Get an extra £20 off Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360 when you buy the game from Amazon.co.uk with any of the Xbox 360 consoles shown below. With an Xbox 360, you can experience the thrill of visiting Liberty City and playing Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer with your friends on Xbox LIVE.

To receive your £20 discount, add the game and a console to your shopping basket, and use promotional code GTA4LESS at checkout. Here's how. (terms and conditions apply). And remember these items can be delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery (see details and conditions).

What does the American Dream mean today?

For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity. As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don't.

Beginning with the 1997 release of the original Grand Theft Auto, the GTA series has been one of the most prolific, controversial and down right entertaining franchises in video games history. This pedigree of success guarantees that the highly anticipated eleventh game in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, will garner at least as much attention if not more.

Return to Liberty City.

The dream as Niko expected it. View larger.

There's always a catch. View larger.

But some skills are international. View larger.

The Plot
Grand Theft Auto IV is a brand new adventure in the GTA universe following the experiences of Nikolai "Niko" Bellic, a new immigrant from an undisclosed eastern European country whose troubled pa st and the persuasion of his cousin Roman have brought him to the fictional Liberty City. Unfortunately, Niko's search for the American Dream and a much needed fresh start, hits an immediate snag when the rags to riches story Roman spun to pique Niko's interest is exposed as not only a complete fabrication, but a ploy to enlist Niko's well-known skills as a tough guy against the ample list of enemies clamouring for Roman's debt-ridden blood.

Because Roman is the only person Niko knows in Liberty City he begrudgingly accepts his role as Roman's protector despite the deception. But as time goes on Niko comes into his own, and his experience on the wrong side of the tracks proves more valuable than he could have ever imagined as he fights for survival and later supremacy on the crime ridden streets of Liberty City.

Game Environments
Based on several of the boroughs of New York City and parts of New Jersey, Liberty City, familiar to players of previous games in the series, has been entirely redesigned for GTA IV. Players can expect visible detail down to the weeds growing in the cracks in the sidewalk, cars and buildings of visibly different ages and a much greater level if verticality in the buildings and bridges that they are able to explore as Niko moves through the city streets. In addition, pedestrians in GTA IV are much more realistic. No longer simply moving cardboard cut-outs, these NPCs are intelligent, modern, human representations that laugh, cry, eat, drink, use cell phones and ATMs, and talking amongst themselves regardless of Niko's interaction with them.

Gameplay
Historically GTA games have focused heavily on mission-based play, requiring successful completion of fixed tasks in order for players to progress through the game, but this has changed to a great extent in GTA IV. Players will experience an entirely new and exciting emphasis centred on the blending of on-mission and off-mission play, resulting not only in an increased sense of realism, but more interesting and unrestricted gameplay.

Features
Aside from the car jacking and a detailed city environment here are the new features for GTA IV:

• Improved combat system - Now you can use cover and also a target lock system, which allows you to take out targets with greater ease and accuracy. Plus, you can engage in some hand-to-hand combat if you can't get your hands on a piece quick enough.
• Cell phone - Not just for basic phone calls anymore. Use your in-game cell phone to receive missions via SMS, snap photos, and ZiT (tag) songs that can be downloaded exclusively on Amazon.com/mp3.
• Free time - In between missions you can take advantage of "me" time. There are gentleman's clubs, comedy clubs, bowling alleys, and bars, which all house unique activities.
• Take a break from the storyline - A variety of side missions allow you to help run a car service, "borrow" cop cars, assassinate targets, help solve problems for those on the street, or take to the air with stunt jumps that are scattered all over the city.
• Control your own fate - Throughout the game choice moments will arrive causing you to make a decision that will affect relationships and money.

Multiplayer
Give Niko a rest and create your own multiplayer "hero." GTA has added multiplayer modes allowing you to take your creation out to play online in competitive, co-op, and free form modes. Competitive mode has you fighting against the cops, jacking cars, or racing to finish odd jobs. Co-op challenges you and your friends with various tasks including Hangman's NOOSE where you are responsible for escorting a wanted kingpin to a safe extraction point. Freeform lets you and 15 others lose on Liberty City. Use this mode to hit up the bar and play virtual darts versus each other or head out to the streets and set up your own drag races. If you can dream it, you can do it in Freeform mode.

A masterpiece in hype, 15 Aug 2008
Choppy framerates and boring missions. still full of the annoying "quirks" that have plagued previous incarnations, such as awkward aiming.
an average, over-hyped game.

Nothing special, 13 Aug 2008
Oh dear, this game sports a dissapointing framerate, uninspiring visuals and a distinct lack of originality. The amount of fun features has been cut down from san andreas and the violence has been toned down; the blood looks like grey paint. Dissapointing.

Different, but better, 05 Aug 2008
Now, you may agree or disagree with my title but for me it was a better game. There were just certain things which made it feel like a much more solid product than the other GTAs. I remember when I played the 1st GTA, it was quite fun though it never felt like a very grown up game, this one feels like it's more for the guys rather than the boys.

Graphics: It's not hard to see that this is the best looking Grand Theft Auto title produced, everything looks more solid than any of the others and the bullet holes and scrapes on the cars helps to make them look more real.

Story: Another strong point of GTAIV, the story has a more gritty feel to it as such and (I don't think I need to explain it since it has been already several times) yet again feels more like a real story rather than the more fictional ones of the past, though it does present the game with a problem.

Gameplay: For me, my idea of fun in a game wasn't racing around in a ambulance or a taxi, it was more about the more basic things such as how the cars handled and how combat was. It's good and bad news on this front. Get a decent car and the handling is pretty good (In the beginning it is a problem but it is easier to get use to I found) but it can be annoying at the start and some of the car chases are annoying later on. The combat has too been improved quite a bit though still isn't trouble free, I found hand to hand combat more awkward this time so never really bothered with it and the lock on sometimes doesn't do what it should.

Audio: The music is good with a large variety of styles for all different tastes, however I got quite fed up of it as the radio stations seem to be shorter than they use to be. The voice casting is really good and does help the story to be one of it's strongest points.

Lifespan: Now, this is probably GTAIV's main problem. Extra chapters will be available sometime in 2009 however could I see myself keeping this game for that long? Probably not, since there isn't much else to do other than the story and get more money which you really don't need, and money is what proves a weakness in the story. I find it hard to see Niko as a poor, Russian immigrant who kills people as he has no other options when he has $500,000 in his bank account. I think having large amounts of money to go missing from it would help to make the story more believeable since he claims Roman gambles it all away and this would help to make you more careful with what weapons you buy with your money.

Also, making it so that you can put 9mm bullets into a Desert Eagle means there is no reason to be careful with ammo and no reason to buy it, it is quite an old problem with the GTA series but it would help to flesh out the combat a bit more than just being able to blind fire with a Desert Eagle for ages.

All in all, a good game though to an extent a disappointing one. It can be difficult to get into, but it can be worth it if you stick it out, it's just a shame that it's lost out on part of it's soul (the ambulance and taxi missions weren't exactly my favorite missions, though I appreciated why they were there) as it could have appealed to the boys and the guys/men. Would I suggest buying it? Possibly not, maybe a rental then buy it if you really like it.

Well Made But Just Didn't Grab Me, 05 Aug 2008
There's no doubt that a lot of work went into this game. The graphics and sound are both very good and the game is a highly polished, slick affair. It's also very funny, although in an un-relentingly cynical way. The game world is big and gives you the freedom to do pretty much what ever you want.

The thing is, the game just didn't really grab my attention. There's something about it I just found a bit ... well, dull really. The missions mainly seemed to boil down to driving somewhere, watching a cut scene and then driving back. It's fun to go on the rampage the first couple of times but that gets tiresome pretty quickly.

It's certainly not a bad game, and as far as production values go it's great, but is wasn't for me.

Rockafella, 01 Aug 2008
There are a few reasons why GTA4 is different from its predecessors. Firstly, the whole thing seems darker and moodier; generally more serious. Secondly, the graphics are better. The reflections in the puddles, the crash damage to vehicles and the cut-scenes are all excellent. The lighting is great, and looking down at the weather and the sunrise across the city from a vantage point is great. Thirdly, the car controls have been tweaked to perfection, very responsive but not overly twitchy. I consider all these good points.

The bad points are that the game still suffers from the same problems as all the others. The awful, awful camera angles when running, for example, leads to you getting shot and killed by someone in big shootouts standing around a corner because the clunky controls don't let you move fast enough to hide yourself. Another issue I have with it is that too many of the missions are the same content-wise. I lost count of how many times I had to go and empty a warehouse of bad guys in order to pick something up and return with it. Missions like this become a chore, and when you are only playing in order to finish the game and not out of enjoyment, then the game has lost you.

