Author: Mark B.
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Review: Silent Hill: Book of Memories (Sony Playstation Vita)
Silent Hill: Book of Memories Genre: Dungeon Hack Developer: Wayforward Publisher: Konami Release Date: 10/16/12 We can safely divide the Silent Hill franchise at the point between Silent Hill 4: The Room and Silent Hill Origins as the point where the franchise started being something completely different from what it had started as. While the…
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Review: The Hip-Hop Dance Experience (Microsoft Xbox 360)
The Hip-Hop Dance Experience Genre: Rhythm Developer: iNiS Publisher: Ubisoft Release Date: 11/13/12 Ubisoft has gotten into the motion-based dancing subgenre pretty seriously through the Just Dance series, a dance franchise that aims to appeal to a wide variety of styles and genres, but they’ve also been experimenting with more genre and artist specific releases…
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Diehard GameFAN Presents: Twenty or so helpful hints for Persona 4 Golden.
So, way back when Persona 4 came out, I put together a mini-strategy guide of sorts for the game, largely because the review itself was doing fairly well reader-wise and I felt that I could offer something of benefit to those who were still struggling with the game. With the release of Persona 4 Golden,…
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Review: Persona 4 Golden (Sony Playstation Vita)
Persona 4 Golden Genre: RPG Developer: Atlus Publisher: Atlus Release Date: 11/20/2012 It’s hard to believe that four years have passed since Persona 4 dropped onto the PS2 in the US, but here we are and there it is. Atlus has been working on porting various other titles in the series to other consoles in-between…
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Review: Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (Sony Playstation Vita)
Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward Genre: Adventure Developer: Chunsoft Publisher: Aksys Games Release Date: 10/23/2012 Two years ago, Aksys Games and Chunsoft unleashed 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors onto what could best be described as an unsuspecting gaming community, and the game generated a fairly large amount of press for what was otherwise assumed…
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10 Thoughts on… Persona 4 Golden (Sony Playstation Vita)
To say that I am a fan of Persona 4 would likely be a bit of an understatement at this point. While I felt that more could have been done with the game to differentiate it, in a large scale sense, from Persona 3, I’ve played through the Playstation 2 title a full two and…
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Review: Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss Genre: Action RPG Developer: From Software Publisher: Bandai Namco Release Date: 10/23/12 One year later, almost to the day, console owners are receiving DLC for Dark Souls. Dubbed Artorias of the Abyss, this content was included in the PC release of Dark Souls, dubbed the Prepare to Die edition,…
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Review: Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile Genre: First Person Shooter Developer: Croteam Publisher: Mastertronic Release Date: 10/17/12 It may seem disappointing to have DLC content available day of release, but Serious Sam 3 has something of an excuse for this. Serious Sam 3: BFE is an actual standalone PC title that has been available…
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Review: Serious Sam 3: BFE (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Serious Sam 3: BFE Genre: First Person Shooter Developer: Croteam Publisher: Mastertronic Release Date: 10/17/12 When a developer is approaching the idea of creating a first person shooter, at this point, they basically have three paths they can potentially go down: the bog-standard first person shooter (Call of Duty, Halo), the experimental variant (Bulletstorm, Borderlands),…
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Review: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Microsoft Xbox 360)
XCOM: Enemy Unknown Genre: Turn Based Strategy Developer: Firaxis Games Publisher: 2K Games Release Date: 10/09/2012 The XCOM franchise has been dormant for over a decade at this point, but its mark on the industry has been pretty apparent. Games that try to do what the series did pop up every now and again on…
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PopCap and the American Dental Association Present: STOP ZOMBIE MOUTH.
So I’m going to tell a story very quickly. I hope you can indulge me. Around a decade and a half ago, I was involved in an incident that resulted in my jaw being broken in two places (someone was cleaning their fist and it went off, long story). I was given a choice of…
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Review: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Genre: Fighting Developer: Namco Bandai Publisher: Namco Bandai Release Date: 09/11/12 The original Tekken Tag Tournament came to the console market as a PS2 exclusive launch title, and was an interesting take on the Tekken series that, until now, was never expanded upon. It’s a little surprising that Namco didn’t revisit…
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Review: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (Microsoft Xbox 360)
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes Genre: Adventure Developer: Frogwares Publisher: Atlus Release Date: 09/25/12 Sherlock Holmes has seen a fairly large amount of popularity in the past few years, thanks in large part to a blockbuster movie, Sherlock Holmes, starring an absolutely resurgent Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, as well as a fantastic…
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10 Thoughts on… the Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward Demo (Sony Playstation Vita)
Developer Chunsoft was, up until about two years ago, best known to US gamers as a developer of Roguelike dungeon crawling RPG’s, such as the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series and the Shiren the Wanderer series. Aksys games introduced us to a new facet of the developer’s catalog in 2010, however, with the critically acclaimed 9…
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10 Thoughts on… the XCOM: Enemy Unknown Demo (PC)
So, let’s get this out of the way up front: I LOVE the XCOM series. X-COM: UFO Defense was an amazing piece of work for its time, and Terror From the Deep, while more of an expansion pack than a full-fledged game, was still pretty fantastic. X-COM: Enforcer (an off-shoot third person shooter) was the…
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10 Thoughts on… the Silent Hill: Book of Memories Demo (Sony Playstation Vita)
Okay, so, I’m going to talk about the demo, and I know we’re getting the demo in a few days, but I’m impatient, so I wanted to grab the European demo in advance. Do you folks KNOW what is involved in getting a European account set up on your Vita? I had to go to…
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Review: Zen Pinball 2: Plants vs. Zombies (Sony Playstation 3/Sony Playstation Vita)
Zen Pinball 2: Plants vs. Zombies Genre: Pinball Developer: Zen Studios Publisher: Zen Studios Release Date: 9/6/12 While Zen Studios is likely most notable for their Marvel Pinball series when it comes to licensed tables, they’ve done their share of gaming franchise licenses as well. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and Super Street Fighter II have…
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10 Thoughts on… Zen Pinball 2 (Sony Playstation 3/Sony Playstation Vita)
Zen Studios has had some less than optimal releases through their career (The Punisher: No Mercy comes to mind), but one thing they know damn well is pinball. Whether they’re releasing themed tables based on existing franchises (the Marvel Pinball series, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and so on) or their own unique and fun tables…
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Review: Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise Genre: Beat-em-up Developer: Qooc Soft Publisher: 7sixty Release Date: 9/5/2012 While the beat-em-up genre is largely one that has been relegated to the backburner of game development in favor of genres that take advantage of the technology presently available, you’ll always see some enterprising sorts come along and try…
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Review: Adidas MiCoach (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Adidas MiCoach Genre: Fitness Developer: Chromativity Publisher: 505 Games Release Date: 07/24/12 Alex might be the fitness guru around here, but I’ve been spending the past several months working on a fairly extensive workout plan that’s been paying dividends, so when Alex mentioned we’d received Adidas MiCoach for review, I was interested. Motion-based peripherals might…