GamesRadar - Xbox 360 Reviews

LEGO Rock Band (Review)

Nov 20, 2009

When the disparate worlds of LEGOs and rock stars collide, strange and wonderful things can happen. Seeing LEGO versions of an emaciated Iggy Pop, a mustache-emblazoned Freddie Mercury, a pretty boy-era David Bowie, and even the guys from Blur bash out their hits amidst a visual rock-n-roll cacophony of plastic toy bricks and rampant silliness offers far more enjoyment then we might first care to admit. ...

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Review)

Nov 18, 2009

Steven Spielberg and Traveller’s Tales are in a similarly tough place, both fine purveyors of last-gen thrills struggling to find relevance in the modern day. Indy 4 showed the director selling out his brand of practical derring-do for a handful of CG monkeys. Tales too try something glitzier, and under the extra weight their creaky design shudders like Harrison Ford’s knees. ...

Band Hero (Review)

Nov 18, 2009

Let’s get this out of the way up-front: Band Hero essentially IS Guitar Hero 5, but for tweens. There are really no substantive changes made in terms of the core gameplay, features, and extras found between the two. ...

Assassin's Creed II (Review)

Nov 17, 2009

It’s no secret we loved the first Assassin’s Creed – maybe even a little too much. Climbing up impossibly tall structures and stealthily murdering Templar knights during the sharply realized Crusades was so much fun, we accepted certain flaws – like the repetitive side-tasks you had to undertake before each assassination mission could be unlocked, or the way the game sent you back to your home fortress after each successful takedown – as minor irritations. ...

Left 4 Dead 2 (Review)

Nov 17, 2009

Unlike most other shooters, Left 4 Dead hinges on cooperative multiplayer. You and three friends must shoot, tear and slash through an unrelenting mass of raging zombies. From the moment you leave the safe house to the final rescue chopper, you are completely dependent on each other and constantly hunted by special boss zombies that behave with their own aggressive, strategizing intelligence ...

Madagascar Kartz (Review)

Nov 12, 2009

Hello, and welcome to the Automated Game Tie-In Development Program. Please obey the following instructions to the letter and your game will be produced within the hour. If you would like to make a 3D platform game with hundreds of collectible fruit, please press ‘1’ now. If you would like to make a kart-based racing title, please press ‘2’ now. ...

Cars Race-O-Rama (Review)

Nov 11, 2009

We honestly presumed, when embarking on this third outing for perhaps the most charmless Pixar franchise of them all, that it wasn’t THQ’s fault. There is, insane though it sounds, a new Cars movie in production, and of course a tie-in videogame is a must (even if we were already charmed quite enough by the first one, thank you very much). ...

CSI: Deadly Intent (Review)

Nov 11, 2009

Case file no. 06100986. Upon arriving at the scene we checked the victim’s vitals. A thready pulse was found, proving this job was not, repeat not, a massacre as expected. Evidence has been lifted from the area but no witnesses are forthcoming – it seems nobody wants to touch this case with a bargepole. First impressions suggest a sloppy execution by an amateur. ...

Axel & Pixel (Review)

Nov 11, 2009

It’s been said that nobody makes wacky games quite like the Japanese. By the same standard, nobody comes close to Eastern Europe either. In weirdness stakes Eastern Europe runs a close second: Eerie, Indiana to Japan’s Twin Peaks. ...

Dragon Ball Raging Blast (Review)

Nov 11, 2009

Sorry Dragon Ball Z. These titles are a unique presence on the fighting calendar; an imposter of sorts. Squint and it almost looks like a beat-‘em-up: meaty roster, health bars, combos and counters; people could fall for it. Boot it up and the facade thuds to the ground. Throw a punch, sure, but only if Dragon Ball lore foretells it.

You see, Raging Blast is less a brawler than a historical re-creation simulation. ...

Modern Warfare 2 (Review)

Nov 10, 2009

Five minutes in and I find myself in a scenario unusual for Modern Warfare - no-one is shooting at me. ...

Dragon Age: Origins (Review)

Nov 3, 2009

Dwarves. We already know what dwarves are. Dwarves are short, but strong. They make for good warriors and live underground. We already know all about dwarves, elves, mages, and dragons. So we thought we already knew all about everything Dragon Age: Origins could possibly throw at us while browsing through the unsurprisingly wide selection of beards for our upcoming dwarf warrior in the character creator. ...

Tornado Outbreak (Review)

Nov 2, 2009

Wow, this is a strange one. Tornado Outbreak is a completely new IP from Konami – home of Silent Hill and MGS – but it looks and feels like a Saturday morning cartoon tie-in. It’s hard to believe that this saccharine sweet title was once thought to be MGS creator, Hideo Kojima’s next project after Guns of the Patriots. ...

SAW (Review)

Oct 28, 2009

SAW is a happy game with bunnies and flowers and cakes. Arch villain Jigsaw’s had a change of heart and is dishing out presents because… no, not really. It’s bloody miserable. It’s also hugely dark, crudely animated, has ropey combat, and the scenarios – despite getting more and more gruesome as the game goes on – start to drag after a few hours. Not much to like then? ...

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City (Review)

Oct 28, 2009

It’s strange to think that, as of this writing, Grand Theft Auto IV is more than a year and a half old. It’s even stranger to think that the story it began is finally complete, with the two downloadable episodes – The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony – filling in plot holes and offering up inventive new ways to explore the city that most GTA fans probably thought they’d exhausted of possibilities by ...

Fairytale Fights (Review)

Oct 28, 2009

There’s one good thing about Fairytale Fights – the combat doesn’t suck. Well, not immediately anyway. Sadly, everything else that surrounds this average hack and slash gameplay pretty much does. The story, the platform bits, right down to the character design – which reminds us of the annoying Rabbids – all of it makes for a huge drag. The worst bit? It costs as much as a top-brand game. ...

Tekken 6 (Review)

Oct 27, 2009

Balance is a delicate thing, so easily lost. Tekken is a series that thrives on it – on striking a balance between fulfilling its remit as the ‘accessible’ 3D fighting game (button-mashing will get you further here than in most fighters) and offering a system substantial and even enough to allow the hardcore fans to battle at a competitive level. ...

DJ Hero (Review)

Oct 27, 2009

DJ Hero is a game that really needs to be played to be truly appreciated. On paper it seems to be yet another ill-conceived concept bundled with a money-spinning peripheral to give it a novelty value – the kind of thing you fiddle with at Christmas and chuck into the spare room for the rest of the year. But when you actually place your fingers on the turntable and scratch out your first mix, you’ll lose all those nagging doubts or cynical thoughts, and – toilet breaks notwithstanding – you won’t stop until you’re wrestling with the wrist-snapping final tunes of the game. ...

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (Review)

Oct 26, 2009

For years now, EA has strived to bring FIFA up to the same standard as PES, often mimicking Konami’s masterpiece or (ahem) ‘borrowing’ gameplay elements in the process. PES, meanwhile, has procrastinated, barely changing for each iteration until – finally – it finds the boot’s on the other foot; FIFA’s the champ and Konami is looking to EA for inspiration. ...

Borderlands (Review)

Oct 19, 2009

Borderlands lacks the charm of Fallout 3, Mass Effect, or Half-Life 2, but it does offer a crap-ton of ‘roided-out bandits, effed-up dog things, giant spider demons, and screeching pterodactyl beasts to shoot with a crap-ton of guns. And that’s really what it’s about – finding weapons and shooting things with them. You have to assign a skill point now and then, and there’s kind of a story, but those things ...