Reviews

So far this year I’ve played a few games that have genuinely surprised me due to how crazy they are.  I’m all for games taking a risk and presenting new things to the player, but I’ve had the pleasure of playing games where I didn’t know what the hell was going on.  It’s no surprise that most of these befuddling games are from Japan, the land of all things awesome and wacky.  The latest contribution from the Japanese video game industry is the North American version of the 2D shmup Deathsmiles.  Originally released for the Xbox 360 in Japan three years ago, fans of the s

Even though video games are massively popular it’s still surprising to see the type of products or cross promotions that are created for big franchise games. One video game franchise that has always maintained a fair level of consistency amongst their products has been Metal Gear Solid.  Despite being one of the most popular and recognized video games ever created, MGS has kept things relatively low key with the standard action figures, limited edition t-shirts and a few themed peripherals.

There are some franchises that just hit home with some folks, whether its gamers, comic geeks or just all around geeks who love anything that is sci-fi or have a fantasy element to it.  One such franchise that has hit all the key bases of geekdom is the Transformers.  When you have robots who can disguise themselves as various vehicles or in some cases animals and dinosaurs, then it shouldn’t be too surprising if the fanbase is large and uber dedicated. 

Fighting games on the Wii are a bit of a rare breed.  And by fighting games I mean proper 1v1 fighting games and not party game centric ones where it’s simply a mad dash race to see who the faster button masher is.  The Wii has had a few notable releases such as Soul Calibur and the terrific Tatsunoko vs.

It’s not too ridiculous to say that the Wii is known for being a casual-centric console.  Every now and then we do get a game that’s aimed at the core audience such as Dead Space Extraction or No More Heroes 2.  Nintendo does seem to be gradually improving the amount of core games available on the Wii as evident by their showing at E3 last month. But my hat must be tipped to whoever at Nintendo decided to release Sin & Punishment: Star Successor in the states.

So far the world of video games has offered us quite an array of original games with unique characters to play as. We’ve played as futuristic soldiers in green armor, an aging master of stealth and even an average joe adventurer. But now we have a character to play as that isn’t a bald space marine nor does he wear bulky armor; instead he’s filled with stuffing and near blinding rage.

It’s said that baseball is the national past time of the U.S., a sport that for well over a century has become ingrained in the nation.  Despite a somewhat shaky history in the past few years, baseball is still as popular as ever, especially with the World Series almost upon us.  So what better way to combine ones love of baseball and video games than with the EA Sports baseball Gamer Kit for the Nintendo DS.

With the World Cup being at its halfway point right now the world is buzzing with excitement.  It’s rare that moments like this happen but with the international appeal of football (the one where you kick the ball instead of throw it) none of us should be really surprised.  Football has that special something to it that strikes deeply in its fans and those pro athletes who play it.

One of the most popular sports in the world is football. And by football I mean the football that’s popular in North America where players throw around a ball and try their best to tackle one another without causing life changing injuries.  Football is a major part of the American culture and surprisingly its video game counterpart has also been a huge staple as well. For the past fifteen years Electronic Arts’ Madden franchise has been the top football game amongst gamers and the mainstream press.

Over the past decade we’ve seen the casual games market absolutely blow up. Video games were once looked at as something for kids or the geeky/nerdy audience but now games are enjoyed by everyone, even if it’s an 80 year-old grandma who enjoys playing Bejeweled.  Casual gaming on the consoles hasn’t been as prevalent as on the PC but with platforms such as the PSP, DS and Wii more and more games aimed towards the casual toward are being released. Case in point: Supermarket Mania for the PSP.

Even though golf is one of the most popular, oldest and timeless sports in the world it hasn’t exactly gotten a lot of video game love.  Yes, when it comes to the two ends of the sports spectrum (arcade and sim) golf is well represented with Sony’s Hot Shots Golf franchise and EA’s Tiger Woods.  But with the fate of Hot Shots Golf unknown there’s now a void in the arcade golf genre.  The new PSN release Planet Minigolf may fill the arcade golf void for some but a few issues pop up which prevent it from earning a green jacket. 

When I was lucky enough to attend PAX East back in March there was one game that immediate caught my attention.

There are some video game genres that thanks to their simplicity are timeless classics.  We of course still have the core genres out there such as action, adventure and racing but with the evolution of gaming most of those genres have taken on traits from others to become new hybrid genres.  But one genre that has remained the same since its inception many years ago is the side-scrolling shooter genre aka shmups.

When it comes to reinventing the racing genre it seems like developers will pretty much try anything.  Some go for a simple approach of melding sim and arcade aspects into an approachable product while others take a different route.  Some racing games try to piggyback the success of others with vehicular combat games which at times can be as much fun as riding in a car with your 75 year-old grandma driving.  But there have been a few successful racing games whose originality and unique approach proved to be entertaining, most notably the Burnout series.

There’s something about the Old West setting that strikes a chord in people. Maybe it’s the lawless and violent nature of the period that people find so appealing.