Recently in Review Category

Publisher: Take-Two Interactive
Developer: Rockstar North


Platforms: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The Grand Theft Auto series is a dream made real for the Houser brothers, whose enthusiasm for American culture and individualism has made them millionaires. While the series has been portrayed in the mainstream media as some evil, brain-twisting game that turns children into killers, the reality is that it's an over-the-top, satirical look at American pop culture developed by people in Scotland (Rockstar North). Yes, it's brutal, it's violent, and it's definitely earned its mature ("M") rating. It's also one of the best examples of "games as art" that can be thrown at Roger Ebert, coming as close to an interactive movie as any game has done.

Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Developer: InLight Entertainment


Platform: DS
Reviewed on DS

Our planet, our sparkling blue orb, is being overrun by floating alien brains with a penchant for the melodramatic. These brain... thingys... have nearly taken over the planet, killing civilians and taking mental control over armed men who can further the brains' nefarious desires.

Unfortunately for the invaders, they disturbed a cemetery, startling into unlife three teenagers buried there. Now, these teenage zombies, immune to mind control and with a ravenous hunger for brains, are humanity's only hope. And a brain thingy nightmare.

Imperium Romanum Review

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Publisher: SouthPeak Games and Kalypso Media
Developer: Haemimont Games


Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9 compatible video card, 1.5 GB HD space, DVD-ROM, Windows 2000 or more recent operating system

Govern a Roman province in this city-building simulation that has players constructing and defending Roman settlements. The game builds on its predecessor, Glory of the Roman Empire.

Warrior XXtreme Review

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Warrior XXtreme Company: Wolfking USA
Platform: PC


This gaming oriented keypad includes the functionality of the carefully sculpted Warrior gamepad alongside a compact version of a complete keyboard.

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Zen Studios


Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The characters of the classic 1960's cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle emerge on the Xbox 360 in this downloadable collection of microgames featuring Rocky, Bullwinkle, Nell, Dudley Do-Right, Boris and Natasha.

SingStar '90s Review

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Publisher: Sony
Developer: Sony London Studio


Platform: PlayStation 2
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

I'll admit it. I got tickets to Poison's recent tour. Brett Michaels still has great hair. So when I saw that SingStar '90s, the newest chapter in the karaoke-like game line, features Poison's classic "Unskinny Bop" (No, I don't know what could make a bop unskinny – it isn't supposed to make any sense), I had to suppress a little internal yippee.

Buzz! Jr.: Robo Jam

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Publisher: Sony
Developer: Magenta Software and FreeStyle Games


Platform: PlayStation 2
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

The most mischievous young robots in the galaxy have been shipped off to the Robot Boot camp where they participate in competitive mini-games to learn to be better robot citizens and strive to land at the head of the robot class.

Publisher: Sony
Developer: Relentless Software


Platform: PlayStation 2
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

Buzz, the terrifying trivia tyrant himself, returns to host Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz, a quiz show with participants ranging from cheerleaders and Elvis impersonators to extras who look like they just walked off the set (and took their costumes with them. Unlike in Buzz!: The Mega Quiz, in Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz it's all about the moving pictures. There's no science, history or geography here – instead, you'll find a quiz show where Leonardo DiCaprio and Walter Matthau merit categories of their own.

Publisher: Ignition Entertainment and PlayLogic
Developer: Hydravision Entertainment


Platforms: Wii, PlayStation 2 and PC
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

The students at Fallcreek University have a problem. A problem that goes well beyond the promiscuous sex and rampant recreational drug use that permeates the dorms. Undergraduate life has recently been swept away by a new drug of choice – the pollen of a mysterious black flower.

On the same night as the frat party of the year, that addiction turns out to be more sinister than a buzz and a wicked hangover. The campus is suddenly overrun by nightmarish monsters... monsters that appear to be transformed undergrads.

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games


Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: 800 MHz Processor, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB video card, Windows XP or more recent operating system

In their usual, excessively violent and often bumbling fashion, the Freelance Police (namely, the well-armed canid named Max and lagomorphic sociopath Max) managed to condemn the soul of Bosco (a conspiracy nut and shopkeeper) to the eternal flames of Hell, where the coffee is cold and the corporate maneuverings never end. To undo the damage they have wrought, Sam & Max will have to venture into the corporate wasteland of Hell itself. Using their not inconsiderable influence in the part of the afterlife that lies on the wrong side of the tracks, Sam & Max will have to bargain for the soul of their friend Bosco, among others... if they can get past Hell's receptionist.

