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5 (9) 4 (21) 3 (14) 2 (4) 1 (0) 3.7 starsAverage score of 48 user reviews
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Humorous and offbeat, PA3 is worth your $5 0
When Hothead Games, developers of Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness Episodes 1 and 2 decided to focus their efforts elsewhere, that seemed to spell the end of the offbeat and humorous RPG series. Fortunately, the two man crew at Zeboyd Games stepped up to take over the development reins of the third Penny Arcade game. While Penny Arcade 3 looks and plays very differently from the first two games, it is still maintains the series' particular brand of oddness and exc...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Good Value at $5 0
I thought that $10 was too much to ask for the Mechromancer and the minor loot that came with the pre-order bonuses, so I waited, and I'm glad that I did. 2K dropped the price of this DLC to $5 in early January, which was a good price for the content that it provides. The character is very powerful, and fun to play as, with skill trees that offer a great variety of gameplay....
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
The Two Thrones gets Price of Persia back on track 0
You have to love it when a developer listens to their fans. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was an unmitigated success, and stands tall as one of the greatest games in recent years. Unfortunately, Ubisoft tinkered with the franchise a bit too much in their sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. By taking the series in that dark direction, full of decapitations, trash talk, and heavy riffing guitars, the players' perception of the Prince changed, and not for the better.The Two Thrones pick...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
The mess of a story detracts from a much improved game 0
"They'll pay for this."Think about that statement for a second. What image does it conjure? If you're thinking about an enraged warrior, his anger building towards the breaking point, quietly warning his foes that he is about unleash Hell upon them, you're probably on the right track.It's also a direct quote from Kingdom Hearts II, the wildly anticipated sequel to the runaway hit from Square Enix. It fits the game pretty well, actually. After all, KHII is an action-RPG that borrows many elements...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Story trumps high polygon counts any day. 0
Revisiting the earlier games in the Final Fantasy series is not always easy. Ever since Cloud hopped off of the train in Midgar, Final Fantasy has been synonymous with jaw-dropping graphics and flawless presentation. As the power of the consoles has increased, the maestros behind this series have consistently surpassed what players though their hardware was capable of. There is no way that Final Fantasy IV, known as Final Fantasy II when it came out on the SNES, stands a chance against these tec...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
I have seen the future, caves. 0
You know what the best part of Morrowind was? The caves. Just ask Arkane Studios' CEO Raphaël Colantonio (umlauts are the new goatee, though Raphael has both). Early on in designing Arx Fatalis, he realized that nobody wants to traipse about a large, open world filled with a variety of races, creatures, mountains, and trees. No, no, they want to wade through caves, stabbing a dozen-or-so generic types of enemies for hours on end, with none of that pesky variety to get in the way. Of course, that...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Best in the series, and almost perfect all around. 0
Tekken 5 is easily the best game in this incredible fighting series. The only element keeping it from true perfection is the lack of online play. The fighting is truly fantastic, the graphics and sound are absolutely stunning, and Namco has included a plethora of extra features that make this game a hard package to pass up.Fortunately, the designers at Namco were willing to admit that they had made a mistake with the fighting system of Tekken 4, and decided to revert combat in Tekken 5 back to...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Not as good as Gran Turismo, but FM's online play sets it apart. 1
Forza Motorsport is the Xbox's attempt at simulation racing, but more specifically it's Microsoft's attempt at a "Gran Turismo Killer". While the game is undoubtedly fun, the core gameplay is nowhere near as refined as Gran Turismo 4. The graphics aren't as good as GT4, the sound isn't as good as GT4, and the car selection isn't as widely varied as GT4. However, Forza Motorsport has one feature that should polarize the population of racing game fans; online play. If you're looking for an excell...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
X-Men Legends is a competent, squad-based hack-n-slash. 0
X-Men Legends is a competent, if not especially deep, action-RPG. The gameplay follows pretty similar to the vein of Diablo where you take your crew into an area filled with bad guys, beat the crap out of said bad guys, and level up your powers. There's a pretty interesting story to the game, and the inclusion of playable classic X-men stories, like "Night of the Sentinels" or Juggernaut's break-in at the X-Mansion. The graphics do what they need to do, but are never intended to be all that grea...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Warrior Within drops the PoP series off a cliff. 0
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (WW) just went wrong somewhere. It's really a combination of a few different things, but where The Sands of Time (SOT) just felt right as a whole game, WW does not. The major areas that I paid attention to are the new combat system, the puzzles and how difficult they were due to sloppy controls and poor camera angles, the unwise change to an "extreme" theme, and the crappy audio on the Xbox version. The game itself hasn't changed that much since SOT, with the ex...
