Ordinarily, jacking up your player’s stats and powers might cause some balance issues, but the game’s reliance on blocks, fumbles and interceptions provides both fast-paced arcade action and a mechanism to iron out the difficulty. Unfortunately, the game’s simplicity is underscored by a flawed menu system. During play selection, there’s no field position marker, so good luck deciding whether to punt or kick a field goal. (more…)

Players familiar with the series can expect the same tight, responsive controls as previous entries, and making Soma run, jump, and slash feels natural right from the get-go. Fans of Aria in particular will be pleased to see the Soul System returning, albeit now referred to as Tactical Souls. For the uninitiated, Tactical Souls function as follows: when Soma defeats an enemy there is a random chance that Soma will take possession of said enemy’s soul (except bosses, who always give up their souls). These souls are divided up into four categories. (more…)

The game wastes no time with setup or character introductions but instead leaps right into the thick of things. In the opening movie Brotherhood leader Magneto and his lieutenants Mystique and Sabertooth are seen breaking into some kind of military controlled facility, only to be joined by three of the X-Men in what turns out to be a rescue of X-Men founder, Professor Charles Xavier. (more…)

Turok was a new game on a new system in a new dimension. This means that some 2D features were still present. Extra lives are awarded not through experience, or areas cleared but rather through picking up lines of golden triangles scattered about. (A concept copped straight from Pac-Man.) (more…)

First and foremost, before we really get into discussing the aforementioned bopping, it should be said that if you happen to be a fan of the film, this game is a bloody, bloody treat. A game only following the events of the film would likely be quite short and, again, largely about running. Therefore, the meat of the game presents an impressive amount of back-story regarding how the Warriors built up their reputation enough to be considered for inclusion in the big gang meeting hullabaloo that takes place at the beginning of the film. (more…)

Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life tells your story. As a young female whose father just died (tragic, eh?), you come to live on a farm that belonged to Takakura, a close and evidently very generous friend of his. This farm has the square footage of about a quarter of the entire town, and Takakura just up and gives it to you. For free. (more…)

If you think back the beginning of all time and space (which, for gamers, is around the time that Pong first came out), you’ll discover that ye olde gaming platform back in those days shared many of the same shameful characteristics. Yet, some of our fondest gaming memories belong not to the fancy but forgettable multimedia extravaganzas of today, (more…)