Ikaruga Review

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Publisher: Treasure
Developer: Treasure


Platforms: Xbox 360, GameCube and Dreamcast
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Tenro Horai is conquering all the nations on the globe, one by one, steamrolling over them using the Power of the Gods that he unearthed. Some freedom-loving folks still resist his onslaught as members of a freedom federation called Tenkaku. The population of a remote village called Ikaruga has built a fighter that, in the right hands, may be able to stop Tenro Horai.

Assassin's Creed Review

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal


Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC
Reviewed on Xbox 360

In the summer of 2012, a young man named Desmond Miles is abducted by a pharmaceutical corporation that has developed technology to unlock ancestral memories from RNA. Following a secret agenda, scientists force Desmond into a machine known as the Animus, trying to reconstruct secrets dating back to the Third Crusade.

Using the Animus, Desmond finds himself in the cowled robe of his ancestor Altair Ibn La-Ahad, reliving events from the summer of 1191. What Abstergo Industries hopes to learn by recreating a series of Twelfth Century assassinations remains to be seen, but that information will guide Desmond Miles into a conflict that has spanned millennia.

TiQal Review

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Publisher: Slapdash Games
Developer: Slapdash Games


Platforms: Xbox 360 and PC
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The village of TiQal is threatened with imminent destruction, and it is up to you to make an epic journey through the jungles of Mesoamerica to plead with the gods for their aid and protection. How better to seek the help of the gods than by arranging colored blocks in a two-dimensional field.

Rocketmen Review

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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games


Platform: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Reviewed on PlayStation 3

Join the Alliance of Free Planets in a battle to free the Solar System from The Axis of Evil (including the Legion of Terra and the Martians) in this action game by shooting as many minions of Lord Invictus as you can!

Brain Challenge Review

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Publisher: Gameloft
Developer: Gameloft


Platforms: Xbox 360, Mobile, iPod
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Perform daily mental exercises to sharpen your wits and flex your logical functions with Gameloft's latest entrant into the brain exercise genre of puzzle games.

Iridium Runners Review

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Publisher: SouthPeak Games
Developer: Playstos Entertainment


Platform: PlayStation 2
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

Around the year 2010, a massive glitch caused the loss of all computer data, paving the way for a comically dystopian corporate future. At the same time, researchers managed a marvelous breakthrough, discovering how to derive nearly unlimited energy from Iridium. With plentiful energy and corporate sponsorship, new sports emerged. By 2050, most team sports have vanished, and a futuristic footrace now dominates the athletic scene: the Iridium Championship.

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games


Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: 800 MHz Processor, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB video card, Windows XP or more recent operating system

Bosco, the paranoid and surly proprietor of Bosco's Inconvenience recently disappeared, and it looks like he's gone a lot further than just some secret hidey-hole. Working with their neighbor and private dick Flint Paper to locate Bosco, Sam & Max stumble upon a secret so large it might lead to the true identity of "T-H-E-M"!

Publisher: Sony
Developer: High Impact Games/Sony


Platforms: PSP and PlayStation 2
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

After saving the universe countless times, Ratchet and Clank are finally enjoying that hard-earned vacation on the beach. When a little girl pesters the duo for an autograph and an action photograph, how could they refuse? Of course, when that same little girl is kidnapped by robots, R&C get drawn into a mystery revolving around the tiny, legendary, ancient robots called the Technomites, reportedly responsible for the galaxy's most advanced technology. But are the tiny technological geniuses a boon to the galaxy, or a terrifying threat?

N+ Review

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Publisher: Metanet Software
Developer: Slick Entertainment


Platform: Xbox360
Reviewed on Xbox360

"You are a ninja.

"Like all ninjas, you have an unquenchable thirst for gold, a natural propensity for exploring rooms infested by lethal ninja-killing robots and a devout belief in N.

"N, 'the way of the ninja,' is a highly advanced system of spiritual, cognitive and physical training.

"It emphasizes pacifism, humility and the need to traverse a series of 5 rooms before the end of your lifetime; a feat known only as 'beating an episode.'

"In accordance with the teachings, it is your profound hope, nameless ninja, to achieve ultimate mastery of N."

Publisher: Warashi Inc.
Developer: Warashi Inc.


Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The most powerful weapon humanity has created is the "Triggerheart." Triggerhearts are weapon systems that happen to look like young, anime-style girls. Never mind that they show a lot of leg... they can level city blocks with an array of cybernetic weaponry! Two of those Triggerhearts (Triggerheart Exelica and Triggerheart Crueltear) are all that stand between an invasion by the Ver'mith and humanity's extinction.

