2005-11-15 09:54:16 First reviews [Upd: 20/11]

Kameo :
1up : 7.0
IGN: 8.4
Gamespot: 8.7
Gamespy: 4/5
TeamXbox: 8.8

Project Gotham Racing 3 :
1up : 10
IGN : 8.8
Gamepro : 8.0
TeamXbox : 9.4
Gamespot : 8.8

Madden NFL 06 :
IGN : 8.0
Next Level G : 8.2
TeamXbox : 8.0
Gamespot : 7.4
1up : 8.0

NBA 2K6 :
IGN : 7.8
1up : 7.0
Gamespot : 8.3
TeamXbox : 8.5

Amped 3 :
1up : 7.0
Gamespy : 3.5/10
IGN : 6.9
Gamespot : 7.6

Fifa 06: RTWC :
1up : 7.0
IGN : 6.9

Call of Duty 2 :
Totalgames : 9.4
Gamespot : 8.8
Gamepro : 10
TeamXbox : 9.0
Official Xbox Magazine US: 9.0
Next Level G : 9.2
IGN : 9.0
1up : 9.0

Need for Speed: Most Wanted :
Totalgames : 7.8
1up : 8.5
IGN : 8.0
TeamXbox : 8.3
Gamespot : 8.4

Tony Hawk: American Wasteland :
Gamepro : 9.0
IGN : 8.3
Gamespot : 6.3
TeamXbox : 7.0

GUN :
Gamepro : 9.0
Gamespy : 4/5
IGN : 7.9
Next Level G : 8.5
Gamespot : 6.4

Condemned :
Official Xbox Magazine US: 8.5
IGN : 8.7
Gamespot : 8.0
1up : 8.0

King Kong :
Official Xbox Magazine US: 9.0

NHL 2K6 :
IGN : 7.5
TeamXbox : 7.7

NBA Live 06 :
Gamepro : 7.0
1up : 7.5
IGN : 5.9
TeamXbox : 8.1

Ridge Racer 6 :
1up : 8.5

Swedish magazine Super Play reviewed Perfect Dark Zero, and gave it a 9/10. They also gave Condemned 9/10. Not that reliable.
For comparison, other scores:
Project Gotham Racing 3 - 9
Kameo - 6
FIFA 06: Road to World Cup - 7

Swedish magazine Reset reviewed Perfect Dark Zero, and gave it 7/10. They also reviewed:
Project Gotham Racing 3 - 10 (second opinion: 9)
Kameo: Elements of Power - 8 (5)
Condemned - 8

Updated: 20/11

The topic will be updated when new reviews are online.

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BlimBlim, Tyran.

2005-11-15 10:12:05

1up are really weird, three 7.0 scores (NBA2K6, Amped 3 and now Kameo) and a 10.0 (PGR3)!

The IGN and Gamespot reviews of Kameo are decidedly different aswell, with Gamespot being the most surprising as Kasavin is usually VERY strict!

2005-11-15 12:02:59

Exactly, everybody fears the Gregster. It's mind bogglingly confusing to the point of PAIN that IGN gave it 8.4 because they usually hand out 9's like candy. It's also a shocker that the game is "8 to 10 hours long" after Rare throwing numbers like 30 (!!) around for the main quest.

Anyway, Gamespot - and Greg, Jeff and Alex in particular - is where my trust lies, so I'm picking Kameo up for release.

Roll on the PDZ reviews!

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An Elegant Tapestry of Aphorisms - The musings of a brilliant self proclaimed gaming philosopher.
http://aetoa.blogspot.com

2005-11-15 12:18:11

IGN now has a NBA2K6 review up as well. They give it a 7.8 and call it the "Sadly the best basketball game on the 360".

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/666/666970p4.html

They love the player and court graphics, but are upset that the coaches look bad and that it is "the same exact game that we saw in the current generation. While 2K6 was a very good game on those consoles, we want to be blown away by our next-generation games" in reference to features and gameplay--they did not cut anything at all, but they did not add anything less the on court visuals.

