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Reviews
Mass Effect 2: Lair Of The Shadow Broker Review: Like The Goon, Only In Space
Finally. Having gotten closer and closer with each subsequent piece of downloadable content, with Lair of the Shadow Broker BioWare has delivered Mass Effect 2 players some DLC that, if you’ve finished the game, has some real point to it. With the exception of the recent Overlord pack, most pieces of ME2 downloadable content have…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 22, 2010 -
Reviews
Civilization V Review: Civilization Revolution
Previous games in the long-running Civilization series have been, ironically, prisoners of the past. Forced to improve the series via baby steps, for fear of upsetting an apple cart twenty years in the making. Civilization V doesn’t do baby steps. Instead, for the first time in the series’ long history, substantial and fundamental changes have…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 21, 2010 -
ReviewsThe Lord of The Rings: Aragorn’s Quest Review: Sauron’s A Chump
Playing through the latest Lord of the Rings video game is about as difficult as turning pages to read the Lord of the Rings books. That’s bad new if you seek a challenge; not-bad news if you enjoy touring Middle Earth. From one of the best Wii developers of games you’ve sadly probably not played…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 20, 2010 -
ReviewsDragon Age: Origins Witch Hunt Review: An Unsatisfying Epilogue
“Never follow me,” said the dark witch Morrigan as she disappeared towards the end of Dragon Age: Origins. Adventurers never were very good at listening. In the final downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins, players are tasked with tracking down the abrasive sorceress and learning her true motivation for siding with the Grey Wardens. It’s…
By Mike Fahey Published September 20, 2010 -
ReviewsR.U.S.E. Review: An Interesting Take on Strategy
Strategy games remain one of the last vestiges of computer gaming superiority. As close as some console games have gotten to cracking the code to deliver the sort of real-time strategy fun that gamers expect from these sorts of games, no one has quite nailed it. The latest attempt comes from Eugen Systems and Ubisoft,…
By Brian Crecente Published September 17, 2010 -
ReviewsKingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Review: Sleeper Hit
A decade before Sora faced off against his first Heartless, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus battled the Unversed across a multitude of Disney-themed worlds in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Kingdom Hearts fans have been eager to get their hands on Terra, Aqua, and Ventus since they first appeared in the secret trailer for Birth by…
By Mike Fahey Published September 15, 2010 -
Reviews
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future Review: Riddle Me This
Take part in a thoroughly polite time-traveling conundrum with the newest adventure of Professor Hershel Layton and his puzzle-solving ward Luke in Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, a charming, thought-provoking British adventure. In the Unwound Future, Layton, Luke and a handful of hangers-on jump from decade to decade to solve the mystery of a…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 13, 2010 -
Reviews
Halo: Reach Review: A Beautiful Beginning For A Wonderful End
Halo: Reach isn’t the beginning, it’s the end. Sure, Microsoft might continue to churn out Halo game after Halo game, but this will be the last one that Bungie will ever have a hand in developing, or so we’re told. And that’s exactly how Halo: Reach feels: Like a swan song. Halo: Reach is meant…
By Brian Crecente Published September 12, 2010 -
Reviews
Mafia II: Jimmy’s Vendetta Review: Sand And Fury
Mafia II’s release was clouded by confusion over what “open-world” really meant. Some assumed it meant “sandbox,” where Mafia II was anything but. Jimmy’s Vendetta, the game’s first batch of downloadable content offers more of what some had been expecting. That means no Vito, no Henry, no Joe Barbaro. Instead you’re Jimmy, a former mob…
By Owen Good Published September 10, 2010 -
Reviews
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Review: Broken Mirrors
What could be better than a video game featuring the amazing Spider-Man? How about a video game featuring four amazing Spider-Men? The Tablet of Order and Chaos has been shattered, and the Spider-Men from four different dimensions must act together to retrieve it before reality completely unravels. Rather than the free-roaming sandbox Spider-Man games of…
