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American Who?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: March 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First I'd like to point one thing out: American McGee is not a huge driving force in the video game industry. Although he did aid in the design of a few levels in the original DOOM, McGee is not a very creative figure. Although "American McGee Presents:" is everywhere to be seen on the packaging and instructions and intro screen, the game was pushed into production using his name not talents. Thats right, American McGee didn't even write the story. My one star was due to graphics and sound alone.
With that said here is my take on the game after playing it-and I'm glad it was a rental.

First I'd like to commend the artistic teams behind Scrapland. Every corner of the game is beautifully rendered. cityscapes range from the strange and imaginative to the old and worn away. Character animations are for the most part goofy but always fluid.

sound was also very well done. Although the scripts are goofy and childish, the voice acting is pulled off quite nicely by the talent. Sound effects are also well put together. The dialogue however was the first thing that turned me off to the game. Although the cities are inhabited by thousands of robots, there are only a handful of different models and they all say the same exact things. I found myself avoiding conversations with characters because I knew no matter what area I explored, they'd all say the exact same thing.

The feature of stealing a robot's identity to gain access to different areas is prominently promoted in every article about the game. The reallity is that once you steal an identity, the police know exactly who and where you are and start chasing you around. I found that instead of hiding from them (its impossible) all you have to do is run to the entrance of the building you're in and even if they're two feet away from you, they'll say they lost you. Thats just poor game play. There are anoying little flying police robots "Beholders" that fly around scanning everyone, there are lots of them every single place you go. If you pass too close to one while in another form, they know you're an imposter and a bunch of cops persue you.

The game play itself was another huge turn off. The controls are not very intuitive. It takes a while learning to walk and run around in the environments without going into other characters or looking like a spas. One of the features that appealed to me was building and flying your own ships to get to different places. The controls here were also very horrible and didn't convey a sense of reallism. Your ship can be flying with full boost on and the second the accelerator is released, it comes to a dead stop.

Overall the game experience was not enjoyable. The cities were beautiful for the first five minutes but you quickly reallize they're actually very small and almost claustrophobic. There are only four or so characters and you'll run into them a hundred times over with the same dialogue so the cities are in a sense inhabited by hundreds of copies of the same boring goofy characters. I think this game could be proudly commended if the goal was melding the muppets with adult themes. Adult themes? Yes, the most disturbing part of the begining was a close up of the "betty" character's metal butt walking away from the main character-unsettling,disturbing and just wrong for a game that seems to be more for kids, then again Scrapland is in a class of its own, its too childish for teens and adults and too mature at times for children. This game is compared to GTA in many websites.
In short if you're a sci fi fan and don't like the GTA series for its over the top violence and enjoy hot robot on robot action, look no further. For the rest of us American McGee Presents: Scrapland, is simply another title to ignore on the shelves.

Cons:
Goofy muppet like characters, Close ups on robot tail, horrible dialogue, poor control scheme, lack of depth, nightmarish camera angle controls, did I mention uncomfortable robot butt close ups?

Pros:
Beautiful graphics, nice sound, hopefully "American McGee Presents" will never be seen anywhere near a video game again.

A key to unlock your fantasy and imagination!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: March 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Here is my 2 cents... Since I ever played the game on my friends PC last christmas I have been hoping it would launch on my Xbox (my PC is terribly outdated...). So when it was launched in Xbox I didnt even need to think, I purchase it and started my own wild sci-fi fantasy all day long. Playing American McGee's game has always been a wild imagination. Scrapland somehow has deliver the same spell on me. Once I turn on my Xbox, 36" TV and my 5.1 Surround sound system, my place just suddenly turn into a Sci-fi world. I am urge to play it everyday once I get off from work to find out what next... the game is very story driven. Moreover it has been a while I can play a game while my girl friend won't be sitting beside reading books or gossip magazine. She is watching me playing on the time and asking me what she missed and what happen to who... so on the graphical, sound FX and story I would give it a 5 STARS! Since only a 5 Stars can turn my world upside down without me being notice it until I shut my Xbox off...

