XBOX Reviews

Tom Clancys Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Limited Edition

The sequel to the award-winning next-generation first-person shooter — returns to Sin City. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is your last chance to rescue America’s sexiest city from an escalating terrorist siege that will force you into heart-pounding action from beginning to end. The best are back and this time winner takes all.

Back to Sin City

Coordinate with your Team View larger.

Intense Multiplayer Modes View larger.

Next Gen Consoles generate realistic lighting effects. View larger.

Taking the fight to the streets. View larger.

What Happens In Vegas, Stays in Vegas…
This is your last chance to rescue America’s sexiest city from an escalating terrorist siege. You can play as Bishop, a new member of the Rainbow squad who is soaring through the ranks. Or you can customize your character with experience points earned in both single-player and multiplayer. Choose between a male or female character in the singleplayer mode.

Unprecedented Character Customization
Fully customize your character choose your gender, facial configuration, hair, clothing, and weapons. Exclusive to Xbox 360 you can now take a photo of your face and place the image onto your character using the Xbox LIVE?Vision camera and literally get into the game. A stat-tracking feature observes how your play style, unlocking new weapons and equipment based off your performance. 11 new weapons, 13 multiplayer maps, 2 new game modes, and an improved ranking system makes Vegas 2’s multiplayer option easier to locate and join online matches that are already in progress.

Game Features:

• Ubisoft Montreal Returns – The award-winning studio responsible for the hit game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas is back with another unforgettable experience that will bring the Vegas storyline to a startling finale.
• Bigger, Bolder Vegas – Explore brand-new Vegas hotspots for the first time by day. Whether it’s the daylight-drenched Strip or the Nevada desert at dusk, all are superbly rendered in mega-watt Vegas style.
• Expanded Multiplayer Mode – The highly acclaimed multiplayer that made Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas a must-have game has been expanded to include more than 10 new close-quarters maps perfect for dramatic face-offs, two new adversarial modes, a deeper rewards system, and improved online matchmaking.
• Unprecedented Character Customization – Fully customize your character: choose your gender, facial configuration, hair, clothing, and weapons. Even put your own face on your character using Xbox LIVE Vision. Then, complete the Vegas storyline in single-player mode or—for the first time ever in a Rainbow Six game—take your unique character online to battle other fully customized operatives. Xbox 360 version only.
• Vastly Improved Co-op Gameplay – New single-player maps with multiple entry points make co-op gameplay easier than ever. Have a friend jump into the action anytime, anywhere, and automatically switch from single-player to co-op mode—all without affecting the storyline.
• Dramatically Revamped AI – Hone your most cunning tactics on terrorists equipped with thermal vision, night vision, and shields. Your enemies react differently each time you engage them—ensuring that no two battles are ever the same.
• Extensive Tactical Options – Rely on your teammates to provide advanced tactical strategies like thermal scanning and leapfrogging to gain the upper hand against the toughest opponents.
• More Weapons and Armor – An expanded selection of camouflage, body armor, and weapons adds up to the most customizable Rainbow Six experience yet.

Limited Edition Bonus Features:

• Collectible Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Poker Chip Key Chain.
• Exclusive Multiplayer Strategy Video.
  • With insider tips and strategies from developers, Frag Dolls and pro gamers to take your multiplayer game to the next level.
• Pro Gamer Interview.
  • Get an exclusive look at the life of a professional gamer with MLG player FinestX.
• MLG Insider Videos.
  • Learn the secrets to creating a perfect tournament map, plus, watch a professional Rainbow battle with player commentary.
• Bonus Features
  • Go deeper into the game with a developer diary and the official trailer.
• Tom Clancy’s EndWar Sneak Peek (first release of gameplay).
  • Join the Frag Dolls for a hands-on look at the latest thrilling game in the Tom Clancy arsenal.
  • Delve into the game with the official EndWar announcement trailer.

The Story so far
The terrorist threat to Vegas is still five years away, but the seeds of deceit are soon to be planted. And you, unknowingly, are about to play a central role.