By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2010 -
Reviews
Mirror’s Edge iPhone Review: Free As A Bird
Mirror’s Edge on iPhone may be a completely different game to its console and PC sibling, but it still shares all of its joys (and all of its flaws). Already out on iPad, Mirror’s Edge has recently been released on the iPhone, specifically to take advantage of the increased resolution of Apple’s new iPhone 4.…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 10, 2010 -
Reviews
BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den Review: Thinker Man’s Game
The battle at Minerva’s Den may be your last chance to visit Rapture, the undersea utopia gone haywire of BioShock 2. It’s a waterlogged journey both familiar and new, a proud send-off to 2K Marin’s capable follow-up to the original BioShock. As Subject Sigma, you step into the suit of a Big Daddy, drill in…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 9, 2010 -
ReviewsBatman: The Brave And The Bold Review: Bat-Mite Makes Right
The Dark Knight returns to a more campy and colorful time in Batman: The Brave and the Bold for the Nintendo Wii, and he’s brought friends. Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the video game adaptation of the latest Batman animated series. In the cartoon, Batman teams up every week with a different DC…
By Mike Fahey Published September 7, 2010 -
Reviews
NHL 2K11 Review: The Second Shift Takes The Ice
2K Sports made one of the more intriguing – and gutsy – calls in sports publishing when it shelved NHL 2K on the PS3 and Xbox 360 for a year, going Wii-only for NHL 2K11. The business story makes sense: At the time, 2K was unchallenged in Wii hockey (EA Sports has since announced a…
By Owen Good Published September 6, 2010 -
ReviewsStart The Party Review: Reality Improved, Ridiculously
The most futuristic thing you can do in video games so far this year is to play Start The Party. Start The Party is -yawn- a party game, a -groan- mini-game collection. Oh, but it’s motion-controlled. Wait! Don’t run away. After years of camera-based video games that didn’t work under normal lighting conditions… after years…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 1, 2010 -
ReviewsTumble Review: Barebone Blocks
Playing with blocks never gets old, especially if you’re using a motion-control enabled Playstation 3 to do it. But is the block-building puzzler a step above the colorful and fun Boom Blox for the Wii, or just a pale version of the Electronic Arts classic? Let’s have a look. Loved Controls: The level of detailed…
By Brian Crecente Published September 1, 2010 -
ReviewsMove Sports Champions Review: A Cut, A Spike, A Toss Above the Rest
Sports Champions is bound to be the most owned Playstation Move game when the motion-detecting peripheral hits the Playstation 3 on Sept. 19. That’s because the game comes bundled with the controller and camera and with a special Playstation 3 console pack. But you can also pick the collection of sports games up for $40…
By Brian Crecente Published September 1, 2010 -
ReviewsKung Fu Rider Review: Tony Hawk Suggestive Jam
They’re launching the PlayStation Move with a game that plays like a Tony Hawk downhill trick racer, if Tony was a nerdy private detective guy or a girl who knelt on a chair and stuck her butt in your face. Kung Fu Rider is one of the PlayStation Move launch games targeted to a more…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 1, 2010 -
ReviewsPlaystation Move Review: The Motion Controller Wars Start Now
The motion controller wars start now. In the four years since its launch, the Nintendo Wii has made motion-controlled gaming not just its dominion, but a hugely profitable business. But by the end of the year Nintendo will be back where they started, slugging away with two well-monied competitors for the hearts, the minds, the…
By Brian Crecente Published September 1, 2010 -
ReviewsDead Rising 2: Case Zero Review: The Case Of The Zombie-Killing Demo
I have downed alcohol until vomiting, I have halved zombies crown to crotch. I have wielded an electrified rake. I am Chuck Greene: The zombie apocalypse’s worst nightmare. Xbox 360 exclusive Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is meant to be a prequel to the full Dead Rising 2 game due out on Sept. 28. In…
By Brian Crecente Published August 31, 2010