42 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.
I’m not going to beat around the bush here: Injustice 2 is the best fighting game I have ever played now. Period. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 has finally been dethroned. In 2011, Netherrealm studios and WB Interactive put out Mortal Kombat (technically, this was Mortal Kombat 9). This served as not only a reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise, but also as a rebirth of the franchise after previous entires during the mid…
Little Nightmares excels at building tension rather than going for cheap jump scares. It’s fascinating game that unfortunately is bogged down by some serious technical issues at times. You play as six, a girl whom I assume is going through a personal nightmare in her sleep, as this world she’s in is obviously not real. The game has a fantastic atmosphere that is reminiscent of games like Limbo and Inside, but lacks…
I’m going to start this off by stating that I didn’t have the massive hype for Horizon: Zero Dawn that everyone else seemed to have. In fact, when the game was first shown at E3 2015 I remember remarking: “That looks cool, but can Guerilla Games pull that off?” Flash forward two years and yeah, they totally can. Horizon: Zero Dawn is probably as close to a masterpiece as we are going to get in this eighth generation…
I love Resident Evil. I've cited the original (Gamecube Remake that is) as my favorite game of all time now. I love characters, the goofy lore, the tank controls, everything about it. Hell I even love the movie franchise that everyone else hates. That being said, I was extremely concerned about Resident Evil 7. Now I'm in the camp of people (there's very few of us) that didn't hate Resident Evil 6. I think I even…
Metal Gear Rising finally makes it's way to home consoles after some development hell, but thankfully, it isn't quite the letdown as Aliens: Colonial Marines was. The new game set in the Metal Gear universe has you playing as Raiden, and is a straight up action game. Think of more in the vein of Ninja Gaiden then Devil May Cry . You'll hack n' slash your way through eight different levels, all of which include boss…
Welcome back, Dante . Now before I go on with praising up Ninja Theory 's reboot, I have to throw in a disclaimer because of just how ridiculous all of the hate this game is getting, simply for being a different entry in this series. I'm not in anyway the biggest fan of the previous entry's in this franchise. I remember enjoying the original Devil May Cry , hating Devil May Cry 2 with the rest of the world, being…
Oh Far Cry , we've come a long way. What started off as a promising pc franchise is 2004 has since turned into a console affair. While early iterations such as Far Cry: Instincts and Far Cry: Instincts - Predator tried to take the story down a more sci-fi route, and 2008's lukewarm Far Cry 2 brought more of an open world aspect to the franchise, nothing could have prepared me for how good Far Cry 3 actually is. In…
Spec Ops: The Line kind of comes out of no where. It successfully re-establishes a dead franchise, but going a completely different route. The original series of Spec Ops games were developed as budget titles for the original PlayStation , but Spec Ops: The Line goes an almost Gears of War route, telling one of the best stories I've seen in a video game in 2012. But the game isn't without it's faults. Removing the…
I've neglected to write this review for the past two weeks because I've felt so strongly about my disappointment for what this game boils down to in the final hour(s), but after thinking long and hard, I can't sit in silence any longer. Note that this review will be full of spoilers, so if you haven't played the game yet, and you are brave enough, you can dive in, but note that I'm warning you here, Assassin's Creed…
Six years. Six very long years. That's how long it has been since the release of Hitman: Blood Money , the last released game in the beloved Hitman franchise. And while I can't speak for exactly why it took so long for this game to be released, mostly because of Eidos Interactive being bought out by Square Enix , this is much more noticeably a 2010 game being released in 2012, and there lies the main problem I had…
The Halo franchise isn't one that I've been a fan of as long as some people have been. Growing up, I didn't have an original Xbox until the release of Halo 2 , so my exposure to Halo: Combat Evolved was very limited. I do remember renting an Xbox console from Family Video when I was a freshman in high school, and I remember playing quite a bit of Blood Gulch in multiplayer. However, other then playing through the…
Before I continue, Dishonored isn't a bad game. Not by a long shot. More or less my disappointment with the game comes at it's length, which for your average $60 game today, should be at least 10 to 12 hours in length. At least, that's all I ask for. If it's a game like Halo or Call of Duty , I know that it'll have some fantastic multiplayer out of the box that will also give me countless hours of replayabliity.…
Resident Evil 6 could go down as one of the most controversial games of this console generation, simply because bad press has divided fans of the series. While those that complained for years about Tank Controls and "wonkey camera angles" got their answer in January of 2005 with Resident Evil 4 , one of the most ground breaking games of all time. Yet how quickly we forget that some of the control problems from…
There isn't too much bad I can say about LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes . Sure every game has minor gripes, and Lego Batman 2 isn't without them, but for a game that I really wasn't anticipating more then simply put: "I've always said I will return to the Lego series when Batman returns to the Lego series" and thus, I haven't played a Lego game in about four years. With that being said, my experiences with this game…