You are Bishop, leader of Rainbow’s elite Bravo Team. You’ve been ordered to a desolate observatory where a hostage stand-off is underway. Your mission is straightforward: infiltrate the observatory and protect the hostages should negotiations fail. But you’re experienced enough to know that things have a funny way of not going as planned…

2010 – Las Vegas, Nevada
The tragic events at the observatory are now a memory, but the terrorist threat in Sin City is very real. While Logan Keller is in pursuit of Irina Morales in Mexico, Six has ordered your team to Vegas. There, terrorist mastermind Alvarez Cabrero is hatching a scheme to bring Sin City to its knees—and it’s up to your team alone to stop him from turning Vegas into a devastated inferno.

Return to Sin City for the last time in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and put an end to the terrorist threat. There, you’ll unravel a web of betrayal that will take you beyond the events of Rainbow Six Vegas. At a remote hideaway you’ll witness the astonishing conclusion that will bring an end to the crisis in Vegas—once and for all.

About Team Rainbow
Team Rainbow is a multinational task force comprising counter-terrorism experts from around the globe. Equipped with state-of-the-art weapons, Team Rainbow is deployed during terrorist crises. When all other attempts have failed, Rainbow is brought in to save the lives of innocent people. They do not negotiate with terror. They destroy it.

Rainbow began as an idea shared by John Clark and Domingo “Ding” Chavez. Clark, a former Navy SEAL and CIA operative, met Chavez during a covert operation in Colombia. During the operation, Chavez was rescued by Clark. After that mission, Chavez joined the Central Intelligence Agency. Clark and Chavez developed a mentor-student relationship over the course of several missions together.

Rainbow was created in 2000. Ding Chavez was made a Team Leader and began recruiting counter-terrorism operatives immediately. Experts in close-quarters combat, demolitions, electronics, surveillances, and reconnaissance were recruited. Snipers, hackers, soldiers, policemen, and contractors were all brought to Hereford, England, where Rainbow shares its headquarters with the British Special Air Service.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars This game is F-ing awesome
I like killing, its fun. I especially enjoy killing terrorists, which makes this game even better. This game has not altered my perception of reality whatsoever. (I just like killing)

5 Stars sweet
This game is amazing, some people I know say it sucks but it is cool. the end is confusing, you will think you did something wrong but you did it right. It is fun only for 1 time but if you play it more than once it gets boring.

3 Stars Ok…but not much different from original
Grpahics are great, but gameplay and multiplayer were average. The biggest disappointment was co-op campaign. The additional person is just along for the ride unable to perform any special functions pertaining to the missions.

5 Stars Worth every penny
I’ve played quite a few FPS’s in my day, and this one sure is a lot of fun to play. In addition to the expansive single player story, the Terrorist hunt missions are a lot of fun too. I have a blast playing online with my buddy who just moved to another country. I highly recommend this game.

4 Stars Only bought it for the bonus!
I bought it ONLY for the poker chip keychain for the bf. He loves the keychain but the game, well, he already played it. Whatever makes the man happy. =) I do remember watching him play it and the graphics were quite good.

Buy/More Info

HALO WARS XBOX 360 WITH 1600 XBOX LIVE POINTS CARD FOR STRATEGIC OPTIONS DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT DLC FREE COMPLIMENTARY SUPER DEAL MICRO FIBER CLEANING CLOTH

Kit Includes

Halo Wars:

et your hands dirty in the early stages of the epic battle between UNSC and Covenant. Developed by Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars for Xbox 360 brings all the drama of a real-time strategy game to the popular Halo Universe. Set in the year 2531, before the initial Halo first-person shooter game, this game lets you control the human armies of UNSC in a whole new way.

1600 XBOX LIVE POINTS CARD:

GET STRATEGIC OPTIONS PACK RIGHT AWAY, INCLUDES:

Halo WarsTM, the best selling real-time strategy game on any current generation console, mixes up the battlefield like never before with the Strategic Options Game Add-on Pack, now available exclusively on Xbox 360?

* Keepaway Mode: This is the Halo Wars adaptation of “Capture the Flag.” Teams battle it out to capture a free-roaming Forerunner Sentinel to score points before the other team. Capture three sentinels to claim victory.

