Fast & Fun with odd flaws
588039
I purchased a copy in the airport for a trip to Europe. I plowed through the whole book in a few days. It's good and thrilling if not particularly surprising. The bad guys die while the good guys live and find romance.

Iles has an odd habit of writing some passages as though he is getting product placement revenue. It's very odd when he does this and breaks the spell for me. One scene has a character turning on his dual core Macintosh G5 to download hi-def video from his Canon XLR2. Oh, and everyone appears to drink Coca-Cola. There is no Pepsi in Iles world.

...no Pepsi...no Pepsi at all...
916563
This game is a blast.  More than any other one I've ever seen, it really captures the feeling of working on a car.  The DS is the perfect system for it.  It plays like a spiritual successor to Street Rod and Street Rod 2.  It only has two problems:

1. Apart from the turbocharger and the air filter, you're mostly unable to customize the engine.
2. There is no actual driving component.

I suppose a less serious third problem is that it's too linear...this game doesn't need a constricting, linear plot anyway.  All it needs is an outsourced racing system to add some kind of track day or race day, and a very low level of customization for the central character (or save the coding by just not depicting the central character's race/gender at all).

In any case, an awesome game, and hopefully the first of a very successful franchise.
217148
This game is an experiment I believe. It's not a pure racer like past Forza titles but not a purely open world street racer, a la Need For Speed Most Wanted, Burnout Paradise or Test Drive: Unlimited either. Instead, what we get is a hybrid effort, think of it as the love child between NFS: Most Wanted (2012) and Forza 4.

Unfortunately that leaves us... somewhere in between. It's not quite deserving of 4 stars somewhere past 3 and a half as well.

It certainly can look like Forza 4, the race line is there, the cockpits are there, the visuals are excellent, but it plays like NFS:MW - without cops. And that's bad.

You'll drift like NFS, you'll survive head-on collisions at 130 MPH; someone will talk to you in a bluetoothy sounding voice as you do things that would kill everyone on the road including you. But it's never quite as ridiculous as Most Wanted, and that's good.

Well, good to an extent. There's some charm to the ridiculous.

Anyway. The point of the game is that you're in an open world that you can explore as long as you stay on the road, and you enter into the "Horizon Festival" in Colorado. Of course, this is all fictional, even the Colorado part. Fortunately, the cars are real enough and there are some great one to be had here. Everywhere you go you will be greeted by the excessive. It's like everyone who plays Call of Duty in collage has the month off and all made it down to this massive, state wide party. There's concert stages in the background, nightly fireworks and though there are never any beer can's on the ground, the whole thing reeks of the "dude, bro" lifestyle.

There are plenty of different race types to try and keep things interesting and a lot of hidden items to find, but it never really keeps itself from getting stale - but that's fairly common with most racers. Granted, they do try hard; you'll find yourself in challenges against hot air balloons, biplanes, WWII fighter planes and helicopters - which is a neat ideal and works decently, though I never have figured out how they determine who wins those races. It is exciting though, so there's that.

The Rally expansion is an excellent addition and does a lot to refresh the game. If you like RallySport Challenge you'll want to pick up that DLC.

The soundtrack, by the way, is touted as some big deal but I will tell you this - I think it's pure rubbish and after several tries to just get used to it, finally turned it off completely.

So should you buy this game? Well, if you like racers, yes. If you like Need For Speed, yes. If you like Simulations then no. However if you like terrible indie pop electro music and cars then yes.

It's a good game, and it does a lot of things well, it's just not a particularly great game. It's like when you date someone and you like them well enough but for some reason you still find yourself looking at porn afterwards. Yeah, I guess it's somewhat like that.
2241453
The Good:  This is a pretty darn amazing game.  It is loads of fun.  Has some really creepy parts.  It is clear the amount of care that went into this game.  I am several levels in so far, and it has held my attention well.  The lighting is incredible.  The creatures are hideous and scary.  For a fun time, get this game, hook your computer up to surround sound, and turn off all the lights.  There are quite a few spots where I jumped right out of my seat.

I had heard that this game starts slow.  Really, the action starts up fairly quickly.  I was running from demons after less than ten minutes of gameplay.

The Bad:  My computer is pretty darn loaded right now with a gig of ram, a really new and loaded ati graphics card, a fast processor, etc.  I had to turn down the detail of the game substantially in order for smooth gameplay.  There is a lot of stuff going on in this game that drains resource availability, including shadows textures and whatnot.  If your computer is an older one, it might choke on this resource hog.
1470345
Fast paced, fun (if you enjoy exercise, like I do), and it works
2851557
This is a surprisingly fun game - while it is not particularly original in either gameplay or design, what it does it does well - namely, operating a special forces team taking out drug cartel members and giving a sense that anything could go wrong in an instant.

