174 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.
Simply put, this is one of the most addictive games I've ever played in my life. Borderlands is a cel-shaded, FPS/RPG hybrid that basically takes the game mechanic of MMO titles (walk around, have somebody give you a quest, do it, get rewards, do the same thing) and puts in a single player or multi-player co-operative game. That it plays equally well as either a single player affair or multi-player affair is…
Another sequel for a game series not known for high quality as is. DtRR is a 3rd person action game with an emphasis on fisticuffs in addition to gunplay. You play psychopathic hero Jack Slate, who deals with crime by, arguably, being meaner and crueler than the criminals he deals with. You get to torture numerous people, some of whom that even deserve it. You are a cop of Grant City and you initially team up with…
The original Iron Man was probably the worst Marvel comics related game of the last ten or so years, barely edging out Daredevil largely because Daredevil didn't actually come out for home consoles. So, it's been 2 years and Sega has learned their lesson, right? Well, to be gentle, no. I hate using the term "crap" as an adjective, but it is the cleanest and least offensive phrase I can use to describe the quality of…
Capcom, yet again, brings its winning formula of having excellent 2-D fighters look 3-D to a gorgeous apex in Super Street Fighter IV. Easily the best animated fighting game I've ever seen, even moreso than the outstanding BlazBlue, SSFIV is the best fighting game in history and one that you cannot really do much to top. The engine is very similar to the outstanding SFIV, with some of the same glitches and exploits…
Sam Fisher, epic bad ass, has returned. And this time, he is after his daughter that he believed had been dead all of these years. Fisher has left Third Echelon and wishes to be left alone...but, as seems to be the case with highly trained killing machines, reality keeps dragging him back into the fray. It turns out that the same thugs who killed his daughter are now planning a major attack on the nation's capitol,…
The somewhat shocking sequel to one of the truly great titles out there launched earlier this year and we will see how well it lives up to its namesake. The first issue was that the original didn't leave an opening for a sequel. At all. It had a very definite conclusion. So, 2K Marin had an ugly problem in even trying to start this game in the first place. And they shoehorn it as well as they can, but it is still…
After two major excursions (and a PSP one as well), Kratos arrives onn the PS3 and is still not a happy man. You still seek to kill Zeus and you have the Titans helping you get there. Let's say, upfront, this might be the best looking game in history. It is a technical marvel. Kratos looks like a real person, the levels are crazy detailed, the framerate almost never chugs (it did for me one time at the very end out…
Dante was a poet who wrote a long piece on Hell. However, in Visceral Games' newest title, Dante is not so much a poet but, instead, is a brutish thug who can slaughter the minions of Hell with few problems. In reality, Dante was a skinny, waifish little dude...but in the game, he is a huge brute. The game is God of War in everything but name, but is it fun? Dante was a Crusader here. His wife, Beatrice, made a deal…
Katamari are a series of games that pretty well defy criticism. They are all insanely goofy, all look pretty terrible, all are brutally redundant...yet are, consistently, absurdly playable. And this is no exception. The creator of the series didn't work on the previous Beautiful Katamari (which was awesome nonetheless), opting to work on Noby Noby Boy instead, but is now back with Katamari Forever, which signals…
Ok, first off, I did like this game. BUT, this game might be one of the worst designed messes in recorded history. They took the simple game design of previous Lego titles and, well, discarded all of it. First off, the hub --- rather than being a quick portal to game levels --- is now a level of its own. Which means you get to FIND where the levels are. Fun. Rather than making it easy to locate, you have to search…
Read the full review LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
I was really looking forward, though, to Crack in Time. And, to be honest, is totally exceeded all of my expectations. This might be the best title on the PS3 (keep in mind, I haven't played a ton of games to completion on the console to date, so my experience is, admittedly, limited). It takes the successful formula, adds a more open-ended frame to the engine, and produces an amazing little game. As the game…
Read the full review Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Last year, we had two open world games with superpowers as the main hook. Prototype was the disappointing release and the other one was Sucker Punch (Sly Cooper makers)'s Infamous. And it was a solid addition to Sony's really good catalog of exclusives. You play Cole Porter, a courier who accidentally destroys your city with a bomb that manages to grant you incredible powers based on electricity. Your city gets…