One odd comment: "NBA 2K6 for the Xbox 360 is an improvement over the current-generation version, but only barely. The fact that you can only get a hint of the 360's power when you go into high-definition mode on your HD set tells me that gamers may want to think twice before throwing down the $450-plus needed to bring this particular NBA experience into their homes."

This is one of those comments that makes you smack your head. While I know that a lot of general consumers have a hard time judging graphics, let alone distinguishing between art and technology and visuals and animation, I have to laugh if they have a hard time seeing the difference in lower resolutions. The stadiums and the player models--and the fluidity of the models and unis--sticks out.

It is like watching a Lord of the Rings on TV broadcast or LotR on DVD. Yeah the DVD version looks better, but no one is going to mistake the TV broadcast CGI for the old Donkey Kong CGI cartoon! And comparing the DK CGI in HD still wont make it look better than the LotR CGI!

"That is, for the price of the premium Xbox 360 bundle and a copy of NBA 2K6 you're going to get the same game we saw two months ago on PS2 and Xbox but with slightly better player models and improved animations when you're playing on an HD display in 720p. If you're squinting you might confuse high definition NBA 2K6 for a live broadcast, but I think Xbox 360 fans can and should expect more out of developers and the hardware as we all move forward with this new console."

Slightly upgraded player models? o_o

Not only do they have superior poly counts and textures, the models have a slew of advanced graphical features being applied (ambient occlusion, haze, sweat, skin shaders, eye shaders, beaded sweat, multi source light reflections and color, etc). The game has AA, DOF, adaptive filtering, and so forth. And it also has the sexy cloth physics that give a great sense of motion and individuality--not to mention they get sweat stains in game!!

To call these slightly upgraded player models is a crime. With their comment about "expecting more" from next gen in regards to this issue is a joke. Yes, games will get better and look better, but expecting more at launch? No PC game running on top end hardware has pushed out player models as good as NBA 2K6.

We are talking about models and technology not found on current PC games or current gen Console games. They are significant upgrades over the current gen models, so I do not know what they are seeing if they think they are only slight upgrades. That definately is overstating their let down with the game.

2005-11-15 12:22:22

I'm also baffled at the fact that they go "THIS GAME IS THE SAME GAME - AND IT'S THE SAME GAME!!"

I mean what the hell?

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An Elegant Tapestry of Aphorisms - The musings of a brilliant self proclaimed gaming philosopher.
http://aetoa.blogspot.com

2005-11-15 12:31:05

Kameo :
Gamespy: 4/5

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BlimBlim, Tyran.

2005-11-15 12:42:10

ING Fools
the only thing the same is, well Basketball you throw the ball, dribble the ball then you shoot the ball.
if they carnt see the diffrence then they shouldnt be doing the job
(ps2 fanboy thats my guess lol)

2005-11-15 13:01:23

Greg Kasavin's Kameo review really shocked me.

I was expecting a 7 to come from him but he seems very happy about the game to the point that he actually said that the game was a true next generation title.

Regardless of reviews though, I am rarin to get this game! Some of the Canadian winners of the Doritos promos who got their XBOX 360's early are giving a lot of good word on this title. And all those XBOXYDE videos are enough to prove to me that it will be a fun game!

2005-11-15 16:17:22

IMO they are being a bit harsh because not only are they unable to compare these againt any other next gen platforms but also, if they hand out 9s and 10s then how can the next wave of 360 games be improved. They are starting low, then games like Brothers in Arms, Fable 2, and Halo3 can recieve the really high scores.

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Dirty South UK

2005-11-15 16:20:40

Hopefully we'll get some better indications of the length of Kameo from the people who are getting their Pepsi promotion consoles.

2005-11-15 17:04:26

I'll be honest, I always take a crapload of time to complete a game. People said PDS was 8 hours long and I spent like 17 hours before I finished it. I'm just terrible at rushing through stuff.

