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
	Darwinia+ review (X360) Reviewed on March 26, 2010 With the introduction of spiders, things rapidly became more difficult. I had to rely on grenades to damage them, as they seemed immune to laser fire. Making that difficult was their habit of suddenly pouncing at my unit when within range. Until I'd really enhanced my grenade-throwing range and could blast them before they noticed my squad's presence, they were able to decimate squads with ease.
	Metro 2033 review (X360) Reviewed on March 25, 2010 Developed by 4A Games, a splinter of Ukranian studio GSC Game World, Metro 2033 is nothing like Stalker. That's one of the most important things to remember when entering its dismal tunnel network, or sprinting across its harsh, destroyed surface world. It may share some pretty heavy thematic elements with that series, and it might emerge from the same brains, but Metro 2033 is its own game: more bombastic shoot-'em-up than slow-burning, open-world survival.
	Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life review (PC) Reviewed on March 23, 2010 The Tree of Life lays the groundwork for an interesting revelation, keeps you busy with roundabout nonsense, and then glosses over the juiciest part. When the time comes to reveal true identities and lay motivations bare, the conspirators drone on with obtuse conversations that fail to explain the whole truth of the matter.
	Red Steel 2 review (WII) Reviewed on March 23, 2010 When the swordplay comes together as intended, there's no feeling better. You'll face a lot of thugs as you seek your resolution. They come at you from all sides wielding swords of their own, or guns or hammers or protective shields. Routing the evil gang members feels satisfying because you're not simply swinging the Wii Remote around in place of furious 'A' button mashing. The speed and actual motion of each swing is reflected on-screen with surprising precision and with in-game consequences.
	Thexder Neo HD review (PS3) Reviewed on March 22, 2010 Enemies come at you fast, but luckily your laser beam has homing capabilities, so you needn’t even aim to bring them down. Being successful is more a function of edging forward gradually enough to bring the enemies onto the screen slowly enough for the beam to melt the bad guys before they reach your face.
	Final Fantasy XIII review (PS3) Reviewed on March 20, 2010 The multi-faceted nature of combat means that in Final Fantasy XIII, nearly every battle is a fresh adventure. That's not evident in the first few hours, where you're still learning new techniques and simply mashing the 'X' button allows you to slaughter most enemies that you encounter. The dynamic changes abruptly once you've been playing for a few hours, however, and you're suddenly going up against monsters so powerful that they can smash tanks, or you're fighting so many at once that they can overwhelm you almost before the fight begins unless you truly understand how to get the most out of your party members.
	Greed Corp review (X360) Reviewed on March 20, 2010 Once you have mastered the basics of the game and can minimise the number of wrong button presses, Greed Corp is a solid, if unspectacular, strategy title at 800MSP.
	God of War III review (PS3) Reviewed on March 18, 2010 With grandiose symphony and fiery passion, Sony's declaration is clear: this is an epic the likes of which the world may never see again. The game's opening moments plunge this brazen ambition into the hearts of those who've forgotten such fanciful dreams. A host of titans wage war against the gods of Olympus, and the chaotic path along which players guide Kratos is truly unnerving. The ground itself shakes, for that ground is the back of the titan Gaia. Parasitic serpents burst from Gaia's flesh to bar the Spartan's path; when the titan of Earth stumbles from the pain, Kratos hangs precariously with one hand but still must fight. His soul is only at peace during battle.
	Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 5 - Rise of the Pirate God review (PC) Reviewed on March 17, 2010 It's not a classic. It's still a game whose intricacies are likely to be forgotten within months. It's probably not even the best of the series, all considered. What it does have, though, is Tales' strongest moment, across all of the games.
	Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga review (WII) Reviewed on March 16, 2010 It's unfortunate, too, because underneath all the crap lies the framework for what could be a very good game. You have your typical classes such as fighter, mage, and priest, who each have their own experience levels. You're free to change your class whenever you wish by heading to the guild and paying a fee. Each time your chosen class gains a level, you get skill points that you can distribute among different abilities that class posseses. Once you know a skill, you're able to set it in one of several slots, regardless of class. It goes without saying that this system allows you to customize your character in a variety of ways, and once you begin to unlock some of the more advanced classes like samurai and godhand, your ability to customize will only increase.
