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.

	Mazes of Fate review (GBA) Reviewed by Rob Hamilton on August 21, 2009 - # Despite not being overly enthralled with this place, it was paradise compared to the Underground Temple, which started with a lengthy fetch quest. In this sort of game, I might be told to obtain one item or another, but I won't feel like I'm doing some sort of mundane busywork in the process. If some guy says,
	Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 2 - Siege of Spinner Cay review (PC) Reviewed by Lewis Denby on August 19, 2009 - # It's a thoroughly good, thoroughly traditional adventure game that's sure to please fans of the original Monkey Island series and adventure-savvy newcomers alike. It's nothing remotely special, but it's unlikely that was ever its intention. Judged for what it is, it's a solid, entertaining and often exceptionally amusing way to pass a couple of afternoons.
	Pangya: Fantasy Golf review (PSP) Reviewed by Zigfried on August 16, 2009 - # This game is a time-killing, cute-girls-dancing golf epic. Using the "tap for power, tap for accuracy" gauge system that evolved across years of video game golfing, Pangya mixes tournament play with versus-mode battles against oddball opponents (such as a policeman who looooooves fried chicken), an assortment of challenges (such as ten tries to make a hole-in-one), and ridiculously cute costume changes.
	Fat Princess review (PS3) Reviewed by Jonathan Stark on August 16, 2009 - # Units look like little toy Vikings and they scream defiance and taunts with the squeakiness of cartoon chipmunks. Watching them jump off pirate ships or run through treacherous lava fields brings to mind a nostalgic sense of playing with action figures as a child. Baroquian jigs set the mood as these guys hack and maim each other, often resulting in explosive sprays of blood and gore as they are decapitated, squashed, blown up, and eviscerated. Meanwhile, the princesses yell orders in increasingly baritone voices: “Save me, my hero! Feed me more cake!”
	Ghostbusters: The Video Game review (WII) Reviewed by Jeffrey Matulef on August 16, 2009 - # It's got the script, style, and soul of its source material, but fails to build a compelling game around these elements.
	Killing Floor review (PC) Reviewed by Lewis Denby on August 15, 2009 - # Killing Floor's amateur origins are uncomfortably clear, and there's no doubting that a little more polish would have gone a long way. Still, when you find yourself scurrying between cover in an open field at night, carefully aiming for the heads of a stream of mutated foes, before someone chimes in on the radio and makes a gag about liking "the big ones" the best, you'll understand. For all its quirks, inconsistencies and annoyances, you'll likely find something to love.
	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra review (PS3) Reviewed by Jason Venter on August 15, 2009 - # Instead of copying something like Halo or even a third-person shooter along the lines of Gears of War, two options that surely must have been appealing and may have led to something interesting, the developers went a different route. The result is a shooter viewed primarily from far overhead. Its not-quite-isometric viewpoint allows for expansive environments, large battles and lots of run 'n gun action, a bit like classic Contra if it were turned 90 degrees.
	The King of Fighters XII review (X360) Reviewed by Gavin Bard on August 14, 2009 - # The King of the Fighters XII may have a new sheen, but it's missing a lot of what made some of those early titles so entertaining. At times it just feels incomplete. Some characters have regressed to their move sets from much earlier games, while others have been cut altogether.
	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra review (X360) Reviewed by Jason Venter on August 12, 2009 - # Finishing a mission on "Casual" level won't award you as many tokens as the more challenging choices and effectively prevents you from ever recruiting a full team of mercenaries. That's disappointing since one of the game's coolest features is the ability to recruit four special Cobra characters. You'll either need to man up and repeat stages on the higher difficulty setting (or do so right from the start), or you'll need to play through the whole adventure as Duke and Scarlet so that you have points left once the coolest characters become available.
	Splosion Man review (X360) Reviewed by Rob Hamilton on August 09, 2009 - # In possibly the most massive scientific lab ever imagined, the scientist you control made an awesome discovery allowing him to detonate his own body regularly with no physical harm. Unfortunately, there was a minor side effect, as the chap is now pretty frickin' insane; causing the other scientists to lock him away in solitary confinement.
	Ghostbusters: The Video Game review (PS3) Reviewed by Jason Venter on August 08, 2009 - # The plot begins by ambitiously introducing two new central characters—a strange young woman and a rookie member of the ghostbusters team—but after that it almost immediately turns into a retread of familiar adventures. Many of the same faces and places make new appearances, to the point that although the story is technically all-new (and penned by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, who drafted the original), it often feels like a rerun. This time, though, someone stripped out most of the good parts. There's nowhere near enough of the memorable dialog that made the film so good and even the most interesting bits wear out their welcome because you're playing the thing, not watching it.
	Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 review (GCN) Reviewed by Benjamin Woodhouse on August 08, 2009 - # Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 pretends it doesn't have that little number at the end of its title. It uses the same cel-shaded graphics, features the same fighting engine, and even recycles combos for reappearing characters. The game goes so far as to completely subsume the story of its predecessor, starting over to tell Naruto's tale from the very beginning. Clash of Ninja 2 is superior, though, because of one profound improvement: four-way multiplayer.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-shelled review (X360) Reviewed by Jason Venter on August 06, 2009 - # Something a lot of fans will appreciate is the ability to chase Krang and Shredder through time as a united team. On consoles, no more than two friends have ever been able to team up for the cause, but now you can gather three other buddies and really raise some shell! Both local and online play are allowed, with plenty of enthusiastic strangers just waiting to team up against evil at all times of the day, night and early morning.
	Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures: The Bogey Man review (PC) Reviewed by Lewis Denby on August 06, 2009 - # It's never overtly bad. It's just grossly unambitious, lacking in any real flair, and growing stale at an alarming rate. So while Grand Adventures has been a fun ride, it's for the best that it's reached its conclusion. It just could have done to finish last month instead.
	Icarus: Alien Vanguard review (PC) Reviewed by Rob Hamilton on August 06, 2009 - # Shuttlecraft, the first level, is arguably the best introduction to a Doom game I've experienced. It's longer than most and there are a few sneaky little tricks to ensure it's a good bit tougher than expected for the first map. It has this tiny chapel that seems non-threatening and actually is uninhabited when you enter, but things go Silent Hill and it transforms into the sort of nightmarish place you'd expect black mass sacrifices to be held. Not to mention all those imps that appear to ensure you're that sacrifice. Pure gold.
	The Conduit review (WII) Reviewed by Mike Suskie on August 05, 2009 - # The Conduit most often feels like a light gun shooter that’s been ripped off of its tracks, which is due as much to the arcade-like nature of the level design as it is to the control scheme itself. There’s a light, frenetic nature in the way The Conduit unravels, and High Voltage seems okay with that. The game’s pace is fierce and the action is constant.
	Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 review (PC) Reviewed by Jason Venter on August 02, 2009 - # You might be wondering how the game could possibly be difficult. The answer is that you suddenly find yourself working with extreme limitations. Besides gaining life meters several times the length of your own, enemies gain the ability to lock half of your pieces so that they can't be used, or to devalue them so that playing the selected tiles gains you no particular advantage. Worse, they may even set things up so that playing your own pieces damages you! There are items that can be used to counter these effects, but they are gone for good once you make use of them... at least until you take the time to earn more. The process for that basically amounts to level grinding.
	Little League World Series Baseball 2009 review (WII) Reviewed by Jason Venter on August 02, 2009 - # The general feel of a set of innings in Little League World Series Baseball 2009 doesn't seem to have changed much. You still control most of the important bits with the 'A' button and furious Wii Remote waggles. You still start a game out with mild swings—because that's all that is strictly necessary—and finish it up with wild convulsions that are enough to nearly put an arm out of socket because of their ferocity.
	Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon review (PS2) Reviewed by Zigfried on August 01, 2009 - # In a sense, Devil Summoner 2 is one of the more accessible entries in Atlus's long-running Shin Megami Tensei franchise. The combat is straightforward and quick, the difficulty isn't too high, and the demon negotiations and fusion provide a bit of depth to grab players' interest. Unfortunately, with its lackluster characters, blunt storytelling, and fitting but simplistic visuals, this isn't a game that will sustain that interest.
	Dragonica review (PC) Reviewed by Scott Constantine on August 01, 2009 - # Dragonica is a 3D, fantasy, action-oriented, side-scrolling MMORPG developed by Barunson Interactive. Its published by Gpotato in the EU and THQ*ICE in the US. As with most other titles promoted through both of these sites, Dragonica is free to play. However, gamers can opt to buy extras for their character from a shop dealing in real money. Anyone who has played Lunia or MapleStory will feel right at home here. Conversely, Dragonica has a level of polish not yet to be found in its overpopulated peers.

Additional Results (20 per page)

[001] [002] [003] [004] [005] [006] [007] [008] [009] [010] [011] [012] [013] [014] [015] [016] [017] [018] [019] [020] [021] [022] [023] [024] [025] [026] [027] [028] [029] [030] [031] [032] [033] [034] [035] [036] [037] [038] [039] [040] [041] [042] [043] [044] [045] [046] [047] [048] [049] [050] [051] [052] [053] [054] [055] [056] [057] [058] [059] [060] [061] [062] [063] [064] [065] [066] [067] [068] [069] [070] [071] [072] [073] [074] [075] [076] [077] [078] [079] [080] [081] [082] [083] [084] [085] [086] [087] [088] [089] [090] [091] [092] [093] [094] [095] [096] [097] [098] [099] [100] [101] [102] [103] [104] [105] [106] [107] [108] [109] [110] [111] [112] [113] [114] [115] [116] [117] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122] [123] [124] [125] [126] [127] [128] [129] [130] [131] [132] [133] [134] [135] [136] [137] [138] [139] [140] [141] [142] [143] [144] [145] [146] [147] [148] [149] [150] [151] [152]

Info | Help | Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise | Links