Pads & Panels

Title: L.A. Noire

Platform: PS3 (360, PC)

ESRB Rating: M

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Team Bondi, Rockstar Leeds

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

Rockstar Games, as a developer and publisher, has been no stranger to pushing the boundaries of the gaming industry. Whether it’s pushing the envelope of what type of content is acceptable in games, breaking open the 3D open-world genre or reinventing the Western, Rockstar has often found itself ahead of the curve, boldly trying new ideas. So it’s no wonder the publisher’s collaboration with Team Bondi is such a riveting success and arguably reinvents what video games can be once again.

L.A. Noire is part open-world, part 1940s Los Angeles recreation, part noir revival, part third-person shooter and part detective simulator. And not only does it excel at all of these things individually, but, more impressively, it excels at bringing them all together in a fantastic manner that feels like something truly fresh for the world of gaming. (more…)

Title: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game

Platform: 360 (PS3, Wii, PC, Mac, 3DS, DS, PSP)

ESRB Rating: E10+

Publisher: Disney Interactive

Developer: Traveller’s Tales

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The latest franchise to be stamped with the LEGO makeover is Pirates of the Caribbean, following the release of the fourth film in the series. Fans of previous LEGO titles (like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones) already know what to expect here, and the Pirates franchise proves a great fit for the zany LEGO characters and stories. Players can, as usual, go solo or play with join-in/drop-out co-op, working through 20 stages divided evenly between the four movies, with cutscenes done only the way LEGO can. Port Royal serves as sort of an expanding hub in this one, where players can accomplish more by earning characters of differing abilities, the most noteworthy of which is the addition of underwater elements. All in all, it’s a great addition to both franchises, and fans of the series will get a kick out of the game, even though the later films undeniably sucked. (more…)

Title: MLB 11: The Show

Platform: PS3 (PSP)

ESRB: E

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Sony San Diego

Rating:

Review by: Archie Easter

With baseball season in full swing, it’s also time for baseball games to make their seasonal trek to consoles. With that, MLB 11: The Show is hitting the mound this year with a few changeups to the series formula. Past entries of the franchise have sometimes been short on additions and new features, but MLB 11: The Show assuredly slides home as more of an evolution than last year’s turn at bat. (more…)

Title: Madden 12

Platform: 360 (PS3, Wii, PS3, 3DS, PSP)

ESRB Rating: E

Publisher: EA Sports

Developer: EA Tiburon

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

In the college vs. pro football discussion, there have always been purists who side with college football because of its focus on young athleticism over the money-hungry pro superstars and the showiness of the NFL. Of course, the NFL has star power, big-time television coverage and endorsements, and a better playoff structure in its corner. But in the world of video game football, it seems Madden’s collegiate counterpart may have finally won the debate.

Over the last two years, I have absolutely fallen in love with the NCAA Football series, from its style of pure football gameplay to its incredibly deep franchise mode and fantastic recruitment process, playing to the strengths of the four-year college rotation, rather than its weaknesses. And NCAA Football 12 gets closer than ever to making the player feel like he is in the coach’s seat. Madden 12, on the other hand, does everything in its power to remind me of why I’m growing tired of professional football. (more…)

Title: NCAA Football 12

Platform: 360 (PS3)

ESRB: E

Publisher: EA Sports

Developer: EA Tiburon, EA Canada

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

Sports games have the benefit of being an easy sell, in that fans already love the sports, know the series, and like to keep coming back to drop $60 for a few more features if done right, but a difficult sell in that savvy fans know that in terms of gameplay there usually isn’t much changing from year to year. College football has the extra-dubious task of selling without the NFL star power of the Madden series.

That said, the NCAA Football series from EA Sports has been excelling in recent years at making that sell, pulling my attention completely from the pros and back to college with an absolutely addictive Dynasty (Franchise) mode. Last year, I became so caught up with trying to sign four- and five-star recruits to my school it got to be a bit ridiculous, and that’s saying a lot for someone who was never interested in franchises, just in playing some fun video game football. (more…)

Title: MotorStorm Apocalypse

Platform: PS3

ESRB: T

Publisher: Sony

Developer: Evolution Studios

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

MotorStorm: Apocalypse is a beautiful disaster of a game. It takes the series from its dusty and tropical landscapes to a venue of urban destruction, but plagued with bad timing and a poor story, Apocalypse gets off to a slow start.

