31 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.
Pirates the legend of Black Kat is one of those games you pick up when you: A- want a new game but don't have 50$ on you, or B- There are no great new games out when you go in to get a game. Pirates tells...wait for it...the legend of Black Kat, a sultry pirate captain who happens to be the daughter of a noble colony governor. Tragedy befalls her family right out the gate and you embark on a journey of discovery and…
Stranglehold isn't innovative by many standards at all. Let's get that out of the way. It's a 3rd person shooter 'bout a cop in Hong Kong takin out oodles and oodles of baddies. Original? Not so much. It's certainly been done to death in the movies, and it's all been done before in video games. However, much in the way that Watson and Crick did when they unlocked the final mysteries behind DNA, John Woo and Midway…
Soul Calibur 4...george lucas edition. Again we step onto the stage of history, a nonsensical phrasing that always appears to have been written by a 13yr old fresh from his AP english test, just to prove he can sound smarter than he is....and that, is exactly what i was expecting from SC4. and yet... It's not bad, miraculously enough. The story is still as ridiculous as ever. In fact my largest gripe with the game…
I wanted to like magna carta. i don't. now...granted it's pretty. but so is paris hilton and you wouldn't want to have a long term relationship with her. why? it's all superficial. and they both have scabies...-allegedly- see magna carta's problem is it's ambition. it wanted to be the rpg that's different. well congrats. it's -so- different it's almost unplayable. let's examine shall we? -the combat. combat has got…
I must be the only person who ever played this. Well fine! The rest of you missed out big time! This game was like Robotech, meets Resident Evil, meets Aliens. It was revolutionary for it's time, and featured great story elements. The actual gameplay aspects were a little weird since all gameplay takes place w/in your great big mech. it had three forms like a veritech, and you had to investigate a deserted moon…
Read the full review mix robotexch and resident evil...who knew?
Freedom Fighters. Oh the joy. Freedom Fighters is the ultimate (politically) guilty pleasure game. It's an alternate reality in which the russians got the atomic bomb first. This incident led to them being the penultimate superpower rather than the u.s. now fast forward 60 years. Invasion time! The russians have come to put down the last bastion of capitalist dogs; the americans! The game is squad based, sort of.…
Eidos had something special with fear effect. It was gorgeous (for being on ps1), it was innovative with the fear meter, it was a bizarre but truly engaging storyline, and it pushed the envelope with adult themes, that at the time sony wasn't quite ready to push! Find this game if you don't have it. The animated appearance, and backgrounds are insanely well-detailed for the antiquated PSX technology. The gameplay is…
red ninja is like tenchu had a little sister who was kicked in the head by a mule. she tries really hard, and you can tell she's tenchu's kin, but she just doesn't work quite right. first of all the camera....this thing is sociopathic. sometimes it seems normal but every so often, without provocation, it will flip out and spin in circles...stopping only when you're so dizzy you have to turn the tv off. as to the…
LoD was and is a masterpiece. The graphics for the time were stellar, the story is engrossing and the combat engine, though rough, was novel in its intent. The game is also -to this day- the most highly sought after for a seqeul of any game on any platform ever. Think about that for a second. What on earth is sony waiting for? probably, for xbox360 to steal the rights to it. heh heh. The game featured the use of…
tenchu z is not a perfect game. they did some really goofy things with some of the control aspects, and even veterans will need a numbers of plays thru the training level to get it right. but once u do it seems more like a close friend of tenchu rather than the stealth franchise itself. the graphics are nicer, and i find it funny that i can see the a.i.s shadow thru the floor onto the ground below them, while my…
Alright, let's get this out of the way. 15 planes was a really dumb idea. Particularly the 15 planes they chose...eek! But it could be worse. I could be reviewing Blazing Angels again. So here's the skinny: ace combat has come to 360, and it's right at home here. The game is very nearly "Gears of War" gorgeous. It's so pretty I might ask it out on a date...I might (I'm a little shy). No more Osea and Belka, this is…
Now then. I see you actually did pretty well on last year's performance review, which is why I have to say management is surprised and concerned at how you've slipped this time around. We're assuming you're not taking extra coffee breaks and the like but we have to ask; with having brought so little to the table with you this time, what exactly have you been doing with all the extra time? Let's get right to some of…
Mass Effect is one of those games that can easily be misconstrude as pretentious. It can be easily dismissed by KOTOR fans who are annoyed this wasn't kotor 2. Casual gamers can get intimidated by the vast sprawling deep of galactic exploration....at least until someone gets them to sit down with the game for 30 minutes. Mass Effect...well, affects you. It gets under your skin in that all engrossing way that happens…
Frontlines tries to revolutionize the fps formula. Let's get this out of the way now. It doesn't. I've played worse games, and mechanically it's sound...but it just isn't fun, and certainly not worth 60$. So here we go: First off, many thanx to the fella who recommended I buy this game right after finishing rainbow six. yeah, right... So thanx Mr. F.....you know who you are. So what's wrong with the game? Well a…
Vegas 2 may be an expansion, but I wouldn't know. Let's get this out of the way: I have never been a Clancy games fan. Too tactical for me usually. But Vegas 2, is considerably more accomodating, to the rest of us. And if the rumors of it's overwhelming similarity to the first game is to be believed, then I need to go pick up the first edition as well. The story here isn't overtly complex. Terrorists are in Vegas?!…
