Reviews by Jason Venter, page 17

Try Not to Fart review

When button icons appear, you need to press and hold the button or buttons indicated until the icons start to flash, at which point you need to release them. If you press the wrong button, you’ll sneak a fart that lasts until you release…

Jason Venter · October 24, 2012

Staff Xbox 360 Review of the Week HG exclusive

Borderlands 2 review

There are an insane number of guns in the game, and they grant some nice boosts to the damage you inflict. Your character can’t equip weapons that are too powerful, though, so there’s always motivation to level grind together with friends…

Jason Venter · October 15, 2012

Staff 3DS HG exclusive

Code of Princess review

It’s easy to appreciate each of those characters, from the busty heroine, to the shifty young bard, to a disinterested necromancer and a brutish fellow who likes cuddly forest animals. There is enough charisma here to support a properly…

Jason Venter · October 9, 2012

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Assassin's Creed: Revelations review

If you try hard enough, you can get past all of that and have a reasonably good time even without prior knowledge, but of course that’s not the point. If you play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the point is that you’ve come all this way…

Jason Venter · October 1, 2012

Staff Xbox 360 HG exclusive

Dead or Alive 5 review

The petite Leifang no longer looks like she might easily win an arm wrestling contest against the hulking behemoth that is Bass, for instance, which lends encounters between certain characters some of the impact that they lacked…

Jason Venter · September 27, 2012

Staff Wii Review of the Week HG exclusive

Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition review

While the classic content doesn’t benefit from the same attention to detail that Nintendo might once have lavished on it, however, there’s some new content that’s quite cool. When you first load up the game, you can check out a special…

Jason Venter · September 16, 2012

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood review

I don’t generally play games to see what twists the narrative will take, but I do have certain standards. Cut away the memorable opening and the even more memorable closer and the story here really just amounts to “Let’s build up a team of…

Jason Venter · September 12, 2012

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Assassin's Creed II review

There’s a lot of lore in the Assassin’s Creed series, but most of it was only generally alluded to in the first game. Assassin’s Creed II feels a lot like a remix of the first title, in that regard, only the story has evolved into…

Jason Venter · September 7, 2012

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Sleeping Dogs review

By the end of the game, the combat system has expanded to offer the level of depth you’d more typically expect to find in a dedicated fighting game. Counters, arm breaks, grapples, jump kicks, stuns, and even the environment all can be…

Jason Venter · September 2, 2012

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Legasista review

When you’re not advancing the plot, you’ll spend a lot of your time in random dungeons. Those dungeons are really the heart of the game, much like the Item World is in Nippon Ichi Software’s own Disgaea series. They come in several tiers…

Jason Venter · August 26, 2012

Staff 3DS HG exclusive

New Super Mario Bros. 2 review

Suddenly, until you either clear the current stage or you are struck by an enemy, you fire shots that turn bricks and enemy projectiles into coins. Usually, there are lots of bricks in short proximity. Diving through piles of gold like…

Jason Venter · August 14, 2012

Staff NES

California Games review

I once wasted most of a week doing nothing but playing California Games and attempting to perfect each of the six included sporting events. Just like I did more than two decades ago, I see quite clearly how the game could have been…

Jason Venter · August 5, 2012

Staff NES HG exclusive

Donkey Kong Classics review

For those keeping score at home, Donkey Kong Classics features an underwhelming total of seven levels—spread out across the two included games—and none of them take up more than a single screen. That means that you can quite handily see…

Jason Venter · August 5, 2012

Staff NES HG exclusive

Duck Tales 2 review

A lot of the challenge this time around comes from bottomless pits. The first game generally placed you in a relatively safe environment where you would typically die only if you ventured too far off the beaten path in search of treasure…

Jason Venter · August 5, 2012

Staff Xbox 360 HG exclusive

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD review

However, the revised game brings some new problems of its own. The main thing I’ve noticed is that the physics system seems to have been tweaked. I’m not sure how much of it is my memory playing tricks on me and how much of it is genuinely…

Jason Venter · August 5, 2012

Staff 3DS Review of the Week HG exclusive

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy review

The varying rules from one mode to the next can seem overwhelming at first, but the differences are actually rather minor and you’ll adapt to everything quickly enough. The biggest difference is actually the differing background imagery…

Jason Venter · July 4, 2012

Staff NES HG exclusive

Shatterhand review

You might suppose that in a game where you’re supposed to wail on everything with powerful fists, your enemies would attack in a manner that encourages brawls. However, your foes often fire potshots at you from a significant distance…

Jason Venter · June 30, 2012

Staff NES HG exclusive

Whomp 'Em review

Another potential issue is that Whomp ‘Em plays a lot like an old Mega Man title, except that the pacing for the stages doesn’t feel quite as refined as it did in Capcom’s famous series. You can clear the six main stages (after a brief…

Jason Venter · June 28, 2012

Staff SNES HG exclusive

The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock review

Fortunately, the action levels that make up the bulk of the game are reasonably good. There’s not a lot of visual variety because each of the stages are themed, but you’ll see grasslands, volcanic areas, icy crags, a dense jungle and a…

Jason Venter · June 27, 2012

Staff 3DS HG exclusive

Mario Tennis Open review

While you play, your view of the action shifts between two perspectives depending on how you hold the 3DS. If you hold the system in a roughly vertical position, the 3D effect is eliminated and the action is presented from a perspective…

Jason Venter · May 30, 2012