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
	BioShock review (PS3) Reviewed on October 28, 2008 What once seemed perfect now more closely resembles a haunted amusement park. Water sprays through fissures in the transparent barrier encasing the city. Hallways are filled with rubble. Signs advertising a perfect future hang crookedly and flash sporadically as sparks shower the cracked asphalt below. The laughter of men, women and children has faded away, replaced by cheery classical music that blends oddly with the screams of the dying and the barely living. Vitality once formed the heart of the city. Now it's all but gone.	4.5/5
	Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen review (DS) Reviewed on October 22, 2008 Dragon Quest IV was always about those five stories and they were always interesting, but never to the current extent. Maybe the old translation job was handled poorly or perhaps I was too young at the time to appreciate such things. Perhaps the graphics just weren't up to the task of communicating the required subtleties. Whatever the case, I never cared enough to wonder how the scraps of narrative all fit together. Imagine my surprise, then, when Chapters of the Chosen showed me that the story behind the scenes is actually quite compelling.	4.5/5
	de Blob review (WII) Reviewed on October 19, 2008 The developers wisely threw in some hazards and puzzles to mix things up a bit, but these don't help nearly as much as they should. Early on, there just aren't enough enemies to challenge you. Even when more of them enter the picture, defeating the various nasties and their machinery drains your paint meter at an alarming rate. Then you have to go refill it before you can fight some more. You're seldom in actual danger, meaning that foes are more inconvenient than they are difficult.	3.5/5
	Mario Kart Wii review (WII) Reviewed on October 15, 2008 Nintendo should be commended for making genuine improvements to its classic formula, but my resulting goodwill vanished the minute I was reminded that rubber band AI is the devil.	4/5
	Master of the Monster Lair review (DS) Reviewed on October 09, 2008 The thing that keeps a person digging is the sense of ownership. Once you've crafted a beautiful maze, it's fun to return because then you'll get to see what monsters have decided to inhabit your dungeon. If you just built a few bland hallways, perhaps there will be some bats and maybe a boar or two. If you spruced things up with a trash heap, you'll find a slimy little guy. The undesirable tenants you attract are a better reward than virtual piles of gold or sparkling digital badges ever could have been.	4/5
	Mega Man 9 review (X360) Reviewed on October 08, 2008 This is a game where your skills start out rusty, yet your experience as you improve goes from “pretty good but wow is this game hard” to “I can't believe I used to have trouble with that!” The sense of accomplishment as each stage is cleared hasn't been this significant in a Mega Man game in 20 years.	4.5/5
	Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice review (PS3) Reviewed on August 31, 2008 The game falters slightly because it couldn't pull a rabbit out of the hat and produce something wholly new and exciting that we haven't already seen from the franchise. Evolution can be a grand thing, though, and that's precisely what's offered here.	4/5
	Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns review (DS) Reviewed on August 21, 2008 Trudging through a dungeon each time you fight the boss monster might not sound so bad—after all, we did that same thing for years before developers started generously sprinkling save points throughout their labyrinths—but in Izuna 2 it can be decidedly demoralizing. On one run, you might fly through seven or eight floors with barely an issue. Then on the next, a lucky bunch of enemies might defeat you before you reach even the first staircase. It all comes down to trap placement and item allotment.	2/5
	Soulcalibur IV review (PS3) Reviewed on August 18, 2008 Some of the new characters also try to ratchet up the sex appeal, with one girl in a wire-frame dress (newcomer Ashlotte) tumbling before the start of each match while the camera swoops down to catch a shot of her panties. Most of the character models are admittedly attractive and I like a bit of bosom or a pair of long legs as much as the next guy—perhaps more, if I'm to be honest—but there will be times when you'll surely grimace and wonder why someone got so much sex in your SoulCalibur.	4/5
	Little League World Series Baseball 2008 review (WII) Reviewed on August 16, 2008 Not every game that promises optimization for Wii has been able to deliver anything noteworthy, but Little League World Series 2008 happens to be one of those rare success stories. It's not likely to win over hardcore baseball fanatics, but for those who simply want some fun gaming sessions with friends, family members or a mixture of the two, Activision's latest definitely warrants a rental or even a purchase.	4/5
	The Bourne Conspiracy review (X360) Reviewed on August 12, 2008 There's a certain appeal to the thought of jumping into the shoes of a rogue assassin like Bourne. Explosions are cool. Sniping is a hoot. Fast car chases through the streets of Paris are all sorts of exciting. Hand-to-hand combat with military professionals also has its merits. When it comes right down to it, there's actually almost nothing about the whole concept that doesn't scream “make me a video game.”	4.5/5
