Rhythm Heaven
April 21, 2009
Rhythm Heaven is a wildly successful music game that, when released last year in Japan, grossed enough sales to be the best selling DS game of 2008. So something that flies off the shelf that quickly in the Land of Pikachus and Maid Cafes has to be filled with Japanese humor. Coming from the TNX–the team behind Wario Ware, you get a good idea on what to expect in the Rhythm Heaven. If your like myself and can’t get enough Japanese eccentric madness, you’ll find some fun amongst the creative and addicting collection of music games. Read more
Killzone 2
April 14, 2009
Looking back at the first sneak peak of Killzone 2, from the infamous E3 trailer where the PlayStation 3 was first unveiled, nobody believed that a game could look that good. Critics, fanboys, and even Xbox Executives all claimed that this was a fabricated trailer that contained no actual gameplay and that no product could ever come close to the beauty or smooth gameplay. While the trailer was ultimately proven to be based on computer generated visuals, the final product would lead you to believe the original trailer was real gameplay. Read more
Metal Slug 7
December 12, 2008
Metal Slug is a series known for fast and furious arcade action. Ever since its release in the Arcades and NEO GEO home console in the 90’s players have been drawn to the fast-paced sprites with multiplayer support. Over the years, consoles have come and gone and SNK themselves have been through several changes. Despite changes in technology and consoles, more Metal Slug continues to be released. Now in the seventh incarnation of the franchise–Metal Slug 7 has arrived for the Nintendo DS. Does the fun continue in this handheld version? Read more
Call of Duty World at War
December 11, 2008
The Call of Duty franchise has been synonymous with next-generation gaming. Since Call of Duty 2 was released alongside the Xbox 360, the franchise has been a hit with console owners. The popularity of the franchise has only continued to soar with the release of last years’ hit Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Activision, along with Developer Treyarch, look to continue the magic of the CoD franchise with Call of Duty World at War—a title that utilizes the same engine that powered CoD4. But is another World War II First Person Shooter something that can earn recommendation? Read more
James Bond Quantum of Solace
December 8, 2008
When I first laid eyes on Quantum of Solace at E3 2007, I was amazed. Activision’s E3 Press Briefing showed off an early look at the game that gave Developer Treyarch the opportunity to deliver one of the best movie games of all time. With the excellent Call of Duty 4 engine, a team experienced with working in the engine, a big marketing budget, and one of the most popular characters of all time, this should be one of the bigget games of the year. Despite these high expectations for Quantum of Solace, the final product is nowhere near the quality expected. Read more
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
November 26, 2008
Last year, Sony published an awesome arcade racing title known as Motorstorm. The title was released with very limited content and features. Despite this, players fell in love with the awesome graphics and exciting gameplay. Sony continued to improve the franchise by releasing several updates to the title. Although some of the updates were paid updates, Motorstorm gave PlayStation 3 owners something to brag about. Now a year later, the sequel to Motorstorm has been released. Known as Pacific Rift, the title is more feature inclusive than the original game and promises to offer even more down the road. But does this make the title worthy of a purchase? Read more
Fable 2
November 26, 2008
Peter Molyneux promised a lot with the original Fable. When it finally released, what we got was a great game, but it fell short of delivering on most of the promises. With Fable 2, we are pleased to report that most of what was promised is in the game and works extremely well. Read more
Gears of War 2
November 26, 2008
Epic’s lead designer, Cliff Bleszinski, made some pretty bold claims at GDC earlier this year about the then upcoming title Gears of War 2. He stated that the game would be bigger, better and more badass than the original. So was he right? Or was he just playing company hype man? Read more
Guitar Hero World Tour
November 22, 2008
Guitar Hero World Tour is Activision’s attempt to counter the changes that Rock Band brought to the music genre. Instead of only including guitar and bass gameplay, players will now be able to form a complete band and sing, play drums, rock out on guitar, and strum away on the bass. To further distinguish themselves from the competition, Developer Neversoft has updated the visuals, added a touch sensor to the bottom of the fret bar, on the guitar, and created their own drum kit with an extra note. With all the changes made, does Guitar Hero World Tour have what it takes to beat out Rock Band 2? Read more
Fallout 3
November 13, 2008
I have fond memories of the Fallout franchise. When Interplay released the original Fallout, fans fell in love with the post-apocalyptic environments and the quest to save all of your fellow survivors in Vault 101. The franchise continued with the release of Fallout 2 before faltering with console iterations that never had the quality or care of the original PC and Mac titles. Interplay held on to the rights to the franchise for many, many years before finally reaching an agreement for Bethesda to create all single player versions of the franchise—with Interplay retaining the rights to any future MMO based on the Fallout universe. Years have passed, technologies have changed, and at last Fallout has returned. Was Bethesda able to retain the former glory of the Fallout franchise? Read more