Quick Reviews #1

I have gotten many games in the past week to review, and since I no longer have a “team” its going to take a little bit longer to fully crank out reviews. However, I have played each game for about 5 hours, so can give some pretty accurate descriptions in a nice short summary. So, I present, Quick Reviews #1…

NBA 2K8 – NBA 2K8 looks and sounds beautiful. The game has improved graphics, and the commentary [including Craig Sager's on the court commentary] truly makes this an authentic experience. I played a few games with the Miami Heat, and was happy to see not only the white/black jerseys, but also the two retro jerseys – the early Heat jersey and the Floridian jersey. Dwayne Wade made his jump shots, and Antoine Walker missed open “3′s,” so already the game seems to be accurate. However, contested shots seems to miss too many times, even for the AI. A few extra things that I have not yet tried is the Slam Dunk contest and Xbox Live, but if they are as good as the game itself, then I will be impressed with NBA 2K8.

Sega Rally Revo -Back in my younger years, I used to enjoy going to the Arcade and playing the racing games and challenging friends to races to see who would win. Well, Sega Rally Revo offers that old school arcade approach to the racing genre, and makes the game fun, while adding a few different things to change the usual gameplay. The graphics look great, but they weren’t the best, and the same goes for the entire game. Each racing game seems to cater to a specific audience, and in my mind, this game caters to the arcade type of racer.

Stranglehold – The game reminds me a lot like the old Max Payne games. While the game is enjoyable, it seems like it could get repetitive, and the online mode is somewhat lacking. However, Tequilla time does seem intriguing, and the game does get difficult at times. What I like is that it somewhat reminds me of watching The Matrix, as your unloading clips inside the building, and the entire building is falling apart, crumbling to the ground.

Tiger Woods 08 – Best Tiger Woods game to date, but while the graphics are improved, and the gameplay is better – its somewhat annoying that if you barely aim to the wrong direction, the golf ball is not going anywhere near where you wanted… I can’t tell you how many times I have hit an innoncent bystander simply because I aimed a little bit to the right as I was hitting the power button. The gameface feature also seems cool, although it didn’t work too well for me.