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
	Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason review (PC) Reviewed on April 01, 2009
	Peggle: Dual Shot review (DS) Reviewed on March 31, 2009 Peggle: Dual Shot is a simple, casual activity that won't take much out of you, and is perfect for morning commute when your brain is still mush and doesn't want to heavily invest in anything.
	Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars review (DS) Reviewed on March 31, 2009 Nearly everything you use the stylus for in Chinatown Wars – rummaging through trash, diffusing bombs, assembling weapons – sounds like a gimmick on its own. It’s the collaboration of all of these individual elements that makes Chinatown Wars work. As you explore this retooled Liberty City, you’ll notice that Rockstar Leeds poured detail into every facet of the design, fleshing out areas that most developers would simply shrug off. Obtaining Molotov cocktails, for example, is no longer simply a matter of picking them up off a designated location on the streets. You’ve literally got to find a gas station and play a mini-game in which you must “aim” the nozzle in response to the fluctuating flow of the gasoline, so as to get as many cocktails for your money’s worth as possible. It’s a wonderful way to make the most of the DS hardware.
	Mevo & The Grooveriders review (PC) Reviewed on March 31, 2009 Mevo & The Grooveriders is a gloriously silly, ridiculously charming little game, as accessible as it is beautiful, and for the ludicrously small admission fee of £5.99 (Steam still refuses to show international prices), it's hard to imagine anyone being disappointed. But the lack of precision is problematic, and does hold Mevo back from the highest accolades. With a bit more polish, and with the addition of a solid community hub, this promising debut from Red Rocket Games could deliver something very jazzy indeed.
	SpongeBob vs. The Big One: Beach Party Cook-Off review (DS) Reviewed on March 30, 2009 Each of SpongeBob's techniques is linked to a specific touch screen mini-game. They're all routine stylus activities, even if the ingredients are a little weird. Trace a line to slice up some kelp. Tap quickly to pound out a Krabby Patty. Rotate frantically to mix up some seaweed pasta. Slingshot deep fried flotsam out of hot oil. Okay, maybe they're not all ordinary culinary arts...
	Blue Dragon review (X360) Reviewed on March 27, 2009 Just by going through the game and experimenting with the class system enough to give all five of my characters (Shu and pals find two more allies before the end of the first disc) a decent amount of versatility, I was trouncing every storyline encounter in my path to the point where the game's final bosses wound up being exercises in me tapping buttons while being more interested in the college basketball game I was watching on my other television.
	Cross Fire review (PC) Reviewed on March 27, 2009 CrossFire is a grain of sand in a desert full of free, online first-person shooters. The majority of these are played and maintained by fanatic Koreans with glazed eyes and twitchy fingers, going to any lengths to improve their skill. At first glance, this particular title fails to stand out from its peers; sporting low-grade graphics, two factions that are constantly at war for no real reason and a promotion system that will be uncannily familiar to the fans of Battlefield or Call of Duty. The gameplay, whilst repetitive, is oddly addictive and never really gets frustrating, despite having to fight alongside some rather incompetent people.
	Pass Your Driving Theory Test: 2010 Edition review (DS) Reviewed on March 27, 2009 Fact is, Pass your Driving Theory Test is never going to be the top of anyone’s wish list unless they actually want to pass their driving theory test, but, should this be the case, it’s a well-made and competent study guide that will vastly enhance your chances to pass a fiddly exam.
	SNK Arcade Classics: Vol. 1 review (PSP) Reviewed on March 27, 2009 I’m happy enough burning though another game of Shock Troopers while on the move. Afterwards, perhaps I’ll surprise myself with another round of golf. Odds are, there’s something on here you’ll enjoy.
	Resident Evil 5 review (PS3) Reviewed on March 25, 2009 I like games that make me think. When trying to break through a barricade of machine gunners and vicious packs of dogs, I want the answer not to be “use a better rifle” but to be something more involved. For instance, sending a partner along a catwalk to draw the gun fire while I sneak closer and blow out the fox holes with a close up grenade or two. Resident Evil 5 should’ve been littered with these kind of situations, but more often than not it opts for straight shoot outs. And they get old.
	Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures: Episode 1 - Fright of the Bumblebees review (PC) Reviewed on March 25, 2009 It never quite gets going, surely a symptom of its short duration over anything else. At just a few hours long, nothing really kicks off until the finale, but it's one that sets the scene for what could be a delightful little adventure. Fright of the Bumblebees is an impressively promising start to this four-part release, and if it carries on in the same direction, later instalments could be just the ticket. This one's a fine introduction, but I'm almost certain it'll be the least memorable.
	The Nameless Mod review (PC) Reviewed on March 24, 2009 The Nameless Mod truly is an incredible achievement. Nearly 200,000 lines of fully voiced dialogue. A story that branches drastically around an hour in, resulting in two radically different fifteen-hour campaigns. An abundance of clever videogame commentary, woven seamlessly into the daft but surprisingly affecting narrative. A player-centric, opportunity-filled playground of gritty adventuring. Seven years of hard, voluntary work with a notoriously fiddly engine have resoundingly paid off. It's often ludicrously good -- which makes it even more disheartening when an essential door wedges half-open, or an important message doesn't appear, or the game crashes to the desktop for the umpteenth time that day.
	Legacy of Ys: Books I & II review (DS) Reviewed on March 23, 2009 The back of the box says "this ultimate translation delivers the most substantial version of the famous story to date". It also refers to "new enemies and equipment". For North America, this is true. However, in terms of content, Legacy of Ys is nothing more than a re-release of Ys Complete I&II with new graphics, new music, and a new control system.
	Starflight review (PC) Reviewed on March 20, 2009 When Binary Systems' space exploration adventure Starflight hit store shelves in 1986, it boasted some impressive features. I could recruit and train my crew, selecting among five different species. I could explore planets and harvest minerals or capture wild beasts. I could communicate with alien races in friendly, hostile, or obsequious tones, or I could communicate with high-powered weaponry.
	Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? review (GEN) Reviewed on March 20, 2009 The biggest security blanket the cartel of ne’er-do-wells revel in is that, though it certainly fares better than most educational titles, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is still a more graphic version of doing your homework, and not even the nerdiest of us enjoy that.
	Major League Baseball 2K9 review (X360) Reviewed on March 18, 2009 In short, your hopes are strung along at first by a satisfactory visual presentation, with the telecast handled by two well-known baseball buffoons. It feels reasonably similar to a day at the park.
	Legend of the Ghost Lion review (NES) Reviewed on March 18, 2009 Bread is the ONLY way to heal Maria, so you'll always want a good supply of it on hand. In fact, the entire game revolves around how much bread you possess, as your goal at any given time will be to run to a dungeon, find all the treasure and get out as quickly as possible. If you have enough bread, that will be easy. If not, you'll be at the mercy of the game's lackluster combat engine.
	Resident Evil 5 review (X360) Reviewed on March 17, 2009 Throughout the first chapter — while trying to escape an entire city that hated me, while hiding in dark corners and climbing walls to escape the bloodthirsty masses — Resident Evil 5 provided a heart-pounding, frightening, and thoroughly playable adventure with some disturbing real-world implications. I knew these people weren't evil, just sick... but I killed them anyway. I had to kill them to survive — they were bursting through ceilings, climbing through windows, hiding behind fences. By the end, I was shooting everyone on sight, and feeling pleasure. Heaven help me if there was an actual innocent soul wandering the streets.
	Blue Dragon Plus review (DS) Reviewed on March 16, 2009 Blue Dragon Plus is ultimately too well-designed an RTS to allow for the most basic strategies, but at the same time, it doesn’t offer the most complex, either. Simply grouping all of your units together and rushing mindlessly from one encounter to the next often won’t cut it, especially when the difficulty escalates in the latter half of the adventure. At the same time, attempting to formulate any advanced strategies, trying to really make the most of your available unis, will result in aggravation.
	Grand Ages: Rome review (PC) Reviewed on March 16, 2009 Grand Ages: Rome is made by the same developers and initially could be mistaken to be the same game as IR. The strict attention to detail is still prevalent, as is the fluid economy and employment system. The one big thing that GA introduces is more variation. With its predecessor, it was easy to apply the same strategy to every map – maps which were all too similar to one another. The obvious aim of its spiritual sequel is to mix things up a little. This is something that's prominent from first play-through.

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]

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links