Global Agenda Review: The Game Has Changed

Hi-Rez Studios are trying to stir something up in the MMO world with their latest release, “Global Agenda.” Instead of sticking to the fantasy-based, open world game template with little interactivity, they are trying to blend the best of team-based shooters with the character development of typical MMOs. It is a very innovative risk since this is game trying to appeal to two different types of gamers who despise each others existence, especially when the game includes a pseudo-subscription service. In a nutshell, you buy the game at the original price to gain access to the “free” modes, and then pay a subscription to get involved in the Alliance vs Alliance battles. With all this said, is it worth getting into the battlefield or are you better off ignoring it altogether?
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Blood Bowl Review: The Football Video Game Based On A Board Game

Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, and other fantasy characters aren’t new to video games. They have become a cliche and are often seen in online roleplaying games to make a quick buck for investors. However, in those types of games you often align yourselves with friends to defeat a great evil or just grab some loot. None of these games give you the option of playing a violent variation of football. This is where “Blood Bowl” comes in; a grid-based board game developed by Games Workshop which made its debut in the 80s and still has a strong following today. This isn’t the first time “Blood Bowl” has been made into a video game, but it is the first to make use of the internet and the latest version of the original rules. [Continue Reading]

League of Legends Review: Who’s Your Champion?

Ever since the “Warcraft 3″ custom map “Defense of the Ancients” has reached its peak, many developers have been trying to be first to emulate the mechanics of this popular map into a commercial game. Dubbed as the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (or MOBA for short), Riot Games plans taking the roots of “DOTA” and putting them into “League of Legends,” a much more marketable and simpler package. To make the transition easier, they even have the original designers from the older versions of “DOTA” working on the game. While this sounds like the perfect formula for a successful game, is it enough for “League of Legends” to win over “DOTA”’s veteran crowd, as well as gamers who never touched the custom map before, even at the cheap price of free? [Continue Reading]

Tropico 3 Review: Heading To The Islands

The city building genres has grown a bit stale. The settings for those kinds of games usually fall into two categories: A medieval period where the rules of logic don’t apply, or a modern era where you always have to deal with residential, commercial, or industrial areas. The “Tropico” series of city building games takes place in the Caribbean during the 1950s, where you’re starting population starts at less than 100, getting paid five bucks a month is the norm, and juggling between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. is essential to your island’s survival. “Tropico 3″ keeps most of the roots from the original “Tropico,” only improving on the basics, as well as adding small new features to this single player game. With all these improvements, is “Tropico 3″ an island worth visiting or should you vacation elsewhere? [Continue Reading]

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: Siege of Spinner Cay Review: Avast Ye Matey

I made a lot of mistakes poor choices when I was growing up; they led to bad decisions and regrets. Some say that’s part of life, and this is the process that helps us to learn about almost everything. We all have regrets big or small some are harmless some are more severe some we don’t even know about.

The “Monkey Island” series is one of my regrets. [Continue Reading]

Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse Review: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

The MMORPG market is overcrowded; it’s almost as bad as folks who like to write game articles for a living. With the successes of past games such as “Ultima Online,” “Everquest,” and “World of Warcraft,” many companies, both big and small, are trying to capitalize on this crowd of literally millions of subscription paying players. However, all these games have one thing in common: They are based in stereotypical fantasy settings. “Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse” doesn’t follow the story of elves, orcs, goblins, or dwarves, but throws you into a world where a good portion of humanity is wiped out by a dire event. Instead of playing a hero, you take a role as a survivor in this dead world, but can “Fallen Earth” survive the competition? [Continue Reading]

Section 8 Review: Bringing The Big Guns

The term “Section 8” refers to a type of discharge from the US military, with the reason being that the person in question is mentally unfit to serve. In this game, you play as a member of “Section 8,” an infantry division with the reputation as being insane due to their suicidal missions, which generally result in very short careers. Equipped with a rechargeable shield, several weapons, configurable modules, and a jet pack, members of Section 8 are ready to overcome any challenge. The question is, are they ready to take on the highly competitive market known as the Multiplayer FPS? [Continue Reading]

Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim Review: In All Its Glory

Many moons ago, a small developer by the name of Cyberlore studios created an innovation to the RTS genre; instead of a game where you controlled units that will follow your order without question, you played a role of someone who would, sometimes, influence their actions. The original “Majesty” was set in a stereotypical fantasy setting, where you took on the role of a King, and your job was to make a prospectus kingdom by establishing hero guilds, guard towers, and other necessities to keep your heroes strong, your peasants happy, and your treasury full. Now comes “Majesty 2,” developed by 1C, and published by Paradox, which sticks to the same formula after so many years of “Majesty”’s absence. [Continue Reading]

Canabalt Review: Atom Atomic Presents RUN! AND JUMP TO FREEDOM

It has been said that the simplest games are generally the most fun. That rings true for myself, my editor, and just about everyone else I’ve introduced to “Canabalt“; a simple, but extremely well-designed game, where you’re some suit in a big corporate office running from robots shooting bombs at the city. So, basically, it’s just like what you did earlier today. [Continue Reading]

Bookworm Adventures: Volume 2 Review: Scrabble To Your Doom!

When it comes to “gaming,” people have many choices. That word evokes a lot of different ideas in people’s heads, and, while most people reading this may immediatly jump to “video gaming,” there are entire populations that are much more likely to think of board games. Search on YouTube for “Crossfire” if you don’t believe me; it’s well-regarded as the most awesomely-hyped board game to ever exist. Anyone out there remember Mouse Trap or Life? Man, I feel really old when I recall how many deadly-deals I made for people’s souls and their hard-earned cash due to capitalism squared in Monopoly. However, our focus today belongs to the wordsmith’s game, Scrabble.

The aft-returning adage, “easy to learn, hard to master” was this game’s selling point in many respects; spell a word with your given letters, and get points. Fast forward to today, and the game has become culturally complicated and gorged upon a fanbase of Scrabble Masters and Scrabble Dictionaries made for the game, and there’s even online and real-life Scrabble tournaments. And since most of the video game versions either weren’t particularly good, or fell into obscurity due to Hasbro typically releasing titles en-masse, those games aren’t really worth most people’s time. PopCap, however, decided to meld the same basic concept with a slimy, yet knowledgeable, bookworm named Lex in “Bookworm Adventure.” Clearly not to be outdone by “Puzzle Quest,” the player uses letters as weapons, traveling through three books of various genres and archetypes. The recently released sequel, “Bookworm Adventures 2″ builds on the concept of the original. [Continue Reading]

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