Leveling Down

It may look like it belongs on the SNES, but To the Moon is much more than an old looking game

Regular readers of this site know I’m a sucker for strong narrative in my games. When I think about narrative driven games, Uncharted, Bioshock, and a select few others come to mind. Now, I can add To the Moon to that list, albeit in a totally different kind of way. To the Moon is a small indie game released on PC, and is an excellent piece of storytelling in digital form. I played through the entire game in four hours last night – and enjoyed almost every minute of it.

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Modern Warfare 3 brings the craziness of the Modern Warfare franchise to new heights

Almost a month later, I’ve managed to make my way through Modern Warfare 3′s campaign, hit the first Prestige in Multiplayer, and spent some limited time with the Special Ops. I can finally write up a review for the biggest game of the year. Considering how much time cmfl3x and I have been spending with Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer, it’s a wonder if we ever get a chance to play anything else. Hit the jump for my thoughts on all three sections of the game.

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Installation 04 looks better than ever

Let’s start by calling Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary what it is: a cheap money grab playing off the tenth anniversary of the Halo franchise. With that business out of the way, let me point out what else the Anniversary edition is: a beautiful looking re-enactment of the classic that kept the Xbox alive. Surprisingly, the game still feels relatively fresh all things considered, although things that were annoying ten years ago still are annoying now. Is it worth checking out, or for die hards only?

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Ratchet has some new toys to play with 2009′s Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

Amidst the flurry of major release titles this Fall and Holiday season, I’ve still been working on my backlog and the most recent backlog game I’ve beaten is Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time for the PS3. I wasn’t a huge fan of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction since I felt like it was too similar to the other titles, but I think that A Crack in Time does bring some interesting new gameplay elements to the series and I found myself enjoying it more (maybe even more than Batman: Arkham City!). Hit the jump for my “retro” review on this 2009 title…

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In Batman: Arkham City, Batman can now dive from the tops of buildings onto thugs below

I was able to hunker down and beat Batman: Arkham City this past weekend, and for those wondering – it really is about an eight hour game if you avoid the sidequests. Now that I’ve gone through the primary storyline, here’s my abbreviated, yet “debatable” review.
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With so much going for it, Gears of War 3 is a must-own title for all gamers

As a gamer who preferred the 360 over the PS3, it’s always been kind of odd that I could never get into the 360′s most important IPs: Halo & Gears of War. With Halo, I warmed up to the series some after spending time with Halo: Reach, but I eventually sold that game because it still wasn’t enjoyable enough to me. Gears of War 3 finally succeeded in not only getting me to really enjoy it, but it has drastically changed the way I thought I would play the game. Hit the jump to see why I love this game so much.

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Valkyria Chronicles uniquely blends gameplay from the strategy and third-person shooter genres

Valkyria Chronicles is the next game I hit up on my slowly shrinking backlog. For those that don’t know much about this game, it’s a Japanese “turn-based strategy game” that Sega released on the PS3 back in 2008. Since then, it’s been popular enough to have spawned two sequels on the PSP, an anime series, and a manga series. I had picked up the sequel on the PSP months back, but having wanted to play through the original game first, this was the next game on my backlog. Hit the jump to see if this older PS3 game still holds up today.

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Child of Eden brings the gameplay that made Rez popular but also adds in some extreme visuals

I loved the Dreamcast. When I think back to my favorite consoles prior to this generation, my first thoughts are the SNES and the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was beloved by many a hardcore gamer, as it featured an amazing library and one of these hits was a little known gem called Rez. As a prequel to Rez, Child of Eden was definitely on my radar, but like basically every other game released these days, I didn’t think it was worth picking up on launch day. But when Best Buy had it on sale briefly for $9.99 prior to Labor Day weekend, that was more than cheap enough for me to check out so I drove to my nearest Best Buy right after work to snag myself a copy. Hit the jump for my thoughts now that I’ve played through it a couple times.

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Yakuza 4 introduces three additional characters to play in the campaign for some variety.

Most of my gaming time over the last couple of weeks has been devoted to one game on the PS3: Yakuza 4. As someone that loves Japanese culture, I was a bit disappointed with the previous iteration in the series, but still decided to pick up the most recent Yakuza title once I found a good deal on it. I’m glad I did – while Yakuza 4 looks very similar to Yakuza 3, it’s thoroughly a better game. Hit the jump to see why.

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Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 & Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip are among the PSP’s best games

Even though I’m not a sports game fan, surprisingly, the two games that have occupied most of my PSP gaming time for the last several months are two Hot Shots games: Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 and Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip. I had never played a Hot Shots game prior to these two games on the PSP, and have now discovered how addicting the Hot Shots combination of sport and RPG can be. Hit the jump to see my quick reviews on both titles.

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