrists horsewhipped with wet noodles.

Bottom line: aside from a few nits, this is an awesome game.  Highly recommended.
4497491
This game is great! The only thing that gave me a bit of a problem was the defaults the game starts out with. You use both the mouse and the KB to play or a gamepad. Since the mouse is used to control you minions, the KB controls your character and certain other things you can do. It is set up for a right-handed mouse user. I'm a bit strange in this respect as I'm right-handed but use my left hand to control the mouse and my right hand to control my character's movement and actions. So having the A,S,W,D keys for moving my character around just doesn't work for me. I had to reset the arrow keys for movement and move the other action and target lock keys over close to the arrow keys. I left the space bar as is for action. This works out really well. I found that on my system, I had to adjust the default screen settings and sound settings as well. Since I don't have one of the more current graphic cards I had to change the resolution to get the game to run a bit better. It seems that 1024x768 is the default and that's what I use on my desktop but on this game it runs a bit slow so I noted that the game has a number of different settings that go all the way down to 640x480 which I decided on as it gave me the best blend of speed and it alllowed me to up the details a bit. I am very happy about the way the game was built with a way to adjust these settings and allow for a better game play experince. This was well thought out. Game play itself is a lot of fun and I found myself laughing out loud a number of times. A great game and just a lot of fun!!!