GVN Review: Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate (PS3/Xbox 360)

Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate
Publisher: Tecmo Koei
Developer: Team Ninja
Release: September 3rd, 2013

It's been almost a year ago that Team Ninja released Dead Or Alive 5 to the masses.  It's been almost 7 years plus since the console release of Dead Or Alive 4, which graced the Xbox 360 as an exclusive title nearly missing the launch window.  Since then there was not a peep about a sequel for many years because Mr. Itagaki considered DOA4 his opus to the fighting game world.  In the quiet time since the last iteration's release, we have seen multiple releases and ports in the Ninja Gaiden franchise and Tecmo merging with Koei.  It wasn't until Hayashi (Itagaki's protégé), took the helm of Team Ninja development, that a new DOA game would be released.  What we received was Dead Or Alive Dimensions, a Nintendo 3DS exclusive, which was created as a means to test the waters to see if the franchise still had viability.

Diehard Gamefan Review: Disney Planes (Wii)

Well tickle me surprised; I did not expect Disney Planes to actually be a good game. I have seen the movie with my son recently, and I walked away with the impression that it was an okay underdog family movie. Definitely not one of Disney’s best efforts, honestly, because they were trying to cash in on the overwhelming success of the Cars franchise with this spinoff. Now, as most cash-in game properties go with Disney these days, they tend to range from below average to horrible. So you can imagine my surprise when I popped in Disney Planes for the Nintendo Wii and found an experience that I think would be worthwhile for the entire family to play.

Diehard Gamefan Review: Disney Planes

Game Rants: JRPG battle systems

The JRPG genre is one of my favorite genres. Well written stories and/or characters (Yes, it is possible to have a bad plot but good characters.), strategic battle systems, and great music all are huge draws for me to the genre. While a good writing can make me want to get to the end of a game, the battle system is what dictates whether it is actually fun to get from one piece of story to another. Unfortunately, some games have absolutely abysmal battle systems which detract from the experience.

GVN Review: Shadowrun Returns (PC)

Shadowrun Returns (PC)
Genre - Tactical RPG
Developer - Harebrained Schemes
Publisher - Harebrained Schemes
Release - July 25th, 2013

After a very successful kickstarter campaign the wait was finally over for a new shadowrun game from the creative mind of franchise creator Jordan Weisman.  I am filled with excitement and delight to finally have a new Shadowrun game from what feels like eons of waiting since the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions.  There was a Shadowrun game that came out a few years ago, but I pretend that abomination doesn't exist.