Video Game Reviews

Here's where I keep track of video games I have played. I rate the games on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being "highly recommended" and 1 being "forget this game and go read a book or something."

Resident Evil: Revelations on PC (7/10)

Resident Evil Revelations

I understand that this game was originally a Nintendo 3DS launch title. So, by the standards of portable gaming, this is not a bad game at all. However, here on the PC it seems a little behind the times and blah. This criticism is mostly about cosmetics. Unlike the bright and diverse levels of Resident Evils 4 & 5 the game seems really limited to the samey-looking hallways of a dingy cruise ship's interior. While you would think that they could use this environment for all its worth by, say, including the listing of the ship, bursting portholes, and other aquatic mayhem. Instead it's your standard FPS hallway levels with a little swimming here and there.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

Borderlands on PC (7/10)

Borderlands - Jakob's Cove

Billed as a first person shooter RPG, Borderlands focuses on collecting loot over story. There a lot of superficial similarity with the recent Fallout games: large open world to explore, quest-based goals and a little bit of humor thrown in. But the world of Borderlands is barren and devoid of interesting people and stories.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

The Walking Dead on PC (9/10)

The Walking Dead for PC

Over the past few years I have had a love/hate relationship with The Walking Dead T.V. show. Unlike most of the trash in the zombie sub-genre being released these days, the pilot episode was simply one of the best zombie stories ever filmed. However, as the series progressed, it has sunk in quality where at times it just feels like a bad soap opera filled with characters who make the most unrealistic and stupid decisions. The fact that there is a zombie apocalypse going on has little or no bearing on the plot most of the time (you can just replace "zombies" with "earthquake" or another major disaster and you would have the same show).

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

Max Payne 3 on PC (9/10)

Max Payne 3

Clocking in at 31 gigabytes of disk space needed, Max Payne 3 is a monster of a game. I would have bought it at launch, but my old computer just would not be able to run it. The Max Payne series has been one of my favorites for a long time. I love the cheesy noir narration, gritty environments and, of course, the insane slow motion gun battles. The third installment retains all of these elements and gives the game a beautiful audio-visual overhaul. Most notably, the comic panel storytelling device has been replaced with your standard in-game cut scenes. Lots and lots of cut scenes that, at times, interrupt the flow of the game play. You just want to burst through that door guns blazing but then you're forced to watch Max slowly creep his way into cover while explaining that the room was "full of goons."

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

Surgeon Simulator 2013 on PC (7/10)

A Tricky Ambulance Brain Transplant

I had hoped that when they adapted the Web version of Surgeon Simulator into a full game they would have added a funny story line à la Trauma Center. Instead they have just expanded the original game by adding two more procedures and a couple more environments. It's still much the same game: purposely horrible game controls, inappropriate tools for the job, painfully hilarious physics interactions and general surgical mayhem.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

Broken Age Act I on PC (9/10)

Broken Age Act I - The Girl at the Beach

Like a gazillion other people, Doublefine Adventure was the first Kickstarter that I bought into. It was scheduled to come out two years ago. During the delay I started playing many other more modern adventure games to get me in the groove again (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here). It's finally out (at least the first half of the game is out), but how does it stack up against other adventures?

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

Bioshock Infinite on PC (10/10)

Bioshock Infinite

Infinite is a worthy successor to the original BioShock. It's not so much a sequel as it is a re-theming of the game with a new story, new environment but much of the same game play. The cloud city of Columbia is simply beautiful and filled with visual and sonic detail. There's something to look at around every corner.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures on PC (7/10)

Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventure

More episodic point-and-click adventure from Telltale Games. This series is definitely geared more towards younger gamers but there is much charm and witty story telling to keep older players entertained. If you enjoyed the movies and shorts, this is just like another cartoon in the Wallace and Gromit series. I thought the first episode, Fright of the Bumblebees, was the best and there is a nice bit of characterization and story that carries over from episode to episode. It's not quite on par with Sam and Max but it's still a worthy modern adventure game.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on

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