Games

PC/PSP Game Review: LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4

I was a huge fan of LEGO Star Wars when it came out back in 2005, and also of the Original Trilogy follow-up. These games brought interesting gameplay and whimsical storytelling to life in a way that captured the essence of their source material and a humor and lightness that made them eminently family friendly. That said, I have been decreasingly entertained as they rolled out the mediocre LEGO Batman and LEGO Indiana Jones and the dreadful LEGO Indiana Jones 2. Those games had a style and humor that felt forced and a gameplay that felt laborious. I love the…

Editorials, Game Diary

OMG Apple r d0m3d! Sony Shows PSP Playing Mediocre 2 Year Old Games For $10 Each!

You can see the idea – the PSP is for ‘real’ games, and the iPhone is for ‘bite-sized gaming’. Show some great looking PSP games and have some crappy simul-screen on the iPhone, and you’re good to go! Here is the main thrust of the video as noted at Engadget: Marcus reminds viewers that the iPhone is built for things like “texting your grandma and calling your girl,” while the PSP is “built for big boy games,” some of which can be had for as little as $9.99. So what is the problem? One of the main points of the…

Game Diary, Reviews

DS Game Review: Puzzle Quest 2

The original Puzzle Quest was a revelation, what I called “Casual Meets Hardcore and Loves It!” back in 2007. The game featured a solid RPG story and progression mechanic with an enhanced ‘match 3’ puzzle mechanic for the combat system. It was smart, fun and tremendously addictive! The follow-up, which I reviewed here, was “a decent game, it just pales in comparison to the original.” Now we get the ‘true’ sequel – does it live up to expectations? Read on and find out! The Hype: Puzzle Quest 2 marks the return of the world’s leading puzzle adventure series and its…

Game Diary, Reviews

QRANK for iPhone/Touch App Review

I am currently back hard at work. We have begun football season and are in the middle of 2-a-day workouts which takes pretty close to every waking hour of the coaches. With that said, many of my usual daily entertainment is left behind for things like eating and showering because the loss of free time. QRANK has stepped in to the rescue. It is a daily short quiz that includes current events and common knowledge subjects. The quiz is entertaining, challenging and only takes a few minutes to complete. Open QRANK each day to complete the daily quiz and compare…

Game Diary, News & Features

Fable III PC Version Delayed, Silly Open Cinematic Released!

Fable III is the upcoming entry in the action-RPG series by Lionhead Studios (part of Microsoft Game Studios), headed up by Peter Molyneux, the designer who is famous for spouting off pie-in-the-sky features about his next ‘best game ever’ that are eventually cut way back … only to repeat the process for the next game! The original Fable was released in 2004 for XBOX360 first, followed up by an extended version for PC called ‘Fable: The Lost Chapters’. The game was originally going to be the ‘all-RPG’, taking you from birth to death in a ever-growing world in which you…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Game Review: Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip!

It was with some surprise that I realized that while I was greatly enjoying what I consider the best PSP game since 2008, Persona 3 Portable, I had actually been spending more time playing Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip! What is it about this game that seems to refuse to let me stop playing? Read on and find out! The Hype: The ear-deafening cheers from the crowd have died down, as you bounce the ball in preparation of your serve for championship point. You toss the ball into the air and strike it with the sweet spot of the…

Editorials, Game Diary

Beware of this StarCraft II Phishing Scam!

Did you ever see a scam that looked so much like it was real that you feel lucky to have escaped? When I saw the email posted below from SiliconEra, I was floored and went back to my receipt from Blizzard to make sure it wasn’t a scam! Here is the malicious email: From: Hello, thank you for shopping at the Blizzard Store! StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty™: 2775298057033043807536803 To use this key to activate the game, simply follow these instructions: 1. Create a Battle.net account (or if you already have one, log in) at (malicious URL removed) 2. Verify…

Reviews

iPhone & iPad App Review: Card Shark Takes a Bite out of Boredom

Feeling a bit bored? Try a daily dose of Card Shark! This card game app works on both the iPad and iPhone size devices. Out of all of the solitaire type card games I have tried, this one is by far the best I have come across in quite a long while. Part of its attraction is the fact that Card Shark offers 48 versions of card games and the developer is adding more on a regular basis. Some of the versions as shown in the below screenshot are FreeCell, GoFish, BlackJack, and my Favorite TriPeaks. There are many card…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC/XBOX360 Game Review – Dragon Age: Origins Leliana’s Song DLC

Last month I reviewed the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC, saying that even at “$5 in Microsoft Points … it has questionable value.” I found it “a single-minded module that lasts about an hour, adds a single new item to the main game, and offers little replayability” … and was really just an average add-on in general. Now I am back after playing through the new DLC Leliana’s Song (announced here). So how did they do THIS time? Read on and find out! The Hype: Assume the role of Leliana, a young bard involved in a criminal ring that deals in political…

Editorials, Game Diary

Nintendo DS News: R4 ‘Piracy Enabling’ Carts Now Illegal In UK

I think by now I’ve made it known that I am frothingly anti-piracy, so the new ruling in the UK that bans the R4 Revolution and similar devices thrills me. The high court set a new precedent by adjusting that it is illegal for the R4 card to circumvent Nintendo’s security systems in order to play content on the DS. In the US this sort of thing isn’t necessarily illegal to sell, but since they are such piracy-centric devices even Amazon who used to be a big seller of the devices has stopped supplying them. Basically the R4 is an…

Game Diary, Reviews

Din’s Curse (PC/Mac RPG, 2010) Review

I have consistently sung the praises of Soldak Entertainment since their first game released in 2007, which they have earned by consistently serving the RPG community with well-made, fun and interesting games. The most recent release from Stephen Peeler and crew is Din’s Curse – but let’s take a quick look at their earlier releases. The first Soldak game was Depths of Peril (DoP), which was interesting because it featured a dynamic game world. At the core was an action RPG, but DoP offered much more than a simple Diablo-esque experience. As a player you head up a faction charged…

Editorials, Game Diary

New Dragon Age Patch Breaks DLC, the Solution? Patience!