Max Payne 3 swings in as another heavy hitting game from Rockstar studios, and it should surprise no one. After pumping out mature title after mature title for the past few years, creating Max Payne 3 seems like a match made in heaven here. For the most part Rockstar finds the proper balance of gritty story-telling that's suited Max through his previous two adventures, yet I can't help but point out a few faults…
I really wish I could review this as just chapter 1 of The Walking Dead , because I have no idea if the quality of this episodic series will be able to last through its five planned chapters. However if Telltale Games can manage to crank out four more chapters of this that are just as awesome and spellbinding as this experience was in the first chapter, I have no problem plunking down $5 a month for the next several…
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning isn't a game I had any plans on playing as quickly as I did. I didn't know much about the game until the demo dropped, and even walking away from that demo, I was left with a kind of "meh" feeling about the whole thing. It wasn't until watching a friend play through a majority of the game that I felt inclined to give the game a try. (I also have to throw in there that a nice hole in my…
I've been a longtime fan of Silent Hill , since the good old days of the original PlayStation . No Silent Hill game is going to top the previous entries in this series, but the surprise with Silent Hill: Downpour is that out of the gate, the game doesn't suck. In fact, despite a few issues, which I will explore with more detail here, Downpour stands as the best this franchise has seen since 2004's Silent Hill 4: The…
Mass Effect 3, like everyone else, is a game that all gamers have been anxiously awaiting ever since the final moments of Mass Effect 2. When Shepard and Company destroyed the collector's base, you knew that things were going to get heated up, especially in those final cutscenes. It didn't help my impatience by releasing some of the most epic trailers over the past year, and Mass Effect 3 almost turned into a case…
Yes, by the title of my review you would think that I hated Syndicate, which isn't true. I actually came to enjoy quite a bit of Starbreeze's latest game, a reimagining of the 1993 game of the same name. However, all of my enjoyment of this game stems solely from the cooperative aspect of the game. The single-player game is a jilted mess of mediocrity. What's more disappointing is that EA and Starbreeze were able to…
Twisted Metal is surprisingly Sony's longest running franchise, which blows my mind considering in almost twenty years, there are only six games in the main series (we don't really have to count that psp game do we?). Twisted Metal is also a franchise that has laid dormant since 2001. Sony doesn't have too many killer app franchises left exclusive to their system, so a new high profile Twisted Metal game seems like…
I'm still amazed that we got a sequel to The Darkness. I felt the game was long forgotten as one of the early Xbox 360 games, in the Pre-Halo 3 era. Yet somehow, we managed to get a sequel, much like we are getting a sequel to Prey this year. The Darkness II takes place two years after the events of the original game, and when we meet up with Jackie, he is still haunted by the death of his girlfriend. It's what…
Uncharted 3 was probably every PS3 owner's most anticipated game of 2011. After Uncharted 2 re-wrote some things (I'm still not the biggest fan of Uncharted 2), many were looking at 3 to be even bigger and better. And while a lot of people were hard on 3, I feel that 3 offers everything great you could want from this series. Maybe I'm just not a fan of the snowy environments of the previous game, I don't know.…
Up until about two weeks before it's release, I wasn't sure if I was going to jump into a purchase of Saints Row: The Third. I had my doubts about the game, especially being as I was quite frustrated with how a lot of Saints Row 2 was cheaply put together (the piss poor multiplayer modes, anyone?) After watching the trailer which showcased none other then a cameo from Burt Reynolds himself, I decided to take the…
I approached the gigantic tundra with my sword drawn. A native of the town of Whiterun had asked me to clean out this cavern so that he could continue his mining operation. As I approach the cavern and entered, I could hear the shrill sounds of the dead literally rising from their graves. I stand back, and embrace whatever is to come my way. And thus begun my journey into Skyrim, Bethesda's newest entry into the…
Let's get this out of the way: is Modern Warfare 3 going to be a good game? Do you want to play some more Call of Duty? Are you ready for more of the same polished multiplayer and a single player campaign that's arguably one of the most intense and awesome campaigns I've played in a shooter? Then yes, Modern Warfare 3 is a great game. I was really on the sideline for this year's annual Call of Duty installment.…
When Arkham Aslyum was released just a bit over two years ago, I didn't know what to expect. The road for Batman games, hell, the road for any kind of licensed games were pretty terrible. But Rocksteady did the unthinkable, they created the best licensed video game ever made, until now. Arkham City is to video games what The Dark Knight is to films. It was started off on solid ground, and then takes a jackhammer to…
Since it's release in 2006, I've been a huge Gears of War fan. In fact, within the last decade I would put Gears of War up there alongside the greats like Oblivion, Resident Evil 4 (and 5), and Halo 3 as being one of the best. It introduced us to not only a new science fiction/fantasy world, but it gave us one of the best and first real co-operative experiences over Xbox live. And let's not forget to mention that…