* Tug of War Mode: This mode is all about having a stronger army than your opponent. Defeating enemies is essential, but success is determined by a combination of the army, buildings, and resources left standing in the end.

* Reinforcement Mode: All active battle units are provided in successive waves. Adapt to their tactics and use the ever-changing set of units to outwit and outlast the enemy.

BONUS FREE COMPLIMENTARY SUPERDEAL MICRO FIBER CLEANING CLOTH

Buy/More Info

Halo Wars Limited

Get your hands dirty in the early stages of the epic battle between UNSC and Covenant. Developed by Ensemble Studios, the Limited Collector’s Edition of Halo Wars for Xbox 360 brings all the drama of a real-time strategy game to the popular Halo Universe. Set in the year 2531, before the initial Halo first-person shooter game, this game lets you control the human armies of UNSC in a whole new way.

Play as UNSC or Covenant and exploit your faction’s unique strengths. View larger.

Invade enemy strongholds full of advanced technology. View larger.

Find ways to make the detailed environments work for you. View larger.

Bring in air support to turn the tide of battle. View larger.

Experience the Epic Battle from a New Perspective
Defense, offense, and the ability to hold down a command center in the face of hostile attacks: there’s a lot to think about when laying out tactics for an all-out alien war. Featuring detailed environments and complicated new battle mechanisms, this game demands a different kind of perspective than the first-person shooters from the original Halo series. You’ll need to uncover the hidden strengths and weaknesses of each unit and play them to your tactical advantage, and that’s just the beginning.

UNSC: Be Part of a Legendary Conflict
The story opens with UNSC forces retaking the planet Harvest from the Covenant. At your disposal — should you choose to take command of UNSC forces — will be everything from a corps of highly-trained Marines to the Warthogs, Scorpions, and Hornets you’ll need for air and land attacks. You’ll take stock of the map and decide between holding your ground or advancing on enemy strongholds, all while trying to navigate the local terrain and outsmart Covenant forces. And when you need something extra to tip the tide in your favor, UNSC leaders can provide you with the ability to mobilize highly specialized units or call the Spirit of Fire vessel for support from above. And with this collector’s edition, you also get access to the Honor Guard Wraith, a truly unique in-game vehicle with awesome capabilities.

Covenant: A Capable, Playable Enemy Faction
That’s right, Covenant is playable in this corner of the Halo universe. This alliance of alien species has manipulated advanced technology, firepower, and tactical prowess into a powerful force that is engaged in a Genocidal war against human race, having branded humans as heretics. With the ability to play as these tough, alien fighters, you’ll have advanced shield technology, the modular Citadel at the heart of Covenant’s colonizing power, and, of course, the iconic Scarab attack vehicle at your disposal, adding a whole new dimension to your strategic warfare. The Scarab is a terrifying military vehicle crafted from heavy mining equipment. And with a mining laser that delivers massive damage across battlefields large and small, turrets for taking on air attacks, and the ability to clamber over any terrain, what’s not to love about commanding Scarabs instead of fighting against them?

Developed Exclusively for Xbox 360
Most console RTS games are adapted from existing PC games, which can make their controls bulky or awkward, but Halo Wars has been developed for Xbox 360 from the ground up. This means the controls are sensitive, intuitive, and easy-to-operate in the midst of battle. And the UI is just as intuitive, so whether you’re managing a unit of marines or a deadly machine, you can focus on creating a battle strategy instead of worrying about how to overcome a clumsy controller.

No matter which faction you choose to play as, you can test your skills against those of other players in online skirmishes that allow up to six players with the New Xbox Experience through Xbox LIVE.

