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.
When the hype kicked in for Dear Esther I felt very unsure about it. While I was intrigued by the claims I was reading about the game's presentation and narrative, my excitement was tempered about the claims that the game did not have much, if any, gameplay. Ultimately I was convinced when I showed my wife a trailer of the game and observed her excitement as a non-gamer. At her behest Dear Esther was purchased, and…
The original Bioshock came during the gaming nirvana that was the end of 2007. The two things I remember about it from that swirl of gaming was its amazing water effects and the big story surprise that is now part of gaming legend. Bioshock 2 was announced earlier than I would have expected and not by its original developer. These factors didn't leave me all that excited about it. Regardless, after some positive…
The first Assassin's Creed ended with all the enigmatic hints at story direction that a conspiracy nut could ever hope for. Being partial to the odd secret history tale myself, I entered AC2 on a wave of anticipation of where the story may go. I also entered with certain reservations about the game play of the previous game and much of my expectations were based on seeing whether the game design issues of the…
I initially picked up The Wicther when the Enhanced edition came out. Being a CRPG fan, I went ahead and got the collector's edition. My first attempt at a play-through ended with a barrage of rather unflattering verbal critique followed by a 2 year hiatus from the game. In this time either (a) the game was patched or (b) I matured as a person and over the course of the last month or so I've had a far more playable…
Bowser's inside story is a 2009 Christmas gift that I've been slowly completing over the trips I've taken in the last two years. At least the first 80% of it is. The final portion of the game was completed in a more traditional manner, as a marathon session to reach the end. The two states in which I played the game served to highlight its strengths and weaknesses and ultimately shaped my final perception of the…
I've been waiting to play Batman: Arkham Asylum for a good long time know. I was excited by the initial buzz and surprised by the reviews. I even bought the game as a gift to my cousin. As gaming goes however I was otherwise occupied and only got around to playing it this year (2011). The wait was well worth it and here are my thoughts on one of the most engaging game-play experiences I've had in a while. From the…
I've recently received the FEAR complete pack as a Christmas gift and have a completed a marathon of FEAR, its expansion packs, and its sequel. While it would not be entirely fair to review the older games at this time, I am ready to provide my thoughts on FEAR 2. From the opening moments, it is clear that the story-telling of FEAR 2 is vastly improved over its predecessors and on par with modern first person…
Alan Wake is one of the 8 games I was lucky enough to receive for Christmas. I was relieved after feeling rather guilty for being part of the reason for its not so great sales figures. I have played an completed the 6 episodes that make up the main game, and I'm here to explain why those sales figures should be significantly better. Alan Wake is a game that focuses first and foremost on storytelling. Alan and his…
Dragon Quest V is a game that I literally picked up because I noticed the purple character featured in the box-art. While browsing the cover caught my eye, shortly I noticed that it was a Dragon Quest game, a series that I knew about but had never tried. After a prompt purchase I spent the last year and a half finishing DQ5's adventure, while being on my own. Dragon Quest 5 tells the typical child of destiny story…
Read the full review Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Dawn of War 2 is yet another game that I bought during one of Steam's crazy sales. I bought the game at the beginning of the year thinking it would help the wait for Starcraft 2 . One game led to another, and before I knew it I had played and finished Starcraft 2 before finishing Dawn of War 2. Considering the leaps that Starcraft 2 took in terms of mission design and story-telling, I thought Dawn of War 2 would be…
It is rare these days that I buy a game on the first day of its release, since I simply don't have the time to play everything that I'm interested in (which is almost everything). When the "Life in the West" series of trailers released for Red Dead Redemption, I saw the possibility of something special and snapped up a copy on the day of its release. I've finally had time to work my way to RDR's ending and I'm ready…
Puzzle Quest 2, like its predecessor, is a crazy combination of two seemingly disjoint game types (Bejeweled and RPG) that are combined to form a portal for casual gamers to engage a genre they would typically ignore. Puzzle Quest 1 used the classic game Warlords as its RPG template, while Puzzle Quest 2 uses a formula much closer to a dungeon crawler such as Diablo . As far as the Bejeweled aspect is concerned,…
Starcraft was the first game that I purchased. I remember randomly selecting it from a shelf not even knowing that it was an RTS game. What I found was a very solid RTS experience, but not necessarily one that I fell in love with. 12 years have passed and I've finally gotten to play Starcraft's sequel. In this second instance, it may be love indeed. From the outset it is clear that the core game play mechanics of…
When a band, book, movie, or game strives to be epic the results tend towards the extremes of the quality spectrum. In a world of Lord of the Rings there also exists a 10 000 BC. Uncharted 2 fortunately is the good, nay the great, type of epic. The reason that Uncharted 2 is epic in a great way is not because of the quality of its graphics or its set pieces, as is often the goal in modern "AAA" development, but…
I distinctly remember the very first time I played Call of Duty. I was sneaking through Normandy after an airdrop, I lit some beacon, an alarm went off and complete chaos erupted - first person shooter campaigns were never the same after that. Modern Warfare 2 attempts to take that very moment and stretch it over the entirety of its 5 to 7 hour campaign. It's as if the developers had a mandate to ensure that at any…
Street Fighter IV is not the type of game I need in my life right now. With work and relationship responsibilities taking priority as I get older, all I need is the odd FPS or third person action game that I can put 12 hours into, feel good about finishing, and put back on the shelf so that I can return to being a productive and ambitious member of society. Unfortunately a game like Street Fighter IV comes along…
