30 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.
This cover really did draw me to the game Sleeping Dogs is the spiritual successor to the True Crimes series. That’s all you really need to know, other than it was in kind of a development Hell scenario for years. Eventually, Square Enix bought up the right to the game, but not the True Crime name, this Sleeping Dogs, a gritty undercover cop drama set in Hong Kong, was born. Without further stalling for word count…
As a fan of anything Bioware related, I was excited about this new title. Dragon Age: Origins was chock full of content that was utterly amazing. Whether it be the fight between Dalish Elves and Werewolves, to Mages and Templar, right down to even Dwarves vs. Dwarves, we were forced to take sides and play the politics game with each and every decision we made. The companions you gained along the way were a range of…
Sine Mora first sprung to my attention from its association with Grasshopper, of whom I grew especially fond of during the period of No More Heroes and Shadows of the Damned being some of the best games to bring back the old-school, insane-yet-fun culture that game’s were originally built around. I can honestly say that the only reason I even gave this game a second glance was because of this association, as you’ll…
Developed by Gearbox studios, Borderlands stood as quite a new concept in the gaming world, boasting multiple characters, each with RPG-like skill trees, a pleasing cel-shaded look, a huge world, plenty of humour and ‘bazillions’ of guns for the player to access, all within an first-person shooter. Needless to say, it turned many heads, especially with its co-op. I missed out on the prime-time co-op community play,…
As XBLA titles go, I’ve never been too pushed on them. Sure, we get some great games like Bastion or The Walking Dead series, but the more obscure games often fall through the cracks as less-than-stellar titles tend to take up space above them. However, this is not the case for Dust...it’s a damn fine game, probably my game of the year so far, it’s a real treat and a fine surprise. Even the cover art looks epic!…
So as you might be aware of, I...was not fond of FF XIII. You can find my original review here: Final Fantasy XIII Review I may have come at it in the wrong way though, and not fully stated exactly what my issues were with it, well here you go, reduced for your pleasure: The story was contrived, the gameplay boring, the graphics were pretty but it pushed the console too much, the characters became caricatures and…
The first game developed by Mistwalker, a developer headed by the legendary Hironobu Sakaguchi, Blue Dragon is an adventure into a very strange world, and an interesting old-school JRPG style to it, which is both a gift and a curse, given that games have moved on in certain areas that Blue Dragon could have benefited from. So will this be an enormous waste of time? Probably. But let’s dig into it anyway! Our…
I’m going to preface this review by saying that I love the Arkham series more than I can ever describe, how it has portrayed Batman in such a manner as to make him both awesome and interactive is nothing short of a miracle; however, the DLC for Arkham City has been less-than exciting. Catwoman was a pointless addition, adding little to nothing in terms of storyline content, and wasn’t nearly as interesting as it was…
Read the full review Batman AC: Harley Quinn’s Revenge: Anything but in Loving Memory
No other game series this generation has had the same kind of following and impact as the Mass Effect series, with three games, spanning five years, which have captured the hearts and minds of many an individual with its gripping narrative, excellent characters, resonating choices and its fresh, Sci-Fi epic feel. As we entered into the swansong of the series, we were met with all sorts of controversial news, from…
As far as sequels go, Mass Effect 2 couldn’t have had more hype surrounding it, and this was a great thing. Previously, Bioware had trouble selling what amounted to an amazingly deep RPG experience in a generation that was quickly attempting to abandon such games, replacing them with relatively few new ideas. Now, I was a huge fan of the first game, it looked pretty, the planetary exploration was, for the most part,…
After the underrated classic that was Remedy’s Alan Wake, with its great setting, storytelling, and gameplay mechanics, I was more than excited to sink my teeth into a new game based around the character. Though not thrilled it had been downgraded to an XBLA title, I gave it the benefit of the doubt, hoping that it would seemingly give a better insight into the world of Alan Wake, exploring new avenues of the…
Warhammer 40K is an expansive universe that was originally only a tabletop game, which eventually expanded into a fully-fledged RTS videogame for the PC. Given this fact, Space Marine gives the players, fans and people who just want to rip apart hordes of Orks a chance to be one of the series most iconic soldiers, as the title may have tipped you off, a Space Marine. The game begins on a soaring high note of action,…
As a game that was greatly anticipated following the surprise ’09 title of Arkham Asylum, Arkham City is a sequel that had a lot to live up to. The bar was set pretty damn high, so, was this title the cherry-on-top of an amazing, surprising franchise? Well…yes. However, even though Arkham City is a game that does a lot right, the lightning in a bottle effect of the first Batman game all but shattered any chance of…
Time to play the choking game? Arkham Asylum served as one of those out-of-left-field titles of 2009. Developed by Rocksteady, whose only other published title was Urban Chaos: Riot Response, they aimed to create a game based on the super-popular Batman character, given the hype the movies were getting at that time. This had the entire world gazing on this game with the stigma of many sub-par superhero licensed…
Fear 3 marks the end of the Alma trilogy, what began as a FPS that was filled with a dark atmosphere, a creepy little girl, and an interesting, conspiracy-esque storyline, which quickly degraded into jump scares and half-baked ideas, along with broken continuity. Despite these facts, there’s no mistaking that Fear 3 attempts to meld all of the broken continuity issues together the best it can, and deliver an…