Luckily, enough of it has been tweaked to make it a lot of fun on its own, even if you ignore the missions. The city is beautifully crafted, certainly their best effort yet in that department. And it's miles better than the atrocious San Andreas, which got boring after about half an hour. The addition of online play is the knockout punch. If you have a good connection it just works really well, with plenty of choice in relation to types of game and the whole open endedness of it means you're less likely on here than with other games to get those sad individuals who devote their lives to the thing and kill everyone in a single shot while hanging upside down reading a novel with one eye shut. You know the sort I mean.

Good game, fun to play but not perfect with the same problems now getting annoying. Buy it and enjoy it, but Rockstar need to start getting rid of those creases instead of ironing them out.

The Star Wars saga will continue in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a videogame developed by LucasArts, which casts players as Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice" and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The expansive story, created under direction from George Lucas, is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi - and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.

Join the Dark Side

You are Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice View larger.

Use The Force to disable your enemies View larger.

Artwork of the Jedi "Maris" View larger.

As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics™ system, these new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consoles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of anything in the environment so that everything reacts exactly like it should - wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioural-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behaviour on the fly and resulting in a different payoff every single time.


Game Features:

• During the period between Episodes III and IV, players hunt Jedi in the role of Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice.
• Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice's four core Force powers - Force push, grip, repulse and lightning - throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos.
• Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible:
  • The Secret Apprentice won't just Force push enemies into walls - he'll Force push enemies through walls.
  • The Secret Apprentice won't just Force grip foes to throw them aside - he'll Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground to explode like a bomb.
• In addition to new adversaries created just for the game, such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians, players will also confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader.
• Visit locations such as Episode III's Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility.
• The Force Unleashed is LucasArts' first internally developed title for next-generation consoles, and it represents the first in-game collaboration of talents and technology between LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic, two companies now finally under one roof at the new Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio district.
• The Force Unleashed debuts Digital Molecular Matter from Pixelux and euphoria behavioral simulation from NaturalMotion Ltd.
• LucasArts is preparing an unprecedented promotional effort around the launch of The Force Unleashed, encompassing a full line of toys and game-based action figures from Hasbro, as well as a full publishing program from Dark Horse, Del Rey and Palace Press.

Meet the Cast
The Star Wars Saga will continue in 2008 with LucasArts' biggest-ever video game event. Set during the "dark times" between Episodes III and IV, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed portrays the previously untold story of Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice -- and now you can put a face to that mysterious character as well as the major supporting cast members as LucasArts unveils the actors set to star in The Force Unleashed.

The New Technology of The Force Unleashed
With The Force Unleashed, LucasArts not only introduces a new chapter in the Star Wars saga, but also two completely new and innovative technologies -- Digital Molecular Matter by Pixelux Entertainment and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. These groundbreaking technologies combine with Havoc physics to create true next-gen gameplay and the Force like it's never been seen or experienced before.

A masterpiece in hype, 15 Aug 2008
Choppy framerates and boring missions. still full of the annoying "quirks" that have plagued previous incarnations, such as awkward aiming.
an average, over-hyped game.

Nothing special, 13 Aug 2008
Oh dear, this game sports a dissapointing framerate, uninspiring visuals and a distinct lack of originality. The amount of fun features has been cut down from san andreas and the violence has been toned down; the blood looks like grey paint. Dissapointing.

Different, but better, 05 Aug 2008
Now, you may agree or disagree with my title but for me it was a better game. There were just certain things which made it feel like a much more solid product than the other GTAs. I remember when I played the 1st GTA, it was quite fun though it never felt like a very grown up game, this one feels like it's more for the guys rather than the boys.

Graphics: It's not hard to see that this is the best looking Grand Theft Auto title produced, everything looks more solid than any of the others and the bullet holes and scrapes on the cars helps to make them look more real.

Story: Another strong point of GTAIV, the story has a more gritty feel to it as such and (I don't think I need to explain it since it has been already several times) yet again feels more like a real story rather than the more fictional ones of the past, though it does present the game with a problem.

Gameplay: For me, my idea of fun in a game wasn't racing around in a ambulance or a taxi, it was more about the more basic things such as how the cars handled and how combat was. It's good and bad news on this front. Get a decent car and the handling is pretty good (In the beginning it is a problem but it is easier to get use to I found) but it can be annoying at the start and some of the car chases are annoying later on. The combat has too been improved quite a bit though still isn't trouble free, I found hand to hand combat more awkward this time so never really bothered with it and the lock on sometimes doesn't do what it should.

Audio: The music is good with a large variety of styles for all different tastes, however I got quite fed up of it as the radio stations seem to be shorter than they use to be. The voice casting is really good and does help the story to be one of it's strongest points.

Lifespan: Now, this is probably GTAIV's main problem. Extra chapters will be available sometime in 2009 however could I see myself keeping this game for that long? Probably not, since there isn't much else to do other than the story and get more money which you really don't need, and money is what proves a weakness in the story. I find it hard to see Niko as a poor, Russian immigrant who kills people as he has no other options when he has $500,000 in his bank account. I think having large amounts of money to go missing from it would help to make the story more believeable since he claims Roman gambles it all away and this would help to make you more careful with what weapons you buy with your money.

Also, making it so that you can put 9mm bullets into a Desert Eagle means there is no reason to be careful with ammo and no reason to buy it, it is quite an old problem with the GTA series but it would help to flesh out the combat a bit more than just being able to blind fire with a Desert Eagle for ages.

All in all, a good game though to an extent a disappointing one. It can be difficult to get into, but it can be worth it if you stick it out, it's just a shame that it's lost out on part of it's soul (the ambulance and taxi missions weren't exactly my favorite missions, though I appreciated why they were there) as it could have appealed to the boys and the guys/men. Would I suggest buying it? Possibly not, maybe a rental then buy it if you really like it.

Well Made But Just Didn't Grab Me, 05 Aug 2008
There's no doubt that a lot of work went into this game. The graphics and sound are both very good and the game is a highly polished, slick affair. It's also very funny, although in an un-relentingly cynical way. The game world is big and gives you the freedom to do pretty much what ever you want.

The thing is, the game just didn't really grab my attention. There's something about it I just found a bit ... well, dull really. The missions mainly seemed to boil down to driving somewhere, watching a cut scene and then driving back. It's fun to go on the rampage the first couple of times but that gets tiresome pretty quickly.

It's certainly not a bad game, and as far as production values go it's great, but is wasn't for me.

Rockafella, 01 Aug 2008
There are a few reasons why GTA4 is different from its predecessors. Firstly, the whole thing seems darker and moodier; generally more serious. Secondly, the graphics are better. The reflections in the puddles, the crash damage to vehicles and the cut-scenes are all excellent. The lighting is great, and looking down at the weather and the sunrise across the city from a vantage point is great. Thirdly, the car controls have been tweaked to perfection, very responsive but not overly twitchy. I consider all these good points.

The bad points are that the game still suffers from the same problems as all the others. The awful, awful camera angles when running, for example, leads to you getting shot and killed by someone in big shootouts standing around a corner because the clunky controls don't let you move fast enough to hide yourself. Another issue I have with it is that too many of the missions are the same content-wise. I lost count of how many times I had to go and empty a warehouse of bad guys in order to pick something up and return with it. Missions like this become a chore, and when you are only playing in order to finish the game and not out of enjoyment, then the game has lost you.

Luckily, enough of it has been tweaked to make it a lot of fun on its own, even if you ignore the missions. The city is beautifully crafted, certainly their best effort yet in that department. And it's miles better than the atrocious San Andreas, which got boring after about half an hour. The addition of online play is the knockout punch. If you have a good connection it just works really well, with plenty of choice in relation to types of game and the whole open endedness of it means you're less likely on here than with other games to get those sad individuals who devote their lives to the thing and kill everyone in a single shot while hanging upside down reading a novel with one eye shut. You know the sort I mean.

Good game, fun to play but not perfect with the same problems now getting annoying. Buy it and enjoy it, but Rockstar need to start getting rid of those creases instead of ironing them out.

Play the demo before you buy, 28 Aug 2008
I've also downloaded the demo on xbox360, and tbh i'm a bit disappointed. Was really looking forward to this game, but half way thru the demo I was bored of the same old moves and repetitive gameplay. It looks good and it's fun at first to have the evil jedi power, but did not hold my attention long enough (not even as long as the demo for Too Human, but that's another story)

Do yourself a favour, download the demo off xbox Live and try it. Who knows you may like it!

Very good game but Not as god as the PS3 and Wii versions, 27 Aug 2008
I'm always a bit sceptical when it comes to games based on the Star Wars franchise. For every Knights of the Old Republic there is a Bounty Hunter that ruins it. I'm a big Star Wars fan and even the terrible games I enjoy for their story. Star Wars has had a pretty easy ride recently with the succesfull KOTOR, Battlefront and Lego games. Which is why I was a bit worried about the development of The Force Unleashed. The game seemed to have a large amount of amibition with the new physics systems and bridging story.

