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
	Pac-Man (Tengen) review (NES) Reviewed on November 02, 2003 If the preceding statement is true, there's only one thing more I need to tell you about, the game's conversion. This is because while the NES saw its fare share of ports, most of them sucked, or at the very least paled in comparison to their arcade counterparts. Not so here. Pac-Man from the arcades makes the trip to the home console quite nicely. All that's missing is the joystick, and if you have the NES Advantage, even that's in place.
	Karate Champ review (NES) Reviewed on November 02, 2003 When you see the title screen, you might have reason to be optimistic. It shows that two people can play (though I later learned that even a single person wasting time with the game is a small miracle), and the letters that make up the logo don't look half bad. Not only that, but the background music is some of the best I've heard from the system. It really is. Unfortunately, I've just described almost everything positive there is to say about the game.
	Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival review (NES) Reviewed on November 02, 2003 Each level is distinctly different from the next, meaning there are basically four little mini-games you must pass on your way to the grand finale. The first of these is a kayaking trip down a little river. Kermit is the guy in charge, and he must steer his little vessel around rocks, floating logs, whirlpools, and the dangerous riverbanks.
	Super Sprint review (NES) Reviewed on November 01, 2003 A typical race is going to involve flooring the accelerator, dashing to the first corner, then swinging wildly about it like a drunken ballerina and hopefully aligning with the rails on the next turn so as to avoid smashing into a barrier and exploding (if going at high speeds) or becoming stuck for a few seconds while your opponents take the lead by about half a track and you curse at the television screen.
	Tony Hawk's Underground review (GCN) Reviewed on November 01, 2003 At first I thought this new feature might be a lame addition compared to the revert, the invert, and the manual. Then I had a chance to get used to it and decided it might not be so bad after all. Unfortunately, by the 'end' of the game I realized I was right the first time. Though it's cool to be able to climb up ladders, or Rambo your way along telephone wires extending over the streets below, the process through which you do so is so clunky that it ends up being more a curse than a blessing.
	Robotech: The Macross Saga review (GBA) Reviewed on October 30, 2003 Scouring the libraries of the original GameBoy, Sega’s Game Gear, Atari’s Lynx and the NeoGeo Pocket yields precious little. Finding a portable shooter has always been akin to a diehard gamer finding a girlfriend. And finding an exceptional portable shooter… well, that’s like that diehard gamer having a girlfriend and knowing what to do with her. Sadly, while somewhat enjoyable, in the end, Robotech: The Macross Saga leaves us with blue balls once again.
	Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth review (N64) Reviewed on October 30, 2003 This game’s existence will surprise many people, on many levels. One, it’s an N64 shooter available in North America. When I informed a handful of fellow gamers that I was engaged in shoot-em-up action for the big N’s ill-supported console, they exclaimed, “A shooter for the N64?” almost in unison, unable to hide their incredulity. Secondly, once that shock had subsided, another filled the air. Because what many don't realize is that the game is the final installment of a series that spans four systems and over ten years.
	Deep Blue review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 This game has gotten a lot of bad press. Surprisingly though, that bad press is rarely quite as bad as it should be. I enjoy a good 2-D shooter, probably even more than the next guy. But there is almost nothing good about Deep Blue. I will start by telling you what is good about the game, which won’t take long. The game's bosses are quite large, it’s a shooter about fish other than Darius, and occasionally the colours in the background are eye-catching—sometimes even pretty. Done.
	Cyber-Core review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 An opening ‘cinema’ educates us on the state of the world. Hyper-insects (where is your Ritalin cannon when called upon?) have taken over the Earth, and it is your responsibility to repel them. And what better way than to merge your repulsive character Rad Ralph with the equally repulsive Chimera super life form?
