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Videogames

Review: Borderlands

Gold rush
It’s tempting, and easy, to describe Borderlands solely via comparisons to other games.

By MITCH KRPATA | November 04, 2009

Childhood memories, improved
A Boy and his Blob got its start as a 1989 Nintendo game designed by David Crane, who also designed Pitfall! . This 2009 remake features Miyazaki-inspired art and cel-shaded animation, giving the maps a storybook quality. Unfortunately, the story itself still leaves much to be desired; no further complexity has been layered onto the 1989 game’s backstory.

By MADDY MYERS | October 27, 2009

Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

A real treasure
Nathan Drake walks like a man. Not so much in a macho, John Wayne kind of way — though there is plenty of that in him — but as if he were a real person occupying physical space.

By MITCH KRPATA | October 21, 2009

Review: Brütal Legend

Brutal is one way to put it
The cover of Brütal Legend sports an interesting detail.

By MITCH KRPATA | October 16, 2009

Review: Scribblenauts

The pen is not so mighty
If knowledge is power, and words are the vessels for ideas, then the appeal of Scribblenauts is easy to understand.

By MITCH KRPATA | October 07, 2009

Delay of game

With some big names shelved, 10 releases to watch for this fall
Splinter Cell: Conviction , BioShock 2 , Heavy Rain — these are just some of the eagerly awaited titles that won't be coming to your video-game console this fall.

By MITCH KRPATA | September 15, 2009

Game Review: The Beatles: Rock Band

Don't meet the Beatles — be them
Can we agree that the music-game market is saturated? To stand out in this crowd, you'd need something special. You'd need the Beatles.

By MITCH KRPATA | September 09, 2009

Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Joker's wild
Although Heath Ledger fully deserved the Oscar he won (posthumously) for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight , a less heralded actor had staked a claim to the character years before. On Batman: The Animated Series , Mark Hamill brought a fearsome edge to the role that outstripped any previous dramatic effort.

By MITCH KRPATA | September 01, 2009

Review: Shadow Complex

A dizzying descent down the rabbit hole
In games, a cave is never just a cave.

By MITCH KRPATA | August 25, 2009

Review: 'Splosion Man

Blowing up Xbox Live Arcade
Perhaps no platform has more consistently delivered solid indie titles than the Xbox 360, whose Live Arcade now offers hundreds of selections, from high-definition updates of the classics to forward-thinking boutique games.

By MITCH KRPATA | August 11, 2009

Review: The Bigs 2

Swing and a miss
The makers of The Bigs 2 seem to have confused simplifying the sport with dumbing

By MITCH KRPATA | July 29, 2009

Review: Tales of Monkey Island

A classic series sets sail once more
Thanks to Telltale Games, we're now seeing remakes and revivals not only of the genre but of its most popular franchises. First was Telltale's successful episodic rebirth of Sam and Max . Now we get the first part of a new adventure based on the granddaddy of them all: The Secret of Monkey Island .

By MITCH KRPATA | July 21, 2009

Review: Guitar Hero: Smash Hits

Guitar Hero does its greatest hits
When evaluating a new Guitar Hero — or any music-related game — it helps to picture a Venh Diagram consisting of three circles: "Good Songs," "Challenging Songs," and "Songs that are fun to play on plastic instruments."

By RYAN STEWART | July 13, 2009

Review: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

It has the tools, it has the talent
Call it fanboyism, call it a Pavlovian response, call it what you want — Ghostbusters: The Video Game made me smile.

By MITCH KRPATA | July 07, 2009

Review: Prototype

The gleeful excess of Prototype
Prototype is so awesome, it broke my PlayStation 3.

By MITCH KRPATA | June 30, 2009

Review: Red Faction: Guerrilla

Blast factory
It's strange, when you think about it, how unrealistic most video games are. Not in the sense that they feature superheroes and space mutants — that's easy to accept. But as they render their environments with increasing verisimilitude, it becomes harder and harder not to wonder why nothing ever gets damaged.

By MITCH KRPATA | June 23, 2009

Familiar Fantasy IV

The After Years: If it ain't broke, remake it
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years started as a Japan-only cellphone game and has washed up on American shores in the form of WiiWare.

By MADDY MYERS | June 16, 2009

Review: inFamous

The power goes out
The potential of a virtual space is limited only by its designers' imaginations. Why, then, are so many designers' imaginations limited to dreary, urban settings?

By MITCH KRPATA | June 08, 2009

Steam-powered playground

Damnation's peaks and valleys
Damnation is one of the first major shooters created in the steampunk genre. This means the story is set about a century and a half ago in an alternate timeline in which steam power becomes the reigning technology instead of electricity.

By MADDY MYERS | June 05, 2009