All Xbox 360 Reviews

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (Review)

Oct 22, 2007

Oct 22, 2007 Six years ago Ace Combat 04 dropped everyone's jaw with its photorealistic airplanes, fast arcade action and ultra-detailed environments. It was a piece of technological grace that both showed what the current generation of consoles was capable of and also provided the most white-knuckle jet experience in memory. Now we have a new champion of the skies, and it's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. Take everything we just mentioned - the planes, the intensity and the terrain - and ...

Aces of the Galaxy - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

Jul 11, 2008

Like being taken outside and beaten up by a gang of enraged skinheads, Aces of the Galaxy is an outright assault on your senses of the most unwelcome variety. Like Space Harrier, Panzer Dragoon or most recently, Rez, Aces is an on-rails arcade shooter, accelerated to a speed which makes every stage a dizzying blur of enemies and lasers. ...

Alien Hominid HD - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

Mar 2, 2007

If you fancy yourself hardcore, this is the game to prove it. The graphics may be splashy, modern flash animations, but the side-scrolling shooter gameplay is a brutally hard, tear-inducingly old-school, one-hit-kill festival of tiny, quick bullets. Are you a casual gamer? Run. This game hates you. But if you did that, you'd be missing out. The game's wacky, colorful art style lives somewhere between Itchy & Scratcy and Lilo & Stitch, and your little, crash-landed alien oozes acid-tinted ...

All-Pro Football 2K8 (Review)

Jul 23, 2007

When 2K Sports announced that they were getting back in the football game, the ensuing euphoria was palpable. Obviously, the lack of an NFL license was a problem - for one, it meant the game couldn't use NFL teams or current players. But signing 240 retired NFL gladiators to be in the game would add some legitimacy even without the league's coveted teams, stadiums, and assorted accoutrements. The ghosts of 2K's by-now mythological gridiron classics of yesteryear were going to be reborn on ...

Alone in the Dark (Review)

Jun 24, 2008

... they lied. There comes a point in Alone in the Dark, about 80% in, where Eden Studios pulls a very cheap trick. It artificially boosts the longevity of a game perilously close to the wrong side of the six hour mark by featuring a root-killing collect-a-thon, similar to Zelda: Wind Waker's Triforce shard hunt. For one brief moment we caught sight of the game we were promised. Then, after a quick spell, it was all over.

Normally we'd ...

America's Army: True Soldiers (Review)

Nov 29, 2007

Nov 28, 2007 Youd think it would be near impossible to mess up a game about the most formidable and powerful modern military force in history, but somehow the shooter Americas Army: True Soldiers reduces everything cutting edge, dangerous and compelling about being a soldier to a rated-PG play-fomercial. With developer Red Storms pedigree of classic Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six games, this title couldve been really deep. Imagine the possibilities: crazy physical challenges and hazing missions ...

Amped 3 (Review)

Feb 25, 2006

Amped 3 proves that a little personality can make for an awesome gaming experience. Under the wing of new publisher 2K Games, developer Indie Built has shaped Amped 3 into a ridiculously fun and funny example of snowboarding excellence that really doesn't feel anything like the earlier games in the series. Taking cues from other successful winterstick titles (coughSSXcough), Amped 3 also adds massive variety with lots of different snow-based ...

Arkadian Warriors - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

Dec 10, 2007

Dec 10, 2007 Heres something you dont see every day: an original game for Xbox Live Arcade. Not that theres anything wrong with ports of classics or movie spin-offs; but the promise of an all-new experience sparks more of an interest than “Hey, lets play this game that weve already played, like, 10 years ago.” That said, it was sort of a bummer when we loaded up Arkadian Warriors and found ourselves playing Champions of Norrath Lite - that game came out only 3 years ago; we haven't ...

Armored Core 4 (Review)

Mar 23, 2007

Like Paris Hilton without a camera nearby or C3-PO without plucky sidekick R2-D2, Armored Core 4 is a fantastic giant mech construction sim left incomplete because it just can't find its reason for living - a decent action game. There are a gazillion destructive weapons to bolt onto your rig: bazookas, plasma cannons, sniper guns, energy swords, guided missiles... and even more standard parts, ranging from various heads and legs to missile-jamming ECM generators. You have to monitor each parts ...

Army of Two (Review)

Mar 5, 2008

When Ridley Scott revisited Alien to produce a director’s cut, many fans were surprised that, rather than chuck a load of extra footage in, he actually cut a lot out. The resulting re-edit was tighter and scarier, turning a great movie into an even better one. And so it is with Army of Two. When we played it back in November, we found ourselves looking at a mostly fun game that had some serious flaws. It seems that EA shared our opinion, ...

Assassin's Creed (Review)

Nov 8, 2007

Nov 8, 2007 We're just going to come right out and say it: Assassin's Creed is fantastic. More to the point, it's beautifully realized, richly detailed and carried by a story with twists that rival the surprises of BioShock. It's also endlessly fun, giving players complete freedom to tear ass across the rooftops and streets of its medieval cities as they track down their targets and try to avoid attracting attention while doing so. Cherry-picking elements from games like Prince of Persia, ...

Assault Heroes - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

Dec 21, 2006

The original content just keeps flowing to Xbox Live Arcade. This time it's yet another Robotron-inspired dual-stick shooter, but with a twist. Assault Heroes puts you behind the wheel of a couple different assault vehicles - a land-based buggy and a water-based gunship - through several lengthy, top-down stages overflowing with soldiers, helicopters, troop transports, mines, gun towers and a collection of gun placements and mechanized armor. In other words; more than enough stuff to shoot ...

Asteroids & Deluxe - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

Nov 29, 2007

Nov 29, 2007 Now this is old-school… maybe even too much so. Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe were first released to arcades in 1979 and 1980, respectively. Chances are strong that 90 percent of those reading this review werent even born then. But much like those of us who were around all those years ago, Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe are definitely showing their age. No, it doesnt have so much to do with the simulated, two-color vector graphics found in the original mode of this Live ...

Astropop - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

Apr 19, 2006

You may not know Astropop by name, but you might recognize its gameplay, since it looks and plays very much like the Neo-Geo game Magical Drop II. Instead of bricks falling loosely from the sky, you've got to pull them down from a jumbled wall, rearrange four or more bricks of the same color so they match, then throw them back into the wall and make them disappear. Fail, and the whole thing crushes you to death. Astropop adds a sci-fi setup, some unlockable characters and the novelty of Supa ...

Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth (Review)

Nov 21, 2007

Controlling Burning Earths characters feels like sloshing butter around a hot saucepan. But, really, thats the least of its worries. Like last years original Avatar, this is a game of fixed paths, repeated button-mashing, insulting switch puzzles and cutscenes where people's mouths dont move when they speak. The combat is tedious - and it only takes around 25 minutes to get so fed up you start running straight past enemies to the next door. No worries, though - 25 minutes means youre already a ...