GameCrashers » REVIEW

Delayed Reactions: Super Meat Boy – Love Thy Meat, Dr. Fetus will hate you for it!

Rob James — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:26:19 +0000

Dr. Fetus has stolen your woman, Bandage Girl, and flipped you off in the process. Are you 'meat' enough to get her back?

Delayed Reactions: Mass Effect 2

Rob James — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:48:52 +0000

Shepard and the gang take the Normandy out for another romp around the galaxy in Mass Effect 2...but should you?

Delayed Reactions: LIMBO

Rob James — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:17:05 +0000

Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters Limbo. Will you?

Delayed Reactions – Cryostasis

BurningStickMan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 05:59:04 +0000

There's a growing legacy of atmospheric games coming out of Russia and the Ukraine; all uniquely Slavic and all taking gameplay chances that most Western studios wouldn't dare. Joining the ranks of Metro 2033, and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and Penumbra games is Action Form's Cryostasis, a psychological and survival horror game where cold is your greatest enemy.

Delayed Reactions – Prototype: Wait for the finished version

Dave "Boris" Orosz — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:03:13 +0000

Here is a badass game about an apocalyptic scale outbreak starting in NYC, a character whose ability stems from the very catastrophe he’s trying to defeat, and the military forces who are simultaneously trying to fight back the infection as well as you. What could go wrong? A lot apparently.

Delayed Reactions – Dark Void: Meh, Close Enough

Dave "Boris" Orosz — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:49:35 +0000

I always feel sorry when a game gets an average review. An average review means a game was fun for some and crap for others. Now how do I know where I fall? How do I know which "average" titles will fit my personal interests well enough so that I can forgive some of the smaller flaws and still come away satisfied?

Delayed Reactions – Bayonetta: Not Your Average Sex Icon

Dave "Boris" Orosz — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:45:04 +0000

I remember my first introduction to Bayonetta was at E3 2009 and I was immediately turned off by the ridiculous sexual nature of the game, the over the top sassy strut of the main character and the shallow sexual references. It was hot, but too absurd, too hollow I thought.

Delayed Reactions – Dead Space: Extraction

Dave "Boris" Orosz — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:59:11 +0000

While trying to make sense of my true reactions to Dead Space Extraction, I find myself at a bit of a loss. Dead Space Extraction is a very immersive game. I really get the feeling that I'm witnessing moments of pure terror in the hostile and hopeless expanse of space. It's a hauntingly beautiful and well presented narrative. But that strength creates a larger conflict: I’d almost prefer to experience this story...minus the gameplay.

Delayed Reactions – Torchlight

Brian Hertler — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:56:17 +0000

So I’ve been playing this game, Torchlight. Have you heard of Torchlight? You probably have, by now. And the rumors are true: Torchlight is basically the first Diablo with prettier graphics. This is not a bad thing.

Tony Hawk Ride – This is just embarrassing!

Rob James — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:20:33 +0000

For a series that has seen its fair share of ups and downs, Tony Hawk Ride has done a wonderful job of stunning video game journalists in a way that no other entry in the series has ever been able to do. Sadly, its probably not the kind of reaction the team behind the most expensive entry in the series would like to hear. Take for example the recent review by Kevin Van Ord over at Gamespot and Shane Satterfield’s lambasting on Gametrailers.com (as well as the less-than-stellar review). Just to make it clear, none of us here at GameCrashers are planning on buying, playing, or reviewing the game. At $120 it’s just not worth it. Furthermore, we can’t think of a triple-A franchise that has ever had a more embarrassing release than Activision’s Tony Hawk Ride. And that laughable review party was the most blatant admission of failure this industry has seen since Sony canned “Papa Playstation” himself, Ken Kutaragi. I can’t even being to predict where this entry leaves the disheveled series, but you’d be hard pressed to convince me that any company would risk making another Tony Hawk game after this whole mess.

