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Reviews
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review: Daddy Issues
It is the tenth anniversary of Konami’s Silent Hill series, a franchise that has focused more on the psychological side of horror than its peers. The latest, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, delves further into the psyche than ever before. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories tells a very different version of the first Silent Hill game, chronicling…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 17, 2009 -
Reviews
PixelJunk Shooter Micro-Review: Just Add Water… Or Lava
Q-Games continues its series of deceptively simple PlayStation Network games with PixelJunk Shooter, where danger runs hot and salvation is just a glass of water away. Okay, maybe not a glass. PixelJunk Shooter is a game about saving miners and scientists trapped beneath the surface of a strange planet, but it’s also a game about…
By Mike Fahey Published December 16, 2009 -
Reviews
Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Round 2 Arcade FightStick: Tournament Edition Review: My $150 Fireball
Friends don’t let friends do foolhardy things, but sometimes an editor of a major gaming blog assigns his least Street-Fighter-savvy writer to review a Street Fighter arcade stick. That’d be me, the guy who allegedly can’t throw a fireball. Here’s what I can be sure of. The Street Fighter IV Round 2 Tournament Edition FightStick…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 15, 2009 -
Reviews
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes Review: Battling Clashing Colors
I don’t care what any style magazine says — green only goes with orange when you’re vomiting or when you’re lining up elven archers for an attack in Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. Those of you familiar with the series Might & Magic are probably surprised to see it, one, on the Nintendo DS…
By AJ Glasser Published December 15, 2009 -
Reviews
Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster Review: No Turning Back
Video game accessory Mad Catz teams up with guitar manufacturer Fender to create the Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster, $300 worth of fake guitar that begs the question, “How serious are you about your music games?” The Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster is a full-sized replica of Fender’s famous guitar, with all of the necessary…
By Mike Fahey Published December 14, 2009 -
Reviews
Demon’s Souls Review: Souls Asylum
Dare to enter the kingdom of Boletaria and you may regret it, brave warrior. Demon’s Souls is a harsh world, perverted by ancient evils and men gone mad at the loss of their souls. But what of your own sanity? From Software’s PlayStation 3 role-playing game sloughs off many of the conventions one typically associates…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 11, 2009 -
Reviews
Tekken 6 PSP Review: One Is the Loneliest Number
Tekken: Dark Resurrection was not only the best fighter to ever hit the Playstation Portable, it is still considered one of the top games to hit Sony’s portable. The arrival of Tekken 6 on the PSP could only mean great things, right? Loved Graphics: The PSP version of Tekken 6 is a surprisingly attractive game.…
By Brian Crecente Published December 11, 2009 -
Reviews
Call of Duty: World at War Zombies Review: Zombie Nazis!!!
Nacht Der Untoten was a surprisingly fun little addition added on to the end of the otherwise realistic and slightly unsettling Call of Duty: World At War. In the console version of the online mini-game you and up to three others fight off a never-ending horde of Nazis. When it came time to try and…
By Brian Crecente Published December 10, 2009 -
Reviews
The Saboteur Review: Rough Draft
What seemed great on paper — a World War II game like nothing else, with sophisticated artistry to boot — had to be turned into a video game. But then some things, not necessarily too many things, went wrong. The Saboteur is the final game developed by Pandemic Studios out of the EA-owned label’s former…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 9, 2009 -
Reviews
Gyromancer Micro-Review: Twisting The Night Away
The roleplaying game experts at Square Enix and puzzle game kings at PopCap give the puzzle RPG genre a Bejeweled Twist with Gyromancer. Is it as addictive as it sounds? It sounds like a jewel-matching RPG made in heaven. Players taken on the role of Rivel, a summoner traveling through the Aldemona Wood who becomes…
By Mike Fahey Published December 9, 2009 -
Reviews
Flight Control Review: Strategy Vs. Scribble
Nick Denton, who runs this whole network of blogs of which Kotaku is a part, has one 2009 game he really likes. Since we’re catching up this month on 2009 games we missed, we asked him to review it. Fans of the iPhone and iPod Touch game Flight Control are everywhere. My 7-year-old nephew runs…
By Nick Denton Published December 8, 2009 -
Reviews
PSPgo In-Ear Headset Review: A Nice Price
With any new hardware, gadget or platform comes a slew of peripherals and add-ons, some good, many worthless. The PSPgo’s pickings are still fairly slim, but there’s already several cases and one headset available for the portable. The PSPgo in-ear headsets from Sony are silky black, ring in under $20 and come with their own…
By Brian Crecente Published December 8, 2009 -
Reviews
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Review: Nice One
There are two ways Zelda games can be great. The newest entry in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks summits one of those rarefied heights. There are the Zelda games that are great in ways that influence an industry and nearly mandate that they be played. These groundbreakers include the very first Zelda…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 7, 2009 -
Reviews
Madden NFL Arcade Micro-Review: Snacking on Football
Did you toss the football around over Thanksgiving? If so, did you take time to read the playbook and set your audibles? Thought so. That’s the spirit behind EA Sports‘s Madden NFL Arcade, the bite-size complement to its full franchise. Sports sims’ increasing complexity and granular game management decisions can be off-putting, even intimidating, to…
By Owen Good Published December 5, 2009 -
Reviews
Canabalt Micro-Review: Up On The Rooftop, Tap, Tap, Tap
It’s not often that we play a video game designed, coded and scored in just five days. Canabalt, conceived and created for the Experimental Gameplay Project, uncomplicated as it is, somehow doesn’t feel like the typical output of two weekends. Canabalt is a game of escape, a simple, one-action platformer that—from a gameplay perspective—is little…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 5, 2009 -
Reviews
Small Worlds Micro-Review: A Fine 20 Minutes
Why would Kotaku review a game that you could start and finish quicker than dinner? To make sure you play it. Small games don’t often get a lot of critical attention. Nor do free ones. But don’t ignore the work of David Shute, who made a game called Small Worlds that is small and free…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 3, 2009 -
Reviews
Tropico 3 Review: Go Bananas For El Presidente
I’ve played a lot of games over the past 29 years. I’ve been wizards, warriors, soldiers, pilots, businessmen, cops, athletes and actors. One thing I’ve never been, until now, is the despotic ruler of a tinpot Caribbean island. Tropico 3 is the third game in a series that tasks you with assuming control of small,…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 3, 2009 -
Reviews
Geforce 3D Vision Glasses Review: I Can See Forever
Has 3D technology advanced to the point where we should all be sitting in front of our computer monitors wearing futuristic glasses? NVIDIA is banking on it with the GeForce 3D Vision Glasses kit. NVIDIA’s 3D Vision Glasses use today’s advanced technology to deliver two different images to your two different eyes, creating the illusion…
By Mike Fahey Published December 2, 2009 -
Reviews
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned Micro-Review: Brains Optional
Borderlands expands Pandora’s borders with the downloadable Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, a new landmass that’s infected with all manner of spook, from reanimated corpses to half-man, half-skag abominations. Yup, Borderlands got itself some zombie killin’ too! The draw in The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned are new locations in which to adventure, loot and…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 1, 2009 -
Reviews
Tony Hawk: Ride Review: Time To Bail
The latest edition of the venerable Tony Hawk skateboarding video game franchise slides across your carpet on a plastic skateboard in Tony Hawk: Ride. Losing ground to EA’s Skate franchise, Activision tapped developer Robomodo to help take the Tony Hawk franchise in a whole new direction, eschewing standard controllers for a new plastic skateboard peripheral,…
By Mike Fahey Published November 30, 2009