There is nothing worse than starting up a game and getting an error message like the one above – you have done everything right, installed everything, logged into the account, even played before using all of this content. But now, you log in and cannot start the game, and are told that you are not authorized to use the content and that the owner of the content needs to log in. ARRGH! After doing all of the usual stuff – logging in and out of my in-game account, restarting the game, checking my online profile and so on … I…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Mini Game Review: Mystery of the Crystal Portal

As I mentioned in my iPad review, I had bought that version of Mystery of the Crystal Portal for my iPad when I was heading out on vacation. When I got a message from G5 offering a review code for the PSP Minis version, I quickly accepted but also immediately knew there might be significant enough control and graphics differences that I would need a separate review. Unfortunately … I was correct. The Hype: Embark on a brain-bending adventure that’s full of unique hidden object fun. Journalist Nicole Rankwist has always been close to her archaeologist father. So when her…

Game Diary, Reviews

iPhone Game Review: mTanks!

I am embarrassingly tardy with this review, but the reasoning is actually good news and worth mentioning. I had been playing mTanks on my iPod Touch but then the kids got out of school, we went on vacation, and I got busy getting my iPod Touch set up for my wife to use to read ebooks on vacation. Long story short, I forgot about the game completely. Before I finish the story, let’s see what this mTanks is all about: The Hype: 4 days ago NASA’s Spirit rover discovered a growing army of tanks beneath the surface of Mars. The…

Game Diary, Reviews

Omino for iPhone/Touch App Review

Games are advancing at a blistering rate and the iPhone has become a wonderful platform for today’s video games. Most new games are all about reality and 3D graphics. When I try to explain Atari or NES games to my son, he thinks it is crazy nothing was 3D and totally realistic. The joy of playing 16 bit games while I was in Jr. High School cannot be explained. With power-ups and level bosses, our idea of video games completely transformed into what would become modern-day gaming. I still remember sitting up all night during the summer with my buddies…

Game Diary, Reviews

iPad Game Review: Mystery of the Crystal Portal

I had bought Mystery of the Crystal Portal for my iPad when I was heading out on vacation. While I was quite occupied with Puzzle Quest 2 on the DS, I love the occasional ‘hidden object’ game, and have been VERY happy with stuff from G5 games (like Mahjongg Artifacts) … so I figured I’d give it a try. When I came back I got a message from G5 noting that the game was being released as a PSP Mini and offering me a review copy, which I quickly accepted! I figured that I would be able to quickly decide…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Mini Game Review: Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2

Not long ago I reviewed the recently released Mahjongg Artifacts, which was a sequel to one of the earliest PSP Minis, Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2. Recently Sony announced that more than 1 million PSP Minis had been downloaded worldwide … and guess what game was #8 on the ‘top ten most popular’ list? That’s right – Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2! So to celebrate that achievement the kind folks at G5 have provided us a review copy of their hit game. The Hype: Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 is one of the most popular mahjong games on PC now available on PSP…

Game Diary, Reviews

The Netbook Gamer: XIII (2003, FPS)

Wait – wasn’t XIII called out specifically in this article a couple of months ago? Yep – but through perseverance I managed to get it uninstalled and re-installed and properly running … so naturally I played it again and am here – well, quite frankly I’m here to stop you from bothering! XIII is one of those milestone games that tells a good and bad tale from my gaming life. I was very interested in this game based on what it offered – a quality FPS presented in a stylistic graphic novel presentation with a compelling story of mystery and…

Game Diary, Reviews

Build-A-Lot for iPhone/Touch App Review

This week’s Blue Plate Special brings me a first… The app was completely chosen by my wife. My wife often plays the games I choose or she uses them, but rarely does she tell me about an app. So, I was playing poker the other night with all of the coaches and I texted her a few times expressing my woes of a slowly shrinking supply of chips. The fact that she did not respond was not an issue, but about an hour later she replied, “Sorry, I saw your crying messages but I found this game that I can’t…

Editorials, Game Diary

nVidia Optimus – Not Ready for (Gaming) Prime Time

It was supposed to be a great day … I had written first impressions about the original Alienware m11x and about how I was ordering the new one as soon as it became available. And while I was away on vacation my order shipped and arrived, so it was waiting for me upon my return. I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to get busy with it. After all, I loved so much about the original Alienware m11x (now called R1), including: – Near-netbook portability. – Better than netbook battery life (on integrated graphics) – True gaming laptop performance. – Better…

Game Diary, Reviews

Tiki Totems Premium for iPhone/Touch App Review

Well, the summer of addicting games continues! I found Tiki Totems Premium on sale for free today. The premium version includes over 200 levels and guarantees any new updates will come to your phone free of charge. The game is basically a puzzler with a cute twist. Here is the background story for the game. The tribes of the mythical island Tikonia have for centuries worshipped the Tiki God. All was fine and dandy until one day the tribe elder looked at the gathered worshipers and asked a simple question, “My beloved, how do we know that our great God…

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