While developer Evolution Studios can hardly be blamed for circumstances well outside of their control, Apocalypse’s story of a group of thrill-seekers who flock to a dying city ravaged by an earthquake to race — well, it’s a little hard to experience outside of the context of Japan’s disaster at this point. If that wasn’t working against the game enough, the major hack on PlayStation Network all but stifled the online community of MotorStorm: Apocalypse. Apparently, the only thing worse than the timing of MotorStorm: Apocalypse is its story. (more…)

Title: Just Dance

Platform: Wii

ESRB: E10+

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft

Rating:

Review by: Sarah Kumley

The Wii has yet another game in its repertoire that asks up to four players to get up off the couch and move. In Just Dance, over 30 tracks are available from many decades and genres of music. However, they are all designed to get a person shaking their groove thing. During the song, a coach dancer demonstrates the moves as they are to be performed. The players hold the Wii remote and follow along as if looking in a mirror. There are also stick figure prompts that appear at the bottom right side of the screen to show which moves are coming up. The players’ moves are rated as Bad (shown as an “X” on the screen), Okay and Great. Several Great moves in a row count as combos and earn the player more points. All songs can be danced to in either a quick version or the full song. There are also three game modes where players can challenge each other to a set number of rounds and goals for the dances. (more…)

Title: Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del Ring

Platform: 360 (PS3, Wii, PSP)

ESRB: T

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Immersion Software & Graphics (360, PS3), Larva Game Studios, Sabarasa Studios (Wii, PSP)

Rating:

Review by: Matt Peters

Flipping through channels on a Saturday afternoon doesn’t usually bear much fruit. There may be an infomercial here, a CSI rerun there, but not much to really entertain. Every now and then, however, there will be something that catches the eye on Univision or Telemundo. Seeing a wrestling match is nothing new, but a ring with six sides and a giant Corona ad in the middle is something different. This is Lucha Libre. The Luchadors run around this ring (some in masks, some without), and put on a show the likes of which the WWE wishes they could. Finally, after years of anticipation, XBox and PS3 gamers get a taste of this fast-paced action first hand. The only question left is: do the Luchas stand a chance of toppling the 900-pound giant that is Smackdown vs Raw? (more…)

Title: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Platform: PS3 (360, PC)

ESRB: E10+

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Criterion Games

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Need for Speed franchise. The developer of the Burnout series, Criterion Games. The result – a reinvigoration of the Hot Pursuit side of the franchise that takes some of the worlds fastest and most exotic cars, decks some of them out in black and white, and lets them hit the open roads in a world four times the size of Paradise City in Burnout Paradise, for fantastic and explosive chases between those with a need for speed and Seacrest County’s finest. This is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Criterion Games’ development influence is seen right from the get go, and indeed is seen more in the menus and online interactions than in the gameplay itself. For all intents and purposes, Criterion has left Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit feeling a lot more like Need for Speed than Burnout. But their experience goes a long way in refining experience on the online front, where gamers will find most of the title’s replay value. (more…)

Title: LittleBigPlanet 2

Platform: PS3

ESRB: E

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Media Molecule

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

How does a game developer follow up an effort that offered gamers virtually limitless gaming, in which the quantity and quality of ever-increasing community content has seemingly only been limited by the imaginations of the people creating it? That’s the question that faced Media Molecule after the release of the critically-lauded LittleBigPlanet.

On the campaign front, LittleBigPlanet provided gamers with arguably some of the best 2D platforming seen in years, with the addition of depth planes. But it was the custom creations that hooked the hardcore on LittleBigPlanet. For the creative types, the title offered console gamers the most extensive and streamlined set of creation tools ever seen. Better yet was the “Share” model of the game, which allowed gamers to easily publish these creations for others to play.

And so those simply looking to get their money’s worth had nothing to complain about with the amassing content, including developer-created packs. But with all of that content, it’s easy to ask the question – why do we need a sequel to LittleBigPlanet? What makes LittleBigPlanet 2 worthwhile? And the simple answer to that question is that the tools and possibilities have grown, as is the series fame, practically infinitely. (more…)