Delayed Reactions – Batman: Arkham Asylum

Dave "Boris" Orosz — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:58:10 +0000

It seems that every time a movie or comic based game gets released, it’s assumed to be crap. I say this because every recent movie or comic-based game has been crap (or at the very least, poorly received. Think Watchmen, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, etc.) I even enjoyed Spiderman: Web of Shadows, but certainly not enough to sway my involuntary prejudice that adaptations are guaranteed to be crap. Once in a while, a competent studio comes along and provides me with hope that the tides may change. I’m talking about Batman: Arkham Asylum by Rocksteady Studios, a game that defines how comic book inspired games should be made. I gain control of Batman during the title sequence and already it’s clear to me that the game has a mood and personality to it that would rival all other games I’ve played (think Bioshock). The scenery and lighting is dark and moody, the character models are clean and crisp, and the characters are reactive and entertaining. Its voice-acting cast is an notable guilty pleasure, consisting of “Batman Animated Series” stalwarts like Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (Joker), and Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn). Yeah, these guys don’t like eachother Batman leads the Joker through the halls of Arkham Asylum suspicious of what the Joker has planned. He’s hiding something. In truth, Harley Quinn has already taken over the security office and the real fun is about to begin. As the Joker breaks free I am thrown into my first taste of combat. Consider it guilty pleasure #2. Oh how sweet it is. Batman can perform strikes and counter attacks, bouncing from enemy to enemy with great power and ease. The controls quickly become second nature. As I play on and unlock new moves, I realize how deep the fighting strategies can actually become. This is especially evident in the Challenge Maps where I found that the key to successfully performing combos is remaining aware and pacing my strikes. I’ve never seen a game provide such easy and simple controls, yet leave me broken and crying, trying to master the tactical edge of ‘the Bat’. I loved every sob-inducing minute of it. I assume you’re saying to yourself “The combat is that good, eh? Well, they probably over use it then!” Not at all sir (or madam). The visceral combat is offset by stealth sequences that don’t get bogged down by complicated mechanisms or controls (a la Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell). Batman can traverse the environment with the grappling hook and get close to the enemies speedily all without triggering a single alarm. I found myself able to knock an enemy out on one side of the map, cross the full length of the map in mere seconds, and take out several stragglers before their fellow inmates came rushing over. And just like with any good stealth game, every encounter has multiple ways of being carried out (some more successful than others). It’s very satisfying to yank the solid rock...

Delayed Reaction – Psychonauts

Dave "Boris" Orosz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:17:05 +0000

Recently I discovered something about about myself: I hate reviewers. Somehow they think they can grant a score for a game that can accurately reflects its quality. I can’t really complain though because up until now I was the type of dolt who looked a reviewer’s score and thought that it would actually provide me with some indication of what I should be playing. Then something like Psychonauts comes along and it becomes all to clear: reviewers have failed me all along. Despite receiving solid scores by the game-review-douche-bag committee, none of them made any effort to inform me that, despite scoring less than something like Metroid Prime 2 (a great game of its own predictable right), this was a title worth playing upon it’s initial release. Instead, I waited a good four years to pick it up. And I know I am not the only victim to this. Simply put, Psychonauts is creative brilliance at its finest. If you haven’t played this game, you really need to remedy that…and fast! For those of you who don’t know the story, a psychic kid named Raz runs away from the circus to join up with a summer camp for psychic soldiers. Shortly after his arrival, an evil dentist begins harvesting the students’ brains for an evil psychic plot. Raz must travel into the subconscious minds of everyone around him to unravel the twisted mystery. Having been birthed from the wickedly funny mind of developer Tim Schaffer, you won’t be surprised by this next statement. Within the first five minutes, I was laughing out loud. This game is genuinely funny in a way rather that avoid the ‘script-had-a-pass-through-the-template-funny-department’, which too many games seem to find ‘good enough’. It places the cast in situations that are relatable and interesting, no matter how large or small their part may be. Each level is designed to symbolize the fears and desires of the individual characters’ subconscious minds respectively. This metaphorical interpretation affects not only the physical look of the world and the back-story of the character, but the raw gameplay mechanics as well, which are almost never the same between any two levels. Even though the levels are so varied, the cohesive story prevents it from feeling like disjointed games taped together and instead makes it feel like a trippy exploration of the rabbit hole. Think Tim Burton at his psychotic finest and you’ll have an idea of what some of these levels are like. For Example, I was walking through the insane asylum, giddy by the prospect of being able to go into the minds of all the crazy people there. One character’s mind was being conquered using settlers of Catan style board game. Another’s was what should have been a typical suburban street, only it was twisted and looping around upside down. Furthermore, it was populated entirely by secret agents who were trying to convince me that they were road workers or gardeners because they held a prop related to their cover ID...

