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Was average

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game had as much good as bad. On the upside, there were a healthy variety of weapons and the scenery was beautiful. The variety gives the user the opportunity to experience firing civil war era weapons only a rich (or well connected) man could fire in a lifetime. In addtition, if you like running around in classic 19th century American farmland and woodlots, this will certainly meet that need. The best scenery is Chancellorville. It places you in a heavily wooded forest with dense undergrowth at twilight. Quite mysterious indeed. On the downside, the weapon reloading is only accurate for the Henry rifle and the Spencer carbine. All the weapons which require manual primers - as most civil guns did - do not show the user placing primers on the weapons. If this game were real life the guns would go "click, click" instead of "bang, bang." Aside from that, the uniforms are not true to history. The characters in the game resemble a spaghetti western rendition of civil war uniforms instead of what was actually worn. I'm a Civil War reenactor and I can fairly say that historic inaccuracies are aplenty in this game. To the untrained eye this will go unnoticed, but to anyone who knows what to look for, it can become painful over time. On the bright side, there are a nice variety of battles from the eastern and western theaters, as well as the deep south. It may not be the best but for civil war buffs it's all we've got - it will have to do until someone comes up with something better.

Shoot the dot...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is pretty much just shooting at a red dot. Most of the time you are shooting at the enemy from a distance, and you cannot get any closer because of a fence you cannot overcome, because like in the real civil war one could not climb fences and leave the road ;)
So for the most part you cannot see your enemy, but you can focus your aim on an area, which turns red when it's on the enemy so you know to fire. You really don't see the enemy you're shooting, just shoot the red dot, red dot disappears, and presto, you've eliminated the enemy.
This could have been a much better game, how sad they only sold the idea of a civil war game instead of delivering a good gaming experience.

Not what I expected

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First person shooter game with "checkpoints" that are not that interesting. Also, when you reach the checkpoint the scenario just quits. If I had known this was just a "first person shooter" I would have spent my money on another game. Somebody needs to make a STRATEGY based Civil War game!

Well, at least it's a game on the Civil War.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I got this game because I'm interested in the Civil War, and I was hoping that since it was "The History Channel" that it would provide some great education while having fun.
Pros:
-The Game looks ok, more like a regular Xbox game though.
-It's a game on the Civil War, and there aren't that many out there, so it's good for a fan.
-Fun to see and use the weapons of that era.
-Some of the settings are pretty, and give you an idea of what it might have been like.
Cons:
-Not as much overall history as I wanted. Had some blurbs for each battle, but that's it.
-The game isn't really that good. No huge bugs, but the AI isn't sophisticated and there aren't ever any 'huge' battles with many soldiers, that you associate with the Civil War.

Overall it's mediocre at best, but it's cheap and if you like the Civil War and need an easy 1000 acheivment points, go for it.

BEST GAME EVER MADE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

this game is amazing the graphis are the best i have ever seen the wepons are so realestic its like your actually fighting in the war!!!

Worse game i ever paid for.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is to short. I have only done both the North and South first two battles. I see no where how it progresses any further. I've ask about it and no one answers me. So as far as i know that's all the battles there are. Rent it first. Believe me i don't think you'll be buying it.

A Miserable Failure from Activision

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: February 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Do not buy this game, rent it first. This game makes no use of the XBOX's capabilities, in any way, sound, video or playability. There is no strategy, no realism, it is pathetic.
I thought of offering mine used for sale but I simply can't do that as I would feel guilty even taking 5 bucks for this game! !

Needs some MAJOR Improvements...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm surprised History Channel could dish out something this good. Well, about the game: you have a total of 12 battles to fight as either the North or the South (that's 6 battles per side). Each of these battles has a nice little intro and exit video about how the battle went, the generals, etc. etc. Then, you have your stats screen. Get tons of points and get several cool bonuses from the main menu. That's a clean overview of the non-battle system. Time for the actual battles and fights: they are pretty darn pathetic. This health system they use is rigged (your health with regenerate as a Northerner and it will remain the same until you pick up a med-kit as a Southerner). Wait a minute, they had med-kits in the Civil War? I never knew... Continuing, we have this bogus detail on the battles. Oh sure, it dishes out big promises like fighting in line battles and massive environments, but that's just a plain and easy to see lie. You will not be fighting massive battles and you will not be in line battles, ever. You will be killing people in line battles, that's it. Moving on, there is no strategy. You have a set path to follow with a copy-cat Medal of Honor: Allied Assault compass. AI is a "meh". I've seen much better. Moving on, you will be fighting small-time battles that "happened" during the big major battles. You aren't going to get to march into Fredricksburg, for instance, and start fighting in the town. You will be fighting outside in a god-forsaken forest with tons of Robin Hood-style Rebels shooting and cutting at you all the while having about 100 cannon shells landing around you. Sounds cool, but it isn't. That's just an example. The weapons are OK, but most of them aren't exactly accurate. You must note that the Union will only be using the Springfield musket when in fact the Enfield musket was the main Union weapon. Most of the environments, too, are dark and gloomy. Gettysburg isn't exactly as sunny as it should have been. Bull Run is another story. It's so bright you're likely to have your eyes melt out of your head while the image is burned into the back of your brain.

Final thought, this isn't worth the forty bucks it is currently being offered at. Rent it, but do not buy. It's the same for the PC and PS2 versions. You shall not be warned again.

Better Off A Rental

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Given that the pool of Civil War games is pretty shallow , we are willing to give anything a shot right now. This game is one that you can easily beat in less than 3 hours, even if you don't happen to have much skill at FPS games. Yes, there is really no replay value to this game at all. They,The History Channel, try to add some of their flavor to game with some nice forwards before each battle but its too little and who really, besides me, cares about that? The graphics are something of the past. They look a regular Xbox game, no shunning the Xbox but you can tell the difference between the 360 the regular. When you get into the game play, you can quickly see that most of the levels have the same objectives and are very bland. Almost all the levels involve you blowing something up. Let's be a little more inventive. If anyone wanted to buy this game, I could not see why because it's way too short of ride even someone who loved the Civil war. Final Score......... 6/10

For all you that want some easy achievements: RENT THIS ONE! The points will adding before you know it!

A perfect example of a rushed job.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game simply was not finished. Oh everything needed to make it "work" is there, but none of it seems to have been tested and fine-tuned.

All I'll say about the graphics is that they're fair but not up to par for a next-gen system.

Your allies are dumber than dirt. It's not uncommon for them to be completely wiped out seconds after joining you. Fortunately your enemies aren't much smarter; but there are a lot more of them.

The really glaring flaw that should have been caught and fixed in testing is the collision detection. What is the point of a first person shooter where you can fire your rifle point blank into an enemy's chest and MISS!?! When you're dealing with single shot weapons, you have to make your shots count.

This game is a rental at best.

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