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
	The Witcher review (PC) Reviewed on October 16, 2008 There's a lovely quality to The Witcher's atmosphere, stemming from a combination of lush art design and the gripping plot on offer. It suffers from occasional pacing issues -- chapter one in particular requires a horrific amount of to-ing and fro-ing before it gets to the point -- but it's delivered in a generally satisfying, urgent and compelling way, driving the player to press on with the journey through Temeria. It certainly feels a lot more focused than some of its next-gen peers, which will relieve those who found themselves wandering around Oblivion's vastness with little clue of what was unfolding around them.
	Final Fantasy XII review (PS2) Reviewed on October 15, 2008 After beating the game's final boss, I remembered a fight with one of those trophy enemies — a zombie mage named Disma. That dude was rough, able to take off obscene amounts of hit points with both his physical and magic attacks while getting far tougher as you close in on killing him. It was a fight only a masochist could love and winning it gave me more of a sense of accomplishment than I received from the final boss or any other storyline encounter. And that's considering my "Disma-killing" tactics would likely be looked at as cowardly and cheap even by the hardcore fans who've dedicated an ungodly amount of time to figuring out the most efficient tactics for virtually every battle in the game.
	Mario Kart Wii review (WII) Reviewed on October 15, 2008 Nintendo should be commended for making genuine improvements to its classic formula, but my resulting goodwill vanished the minute I was reminded that rubber band AI is the devil.
	Geo-political Simulator review (PC) Reviewed on October 14, 2008 Getting things back into the green through changing the budget is like playing Operation with shaky hands – doable, but difficult and pointless. All this makes for an experience that is essentially unfriendly to the causal player or warmonger, as you have to be really secure in your power (usually only possible after investing a considerable amount of time into balancing your affairs) before even thinking about launching a mission to 'blow shit up'. Its accurate to real life, but will really deter people who simply don't have the opportunity to play a game for that long in order to get to the juicy part.
	The Political Machine 2008 review (PC) Reviewed on October 13, 2008 The presidential race is split into forty one weeks. This gives you forty one turns to play out in the same time as your opponent to fly all over America and convince as many states as you can to vote for you. By any means necessary..
	Dead or Alive 4 review (X360) Reviewed on October 12, 2008 Things haven’t changed a lot, so much as been refined, the fourth time ‘round. The usual suspects are on offer: Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabusa, the super ninja; Kasumi, the sexy ninja pacifist (I kid you not); Hitomi, the hot German kareteka; Hayate, the unbelievably powerful pretty boy ninja. In case you’re new to the DoA experience – yes, there are a lot of ninjas.
	Ankh: Curse of the Scarab King review (DS) Reviewed on October 12, 2008 Ankh remains a game worth playing. Just not in this form.
	Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru review (SAT) Reviewed on October 11, 2008 Once you get past the quirky control scheme, this game — the tale of a psychic monk gorily slaughtering feudal Japanese demons — really is pretty damn cool.
	Kolibri review (32X) Reviewed on October 11, 2008 Arguably the best hummingbird/scrolling shooter hybrid on the SEGA 32X
	Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu no Hanayome review (SNES) Reviewed on October 10, 2008 Your hero might be a standard silent protagonist and his supporting cast isn't really given any motivation for their actions other than utter devotion to your quest, but as I played Dragon Quest V, I felt more of a connection to them than I have for many characters in modern games. The concept of having the main character grow up during the course of the game, get married and have kids is a rare one in the world of console RPGs and Enix was able to make all of it feel fresh and memorable.
	Master of the Monster Lair review (DS) Reviewed on October 09, 2008 The thing that keeps a person digging is the sense of ownership. Once you've crafted a beautiful maze, it's fun to return because then you'll get to see what monsters have decided to inhabit your dungeon. If you just built a few bland hallways, perhaps there will be some bats and maybe a boar or two. If you spruced things up with a trash heap, you'll find a slimy little guy. The undesirable tenants you attract are a better reward than virtual piles of gold or sparkling digital badges ever could have been.
	Coryoon review (TG16) Reviewed on October 09, 2008 As you progress through its eight stages, it seems near-impossible to stay alive as enemies dart onto the screen in erratic waves, spewing bullets here and there, while various indestructible obstacles such as moving statues and clapping hands also pose a serious threat to your dragon's health. And while you're trying to survive all of this, well, it's not too likely you'll be noticing how cute everything looks. You'll just be hoping you can power up your weapons enough to survive a little bit longer.
	Mega Man 9 review (X360) Reviewed on October 08, 2008 This is a game where your skills start out rusty, yet your experience as you improve goes from “pretty good but wow is this game hard” to “I can't believe I used to have trouble with that!” The sense of accomplishment as each stage is cleared hasn't been this significant in a Mega Man game in 20 years.
	Rumble Roses XX review (X360) Reviewed on October 07, 2008 The perv ideas begin with the outfits, which range from form-fitting hot pants to your basic wrestling thong. Once you’ve selected your hottie and dressed her as skimpily as you like, choose an arena and get to fighting. Even while duking out, there is sexiness on display, because the holds and throws are executed with a deliberate seductiveness, and the camera, when it doesn’t automatically give you the dirtiest view of the action, offers you manual control so you can do it yourself. Trust me – powerbombs never looked so hot as when you’re looking directly down between the legs of the upside-down victim.
	Red Bull BC One review (DS) Reviewed on October 06, 2008 Even if the simple gameplay were tweaked to its maximum amount of enjoyment, no link is established to the main attraction: breakdancing. Sure, if I refrain from moving the stylus, my tiny dancer will passively bob to a generic beat. And when I complete a shape, his silhouette in the background pulls off some random move in sync with his full figure up on the top screen. But I don't see how my triangles, pentagons, and dodecahedrons specifically translate into coin drops, belly swims, or airchairs.
	Galactic Civilizations II: Endless Universe review (PC) Reviewed on October 06, 2008 his means that anyone who has touched anything resembling a turn-based strategy before will easily pick it up but the simple setting change doesn't make the game good. Its kind of like how many people say that Firefly was just a Western for Star Trek fans. Except Firefly had Nathan Fillion. And was entertaining.
	Thief: Deadly Shadows review (PC) Reviewed on October 05, 2008 Does a game lose worth for providing too much of a challenge? Forcing the player into a routine of patience in order to beat its difficulty is the very crux of the Thief franchise, so it seems a little unfair to berate an admittedly well-crafted videogame for this reason.
	Doom 3 review (XBX) Reviewed on October 01, 2008 It's pointless cosmetics-first-gameplay-last software at its worst.
	New International Track & Field review (DS) Reviewed on September 30, 2008 Any year with the Olympic Games is a good year for Olympic games. At least, that seems to be the idea behind New International Track and Field, A DS facelift of Konami's old Track and Field franchise. After lying dormant for eight years, the game made a sudden reappearance now that there were coat tails to ride on, namely those of Beijing. But do they really need an excuse to make another minigame compilation for the DS?
	Mass Effect review (PC) Reviewed on September 29, 2008 I don't think I've played a game with this much all-round polish since Half-Life 2. Mass Effect simply sparkles, overflowing with cinematic sci-fi design, brimming with utter, undebatable confidence in its approach. It's about as close to an interactive movie as the medium has come, but it's absolutely a videogame, and makes no bones about it. It’s full of cut-scenes, boss battles and, at heart, complete linearity, but it's so much more than that. Mass Effect, despite on the surface being an impressive rehash of Star Wars, is one of the most atmospheric and involving games I've ever played...

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