XBox 360 Game Reviews - Articles - Zimbio

How To Copy XBOX 360 Games Using Your Burner

Mon, 18 Nov 2008 10:15:23 GMT

posted by alonzo
by Tommy Paxton

The Xbox 360 has quickly become one of the most popular game systems to ever hit the shelves. Because of this, one question that we have been getting a lot is from people that want to know if they can copy xbox 360 games on their computer. We thought it could be helpful to go over this question by putting together a guide on how to copy xbox 360 games.

If you have a burner on your computer, there’s a good chance you have made a copy of a CD before. Almost everyone has these days. In fact, it’s so common-place that almost every computer that is sold automatically comes with CD “ripping” software.

This type of burning software will not let you copy xbox 360 games. There are special “copyright protection” guards that are placed on the game discs that prevent these programs from being able to copy them.

When people saw there was a demand to burn video games, certain companies stepped up to the plate and produced programs that are able to “knock-out” the protections used on the discs and can produce an exact copy of any xbox 360 game. This allows you to copy xbox 360 games on your computer simply by using your burner and a blank disc.

Although the technology behind these programs is rather complicated, the software itself isn’t. It’s very “user-friendly” and can have you copying xbox 360 games within minutes of installing it.

How does it work? You simply put the game disc into your disc drive and the program will make a mirror image of the disc on your computer’s hard drive. You then put in a blank CD-R or DVD-R disc and this image is burned onto the blank disc. You are left with an exact copy of the original game.

What’s nice about this software is that it is designed to work for all video games. Not only can you copy xbox 360 games, but you can also make copies of Nintendo Wii games, PS2 and PS3 games and any other video game that comes on a disc.

This type of program is a little bit trickier than the one you use to burn a regular CD, but it’s easy to get the hang of. It will come with full instructions on how to use it. The better companies will also provide full video tutorials in case you need to refer to them.

When you start to copy xbox 360 games we recommend that you make copies of every game you get. It’s easy to do and this way you have a backup copy in case you ever lose or damage the original.

About the Author: Go to http://www.copyyourgames.com to use a free trial of the most popular video game copying software. This will let you copy xbox 360 games along with games of all the other major game systems (Nintendo Wii, PS3 etc)

Christmas 2008 XBox 360 Wishlist: Saints Row 2

Fri, 15 Nov 2008 14:00:06 GMT

posted by bluebadger

In our weekly series of hot XBox 360 games for the 2008 Christmas season, we feature the GTA-inspired game Saints Row 2. Released last month, SR2 is fast becoming one of the top new video releases. Last week we looked at GOW2, another awesome game. Enjoy.

Saints Row 2: Videogame Review

by Tom Hoggins, Telegraph UK, November 13, 2008

“THQ’s bling and mayhem filled free-roamer takes the GTA-inspired landscape of guns and gangsters and then goes completely over the top with it.

Watch the Saints Row 2 Trailer

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“When the original Saints Row was released back in mid-2006, the Xbox 360 was the only ‘next-gen’ console on the market, the PS3 still had a couple of months before its Japanese debut and Wii was yet to storm into the global conscience. Most importantly for THQ’s crime-sim, Grand Theft Auto IV was still two years down the line. Releasing an open-world, gangster-themed title is always going to attract comparisons to one of the finest videogame series of all time, so developers Volition dispensed with the niceties and attempted to produce an unashamed copy of a GTA experience. To an extent, it worked. Saints Row was an enjoyable, solid if unspectacular stop-gap. The crime-sim market was open while itchy gamers waited for Rockstar’s latest and THQ were happy to fill it.

However, here in late 2008, GTAIV has been and gone. Gamers have experienced Niko Bellic’s adventures and been wowed by the sheer scale of Liberty City. GTAIV, to all intents and purposes, lived up to its hype. With all due respect to Volition, how on Earth could they compete with what is widely regarded as one of the finest videogames ever created?

