Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
While Hollywood has been busy fawning over Thor, Zen Studios has been busy admiring a different Marvel license. Continuing to make good on their promise of DLC tables, Zen Studios’ Fantastic Four table launches onto Xbox Live Marketplace this week. However, more content isn’t always better; has Zen Studios crafted a new reason to dive back into the fight for Superscores, or is the reliance upon Marvel characters beginning to wear thin?
DLC: Fantastic Four Table (for use with Pinball FX 2 platform)
Platform: 360, PS3
MSRP: 240 Microsoft Points ($2.50)
Release Date: May 18th for 360, TBA for PS3
It truly pained me to toy with your emotions with such a gripping cliffhanger, but rest assured; Fantastic Four is a, wait for it…fantastic addition to Pinball FX 2’s existing selection.
I, um…I’m sorry. (more…)
Tags: DLC, Fantastic Four, Marvel, Pinball, Pinball FX 2, Tom Schulenberg
Posted in Editorial, Reviews, Tom Schulenberg, Video Games | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead
I don’t even know how to start this second part review. After a seething, angry fit of Dragon Age 2 playing I simply walked away and couldn’t bring myself to go back. It wasn’t until I was forced by my editor to finish the game for the review that I bitterly returned. So let me begin by saying I loved Dragon Age: Origins. I loved it so much that before I even finished my first play through I couldn’t wait to start another character. The plot was grand and the characters were so magnificently written and voiced. Dragon Age: Origins was a beautiful, shining piece of RPG treasure. DA 2 however…I think I would rather spoon my eyes out and steal a rabid bear’s honey. I just want to pretend it never happened. I want to think that DA2 was not, in fact, made by Bioware, but by EA simply pooping out a sequel in order to buy another yacht.
I miss a lot of things, people, and places from Origins. I miss the camp in which I could sort through everybody’s weapons and armor at once. I miss that feeling of having a cohesive team. I miss being able to talk to my teammates whenever instead of having to track back to their houses. I even miss constantly inviting Zevran into my tent for fun time. All romantic Anders can tell me is he is glad for my love. I don’t even have the option to kiss him. The most I get is an empty mansion where I can run around and have Hawke say Anders left his socks under the bed. Whoop-dee freakin’ doo. Hawke won’t even go into her dead mother’s bedroom. Is it too much to program a scene of Hawke coming to terms with her dead mother three years after the event? (more…)
Tags: Bioware, Christine Motsinger, Dragon Age 2, EA, Hawke, RPG
Posted in Christine Motsinger, Editorial, Reviews, Video Games | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
RPGs come in all different shapes and sizes, and, recently, they have made their home on the iPhone. I recently got a hold of an exceptional RPG, Ash. Made as a tribute to the SNES era of games, Ash utilizes an old-school fighting system with several modern twists.
What’s Good
The Script and Story:
The banter between characters is well-written and very funny to read. It’s written professionally, which is a relief from the typo-ridden RPGs available on the App Store. Not only that, but the story is very, very well done. The game begins with two mercenaries-for-hire stumbling upon a mysterious artifact along with an even more terrifying creature. It only gets better from there. The story has that wonderful effect where it leaves you with wanting more, which gets me every time.
The Interface
Moving is simple–tap the screen in the direction you want to go. Want to swing your sword? Tap your enemies! This game utilizes the touch screen functionality of the iPhone very well. It responds quickly, making it feel smooth and efficient. You can also change the interface to a more traditional D-pad and A button if you prefer (this only applies to the overworld). (more…)
Tags: Ash, iPhone, review, RPG, Tyler Thomas
Posted in Editorial, Reviews, Tyler Thomas, Video Games | No Comments »
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
Welcome to the first Retro Review, reviews devoted entirely to games that are no longer “hot releases.†They can be anywhere from a year old to twenty years old, or even older.
Just a little disclaimer right here, this review is in NO WAY meant to insult the intelligence of the gamers that read this. It is meant to introduce the newer generations to the control scheme of the Nintendo 64.
Grab an ocarina and belt out a few tunes, because this time we’re breaking down The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. OoT, as it is often referred to, is an old Nintendo 64 title released in North America in 1998. The player controls the series’ staple character, Link, as he learns of a sinister plot to destroy the land of Hyrule. You begin as a child in the Kokiri Forest, a small settlement of children-like people, the Kokiri. Every Kokiri has a fairy partner that helps them throughout their lives, but Link does not have a fairy. Makes you wonder, huh? Anyway, the guardian spirit of the forest, the Deku Tree, is laid waste to by a sinister man from the desert. He places a curse on the Deku Tree, slowly killing him from the inside out. So, the Deku Tree decrees that it is time for the “boy without a fairy†to well… get a fairy. He sends Navi, a little blue fairy, to Link’s house. She wakes him from his slumber and explains that the Deku Tree has sent for him.
