Over all: This was the first game I played on the playstation 3, at first I was not that impressed by it because I was playing it in 480i on a normal tv, but once I got 720p going, we were blown away. Todd and I played this together in split screen co-op mode. I wish more games had this. This is a typical first person shooter. Although there are a large amount of bad guys on the screen at once with no slow down, this is a real plus. The details are amazing as well. The game has this very drab look to it as well. There is no cover behind walls as in uncharted or ghost recon advanced war 2. So it is more like Doom, or Quake in over all game play. It does have that frantic fast urgent feel like unreal tournament as well. This is fine by me. I loved how panicked I felt when those bugs came after me for the first time. If you are into first person shooters, this is a must. The visuals have this grim grey look to them, but i love it. kind of like a Fincher movie. Not to mention that i love alien sci-fi stuff as well. Below, to get the video trailer to play please click on the “Resistance - UK Launch Trailer” text in the player window.

After all, this was made by the developers who also made Ratchet and Clank. So the weapons are very well done as they are in those games. I think that is what really sets this shooter apart from the others, The over all look of the game is like a WW2 shooter meets alien invasion with that Fincher(director of seven, the movie) drab look to everything. The online play is great, 40 player death match, and 16 player capture the flag. Seriously, 40 players, this is a first on a console. Another aspect of this game is ammunition management, because there seems to be a shortage of it, making you rely mostly on your stock weapons through most of the game. You can expect about 14 hours of game play in the single player mode. The enemy AI is ok, but could be better, they react to gun fire, but oblivious to grenades. This is a launch title, and still holds up even a year later. There are downloadable add ons for this game from the playstation network as well, some new multiplayer maps mostly. You can find this title used for a good price i think. So be sure and check this out if you have a ps3 and are bored.

6.0 Presentation
Most of the story is told with a slide show feel to it with still images and narration. This was fine on the ps1, not the ps2 and ps3.

8.2 Visuals
This is where the game shines, the detail, the muscles, the teeth, the environments are all at a level never seen before this game was released. The weapons fire, The boss battles. This game is pretty in that drab way.

8.0 Audio
Standard typical music. The voice acting is good however, and does make the story interesting despite the sub-par dated presentation. Gun fire and weapons sound great.

8.5 Game Mechanics
This was the game that broke my teeth on console first person shooters. It was a good thing, it taught me well. It handles great, aiming is smooth, and what i like about ps3 controls for this more than mouse and keyboard is, the screen all ways moves smoothly, it doesn’t jerk the screen around like mouse controls does.

8.0 Replay
The single player has a rewards type system, so it is cool to play through it at least 2 times. The multiplayer is great, especially the death match, which i think is the best console death match on the market, even better than call of duty 4. Capture the flag is kind weak though.

8.6 Total Score.
(out of 10 / not an average)

And on my final note. This company made two AAA titles in one year, This, and Ratchet and Clank. So we know the ps3 doesn’t have to have frame rate issues, and that it is not as hard to make games on despite some people’s lazy i’ll founded claims, BS, this company has shown what you can do and still probably hasn’t even tapped into 50% of the power under the hood of the ps3. Seriously, this company rocks and deserves money for their great efforts. You should be able to find this used at a game store or go buy it new: Click here to buy Resistance for PS3.

Music Listened to while writing this review: The Tear Garden - Tired eyes slowly burning.