Keeping an eye on Rockstar’s work with GTAIV, they saw a game vying for realism. Rockstar were trimming the rocket-pack excesses of GTA: San Andreas and concentrating on gritty, down-to-earth characters, a believable human-story and a gameworld like no other. Of course, some gamers enjoyed some of the ridiculous hi-jinks available in San Andreas and were actually left a little aggrieved that such distractions were sacrificed in GTAIV at the expense of realism.

So here is Saints Row 2, a game that takes those distractions, adds a whole bunch of its own and blows them up, sticks them at the heart of the experience and just lets gamers run amok in the city of Stillwater, causing chaos wherever they can.

If Liberty was a living, breathing city, then Stillwater is more of a giant playground, stuffed to the gills with activities and distractions. There are races, fight clubs, attack helicopter missions, destruction derbies, a minigame where you have to drive around on a buggy wearing a flame-retardant suit setting fire to anything and everything, streaking missions, insurance fraud, base-jumping, sky-diving and even an activity in which you have to spray construction sites with chemical waste to lower their value. There is such a ridiculous amount of things to do in and around Stillwater that you wouldn’t know where to start.

The most impressive thing is that nearly all of these distractions work well; even the silliest, most throwaway activites can keep you coming back for more. The game controls well enough too. Driving is twitchy and arcadey, but gives you enough control to really hurl the vehicles around Stillwater’s roads. Combat can be pretty brutal, with a punchy arsenal of firepower and a host of melee weapons. Opponents can now be grabbed and either used as a human shield, or hurled over a distance –the further you throw an enemy the more your ‘respect’ bonus, naturally. And in keeping with the game’s overblown excess, your anti-hero can even rip things like lamp posts and telephone boxes from the ground and use them as weapons.

There are a host of technical problems unfortunately. Pop-in and slowdown are rampant, the AI in both enemies and allies is woeful and a host of glitches, such as cars disappearing as you turn around, blight the experience from time to time. Very few of these bugs are game breaking and even GTAIV had a lot of these problems, so you have sympathy with Volition, but these flaws are far more evident here than they were in Rockstar’s game.

For the most part, Saints Row 2 is puerile nonsense, but is fully aware of the fact and is just as enjoyable for it. You’ll find yourself chuckling despite yourself at some of the game’s more brazen childishness, such as being able to remove your clothes and streak for as long as you can before the police catch you.

However, beneath that joviality lies a rather nasty streak and is ultimately the game’s biggest downfall. The plot is completely wafer-thin, based solely on your custom-built hoodlum’s desire to take over the city. Your character, male or female, is a horrible piece of work with no redeeming features at all- a foul-mouthed sociopath. And unfortunately, they don’t come across as an interesting, if psychopathic, villain –they are just a thug surrounded by more thugs. This would be fine if the plot was some attempt at satire, but it isn’t, or at least isn’t doing a very good job of it. Certain missions, such as when you have to clear out a shanty town of homeless people, can leave a rather sour taste in the mouth and at the risk of sounding prissy, left me feeling rather uncomfortable. Other unsavoury aspects, such as the casual misogyny, are trying to be something of a social commentary but fall horribly flat.

The result is a game that isn’t quite sure what it wants to be, Volition would have done well to drop the attempt at a gritty storyline and gone all out into the silliness that makes roaming Stillwater such a joy. Technical faults and dreadful plot and characterisation aside, I enjoyed my second visit to the city. By heading in a different direction to GTAIV through concentrating on entertaining side-missions and overblown excess, Volition has carved its own niche with Saints Row 2 in the crime-sim market. It’s trashy, puerile and occasionally rather nasty but for the most part it’s the one thing that should matter most: fun.”

Saints Row 2 is available exclusively for the XBox 360.

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Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360 Review)

Wed, 13 Nov 2008 22:45:52 GMT

posted by OwningXylophone

The Gears of Wars series is one of Microsoft’s big hitters and is second only to the Halo games in terms of importance. The original title from Epic was arguably the first game on the Xbox 360 which did for this system what Halo had done for the Xbox. Microsoft had that all important “must have” title in Gears of War which had people rushing out to buy the console in order to play it. The release of Gears of War 2, as I’m sure you can imagine, is quite a big deal to many individuals.

