Reviews

Ah, 2D sprites in a RPG…how I've missed you so! That sentence isn't dripping with sarcasm either, because old school sprite based RPGs are my bread and butter. Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, Secrets of Evermore, the Lunar series…yadda yadda yadda. I could go on and on about my favorite genre. Now comes Aveyond for the PC, and while it isn't on the same caliber as those beloved games I just listed, it does have an old school charm about it that helps it overcome some of the downfalls.

I've never been in a car accident - except one that happened at my house when I thought I was hitting the brake but really hit the gas, and then proceeded to bend the heck out of a chain link fence that put little Xs all along the back of my car. True story. Well, with Driver: Parallel Lines, I'm ending up in a lot more accidents than usual thanks to the loose controls, but I did learn the Klingons were right…revenge is a dish best served cold.

I was dancing like a little schoolgirl when I received Kingdom Hearts II. For months I had been checking out screenshots and reading anything I could about this game. So to say I was amped is an understatement. I can safely say I wasn’t disappointed. A few issues I dislike, but a whole lot I enjoy. If you haven't played the original Kingdom Hearts by Square Enix and Disney Interactive, you may want to go ahead and do that before you even open the wrapping of Kingdom Hearts II.

During the early part of the 20th century organized crime was rampant in many large cities of America, especially the city of New York. These gangs were organized into families of Italian origin and were commonly referred to as the mob or the Mafia. One of the best books about their activity was written by Mario Puzo and this was also turned into the Academy Award winning movie, 'The Godfather.' Now you can live the life of Cosa Nostra and become a member of the dreaded Corleone family in EA's faithful game adaptation of that classic film.

We put up our review of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360 today. Along with that review by Jason, I have some things I want to get off my chest about this super fun title.

First, I generally dislike shooters. I have played a lot of them and found very few of them that retained my interest for any length of time. I'm not one of those people who liked Halo. I also played some Ghost Recon on the Xbox and didn't care for it much. Rainbow Six 3 I enjoyed more. Chronicles of Riddick is my favorite stealth/shooter to date. I didn't expect to like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, but gave it a chance anyway. Am I glad I did! I am really enjoying this game on so many levels.

In 2013, the Army will unleash a new breed of soldier. A soldier whose lethality has been honed by the finest technologies. A soldier equipped to see first and strike decisively. Today, he's yours to command. Get ready to work your way through the streets of Mexico City in this pulse pounding military shooter as you bound from cover to cover to guarantee this is one mission you do walk away from.

If there is a puzzle game to be had with various shaped blocks falling to the bottom of a screen, rest assured that Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov's name is probably attached to it somewhere. You know, I never thought shape recognition was so hard…till I spent some time with this game. Heck, picking two straight shapes is even a problem for me now.

In this modern era the North American continent is a peaceful place; the countries of the United States and Canada share a long and quiet border. But this was not the case three centuries ago, when two great colonial powers vied for control of that land mass. The French and the British fought a long and difficult war, often in the wilderness with the object of controlling America. The British would emerge victorious eventually, but a greater war would come only a few decades later as British colonists demanded independence from the mother country. This conflict, which we call the American Revolution, would be the true birth of America, and it is these wars that are the subject of the new strategy game of the same name.

What happened to the good old days when all robots wanted to do was serve people and inspire breakdance moves? Nowadays you've got Ultratron, where all the robots want to do is come at you, wave after wave, in hopes of terminating your human existence. Get those trigger fingers ready, because it's time to make some sparks fly!

Animal Crossing: Wild World is a clever and engaging game that has taken the traditional simulation game and transformed it into a ‘personal MMO.” On Monday, April 10, 2006, 105,833 players logged in and played the game, according to the statistics on Nintendo’s Wi-Fi gaming hub. As of March 5, 2006, over 2 million copies were sold. So what’s so captivating about it?

It's official. My thumb and hand are suffering from playing far to many turn based fighting games. Now I have switched to playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and my thumb can't hack it. I am simultaneously thanking and cursing the game. Thanking it for the ability to hit continue after you die rather than start way back from the save point, and cursing it cause my thumb can't move fast enough to keep up with some of the tougher enemies. For example, the little heartless guys that look like ants, no problem. Big guy in the Ballroom of Beast's Castle, AHHHH.

All is not well in the Kingdom of Cyrodiil. All across the land, the signs of evil and foreboding have begun to appear, and many fear the coming of the minions of Oblivion who will finally manage to open gates into this reality and overrun the forces of the Imperium, which will bring about the end of history. You find yourself in a cell when the Emperor and his guards appear, and you follow them as they try to flee the Imperial Capital ahead of assassins. Thus begins the story of Oblivion, the Elder Scrolls IV, Bethesda's new role-playing fantasy game.

Forget the morning coffee and donuts, the Pursuit Force isn’t your ordinary police force. Instead of writing out speeding tickets and busting people for running red lights, these cops are jumping between cars and pumping criminals full of lead. With Pursuit Force, Big Big Studios tries, and mostly succeeds, in bringing a good solid action game to the hands of PSP owners around the world.

Gee, Brain, what are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the world! Sorry, I just had to use that quote, because when else am I going to be able to quote Pinky and the Brain, but inside the review of a game about world domination.

As fun as Grandia III is, it lacks in depth and game time; the game lasts anywhere between 30 and 40 hours depending on how long your battles last and how much you run around building up your characters (which you won't need to do as the battles are not challenging). On the other hand, you will want to do plenty of battling once you have had the pleasure of using the combat system. Pleasure it is, as this game has one of the best combat systems of any RPG game, anywhere. Before we get to that though, we'll look at what else Grandia III has to offer.