Mass Effect Review: Bioware’s latest masterpiece
Not to rest on the laurels provided by Baulders Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware has created another instant hit: Mass Effect. Mass Effect is in many ways the spiritual successor to the Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) series although it goes far beyond the capabilities and offerings of its predecessor.
Mass Effect is a third person shooter/space exploration game set in humanities future when alien discoveries have catapulted human technology ahead centuries and given our race a place among many in the galactic empire. Click through for our full thoughts on this stunning game.
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Manhunt 2 Review: The Good, The Bad and The Grisly
Posted by Lolita Beckwith Categories: Nintendo, Reviews, Survival Horror, Take2, Wii,
Along with the release of “Halo 3” and the unfortunate postponement of “GTA IV”, one of the biggest video game stories of the year is the saga of Rockstar’s “Manhunt 2”. First, it was banned in England due to its graphic violence. Then it was given the kiss-of-death “Adults Only” rating here in the US by the ESRB. Sony and Nintendo do not release games with that rating—and they’re not carried by Blockbuster and Walmart. Undaunted, Rockstar made some revisions, and eventually the game received a “Mature” rating.
So now “Manhunt 2” is available in stores for Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2 and PSP. Having followed the saga, and very curious about the game’s content (plus I’m a huge fan of previous Rockstar games), I made it my business to rent the Wii version and play it. Having never played the original “Manhunt”—and not being a fan of stealth games—I had little idea what to expect. After completing the tutorial of Wiimote and Nunchuk moves (which includes some very funny, if grisly, sound effects), I dove in.
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Portal Review: Non-linear puzzlement at its best
Posted by Sparky Categories: Electronic Arts, Internet, PC, Platformers, Puzzle, Reviews, Xbox 360,
Valve’s big new gaming pack, The Orange Box, includes a stunning new kind of puzzle game called Portal. Portal is a non-linear puzzle platformer featuring M.C. Escher-like bending of space, and some of the most unique gameplay to hit gaming market in a long time.
Portal features Black Mesa’s newest research competitor- Aperture Sciences - creators of the aperture gun, a device capable of creating space-bending portals between almost any two points in space. It’s hard to describe the gameplay in words so check out Valve’s Portal page and view the trailers to try and wrap your head around it. Click through for Playfeed’s full thoughts on this fresh new gaming experience.
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Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Corporate News, Downloadable Content, Internet, Microsoft, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360,
A research paper from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research has been released that suggests that games with online support can be crucial to a game’s retail success. Not surprisingly, another way to boost sales is to create a quality game (defined as those with a 90+ score on Metacritic), with these well-reviewed titles outselling the average release well above 5-to-1.
While making good games typically means making good money, naturally, it is a bit surprising to see the report indicate that sales can be doubled by dropping in an online mode. With online games selling twice the number copies that offline titles do, it’s curious to note that over half of games released don’t offer even basic online support.
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| Ars Technica
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Is BioShock a Perfect Game?
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360,
The reviews have been coming in for a week now, and they have been phenomenal. Consider that according to GameRankings.com, BioShock is the 4th best game of all time. On Metacritic, BioShock has received more perfect 100 scores than even The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, usually the game cited as the best of all time. Clearly, 2K‘s Mature-rated, failed utopia FPS is a critical smash hit.
Perhaps then there is little need for another glowing review of the game. Except this is not a glowing review in the strictest sense, because BioShock is not exactly the masterpiece of perfection indicated by these scores. Instead, BioShock is a wonderful game that happens to draw to light the inadequacies of the way games are typically reviewed and the inherent inconsistencies of how games are judged.
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The Playfeed Review Scoring Guide
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Announcements, Reviews,
Our review scoring guide here at Playfeed is very simple and straightforward: games get a single number score, from 1-10, where 5 is considered average. There’s no 0.1 nonsense here, leaving you to wonder what the difference is between a game scoring an 8.2 and another that received an 8.4. We’re looking to provide you with a simple number that sums up the reviewer’s thoughts on the game being reviewed. However, we encourage you to read the text, as it will almost always be of much more help than the review score we assign to a game.
To be clear, a 10 doesn’t imply perfection – no game will ever achieve such a feat. But, if a game receives a 10, rest assured that we cannot more highly recommend it.
10 – Excellent.
9 – Great.
8 – Very good.
7 – Good.
6 – Above average.
5 – Average.
4 – Below average.
3 – Bad.
2 – Terrible.
