Blogcritics Author: Ryan Thompson

Xbox 360 Review: Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore

Ryan Thompson — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:42:03 EDT

Another chance to pretend to be an American Idol, minus the big contract and fun.
American Idol is a television show that just seems to get bigger and bigger every year. Each episode is supposedly gaining millions of votes more then the previous week after week. Once it's all said and done another "Pop Star" is born and the world is a better place, supposedly. So if it's so huge on television why not make a game about it? Heck...

Xbox 360 Preview: Battlefield: Bad Company

Ryan Thompson — Thu, 3 Apr 2008 00:37:53 EDT

Hands-On Preview with the multiplayer beta of Battlefield: Bad Company.
EA and DICE come at us in 2008 with a new Battlefield title for the 360 and PS3. The last, Battlefield 2142, though pretty, never made it over to the console world. Its home remained on the PC, so this is the first console Battlefield since Modern Combat. The beta release is only of the multiplayer game, not of the single player campaign. The...

Xbox 360 Review: NBA Live 08

Ryan Thompson — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:25:14 EDT

The 2008 NBA Live model year returns with new title that is actually good.
Another year brings another series of NBA basketball games. 2K Sports and EA both have games for basketball fans to enjoy, the last couple years 2K being the graphical winner. Finally this year EA Sports has released a true "next" generation NBA title. The 2006 and 2007 versions of Live were obvious rehashes released for the 360. Now with...

Nintendo DS Review Pony Friends

Ryan Thompson — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:31:51 EDT

Pony lovers rejoice, your game is finally here.
Eidos has decided that pet simulator games are still the rage, granted the hype behind titles like Nintendogs doesn't hurt. This time though it's what most little girls want for a pet, ponies. Pony Friends tries to go were so many other virtual pet games have gone before. There are multiple breeds to pick from, but most likely unless you are into...

Xbox Live Arcade Review: Triggerheart Exelica

Ryan Thompson — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:31:22 EDT

Dreamcast shooters finally make their introduction on Xbox Live Arcade.
A few months ago Microsoft announced that a number of former import shooters would be making their way to Xbox Live Arcade, one of these titles being Ikaruga, of former Dreamcast and Gamecube fame, which was basically the second Radiant Silvergun. Triggerheart is another one of these titles and is the first one to hit Xbox Live Arcade. Originally...

Xbox 360 Review: Cabela's Trophy Bucks

Ryan Thompson — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:09:27 EST

Hunting games are like sports games; another year, another version. Hopefully, this is the only year on this title.
Cabela's is to hunting as Madden is to football. It seems that every few months we get a new version to play around with. Trophy Bucks isn't a sequel in any direct sense, but is a new type of hunting game for the fall/winter season. That being stated, hopefully this is the only time that Activision decides to release this type of shooter. The game...

Gear Review: Xbox 360 Messenger Kit

Ryan Thompson — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:29:43 EDT

Microsoft's solution for text messaging over Xbox Live - and it works surprisingly well.
When Xbox Live came out with the feature of being integrated with MSN Messenger users had a need for a keyboard to communicate with their contacts. This involved needing a USB keyboard, possibly an extension cable and lap space for the said keyboard. Well, Microsoft has answered the call of something smaller that integrates with the controller...

Sony PSP Review: Hot Brain

Ryan Thompson — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:31:44 EDT

Hot Brain is a "cool" mind exercise for those with no attention span.
Let's face it; games like Brain Age have developers scrambling to make their own mind games. They even go and recruit comics like Fred Willard to attempt to spice things up. Unfortunately, loading times and repetitive game play without variety is all that Hot Brain has to offer. Hot Brain is basically a small IQ test that you can blast through in...

Xbox Live Arcade Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Ryan Thompson — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:33:26 EDT

Another classic from Sega comes to Xbox Live Arcade, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - classic 2-D speed.
Sega has been on fire with classic Genesis releases on Xbox Live Arcade. The last few weeks there has been Ecco, Sonic and Streets of Rage. This week brings us the second in the classic Sonic Series. Let's just say that 2-D speed still looks sweet. For 400 points you can get one of the best of the sonic games on your 360. It, for the most part, is...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Xbox 360 Review: Rapala Tournament Fishing

Ryan Thompson — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:15:53 EDT

Rapala Tournament Fishing, which was originally going to be called Rapala Trophies (which it is called on the PSP), is the first fishing game for the Xbox 360 console. It isn't a game for the casual fishermen though, as the amount of gear and choices is enough to drive the average person crazy. That being said, if you live and breathe fishing and you think Rapala is the greatest thing since sliced bread, this is the title for you. Rapala is a simulator, so if you think that you are going to hop in, like in Sega Bass Fishing, and just start reeling them in, you better be ready for a change. It may take a good twenty minutes to catch your first fish, given that you have the correct lure for the conditions of the lake. Most of the time its just plain dumb luck that you pick the correct lure for the conditions, unless it turns out that fishing really is just a guessing game. The graphics are pretty plain, though the water looks fairly realistic. Still it doesn't look like anything that a normal Xbox or PS2 could generate. The draw distance is not the greatest and when you maneuver the boat there is a good amount of pop-up. Under the water the lures act and sound the way that a real one would, but the scenery is fairly sparse. Most lakes in virtual fishing must be rock bottomed, as underwater plant life is few and fair between. That being said, the fish look like they are suppose to look in the wild, though when you land one you might as well have hooked a minnow as there is little difficulty reeling them in. The controls are fairly simple; but casting is a bit confusing, as you have to press a combination of buttons to perform the act. The lures react correctly to your inputs and if you are not performing the correct action the lure will not hook a fish. Catching the fish is a read the screen and react affair, unfortunately no matter what you do when you finally hook one you can ignore the commands and still catch the fish. The sound effects are plain but being a budget title don't expect too much. Its best to have songs loaded on the 360 to listen to in order to pass the length of time that the tournaments can take. You need to place in the top 10 in each of the rounds in order to move on in the tournament, which involves a fairly large amount of playing time. Achievements for Rapala will take some time as it will take winning each and every tournament as well as catching a certain number of fish, be it 40 perch or 40 catfish. Rapala Tournament Fishing is not a game that will appeal to the average gamer. It's designed for fishing fans, which depending on where you live, can be far and few between. It does what it's designed to do fairly well, however, and if you enjoy fishing, this should be more than entertaining. Rapala Tournament Fishing is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB. This game can also be found on: Nintendo Wii, PSP.

Ryan Thompson has been a fan of videogames since 1981 starting on the Apple II. He was the administrator for the now defuct hardcoregaming.org and is on staff on Rfgeneration.com. Ryan enjoys a nice cold one and is more then willing to play some one online in any number of titles. He is also a collector of games as his total collection is in upwards of 2300 titles.