Reviews Archives - Page 98 of 130

Final Fantasy XIII-2: The Kotaku Review

In an epic tale of time-traveling heroism, Square Enix travels two years into the future to rectify the mistakes it made with Final Fantasy XIII. Have they found redemption with Final Fantasy XIII-2, or is history doomed to repeat itself? What ever happened to Lightning? Something horrible has happened to the main character of 2010’s…

By Mike Fahey Published January 30, 2012

Reviews

Resident Evil Revelations: The Kotaku Review

Resident Evil: Revelations is a wonderful surprise. It benefits both from the low expectations set by the previous, shallow Resident Evil on the Nintendo 3DS and from the fact that it is a very good Resident Evil It also benefits from being, perhaps, the game that makes the most of Nintendo’s year-old handheld. That a…

By Stephen Totilo Published January 26, 2012

Reviews

You Can Take This Wheel for More than One 3DS Game

We’re a little late reviewing Hori’s official Mario Kart 7 Wheel peripheral, but I’m somewhat glad we are, thanks to some of the non-racing games I played with it on a whim. If this was just a piece of plastic meant for one game, the wheel is a $13 novelty at best, a luxury at…

By Owen Good Published January 25, 2012

Reviews

Wired for Great Sound, Just Not for Convenience

Making a consumer recommendation on a video game is rather simple: new ones typically cost $60, so the question is whether the thing is worth that. Hardware and peripherals are a bit trickier as a manufacturer can pile on features and conveniences, jacking up the price but, inevitably, making a recommendable luxury. Truth is, not…

By Owen Good Published January 19, 2012

Reviews

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Kotaku Review

While dozens of video games have strived to capture the hearts of Star Wars fans through previously untold tales of epic space fantasy, BioWare’s massively multiplayer Star Wars: The Old Republic is the first that’s attempted to tell eight stories to thousands of people at the same time. From the early days of video games…

By Mike Fahey Published January 16, 2012

Reviews

Sony Delivers with the PS Vita. It Does Not Disappoint.

When I fired up the PS Vita for the first time this past weekend, I couldn’t help but think back to Dec. 2004. So much has changed. I had a one-year-old son, who is now eight. I hadn’t started writing for the blog you are reading right now. Sony entered the handheld fray, with the…

By Brian Ashcraft Published December 20, 2011

Reviews

Kicking Faces With HORI’s Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Stick

Real men (and women) who play games (well, fighting games) don’t use control pads. Those are for children. Real men (and women) use sticks. And some of the best around are HORI’s sticks. The one we’re looking at today is the company’s Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 arcade stick, released in November. There’s a lot…

By Luke Plunkett Published December 16, 2011

Reviews

Sure This Gaming Laptop is Powerful, But How Does It Taste?

Upon finishing up the initial download and install of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from Steam and launching the game, the game determined that the optimal graphics settings for the MSI GT683DXR-423US gaming laptop I was playing on were “Ultra High”, and that was good enough for me. Of course I didn’t have to spend…

By Mike Fahey Published December 13, 2011

Reviews

Mario Kart 7: The Kotaku Review

There’s a spot on the couch where Mario Kart 7 sits, a well-worn seat where the pillows and cushions have been arranged just so. Over the years, a multitude of previous Mario Kart games have all occupied that spot, and so Mario Kart 7 knows just how to hold itself, just how to sit, just…

By Kirk Hamilton Published December 6, 2011

Reviews

Minecraft: The Kotaku Review

For all that’s been written about Minecraft over the past few years, you’d think it was one of the greatest video games ever created. A liberating experience that’s showing big-budget game developers what the public really wants and helping revolutionise the way games are developed and sold. In some ways, it totally is. In others?…

By Luke Plunkett Published December 2, 2011

Reviews

Reviewing Chun-Li’s Giant Plastic Thighs (and Ryu’s Giant Veiny Feet)

Square Enix’s first two Street Fighter IV figures, based on series “heroes” Ryu and Chun-Li, have just hit shelves. Part of the company’s Play Arts line, they’re big, they’re detailed and they’re a little on the expensive side. But are they any good? They’re certainly heavy, that’s for sure. Standing just over 20cm each, these…

By Luke Plunkett Published December 1, 2011

Reviews

I’ve Spent Two Months Screaming Into these Turtle Beach PX3 Headphones

A couple of months ago, a box arrived from headphone specialists Turtle Beach containing a set of PX3 headphones. Just in time for my family to go overseas and talk to me for a month on Skype, and just in time for Battlefield 3, where I’d want my friends to hear me scream as I…

By Luke Plunkett Published November 25, 2011

Reviews

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary: The Kotaku Review

Despite only visiting it once in my adolescent years, I’ve never forgotten the Cradle of Aviation Museum in the suburb of Garden City. Row after row of majestic aircraft stood next to each other, shiny but defunct evidence to the pivotal role that Long Island played to the science and practice of aeronautics in the…

By Evan Narcisse Published November 21, 2011

Reviews

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations: The Kotaku Review

What do you want out of a video game? What should you hold against a video game, and what should you let slide? One more question: Do your answers change if we’re talking about a sequel? Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the fourth major Assassin’s Creed game released since November, 2007 arrived this month as perhaps the…

By Stephen Totilo Published November 21, 2011

Reviews

Saints Row: The Third: The Kotaku Review

Kanye West’s “Power” plays a central, recurring role in Volition’s new open-world crime game Saints Row: The Third. The tune has been featured in the game’s exhaustive promotional materials, plays regularly on its in-game radio stations, and makes bookending appearances in the single-player campaign. Considering the song’s lyrics and the man who wrote them, Volition…

By Kirk Hamilton Published November 18, 2011

Reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: The Kotaku Review

About 20 hours into playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, one of the Wii’s most ambitious games, I shook my head and realized why I was frustrated with a game that I was enjoying. The new Zelda was fun, I thought, but it was also something else. It was formula. It was the fourth…

By Stephen Totilo Published November 18, 2011

Reviews

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The Kotaku Review

The tantalizingly brief Skyrim teaser trailer debuted by Bethesda Softworks late last year filled my mind with visions of titanic battles between man and beast; of shining steel bathed in ancient flames; of a champion rising from humble origins, prepared to sacrifice everything for the fate of the world. After 60+ hours with the game…

By Mike Fahey Published November 17, 2011

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Super Mario 3D Land: The Kotaku Review

When resourceful fans discovered an exploit showing how to rack up hundreds of extra lives in Super Mario 3DS, some laughed, thinking the game they had seen was too simple for that to be necessary. Let me assure you: Those lives will come in handy—when you least expect it. The easiest trope in the save-the-princess…

By Owen Good Published November 16, 2011

Reviews

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: The Kotaku Review

Liquid fast, meticulously polished, wickedly consuming: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t deliver stories or engender emotion in its players, but rather deals in raw adrenaline. A match of Modern Warfare 3 is punctuated by the rush of a well-placed shot, the anger at a surprise, unjust death. Infinity Ward’s latest iteration on the…

By Brian Crecente Published November 15, 2011

Reviews

Sonic Generations: The Kotaku Review

Even after 20 years, it’s amazing how quickly muscle memory returns. And not just in the hands or the arms; I’m talking in the extraocular muscles—the ones that move your eyeballs. Blasting through that first, long runway that opens good old Green Hill Zone, Sonic the Hedgehog plowed headfirst into a garden-variety badnik. On restart,…

By Owen Good Published November 8, 2011