The Amazing Spider-Man – Xbox 360 Review
I really enjoyed playing Arkham City… I mean, The Amazing Spider-Man.
I really enjoyed playing Arkham City… I mean, The Amazing Spider-Man.
Codemasters’ latest spin-off in the DiRT series, DiRT Showdown, is reviewed for Xbox 360.
The developers are damn lucky that this is a good game, because with a title like that there could have been a ton of reviews that begin with “Awesome? NOT!” Fortunately for everyone, Awesomenauts starts with a good premise for gameplay and adds in a ton of funny aesthetics.
A meteor has brought a mystical force called “Pandora” to Earth, and now a bunch of people (and a bear) want to punch each other. That’s pretty much all the explanation for how the characters from Street Fighter and Tekken have come together in Capcom’s fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken. The story is brief and disposable, but the game is deep and should keep fighting fans occupied for a long time.
Could a Pirate could beat a Ninja? How about a Spartan versus a Viking? These are the questions behind the Spike TV show Deadliest Warrior and the new game compilation Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat.
It’s okay, guys! Mass Effect and Portal have finally concluded! We can stop pretending to be intellectuals! No more convincing old geezers like Roger Ebert thatFlower was a true masterpiece and labor of love! We can stop trying to tell Jack Thompson that Rockstar’s stellar writing in the Grand Theft Auto games makes all the sex and violence null and void as a cultural pollutant! We can stop lying to ourselves about Machinarium!
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a perfect example of the many reasons why developers should pay attention to their fans. Square-Enix took many fan complaints to heart after their extremely linear 13th entry in their fabled series. The result is a game that is improved in many minor, often inconsequential ways. It’s also a game that tends to ignore one enormously important facet of role-playing games: the story. It’s almost inconceivable that the same company that developed some of the most iconic story arcs in the industry could also produce such an unrequited cop-out. Final Fantasy XIII-2 might play better than its predecessor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better game.
Quarrel takes two simple game variants and smashes them together in a manner that is not only fun, but addicting. The main idea behind Quarrel is to take the “Divide and Conquer” scheme of Risk and put it together with Scrabble or what others may know as Words With Friends. The idea is so well put together that it seems ludicrous that it has not been around until now.
As the XBLA season begins we have our first game that can be considered well executed. Scarygirl is a 2D side scrolling platformer, although many of the levels are structured to have branching paths that give off more of a 3D winding view and feel. Based on Nathan Jurevicius’s graphic novel the game finds Scarygirl making her way from level to level fighting enemies that range from axe-chucking lunatics in a brightly colored forest, to giant neon orange rats in the sewer of the Bad City. All of these levels bring you to a finally face-to-eye patched face with the notorious Dr. Maybee. The premise of Scarygirl is nothing impressive but all of the elements that bring you to that final showdown are executed in at least a fairly well done fashion.
It doesn’t take long to reach one of the pivotal moments you’re sure to experience while playing Skyrim: that instant when you begin to get an inkling of just how much content is crammed into the wintry Nord province. Within minutes of surviving the harrowing opening sequence, you’ll be confronted with a vast landscape filled to the brim with intrigue, conflict, and a seemingly endless cast of characters that all need your assistance. Whether you’re questing for the Jarl of one of Skyrim’s nine Holds, picking the lock of an affluent home to steal an item for the Thieves Guild, or crouching behind an outcropping of rock to evade the breath of a dragon somewhere in the wilderness, you’ll never find yourself wanting for things to do. Even excluding the game’s main quest and the various faction quests, the amount of tasks you’ll find yourself faced with is staggering.
Of course, this has always been true of the Elder Scrolls series. Yet Skyrim offers perhaps more than any other game in the series, rarely wasting an opportunity to provide the player with incentive to scale every mountain and walk every canyon floor. Exploration for its own sake also has its own rewards, leading the player to locations and quests that might’ve otherwise gone unnoticed. Inevitably, you’ll find yourself ignoring the growing number of quests in your journal in order to avoid being overwhelmed. The choices you make will shape not only your character’s destiny, but will also define your character’s developing abilities. Bethesda has done away with the practice of creating or choosing a class, instead allowing you to advance your skills simply by using them. If you decide early on in the game to join the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, by the time you’ve completed the quests for those factions you’ll likely have become a standard rogue. Skills are not divided into categories or ranks; any one of them can be developed and will contribute to the leveling process.
