Review Archives (Staff Reviews)

You are currently looking through staff 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
	Borderlands DoubleGame Add-On Pack review (X360) Reviewed on May 06, 2010 DLC has earned a reputation for being a quick and easy cash-grab, yet Gearbox’s efforts to expand the world of Pandora come off as anything but that; these are earnest and hearty attempts to deliver fans more of the engaging cooperative play we’ve already fallen in love with. Borderlands: Double Game Add-On Pack conveniently bundles two of the three currently available expansions onto one reasonably-priced disc, and it’s a worthwhile investment for those who haven’t made it already.
	Enchanted Arms review (X360) Reviewed on May 03, 2010 First impressions can be misleading. Sometimes purposefully so.
	0-D Beat Drop review (X360) Reviewed on April 25, 2010 0-D Beat Drop sets itself up as a fusion of rhythm and puzzle games, but the way it handles music doesn't fundamentally change the structure of its source material. No matter how many modes it throws at you, this is still an easier remix of Puyo Puyo with a different skin.
	Just Cause 2 review (X360) Reviewed on April 25, 2010 Just Cause 2 doesn’t rely on things that go boom. Instead, the game succeeds by delivering moments that are intense, surreal, and will push players off the edge of their seats in cool and unexpected ways.
	AGAIN: Interactive Crime Novel review (DS) Reviewed on April 24, 2010 Again is the latest (and maybe last) interactive novel game from Cing, the developers of Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk. Such a pedigree makes this game even more disappointing than it otherwise would be.
	Let's Draw! review (DS) Reviewed on April 24, 2010 Let's Draw! includes a variety of fun shapes, too, things that kids would actually care to draw. You can start out simple just by drawing a few lines—and the game will congratulate you on your artistic prowess—then move up to something more complex like a proper circle or a bicycle or one of several types of dinosaur. The folks who made the game clearly knew their audience and worked to keep them happy and engaged.
	Sam & Max: The Penal Zone review (PC) Reviewed on April 24, 2010 If there was ever any doubt that Telltale were anything but borderline insane, then the first ten minutes of Sam & Max: The Penal Zone put that firmly to bed.
	Shattered Horizon review (PC) Reviewed on April 23, 2010 Shattered Horizon is certainly an original and unique addition to the FPS genre, but the lack of content and variety, the small number of players online and the lack of Windows XP support make it a difficult title to recommend.
	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.
	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.
	Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love review (PS2) Reviewed on April 22, 2010 One definitely has to give credit to the Japanese for their ability to appeal to a wide range of sexual tastes. There’s a female here for everyone. There’s the plucky and inexplicably clumsy redhead, the big-breasted and flirtatious blonde maid, the fiery black-skinned beauty, and a ten year-old. These, and other women, will team up with the Japanese hero to form the Combat Theater Revue to promote justice through the art of song and dance... and occasionally through dedicated missile strikes.
	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.
	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction review (X360) Reviewed on April 19, 2010 Where Conviction diverges from its predecessors is in pacing. Guards in previous titles didn’t know what they were up against; at the player’s discretion, they often didn’t even know they were up against anything at all. On the flipside, Fisher’s enemies in Conviction know exactly who he is. They know his reputation. They scream profane threats at him when they can feel him in their midst. They don’t like him, but the feeling is mutual. Fisher is no longer a patient, calculating government agent. He is a rogue operative uncovering a conspiracy involving the death of his daughter and he’s out for blood.
	Blue Toad Murder Files: The Mysteries of Little Riddle review (PS3) Reviewed on April 14, 2010 If you've heard of Blue Toad Murder Files: The Mysteries of Little Riddle, it was probably mentioned in the same breath as the Professor Layton series, and for good reason. Blue Toad Murder Files takes obvious inspiration from the Professor Layton games. As one of four detectives from the Blue Toad Agency, you arrive in the town of Little Riddle at the beginning of the first episode. Almost immediately, you witness the murder of the town's mayor (the game is called Blue Toad Murder Files, after all). From there, you're tasked with wandering from place to place, questioning people and solving random puzzles until they eventually lead you to the killer.
	Major League Baseball 2K10 review (X360) Reviewed on April 12, 2010 When batting, you will have to be patient in identifying pitches, rather than taking a rip at everything thrown. Pitchers often straddle the outer-edge of the strikezone, and a batter caught trying to pull a ball way out there will often tap weak grounders to the pitcher and second baseman.
	Sylphia review (TGCD) Reviewed on April 11, 2010 Sylphia throws so much at players early on, but somehow still keeps producing surprising new opponents for every level. This is not native Japanese mythology, but the designers immersed themselves in the spirit. Winged gargoyles carry crossbow-wielding Spartans. A skeleton charioteer -- one horn broken from his ram's head helmet -- whips at you from afar. The flying chariot is pulled by manticores instead of horses. It's as though the developers stole some child's sketchbook and made a game based off of it. It's as though they stole my sketchbook.
	Nostalgia review (DS) Reviewed on April 10, 2010 It’s nice to just pick up an RPG that doesn’t have you sitting through hours of pretentious dribble about how Villain X used to be valiant and brave until Fate stepped in and cock-slapped them, and play it.
	Project: Snowblind review (PS2) Reviewed on April 10, 2010 While there's never really a place in Project: Snowblind where stealth is a necessity, it's always an option. And I have to admit, I do feel a certain sense of satisfaction when my creeping through ducts grants me the opportunity to gun down a couple of unsuspecting soldiers who were lying in wait for me to come nonchalantly strolling down that wide-open corridor.
	Light's End review (X360) Reviewed on April 02, 2010 This mechanic lends Light’s End a unique feel; there’s no battle engine to be found or any statistics to build; it’s purely a character-based puzzler where you need to jump from differing perspectives throughout the game to keep the story moving along.
	World Cup Of Pool review (DS) Reviewed on March 31, 2010 Unfortunately, the inclusion of sixty stellar pros boils down to displaying a still photo before each match, because the computer certainly doesn't play like any of those big names. It fails to execute smart safeties. It will ignore tailor-made combinations that would result in a win. Worst of all, it simply flubs easy, straight-in shots. I've never seen it come close to running a rack.