In addition to including the standard retail version of Halo Wars , this Collector’s Edition includes:

• The Mythic Map Pack from Bungie with three new Halo 3 multiplayer maps: Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox.
• Halo Wars: Genesis, a graphic novel by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine, and Eric Nylund that follows the Spirit of Fire and examines the very first UNSC military campaign against the Covenant
• Access to the Covenant Honor Guard Wraith in-game vehicle
• Six Leader Cards representing Leaders’ with access to elite skills
• A Spirit of Fire Patch for identifying yourself as a real crew member

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Halo Wars Limited Edition = Win
I first tried the demo on Xbox Live Marketplace and was instantly hooked, and shortly thereafter found out the limited edition is the same price on Amazon as the regular edition is in stores. So if you liked the demo, and like to save a little money, pick this up.

The game works very very well for being an RTS on a console, at times the game can be choppy but really only if you have a bunch of squads on the screen at any given time. The music is great, very Halo-like.

At first I was expecting to play both the Human and Covenant campaigns but I eventually found out, its the Human missions and thats it, 15 in total. But the game also includes a nice Skirmish mode and Online Multiplayer. I myself have yet to explore the multiplayer but the skirmish gives you a good idea of what it might be like.

If you’ve played the demo and liked it, and if you have Halo 3 but haven’t bought the Mythic Map Pack I strongly recommend buying this.

4 Stars Wicked game, plus good extras.
This is a very good game! I recomend this to any halo fan, except the people that are all FPS and no story. The extras are cool bit a little useless. You should get THIIIIIIIS!!!!

5 Stars Halo Wars – ROCKS!!!
The overall verdict on this product from the men in the house is that it is ASTOUNDINGLY GREAT!!!!

4 Stars Good if you like the genre
I’m not ganna make this long, try the demo, give it some time and if you like it, you will like the game. If you don’t like the demo, you won’t like the game

1 Star NOT FUN
OH man did I ever HATE this game. And there is no bigger fan of the HALO series including games, books, and comics. But this thing just stunk. I played it for 20 minutes and just couldn’t stand it. Pulled it out of the XBOX and put it in the ‘give away’ pile. They got their money from me but darn sure won’t get anymore. Going back to HALO 3 which i’ve played through I bet 30 times but HALO WARS is out of my house.

Buy/More Info

Halo Wars

Get your hands dirty in the early stages of the epic battle between UNSC and Covenant. Developed by Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars for Xbox 360 brings all the drama of a real-time strategy game to the popular Halo Universe. Set in the year 2531, before the initial Halo first-person shooter game, this game lets you control the human armies of UNSC in a whole new way.

Play as UNSC or Covenant and exploit your faction’s unique strengths. View larger.

Invade enemy strongholds full of advanced technology. View larger.

Find ways to make the detailed environments work for you. View larger.

Bring in air support to turn the tide of battle. View larger.

Experience the Epic Battle from a New Perspective
Defense, offense, and the ability to hold down a command center in the face of hostile attacks: there’s a lot to think about when laying out tactics for an all-out alien war. Featuring detailed environments and complicated new battle mechanisms, this game demands a different kind of perspective than the first-person shooters from the original Halo series. You’ll need to uncover the hidden strengths and weaknesses of each unit and play them to your tactical advantage, and that’s just the beginning.

UNSC: Be Part of a Legendary Conflict
The story opens with UNSC forces retaking the planet Harvest from the Covenant. At your disposal — should you choose to take command of UNSC forces — will be everything from a corps of highly-trained Marines to the Warthogs, Scorpions, and Hornets you’ll need for air and land attacks. You’ll take stock of the map and decide between holding your ground or advancing on enemy strongholds, all while trying to navigate the local terrain and outsmart Covenant forces. And when you need something extra to tip the tide in your favor, UNSC leaders can provide you with the ability to mobilize highly specialized units or call the Spirit of Fire vessel for support from above. Covenant: A Capable, Playable Enemy Faction
That’s right, Covenant is playable in this corner of the Halo universe. This alliance of alien species has manipulated advanced technology, firepower, and tactical prowess into a powerful force that is engaged in a Genocidal war against human race, having branded humans as heretics. With the ability to play as these tough, alien fighters, you’ll have advanced shield technology, the modular Citadel at the heart of Covenant’s colonizing power, and, of course, the iconic Scarab attack vehicle at your disposal, adding a whole new dimension to your strategic warfare. The Scarab is a terrifying military vehicle crafted from heavy mining equipment. And with a mining laser that delivers massive damage across battlefields large and small, turrets for taking on air attacks, and the ability to clamber over any terrain, what’s not to love about commanding Scarabs instead of fighting against them?

