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Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
Gamer Movie Review: More Second Life Than Counter-Strike
In the movie Gamer, people control real people in a living third-person shooter, guiding them through a war-torn hell created for the pay-per-view enjoyment of a staggering worldwide audience. There’s also the chance to control people in a world of over-indulgence and sex. But what ties the two worlds together, and drives the movie, is…
By Brian Crecente Published September 9, 2009 -
Reviews
The Beatles: Rock Band Review: Blisters On My Fingers
More than 45 years ago, The Beatles changed the way the world listened to music. This week, MTV Games and Harmonix hope to change the way people listen to The Beatles. The Beatles: Rock Band features band authentic replica instruments, 45 songs pulled from the history of the band and the backing of the surviving…
By Brian Crecente Published September 9, 2009 -
Reviews
Defense Grid Micro-Review: Mmmmm… Raspberries
Defense Grid: The Awakening is now out on Xbox Live Arcade. But it’s been out for a while on PC, where it’s got a reputation as, well, the best tower defense game there is. Like most tower defense games, Defense Grid asks the player to strategically place defensive towers to prevent something bad from happening.…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 8, 2009 -
Reviews
Guitar Hero 5 Review: Do The Evolution
Activision returns to a simple numbering scheme for the Guitar Hero series with the fifth entry in the core-focused, band non-specific entry, Guitar Hero 5. That’s reflective of its largely gimmick-free gameplay as well as the series’ evolution. Guitar Hero 5 doesn’t offer as much in the way of new, innovative features as, say, Guitar…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 7, 2009 -
Reviews
Trials HD Micro-review: Tribulations
Trials HD isn’t only a race against time, but against game physics. Combine that with tricky courses, and you can see why they call the game “Trials” and not “Rad Motorbike Racin’ A-Go-Go”. Though, that game sounds promising! The original non-HD Trials is a puzzle-based Flash title that has players navigate stunt courses with a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 3, 2009 -
Reviews
Wolfenstein Review: Occult Following
The battle against supernatural Nazis wages on in Wolfenstein, that latest chapter in epic saga of one man’s struggle against the occult-fueled Third Reich. Himmler’s Schutzstaffel is on the verge of harnessing a dark paranormal power that would mean the end of the free world as we knew it in 1943, and special agent B.J.…
By Mike Fahey Published August 26, 2009 -
Reviews
Batman: Arkham Asylum Review: The Dark Knight Is A Bright Light
Batman is a smart comic book hero. He doesn’t need superpowers – just give him a gadget, a cape and a face to punch and he’s a regular Einstein. With a cape and iron fists. Gadgetry and ass-kicking are a big part of what makes Batman unique among other comic book heroes. While other mutated…
By AJ Glasser Published August 25, 2009 -
Reviews
Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition Micro-Review: Learning to Read With Zombies
Resident Evil 4 may have come out more than four years ago, but all it takes is a new platform to make the game feel fresh. The third-person survival horror game from Capcom hit the iPhone earlier this year as Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition, promising to deliver key moments of the original game in…
By Brian Crecente Published August 24, 2009