“RIDE TO HELL: RETRIBUTION” (M) Way back in 2004, I reviewed “Strike Force Bowling” — a game which arbitrarily placed your bowling lanes on poorly realized representations of other planets. These extraterrestrial backdrops had no impact on the gameplay, which consisted of setting the trajectory of your ball with a thumbstick

NINTENDO DIRECT E3 MEDIA BRIEFING Nintendo has problems. Despite ushering in the new console generation unopposed, the Wii U has had a tepid reception, selling only 57,000 units in its initial launch window (about 17 percent of what the last generation’s Wii sold over the same two month period). Nintendo

MICROSOFT E3 MEDIA BRIEFING Last week, the Electronic Entertainment Expo opened with Microsoft’s annual media briefing. Unlike last month’s Xbox One announcement, which concentrated on the new console’s various multimedia features, the game demo-heavy press conference shifted focus to the software. With new entries in its “Halo” and “Forza Motorsport”

‘THE LAST OF US’ (M) ***** Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation 3 There are few video game settings as ubiquitous as the post-apocalyptic world, so gamers inundated with fallen civilizations rarely lower their guns long enough to mourn the millions who lost their lives or ponder the moral implications of indiscriminately

‘RESIDENT EVIL: REVELATONS’ (M) ***1/2 Capcom Xbox 360 Last year’s “Resident Evil: Revelations” for 3DS was just that — a revelation for fans of the once great survival horror franchise. Ever since “Resident Evil 4,” the series has been lost at sea, drifting further and further away from its suspenseful

Two months ago, for the April Fools’ issue, I wrote a special edition of Sore Thumbs, covering a fake unveiling of the new Xbox, which I called the Xbox 5 (despite it being the third iteration of the console) and described as being fixated on its diverse array of multimedia

‘METRO: LAST LIGHT’ (M) ****1/2 Deep Silver Xbox 360 In “Metro 2033,” we were given a glimpse of what post-apocalyptic living would be like for our Cold War rival. Huddled together in uncontaminated subway tunnels, the remnants of Russian society warded off attacks from the usual assortment of homicidal mutants

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‘DRAGON’S DOGMA: DARK ARISEN’ (M) *** Capcom Xbox 360 In case last year’s “Dragon’s Dogma” wasn’t difficult enough for you, here’s “Dark Arisen” — a re-release of the original game with additional content — to cause you the requisite amount of grief. For the uninitiated, “Dragon’s Dogma” combines the role-playing

‘DEADLY PREMONITION: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT’    (M) *** Rising Star Games PlayStation 3 Three years ago, Xbox 360 owners were treated to/punished with “Deadly Premonition,” a game which has since won the notable distinction of being the Guinness World Record holder for “Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game.” It was a

‘STAR TREK’ (T) *1/2 Namco Bandai Games Xbox 360 “Star Trek” is a game that not-so-boldly goes where too many licensed games have gone before. Its two-player co-op, third-person shooter gameplay is as derivative as it is generic. Exploring strange new worlds with iconic characters like Kirk and Spock should’ve