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CravenDarkside
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- First reviewJuly 10, 2010
- Last reviewJanuary 17, 2016
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CravenDarkside's Reviews
Get The Crew open world driving MMO and The Crew Wild Run expansion in one!Ride recklessly across the entire US map. Customize your cars, monster trucks and motorcycles for mayhem on- and off-road. Join instant stunt and skill challenges. Never drive alone!The Crew Season Pass cars sold separately.
Posted by: CravenDarkside
from Way East of Dallas, Texas
Ubisoft (the company behind the Assassin's Creed series) enters the world of Arcade Racers with this game; like the AC games, the visuals are incredible, and some of the gameplay is innovative and fun, but other aspects are just downright awful.
The scenery and the scale of the open world are jaw-dropping, and the detail put into the visuals is astounding: couldn't get over how much was recognized of Dallas.
Gameplay adds a few interesting wrinkles - the Skills subset, and the Summit gatherings, are an interesting variation on side activities; seemingly infinite mods for vehicles, both performance and visual; Perks to customize some bonus assistance to your liking, and the Crate Collecting and Fragile Courier missions are things i've never seen before.
But a major flaw is that the game requires a constant network link - no link, no play: if there's a network hiccup, it'll dump you out of the game immediately, regardless of activity. And don't get me started on the social gaming aspect - multiplayer should be an option, not mandatory.
As with other arcade racers, the game suffers from traffic-itis and spasmatic roadways, as though these were the only way to create difficulty. Another mistake are missions where one can't choose the vehicle driven - these usually feature an off-road component with undulating terrain, so the vehicles behave more like bounce-houses.
What absolutely ruins the game, however, is the Mission Design - it's yet another game in which Ubisoft punishes its customers with parameters. Far too frequently, the goals to reach - be they time, distance, or accuracy - are much too severe: i've only succeeded on the first attempt in probably less than a third of the missions, and most all the missions have required far too numerous attempts.
And like countless other players i've hit a wall with the story mission at the 80% mark: the layout of the route is NOT intuitive and the spacing of the crates has too many large gaps; plus, whoever came up with the 3-part mission structure idea should be flogged.
The most telling thing, though, is this is the first game in my 30+ years of gaming that i've ever thrown down the controller in fury and disgust... i've come close with some of the missions in the AC games, but this game actually pushed me over.
To me, the Arcade Racer genre has been on a downhill slide in the advanced console era - with Burnout Paradise and NFS:MW(2012) the oh-so notable exceptions. This game has a few fun moments, but the futility has reached a point that this is likely to be a game i will not complete. So i barely recommend it - just barely.
My Best Buy number: 0024830645
I would recommend this to a friend!
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4of 6voted this as helpful.
Your knuckles turn white as you grip the wheel and push the pedal to the floor. You swerve around the cars that get in your way, dodging left and right, only inches from causing a fiery wreck each time. Your heart pounds and you can feel the adrenaline coursing through your entire body as you continue to pick up speed. Driving faster than you ever have before, you still wonder if your speed will be enough in this pursuit, because you're not running toward anything — you're running away. You are the Most Wanted.Need for Speed: Most Wanted sends you racing through a no-rules world at full speed as you try to outrun the cops, outdrive your friends and outsmart your rivals. Hit jumps and shortcuts, power down and slide out as you try to shake a relentless police force on your tail. Hook up with friends and jump into nonstop action with a playlist of competitive events where you can race and battle to earn points and speed to the top of the leaderboards. Get behind the wheel of two of the world's hottest cars, the Maserati Gran Turismo MC Stradale and the 2012 Porsche 911 Carerra S, with all of the latest performance modifications, including a racing engine and brakes, an optimized aerodynamic body, Nitrous Burn and more. Can you survive as the Most Wanted?
Posted by: CravenDarkside
from Way East of Dallas, Texas
Without doubt, NFS:MW is the 2nd-best arcade racer out there, just ahead of NFS:HP, barely behind Burnout Paradise: many consider the game to be BP2, as some features are copied (a good thing). The well designed and varied courses, locales, and terrain, that are exquisitely rendered things of beauty, are coupled with gameplay that is thoroughly enjoyable [caveat] once you're broken in. The game can easily frustrate, and does require practice as some skills important in the past become nearly vital this go-round - not only in races but in events that reward the player with important upgrades to the vehicles. Fortunately, the car handling mechanics are easily a match for BP.
