Review Archives (Reader Reviews)

You are currently looking through reader reviews for games that are available on every platform the site currently covers. Below, you will find reviews written by all eligible authors 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
	Halo 3: ODST review (X360) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 Halo: Combat Evolved was almost a perfect game, until it tanked halfway through when the Flood showed up. For all of the praise the Halo series gets for ultra-intelligent AI, let’s keep in mind that it’s always been lousy AI that brings these games down: Bungie teases us by pitting us against the genuinely smart Covenant, only to then switch things up and unleash what are essentially fast-moving, mindless zombies in their place. And every game in the trilogy suffered because of it....
	inFAMOUS review (PS3) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 I believe rather strongly that moral choices are one of gaming’s most frequently abused clichés, and Infamous is one of the most prominent offenders. There’s the fact that our protagonist, Cole McGrath, is a standalone character who by and large doesn’t represent the player, resulting in a narrative that awkwardly tries to combine role-playing with third-person storytelling. There are the flow-breaking asides in which Cole mentally examines his choices, and there’s the fact that his two o...
	Indigo Prophecy review (PS2) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 Every once in a while there’s a game that’s destined to change things. Perhaps it’s the sort of game that heralds in a new engine, showcases a new standard of graphics, or brings in a unforeseen focus on story and settings. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s game so utterly bad they serve as a large sign to all future developers never, ever to design games in such a way. Often, these failures drown in pre-release hype, chosen to usher in a new age. At worst, a game that symbolizes the re...
	Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem review (GCN) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 The idea of survival horror is a fascinating one. While films are usually identified by aesthetic and emotive theme - fantasy, or action, or science-fiction - games tend to be categorised by activity. Do you shoot in this game? Then it's a shooting game. Do you strategise in it? Then it's a strategy. Videogame genre naming conventions leave very little room for thematics. Maybe that's to be expected. Games are, after all, primarily about doing stuff.
	American Dream review (NES) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 American Dream is the story of Pachio, a smiley little ball with hands and feet, who lands in America with $1000 and a goal of becoming obscenely rich. In the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, with its casino, Pachio can get do just that without working or paying taxes! AD is littered with casinos chock full of positive-payout gambling machines. Navigating them leads to New Jersey, where Al Capone awaits...
	Machinarium review (PC) Reviewed on January 02, 2010 Adventure games suck. Let’s face it. They do. I’m not totally opposed to the idea of an adventure game being good, of course, but the inherent flaw of the genre is that they’re not about gameplay, and that undermines the very purpose of the medium, which is to be interactive entertainment. The few adventure games that have actually held my attention over the years, such as The Longest Journey or Grim Fandango, have done so because of an intriguing story, memorable characters, and c...
	Crackdown review (X360) Reviewed on January 01, 2010 For all of the negative things I’m about to say regarding Crackdown, I suppose it’s worth noting that in a modern gaming culture in which open-ended “sandbox” games have become a cliché, Crackdown stands out. It puts us in the shoes of a nameless government agent who can jump very high, and it places us in an enormous city with no shortage of tall buildings to climb. There is literally nowhere we can’t go from square one. As far as freedom goes – and sandbox games are all ab...
	Kengo: Legend of the 9 review (X360) Reviewed on December 31, 2009 For some time now, I've seen the words "realism" and "realistic" when players describe Kengo: Legend of the 9. I immediately think of the two Bushido Blade titles released for the original PlayStation whenever this happens. In those games, there's no life bars or stats of any kind, just two people on screen with swords. Any attack, any swing from either character could be the last. Matches would sometimes end seconds or drag on for minutes due to its realistic rules. While they weren't th...
	Uncharted: Drake's Fortune review (PS3) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 The more games like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune I play, the more convinced I am that cover-based gunplay is simply becoming the norm, and that I should stop labeling these games “Gears of War clones.” It’s not like Epic are cursing other development teams for profiting from their idea after their own franchise tanked – this obviously is not the case – so let’s just accept the duck-and-cover system as the natural next step in the long-running shooter genre. That kind of optimism will...
