Quick impressions after 3 days:
EA Team themes -avoid these like the plague. All they are is one photo of the teams stadium with their name imposed over it. WTH EA! Note to Microsoft.. we need previews or thats the last one of these themes/icons I buy ever.
Mutant Storm -awesome game and a great way to listen to your custom music. Number 3 game in time spent so far.
Kameo Winter pack -unlike the EA theme I actually like this. Each character gets a Christmas theme skin and the ones I've seen so far are nice, especially Kameo ooolala
PDZero -So far after about 3 hours I'm just not feeling this one (offline). The aim has a lag to it and I can't stand games that don't use VSync! Seriously, it ruins the immersion factor no matter how pretty the graphics. There's also alot of times where I'm standing there wondering who is shooting at me. Too much chaos compared to Halo I guess.
PGR 3 -Excellent, no disappointment here at all. My second most played game.
Kameo -My number one game and I almost passed on it. From the screenshots I was getting a Sudeki artwork feel which I hated. However the game is actually very nice looking and smooth as hell. Riding horseback thru thousands of orcs rocks. Plenty of puzzle type situations (think Lost Vikings on SNES) and great action are keeping me glued.
Madden -ehh, where to start. Player shape, stadiums (when they're not DOF blurred out), and lighting are great. VSync issues arise again here too although not nearly as bad as PDZ. A very bare bones first issue missing many things but also some really stupid stuff that should of been there like... Camera control: one camera or hit a button to zoom out. You zoomed out? Ut-Oh, you can't zoom back in before you snap the ball. WTF. That right there screams rush job. Less presentation value than the last-gen version. The radio announcer should be clearer also. They tried to hard and instead he sounds like some nasily guy broadcasting from the other side of the world. I should also mention that many players that don't have face scans seem to be using either Burt Reynolds face or the Unibrow guy from the OC. There's more but I'm moving on.
NBA Live -Not a basketball fan at all. Matter of fact this is the very first BBall game I've ever purchased
But, I'm having much more fun with this one than Madden and I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
Sidenote to EA: make the Fonts in your games bigger! Not everyone is using a 50" TV or sitting 6 feet away. Thank you.
Tiger Woods -Always disliked this game for two reasons.. the putting line and the over-saturated colors. Thankfully both are gone and this game looks much more professional. Course are incredibly detailed and colors are "Links-like" natural shades. As with all EA sports games, the fonts are tooooo small.
Call of Duty 2 - This is tied for 2nd in playtime. We finally get a PC calibur COD for consoles and it looks excellent too. Sound work is A+ and aiming is much better than PDZ. Between the two I'd pick this one first no hesistation.
Need For Speed MW -Nice looking game but it also suffers from Vsync issues. Again though, it's not nearly as bad as PDZ in that department. The cars and customization are great as to be expected but the police chases are actually alot more fun than I imagined. I'm a big fan of the Underground series but this ones my favorite of the three. The stylized approach they took with cut scenes adds a nice touch. If I had a complaint it's only a minor one: the games color is a bit too yellowy and damn that sun glare when you round a corner :lol
Gun - yeah, yeah I bought this. And no, I'm not sure why either. I'm only 3 missions in and having fun though. Horse riding is done very well as is the gunplay. The AA and 720p add alot to the look of the graphics and world is actually pretty nice looking. Honestly if Saints Row (another free roamer) was out I would of picked that one instead but hey, for what it is ( a short quick spruiced up port) I still like it... so far.
System problems - *shudder* I've had 2 problems so far. One being I had a freeze during the opening level of Halo 2. Neither the console or the power supply was even warm though so I dunno there. The other was something a poster above me mentioned. The only time I booted up without a game in the drive my TV complained about "No Signal". A quick reboot corrected that but again I'm not sure WTH happened there.
System positives - Love the dashboard, Live, Arcade, the whole package really. It's a great looking console that's even better looking and smaller in person. The controller is absolutly the most comfortable controller I've ever held barring one problem. My up direction on the pad makes a audible click and requires a harder press to register. Shades of PSP square button.
Never bought the original xbox until 2 years ago and my dvd tray refused to open shortly after. With that in mind and the fact that my launch PS2 has been flawless I figured I'd pick this one up at launch too. So far no regrets. Can't wait to fire up Oblivian and Saints Row next year.
