Videogames
So long, Master Chief: Halo 3 calls it a day
Halo is the great unifier of the video-game world, bringing together people of all stripes, from hardcore geeks to competitive jocks.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Shoot ’em up: Stranglehold is a soft-boiled shooter
There’s a great line in the 1992 John Woo movie Hard Boiled: “Give a guy a gun and he thinks he’s Superman. Give him two and he thinks he’s God!”
By: MITCH KRPATA
Samus ever: Metroid has a new control scheme, but so what?
People have been trying to get into Samus Aran’s suit ever since they first discovered that the bad-ass, bounty-hunting hero of the Metroid series was a woman.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Locked and loaded: The fall promises a double-barreled blast of gaming greatness
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. It’s already been a strong year for games, with four — four! — game-of-the-year contenders before Labor Day.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Pigpile: Yet another Madden
With its virtual monopoly on video-game football in place, the Madden franchise has become less essential with each successive iteration.
By: RYAN STEWART
Impossible dream: BioShock plumbs uncharted depths
It wasn’t impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the ocean, Andrew Ryan would say of his creation. It was impossible to build it anywhere else.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Soccer riot: Game time for Mario and his band of hooligans
Some said it would never happen, but the arrival of a certain global icon has done the impossible and made Americans care about soccer.
By: MITCH KRPATA
The furry blue line: Sam and Max are back on the streets
Of the many evolutionary dead ends in the history of video games, no demise is more lamented than that of the point-and-click adventure.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Tenchu Zzz . . .: The dull life of the modern-day ninja
What’s cooler than a ninja?
By: MITCH KRPATA
Road to nowhere: DiRT never gets going
Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing. Or so they say in the world of sports.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Fear factor: Resident Evil 4 comes to the Wii
You are going to die!
By: MITCH KRPATA
Battling as usual: Pokémon Battle Revolution is hardly revolutionary
After you boot up, the receptionist at Pokétopia tells you that Pokémon: Battle Revolution’s Pokémon battle park has plenty of features.
By: MADDY MYERS
Heart of darkness: A hitman battles the enemy within in The Darkness
Jackie Estacado’s 21st birthday turns out to be a nightmare.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Dear Lara,: A break-up on a bitter Anniversary
It’s over between us.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Storming Sin City: Rainbow Six: Vegas doubles down on the PS3
Xbox 360 owners can be forgiven for overlooking Rainbow Six: Vegas last Christmas.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Shadow play: Searching for the real Shadowrun
“I need a rez!” The elf staggered toward me, blood spurting from his neck. “I need a rez!”
By: MITCH KRPATA
Snooze cruise: Forza never kicks into high gear
When you’re commuting by car to your cubicle in real life, it’s unlikely that you’ll launch, say, a rocket-propelled grenade at the Ford Taurus in the lane ahead of you.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Calling David Jaffe: Shut up and let Calling All Cars do the talking
Somebody’s a little sensitive.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Second life: Odin Sphere reanimates the PS2
Reports of the PlayStation 2’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Swingin’ Spidey: The movie adaptation is pleasantly mediocre
The Spider-Man 3 game has been out for a few weeks now, and the feeding frenzy has subsided a bit.
By: MITCH KRPATA
One for the price of two: A disappointing Pokémon on Nintendo DS
It’s difficult to remember a time when Pokémon hadn’t yet captured America’s heart like some kind of parasitic worm, but in fact the franchise didn’t begin till 1996.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Space junk: Konami’s Lunar Knights
We were supposed to have a new Zelda title for the Nintendo DS six months ago. But here it is, May 2007, and we’re still Zelda-less.
By: RYAN STEWART
Candyland: The US Army wants you . . . to take on-screen violence seriously
“Hey! Do you like fake violence? Do you think you might like real violence even more? Good! Here’s a .50-caliber machine gun and some money for college.”
By: BEN RICHARDSON
Shreddin’ heaven: Guitar Hero goes to 11 on Xbox 360
By now, Guitar Hero has achieved a level of cultural penetration that most games can’t even dream of.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Optical illusions: Paper Mario will flip your dimensions
There’s a logical contradiction in trying to create three-dimensional environments on a two-dimensional display.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Hybrid theory: A puzzling handheld Quest
Let’s take a moment to discuss prejudice.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Choke artist: MLB 2K7 is a waste
In this age of exclusive licenses, the annual iteration of each major sports video-game franchise can often be described as “$50 for a roster upgrade.”
By: RYAN STEWART
Border war: Terror hits close to home in Ghost Recon
If you were to do a shot every time someone said the word “ghost,” you’d pass out by the end of the first level.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Tone def jam: This Icon is just a con
Def Jam: Icon is a marketing memo disguised as a video game, a conceptual nightmare that collapses under the weight of brand names and ill-advised “synergy.”
By: MITCH KRPATA
Greek epic: God of War II is one last classic for the PlayStation 2
It was obvious that Kratos’s happiness couldn’t last.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Requiem for a game console: A look back at the ultimate PlayStation 2 games
With the release of God of War II this week, the book is all but closed on the PlayStation 2.
By: MITCH KRPATA
Ridin’ dirty: Is MotorStorm the PS3’s killer app?
What’s to like about MotorStorm?
By: MITCH KRPATA
Naval gazing: Adrift midway between action and strategy
Is it time yet to declare a moratorium on video games set in World War II?
By: MITCH KRPATA
Five more video game injuries: War wounds
"As players spend more time with the [Nintendo] Wii, some are noticing that hours waving the game’s controller around can add up to fairly intense exertion — resulting in aches and pains common in more familiar forms of exercise," so writes the Wall Street Journal.
By: MIKE MILIARD
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