Reviews

It's mindless shooting but as you race against the clock. It's actually kind of fun!

Nintendo's iconic 2d beat'em up is back...this time on the Wii!

I gave the game a "B", which I know sounds like a harsh score compared to most reviews.

But I think a lot of critics are glossing over numerous technical flaws in this game out of their sheer love for all things Nintendo.

Look, I get that. As a former Sega Genesis owner (and one of the three Sega Master System owners worldwide, before that), I understand allegiance to beloved games and characters and franchises.

I still remember Streets of Rage and Golden Axe and even Altered Beast with fondness out of all proportion to the actual quality of those titles.

But that doesn't mean a critic can surrender their responsibility to honest judgment.

The fact is that SSBB has pedestrian graphics even for the Wii, is difficult to control with the Wii remote, has a clumsy online mode, and a boring singleplayer campaign.

Now, my criticism won't matter a whit when it comes to sales. SSBB will surely be one of the best selling games of 2008. And a lot of gamers will have a blast with the multiplayer mode for a long time.

But this notion that SSBB is a perfect game is absurd.

UPDATE: Anyone outraged by my review (Hi bob! Hi Collin!) might want to check this out.

Here's my review from today of the new Skype Internet phone software for the PSP.

Bottom line: The technology works as advertised, but the headphone setup is a little clunky and being limited to making calls only when in a Wi-Fi hotspot means you can't ditch your cell phone just yet.

Still, it's free and fun.

Desktop Tower Defense is elegant, simple and incredibly addictive.

Read my review here, and go play the game for free here.

Hands down, one of my favorite games of the year is 'Puzzle Quest' on Xbox Live. I've spent hours and hours with this puzzler... one weekend, I wasted an entire Saturday playing. I never do that, but it's that good.

I'm totally late to the 'PQ' scene. I'd read a gajillion blog posts praising the title, but the RPG mentions kept me from trying it. I'm not a big RPG fan.

Thank goodness, I got over my stubborn self and gave the game a try. You know the rest: here's my first explanation of 'PQ' and reaction to the game.

A couple of weeks ago I received the press release announcing the Nintendo Wii version of the game; and I politely begged the publicist at D3 to send a review copy. She did, and I played all weekend.

I won't go deeply into the rules of the game. I've explained those to death on here. To simply sum it up: it's a turn based RPG with the battles taking place on an easy-to-understand, but very deep, puzzle board. Like most RPG's, there are spells, power-ups and tons of evil baddies to defeat. It's an RPG for RPG haters (like me).

What I want to do, now, is point out the main features (and my opinions) of the Wii version of 'Puzzle Quest,' in bullet-list form:

• First, the most important part: the gameplay. It plays essentially the same as the Xbox Live, PSP and DS versions of the game. That is to say, it's fantastic... my favortite puzzle game in years.

• The mechanics of the gameplay on the Wii? Not so fantastic. You can use the Wii-mote alone or you can add the Nun-chuck for quicker navigation. Either way, you have to point the Wii-mote at the screen to control the puzzle board. This method requires too much precision and lends itself to making stupid mistakes. After about a half-hour, my arms were aching and I was holding the controller with two hands. I would have preferred to just turn the Wii-mote sideways and play the game like a traditional puzzler or VC title. The Nun-chuck addition makes navigating faster, but overly complicated.

Oh, one good thing, the vibration in the controller when you connect skulls or cast a spell is awesome. It almost jars your sleepy hand awake.

• I didn't expect the Wii 'Puzzle Quest' graphics to look as good as the Xbox Live version, but I never expected them to look as rough as they do. Everything has a jaggy old-school look to it, making it seem like this game belongs on the Super NES (Maybe this should have been a VC title for download?) rather than the Wii.

Compared to other versions, the main playing board is squeezed into the middle of the screen and the counters and spells are widened on the side. I'm not sure why. If this is your only version of the game, you'd never bring this into question, but the difference was very pronounced for me.

