Reviews by radicaldreamer

Quake Arena Arcade review

It may seem strange to criticize the game for its single-player considering Quake III built its entire legacy on multiplayer, but it was this version’s one and only chance to prevent itself from being redundant. Instead, redundant is…

radicaldreamer · December 4, 2011

Reader PC

Broken Sword: Director's Cut review

Despite all of its pretensions of intrigue and mystery, the most fun to be had in Broken Sword: The Director’s Cut is found by going around, bothering every character by showing them every piece of junk in your inventory, and eliciting…

radicaldreamer · November 18, 2011

Reader PC HG exclusive

Savage 2: A Tortured Soul review

Savage 2: A Tortured Soul is a game that defies, complicates, and undermines the process of game categorization altogether. It belongs to a hybrid genre that can tentatively be called Competitive Real-Time Strategy Role-Playing Action, a…

radicaldreamer · February 27, 2010

Reader GameCube HG exclusive

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean review

Baten Kaitos' first few impressions are among its best. It begins with a series of flashbacks: a peaceful family scene at home, that same home engulfed in flames and invaded by sinister figures, ethereal petals coalescing to represent the…

radicaldreamer · January 3, 2010

Reader PC HG exclusive

Half-Life: Desert Crisis review

Blasting someone out of the sky with an electromagnetic beam rifle; making heads explode with twin Desert Eagles while somersaulting through the air; disintegrating someone's entire torso with an over-sized, electrified sledgehammer…

radicaldreamer · July 16, 2009

Reader PlayStation 2 Review of the Week HG exclusive

Bujingai: The Forsaken City review

Bujingai is about Gackt, the androgynous Japanese pop star. But since this is a pre-Guitar Hero-era game, musician was not yet thought to be a viable game role, so instead you play as Gackt, the androgynous, immortal Chinese sword master…

radicaldreamer · July 1, 2009

Reader PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Shadow Hearts: Covenant review

Much like its predecessor, Shadow Hearts: Covenant thrives on difference. It is not an absolute departure, but more than most it takes several of the most taken-for-granted role-playing game conventions and turns them on their heads. These…

radicaldreamer · June 24, 2009

Reader PlayStation 2

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell review

Contrary to certain (mis)conceptions, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell isn’t a very innovative game. While contrasting considerably from the universally acclaimed Metal Gear Solid 2, its core gameplay elements fall heavily in line with the…

radicaldreamer · July 30, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Devil May Cry 2 review

If you were unaware that Devil May Cry 2 was crafted by a different development team than that of its predecessor, you could only conclude that Capcom was trying to flush its newly conceived Devil May Cry series down the proverbial toilet…

radicaldreamer · July 23, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy review

Cutting away the epic pretension lavished on many other action games, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy boldly relies only on its innovation and competent execution. With lofty ambitions of psychic powers, Psi-Ops had just as much potential…

radicaldreamer · July 9, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Manhunt review

Manhunt’s critical acclaim led me to believe it would be more than a game that relied purely on the shock value of its graphic violence for attention. I was misled. Manhunt is the most violent game ever made. I’ve played Postal and Soldier…

radicaldreamer · June 11, 2005

Reader Genesis HG exclusive

Trouble Shooter review

Trouble Shooter is a horizontal shooter. More importantly, Trouble Shooter is a horizontal shooter for girls. Instead of a space ship armed with lasers, missiles, or bombs, you’ll control two jetpack-propelled teenage girls wielding laser…

radicaldreamer · April 29, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2

Chaos Legion review

Meet Sieg Warheit, a young knight of the Dark Glyphs, and one of coolest looking characters in videogame history. He’s got a beautifully tattered cape, a large sword with a mysterious, blue aura, and a brilliant helmet of blazing orange…

radicaldreamer · March 30, 2005

Reader Genesis HG exclusive

Divine Sealing review

There’s nothing divine about Divine Sealing; it offers little more than a small hentai album wrapped in five brief levels of shallow, unfinished vertical shooter. At the very least, the quality of its artwork is respectable – but this is a…

radicaldreamer · February 18, 2005

Reader PC

Half-Life: Firearms review

Maybe I’m just skeptical by nature. Or perhaps the community outlook for user-made modifications is overly optimistic. It’s important to keep in mind that user-made modifications – and this goes for any game, not just Half-Life – are made…

radicaldreamer · January 20, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2

Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution review

If you have even a passing interest in fighting games, chances are you’ve played, or at least heard of Sega’s Virtua Fighter series. As fantastic this latest installment is, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution’s depth and steep learning curve…

radicaldreamer · January 20, 2005

Reader PlayStation

Resident Evil 2 review

Am I destined to hate survival horror games? I shudder to think that I might shun an entire genre because of my experience with only one game. However, it just so happens that this one is considered one of the genre’s quintessential games…

radicaldreamer · January 19, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City review

When Grand Theft Auto III was released, the Grand Theft Auto series made a transition from niche product to mainstream. The follow-up, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, continues this, as it’s basically a slightly improved game with a lot of…

radicaldreamer · January 17, 2005

Reader PC

Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition review

I could laboriously detail its six available gameplay modes, I could mention the staggering number of eight difficulty levels, and I could highlight its lasting appeal by mentioning the countless number of user-made modifications available…

radicaldreamer · December 16, 2004

Reader PlayStation

World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks review

Sometimes I wonder whether or not some people know what a truly bad game is like. Every now and then a game comes out that exemplifies everything that can possibly go wrong with a game, the kind of game that makes you question the…

radicaldreamer · November 9, 2004