Sin & Punishment: Star Successor Review (Wii)
Developer: Treasure Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Wii Heavier on the “punishment” side To a select few American gamers, the fact that Sin & Punishment: Star Successor has been released in America at all is immeasurably more exciting than the game and its four-hour shmup twitch-fest can ever live up to. The majority of people here likely haven’t even heard of it: As the 2010 sequel to Japan’s 2000 N64 rail-shooter Sin & Punishment, and the first entry to be released on shelves over here, it’s practically the definition of under the radar. Its dated graphics and sworn allegiance to the sadly... read more
Shank Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: Klei Entertainment Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360 Recapturing the youthful innocence of slaughtering bad guys If you were to tally up the number of henchmen and lackeys the average gamer has sent packing on a one-way trip to Hades, we’d all be found guilty of multiple digital genocides. And yet innovations like curb stomps and headshots have failed to make act of onscreen murder retain its dissipating gory gusto. Maybe that’s because games have been getting too dang complicated, emphasizing story or action. Although Shank’s plot is clipped winkingly from Kill Bill, and it’s got its share... read more
Metroid: Other M Review (Wii)
Developer: Project M Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo WiiSamus finds her voice, but does she have anything to say?Nintendo’s characters might be the most beloved in games, but it’d be a lie to call any of them great conversationalists. Some are only capable of introducing themselves in cartoonish accents, while the vocal skills of others are limited to repeatedly uttering an immutably pitched grunt. And although Donkey Kong’s wit is surprisingly biting, he’s no Dorothy Parker.... read more
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Review
(Xbox 360)
Developer: IO Interactive Publisher: Eidos, Square-Enix Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC The terrible twosome, as in bad-terrible, not fearsome-terrible The original Kane & Lynch was just one in a spate of third-person shooters that, in the wake of Gears Of War, let players duck for cover. But thanks to a myriad of problems, not the least of which was a wildly erratic difficulty, the game didn’t live up to its potential, and was instead just a series of solid but otherwise unremarkable gun battles. Now there’s Dog Days, a sequel that has our heroes shooting up the streets and... read more
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Nintendo DS, Wii, PSP Brilliant acrobatics go a surprisingly long way As the fifth entry in Ubisoft’s long-running Prince of Persia series, The Forgotten Sands marks a clear spiritual return to the franchise’s first chapter, 2003’s The Sands of Time. Gone is the gritty aesthetic of the series’ middle entries, as well as any vestige of 2008’s beautifully rendered but overly simplified next-gen reboot. By reincorporating The Sands of Time’s pacing, control scheme, level design and princely voice-actor Yuri Lowenthal, The Forgotten Sands feels like a deliberate return to... read more
DeathSpank Review
(Xbox 360)
Developer: Hothead Games Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: XBLA, PSN As punishing as its name implies Equipped with an insatiable appetite for justice, and a booming voice paired with comic timing that injects urgency into the most throwaway of lines (“Greetings, taco wench!”), DeathSpank stands as game-designer Ron Gilbert’s first original creation since the Monkey Island series. DeathSpank is also pretty much The Tick, only clad in stat-increasing armor. Unfortunately, the rest of DeathSpank is just as disappointingly familiar—a Diablo clone with snappy writing is still just a Diablo clone. The heroic DeathSpank is on a quest to retrieve a MacGuffin... read more
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Review (PC/Mac)
Developer/Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment Platform: PC, Mac Nuclear launch, perfected... read more
Limbo Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: PlayDead Publisher: Xbox Live Arcade Platform: Xbox 360 Put away your childish things In the dark you open your eyes. As they adjust to the gloom, you try to make out your surroundings, but all you can see are shadows looming in the distance, masked as if by some sickly grey gauze. You hear flies buzzing, water dripping, and underneath a metallic, keening drone. You can’t recall how you arrived in this fetid place, nor why. ... read more
Singularity Review
(Xbox 360)
Developer: Raven Software Publisher: Activision Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Time-bending shooter works despite wearing influences on its uniformed sleeve Like some sort of time-traveling Frankenstein’s monster, Singularity is a game that seems cobbled and scraped together from the vestiges of the games that came before it. Rising from the corpse of Half-Life 2 and sewn together with bits of BioShock, chunks of Raven’s own Wolfenstein and even a dash of TimeShift, Singularity is far from the most original game out there. But it does actually have a few new tricks up its sleeve, the neatest of which is that... read more
Transformers War for Cybertron Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: High Moon Studios Publisher: Activision Blizzard Platforms: PC, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 A robot reboot that’s more than meets the eye There was a time when legions of prepubescent boys awoke each morning, gobbling down bowls of sugary cereal and basking in the cartoon glow of Transformers. And sure, the show was really nothing more than a 22-minute commercial designed to sell toys, but it was our show dammit, permeating the pop-cultural consciousness of the 1980s. Twenty years later, along comes Hollywood explosion monger Michael Bay with his ebonics-spouting Autobots, computer-generated special effects and the camera's eternal... read more