Over all: Fun Fun Fun. Cheap Cheap Cheap. $9.99 us. WOW. Gotta have a ps3 connected to the psn network. But seriously, out of all the downloadable games I have seen on the wii, the 360 and the ps3, this one takes the cake. For real. Hilarious. This is a get drunk, or something and sit and play type of game, alone or with a bunch of friends. This is what the JACKASS game only wishes it could have been. In PAINDEMONIUM mode you basically shoot a person with a giant sling shot, aim him at things and try to cause as much damage to stuff as you can. It’s cool, you can pose in the air, grab when you land or hit something, and control the person while he or she is in the air, afterwards as you rack up the pain, you get an ouch meter, which allows you to nudge the player with the D-PAD while he is still moving in directions, to rack up points. The goal is to get is to cause the most damage in dollars. My High so far is about 2 million, but on the leaderboards I have seen high scores of 29 million. WOW. The other modes are mime MIME TOSS, this is where you grab onto a mime while you are launched and then let go of him and aim him into glass panes, pretty cool, but my least favorite of the 3 single player modes. The last mode is called SPANK THE MONKEY , this is where you aim and shoot at monkeys that are randomly placed all over the city. This is addictive, and there are so many ways to rack up point, hidden areas, and ways to control the out come. Mutliplayer, it’s not online from what i can tell. It gives you bowling, HORSE, like in basketball. BOWLING, the title says it all. And FUN WITH EXPLOSIONS, in which you try to hit the most explosive boxes laid out on the course. Below, to get the video trailer to play please click on the “Pain (PSN) - Still Painful in the UK Trailer” text in the player window.

This game is small though, you can download 2 extra player characters to play as, but as far as I can tell, there is just the one city. But it doesn’t matter, it only costs 10 bucks! I cant stop playing this. If they add more areas, and more stuff in the future, this is going to be a priceless game. I’m serious, I have not had this much fun playing a game since mariocart on the SNES. This is a Gimmick Game, but, it is one of the best ever. The controls are complex, and there is a lot you can control. I would say that this game reminds me of the crash modes in the Burnout racing games. Those are a ton of fun too. I highly recommend this. This is a must have. It’s the type of game you can pick up and play easily for 5 minutes and put down, or you can spend days endlessly trying to get the highest score ever. The PS3 just keeps getting gold. These games cannot be found on any other system. NICE

7.5 Presentation
It does its job. Menus are ok, and the images and text while it loads are pretty well done.

8.0 Visuals
There are ton of objects in this city to break, a lot, there is a ton of detail, 720p only, too bad its not 1080p. It has this cartoon like feel, kind of like a Tattoo artist style. It doesn’t blow you away, but it is neat to look at.

9.0 Audio
I love the music, it fits perfect. I love the sound fx a lot, the grunts and groans make the game! I love when you go near certain parts or buldings you can hear music, or people. There is this one place with this really funny country music that sounds like popeye singing to it. Made me laugh.

9.2 Game Mechanics
Once you get the hang of it, it is simply amazing. This is what it is all about. It plays great. It is complex, but anyone can get the hang of it after a couple of tries. Very well done. The game physics are great too, like how things fall and break and crash.

9.0 Replay
It is so rewarding to punish these characters. There is nothing like watching someone flail around with rag doll physics while getting hit by cars, bouncing off buildings, being blown up, or nailing monkeys. As it is, it is very re-playable, but if they add more towns and scenarios this could be one of those “CULT CLASSICS” that never gets old. As it is, it lacks variety. If they fix that, then this is a AAA title down the road.

9.0 Total Score.
(out of 10 / not an average)

FUN FUN FUN! A Must have. It’s only 10 bucks! Go buy it now! and have fun..

Music Listened to while writing this review: The Brown Book - Death In June.

Intro: When i bought my ps3, I wasn’t even 100% sure of my purchase. I got it on a whim because a guy in a game store was trying to sell it back to the store and was going to get a really horrid price for it. I offered to take it off his hands for the right price. He had 2 games (motorstorm, resistance fall of man), the component cable, and 2 six axis controllers. He first asked me for 400, I was like, let me think about it for second (this was when the price for the 60gb had just dropped to $499), then he blurted out 350, I was like, “sold”, went to an atm and could only draw out 360 not 350, so I ended up giving him 360 for it. So i ended up with a 60 gig ps3 for 360 us dollars, 2 games, 2 controllers and component cable. At the time all I had was this old 36 inch analog tv. So I played it on that via svideo. Really crappy low res. Todd and I played most of resistance fall of man like this in split screen, and it was still way better than the wii I had just sold. I ended up getting a Sony XBR trinitron 34 inch hd analog tv. 1080i. And then the ps3 blew us away.