A brilliant departure from prior games (worthy of mandatory use from here on) is in collecting the vast assortment of vehicles - basic models are not earned, but discovered during FreeDrive, and more-or-less hijacked (peaceably). And what a collection - not only the normal inventory of near-fantasy drool-worthy vehicles, but some more ordinary cars, and only once before in on-road racers have I seen a pickup truck included. And also only once before has DLC so expanded this type game - not just an added (fun!!) location, but an excellent group of vehicles present and past (think Bond and Bandit among those).
The flaws of near-perfect AI opponents and myopic cops are still present, but much improved - the AI vehicles aren't too adept at courses or quick to capitalize on mistakes; on the other hand, the cops still obsess, but here are borderline Keystone, which made it sometimes difficult but at the end more fun (20 minutes parked on the patio overpass at the pipe ramp, watching...). One other feature was the short intro preceeding each and every event - a few were watchable, some comedic, but many were exercises in graphic arts so nausea- or pain-inducing I had to look away until the race actually began; on the whole, an unnecessary variant.
None of the events ever seemed impossible (never fully gave up on trying to advance - which is something I can't say for BP's Stunt Runs), but some were tortuously difficult, needing ridiculously numerous attempts and/or amounts of practice: a few locations made it just too easy to slide off into oblivion; some hot pursuits were problematic (partially resolved by watching online postings); a few of the races just needed some luck; the drifting events at first were hyper-frustrating, but after awhile some got to be favorite events.
And the soundtrack - well, it's the first time I've ever parked just to listen to the music: some oddly curious yet still fitting choices (yes, I refer to Icona Pop), but nothing totally objectionable, and notable selections (The Who remixes, the Maccabees, and the Ambassadors) sent me searching online to download.
To finish up (stop cheering), the game is a must for fans of arcade racing; nothing handicaps or goes missing for the non-online gamer; most certainly a keeper worth revisiting, a bargain at current prices, and worthwhile DLC that's not too expensive - get the package, not the bits and pieces.
My Best Buy number: 0024830645
What's great about it: Graphics, gameplay, variety, and soundtrack
What's not so great: can be frustrating...
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to drive like your life depends on it. Perilous mountains, arid deserts and thick forests threaten your safety at every turn as you speed through the extreme Seacrest County landscape — but the biggest hazard is hot on your tail. A cop chases you in reckless pursuit — a friend of yours until you turned away from the law. You feel the bullets from his high-powered weapons shattering your glass and whizzing past your ear, but you just stare at the course ahead, twist the steering wheel and throttle forward. It's a heart-stopping Hot Pursuit and your life's in danger at every moment. But you can't slow down now — freedom is just a few maneuvers away, and you have just one concern: the Need for Speed.You've raced before, but you've never been in a chase like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. This time, you can experience both the thrill of the chase and the rush of the escape all in one day as you get behind the wheel as both a cop and a law-breaking racer. All your races can be real-life competitions when you connect with your friends for online multiplayer action and compare performance and stats to up the stakes. Who will come out on top? In this Hot Pursuit, you have to prove you have the ability, guts and the Need for Speed.
Posted by: CravenDarkside
from Way East of Dallas, Texas
Since I've burned 2 arcade-style racing games with scathing reviews, perhaps I should post reviews for what IMHO are good games. NFS:HP(2010) is certainly one. Even though I bought it when it released [price a bargain now] but hadn't gotten around to it (stuff happens...), and though I played it after playing through NFS:MW(2012) and Burnout Paradise, it holds up well: excellent graphics, excellent car selection, very good gameplay, some very good courses, and for the most part [the reason any game is played] - downright fun. Gravy on the biscuit: you can play as Racer OR Cop.
It has some frustrating flaws: most egregious of which are the time-trials - nearly all time limits are much too severe for the courses, which you tend to pinball and careen around anyway, so gold frequently is out-of-the-question without dozens (literally) of attempts: some blatantly don't merit the effort, but some are tantalizingly close. Another is the absolutely myopic response of the cops: all those racers, yet only one - the player - is singled out. At least this is Burnout style racing, so all opponents can be shoved around and taken out - many stunning Kodak moments of that. One more gripe, a flaw all too common to the genre: I wish designers would get off their sadistic, infuriating habit of putting pedestrian vehicles in the wrong places at the wrong times...