Developed Exclusively for Xbox 360
Most console RTS games are adapted from existing PC games, which can make their controls bulky or awkward, but Halo Wars has been developed for Xbox 360 from the ground up. This means the controls are sensitive, intuitive, and easy-to-operate in the midst of battle. And the UI is just as intuitive, so whether you’re managing a unit of marines or a deadly machine, you can focus on creating a battle strategy instead of worrying about how to overcome a clumsy controller.

No matter which faction you choose to play as, you can test your skills against those of other players in online skirmishes that allow up to six players with the New Xbox Experience through Xbox LIVE.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Average Game, Good Experience
First off, this game does not do the best job of bringing the RTS to consoles. The controls are kinda clunky, the interface is subpar, and it’s really not the developer’s fault – these games are just made with keyboard and mouse in mind. Hotkeys, jumping around on the minimap, groups of units, etc.

What this game DOES do is provide a fun, yet simple thrill ride through the Halo timeline prior to the events of Combat Evolved. RTS junkies will find it overly simple, with its reactor-based technology trees and fixed income resource pads, but they can’t deny the sheer joy you get from rampaging through a covenant base with grizzly tanks and vulture airships.

However, for an RTS, strategy is really lacking. The best tactic is to build lots and lots and lots of units, and move to the enemy. Flanking is too much work with the obnoxious unit selection interface (which is limited to single unit, units in a fixed radius, all units on screen, or all units on map), and “rushing” is all too popular.

The multiplayer experience can be frustrating due to this, and the campaign’s arbitrary timers and silly objectives get a bit stale (especially ESCORT missions).

Regardless, even though this sounds mostly negative, the game is very fun. It’s no top-of-the-line rollercoaster, but who doesn’t love a good log flume?

3 Stars A lot of hype and a lot of let down
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Halo series, beat all the FPS game and read all of the books. When I came to this game, I was expecting the same quality game that I had come to expect from Bungie (I know Bungie didn’t make it, but still they must have had people there to oversee it). But I guess my primary issue is that I was expecting a game that was touted to “Reinvent the genre”, to actually make good on those words.

I love strategy games. I’ve played them on the PC for a long time, which is the first issue with Halo Wars. A strategy game just cannot work on a console as well as it can on a PC. They tried that with Starcraft and a number of other strategy games, none ported well. Just as with FPS, the mouse and keyboard win.

Additionally, Halo Wars did try to reinvent the genre, but by reinventing the wheel. Tried and true methods of strategy games where left out; such as control groups, unit/faction balancing, and a general sense of strategy.

Control groups are instrumental for doing any kind of tactical assaults or at the very least making it worth while to build more than one unit. More often than not if I had a group of mixed units, some for AA and some for AG, I would find that there was no reasonable way to have them target their respective targets. I would have the human AA tank end up firing at the squad of grunts that the marines were engaging because who ever designed the game didn’t think to have the units prioritize targets, needless to say I got stomped by a horde of banshees.

This leads me to balancing, it is horrible. My first time online a horde of ODST (Super marines) bested not only my fleet of tanks but also my similarly sized horde of flamethrowers (Anti-infantry). To make things worse, when I engaged the Covenant the first time, the Arbiter was able to single handed demolish my entire army that I spent the better part of the game making. The clincher is the other player knew that the arbiter was all he needed and was the only unit he had while he fast teched to who-knows-what. The humans have a special item that disables hostile heroes abilities, but when he moved out of the range of the power and waited for it to expire, he assaulted again because the humans only bring one to battle and require new ones to be shipped in from Earth. Overall where other games have made advances and evolved beyond the unstoppable-steamrolling-horde approach to gameplay Halo Wars was more than happy to revert to C&C Red Alert 1.

