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A Review Of The Witcher By Mack303
Written On - May. 28, 2009 03:14:04 PM

This was a really fun game. It has an interesting story and its real time rpg. Its a good interest to get the european version if you can get your hands on it. Cause the girls are great and getting their cards is great. You will have to play to see. But its a great story and gets you attached to the characters. I had a lot of fun with it and would definitely recomend it for any action or rpg lovers. But keep in mind this is a game for adults. Dont have your kids out there playing it. It's graphic. And there are several scenes of relations in the game. But all in all, despite the lower reviews on the gaming website like IGN (8.4)? It was totally fun. ...

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Journey's End

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A Review Of Tomb Raider: Underworld By Zanzibar
Written On - Jan. 20, 2009 03:52:59 PM

Lara Croft is off to finish what she started in Legend, and we're glad to join her for the ride. Tomb Raider: Underworld uses the successful gameplay controls established in Legend, tweaks some stuff for the better, but keeps the proven Tomb Raider formula largely intact - a sequence of levels interrupted by large rooms with puzzles that need to be solved before advancing. Sound familiar? It should be. It's listed as the first 'true' next-gen Tomb Raider game, and in that aspect, the visuals do not disappoint. There's nice normal mapping everywhere, impressive vistas, gorgeous underwater effects, and a main character model that is breathtaking to look at from every angle. The animations have all been redone using motion capture, so there's a realism to Lara's movements that is downright eerie. A new feature added, where Lara clings to a wall using handholds, is amazingly impressive and fun. Once she's on the wall, moving your stic...

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It's okay to fall in love with Lara....again!

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A Review Of Tomb Raider: Legend By Zanzibar
Written On - Jan. 14, 2009 05:44:04 PM

If you've never played a Tomb Raider game before, this is a helluva place to start. I've played a smattering of the original, plus a level or two of TR2, but the control schemes for those games were... how to say this... 'unforgiving.' Now, those who HAVE played Tomb Raider games before are probably laughing their heads off right now, and with good reason, because 'unforgiving' doesn't begin to describe it. If you weren't lined up EXACTLY right, then Lara was likely gonna die a gruesome death. Again. And again. Legend still has a fair amount of player death, but it's evolved into something a LOT more intuitive and less frustrating. Get this - Lara Croft is actually graceful in her acrobatics! The ledge climbing and jumps are pretty forgiving, leading to a lot of player experimentation, which was a no-no in the old control scheme. Gone are the days of being severely punished for being a pixel or two off of your optimum jump takeoff ...

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Furry fanfic? No, it's Sonic the Hedgehog!

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A Review Of Sonic the Hedgehog By tashi
Written On - Dec. 18, 2008 03:36:30 PM

Sonic has been spiraling out of control since Sonic Adventure 2, or even earlier depending on who you ask. I have loved Sonic since I was a child, and have tried to be faithful, but it is becoming so hard these days. Sonic the Hedgehog, better known as Sonic 360, is awful.Story:Impressive cutscenes tell a story of the present, the future, and people unhappy about the future so they come back to the present, their past. By people I mean anthromorphic hedgehogs or echidnas or whatever they are. At least one is a cat. A major plot point is that there is a human princess who falls in love with Sonic because he rescued her from Dr. Robotnik. The angry animals from the future are tricked by Eggman into thinking Sonic will destroy the world (hey wait wasn't that the whole premise of Shadow?) so then they fight.Gameplay:There are lots of characters and they all play differently, and they all play awkwardly. Sonic hasn't ever controlled well in 3D, and he doesn't here either. Some parts of stag...

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2 good 4 L4D puns. Oops.

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A Review Of Left 4 Dead By tashi
Written On - Dec. 18, 2008 02:48:58 PM

Left 4 Dead hardly needs an introduction, but I'll give you a short one anyway. It's a zombie survival co-op FPS funfest. It's much faster paced than a typical game of the survival horror genre, but I put it there anyway because your objective is to not be eaten by zombies.Story:You are one of four survivors in a zombie-infested area. Either run away or be eaten.Gameplay:Campaign Mode It's on the Source engine and feels like it. Typical FPS controls. The big draw is that you aren't playing alone, you're playing with three buddies. (But if you are the only human playing, the three other survivors will be controlled by AI) This is important because, besides normal zombies that run wicked fast and scream and stuff, there are special "Boss" zombies that have various effects. Smokers have long tongues and grab, pull, and constrict you. Hunters pounce on you and rip out your innards. Boomers puke on you and attract zombie swarms. Witches are cuties that sit on the ground and c...

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The vorpal blade went snicker-snack... into my heart.

