NBA 2K11 brings a visceral experience to this generation of consoles that players have been aching for with the basketball since NBA 2K5: to play as the legendary player Michael Jordan himself. There is a severe level of disappointment when a player ranks up his own player in NBA 2K10, works hard for legendary players, and sees Michael Jordan missing from the all-star lineup that makes the play incredible. The new IsoMotion dribble controls are stunningly fluid, the visuals are unparalleled with glossy shine, the My Player Mode is finally less exhausting in terms of getting recruited, and the dynamic shot control gives an unprecedented reality to the hoop approach of the dunk. Jordan Challenge is a bit of a disappointment, and most of the iconic matches from Michael Jordan’s career are less iconic in the game due to a limited variety of simulating real life events at the sake of realism. Regardless, NBA 2K11 is the most realistic NBA experience to date and vastly improved from NBA 2K10. NBA 2K11 brings the complete and definitive package to not just the career of his Royal Airness, but also the careers of many talented athletes that live by the court and breathe victory regardless of the outcome.

Expand»

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is remarkable. Remarkably unentertaining and hideous, that is. It manages to shatter that border that distinguishes a bad game from a good one, and puts itself into its own dreary category of the Worst “Game” of 2009 by far and for a long while. The story is incoherent, the dialogue is as dull as the previous title, and the gameplay makes Atari Console games seem next-generation.

Expand»

When there is something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call..? A copy of Atari’s incredible Ghostbusters title. After literally dozens of cancellation threats on the project, the long-awaited Ghostbusters game is back – and one that I have personally hoped would come out ever since I watched the original back in the day. The iconic quartet return an excruciating 20 years after their last ghost-busting outing, bringing with them the original humour and feel of the Ghostbusters which is perfectly realized perfectly in game form. The original cast (Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and of course the always witty Bill Murray) return to give the game the authentic feel to make it feel like a sequel to the films and it does nothing short of a simply fantastic job at making players literally feel as if they are a part of it.

Expand»

The Prince has returned in Prince of Persia, ready to take anything with a vengeance and stop all things evil, or something purely bent on destroying anything in it is path. Prince of Persia is the fourth iteration that is bent on redefining the platform genre in this new middle-eastern adventure of sending dark trees and all things evil back from which they came. With a beautiful art direction, a blithe level of humor, and furthermore gameplay, the prince shows us all that time and change itself is a great and brilliant thing. The storybook version was so missed for such a long time for me personally, that at this point I am content with kissing Ubisoft’s ring for making this decision to dig to the inveterate classics. While the gameplay challenges the platform genre, it loses some notability in the easy and sometimes repetitive tasks that the player must perform. Despite this, Prince of Persia manages to pull players in a newly redefined world that is both convivial and surprises the inveterate need to change the past.

Expand»

Rock Band 2 is the latest game to emerge from Harmonix Studios from the previous rhythm game that was the first of its kind to provide party knockers and rollers guitar, bass, and vocal instruments all in a sexy blue box. Rock Band 2 still sticks to the roots of the first games, providing the same instruments but Harmonix definitely made an effort to refine and perfect features that were introduced in the original game and make everything more lively. Some new modes have strummed out, and the development team has completely streamlined the interface, making it better to navigate and go into a game than flip through confusing menus and over practical layouts. Rock Band 2 is definitely thee version of the Rock Band series that anyone wants to play. With a new interface, new band smashing modes, and dozens of new songs and downloadable content to enrich the experience, Rock Band 2 definitely has immense potential for the holiday season and for WhatIfGaming’s Game of the Year 2008- Best Music Game.

Expand»

Relentless’ co-founder thinks the fascination attached to video games is going away, but the mass market is a long ways off.

Read more at GIBiz

Final Fantasy XII is here after the long awaited release ever since X came out. From the origins of the world’s most popular role-playing series, this game features an inspired look, boldly redesigned strategic combat, and an extended, long story that delivers players right into the heart of the experience. While Square Enix did ship numerous games bearing the Final Fantasy brand after 2001′s Final Fantasy X, it took all these years before another lengthy, and beautifully produced traditional role-playing game would arrive. Final Fantasy XII arrives at the end of the PlayStation 2′s life cycle, surprisingly but there is no end in sight. This latest installment in the series introduces a new strategic combat system that makes gameplay cohesive and more hands-off than before. Final Fantasy XII, as always, is packaged with outstanding art direction, a believable cast of characters, a lengthy quest, and challenges that live up to the Final Fantasy name.

Expand»

Hitman: Blood Money, the fourth installment of Eidos’ assassin series, builds upon the franchise with more of its gripping signature stealth-action gameplay and sexy bald-headed hero: Agent 47. All 13 of the game’s missions are well crafted and challenging, and the gameplay is simply remarkable. In it, 47 is up to his missions as he throttles numerous innocents simply because he wants to steal their clothes in order to infiltrate off-limits areas and eliminate targets. Hitman: Blood Money, like the series it comes from, is a game that allows you to be as ruthlessly violent as you want; if you want to take things subtle and slow, you’re going to be able to, but if you just want to kill everything that moves, you can do that too.

If:

I want an assassination adventure

…to feel like a bad protagonist

…the best atmosphere in any Hitman title

BUY IT

If:

I want

more intelligent AI than the appearance of intelligent AI

RENT IT

Expand»

The Prince of Persia returns to his kingdom to find ransacked by war, and rotting in the recrudescent pits of the loss to the power of the throne and the desperate need for peace and rightful order. The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy exuded a level of beautiful art each and every time, despite the Prince’s more dark tone in Warrior Within. The series’ control scheme set the basis for games where the protagonist is reminiscent to the Prince and dangerously acrobatic at the same time. The Two Thrones has the same great make up that the other two games flawlessly pulled off. Once again, Ubisoft has decided to deviate away from a storytelling basis, and it is kind of sad. Nevertheless you find the series plunging you into wall running, jumping, diving and vaulting around beautifully puzzling and vivacious environments that makes us thankful that even if the Prince came half evil, he came back anyways –for us– and the people of Persia too.

Expand»

Resident Evil is a genre-defining series that has had its ups and downs, though it has always remained at the forefront of survival horror games. Now on the PlayStation 2, Resident Evil 4 sure didn’t cut corners in translation from the original GameCube version released earlier this year. Resident Evil 4 is simply an amazing adventure, that combines melee in a cinematic gameplay mode chock-full of action and much more. It obviously is not for people who get easily and it is sad because it is hard to imagine anyone else not being consistently thrilled and impressed by what Resident Evil 4 has to offer.

If:

I want a great Resident Evil title

…Leon S. Kennedy again as a hero

…incredible storyline

BUY IT

If:

I want

less tension and more suspense

RENT IT

Expand»

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves is bigger, longer, and Sly-er than the previous two in the franchise. Sly Cooper’s unique presentation and charm has remained intact though. Of course several things have changed for Sly in recent years–he’s dropped the tricky-pronouncing manual from the title, added a few more characters into the lineup, and now, in the third game, he has a more 3D appearance. These small changes have either slightly accentuated or not affected the gameplay at all, which helps it to be a more thorough game than from we have seen before in this series. Although Sly 3 still suffers from a relative ease that has always plagued the series, the gameplay is varied and clever enough to keep a player of any skill level’s attention.

If:

I want Sly and company badly

…variety in gameplay that is clever and detailed

BUY IT

If:

I want

more cinematic appearance

RENT IT

Expand»