Level design and layouts are fluid and fast paced do not expect epic battlefield scenarios with mechanics being more focused on close quarters gang battles in the favelas of Brazil and the gritty streets of Jersey. The server’s operated very well for a day one launch migrating maps without repeat, and a voting system is implemented offering three maps for the player’s to choose from much like the Halo series. DLC content maps where released with retailer specific sales, but this does not affect lobbies due to those maps only being selectable at the multiplayer menu.

The character and weapon upgrade system initially unlocks at level four of gameplay with the first three levels offering standard load outs for each low level player. The load out you select is weight specific much like Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer mechanic was earlier this year. The more gear you carry the less health and stamina will be regenerate. Support players that are going to be less mobile will want to select heavy load outs with heavy body armor, and ranged riles while players looking to run and gun will want to select light sub machine guns or pistols enabling them to roam the map with no stamina penalty. These light loads also have a more lasting effect on time spent in bullet time. Bullet time is only accessible by increasing you kill count, and it may be used as a defensive or offensive weapon. If you are rolling with your crew (Join the 360G crew through the Rock Star social club search 360GamerCast with an all types search) and enter bullet time all crew members in your area will also enter bullet time so you may take advantage of clearing entire opposing crews with only one member exhausting their meter. Conversely if you are retreating to you crew members providing covering fire you can enter bullet time so they may have a greater chance of providing you that saving grace.

Parties entering the lobby may be split up initially if you are joining an active game; however once the match has ended the servers did a great job of matching you with your crew upon entering the next match. This is by far the best multiplayer that Rock Star has produced, and that is why they have implemented the crew mechanics moving forward into Grand theft Auto V. Communication is crucial just like any other multiplayer game. The teams that coordinate and direct each other are going to be successful while those that just run and gun are going to suffer defeat after defeat.

The multiplayer does not come without faults with the most poignant being the kill cam that does not exist. While the kill cam in Call of Duty may be embarrassing at times seeing yourself being owned by twelve year old American brats. It is also educational by assisting you to find camping players and areas that you may exploit the future. This kill camera you only see your body being pumped full of lead as it falls to the ground in an elaborate mess. Also a few game glitches where experienced during our time in multiplayer. Once I dove into bullet time, and became trapped in the geometry of the level and was almost invisible. Enabling me to take out multiple opponents without them realizing I was there. Sure this problem will be remedied soon, but the kill cam issue will hopefully be addressed in GTAV.

Overall Max Payne’s multiplayer is more than I expected and look forward to checking out the remaining game modes with the 360GamerCast community. Private lobbies can be established and this is where I see the Multiplayer having the most legs in the community, but the crew vs. crew mechanic of open lobbies will be great fun as well. With the lack of current multiplayer titles Max Payne is sure to have staying power for the time being and with the Rock Star season pass being back in effect for Max Payne there are sure to be updated maps keeping it fresh for Rock Star’s loyal community.

7/10 Fresh Twist on multiplayer, good leveling mechanic, and better than expected experience

Thank You to INNSOMKNEEACK and Lord of Letterbox for joining me in multiplayer for this review.

MineCraft is a mystery from the outside, oldschool 16 bit graphic style and lack of game structure seems to either appeal to people instantly, or immediately send them running back to pown more “noobs” on Call of Duty. Not being a PC gamer the XBLA release was my first taste, and it was love at first crafting table for me. MineCraft is a different game for every player and that is a large part of the appeal. It is the antithesis of a community game. If you are not the creative type jump into a friends world and play practical jokes on them, if you are an artist craft awe inspiring 16 bit art, want to lend a friend a helpful had sculpting their world then be so kind. MineCraft offers endless possibilities outside just mining blocks and building.

