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5 (39) 4 (63) 3 (37) 2 (21) 1 (14) 3.5 starsAverage score of 174 user reviews
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Game of the Year 0
The Saints Row series started off as a generic GTA rip-off, but has become an insanely goofy series instead. You are, as usual, a member of the Saints, except that now, the Saints are multimedia superstars who sell everything from attire to drinks. But, the Syndicate isn't fond of you and have sent several gangs out to take you down. You fight the Luchadores (whose gimmick is EXACTLY what you think), the Deckers (a hacker gang), and The Morninigstar.The game is a tour-de-force. There is so much ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Acquired Taste 0
I had serious reservations about this game, believing that this would be a huge step down from the PC version --- a fair concern given that these games, almost always, are massive letdowns after stellar PC versions. Somehow, Kalypso avoided this issue and made a really good strategy/simulation.You, of course, are a Latin "leader" of assorted island nations. All have issues that you have to overcome, such as poor land, rebel discontent, and the US and USSR not being fond of some of your decisions...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A Surprise 0
Rage is the newest game from ID, a company that seems better known for their tech than for their gameplay. This is their second game after the less than impressive Doom 3 --- and, well, initially it generated little satisfaction. When I first rented the game and played it, I didn't like it. I didn't see the appeal. At the time, it was OK with baffling game mechanics (no usable map? When you are driving so frequently and over such a long distance of space, it makes little sense) and an admittedly...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Surprisingly Entertaining 0
Twisted Pixel is the guilty pleasure development company of gaming. Their games are amusing, usually solid in design, and have some really intriguing ideas. Some don't work (Comic Jumper), but most work rather well, such as The Gunstringer.The Gunstringer is a comically fun revenge tale as you seek to exact vengeance on people who wronged you. You, of course, are a skeleton marionette and the game is quite willing to break the 4th wall relentlessly as they openly show that the game is actually a...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Need To Change 0
Well, with the departure of most of the core of IW, there were serious concerns heading into Modern Warfare 3. I wish I could say this game was an awesome game, I cannot say so. I liked the first two and this one, sadly, seems to be lacking in any real changes or updates to the formula. Tragically, I prefer the prior year's game more (Black Ops was awesome, in its defense, but it's odd to prefer Treyarch's work).I recognize that I'm in the minority --- Elite is apparently selling well at $50 a p...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Better Than Last Year 0
I actually sort of like the WWE titles. They have issues, to be sure, and clipping seems endemic, the series has never been actively bad. Not great, to be sure --- but never bad. Last year's had a bunch of issues, such as the absolutely pointless backstage portions. This game eliminates those, but has the problem of making a lot of matches utterly pointless. This is not an improvement.You have extremely long storylines (they seem almost never-ending) and while most of them are fairly dull, they ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A Wasted Opportunity 0
OK, let's get the big problem in mind here: It's Spider-Man in small, confined spaces. If nothing else is said, this alone qualifies the game as being absurd because it takes all of Spider-Man's biggest advantages and negates them. The game handcuffs Spider-Man from the get-go.This isn't the ONLY flaw in the game. Spider-Man 2099 is just not an appealing character and the incessant griping between the two Spider-Men across time does not really help the game. It is a tedious "character-action" ga...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Excellent Send-Off 0
Gears of War has been the lynchpin of the 360's success from its initial showings up until this current title. The tale of Marcus Fenix and the crew's war against the Locust horde. The storyline was somewhat less than compelling, but the gameplay always rose up to become amongst the all-time great series of games. It's gory, but the gore is never the centerpiece of the action. The weapons all work rather well. Enemies can soak up a lot of damage (almost Halo levels of damage) but you never feel ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Decent Intro to Series 0
I suppose I am lucky that I didn't play the original two, but I was in the mood for a hack and slash loot fest, so Dungeon Siege III looked like a good option.And it is not a bad game. It's a bit short (10 hours and I apparently missed one sidequest) but it does hack and slash well enough. It certainly isn't Diablo, but it is probably the best example of this genre I've played on a console, including Torchlight.I played the game as Lucas, who is basically the tank character of this game. No real...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Amazing Platformer 0
I'm not a long-term fan of Rayman. Rayman 2 was an OK game. The Rabbids were amusing, but didn't lead themselves to great games. So, I was trying Rayman Origins without huge expectations.I was FLOORED.Rayman Origins might be the best platformer of the last few years not named Mario and is up there in the running for Multiplatform Game of the year. There is nothing I can fault the game for. It is a game that is not apologetic for being a game...but, equally, it is a game that has nothing to apolo...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Silicon Knights Not Doing Well 0
It's not been a kind console generation for our friends at Silicon Knights. After some pretty well regarded efforts on the Gamecube, they came into this generation with some momentum. Tragically, the momentum is dead and Silicon Knights is morphing into one of those companies whose output becomes a huge concern before you play the game. Too Human wasn't openly terrible, just brutally sub-par in almost every single way. Now, they are given the X-Men license to attempt to make a good, playable RPG...
