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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 -
ReviewsKicking 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 -
ReviewsI’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 -
ReviewsThe 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 -
Reviews
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 -
Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North: The Kotaku Review
Why didn’t Gandalf have his giant eagle friends drop the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom and be done with it? This is a question I’ve jokingly put forth to fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy over the years, endlessly amused by the (often angry) responses it generates. “The…
By Mike Fahey Published November 8, 2011 -
Reviews
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception: The Kotaku Review
Telling a story is as much about what isn’t included as it is about what is included. It’s easy to overwhelm with too much: Too much story, too many people, too much detail. Artful brevity, careful selection is key to how a story is told and perceived. As much as novels, movies, television struggle with…
By Brian Crecente Published November 7, 2011 -
Reviews
Clean, Convenient Refreshment for Your PS3 Controller
Because of the USB port on the PS3 controller, I always considered the DualShock charging stations I saw at Best Buy to be like bottled water. Why pay for something that’s already provided for free, right? Just plug the damn thing in when it runs low on juice. Thing is, I like it when my…
By Owen Good Published November 4, 2011 -
Reviews
Am I Up To Reviewing This Competitive Gaming Bag?
The Battle Dragon Bag is Tt eSports’ answer to the pro-gamer’s equipment carrying woes: A perfect way to transport the delicate equipment the serious competitive gamer needs to excel at their craft. I am not a serious competitive gamer. I can be serious at times, certainly, and I’ve been known to become quite competitive when…
By Mike Fahey Published November 2, 2011 -
Reviews
Kirby’s Return to Dreamland: The Kotaku Review
Kirby was always a simple video game character. He was a pleaser. Today, he’s a rebel. In the vintage of his heyday, one that Nintendo has attempted to uncork again with this season’s Wii game, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, Kirby charmed players by being cute. He was—and is again—a pink blob with puffed cheeks and…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 1, 2011