The start of the year has had an unusually large number of big titles. Bayonetta, Army of Two II, and Darksiders have all hit. Now, we have Dark Void, Capcom's vertical-based 3rd person shooter. And an airborne combat game largely designed by many of the people behind Crimson Skies --- how in the world could this NOT end up awesome? Well, Capcom pulled it off. With aplomb. You play William Gray, an arrogant WW II…
I actually kinda liked the original game, though the main characters were utter knuckleheads. I certainly did not expect a sequel to be forthcoming after the original, though it apparently sold rather well. The sequel takes place in Shanghai and Salem and Rios are in Shanghai when all hell breaks loose. And, literally, ALL HELL breaks loose. A former military leader attempts to take over China via threat of nuclear…
So what happens when the apocalypse comes earlier than expected? You get a nice bloodbath between angels and demons. War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, finds himself embroiled in the conflict and needs to restore the destroyed Earth as much as possible. Mankind is, of course, very much dead due to apocalypse and War is basically the fall guy for the whole ordeal. War is suitably bad ass, making Kratos…
Microsoft's premier racing franchise, Forza, has turned into one of the more under-respected but overall terrific racing titles on the market. Giving you the ability to make the game so hardcore that you cannot enjoy playing it to being so arcade-y that you cannot help enjoy playing it, it manages to somehow be the second best arcade racer on the market (behind Burnout) and, for my money, the best sim racer on the…
James Cameron's ode to hippiness is apparently going to be a critical darling. But, Cameron's track record in gaming is sketchy. Dark Angel, let's be honest, was dogshit. In fact, I hesitate to refer to that due to a concern of offending dogs and their fecal matter. Anywhoo, after the genius concept of a Titanic FPS never saw the light of day --- admit it, it'd be fucking awesome! --- we get Avatar. In Avatar, you…
Richard Marchinko has written a veritable ton of books about his military exploits. It is a bit surprising that a game on his books hasn't been done until now. Our next goal, though, should be for a good game to be made based on the books. In this title, you play Marchinko, apparently the baddest dude in history and founder of counter-terrorism squad Seal Team Six. And your goal is to stop nukes in North Korea. As…
The prior Assassin's Creed was probably the most hyped up series debut not named Little Big Planet. It sold extremely well and provided a storyline ripe with easy retelling as the idea of a man whose family consists of hired killers throughout history gives a game near infinite numbers of sequels to churn through. The second game in most series tends to be the best of the bunch and we'll see if Assassin's Creed…
Tim Schaeffer is a highly-regarded game developer whose games haven't sold shit in years. Psychonauts was an excellent game that bombed unbelievably poorly. With Jack Black providing the lead voice and a wide array of cameos from legends of heavy metal (it's the most coherent Ozzy Osbourne has been in decades now), Brutal Legend hopes to give Schaeffer some commercial viability in addition to his usual quality. So,…
In the annals of really lame game names, this is rather high on the list. A third person shooter that seems to take quite a bit of inspiration from Stranglehold, WET is a game that has definitely been on people's radar for a while. There are some major names providing the voices and the hype for this game was, at one point, fairly high --- though it seems Bethesda has lost faith in the project as they have basically…
Another year, another Yuke's developed WWE game. The bar has been set really with THQ's outstanding --- albeit difficult as all heck --- UFC title. Can THQ finally have their WWE game clean up all of their assorted flaws and bugs. For starters, the clipping is back and depressing. I used to be forgiving, but UFC, which has markedly more grappling, had very little clipping. It is no longer excusable to have this…
Yay. One of the least desired SW storyline that became a shit movie, spawned an apparently mediocre cartoon, and is now a game. It is made by Krome, who created Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, which is a paean to mediocrity. They took their skills and dedication in making mediocre, kid-oriented platformers and unleashed it upon a lame-ass part of the Star Wars universe. You are one of several completely and totally…
Read the full review Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
I have never traditionally been a big fan of rally racing games. Haven't liked one, to be honest, since the Saturn's Rally game. I didn't even much like the original DIRT game. So it was with some trepidation that I tried this one. And, for whatever reason, it really clicked with me. In a major way. The tracks are all over the world and all look different. Morocco doesn't look like Malaysia or Baja. Malaysia doesn't…
