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Lvlone.com Review: NCAA Basketball 2010

The Bad Man
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7

ea-ncaa-basketball-102
With the release of NCAA Basketball 2010, EA Sports shows us one thing; they always stick to a formula, even if that formula might not be the best one. Last year, 2K Sports stopped releasing their version of a college basketball game, leaving EA Sports uncontested in the field. Now, while this also happened in football and Madden 2010 was nothing short of phenomenal, I can’t exactly say the same for NCAA Basketball 2010. Don’t get me wrong, some improvements were made to the game compared to last year’s, but not nearly enough for me to classify it as an elite sports title.
Signature Motion Offenses
The big change to this year’s title is the addition of a free moving motion offense. When activated, the players run out their plays with the target highlighting to show the opportune time to pass the ball or make a shot. With several different options to chose from, finding the best style to compliment your team might be tricky, but it will pay off in the end.

New TV Broadcasts
Along with Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale, and Erin Andrews on ESPN, this year, Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery from CBS join the broadcasting crew. Along with the two different “broadcasts,” the two offer different aspects to the game, as well as different graphics and fillers that make it seem like you are actually watching an NCAA game on TV.
The one good thing I can say about this year’s title is the fact that much more attention was brought to the presentation of the game. This year it has much more of a feel of watching a game on TV than any other year.
Dynamic Updates
When going online, you are able to access and download the real life RPI ratings and stats of all Division 1 basketball teams for free. Just a little extra to make the game have a more realistic feel. It’s nothing major or groundbreaking, but it does add a link to the actual season going on.

There are other areas in the game that I had hoped would be improved but they weren’t. The first one, for me at least, lies in the dynasty mode. Much of the information you receive in the dynasty mode is done through in-game phone messages while will beep or buzz as you advance throughout the calender. However, getting to those messages is unnecessarily difficult. Rather than having a button to press that will automatically take you to your messages, you need to go through several different menus just to read them. It’s nothing that is absolutely horrible, but it is one of those things that I found to be tedious in NCAA Basketball 09 and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Another miscue, that followed again from last year’s title, is the seeming confusion of the crowd. At times, the crowd seems to get loud and tries to cause a distraction when the home team has the ball. Kinda defeats the purpose don’t you think? This year’s title put emphasis on the Toughest Places to Play but if the crowd is hooting and hollering at the wrong team, the question then becomes is it the toughest place to play for the home team?

Overall, I would say that this year’s release is a bit of a let down. Although graphically it is improved a bit, and the game presentation is better, I feel that not enough was added, and not enough was fixed to make this game an absolute must buy, but like they say in the sporting world; there’s always next year.
Overall Rating : 8.0

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Xbox Live Update Initial Impression

Aykut D.
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1

xboxlivefacebook
The world finally got its big Xbox Live update today in the form of Facebook, Twitter, last.fm, and Zune. The new features are numerous, on the Facebook side players can now update their statuses, view their images, and message their friends. Twitter users can tweet, and everyone can listen to their favorite tunes through last.fm. And of course there’s the Zune video features.

What I found interesting initially was how fast the downloads were, I was able to get Facebook and last.fm up and running within seconds. The first thing of course I had to do was update my Facebook status, unfortunately it was at this time I came across one problem, I didn’t have the Xbox type pad so I was forced to type in each letter the hard way, with the controller. Now I know paying $20 for the attachment isn’t a big deal but I have no plans on buying one so I can already tell using my Xbox to update my Facebook isn’t going to be a common occurrence. Other than that though, it’s pretty cool going through me and my friend’s pictures, and I actually thought the interface worked well.

Stay tuned to find out what we think of Twitter, last.fm, and Zune in the coming days. Also feel free to let us know what your impressions are, do you think this update will really change the way you use social media? or is it just another gimmick?

Review: Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars

Jonathan Lane
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2

By now it seems that the GTA series has hit every kind of culture with their main characters. Rising from the struggle and proving themselves. This time from proud and prominent dynasties to even its asian crime and mob underworld, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars borrows a bit from each old and new. This is Liberty City in China Town and we already know where this is headed.