• The sound effects are great... I love the clinking of the falling gems; but there's a problem with the music. The music on the Xbox Live version is one of my favorite game scores, ever. It has a cinematic feel that wouldn't seem out of place in a big blockbuster movie. The Wii version has the same great music, it just seems to jarringly silence itself without fading out. There's no gentle transition from tune to tune, just music slamming into a wall of silence. It's kind of sloppy.

So, even though I was a little frustrated by a few aspects of this iteration of 'Puzzle Quest,' I still couldn't stop playing. The gameplay is still crazy addictive and is the true draw for this title.

If you have access to other consoles, I'm not sure the Wii version would be your best choice; but if you only have a Wii, there is no better puzzle game. Just work on your arm strength before playing.

More details at Ron Workman's blog.

You can check out my mini-reviews that ran in the paper this week of Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4, but the bottom line is that I think CoD4 could be my game of the year.

It's just flat-out fun, and the only improvements I would add would be the ability to give basic directions to your squad mates, a la Rainbow Six Vegas.

Okay, I have had some extensive hands on time with both, GH III and Rock Band. My hands are aching, my fingers callused and shin splints from tapping the kick pedal. But I love these two games and you will too! Check out both reviews!

Guitar Hero III:Legends of Rock

Rock Band

The reviews are finally rolling in for the much hyped 'Assassin's Creed'...

• IGN.com: 7.7 out of 10 Read here
• 1up.com: 7.0 out of 10 Read here
• GameTrailers.com: 9.1 out of 10 Read here
• GameSpot.com: 9.0 out of 10 Read here

Interesting...

'Guitar Hero III' is turning out to be as fun as I expected it to be, IT RAWKS!!!

I have to contradict myself (from an earlier comment) because the timing is noticeably looser than 'GH II', which is better for the beginner to average player. However, the expert player might find this robs some of the fun out of the game. I say this because during some of the perplexing note patterns, I feel like all I need to do is "mash buttons" to get by. You can tell they spent a lot of time designing the note patterns, as it really feels like you’re playing guitar (yes, I play a real guitar aside from GH).

The addition of the boss battles makes the game for me, because they are VERY challenging. They key to winning in these battles is knowing when to deploy your attacks against the competitor. What I really enjoy about the boss battles is that the songs you play really showoff the style of the real counterparts (probably because they actually wrote and recorded those tracks for the game).

In previous GH games, we were treated to excellent covers of some great songs. Here in 'GH III' we are able to enjoy the original recordings of a lot of the tracks. This makes the Guitar Hero experience seem just a little more authentic (I'm playing guitar for Pearl Jam!!!).

With the 70+ songs on-disc (what a killer song selection it is), and more to come via Xbox Live download, I'm sure I'll be enjoying this game for quite a while...at least until RockBand is released. IMHO, replay value in the 'Guitar Hero' series is quite high.

Enjoy the review!

texasgamer@wfaa.com
Email Texas Gamer

A little late to the party, but worth taking a look at if you want to kill a few hours.
Enjoy this week's review!

High hopes and broken dreams from Sony's Lair, however Heavenly Sword delivers the goods, just not for very long.

Finally! I've not only fought through waves of Covenant, but my severely scratched disc and have finished the game. Enjoy the review!

Nintendo's famed bounty hunter makes her return to Prime Time. This week's Texas Gamer reviews Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii.

As promised. Here's my review of Bioshock, my early vote for Game of the Year! Between this game and the COD 4 beta I haven't been able to pull myself away from the console! Enjoy!

Our favorite plumber is back and this time has a little help from his friends. Enjoy the review!

A creepy game from the developers that brought us the awesome Chronicles of Riddick. Turn out the lights and play The Darkness!
Enjoy the reivew!

360 owners finally get their chance to Rock. I think it's time to put away my PS2.

Doug note: Watch when Marc jumps in the air and fails to hit the note... AWESOME! (snicker snicker)

Should you run out and upgrade to an Elite if you are an existing 360 owner?

A couple of shooters for this week's review. The disappointing MOH: Vanguard and the outstanding GRAW 2. ENJOY!

If you can tolerate the inconsistent controls, you might find some enjoyment in this quirky title, just not for very long.

