All Entries Tagged With: "Reviews"

MLB 10 The Show Review

MLB 10 The Show's Cover Boy Joe Mauer

It seems that with every passing year, video game sports simulations are constantly becoming more authentic.  In the past 4 years, no series has lived up to that standard more so than MLB The Show from SCE San Diego Studio. With little room for improvement, they have once again proved why not only is the series the best baseball game on the market, it also sets the standard for sports simulation as a whole. Sorry Madden fans, while MLB 10 The Show may not be perfect  it really is just that damn good.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International Review

I’m having a feeling of déjà vu, but in a good way. There was a time, not all that long ago, where I was really hurting for some decent JRPGs. To my surprise, they turned up exclusively on the Xbox 360. With that in mind, I purchased my little Microsoft box in late 2008, because I knew what was coming up – the latest Star Ocean game by tri-Ace, one of my favorite JRPG franchises. I pre-ordered and played the game on the 360 and really enjoyed it, for the most part. I was so enraptured by actually having a fresh JRPG to play that I let a lot of things slip by in my mind, possibly putting the game up on a higher pedestal than it really should have been located. How did my second encounter with this latest Star Ocean game fare, taking into consideration all the additions to the PS3 iteration? Read on to find out!

The Saboteur Review

The Saboteur is another World War II themed game but this time set in Paris. You are Sean Devlin an Irish man with one agenda to avenge your slain best friend while taking out as many Nazis as possible. Sean is not your typical main character and often has some good one liners right before puffing on a cigarette in his 1940’s environment. The opening scene with topless women was one that I was not expecting and something that many gamers were probably not expecting either, but was a very interesting experience to see how developers are willing to incorporate mature content.

Game Critics and Ulterior Motives

One site gives a game a 7.4/10.0. Another gives the same game 3/5 stars. And one more gives the game a 9.5/10.0. Which one of the three reviewers had their opinion tainted? You got it! It was the third one. But don’t worry, defend your site/magazine/show, because it’s all opinionated. One reviewer’s opinion is different from another right? Heard that one way too many times before. Let’s cut the crap. Some video game publications are being paid off by publishers to boost the appeal of certain games. These companies are being paid to cheat. To cheat the system and to cheat you all from a truly objective view of a game. And we gamers hate cheaters.

I want to start with a simple and basic real world example. Take a look at Spike TV’s Video Game Awards (VGA). The winners are voted on and you can agree or disagree with the fans, doesn’t matter. The issue here is not the winners, but the nominees. VGA 2004 had Fantastic Four nominated five times.

I don’t remember that game being that good. I’m sure there were plenty of other video games in 2004 that could have taken those nomination slots. On second thought… maybe not. If you take a look at the categories, they seem tailored made for Fantastic Four. Two of the categories were BEST CYBER VIXEN and BEST PERFORMANCE BY HUMAN FEMALE. It looks like someone really wanted Jessica Alba’s name to be mentioned twice that night.

The game ended up winning zero awards that night. So, if the fans didn’t like the game, who got this game nominated so many times? I don’t know, but his name could very well be “money.” Someone at the “Video Game Awards” must have been paid. This was just a blatantly obvious example of what may be happening at possibly some of your favorite video game review sources.

What has been shady to me lately is IGN. Take a look at this image:

Metacritic gives Army of Two: The 40th Day a 73 out of 100. Heck, we here at DualShockers gave it a 3 stars out of 5. Its average score from all the critics is a 73, and IGN has given it a 8.5 out of 100 and an Editor’s Choice award. I guess it’s just a coincidence IGN’s layout for the day was… Army of Two: The 40th Day. I’ll leave this one up to you. Maybe the reviewer really did like it, and it just so happens Electronic Arts is paying the bills too. I shouldn’t connect invisible lines, but it seems fishy and strikingly similar to an incident that has happened before.

One of the greatest cases of a video game publication being paid off by publishers happened in 2007. GameSpot writer Jeff Gerstmann was terminated from said publication along with several editors quitting shortly after, because the integrity of their reviews were being compromised by greed. GameSpot’s reason for terminating Gerstmann were never officially confirmed, but it does not need to be.

His unbiased review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men gave the average game an average score. But at the time, GameSpot was being paid very above average by publisher Eidos Interactive, possibly to have the favor returned. GameSpot has a rich history of being paid tremendously well by publishers of terrible games. Themes and backgrounds of mediocre to horrible games have plagued the GameSpot site numerous times, and that doesn’t come cheap. We may not know the exact reason why Gerstmann was terminated, but what we do know is that he did not give the game a royal score boost, and we know several other editors couldn’t do it neither.

