Zen Review: Lost in Shadow

The Wii starts this year off with a surprise little game called Lost in Shadow, which is basically Limbo meets Ico with just a fleeting glimpse of the classic Prince of Persia. It is an artsy title which brings some excellent indie-like game design to the gaming world, but is wasted on an uninteresting story, some repetitive gameplay, and bland combat mechanics. With a few tweaks, Lost in Shadow would have been rid of those flaws and become game of … More…

Battlefield Bad Company 2 : Review

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is, by far, one of my favorite games. The single player campaign was designed with accuracy and acceptable textures. The soundtrack ( composed by Mikael Karisson) was exquisite and added a cinematic edge to the game. It reminded me of Steven Spielberg’s movies. Graphics in BFBC2 were not  disappointing in any aspect; It showed great jungles and pristine Russian winters as well as sharp characteristics and realistic world qualities. The characters, i believe, make the game; … More…

Zen Review: Metroid Other M

There really is nothing good we want to say about Metroid Other M — suffice to say that this was probably the game we would have imagined to be playing (minus the fan-service and the overly long monologues and cut-scenes) when Nintendo announced the first Metroid Prime for the Gamecube, before we knew and become unjustly disappointed that it was going to be a FPS, we couldn’t help but asked, how would that ever work … More…

Castlevania Lords of Shadow – A Reboot that isn’t for fans

Let me say this first, Castlevania Lords of Shadow isn’t by any means a bad game, it is at the very least a decent game (in a non-inspiring kind of way),  a game that pleases long time fans of the series waiting for a 3D remake it is not. And let me warn you that this article is going to contain spoilers, in fact it will contain nothing but spoilers,  if you believe that any gaming experience can be spoiled … More…

Starcraft 2 — The Same Old Bull Crap after 12 years

I was ambivalent towards the release of Starcraft 2, even though I have called and will always call the first Starcraft the best RTS game of all time and no other game will ever replace it as the top spot in gaming history; Real-Time Strategy  as a genre has long been played out — from when I first laid my hands on the awe-inspiring Dune 2, to the later unforgettable Warcraft series and the pinnacle that was Starcraft, to later … More…

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – Walks Among The Best

It’s true that we never tried to hide our blatant distaste of Metal Gear solid 4, a crappy piece of work that Hideo Kojima tested his fans just to see that he could get away with doing such disservice and he was right — most people didn’t notice it was bad; juxtaposed against the masterpiece MGS3 Snake Eater, which we thought to be one of the best told story of all times. Peace Walker on the PSP follows the footsteps … More…

3D Dot Game Heroes — Retro Love Letter

It really is impossible to not talk about this game with a sly smile on our faces. 3D Dot Game Heroes is the ultimate homage to the NES-era games; in fact we would describe it as the porn for the 30 year old — those of us who grew up playing the first Zelda and Dragon Quest. We once saw people on message boards commenting on this game as a blatant rip-off of Zelda; they are missing the point — … More…

Babylonian Twins HD on the iPad – A Frustrating Treasure

Ever since we got our hands on the iPad, we refused to touch our iPhones (except when talking to people we don’t hate), the 1024 x 768 screen is just so much nicer than the tiny iPhone and graphics on the iPad almost seemed superior to the PSP and DS (pay attention to the word almost); hoping to find some hardcore gaming experiences on this new gadget, we got our hands on Babylonian Twins HD, after our satisfying experience with … More…

Muramasa — A Lush Painting lacking the Substance of its Predecessor

Muramasa: The Demon Blade was actually the first game we booted up on the Wii back in our tiny office. We are huge fans of Vanillaware, the Developer of the sleeper hit Odin Sphere, which Muramasa is the spiritual successor of. Odin Sphere probably belongs to one of our top 10 favorite games on the PS2. Being a 2D game consisting entirely of hand-drawn sprites and backdrops, Muramasa is the one game that doesn’t suffer from performance issues on the … More…

More No More Heroes Please, but not on the Wii

We recently got our hand on a wii — we don’t really keep one in the office, no offense to Nintendo or anything, but it just isn’t a console for the hardcore, not by a long shot. Yes we are aware that the Wii sells like hot cakes, but just like cupcakes, we don’t get the appeal of it, simply to say — we recognize the fact that people who are different than us greatly outnumber us, thus explaining the … More…

Genetos — A History Lesson in Vertical Shooters

We came across Genetos after reading a post from Gamers With Jobs, and after we spent a 20 minute session playing through the game, we were awed. To describe the experience in a sentence it would be that it is a game that teaches the player a lesson of progress, of evolution, of the genre; and that genre obviously being vertical scrolling shooters. We recommend that every fan of the genre, or simply anyone who has encountered any shooters in … More…

Darksiders: The Art of Plagiarism

Darksiders wasn’t a game that we had looked forward to playing, somehow it missed our radar and then landed in our lap after all the good things and bad things we have heard about it, two contradicting views that got us intrigued. Our verdict is that it isn’t a bad game, and depending on what kind of gamer you are, it might even be worth your time or money. I’ll get right to the point and say it, Darksiders lacks … More…

Bayonetta Oozes Style

I wasn’t planning to like Bayonetta, with all the attention it was constantly getting all last year from the gaming journalist world, I was getting very sick of the very mention of her name — or maybe I was justjealous. I was determined to hate Bayonetta, since I was not fond of the overly pretentious and lack-of-substance Devil May Cry series, I ended up tolerating it while I went through the game, and I even liked it a little at … More…

Dear Zelda — We Got Over You Already

The Zelda tune was something that I always carried with me from childhood, like most of the Castlevania and Mario BGM music, I hummed the tune from Zelda in high school whenever I was feeling down, it had the ability to ensorcell me with magical delight, as if it teleported me instantly to the fantasy Hyrule. It was as memorable as the Xmas Carol, more so. There was a long gap, almost a decade  after I played the 2nd Zelda … More…

Fond Memories of the Decade — Little Big Planet

It’s been a little over a year since Little Big Planet emerged and brought life to the stale PS3 online community. For the first 2 months it was out, my girlfriend and I played it incessantly, and for almost a year it  has been collecting dust on the cabinet shelf under our TV.  The Sackies – Level of the Year, brought my attention back to adorable Sackboy and his fantastic world of LBP. I can’t with a good conscience call … More…