Publisher: EA SPORTS
Developer: EA Tiburon
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ryan Asher

It’s September, and you all know what that means: The start of football season. Finally, a reason to wake up before noon on Sundays, even after of a long, hard night of debauchery. Of course, this time of year also means EA Sports has blessed, or cursed, us (especially if your name is Vince Young), with another iteration of Madden. Is this new version nothing more than Roster Update ‘08? Or is there enough gang-tackling, butt-slapping, hot and sweaty man-on-man action to get your pigskin juices flowing for the new season?

Whether you’re a fan of Madden or not, there’s something truly marvelous in the concept of playing out America’s most popular sport in your living room. Think about it. While fans of perennial cellar dwellers like the Browns and Raiders typically find their football seasons end around Week Five, Madden allows these tormented souls the possibility of prolonging their seasons long after their real life counterparts have packed it in. Madden also affords its players — including this reviewer — the chance to exact revenge on the team that shattered his or her Super Bowl dreams. How? By playing the Colts on rookie difficulty and sacking that jerk Peyton Manning 10 times while scoring triple digits. Oh, such sweet, delicious revenge.

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Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Boston
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Action RPG
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

The realization of a utopian society is as impossible as, say, building an entire city beneath the sea, but both ideas are attractive propositions, to say the least. Most attractive to Ken Levine and his team at 2K Boston (formerly Irrational Games), masterminds behind the first-person role-player, BioShock, a genetic foray into the abyss of the Atlantic ocean where moral decisions, creative thinking and the salvation of a city lie in the player’s capable, albeit altered, hands.

Andrew Ryan is a wealthy industrialist fed up with the way things work in the world. He’s tired of America’s charity toward the poor, overly cautious of mother Russia’s growing Communist threat and unreceptive to the holy word of the Vatican. Ryan envisions a world where the scientist has liberty to experiment and the artist can create with abandon — and none of the stagnant laws which have held progress captive for so long stand in their way. So in 1946, while the world was still celebrating the fall of the third Reich, Andrew secretly built his paradisiacal fantasy: Rapture, a self-sustaining underwater metropolis fathoms under the frigid currents of the Mid-Atlantic.

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System: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: Hudson Soft
Players: 1-4 players local; 8 players online
Review by: Matt Bosko

Editor’s note: This is a regular column in which Matt Bosko reviews Xbox Live Arcade games. Since XBLA titles are smaller in nature than full-blown retail releases, the reviews are shorter and forgo the Criteria page.

After spending several days in a hospital caring for my new son and daughter, I needed to relax. I was also itching to fire up my 360 and get back to doing what I love: reviewing games! So I’m pleased to present my thoughts on Bomberman Live.

In Bomberman Live, you and your opponents are placed in an overhead map with the goal of being the last one standing. Your only weapon, of course, is a bomb. Scattered across the map are pickups which make your bombs stronger or give you the ability to drop more than one explosive at a time. Unlike previous installments, there’s no story mode; it’s just you against other Bombermen.

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Publisher: Microsoft Games
Developer: FROM Software
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Action-Stealth
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michele White

Goda is a small country, and Ogawara is determined to destroy it. Travel back in time to 16th century feudal Japan, where honor and the code of Bushido are still revered. Immerse yourself in the world of the ninja and act as a weapon for that honor. Tenchu Z, the first stealth action ninja title to come exclusively to the X-Box 360 has arrived. Players try to become the ultimate ninja as they complete missions using the art of stealth. You can even grab your friends to team up for more fun in multiplayer mode over Xbox Live or a system link that permits four-player offline action.

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Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Hudson Soft
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Party game
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

Fuzion Frenzy 2 is the sequel to perhaps the most family friendly launch title for the original Xbox. Back in 2001, if you had friends with which to play, and you weren’t already engrossed in Halo, FF was the choice for multiplayer action. The colorful graphics, simple controls and wealth of addictive mini-games did an impressive job of showing what the fledgling Microsoft console was capable of, earning it impressive scores from reviewers, plus the affections of its players. It was a milestone for the genre, one which warranted a follow-up, this time on the Xbox 360.

This sequel starts with hard times having fallen on the beloved tournament franchise. What was once regularly broadcast around the globe has now been silenced, banned and otherwise black bagged from the public eye. Why, do you ask? Because of a bunch of poor sports. Yep, the players themselves ruined it for everyone due to their overly zealous competitive nature, a nature which was outrageous enough for the leaders of Earth to take notice.

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Publisher: Midway
Developer: nFusion
System: Xbox 360
Genre: First person shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

World War II and video games fit together so well, it’s no wonder it’s become a genre unto itself. Offerings such as the groundbreaking Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty dug their own trenches, laying the groundwork for a generous amount of sequels, spin-offs and ports to almost every platform imaginable. But with so much market saturation, how can someone fathom taking another trip to the front? Does the Unreal Engine 3-powered Hour of Victory have what it takes to stand up to its heavy handed competition? Or have we been here before?

