Review Archives (All Reviews)

You are currently looking through all reviews for games that are available on every platform the site currently covers. Below, you will find reviews written by honestgamer 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.

Available Reviews
	How To Train Your Dragon review (X360) Reviewed on April 23, 2010 As you spend time outside of the arena with your dragon, whether that be training in the cave or playing mini-games that you have unlocked at a distant cave, your over-sized pet will grow weary. That can quickly impact its performance, so you have to scrounge up grub to feed the beast so that he will trust you and fight his best on your behalf. There's no real challenge to the process; you simply need to have the patience to wander the islands in circles as you hack apart the chickens, sheep and boars. You have to be ready to stop and dig under every rock, to slowly pull up one vegetable or flower at a time and then to wander back to your home to stuff your dragons full of goodies.	2/5
	Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review (PS3) Reviewed on April 23, 2010 The game's limited scope comes with a pleasing silver lining, however: destructible environments. Games have made attempts along those lines in the past, but Bad Company 2 takes the beautiful chaos to an unusually involving level. For example, one stage finds the player holed up in a wooden shack as a tank and gunmen approach from the far side of a field. It's possible to duck behind the wooden walls, then to peek out and fire shots at the approaching goons. Hiding out offers only limited protection, though. Your enemies will shred your shelter with bullets, until finally you're standing in a husk of your former stronghold. That's not an isolated example, either.	4/5
	Resonance of Fate review (PS3) Reviewed on April 21, 2010 For the most part, this battle system works wonders and it lends Resonance of Fate a fair portion of its charm. When you're able to stop thinking about all of the strategy that goes into perfectly executing a massive assault on powerful enemies, you're able to stop and (mostly) enjoy some of the most visually stimulating combat ever featured in a JRPG. You're characters run, jump, flip and whirl through interactive arenas, participants in a bullet-riddled ballet.	4/5
	Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon review (WII) Reviewed on March 27, 2010 Given time, you will eventually adapt to all of those quirks. Even when you've grown accustomed to the overly simplistic and repetitive combat, the awkward flashlight and camera controls and the ridiculous inventory system, however, Fragile Dreams can surprise you with just how obtuse it can really be. As you progress through the game, you'll find yourself forced to backtrack to locations where you've already been (after finding the proper key, of course) or you'll have to chase a mischievous prankster around an amusement park or whatever else the game throws your way.	1.5/5
	Red Steel 2 review (WII) Reviewed on March 23, 2010 When the swordplay comes together as intended, there's no feeling better. You'll face a lot of thugs as you seek your resolution. They come at you from all sides wielding swords of their own, or guns or hammers or protective shields. Routing the evil gang members feels satisfying because you're not simply swinging the Wii Remote around in place of furious 'A' button mashing. The speed and actual motion of each swing is reflected on-screen with surprising precision and with in-game consequences.	4/5
	Final Fantasy XIII review (PS3) Reviewed on March 20, 2010 The multi-faceted nature of combat means that in Final Fantasy XIII, nearly every battle is a fresh adventure. That's not evident in the first few hours, where you're still learning new techniques and simply mashing the 'X' button allows you to slaughter most enemies that you encounter. The dynamic changes abruptly once you've been playing for a few hours, however, and you're suddenly going up against monsters so powerful that they can smash tanks, or you're fighting so many at once that they can overwhelm you almost before the fight begins unless you truly understand how to get the most out of your party members.	4.5/5
	Data East Arcade Classics review (WII) Reviewed on March 09, 2010 Menu and presentation issues don't end with ridiculous button configurations, either. You'll see a lot of menus as you decide what game to play, both when the game first starts up and then when you select the one that you actually want to play. Load times are surprisingly lengthy, especially given the size that some of the included games surely occupy on the disc or anywhere else. The whole experience is surprisingly awkward every step of the way. That prevents the collection from being the joy that it might have been.	2/5
	Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing review (PS3) Reviewed on March 04, 2010 Tracks are more than eye candy. You'll find compelling venues that accommodate an absolutely essential drift system. Your opponents will generally spend more time drifting and boosting than they do driving in a straight line. When you try to mimic their vehicular wizardry, you'll realize just how ingeniously the environments were developed. Ramps, fences, wide bends and hairpin turns mean that the fastest way through nearly any situation is to slide into an expert drift, then use the resulting energy to boost through a curve or over a ramp... where it's possible to launch into acrobatics that charge you up for a new boost once your wheels touch the ground.	4/5
	Endless Ocean: Blue World review (WII) Reviewed on February 26, 2010 Naturally, diving is what prevents Blue World from feeling much like "just another game." The waters of the world's most memorable bodies of water teem with life and play host to everything from seals to gray whales to eels to jellyfish. In most instances, you're able to move in close for an investigation and you can watch as shy fish retreat into their holes or hungry sharks circle in murkier waters as they make meal plans. The various residents of this liquid world seem apathetic about your presence. You're a novelty at best, hardly worthy of their attention because you mean them no harm.	4/5
	Heavy Rain review (PS3) Reviewed on February 17, 2010 Most of the scenes make good sense and do a nice job of either building tension or adding depth to the characters, but there are instances where something will happen and it feels like the developers are just pandering to my testosterone. Example: characters Ethan Mars and the ever-so-sexy Madison Paige are sitting on the floor in a seedy hotel room. Ethan tells Madison that the only thing he cares about right now is finding his son. Madison responds by leaning in for a passionate kiss. The moment is supposed to be dramatic, I assume, but the timing is so ridiculously absurd that I can't help but think that it was included simply so the player has another chance to admire Madison's svelte physique as the distraught Ethan experiences carnal pleasure.	4/5
