PixlBit

All 4 One, and one for dull.

It's been a long nine days since we started running our Ratchet & Clank recap feature, but it has served as a great refresher on all of the games in the series. Having played them all individually over a number of years, it was easy to miss many of the trends the series has exhibited over time. For one, roughly half of the games in the series are actually side quests that only exhibit some of the traits of the core titles. Two, Insomniac is and has always been willing to utilize the series as a testing ground for all sorts of different ideas. All 4 One, being a co-operative four player title, is their latest test. The title sacrifices much of what makes the core series great in an effort to appeal to those looking for a co-op experience with friends. Like Ratchet: Deadlocked (Insomniac's other testing ground), All 4 One both succeeds and fails in different ways, but doesn't even begin to approach the bar set by A Crack in Time.

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Matt takes an in-depth look at each Mario game.

You don’t have to tell me that I am a year late. I already know that. Mario’s 25th Anniversary has already come and gone, and Nintendo’s other big franchise is celebrating its 25th this year: namely, the Legend of Zelda. Yet you already know that by now, so you are probably asking this question right now: “Matt, what the hell? Why are you doing a Mario retrospective when you could be writing about Zelda?”

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As I sit here, pondering how to approach a review for the game Hyperdimension Neptunia, my mind begins to wander...

What did I ever do to deserve this?

There's so much disappointment in virtually every aspect of Hyperdimension Neptunia. The concept is creative but doesn't work. The characters were created with seemingly no purpose except to be viewed as borderline risque versions of the companies or consoles they represent. The battle system, while operable, is completely convoluted, offering players too many meaningless, worthless attack options that grow to be too complex for any sort of general consumption. There are so many issues, it's hard to tell where to begin.

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Our star-spangled superhero's voice actor is the best part about it.

When I read Nick's review for the Xbox 360 version of this game, I wept on the inside, knowing that my review copy was already on its way.

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