89 public written reviews
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There is this notion in some videogames where if you play up to a certain point, that's when things really start getting good and the "real game" kicks in. Usually I mark these as a videogame having a poor opening, not immediately passing judgment on a game can pay off in the long run if you stick with it and in the case of Metal Gear Solid V, I honestly can't pinpoint the exact spot where the game became a…
I cant remember what got me into Demon's Souls in the first place but the idea of a 3D action game reminiscent of the Zelda games of that time but more moodier, atmospheric and "hardcore" seemed intriguing enough to pick up and at best give it a shot. While initially hating the esoteric and challenging experience, eventually I caught the bug and Demon's Souls, even to this day, competes for my 5th slot in "5…
Back at launch, the game got some pretty decent to mediocre reviews with many calling the game out on its performance, its free-to-play model and being unable to make your own hero. As a huge supporter of the game, believe me when I say the game deserved those reviews then. Prices were steep, getting heroes was cumbersome or another money sink and there was little to no end-game progression. Yet the remarkable…
With the huge arrival of Kickstarter and more and more indie projects almost eclipsing their more expensive and blockbuster-ish competition, the smaller games seem to be giving a bigger impact and almost become lauded for being so different trying new things. But, to be a bit cynical, being indie doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to make good games and Metro 2033 is in this weird spot. Atmospheric, creepy…
While I always liked the Dead Space games, I was never a massive fan that I'd anticipate with bated breath whenever the next new installment came out. I'd play them sure but not raising my blood level to a feverish pitch about it so several months after Dead Space 3's rather lukewarm release, I'd thought I'd take the plunge and find out for myself. Unfortunately a lot of the complaints about the game started to…
While I can certainly appreciate the more bombastic spectacles in terms of first-person shooter campaigns (after all, a fun roller coaster is a fun roller coaster), I much more prefer the more story-driven games that have come out. Last year's Dishonored was a surprise and this year's Bioshock Infinite became an early favorite but Metro Last Light was at first a question mark. I sorta liked Metro 2033, with some…
It's a pretty common description for a lot of things that are created, whether game franchises, movie series or albums, where "you take the 'x' from this, take the 'y' from that, put 'em in a blender and you get a perfect package". So with Crysis 3, presumably the last in the Crytek franchise, the goal here is to combine the much more open-ended and player driven gameplay of the first game with the straightforward…
If there's one thing you can credit Resident Evil 6 for is its ambition. Whereas previously the action and story were relatively intimate with it focusing on one core ordeal and seeing characters through it; Resident Evil 6 is all over the map. Literally. With high production values, no less than 4 campaigns with an interwoven storyline that's quite impressive, every part of RE6 should impress you to its core.…
Long in development, heavily guarded and anticipated arguably more than anything so far this year, Bioshock Infinite definitely had a lot to live up to. And while the original certainly left its mark on the gaming industry and while the non-Irrational Bioshock 2 was a good game albeit familiar, the idea of complete invention or revelatory "new-ness" is not quite what people were hoping it'd be. But regardless…
For a game as well-respected and influential as id Software, they're not exactly as prolific as they used to be. Known for frequent entries in the Wolfenstein, Quake and Doom series, the company seems more well-known for their graphical prowess than their multitude of games and with Doom 3 being their last big game, many were wondering what exactly were they up to. Enter "RAGE": a new first-person shooter set in a…
These kind of games generally don't interest me at all so why did I desire to see what Hotline Miami was all about? Word of mouth whether it's from the brutal violence, the stellar soundtrack or the addicting arcade-y feel, something about the game at least was calling out for a playthrough if nothing else. But when word spreads that a small indie game that looks like it was made on a shoestring budget is proclaimed…
From a long development cycle to being outright cancelled and then being picked up by another publisher, the fate of True Crime: Hong Kong is certainly an interesting one. Renamed "Sleeping Dogs" and brought to shelves by Square, it's a success story of a game that took awhile for it to actually come out but unlike similar stories such as Duke Nukem or the recent Aliens game, Sleeping Dogs is actually a good game.…
