12 public written reviews
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Fantasy, as both genre and concept, is a crucial principle behind a vast majority of video games. Whether you're trundling across devastated stretches of battlefield in some behemoth armored vehicle, or fighting off an armada of alien creatures orbiting the planet, or role-playing as a zombie-witch vampire-hunting dragon-slayer; these ideas tweak an essential nerve: they insert the Player into a situation they, in…
Adorable. There’s something to be said on what affect cuteness can have on one’s judgment, or on a person’s ability to see past the adorable outer layer – covered in glittered cardboard and face-paint – and look at what really makes something tick. But in the special case of Double Fine’s new Halloween-centric RPG, Costume Quest , I think charm actually outweighs substance. Big-eyed, unabashedly charming characters…
It’s hard for me to estimate whether or not the “Mafioso” motif is a bit overplayed. I don’t often play games based directly around Mob activities; on most occasions it’s only tangential – based on whenever my usually “bad” main character decides is the right time to align with The Don, or when The Family interferes with business. So, when I say I found the overarching story (not to say there’s any other story)…
The term “atmosphere” is used frequently when describing a game’s environment or mood. By definition – or at least relevant definition – atmosphere is “any surrounding or pervasive element or influence,” and Remedy Entertainment’s new third-person action/thriller Alan Wake more often than not succeeds in enveloping you with a sense of perpetual tension that is so needed in the horror genre. Structured similarly to a…
Meet John Marston. He's a nice guy. Usually known for the satire and comedic parodies of their flagship franchise – Grand Theft Auto – Rockstar Games has taken a more serious tone with their new take on the Old West, Red Dead Redemption. While the game’s open world structure is similar to that of GTA , Redemption is a more refined experience in both scope and story, and accomplishes more in terms of storytelling…
He betrayed his friends, he lost his job, and now his daughter is presumed dead. Sam Fisher is an angry man. Some would think his rage is justified, but is it really? Ubisoft thinks so, with their long awaited next installment of the Splinter Cell franchise. Their newest romp, Splinter Cell: Conviction , abandons, for the most part, the old silent-as-the-grave gameplay of it’s predecessors, instead playing more like…
Many open-world games on the market try to provide players with a more serious and meaningful experience, whether it be through story or more ‘realistic’ gameplay mechanics, while keeping some semblance of a sandbox style game and the freedoms they provide. And while retaining the open-world toybox that makes this genre unique, Just Cause 2 scraps the grit and realism of modern open-world titles to focus more on the…
There have been many games released that have been met with exaggerated eye-rolls and a collective "ugh" in the past, and it seems that 2K's sequel to 2007's Bioshock has come under that same scrutiny. While it doesn’t exactly feel new, or at times even exciting, Bioshock 2 does manage to maintain enough interest in the world and happenings of Rapture to keep you engaged until the end. The story follows a prototype…
What would happen if Diablo and Halo made love? A strange question, I know, but Borderlands, the cell-shaded loot fest from Gearbox Software, has tried to blend the action and gunplay from today’s First-Person Shooters with the experience, leveling mechanics and loot drops found in modern Role-Playing Games. The question is: Does it work? After a short summation of why you have come to Pandora, a dirty and deserted…
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is by far one of the best Arcade titles to be released this year on the Xbox 360. Retro Evolved 2 brings the same frenetic action and flashing strobe light graphics as the original, but now has even more variety with multiple game modes and 4-person local multiplayer. There are six different modes to choose from, which can all be unlocked through regular play. The Evolved gametype is…
Even though Battlefield games have always been more about multiplayer, the single-player campaign in Bad Company is actually better than I expected. It follows the story of Preston Marlowe, a misfit soldier sent to B company, a group of other misfit soldiers that the military has deemed 'expendable'. As the tale progresses you and your team will embark on a mission to steal precious gold bullion from the enemy…
When first playing Burnout Paradise it may seem like the developer, Criterion Games, decided to abandon the old Burnout formula and attempt to take the series into uncharted waters by giving the player an entire city to race, and more likely crash, through. Then after the first few hours it becomes clear that that change was probably for the better. Paradise City will be fairly difficult to navigate at first, but as…
