Post Tagged with: "Xbox 360"

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
UBISOFT (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)

If the nonstop firefights of Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 have left you with post-traumatic stress disorder, consider this latest Tom Clancy–stamped shooter a sort of smart-weapon therapy. The war zones here—scattered from South America to the Middle East—are no less treacherous, but victory depends on more than having the reflexes of a 12-year-old smart-ass assassin. You’ll need to master strategic leadership of your four-man squad and careful use of tomorrow’s weapons.

Future Soldier’s developers recruited the help of Navy SEALs to arm the game with gadgets fit for duty in the next few years. Your arsenal includes remote-control surveillance drones, targeting grenades that mark enemies on your map, and optical camouflage that cloaks your body armor in a see-through shimmer (like the dreadlocked alien from the movie Predator). Commanding your three squad mates is a simple matter of pointing and clicking. (Real-life players assume their roles in cooperative multiplayer missions.) You can order them to scout ahead, concentrate their shots on a single enemy, or target multiple enemies for one synchronized surgical strike when you pull the trigger. Real-time satellite surveillance provides the lay of the land before you dash into the next area.

Most firefights here are fought from behind cover. You lead your guys from obstacle to obstacle, automatically crouching behind cars and flattening against buildings at the touch of a button. Of course, you can just ignore
all these tactical advantages and send in your squad with guns set to full-auto, but that seems like an oldfashioned
way to play a game called Future Soldier.

Dragon’s Dogma

Dragons Dogma

Dragon’s Dogma
CAPCOM (XBOX 360, PS3)

If this game’s initials don’t give you a clue about its theme and setting, then either you’ve suffered a battle-ax blow to the head or you’ve never chucked a 20-sided Dungeons & Dragons die. Yep, Dragon’s Dogma is an epic hack-and-slash ode to serious high-fantasy, rife with dungeons to spelunk, scaly beasts to slay, and perilous quests to check off ye olde to-do list. It’s sort of a gateway adventure for players too shy to sojourn online, and it lets you recruit a party of computer controlled “pawn” cohorts created by other Dragon’s Dogma players. These sidekick sorcerers, warriors, and archers back you up—and even chat you up—just like real-world players, except they never take White Castle breaks or give you lip about loot-splitting.

Syndicate

Syndicate
SYNDICATE
ELECTRONIC ARTS
(XBOX 360, PS3, PC)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A different sort of futuristic shooter, this first-person update to a classic PC strategy game pits its hero—a trench-coat-clad company man-against evil corporate drones instead of the usual alien armadas. Your arsenal of upgradable energy weapons is straight out of 2069, but you’ll never climb the corporate ladder without using your head. More specifically, a chip in your skull augments your senses and lets you assume control of enemy agents. This hacking ability adds a layer of strategy to each firefight, although single-player missions and the cyberpunk scenery become slightly repetitive after a while. The four-player coop er ative mode is more fun, focusing on action and tactics. Building synergy with online colleagues is the best way to play Syndicate.

Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3
MASS EFFECT 3
ELECTRONIC ARTS (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)

Known for its titillating girl-on-alien-girl sex and intergalactic blasting, the Mass Effect series is more accessible for the average dude than your typical fantasy-flavored roleplaying game. This final installment is the most action-crammed yet, a grand space opera with Gears of War–style combat. (It even offers cooperative online missions.) Newbies can dive right into the game’s galaxy-spanning war to save Earth without feeling too lost, although series vets will enjoy seeing the consequences of moral choices made in previous installments. Xbox 360 gamers with a Kinect peripheral can issue voice commands during combat and dialogue scenes. Gimmicky? Sure. But it does free up the hands during those sex scenes.

SSX

SSX
SSX
EA SPORTS (XBOX 360, PS3)

This is a hard-charging snowboarding simulator for people who think ESPN’s X Games are for sissies. SSX plunges players down real-world mountain ranges re-formed with reality-defying tricks in mind. A new physics engine and a lack of boundaries let you grind any line and soar from any precipice in the Himalayas or the mountains of Africa, Alaska, and Antarctica (all rendered from NASA satellite data). And the developers have added a new goal to the Racing and Trick modes of previous SSX titles: survival. Players compete to see how far they can fly downhill before succumbing to avalanches, whiteouts, or exposure. New networking features even let you “like” your favorite drops and seek out global competitions.

Older Entries