5 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
It's not the 2011 Edition, Right? 0
I've been really tolerant of Madden games for a long while. However, I think even I am about to join the naysayers. Madden is not quite Tony Hawk, but at this point, the changes are so minimal that I do not get the point of it coming out every year any longer. I hear, every season, that these changes in AI will make it a different type of game. I haven't noticed it. They make last year's money plays a little less effective, but counters are still insanely effective as are short slant routes. Ch...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Best Mystery Game Ever 0
Rockstar, who has become the most consistently amazing game developer out there, brought out the much-troubled L.A Noire at last. And, yet again, they make a game radically different than their usual fare. True, it is open world --- but this game has nothing in common with Grand Theft Auto. Doesn't have anything really in common with Bully. Obviously, drastically different than Table Tennis and Max Payne. That they have such a willingness to try something completely different than they have done...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Solid Effort 0
Another year, another NCAA football title. Now, admittedly, it would be hard for EA to make me hate a college football game, but this game actually was somewhat less enjoyable than last season. I've played all of the titles thus far and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Even though they tend to use an updated version of the prior Madden engine, the atmosphere of college football is second to none and even coming close is usually more than enough to make the game a joy to play. This season's iterati...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Great...While it Lasts 0
I actually like Q Entertainment's games. Rez was great. E4 was phenomenal. And Child of Eden is great. It's just that all of their games are so short with so little in them. CoE has you trying to save Lumi (first person born in space) in Eden (the internet) as you try to eliminate viruses that are attacking her. It is a gorgeous title with visuals that are second to none, a lead NPC that you can actually feel a connection with, and controls that work quite well. But you only get 6 levels and o...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Suda 51 Finally Delivers 0
Suda 51, for me, has been the most over-rated producer out there. Killer 7 was an abjectly abysmal game with horrific gameplay but odd visuals. No More Heroes were substantially better games, but they were relentlessly redundant. They did get better (the sequel was way more playable than the original), but they weren't terribly awesome games. So, I had a bit of concern when I decided to give this game a chance. ...and Suda 51, for the first time, actually made a good game. I don't think it's th...
1 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Brand New...Yet Old 0
I'll avoid the usual list of things that have happened since Duke Nukem Forever was announced (OK, just for giggles, I'll remind people that President Clinton got impeached since the game was announced, to give an idea how long this has been in developmental hell). Gearbox decided to pick up the pieces from whatever the heck 3D Realms was doing besides releasing games or finishing this repeatedly-rebuilt-from-scratch game of infamy. And the game will likely sell pretty well simply because it is ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Another Decent Title from Volition 0
I've been a fan of the Red Faction series from the get-go. I loved Red Faction I and Red Faction II...OK, it didn't crash a lot nor kill my PS2. Red Faction Guerilla was one of the sleeper hits of 2009. Red Faction Armageddon is a follow up to that earlier phenomenal title and, as long as you have the proper expectations from the get-go, will be a very fulfilling experience. First off, Armageddon is NOT Guerilla. Do not expect it to be Guerilla. As long as you get that thought in your head early...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Best Movie Game in a While 0
This is the best movie tie-in game in a few years. This is also damning with faint praise. When your competition consists of a terrible Harry Potter shooter by EA, Sega's assorted crimes against Marvel movies, Battle: Los Angeles, etc, being the best is not exactly an accomplishment of the highest order. And that it is a DC game always leaves me concerned (thinking of all Superman games, Batman games outside of Arkham Asylum, Aquaman, etc). DC properties are notoriously bad at being turned into ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Not a Great Start But a Great Finish 0
Crytek is back trying to match the success of their graphics show horse-cum-game, Crysis. This time, the game can actually be played on systems available right now and not ones that are just coming on to the market...several years after launch. They have simplified the engine a bit, but it still has large vistas and many ways to attack your foes. It just has one minor problem. For most of the game...it just isn't all that much fun. At the end, once your suit is powered up, you no longer...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
A Shocker of a Lego Game 0
Ah, the first Lego game based on a property I just don't give a crap about. I'm barely aware of the existence of the cartoon and that isn't going to change unless somebody presents me a reason to give a shit. But Traveller's Tales' Lego titles have been a lot of fun and they seem to really be starting to diversify the game style. LSWIII:TCW actually is one of the more dramatic changes from the usual Lego game. They provide some unusual level types (some pseudo-RTS levels abound) and some...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
GOTY 2011 0