The only downside to the release could be the initial netcode work that must be improved for stability and the price point. At 1600 Microsoft pointsthe casual consumer may not see enough appeal to make the investment, butthe market has already proven the price point was justified so those wanting to stand on the other side of the fence may have a long wait until Minecraft is reduced to the standard price point of 1200 points. The netcode or RAM problem the game is experiencing if hopefully just a growing pain. Latency issues are rampant in the 360G community on this title with the community being spread across the globe this issue may persist, but hopefully is improved over the coming months. Also the game had multiple complaints of freezing Xbox’s. I have experienced this issues more times than any Bethesda title has ever froze my console, and “one mans” opinion is that the poor little Xbox’s RAM just can’t handle the constant loading the MineCraft requires. Hopefully some behind the scenes addressing of these issues will clean the cat poo out of this sandbox, and offer a great experience that many of us now will not be able to do without.

If pure inspiration is the heart of MineCraft then cooperative play is its soul, and Myjonghave delivered by offering both online play and couch cooperative play that is lacking from almost all AAA titles of the past few years. Hearing fathers and sons play together and husbands and wives enjoying time together is what makes the MineCraft community a great addition to the XBLA marketplace, and the online multiplayer is fantastic as well community members that don’t share mutual game interest historically are coming together building and playing in this sandbox, and that is why gamers game this day in age. They want to find new friends to enjoy gaming together. Gone are the days of locking yourself away questing, cooperative play in where Minecraft spreads its wings and fly’s.

Combat in MineCraft while simple is varied at the same time both ranged and up close and personal combat are present, or may be disabled all together by setting your game world to a peaceful setting. The combat is always challenging enough that you will learn quickly to be afraid of the dark. Enemy AI will find any dark corner to close in of you at you shelter so well lit safe zones are required to stay safe through the night. Community leaderboards are present so you may compare you kill count to others on your friends list further the gamey nature of MineCraft. While those who just want to produce beautiful vistas, or 16 bit art can take advantage of the peaceful setting. Those looking for a risk and reward mechanic can set there worlds to an east, normal, or had difficulty. Knowing that a Creaper could ruin hours of work at any time is an added twist that some will find gratifying and others will find an exhaustive grind. You will not know where you fit in until you try the multiple settings.

MineCraft is a title for the entire family from young to old, new gamer to seasoned veteran all will find some form of enjoyment from this quality XBLA tile. If price is your only concern then the trial will more than likely not sell the game to you all you can do is put your trust in the words you read on the internet and the opinions from friends that you trust. It will only give back what you put in at the end, so if you are committed then make the investment if not then just be jealous of all your friends stories and hopefully that will be enough for you. Minecraft is exceedingly addictive so also be sure  you are well nourished and rested prior to a session, because if not you many end up like a Korean StarCraft player stewing in your own nappy ruining your Union Jack man blanket.

8/10 indie darling that has made the premier

The character’s populating the villages and surrounding areas are varied and complex. In Act II depending on the story arch you choose Geralt could end up partying the night away with a group of dwarves that love to downed their sorrows in mead, and discuss plowing the fairer sex of dwarf society. These are some of the funniest and most well-acted cut scenes in current console gaming. There may possibly be some G-spot hunting that occurs in certain scenes that many or may not be so well acted you need to go visit your Miss. in the other room, or force some of us to crack open the laptop…. No, No No, that would never happen… OK, back to it, yes the characters voice acting may be the only point of contention with AI design, but this seems to be the case with many developers that escaped to Eastern Europe for less expensive operating costs. Nevertheless CDProjekt has delivered a varied and wonderful cast to compliment Geralt on his quest.

Combat is refined and varied with four separate skill paths you many choose to craft your character around training, swordsmanship, alchemy, and magic are all present but with Witcher’s game play being focused, and story driven you do not have the time to max level your character as you would in a game like Skyrim. The swordsmanship tree seems to be the easiest to simplify brutal combat early in the game. Not to say that any of the other two main skill tress are lacking interesting gameplay; however a small investment in magic can yield huge bonuses to your combat mechanics. Withcer 2 may appear on the surface to be a button mashing dive into battle RPG; although if you practice this technique your copy will end up in Game faster than Duke Nukem did last year. Instead it is better to focus your battle tactics around pulling single foes into one on one combat, or setting traps to range your opponents. Crafting traps and armor enhancements are also key components to excelling at combat, and while this may all seem like a time suck and complicated once you get the hang of the menu, and the crafting mechanics it all becomes very organic near the end of the first chapter.

