Videogame Talk Reviews

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (PlayStation 3)

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:18:27 PST

Rent It

GoldenEye 007: Reloaded (PlayStation 3)

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:22:46 PST

Highly Recommended

No one from my generation can't help but get wistful at the mere mention of Goldeneye. The N64 title was the impetus for endless nights of delirious multiplayer gaming. It set the standard for Bond games that to this day hasn't been matched. And now, like so many other games, Goldeneye is being run through the reissue ringer. But unlike many PS2-era games, this isn't the same old thing with some hi-res textures thrown on top. Instead, developer Eurocom has rebuilt the whole experience from the ground up, making a whole new game that manages to retain the feel of the old.

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Spider-Man: Edge of Time (PlayStation 3)

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:53:31 PDT

Skip It

Last year's Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions wasn't a groundbreaking title, but the game did have a good hook. By offering up four Spider-Men to play with, Shattered Dimensions offered a unique take on the superhero game genre. Now developer Beenox returns to the well, but shaves off two Spider-Men in the process, leaving us with only Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099. There are pros and cons to this approach. As fun as it was to play as four different Spider-Men, that approach led to a thin narrative, and ultimately two of the four characters simply weren't as enjoyable as the the other two. So dropping the count down to two allows for a fuller story, but you do lose some variety in the gameplay. And what's left isn't all that great.

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FIFA Soccer 12 (Xbox 360)

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:46:10 PDT

Highly Recommended

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X-Men Destiny (PlayStation 3)

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:47:31 PDT

Rent It

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NHL 12 (Xbox 360)

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:04:52 PDT

Videogame Talk Collector Series

What's It All About:
EA Sports' NHL franchise is the yardstick by which all hockey games are judged, and to anyone judging sports video games without bias, it delivers the most enjoyable and authentic sports experience you can get, thanks to the quality of the game and the elements of hockey, both on and off the ice, that lend themselves so well to a video game simulation. NHL '11 is widely viewed as the best entry in the series since the landmark NHL '94, and the latest annual installment keeps pretty much everything that worked and makes fine-grain tweaks to improve several other areas.

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:56:25 PDT

Recommended

Film critic Roger Ebert infamously made the claim that video games are not art. Of course, film itself is barely over a century old, and for much of its life was also not considered an art form, only gaining traction as a medium with the potential for fine art in the past five or six decades. Video games, like cinema, will undergo a cultural evolution. Right now it's the new kid on the block, seen mainly as entertainment for the masses (again, much like early films), but already a few games have leapt to mind as the standard bearers for video gaming as an art form. Shadow of the Colossus, for example, carries as much weight and impact as any movie you might see in a theater today.

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Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (Xbox Live Arcade)

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:20:28 PDT

Highly Recommended

Released on X-Box Live Arcade, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a mostly linear side-scrolling adventure designed with artist Michel Gagne, that mixes puzzle-solving and a gathering quest in with the action. When your planet is attacked by a dark, creeping force, you and your UFO are the only things left to stop the onslaught. Traveling through a seven-level map marked by ice, water and mechanical bits, among other settings, you battle an assortment of creatures and obstacles while building your arsenal and collecting items that help you along your path.

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Call of Juarez: The Cartel (PlayStation 3)

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:42:16 PDT

Skip It

The first two Call of Juarez games were hardly great moments in video gaming, but they did provide fun, pulpy western shoot outs that satisfied on a visceral level. I assumed that Call of Juarez: The Cartel would provide more of the same, but was shocked and dismayed to discover upon receiving the game to review that this game completely abandons the western pretense in favor of a modern day shooter. Still, despite my opinion that the developers had taken complete leave of their senses in making such a decision, I decided to see if perhaps Call of Juarez: The Cartel could rustle up the same kind of raw pleasures the first two did. Sadly the change of setting is the least of the game's problems.

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Catherine (Xbox 360)

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:22:44 PDT

Highly Recommended

They say that, when you fall in a dream, you die in real life. Whether that is true or not is unknown, however, so believe what you will. Though, the strange, provocative and unsettling storyline in Catherine certainly supports this idea. It utilizes the mantra, "Climb or die", as it has gamers pushing, climbing and tumbling blocks in order to make it to the top of a square block pyramid as its construction materials slowly break away from the ground floor upward. You're literally climbing for your digitized anime life, as you try to piece together just what is happening in the game world.

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