Zzgashi

The ending is very predictable, safe, and devoid of any soul or creativity. A huge let down from a series that had many moments of potential. It felt rushed, and like they caved into fan theories, leaving them completely unable to tell their own story. Would only recommend if it was on sale.

The music is fantastic and the graphics great. The story is continuously interesting and the focus on multiple characters also forces the player to try multiple play styles. Variety is the game's greatest improvement, yet also it's weakest aspect. The game starts with lots of characters, and lots of masks, however later in the game everything degrades into a repetitive game of peekaboo.

Combat and presentation feels a lot less polished than Platinum's other games, but maintains the core structure that makes them so exciting. And for $15, it's simply a steal.

With all the new content and balancing tweaks it is no doubt the definitive version of Street Fighter 4, and fans should buy it. However so much of the new content feels cheap and unfinished. All of the new stages and most of the new characters are taken directly from Street Fighter X Tekken with almost no changes. The new characters have no alternate costumes, no challenges, and no rival specific dialogue. It feels cheap, like a straight copy past job.

If you have seen the trailer, you probably already know if Goat Simulator is for you or not. It's simply an amusing game, with amusing physics, and an amusing world with a surprisingly large amount of things to find and discover. In the end you will get about as much out of this game as you are willing to put in, and that depends on how much you enjoy it's sense of humor.

I feel like all of the new features that make Ground Zeros new and interesting have come at the costs of all the features that make a Metal Gear Solid game feel like a Metal Gear Solid game. Despite all the new freedom of an open world, much of how you interact with the world is gone. There is no longer knocking on surfaces, or an inventory of an sort. Move, shoot, and CQC are your only interactions, and they made it far too easy to shoot your way through problems. Snake's health now regenerates on it's own as fast as a Call of Duty game, so there's almost no consequence to getting seen. The open world aspect means there is a lot more to explore now, but without an inventory or anything to find besides new quests, which only serve to burn time. In terms of characters and story the lack of a codec means you only get anything from the people you directly encounter, and having Kaz describe to you what you are seeing through your binoculars. The overall tone of the game is very dark and lacks the suspense, mystery, and sense of humor found in previous games. Overall I am hugely disappointed in this game, but it's not completely broken.

It's been so long since a game surprised me with it's originality and satisfied my curiosity. The game is about following the narrator's story, and how much you want to deviate. It's a constant narrative between the player and the narrator, and in the end the game plays you as much as you play it.

It's depth and complexity results in a strategic and action packed game that is worth committing the 20-60 minutes per round. The down side to it's complexity is the super steep learning curve, and lack of anything really useful for learning in game. There are a huge amount of characters and effective builds for them. It can take quite a while memorize and become comfortable with all of it, but it's well worth the price. Low ranking matches can be quite frustrating with how long a rounds are. New and confused teammates will take out frustration on each other, but mid-high level players all have social skills and communicate effectively. The low level community is one of the worst I have seen in a game, yet the high level community is one of the best. Overall I think the game's complexity, and balance results in one of the best online multiplayer experiences you can get, but Free 2 Play isn't actually free as it will require a substantial time investment. It's a brilliant and polished game on so many levels, but until Valve develops a more effective teaching method I don't think it deserves a 10.

In a time where it's popular to make terrible reboots that miss the point of the original series, Tomb Raider is one of the few that actually improves a series. I would of liked to see more puzzle and jumping elements like the original games (though they are still core to the game), but nearly every other aspect of the game has been improved. I really liked exploring the environments and finding all the hidden items and improving your equipment and skills, however I would of liked the skill tree to have more meaningful choices (the amount of unlocks required to unlock the next tier of skills means you will get pretty much be getting everything anyway). The story has it's ups and it's downs. Discovering what happened on the island is quite interesting, and is told through the environment, enemies, and diaries, however your cadre of multicultural stereotypes that represent Lara's companions is probably the weakest link as it doesn't ever give you a reason to care for them, and luckily they are a very small portion of the narrative. Overall the game is quite good, and I feel it was worth my money.

Sure the game is made by people who don't like or even respect the DMC series, but the gameplay is solid. The fighting is easier, which makes you feel awesome right off the bat, but I eventually felt like I hit a skill ceiling, like there was little left to learn, and near the end it devolves into Simon Says forcing you to use specific weapons against specific enemies. Unlike previous DMC games where getting more skilled opens more options to the player as you realize what you are capable of, getting further in DmC felt more and more limiting. For this reason I say the game has no replay value and isn't long enough to be worth anywhere near $60. The level design was consistently one of the weakest parts of previous DMC games, but it's actually one of the strengths here. The environments are vibrant, imaginative, atmospheric, and mostly consist of fluid platforming instead of backtracking and puzzles. It however does feel like they were starting to run out of ideas in the later half of the game though. The characters in the game are however the weakest link. The game goes out of it's way to insult fans of the serise, so the amount of backlash this game receives comes as no surprise (Who thought that was a good idea?). Classic Dante was one of most likable and witty characters who approached fights with the same enthusiasm that the player experiences, but the new Dante comes across as apathetic, whiny, vindictive, and this attitude continues throughout the whole game lessening the entire experience. In fact everyone in the game comes across as a shallow jerk, except Kat. She's just feels tacked on just so the game can say it has a female character. All together the whole game comes across as juvenile, but Ninja Theory does have enough experience to make it coherent, and it never really feels "broken" at any point.

