Review: The Chronicles of Riddick-Assault on Dark Athena (360)

+'s

-very good voice acting (Butcher Bay's is a bit better than Dark Athena's)

-fun stealth/melee gameplay

-good gameplay variety (mix of stealth, melee combat, shooting, vehicle driving, and platforming)

-good stories for both games 

-'s

-horrible navigation system makes it easy to get lost and creates wasted gameplay time (I had much less of a problem with Dark Athena than Butcher Bay)

-lots of backtracking, especially in Butcher Bay

-subpar presentation for 2009 (it doesn't look or sound great)

Neutral

-stiff animations

-basic enemy AI can be easily manipulated at times. 

This game comes of as exactly what it is: a polishing and lengthening of a beloved game from 2004.  It's also pretty fun, and I want to play a sequel soon. 

Points Addict: 28,000

Tonight I passed 28,000 points by playing some Riddick. 

Review: Mass Effect (360)

+'s

-very interesting story

-good character building options

-'s

-poor AI (enemies will often look at you without firing, even at higher difficulty levels, and certain friendly AI characters will die every couple minutes in firefights)

-combat is so-so (OK for a first-person RPG, but comparing the game play to Gears of War, as several journalists have, is completely ridiculous)

-repetitive gameplay (very little variety in side missions, and 4 main missions are very similar as well)

Neutral

-presentation (graphics and sound are very average for a late 2007 game)

Overall, Mass Effect reminds me of Too Human in several ways: it's a game that wants to be excellent, but several things are holding it back (and both suffer for being developed as trilogies from the start).  It's not quite as unrefined as Too Human, but it definitely feels a bit unpolished (another 6-12 months development time would have done wonders).  I'm beginning to develop a theory that Microsoft Game Studios push their partners to release games at strategic times rather than when the games themselves are ready.  All that said though, I'm still interested to see the improvements Bioware makes for the sequel. 

Review: Bully (360)

+'s

-very good sense of humor (written by the GTA writer)

-better gameplay than GTA (missions are more forgiving and the controls are much better)

-30+ hours of gameplay

-'s

-obvious PS2 port (graphics and sound have not been improved)

Neutral

-story telling style is more like earlier GTA games than GTAIV (less intense with a greater sense of fun)

Overall:  This is a fun game that isn't great, but is very good.  The only real negative is that it came out a bit too late in the PS2's lifecycle.  They probably should've built this game for the 360 with PS2 and Wii "versions". 

Review: Resident Evil 5 (360)

+'s

-faithful sequel to RE4  one of best games ever made)

-fully incorporates Co-op play (share weapons, ammo, everything is built for Co-op play

-extremely high replay value (maybe even higher than RE4)

-'s

-if you didn't like RE4, this probably won't change your mind

-QTE's during cutscenes feel a bit tired

-very little sense of panic or fear (this is NOT a very scary game)

Neutral

-controls very similarly to RE4

Overall: RE5 is a very good game.  I wish that it was at least as scary as RE4, but the addition of Co-op makes up for it. 

Points Addict: 27,000

RE5 and Bully helped me pass 27,000 Points on this rainy Easter afternoon.