XBOX Reviews

Infinite Undiscovery Includes Gift with Purchase

Playable in real time, this game is not “turn based” and offers all the excitement of a real time game. Deep in a forest, in one of the Order’s prisons, a young boy named Capell was being held captive. His captors called him the “Liberator,” though he had no clue as to what they meant. On the third day of his imprisonment, he was rescued by a spirited young woman named Aya. She was a member of a small band of brave warriors who had gathered under the banner of Sigmund the Liberator to free the world from the iron grip of the Order. Upon meeting Sigmund, he was surprised to find a man who shared his very face and appearance. This meeting would change Capell’s life forever and shake the foundation of the world itself.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars A game that entertains despite plainly ill-considered design
Infinite Undiscovery is an objectively flawed jrpg that still manages to be fun despite–or possibly because of–its idiosyncrasies.

Gameplay is built around the familiar action-rpg formula of assigning specific attacks to face buttons and maneuvering freely about the field to unleash them as a finite pool of points is depleted (in greater chunks by greater spells).

As lead character Capell you’ll also issue very basic orders to a close quarters AI squad, and the AI is generally competent. Uniquely, there are often separate squads (for which you determine the roster) which may be onscreen attacking a boss alongside your primary group or–less impressively–simply running off elsewhere to find a key as required by scripted dungeon progression.

On top of this base, you’ll find a wide and often redundant array of skills, spells, food recipes, weapon production options, obtuse conversation/secrets trees, buff incantations, and even songs to collect. The development team was overflowing with new ideas but without the subsequent followthrough and/or skill to integrate them properly into the solid base gameplay.

Another form of variety is in the form of characters, of which you’ll find a great many choices here. Most characters are likable enough, and every one of them is given some kind of unique gameplay system it can manipulate. One may be able to talk to animals, another be able to smash inconveniently placed boulders, etc. Here too though, the developers didn’t know when to pull the reigns in. There are several characters that one can only place in the aforementioned separate squads for no other intelligible reason than perhpas they didn’t have time to craft unique attacks for the characters if placed under direct command.

Despite what sound like damning flaws, it all comes back to the basic gameplay. And that remains fun to play. Most of the broken and or simply useless gameplay options can (and will be ) ignored to enjoy the entertaining spectacles of the colorful fighting.

The story also helps move things along, despite its own efforts at self-sabotage such as impressively mismatched facial animation and voice acting. The story of admirable if whiny young Capell, the energetic and enervating Aya, and many others is entertaining and generally efficiently told (judged under the low bar occupied by most jrpgs).

So, in the end, the game manages to earn a higher personal fun rating of 4 than I can objectively rate the overall game itself for others.

4 Stars Another good Square title.. with a few exceptions.
Square has done it again. This is another great title with beautiful graphics and smooth gameplay. The few minor catches is that the main character is not the most exciting person. He starts off as a whiny nearly useless bard. If you can get past his personality early on the game pays off.

Combat is similar to many Action RPG’s with the ability to pair up with one of the other party members and use one of thier 2 special abilities. In addition you can build a second or third party that will travel with the main party but you have no control over thier actions.

The game has a system for item crafting that is usefull but alot like a standard MMO and promises some grinding to master the best gear or food in the game.

If your a fan of Square this is a title to grab. Try to get the ‘pre-order’ download card that comes with the game to enable better items to be available eariler in the game. Also X-Box Live offers several cheap/free add-ons that add more items to the game.

4 Stars voice over sucks
i like everything about this game, but the voice over actors. it’s the reason i don’t watch dubbed anime. there is no option to have japanese voices and subtitles like some games.

3 Stars Another typical cheese Japanese RPG
When you first put this game in the 360, it will force you to connect and download an update from XBOX Live. This is only a one time download. This update is not for the extra content or bonus feature. It is a mandatory update. Without this update, you won’t be able to play this game.

Overall, this is just another JRPG features annoying screaming casts and cheesy dialog. It is no where near other JRPG such as Dragon Quest VIII or FFX or even FFXII. However, it is somewhat better than Blue Dragon and Enchanted Arms, in my opinion. The game is short, not many side quests. The story is nothing special; go from one place to the next to cut down the chains. Kind of repetitive.

