Being a fan of the films I was looking forward to this and it stays true enough to the films following the storylines which is great to see. Most of the levels are rail shooters with the ability to duck for cover. These are pretty fun offering an increase in difficulty level after level - except toward the end that I'll touch on later - with different enemies and parts of the environment being able to be blown up or ripped to shreds by bullets. They also mix it up enough and don't go on forever meaning that boredom isn't an issue. Other parts of levels are QTE which are unforgiving early on with one mistake meaning death. Playing this on the computer I found this difficult at times, however with controllers being easier to use than a keyboard in this respect, I don't think people playing the console versions of this game would have too many problems. After the early levels though, there is an upgrade that can be unlocked that means not pressing the button in time doesn't result in death. The third type of levels are with the old bow and arrow. This is when the stealth comes into play. Enemies need to be taken out quickly or bang! Rambo gets a bullet between the eyes if he is spotted. In the early trailers the visuals were criticised for being PS2 like, and they aren't great, with mainly Rambo looking a little bit weird, but everything is clear and some levels offer some nice visuals and scenery and are levels above anything on PS2. As I touched on earlier, the difficulty goes up astronomically toward the final stage. The jump is way too high. I completed all of the levels on the middle difficulty, but I had to change it for the final one. The main difference between these difficulties is that with the middle difficulty level, once Rambo dies 5 times the level must be restarted. Whereas for the easiest difficulty, the retires are unlimited. I ended up dying 13 times once I finally completed the final level. In saying that, higher scores mean more unlockables and skills to use, so the better you are the easier it becomes, and similarly, the player can always replay earlier levels to skill up for the harder levels toward the end. Overall this will not win any end of year awards but it's a bit of fun, and for what it is is made well. It's disappointing that it's a rail game with fixed movement though. I feel like the First Blood levels would have made for perfect stealth levels a la MGS. Maybe the developers could have made it like Die Hard Trilogy, with each film offering different genres of gameplay. Gameplay 3.5/5 Graphics 3/5 Sound 4/5 Difficulty 4/5 Originality 2/5

The quality of this never-ending series has slipped a long way since its heyday, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a show so well-written and rewatchable for the first 10 or so seasons. It's relatable for kids who watch it, but also, as I grew I noticed and related to other characters, dialogue and plot points. Some Favourite Episodes: The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson 22 Short Films About Springfield The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace Homer Loves Flanders King-Size Homer Homer Badman Bart on the Road Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious Behind the Laughter Homer Goes to College The Homer They Fall Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble" Homer's Enemy Brother from the Same Planet The Cartridge Family

Looks like I'll be a fish out of water here. I don't find the production to be good enough to give this a great rating, and vocally I don't like Jay-Z enough either. Some people say he makes rapping sound so easy, but for me, it's more that he seems like he ain't putting much effort into it. Although, this is more of an issue on future Jay albums than this one. I like the first half of the album a lot as it has some classic songs, but every time I listen to this, I find that in the second half it drops off considerably as the best tracks below suggest and as survivor games of this album demonstrate also. 'Ain't No Nigga' alone is one of the worst songs on a classically acclaimed hip hop album as well. It's horrendous. It's still a good album, but I'd never mention this when talking about the '90s classics as the consistency isn't here. Best Tracks: Dead Presidents II, Feelin' It, D'Evils, Can't Knock The Hustle

An album that I perhaps underrated early on. However, after many attempts to listen to it, due to the love it has received, I still think, like many Jay-Z albums, that it is overrated. It really has four weak tunes meaning that it's far from being a classic or anything too noteworthy. 1 Intro N/A 2 Pray ★★★★☆ Easily the best production on the album. The New Earth sample is great along with Beyonce as well. 3 American Dreamin' ★★★☆ Not bad but I always get a bit bored with this. 4 Hello Brooklyn 2.0 (feat. Lil Wayne) ★☆ Mediocre beat with an ill-fitting Lil Wayne featured. What was Jay thinking? Wayne is popular at the moment, so I better get him on the album no matter what... 5 No Hook ★★★☆ I don't dislike this, but it isn't something I'd ever play without playing the album from start to finish. 6 Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)... ★★★★ That trumpet is dope. Good production. 7 Sweet ★★ I've never liked this song. I'm over it pretty quickly. 8 I Know ★★☆ An average Neptune produced chick pop rap tune. 9 Party Life ★★ Pretty boring 10 Ignorant Shit (feat. Beanie Sigel) ★★★★ Gotta love the Between the Sheets sample. Good rapping from Jay. 11 Say Hello ★★★☆ 12 Success (feat. Nas) ★★★ I'm a big Nas fan but I've never dug the production on this one. 13 Fallin' ★★★★ Like 'Ignorant Shit', the sample really helps carry this. This time it's 'Fell for You' by the great Dramatics. 14 Blue Magic ★★☆ Quite a minimalist beat and the first single from this album. Ehh. 15 American Gangster ★★★ Best Tracks: Pray, Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)..., Ignorant Shit, Fallin'

A pretty bangin' west coast mid '90s release. Checking out a hip hop album from '94 is rarely a let down. The best here for me is 'Kill the Disrespect' that features Marvaless spitting like fire with a quick flow. The production has a dark feel with 'Don't Cross Me' sounding a bit like something you'd find in a 16-bit science-fiction video game. 'Shout Outs' should be left as linear notes in an album's booklet. Whoever started that trend in the '90s of having 5 minutes of shout outs on albums needs to be shot. It's close to a 4 out of 5. I probably just need one or two more songs to be closer to the level of 'Kill the Disrespect'. Best Tracks: Kill the Disrespect, Don't Cross Me, Niggaz & Hoes, Ghetto Blues, Female Assassin