Having been away from fighting games for a long time, I missed out on the MK series’ previous instalments, later in the series, so I never really knew that Mortal Kombat had a storyline other than a bunch of ninjas, monks and skantily-klad women beating the krap out of each other. I was surprised to learn that, in fakt, it did have a storyline that was interesting and fun, but had waned in later instalments of the…
Dues Ex, a game published in 2000, was a game that earned itself a status as a cult sci-fi game of epic proportions. Its sequel, Invisible War, earned its share of hatred and beat downs. So, of course, we ended up getting a prequel, and boy oh boy…this idea hasn’t aged well. Don’t get me wrong, despite the excellent setting and cyberpunk ideas Deus Ex is routed in mediocrity from the get-go. You play as Adam Jensen,…
The sequel to Valve’s mini-game, Portal, Portal 2 picks up where the previous game left off, but now chock-full of more humour, story and insane puzzle solving than ever before. As a huge fan of the first game, I played this game with a sense of joy, as I really do love Valve’s innovative ideas of developing games. Portal 2 stands as one of the best games of 2011, and will be hard-pressed to lose that title in my…
Mass Effect was released in 2007 as the first Sci-Fi western RPG. This caused quite a stir in the gaming community, as the game’s developer, Bioware, had been known for their excellent renditions of RPGs in the past, such as Jade Empire and Baldur’s Gate. Anticipation mounted, and upon release, this game made a mark as one of the greatest western RPGs in existence. Set in a futuristic universe, Mass Effect is a…
Darksiders, a game that can compared to Zelda is every way, shape and form, which is a complement. Yet it is able to stand on its own merits, despite some considerable faults in the mechanics of the game. So is this more mature Zelda? In a way, yes it is, because it manages to go that extra mile that Zelda never really did, showing the blood and gore, and apocalyptic world that could so easily happen for no…
Owing its creation to the success of the PS2 game, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, this sequel to the highly popular franchise was thrown out into a brand new world, one that had certain expectations surrounding its release. So did it live up to these expectations? Well yes, and no. While MVC3 is indeed a fun game, it lacks quite a lot that its older model had. The game itself is a lot of hectic, face-melting fun, but it…
Read the full review Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Portal, a first-person puzzle game designed by Valve, as originally designed to be a fun side game, packed together with Half-Life 2, the episodes of the same series, and Team Fortress 2. To the surprise of everyone, both developers and players alike, Portal took centre stage as one of the most innovative puzzle games ever to reach any console. So much so that it warranted Valve to create another version of the…
Down through the years, there has always been that game series that seems to succeed due to its loyal fanbase. Now I admire these people, they never lose faith in what they follow. Despite shortcomings, a series loved by a loyal army of individuals always has an amazing backing no matter what. And then there came CoD: BO. Don’t get me wrong, I know people love this game and have played it to death, but there are…
Back in the old days, when street fighter was but a simple game about people in funny and sometimes homo-erotic costumes, beating the living crap out of each other, and gameboy screens were a weird blend of black, green and grey, I had my first real fighter experience. It was fun, and only had a handful of characters. This is the way I imagined these games would always be, as other titles, such as Killer Instinct…
Back in 2008, Square Enix released a game for the Nintendo DS that really made an impact on the world of handheld gaming. With help from Jupiter, Square created a masterpiece of video gaming history, and set a high bar for any other game that would appear on the DS. With third party titles ranging from My Little Pony, to Art Academy, 'The World Ends With You' gave players a taste of real, innovative gaming, on such…
L.A. Noire, the ambitious Noir game created by Team Bondi of Australia, is something of a confusing case (see what I did there?). It took a five year development process and a new facial scanning system called MotionScan, along with some really impressive boasts of what the game would entail. So did this game live up to the hype? Did the technology used work out? Well yes, and no. You see, for everything new and…
So DLC characters? Am I right? I mean ME2 has Zaeed, a totally pointless character without any real characterization...but Kasumi redeemed Bioware's character DLC for all, so has DA2 gone down this new, enlightened path? Has it transcended all other DLC that has come before it? No....no it hasn't....if you thought it might have, go to your kitchen table, roll up the newspaper sitting on it, and smack yourself in the…
Read the full review The Exiled Prince: Why couldn't he just stay that way?
Alan Wake. Five years in the making, one story that must be told, one epic game that flew far too low under the radar. To be perfectly honest, this game flew under my radar too, until it was recommended to me by a friend. I loved the box-art, and found the ideas behind it compelling, but because of the fact that so many triple A titles dwarfed its existence, I never managed to pick it up until late 2010. And I have…
Now I’m a fan of Resident evil games, I’ve always found the combination of survival horror and strategic action a refreshing and somewhat complex combat system, that really earned this series the bragging rights, that Capcom flaunt on an almost constant basis. The series was really brought forward in the last few years, making the big switch from zombies, to people infected with an over-sized stomach worm…
As a huge Final Fantasy fan, I've always enjoyed the deep engaging storyline, the relatable cast of characters, and the feeling of being in a world with limitless possibilites, for as the title says, this is a 'Fantasy'. I could not wait to sink my teeth into the newest installment of the series, hoping to re-capture the joy that the vintage games made me feel, because in this day and age we needed a game that could…