A bizarre mish-mash of ideas that though well executed, never quite seem to fit together. However at the launch price of $30 it provides more entertainment than most $60 games.

It's a weird game. It's a brawler that focuses on the chaos so that everyone has a chance, but technical enough that visiting friends won't be able to just pick up and play. The roster has several familiar faces, but lots of odd choices and several ex-exclusive characters's multiplatform renditions. The game all together shows a high level of technical competency, but lacks the the vision (and legal department) to make it a really solid title.

Revelations successfully blends newer action focused resident evil, with classic puzzle solving and and resource hoarding horror and tension. It's simply an all around solid title, and thus far the most fun I have had with my 3DS.

An emotional, and creative experience, and not just artistically, but technically. I went into the game nothing, and after becoming attached to my companion I finished the game only to find out I was playing co-op the whole time (I wondered why the AI seemed so intelligent and anxious). The down side being that the game is very short, and very easy.

Golden Abyss provides a surprisingly competent experience that doesn't feel like a dumbed down handheld game at all. It's got everything you would expect from an Uncharted title. It's biggest mistake however is something that far too many system launch titles make: trying too hard to sell you on the system's features. The puzzles and optional input methods frequently have you rubbing various parts of the PSV and tilting things. Sometimes it can come as a surprised and you can get screwed over fore merely holding the system "wrong". The climbing portion of the game is made way too easy with the touch screen. Luckily using the touch screen for climbing is optional and you can use the regular controls just like a real Uncharted game, but it's always there in the back of my mind saying tempting me that there's and easier faster way out. As soon as any climbing portion stops being satisfying I just say "F it!" and wildly rub my fingers across the screen and Nathan seems to figure it out quickly monkeying his way to the objective.

Skyrim is a huge step forward from Oblivion. A great soundtrack, beautiful landscapes, improved animation (most of the time, still a few weird spots), better faces, and more choices. Unfortunately this beauty is only skin deep, as Bethesda continues to move away from RPG mechanics where you really live in a world trying find different solutions to problems by applying your character's skills, but instead focuses on hack-n-slash loot-fest mechanics. Worse still is that the game uses a script to generate what items you find based on your character's level, ensuring that you never find anything remarkable. The fact that every dungeon ends with a large box full of more of the same, and a shortcut back to the entrance doesn't help the immersion either. In the end all I felt like I accomplished was improving my DPS.

Amazing graphics, and the best environmental sound I have ever heard. The single player campaign shows off a lot of weapons and has a pretty cool story (though the big plot twist at the end makes no sense). The real meat of any Battlefield game however is the multiplayer, and DICE has had a long time to polish and perfect their formula. The game would be an easy 10/10 if it weren't for one thing. Battlelog is a website (basically Facebook for guns) that you are forced to go to every time you want to find a game. The server browser is a part of the web page, and it can't detect server Ping. So you just have to pick and guess with your servers (most of the time the lag is unplayable). On top of that the website takes forever to connect, load, and finally launch the actual **** which then proceeds to load some more. I felt like I spent more time looking for a playable game than actually playing.

The PS3 version of Sonic Adventure is oddly just an emulator running the Dreamcast version. It doesn't support widescreen, has a weird box around the screen, and has no new features. It's a cheap cash in by Sega, but it's still a game I really like.

The way sonic moves and is affected (or not) by physics is weird, unintuitive, clunky, and results in a world that feels very lifeless. The lack of any real animated visuals doesn't help either.

