92 public written reviews
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MVP has returned and quite frankly it's the best baseball game I've ever played thus far. The amount of depth in this game borders on overwhelming. It has all the generic stuff you expect from a baseball title (Exhibition, Create-A-Player, Home Run Derby, etc), but the franchise mode simply goes far and above anything you've ever experienced in a sports game, much less a baseball game. New to this year's installment…
Armageddon had more hype around it than any Mortal Kombat title in a long time. For many fans, the prospect of every single fighter ever seen in a MK game (except Khameleon ) was more than enough reason to get excited. The concept immediately brings Mortal Kombat Trilogy to fans minds, which was a great game in its own way, but as a somewhat thrown together mish-mash it was not really part of the Mortal Kombat…
Katamari Damacy could quite possibly be the craziest, most original games I've ever played, and that's in a good...so good way. Here's the premise... Your father, the King of All Cosmos, apparently got drunk one night and, when he woke up, he realized he had destroyed all of the stars. The obvious solution is to send you, the Prince, to Earth to collect enough random junk in order to recreate the stars. How do you…
People seem to like Jet Li movies. People obviously like video games. So what gets produced when you combine the two? A steaming pile of crap apparently. Jet Li spent six weeks doing motion capture and voice work for this game, and while I admire that, it makes me think Sony spent about half the amount of time implenting all his work into the game. The game looks and feels like an interactive DVD movie complete with…
Hot Shots Golf has always been about one thing, fun. In Japan, Hot Shots is called "Everybody's Golf" and that's a good description of the series. Anyone can pick up a controller and within a hole or two and have fun in Hot Shots. In the world of golf video games, there is a thick line between the simulation Tiger Woods games and the likes of Hot Shots are Mario Golf. Both of which are great games. Hot Shots may…
Guitar Hero is another rhythm-based game brought to us by Harmonix , who you probably don't remember made Frequency and Amplitude . This time Harmonix has teamed up with Red Octane to create an even more memorable music experience. Red Octane is most well known for their high-quality Dance Dance Revolution pads and they have applied their excellent craftsmanship to the guitar controller used in Guitar Hero. For…
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The most anticipated game of the year this side of the Xbox. You've seen the other reviews. You know it's selling like crazy. But honestly, is it really that good? Isn't it just more of the same? Or is it a revolution of the genre and a shining example of Rockstar's dominance? Well, it's all of those things. It is the same, yet it is different in so many ways. Is it the best PS2 game…
Since 1998, Gran Turismo has been the epitome of simulation racing. By constantly pushing the hardware's graphical potential, whether it was PS2 or PSX, Polyphony Digital lured gamers in with the pretty pictures and then assaulted the dazed gamers with some of the best physics and production values ever seen in videogames. Gran Turismo 4 brings more of the same in that respect, alot more. With over 700 cars and 100…
Action adventure games; they're a dime a dozen. They've been a staple since the dawn of videogames. God of War takes all the lessons learned from the great action adventure games and combines them to create one of the best games ever to grace a console. The game does not offer much in terms of innovation, but it simply does everything to perfection. As the title would lead you to believe, this game is based in Greek…
Knockout Kings is dead, and rightfully so. It had many fans, but the button-mashing mayhem came to slow end last year when KK 2003 was only released on the GameCube. EA completely scrapped KK and built a brand new boxing game from the ground up...and it's the best boxing game since...well... Super Punch Out ? Maybe that's not saying much, but Fight Night 2004 is a prime example of why Electronic Arts is the biggest…
The latest 007 game hit stores this week, and it is easily the best Bond game since GoldenEye . EA has given up on replicating Rare 's classic FPS. Everything or Nothing takes Bond into 3rd person view, and it works. The new view plays alot like Metal Gear Solid, but with alot more extras thrown in like vehicles. The game also features an optional point system where you gain points for doing Bond-like things such as…
Drakengard is the latest title from Square Enix , but it's not what you've come to expect from Square. Drakengard is a full-on hack'n'slash action game with some RPG elements thrown in. But to add a bit of a twist (or to just muffle the monotany of constant hacking), you also get to hop on a dragon much like Panzer Dragoon Orta and annhilate hundreds of enemies via fireballs and dragon magic. Panzer Dragoon +…
Devil May Cry 3 is over the top. Everything about the game is done in excess, which could be good or bad, but in this case it's mostly good. After an excellent and stylish debut in 2001, Devil May Cry took a wrong turn with its 2003 sequel and disappointed many fans. With the third installment, Capcom is attempting to get back to its roots. While the game is titled "3," it's actually a prequel to the original game.…
Champions of Norrath was one of my favorite PS2 games of last year. Return to Arms picks up right where the original left off and even lets you bring your character from the first game into the second. Admittedly, the game doesn't offer very much in regards to innovation, but not too many people buying this game are looking for something completely new. Snowblind has made a career out of this Diablo -esque, dungeon…
The latest attempt at spreading the EverQuest franchise has arrived. Champions of Norrath takes the world of EverQuest and creates a hack-n-slash RPG out of it. Sounding a little bit like a way to milk the EQ franchise? Well, yes...but the game is pretty good, so that's okay. The people that made the original Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance , Snowblind Studios , are the developers of Champions of Norrath and their…
