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GB Review: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (360)Posted 3:42pm Tue Nov 18, 2008 by Aaron Dunlap Tags: review, SpiderMan Web of Shadows, Xbox 360, Treyarch, Shaba, Activision

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is Treyarch's first Spider-Man game not based on a movie. The gameplay, especially in combat, is a step up from previous Spidey titles but the story is short and unsatisfying. Too much emphasis is placed on a half-baked "choose your fate" branching storyline that quickly devolves into a non-stop series of boss fights. The ability to switch between red and blue Spider-Man and black-suited symbiote Spider-Man is novel, but wasted. People like me who pine for a game with Spider-Man 2's quality of web slinging with a decent game attached might be satisfied, but not impressed. This game is worth a rental for Spidey fans or any curious gamer, but at the end you wont be itching for more.

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Spider-Man is probably the perfect character for video games. He can jump higher than anyone; he can walk, run, and sit on walls; he can beat up multiple attackers with blinding speed and feline agility; and he can swing around town on webs he shoots from his wrists. If ever there was an entity better suited for virtual representation, I'd like to hear it.

He's had a spotted past in games. I have no qualms saying that Spider-Man 2 on the Xbox is one of my favorite games to play. Altogether, the game is a wreck, but it's the web swinging I love. I could sit in front of that game for hours doing nothing but swing around its digital Manhattan. It just felt right in that game. You could feel the weight of Spidey as he grabs a fresh webline, feel the G-forces as he reaches the apex of a swing, feel the wind sheer off his body as he pulls his legs in and kicks out at just the right moment to maximize airtime and distance. That game is the perfect Spider-Man webslinging simulator. Every game since then has tried to be a better game, cramming in more story or more combo attacks and celebrity voices, abandoning the web mechanics altogether. Spider-Man 3 was a complete waste. How couldn't it be? It was rushed to come out with the movie, which itself was a waste.

Launch Gallery: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

(15 images)

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GB Review: Samba de Amigo (Wii)Posted 11:20am Tue Nov 18, 2008 by Zach Lott Tags: review, sega, samba de amigo, wii, nintendo

While it was a great idea to bring Samba de Amigo, an old Dreamcast game in which you play Latin songs with two maraca peripherals, to the Wii, the final product suffers greatly from absurdly imprecise controls. It's difficult to have fun playing various tracks when you're frustrated to the point of violence at how hard it is to line up the Wii remote and nunchuck's cursors with the symbols on screen. Stay away unless you are really itching for yet another rhythm game to play.

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Let me be honest: I never played the original Samba de Amigo. I don't know how fun it was, nor do I know whether or not this Wii port does a good job of replicating the original's gameplay. What I do know is that this version of the game isn't good.

My complaint has nothing to do with the colorful, friendly presentation or the cheesy Latin music or the dancing animals or the core gameplay element itself, even if it is a little antiquated in this new era of rhythm games. Nay, all my problems with this game boil down to one thing: controls. This game controls horrendously, and it makes what could be a great experience into a nightmare.

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GB Review: Gears of War 2 (360)Posted 8:43pm Sun Nov 16, 2008 by Solomon Lee Tags: review, gears of war 2, epic games, xbox 360, microsoft

Gears of War 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to Gears; the title that gathered quite a following with its impressive visuals, intuitive run-and-cover gameplay, and engaging characters. The game doesn't mess with its own formula of success but rather, it focuses on what it does best -- delivering an intense, visceral, adrenaline-pumping experience. The sinister violence and gore is a trademark of this game that has been well received by fans and one that Epic doesn't shy away from. Although it fails to revolutionize the genre, Gears 2 delivers on all fronts and surpasses the original with more weapons, deadlier monsters, larger campaigns, more multiplayer maps and an incredibly addictive Horde mode. Gears of War 2 is this year's game to own on the Xbox 360.

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Gears of War was quite the blockbuster when it first arrived on Xbox 360. The game offered solid controls, great visuals, intuitive third person camera and chainsaws. Though the plot wasn't the main focus, Gears effectively brought us the memorable, wisecracking Delta squad members: Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird. Fast forward to Gears 2 -- the game takes everything that made the original Gears a solid shooter and takes it a step further on the epic scale. To quote Epic Lead Designer, Cliff Bleszinski, Gears of War 2 is definitely "bigger, better and more badass."

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Official PS3 Headset: A Non-technical, Non-lengthy Review.Posted 4:40pm Sun Oct 19, 2008 by Ryan Fulton Tags: Sony, PlayStation 3, Head Set, Review

The Official PS3 Wireless Headset that recently shipped with SOCOM and will see a future solo release on this upcoming Tuesday it is quite a nifty piece of tech. Through testing with a friend and by simply playing SOCOM it's rather apparent that this is a top quality headset.

