The boys are back for another video game adventure.
South Park has gotten the console video game treatment for the fourth time now, with each game spanning different genres and releasing at different points in the show's history. Their latest outing, South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!, features, as suggested by the title, Tower Defense play.
The bad guys show their soft side this time around.
I learned two things from my play time with Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. The first being that sea salt ice cream sounds gross but must be good since the main characters are always eating it, and that even after three installments, the Kingdom Hearts series can still manage to produce a game that is as fun, bright, and full of Disney magic as the very first title.
Maybe old-school brawlers just aren't as cool as they used to be.
Spyborgs pretty much went through development hell. It originally surfaced in 2008 and was a cartoony game with interactive commercials. Then it was M.I.A. for a number of months and came back as a comic book-esque beat-'em-up with a decidedly darker feel, story, and tone. On some levels, the new style works, but for the most part, Spyborgs is just a polished endless barrage of enemies with some cool set pieces.
Nathan Drake is back for his second adventure in this stunning PlayStation 3 title.
It's impressive to finally see gaming approach a level of complexity in character and story development that parallels what we see in most modern movies. After viewing the very first cutscene in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves I was immediately impressed. Never before had I seen character interaction, dialog, and nuanced expression executed so well in a video game. Uncharted 2 does a spectacular job engaging players in what amounts to be a ten hour interactive movie.
Hudson Entertainment brings new ideas to the popular Wii sports genre.
The world (especially the Wii) has enough Wii Sports knock-offs, but Deca Sports 2 is, interestingly enough, above the rest of its competitors. Hudson Entertainment gives you a reason to go third party with this innovative collection of sports games.
This movie-based game has some potential, but a sloppy presentation and monotonous gameplay hold it back.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, based off of the recent movie, is centered on food and how it can apparently take over the world if you happen to create a machine that makes food rain from the sky uncontrollably. Taking control of Flint, a down-on-his-luck scientist voiced by "Saturday Night Live" star Bill Hader, you work your way through the town of Chewandswallow to eradicate the food menace.
They've been going in and out of style, but they're guaranteed to raise a smile, so may I introduce to you, the act you've known for all these years…
The Beatles have legions of fans that span all age ranges. I was never really a member of that broad group, but I did enjoy some Beatles songs from time to time. However, I am a huge Rock Band fan, so when The Beatles: Rock Band was announced last year, I was interested. After playing the retail copy, I can safely say that The Beatles: Rock Band is an artistically beautiful video game that solidified my fandom of the Beatles.
Don't be fooled by the dated presentation, the remake of the original Persona reveals a game that was years ahead of its time.
I'll be the first to admit, I have a giant soft spot for the MegaTen series. Moreover, I especially have a soft spot for the Persona series. Persona 3 was the first title in the series I had the pleasure of experiencing and I loved it to death. I eventually went on to purchase and play all of the MegaTen games on the PlayStation 2, and even Persona 2 on the PlayStation. Needless to say, when I heard that the remake of the original title in the series was due for a US release, my interest was piqued to say the least.
Consider this game that terrible family vacation you took where everything went wrong and you still had a little fun.
The Family Party series started earlier this year and while it didn't light up the critical world, it was successful enough to spawn a sequel. Once again developer Tamsoft brings about 30 great games, this time with an outdoor theme. In actuality, these games aren't too great as many are incredibly confusing or almost completely broken. The remaining decent games aren't good enough to overshadow the bad ones.
The Wii debut of the young series is full of atmospheric awesomeness despite some minor quibbles.
Let's start by saying this: Dead Space: Extraction is a pretty awesome science-fiction movie. It sets a fantastic mood, there's a mystery behind it (granted, it isn't as mysterious if you beat the original), and it has a compelling narrative. As a game, Extraction is also fun. It takes the on-rails shooter genre and makes some changes to it, both good and bad. The end result is a solid experience that lives up to EA's bold claims that it is a "guided first-person experience."
