Review Archives (Staff Reviews)

You are currently looking through staff reviews for games that are available on every platform the site currently covers. Below, you will find reviews written by all eligible authors and sorted according to date of submission, with the newest content displaying first. As many as 20 results will display per page. If you would like to try a search with different parameters, specify them below and submit a new search.

	Dead or Alive: Dimensions review (3DS) Reviewed by Jason Venter on May 25, 2011 - # Environments are expectedly gorgeous and expansive, with cascading waterfalls and rope bridges that span wide chasms. There also are the underground laboratory and ancient rooftop venues, and you can still knock your opponent from high ledges and then follow to kick his or her butt on lower ground. In other words, any concessions that had to be made due to the hardware have minimal impact on the presentation… when it comes to fights.
	Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Rumble review (DS) Reviewed by Benjamin Woodhouse on May 24, 2011 - # In practice, Shinobi Rumble doesn't deliver superior single-player combat. The fighting mechanics are technically simple, the computer's strategies are equally unsophisticated, and the story mode is simple shorthand. If you're going at this solo, the game will occupy a few hours and then be forgotten forever.
	The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings review (PC) Reviewed by Lewis Denby on May 23, 2011 - # If you can look past the balancing, pacing and technical issues, there is an extremely solid RPG here - nothing especially innovative, but definitely a game that sets out to be the most absorbing, rich and spectacular experience it possibly can be. It’s a disappointment because it largely succeeds in that goal while fluffing the basics. The best RPG of the current generation? With a bit more care, it could have been.
	L.A. Noire review (X360) Reviewed by Tom Chick on May 19, 2011 - # What eventually passes for core gameplay in LA Noire is a bad guessing game in which you have to decide whether people are lying and which bits of evidence from your inventory confirm the lie. It's all very vague, and you'll feel like quite the schmuck when you're sure you've cornered a suspect, only to realize that the game's writer was on a different page. Not that it matters, which is a terrible thing to say about core gameplay.
	Dragon Warrior II review (NES) Reviewed by Rob Hamilton on May 19, 2011 - # Without those rose-colored memories, what we're left with is a decent older RPG that was a marked improvement on the first Dragon Warrior, but more than merely a step behind the third and fourth NES installments. I've played through those two games multiple times. When I picked up Dragon Warrior II a year or two after initially beating it, I think I got about halfway through before losing interest.
	Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword review (PC) Reviewed by Rob Zacny on May 18, 2011 - # This kind of incompetence is old news, although one would have hoped that for the series' third outing the AI squadmates would be better at self-preservation. What makes it more frustrating than in the past, however, is that you simply cannot be enough of a superhero to make up for their ghastly mistakes. Because now there are all these guns, you see.
	MLB 11: The Show review (PS2) Reviewed by Kai Powell on May 16, 2011 - # MLB 11: The Show rings in the new year with a fresh take on the baseball franchise, complete with up-to-date roster changes and overhauled batting mechanics.
	Brink review (X360) Reviewed by Tom Chick on May 12, 2011 - # Like Quake Wars, Brink has excellent bot support, which makes it a viable single-player game. Or, even better, a game you can enjoy with a small group of friends playing among bots. It's remarkable how well the AI can handle this relatively complicated game, making use of different weapons, different class abilities, the movement system, and various elements of the maps. In fact, one of the best ways to learn a map is to follow a bot. When it comes to competent bots making multiplayer more than just multiplayer, medium budget games like Brink and Section 8 put to shame AAA franchises like Halo and Call of Duty.
	Shining Force II review (GEN) Reviewed by Gary Hartley on May 10, 2011 - # There’s a reason why I’ve revisited Moun on an almost yearly basis, and beaten the hell out of goat-eared mages. And it’s the same reason why I’ll meet up with FREYJA around the same time next year and do it all over again.
	Vampire Moon: The Mystery of the Hidden Sun review (DS) Reviewed by Justin Boot on May 09, 2011 - # Vampire Moon: The Mystery of the Hidden Sun takes a good idea and does absolutely nothing with it.
	Wall Street Kid review (NES) Reviewed by Jason Venter on May 09, 2011 - # The polished interface makes it easy to keep your attention where it should be: on deadlines. Those deadlines do a remarkably good job of building tension because you know that if you make too many mistakes, you’ll lose everything. Stocks go up in value or drop sharply, so complacency works against you. There’s a certain element of surprise, as well. You might get a hot stock tip and dump everything to invest in a new stock, only to see the next day that the stock you previously owned enjoyed a tremendous increase just after you ditched it. When you’re trying to drive up the value of your portfolio in time to buy a new car (or else face a ‘Game Over’ screen), losses and missed opportunities really hit home.
	Wings of Wor review (GEN) Reviewed by Rob Hamilton on May 07, 2011 - # This is a fantasy game and I don't mean a "control a cute witch as she blasts hordes of adorable critters who turn into lollypops and flowers" fantasy. I'm talking about a dark fantasy where you're in control of an angel descending into a macabre, hellish world to confront grotesque monstrosities seemingly conjured from the worst nightmares of the game's designers.
	Conduit 2 review (WII) Reviewed by Justin Boot on May 03, 2011 - # Conduit 2 is fine for Wii owners searching for a decent shooter, but fans of the genre shouldn’t expect anything special from it.
	Pokemon Black Version review (DS) Reviewed by Jason Venter on May 02, 2011 - # When you are wandering the wilds between towns, there often are places where the road simply stops. Then you must traverse tall grass or dark sand or whatever. That has always been true, but now every third or fourth step from the beaten path seems to result in a random encounter. That’s not an exaggeration. I’ve counted on multiple occasions. Sometimes I would win a battle, take one step and then immediately find myself in another battle. I was hoping to take at least two or three steps.
	Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger review (PC) Reviewed by Gary Hartley on May 02, 2011 - # I feel a bit guilty for panning anybody’s first effort, and my hope that a decent game can be made from this premise is genuine. But the only thing you’ll find here is mounting disappointment and enough dropped balls to start a play pit with.
	Hang On review (SMS) Reviewed by Marc Golding on April 28, 2011 - # Hang On is still enjoyable, in its small way.
	Alan Wake review (X360) Reviewed by Gary Hartley on April 26, 2011 - # What is Alan Wake? It's not survival horror: you regenerate health and have ammo bleeding out of your arse. It’s not psychological horror in that copy-and-pasting invites tedium, not terror. I like to think of it as a foundation, and dare Remedy to do better next time.
	Portal 2 review (X360) Reviewed by Mike Suskie on April 25, 2011 - # Breaking free of the chains and finally seeing what lies beyond Aperture’s white test chamber walls was one of Portal’s greatest pleasures, and the sequel mimics that sense of discovery beautifully. The key difference is that when Portal 2 reaches this point, the game has only just begun.
	Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu review (TG16) Reviewed by Marc Golding on April 25, 2011 - # Big-headedness ruled the roost on the Turbografx-16, and we had developers Hudson Soft to thank. From Bonk’s Adventure to JJ & Jeff, Hudson had a stranglehold on the burgeoning cutesy 2D platformer featuring characters with massive noggins genre.
	Bust-A-Move Universe review (3DS) Reviewed by Jason Venter on April 24, 2011 - # What Arika doesn’t appear to have realized is that players will want some substance, even if they’re ready to forgive the lack of a three-dimensional twist. Past Bust-A-Move games have provided all sorts of bells and whistles that kept people playing for a long while, but here there’s very little reason to keep playing beyond the first few hours.

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