49 public written reviews
The views here are this user’s only and are not representative of Giant Bomb's thoughts and opinions on the discussed video game. GB's official reviews reside at giantbomb.com/reviews.
Well starting this series off with an absolute banger. In fact, I am going back and playing catch up and writing blurbs/starting my ranking series with a handful of games that I have kind of already ranked and played over the past 2 years. 2 years!? Don't worry the list is very small about 10 or so games to get us started with a ranking list. I'm not sure these write-ups/videos will come out quite as in depth as a…
Final Fantasy VII is both a tough and easy game to review. It is an easy game to review because all I really need to say is that it is one of the best games if not the best game of all time (also one of my favorite games of all time) Done, the review could be over right there. When looking at the game though for critique purposes I started to look for negative aspects of the game on purpose to find its flaws. Safe…
Grabbed By The Ghoulies developed by Rare and Published by Microsoft is the first Rare developed game to come out after their acquisition by Microsoft. The game was released in 2003 on the Xbox and is a quirky, charming, and creepy 3D Beat Em Up that has interesting level design and controls. Despite being interesting and charming the game falls short in a lot of areas especially with the gameplay. I played the…
Borderlands first released in 2009 and developed by Gearbox Software can best be described as a fun and charming looter shooter. Borderlands combines elements from different genres of games including the rarity level loot from action RPG’s along with intense FPS firefights. The version I played for this review is the updated game of the year version on xbox one, but I also played the original back when it came out.…
Youtube Review Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout is a zany combination of action platforming mixed with battle royale mechanics for either the PS4 or PC. Developed by UK independent developer Mediatonic, not know for any previous games, Fall Guys draws its inspiration from action gameshows such as wipeout or ninja warrior. (Also may other popular european and japanese game shows). Fall Guys was released in August of 2020…
Video Review Astros Playroom developed by Sony Japan is an incredible showcase of the power and potential for the playstation 5 system and its unique dual-sense controller. It also functions as a sequel to the PS4 VR demo game Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Astros Playroom is a fast and fun 3D platformer that follows the adventures of Astro Bot all while showcases the different features of the PS5 Duel-sense controller.…
Youtube Review Mighty Gunvolt developed by Inti Creations, the team that also worked on Mighty No 9, is a 8-bit inspired mega man clone. These type of side-scrolling action games are almost always compared to the Mega Man series of games because they are the pinnacle of the genre. Mighty Gunvolt released in 2014 came as a free download to backers of Mighty No 9 on kickstarter, or in my case as a free download with…
Dr. Luigi a game released in 2013 for the Wii U developed by Akira Co (endless ocean, street fighter EX) is a re-imaging of the original NES game Dr. Mario. Dr. Luigi is a simplistic yet possibly addicting puzzle game where the player drops pill capsules in order to match a chain of 4 or more of the same color pills. The gameplay remains largely unchanged from the NES counterpart, but a new way to play is presented…
Halo 4 developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft is a slightly different take on the iconic series that fans everywhere have loved for years. 343 adds a new story arch and some gameplay tweaks to deliver a highly enjoyable game. For the record I am not one of the Halo super fans that have followed the series for years. I played a little bit of Halo 1 and Halo 3, but other than that Halo 4 was easily the…
Forza Motorsport 5 developed by Turn 10 and published by Microsoft is the racing game equivalent to a grindy RPG. Forza features great visuals to go along with a game that simply lasts too long and is very slow to progress. The gameplay in Forza 5 is about almost as good as it is going to get for any racing game. The game does a great job of blending simulation gameplay with customizable options to allow even…
MLB Power Pros released in 2007 and developed by Konami is a cutesy baseball game that has had a long running franchise in japan. The game mixes baseball simulation with a lighter presentation into a solid but very shallow game. The core gameplay in Power Pros is good and fun to play. Pitching is executed by moving a baseball cursor around the home plate area while selecting what type of pitch you want to throw…
House Of The Dead 2+3 returns released in 2009 and developed by sega is a Wii adaptation of the arcade/dreamcast/xbox light gun shooters bundled nicely into one package. I will review each separately and then rate the entire package. House Of The Dead 2 The first thing I thought when I started up HOTD2 was, "damn this is pretty cheesy". The game is really cheesy, but it is pretty damn fun to play. Arcade light gun…