Upon starting the game the menus seemed very basic. But once the game kicked off I was very surprised. The way it makes you feel like a powerful sith is impressive. Combining force powers opens up lots of options to defeat your foes. The first I tried was lifting someone, then shocking them and throwing them back at their allies so he can shock all of them too. The controls are very simple and easy to pick up. You will feel like a powerful Jedi very quickly. Therewas a quick time event at the end of the level where you can cut an AT-ST in half and split it in 2 using force push.

The graphics were vey good and very authentic. Star Wars has always been recognised by its atistic style and this doesnt dissapoint.

One thing I should mention is how inferior the Xbox 360 version is to the PS3 version. The PS3 version has much better details, colours, framerate, resolution, particle effects, cinema videos and sound. The sound is in DTS on the PS3 version. If you have a home cinema system the sound of the lightsaber and explosions sound fantastic. The bass is rich and the music score fits right in. The Xbox 360 version sounds weak. Its almost as of a wasp is humming in your room rather then the deep buzz in the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version also suffers from screen tear (v sync). This is where the top half of the picture is out of sync with the bottom and a line appears half way down the screen. Its very off putting. There is also a slight pause between animations on the Xbox 360 which can be off putting when doing combos. The PS3 version flows perfectly while the Xbox 360 version seems jerky. I am well aware that a few Xbox 360 fanboys will dispute this but I own every system and I am unbiased.

Overall I would rate each version in this order: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, Nintendo DS. If you have more than 1 system feel free to use this as a way to decide which version to get.

Not a review just some info , 25 Aug 2008
As it says this isn't a review as the real game has'nt been released yet but just some infomation on the demo I downloaded off of xbox live. Like other star wars games where u have restricted moves and combos to perform and perfect, this game has many and of what I have played of the demo you unlock soo much more, putting different combos together to perform a destruction of attacks, it also makes it more fun because you play as one of the dark side so it gives you more freedom to do as you like when you like, pickin up storm troopers and dangling them in there air helplessly as they beg for there lives is quite funny, and as you may be wondering if you can constantly use the force without worrying if it is goin to run out on you well you don't have to worry any more, your energy bar contains alot and it soon feels up almost instantly so you can have the maximum amount of fun force pushing enemies nd pickin up large objects even ships and usin them to your advantage to cause destruction and mayhem, also during the game you pick up increased damage powerups and unlimited force so theres almost no hope for the opposition who comes in contact with you. Overall the game in my opinion is worth checking out if you have an xbox 360 and have live then give the demo a try you might enjoy it.

The Halo games were always the best reason to by an Xbox and now the final part in the initial trilogy of ground breaking first person shooters is set to raise the bar for all Xbox 360 games. Well known for their secrecy, Bungie have officially revealed little about Halo 3, but what is known is that the new game features an Earth completely overtaken and controlled by the Covenant, as they seek a secret hidden Forerunner weapon.

Although little is known about the single player mode, more has been seen of the multiplayer, with various beta testing schemes going on in both secret and in public. A number of new weapons and vehicles have already been revealed including a new assault rifle, the new Spartan laser anti-vehicle weapon and a new hand held shield device for Master Chief that can create a far more effective protective shield around you. New vehicles include the ATV-like Mongoose, a new variant of the Warthog and the new, more powerful, Brute Ghost.

Of course the most important new feature that every new fan is interested in is the graphics, and they are looking predictably fantastic. With lots of technobabble, new features like high dynamic range lightning and pre-computed radiance transfer means the game will not only play great but looks amazing too.
HARRISON DENTThe epic saga continues with Halo 3, the hugely anticipated sequel to the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. In this third chapter of the Halo trilogy, Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax. Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogy?an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more

A masterpiece in hype, 15 Aug 2008
Choppy framerates and boring missions. still full of the annoying "quirks" that have plagued previous incarnations, such as awkward aiming.
an average, over-hyped game.

Nothing special, 13 Aug 2008
Oh dear, this game sports a dissapointing framerate, uninspiring visuals and a distinct lack of originality. The amount of fun features has been cut down from san andreas and the violence has been toned down; the blood looks like grey paint. Dissapointing.

Different, but better, 05 Aug 2008
Now, you may agree or disagree with my title but for me it was a better game. There were just certain things which made it feel like a much more solid product than the other GTAs. I remember when I played the 1st GTA, it was quite fun though it never felt like a very grown up game, this one feels like it's more for the guys rather than the boys.

Graphics: It's not hard to see that this is the best looking Grand Theft Auto title produced, everything looks more solid than any of the others and the bullet holes and scrapes on the cars helps to make them look more real.

Story: Another strong point of GTAIV, the story has a more gritty feel to it as such and (I don't think I need to explain it since it has been already several times) yet again feels more like a real story rather than the more fictional ones of the past, though it does present the game with a problem.

Gameplay: For me, my idea of fun in a game wasn't racing around in a ambulance or a taxi, it was more about the more basic things such as how the cars handled and how combat was. It's good and bad news on this front. Get a decent car and the handling is pretty good (In the beginning it is a problem but it is easier to get use to I found) but it can be annoying at the start and some of the car chases are annoying later on. The combat has too been improved quite a bit though still isn't trouble free, I found hand to hand combat more awkward this time so never really bothered with it and the lock on sometimes doesn't do what it should.

Audio: The music is good with a large variety of styles for all different tastes, however I got quite fed up of it as the radio stations seem to be shorter than they use to be. The voice casting is really good and does help the story to be one of it's strongest points.

Lifespan: Now, this is probably GTAIV's main problem. Extra chapters will be available sometime in 2009 however could I see myself keeping this game for that long? Probably not, since there isn't much else to do other than the story and get more money which you really don't need, and money is what proves a weakness in the story. I find it hard to see Niko as a poor, Russian immigrant who kills people as he has no other options when he has $500,000 in his bank account. I think having large amounts of money to go missing from it would help to make the story more believeable since he claims Roman gambles it all away and this would help to make you more careful with what weapons you buy with your money.

Also, making it so that you can put 9mm bullets into a Desert Eagle means there is no reason to be careful with ammo and no reason to buy it, it is quite an old problem with the GTA series but it would help to flesh out the combat a bit more than just being able to blind fire with a Desert Eagle for ages.

All in all, a good game though to an extent a disappointing one. It can be difficult to get into, but it can be worth it if you stick it out, it's just a shame that it's lost out on part of it's soul (the ambulance and taxi missions weren't exactly my favorite missions, though I appreciated why they were there) as it could have appealed to the boys and the guys/men. Would I suggest buying it? Possibly not, maybe a rental then buy it if you really like it.

Well Made But Just Didn't Grab Me, 05 Aug 2008
There's no doubt that a lot of work went into this game. The graphics and sound are both very good and the game is a highly polished, slick affair. It's also very funny, although in an un-relentingly cynical way. The game world is big and gives you the freedom to do pretty much what ever you want.

The thing is, the game just didn't really grab my attention. There's something about it I just found a bit ... well, dull really. The missions mainly seemed to boil down to driving somewhere, watching a cut scene and then driving back. It's fun to go on the rampage the first couple of times but that gets tiresome pretty quickly.

It's certainly not a bad game, and as far as production values go it's great, but is wasn't for me.

Rockafella, 01 Aug 2008
There are a few reasons why GTA4 is different from its predecessors. Firstly, the whole thing seems darker and moodier; generally more serious. Secondly, the graphics are better. The reflections in the puddles, the crash damage to vehicles and the cut-scenes are all excellent. The lighting is great, and looking down at the weather and the sunrise across the city from a vantage point is great. Thirdly, the car controls have been tweaked to perfection, very responsive but not overly twitchy. I consider all these good points.

The bad points are that the game still suffers from the same problems as all the others. The awful, awful camera angles when running, for example, leads to you getting shot and killed by someone in big shootouts standing around a corner because the clunky controls don't let you move fast enough to hide yourself. Another issue I have with it is that too many of the missions are the same content-wise. I lost count of how many times I had to go and empty a warehouse of bad guys in order to pick something up and return with it. Missions like this become a chore, and when you are only playing in order to finish the game and not out of enjoyment, then the game has lost you.

Luckily, enough of it has been tweaked to make it a lot of fun on its own, even if you ignore the missions. The city is beautifully crafted, certainly their best effort yet in that department. And it's miles better than the atrocious San Andreas, which got boring after about half an hour. The addition of online play is the knockout punch. If you have a good connection it just works really well, with plenty of choice in relation to types of game and the whole open endedness of it means you're less likely on here than with other games to get those sad individuals who devote their lives to the thing and kill everyone in a single shot while hanging upside down reading a novel with one eye shut. You know the sort I mean.

Good game, fun to play but not perfect with the same problems now getting annoying. Buy it and enjoy it, but Rockstar need to start getting rid of those creases instead of ironing them out.

Play the demo before you buy, 28 Aug 2008
I've also downloaded the demo on xbox360, and tbh i'm a bit disappointed. Was really looking forward to this game, but half way thru the demo I was bored of the same old moves and repetitive gameplay. It looks good and it's fun at first to have the evil jedi power, but did not hold my attention long enough (not even as long as the demo for Too Human, but that's another story)

Do yourself a favour, download the demo off xbox Live and try it. Who knows you may like it!

