113 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.
Always have trouble writing reviews for this brand of game because there's just so much stuff going on that I inevitably forget to mention some key point or feature. But whatever. I'll do what I always do - ramble incoherently for a few paragraphs and tack a score on the end. Like most if not all Elder Scrolls games before it Skyrim places you in the boots of a person taken prisoner for reasons that aren't ever…
Arkham Asylum was a game I feel like had a lot going against it. I mean it's a licenced game based on a comic book. The vast majority of which are might crappy. I don't think anyone went into the game expecting it to be anything other than mediocre at best, but against all odds it wound up being one of the best games of 2009. In the time since Asylum you'd have hoped other comic book game developers would've looked…
Alice: Madness Returns is the sequel to 2000's American McGee's Alice. I understand that Madness Returns takes place some years after the original, which you can play for yourself as you get a code for it with this game which is a nice touch. I only tried the original briefly and while I could still somewhat appreciate it's style despite it's dated visuals, the gameplay was kind of shitty. Fortunately Madness…
Supremacy MMA isn't an MMA game in the way EA Sports MMA or the UFC games are. It doesn't try to simulate any aspect of the sport. It's really just a fighting game with MMA trappings. There are submissions but you don't really make anyone submit. There are cages, but you won't use them tactically in a bout. They are merely a backdrop for the brutal bashings that you'll be indulging in. And it is fairly brutal, being…
This game aside my knowledge of the Deus Ex universe is fairly minimal. At least once a year I tend to start up the first game, play through the Liberty Island opening and stop not long after that. I don't know why I stop there. I don't think the game is bad at all. But I do. I rented Invisible War once. Didn't have it long enough to make a lot of progress, but from what I'd played I didn't think it as bad as many…
I'm going to be honest. I liked the first inFamous a great deal. That's to say I like how it played. But I can't remember a damned thing about the story. I know I was bad. And someone died. And time travel. But that's about it. And now just a couple of weeks after finishing this game, the details of it's story are a pretty fuzzy. Everything else though is a wee bit less fuzzy. It helps that practically everything…
I was nervous about the prospect of importing this after it'd been refused classification on our shores. It was difficult to determine the legality of doing so. A bunch of people said it was fine, some said it wasn't, some said it was fine but not in certain states. In the end I caved and ordered the sucker in. And it got here just fine. I've been a Mortal Kombat fan since I was like 7 or 8. I've played everything…
I don't know anything about Noir as a genre or Police Procedural for that matter, but LA Noire has a gripping atmosphere and that the police work depicted in the game is more about clue finding, suspect interrogating and witness interviewing than simply shooting guys makes the game a dozen times more interesting than it could've been otherwise. Combat actually is arguably the games weakest point from a gameplay…
The main attraction in this new Fight Night game is it's Champion mode. Champion mode is a linear, story driven series of fights that puts you in the trunks of fictional pugilist Andre Bishop. It's kind of neat, it shakes things up a bit and adds something not often seen or at least done particularly well in sports games - adds a narrative. Seeing as how the past few games have been more or less the same in terms of…
There was a lot of rumor leading up to the games release that this would be a multiplayer centric chapter in an otherwise entirely singleplayer focused franchise. Thankfully this is not the case and while the game does include a fairly enjoyable multiplayer experience, it is but a small piece of a fairly sizable puzzle. Assassins Creed: Brotherhood is a direct continuation of the last game. I don't think I'd…
The Saboteur takes a lot of obvious inspiration from other games. You could say it borrowed the climbing from Assassins Creed. You could say it took it's stealth sections were inspired by Hitman. You could say its cover based shooting was like that of a Gears of War title. Alas while it has the basic mechanics of these other games, it doesn't pull them off quite as well. You play as Sean Devlin, a likable Irish…
Bullestorm places you in the combat boots of one Grayson Hunt, former military bad ass turned space pirate badass who has a score to settle with his old boss after finding out he'd been manipulating his team into killing innocents. The story isn't why you'll play Bulletstorm, that being said it isn't half bad. It gives you plenty of excuses to murder everything you come across and really, what more need it do? The…
