15 public 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.
Burnout is a tech demo of car accident physics lightly modified into a punishing arcade racing game. Street races through busy highways and city traffic tease the payoff of high risk, high speed weaving, but jagged visual detail and a far too strict collision model lead to continuous race restarts until you really learn a track. The capacity for any incidental contact with traffic to cause an accident is at odds…
Sonic and the Secret Rings has generally been seen as one of the better Sonic console titles since the series began to struggle following the Genesis era. People actually like this game. How is that possible? This is a bad game further crippled by shit controls. The game is broken up into 7 worlds, each containing 10 or so missions. Each world is introduced with a headliner action stage. These main stages…
People come to Marble Blast Ultra because they want a good marble labyrinth game, right? It is XBLA's original answer to Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball. MBU certainly delivers a satisfying amount of well designed proto-platformer courses to swiftly navigate against the clock. Leaderboards and achievements successfully push the incentive for practice and perfection, and hours will be milked testing your…
The changes in design and tone in Jak II, while unexpected, aren't a major stretch considering what the first game established. Jak and Daxter had already embraced an open world design, allowing the GTA3 mission structure and city setting to easily click as II's hub. The characters aren't too soft to handle the angrier tone. Cousin series Ratchet and Clank proved that weapon combat can work really well in this type…
Naughty Dog became a forefront developer in the late 90s by crafting Sony's original leading candidate for mascot appeal. The Crash Bandicoot series were heavily streamlined action platformers that served their content fast and frequent. Jak and Daxter represents a platformer 180, with it's open world offering and exploration encouragement. The pacing is much more methodical and collection provides the main…
Saints Row was announced and released within the first wave of Xbox 360 titles. With GTA 4 being far off in the distance, THQ seized the opportunity to cater to a large audience craving some open world fun on their shinny new console. Fortunately, it turned out to be a win-win scenario for both the publisher and the player. Anyone who has ever played a GTA game will be able to pick up and play Saints Row without…
All three entries in the GTA 3 trilogy are well represented by legions of fans as the best in the series. GTA 3 may have the landmark significance, and San Andreas may have the overwhelming scope, but Vice city contains the undeniable style. In terms of American decades, the 80s has perhaps the strongest sense of pop culture style, and Vice City runs with this. Vice City plays almost exactly like GTA 3. There's the…
Read the full review Vice City knows and understands it's greatest assets
It was one of the most notable releases in an overwhelming year for video games, stands out as one of the largest names when looking back at the previous decade, and will continue to receive premier accolades as long as video games exist. The quality of storytelling in games, the concept of sandbox gameplay in a well realized environment, and developers and publishers who aren’t afraid to flip off tight asses all…
There's a lot of off-roading to be had in Dirt. The Colin McRae series' first current-gen iteration keeps it's focus on traditional rally events, but a variety of alternative race types are readily available to prevent the content from growing stale. From enduring hill climbs to catastrophe-waiting-to-happen buggy corr races, there are a lot of viable race options to select from when you're exhausted of typical…
Blaze a path of destruction and never look back. It's the philosophy behind Burnout 3. There have been vehicular combat games that encouraged slamming opponents before B3, but none had ever done it with such a realized sense of aggression and satisfaction, and none have been able to match it's impact. The blood thirsty addiction to taking out opponents that players develop while playing B3 gives it an edge in the…
Psychonauts is a very creative game filled with charisma, there's no denying that. The cast of characters that Raz meets and converses with at Whispering Rock all have vibrant personalities and act as a great catalyst for camprground exploration while providing a force of connection to the story. You'll go out of your way to have Raz interact with the various camp goers and counselors. The story itself is one of the…
Motorstorm is an excellent example of the effects of being an early title for a brand new console. While the visuals turned heads and the gameplay offered an exhilarating first experience, a lack of content held the game from reaching its potential. With only eight tracks included on the disc, players shred through the same dirt paths hundreds of times while completing tickets and competing online. The obvious…
Read the full review Like the full game, this DLCs value is its biggest drawback
The fluid controls and animations of the original Prince of Persia are unlike anything from that era. That level of fidelity translated to a true three dimensional world without a hitch in The Sands of Time. One of the more significant aspects of this game is how well the Prince controls. He has a very impressive catalog of acrobatics including wall running, pole swinging, tightrope balancing, ledge scaling, and…
Last generation, First Person Shooters rose up as the prominent genre for consoles in the wake of the original Halo's success. Out of the hordes of FPS games that were released, 2003's XIII has stood out due to it's unique comic book presentation. The game is actually based on a series of graphic novels, so it is certainly a plot driven title. You play as agent XIII, initially waking up on a beach with a case of…
The first thing you notice when you play Donkey Kong Country is how different it looks from the other 2D games of it's time. The characters, objects, and environments all have depth to them, and the rendered lighting gives them a much more realistic look. Gorgeous environments make use of the technical prowess, with colorful jungles, intimidating factories, haunting caves, and sublime ocean levels spread throughout…
