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Journey: The Kotaku Review

This is the story of a scarf. I’d knitted it off and on for most of life. I never felt any hurry to complete it; in fact, I never really knew how long I wanted it to be. Just, every so often, I’d pick it up and weave another couple of rows. Over the years,…

By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012

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SSX: The Kotaku Review

Looking back on the original SSX titles, it’s hard to believe that they were based on an actual real-world sports activity. The snowboard riders you steered across the bright white landscapes of 2001 were near indestructible, able to shrug off massive crashes with quips and bit of boost. But, with a reboot that binds the…

By Evan Narcisse Published February 28, 2012

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Asura’s Wrath: The Kotaku Review

Asura is an angry, angry man. It’s right there in the title, really: Asura’s Wrath. The game tells the story of one man’s rage-fueled superpowers, as he seeks revenge on those who betrayed him, kidnapped his daughter, and left him for dead. One can’t really blame the guy for feeling wrathful. Asura certainly lives in…

By Kate Cox Published February 27, 2012

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FIFA Football Vita: The Kotaku Review

I’m still a little shocked. I mean, I love my football and I generally love my FIFA, but if you’d told me two months ago that the single best game available at the Vita’s launch would be this, a handheld port of a game that’s just in time for the end of the European season,…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 26, 2012

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A Wireless Headset That Changes Channels and Gets Out of the Way

How do you review a product for something that isn’t there, and isn’t supposed to be there? That’s the distinguishing trait of the Turtle Beach X32 headset for the Xbox 360. It’s identical in nearly every way to its X31 predecessor, released in 2009, except for one. A big one. It’s the frequency at which…

By Owen Good Published February 23, 2012

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Mutant Blobs Attack!: The Kotaku Review

I still remember when I saw The Blob. Not the original film, the 1988 remake. I was probably around ten years old, and we were having a Christmas party. The big kids had gone off into a separate room to watch horror movies. I came in right as what I call “The Yo-Yo Scene” was…

By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012

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I Just Spent a Week With a Very, Very Expensive Gaming PC

Alienware has recently launched a new line of its Aurora desktops, a range of very pretty, very expensive gaming PCs. And I just spent a week playing video games on one. The Aurora R4, unlike the mildly surprising X51, sticks firmly to the company’s brief of making high performance hardware at a relatively high cost…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2012

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The PlayStation Vita: The Kotaku Review

If you’re in a hurry, you simply need to know that the PlayStation Vita is a very good portable video game machine that excels in ways that Sony hasn’t bothered to hype. If you’ve got time, well… let’s start with a true story: I recently had the opportunity to look over the shoulder of a…

By Stephen Totilo Published February 21, 2012

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Syndicate: The Kotaku Review

The year is 2069. The government as we know it is obsolete. In its place are various syndicates, all racing to develop the most advanced bio-digital implants that allow their host to connect to the dataverse, and even control it. Syndicate is a telling of that story, originally written by Bullfrog Productions in 1993, and…

By Tina Amini Published February 21, 2012

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Crusader Kings II: The Kotaku Review

I was playing as the King of England. I ruled for over thirty years, sometimes a tyrant, other times a hero. When I died, I could keep playing, because I was now controlling his son. Who, it turns out, not only had a lisp, but was gay, whose arranged wife hated him and wanted him…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2012

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Alan Wake’s American Nightmare: The Kotaku Review

Going into Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, I’d worried that I hadn’t played the DLC that followed the 2010 game that introduced Remedy’s literary action hero. I loved the long-brewing Xbox 360 exclusive but, after months of never being able to slot in The Signal and The Writer add-ons, I’d decided to skip them after repeatedly…

By Evan Narcisse Published February 20, 2012

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Lumines Electronic Symphony: The Kotaku Review

Every time I fire up a Lumines game and am not instantly greeted by the mellow beats of Mondo Grosso’s “Shinin” from the franchise’s 2004 PSP debut, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. That song will forever be linked with the magical feeling of the first game, when Q Entertainment’s simple and sublime…

By Mike Fahey Published February 20, 2012

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Army Corps of Hell: The Kotaku Review

Into the midst of the PlayStation Vita’s launch lineup drops a fiery comet, crashing through the Earth’s crust and plunging into the mythical underworld below to amass a massive force of evil with infernal domination in mind. The Army Corps of Hell is recruiting. Should you join up? The King of Hell is back in…

By Mike Fahey Published February 18, 2012

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UFC Undisputed 3: The Kotaku Review

UFC Undisputed tried to come back too soon. Following a breakout season in 2009, it returned with a good-but-not-great sequel in 2010. Publisher THQ recognized the franchise didn’t deliver enough and shifted it to two-year production cycle. So is UFC Undisputed 3 the game mixed martial arts fans should have gotten last May? Or is…

By Owen Good Published February 16, 2012

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Twisted Metal: The Kotaku Review

As I played through the first single-player mission of the new Twisted Metal I felt oddly disconnected from the previous games in the franchise. Perhaps my appreciation for the car combat genre had waned over the decade separating the latest title from PlayStation 2 classic Twisted Metal Black. Maybe I was just too old for…

By Mike Fahey Published February 16, 2012

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Playing Around With Batman: Arkham Asylum’s Wonderful Toys

There were normal action figures based on Batman: Arkham Asylum. They came out a while ago, and they were fine. These premium figures, though, are brand new. So we’re taking a look at them. And by taking a look, I mean I’m going to sit in my kitchen and play with them. If you’re wondeing…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 16, 2012

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Rhythm Heaven Fever: The Kotaku Review

The door closes behind you with an ominous click. It’s bright in here—too bright. Before you can get your wits about you, your host begins to speak. “We hope you’ll enjoy finding your own rhythm,” she says, all smiles. “So have fun and enjoy all the game has to offer.” With that, she leaves the…

By Kirk Hamilton Published February 15, 2012

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Razer Blade: The Kotaku Review

When I see the term ‘gaming laptop’, the first word that comes to mind is ‘performance’. And when I hear of a gaming laptop with a price tag of nearly $2,800, I imagine a system that can readily outperform any less expensive machine. That’s just the way I’ve traditionally evaluated a gaming system — I…

By Mike Fahey Published February 15, 2012

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Gotham City Impostors: The Kotaku Review

Batman’s had lots of sidekicks over the years. Imps from other dimensions, mask-wearing dogs and his own kill-crazy offspring have leapt from the shadows with the DC Comics superhero. He’s trained them, scolded them and in case of Ace the Bat-hound, probably picked up their poop while out on patrol. But there’s been a tacit…

By Evan Narcisse Published February 14, 2012

Reviews

Ace Attorney Is the Best Video Game Movie Ever (Take That, Hollywood!)

Gyakuten Saiban—the movie based on Capcom’s visual novel series, Ace Attorney—was released in Japan to sold-out theaters this past weekend. Staying closer to the source material than any video game movie before it, does this film prove that games can successfully be adapted into movies or does it reiterate the idea that games and movies…

By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 14, 2012