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BlackSite: Area 51

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GF Rating
5.6

5880 ratings

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

Not a fully polished game, but I had fun

posted by MisfitToy (TEMPE, AZ) Nov 24, 2007

Member since Feb 2006

59 out of 65 gamers (91%) found this review helpful

As my title states, I couldn't help feeling these two things pass through my mind. I have a friend who would be asking me about the game because he was interested in buying it. All I could come to throughout was that it wasn't the greatest game, but I still had fun. And isn't fun what we should have in a video game?

Worth a rental? Absolutely. Worth purchasing? Well, maybe. I wouldn't mind owning the game some day as it does have a "vibe" about it that I haven't gotten from other games. For one, the music and the sound effects are great. Probably the standout thing to me. And sound is a big deal to someone like myself.

Graphically the game is so so. At times it's really great, like the "demo" level that we've played on LIVE. But throughout the game it can be hit and miss. I never really ran into any real glitching or hiccups, so that is notable. The game is totally playable.

For the most part the game is pretty even with it's difficulty, save one part where you face a boss 3/4 of the way through the game. He is a beast...and really not that fun when you've died 10 times and you need to sit through those load screens EVERY time you start over. And some of the checkpoints start back a little too far. Like...oh, I get to walk for a minute, then open this door...then die. Wonderful. If you can't tell, I hate wasted time with bad checkpoints. Not the worst, but not always the best.

Now, back to gameplay. Yes, I had fun. And I think you will too if you give it a chance. The gun shooting is fun and the enemies are somewhat challenging. The story can play out kind of interesting, though parts of it (mainly the very ending) is sort of lame. Its like it just sort of ends......

The only other thing is that and there is no real mention of Area 51...ANYWHERE...so I have no idea why this is called Blacksite: Area 51. Much untold, which is annoying for those who like story...and explanations, like me. Otherwise...a fun rental.

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GF Rating
6

Above Average

Blacksite Area 51

posted by Indisposed (SALEM, VA) Aug 10, 2010

Member since Aug 2010

3 out of 3 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

Plays pretty good ,has a decent storyline, pretty good graphics and detail.Only complant is the game's movement isn't always fluent.Kinda lags alittle.Shooting enemies is a pain from a distance but they go down quick when you hit them.Close range combat and being able to shoot many different enemies is where this game really shine's in my opinion

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GF Rating
6

Above Average

black site area 51

posted by snipsey (STERLING, MA) Jun 25, 2010

Member since Jun 2010

2 out of 2 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

Black site area 51 has a below average game play. The story is well above averge. All I can say is the game should have more aliens and less reborn. If your going to make a seqeuel I would look into some reveiws.

- snipsey

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GF Rating
5

Fair

not really a review just a comment on the item

posted by Calistyle (ANAHEIM, CA) Apr 10, 2010

Member since Mar 2010

1 out of 1 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

When I received the game it had a paint like substance around the disk and I was skepital to put it into my 360. So I did my best to clean it but it was still on there after, I ended up playing it through and the game is fine and my 360 seems to working fine aswell...just a heads up

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GF Rating
5

Fair

Not the best FPS ever, but Far from the Worst

posted by dfloss721 (GRAYSLAKE, IL) Feb 28, 2010

Top Reviewer

Member since Jun 2007

1 out of 1 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

Overall, this was a solid FPS game with a mediocre story line. Everything about this game was...AVERAGE. It's not a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor Franchise so give this game a break. I hate reading all of the 1 ratings on this game; what did you possibly expect? This is a perfect rental game, fly through the campaign, and stay away from the MP. It needed more time to program, and work out the kinks, since it's very unpolished and unrefined. If you're an achievement hunter, you can get 75% fairly easily, having to beat on highest difficulty can give you some headaches. It will be very hard to unlock most of them since they are tied to MP matches though.

PROS------ - Good AI for the different difficulty settings.
- I enjoyed being able to command my teammates in battle, as well as the concept of Team Morale (new idea not often seen)
- Decent story, combining both alien and human enemies to kill

CONS-------- NO SPRINT BUTTON... or am I missing something here?? How do you possibly skip adding a Sprint button. It was a slow torture for me not having that.
- No in game map, HUD, or COMPASS. NO COMPASS??? Are you kidding me? To me, i rely on the compass to backtrack if necessary and to tell where I came from and need to go. Wow.. no compass, nice work there.
- Very blurry when moving screen left and right. I have HD tv with HDMI cable and nice setup, and this still was VERY blurry.
- Choppy aiming and very poor weapon selection
- No direction on current mission or objective. You can spend a good time roaming around like an idiot in this game because it never tells you where to go. Oh yea, it'll tell you WHAT you need to do, but not how to get there at all.