Okay so the now controversial final tecmo/itagaki game has released. we've all heard that he's quitting tecmo and suing the company. and much of the buzz about that has translated directly to buzz over ryu's latest adventure. Is it justified? well sort of. Let's get the inflammatory stuff out the way first. Itagaki has still released a ridiculously difficult game. Despite promises to the contrary Itagaki has…
Viking tells the tale of an exotically named conannny lookin fella who comes into contact with lots of other exotically named viking folk. His boss apparently gets styling tips from princess leia,and is trying to beat down her unruly goddess cohort, or sybling, or colleague? and she's named hel. yeah, i thought it was misspelled everytime i read it throughout the game. Your job as mighty Skarin, is basically, to…
I will preface this review by admitting i have been less than kind to bad games in the past, going so far in a case or two to have resorted to making disparaging comments to the vices of developers, insinuating that possibly they had some problems with alchoholic beverages and a penchant for over consumption resulting in the sub-standard development of the game in question. i will not be doing so for Turning Point.…
Bioshock is a success in every sense of the word. Graphically, of course it's beautiful beyond description and creepy as all get out; much like discovering those rumors about Jessica Alba's health may be true. Haha! Critically it's incredible: everything from mechanics to gameplay...implementation to innovation...execution to immersion; it's all here and pulled off perfectly. Now yeah, if you have the opportunity…
but even so, the game is still as stellar as ever. the control scheme for the 360 is as usual superior to sony's. the graphical tweaks aren't overtly noticeable and where they are it's unnecessary. some npc's hair has added highlights based off dynamic lighting. well it makes them look plastic rather than better. that minor gripe aside, it still plays better than almost any other stealth franchise out there, and is…
oblivion does everything well. name it...the answer is hell yes. i could go on about the beautiful environments the excellent stories, the character depth in design, the online aspects, or the great combat. i'm not going to tho. for me this game is all about immersion. the first time i wandered into a goblin lair and i saw the giant rat being roasted on a stick, the lines of skulls hanging from the cave ceiling and…
crackdown is a gta clone. this is true, but it does things so much better....in many ways. of course it's got that fine 360 polish to it, so it's very easy on the eyes. it does the free-roaming so well that right out of the starting gate you can take on a boss if you know how. that's a sandbox game, a real one for ya. now, the lock-on system sucks. once you manage to lock on to the right person...it's great. zeroing…
burnout revenge is an obvious improvement over takedown. particularly the collision effects with rear ending cars as opposed to head on collisions...yeah! you can actually survive them now, and not only that the game encourages you in several modes to do exactly that. the draw distance is the biggest advantage the circle-box has to offer. with the heightened resolution, it is noticeable in how much farther you can…
there are a lot of snazzy control effects and pretty colors that most everyone will talk about with GoW. i'm going a different route here. what makes the game amazing? Immersion, pure and simple. the y button acts as an observation key of sorts to direct you to any nifty peripheral action that's going on around you that's important to see. this simple effect places you more in the center of a desperate conflict than…
Adam sessler, say what you will. Xenosaga's culmination was slow coming, and with good reason. everything we needed to see, everything to clean up the entirety of the majestic storyline had to be worked out. and dabnabbit namco nailed it. i was terrified this was going to blow. i could not be more relieved. how good is it? any rpg'er will tell you a game that makes them forget to eat and sleep is a game worth losing…
Read the full review Xenosaga: Episode III - Also Sprach Zarathustra
Finally. This game delivers on all the promises any star wars, gta, or even stealth titles ever enticed us with. Mercenaries is an engrossing world at war that you don't play so much as experience. If you can see it, the odds are you can get there. The struggle is epic, and you really get a sense of being either all alone against the world or at times, part of a great faction. Mercenaries controls much like i/o's…
Evil zone was one of the hardest games for me to find, ever. But when I did it was all worth the effort. The gameplay is totally unique. combining a one-button attack and liberal use of the dpad, it's like playing an anime! Now since it plays just like watching an anime, there's also a lot of story that makes no sense, but it's so much fun....who cares?! Now, as to depth, don't look for it here. Outside the…
Blood Omen 2 is a great example of an awesome game idea, without nearly enough follow through on the production side. Who doesn't wanna be a vampire God subjecting humans and aliens alike to his great powers? We all do. Too bad, that when they started to work out how these powers manifest that they used a weak engine system that has no logic to how you gain and use powers. In addition the graphics guy apparently…
Bloodrayne 2, surprised me. It did something all sequels should do. It's an improvement on the original. I wasn't a big fan of the choppy original, but Bloodrayne 2 does everything better. It's that cousin who got into Harvard, while you got stuck in community college, and it looks really good doing it. The game play is still a little loose when it comes to control, but you get used to it. There's a little overkill…
There are -many- gamers, I imagine who might flame me for this, but it could well be argued that the Xenogears storyline, and concept is better than any Final Fantasy game to come down the pipe in years. Now before you go nuclear, don't get me wrong. I love Final Fantasy and own five installments of the series myself. They are classics all, but Xenogears is so sprawling, encompassing, and thought provoking, it…
Let's get this outta the way...i fell for this game after my first online race where i came from last place to win, and got the "beat codies" achievement denoting i beat a developer first time out. eggcellent. now that said i'm a forza fan. i'm all about customizations, and online auctions, and sim racing styles. i really didn't know what i was going to think of grid...and then i got my first 50x drift multiplier.…