Duke Nukem's iconic macho humor is as strong as ever, with all it's hidden ego items, which rewards players for spending time **** around and finding ways to pat themselves on the back (though less so later in the game). This rewards players by increasing the size of Duke's ego, which is apparently powerful enough to stop bullets (but getting shot still makes him feel bad). The levels have some wonderfully novel and creative design. It's a breath of fresh air against all the modern shooters of nonstop shooting to find puzzles intermittently placed between shootouts, and allows for a stronger narrative characterizing Duke. The best joke of all is that after 15 years in development the game still feels rushed, and shooting simply isn't fun. Of all the fantastic weapons in Duke's arsenal, he's only allowed to carry two at a time, and not anywhere near enough ammo. For a game about kicking ass and chewing bubblegum, Duke spends way too much time looking at the ground trying to find the right tool for the job. Mid fight duke can refill his ego by humiliating and executing aliens, which is an entertaining idea, except Duke's default and constant ego regeneration is so fast, that such maneuvers are hardly worth doing. The regeneration also heavily encourages players to just turtle up behind cover and hide whenever they get hurt, which is very uncharacteristic of Duke Nukem, and sometimes results in long drawn out standoffs without the specific gun Duke is supposed to use (which can often be found nearby without any in world explanation). On harder difficulties all these problems are made worse, as duke has to spend more time hiding to recover ego, and it's more important that you have the specific gun the developer wanted you to use for that part. Duke Nukem could of been an exciting blast from the past, but instead a halfassed attempt to "modernize" it ruins the game and makes it play like a cheap, and clunky Call of Duty clone.

Fun combat, mature storytelling thats actually mature, choices that matter with real consequences, and likable well fleshed out characters make this an obvious candidate for GOTY. It really lives up to the hype and expectations, but unfortunately bugs, shoddy AI, and an engine that could be optimized better prevent it from getting a 10 by me.

A brilliant narrative that plays with the players perspective, and sheds the wild west in a new light. It is proof that videogames are indeed art. Unfortunately it's not actually fun to play, with some of the most tedious mechanics in modern gaming. The section in mexico was especially a chore, with it's frequent backtracking. At the end there is a great annoyance as well, as a completely achievable obstacle assumes and forces the player's defeat.

The base gameplay has a lot of potential to be very fun, but it's hidden behind layers and layers of convoluted mechanics designed only to waste the players time.

I may not of played the original, so I don't know how much of the game's mechanics are new to the PSP release, but if SRPGs were this good back then, why hasn't anyone learned and improved? In a lot of ways it seems like it tries to improve and upgrade modern SRPGs. Units grow and become more powerful as they become skilled, offering the player plenty of customization options. However fresh recruits are far from useless. The story is open-ended, well written, and the characters are believable. The art style also really fits the theme. Forgive me if I fail to articulate what aspects of the game really make it for me, but it's been a long time since I felt like I played a game this substantial.

I love Crysis games for their open level design, and powerful suit that helps you creatively tackle the problems you face. It's polished and streamlined, but it doesn't hold your hand, or hold you back. Cries from PC enthusiasts that the series has been "consolefied" are untrue, but not unfounded. The level design and gameplay are just as sophisticated as ever, but at the time of release the PC version is lacking a couple basic expected features. For a game that so heavily advertises itself on it's fancy graphics, it's offensive that it would not include any modern DirectX support. It's graphics also fall short of expectations. Somehow the original Crysis looked far better. Despite all these disappointed and broken expectations, the game still has everything necessary to have a good time.

Dragon Age 2 certainly is a step backwards for the series in a few respects, but at it's core it still provides an entertaining role playing experience. My biggest gripe with the game is the control. The right mouse button is both attack and camera control. Without the tactical camera of it's predecessor the camera needs to be constantly adjusted to get a good view of the battlefield, and even then the camera moves on it's own whenever the characters do anything. This makes is quite difficult to target enemies in the heat of battle. The violence looks quite silly as the characters swing over sized weapons in quick exaggerated movements like an anime. The enemies just look slightly stunned every time they get hit until their HP reaches 0 and the pop like kind of meat balloons. The characters and interaction however are one thing DA2 does right, and I feel it's the most important part of an RPG experience. The Dragon Age world is well fleshed out with enjoyable characters (Although some feel very familiar of previous Bioware games). I quite liked DA2's "over time" feel. The game takes place over a long period of time, and you can really feel the characters and world change. Overall I feel that DA2 technically disappointed, but still entertained.

The game has beautiful character art, good music, and writing that makes me feel like I'm playing a classic SNES/PS1 era JRPG. Combat can be approached like a puzzle game and greatly rewards damage output for creative thinking. The down side is that even the easy battles require a significant time and MP investment, which left me constantly feeling starved of power and frequently desperate feeling. The time travel aspect is well used in the story, as there is constant tension and mystery. Overall the game has a lot of strong points and they work well together resulting in what I feel is one of the best Japanese RPG games to come out in quite some time.

Fast paced, fun, with an excellent cast. Unfortunately you quickly run out of things to do, and the online (the main attraction) is an exercise in frustration, as basic features don't work, and lag is a constant issue.

I read all the negative reviews, but I am such a **** for SRPGs, and wound up buying it anyways. The story portions are far too short and have far too many fights in-between them. All the fights take place on a flat surface making them even more same-y and tedious. The PSN has a huge pile of free DLC that came out on release day. It could of easily just been part of the game. Overall the game is just too tedious to recommend.