The mechanics are pretty simple.  You can walk or commandeer a vehicle - trucks, cars, helicopters, and you go to locations marked on your map (think Far Cry 3 or 4) to complete a story mission, acquire new gear or loot, or question a local for more info.  There are also 'protect the flag' missions, recon missions, and full on attack missions.

Because it's an open world, you can set up strategies for attack.  What makes the game fun is that very often, after planning an attack and taking time to get everything in position, after starting things go way off the rails, turning a plan into a seat of the pants slugfest that truly feels uncontrollable and highly chaotic.

All in all, recommended, especially if your are partial to open world games.  If you take your time with this, it will take you a long, long time to finish.  Of course, if you jump straight to story missions it will go by more quickly, but still last for at least 40 hours or so.

There are a few nitpicks - locals don't notice a truck full of camo-wearing American soldiers, there are few spotty controls (until you get used to them), the aerial vehicles do not control very well, and in the beginning some of the situations can get overwhelming before snuffing your life out pretty quickly.  Still, with the excellent team member AI and ability to plan assaults on grimy drug gangs, the good far outweighs the questionable.
2073309
BANG! is a fun game with 5+ people, but suffers from some balance issues.

You have one person that's the sheriff, a few outlaws, maybe a deputy, and maybe a renegade. At the start of the game, the only player that's revealed is the sheriff. You each have an identify with a special ability and a set amount of life points. Based on how the other players take their turns, you have to figure out who is on your side and who isn't. Then you go about killing everyone who isn't on your side. You take your turn by drawing and playing cards. Most cards are used to harm other players or avoid being harmed.

The biggest problem with the game is that it's very easy to be eliminated early and have nothing to do for the next 30-45 minutes while the other players continue playing. There's maybe one or two cards in the expansions, that if they come up, you might get a turn or get back in the game. But, in general, you're an incredibly bored observer which is a shame because when you're playing it's a very fun game. The fact that we've had people die in the game before they've even had a turn has forced us to adopt some house rules to help prevent it from happening.

Another problem is that the renegade has very, very little chance of winning. There's no good strategy. If the deputy is alive once all the outlaws are killed, then the sheriff can sit back, build up, and wait for the result of the two of you shooting away at each other. In fact, he can always help the losing side so that once it comes down to the sheriff and renegade, the renegade is an easy target. If the deputy is taken out early, then the renegade is easily identified and can be whittled down along with the outlaws.

The game also is a bit boring if you're playing with less than 5 people. The variety of the different roles is essential. As much as it sucks to play the renegade, without one the game is bland. It's just a shame their win condition isn't even likely to happen.

These negatives aside, it's a fun game that allows for deception and strategy. The theme is great, and the different character cards add to the replayability.

As far as the packaging, The Bullet! puts almost everything in a cool, tin bullet and even provides you with a sheriff badge. However, it's kind of a paint to open and it does a poor job of organizing the cards. Plus, it's much larger than it needs to be. As cool as it looks, I ended up swapping it for a card box fairly quickly.
4790493
Let me start by saying that I did not purchase this game, but I rented it for five days. In that span of time, playing maybe one to two hours a day, I finished every nook and cranny of the game. There are several elements that are both very intriguing and utterly laughable. To understand what I mean, let's break down the various aspects.
Graphics: While the Full Motion Video (FMV) is quite pretty, the rest of the game suffers from flicker and choppiness. There's nothing more annoying then trying to block a punch and having chop move the character animation faster than your fingers. While the world of the Matrix is recreated very nicely, there are places in the game that appear flat and lifeless. Still, the look is pretty well done, so 8/10.
Sound: The music, the sounds, the voices. All are recreated quite well from the movie, which is lends authenticity. However, in certain areas, like escaping the Post Office, the sound of crackling fire can become annoying after a while. But, since the sounds are so faithful: 9/10.
Controls: I have a little gripe here. While most of the controls are intuitive, there are moments where several enemies surround you and the default controls mean your fingers have to bend in almost yoga-like positions to stay alive. 6/10.
Overall: This game has great replay value as you get (almost) different stories with the two characters. Lonely fanboys will enjoy the girl on girl kiss during Niobe's section (think about the film with Persephone and you'll understand), and some diehard fans will be upset at how the game truly mirrors the film's plot (rescuing the Keymaker...twice?) Still the preview of the third film at the end of the game is better than the one after the film. While the game has a good script and some fun moments, it does suffer from its control scheme and choppiness. I would call it a solid renter.
996129
Bought this for me and my boys to enjoy.  They're great fun, but there are several flaws.  The system uses a nunchuck style controller similar to a Wii.  Hold one end in each hand, and shake the hand that you want your robot to punch with.  This is also the way the robots move, though, and therein lies the biggest problem.

