I think it's fairly safe to say that you have played Monopoly before, and if you are like me, you agree its one of the most monotonous board games out there. So it's safe to say I wasn't expecting much with this one. Monopoly is basically exactly what you expect it to be, whether that excites you or not is down to the individual. The game consists of 2 games modes. The original game mode, which plays basically the same as the board game, is the main event. You can take part against your friends, all on one controller which is cool, or the AI, in a standard game of Monopoly. It's fine. The extra package is a new updated version of the game, featuring mini games. 4 dice are rolled, each dice representing how many spaces will be randomly chosen for you. You then play a mini game and from it are ranked 1 to 4. The winner gets to choose the first dice, thus how much random spaces they are given. If you land on an empty space it becomes your to keep. If you land on a property owned by someone else, you need to give them some of your owned properties. If you land on the community chest space, the lowest ranked player recieves 3 properties from the highest ranked player, and your score at the end of the game is the total value of your properties owned. It's a really dumb system which is very random and doesn't really work. There's very little skill involved, aside from the mini games which aren't great, and the game tends to quickly evolve into one random player snowballing. My advice is to ignore this mode. If you want to play standard Monopoly on your console, pick this up. If like me you don't, then don't. Easy.

I hate this game. Maybe the hate is a little unwarranted, but its just so forgettable. In fact I beat the campaign last night and I can barely remember it. Now I am not an FPS snob by any means. I love a crappy FPS. Shell-shocked 2, Soldier of fortune, Rogue warrior, hell even Turning point had an interesting concept. But this, this is just bland. Jump through a 10 level romp around very similarly rocky locations, fighting the same group of enemies with basically the same weapons. It handles fine. The graphics are fine. The story is fine. There's just something about it that seems so unnecessary. I mean this was the era of Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company, and you can see this game borrows heavily from them. Heavy scripted shooting sections in modern times with some gruff real american heroes by your side. You can forgive Danger Close Games for trying to tap into this popularity. And there is the Tier 1 mode which adds a bit of challenge and replay ability to the game. I just really can't recommend this, even to hardcore FPS fans.

This game will be forever remembered for the award on the front of the box art. Proudly wearing it's best of E3 on its cover art like a badge of honour, Raven Squad comes crashing and burning onto your console with a very awkward splash. A FPS game where you control two squads of 3 soldiers, Raven squad lets you move between a first person mode and a tactical overhead camera, to control you two teams and infiltrate enemy compounds. It's a fairly unique game on the system and the concept seems really cool. Of course, if you have heard of this game, you will know its a C grade, so bad its good style game, and was not met with rave reviews. In some ways this has actually helped RS age well. People will probably have more fun playing it now than on release. The stereotypical characters, over the top voice acting, just plain dumb cutscenes, everything about this game is cheap and tacky in a endearing way, and it could have been good. The premise of the game feels like it could work and for a couple of minutes it kinda does. There is one section where you have to defend a group hostages as they tried to escape while getting attacked by waves of enemies. The enemies come from both sides so you need to use your tactical view wisely to hold of enemy waves, then switch to your FPS mode to deal some damage. The thing is, this is probably the only time I found the game to work as intended. Most of the time you can just jog through the game in FPS mode, with its frankly horrible controls and shoot everyone with one dude. Each soldier has different weapons and specials, a sniper, heavy machine gunner, close range shotgun dude. They have grenades, smoke bombs etc etc. Again thought, you rarely need to be tactical in this game. As expected the levels are bland and ugly, it is unresponsive and hard to control and of course, the classic mega short 3 hour campaign. BUT, and this is a big but, it is fairly interesting. It attempts something different and fails in a funny way, which in 2023 I quite admire. There are no games like this released nowadays and for that reason I think it's a worthy addition to a collection. It does suck though.