My first and second impressions of the so call new generation of consoles was a let down, my friend Steve had bought a 360, and I didn’t care for the controller and the games still didn’t look better than what I had on the pc at the time. I bought the wii to find out it was a gamecube with a new controller, and the same issues, only good first party titles, and not hardly any AAA titles out side of zelda, and mario the two gaming icons i loathe with a passion. So it offered nothing to me really. Once we got over wii sports it started collecting dust. I have never been a die hard nintendo guy, all ways more of a sega and 8 and 16 bit computer guy when it came to games. After the wii, when we got the ps3, we couldn’t believe how much more stuff was going on, on the screen with no slow down in resistance fall of man. I couldn’t get over the 40 players online, this is the most on a console ever. I struggled playing gears of war on the 360 because I hated the controller so much, but with the sixaxis I was able to get into resistance easily, and actually can play all the first person shooters on the ps3 well now thanks to the six axis. The analog sticks have more movement and degrees of sensitivity or so it seems, they are placed in a better place for my hands. and the six axis so so light.

But why the ps3 over the rest? I added up the costs, and in the end the ps3 is the cheapest High Def console with all the options installed. I wanted blueray for my hd tv, and now with netflix I rent mostly blueray at the same cost as dvd. The ps3 upscales dvds to 1080i and p very well, better than the 360, better than all my dvd players did. My regular dvds look better on the ps3 as well. I also download some japanese tv from torrents, mostly naruto and things like that. I can covert them to mp4 and transfer them over the wireless netwrok via windows media player 11, or twonkey media server on the mac. Let me tell you, watching downloaded content on my big tv smokes watching it even on a 24 inch imac. So the ps3 replaced my dvd player, gave me a blue ray in addition, lets me browse most web sites for no charge in high def. Can plug in a usb mouse and keyboard, I can install linux on it, I can upgrade the hard drive myself for cheap, not so on the 360 (you gutta buy over priced proprietary 360 crap), ps3 you just throw in a laptop hd. 360 has no web browser, and I don’t care how much better live is, no web browser is a big negative for me. I was also sold on the future of home, the current playstation network is ok, and I can download demos, and hd trailers for movies and games and that is easy to do and works great with no fee, on the ps3 its free, on the 360 it’s 50 bucks a year, so in 5 years that will cost you more than your initial purchase of the 360. What a joke. Microsoft claims to be cheaper, but they nickle and dime you for options, the network gaming with no browser is 50 bucks a year. Gotta buy a big hd well that will put you out a couple hundred, extra hundred for the wifi, extra 175 for hd dvd. no thanks. Ps3 delivers it all at a much cheaper price point. I like playstation network enough, i can play games online, look at the web, and download games and trailers for no charge. Besides, you can play online with Velvet Acid Christ, my user id on playstation network is: hexfix93 . The future is home (comes out in march 08 i think) and it looks like it will smoke xbox live, check out the videos below:

But what is the most important thing about a console? The games. The ps3 offers a much better console oriented gaming experience. The 360 is mostly PC ports and first person shooters. The ps3 offers that as well as games like uncharted: drake’s fortune, ratchet and clank, warhawk, heavenly sword, singstar, hotshots golf 5, little big planet, metal gear solid 4, Killzone 2 and more. Check out the Video below:

