The Transformers mythos may be based on the phrase “more than meets the eye,” but its plethora of licensed video games buck that trend. In fact, in the case of Transformers: War for Cybertron, what you see is exactly what you get: a subpar third-person shooter fully reliant on the glossy coat of nostalgia haphazardly slopped on in order to “roll out” units to unsuspecting gamers. Endless waves of tiresome enemies, dull environments, and done-to-death mechanics assault you from every turn until you’re calling each and every one of them out like Megatron on his flunkies’ incompetence. It’s certainly playable and boasts the occasional entertaining firefight. But it’s certainly nothing that’s going to stick with you as long as the stories and characters of Transformers will.
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Review: Transformers: War for Cybertron
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Review: Deathsmiles
Cute girls, flying pumpkins, and bullets? That’s just the first course. Hope you’re ready to dig into the decadent entree of shoot-em-‘up goodness that is Deathsmiles. Served with a hearty side of Japanese quirk and insane difficulty for dessert, Cave’s arcade offering has been ported over to the West to tempt fans of the genre with plenty of extras, an affordable price point, and lolitas. Originally served up in 2007 and having gone through several incarnations, Deathsmiles is one manic adventure that, if you’re a fan of the company’s previous offerings, you won’t want to miss. Order up!
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Review: Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
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The Dragon Quest series’ relationship with gamers outside of Japan hasn’t exactly been a stable one, especially out West.
It’s certainly not because of quality. Memorable characters, heartwarming adventures, and artwork from Akira Toriyama create experiences just as worthy of your time and attention as any Final Fantasy title.
This is further proven in the series’ latest iteration, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. It not only echoes what has made the Dragon Quest saga memorable, but is also the first numbered installment to receive a handheld-only release.
Review: Singularity
Raven Software’s latest offering, Singularity, thankfully isn’t another attempt at modernizing or making Wolfenstein somehow relevant to today’s gamers. Last year’s reboot of the quintessential Nazi frag-fest certainly left gamers feeling more than a little cold — myself included. Though released with much less fanfare than Wolfenstein, Singularity is a much more solid shooter.
Preview: Battlefield Academy
Battlefield Academy has quite the peculiar background. Its first iteration was a flash-based tie-in created specifically for the BBC TV series Battlefield Britain. The free-to-play adventure attracted a healthy drove of gamers because of its slick interface and surprising substance hidden behind the surface. It came as no surprise then that Slitherine, a small developer who specialises in niche strategy games, would swoop in to shape this fledgling browser game into something with more oomph.
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