Reviews Archives - Page 111 of 128

Picross 3D Review: Block The Monkey

The follow-up to the incredibly addictive puzzle game Picross DS, Picross 3D moves the picture finding gameplay into the next dimension, a game of block breaking and brain teasing that’s also one of the best Nintendo DS games of the year. Instead of presenting the player with a blank canvas and numbered clues with which…

By Michael McWhertor Published May 3, 2010

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Tecmo Bowl Throwback Micro-Review: Retro-Rockin’ Football

Today, a sports title without real players and teams has a hard pitch to make. If any franchise can close the deal, it’s the one that started it all: Tecmo Bowl, trading on 20 years of nostalgia with Tecmo Bowl Throwback. Packing new 3D player models and cutscene animations, Throwback bluntly leaves its core unchanged…

By Owen Good Published May 3, 2010

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Activision Claims World Record in Double Down Speed-Eating

Two Activision game testers staged a speed-eating competition of the KFC culinary profanity known as the Double Down, with the winner polishing it off in 57.97 seconds. Video inside, plus my review of the “sandwich.” Kotaku received this exclusive video on Friday. This result has not been verified by Twin Galaxies. I corresponded with the…

By Owen Good Published May 2, 2010

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Chaos Rings Review: Ring Around The iPhone

From the creators of Final Fantasy and Wild Arms comes Chaos Rings, a 3D iPhone role-playing game that can’t possibly live up to its pedigree, can it? With Wild Arms studio Media Vision handling development, art designs by Final Fantasy VII art director Yusuke Naora, music by anime and video game composer Noriyasu Agematsu, and…

By Mike Fahey Published April 30, 2010

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Mikado Defenders Micro-Review: Sold For The iPhone, Made For The iPad

There are games that are best seen at a size bigger than a telephone. Mikado Defenders, Taito’s lovely but prickly iPod Touch and iPhone tower defense game is one of them. Gamers would best play this beauty place-mat scale. Mikado Defenders is another tower defense video game, the last thing a world of gamers satisfied…

By Stephen Totilo Published April 29, 2010

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Sumosac Gigantor Bean Bag Chair Review: It’s Nothing Like Standing Up

Somehow I went from discussing reviewing the neat little bean bag chairs Sumo provides to events like the recent Penny Arcade Expo East to having a seven foot by six foot Sumosac Gigantor in my living room. Sumo sells bean bag chairs, from the relatively small one-person Omni often seen piled throughout the corridors of…

By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010

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Lead & Gold Review: Fool’s Gold

Do Team Fortress 2, only set it in the Wild West. Looks simple on paper, but is it really that easy to copy Valve’s successful formula for multiplayer shooters? Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is a team-based online shooter, where you can play as either the red or blue side, and then…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 28, 2010

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Super Street Fighter IV Review: Rebirth of a Gaming Nation

Released to U.S. consoles last year, Street Fighter IV helped to reinvigorate the franchise, if not the entire fighting genre. Now, a little more than a year later, Capcom is at it again, perhaps with less lofty goals. Where Street Fighter IV introduced Capcom and Street Fighter fans to the notion of 3D fighters brawling…

By Brian Crecente Published April 27, 2010

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After Burner Climax Review: You Will Do A Barrel Roll

Adrenaline junkies who feel the need—specifically, the need for speed—but don’t have access to an actual F-14D or a deluxe arcade cabinet will be gleefully forced to settle for Sega’s console port of After Burner Climax, its 2006 aerial dogfighter. Rarely do Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network games feel as arcade-y as does After…

By Michael McWhertor Published April 26, 2010

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3D Dot Game Heroes Review: Connecting The Dots To The Past

Can the innovative implementation of 3D pixels and a good sense of humor save Silicon Studio’s 3D Dot Game Heroes from being labeled a gimmicky Zelda clone? The king of 2D Dotnia felt that sprites were outdated, so he decreed the kingdom switch to 3D, and so it did, though not in the way one…

By Mike Fahey Published April 24, 2010

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Left 4 Dead 2 ‘The Passing’ Review: The New Mutants

Valve’s first expansion to post apocalyptic zombie shooter Left 4 Dead 2 makes one appreciate the developer’s gift with wordplay and just how important being able to see through walls is when battling the infected. The Passing brings new things to Left 4 Dead 2, including a new three-level campaign set in a wet Georgia…

By Michael McWhertor Published April 23, 2010

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Does For the Win…Win?