Very good game but Not as god as the PS3 and Wii versions, 27 Aug 2008
I'm always a bit sceptical when it comes to games based on the Star Wars franchise. For every Knights of the Old Republic there is a Bounty Hunter that ruins it. I'm a big Star Wars fan and even the terrible games I enjoy for their story. Star Wars has had a pretty easy ride recently with the succesfull KOTOR, Battlefront and Lego games. Which is why I was a bit worried about the development of The Force Unleashed. The game seemed to have a large amount of amibition with the new physics systems and bridging story.

Upon starting the game the menus seemed very basic. But once the game kicked off I was very surprised. The way it makes you feel like a powerful sith is impressive. Combining force powers opens up lots of options to defeat your foes. The first I tried was lifting someone, then shocking them and throwing them back at their allies so he can shock all of them too. The controls are very simple and easy to pick up. You will feel like a powerful Jedi very quickly. Therewas a quick time event at the end of the level where you can cut an AT-ST in half and split it in 2 using force push.

The graphics were vey good and very authentic. Star Wars has always been recognised by its atistic style and this doesnt dissapoint.

One thing I should mention is how inferior the Xbox 360 version is to the PS3 version. The PS3 version has much better details, colours, framerate, resolution, particle effects, cinema videos and sound. The sound is in DTS on the PS3 version. If you have a home cinema system the sound of the lightsaber and explosions sound fantastic. The bass is rich and the music score fits right in. The Xbox 360 version sounds weak. Its almost as of a wasp is humming in your room rather then the deep buzz in the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version also suffers from screen tear (v sync). This is where the top half of the picture is out of sync with the bottom and a line appears half way down the screen. Its very off putting. There is also a slight pause between animations on the Xbox 360 which can be off putting when doing combos. The PS3 version flows perfectly while the Xbox 360 version seems jerky. I am well aware that a few Xbox 360 fanboys will dispute this but I own every system and I am unbiased.

Overall I would rate each version in this order: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, Nintendo DS. If you have more than 1 system feel free to use this as a way to decide which version to get.

Not a review just some info , 25 Aug 2008
As it says this isn't a review as the real game has'nt been released yet but just some infomation on the demo I downloaded off of xbox live. Like other star wars games where u have restricted moves and combos to perform and perfect, this game has many and of what I have played of the demo you unlock soo much more, putting different combos together to perform a destruction of attacks, it also makes it more fun because you play as one of the dark side so it gives you more freedom to do as you like when you like, pickin up storm troopers and dangling them in there air helplessly as they beg for there lives is quite funny, and as you may be wondering if you can constantly use the force without worrying if it is goin to run out on you well you don't have to worry any more, your energy bar contains alot and it soon feels up almost instantly so you can have the maximum amount of fun force pushing enemies nd pickin up large objects even ships and usin them to your advantage to cause destruction and mayhem, also during the game you pick up increased damage powerups and unlimited force so theres almost no hope for the opposition who comes in contact with you. Overall the game in my opinion is worth checking out if you have an xbox 360 and have live then give the demo a try you might enjoy it.

You need Xbox Live to really get your money's worth., 26 Aug 2008
When you buy Halo 3 I seriously recommend having a subscription to Xbox Live set up or in the process of being set up. I promise you that you will become bored of story mode very quickly after fanatically completing it on Normal, Heroic, Legendary and Metagame for the gamerscore (if you are a gamerscore whore such as myself). Halo 3 story mode is no different from any other Halo. It is just as mediocre as Halo 2's campaign in my opinion.

The addition of cool new features like Forge and Theatre mode offer players huge oppertunities to play the game they want and that's no just me kissing up to Bungie. You could spend hours altering maps, adding your own touch to the pre-programmed maps as well as the downloadable content or taking cool screenshots and video clips from both story and online gameplay, allowing you to look back at past games and (if you are very enthusiastic about your style) analyse your games and where you keep making mistakes. Halo 3 is also provided with excellent online backup from Bungie.net allowing players to view their character on the site as well as their online stats such as percentages of weapon usage, medal chests displaying the number of medals earned online and Heatmaps showing players where their kills are made and where they die the most in games online.

Online gaming is what really makes Halo 3 one of the best games ever though. Although there are plenty of other games with online capablities Halo has a certain feel about it that just sets it apart from other games in the genre. Maybe it is the huge variety of playlists (new ones added for weekend events), the chance to play Social matches in which players are allowed to have upto 3 guests all playing through one Xbox online or the huge appeal to many to earn the rank of General in Ranked playlists I do not know but one thing I do know is that without Xbox Live I would have gotten rid of Halo 3 months ago.

failo 3!, 14 Aug 2008
in my opinion this game is missing something and i just cant get engrossed. although i havent played halo 2 and halo 1 i imagined i would be writing a 5 star review right now.before i got an xbox 360 my mates were creating so much hype around this game and i personaly just cant see why. i have completed 6 levels but since i have purchased some other games halo has taken a back seat. but dont get me wrong this game is definatly worth purchasing and still has some major appeal and, after all it is the game you associate with the mighty xbox 360... Tom

Halo 2.5, 08 Aug 2008
When I first got my Xbox back in 2002 it came with a game called Halo. To this day Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the best FPS games I have ever played and comes in my top ten of best games ever. Halo had it all! Great story, amazing graphics, hard core AI, fantastic level design etc etc you get the idea of where I am going with this.

Then Halo 2 came along in 2004 and to say I was hyped for this game would be a gross understatement but unfortunately when I got my hands on the game it turned out to be utter crap! Maybe utter crap is a little harsh because it did have it's moments but it just seemed like a huge step down. The level design was poor, the AI seemed basic, the story was a mess and overall it just felt like I was playing any run-of-the-mill FPS game.

Now we get onto Halo 3 and where do I start? First I would like to say I can not believe how many people are giving this game glowing reviews! When I picked up my copy I had doubts that it would be any good after the mess that was Halo 2 but I thought Bungie may have learned from past mistakes and maybe this would even surpass Halo 1. I thought wrong! The game has the same flaws as Halo 2 but this time with better graphics. The story is laughable with plot holes my 5 month old son can see through, The AI is basic, The level design is so bland and boring it makes me feel sick, the graphics are very very poor and really in a nut shell this game just sucks. IT has the same faults as Halo 2 so really the Halo 3 is just Halo 2 with a lick of HD paint. Halo 3 also has a online multiplayer mode but the less said about this the better as every match is full of young cocky kids shouting there mouths off and letting you know how much you suck. Buy Halo 3 at your own risk

More of the same, but still lacking something, 03 Aug 2008
Okay, so I've played Halo:CE and Halo 2 to death since launch, and waited in anticipation for Halo 3 after the disappointing cliffhanger at the end of Halo 2. Unfortunately, the game doesn't feel like it was worth the wait.

The graphics in Halo 3 are actually very good, they still look great next to graphical powerhouses such as Gears of War but it's important to remember that fancy graphics can only take you so far. Halo 3 really doesn't feel like anything massively new; sure, there's nice new pieces of kit such as the Bubble Shield and Power Drainer, but these just feel pointless and irrelevant when you view the rest of the game in context. It's like Bungie just slapped more icing on top of the same, bland cake with the dull recipe that you've eaten thousands of times before. The single player campaign is good (albeit linear and, as some have argued, a tad too short although I didn't find it so) but be warned; without giving any spoilers away you'll have a nasty feeling of deja-vu when you reach the final mission and play through that and you may end up joining me in gaining the impression that Bungie have got lazy.

However, Halo 2's excellent little addition, the online multiplayer... well, that's still there in Halo 3 but I can't say it's really improved. Granted there are less people modding, cheating and hacking as well as using glitches, but the whole experience just feels stale, dated and the default maps are just plain awful. It's no wonder that, out of the seven brand new downloadable maps that are now available, about five or six of them are remakes from the older Halo games because those maps were just plain better. Another glaring problem is that there were balance issues from Halo 2... well, Bungie have listened; the weapons are now so balanced that it's nearly impossible to kill anyone with anything at all, no joke. The whole game revolves around fire assault rifle, run in, beat down, rinse and repeat, the fast paced, frantic action from Halo 2 has been replaced with a simple matter of running around until you see an enemy and then cross your fingers. Bungie even released a patch for the melee system so that there is now no way of predicting whatsoever who will actually die first (if at all) and what will happen afterwards, it's a complete cop-out and ruins everything. The overbalanced weapons are mitigated by the ludicrously overpowered UNSC rocket launcher which will kill anything in a ten-billion mile radius in one indirect hit, or the just-plain-annoying Energy Sword - as the other weapons aren't powerful enough, it's near impossible to kill anyone who's carrying said sword because the sword attack allows for an epic, unavoidable lunge forward; the sword kills in one hit, so I think you can see where this is leading. This was a problem in Halo 2 as well but at least the exciting variety in weapons and maps somehow made it less irritating.

