New Xbox Live Update!

Just recently Microsoft released their very anticipated for update. In the update, Microsoft took a bold move and made a Marketplace for your avatars, added full downloadable Xbox 360 games (which is already full of games such as Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, and Mass Effect), and a theater-like mode.

Avatar Marketplace
As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft decided to make the avatar system a lot more detailed, but instead of making it free... you have to buy clothing and props. You can go through a wide selection of real brand clothing, such as Adidas and Quicksilver, game clothing (which is undoubtedly my favorite part), and props! It was definately the gaming clothes that caught my eye. You can buy clothing from games such as Gears of War 2 (where you can buy COG and Locust armor), Fable (where you can buy a highwayman suit), and even Halo 3/ODST (where you can buy a UNSC Marine armor, RC Warthog, and much more). But the props are just as cool! You can buy things such as lightsabers, skateboards, cameras, and much more. There is just one single problem with all this. The prices for the items are way overpriced. Eighty Microsoft points for a shirt? Rip-off, I say, rip-off.

Netflix Theater
Sorry guys! I don't have Netflix so I can't give a good review on this. I have seen a few screenshots, and the theater had an uncanny resemblance to Mystery Science Theater 3000, which I have no doubt that it will be like it. The sad thing is that if you are hanging out with others who have seen the movie, they would most likely spoil the movie for everyone.

Downloadable Games
This is something that in my opinion, was a great idea. Although you could download original Xbox games, you couldn't download X360 games. But now, we can finally download games instead of going out and buying them one discs. And the upside is that it is supposed to be cheaper than most gaming stores. One thing I should comment on is the wide selection of awesome games! Already, there are games like Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Mass Effect and much more.

Pros, cons, and ratings
+ Awesome avatar items
+ Theater mode sounds great
+ Downloadable games means no more discs
- Avatar Marketplace is too expensive

Overall rating:
9/10

BF 1943 Air Superiority Reviewed!

Finally! The Xbox LIVE community reached the 43,000,000 kill count, a few days ago (while the lousy PSN community still has nearly 10 million kills left). Now let's start the reviewing.


"Not so high and mighty now!"

I cannot believe how fun Air Superiority is. Every time I get in a massive firefight, or just start chasing some one around, and blow the enemy out of the sky, it just cheers me up. I start screaming in my head, "Not so high and might now!".

What I mean by the previous is that AS is just a tremendous amount of fun, from being a noob and doing a bomb run on the enemy's aircraft carrier to maneuvering through the volcanic arcs to just shooting the hell out of that nasty Jap Zero or the infidel Americans.



"Damn... volcanoes make some pretty good maps."

In the newest edition to Battlefield 1943's maps and game type is (The Battle of) Coral Sea, and it's special made game type, Air Superiority. The objective of AS is to be the "air superior" team, and by that, it means you have to capture the "point" which covers the most of the map. It is basically a one pointed Conquest game. But don't forget, you still have to kill the enemies and over power them to capture the point. I don't think they really could have made it any better.

Anyways, when I saw this map, I thought to myself, "Damn... volcanoes make some pretty good maps." By that, I meant that all the volcanic features of this map make it a perfect place for a massive dogfighting battle. You can try to out maneuver and enemy plane following you by flying through the small mountains, hoping not to hit the trees, or go through the natural bridge (or hoop) and just pray that the enemy has ADD and attacked another plane. Coral Sea is a perfectly made, symmetrical dogfighting map.



Ups, downs, and overall:

+ Map is simple, but fun.
+ Xbox Live community got it way before PSN (which I personally despise, a little...)
<> Air Superiority couldn't have been better, but isn't perfect to say the truth.
- Though it says that there are enough planes for everyone, it takes a while for some planes to respawn, while others wait. Also, planes respawn on the wrong carrier!

My "Top Soon-to-be-Released Games" List

Well, we all are looking forward to StbR games, here are the list that I want that I am sure tons of other people are looking forward to.

1) Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - Xbox 360 - Q1 2010
2) Modern Combat 2 - Xbox 360 - Q1 2010
3) Mass Effect 2 - Xbox 360 - Q1 2010
4) Scribblenauts - Nintendo DS - Fall 2009
5) This one is only a rumor as far as I know, but I heard that an MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, is going to be released for the Xbox 360

As you can tell, I am waiting for many sequels. Now that I shared my part, it's your turn. In the comments down there, write down your list. Whether it is only 5 games, 10 games, or even a hundred games, please, write them down! I would love to know and I want the readers of TABoKC to feel like you guys are actually a community which you are involved in.

So... Thank you and good bye,

Signed,
KC :D

Note to all readers of TABoKC:

Hello readers of TABoKC! I just wanted to say that this blog will probably be turned into a gaming news and reviews (heh, that rhymes) website, due to the fact that I don't really like current day music and I haven't been to the movie theater recently. I'll try to at least do movies since the channel, FX, shows movies every once in a while. I am actually thinking about doing a review on a movie which you might soon find out.

Anyways...that was really all the news I had. Before I forget, please tell your friends about my blog. I am trying to get as many people possible to follow me and enjoy my reviews.

Thank you all, and good bye!

Sincerely,
KC (which will be what I call myself from now on, on this blog) :D

Mass Effect Reviewed!

Hello and welcome to my second review, or specifically second video game review. This time around I'll review a brilliant game, Mass Effect, by BioWare, the creators of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. During this review, I shall grade Mass Effect based on graphics, gameplay, and setting.

Setting:
Mass Effect takes place in the distant future (in the year 2183) and the actual land that you can play on spans throughout the whole galaxy. As you progress through the game, you will eventually get your own space ship and travel to other places in the galaxy. For example, I could travel to the Local Cluster and visit, oh lets say... our moon, and land on it. Normally, there will be a side mission you can do on the planet (but there is an exception for the moon) such as retrieving a data card, killing intergalactic crime-lords and mercs, or explore mine shafts killing fearsome, robotic creatures, a.k.a the Geth. The place which you will probably spend most of your time is at the Citadel, a massive human-alien relay station. The Citadel is run by the Council, a 3 member group made of 3 different aliens (Salarian, Asari, and Turian).

Rating of Setting: 9.5

Gameplay:
Mass Effect is a squad based, semi-tactical shooter in which you can control your teammates (limited controlling). Though the shooting in the game doesn't feel as natural as other shooters which are a lot more fluid (eg, Call of Duty), it does have a cover system which is a big up when fighting enemies.

Mass Effect is an RPG, which BioWare has lots of experience with, so you would expect the RPG-elements of this game to be near-perfect, right? Well, it is! Though it isn't nearly as detailed as other games, like Fallout 3, it is perfect for ME. Every time you or your squad mates level up, you/they get two points to add to there upgrade sheet. You can upgrade your different weapons (both in how good you are using them and physical upgrades such as incendiary bullets or un-jammable radar), endurance, power, and much more.

The damage system in this game is also very good (not the best, but still, it's very good). Grenades, even though they get to there target, they oddly don't work well. The weapons (other than the sniper rifle) also have a problem. Although you shoot mostly at a persons head, they don't seem to take any more damage than if they would've gotten shot in the leg or upper body.

Another problem with the game that some people have is that they feel like the game is "too much talk, not enough action" which I found only somewhat true. Some also say ME " is just an interactive movie" which seems like an up to me. I personally think changing the course and ending of a movie would be awesome. But that's just me...

Rating of Gameplay: 8.7

Graphics:
My, oh my, the graphic in this game are amazing. Explosions in this game aren't the best, but damn, they are good! The sky, the rocks, the water, the galaxy, it all looks straight-up beautiful (note: please excuse my gangsta talk in the previous sentences). The whole world is so detailed and intricate (not as detailed as Gears of War though) which actually does lead to a problem.

As I stated above, the graphics in this game do lead to a big problem which people who play GoW also deal with... graphic pop-ins. Since the world is all detailed and what-not, the details themselves take a second or two for it to load, specially in cut scenes.

Rating of Graphics: 8.5

Ups, Downs, and Overall:
+ Graphics are amazing
+ RPG-element is made near-perfect
+ Great game overall
(+ Also, it's a Platinum Hit)
<> You could say it is an interactive movie, which isn't bad, but some say it is.
- Graphic pop-ins
- Side mission planets are small
- The AI could be better

Overall: 8.9//10

So, you've read my review, now go out and buy ME (or at least rent it since it is a bit old and ME2 is going to be released in Q1 of 2010)!