Despite games such as Spider-Man 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, licensed games tend to fall into 2 categories: they're god awful and easily phoned in and cashing in on the latest movie or TV craze. And then there's the others where they're just decent and nothing too offensive but just enough to at least be playable and people can get some enjoyment out of it. High Moon made a surprising entry into the rare 3rd…
Back when the original Assassin's Creed came out, it was once lauded yet criticized for being really ambitious yet still not enough things to do. Strange how it turns out to be with Assassin's Creed 3 being really ambitious but give you way more things to do and yet still manage to be just as flawed. Well don't get me wrong, this one is clearly the better game as far as storytelling and more gameplay mechanics to…
Easy use of the Kinect tag-line aside, this very concept is at the core of Sanctum's gameplay. Combining tower defense with first person shooting, Sanctum comes in along with Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die! and Iron Brigade where they try doing more stranger experimenting with what can be done in the genre. However where Sanctum's problem lies in that while it is doing something fresh and not commonly seen, the…
Bethesda as a developer can create some of the most beautiful and interesting worlds that just beg to have every corner of its map explored. While prone to technical hiccups and gameplay mechanics are not always perfect, they help support the exploration and sense of discovery those games provide. Bethesda as a publisher on the other hand is something else entirely. From the beautiful-but-gameplay-deficient Rage to…
If you're not mentioning Call of Duty as one of gaming's top-tier shooters, it's usually Halo. On the flipside, if the answer for the most overrated and/or overexposed shooter wasn't Call of Duty, it was usually Halo. Wildly successful and influential in showing console shooters can actually work, the franchise is now in the hands of a new developer, taking on a new storyline and in hopes, starting up yet another…
While I'm sure they didn't bear ill will, there must've been at least a thought floating around in one of Runic Games' members when Diablo 3 was released. Seems that long development times and endless hype doesn't equal unanimous acclaim but unlike the travesty that was Duke Nukem Forever, Diablo was not an atrocious game, just one reeking of disappointment for many. So with Torchlight 2, the more fully fleshed-out…
Like a lot of sequels, Borderlands 2 doesn't have to re-invent itself just to set it apart from everything out there. A shooter with RPG elements, class-based characters with unique skill trees and millions of guns is pretty far from what most competitors are doing. Yet at the same time, the familiarity of this series is always apparent yet somehow it never feels a copy-and-paste job or "phoning it in". Practically…
At this point, I'd expect you already have an opinion about what you feel concerning World of Warcraft. Literally the biggest MMO right now, the game is nearly 8 years old and subscriber base is still pretty high. And despite would-be "killers" that have entered (and quickly exited in some cases) the scene, the juggernaut that is WoW is still recognizable. But as Bono, lead singer of mega-hit band U2 said once,…
There's 2 genres that I always considered my gaming "Achille's Heel": those being RTS and fighting games. While I understand the concepts for both, the strategy and the depths of knowledge of required seemed almost too above me and taking on something this complex seemed more daunting than say, a racing game. While it's easy to play the 2 genres and get a good feel for them, it's when you hop online battling against…
There's the cult hit that was widely praised, near universally adored and yet at the same time failed to find much of an audience with many proclaiming as a gaming injustice. A game so amazingly awesome and yet sold so poorly is a sure travesty. Which unfortunately what Mirror's Edge is not, although you'd be a little taken back by the huge following the game received since it came out. Known for doing realistic…
Weird story: back when I first bought a new laptop, I decided to buy the original Crysis since despite its notoriety for being hard to run, me (with no tech knowledge whatsoever) thought a brand new laptop can run a 2 year old game. Heh, nope. So when I finally got me a gaming PC and new video card, Crysis was the first thing I popped in. And while I already played Crysis 2 on consoles, this year was the first time…
Well, it's finally finished. Mass Effect 3 is in the books (sort of but I'll get into that). With a full trilogy playthrough of 75 hours, plus additional unfinished playthroughs, this series of games will certainly stand out as some of the best the current gen had to offer. And while individually the games had their weakness as well as their strengths, the totality of it all was quite huge. Which makes giving a…
