Archive for January, 2010

Preview: Battlefield Heroes

With all of the fervently-paced, action-packed FPSs available for various types of gamers, when a brand new one is released it really needs to stand out above the rest. Something needs to give it that extra oomph so that it will move units, draw more players in, and rise above the rest of what’s out there.
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Review: Tank Universal

It’s been a pretty long time since a game has sucked me in for hours, to the point that I forget that I might need to be cooking food to eat, or getting the laundry out of the washer…or even the fact that I should be doing something more productive. Tank Universal, a fantastic retro throwback very much reminiscent of Tron, is that very game. Since I got the opportunity to check it out, I’ve logged quite the amount of hours basking in the glow of my little laptop that could.
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Review: Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Barring Guitar Hero 5’s revitalization of the series, Guitar Hero is becoming a bit of a one-trick pony. Take the latest iteration: Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Given out for free with the purchase of Guitar Hero 5, the full retail release has finally reached store shelves. It “features” 20 rock “superstars” alongside 80s rockers Van Halen in a wholly underwhelming exercise in tedium that reminds me exactly why I treasure my quality time spent with more polished offerings that rely less on filler tracks completely unrelated to the featured band and more on making my experience feel like a unique one with some of the music I love. Perhaps this game is a real treat for the hardcore Van Halen fans still truckin’ out there — after all, they are quite the prolific outfit — but even for franchise fans, this is most certainly a miss.
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Review: Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure!

The Rainbow Islands series spun off from Bubble Bobble as a sequel, opening the door to a brand new franchise. Following the “true ending” of the original Bubble Bobble game, the game was an adventure involving human forms of the iconic dragons Bub and Bob, escaping from rapidly sinking land masses via rainbow. It might sound silly, but it garnered mostly positive critical reception and received several sequels. The latest of which, Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure, was recently released via WiiWare and the Xbox Live Arcade. While it manages to capture most of the magic that made its predecessors memorable, much of the whimsy is dwindling with this next-gen update.

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