There is no strategy in this game. I say this begrudged and probably exaggerating, but there really isn’t. The balancing of units is horrible, there are no “Rocks-Paper-Scissors” that modern warfare has devolved into. Other than AA, which actually kicks the crap out of flying units. There are great graphics and what not, but that aspect means nothing when your game is fundamentally flawed.

I am very disappointed in this game, I rented it to find out if the other reviews held any weight, and found that there was no way I would ever rent it again or even consider buying it. I decided to go back to playing Halo 3, because that is fun and I like playing games to have fun not have to practice to figure out how to have fun.

5 Stars Play God with Halo Wars
Play God in Halo Wars

Ensemble Studios accepted the challenge of transitioning the enormously successful Halo franchise from first person shooter (FPS) to real time strategy (RTS) game. In Halo Wars, players no longer assume the identity of Master Chief, Petty Officer of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) Navy, John-117. Instead, players utilize an omniscient perspective in order to defend Arcadia by playing God.

Set twenty years prior to the original, Halo: Combat Evolved, war is already waging between humans and the Covenant in the year 2531. The Marine forces of the UNSC must engage and defeat the Covenant on the planets of Harvest and Arcadia in order to save the human race. “At this point in time, the Covenant is at its most evil. They are hell-bent on the destruction of humanity,” according to the lead writer, Graeme Devine. To stop the threat of extinction, players must evacuate and destroy the planet of Arcadia before the Covenant acquires an artifact of great interest that could spell death for humankind. The fate of the galaxy is in the player’s hands.

Reminiscent of StarCraft, players move squadrons of marines around each planet, building bases and killing Covenant ground forces in order to save the day. Unlike StarCraft, Halo Wars has not spent two years working on a game without announcing a release date. Game designers for Halo Wars found the solution for the multiple menus that bog down game play in most omniscient perspective, real time strategy games and presented it to players in record time.

Having units spread across multiple locations can be overwhelming at times, especially when you cannot see them all to defend them. For this, Ensemble created a control scheme that utilizes the multiple buttons on the Xbox 360 controller instead of a series of menus. Pressing the left bumper on the controller allows players to select all available marine units, while the right bumper only selects on-screen units. Units are arranged by category at the bottom of the screen so players can easily select Warthogs, Scorpions, Marines, Hornets or all to use in battle or while constructing a base. There is only one menu and it is for navigating between the different bases that the player builds. Since it is not a complex menu, simply select and click, it doesn’t interfere with the flow of the game. Who knew playing God could be so easy?

Of course, there is more to Halo Wars than just the campaign. After spending six to twelve hours playing through the fifteen level campaign, depending upon the level of difficulty and how thoroughly one seeks the skulls, black boxes, and other secondary objectives, there is still co-op campaign, skirmish, and multiplayer to keep one busy.

Playing the co-op campaign with a friend is a great opportunity to seek out additional secondary objectives. The color-coded blue and green elements allow players to discern easily whose bases and troops belong to whom. Communication between players can make the demolition of the Covenant even easier than going it alone. Besides, this game is more fun with a friend.

If one friend is not enough, there are also skirmishes and multiplayer modes to continue honing one’s skills building bases and destroying the Covenant. Multiplayer allows up to six players to compete against each other, even taking on the role of the Covenant, a much-awaited opportunity for Halo players. Fourteen different maps for the standard and “deathmatch” skirmish or multiplayer competitions provide exquisite backdrops for the advanced weaponry and mayhem of the galactic future. If your friends simply do not pose much of a challenge, game play can take place with over a million players worldwide. The best Halo Wars player may be almighty, but no one is omnipotent.

What sets Halo Wars apart from other real time strategy games? Ensemble’s commitment to incorporating an interesting and detailed narrative to accompany the straightforward game play of Halo Wars helps to set it apart from anything else on the Xbox 360. The graphics are an essential part of making cut scenes interesting for even the narrative-intolerant players. Unfortunately, the beautiful computer-generated imagery does not translate to actual game play because it would bog down the interaction too greatly. It does make the goals of Captain James Cutter and Professor Anders easier to relate to than a singular image and blurb of text that accompanies many games.