Some of the flaws in Witcher 2 are very evident from the beginning of the game. The map system if near impossible to understand even after spend hours with the game. I often found myself misguided even in the third and final chapter of the campaign. This is the same old flaw that many other RPG’s have suffered for years. With no floor system in the menus you have no idea if your objectives are above, or blow your current location making much of your time spent wandering aimlessly seeking your current quest objective. This could have been easily rectified by adding a quest reticle to the HUD; however with the Witcher being so heavily dependent upon not holding your hand this may have been an addition by subtraction scenario.  The menu system and crafting mechanic can also be a bit daunting all RPG’s need to simplify menus so that items may be compared easily without having to mash over details for every item in inventory. Many times you compare and see it is rated better overall, but the item you have equipped gives you a specific bonus that the new lacks. If all items, weapons, and armor where capable of equipping mods this would make an inventory system much more streamlined.

The Witcher 2 is no doubt one of the best PC to console ports that has migrated over to the Xbox 360 in this generation, and for that matter one of the better games released thus far in 2012. While it does not evolve the genre The Witcher does prove that games can succeed in being mature in nature while not segmenting the base of gamers. It may have been released at a poor time however with so many titles during the past twelve months focusing on the fantasy genre, but that is just my opinion since sword and shields have historically not been my genre of choice for blockbuster releases. If you have the patience for intense combat you are in for a fantastic story that is delivered via several different methods throughout what is sure to be an epic tale that will last your average gamer twenty-four plus hours of game time, and lasting memories of a great game that has crossed over to the mass market of console gaming.

9/10 great graphics, complex combat mechanics, mature story content

This time around the top 10 was chock-a-block with 100,000,000+ scores as people upped their game. Clubb8r Lang stormed the second spot behind Galford (only 3rd in the world this week) and a smidgeon in front of current pinball champ XxSTEVIECEExX.

Big pops also to MJ2KILLER and Charlton Valley who are showing their mettle in this their first tournament. Mention also to hotwheelsdavid who was in last place for the Thor table and has found form this week inside the top 6.

Then there is “Pinball”peebs. Like a stick of dynamite in a vat of M&Ms, he knocked it out of the park this week. Keep it up sir.

1) GalfordDWeiler – 556,650,853 – 30 points
2) Clubb8r Lang – 193,439,979 – 29 points
3) XxSTEVIECEExX – 191,540,742 – 28 points
4) MJ2KILLER – 128,492,067 – 27 points
5) Charlton Valley – 124,875,165 – 26 points
6) hotwheelsdavid – 105,471,037 – 25 points
7) FunkyM0nk – 104,284,400 – 24 points
8 ) LordOfLetterbox – 102,681,150 – 23 points
9) “Pinball”peebs – 100,414,408 – 22 points
10) Cheshire Tomcat – 96,743,261 – 21 points
11) Stewbed – 86,363,424 – 20 points
12) dhaunsch – 73,161,091 – 19 points
13) mrc1501 – 67,152,319 – 18 points
14) Cinema Dan – 57,882,440 – 17 points
15) W00PR SAN – 44,910,168 – 16 points
16) GuNsLiNgErX1983 – 42,941,560 – 15 points
17) JED BARTLETT – 42,344,155 – 14 points
18) COOPSTER18 – 39,743,316 – 13 points
19) H34DCA5E – 35,550,569 – 12 points
20) mobeast666 – 33,309,945 – 11 points
21) xXKrOnTrAiNXx – 28,091,610 – 10 points
22) TCV – 23,969,535 – 9 points
23) alexmcampbell – 16,691,249 – 8 points
24) g ham ox14 – 7,164,780 – 7 points
25) BestestMates – 1,903,080 – 6 points

Next week we shall be playing on the X-Men table. Play from Monday until Friday 23:59. Video preview below.

