Category: Xbox 360

  • Review: Burnout Paradise (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Genre: Racing Platform: XBOX 360 (also on PS3) ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+ Developer: Criterion Publisher: Electronic Arts Release Date: 1/22/08 Welcome to Paradise City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Well, actually, this Paradise City doesn’t have any girls, and if you are looking at the grass, you’re going too slow.…

  • Review: Karaoke Revolution: American Idol Encore (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Karaoke Revolution: American Idol Encore Genre: Singing/Rhythm game Developer: Blitz Games Publisher: Konami Release Date: 02/05/2008 Y’know, out of all the people who could have produced a game like Rock Band, I always kind of figured Konami would have done it first. I mean, while in America they don’t exactly have a ton of peripheral-based…

  • Review: Culdcept Saga (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Culdcept Saga Genre: Board/Card RPG Developer: Omiya Soft/Jamsworks Publisher: Namco Bandai Games Release Date: 02/05/2008 The original Culdcept was one of those “niche” titles that has a loyal (but small) fan following, though most gamers have no idea what the holy hell it even is. One part Monopoly and one part Magic: The Gathering, Culdcept…

  • Review: Devil May Cry 4 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Devil May Cry 4 Genre: Action Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release Date: 02/05/2008 So, Devil May Cry 4. It’s not easy to know what to say about this one. The first game was and still is awesome, balls-to-the-wall ass-kicking of the highest order, and the third game was a challenge and a half… but the…

  • Review: Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (XB360)

    Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom Genre: Hack and Slash/Action RPG Developer: Blue Side Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Release Date: 01/08/2008 Quick note before we begin: Phantagram is the development house that owns the Kingdom Under Fire franchise, but according to Blue Side’s website, their team consists of all of the core developers responsible for…

  • Review: NFL Tour (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    NFL Tour Genre: Football Developer: EA Tiburon Publisher: EA Big Release Date: 1.8.08 The history of NFL Street is not a very pretty one. The franchise has toiled for the past four years as sort of an awkward sibling of the far superior (and far more successful) NBA Street franchise. As much as EA’s tried…

  • Review: Virtua Fighter 5 (XB360)

    Virtua Fighter 5 Genre: 3D Fighting Developer: AM2 Publisher: Sega Release Date: 10/30/07 It’s hard to believe it in retrospect, but Virtua Fighter, the first real 3D fighting game (beating out Tekken by about a year), has managed to stay a strong, viable franchise for parent company Sega, despite having one of the sillier game…

  • Review: Halo 3 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Halo 3 Developer: Bungie Publisher: Microsoft Players: 1-4(Campaign) 1-16(Multiplayer) System: Xbox 360 Ah Halo 3. The long awaited conclusion to the Halo trilogy. Let’s face it. There isn’t much chance that what I’m going to type here is going to sway your opinions on the franchise one way or another. If you haven’t had some…

  • Review: Shadowrun

    Shadowrun Developer FASA Interactive Publisher Microsoft System – Xbox 360 (also on Windows Vista) Players 2-16 Shadowrun. The name sends chills up the spines of many older gamers. Not me though. I managed to miss it. But I understand the fear that comes from seeing a game you love translated into another genre for no…

  • Review: Sonic The Hedgehog (PS3, XB360)

    Sonic The Hedgehog Publisher: Sega Genre: 3D Platformer Release Date: 11/14/2006 The original Sonic The Hedgehog came out in 1991, so to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the series, Sega is going back to basics with a restart of the series, simply named Sonic The Hedgehog for Xbox 360 and Playstation3. Unfortunately the PS3 version…

  • Review: Lost Planet (XB360)

    Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Genre: Third person shooter Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release Date: 01/12/07 Capcom has been on a roll as of late, both on the 360 and in general. After the critical and financial success that was Resident Evil 4, they turned out a bang-up effort last year with some amazing games, including…

  • Review: Sneak King (XB360, XB)

    Sneak King Platform: Xbox, Xbox360 Developer: Blitz Games Publisher: BKGames Rated: E Nowdays people complain when a developer decides to add in game advertising, and certainly product placement in some games can be annoying if they’re overdone or out of place to the enviroment the game is in *cough* sorry my throat is kind of…

  • Review: Call of Duty 3 (XB360)

    Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360) Activision The first Call of Duty game was something like a breath of fresh air. On an elevator. After someone farted. Somehow the developers at Infinity Ward showed a war weary gaming population that there was still some excellent gaming to be found in World War 2. Then with…

  • Review: WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2007 (XB360)

    WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2007 Genre: Wrestling Developer: Yukes Publisher: THQ Release Date: 11/14/07 As we established last year, I’m a fan of the Smackdown franchise. It’s by no means as exciting to me as, say, a good, solid Fire Pro game, but I like the franchise all the same. It scratches the itch of…

  • Review: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (XB360)

    Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Genre: Sports/Other Developer: Team Ninja Publisher: Tecmo Release Date: 11/13/06 Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball was a pretty polarizing title as far as opinions go. Whereas the normal DOA titles usually have a pretty wide frame of appeal, DOAXBV was a love it or hate it sort of game,…

  • Review: F.E.A.R (XB360)

    F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon Genre: First-Person Shooter Developer: Monolith/Day 1 Studios Publisher: Vivendi Games Release Date: 10/31/06 I love the FPS genre. When they’re done right, FPS games embody what is wonderful about gaming: they allow you to experience an environment, a game world if you will, as you WOULD experience it. And I’m…

  • Review: Gears of War (XB360)

    Gears of War Genre: Third-Person Shooter Developer: Epic Games Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Release Date: 11/07/06 Epic is one of the more… let us say focused companies in the video game market today. For those not aware, Epic makes first-person shooters. A LOT of first-person shooters. Anything with the Unreal name attached to it? Yeah,…

  • Review: Viva Pinata (X-Box 360)

    Viva Pinata Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Rare Genre: Farming/Pinata Collection Release Date: 11/09/2006 There are a variety of angles or stories one could use to frame Viva Pinata, Rareâ┚¬â”žÂ¢s new adventure on Xbox 360. One could bring up the recent, nearly decade long slump for Rareware, which stood atop the video game peak in the mid…

  • Review: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (XB360)

    Marvel Ultimate Alliance Genre: Action RPG Developer: Raven Software Publisher: Activision Release Date: 10/24/06 Small note before we begin: I appreciate the idea of “guest reviewers” and such, but I’ve learned the craft, as it were, in a more “straight man” fashion. In other words, we’re going to opt out from such an approach in…

  • Review: Phantasy Star Universe (XB360)

    Phantasy Star Universe Genre: Action/MMORPG Developer: Sonic Team Publisher: Sega Release Date: 10/25/06 The Phantasy Star series has been through an interesting metamorphosis through its existence. Originally starting out as a standard turn-based RPG franchise, Phantasy Star I-IV were all cut into that mold before Sega stepped back and decided to change things up. After…