1 – Bubonic Plague-level atrocity; a sin against nature.
Gallery: The Playfeed Review Scoring Guide
Top Ten Improvements in Halo 2 for Windows Vista
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Action, Editorial, Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
So, Halo 2 for Windows Vista is launching on May 8, 2007, and we have been able to spend some time reviewing the title. Since everyone is familiar with Halo 2, we felt a full review wasn’t in order. Instead, we wanted to clue you in on the ten best improvements we experienced while reviewing the game. These ten features raise the bar for Halo as a whole, and may be a foreshadowing of things to come in Halo 3:
Achievements: If you are looking for something fun that adds another level of fun and challenge to the Halo 2 world, this is it. We have said it before, and we will say it again - Microsoft hit a gold mine with the notion of achievements. No sooner than when we finished a multiplayer deathmatch did we rack up a total of three achievements. Meleeing five people from behind (and thusly earning the Ninja achievement) was nice, but Meleeing someone who already had the Ninja achievement (and thus earning the Flaming Ninja achievement) was even better. We have the achievement to prove it. For those wondering, yes, the achievements you earn in Halo 2 for Vista (or any other Games for Windows game) is counted towards your Xbox Gamerscore.
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Wii Would Like To Play: Super Paper Mario
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
Nintendo’s Super Paper Mario ships today, and so far the game is tacking up a 90% overall rating on Gamerankings.com. From some of the major game sites, 1up rated the release an 8.0, citing the title’s relative lack of depth compared to its Paper Mario siblings, tacked-on Wiimote controls, and some slowdown evidenced in gameplay. IGN rated slightly higher at 8.9, feeling that the platformer and RPG merger was more successful and that the Wiimote controls felt appropriate for the game, but they felt the amount of writing in the game disrupted the flow, and the 3D elements seemed barren compared to the lushness of the 2D world. Nintendo has also kicked off marketing the game with a “Wii Would Like To Play” TV commercial, shown above.
Read More 
| 1up
Read More | IGN
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PCMag Loves Wii, Doesn’t Know How to Play Wii Sports Baseball
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Reviews, Simulation, Sports, Wii,
The Wii has already seen heaps of praise from major news sources sources such as The NY Times and The Washington Post. Well, some of those major reviewers are still catching up on with the Wii love bandwagon… this time it’s self-proclaimed console gaming hater John C. Dvorak over at PC Magazine.
For all the praise he heaps on the Wii, though, it seems like he didn’t read the instruction manual. Just look at this quote about how you’re supposed to pitch in Wii Sports Baseball:
Those news reports about people losing control of their controller and hitting the dog? They seem to stem from the baseball simulation, where you create a 100-mph curve ball by letting go of your controller while it’s still strapped to your wrist. And you thought real pitchers had it tough.
Is there some sacrasm I’m missing there? Or is Mr. Dvorak going to be next in line for a Wii replacement strap soon?
Read More | PC Magazine.com
Gallery: PCMag Loves Wii, Doesn’t Know How to Play Wii Sports Baseball
WarioWare Smooth Moves: Yep, It’s Pretty Darn Fun
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Nintendo, Reviews, Wii,
Those major, corporate-sponsored gaming news sites out there have posted their reviews of the highly-anticipated WarioWare: Smooth Moves for the Wii. The overall impression? Heckuva fun… with some reservations. IGN.com notes the similarity (in release date at least) to the WarioWare: Touched game for the DS. Both games are meant to introduce gamers to a new way of controlling a system, and in that respect, IGN gives Smooth Moves the upper hand - overall they found the design of the game to be much tighter, with a better-thought-out game progression and a much wider variety of tasks. 1up.com posted similar impressions, noting that controller issues may pop up for the novice gamer especially in those challenges where the Wiimote has to be pointed at the screen and be able to “see” the IR bar. Finally, Gamespot.com gives Smooth Moves the superb score of 9.1, giving the game lots of nostalgia points for its incorporation of minigames that resemble Nintendo classics, from the NES through Gamecube. Regardless of the scores though (8.2, 8.0, and 9.0, respectively), all the sites agree that WarioWare has a severely high fun quotient, and is likely to become one of the best games for introducing folks to the control possibilities of the Wii.
We’ll be getting our hands on this game shortly, picking up our pre-order first thing tomorrow when it ships. We’ll have our own impressions posted soon after - personally, I can’t wait to watch my non-gaming friends try out this one.
Read More | IGN
Read More | 1Up
Read More | Gamespot
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