Let’s not forget the ps3 has the cell processor, which is 2x times more powerful than the 360’s processors. What we are seeing in the cross platform ports, well, un-optimized code that runs on a single core. The ps3 doesn’t fair to well in this regard, if you use the ps3 like a single core processor it will only yield the performance of a top end mac g4, not the g5, the g4. The 360, when it runs single core code it acts more like a p4 2.4ghz pc, so it does a better job and single thread apps. But that is not the future, all pcs are multicore now, and the ps3 has 7 cores, not 3 or 2 or 4, 7. When the code is multithreaded with optimized code to work well with the cell, it will beat even the fastest pcs on the market and out run the 360 easily.We are starting to see multi-threaded code. And yes, i know Uncharted could not be done on any other console, neither could heavenly sword or ratchet and clank. As more and more first party software comes out for the ps3, you will never see any console catch up in terms of graphics and how much stuff is going on, on the screen. Even with that said, most of the ports do run well from the pc and 360, just not as good. Who cares though, i mean i think sony’s games are better in my opinion. The future is in sony’s favor. The price will keep dropping. This console offers the most functions for the price it’s at now, and in the future, it will drop more and offer more and more. I recommend the 60 gig ps3 for people who want to play their old ps2 and ps1 games. If that doesn’t matter to you, pick up the 40 gig.

Bottom Line: PS3! Games I like more. More out of the box, not nickel and dimmed like the 360. PS3 you get blueray hd dvd, hdmi, free network and internet access, backwards compatible on some units, better controller with motion sensitivity, bigger hard drive, easy to upgrade, dvd player that upscales, web browser, psp connectivity, wifi, and the ability to use a usb mouse and keyboard on some games. The games that sold me on the system were Warhawk, Resistance fall of man, Heavenly Sword, Super Stardust HD, Call of Duty 4 (which is better on ps3), Oblivion, Jericho, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. The games that I am looking forward to the most are, Click on names to see trailers: Final Fantasy versus, Final Fantasy 13, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, Unreal 3, Sould Calibur, Grand Turismo 5, Infamous.

Pricing
PS3: $399 for 40 gig ps3 hdmi, wifi, free network, blueray, 2 usb, but lacks memory card slots and backwards compatibility.

Ps3: $499 for the 80 gig with free network, software backwards compat and memory card slots and 4x usb plus blueray, wifi, hdmi.

Ps3: &499 for the 60 gig that does it all and has it all. full back wards compatible.
Look at it this way, on the ps3 you are spending 200 on the gaming console and 200 on wifi, blueray, free network for a lifetime. This is a great deal.

xbox 360: $350. small 20 gig drive, 2x usb, Some have hdmi some don’t. DVD drive. But now comes the nickel and dimming. $50 for xbox live network, $100 for wifi adapter, $175 for add on HD DVD player. so for $675 you have to pay to get it to match even the $399 ps3 in features and still have 20 gigs less space. Now tell me, is it really cheaper? oh and get a bonus, it’s called the red ring of death, yes 40% of the xbox 360’s sold will break and brick and you will have to wait up to 3 months for it to be repaired. This is why i will not probably ever buy a 360. I hate microsoft. The 360 is last gen, last gen dvd only, so no big huge games with big huge textures. only 3 cores compared to 7 on ps3, smaller hard drives, and no wifi built in, for god’s sake even the wii has built in wifi. You have to pay for online gaming, it’s free for the wii and the ps3. stupid. The 360 is a fools gaming console when compared to the ps3 or the wii. Sorry, but it breaks, and lack so many key options that are next gen.

WII: $250 with wifi, dvd, web browser, free network, good nintendo games, low def, dated, mostly ps2 ports. only games that are good are nintendo games. If this is what you like. Buy it. i don’t like it. But it is a reliable system, with some good kiddy titles.

I hope this helps you make good choices this holiday season. Stay far away from the over priced xbox that will break down on you in all likelihood. Click here to read another reason why i like sony more than nintendo and microsoft. Sony is more earth friendly.

