Xbox 360 Game Reviews H-L

Hail to the Chimp is a minigame collection that attempts to make fun of the boring world of politics. It runs into a few snags, though. Mostly that the gameplay is dull and the jokes just aren’t all that funny. As an 800 MS point ($10) arcade game, it would have been fine. But as a $40 full retail release, Hail to the Chimp just seems completely out of place. Find out all of the details right here.

Halo 3 is the best Halo yet and one of the best games available on the Xbox 360. Every single aspect of the game is polished to near-perfection from the presentation to the campaign to the multiplayer, Halo 3 does everything amazingly well and adds in a bunch of new bells and whistles to really put it all over the top. And above all else, Halo 3 is one of the absolute best values in the industry. You will be playing this for months and likely years to come. Find out all about it right here.

Not different enough to be an entirely new game, but too different to simply be an expansion pack, Halo 3: ODST's value is kind of tough to figure. It does look, sound, and play an awful lot like the Halo 3 we all already have on the shelf, but it also offers a great original campaign (perhaps the best the series has seen yet) and nifty new multiplayer mode called Firefight that can truly stand on their own. Halo fans will love ODST. Find out all of the details right here.

Despite what some people have been trying to pound into our heads, real-time-strategy games can and do work just fine on consoles. We have three great Command & Conquer games on the Xbox 360 as proof. So the question isn’t whether or not Halo Wars is the breakthrough title for the genre (expect to see some variation of this thought process in every other review), but rather how it stacks up against the games that are already firmly established. Find out more in our Halo Wars review.

I'll come right out and say it. Halo: Reach is easily the best Halo game yet. From the campaign to the muultiplayer to the forge to Firefight, everything in Halo: Reach is uniformly polished and excellent. The gameplay is sharp and precise. The presentation is stunning. The wealth of content is impressive. You'll be playing this for months to come. There is no question that Bungie is going out on top with its final Halo game.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 takes Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the safe confines of Hogwarts and thrusts them out in the dangerous world of Horcrux hunting. It also takes the safety off, and lets them use all the magic they want in some intense firefights. Is this new HP game worth your time. Find out here.

Another Harry Potter movie, another Harry Potter game. This is a good thing, of course, because we actually quite liked the last one. Half-Blood Prince isn’t a huge jump over Order of the Phoenix as far as presentation or core gameplay goes, but it does offer a few great minigames and a couple of hilarious set-pieces, and even though we ran all over the castle in the last game already, exploring Hogwarts is still a lot of fun. Fans of the series, especially kids, will love it.

At long last, we have a summer 2007 movie game that isn’t just a quick cash-in. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a solid game that was clearly built with the love and attention the franchise deserves and fans will really enjoy it. It isn’t perfect, though, and some questionable design elements drag the experience down a bit. You do get to freely explore every inch of Hogwarts, so it is worth checking out just for that. If you’re a fan, you’ll love it.

Eidos is on a roll this year. First they brought the Tomb Raider franchise back from the dead and now Hitman gets a much needed facelift. Blood Money has all of the things that made the Hitman series great to begin with but makes everything more accessible, gives you a lot more to do, and coats everything with a very nice looking layer of graphical goodness. The beauty of it all is that you can play however you want, so stealth and action fans alike will find a lot to love here.

If you weren’t already sick to death of World War II first-person-shooters, Midway’s Hour of Victory will be the game to finally break you. Not a single aspect of the game manages to be more than mediocre, and most things instead end up on the terrible end of the scale. This is a bad game, period.

The Xbox 360 has had its fair share RPGs, but none from THE role-playing-game specialists, Square Enix. Until now, that is. Infinite Undiscovery pairs the typical SE storyline and presentation polish with a fun real-time combat system with mostly successful results. It isn’t quite on the level of the genre’s best on the Xbox 360, but there is more than enough here to keep RPG fans happy. Find out all about it right here in our Infinite Undiscovery review.

Iron Man 2 is boring. Despite having a picture perfect premise for a videogame - flying around in an armored suit and blowing stuff up - it still manages to be amazingly bland and unexciting. The gameplay is sloppy and uninteresting and the presentation is just plain ugly. Just when we thought movie/comic book games might be getting better, Iron Man 2 comes along to firmly put that dream to re…

Blood Stone gets the feel right, but struggles a bit when it comes to gameplay. It is still a fun ride for Bond fans, but it won't keep you busy for long.

The James Bond film franchise has been effectively rebooted with a more realistic tone and a great leading man in Daniel Craig and now the Bond videogame license is looking for a fresh start as well. Activision has the license now, and for now at least it seems like it is in capable hands. Quantum of Solace looks and plays great thanks to the use of the Call of Duty 4 engine as its foundation and is solid overall. Find out if it is worth your $60 right here.