NBA 2k6 developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2k sports is a great blend of simulation basketball with fun gameplay. NBA 2k6 features great graphics for an early next gen game, and it has the vast content that early next gen sports games were lacking. The core gameplay in 2k6 is very good despite some flaws that it has. The essence to a sports game is solid gameplay, and NBA 2k6 exceeds those requirements.…
Gotham City Imposters developed by Monolith (Fear series) and released in early 2012 is a team based first person shooter that draws heavily on call of duty and team fortress. The combination of those two games seems like a winning formula, but nagging server issues keep the great gameplay in Gotham City Imposters at a minimum. The core gameplay to Gotham City Imposters is almost a direct adaptation of the two…
NBA Jam On Fire Edition released for download in 2011 by EA is the ultimate edition to the previously released NBA Jam remake. The On Fire edition features better gameplay and a different single player mode. NBA Jam is simply a blast to play. It has always been a tremendously fun and addicting game to play since its hayday in the mid 90's. EA did a great job of keeping the essence of NBA Jam while updating it…
Ultimate Mortal Kombat III or UMK III for short is an average fighting game that has a brutal difficulty, but also features good visuals and style. There are countless version of the game and the one I played for this review was the Xbox Live Arcade version released in 2006 for download. The game, of course, is developed by Midway. This version is a direct port of the arcade version with online play included.…
Virtua Tennis 3 developed by Sega and released in 2007 is an above average tennis game, but it isn't the best next gen release in the genre. Virtua Tennis 3 features great graphics and presentation, but also has some repetitive gameplay and a grind heavy career mode. The core gameplay to VT3 is very fluid and arcade like. The game is fun to play, but any tennis game will have an amount of simplicity to it. Virtua…
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown released in 2012 and developed by Sega is a download only final update to the Virtua Fighter 5 line of games. Previously there have been a few releases in the series, but Final Showdown is the definitive version of the fighter. Final Showdown features all 18 of the characters fro Virtua Fighter 5 plus a brand spanking new character for this release only. If i had spent more time…
Payday the Heist developed by Overkill Software and released in 2011 is a coop based first person shooter falling in the same same sub genre as Left For Dead. Payday essentially takes the gameplay elements from Left Four Dead and instead of a zombie setting, the game has a crime mob atmosphere. The gameplay in Payday isn't as fluid as Left For Dead. Payday isn't a melee based game and most of the time will be spent…
Undertow released in 2007 and developed by Chair Entertainment is a twin stick shooter set in an underwater environment. Undertow can be a fun game when it works, but there are many annoying problems that really hold the enjoyment with the game back. The core to Undertow is gameplay that we have seen before such as in the Battlefield Series. The game is essentially a group of conquest based missions where your team…
The Simpsons Arcade game originally released in 1991 by Konami is a wonderful beat em up that i use to always seek out when I went to the arcades in my youth days. Nowadays the game is much easier to find, and I have it for MAME and now on the playstation network. The Simpsons Arcade game in my opinion is one of the best games in the beat em up genre. The game follows the Simpsons family as they adventure through…
I wanted to make something clear before I went into this review. I am not a fan of puzzle games and although I do enjoy platformers it will take a special game to win over my heart. With that said N+ is nothing more than a flash game re-developed slightly and put onto the xbox 360 arcade. N+ was developed by Slick Entertainment and published by Metanet Software (who originally did the flash version). The game is a…
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as King, or simply FFCCMLAK for a not so short abbreviation, developed by Square Enix was released in 2008 for Nintendo's WiiWare platform. At the time of release it was one of the first WiiWare games. Overall FFCCMLAK can be a fun and addicting game if you can get through some of the boredom associated with a kingdom building simulation game. The main premiss in FFCCMLAK is…
Read the full review Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Call of Duty 2 published in 2005 and developed by Infinity Ward is a great entry in the Call of Duty Series. The game doesnt elevate itself to be the ascension of the FPS genre onto the next generation of consoles, but the game is rock solid. In Call of Duty 2 you will be playing as four different soldiers through three very unique campaigns. The Soviet missions take place in the snowy depths of Russia all the way…
