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ReviewsMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance: The Kotaku Review
They had to make up a word for it. For all the over-the-top cyber-machismo dancing across the screen in this new Metal Gear game. Nothing currently extant in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition would do. And the definition? Something like, “the confluence of bionic ninja warriors, near-future war profiteering and giant, quadraped war machines.”…
By Evan Narcisse Published February 19, 2013 -
Reviews
Crysis 3: The Kotaku Review
You’re sitting behind the wheel of a finely tuned luxury automobile. The upholstery creaks as you make yourself comfortable; it smells like quality in here. You haven’t even turned the key and you can feel the car humming, its tightly-coiled energy waiting to be unleashed. This car isn’t designed to make you feel romantic or…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 19, 2013 -
Reviews
The New Beast Wars Begin with Optimus Prime and Predaking
Hasbro is calling them Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters, but that’s not what I’m calling the upcoming third season of the animated series and the corresponding toys. A dragon that transforms into a robot and a red-and-blue figure that’s vaguely reminiscent of the original Optimus Prime? These are the new Beast Wars, my friends, and they’re…
By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2013 -
Reviews
Lay’s Chicken and Waffles, Sriracha and Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips: The Snacktaku Review
Last summer Frito-Lay tapped into the power of social media to give fans of the company’s signature potato chip brand a chance to choose the next exciting flavor to grace store shelves. Millions of flavor combinations were submitted. Some, like Spinach and Sour Cream, were relatively uninteresting. Others, like my own Ground Glass and Your…
By Mike Fahey Published February 18, 2013 -
ReviewsAliens: Colonial Marines: The Kotaku Review
A game based on existing media has three options. It can strive to be faithful to the original work, privileging authenticity above all else. It can try to do its own thing, using the original work as merely a jumping off point for something else. Or, it can try to find a balance between authenticity…
By Patricia Hernandez Published February 12, 2013 -
Reviews
15 Flavors of Japanese Kit Kats: The Snacktaku Review
This weekend I went on a magical flavor journey across the Pacific, to a land where what Americans deem worthy of snackhood is laughably tame. This weekend I tasted 15 different varieties of Japanese Kit Kats, and I am forever changed by the experience. Snacktaku fans will remember the Japanese Kit Kats as one of…
By Mike Fahey Published February 11, 2013 -
ReviewsMobile Gaming’s Platforming Hero Returns — One Part Mario, One Part Sonic
In 2011 SilverTree Media introduced Cordy, a robotic platforming hero for the smartphone age. While other developers struggled with implementing traditional games using touchscreen controls, Cordy played as perfectly as the best console platformers, with more personality than most. Now Cordy 2 has arrived, and it’s easily twice as good as the original. Cordy is…
By Mike Fahey Published February 8, 2013 -
ReviewsThe Best Thing About This Dragon Breeding Game is Definitely the Vomit
It’s not the hand-animated visuals, crafted by artists whose resumes include My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Atomic Betty. It’s not the challenge of matching each dragon with their favorite treasures, collecting and combining items to create more potent pieces. No, it’s definitely the vomiting, followed closely by the rainbow pooping. East Side Games’…
By Mike Fahey Published February 7, 2013 -
ReviewsSly Cooper: Thieves in Time: The Kotaku Review
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is a pleasant PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game that feels like it has been plucked out of a time warp. It arrives on the eve of the expected February 20 announcement of the make-or-break PlayStation 4 and yet it calls back to an era of easy dominance by the…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 5, 2013 -
ReviewsDead Space 3: The Kotaku Review
I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but…. Dead Space 3 is boring. Let’s rewind a bit. In 2008 we were graced with EA’s first Dead Space title. This was a claustrophobic horror game, filled with mystery and an obviously grander, more complex universe than we, as players during that first go, could comprehend.…
By Tina Amini Published February 5, 2013 -
Reviews
Unreal — Candy Unjunked: The Snacktaku Review
Candy is dandy, but it’s also not very good for you. It’s filled with artificial flavors, preservatives, hormones, genetically modified organisms (yum!), hydrogenated oils and corn syrup. That’s why it’s called junk food. The mission of Unreal is to remove the junk from junk food without removing the taste. That’s a rather tall order. I’d…
By Mike Fahey Published February 4, 2013 -
Reviews
Skulls of the Shogun: The Kotaku Review [UPDATE]
I want to tell you that Skulls of the Shogun is excellent. I want to tell you the game is fantastic, and that it has some of the best writing this year so far. I want to tell you about how lovingly crafted it is, about the small details it includes. I want to tell…
By Patricia Hernandez Published February 4, 2013 -
ReviewsNi no Kuni: The Kotaku Review
It would be easy, while reviewing Ni no Kuni, to sit at my desk and fling adjectives on the page like a fantasy novelist. I’d call the game whimsical, charming, beautiful, fascinating, smart, pleasant, challenging, slow-paced, grand, surreal, and aggressively colorful. And yes, those are all fitting words for the new RPG, which came out…
By Jason Schreier Published February 1, 2013 -
Reviews
I Was Not Expecting the Third Ace Attorney Musical to be a Time Travel Story
Ace Attorney 3: Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is the third official Ace Attorney musical performed by the all female Takarazuka Revue. When I reviewed the first musical last year, I said it was a better telling of the story than the source material. When I reviewed the second musical, I lauded it for being a darker…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 1, 2013 -
ReviewsFire Emblem: Awakening: The Kotaku Review
There are games that I like. And then there are games that I like that I become obsessed with. Fire Emblem: Awakening falls into the second category. What follows, therefore, isn’t just a review. It’s a warning. Play the new Fire Emblem on Nintendo’s 3DS, and all of this could happen to you… Some basics…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 31, 2013 -
Reviews
My Perfect World is Populated By Pixel People
A game designer is a combination of a programmer and an artist. A preacher is a philosopher and a dreamer combined. Meld a magician and a scientist and you have a wizard. This is how the world works in LambdaMu Games’ Pixel People—simple, elegant and endlessly entertaining. The planet Earth is gone, the sole remaining…
By Mike Fahey Published January 31, 2013 -
ReviewsThank God, A 3DS XL Case For Adults
If you, like me, recently dropped a couple hundred bucks on a 3DS XL, you probably have thought about picking up a case to keep it safe. The challenge is finding a case that is even remotely acceptable. For some reason, the majority of non-Nintendo-made 3DS accessories are poorly-made hunks of junk, a problem is…
By Kirk Hamilton Published January 28, 2013 -
Reviews
Noobz: The Kotaku Review
One of the true joys of the movie watching experience is having your expectations blown away. This applies to all forms of entertainment, but films are perhaps the best possible example. Because how many times have you seen a trailer and expected something to be God awful, only to be pleasantly surprised by the actual…
Matt Hawkins Published January 24, 2013 -
ReviewsThe Cave: The Kotaku Review
Have you ever had a recurring dream? And each time that dream revisits your slumber, some small detail has changed? It’s the same dream, but it somehow feels unfamiliar again. That’s sort of what it feels like to play The Cave, Double Fine’s latest cartoon-like adventure. You’ll walk through the same hallways, climb the same…
By Tina Amini Published January 22, 2013 -
Reviews
No Sugar Added Fudgsicle: The Snacktaku Review
Every once in a while I like to take a break from the calorie-rich, salt-infused, flavor-coated Snacktaku reviews to focus on lighter fare, if only to repress the popular notion that my entire diet consists of nothing but complete and utter crap. As much as we enjoy food dipped in melted cheese and fried in…
By Mike Fahey Published January 21, 2013