It's been a long time coming for "Deus Ex: Human Revolution". I've been waiting for this game for what seems like ages, ever since it was first announced in 2009. And while the Deus Ex series has been dormant since 2004's "Invisible War", the biggest surprise here is that this Deus Ex trumps the skeptics, and creates easily the best stealth action title I've played this side of Metal Gear Solid. Deus Ex primary…
F.E.A.R. 3 or "F.3.A.R." as some call it, is not nearly as great as it's predecessors. In 2005, F.E.A.R. showed us a new side of horror that hadn't been seen in most games around that time. Sure, Resident Evil 4 brought back the horror a bit, but with it's over the shoulder camera, and less of a focus on the "Survival Horror" elements that made the earlier games such a thrill, a lot of people, like myself, were…
I will be upfront and say that I did not hate Duke Nukem Forever, nor do I have the sick passion for hating this game as much as everyone else seems to. However, with that being said, Duke Nukem Forever really isn't that great of a game to begin with. To be honest, I got sucked into the nostalgia when I started this game. I will admit that I've pretty harshly defended this game on giant bomb here, and I did cause…
"L.A. Noire" is not nearly as perfect or as polished as Rockstar's previous venture, "Red Dead Redemption". The level of perfect seen in that game isn't quite shown in "L.A. Noire", however none of this really diminishes Noire from being one of the better games you will play in 2011. You play as Cole Phelps, a recent graduate of the police academy and at the beginning of the game, a beat cop. You work your way up in…
I can't believe that in 2011, I was this excited about a new Mortal Kombat game. 2008's massively disappointing Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe left many fans upset after the T rating controversy, and while that game was actually pretty decent, nothing could prepare me for the onslaught of awesome that is Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat is actually the ninth game in this series, and thus it unfolds in quite a grand…
Bulletstorm is probably the biggest game I've played now that I've been torn on deciding what to give it. On one end you have a crazy, over-the-top first person shooter that sports some of the raunchiest killing this side of Duke Nukem. Yet the game is so muddled down with mundane and downright awful potty jokes, that it loses the style I was hoping for. Look I'm all for a good dick joke or two, but Bulletstorm does…
I'll admit, two in a half years ago (or about that) I didn't really pick up the original Dead Space for several months. The original game was a pretty decent sleeper hit. However, EA and Visceral Games have managed to make Dead Space 2 as big of a jump as the difference between Mass Effect 1 and 2. I honestly didn't expect a huge sequel from Visceral, because after all, Dead Space was a sleeper hit. But apparently…
I'm a huge fan of Fallout 3. I'm a huge fan of Bethesda in general. "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" is tied with Ocarina of Time as my favorite game of all time. So of course, like most gamers, I was eagerly awaiting the release of New Vegas. A chance for more Fallout seemed great. What kills me is that Obsidian entertainment is made up of a lot of ex-interplay vets who created Fallout 1 and 2, so why does New…
Yeah, I know, I'm a bit late to the party. For the last year in a half (almost), I've had nothing but people telling me that I need to experience Uncharted 2. It's apparently one of the greatest games ever made, but I felt that I should get a grasp on this world of Nathan Drake before I ventured into a sequel without knowing anything about Drake or anything. Uncharted is not a perfect game. In fact, it's far from…
In 1988, who didn't want to play a game like "Splatterhouse"? With so many horror franchises raking in cash at the box office (obvious homage is paid to Friday the 13th here), a game featuring a mask wearing psycho beating things up seemed like a great idea, great enough to sustain three games. However, in the year 2010, people need more then just a psycho wearing a mask, killing people off, to make sense. They need…
Another year, another Call of Duty. I'm starting to fear that the Call of Duty series is going to be put on the same page as Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero as games we all grow tired of. But what shocked me about Black Ops, this year's entry in the long running military fps series, is that it doesn't flat out suck. I was very vocal and flat out against 2008's "World at War", which I felt was a cheap cash in to capitalize…
Let's get this out of the way: "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow" is not a perfect game. It has it's moments of weakness, like all games. However, I propose to you this...what game is perfect? I mean, seriously? I am a diehard Castlevania fan, and have been ever since Simon Belmont started swinging his whip at Dracula on the nes. I've been there through the good (Symphony of the Night, Super Castlevania IV) and I've…
I'm sure I'll get a lot of crap here for "hating on Halo"...but truth be told...Halo: Reach is not a perfect game...not by even a longshot. I'm disappointed in literally every review I've read for this game. Reviews have not only praised this game for being the best in the franchise (which it's not), but also have praised this game up for having a great single player (or Co-Operative) campaign...which it also is…
A few years back, I played a pretty revolutionary pc game called "Mafia". Unlike Grand Theft Auto or other open world titles, The original Mafia was quite revolutionary in telling a realistic mafia story. I had extreme high hopes for Mafia 2, and I've been eagerly waiting for it's release for the better part of 2010. Now, twelve hours later after getting my hands on the final product, I'm left disapointed and…
