Category Archives: Reviews

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

And I Thought Nintendo’s Solstice Was Addictive

These two little gems, now finally available on one CD, have been around as Internet games at www.popcap.com. The Omni group has finally gone and catered to us (the uprising Mac-users) and polished them up a bit. Bejeweled & Alchemy provide all of the entertainment value you enjoyed back in the old days before the Internet. You know…Tetris…Dr. Mario…Bubble Bobble. Simple, yet exceedingly complicated as you go along, just like a good puzzle. If one of them isn’t your type, you’ll be sure to enjoy the other and all of its addictive qualities. "Bejeweled" features a series of multi-colored gems, … Continue reading And I Thought Nintendo’s Solstice Was Addictive

Russian Fairy Tales

Sometimes a puzzle game will come out where the entire purpose is to solve puzzles. While I could be perfectly happy solving puzzles all day long, I crave some atmosphere and story and characterization intermingled with good puzzles. Fortunately for me, there are games like Jazz & Faust. Jazz & Faust is a puzzle/adventure game set in a fantasy environment with medieval and Arabian Nights -style elements. In it you play one of the two title characters as you try to unravel a mystery and achieve an ancient treasure. The trick is, once you have solved one of the character’s … Continue reading Russian Fairy Tales

Robotech: Battlecry is Anime Action

Revival is a word becoming more and more common in the game industry. TV series that have gotten canceled are continually seeing their stories continuing through the art form that is video gaming. Such is the case with Dark Angel, the Fox sci-fi series that got the hook unfairly some months back. It’s getting a game continuation of its storyline. A similar case has been speculated to happen with Farscape, another sci-fi series that suffered the same fate as Dark Angel. There is currently one Farscape game on the market, though many people hope there will be a story-based sequel … Continue reading Robotech: Battlecry is Anime Action

Bubbles Everywhere!

The puzzle genre is to video games what the horror genre is to books; both are fading fast. Like horror in literature, at one time puzzle games were big business. Games like Tetris were popular with gamers because of their addictive nature, and how new and innovative those games were at the time. As time went on though, a lack of innovation in newer puzzle titles led many gamers to get bored with puzzle games. Gradually, the puzzle genre lost so many fans that it went from being a huge genre to what it is now, a niche genre. While … Continue reading Bubbles Everywhere!

Commandos 2 Conquers Consoles

Real-Time Strategy games rarely appear on consoles. Though the games are huge successes on PC’s, the genre has never really successfully crossed over to the console format. Attempts have been made of course, but the only one that ever really sold well was Starcraft for the N64. Despite all of this, companies still periodically make attempts to bring RTS’ to the console format, as is the case Eidos’ latest offering, Commandos 2. The game, developed by Pyro Studios, is a great entry in the RTS genre, although it is plagued by many of the same things that have held console … Continue reading Commandos 2 Conquers Consoles

Battlegrounds Makes Combat Fun

Ever play a Real Time Strategy game? Red Alert? Empire Earth? Age of Empires? Starcraft? Warcraft? GOOD! Then you are ready to take controls of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds – Lucas Arts’ new real time strategy game based in the world of Star Wars. If not then you will need to go through the whole tutorial before you are ready rather than just the last few missions. Is it a ground breaking new game? Not in the least. Does that really matter? Not to me in the slightest. If a game is fun to play I will play it no … Continue reading Battlegrounds Makes Combat Fun

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

Xbox Live Adds the Human Touch

This week, you can start playing multiplayer games with your Xbox. You will need to have a broadband connection and of course the Xbox Live Hardware from Microsoft. The Xbox live system comes complete with a Setup CD, Communicator headset, and one-year subscription to the Xbox live service. Installation seems easy at first, but does take a bit of time, as you have to fill in a lot of forms using the controller. After opening the box, all you have to do is connect your Xbox to the internet using your broadband connection and then stick the setup CD into … Continue reading Xbox Live Adds the Human Touch

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