Just a quickie because there isn't really that much to say about it really, it's been out long enough that you folk will know all about it already so just a run down of my thoughts. The game has a story, the first third of which I don't remember seeing as how I played this game off and on over the course of the several months since it's release. But that doesn't really matter. The story just gives you excuses to…
Wet puts you in the shoes of Rubi Malone, voiced by Elisha Dushku and she does a pretty good job I might add. Rubi is a gun for hire and throughout the game you'll put said guns to good use. You have other weapons at your disposal but you can get through the entire game relying solely on the pistols with which you start and they have unlimited ammo, so why wouldn't you? While most games with dual wielded weapons…
Red Faction: Guerrilla is the third Red Faction game and like the others the gist is that you're a oppressed miner guy on Mars and naturally you want to fight against said oppression. This involves a lot of shooting guys and blowing stuff up. Blowing stuff up is the games biggest strength. Geomod 2.0 allows destruction on an epic scale. I won't say it's realistic because I've never blown up a building before, I've…
So the game opens up with Spider-Man attempting to foil Mysterio's theft of The Tablet of Order and Chaos. An artifact with mystical powers, naturally. But while doing so he kind of breaks it and pieces of it get spread across a few different dimensions and the Spider-Men of each have to get them back from the villains who came across them and got all powered up by them. You have your classic, "Amazing" Spider-Man.…
I enjoy epic stories with well thought out plots, twists, interesting characters and fleshed out worlds as much as anyone, but at heart I am eternally a teenager. You throw in gratuitous amounts of gore and nudity and I'm pretty much guaranteed to at least glance in your games direction. Splatterhouse has blood, guts and T&A in spades. Fortunately it's also fairly decent game to boot. Once again you are put in the…
So Fable 3 casts you as the Prince of Albion, brother of a tyrannical King. Early on he crosses a line or two and you along with your mentor Walter decide to hightail it out of there and get a revolution started. This involves a lot of hacking Hobbes, bashing Balverines and terrorizing townspeople. Okay maybe not so much terrorizing townspeople, but it's fun to do regardless. The simple but still satisfying one…
Okay. So Dead Rising 2. You play Chuck Greene - former motocross superstar, now just dude doing what he can to keep his Zombrex supply up in order to stop his daughter Katey from turning. He goes to Fortune City to win some money on a game show and then suddenly ZOMBIE OUTBREAK. You get framed for this, so you got to find out what's up. This involves killing Zombies and junk. Killing Zombies is where the game…
Pros Bayonetta is a fun character to watch, whether you're playing her in game or watching her in one of the games many over the top cinematics. Motorcycle, Rocket Riding sections and more do a good job of adding variety to the game. Not that the game's fun, hyper kinetic combat system isn't fun enough on it's own. Great soundtrack. Cons Camera sometimes doesn't keep up with the action. Story wasn't especially…
Pros It's an RPG! With spies! That counts for something in my book. Likable characters. Handles dialogue in a way that forces you to think on your feet. Cons It's more RPG than shooter, which is a problem when it comes time to shoot something. Technical issues. Doors not opening when they're supposed to, helicopters not blowing the heck up when they're supposed to and so on. Not great AI has your foes often staring…
Pros Tells a good story with plenty of likable characters. Shooting feels good. Good use of music. Plenty of activities to pursue outside the main storyline. Cons It only happened once so I won't hold it against the game, but the first time I loaded it up I experienced all manner of physics bugs. Especially in relation to carts and wagons. It didn't bother me until I actually needed to use a cart to proceed and the…
Pros Great looking, well-developed, interesting characters who are fairly easy to grow attached to. Good soundtrack. Loads of cinematic flair - good use of lighting, camera angles. Unique gameplay. Engaging story. Cons Movement controls can be a little bit wonky. English voice acting isn't always spot on. I'm finding it hard to come up with a lot to say about Heavy Rain, so I'll be brief. I can say I've never played…
Pros Very good looking game. More interesting side quests and other assorted diversions than the first game. Solid game play. Good at handing out achivement points, if that's your kind of thing. Cons Side quests are arguably more fun than the main storyline. Game sometimes misinterprets which direction you intended on jumping. That's bad. Iffy looking facial animation. Assassins Creed 2 is a very good sequel. It…
