Adventure/Explore

Have fun storming the castle

HIGH Surviving an onslaught of six or so enemies without having any characters die.

LOW Constantly having to create and level new characters because I couldn't afford to revive the ones who'd fallen in battle.

WTF I don't want a game that holds my hand through the experience, but a little explanation about how things work would have been nice...

Playing Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on PlayStation 3 right now.

I played it for a bit when it first came out, but it rubbed me the wrong way and I tossed it aside. I was quite surprised to have that reaction, really. I was a big Crash Bandicoot fan when ND was still producing it, and had a very good time with the Jak & Daxter series. I expected great things from Uncharted, and at the time I felt like it really didn't deliver. Didn't even bother finishing it.

While skimming through Metacritic the other day I came across the Uncharted breakdown and was a bit surprised to see it that rocked an 88. Now, although I will be the first to admit that my taste doesn't always run parallel to the majority, that number seemed a little high to me, and being the Naughty Dog fan that I am, I felt like I should give it another shot. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind, or perhaps Saturn was out of alignment, or something. Who knows?

Although the Community Games area on Xbox Live was slow to start, there's no doubt that the content is heating up. More and more titles of notable quality have been surfacing, one of which is the fully 3D Adventure title, Mithra: Episode 1 – The Calling. If you haven't heard of it, don't be surprised… Microsoft's been lacking when it comes to promoting the better selections. However, that's what I'm here for.

If you're my age (37 later this year) then odds are you and your friends spent a large portion of your childhood lusting after Alyssa Milano. Let's face it—was there really any other reason to watch Who's the Boss? I rest my case.

Variety is reporting that Milano has been hired to voice the female lead in the game, which sees the return of the entire original cast, minus Sigourney Weaver (who declined the offer to return). When asked about replacing Weaver, Milano offered the following:

"Obviously, fans of the movie are going to miss Sigourney Weaver. I have so much respect for that character in the movie that I hope I do the position that she is in justice. I was just flattered to be asked to be part of Ghostbusters."

Milano will be voicing the character of Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, the brainy guest curator of a "World of Gozer" exhibit at the Natural History Museum.

Ghostbusters hits video game retailers on June 16th. It's available for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Nintendo DS.

Am I the only person who's not completely bowled over by Street Fighter IV? I had a mad urge to run out and pick up a brand-new copy on the release day, but I held out in an effort to stick to my budget, and wow... I'm glad that I did. I finally got a chance to put some time into it and I've got to say, it left me a little cold.

For some reason, I thought the graphics would be better (and yes, I'm playing on an HD set). It's not just the resolution or whatever, it's that the actual art direction is just weird. The characters look kind of cartoony, kind of not… it's just odd. Besides that, the hit detection seems kind of wonky to me and I've got to be honest in saying that none of the characters really float my boat. Rufus, especially—I mean, how did that guy ever get off the drawing board at Capcom R&D?

Even better than the real thing

HIGH Evil Lara is the best thing to happen to Tomb Raider since Legend.

LOW The content ends far too soon.

WTF Ten dollars for an hour and a half? Seriously?

A couple of days ago I finally located a copy of Alone in the Dark: Inferno for the PlayStation 3. I'm not a huge Alone in the Dark fan in general, but prior to the game's release for the Xbox 360, there had been quite a lot of talk from the developers about different ideas they were trying out, and their approach to making something they saw as fairly revolutionary.

…Of course, it ended up accumulating countless negative reviews and extremely poor word-of-mouth. Last time I checked Metacritic, the 360 had an average score of 58. Basically, pretty much everyone who played it hated it, and it crashed and burned spectacularly.

After this potent feedback, the development team at Eden Studios gave the game a radical makeover and fixed many of the things that sunk the first release. This new and improved version (PS3 only) was subtitled Inferno, and despite addressing the concerns, this release also went nowhere. Currently, a brand-new copy can be had for $20 or less, and last I heard, any hope of a sequel has been utterly destroyed.

Developed by Marvelous Interactive, Steal Princess is "3D puzzle platformer" in the tradition of The Adventures of Lolo. Titular one-eyed "princess" Anise travels from room to room, hunting keys using her bullwhip and her wits.

I've fallen into a routine of trying to update the blog at least once every two days, and I don't quite get how I end up having busy days and late nights every time I need to post something. Guess I gotta work on my timing. Still, the show must go on…

Started playing the new Tomb Raider Underworld DLC today, titled Lara's Shadow. In a neat twist, this time around players take control of the evil doppelgänger that's been causing Ms. Croft so much trouble, and I must say it's rather entertaining.

It's what entomologists dream about

HIGH One of the few titles that explores the untapped insect kingdom.

LOW Not enough time spent terrorizing households.

WTF No multiplayer fight mode? The game screams for it.