-
ReviewsIce Cream Sandwiches: The Snacktaku Review of Doom
I did not need to review the ice cream sandwich. Its merits are readily evident, especially to all of the people that have already left this article to go to their local grocer’s freezer based on the top image alone. So this is less a review and more an exploration of the sheer power of…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsBattleBlock Theater: The Kotaku Review
BattleBlock Theater is what I want to do on a Friday night. The first time I played it was in the middle of the work week. I stayed up until 2am playing. I don’t stay up until 2am when I have to wake up at 7am for work, not normally. The second time I played…
By Tina Amini -
ReviewsStanding In The Rain In A Trench Coat From The Future
Unrelenting rain drums on the tin roof of the shelter. I huddle from the chill in my standard-issue trench coat, bathed in the cool glow of the data terminal. This is how every adventure game should begin. I guess there’s room for other genres, but there’s something comforting about the cold and dreary future of…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsGuacamelee! : The Kotaku Review
On its own, nostalgia isn’t worth a whole lot — It takes a truly special game like Guacamelee! to make you realize why you became nostalgic to begin with. In the video review above, I talk about the experience of playing the artsy retro-throwback Guacamelee!; What it does right and why you should play it.
By Chris Person -
ReviewsDungeon Hunter 4 Takes In-App Purchases to a Diabolical New Low
In the latest installment of Gameloft’s Dungeon Hunter series of Diablo clones, the most effective means of healing your character mid-battle is paying for it. Screw that. The Dungeon Hunter series starter off as one of the best dungeon crawling action role-playing franchises available on mobile platforms. The first game changed my idea of what…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsI Came Precariously Close to Hating This Magnificent Mobile Adventure
With a slew of positive iTunes reviews and a couple of pre-release awards under its belt, I was expecting Frogmind’s Badland to be a transcendent mobile gaming experience. I was greatly disappointed, at least for the first 20 minutes. If you had asked me for an honest assessment of Badland during those early moments, I…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Mass Effect 2 Review: Once More Unto The Breach
This review was originally published on Kotaku on January 26, 2010. To celebrate Mass Effect week, we’re bumping it up! What kind of man (or woman) has intergalactic hero Commander Shepard become after saving the universe from the Reapers in Mass Effect? That’s all up to you in BioWare’s Mass Effect 2. Shortly after the…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsIt’s Almost a Pity This Unique and Colorful Puzzle Game Is Free
I’ve always been a big fan of the color samples in the house paint section of Home Depot. Those unassuming sheets of paper, festooned with color gradients, introduced me to a world that was more than simple black and white — a world with 50 shades of grey, several dozen oranges and more green than…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsBoneless Vs. Bone-In Chicken Wings: The Snacktaku Showdown
Late last week the Twitterverse exploded with what might be the most important snacking argument of the year — boneless or bone-in chicken wings? Lines were drawn. Sauces were chosen. Wet naps were made ready. Lots of people made themselves sick, all in the name of fighting for the cause they felt was the justiest…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsI Was Done With Three-Star Puzzle Platformers. Then Disney Gave Me Mittens.
Thanks to the low price of mobile games, I regularly download new titles without seeing as much as a single screenshot. Many of those sight-unseen games follow the Angry Birds scoring formula — smash, achieve or collect the things you need on each level, earn three stars, gems, flowers, whatever. Generally I don’t get past…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsForget Endless Runners, Here’s an Endless Action RPG
A half-hour with FDG Entertainment’s Slayin has convinced me that the action role-playing games I enjoyed as a much younger man were woefully inefficient. Imagine all the things I might have accomplished if I hadn’t spent hour after hour traveling expansive maps, poking things with my pixel sword in order to gain the power to…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel: The Kotaku Review
Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel drifts in a Lagrangian point of video game mediocrity. No force pulls it toward being a contemptible or even bad effort, but nothing budges it into the orbit of entertainment, even as a guilty pleasure, either. Its experiences are the most indistinct I’ve ever had in the wide world…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
Oreo Mega Stuf Cookies: The Snacktaku Review
I’m perfectly capable of making myself sick without your help, Nabisco. Available for a limited time only, Oreo’s Mega Stuff cookies are an answer to the marketing-powered imaginary war going on between fans who enjoy Oreos for the cookie, and those who prefer the creme in the middle. Which side will come out on top?…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Nimble Quest Would Make One Hell of a Final Fantasy Game
Back in January, Square Enix released Final Fantasy: All the Bravest, a game about getting as many Final Fantasy character sprites on the screen at one time while finding creative new ways for players to pay for things It wasn’t a very good game. What Square Enix should have done was make Nimble Quest, the…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsRazer Edge Pro PC Gaming Tablet: The Kotaku Review
Like many PC gamers, I’ve often wished a machine capable of putting the power of a gaming rig in a portable device. Gaming laptops are lovely and have their place, but that place is often on top of a desk. After a week with Razer’s new Edge gaming tablet, I realize what I really wanted…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsThis “Pegformer” Delivers One New Way to Move, Many New Ways to Die
When developer First5 Games were looking for a fresh method of movement for their new platforming game, they found inspiration in those old Wacky Wall Crawler toys you’d get for a quarter out of supermarket vending machines as a kid. You know, the ones with all the sticky legs? I used to tear off their…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsFetch Could Have Been an Animated Feature. Instead It’s an Utterly Charming iPad Game.
You could search the iTunes app store for days and not come close to finding a game with the charm and polish of Big FishGames’ Fetch. It’s an animated movie come to life, an adventure riddled with arcade action wrapped around a warm beating heart. It’s the story of a boy and his dog. While…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsTiger Woods PGA Tour 14: The Kotaku Review
The Mashie. The Brassie. The Cleek. Why, oh why, did golf abandon these delightful club names for bland old 5 iron, No. 2 wood, and 2 iron, or, worse, driver names like that sound like energy drinks. When I whipped out my baffing spoon and eagled No. 4 on Augusta National’s 1934 layout, I could…
By Owen Good