The speaker is crisp and clear, and the dual microphone setup does an amazing job of picking up what you're saying with minimal distortion. Though untested and personally unconfirmed, the headset also works as a general microphone when docked if you should so chose to use it in such a manner. The inclusion of a mute button is also a welcome addition, especially when you consider the fact that games like Call of Duty 4 use an "open mic" system. The headset is considered comfortable by general consensus and personally I find it easy to forget that I'm even wearing it.

All in all, it's a top quality headset that if you own a PS3 and you happen to not have a headset, or if you're just sick of the horrible one that you have now, it's definitely worth looking into picking this headset up.

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GB Preview: Snag some Little Big Love in Little Big PlanetPosted 4:49pm Fri Oct 10, 2008 by Shiva Stella Tags: Little Big Planet, Sony, Media Molecule, PlayStation 3, preview, preorder, sackboy, sackgirl, Snake, SNAAAAKE

If you haven't heard of Media Molecule's Little Big Planet by now, I want to be you. I've spent the last 72 hours holed up in my imaginary cubicle with nothing but the PlayStation 3's holiday savior, completing creatively designed levels with dragon bosses, Silent Hill pyramid heads (think SH 2; you know what I'm talking about), rockets, ghosts, dinosaurs, Mario (sorry Luigi), Indiana Jones (I kid you not!), Nathan Drake, and--of course--the deliciously adorable sackboy. Or sackgirl. As Media Molecule would probably interrupt right now, it's all up to you.

I don't want to be too cruel to those of you unfortunate enough to not receive a highly coveted invitation to join the beta, (okay, maybe a little cruel), but really, you're not missing too much--only one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, heartwarming, sweetest masterpieces we've seen from this console generation the likes of which may actually put Fable II in its place, and yes, Mr. Molyneux, I did just say that. Possibly I'm over-exaggerating, but after spending significant time delightfully chained to the sackboys and sackgirls in the beta (community hug!), Little Big Planet may just convince you that your PlayStation 3 purchase was worth it after all.

[littlebigplanet.us]

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GB Review: Infinite Undiscovery (360)Posted 8:48pm Thu Sep 25, 2008 by Solomon Lee Tags: review, infinite undiscovery, square enix, triace, xbox 360, RPG

Infinite Undiscovery is an action RPG from tri-Ace, the folks behind Valkryie Profile and the Star Ocean series. The game employs an interactive real-time combat system. Teamwork is a vital part of the game as the game has its fair share of puzzles that can only be solved with the aid of a party member. While the visuals and sound design are decent, the game fails to achieve its potential. It's overcomplicated and unresponsive, and altogether feels like an incomplete package. Fans of tri-Ace and RPGs in general might get a kick out of the 30-or-so hour game, but it's nothing for casual gamers to get excited about.

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Infinite Undiscovery is the latest title developed by tri-Ace, the development powerhouse behind the Valkryie Profile and the Star Ocean series. At its core, it's an action RPG that blends situational battles with open exploration. These battles are influenced by conditions and choices made by players resulting in, as the name implies, new discoveries that affect the world around you. The first of three highly anticipated Square Enix RPGs (The Last Remnant, Star Ocean: The Last Hope), Infinite Undiscovery marks tri-Ace's return to the RPG limelight.

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GB Review: Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3)Posted 2:07pm Sun Aug 10, 2008 by Brian Mohr Tags: Review, Battlefield Bad Company, PlayStation 3, EA, 4 stars

Battlefield: Bad Company may not completely revamp the war game experience, but it does modify it enough to keep you interested throughout both on and offline. The biggest new feature clearly is the ability to blow buildings apart -- and visuals are spectacular, but the game features more than just that. For once, it features an entertaining single-player experience with a meaningful storyline. Of course, it brings a quality online experience as well to keep you playing for some time.

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War games are so common today that in order to stand out from the crowd, the game really has to do something different. Battlefield: Bad Company may not revolutionize the genre by any means, but it does add some nice improvements to the next-generation experience to make it fun and interesting.