This is a solid rent. It should take you 6 hours for the average player to beat the campaign. Multiplayer is poor since the game is old and everyone plays COD MW2 now, so don't expect anything there.

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

Very good game

posted by Stoopid (KINGSTON, NY) Jan 13, 2010

Member since Sep 2009

1 out of 1 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

I don not know why this got such a low rating. sure, it may not be as good as games like Call of Duty or Halo, but does that make it a bad game?

I really enjoyed this game. Maybe not enough to buy, but definitely to rent.

The graphics were good, gameplay was fun and interesting, and it had a bunch of little touches that really made this game, such as, when the people talk to you, they really look at you. They don't just stare in your direction like in Call of Duty 4.

Overall, I give this game a 8.5/10, and highly recommend it as a rental, but not so much as a keeper.

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GF Rating
5

Fair

if you're looking for a FPS to rent...

posted by snackdaddy (GLENDALE, AZ) Jan 9, 2010

Member since Dec 2009

1 out of 1 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

you could do a lot worse than this.
It has decent graphics, good controller set-up, and gameplay is pretty brisk.
I would have enjoyed a better selection of weapons, however.You
go thru the entire game with the same gun(a machine gun). It's a good weapon, but variety is always nice. And the game is very linear.My last gripe is that the bad guys, even on the most difficult setting, are a little too easy to kill.
Also on the plus side, I enjoyed a war-oriented shooter that did NOT have Nazis.Talk about an over-done and antiquated theme!
This game gives you a chance to shoot-up terrorists in a mosque( that added 2-3 points to the game alone!!).
Definitely a solid rental, and very possibly a buy( if you are into sci-fi and FPS games).

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GF Rating
3

Bad

Not what you think it is

posted by METALLICA1 (FREDERICA, DE) Jun 14, 2009

Member since Dec 2008

1 out of 1 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

Due to the huge scratch on my disk i was never able to get past the giant tick alien or whatever they called it. But overall, i believe the first area 51 had a better difficulty, storyline, and gameplay. In the first game, you could carry every weapon you picked and use it unil you ran out of ammo. In this version, you could only have 2 weapons and there was very little variety of them to begin with. The difficulty is the main problem I see with the game. The first area 51 got progressively harder to beat, even when you were on easy, while Blacksite seemed to drop to a level were a 6 year old could play it when it was on the hardest difficulty. If you are looking for a good first person shooter or a shooter in general that has the heart pounding storyline and gameplay like the first Area 51, look at Left 4 Dead or Dead Space, not this game.

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

Frame rate issues aside..this is a fun game

posted by SKOOT2006 (MANSFIELD, TX) May 1, 2009

Member since Feb 2009

1 out of 1 gamers (100%) found this review helpful

Well, I had fun darn it - and lets be honest - that is why we play games isn't it?

There are some frame rate issues - for example sometimes you'll hit a checkpoint and the screen will freeze for a few seconds..or just go frame by frame for a few moments. (Makes aiming a pain when it does that). Also, I've noticed that the characters will start to speak and progress the story along before the load screen is removed. (That annoyed me).

There are some other graphical problems here and there.. mostly detail related, but nothing major.

Yes, they could have spent a little more time fine tuning this game.. but all in all.. I had a blast!

The online play is hit and miss - the main problem is that some of the maps are really big and there are not a lot of peeps online playing. If you do get a game going, it is great fun :) Aside from the lack of online players my only real complaint about the online play is that you cannot destroy enemy cover like you can in story mode. Can't destroy a wooden fence by shooting it.. can't blow up a car.. etc. Abduction is my favorite online mode.. I think everyone should try it. You start with one enemy and everyone he kills is "infected" and respaws on his team. This goes on till everyone is converted. (If you've played perfect dark zero it's almost exactly like infection)

Bottom Line: Refreshing fun..everyone should try it, but because of the lack of online players most peeps will not want to own it.

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GF Rating
7

Good

Slow Start, Good Finish

posted by LordMaker (Holgate, OH) Dec 27, 2007

Member since Jul 2007

16 out of 21 gamers (76%) found this review helpful

The game starts out boring, but the last three missions are a good time.

Pretty much standard FPS here. Very Linear, dumb AI, OK weapons.

This game is easy, even on hard. Should take 6-8 hours to beat, and yield around 300 achievement points.

Online is pretty good, but very few people are playing. So finding a match is not as easy as it should be.

Its a good rental to pass some time with, but that is about it.

