Reviews & Articles

With the 2K Sports release Major League Baseball 2K10, producer Ben Bishop and gameplay designers Jonathan Rivera and Sean Bailey were eager to sit down and discuss the details of the game. They had more than just the excitement of a game release to discuss; they had an urge to set the record straight. After all, MLB 2K9 has become something of a critical disaster for the team. With their latest installment in the MLB series, they went back to the fundamental design elements that made other 2K games a success. Their promise: MLB 2K10 not only exceeds expectations but also completely knocks expectations out of the ballpark.

Enter Pandora: a seemingly endless desert full of dangerous wild animals, men who are in search of treasure, and other men who look like they’re straight out of the Mad Max movies and are out to kill for the fortunes they seek. That’s why people come to Pandora: to find treasure. As I played Borderlands for the Xbox 360, I felt the sense of a California gold rush — except on another planet and in the future. And with lots of guns.

For those who enjoy playing role-playing games, Dragon Age: Origins is the game for you. Dragon Age: Origins is packed with a massive amount of gameplay. You will spend many hours playing this game. I will confess that I am only 20 hours into the game and have yet to touch all the adventures that await me, but I have put a decent dent in it and enough to share a little.

Although I have not been fortunate enough to play the first game, Mass Effect 2 surely did not disappoint the hype. The story is set in the year 2183. During a routine patrol, my ship, the Normandy, comes under attack. The crew and I are forced to evacuate; only, I don’t make it. I am hit by flying debris while trying to save a crew member and am propelled into space, floating aimlessly until death.

Underneath the amazing atmosphere, beautifully detailed graphics, immersive sounds and enveloping storyline, BioShock is a game about choices: the choices made by the characters in the creation and downfall of Rapture; the choices presented to the player that pull at your heartstrings and moral compass; and the choices of weapons and plasmids. How each of these choices affects the player and the world around him is one of BioShock’s greatest assets.

Winner of E3 2007, according to Gametrailers.com, and Best of E3, according to Ign.com, Eternal Sonata is a game like no other. Eternal Sonata is place of fantasy, a place to learn to let live in a world of hypocrisy and ignorance, and a place of tyranny.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a huge success. It had a great story and was different than other first-person shooter games on the market. It was also different than all the other Call of Duty games, as it was the first removed from the World War II setting. Infinity Ward continues to prove it knows what it’s doing with the sequel to Modern Warfare: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

What can I say about Mass Effect 2? Well let’s see ... let’s start with my overall experience. I had a great time playing the first game. My experience with the second game was even better than the first. The story in the first game is good, but the story in the second is better; that’s one reason I am so hooked. Here’s the thing with Mass Effect: The story is always changing.

It is a little hard to believe that it has been eight years since the release of the original Tropico game. Eight years since I’ve been a ruthless dictator, foiling coup d’etats and paying people pennies for days of grueling labor. Ahh, where has the time gone? Oddly enough, as soon as I started playing Tropico 3, my first thought was “haven’t I already played this game?”

I’m a big fan of survival horror. I like testing my survival instincts against all sorts of hideous enemies. It can, however, get fairly repetitive as a genre. Zombies are always the No. 1 enemy, and everybody knows that against zombies, headshots are the best way to go. It’s exciting, but I can’t help but feel like I’ve done it plenty of times before. Dead Space manages to give me all the horror I can handle in a brand new way.

Silent Hill ... the mere mention of the forbidden hamlet is enough to send shivers down most horror gamers’ spines. The creepily thick fog, the empty yet rundown streets and the well-done music create an atmosphere thick enough to get lost in. Over the years, the horrific hamlet has had two different sides: a place that calls out for people to purge their souls and a town that is perverted by its inhabitants vile violations. One of the more recent additions to the series is Silent Hill: Homecoming.

Two role-playing games staring dragons released just months apart. What are the odds? Dragon Age: Origins might have beaten Divinity II: Ego Draconis to release and stole some of its fire, but can Divinity II coming roaring back?

The THQ Kids, Family and Casual games division stopped in New York during its Q1 Media Tour, and this little journalist had the chance to check out some of the latest family-friendly titles coming to gamers this spring, including SpongeBob's Boating Bash, Beat City, World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars and Nancy Drew: The Model Mysteries.

BioShock was one of the most highly acclaimed games of the decade. The graphics, story and gameplay were all praised universally for going above and beyond the standards set by story-driven first-person shooters up to that point. Now, the sequel to one of the best games of recent years is set to be released this week. BioShock 2 will be hitting stores Feb. 9, but you don’t have to wait until then to get the details. Developers and designers from 2K Marin and Digital Extremes recently gave an interview in which they explained the ins and outs of their highly anticipated sequel.

I think my fellow role-playing gamers know about those love/hate relationships a lot of us suffer from some of our favorite games. We can’t stop playing them, and they enter our thoughts and dreams more than we really want. If this is what defines a game as legendary, something we talk about years from now, then Dragon Age: Origins is definitely one of the most epic; I still can’t stop thinking about it.

Assassin’s Creed was a double-edged sword to many people — myself included. For all the thrilling executions, there were repetitive missions. For all the breathtaking scenery, there were annoying beggars getting in your way. For all the complex machinations, there were repetitive missions. And for all the nonstop action and adventure, there were repetitive missions. Assassin’s Creed II is a sequel in every way imaginable. Luckily, it isn’t a film, so that is a very good thing.

The time for the world to end has come. Or has it? In Darksiders, the forces of heaven and hell are unleashed, and a battle of apocalyptic proportions begins on Earth. In the midst of the fight enters War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, whose duty is to punish all evildoers, be they angels, demons or humans. Through a series of events, War discovers that the apocalypse was not meant to happen so soon and that he is blamed for causing it. Thus begins War’s quest to prove his innocence and take down the legions of hell; it’s all in a day’s work for one of the four horsemen.

NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 is a first-person shooter set in today’s paintball tournaments. As a longtime paintballer (I started with the Nel-Spot 007 and oil-based paint in the early 1980s) and former tournament player, I had high expectations for this game. Unfortunately, they were not met. Although actual paintball equipment and even real players were modeled with seeming accuracy, the gameplay was flat and dull.

Placed near the end of the American Civil War, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is the story of Ray McCall, the preacher from the original Call of Juarez, and his two brothers. From the original game, I knew that Ray was once a gunslinger and an outlaw before becoming a man of the cloth, but this game gives you the how and why. Which brings me to the perils of prequels: in order for a prequel to work, the events should be as big if not bigger than the original story. In my opinion, Bound in Blood was not as epic or as entertaining of a tale. Already knowing what the culmination of events was leading to left me with a lack of suspense throughout this title.

Capcom was one of the few software companies at the Consumer Electronics Show, and I got to see quite a few of its games, including Mega Man 10, Final Fight Double Impact, Super Street Fighter 4, Lost Planet 2, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Monster Hunter Tri. For more information about Capcom games, visit www.capcom.com/us/.

Like the bedtime stories that inspired it, Fairytale Fights is fun, entertaining and bloody as all get-out. But far from being a dark morality tale, Fairytale Fights gives up to four players the chance to go on a carefree romp through Fantasyland, where they can slice, smash, burn and utterly destroy anything in their way.

If you had a large amount of explosives, were on Mars and also had access to high-powered guns, would you help a group of resistance fighters bring down a corrupt military group? One that’s killed your brother and oppressed said resistance fighters and forced them into said life of violence in order to gain peace?

Well, I for one would take up explosives and blow things up, blow people away and have a good time. At least, that’s what I did in Red Faction: Guerrilla, and let me tell you that it was a heck of a lot of fun.

I abhor the first-person perspective. It just doesn’t work for me. It somehow messes up my sense of movement, and I usually feel dizzy. However, this hasn’t completely stopped me from playing the occasional first-person shooter. Metroid Prime is a blast, and Half-Life 2 is one of the slickest shooters in existence. But for some odd reason, I felt compelled to play one of the more unique first-person games available: Mirror’s Edge for the PlayStation 3. And it is definitely worth your time if you can understand its quirks.

Another month, another rhythm-based game. That’s how it seems, anyway, with so many trying to compete for your attention. Guitar Hero 5 was out recently, with Band Hero coming our way only two months later. DJ Hero — released only days before Band Hero — is new to the mix and falls somewhere between The Beatles: Rock Band and Lego Rock Band. So why do you need another guitar-based game? Well, you probably don’t, all things considered. With the recent deluge of rhythm-based games and all the choices you would face in your selection, you might get angrier than David Lee Roth with a bowl of brown M&Ms. So where does Guitar Hero: Van Halen stand in all of this? On the one hand, you already have so many games to choose from, but on the other hand, how could you say no to a band-exclusive game that boasts some of the most classic guitar riffs in rock history?

What comes to mind when you think of a typical fantasy game? Whatever your answer, Dragon Age: Origins has anything you could think of. Elves that live in the forest and have pointy ears? Check. Dwarves that drink a lot of alcohol and live underground? Check. Humans that lord their wealth over the others and generally act like arrogant pricks the whole time? Check. Dragons? Check and double check. Although Dragon Age: Origins doesn’t do too many new things, it does the familiar so well that it is more than worthy of being called “a role-playing game made by BioWare.”

I will admit it: I am a Tim Schafer fan. I loved the Monkey Island series, and Psychonauts is a personal favorite of mine. Brütal Legend contains plenty of the classic “Schaferisms” and embraces what makes the game great: It’s funny and violent. Brütal Legend is truly one of a kind. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll rock and you’ll roll. Most of all, you’ll be entertained ... if only for a few hours.

Coming off the incredible success of the original Godfather game (which stems from Francis Ford Coppola’s movie, which stems from Mario Puzo’s book), EA offers a revamped open-world sequel in The Godfather II. You play as a character named Dominic, a man who has worked his way through the ranks of the late 1950s Italian mafia and now has his shot at running his own family under the tutelage of Michael Corleone. With chaos erupting in pre-revolution Cuba, Michael depends on you to take control of New York, unifying the families if possible, killing them off if necessary. In an always-dangerous attempt at making a classic book/movie into a game, EA has succeeded in capturing the essence of the story.

Music, death, laser panthers. No, this is not random word association from my childhood (though I have had particular trouble in my youth with the latter two). These are just some of the things that make up Brutal Legend, the newest game from Double Fine studios. It’s a story about a roadie getting transported to a fantasy world where metal is king and glam is slightly powerful. A game with a premise so heavily awesome you won’t be able to move out of sheer satisfaction, Brutal Legend does everything in its power to remind you why metal rocks and why you should, too.

Picture a serene wooded scene filled with lumberjacks sectioning fallen trees. Suddenly, Snow White appears and hacks them all to pieces with a cleaver. Sound odd? Welcome to Fairytale Fights. Developed by Playlogic, Fairytale Fights takes tales of yore, such as Hansel and Gretel and Snow White, back to their roots. Before Walt Disney, most of these stories featured good amounts of gore and death. Fairytale Fights reclaims that bloody past and does it with fair success. Unfortunately, several issues with the game tarnish the attempt.

I am not a movie buff. I watch three movies a year. That is it. One of the movies I watched this past year was Monsters vs. Aliens , a “B-movie” inspired by the old drive-in horror movies from the 1950s and ’60s. To say that my dad liked it is an understatement. He loved it. So how does the videogame tie-in of the same name fit with the movie? It comes together decently and allows novices to have fun but falls a bit short.