One of the more eagerly anticipated titles of 2011 is out. The minds behind the outstanding Painkiller series paired up with Epic as part of EA Partners to put out a new style of FPS. Gone are the days of precise aiming for head shots...and welcome Bulletstorm. Yes, there is a Gears of War 3 online beta but I didn't care about it before I played it and I don't care about it now. And this is from a guy who really enjoyed Gears 2. Bulletstorm's single player mode --- which is the majority ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Significant Change of Pace 2
Imagine if WWE and The Bigs franchise were combined. Now, stop imagining because WWE All Stars is that game. Created by the folks behind TNA Impact, All Stars is a major change of pace for wrestling titles, trading the sim aspects (yes, sim aspects for a worked "sport") of SD v RAW for a more arcade-y approach. They may have been aiming for the old AKI system, but they seem to lack the depth of that engine. Instead, they seem to believe the flaws will overcome the game's problems.Now, for ...
2 out of 7 found this review helpful. -
Kid Game...but good Kid Game 0
de Blob 2I legitimately loved the original de Blob game. Sure, it had a definite "Tech demo" vibe for it...but, man, I thought the game was a lot of fun with a few issues here and there. When a sequel was announced, I was pretty darned excited. When they announced it was multi-platform, I was ecstatic. I was looking forward to seeing what the developer could pull off with the first one under its belt. The storyline is just a wee bit goofy. The Inkt Corporation and Comrade Black has taken...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Why Did They Let It Die? 1
Activision's latest attempt to kill a game (who can get the logic behind that nonsense?) is from Raven, the group behind the awesome Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 game and the really good X-Men Legends games. And it involves time manipulation, which is one of my all-time favorite game mechanics (heck, I LOVED Timeshift, and nobody else can really make that claim). So, why did Activision try and kill this game?It's still a bit baffling as Singularity is actually a pretty decent game. You def...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Outstanding Fighting Game 0
The first two MvC titles were enjoyable but insanely fast-paced. In many ways, it became incredibly frustrating. It was too many characters, too much random action, and too much speed.The third game, however, seems to really fix up the problems. MvC3 is a still-really-quick fighting game, but one that a less-than-gifted fighting game player such as myself can figure out enough to work, but that the most skilled players can really hit the depth of the game in total.The character count isn...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Great Follow Up 0
One of EA's biggest IP's in several years is back....but the founder of the studio that made it is not, opting to go make Call of Duty games for Activision (a move he will likely regret, based on history). Does this loss doom a promising franchise? As of now, Dead Space 2 does "survival horror" better than long-term dominator of the genre, Resident Evil, does. Dead Space, more than anything else, presents an incredibly creepy atmosphere. You know something really bad happened and is like...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Improved Experience 0
I have thought the The Sims franchise was just like life...except a bit more boring and you seem to poop and pee a lot more often and at really inopportune times. Therefore, I didn't much like the series. I tried the original briefly and, well, hated it. I tried the sequel for a little more time...and didn't love it, either.I have no idea what drove me to try the 3rd in the series...but I actually rather enjoy it.The biggest stumbling block for me with The Sims was that there just wasn't ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
An Outstanding Debut 0
EA, which apparently turned down the UFC license years ago, has crafted their own MMA title based, primarily, on the Strikeforce group. With UFC firmly in a position of dominance in real life and in the video game world, can EA's upstart new franchise provide an alternative?Well, yes. Yes it can.The biggest plus MMA has is that it controls significantly differently than the UFC titles. While UFC relied on precise movements on the sticks for submissions, MMA relies on timing and management...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
A Bittersweet Game 0
The swan song of Bizarre is a really depressing thing. One of my favorite developers and the minds behind a series of outstanding racing titles (including The Club, which was way more of a driving game than a shooting game) and the best dual stick shooters on the market, Bizarre is not a developer that should've ever died. But Activision is singularly talented in sucking the talent out of companies and killing them off once they've bled them dry. And it is a bit ironic that Bizarre appar...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
An Unexpected Return 0
The blood-soaked orgy that was this 16-bit series is given a much-surprising rebirth in this generation. A game that that is more infamous than fondly remembered is not the usual target for such relaunchings of series (do you see people falling over themselves to remake Carmageddon or Postal?), but perhaps the nearly 20 years since the series was remotely relevant to now can help people ignore some of the flaws the original games had.You play Rick, who might be Gordon Freeman's lost love...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
An XBLA Game for $50 0
Fresh off the Wii, EA is bringing NBA Jam to the two upper end consoles. So, after a long hiatus, does this arcade basketball game satisfy your arcade hoops boner?Truth be known...no.The game was initially planned as an XBLA release to go along with the retail release of NBA Elite. When Elite got cancelled, they decided to switch it up and make this a full retail product. The main problem, though, is that they didn't really add anything to the game. It is the same NBA Jam you played year...
