Reviews Archives - Page 123 of 129

Heroes Over Europe Review: A Flying Shame

Let’s face it: When it comes to World War II-based games, it’s easy to skimp on plot. All you need are two words: “Kill Nazis” – there you go, instant storyline. Heroes Over Europe pretty much falls into that category. The arcade-style air combat game loosely strings together 14 missions from the perspectives of three…

Monty Phan Published October 2, 2009

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PSP: Attack of the Minis

A mammoth update hit the Playstation Store early this morning, bringing with it more than 100 downloadable games. Included in the collection of classics and new full-blown titles were more than a half-dozen PSP Minis. These diminutive titles all run less than $10 and are designed to be quick bites that run on both the…

By Brian Crecente Published October 1, 2009

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Dead Space Extraction Review: Frighteningly Good

Surprising in more good ways than bad, Dead Space Extraction is the Wii Sports Tennis of so-called hardcore games on the Wii. What they’d tell you in a catalog is that Dead Space Extraction is the Wii prequel to last year’s PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sci-fi horror hit Dead Space. They’d write that it…

By Stephen Totilo Published October 1, 2009

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Madden iPhone Micro-Review: The Biggest Small-Time Football

EA Sports‘ Madden franchise didn’t hit the iPhone until the NFL’s first week, trailing Gameloft’s NFL 2010 by a month. Does it deliver what longtime fans should expect? Or is it just a big-name brand’s toehold on a new platform? Loved Come-Back Story: Unlike NFL 2010, which kicked you back to the beginning of the…

By Owen Good Published September 30, 2009

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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review: Fortune Shines on Drake

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has a lot to live up to. The original Naughty Dog-developed third-person shooter was one of the crown jewels of the Playstation 3 launch, its critical success highlighting the technical prowess of Sony’s new console and the storytelling chops of the game’s creators. Now nearly two years later, Uncharted 2 has…

By Brian Crecente Published September 29, 2009

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Zuma’s Revenge Micro-Review: Bridging The Mom And Son Gap

My mother loves playing Zuma. So does my mother-in-law. While I thought that the plink-plunk-plink-plunk of their favorite game wasn’t for me, I discovered that the sequel might actually be a hardcore gamers’ kind of game, for better and worse. Zuma’s Revenge is the PC/Mac sequel to the multi-million selling Zuma, itself one of those…

By Stephen Totilo Published September 28, 2009

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PSPgo Review: A Peek Into the Future of Gaming

Smaller, easier to use and completely devoid of a disc drive of any sort, the PSPgo is powered only by digital media, a brave step into the future of gaming. But is it a future in which we want to live? Loved Pure Digital: The PSPgo is smaller, sleeker, better designed than its predecessors, but…

By Brian Crecente Published September 28, 2009

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Need for Speed Shift Review: Switching Gears

Need for Speed Shift is about an apt a title as you’ll find, referring not only to, obviously, its auto-racing genre, but also to EA’s efforts to take the series in a new direction – namely, toward more serious simulation-style fare and away from the cops-and-robbers, anything-goes attitude of the game’s predecessors. NFS Shift is…

Monty Phan Published September 25, 2009

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Muramasa: The Demon Blade Review: Hot Springs Eternal

Odin Sphere developer Vanillaware brings their signature hand-drawn 2D style to the Nintendo Wii with Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a touching tale of a boy, a girl, and a whole bunch of swords. Kisuke is a young ninja in search of his past. Momohime is a young and quiet Japanese princess possessed by the spirit…

By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2009

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up Review: Heroes And A Half-Smash-Bros.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is one of the longer video game names out there, but it says pretty much everything you need to know about the game. Except exactly which flavor of Ninja Turtles to expect. The series evolved a lot since the 1980s, so it’s important for fans to know whether they’re dealing…

By AJ Glasser Published September 23, 2009

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Halo 3: ODST Review: The More Vulnerable Edition

Halo games are mighty productions, but Bungie’s latest offers intentional and unintentional weaknesses, allowing the studio to experiment and excel. All this while showing rare vulnerability. Bungie’s fourth Halo game, Halo 3: ODST, will officially be released for the Xbox 360 this week. A side story of a campaign that leads into the events of…

By Stephen Totilo Published September 22, 2009

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Mini Ninjas Review: Hitman: Lunch Money

Strange one, this. Mini Ninjas is, at first glance, clearly aimed at children. Or at least children at heart. Big-eyed characters, cute design. But it was also made by the same guys who did Hitman. Mini Ninjas is a game that sees you start off as a young ninja, sent out into the world to…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 22, 2009

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Persona PSP Review: This Time It’s Persona

Thirteen years ago, Atlus did a bad bad thing, butchering its Japanese RPG Megami Ibunroku Persona in order to release it in North America as Revelations: Persona. Can a PSP remake undo the damage? Shin Megami Tensei: Persona for the PSP is where the Persona series got its start. Like many other games in the…

By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2009

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WET Review: Swords, Guns and Flawed Fun

Armed with one sword and two of lots of other things, Rubi Malone is a leather-pants wearing, wall-running, pole-spinning death machine. She can shoot two shotguns while flipping through the air, slide under tables to hamstring and gut with her sword, and regains health by swigging liquor. But does the heroine deliver enough fun in…

By Brian Crecente Published September 18, 2009

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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review: It Takes Two, Baby

Marvel’s mightiest heroes converge once again in Activsion’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 to face a foe far deadlier than any they’ve encountered thus far: themselves. Okay, so Marvel characters tend to fight each other on a regular basis, generally before teaming-up to take out a mutual enemy, but never quite on the scale of Marvel’s…

By Mike Fahey Published September 17, 2009

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Trine Micro-Review: The Fat Knight

Trine has been out for a while now on PC. But with the game’s PSN release imminent, let’s take a second look at it, see what all the fuss is about. Trine is a 2D platformer built on a 3D engine, where you’re able to switch simultaneously between three characters: a fighter, a thief, and…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 16, 2009

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Scribblenauts Review: Embrace Your Inner Geek

Riding on the back of a Tyrannosaurus Rex into a crowd of robot zombies: It’s a pretty powerful image, one that taps into the basic instincts of most geeks and screams “Buy this game.” Scribblenauts is out to prove that it’s more than just a clever, a really clever, game mechanic and that the “Write…

By Brian Crecente Published September 15, 2009

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Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story Review: A Fawful Good Time

Mario and Luigi’s eternal struggle against the forces that threaten the Mushroom Kingdom—and frequently kidnap Princess Peach—continue in Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, the latest in the lighthearted, action-oriented role-playing game series. This time, series staple bad guy Fawful has tricked Bowser into eating a particular strain of mushroom that causes him to inhale…

By Michael McWhertor Published September 14, 2009

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Contra ReBirth Micro-Review: The ReBirth Of Challenge

Konami takes us back to the old-school with Contra ReBirth, the 10th entry in the classic shooter series, lovingly rendered in 16-bit for Nintendo’s WiiWare. Contra hero Bill Rizer is back, joined by the humanoid alien samurai Genbei Yagyu from Neo Contra, sent back in time to defeat the Neo Salamander Army led by Colonel…

By Mike Fahey Published September 11, 2009

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Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box Review: My Cup of Tea

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the second game in the Professor Layton series created mostly by Level-5’s puzzle-obsessed Akihiro Hino. Like the other games, the plot of Diabolical Box is driven by the Professor’s need to solve an overarching mystery – this time around, it’s the death of his friend and mentor. Accompanied…

By AJ Glasser Published September 9, 2009