Just when you thought the import racing fad might finally be dead, another game pops up. Luckily, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is actually a pretty decent take on the genre. It features some of the best visual customization available in any racing game on the Xbox 360 along with some decent, if not uninspired, racing and the Hot Import Nights license gives it a more authentic look and feel than most street racing games. Juiced 2 isn’t a perfect game, but fans of the genre will enjoy it.

Even after playing videogames for 20 years and being a reviewer for the last 7 years, I still hold out hope whenever a new movie game comes across my desk that it is going to be good. Sort of like comedian Lewis Black’s bit about candy corn, I approach movie games with unexplainable optimism only to be disappointed. Jumper: Griffin’s Story is...

Just Cause 2 is essentially a do it yourself action movie. You have a huge chain of islands to play in, tons of weapons and explosives and vehicles, and the ability to pretty much do anything and go anywhere you want thanks to a nifty grappling hook and endless supply of parachutes. This is a dream game for gamers that like to make their own fun instead of being weighed down by restrictions and…

Just Cause turns takes the GTA gameplay out of the city and into the jungles of a fictional Caribbean island nation. It has taken seemingly forever, but we finally get an open world sandbox game where we don’t have to play as a thugged out gangsta. Just Cause features some nice visuals, a very interesting story and overall concept, and some satisfying gameplay, but it is filled with glitches and bugs and annoyances that seriously hurt the experience.

The original Kane and Lynch, released in 2007, is more noteworthy for sparking a controversy that ultimately led to the creation of GiantBomb.com than anything gameplay related. For those that did actually play it, it was pretty darn mediocre all in all, but developer Io Interactive was given a second chance to clean up the franchise's reputation with a sequel. They were only partially successful, however. Find out all of the details in our full review.

Am I crazy, or do stand-alone karaoke games seem pretty pointless these days? If I want to sing, I’m not reaching for Lips or Karaoke Revolution, I’m booting up Rock Band 2 and its 1000+ songs. But, hey, that’s just me. If you’re still in the market for a plain ol’ karaoke game, however, Konami’s reboot of its singing series might be right up your alley. We cover all of the detail…

Kengo: Legend of the 9 is a third-person-action game that focuses squarely on the simplicity and elegance of samurai-era sword fighting. It sounds like a cool idea, but suffers from repetitive combat and braindead AI and a single-player game that takes all of an hour to beat. Kengo does have some good things going for it, but even at a budget price of $39.99, it is hard to recommend for anything more than a rental.

Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie was crafted by Oscar winning director Peter Jackson and acclaimed game creator Michel Ancel (Beyond Good & Evil) so there was very little question that the game was going to be good. King Kong is a gorgeous looking game that is one of the scariest and emotionally charged experiences you’ll find in a videogame. It isn’t perfect, but it is still absolutely worth playing.

One of the more underrated Xbox exclusive franchises has always been the Kingdom Under Fire series. The previous two games on the OG Xbox were hack n’ slash action games mixed with a bit of real-time-strategy, and they were pretty darn fun. The latest in the series, Circle of Doom, nixes the RTS elements in favor of a more straight up action RPG. Was this decision a wise one or a mistake? Find out all about Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom right here.

On the surface, Left 4 Dead 2 seems like the same game as the original L4D. The gameplay and setup and everything are awfully familiar. When you dig a little deeper, however, you find a game that is improved in just about every way. The presentation is better, the campaigns are better, there are more modes, and the new weapons make the gameplay quite a it deeper than it was before. Left 4 Dea…

Zombies (zombie-like creatures at least) and co-op shooting, is there anything better in the world of videogames? Point me towards the undead, give me a gun, and get the heck out of my way. Left 4 Dead delivers a co-op/survival experience with relatable characters in realistic “Main Street, USA” locations and captures the essence of the best scenes in every zombie movie ever to create an amazing experience you’ll want to play again and again. Find out more right here.

