Reviews Archives - Page 109 of 129

Alan Wake’s The Signal Review: A Short Dash

Psychological thriller Alan Wake hit the Xbox 360 a few months back delivering a taut, deftly-written experience that straddled the line between television and video game. The disc-based game was broken into chapters that open and close as if they’re television shows, and the game itself wrapped with the sort of cliffhanger expected in a…

By Brian Crecente Published July 26, 2010

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Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Review: Do Good, Inc.

Be a hero. Be yourself. Do good in Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, a game in which you play a fallen angel trying to help other people down on their luck. As the mute warrior that will bear whatever name you’ll give him or her, you’ll join a randomly generated squad of…

By Michael McWhertor Published July 23, 2010

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Osmos HD Review: 21st Century Pac-Man

There is a fish that can eat smaller fish. But this fish may be devoured in the jaws of one bigger, unless it eats many small fish, growing so it may gulp its predator. This is a game about that. Osmos HD is an iPad port of recent PC/Mac/Linux game Osmos, modified for touch-screen controls.…

By Stephen Totilo Published July 20, 2010

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Limbo Review: Death Foreshadowed

A boy wakes up in a forest. He is nothing but a silhouette and a pair of brightly glowing eyes. To the right is death, despair and, perhaps, a way out. So he goes there. This is Limbo. Playdead’s Xbox Live Arcade game, a nightmarish, inventive, puzzle-solving platforming adventure, is presented without plot or pretense.…

By Michael McWhertor Published July 19, 2010

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Inception Review: Video Games Should Be Jealous

Inception is a big movie about flexible dreams and stubborn minds, but it is also a sorting hat. Try it on and you will know if you’re a gamer, or if you’re not. This most mysterious summer blockbuster comes from Christopher Nolan, director of two morose and mighty Batman movies as well as the clever…

By Stephen Totilo Published July 19, 2010

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DeathSmiles Review: Shmup Complex

Little girls. In frilly dresses. Shooting things. Yep, you’re about to read a DeathSmiles review. The game’s developer Cave is no stranger to shooters, specifically of the manic side-scrolling type. Cave is to shooters what Square Enix is to role-playing games — an icon of the industry. The rigor, dedication and love puts in its…

By Brian Ashcraft Published July 16, 2010

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Review: Herman Miller Envelop Reclining Desk

The Herman Miller Embody chair is the best we’ve sat on, but its creators wanted a companion desk so your entire working experience comfortable. The desk wraps around your body like a blanket. A hard, wooden blanket. The Price $1000, but there are deals available The Verdict It’s a fine desk, and it’s even finer…

By Jason Chen Published July 15, 2010

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Art Style: light trax Review: We’re Just Dots In The Stream

Racing games are often judged by their ability to provide more realistic driving experiences, to throw increasingly massive collections of cars at the player or to offer infinite replayability online. Judged normally, Art Style: light trax would be a disappointment. In this Skip-developed WiiWare game—a remake of sorts of “bit Generations” title Dotstream, released only…

By Michael McWhertor Published July 14, 2010

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Joe Danger Review: Touch The Sky

Over the next month, we’ll be reviewing games we didn’t get around to earlier in the year. PlayStation Network exclusive Joe Danger is the first dirtbike off the rank. The premise couldn’t be simpler (or more unexpected): take ExciteBike, the story of a man on a bike moving sideways down a track, then throw in…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 14, 2010

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DeathSpank Review: Best Game Involving A Purple Thong

If you like laughing and you like loot, if you can catch a Monkey Island reference and know why purple text is a positive thing, then DeathSpank is your game. Plus, it is gorgeous. DeathSpank is a comedy game from adventure game great Ron Gilbert and Hothead Games. It mixes the action gameplay of Diablo…

By Stephen Totilo Published July 13, 2010

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LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 – 4 Review: The Best LEGO Game to Date

As Kotaku’s resident LEGO fan and game reviewer I approached LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 – 4 with more than a bit of trepidation. It’s the first time I have ever been asked to play a LEGO game and didn’t really want to. After having played through more than a half-dozen LEGO games from developer…

By Brian Crecente Published July 13, 2010

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The Silver Lining: Episode 1 Micro-Review: Absence Makes The Heart Grow Colder

The Silver Lining is a fan-made sequel (in episodic form) in all but name to Sierra’s beloved old adventure series, Kings Quest. It’s a legacy this new title wears proudly on its billowing, medieval sleeves. Despite lacking the humour of Space Quest, the attention to detail of Police Quest or the innovation of Quest for…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 13, 2010

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Flametail Review: Space Burn

Could the video game Snake be improved by setting the snake’s tail on fire? Of course! Flametail is a recent downloadable release for the Nintendo DSi’s DSiWare service, which means that you are about to read about a game that gets less press than your fingernail clippings. You are reading about a game that is…

By Stephen Totilo Published July 12, 2010

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NCAA Football 11 Review: A Big Man On Campus

College football is pageantry, tradition, the gleam of a sousaphone, the wink and tight sweater of a Song Girl. It’s also the promises and browbeatings of a recruiting call, and desperate gambles made beneath a sky the color of lead. EA Sports hauls up the gauzy myths and cold realities of the collegiate game with…

By Owen Good Published July 9, 2010

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Tournament of Legends Review: Maximus Flailing

Tournament of Legends started out as something special, something gory, something I wanted to play. But that’s not how it ended. Back before Tournament of Legends had a teen rating and a forgettable title, back when it was Gladiator A.D., it struck me as the sort of two-fisted, motion-sensing fighting game that I wanted to…

By Brian Crecente Published July 8, 2010

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Risk: Factions Review: Cats Vs. Zombies

Growing up, classic board game Risk was always a favorite. It has made the leap to Xbox Live with barfing cats. But does Risk need barfing cats? Risk: Factions is the classic game of Risk, a dice rolling command and conquer territorial land grab, with a few twists. You want to destroy enemy factions, retain…

By Brian Ashcraft Published July 8, 2010

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Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii…Shampoo

It’s not everyday that you must get totally naked to review something. Today was one of those days. New Super Mario Bros. Wii Shampoo is not *just* shampoo, it is “rinse in shampoo”. It says so right on the bottle. This shampoo, no rinse in shampoo, has been officially licensed by Nintendo. But does it…

By Brian Ashcraft Published July 8, 2010

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Singularity Review: Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey

Activision and Raven Software release a first-person shooter with a time-traveling twist. Is this Sierra’s intriguing yet disappointing TimeShift all over again? Of course not! TimeShift had a time-shifting suit. In Singularity you have a time-manipulating device that slips onto your arm, so the rest of your body can breathe. You’ll stumble across this device…

By Mike Fahey Published July 7, 2010

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Mass Effect 2: Overlord Micro-Review: Shock To The System

Mass Effect 2’s downloadable content to date has been a little hit-and-miss, a mix of free and paid content never really settling into the same confident stride the actual game managed. Overlord, though, is different. Both Firewalker and Kasumi shared the same problem, in that they felt rough, raw and disjointed, never really coming together…

By Luke Plunkett Published July 6, 2010

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Crackdown 2 Review: Shoot First, Leap Buildings Later

Crackdown 2 poses a question players have subconsciously been answering since their first contact with a controller or joystick: Would you rather spend your time in a video game jumping? Or shooting? Three years ago with little preceding hype, Microsoft released the marvelous Crackdown, a gameplay-centric game created by Real Time Worlds and overseen by…

By Stephen Totilo Published July 5, 2010