Reviews by honestgamer, page 31

Heavenly Sword review

With such a high standard set, it shouldn't come as a surprise that gameplay doesn't hold up its end of the bargain. It does come close, though. The main problem is that Nariko spends most of her game carrying a sword capable of standing…

Jason Venter · September 15, 2007

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Final Fantasy II review

You plan in most games to survive, and that's interesting. In Final Fantasy II, you do it because you want to beef up your weak ice spell instead of your ax. There's no sense of urgency and that gets tedious. You'll dread running into…

Jason Venter · September 11, 2007

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Taito Legends 2 review

Unless you lived in arcades 20 years ago, you probably won't even remember half the stuff you find here. You're thus denied even the value that nostalgia might lend each selection. Taken on their own terms, most titles you'll find here are…

Jason Venter · August 28, 2007

Staff PC HG exclusive

Concentration review

It's not that the artwork is bad—it's not—but it's obscure and could mean a few things. Half the time, you'll look at a picture and say to yourself “Hmm, that's either a stick, a log, a limb, a branch or a twig or something else I'm…

Jason Venter · August 21, 2007

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology review

Sometimes you're retrieving an item. Others you're rescuing someone who got lost, or delivering a goody he or she needs, or scavenging for materials at an item point. No matter how you look at it, though, you're no more than an errand boy…

Jason Venter · August 13, 2007

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Taito Legends: Power-Up review

Most arcade compilations from even the best of companies will include a few obvious misses. Taito was never the best of companies, but it was solid and enjoyed its fair share of classics. Taito Legends: Power-Ups combines games from two…

Jason Venter · August 10, 2007

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 review

The effort you must apply toward the protagonist’s social progression is one of the most interesting things about Persona 3. If he doesn’t seize every opportunity for a conversation with one of his peers at the local high school (or in the…

Jason Venter · July 23, 2007

Staff Game Boy Advance HG exclusive

Disney/Pixar Ratatouille review

There are license-based adventures on the Game Boy Advance that provide a fantastic experience. Ratatouille isn’t one of them. It doesn’t even come close. Without ever truly failing on a technical level, the game sucks all of the fun out…

Jason Venter · July 22, 2007

Staff Wii HG exclusive

Disney/Pixar Ratatouille review

It also happens to be a title that was clearly developed with the PlayStation 2 in mind. The game works like a charm on the system, and there are times when the Wii version feels clunky by comparison. Fortunately for the Wii, the inverse…

Jason Venter · July 5, 2007

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Disney/Pixar Ratatouille review

You just never know what a mission will involve until you accept it. Some have you completing mini-games, others have you sliding down huge slides and collecting stars, others have you rushing to the highest points of an area and still…

Jason Venter · July 2, 2007

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Final Fantasy review

In the original Final Fantasy, frequent encounters meant that players had to carefully execute each dungeon assault. Preparations sometimes required an hour or so of play time, just because each labyrinthine complex posed such a risk. On…

Jason Venter · June 28, 2007

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Puzzle Scape review

It’s neat that you can move pieces around at will, but the fact that vertical movement isn’t possible really stinks. Sometimes, you’ll see a killer move but you can’t execute it because there’s nothing available on your row. Other times…

Jason Venter · June 26, 2007

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

GrimGrimoire review

Plot plays a large role in GrimGrimoire. You’re either viewing the story or you’re fighting a battle. There’s no character customization in between, since you learn skills as you go, at set points in the narrative. That’s all there is to…

Jason Venter · June 22, 2007

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Hot Brain review

That’s the hook to Hot Brain: you have to do everything as if your pants were on fire. When you’re in high school and looking at a series of pictures in a test booklet, you aren’t cramped for time. You start to think “Wow, I could be out…

Jason Venter · June 21, 2007

Staff PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Dawn of Mana review

A boulder is as likely to bounce as not. A pumpkin could very well float like a balloon. Worse, anything you try to toss could inexplicably head to a nearby wall, bounce off it and into Keldy, then send him plummeting to a ledge below and…

Jason Venter · June 12, 2007

Staff Xbox 360 HG exclusive

Mad Tracks review

One odd mechanic that definitely will affect how you play is the acceleration feature. You press the right trigger to accelerate, but as you do there’s a gauge on the bottom of the screen that reflects a dwindling supply of energy. Thus…

Jason Venter · June 12, 2007

Staff Xbox 360

Pac-Man: Championship Edition review

The more pellets you eat, the stranger things become. You’ll grab a piece of fruit and instead of simply causing some pellets to appear, it’ll shift half the board. The arena glows and morphs until you have a new environment to explore…

Jason Venter · June 11, 2007

Staff Wii HG exclusive

Tamagotchi Party On! review

The mini-games in Tamagotchi: Party On! are entertaining at first, but quickly grow tiresome because of the frequency with which they are repeated. You might play the same one three or four times in a single round of default length, which…

Jason Venter · June 10, 2007

Staff Wii HG exclusive

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon review

One woman with bright purple spandex starts to feel pretty much like the next, with only the moves defining the two. Switching between fighting styles doesn’t feel as remarkable as it did when it debuted in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance…

Jason Venter · June 8, 2007

Staff PC HG exclusive

Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game review

If it were a movie, Secrets of the Ark would be an “Indiana Jones” picture. It would be a huge success and earn a lot of money at the box office because it wouldn’t interrupt itself with inane puzzles the viewer had to solve. Secrets of…

Jason Venter · June 6, 2007