Delayed Reaction: Battlefield 1943

Rob James — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:26:13 +0000

War…war is hell. I’m dropped onto the middle of an aircraft carrier just off of the shore. My objective is simple: capture a collection of enemy fortifications littered across a swath of land I’ve never seen before. My team scrambles across the deck of the carrier hoping to secure one a flight to the mainland. Arriving a few moments too late, I’m granted the ‘pleasure’ of watching both planes take off without me. My teammates fire off a few unfriendly shots at the planes before resigning themselves to the life rafts. I watch in horror as several boats take off with only one or two people in them. I scoff at the lack of teamwork as I jump into the last remaining life raft and head to shore. Before I know it, most of my team is spread out all over the map. Half of us are dead. The rest are lost and totally unsure of which camp to attack first. This is when it dawns on me: “Yup, it’s a ‘Battlefield’ game.” While these issues are more a symptom of a lousy team than a lousy game, it’s hard not to feel like video game history is repeating itself. You see I’ve played a lot of 1942 in my time, enough to know a Battlefield game when I see one. But 1943 is a paradox. It’s a game not unlike it’s predecessor. It has similar maps, consolidated units, and a precise objective. It has been rebuilt from the ground up to feed a very different clientele from DICE’s PC patrons. And despite the ‘new’ game delivering some of the same gripes as the ‘old’ (as well as ones unique to 1943) it also does an admirable job of being as fun, and as addictive, as its predecessor. In fact, the game has gotten even faster than I remember. Savvy gamers will notice some changes right off the bat: fewer classes that fill dual roles, three classic maps that have been reduced in size to remove moments of isolated play, and fewer vehicles that re-spawn quicker to facilitate easier travel around the map. While the changes seem like the pitfalls of a reduced price tag, ($15 dollars on both PS3 and 360) DICE’s goal with this remake is abundantly clear: keep it fast, keep it frenetic, and keep it moving. Rounds rarely go beyond fifteen to twenty minutes, which ultimately seems like just the right length of time. Smaller maps result in battles occurring more frequently, removing the frustration of spawning into a completely empty section of the terrain. And fewer vehicle types that spawn more frequently means it’s a little easier to get from one side of the map to the other, for those few times you do spawn in alone and away from the firing line. However, the streamlining is not all air strikes and rocket launchers (sorry…I couldn’t help myself). First off, the reduction in maps results in an increase of replay fatigue. The more times a...

GameCrashers » REVIEW

Delayed Reactions: Super Meat Boy – Love Thy Meat, Dr. Fetus will hate you for it!

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Delayed Reactions: Mass Effect 2

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Delayed Reactions: LIMBO

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Delayed Reactions – Cryostasis

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Delayed Reactions – Prototype: Wait for the finished version

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Delayed Reactions – Dark Void: Meh, Close Enough

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Delayed Reactions – Bayonetta: Not Your Average Sex Icon

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Delayed Reactions – Dead Space: Extraction

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Delayed Reactions – Torchlight

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Tony Hawk Ride – This is just embarrassing!

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Delayed Reactions – Batman: Arkham Asylum

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Delayed Reaction – Psychonauts

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Delayed Reaction: Battlefield 1943

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