Reviews & Articles

I love the original Darksiders. It still felt fresh when I played it two years ago. What was so engrossing about it, you might ask? It is a game that took Christian mythos and ran with the idea. It was dark. It was gory. And it was awesome. So where in the world does Darksiders II stand when the original was so good? In short, it’s a good game in its own right. It just isn’t a good Darksiders game.

When it comes to what games to play, I like playing the hero. So I’m not sure why have I enjoyed Saints Row: The Third.

Every now and then something comes along that shines brightly and separates itself from the rest of the pack. Whether it be a Blockbuster movie, New York Times bestseller or Twisted Pixel’s ’Splosion Man. This game is something that should not be missed.

Believe it or not, I’ve raised a fair amount of different animals. I’ve taken care of goats, llamas, chickens, sheep, dogs and parrots. While that may sound like bragging, the point is that I know a bit about animals (and I love them, too). Goats are by far, the most interesting and intense.

LaserCat follows a feline who happens to be made out of a laser. Anyway, his best friend Owl gets kidnapped by an evil toad and hides 30 keys throughout his master’s castle for LaserCat to find. So like any good kitty, he goes off to save his friend.

I admit that the Final Fantasy series is not perfect — especially the latest entry. And it probably doesn’t even help that the series was completely misnumbered here in the States with patches of individuals still insisting that Final Fantasy 6 is actually the third installment in the series. ...

Zombies really are the best videogame enemies, aren’t they? They can be bashed, sliced, shot and blown up — all without the slightest twinge of guilt. No one knows this better than Capcom, who presented the sequel to their ultraviolent zombie game, Dead Rising 2.

It’s pretty hard to get away from shooters on the Xbox 360. I quit them for awhile because of the oversaturation I faced. There were so many to choose from and so little time. Having to pick from several at any given moment, I felt spread too thin with ample amounts of repetition along the way. Long before the shooter flood on the Xbox, I was a big fan of the original Halo, had an awkward relationship with Halo 2 and had a stinted love affair with Halo 3. Having spent a long break from the series, I decided to give Halo 3: ODST a try. I was looking for a chance at an enjoyable experience for old time’s sake ... and ended up getting even more.

Twenty years ago, a little blue hedgehog gave a plumber a run for his money and changed my life entirely. That blue hedgehog’s name was Sonic. Of course, the route Sonic has taken to this day has definitely had some bumps and has been far from perfect after his Blast Processing days on Sega Genesis. But one game in his 3-D adventures really stood out and made a lasting impression on fans of Sonic the hedgehog and a ruler to what all-future Sonic games would be measured by: Sonic Adventure.

I grew up playing the Medal of Honor franchise and loving every single minute of it. I never thought it could get any better than any of the previous ones I owned. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Oh man, do I love to hunt.

Oh man, do I love to play hunting games.

Oh man, do I hate it when baboons attack me.

Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 for the Wii is an overall good game — a different type of hunting game than I am use to, but that is a good thing. The hunting genre is plagued by less than boring games, while Activision makes it more exciting.

New York legalizing gay marriage troubles many people because it challenges what it means for people to be “a couple.” This was something Atlus was smart enough to use in its “Are you committed” trailer months ago for its provocatively styled game Catherine. So is the game “fluff” waiting to rot out your eyes, or is it an intelligent commentary on relationships?

This was my father to me, a boy of 6, watching the original Indiana Jones on the big screen. Our hero, Indy, was making his way slowly through a black temple in a dark jungle, only to find a shaft of light, strangely penetrating in this mysterious place. Indy reaches his whip forward grimly and releases the trap harmlessly as spikes carrying a corpse thrust forward to my eager and horrified eyes.

Batman is back and better than ever. I’m sure everyone is wondering how good this new sequel turned out. At first glance, I saw one of the most serious-looking Batmans I have ever seen in a game. There he was on the front cover, a seriously angered Caped Crusader with his knuckles bloody from battle. So, just seeing the front case, it seemed like Batman: Arkham City was going to be one of the best Batman games ever made.

I enjoy satire. In fact, it’s a central component of comedy. Practically every comedian is making fun of something. Think about some of the longest running comedians: Phyllis Diller, Bill Cosby and Steven Colbert (to name a few).So how about a game that satirizes games in general? This is the basic premise of DLC Quest.

Haunt was announced alongside the introduction of Microsoft's hands-free device known as the Kinect. More than a year later, Haunt has made its way onto the Xbox Live Arcade. I had been keeping an eye on this one as its light-hearted romp through a haunted house sounded very appealing.

I readily admit it: I loved Alan Wake. And for a guy who writes, it was easy to fall for the game: the strong narrative, the dark and unnerving atmosphere and the incredible pacing. I played the game to death, searching for all 1500 points (something I rarely do). It’s one of those rare games that makes me proud to own an Xbox 360. So imagine my surprise when I opened my email account one morning and learned that Alan Wake’s American Nightmare was up on Xbox Live Arcade. I could barely control myself with giddiness.

If you have been a gamer since the mid ’90s, you know who and what Rayman is all about. However, Rayman has been on a bit of a sabbatical of late. We have seen somewhat recent titles such as Rayman Raving Rabbids, but the game is as far from being a Rayman game as it possibly can be. Rayman Raving Rabbids is a good game in its own right, but this isn’t what I intend to review. For now at least.

The dark and colorless world of Limbo is void of everything but life and adventure. The game has a relatively short playtime, which is countered by endless frustrations and riddled with deaths. However, it is fun and rich.

Zombie games seem to be everywhere this day and age, and I literally do mean everywhere. There is not a place you can turn to that does not in some way, shape or form reference zombies, or has you killing zombies. That is not a bad thing, as most of us have those post-apocalyptic fantasies that have an urge to be taken care of. I would hope that my post-apocalyptic fight would be to that of the Frank West — one of the most awesome guys in the zombie-slaying world. Dead Rising 2: Off the Record takes you away from the original story of Dead Rising 2, and puts you in the shoes of the first hero Frank West.

There’s a reason in the game review community that the phrase “what can be said that hasn’t been said before” is both exceedingly accurate and cliché. Certain games reviewed are so popular that the same themes are reiterated in almost the same voice and phrases. So it brings up the point: Why review an over-reviewed game? Keep that in mind as we retread one of the most popular games of the last decade: Resident Evil 4.

The demo released for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and my first thought was that I needed to go and download it for my Xbox 360 and see if it lives up to my standards of Need for Speed.

Every other year is special time for Call of Duty fans as the giant known as Infinity Ward struts its proverbial stuff. Activision/Infinity Ward’s latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise is proof that they are not losing their firm grasp on the game’s success.

Revenge is one of the oldest reasons in the book to respond to anything. Don’t believe me? Watch a bunch of children and see how long it takes for them not to hit each other over some misdemeanor. It also makes for a great plot. Also, I am aware of the Kill Bill movie series. However, I never really got into the films whenever I saw them on TV as it was just too grisly for me. So why in the world do I enjoy Shank so much?

I think if we were to sit down and watch the cartoons we watched as a kid, we would see that violence was a common bedfellow with the comedy of the likes of Wile E. Coyote and so forth. This really doesn’t mean those cartoons were bad and they created violent children; we were just enlightened by the comical chase. The game Naughty Bear takes this idea and makes it into a modern-day game that feels very reminiscent of those Saturday cartoons ... with a tad bit more emphasis on the violent atmosphere.