Remember when you rearranged your furniture so you could have enough space to play with Kinect, only to find your living room is pathetically small? Well, EA Sports Active 2 for Kinect is only going to make you feel worse. The following review explains why.
2 Days of EA Sports Active 2 for Kinect
By Devon N. Campbell
I won a copy of the original EA Sports Active from a Bitmob contest earlier this year, but I only played it once. Its attempts to set itself apart from Wii Fit (mostly with rubber resistance bands) appealed to me at first, but the game didn't amount to much more than a sloppy knock-off. It looks like the follow-up isn't much better.
Devon N. Campbell spent a couple of days with the Kinect-enabled version of EA Sports Active 2 and found its added features come with added requirements. According to Campbell's review, the game requires nearly 15 feet of distance for the camera to detect the player's sweat and toil. If you have that kind of space to work out, I imagine you also have the money to hire a real personal trainer.
Read the full review to learn what else makes this sequel so sloppy.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX: Always Eating Faster
By Suriel Vazquez
Suriel's review starts off with talk of complex science and philosophy, but his take on the latest Pac-Man is that it's a simple and refreshing take on an old classic.
He says the game is bound to replace the original as it's fundamentally unchanged from its roots of eating dots and escaping ghosts. The new features don't appear to be anything groundbreaking, but I think Suriel would argue that's what makes Pac-Man Championship Edition DX so great. He gave it a perfect score, after all.
Check out all the subtle details in Suriel's review of a new classic.
Knights in the Nightmare PSP Impressions
By Suriel Vazquez
When he's not reviewing updates to old favorites, Suriel is relaying his impressions of weird genre mashups.
Knights in the Nightmare was a DS game combining elements of shoot-em-ups and strategy role-playing games. It was a niche title to say the least, but it found its way onto the PSP where, according to Suriel, it plays pretty much the same. That's not to say it's a bore for anyone who missed out on the first iteration. Just don't go into it expecting a light-hearted casual game. He likens the game to Demon's Souls in terms of difficulty.
Find out the gritty details in Suriel's impressions. No, it's not a full review: The game proved too grueling to complete in time for the article.
Late Bird Review: Eternal Sonata
By Ariel Feist
Eternal Sonata's unique framing device, that of Frédéric Chopin's last dream, seems to affect each element of the game.
Ariel first describes Eternal Sonata as "RPG 101" but goes on to reveal its unique battle system, plot, and presentation as a breath of fresh air that separates the game from melodramatic Japanese RPGs and muddled Western RPGs alike. It might look like your typical, anime-inspired nonsense, but it's difficult not to be influenced by Ariel's enthusiasm for what appears to be an underappreciated gem.
See what sets Eternal Sonata apart from the rest in Ariel's Late Bird review.