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
	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition review (PC) Reviewed on January 17, 2010 It's hard enough dealing with an action game that switches into "surprise bullet time" at the drop of a hat, yet the game's shockingly sluggish performance is far from its only problem. Graphical glitches abound, ranging from the merely annoying to outright show-stoppers. Doors, computer consoles and other objects will occasionally flicker or disappear outright, although they remain solid enough to impede the player's movement. More seriously, in one instance a platform I was required to move with my Force powers also went missing, leaving me unable to progress through the game until, after several futile, frustrating minutes and a quick Google to make sure I wasn't completely off-base about what I was supposed to be doing, I exited and restarted the game.
	Remington Great American Bird Hunt review (WII) Reviewed on January 17, 2010 The one thing keeping this game from being a total failure is its multiplayer. Up to four people can play either at the same time, or in separate rounds. Having everyone shooting it out on the same screen makes for potential hilarity; with so many people frantically scrambling for targets and mocking the announcer, it makes the game seem far less tedious.
	Syberia review (PC) Reviewed on January 16, 2010 Syberia tricks you with subtlety on a drip feed: the game’s focus, aim and characters all change so naturally over time that it’s not until you’ve worked your way to the end that you can look back over the whole picture and understand just how well realised the entire experience was.
	Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth review (WII) Reviewed on January 14, 2010 Here you'll find Death with his sickles and blades whirling madly around him, possessing a visage rendered more menacing than ever before by redrawn artwork. Here you'll find the Colossus with a hulking frame that fills the entire screen and shakes the whole chamber around him, here the familiar vampire bat that you've been battling since the original Castlevania.
	Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island review (DS) Reviewed on January 14, 2010 Nearly every action costs precious time, in fact, and there are no do-overs (though you can play through the whole adventure again after the credits roll and keep any of the items that you gathered on your first run). The setup works nicely, ensuring that more ambitious players can find a decent challenge in developing their empire while younger siblings and other amateur adventurers are free to take their time enjoying other less challenging aspects of the game.
	Wacky Races review (NES) Reviewed on January 13, 2010 Each of the 10 levels looks different and is divided into multiple parts. Muttley's opposition varies from level to level, as well, which at least gives the illusion you're doing something different in each stage. Sure, for the most part, you're running and jumping from left to right on the screen while avoiding or disposing of foes, but when the monsters and locales are constantly changing, it at least tricks me into not realizing that most of the game's "variety" is superficial.
	Fable II review (X360) Reviewed on January 10, 2010 I slew phantom pirates to steal their legendary treasure and shot stone gargoyles just for a moment's reprieve from the uncouth lies that spilled from their mouths. I invested in a town rotten with corruption and helped turn its fortunes around and I spent a hell of a lot of time playing fetch with my dog. There’s a lot to do in Fable 2, even if a lot of it's repeated endlessly until the appeal is unredeemable dulled. But, in how it all slots together, it makes something memorable.
	The Quest Trio: Jewels, Cards and Tiles review (DS) Reviewed on January 08, 2010 The puzzles themselves are the driving force behind The Quest Trio. All feature minor variations from the expected, and they roll out dozens of configurations to keep you busy. Just when you think you've figured out the system, a new little wrinkle arises. Can you resist falling to the same obsessions as some of those heroes? With games this addictive, good luck.
	Shimano Xtreme Fishing review (WII) Reviewed on January 07, 2010 There's blood in the water. When your sharp shots puncture a fish's scales, a satisfying red cloud disperses around your unfortunate target. Your high-powered harpoon will make short work of anything that moves.
	Our House review (DS) Reviewed on January 04, 2010 The main flaw that Our House suffers from isn't a technical one, however. It's the much more mundane issue of repetition. While nearly every one of the included mini-games are fun the first few times—or even the first 10 or 20—they can only amuse for so long. It's neat to be able to remodel rooms, but there's never any real motivation to do anything more than place the required objects in the room (perhaps without even giving much thought to artistic arrangement, which seems to be rated almost arbitrarily as long as you don't have a bureau's drawers opening into a wall or a toilet in the middle of the floor).