It's hard to imagine many other games having as much of an "event" status then when Blizzard decides to announce a game. An impeccable pedigree and an admirable-yet-frustrating love of perfectionism, it's hard to imagine living in a world where Diablo III actually is actually out. It had to come out eventually but the long running jokes about its lengthy development time, delays and Blizzard's tinkering with game…
Note: Until we know if GB will do reviews for individual episodes or the series as a whole, I'll update this review has new episodes are released. Despite my familiarity with the games of Telltale, I've only played 2...well, technically 2 episodes. My only exposure to their style of games has been the first 2 episodes of Tales of Monkey Island. Adventure games have never really been my thing since they usually have…
I should preface this review by saying I'm not a fighting "aficionado" and not even in the least bit skilled so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. Because Skullgirls seems like a game designed by a tournament fighter (which it is) but mainly for hardcore fighting fans. Now this is an indie game so it wouldn't have the huge budget of Capcom releases or the frequent entries of SNK with King of Fighters…
The announcement and subsequent release of Gotham City Impostors brought with it pretty much a unanimous reaction: "wait, what?" A first-person shooter from the team behind such franchises as No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R and Condemned based around the Batman universe? It is kind of an honest reaction though since the very concept is just so bizarre and in the multiplayer space occupied by Halo, Gears of War,…
I've been a big fan of games with distinctive art styles though I'm not really sure where it comes from. Maybe it's just interest in different forms of animation and painting but I'm always attracted that has a style that's distinctly theirs. The original Dishwasher, titled Dead Samurai, was a pretty good effort with some fast combat action, a bizarrely attractive art style and a rather incomprehensible plot. Oh but…
If recent news stories turn out to be true, then it's too bad Insomniac might not personally make a new entry in the Resistance franchise because for all intents and purposes, they pretty much nailed what the franchise should feel like. From the tone and pacing of the campaign, to the graphics and the engine and to smaller but very important changes such as the return of the weapon wheel, Resistance 3 improves on…
I've read many articles about "games that need a sequel" and they usually involve long forgotten franchises or great games that never got a follow-up thanks to lack of sales or just simply because it would be cool to get a new game. So when Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the third game in a franchise where the previous title was in 2003, not only were expectations high but skepticism was likely on par. With one of the…
While it might lose me points with the "cool" crowd, the one game that actually turned me into "this is something I do for fun" to "this is a huge part of my life and interests" was Final Fantasy VII. Whereas previously I made occasionally pick up a game intended for the hardcore, for the most part I strictly relegated my game purchases to more "fun" titles. But Square's monolith of a game was what compelled me to…
I could fault Capcom for the somewhat lukewarm release that followed (and still is in some respects) when Resident Evil 5 was released. The game was pulling away from its moodier environments, small ammo count and slow, shuffling zombies. In its place where high-octane action sequences, enough firepower to take on a military base and guys with tentacles for heads that more or less can make a break for you. Its…
If Resident Evil 5 was the series' try at a more action-oriented horror, then the Lost in Nightmares DLC attempts to go back to the moodier, more atmospheric days of early Resident Evil. It's designed to be a throwback and to echo the game of 1996 but at the same time to bring the RE4/5 control scheme and make you wonder how a more horror-bent RE would work. And it works surprisingly well though I can sort of see…
Read the full review Emblems and Jill sandwiches: The Return
Quite frankly, this is the part where I'd be going "it's like they went into my head and made a game for me!" since everything about Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (which will now be shortened to "ITSP" just for the fun of it) is exactly the kind of thing I love in games. The genre? The so-called "Metroidvania" style where you're given a gigantic map with interconnected rooms, secret passageways and hidden goodies…
Even with a love of games and willingness to try out anything in hopes that it's good, I will admit that there is certain genres I just plainly suck at. The primary 2 are RTS (real-time strategy) and fighting games and unlike say, first person shooters which tend to rely on communication and teamwork, it's you and you alone and that makes it hard to get into these genres. So when I was playing Super Street Fighter…