1 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Great fighting marred by horrible user interface and game modes 0
Soul Calibur III is one of the most frustrating gaming experiences in recent memory. On one hand, the core fighting is still great, the graphics are simply amazing, and the character customization options are very robust. However, the user interface is abysmal and inconsistent, the gam modes actually get in the way of putting you in combat, there's no online play, and the sound is uneven. That Namco can screw up a proven formula this badly is infuriating and totally inexcusable. Being Soul Cali...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
A fantastic game that nails the feel of a classic 16-bit RPG. 0
The GBA has been a goldmine for classic 16-bit RPG gaming. This includes ports of old favorites like Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, and Sword of Mana and new takes on classic RPGs like Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Riviera. Like the other new takes on old favorites, Golden Sun borrows heavily from its ancestors and creates a great original game that feels like an SNES classic. Your story starts off in typical RPG form. You're a child in a small village that protects the secret of Alchem...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Part two of Golden Sun improves the game in just about every way. 1
Golden Sun: The Lost Age is the conclusion to the two-part Golden Sun story. As such, you really can't play this game without having played the first one. There's a brief introduction that tells you what happened in the first GS, but I doubt it explains enough for you to really know what's going on. However, if you've played GS then you'll be able to jump right into GS:TLA. Like all good follow-ups, GS:TLA builds on the successful formula of GS, but adds more depth and difficulty to keep the gam...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
XML2 expands on the successful formula of the first game. 0
It's often the case that the second game in a series is really what the developers wanted the first game to be. Typically, a lot of features get cut out during the first game's development because they're either too difficult to create in time for release, or there are other things (physics engines, AI, etc.) that have to be created first. The X-Men Legends series seems to be another example of this. X-Men Legends II is much more deep than the first game, which adds a lot of subtlety and fun to ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
WARNING: You cannot handle this game. 1
Chuck Norris Superkicks is the most amazing game that has ever been created. There is nothing like it. There is nothing that can be like it. If you went back in time, Benjamin Franklin would tell you that he discovered electricity so that Chuck Norris Superkicks could someday be given to us by God. And by God, I of course mean Chuck Norris. But, a WARNING! DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SCREEN! Have you ever seen Raiders of the Lost Ark? That wasn't the 10 commandments in there, just a copy of Chu...
2 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
XIII is a competent yet underappreciated shooter. 0
XIII has quite a bit of competition, as it is one of about a million first person shooters on the Xbox. While it doesn't break with any of the gameplay conventions typical to a first-person shooter, it does have a very unique and interesting visual style that adds interest and sets it apart from other games of this type. Story-wise, XIII follows an amnesiac government assassin who may, or may not, have shot the president. Throughout the course of the game, you will find out more about the conspi...
5 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Suikoden III excels in its great story and deep combat. 0
Having never played Suikoden or Suikoden II, I had no idea what to expect from this game. I expected the standard Final Fantasy-style RPG, which Suikoden III is at its core. However, Suikoden III separates itself from other similar games by adding a lot of features that add up to create a very unique game. Suikoden III uses the "Trinity Sight System" to tell its story. The story is told through the different viewpoints of three main characters. This includes an imperial knight, a young boy from...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
You'd never expect Psi-Ops to be this good. 1
I can imagine that a developer working on the low-visibilty Psi-Ops was, at some point, told that their game would never be any good. After all, Psi-Ops appears to be so generic that it would get lost among established franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell. Fortunately, the overachieving developers at Midway wouldn't hear it. On the surface, there is absolutely nothing remarkable about Psi-Ops. You play as Nick Scryer, an undercover military operative, with amnesia of course, who's...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Dark Alliance II isn't a bad game, but it brings nothing new. 0
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is yet another game in the crowded hack 'n slash genre. It follows the same formula laid down by Diablo, and copied by Champions of Norrath, The Bard's Tale, and X-Men Legends. You go from screen to screen, wiping out all enemies in your path. You collect money and items from their dead bodies, level up, and go kill more enemies. This is a formula that works most of the time, but it always runs the risk of getting stale. The first BG:DA avoided that problem, becau...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Twisted Metal Black is dark, disturbing, sick, and very very good 0
Twisted Metal Black is messed up. Seriously, seriously messed up. It also happens to be the best vehicular combat game to date, and brings the series back to prominence after an extended period of irrelevance. Gameplay is great in this game. First off, TMB is a hard game. The computer opponents are good at dogging you and taking you out. Later on, the bosses are absolutely brutal and punish you for making any mistakes. What stands out most of all is that each character requires you to play diff...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