Dark sector is the type of game that people like to refer to as a hidden gem. It's a fairly unique and obscure IP that looks kinda cool and hasn't been used since. In reality, I can only really agree with the hidden part. Dark sector is a 3rd person cover based shooter ala gears, which adds in a couple of extra mechanics to add a bit of spice to the game. The visuals are the first thing I noticed, and you will see a very dark and brooding game, and this style is pretty nice. The most loved aspect of the game is the super sharp boomerang that you can use to slice up enemies. You can fling it through fire and it will set enemies on fire and there are some puzzles that use it too. Aside from these two points we have a fairly bland game. Maybe I'm just a bit fed up of gears-ish games, but I don't even think the cover system works all that well here. The levels are fairly dull and linear, intersected with some alright boss battles. Nothing really changes throughout the game. Each level is effectively a corridor of enemies who jump out at you, with a a little bit of cover to hide behind. If the gameplay was clean and fast like gears I could accept this, but it's just not quite as polished which left me feeling a bit bored. A game which is unfortunately far less interesting than it looks, which ends up being just ok. In 2023 you are probably tired of these time of games so I'd suggest leaving this one.

It's almost surprising how many different genres of racing game you can find on the 360. This is the 2nd of the Moto Gp series to be released on the 360, and is an officially licensed product. Like a lot of these official licensed racers, it's not particularly forgiving on the beginner. I mean i'm sure moto racing is super challenging in real life, but I was basically falling off at every corner, and as a video game that is no fun! With that in mind, you can see this is definitely aimed at the more experienced and skilled players, and I'm sure fans of Moto Gp will get some enjoyment out of this. But it's a real kick in the face to new players when the training is extremely poorly executed and difficult to understand. Unless you have nostalgia for this year or moto gp, or love simulation racing games, this is probably one to avoid.

This is going to sound strange, but the 360 is lacking on extremely low budget, browser like games, released on disk. The wii was full of them. MnM's racing, chicken shoot, cheggars party quiz. Shovel ware as it's called. The smurfs 2 is one of the closest things we have on the 360 and it's surprisingly not too horrible. A 2d platforming game, another rarity on the console, smurfs 2 is a simple and child friendly affair which is very rough around the edges. In Smurfs 2 you can choose between a collection of different smurfs to play as, each having their own special abilities. The abilities are not special and a lot of the time it doesn't make any difference who you pick, but it is a nice touch. Most of the fun you will get out of this game is playing 2/3/4 player with a younger gamer. The simple nature of the game makes it suitable for kids and easy to pick up, with the collectables leaving you coming back for more. Saying it is rough around the edges is an understatement however. The whole package just reeks of cheaply made. The character models, level design, menus and even the music just seem cheap. The controls and gameplay are not great either. Jumping doesn't feel responsive and the hit detection is awkward too. However, there is a certain charm about this cheapness, especially when you think this was released on disk. It's not a good game, but I have a soft spot for it, and if you want some 4 player coop, this should definitely be in your collection.

The 360 era was a time of taking classic game franchises and dumbing them down for the console generation. This wasn't always a bad thing. Fallout 3 and NV are great examples of it actually working really well. The truth is some game types are better left on the PC with a mouse and keyboard. Shadowrun maybe epitomises this more than any other game on the console, with the cyberpunk strategy rpg story based game becoming, yes you guessed it, a multiplayer online shooter. If this isn't disappointing, then I don't know what is. So was it a complete disaster? Well not really. It is a fairly decent online shooter with some interesting mechanics which is still populated to this day. You can select from different races of characters with different skills and battle in team based first person fun, with all the standard modes like capture the flag and team deathmatch. The respawn system is quite cool. If you die a teammate can respawn you, but if they then die, you will die with them. It's a nice mechanic which adds to the complexity of a game. You can also pay to buy certain skills like summoning monsters to help you. It's quite unique and feels like a 2007 version of overwatch. With that being said, at some point people will stop playing online, and then we will be left with effectively a bot shooter. Don't get me wrong, including bots is a great idea and all multiplayer games should include them. But it's not really the same. The game's single player is basically a tutorial mode. It is cool to see this weird fantasy style multiplayer shooter with spells and abilities, but it's a shame that at some point this will be obsolete. For that reason I probably can't recommend it. Bonus points for the ace box art though.