	Jurassic Park: The Lost World review (ARC) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 I had a pleasant experience a little while ago: I was exploring a mall I’d never been to before, found an arcade, and located a running Jurassic Park: The Lost World machine. I hadn’t seen the light gun shooter since they removed it from the arcade near my own home years ago, and ever the victim of nostalgia, I decided to spend what I thought would be “just a few quarters” on it. Not only did I invest more time in the game than I’d anticipated, but I actually played alarmingly well, espec...
	The Orange Box review (PC) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 A year or two ago, I wrote a review for the console version of The Orange Box. In it, I threw around a few colorful adjectives for the first four games in the package, before coming to a halt with Team Fortress 2. I didn’t have Xbox Live at the time (and still don’t), and as such, I could merely say, “I haven’t really played this one, but I’ve heard it’s awesome, so there you go.” I have since spent more time with the PC rendition of Team Fortress 2 than nearly any other gam...
	Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar review (PC) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 Man's quest for enlightenment and knowledge has lead him to explore the farthest reaches of the known universe. Now one man, and his companions, will venture forth to seek the knowledge that has eluded the people of Britania for so long: The Codex of Ultimate wisdom.
	Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders review (PC) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 Before Sam, Max and Guybrush, Zak McKracken saved the world from stupidity in LucasArts's first PC/SCUMM engine point-and-click farce. The rough edges are evident, but so are the laughs, and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (ZM) even manages to poke fun at mistakes a lot of point-and-click games make today. I laughed at the jokes even though a walkthrough tipped them off--a credit to ZM's bizarre graphics and polished absurdism.
	The Saboteur review (PS3) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 Tragedy makes simple people do strange things.
	Uncharted 2: Among Thieves review (PS3) Reviewed on December 29, 2009 Originally, “interactive movies” described games like Dragon’s Lair: literal movies where you pressed a button at the right time to keep watching the movie. In the late 90s, the concept of an “interactive movie” morphed into a hybrid consisting of segregated “movie” and “game” parts. You play for a minute, watch a really long cutscene, continue playing, long cutscene, etc. The story unfolds in the “movie” parts and all of the coolest scenes require no input from the player. The status quo has re...
	Wrath of Denethenor review (APP2) Reviewed on December 29, 2009 Wrath of Denethenor seems to be Sierra's attempt to do Ultima II right the second time. Dying's tougher, and instead of time periods, your lone character moves from one world to the next. Unforunately, the formula's apparent: talk to king, beat up monsters, get better armor and weapons, steal a boat in plain view, and move to the next world. The outside's too black-and-white, and the inside's too orange. The keyboard controls are bizarre alphabet soup even by 80s standards, and sim...
	Vay review (SCD) Reviewed on December 28, 2009 While you can only venture as far as the plot will allow, you never really feel restricted because of the ramped up difficulty in each new area. For example, you can’t pass through Danek-infested Fort Gilan without Pottle to reveal the secret passage. But once you enter it, the monsters within grow significantly in strength. You’ll likely die often just trying to raise levels, but, like any RPG, the path becomes manageable once your skills have improved.
	Avalon Code review (DS) Reviewed on December 28, 2009 The world is doomed. That’s it. Done. Show’s over, folks. Nothing more to see here. Biblical stories predict how everything will be scoured by fire, and how it will be cleansed and purged in holy flames. They reveal how mankind will be judged, and what will be left behind in the wake that burning, final cataclysm. Not exactly the most peaceful way to end things, but hey, it’s not up to us. Now that whatever god in charge has made its decision - and it’s pretty clear there won’t be any last-minut...
	Quattro Arcade review (NES) Reviewed on December 27, 2009 Quattro Arcade, being a compilation, was one of those games nobody wanted to finish for the NES FAQ Completion Project. In attempting to give something of everything, compilation carts invariably serve up one game that just stinks. Too many NES multi-game carts feature games with too few levels or too little attention to graphics or, in Action 52's case, both. I'm not aware of any perfect cross-genre compilation, but QA is clearly above average.
	Xyphus review (C64) Reviewed on December 27, 2009 In Xyphus--part hexagonal board game, part RPG--four character tokens move across six lands in succession. Finally, they kill the demon Xyphus with his own heart, behind an invisible maze. Strategy rules: forget towns, separate combat screens, tenuous or reheated riddles, or experience mills. Supplies are limited. So are enemies and magic. Death kills.

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