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.
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Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou review (NES)Reviewed on January 12, 2013In Gradius II, you are immediately greeted by the choice between four different weapon sets (as opposed to only one in the original) and then you advance to a very attractive opening stage loaded with fiery asteroids. Making this level particularly neat is the way you can scroll up and down while moving to the right. If the particular path you're charting through the asteroids seems too fraught with danger, it's simplicity itself to go over one instead of under it in order to fight a different arrangement of foes. |
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Anarchy Reigns review (X360)Reviewed on January 10, 2013Even a low-budget, small-scale follow-up to MadWorld is still more of a follow-up than we ever expected. Anarchy Reigns takes the style, audacity, humor and helicopter-throwing lunacy out of its predecessor, then demonstrates that even without those things, it was still a pretty solid beat-'em-up. |
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Faria review (NES)Reviewed on January 09, 2013RPGs are balancing acts, and this game is clumsy... |
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Rainbow Islands review (NES)Reviewed on January 08, 2013This is the game where the Bubble Bobble timeline splits into two, like Zelda. |
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Double Dragon: Neon review (X360)Reviewed on January 05, 2013Too many of the several thousand reboots and homages sent out into the market seem to go out of their way to impress upon everyone how much serious god damn business it is to celebrate the achievements of yesteryear. Neon does it better than most, because it's not happy to trudge down the same old track and then claim it was held back out of misguided respect; it has its own way of doing things. |
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The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series review (X360)Reviewed on January 03, 2013This is how you write characters. This is how you match tragedy with humor, dread with hope, terror with lightheartedness. This is how you make audiences emotionally exhausted. |
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EarthBound review (SNES)Reviewed on December 30, 2012At seemingly random moments, a man will descend from the sky to take a photograph of your party before vanishing the way he came. One NPC's desire to create a memorable dungeon leads to him changing his body into one. This is one of those games that can be difficult to put down simply because you'll want to experience the next bizarre situation. |
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Just Dance 4 review (WIIU)Reviewed on December 29, 2012You might not realize it, but even simple repetitive motions like lifting your arm and then lowering it can start to take a toll on a person—most particularly someone who spends his days sitting in an office chair and typing words about video games—and that’s even before you start lifting your legs up high, or twirling in circles like a rose petal caught in a whirlwind. |
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Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper review (WIIU)Reviewed on December 29, 2012Properly equipped, your warriors have amazing range and can cleave through hordes of enemy soldiers, even on the Normal difficulty setting. Special moves are also available and they can inflict even more damage, but in general you can save those moves for the more challenging bosses that sometimes storm the field. Those more gifted foes mostly block your slower special attacks unless you wait until they’re open, so you’ll be forced to also block attacks and wait for a limited opening if you want to unleash some real pain. |
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Mark of the Ninja review (X360)Reviewed on December 29, 2012It hasn't so much as reinvented the stealth genre, as it has made more or less every other entry look extremely stupid for doing it wrong. |
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone review (PSX)Reviewed on December 29, 2012Actually playing the game itself isn’t quite so bad, though it is horrifically easy. You’ll likely require only a few hours to beat it, and only a very small portion of the obstacles you face during that time will prove even remotely challenging. |
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Tank! Tank! Tank! review (WIIU)Reviewed on December 23, 2012Unfortunately, the only objective you’re ever given is to kill everything that moves. That’s not entirely bad, since mayhem can be a lot of fun, but there aren’t enough enemy types available to keep things interesting across so many stages. You’ll wind up fighting most of the same monster waves three or four times over the course of the campaign, and the last 20 stages or so are mostly just battles against the same few giant enemies. |
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Knytt Underground review (PS3)Reviewed on December 23, 2012You've probably never heard of Knytt. It's pretty underground. *laughtrack* |
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Midway Arcade Origins review (PS3)Reviewed on December 22, 2012If you grew up around arcades, Midway Arcade Origins is likely to disappoint you because many of the games simply don’t control the way you remember. Home conversions did a great job of making the classic arcade titles function on inferior hardware, and yet these new releases abandon that refinement in favor of ill-advised faithfulness to old code that no longer matches contemporary hardware. |
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Party of Sin review (PC)Reviewed on December 16, 2012The fighting portion of Party of Sin is the weakest link, albeit a solid effort. For example, Gluttony can swallow a vulnerable angel whole for more health; it's a nifty skill to have when gunfire is flying from every direction and there isn't an apple in sight. Unfortunately, being able to attack and digest simultaneously broke combat variety for me; I had uncovered an impromptu easy mode, and every other Sin just wasn't worth the effort. |
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Rabbids Land review (WIIU)Reviewed on December 16, 2012The game changes up who faces who during each event, which keeps things relatively even and ensures that no single player is always stuck going up against a computer opponent. Still, the whole process is definitely the most fun if you are competing with at least two human friends… even though that means you’ll be passing the gamepad and any other controllers around the room as if they’re participants in a game of musical chairs. |
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Game Party Champions review (WIIU)Reviewed on December 15, 2012However, the game is more challenging for newcomers than the developers likely intended, mostly due to the control scheme. The game simply requires more precision from the touch pad than it allows. For instance, the Basketball attraction features three hoops that move toward the screen, then recede or spin. You have to move the gamepad to affect the direction your arrow points, and then you have to swipe the stylus just the right amount so that you throw the ball hard enough but not too hard. |
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Wario's Woods review (NES)Reviewed on December 15, 2012Back before he became a game developer, Wario liked to harass small woodland creatures. |
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Batman Returns review (NES)Reviewed on December 14, 2012When I think of effective beat 'em ups, adjectives like "awesome" and "badass" come to mind, and those are the last words I'd use to describe a gang of combat-trained circus performers. Sorry, but I'll take broken bottles and seedy night clubs over frills, grease paint, and leotards any day. |
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Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two review (WIIU)Reviewed on December 10, 2012Unfortunately, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is a disappointment compared to its imperfect but promising predecessor. The ambition and inventiveness that were so evident the first time around have been obscured by a sloppy retread that may well leave you wondering why anyone bothered to create it. |
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