If you never played the first MUA...or X-Men Legends...or X-Men Legends II, this is a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler where you take a group of 4 Marvel superheroes through a series of levels, killing a metric fuckton of enemies and finding a metric fuck-pound of collectibles. It's a very tried-and-true game style. Now, the first major concern about this game is that the long-time developer of these series isn't back…
Batman's history in gaming is, to be gentle, mixed. Like all DC Comics properties, his games have tended to suck. Not as bad as Superman (and, suffice to say, not nearly as bad as Aquaman), Batman's games have usually had little to do with the character himself and have just been tedious side scrollers with nothing really special about them. Rocksteady has taken its shot at this character whose games have tended to…
Let's get the story out of the way: It's a convoluted tale of the old West set in a steampunk universe. Oh, and the Civil War lasted for 40 years due to new weaponry. It's probably the least bad part of the game. You play the, well, pitiable Hamilton Rourke, a veteran of the Civil War who is stuck inside of a revolution caused by the profiteering of a major corporation that has gained power over the country when he…
The original Boom Blox was a critical darling, but not a sales powerhouse. Which is a shame as it is the best Wii game not called Mario Galaxy. The physics based gameplay was quite well executed and the cute visuals are family friendly while the gameplay is really quite complex and challenging. So, the question was begged when this game was announced: What can they add? Well, they have added something truly amazing:…
The movie is out in theatres and, well, looks like refried crap. The game is out in stores and is…well, we’ll discuss that in a moment. I have no idea how closely the game follows the plot of the movie. I haven’t seen it and, honestly, have zero desire to do so. But the game has you going through the jungle, arctic, desert, and some island with a massive weapon in pursuit of COBRA. I suppose it is comparable, in…
Based on the Disney movie of the same name that nobody will watch, you are a special agent gerbil sent to investigate a plant that builds appliances that have suddenly come to life and began attacking their owners. So, rather than send in, say, a SWAT Team or the like, they have a collection of tiny, again, GERBILS who are trained and intelligent enough to undetake the mission at a moment’s notice. You get to play…
Read the full review It's a Kid's Movie Game. Do you Not Know How it will be?
The last Fight Night game, for me, was the real beginning of the next generation. And with the studio behind the epic last game no longer in business (gee, thanks Def Jam: Icon!), there was some concern that the fourth game would be less impressive. EA definitely turned it over to competent hands as this game is still an eminently playable boxing game. The single player storyline is fairly lengthy and, well, devoid…
This is a MUCH better game than the original game. This is what is constantly labeled as "damning with faint praise". The game is better than the last one, but games have improved much more since that time, so the original, which was merely sub-par, is supplanted by a better game that, by any comparison standard, is amongst the worst games released this year. The game certainly looks better. This no longer looks…
The de facto third Ghostbusters movie is out, in game form. You are a new recruit of the Ghostbusters, whose job is primarily to test out new equipment. You have no name, but I actually like the way they explain it (you might die and they "don't want to get too close"). The game does pay homage to the two movies nicely, I'll say, but the second movie is basically retired to the sidelines for the most part. The only…
RF: G is a follow-up to two of my favorite FPS from last generation. The geo-mod gimmick was a decent selling point for the prior titles, but with clear issues (why can I only shoot through certain walls and not through others?), the games never achieved the lofty ambitions the developers had for it. Guerilla manages to hit their ambitions impressively. It is one of the most technically amazing games you'll ever see…
From the dustbin of the golden days, Nintendo unearths Little Mac and places him back in the ring to fight Mik...Mr. Sandman. Yeah, that's the ticket. Not going to lie, no Tyson killed this game for me. I never bought the non-Tyson re-release of the original classic and it's not like Tyson could be worth that much money. Nintendo has brought back Punch Out, slapped some waggle on it, and we now have their big…
After the disaster that was Spider-Man 3 and the insultingly kiddy Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, we have a new Spider-Man game. In this one, Venom and a...well, shitload of symbiotes are taking over Manhattan. You are forced to help a wide array of people to try and deal with the symbiotes, with allies ranging from S.H..I.E.L.D to Kingpin. Now, the excellent web swinging mechanic is still in full effect. Swinging feels…
