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
	Psyvariar 2: Extend Edition review (XBX) Reviewed on November 28, 2004 To be sure, watching an experienced Psyvarian in action is like knowing someone that's always trying to kill himself without ever actually finishing the job. Disturbing yet utterly fascinating in a bleak, life is black kind of way, it becomes almost impossible to take your eyes off the action for fear of missing their next maddening step into Brownshortsville USA. Soon to be population: you.
	Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone review (PS2) Reviewed on November 27, 2004 Demon Stone had two strikes against it right from the start. It feels like Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (blah), and one of the three main playable characters looks like Scott Stapp, formerly of Creed (double blah). Luckily, it manages to outdo the game depiction of that Tolkien classic, though regrettably, there is nothing to be done about the rocker's distasteful likeness.
	Final Fight review (X68K) Reviewed on November 25, 2004 From the wrong side of the tracks to mob boss Belger's luxurious penthouse, you'll bust punk heads with your fists and slice baddie bodies with powerful katanas. There's always a reason, and your reason is simple: the evil Mad Gear gang has kidnapped lovely Jessica! It's an overused plot device, but that's okay because cracking skulls would be fun even if there weren't any reason at all.
	Final Fight review (SNES) Reviewed on November 25, 2004 I vividly recall your so-called final fight through the crimson carpets of Mad Gear's mansion as being one of the most frenzied beatings to ever grace an arcade game, with packs of foes brandishing all sorts of weaponry flooding in from all directions. All the SNES version can manage are a few pathetic posers that are easily jump-kicked into oblivion.
	Castle Shikigami 2 review (PS2) Reviewed on November 24, 2004 It takes only a few seconds to power up, and then you can release much greater devastation. Some enemies won’t even fall unless you know how to take advantage of the technique. Best of all, you get point multipliers through constructive use of your magical arsenal. There’s little more satisfying than nearly ramming a machine just as it bursts into flames, then noticing the ‘x8’ multiplier flashing on the screen.
	Feel the Magic: XY/XX review (DS) Reviewed on November 21, 2004 The thing is, you're just rubbing the screen with your stylus to push up said fish. Do well enough and you're onto the next area. A few mini-games later, you're back to rubbing the screen with your stylus. Presentation has changed, but your encouraged activity has not. Whether you're moving tacks to the side or pushing goldfish out of a man's throat or even digging through sand to find a purse's lost content, it does get old.
	Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne review (PS2) Reviewed on November 17, 2004 A once-verdant landscape is no more than a barren desert. And thus the scene is set. The plot twists its way through more than 80 hours of gameplay from that point, never overbearing but always gnawing at your consciousness from behind the scenes. As interesting as the sequence of events that gradually unfolds is, though, this game isn’t about plot. It’s about old-school, ‘punch you in the face and laugh when you cry’ role-playing.
	King of Fighters: Maximum Impact review (PS2) Reviewed on November 17, 2004 You couldn't introduce new blood without making at least one of them a busty babe, and so Lien enters the fray, serving up the expected combination of violence and sex we seem to crave from our gaming women. During the intro sequence, she chokes out some nameless dude, and then finds it necessary to zip down her jumpsuit front enough to expose exceptional cleavage which you might liken to two 14-pound bowling balls bursting out of a single ball bag.
	Halo 2 review (XBX) Reviewed on November 16, 2004 With bigger set pieces, larger conflicts, and an improved enemy AI that has "kiss my shiny Covenant arse" written all over it, Halo 2 is what every good sequel should be: super sized and powered up. Look on in disbelief as the enemy reacts instinctively to your presence, then run for the hills as you find yourself outflanked and inevitably out gunned.
	Shrek 2 review (PS2) Reviewed on November 09, 2004 A lot of people loved Shrek 2. I wasn't one of those people. I thought it was funny, just the way slapstick scenarios and fart gags are funny at the time, but hardly qualify as enduring humour. And so the Shrek name would not arrest me--a non-fanatic--at the game store and whisper into my ear that I must have it. If it did, it would mean I should see someone about hearing voices. If you think it might speak that way to you, you illustrate the only circumstance in which Shrek 2 comes highly recommended. (And you should also see someone about hearing voices.)
