Clash of the Titans Review:

Kratos does it better.

Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow Review:

You got Diablo in my Blue Dragon!

As a franchise, Blue Dragon has seen its fair share of "re-workings" since it first made an appearance as a jRPG back in August of 2007 on the Xbox 360. It's simple, traditional, yet addicting gameplay shone through the multitude of shooters and 3rd-person titles that littered the console, garnering a generally positive reaction from the gaming community. With its success both in Japan and overseas, two different manga and an anime were green-lighted, as well as the real-time strategy, Nintendo DS "sequel" Blue Dragon Plus, and now most recently, Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow. 

Reading on the go!

When the Nintendo DS first came out everyone was excited about the world of possibilities it opened up. Indeed, as time went by players saw some truly fascinating and innovative game titles that redefined the videogame experience. So far, however, the possibilities the DS could offer outside of the gaming universe haven’t been exploited. 100 Classic Books falls in that tiny category; it’s not really a game, it’s much closer to being an application than anything else, in that it allows you to use the DS as a portable, electronic library, full of literary classics.

BioShock and Half-Life called, they want their ideas back.

And they’re not the only ones. To say that Singularity borrows heavily from other games within the FPS genre is a massive understatement. Indeed, I think you would be hard pressed to play Singularity without name checking some of most iconic games of the generation. This doesn’t make it a poor game though, not by any means. The ideas it takes from other games tend to be well implemented and it makes for a decent game, but it’s also one which offers nothing new or truly standout.

Blur Review:

Like Need for Speed engaging in a Glee-style mash-up with Mario Kart…but it could have used more of both.

Blur had a great marketing campaign. Cutesy little characters racing around in a faux Mario Kart or Mod Nation Racers style with cutesy little cars firing cutesy little weapons. Then one little ball of adorable pulls over, gets out, and watches real licensed cars racing asphalt streets with destructive weapons. The theme: Mario Kart grows up.

Green Day: Rock Band Review:

From punk to Broadway, Rock Band makes a must-have for Green Day fans.

In 1994, Los Angeles punk band Green Day released Dookie to immediate success. That album has since gone diamond, selling over 10 million copies. Green Day went on making punk music and experimenting with their style, finding new popularity with 2004's American Idiot and continuing that success into 2009's 21st Century Breakdown and now even a Broadway musical based on that album.

Trauma Team Review:

The criminal, the superhero, and six different game modes completely reinvent the franchise.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii was a sequel that felt more like a port of the successful Nintendo DS game. Trauma Center: New Blood allowed you to bring a friend into the operating theater and also supported widescreen and online leaderboards; a true Wii title. Atlus doesn't rest on their laurels with this new addition to the Trauma franchise, returning with more than just surgery up its sleeve.

Transformers: War for Cybertron Review:

Robots, but not really in disguise.

Few things are as inherently associated with nerds as gaming and giant robots, so one would think they naturally fit together quite well. Despite this, Transformers and video games have traditionally been a recipe for mediocre gameplay and poor representations of franchise favorites. Finally, Transformers: War for Cybertron is here: a Transformers game not related to any recent licensed movie or cartoon series, but rather built as a tribute and prequel to the original cartoon. 

Review: Naughty Bear

"Bearly" even playable.

For the last few months, in part thanks to our very own Zack Cain (I have to blame somebody else), I’ve been rather excited for Naughty Bear.

Crackdown 2 Review

For the more discerning orb hunter.

 Sometimes, it’s hard to straddle the line between being a game critic and being a gamer. You want to go off the beaten path and see every little thing, and yet you must also get through the core of the game in a timely fashion. Case in point: Crackdown 2. The gamer in me wants to scavenge every agility orb, get a Gold on every rooftop race, and climb to the top of the leaderboards online, while the reviewer knows I need to finish the main missions and get the review up.