Review – Page 14

Review: Skylanders: Giants

Last year’s release of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure surprised everyone with its ridiculously successful fusion of toys and video games. With this success it was inevitable that Activision would make a sequel, and here we are one year later with Skylanders: Giants. Taking the best parts of the first game and expanding them to new heights, Giants is everything you’d want in a sequel and is possibly this generation’s Pokemon. (more…)

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October 22, 2012

Nintendo DS

Review: Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Just in time for the fifth game in the series, and nearly one year after its initial release, Professor Layton’s first adventure, and last on the DS, has once again proved to me that puzzle games and English accents should always go hand-in-hand. Professor Layton and the Last Specter is the first in a prequel trilogy detailing the eponymous archeologist’s first meeting of series favorite Luke, as well as newcomer Emmy and another adventure full of mystery, puzzles, and tons of diversions to keep you entertained after the curtain has closed. Though I didn’t find it as entertaining as previous romps, The Last Specter is a solid title that is one of the best puzzle games on the aging system. (more…)

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October 22, 2012

PC

Review: Retro City Rampage

What started out as a side project has turned into one of the biggest trips down memory lane for anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s. Retro City Rampage pays homage to countless movies, TV shows, and video games from decades past, all wrapped up in an 8-bit package. The nostalgic setting and pop culture humor though make Retro City Rampage a game for a specific type of player.

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October 16, 2012

Nintendo DS

Review: Pokemon Black/White Version 2

It’s taken 14 years for Nintendo to release a legitimate sequel to the popular Pokemon franchise, but the wait is finally over as Pokemon Black and White Versions 2 are upon us. Rather than release the now standard special edition of the current generation of Pokemon (i.e. Pokemon Platinum being released after Diamond and Pearl), Black 2 and White 2 act as both remake and successor to 2009’s Pokemon Black and White. Catching Pokemon is as fun as ever, but the series is really starting to show its age. (more…)

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October 9, 2012

PC

Review: Color Bind

Games today are measured by a lot of criteria: quality of visuals, clarity of sound, ease of control, implementation of multiplayer, and the list goes on. It can be hard to measure a game solely by its gameplay with all these other portions jumping for your attention. Seldom a game comes out that strips all these distractions away and focuses entirely on solid, addictive gameplay. Colour Bind is a new PC indie game available on Steam that keeps the focus on puzzle solving and bold visuals, for better or for worse. (more…)

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September 26, 2012

Xbox 360

Review: Double Dragon: Neon

You might remember Billy and Jimmy Lee way back on the NES when they were delivering knees to the faces of countless Lindas and Abobos. Playing with a friend in the original Double Dragon and its sequels was many gamers’ first introduction to cooperative gameplay, but for as fun as those now retro games were there’s been very little of the Lee brothers for the past few generations of video games. WayForward is here to remedy that lack of ass-kicking with a brand new game for the series, Double Dragon: Neon. With enough new features and nostalgia to please any fan, Neon ignites a future for the series as bright as the title implies. (more…)

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September 19, 2012

PSP

Review: Growlanswer: Wayfarer of Time

Hold on tight PSP fans, another tactical RPG is upon us. Published by Atlus, Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time is the fourth chapter in the Growlanser series, but only the third time Americans have been able to get their hands on the franchise. Touting hours upon hours of gameplay and 40 unique endings, Wayfarer of Time promised to be one of the last great PSP strategy games to be released. That’s why it’s disappointing the game is just mediocre.

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September 7, 2012

Xbox 360

Review: Rock Band Blitz

Be honest: when was the last time you sat down and played a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game? If you’re like me, and undoubtedly countless other gamers, then your plastic instruments have been collecting dust somewhere, not nearly getting as much love as they use to just a couple short years ago. Well Harmonix, the creators of Rock Band, had that in mind when coming up with the newest iteration of their music simulator. Rock Band Blitz is a dramatic change for the series that gives gamers a different approach to the rhythm genre. (more…)

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August 29, 2012

PC

Review: Orcs Must Die 2

It was just one year ago that gamers took up the blade staff and orchestrated the mass genocide of orcs in the original Orcs Must Die. Now gamers have an entirely new adventure to play through, with thousands more orcs to slay, new weapons and traps to utilize, and an entirely new, albeit familiar, character to play. Oh yeah, and something called co-op multiplayer. By tweaking a few details of the formula and keeping the core gameplay from the original game, Orcs Must Die 2 takes and already great game and makes it much better.

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August 29, 2012

Nintendo 3DS

Review: Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

It was 10 years ago that gamers first picked up the keyblade, battled with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, and met the eager hero Sora in the very first Kingdom Hearts. The newest iteration of the game, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, is a step in the right direction for the action RPG series, introducing new gameplay mechanics, characters, and storylines. Though it’s not Kingdom Hearts 3 that gamers have been so eagerly craving, at least it has a 3 in the title. That counts, right?

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August 22, 2012