44 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.
Catherine has a lot going for it. It's got the same quirky characterization as the incredibly popular Persona 4, and shares that game's same penchant for high concept and style. Like its titular titillating temptress, it’s incredibly alluring from face value alone. However, thanks to a story whose oddness borders on the inane, and gameplay that can get a tad TOO procedural, Catherine isn't a game that everyone can…
Trenched is a game unlike any that's been released recently. That's because it takes so many elements from so many different games and genres that the stew that emerges from this video game broth pot is one that manages to be delicious, almost surprisingly so. It isn't without its faults, and for all the replayability in its campaign, Trenched still feels a little light in the metal loafers, but fans of Double Fine…
Professional wrestling's been a big part of my life ever since I was a child. Take that as you shall, but much like the industry's quality, even I'll admit that the quality of professional wrestling games fluctuates from great to embarrassingly bad. From that heap arrives WWE All Stars. Between its list of classic wrestlers and fun over-the-top action, there's a lot to potentially love in THQ's latest foray into the…
My personal experiences with Mortal Kombat are far from what most would consider the "golden age". At the end of the day, although I'm sure some have fond memories of Armageddon and MK vs. DC (yes, I'm sure they exist), they don't really put me in the Mortal Kombat "butter-zone". When people started talking about the new MK and how it reminded them of the good old days, I personally couldn't relate. I didn't know…
The case that makes ya... and the case that breaks ya...Rockstar Games doesn't miss. When it comes to creating games based around characters and the worlds they inhabit, no developer does it better. Although pure gameplay has never been the draw of these games, the developer usually does enough creatively or content-wise to make up for this sleight. In the case of L.A. Noire, the story elements are more greatly…
Castlevania is one of my favorite gaming series. Konami's vampire killing romps have been hitting consoles and handhelds since the NES. Yet, despite its longevity and the relative quality (at least of recent installments) of its games, Castlevania seems to be looked on as a second-stringer in the grand scheme of video game franchises. Out of this shrouded lineage come Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, what one could…
This here review was originally posted on my blog HERE and was part of a two part TRON blog that included a review of Tron: Legacy HERE . Welcome to the second part of my holiday celebration of Tron. Hey, it may seem random, but it's kind of a special thing when such a (strangely) revered cult classic comes back in such a big way. Last time, I talked about my thoughts on the film Tron: Legacy, and despite the fact…
I honestly don't know why I keep doing it. Other than a few cart racing games, I'm really not a fan of the racing genre as a whole. Yet, whenever a new racer comes out, I find myself at least somewhat intrigued by it and, if I'm feeling extremely kooky, buying it. This is a choice I almost universally regret as I once again find myself not being compelled to continue racing. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a game…
I'm of the belief that realistic expectations for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood would be low expectations. Here we have the third game in a still inconsistent franchise released only a year after the monumentally improved Assassin's Creed 2 with the crux of its marketing campaign being placed on a multiplayer component. It's true, AC2 was a gigantic step forward from the ambitious, but wholly disappointing…
I'll make no bones about it. Fable III is my favorite game of the Fable franchise. I'll also make no bones about the fact that I was absolutely underwhelmed when I played the first Fable, and thought of the second game as a much better, if not equally underwhelming experience. Fable III I feel finally nails what the series has been trying to do since the beginning, pulling the player into a timeless land where they…
This little bit of self-indulgence was originally posted on my personal blog. Check that out HERE if ya please. What happened to Halloween? As a child, it was always one of my top holidays to look forward to, but at a certain age, there just isn't much to do with All Hallow's Eve anymore, that is at least nothing that really has to do with the spirit of it. You can certainly dress up and go to a party or go to one…
This review was originally posted on my own personal blog... just an FYI. http://ricardosgarden.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-rix-review-castlevania-harmony-of.html 2010 seems to be the year of our lord Dracula. Not only is Konami's venerable vampire-killing franchise getting a proper current-gen console release when Lords of Shadow comes out later this year, but during Xbox LIVE's summer of arcade, we're given a unique…
For all its charms and “console-centricity”, I could not get into the original Battlefield: Bad Company. Don’t get me wrong, there were many aspects I liked; it had likeable characters, the premiering Frost Bite Engine opened up a world of possibilities, and it had a decent multiplayer component to it. However, for every positive, I couldn’t help but think the game was a little off. The single-player campaign,…
Many cinema-goers may recall a little-known film called “Pulp Fiction”. In it, Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Jules, often repeats a made-up bible verse; a real showstopper, talking about “the weak” being shepherded through “the valley of darkness”, and striking down those who attempt to “destroy his brothers. It’s at the end of the film that we realize that Jules really doesn’t know what the verse means, that he…