	Lunar: The Silver Star review (SCD) Reviewed on January 04, 2010 Lunar is not an epic. There are no warring factions, political agendas, or corrupt religions. The game's not even long — it can be completed in a day. Lunar is a short story for children and children-at-heart, full of knights, dragons, damsels in distress, and brave damsels in dress.
	Ys III: Wanderers From Ys review (SNES) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 Adding to Adol's problems is the sad truth that everyone in Redmont (including Dogi) is completely worthless, so he'll have to bail everyone out with little help beyond getting pointed in a given direction and sent off with a hearty, "You can do it, dude!" And then there's Chester. The brother of potential romance option Ellena falls into the category of erstwhile hero/tragic villain/unbelievably idiotic dumbass, as he combines arrogant blustering with possibly the least intelligent plan for revenge imaginable.
	Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop review (DS) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 Many of the steps that you encounter while preparing new recipes have also been switched up a bit in an effort to make that aspect of the game more robust. Some of these work out for the better and recall earlier diversions, such as when you must chop a carrot or potato into small bits. Others aren't familiar to me but work well anyway, such as when the game asks the player to circle eyes on old potatoes to remove them. Then come the zany additions, like when you find yourself catching falling marshmallows on a skewer while avoiding dog bones. I like a bit of zaniness in my games or I wouldn't be playing Cooking Mama in the first place, but some of the stuff included here still had me scratching my head.
	Diner Dash: Flo on the Go review (DS) Reviewed on January 03, 2010 I can blast Martians, win illegal street races and save the realm from powerful sorcerers like nobody's business, but I'll come up short nearly every time when I'm asked to help a soccer mom find a quiet place to eat a meal as a couple with a screaming baby makes its presence known at an adjacent table. There are several distinct environments to conquer, but I struggled just to reach the second venue, a mere ten stages into what proved to be a much larger game.
	Space Invaders Extreme 2 review (DS) Reviewed on January 02, 2010 After all of the changes that Taito made when it first introduced Space Invaders Extreme, two new modes doesn't seem like enough. Time Attack mode is really nothing more than the opportunity to play the same few stages with a timer running. Bingo is just a scoring mechanism that rewards you for shooting enemies of various colors to fill a board on the top screen. Neither feature is a bad idea. Both of them would have gone well with the content of the previous release and there's no question in my mind that Space Invaders Extreme 2 is the finest in the series.
	Rabbids Go Home review (DS) Reviewed on January 02, 2010 Everything in Rabbids Go Home comes down to physics and proper use of your finite supply of items. Is there a pit that you can't cross? Put a spring-loaded boxing glove in its place so that when you drop from the edge, you'll go flying off toward the right to another ledge. Is an iron safe dangling in the way and blocking your path? Place some scissors higher along the rope that holds it so that a wandering rabbid can push a bowling ball from an even higher ledge that then will drop down and clamp the scissors shut so that they cut the rope and cause the safe to drop out of the way.
	New Super Mario Bros. Wii review (WII) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 Some features go a long way toward making New Super Mario Bros. Wii the best installment that the franchise has ever seen, plus the sheer number of unique stages makes it one of the most robust. However, there are some issues that definitely hold things back and rob the game of the prestigious title that nearly belonged to it. Namely, the physics are wonky, the level design is frustrating and the highly anticipated multi-player mode is a disappointment under any but the perfect conditions.
	James Cameron's Avatar: The Game review (X360) Reviewed on December 30, 2009 While I've seen terms like "revolutionary" and "breathtaking" tossed at the movie with regularity, the game is more worthy of commentary such as "another movie license game". It's pretty and I had a decent time with it, but I can't say that it's anything more than a decent action title riding the coattails of a major cinematic release.
	Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days review (PSP) Reviewed on December 29, 2009 If you're a fan of complex strategy games and missed out on the PlayStation 2 version, be sure that you don't make the same mistake the second time around!
	LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues review (PS3) Reviewed on December 28, 2009 Including bits from the original three movies was a wise decision on the part of the developers, but they also had to worry about not repeating the first game. The result is that some of the best scenes from those movies—most of them—aren't represented here. That certainly doesn't help the narrative and it may leave players wondering why there's a level devoted to Indiana and his father tied to chairs while flames burn around them. That was a neat scene in the third movie but here there's no urgency and the whole thing comes across as just another excuse for some exploration and puzzle solving.

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