Pros Almost all the characters are interesting in someway or another. Shooting feels solid and bad guys don't take a bazillion bullets to go down this time. Improved melee combat Though almost always optional, stealth is actually useful and enjoyable to make use of. Simple, unobtrusive puzzles. Good platforming. Awesome action sequences. Fun and varied multi player modes. Aurally and visually fantastic. Cons Cover…
Pros Combat mechanics are simple, but fun and flows well. It's entertaining to watch. Great in terms of both visuals and sound, it makes for a great atmosphere. Includes voice acting. Pretty good all round. Not too much combat. Beating stuff up is fun but Batman is meant to be an awesome detective as well and it lets you be one in this game - mainly by solving Riddler's Riddles. Story is good and well told.…
Pros The games environments , Hogwarts specifically looks great. Theres a decent enough variety of stuff to do. The games generous with achievements . Cons But the game is over before you know it. The character models for the most part look alright, save their cold dead eyes.. Also Draco's head looks like it was whacked in with a shovel. Perhaps he had some kind of accident since the last movie and this is actually…
Pros Combat is exciting, both to look at and participate in. Assassins Creedesque climbing abilities make getting around the city a lot of fun. Well told story, one that you'll want to play through at least twice so you can see both sides of it. Collectibles show up on your mini map, so getting all that crap that would be painful in other games is done with relative ease in inFamous . Cons Some of the side missions…
Pros * The swing mechanics take some getting used too, but after a bit of practice you'll be flying through the air with the greatest of ease. It's more skill based then the swing mechanics out of say Spiderman . * Chucking cars at dudes is fun. * Great visual and a pretty awesome soundtrack. * Shows a good sense of humor in certain places. Cons * It's my opinion that the game takes a good deal of time to get...…
Pros Fights take a certain level of tactics to win. Button mashing will only get you so far if you're not great at the ground game and knowing where you need to be to do this or how to keep your foe from doing that. Huge roster. Decent visuals. Cons Single player is a bit crap. Some animation problems. No cross profile create-a-fighter fights. I'm generally not a sports person, but I don't mind UFC . If I'm…
Pros * Video content before the matches is interesting to watch and probably holds a good deal of nostalgia value for you folk who know your classic wrestling. * The ability to import the Smackdown vs Raw 09 roster is neat. Cons * It's simplified, but I think the folk playing this are probably the folk playing the more complicated Smackdown v Raw games so to most, as it does to me - it'll probably feel extremely…
Pros Bullet curving mechanic is well implemented and not some easy mode instant kill button. Pretty decent visuals. Solid gunplay and cover system. Cons I finished the game in just over four hours. So it's terribly short. Team Quotes as unlockables . Who cares? Not me. I'm not familiar with the comics and the only things I remember from the movie are the keyboard "fuck you" scene and Angelina Jolie's ass but you…
Pros * The game takes full advantage of what makes Wolverine who he is in terms of his abilities. Whether that's the healing feature which actually shows the bullet holes in his body and him actually regenerating missing... Features. Or him using his claws as if they were actually claws and tearing the enemy to shreds, quite literally in many cases. * Simple controls let you masterfully do the above mentioned…
Pros The games over the top nature makes it easy to get into whether you're a 50 Cent fan or not. If you ARE a 50 Cent fan theres unlockable music videos and such which you'll probably enjoy. Ragdolls seem virtually weightless so the way they fly back when you shoot them is amusing and satisfying. Cuss button, heh . Cons The game is pitifully short. I finished it in just under five hours on normal difficulty and I'm…
Pros Light strategy elements improve what would otherwise be a rehash of the first game. Executions are satisfying. Cons I don't consider myself a graphics whore, but GFII's visuals do look somewhat dated. Building layouts are reused with very little change, making the taking over of businesses and rackets somewhat dull after awhile. Difficulty connecting and staying connected to online games In comparison to the…
Pros Good sense of movement. Melee combat though generally not the option you'll choose is fun and well animated. In a world where every other game is grey and brown, the bright colors in this title make for a welcome change. Cons Gun play isn't quite as fun, though when push comes to shove it's generally the combat option you'll take because it's quicker. Coming across sections where the next course of action isn't…