	Our House: Party! review (WII) Reviewed on February 07, 2010 What makes things even worse is that they are sandwiched between several load screens that are disguised to trick you into believing that they contain useful or exciting information. You'll soon learn better. Pre-game tutorials explain how you're supposed to proceed through the challenge at hand, but the examples on-screen have little in common with the diversions that actually follow. The result is that you're never prepared for what comes next until you've played the game frequently enough to figure things out on your own. Your first experience with any mode feels like trying to kiss a porcupine's butt in the dark.	1/5
	Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy review (PC) Reviewed on February 05, 2010 Perhaps the biggest problem isn't the limited nature of the building, though; it's the backtracking. When you first arrive, you'll make the rounds as you get acquainted with your new classmates. That takes a lot of time, since at first it can be easy to head down the wrong hallway and find yourself at a dead end. Once you know your way around, which may not happen until you've played for a few hours, you'll still find yourself wearing holes in the hallway carpet because you're covering the same ground so frequently. Instead of a resourceful sleuth, you'll feel like an errand girl.	2.5/5
	NBA Live 10 review (PS3) Reviewed on February 03, 2010 The characters in this year's game move with more faithfulness to their real-life counterparts. The difference isn't huge, but it's there and it's just one of many tweaks that I absolutely appreciate. Other upgrades have also been made to things like the pick-and-roll control, opponent AI, blocking, dribbling, foul mechanics, rebounding, character models, sweat shading (you know you love it when the players glisten credibly), arenas, lighting and everything in between. I can confidently say that if you were to pinpoint every minor change, type up a comprehensive list and print it out on paper, you'd fill several pages.	4/5
	Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - The Crystal Bearers review (WII) Reviewed on February 01, 2010 The biggest flaw facing those who give The Crystal Bearers a chance is the way that the game requires so much tedious backtracking. Though the world that you'll explore throughout your adventure is beautiful, it's relatively small. That should mean that you almost never get lost, but it turns out that the available map is a lot like a blond airhead: fun to look at but useless in a jam. With that being the case, you'll need to rely on signposts that pepper the various roadways.	3/5
	Half-Minute Hero review (PSP) Reviewed on January 29, 2010 Told in a generational sort of manner that's reminiscent of a more expanded Dragon Quest V, the plot in Half-Minute Hero won't win any awards for narrative originality. It obviously isn't trying to, either. Instead, it has fun rushing players through a laundry list of RPG cliches. The rapid-fire nature of plot twists prevents every 'surprise' from growing tiresome, even when you saw it coming whole seconds ahead of time, because you're constantly moving to a new location or task.	4/5
	Death By Cube review (X360) Reviewed on January 24, 2010 You might call it a post-apocalyptic battlefield simulator, or a Geometry Wars clone or perhaps you'd even call it art. Certainly, the minimalist approach makes a case for that last descriptor. There's something beautiful about the simple way that the beautiful red oil splays across the screen, blood-like in its consistency. There's a subdued grace, too, as your robot glides over the desolate grid that makes up his world's landscape. There's even a certain emotional element driving his quest to set things right in a world he finds so different from the one that he once knew.	2.5/5
	The Treasures of Montezuma 2 review (PC) Reviewed on January 21, 2010 You'll likely spend most of your time in said Adventure mode, both because you're initially compelled to do so and because the developers were wise enough to include rewards for working your way through its individual stages. Each success in that mode results in some in-game currency that you can use to purchase upgrades as you progress through the subsequent stages, ensuring that you have reason to keep playing at least for the first 10 hours or so. Once purchased, the upgrades activate if you manage to clear certain icons from the board, or if you eliminate pieces from the same color twice in a row.	3/5
	Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth review (WII) Reviewed on January 14, 2010 Here you'll find Death with his sickles and blades whirling madly around him, possessing a visage rendered more menacing than ever before by redrawn artwork. Here you'll find the Colossus with a hulking frame that fills the entire screen and shakes the whole chamber around him, here the familiar vampire bat that you've been battling since the original Castlevania.	4/5
	Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island review (DS) Reviewed on January 14, 2010 Nearly every action costs precious time, in fact, and there are no do-overs (though you can play through the whole adventure again after the credits roll and keep any of the items that you gathered on your first run). The setup works nicely, ensuring that more ambitious players can find a decent challenge in developing their empire while younger siblings and other amateur adventurers are free to take their time enjoying other less challenging aspects of the game.	4/5
	Our House review (DS) Reviewed on January 04, 2010 The main flaw that Our House suffers from isn't a technical one, however. It's the much more mundane issue of repetition. While nearly every one of the included mini-games are fun the first few times—or even the first 10 or 20—they can only amuse for so long. It's neat to be able to remodel rooms, but there's never any real motivation to do anything more than place the required objects in the room (perhaps without even giving much thought to artistic arrangement, which seems to be rated almost arbitrarily as long as you don't have a bureau's drawers opening into a wall or a toilet in the middle of the floor).	3/5

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