Also, the matchmaking and ranking system isn't as solid as Halo 2. Halo 3 will happily churn out the same gametypes over and over and over again, people will use the newly added veto option and the game and map combination will be rejected. However, it'll immediately be replaced with something ten times worse; it would be nice to be given both options at the same time and pick one of them, the option with most votes wins. Failing this, at least a simple preview of what the next selection post-veto will be would be nice. The gametypes on Halo 3 are none too impressive either seeing as half of them involve sniper rifles, it gets very boring and very old very quickly indeed, added to this the Lone Wolves ranked free-for-all playlist is the worst FFA playlist I have ever seen in all my long years of gaming. The ranking system is also not as solid, it is easier to level up but at the same time the new skill system is brutal; it takes you about six or seven won matches in a row to level up, but it can take you back down the same level after losing just one. It's horrible, unfair and uncompetitive and I don't quite know what Bungie were trying to do here besides creating an n-tier system.

In conclusion, this game is a step forward in single player, but the multiplayer may leave you a good bit disappointed, I'm afraid to say.

Halo 3 the NOT so good., 03 Aug 2008
Now i have been playig halo since the first one came out so before i continue dont say " your an idiot and dont understand how to play or you dont know anythink". Halo 3 Storymode for instance yes the graphics arnt bad but if you actually go up to the AI and see there face its about as detailed as a ps2 game, not to mention every 15 minutes into a level you get a silly computer woman "cortana" in your face on screen shouting at you. After this happens for the fith time you feel like snapping the disc. The guns well first off the assault rifle in halo 3 sounds like a pea shooter firing pellets, compared to the assault rifle in halo 1 the on in halo 3 is aload of rubbish.The weapons ARE Dull.



Now for the Mulitplayer.

Yes this game has a good multiplayer to last err 1 month or 2 but after that you realise how boring it is. Its not fun. The guns feel more effective when used as clubs whacking senslessly at one another. Running at each other firing the pea shooter then its a matter of who presses B first. And then you will get sick of the BR because if you arnt good with the "BR" then you will pretty much get killed on every one on one you have. Also most people online halo 3 are very aggressive and, ULTIMATLEY its alod of KAK online and to sum it up its a matter of who gets the big gun first and little kids ARGUING and TEAM KILLING over the Energy Sword or Shotgun, Rocket Launcher etc.
I could go on but its just alod of babies wearing tight space suits whacking each other with guns.

Embrace the competitive spirit of the world's most prestigious sporting event and represent your country and bring home the gold

Appearing on next gen consoles for the first time, Beijing 2008 delivers an entertaining and immersive Olympic experience. The superior graphics capture the fine emotional detail of each event where a fraction of a second means the difference between winning and losing. The Innovative game mechanics challenge a player's time, speed and co-ordination. Compete for glory with up to seven friends online; strive to break records as you lead your country to victory. This summer show your patriotism and bring home the gold!

38 Official Events: Across ten Olympic disciplines, represent the country of your choice and compete for honour in Track and Field, Aquatics, Gymnastics, Cycling, Judo, Table tennis, Kayaking and many more.

In depth Career and Competition modes: Organise your daily schedule and customize your chosen team with agility, power, stamina and speed for competition in over 38 events. Or in competition mode participate with up to three friends in either a single or multi-event challenge.

Innovative Gameplay Mechanics: Use a variety of controls across all the events including a time based system where timing, power and angle are essential, rhythm based play that requires skill of increasing and maintaining speed, and a targeting system to assist in aiming.

Global Online Competition: Choose your country and become a member of the Olympic team and face challenges from across all nations. A multitude of online features such as exhibition events, ghost times and leader boards will allow players to prove themselves before the world.

Capturing the Olympic Spirit: The official video game of the Beijing Olympics 2008 offers full branding, realistic recreations of the official Olympic stadiums. The game offers you a chance to soak up the atmosphere of this prestigious worldwide and bring home the gold!

Tagline: One World, One Dream, One Game

A masterpiece in hype, 15 Aug 2008
Choppy framerates and boring missions. still full of the annoying "quirks" that have plagued previous incarnations, such as awkward aiming.
an average, over-hyped game.

Nothing special, 13 Aug 2008
Oh dear, this game sports a dissapointing framerate, uninspiring visuals and a distinct lack of originality. The amount of fun features has been cut down from san andreas and the violence has been toned down; the blood looks like grey paint. Dissapointing.

Different, but better, 05 Aug 2008
Now, you may agree or disagree with my title but for me it was a better game. There were just certain things which made it feel like a much more solid product than the other GTAs. I remember when I played the 1st GTA, it was quite fun though it never felt like a very grown up game, this one feels like it's more for the guys rather than the boys.

Graphics: It's not hard to see that this is the best looking Grand Theft Auto title produced, everything looks more solid than any of the others and the bullet holes and scrapes on the cars helps to make them look more real.

Story: Another strong point of GTAIV, the story has a more gritty feel to it as such and (I don't think I need to explain it since it has been already several times) yet again feels more like a real story rather than the more fictional ones of the past, though it does present the game with a problem.

Gameplay: For me, my idea of fun in a game wasn't racing around in a ambulance or a taxi, it was more about the more basic things such as how the cars handled and how combat was. It's good and bad news on this front. Get a decent car and the handling is pretty good (In the beginning it is a problem but it is easier to get use to I found) but it can be annoying at the start and some of the car chases are annoying later on. The combat has too been improved quite a bit though still isn't trouble free, I found hand to hand combat more awkward this time so never really bothered with it and the lock on sometimes doesn't do what it should.

Audio: The music is good with a large variety of styles for all different tastes, however I got quite fed up of it as the radio stations seem to be shorter than they use to be. The voice casting is really good and does help the story to be one of it's strongest points.

Lifespan: Now, this is probably GTAIV's main problem. Extra chapters will be available sometime in 2009 however could I see myself keeping this game for that long? Probably not, since there isn't much else to do other than the story and get more money which you really don't need, and money is what proves a weakness in the story. I find it hard to see Niko as a poor, Russian immigrant who kills people as he has no other options when he has $500,000 in his bank account. I think having large amounts of money to go missing from it would help to make the story more believeable since he claims Roman gambles it all away and this would help to make you more careful with what weapons you buy with your money.

Also, making it so that you can put 9mm bullets into a Desert Eagle means there is no reason to be careful with ammo and no reason to buy it, it is quite an old problem with the GTA series but it would help to flesh out the combat a bit more than just being able to blind fire with a Desert Eagle for ages.

All in all, a good game though to an extent a disappointing one. It can be difficult to get into, but it can be worth it if you stick it out, it's just a shame that it's lost out on part of it's soul (the ambulance and taxi missions weren't exactly my favorite missions, though I appreciated why they were there) as it could have appealed to the boys and the guys/men. Would I suggest buying it? Possibly not, maybe a rental then buy it if you really like it.

Well Made But Just Didn't Grab Me, 05 Aug 2008
There's no doubt that a lot of work went into this game. The graphics and sound are both very good and the game is a highly polished, slick affair. It's also very funny, although in an un-relentingly cynical way. The game world is big and gives you the freedom to do pretty much what ever you want.

The thing is, the game just didn't really grab my attention. There's something about it I just found a bit ... well, dull really. The missions mainly seemed to boil down to driving somewhere, watching a cut scene and then driving back. It's fun to go on the rampage the first couple of times but that gets tiresome pretty quickly.

It's certainly not a bad game, and as far as production values go it's great, but is wasn't for me.

Rockafella, 01 Aug 2008
There are a few reasons why GTA4 is different from its predecessors. Firstly, the whole thing seems darker and moodier; generally more serious. Secondly, the graphics are better. The reflections in the puddles, the crash damage to vehicles and the cut-scenes are all excellent. The lighting is great, and looking down at the weather and the sunrise across the city from a vantage point is great. Thirdly, the car controls have been tweaked to perfection, very responsive but not overly twitchy. I consider all these good points.

The bad points are that the game still suffers from the same problems as all the others. The awful, awful camera angles when running, for example, leads to you getting shot and killed by someone in big shootouts standing around a corner because the clunky controls don't let you move fast enough to hide yourself. Another issue I have with it is that too many of the missions are the same content-wise. I lost count of how many times I had to go and empty a warehouse of bad guys in order to pick something up and return with it. Missions like this become a chore, and when you are only playing in order to finish the game and not out of enjoyment, then the game has lost you.

Luckily, enough of it has been tweaked to make it a lot of fun on its own, even if you ignore the missions. The city is beautifully crafted, certainly their best effort yet in that department. And it's miles better than the atrocious San Andreas, which got boring after about half an hour. The addition of online play is the knockout punch. If you have a good connection it just works really well, with plenty of choice in relation to types of game and the whole open endedness of it means you're less likely on here than with other games to get those sad individuals who devote their lives to the thing and kill everyone in a single shot while hanging upside down reading a novel with one eye shut. You know the sort I mean.

