GamesRadar - Xbox Reviews

Taito Legends (Review)

22/06/2007

How do you see it? Old skool nostalgia or long-forgotten crap? Are you a rabid retro-head or a sneering next-gen obsessive? Either way, its a mini-war that neednt be, especially when were talking about over thirty games for less than twenty clams. Perhaps its time that both sides of the dispute kissed and made up, and we can all get in the warm and have a great game of New Zealand Story. Er, ...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 Mutant Nightmare (Review)

22/06/2007

At least there's some truth in advertising with the beat-'em-up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare. This game is someone's nightmare, to be sure. Mutant Nightmare outdoes its predecessors Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, but this is like saying when you buy the sneakers, they give you the shoelaces for free; the game could hardly be worse. It's also pointed and a bit sad to note Nightmare is outdone in almost every way by Teenage ...

Thrillville (Review)

28/11/2006

Simulation games are always a tricky proposition on consoles. The versatility of keyboard-and-mouse controls is hard to pull of on a gamepad, ergo some of the fun is often lost when the genre hits a console. But the developers at Frontier Developments, the makers of the renowned Rollercoaster Tycoon games, are up to the task of bringing the heady fun of theme-park simulation to consoles. For the most part, they succeed; the game mechanics in Thrillville work and there's a great deal of variety ...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (Review)

22/06/2007

With Tiger Woods, the question is never “is it any good?” but just “how good is it?” The answer rests broadly on the tweakery in the swing and putting departments. Having the best swing in gaming golf is one thing theyve brought into play here. Youll now pick your fades and draws at the start of the swing by using the right thumb stick and it adjusts the length of putts - although the latter remains an optional exercise which, it must be said, makes things marginally ...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Review)

10/10/2006

When you consider just how simple the basic premise of golf is - knocking a ball into a hole with a stick - the degree of hidden complexity is pretty amazing. This perennial offering takes heat for not changing a hell of a lot from year to year, and it's got more than its fair share of irritants, but familiarity doesn't necessarily equal stagnation. Certainly it's disappointing to see EA continue to spend time on needlessly detailed player creation and libraries of hats, shirts, sunglasses, ...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Review)

2/10/2006

In a Ryder Cup year it seems very apt that EA introduce the Team Tour option into their successful golf series. It allows the gamer to gather a team together to tackle the world tour, so you can pick your power players for the wide open US courses and the technically precise golfers for the tricky Links courses. It's basic teamwork but something Mr Woods could do with a few pointers on, as for all his individual success he's never had much of an impact on the US vs Europe competition. And lets ...

TOCA Race Driver 3 (Review)

23/02/2006

TOCA Race Driver 3 was always going to run the risk of being all wheel trim and no tyre. One of the few criticisms of TOCA 2 was that at times it spread itself far too thin. The gameplay was generally tight, but it tended to fray at the ends when it plunged its dipstick into less familiar turf, the rally sections being particularly offensive. Keeping this fresh in mind, TOCA 3 could have taken the easy option and streamlined the series into a few specialisms, ramp up the visuals and sell ...

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike (Review)

22/06/2007

If you dont know what Tom Clancy looks like, one thing to keep an eye out for is a dude with a satisfied grin a mile wide. As if the monstrous success of his books wasnt enough, Clancys immensely profitable venture into videogames has created a genre all of its own. There have been enough Rainbow Sixes and Rogue Spears over the last year to keep fans more than satiated, and with the Ghost Recon series, the Clancy enterprise shows no signs of slowing down commercially. Artistically though, were ...

Tomb Raider Legend (Review)

12/04/2006

With her trademark grace and charm, Lara Croft has completely reestablished herself as the supreme heroine of third-person adventure gaming. Whether solving mind-wracking puzzles, gunning down foes with chilling ruthlessness, or exploring everything from steamy jungle waterfalls in Ghana to a frigid military base in Kazakhstan, the lady who vaulted the PlayStation into stardom has returned to recapture our hearts. Throughout Tomb Raider: Legend there is a palpable sense of a perfected ...

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Review)

22/06/2007

Ever seen a fat skateboarder? If you're going to pull off flip tricks and delicate balance moves, being light on your feet helps. That's what makes Tony Hawk's American Wasteland such a paradox - it's gained a lot of heft as a franchise over the years, but now it's starting to be weighed down by its own legacy. Granted, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - the Hawk mantra has always been to extend the skateboarding experience rather than fundamentally change it. And THAW definitely offers ...

Tony Hawk's Project 8 (Review)

13/11/2006

Another year, another Hawk. To most, the arrival of any new Tony Hawk is a splendid thing, while others will dependably gripe about new additions making the worst Tony Hawk ever. While the later isn't altogether true, there are some skinned knees to go along with this trucks-and-bearings stunt spectacular. Say what you will about the goofy THUG stories and the me-too create-a-character modes, the heart and soul of TH has always been the skating mechanics, and the trick system has remained ...

Total Overdose (Review)

22/06/2007

What's the difference between a genre riff and a rip-off? Total Overdose, that's what. Take the gameplay from a few other action games, add some blood and spices, then wrap it up in a flour tortilla, and you've got a burrito of unashamedly derivative gameplay. Mind you, just because it looks, feels, and plays like an inferior cousin of the Grand Theft Auto series is no reason to dislike it. No, the reasons to dislike it stem from an overall lack of polish. The developers got the basics down - ...

TRON 2.0 Killer App (Review)

21/12/2004

We're told that part of the appeal of the Tron 'experience' is the opportunity to travel inside computers. In 1982 this was dead exciting. That was before spreadsheets. And viruses. And spam. Of course, familiarity breeds contempt and if computers are entirely necessary for modern living, it cannot be denied that their wonder has diminished somewhat. Unfortunately, this belated 'sequel' merely confirms this, revealing the inside of your Xbox as a large, tedious and often infuriating place. Tron ...