Microsoft Reviews

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.

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?

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?

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?

While EA may be best known for their sports lineup, it is important to remember that they are one of the few in the industry that can take a chance on a new, unproven IP. With their latest game, Dead Space, EA has done just that and they came up with a winner.

Upon seeing a screenshot of War World, I must say I was pretty darn impressed. “This is an arcade game?” I thought to myself, because this mech combat title is probably one of the best looking games on the XBLA, and could even pass for an original Xbox title. But a warning for anyone that dare purchase it, War World will rear its ugly head as not quite a game, but rather a hollow husk of one. A pretty husk yes, but a vacuous one none the less. It is as if the developers attempted to squeeze a mech game designed for consoles into the arcade, and it’s pretty obvious that a new strategy is needed for putting the genre on the service properly, rather than just including the bare minimum.

“A babe, a stogie, and a bottle of jack. That’s what I need right now.” With lines like that it’s easy to laugh at the sheer absurdity of misogynic alien executioner Duke Nukem, but at the same time it’s just so darn hard not to love him. Duke Nukem 3D is the latest in the line of old school PC shooters that have found their way onto the Xbox Live Arcade, and as everyone knows, a once great franchise doesn’t always equal success when ported over to a whole new platform. But luckily 3D Realms (the original developer of Duke Nukem 3D) has done a commendable job of transferring such a beloved FPS without trying to make too many enhancements. This act of preservation does keep the core experience of the game endearing, but in other ways causes a few limitations that keep the latest iteration of the Duke a few pieces of bubblegum short of perfection.

After playing last year's mega-hit Rock Band, the entire CVGames staff fell in love with the addictive gameplay. In fact, we loved it so much, Rock Band was honored as the Best Game of 2007 in our yearly Bernie Gaming Awards. We were able to look past any nagging issues the game had due to the incredibly rich and dynamic experience of playing together as a band. Sure, these are plastic instruments--but the experience made you feel like a real rock star!! Just when you thought the Rock Band experience couldn't get better, along comes Rock Band 2. Once again, Harmonix has reinvented Rock Band into one of the greatest multiplayer experiences to date.

As Microsoft winds down their Summer of Arcade we’re left wondering what new releases are on the horizon between now and the holiday rush. Typically, this is a down time for new releases, with the Xbox Live crew basically cleaning out the closets and releasing the junk titles in order to make space for the big names coming down the pipe. Thankfully however, RocketBowl stands out from the clutter, offering us a fun and refreshing take on traditionally bowling.

Black Rock Studio has released a new ATV offroad racing title and unlike the previous ATV games the team has churned out, Pure focuses much more on style and fun than it does on sport and simulation.