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ReviewsThe Unfinished Swan: The Kotaku Review
In the first chapter of The Unfinished Swan, you will paint a wall. In the second, you will water plants. The third lets you walk next to a river and then build a staircase. In the fourth you will feel tall. You don’t want me to tell you much more. All that I’ve mentioned will…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 15, 2012 -
ReviewsWar of the Roses: The Kotaku Review
Despite the blockbusters out this week, and other more than worthy time-killers like Retro City Rampage, the game I’ve spent most time with lately is a multiplayer PC game called War of the Roses Developed by Fatshark, and published by Paradox, it’s a team-based multiplayer title that onlookers will say reminds them of a third-person…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 10, 2012 -
Reviews
Fable: The Journey: The Kotaku Review
Did you ever go to school with a kid that was way too into horses? Like, waaaaaay too into horses? I’m talking about the kind of kid who has horse posters on the wall, a horse lunchbox and a horse backpack. Because Fable: The Journey feels like a game made by and for that kid.…
By Chris Person Published October 9, 2012 -
Reviews
There’s a Samurai Predator, and He is Beautiful
Leaving arguments about canon at the door, get a look at this new Predator figure from Hot Toys, in which Japanese artists Takayuki Takeya (paint) and Yuji Oniki (sculpting) were tasked with coming up with their own take on the sci-fi legend. The premise might be a little corny, sure, but the figure they’ve come…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 9, 2012 -
Reviews
Two Pro Gaming Mice, One Weekend of Gaming
I spent the weekend giving my trusty Mionix Naos 5000 a rest in favour of two mice from Zowie, a company that caters exclusively to the competitive gaming crowd. It was an interesting weekend. See, normally, whether personally or professionally, I’ve only ever enjoyed the extreme ends of the PC gaming mouse spectrum. A spectrum…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 9, 2012 -
Reviews
Darrell Lea Soft Eating Liquorice: The Snacktaku Review
In America, when most people think liquorice they think Twizzlers. When someone offers me licorice and then hands me a Twizzler I want to strangle them with a piece of Darrell Lea Soft Eating Liquorice, but it’s far too pliant and delicious to take a human life. I’ve prided myself on not writing a Snacktaku…
By Mike Fahey Published October 8, 2012 -
ReviewsXCOM: Enemy Unknown: The Kotaku Review
XCOM: Enemy Unknown should have been a disaster. It’s a turn-based strategy title, a style of game its publisher said only last year was “just not contemporary“. It’s also a remake of a cult classic 1990’s PC game, beloved by an audience so fickle that a modern version should be the most offensive entertainment product…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 8, 2012 -
ReviewsDishonored: The Kotaku Review
I would love to have been a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting for Dishonored. “Well, it’s Deus Ex meets BioShock,” someone undoubtedly said. “Oh hey, and let’s throw in some Half-Life 2 ’cause why not?” It’s a bizarre, eclectic blend, the type of combination that might seem too ambitious to work. But…
By Jason Schreier Published October 8, 2012 -
ReviewsNBA 2K13: The Kotaku Review
2K Sports started an arms race with itself three years ago when it landed Kobe Bryant, the greatest player of his era, for the cover of NBA 2K10. Then it reached into the record books to trump him with Michael Jordan in NBA 2K11—and then grabbed Larry, Magic, and Michael for NBA 2K12. So when…
By Owen Good Published October 6, 2012 -
Reviews
Razer Blade Mk2: The Kotaku Review
The first Razer Blade was not a high performance gaming laptop, nor was it meant to be. It was designed with a balance of portability and power in mind, and the allure of a 17 inch gaming laptop that weighs less than seven pounds was enough for the unit to sell out at every turn,…
By Mike Fahey Published October 5, 2012 -
ReviewsResident Evil 6: The Kotaku Review
The old dread isn’t coming back. You remember it, don’t you? The shock of terror when you stumbled in on a zombie chomping on a corpse in the first Resident Evil. Or when the undead dogs jumped through the window? Those are signature moments—along with the compulsive hoarding of typewriter ribbon—that anyone who’s played the…
By Evan Narcisse Published October 2, 2012 -
Reviews
Nutella: The Snacktaku Review
My first taste of Ferrero’s famous chocolate hazelnut spread came in the spring of 1991 in a dorm room at the predominantly female Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia. Her name was Deirdra. She was long and lithe and graceful, with hair like autumn leaves dancing in the wind. She was impish and sweet and…
By Mike Fahey Published October 1, 2012 -
ReviewsPokémon Black and White 2: The Kotaku Review
It’s four o’clock in the morning and I’m sitting outside my apartment chain-smoking cigarettes, mildly buzzed on cough syrup and decidedly not getting the rest I was supposed to be getting in order to alleviate the need for prescription medication in the first place. Instead I am grinding levels on my water and fighting-type Pokémon…
By Mike Fahey Published October 1, 2012 -
Reviews
The Headphones That Didn’t Screw Up a Second Chance to Succeed the First Time
Say this for Performance Designed Products, makers of the Afterglow Wireless Headset, a slick, luminous gaming accessory which promises universal functionality and evokes the costume design of Tron. They are very confident this will work, right out of the box, the very first time. Yet that has never been my experience in reviewing about half…
By Owen Good Published September 30, 2012 -
Reviews
Looper Might Be the Best Time Travel Movie Ever
Note: This review originally ran on Tuesday, 09-25-12. Forget The Jetsons, DC Comics’ Legion of Superheroes or any other shiny, happy vision of the future. The decades ahead of us aren’t guaranteed to get much better than the present. Truth is, everybody makes bad decisions that trap us into lives we don’t see coming. That…
By Evan Narcisse Published September 28, 2012 -
ReviewsThis Keyboard Tries So Hard To Be Great That I Actually Feel Sorry For How Terrible It Is
The kindest thing I can say about the Imperator Pro, a gaming keyboard from Taiwanese company Genius, is that it works exactly as advertised. Keys, both standard and programmable, function as intended and do what a user would expect them to. That’s a big plus, in a keyboard. Sadly, there are also a number of…
By Kate Cox Published September 26, 2012 -
Reviews
Guild Wars 2: The Kotaku Review
The true heart and essence of Guild Wars 2 lies in its map. It took me three weeks of playing and a chat with my colleague Kirk to realize and articulate how much magic lies in that seemingly simple function. The map of Tyria isn’t just utilitarian; it’s beautiful. Even mired in the fog of…
By Kate Cox Published September 26, 2012 -
ReviewsLittleBigPlanet Vita: The Kotaku Review
Few games beg for physical contact like LittleBigPlanet does. The series is known for its miniaturized, Gondryesque diorama worlds, where fuzzy Beanie Baby-like characters carom off of cloth-covered wheels and cubes like so much bric-a-brac in a shoebox. Any sane player would immediately want to reach out and touch the screen. So it feels only…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 25, 2012 -
Reviews
Verily, This Hip-Hop Graphic Novel’s Take on Romeo & Juliet Is My New Joint, Yo
I haven’t read Shakespeare since high school. But Prince of Cats makes me want to go back to 10th grade English class and actually pay attention. Was Romeo a grafitti artist when the Bard of Avon first created him? Of course he wasn’t. But that change and the rest of the updating that writer/artist Ronald…
By Evan Narcisse Published September 25, 2012 -
ReviewsDead or Alive 5: The Kotaku Review [Update]
The Dead or Alive series has always felt like it was my fighting franchise. From the moment I first button-mashed my way to my first counter in the 1997 Sega Saturn import, I knew that I had found the fighter for me. I was entranced by the flow of battles, the block and counter, the…
By Mike Fahey Published September 25, 2012