Title: Brink
Platform: 360 (PS3, PC)
ESRB: T
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Splash Damage
Rating: 
Review By: Eric Stuckart
Since its release, Brink has been very divisive in the gaming community, and for good reason. It’s one of those games that has gotten pretty much anyone with any sort of interest in first person shooters either enrapt or enraged with what it has to offer. (more…)
Title: Gunblade NY & L.A Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack
Platform: Wii
ESRB: T
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Rating:
Review by: Archie Easter
Anyone that has fond memories of 1990s arcades will most likely remember Sega’s Gunblade NY and L.A. Machineguns games. While both games are essentially high-action arcade rail shooters, both were mindlessly fun quarter munchers in their time. Although there’s no way to truly replicate the arcade cabinet’s memorable rumbling machine guns, this collection does a great job of faithfully reproducing both games for the first time. Even though the 90s era low-poly graphics haven’t particularly aged well, the gameplay is still as fun as it ever was. Just as in the original, players whiz about the city on flying machine gun-equipped vehicles frantically blasting everything in sight. Although both games’ hectic pace and near motion sickness-inducing cameras may turn some players off, the simple rail shooter gameplay is remarkably easy for anyone to pick up and play. Conversely, because these were arcade games, neither is particularly long, as both can be beaten fairly quickly. Even though it’s a decidedly no-frills affair as far as bonus content or updates are concerned, the Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns: Arcade Hits Pack is still a fun arcade shooter that nostalgic gamers will definitely get a kick out of. (more…)
Title: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Platform: 360 (PC, PS3, DS, Wii)
ESRB: T
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Beenox
Rating:
Review by: Matt Peters
Since 1992, Activision has published games based on the adventures of Marvel Comics’ flagship character, Spider-Man. After several less-than-stellar games, it seemed that Activision was content to rely on the name alone to move copies. With Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, developer Beenox has offered an apology to gamers and comic fans alike. Featuring four different versions of the web-slinger with distinctive gameplay styles, this has the makings to be a true crowd pleaser. (more…)
Title: Tournament of Legends
Platform: Wii
ESRB: T
Publisher: Sega
Developer: High Voltage
Rating: Rating:
Review by: Archie Easter
In May of 2009, High Voltage revealed Gladiator AD, a promising-looking and rather gory take on roman gladiatorial combat for the Wii. During the course of development, however, it eventually evolved into what is now Tournament of Legends.
Unfortunately, along the way it lost many of the things that made the original concept interesting. Combine this with the game’s numerous glitches and unresponsive controls, and the end result is a legendary amount of wasted potential. (more…)
Title: LIMBO
Platform: XBLA
ESRB: T
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Playdead
Rating:
Review by: Bill Jones
It’s hard not to be drawn in by LIMBO’s art style. The entire game is completely grayscale, hauntingly so. The main character is a boy, who is only seen as a silhouette with glowing white eyes. There is no dialogue, no narration and no story of which to speak. Apparently the boy is in Limbo, searching desperately for his sister, but gamers only know that from the title and XBLA description, no clear indicators of that are present in the game except the boy occasionally sees flashes of a young girl.
There is also no music. The game’s soundtrack is comprised of the ambient noises of the gameplay – things like running through grass, turning gears, sparking electrical platforms and the gruesome slices and crunches of frequent death – as well as subtle tones a la There Will Be Blood. The setting begins as simply a dark forest, and later industrial portions emerge. All in all, it’s an absolutely fascinating and utterly artsy experiment in game design, exploration, puzzle-solving and minimalism. But whether it’s a video game worth 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) is another question entirely. (more…)
Title: Naughty Bear
Platform: 360 (PS3)
ESRB: T
Publisher: 505 Games
Developer: Artificial Mind & Movement
Rating:
Review by: Bill Jones
Artificial Mind & Movement found great stylistic success with 2009’s Wet, a shoot ‘em up with a grindhouse feel, but gameplay arguably got repetitive, even over the course of a relatively short game. Any repetition gamers experienced with Wet, however, is put to shame by A2M’s follow up, Naughty Bear.
With the entire game playing as variations on the same level, with sluggish controls and a morally bankrupt storyline, Naughty Bear would not only be better served as a downloadable title, but still wouldn’t really impress in that realm. Its design is unapologetically lazy, its multiplayer loses sight of what could make it fun, and its sense of humor is, well, not really that funny. (more…)
Title: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Platform: 360 (PS3, PC)
ESRB: T
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Rating:
Review By: Eric Stuckart
After what was considered by popular opinion to be a misstep in the series’ canon, the Prince of Persia series has been brought back to its platforming roots. That can be taken with a grain of salt, for by going back to its roots the series is also going back to the insanely unforgiving traits of past games. (more…)
Title: Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition
Platform: XBLA
ESRB: T
Developer: ACE Team
Publisher: Atlus
Rating:
Review by: Dan Braun
For lack of a better description, this bizarre first-person fighter is like playing a Salvador Dali painting, if it were written and directed by David Lynch. Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition is one of the most unique and creepily beautiful games available, and it is absolutely worth trying, despite some rather awful flaws. (more…)
Title: Green Day: Rock Band
Platform: 360 (PS3, Wii)
ESRB: T
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Rating:
Review by: Bill Jones
I’m a Green Day fan (excluding 21st Century Breakdown), so I love the idea of having 47 Green Day tracks to play in Rock Band. That plays a big part in the decision to purchase the latest from Harmonix, obviously. But strictly looking at the constructs of the game, Green Day: Rock Band could best be described as The Beatles: Rock Band-lite. It uses a similar format, except fans only get three venues to work with; there isn’t much of a “story” to the career; and the track list scores by including the entirety of both Dookie and American Idiot, but is extremely weak in between and fails to include anything pre-Dookie. Other than a few character changes from venue to venue, that’s the extent of Green Day: Rock Band’s offerings. It doesn’t progress the series in any way, and actually fails to show the same love for the band that was present for The Beatles. At the end of the day, it feels more like a glorified track pack. But with a free export code included and a host of unlockable videos and images, most Green Day fans will be okay with that. (more…)
Title: Lost Planet 2
Platform: 360 (PS3)
ESRB: T
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Rating:
Review by: Bill Jones
Apparently Capcom and producer Jun Takeuchi have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from the mistakes of Resident Evil 5, because Lost Planet 2 follows almost directly in its footsteps. Its cutscenes are directed with the same graphical style and cheesy dialogue as RE5, the series has gotten bigger and gone co-op, and, most unfortunately, is riddled with horrible interface and design issues. The third-person shooting action still involves traversing the sometimes snow-washed, sometimes lush planet of E.D.N. III, activating nodes by pumping the same button, and constantly shooting at glowing orange weak spots on enemies. This time up to four friends can suffer the campaign together online, or two on the same console with a horrible split-screen option. AI teammates are also an option, but despite being in cutscenes, they more often than not opt out of appearing in the actual missions. The real killer of the fun, though? Episodes are divided into chapters, which are divided into areas. Each area ends with a “Mission Completed” screen and stats, but if players die in the final area against a boss, they are set back to the first area in the chapter, negating as much as an hour’s worth of work. It only makes sense because a “Battle Gauge” carries over between levels, but then why does it do the same thing if players decide to call it a day mid-chapter? (more…)