Good game, fun to play but not perfect with the same problems now getting annoying. Buy it and enjoy it, but Rockstar need to start getting rid of those creases instead of ironing them out.

Play the demo before you buy, 28 Aug 2008
I've also downloaded the demo on xbox360, and tbh i'm a bit disappointed. Was really looking forward to this game, but half way thru the demo I was bored of the same old moves and repetitive gameplay. It looks good and it's fun at first to have the evil jedi power, but did not hold my attention long enough (not even as long as the demo for Too Human, but that's another story)

Do yourself a favour, download the demo off xbox Live and try it. Who knows you may like it!

Very good game but Not as god as the PS3 and Wii versions, 27 Aug 2008
I'm always a bit sceptical when it comes to games based on the Star Wars franchise. For every Knights of the Old Republic there is a Bounty Hunter that ruins it. I'm a big Star Wars fan and even the terrible games I enjoy for their story. Star Wars has had a pretty easy ride recently with the succesfull KOTOR, Battlefront and Lego games. Which is why I was a bit worried about the development of The Force Unleashed. The game seemed to have a large amount of amibition with the new physics systems and bridging story.

Upon starting the game the menus seemed very basic. But once the game kicked off I was very surprised. The way it makes you feel like a powerful sith is impressive. Combining force powers opens up lots of options to defeat your foes. The first I tried was lifting someone, then shocking them and throwing them back at their allies so he can shock all of them too. The controls are very simple and easy to pick up. You will feel like a powerful Jedi very quickly. Therewas a quick time event at the end of the level where you can cut an AT-ST in half and split it in 2 using force push.

The graphics were vey good and very authentic. Star Wars has always been recognised by its atistic style and this doesnt dissapoint.

One thing I should mention is how inferior the Xbox 360 version is to the PS3 version. The PS3 version has much better details, colours, framerate, resolution, particle effects, cinema videos and sound. The sound is in DTS on the PS3 version. If you have a home cinema system the sound of the lightsaber and explosions sound fantastic. The bass is rich and the music score fits right in. The Xbox 360 version sounds weak. Its almost as of a wasp is humming in your room rather then the deep buzz in the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version also suffers from screen tear (v sync). This is where the top half of the picture is out of sync with the bottom and a line appears half way down the screen. Its very off putting. There is also a slight pause between animations on the Xbox 360 which can be off putting when doing combos. The PS3 version flows perfectly while the Xbox 360 version seems jerky. I am well aware that a few Xbox 360 fanboys will dispute this but I own every system and I am unbiased.

Overall I would rate each version in this order: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, Nintendo DS. If you have more than 1 system feel free to use this as a way to decide which version to get.

Not a review just some info , 25 Aug 2008
As it says this isn't a review as the real game has'nt been released yet but just some infomation on the demo I downloaded off of xbox live. Like other star wars games where u have restricted moves and combos to perform and perfect, this game has many and of what I have played of the demo you unlock soo much more, putting different combos together to perform a destruction of attacks, it also makes it more fun because you play as one of the dark side so it gives you more freedom to do as you like when you like, pickin up storm troopers and dangling them in there air helplessly as they beg for there lives is quite funny, and as you may be wondering if you can constantly use the force without worrying if it is goin to run out on you well you don't have to worry any more, your energy bar contains alot and it soon feels up almost instantly so you can have the maximum amount of fun force pushing enemies nd pickin up large objects even ships and usin them to your advantage to cause destruction and mayhem, also during the game you pick up increased damage powerups and unlimited force so theres almost no hope for the opposition who comes in contact with you. Overall the game in my opinion is worth checking out if you have an xbox 360 and have live then give the demo a try you might enjoy it.

You need Xbox Live to really get your money's worth., 26 Aug 2008
When you buy Halo 3 I seriously recommend having a subscription to Xbox Live set up or in the process of being set up. I promise you that you will become bored of story mode very quickly after fanatically completing it on Normal, Heroic, Legendary and Metagame for the gamerscore (if you are a gamerscore whore such as myself). Halo 3 story mode is no different from any other Halo. It is just as mediocre as Halo 2's campaign in my opinion.

The addition of cool new features like Forge and Theatre mode offer players huge oppertunities to play the game they want and that's no just me kissing up to Bungie. You could spend hours altering maps, adding your own touch to the pre-programmed maps as well as the downloadable content or taking cool screenshots and video clips from both story and online gameplay, allowing you to look back at past games and (if you are very enthusiastic about your style) analyse your games and where you keep making mistakes. Halo 3 is also provided with excellent online backup from Bungie.net allowing players to view their character on the site as well as their online stats such as percentages of weapon usage, medal chests displaying the number of medals earned online and Heatmaps showing players where their kills are made and where they die the most in games online.

Online gaming is what really makes Halo 3 one of the best games ever though. Although there are plenty of other games with online capablities Halo has a certain feel about it that just sets it apart from other games in the genre. Maybe it is the huge variety of playlists (new ones added for weekend events), the chance to play Social matches in which players are allowed to have upto 3 guests all playing through one Xbox online or the huge appeal to many to earn the rank of General in Ranked playlists I do not know but one thing I do know is that without Xbox Live I would have gotten rid of Halo 3 months ago.

failo 3!, 14 Aug 2008
in my opinion this game is missing something and i just cant get engrossed. although i havent played halo 2 and halo 1 i imagined i would be writing a 5 star review right now.before i got an xbox 360 my mates were creating so much hype around this game and i personaly just cant see why. i have completed 6 levels but since i have purchased some other games halo has taken a back seat. but dont get me wrong this game is definatly worth purchasing and still has some major appeal and, after all it is the game you associate with the mighty xbox 360... Tom

Halo 2.5, 08 Aug 2008
When I first got my Xbox back in 2002 it came with a game called Halo. To this day Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the best FPS games I have ever played and comes in my top ten of best games ever. Halo had it all! Great story, amazing graphics, hard core AI, fantastic level design etc etc you get the idea of where I am going with this.

Then Halo 2 came along in 2004 and to say I was hyped for this game would be a gross understatement but unfortunately when I got my hands on the game it turned out to be utter crap! Maybe utter crap is a little harsh because it did have it's moments but it just seemed like a huge step down. The level design was poor, the AI seemed basic, the story was a mess and overall it just felt like I was playing any run-of-the-mill FPS game.

Now we get onto Halo 3 and where do I start? First I would like to say I can not believe how many people are giving this game glowing reviews! When I picked up my copy I had doubts that it would be any good after the mess that was Halo 2 but I thought Bungie may have learned from past mistakes and maybe this would even surpass Halo 1. I thought wrong! The game has the same flaws as Halo 2 but this time with better graphics. The story is laughable with plot holes my 5 month old son can see through, The AI is basic, The level design is so bland and boring it makes me feel sick, the graphics are very very poor and really in a nut shell this game just sucks. IT has the same faults as Halo 2 so really the Halo 3 is just Halo 2 with a lick of HD paint. Halo 3 also has a online multiplayer mode but the less said about this the better as every match is full of young cocky kids shouting there mouths off and letting you know how much you suck. Buy Halo 3 at your own risk

More of the same, but still lacking something, 03 Aug 2008
Okay, so I've played Halo:CE and Halo 2 to death since launch, and waited in anticipation for Halo 3 after the disappointing cliffhanger at the end of Halo 2. Unfortunately, the game doesn't feel like it was worth the wait.

The graphics in Halo 3 are actually very good, they still look great next to graphical powerhouses such as Gears of War but it's important to remember that fancy graphics can only take you so far. Halo 3 really doesn't feel like anything massively new; sure, there's nice new pieces of kit such as the Bubble Shield and Power Drainer, but these just feel pointless and irrelevant when you view the rest of the game in context. It's like Bungie just slapped more icing on top of the same, bland cake with the dull recipe that you've eaten thousands of times before. The single player campaign is good (albeit linear and, as some have argued, a tad too short although I didn't find it so) but be warned; without giving any spoilers away you'll have a nasty feeling of deja-vu when you reach the final mission and play through that and you may end up joining me in gaining the impression that Bungie have got lazy.