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A Review Of American McGee's Alice By tashi
Written On - Dec. 18, 2008 01:58:02 PM

American McGee's Alice is an amazing game. I'm sure it was amazing in 2000 when it was released, but it's still awesome in 2008, and I want to tell you why. This game is twisted and disturbing in many ways and very often. Alice is a brilliant horror/3D platformer. I played it over the course of two days and it took approximately eight hours to finish. The length felt just right. It was enough time to have fun, but not so long that doing quests or whatever became a chore.Story:You are Alice, and many years have passed since you first went to Wonderland. Over the years, you have gone completely insane. The introduction is kind of startling, but I don't want to spoil anything. Wonderland is a complete disaster, and you need to fix it.Controls:The controls feel good and are easy to use and learn. One complaint is that, toward the end of the game, you accumulate nine or two weapons, and it can be awkward to reach the "9" key while your right hand is on the mouse and your left is n...

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This game doesn't know the power of the dark side.

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A Review Of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed By badbadleroybrown
Written On - Nov. 5, 2008 06:46:37 PM

Hype is a funny thing. There’s a good kind and a bad kind. The good kind can come from many different places, such as a game coming out of nowhere to sell oodles of copies because of word of mouth or fantastic reviews (Sins of a Solar Empire comes to mind). Then there’s the bad kind: the artificial hype shoveled into our senses by marketing guru’s and company heads clamoring a game as a insert-best-game-in-the-genre-here killer and the second coming of the messiah. For every one game that can actually manage to live up to these ridiculous expectations like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4, there’s five like Fable, Killzone, DOOM 3, and, most recently, Spore. And, unfortunately for these games, bad hype also has a tendency to make games seem worse then they already are. For example, when Peter Molinuex gets on stage and tells me that Fable will be “The greatest RPG ever created”, you better be bringing the heat, because even though Fable ...

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Out of Left Field

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A Review Of Dead Space By Siraris
Written On - Nov. 4, 2008 01:32:11 PM

For me, personally, there are few titles that come along and take me by surprise. I spend so much time researching, listening, watching to all the information that I can on most games, that I am invariably sure on whether I will enjoy a game or not before I even play it. Dead Space was a title that I didn't expect to enjoy that much based on my initial viewings of media. It didn't look all that pretty to me; a mediocre engine that didn't have to work too hard because the game was dark anyways. The gameplay looked boring and sluggish; just another third person action game, that happened to be in a pretty bland looking environment. To top it all off, survival horror titles have never scared me, and invariably turn me off in trying to do so with the cheese. It was quite a shock, when, upon playing Dead Space (due to some extra Gamestop credit) I found myself considering this title for my own personal Game of the Year. Dead Space does not ...

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Sci-fi Survival Horror Done Right

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A Review Of Dead Space By Harbinger
Written On - Oct. 28, 2008 01:15:31 PM

With EA being the epitome of all that is wrong in the video-game industry for years, it seems they have turned a corner for their spotted and unimaginative career. Trying to buck the trend of mediocre to god-awful movie based games, yearly rehashes of the same game, and just plain bad projects, they have delivered one of the most interesting and well made Intellectual Properties in a long time. That game is Dead Space. In space, one person can hear you scream. Yourself. The story begins explosively, and puts you into the action immediately. You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent to investigate a mining ship, the USG Ishimura. All contact with the ship has been lost, and it's your job to figure out why. Or at least it's your job for the first two minutes of the game. Almost as soon as you set foot on the Ishimura, your only job is is to survive the terrible onslaught the ship holds in its depths. Imerrsion almost to a fault EA Redwood Shore...

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X-actly What You Expect

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A Review Of X3: Terran Conflict By Vulture
Written On - Oct. 27, 2008 12:51:37 PM

Short and simple: if you enjoy the other X-games even a little bit, then you will enjoy this incarnation, even if just a little bit. That is because, well it's nearly the same game as the last X3, X3 Reunion. The new stuff is: new weapons, ships, stations, storyline missions, generic missions, user interface, and a new race... but you knew all that already. What you don't know is that it all goes well together. The new race, "Terrans" is a fun addition. Personally, the race feels unfinished to me as you cannot buy their stations for use, nor can you trade in many of their wares. The Terran economy is artificially supported by "heavy lifters," which bring goods from planet's surfaces up to space for trade. Their ships are a mixed bag of spectacular and dumpy in respects to design. Their ship performance is largely on par with the other race's ships. Overall though the race and thier sectors are a welco...

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Saints Row Does What GTA Don't.