Perhaps the last great World War II epic, Call of Duty 2, to many, was the end of an era. Although subsequent efforts by other developers have been adequate, punctuated by Treyarch's latest Call of Duty: World at War, Infinity Ward's exit from the European theater still remains one of the finest efforts set in the heat of the second world war. Perhaps it merely had the exquisite timing of being the game that…
It's been a long and strange trip to get here, but Brutal Legend, a game about a heavy metal fantasy world created by the master of underappreciated games, Tim Schafer, is here. Between its subject matter, its inherent humor, and the man behind the scenes, there is an overwhelming desire to want this game to be something special, to succeed above everything else and there are certainly some things Brutal Legend does…
Few game series have had as many memorable and iconic characters than the Final Fantasy franchise. Where once Americans could only expect to play about 1/2 of the games the series had on offer, the miracles of modern gaming (and remakes/re-releases) has opened up the entire lineage to anyone wanting to get their RPG on. With the launch of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Square-Enix has essentially thrown us a crash course…
It's a strange thing to be talking about 2-D fighting games again with any sort of relevance, but with Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue, and now the 12th (official) iteration of the King of Fighters series, '09 is feeling more like '90 if you can dig what I'm putting down. I'm not a stalwart fan of the KOF franchise, and as such, didn't have any pre-concieved notion regarding what to expect with SNK's latest, at least in…
Of all the various flash games one could play whilst wasting their time away on the internet, one would likely say that few (if any) warranted a full-fledged game, let alone one that would cost 15 dollars. However, Trials HD successfully melds the fun and addiction of similar flash games with depth and replayability that not only justifies its price, but results in an immensely enjoyable product overall. Trials HD…
I've been a pretty staunch defender of the original Call of Juarez. Despite it's somewhat rough appearance and some creative, but ultimately failed gameplay choices, it was a surprisingly fun and interesting romp through a tragically under-utilized setting in video games, the Old West. Despite its somewhat limited appeal, apparently the cult following of the tale of Billy Candle and Reverend Ray warranted a sequel…
Now, being only a year old at the time of the Ghostbusters 2 and being just a wee lad while The Real Ghostbusters was at its apex in popularity, I can't say for certain how exactly I managed to become such a Ghostbusters fan. In fact, for years, the only one of the two movies I could recall was the second one (partially because of my fascination with slime) and the whole of what I recalled from the show were…
Red Faction isn't a game for everyone. So very few games actually ARE for everyone that this statement really doesn't say much. However, Red Faction: Guerrilla seems so aggressively skewed towards the fans of random destruction with as little attachment to world and story that it could scare many away simply with its first few missions. However, for those willing to smash past the somewhat unpolished and worn…
It shouldn't be difficult to make a game about Wolverine. The guy murders other guys with six razor sharp adamantium claws on his hands, has a healing factor that makes him one tough sum-bitch, and has a sordid and violent past involving paramilitary organizations, ninjas, and robots. How it's taken this long to make a decent game involving the feral Canuck is beyond me, but finally, Logan's time has arrived. X-Men…
The first Godfather game for last gen consoles definitely had enough unique mechanics to seperate it from the long list of GTA clones that plagued the PS2 and Xbox. It certainly didn't hurt to have the license to one of the greatest movie franchises, but EA managed to make a game good enough to stand on its own merits. With the Godfather 2, the differentiation was to be even greater and, on paper, it should have far…
Much like the movie that its based off of, Wanted: Weapons of Fate can be flash without substance many times. Though nothing really discernible truly occurs during the events of either, you walk away feeling satisfied simply because your sensory array has been so tickled by the experience. While it doesn't have the legs to whole-heartedly recommend as a purchase, Wanted: Weapons of Fate offers satisfying shooting…
It has been a long time since the mainstream had any reason to care about Street Fighter. Since Street Fighter II took the world by storm back in the 90's, the game has remained out of the public eye, yet still maintaining a loyal following with its rock solid fighting mechanics. With the release of Street Fighter IV earlier month, however, Capcom has invited the public at large to once again step into the ring and…
The ice ninja vs. the dark knight At first glance, the new Mortal Kombat crossover from Midway seemed like a wee bit of an attempt to cash in. After all, MK's hay-day has since passed, and the fighting franchise all but ended itself with the PS2's massive Kombat mash-up, Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Adding superheroes seems like a surefire way to get anything relatively noticed by the public at large, but look into…
The seminal title of Microsoft's Xbox 360, Gears of War was undeniably a good game. Whatever you felt about the game's story or somewhat ham-fisted multiplayer set up could not dampen the fact that the game had some of the most solid gameplay and most beautiful graphics that had been seen in a console game up to that point. Now two years removed, a ton of progress has been made since Gears of War first graced our…
The first Fable was a game I had severely mixed feelings about. Playing the game about three years following its initial release certainly didn't help matters, but just something about it felt very... bleh. I certainly was excited of the eventual culmination of the various choices in the game, but sadly it could not emerce me enough to actually REACH that culmination. I feared it would be the same with Lionhead…
