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Reviews
Yakuza 3: The Kotaku Review
It’s funny, for all the Japanese games you and I have ever played—and they number in the hundreds, if not thousands—few of them are Japanese in the way that Yakuza 3 is. Think about it. How many Japanese games have you played where the recorded dialogue is still in its native tongue? Or that are…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Reviews
Greed Corp Micro-Review: Is Greed Good?
Running a corporation is hard. It’s even harder when your business is mining, and there’s less and less land to mine. Competition heats up. Time to bust out the cannons. Time to play Greed Corp. Developed by W!Games, Greed Corp is a turn-based strategy game that puts players in charge of a mining operation. Players…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 17, 2010 -
Reviews
Scrap Metal Micro-Review: There’s a Difference Between Mindless and Pointless
All it took was seeing one demolition derby to hook me on car combat, but in video games we haven’t seen much in the way of this for awhile. Scrap Metal‘s here, and running unopposed. Is it still a winner? Loved Variety Car-crashin’ Land: In single-player, you get a campaign of eight tracks and more…
By Owen Good Published March 16, 2010 -
Reviews
Brother In Arms 2 Micro-Review: Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?
From the Pacific jungles to the streets of Europe, Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front battles it out on the iPhone. But that’s not where the real fight is in the game. Brother in Arms 2: Global Front is truly a global title and takes players through the different theaters of World War II, from…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 16, 2010 -
Reviews
God of War III Review: Olympic Glory
Bombastic, titanic, brutally imaginative and even occasionally subtle, God of War III is the latest, best reason for a gamer to save money and skip action movies. The better thrills are on a disc on my PlayStation 3. Just five years since the first God of War comes God of War III, a game that…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 16, 2010 -
Reviews
Final Fantasy XIII Review: A New Paradigm For An Old Franchise
The role-playing series that launched a million bad attempts at cosplay is back, with a new group of colorful characters carrying the fate of the world on their shoulders in Final Fantasy XIII. Hovering above the surface of the planet Pulse, the shell-like city of Cocoon was once a haven for humanity, but fear of…
By Mike Fahey Published March 12, 2010 -
Reviews
Transformers: G1 Awakening Review: One Shall Stand
Take Advance Wars, replace tanks with Transformers, then release it on the iPhone. Sounds like a dream, but that’s exactly what Glu Mobile has done with Transformers: G1 Awakening. In what is actually an iPhone port of a mobile game from a year or two back, Awakening is a turn-based strategy game that puts you…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2010 -
Reviews
Napoleon: Total War Review: Ability Is Nothing Without Opportunity
In 1815, having come back for one last bite of the cherry, Waterloo was Napoleon’s, well, Waterloo. Could Creative Assembly be risking the same fate returning to the age of muskets and bright uniforms so soon after Empire: Total War? Napoleon: Total War takes Empire: Total War and applies a new coat of paint to…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2010 -
Reviews
MLB 10 The Show Review: The Game for All America
The game of baseball was brought to video game consoles long ago. The total experience – the Pastime – represents the next frontier of simulation, for a public delighted by every stat and detail, no matter how small. This is the direction in which MLB The Show now strives most noticeably. Having nailed the essential…
By Owen Good Published March 7, 2010 -
Reviews
Major League Baseball 2K10 Review: Pitching With Two Strikes
If MLB 2K9 had been an actual ballplayer, last year’s performance would have sent it to the minors, if not the waiver wire. After a soul-searching offseason, 2K Sports decided to focus on the fundamentals for MLB 2K10. This year’s game fixates on the batter-pitcher matchups that infuse every at-bat with suspense and dramatic potential.…
By Owen Good Published March 7, 2010 -
Reviews
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review: Judging A Book By Its Cover Works
The quartet of military misfits introduced in the original Battlefield: Bad Company are back and taking a backseat to a revamped (and far more exciting) multiplayer mode in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. On the single-player side of things, Marlowe, Sweetwater, Haggard and Sarge find themselves embroiled in a military endeavor that feels way above their…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2010 -
Reviews
Alice In Wonderland Review: A Bitter Underland
Tim Burton once again treads on sacred fantasy ground in Alice in Wonderland, a twisted take on Lewis Carroll’s classic novels. How far down the rabbit hole does Burton go? Alice in Wonderland is a new movie from Tim Burton based on a classic work of literary fantasy, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2010 -
Reviews
Match Defense Toy Soldiers Micro-Review: Finally, Mom Can Help
Attention readers, read this review of Match Defense: Toy Soldiers in conjunction with our review of Toy Soldiers for Xbox Live Arcade, because the two games connect. And that’s the main selling point for this here free Facebook game. Loved Playing Xbox 360 Without Playing Xbox 360: As I reported earlier this week, people who…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 4, 2010 -
Reviews
Toy Soldiers Micro-review: A Farewell To Arms?
Being a kid is great. Your toys aren’t just toys, they’re real. And your bedroom or table top can serve as the terrain for your imagination. Does Xbox Live Arcade game Toy Soldiers capture the feeling of playing with toy soldiers? Developed by Signal Studios, Toy Soldiers is a tower defense game in which players…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2010 -
Reviews
Mega Man 10 Micro-Review: Capcom Had Mercy
Finally, a Mega Man game I can clear in 90 minutes. Is that what you want too? Two years after Mega Man 9 returned the classic Capcom series to 8-bit, classic Nintendo Entertainment System design, Mega Man 10 is upon us, with an offer that is decidedly not old school: An easy game. But it’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 3, 2010 -
Reviews
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Review: Remaster System
Sega and developer Sumo Digital take a stab at kart racing with Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, a chance for Sega characters great and small to, for some reason, get together and settle their difference in go kart competitions. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is Mario Kart for the gamer that aligned itself with Sega…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 2, 2010 -
Reviews
The Crazies Review: Left 4 Dead In a Small Town
An idyllic American town plunges into murder and mayhem after a toxin finds its way into the water supply, leaving a sheriff, his deputy, his wife and her friend to survive a town now peopled by The Crazies in what looks an awful lot like a zombie apocalypse. Sound familiar? While this is no Left…
By Brian Crecente Published March 1, 2010 -
Reviews
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx Micro-Review: Hot Coals Over a Cakewalk
After two underwhelming DLC extensions, Borderlands returns to the formula that made it a breakout hit last year – guns, loot, and a crack-cocaine addiction to leveling up – with The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. It’s billed as an appropriate challenge for players who have beaten the main game once already. But for higher…
By Owen Good Published March 1, 2010 -
Reviews
Star Trek Online Review: A Piece Of The Action
After years of television series, books, cartoons, movies, and video games for both consoles and PCs, Star Trek faces the final frontier: the massively-multiplayer role-playing game. When Star Trek Online was first officially announced back in June of 2008, fans of the series were excited, cautious, and slightly nauseous, all at the same time. The…
By Mike Fahey Published February 26, 2010 -
Reviews
Kaleidoscope Micro-Review: What a Colorful World
A world drained of color confronts you in Kaleidoscope, by the three-man studio of Morsel. As a Dream-Build-Play finalist, Kaleidoscope has well earned its indie chops, but does its gameplay fulfill the playfulness set forth by its visual design? Loved Set Design: In Kaleidoscope, you control a jet-black, inkwell-looking creature named Tint whose mission is…
By Owen Good Published February 25, 2010