:: games archives
Conflict: Denied Sequel
by Nick Judin
April 23, 2008
Platform 360 | PS3
In gaming, there’s more than one way to make a failure. Commonly, the biggest failures are games that promise to deliver top-quality content and end up being bad, mediocre or, worse still, just OK. (See: Daikatana or Peter Molyneux’s entire career.)
The New Black
by Nick Judin
November 14, 2007
Platform: PC | 360
Valve knows how to make a video game. They know exactly what the market wants. Critics love them. Hardcore gamers love them. Casual gamers love them. The Orange Box is…
Beyond the Sea
Xbox 360 | PC
by Nick Judin
September 19, 2007
“BioShock” is banned from Valve Studios. The team behind the legendary first-person shooter “Half-Life” has declared that none of its employees is allowed to touch the game. Managing Director Gabe Newell explained to computerandgames.com: “Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done—that’s our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of ‘BioShock.” When Valve openly praises another company’s FPS, it becomes clear that something has gone very, very right.
Consult Physician Before Use
Platform: Wii
by Nick Judin
September 12, 2007
Gamers have been subjected to many things over the years. Fighting the Nazis: Check. Hunting dinosaurs: Been there. Stuck on a hostile planet surrounded by both vicious aliens and all-consuming parasitic lifeforms: We’ve got the T-shirt.
Great Overlooked Games
by Nick Judin
August 8, 2007
“Breakdown” for the X-Box
Released only three years ago, “Breakdown” was an incredible game that received critical acclaim for its innovative design. At first glance, it’s a first-person shooter game, where the player sees through the eyes of the character, often to make shooting easier. Traditionally, FPS titles have been fairly shallow, offering little in the way of storyline or character development. With the advent of series like “Half-Life” and “System Shock”, this began to change. “Breakdown” takes the genre one step further, immersing you in the virtual world like never before. The game toys with concepts of reality, and the plot twists with every level. Furthermore, midway through the game, guns start to get phased out of use, and “Breakdown” turns into sort of a first-person fighter. Despite early praise, “Breakdown” never really caught on. I found my copy in the bargain bin.
1 [Games] Flat World, Deep Game
by Nick Judin
May 30, 2007
When reviewing a game like “Super Paper Mario,” it’s difficult to avoid comparing it to its predecessors. “SPM” is technically the sequel to the two “Paper Mario” games released on the N64 and Gamecube, which were loose continuations of “Super Mario RPG,” a Square-made Super Nintendo gem. Despite this, “Super Paper Mario” is a whole new game, sharing only some of the elements of the original “trilogy.” It’s still a solid title, but the changes may be a bit much for a fan expecting the same kind of game.
[Games] Back In The USSR
Platform: PC
by Nick Judin
May 2, 2007
In 1972, Arkadi and Boris Strugatsky, brothers who were celebrated Russian science-fiction writers, published a short novella called “Roadside Picnic.” It chronicled a man’s journey into “The Zone,” a quarantined area where alien forces had crash-landed, spreading strange radioactive anomalies. The main characters, Stalkers, broke through military cordons and made their way into the Zone to search for artifacts, strange pieces of alien technology beyond humankind’s imagination. For years after-ward, Stalkers who entered the Zone suffered unexplained deaths and disabled children.
Ice, Bugs, And Guns. Perfect.
Platform: X360
by Nick Judin
April 4, 2007
“Lost Planet,” despite being a modern, high-tech title, brings me back to the days of gaming long past, when top-of-the-line graphics were 8-bit, when you could spot a hardcore gamer by his untidy mullets and his Alf T-shirt, and when dedicated players keeled over dead from exhaustion—not while farming for gold in “World of Warcraft” but by going for the top score in “Donkey Kong” or “Galaga.”
[Games] Intergalactic Failure
by Nick Judin
March 14, 2007
Why do people make bad video games? I can’t even begin to describe how awful “Rogue Galaxy” is. In fact, I believe that if you were to smash the “Rogue Galaxy” disc into tiny shards and then drink them, you would be having approximately 35 times as much fun as you would putting the game in your PS2 and playing it.
[Games] The Wait is Over
GC | WII
by Nick Judin
February 14, 2007
For eight long years, gamers have been waiting.
[Games] Needs More Speed
Platform: PS2 | PS3 | XBOX | 360 | GC | WII | PC
by Nick Judin
January 3, 2007
The street-racing genre has always been fairly appealing to gamers. While racing on a track in real life is certainly thrilling, doing so on a console—where blasting spawns of hell or running from cyborg Nazis is considered perfectly normal—tends to get a little boring. Street racing, on the other hand, contains all the thrills that make a video game fun. It’s illegal, fast-paced, expensive, and somebody’s bound to get hurt. Sounds like a plan. Unfortunately, as the latest installment in the “Need For Speed” series shows, sometimes a good start doesn’t mean you win the race.
[Games] The Gears Keep Turning
by Nick Judin
December 13, 2006
Many games over the years have been advertised as “Halo-killers.” These so-called next-generation shooters proved to be only minor diversions in comparison to Microsoft’s flagship game. Enter “Gears of War.” This game got no hype before it was released—in fact, it was hardly on the radar. Now that it’s been released, people are calling this tactical third-person-shooter the next big thing. They just might be right.
[Games] Grand Theft Skateboard
by Nick Judin
November 22, 2006
Platform: PS2 | Xbox
The good men and women of Rockstar constantly counter some of the vilest critics and staunchest opponents the interactive media industry has ever faced. They do this with modesty, grace and—from the looks of it—little effort. Why is it so easy for a simple game company to rise above enemies who (according to certain sources) have Almighty God on their side? Maybe it’s because all they’re concerned with is making video games, and they know good and damn well nobody can do it quite like they can.
[Games] Boyz In Da Row
by Nick Judin
November 1, 2006
Platform: X360
“Saints Row” is part of a growing genre known as “GTA Clone,” referring to the “Grand Theft Auto” series, built on free-roaming criminal adventurers. The similarities are instantly recognizable, from the ability to commit crimes like larceny and homicide—causing policemen, and later FBI agents, to hunt you down—to the mission-based system, as well as the mini-games that allow you to gain money and respect. One could accuse this game of plagiarism, but don’t be too harsh. “Saints Row” may be an imitator, but at least it does it well.
[Games] Zombie Marlon Brando!
by Nick Judin
October 11, 2006
All right, I lied. While Don Vito doesn’t actually make his undead debut in this game adaptation of the classic movie, the depth and fun presented by “The Godfather” is a sure winner. In this version, the series, the player creates and controls a young Italian boy, gives him a name and then lets him loose in the world of 1950s New York. In the beginning of the game, the boy’s father is brutally murdered by Don Barzini and his thugs. Confronted by Don Corleone, he is told to “save his anger,” and then runs off in confusion. Years later, his mother shows up at the wedding party seen in the beginning of the first movie claiming she needs help.
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