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A Review Of Saints Row By Shodan2020
Written On - Oct. 26, 2008 10:02:46 PM

Volition, the same developers who brought you the most excellent Descent: Freespace, and Red Faction games (ok, not so much, RF2). Have given us Saints Row, a gang-oriented sandbox game in the fictional city of Stilwater. You play the role of a poor schlub in the city's Mission Beach district who almost becomes a casualty of gang-related violence, when Julius, the leader of the 3rd Street Saints saves you and enlists you in his gang to run the other three gangs of Stilwater out of town. These other three are: Los Carnales, the Vice Kings, and the Westside Rollerz. Each gang has it's own style and feel, the Carnales are big drug runners from Colombia, the Vice Kings are hard-hitting urbanites with big political connections, and the Rollerz are wealthy preppy suburbs kids with hard ons for fast cars. The main plot is obviously taking over Stilwater and uniting it under the banner of the 3rd Street Saints. The voice work is impressive featuring the talents of Keith David, Tia ...

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A Sheep in Wolfs Clothing

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A Review Of Call of Duty: World At War By Siraris
Written On - Oct. 14, 2008 12:15:55 PM

Call of Duty 4 is arguably the defining shooter this generation. It did its job so well, that even the venerable Halo 3 was left in its wake. The multi-player component that Infinity Ward developed has, and will be copied for years to come in every way shape and form. Fortunately, and unfortunately, Call of Duty 5 has copied everything about its older brother down to a T. I went into the beta not expecting much from the World at War. I knew that it was using the engine from Call of Duty 4, but I hadn't read up much on the new title due to a general malaise I have about Treyarch. In recent months, I heard that it was actually a really great single player experience, which piqued my interest, but not enough to drive me to look deeper into the multi-player component. Upon firing up the beta, I didn't feel so bad that I wasn't more prepared for what was in store, because I knew everything to expect from playing Call of Duty 4. This game, at ...

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The Master of Blaster (Apologies to Sunsoft)

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A Review Of Mega Man 9 By Shodan2020
Written On - Oct. 12, 2008 12:10:14 PM

I was born in 1982. This accounts for a lot of my likes and loves from music tastes to videogames. That being said. I was raised on the old Mega Man NES games. Mega Man 9 goes backwards to go forward in that sense. The graphics, music, story, and gameplay are all delightfully 8-bit and while these certainly won't impress and may frighten away newer gamers, they are a welcome resurgance to older Mega Man fans. The story picks up after the events of Mega Man 6, which was the last Mega Man game released for the NES in 1993. We see a repentant Dr. Wily, after being thwarted by Mega Man for the 6th time, promising to reform his evil robot creating ways. All is well and good until once again, robots begin to go berserk and wreak havoc once again. This time, the berzerk robots are the ones created by Dr. Light. Dr. Wily accuses Dr. Light of trying to take over the world (his "old" job) with his faulty bots and Dr. Light is placed under arrest. Smelling something ...

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Viva La France?

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A Review Of Jeanne D'Arc By maverick106
Written On - Oct. 8, 2008 05:39:14 PM

TacticalRPGs have a special place in my heart. Freshmanyear of college is a blur of physics, mountain dew, and Final Fantasy Tactics. To the great dismay of a floor full ofengineers, not a single final exam asked how to obtain the Zodiac summon. My fate was sealed, though, and the genrebecame a steadfast friend. Itreat a new TRPG like a high school romance. I fancy it from afar, usually for its looksand my assumptions about the joys of playing with it. When I get it alone, I fumble with it blindly,grasping what is intuitive and gaining confidence as I progress. If it pulls at me, I continue to spend as muchtime with it as possible until I have experienced all I can. However, often there is no connection and Iwill walk away from the first time with no desire to experience it again.Happily,Jeanne D’Arc held my affections. The artis irresistible, with beautifully animated cut-scenes that I found myselflooking forward to as ...

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Not A More Perfect Union

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A Review Of Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization By Ox
Written On - Oct. 7, 2008 04:34:14 PM

Firaxis's latest offering, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (hereinafter "Col2"), is a revamp of the 1994 turn-based strategy classic Sid Meier's Colonization. You command the first small clutch of Europeans to discover the New World in 1492 and must guide them through Indian raids, colonial wars, and a Revolutionary War to independence. It's based on the Civ IV engine, and anyone who has played that should get a handle on the interface and style quite easily. I was a great fan of the original Col -- I still putter around with it a couple of times a year -- and this version compared nicely. Obviously graphics are much sharper than the original, but there are a couple of nice improvements over Civ IV: reflective water, for example. This cuts both ways: while the old game was highly cartoonish and iconic, the new version is more realistic (albeit still cartoonish) and therefore makes it more difficult to distinguish different types of col...

