PlayStation

Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review

The PlayStation Vita has two analogue sticks and can run some of the same games that are on the PlayStation 3. That’s good news for Sony’s wonderful handheld hardware and bad news for Resistance: Burning Skies a mediocre new first-person shooter that has no excuses for underachieving.


May 26, 2012
In Real Life

The All-Female Phoenix Wright Musical Is Better Than The Game

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is quite a powerhouse franchise in Japan. There have been no less than six games (selling millions of copies in Japan alone) and even a feature film. But back in 2009, Capcom and the Takarazuka Revue took the series into another medium with a musical based on this game series.


May 24, 2012
PC

The Origin EON-11s Is An Impressive Gaming Machine Masquerading As A Netbook

The bigger the gaming laptop is, the more powerful it is. At least that’s been the experience I’ve had in my gaming laptop-reviewing career. A bigger chassis means more bells and whistles, better heat management, and a larger, more vivid display.


PlayStation

Dragon’s Dogma: The Kotaku Review

Reading about Dragon’s Dogma, Capcom’s latest title that ventures into open-world fantasy territory, is like viewing the game through rose-tinted glasses. Capcom is clearly trying new things that seem inventive. I want to love Dragon’s Dogma. I want to be able to support a game that tries its hand at something new, and hope that other developers take notice of the potential for success that comes with being creative.


May 23, 2012
In Real Life

The Massive Delivers A Chilling, Water-Logged Look At The End Of The World

Most pop-culture apocalypses crank up the volume, right? Whether it’s alien invasions or natural disasters, the end of civilisation as we know it tends usher in a whole lot of noise pollution. So, the palpable silence left by mankind’s near-extinction happens so quietly is one of the best things about The Massive.


PC

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier: The Kotaku Review

Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon franchise has always occupied the “tactical military shooter” space a bit uneasily. The series initially focused on brutally lethal engagements in long, outdoor spaces, but with the Advanced Warfighter games of the mid-2000s evolved to cast the player as a technologically enhanced one-man army, pitting him against tanks, helicopters and platoons of enemy soldiers.


May 22, 2012
PC

Diablo III: The Kotaku Review

Plagued with disconnects and shot through with lag, the May 15 launch of Diablo III had players and press alike railing against the always-online nature of the latest entry in the genre-defining action role-playing series. While not entirely unexpected, those unfortunate events punctuated the problems with requiring constant external server access for a single-player game.


May 17, 2012
PlayStation

Starhawk: The Kotaku Review

Starhawk is a third-person shooter. Actually, scratch that, let me try again: Starhawk is a fighter-pilot game. Although… only sort of. Maybe Starhawk is a real-time strategy game.


May 16, 2012
In Real Life

This Graphic Novel Shows The Horrific Costs Of Modern Warfare

Shooters protagonist Terry Glass isn’t that different from the kind of character you’d play in a Medal of Honor, Battlefield or Call of Duty game. He’s a fictional American soldier fighting in the geopolitical hotspots where America’s armed forces face off against disparate, tough-to-pin-down threats.


May 15, 2012
PC

Max Payne 3: The Kotaku Review

“This isn’t going to end well.” Start up Max Payne 3 and the first menu screen just loops an endless sequence of the title character sitting alone drinking and smoking. Stare at that for more than a minute and you can’t help but think those six words.