GTA: Chinatown Wars starts off in familiar fashion in Liberty City with your main character Hwang. He comes to Liberty City to avenge his father death and your first encounter is with your uncle who is the head honcho in Liberty City’s Chinese Triad syndicate. Hwang will need to meet new people and be involved in many events that will give him the clues leading to the culprit behind his father’s murder.

GTA:CW goes back to its roots with birds eye view display. Since this a port from the DS, the developers chose to use the same engine and the game looks good for a DS port, utilizing hardware from the PSP. The main characters and the npc’s are designed in small sprites, the cars and the environments are rendered in 3D polygons, which are some of the best seen on the system. While playing through the story, the dialog will be presented in a drawn art form similar to Comics. Since this GTA is a portable rendition, this style of story progression fits in very well.

Gameplay stays true to the classic GTA while adding plenty of car chases and explosions to it. Hwang will navigate through liberty city in standard GTA style, hijacking cars, taking out criminals and if thats not enough for your appetite, then this virtual top down sandbox will let you do anything you want with it. There will be various alternative missions to do in liberty city such as making a honest buck as a cab driver, deliveries, crooked jobs etc. Combat in GTA:CW is very similar to previous GTA’s. You start with nothing but your bare knuckles, gaining money which will then allow you to use big boy guns to handle all the dirty work that needs to be taken care of as missions get heavier.

One thing to point out is that GTA: CW has borrowed ideas from the excellent GTA 4 such as the gps system, phone, and email systems. This helps with navigating through the game and overall making the much more enjoyable. Fans of the series will feel definetly at home with interation of the series

To concluded GTA:CW for the PSP rocks, whether it be for GTA fans on the go, looking for a classic title with tremendous replay value and great gameplay. It retains all the elements from the previous GTA’s that made it such a great series and pays homage to the classic style in which it origianted from. blending the new and old are a great welcome and for those who are unfamiliar with series (which is hard to imagine at this point in time) can get into the game with its simplistic controls, feel and overall free roaming freedom that GTA games are known for. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is great for all fans and casual alike.

Overall Score = 9.2

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Gates of Hell with Dante’s Inferno Demo

cyclonis
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0

Coming this December, the ‘Gates of Hell’ demo includes the entire opening level and gives gamers a taste of Visceral Games’ blockbuster adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy.

The ‘Gates of Hell’ demo will introduce players to the game’s hero, epic story and intense action gameplay, tracing Dante’s battles from the surface all the way to the Gates of Hell. Players will experience fast-paced hack-n-slash combat as they fend off waves of enemies before taking on the ultimate battle against Death. After defeating this boss, Dante will be armed with Death’s scythe, a powerful holy cross, and will be ready to tear open the Gates of Hell.

The game is set to release on February 9, 2010 and in Europe on February 12, 2010 for the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, and the PlayStation Portable.

Fun item friday: 50 Worst videogame voice acting

Remy Cuesta
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0

Have you ever played through or attempted to play through a game and thought to yourself “Gosh that was some of the worst voice overs ever!”. Well here is a compilation made on youtube of those bad moments. Some aren’t too bad, some are really bad, and some are just down right ugly. Now this isn’t necessarily new by any means but hell that didn’t stop us from laughing.

CAPCOM STEERS MOTOGP IN A BRAND NEW DIRECTION!

FWGHurley
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0

Capcom is pleased to confirm that MotoGP 09/10 will deliver the most comprehensive Career Mode of any previous MotoGP title by offering players with all the riders, tracks and teams from the official 2009 MotoGP season and free downloadable content from the 2010 season,

Players take control of their career both on and off the track competing in races and hiring engineers, team managers and press officers to help further their career as a pro and ultimately win the MotoGP World Championship. Demonstrating your riding skills on the track through overtaking, slipstreaming and showboating will be rewarded with Rider Reputation points. Pushing too hard can be detrimental as crashes and collisions will reduce the reputation bonus awarded at the end of each race.

The more Rider Reputation points you earn the more attractive you become to other manufacturers, sponsors and employees. Your team will also research upgrades for your existing bike to increase its performance.

Career Mode compliments the previously confirmed Arcade Mode which introduces an exciting take on the overall objective of being the first to cross the finishing line.
It is coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 16 2010.

