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
	F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon review (PC) Reviewed on August 29, 2008 F.E.A.R. is essentially a one-trick pony, but is salvaged by the fact that it's an exceptionally clever one. F.E.A.R. does 'Bullet Time' better than any title has managed yet. It somehow functions a whole load better from the first-person perspective than it ever did in its third-person origins, and it forms the backbone of F.E.A.R.'s trick. This is Monolith's take on FPS set-pieces. The twist? Create your own.
	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas review (PSP) Reviewed on August 26, 2008 We know that special-ops missions must often be unromantic, behind-the-scenes dirty work, but the developers must have forgotten that Vegas is a game. Because nothing is so disappointing about it as the fact that it never feels like we’re in Vegas.
	Lord of the Rings: The Third Age review (GBA) Reviewed on August 22, 2008 Unlike the version hoarded across the XBox, PS2 and Gamecube (which got the odd third party title by what I assume was someone’s mistake), the GBA Third Age is content to take its material straight from the source. It doesn't steal mechanics from well-known Square games, it doesn't cock-slap the canon. It simply exists in the shadow of a lesser game, probably feeling very bitter and upset about the entire thing.
	Turok review (PC) Reviewed on August 21, 2008 In many ways, this 2008 incarnation of the classic franchise does a decent job of recreating those Turok memories. The dinosaurs are out in full force once again, the staple crossbow is back, and there are plenty of opportunities to combine these two features in a gloriously bloody way. Unfortunately, for the most part, Turok serves only as something of a wake-up call as to how much gaming has moved on since then, and how much this title is stuck in the past.
	Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns review (DS) Reviewed on August 21, 2008 Trudging through a dungeon each time you fight the boss monster might not sound so bad—after all, we did that same thing for years before developers started generously sprinkling save points throughout their labyrinths—but in Izuna 2 it can be decidedly demoralizing. On one run, you might fly through seven or eight floors with barely an issue. Then on the next, a lucky bunch of enemies might defeat you before you reach even the first staircase. It all comes down to trap placement and item allotment.
	Soulcalibur IV review (PS3) Reviewed on August 18, 2008 Some of the new characters also try to ratchet up the sex appeal, with one girl in a wire-frame dress (newcomer Ashlotte) tumbling before the start of each match while the camera swoops down to catch a shot of her panties. Most of the character models are admittedly attractive and I like a bit of bosom or a pair of long legs as much as the next guy—perhaps more, if I'm to be honest—but there will be times when you'll surely grimace and wonder why someone got so much sex in your SoulCalibur.
	Little League World Series Baseball 2008 review (WII) Reviewed on August 16, 2008 Not every game that promises optimization for Wii has been able to deliver anything noteworthy, but Little League World Series 2008 happens to be one of those rare success stories. It's not likely to win over hardcore baseball fanatics, but for those who simply want some fun gaming sessions with friends, family members or a mixture of the two, Activision's latest definitely warrants a rental or even a purchase.
	MYST review (DS) Reviewed on August 15, 2008 Sensibilities and expectations have changed over the last 15 years, but not much else has. The game is still a collection of wondrous locales which we must navigate in the crudest of ways—through a poverty of frames such that turning around brings to mind a herky-jerky slide show. Impossibly, the game actually looks worse – far worse – than it did when it first reared its innovative head in 1993.
	Guitar Hero: Aerosmith review (X360) Reviewed on August 14, 2008 Aerosmith fans will be left disappointed by a sparse and omission-filled track list, and Guitar Hero devotees will find little of the difficulty they crave. If anything, I'm going to remember Guitar Hero: Aerosmith as the first video game to accurately simulate the embarrassment and humiliation of being an opening act.
	Okami review (PS2) Reviewed on August 14, 2008 Some dungeons also do memorable jobs of balancing on the line between epic and comedic, with the vast cavernous fortress Orochi calls home being perhaps the best example. The battle with the great serpent is an awesome clash that's topped off with cowardly warrior Susano finally accepting his heritage as the descendant of Nagi and realizing his heroic potential. Leading into this.....you're running around with a mask covering your head and fetching ingredients for an imp chef so it can concoct the perfect side course to Orochi's virtuous maiden supper.