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Holy Lego's Batman!!

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A Review Of Lego Batman By Dark Prince
Written On - Oct. 6, 2008 05:48:59 AM

Lego Batman: The Video Game is 5th game in line of Lego games from Traveller's Tales that have recently been brought out in full circle. We've had a jump from the exciting Star Wars universe, to Indiana Jones (which flapped a bit) to the recent release of Lego Batman. Many have hyped this title, while others have shrugged it off claiming it as just another Lego game with different universes. While both sides have valid reasons for loving at hating the game, the truth of the matter is, is that it's a bold change for TT Games and a bit of a fresh renewal as well. Yes, it's still the same Lego formula we've seen for the past couple of years, but it's different then we might expect. Holy Lego’s Batman! Lego Batman: The Video Game is 5th game in line of Lego games from Traveller's Tales that have recently been brought out in full circle. We've had a jump from the exciting Star Wars universe, to Indiana Jones (which flapped a bit) to the recent release of...

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The God of (Star) War

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A Review Of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed By alienmastermind
Written On - Oct. 5, 2008 06:32:17 PM

Well, I must say that a lot has kept me from writing about video games. Namely, writing and drawing Dipswitch for the site. But, I digress. The latest in the Star Wars branded video games, The Force Unleashed, is a masterpiece. I've wanted to dismember this damned game. But each time I play, it reminds me what happens when George Lucas just oversees his stories being put together NOT in the director's chair. I did a comic on this not too long ago, asking what the hell is wrong with both Shigeru Miyamoto and Georgie Boy. The answer is what Yahtzee at Zero Punctuation calls 'Auteur Syndrome'. And both of these men have a terminal case of it. The Force Unleashed IS Star Wars done exactly right. There are nits to be picked, of course, but the game doesn't play fair with your emotions if you're a Star Wars fan. To begin with, the game starts you off as Darth Vader. He's not unlockable, and he's not kidding around, either. Darth Vader opens a massive can of whoop-as...

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Alone In The Dark

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A Review Of Alone In The Dark By Tel Prydain
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 02:23:27 PM

This is a hard review to write, because few other games have split the gaming community quite so much as Alone in the Dark. Sites that normally give generous scores are giving this game scores as low as three out of ten, while other sites known for marking harshly are giving it eight out of ten. Alone in the Dark is an old school action adventure in the same vain as the early Resident Evil games. In fact, the ‘Alone in the Dark’ franchise pioneered the survival-horror genre in 1992, a full four years before Resident Evil graced Playstations and PCs around the world. This new game in the Alone in the Dark series actually follows on from the 1992 original, following the same character in a new adventure, one that’s set primarily in New York’s Central park. The game mixes action-packed combat with sections comprised primarily of puzzles - and it’s your job to get to the bottom of the strange events you find yourself caught up in. Alone in the Dar...

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Civilization Rev : Everyone Hates You

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A Review Of Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution By Tel Prydain
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 01:56:00 PM

I first played Civilisation on our family’s XT PC in the early nineties - you had the option of playing it in 16-colour EGA or 256-Colour VGA; and it ruled a significant part of my childhood. This is not an uncommon scenario and since then the franchise has sold over eight million copies. And that’s not including the ‘Call to Power’ series, the spin-off series, numerous clones and uncounted pirated copies. In that whole time, Civilization Revolution is the first Civilisation game to actually make it to a console. It’s mare development managed to incite anger in PC enthusiasts around the world, worried that Civilisation Revolution may herald a new shiny, but ultimately dumbed down, future for their beloved PC franchise. I’m not so sure that they should have worried. I find it hard to believe that there is any gamer out there that isn’t aware of the Civilisation, but just in case, in Civilisation starts you off with a single stone-age se...

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The Overlord is Back

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A Review Of Overlord: Raising Hell By Tel Prydain
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 01:46:24 PM

Last year was a behemoth year for gaming. With high profile releases ranging from Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3, to Bioshock, Assassins Creed and Mass Effect – there was something for everyone. It’s therefore somewhat understandable that some games might get overlooked, and such was the case for Overlord. Overlord was a unique game; putting you in the ironclad boots of an evil Overlord, it is your task to order a small army of minions and rebuild your evil empire. It’s the kind of game that would have been a hit in any other year, but with all the high profile games in 2007 it sold well, but it also fell under many people’s radar. But lets get to the heart of the matter. Last week Overlord was given a new lease of life with the advent of three downloadable content packs. But are they worth the money? A nice surprise, the first pack is totally free. The Split-Screen Multiplayer Pack adds a split-screen mode to all of the game’s multiplayer games, and c...