Over all: These are the best graphics I have ever seen in a video game. They are on par with most of the high end rendering cut scenes from the previous generation of gaming. This is a system seller. When you see it on a good hd tv, it is simply amazing. The textures, the design, architecture, the characters, the water, the water, the ruins, the rusty ships, the leaves. WOW. This is very realistic. When drake gets out of the water, you can tell he is still wet. The game is also very colorful, not dark and grey like most of the games on the market today. It’s not a cute kiddy kind of game. When you start scaling the walls it can make you go vertigo, I’m not kidding. This game nails it, let me see, pitfall, tomb raider, gears of war, resident evil mixed with the story telling of something like romancing the stone meets raiders of the lost ark. For novices it can be difficult, but for veteran game player you will hop right in with no problem. I didn’t find the game that hard at all. I loved playing every minute of it, it plays like an old resident evil game, but the controls and camera are spot on 100%. Add that stop and pop style of gears of war into it, then throw a little assassin’s creed wall climbing(a tad), and then that resident evil 4 over the shoulder gun aiming and you get Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

I only had one tiny complaint. It’s a little on the short side. I wish it had 4 more hours of gameplay, that would of been perfect. It took me about 9 hours to beat the game on the default difficulty setting. I don’t like giving away the story, or the levels to much. So i’m going to talk about the animation, everything is smooth and perfect, when you walk through weeds or brush, the plants move realistically. The way the trees seem so alive, the water looks amazing, and moves as it should. The animations of the characters are astounding, The bad guys will react to where you shoot them. Head shots are great fun. More than anything, I noticed myself paying attention to drake when he start taking fire, when he is behind cover, as the bullets hit what he hides behind, you will see his face get angry. If you shoot near a bad guy’s head and miss, the bad guys will animate like it barely missed them and start moving as such. Very cool. There is so much detail. This is a living breathing world, and no game up till now has come as far as Uncharted in this regard. The AI is decent as well, the bad guys come out and move and react if they are being shot at in a very realistic way. They will jump out of cover and move and bob in many different ways, so you cannot just play it cheap and set your cross airs in one place and wait for them to pass in front of it.

The voice acting is good. The sound is great. The Presentation, everything. But graphics don’t mean a thing if the game doesn’t play well. Guess what? It does and then some. I really get into jumping from one place to another, and hanging on by the tips of your fingers. The animation and controls are great, i rarely miss fired on jumps like i used to constantly in games like tomb raider. This is perfect. From the gun play, to the plat-forming, it makes you want to play it, i played it with out stopping. It possessed me. Everything just moves right, and controls right. Also: you have to play defensively. You cannot just run in and start gunning without taking cover. You will die fast.

This is a must have. If you like shooters, this is spot on. You will acquire many types of guns in this game. All of them work really well. The sniper rifle, the missile gun, and the 44 were my favorites. If you like plat-forming, this is right for you. If you hate plat-forming don’t worry, you will love it this time, it’s that good. This game is gorgeous and epic.

9.0 Presentation
The story, acting, cut scenes, some of the best out there right now. The good thing is it has the perfect balance, the cut scenes are perfect, they don’t ruin the game like in some other games.

9.8 Visuals
I noticed no hiccups really, it would tear very very rarely, and pop ups almost never happen. I read some people being hard on this in other reviews. Pure stupidity on their part. This is the prettiest game currently. Not even heavenly sword or call of duty 4 can touch this as far as the graphics go.

9.5 Audio
Perfect, everything sits perfectly, the voice acting is great, the music is moody, and fits with this game perfectly.

9.5 Game Mechanics
My Favorite this year. It feels solid, it’s responsive, and you can tell they spent a lot of time tweaking the animation and how it controls. This is what sets this game apart from anything in this genre, the control. From the plat-forming, to the shooting. It’s all exactly how it should be.

7.0 Replay
I put this the same as heavenly sword, since it is like playing a good movie, it’s like any good movie deserves, more than one viewing. I’ll play this 2 or 3 times through.

9.8 Total Score.
(out of 10 / not an average)

I have not had this much fun with a video game for a long long time. This made my thanksgiving day perfect. Ignore the family and play games. I am putting this in my top 5 as of now. I like this as much as resident evil 4. And that was my #2 favorite game of all time. Just below my #1, final fantasy 7. So i have this tied with my #2 favorite game of all time. I was not expecting to like this game as much as i did. I thought it would be just another bad tomb raider game. Boy was i wrong.. This game is gorgeously amazing. If you don’t own a ps3, this is the best reason out there now to buy one. Hell they are cheaper now, so go get one and play the most epic video games on the market. 360 gives you that pc style first person game play, the ps3 gives you epic console games that feel like movie experiences. This game proves it. Click here to buy.

