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Reviews
Major League Baseball 2K13: The Kotaku Review
Major League Baseball 2K13 is an offensively recycled product and an embarrassment to sports video games. In my five years as Kotaku‘s sports writer, I’ve spent a good deal of time in comments defending the genre, and those who make its games, from the worn-out slur that annual sports titles are nothing but reskinned roster…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
Finally an Original Mobile Game That Plays to Sonic the Hedgehog‘s Greatest Strength
When Sega’s Hardlight Studio released Sonic Jump last year, I shook my head. Jumping is not the ability Sonic the Hedgehog is known for. This week Hardlight has released endless runner Sonic Dash on iOS. That’s more like it. How do you make a good 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game? You take a bad one…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsSimCity: The Kotaku Review
To many fans of the original city building simulation series, the idea of an online multiplayer game that required even solo players to be connected to the internet at all times seemed like a recipe for disaster. Maxis’ latest creation is easily the most compelling SimCity I’ve played since the 1989 original. Update: Final verdict…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
MLB 13 The Show: The Kotaku Review
The oldest memory I have is of catching a baseball. Coming from a sports fan, this may sound like treacly, lump-in-your-throat stuff, but it’s true. I was three years old. My father was mowing one side of our front lawn, I was standing in the other, and I underhanded a pop fly into the air.…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
Don’t Ever Leave Me Again, Mini Ninjas
I contend that one of Square Enix’s finest acquisitions in 2009’s take-over of Eidos Interactive was the six miniature trained killers of 2009’s action-adventure, Mini Ninjas. Soon they will be an animated series, but for now they’re an endless runner, and I’ve missed them so much. I didn’t play the Kinect-powered Mini Ninjas Adventures last…
By Mike Fahey -
ReviewsPenumbear Looks Like a Casual Platformer. Then It Tears Out Your Throat.
Aw, look at the little bear. Isn’t he cute? Oh my god he’s got a little scarf. And look, he’s followed around by colorful fireflies. I bet his game is as light and fluffy as his widdle ears. Wait, what’s this? These jumps are timed? I’ve got to do what? Dammit, I’m dead. Again. This…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
For What It’s Worth, AVP: Evolution is the Best Aliens Game Released This Year
Other than the eponymous xenomorphs, general bugginess and some laughable artificial intelligence, Angry Mob Games’ AVP: Evolution from iOS and Android has absolutely nothing in common with the train wreck that is Gearbox’s Aliens: Colonial Marines. In just about every other way the mobile game is superior to the console/PC title. That’s not saying AVP:…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Real Racing 3 is a Beautiful Game Strangled By Freemium Nonsense
In 2009, Australian developer Firemint released Real Racing for the iPhone, stunning mobile gamers with amazing visuals and setting the standard for realistic mobile racing games. In 2010 the studio released Real Racing 2, adding licensed cars from major manufacturers and online play for up to 16 players. In May of 2011, EA acquired Firemint,…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Pizza Hut Big Pizza Sliders: The Snacktaku Review
Only the juggernaut that is Pizza Hut would have the balls to spend millions of dollars on post-Super Bowl advertising to introduce the world to its version of the tiny pizzas they sell in the Wal-Mart freezer section for a dollar apiece. They aren’t bad, but your time to really enjoy them is quickly running…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Street Fighter X Sanrio Arcade Fightstick Pro: The Kotaku Review
How many times can one website review the same fighting game controller with different graphics on it? Let’s see, one, two, three… three times. There is nothing else to say about the hardware itself. It’s lovely, certainly worth the $159.99 asking price to a hardcore PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 fighting game player. So the…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
Digital Storm Bolt – Titan Edition: The Kotaku Review
This week Nvidia released its latest high-tech graphics card, the GeForce GTX Titan. The announcement was accompanied by the usual flurry of press releases from boutique PC makers, eager to get their name associated with the next big thing. Normally these me-too systems don’t garner more than a passing mention, but Digital Storm’s offering is…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
The Naruto: Ninja Storm Folks Build a Better Endless Runner
CyberConnect2 might be my favorite Japanese game developer. Not only is it the studio responsible for the Naruto: Ninja Storm fighting game franchise, the .hack role-playing games and the spectacular Little Tail Bronx series, its first stab at mobile gaming is a fresh new spin on the crowded endless runner genre. CyberConnect2’s Shadow Escaper is…
By Mike Fahey -
Reviews
My New Girlfriend is a Space Pirate
I think what I love most about Sela the Space Pirate is her unwavering courage in the face of overwhelming odds. She masks it as madness—she’s so good at masking it’s scary—but when your life is nothing but maneuvering your finger-guided, auto-firing starship through level-after-level of evil(-ish) aliens and the accompanying bullets, you just gotta…
By Mike Fahey