The Bard's Tale strikes a sour note. 0
When your first impression of a game can be summed up as: "Thank goodness I borrowed this and didn't spend any money on it," you know that you're in trouble. InXile's The Bard's Tale takes its name from the classic PC RPG series of the 1980's, re-imagining it as a top-down hack 'n slash. While it attempts to be a satire of the genre, The Bard's Tale fails to be anything different than the games it lampoons. In fact, it manages to be a lot worse than any of its cliched ancestors. You play as t...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
WA3 is great for RPG fans, but not memorable for anyone else. 0
Wild Arms 3 is an RPG set in the Wild West. It borrows heavily from other RPGs, but has its own style and was a fun game to play. The art style of Wild Arms 3 is what makes this game stand out. Most RPGs are either set in fantasy worlds, cyberpunk futures, or some combination of the two. WA3 is set in a wild west-type desert world that has some touches of technological advancement, but is primarily comprised of old wood building towns and horse paths. There's an undertone that the world used to...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
VF4 is a good fighting game, but Tekken 5 is better. 0
I played a lot of Virtua Fighter 2 years ago. However, I never fell in love with the series; I was always a Tekken fan. When I bought VF4 for the PS2, I was determined not to compare it to Tekken. But I just couldn’t do it. VF4 is a great fighting game, but it’s not as good as Tekken. First off, the character roster in Virtua Fighter is much smaller than Tekken’s (depending on the version). You might make the argument that the VF crew have many more moves and subtleties to master. However, I di...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
With so many shooters on the Xbox, it's hard to recommend UC2 0
Unreal Championship 2 tried something new. Rather than provide the same Unreal Tournament experience again, Epic went added a 3rd person perspective and melee combat. Kudos for attempting to buck tradition, but it just doesn't work. UC2 is still a frantic frag fest, but it feels stilted and slow. If there's one thing that UC2 has in spades, it's a cool visual style. There's a sort of futuristic Egyptian theme working in the game that provide a few "wow" moments, as well as quite a few "is this ...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
PoP is one of the best games to come along in years. 0
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a great renewal of the classic POP franchise. Ubisoft created an instant classic by bringing us a rich game world, a very cool main character, and fun platforming. While the game is on the short side, it's a fun ride while it lasts. The first thing that you'll notice about SOT is that it looks great. The Prince narrates the story in the past tense throughout the game. Following along with that theme, there's a sort of warm glow over everything that gives t...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Contents may be too fun to handle. Use caution when playing. 0
"Wow," is the first thing that I said when I played Burnout 3: Takedown. Having never played Burnout 1 or 2, I had no idea what to expect from this much-hyped game. Needless to say, I was blown away by how visceral this game is and how addicted to it I became. Burnout 3 looks great. Everything from the environments, to the motion blur, to the bits of car that go flying off when you wreck add your sense of speed and danger. You'll crash a lot in this game. In fact, you'll purposely crash a lot i...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Ninja Gaiden is absolutely perfect. 0
The developers at Team Ninja brought back the Ninja Gaiden series in a big way. They created a game that looks amazing from beginning to end, is fun to play despite an unreasonable amount of difficulty, and gives you the feel that you are in total control over the most butt kicking ninja ever put into a game. You reprise the role of Ryu Hyabusa, the series' ninja hero. In this game, your clan has been wiped out and its powerful sword stolen by enemies unknown. This leads you on a mission of rev...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Immersive and immense, Morrowind is a fantastic RPG. 0
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a port of the huge, open ended RPG for the PC. The game is played from a first-person perspective, with combat being in real-time. You'll find that many aspects of the average RPG are present. You'll fight monsters with swords and magic, collect money, level up, get better equipment, carry out quests for NPC's, and eventually get wrapped up in saving the world. However, Morrowind offers you the ability to explore everything right off the bat, and lets you deci...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
High on ambition, poor in execution. 0
Despite being a move tie-in, I had high hopes for Enter the Matrix when it was announced. Most movie license games aren't very good, but this mostly stems from the games being cheap cash-ins on the popularity of the films. Enter the Matrix was different, however. There was a lot of ambition to this title. Enter the Matrix's story isn't just a retelling of the movies; it fills out background details that The Matrix Reloaded didn't show on screen. The Wachowski Brothers wrote the script. The movi...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
The buckets of blood can't mask the stiff and boring combat. 0
When the original Mortal Kombat came out, games were somewhat careful about showing blood and death in games. MK earned a lot of press for its fatality moves, and huge amounts of blood spilled by the fighters. However, the gameplay of the series was never really on par with its competitors at the arcade. Games like Street Fighter were much deeper. MK2 did make a lot of improvements, but the series will always be known for gore, not for great fighting. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is very much ...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