I love playing games and discovering a nod toward film characters and events but only if it’s done as a friendly gesture. Within the first hour of the campaign you’ll find characters and events which appear to have been lifted straight from specific films and placed into this game. You know that bit with the speech about staying together and fighting the enemy on their own turf? Starship Troopers. Those squid-like creatures which fly in your direction and require you to spray bullets at them in order to survive? The Matrix. That enormous alien worm which devours everything in sight? Dune. How about that cool alien guy with dreadlocks and a big staff? Predator. It may be the tone of the game, and I can’t imagine that the developers were ignorant of these obvious similarities, but none of these examples appear to be handled in a good natured manner which is disappointing.

The campaign is similar to the previous game in that it’s best played in co-op but many of the levels do feel more spacious which allows for some alternative routes when dealing with the enemy. There is one level which I find quite ridiculous and would go as far as saying that it’s one of the worst I’ve ever played and it’s not the car-driving section although those should be removed from every shooter.

The level in question has you inside a giant worm and you have to take care of something before exiting again. This would be fine apart from the fact that on your way you must dodge giant teeth, spraying acid, and other equally annoying things. The crowning moment is when you’re trapped in a section of its body and have to find a way out while lack of ventilation makes your vision go from bad to diabolical. The greatest part is that when your vision is almost completely blanked out it lets you know that you’re suffocating, it even shows you the red damage marker, but you have absolutely no way of recovering. At this point I realized what Gears of War is really all about and that’s frustrating the players to the point they no longer want to play the game with the hope that they’ll be able to pull them back at the last moment. I happen to think that a system of challenge and reward is better than punishment and reward which is what this and some others like to employ.

I remember I had a lot of fun with the multiplayer in the original title until the moment I realized that it was broken and almost entirely based on fortune than skill. I am sure there will be some of you who feel that I’m only saying this because I wasn’t any good but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I certainly didn’t earn the nickname of “shotgun whore” for nothing and anyone who played with me will testify that I could more than hold my own against most adversaries. I gave up on the multiplayer around the time I got tired of getting a silly amount of kills in most matches and this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t find the game to be broken.

I was hoping that the multiplayer would have been fixed by the time GoW2 came around and it hasn’t been. I accept that the large percentage of idiots who play the game are part of the reason why I hate this so much. It should be renamed “chainsaw tossers” as most people still run around the map with the chainsaw hoping for cheap kills as you’re sucked towards their blade. I find it funny that a game which boasts about tactics has absolutely none at all because its precious cover system gets you killed more often than not and most Xbox Live users are apparently minus a tongue or a brain.

By now you must either be thinking I’m a lunatic or that most other reviewers are dirty liars and the reality is probably somewhere in between. Don’t worry yourself too much as it’s not all bad news and this isn’t just because the graphics are as stunning as you’d expect. The additional Horde mode and the introduction of bots are really great despite the fact that the AI of the bots can be shaky from time to time. I found it surprising when the original Gears of War didn’t come with optional bots as Epic are veterans in this area with their Unreal Tournament series and their inclusion here offers a chance to escape those annoying little shits on Xbox Live. In Horde mode you must survive wave after wave of enemies, either on your own or with the aid of a few friends, which can become very intense and a great deal of fun.

I have mixed views on Gears of Wars 2 as the co-op campaign can be a lot of fun, Horde mode and bots are welcome additions, and the graphics are sure to blow you away, but I am not willing to avoid the negatives. The regular multiplayer feels soulless and heavily based on luck, much of the good work on the campaign is let down by some embarrassingly poor levels, and your fellow cogs have a habit of standing in your way or running right past enemies and being shot in the back.

