32 public 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.
To understand my “Hearthstone problem” involves delving back into my past to the days of my youth. As a child born in the year of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! (1996) I was surrounded by the cross media hybrid of cartoons and card games. Yu-Gi-Oh! was my preference but in short collectible card games require two things to prosper as a hobby, firstly is expendable income to purchase booster packs / booster boxes and secondly…
I’ve a strange relationship with the Lara Croft / Tomb Raider series of games. On the one hand their some of the first games that I remember encountering for the PlayStation 1 at a young age - I apparently tried to hug the tiger rather than shoot the life senseless out of him. Animal hugging aside for as long as I think PlayStation I’ve thought of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft. I’ve tried many times to get into the…
FIFA 15 on the PS Vita is a minimum effort game for the platform for which the least amount of copies are likely to sell. It probably doesn’t take an expert to see that the Vita would have the smallest marketshare of the various platforms on which the game would be released and as such appears to have the least amount of time and development costs / effort put into its version. FIFA 15 is a roster update on the…
When I write Fruit Ninja clone I’m pretty sure that you already have a rough idea of what Jack Lumber might entail. Your a lumberjack and there are logs to cut. The logs are thrown in the air in a similar style to the mad kitchen of a familiar chef and you swipe this way or that to cut them in half and score points. Granted it does make some attempt to differentiate itself from the standard “clone job” but its hard…
When I think about Thomas Was Alone I can’t help but think about one of my favourite games, Portal 2. At a base level both are very little as players solve puzzles to move from one stage to the next with a story presented by a seemly omnipresent narrator. But whereas Portal 2 is easily one of my favourite games, Thomas Was Alone falls flat and fails by comparison. In short, the gameplay feels tacked on and the story…
He doesn't even have that cute platformer look - he's far too pointy / grumpy. Much like the make up of the game’s titular star Knack is a relic of the past. Its an action, platformer which creates the impression that it could have been released around say 2002. Rather bafflingly Knack is plagued with many of the same problems as those early 3D action-platforming hybrids, its got a bland and flat set of characters…
The concept of Fallout Shelter seems like a no brainer for the creative minds over at Bethesda Games. With the popularity of free to play, management and click & wait style games on mobile platforms, casting the role of players as the overseer of their own vault seemed like an inevitable release rather than its surprise announcement and launch at the companies 2015 E3 press conference. In part the well structure…
I’d have been dangerous in arcades. There’s just something about competing for a high score on arcade style games that just digs its hooks in deep and keeps me coming back for more. If I was depositing my change in exchange for another attempt at besting my (or friends) high score and I’d be broke very quickly so at least from an economical standpoint I’m glad I avoided arcades due to my age. Nowadays I can pay once…
Despite its status as a launch title for the Xbox 360 on the Xbox Live Arcade of all places, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved may just be the greatest XBLA game ever made. Actually scrap that; it is the greatest XBLA game ever made and even after years of trying no game has surpassed it and taken its place on top of that mountain. Everything about Geometry Wars fits and works together to create perhaps the purest…
SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton’s Robotic Revenge is a terrible licensed action, somewhat platformer. I say somewhat as the games idea of platforming seems to be occasionally jump across a log blocking your path, up onto a higher ledge in front of you or onto slow moving platforms to cross a giant gap. Its a poor attempt at best and only in place to break up the bad action sequences that are littered throughout each…
Read the full review SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton's Robotic Revenge
Peter Jackson’s King Kong The Official Game of the Movie is a bit of a mixed bag. I say that because whilst it does bring with it some interesting twists and changes to the standard first person shooter affair it also brings several significant technical issues and design problems that leave it an average game at best. The game itself boasts that players “Play as man. Play as Kong.” but the touted 50-50 split is…
Read the full review Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion does more things wrong than right which is unfortunate for the iconic mouse in this adventure. Marketed as a spiritual sequel or tribute to the Illusion series of Sega’s past (in particular Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse ) the game fails to live up to the renown games of old. Perhaps its merely nostalgia that has given the past games a life of their own and the praise held…
My fathers a butcher in a small town. Times are rough in the current economy and due to the small nature of the town every business takes a hit; its only really at the weekend when things get busy and the shop sees a slight burst in customers. The rest of the time its quiet or as he says boring beyond belief. “But your payed to effectively not work hard” I used to say “It can’t be that bad” I respond to his response…
From the outside Hotline Miami would appear to another one of those action shooter games that are all the rage these days. Beneath the initial impression however is a trance inducing puzzle game with a killer soundtrack, whose body count matches your own by the games end. Granted the main gameplay premise is combat and performing mass murder. However there comes a moment as strategical plan and refine your route…
The greatest problem from which Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare suffers is a lack of variety and things to do. You’ll play the same game modes and maps over and over again. Don’t get me wrong its a fun game but not fun enough to warrant the lacklustre amount of content offered. Its second main issue is that it feels like a free-to-play game as the option to buy additional in game coins is proudly pushed in your…
I wouldn't want to be on that flight knowing my skills... I’m all for strange concepts for puzzle games or any game for that matter. It doesn’t matter how crazy or different it is I’m willing to give it a shot; Aero Porter is such a puzzle game. Aero Porter is all about sorting luggage; a simple, apparently boring task that you’d never consider to make a game of. It seems like a dull job and more work than fun.…