If you want to know what happens to all of the characters after the final boss, you must spend 5-10 minutes watching the credits and special thanking to some special people…Then a short film kicks in showing what each party member is doing after the final boss fight. Kind of interesting except the final, final scene showing Aya and her bear. Not making much sense but you have to watch the 5 minutes credit rolling at the end to find out. I won’t spoil it.

5 Stars Infinate Discovery RPG
This is a pretty good Game and Has some new inovative Ideas for the Gameplay. Though the cut scenes are a bit long and sometimes the voice acting cuts out for no reason the game’s story line is what helps drive you to continue in this game. The great thing about this game is the ability to make Two and some times Three partys which will act on there own and will succeed based on the groups you made. The connection system is extremly cool as well it alows you to do things such as talk to animals to mind controling enemys its great. The game it self is relativly short Take you about 15-20hrs game play depending on your Skill level. The great thing about IU is the replay value is high and has 3 diffrent dificulty settings. Easy, Hard, and Infinate mode. A big aspect to the replay is a Tower that has Insane loot and bosses harder and more health then the final boss in the game. I wont spoil anything but lets just say it brings a challenge to a relativly simple RPG. I give this game a 8.5 Out of 10

Buy/More Info

Release dates and costs have been announced for 4 upcoming major chunks of DLC on the Xbox 360, the first being Fallout 3 ’s ‘The Pitt’ which after being pulled due to some major bugs is now back live again for the princely sum of 800 . ‘The Pitt’ allows you to travel to Pittsburgh, now know as The Pitt, which managed to avoid the nuclear war only to have its population ravaged by disease, infection, mutation and slavery. Whilst there you will discover a secret that will send shockwaves acros

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun and not frustrating, but also violent and a bit too easy
I enjoyed this game very much. The graphics were unique and the plot was ludicrous but engaging. You could use a wide range of weapons and “superpowers,” which made killing things a bit more novel.

This game is pretty violent, which may or may not be a downside to you, depending on your personality. I didn’t really mind it. However, every time I used nitrogen to freeze a mentally-ill person, then smacked them with a wrench as they whimpered helplessly, thus shattering them into bloody frozen chunks, I thought “This is probably desensitizing me in a way that is not healthy.”

The only real downside (again, to some it may be an upside) was that this game was not really challenging. I am a fairly unskilled gamer: I mostly just run and shoot until the ammo runs out, at which time I switch to the next weapon. Even so, I only died twice during this entire game. Just a note, when you die you reappear at a nearby location and all of the hits you made on enemies are saved; so there is almost no penalty for dying. This makes the game a little too easy, but it sure cut down on frustration and swearing on my part.

Anyway, I would recommend this game highly, because it is fun and not too expensive. However, you can expect to finish it in a week or less.

1 Star Don’t buy this game.
This is quite possibly the most boring game I’ve ever played. Not to mention it screws with your system and you can only install it three (3) times– *ever*.

3 Stars twisted. creepy. great prospects ruined.
the game looked great. it had all the makings of a 5 star game. that said, it’s too twisted, too gruesome, too sadistic. they could’ve gone in much better directions keeping the same gameplay/campaign style game in tact. if you don’t like scary things, (like i don’t), pass on the game. it’s not worth it. halfway through, i’m done. too creepy.

2 Stars Bioshock smells like it had more than one in the stink
Bioshock is a great game….for about 40 minutes. After that its story gets convoluted and tries to be smarter than it is. And like most things that fall into that hole, it throws in a M Night Shamalayn patented “twist” into the mix, which fails miserably.

This game had promise, it has an interesting mechanic and decent graphics, but the story leaves a lot to be desired and the combat is repetitive and boring.

Its a shame as what I read the original story was going to be, involving cult deprogramers and the like, was scrapped for this horrible stuff.

Download the demo, it will leave a better taste in your mouth and you won’t get to the crap nougat center of this game. And you can avoid all that license protection stuff too. Fun times.

1 Star Paying to rent
Don’t buy this game. Will NOT run without an internet connection. It is one of the many new PC games that installs a very intrusive copy protection scheme on your computer. It is very hard to delete this software from your computer cleanly. The game requires an internet connection even though it is mainly a single player game, so it can check to make sure you are using the software properly.(to the manufacturer liking). Basically you are paying to RENT it.

Buy/More Info

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun and not frustrating, but also violent and a bit too easy
I enjoyed this game very much. The graphics were unique and the plot was ludicrous but engaging. You could use a wide range of weapons and “superpowers,” which made killing things a bit more novel.

