Game: Bulletstorm
Platform: Xbox 360/ Playstation 3/ PC/ Steam
Rating: M
Developer: People Can Fly
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: February 2011

It's been about seven years since "Painkiller," Polish developer People Can Fly's last game debuted to critical acclaim but lackluster sales, and in that time the First-Person Shooter has undergone a ( Read more... )

Game: Sonic Colors
Rating: E
Platform: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Released: November 2010

With the possible exception of Leisure Suit Larry, few enduring mascots have had as contentious a gaming history as Sonic the Hedgehog, though the latter at least had a foundation in actual gameplay.  From fans who hate ( Read more... )

Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Rating: M
Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3/Nintendo Wii/Nintendo DS/PC
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Released: October 2010

It seems that, especially in recent years, first-person shooters have become something of a convenient scapegoat for everything that's wrong with the games industry today.  Admittedly, I'd ( Read more... )

Game: 007: Blood Stone
Rating: T
Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Publisher: Activision
Released: November 2010

Sometimes all you need is one really good game to set off a mediocre franchise, and there's probably no better practical example of this than "James Bond" in the video-game world.

"Goldeneye," of course, was a solid ( Read more... )

Game: Costume Quest
Rating: E
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade/Playstation Network
Developer: Double Fine Productions
Publisher: THQ
Released: October 2010

Overall, 2010 has turned out to be a pretty good year for RPGs.

Between "Mass Effect 2," "Sakura Wars," "Final Fantasy 13" and even "New Vegas," there've been alot of very strong entries in the genre, ( Read more... )

Game: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Rating: T
Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3/Nintendo Wii/Nintendo DS/PC
Developer: Lucasarts
Publisher: Lucasarts
Released: October 2010

The term 'licensed game' is something of a dirty word in the industry, usually the equivalent of a patchwork red 'A' if you'll allow the extremely tortured high-school lit metaphor ( Read more... )

Game: Vanquish
Rating: M
Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3
Developer: Platinumgames
Publisher: Sega
Released: October 2010

If there's a two-word distillation of what I've determined Platinumgame's development philosophy to be, it would have to be 'player empowerment.'

Sure, the narratives are at least always fun and the characters are likeable (if not ( Read more... )

Game: Halo Reach
Rating: M
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Released: September 2010

There's nothing more futile and utterly pointless than a nobody like myself standing up for a big boy like the multi-million dollar series "Halo," but I really don't get why so many are convinced that it's the metaphorical Anti- ( Read more... )

Game: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Rating: T
Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3
Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Bandai-Namco Games
Released: September 2010

There seems to be a pattern about games with female protagonists, in that regardless of quality they are almost universally doomed to fail.

You can make her a souless unlikeable shrew (Wet), fun ( Read more... )

Game: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Rating: T
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade/Playstation Network/Steam
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix/Eidos Software
Released: August 2010 (XBLA), September 2010 (PSN/PC)

If, like me, you're a gamer with a fondness for quality offline co-operative play, 2010 has been a pretty lousy year.

Let's look at ( Read more... )