Game Editorial

Animal Crossing: Wild World

Genji PS2 Game Review Genetically Identical Catching fish, bugs, and everything we could collect or sell became a way of life back in 2002 with the original Animal Crossing. We ate when Tom Nook slept, set our alarms for those rainy nights when Coelacanths came to replace dreams with riches, and crafted memories from matching home stuffs. Nintendo's "game for non-gamers" was like a second life, thankfully limited to the temporal confines of our Nintendo Gamecubes. But no more. Animal Crossing: Wild World is of the same obsessive substance as its console kin, but now portable, making it possibly the most dangerous idea for a game, ever. At the sound of its approach, even hardened Animal Crossing veteran elites, like yours truly, tremble in their pink, fluffy boots and hide their faces in their butterfly nets. Would this be the end? Would our real lives survive this portable second one ... full review

Playboy: The Mansion

GTA: Vice City Stories PSP Game Review Sims Gone Wild Money makes everything better. Take pornography, throw some money at it " and it becomes art. Trouble making friends? Get money. All of a sudden, everyone wants to hang out with you! Awkward around women? Out of shape? Use the Money Cheat and you're instantly The Man. It's that simple! No more sweating or repeatedly lifting heavy hunks of iron dangerously over your skull. Like Apollo Creed so wisely said: "Be a thinker, not a stinker." Then a fter all this success is achieved, with people simply throwing themselves in your general direction, you face a new problem: What do you do with yourself? Life gets boring without a sense of risk. And that, unfortunately, is exactly what happens in Playboy: The Mansion, a place where you, as Hugh Hefner, can do no wrong. That makes a great life, but not a great game ... full preview

The Urbz

GTA: Vice City Stories PSP Game Review Livin' for the City The suburbanite Sims, weary of parakeets and doling out cups of sugar to the unruly youngsters, have decided to go out and get a life. Armed with only their status bars and work ethic, they brave the harsh grid of pitbulls and ruthless fashionistas in the big city in an effort to do it like The Jeffersons. Can they once again pull off the Hurculean task of bringing together the masses under one Synagogue of Simmish? Put it this way: if it were a religion, I'd probably convert to Simmism. This version of The Urbz is addictive, fun, and a decent way to break in your brand new DS ... full review

The Lord of the Rings: Tactics

Genji PS2 Game Review Not So Precious There's something about observing ticking numbers that makes me forget there's a Sun; even moreso when these ever-shifting digits are accompanied by at least 3 gnomes and/or pizza. Slap some progress bars & random item generation on there and watch the probability of sleep-sacrifice spike. Right off the bat I will demo my transparency and admit that, yes, I do have a World of Warcraft account & yes, I have come to terms that I have been & might still be addicted to the game myself, and this Warlock is one fruit of my sweatless labor. No matter what MMO or standalone RPG you play, having one going in your life is akin to having a great book you're reading -- it gives +1 to "Well Being of the Nerd". ... full review

Stacked

Genji PS2 Game Review The Best Flop of the Night Math majors have a few things in common: we're huge nerds, we're legitimately crazy, and we play a nasty game of poker. Unlike seemingly more cerebral games like chess or Go, poker's most relevant pieces are the ones most hidden. Poker noobs see this as reading an opponent's tells, like when the fat guy scratches his second chin during a bluff or the third chin when he's bluffing a bluff. Nerdy math majors, however, know the real key to poker lies not in the lies of flesh and bone players, but in their betting patterns. Once that concept is scribbled on your hand, poker becomes as much a game of you against yourself as against anyone sitting with you ... full review

World Poker Tour

GTA: Vice City Stories PSP Game Review No Deal Some say the luck is in the cards, but poker players will tell you that it's also in the looks. When Lady Luck smiles at you, it's imperative that you let the table know nothing, or everything, or whatever it is you want them to know. Pocket aces or 7 /2 offsuit, there's no feeling like confusing that shlub in the corner nervously bobbing his knee by throwing out a subtle, knowing wink. This is the feeling World Poker Tour attempts to capture in an effort to set itself apart from the poker pack, but its toothy grin is marred by gameplay cavities deep enough to ruin even the sexiest of flops. The $20 price tag is nice, but you get what you pay for ... full review

World Series of Poker

GTA: Vice City Stories PSP Game Review Flush It A video game pimping the official World Series of Poker license seemingly has everything handed to it. The ins and outs of the game itself - poker - is already set, and it's going to receive a lot of consideration just for the logo. Really all it has to do is play smart with decent delivery, a few nice features and acceptable A.I. Whoops. Like a spoiled fat boy on a Vegas weekend, World Series of Poker had way too much confidence in its front and winds up tossed in a seedy motel's alley dumpster, unable to back the trash it talked. If it's hard to believe anyone can screw up a game as classic as poker, that's only because you're at the beginning of the review ... full review

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