If you are tired of subjugating yourself to the whims of an artificial leader, you can take control of multiple forces with Halo Wars and find out what it feels like when power comes easily. Perhaps omniscience and omnipotence go hand in hand.

-0-

3 Stars No Money – No Multiplayer
I am a huge fan of the Halo franchise, enjoying endless play with my family at home and online friends. I purchased this game for the multiplayer aspects, which are not clearly detailed in any writeup that I’ve found.

The game is fun, but not truly multiplayer, it falls into the online RTS category, meaning Xbox Live, or another Xbox 360 that you happen to have lying around, is required if you want to enjoy more than one player in the game. So… unlike the other Halo series games, this Halo does not support true multiplayer on the console.

Pros: Fun RTS game, but limited without the multiplayer on console aspect of the previous Halo games. Intuitive controls, the simple tutorial introduction to the game is well done, graphics are good (not great), video cuts are excellent, vocals are well done, and the game is very responsive.

Cons: No true multiplayer, meaning multiple players cannot play the game on a single console, but network play over the very expensive Xbox Live network is available, or you can link multiple xBox 360s. Halo fans will likely find themselves quickly tiring of the game after the campaign ends without multiplayer teaming on the console. Ensemble Studios has since closed, effectively making Halo Wars orphan-ware, so don’t set high hopes on multiple updates/upgrades.

Note: Microsoft is clearly against the original console license scheme they introduced with the xBox and Xbox Live, which only required one account for the console, vice making customers pay $75 for each player despite only using a single network connection and single server session. Requiring multiple online licenses for a single piece of software on a single console is clearly fleecing customers, but Microsoft is making huge profits with no additional investment or resource cost, so there is little incentive for them to stop the practice.

Summary: Overall, a fun game that misleadingly calls itself multiplayer and Co-Op campaign ready, however no multiplayer is available on a single console like the previous Halo games. Microsoft continually pushed their licensing scheme from the console to the individual players, handicapping groups with ‘visitors’, and Halo Wars continues that position by eliminating multiplayer on console all together in this last offering from Ensemble Studios (a Microsoft game development studio). If you are a lone player in search of a Halo variation on the RTS (like Command and Conquer) than Halo Wars is probably a good choice.

1 Star The game plays itself
The game playes itself all you do is tell it what to do and the rest is chance you do not get to battle like in the other halos

the game is just boring

Buy/More Info

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Bonus Pewter Lightsaber

This rare item was only available to those who pre-ordered the Knights of the Old Republic video game.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Neetoe-freetoe(as we used to say in school)
It’s just a silly prop(I’m not buying it just saying.) It could be played with, if your drunk, high(be carefull with that!), or just plain silly like me. It’s mainly a novelty used to put the KotOR into perspective(well, scale perspective). Oh, and I think it probably stinks, most plastic toys out today do. Some kind of safety thing I guess.

1 Star This isn’t the game.
Just a warning for all the folks out there that might be snapping this one up, this does not include the game. This is just a little lightsabre that was given out to people who preordered. I don’t know why Amazon is selling it separately, but nothing here seems to make quite that distinction (which my family found out the hard way).

5 Stars Best RPG ever..period!!!!
The people at Lucas Art have outdone themselves!!! In short this is without a doubt the best RPG game ever. I must admit when starting the game it was a bit complicated to figure everything out, but by the first hour you’ll get it all down. If you want to buy a Star Wars game this is the one. It may however spoil you its that good. I can’t wait till the next game from this company comes out!! Its a bummer when the game ends, you just want it to go on forever.

1 Star knights of the old republic
As a big Star Wars fan ,I went out and got xbox just for this game.As far as a Star wars game this is the worst game,you make all the decisions on what to do, and the game acts it out. This is not a first person shooter.AS far as Star Wars fans go don’t bother this game stinks

5 Stars Cool little freebie
Comes with the game if you pay full retail for the game from the Lucas Arts website. Save a little if you order them both seperately here.

A nice letter opener, in a very high quality I was not expecting. If it didn’t come with such a geek stigma, I would use it at work. I’ll save this one forever.

Buy/More Info