Review: Gears of War (360)

Graphics- 10/10
Sound- 10/10
Gameplay- 10/10
Replay Value- 10/10
Overall- 10/10

Gears of War... more like Game of the Year. Intense, challenging, stunning- these are only a few of the words that can describe Gears of War. Get ready for one wild ride.

A game as highly anticipated as Gears of War will naturally come with plenty of skeptics. The gameplay quickly came into question when it was revealed that the game would use a "stop and pop" formula. This simply means that you go through the levels dodging bullets, jumping for cover, and then blowing away your enemies from said cover. This works out perfectly. The rush for cover as bullets, grenades, and rockets fly literally over your head is INTENSE. A single well-placed shot will kill you, and a burst of a rifle to your gut will tear you apart. Oh yeah, this game is gory. Limbs literally fly through some of the battles. Even your own. But that's where your arsenal comes in. You're a COG soldier. A monster made of muscle and armor. You're armed with rifles with chainsaw bayonets, shotguns, spiked grenades, snipers that tear through enemies, and the torque bow. The torque bow is basically a bow that revs up, sticks a guy with a metal bolt, and blows him away. The rifle is pretty good, but it's main feature is the chainsaw attachment, which, when revved up, can tear a guy in half. Although there are a few more weapons such as pistols, the arsenal is kind of small. But that doesn't make it useless, it packs quite a punch in fact. When you do shoot (which there is A LOT of), you either shoot "from the hip" which is pretty inaccurate, or you can aim more accurately over the shoulder by holding the left trigger, but this slows you down. These options make you make choices that can have heavy consequences in split seconds. The challenge in the game is near excellent, although it can feel like a bit too much in some parts. In this game, you're constantly on the edge of your seat. The gameplay is simply perfect.

The most noted thing about Gears of War are its graphics. And yes, they are some of the best available on any console. The details are superb. There is no way to really explain it except to say that the graphics are crisp, clean, and perfect. Although, sometimes the graphics are a bit blurry when you load the game, but this fixes itself within seconds and the overall quality makes up for it. The lighting is done wonderfully. The lighting does a great job of creating a deep, dark, war ravaged mood. And the design is very original. It really fits the game and makes the game very enjoyable to watch. The sound, too, is done very well. The music in the game is placed perfectly at the right moments and the sounds of screeching bullets and ear popping explosions make for a very memorable and exciting experience.

The replay value is quite good in this game as once you finish the game on hardcore difficulty, the insane difficulty opens up. Also, through the game are many spots where your team has to split up, letting you choose which path you want to go. This nice feature adds the chance to have a bit of a different experience when playing through the game more than once. Also, the multiplayer is a nice change from the regular multiplayer shooter experience with the "stop and pop" formula. The chainsaw on the Lancer rifle also opens a new way of pwnage in multiplayer games. Overall, this game is excellent. It easily takes the place as one of the best games ever and can easily take on Halo. High quality graphics and sound with some of the best and most exciting gameplay ever make one great game.

Pros: Exciting gameplay, crisp visuals, and great sound.
Cons: Nothing really.

Review: Vedran

Review: Supercar Street Challenge (PS2*)

Graphics- 3/10
Sound- 1.5/10
Gameplay- 3/10
Replay Value- 2/10
Overall- 2/10

Supercar Street Challenge simply put, is a bad game. A really bad game. I mean, this game is just shameful. The graphics suck. The gameplay sucks. Everything else sucks. The one good thing about this game only applies to certain people: the game features a techno soundtrack that only major techno fans will enjoy. Just don't buy it.

Supercar Street Challenge for the PS2 has a simple premise: design a car, and then race it. Actually, that is more or less the game's slogan. Here is the game's real slogan: "Design it. Build it. Race It." Yea, that's it. It was that simple premise that made me buy the game. Oh, and the $20 price tag, without being a "Greatest Hits" title. Me in my misguided youth... I really should have known better. The thing is, the designing of the car, the game's main concept, doesn't work well, whatsoever. On the back of the box, a picture of a designed car, which, might I add, looks pretty retarded, cannot even be made at the start of the game. And even if it could, the editing system is so bad that you would lose your patience well before you finished the car. However, the single player mode isn't all that bad. Oh, wait, yes it is. The cars have amazing handling at less than 70 mph, but over that, they become incredibly hard to handle. Not that it really matters though, because if you hit a wall, unless it is a head-on collision, you only lose 40 mph, at the most. And when you are going 150 mph, that doesn't really matter. Also, the first series of races is too easy, the second series is fairly difficult, but the last series is so frickin' hard, you will wonder why you are even playing this game. Which will probably happen quite often, actually. If, no, when you get bored of the single player, you can play some two player multiplayer with your friends. It's only you two, no extra computer players. And since you both should stay above 120 mph the whole race unless you get into a really bad crash, whoever gets the better start usually wins.

As if to add insult to injury, the game looks like crap. Gran Turismo 2, for the PS1, looks better. The nine cars available are nice cars, but the game simply doesn't do them justice. Also, hopefully you have some music of your own to play, because the background music sucks, with as much emphasis on "sucks" as possible. My friend was over, and we were playing this game. Less than 30 seconds into the first race, he said, "Sounds like a night club." And it does. Except for it sounds like a really bad night club. Apparently the music is by some good techno bands. But since I've never heard such crap before, I had no idea that this was actually licensed music, not just some cheap tunes made for the game. I bought this game for $20. If you really are stupid enough to want this game, you can probably find it now in a bargain bin at your local game store. Or, you could just buy Gran Turismo 3, or just about any other racing game, for a much better gaming experience. Just say no, kids.

