Category Archives: Reviews

Trekking Ahead for Adventure

We’re all too familiar with the fact that lucrative licenses such as Star Trek will have publishers rubbing their hands together with glee, their eyes glinting with pound or dollar signs and the sweet sound of cash registers ringing in their ears. "Quick cash-in" is a fate that has befallen many a Star Wars title and Trekkies may be reluctant to fall for the same trick. Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force will wash away the fears of Star Trek fans everywhere. Here is a game that successfully immerses you in Gene Rodenberry’s universe. And gasp, even if you’re not a … Continue reading Trekking Ahead for Adventure

Snake Meets His Match

It’s no surprise to anyone who has read my reviews and commentaries that I am a huge Metal Gear fan. Something about tactical espionage and stealth infiltration just piques my interest. Nothing is more suspenseful than sneaking up on an unsuspecting guard, where the slightest noise could mean the difference between taking a hostage or being a corpse. Solid Snake may have been the innovator of the stealth genre, but his successors add their own special skills to the mix (the lead character from Thief using shadows to hide in, and Hitman #47 disguising himself as an innocent courier). Last … Continue reading Snake Meets His Match

A Great, but Difficult, War

So close, yet they missed the mark. Hopefully the review that follows will make this statement clear. Iron Storm begins in March of 1964 and World War I (yep that is not a typo) is still in full swing. You play the part of Second Lieutenant James Anderson, who has grown up with this war being all he knows, and he knows it VERY WELL. Anderson is called on to undertake a series of missions that will stop the leader of the opposition from unleashing a terrible weapon on the good guys. And YOU are responsible to make sure he … Continue reading A Great, but Difficult, War

Hitting the Sweet Spot

He’s a bald geezer with a barcode tattooed onto the back of his burly neck, but somehow he still manages to walk in the shadows and dispose of his targets with deadly efficiency. I am of course talking about Codename 47, who has returned to dish out some harsh justice in Hitman 2: The Silent Assassin. Step into the genetically engineered shoes of uber hitman 47 for some stealth and sinister underbelly of society type shenanigans. When the game begins, 47 has hung up his silencer and retreated to the confines of a Sicilian monastery. But local mobsters have discovered … Continue reading Hitting the Sweet Spot

The Great Escapes

To me Prisoner of War was marketed as a cross between the movie Stalag 17 and the TV show Hogan’s Heroes for the computer. As a fan of both, when I saw that it was coming out, I ran to my editor and begged to be the reviewer. He is also a fan of the show and the movie, so we worked out a compromise, he agreed to take a look at the PC version, and the Xbox version was all mine. I figured it was a fair trade and I was not disappointed. The game is set during World … Continue reading The Great Escapes

It’s WWII, Woo Style

After months of incessantly playing Medal of Honor, it seemed like nothing would break the spell that game had over the local LAN. With interest in World War II at a recent high with the release of Band of Brothers on DVD, it seemed that anything that would topple MoH would have to be WWII themed. When Battlefield 1942 arrived, the battle was pretty much over. Battlefield 1942 is at its heart a multiplayer game. There is not much of a single player game to speak of, so don’t expect a rich storyline or complex mission goals like in MoH. … Continue reading It’s WWII, Woo Style

It’s Miami Vice 2002

Over the previous weekend, I was treated to perhaps two of the greatest gangster movies of all time: Goodfellas and Scarface. However, both stories are completely different. Where Goodfellas depicts the story of Henry Hill’s rise to power in the Mafia and sudden disappearance into the Witness Protection Program, Scarface’s Tony Montana rises up from a poor Cuban immigrant to a powerful drug lord, ending his reign with a shotgun blast to the back. The same thing will apply to Grand Theft Auto 3, which dealt more with the Goodfellas side of the storyline involving the Leone family and how … Continue reading It’s Miami Vice 2002

Hunter: The Reckoning Rocks Xbox

I’ve had trouble trying to put my thoughts on Hunter: The Reckoning (Interplay) in a coherent format. Some aspects of the game appeal to me and some don’t. And those that don’t almost repulse me. I received an assist on this recently when I hosted a party at my home. The kids fired up the XBox and began playing Hunter. Most of the kids thought it was cool (except for two who thought it was dumb) and every single one of the adults thought it was terrible. That’s when I think I discovered what was bothering me: this isn’t a … Continue reading Hunter: The Reckoning Rocks Xbox

Buffy Slays the Competition

Before I had a chance to play Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the Xbox, I will admit I had not watched the series on a regular basis. I only knew a few things such as Willow being a lesbian with Angel being Buffy’s one love interest, despite being a vampire (and eventually leading to his own series), and that Buffy’s high school was settled atop a Hellmouth. But after spending some time with the game, as well as watching the first season on DVD, and getting some pointers from my super-fan girlfriend, I started to become hooked on the series. … Continue reading Buffy Slays the Competition

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