The essence of a score attack game in which you constantly compete to up your previous best score is the addition of a basic rule set with a slightly random nature to the gameplay that makes no two games unique. You know how to play Tetris but every game is its own and thats what makes it so addictive and special. The same applies to all the great score attack games such as Geometry Wars or Pac-man. Unfortunately…
No matter how many times I fail, no matter how many times I’m sent flying through the air only to land in a horrific mess as my body bounces down platforms or crashes into scenery, I always hit restart and ask for more. OlliOlli is a 2D skateboarding game done right. That itself is a challenge but the fact that OlliOlli’s developer manages to achieve such a feat and make it as great a game as OlliOlli is commendable…
God of War: Ghost of Sparta is worthy of baring the God of War name unlike the previous handheld outing (Chains of Olympus) which I did not like. Without delving into the predecessors problems too much, I felt it was a poor quality attempt at making a God of War game. For thing it wasn’t cinematically shot like the previous games, lacked any memorable moment or experience and showed clearly the technical limitations…
Less a game and more an interactive story Attack of the Friday Monsters is a short, concise fun tale and worth experiencing at least once. While it may not have the most memorable plot for the few short hours required to see the game to its conclusion its a fun and compelling experience. As so much of the enjoyment to be had with the game comes from the story I’m reluctant to tell more the obvious. As the name…
Read the full review Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale
I’m going to cut straight to the chase here and tell you that Cel Damage HD’s biggest flaw is the complete lack of any online multiplayer mode. Its a crazy, chaotic car combat game that could thrive among small communities and groups but instead the game is a short, fun little game that ultimately comes across as a massive waste of an opportunity. Based on the European release of the original game, the game features…
Threes! is a magnificent game. Despite appearing as a number nerds game of magical math voodoo it instead is a puzzle game that has more in common with something like Tetris than the snore of algebra or calculus. And its such a wonderful game due to it refining a simple concept extremely well to create a pure experience thats fun and engaging every time you hop in for another game and try to beat your or a friends…
The more that I think about Uncharted: Golden Abyss the more I’ve realised how closely the Uncharted series of games mimics my love for the Indiana Jones franchise of films. Sure similarities could be made between the themes and comedic action stars Indy and Drake but what baffles me the most is how closely my affection for say the first two Indy flicks matches that of the first two Uncharted games and the…
How do you reinvent Frogger? In the modern age of gaming can you really justify charging for the simplistic games of the past such as Frogger or Pong especially in the this age of free to play games dominating a significant portion of the market. Sure they were limited due to the technical restrictions of their hardware but the question remains as to how they can be relevant in today. It certainly is a difficult…
God of War: Chains of Olympus is an average outing for series anti-hero Kratos due to the high standards set from by the main franchise games. Granted this is due to the platform on which the game sees its release and the limited control scheme of the PSP but when it detracts from the game significantly and makes for a worse experience all round, one cannot overlook the technical limitations of the platform. More 1…
Quake 4 is such a disappointment. Its not just because the game breaks away from what I’d consider core to the Quake gameplay experience - its a slower game and one that attempts to introduced forced vehicle sections as there’s technical hiccups are present throughout. From a terrible framerate to progress, halting game breaking bugs it is not a Quake game or one I’d consider worthy of the name. The first three…
First person shooters didn’t used to care about story. Some (Quake included) didn’t really care about single player at all, multiplayer was where the true action was at and that was just fine. Shooters were loud; hard rock played as you mowed down enemies. They were fast, unlike any modern shooter as of post 2007 but perhaps those were simpler times and games such as DOOM and Quake have are products of their time…
God of War is an awesome game and rather than bore you with elaborate details as to why it belongs alongside the likes of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta as outstanding examples of a genre done right I'd rather tell you what frustrated me about the game: Carpal tunnel syndrome inducing button mashing. Anyone who has played the game will know what I mean here and should you choose to purchase this game you will too. It's…
Thankfully Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed is mercifully short. Even the most dedicated of fans of comedy alien Crypto will be grateful of this fact. Gone are the witty jokes and parodies on science fiction and 50s/60s history. Gone is the enjoyable gameplay that saw you unleash terror and chaos on humanity across the games various locales. Instead Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed features an…
Read the full review Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed
The Katamari Damacy series’ entertaining and ludicrous gameplay is in my opinion perfectly suited for portable gaming and the fact that my biggest complaint with Touch My Katamari is that it’s simply too short and offers too little content should be reason enough for fans of the series to rush (or roll) out and grab the game for the PS Vita. For those unfamiliar with the franchise the basic premise of it all is…
The original Ghostbusters is a film I hold in the highest regards. It’s one of the few comedy films that as someone who very rarely finds films in the genre to be funny will easily laugh aloud to all the way through. Ghostbusters: The Video Game is “essentially the third movie” according to series creator Dan Aykroyd and while it does have its fair share of problems, I can guarentee that fans of the franchise will…
The Katamari Damacy series’ entertaining and ludicrous gameplay is in my perfect for portable gaming and the fact that my biggest complaint with Touch My Katamari is that it’s simply too short and offers too little content should be reason enough for fans of the series to rush (or roll) out and grab the game for the PS Vita. For those unfamiliar with the franchise the basic premise of it all is simple. You play as…