So, do we dare ask publications such as GameSpot is take a possible price-cut from their income in favor of little ol’ us? The gamers? My answer is: “this is video game JOURNALISM.” Journalism, not public relations and not advertising. Speaking as a journalist, we are here to serve the people. The early history of journalism began as the flow of information from person to person through word of mouth, the passing of pieces of paper, and community boards and books. It was hidden and undetected by influences such as the government, who saw that people knowing certain information a threat as it would give them too much power. In the same way, video game journalism should not under any circumstance write for the service of any other reasons besides the investment of a gamer’s clicks or $19.95 subscription.

Who could we trust?  Who can’t we trust? Does anyone even care? And what can we even do about it? Maybe all these questions cannot be answered. Who knows, maybe even our reviews are somewhat tainted. We get free games, maybe subconsciously we already feel the need to “thank” the publishers or have an already positive mindset towards a free game, and not even realize it. Journalists can be as objective as they can be, because nothing is truly objective. But publications that push and pressure critics to boost a score are the true problem, and it’s up to time and people like Jeff Gerstmann to expose them.

Mass Effect 2 Review

Bioware has once more seen fit to allow us to enter the awe-inspiring, dangerous, provocative universe of Mass Effect – and what a journey it is. From the sleek, clean lines of the previous game’s Citadel, to the cool mysteriousness of the Asari colony world Illium, and on to the rough and tumble debauchery of Omega, we’re taken on a wild and crazy ride that surpasses the original in almost every way imaginable. We meet interesting characters with greater depth than the likes of Master Chief or Cloud Strife and are allowed to shape the way the universe perceives us and the outcome of many a situation by the way we act and the decisions we face more than any other game that has come before.

MAG Review

Massive Action Game (and yes it is as big as it sounds) is 256 gamers thrown into the mix to battle it out for the 3 different Private Military Corporations in the Shadow War. Since the concept was first brought up, gamers and press wondered if it could really be done. Zipper Interactive and Sony right from the start, said yes it can. There is no single player mode when playing MAG, it is go all out (online) or go home. It’s multiplayer only and strategy plays the most important part in this game. If you’re trying to make it on your own in MAG and you will be met with ultimate failure. You must choose a side and you must communicate with the rest of your team. Not only do your stats reflect on you, but also on the faction that you choose.

Turf Wars Review

The iPhone has seen its share of tower defense and massively multiplayer online games. If you have not crossed one yet just do a quick search and you will find a plethora of them. Turf Wars is a member of the latter but it is one that stands aside from the pack and has the ability to shout names at the others because it is that addictive.

Army of Two: The 40th Day Review

I have to begin this review by getting something out of the way right from the start. Being that I’m a sucker for good marketing, I felt as though I was duped into buying the original Army of Two. I think I actually cringed when I heard that a sequel was in production. Now, after playing through Army of Two: The 40^th Day (AOT: TFD), the series has for the most part completely redeemed itself. It won’t go down as a classic, but it sure as hell was fun. It may be light on the story, but at the same time really heavy on the action and entertainment. I mean really, what were you expecting from a title whose cover has two juiced up guys in bulletproof hockey masks holding giant machine guns? It may not be Shakespeare, but it may just be the best action movie you’ve ever played.

Darksiders: Wrath of War Review

I waited countless months for Darksiders to arrive. After hearing that comic book artist Joe Madureira had created and designed the majority of elements in the game, I was grinning like a possum eating shit out of a light socket. It brought a warm fuzzy feeling to my tummy – sort of like the feeling you get when you’re first about to get laid. Months passed and, after finally getting my hands on Darksiders, I beat the game, unmercifully unleashing all sorts of devastating moves on the creatures that permeated the solitary cadaverous world that was once Earth.

Avatar Wave: Snowball Fight Review

Just in time for the winter and holiday season we have Avatar Wave: Snowball Fight, The Perfect Holiday Game! When I was first handed this game, I have to say I was a bit skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy my fair share of indie games as they seem to offer more innovation than titles that come from the bigger studios. However sometimes they are pretty cheap and crappy. This is not the case with Avatar Wave: Snowball Fight. Never did I think that drilling xbox live avatars in the face with snow balls would be so much… fun! Matches play out like real snow balls fights in that when you start everyone is scrambling to gather snowballs, all while trying to not get hit by the opposing team.

Gaming Websites NOT for the Gamers

You think my title is a complete contradiction to our website DualShockers? Well it is, because I think that video game websites aren’t for gamers. What for? Yes, okay gamers get some news from gaming here and there. But besides that, they only come to argue anyway because “they know everything about games ever.” Who I think gaming websites should be targeting are parents. That’s right parents who can actually put some use into reviews, instead of the obnoxious amount of “this game cannot be a 10!” that spews out after every blockbuster that releases, EVEN when the reviewer clearly states, “this by all means does not make this a perfect game.” We don’t need these reviews, maybe to get a vague description of a game we may be interested in. But I’ve gone out, made the right decision (you know the ones I make myself?) and bought 7.0 rated games and loved it. I know what I would like and not like. So, where am I going with this? Oh right, parents. Parents if you hear me, start visiting video game websites!!

