10 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.
Many modern action games can be boiled down to male power fantasies, but “Warhammer 40K: Space Marine” takes virtual power tripping to a whole new level. Cast as the nine-foot-tall Ultramarine, Captain Titus, players wade into enemy hordes while shrugging off machine gun fire, and hacking Orks to bits with axes, hammers, and swords. Chainsaw swords. No single enemy has even a remote chance of killing Titus; only…
Something about a wildly convoluted obstacle course taps directly into my brain's pleasure center. Growing up, watching Nickelodeon game shows like "Legends of the Hidden Temple" made me painfully jealous. I was certain I could do better than those kids on TV. I knew how to put the Shrine of the Silver Monkey together . The dozens of enormous obstacle courses in 2009's "Trials HD" were no substitute for a temple…
At the outset, “Rage” was a game I didn't want to like. I am an unashamed PC elitist who will always prefer the desktop environment. Unfortunately due to growing software piracy, PC gamers have lost clout within the industry. Former PC developers have been switching their lead platform to consoles for years now, giving PC gamers a thrown-together port a month or two after the console release if anything at all.…
The rise of the downloadable video game marketplace has become the most significant development since the addition of the third dimension. Video games no longer have to be enormous projects with multi-million dollar budgets. A game can be created by a single person in their free time and still be a huge success, as seen with Daisuke Amaya’s “Cave Story.” Because budgets for downloadable games can be significantly…
Sporting one of the most generic titles in recent memory, “Renegade Ops” puts old school arcade action into a modern engine. The game is a top-down vehicle-shooter like the 80s arcade game “Jackal”, but uses modern duel joystick controls similar to “Geometry Wars.” “Renegade Ops” was developed by Avalanche Studios, the studio responsible for the “Just Cause” series, and the game uses the “Just Cause 2” engine to…
The fall of “Sonic the Hedgehog” has been a severe one. Sonic was responsible for pushing the Genesis to greater sales than the SNES in the US, but is now shoved into Nintendo mini-game collections where he humiliatingly loses to Mario in foot races. The 2D Sonic games of the Genesis generation are regarded as classics, while the 3D games are largely derided. Playing “Sonic Generations” made me question whether the…
My time with the Polish developer Flying Wild Hog’s new PC-only shooter, “Hard Reset,” was defined by confusion. I have never been one to skip through cut scenes in video games, even in games with the lamest of stories, but “Hard Reset” tempted me like no game ever has. The story is told in sparsely animated comic book panels between levels, and features some of the worst dialogue and voice acting I have heard since…
A quest for vengeance may be the most played-out plot in gaming, but Digital Extreme’s “The Darkness II” uses the tired premise to create one of the strongest narratives in a first-person shooter since “Bioshock.” The storyline delivers the visceral satisfaction of revenge films like “Kill Bill” and “Oldboy,” but turns its unsurprisingly dark tone on a dime for quieter moments that carry surprising emotional weight.…
While the filthy console peasants play their gimped version of “Battlefield 3” with inferior visuals, texture pop-in, and a 24-player cap in multiplayer, we of the glorious PC gaming master race are experiencing one of the best multiplayer shooters to be released this generation. I must emphasis that it is one of the best multiplayer shooters this generation, because if you’re coming to “Battlefield 3” looking for…
Never have I more eagerly awaited a video game than “Street Fighter X Tekken.” I sought out every announcement and rumor associated with the game ever since it was unveiled at Comic-Con in 2010. I had daily debates on what characters should be included and who would be top tier. I even constructed a custom arcade stick to play it on. My high hopes have been justified by my first week with “Street Fighter X Tekken.”…