	China Warrior review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 Remember Kung Fu for your old NES? Think hard and it will all come rushing back to you. It was a punch, kick and jump side-scroller, and it featured amateur martial artists who would rush at you so they could hug you to death. Occasionally, one of them had the wherewithal to wield a stick, or toss a knife at you. Well! With the advent of 16-bit power back in 1989, things only got worse. Witness China Warrior.
	Bloody Wolf review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 When I was younger, I loved war games. You name it, and it was sure to have a special place in my cold, iron, war-lovin’ heart. From the classic Contra, to the underrated Cabal, to the mostly silly Guerilla War, to the two-faced Bloody Wolf… what was so irresistible about waging a one man campaign against armies of gun and grenade toting insurgents? Reflecting, I have come to realize that the shoot-em-up fan in me was gradually making the transition from platformer cuteness to cosmic dogfights. War games, what with their platformer-esque heroes, and their shooter themes of inexorable projectile slipping, provided a seamless segue.
	Castlevania: Lament of Innocence review (PS2) Reviewed on October 25, 2003 Try not to stare as you walk through a chapel and see some benches upright, some tossed to their sides, and still others draped by cobwebs. Everything looks so tremendously organic. There's also a lot of color variation. Even though textures are reused throughout, they're all so good that it doesn't really impact anything in a negative way. Even better, there's good variety from one locale to the next.
	Shadow of Destiny review (PS2) Reviewed on October 21, 2003 Dying is never fun. Knowing you're about to die is even less of a joyful prospect. But worst of all perhaps, is knowing you're going to die again and again and again. Such is the fate of Eike Kusch. That's you, in case you were wondering.
	Disgaea: Hour of Darkness review (PS2) Reviewed on October 18, 2003 In short, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is the sequel that might have happened if Square weren't developing for the Game Boy Advance at the time. Then again, it may not have. You see, the game has all kinds of personality that we haven't seen from Square in, well... forever.
	Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand review (GBA) Reviewed on October 09, 2003 Imagine the Metal Gear Series if it joined forces with Castlevania, and some crazy scheme to get indoor-bound gamer-geeks out in the sun, where their pale skin will sizzle and pop...And you should get an idea of the general concept behind Boktai: The Sun is in your Hand.
	SoulCalibur II review (GCN) Reviewed on October 06, 2003 Rather than force you to face nine million matches to unlock all the hidden characters and their alternate weapons, Namco went the story-based route. When you first begin this mode, you appear on a map and get to read some text. This leads to a battle with an opponent, where you'll quickly learn the basic moves that make up a typical fight. From there, you advance onto the next area, where there's more story to read and an excuse for another fight.
	Otogi: Myth of Demons review (XBX) Reviewed on October 06, 2003 Otogi is really in a league of it’s own on Xbox. The closest game to it is probably Panzer Dragoon Orta, not because the action is similar but because both games deliver such a unique audio/visual impact backed with challenging, addicting gameplay.
	SoulCalibur II review (PS2) Reviewed on October 05, 2003 When playing in Extra Arcade, you can change what weapons your characters use in battle, provided you have obtained new ones. This can greatly affect how balanced a fighter your character is. Tamil can find a weapon, for example, that lets her take out anyone almost without effort, or she can pick a different weapon that has some attributes that are great and some that are a disaster. It's amazing how many ways Namco found to keep gamers playing.
	F-Zero GX review (GCN) Reviewed on October 04, 2003 As with the attacks, knowing when and how to perform each of these turns is vital during a race, since, depending how it turns out (pun sadly intended), a turn can lose or gain crucial seconds during a lap—consider, of course, that the difference between first and second is often a mere tenth of a second.
	Enter the Matrix review (XBX) Reviewed on October 03, 2003 To be fair, the Focus idea is cool. It's a great way to put the player in control of what feels almost like a superhuman character. In this one regard, the game succeeds. The problem is that there's not much to do with it. You're just doing the same thing you were before, but now everything isn't as fast and visibility is low. There aren't suddenly more opponents and the environments don't suddenly morph to the point where they're interesting.

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