At the 4th Hour -- Bionic Commando

This is a new segment, where we review a game after playing for it 4 hours. After 4 hours of game play, we feel that you can understand the basic mechanics and direction the game is taking.

Today, we are talking about Bionic Commando. You start out as Nathan Spencer, an ex government operative, those services are required again, by the government that had imprisoned him. A bomb has been detonated in Ascension City, and Nathan need to find the cause.

The gameplay is actually quite good, with you bionic arm, you can traverse great lengths, and it actually feels good to chain a few of these together. The game isn't an open sandbox as first thought, you move from point to point. The shooting aspect isn't the main focus, and this shows when you use the automatic weapons, the heavy weapons are impressive. The main focus is your arm, which you can use as a weapon.

The level design, is well detailed and very impressive. You traverse through a city, sewer, forest and building structures.

The sound is great, with the voice acting of Mike Patton, (The Darkness -- Jackie Estacado). The sound affects are also good, this includes the bionic arm.

Overall the game, is well worth the play, just be prepared for loading screens, it is a must to install this to you 360, as the load screens become very annoying, between areas and when you die.

I will be finishing the game

Gameplay = 7.8
Visuals = 7.9
Sound = 7.5
Game Now Score = 7.7/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Review

The usual trend these days, is an action or kids movie comes out, out comes a game. Wolverine can stand with it's head held high, as it rises above the standard movie game, released in the last few years.

Wolverine has delivered with an ultra violent fight scenes, and excellent game play. There is also a great variety of the enemy's and bosses to fight. The usual weak and strong attack combo's are here and well as a nice block/counter system, gives you a chance to see more ultra violent "quick kills". A very nice feature is the lunge attack, allows to move turn the fight on it's head. Then there is the special moves, once you build rage. All very nice ideas.

The level details are very good, from the jungle to the sentinel factory. You will need to hop/climb/push and fight your way through. There are sometimes clipping issues, and camera problems, but they quickly forgotten, when you come up against a fully functioning sentinel.

The sound is a problem here, often I would need to turn the volume up, during the voice acting. I also enjoyed that Hugh provided the voice acting for his own character.

Wolverine is great, if you are looking for a game which you can pick up and play. The entire game took me about 10 hours to play, but it may make it back into my console, to be completed on hard.

Gameplay = 8.5
Visuals = 8
Sound = 7
Game Now Score = 7.8/10