	The Legend of Vraz review (PC) Reviewed on March 15, 2010 In its present form, the game merely comes across as an unnecessary mess of well-intentioned ideas made only slightly more amusing by the vague cultural undertones from India.
	Data East Arcade Classics review (WII) Reviewed on March 09, 2010 Menu and presentation issues don't end with ridiculous button configurations, either. You'll see a lot of menus as you decide what game to play, both when the game first starts up and then when you select the one that you actually want to play. Load times are surprisingly lengthy, especially given the size that some of the included games surely occupy on the disc or anywhere else. The whole experience is surprisingly awkward every step of the way. That prevents the collection from being the joy that it might have been.
	Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing review (PS3) Reviewed on March 04, 2010 Tracks are more than eye candy. You'll find compelling venues that accommodate an absolutely essential drift system. Your opponents will generally spend more time drifting and boosting than they do driving in a straight line. When you try to mimic their vehicular wizardry, you'll realize just how ingeniously the environments were developed. Ramps, fences, wide bends and hairpin turns mean that the fastest way through nearly any situation is to slide into an expert drift, then use the resulting energy to boost through a curve or over a ramp... where it's possible to launch into acrobatics that charge you up for a new boost once your wheels touch the ground.
	Metal Slug XX review (PSP) Reviewed on February 28, 2010 Metal Slug XX is a remake of the DS's Metal Slug 7. After playing the new version, I don't think I can go back. The cartoony visuals have been expanded to a proper resolution, showing off the same zany antics we've watched for 14 years. Two-player simultaneous action has been added, creating a cooperative experience we've enjoyed since 1996. And it's still impossible to aim diagonally.
	Ninja Blade review (PC) Reviewed on February 28, 2010
	Enemy Zero review (SAT) Reviewed on February 28, 2010 I'm going to tell you about an obscure survival horror game. The name of this obscure survival horror game is Enemy Zero and it stars Laura from D's Diner . . . but it doesn't star Laura the character, it stars Laura the actress, because game designer Kenji Eno was an avant-garde madman who wanted to turn CG models into small-screen starlets.
	Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo review (SNES) Reviewed on February 26, 2010 Other than that, in Monshou no Nazo, there's a certain generic feel to characters. Some guys are faster and get critical hits more often. Others ride horses (which they must dismount to participate in castle levels), so they can cover terrain more quickly. A few more either use bows, can unlock doors and chests or have superior defense at the cost of inferior speed. Overall, most of them tend to mesh together into a big glob of the mundane.
	Endless Ocean: Blue World review (WII) Reviewed on February 26, 2010 Naturally, diving is what prevents Blue World from feeling much like "just another game." The waters of the world's most memorable bodies of water teem with life and play host to everything from seals to gray whales to eels to jellyfish. In most instances, you're able to move in close for an investigation and you can watch as shy fish retreat into their holes or hungry sharks circle in murkier waters as they make meal plans. The various residents of this liquid world seem apathetic about your presence. You're a novelty at best, hardly worthy of their attention because you mean them no harm.
	Syberia II review (PC) Reviewed on February 24, 2010 The game, as a whole, stutters and limps along, seemingly existing only to tie up to loose ends of the first game. When an impossible chasm separates Kate from her clockwork train, a character from the last game literally drops out of the sky and offers her a steaming hot cup of deus ex machina. Though it’s prettied up with the stellar graphics and adequate writing, Syberia II is a game lacking in total ambition.
	Aliens vs Predator review (PS3) Reviewed on February 23, 2010 There was a haphazard tension in the original Aliens Versus Predator that kept players constantly moving through the maze-like levels the game forced them into. Hitting a dead end in those mazes with H.R. Geiger’s nightmarish rape-monsters only a few feet behind was cause for me to shut off the original game more than once. That's gone here.

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