kensterfox's Reviews

The Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure2008

Jul 7, 2009

If you live in America, you know about Star Trek. You may not be a fan, but you certainly have a good idea of what it is, and the impact it has had on your society. If you live in England, the same thing applies to Doctor Who. But in Germany, there is a science fiction franchise that has existed longer than either of these two storied universes - the story of Perry Rhodan. Beginning as a series of serial writings in…

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Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal2009

Jul 7, 2009

Tales of Monkey Island: The Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is a Monkey Island game, or, at least, the first part of one. It looks like a Monkey Island game, it sounds like a Monkey Island game, it feels like a Monkey Island game, and it plays like a Monkey Island game. For many readers, that will be all the review they need. For everyone else, however, a bit of perspective may be required. The name Monkey Island…

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Full Throttle1995

Jul 6, 2009

Ask someone knowledgeable about the video game industry, especially its history, about noteworthy individual game designers, and Tim Schafer's name is more likely than not to be one of the first mentioned. His playfully dark style and penchant for witty dialogue give the games that he works on a feel all their own, and this is certainly true of his first game as project leader, Full Throttle. Full Throttle takes…

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Outcry2008

Jan 15, 2009

Every genre of video games has at least one model, one bright, shining example of greatness that countless games afterwards will try to copy. First-person shooters have Doom, Quake, Halo, and Gears of War. Real-time strategy has Command & Conquer and StarCraft. Survival horror has Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Platformers have a number of games with "Mario" in the title. All great games that spawned countless…

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Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner2008

Aug 12, 2008

In 2006, Telltale Games came up with a formula for creating episodic adventure game series. The first element of this formula involved finding an entertainment property with enough of a fanbase to provide an instant market for their game, but not enough of one to kill their budget with licensing fees. Telltale would then depend on the creator of the franchise to provide the setting, personality, and a fair amount of…

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Guitar Hero2005

Jul 21, 2008

Gamers familiar with Konami's Bemani series of games knows that there's so much more beyond Dance Dance Revolution. The company has produced a number of addictive rhythm games, some having players dancing to a manic beat, others by having them hammer on plastic instruments. The most popular of the latter variety is Guitar Freaks, which has a player wear a guitar strapped to his or her torso, pressing three buttons…

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Elite Beat Agents2006

Jul 21, 2008

Last year, Guitar Hero took the standard idea of performing actions (pressing buttons, strumming a paddle) in time to music, and wrapped its own very distinctive style and charm around it. In much the same way, Elite Beat Agents will have you tapping, dragging, and spinning surrounded by a manic flair all its own, all wrapped up in a funny and pleasing package. The mechanics really couldn't be simpler. The game only…

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All-Pro Football 2K82007

Jul 21, 2008

When the NFL sold their soul, I mean, exclusivity rights, to EA Sports, what was a competitive genre for games became a struggle to find a niche outside of the NFL (for everyone whose name isn't Madden, that is). Midway found success early on with Blitz: The League, although comparing EA's franchise to B:tL is like comparing apples to steroid-pumping, foul-mouthed oranges with severe anger issues. It took them a…

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Picross DS2007

Jul 21, 2008

Although they haven't been around as long, or received as much press and attention, as Su Doku puzzles, nonograms are still nothing new, and not without a following. The original Picross (short for Picture Crosswords) games were produced by Nintendo for the Game Boy and Super Famicom in the mid-90s, only one of which was released in the United States. However, the puzzles are not unknown to Americans, as they have…

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Crackdown2007

Jul 21, 2008

Say what you like about Grand Theft Auto, the game that spawned the open-world genre of video games. Whatever your opinion of it, it did a lot of things interesting enough to spawn plenty of games that imitate the formula. Crackdown is one of those games, putting you in the character of a bio-enhanced Agent of (wait for it...) the Agency, the umbrella security/military/police force in the world of Pacific City. The…

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Sam & Max Save the World2007

Jul 21, 2008

Steve Purcell's Sam & Max: Freelance Police franchise has taken many forms: first as an independent comic series, then as a LucasArts adventure game, and then as a Saturday morning cartoon show. When LucasArts announced the cancellation of the second Sam & Max adventure game in 2003, the myriad fans of the series despaired, fearing we had seen the last of Sam & Max. Enter Telltale Games with a new creative team, a…

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