Beyond Good & Evil HD Review (XBLA)

I don't have much nostalgia for old videogames. While some classics maintain the test of time, most games from my youth no longer hold my interest when put up against more modern titles. Michel Ancel's seminal 2003 classic Beyond Good & Evil may not be ancient, but the industry's evolved a lot since then. So I went into its high-def port with trepidation, expecting yet another fond memory to be dashed. Happily, I found that BG&E was so far ahead of its time that today’s games are still playing catch up....  read more

Super Meat Boy Review (Xbox 360)

Developer/Publisher: Team Meat Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, PC Bloody perfect Super Meat Boy is that kid who went to your high school who covered up his savant-like intelligence with class-clown theatrics. A retro 2D platformer in the tradition of NES classics Mega Man, Ghosts & Goblins and Super Mario Bros.—the latter example, of course, a stylistic and acronymic cousin—the game all but defies you to take it seriously. Super Meat Boy casts the player as an anthropomorphic slab of meat, square as a Wendy’s hamburger patty. Meat Boy is determined to rescue his sweetheart Bandage Girl from a dastardly fetus...  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

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