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GF Rating
7

Good

not the best game ever

posted by evilive (BOYNTON BEACH, FL) Nov 17, 2007

Member since Nov 2007

21 out of 29 gamers (72%) found this review helpful

Blacksite is a decent first person shooter with plenty of bugs, but none too great to interfere with gameplay excessively. Going straight from COD 4 to this game is a big step down though, the aiming and unrealism in the firefights really requires some dumbing down. Your opponents can be really difficult to kill at times, I cannot imagine shooting somebody 10 times in the torso and have them be completely unscathed. The graphics also feel like a step down, but not by much although at times it can be a bit choppy and might even drop the frame rate a bit. There is also a morale system that controls your teammates aim and skills in relation to how good you are (how many guys you kill, headshots, etc.)All in all the game is ok, they should've spent more time on it but it is definitely worth renting and beating.

+ Morale system is interesting and helps a bit
+ The aliens in iraq story line is interesting
+ Overall good fighting with minor flaws

- The aiming pisses me off and is unrealistic (i can look around and aim at the same time with an AR-15)
- The enemies reaction to getting shot is unrealistic and they tend to need to be shot more than what should be required
- Framerate drops at times which can make it seem a bit laggy
- The graphics aren't that great

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GF Rating
4

Weak

GLITCHY and SHORT

posted by justinlo (TACOMA, WA) Nov 28, 2007

Member since Jan 2007

9 out of 13 gamers (69%) found this review helpful

I am going to start my review off nice the game is fun do not get me wrong i am a big fan of the previous area 51 installments. however 2 big things i noticed was the lack of challenge and lack of weapons.. the game is only 6 missions long and the first 2 is just lame set up for the story. also when i was driving the jeep through the ruts it kept glitching out (jeep started flying then i got out and died b/c i fell)
anyway it is ok to go ahead and get your achievement points.

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GF Rating
2

Really Bad

A game that should stay hidden inside Area 51

posted by majinoni (PHOENIX, AZ) Dec 7, 2007

Member since Sep 2007

7 out of 10 gamers (70%) found this review helpful

What could have been a great game turned out to be a game that left me wanting more Besides being dull at times with the same stock of rotating bad guys the game was buggy.

There was a few times I played stop and go while walking. There are a couple of scenes where they go Matrix on you so I know that the stop and go is not apart of that.

I also had the game lock on me which I had to restart. Another time the game hickuped right as a door was being opened. As a result the door wouldn't open any longer and I had to restart the level.

To me the game looked unpolished and rushed out the door.

It is a short game so a average player should be able to finish this within 5-6 hours.

The one positive thing was I did earn some achievement points so if you want to earn a couple hundred then buy all means rent it.

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GF Rating
9

Excellent

why i say its a great game but not a buy

posted by 0thedude0 (BYRON, GA) Nov 25, 2007

Member since Sep 2003

6 out of 10 gamers (60%) found this review helpful

this was a great game to play...although it was way to short. the graphics where kicked butt it really felt like i was running through parts of Nevada. the characters where your typical generic ones, with one being the tuff big armed demo guy the nerdy tech guy and the guy whose fighting to support his family, also a character that serves no purpose but to get in your way (most of the time female)and last your guy the hot shot bad butt ace..also there wasn't a big verity of bad guys the same baddies in different location got boring and there moves became predictable. even on the hard level it was easily to figure out how to beat them. although there was some areas, not many, that make you think what the heck how do you get by this level, when they just pour big amounts of all the types of baddies at you all at once. all in all finely say it was to short (beat it in one day)the graphics kicked butt your ai buddies comments during game play and looks where great and it needed more baddies. so i say rent it finish it in one day and go on

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GF Rating
9

Excellent

not CoD4 buuuut....

posted by byronius (PALM HARBOR, FL) Jan 10, 2008

Member since Jun 2007

3 out of 5 gamers (60%) found this review helpful

I have played thru and beat this game 3 times now back to back. Its run on the unreal engine which means great physics. I also have to note that through the game every level is stunningly detailed. There was some concern with the first level when they drop you into iraq and your human enemies are taking way more then realistic damage. Its is justified in the later levels when you are faced with biotech enemies and cyborgs. The story line, in my opinion, is pretty off the chains. The only problem is the Hard setting is easy and the Expert setting is kinda hard at some points and a breeze at others. i would suggest starting on Hard to get the full frontal from the game.