I realize that half the world’s population have already bought this game but for those who are interested and have yet to make a purchase I urge you to be wary of the hype as this game is by no means a world beater. Those “chainsaw tossers” I mentioned earlier will love this game no matter what but for those who are after a more finished article perhaps Gears of War 3 will be the answer.

7.5/10

Far Cry 2 (Xbox 360 Review)

Tue, 12 Nov 2008 22:14:59 GMT

posted by OwningXylophone

I can’t get my head around the fact that this is set in Africa and features diamonds yet for some reason Leonardo DiCaprio is nowhere to be found. Ubisoft love little more than releasing lots of games onto the market and hardly a week goes by without the release of some title with that familiar logo.

I’ve been critical of Ubisoft in the past and I felt a distinct lack of ambition in the graphical sense which was evident as they settled for an ageing Unreal engine in their sequel to Rainbow Six: Vegas. This concern was shared by Ubisoft who set about creating their own engine from the ground up and the fruits of their labour can be witnessed in Far Cry 2 which at times is simply breathtaking. The map is enormous, weighing in at a very impressive 50km2 , and the developers have succeeded in recreating the beauty of the continent from expansive mountains to arid plains.

One of the most impressive aspects of the game is how sound is used to create a wonderful atmosphere. The music will change to reflect an element of danger which creates a cinematic feel to the game and helps put you in a suitable frame of mind to deal with the situation at hand. It is the sound of wild animals which steals the show as they come together perfectly to help create that feeling of wandering around a jungle.

So far so great but this is where I start to list some of the negative things about Far Cry 2. The enemy AI can range from ridiculously poor to outrageously good. Some enemies will stand around and let you shoot them multiple times while others will swarm around your position like well trained special forces.

The addition of friends is a great idea but it needs more work. The game tries hard to be realistic and yet your friends will constantly show up to rescue your ass when you black out from taking too much damage. This is an interesting concept but how in the hell can anyone possibly explain their creepy habit of knowing when you’re in danger, not to mention reaching you in an instant, spider senses? Another thing I find lacking in your friends is that they need to be more lifelike. One of them, Flora, keeps standing around pressing buttons on her cellphone as she attempts to get a signal or something. I feel like ripping the phone from her hand and smacking her over the head with it. Perhaps I’ll just let her die the next time she’s badly wounded and needs my help, that’ll teach her!

For all the plaudits I’ve given the sound I have to say that I find the voice-over work to be very uneven. All too often I’ve felt as though I was having a conversation with some kind of monotone robot, or Keanu Reeves. I find it very difficult to truly care about a character if I find their voice to be wooden and this is disappointing since the game attempts to get an emotional response from the player.

I understand that if you shoot someone and their buddies are standing nearby you will be left with some seriously pissed off people. What I find difficult to grasp is why everyone suddenly gets so angry with me when they couldn’t possibly know that I killed their associate. Perhaps it’s those spider senses again, there seems to be a lot of it about, or maybe they felt a disturbance in the force, either way it ruins a sense of realism which the game tries so hard to create.

As a cavalry horn sounds the multiplayer saves Far Cry 2 from being a beautiful yet mediocre game. The game modes are standard issue with the usual deathmatch options plus capturing diamonds instead of flags and the default maps on offer are pretty good. It’s in the very impressive map editor that the game suddenly comes alive. I think I’m pretty good with words and I can’t quite describe how much value the map editor adds to Far Cry 2. I put Halo 3’s Forge out of my mind a long time ago but for those who haven’t I can tell you that this is the closest a console game has come to recreating what PC mods have been doing for years. I have sampled a small selection of user created maps and I’m really impressed with what this editor is capable of.

As FPS games go this is an absolutely huge game which, if you take the time to cover the whole map and finish all the side missions, will take between 60 and 100 hours to complete. I recommend this to fans of FPS games and to those who feel like flexing their creativity with the substantial map editor but keep in mind that there are areas which will hopefully be improved on for Far Cry 3.

8/10

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Sun, 17 Nov 2008 08:35:14 GMT

posted by hmansfield

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