Your fortress is under siege by hundreds of bloodthirsty orcs. You’ve got deadly traps, spells, and some beastly weapons at your disposal. What do you do? You strategically place spiked platforms, walls of spears, and break out your crossbow, of course! Orcs Must Die! is an effective my-castle-is-under-attack-by-these-enormous-monsters sim and one that serves up plenty of crafty good fun. As you step into the shoes of a War Mage, a member of the mystical Order, you’re tasked with defending your tower from the Mob, a faction comprised of orcs, ogres, hellbats, and other nasties who barge in any way they can to wreak havoc upon the world. It’s your job to keep them at bay using any means necessary. This quick-and-dirty tower defense game may be a little on the shallow side, but it’s certainly worth your time.
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Review: Orcs Must Die!
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Review: Dead Island
Dead Island: vacationers, bikini-clad babes, and entrails strewn along the beach. Does this sound like your idea of the perfect getaway? Oh, it does? Okay, well, let’s toss in a multitude of fetch quests without any real aim or purpose, plus a veritable cornucopia of NPCs with personalities comparable to cardboard issuing these requests without providing any real sense of belonging. Still sold? That’s what you get with Dead Island, Techland’s zombie apocalypse simulator. If you were drawn in by the heart-wrenchingly beautiful trailer that debuted so long ago (remember the plight of that little girl?) you’re likely going to be more than a little disappointed to find the game is really nothing like that. And that’s okay, but I wasn’t particularly satisfied with the end result, either.
Review: Gears of War 3
Brothers to the end. That’s a tagline I can stand behind. The acclaimed Gears of War trilogy has finally drawn to a close (or so we think, anyway) and the conclusion to the explosive series is bigger than ever: bigger explosions, bigger pecs, and bigger drama. And while everything fits together as one deliciously gory whole, I couldn’t help but feeling as though Gears of War 3 left a lot to be desired, despite its tight controls, concise campaign, and ability to engage. While the conflict between the Locust, Lambent, and humanity has finally come to a head, I just couldn’t shed many tears at the end of the sprawling battle.
Review: Rotastic
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I’m so used to iPhone titles being runaway hits that when viewing Rotastic, an Xbox Live Arcade game, my first instinct was to look it up via App Store and compare pricing and value. To my surprise, I couldn’t locate the game. After spending several hours with Rotastic I was convinced it had once been a mobile title having made the leap to console, as it looks and feels so much like the work of a mobile developer that I could barely believe it was exclusive to consoles and PC. This colorful and frenetic easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master puzzler is a blast, and though it isn’t available for on the go play now, I have a feeling it soon will be.
Review: Rise of Nightmares
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While the Kinect library has been sorely lacking in core-oriented titles, it’s never had a shortage of shovelware-worthy casual games. Despite Sega’s valiant attempt to open the door to hardcore gamers and those of us looking for something a little more frightening for use with the pricey peripheral, I have to say there’s still a shortage. But that’s not a bad thing. I knew going into this motion control business that its incorporation into the core titles I love would be a risky maneuver at best. However, games like Rise of Nightmares don’t exactly further the cause. Still, I have to admit it was quite the gutsy move on Sega’s part.