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GF Rating
1

Horrible

I Was The Sucker Here...

posted by RockerBoi (NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ) Dec 21, 2007

Member since Sep 2007

3 out of 5 gamers (60%) found this review helpful

There is So Much More I Can Say About This Game But I'll Sum it up a bit. I was dumb enough to actually buy this game... allow me to start off with the beginning's 1st We have People your team and the enemies able to walk though solid objects such as cars, when you kill enemies a lot of the time (especially if they were standing up) you will see their weapons suspended in mid-air, In-Game Glitchs like you wouldn't believe. i was on the Rachel Level and the whole screen blotted out at this intersection and i fell for like 16secs into nothing then i died... now i bought the prequel "Area 51"(2005) video game for my Regular Xbox and it was AMAZING!!!! from Start To Finish!!!!!! I Couldn't Believe It! so i was so hyped when i caught wind of "Blacksite: Area 51" i told myself if the 1st was Killer then the 2nd must be SICK come to find out from start to finish the game was a Failure. it's horrible it's like watching a low budget action sci-fi movie and playing it at the same time... Personally, This is one of the worst games i've ever played... yeah yeah yeah the graphics are good and that's ONLY because one it's 360 and two they used the "UNREAL ENGINE MOD" other than that nothing special. i was and still am VERY DISAPPOINTED with MIDWAY and the very people who thought up such an abomanation... But... these are just my personal feelings toward the game... I'd Say Rent if that DO NOT BUY! unless your a Super Die Hard Fan of This Kinda Thing...

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

Blacksite: Area 51

posted by totoland (FREELAND, MD) Nov 20, 2007

Member since Mar 2006

4 out of 8 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

I know that in the presence of A+ titles like Call of Duty 4, Bio Shock, Halo 3, Assassin's Creed that several B and B+ titles are being lost in the mix. I really enjoyed playing this game from beginning to end. Once I started the playing the game I did not want to put it down much like TimeShift which is another sleeper this year and highly recommended. The Unreal engine graphics are great and the gameplay and voice acting is quite well and amuzing at times. The accuracy of the shooting is on par with Timeshift and the AI is somewhat intelligent. I aliens are amazing in details and the cut scenes are good as well. Only negative to this title is that there is no manual save feature and there is not enough checkpoint in each of the levels which makes the more difficult levels hard to complete without trying several times. I would say that average gameplay is 12-15 hours which makes that title one that you are getting what you pay for if purchasing vs. renting. A great rental to consume some of your time but a little cheap on the points awarded in the single player mode 200-300 for completing the game.

-Peace

totolandman (gamertag) xBox Live

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GF Rating
1

Horrible

painful torture to play and finish

posted by gundam2009 (LOS ANGELES, CA) Jan 26, 2008

Member since Aug 2007

2 out of 4 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

The other reviews are just too generous. I had inkling that this game might be bad from the negative press cloud around regarding it's creative lead's departure from midway. Sometimes you start with low expectation and you get surprised. This is one of the times where doesn't work out that way - it was worse than expected. Let me assure you quality was not in the minds of the creators of this game! This game is not worth your money.

The worse part of the games are:
1) bad game play: the way the physics, weapons, animation is done I got little joy out of the FPS aspect. There's very little attempt to make it look realistic when you fire your weapon. Your opponents doesn't appear to be taking damage other than suddenly they drop - and i swear many times they fall towards you or get knocked 100ft in the sky from being shot by what looks like an M16.

2) bad narrative/writing - this game tries so hard to make strong political statements that all the characters are so one dimensional and annoying. First off the soldiers sound very whinny, every 5 seconds they speak a line from the narrative that complains of this and that - yet they are supposed to be delta force - one of the most highly selected and professional soldiers - I just don't think any deltas much less military recruit acts this way EVEN IF they disagree 110% with the government. it's so bad i hate the character design of this game.

3) less than impressive graphics - especially with the environments/maps. Especially in outdoors daylight maps - the lighting looks horrible - everything looks too plastic and non-next gen. Blame unreal engine but look at GOW and see what can be done.

State of affairs with gaming these days is publishers are pumping out huge number of games faster to make the bucks sooner - as an avid gamer this is reprehensible practice - and this game is a testament to the results of it.

All game developers must play this game to learn what not to do!

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GF Rating
6

Above Average

Decent

posted by KingTiger (MERIDEN, KS) Oct 31, 2010

Member since Oct 2010

1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

While this game is a bit better than I expected graphics wise and story line, what really brings it down are the glitches. It is horribly riddled with all kinds of glitches from dialogue popping up from the last level you played to a door not opening when you try to open it. The only way you can seem to fix it is if you stop and start all over. The storyline is nice and it is worth a play through. But the last boss is a major pain and will possibly give you an anurizm.

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GF Rating
5

Fair

Needs work

posted by Undertow85 (ALLEN, TX) Oct 21, 2010

Member since Aug 2010

1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

I played the game all the way through in a matter of a couple days.