Demon's Souls developed in 2009 by From Software and published by Atlus is a challenging and realistic third person RPG that will wear on even the best gamers. Demon's Souls came out of nowhere in 2009 and was a strong game of the year contender, even winning the award at many media outlets. Any gamer looking for an extreme challenge will love Demon's Souls regardless if they play RPG's or not. Many people will…
World Championship Poker All In developed and published by Crave Entertainment in 2006 is at its best an extremely mediocre poker game in a genre that doesn't translate well into console video games. Poker video games have never been a great means of entertainment and pleasure since the birth of the internet. Poker is readily available online and on the computer to play for fun and even real money. Having previously…
Streets Of Rage 2 developed by Sega and released in 1992 for the genesis is a very good 16-bit beat em up and will provide fun when playing solo or coop. The game has received multiple releases since then on the sega genesis collection for example, but the version I played for review was the playstation network version. Streets of Rage 2 does a great job of executing the beat em up genre. It is pretty standard for…
Back to the Future the Game, released throughout 2011 in various episodes by Telltale Games, is a great cinematic point and click adventure game that really captures the BTTF universe well. The gameplay in BTTF is standard point and click adventure fare, with various puzzles and lengthy dialogue cinematics throughout the game. Telltale has been the masters of the genre over the past however many years, and BTTF…
Read the full review Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 5: OUTATIME
NFL Blitz released in January this year, and developed by EA Sports is an ok remake of the original NFL Blitz with addicting online play. NFL Blitz on the Nintendo 64 and in the arcades was something that I played a lot of growing up, and this re-make captures that nostalgia while updating it to the modern era, but the game just doesn’t compare to the original. The meat and potatoes of this release are the ability…
video review, one of my early ones not great quality Battlefield Bad Company released in June of 2008, and developed by EA Dice, is a typical Battlefield game with a expansive campaign and multiplayer. A good single player campaign is something new to the Battlefield series, and Bad Company offers a very good campaign that which will be refreshing and serve as a nice prep for multiplayer. The campaign follows 4…
Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting is a port of the arcade version of the game on the Xbox Live Arcade. Hyper Fighting is the Street Fighter II we know and love with this version of the game playing much faster than the original Street Fighter II, and the game is also considerably more difficult. Hyper Fighting is a great game, but in my opinion it is one of the lesser versions of the Street Fighter II series. I…
Read the full review Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting (ARC/XBLA)
Video Review... Turtles In Time Re-Shelled, released in 2009 from ubisoft, is a remake of the arcade version of turtles in time. Overall the game is a fun beat em up featuring the lovable turtle characters, and it is a decent rehash. TIT uses the typical beat em up formula which features varied enemies and stages, with a boss fight at the end of each stage. The game features 4 difficulty levels in which you are sure…
Read the full review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled
Battle of the Bands is a different take on the music rhythm game genre that is full of guitar hero's and sing stars. With that said the game may be interesting to you at first but after you start the second song the game will become very boring. The formula used in the gameplay is good, but honestly how fun can moving the WII remote left, right, and down be. The answer is that it cannot be much fun at all. The…
Compliments: -Funnest Sports game to play -Awesome graphics and commentary -Hundreds of hours of depth and gameplay -Every playable team you could imagine Complaints: -Sometimes spotty AI especially with goalies Fifa 08 is a fantastic entry in the series and is as close as you can get to a perfect soccer game. There was a point when Winning Eleven owned the soccer video game genre, but once the current generation…
Compliments: -Looks great -Good for hardcore KH fans -Combat system works Complaints: -Grinding to find the right cards is horrible -Same game done again -Very short I was expecting a lot more out of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, but as the game progressed the more i grew to hate it. KH Chain of Memories takes the 1st version of the game for the PS2 and remakes it using a different combat system and a different…
Compliments: -Four Games In One -Fantastic Visuals -Almost Perfect Difficulty Level -Possibly The Best Multiplayer Game Complaints: -Hefty Price Tag -Some Hardware Issues -Band World Tour Can Get Insanely Repetitive Rock band developed by Harmonix and published by EA is the best music game to date. The now long running Guitar Hero franchise taught us that basics of rocking, but rock band ascends that and gives…