Alas, finally a worthwhile reason to boot up my PS3!

Sure it's a bunch of silly mini games, but with an included remote....Hmmmmmm

Sure it's a bunch of silly mini games, but with an included remote....Hmmmmmm

One Wii remote later and I have the review done of SSX Blur. Enjoy.

No love from GamePro: click for hatin'.

Further hate from 1up.com: click for the pain

Game Informer likes it though... 8.5 review.

I'm still buying it... or stealing it from Marc. I enjoyed the few minutes I've played.

Fans of the series rejoice. Button mashers need not apply. enjoy this week's review.

A game with classic arcade shoot'em up action and a next gen coat of polish. Check out this week's Texas Gamer review.

I've gotten in about an hour or so of playtime so far in Crackdown, and while I want to venture a little farther before rendering my final verdict, here are some early perceptions:

*Gameplay seems a little shallow, but thoroughly entertaining. There's an endless array of faceless goons for you to pummel and shoot, and while some are hardier than others, none of them really stand out. You also don't need much in the way of mental prowess to advance through this game. Run, jump, shoot, detonate.

*The graphics are awesome. Climb to the top of a bridge or building, and you'll spend at least a minute or two surveying the cityscape below. Then you'll leap off and plummet giddily to the ground or water.

*Orbs are your friend. To increase your agility, speed and jumping ability, you need to collect glowing green orbs scattered around town. I've spent more time so far scavenging for agility orbs than I have actually completing the missions, because Crackdown doesn't become awesome until you've ramped up your jumping abilities to superhero levels.

My final grade will run in the paper on Saturday. Right now, though, I'd have to say that while Crackdown is tremendously entertaining, it's not a terribly complex or absorbing game. The game I'd actually compare it to is Dead Rising, which lets you roam freely through a zombie-infested mall rather than through an entire city. But Dead Rising has a ton of different activities to perform, a coherent and entertaining (if B-movie) plot to keep you engaged, and actually requires some mental planning and problem solving in order to advance.

Maybe some more time with Crackdown will alter my opinion, though.

My regular game review and column ran in the paper this weekend.

Take a look at my review of Capcom's Lost Planet for the Xbox 360.

While Lost Planet isn't as good as it could have been, it's a worthy purchase and shows that the developers at Capcom aren't content to just churn out generic shooters. A little more work on the enemy AI would have gone a long way, though.

Then you can check out my thoughts on Nokia's plans to salvage the N-Gage.

To summarize: Nokia is stupid. Nokia could rebrand this thing as the Virtual Boy II and it would still be better received.

Didn't for a minute think I was going to enjoy this game as much as I did. Check out the reivew.

I re-enlist for some more WWII action. This time on the PS3. Check out the Texas Gamer review.

Now that was a vacation! But I'm back and sorry I could not publish this earlier. Definitley worth watching. Still the best game available for the Wii right now and probably the best Zelda to date.

Several great shooters are available for the 360. Here's my Top three!

Guitar Hero is still one of my all time favorties and with the recent release of a sequel, I'm on a stairway to heaven! Check out my review.

Okay, Doug and I dumped on PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man yesterday. Then I saw this Joystiq article containing review scores handed out by several game sites for Resistance, and they were all in the 80s and 90s.

What gives? Are these guys in the tank for Sony, or did I miss something in this game? Given that I'd only played Resistance for a few hours, I decided to go back in and push a little farther into the game, to see if the action improved.

Read on for my second opinion.

Continue reading "Resistance revisited" »

PS3:

Resistance: It's an okay shooter, but Gears of War makes this game look like Pong. That's not entirely fair to the developers of Resistance, since the developers at Epic have had a year head start. But if Sony didn't want these comparisons, it should have made its initial Spring 2006 launch.

Genji: Maybe this generic button-masher is the reason my SIXAXIS controller is feeling so mushy. Nah, I don't think I played Genji long enough to have any lasting impact on the controller.