Alpha Protocol Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment Publisher: SEGA Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC Saving the world, one decision at a time Choice is the watchword in Alpha Protocol; as undercover spy Michael Thorton, you can carry out missions in whatever style you’d like. You can flirt with that girl on the airplane or just brood and ignore her. You can barrel headfirst into a slum full of mobsters or silently sneak through the shadows, eliminating guards one headshot at a time. You can even tailor Thorton’s facial hair—shooting terrorists is especially fun when you look like Grizzly Adams.... read more
Green Day Rock Band Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: Harmonix, Demiurge Studios Publisher: MTV Games/EA Games Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii They may not deserve it, but these punks have themselves a fun music game Of all the rock groups that could follow The Beatles, Metallica, Aerosmith, Queen, AC/DC, and Van Halen into the pantheon of bands with their own music game, Green Day isn't the first that comes to mind. Or the second. Or even the 25th. But having played Green Day: Rock Band, its pretty clear that the worst thing about the game is the idea that they should be next in line... read more
Red Dead Redemption Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: Rockstar San Diego Publisher: Rockstar Games Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 High times and cheap thrills on the last great American frontier “Change is only good when it makes things better.” “Old friends make the worst enemies.” Spoken in the early goings of Red Dead Redemption, these two sentiments encapsulate the successes and shortcomings of the game itself far more than they do any of its narrative themes. For even as Rockstar’s ambitious Western adventure strikes out in some promising new directions, it is held back at times by a certain slavishness to the developer’s own open-world storytelling formula.... read more
Skate 3 Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: EA Black Box Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 100% 'boarding, 0% boring During the five years of my childhood I spent in Southern California, I was obsessed with skateboarding. I can’t say that I actually skated all that much, but I spent hours hunched over pieces of paper, drawing skateboarders wiping out on half pipes. I memorized all the trick terminology I could. The very mention of pro skaters such as Tony Hawk caused my little 4th-grade pupils to dilate. Skateboard culture provided a heady fantasy world. Watching videos of pro skaters, it seemed as though... read more
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: BioWare Edmonton Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC More of a good thing ain’t so bad Top-tier video game expansion packs usually have three main goals: to reveal more about the game world; to introduce new people, places, and things; and to provide a fresh experience without changing too much. Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening succeeds on all three levels, adding 15-20 hours worth of gaming to last year’s sprawling epic, enough to whet the appetite of most RPG fans.... read more
Lost Planet 2 Review
(Xbox 360)
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Shootout with space pirates and gigantic bugs, what could go wrong? Well… One of the great things about video game sequels—especially as opposed to movie ones—is that they’re often better than their predecessors. Game makers often use the second go-round to fix the mistakes of the previous outing, as well as to add new ideas. But while Lost Planet 2 builds upon the 2006 original, these additions unfortunately don’t make the game any better and, in some case, actually make it worse.... read more
Just Cause 2 Review
(Xbox 360)
Developer: Avalanche Studios Publisher: Eidos Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC Wake me when there’s nothing left to explode There are moments when Just Cause 2 pretends to be something that it isn’t. This is not a political thriller, nor is it the tale of Rico Rodriguez, the gruff superspy with a deep-down heart of gold. Like dutiful students in a freshman screenwriting course, the developers make occasional half-hearted stabs at that kind of storytelling. But you can tell they’re not feeling it, because Just Cause 2 isn’t designed to accommodate a traditional narrative arc. Rather, the game is one... read more
Alan Wake Review
(Xbox 360)
Developer: Remedy Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Platform: Xbox 360 One novelist's sabbatical gone horribly, horribly wrongCelebrity writer Alan Wake has got it made. Every novel he publishes jumps to the top of the best-seller list. He lives in a ritzy New York City apartment with a private terrace and dazzling view. He’s happily married and has a literary agent who knows how to close a deal. There’s only one problem: Wake hasn’t been able to put a word to paper for more than two years. The creative spigot has shut off and the only thing left flowing at this point... read more
Splinter Cell Conviction Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Platforms: Xbox 360, PC Scattered reboot succeeds in spite of itself There is an identity crisis at the heart of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction that can best be addressed by answering the following question: Why is this game called “Conviction”? After all, the stealth-action adventure contains no references to our nation’s legal process—no judge, no jury, no court rulings. Perhaps the title is meant as an homage to protagonist Sam Fisher’s unwavering certainty?... read more
Mega Man 10 Review (PS3)
Developer: Inti Creates Publisher: Capcom Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii Sometimes an angry robot baseball isn't enough Capcom asked the team at Inti Creates, "If you could put all your best Mega Man ideas into a new game, what would you make?" The result was Mega Man 9. Then Capcom asked, "What else ya got?" And so we have Mega Man 10, an unpolished sequel that shows signs of developer fatigue. MM10 is not a disaster—there's a wacky, fun cast of bosses, like Strike Man (a huge cybernetic baseball) and Sheep Man (just what it sounds like). Dozens... read more