I might be in the minority here, but I actually preferred Challenge 2 to live 2. I guess for big rugby league fans the choice is obvious. Yet as a non rugby fan, the gameplay just seemed a bit simpler and more enjoyable. It was easier to pass, easier to run and score tries. The computer players were predictable in the movements meaning I was able to pull off more interesting plays. The controls just seemed to click quicker too. Take this with a pinch of salt as a rugby fan, but as a casual, while both are good, I'd go for challenge.

So here we have Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. An interesting title for a variety of reasons. For one, it's one of two series I can think of that use the strange acronym name hybrid title, along with the FEAR series. Also, its , along with End War, one of the forgotten about, and quite random entry in the Tom Clancy's series. Finally, it's one of the few flight games on the console set in modern times. This is another one of those titles that I find hard to review, as I'm not really a big flight sim fan. That being said, this seems like a fairly serviceable one, if a little repetitive. The missions are your standard fair of dog fights against a bunch of enemies, and bombing an area. If you are into this time of game, you will know what I'm talking about an probably enjoy it. One cool feature is that the game will give you flight paths to avoid missiles or follow enemies in the form of gates, and missing one will mean you need to start again. It's a simple but cool little mechanic. One major issue I have with this game is it is ugly. It's very green/brown/gray, and i really think it could have been improved by having some cool cities or landscapes to fly over. That being said, I had a bit of fun with it and its still pretty playable in 2023.

Each need for speed game I play I get more and more confused. What is this series trying to do? After the arcade street racing of most wanted and the poorly controlling but similar carbon, we have the more simulation focused pro street. It makes it quite difficult to know what to expect when we are jumping between arcade and simulation racing. Pro street goes down the sim route with a side helping of boy racer style illegal street racing and racing meetups. Fans of tuning and playing around with the car should enjoy the customisation options of this released and the atmosphere of the street racing is fun if a bit cringeworthy like previous NFS titles. Racing takes part on race meet weekends, letting you attempt racing and drag racing events against AI opponents. The racing feels fine. It is more sim based, so there is less room for mistakes and offers a bit more challenge. The drag races are not much fun to be honest, and basically boil down to some awkward button presses. I just found myself not massively enjoying the game. The racetracks were boring and I didn't feel a lot of excitement from head to head racing with the AI. The format of the campaign is very repetative, with each race weekend having too many very similar style races or drag races. It's not a bad package and I can see it would be appealing for some groups, it's just not really for me.

This is the type of game that probably divides people into 2 groups. People who played the game or enjoyed Bakugan as a kid and people who have no idea what it is. I was in the latter group, but having played around half the game, I'm pleasantly surprised. Let's get the obvious out the way, Bakugan is a dated childrens game, which is very simple to play, a little repetative and has horrible graphics. Yet hiding under all of that is a fairly fun animated game. Bakugan is a pokemon style creature brawler. You have different Bakugans, think pokeball and pokemon combined, with different elements (water fire etc) and their own attacks and abilities. The game tells a, as far as i can tell, original story of a boy who is dropped into the bakugan universe. You have to help all the "famous" Bakugan characters to save their world. The story is cheesy as hell, but fun for kids and surprisingly well fleshed out with nice simple cutscenes. The gameplay is split into two different sections, which adds a bit of variety. A simple 3d roaming collection and sneaking section, where you need to get to the end zone without being spotted. This is followed by a battle section where your Bakugan of choice will fight against of bakugans to defend your base and destroy the enemies base. There's a little more to the gameplay, but its fairly simple and easy to pick up. It's not mind-blowing, but It's a pretty interesting game, and I would say a worthy addition to a collection, especially if you have kids.

