Category Archives: Reviews

Beach Bums

If the Better Business Bureau were ever to do a seminar on how to identify false advertising, Ultimate Beach Soccer should be their centerpiece. With the word "beach" in the title and a cover adorned by two bikini-clad women you would think Ultimate Beach Soccer was just another title trying to capitalize on the popularity of other hormone-enraging titles such as DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball or Outlaw Volleyball. Unfortunately, like those games the gameplay absolutely sucks in UBV, but there isn’t a single digital gal to give at least the guys some relief. What we’re left with instead is a … Continue reading Beach Bums

Armed for Danger

I first encountered Armed and Dangerous at the LusasArts booth at E3, and found the demo to be one of the highlights of my day. A couple things that I found noteworthy at the time were a funny looking device in the game that you could use to reverse gravity for a short time, thus making all the baddies nearby fly (or really fall) up into the air, and then come crashing back down. And the one cut scene they showed us was hilarious. The other thing that I found really neat was when you are defending a city. You … Continue reading Armed for Danger

Bagging Bad Guys

Combining genres is something that is very difficult to do in any entertainment medium, especially the video games industry. While the very process of combining gameplay styles is a difficult process, it’s hard to predict what is going to and not going to work. With this knowledge I would like to give my respect to Black Ops for trying to combine fighting games with first person shooters in their new game Fugitive Hunter. I would also like to smack whoever directed this game as well, for killing a potentially promising idea with terrible execution, and for making me waste around … Continue reading Bagging Bad Guys

Violent, Demented Fun

Backyard Wrestling is not something for the kiddies. Though a very fascinating American subculture, the Backyard Wrestling videos contain everything you wouldn’t want your little brother seeing. Backyard Wrestlers aren’t just athletes – they’re machines. Immune to pain, backyard wrestlers do everything from stab each other with bottles, hit each other with barbed wire enwrapped bats, and even fall three stories through tables engulfed in flames. It’s sick, it’s demented, and unbelievably entertaining to anyone who doesn’t have a weak stomach. So, when Eidos announced half a year or so ago that they would be release a game based on … Continue reading Violent, Demented Fun

Relief for the 50’s

Do you have an EverQuest character stuck in the quagmire that is levels 50 – 60? Relief is on the way! I am a long time player of EverQuest, that had moved on to newer games (not because EverQuest is a bad game but I spent four years in Norrath and it was time for a change). I had a few characters in the low 50’s, level wise, and had been struggling with advancing them. I came back to try Lost Dungeons of Norrath to see if this would help the situation and to see what seems to be the … Continue reading Relief for the 50’s

HALO Evolves

I reviewed Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox, so naturally it has fallen to me to review the PC release of Halo. I still play halo for the Xbox occasionally, and I still think it is one of the top five, if not the best game to come out for the Xbox. First off, I want to say that it has made the transition to PC very well. My only gripe with the original was that it was way too short, and as this is the same game, it is still way too short on the PC. The big addition … Continue reading HALO Evolves

The Gate is Open Again

Traitors Gate 2 is almost two games in one. Let me explain. The premise of the game is essentially that terrorists from Unnamed Middle-Eastern Country (TM) have developed a computer virus that could knock out every computer system in the world, or some such nonsense. As Agent Raven (remember him from the prequel?), you must infiltrate their installation, copy the virus, and destroy the research. Since a direct assault is out of the question, you must go through an ancient Babylonian temple which happens to have a back entrance into the facility. So, in essence, you play one type of … Continue reading The Gate is Open Again

Dancing Them Into Submission

Prepare to fall in love. She’s sassy, can strut her stuff on the dance floor and doesn’t look too bad in a skin-tight outfit either – always handy when fighting enemy security droids. Her name is Vanessa Schneider and she just happens to be a freelance mercenary and robot killer rolled into one. That’s a very good thing when you’ve just been hired to tackle an out of control security system on a distant planet. PNO3, which stands for Product Number 3 is one of Capcom’s latest offerings for GameCube. This is a third person shooter without much of a … Continue reading Dancing Them Into Submission

Takin' it to the Street

Let me take you to a place where there are no "Mile High Stadiums" or "Lombardi Fields." No camera crews or sellout crowds. No big commercial deals or million dollar contracts and no playoff berths or Superbowl appearances. Just a place where serious ballers go to live their dreams, play for bragging rights, defend their honor and their turf and of course do a little trash-talking. Any true baller knows that the origin of all football began in a backyard, or in a wide-open field, on the blacktop of an abandoned parking lot, in the alleyways of a Slum, or … Continue reading Takin' it to the Street

Kung Fu-tastic

Blade and Sword takes the extremely popular top-down Diablo-style gameplay to new levels. And while Blade and Sword will surely remind you of countless other similar titles, it will also become a unique favorite of players who like this type of gaming. This action RPG takes place in ancient China, and is heavy with unique martial arts moves from that country. You can play one of three different characters, each with a different emphasis. One is more stealthy and quick, one is strong and powerful and one is kind of the middle of the road knight-type warrior. Blade and Sword … Continue reading Kung Fu-tastic