What's It All About
From the first time you see Amaterasu the white wolf shoot across a green mountainside, with colorful flowers bursting up from her footsteps, you know "Okami" is not your usual video game. This revelation will repeat itself many more times as you travel through an ancient Japan and marvel at the incredibly beautiful landscape in this amazingly designed game.

Originally built in 1996 for the PS2, "Okami" garnered fantastic reviews, if only for its cel-shaded look, which mimics the style of old Japanese art, like sumi-e. The innovative play though instantly made gamers crave a port to the Wii, an iconoclastic system that shares a creative mindset with "Okami." Two years after arriving on the PS2, and failing miserably sales-wise, it finally made the leap to Nintendo's console and is all the better for it. [Read the entire review]

Every time Electronic Arts attempts to launch a NFL hybrid, I always cringe. They have proven time and time again that Madden is a successful, flourishing franchise, but still feel the need to capture some portion of the market that’s into alternative versions of the game. Early on NFL Street was a poor man’s NFL Blitz, but it did form into an above average title before EA strangely pulled the plug. With the release of NFL Tour, EA attempts to capture the essence of Blitz with the brand name NFL players. Unfortunately, the developers completely sucked any entertainment value out of the game when it was being created. Gameplay

If there's an anime franchise that doesn't show any signs of stopping, it definitely has to be Naruto. One of the most popular licenses ever to exist has hit our shores like a tsunami and the impact hasn't ceased even after all this time. Whether it's toys, DVDs, or games, there is definitely no short supply of entertainment pertaining to everyone's favorite plucky young ninja. [Read the entire review]

When it comes to Sony’s first party titles, it doesn't get much better than the God of War franchise. The action opus hit the PlayStation 2 like a lightning bolt straight from Zeus' fingertips and it was an instant success. Though the title didn't bring a whole bag of new material to the table, it brought enough new life into the platforming action genre. Full of blood, mythological creatures, blood, intense action, blood, and even a little nooky for the main character, God of War quickly changed the scope of how an action title was perceived. [Read the entire review]

The Spiderwick Chronicles is based on the recent movie that was adapted from the bestselling books of the same name. Stormfront Studios, most recently known as the developer of Eragon, handled the transfer from film to video game format. Stormfront’s presentation uses a combination of film stock from the movie and cutscenes from the in-game graphic engine. The narrative directly follows the progression of the film and switches the player between the three children throughout the game. The story begins with a boy named Jared that comes across his great uncle Arthur’s book that details a fantasy world in great depth. Jared unknowingly alerts evil creatures in the fantasy world of his family’s presence and he’s forced to defend their lives from attacks of Mulgrath, a shape-shifting ogre. The following adventure follows Jared, Simon and Mallory as they fend off goblin attacks and discover... [Read the entire review]

The Sony PSP system has a wide library, and outside of a few titles, has not released anything that captivated me in such a way that it holds my limited gaming time. Patapon, released by Sony, combines the addictiveness of a rhythm game with elements of a strategy game. Rarely has a game made such an impression on me that I often find myself starting up the PSP instead of my old standby Xbox 360. The story revolves around the Patapon tribe as they strive to regain the land they once inhabited. In the distant past, the Patapon tribe was the strongest in the land. However, their strength has dwindled as the years wore on and a fierce tribe of Zigoton’s drove them from their home. Disillusioned, the Patapons gave up hope of ever seeing their homeland again.... [Read the entire review]

A port of the PC game, "Dark Messiah: Might and Magic - Elements" is an average first-person action/RPG (although it's mainly an action game), focusing on Sareth, the apprentice of Phenrig, who is sent out to retrieve the Skull of Shadows. As the game opens, the player has to choose between different classes: Warrior, Archer, Mage, and Assassin. Each class has different skills and, over time - after completing missions and other tasks - the player can open up new skills. Unfortunately, the player doesn't have any control over how to distribute his new skill levels.
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Over the years there have been several fishing games on home consoles and arcades for that matter. It's hard to deny that the Wii has the best offerings as far as control is concerned. Why do you need a special controller when the Wiimote and Nunchuk work just fine? Ever since Link took out his rod and caught some fish, a trend started and people realized the potential of Nintendo's new system. Does a throwback like SEGA Bass Fishing recapture that same feeling?

Gameplay [Read the entire review]

A few years ago while the GameCube was still a contender, a little game known as Battalion Wars was released. Obvious comparisons were drawn to the Advance Wars series but truth be told Battalion was in a different league. Rather than simply offer you turn-based strategy, the GameCube game put you in the middle of the action and found itself nestled firmly in the real-time tactics genre. The end result was a mixed blessing as fans of the genre slowly gravitated towards it while others didn't even bother.

To be quite honest I was kind of surprised when Battalion Wars II was released for the Wii back in 2007. I didn't think that the first title had garnered that much of an audience but with the motion controls I definitely saw the potential that the sequel had. While it didn't turn out to be the most engrossing entry in the genre Battalion Wars II is actually quite fun. [Read the entire review]

Fans of the DS series Advance Wars will be right at home with a 3-dimensional version of the genre in Commander: Attack of the Genos. The player is thrown into an alternate version of history around the start of the 20th century. The trouble between humanity and the Genos is a result of conflicting interests on genetic enhancement. The Genos have split away from humanity and the tension between the two factions has risen sharply. The player takes control of a human soldier by the name of Alex Falcon to stop the ensuing invasion of the Genos. The presentation has a light hearted feel, especially the tongue-in-cheek dialogue. You will end up rolling your eyes the majority of the time, but the conversations can get downright snarky at times. The... [Read the entire review]