However, Halo 2's excellent little addition, the online multiplayer... well, that's still there in Halo 3 but I can't say it's really improved. Granted there are less people modding, cheating and hacking as well as using glitches, but the whole experience just feels stale, dated and the default maps are just plain awful. It's no wonder that, out of the seven brand new downloadable maps that are now available, about five or six of them are remakes from the older Halo games because those maps were just plain better. Another glaring problem is that there were balance issues from Halo 2... well, Bungie have listened; the weapons are now so balanced that it's nearly impossible to kill anyone with anything at all, no joke. The whole game revolves around fire assault rifle, run in, beat down, rinse and repeat, the fast paced, frantic action from Halo 2 has been replaced with a simple matter of running around until you see an enemy and then cross your fingers. Bungie even released a patch for the melee system so that there is now no way of predicting whatsoever who will actually die first (if at all) and what will happen afterwards, it's a complete cop-out and ruins everything. The overbalanced weapons are mitigated by the ludicrously overpowered UNSC rocket launcher which will kill anything in a ten-billion mile radius in one indirect hit, or the just-plain-annoying Energy Sword - as the other weapons aren't powerful enough, it's near impossible to kill anyone who's carrying said sword because the sword attack allows for an epic, unavoidable lunge forward; the sword kills in one hit, so I think you can see where this is leading. This was a problem in Halo 2 as well but at least the exciting variety in weapons and maps somehow made it less irritating.

Also, the matchmaking and ranking system isn't as solid as Halo 2. Halo 3 will happily churn out the same gametypes over and over and over again, people will use the newly added veto option and the game and map combination will be rejected. However, it'll immediately be replaced with something ten times worse; it would be nice to be given both options at the same time and pick one of them, the option with most votes wins. Failing this, at least a simple preview of what the next selection post-veto will be would be nice. The gametypes on Halo 3 are none too impressive either seeing as half of them involve sniper rifles, it gets very boring and very old very quickly indeed, added to this the Lone Wolves ranked free-for-all playlist is the worst FFA playlist I have ever seen in all my long years of gaming. The ranking system is also not as solid, it is easier to level up but at the same time the new skill system is brutal; it takes you about six or seven won matches in a row to level up, but it can take you back down the same level after losing just one. It's horrible, unfair and uncompetitive and I don't quite know what Bungie were trying to do here besides creating an n-tier system.

In conclusion, this game is a step forward in single player, but the multiplayer may leave you a good bit disappointed, I'm afraid to say.

Halo 3 the NOT so good., 03 Aug 2008
Now i have been playig halo since the first one came out so before i continue dont say " your an idiot and dont understand how to play or you dont know anythink". Halo 3 Storymode for instance yes the graphics arnt bad but if you actually go up to the AI and see there face its about as detailed as a ps2 game, not to mention every 15 minutes into a level you get a silly computer woman "cortana" in your face on screen shouting at you. After this happens for the fith time you feel like snapping the disc. The guns well first off the assault rifle in halo 3 sounds like a pea shooter firing pellets, compared to the assault rifle in halo 1 the on in halo 3 is aload of rubbish.The weapons ARE Dull.



Now for the Mulitplayer.

Yes this game has a good multiplayer to last err 1 month or 2 but after that you realise how boring it is. Its not fun. The guns feel more effective when used as clubs whacking senslessly at one another. Running at each other firing the pea shooter then its a matter of who presses B first. And then you will get sick of the BR because if you arnt good with the "BR" then you will pretty much get killed on every one on one you have. Also most people online halo 3 are very aggressive and, ULTIMATLEY its alod of KAK online and to sum it up its a matter of who gets the big gun first and little kids ARGUING and TEAM KILLING over the Energy Sword or Shotgun, Rocket Launcher etc.
I could go on but its just alod of babies wearing tight space suits whacking each other with guns.

Falls at the final hurdle!, 28 Aug 2008
Ok first off the events are great with a nice variety of controls. And the events will leave you as sweaty as the athletes as you bash those buttons. The only poor event for me is Judo which despite many attempts I just can't get to work.

Where this game falls down however is in it's lack of choice of countries and on-line play. I play other games on-line but if I try this with 8 people and 100m run the lag is dreadful and the connection usually drops. I think it can't handle all the rapid button imputs. So your going to need a very high speed internet connection for this to work. Mine does ok with 4 people. Also some of the events which run as knockout like table tennis and archery do not run concurrently so you have to sit there for ages as everyone else plays out their games. How the developers thought that was a good idea is beyond me.

Single player mode features training with the nice feature of being able to compare against your friends personal bests. Of course you can compete in the olympics but it has the hugely annoying feature of you needing to qualify in so many events to get to the next day or you have to do the whole day all over again including events that you already qualified in, very frustrating.

This game is best played with a few friends and overall is worth getting. Be prepared for some serious finger and arm ache though!!

This game really does cause pain, 20 Aug 2008
I though this game was going be fun, easy and inrich my current fasanation witht he olymics. But this is fun in some events but other event are really hard to do and leaves you up set when you can't do them and end up last. and also cause serious had pain (I managed to cut my hand while doing 400 meters sprint :( .) Running and swimming events...and cycling....and javlin.....and ok most the sports end up with your hand left with alot of pain and alot of effert to end up with you doing really crap. The only easy sports on this are 10 meters air pistol, 25 meters rapid fire pistol, floor exercise, beam and 10 meter spring board the rest are really to much effert and stress.

Great fun, , 17 Aug 2008
i'll keep this breif, this game is great family or multiplayer with friends entertainment, either locally or over Xbox live. There are so many events you are bound to find one your world class out, and because of that its great value for money. Only two flaws for me it will destroy your joypads and they are still not cheap a lot of button bashing or joystick waggleling. Also Judo is impossible no-one i know has seemed to master it if anyone has please comment.

As good as you'll get for this tpye of game, 17 Aug 2008
These games in the past have all pretty much been the same and this is no different. You'll need stamina for the button bashing events. Some events are easy(running/throwing) and others more testing(kayak/judo). Nobody wants a game that you can master at first attempt.

The game looks as good as anything before and there are alot of events to keep you interested.

The xbox live is a little disappointing and certain aspects need to be addressed. Who wants to sit through 7 people before you on the archery??

On the whole its a good effort. Maybe buy 2nd hand to save some £££

Great game but beware!, 13 Aug 2008
This is a great sporting game! The graphics are 5 stars! The amount of events you can do is great and will keep you and your family busy for ages. The controls as everyone says are quite hard in some events e.g running like keep tapping A + B. But you find your strong events and just work on those. This is a great game if you like the olympics and would recommened to all sporty fans!

A masterpiece in hype, 15 Aug 2008
Choppy framerates and boring missions. still full of the annoying "quirks" that have plagued previous incarnations, such as awkward aiming.
an average, over-hyped game.

Nothing special, 13 Aug 2008
Oh dear, this game sports a dissapointing framerate, uninspiring visuals and a distinct lack of originality. The amount of fun features has been cut down from san andreas and the violence has been toned down; the blood looks like grey paint. Dissapointing.

Different, but better, 05 Aug 2008
Now, you may agree or disagree with my title but for me it was a better game. There were just certain things which made it feel like a much more solid product than the other GTAs. I remember when I played the 1st GTA, it was quite fun though it never felt like a very grown up game, this one feels like it's more for the guys rather than the boys.

Graphics: It's not hard to see that this is the best looking Grand Theft Auto title produced, everything looks more solid than any of the others and the bullet holes and scrapes on the cars helps to make them look more real.

Story: Another strong point of GTAIV, the story has a more gritty feel to it as such and (I don't think I need to explain it since it has been already several times) yet again feels more like a real story rather than the more fictional ones of the past, though it does present the game with a problem.

Gameplay: For me, my idea of fun in a game wasn't racing around in a ambulance or a taxi, it was more about the more basic things such as how the cars handled and how combat was. It's good and bad news on this front. Get a decent car and the handling is pretty good (In the beginning it is a problem but it is easier to get use to I found) but it can be annoying at the start and some of the car chases are annoying later on. The combat has too been improved quite a bit though still isn't trouble free, I found hand to hand combat more awkward this time so never really bothered with it and the lock on sometimes doesn't do what it should.

Audio: The music is good with a large variety of styles for all different tastes, however I got quite fed up of it as the radio stations seem to be shorter than they use to be. The voice casting is really good and does help the story to be one of it's strongest points.

Lifespan: Now, this is probably GTAIV's main problem. Extra chapters will be available sometime in 2009 however could I see myself keeping this game for that long? Probably not, since there isn't much else to do other than the story and get more money which you really don't need, and money is what proves a weakness in the story. I find it hard to see Niko as a poor, Russian immigrant who kills people as he has no other options when he has $500,000 in his bank account. I think having large amounts of money to go missing from it would help to make the story more believeable since he claims Roman gambles it all away and this would help to make you more careful with what weapons you buy with your money.

Also, making it so that you can put 9mm bullets into a Desert Eagle means there is no reason to be careful with ammo and no reason to buy it, it is quite an old problem with the GTA series but it would help to flesh out the combat a bit more than just being able to blind fire with a Desert Eagle for ages.

All in all, a good game though to an extent a disappointing one. It can be difficult to get into, but it can be worth it if you stick it out, it's just a shame that it's lost out on part of it's soul (the ambulance and taxi missions weren't exactly my favorite missions, though I appreciated why they were there) as it could have appealed to the boys and the guys/men. Would I suggest buying it? Possibly not, maybe a rental then buy it if you really like it.

