Review: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Posted on October 25, 2010 by geelw

Platform: Xbox 360 (also on PS3)

Developer: CyberConnect2

Publisher Namco Bandai

# of Players: 1-2 (online)

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A-

Japanese developer CyberConnect2 pretty much has this Naruto thing nailed up tightly to the point of near perfection. Every time I get my hands on one of their games either PSP or console, I'm amazed at how well the developer can translate the crazy power of Naruto into playable form. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 manages to be even more of a total blast to play than the original game, adds speedy online play for the first time for those who want it (it's great) and overall, is definitely recommended for fans of the long-running franchise. Sure, it's probably not going to win over hardcore players of deeper fighters out there (who don't know what they're missing, frankly speaking). However, the sheer amount of quality oozing from the final product absolutely deserves a ton of respect no matter what your genre tastes are.

Review: Active Life Explorer

Posted on October 21, 2010 by geelw

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Developer: Namco Bandai

Publisher: Namco Bandai

# of Players 1 – 4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone!)

Official Site

Score: A–

Some anti-gaming types (and a few other folks out there who should be spending their time doing more important things) often complain that spending time in front of your TV doing things you'd normally do outside make for a less than acceptable means of physical activity. In the words of imaginary character Tony Stark (as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man), “I respectfully disagree.” Bandai's new Wii game Active Life Explorer presents one great answer to that interesting paradox these exercise-based games present. Sure, you can overpay for a real gym membership or drag the whole family out for an expensive vacation somewhere with sunny vistas, starry nights and overpriced meals, but in this age of yawn-worthy “staycations” and penny-pinching “fun” ideas that make for more sour faces than smiley ones, here's a game that kills both of those birds (and a few more) with one stone.

Blood Bowl Legendary Edition Update: High, Elves!

Posted on October 21, 2010 by geelw

Who know High Elves would be so into this sort of “fantasy” football AND quite good at it, to boot? And here I thought they were all haughty nectar-sipping, pointy-eared elitists sneering at us puny humans with out short lifespans, penchant for fast food, mall trawling and talking too loud on our cell phones. Anyway, Focus Home Interactive has dropped more info and screens on the class on the official Blood Bowl website. Poke around there for more info and click below to look at those skinny, faster than you blankety-blanks in action. The game ships out on October 26th, by the way.

Review: Front Mission Evolved

Posted on October 17, 2010 by geelw

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Double Helix Games

Publisher: Square Enix

# of Players: 1 (online 2-8)

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: B+

While there have been a handful of action-based Front Mission games on older consoles, the long-running franchise is primarily known for its solid turn-based gameplay, large cast of characters and near infinite customization options. Taking the series into the current generation, Front Mission Evolved hits the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC as the most accessible FM to date, provided you don't mind the big switch to faster-paced mech action reminiscent of Armored Core with a dash of Mechwarrior for good measure. The game manages to take familiar locations, mechs and gear from the series, ditch the more tactical grid-based strategic play in favor of offline and online combat while being quite a blast to play in either mode. The campaign isn't anywhere as lengthy as any of the turn-based games (that's a given when you're blasting away at enemies in real time as opposed to planning out your moves), but the game looks and controls great overall. Online play has a few hitches, but is quite a bit of fun when you find the right group of folks to play with.

Blood Bowl: Legendary Editon Adds Vamps To Roster

Posted on October 16, 2010 by geelw

Focus Home Interactive, Cyanide Studios and Games Workshop want to add a nifty little twist to the usual sports game madness and thanks to the excellent Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition, set for retail and digital release on October 26th, 2010. In case you're asking “And just what the hell is Blood Bowl?”, well, clickyety click onward for a press release and more images. isn't life just simpler than it needs to be sometimes?

Gallery: Batman: Arkham City

Posted on October 15, 2010 by geelw

Hmmm… And I always imagined Harley Quinn as some emo chick with black hair and bangs under that funny jester hat and pancake makeup she sports in the animated series. Then again, I can see the crazed blond cheerleader look she's sporting in the Batman: Arkham City render to the left catching on with the fans and those cosplayers that don't mind squeezing what they can into a custom made outfit. Two pieces of production artwork and a few early screens below the jump. If the new open city direction works well enough, this just might be the Spider-Man 2 of Batman games (little in-joke there)…

Spare Parts Hands-On

Posted on October 11, 2010 by geelw

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

One of the cooler surprises at EA's Naughty or Nice event was Spare Parts, the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade and PSN release developed by the company's Guildford-based bright light Studios (Create, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and set for launch later this year. The download-only single or two-player co-op action/platformer stars a pair of super likable robots (Chip and Mar-T) that crash land on a faraway planet and need to locate 100 ship parts scattered around the planet in order to escape. They both can find and use a number of nifty gadgets throughout the adventure to defeat alien enemies, locate hidden items and a pull off number of other special abilities. I spent a nice long time with a build of the game and came away really impressed at how much fun the game is and how well the co-op feature is coming together.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare Hands-On

Posted on October 9, 2010 by geelw

Adding zombies to any game seems to be the one way to assure interest and indeed, reasonable sales once gamers get wind of the undead aspect creeping into their favorite games. Rockstar Games has something wicked this way coming for Red Dead Redemption fans this winter with the release of the Undead Nightmare expansion for the PS3 and Xbox 360. At this year's New York Comic Con, thousands of gamers got the chance to go hands-on with the upcoming DLC and walk away with a cool poster and a chance to score a pack of extremely limited edition playing cards. UN will feature a solid single player campaign plus yet to be announced multiplayer features, some amazingly creepy zombies of different speeds and a number of missions to tackle set in and around familiar locations from the main game.

Dead Space Extraction (PS3) Hands-On

Posted on October 8, 2010 by geelw

At EA's well-packed Naughty or Nice event, I finally got to play a small chunk of the PS3 version of Dead Space Extraction, last year's Wii rail shooter (and one of the best looking games for Nintendo's console to date) headed to PS3 owners as part of Dead Space 2: Limited Edition. Visceral Games along with super-talented developer Eurocom (Goldeneye 007) have done an excellent job porting over their game to Sony's console, adding Playstation Move support and effective Dolby Surround sound to go along with the higher resolution visuals. In case you haven't played Extraction previously, all you need to know is that it's the prequel to the original Dead Space and features a compelling story, some intriguing characters and fast-paced gameplay that's packed full of Necromorphs coming at you from every conceivable direction.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta Hands-On

Posted on October 7, 2010 by geelw

If any developer has truly mastered crafting games for the PSP, it's Santa Ana-based Ready at Dawn. Their upcoming game for the handheld, God of War: Ghost of Sparta is not only one of the (if not the) best-looking game on the system, it's one with gameplay that more than equals the stunning visuals. I got the great opportunity to play through the introduction and part of a later level from the soon to be released game and can safely report that this could possibly be the best PSP action game of 2010, hands-down.