GameCritics.com - games. culture. criticism.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Alex Raymond — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:02:49 -0500

The Style is in the Details

HIGH Finally glimpsing the lost city of Shambhala.

LOW Quickly dying ten times during a chase sequence before getting a hint as to what I should be doing.

WTF "Don't you love how the water makes your jeans all squidgy?"

Marvel not so Ultimate Alliance 2, Trine and missing out on Dragon Age

Brad Gallaway — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:37:00 -0500

Playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 with the wife right now, doing co-op throughout the entire campaign. I didn't expect much more than a complete rehash of the first game, but I have to admit I'm a little surprised at how lackluster it feels. It's basically there, but needs more polish to really make it pop. We've stumbled across more than a handful of bugs and glitches which always detracts from the experience, and parts of the game just don't feel very well-thought-out. The boss fight with Yellowjacket was a complete mess, and it really drives me up the wall the way the game is so capricious with the team you’ve selected.

Half-Minute Hero Review

Brad Gallaway — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:12:11 -0500

In this case, the length is a good thing

HIGH It's a real JRPG, except it doesn't waste your time.

LOW The Knight 30 mode could have used a little more work.

WTF Why is nobody talking about this game?

GameCritics.com Podcast Episode 24: Myths of Game Criticism

Tim Spaeth — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:35:01 -0500

This week we challenge commonly held assumptions about criticism, writers, review scores, finishing games and much more. So much more, in fact, we had to split the episode in half. Plus, if you're a Borderlands fan, get ready to hate us. Our quick hit is less than flattering. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim Spaeth.

Download: Right click here and select "Save Target As..."
Subscribe: iTunes | RSS

For your reference, the eight myths we discuss are:

Critics should be required to finish games before writing a review.
The goal of a "proper" game review should be to inform the reader as to whether they should or should not buy a game.
Those who write about games are not journalists, rather, should be considered "enthusiast press" or simply "games writer."
There is no difference between a "review" and a "critique".
The explosion of blogs, podcasts, and Twitter has rendered formal game reviews obsolete.
Individual game critics and review sites are under constant, unrelenting pressure from publishers to change scores.
Game scores are often purposefully tweaked to either generate controversy or avoid it.
A reader should not need to be familiar with the author of a review in order to derive value from it.

Topic and Game References:

X-Play's Guitar Hero: Smash Hits review explanation:

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Waiting for the backlash

Matthew Kaplan — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:23:20 -0400

The Brainy Gamer blog featured a terrific post today directed at Infinity Ward's questionable "FAGS" advertising campaign, in which Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels decries grenade spam. It's covert advertising for Modern Warfare 2, of course, although the acronym with which said message is provided is obviously the source of the most worry.

Modern Warfare 2 controversy, Demon's Souls Halloween goodness and Half-Minute Hero

Brad Gallaway — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:39:00 -0400

Modern Warfare 2: So the word is basically out, and the level that has been causing all the commotion has been revealed to be used as a scene-setting device—basically establishing some context for the player's actions in the rest of the game. That was pretty much what I expected, BUT… it was also relayed that wherever this scene appears in the final retail version, it will be preceded by a warning about "graphic content" and the option to simply skip it and jump right into the part where the player goes back to being a "good guy".

Brütal Legend Review

David Stone — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:31:56 -0400

Sometimes even an umlaut isn't enough

HIGH The world is metal.

LOW Almost everything else isn't.

WTF "Everybody thinks I'll betray them someday. Now gasp as I betray you!"

Brütal Legend Art Gallery

Dale Weir — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:30:21 -0400

Sans ethics and damn fun? Sega's Madworld and House of the Dead Overkill

Matthew Kaplan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:26:05 -0400

MadWorld comes closer to the kind of inherently "ethical" gameplay that Miguel Sicart (The Ethics of Computer Games) associates with the voyeuristic gorefest Manhunt. Sicart calls Manhunt an exemplary ethical title in the sense that it offers a "closed, mirroring" ethical system of gameplay that compels the player-subject to adhere to rules that become increasingly ghastly and, if fully utilized, so depraved that it causes the "virtuous" player to be self-reflective. This realization, though tied to unethical gameplay, is itself an ethical end-product of the design and the experience of the player.

Taking pleasure in the unoriginal

Matthew Kaplan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:23:54 -0400

My favorite game to play on travel recently has been Chessmaster: The Art of Learning for the PlayStation Portable. It's not a great chess game by any means, but it was a digital download for my favorite portable system, and it's good for playing quick sessions just about anywhere.

The odd thing is, I've been playing chess almost rabidly as of late, and not just on the go or in the bathroom. I've enjoyed playing Chessmaster again so much—just sitting around on the couch or playing at my desk for hours on end—that I've encouraged my girlfriend to take part in a few real games of chess now and then, and it's quickly become one of the little joys of our living together.