This brings the player into the beginning of the game. At first you have to complete a couple of fetch quests. A mean Kokiri named Mido is blocking the entrance to the Deku Tree’s clearing (more…)
Tags: Jeff McCord, Link, Nintendo 64, Ocarina of Time, Retro Review, The Legend of Zelda
Posted in Editorial, Jeff McCord, Reviews, Video Games | 3 Comments »
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Arcades may be a dying breed, but pinball enthusiasts have likely already found salvation in ZEN Studio’s Pinball FX 2 for Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network. Although it was released half a year ago and boasts compatibility with all of the tables for the original game, ZEN Studios has pursued an active DLC schedule in order to keep fans coming back for more. December’s Marvel Pinball Pack was a worthwhile offering, but can they craft additional tables without a popular license that are still satisfying contributions? (more…)
Tags: arcade, Mars, Pinball, Pinball FX 2, Thomas Schulenberg
Posted in Reviews, Tom Schulenberg, Video Games | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Ever since Portal was included in the Orange Box, gamers have been thinking with portals. The central game mechanic was funm and the puzzles were interesting. One of the most interesting characters in gaming was created: GLaDOS, whose curious brand of unnervingly low safety standards really set the stage for the game. I know I seriously questioned whether Portal 2 might live up to the original. For starters Portal 2 would be a full game, while Portal was a well condensed product. Could the kind of story Portal had be continued for five or six hours? Having played the game, I can say that Valve has delivered. Boy, have they delivered. (more…)
Tags: GlaDOS, Mark Godec, Portal, Portal 2, puzzle game, review, Steam
Posted in Editorial, Mark Godec, Reviews, Video Games | 1 Comment »
Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Strap on your jetpack and grab a gun, because this week, Discless is reviewing Global Agenda. GA, as it is called for short, is a sci-fi MMORPG available for download on PC through Steam. If you don’t know what that is, then you either don’t play PC games, or you’re WAY out of the loop. GA is set in a future in which the human race is struggling to survive. The world has decayed into a state of utter annihilation. The world’s surface is entirely made up of deserts, and the humans who are left live in what are called Dome Cities. The cities are, obviously, covered in massive domes. This is where the player begins.
Let’s begin with character creation. You begin by selecting your class. There are several classes to choose from. I’ll run down the list after the break.
(more…)
Tags: Discless, FPS, Global Agenda, MMO, MMORPG
Posted in Jeff McCord, Reviews, Video Games | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
My initial thought about Dragon Age II was that I really didn’t want to play it. If I didn’t get to be my awesome dwarf warden, Lady Raspberry Aeducan, then no thank you. But, eventually, I found myself wanting to play it the more people talked about it. Besides, it’s Bioware, and I couldn’t pass up a friend offering to lend me Dragon Age II in order to review it. I did sulk a bit about not being a dwarf princess, being forced to play a human, and not getting to pick my voice. In order to solve my misery I came to the conclusion that, secretly, Blueberry Hawke was the long lost sister of Raspberry and was somehow a half-dwarf princess who lived in Narnia before moving to Lothering. Anyway.
I’m fleeing from Lothering when my brother dies right away, the amazingly not-old hag Flemeth appears, and some guy named Wesley is humanely killed by his wife. At this point I felt way more attached to Flemeth than my family or this Aveline chick. I wanted one of my options to be ‘fly away with Flemeth and kill some darkspawn’. Sadly, I am whisked away to Kirkwall to find my family riches, hide my apostate sister, deliver some amulet, be safe from the darkspawn, and…wait, what? My uncle sold the family estate and now I have to become an assassin slave for a year? What? A year has passed already? The Grey Wardens defeated the arch demon? I have been an assassin slave for a year and made a name for myself in the underground? I’m pretty sure I didn’t do any such nonsense. I’ve only been playing an hour at tops. Am I even still playing or am I watching a movie? Okay. Don’t panic. Take a deep breath. This is just the prologue. (more…)
Tags: Bioware, Christine Motsinger, Dragon Age, Dragon Age II, review, RPG
Posted in Christine Motsinger, Editorial, Reviews, Video Games | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
The first Crysis had, and still has, a bit of a reputation associated with it. When it was released in 2007, it brought most modern computers to their respective knees with its high level of graphical fidelity, still impressive by today’s standards. To boot, it also boasted first-person shooting that was not only fun and satisfying, but surprisingly complex. Running around a tropical island in your body-augmenting nanosuit using speed, strength, armor and camouflage and take out enemies as you saw fit. Crysis the first, was a blast to play and a dream to look at with its only blemishes showing in a underwhelming story and a lackluster endgame.
Crysis 2 takes all of those aspects and tries to improve upon them. And the results are almost unanimously positive.
Taking place some three years after the events of the first game, Crysis finds you in the shoes, visor, and nanosuit of Alcatraz, a Marine Special Forces operative who unwittingly ended up in the suit due to the intervention of Prophet, the only surviving character from the first game. New York City is under attack from a lovely combination of a flesh-melting virus, a Private Military Organization known as CELL, and the Ceph squid-like aliens with jellyfish insides wrapped inside of metallic casings. The story is paced well with a couple of twists and turns. It’s standard sci-fi fare, but it’s enjoyable none the less. (more…)
Tags: Crysis 2, Dan Hawes, FPS, review
Posted in Dan Hawes, Reviews, Video Games | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
How many times have you played a game with sound as your only guide? Never you say? Well then here’s a new challenge for you from Ananse Productions. If that challenge seems a bit too complex, you can switch the sonar mode off. When I played Stem Stumper for the first time I’ll admit it was far easier to understand with the visuals turned on. Then I went stealth and switched to sonar mode, navigating Mimea the vine through the various cognition evoking levels. Not only is this game one-of-a-kind, it also helps render a creative thought processes in a way that other games pay little attention to or simply don’t address at all. That’s what really makes this game unique and enjoyable for everyone. The Ananse team is truly breaking new ground for the industry with Stem Stumper. (more…)
Tags: blind-accessible, Caleb Kimball, iPhone, iPod Touch, puzzle, puzzle game, Stem Stumper
Posted in Caleb Kimball, Editorial, Reviews, Video Games | No Comments »