Additional Results (20 per page)

[001] [002] [003] [004] [005] [006] [007] [008] [009] [010] [011] [012] [013] [014] [015] [016] [017] [018] [019] [020] [021] [022] [023] [024] [025] [026] [027] [028] [029] [030] [031] [032] [033] [034] [035] [036] [037] [038] [039] [040] [041] [042] [043] [044] [045] [046] [047] [048] [049] [050] [051] [052] [053] [054] [055] [056] [057] [058] [059] [060] [061] [062] [063] [064] [065] [066] [067] [068] [069] [070] [071] [072] [073] [074] [075] [076] [077] [078] [079] [080] [081] [082] [083] [084] [085] [086] [087] [088] [089] [090] [091] [092] [093] [094] [095] [096] [097] [098] [099] [100] [101] [102] [103] [104] [105] [106] [107] [108] [109] [110] [111] [112] [113] [114] [115] [116] [117] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122] [123] [124] [125] [126] [127] [128] [129] [130] [131] [132] [133] [134] [135] [136] [137] [138] [139] [140] [141] [142] [143] [144] [145] [146] [147] [148] [149] [150] [151] [152] [153] [154] [155] [156] [157] [158] [159] [160] [161] [162] [163] [164] [165] [166] [167] [168] [169] [170] [171] [172] [173] [174] [175] [176] [177] [178] [179] [180] [181] [182] [183] [184] [185] [186] [187] [188] [189] [190] [191] [192] [193] [194] [195] [196] [197] [198] [199] [200] [201] [202] [203] [204] [205] [206] [207] [208] [209] [210] [211] [212] [213] [214] [215] [216] [217] [218] [219] [220] [221] [222] [223] [224] [225] [226] [227] [228] [229] [230] [231] [232] [233]

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links