Staff reviews, page 195

Tecmo Classic Arcade review

Tecmo Cup tries to make soccer exciting, but it plays like a crippled Blade of Steel (NES) or NHL Hockey (Genesis), although I have to admit I was pretty excited when my very first kick scored a goal against the opposing team. Senjyo is an…

Zigfried · October 14, 2005

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening review

The rest of it rules, save possibly the atrocious vocals in the background music (TO TAKE ME DOWN YOU MUST FIGHT LIKE A MAN!), but the lacking opposition is a flaw that can't possibly be understated. Most every battle in the original was…

John L · October 14, 2005

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim review

Although the character models have changed, the music and locales are as gorgeous as before. Every room in the Temple of Memory is infested with skittering insects that drop from the ceilings, sometimes on Adol's head! With angler-like…

Zigfried · October 14, 2005

Staff PlayStation 2

Katamari Damacy review

Fortunately, the gameplay takes itself about as seriously, featuring diverse wackiness ranging from haddocks that flop about inside of your doom sphere to innocent bystanders that run away screaming as if they'd just seen Godzilla. Who…

John L · October 14, 2005

Staff Xbox HG exclusive

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball review

The volleyball action itself can be pretty intense. Your opponents behave differently depending on their confidence level — "unwilling" foes are like those girls in Phys Ed class who always let the volleyball fall at their feet because…

Zigfried · October 14, 2005

Staff Nintendo 64 HG exclusive

Body Harvest review

You’re just one man, so you’re outnumbered. You’ve just got one gun, so you’re outmatched. You’re Marty McFly with a laser pistol, and you’ve got to do what all the armies of all the nations on the entire planet couldn’t do in a hundred…

Zack Little · October 14, 2005

Staff PSP

Guilty Gear XX #Reload review

Borrowing the best elements from many of its contemporaries, #Reload's own brand of one-on-one violence feels every bit as familiar as its port status may suggest. From the now standard projectile attacks to a dozen, quick-off-the-wrist…

Michael Scott · October 11, 2005

Staff DS

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow review

Amoebic sludge balls, armor shelled warriors with axes, shape shifting walls, and lightning powered phoenixes -- these are the things a Castlevania game is made of.

Branden Barrett · October 11, 2005

Staff DS HG exclusive

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow review

A wooden puppet master whose chamber is lined with several iron maidens for you to be trapped in and a clawed wall-hopper eerily reminiscent of Street Fighter 2's Vega are two of the many highlights within Dawn's impressive bestiary.

John L · October 10, 2005

Staff Xbox HG exclusive

Indigo Prophecy review

And then it's over; the mental images cease. A revolted Kane looks down at the corpse he's still kneeling over and at the bloody knife still clasped in his soiled hands. What just took place defies explanation, but the more pressing fact…

Gary Hartley · October 9, 2005

Staff Xbox HG exclusive

Ninja Gaiden Black review

If Ninja Gaiden is the story of the World's Greatest Super Ninja, then Ninja Gaiden Black is the epic tale of how a lowly dog becomes a Master Ninja. With each successive play, Black adds enemies and obstacles that not only make the game…

Zigfried · October 9, 2005

Staff Sega CD HG exclusive

Robo Aleste review

With the line sharply drawn between Motonari's alliance of evil and Nobunaga's force of... good?... Compile has infused a driving theme into their 12-stage epic. Each episode, whether it's a rain-streaked flight above placid farmland or a…

Zigfried · October 8, 2005

Staff DS

Advance Wars: Dual Strike review

We definitely do not get enough thought provoking situations throughout the average day. Whether it be sitting in college mindlessly daydreaming on how you can ignore the next upcoming class or watching that same anime rerun you have seen…

Branden Barrett · October 7, 2005

Staff Genesis

Divine Sealing review

All I can tell you is that you shoot your way through five planets, kill a boss and then get a couple of delicious moments of cartoon girls stripping while expressions of what could either be ecstasy or anguish dance across their face.

Rob Hamilton · October 6, 2005

Staff TurboGrafx-16

Final Blaster review

Sure, you could be satisfied in merely completing the game even though in the span of two late-game stages, you plummeted from the elite difficulty level to the lowest (as the Great and Mighty OD did....), but that sort of thing just…

Rob Hamilton · October 6, 2005

Staff PSP

Burnout Legends review

Burnout Legends' status as a "best of" collection then, should be obvious to anyone with an eye for the vernacular. Combining the best elements of the franchise's previous outings, it presents players with one of the most complete, racing…

Michael Scott · October 5, 2005

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Urban Reign review

At first, its depth seems marginal. You can only punch, kick, grapple, dodge or run for most of the game’s first half. However, the finer points of each of these moves combine for some real mayhem. Later in the game, you can even pick up…

Jason Venter · October 3, 2005

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Capcom Classics Collection review

Remember storming fortresses in Bionic Commando, then advancing toward enemy ranks in that cool overhead perspective? Remember swooping into a bay in 1943: The Battle of Midway to customize your plane? Those were some of the great moments…

Jason Venter · October 2, 2005

Staff Genesis

3 Ninjas Kick Back review

There are at least twenty-six people out there over the bloody moon that I'm stuck reviewing this game and they're not!

Gary Hartley · October 1, 2005

Staff Genesis HG exclusive

Zero Tolerance review

The new enemy introduced here, a bug-like humanoid, followed the same pattern as the skittering aliens and attack dogs (running straight at me), but seemed even more inept. Countless times, these critters would run right by me and freeze…

Rob Hamilton · September 28, 2005