Battlefield 1943 Reviewed!

I've finally downloaded the amazing game off of the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, Battlefield 1943, A remake of EA's BF 1942. Well, let us start the reviewing!



Setting:
BF 1943 is set on famous islands/battles off the coast of Japan. The first of three default maps is Guadalcanal, a straight, hilly island and the only one without aircraft carriers. Instead of aircraft carriers, this map has 2 airfields. The second map is Wake Island, which is one of my more favored maps, is a horse-shoe shaped island which is super fun for dog-fighting, infantry, and vehicular combat. Every time you conquer one point, it seems like one of your previously captured points is taken, and it just goes back and forth for a mayhem-filled battle. The last map, and the best map, in my opinion, Iwo Jima. Everything that I said for Wake Island also works for this, but don't think I am saying it is the same exact experience, because it isn't. It is a fun back-and-forth fight, with planes dominating the sky (which is entertaining as hell seeing each of'em being blown out of the air). I don't think anyone could say that the maps are bland, boring, or just bad.

But that's not all! There is a fourth map which is soon to be released, Coral Sea, a dogfight only map. Coral Sea will be unveiled once the BF 1943 community reaches 43 million kills. As of the time this is written, there were 13,838,996 kills on Xbox LIVE and 8,009,733 on the Playstation Network. This map will also bring a new game type special for it, Air Superiority, which is supposedly a Conquest type of game but in the air.

Rating of Maps: 9



Gameplay:
The first bit of "Gameplay" I will cover is gametypes. Unfortunately, there is only one gametype, but it works amazingly with these maps. That gametype is Conquest which should be familiar with people who play Battlefield: Bad Company and previous BF games. In Conquest, you move back and forth, capturing flags/points. You could call it, a "hybrid of Team Deathmatch and Territories", which is quite true. As I said in the previous section, once Coral Sea is released, a specially made gametype called "Air Superiority" (dogfighting and a little bit of Conquest) will be released with it, for it.

Shall we continue? Yes we should! This game is totally even, and not at all one sided. Airplanes are even and can easily take down AA guns, and vice versa. Infantry can easily (but not effortlessly) take out vehicles, and vice versa. Most importantly, all types of infantry are equally matched. What else can I say? The game seems perfectly balanced!

Lastly, in this section, is the destructible environment. This can easily change the tide of battle. If someone is camping in a building and capturing your flag, just blow up the wall, run in, and murder them! And if you don't want to change the tide of battle because, maybe you are lazy or just not heroic, you can destroy the walls for fun or making your own door. Sadly, the buildings doesn'ts get destroyed naturally. You can TRY to destroy the insides of a house, but it doesn't work. You can TRY to make a building to topple, but it doesn't work, which is a small downside, but a downside is a downside.

Rating of Gameplay: 8.5



Graphics:

Ah... what can I say about the graphics? Well, I can say that it is super beautiful and just a pleasure to look at. The sky is amazing, the water is amazing, the hills are amazing, the trees and plants are amazing. Most importantly, the explosions are amazing! I found all things graphical in this game amazing. I was just in awe when I was swimming near the coast, when I was blowing up this gas tank, and when I was owning some n00bs!

Rating of Graphics: 9.5




Ups, Downs, and Overall:

+ Great gameplay, graphics, and maps.
+ Super low price of 1200 MS Points and $15 on the PSN.
<> Multiplayer is the only option (not including the tutorial), but is made perfectly.
- When flying airplanes, a visual glitch may happen. (Rare glitch!)

Overall: 9/10

Well, you read the review, which I hope you enjoyed, now go out and buy the game!

Welcome to KC's Blog!

Well, you have managed to get to my blog. Well, some of you know me as KillerChief97 or SugarlessMean. Now that you have gotten through the somewhat hard step of finding this blog, now the easy part: Check this blog out! Look throughout my soon to come review's of music, movies, video games, and other sorts of media you youngin's are into nowadays.

Now that we have gotten through the introduction, here's a little about myself... I am a cool, randomly awesome video gamer. I live in California in the U.S. of A! Now, what else is there to say? Go surfin' mah blog now!