	The Bourne Conspiracy review (X360) Reviewed on August 12, 2008 There's a certain appeal to the thought of jumping into the shoes of a rogue assassin like Bourne. Explosions are cool. Sniping is a hoot. Fast car chases through the streets of Paris are all sorts of exciting. Hand-to-hand combat with military professionals also has its merits. When it comes right down to it, there's actually almost nothing about the whole concept that doesn't scream “make me a video game.”
	Word Zapper review (A2600) Reviewed on August 09, 2008 A good number of these things will ram into you and bump your ship a smidgen off to the side, making it tougher to get a bead on the proper letter. Another type threatens to make the game fun by temporarily scrambling the letters, so you don't know when the one you're looking for will appear. And the final type just obliterates your ship — a tactic that's far more useful in preventing players from spelling words than those used by the other shapes. You can destroy these objects, but there's no real point, as they aren't hard to dodge and you get no reward for doing so.
	Swordquest: FireWorld review (A2600) Reviewed on August 07, 2008 Well, my nine-or-10-year-old mind had an absolutely FANTASTIC time wandering aimlessly through this maze and struggling through one action sequence after another, only to grab a couple of items, put them in another room and.....see nothing happen. I vaguely recall getting a clue once. That moment was so exciting, it shocked my body into puberty. And then I realized I'd lost my official Fireworld comic book, so that clue couldn't have been more worthless to me.
	Guitar Hero: On Tour review (DS) Reviewed on August 06, 2008 At its best moments, this mini edition will still fly you through hand-wrenching solos. For a franchise that pulls a lot of its thrills from shredding with a plastic axe, though, On Tour doesn't have the setup to be at its best enough.
	Chase the Chuckwagon review (A2600) Reviewed on August 06, 2008 To pick up your own copy of Chase the Chuckwagon, you had to buy a bunch of Ralston-Purina's products and send in the proofs of purchase. Not surprisingly, very few of these games wound up in gamers' hands and the majority of the cartridges were destroyed. This ingenious idea might go a long ways towards explaining why, a decade after this site's creation, I still had to add Spectravision to our list of developers in order to include it with this game's data.
	1942: Joint Strike review (X360) Reviewed on August 06, 2008 While most of the game is manageable enough if your twitch gaming skills haven't grown too rusty, boss encounters can be a different story entirely. Even the adversary you face at the conclusion of the first stage is beefy, unleashing a wicked spread shot and heat-seeking missiles when he's not pelting you with standard shots from one of several turrets. Emerging from the encounter in one piece requires you to unleash your most convincing assault as quickly as possible, since dodging and weaving will only get you so far and is ultimately destined to fail if you have to keep it up for too long (plus your rating for that encounter will drop and you don't want that).
	Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards review (N64) Reviewed on August 05, 2008 Kirby’s Dream Land may have been short and easy, but it was never boring, with levels often vertically oriented to take advantage of Kirby’s flight capabilities. Kirby can still fly here (though the ability is more limited), but most of these stages could be completed by any generic platformer star: Walk forward, defeat a few enemies, jump a few times, move on. And damn, is Kirby ever slow. You’ve got to double-tap a direction on the d-pad just to make him bolt at an adequate pace, and even then there’s the unwavering sense that he’s wading through invisible mashed potatoes.
	Packaging Man review (PC) Reviewed on August 05, 2008 While Pac-Man is an endearing classic because of the constant challenge and addictive gameplay it provides, though, Dogwood Alliance's effort lacks the substance it needed to exist as more than a fleeting memory. It's over almost before it begins, it's ugly and there's not much value in the long term. Sort of like deforestation, I can almost imagine someone from the company quipping, and maybe he'd be right.
	The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind review (PC) Reviewed on August 05, 2008 Morrowind's atmosphere is so all encompassing despite the derivative high-fantasy setting that it's an enormous challenge not to be blown away at regular intervals. This atmosphere stretches beyond the realms of the delicious visual design, or the eerily fantastic soundscapes, right up to those little moments of the game where you simply can't believe what's happening.
	Hail to the Chimp review (X360) Reviewed on August 04, 2008 The humor is practically non-existent with even the puns falling flat (and I usually love those). This wouldn't be a problem if the rest of the game were an improvement, but it's really not. The uninspired mockumentaries are actually the highlight of the whole affair (and double as bonus content that you can unlock). When you're a developer and the best bits in your game are rather poorly animated segments that wouldn't cut it on network television or even Cartoon Network in the early morning hours, you know that your project is seriously flawed.

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