27 public reviews
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The news media would certainly agree that there have been plenty of open world representations of the criminal lifestyle in video games; Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are some shining examples of that actuality. In contrast, few titles have ever attempted to emulate the opposite element of society. Outside of tie-in products featuring comic book superheroes and a few throw-away adventure games branded…
It feels like Harmonix pulled out their big guns prematurely with their plastic instrument take on the fab four in last year's The Beatles: Rock Band . It's only arguable by logical technicality that the subjects of said rhythm game are the most well-known and definitive music group in the last hundred years. And the developers went all out, going so far as to recreate the established Rock Band interface with a…
To the current generation of gamers, bloggers, and technophiles, Transformers is simply a move license, one boasting explosive action sequences and little substance. That’s just the effect that reintroducing a franchise through Hollywood’s ongoing series of classic remakes and re-imaginings has on people. But, once it was a television show, and then a series of comic books that have become beloved by geek culture.…
Sam Fisher ’s been around the block a time or two, or so I’ve been told. I can’t really speak for all of that experience he’s put under his belt, because aside from a small portion of the original Splinter Cell and even less of 2006’s Double Agent , we haven’t spent a lot of time together. Suffice to say that I’m not particularly practiced with Fisher’s brand of tactics . With respect to this latest entry in the…
Remedy Entertainment announced Alan Wake all the way back in 2005 during the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo . Since then it’s popped on and off of people’s radars at sparing intervals, and now that it’s finally been released, it seems as if Duke Nukem Forever should be only just around the corner. It can then only be described as fortunate that with such a long development period, Alan Wake has turned out to…
Final Fantasy XIII comes off initially as a very standard Japanese role-playing game. As the player, you’re introduced to a cast of characters, each with their individual tale of woe, and you’re pushed into a simplistic combat system that fails to be in any way interesting. To put it bluntly, the general first impression of this latest installment in Square’s most beloved franchise is that it’s boring beyond repair.…
Aside from a list of memorable titles logged away somewhere in the back of my mind, I don’t have any sort of connection to Tim Schafer . The attention he’s received in the past for being one of the few minds in game development to successfully incorporate humor into the medium is definitely something I recognize him for, but despite owning a copy of Psychonauts, I have never once played one of his games. In a way I…
If there’s one thing that we as gamers have proven time and time again, it’s that we all have a collective, insatiable lust for color-coded loot drops and shooting dudes. Mostly, we’ve had to split our attention between two entirely different styles of game to quench the thirst, but a few sporadic releases have attempted to bring these mechanics together. Hellgate: London comes immediately to mind. None of them have…
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has absolutely no problem with what it is, that being a aggregation of mechanics introduced in titles long since released for public consumption. However, few would argue that said workings pull any of the strings that make this game a unique experience, and rightly so. What Naughty Dog has done here is to improve upon everything that people loved about the first game, and in doing so…
The Halo franchise is incredibly popular, and for very good reasons. The gameplay and visual style are both excellent, and to many gamers out there the narrative surrounding that universe goes right up there with beloved sci-fi settings such as Star Wars . Still, aside from a few minor changes between each iteration on the series, Bungie has done little to innovate on their own formula. With Halo 3: ODST , however,…
Nolan North seems particularly fond of portraying the traditional, wise-cracking “everyman” as far as video games are concerned. In Uncharted: Drakes Fortune , he displayed his half-tucked prowess as Nathan Drake . In last year’s Prince of Persia reboot, his very un-prince like character turned out to be a run-of-the-mill thief stumbling into the lair of a dark god. This time around, North portrays Jason Fleming ,…
The name “ Muramasa ” is -- to me at least -- immediately evocative of that distinctly western flavor found almost exclusively in games released from our friends over in Japan. It would seem difficult to not immediately envision the blades of hardened samurai locked against one another, their eyes fastened with the knowledge that each passing second could indeed be their last in existence at the mere mention of the…
City of Heroes no doubt left a solid footprint on the massively multiplayer genre, introducing a level of customizability that, despite the game having been released well over five years ago, has yet to be replicated by anyone else in the industry. The aforementioned premiere online superhero experience fell short, however, due to its slow combat mechanics, blatant environmental repetition, and lack of end game…
