Game Reviews
As far as writing goes, game reviews is about as close to my "wheelhouse" as it gets, though I have only just begun to feel like I am getting the hang of it. If you're looking for video reviews, you might want to look here.
Game Reviews | Movie Reviews | Misc. Writing
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Sonic Colors (For the Nintendo DS, Posted November 28th, 2010)
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"The net effect is that while in Sonic Rush you usually have enough energy to boost everywhere at maximum speed, Colors asks you to take things a little more slowly and conserve your energy.
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Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (For Xbox Live Arcade, Posted October 16th, 2010)
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One would expect, then, that to truly enjoy Sonic the Hedgehog 4, you would have to forget the way that the old games originally played (which is ironic, given the fact that this game is being positioned as a direct sequel to Sonic 3).
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Sonic Adventure (For Xbox Live Arcade, Posted September 15th, 2010)
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If Sonic Adventure was already looking dated in 2003, by today's standards, it's practically a dinosaur.
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Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (For Xbox Live Arcade, Posted September 3rd, 2010)
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...And dying in Dead Rising is almost half the fun, simply because there's so many things to do and weapons to try.
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Sonic Classic Collection (For the Nintendo DS, Posted May 16th, 2010)
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What these collections always come down to is the quality of the ports themselves, and this is, unfortunately, something Sonic Classic Collection gets very, very wrong.
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Sands of Destruction (For the Nintendo DS, Posted May 3rd, 2010)
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I went in with no expectations about the quality of the game or its mechanics, and after spending nearly 7 hours with the game, I came away more than simply unimpressed.
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Nestlings (A Half-Life 2 Modification for the Personal Computer, Posted March 10th, 2010)
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Nestlings is not a 'game' in the most direct sense.
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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (For the Nintendo DS, Posted February 11th, 2010)
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Spirit Tracks, like many of the more recent Nintendo offerings, once again embraces the idea that it's okay to challenge the player.
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Phantasy Star Zero (For the Nintendo DS, Posted December 28th, 2009)
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Rather than base itself off of Phantasy Star Universe, Zero goes back to basics and sticks as closely to the original PSO formula as possible.
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Mario & Sonic Winter Olympic Games (For the Nintendo DS, Posted November 13th, 2009)
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It's rare that I'm not willing to tolerate a game's storyline, but I found myself mashing the A button to get each dialog sequence over and done with so I could move on to the next event.
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Sonic Unleashed DLC: Apotos/Shamar Adventure Pack (For the Xbox 360, Posted May 24th, 2009)
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It's really an interesting concept that reminds me a little bit of the classic 2D Sonic games, where sandwiched between high-speed rollercoaster segments, you had slower, more exploration-focused platforming challenges.
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Sonic Unleashed DLC: Holoska Adventure Pack (For the Xbox 360, Posted April 9th, 2009)
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For those of you out there who hated Savannah Citadel Act 2 Day, Cool Edge Act 3 Day is going to drive you mad, as it employs the same 'complete three laps in a drift-based obstacle course before time runs out' concept.
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Sonic Unleashed DLC: Spagonia Adventure Pack (For the Xbox 360, Posted March 27th, 2009)
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Rooftop Run Act 1-2 Night has you hunting for dozens of switches, and each switch you touch spawns another group of enemies to fight. (...) Not fun.
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Sonic Unleashed DLC: Chun-nan Adventure Pack (For the Xbox 360, Posted March 20th, 2009)
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If every Werehog level in the main Sonic Unleashed game played as well as the ones included in the Chun-nan Adventure pack, reviews for Sonic Unleashed would most likely be much, much more positive.
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Sonic Unleashed (For the Xbox 360, Posted December 5th, 2008)
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Depending on what day of the week you would ask me, Sonic Unleashed was either going to be really awesome or just another in a long line of embarrassments.
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SONIC the Hedgehog (For the Xbox 360, Posted November 4th, 2008)
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These are harsh words, I know, but I am harsh because I care.
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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (For the Nintendo DS, Posted October 17th, 2008)
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I recall a specific situation where there was a stream I could cross simply flying across to the other side, but the game forced me to find a bridge instead.
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Shadow the Hedgehog (For the Playstation 2, Posted September 21st, 2008)
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To say 'the controls take some getting used to' is being more generous than the game deserves.
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American McGee's Grimm (For the Personal Computer, Posted August 30th, 2008)
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Take out the motion blur and Grimm is essentially a Playstation 2 game, and considering what I am looking at, the framerate issues feel inexcusable.
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Grand Theft Auto IV (For the Xbox 360, Posted July 13th, 2008)
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From the moment you step off the boat as Niko Bellic, the controls immediately set the tone for the latest installment of Grand Theft Auto: More realistic, and more serious.
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Sonic Rush (For the Nintendo DS, Posted March 27th, 2008)
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The game feels a little too comfortable in [it's] rhythm; there are a number of times where you are required to stop or slow down in order to do a short platforming segment and, because the game is so heavily focused on dashing, you run right past it, unaware.
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Super Mario Sunshine (For the Nintendo Gamecube, Posted March 14th, 2008)
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Super Mario Sunshine removes this sense of discovery in favor of its unwanted emphasis on story progression.
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Sonic Rush Adventure (For the Nintendo DS, Posted March 6th, 2008)
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It was somewhere near the end of the storyline that I had sort of an epiphany in regards to the game; I realized just how much fun I was having sailing around the world map looking for new Hidden Islands to conquer.
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Star Fox Adventures (For the Nintendo Gamecube, Posted March 5th, 2008)
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The plot stops making sense, the overall quality of the dungeon design begins to spiral out of control, and there's a general lack of polish that slowly creeps up on you.
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ARCHIVES
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A collection of my comically old game reviews. Most of these are from 2002-2005 or older, when I was just starting to get my feet wet in the whole "writing about games to evaluate their quality" thing. Expect poor grammar, typos, and a lack of coherence. Well, more than usual, anyway. These reviews are probably not worth trusting, and have been archived from multiple locations I have housed my reviews over the years.
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Movie Reviews
I don't take movie reviews as seriously as I do game reviews. As such, a lot of the movie reviews I write tend to be very short and perhaps not as "considered" as my game writing.
Game Reviews | Movie Reviews | Misc. Writing | |
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James Cameron's Avatar (Posted June 6, 2010)
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You innovate and take a risk on your idea, or you pick the path of least resistance and make a game that is 'safe'.
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Trick 'r Treat (Posted May 15th, 2010)
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I love scary movies, but most Hollywood directors have a difficult time separating 'horror' from 'horrible', and more often than not, a 'scary movie' simply means a bloody movie.
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The X-Files: I Want To Believe (Posted May 13th, 2010)
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In a number of ways, it feels like this was a completely different paranormal thriller that was later retrofitted to have the X-Files license attached to it.
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Dissecting a Hedgehog: An In-Depth Analysis of Sonic the Hedgehog. (Posted 2005)
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A ridiculous, 10-page article on the differences between the old 2D Sonic games and the modern 3D Sonic games. Was published in the first issue of the New-Games-Journalism-Zine "The Gamer's Quarter". I was offered a full-time position to write at TGQ, and turned it down on the grounds I did not think I could write articles of this length and depth on a regular basis. I used to be proud of it, but by now I consider it to be horrifically bloated and at times factually inaccurate. A lot of other people still like it, though, and maybe you will, too. (Hosted Locally) | |
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