Category: Previews

The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer Developer: Heavy Iron Studios Publisher: THQ Genre: 3D Beat ’em Up Available on: PS2, GCN, Xbox Release Date: 11/1/05 THQ recently sent me a Xbox Review Build of the new Incredibles game coming out in early October. I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of the movie, finding…

Title: Rogue Galaxy Genre: RPG Platform: Playstation 2 Developer: Level 5 Publisher: Sony Release Date: December 2005 (Japan) Official Japanese Website: Rogue Galaxy (Japanese) In 2000, while the Playstation 2 was still relatively young, a new company called Level 5 produced a game called Dark Cloud. While not the greatest game in the world, it…

Who’d have ever thought that watching teams of invertebrates wandering around with noutsides guns and killing each other would be such fun? Team 17 did, and the result was the hugely successful Worms franchise. Now, the WorMania is set to hit again, as the second incarnation of tri-dimensional Worms jumps onto your PC, PS2 or…

Publisher: Microsoft / Developer: Microsoft / Genre: Driving / Release Date: 2005 I’m not a big fan of racing games, but then I’m not a big fan of driving in real life. The last racing game I can say had fun with was the Need For Speed where you could unlock a T-Rex or a…

Publisher: Atlus / Developer: Atlus / Genre: Strategy-RPG / Release: 05-03-05 Stella Dues is the newest Strategy RPG from Atlus, in their long running vein of games like Hoshigami, Ogre Tactics, and more. If you’ve ever played a SRPG, then you will have no problems adjusting to the control scheme or gameplay of Stella Dues,…

Publisher: Empire Interactive / Developer: Bugbear / Genre: Racing Action / Release: 06-14-05 Flatout is a new Demolition Derby type racing game scheduled to be released on June 14th with a 49.99 price tag. It’s being released by Bugbear, a company I’ve never heard of before, but just the name reminds me of really weak…

Right. The game arrived at 4:30, and I put it down about 11pm. That’s six and a half hours of playtime and enough for me to gauge a pretty good feeling of the game. And to be honest, I’m looking at the scores this is getting and scratching my head. Review sites like Gamespot and…

Publisher: Nippon Ichi / Developer: Gust / Genre: Turn-Based RPG / Release Date: 5-24-05 Since the success of Disgaea and La Pucelle, Nippon Ichi has decided to come to the states and release their games themselves. Atelier Iris marks the first game by Nippon Ichi America that they will distribute directly (Phantom Brave carried the…

Publisher: The Adventure Co. / Developer: Microids / Genre: Point&Click / Release Date: 4-14-05 You know, point and click puzzle/adventure games are a dying breed. But the Adventure Company has really strived to keep this genre alive, and has done a great job of it so far, with games like Atlantis Evolution, Jack the Ripper,…

Publisher: Bandai / Developer: Bandai / Genre: Role-Playing / Release: 04-01-05 I have played some horrible games in my time. ET for the Atari 2600, Nightmare of Druaga, Chicago Enforcer, Beyond Good and Evil, Final Fantasy VIII, but man, I have to say that Digimon World 4 could quite possibly be flat out THE worst…

Publisher: DreamCatcher / Developer: Hydravision / Genre: Survival Horror / Release: 03-29-05 After playing through the Test build of this game, it amazes me in retrospect that no one has ever made a Teen Slasher Survival Horror video game in a very long time. There was Friday the 13th for the venerable NES, but that…

Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: n-Space. / Genre: First Person Shooter / Release: 05-23-05 Maybe you don’t believe in ghosts, but your GameCube does. Nintendo has a new style of FPS action on the roster for May 2005. Geist, true to its German namesake, is all about ghosts. Specifically one ghost with murder on his mind,…

Publisher: Sammy Studios / Developer: InterServ Int. / Genre: Fighting Action / Release: 03-22-05 The setting is ancient China. A giant meteor crashes to earth and plumes of flame sprout from the site in the form of a phoenix. For days not a single soul goes near the site, but somehow a blacksmith finds the…

Publisher: SCEA / Developer: SCEA / Genre: Action / Release: 03-22-05 I recently got my hands on a demo for God of War, Sony’s upcoming game set in ancient Greece, and since I was foolish enough to announce it, I was asked to give some of my thoughts. (Editor’s Note: When will he ever learn?)…

Gran Turismo 4 First Impressions Gran Turismo was a remarkable game that caught many off guard with it’s dedication to realism and all of the modifications you could do to your car. Gran Turismo 2 took the experience from the first game and made it better, increasing the number of cars and adding rally racing…

Publisher: Midway / Developer: Mesa Logic / Genre: FPS / Release Date: 04-25-05 Midway’s been doing pretty good with games lately. In the past year we’ve seen Second Sight, The Suffering, and Mortal Kombat: Deception. Area 51 however didn’t seem like a title that would interest me at all. First, it’s a remake of a…

Publisher: LucasArts / Developer: LucasArts / Genre: Action-FPS / Release Date: 03-01-05 LucasArts has been busy cross-promoting itself. If you thought that the movie Attack of the Clones and the forthcoming Episode III aren’t enough, Star Wars Republic Commando might be the thing to hit the spot. It takes place during the actual Clone Wars…

Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo / Genre: Platformer / Release: 03-14-05 When I first heard the title Donkey Kong Jungle Beat I thought, “Oh boy, another rhythym game pumped out to snag those people that bought Donkey Konga.” While from a marketing aspect there may have been a small mummuring of that, I was completely…

Publisher: Atlus / Developer: Atlus / Genre: RPG / Release Date: 03-08-05 Alex’s note: Please note I am writing this preview with the JAPANESE version of this game, so some translations may be off due to whatever Atlus may choose to do with names, places, monsters, and dialogue. I know! I’m writing something in the…