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Advance Wars Strikes Back!

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A Review Of Commanders: Attack of the Genos By Tel Prydain
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 12:12:22 PM

Turn based strategy certainly isn’t a genre that is over represented on the 360, and while some won’t see that as much of a loss, those who have been initiated into the mysteries of the turn based strategy fandom know that there are few things more rewarding then thinking up a clever strategy and then crushing your opponents without hesitation or mercy. The uncomfortably named ‘Commanders: Attack of the Genos’ is the newest entry into the genre, the only other title of note being the ill-fated Battle Bugs (which I personally think was under-rated). Commanders:AotG is an Xbox Live Arcade game that comes in at a reasonable 800 Microsoft Points, which works out to be roughly $13.20 in Kiwi currency. ‘Commanders: Attack of the Genos’ will be suspiciously familiar to long-time Nintendo fans, as Commanders:AotG’s game design is a breathtaking tribute to Nintendo’s seminal ‘Advance Wars’ series... by which I mean Comm...

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The Genre Ends

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A Review Of The World Ends With You By Tel Prydain
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 12:00:19 PM

Back when I got my first DS, the majority of the available games consisted of simple puzzle games, licensed trashed and a few well-polished first-party games. I recently picked up a new DS, and I’m happy to report that this is no longer the case. The World Ends With You is a great example of the kind of games that the DS is now host to. The World Ends With You is from Square-Enix, and it does carry many trademarks of the jRPG genre. You play the slightly angsty Neku Sakuraba, and you find yourself trapped within a twisted game that you are playing for your very life. One of the things that sets this game apart from other Square-Enix games is that the setting is a twisted version of present-day Japan, rather then the traditional pseudo-fantasy world. As you get drawn into the ‘Reaper’s Game’ you will begin to uncover the myriad of reasons that ‘The World Ends With You’ has become somewhat of an underground hit. The game has a distinctive a...

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UFO's, but no Jodie Foster

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A Review Of Contact By biosc1
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 09:43:26 AM

I have a confession to make. This is my first RPG on the DS. I've been away from the RPG genre for a long time and I wanted something simple. I also wanted a game that would integrate the touch screen. I know that this game is probably not everyone's first choice, but it was my first choice because I knew that it would offer a good introduction. If you don't know anything about this game, it's very easy to fill you in. A professor crash lands, loses some gems, then enlists your aid in finding them. Done. You play an omnipresent character controlling a boy helping the professor. The boy doesn't know you're there, but the professor does. He will communicate with both you and the boy as you travel from location to location retrieving the gems. This game is basic in how it unfolds. You start on a island with weak enemies which help you learn your abilities. You move on to progressi...

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The co-op review

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A Review Of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men By biosc1
Written On - Oct. 2, 2008 09:19:38 AM

There is already a great review of the game by Shodan2020, found here, so I will not repeat what has already been said. Instead, I'm going to review this games co-op experience. This is one of those games where having the artificial intelligence replaced by a person on the couch next to you can lead to hours of fun. Yes, this game is dark and foul, but that's the way it is supposed to be. These aren't unlikely heroes you're controlling, they are villains. Villains fighting more villains. Once you get a handle on the fact that you're a bad guy and you begin playing as one, you will begin to see how the developers meant this game to be viewed. Co-op is played on a vertical split screen, there is no online co-op mode. One player plays as Kane, the other as Lynch. There are minor points during the story where you will split up. One man may be sniping while another is on the ground. Really, t...

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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

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A Review Of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood By Tel Prydain
Written On - Oct. 1, 2008 09:36:19 PM

Since their early work with Black Isle, I’ve been a Bioware fanboy. They have created epic scale RPGs with the Baldur’s Gate Series, amazing online experiences with Neverwinter Nights and licensed games that are actually good with Knights of the Old Republic. As a fan of Western RPGs, I look to them as the last bastion of a dying genre. So like many wRPG fans I was interested when Bioware began to kick around the idea of doing a DS game - especially considering the DS is a bastion of the jRPG. That interest turned into a general sense of bemusement when Bioware revealed that their DS game would feature Sonic. I’m not sure many people could have imagined such an interesting peering. So we have Sonic Chronicles : The Dark Brotherhood. It has Western RPG style dialogue trees, Japanese RPG style battles, an impressive pedigree and Sonic the Hedgehog. What hath Bioware wrought? Having played a few other RPGs on the DS, I now count Sonic as one of my favourite...

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