I've finally had a chance to play this game. And as it is clear, the game has some faults. It is an amazing game, but it only works in short doses. Play more than an hour at a time and you will get tired of it. Stick to one area at a time and you'll have a blast. Madworld is another of the "dystopian bloodsport game" series, popularized by Smash TV (and performed excellently, but without great sales, by The Club).…
John Connor, the most pointless hero in the history of movies, is back again. And he's leading the fight against the machines again. Now, Terminator had the launch of their movie (which is apparently good) and had their TV series canceled (which is not good news), so I guess the game is the rubber match in this battle. Well, the game looks really good. The environments look suitably destroyed. And the characters all…
We're, of course, supposed to ignore the savage butchering of Wolverine's origin in this game, ironically titled X-Men Origins. The game takes place in the form of two separate, simultaneous campaigns: A mission in Africa and the escape from the Weapon X facility. I have no idea how closely it mirrors the movie's storyline, but one gets the feeling, early on, that Raven Software was looking to make a really good…
A game that really SHOULD have had a tie-in with whatever the hell that brief ESPN football show was called, Blitz has continued demonstrating that Midway is miles away from their former pure short arcade titles and have embraced a game that lacks Madden's depth, but definitely has much more gore and markedly more smut.. Not saying it's bad...just different. I don't think the gameplay is nearly as good, but the…
Vietnam has managed to be a war without a game that was remotely entertaining attached to it. There have been several epic failures, but the games have been crap. And it's not like, say, the Civil War where the weaponry used doesn't correlate to a good game. Heck, if you took the Far Cry engine and made a Vietnam game based on that, you'd probably have something worth playing. The developers of Shellshock 2, well,…
Wanted was one of my favorite movies of last year. A fast-paced and silly piece of top notch action. The game has taken a long time to come out, so it doesn't have the rub from the movie to help it out. I will say, for starters, this is one of the greatest examples of a rental. As a purchase, it's an incredibly poor idea. As a rental, it is one of the best rental titles out there. The game is short. On the medium…
A game series that, apparently, sells but nobody seems to like and they seem to have multiple sequels released. Nobody seems to be able to explain WHY we've had more than a single Destroy All Humans game. You'd think that they got it all out of their system after the fairly tedious original. The first sequel wasn't terribly amazing and now we come to the first game on the 360. So, how does it work? The game is a…
In one of the more original ideas, D3 publishes a game with a starring character who comes with his own back story. Matt was a long-time action game star throughout the 80's who made some poor games in the 90's (a kart racer killed his career) and is trying to launch a comeback. However, the developers aren't fans and are trying to kill him. Eat Lead is not a great game ... but it IS one of the funniest games made…
The original Godfather game was a good idea that had some serious issues with execution. The game dragged on far too long, the difficulty became a bit comical, and there was nothing much to do outside of the somewhat repetitive gameplay. Visually, it DID look better than the same game on previous generation consoles, but it wasn't terribly impressive. The sequel sought to correct the errors. Did it follow the real…
In my never-ending attempts to get into fighting games, I tried yet another one. Street Fighter IV has the insane level of sheer depth of gameplay, Soul Caliber IV has the visual style and terrific single player gameplay, so what does MK v DCU bring to the table? I will admit that the storyline of the game is about as good as a patently retarded story involving Mortal Kombat characters crossing over to the DC…
Multiple WWE titles in a single year tends to concern me. I get unpleasant Crush Hour flashbacks and, man, NOBODY wants that. THQ decided to go for a slightly different path than they have taken for the venerable SD v RAW series. LoW is certainly more arcade-y in feel and, honestly, are "baby" easy. Easily the easiest wrestling game I've ever played. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it is hard to ignore that you can…
Square, this generation, has been awfully shitty. Infinite Undiscovery was horrible and Last Remnant, honestly, wasn't appreciably better. So, I was, admittedly, a little concerned about Star Ocean. SO: TLH, however, is the best JRPG on the market. It beats out Tales of Vesperia and Eternal Sonata with room to spare. The biggest plus for the game is that there is, literally, ALWAYS something to do. You can pursue…
