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Pounding Headache

Patapon marches to the same damned drummer, over and over again.

By Gary Hodges

Published: March 12, 2008

You'll know in the first few minutes exactly what Patapon has going for it. There's the goofy premise, which casts you as the tribal god Patapon, lord of a band of creatures called,...

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Text Adventure

Words get in the way of an otherwise stellar Lost Odyssey.

By Gary Hodges

Published: February 27, 2008

Lost Odyssey wants to be Microsoft's answer to Final Fantasy — not that that's such a good idea. Like Star Wars , Final Fantasy survives as a power brand thanks to the shining stars of...

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Wii's No More Heroes Lightsabers Geek Chic With Absurdist Gusto

By Gary Hodges

Published: February 13, 2008

When it comes to giving a game a vibe, "awesome" is an easy mark to hit. Explosions, hot chicks, macho one-liners, and salivating mutants are all awesome. And it's just about impossible to overdo...

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Wii's Samurai Warriors Offers Dull Swordplay

By Gary Hodges

Published: January 30, 2008

The very first time I saw the Wii's motion-sensitive "Wiimote" (and after my initial "wha-HUH?" reaction), a single thought bounced in my head like a toddler on corn syrup: Finally we're gonna...

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Lukewarm Gun

Unreal Tournament III blasts new holes in old terrain.

By Gary Hodges

Published: January 16, 2008

Unreal Tournament III is ideal for overcaffeinated teenage boys with PlayStation 3s, broadband internet connections, extensive online friend lists, hours and hours of time to blow, and —...

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Keep Dreaming

NiGHTS' second coming feels more like a first draft.

By Gary Hodges

Published: January 2, 2008

The inevitable challenge faced by Wii developers is this: Can you create a game so spectacularly awesome as to prompt a gamer to even consider ejecting Super Mario Galaxy from his console? The...

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Gaming's Greatest Hits

A look back at the best of 2007.

By Gary Hodges

Published: December 26, 2007

Best Sleeper Hit: WordJong (Nintendo DS) — It may not sell like Mario, but this mishmash of Scrabble and mah-jongg hooks you like handheld crack. Already a word-of-mouth hit, despite being...

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Xmas Present & Past

How yesterday's games spawned today's best-sellers.

By Gary Hodges

Published: December 19, 2007

Nothing says holiday spirit quite like stabbing a terrorist or hammering a goombah, as the hottest games this season invite us to do. But no matter how cutting-edge the stars of 2007 may be, they...

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Future Shock

Mass Effect is riveting — and a bit aggravating too.

By Gary Hodges

Published: December 5, 2007

For a game that's considered Microsoft's premier 360 title this holiday season, it's amazing how sloppy Mass Effect is. Graphical glitches distract from otherwise fascinating character designs...

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Call of Duty 4 Kicks Ass Too Close To Home

By Gary Hodges

Published: November 21, 2007

The unsettling tone is established early in Call of Duty 4 , when the president of a Middle Eastern nation is publicly executed on the world stage, and you, the player, experience the deposed...

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'Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles' Sucks, Bites, Not in Good Way

By Gary Hodges

Published: November 7, 2007

Castlevania, the vampire-hunting series that stretches over 20 years and as many games, has basically two kinds of fans. There are the traditionalists, who've followed the games since they were...

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Bang Bang for Your Buck

It's five great games for $60 — shoot first and ask questions later.

By Gary Hodges

Published: October 24, 2007

Whether it's $600 PlayStation 3s or the five bucks Nintendo shamelessly charges for 20-year-old NES games on the Wii's Virtual Console, gamers have gotten used to assuming the position when it...

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Halo 3's Advertising Glare Outshines Xbox 360 Game

By Gary Hodges

Published: October 10, 2007

What's left to say about Halo 3 ? How about this: All the pomp and circumstance surrounding its launch sure has been distracting. Commercials that look like clips from a Hollywood movie,...

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Lair’s Fire-Breathing PS3 Dragon Just a Big Turkey

By Gary Hodges

Published: September 26, 2007

In terms of the yawning chasm between what was promised and what has been delivered, Lair earns the distinction of being the biggest letdown ever for PlayStation 3. Worse, it's also one of those...

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Bioshock to the Xbox

A crumbling utopia sets the stage for the world's most fascinating shooter

By Gary Hodges

Published: September 12, 2007

First-person shooters are rarely more than virtual shooting galleries. Great fun, yes, but not exactly thought-provoking. That's why it's nice when an FPS comes along that's trying to be...

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Persona Grata

Meet the last great RPG for PlayStation 2

By Gary Hodges

Published: August 29, 2007

The next-gen consoles are sexy as hell, but it's not all bad being the reigning "last-gen" champ, either. With more than 100 million PlayStation 2 consoles sold, software companies can afford to...

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Fill in the Blank

Picross DS proves there's life after sudoku

By Gary Hodges

Published: August 15, 2007

Ask a random person five years ago what Sudoku was, and you'd be lucky if they mumbled something about Japanese ritual suicide. But go down any supermarket's magazine aisle today, and you'll find...

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Trick Play

NFL greats shake off the rust in All-Pro Football

By Gary Hodges

Published: August 1, 2007

The concept behind All-Pro Football 2K8 is simply wonderful: Imagine a fantasy football league where you draft from a pool not of this season's top players, but of the greatest NFL players of all...

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Dim and Dimmer

The Darkness could stand to lighten up a little

By Gary Hodges

Published: July 18, 2007

The last hour of The Darkness is exactly what the game should have been from its opening moments: a magnificent, bloodthirsty mix of firepower and hellish wrath. Playing the role of Jackie...

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It Takes a Village

The terrorizing townsfolk of Resident Evil 4 shamble onto the Wii

By Gary Hodges

Published: July 4, 2007

When Resident Evil 4 was originally released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2005, the game reinvented a lot of what had grown tiresome about the series. Most obvious were the setting and enemies...