Well Made But Just Didn't Grab Me, 05 Aug 2008
There's no doubt that a lot of work went into this game. The graphics and sound are both very good and the game is a highly polished, slick affair. It's also very funny, although in an un-relentingly cynical way. The game world is big and gives you the freedom to do pretty much what ever you want.

The thing is, the game just didn't really grab my attention. There's something about it I just found a bit ... well, dull really. The missions mainly seemed to boil down to driving somewhere, watching a cut scene and then driving back. It's fun to go on the rampage the first couple of times but that gets tiresome pretty quickly.

It's certainly not a bad game, and as far as production values go it's great, but is wasn't for me.

Rockafella, 01 Aug 2008
There are a few reasons why GTA4 is different from its predecessors. Firstly, the whole thing seems darker and moodier; generally more serious. Secondly, the graphics are better. The reflections in the puddles, the crash damage to vehicles and the cut-scenes are all excellent. The lighting is great, and looking down at the weather and the sunrise across the city from a vantage point is great. Thirdly, the car controls have been tweaked to perfection, very responsive but not overly twitchy. I consider all these good points.

The bad points are that the game still suffers from the same problems as all the others. The awful, awful camera angles when running, for example, leads to you getting shot and killed by someone in big shootouts standing around a corner because the clunky controls don't let you move fast enough to hide yourself. Another issue I have with it is that too many of the missions are the same content-wise. I lost count of how many times I had to go and empty a warehouse of bad guys in order to pick something up and return with it. Missions like this become a chore, and when you are only playing in order to finish the game and not out of enjoyment, then the game has lost you.

Luckily, enough of it has been tweaked to make it a lot of fun on its own, even if you ignore the missions. The city is beautifully crafted, certainly their best effort yet in that department. And it's miles better than the atrocious San Andreas, which got boring after about half an hour. The addition of online play is the knockout punch. If you have a good connection it just works really well, with plenty of choice in relation to types of game and the whole open endedness of it means you're less likely on here than with other games to get those sad individuals who devote their lives to the thing and kill everyone in a single shot while hanging upside down reading a novel with one eye shut. You know the sort I mean.

Good game, fun to play but not perfect with the same problems now getting annoying. Buy it and enjoy it, but Rockstar need to start getting rid of those creases instead of ironing them out.

Play the demo before you buy, 28 Aug 2008
I've also downloaded the demo on xbox360, and tbh i'm a bit disappointed. Was really looking forward to this game, but half way thru the demo I was bored of the same old moves and repetitive gameplay. It looks good and it's fun at first to have the evil jedi power, but did not hold my attention long enough (not even as long as the demo for Too Human, but that's another story)

Do yourself a favour, download the demo off xbox Live and try it. Who knows you may like it!

Very good game but Not as god as the PS3 and Wii versions, 27 Aug 2008
I'm always a bit sceptical when it comes to games based on the Star Wars franchise. For every Knights of the Old Republic there is a Bounty Hunter that ruins it. I'm a big Star Wars fan and even the terrible games I enjoy for their story. Star Wars has had a pretty easy ride recently with the succesfull KOTOR, Battlefront and Lego games. Which is why I was a bit worried about the development of The Force Unleashed. The game seemed to have a large amount of amibition with the new physics systems and bridging story.

Upon starting the game the menus seemed very basic. But once the game kicked off I was very surprised. The way it makes you feel like a powerful sith is impressive. Combining force powers opens up lots of options to defeat your foes. The first I tried was lifting someone, then shocking them and throwing them back at their allies so he can shock all of them too. The controls are very simple and easy to pick up. You will feel like a powerful Jedi very quickly. Therewas a quick time event at the end of the level where you can cut an AT-ST in half and split it in 2 using force push.

The graphics were vey good and very authentic. Star Wars has always been recognised by its atistic style and this doesnt dissapoint.

One thing I should mention is how inferior the Xbox 360 version is to the PS3 version. The PS3 version has much better details, colours, framerate, resolution, particle effects, cinema videos and sound. The sound is in DTS on the PS3 version. If you have a home cinema system the sound of the lightsaber and explosions sound fantastic. The bass is rich and the music score fits right in. The Xbox 360 version sounds weak. Its almost as of a wasp is humming in your room rather then the deep buzz in the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version also suffers from screen tear (v sync). This is where the top half of the picture is out of sync with the bottom and a line appears half way down the screen. Its very off putting. There is also a slight pause between animations on the Xbox 360 which can be off putting when doing combos. The PS3 version flows perfectly while the Xbox 360 version seems jerky. I am well aware that a few Xbox 360 fanboys will dispute this but I own every system and I am unbiased.

Overall I would rate each version in this order: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, Nintendo DS. If you have more than 1 system feel free to use this as a way to decide which version to get.

Not a review just some info , 25 Aug 2008
As it says this isn't a review as the real game has'nt been released yet but just some infomation on the demo I downloaded off of xbox live. Like other star wars games where u have restricted moves and combos to perform and perfect, this game has many and of what I have played of the demo you unlock soo much more, putting different combos together to perform a destruction of attacks, it also makes it more fun because you play as one of the dark side so it gives you more freedom to do as you like when you like, pickin up storm troopers and dangling them in there air helplessly as they beg for there lives is quite funny, and as you may be wondering if you can constantly use the force without worrying if it is goin to run out on you well you don't have to worry any more, your energy bar contains alot and it soon feels up almost instantly so you can have the maximum amount of fun force pushing enemies nd pickin up large objects even ships and usin them to your advantage to cause destruction and mayhem, also during the game you pick up increased damage powerups and unlimited force so theres almost no hope for the opposition who comes in contact with you. Overall the game in my opinion is worth checking out if you have an xbox 360 and have live then give the demo a try you might enjoy it.

You need Xbox Live to really get your money's worth., 26 Aug 2008
When you buy Halo 3 I seriously recommend having a subscription to Xbox Live set up or in the process of being set up. I promise you that you will become bored of story mode very quickly after fanatically completing it on Normal, Heroic, Legendary and Metagame for the gamerscore (if you are a gamerscore whore such as myself). Halo 3 story mode is no different from any other Halo. It is just as mediocre as Halo 2's campaign in my opinion.

The addition of cool new features like Forge and Theatre mode offer players huge oppertunities to play the game they want and that's no just me kissing up to Bungie. You could spend hours altering maps, adding your own touch to the pre-programmed maps as well as the downloadable content or taking cool screenshots and video clips from both story and online gameplay, allowing you to look back at past games and (if you are very enthusiastic about your style) analyse your games and where you keep making mistakes. Halo 3 is also provided with excellent online backup from Bungie.net allowing players to view their character on the site as well as their online stats such as percentages of weapon usage, medal chests displaying the number of medals earned online and Heatmaps showing players where their kills are made and where they die the most in games online.

Online gaming is what really makes Halo 3 one of the best games ever though. Although there are plenty of other games with online capablities Halo has a certain feel about it that just sets it apart from other games in the genre. Maybe it is the huge variety of playlists (new ones added for weekend events), the chance to play Social matches in which players are allowed to have upto 3 guests all playing through one Xbox online or the huge appeal to many to earn the rank of General in Ranked playlists I do not know but one thing I do know is that without Xbox Live I would have gotten rid of Halo 3 months ago.

failo 3!, 14 Aug 2008
in my opinion this game is missing something and i just cant get engrossed. although i havent played halo 2 and halo 1 i imagined i would be writing a 5 star review right now.before i got an xbox 360 my mates were creating so much hype around this game and i personaly just cant see why. i have completed 6 levels but since i have purchased some other games halo has taken a back seat. but dont get me wrong this game is definatly worth purchasing and still has some major appeal and, after all it is the game you associate with the mighty xbox 360... Tom

Halo 2.5, 08 Aug 2008
When I first got my Xbox back in 2002 it came with a game called Halo. To this day Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the best FPS games I have ever played and comes in my top ten of best games ever. Halo had it all! Great story, amazing graphics, hard core AI, fantastic level design etc etc you get the idea of where I am going with this.

Then Halo 2 came along in 2004 and to say I was hyped for this game would be a gross understatement but unfortunately when I got my hands on the game it turned out to be utter crap! Maybe utter crap is a little harsh because it did have it's moments but it just seemed like a huge step down. The level design was poor, the AI seemed basic, the story was a mess and overall it just felt like I was playing any run-of-the-mill FPS game.

Now we get onto Halo 3 and where do I start? First I would like to say I can not believe how many people are giving this game glowing reviews! When I picked up my copy I had doubts that it would be any good after the mess that was Halo 2 but I thought Bungie may have learned from past mistakes and maybe this would even surpass Halo 1. I thought wrong! The game has the same flaws as Halo 2 but this time with better graphics. The story is laughable with plot holes my 5 month old son can see through, The AI is basic, The level design is so bland and boring it makes me feel sick, the graphics are very very poor and really in a nut shell this game just sucks. IT has the same faults as Halo 2 so really the Halo 3 is just Halo 2 with a lick of HD paint. Halo