The Witcher 2 – Assassin of Kings (PC)

Though it never cultivated the same amount of buzz or fandom as the Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls series, 2007’s The Witcher received critical acclaim and is still one of the better PC fantasy RPGs around. It centers around Geralt and his extraordinary abilities as a witcher, slaying monsters and other high profile targets while traveling through a fantasy realm. So when CD Projekt announced a sequel, fans everywhere watched its development anxiously to see how it would measure up to the original. Cut to 2011, and fans got their answer. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is not only better than the original, it rivals some of the best in the genre… Continue reading “The Witcher 2 – Assassin of Kings (PC)”

State of the systems

I’ll admit that I’m not part of the crowd that instantly buys a new videogame system when it comes out. So when the Playstation Vita was released in the USA and Europe last week, I didn’t rush out to go buy one. Instead, I used the release as a moment to gather my thoughts on all the current and upcoming gaming systems and figured I’d share those thoughts with you as well. Continue reading “State of the systems”

Crysis 2 Review (PC)

Who remembers the first Crysis? Sure… a lot of us do, but what comes to mind? For me, and a lot of others, it’s the fact that it was gorgeous but brought nearly every PC to its knees with its system requirements for the ‘high’ and ‘ultra’ settings. Underneath all the graphical splendor, the gameplay experience wasn’t quite as overwhelming despite being solid and very entertaining. I chalked it down to the storyline (or player experience) not being as immersive as, for instance, Half-Life 2’s was. Crysis often felt like completing a shootout in one location only to travel to another and repeat the process all over again, feeling removed from the experience in between. Continue reading “Crysis 2 Review (PC)”

Majin and the Forbidden Kingdom review (X360)

When playing Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, you can’t help but think this game is different. Not ‘good different’ or ‘bad different’, just different. Maybe ‘Ico different’, for those of us who remember that title for the PS2. Just like Ico, Majin was developed by a Japanese studio and delivers a digital fairytale that might not be ‘hardcore’ enough for some gamers but will enchant others. Continue reading “Majin and the Forbidden Kingdom review (X360)”

Splatterhouse review (X360)

Some of the ‘older’ gamers among us no doubt remember the controversy surrounding the original Mortal Kombat and its fatalities. Deemed ‘not suitable’ by Nintendo, it was toned down for the home version. Years before that, however, Splatterhouse was released in arcades and not much later on console systems, where it was deemed so violent that parental advisory warnings had to be printed on the box. This year brings us a reboot of that title, which also contains its original predecessor as an unlockable feature. And much like the original, this is a game that is about gore, guts and blood. A lot of it. Within a minute of being handed over control of the main character, copious amounts of blood start shooting all over the area you start out in. Continue reading “Splatterhouse review (X360)”