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
	Steam Hearts review (TGCD) Reviewed on January 01, 2005 In a sea of shmups crammed with tricks, powerups, and gadgets to help wipe out the enemy, it takes a pretty damn strong hook to create lasting, vivid memories. Steam Hearts accomplishes this with ease.
	Metal Gear Acid review (PSP) Reviewed on December 31, 2004 Initially though, who could blame players for thinking that Metal Gear Acid was doomed to failure. Stealth action and turn based strategy combined, fused together in an unholy coupling of high hopes and soon to be crushed dreams. How wrong we were. A combination such as this in lesser hands could have/would have/should have spelt disaster, with Konami at the helm however we're already moving in the right direction.
	Metroid Prime 2: Echoes review (GCN) Reviewed on December 31, 2004 The rest of the expectedly excellent bosses pose mighty challenges, too, and reside in their usual "OMG why here?" locations to boot. From Chyakka, a possessed moth that periodically dips into the dark world's ubiquitous poisonous fluids for an immense burst of strength, to the Alpha Blogg, an underwater predator that attempts to ram Samus into oblivion, the only thing more imposing than their visages are the actual methods needed to defeat them.
	James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing review (XBX) Reviewed on December 21, 2004 Picture this scene, if you will: Bond is heroically fending off hordes of nameless henchmen as gunfire chatters noisily and bullets whiz through the air, pinging off of body-armour or plunging into flesh. Bond's auto-target seeks out a fresh target to gun down, but sadly, it fixes on the enemy in the far distance rather than the sod standing two feet away who's unleashing a torrent of bullets into you.
	Ridge Racer review (PSP) Reviewed on December 20, 2004 Before we get started however, there's the small issue of a recently added plural form to deal with. Serving as something of an ultimate Ridge Racer remix, Ridge Racers combines the myriad courses, drift styles and assorted beats of its predecessors in the creation of a single, glorious whole. Every track, every sound, everything you've come to know and love about the series, served up mix and match style with you, the gamer in mind.
	Emerald Dragon review (TGCD) Reviewed on December 16, 2004 Every time I play, I find something new to marvel at. When Atolshan stops calling the elder "Pops" and refers to him as White Dragon Elder, you know Atol still blames the elder for Tamryn's departure three years prior. Little comments like that add a level of characterization matching (if not topping) the likes of Lunar.
	Wild Arms 3 review (PS2) Reviewed on December 16, 2004 You see, the world of Filgaia is the sort where skeletons lay bleached under relentless sunlight and like it because at least the demons are distracted by human flesh. Your human flesh to be specific, unless you pay attention.
	GunValkyrie review (XBX) Reviewed on December 16, 2004 You're more than given the ability to emerge victorious, though, thanks to the totally badass jetpack, and once you're coerced into acknowledging its existence, it becomes an essential part of your balanced GunValkyrie breakfast. Your days of picking enemy critters off from long distance will soon be replaced by abundant chances to fly around at a whim and rain missiles (amongst other forms of death) down from above.
	Mario Party 6 review (GCN) Reviewed on December 15, 2004 What’s important to note here is that the microphone accomplishes nothing a standard controller doesn’t. It would be just as simple to press a button corresponding to the fruit type, after all. And in some cases, it would work more smoothly. To continue with the example I gave above, suppose the player with the microphone wants to cheat.
	Silent Hill 4: The Room review (PS2) Reviewed on December 08, 2004 If you've always wanted to know what the fuss was about concerning this sleepy resort town of Silent Hill, with its decaying, blood-stained populace of hurtful wraiths and broken people--it's not this.
	Dead or Alive Ultimate review (XBX) Reviewed on December 08, 2004 Perhaps Dead or Alive Ultimate's biggest surprise lays in the fact that both games are just as enjoyable today as they were all those years ago. It's a glorious, double fisted collection made all the more memorable by the love and care Team Ninja have shown in designing its exquisite outer shell. A point that's been further demonstrated by the presentation of DOA2's freshly rendered opening few minutes.
	Wizards & Warriors 3 review (NES) Reviewed on November 30, 2004 The problem comes from the nature of your terrible hops. Kuros can change direction in air, but I found myself gritting my teeth every time I left the ground, hoping he would do as I told him. He’s quite slow to respond. And since you have to make some rather long, precise jumps throughout your adventure, this is a pretty big problem. If you make an especially long jump and don’t release the ‘A’ button just before you land, you’ll even launch immediately into another (perhaps fatal) hop.
	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.

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