Whenever a game gets too tough or a little frustrating, I tend to find my mind thinking of 3 things: A) I'm just terrible at the game and will admit. B) My reflexes aren't there and despite knowing how to play, that day inexplicably I'm playing like crap. And C: the game is just poorly designed. While you can improve on A and the "off nights" are common among anyone, it's C that becomes the hard part to narrow down…
Even with huge AAA titles like Infamous 2 and Mortal Kombat, I thought of no other game the most and the one I was going to own no matter what was Alice: Madness Returns. Having not played the original, that still didn't stop me from checking out every screenshot and video released. With some old-school platforming, a beautiful art design and creative use of the Alice in Wonderland license, my own personal…
This is the kind of game where the hype in the media is not enough to overtake the huge expectations from fans given the talent involved. Like a rock supergroup or the pairing of a successful actor and director, there's more than enough talent in Shadows of the Damned to think it'll be one of the best games of the year. Overseen by Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 4, Vanquish), Goichi Suda or Suda 51 (Killer 7, No More…
Anything with an attractive and a vibrant visual style and I'm usually signed up on the spot. While you could praise a game for being more technically proficient and having realistic everything, there's something more memorable about something that you rarely ever see. It's really this reason that brought me to Lucidity, an adventure title done by Lucasarts with a beautiful soundtrack and an even more dreamlike…
I've always had a moderate interest in the Fear franchise as I find the Alma Wade story interesting yet the blend of typical FPS with horror always felt a weird mishmash as opposed to Condemned where it fit perfectly. But still, the release of Fear 3 was met with such frustration as no less than 3 times was the game delayed from its original Fall 2010 release, leaving one to wish Day One Studios (Mechwarrior series,…
If one shouldn't grocery shop while they're hungry, should one write a review immediately after finishing it? Then after awhile, once the entirety of the game has settled into your brain and you get the broad overview of everything it has to offer, maybe you'll see the game differently if it had a disappointing ending. But here's the thing with Red Faction: Armageddon....there's not much to fully redeem it once…
I found it slightly funny that during all the craziness and official reveals of games at E3, Sony was releasing the sequel to one of their most successful franchises. It seems oddly fitting in that, aside from a couple of releases, the majority of E3 was a lot of sequels, closing of trilogies and iterations only for another sequel to be released that very week which is somewhat similar in design. Make no mistake,…
You have to feel at least a tiny bit sorry for Hunted: The Demon's Forge. The developer, inXile Entertainment, doesn't have a lot of big games under their belt, the only ones being A Bard's Tale from 2004 and the canceled Hei$t. The publisher, Bethesda, so far has had a spotty track record with their games from the okay-ish Wet to the meh Brink and the horrible Rogue Warrior. The release date? The week before E3…
You think that's hard? That's just the tutorial level, that's the next level over there! As a precursor statement, I'll simply state I hate difficult games. While I don't mind a challenge now and then, if a game feels programmed to always win despite the skills on the contrary, I start to get turned off. These can range from a first person shooter with enemy AI having pitch-perfect accuracy or a fighter with…
If there's any game that's come out in the first half of the year that had a big question mark on it, it was LA Noire. Aside from Duke Nukem Forever which is more about the quality of the game given its long development cycle, it was hard to pinpoint just how LA Noire would actually play. Truth be told, I'm a little tired of the sandbox style of games Rockstar has been doing so when it comes down to it, LA Noire is…
It's a sentiment that will either fall on deaf ears due to the extraordinary sales saying otherwise or just simply a "yeah I know but what you gonna do?" response but first-person shooters are starting to bore me. Gone are the days of multiple objectives, freedom to tackle a certain situation how you want or it's just the same basic formula of you, a gun and bullets trying to hit dudes. Brink puts its emphasis…
The latest Mortal Kombat seems designed to appeal to those select group of people who say "why can't they make <insert game here> anymore?" The series hasn't exactly been starved for new releases but after the lukewarm reception to "MK vs DC Universe", a refresher course was kind of needed, to almost remind people what made them feed so many quarters into arcade machines way back when. Granted, nothing much has…
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