If you fancy joining in then simply add the Xbox Live gamer tag CinnamonDan 360 and I shall do the rest once you start posting scores.

Okay the moment that you (should) have been waiting for – the current standings in the Pinball League:

1) GalfordDWeiler – 60 points
2) Clubb8r Lang – 57 points
3) FunkyM0nk – 53 points
4) XxSTEVIECEExX – 51 points
5) Charlton Valley – 48 points
=6) Stewbed – 47 points
=6) LordOfLetterbox – 47 points
7) dhaunsch – 45 points
8 ) MJ2KILLER – 44 points
9) mrc1501 – 43 points
10) “Pinball”peebs – 41 points
11) Cinema Dan – 38 points
12) hotwheelsdavid – 34 points
=13) H34DCA5E – 32 points
=13) JED BARTLETT – 32 points
14) GuNsLiNgErX1983 – 29 points
15) mobeast666 – 26 points
16) TCV – 25 points
17) Cheshire Tomcat – 21 points
=18 ) BestestMates – 18 points
=18 ) g ham ox14 – 18 points
=18 ) alexmcampbell – 18 points
19) W00PR SAN – 16 points
=20) All Purrdy – 13 points
=20) COOPSTER18 – 13 points
21) xXKrOnTrAiNXx – 10 points

I have a feeling that this will be going down to the wire…

360GameCast Pinball FX2 Tournament – Week 1 (Thor) Results

Well it’s end of the now (in)famous 360Gamercast Pinball FX2 tournament’s first week and  our top runner GalfordDWeiler, posted the best score IN THE WORLD on the weekly tables. How do you do it sir?

Elsewhere a massive influx of top scores in the last 24 hours chopped up the top pecking order with Clubb8r Lang, mrc1501 & Charlton Valley stamping their mark with impressive 100 million+ tallies.

Below who will find the points scoring which will carry over subsequent weeks. Next table is MOON KNIGHT which we will be playing up until 23:59 Friday 11th May GMT

Video preview:

 
1) GalfordDWeiler – 997,228,000 – 30 points
2) FunkyM0nk – 142,809,000 – 29 points
3) Clubb8r Lang – 122,051,000 – 28 points
4) Stewbed – 120,103,000 – 27 points
5) dhaunsch – 119,208,000 – 26 points
6) mrc1501 – 113,884,000 – 25 points
7) LordOfLetterbox – 109,500,000 – 24 points
8 ) XxSTEVIECEExX – 105,515,000 – 23 points
9) Charlton Valley – 103,859,000 – 22 points
10) Cinema Dan – 89,470,000 – 21 points
11) H34DCA5E – 73,676,000 – 20 points
12) Pitbullpeebs – 61,592,000 – 19 points
13) JED BARTLETT – 43,380,000 – 18 points
14) MJ2KILLER – 43,380,000 – 17 points
15) TCV – 30,546,000 – 16 points
16) mobeast666 – 28,745,000 – 15 points
17) GuNsLiNgErX1983 – 25,858,000 – 14 points
18) All Purrdy – 24,797,000 – 13 points
19) BestestMates – 24,758,000 – 12 points
20) g ham ox14 – 16,124,000 – 11 points
21) alexmcampbell – 11,366,000 – 10 points
22) hotwheelsdavid – 8,824,000 – 9 points

Thanks to all who took part.

If you still would like to take part then simply add the gamertag CinnamonDan 360 and play the correct table within the allotted time. Typically we play between Monday & Friday. The order for this tournament is Week 1 – Thor, Week 2 – Moon Knight, Week 3 – X-Men and Week 4 – Ghost Rider.

I will be posting updates as the weeks progress in the 360G forums so keep an eye out there.

Questions below or shoot them over via twitter – @cinemadan

Here is the link http://www.facebook.com/groups/7609501237/

You have probably noticed by now that there is no podcast this week. We have taken a well deserved week off but we will be back on Tuesday 15th May 2012.