Wii:
Wii Sports: Well, that was a fun five minutes. Actually, the golf game is pretty good, and while the baseball game is totally neutered (no fielding), the batting is cool. Your on-screen bat moves almost in perfect tandem with the Wiimote. Suddenly, bunting is a lot of fun.

Zelda: One of the best GameCube games ever made. On the Wii. Seriously, Nintendo has no right to call this is a next-gen game. The graphics are pure GameCube, and while they did a good job of melding the Wiimote controls into the game, it's obvious that this was a Cube game that got transplanted onto the Wii to make the Wii's launch lineup look stronger than it really is. If you're a GameCube owner, and this is the only Wii game you're interested in, just wait until the GameCube version ships on Dec. 13.

ExciteTruck: I've got nothing against ExciteTruck. Using the Wiimote as a steering wheel takes some getting used to, but overall a completely playable racing game.

Bottom line: These are launch titles. Don't expect to be wowed. Just be happy you got your PS3 and/or Wii.

But that's just my take. Marc? Doug? Your impressions?

Doug's impressions:
The PS3 is so underwhelming that I'm kind of sad (sniff, must hold back tears). 'Resistance' just looks plain. I was hoping for 'Gears of War' level stuff, but it's not even close. It's just blah.

I trudged through a few levels of Genji and while the characters looked cool and the fire effects were neat, there's nothing to this game. No camera control, no intelligent level design and no fun.

As for the SIXAXIS controller... it's as cheap and fragile feeling as was reported. It's 'blah' like the rest of the system.

Oh... I almost forgot, Marc's updating of the system software took forever!

I'm really sad.

At least I had fun with Wii.

Marc's Impressions: Sorry it took so long to post. I have been trying to get as much playtime in as possible for this week's Texas Gamer.

PS3: Wasn't crazy about having to update, not once, but twice, right out of the box! I'm onboard with Victor. The console itself is a hulking unit, but with a stylish design that will definitely draw gazes at your entertainment unit. Staring at it sitting there with the rotatable PS logo, the system just looks like a monster of a gaming machine. However I wish I could say that the initial line up of launch titles are blowing me away, but they are not. I wanted them to and I think in time they will, but for now we are seeing a quality I would compare to titles akin to the 360 launch. Remember how impressed we were with COD3 when it launched along side the 360? To me that's the level we are seeing on the BLACK MONSTER right now. While Resistance is a very competent and entertaining shooter, especially further into the game, it just does not have the same level of polish as Gears. I'm not hating though, as Victor said, these are the first crop of titles for the system. To be fair let's see what happens after the developers have had some more time to work under the hood. Genji is a true showcase of the graphical power of the system, but the gameplay is another exercise in repetitive button mashing with absolutely no control of the camera! I did fire up some third party titles like EA's NFS: Carbon. Again, looks really good, but I'm not seeing anything that I have not already seen on the 360. Very unimpressed by the 2K Sports titles NBA and NHL. Further proof that the developers still need some time working out the kinks of developing on this new hardware. As far as this SIXAXIS controller, I have yet to play any game that has really taken advantage of it and I do truly miss the force feedback.

Wii: Frankly, I am tired of everyone complaing about the quality of the graphics or lack there of. We all knew that from a processing standpoint the Wii was not going to compete with the other two. So to hold the Wii to such high graphical expectations is ridiculous. What Nintendo has delivered on is their promise to bring entertaining, accessible games to the masses. I have never been able to get my wife to join me in a deatmatch let alone even watch me play, but when I fired up Wii Sports and she saw my 6 year old bowling strikes, she couldn't resist! I am impressed with the accuracy of the WiiMote as well as the internal speaker and vibration features. Zelda lives up to the hype. Yes, Victor, the graphics don't ooze "Next-Gen" but honestly they do look a little better than a GC title. Granted, not leaps and bounds better, but an improvement none the less. I even fired up UbiSoft's Red Steel yesterday. Again, not very high expectations for the graphics, but great use of the WiiMote and Nunchuk. Took some getting used to, but when I turned my WiiMote to the side and watched my onscreen hand tilt my pistol horizontally, I felt like I was inside a John Woo flick. There are great possibilites with the Wii and I hope third party developers find ways to take advantage of this unique control scheme without making it too much of a gimmick.