With a left punch, the robot moves slightly forward and to the right.  With a right punch, slightly forward and to the left.  Continuous combinations of left-right-left-right, and you move forward.  But it's very erratic.  If you punch continuously you will generally move off in god-knows-what direction (NOT the one you wanted), so you have to carefully punch, wait to see exactly where you went (how far you rotated), punch, wait and so forth if you really want to control the direction.  Otherwise, two robots approaching each other to fight will easily move right past each other as they punch-punch-punch forward and then have to go through the painstaking process of punching in only one direction over and over and over until eventually they get turned around and can attempt to engage again. (Or you just pick 'em up and turn 'em around, which is what usually happens.)  Because of the way they move, they also get hung up VERY easily on a wall or almost any surface that blocks them from swinging their arms.  LOTS of picking 'em up and turning 'em around if the space is too confined.

There are also some quality issues with the robots.  Of our 5 robots, one's faceplate will not register punches, making him essentially invincible (and therefore unusable - albeit very cool - in fair play), and one does not have the same range of motion in one of its arms as the others do (which makes it a little harder for him to score a hit with that arm.)

Even with those not-insignificant movement and quality issues, these are still a hoot to play with! The boys and I have great fun with them.  Each charge only lasts about 20 minutes before you have to hook the robot up to its own AA-battery-powered charger again (which also takes about 20 minutes). But 20 minutes is about perfect anyway.  We're always ready to stop by the time they die (although we often go back an hour or two later.)

If your children (or you, be honest) are quick to get frustrated, this probably isn't the toy for you.  It's a whole lot of fun, but there is a lot of "resetting" too.  But if that's ok with you (and if you're patient enough to be willing to return one or two if you have to, to get a couple of working ones), then these are a blast.

One final word of advice - if you have at least a few square feet of hard floor to play (say, at least 3'x3'), then I would not bother with the kit that contains the battle arena.  It's just way too confining a space, and they get hung up on the turnbuckles constantly.  Not worth it.  Open floor is the way to go, unless you only have carpet to play on.
2851517
I do think this is a good game, and it's lots of fun and crazyness, but it's incomparable to _Going Commando_.  My only real beefs with this game are that you can't quick select and freeze the game; everything is in real time, so you have to make sure you're either far from any danger or quick with your fingers.  Also, there are no weapon upgrades, and as for Nanotech, there are only four units that can be lost before you die.  If you want to upgrade your Nanotech, you have to *buy* upgrades, and not just earn them.  There is no strafe, which can be quite useful with multiple targets.

But this is not to say that I don't LIKE this game; on the contrary, I think it's quite addictive and fun.  Some of the weapons are pretty cool (I'm especially fond of the Glove of Doom, with the four mini-robots which jump out and destroy closeby targets), and some of the gadgets are pretty nifty.  All in all, I'd give this game 3 1/2 to 4 out of 5.
2360361
Let's get this out of the way: if you own a PS3, then you must play this game.

I've had a lot of fun playing inFamous. Sucker Punch got of lot of things right with the game, but some minor flaws keep the game from being perfect.

First, the good stuff. Love the open playground that is Empire City's three areas: the Neon District, the Warren, and the Historic District. Climbing buildings, riding the rails (literally), jumping off rooftops, etc. Cole's powers are great; I especially enjoy using Thunderdrop when jumping off a rooftop. The story missions are interesting, giving you a little bit of everything from search and destroy, escort missions, to one where you have to get rid of giant poison ballons, just like in Tim Burton's Batman movie, with the exception of not having the batwing. The side missions tend to get repetitive, but not to the point where you don't want to do them. The graphics, music, and sounds are excellent, with things like the jingling of Cole's backpack and the cries of the bystanders adding little touches to the game. The storyline is good, with some predictable twists. The Karma choices, which will determine your path, don't affect the overall storyline, but will affect the environment, your character's look, as well as how the public's reaction to you.

As for the flaws of the game: even though the platforming is fun, and at times vertigo inducing, its sometimes frustrating when you want Cole to jump or fall in one place and the game will just push him somewhere else. You will also occasionally see enemies or bystanders stuck in a falling animation, or Cole himself will get stuck when climbing a rail or a rooftop. The game is also a bit easy. I only died a few times, even on Hard mode, and the game only has 3 major boss fights.

But again, the flaws are things that will not get in the way of enjoying this game. So pop in the disc and start playing. The people of Empire City need a Hero... but that doesn't mean it has to be you.
1508280
A fun, story-driven game with LAN co-op play available (as well as other multiplayer options).  It also has visually pleasing graphics.  Unfortunately, it does have some bugs that cause the game to occasionaly crash or stop responding to the mouse input, etc.  Still a fun game to play and the bugs aren't severe enough to totally frustrate me.
432812
Crazy Taxi is pretty great. It features 2 rather big cities, a pretty awesome soundtrack by The Offspring and Bad Religion, tight control, and pretty good graphics. Oh, and smashing past everything like a maniac while trying to make it to stops on time feels awesome.

