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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
Found in: Games, ReviewsDeathSpank 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
Found in: Games, ReviewsPaste Goes to E3: Day 1
After two hours of sweating through a preview of Ubisoft games at the historic, cramped and quite beautiful Los Angeles Theater, the crowd poured out onto the street. The dank air of downtown felt oddly refreshing and as I inhaled a lungful of LA smog, a PR guy I know stopped me for an impromptu chat.... read more
Found in: Games, FeaturesEA Placing Spendy Bets On Old Republic's Success
If you think the perfect Star Wars-themed video game would be one where you bulls-eye womp rats from your T-16 or are allowed to repeatedly kill Jar Jar Binks, think again. Electronic Arts is betting the perfect Star Wars-themed game will be an MMORPG like World of Warcraft. And they’re betting more money than they’ve ever bet on any other game they’ve developed, ever.... read more
Found in: Games, NewsSkate 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
Found in: Games, ReviewsDragon 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
Found in: Games, ReviewsMass Effect 2 Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: BioWare Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: Xbox 360, PC Interstellar role-playing shooter weaves an epic sci-fi yarn The first Mass Effect suffered from an identity problem. It couldn’t decide if it was a role-playing game or a third-person shooter. Even worse, the box-art and promotional materials made you think some generic buzz-cut space marine was the main character. Everyone knows Commander Shepard is a tough-but-compassionate bottle redhead with a weakness for space liquor and alien women. She’s also a beautiful lady.... read more
Found in: Games, ReviewsStart Press: Slamming Games For Being Derivative is Like So Totally Derivative
I just finished reading Gus Mastrapa’s latest review over at Wired’s Game|Life blog, which gleefully eviscerates Visceral Games' Dante’s Inferno for being derivative of Sony’s hack-and-slash masterpiece God of War. With the wordplay equivalent of a Danielson crane kick, Mastrapa points out that Inferno “commits the sin of game theft.” The project “never floats a single original idea.” It “worships at the altar of God of War.” It “clings with near-religious adherence to its sacred text...The Book of Jaffe” (David Jaffe, of course, being God of War’s lead designer). I'm not simply being glib when I tell you the phrase... read more
Found in: Games, ColumnsArmy of Two: The 40th Day Review (Xbox 360)
Developer: EA Montreal Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 It takes two to make a thing go right Videogames, much like French kissing, ping pong or tandem bicycles, are usually best enjoyed with a friend. Fortunately that’s pretty much the entire premise behind Army of Two: The 40th Day, a game whose single-player campaign is moderately entertaining, but earns bullet-riddled props as a cooperative multiplayer experience.... read more
Found in: Games, ReviewsNeed For Speed: Shift (Xbox 360)
Developer: Slightly Mad Studios Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC What happens when the world realizes it doesn't need so much speed after all? Though not struggling as spectacularly as the American auto industry, the long-running Need for Speed series has steadily lost ground to competitors. Recent installments feel tired and passé, especially when played alongside more inspired games like Burnout Paradise. Aimless circling is a vital part of any racing simulator, but that shouldn’t apply to a game’s own past.... read more
Found in: Games, Reviews
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