Samurai Shodown Sen
Grade: F
Publisher: SNK (2010)
Reviewed: 2010/6/9
Rating: Mature (blood and gore, mild sexual themes, violence)
Publisher: Warner Interactive (2007)
Reviewed: 2008/3/20
Rating: Teen
Scene It Bright Lights Big Screen
Grade: D
Publisher: Warner Interactive (2009)
Reviewed: 2010/8/7
Rating: Everyone

Unlike most critics who are bent on trashing the Scene It series, I like the concept of a movie trivia game and held out some hope for this "Bright Lights Big Screen" edition. The game has a glitzy game show format, allowing up to four players to participate in a series of rounds consisting of multiple-choice questions. The interface is very polished, and you're presented with clips from films like Evan Almighty, Cloverfield, Surf's Up, Uncle Buck, and the Karate Kid. There are no black-and-white oldies this time around. Scene It can be fun when movie buffs go head-to-head, but the game stumbles in the most confounding ways. Most of these clips aren't the least bit memorable, and the audio is entirely too low compared to the game's audio effects. It's critical to properly adjust the options. That means shutting off that irritating commentator and disabling the ill-conceived "star system" which tends to reward bad players. You'll also want to disable the negative points and set the game type to "short". Answering questions about movie clips is fun, but when the puzzles get creative things go south in a hurry. The anagrams and pictograms are headache inducing, as are the puzzles with pictures that materialize from liquid drops. Any puzzle that require players to "buzz in" is terrible. I hate how the game never bothers to tell you the name of the movie you just watched, and also fails to inform you of the correct answer when the players guess it wrong. Bright Lights Big Screen can be mildly competitive with some willing participants, but its high production values can't gloss over its many design flaws. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game
Grade: D+
Publisher: Ubisoft (2010)
Reviewed: 2013/2/10
Rating: Teen (animated blood, cartoon violence, language, mild suggestive themes)
Publisher: Sega (2007)
Reviewed: 2008/1/3
Rating: Everyone
Sega Superstars Tennis
Grade: D-
Publisher: Sega (2007)
Reviewed: 2008/8/19
Rating: Everyone

I was disappointed with the Wii version of Sega Superstars Tennis, and
disgusted with this Xbox 360 edition. Superstars had a lot going for it, including loveable Sega characters, bright scenic courts, and familiar tunes from classic games. The action is fast and has an arcade quality. So why do I
not want to play this? Well, first of all the controls are terrible. The swing controls are erratic, and your character doesn't even make an
effort to hit a lot of balls that seem close enough. Two buttons are used to hit the ball (topspin and slice), but executing lobs or drop-shots requires you to hit
combinations of these. Hello? There are two
unused buttons on the controller! Poor AI is another problem. In the main "Superstar mode", the CPU is so unyielding that I couldn't even win the first match! It's impossible to get the ball past a speed demon like Sonic, so you only score when he inexplicably "gives up" on the shot! And couldn't Sega have programmed more than
one reaction per character? Talk about repetitive! The two-player mode is better, but still mediocre. The music tends to "cut out" between points, and it's really annoying. I was expecting Sega Superstars to be shallow, but I wasn't prepared for such a complete meltdown. If you want to know how far Sega has fallen, look no further than this game. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.
Shadows of the Damned
Grade: C
Publisher: Electronic Arts (2011)
Reviewed: 2011/11/8
Rating: Mature 17+ (blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, sexual themes, strong language)
Shaun White Snowboarding
Grade: C
Publisher: Ubisoft (2008)
Reviewed: 2009/2/4
Rating: Teen (lyrics, mild suggestive themes, mild violence)
Silent Hill: Downpour
Grade: D+
Publisher: Konami (2012)
Reviewed: 2012/11/17
Rating: Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language)
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Grade: B+
Publisher: Konami (2008)
Reviewed: 2008/12/8
Rating: Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, language, sexual themes)
Simpsons Game, The
Grade: C+
Publisher: Electronic Arts (2007)
Reviewed: 2008/1/27
Rating: Teen (animated blood, crude humor, language, suggestive themes)
Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge
Grade: B
Publisher: Valcon (2009)
Reviewed: 2019/2/10
Rating: Everyone

I've played my share of snowmobile racing games and this is probably the best one. There's nothing like jockeying for position on that glistening white powder to get the adrenaline pumping. Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge is a polished racer with wide tracks and gorgeous mountain scenery. The controls feel good and for the first few events the accelerator trigger is all you need. I like the sense of progression as you gradually unlock a list of courses spanning Canada, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and the US. It's easily to upgrade your ride with winnings because the game doesn't confuse you with a lot of technical jargon. Just like real snowcross the first turn is pure chaos as players tend to collide with each other. There's a lot of excitement but it's the amazing soundtrack that really elevates Ski-Doo to the next level. These alternate rock tracks are so good my friend Brent thought we were listening to the
Foo Fighters for crying out loud. I love most of the songs but my favorites are "June" by Fight the Quiet and "Take Me Away" by Hello Operator. One thing that trips up the fun are the stunt challenges. Performing stunts requires finger contortions and the bar for clearing these events is too high. It really doesn't pay to perform stunts during races because any adrenaline boost you earn will be used to plow into the nearest wall. Some of the courses run a bit too long which can cause the two-player split-screen mode to feel a little tedious. Oh well, at least you have those kick-ass tunes to keep your head bopping. © Copyright 2019 The Video Game Critic.
Skylanders Giants
Grade: B
Publisher: Activision (2012)
Reviewed: 2012/12/22
Rating: Everyone 10+ (cartoon violence)
Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V
Grade: B
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks (2011)
Reviewed: 2011/12/29
Rating: Mature 17+ (blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, use of alcohol)