Civilization Revolution

Sid Meier is universally recognized as the master of computer game design. I remember playing F-15 Strike Eagle, on my old Commodore 64 when I was a kid. Civilization is his masterpiece, delighting millions of gamers and evolving through several versions. Civ, for the most part, has been exclusive to PC’s and Macintosh’s. However, with the PC market in a decline the past couple of years, it was only a matter of time before the franchise expanded. Read more

Spectral Force 3

Atlus has published some of my favorite games of recent years, including La Pucelle Tactics, Disgaea, and Disgaea 2. When I was chosen for this review, the thought of having an Atlus tactical RPG on my Xbox 360 was exciting. Read more

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Hi, my name is PK, and I’m a Guitar Hero addict. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, and my guilty pleasure has been Guitar Hero. Read more

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Soulcalibur IV

Ridiculous crossovers are the vehicle of choice for fighting games struggling to find their niche. While Soulcalibur IV doesn’t exactly need to sucker punch Superman to get attention, Namco Bandai’s decision to cross-pollinate its fighter with Star Wars is no less bizarre. Read more

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Alone in the Dark

Survival horror games walk a fine line. When too frantic, they devolve into simple action games. When too measured, they feel more like technology demos than games. Alone in the Dark tries to resuscitate one of the earliest survival horror games, with only mixed success. Read more

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XBLA doubleshot: Rez and Ikaruga

Rarely is a game so popular that it successfully finds a second life on another console. Even rarer does that game surpasses the original. Yet this was the case not once, but twice this winter with the Xbox Live Arcade releases of Rez and Ikaruga, two seminal Japanese shooters that are finally available on a wide scale to American audiences. Read more

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LEGO Indiana Jones

One of the first toys I became obsessed with as a child were LEGOs. I used to have a metric ton of them. I had the first generation Space LEGOs, the Medieval Castle LEGOs, and the Technics LEGOs. I used to save every penny of my allowance so I could get the next set. I finally, unwillingly, gave my Lego collection to my nieces and nephews. Even today, I find myself checking out the new sets. Read more

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Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy

If you love spy thrillers, chances are you’ve probably heard of Robert Ludlum’s Bourne novels, made popular with the Hollywood adaptations starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. The well choreographed and brutal hand-to-hand combat portrayed was the hallmark of the films, and game publisher Sierra and developer High Moon Studios have done a excellent job capturing that adrenaline-filled action, almost to the point where you feel like you’re recreating scenes from the movie. Read more

Grand Theft Auto IV

I really wanted to hate Grand Theft Auto IV.

I had decided not to buy it early in its hype-cycle. “Fool me twice, shame on me” was my attitude. I had bought Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City because of the glowing reviews from just about everyone, but I found them tiresome, sophomoric, morally bankrupt and — worst of all — not much fun to play. I fully expected GTA IV to be more of the same. When our Editor-in-Chief informed me he was sending it my way, I prepared for the worst.

The worst didn’t happen. I don’t hate this game, even though it has things about it — many things — that are hateful. It is, in some ways, like two separate games sandwiched onto a single disc. One of those games is the sophomoric, hard to control, ponderous and boring festival of reloaded missions that I remembered from previous editions. But the other game is a brilliantly scripted, lovingly realized analysis of the American dream in general, and New York City in particular.

The writing, dialogue, and acting in this game are beyond superb. That in itself makes the game impossible to hate. That the writers so effectively persuade players to sympathize with the characters, including the player’s sociopathic Eastern European avatar, speaks volumes. And the most important character, of course, is New York City itself. No one who has spent any time in Brooklyn, Queens, or Manhattan can fail to be stunned at how effectively Rockstar has distilled these boroughs to their essences: making them navigable in reasonable game time, while still preserving their character.

Little, it should be noted, has changed about the core gameplay, and when you drift away from the script, the game deadens and ossifies. The sensitivity and subtle humor of the spoken-word aspects of the game only serve to widen the chasm between the script’s high quality and the visual game’s penis-joke mentality. Apart from the missions, there is precious little to do in Liberty City if you aren’t interested in mayhem or exploitation.

The save system, as in previous games, is ponderous. A mistake late in a mission can force you to replay it from the beginning, including the pointless and boring drive from your house to where the action is. It’s as if the game is begging you to stop playing it and find something more fun to do, such as playing Mario Kart.

GTA IV is a seriously flawed game with a split-personality. The sandbox portion of the game presents a false choice between being bored or engaging in brutality. The game’s setting and screenwriting, however, contain moments of great insight and beauty. If you can accept the moral ambiguity of choosing to play a game that presents murder as inevitable and acceptable, then you will find parts of GTA IV to be entrancing.

I don’t hate GTA IV. But I still don’t want anyone to watch me play it.

On the Rain-Slick Precepice of Darkness

If you’re a fan of Penny Arcade (and who isn’t?) you’ll buy this game no matter what I say about it, so I’ll keep this short and to the point: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is $20 well-spent. It plays as a sort of mixture between the Telltale adventure games and a less pretentious Final Fantasy game with characters that aren’t big-haired, androgynous, and pouty. The user interface can be a bit hit-or-miss but the game makes up for it by being extremely forgiving.

The plot opens with the protagonist’s house being destroyed by a gigantic robot whose purpose in life is to sexually molest fruit. You give chase, and soon encounter a large number of smaller robots (keep some oranges handy to distract them!), mimes, hobos, and other assorted enemies. You’ll also become an associate of the alter-egos of the creators of Penny Arcade, Tycho and Gabe. With some assistance from Tycho’s girl-genius niece, Anne-Claire, you’ll upgrade your weapons, find clues, and uncover new areas in which to go forth and issue beatings.

It’s a short game, but in this case I think that’s a vice, and not a virtue. The writing, riddled with in-jokes, is merely serviceable, but the art direction and animation are superb. At its best, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness comes close to giving you the feeling of being in a Penny Arcade comic strip. God help us all.

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