Ronimo likes taking games that are typically 3D and squishing them into a 2D plane. It worked with Swords & Soldiers, the 2D cartoon RTS, and it works here with Awesomenauts, the 2D cartoon MOBA. Awesomenauts only has one game mode, but there are enough variables that you don’t need a ton of menu choices to ensure that each game played will feel different. Between multiple characters and myriad upgrade paths, you’ll have to cook up a new strategy each game if you want to win more than one match in a row. READ MORE
Trials HD is one of the best-selling Xbox Live Arcade games of all time, it has sold over 2 million copies, and it was voted Best Overall Arcade Game in 2009 by Xbox 360 players. The physics are great, the levels are lovingly crafted, and the replay value is enormous. Saying that Trials is a motorcycle trick game isn’t exactly disingenuous, but it’s not telling the complete story either. READ MORE
The Splatters is a physics puzzler with an emphasis on style. Throughout all three of the game modes, your goal is to use the titular Splatters to explode all of the bombs on a level. And since you accrue points based on how many stunts you execute along the way, you’ll find yourself replaying already-completed levels in the quest to get that third star or rise up on the leaderboards ahead of your friends. READ MORE
There is no denying that the multiplayer space has been chock full of cooperative multiplayer in recent years. Between Gears of War, Halo, Borderlands and now Mass Effect, teaming up with friends to save the world is, if not taking over, giving the traditional lone-wolf style of gameplay a run for its money. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is no different. It’s designed from step one to be played in a group. What Slant Six forgot was that step one needs to be fun. Aping what has worked for others is no guarantee of success, and ORC is not a successful team-based shooter. READ MORE
When I heard I was going to be reviewing Ninja Gaiden 3 I thought “this is great: just the kick in the pants I need to finally play the first two games.” I was going to knock a couple games off of my backlog and be better informed when the third installment arrived. I was wrong. I was very wrong. I am not a good or patient enough gamer to complete the first two Ninja Gaiden games. I see what Team Ninja was doing, and I have a tremendous respect for it, but it just is not in the cards for me to see the credits roll on either game. This isn’t the case with Ninja Gaiden 3, and it is worse for it. Much worse. READ MORE
In order to understand why we won’t ever see a Shenmue III, we must first understand what Shenmue is as a series. Shenmue is the story of Ryo Hazuki tracking down his father’s killer. It started its life being developed for the Saturn, was eventually shifted to the Dreamcast, saw a two-for-one sequel on the Xbox, and then slipped quietly into the night while Sega started spending time and money on its spiritual successor, Yakuza. READ MORE
Most everything can be improved by editing. This review, almost assuredly, did not get published in the same state I submitted it, and we’re all better off for it. I sound smarter, and you’re reading a better review. SSX, similarly, would benefit from a good dose of editing. There is a great game hiding underneath all of the fluff, but that fluff gets in the way and the modes are set up to make it mandatory. READ MORE
The tower defense genre is a difficult one to enter. If you change it up too much, you’re not really creating tower defense, and if you leave it the same, people will decry it for being just like the tower defense games they’ve already paid for and played. Defenders of Ardania, however, manages to still feel like tower defense, even if the combination of all of the added elements means that none can really take center stage. READ MORE
I hate seeing a good idea go to waste, so I hope that a development team with more time and money accidentally played Deep Black: Reloaded and realized that if you add fun to this formula you’d have a good game. As it is, I can’t recommend it to anybody. If you want to shoot guys there are a million better options, and if you desperately want to play underwater your choices are fewer, but Deep Black still isn’t the game for you. Something like Undertow would serve you better, and it has the added benefit of actually taking place primarily underwater. READ MORE
I like some unique games, and while Microsoft’s XBLA service used to scratch that itch for me, lately I’ve been finding great games on the PC instead. Break Blocks, aside from having a terrible name, is another little gem that probably would never have been published without digital distribution on the PC. READ MORE
