Reviews by sgreenwell

Reader SNES

Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs review

Bulls vs. Blazers sucked, sucks and will suck. When it was originally released in December of 1992, Bulls vs. Blazers was the freshest basketball game in town. The other alternative for the basketball-starved Super Nintendo was Bill…

sgreenwell · June 30, 2006

Reader SNES

Gradius III review

An aspect commonly overlooked in classic gaming is how solitary the experience is. Like lonely teenagers in a basement, the heroes of Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog work in complete isolation. While they may be working to save…

sgreenwell · September 3, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2

.hack Part 4: Quarantine review

The .hack series has established itself as a guilty pleasure of roleplaying video games, akin to Sylvester Stallone and action movies or The OC and cheesy teen dramas. Despite repetitive button mashing and frustrating artificial…

sgreenwell · June 8, 2005

Reader NES

Ultimate Basketball review

With the explosion in accessible information and playable video game roms via the Internet, few video games remain truly obscure to this day. Chances are, if a game is worth playing for any reason, someone has played it and felt the need…

sgreenwell · April 29, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2 HG exclusive

Final Fantasy X-2 review

Do you remember the music of the early nineties? It featured a wave of experimental genres and new hybrids, at least compared to the music of the eighties. From Seattle, the raw sound of Nirvana refined the rougher edges of punk, paving…

sgreenwell · March 18, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2

X-Men Legends review

If X-Men Legends was a Diablo expansion pack, would anybody care? What if it was named Final Fight 4? For all the allure provided by the possibility of controlling a squad of X-Men, X-Men Legends comes up amazingly short with tired game…

sgreenwell · January 8, 2005

Reader PlayStation 2

ESPN College Hoops 2K5 review

A Game John Wooden Can Appreciate ESPN College Hoops 2K5 packages a tight mixture of gameplay, realism and presentation values to create one of the finest basketball games ever. With the depth of its legacy mode and a competitive A.I…

sgreenwell · December 31, 2004

Staff PlayStation 2

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness review

Disgaea belongs firmly in the first camp of superior tactical roleplaying games, although it should be noted that it’s hanging by its fingernails off the edge of the cliff. The requisite tactical gameplay needs some tweaks, but this is…

Stephen Greenwell · May 24, 2004

Staff NES

Base Wars review

If the tedious fights were taken out of Base Wars, or if the faulty computer intelligence had been fixed, a better baseball game would have been produced. As it stands though, Base Wars is just an inferior hybrid.

Stephen Greenwell · December 22, 2003

Staff Game Boy Advance

Breath of Fire II review

Overall, Breath of Fire 2 is a game that's just below great because of a bad translation and a lack of new content from the previous release.

Stephen Greenwell · December 21, 2003

Staff PlayStation 2

Madden NFL 2003 review

Tougher than tough actin’ Tinactin! Tastier than Outback Steakhouse! Better to watch than Little Giants! A better deal than Greyhound buses!

Stephen Greenwell · December 21, 2003

Staff PlayStation 2

Crazy Taxi review

Ever Wonder Why 'Taxi' Has An I But 'Candy' Has A Y, Unless It's An Exotic Dancer? Me neither, so luckily I'm reviewing Crazy Taxi and not our country's exotic dancing scene!

Stephen Greenwell · December 21, 2003

Staff Arcade

Berzerk review

Every once in a while, the screen will fade, the sound clatters even more unrecognizably, or the button will jam, but these are inconsequential annoyances which do not interrupt the unconscious flow of gaming.

Stephen Greenwell · December 21, 2003

Staff PlayStation

Vandal Hearts review

While Ogre Battle now receives the credit it deserves, Vandal Hearts has gone ignored by the same audience. It may not offer the immense depth of these previous titles, but it does feature simplified gameplay and a good plot that should…

Stephen Greenwell · August 30, 2003

Staff PlayStation

Beyond the Beyond review

The cold truth is that Beyond the Beyond would suck regardless of when it was released.

Stephen Greenwell · August 30, 2003

Staff PC

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne review

It’s simple to recommend The Frozen Throne. It lengthens the experience of an already great game, while providing a new style of gameplay and balancing to top it all off. If you enjoyed Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, then there’s no question…

Stephen Greenwell · August 30, 2003

Staff PlayStation

Xenogears review

Being a roleplayer immediately signifies your intelligence over casual gamers, because the ability to read dense text and make simple statistical based decisions requires far more mind power than split second reactions and nerves of steel…

Stephen Greenwell · August 30, 2003

Staff PC

Pipe Dream review

While it lacks the elaborate back story of a Mario game (omg savu tha princez??!??!), Pipe Dream provides a solid time wasting experience for those tired of Solitaire and Bejeweled.

Stephen Greenwell · August 30, 2003

Reader PC

Baseball Mogul Online review

Programmers of baseball management games must make a decision between two paths early in development. The first option is to faithfully reproduce all the nuances of real baseball management - hiring coaches, setting up minor league teams…

sgreenwell · August 25, 2003

Reader NES

Legends of the Diamond review

Hearing old baseball players and analysts like Joe Morgan on television waxing poetically about the “good ole days” of professional baseball and players playing “for the love of the game” and not “multi-million dollar contracts” can warp…

sgreenwell · August 19, 2003