Review: Gears of War - Judgement (360)

Now that the Gears of War series has been ended, the only way to get more stories is to jump to an earlier time or give some side-stories. In Gears of War: Judgment we're getting some prequel. The method of story-telling for this game is an exploration of why Kilo squad was arrested and tried for treason.

The actual combat set-ups are told from the perspective of the tribunal; the dialogue sets the scene as you play. While Kilo squad has Baird and Cole as the core members we're familiar with, the other two members are Sofia (a by-the-numbers soldier who continually runs counter to the "by-the-seat-of-your-pants" style that Baird uses) and Parduk (the GoW equivalent of a brown-coat – on the losing side of the last war, but conscripted to fight the Locust horde. Now imagine what he would think about having the fight for the side oppressing him).

Review: Crysis 3 (360)

The Crysis franchise has always been a sign for PC gamers that it is time for an upgrade, because if you want to play at maximum settings your current gear isn't going to be up to snuff.

Taking a game franchise notorious for pushing the limits of equipment and playing it on a console eight years old just seems like a bad marriage of ideas but Crysis 3 still looks amazing. The programmers and designers deserve credit for getting the most out of the consoles, as this easily sets the new high water mark for visual showmanship for this generation.

Feature: BioShock Infinite Review

Irrational Games has delivered a super nova game with BioShock Infinite, which can literally, and without an single iota of exaggeration, be described as an extended orgasm that ejaculates fun and social consciousness during every millisecond of playtime.

Review: Ni no Kuni - Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)

Ni No Kuni has already been out for two years, at least overseas it has. It was released back in Japan in 2011 and was extremely well received, encouraging co-developers Level -5 and Studio Ghibli to localize the game and bring it overseas.

The same, charming gameplay and story has been a hit here, with the game easily being one of the best RPGs to come out in recent years with a unique combat system, well designed plot, and a variety of endearing characters you encounter in this “coming of age” story.

Review: Harry Potter for Kinect (360)

It's very difficult to rate a game like this. If you are not a fan of the Harry Potter universe you are not going to find a lot here to like. On the other hand, if you're not a fan you probably wouldn't pick this up to begin with.

At its core, this actually is not a bad game. It successfully puts you into the universe first brought to life by the J.K. Rowling books. The variety of gameplay is quite extensive but in the end, the overall cohesive meshing of a series of mini-games falls a little short.

Review: Dead Space 3 (PS3)

In his third foray against the Necromorphs created by the grotesquely human mutating and corpse reanimating Markers, engineer Isaac Clark is given a lot.

A lot of ammunition, a lot of health regenerators, a lot of parts to take advantage of the new weapons building technology, a lot of save points to save his progress throughout Dead Space 3. But for a world where ammo, weapons and health are plentiful, there is sure a lack of damn light. All this futuristic technology, why can't a guy get a high-powered flashlight around here?

Review: Dalkstalkers Resurrection (PS3)

Darkstalkers was one of my favorite fighting games growing up.

Sure it's more popular sibling Street Fighter got all the press for its attempts to keep realism in the title (at least to some degree), but Darkstalkers never felt forced to be grounded in reality and it made for a very distinct fighting experience.

Monsters and monster hunters fight with their fists, claws, detachable limbs, ethereal weapons, demon powers, and pretty much whatever random objects that they care to utilize.

Review: Luigi's Mansion - Dark Moon (3DS)

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is more than just a philosophical examination of life after death, a treatise on the supernatural and otherwordly; things unseen by the naked eye that brings to question God and the nature of existence; what it means to be human; and the boundary between what is Real and what imagined things hide in the shadows.

The game also has some swell puzzles.

It’s the puzzles that blunt the edge of the stabbing (cute) terror that dogs Luigi at every turn. Enlisted by Professor E. Gad to reassemble the Dark Moon artifact to bring some semblance of normality to Evershade Valley, Luigi takes up his Poltergust 5000 – it both sucks and blows – to clear out mansion after mansion of otherworldly and not-so-otherwordly creatures he'll come across many puzzles.

Review: DMC - Devil May Cry: Virgil's Downfall (360 DLC)

Virgil's Downfall puts you in the driver's seat for Virgil's descent into madness. His defeat by his brother has not left him in the greatest of moods, and you can see the progression of how his mind slowly becomes unhinged as revenge starts to overwhelm his mind.

Review: Capcom Cabinet Pack 2 (PSN, XBLA)

Ghouls and Ghosts

Capcom has been making games skilled at eating up your quarters for decades. So there's nothing more satisfying than being able to re-visit some of the classics that we remember, this time with unlimited quarters! You aren't taking my entire allowance in one sitting this time, Capcom!

Groups of games are being released in batches – last month we got Black Tiger, 1943, and Avenger and this batch we get the amazing Ghouls and Ghosts, Section Z and Gun.Smoke.

Video: Weekly Checkpoint 44

Aaron fills in for Jeff this week and quickly chats about Saints Row IV, Luigi's Mansion, the trouble with SimCity, Brutal Legend and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.

Review: Fuel Overdose (PS3)

Fuel Overdose fondly recalls one of my favorite Nintendo games – RC Pro AM: an overhead view combat race where leading the race may not be the smartest option. Each racer comes packing some serious weaponry – machine guns, mines, rockets, grappling hooks and a specific set of power moves that they can unleash.

Review: Crysis 3 (PC)

 

Crysis 3 does one thing extremely well. And that's hit the player over the head constantly with loads and loads of bricks saying, "Hey, hey, hey, look how graphically awesome this game, uh, looks!"

Every time, I would tell the game, "I get it!" But every time I would stop and stare.

Not a glance and move on. My eyeballs would sear with polygons, blur effects, and stunning visuals! Let me see mo-o-o-ore!

Review: Black Knight Sword (PS3)

I'm a fan of Suda 51's work. I enjoyed some of his better works like No More Heroes and even found a game like Lollipop Chainsaw to be a guilty pleasure so it's no surprise that Black Knight Sword quickly caught my attention.

As I usually do, I started the game up on the Normal difficulty setting. It didn't seem so bad at first. I got a bit ahead of myself and was being too cocky because I soon found myself switching to Easy mode.

This game can be a pain in the ass and not always for the right reasons!

Review: Dollar Dash (360)

Dollar Dash feels like a decent multiplayer mode for a bigger game, or perhaps a portable $1.99 offering. This doesn't feel like a "full" game worth 800 MS points.

Players take control of a robber and steal money. Thing is, there is competition, so the robbers on the playing field are not working together but instead actively trying to prevent everybody else from getting money. There are traps to be set, shots to fire and more.