Music Listened to while writing this review: The Maria Dimension - The Legendary Pink Dots.

Over all: What stands out the most is the production, by far one of the best looking video games ever made. Months ago I was watching the e3 gametrailers.com videos for this from the last e3. Well that is when I finally decided i was going to buy a next gen system, being utterly unimpressed with my friend’s 360(at that time) and my wii(at that time, ps2 ports and kiddy fluff), i started to get very jealous after watching the bow and arrow videos(shooting people in the eyes or crotch) from those e3 videos. My favorite character in the game is Kai, the girl everyone says is like a cross between bjork and tank girl. For me it is her levels that really made me love this game, shooting arrows in slow motion, with six axis tilt controls to aim, this is amazing. When you play as the main character, it is kind of like god of war, but in my opinion, way way way better. 3 fighting stances + arial attacks. There is way more depth to the hack and slash aspect of this game when comparing it to god of war. You have to block the different stances according to color, you get the hang of it pretty fast and this is what adds more depth to the fighting system.

Now Let me complain a bit. Frame rate, oh frame rate, will you ever stop fluctuating in my favorite ps3 games? ahahhaha. For most of the game, it isn’t a problem, one of the things I like about this game, is that it kind of plays like soulcalibur in a way. In the early levels the blocking and countering is a lot like a standard 2 player beat em up. I really prefer this to the mindless button mashing of games like dynasty warriors. But in the later levels, mainly the last one, the frame rate gets so bad that you cannot tell what kind of move is going to be thrown at you. Dropped frames, and laggy game play really ruined the last boss fight for me. Made the ending very anti climatic for me. But honestly, that doesn’t hurt the over all experience too much. Still even now, months after the release of Heavenly Sword, the only game to me that looks better on any console is a Darke’s Uncharted. You are also on the rails, on a pre destine path, no wandering like in assassin’s creed, or grand theft auto, I know this puts off some people these days. Not me though.

Warning: playing this game is like watching a 6 hour epic movie that rivals lord of the rings. The main bad guy was voice acted by the same person who did golem in the lord of the rings movies. The quality of acting is simply astounding. I cannot believe i am playing a video game. I feel like it is a cinematic experience more than a video game. Normally this pisses me off in action games. But this is so well done that it sucks me in. I love the bad guys, I like the good guys. I care about what happens in the story. The Emotion expressed on the faces, the gestures, everything, the inflections on the voice acting, it is top notch. Nothing to date has even come close to this in a video game.

If you are into beat em ups, THIS IS A MUST HAVE. YES, it’s short, like 7 hours short. But it is like watching a good movie, and like any good movie, you eventually watch it again, and that is what makes me say this is a buy for sure. Because i still go back to it and have fun. Shooting arrows, or throwing any object including dead bodies in slow motion with six axis tilt controls never gets old. This is fun like that gravity gun in half life 2 is fun.

10 Presentation
The story, acting, cut scenes, the best i have ever seen in a video game. EPIC is almost an understatement.

8.7 Visuals
I would of given this a higher score like a 9.5, but the frame rate drops in some of the epic battles, real put me off. The art style is great, the characters are great, the hair, the clothing animation, great. above most everything out there.

9.5 Audio
Amazing. Some of the best game sound i have ever heard, EPIC.

8.2 Game Mechanics
Very good, cept the frame rate issues in the end do effect how the game responds to you in the late levels. It plays like a 2 player fighting game in some aspects, reminded me of soulcalibur, to me this is a good thing, playing with the heavenly sword is fun, and so is shooting things with arrows.

