Review: "Afterfall Insanity - Dirty Arena Edition"

The practice of cutting off a section of a game and selling it wholesale has become surprisingly common in recent years. While in some situations it results in an egregious ”paid demo” sort of deal, other times it can be rather delightful. At a discounted price, you can buy a smaller, shorter version of a title. For people gaming on a budget, this can be an extremely useful way to explore an unfamiliar game without investing too much money – or time.

Such is the case with Afterfall Insanity – Dirty Arena Edition. The “Dirty Arena” is the survival mode from the full game, Afterfall Insanity, a horror-action game landed on Steam in the first Greenlight wave. Dirty Arena Edition has two very purpose, express goals: provide a compelling, short-hand Afterfall Insanity experience, and in doing so, sell budget gamers on the full title. A bit of pressure then rides on this edition – much like a demo, if it fails to sell me on the full game, it has failed.

With that established, Afterfall Insanity – Dirty Arena Edition has failed.

Review: "The Darkness II"

Afraid of the Dark

review for The Darkness II (PC), 1-4 player first-person shooter, out now

The Darkness was pretty cool, I guess. The first time I heard of this early next-gen title, was in a glowingly positive review by the Official PlayStation Magazine, calling it things like "absolute must-buy" and "system seller" and "9/10". When I played it myself, I found it was a wholly entertaining - if not mind-blowingly incredible - shooter wrapped in an utterly boring and lifeless shell of an open-world. When The Darkness II was announced, fears were that it was going to ditch the open-world and be a more traditional, linear FPS experience. Everyone seemed to be really disappointed.

I, however, was happier than ever. And The Darkness II secured its place on my "must-have" list.

Review: "L.A. Noire"

The City of Angels

review for L.A. Noire (Xbox 360), 1 player action/adventure, out now

Go Australia! After 2K Australia made the critically acclaimed and damn awesome original Bioshock, I was pretty sure that Australia was the greatest video-game creating superpower on the planet. Up next, of course, was L.A. Noire by Team Bondi, a Sydney-based studio working on what was sure to be an innovative cop drama filled with adult suspense, murder, and mystery. Four boring un-Australian years later and L.A. Noire has actually been released. Developed by Team Bondi, sure, but under the wing of Rockstar, the people behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. So, here's L.A. Noire, a shitty action sandbox.

Review: "Bulletstorm"

Make it Rain

review for Bulletstorm, 1-player first-person shooter, out now

Unironically, the game that Bulletstorm most reminded me of, was Vanquish. Not because of any sort of thematic link (though both had some pretty cool androids in it), but rather concept-wise. While Vanquish was "what if you combined Devil May Cry with Gears of War?", the concept of Bulletstorm was a little simpler to execute - "what if you combined Painkiller with Gears of War?" ...why was this simpler to execute? It helps that was created by the people who made Painkiller and Gears of War, for one.