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GB Review: Siren: Blood Curse (PS3)Posted 7:38pm Thu Aug 07, 2008 by Ryan Kincaid Tags: review, siren blood curse, playstation 3, PSN

"Siren" is a somewhat lesser known series of survival horror games, developed internally by SCE Japan. The franchise is most well known for its Silent Hill-esque game play, supernatural scares taken from the mythology of rural Japan, and for "sight jacking", which allows the player to look directly through the eyes of the enemy. Unfortunately, this newest addition to the Siren mythology does little to improve or reinvent the genre, despite providing a number of truly frightening scenarios and game play concepts that would be more than welcome if they were only developed a little further.

score: 2 out of 5

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The latest entry to the modestly received Siren series, Blood Curse (known as New Translation in Japan) is an interesting title. While there are a number of legitimate scares in the game, most of them are derived from the Silent Hill book on creepiness, in that you're more often than not scared of what could happen rather than what actually does. Not to suggest that this is a weakness to the game, but S:BC doesn't dare to tread much new ground, even when its own series is concerned.

In S:BC, an American television crew has traveled to the land of the Rising Sun to investigate the so-called "legend of Hanuda", which states that a village where human sacrifices had once taken place had supposedly disappeared into thin air. The team, needless to say, manages to stumble across the village and naturally, horrors ensue. Although I can't speak for the Blu-ray release in Japan, Sony's choice to distribute the game episodically via PSN makes the experience play out somewhat like a survival-horror soap opera, with occasional interludes to either catch you up to the story so far, or give you a sneak peek at the next episode. The episodic nature of the game seems to work in its favor, with the only obvious gripe being the roughly 10 gigabytes of hard drive storage that a simultaneous install of every episode requires.

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GB Review: Soul Calibur IV (PS3)Posted 6:26pm Fri Aug 01, 2008 by Shiva Stella Tags: Namco Bandai, Soul Calibur IV, PlayStation 3, review, PlayStation Network, online

For those of you unfamiliar with Namco's Soul Calibur series, it's the one with the slew of weird characters vying for two powerful swords--soul calibur and soul edge--to rule, destroy, or save the world, and most of the time they look exceptionally good while doing it. Soul Calibur IV continues that trend with 33 characters seeking to use the swords to accomplish their own (often selfish) desires, including two bonus "guest" characters from the Star Wars universe: the legendary Darth Vader and the mysterious "apprentice" from the upcoming Force Unleashed. Though the game clearly fails to revolutionize the genre, it accomplishes everything it sets out to do quite well, and the addition of online play and a very robust character creation system keep the game addictive.

score: 4 out of 5

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As with any fighting game, Soul Calibur IV pits you against an onslaught of characters that you must take down by lowering their health bar with flashy moves and powerful combos. Namco also included a soul gauge feature that changes color depending on your performance; block too often or receive too many strong attacks and the gauge will start flashing red, entering a "soul crush" state, at which point you're vulnerable to a one-hit KO attack called a critical finish. To keep things fresh (and because it's mildly entertaining to witness characters fighting in customizable undergarments), equipment destruction is a vital component of any fight; equipment condition is displayed in a three slot vertical bar designating head, upper body, and lower body gear, and enough attacks to the same area will break the equipment.

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GB Review: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D (iPhone)Posted 6:03pm Thu Jul 24, 2008 by Aaron Dunlap Tags: review, iphone, crash bandicoot nitro kart 3d

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is one of the handful of major studio games now available for the iPhone (or iPod Touch) through the newly released App Store. It's a decent time waster, sure, which is what you'd expect from a cell phone game, but given the power of the iPhone and the hefty $9.99 price tag, this game is a waste of time and opportunity. I would wait a bit longer for more impressive, and better controlling games to come around.

score: 2 out of 5

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

A pocket review for a pocket game:

Nitro Kart 3D is a rather quick port of "Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart" for the Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and N-Gage. Like the other kart game on the iPhone (Cro-Mag Rally), controlls are stripped down to the bare essentials. Acceleration is automatic, or rather, perpetual, and all the player must do is steer by tilting the phone side to side.

The control can be frustrating and take quite a while to get used to. Not being in control of acceleration feels a bit strange as well, like being the passenger in a car and leaning over to take over the wheel. I don't think developers have gotten a handle on the iPhone's accelerometer yet, and so using it will feel a bit flimsy until the programmers have it hammered down.

Controlling the karts always felt sloppy to me, but it can be managed by adjusting the sensitivity. Game modes available include standard "Cup" mode, a pretty simple Story mode, and Time Trials. There is no multiplayer.

This is one of the very first 3D games for the iPhone, so it's hard to gauge the graphics, but from what I've seen of other games they're already a tad sub-par. Textures in the distance appear to manifest before your eyes, and there is a very annoying attempt at a lens flare effect that has watered down to nothing but an indistinct series of blobs that do nothing but block your view.

Again, for the money, you should expect more. This may be one of the best 3D iPhone games, but that's not saying much. Treat this game like a launch title and keep your distance until the real games show up.

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