7.0 Replay
Like any good movie, this game deserves 2 or three screenings at least. You’ll notice new details each time..

8.8 Total Score.
(out of 10 / not an average)

Buy this, despite it’s flaws, it is like a really kick ass movie that you get to play. It’s fun, It looks amazing, and seriously impresses almost everyone i show it to. But do trying and get it used, I don’t think it’s worth 65 dollars after taxes or shipping. Most of these next gen games are short, and yeah the production is through the roof, but man, i can buy a dvd movie for 12 bucks. The game being so short really makes me think this game should of cost 45 dollars. not 60. This is the game that made me buy a ps3, there is nothing like this on the wii or the 360. I simply love playing female heros in video games! After playing this game, presentation is a big deal to me, and when i went to go play mario galaxies, and had to sit through comic style bubble dialogue that isn’t even spoken, i threw up in my mouth a little bit. I hope all games are this epic in the future. This RAISES THE BAR BIG TIME! Click here to buy

Music Listened to while writing this review: The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse - The Legendary Pink Dots.

Over all: TIGHT. What can i say, i put this in, and could not put it down until i beat the single player mode (downside: single player is only 6 to 7 hours long, this hurt all the reviews on heavenly sword, but since this has mutliplayer, it’s forgiven). Amazing, i don’t want to spoil to much of it for you, but there are some moments that just blew me away, helicopter crashes, the way the story is told, boat scenes, secrete ops missions, being the gunner on a helicopter, and a night bomber air raid sequence that is simply breath taking. What i love the most about this, is how it’s not really pro war, and shows how ugly war really is, and when you die, there are all ways these really cool quotes about war from people usually talking about how evil war is. So in that regard i feel like the game does apologize for being an instrument of propaganda for the west. Because all these war games are. Even so, they do show the opposite side, you hear the dictator talking about the west in an intelligent way, the real life media never lets you hear anything like that. It makes you feel like there is a purpose to this game. In multiplayer mode you sometimes play as the bad guys, and listening to them freak out over a grenade in arab is pretty cool. The controls are all most perfect, and aiming is not that hard with the ps3 controller. I also love how you can shoot through certain walls made of wood etc, not metal or brick though. That really adds a lot to the game. COD4 is about aiming more than running and gunning. You have to take cover for reloading as well, and learn the weapons because you can easily shoot off all your rounds and get caught in a bad situation reloading, and reloading on some weapons takes a lot longer. The AI is amazing. Bad guys are smart, they throw back grenades, and will flank you. You have to be on your toes.

Now, let me complain a little. You cannot drive any vehicles in the game like in battle field 2142 or warhawk. You cannot crouch or huddle up against walls like you can do in mass effect or gears of war or drake’s uncharted. What is even funnier is that the enemies in the game can and you cannot. You cannot shoot while you are running like you can in unreal or quake etc. So this kind of sucks, you’ll run into a room and your guy has to stop running before he can aim, and this guarantees your death. It takes to long to stop running and fire, come on, you can fire while running in real life, not well, but you can. This is a major flaw in the game. All it means is that you have to stop running before entering places. But it sucks. Throwing grenades takes way to long, way way way to long. No matter if you just tap the button or hold it. Some times you feel like you are in slow motion. When you are not running the game seems really slow compared to a game like quake or unreal. But i think that is this game’s charm honestly, and what sets it apart and makes it unique.

I bought cod4 over assassin’s creed. Definitely the way to go, i wont even review ass creed because the game is so crappy. This is the best first person shooter on the market, it’s better than halo 3 etc.. What sets this apart from everything else is the graphical quality, the environments, the story telling, the frantic pace, how it really feels like you are in a war. COD4 is a very intense experience that has you riveted from the minute you sit down, till the very end of the game(single player).

