Video Game Review

CHICAGO – Both games based on video games and a large majority of children’s games often have issues with creativity and when the two merge it can result in products that are truly bankrupt artistically. Such is the case with “Megamind: Ultimate Showdown,” a massive disappointment that is so clearly designed to pull dollars from parents of kids who love Dreamworks’ #1 movie “Megamind” but offers nothing to entertain them in return.

CHICAGO – The fully-realized world of Albion returns in the very-good “Fable III,” a game that seems to have been dismissed too readily by fans expecting a more radical departure from “Fable II” but that will almost certainly be embraced throughout the upcoming holiday season and beyond. Despite a relatively-disappointing ending, this is one of the most-mesmerizing games of 2010.

CHICAGO – While MGM continues to do everything in their power to delay the development of the James Bond franchise (“Quantum of Solace” came out in 2008 and not a single frame of a new film has been shot, meaning it’s still going to be awhile), Activision has pressed forward and developed an entirely new story in video game form.

CHICAGO – “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” was universally embraced, a winner of multiple awards and an addition to the George Lucas canon that met with approval from nearly every corner of the fan base. With that kind of support, we all assumed that “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II” would build on what worked in the first game and be the “Empire Strikes Back” to the first game’s “A New Hope.” Sadly, the more apt comparison is “The Phantom Menace.”

CHICAGO – Have you ever wanted to play a video game in which you get to cut into your own eye in slow, agonizing detail? Welcome to the world of “Saw II: Flesh and Blood,” one of the more unique puzzle games of the season.

CHICAGO – The music genre has never been more crowded with “Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock,” “Def Jam Rapstar,” “Rock Band 3,” and more hitting stores in just the last few weeks. There’s a lot of competition for genre fans but it hasn’t fazed Activision, as they’ve thrown the highly-anticipated “DJ Hero 2” right into the fray and the title emerges as one of the better offerings of the month.

CHICAGO – “No one deserves to have their blood drunk.” It’s possible that truer words have never been spoken in a video game. This tongue-in-cheek bit of dialogue spoils only one of about a hundred times you’ll smile, chuckle, or straight-out LOL to the brilliant DLC addition to “Red Dead Redemption” known as “Undead Nightmare.” For what does every great game need? Zombies.

CHICAGO – With the verdict still out on the market relevance and popularity of the Sony Playstation Move, one wonders how we should approach the “phase one” titles that try to take advantage of this new technology. Should we be a little soft and consider the growing pains involved in anything new? Or be extra hard as these are the titles meant to justify the purchase price of the new tech? “Time Crisis: Razing Storm” only works if you take the former approach.

CHICAGO – It takes some time to build up momentum, but there’s a point in “Fallout: New Vegas” where the game becomes one of the most addictive titles on the market in quite some time. Once you cross the Mojave Wasteland and arrive in Freeside, just before entering the gorgeously-rendered The Strip itself, “Fallout: New Vegas” gets its hooks in you and won’t let go.

CHICAGO – With the best-selling “God of War III” still resonating like an almighty thunderclap that hit gamers barely over half a year ago, is it too soon for another adventure of one of the last decade’s most influential and important characters? And with the continuous decline in the number of interesting properties available for the Sony PSP, will “God of War: Ghost of Sparta” feel like an afterthought or an essential property in the Kratos canon?