Gen 7 seems to be the generation in which the trend of making a video game about every movie that was released died. I'm sure most gamers will have found memories of playing some form of movie tie in game when they were younger. I was particularly partial to the Toy story game on the snes and of course goldeneye. But over time these games seemed to get worse and worse, rushed out in time for a movie, hoping that parents will buy the game for their kids based on the title alone. For every knights of the old republic there is a chicken little, for every aladdin there is an ET. The early generation 360 game catalouge is full of horrible movie tie in games, and in some ways spiderman 3 is the worst offender of the bunch. After the excellent spiderman 2 on the ps2, we have the not so excellent spiderman 3, the first spidey release on the 360. It has everything you expect and know from spiderman games. Webslinging across Manhattan, all the characters you know and love and dumb one liners from spidey himself. The game is quite famous from its horrible cutscenes which almost rival the memes from the movie itself, and this is one of the highlights of the game. Its fun messing up button presses just to watch the frog eyed NPC look in horror as they get blown up. This is maybe only rivalled by Prison Break. Another fun aspect of the game is the boss fights. They are varied, often in 2 or 3 parts, and sometimes frustratingly hard, which I dig. Unfortunately, this is where the fun ends. Web-slinging through the city is fun for the first hour, until you realise there is nothing really going on in the game world. This is the most boring manhatten we have seen yet. Its all just gray, and there is nothing memorable about it. The combat system is another huge issue, its finicky and normally descends into button mashing or holding down the time slow button. Missions themselves give the impression of variety at the expense of fun. It's not the worst game in the world, but there are much better spidey games on the console.

I probably wrote this one off before I had even started. Sega went on a spree of making crappy superhero video games in the mid to late 2000s and this is one of them. If you have played one before, you probably have an idea of what they entail. 3rd person action featuring mostly hand to hand combat with a mix of your favourite characters from the hulk series. Hell does the hulk series even have characters? I could name one except Hulk. What's interesting about this one is how much it feels like the Spiderman games. Flying between skyscrapers in a 3D open world New York while completing a series of missions and looking for collectables is basically exactly what you do in Spiderman 3. On the positive side it is fun smashing everything to bits. The best part is the buildings, all of which are destructible. Chucking cars around and watching them smashing into skyscrapers is awesome for a couple of hours. The negative side is that it is pretty repetative. Missions end up being very similar to each other, kill enemies, smash building, the end. Probably a good one for young marvel fans as it is so easy to pick up and play, but not for everyone.

I'm weirdly nostalgic for movie tie in games. At the time, everyone hated them. Yet, I can't help but feel a bit of happiness when I see a random movie tie in game from previous consoles. Pirates of the Carribean, only one on the console thankfully, is a quite decent action adventure game. You play as Amber heard's ex husband on an adventure through parts of the movie? To be honest, I haven't seen the movie, BUT the game does look nice. The areas are all detailed, colourful and varied, and I really enjoyed exploring them. Gameplay is a mix between hack and slash, platforming and some elements of puzzle soliving, with a few collectables thrown in there. The gameplay is simple but varied and the levels do feel realistic. The game also has quite a nice plot with some great cutscenes. Did they get Legolas to do the voice lines? No idea. But the story was interesting and didn't feel tacked on. There is a quite unique duel system to the game, in which you sword fight one on one which was enjoyable and worked well. I also like the variety with different weapons and enemy types. Overall it's a game which appeals to both adults and chilren and will keep you entertained through it's short campaign. It's nothing incredible, but we rarely see games like this nowadays and I do miss them.

I'm weirdly nostalgic for movie tie in games. At the time, everyone hated them. Yet, I can't help but feel a bit of happiness when I see a random movie tie in game from previous consoles. Pirates of the Caribbean, only one on the console thankfully, is a quite decent action adventure game. You play as Amber heard's ex husband on an adventure through parts of the movie? To be honest, I haven't seen the movie, BUT the game does look nice. The areas are all detailed, colourful and varied, and I really enjoyed exploring them. Gameplay is a mix between hack and slash, platforming and some elements of puzzle solving, with a few collectables thrown in there. The gameplay is simple but varied and the levels do feel realistic. The game also has quite a nice plot with some great cutscenes. Did they get Legolas to do the voice lines? No idea. But the story was interesting and didn't feel tacked on. There is a quite unique duel system to the game, in which you sword fight one on one which was enjoyable and worked well. I also like the variety with different weapons and enemy types. Overall it's a game which appeals to both adults and children and will keep you entertained through it's short campaign. It's nothing incredible, but we rarely see games like this nowadays and I do miss them.