Author: A.J. Hess
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Review: Project Delta (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Project Delta Developer: Danthekilla Publisher: Xbox Live Arcade Genre: Shooter Release Date: 04/04/2010 The rise of downloadable titles has allowed developers more and more room to innovate in game design and scope. Sometimes that innovation reaches back to mimic great games from history. Project Delta is one such game. Taking a top-down approach to interplanetary…
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Review: The Shadows of the Underworld (Microsoft Xbox 360)
The Shadows of The Underworld Developer: Totabiento Publisher: Xbox Live Arcade Genre: Shooter Release Date: 03/30/10 Video games have long given tribute to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Every tentacle-faced monster is, in its way, saluting his works of horror. Very few games have outright made non-Euclidean geometry and Cthonic fears the entire point of…
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Review: Scrap Metal (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Scrap Metal Publisher: Xbox Live Arcade Developer: Slick Entertainment Genre: Arcade Racing Release Date: 03/10/2010 There is something buried deep in the gamer’s psyche. A love of racing games and a love of shooters overlaps in most of us, with an equation that I imagine looks something like this: Cars equal cool, Guns equal cool,…
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Review: Aliens vs Predator (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Aliens vs Predator Publisher: Sega Developer: Rebellion Genre: First Person Shooter Release Date: 02/16/2010 Ever since that fateful day when a prop designer stuck an Alien skull on a Predator trophy wall, the idea of a species war between these two classic sci-fi icons has been nailed deep into the psyche of fans. Since then,…
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Review: Dante’s Inferno (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Dante’s Inferno Publisher: Visceral Games Developer: EA Games Genre: Action Release Date: 02/09/2010 English professors are probably shaking their heads right now. After decades of difficulty in getting students to read the classics, along comes Beowulf and Dante’s Inferno in a few short years. Suddenly those giant, dusty tomes are flashy movies and video games.…
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Frozen Fingers: Ten Games to Play in the Cold
A few years ago, I read a book called The Terror, by Dan Simmons. The book is a fictionalization of what happened to a pair of exploratory vessels that tried to force the Northwest Passage and sail through the Arctic Ocean in 1845. Bad things happened in no short supply, and the combined horrors of…
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Review: Four Player Tangerine Fight (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Four Player Tangerine Fight Publisher: Dirge Game Studio Developer:Dirge Game Studio Genre: Multiplayer Platformer Release Date:01/26/2010 A while back, we reviewed a little game called Herman. Featuring the story of a cubicle drone seeking to escape, Herman was a fun indie title with some quirky character design and interesting elements. Billing itself as “the best…
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Review: Darksiders (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Darksiders Publisher: THQ Developer: Vigil Games Genre: Action Release Date: 01/05/2010 Well, Holiday 2009 is over and done with, and we can get back to playing all the games that we didn’t have time to fully explore last fall, right? Well…. it turns out you shouldn’t be so hasty. 2010 has a lot of potentially…
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Review: Herman (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Game Name: Herman Publisher: Dirge Game Studio Developer: Dirge Game Studio Genre: Platformer Release Date: 12/11/2009 There has been a ton of office related humor in media today. We can probably thank Office Space for really capitalizing on it and kicking it off, although Dilbert surely helped as well. Well, Dirge Game Studio is tossing…
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Review: Vegas Party (Nintendo Wii)
>Game Name: Vegas Party Publisher: Storm City Games Developer: Enjoy Gaming Genre: Party/Board game Release Date: 10/27/2009 In the late 1990’s, one video game console established itself as the king of local multiplayer. Amazing games like Goldeneye: 007 and Mario Kart kept players glued to the couches, bean bags, folding chairs, beds, and generally anything…
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Review: Worldshift (PC)
Worldshift Publisher: Playlogic International Developer: Crytek Black Sea Genre: Real Time Strategy Release Date: 11/11/2009
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Review: Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Nintendo Wii)
Game Name: Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo Publisher: Namco Bandai Developer:Media Vision Genre: Platform/Brawler Release Date: 10/20/2009 A poll of teenagers in the late nineties on the meaning of the word Kamehameha would turn up some interesting results. Sure, you’d get a handful of kids that could tell you that King Kamehameha was the…
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Review: Borderlands (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Borderlands Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Gearbox Software Genre:First Person Shooter/Role-Playing Game Release Date: 10/22/2009
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Review: Ultimate Duck Hunting (Nintendo Wii)
Game Name: Ultimate Duck Hunting Publisher: Zoo Games Developer: Mid Carolina Media Genre: Hunting Release Date: 10/20/2009 There is a sacred history to the name Duck Hunt. Dating back to the original NES, any gamer who owned that system can remember whiling away hours of their lives aiming a lightgun at a tiny screen while…
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Review: A.I. War: Fleet Command (PC)
Name: A.I. War: Fleet Command Genre: Real Time Strategy Developer: Arcen Games Publisher: Arcen Games Release Date: 09/27/2009 When you start to take away all of the graphics and special effects, you can distil most games to one basic theme. With games like Call of Duty or Resistance, it comes down to reflexes. With the…
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Fallout 3: The Final DLC (Microsoft Xbox 360)
We are getting closer to the release of the Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition, which will collect the original game and all of the downloadable content released for it. It’s time to get our take on what the final two expansions were like. We’ve already covered Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, and Broken Steel.…
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Review: Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Halo 3: ODST Genre: First Person Shooter Developer: Bungie Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Release Date: 09/22/2009 When the original Xbox came out nearly eight years ago, people laughed it off as a cash-in attempt on the videogame market by M$. Few people realized that Microsoft was quietly developing their own killer app for the giant…
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Review: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Developer: Vicarious Visions Publisher: Activision Genre: Action RPG Release: 09/15/2009 There is no truer fact in comic books than returning to life. Heroes, villains, and lost loves, you can pretty much guarantee that the graveyards have a revolving door. In a similar fashion, anything that the video game industry profits from…
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Review: Darkest of Days (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Name: Darkest of Days Developer: 8Monkeys Publisher: Valcon Games (360 version) Genre: First Person Shooter Release Date: 09/08/2009 In the realm of Science Fiction, one of the biggest concepts around is time travel. Whether you are hopping in a suped up Delorean to make sure your parents get together or sling-shotting around the sun to…
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Joker’s Top Ten Reasons to Avoid the Collector’s Edition of Arkham Asylum!
Hey there kiddies! It’s your old pal, Mr. J! Now, I hear there’s rumors of the big, bad Bat having himself a new video game. Well, don’t believe the hype, as I always say! Or is it believe the hypnosis? Anyway, the game comes in two varieties, normal and “Collector’s” editions. I went ahead and…