Company: ezGear
Platform: PlayStation 3 (also works with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2)


The ezJam Wireless Guitar is the logical evolutionary step from ezJam's original ezJam S-10, a wireless version of a refined guitar controller with two sets of fret bars. One set of fret bars is similar to other conventional guitar controllers, but the controller also sports a second set of fret bars, smaller and closer to the strum bar.

SunAge Review

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Publisher: Lighthouse Interactive
Developer: Vertex4


Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: Pentium III 500 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 32 MB video card, 4x CD-ROM, 600 MB HD space, internet connection for online multiplayer, Windows 2000 or more recent operating system

The Sun is dying, and with it, the solar system. Our planet has wasted away, with the human Federacy battling over the planet's few remaining scraps with the Raak-Zun, a society of mutant outcasts. The balance changes when a gateway is created that gives humanity access to a living world, rich in resources, that also brings the mysterious, technological wonders called the Sentinel into the battle.

Pixel Junk Monsters Review

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Publisher: Sony
Developer: Q-Games


Platform: PlayStation 3
Reviewed on PlayStation 3

The woods are under attack! Tiny villages of peaceful (and helpless) forest-folk are threatened by wave upon wave of horrible monsters that scuttle, flutter and trudge through forest paths to devour the innocent inhabitants of this island's shady glades. Only a brave defender of the forest, wearing a totem mask and grass skirt, can save the villages from certain fate at the hands of many monsters' digestive fluids.

Company: Able Planet
Platform: Any


Able Planet's LoSt-CaUzE Gaming Headphones are a set of comfortable, padded, noise-cancelling headphones aimed at gamers, which provide a great audio experience both for gamers on the move and those ensconced at their keyboards.

Culdcept Saga Review

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Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Developer: OmiyaSoft and Jamsworks


Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Long ago, the goddess Culdra made the Book of Creation – the Culdcept – a book that can create worlds and control the universe. The Culdcept was so powerful that it became the object of a struggle between the gods. To save the universe from this struggle, Culdra shattered the Culdcept.

Fragments of the Culdcept became stone, card-shaped tablets that were scattered around the world. Over time, "Cepters" emerged who could harness the power of these cards, using them to invoke monsters or even change the fabric of reality. This has led to a horrible cycle in which the Cepters come into conflict until one controls the cards, ultimately uses the cards to create a new world and then shatters the Culdcept once more, starting the process anew.

This time, players take on the role of a young boy who discovers that he is a natural Cepter, shortly after being sold into slavery. Once he fights for his freedom for the amusement of the populace, he joins forces with a princess on a quest to save the world through his mastery of the cards.

Company: ezGear
Platform: Wii


The ezGear Boxing Gloves are designed to provide a more realistic and entertaining boxing experience for Wii gamers using the Wii's motion sensitive remote and nunchuk to indulge in casual scuffles or prime-time prizefighting.

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games


Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: 800 MHz Processor, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB video card, Windows XP or more recent operating system

After a recent jaunt to Easter Island, the Freelance Police have returned home to find their headquarters overrun by zombies. Well... perhaps not overrun, but there is a single zombie indulging in a little petty theft. And a few more in the streets.

Alright... it seems to be business as usual in Sam and Max's neighborhood, but there are a few zombies, shambling around, sloughing body parts as they go. Those body parts mark a trail that leads Sam and Max straight to their next globetrotting destination: Stuttgart.

Dementium: The Ward Review

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Publisher: Gamecock Media Group
Developer: Renegade Kid


Platform: DS
Reviewed on DS

"You wake up alone, in the dark, only to find yourself in a mysterious, derelict hospital that appears to be frozen in time. You have only vague memories of who you are and no memory of the events that have brought you to this eerie place.

As you move through the dark halls and encounter horrible creatures, you will uncover clues that recall your scattered memories and uncover a truth that is more horrifying than even the gruesome Redmoor Hospital."

Poker Smash Review

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Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Void Star Creations


Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

It sounds Hulk-ish: "Poker Smash!" It's also the new puzzle game from Void Star Creations that's arrived on the Xbox 360. Make poker hands to clear the screen and collect chips that can be used to further customize the game.

Publisher: D3Publisher of America
Developer: Infinite Interactive and Vicious Cycle


Platforms: Xbox 360, Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, DS, PSP
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

A young adventurer from the kingdom of Bartonia is destined to lead the battle against the evil that increasingly plagues the world of Etheria. Starting as a mere novice, players build citadels, conquer nations, battle mythical beasts and dominate all opposition – all by playing symbol-matching puzzle games!

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