When first seeing demos for The Force Unleashed, I couldn't help but think it was just an excuse to fool around with a bunch of neat physics tools. I mean, look at the base story for the game, especially in those early stages; you play as Darth Vader's "Secret" Apprentice, a character nowhere even HINTED at in the original trilogy or prequels. The chances that this game was going to have a meaningful impact on the…
What can be said about Rock Band 2 that was not already stated in the first? Essentially, none of the core gameplay mechanics, the quality of the sound design, nor have the graphics made any amazing leaps forward. However, a few key inclusions to the overall gameplay package have made Rock Band 2 not only better than the first, but as darn near perfect as a rhythm game can get. So, everyone should understand how…
Call of Juarez makes it's way onto the Xbox 360 from PC a few years ago. While the game definitely shows some age and perhaps lack of polish in it's graphics and some of it's platforming bits, it's overall a pretty good first person shooter in an exciting setting with a decent storyline. The game puts you behind the eyes of two distinct characters, each set against one another. As Billy Candle, a half caucasian,…
Bioshock is many things. Yes, on the surface, it's a first person shooter. Dig deeper, and you'll find that it has several role playing elements involved with it's vast plasmid system. Fire up the game proper, and it starts lookin' like a piece of interactive fiction, like a Myst. But, actually play it, and I mean PLAY IT, and you'll find the experience really defies an explanation or label. It is, without a shadow…
Now, I like sword slashing and boob ogling as much as the next guy, and there's plenty of both in THQ's new Conan game. It's been a while since we've seen any sort of digital representation of everyone's favorite barbarian, and although there's plenty of gory action and high fantasy to be found in this Cimmerian's hack and slash effort, repitition and poor design choices lead to more headache than head rush. So…
No pun intended, but in Ubisoft's new game Assassin's Creed, that execution is somewhat disappointing. In a lot of ways, Assassin's Creed is a whole lot of fun if you can take it for what it is, but exactly what this game IS can be somewhat hard to define. Story-wise, Assassin's Creed is a relatively strong game. You'll play as Desmond Miles, a former assassin in the modern day who has since gone legit., becoming a…
With games not getting any cheaper, in fact, getting much more costly, the dance of trading in games for a fraction of their original price, waiting for games to be put on discounted "Greatest Hits" labels and/or settling for used copies that have more scratches then Samurai Jack after a fight has always been one the gamer was forced to dance. Luckily, the fine folks at Valve games have given us one hell of a deal…
Rock Band is a game that will be remembered. More accurately, Rock Band doesn't appear as if it's going away anytime soon. Developer Harmonix huge rock n' roll simulation has finally come out, and what a game it truly is. Anyone familiar with the Guitar Hero will know what to expect from this game, as they are undeniably alike in design (Harmonix is the former co-developer of the Guitar Hero series) but the game's…
...so it is a good thing that EA got that mechanic right in this game. For a rookie franchise, this is actually a rather good first effort. In .skate, you'll play as a skater working their way up the from unknown to sponsored skater to skate legend. The game plays out in a sort of open ended city, where you'll be skating around completing objectives like collecting skate footage and still pictures along with…
If one recalls my Assassin's Creed review, I spoke about a game not delivering on the promises it makes during development. In a way, this point relates to Mass Effect, a game that, despite the LOFTIEST of promises made during the games lengthy production, seems to have followed through with each and every one. However... this leaves the game feeling more than a bit... scatter shot in some key areas. The story is,…
The Call of Duty series has been both at the top of the FPS pile, as well as near the bottom. Several console iterations of the popular WWII shooter have been sub-par to say the least, but console owners finally got a true port of the fantastic Call of Duty 2 back in 2005. The Infinity Ward developed game was then succeeded in 2006 by the dismal Call of Duty 3, this time developed by Treyarch. The poor quality of…
Having never played a DMC game prior to this, the fourth installment, I was skeptical about what all the hubbub was. On the surface, the game's a straightforward hack and slasher with some fancy moves, but digging below that, you'll find a game with an intricate fight system, well produced cutscenes, and undeniable charm. You don't have to have played and of the previous Devil May Cry titles to be able to enjoy this…
I recall fondly the days of the N64, and playing the very first Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. In fact, the game may have very well been my first FPS game that I ever played, and despite the foggy visuals and nonexistent story, I enjoyed the heck out of Turok's frenetic shooting and visceral fights with a childhood obsession of mine, Dinosaurs. Now, over a decade later, the beloved franchise, once thought dead, has…
The first "true" sequel to the revelutionary Grand Theft Auto III, GTA IV throws gamers back into the crime-ridden streets of Liberty City for another spree of sex, violence, humor, and drama. However, the only thing gamers will recognize from the original GTA III is the same signature free-roaming sand box gameplay that put Rockstar's game franchise on the map. Though things have been added, its what GTA IV removes…
Long held as a stalwart on the PC, Sid Meier's long-running Civilization series has never had a true and faithful built for consoles version. That is *dramatic pause* until now! Yes, built from the ground up, Firaxis and it's head man Sid Meier bring to PS3 and Xbox 360 the incredibly stream-lined Civilization Revolution. Though fans of the PC games may not see much reason to delve into a seemingly stripped down…
