Category Archives: Game Review

Saving Planet X, Again

Yep, that is the first thought when you look at the box containing DarkPlanet : Battle for Natrolis. Standard theme – almost. Humans find a planet. Humans want to take over the planet. Locals take objection to the humans kicking them off their world. Now here is where the first twist is introduced by Edgies, the battling of the Humans and the locals wake up a long dormant third party that takes exception to both other races and decides it would be a good idea to exterminate them so they can get back to sleep! That’s it, plain simple and … Continue reading Saving Planet X, Again

Dead Without Any Rights

Max Payne was the first title that I had the chance to play on my XBox. After the horror that was the watered-down PlayStation 2 version, and not having a powerful enough PC to play the original, I was pleased to see that the XBox was able to handle a decent port of the game that started the action noir genre. Dead to Rights is following up on Max Payne’s success, but after abandoning its PlayStation 2 release, it found a new home on the XBox. Initial experiences turned out to be promising, as the E3 alpha I played had … Continue reading Dead Without Any Rights

Spider Gets Washed-Out

Ever since the day’s of Atari, there have always been poorly made products that only sell because of a particular license associated with them. It’s been an industry trend for quite a long while, and despite how annoying the trend is, casual gamers have still not wised up to the "licensed crap" ploy. Because of this, Naki has felt free to release the Spider-Pad, that despite it’s connection with the coolest Superhero ever, is still a pretty shoddy product. The first problem with the Spider-Pad, that will become painfully obvious to you the second you start playing, is how oversensitive … Continue reading Spider Gets Washed-Out

Dinotopia is No Utopia

As its name suggests, Dinotopia is a dinosaur romp. In my opinion, there are too many dinosaur games and not enough of them are any good. Before your heart swells with expectation, Dinotopia is by no means the saviour of the dinosaur theme. Nor will it lead to the hasty demise of the dinosaur genre, and I can’t quite decide if this is a good or a bad thing. Dinotopia is teamed-up with what has been heralded as an exciting, new fantasy series of the same name, showing on the Hallmark channel. The fact that there is such a thing … Continue reading Dinotopia is No Utopia

Run and Gun with Endgame

When I play shooting games on the PS2 like Medal of Honor, I sometimes just wish I had a real gun to make all the shooting easier. A controller is just not as realistic as having a real gun in your hands. So it was with surprise that Empire Interactive sent in Endgame for review. Of course since we did not have a gun in the lab, they also sent along a giant green .50 Desert Eagle light gun. The gun itself is pretty interesting, and looks and feels just like a real .50 hand cannon, other than the fact … Continue reading Run and Gun with Endgame

Space for Nonspace Jockies!

Finally, Earth and Beyond is a space-based shoot em up that does NOT require you to be a certified pilot to enjoy! To say I am jumping for joy is an understatement. As way of background, I am one of those "flight challenged" gamers that can not get the hang of pushing the joystick forward to go down and backwards to go up. Crashed many a flight by going in the wrong direction at the wrong time before I realized I was just not cut out for flight controls. But throw that out the window as Earth and Beyond has … Continue reading Space for Nonspace Jockies!

Relive the Nakatomi Nightmare

Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza satisfies the big shooter fan in search of something new. The graphics are ok and the plot is palatable, especially if you’ve seen Die Hard the movie and liked the character of John McLean. I am a little unsure why Sierra decided to publish a game based on a 10-year old movie, but I guess the number of people who have watched the movie thousands of times is a pretty big audience. But regardless of whether you have seen the movie, which if you haven’t, you’ve been living in a bubble for the last 25 years, … Continue reading Relive the Nakatomi Nightmare

Strategius Maximus

It’s so rare these days to find an RTS that actually has something new to add to the picture, but Legion fits the bill. On the surface Legion looks like a lot of the other historical titles that have come into vogue as of late. Over the past 10 years I have played at least that many titles involving Ancient Rome in some way. But Legion is by far the most interesting, and in many ways, the most historically accurate. The game combines the standard province management features found in most games these days, with a turn-based strategic map phase … Continue reading Strategius Maximus

Barbarian is Capable Carnage

Barbarian is the latest arena fighting game for the PS2 platform. Players can take the role of one of ten different characters as they battle for supremacy in different environments across the world of Barbaria. If you are looking for an innovative break-the-mold type of title, then Barbarian is not going to be it. However, if you want one of the best fighting games out there, then Barbarian will fit the bill nicely. The various arenas in Barbarian are very well done and have a lot more interesting elements than even the much touted Dead or Alive series on the … Continue reading Barbarian is Capable Carnage

2002 Football Report Card

Finally after a long, slow summer fraught with talks of baseball strikes, boring tennis matches where we already know the Williams sisters will win before the first serve, and a downward NASCAR season where Jeff Gordon finally won his first race of the year at Bristol, the return of football is upon us. Unlike last year when I had the heavily underrated XFL to hold me over, this year was a longer cross to bear. Don’t even mention Arena football to me, as I do not believe a real football game can be played in only 50 yards. A couple … Continue reading 2002 Football Report Card