Xbox 360 Reviews

Waffle irons, toasters and water coolers have gained self-awareness and a desperate desire to rip into human flesh, and it’s up to small group of typecast guinea pigs with jetpacks to save the day. So the story goes in G-force, a fuzzy-edged action game made to tie in to this summer’s blockbuster film.

Games used to be like this all the time. Stick two dudes (or dudettes) in a level, give them some big guns and throw wave after wave of even bigger enemies at them. Strap your finger to the fire button, keep moving, shoot everything that looks at you cock-eyed. Die, repeatedly. Hurl the controller at the cat’s smug face. Start the whole process again. With a sob and a sigh.

When the original Galaga came out, we were speechless. That’s not unusual for a baby, but we grew up, learned to speak, played Galaga, and liked it. To say Galaga Legions adds something new to that ancient shooter would be missing the point. The new thing – the ability to place two turrets anywhere you like – is this game. Its resemblance to Galaga is tenuous enough to warrant a paternity test. You can now fly freely

The thirtieth anniversary isn't pearl or diamond. No, if Galaga Legions DX is any indication, the proper way to mark the occasion is extending its legacy with a remastered, rethought, and massively rejiggered version of the shmup classic that came out in 1981. To be sure, DX barely resembles the shooter it ostensibly improves upon, and not just because of the graphical overhaul it's gotten. This is more of a finessing of 2008's Galaga Legions, which is to say it's not exactly the most essential Galaga around...

The Mistbound universe is becoming one of our favorite places to hang out. Vanguard Games first introduced us to its doomed-but-beautifully-imagined steampunk world with the excellent Greed Corp. While that downloadable title featured thoughtful turn-based strategy warfare revolving around trying to avoid having your forces dumped into the void left by the crumbling landscape, this sequel/spin-off takes more of a “kick the door down and blast everything that moves” approach. Gatling Gears explores a new facet of Mistbound’s fascinating realm viewed through the lens of a fast-paced dual-stick shooter. The action is marvelous, if a bit repetitive, and the crafty stages yield some very satisfying shootery to balance it out...

There’s a moment at the end of the second act of Gears of War 2 where, all of a sudden, the infamous Unreal Engine 3 ‘Meatcube’ demo makes sense. At that point, you’ll realize why Epic thought it so important to show Marcus Fenix blasting around a giant hunk of meat at the Games Developers Conference, and just why getting those wibbly-wobbly meat physics right were so important.

We won’t tease you for longer than this sentence – Gears of War 3 is awesome. The campaign is epic, with action sequences that are more intense, weapons that are more powerful, enemies that are more formidable and heroes that are more relatable than ever before. The multiplayer is extremely generous, with a horde of new maps and new modes that are instant classics, as well as perfectly suitable for either competition or cooperation, experts or beginners. All aspects considered, this is a spectacular shooter.

Gears of War 3, however, is not just another shooter. This is the end to a trilogy, the final (for now) chapter in one of this console generation’s defining franchises. As such, it arrives with a lot of lofty expectations. Fans want much more than an awesome game. They want the absolute best game in the series, and a satisfying conclusion to the story they’ve invested in for half a decade. By those high yet not unreasonable standards, Gears of War 3 falls short – only by a little, but enough to affect our score and our discussion. First, though, the awesome…