The new game modes don't make up for the same old boring kombat. 0
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was released to pretty good reviews and decent sales. So it's not surprising that Mortal Kombat: Deception doesn't mess with MK:DA's successful formula too much. Rather, Deception adds onto what Dark Alliance began by introducing a host of new game types, characters, and a very long quest mode. I didn't like MK:DA's fighting. It was stiff, shallow, and generally not fun. Deception retains the same fighting engine, but it does make a couple of improvements. The fir...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
SSX 3 is a ton of fun. Shred the slopes! 0
SSX was a big surprise when it came out on the PS2 in 2000. It blended great graphics, from the then brand new PS2, a ton of style, and a fun factor that was jacked up as high as it could go. SSX Tricky didn't mess with success; it was a true sequal in every way. It played the same, but added enough new stuff to justify spending another $50. SSX 3, however, takes the series in a new direction and introduces the idea of taking on the slopes in a more realistic manner. The first games involved a ...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
A solid turn-based RPG, with a weak story. 0
Shadow Hearts: From the New World is the third entry in the very good Shadow Hearts series. Shadow Hearts fits solidly in the turn-based console RPG genre, like Final Fantasy, Suikoden, or Dragon Quest. However, SH always stood a bit apart for a few reasons. First, SH is set in an alternate version of Earth's past. Most of the big events, like the World Wars or the Great Depression, are used as the backdrop to a fantastical world of demons and magic. Second, SH uses the "Judgment Ring" system du...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
I love Katamari, but I'm not in love with it. 0
We Love Katamari, the follow-up to the bizarre and addictively fun Katamari Damacy, follows the further exploits of the King of All Cosmos and his pint-sized protoge, the Prince of All Cosmos. The King is basically a hero to the people of Earth now, and they ask him for all manners of favors. In a set of funny cutscenes, He declines all of their requests at first. But then they flatter him with compliments, so he tells the Prince to grant them their wish. You get shot down to Earth with your tru...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Beyond Good & Evil is a short but sweet ride. 0
Beyond Good & Evil is an action/adventure game where you play as Jade, a woman that wears all green, knows kung-fu, moonlights as a photographer, and is generally too cool for school. Your planet has been attacked by the evil DOMz, and is now under the protection of the Alpha Sections. However, all is not as it seems. Throughout the course of your adventure, you'll infiltrate some shady operations and expose the truth about what's going on. This takes the form of battling enemies, running ho...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
In the crowded RPG genre, Wild ARMs 4 isn't worth a second look. 0
Though it's the fourth entry in the Wild West-themed RPG series, you'd never know it from all of the changes that were made to the story and presentation. Though there are a few new twists on the mechanics, Wild Arms 4 keeps a lot of the console turn-based RPG conventions. You control a small, rag-tag group of youngsters that randomly encounters hordes of monstrous enemies. Each party member specializes in a particular area, like fighting, magic, or support skills. You level up as you beat enemi...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Final Fantasy X is a shining jewel in the long-running series. 0
Final Fantasy is, without a doubt, the most prestigious series in gaming. So, it’s no big surprise that Final Fantasy X was the most anticipated title worldwide when announced. The PS2 had its share of Japanese turn-based RPGs, but it came into its own with the release of FFX. With all of the hype surrounding it, could FFX possibly deliver an engaging, beautiful, and fun RPG? It should come as no surprise to anyone that it did. FFX is the pinnacle of the Final Fantasy franchise, and can stand ta...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
FFX-2 has enough charm to be worth of the series' moniker. 0
A lot of people were surprised when the first Final Fantasy sequel was announced, though it shouldn’t have been a big shock. Final Fantasy X was one of the most beautiful games created for the PS2 and had a rabid following among the legions of Final Fantasy fans. Adding onto that loyalty, the somewhat bittersweet ending of FFX left many without the proper closure they needed to move on. So the folks at Square-Enix threw a bone to their fans by releasing Final Fantasy X-2. Our story picks up a f...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Jade Empire's dull combat ruins its epic story 0
In the Jade Empire, something strange is afoot. Corruption is winding its way to the highest levels of government, and some begin to wonder why the Emperor hasn’t stepped in and stopped it. Far removed from these troubles, your life as a young fighter is peaceful. You spend each day training under the tutelage of the kind Master Li. While you do have run-ins with some of your fellow students, most of your peers respect and like you. Soon, however, your life takes a drastic change. Pirates raze ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Dragon Quest VIII is a well done modern take on classic RPGs 0
After a long absence Stateside, Enix's Dragon Quest series returns in Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. This time around, the story begins with a small group of strange travelers camped out in the woods. Leading the motley group is the Hero, a retainer from the ruined Trodain castle seeking to restore it to its former glory. He’s joined by a bandit named Yangus, who follows him around like a puppy, The Hero’s liege King Trode, and Trode’s beautiful daughter Medea. Well, she would be...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful.
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