Events load quickly, and recover from wrecks at impact location just as quickly; some position gets lost, but only intermittently was it an obscene
penalty; and the AI opponent vehicles' skills do exhibit a lack of perfection. The cars handle extremely well, with barely any sloppiness (much the opposite of NFS:TR), so staying on course is just enough of a challenge. Car inventory is weaponized(!) and wondrous to the point of fantasy, with informative voice-overs to describe them - an interesting inclusion, but more along the lines of bragging and advertising than anything else (selling points - seriously? This working stiff can't afford any of 'em...).
penalty; and the AI opponent vehicles' skills do exhibit a lack of perfection. The cars handle extremely well, with barely any sloppiness (much the opposite of NFS:TR), so staying on course is just enough of a challenge. Car inventory is weaponized(!) and wondrous to the point of fantasy, with informative voice-overs to describe them - an interesting inclusion, but more along the lines of bragging and advertising than anything else (selling points - seriously? This working stiff can't afford any of 'em...).
A variant of FreeDrive is allowed, so you can relax and look at the scenery, discover pitfalls and shortcuts, practice skills, or just enjoy the speed (that long, straight, desert road in the Veyron - sigh), but the designers went about it rather sloppily, making you choose a starting route from a menu, and not having a map as you drive.
From what I could see, there's no penalty for not being an online player, though many features are slanted to social networking. Finally, something I haven't given consideration before, until recently, is the soundtrack - a very good one for this game: choices complement the action well, and no odd out-of-left-field selections among them; I've gone as far as to look some songs up for download.
This game is a lot of fun, but not perfect, with some invective-spewing controller-hurling moments; in the end, a game very much worth keeping.
My Best Buy number: 0024830645
What's great about it: Graphics and gameplay; play both sides of the law (insert malevolent laugh here)
What's not so great: very difficult timed events; a few bad course design elements
I would recommend this to a friend!
Other Best Buy Products I Recommend
Need for Speed: Most Wanted: Limited Edition - PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
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1of 1voted this as helpful.
Your dreams of reality TV stardom and racetrack domination are within your grasp. In this intensely competitive reality television show, each race is more than just a chance to push your car to its limits: It's also your opportunity to strive for the fame you've always dreamed of. If you truly want to claim victory as the season champion, you'll have to ruthlessly take out your opponents — and remain ever vigilant on the track to ensure you don't get taken out yourself.In Split/Second, you are a racer taking part in a hypercompetitive reality television show, keenly aware that your every turn is being viewed by a vigilant TV audience. Roar toward the finish line through a made-for-TV city designed for destruction. Ram your car into competitors' vehicles to attempt to knock them off the track, and do your best to trigger explosives that have the potential to alter the entire course of the race. Navigate the track's ever-changing dynamics, derailing your opponents with pinpoint timing and blazing entirely new routes to help you capture the championship.
Customer Rating
3
A 5-star game, botched...
on July 10, 2010
Posted by: CravenDarkside
from Way East of Dallas, Texas
Been an action racing fan since Road Rash for the Sega Genesis and Carmageddon for the PC. The S/S demo race from the PSN Store sold me very quickly, and the full game more than met the promise of the demo: the excellently rendered graphics invoked a hyper-realism sense, with details ranging from DOT-standard MBGF and CTB, down to camera smudging when driving thru fire/debris clouds. The massive set pieces with the immense-scale gags (in the cases of the cargo plane and the dam, "whoa" inducing) made it like navigating an Irwin Allen or (as PSM mentioned) Michael Bay film.
Granted, the knee-jerk comparisons to THE standout arcade racer series Burnout are unavoidable - but they're also unfair: yes, both feature full-on action in hot racing vehicles blitzing thru wondrous scenery, but that's really about as far as it can be applied. Whereas Burnout relies strictly on interactions of intra-vehicular mayhem, Split/Second depends solely on obstacle courses redesigned on the fly - by dynamite. ("Jamie wants Big Boom", indeed...)