Just when we thought the LEGO games were running out of steam, LEGO Batman arrives to let us know that Traveller’s Tales still has plenty of tricks left up its sleeves. The core of the game is still the same as LEGO Star Wars or Indiana Jones, but LEGO Batman shakes things up with the best character variety and puzzle design yet. The difficulty level has been ramped up a bit, which isn’t so good for younger fans, but overall LEGO Batman is a fun game that is easy to recommend.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 doesn't change the LEGO game formula too much, but it didn't really need to. These games are fun and funny and appeal to a wide spectrum of skill levels and ages as well as both men and women, so even though we may still be doing the same old stuff we've done before, it is still very entertaining. And, hey, it is Harry Potter, so fun is pretty much guaranteed. Find…

The first thing you need to know is that LEGO Indiana Jones 2 is not just the same stuff from LIJ1 plus Kingdom of the Crystal Skull levels thrown in. It is a completely new game with all new levels that cover all 4 Indiana Jones movies. Even better, it is an improvement in just about every way over the original and in terms of puzzles and level design, LIJ2 is arguably the best LEGO game yet. …

LEGO Indiana Jones is pretty much what we all expected. It feels an awful lot like LEGO Star Wars, but with whips instead of lightsabers and 100% more stubbly-faced LEGO Harrison Ford. It is great fun for kids and adults and is packed with plenty of trademark Indiana Jones moments to keep fans very happy. The LEGO formula is kind of starting to wear a bit thin and it isn’t as fresh and cool as it used to be, but for this game at least, it is still very enjoyable.

LEGO Rock Band is a more kid-friendly game than other music/rhythm games have been, but underneath the LEGO veneer it is still pure, classic Rock Band. It plays great, has a decent list of songs, and the trademark LEGO videogame silly humor still works really well here. It is cute, and fun, and funny, and definitely still rocks. Find out all of the details here in our full LEGO Rock Ba…

LEGO Star Wars II doesn’t stray too far from the formula laid down by the original game, but there are enough improvements here that there is no question which one is the superior game. Everything is bigger and better and there are more secrets and unlockables than you can shake a stick at. It also doesn’t hurt that it features the characters and locations we have all come to know and love from the classic Star Wars Trilogy. This game is a blast to play and is highly recommended.

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga follows a simple formula: Take two great games and mash them together to create the ultimate LEGO Star Wars experience. From a sheer value standpoint, it is an absolute success because you get all six movies, new areas and characters and secrets, online co-op, and more for just $50. The only downside is that you have likely already played through most of it before, but to have improved versions of it all on one disc, makes it worth picking up all over again.

Lips: Number One Hits is Microsoft and developer iNiS’ follow up to their 2008 karaoke title, Lips. Known as much for having the best microphones on the Xbox 360 as it was for having great party gameplay, Lips was a decently strong contender in the increasingly crowded music/rhythm genre. Number One Hits polishes up the formula a bit to produce a better game, but stumbles when it comes to overall value. Find out all of the details right here.

Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II will long be remembered as the first game to do real-time-strategy right on a console. RTS games (good ones, anyway) used to be pretty much PC exclusive because they required complicated control schemes to really work right. Developer EA LA has streamlined the controls to work with a controller and the result is an amazingly good game of army building that will make Xbox 360 fans very happy during these slow summer months.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest is not a good game. But it makes effective enough use of the LotR license that the amazing music and epic stuff happening all around you blinds you to the point where you can almost forgive the stiff and shallow gameplay. Almost. Find out all of the details in our full Lord of the Rings: Conquest review.

Lost Odyssey is without question the Xbox 360’s answer to Final Fantasy. If it was called “Final Fantasy XIII”, I don’t think anyone would have questioned its place in that series. But it isn’t Final Fantasy. And it isn’t from SqueEnix. It is a brand new franchise exclusive to the Xbox 360. And it is darn good. Find out all about it right here in our full review.

The phrase "if its not broken, don't fix it" is generally a pretty good rule of thumb. Don't mess with something and potentially ruin it. But when something was broken the first time and it doesn't get fixed, it just feels like a slap in the face. That is pretty much Lost Planet 2 in a nutshell. It feels like a slap in the face. We liked the original Lost Planet, but it had issues. They wer…

The first big game of 2007 is upon us, and after months of hype and anticipation, we can finally play Lost Planet. Was the wait worth it? I would say yes, but it does depend on what you were expecting. If you liked the demos that were released in 2006, you’ll love the final product. If you weren’t impressed by the demos, you can pass on Lost Planet. It really is as simple as that.

Without a question, the Colonies Edition re-release of Lost Planet is the best version of Lost Planet. It features new modes, new maps, and gameplay tweaks along with the full single-player campaign from the original game. And it is all priced at just $30. If you are a fan of Lost Planet, Colonies is worth checking out to see what is new, and if you are new to LP, then Colonies is definitely the version to buy. Find out all about it right here in our full review.

Lost: Via Domus is an interesting game that, unfortunately, just screams “rental” from the get go. It has nice presentation and a decent story, and we dig the adventure game elements, but Lost is crazy easy, very short, and a pretty poor purchase at the full $60 price tag since once you see the story and collect your 1000 achievement points, there isn’t anything to keep you coming back. It is absolutely worth playing through once, though. Find out more in our full review.