All of the podcast crew have been super busy recently and we have badly needed a break.

We have also made a mutual decision to make the podcast a maximum of 2 hours long as we feel that the show has been much too long recently. We will also be putting video reviews on the podcast feed from time to time for you to enjoy.

We will see you all very soon and thanks to the community for all your support.

I’m am super excited for Dishonored, the immersive first-person action game under development at Arkane Studios!

Dishonored casts you as a supernatural assassin driven by revenge. You are the once-trusted bodyguard of the beloved Empress. Framed for her murder, you become an infamous assassin, known only by the disturbing mask that has become your calling card. In a time of uncertainty, when the city is being besieged by plague and ruled by an oppressive government armed with strange technologies, dark forces conspire to bestow upon you abilities beyond those of any common man.

In Dishonored, creatively eliminate your targets with the flexible combat system as you combine the numerous supernatural abilities, weapons and unusual gadgets at your disposal. Pursue your enemies under the cover of darkness or ruthlessly attack them head on with weapons drawn. The outcome of each mission plays out based on the choices you make.

Check out this cool trailer which has convinced me to preorder this game

Here is some info on the Ghost Recon Future Soldier Beta which I am super excited about. Make sure you all download it and I will set up some gamer nights on it most nights until the Beta ends

Ubisoft announced the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier multiplayer beta will run from April 19^th until May 2^nd for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation^®3 computerentertainment system.

In the multiplayer beta, up to twelve simultaneous players will have the opportunity to choose from three classes (Rifleman, Engineer and Scout) and experience the intense adversarial online action in two different modes:

Conflict
·         Description: players battle to complete objectives located throughout the map and earn points, the team with the most points at the end of the round wins
·         Game session: 1 round of 15 minutes

Saboteur (available starting April 26^th)
·         Description: a bomb spawns in a central location, both teams compete to retrieve the bomb and be the first to detonate it at the opposing team’s base
·         Game session: 1 round of 10 minutes

Both modes will be playable on two different maps (Pipeline and Mill).

The beta can be accessed in the following ways:
·         Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction Owners
o    Splinter Cell Conviction Xbox 360 owners can access the beta directly through the game
·         Pre-order Ghost Recon: Future Soldier on Xbox 360 and receive a Xbox 360 beta key
·         Also, look out for additional key giveaways online

Additionally, Ubisoft announced Ghost Recon Network, a free companion service that will support all Ghost Recon titles moving forward. Accessible from smartphones, tablets, and web browsers, Ghost Recon Network will allow players to interact with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier & upcoming Ghost Recon games anywhere at any time. The Ghost Recon Network site (www.ghostrecon.com/network) and v1.0 iOS & Android apps will launch with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on May 25. Players in the multiplayer beta will have the opportunity to try specific features of the Ghost Recon Network website and get their hands on the Android mobile app – both of which are in beta stage.

Ghost Recon Network Key Features:

Customize and share in-game weapons on the go
·         Use GunSmith mobile to customize weapons down to their inner parts in 3D and sync them to consoles
·         Publish weapons to the GunSmith Gallery and browse guns posted by the Ghost Recon Network community

Track player history and friends’ in-game status
•      Access personal player performance on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier & upcoming Ghost Recon games and compare stats on leaderboards
•      Receive challenges, friend activity reports and community updates via the website or push notifications on smartphones and tablets

Receive exclusive rewards
•     Download the free Ghost Recon Network app at launch to unlock additional attachment credits in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
•     Earn weapons and weapon skins in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier by playing other Ghost Recon games or interacting with other Ghost Recon experiences

Become a better player
•      Study detailed game information and heatmaps to prepare for the next battle
•      Build and manage your squad, add recruits and search for competing squads

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is scheduled to release for the Xbox 360® and the Sony PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on May 25, 2012 in the UK. It will be available on PC on June 15, 2012.

Please visit www.ghostrecon.com for more information on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.