The good:
* big levels, even though there are only 2
* extremely pick-up-and-play
* nice graphics for a 2000 release
* the product placement is silly to see, driving to KFC and Levi's brings some life to the game

The bad:
* no multiplayer
* soundtrack does get a bit grating after hearing it too long
* has some annoying pop in issues at times, especially with destination markers
* the product placement is a bit excessive

Overall, it's a rather good game, with very little to complain about. As for difficulty, it's not hard to pick up customers and get them places, but it is hard to get a good score, which is pretty much the entire point of the game. Get in, get cash, and get out. It's Crazy Taxi!
733420
I must admit, I'm quite fond of both the NFS:U games and the second in the series proves a worthy if somewhat fluffy sucessor.

The basic formula is unchanged: you buy, trick-out and race high performance cars through the moonlit streets of a thriving metropolis. The most notable difference in NFSU:2 is the wide-open city that spraws beneath your wheels. Some have said this aspect serves to distract from the flow of the game, but for the most part, I find it to be a welcome and generally enjoyable addition. To me, the racing engine in this game is nice enough to make cross-town trips less of a chore; not to mention the scenery is pretty nice.

Another flaw (though it depends how you look at it) in the new design is that rather than having tracks built to look like a city (as in NFS:U1) you have a city with built-in tracks.  Most oof the races in the game will put you in a closed-off section of the city. While this is nice for continuity, the "real-life" streets of Bayview are at times somewhat less enjoyable to race on that the specifically-designed city tracks of the original game.  The excess of sharp corners and the like are a contrast to the more race-friendly tracks of NFS:U1.

This brings us to the next aspect, the cars.  NFSU:2 features a metric buttload of machines for your tuning enjoyment, including most of the cars that were in the original. I've found that the "power bar" rating system is somewhat misleading, and recomend that you test out cars in Quick Race to really get a feel for their performance.  The rating system seems to be pretty static in nature, not accounting for a car's weight and size.  The physics engine in the game, however, does.  Meaning cars with identical ratings may often perform entirely diffrent from one another.

The only lingering disappointment with NFSU:2 is that while there are ALOT more customization options, many of them are firmly geared towards the flashy tuner style. While this is great for fans of flashy tuner cars, it leaves the more conventional players wishing they could find more than one style of spoiler that they like.  With as much as the game offers, there's really no excuse for such a lack of variety.

The AI is competent, if somewhat less adept than that which was featured in the original game. There is a slight void between "too easy" and "almost impossible" which leads to a bit less geniune intensity in the competition, and a bit more "how the heck did he suddenly pass me and get 5 seconds ahead?!".

I think that's a long enough review.  For all its flaws, if you liked the first and/or like racing game in general, NFSU:2 is still definitely worth a play.
4278155
This is a very solid rail shooter.  It has a weird but good control scheme regarding the Dualshock 4 motion capability, essentially allowing you to tilt it up/down/left/left to control the on screen cursor without the need of a Playstation camera or anything. It does occasionally get off center unfortunately, but there is a quick 1-button press to recenter the cursor. It isn't as elegant as a proper lightgun setup but is worlds better than standard controller based gameplay with using a dpad or analog stick to control the cursor. The game's humor is pretty good overall but some jokes and lines fall flat. I love the art style of the game, though the graphics could probably be done on a PS3 or 360. The game is just filled with a lot of style mixing up pulp style comics and gritty crime action movies. Definitely not a $60 type game, but I think the $20 asking price is more than fair for what you get here, and it is especially worth it on sale, I personally got it for $4, well spent.
2821754
The game itself is a lot of fun; I think the rest of the reviews have covered that very well.

I'm running it on a two-year-old Presario with a new, midrange GeForce video card and 1.5 GB of memory.  The game's a little sluggish even on the "low" graphics setting, especially when scrolling around the map.  This is a little bit annoying, but doesn't affect gameplay that much.

Unfortunately, the game crashes CONSTANTLY after the world starts filling up with cities.  The crashes are pretty bad--dumped back to Windows, which chugs and chugs for several minutes as it tries to clean up Civ's mess.  On my machine, I'm lucky if I can play three turns in a row after 1850 or so without having to restart the game.

A couple of minor irritations with my copy of the presell edition:

The two CDs are labeled DISC 1 - INSTALL and DISC 2 - PLAY, but you actually have to have the INSTALL disc in, not the PLAY disc, when you start the game.

Also, the giant, often very useful technology-tree chart that came with my (English-language) edition of the game is printed entirely in French.
1486378
Well...it's fun/high speed/mind candy. Can't we have some NEW twists?