BloodRayne wasn’t always a stylized, comic book-inspired adventure. No, the series has a very different background, having evolved from a third-person action/adventure game (three-dimensional, mind you) to the gorgeous side-scrolling slasher you see in BloodRayne: Betrayal. Frenetic, fluid, and positively gushing with decapitations, geysers of blood, and vampire antics, this retro throwback is an exciting new direction for Rayne. And while its sometimes finicky controls mar its attempt at fast-paced platforming, it’s still a satisfying play, even on its lowest difficulty.
Archive for September, 2011
Review: Crazy Machines: Elements
You’ve got a basketball, a board, some levers, and a rope. You need to push over a few bowling pins on a nearby ledge. What do you do? If you enjoy deliberating on what you could actually build to help accomplish this task, then Crazy Machines: Elements is a game you might be interested in. Do you remember the Incredible Machine game series on PC? Crazy Machines is a spiritual successor to the popular titles, and after a few successful releases it’s finally come to the Xbox Live Arcade. In this wacky puzzler, there is no plot line or characters to muddle up the action. Just you, toy trucks, balloons, ramps, and other miscellaneous items.
Review: Contre Jour
Contre Jour, a 99 cent adventure from Chillingo, is striking. Aesthetics mimic that of World of Goo, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, or even Limbo, and when you sit down to play the game, Angry Birds and several other successful titles are conjured. For this reason, it’s easy to look at this amalgam of genres and best-sellers and assume it’s simply a repackaging of something you’ve played before. It’s a wholly engrossing mobile adventure that you’d do well to tackle…I mean, it’s only a dollar.
Review: Jerry Rice and Nitus Dog Football
There are several examples of enjoyable shovelware out there, but Jerry Rice and Nitus Dog Football isn’t one of them. While it’s friendly enough and offers a variety of modes for the discerning dog football player, in the end it’s just another bark in the wall when it comes to the Wii’s end-of-life cycle.