What happens when you take NBA Street and mix it with MTV Cribs with a dash of reality TV? You get Midway's NBA Ballers. Honestly, I was more than skeptical about this game. Who needs anything more than what NBA Street Vol 2 offers? Well, after several sessions with NBA Ballers, I'm convinced NBA Ballers indeed has a place on the shelf of sports fans...at least until NBA Street Vol 3 of course. The game features…
So you've been playing the demo for several weeks and you're not sure whether the full version is worth your $40? Well stop wondering, because Unreal 2004 is the best PC game so far this year. UT2K4 features a whopping 10 modes of online play, over a dozen weapon, an abundance of ground and air vehicles, voice recognition, tons of maps new and old, and an in-depth single player mode. If you're even remotely…
Star Wars Republic Commando was one of my favorite games at last year's E3 . Thankfully, the game has developed nicely in the last nine months. Republic Commando doesn't necessarily offer much in terms of innovation as it borrows heavily from other games, but thankfully they chose some of the best games of this generation to borrow from. The HUD has the in-the-helmet view like Metroid . The gameplay feels much like…
After two half-baked expansions, Sony Online Entertainment seems to have delivered a solid expansion to the waning original EverQuest. So far, Gates of Discord reminds me alot of Shadows of Luclin , and that's a mostly good thing. The story is a direct followup to the Lost Dungeons of Norrath expansion, as the Wayfarer's Brotherhood have discovered the lost continent of Taelosia thanks to the navigation of a magical…
After countless delays and empty promises, Doom 3 is now sitting on a store shelf near you, or hopefully in a CD tray less than 3 feet away from you. Doom 3 is simplistic at its core, but the way it's presented to the player is anything but simplistic. The game aims to suck you into the creepiest environment you've ever seen, and it succeeds with flying colors in that regard. Does the rest of the game live up to…
United Offensive is the expansion pack to last year's PC Game of the Year. The original Call of Duty was a masterpiece of production value, sound design, captivating gameplay, and addictive multiplayer. United Offensive is more of the same and that's a very good thing. The original Call of Duty team at Infinity Ward is already hard at work on a true sequel, so they gave Gray Matter the task of developing this…
Two years and several expansions and mods later, Digital Illusions has released Battlefield Vietnam. It is a brand new game, meaning that it's not an expansion to 1942 ...because if you had a game based in Vietnam in 1942 there wouldn't be much going on except maybe some French soldiers walking around. But even though BF:V is its own game, it's definitely not Battlefield 2. The upgrades over 1942 are minimal,…
Battlefield 2 is the third installment of the franchise and by adding some new features (and leaving out a few), they've made an excellent game which all 1942 and Vietnam fans will love. It does have a few weaknesses, but most of those are superficial and once you get into the actual game, it's incredible. Graphics If you have the system to handle it, the game looks amazing. This is most apparent while in flight as…
WarioWare created its own genre a couple years ago on the GameBoy Advance. We'd all played mini-games before, but these were MICRO-games. They literally take a few seconds to play, but are thrown at you in such a way that test your reflexes and hand-eye coordination. As the name implies, Touched! focuses on using the touch screen rather than the quick tap of a button. WarioWare is also Nintendo's first big title…
Aside from Zelda , the Star Fox franchise is my favorite Nintendo series of all time. For nearly a decade now, the franchise has been on a rocky road of mediocrity. After the masterpiece that is Star Fox 64 , Fox and the team made their debut on the GameCube with Star Fox Adventures , a Zelda-clone developed by Rare , which was indeed a good game but nevertheless was not what Star Fox fans were looking for. Then,…
How long has it been since Nintendo released a classic Mario-themed 2D side-scrolling platformer? If you said you can't remember, you're absolutely correct. It's been a long time. Super Princess Peach does indeed bring Nintendo back to its roots of platforming, but with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from today's games. In a reversal of roles, you'll be taking control of Peach for the first time since Super…
Thirteen years ago a little game called Super Mario Kart was released for the Super NES and a new addiction was born. Personally I can remember spending countless hours trading controllers back and forth with friends trying to beat each others time trials, not to mention all the time spent in battle mode and actually racing. Over the years Mario Kart has evolved by tweaking certain features while simultaneously…
Honestly, I'm not really even sure that Brain Age is a game, at least in the familiar sense of the word. But none-the-less, Brain Age is definitely worth checking out. The "software" as the game refers to itself as attempts to jog your post-high school brain back into a workout by throwing various mathematical and grammatical puzzles at you, often in rapid succession. This may sound like an awful way to spend your…
Read the full review Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
For anyone who considers themselves a fan of the Zelda series, this game is a must-own. But even for those who don't, this game features some old-school fun and adventure mixed with some innovative ideas that come together to create an excellent addtion to the series. The game is truly best described as a SNES game that somehow got locked in a time capsule only to be released when the world was ready for it. The…
