Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Camelot Software Planning
Genre: RPG
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now

Camelot’s original Golden Sun series is considered by fans to be the best portable RPG series of all time, and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is the long awaited third entry that fans have been craving since the closing credits of Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Taking full advantage of the NDS hardware, Dark Dawn promises to be the best game in the series. The question is, can it really live up to the cult-like status of its predecessors?

( read more… )

Publisher: EA
Developer: Visceral Games
Genre: Survival Horror
Rating: Mature
Release Date: Available now

Two years ago, I charted my review through Dead Space by calling out the various gaming archetypes that the developers pulled from in building a better deathtrap. That game borrowed from the best, drawing inspiration from genre giants like Resident Evil 4 and BioShock. Then, like a great musician steeped in the movements of those who came before him, they churned out a killer symphony that immediately made Visceral Games a developer to watch. As I slowly made my trek through that game’s nightmare, I stopped taking stock of its influences and found myself swept up in the ride. Dead Space was a big, brawny adventure that made its mark on my psyche and left me wanting to know where fate would fling Isaac Clarke next. In Dead Space 2, we catch up with our intrepid engineer and find that his journey through the doomed Ishimura was merely one ring in a rapidly spiraling Hell.

( read more… )

Publisher: Chillingo
Developer: Rovio Mobile
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Like most gamers, I find myself angry about numerous things that I dare not discuss. I will, however, share one fact about myself: nothing in this world enrages me more than when a green pig with a moustache steals my eggs (or me Lucky Charms). Rovio’s Angry Birds strangely shares the same passion about eggs and rage towards pigs as I do, which makes me no longer feel alone in a world I don’t understand at times. With so many different reviews for this game out there, I wanted to step in and give you the take of an angry gamer.

( read more… )

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Eurocom
Genre: Shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Most gamers tend to look down their bespectacled noses at rail shooters. Once confined to the dark passages of video arcades, rail shooters usually involved firing plastic light guns at arcade screens until you ran out of lives (and quarters). As arcades started to disappear from local malls, rail shooters such as the House of the Dead series found a new home on the Wii, which offered simple controls and the low-res graphics that helped the genre to thrive in previous years. Joining Sega’s popular monster shooter is Dead Space: Extraction, the prequel adventure to the 2008 PC/PS3/Xbox 360 gorefest Dead Space.

( read more… )

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Ready At Dawn Studios
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB Rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

God of War is one of the most gory, gratuitously violent game series I’ve ever seen. In an industry driven by scantily clad fan-service (male or female) and trying to force as much carnage into one screen as possible, that says a lot. The original God of War came out back in 2005 and the mayhem hasn’t stopped since. God of War: Ghost of Sparta tells of what happened between God of War and God of War II.

( read more… )

Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Ninja Theory
Genre: Action
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

If you played Namco Bandai’s excellent Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, you’ll recall a rotund fellow named Pigsy whom you met near the end of the campaign. In an effort to spread the love, Namco has given Pigsy his own adventure in the DLC pack Pigsy’s Perfect 10, available for $9.99 at the Playstation Store.

( read more… )

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.3 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent CPU, 1 GB RAM, GeForce FX/Radeon 9500 or better graphics card, 25 GB hard-drive space, broadband Internet connection
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

How does one review something that is vast? World of Warcraft has had its cataclysm, and now everything is changed. All of the old zones in Azeroth have been modified in one way or another. Aside from topographical changes such as chasms and volcanoes, there are lore-based alterations such as castles built and towns destroyed. There are also numerous quest changes, with each zone receiving a thorough overhaul in quests and storyline. There are also a number of new zones, two new races, a new profession, a gear and talent overhaul, guild advancement, and many other things. A month ago when I wrote about the changes to two of the zones, it took me seven paragraphs to barely scratch the surface. Today I will try to describe an entire world, so let’s get started.

( read more… )

Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Sting
Genre: RPG/RTS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

I can’t say I often go into a system port expecting it to be as good as it was the first time I played it. The port to the PSP from the DS for Knights in the Nightmare seems puzzling to me, given the nature of the control scheme, which relies almost entirely on the DS stylus. As a unique combination of RPG and RTS, Knights in the Nightmare’s first impression on either system is baffling at best and intimidating at worst.

( read more… )

Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Atlus
Genre: RPG
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now

While dungeon-delving RPGs used to be standard fare, everyone has been trying to make them different, new and exciting in some way so that they will appeal to new generations of gamers with different standards. From adding some unique system to overcompensating for the “old” gameplay with flashy graphics, there’s always a gimmick to spruce up the tired formula. Atlus’s Etrian Odyssey series stands out in that it does just the opposite. It takes the classic, first person, dungeon-exploring, turn-based RPG formula and wholeheartedly embraces it. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City tries to add some subtle twists without straying too far from its core principles.