4 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
Really Iterative Game Design 1
Multiplayer is brought to a game that seems really not well-suited to it. How well does it fare?First off, this game is a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed II. Literally, a total direct sequel. If you didn't play AC II, you likely will not really get this story at all. The Borgia family (who, historically, basically owned the papacy for a long time) has basically come back and almost wiped out the Auditore family stronghold. They seized the Apple of Eden and it's up to Ezio to retrieve it...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Treayarch's Finest 0
Call of Duty: Black Ops What if every single story about secret happenings in the Cold War were true...and you actually did them yourself?You play Alex Mason, preternatural badass as you traipse all over the hot spots of the Cold War, from Cuba to a Soviet prison camp all the way to Vietnam. Which makes this the first good game involving Vietnam in history, which is nice. It's really difficult to discuss any aspects of the story without spoiling everything, but I will say that it is probab...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Really shallow 0
After an uneven first title, SW: TFUII takes another swing at physics-heavy Jedi gameplay. Starkiller --- who, mind you, died in the original affair --- returns to exact revenge on his former master Vader. Now, let's go ahead and say that the story has problems. Yes, you died last game. Except, you have been CLONED. Yes, Lucas' lame storyline premise controlling the prequels is done to make the "good" ending in the original absolutely pointless. But, let's be honest, nobody plays these ga...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Overly Ambitious, but Almost Great 0
Yeah, not exactly a new game, but as a fan of Pandemic's work before their demise, I felt I had to complete the game. And it was, completely, a Pandemic game. High level of aspiration with some bugs, but an overall excellent gameplay experience. The setting is the high point of the game. I can't think of other games set in World War II that took place in occupied France. Dealing with Nazis in a location that hasn't been bombed to hell is a nice change of pace. Pandemic nailed their location ...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
It Might Be Time For a Break 1
THQ and Yuke's is back, yet again, with their annual installment of SD v RAW, a series I have enjoyed less on an annual basis. THQ is constantly changing their engine (a lot more than a lot of critics want to give them credit for), but it seems that they are making oddly BAD choices in their changes. They have managed to eliminate one of the major annoyances of the franchise, but left other ones that are BIGGER annoyances and have been horribly annoying for longer periods of time. THQ f...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Good, but 3 was Better 0
Off the heels of one of my favorite games this console generation, Obsidian is holding court with Fallout New Vegas. Obsidian is an interesting company. They are basically remnants of Black Isle and have traditionally been asked to make sequels of beloved RPG titles. Its worked out well once (Neverwinter Nights 2) and less good in others (KOTOR 2). They are now taking a stab at Fallout after a less-than-stellar debut of original IP in Alpha Protocol. Fallout New Vegas is a sequel...actually,...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
A Step Down for the Series 0
2K's venerable hoops title is back for another go and basically has the market all to itself with EA's announced delay for Elite. Having the gameplay formula down pretty well, it's up to 2K to improve other features enough to justify its existence. And, in some ways, they pulled it off nicely. One of the two main non-franchise mode modes is the Jordan challenge where you have to match or exceed his performance in major games of his career. This is actually a great addition. Its hard (the ...
1 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
What...The...Heck? 1
OK, I will admit --- I was hardly fond of the first Dead Rising. I will say it is probably the single most bizarrely critically acclaimed 360 game to date. It had a wealth of abysmal game mechanics, an atrocious save system, and seemed to be based largely around the single most irritating gameplay mechanic in gaming over the last decade. It was a paean to escort missions, which is just a pain in the butt in the most annoying manner out there.So, I approached the sequel with VERY guarded optimism...
2 out of 11 found this review helpful.
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