	Fable review (XBX) Reviewed on November 08, 2004 For it's here more than anywhere else that Molyneux has succeeded, not in fashioning a true next gen RPG but in creating a world worthy of the simple joys of role playing itself. And that's kind of what he had set out to do right?. There are of course a number of side quests on offer, as well as a handful of obligatory parlor-esque mini-games to indulge in. All that however is simple window dressing that serves to further enhance the spectacular cause and effect style gameplay mechanics that we've found ourselves coveting these past four years.
	Neo Contra review (PS2) Reviewed on November 07, 2004 The third mission, for instance, places your character in a fortified canyon filled with knee-deep water and a shitload of opposition. Missile launching cretins rest in floating platforms, shielded soldiers with rocket launchers and sniper rifles pack the crannies of the rock wall, and swarms of blade carrying grunts pour forth from every direction; most would be daunted, but not this legendary commando.
	Harvest Moon 64 review (N64) Reviewed on November 04, 2004 Harvest Moon 64 is an underrated masterpiece.
	Metal Slug 3 review (XBX) Reviewed on October 28, 2004 Press toward the right, mashing the button furiously as livid crustaceans emerge from ramshackle shanties. If they get too close, swipe your knife across them and return to your main quest: survival. Buildings explode into flame and melt away as if they never existed. Prisoners of war thank you heartily as you cut loose their ropes on the way to shoot a bubble-blowing goon ahead. But wait, there’s a weapon pick-up!
	R-Type Final review (PS2) Reviewed on October 27, 2004 How do you uphold a legacy and follow one of the best games ever made? Final is inferior to Delta, there's no doubt of that. The actual gameplay isn't on the same level: Delta boasted seven ideally crafted stages with beautiful music and detailed background designs. Given the PS2's greater capacity, Final is almost a step backward, only managing an inspiring CGI intro, a handful of standout stages and possibly a single great tune. Final seems to concede level design to its older sibling, concentrating on something else entirely to be its unique selling point.
	Animal Crossing review (GCN) Reviewed on October 25, 2004 Nevertheless, time is always progressing, and even if you are constantly occupied in life, your virtual world awaits you on the other side.
	WarioWare: Twisted! review (GBA) Reviewed on October 25, 2004 Luckily enough however, the first sequel to last year's smash hit Made in Wario (aka Wario Ware Inc) isn't your average flogging of a dead horse. In fact if the truth be known, it's about as far from Nintendo's atypical money grabbing ideology as the phrase innovative gimmick could possibly allow. Serving up a fresh "spin" on the ever popular micro-game concept, Mawaru: Made in Wario is everything fans of the original could ever hope for, and just a wee bit more besides...
	Fatal Fury 2 review (X68K) Reviewed on October 24, 2004 Who wouldn't want to control lone wolf Terry Bogard on a quest to topple a ruthless opponent? Believe it or not, some people didn't. This time, those people had seven other options. They could play as ninja girl Mai Shiranui, spinning across the screen with her Deadly Ninja Bees attack or hurling butterfly fans.
	Metal Slug review (NEO) Reviewed on October 18, 2004 Monotony never manages to get a foothold, though, as the ragtag enemy army manages to pack more depth than most RPGs. This quickly becomes evident when Marco is suddenly ambushed by a trio of enemy schooners while crossing a massive bridge shining in the moonlight. The sunbathing goons on the upper decks quickly decide to hold their noses and hop overboard, while another crony slams on an accordion-like pump as his dinghy begins to take on water. Yet another begins to scream like a little girl when he realizes that his worst nightmare is right above him, brandishing a shotgun.
	Phantom Dust review (XBX) Reviewed on October 15, 2004 More than anything else, it's these psionic powers that give Phantom Dust its own unique sense of self. Whereby every other deathmatch variant is content to simply offer players a range of impressively gung-ho munitions, Phantom Dust walks a very different path thanks to its huge range of 300+ skills and super human abilities. Can you imagine that? 300 different ways to kick someone's arse... damn, that's a lot of hurt!

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