Compliments: - Very cool concept and design - Sometimes good graphics Complaints: -Horrible Control Scheme -Very Short game made terribly longer by bad boss fights and some extremely difficult sections -Only a handful of the 50 mini games are even worth attempting Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz offered a little fun at first but from the first minute you play the quality will spiral downhill until you can not take it…
Elite Beat Agents is a blast to play but there are a few things that really bothered me in this game and really took down the game. The game overall is fairly simple to play. The player taps along with the beat using the stylus on the touch screen and there are only three types of notes to perform. The note you will see the most is just taping a small numbered circle when the bigger outer circle makes contact with…
Mario and Sonic at the Olympics was a pleasant surprise for me and the game is vastly underrated. In the game you will play as one of 16 characters from the Mario and Sonic universe traversing throughout a number of different real life Olympic events. Some of the events the game features are 100m dash, 400m hurdles, Javelin Throw, swimming and diving, fencing, basketball, and many more events. In total there are…
Metal Gear Solid was Hideo Kojima's first shot at the metal gear franchise, and his first attempt was a masterpiece. Metal Gear Solid takes place on a terrorist military base where a super nuclear weapon, metal gear, is being held by the terrorists. It is up to Solid Snake to shake off the many plot twists along the way and save the world. The story in MGS is possibly one of the best ever written for a video game,…
Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime is just one of the few rip-offs of the Dragon Quest Series. You play as Rocket Slime who is in charge of saving the city of Slimania after the Plob invades. The player, while battling the plob, will have to save 100 residents of the city. At its core there are only two gameplay mechanics to the game. The first part is on foot combat and platforming. It is here where you will find…
Gameplay- The game on the court plays okay. The a.i is pretty good and their are many difficulty levels to experience. One thing I did not like was the layup system. I couldn't drive to the hoop to often as when contact was made with a opposing player you just stop and loose all momentum. The players cannot also do a simple layup they try to make flashy shots which often doesn't work. The legacy mode is fantastic…
Gameplay: Blazing Angels is a good flying/air combat game. The single player campaign is good. It will take about 15 hours to finish, but it does get repetitive. The other modes are arcade, ace duel, and multiplayer. The arcade and ace duel modes are pretty boring. The game is repetative, but I liked what the gameplay was that it didn't bother me too much. You will be shooting down planes, bombing ground locations,…
Top Spin 2 published by 2K is a tennis game which features many of today's top tennis professionals. Gameplay: At its core tennis is a slow paced game, and it can be hard for non tennis fans to play tennis video games because of this. Therefore, if you have any interest in tennis or want to know more about the sport this game is for you. The controls for the game are simple, simple to the point where almost anybody…
The simpsons game published by EA at its core can be a fun a game. Gameplay The single player campaign is pretty good. The story in the game is top notch and really displays the work of great writers working behind the scene. Not only is it origional simpsons material, but it is also geniunly funny. One of the greates quotes in any game appears in the simpsons game "Flava Flav whats up with the clock. The controls…
Mario Party 8 published by Nintendo for the WII is a game which offers fun while it lasts. Gameplay: Mario Party 8 is based on the same premise as previous titles in the series. The player takes control of one of the popular characters from the Mario universe and plays through board game levels full of mini games and surprises. Similar to previous titles Mario Party 8 offers the most fun when played with others, and…
Audiosurf developed by Best Game Ever Studios and found on the Steam download service is a visually enthralling game that will send your mind into chaos. Audiosurf combines rhythm and puzzle games into a hybrid that is fun and addicting. The premise is to pilot one of many spaceships' and crash into colored blocks to make color combos. The more blocks you can string together the bigger the combo and more points will…
This is a quick review of Fight Night Round 3 Published by EA and Developed by EA Chicago. Gameplay: Fight Night Round 3 at first glance appears to be a very sim like boxing game but the game ended up being kind of easy. I was playing on the medium difficulty and ran into a few difficult bouts but I breezed by the career mode in about 8 hours of play, also unlocking all 1000 ach. points. There is a lack of…