Pros: Bargain price, soundtrack if you are hardcore techno fan.
Cons: Everything else.

Review: Eric

*Also available for PC. Review for PS2 only

Preview: Gripshift (PS3)

Gripshift, for the PS3, is an enhanced version of the game by the same title for the PSP. It is a racing/ puzzle game, with some strategy elements thrown in, too.

Not a lot of content is shown in the downloadable demo, but I'll tell you what I do know. It features a nice techno/rock soundtrack, with plenty of songs available. They fit in very well with the style of game that Gripshift is. The game also has some pretty interesting courses. Most of them are straight forward, but some of them have several different ways you can complete the objectives of that particular track. Every course has the same three objectives: get a fast time, collect all the stars, and find the Gripshift token. There is an online leader board for whoever complete the mission the fastest. If you have a competitive spirit, you will try your best to get the fastest time possible for yourself, and if you get pretty close to the top time, you may find yourself trying over and over again to get the top, or simply just a faster, time. This adds a certain level of challenge, until you realize you have stopped caring, and either give up, or keep trying anyway. None of the levels are really all that difficult, though, so after you complete it, you may have a "That was too easy" feeling.

That being said, the game gets repetitive. I am not sure how many courses there are (there were only ten in the demo), but I can't see them being very creative any more after the 50th one. Although the courses look nice (cartoony nice, not MotorStorm nice), the scenery in the ten tracks provided looks relatively the same, so if there are more than 100 levels, it will definitely get boringly repetitive. Also, like all driving games, there is some racing involved. However, I do not think this will be a big part of the game, as only one of the levels in the demo was racing. And it was really easy. So hopefully this is improved in the final version. Also, I know there will be some sort of multiplayer racing, most likely over the internet. Hopefully this will be good and actually worth playing. Overall, Gripshift is a fun game with a creative concept, but since it's very repetitive, it will be interesting to see how well the final version is done.

What's Good: Soundtrack, courses.
What Could Be Better: Racing, repetitive, difficulty.

Expected Overall- 7/10

Preview: Eric

Review: Kirby's Adventure (VC*)

Graphics- 8/10
Sound- 7/10
Gameplay- 9/10
Replay Value- 8/10
Overall- 8.5/10

To this day this is still a good game a great download from the VC. The gameplay was unique at the time it came out and still is pulled off rather nicely in todays' gaming world (some unfortunately being nothing more than button-mashers).

I was very excited when I learned that this game was coming to the VC, because I knew that I had liked the game before but I just didn't remember much about it and why I liked it. When I began to play the game I soon remembered why I liked it so. The gameplay is very unique and compelling for a side-scrolling video game. You might think that Kirby is nothing special, but I disagree with you. The ability to copy certain enemies moves is so creative and adds such an addictive element to this game, it is unreal. Once you get a move you might not think about it but this requires you to think about what you are doing and going to do. What I mean is you might get an ability that you really like, but then you see an enemy with an ability that you think would be better or more useful. Do you give up your current ability? Do you keep it? Can you even take his ability? The other unique feature is Kirby's ability to "fly" (float.) This is something that is in all Kirby games and is a great concept that really wouldn't work on other games. Imagine a classic Mario game. Fun side-scrolling adventure to ensue...right? Now if he had the ability to fly...well not quite the same anymore is it? The cool thing about Kirby's flying ability is that it leads to unique level designs that require you to do more than just run forward and time your jumps. As far as designing goes, the world set-up is done very well. You have the ability to revisit old worlds which can contain that enemy that has the key to your success against that challenging boss. However "challenging" is not a word that be given the honor of being associated with Kirby's Adventure. You see... you just can't lose. Game over? Just hit continue and you are right back where you left off...except outside the level...not the world. Not only can you not die, the bosses and mini-bosses are ridiculously easy especially when you have a power-up you "borrowed" from and enemy. A good gamer...hell, a below average gamer can knock this game out in no time.

The graphics in this game appear to be very well done - there are multiple colors and patterns in each world and level within. However it is a bit hard for me to judge the graphics because I do not know what other games at the time looked like. The sound isn't the greatest, but then again none of the games at the time where phenomenal. There seems to be nothing but positives (almost) right? Well...let's get back to my first time playing. I entered a room and glanced up and saw a lot of enemies (five or six.) My first thought was...hey this might give me a slight challenge (it didn't.) I then started to inhale to suck up an enemy with a move I deeply desired, but as soon as I started to inhale...no, it can't be was that...LAG?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!? A NES game lagging on a Wii?!?!? I know that Nintendo isn't going to mess with games and release them in there original state...but I think that they could have made an exception for this (and a controller pack for Mario Kart 64.) The slowdown fiasco only gets worse as the game goes on because it increases in "difficulty," which means more foes. However this is the game I have played the most on my VC...well maybe Mario Kart 64 (yes I do own the cartridge and the VC version.) This is still a good game and worth 500 Wii points ($5.)

Pros: Unique, Copy enemies moves, "Flying," Game design.
Cons: LAG!, Way too easy.
Should it be downloaded? - Yes

Review: Dan

*Original version on NES - Review based on VC version only.