This is all coming from seeing NPD numbers of the Nintendo DS version of Bakugan Battle Brawlers. This game was the number 2 best-selling title on Nintendo DS for Q4 2009, and number 5 across all systems in the month of November 2009. Are you kidding me? This game that has gotten mediocre scores across the board and that I gave a 2/5 stars to, has sold this well in the hot holiday months. There are three things wrong here. I’m wasting my time, companies are being advantageous, and kids are dumb (sorry kids reading).

Writing reviews, I feel like I’m doing a service for all of you. What is the gosh darn point of writing a review if the game is going to sell great anyway. Yeah, I made another contradiction just now. Yes I buy poorly reviewed games sometimes, but I know what I’m doing. Bakugan is a kids’ game, and they need our guidance… the parents I mean, who are buying these games for their kids. It hurts me when I see kids on line with their Mom at GameStop holding a copy BMX XXX (Okay, maybe not that game, but pretty bad games). If parents were just looking at some game websites, this game would have never sold this well, and in turn not have disgraced our loving and pure industry.

Now let’s get to the companies who makes these kind of games. Companies should have some class. An example I’m going to make is Pokémon. Sure, the games have become stale and formulaic (in my opinion), but they are still very good games. Pokémon could easily make so much money with a crappy game, because kids would just eat it up. But no, they chose to have some class and respect the buyers. And this goes for movie game developers and other crappy game developers. Have some class give them some decent games!! As far as kids go. They just don’t know what they want and are in complete denial mode 24/7. Your game sucks, stop telling your friends you like it and believing that they’re good games. They’re not. I’m sick of seeing kids running around me with bad games that I never even heard of before.

In closing… Mom and Dad… look at our website and other websites. Your kids deserve good games!

Buzz! Quiz World Review

Buzz! Quiz World is a PlayStation only trivia game that is making another appearance on the PS3. Returning is everyone’s favorite snarky game show host Buzz, who provides great commentary and some snappy one-liners to keep the game interesting and players laughing. Is a funny host enough to make this game a must have over your classic Trivial Pursuit? Let’s find out.

Buzz! Quiz World lets up to 8 players locally or online battle for the bragging rights of trivia supremacy and some crappy door prizes. Some of the questions have video or pictures while others are just text but all fall into a category which a player chooses at the beginning of a round. You get to create your own characters that interact with the audience and host which add to the fun. The avatars range from a mini swamp thing creature to a cheerleader to a masked wrestler and super hero, each with their own mannerisms and expressions. Also new to the game is that you can add in your name if it is programmed in and the announcer will call you by that name instead of just saying Player 1.

You can choose to play a short game or a long game. I typically chose the latter just so we could get more rounds in and by no means is the short game too short, in fact it felt just right. You compete in different rounds where each round aside from a category also has a special set of rules to score points. The first of the rounds is called Point Builder, where you answer questions to build up score and speed is not a factor, so you can take your time and it does not affect the other players. The rounds there after are random but here are some you can expect: Boiling Point, where players answer a series of questions to make your character boil the fastest to win the round. High Stakes is another round where you can gamble your points about how much you know the particular category before seeing the question. Stop the Clock has players competing to be the fastest to answer because the quicker you are the more points you get. The last round is dubbed Final countdown and all of your points turn into time and the players that run out of time are eliminated.

There are a ton of different categories such as sports, history, 80’s and 90’s music but then there are many custom trivia sets that users have created. MyBuzz! Quizzes which are user made quizzes allow you and others to play with questions that were user generated. You can also purchase additional Buzz! Questions if you blow through all 5,000 questions that come with the game and all the MyBuzz! quizzes.

Buzz! Quiz World is the ultimate party game for those times when you want to get a group of people together and just have a good time. You can play up to 8 people on the same PS3 in your own living room or go head to head in a new “Sofa vs. Sofa” mode that lets 4 players compete against 4 players online. Online play works smoothly just like the offline but it does take a bit to find a game as not that many people are playing. One thing you do want to make sure of is that you have the Buzz! Buzzers as they are required to play the game. The bundle includes 4 wireless buzzers which work really well and get rid of the hassle of wires.

Buzz! Quiz World is great for gamers that have parties or gather with others to play games, not so much for solo gamers as they will quickly get bored of it. Buzz! Is all about talking smack and racking up points with some friends and enjoying the host and his wise guy remarks. A solid trivia game for anyone looking for a good time and a great game to get everyone involved regardless if they like video games or not, the game is accessible to everyone which makes it great for holiday parties.

Title: Buzz! Quiz World
Developer: Relentless Software
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
MSRP: $59.99 (includes four wireless buzzers)
Release Date: Sep. 23, 2009
Review Copy Info: A copy of this game was provided to DualShockers Inc. by the publisher for reviewing purposes.