Staff reviews, page 138

Blue Dragon Plus review

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…

Mike Suskie · March 16, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Grand Ages: Rome review

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…

Freelance Writer · March 16, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Fenimore Fillmore's Revenge review

Missing the mark in everything it tries to achieve, Fenimore Fillmore's Revenge is a catastrophe of an adventure game. Thoughtlessly designed and amateurishly crafted, it quickly descends into a pile of pointless gibberish and unfinished…

Lewis Denby · March 16, 2009

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Killzone 2 review

Because the game rewards you for playing, you never feel that your time and efforts are being wasted. “So I got my ass handed to me and only made 10 kills in an hour," you might think. "Big deal. That’s still 10 kills closer to my next…

Jonathan Stark · March 14, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 5: 8 Bit is Enough review

All in all, it's a pretty great ride, but it's somewhat telling that even Strong Bad seems bored when you go to pick up the metal detector and shovel for the fifth time. There's plenty of more standard and less inventive ambling about…

Josh Higley · March 14, 2009

Staff Wii HG exclusive

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins review

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins may very well be the return of developers Acquire to the franchise, but this Wii title falls flat on its poorly conceived digital face. It’s little more than an antiquated stealth game with tacked-on motion…

Jeremy Wood · March 13, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

The Path review

As a concept, The Path is a brave attempt at something more poignant within the medium. As a game, it's a collection of excellent yet slightly incomplete ideas. As a talking point, it provides more ground for intelligent game-related…

Lewis Denby · March 12, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Supreme Ruler 2020 review

Supreme Ruler: 2020 is exactly what I adore: a strat title nearly unapproachable due to its level of depth, but promising months upon months of diverse enjoyment. I do so love a challenge.

Will Roy · March 12, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Penumbra: Requiem review

After Black Plague so masterfully refined the Penumbra format, it seems like such a waste to throw it all away in favour of a poorly contextualised and badly designed puzzle game. Requiem resolutely fails in every aspect that made its…

Lewis Denby · March 11, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Penumbra: Black Plague review

Everything's received an overhaul. Black Plague looks better, sounds better, plays better and reads better than its predecessor. It's still slightly rough around the edges, as is inevitible for a game built on such a tight budget by such a…

Lewis Denby · March 11, 2009

Staff Xbox 360 HG exclusive

Soldier of Fortune: Payback review

Soldier of Fortune's protagonist is a bloodthirsty killer who has no intention of ever retiring from battle. He just wants to pop heads and rend limbs with grenade launchers and assault rifles (most of which are picked up off the ground…

Zigfried · March 9, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Mount & Blade review

Really, it's just a matter of what you want. Anyone with the right mindset and a pinch of imagination can get swept away in the world of Mount and Blade, and create something that is unique and epic to them. That one aspect, in spite of…

Josh Higley · March 6, 2009

Staff PC HG exclusive

Ceville review

Despite its good intentions, Ceville is so mediocre that I'm struggling to know what to say about it. It's easy to enthuse about brilliance in games, or relentlessly rant about awful bits. Ceville has no significant examples of either…

Lewis Denby · March 5, 2009

Staff Xbox 360 HG exclusive

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin review

Refined, often impressive, yet ultimately empty, there's simply none of Monolith's renowned creativity on display here. Producing a more polished version of your four-year-old near-masterpiece doesn't quite cut it, in a world where the…

Lewis Denby · March 5, 2009

Staff DS HG exclusive

TrackMania DS review

The DS version doesn’t do a very good job at selling itself. More on that later, though, because while at first I suspected that Trackmania was going to be collecting dust on my shelf alongside Trace Memory and Lost in Blue, I have found…

Jonathan Stark · March 5, 2009

Staff DS HG exclusive

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon review

Spend a few hours with any Fire Emblem game and you’ll see why the series is revered in the world of turn-based strategy games: Its emphasis on the immediate and long-term effects of death is brilliant. The knowledge that each downed…

Mike Suskie · March 4, 2009

Staff PSP HG exclusive

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? review

Rather than working to avoid such situations, the developers do their best to replicate them numerous times throughout each zone. Stages seem to have been built specifically to trick you into making mistakes. You'll find moving platforms…

Jason Venter · March 1, 2009

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Flower review

The whole thing comes off as an interactive Fantasia: a beautiful and poignant blend of sound and movement that tells an active story.

Jonathan Stark · March 1, 2009

Staff PlayStation 3 HG exclusive

Street Fighter IV review

Though I didn't find a convenient way to determine a competitor's skill level until after he beats me—or loses—that didn't actually work out too badly. I'm someone who likes to get right into another round of fighting, anyway, and the…

Jason Venter · February 27, 2009

Staff Wii HG exclusive

Deadly Creatures review

Similar to Super Mario Galaxy, Deadly Creatures will take you through each desert environment in ways you never imagined. Walls are so easily traversed that you may begin to lose track of your surroundings. This illusion is broken –…

Louis Bedigian · February 27, 2009