Can a zombie game REALLY be this good?

All right, so I picked this up out of a need to sate my hunger for new games. I'm saving up for the ION Drum Rocker, and I haven't played anything new in a long time. But when I picked this up, and started playing it, I knew it would be great.

During the "crescendo" events, you press a button, call for an elevator, or something else that makes a lot of motion or noise. Thus, hordes of "infected" come flying at you, including special infected: Hunters, that jump on you and leave you pinned and helpless while ripping out your intestines; Boomers, fat zombies that vomit on you (and that bile attracts the horde) and, when they are killed, cover anything within five feet of them with bile; Smokers, constantly-coughing zombies that lash out with their tongues and drag you away from your teammates; and finally, for the last special infected that actively seeks you out, there is the Tank, a behemoth reminiscent of a zombiefyed Hulk that swats you aside like flies. These crescendo events provide an intensity not seen in many games today, but even when you're just walking around, it's freaky.

For the last special infected, there is the Witch. You are alerted to her presence by a special kind of music and the sounds of constant sobs. Turn off your flashlight and be careful with your aim, because although the Witch looks like an innocent little girl (albeit with glowing eyes), she is deadly in her own right. Disturb her, and you WILL be incapacitated.

"So," you might say, "wouldn't that eventually get boring?" Perhaps, but what if each level changed every time you played it, based on factors like your accuracy, health, etc.? For there is an AI "Director" that determines where to place zombies and what types of special infected to throw at you. Whereas you found a Witch hiding in a closet the last time you played this level, she might not even be present if you're sucking. However, if you are bombing through a level with no problem, watch out: a Tank/Hunter combo will be waiting for you around the next bend. Players can never truly get cocky, because yes, you owned that Hunter no problem, but you sure won't last long when a Smoker constricts you and a Boomer vomits on you (true story).

All this combines to make an intense, fast-paced, and even sometimes funny (Zoey's quips are priceless) gem of a game that all 360 gamers need to pick up immediately. SO GO BUY IT!

Freakin' awesome.

This game is an incredibly fun game, with well-paced mixes of action and storyline. You do seem to go on an incredible amount of fetch quests, and towards the middle to the end of the game your crewmates start to treat you as their lackey, not their colleague, but that only occasionally distracts from the stellar gameplay. Severing limb by limb never gets old, and each encounter is different every time depending on your concentration and the amount of enemies nearby. You need to know the different types of enemies if you are to survive, and you'll find out by trial and error what techniques are effective against different enemies and what aren't (ProTip: NEVER SHOOT A FAT GUY IN THE STOMACH!). Once in a while the enemies will play dead, posing an interesting dilemma: "Is he dead? I only have a bit of health left. Should I shoot him in the face, just to make sure he's dead? But I only have a bit of ammo left, it might be wasted for nothing! I..." etc., etc. To be honest, my only real quibble with this game is a minor one: sometimes, in certain areas, areas will be turned into "Quarantine Zones" when scripted enemies burst through, and you cannot escape until every enemy is killed. The enemies are supposed to rush at you, right? But once in a while I'll "kill" an enemy, then keep fighting other enemies. Turns out later, the first one I killed was playing dead. But they're supposed to come at you!

In any case, this is a stellar game, and I recommend this for a buy.

GamePro has it right. IGN sucks, and I agree with GamePro.

IGN actually had the nerve to give this awesome game a 6 out of 10. As someone else said, "You can't spell ignorance without IGN," and they were so right. GamePro at least rated this respectably, although I am rating it .5 higher. Aside from some pedestrian/car woes and minor camera-and-framerate-related issues, this is an incredible game. They finally nailed the swinging, and the city looks amazing. More cars crowd the streets than ever before, and the number of pedestrians has also been noticeably increased. However, this has come at the price of some reality. I wasn't focusing too much on the pedestrians in my recent battle with the New Goblin, but I think I saw several walking by as though nothing was happening. Something similar was happenning with the cars. This is, unfortunately, a downgrade from the prequel. I tried punching one civilian recently, and he jerked out of the way and continued on. Wow. However, this can result in rather amusing, if inconvenience-causing, situations. Twice in a row (in the Black Suit, no less) I was run over by a gray car and flipped six times (three for each hit) onto the pavement. Finally I mashed the A button and manage to swing away. Phew! The boss battles, the way I see them, are exciting and challenging. Also, the ability to switch to the Black Suit and swing through all the missions again with the suit on is awesome. Above all, buy this game. It's worth it.

A game can't honestly be this good. It's blasphemous.

I'm not sure I spelled "blasphemous" quite right, but you guys get the idea. The graphics are the best I've ever seen in a game. Indeed, it is better than Halo 3. Bioshock's graphics might, perhaps, be seen to be on par with COD 4's, but in a different, more evocative way. This is cold, hard, gritty, and above all, real. Although you wouldn't believe it's cold, moving amongst the broken and dilapidated buildings of the Middle East. You can almost feel the heat, causing you to sweat inside your outfit. Your body throws up some pathetic sweat, but it's not really enough. You spot a terrorist peeking through a window. Almost automatically, you raise your gun and fire, causing him to fall back with a shower of blood. THIS...is Call of Duty 4. The sounds are realistic. The guns are authentic. Real Russian's being spoken. What more can you honestly want from a game? This is the type of game you need to have, even if you've hated Call of Duty ever since the series inception. It's that good. Have $60 plus tax? Why wait?

Incredible, but with some quirks. Read on...

This game really is incredible. For its time, the graphics were stellar, and they're improved by the fact that I'm playing Halo 2 on my Xbox 360. The TV that it's being played on is a 42-inch Plasma Screen TV. So, yeah, it's pretty good-looking. It introduces new weapons to the game. The battle rifle was a welcome addition, along with the SMG, the Carbine, and the Beam Rifle. Dual-wielding was a new innovation, giving you extra firepower BUT at the cost of grenades and meleeing. Unfortunately, though, they took out the Assault Rifle. That's my only real big gripe with this game. That, and the hit detection's way off. In hectic multiplayer matches the view can be confusing and disorienting, and sometimes when you hit, thinking that you just assassinated or beatdown some n00b, you miss, he turns around and blasts you, and you die. So, it's really good. This should definitely be in your Xbox/360 library. But be wary--it's definitely not as good as Halo 3, so don't be angry if you find Halo 2's taste not within your palate.