Groups of massively multiplayer online gamers from around the world band together to form…unions. No, wait, stay with me! For the Win is the latest book from Cory Doctorow, known for his work at website Boing Boing as well as his best selling novel Little Brother. The book is set in the near future in…

By Brian Ashcraft Published April 21, 2010

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Espgaluda II iPhone Review: When Will My Phone Explode?

For me to review Espgaluda II, this thing, this manic greatest-grandchild of the Galagas and Space Invaders with odd soundtrack and as many bullets as there are water droplets in a fire hose, might be like a vegetarian reviewing meat. It is clear as day that Espgaluda II has appeal, but… what in the world?…

By Stephen Totilo Published April 16, 2010

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Kick-Ass Movie Review: Please Step Away From The Comic Book

An average high school student learns the painful answer to the question of why there are no real superheroes in Kick-Ass, a completely new kind of comic book movie. Based on the critically acclaimed comic book series from writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass tells the story of one Dave Lizewski, an…

By Mike Fahey Published April 16, 2010

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Star Wars Cantina Micro-review: Serve Greedo First

Not since Bea Arthur’s spin as Ackmena the bartender in the Star Wars Holiday Special have we been as thrilled to revisit a classic Tatooine bar as we have in Star Wars Cantina for the iPhone. Star Wars Cantina puts you in the shoes and Dewback-sized beehive hairdo of Nia Adea, a drink-slinger at the…

By Michael McWhertor Published April 15, 2010

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Final Fight: Double Impact Micro-Review: Take Two and Call It a Classic

Beat-em-ups of the ’80s were long on action and short on story. Like Capcom’s Final Fight, re-released this week for consoles. Just how ridiculous is the idea that a former pro rassler could be elected to high office in America? Final Fight: Double Impact, a downloadable title pairing the eponymous game (starring a mustachioed politician…

By Owen Good Published April 15, 2010

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Alienware M11x Review: Ultraportable Gaming

Gaming laptops are often an oxymoron, a device that either is too expensive or too big to really be a laptop or a computer too underpowered to play games. But Dell and Alienware have been for years trying to find the proper balance between these two seemingly opposing issues. Their XPS was a monstrously large,…

By Brian Crecente Published April 14, 2010

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Splinter Cell Conviction Review: The Best Lurks In Shadows

Several years in the making, and at least one false start later, a new Splinter Cell is finally upon us. Fittingly, the best part of it sneaks up on you. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is a third-person stealth action game offered in four parts: single-player campaign, single-player challenges, two-player cooperative adventure and competitive multiplayer.…

By Stephen Totilo Published April 13, 2010

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Mass Effect 2: Kasumi – Stolen Memory Micro-Review: Boredom Amongst Thieves

Mass Effect 2’s first substantial piece of downloadable content since the game’s release, “Kasumi – Stolen Memory,” does a lot of things right as far as DLC goes. Problem is, it also does a lot of things wrong Presenting gamers with the chance to add another member to their crew of galactic misfits, Stolen Memory…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 9, 2010

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America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking Review: Top Chef

America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking isn’t just a game. It certainly isn’t just an interactive cook book jammed onto the DS. This is one of three games that Nintendo thinks will convince people to buy the big-screened DSi XL. With more than 300 recipes, tons of written tutorials and 15 video guides, America’s Test…

By Brian Crecente Published April 8, 2010