Beyond Good & Evil (Xbox) January 1st, 2006

This is how I started off the new year -- by finding a dusty intro lurking in the back of my hard-drive and finishing it off while still slightly hung-over. This forever stayed the way of things to come.

Alien Soldier (Genesis) January 20th, 2006

I regret how I did this because it let VM and her awesome FO2 review down in the pro/rookie tourney that we probably should have won. Numerous people warned me the intro was too long, but I was so convinced I had made it DAMN HILARIOUS! that I kept it, was scored poorly, and lost. It will remain forever unedited so people can point and laugh.

The rest is supposedly okay, but it's the bitterest review in my collection. Just like LH's Magna Carta, except this one remains readable.

Conflict: Desert Storm (Xbox) January 22nd, 2006

Just like Monsterseed (PSX) April 21st, 2005, Shining in the Darkness (Gen) May 5th, 2005, and Micro Machines (XBOX) October 16th, 2005, before it, this is a restored review from olden days, lovingly repaired and released back into the reviewing community. Look for infrequent Collector reviews to be released in the near future.

This was actually my first ever RotD feature that I saw (I'm sure I got mentions before but I never checked the RC board back then.) Sportsman gave it a second place before quitting his RotD spot and migrating fully over to HG.

Chrono Cross (PlayStation) Januray 30th, 2006

Upon forming Team EmP, a blood pact was made between the original five members; a pact that decreed that they would all write a CC review in their career. LH's backed out as soon as the word 'blood' was mentioned, complaining of feeling a little queasy, and DE was disqualified from this agreement for threatening to give CC a 4. 4 is far too high.

Anyway, this review did two things. First, it won a star-packed tourney over on FAQs by quite a margin and scored a career high of 97. Then it got a disappointing 75 in the KoR first round when I expected a high finish with it. 97, 75. That's not a bad split! I love this review and enjoyed writing it more than any in recent memory.


Monkey Puncher (Game Boy Color) February 16th, 2006

When I spied this game cheap on EBay, I envisioned a great reviewing platform. What I got was a dull, by-the-numbers tamagotchi game that is enjoyable in only short doses. But I wanted to write something for it anyway and forced this out. It's without voice, without personality and without depth -- like a Boo review. But it's serviceable enough, so it can stay. Besides, taking reviews down is lame.

Drakengard (PlayStation 2)

'Have you played Drakengard yet?" A volatile Ruder would demand every so often, and I would respond in the negative. Finally, I gave in and played the game while home sick from work and two days were instantly devoured by a mass murdering spree. I can't ever match the perfect review my nagging chum posted in the TT finals, but I can at least offer my own homage to a game that has revived a genre to me. The TT judges weren't so happy with it, and awarded it a lose while Ruder boasted "Not as good as mine!" Sod them; it easily won a 'Faqs tourney about M-rated games notching up a huge 98.

I'm very happy with this one. Props to Boo for his HTML assistance and VM on the nit-pickiest proof-read ever.

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