Despite it being the sole, innate desire of the male species upon our eve of birth, none of us will never actually become Batman . Most of us lack either the means to possess a subterranean abode littered with hi-tech equipment, or the motivation to hone such perfected skills in martial arts and gadgetry. Neither of these setbacks in this unpractical ambition suppress the desire however, and so we are collectively…
It seems ironic that, in a medium of entertainment often perceived as synonymous with the phrase "waste-of-time," one of the most popular and revered franchises is that which is entirely focused on simulating the life we all otherwise could be leading ourselves. From a backseat perspective, it's difficult to understand just how directing a human-shaped mass of polygons to use the toilet can be at all entertaining.…
At this point, it feels like preaching to the choir to say that there isn't much incentive toward owning a PlayStation 3. The unfortunate thing is that while the aforementioned statement is commonly perceived as true, there remains very little evidence to back it up. Since the console's launch, it's managed to build an impressive library of first and third party titles, and though none of them quite measure up to…
For nearly eight years, the Bejeweled series has been lending a helping hand to procrastinating students, husbands, wives, employees and employers everywhere. It wasn't until the later release of Peggle , however, that PopCap would truly step up and threaten to put an end to real-life as a concept in its entirety. With the unprecedented amount of buzz surrounding Peggle's release, it really doesn't come as any…
This time of year, it's not at all uncommon for a wide array of movie tie-ins to begin cluttering the new release shelf at whatever venue it is from which you purchase games. Much like backpacks, lunchboxes and action figures, these titles are acutely time sensitive. As such, the development time is severely reduced when compared to even the most average of game releases, resulting in a generally appalling…
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 seems to go out of its way to make a bad first impression. The initial few hours of the game are essentially devoid of gameplay, instead forcing you to endure a series of long-winded cutscenes that play as the setup to what eventually turns out to be a fairly interesting narrative. It takes quite a while for the game portion of the whole experience to emerge, but once it does, be…
In 2007, Marvelous Entertainment released Rune Factory for the Nintendo DS as a celebration of the Harvest Moon series' tenth anniversary. While the mechanics and traditions of the franchise remained wholly intact, Rune Factory thrust the player into a fantasy world, filled with monsters and plenty of magic and weaponry with which to do away with said beasts. The game's release was a risk, but it quickly paid off…
Many franchises have attempted to toss themselves into the portable ring only to be spat back out, mangled and scarred with only subtle hints pointing toward the games that they were supposed to have been. Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series was never one of these. The previous two entires—while not exactly excellent—were exceptionally faithful in their realization of the series' mechanics and world. Coupled with the…
EA’s Dead Space can be immediately perceived as a collaborative meshing of styles and gameplay concepts. The setting and atmosphere are more than reminiscent of Doom 3 , while the third-person camera placement and over-the-shoulder combat practically radiate Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War’ s influence of the third-person shooter genre. The comparisons drawn between these games are certainly valid, and what results…
In the earliest portion of 2005, Capcom dropped a bomb with the release of Resident Evil 4 , breathing new life into a franchise mired in tradition and antiquated mechanics. While impressing critics, fans and naysayers alike, the game also did something much more important by redefining the third-person shooter. To even begin to hope that Resident Evil 5 – the latest installment in the long-running blockbuster…
Peter Molyneux is probably one of the most over-zealous hype masters to ever walk in the spotlight of the games industry, generally attempting to offer the world on something as small as a disc for the price of a video game, and never generally coming close to producing the vision he had been injecting into the brains of consumers for years. This time--utilizing a little self-control and--he seems to have gotten…
Looking back, only a game or two that I can think of have actually attempted to take on the zombie apocalypse in online form, throwing players–competitively or cooperatively–into a world decimated by plague and letting them decide the final outcome that would ultimately tell the fate of their world. Games such as Resident Evil Outbreak its just-as-mediocre sequel have tried, but only Left 4 Dead has succeeded. Left…
Prince of Persia –like Batman Begins or Casino Royale in the film department–is a reboot of a series that has been around since 1989, but most notably throws out the characters and story elements featured in the Sands of Time trilogy , which began just a little over five years ago. This reboot features an all-new Prince.This time around, the Prince isn’t a prince at all, but is instead an adventurer who has lost his…
Welcome to the Raccoon Police DepartmentAt the time of its release, Resident Evil 2 was a highly anticipated blockbuster title, following a genre defining predecessor inspired by classic Romero films. It broke little ground in terms of gameplay, but was a masterful success in video game storytelling and visuals. The visuals in this survival horror sequel were improved fairly dramatically over the original game,…