( read more… )

Publisher: Bulkypix
Developer: Bulkypix
Genre: Puzzle
iTunes Rating: 4+
Release date: Available now

Aqua Panic won’t compensate for Christmas presents that were full of fail. It cannot bring back the promise of hope that each New Year brought you, before life grabbed you by the throat and body slammed you into the ground of reality. But fear not! Take courage! Mail back that ghastly sweater your Grandparents sent you with a note that reads “I don’t need an ugly sweater to keep me warm, I have the warm glow of awesomeness that is Aqua Panic Deluxe.” Is Aqua Panic by Bulkypix the remedy to your post-Holiday blues? You’ll have to continue reading to find out!

( read more… )

Publisher: Disney Interactive
Developer: Junction Point
Genre: Adventure/Platformer
Rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

People may misplace the past, but they never seem to forget promises. Too many game developers have learned that hard lesson – especially the more outspoken gurus, such as Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux who through three Fable titles has still neglected to deliver on his prideful boast that players could imprint their green thumb on the title and watch as a tiny seed transformed over time into a mighty elm. Past indiscretions and broken promises make for a compelling backdrop surrounding Disney’s Epic Mickey – a title that when teased awhile back seemed pregnant with such possibility, as gamers chewed on the dreamy concept art that foretold a dark fairy tale for the beloved Mickey and promised a well-deserved resurrection for this regal rodent. The question looms – has Warren Spector learned from others’ past mistakes?

( read more… )

Publisher: Ronimo Games
Developer: Ronimo Games
System requirements: Windows 7/Vista/XP; 1GHz CPU; 256 MB RAM; 64 MB graphics card; 300 MB drive space
Genre: Strategy Tower Defense
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now

“Did we really need another game of the X genre?” A lot of reviewers seem to ask that question. Usually it’s a rhetorical one, and the implied answer is no. Personally, I like to give explanations that are a little more open. So, if someone was to ask me whether we needed another tower defense game, I would say that we absolutely do not…unless the game is fun to play, pretty, humorous, and not set in World War II. Speaking of such games, I was lucky enough to score a copy of Swords & Soldiers for PC, which I played from start to finish and am now ready to pass judgment and share my cynical pronouncements with anyone who will listen, which should be everyone.

( read more… )

Manufacturer: Turtle Beach
MSRP: $149.95

Sound is a major part of the gaming experience. Sometimes an audio cue is the only thing standing between you and a foul-mouthed 12-year-old with a plasma rifle. Funny thing is, you could have the best surround-sound speaker setup available and still not get the full feeling of being placed right in the middle of the action—something an excellent headset can offer. In fact, a comfortable headset with a good microphone has become standard equipment for hardcore gamers.

( read more… )

Manufacturer: PurePC
Review unit specifications: Intel 3.33 GHz Core i7 980x CPU (water-cooled), twin ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards in Crossfire, ASUSTek Rampage 3 Extreme motherboard, 6 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 RAM at 1333 MHz, 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 rpm SATA-II hard drive, 80 GB Intel X25-M Mainstream solid-state hard drive, Asus 12X BD-R Blu-ray optical drive (250 ms), Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS
Price as configured: $4,525.00
Base price: $2,940.00

One of the reasons why the PC is the superior gaming platform is its flexibility. Game developers are limited by console hardware characteristics, which have changed very little (if at all) since the beginning of the current console generation. But with a PC, a developer is free to let his imagination run wild, because he knows that PC hardware is constantly evolving. The downside of all of this technology is its expense. A pre-built, mid-range gaming PC is quite an investment, and some bleeding-edge rigs can be priced higher than a decent used car.

( read more… )

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Genre: Party Game
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

If you are looking for a way to mark each anniversary of the Nintendo Wii, paying close attention to each successive Raving Rabbids release would make for a nice string around your finger. Those schizophrenic rabbits, the bane of Rayman, first burst onto the scene alongside the Wii back in the Fall of 2006, and made for a nice companion to show adopters just what fun they could have when introducing the Wii at their holiday party. A year later, a sequel to that game hit and offered up a host of additional manic party modes. And while they spent the following years starring in their own twisted take on the type of 3rd person platformer that Nintendo fans crave; the Rabbids have returned to their roots in this latest release; Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time.

( read more… )