This game is pretty violent, which may or may not be a downside to you, depending on your personality. I didn’t really mind it. However, every time I used nitrogen to freeze a mentally-ill person, then smacked them with a wrench as they whimpered helplessly, thus shattering them into bloody frozen chunks, I thought “This is probably desensitizing me in a way that is not healthy.”

The only real downside (again, to some it may be an upside) was that this game was not really challenging. I am a fairly unskilled gamer: I mostly just run and shoot until the ammo runs out, at which time I switch to the next weapon. Even so, I only died twice during this entire game. Just a note, when you die you reappear at a nearby location and all of the hits you made on enemies are saved; so there is almost no penalty for dying. This makes the game a little too easy, but it sure cut down on frustration and swearing on my part.

Anyway, I would recommend this game highly, because it is fun and not too expensive. However, you can expect to finish it in a week or less.

1 Star Bioshock Disappointment
Have struggled with Bioshock for several weeks now. I am finally throwing in the towel. Amazing art work and scene sets cannot compensate for the frenetic, shadowy and fleeting fps combat situations, all taking place in a dark, poorly lit (albeit artistic) underwater civilization. Give me the light and air of Half Life 2, or Crysis, or FEAR. My sense is that this a game for gamers–especially younger gamers, who might have the endurance and inquisitiveness/inventiveness to traipse through an endless array of beautiful, but ulimately obscure rooms/locales. Bioshock is beautifully crafted, but dreary, uninteresting, and not nearly as engaging as an fps as reviews had led me to believe.

4 Stars “Spiritual Successor” to System Shock 2? More like COPY! (Which isn’t sooo bad…)
I originally played this game last year when it first came out on my PC. I had an XBox at the time but opted for the PC version instead since my monitor was much better than the TV I was planning to use with the console version. In short, I wanted this game to look as good as it possibly could.

So I bought a new video card, an extra gig of RAM and attempted to play Bioshock……bad idea.

Bioshock for the PC is a resource hog and if you have a 360 I recommend just going for that version to ensure you have a consistent and good overall visual and gameplay experience. That’s all I’ll say about that…

As for the gameplay, I loved Bioshock’s setting and characters. The voice-overs were done exceptionally well and the visuals (when turned up all the way or shown as-is on the 360) are jaw-dropping for sure. Bioshock is a beautiful game. I loved the atmosphere of many of the levels and the truly creepiest part of the game is when you enter the level of the crazy artist who has turned an area of Rapture (Fort Frolic) into a bizarre museum filled with plaster-covered dead people…very, very disturbing.

All that said though, Bioshock does have a couple bad flaws: First, and most obvious to anyone who’s played these type of games before: Bioshock is an updated, underwater version of System Shock 2…I mean, it’s almost an identical copy. Ghosts, a huge plot twist in the middle, your narrator helping you, etc. are all direct rip-offs of the 1999 PC masterpiece. I’m not saying Bioshock isn’t worth playing because of this – I just think it could’ve been so much more on its own if it hadn’t copied SS2 so much in major ways.

Another gripe is the inventory system – the system was obviously dumbed-down to make gameplay progress faster and not confuse so many gamers – but for players who liked SS2’s way of finding things and rationing items out bit by bit, this is a letdown. The game’s difficulty also needs to be addressed since all players will come to a point when they realize Big Daddies are easy to kill and the regeneration booths essentially make the game a breeze since there is no penalty of death. Also factor in some huge gaping plot holes that were deliberately ignored (Why only Little Sisters? How was Rapture created in secret in such a short amount of time, etc.) and you have a game that is far from perfect.

And finally, you have an ending that many people weren’t happy about. I’ve never been a fan of “boss battles” in shooters because they all play out the same and it usually boils down to shooting parts of the environment in the right order at the right time to damage or kill the bad guy. Hardly impressive. Even so, Bioshock’s final fight was very cinematic in its presentation and felt like it needed to be there. However, the very short ending makes you feel sorta cheated, so I can’t rate the last part of Bioshock too highly.

Overall, Bioshock is a very fun game and is definitely worth checking out. It’s got an amazing and beautiful world to explore and has laid the groundwork for an interesting setting future games in the series could explore in more detail. I do recommend System Shock 2 more than BS though, simply because it did everything Bioshock does now nearly a decade ago and is truly a more challenging, atmospheric and scary game.

(Reviewed Sep. 1, 2007 by Gamer X