Mutliplayer is like CRACK. It is easy to get on the net and play games, log in, pick the style you want to play, then it finds a server for you and connects. It’s easy to start your own private game server but it doesn’t advance your level points. Easy to invite your friends to come and play, on your server, or any. One thing i have noticed about the online part of this game is that it’s like all the xbox live games, someone must be hosting it, when they decide to leave the game, the game abruptly ends, but the good thing is it will tally up the points you earn while playing even if the host quits. But come on, this is the ps3, where are the dedicated servers for this, in warhawk this never happens. Another annoying thing to note is if you have a head set, it is all ways on, in warhawk there is a button to press while you talk, when you let go of the button it turns off the head set mic. In cod4 if the tv is loud it picks it up and crates tons of background noise and makes it so you cannot understand a damn thing. This makes it so confusing sometimes. There have been times when i am playing and i hear another player’s children screaming in the background the whole time, or pestering daddy to take them to the store or something, this is so damn annoying i cannot even put it into words. I didn’t have kids so i wouldn’t have to listen to that crap. Here i am playing a game with someone’s kids in the background crying and being ultra annoying, because cod4 doesn’t have an on off switch for the head set mic. FOR THE LOVE OF VIDEO GAMES. I hope they fix this. ANNOYING!

There is no capture the flag but, there is a mode called sabotage that is even better in my honest opinion. It is very similar to capture the flag with more bang and even more strategy, you must protect the bomb carrier to the enemy base and guard him while he plants the bomb. Then guard the bomb so no one can defuse it. VERY COOL. Also there is this leveling up system that is really cool, but it makes for some severely lop sided skirmishes. Being able to throw 3 grenades vs 1, being crippled on your weapons and scope in the beginning really hurts you when you are fighting against level 40 + players. UNFAIR. In WARHAWK the game doesn’t allow advanced players to play with the beginners. I wish that were the case in this game as well. But don’t let any of these negative points detour you. This game is amazing in all most every aspect regardless of its small shortcomings.

9.9 Presentation
The story, acting, cut scenes, everything is seamless, load times show relevant information while you wait so you don’t get board, It’s Tight, all most perfect.

9.5 Visuals
60 frame per second, hardly ever slows down. photo realism. amazing lighting, textures, explosions, smoke, rain, weather, wind, animations, photography, camera work, the whole thing kicks major ass!

7.0 Audio
All most perfect. Especially on the covert missions, you really notice the details. The music changes at the right times, creates tension, and really gets you into it. Mixing is great, levels are great, voice recordings are great. But i have to subtract points for the head set issues online, this ruins the online audio experience.

8.9 Game Mechanics
I would of given this a 9.5 if it wasn’t for slow grenade throws, no shooting while running, no huddling against walls, no drivable vehicles. But besides that, it is the best out there, aiming is rock solid and easy. Aiming is the focus of this game. There are so many weapons in the game, and the upgrade path in multiplayer is genius.

9.9 Replay
Easily, i will play the single player game 3 times, it’s that damn good. Multiplayer will kick ass for years and years, i have a feeling this is one of those titles that will have online games for the next 4 years with out any let down. I expect there to be downloadable content in the near future, like game modes, new maps etc. maybe even weapons.

9.2 Total Score.
(out of 10 / not an average)

Buy this, despite it’s flaws, it is super fun, engaging, and the best first person shooter game on the market. It doesn’t try to be anything but a shooter. It’s based aiming and using your brain to handle situations. The story, i feel like it shows both sides very well. Something the real life media fails to do. I love how it gives a fictional take on something that could happen in real life and throws you in the middle of it.

Oh and one last thing. Watch the videos on this site at the bottom of their page: CLICK ME to go to that page now. Call of Duty 4 is better on the ps3. Now watch the videos closely, especially the first one, when they are in the helicopter, watch the rain out side, notice how there is way more rain on the ps3 version. I mean its really noticeable, the weather fx are superior on the ps3 through out the game. But other than that they are all most identical. So slight edge to the ps3 on this one, the videos clearly show it. Oh and let’s not forget that that the analog sticks on the ps3 controler are the best on the market.

Music Listened to while writing this review: First and Last and Always & Floodland - Sisters Of Mercy.