Read the full review The best kind of bad relationship to have
As a child I simply adored my plastic army men. As a grownup I still do but I need a more mature excuse to play with them. Since I'm not into war games or anything of that nature, I believe Company of Heroes for the PC is the closest I'll get to reliving my childhood war simulations for a number of reasons. From the outset it is obvious that Relic has paid serious attention to all aspects of CoH. Building have…
I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the reason I picked up Braid was its $2.50 price during a Steam sale. I had heard the rave reviews but was never that compelled to not think that I could just play it later for "academical" purposes. It was lucky therefore that I did pick it up due to the price because the game had me enthralled from the get-go. Braid is all about time manipulation and it builds puzzles around…
In high school my gamer friends were divided into two camps, the ones that were crazy about Baldur's Gate and the ones obsessed with Diablo. I fell into the former category. When Torchlight came out of nowhere from the former developers of Diablo 2, I felt as if though the gaming world had given me a second shot at checking out what I missed out on all those years ago. I therefore bought it from Steam at the very…
Having finished Fable II, it is clear that design team behind the game had multiple diverse goals. For one, the game tells the tale of a hero assembling a team of other heroes to fight a great evil in a dark tower. I'm sure you've heard that before. Secondly and more positively, Fable II immerses the player in a fantasy version of the Sims where an unknown hero becomes the king of Albion by making friends and…
I recently finished Gears of War 2 after having my Xbox 360 mothballed for almost a year and I must say: Damn what a reintroduction! Reviewing a game of this nature a significant amount of time after it is released is probably not the most fair thing to do, as much of the graphical wow factor is reduced. Regardless, the presentation holds up really well towards the end of 2009 and I was still surprised at the…
From the moment I laid eyes on Machinarium I was fascinated by its unique sketch-like art style and its rather melancholy atmosphere. When I learned that the striking visuals accompanied a point and click adventure game I snapped it up from Steam. I've completed the rather short but thoroughly charming adventure Machinarium has to offer and I can happily say that almost every moment of the experience was worthwhile.…
Plants versus Zombies placed PopCap on my radar as far as game purchases go and the re-emergence of an old university favourite of mine (Zuma), made its sequel an almost instant impulse buy. I've completed the adventure mode of Zuma's revenge and a few of the challenge maps and I'm happy to say that Zuma's revenge is a worthy sequel packed with all the features and modes one would expect from a Zuma game as well as…
I should start out this review by stating that I was and probably still am an absolute TES4: Oblivion addict. Getting Fallout 3 which is very similar in structure to TES4 and had the additional benefit of the Fallout setting was an absolute no-brainer. Luckily, with the exception of a few hickups I thoroughly enjoyed the 61 hours I've spent with the game and am sure to spend with the game's DLC going forward. The…
I picked up Dead Space for the PC last year after a very favourable review on this very site. Being mostly a PC gamer I decided to get the PC version of the game. While I had a great time with the game there are some issue that would make me recommend the console versions of this game to the PC port. Dead Space is a survival horror game with a very familiar premise. You arrive at a space station on a routine repair…
I picked up The Path after being intrigued by its description on Steam. My impressions were that the game would play out like an interactive version of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. Such a description is true in some senses but The Path diverges from gaming conventions in a manner that makes it different from any other game I've played before. The Path is so different from other games because it tries hard…
At its outset Assassin's Creed (AC) promised to be everything I could want in a game. A large world in a fairly uncommon setting, an interesting story, amazing AI, and an exciting blend of game play elements. The animation is excellent and you can almost feel every kill. The sheer size of the cities and the amount of NPCs inside them are staggering. AC also offers the best horse riding game play behind Shadow of the…
When I saw Wolfenstein 3D on Xbox Live Marketplace I had bought it before even blinking again. I fondly remember as a child that my brother and I would take 2 hour turns playing the game as we only had one computer. One would sit and wish the time away while the same two hours was a blur of enjoyment for the other. Wolfenstein 3D is known as the grandaddy of FPS games due to its first person perspective and "3D"…
I received a copy Marvel Ultimate Alliance (MUA) as part of my Xbox 360 Elite and from the outset I have to admit that it is not the type of game that I would typically buy. The game sat on the shelf for a while but due to my growing interest in comics I decided to finally sit down and play through the game. MUA is a brawler/RPG hybrid that allows you to control 4 super-heroes. At any given time the player controls…
The first time I saw the the promotional music video for this game I thought "Ugh, another casual Popcap game.". I did think however that it would make a nice gift to a casual game player and thus I gifted PvZ to my mom. For research purposes of course I had to download the demo and give it a quick go. Before I knew it zombies ate my brain. Popcap has produced a wonderfully addictive little game here. PvZ has the…
Professor Layton is a beautiful and charming game that shows post apocalyptic settings, large explosions, machismo, and the destruction of all life are not required to make a great game. An intriguing tale plays out as the player completes a series of 120 puzzles. The puzzles are challenging but not overly difficult and useful hint coins can be found to buy hints in case the player gets stuck on a specific puzzle.…
Read the full review Professor Layton and the Curious Village
I recently replayed Half Life 2 to make sure I had all of my lore in line when tackling the second episode. Although this was my third play through and there were no more surprises, the game still holds up well and delivers a thoroughly enjoyable game play experience. The game can do this a few years after its first release by pioneering many new concepts and additions in the first person shooter genre. Concepts…