	1942: Joint Strike review (X360) Reviewed on August 06, 2008 While most of the game is manageable enough if your twitch gaming skills haven't grown too rusty, boss encounters can be a different story entirely. Even the adversary you face at the conclusion of the first stage is beefy, unleashing a wicked spread shot and heat-seeking missiles when he's not pelting you with standard shots from one of several turrets. Emerging from the encounter in one piece requires you to unleash your most convincing assault as quickly as possible, since dodging and weaving will only get you so far and is ultimately destined to fail if you have to keep it up for too long (plus your rating for that encounter will drop and you don't want that).	4/5
	Packaging Man review (PC) Reviewed on August 05, 2008 While Pac-Man is an endearing classic because of the constant challenge and addictive gameplay it provides, though, Dogwood Alliance's effort lacks the substance it needed to exist as more than a fleeting memory. It's over almost before it begins, it's ugly and there's not much value in the long term. Sort of like deforestation, I can almost imagine someone from the company quipping, and maybe he'd be right.	2/5
	Hail to the Chimp review (X360) Reviewed on August 04, 2008 The humor is practically non-existent with even the puns falling flat (and I usually love those). This wouldn't be a problem if the rest of the game were an improvement, but it's really not. The uninspired mockumentaries are actually the highlight of the whole affair (and double as bonus content that you can unlock). When you're a developer and the best bits in your game are rather poorly animated segments that wouldn't cut it on network television or even Cartoon Network in the early morning hours, you know that your project is seriously flawed.	1.5/5
	Women’s Volleyball Championship review (PS2) Reviewed on August 04, 2008 It's so frustratingly unpredictable that you begin to feel like you're not even playing. Why do the players respond so poorly to your commands? Why do you have so little control over where the ball goes? How is it that your teammates are more likely to excel if you just press the button once or twice per round and then leave them to their own devices the rest of the time? I just don't know, and nothing in the tutorials answered such queries.	2/5
	Order Up! review (WII) Reviewed on August 01, 2008 Despite the solid selection of dishes on hand, cooking for the same motley assortment can get old after awhile and the game doesn't really offer much relief. About the only exceptions are a few mini-games. One has you flicking rats that run along the screen. Another has you quickly scrubbing plates under the eye of the watchful health inspector. Then there are the ones where you must move the Wii Remote to shake your workers awake when the going gets tough. These are nice diversions that fit the humorous cooking theme quite well, but there simply aren't enough of them to entirely dispel the monotony that is inherent to a title of this nature.	3.5/5
	Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard review (DS) Reviewed on July 29, 2008 As you become proficient with the tools provided, the game and its challenges evolve. You'll rely on the bottom screen to let you know where you are in relation to horrific monsters called FOEs that have wandered down the tower from much later areas. There's only one term for any of these guys the first time you meet them: badass. Surviving one round of combat is often impossible. They'll mop the floor with you. However, they can—and generally should—be avoided.	4.5/5
	The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes review (PC) Reviewed on July 14, 2008 Aside from the first case, which is complete filler in my opinion, the sixteen mysteries presented here are genuinely interesting. Examples include a man who takes off in a hot air balloon and crash lands after a dagger somehow finds its way into his back, a man who collapses in botanical gardens after suffering from a potentially fatal bee sting, a jewel theft on a speeding train and so forth.	3.5/5
	Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy review (WII) Reviewed on July 13, 2008 The main hook in the campaign and arcade modes is the ability to attract debris to your ship and use it to your advantage. Anything you destroy within a stage (except for the boss) can be pulled to your ship and will stay with you until it has received too much damage and fallen away or until you clear a given mission. The whole process occurs automatically without any special button presses.	3/5
	Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 review (DS) Reviewed on July 07, 2008 There's still a learning curve for those new to the franchise, but returning veterans should be able to jump right into the action. Working too quickly is likely to lead to errors just as it should, but missed slices and injections feel like true blunders instead of something that can be blamed on faulty hit detection. As a result, tense operations feel challenging for all of the right reasons.	4.5/5

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