The designers could have easily had a 5-star game, what with the graphics and action cranked up to eleven; problem is, the frustration is cranked up to twelve...
Serious design flaws crack the facade early on. AI opponent vehicles are able to do the pit maneuver on the player vehicle, but trying to return the favor is just like hitting a guardrail. And hitting guardrails is inconsistent - too many times the software determines a crash for what was clearly a grind.
There are also a high number of instances where an AI opponent just taken out by a PowerPlay triggers the immediate next PowerPlay location against the player. This coincides with what is much too quickly a crash recovery for the AI opponents, and a too long delayed recovery for the player - sometimes a drop of 5 or 6 places. Also, the AI drivers rarely make mistakes, and seem to always have better vehicles.
There are also a high number of instances where an AI opponent just taken out by a PowerPlay triggers the immediate next PowerPlay location against the player. This coincides with what is much too quickly a crash recovery for the AI opponents, and a too long delayed recovery for the player - sometimes a drop of 5 or 6 places. Also, the AI drivers rarely make mistakes, and seem to always have better vehicles.
Action-wise, there seems to be a substantial friction penalty for traveling by rail - of which there is a lot of. The application of shock-wave effects and what must be invisible oil slicks varies widely within reruns of events. The ENTIRE game places far too much emphasis on skidding-out-of-control, especially in turns (drifting, schmifting).
And though the premises of the high-score challenges are excitingly unique, they and the beat-the-clock races depend far too heavily on having to discover that indescernable just-right-groove in order to attain the goals - that are a bit too much out of reach. Perhaps the designers have the dedicated play-all-night-and-skip-class gamer in mind instead of the maybe-evening-and-weekend working stiff...
And though the premises of the high-score challenges are excitingly unique, they and the beat-the-clock races depend far too heavily on having to discover that indescernable just-right-groove in order to attain the goals - that are a bit too much out of reach. Perhaps the designers have the dedicated play-all-night-and-skip-class gamer in mind instead of the maybe-evening-and-weekend working stiff...
Personally, I could have gone for some more variety in the courses to see more of the well-rendered surroundings. And an extra second or 2 on the time-trials' clocks - I never felt the Burnout Burning Routes were unbeatable, though difficult; many of the Detonators on the other hand have all but ruined this game for me: I think I have spent just as much time on 5 races alone as I had the entire rest of the game - and 1 race is half that; it's to the point that I want video proof of those who claim all-gold.
Judging from the closing cutscene after reaching the podium, Disney & BlackRock plan a sequel. Unless the glaring errors and poor choices are corrected, I won't make the same mistake of pre-buying it; if I get it at all, I'll wait till it hits the bargain bin.
What's great about it: excellently rendered graphics; great action sequences; innovative and unique variation of theme; fun for awhile
What's not so great: infuriating tight time limits in beat-the-clock races; far too much reliance on drifting; becomes inanely repetative
I would recommend this to a friend!
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13of 16voted this as helpful.
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PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
Game question
Ill be getting ps3 soon and i could buy two games wich ones should i get?
By All Means - Batman: Arkham Asylum (GotY if you can swing it);
but, after that, it depends on your budget and tastes (and age: ratings, y'know...) - the 2nd game I bought was Burnout Paradise (lost a lot of sleep because of too late nights...).
can't go wrong with LittleBigPlanet (also GotY); Uncharted, Force Unleashed, and Assassin's Creed are very worthy of consideration.
Seriously consider signing up for the PlayStation Network: it's free, you can buy preset cards at BB, and the PSN Store has many low-cost games available, including many old-school classics.
Have Fun Gaming
but, after that, it depends on your budget and tastes (and age: ratings, y'know...) - the 2nd game I bought was Burnout Paradise (lost a lot of sleep because of too late nights...).
can't go wrong with LittleBigPlanet (also GotY); Uncharted, Force Unleashed, and Assassin's Creed are very worthy of consideration.
Seriously consider signing up for the PlayStation Network: it's free, you can buy preset cards at BB, and the PSN Store has many low-cost games available, including many old-school classics.
Have Fun Gaming
13 years, 9 months ago
by
CravenDarkside
Way East of Dallas, Texas