Back to the edit bay. I'll post this week's Texas Gamer so you can see the games in action.

Having had a chance to test out both the Wiimote and the SIXAXIS, it's time for the head-to-head showdown.

CLICK to read the rest.

Continue reading "It's all in the wrist" »

My official review of the two new consoles will be running in the paper on Wednesday.

But I'll be posting initial impressions all this week of the PS3 and Wii.

I thought I'd kick things off with a visual comparison of all three next-gen consoles.

While this picture doesn't tell the whole story (the 360's more slender profile is somewhat of an illusion, due to the massive external power brick lurking behind my TV cabinet, while the PS3's power system is integrated into the console itself), it is a good visual illustration of which two systems are competing head to head, and which one is aiming at a different market.

More to come.

After picking up my Xbox 360 HD-DVD attachment I got a horrible sinking feeling in my gut.

The feeling that I just shelled out 200 bucks for a technology that might not be around in a year. I really didn't even know what I was getting into with this gadget.

Before unpacking the drive, I started worrying how this thing would connect to my 360. I already have the wireless adapter and the camera attachment so I wasn't sure how it would all work together.

Here's the good news: the wireless adapter snaps onto the back HD-DVD drive and then plugs into its USB port. There's another port to handle the camera. Then the whole drive, and whatever is attached, plugs into the rear USB (or front ports) on the 360. Cool, a bonus USB port!

Then I had to unplug it all. You have to install the software first and attach the drive during the installation process. Weird.

Now the bad news: you get another power brick to deal with. Thankfully it's not as bad as the planet-sized 360 brick. Couldn't Microsoft find a way to build this brick into the design? I swear I have 95 things plugged into power strips behind my TV. At least two more plugs to go before I see New Year's.

Now, some more good news: you get the Xbox 360 Universal Remote (the big one) packed in the box and an HD-DVD copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong! That would have been completely cool if I didn't already own the remote pack-in (the little one) from last year and the same big remote that I bought during the 360's launch.

Think about it. Universal Remote: $30. King Kong: $25. Adjusted cost of HD-DVD attachment: $144. That sinking feeling was going away.

All it took was watching 5 minutes of King Kong and my stomach was doing happy back-flips. The picture and the sound was astonishing. This thing is amazing. Really amazing.

I've lived with an HDTV for almost four years now and this HD-DVD player is one of the most satisfying examples of High Definition I experienced since I first started watching digital television. It's that good... and it's not even connected with a pure digital connection (it uses the 360's component cables, not HDMI or DVI). The box says "HD-DVD has six times the resolution of standard DV" and it shows.

Keep in mind, you must have an HDTV and your 360 connected with the HD component cable to get any benefit... but you already know that.

I popped in two more movies: Mission Impossible 3 and Polar Express (to get a taste of live action and animation) and before I knew it hours had passed.

Movies are good again!

If you have an HDTV and an Xbox 360, the HD-DVD drive is money well spent. It's half the price of a stand-alone player and the pack-in bonuses are great. And thanks to the astounding picture and audio I'm already saving a ton on antacids!

Victor has his "Gear of War" review HERE.

Victor has summed up my thoughts exactly.

Check out his review of TotemBall for the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Vision Camera: HERE.

Victor note: Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves. There are so many great games waiting to be ported to Arcade, and this piece of dog poo made it to the front of the line? Makes me wanna buy an overpriced pre-order PS3 off eBay...

Take a classic franchise, add in an action movie star, throw in all sorts of new high tech gadgetry and you've got all the ingredients to make a great game right? You would think.

Watch The Texas Gamer Video Review:

Continue reading "Texas Gamer Review: Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run" »

Every August, football fans all around the world rejoice. Training camps are raging with activity, and the NFL season is just around the corner. But, the real delight for the savvy football fan is actually a little video game title named Madden. It also happens to be the only licensed NFL title available.

Continue reading "Texas Gamer hits the gridiron with Madden '07" »