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An Elegant Tapestry of Aphorisms - The musings of a brilliant self proclaimed gaming philosopher.
http://aetoa.blogspot.com

2005-11-15 21:12:39

IGN review of PGR3 is up:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/667/667076p3.html

2005-11-15 22:05:11

Some of these reviews are jokes. At IGN they complain about the 360 NBA 2K6 being the same as the Xbox NBA 2K6. For christ's sake, it's the same damn game!

2005-11-15 22:09:03

Looks like call of duty and PGR3 are the ones to get at the mo. I'm also looking forward to the PDZ and NBA live reviews.

8.8 for PGR3 is a surprise, but I guess it gives some room for improvement.

P.S can you link any videos reviews if you find them. They are so much easier than reading. Game spot has a kameo one, and IGN has a PGR3 one. Thanks

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Dirty South UK

2005-11-15 22:39:37

IGN are being anal for the sake of being anal it seems. They have issues that never were issues in the past. PGR3 seems to be marked down for at its core being PGR2, but with that logic, how the hell did MGS2 manage 9.fuck knows what?

So yeah, I think they've plain made up their minds about being extremely harsh and mention "expect more" and "next gen" a whole bunch.

I'm just gonna wait for Gamespot to review the lot.

---
An Elegant Tapestry of Aphorisms - The musings of a brilliant self proclaimed gaming philosopher.
http://aetoa.blogspot.com

2005-11-15 22:43:43 In reply to SimonM7 (2005-11-15 22:39:37)

That is messed up. They may be right about it being similar to PGR2, i mean they have played it. But how can you change the gameplay, you can't exactly make it free roaming or include nitros. PGR is the way it is, and from what i've seen, it looks a hell of a lot more fun than the previous titles.

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Dirty South UK

2005-11-15 22:48:54 In reply to BlimBlim (2005-11-15 09:54:16)

hey blim can total games be trusted when it comes to reviews?

because they say its 32 players online... and ign claims its only 8 online with 16 on LAN

2005-11-15 22:49:36 In reply to Scarface (2005-11-15 22:43:43)

STUNTS!!!!!!

2005-11-15 23:02:12 In reply to Slabs (2005-11-15 22:49:36)

Don't get me started on stuntman. One of favourite games of all time.

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Dirty South UK

2005-11-16 01:25:46 In reply to Scarface (2005-11-15 22:43:43)

Yeah I agree..its like trying to change Gran Turismo...it doesn't really happen, they just add more to it. Which maybe thats what they mean, maybe they mean PGR3 doesn't have much added to it besides the graphics and stuff like that. Who knows...I'd have to play it for myself.

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What the deuce?!

2005-11-16 04:21:00

Madden...got the shaft? How about the consumers got the shaft when EA took away the right of Visual Concepts to make NFL games.

2005-11-16 04:27:01 In reply to Ronsauce (2005-11-16 04:21:00)

Madden has is a winner...since way back on the computer....the NFL knows this...so they went with a winner...im not saying VC isn't a hot team...i mean i loved them when I was rocking my Dreamcast in 2001, but I was referring to the score they recieved about getting an 8...! But, I can tell you are upset about something Ron...! Dunno....but a lot of cats don't like EA...but ppl gotta remeber it Tiburon putting the product together for the most part...!

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"I'm you Huckleberry!"

2005-11-16 04:47:16 In reply to AntLynn72 (2005-11-16 04:27:01)

I'm pretty sure they went with whoever coughed up the cash :)

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Doh!!

2005-11-16 05:10:15 In reply to AntLynn72 (2005-11-16 04:27:01)

[quote=AntLynn72]


Madden has is a winner...since way back on the computer....the NFL knows this...so they went with a winner...im not saying VC isn't a hot team...


Wow... i can tell you did not play NFL 2k5... EA was affraid that the 2k series was going to take over.. because it was a better game... looked a hell lot better and was fun... hence why they steal all the ideas from it... madden is great.. but the NFL went with EA because they had the cash... ea felt it was better to get rid of the compitition...