Analyst estimates seven million sales of Modern Warfare 2

Aykut D.
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0

callofduty

Analyst Ben Schachter estimates that Modern Warfare 2 sold seven million copies on its first day of sales. To put things in perspective if you remember the launch of Grand Theft Auto 4 that was considered a huge debut and it sold around 3.6 million copies. If this analysis is anywhere near true then the gaming world could be looking at a new all time record. However the real numbers won’t be apparent for at least a few more days.

Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition Content Coming

Aykut D.
-
0

residentevil

Following the announcement of Resident Evil 5: The Alternative Edition by Capcom Japan at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Capcom’s North American and European community sites decided to post polls and determine how fans in the pan-western regions would like the new Resident Evil 5 content delivered to them. The surveys asked the Capcom community to state their preference- either a hard disc with the new content included or as downloadable content. Based on the results of the polls, Capcom is pleased to announce that new downloadable content will be available for Resident Evil 5 owners this spring via XBOX Live and PlayStation Network.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 Review

The Bad Man
-
1


In this year’s installment of THQ’s Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010, there was a lot of focus towards creating new and unique characters as well as story lines. There were also changes made to the Royal Rumble format, the Road to Wrestlemania stories, the addition of Rivals, the online community, and the addition of new match types.


Creative Tools


Many updates have been made to the create-a-superstar mode this year. The most notably would have to be the “paint” feature that allows you to design your own logo or tattoo. This new tool allows the user to create any logo they desire (cough cough, the Lvlone logo) and stick it on their superstar’s shirt, trunks, boots, hat… Another major addition to the create-a-superstar mode is the ability to create alternate costumes for your character, as well as the other superstars in the WWE. This allows for more creativity in creating your superstar’s ring attire as well as their street clothes. One problem I have with this year’s create-a-superstar mode is the removal of the announcer names. Last year’s game had about 100 or so names that you could pick that the announcer will say as you enter the arena. This year, however, that number has been limited to about 20, and removed from the list were regular names like John or Kevin. Only nicknames (and pretty bad ones at that) remain.
Once your superstar is created, the Create-a-Finisher also received a facelift. Now you can incorporate diving moves into your finisher. This feature is still very limited in my opinion but at least they are moving in the right direction.





Another new feature this year is utilizing the Highlight Reel to be able to edit and create your own entrance video. This feature is rather bare in the fact that you can only use highlights from one match in your video, but it does allow some creativity in making your own video.
Once your superstar is created, the newest, and most impressive, feature in this year’s SvR is the Create-a-Story mode. Similar to the way the previous year’s General Manager mode worked, this year you can create your own story lines, writing scripts and setting scenes for your created superstars and other superstars in the WWE. While this new mode is exciting, it does take a level of patience to set everything up to make a story line that actually makes any sense, let alone is any good.



Royal Rumble Mini Games
This year’s SvR incorporates mini games into the Royal Rumble match. Now when you knock an opponent into the ropes, you need to perform certain actions (based on your location in the ring) in order to eliminate them. These games are fun at first and add a little bit of an extra challenge, but I quickly grew tired of them and they began to present themselves as a nuisance.


Road to Wrestlemania
There are new superstars and new story lines in this year’s Road to Wrestlemania as well as the first story line involving a created superstar. As in the previous years, the Road to Wrestlemania feature is where most of the unlockables in the game are found. While playing the stories, all of the optional goals result in an unlockable item, ranging from new threads to a new superstar.


New Attribute Building
One thing I am quite fond of is the ability to gain attribute points for your created superstar EVERY TIME you play them in a match. This is a good way to level up multiple superstars as well as make your superstar even stronger without having to do the career mode over and over again. In addition to that, some of the abilities (Dirty Pin, Move Stealing…) are available to put on your character from the beginning, while other abilities have to be unlocked during gameplay.


Rivals
The Rival feature allows you to set who is the enemy or ally of each superstar, as well as how much they like them, or hate them. This feature is a little extra toy to play with to make the story lines you create more entertaining and realistic.



Online Community
The online community can be use multiple ways; you can go online to face other players like in previous years, or you can view and download other players’ creations. Through the online community, you can download a user’s created superstar, their entrance video, and their finisher. In addition, you can upload your highlight reel of a certain superstar directly on to You Tube for millions…. and millions to see.