Speaking of it's gameplay and it's features... well not very hardcore but good enough for being a game which I could spend hours and hours on mastering it. Driving a car with a physic we all know of was not really a challenge... but driving on a spacecraft with heavy artillery on it is kinda of a challenge. You need to watch the traffic and innocent NPC around you while you take out your opponent is not an easy task at all. Moreover the spacecraft you drive it totally custome built... Another core features is to transform... Well I have been a old school gamer and Scrapland reminds me of the old school Commando or the 3 Vikings (3 Vikings, each of them have different functions, Sheild, Axe and Run) Scrpaland has elaborate on it with 12+ different character (simple yet mindful). To acheive your goal you need to pick what to transform and how to make good use of every character you are capable of transforming. Gameplay and features I will give it a 4 Star...

So to conclude... Well it might not be a game of what most of us has been used to for the pass few years... (hardcore gameplay and features driven game)... but it is definately a wake up call to us all of what game use to be. You play because you enjoy it. That I myself think has long been forgotten... If you are looking for a game to chill out abit and relax, Scrapland is definately a MUST buy!

who greenlighted this???

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: March 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Scrapland is a really bad game. I just can't find any reason to keep it, not even as a frisby. I wanna go on record as saying that after buying this game, I will never buy another xbox game that gets released under $40.
I'm really excited for splinter cell chaos theory and reserved my copy. To pass the time I figured I'd buy something to hold me over. I saw scrapland and the cover art looked pretty interesting.
The graphics look fine when you're playing and the sound is cool but the lines are just stupid and make you feel like a little kid playing a children's game. I consider myself a hardcore gamer-Scrapland is just not a gamer's game. It's something for the kids. childlike characters, and just really pointless. I can't believe every website keeps saying this is like grand theft auto.
Turning into different characters gets old after five minutes and the missions are really pointless. Its like they didn't even try when they were designing this. And ok, you can get ships and customize them but they either suck really bad or they overkill evrything you come across. Every aspect of this friendly game seems like its designed for kids. But the weird thign is that its got mature themes like watching some organic creature beat some robot to death and break its neck or when they turn this one robot into a sex icon.
Scrapland just isn't any fun for real gamers, its a good choice for kids or people who get offended by violence and language. Looking back at this purchase, I remember the cashier at the store giving me this weird look when I said I'd take a copy, now I know why. Plus, when I went to return it for store credit on a real game: Need for Speed, the same cashier was there and I felt embarassed just having Scrapland on me. I guess I sort of redeemed my name as a gamer by returning it for a real game.
To sum it up, this is a good game for preteens cause its childish enough for them but its also got just a bit of maturity(even though you can hardly sense it)
You'll either love it or hate it.

good game if you're 6

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: March 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I rented this game cause all the online game sites describe it as "GTA with robots"
It's more like GTA for little kids. The graphics were ok for like three minutes and then its not impressive anymore. The voice overs were rediculous, I mean its like watching some futuristic sesame street. The gameplay was just pointless. They tried being really imaginative but its just stupid in the end and has no redeeming value. "Take one of my CRRRrrazy bets!! I'm the CRRRrrraZZZY gambler!"
Give me a break.

Awsome adventure!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game thinking it would be little bit less fun. I was wrong! It has a cool story line and awsome graphics. This game will keep you laughing all the way through. If your a gamer you need this game!

For $4 you can't go wrong

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game very well may be the least expensive xbox game known to man. I stuck with this game til the end and found it to be quiet challenging--so much so that I was determined to finish it. Most of the game (& all of the challenge) occurs when you are flying around in your custom-built spaceship. The air to air combats are the crux of the game and quite challenging. The controls took a bit getting used to especially when you have timed races which must be won to move on. This is obviously not the best xbox game ever made. It does have great graphics and the areas are expansive. As other reviews mention, there is a child-like quality to the characters which does distract from the value of the game, but c'mon, for $4 you can't go wrong!

Not even for $5.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I got this for $5 brand new. It is not good. The controls are not intuitive at all. Setup is odd. The graphics are fantastic. I read good reviews of this and boy, what a letdown.

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