Video Games

Doritos Crash Course Review

Doritos Crash Course is a platformer developed by Behaviour Interactive.  This Xbox Live game is the next installment in free Doritos line of games.  Last year’s Dash of Destruction left a lot to be desired even thought it was a free game.  Does Doritos Crash Course surpass last year’s Doritos game?

Crash Course is a straight platformer.  You go through each level jumping over obstacles and dodge swinging hammers.  The Crash Course is setup like Wipeout the TV show.  You have to get to the other end of the course as fast as you can.  Depending on what time you get determines what kind of medal you receive.  Surprisingly Crash Course has finesse when it comes to jumping over obstacles.  If you lightly tap the jump button you will do a little hop, but if you hammer down on the button you will get some height to your jumps.  The game is straight forward and there is not much to it.

Hamilton Has A Great Adventure

The good old guys at Fatshark (developers of Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West) have announced their new title and it’s called “Hamilton’s Great Adventure.” It is being described as “easy to pick up for everyone, and has something for every type of gamer.” While that could mean it’s a kid’s game, I’ll give any Fatshark developed game a chance.

Achievements: Are You Really Doing Anything?

Can you remember what your first achievement was? Mine was the active reloads in the first Gears of War, now, here’s a better question; can you remember the last achievement you unlocked where you actually feel like you accomplished something?

What I’m getting at here is the achievement system in both the 360 and PS3 has become somewhat, run of the mill. The average game has anywhere between forty and fifty achievements to start with and around seventy to eighty percent of them are unlocked on the initial playthrough. There’s very few real achievements in most games, some of them have a certain “badge of honour” attached to them, which is a step in the right direction but there are just so many token achievements it makes unlocking them feel very hollow.

Onlive Offering Free Access To Playpack Games

Do you like free games?  Of course you do.  Well, you can play games like HAWX, Prince of Persia, Lego Batman andUnreal III, for free over the next two weeks as part of Onlive’s Playpack Beta.  Once the beta is done, the plan will cost a monthly fee, but for now you can get as much playtime as you like with F.E.A.R. 2 and others.

Bulletstorm Demo Available on Jan. 25

Are you itching for your first skillshot in Bulletstorm, the brand new game from People Can Fly and Epic games?  You will not have to wait too much longer.  EA just released a press statement stating that a demo for Bulletstorm will be released on January 25 on Xbox LIVE and the Playstation Network.  Bulletstorm comes from the mind of Cliff Bleszinski, the same guy that has brought Gears of War to our hearts.

Gray Matter Preview

Back in the 90’s, the point and click genre of PC gaming was all the rage.  It was a time when four megs of video RAM was state of the art, so shooters and real-time strategy games were still rather primitive.  The technical requirements for adventure games, on the other hand were minimal; just enough horsepower to show a static background image, and one moving character.  Unlike the glut of mindless Doom clones that filled retail shelves, adventure games emphasized story-telling, writing, and characters. One of the most popular franchises was Gabrial Knight, which had three installments that ran from 1993 through 1999.

Weekend Sales January 14

Steam has a nifty little offer right now; they’re selling The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for five dollars.  Don’t be fooled by the tepid reviews, this is actually a worthy purchase at full price.  Remember, this includes TWO Riddick games, the mediocre Assault on Dark Athena which came out in 2009, but it also includes a next-gen re-mastered version of 2004’sEscape From Butcher Bay which was one of the best games to hit the original XBox.