Let me put this in the most honest way I possibly can-
The programming is atrocious, the triggers are weak and sometimes do not spring, the targeting system is inaccurate/unreliable, the visuals are OK at best, the storyline is ridiculous and cloudy, and the characters make the dumbest decisions ever.

But...I still played through it because it was actually pretty fun to play. The enemies were vivid and kept you guessing. Worth a rent, at least. Play it for a couple days and try it out.

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GF Rating
5

Fair

Never judge a game by its cover...

posted by Zer023 (EDISON, NJ) Jul 16, 2010

Member since Jun 2010

1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

Though this cover looks like itll be a good game, its not so great.

Campaign: 6 levels...too short
Gameplay: pure shooter...nothing much to it
Multiplayer: Don't even bother

Estimation time: Casual-4 hrs hard-4.5 hrs expert(4-6 hrs)

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GF Rating
3

Bad

Blacksite Area 51

posted by laceym615 (HURST, TX) Apr 23, 2009

Member since Dec 2008

1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

I had high hopes for this game believing it was going to be a sleeper hit. After playing it for 3 hours on the hardest difficult I decided there was no way that it was possible. Starting off the graphics were choppy even in 1080p which the game doesnt support and the enemy AI was ridiclious at times. Your team will run out and die and the moral will drop instantly then would respawn and die again which made it nearly impossible to keep your squad morale high during some of the big firefights. The vehicle parts were annoying because you were the only one shooting and on the hardest difficulty you would die in like five shots so when you have 5 guys shooting at you from 4 different directions it just got annoying. The checkpoints were few and far between so you have to be cautious where ever you went or you would be restarting quickly. The icing for the cake was when i made it to the gas station in the city, I replayed that part 3 times to get through it and when i finally did I fell throught a hole in the map. Luckily I had a grenade left and was able to commit suicide but that basically ruined anymore of the game for me. Oh and the grenades, dont plan on cooking them too long because you dont have a timer to judge them by so the first couple of times youre either going to throw them too early or it will blow up in your face. This game is better then that Bruce Lee game on the Xbox so I couldnt get myself to give it a 1.

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GF Rating
4

Weak

Stay Away!

posted by youngblood (TAMA, IA) Feb 5, 2008

Member since Jan 2008

1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

Really horrible game, just got it in; sending it back after wasting an hr. with it. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy came out 4 yrs. ago and outdoes this "Next Gen" title. STAY AWAY!

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

fun yet lacking

posted by bananacat (EDEN PRAIRIE, MN) Dec 30, 2007

Member since May 2007

1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful

this was a very fun game that had very few glitches and bugs and nice graphics.

though it only had 6 medium length levels diffidently rent this game.

THE GOOD
as I said before it the game play is smooth but it isn't extra intuitive the enemies are like a cross of the flood (halo) and the locust (gears of war)
there were good character designs that were complemented by the graphics.

THE BAD

I felt that there were not nearly enough levels. the game play was fun so when it was so short it left me angry at them for making a good game so short. also the lack of weapons was saddening (it made me sad) there was machine gun sniper, alien shot gun,hand gun and rocket launcher. thats only 5 guns! they should have done machine guns for BOLTH sides and snipers for BOLTH side ect.

OVERALL

this was an overall good game and i enjoyed playing it I recommend this be rented

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GF Rating
1

Horrible

Locks up! Another failure for gaming industry!

posted by sithjedi13 (TUCSON, AZ) Feb 5, 2008

Member since Jun 2007

3 out of 7 gamers (43%) found this review helpful

Out of the last 4 games I have played, two had major lock up problems. This game is one of them. Also, as of 2-5-08, there is no patch for it! For those of you reading this and don't know, when a game locks up, 90% of the time it's due to the game not being programmed properly. It can be due to it not matching up with the exact model of 360, etc. Since there have been so many versions. The disc drive for instance has had multiple versions made by totally different manufacturers. The lock up problem is NOT usually due to a scratched disc or your 360 system. Of course the system itself has enough problems. When you put a game in and it asks you to download an update, that is usually due to a problem with the game and they have updated it. For instance when Assassin's Creed came out, it wouldn't play properly on almost every 360 out there! When you downloaded the update, it played fine. I'm "ignerunt" to how game programming works, so I have a beginners question for the game designers. DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANYONE TEST GAMES BEFORE YOU SHIP THEM?? Is there anyone else in the world that is VERY much sick and tired of paying good money for products that don't even work? Years ago, we called people that did business like that "con artists". Today it is called "patch will arrive soon (maybe)".
Don

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