Read the full review The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Last year the GameCube finally got a truly great wrestling title in Day of Reckoning . WrestleMania XIX laid the ground work, but it took Yuke's a third try to get it right with DoR. The sequel takes everything that made DoR great, and fine tunes it into what is the best wrestling game since No Mercy on the N64 . Sure, the SmackDown games have been good, but last year's title took a nose-dive and Day of Reckoning…
WWE Day of Reckoning is the third WWE game for the Nintendo GameCube. Nintendo's system used to be the mecca of wrestling games in the 64 days, but ever since then, Nintendo's fans have pretty much been left in the cold. WrestleMania X8 was just short of being truly craptacular, and while WrestleMania XIX had a solid grappling engine, it lacked any replay value. Luckily, despite a few setbacks, Day of Reckoning is…
The original Viewtiful Joe was one of the greatest games of 2003. If given only one word to describe the game, it would have to style. Viewtiful Joe did what no one thought would ever happen again. It was an awesome 2D side scrolling game. Sure, it had 3D elements like wrap-around corners, but at it's core it was still 2D. Viewtiful Joe 2 rides the success of the first to new heights by adding a second playable…
Let me preface this review by saying that Star Fox is one of my all-time favorite franchises. I remember getting the original for my 12th birthday. I remember running right for it at my first E3 in 1997 . And I remember waiting at my local game store for 2 hours a couple weeks later for it to show up. With all of that said, Star Fox Assault hurts. It had the potential to be so much, but it is a disappointment to say…
One of the greatest games of all time has been remade for the Gamecube . The Twin Snakes is a remake of Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation , which was released in 1998. Don't expect a complete overhaul like Capcom did for Resident Evil on the Cube, because Twin Snakes is eerily precise when it comes to the details of the storyline and level design. From the word go, you'll constantly be thinking "Hey...I've done…
When word first came out that Nintendo had assigned a no-name studio somewhere in Texas the task of taking Metroid into 3D, and that it would be first-person, many fans cringed at the idea. Two years ago, Retro Studios delivered what no one thought they could. Metroid Prime is arguably the best game on the GameCube . It's not my personal choice, but its greatness cannot be denied. The sequel is more of what everyone…
I've been looking forward to this game for quite a while. First off, Mario Baseball is not MVP Baseball 2005 . This Namco -developed baseball game is a throwback to the classic games of 15-20 years ago. It has a simplistic surface, but features the depth and addictive multiplayer we've become accustomed to in Tennis , Golf , and especially the Kart series. Mario Superstar Baseball does come with its own set of flaws…
Killer 7 is truly one of the most bizarre games I have ever played. Not bizarre like Katamari or Rez, but an all new kind of bizarre. Describing it by comparing it to any other game would prove difficult, so I won't even try. Killer 7 is so different from anything else that I actually had a feeling of "am I even playing this right?" at times. Do not take this negatively though, as Killer 7, while admittedly not for…
The genre of First-Person Shooters is flooded to say the least. Most developers take a cookie-cutter approach these days, which is why Geist, while not the best FPS by any means, is a welcome breath of fresh air on the genre. In Geist, you play as John Raimi, a scientist in a special forces unit set to take down the Volks Corporation. Volks is a subterranean labratory where many highly volitile experiments take…
After over a decade of silence, Square has returned to Nintendo with what is easily the most highly debated game for the GameCube as of late. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles takes a stab at something new and people are either loving it or screaming bloody murder about it. The concept is a multi-player RPG experience where each player uses their Game Boy Advance as a controller. The GBA doubles as a menu screen so…
Donkey Konga is what some people would call a "gimmick game." Fans of this genre simply refer to it as a rhythm game. Whether it's a dance pad, rattling maracas , a strange plastic guitar, or bongo drums, all of these games are based on the fact that they are simple to learn and simultaneously difficult to master. Anyone can beat on a drum, but do you have the hand-eye coordination to keep up with a song's notes? If…
Those of you old enough to remember playing the original Metroid (kindergarten graduation!), will notice many references to the original and also recognize many of the locales. But don't think the game is over with Mother Brain , because it's not. This is no simple remake. It seems that in the grand story of Samus Aran , the original NES Metroid was a summarized version of history while Zero Mission goes into a…
The Minish Cap is the first and likely will be the only original Zelda game for the Game Boy Advance . Any chance of ever putting the Zelda series in some semblance of chronological order has long dissolved, and Minish Cap proves that. The game gives yet another take on the land of Hyrule by mixing elements from almost every single Zelda game of old. Hyrule Castle is of course present, as is the Lon Lon Ranch . Link…
Mario Golf Advance Tour comes to us from Camelot , the creators of Golden Sun , Mario Tennis , and Shining Soul/Force . You may not know them by name, but you've probably played their games. All of them tend to have one thing in common...they kick ass. Mario Golf Toadstool Tour on the Cube felt like a glass half empty to me, but with Advance Tour the glass is overflowing. The front of the box says "Role Playing…
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two years, you've heard of the great PC game called Mafia featuring a 1930's Chicago-esque city where you play as a man (Tommy Angelo) who gets drawn into working for the mob. Times are tough during the depression and desparate men like Tommy will do just about anything to support their family. Well, close to two years later we now have the PS2 version of the same…