Overall, I would say that this year’s Smackdown Vs. Raw is a great improvement from their previous titles, but there is still room for improvement. I feel that the foundation is there, now they just need to build off of it. UFC Undisputed raised the bar for THQ in my opinion and I believe that these two titles are going to battle it out for supremacy.

Overall Rating: 8.5

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Review: Grand Theft Auto : Episodes of Liberty City – Going out with a bang [Xbox 360]

Remy Cuesta
-
1

It seems like only yesterday that Rockstar was able to change the way we viewed open world games for the fourth time (depends on how many expansions you want to count). Now they’ve done it again by adding not one but two expansions on a disc to the already top rated game Grand Theft Auto 4. While the game is on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 these expansions are apart of an exclusive deal made with Xbox 360 and is exclusive to the system. The best part about them is if you don’t have GTA 4 or have somehow sold it (why would you do that?), you won’t need it to enjoy the Episodes of Liberty City.



The first episode was delivered almost a year ago but for those that have not checked it out can do so on this disk set. The Lost and the Damned sets you up as Johnny, the Vice President from the Lost biker crew and your story begins getting Billy, the President out of rehab. The constant struggle between Billy and Johnny is what you’ll notice the most in the story. Each of them have their own plans on how to run The Lost and will do what it takes to achieve it. As would most GTA characters they all do bad things to get their way and achieve greatness but something seems off about Johnny. Off the bat he doesn’t seem to likable, in fact your whole moral being while playing him may get effected … that maybe stretching it but he’s no Niko to say the least. The story line intertwines in sections with the main story of GTA 4 and has some great things going for it, while going through some of the loop holes in the main.

The gameplay mechanics in this expansion are so refined it really does make the experience alone worth playing. Handling motorcycles is better, better AI actions and a variety of different kinds of missions to boot. One thing thats cool is how their is a formation that should be kept while riding with the lost and will show up as a marker where health can be regenerated from. Nothing is really added graphically, although you will notice a filter in the game to give the feel of Lost and the Damned which can be taken good or bad. This is still the best open world Third-Person Action Adventure today so you know your getting more of the best. New multiplayer modes were also added to this with the access of the newer bikes and weapons. New modes or altered are Club Business, Lone Wolf Biker, Chopper vs. Chopper and Witness Protection. All offering great replay value, the best being lone wolf biker which is 1 vs all or chopper vs chopper which is a bike vs an actual helicopter. The only thing that is the least amusing is the story itself but can be easily over looked since the rest of this expansion is great. The Lost and the Damned is definitely top notch production when it comes to DLC, even to those compared to Oblivion and Fallout 3.



The Ballad of Gay Tony was just released in October of 2009 and is Rockstar’s second GTA 4 episodic release which mends/ends the story between all three editions of the game in its entirety. This game lets you play the part of Luis, the respectable bodyguard of Tony. The game surrounds you with the conflict between the stolen diamonds from the main story and what you’ll notice is how Rockstar was able to bring together the story from different character views that would make anyone have a serious case of deja vu. Just like the Lost and the Damned, the main story is roughly 10 hours with plenty of side missions to make the game go as long as you want. In the main campaign you have a respectable amount of air missions, whether its base jumping or flying a helicopter, Rockstar made sure to not ignore some of exhilarating action sequences that can be achieved in GTA 4.

You can also do everything from base jumping challenges, cage fighting, drug wars, and races. All the characters in TBoGT are very colorful which make for an amusing and funny campaign as the story itself only lends itself from the main story and doesn’t really tell its own tale. Besides that they seemed to have ignored any back story that could have taken place with Luis but again this is about Tony. Tweaks are made by improving AI, multiplayer is the same as GTA 4 but adds the new weapons and vehicles. With all the base jumping that was added to the single player you would think there would be a mode in multiplayer for it, none the less TBoGT is a great way to end one of the biggest confrontations that circulated in GTA 4 and is worth picking up.

Overall whether you download each episode (which will require the full version of GTA 4) or get the disk, The Episodes of Liberty City is truly a sight to behold. Everything thats packed between both expansions makes this an entirely new game with great cut scenes, voice talent and gameplay. The new weapons and vehicles that are in single player to multiplayer feels like your playing the game for the first time. Whether your a fan of the GTA series or not the attention to detail between each episodes is astonishing and has to be one of the best DLC’s to ever be released on a console.

Overall  9.6

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