Advantages: 4 good games, great value, free 1 month subscription Disadvantages: 2 average games, no news on Volume 2?
XboxLiveArcade Unplugged is a disk that contains six XboxLiveArcade titles. The disk itself is very easy to use, no installation is required, the game disk is simply inserted in the disk draw and the player is routed directly to the Arcade menu to pick which game they want to play. It should be noted that the disk is always required to play the games, as they cannot be copied or stored onto another storage device.
These games featured on the disk are:
-Geometry Wars 9/10
-Texas Hold 'Em Poker 7/10
-Bejewelled 2 8/10
-Wik Fable of Souls 8/10
-Outpost Kaloki X 5/10
-Hardwood Backgammon 4/10
(There are also some trial games featured on the disk, but they aren't complete versions, meaning they don't have access to all the levels or any of the achievements and leaderboards.)
The first four of the games are very good ...
Advantages: Cheaper than a lot of other consoles+ extensive catalogue of games available Disadvantages: some games can be expensive
Overall a very impressive games console. Definate value for money and great introduction to the world of console gaming
There is a good range of games and the online playing takes the experience to a whole new level. (Although beware that the arcade version does only have a memory card and if yiou do eventually go online you will find yourself running out of memory for some of the games you may wish to play. For hardened gamers the Elite model may be a wiser choice with its built in hard drive)
Graphics are colourful and smooth ( the HDMI) lead improves them even more.
Sounds will vary depending on your own TV set up.
Overall this is user friendly console that will occupy all the family ...
Advantages: Online gaming, good value, networking Disadvantages: Some lag, temptation to spend more money on extras
XboxLive is good value compared to some other online subscriptions e.g. World of Warcradt or Everquest as with these you pay everymonth just for one game, whereas with xboxlive you only pay once to go online with pretty much all your games.
You then get tempted, however, to pay for extra online contect such as extra levels, characters, backdrops for your xboxlive dashboard, arcade games etc. etc.
So it's never as cheap as it seems!
The service on xboxlive is good and it's rare to have connection issues so gameplat online tends to be smooth. Occasionally you may shoot at someone only to find they already moved- lag is rare but does happen and can be annoying.
The range of games that can be played online is excellent, and isn't just shooting and fighting! Guitar hero plays online brilliantly with options for guitar battles ...