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System: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: NinjaBee
Players: 1-4 players local; 8 players online
Review by: Matt Bosko

Editor’s note: This is a regular column in which Matt Bosko reviews Xbox Live Arcade games. Since XBLA titles are smaller in nature than full-blown retail releases, the reviews are shorter and forgo the Criteria page.

From the creators of Cloning Clyde and Outpost Kaloki X comes a new Xbox Live arcade game, Band of Bugs. Ninjabee’s Band of Bugs is an original strategy offering that pits you and your fellow insects against evil arachnids, flies, beetles and more. Ninjabee is hoping they have a hit on their hands, but will we welcome the pint-sized warriors or be left reaching for the pesticide?

Band of Bugs is a turn-based strategy game. There are several options from which to choose, but the focus is on the story of Maal. Maal is a bug chosen to free his fellow insects by destroying several crystals called “cursed artifacts”. As you progress through the story, new units are made available, some of which include a moth that can turn water into ice so you can walk across lakes, a deadly ninja bee and a one-armed praying mantis. The characters are one of the few high points Band of Bugs brings to the table.

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Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: FASA Studio
System: Xbox 360
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

It’s anyone’s guess as to how a first person shooter can come up with anything original these days. With interesting elements like toilet throwing and time manipulation available to FPS aficionados, the gamut feels like it’s been run. That is unless you count Shadowrun, the first person re-imagining of the table-top cyberpunk classic, a team-based shooter that not only encourages cheating, but rewards one for doing so.

It’s 2031, and magic has become a staple on Earth after its return 20 years ago. There are two sides vying for dominance over Santos, Brazil, a South American city where the highest concentration of magic is located. The RNA, a multinational super-corporation, sees the magic as an economic tool, one that could be researched and used for gain; while the other side, the rebellious Lineage, would much rather the forces be made available to everyone for free. Naturally, the two sides disagree and to want to fight about it, yet it’s how you fight that sets this game apart from chucking a commode at someone’s cranium.

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System: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: Namco Bandai
Players: One player local
Review by: Matt Bosko

Editor’s note: This is a regular column in which Matt Bosko review Xbox Live Arcade games. Since XBLA titles are smaller in nature than full-blown retail releases, the reviews are shorter than our other reviews and forgo the Criteria page.

New to the Xbox Live Marketplace is Pac-Man Championship Edition. Namco Bandai introduced this game for the first time at the Pac-Man World Championships held in New York in May. Can you make Pac-Man better, though? Namco Bandai thought so, once again enhancing the overall look and gameplay.

Pac-Man first appeared in the United States in 1980. Back then, the only way you could get your hands on it was in bars and pizza joints, or by dropping $35.00 on an Atari cartridge. Don’t worry; Pac-Man C.E. will only cost you 800 Microsoft points, or about ten bucks. It keeps the same premise, though, placing you in a maze with four ghosts that will try to stop you from having your fill of yellow pellets.

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Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
System Xbox 360
Genre: Single-player RPG
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michele White

So you’ve beaten back the forces of Oblivion and saved Cyrodiil. You’ve become master of all guilds and the hero of…well…everything. What are you going to do now? Have you ever wanted to rule your own plane of Oblivion? Shivering Isles, the expansion pack for Bethesda Games’ blockbuster Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, allows you the opportunity to do just that.

Unfortunately, you can only get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace, and the download process takes about an hour. For new characters, it takes an additional hour of gameplay before “a strange doorway appears on an island in Niben Bay,” and it’s quite a cross-country hike for a level 1 character, so take your time and enjoy the journey there. If you’re using a saved character, the doorway appears almost immediately after the download completes, and it’s just a short fast travel bleep and swim to your new adventure. The wait time might seem endless, but it will be worth it once you arrive.

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Review by: Jeff Burke
Published: December 21, 2005

Perfect Dark is the international multi-million selling Nintendo64 title in which secret agent Joanna Dark battles the evil dataDyne corporation and their equally nefarious alien allies. The recently released Xbox360 title, Perfect Dark Zero aims to create the back story that shows how Joanna become that secret agent and the circumstances that placed her in a position of both power and garnered animosity towards these evil corporations. Included in that is introducing characters only spoken of, like her father Jack Dark. ( read more… )

Review by: Jeff Burke
Published: January 9th, 2005

Simply put, history has always been cyclic. What was once popular, but since faded out of the limelight will one day return. I heard a story from my Grandfather about his custom 32 Ford, with the first V-8 or my father, who would be more then happy to tell me about his old “souped up” who-knows-what, with its canary yellow paint job and black racing stripes. Today, I shouldn’t even need to tell you about the craze that is street racing and cashing in on the import racing phenomena, Electronic Arts delivered a pair of best selling titles under the successful Need for Speed Underground moniker. ( read more… )