Pros Mercs mode offers some replayability Boss battles are fun Shooting Zombies/ Las Plagas / Whateveryoucallthem is fun, satisfying. Co-op turns a good time into a great one. Cons Can't move and shoot. Sheva isn't really an interesting character. Laser Sight sucks. I'm not going to pretend I know the first thing about Resident Evil. I played #4 a bit and enjoyed it well enough. I've seen the movies and while I know…
I'm not going to do a review in my typical format, because I haven't explored it in depth. And I'm probably not going too. I don't really play Tiger Woods, I just find it relaxing somehow. Even though I suck at it. So I'm going to talk about the game a little bit, I'll attach a score at the end and you can read into it whatever you like. Or don't. The first thing I did upon loading up the game was create my…
Pros Great stylized visuals, sound New Prince and Elika are good characters and they interact in a way that holds interest. Solid platforming action Cons Too short Perhaps too easy After you've got all four powers there seems no point to collecting light seeds except for achievements. The completionist will probably think it reason enough, but it's kind of lame how they suddenly become useless. It doesn't feel so…
Pros * Visually sound * The ability to walk takes the tedium out of trying to scale a flight of stairs. * Hall of Meat activity's make bailing productive and often fun. Cons * Few songs in the soundtrack really tickle my fancy. * Still kind of think theres too much on one stick. * Some outright dumb choices were made when it came to menus * Walking while useful, is difficult to control. Feels more like you're in a…
Pros Engaging story and atmosphere, with plenty of likable characters. A decent balance between gun play , platforming and puzzle solving. Cons Introducing monsters in these kinds of games annoy me. It's like. To begin with it's about the treasure and beating dudes to finding the treasure and that's cool. But it feels like most every game or movie with this kind of plot throws in a supernatural element and then BAM…
Pros VATS makes blowing guys up pretty satisfying. A bunch of interesting side quests. Gets the whole Post Apocalyptic atmosphere down good. A larger voice cast in comparison to the three-four people they had for Oblivon . Cons The main quest is extremely short and the conclusion is unsatisfying (though future DLC might rectify that) A lot of the humor just fell flat with me. Despite the fact you can get companions…
Pros Some of the best Team Based action around. Versus mode is a good way to mix things up when you've played the campaign to bits. It's good at making you jump. Cons Only four maps which on Normal at least can be done within an hour or so each, so the games "director" aside replayability comes from playing it on harder difficulties, basically. This'll be a short review. The games great. There just isn't a whole lot…
Pros A juvenile sense of humor. This might be a con in your books, but I'm all for some dick and fart jokes. A fully fleshed out co-op experience with LOCAL MULTIPLAYER . Over the top cut scenes with plenty of call backs to the original Saints Row. Over the top action. Cons Occasional glitches, some that can get you stuck inside specific places in the environment . For example I got stuck INSIDE some train tracks.…
Pros Simple, though still quite involving combat that's as fun to play as it is visually impressive. Moral choices that make differences beyond having folk either love you or hate you. Terrific audio and visuals that do a good job of immersing you in this Fairy Tale. Lots of neat little side activities to do. A good amount of humor, both dark and more lighthearted. A good amount of interesting Albion history in it's…
Pros Pretty intense action that utilizes cover mechanics well. A story less about the war and more about a handful of the people in it, which gives it a more personal touch then some other games provide. More blood and gore then the average war game. Hands achievements out like candy, so if you like seeing your gamer score go up then this is a great game for it. Cons Sometimes rather then hide in the position you…
Pros Does a good job of making you feel like a bad ass . Explosions look sweet. Good variety of weapons, vehicles and various explosives to wreak havoc with. Cons Games pretty damn buggy. Some physics issues. Dudes in buildings with rocket launchers. Lack of Local Multiplayer The original Mercenaries was somewhat under appreciated. In the end the same might be applicable to this sequel. While it's got some pretty…
Pros It plays faster then the competition, if the slower speed of the WWE games bothered you. TNA Wrestlers faithfully recreated. Story is slightly more interesting then you'd expect from a wrestling game. Cons Create A Wrestler is pretty crap, both in terms of cosmetics and moves you can assign. Not a great diversity in match types. Stupid Tag Team AI. Doesn't appear the Knock Out division is represented. To you…
